|
|  |
| |
|
| | The **The Business Consortium** Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | Views: 369 | | May 12, 2008 12:54 am | | Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # | 
Michael Lemm | | This thread is a repository for resources & tips from Network Members which can help other Network Members manage/build/market their businesses.....regardless of what their business is.
The tips & resources shared here will focus on "helping others"......posts should cover the educational, informational, & practical aspects of our business efforts. The focus is on what can "benefit others".....not ourselves.
The contribution could be an informational website, practical real world application/method, downloadable resource, tape, book/ebook/report, radio/TV show, convention/conference/training....or whatever.
If we as a Network community support this concept then this thread should become the largest and most visited in the Network. That would shine a bright spotlight on Business Consortium .... and it's mission within Ryze.
To kick off this community effort the below resources & tips are offered:
** Home Based Business Show
...this is a INTERNET Radio Show found at http://tomchenault.com/ Once at the website just Click "Listen Live". Useful information is shared & topics discussed revolving around the needs of Home Based Business owners. HBB "experts" are frequent guests.
** Newsletter & Live Workshop From Tom 'Big Al' Schreiter
....tons of great info & even live training with a focus on leadership. Tom "Big Al' Schrieter is an icon & one of the top trainers around.
http://www.fortunenow.com
** TimeZone Calculator For Determining When To Call Leads, Etc
.....this link on timezones will make it much easier to determine the best time to call leads, Business Associates, friends, etc. .... no matter where they are in the world.
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/
** Direct Mail Service
.....here's an idea for anyone who uses direct mail. The USPS new “mailing online (MOL)” direct mail service - check it out at http://www.usps.com/mailingonline
** Google AdWords
.....here's a step-by-step process to set up a successful Google AdWords Campaign.....courtesy of Trafficology.com:
http://www.trafficology.com/tgmar04.html
** Contact Manager
.....managing all your contact information can be overwhelming if you're not organized. Plaxo helps you do this easily...and free.
http://www.plaxo.com/
Ok folks....jump right in. Share away & help each other.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Broadband-Nation.blogspot.com
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | May 12, 2008 12:57 am | | re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | With all the emphasis on online marketing, most people are probably forgetting one of the most powerful means of advertising available.
I'm talking about classified advertising in newspapers. Most people are aware of what you have to do to place an ad in a daily or weekly newspaper, but did you know there are companies that will place your ad in literally hundreds of papers with circulation's in the millions for pennies per ad? Instead of paying the ridiculously high ad rates newspapers charge for a single classified, you can get that very same ad placed in hundreds of newspapers for pennies. Usually about $0.20-$0.30 per ad.
Another good thing is that many of these newspapers will accept business opportunity ads too. Below is a list of a few companies you can contact or visit their web sites and see the prices of their advertising packages. Think about it, one ad that draws a response rate of .05%, that's 1/2 of 1 percent, on a circulation of 4 million can bring in $10,000-$20,000 in a very short period of time. Your cost for this type of ad. About $250-$450. These companies also offer less expensive packages if you just want to test an ad. But this type of advertising works. You can post your URL in the ad and still sell from your website.
Maybe you've never given much thought to this type of advertising related to your online business. Maybe none of your programs ever discussed this with you. Maybe they just don't know about it. But now you have a very powerful means of getting your message out that can earn substantial profit on your investment.
Here are some fine companies you can contact to see what kind of advertising packages they offer.
Nationwide Classifieds
http://www.nationwideclassifieds.com/
Discount National Newspaper Advertising
http://www.advertisingresults.com/
You can also find great packages through state or regional press associations. Each state or region has press associations which consist of a group of newspapers. You can do a search at any search engine for 'press association' and find this information. Many will even help you with your ad.
Hope some of you can use this.....
[Note: personally I don't do bizop advertising with this...although I know some do and have had success. I've used it for products/services and it worked for me. For you....don't know. Likely vary by what you're offering and how well you target your market.]
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Broadband-Nation.blogspot.com
=========================Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | May 12, 2008 12:58 am | | re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | My friend Mike Michelozzi suggests this book for great ideas on how to sell....I agree:
Read "High Probability Selling" [or listen to the audios] you can get it at [and read four chapters] at http://www.highprobsell.com
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
========================Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | May 12, 2008 12:58 am | | re: re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | Here's a highly recommended contact manager you should consider:
http://www.oprius.com/
Oprius is a contact manager that’s integrated with all your calls, tasks, appointments, emails, and list mails. Key features such as automatic stay in touch reminders and follow up plans help you run your business like an expert.
Oprius is intuitive and very easy to use, for you and your whole team. With built in tutorial videos, a detailed help system, free live weekly training webinars, and a toll free support number, Oprius even trains your team for you too.
For those interested, I wrote a review of Oprius and posted it to Best MLM Resources:
http://best-mlm-resources.blogspot.com/2007/12/oprius-contact-manager-designed-by.html
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Broadband-Nation.blogspot.com
==================Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | May 12, 2008 1:00 am | | re: re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | I ran across these doing a little surfing (as if I really have time for that LOL)... thought some of you might enjoy them.
http://www.personalsuccessradio.com/
http://coachville.com/
http://www.maximumimpact.com/
http://www.injoy.com/
Think about this....the frame of mind you're in will become the frame of mind of those around you.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Broadband-Nation.blogspot.com
=============Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | May 12, 2008 1:01 am | | re: re: re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | There's a good online radio station that is dedicated to Internet marketing programs. They have a lot of tapes, conference calls, etc. about various forms of online marketing.
http://www.marketingtalkradio.com/
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
http://services.sitesell.com/FreedomFire1.html
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | May 12, 2008 1:03 am | | re: re: re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | Here's a tip many may not be aware of. If anyone has other "I Never Thought Of That" insights....please share them as replies.
GENERATING PUBLICITY ON A ZERO BUDGET
The most overlooked method of generating publicity for your business can be had with three simple lines of text:
Your Name
Your Business Name or Your Domain Name
Your City and State
All over the world, there are newspapers, magazines, online ezines and websites. Every single newspaper, magazine and online ezine generally accepts and publishes "Letters to the Editor."
In addition, webmasters are generally looking for solid testimonials that they can use on their websites.
Just think, if you were to take the time to read a few publications or visit a few websites and take the time to notify the publisher of your thoughts, you might just find your comments being published in all sorts of locations. You never know just where your next paying customer might come from, so take the time to get yourself quoted in these media outlets. You might just find more and more traffic and sales coming from places where you would never think to buy advertising.
NOTE: If you have other "Hmmmmm" ideas...by all means share them here as replies. We'll make this thread a repository for them to beshared with Forum members all in one place.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
http://services.sitesell.com/FreedomFire1.html
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | May 12, 2008 1:04 am | | re: re: re: re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | Consider writing articles.
You can get lots of free publicity if your article is picked up and published in ezines or as content in websites ... especially affective if the audience of the ezine and/or website targets your niche market.
Remember...just 1 ezine or website could reach 1,000s of potential prospects for you.
A key point is to write an article that is informative and useful to the reader....not an ad. Resource oriented or "tip" focused articles do well.
Remember to submit your articles to publishers and webmasters that you know....PLUS to article directories where publishers and webmasters go for content (see the Article Discussion Board here for ideas).
Don't put any personal links in your article....save them for your sigbox (short author bio). URLs which are actual domain names (not affiliate links) do best. Products and services do better than bizops too for links.
Another good place to have your articles published (in whole or refered to as a link) are blogs. Search engines spider blogs more frequently than regular sites. They'll pick up your link in the article and index it.
The more your article is picked up around the net the more incoming links will show up to your sites with the SEs. This does wonders for your PR (page rank) and ultimately traffic to your website(s).
An example of a good article directory to submit to is http://ezinearticles.com ..... Chris Knight runs a great program there. Do an author search for "Michael Lemm" and you'll see about 120+ examples of my articles. See how it's done.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Broadband-Nation.blogspot.com
http://services.sitesell.com/FreedomFire1.html
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | May 12, 2008 1:05 am | | re: re: re: re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | Here's another inventive idea for you to chew on:
Participating in community charity activities. Just that simple....but with lot's of potential.
For example..... how about your group running in a local 5K for the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation.....all wearing T-shirts with your group/business name on it. Carry a sign across the finish line with "The Yada Yada company running for a cure" (or whatever....be more creative than that obviously....LOL). Talk to media covering the event. Network with fellow participants. Be involved.
How about your group volunteering to help at functions for your local YMCA ....or local library....or rec center....or PTA...or.... you get the idea.
Have something like a sign, banner, T-shirts that say who you are. But don't pass out brochures and company material. Just network and create visibility. Maybe have a few business cards in your pocket and hand them only to those who ask. You could also have brochures etc. in your car maybe.
Just DON'T make it look like a big marketing gimic. The public will see right through it. Instead create an identity & branding within your community. This establishes a sense of acceptance and curiosity you can build upon by following up with contacts made during these events.
We have a couple groups who apply this concept very well in our annual American Cancer Society Relay For Life. You could too.
Remember to adhere to any "rules" of the specific event sponsor and your particular company.
Basically....just be seen & have fun.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Broadband-Nation.blogspot.com
http://services.sitesell.com/FreedomFire1.html
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | May 12, 2008 1:06 am | | re: re: re: re: re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | This is an idea that a friend has used in his own industry of Real Estate, but I believe it can be applied in other industries as well.......
Realtors are great self-starters looking to break away from the rat race by being paid for their own efforts. Most of the successful and semi-successful are very much into self-development and they are interested in making big money.
Most real estate offices have a section where "affiliate service providers" such as, home inspectors, termite companies, marketing consultants, title company reps, escrow office reps etc... can leave a flyer or card in all the realtor's boxes.
You can approach one of these providers and volunteer to take their flyers and deliver it to real estate offices... what's in it for you?
Your flyer, card post card or message can also tag along for the ride and be placed inside the boxes of the agents.
Agents will retrieve their stuff and go back to their cubicle or office and review what they have. They just may be curious about your website, recorded call or what ever...
No cost way to get in front of a pretty good market...
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Broadband-Nation.blogspot.com
http://services.sitesell.com/FreedomFire1.html
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | May 19, 2008 6:03 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | Hopefully this may help you out some.
For anyone using YouTube as part of your business marketing efforts ..... and for those thinking of using YouTube ..... here's a detailed "how to" to optimize your success posted to one of my blogs recently.
You could also call this a "Step By Step Guide on How to Get Lots of Video Traffic":
http://best-mlm-resources.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-to-use-youtube-to-advertise-your.html
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping Your Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Broadband-Nation.blogspot.com
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | May 21, 2008 12:15 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | Renegade Marketing Tip: How To Focus On High Value Activity
Here's a timely tip on how to better manage your time ..... and make sure you're focused more on high value activities. It's somewhat long, so I'm just going to give you the link to the article.
The question is ..... can you afford NOT to do this?
http://best-mlm-resources.blogspot.com/2008/05/renegade-marketing-tip-how-to-focus-on.html
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Broadband-Nation.blogspot.com
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | May 21, 2008 5:37 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # | 
Natalie Clegg | | Thank you Michael for your last post on the Renegade marketing. I am an interior designer with a practice that aims at the high end spend domestic client. We are very good at what we do, but finding new business is not easy and there is always that constant worry of not having the next job lined up.
I have some business advisors that are forever telling me to cold-call cold-call etc forever. In ten years I have NEVER had a customer through this technique and I am not afraid of doing it. It is, I think, like finding a needle in a haystack for my type of business.
We are always on the lookout for great clients - busy people, good payers, an appreciation of what we do and trust. We do find them but not through the normal channels. It's great to read something else saying that my feelings, and my gut are telling me cold-calling and prospecting are not steering my company where I want it to go and are not worth the Hgh Value Time.
Thank you.
Natalie Clegg
http://www.nataliecleggdesign.comPrivate Reply to Natalie Clegg | | May 30, 2008 11:07 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | "For Home Business Success .... There Is No Plan B"
Here's an awesome piece of advice from Mitch Hayes of The Home Business Answer. Once you put this into practice you'll see a difference in your own business success.
http://best-mlm-resources.blogspot.com/2008/05/for-home-business-success-there-is-no.html
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Jun 09, 2008 1:53 pm | | re: re: re: re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | In order to be really successful online businesses need to understand what it is about the Internet that makes it so appealing to customers. Autoresponders are the powerful marketing and customer service tool that make your customers desire for instant gratification work to your advantage.
You can read the rest of this (long) article here:
http://best-mlm-resources.blogspot.com/2008/06/is-your-downline-building-automated.html
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Jun 18, 2008 6:17 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | Chicken and the Egg .... The Dreaded Summer Slow-Down
Summer is finally here folks!
And it's the time of the year I think most about the chicken and the egg.
You will hear many people say that business slows down in the summer ...so why is that? Did it slow down and people noticed it, or did people start saying it so it became their reality?
In my mind this comes back to: "whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve."- Napoleon Hill
I have had some of my best months in the summer, all it takes is consistent action on your part .... remember: "A straight path never leads anywhere except to the objective." - Andre Gide.
Also, remember to stop once in a while and re-explore your goals. Are the actions you are taking right now bringing you closer to them? There is NO SUCH THING as standing still. You can only go forward or backwards in life, so keep moving forward.
If you are in network marketing/MLM, direct sales, affiliate marketing, or any other business for that matter; you will find that your business will slow down when you do, and it's not long before your income follows.
Even though it is summer continue to put forth a concerted effort, and you will LOVE the momentum this builds for the fall. Also think about this ever shrinking planet we live in...with the internet you can build in whatever season you want...it's always winter somewhere!
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Broadband-Nation.blogspot.comPrivate Reply to Michael Lemm | | Jun 29, 2008 12:49 am | | re: re: re: re: re: re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | Yahoo And Google Join In PPC Advertising Deal
If you haven't heard already .... Google and Yahoo recently established a joint pact for PPC advertising. The agreement enables Yahoo to run ads supplied by Google alongside Yahoo's search results .... and on some of Yahoo's web properties in the United States and Canada.
The following tip was shared on HomeBasedBusinessForums.com. If you do any PPC advertising on Google and Yahoo .... then you need to pay attention to this advice.
"Pay close attention to your cost per click prices in Google. Generally bid prices are lower on Yahoo than on Google; once this program is implemented, ads on certain Yahoo queries will be affixed with Google-like prices due to the auction based system in place.
When the queries begin to marry each other, start to pay close attention to which keywords are triggering Yahoo search results and measure your keyword performance and cost in each engine.
If you have duplicate campaigns in both Google and Yahoo - then it is important to understand how to measure performance in your reports so you could possibly pause those keywords in Google and have more flexibility with them in Yahoo alone."
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://Broadband-Nation.blogspot.comPrivate Reply to Michael Lemm | | Jul 07, 2008 2:47 pm | | re: re: Business Building & Marketing Resources / Tips | # |
Michael Lemm | | Analytics Are Vital For Your Internet / Online Marketing!!
If your online and off-line marketing is not tracked by analytics I see a lot of wasted time, lackluster results, and sure trouble for you ahead.
What are analytics some may ask?
.................
From Wikipedia:
The simplest definition of Analytics is "the science of analysis". A simple and practical definition, however, would be how an entity (i.e., business) arrives at an optimal or realistic decision based on existing data. Business managers may choose to make decisions based on past experiences or rule of thumb, or there might be other qualitative aspects to decision making; but unless there is data involved in the process, it would not be considered analytics.
.................
So, what does this mean for you? We'll you probably have a website, if not, you need to get one, so that you can reach other people, and so that you can leverage all the awesome business building tools available to you today.
Keeping track of your visitor analytics is one of the most important marketing skills you need to learn. For example; Where are your visitors coming from? Who is sending them? How many are coming? How long are they staying? Am I using the right headline? Is my sales letter too long? Is my video working?
This list of questions could go on and on, and it is your business, you need to know the answers.
Analytics set up correctly will tell you all this and more!
A free Analytics Program is Google Analytics, it is awesome, and used to cost a lot of money monthly before Google bought it for use with their Adwords program. Best of all, it can be used on your site if you are or are not using Adwords or Adsense, and it is FREE. I love Google, when you start learning Analytics you will too.
Another really good and free one is Site Meter. I use it on my sites and I know many of my freinds do as well.
Site Meter will also tell you what page a visitor came from. For example, if someone searched for something on Google and landed on your webpage, it'll show you that particular Google search page. This is excellent for figuring out which keywords and such are driving traffic to your site or blog.
It'll also show you what country, state and town a visitor came from, their IP address, their visit length, the number of page views, as well as their entry/exit pages and outclicks.
Another free service is StatsCounter. It shows, unqiue hits, new hits, return visitors. A very good service to see how your site is doing......though I've not personally used it to know for sure.
But ..... I do definitely recommend Site Meter.
If you know of other similar tools ... and/or have experiences with those mentioned so far (good or bad) .... please share as replies.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
Broadband
Nation
FreedomFire
Communications
*********************************** Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | |
| |
| |
