Change is Good……You Go First, by Mac Anderson and Tom Feltenstein

“Change What Needs Changing, Not What’s Easy”

This is an excerpt from a book entitled ‘Change is Good, You Go First’ by the authors highlighted in the title.   I particularly liked the message I took after reading it and thought others may enjoy it also.

A few years ago, British Rail had a real fall-off in business. Looking for marketing answers, they went searching for a new ad agency – one that could deliver an ad campaign that would bring their customers back.

When the British Rail executives went to the offices of a prominent London ad agency to discuss their needs, they were met by a very rude receptionist, who insisted that they wait.

Finally, an unkempt person led them to a conference room – a dirty, scruffy room cluttered with plates of stale food. The executives were again, left to wait. A few agency people drifted in and out of the room, basically ignoring the executives who grew impatient by the minute. When the execs tried to ask what was going on, the agency people brushed them off and went about their work.

Eventually, the execs had enough. As they angrily started to get up, completely disgusted with the way they’d been treated, one of the agency people finally showed up.

“Gentlemen,” he said, “your treatment here at our Agency is not typical of how we treat our clients – in fact, we’ve gone out of our way to stage this meeting for you. We’ve behaved this way to point out to you what it’s like to be a customer of British Rail. Your real problem at British Rail isn’t your advertising, it’s your people. We suggest you let us address your employee attitude problem before we attempt to change your advertising.”

The British Rail executives were shocked – but the agency got the account! The agency had the remarkable conviction to point out the problem because it knew exactly what needed to change.

As Yogi Berra once said…

“Before we build a better mousetrap,
We need to find out if there are any mice out there.”

I found many similarities in what I read with what I and every other internet marketer is trying to achieve.  How do you treat your customers?  Are they valuable to you and your imminent success?  Of course they are because withouth them we have no business.

What I have always strived to do in any business I am in is first and foremost to find out what it is my customers are wanting and then I supply it.  If I personally can’t supply it, I will research and find someone who can so I will always look for a solution.

It can be very easy to become complacent, you make a few sales and that is the done deal – I don’t think it is at all, it is only the beginning of your journey with that person.  Continue to under promise and over deliver and you will have a customer for life!

Working at home in my own business, I know that my overall success or failure is solely down to me and how I treat people.  By continuing to value each and every person I come into contact with, I quickly built up a reputation as someone of trust, integrity and honesty and I really could not and would not work any other way.

If you too share similar values to me and want to change your life, then why not get in touch.  Simply enter your details at the top of this page, get a FREE eBook in the process and I’ll see you on the other side.

Top search engine optimisation strategies for Press Release explained

The way in which you present your press release is just as important as the actual content of it.

What not to do

• Never use all upper case letters.  This looks unprofessional and will cause it to be rejected by most distribution companies
• Consider your grammar and style as these will quickly destroy the credibility you are trying to create.  Always ask someone to proof read before you submit.  You can pay for the services of a professional to critique through sites such as Elance.
• Do not embed HTML or any other mark up language within your press release.  As it will be distributed over hundreds and sometimes thousands of networks, such formatting can negatively impact the readability of your content.

What to do

• Open up with telling the audience why they should read it and what’s in it for them
• Ensure the first 10 words of your release are as effective as they are the most important
• Avoid overuse of adjectives and fancy language – remember KISS, keep it stupidly simple
• Stick to the facts – avoid exaggerations and add-ons, keep to the point
• Provide as much contact information as possible
• Give examples of how your service or products meets your audience’s needs or desires
• Be careful of wording – use only enough to get your point over but make each word count
• Do not use jargon, speak plainly and use ordinary language that everyone understands
• Press releases are about credibility and value – avoid hype and exclamation marks

Press Release optimisation

• Press releases produce better results if there is a combination of creative writing coupled with targeted keywords
• Integrate targeted keywords into your title, headline, sub-heading and the first two paragraphs.  Your title should reflect the strongest keywords
• Be careful of overuse of keywords, the emphasis of the search engines are normally on the title and first few paragraphs so focus them there
• Whilst tempted to put your company or product name in the title, this is unlikely to bring you the exposure you want in the eyes of a search engine.  You will want to use highly targeted search phrases that will be used by your potential customers
• Include targeted links within the content
• Many press release distribution services now offer the option of purchasing a hyperlink where you simply convert a keyword phrase within the release into an active hyperlink.  This will increase search engine visibility for that keyword phrase and also drive additional traffic back to your website.

If you do all of the above, it will definitely help your press release get optimised on all of the search engines.

Here is a list of 32 FREE press release submission sites that you may want to check out and submit your release to several if not all of these.  Should you find any of them no longer offering a free service I would really appreciate you letting me know?

• 1888PressRelease.com
• AddPR.com
• BizEurope.com
• eCommWire.com
• Express-Press-Release.com
• Free-News-Release.com
• Free-Press-Release.com
• Free-Press-Release-Center.info
• FreePressIndex.com
• FreePressRelease.co.cc
• FreePressReleases.co.uk
• i-Newswire.com
• IndiaPRWire.com
• MediaSyndicate.com
• MyFreePR.com
• NewswireToday.com
• PageRelease.com
• PR.com
• PR9.net
• PR-Inside.com
• PRCompass.com
• PRlog.com
• PRurgent.com
• PRzoom.com
• PressAbout.com
• PressBox.co.uk
• PressFlow.co.uk
• PressMethod.com
• PressRelease.com
• PressReleasePoint.com
• TechPRSpider.com
• TheOpenPress.com

Outsourcing distribution

For those reading this that prefer to outsource most things and put in as little effort as possible, there is some software out there that will do everything for you.  Press Equalizer is by far the Nr 1 press release writing software that I know of.  

You download the software and it helps you create press releases and then distributes them for you.  The software gives you templates specifically designed to attract visitors and get ranked highly in the search engines.  It simultaneously submits your releases to dozens of newswires.  In summary what it does is:

• Gets your website into the major search engines
• Have your press release compiled and submitted to distribution services daily
• Get 100s of high-quality back links
• Modify step-by-step templates with amazing results
• Submit press release for any affiliate product without a website
• Guarantee that your press release will be trawled by all of the major search engines in 3 days or less

http://www.prlog.org/

Disclaimer:  I receive no gain whatsoever by promotion of any websites listed on this page, they are merely there to add value and content for the reader.

If you are serious about changing your life for the better and wish to learn how to make money online, fill in your details in the small box at the top right hand side of this blog page.  Alternatively visit my main site and find out how I can help you make a better future and be one step closer to fulfilling your hopes and dreams.

How to generate lots of targeted traffic through understanding keywords and keyword research

The power of keywords is not the only thing that will generate lots of traffic for you but it is one of the most powerful methods.  Before you can start generating lots of traffic, you have to understand the raw nature of keywords because they are practically at the root of any online business.

What are keywords?

When you go to Google and type in what it is you’re looking for in the search engine, all of the results that you see on the top right hand side of the search engine are placements that people have paid money to be placed there.  When you can identify those keywords that have a lot of exposure you will start delivering traffic easily from the search engines and make more money online.

2 types of keywords

There are 2 main types of keywords, the short-tail and guess what, the long-tail.  Short-tail keywords are ones that are usually one word and are very broad ranging.  Long-tail keywords are usually multiple words and are very specific.  For example, ‘dog barking’ is an example of a short-tail keyword whereas ‘how to stop my Jack Russell barking’ is a more specific search and would be known as a long-tail keyword.

Most internet marketers do not take the time to research and actually put together a list of long-tail keywords to promote their product or service.  This is just like leaving money on the table because although they do take time to analyse, they will generate you more highly targeted and qualified customers than short-tail keywords will ever do.  That is not to say short-tail keywords don’t work, they absolutely do but wouldn’t it be great if all visitors to your site found the exact service or product they were looking for.

Keyword combinations – putting them together

There are billions of things that people search for every day on the internet.  Some of the phrases used you may think would be confusing to type and include, but in reality people are searching for them.  The more specific your keyword phrase is that you are trying to target; the higher it will convert because it is exactly what people are searching for.

Short-tail keywords are so general and although they can generate you plenty of volume, you will waste your money because the people visiting are nowhere near as targeted.

All you have to do is to start with a few general short-tail keywords and simply take those keywords and begin adding additional words to the end.  For example, let’s imagine you have a dog product website where you sell various canine related items.   It’s obvious your primary keyword would be dog products.  Now let’s consider what type of customers you plan on having come to your website that would be considered your ‘Dream Customers.’

If we consider some words that dog product buyers would be typing into the search engines i.e. dog crates, dog food, dog toys, dog beds, dog leads, dog training, pet supplies, pet insurance, dog shampoo, dog deodorant etc.  Considering all these you can see now how easy it would be to put together keyword combinations that would drive people to your website who are ready to buy right now.

Helpful keyword research resource

You may be thinking at this point that it sounds like a lot of work.  In all honesty, it is, but there is a free tool on the internet that you can use to help you brainstorm and compile very precise keyword combination lists.  This tool is called Google AdWords and if you don’t have a website already, Google will help you create one for FREE.  You simply create your ad and use the tool on the site to help you build your keyword combination.

Another site that gives you free keyword information is http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

Stop – do you really know your customer or just think you do?

How well do you think you know who your real customers are?  Are you adopting a totally focussed approach within your business and looking at it holistically or are you content to remain within your niche?

What about asking yourself these 4 important questions:

Who is your target customer?

This is about who your customers really are.  For example are they male, female, do they make a certain amount of money each year, do they make a lot of money, and do you think they’re wealthy, are they middle class, do you think they’re only located in Russia or are they located in the United States or are they in fact world-wide?  These are the kind of questions that you need to ask yourself.

The more you find out about your customer, the higher the chance that you’re going to be able to drill down and know exactly what they’re looking for and you can provide the product or the service or the website that they need.

Where exactly do they go when they come online?

Your target customers are out there right now, because they’re hanging out on some websites.  It’s about trying to find out where they are and getting in front of them.  They’re online because they’re looking for something and this is normally something that they hope is going to change their lives for the better.  For example, if you were selling guides to lose weight and your product enabled people to ‘lose up to 10lbs in 10 days,’ then this is going to change certain people’s lives for the better.

You should visit forums within your niche, find out the types of questions people are asking and position yourself so you are able to provide a solution within this means.

Who is your competition?

This is simply Business 101.  It’s the same thing on the internet as you would do to succeed in the offline world.  It’s also useful to know who your offline competition is as well because it’s only a matter of time before they too come online.

One way of finding online competition is to use the weight loss example above.  If you go onto Google and type in ‘weight loss’, you’re immediately going to see who your competition is because all their websites will come up.  Research those and find out how your competitors and potential customers are using the products and services.

What is your product and how can you enhance your offering?

Is your product a physical product or is it an info product that can provide a solution to your customer?

Think about supplemental products.  Going back to the weight loss analogy; you could offer info products that could help solve their problems, go after their burning needs.   If your online store only sells weight loss products give some thought to what else your customers may buy online.  They may buy work out equipment, additional weight loss guides, running shoes, gym memberships, motivational materials or anything else that could increase their weight loss.  You could become an affiliate of these products so you are able to offer a total solution that meets all your customers’ desires.

To find our more about Trish and how what she does can change your life as it did hers, visit her website at http://www.WealthyIncome4U.com

2 simple ways of getting free traffic

Are you just starting out in internet marketing and have a limited or no marketing budget?  If so, this article is written just for you.  There are numerous methods of free marketing out there but I have chosen 2 that I have, and continue to use to bring me free traffic.  So what are they?

Drop cards

These are just small business cards, well in so much they’re business card size but along the top they have a heading (your business opportunity) and underneath this a URL.  Some examples of headings could be ‘tired of trading time for money?’ or ‘this proven business could bring you an extra $10,000 each month’ or ‘Do you want to work from home?’

Drop Flyers

Exact same concept as the cards but written on an A5 size paper.  This allows you further opportunity to expand on the headings you used in the drop cards and use further questions similar to you have on your card but a lot more of them.  You could also include what is termed ‘a call to action’ i.e. visit this website to download FREE marketing coaching videos or refer to an eBook you may have purchased and want to give to your prospects (visitors).

Where to promote

The list is endless as to where you could promote your cards or flyers.  Some places that readily spring to mind are:

• The Mall                               Coffee Shops                                     Seminars
• Health Clubs                       Salons                                                 Windshields
• Colleges                               Neighbourhood                               Gas Stations
• Bowling                               Dance classes                                    Churches

These 2 methods go totally against all the other free advertising methods that others talk about online.  This is back to the grass roots of marketing.  Before the internet came out, this was how people advertised; there wasn’t the luxury of social networking sites, internet forums, ezines you could submit articles to.   At work you could drop them around different work areas, lunch rooms or anywhere you think people may venture into and could by chance stumble across your drop card or flyer.

For example, if you were putting a drop flyer in your local Mall, you may want to have a heading like ‘do you want to make some more money so you can buy some more clothes?’ or something along those lines.  Try and make your flyer relevant to where you’re promoting.

Promoting on windshields is an effective method I used.  I paid some young adults $10 each and they placed flyers on every windshield in the parking lot of a number of large shopping complexes.  As a disclaimer here, I agreed with their parents beforehand and I transported them around.

Bandit signs are another good way of promotion.  This is the signs you often see when sitting at a stop light and there is a sign stuck in the ground somewhere often displaying some form of political message.  You could put up one of those with your website and a call to action.   You can get all sorts of signs like these made for free or for a very low fee.  If you go onto Google and type in vista print there are a number of sites that will come up promoting many free advertising banners etc.

Want to learn more about how to market online, lots of coaching and guidance to quickly get you set up and in profit.  Just visit my site at http://www.WealthyIncome4U.com.  Once there you will have access to a FREE set of 5 videos that show you how I and many others in this business are making great sustainable incomes.

Article Marketing – some ideas to get you going in your online business

When we were young infants at school, our teachers constantly asked us to write stories, particularly on a Monday morning when the teacher would ask us to write about our weekend and what we’d been up to.  Most children are happy to do this; they love to talk about themselves, their families, their pets and fun things they did.  Now I’m sure there was much hilarity in the staff room as teachers regaled each other with stories about little Jonny and his escapades at the weekend.  Many parents squirmed in their chairs at parents’ evenings when little Jonny’s storybook was handed to them to read.  You see, children have no preconceptions, they don’t think before they speak or write.

As adults we frequently consider what others may think about things we’ve said or written.  Somewhere we’ve lost that freedom, that creative and energising quality to just be who we are and not conform to what we believe society demands we are.

Starting off

I’m suggesting now, go back to your childhood.  You know the saying ‘dance like nobody’s watching?’ – Well write knowing you’ve got something really interesting that the world needs to know about.

Start with an outline – what do you want people to know?  This will guide you in creating an introduction, body and conclusion for your article.  What I always do is mind map, it’s a wonderful way to be as creative as you like, it uses both right and left side of the brains so applies both logic and creativity.  You can find lots of free software to do mind maps professionally but use the search engines to find out what mind maps are and how to start using them with just a piece of paper initially.

So you’ve came up with the theme for your article, now how are you going to write about it?  Consider your heading, it needs to immediately grab the reader and make them want to read on.  Here are some suggestions for starting your header off:

• Little known ways to…..
• Who else wants a…..
• The Secret of…….
• Get rid of that…….
• Here’s a quick way to…….
• Now you can……..
• What everybody ought to know about……….

Next step

• Jot down some phrases and sentences that you would like to use.
• Always consider, what would I like to know about this topic?
• How would it best help me?
• Who or what is my target audience?  This will ensure you write in a language that is easily understood by them.
• Do as much research on the topic as you can to ensure the information is current

Consider how your introduction will flow?  This is a couple of sentences drawing the reader in to what you are actually writing about.

Are you going to have on large paragraph on your topic or will you break it down into sub-headings?  This is best as one continuous flow of text can be off-putting for some people.  So consider what your sub-headings will be and what will be contained within each.  One or two paragraphs here is plenty.

Finally, how are you going to end your article?  What do you want to say in your final paragraphs that will encapsulate everything you’ve written about?  You may want to use some sort of analogy here linking in to something you or someone you know has experienced and the outcome of that.  You may consider giving a look forward to the reader, e.g. watch out for further articles where I will show you the many free ways to submit your articles.

And finally…..

In essence then, give yourself permission to write with a totally open mind, start with drafting an outline of your topic, jot down some notes on what you want to include, decide how you will lay it out, then just go for it.

And lastly, just heed this saying; I have no idea of the originator but it goes ‘If you make a choice that goes against what everyone else thinks, the world will not fall apart.’

Does your product do what it says on the tin?

Knowing your customer 

The heart and soul of any business decision is the need to know your customer.  No matter how good your product or service is, if it’s not something your customer is looking for then you’re shooting a dead duck.  Businesses spend millions each year in advertising only to realise a very small return on their investment.  If only careful market research had been carried out prior to the launch of the advertising campaign, then huge sums could have been saved.  In the world on online marketing and particularly when you are working in your own home based business, you may think market research is not something you need to do.  You may think I just need to get myself out there and create an online presence.  I think by reading below, you will find there is a lot more to it than that.

 Benefits of market research

 Careful and accurate market research is essential to any business, regardless of it being a home based business, online or offline or your regular retail outlets.  You have to know what your prospects are looking for and bring it to them.  By doing this you will:

• Identify prospects
• Increase sales
• Improve products and services in line with prospect requirements

 Before you can expect your potential prospects to take value from your message you must be able to answer these questions about your product and company: 

• Who and where are my existing prospects?
• How do I communicate with them at present?
• Why did they choose me in preference to others?
• Who and where are my potential prospects?
• How can I effectively reach them through advertising?
• What benefits, in addition to my main product(s), do I offer or sell?  E.g. quality of product, expert guidance etc, continued support etc

 Competitors

 Some other questions you may wish to answer that will help you focus more are:

•  How much do I know about others in this industry?
• Is my range of products/services different from theirs?
• What are their strengths and weaknesses?
• Do they advertise well?  How much do I think they spend on this?
• What are their selling messages? 

If you can answer all these questions above, then you may conclude that you fully understand your business.  If you have difficulties answering then you need to go back to basics and find out so you can confidently answer them all.  If you don’t know everything there is to know about what you are actually selling, chances are you will come across as under-confident, hesitant and unenthusiastic.  People buy from people who firmly believe in their product, can easily sell the values and benefits of it and are enthusiastic and passionate in their marketing approach.  

 Complacency 

This is a frustrating trait of many service providers and is a major cause of irritation and frustration to a product purchaser.  What was promised pre-sale has not lived up to expectations.

 Have you ever adopted an honest approach with a buyer of your product and asked them what they honestly think of it now they have been using it for a short while.  Good after sales is one of the most powerful marketing strategies out there but many people shy away from it and this is through fear.  The fear is that you know you haven’t delivered on your promises but you really need to take the courage and do this in order that you evolve and you can continue being confident in your product and yourself if you are coaching or mentoring.

  You could for example ask your purchasers a straightforward question such as:

 On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being absolutely delighted with the product you bought, where are you now on the scale, 3 months down the road?

 Straight out the gate this will indicate a number of things to you:

• Did I mislead in my advertising?
• Have I not lived up to my customer/prospects’ expectations?
• If not, did I outline boundaries/limitations right at the start or even before purchase?
• What can I do now to make things right?

Is Facebook heading for world dominance?

I was just reading an article on the BBC website this morning that focussed on Facebook and how it has now grown to having a global audience of 300 million active users each month.

The Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg stated that they had not expected to make a profit until 2010 but were way ahead of schedule with this.

The site is gathering about 5 million new users each week and this equates to 50 million in the last 75 days.  It is not hard to see therefore that this social networking site is definitely at the cutting edge of all others.  The site’s popularity was evident to me recently when I was on holiday in Europe.  The resort we stayed in hosted a bank of PCs, I think there were about 8 in total and they always had some young person sat in front of them.  I found it really interesting that every time I passed, each and every one of them were on their Facebook page.  I also noticed some older people also using Facebook and this is because it is an excellent way of building networks in the business world also.

Facebook is primarily funded through advertising and what I noticed and don’t think it’s a coincidence is that when I open up my Facebook home page, there are age appropriate adverts on there.  I’m not going to say what they are, but one could take offence with some of them if one didn’t feel as old as they were!

Companies who are not using Facebook to promote their products through direct advertising are missing a huge opportunity to get in the face of 300 million people each month.

Facebook Lite (no, not for those looking to save calories while using Facebook)

The recent launch of Facebook Lite has not gone unnoticed either and is probably partly attributable for the recent rapid growth in users.  Facebook Lite will be faster and simpler than the main site because it offers fewer services.  Initially it is designed to support users in developing countries where bandwidth constraints make the current version too slow to use.  At the moment it is only available in India and the US.  Many industry watchers said they believed that even users with good internet connections might well flock to Facebook Lite because of its new look and ease of use.

Twitter seems to be at the forefront of any discussion regarding social networking but I’m not convinced that it can ever match up to the popularity and profitability of Facebook.  If Facebook continues to expand its platform and incorporate some of the Twitter features, this could spell trouble for the Twitter industry.