Six Steps for Starting a Home Business

Many today are looking to start a home-based business. Countless programs claim that they can make folks rich overnight. However, scams abound. So, what are business opportunity seekers to do to when looking to work from home? How can they tell if an opportunity is not only legitimate, but also a moneymaker?

The answer is to use this six step question formula when looking to start a business from home. If you answer yes to these questions, chances are, you have found a red-hot business opportunity with the potential to make you wealthy. Let's discover what the six step question formula is.

#1. Find out if you can make huge sums of money without selling anything. Is this possible? Yes! There are business opportunities that do not involve selling. This works primarily if the business uses a powerful Direct Response Marketing approach. The beauty of this approach is that it attracts all the right people and turns away the wrong ones. Folks are brought into the home-based business system automatically! Direct Response Marketing also eliminates the biggest objections, educates people about the major advantages of a product or service, and best of all, it makes people want to buy now! Therefore, finding an opportunity like this is crucial.

#2. Discover if the work at home opportunity offers help, support, and guidance from experts with a proven track record of making millions of dollars. This will require some research. It's safe to say that many opportunities will fail miserably in this area. However, if such a home business opportunity is found, your chance of success will be very high.

#3. Check to see if the company offers long-term opportunity. In other words, is the system the company has in place designed to make people money for the next 10, 20, and even 30 years? Avoid opportunities that sound golden, but will lose their glitter very quickly.

#4. Determine whether the home-based business opportunity can produce automatic income. It is useless to become involved in a business opportunity that will take months before any results or income can be seen. Why? People will usually become discouraged and quit if efforts are not rewarded in a timely manner. Avoid opportunities that will take months before any type of cash reward will be seen.

#5. Always ask if the start up is easy. If it will take three months to start up the business, why even become involved?

#6. This could be the most important question. Never forget to ask if there is an exit strategy. This is not being negative at all. On the contrary, it is being smart! Remember, there are no guarantees in life and business; things can and do change. Thus, it is always smart and never negative to have a back-up plan or exit strategy.

Starting a business from home is a dream that many people have. However, one does not want to make a decision blindly and without careful thought and consideration. You can't go wrong when using this six step question formula. Your odds for success will be significantly higher if you do!

Affiliate Marketing - Set Yourself Apart

Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to quickly make money from your own home-based Internet business.

The reasons for this are many, including the facts that you skip the research and development stage, the product creation and the copywriting for not only the sales page but all the subsequent ads. By not having to invest in these early stages of product development you save not only money but time as well.

This leaves you, as the affiliate, the task of simply marketing the chosen product or service.

Easy enough, right?

Well my friend, this is where it gets a little sticky.

The fact is that there are many people just like you entering the Internet ring every day looking for the so-called easy dollar. And since that is exactly what affiliate marketing promises, there is a lot of competition for the same buck in most niches.

The trick to affiliate success, no matter which market or niche you may choose, is to separate yourself from all the other affiliates who are using the exact same marketing materials as you are.

One note of caution - make sure to check the affiliate rules for each program to verify that the tactics listed here are permitted.

The first order of business is to get your own web site along with a domain name closely associated with the niche of choice. If you are targeting the home stereo niche you may want to choose something like homestereoguide.com or the like.

Next, you will want to find a template that you can use as a basis of your site. It is very important that the look and feel of your site stays consistent through out the site if you have more than one page.

Here is where you will really set yourself apart from all the other affiliates. Write a special report or review of the product or service you are going to promote. This is the real focus of your marketing, getting this document out to as many prospects as possible.

This piece should be given away as an enticement for the prospects name and email address, which should be left in an autoresponder. Set up several messages, optimally 7 to 10, to go out at 2 to 3 day intervals. Each message should give an explanation of the benefits derived from the product along with your affiliate link.

The autoresponder form should be prominently displayed on all of the pages of your site along with the sales pitch telling your visitors why they should download the free report. You can easily set this up in a sidebar on the template of choice, usually on the left hand side.

By building this list of potential buyers you can communicate with them as often as you want. Send them alerts when a new product comes out, when upgrades are available to existing products or when sales on their favorite products are being offered.

There are many reasons to build your list but by offering a special report you label yourself as an expert in your field, you thus set yourself apart from all the other affiliates.

How VoIP Can Globalize Your Home Business

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services are significantly less expensive than the traditional telephone long distance packages. This is only one advantage of using VoIP. For a home business, this can provide more benefits if you know how to exploit it.

While there are other options, you can choose to use your regular home phone to take advantage of VoIP technology. This can be done by using a VoIP telephone adapter to connect your phone to the internet via a high speed modem. VoIP technology allows internet users with high speed (broadband) access to place telephone calls over the internet.

There are many VoIP service providers with whom one can sign up for a calling plan.

As VoIP rides on the internet technology, there are many features that are now possible as compared to the traditional phone. Many traditional phone features that come at an extra charge are also provided free with the basic calling plan.

1. Cheaper Than Traditional Phones
Using VoIP is a cheaper option if you make a lot of long distance and international calls. This is possible as the call uses the same internet facility as you do for your web access and email.

Upon signing up for a calling plan with a service provider, the VoIP telephone adapter will typically be provided free.

All calls between people using the same service provider are free regardless of location. This alone can provide significant savings if your business associates use the same service providers.

There are many features that come free with the calling plan. Some of these features are:
- call waiting
- caller ID
- three-way calling
- call forwarding
- last number redial
- speed dial
- voicemail

2. Allows Mobility
When travelling, you can take the VoIP adapter with you and instantly turn a phone anywhere in the world into your local phone. This will require a high speed internet connection.

This is possible as the VoIP adapter is specially coded with your VoIP phone number.

With the VoIP Physical Portability feature, you can still receive your customers' phone calls while travelling on business matters, on holiday or moving home.

3. Establishing Business Offices At Multiple Locations
VoIP Virtual Numbers allow multiple inbound telephone access numbers in different cities. With this feature, it is possible to establish your business in multiple locations by creating a "Virtual Presence" using virtual numbers.

These virtual numbers can be routed to any number that you specify. If you lived in Chicago, you can have access numbers in New York, Houston and San Francisco all routing through to your number in Chicago.

With this feature, business addresses can be established in different cities and even countries. You can set up these virtual numbers based on the locations from where you expect to receive many phone calls. This could be your existent customers or your prospects.

Besides enhancing the image of your business, customers get the benefit of calling a local number which is less costly for them.

Most service providers who offer this feature charge about $5 per month for each additional access number. This makes it possible to establish business offices at multiple locations at a low cost.

4. Enhanced Voice Mail
Some service providers offer you the ability to receive voice mail messages as an email attachment. You can play them back as a sound file through your computer.

As a home business owner, you can also save these voice mails to your computer's hard drive for future reference. You can also forward this to another person if follow up action is required.

5. Selecting A VoIP Service Provider
Your choice of the VoIP service provider and the calling plan depends on your unique needs.

Depending on your business needs, you can select calling plans for local/long distance or international calls. International calls can be made with local/long distance plans but at an additional per minute rate. International plans typically include USA local and long distance coverage.

Do not buy based on the number of features provided by the service provider. Decide on the features you require to manage your home business. Then match these against the features available.

According to independent surveys, most of the established VoIP carriers are about the same in terms of voice quality. Good customer service is also another criteria for selecting the service provider. You can read customer reviews on these aspects to help you choose the service provider.

There are service providers that include a "Money Back Guarantee". Once you have initiated the service, check against your service quality criteria. If you are not happy with the results, then cancel the service and request for your money back. Make sure you do this within the "trial" period allocated.

If you are on a month-to-month plan, your service is automatically renewable each month, until you cancel the service. So, you have the option of canceling. Some annual plans allow you to cancel on a month-to-month basis, but may include other charges. Check out all these details before you sign up.

To be Successful - Market Test Your Products

Nowadays making money online has become easier with the use of affiliate programs. Some of these affiliate programs are better than others. The main site or product owners looking for affiliates offer some hefty commissions; some offer between 30% to 90% commissions. All you have to do is register with them and place your affiliate link on your website or in your newsletter.

Hopefully those visitors that come to your site or receive your newsletter will click on your link. Once they do that all they need to do is make a purchase. Once that is done then you will receive your affiliate payment. Simple enough to do when you think about it but with the internet clogged up with so many affiliate sales pages sometimes it takes more then just posting a link and letting the emails fly to your members.

So how can you increase your affiliate commission checks? Simple, just change the way you do your marketing. You have to remember that you are not the only one offering the same product or service. So you need to set yourself apart from the rest of the affiliates.

Instead of just plastering the same product out there and giving the same speech about how product "X" will make your life easier, take the time to actually show your customers that it will do as you say. Look, if you are in this Internet business just to make a fast buck we have news for you.

You'll make it fast but it won't last. Taking the time to use that product you are offering up as the answer to your members needs, will go a long way in building trust from those on your list.

By taking the time to use that new product not only shows you the inner workings of it but also lets you know if you are just offering the same old regurgitated item that everyone else is selling. Sales pages and package images change every day in this business. Did you ever wonder why? It could be because there really is nothing new out there!

However, if you think you have a gem then test, test and test some more. Write a sales page or newsletter showing the benefits of using this new product. Be willing to answer questions from those that purchase from you. This builds trust and credibility not to mention an increase in sales.

If you don't think testing a product and becoming familiar with it won't matter, then just take a moment and remember what it was like when you purchased something. Did it work like you were told? If not was the reseller willing to help you with it or just give you a refund?

So test that new product, become its master and show your customers its worth and they won't just purchase from you, they'll turn into the best marketing tool you'll ever have.

The Top Five Reasons Why Many Home-Based Businesses Fail

Everyday there are thousands of people looking to start a home-based business. In addition, there are hundreds more who start a work at home business and then fail miserably. Why? It is because they fail to see that the business opportunity was not viable and junk to begin with! Can this trap be avoided? Yes, if people learn to target the gems and reject the scams. Let's discover the top five reasons why many home-based businesses will never work.

Problem #1: Most new opportunities are totally unproven. The fact is many of the opportunities are too new! The market for the products and services is not well-established yet. Usually, the only people who get rich with these opportunities are wealthy Fortune 500 companies that have tons of money to spend anyway. Opportunities that are too new are too risky! It is important to let others who can afford it pave the way.

Problem #2: Most of the money-making methods are the same old boring plans and programs. Many opportunities claim to be new and innovative, but really are not. Some look new, but in reality are only a facade! With a little research, you will see that there is nothing "new" at all about them. What is important is to get involved in an opportunity that is new, different and better than others, is rock solid, and is part of an explosive combination of the three hottest emerging multi-billion dollar trends.

Problem #3: Many home-based business opportunities only make the promoters rich. Average people who are involved in these plans almost never make any money. Only those considered the "heavy hitters" make the real money; they are the ones who have all the connections.

Problem #4: Many of the hottest and exciting money making opportunities are immoral and illegal. This is something that has to be avoided at all costs! Never, ever, get involved with any opportunity that looks and sounds good, but due diligence shows to violate ethics and laws. Who wants to go to jail? Always ask what is the product or service behind the opportunity, where is the market for this product or service that is supposed to take the world by storm, and would it be possible to make lots of money without all the hype and buzz?

Problem #5: Many opportunities are not long lasting. In other words, they are here today and gone tomorrow! They are pure hype with no type of firm foundation behind them; there is no "real" product or service. When all the hype runs out, the market is gone for good! Never become involved in a home-based business opportunity based on pure hype.

So, there you have it: the top five reasons why some home-based businesses will fail. Carefully look for potential problems with any business opportunity; avoid them, and you will be well on your way in finding a true legitimate business right from the start!

5 Tips to Staying Focused when Starting Your Home-Based Business

Have you decided to start a home-based business? You may be juggling a full time job, a part time job and family life. You know that there are many things you need to do in order to successfully start your business and work from home. How are you going to fit your business project into your daily commitments? It's easy to become overwhelmed and lose focus. Losing focus will cause you to take no action. Action is essential to moving on from where you are now, to where you want to be.

Here are 5 tips to stay focused on starting your home based business:

1. Chunk down

If you have a large task to tackle, it is always easier when you break it down into smaller components. You'll find it easier to focus because you won't feel as overwhelmed. For example, 'Register a business name' can be broken down into: 'Think of five business name ideas', 'Find out how to register business name', 'Get registration form' and so on.

2. Keep a 'to do' list

Once you've broken down major tasks into smaller ones, make and keep a 'to do' list. Always keep a notepad and pen with you so that you can jot down any new ideas as they arise.

3. Schedule your time

Every evening, decide on three to five tasks on your 'to do' list that you wish to accomplish the following day. Stay focused on these tasks and only move on to the next tasks on your list once these have been completed.

4. Set goals

There is nothing better for staying focused than setting goals. Visualize exactly where you want to be in a month, six months and a year. In a month's time, do you want to have registered a business name and got all your equipment set up? In six months time, how many clients do you want? How much revenue do you want to generate in a year's time?

5. Say no

Be assertive and carve out more time for your business project. Saying ‘no' to that extra demand by your boss every once in a while, can get you home one hour earlier a couple of days a week. How about cutting back on the amount of housework that you do? Imagine how you could channel that extra time into your business.

If you put these five tips into practice, you'll definitely find it easier to focus on and achieve your ultimate goal of working from home.

5 Ways to Look Professional when Starting a Craft Show Business

Starting a craft business can be a great way to make extra income. But, to turn your hobby into a business, you need to be professional.

These five tips will help you be more professional at your first craft show.


Tip One: Be Prepared

Practice setting up your booth before you actually go to the show. Where will everything go? Keep a list of everything you use, so you know you won't forget anything. Also, take a picture so you won't forget the layout.

Pretend you are buying something from your booth. What do you need? Be sure you have enough pens, order forms, bags, wrapping, change, etc. Go through the process - actually write the sale and bag your item. You'd be surprised what you might miss or forget.

Be prepared for the unexpected as well. Bring extra tape, display stands, tablecloths, and any duplicate items you may need more of. Sometimes, the layout may be different that you expected, or you may need thumbtacks instead of tape. Bring extras of everything you can.


Tip Two: Promote Your Business

Even if this is your first craft show, you need to look like a professional business. At the very least, you need business cards. If you have a website, include that on your cards.

Even better would be a coupon for a discount on a future purchase. This works particularly well if you have an online store. You may pick up sales after the show.

Give people a way to be notified about your future shows. This could be as simple as a sign up sheet for notifications, or a free newsletter subscription offer. You could also have a customer drawing where you collect their information.


Tip Three: Use Professional Materials

There is a big difference in quality between "professional" crafters, and beginners. Be sure your quality is in the professional category.

That means no glue guns, use professional adhesive for whatever medium you work in. Use quality canvas, quality thread, and professional adhesives. Use stitching whenever possible, instead of glue. Finish edges and seams, cut loose threads, do everything you can to make your craft look as good as possible.


Tip Four: Plan Your Display

Have you ever been to a craft show where there are hand-lettered signs, and stuff is just piled haphazardly? To be professional, you must look professional.

If you have signs, at the very least print them out on a printer. Better yet, have some of your signs made professionally. These signs can include product information, sales policies; sign up sheets and so on.

For your actual display, use tablecloths, display stands, and other professional looking items to organize and display your space. You can group things according to item type, or price, or some artistic display pattern. The key is to plan.


Tip Five: Practice Professional Customer Service

There is nothing worse than going to a craft fair and being ignored. When someone comes into your booth, greet him or her warmly. Let them know you are there to help them decide what they want to buy. Don't be an artisan snob, you're working. Make the most of every customer contact.

And, if you can manage it, take credit cards. Even if you use Paypal, you at least have that option.

Assessing The Personality Profile of Your Home Business Prospects

Did you know there are distinct personality profiles that people have? This, of course, also includes the prospects for your network marketing home-based business.

The fact is, as you continue to build your business, it will be critical to understand the different personalities your prospects have. Understanding their profiles can not only have a huge positive impact on your business, but also your life.

Now, on the the four basic personality profiles.

Yellow-The Nurturers

Making up 35% of the population, yellows are involved in occupations such as nursing, teaching, social work, etc. When they give, they give with their whole heart. Usually, they don't have much time for themselves because they are so busy giving to others. Yellows have built very large organizations in network marketing when they have the confidence and belief in themselves that they can!

Working with Yellows

An important thing to remember is that yellows hate being sold to. They can't stand pushy, aggressive salespeople! When you are talking with a yellow, become a nurturer like they are. Slow down and don't be overexcited. If yellows see a lot of hype, they think they are receiving a sales pitch. Whatever you do, don't tell a yellow about earning thousands of dollars a month because this will turn them off.

Instead, just spend time visiting with them. Don't worry about presenting the business. Instead, talk about their families, their kids, and vacations. Yellows will let you know when they are ready to talk shop!

Blues-The Fun Loving

There is only one name for a blue: fun! They like fun and loads of it. Blues make up 15% of the population. They are highly creative people, and usually are involved in a sales business of some kind. They also have a tendency to jump from program to program.

When presenting your business to a blue, they usually can grasp the overall picture very quickly and don't need tons of details.

Working with Blues

When working with a blue, be excited! Talk about all the fun stuff: sailing, scuba diving, bungee jumping, skydiving, etc. You get the picture.

Blues don't mind talking about their family, vacations, and the like. They just love talking about the fun more. So rev up the fun thermometer when talking with a blue prospect for your network marketing home business!

Greens-The Analyzers

Greens are analyzers and make up 35% of the population. They are the types of folks that let business opportunities worth thousands of dollars go by because they analyze things to death.

Working with Greens

Greens think they are the most intelligent people around. In just a few minutes, you will be able to easily tell if you have a green prospect. Why? Because they will want to know everything!

Forget about selling to a green. They have to sell themselves on the home-based business opportunity. Greens will need to check everything out with a fine tooth comb. This includes the website and all the links in it, testimonials, conference calls, articles, etc. As you can see, you will need to be on your toes and have detailed information ready when working with a green.

Another thing to remember about greens is to speak very clearly, be upfront, answer all their questions, and send them to websites.

You do not need to call greens between phone calls. If you do, they likely will be abrupt and see you as pushy salesperson. Greens need to go at their own pace.

What usually happens is that in few weeks, they will call you for more information and to inform you they are ready to start.

Reds-The High Achievers

Reds are money motivated and money focused people. They make up only 15% of the population.

Don't even try to talk to a red about their families, vacations, and other personal issues. They just are not interested in talking about them.

Working with Reds

Reds are focused on the money. They are totally focused on sales and are the corporate CEO types, let's "get the job done now" people. Of course, everyone wants reds in their organizations!

However, its important to keep in mind that reds are not the mentoring and coaching types. Their egos are huge and they order people around. Reds want to do things their way. This type of attitude works well in the CEO world, but not well at all in the network marketing home business world!

So, there you have it. The four types of personalities that you will encounter when you get prospects for your home business. Interact with them based on their profiles, and you likely will see a huge difference in your sign-ups as well as in the activity of your downline.

Ways to Fail at a Business

Everyone wants to have a viable business that offers monetary security and time to enjoy life. Looking for the "cash cow" sometimes means that a person can fail to realize the perspective on what it means to market online.

The first way to fail at working an online business is to try to do everything at once. There are tons of gurus online telling you to do this, that and the other thing and you will be successful. What you as a person interested in online marketing has to do is successfully separate the "real" from the "fictional" and this is not always easy to interpret. Look at the sales letter and see if there are what I call "massive statements" meaning those statements like, "Purchase this item and you will never need any other marketing tools" or "This particular item will be so easy to use that you will have $1,000's of dollars in your bank account next day". Exaggerated claims are the first key to knowing when you are being hyped. Only one situation will bring you success online and that is work and diligence to your business attitudes and service to customers.

Another way to fail online is to avoid spending time researching your niche or your marketplace. Your customers have a certain mindset, a way they like to shop, how they find your websites, etc. Make it easy for them to find out your attitudes, your service policies, and your abilities and do not hide behind the computer. Check other websites in your category and observe what they are doing and see how you can compete or do the service or product a better way. You will not capture every customer, but you do not need every online customer to be successful, only a portion. That is a very compelling reason to market online.

Marking a product or service too inexpensively will prevent you from becoming an online success. You do not have to have the highest pricing nor the cheapest offer online, but you do have to provide value for the dollar or you will not get repeat customers. Repeat customers, repeat this at least three times, are your bread and butter. It takes a lot to get a customer to your website, so you had better be prepared to do more than one follow up to complete that sale. You need to decide how you will accomplish this marketing chore. Will you use autoresponders, an ezine or newsletter, a blog or just how will you correspond with your website visitors to continue to convince them of your integrity and honesty? It is a concept you should work out before you start to put up a website.

Also, you will need to have the proper tools and should consider their purchase part of your research and development to begin to build an online business. You need your own domain name or maybe a couple of domain names, a webhost, a product or service that you own and profit from, a way to build a website either by yourself or with a web designer, and you need a way to bring traffic to your website. Without any of these components, you will fail in your online business.

Only one component can compliment your ability to make a success online and that is a little four-letter word that is hard to find today. The word is "work" and there will be a lot of late nights and time spent in front of the computer before you see success in your business. If anyone tells you differently, that is a good sign that you need to run, not walk, to the next website!

Continue to believe in yourself and in your product or service and you will soon be able to count your home business as a successful and viable business. Keeping a positive attitude certainly will help you avoid countless mistakes because you have been shown a lot of the pitfalls of how to fail in a business and also how to succeed.

Autoresponders - What They Are and Why You Need Them

Autoresponders are excellent promotional tools, essential for Internet business. Some call them by the technical term; while others say automatic eMailer, eMail responder, autobot or mailbot. Whatever you call them the important thing is that they automatically respond to incoming messages, hence the name, and they do so without human intervention.

Autoresponders are great time-savers and you can use them for a variety of tasks. They never take a break, work 24/7 all year for no extra pay and hardly ever check in sick (providing you use reliable suppliers). Autoresponders never query the task you set them and they follow your instructions to the letter. You will notice the plural being used, so you can see that more than one autoresponder is usually required.

With the Internet constantly growing, and new users coming online daily, you have a truly international marketplace at your disposal. Competition is fierce, especially in certain markets. Many thousands of companies are already competing for business so you must do whatever it takes to give you an edge. The last thing you want is to gain that edge, attract hundreds of visitors daily, and then fail to capitalize on the advantage you worked hard to gain.

All the companies and experienced marketers know that getting visitors is only the first step in business. What comes next is conversion or turning those visitors into customers. They know they won't convert all their visitors to customers, and they also know, or soon learn, that few visitors buy anything on their first visit. It's commonly stated that it takes an average of 5 to 7 visits before a visitor will make a purchase. The key to your success on the Internet lies in bringing those visitors back for further visits until they buy.

And that's where autoresponders fit in. Successful businesses know they must bring potential customers back, and the best way to bring them back, achieving a good conversion rate at the same time, is by using autoresponders. You do this by offering your visitors something as an incentive to return. The offer can be for additional information in keeping with site content maybe a free eBook or a free report.

If your website has lots of really useful content, and/or you produce a regular newsletter, your offer can be for free notifications of website updates or a free subscription. Anything of quality will do as long as it's on the same subject they came looking for, or closely related to it. Set up an autoresponder and it will generate a code for you to put a form on your website. Place the form beside or beneath the offer and interested visitors can fill in their name and eMail address.

You will need to write a generic response to the subscriber's request and load it into your autoresponder. As soon as someone fills in your form and hits the 'Submit' button their message goes to your autoresponder and your message goes back to them right away. This will show you're serious about serving the customer and give them the feeling of personal service. Personal service on a scale a single person would be unable to provide to thousands of customers, clients and enquirers.

Customer service is a major key to business success and autoresponders provide that service better than humans. They do exactly what you tell them and what the client asks. You can purchase or license scripts to install and run from your website, programmed to run on servers, or pay for the services of one of the many autoresponder providers.

Your main objective is to make sales but your first priority should be to provide useful information and to capture as many names and eMail addresses as possible. Put faithful autoresponders to work for you, establishing a sense of trust in your visitors, and the sales will follow. Your autoresponders will help keep your customers and leads happy and up to date on your business, feeling special because you're sharing and taking care of them.

Autoresponders, used correctly, can be the pulse of your business. It's a good idea to ask someone you trust to recommend a good supplier rather than choosing a supplier at random from the search engines.

Six Reasons Why Many Home-Based Businesses Fail

Any given day, thousands of people look to get out of the rat race and work from home. In addition, many people want to get a home-based business started so badly that they do not always make wise choices in choosing a work from home opportunity. As a result, many fail miserably. This, of course, does not need to happen. It is possible to pick a viable business opportunity. As discussed in a previous article, there are five top reasons many home-based businesses will never work. Let's discover six additional reasons why, if people are not careful, their home business could fail.

Reason#1: Most new opportunities have no way to help people make large amounts of money. Many opportunities will give great ideas for making money, but then leave people out in the cold by having them do everything on their own. There simply is not a good support system. Nobody should be a part of a business opportunity such as this.

Reason #2: Unfortunately, some home business opportunity promoters will take people's money and run. There are too many fly-by-night companies out there that will not hesitate to scam people. The problem is their promotions sound just as good as everybody else's. To avoid this, home-based business opportunity seekers need to be very skeptical about each business opportunity they are presented, examine them carefully, and then make an informed decision.

Reason #3: Some home-based business opportunities have people work long hours for little pay. People end up getting burned out, tired, frustrated, and eventually quit. Why become part of a work at home opportunity that is like a regular job?

Reason #4: Many business opportunities offer products nobody wants. Never, ever try to market anything people could care less about. Everyone who tries to do this is doomed to fail. Always remember that the market for your products or services comes first, and the product or service must offer something exciting that people want. In addition, it is best that the company that offers the product or service has a proven marketing system that automatically sells to people the exciting product or service.

Reason #5: Many home-based business opportunities force people to become salespeople. Because things are not set up right, people are forced to face rejection constantly. Avoid this type of business since most people hate to sell!

Reason #6: Most work at home opportunities pay small sums of money and no residual income. This is a recipe for disaster! If people sell low-ticket items that don't sell for very much money, it's going to be almost impossible for them to obtain financial freedom and to become rich. Never become part of any home-based business opportunity that forces one to sell tons of items just to make a decent profit.

So, there you have it-six additional reasons why many home-based businesses will fail. Carefully look for potential problems with any home-based business opportunity, make sure it does not meet the criteria for any of these six problems outlined, and then make an informed choice.

So You Want to Earn Some Cash with Content Publishing

You have read all over the internet about how easy it is to make money with something called content publishing. Well, it's true; you can make some decent money online with content publishing. There are however, a couple of things you need to know before you'll be able to generate significant money from Google's Adsense or any of the lesser known context advertising systems.

First on this list is "original content". Do not fall into the trap of obtaining private label content for use on your context advertising site and using it without truly making it yours. This cannot be stressed enough. In order to get the biggest benefit from your private label purchases, you must re-write the content to make it unique. The search engines love unique content and it makes absolutely no sense to purchase the right to re-write the content, making it your very own, and then not exercise that right. There are so many people who buy private label rights and then do nothing with them. One of your objectives must be to make your content stand out from the crowd. The search engines will reward you with a higher ranking. This will translate into more visitors and more clicks on your ad links.

That brings us to another issue that you must not forget about: traffic generation. You could have the best looking site on the world wide web, but if you get zero traffic you will not make any money from it. Like it or not, traffic generation is something that you must work at to be successful in content publishing. Sure, at some point you should be able to count on getting regular traffic from the search engines, but how long will that take? In the beginning, you will need to drive any traffic that you get to your site. Traffic doesn't just magically appear. It takes some hard work, but in the end the payoff can be significant.

Traffic generation can be accomplished in two ways, free traffic or paid traffic. Free traffic generation methods include link exchanges with similar sites, signature lines in emails or forum posts, free classified ad sites and many more. Paid traffic includes sites where a specific amount of website visitors can be purchased. Be very cautious about using paid traffic sites as these sites may send traffic that is untargeted and therefore potentially unresponsive. It's obvious that the kind of visitor you want is someone who is interested in the content on your site. Although this is obvious, it needs to be stressed. Random web surfers who land on your site are very unlikely to spend much time reading your content or clicking the ads. The kind of visitor you want is someone who is actively looking for the kind of content you have published. These visitors are very likely to click on relevant ads and that is one of your main objectives as a content publisher.

All You Wanted to Know about Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing Programs can help you learn one of the most popular marketing strategies for a web business, which is affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is something that has become more and more popular over the past few years. Similar market techniques have been used offline in businesses for years. But, today’s marketing experts have found ways to take the traditional "finder's fee" strategies and incorporate them into the web world of business.

Most affiliate programs are completely free to sign-up, so they rarely ask for a registration fee. Once you sign up with an affiliate program, you will be in essence advertising the site for them. You may agree to post their ad on your own website or may be responsible for recruiting others to sign up or others to purchase things from the original site offering the affiliate program.

Marketing affiliate programs pays in various ways, depending on the particular program you join. Some will pay "per click". This means that you will earn a wage from the affiliate program each time someone visits your site and clicks on their ad. Google AdSense is a very good example of the pay "per click" program. Once your website gets approved by Google all you have to do is paste the HTML code in relevant places in your website. Each time a visitor clicks on those ads, you get paid. You can open your Google AdSense account at https//www.google.com/Adsense

Others will pay "per lead", meaning that you most often need to get someone to signup for whatever they are offering to get paid. Most Credit Card companies and Insurance companies pay their affiliates in this manner.

Lastly, they may pay "per sale". This means that you are responsible for the sale being made. This is the most common form of affiliate programs and also the most rewarding. One can receive high commission percentages. Commission Junction and LinkShare give you the opportunity to become affiliates, which offer this program (These are also good places to find reputed "per lead" programs). One of the best combinations of these programs is ClickBank and Google AdWords. ClickBank (www.clickbank.com ) has thousand of items you can choose from and then you can advertise your chosen products on Google Adwords. Though it does require some time to get the right balance of effective keywords and their respective pay per click cost, but once understood it can be very rewarding.

Although it may seem like a lot of work, it really is not. If you already have a great deal of traffic coming to your own website, you can add an affiliate ad and start earning right away.

How to Stay in Your Customer's Mind

Imagine the following scenario: six months ago you paid someone to come and do your gardening. You'd like to use them again but you can't remember their name and have lost their business card. You end up going to another gardener, which means that the first gardener has probably lost a customer for life.

How easy would it have been for that gardener to stay in touch with you by sending you a newsletter with gardening tips and product recommendations? If you're running your own business, you can't afford not to have a newsletter. Sure, it seems that every business sends out one nowadays but that is no reason to avoid using this invaluable marketing tool. It's an excellent way to build ongoing customer relationships, establish trust and build credibility.

The most cost effective way to send out a newsletter is by email. That way you avoid printing and mailing costs, and it's so much more immediate.


Here are 5 tips to using email newsletters as a way of staying in touch with your customer base:

1. Use the 80% 20% Rule

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is talking only about themselves in their newsletters. Think about the newsletters that you delete and the ones that you make the effort to read. Usually the most interesting ones contain solid information and tips that benefit you in some way. Think about what would really interest and help your readers and write articles on those topics accordingly. 80% of your newsletter content should directly benefit your reader. Only allow 20% of your content to promote your business.

2. Choose a schedule and stick to it

Consistency is the key when sending out newsletters. Whether you decide on a monthly or fortnightly newsletter, make a commitment to yourself to keep to this schedule. If your newsletter is good, your customers will start to look forward to hearing from you and you don't want to disappoint them, do you?

3. Pick a quality newsletter provider

A service like Aweber will provide you with the best in service at a very reasonable price. As part of signing up, you get free templates to use. Customize these with your logo and photo to add that personal touch. Aweber also manages people wanting to unsubscribe from your list automatically, which is a great time saver.

4. Plan your content

Instead of inwardly groaning when suddenly it's time to send out your newsletter again, why not brainstorm and work on some article ideas in advance? Think of your newsletter as an ongoing, fun project and it will be.

5. Put your sign-up box on your website

Make it easy for people to sign up for your newsletter by putting a sign-up box prominently on your website. Also invite people to sign up by putting a sentence at the end of your email signature, saying something like 'Sign up for my newsletter with the latest articles, news, tips and stories at '

The time and effort that you put into your newsletter will pay off dividends by increasing repeat business, and bringing in new business.