Article Title: The Four Big Adsense Secrets
Author: Iszuddin Ismail

Is there a BIG secret to the huge Adsense checks? Yes, you’ve
seen those screen shots of 5-figure Adsense earning . so have
I. And that made you thinking, why are some people earning
those huge income, and you are not.

Whatever people may say, I only see these are the only factors
that make the difference between your earning and those
‘big-guns’.

1 - Adsense Placement

Yes, putting your Adsense in a special way can be the
difference between 1% click-through rate (CTR) and 10% CTR.
There have been some strategies outlined where you have to make
your Adsense like content. You do that by removing the borders
and using the same font color that you are using for your
website.

Choosing the bigger Adsense format has always been recommended.
It is said that the big square, wide skyscraper are the top
performer. Me . yes, I am experiencing good things with these
ad formats.

Some may say differently, but I am doing well with the Ad Links
too. It’s those text link ads, which requires two-step clicks. I
place them like a navigation link on my website, and I am doing
quite OK with them.

2 - High Paying Keywords

Here’s another known secret. Go for high paying keywords. If
your website is about a topic where advertisers are paying high
money for them, then you may get more money with Adsense.

This is common sense. When people are paying $5.00 per click on
Adwords, you may get a lot of money on your Adsense. And if the
ads that are showing on your website are ads that people are
paying $1.00 per click, you may get lesser than a dollar per
click.

Known topics where advertisers are paying top dollars are like
DUI lawyers, credit card applications, web hosting . you know
the rest. And you can even go to Overture Bid Tools to guess
what people are paying for certain keywords. If you come across
a topic that you think might do well, you can give a try there.

http://uv.bidtool.overture.com/d/search/tools/bidtool/

But the problem with this, high paying keywords are normally
very competitive when you are trying to drive traffic with
search engine optimization (SEO). So some would just go for low
hanging fruits.

3 - Get More Traffic

Yep . no secret here. The more traffic you get, the more clicks
you are likely to get. And more clicks means more money. But
then again, you should think about the type of websites that
pull traffic.

I believe many of top earners are actually operating a
community-based websites. These are like forums, photo blog
service providers, blogs that has grown its readerships and
maybe even dating profiles. Another way of doing this is where
you build your website around user created content. You allow
users to create the content, like put in comments and reviews.

These are the sites that where people keep coming back for
more. The good thing is you don’t have to crack your head for
content. If you think you can build one like those, then go for
it.

On the contrary, many are actually growing sites in smaller
niches. And they go for SEO for traffic. I have to say that
this is the most popular when it comes to Adsense.

You and I know there are the good ways and the bad ways to SEO
- yes, the white hats and the black hats. Whatever you do, that
is your choice. Some people are doing the black hats, but to
them, as long as they are in compliance with the Adsense TOS,
they have nothing to worry about.

To me, you do what you want and take responsibilities for the
outcome. If you are doing black hat SEO, and you are making
boatloads of money - then good for you.

And after that, there’re the non-SEO methods. I know of some
people who are doing the arbitrage method. They go for high
paying keywords, and then advertise their sites for lower
prices. And they make profit from the difference. It may sounds
strange at first, but some actually made it work.

Other non-SEO methods are like posting at forums, writing
articles and doing press releases on their websites.

I have also heard about a strategy where you create an e-course
with email, and then send your subscribers to a web pages that
contains the lessons and of course, Adsense. This way, you can
capture one guy, and probably make money from him/her over and
over again.

4 - It’s a Numbers Game

All in all . Adsense is a numbers game. If you find something
that is working for you, to make more income is just to do it
again and again. For the black hat SEOers, they just build more
and more websites.

Unless you successfully build and grow a community-based
website, you may want to build more sites. If you build one
site that is making $100 a month, then 10 sites would give you
$1000. But then again, I would say, you are bound to have sites
that will just flop. So out of 10, maybe 3 is doing great, 4 is
just so-so, and another 3 just flopped.

If a so-so site makes $30 a month, and a great site is doing
$300 a month, with just 10 sites, you might be making $1020 a
month.

Just like I said . it’s a numbers game.

About The Author: Iszuddin Ismail is the author of a brand new
ebook about search engine optimization (SEO) for Adsense and
Affiliate Programs, the “Quick Guide to SEO for Adsense and
Affiliate Programs”. Increase your Adsense earning today -
http://www.AdsenseSEOGuide.com

Article Title: Getting To “Yes”: Asking The Right Questions
Author: Lawrence Groves

See how many of the following questions you can adapt to your
own sales efforts.

Situation : Despite making a good sales presentation, the
customer remains uninvolved.

Your Question: “Based on the data, it looks like you can save
$90,000 a year with this solution.
What needs to be done before you are completely comfortable
with this?”

Situation: The client agrees that there are still a number of
items that need to be cleared up
before he can make a commitment.

Your Question: “Before we get into this in any depth, can I get
your agreement on the data results?
Will you look at the facts and decide for yourself if they make
sense?”

Situation : The customer says he is considering one of your
competitors.

Your Question: “Yes, that is a good company. But we are
different.
Would you like to know why?”

Now, before you move on to pricing, you must have a commitment
from your client that there is nothing other than affordability
that would prevent them from saying YES. Never omit this step.
I realize that this is the scariest thing to say to a client
because you are often unsure of the answer.

You are nearing the end of your presentation now and it’s time
to tie everything together. This process begins with
reiterating the client main issues.

Ask yourself:

1. What have you found throughout the presentation that excites
your client the most?
2. What is their most painful problem you can solve?
3. What are their deepest desires?

The answers to those questions are what you will cover here. If
you have done a thorough presentation. You should have the
answers to all of those questions

Get Agreement

Once the client is fully engaged, it’s time to get the final
agreement. Once again, we reach this agreement with commitment
questions. Here the questions may be more open ended where you
allow the client to give a fuller answer than just agreeing
with you.

Open-ended questions give the client a chance to fully express
why they feel that your product is right for them. They will be
saying to you many of the things you have said to them during
the presentation if you have done a good presentation.

When you ask these questions it will either be time to finish
the sale or the client will come up with an objection you will
need to address. Either way, this is another time where you
need to be very conscious of the personality type of your
client.

Situation : You have come to the end of the sales presentation.

Your Question: “What question should I be asking that I’m not
asking?”

Any Objections?

Depending on the way your company markets, you may have clients
that are already predisposed to wanting your product. Even with
this high degree of interest, you may still encounter
objections.

Doing an in-depth investigation of your client’s needs and
desires in the beginning of your presentation is key to not
having objections at the end of your presentation.

The better you know your client the more likely it is that you
will cover any potential objections
before they even come to the mind of your client.

Don’t forget to continually ask ‘why” when you get an initial
answer to a question. That one word can make a world of
difference in you getting to the real needs of your client.

Objections decrease as you become more proficient at covering
possible objections in the body of your presentation so they
never come up at all.

Situation: The sales presentation is over. It is time to ask
for the sale with one last question.

Your Question: “Why don’t you give it a try?”

YES, they want to move forward with your product. Congratulate
them on taking the one action that will improve their life this
year.

They should thank you for taking your time to show them exactly
how your product will work for them.

You have provided a valuable service to your client and that
should make you proud.

Be Prepared–Not every client will say YES.

Situation: Client declines your product or service.

Your Question: “What is there that we can do to make it work
for you?”

Now it’s their turn to brainstorm your solution to their own
problem.

About The Author: Lawrence Groves is the Director of Solo 401k
Retirement Administration Services for the Retirement Group. A
nationally recognized author and retirement plan expert with
over 25 years of plan design, administration, and compliance
experience. Visit http://www.solo-k.com_wst_page2.php or
http://www.prfsite.com

Article Title: Attracting Web Business
Author: Kat. Mitrou

So you’ve finished building a great website and you’re ready to
start raking in the profits - if you can figure out how to let
the world know your business exists. Although creating an
attractive website is an important first step if you plan to
start your own online business, it is definitely not the last.
In fact, once the website is complete you’ve still got quite a
lot of work on the horizon.

Just because you have a website up and running, it doesn’t mean
people will automatically know where to find you. And yet,
surprisingly, many first-time web entrepreneurs drop the ball
at this point in the game. They assume customers will find them
amongst all the other sites floating around in cyberspace, as if
through some kind of psychic connection. But if you think about
it, this type of thinking is very misguided.

It is the same with any business: customers won’t start
flocking to your store unless you invest some time and money
into advertising. Depending on your budget, you can either
blast the trumpet really loud or toot the horn a little bit at
a time. But in the end, you have to make some kind of noise in
order to be heard.

But how do you achieve this in the vacuum of cyberspace? Or
perhaps more fittingly, how do you make yourself heard amidst a
crowd of other aspiring musicians all trumpeting their own
cause? Obviously, online marketing is different from marketing
a bricks-and-mortar business, so it’s important to know exactly
where to begin. If you take the proper steps you will be
attracting interested customers in no time.

The first step is to know your customer, inside and out. This
is key if you want to be successful in your marketing strategy
because you can’t market to potential customers if you don’t
know who they are. For someone selling baked goods, targeting
the “Carb-Haters of America” might not result in the profits
you are anticipating.

Next, determine where you want to market your product. The
Internet allows every new or expanding business the opportunity
to reach a global market, but not every business is aiming for
that goal. If your website is set up as one arm of your
existing offline business, you might wish to target potential
customers in your local area who also want the option of online
shopping. In this case, integrate your website into promotional
materials for your store so people will learn about the new
branch of your business. Essentially, the efforts you make to
promote your business outside of the Internet can be used to
get your web address out there as well.

Internet Marketing

But of course, most people who begin an online venture are
looking to broaden their customer base and attract a global
clientele. There are several ways to start advertising online.
Just remember: online marketing is always changing, and nothing
works perfectly for every business. You might have to tailor a
marketing plan to suit your company’s specific goals, or if
Internet marketing makes your head spin, you also have the
option of hiring a company to do the marketing for you.

Step one: register with search engines. Unfortunately, this
doesn’t guarantee hits to your site, and the promises many
search engines make are usually more pie-in-the-sky than
realistic, but it is still a necessary evil. If you have to
choose, register with Yahoo! and Google, as the highest
percentage of web traffic originates from these two giants. In
the past, achieving top search results could be done for free;
now you have to shell out some cash if you want to get top
placement and advertising space. Yahoo! Express and Google’s
Adwords program are two examples of this type of paid search
engine placement.

Another way to get noticed is to participate in a link
exchange. Simply put, this involves seeking out other websites
that are related to your company or product in some way and
asking the owner if he/she will post your link on the site. If
the owner agrees, you offer to post their link on your site,
hence the term “link exchange.” This is a good way to start
advertising your site because it involves targeting the right
kind of people (someone visiting a site already related to your
business) and forming solid bonds with other websites. And the
more links other sites have to your site, the more popular you
become with the search engines, without having to pay for top
placement.

Finally, don’t sit back and wait for customers to come to you.
Be proactive and go directly to your clientele. Of course, this
means you must know where to find them, but this sounds harder
than it actually is.

For instance, many new businesses actually use eBay to source
potential customers. It depends on what you’re selling, but if
you know a lot of people looking for your product spend a good
amount of time making eBay purchases, that might be a good
place to begin and get your name out in public. Use eBay as a
marketing tool - sell a few items for very low prices, get
people on your email list and invite them to consider future
purchases from your website. EBay is more than a place to sell
goods; it can be used as a highly effective marketing tool.

Or, as mentioned above, make business connections with people
in a related business. Pay to have banner ads displayed on
other websites to help spread the word about your business.
This will bring you closer to the people who make up your
target market.

This is just the beginning when it comes to online marketing,
but if you start off on the right foot and persevere, you will
succeed.

About The Author: Article was written by Katerina Mitrou
sponsored by http://templatedogma.com/. Template Dogma offers a
huge selection of professional, ready to use website templates
and custom products. Build your professional website in minutes
with the help of http://Templatedogma.com. Reproductions of this
article must include a link back to http://templatedogma.com/.

Article Title: Why Do The Search Engines Change Their Minds?
Author: Old Welsh Guy

One of the common questions that come up time after time on
forums is , “why do the search engines keep changing their
minds about what they want”. The search engines really don’t
chop and change what they want, really they don’t. They all
want one thing, to deliver the most relevant pages to
searchers. it isn’t rocket science (despite what some of the
telephone sake oil salespeople SEO’s tell you). SEO is simple,
here are off my cuff the simple basics of seo.

1) Make sure your site can be spidered
If not then all else is wasted, this is a basic that believe it
or not many overlook.

2) Make sure the spiders can spider it quickly and understand
the importance of every page in your site.

Set up a nice clean navigation and folder structure with the
site broken dow into little pockets of focused pages. Put in
place a sitemap, with links to the pages, and a brief text of
what to expect at that page.

3) Carry out keyword research and do not cut corners.
Keyword research is the bedrock of any marketing, be it PPC or
organic SEO, get it right and it is a joy, get it wrong you pay
the price miles down the line when you have to come all the way
back and start again.

4) Create the structure above, and create informative clear
crisp focused pages.
A page should focus on a subject and the subject should be
clearly identifiable. Make the subject the page title and your
away.

5) Create clear page titles
How on earth do you expect a search algo to know what your
pages are about if they are not clearly marked? Leep in mind
that the page title serves two masters, the search engine, and
more importantly the searcher. A clear focused page title will
encourage clicks to your page.

6) Create clear quality on topic content. Search engines need
content to work out what your site is all about, without it
they have to guess. Quality content matched to quality
backlinks into your site will help you rank well, and will
please your visitors.

7) Focus your pages! The search engine algorithms need to be
able to work out what each page is about on the web. Covering
three or four topics on the same page will only serve to
confuse the issue. Focused tight content and outbound on topic
links will help both visitors and search engines.

Be proud of your site.
Let people know it exists, submit to directories, contact other
sites that are likely to be able to share client types, and swap
links.

9) Link out
So much is made of incoming links, but I am a firm believer
that you can assist the search algorithms greatly by linking
out to good authoritive pages from within your site. This is
how it was in the beginning with academics citing each others
work, and this still works today.

10) Use the right anchor text
Anchor text was again how we did it in the early days, but
people kind of lost track of that. Now again they realise the
importance of anchor text. Use descriptive anchor text when
possible, and this includes internal links within your own
site.

Well that is that take a look and tell me what is new there?
The answer is nothing really. So SEO doesn’t change, the search
engines don’t keep changing their minds about what they want.
The problem is that too many people create sites that algo
chase one factor or another of the algorithm, and when the
weight is altered for this factor, they have to move onto
another to shore it up. Create a good well balanced site with
all the elements covered, and it will stand the test of time.

About The Author: Old Welsh Guy is a web marketer and SEO who
owns http://www.umbrella-consultancy.co.uk ,
http://www.web-design-wales.com. His blog can be found at
http://www.oldwelshguy.co.uk ask me.

Article Title: Basic Business Attributes, Do You Have Them?
Author: Old Welsh Guy

How many times have we heard the saying “we learn from our
mistakes”. I have to agree with this saying, and also that the
lessons we learn hardest we learn best! I have learned a lot
from my mistakes, sadly (for me) most of them were made before
the Internet existed as the fantastic networking tool it is
today. Today it is possible to read articles or join a forum
and get great advice (and not so great advice) from forums.

While it is great to learn from our mistakes, it is better to
learn from the mistakes of others, or by ’standing on the
shoulders of giants’ as Newton said.

These are my ‘business mistakes’ I have learned from.

1) Keep your monthly fixed costs as low as possible, and make
your number one priority to arrange an equal amount of regular
income on a regular monthly basis to cover this amount.

If there was one piece of advice I would give it would be the
above, as more businesses go bust due to poor cash flow than
anything else!

2) Thoroughly research and work in your mind and bounced off
other trusted people, your idea. Market test it as much as
possible while keeping the idea as quiet as possible.

3) Get a business plan on paper (not the sort the bank or
enterprise agencies use as they are by and large a load of
rubbish (although you will need this for the bean counters). Go
to (1) above, and set in stone a solid plan for achieving this.
After you hit break even continue it on to the next target, and
so on.

I just used the magic word there, ‘target’. you MUST be sales
orientated in business as the owner, if you are not then you
are failing in your main duty which is to ensure the continued
existence of the business.

4) Do NOT care what others think about you, i.e. what car you
drive etc. ALL of this will change if you stick to the plan and
keep your focus on short term targets and longer term goals.

I just tripped another magic word in business ‘ Focus’ .

5) Keep your focus, decide what the targets are, work out how
to get them, and focus on doing that. If you need £1000 a month
to pay the bills, then this is what you MUST do. If you lose
focus of your core objective, you are going to lose out big
time, and end up failing.

If you doubt the power of focus, then try this test:-
Get a friend to hold 3 tennis balls in their hand
Get the friend to throw all three at you in one go
Try to catch the balls
Repeat three times. I bet you will not catch many, if any at
all.

Now get them to throw them again, and this time focus on
catching one ball.
Repeat three times
Now you will have caught one ball three times.

It is true in business that you must focus on the core
objective, just as with the balls once you catch one, you move
onto the next, until you have achieved all your goals, or at
least your most important ones.

Of all the skills needed to succeed, I would say focus is up
there with the top 3 along with enthusiasm and determination.

About The Author: Old Welsh Guy runs umbrella consultancy who
provide SEo services and http://www.umbrella-consultancy.co.uk
. He also owns http://www.web-design-wales.com and
http://www.oldwelshguy.co.uk

Article Title: Punch Up Sales By Letting Them Write Your Ad
Letter
Author: Timothy Robinson

Who is best qualified to prove your product works? Who has the
credibility and the believability to talk about the benefits of
using your product? Who will tell your customers and clients
it’s a good decision to buy?

It’s you, right? Perhaps you’d better keep reading…

The answer is - your own customers.

Your customers have the experience of using your product.
They’ve used the features, and experienced the benefits.
Speaking from this familiarity your customers will relate with
your prospects in a way you will not.

Your words are seen as claims when you talk about your product.
But when your customer talks, their words are seen as truth.

When you’re selling a product or service, all internet
marketers know there’s nothing like the power of testimonials.
Testimonials are the social proof - the “Show me I’m not alone”
evidence - from customers that have already bought from you and
enjoyed your product.

I’ve seen salesletters written by top marketers that are
composed of nothing but testimonials. We’ve all seen
salesletters filled with so many testimonials that if printed
out, it would drain your printer of it’s ink.

The testimonials in such letters contain nearly all of the
elements a good salesletter must have: the features and the
benefits (especially the benefits!) of the product; the stories
supporting the use of the product; and novel ideas on how your
product has been put to use. (Wow, it’s like an ‘open source’
method for sales-letter development!) Just add an
attention-grabbing headline (and a link to the order page) and
you’re done.

So how do you get authentic, sales-pulling, kick-butt
testimonials that practically write your sales letter for you?
Well, how about asking for them? The way that you ask, though,
is the difference between asking and getting little, and asking
and getting a tremendous response.

About The Author: Tim Robinson reveals the tried and true
secrets of getting quality, product-success-making
testimonials. It’s a free ebook.
http://www.tecneek.com/download.php?view.1

Article Title: Enhance Your Career Through Internet Exposure
Author: Joyce Jackson

Are you a marketing guru? If so, you should use the power of
the internet to help you gain more exposure for your business.
Internet exposure is likely to increase your career options by
enabling you to reach hundreds, thousands even, of potential
customers for your business or service.

Career-minded individuals are finding their careers are helped
tremendously through the power of the internet. Individuals who
normally would be limited on exposure are now finding they have
more business than they can handle thanks to the power of the
internet. It’s all in learning how to gain exposure.

If you have a business or service to market, then learning how
to market using the internet will not only put money in your
pocket, but it will also enable you to find the best marketing
for your advertising dollars. The power of the internet will
help you to gain the customers you need with push-button ease
to enhance your career.

Google keyword tools can help you learn to gain better
placement for your website. E-books on ad words as well as
other Google features will teach you to enhance careers and
business. There are many tools you can use on the internet to
help you shape up your image and these career building tools
will give you a career enhancement fellowship to boot!

Career enhancements are realized through the internet because
no other form of marketing and advertising will give you the
coverage you need and want like the internet. You will find the
internet is user friendly for marketing as well as advertising
and the enhancement tools through the search engines such as
Google will educate you on a better way to job enhance!

Internet exposure promotes you and your career enhancing
process will begin with the virtual world so it is important to
read up on the concept of text links and hunt for the best way
to market your career through the internet. You’ll find your
career can be enhanced quickly through the power of the
internet and it’s the best value you can find to not only
enhance your career but to also gain public exposure while
building up job security!

About The Author: Joyce Jackson is a career consultant with
thirty years experience working with professionals to help them
advance their careers. Her extensive website offers tips,
techniques and strategies at Career Enhancement Basics.
http://careerenhanceonline.com

Article Title: The Evolution Of Employee Motivation
Author: Carl Walker

The concept of employee motivation is not at all a new idea. It
has been around as long as there have been employees and
employers. While the concept itself is not new, new research
and awareness have made new aspects of employee motivation not
only a possibility, but a reality in the world today.

It was not at all uncommon in the past for an employer to offer
some system of rewards and privileges as a means of employee
motivation. Recent thinking however has given way to the fact
that this process may actually alienate other workers who, for
whatever reason, may not be as capable in a particular field or
endeavor. Ultimately, the belief was that this was actually
contrary to effective employee motivation and in reality,
decreased employee productivity. Since the main idea behind
employee motivation is to increase worker productivity, this
was seen as very limited in scope and detrimental in the long
run regarding employer-employee relations.

Recent beliefs and ideas have introduced new concepts to the
field of employee motivation. One of the most common “new”
areas of growth in the area of employee motivation is through
the use of work teams.

This concept of employee motivation had its major start in the
aerospace industry. It allowed a group of dedicated employees
to focus together as a team on any given project. This idea of
employee motivation worked especially well since it allowed for
creative input from a number of employees without restricting
the thought of any single person or alienating any one employee
in particular. When the projects went well, the employees were
celebrated as a group or as a team, offering employee
motivation to the whole group instead of to any one individual.

This concept of employee motivation has since evolved and
become common in many fields of study. There are a number of
seminars offered which are specifically designed and promoted
as a means to offer not only employee motivation, but to create
an atmosphere of team work that is surprisingly beneficial to
worker productivity. By allowing the people to work together as
teams, and as is often the case in these seminars, making any
one employee’s success dependent on the ability of the team as
a whole, the workers are unified and become more closely knit
and function much better together. This has had profound and
far reaching effects in the area of employee motivation.

About The Author: http://freeselfimprovement.com/ Free Self
Improvement examines all aspects of self improvement: hypnosis,
meditation, motivation, personal development, stress reduction.

Author: Joy Gendusa
Author’s Email Address: karla_jo[at]postcardmania.com (replace
[at] with @)

You’re an independent loan officer that works from home, but
you still want to sell like you’re backed up by the Big Dogs.
That is not so hard when you know how to market. Sure, if you
could market with XYZ’s big-time budget, then you could get
more leads and close more loans. But, what if you don’t have
that kind of marketing budget? There is still a way to get
those leads; you just have to get smart about it - like the Big
Dogs.

It all comes down to RESEARCH. The hardest part is figuring out
what to sell to whom. A one-man band with 30 different products
to sell needs to know HOW to promote, WHAT to promote and WHO
to promote to.

1) Research which product you need to market.

When you start researching, you cannot go off of assumptions
because you know what they say about
a-s-s-u-m-e (makes an ass out of ‘u’ and ‘me’). What you have
to do is go through your client list and tabulate what product
you sell the most of. First calculate what product you sell
the most of and then calculate what product you make the most
money on. Those are the two products that you start with.
However, if what you sell the most of is what you make the most
amount of money on, then that is pretty fantastic - but not
likely. You’ll probably find two products. Usually, you really
have to do a sincere survey. You are looking to market the
product that makes you the most income the quickest FIRST.
“Thinking” it is a particular product rather than “doing” an
empirical study is not marketing smart - because you may be
wrong - believe it or not. When you are working from home, you
need to be twice as smart when it comes to your marketing.

How you do it?

Make a spreadsheet and go through all of your past closes over
the last few years. List them out: Product A, B, C, D - get
every close you made over the past few years and mark down what
the product was and what you earned off of it.

Example:

Product A earned 1%
Product B earned $900
Product C earned ½%
Product D earned 1500.00

You will be able to “see” exactly what product you are selling
the most of and what product you are making the most money on.
Then you can start marketing to your bread and butter first.
Once you have consistently marketed that product for a while,
then you can supplement your marketing strategy and market the
other product, the one paying the biggest commission - while
keeping the campaign continuing on your bread and butter.
Marketing smart means marketing first what you sell the most
of, the fastest. That is an important datum - it sums it all
up.

Now that you know which product to start with, you have to know
who is going to buy it, which comes to our next step.

2) Research to find who the audience is that you are going to
sell to.

Not all audiences are the same. Take for example the Will and
Grace Show. Not everyone would want to watch that. Just like
there is a totally different target audience for The Lawrence
Welk Show. (If you never heard of these, then more than likely
you aren’t their audience.) Case in point: you have to
determine who your audience is, which is called a “market”. A
“market” is a type of audience, a type of user. So, figure out
everything you can about that particular market that buys your
bread-and-butter product. And you already have access to all
their data - age ranges, credit scores, credit rating, income,
etc. Tip: do another spread sheet.

Once you have the demographics of the people that buy your
“easiest-to-sell” product, then get a list of that particular
type of audience. You can go to a list company that you feel
good about and have gotten recommendations for, and buy a list
of people within that criteria.

The reason you want to do such a thorough job of finding out
who you are selling to is that 40% of your marketing campaign’s
success (success meaning whether or not you get a good response)
is dependent on your list. Besides, it is your list and the
postage that are going to be the most expensive parts of your
direct mail campaign. I cannot stress enough the importance of
a good list - it makes all the difference between marketing
smart and.well, if you are not targeting your public, you
aren’t really marketing at all.

After you research out who your target market is,

3) Figure out what to say to them.

The thing about people in a certain profession or a certain
industry is that they have been in their industry for so long
and know so much about their profession that they start to
think that people know as much as they do - or should know as
much as they do. Most people are not educated in your
particular product. Most people do not know there are all types
of rates and products that are available to them depending on
their credit, income, etc. And these people are not necessarily
illiterate hicks from Country-Bumpkinville! They are educated
people, but they have lots of other things they deal with
everyday that take up all their time, e.g., picking up the kids
from school, dealing with the boss at work, etc. Not everyone is
watching Alan Greenspan every day!

Another thing you need to know, before you decide what it is
you need to say in your message, is that it is very hard to
educate people - they don’t want to be educated necessarily.
You need to find out what the “button” is that people will
respond to, that will get them to come to you for loans or
refinancing or what-have-you. A “button” is a word, phrase,
picture, etc. that elicits emotional response. People may not
understand “No PMI”, but they understand “fast cash”. What is
it about them that would make your message mean something?

It is all analysis. To figure out what you want to say, you
have to figure out what people will respond to. You don’t
really want to say, “I’m the best broker ever that can match up
any product with any customer!” although that may seem like a
good idea. First of all, a lot of people don’t even know what a
mortgage broker does!! So don’t say that. You have to market
differently to different types of people.

People have different agreements and fixed ideas and
experiences. For example: Someone that has bought several homes
has more experience on that line than someone who has never
bought a home. If you found the product you sold the most of
was to first-time home buyers , then you know they have little
or no experience with mortgages. But everybody wants to own
their own home; so what you want to say to them is “You CAN own
your own home - it’s EASY!”, or something of the sort. Look at
it from a different angle. One person, who is really into boats
and is reading Nova Online - Speed Machines, would understand a
jet hydroplane with a lightweight composite hull and a jet
engine that could deliver 5,500 horsepower with the afterburner
lit. But another guy, who has never owned a boat before, may
just think it is just another fast boat and all he’s looking to
buy is a fast boat - without all the engineering details. You
have to get your message across to your target market that is
going to communicate to them. In other words, they are going to
understand it and RESPOND.

Working out of your home, you don’t have access to the Big
Mortgage Bank’s Marketing Department. When you don’t have a
marketing expert telling you what to do, you may still need
that expert’s help. So here again, do research to get that help
or assistance. Go on the internet to find the biggest lenders
web sites. Get on their mailing list. Look at their marketing
materials so you can see what they send you - not “you” as
broker, but “you” as a potential customer. Not only are you
researching how you are making the most money, but also
research how the Big Dogs are bringing in the clients. What are
the materials they are sending to the end-user? There is no need
to reinvent the wheel. Find out what is working and do that. A
lot of those Big Dogs are doing postcards.

Here’s your assignment:

Now that you know, 1) which product you sell the most of, 2)
which product you make the most money on and 3) what the
successful big lenders are doing; start by mailing postcards
(repetitively) to the first audience that buys “Product (1)”.
And you will start generating the kind of leads that buy the
product that sells the easiest. Then, while still marketing
“Product (1)”, start mailing postcards (repetitively) for
“Product (2)” and you will start getting leads that will buy
the product that will pay you the highest commission. You will
first get leads from the most-volume product and then while you
are still getting those and closing them fast, you will get
leads that pay the highest commission. Make sense?

To recap:

. Research

. Pick your marketing media - I recommend postcards. You will
get a lot of “bang for your buck” with that type of media.

. Find a resource for mailing lists.

. Get inside that public’s mind and BE them and figure out what
they would want to know. This, by the way, is a trade secret. If
you can get inside your public’s head and look at it from their
viewpoint, then you can be a genius in your message. It is
actually BEING them and looking at things from their viewpoint.
Take Joe Blow who has never refinanced. Someone with average
credit would probably be interested in a low cost equity line
of credit so he can get money out of his house. “Getting money”
communicates to people.

. Send out postcards repeatedly getting a specific message
across to your target audience that communicates their button.

If you want to sell like the Big Dogs, then learn some
marketing; get yourself educated. Actually, this will make you
stand out instead of running with the pack of inexperienced,
uneducated marketers (you’re competition). Good Luck!

About The Author: Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998,
her only assets a computer and a phone. By 2005 the company did
over $12 million in sales, employed over 100 people and made
Inc. Magazine’s prestigious Inc 500 List as the one of the 500
fastest growing companies in the nation. Visit
http://www.postcardmania.com for more free marketing advice.

Article Title: Grow Your Business By Finding Your “Hidden”
Organization
Author: Pamela S. Harper
Author’s Email Address: david[at]cameopublications.com (replace
[at] with @)

Have you ever wondered what enables some entrepreneurs to
exponentially grow their businesses while others go flat, or
worse? Their secret lies in their ability to find and lead what
I call their “hidden” organization. You may think you don’t have
an organization, hidden or otherwise, especially if your
business consists of a “gang of one” or there are only a few
employees on staff. But the fact is that even the smallest
businesses have an organization, and your success or failure is
determined by your ability to find it and then lead it in a way
that gives you more of the results you want.

This may be a totally new concept to consider. It’s easy to
think of giant corporations as having organizations. These are
the “internal stakeholders” consisting of employees,
departments and committees on the payroll. However, large
companies are realizing that independent consultants,
suppliers, outsource providers, alliance partners, customers
and other “external stakeholders” also play a critical role in
their organization’s ability to achieve high performance
results.

Just as your business is part of your customers’ external
organization, it also has external stakeholders of its own that
make up your hidden organization. The better you become at
recognizing and leveraging the power of these many
relationships, the more likely it is that you’ll survive
unexpected twists and turns in the economy, minimize problems,
and take your business to the next level of growth.

Who makes up your hidden organization?

It can be challenging to identify the many stakeholders who
impact your business. While some of these relationships are
obvious, it’s easy to overlook and underestimate the impact of
others. However, if you think of an external stakeholder as any
person, group or organization that has a stake (whether they
recognize it or not) in the success of your business, your
organization includes, but is not limited to:

.Customers
.Suppliers
.Outsource providers (payroll services, virtual assistants,
etc.)
.Advisors (attorneys, accountants, bankers, business coaches,
consultants, etc.)
.Alliance partners
.Subcontractors
.Competitors
.Business and trade associations to which you belong
.Advisory boards

When you uncover the wide variety of support, knowledge,
skills, capabilities, and resources that are available through
your stakeholders, you can offer services and products in ways
that you may never have considered before. For example, a
specialty-clothing designer with one store location teamed up
with an online distributor so that she now runs a global
business, reaching customers around the world. Even competitors
have found that there are a number of ways to benefit through
limited collaborations. The possibilities for growth are there
if you look for them.

While large companies have organizational charts that map out
functions of departments and roles of employees, you can also
create your own “organizational chart” to map out how external
stakeholders fill essential functions and roles that are
essential for conducting business. For instance, your
accountant, attorney, and insurance agent are important parts
of your “executive team.” Your organization also includes your
customers, along with the alliance partners, outsource
providers, and sub-contractors who may work with you to deliver
products and services.

As you continue to identify stakeholders, be sure to update
your organization chart on a regular basis. Depending upon,
your own goals, customers’ objectives and needs, new technology
and shifts in the economy, some stakeholders will take on
increased importance while others play a less important role
for a period of time.

Realigning your vision of your organization so it includes
these and other external stakeholders will enable you to think
about new ways to reach your customers, expand your
capabilities, and discover new opportunities for increased
revenue and profitability.

Leading and managing your hidden organization
Now that you’ve discovered your hidden organization, the next
challenge is to lead and manage it so that you are achieving
your growth objectives.

Clients often tell me that unexpected and persistent problems
seem to come out of nowhere (this is what I call “strategic
gridlock”). However, when we look back, it’s possible to trace
the source of problems to one or more common but mistaken
assumptions that we all make about our organizations, based
upon our individual perceptions of reality.

As you lead and manage your hidden organization, here are three
questions to ask yourself on a regular basis to begin to uncover
assumptions, avoid gridlock, and grow your business:

. What is the uniqueness of each stakeholder? Just as no two
people are alike; no two stakeholders are alike. Yet it’s easy
to adopt an approach to dealing with others that doesn’t allow
for these variations. This can lead to persistent problems,
especially if their values and practices are different from
yours. Understanding the uniqueness of each stakeholder will
help everyone get the most out of each relationship.

. Are my stakeholders capable of doing what I want? Since
external stakeholders have other priorities outside of yours,
unexpected changes in direction can easily happen. Consistent
communication with your external stakeholders minimizes the
risk of being blindsided by these issues, and allows you to
make contingency plans. It also alerts you to developments that
could result in new opportunities for your growth.

. Are my stakeholders willing to do what I want? External
stakeholders don’t always share your objectives or sense of
urgency. The more that you understand how they perceive your
objectives and what their needs are in relationship to yours,
the more likely it is that you can head off conflicts, improve
decision making, and negotiate solutions that represent a “win”
for everyone.

To fully meet organizational challenges and lead your
organization to high performance results, it’s essential to
know not only who your stakeholders are, but also what issues
they face and the impact those issues may have on you. When you
seek out the perceptions of your stakeholders on a regular
basis, you’ll be able to address any potential challenges from
a position of organizational reality, not individual
assumption.

Discover the power of your hidden organization

Many entrepreneurs, especially those who are used to working as
“gangs of one”, overlook and underestimate the many ways that
they can leverage and grow their businesses by working in
collaboration with their external stakeholders. .

Once you recognize that you are the architect of your own
organization, the issues of leading and managing organizations
of all sizes are the same; the same organizational principles
apply to mega-corporations as well as to solo entrepreneurs,
because even the very smallest businesses have “hidden”
organizations within them.

Harnessing the power of your hidden organization will help you
to discover untapped opportunities, avoid organizational jams,
and grow to new heights of success.

About The Author: Pamela S. Harper is founder and president of
Business Advancement Inc., and helps businesses of all sizes to
accelerate progress toward their key objectives. She is the
author of Preventing Strategic Gridlock: Leading Over, Under &
Around Organizational Jams to Achieve High Performance Results
visit http://www.businessadvance.com