Archive for August, 2009
How To Get Traffic By Recycling Your Content
While there are many effective ways to get more traffic and build your email newsletter list the one Ive had the MOST success with is to submit articles for use on other peoples websites and in their ezines.
But wait a minute you say. Arent I supposed to be creating great articles for MY OWN ezine?
Yes you are! And after your article appears in your OWN ezine you should then submit it to others. Over the past few years Ive found this to be the best way to get traffic build my list and increase my sales for five reasons:
1 You can quickly gain FREE exposure to TENS OF THOUSANDS or even HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of untapped prospects at a time. There are many hightraffic sites and ezines with high readerships that are looking for content from people like YOU.
2 Articles let you educate and share good information with your prospects. They also position you as an expert in their eyes so theyll think of YOU as the most respected resource in your field. Traditional ads dont do that for you.
3 You have the right to promote yourself your business and whatever else you want at the end of every article. And anyone using your article must keep this information intact. More on that in a minute.
4 This is a triedandtrue method that will NEVER stop working unlike the latest and greatest gimmicks to spoof the search engines. Try one of those and see how quickly your traffic halts once the bottom drops out. Search engines love real content and will always love real content.
5 Its EASY and anyone can do it!
HERES HOW TO GET STARTED
1. PICK A WINNER
Browse through your archives and pick an insightful article that really showcases your expertise. Or if this is new to you write a basic article on your subject of expertise. Not a good writer or need help? Hire a writer from Elance.com.
2. POLISH IT TIL IT SHINES
Publishers will not be interested in your article if it contains typos misspelled words grammatical errors or inactive Web links these goofs would compromise the integrity of their publications. So make sure its Kosher!
3. ADD A COPYRIGHT NOTICE
At the end of the article insert a copyright notice dated when you first published the article. Example: 2005 Alexandria K. Brown
4. WRITE A JAZZY RESOURCE BOX
In exchange for your letting other publishers reprint your article its customary to require they include the contact information you provide. This is usually called the resource box and it should come RIGHT after your copyright notice. Heres where you can ham it up.
Dont waste time promoting your actual business in the resource box. Why? Remember your 1 goal is always to get prospects on your LIST. Youll gain MORE clients and customers by FIRST getting them to subscribe to your FREE ezine or special report. THEN youve got them! Youll be in front of them regularly and thats when theyll understand why they should hire you or buy your products.
5. SUBMIT YOUR ARTICLE TO ONLINE CONTENT DIRECTORIES
There are hundreds of free content Web sites and announcement lists where you can submit your articles for other publishers to use. Some even let you include a picture and other information about your website. One of my favorites is EzineArticles.com.
6. SUBMIT YOUR ARTICLE DIRECTLY TO APPROPRIATE PUBLISHERS
For best results take the bull by the horns and contact publishers directly. But not just any publishers ones with ezines that accept articles AND whose readers are your ideal clients and customers. A great place to start your search and build your own list is Charlie Pages Directory of Ezines.
7. AUTOMATE THE ENTIRE PROCESS
I know youre probably thinking right now OK Ali this sounds great but isnt this going to be time consuming?
The answer is most definitely YES. In the past youd have to spend several hours a week just to get one article out there. Its a lot of administrative work requiring time that you probably dont have.
But my friend Jason Potash has just released his brand new ARTICLE ANNOUNCER software that does all this work FOR you. It blasts out your articles to hundreds of directories publishers and other sources to help generate a slew of web visitors to your site month after month.
My staff and I have tested Jasons Article Announcer product and wholeheartedly recommend it. I urge you to see Jasons information page NOW and grab your own copy before the price goes UP in just a few days.
Remember also that if you dont want to do any of your own article marketing yourself its a perfect task to pass on to an assistant intern or freelancer. The key is getting it down to a SYSTEM which is what this software helps you do.
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;For more useful tips hints please browse for more information at our website:
http://www.newbiescopywriting.com
http://www.articlewriting.reprintarticlesite.com
How To Make A Gift Basket
We will discuss and examine the gift items below. They can be purchased from local stores.
1 Purchase a basket large enough to hold the gifts you want to give. Explore ideas regarding alternative containers for gifts.
2 Purchase a major gift for the focal point of the basket. Such things as a nice mug a plush animal a pretty plate or frame make nice focal points. Explore ideas of other possibilities for focal points.
3 Purchase an odd number of minor gifts 3 5 7 etc. to compliment the focal point gift.
4 Purchase other inexpensive filler gift items from the dollar shop to fill the basket. This also creates a full basket look Such items as a notepad puzzle book or novel containers of treats or other trinkets to give structure to the basket. Make sure they will coordinate with color scheme and theme of the other items.
5 Purchase shredded paper excelsior easter basket grass or some other filler to place in the basket to lift products up and above the edge of the basket. This creates a full basket look.
6 Purchase cellophane paper for wrapping the basket. Explore ideas about other wrapping material such as netting lace tulle etc.
7 Purchase ribbon to make a decorative bow. Or purchase a premade bow.
8 Use enhancements such as fern leaves silk flowers balloons or a floral sprayetc. Whatever you like. These items are added to the bow for your unique and creative look.
9 Create or purchase a gift tag or greeting card.
Step 2. Arrange the supplies in order of assembly:
1 Materials for contructing the basket above
2 Basket and basket filler
3 Main focal point gift
4 Minor coordinating gifts
5 Filler gifts
6 Cellophane and ribbon to tie closed
7 Ribbon bow enhancements
8 Gift tag or card
Step 3. Construct the gift basket:
1 Place basket filler excelsior shredded paper etc. in basket to the level of the sides. Be sure to pack it down so it is sturdy enough to hold the gift contents.
2 Place the focal point gift in the center front of the basket.
3 Place coordinating gifts around the focal gift where you think you may like them.
4 Add extra basket filler under coordinating items to elevate them even more.
5 Add each item and secure them to their nearby item with some tape or small spot of glue.
6 Place your filler gifts all around and rearrange how you like them before securing them.
7 Cut some cellophane wrap that is long and wide enough to surround the basket and have extra at the top when tied together. You may need to do a practice wrap to see how much to cut.
8 Gather the cellophane up around the basket. Try to keep the pleats neat as you bring it up. Use some ribbon to tie a knot around the cellophane gathered at the top of the basket.
9 Cut the ends of the cellophane with scissors. Cut straight across about 35 inches above the ribbon knot. Then fan out the cellophane above the ribbon knot.
10 Cut some ribbon long enough to tie around the first ribbon and have long tails after tied. At the 2 ends of ribbon cut away a triangle shape from the center to make the ends have tails. Now you are ready for the bow.
Step 4. Create the decorative bow
1 Create a bow or use a premade bow
2 Add the floral or greenery enhancements to the sides of the bow and secure with glue. Build up each side evenly and as dramatically as possible.
3 Add the other decorative items you chose for the bow and secure with glue.
4 When your decorative bow looks nice to you then you are done.
5 Secure the decorative bow using glue tape or ribbon to the front of the gift basket at the top. Make sure to cover the ribbon knot you made earlier. Nestle the bow just below the cellophane fan at the top.
*Look for our report on Creating a Decorative Bow . . .
email us for more info:
bridget.moutongmail.com
Step 5. Personalize the gift basket
Personalize the tag or card and attach to gift basket. Nestle the tag or card at the bow trying not to cover the front of the basket. The focal gift and decorative bow should be the center of attraction.
Step 6. Preserve your work
Take a picture of the basket
Start a scrapbook of your creations
Step 7. Your basket is ready to give or sell
If your basket looks like something you would like to recieve . . . you are done.
Word of caution: Do not fall in love and keep it for yourself.
**Look for our information report on Gift Basket Kits.
Buy the kits assembly yourself.
All the contents you need to create
a professional looking gift basket.
email us for more info:
bridget.moutongmail.com
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Bridget is a provider of crafts gifts and fun work at home opportunites.
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A Simple Innovation Process
If you want what may be the simplest innovation process here it is: Find the things that others are not doing well or just not doing. Once you identify these deficiencies design a better service or product based on what customers really want. Then sell it.
For example there was an article in Forbes magazine recently on a Japanese company called Kumon that teaches kids around the world how to read and write and do basic math. They have over a thousand centers in the United States alone with 194000 students. They do almost no advertising yet keep growing rapidly.
Now you might wonder why with universal public education in the U.S. a Japanese company can do so well teaching the basics. The answer is simple enough: The public schools don’t do it very well in many places. Blame it on modern educational theories “feel good” grading distracted children or whatever but the public system doesn’t do as good a job as parents would like. Many of them are willing to pay the relatively small amount it takes to get their kids educated properly Kumon charges less than 120 per twomonth course.
Some just want their kids to get further ahead. The federal No Child Left Behind Act pushes schools to spend resources on lowscoring students so potential high achievers don’t get as much help as they might. Kumon teaches math without calculators phonetic reading and essentially stresses rote learning of the basics. Whatever they are doing it seems to work.
Innovation Potential Where To Look
Of course government services are a great place to look for deficiencies that could suggest innovative new businesses. For example employment services are not particularly good at getting people back to work and unemployment systems are often abused. Perhaps there is a need for a subscriptionbased employment company. Customers pay a monthly fee while working and if they lose their jobs they’re provided either a new job or an unemployment check.
Government services sometimes do no more than provide information and then require the unemployed worker to press a button on the phone to indicate that he or she did in fact look for work that week. A private service would have the incentive to find the person a job if the company otherwise had to continue paying out unemployment. They would also require that the worker take a job that is offered or lose their benefits. I’ll bet that would cut unemployment in half in some areas.
Many people have tried to deliver mail in busy cities sometimes by bicycle. They have usually done so much more efficiently than the post office until they were unfortunately shut down by the government. You can apply this basic innovation process in many areas of government services.
Look at private businesses too. There are often services that are deficient or incomplete not only in a given company or two but in whole industries. For example I recently installed a blog on one of my websites. Actually my wife did the installation. It would have taken me five days but it took her only five hours. But this was software that promised “easy five minute installation” and was perhaps the easiest in the industry even at five hours. Now I hate spending time on supposedly “easy” things like that. If someone actually made an easy one that’s an innovation that I would have paid for.
One way to start this innovation process then is to start listening for complaints. If you hear the same complaint about a product or service over and over there’s a market for something better. You can begin with your own complaints and frustrations and see if they are shared by others. For example I hate a slow computer and many other people do as well. There are already “computer doctors” out there but maybe the innovation here would be a service that specializes in making your computer as fast as it can be. I just paid 50 for that to a traditional computer doctor but I would have called the specialist if there was one and it could have been him as it turns out.
Also look for products and services or combinations of these that are not complete. We went to the vet with our cat recently and he did a great job but I had questions later and knew I would only get the receptionist if I called. It would have been nice if he had a website where we could get information and email questions to him. The time he spent on answering questions would almost certainly generate more business for him he could remind us to get that last round of shots we’ve been putting off. Maybe the innovation here would be a company that sets up such websites for all of the thousands of vets around the country.
Look for deficiencies. Look for “incomplete” services and products. Then design something better and make it happen. That’s a simple but effective innovation process.
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Copyright Steve Gillman. For more on Innovation plus inventions new product ideas business ideas story ideas political and economic theories deep thoughts and a free course on Creating New Ideas visit : http://www.999ideas.com