TODAY INDIA

Different Ways Of Generating Traffic, Leads And Sales For Your Affiliate Or Own Offers

When it comes to running an offline or online businesses, the most critical things owners need – besides the necessary licence and equipment – are traffic, leads and sales. Yet in spite of knowing this, the underlying question in most of their minds – is how to get more while spending less or better still, for free?

Having said that, this is what my article going to address today.

Now regardless of what they are called, they still boil down to one common factor which is people. Because without them taking action the way you want be it seeing your offer, listening to and reading what you presented and taking up your free and paid offer, your business is not going to last. That is the brutal truth in traditional and internet marketing as well.

So the question is how do I get traffic?

To be honest, there is no right and wrong answer. But there are free and paid methods you can use.

However before even doing so, it is important to identify if there is a market for your offer and connecting with people within that. This is absolutely necessary in order to build an audience as in groups of people who know, like and trust you. Especially when you focused on free methods which I touched upon later.

It is the same way with how you got to know your friends, boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse and how politicians do to get more people to vote for them and formed the government. You might also see that in networking events and seminars.

Below are both free and paid strategies I know and learnt from more experienced marketers.

A. Free

1. Article Marketing

This is by far the oldest but still workable method. What you do is write and submit an article like what you see now into relevant sites like Ezine Articles.

2. Blogging

This is more of a long-term SEO and wealth building strategy.

You can write whatever you want in your blog – preferably WordPress into your own domain and hosting and then connect with other bloggers in your niche either through blog commenting or guest posting.

3. Classified Advertising

You might not believe this but this is how I got started making my first dollar in 2008.

This is a great alternative and test to paid ads.

What you need to do is to come up with a eye-catching headline and 2-3 lines ad with links before posting to relevant sites like Craiglist and Gumtree.

4. Directory Submissions

In the past this used to work very well.

But in the wake of Google’s relentless updates, many sites have come and go so apart from Dmoz, they are no longer variable today.

5. Email Marketing

This works provided you have a quality email list of subscribers who are eager to read from, trust and buy from you.

But for this to work effectively, you need a high converting landing page and reliable autoresponder to send unlimited emails.

6. Forum Posting

Forums are online discussion sites in which people congregrated and discussed about common issues and interests.

To get started, there are important rules you have to abide by in order not to get banned.

Such as do not spam but provide helpful information in answering what they need and want to know with your blog and landing page links in your signautre – which is the footer text below every post you make

7. Google SEO

If you provided good quality content in your blog in the form of articles and even videos with social media channel links – I will be talking about later, the major search engine will reward you with higher rankings on first page for maximum exposure and even leads and sales from your searchers.

This also helps if you have comments and questions below your posts.

8. PDF Submissions

You can also compile a set of 5-10 articles into MS Word or Open Office into a report or e-book with an attractive cover before publishing in sites like Calameo, Scribd and Slideshare.

9. Press Releases

They are basically online versions of newspaper reports in which you can submit to related sites.

There are both free and paid services in which you can submit.

10. Social Media And Networks

You can also participate in social networks like Facebook where you can post on your timeline, create fanpages, live events, videos and joined and share in groups like what you do in forums.

Others include LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and Tumblr.

11. Video Marketing

This is where you create your videos from your own PC or iPhone camera, powerpoint slides or both with some music background and introduction or highlighted points text.

If you just want to show your face, you can use camera.

But if you want to share your PC screen, I will recommend Jing and Camtasia Studio – the latter gives you a free 30 day trial before you pay a one-time fee of $197.

12.. Web 2.0 Properties.

You can also post your content in other blogging platforms like Blogger, Hubpages, Webs, Weebly and Wix.

In the past these used to work like a charm in the form of Google Wonder Wheel.

But now you can only posted what you had not in your articles and blog posts.

This works best when you are doing e-commerce and your info products.

13. Webinars

They are online versions of seminars in which you can invite your subscribers and customers to attend before presenting your offer.

For this, I recommend Go-To-Webinar and Zoom.

B. Paid

For paid strategies, I will recommend 3 platorms in Bing, Facebook And Google Ads. At the time of writing this, mobile apps and YouTube Ads also came about.

With that said, these are both free and paid methods I know of getting traffic, leads and sales for your sites.

14 Top Lead Generation Tactics

According to former Harvard Business School professor David Maister, typical marketing practices are not only inapplicable for professional service firms, but they may be dangerously wrong.

Often professional service firm principals tell me they are frustrated with the quality of their marketing materials, they are concerned with their firm’s low profile or they feel pressure because their efforts are not generating enough new client leads. Are any of these issues for you?

Many professionals do not know there is a body of knowledge about what does and does not work in marketing professional services. A review of the marketing recommendations of Maister, Robert Bly, Alan Weiss and other experts reveals a recurring theme of what does and does not work in professional service firm marketing. My own 20 years of practical experience in marketing professional service firms supports these findings.
The best marketing for professional service firms is educational in nature. Here are the top 14 tactics that work, in order from the least to the most effective:

The inadequate seven

14. Cold calling — This should be done by a business development person, never a principal. Nothing says “trust me” like a cold call. A better approach is what I call warm calling, which is following up with seminar invitations.

13. CD-Rom or video brochures — These can be great lead conversion tools, but they cost too much for lead generation. Instead, stick the videos on your Web site.

12. Printed brochures — Again, don’t spend too much money up front to generate leads. Instead, create these as PDF files that Adobe Acrobat can read, and place them on your Web site.

11. Sponsorship of cultural/sports events — Being title sponsor of the right event can have an impact, but it is not the best use of lead generation dollars.

10. Advertising — Isn’t it ironic that none of the great advertising agencies built their clientele by advertising? However, if you specialize in an industry and they publish directories, it is always good to have your firm included.

9. Direct mail — This is the traditional direct mail of a letter and a printed piece, like a response card. Some accountants and financial planners have used this cost effectively, maybe offering a complimentary consultation (there is a much better form of direct mail; see tactic No. 1).

8. Publicity — While getting your name in the newspaper and trade journals is a cost-effective way to increase awareness about your firm, it doesn’t always translate into leads.

The magnificent seven

7. Paid ballroom seminars — Rent out the ballroom at the local Marriott or Hilton and charge for an all-day or half-day seminar. Participants should take away a substantial packet of good information from your firm (and a good meal, too).

6. E-Newsletters — This is the water drip torture school of marketing and the opposite of Spam. By signing up for your newsletter lists, prospects are telling you that they are interested in what you have to say but not ready for a relationship now. These people should receive valuable how-to information and event invitations from you on a monthly basis until they decide to opt-out of the list.

5. Networking and trade shows — An excellent way to gather business cards and ask for permission to include them on your e-newsletter list.

4. Community and association involvement — Everyone likes to do business with people they know, like and trust. You need to get involved and “circulate to percolate,” as one Ohio State University professor used to say.

3. How-to articles in client-oriented press — Better than any brochure is the how-to article that appears in a publication that your target clients read.

2. How-to speeches at client industry meetings — People want to hire experts, and an expert by definition is someone who is invited to speak. Actively seek out forums to speak and list past and future speaking dates on your Web site.

1. Free or low-cost small-scale seminars — The best proactive tactic you can employ is to regularly invite prospects by mail and e-mail to small seminars or group consultations. If your prospects are spread out geographically, you can do these briefings via the Internet (Webinars) or the telephone using a bridge line (teleseminars). These can’t be 90-minute commercials. You need to present valuable information about how to solve the problems that your prospects are facing, and then a little mention about your services.

Insurance Advertising – Discover How Independent Insurance Agents Generate Leads

Each day, more and more Insurance Agents are leaving the captive corporate world to venture into the realm of independent insurance agent. Rather than being locked into selling one major insurance carrier’s branded product line, they opt to offer a larger variety of policies, services and costs; coinciding with the demand of consumers wanting to have choices and options at competitive prices.

As we are well aware, this is no longer a “seller’s market”, but an “informed buyer’s”. People, in general, are armed with more information than ever before. So, how do you, the independent insurance agent, stand out from the other 100’s of agents in your city? What marketing avenues are available to you so that you capture the prospective buyer’s attention and convert them into a prospect and ultimately a long-term client? And which ones work?

Regardless of your target audience, whether you have niched your focus to be product specific, or if you are targeting a certain population segment; you need to investigate the various forms of advertising available to you, the costs of such programs and the pros and cons.

Below is a breakdown of the most commonly used forms of advertising for the independent insurance agency, and the pros and cons of each.

Television Advertising

As the average American spends more time in front of the television, it should be no surprise that this is one of the most sought after forms of marketing available.

Pros:

Ability to reach a larger and more diverse segment of the insurance seeking population

You can specify time of day and network, reaching your intended audience easier

Since most consumers are engaged by a combination of movement, color, what they see and what they hear, this gives most businesses a platform to achieve full sensory contact

Gives a business instant credibility and prestige

Cons:

Cost for the commercial air time and/or multiple runs

Cost for hiring a marketing agency to lay-out and film your insurance commercial

Consumer expectation – no longer are we impressed with someone reading off a teleprompt, they want to be entertained

Competition for the consumer’s attention

Popularity of digital recorders has increased, giving consumers the ability to fast-forward through commercials when watching their favorite shows

Many experts would agree that if you have the extra capital in your marketing budget to incorporate television into your advertising that you should. However, it is important that you research different advertising firms to help you explore your options with regards to creating your on-air advertisement, the best way to target your audience and keep within your planned budget.

Newspaper advertising and local weekly shoppers

With regards to print advertisements, some independent agents turn to local newspapers and weekly shoppers to advertise their agencies. Since many households either subscribe to at least one newspaper, or pick them up at their local newsstands, it is a fast and simple way to gain recognition by consumers.

Pros:

Ability to reach more than one target audience by placing various advertisements in the different sections of a newspaper

You have the choice of large or small circulation papers to advertise your insurance agency

Consumers who turn to the newspapers and weekly shoppers are looking for advertisers who offer deals or bargains

Multiple advertisement ad sizes to correspond with various budgets

Cons:

Newspapers and weekly shoppers are usually read once and discarded

Smaller advertisements have a more difficult time standing out when placed next to a larger ad

Quality of the print may distort images and photos in a way that can hurt your marketing rather than help

Ads, regardless of size, have to compete for the reader’s attention

Like television advertising, it would be prudent to consult with a professional marketing firm, preferably one that specializes in insurance marketing, to help you design an advertisement that best captures your targeted audience’s attention. The smaller the ad space the less detailed and complicated the ad should be.

Also keep in mind the days the most sought after papers and weekly shoppers are printed. The rates for a large advertisement over the weekend will be greater than the same sized ad featured all week long.

Billboards and Signs

While most forms of outdoor advertising are contained within billboards and large signage, some independent agencies have broadened the term to include park benches, posters and seat rails at public transit stops. This form of marketing has become a popular, less costly way, when compared with television and print advertising, to reach a larger audience in major metropolitan areas.

Pros:

Potential clients cannot simply discard or “turn off” outdoor advertising

Name recognition is higher with those consumers who walk or drive the same route each day

Billboards and signs vary in price due to size and location making it is easier to find one in your budget

Cons:

More often than not, outdoor advertisements do not fully engage a consumer’s attention for more than a few seconds

Advertisements have to be simple and interesting enough for the consumer to remember

Outdoor advertisements are usually contracted for a longer period of time than most independent agencies had anticipated securing them for

Posters and bench signs at public transit stops work well in major metropolitan areas where lower, middle and upper class alike share the same transportation systems, however, not as effective in areas where public transportation is not as common

If you feel various forms of outdoor advertising would be a compliment to your business and marketing plan, consider placement wisely. Consult many firms for input and advice on the best way to stretch your marketing dollar and how they can help you create eye-catching and simple designs for your sign.

Phone Book Directories

Since exposure to the advertisements in phone book directories is voluntary, meaning consumers actually turn to the phone book for its ads, this form of marketing for independent insurance agencies has become an industry standard.

Pros:

Certain targeted audiences utilize the phone book regularly to find businesses in their area

Many phone books also have an online directory giving agencies a more broad exposure

You can tailor your exposure to cover a large metropolitan area, or just the city you work in

Traditionally, consumers will keep a phone book versus discarding it like a newspaper

Cons:

Cost – as more consumers turn to the internet, the cost for print ads in the phone book has increased to cover profit loss

Marketing ineffectiveness – with so many insurance agencies buying ads, it becomes more difficult to capture the consumer’s attention, and once again, stand out from the 100’s of other agents in your market

There are so many phone books in which to advertise, which one do you choose to feature your agency

As with any form of advertising, be sure to read all the features and benefits that come with your paid advertisement. Does it include a featured ad online, or is that separate? What is the target area or audience of the phone book you are looking at? Is the cost monthly, quarterly or annual? Is there an automatic renewal clause or will you have the option of not renewing your contract? Where will your advertisement be placed in comparison to the other featured ads? Will someone employed by the phone book assist you with an eye catching advertisement, or do you have to hire a marketing agency to do that for you, and what is the cost?

Internet Advertising

Roughly 90% of all the households across the United States have access to the internet either at home, at work or at school; making advertising on the internet the fastest growing marketing medium for independent insurance agents. That household percentage goes even higher for those families with a combined income of $100k or more. However, internet advertising gaining its strength only in the last decade or so, there is still a lot an independent agent would need to research, as with any form of advertising, before making a financial commitment.

Pros:

Cost- you can spend much or as little as your budget allows

Levels the playing field – the internet gives the independent agent a chance to compete with the large insurance carriers with regards to search engine placement

Whether a web site, a PDF brochure, an affiliated network or a video; any and all forms of advertising can be featured and found on the internet

Advertisement exposure is voluntary. Only the websites relevant to a consumer’s online search will pull up for them to look at. Someone searching for insurance agents in their area are more often than not, looking for an agent to speak with

Cons:

People expect to be educated or informed by an agent’s personal website – having out-dated information or poor graphics can actually hurt your credibility

The ever changing internet – each of the major search engines change what they search for on websites constantly with regards to how well they rank. Staying on top of these changes can be very time consuming or expensive if you pay a firm to do this for you.

Fear of identity theft – consumers are becoming skeptical of entering their personal contact information online for fear they will have their personal information stolen or sold to telemarketing companies and be subject to unwanted emails or phone calls

There are so many options and services available to the independent insurance agent to effectively market themselves and attract more leads. The form of advertising you choose will depend largely on the audience you intend to target, the area in which you do business, and ultimately your budget. Be sure to ask questions. Know what you are getting and what you are not with whatever forms of marketing you decide to use.

5 Real Estate Marketing Options

Selling a house usually comes, as a result of a combination of curb appeal, location, pricing, marketing, negotiations, and a few other factors. This article will concentrate briefly, on some of the options, in terns of how houses might be marketed, why one might be better than another (in certain circumstances), cost factors, effectiveness, and usage. There is no such thing as only one way to market and sell a house. Years ago, real estate agents were heavily dependent upon newspaper advertising, and that’s where most prospective buyers looked for information. In today’s information – driven, digital society, much more data is readily available, and while there is still a place for newspaper advertising, it is not the premier way, most of the time. Let’s review 5 marketing options.

1. Direct verbal: This includes face – to – face, telephone calls, contacting a Realtor’s personal contacts, etc. The advantages include cost, and the ability to effectively communicate, articulate the home’s strengths and possibilities, and motivate individuals, to take a look. The disadvantage is, it’s time – consuming, and somewhat limiting!

2. Direct marketing: Some of these include using postcards, flyers, door hangers, for – sale signs, Open House signs, etc. Mailings have become somewhat costly, especially when you consider the relatively low transaction rate, but is often a good supplement, and a positive way to get the message out.

3. Print media: Print media includes newspapers, magazines, weekly circulars, and direct – to – home marketing pieces. These approaches may be somewhat expensive, and surveys indicate most of today’s buyers pay less and less attention to these, than in the past!

4. Digital (websites): When we ask attendees at Open Houses, how they heard about it, the predominant response is from some website. Many use MLS, Trulia, Zillow, realtor.com, or a larger agency’s own site. When listings are placed on Multiple Listing Service, many other Websites pick up the information, and include it on their sites, as well. There is a cost to this approach, but is probably the most bang – for – the – buck, in terms of marketing real estate, today!

5. Social Media: Social Media includes things like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc. The advantage is low or no cost, but there is still quite a bit of uncertainty, as to their effectiveness as a marketing tool, to sell a particular house.

The bottom line is, a real estate agent must know, understand, and use the best marketing tools available, to sell a particular house. Dependent on type, price, niche, location, etc, the options often vary.

Information Velocity: Traveling at the Speed of Digital

Web Hosting, Online News, and Information

In case you haven’t noticed, your morning newspaper is shrinking. The publishing and information dissemination techniques employed for the last 300 years are giving way to new technology – digital technology or the world wide web.

Go ahead, check this morning’s newspaper. Not one piece of information is “today.” It’s yesterday’s news. Sure, for local stories, newspapers still provide broader, more detailed coverage. And you get the sports news, comics, a crossword puzzle and a bunch of coupons that more than pay for the cost of the newspaper subscription.

But it’s still yesterday’s news.

Today, you can flip on the 24-hour news channel of choice and watch a car chase in California (why is it always California?) as it’s happening. Information is delivered immediately – at the speed of digital.

Or, there are numerous blogs and web sites that post news events as they happen, again beating traditional media in many cases. Today, people expect information that’s up to the minute. And they want it NOW!

What’s New?

Now, not all web sites require hourly news updates. Maggiesknittingsupplies.com probably doesn’t need up to the minute reportage from the world of knitting. I mean, how much changes from one day to the next?

But that doesn’t mean that Maggie should hire a copy writer for her site text, set her sales pitch and hope for the best. If she’s a savvy business women (let’s assume she is) providing articles on types of yarn, on-line lessons for beginners, information on other handiwork, visitors will continue to visit Maggiesknittingsupplies.com for the information and, at some point, make a purchase.

Let’s call this slow speed news.

It changes.
It encourages repeat visitors and builds a site community
It creates good will among members who actually bookmark the site as members of the “family.”
It establishes the authority of the site owner. You’re the teacher, guru or mentor.
It delivers a useful service to the visitor by educating her.
It pre-qualifies visitors be delivering a better-educated prospect ready to convert from browser to buyer.
It makes search engines happy.

Search engine bots visit your site regularly. In fact, you can tell search engines how often to crawl your site. Google’s default is once every 30 days but that’s an outside number. Most sites are crawled within seven days.

When the site is crawled, a snapshot is taken. This is the cached view that appears on search engine results pages. The cached view is what the search engine saw the last time the site was crawled, which could be two or three weeks ago.

And for many web site owners, changing text isn’t a critical factor to site success. You can program your site code to tell bots that text will never change. This way, you don’t get penalized for the lack of fresh content.

You see, when a search engine bot happens by and crawls your site, it compares the latest information on site to the cached view – the snapshot that was taken the last time the site was crawled. If the text is identical and you haven’t told the search engine that your site text won’t change (part of the HTML or XML coding used to actually create the presentation layer that people actually see), the site will lose rank in SERPs for out-dated content.

The reason? Search engines are in the business of delivering the most relevant links to the most relevant web sites based on the keywords entered by search engine users. Well, if nothing has changed on your “up to the minute stock market analysis” in two weeks, search engine algorithms file that in the negative ranking category and your SERPs link remains on page 154.

When was the last time YOU drilled down to page 154 of search engine results pages? Like never. Search engine users rarely go beyond the second or third page during a web search. If they don’t find the information or product they’re looking for on one of the top ranked web sites they often initiate another search using different keywords – which may place you on page 876 of Google’s SERPs since the prospect didn’t enter a keyword for which your site is optimized.

Who Needs to Be Current?

Well, any site can increase the velocity of information if the site owner is cleaver. Want some examples?

Okay, a blog can be created with a few clicks and you have an immediate outlet to deliver current news, occasional news, enable site visitors to reply to blog posts and build a community of loyal followers and customers.

A local restaurant, optimized for local search can post, not only the full menu, but that day’s specials. News every day, and the kind of news site visitors will use over and over before deciding on where to go for eats that night.

A certified financial planner can run real time stock prices to keep visitors on line all day. Or, these CFPs can post market gainers and losers, sales volume of movers and shakers and other financial news of interest to the CFA’s local client base.

An oil and gas junior can post real-time video of activity in the field. It’s like watching a realty show and it builds trust and confidence in the fledgling company.

5 Ways To Increase Information Velocity On Your Web Site

Add an RSS feed.

RSS stands for remote site syndication and it simply delivers news on a specific topic at the speed of digital. Maggie (of Maggiesknittingsupplies.com) could add an RSS feed because she enters the keywords for the information she wants delivered to her site visitors. Maggie enters “knitting” and she gets the latest in knitting news (I can only assume there must be some news in the fast-paced world of handcrafts).

You’ll need a feed aggregator that collects RSS feeds from different sources like Google, Yahoo news or the New York Stock Exchange. Expect to pay for some feeds, but there are plenty of freebies and even the paid RSS feeds are dirt cheap.

Add a Blog.

Blogs are great because they’re simple, enabling the site owner to update site content without calling the programmer.

Blog posts can be as current as right now. Hear something or read something and you can write up a 400 word post and tell your site visitors the latest.

Add live video feeds.

Live video feeds of the space walk, the chess tourney, the sports news – whatever topics that draw visitors to your site. Search for “live video feeds” using a search engine and simply link up to the feed. Takes a couple of clicks and your site is current.

Do note that bots are unable to spider video or graphics content. However, add an
HTML tag explaining to the bot what’s in the video feed and you’ll get a little extra credit.

Add real time updates within the topicality of your site.

One smart site owner at confidenttrader.com sells a microcap stock picking service. He keeps a portfolio of stocks that any visitor can see. No “opt-in” required.

Each day, the stock prices in the portfolio are updated, providing the site owner’s subscribers and prospects immediate updates to their own portfolio of stocks that parallel the owner of confidenttrader.com.

This keeps site visitors coming back every day to check their own portfolios because all of the relevant information as been aggregated into a single page of a web site – a real time saver.

Now, this kind of information isn’t free to the micro-cap stock site owner. He pays for the service but he also delivers a valuable service to his subscribers and the cost of the latest information is built into the subscription price.

This daily update draws repeat visitors, provides complete transparency (a trust builder), creates good will and entices subscribers to sign up for the Confident Trader’s picks. Win-win.

Add new site text.

Add informational articles to your web site and create a site archive section. When a bot stops by and compares your current site information with the cached view and sees all that new, fresh, juicy, “green” content, you move up in rank because the search engine determines that you’re providing good information regularly.

If you can’t write, hire a copy writer to populate your web site and blog with new content a few times a week. You’ll quickly discover the cost versus benefits equation tips in your favor.

Or write a few lines on what’s going on in your industry – an upcoming seminar, symposium or trade show. In other words, keep your site visitors up to date with the latest news.

This establishes your credibility and the fact that you’re plugged in to the latest news. And guess what…

…thanks to you, so are your readers.

What You Never Knew About Resume Writing

In 2011, almost all resume writers have failed to understand that nearly all resumes are written online. Simply knowing this can give the job seeker an amazing advantage.

For instance, a mere 30% of website readers scroll down on any given web page. Therefore, the job applicant can have 2, 3 or even 100 pages, but it doesn’t matter if they don’t get the most important information to the top.

Moreover, the Western world reads left to right, obviously starting on the top left starting with the upper left corner.

Because of this, the resume writer must widen out the margins and make more room on the top and bottom of the document as well. They should covet the top left of their resume and make sure to fill it with quite compelling content that is aimed to hook the reader’s attention.

They should never put their name in fancy font.

If you look at any major news website, they always have a small logo on top. That’s because it’s very important advertising real estate to the company. Advertisers, regardless of size, want that ad.

When newspapers were printed years ago, they had very large, well-designed logos that had lines in them.

It used to be that half the newspaper homepage was a newspaper logo. Not any more. For the most part, the online news companies have been humbled, or lived to survive as a company another day.

Moreover, the resume writer never wants to put lines in their document. Studies have shown that lines cut off the website reader’s vision. It is almost like a stop sign.

With this knowledge, a resume should start with:

(.5 margin will typically still print)

Bob Smith                            bsmith@....

1234 Anyroad                      777-7777-7777

Anytown, USA

Objective:

After breaking my employer’s sales record two out of four years that I’ve been with the firm, I have decided that my strength truly lies in branding and advertising.

While I still want the consistent people interaction as I enjoy account management in sales but, I want to be able to take a product or service and help the company that I’m with tactically beat their competition through pristine marketing.

Strengths:

Branding, Advertising, Account Management, Web Marketing, Ezine Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Print Marketing

The job seeker got a lot in within 2 sentences. They are taking full advantage of the laws of website reading.

Just by glancing at these 50 or so words, the employer is probably relieved that the person has all the skills that they are looking for. There’s also a chance they will just take a quick glance down, be satisfied and contact the job seeker.

Another thing to notice regarding the above written sample resume is how nothing is too fancy with the format in the resume. The resume writer wants to keep things simplistic.

Conversely, if the job seeker doesn’t want to be questioned about a job on the phone interview, they should put a separating line in their resume. Lines cut the readers vision off. This is precisely why there are no virtually lines on the NYTimes homepage.

For example, let’s say the job seeker has had 3 jobs in their career, but they don’t like the 2nd job too much. Here is a good trick to nearly ensure that the resume reader will not focus on it:

______ (small line)

Job 1: XYZ Company

(here you want to pad with details, thus pushing the second job down the page and lowering the risk that potential employer will look at it)

Pad

Pad

Pad

Pad

Pad

__________________ (bigger line this time making it look simply like a design)

Job 2:

The moment you begin tweaking your resume for the web reader, is the moment you get in for the interviews that you want instead of the interviews that underpay and only want you.

Network Marketing – Cross-border Recruiting Tactics For the Avantgarde

Network marketing is perhaps, in my estimation, the best way I know of that can make you money both online and off long-term. Getting rich quick is just a pipe dream. Anybody that promises you overnight wealth (especially for doing nothing) is a big fat liar! That said, what I do like about multi-level marketing is the long-term residual income potential that CAN be realized if you PERSIST and keep on recruiting and helping your team grow with the business. In this article I want to share a couple of useful tips I have picked up along the way. I’m hoping that these little handy insider tips (I wouldn’t call them secrets!) can help motivate existing network marketers into taking that leap into the stratosphere – like I did; and to those still searching for a home-based business opportunity, well, maybe this can help you decide?

Let’s face it, there are markets out there that are tough to crack. The reasons can be anywhere from widespread skepticism in all things MLM; or just a prevailing lack of hunger to come out of the gutter. I don’t know. But people build barriers around themselves sometimes — as a safety mechanism. My first port of call – if I were to advise you on this, is to take a close look at your geographical location and to gauge its receptiveness to this opportunity. There are, of course, a myriad of ways you can do this, but my absolute favorite is running classified ads in local newspapers. Believe me when I tell you, I have recruited THOUSANDS of new affiliates off the newspapers. Online prospecting doesn’t even come close! And this is coming from a man with 10 years experience in online marketing, and yet I still prospect the old fashioned way. Old is gold as they say. And if you’re not making any headway, consider looking abroad. Yes! You heard that right. Find newspapers abroad, write to them with a sample of your ad and ask for a quote. It really is that easy. Thanks to the Internet!

Most MLM programs provide you other offline promotional tools like calling cards, flyers, postcards, business cards and so forth. If you want to do the rounds prospecting offline (and online), there’s usually everything you need in your program’s back office. And here’s another pointer: stay in touch with the people you recruit into the business. Again, many programs will give a form of Contact Manager facility with which to reach your entire downline through their built-in genealogy communication system. I use this at least once every single week to disseminate information and to assist and keep my downline motivated. Blogs are great; forums are great; but I’ve found creating mini eBooks (5 to 10 pages long) on PDF to be extremely effective… because you can isolate the information under different topics / headlines to help them focus on a particular project or idea you have in mind for growing their business; and eBooks are so easy to pass on. You can go viral very quickly with this strategy. I simply love it!

Any online network marketing business can grow exponentially with a little determination, persistence and tenacity. You can’t go wrong if you really want it to happen and especially when you think outside the box and do your best to help others on your team succeed with the program. Just allow yourself to drift into your creative zone without fear of failure or retribution. I’m sure you will, eventually, find what works for you, and when you duplicate that through your downline organization, your entire team stands to benefit… and your bottom line, of course.

Twitter Marketing Your Business to Increase Sales – The Right Way

You’ve hear it before-adjust your message to your audience. It’s a trite saying, but what does it mean and how do you do it? Furthermore, if you have that part down pat and are not adjusting your marketing to capture your target audience’s eyes and ears you have missed the boat entirely.

There’s nothing worse than giving a talk to a group of ten-year-olds that was written for the scientific community. In effect, that is exactly what you are doing if you fail to target your message to your audience. The result of your speech falls on cement and the bottom line-you wasted a ton of time and energy, both yours and your audience’s to boot. While adjusting your message is vital to the success of any business, without adjusting your marketing as well your business will flounder and fail.

First, sit down and figure out who your target audience is. Where do they hang out? Do they still search the Yellow Pages or are they adept at using the online search engines? Do they get their news from the newspaper or TV, or do they get their news online? Do they read digital information products or in-hand books and magazines? What about Twitter, Facebook and the like? Once you have this information you will better understand the makeup of your target market. This will enable you to create a marketing campaign that will result in increased recognition and sales.

Now that you know where they hang out the next step is to use the mediums they prefer to market to them in a way that is compelling and clearly demonstrates how to take advantage of your product or service. Just knowing where to find them is a help but using these mediums incorrectly can be just as damaging as not using them at all-maybe even more so.

If you don’t know where to start, begin by following your competition around. Look at what they are using to market their businesses and how they present their case. This will tell you much about what works and what doesn’t. Try to glean from their advertising tidbits to help you better create your marketing message.

One such online medium that is gaining popularity among the 20 plus crowd is Twitter. Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central puts it this way, “Social media offers new opportunities to activate…brand enthusiasm.” So, if your audience hangs out on Twitter, then you too should be twittering. However, don’t just post inane messages and thus waste your time and theirs. Don’t just shout your message out, you could ultimately damage your reputation and repel your target audience all together.

Begin by listening to what your target audience is saying about your company or industry. Listen carefully and they will tell you what they want and need. Then gear your marketing message towards fulfilling those gaps. You may find that just offering direction or advice will cause them to sit up and take notice of you so that they are prepared to listen when you tell them how to fill their needs. My advice to you, be truthful, timely and most importantly, fun.

Once you have their trust you may be surprised how quickly they help you spread the word with what is known as re-tweets. Now you have a whole new set of avid fans who will take your message even further than you could dream of doing by yourself. Remember, it’s all about creating a ‘buzz’.

Use your knowledge to enlighten your audience and then offer an easily accessible solution. Be direct and clear as to how to obtain the help you are offering. Don’t take them down a path to your product or service. Rather, tell them exactly where to go to obtain it, not more information about it. Yes, you may also want to include a link to more information, but for those who don’t need it, don’t waste their time-you risk losing them along the way.

Is Green Web Hosting The Future of The Web? Count On It

Is Green Web Hosting The Future of The Web? Count On It. Internet Future: Green Web Hosting

The world wide web runs on electricity, though we don’t usually think about it. But the fact is, without electricity you wouldn’t be reading this. You’d hunker down in front of the fireplace and read the newspaper by the dim light of a lamp fueled by whale oil. Sound like fun?

It wasn’t. It was actually pretty boring compared to today’s instant information available only on the W3. If it happens any where – from Teheran to Terre Haute, it spreads virally across the digital landscape in seconds. That news bit also gobbles up electricity like nobody’s business.

So, is green hosting the wave of the future web? Yes. And if you aren’t riding the crest of that wave, you’ll be left behind in the digital dust. An energy munching web site is sooo “last millennium.”

The Ever Expanding World Wide Web

Some facts about green hosting:

There are more than 125 million web sites on line today.
Each day, 6,000 new web sites launch, carrying with them the dreams and visions of web-preneurs looking to become the next Amazon.
Each web site sits on a server that requires electricity to run it and cool it. That requires a lot of electricity.
The electricity bill for a successful web host would make a grown man cry. It’s HUGE. Many web hosts pay thousands of dollars monthly to keep their servers juiced.
The consumption of electricity used by web hosts doubled in just five years.
With the advent of Web 2.0 features like videos, VoIP, streaming TV and other “must-haves,” the web will only expand the demand for more and more electricity.
Experts suggest that energy consumption by web hosts will continue to double every five years and studies show these web pros are actually being conservative. Some “green” bloggers suggest the amount of electricity consumed by web hosts will double every 30 months.
Energy consumption to power the W3 grows exponentially, doubling then quadrupling and so on. The demand for power from web hosts will increase at a phenomenal rate.
As the world wide web grows in both size and features, web site owners will require increasing amounts of bandwidth to avoid long download times.

What Are Web Hosts and Why Do They Gobble Up Energy?

Conduct a Google search of web hosts and see what pops up.

You’ll get 149,000,000 search results for web hosts. Now, not all of these SERP links are for actual web hosts. Some are for reviewing sites (that use web hosts), blogs about web hosts (that use a web host to get their blogs out to the masses) and even SERPs links to sellers, resellers and re-re-sellers of hosting services.

Hosting is a commodity on the web. You or I can buy space from a web host and open up our own hosting company. The mother host provides all the tools and support you need to build your own hosting company in the basement office. (The one that floods occasionally. Ooops.)

A web host can be a kid down the street or it can be a huge, physical plant with chipheads tending to racks of servers, customer support taking calls from subscribers and office people tending to routine business matters – like paying the electric company.

What’s a server? Well, in simplest terms, a server is not much more than a humongous hard drive in a box. Your web site (or future web site) resides on one of these server hard drives, along with hundreds of other web sites. Today, server disk space is measured in terabytes.

What’s a terabyte? A measurement of bits and bytes on steroids. A terabyte is the equivalent of 1,000 gigabytes. More dramatically, a terabyte equals 1,000,000,000,000 bytes or 10 to the 12th power of bytes.

That brand new computer you just bought MIGHT have a 500 gigabyte hard drive. A server has dozens of terabytes of storage. It also has tons of RAM (128 gigabytes of RAM isn’t unusual) so that the server can deliver the bandwidth required for fast downloads of all the sites stored on that server.

In other words, web hosting companies consume a lot of electricity with rack upon rack of servers all sucking up electricity from the grid.

Facebook, alone, employs 30,000 servers as of October, 2009 and that number grows daily as more and more of us connect through this social media site. Amazon employs thousands of servers. Microsoft, Verizon and all of your other favorite sites employ thousands of servers strung together in arrays,

In other words, there are millions of servers storing terabytes of information available to you on the W3. Yep, even your little blog gobbles up electricity.

Green Hosting

So, even though we may not think about energy consumption when we stake a claim to some digital real estate, build and launch web site, we are adding to the demand for more and more electricity.

Now, along comes green hosting – hosting companies that employ “green” technology to lower the demand for electricity generated by coal- and gas-fired electricity generation plants. These businesses recognize that green hosting is inevitable as energy costs rise and we continue to pump tons of air-borne pollutants into the atmosphere every day.

Things ain’t going to get better, folks, unless our corporate culture does an about face and stops drawing down available energy. Major cities, like Los Angeles and Phoenix, already experience rolling blackouts as parts of the energy grid are shut down for a while. New York City broadcasts “please turn off your air conditioners” on the hottest summer days and brown-outs are almost routine.

Green hosting is leading the way in how U.S. businesses conduct on-line business by employing green sources of energy to power their servers.

A green host doesn’t add to the demand for more electricity from traditional sources. Instead, these far-sighted companies employ new technology – solar power, wind power, deep core earth energy, hydro-electric (where available) and bio-fuels that can be regenerated with another harvest of corn.

But there’s a lot more to web hosting than just storing web sites on gigantic hard drives. It’s not just about ROM. It’s also about RAM, which translates into the speed at which your web site interacts with site visitors. It better be fast. Studies reveal that 90% of us will sit through a 10-second download while only 10% will sit through a 30-second download. We’ve become that impatient.

From a site owner’s perspective, that stat translates into a loss of 80% of your prospects in that 20-second download window. So you want more RAM, more bandwidth and unfettered access to the server’s CPU and other shared assets – server parts you share with other sites.

Hosts employ the latest in fiber optic technology, they boost RAM and deliver quick downloads even quicker. Green web hosts do this without further straining the energy system that we rely on to log on, watch TV and cook dinner by using non-traditional resources to power up your web site whenever a site visitor stops by.

Cool It

In addition to delivering more bandwidth to you and your site visitors, and easier access to the server’s CPU, servers need to be cooled.

Even your PC pumps out a lot of heat and heat is the enemy of all those circuit boards, CPUs and other electronics inside the box. Now multiply that by thousands – tens of thousands of servers all humming along pumping out heat. To keep these servers happy, they need to be cooled.

Traditional hosts add to the demand for more energy by cooling servers with cold air. The server room in a hosting company is kept cool – so cool you could probably store sides of beef in there if the racks of servers didn’t take up so much space. That cooling requires energy and plenty of it.

Green hosts, once again, employ state-of-the-art tech to cool those thousands of servers. They use cold water, flushed through a water-tight system, to cool the server room, lessening the demand for more and more cold air from the local coal-burning energy plant.

Make a Statement: We’re Green

Getting a little recognition on the W3 is hard, even in a niche market (especially in a niche market). You have less than 10 seconds to convince a site visitor to stick around long enough to learn about the quality of your services, your products or your message. Web surfers are jagged out on information overload. If they don’t see what they want to see on your home page or a landing page, they bounce.

So, making a statement about your corporate culture and your business’ core values has to happen in the blink of an eye. Visitors will never even see the “About Us” page if you don’t create a good impression – in 10 seconds!

An emblem or banner proclaiming that you employ green hosting makes an immediate statement about your on-line business. It says you care about the environment. It says you care about the future of the planet and our children and grandchildren who will populate Earth 25, 50 or 100 years from now.

That “green” badge of honor also bestows a cache of cutting edge tech-iness. You get it. Your on-line business uses green hosting because you recognize the importance of this fledging movement.

There aren’t a lot of green hosts even today. However, more hosts will soon recognize that green is the only way to go. And those few green hosts out there now?

They’re making a statement about their business culture – a statement that passes on to your business when you display a green host emblem or banner.

Who said it isn’t easy being green? Today, green hosting makes a statement about you and your business – a positive statement.

And with less than 10 seconds to make a good first impression, that “green” host emblem goes a long, long way in making the right statement quickly.

Yep, we get it. We’re green. Stick around and learn more.

The Cost of Quality Green Web Hosting: How Much For What?

The Cost of Green Web Hosting

The world wide web (W3) is a vast frontier for those within whom the web-preneurial spirit burns brightly. To open a brick and mortar business on Main Street is going to cost a pile of capital, and in this economy, who wants a second (or third) mortgage to roll the dice and fund a new gift shop downtown.

The web, on the other hand, provides all the tools you need to build and grow a business for just a few bucks a month. And, each year, the W3 becomes a more robust marketplace. In 1999, fewer than 10% of us purchased goods or services on line. In 2010, it’s projected that 60% of us will make at least one purchase on line – and that number is only going to increase. Want proof?

Take a look at your local newspaper, The Morning Rag. It ain’t what it used to be. Print, delivered to your newspaper tube, is in its death throes with advertising dollars (that’s where the money is) down 25% in ’09 alone, while the web saw a 15% increase in revenue dollars. The point? Advertisers go where the buyers go and a 40% spread from traditional print outlets to an easy-to-build, easy-to-use web site is clear evidence that buyers are employing the web more and more to buy everything from clothes to carpeting to refrigerators.

And even if you do have a store front in town, web users employ digital assets for everything from comparison shopping to snagging a printable set of directions to your store from your web site. The integration between real and virtual marketing has proved to be a boon for small, local businesses thanks to the development of local search.

Type in to your Google search box “pizza” and your zip code and see what pops up. You’ll see a Google map with pushpins showing the location of all the pizza places in town. Move your cursor over any push pin and a complete description of that pizza shop pops up with address and telephone number so you can call in your order. (Hold the anchovies, please!) And the pizza shop owner makes another sale.

So, whether you’re a budding entrepreneur selling grommets by the kilo or a well-established, local business, the world wide web is your oyster. It’s how you’ll grow your business to profitability faster by reaching the very people who are looking for you, your products and service offerings.

And all for $10 a month. You can’t beat that with a stick.

The Cost of Quality on the W3: Lots for Cheap

There are free web hosts, low-ball web hosts and quality web hosts that deliver a satchel of freebies for less than $10 a month – the cost of a couple of fast food lunches.

Now, you could go with a freebie but, as in all things, you get what you pay for. Free web hosting companies place their ads on your site, and you have no control over what’s going to appear. In fact, the host may actually place ads for competitors on YOUR free web site. So NOT cool.

The low-ball web hosts – the ones that give you a little disk space and their best wishes – might cost $3-4 a month. Not bad, but what do you get for your measly few bucks. Not much, and if you don’t know HTML code from an area code, you won’t get very far very fast, even though you save a few pesos each month.

A Competitive Marketplace Keeps Prices Down – Good For You

So what do you get when you go with a quality host? Well, a larger bill each month – but not by much. A quality hosting company charges less than $10 a month – $6 more than the low-ball sites. Six bucks more. So what do you get for that extra few bucks?

More disk space – sometimes 2-3 times more disk space.

More bandwidth for faster interactions with site visitors.

A tool kit that includes templates (thousands of them), a free shopping cart and checkout, a blog and bulletin board module that bolts on to your site with a click – seamlessly.

24/7/365 toll-free customer service. Call any time. Somebody’s working on their web site somewhere day, night and in-between.

Easily accessible tech support. It’s nice to talk to someone NOW when you’re having a problem, or just have a simple question. And when problems do arise (they do, sometimes) you want your trouble ticket handed off to a techie and you want the problem fixed – yesterday. Like it never happened.

Uptime. If your site’s server is off-line, your business is off line. And, if you happen to get spidered while your site is “down,” guaranteed you’re going to get slammed by Google. Search engines don’t send users to inaccessible sites. So what do you look for? How about an uptime that exceeds 99.9%? How about uptime of 100%? You’re site is always up, even when the power is down in your server location!

Server-side security. The freebie hosts don’t pay a whole lot of attention to server-side security. They make they’re money placing ads on your site. And those low-ball sites have to cut corners somewhere and that somewhere is often server side security.

A quality host employs numerous layers of security to protect your digital assets: hardwired firewalls, algorithmically encrypted anti-spyware and anti-virus software, caged servers, locked server rooms and back-up power generation.

Hand holding. Probably more important to the first-time web site builder than the long-time vet of the web wars for site recognition. A quality hosting company recognizes the value of YOUR success. That’s how a good hosting company builds a solid client base, reducing operating costs. It costs 10x as much to find a new client as it does to keep an existing client happy so smart hosting company management takes your business seriously.

You got a question in the middle of the night? You need someone to walk you through the migration of your current site to a better quality host? Well, you want a human to answer the phone and help you plan your strategy, whether building from scratch or moving an existing site uptown.

Starting to get the picture? Yeah, you can save a few bucks and go with a free hosting service, but you won’t be happy after a few months. You also won’t see the site traffic that ultimately leads to web success.

Or, you can go with the cheapie sites but be prepared to install your own multi-layers of security software. You’ll also pay a few hundred bucks for site building software – money that could be used to market your start-up. Oh, and don’t expect a toll-free number for customer or tech support. These low-tiered hosts usually respond by email only. (Not so good when your site has vanished overnight and you don’t have a clue why.)

The bottom line is your bottom line. Web hosting is a highly competitive market segment. There are thousands of hosts from which to choose. But a quality hosting company is based on a client-centric corporate culture, recognizing that the success of its clients will, in the end, determine the success of the web host. It’s just, plain smart business.

The fact is, for a few extra bucks a month – chump change – you can partner with a hosting company that’s as interested in your on-line success as you are. These companies recognize that their long-term success is tied to the success of your web site. In effect, your web host becomes a partner in your web-based growth to profitability. These web hosts have clients who stay put.

These are the site owners who form a stable client base for the web host.

These are the site owners who recognize the value delivered for the cost of a couple of double bacon cheeseburgers.

Spend those few extra dollars and don’t be pound wise and penny foolish. You get what you pay for with web hosting.

In fact, you get a lot more than what you pay for when you choose a quality web host. Go with quality if you truly care about your business.

This is the one place YOU don’t have to cut corners, so pay the few bucks and get a bag o’ benefits for that small change. Success on the web is far from guaranteed, but you increase your chances for success when you pick a quality green web hosting service with which to partner.

Give yourself a break. Give yourself every advantage. Give yourself a better chance to achieve success on-line.

It’s money very well spent.