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There is no doubt about it, in today’s competitive business world, every business needs an edge over their competition in order to stay in business.

Every business has salespeople, no matter how big they are or what they sell. In the past, each sales person has had his or her own technique in landing a sale. The techniques were always different and seldom worked for two or more people.

In today’s business world, with technology advancing everyday, it is necessary to have the not only the skills, but also the knowledge of how to connect with businesses on the other side of the world to make a sale. There are certain techniques that your sales for needs in order to keep you in business.

This is when sales training can play a very important role for your business. Sales training is conducted by people who have been in sales for many years. The sales techniques that they teach are proven to be effective. The methods of sales that they teach are effective for any area of business.

The training can be conducted in a few different ways.

First hire- training sales people can be conducted at the time your sales person (s) are hired to insure training is to your specifications from day one.

In office – training your in house salespeople right in your office can be don on a weekly or monthly basis. You can update the training without having to pay for costly business trips and hotels for your sales people.

Online – if your salespeople are on the road, you can set up sales training sessions online for them to take when it is convenient for them. All they have to do is log into a specific website and take the course.

Seminars – large companies often organize seminars to train their sales force. Weekend or weeklong sessions are filled with information from experienced sales trainers who offer the best techniques for today’s changing world.

Training your salespeople is a great benefit to any company. Whether it is big or small, it can teach your salespeople how to communicate with customers, as well as teach them how to interpret what their needs are and anticipate future needs. It can teach your salespeople how to close a sale quickly and effectively.

Working in today’s business world is vastly different from years gone by. With the inception of the Internet, businesses can compete on a global level. New businesses are started everyday on the Internet, and those who do not conform or keep up end up closing their doors.

It is imperative that your business that your sales people are trained in all forms of sales, including Internet commerce. This type of training is the main focus of many sessions because there are many effective sales techniques that are taught.

Many businesses that have initiated this type of training have seen positive results within the first few days of the sessions. They have seen an increase in sales, and profits and have accredited it to the training their sales force received.

Peter Geisheker is the CEO of The Geisheker Group marketing firm

Peter develops and implements strategic marketing programs as well as sales training for businesses of all sizes.

Fund Managers, Brokers, Investment Advisors and high net-worth investors looking for alternatives to the stock market and real estate to grow your portfolios may want to take a look at the Forex Market.

The Forex Market, also know as the Foreign Exchange or The Foreign Currency Market is a global electronic market 35 times larger than the NYSE with over $3 trillion a day in turn over. It is a cash market, with unparalleled liquidity and tremendous leverage (100:1 is standard). Opportunities for aggressive portfolio growth of 3% - 5% + per month are available.

Trading in the Forex market is a skill game and requires extensive knowledge and experience to garner consistent success. It is recommended that you invest in professionally managed funds only with a track record of wins and a strategy of capital preservation.

One such fund is the White Knight Investments Managed Forex Fund. The White Knight fund performed exceptionally well in 2007 with a total return for the year of 94.80% and only one draw down month of -.11%. This kind of performance and consistency is not easy to find in the Forex market, or any market for that matter, and should be worth serious consideration for those professional money managers who are looking for an edge to diversify their portfolios for growth.

White Knight Investments offers a high yield, high performance, professionally managed fund in the Foreign Exchange Market. Our fund is designed for the professional portfolio manager and high net-worth individual looking to diversify their portfolios in the lucrative Foreign Exchange.

Our professionally managed fund has consistently performed at a high rate of return while offering our clients the safety of full control and liquidity of their capital.

Minimum investment is US $100,000.

Trading Team

The White Knight managed fund trading team has combined experience in the Forex market of over 20 years. Our executive fund manager oversees all trading activities and has been a professional money manager for the past five years, trading the Forex market for the past six years.

Trading Systems

Our trading team utilizes a variety of technical and fundamental analysis tools as well as up to five proprietary automated signals for the trades executed for our managed fund. Currencies include the USD, CAD, CHF, GBP, EUR, JPY, AUD and the NZD.

Equity

Capital preservation is a primary concern to our trading team. Our combined trading systems never allow more than five percent of the total equity in your account to be in play at any time. Typically less than two percent is exposed in open trades at any given time. Appropriate stop-loss measures are always employed to minimize the downside risk of draw-down should market conditions suddenly shift.

The combination of these systems and analysis methods spread out over a variety of currencies and multiple crosses offers a high yield fund while maintaining a diversified and guarded approach to Forex investing.

Broker Account

To participate in the White Knight Managed Fund you will need to open a Forex trading account with our partner broker, GAIN Capital. GAIN Capital is widely recognized as one of the largest and leading Foreign Exchange brokers in the world.

Capital Control

Once your Forex trading account is set up and funded, you will sign a limited Power Of Attorney with White Knight Investments that allows us and our trading team rights and access to trade your account on your behalf. This also ensures that you maintain complete control of the liquidity of your capital.

Steve Patzkowski @ whiteknightfxi.com

If you have spent any time trying to build an online business you will at some point have had trouble deciding what to sell or promote. Unless you are lucky, your business success will depend largely on which market you decide to sell to. Much of the advice on internet marketing forums stresses that the fundamental part of building your business is to choose the right niche. What is a niche and how should you choose one? If you are just starting out or are feeling confused about niche marketing then this article is for you.

A niche is basically a section or part of a much larger market. Instead of focusing on a broad range of products or services a niche market focuses on smaller, narrow areas. For example, a company may decide to sell products for domestic pets. This is a large market that in order to develop and sell related products would require a lot of investment to achieve. Alternatively the company may research the broader market and conclude that there is a consumer demand for products that provide training for their pets.

Going one step further, the research indicates that the majority of these consumers have dogs. On this basis, the company should conclude that its resources can be best used by developing and marketing products that relate to dog training. This market research exercise is invaluable as it helps to quickly eliminate unprofitable and time-wasting business ventures and identifies a specific niche. By focusing on this particular niche, this company can maximise its resources on one or two products to gain maximum output.

Although this is a real world example, the same principles apply in your online ventures. Before you invest time and money you need to research the market that you want to sell to. There is a common misconception that to be successful online you should choose a niche that you are familiar with, have an interest in and are passionate about.

Unfortunately this is bad advice. There is no point in building your business around your passion if there is no market for it. It can be very disconcerting to spend weeks developing a product only to find that the potential market is very small or even worse non-existent.

So how should you choose your niche? Firstly, take a look at the real world. Examine television, listen to the radio and look at what is for sale in the supermarket and the high street. If a product is popular offline, then there is a good chance this will be true online. For example, have you ever noticed the number of commercials or magazines that are related to weight loss? Type the same niche into Google and you will see a large number of websites related to losing weight.

Once you have found a niche that demonstrates a demand you need to conduct some basic online market research.

Begin by entering your niche keyword into a keyword research tool. There are plenty of these available and they provide data on how many times a phrase is entered into the search engines on a daily or monthly basis. They are not completely accurate but provide a rough estimation of the level of demand in your chosen niche. Next, enter the same phrase into Google to gage what the level of competition is. By analyzing these figures you can begin to understand what niche topics can be penetrated easily.

Finally, you should assess whether there is money in the niche. This can be demonstrated by the number of paid adverts on the results page. If advertisers are prepared to spend money, it is only because they are also making money.

Niches in a Box and Online Marketing Goldmine for entrepreneurs who want to be a step ahead of the crowd!

Daphne Hayden, DNS News Anchor, interviews Dan Ronco in 2012 regarding Unholy Domain, his visionary novel. Ms. Hayden appears as herself in both PeaceMaker and Unholy Domain.

DAPHNE HAYDEN: I’ve found your biography online at Dan Ronco, and I know you have not one, but three degrees: Chemical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering and Computer Science. Why so many?

DAN RONCO: It’s my nature. I’m never satisfied, always looking for the next challenge. My career has been like that, too. First I designed nuclear reactors, next I became a Partner in a huge accounting and IT consulting firm, then President of a small software company and finally a General Manager with Microsoft.

DAPHNE HAYDEN: So how did you go from technology guru to writing a novel?

DAN RONCO: After more than two decades in the IT business, I felt that it was time to do something else. Although I loved working at Microsoft, 70 hour weeks and heavy travel take a toll. Besides, I had been thinking about writing a novel for years, but hadn’t made much progress. It was time to choose. So I left my job and concentrated on writing.

DAPHNE HAYDEN: You’re much better looking in person. Trash that photo on the cover of Unholy Domain.

DAN RONCO: Well, I was trying to look author-ish. Guess it didn’t work.

DAPHNE HAYDEN: In your first novel, set in 2012, PeaceMaker a Windows-like operating system is infected with an intelligent virus, leading to a shutdown of computers across the globe. With Windows computers so widely used, could this really happen?

DAN RONCO: Software terrorism is already a threat, and it will grow over time. Every time a new virus attacks Windows, someone has to detect and report the problem, programmers have to develop and distribute a fix, and millions of users have to apply the fix. A relatively slow process, but it works as long as the virus isn’t too destructive, doesn’t spread too fast (or secretly) and doesn’t evolve too rapidly (the fix won’t work if the virus can change tactics). In PeaceMaker, I envisioned a fictional virus attack that exceeded these parameters. At some point within the next decade, a terrorist may be capable of launching such a sophisticated attack.

DAPHNE HAYDEN: PeaceMaker and Unholy Domain have been touted as the first two books of an anti-technology trilogy. Is that true? What are the books about?

DAN RONCO: My stories dramatize the question: how much technology is too much? The first novel, as you know, illustrates the consequences of a runaway, lethal computer virus. My new novel, Unholy Domain, set in 2022, considers the meaning of being human as artificial intelligence begins to approach human intelligence. It takes a hard look at what I believe will be accelerating conflict between science and religion. The last book of the trilogy, set in 2025 and tentatively titled Tomorrow’s Children, considers the risks and benefits of genetic engineering.

DAPHNE HAYDEN: You didn’t really answer my question. Don’t your books warn against the continuing growth of technology?

DAN RONCO: It’s clear to me that the exponential growth in technology over the next two, three decades will bring incredible change to our society, possibly beyond our ability to cope. Whether that’s anti-technology, well, I’ll leave it for the reader to decide.

DAPHNE HAYDEN: Scientists and the clergy are already in conflict over issues such as evolution, homosexuality and abortion. You believe it will get worse?

DAN RONCO: Without a doubt. Consider a few emerging issues. Should we enhance capabilities such as intelligence, athletic ability, beauty or health through gene manipulation or artificial components? If so, who gets the enhancements? Should human cloning be permitted? Should an intelligent robot have the same rights as a human? Does God care if we evolve into a new species? Should we allow artificial intelligence to approach and possibly surpass human intelligence? These issues will shake the foundation of organized religion as never before.

DAPHNE HAYDEN: I see what you mean. Complex issues, no easy solutions. Must the novels be read in chronological sequence? Do you have to be an engineer to understand the technology in the novels?

DAN RONCO: First and foremost, I wrote the novels to entertain a reader who enjoys thrillers or science fiction. If you can use a computer, you will have no problem with the technology in my stories. Although the novels are all consistent with each other, each is a self-contained story. You can read them in any sequence, so just start with the one that most appeals to you.

DAPHNE HAYDEN: How long did it take to write your novels?

DAN RONCO: Including research, I have been working on the trilogy for about eight years. Not full-time, but I try to write three to four hours per day on average. Tomorrow’s Children will be complete in a few months, so I have dedicated a big chunk of my life to this work.

DAPHNE HAYDEN: What lessons have you learned as a writer, and what changes would you make if you could start over?

DAN RONCO: When I started, I had no idea how difficult it is to write well. I thought that once you had the concept for the story, the words would just tumble out of your mind onto the page. Man, was I wrong. Every word in your story must have a reason to be present, and it must convey the right shade of meaning. Extremely difficult, but what a feeling of satisfaction when you get it right.

DAPHNE HAYDEN: The women in your novels are highly unusual to say the least.

DAN RONCO: I knew we were going to get into this.

DAPHNE HAYDEN: Don’t get alarmed, I think it’s a good thing. Your female characters are beautiful, smart, tough and physically strong. I particularly like Darlene Duboski, DoubleD as you call her. How did you come up with this amazing woman?

DAN RONCO: DoubleD isn’t really that unusual, if you think about it. She’s the culmination of a long-term evolution. Today’s females are bigger and more athletic than previous generations. Go to any workout facility and what do you see? Plenty of women. And not just doing aerobics, either. Pumping iron, pushups, building their strength against all manner of exercise machines. They’re dropping baby fat and showing off lean, hard muscles. Not that they are becoming bodybuilders (although some do), but they are not the women of your mother’s generation either.

Drive around town and you’ll certainly come across a jogger. What’s the gender most of the time? And she’s probably setting a fast pace, too.

Muscles are no longer solely a masculine domain. Check out the ladies playing basketball or tennis, let alone the boxers. Not a wimp in the bunch. Title IX has opened the door for women to excel at sports, and they are succeeding. You want to see Serena Williams or Mary Pierce getting ready to serve a cannonball at you? I don’t. That doesn’t mean today’s women aren’t as beautiful or sexy as previous generations. I think they look better, actually, with their lean, athletic figures.

DoubleD — and many of my female characters — are based upon this new model of femininity. They are just as tough and smart as the men, and they don’t take a backseat to anyone. Damn sexy, too.

DAPHNE HAYDEN: Kudos to you! I couldn’t agree more.

Dan Ronco’s expertise in engineering and computer science infuses his fast-paced techno-thriller Unholy Domain with detail and authenticity. His second novel, it warns of the looming clash between religion and advanced science. Visit Dan Ronco.

Working with online travel jobs, I’ve seen interview shortlists narrowed down until the company gets their candidate of choice, but what if you were amongst the rejected? It would be helpful to know just exactly what you’ve done wrong though, wouldn’t it? 9/10 times, an unsuccessful job application will just be that there was someone that bit more qualified, and there’s nothing that can be done in that instance, except to try again… but if this keeps happening, it may be worth considering some of the following, which are almost universally considered a bad thing on the recruitment circuit. Keep these tips for your job interview and you should do better next time!

Starting with the CV…

They Didn’t Know How To Get Hold Of You

This one’s simple enough – if your CV doesn’t contain your contact information (address, telephone number, e-mail) then they can’t contact you. Sure, you can argue that if you e-mailed your CV into them, then they could find your address, but you’d have to be exceptional for them to spend more than 5 minutes looking for you! This is all about ease of use…

You Didn’t Have The Experience

Unfortunately, this is a common one, and one that’s not an easy fix. If you don’t have enough experience (or more usually, someone else who applied has more), then the only cure is to keep plugging away until you do. If you work in a creative field, it is quite easy to get freelance/voluntary work to give you more a portfolio to augment your corporate experience – a tip to get a job interview next time around.

Your CV Was Littered With Mistakes

One of the easiest ways of wheedling down a stack of CVs into a more manageable pile is to take out the ones with mistakes. If you haven’t been careful enough to proofread thoroughly, the chances are you’re too careless to work for your dream company, and yours will go straight into the ‘unsuccessful application’ pile!

You Got A Bad Reference

A bad reference will most likely kill your employment chances stone dead, and many recruiters will call them at this point in the proceedings, if you’ve included a contact on your CV. Of course, you could put that references are “available on request” in the hope that you can charm them enough that they either won’t check, or will not believe the referee, but the best bet of all is to work hard enough that your contacts will have nothing but good things to say about you!

In the Interview

You Didn’t Look the Part

Increasingly, the idea that workplaces are 100% formal has been greatly corroded, but the chances are that you won’t know until you visit. As for advice on job interview dresscode, without a doubt it is best to be overdressed rather than underdressed, so if in doubt, wear a suit – or at least go smart/casual.

You should also make sure you are looking your best – it shouldn’t come down to judging on appearances, but the interview panel are only human, and it’s natural to take in these things, even if it’s subconscious. Don’t take any chances, or risk adding to your list of unsuccessful job applications.

You Not Expressed Words Well

You need to present your ideas clearly to be in with a good shot of getting the post. Work on speaking slowly and articulately, to ensure your interviewers don’t have to second guess what you’re saying.

One bit of job interview advice here: It’s perfectly acceptable to be nervous in an interview, so there will be a little leeway for this, but at the same time it will put you at a disadvantage against someone who takes these events in their stride. Relax, take your time and see the meeting as a conversation rather than an assessment.

You Asked Too Many Questions?

The one thing worse than asking no questions in the interview is to do the complete opposite and ask hundreds! They do have other candidates to interview, and if you ask them about every little detail then you’re going to annoy them eventually. If you have a tendancy to do this, there are two job interview tips to counter this: the first is to be articulate with you questions so that you can ask one that covers a few of your points, rather than taking them one at a time, and the other is…

Pay Attention!

If you follow everything the interviewers say, you can be sure you won’t ask a question of something they’ve already explained… and you can ask them to clarify – much nicer! This is a simple piece of courtesy – they listen to you, you listen to them. Just think, would you employ someone who looks bored and distracted during your job interview?

You Were Late To The Party

Turning up late may be okay when meeting friends, but for something you’re supposed to be that enthused about, you really should be on time. Unless you’re very late, it would be harsh to not give you the job over this, but then if the other person was identical to you, but was early, then it would be a clear cut choice. A solid piece of job interview advice: call ‘early’ on time and ‘on time’ late – that way you’re sure not to lose points for this.

You Knew Nothing About The Company

Sure, if it’s a small company you’re applying to work at, then they may not expect you to know about them instantly, but they’d expect you to be enthused enough to have done a little research! Spend a little time digging around their website, to make sure you have a good handle on who they are, what they do and what your position in the company would be. You may not get a chance to show off this knowledge, but if you do, then it’s really impressive, and would easily put you ahead of a candidate who has turned up completely unprepared.

You Promised Too Much/Sounded Arrogant

With so many applications overselling people, it’s no wonder than employers are a little on the cynical side, so when it comes to selling yourself, don’t overdo it. Arrogance does not play well, and even if it is true, try and be a little humble about your achievements. If you rub the interviewers up the wrong way, then your application will be unsuccessful!

You Badmouthed Your Current Boss/Workplace

Sure, nobody has only positives to say about their workplace, but this really isn’t the kind of thing you should be sharing with your potential future employers. If you’re speaking this candidly about your past employers, why wouldn’t you be this rude about them? Simple job interview tip: if you want to complain about your work, go out socially with friends, if you want a job, keep this under your hat and be diplomatic!

Too Much Enthusiasm Was A Turn Off!

Enthusiasm’s great… in moderation. If you sound overly excited by everything, one of two things is going to happen: either they’re going to think you’re completely insincere, or they’re going to find you a little too creepy/annoying to be able to work with Monday-Friday every week! This is of course tampered by the fact that sounding completely disinterested is, if anything, worse, but it’s all a case of finding that perfect balance…

You Acted Like You Needed The Job

You and I know that this was the dream job, and that you were banking on it, but you shouldn’t let them know that! The last thing you want to do in a job interview situation is to appear desperate – that’s a major turn off for the interviewer. Again, this is a balancing act, because you want to look positive and that you are interested, just don’t cross that fine line between motivated and needy, and you should be fine.

But of course the best way of finding out why your application was unsuccessful is to ask! Most places will happily give you a response to this, although it won’t always be truthful… The best thing to do is to match up the feedback given by the interview panel against conventional job interview advice, and soon you should be on to a winner!

Gail Kenny is the managing director of Puregenie, an online travel jobs website. Jobs on the site are catered exclusively to talented individuals with skills and experience to succeed in the online environment from businesses looking to increase their online presence. Although the site is mainly travel focussed, it also displays vacancies in the hospitality and leisure industries.

Branding is not just about your business logo. It covers and includes practically every aspect of your business including marketing, advertising, packaging, customer service and how you deal with your suppliers.

Branding covers every dot within and surrounding your business. The reputation of the owners, the shareholders, suppliers, employees, and even the customers all contribute to the brand image of the business. Every action that the entities involved in the business take, is contributing to the brand image of a company. That’s why it is important to plan every step carefully and take precautions, as every move you make will impact your brand image, either in a positive or negative way.

For branding to be truly effective it has to penetrate every aspect of your business dealings and no opportunity should be missed to enhance your brand further.

One of the ways you can enhance your branding is by being consistent. Consistency is a key to better branding. Take a look at all your applications and processes and see if your brand is promoted across the board in a similar fashion. Give the role of checking and applying your brand to one competent person, so that they can make sure that it is applied consistently across the board.

Chances are, not only will it be cost savings for you; you will also set one identity to your employees, customers and suppliers. When they see that one image, logo, management style and mission statement across the board, they will know it is you. It’s your business. It’s your company. The world will identify you with a common image, a common color, a common message or statement. If you change one or the other, not only will it confuse your customers, it will also be adding extra cost for you and your business.

To start your brand making process, try asking things like “what do we do in our company” or perhaps “what do we represent”. If your employees, customers or suppliers answer differently, then you have to investigate further on your branding. Why is it that people have different views about the business? Probably it was because you have given them varying representations about your business. In short, branding was not given proper attention and focus.

A proper brand will aid you when launching new products or services. Think about the Virgin brand and see how successfully Richard Branson has exploited it across his entire group of companies ranging from tourism, mobile phones, airlines and the train business.

Poor branding will hamper you at every stage of business development. Some new businesses struggle to make headway, purely because they had no strategy in place to maintain and develop their brand.

Take time to develop your brand and then support it fully across the full spectrum of your business activities. Branding defines the company’s strategy. It shows the world what makes you different compared to the rest of the competition. It sets you apart. That alone is an important benefit that a business can get from investing in branding.

Naz Daud - CityLocal Franchise & Business Business Franchises and UK Business Directory Franchise Opportunity & Internet Franchises Ireland Business Franchises & Directory Home Business Franchise

PPC, or pay per click, advertising is the most reliable way to purchase guaranteed traffic. You can get a large number of perfectly targeted visitors very quickly using this method of promotion.

PPC ads can be found in the listings of the major search engines, usually in the right margin and labeled “sponsor listings”. Also PPC ads can be delivered from standard Web page content if the Website owner participates in some sort of contextual ad network like Google Adsense.

Setting up a PPC campaign is simple. You must register an account with a publisher or search company and submit your ad in the format of headline and body. After you create your ad you will also need to select the specific keywords you would like your ad to appear for and then bid on these keywords.

In the case of PPC search engine promotion, your ads will only appear when a user searches on the keywords you specify. In the case of PPC ads displayed in standard Web content, your ads will be displayed within articles and blog posts that contain the keywords you have chosen. This formula means you’ll be getting extremely targeted traffic.

You are required to bid a specific amount of money that will be paid for each click your ad receives. Priority is given to the PPC ads with the highest bid amounts.

For instance, you might decide you’ll pay 0.10 for each visitor the PPC program sends you. Advertisers who bid 0.11 or more will have their ad shown higher in the sponsored listings than you, while advertisers who bid 0.09 or less will be lower than you in the rankings.

You will be required to enter your credit or debit card details into the ad system and then fund your advertiser account with an initial deposit.

PPC campaigns will almost always result in lost of traffic. This, of course, means your money will disappear pretty quickly, making the PPC game a little scary for new online marketers.

You can set daily budgets to avoid going broke, but even then your balance can be depleted within a matter of minutes.

Also many PPC providers have stringent terms of service, and it can sometimes be a real pain jumping through hoops to get your ad approved. I admit I’ve never had a problem but I know a lot of folks who have.

The ideal PPC program for a beginner will allow you to:

1. Test the waters without blowing a fortune in the process.

2. Just run your ads without being put under a magnifying glass and having to follow a manual of rules.

I recommend 7search.com for new marketers. This program serves PPC ads through a contextual ad network and on a variety of major search engines so you can get lots of good traffic from a wide variety of sites.

And their pricing is really good because they’re not as advertiser saturated as Google. Plus they have only basic rules in place - as long as you’re not advertising porn, hate, or illegal scams you’re good to go.

As long as you can afford a reasonably competitive bid, you will definitely receive a good flow of traffic from PPC promotion. The only real question is: how long will it take you to tweak your ads and landing pages to the point where you are making sales or getting sign-ups?

This type of advertising requires a great deal of trial and error. If you’re not willing to test your sales page, ad copy, and overall process extensively don’t bother registering a PPC account. The payoffs can be well worth the initial workload, as most good PPC providers allow you to expose your offers to a huge audience of targeted prospects.

Tim Whiston is a professional entrepreneur who does a lot of his work online. To read part one of this article, check out his basic PPC marketing post. Also learn the basics of Web design with Tim’s robust online course.

Here’s another online business tip that some business owners use, but strangely enough many do not, or do not use it properly. Emailing past customers and people who signed-up for an account is one of the best ways to promote your business for free. Business owners really underestimate the power of this.

With my fashion accessory business, we used to send out 2-3 emails a month that mentioned new items, closeout sale items, and sometimes included a 10%-20% off coupon, depending on the time of season it was. I would say 70% of our sales came from these emails.

I was really surprised that it took one of our main competitors almost three years to figure this out. Even though “they” received our company emails 2-3 times a month, it never clicked in their heads that they should be doing this too. Now after three years, I get a sales email from this company every week, sometimes twice a week. Like I said, it works!

But Don’t People Hate Email? Isn’t This Spam?

If a customer bought something from you and they enjoy the products you sell, the answer to both questions is “NO.” You will get a few people that object, maybe 2-3% of the entire customer email list. All you have to do is remove them from your list when they request you to so that they’ll never get the emails again.

How Much Is Too Much In Terms Of Sending Out These Emails?

We’ve never gotten complaints from 2-3 emails a month. You might be able to get by with one a week, but I’ve never tried it. We’ve gotten such good results with 2-3 emails a month that it made no sense for me to force the issue with more emails, which would cause a higher % of people asking to be unsubscribed from our customer email list.

Be sure to allow people to join your mailing list from the homepage even if they don’t buy anything. If your shopping cart doesn’t allow this, there are programs and companies online that handle mailing lists. Sometimes people will join your mailing list but won’t make a purchase from you that same day, and then they’ll come back and make a purchase after receiving your sales email. I suggest offering some sort of small giveaway to entice people to signup for your mailing list like, “Subscribe to our sales mailing list and be eligible for a free ‘whatever’.” You could do this every month but it is most effective obviously during your more busy months when more people are visiting your website. Obviously, you’ll get more subscribers and still have to give out only one prize.

Join me, John Rogers, each week at ThingsWeLearned.com, the business opportunities, work from home website, for over 100 of my free money making business articles. I’m one of the foremost experts in the world on making money on the Internet, earning over $5 million dollar since 1997 with several different businesses.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the Internet didn’t spring out of a golden egg hatched by a mythical hen. Many of today’s innovations are born of people who had innovative ideas, but who did not stop at simply having an idea. They took one brick of capital, another brick of knowledge, perhaps a brick or two of friends and family, and built their empires brick by brick. Building an online empire, with today’s technology, may be all the more easy. But with the rest of the people online who want to build their empires and will risk everything in order to get fame, how can you shine?

If you want to build that online empire, you cannot settle for simply having one website full of articles, or a website full of pictures – there are already thousands of sites like that online, and you need to come up with something new and innovative. In other words, you are going to have to be the whole package. An empire is not just one little town or one measly little hamlet where you can get the latest in sword design and armor packaging. So your online empire is not just one little site where you can download a few screensavers a month. Your online empire is going to be the one stop shop for anyone who needs anything in your field.

So if you are starting to build all this up, ask yourself: what do you really want to do, and what are you really good at? Believe it or not, you can make money at something that you are an expert in, and you need only to know what that is. So, can you offer web design, content, graphic design, and web hosting? Then your empire may include a whole package for companies that need their website made. Throw in a video making and editing business, party organizing, and some souvenir making, and you can practically sell your online empire to companies that want someone else to think of their marketing needs.

Can you cook? Do you have friends that you can invite to have a party empire online? Remember, having an online empire does not mean that you have to go it alone. You can take your friends along with you, that friend who makes nice party invitations and can make spiffy menus, that friend who mixes the best drinks and knows all the great bars in town, that friend who can feature events in her magazine, and that friend who can host a party and throw in a band into the bargain. Have a friend to advertise your services online, and that have separate websites for each kind of service that you can offer. That way, you can all link together and offer packages, or have separate packages and still get commissions for jobs that everyone else has. Your empire is alive and kicking!

If you are interested in building an online empire, then you will have to be prepared to not only come up with original ideas, but to carry your ideas through. For more information, talk to web gurus who have already succeeded in building their own empires. Talk to fellow bloggers or to people who are struggling. Join a mailing list that will help you get through the first few months of your struggle to bring your empire to its feet. As you move forward, you will find that you, too, can help people with building their own domains, and you will have a good many stories to tell – not to mention a lot of money to bring to the bank the next time you go there laughing.

To learn the real secrets to creating a long term stable online business that will allow you to retire on and to learn it live and in person follow the link in my resource box.

Kevin Tyler Smith is an expert Internet network marketer. “If banking over $14,139.79 per month whether or not a single lead joins your MLM opportunity gets you excited, then pay very close attention to what’s on the other side of this link” >>> www.EZWealthStrategy.com

If you want to know how an advice column can get you more readers, here are several ways having a Q and A portion running on your website can transform first-time visitors into loyal readers.

You Learn More about Your Target Market

The people who are seeking for your advice are more often than not a part of your target market. With an advice column set up, you get to know more about what issues or concerns your target market are involved with. In time, you’ll realize that the data you derive from your advice columns can also be implemented in formulating marketing strategies.

With the help of advice columns, you learn more effective techniques in attracting your target market to your website and turning them into loyal readers.

They Learn More about Your Common Interests

Sharing of knowledge in advice columns goes two ways. Earlier on, we’ve discussed how you get information from advice columns and how you can use it to build a loyal readership base. This time, you can see how the knowledge you impart can also create loyal readers on its own.

Let’s say you have an advice column on your dog care website. Through the advice column, visitors had been able to learn a lot of tips and tricks in caring for their canine companions. Once they realize they can expect a constant flow of valuable information from your website, information that’s usually directly relevant to them because they’re being asked by people almost exactly like them, they’ll definitely develop a habit of reading your advice column every time a new question is posted.

Interaction Increases in Your Website

Advice columns don’t have to be a two-way street with your visitors asking advice, and you providing it. By allowing other people to comment, you can also have them give their own two cents as well. In time, a high-spirited but well-meaning debate may even ensue, making your website more popular and attractive to your target market.

With advice columns, you’re also giving your readers their chance to shine. Advice columns don’t always have to revolve around your expertise. In fact, your readers will appreciate it more if you acknowledge valuable suggestions from your readers from time to time.

Of course, the trick in getting more interaction from advice columns is by knowing which question to publish, encouraging readers to comment and give their own advice, and lastly, asking a question yourself once in a while.

You Please Your Readers

Most readers feel it’s an honor when you choose to publish their question. You please your readers all the more if you share a bit of information about his background and display his website address. Other people are sure to hanker for the same privilege, leading them to come back to your website over and over in hopes of having their questions published next.

Having an advice column also pleases your readers because you’re showing that you care enough about their needs. Once they see that you do answer their questions as informatively as you can, they’re sure to become loyal readers themselves simply because they’re hoping you’ll get to help them with their own problems next.

Now that you know how an advice column can get you more readers, the next thing to do is set up one in your website. Don’t forget to inform all your subscribers about the newest segment in your website!

To learn additional ways to attract customers and readers to your website using the simplest means available that most will never know about and at no cost to you, follow the link in my resource box now.

Kevin Tyler Smith is an expert Internet network marketer. “If banking over $14,139.79 per month whether or not a single lead joins your MLM opportunity gets you excited, then pay very close attention to what’s on the other side of this link” >>> www.EZWealthStrategy.com