Want to get Better at your Marketing today?

For many service business owners, marketing can be a real mystery. We don’t really know exactly how it works. We’re not real sure about what works best for us. And probably because of some past frustrations, we’re not even sure where to start.

Most seem to at least have a notion of what’s involved in marketing…a web site, Yellow Pages advertising, brochures, direct mailings, networking, seminars, trade shows, etc.

But if that’s all it took, wouldn’t we all be attracting enough clients?

I’m sure you’ve tried one or more of these things at least to some degree. And I’m sure you’ve had at least some successes now and again. But are you able to make it work consistently for your business?

If not, what could be going on?

First, let’s agree to a definition of marketing. Here is my favorite one for small, service-based businesses:

“Marketing is the use of strategies to generate a constant supply of high-quality leads for your service business.” Simple to understand and speaks directly to the results we want.

OK, so doesn’t this definition take us right back to what we said we already knew about marketing… a web site, Yellow Pages advertising, networking, etc.? Well maybe, but first it’s important to understand why your current marketing activities aren’t producing consistent results.

Put your message and materials to the “So What?” test.

Start with your core marketing message. Pull out your most frequently used marketing tool and read it out loud. Put it to the “So What?” test.

After you read it out loud, is it possible that your intended audience could respond with… “So What?”… “Why do I care?”… or “What’s in it for me?” If your message doesn’t tell your intended audience what solutions you are providing to address their issues/problems/challenges, and how it relates to the benefits they’ll receive from your services, then a “So What?” response is exactly what you might expect.

Messages and materials that are all about who you are and the history of your company and what services you offer and why you’re so qualified to provide these services and how you partner with your clients to achieve superior results, etc. are likely to fail the “So What?” test.

Challenge all of your current marketing materials. Remember, it’s the intended audience that counts. What’s in it for them? Why should they care?

Listen, if your marketing is consistently generating all the high-quality leads you can handle, then don’t change a thing. But if you haven’t quite figured out how to generate a constant supply of leads for your service business, then you owe it to yourself to challenge your current marketing tools by putting them to the “So What?” test.

Try these ideas:

1. Challenge all of your marketing tools that aren’t contributing to consistently generate leads for your service business - even the ones that have worked in the past. Could you improve the message and get a higher return? Put it to the “So What?” test.
2. Try the X’s and O’s test (especially with the last letter you wrote). Mark an X every time your marketing piece mentions your name, company name, or the words “I” or “me”. Mark and O every time it mentions the prospects name, company name, or the word “you” or “your”. If the X’s outnumber the O’s, rewrite it before using it again.
3. Try gathering up a group of people you can trust to give you very honest feedback. You’re not just looking for proof readers, but individuals who will give you honest feedback on whether your materials pass the “So What?” test.
4. Be prepared for some negative feedback, but more importantly, be prepared to do something about it.
5. Don’t just accept opinions, but try to get down to realistic response. For example: “I think this part is too wordy and detailed.” (opinion) versus “I got pretty lost and confused with the level of detail in this part.” (response).
6. Remember that it is the intended audience that counts. If it’s not clear who the message is intended for when it’s received, then how can it pass the “So What?” test.

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In recent years the blog phenomenon has swept the world. Nearly 4 out of 10 Americans reported having read a blog at least once in their life, and half that group reported reading blogs regularly. According to the associated press; internet users who regularly read blogs are far more likely to spend money online. With these statistics it is no surprise that generating blog profit with affiliate programs has become one of the leading passive income opportunities. Successful bloggers who write on topics they are passionate about can easily generate a very healthy passive income through blog profit, and most blog authors have a lot of fun doing it.

The first step in the blog profit process is to find a topic. George Bernard Shaw once said: “The man who writes about himself and his own time is the man who writes about all people and all time.” It is important to select a topic that you are very familiar with. Hobbies you are passionate about, the industry you work in, movie genres or sports that you really enjoy are all great places to start. If you are writing directly from your own experiences, readers will easily be able to identify with you which is the best way to keep a regular audience. Keeping a regular audience is golden ticket to blog profit.

In the beginning it will take some work to grow an audience. One of the best ways to grow your audience is to create profiles on web forums that are related to your content. In your profile, include a link to your blog. Now use that profile to make intelligent, helpful posts within the forum. Forum readers will see your post, and often will follow the link in your signature, taking them to your blog. If your blog has useful information to them, they will likely return to your blog at later dates. Another great tactic is to write articles related to your blog. These can have dual benefits as you can also use them for blog posts. Upload your articles to free article directories and make sure to include a link to your blog in the provided resource box. As you begin to develop your blog you will likely see your blog profit increasing.

Now that you have an audience, you will need to learn exactly how to generate blog profit with affiliate programs. This part is pretty simple and with the right techniques it can be very powerful. The first step in generating blog profit is to create a list of products and services your audience will be interested in. For instance, if your blog is about football, your readers may be interested in signing up for fantasy football or buying cheap game tickets. Build a list of several products then visit an affiliate program management site such as Commission Junction. Once there you can locate affiliate programs that offer the products and services on your list.

After you have signed up for the programs, you will want to advertise the products or services in a couple of different ways. The first way is to create links from specific words. In our football example, you may link the word “tickets” wherever it appears to your affiliate program from a sports ticket site. The second way to advertise your programs is to place banner or text ads in various locations on the blog, just be careful not to clutter the blog too much or you may discourage readers. If your ads are related to the content of the blog, there is a high chance your readers will follow the links. When users follow your affiliate links and purchase products or services, you make a percentage of the sale as blog profit.

A third method for generating blog profit is utilizing Google’s Adsense. Adsense allows you to create customized ad boxes within your blog. It automatically searches your blog and displays ads related to your content. Google then pays you each time your readers click the advertisements. This is probably the quickest method for placing ads on your blog to begin generating blog profit as quick as possible.

You can also generate blog profit indirectly by collecting the email addresses of your readers. This can be done through adding a subscription requirement to your blog, or by simply offering readers the chance to receive extra related material by email. If your users agree to receive offers by email, you can create email newsletters that feature some of your affiliate program products and services. With a large enough email list, you can generate as much passive income through your indirect blog profit as you can from your direct blog profit.

In closing I would like to say that there are many opportunities for generating passive income online. Blog profit with affiliate programs can be a very powerful source of passive income. If you are honestly seeking ways to gain freedom from the typical J.O.B. (Just Over Broke), and you are willing to put in the time and effort required, I truly believe you can build wealth and freedom through blog profit.

Rich Tank richtankpi@gmail.com http://www.richtank.com : Learn secret strategies for generating passive income through affiliate programs.

The Internet by far is the easiest way to earn real income. This is the reason why thousands of people seek online income. However, if you do not know what you are doing it will take you a long time to make any money. And worst yet it will be very costly. I’m going to discuss six mistakes to avoid in seeking online income.

Not reading

Many individuals who seek business ventures online fail to realize there is a learning curve before truly finding success. In this learning curve process it is absolutely crucial you read about online income possibilities. The only way to learn is by reading and you can’t really go around it.

Making excuses

You cannot make any excuses in seeking online income. The reason being some of us know it’s going to take a lot of reading to learn and know what to do to become an internet marketer. You must be willing to work hard and avoid any excuses not too. However, we make excuses why we are not succeeding and not realizing we fail to do anything towards earning online income.

Not reading some more

In order to really learn how to earn online income you have to read about. Some people may not like reading but you have to become knowledgeable. You should be reading 2-4 e-books a week on Internet marketing. You should read about how to do research, how to get traffic, and how to make sales to produce online income. In 3-6 months you will become fairly close to being an expert.

Not hanging in there

You have to hang in there through the learning in order to see results. Many desire online income but very few desire the hard work and perseverance it takes to acquire online income. It’s true the internet has made millionaires quickly. But you have to understand it was not with any hard work. These people worked very hard at making an online income possible.

Not researching everything

You should research every opportunity you find. The internet has online income opportunity galore if you are not careful you can waste a lot of money. You can research in forums or blogs about a particular venture.

Choosing the right opportunity An online income can be had by anyone who is smart in choosing a good program. You want to choose a program that will attract almost anyone. This would be a universal product that is already set up for you with nothing to do. All you have to do now is just bring traffic to it and voila instant online income.

Individuals haven’t even touched the vast potential of the internet. Right now is the perfect time to seek an online income. Because you can learn about anything you want to do and there are tons of programs and system to make easy for you. You can learn for free how to build a website and make it affective, get traffic to your site and make sales. An online income can be had to those willing to learn.

Claude Laloi is an entrepreneur online and offline. To find out more about out money making business opportunity universal products check out: http://www.StarSpangledBaboon.com