It Pays To Work Your To Do List

Dwayne Garrett offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
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Article Title: It Pays To Work Your To Do List
Author: Dwayne Garrett
Category: E-Commerce, Start Up, Internet Marketing
Word Count: 703
Keywords: brand marketing, brand mindset, branding marketing, branding marketing consumers, branding strategy
Author's Email Address: dwaynegarrett@gmail.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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Even though hiring other folks to do things that you can delegate or are not an expert on can help free you to manage the business, you will also find you are spending a great deal of time interacting with other people who are working for you on a contract basis. There are programmers, distributors, buyers, bankers and more to deal with. You may even find the local government is interested in having your obtain a legal dba (doing business as) name. All this takes time and attention away from your focus on making sales.

When you start out learning how to establish your company, you will hopefully be modeled on other businesses that survived. However, there will not be anyone standing over your shoulder directly telling you what to do. If you do not learn how to efficiently plan your day, you may end up wasting time and effort aimlessly steering your boat in circles. You can avoid this trap by getting into the habit of doing "to do lists" and constantly managing your business based on your initial marketing plan.

PLANNING YOUR DAY

Just because you might be working out of a home office or from your garage doesn't mean that you cannot work in a professional manner. The biggest mistake more people make when they decide to get in business for themselves is not realizing that they need to structure their days. It doesn't pay to just do what you feel like, if what you feel like doesn't haven any effect on the bottom line of your business.

For this reason, you should begin by sitting down each day, in the evening of the day before, and plan your subsequent day. You should expect to work at least 40 hours a week or more on your business, if you expect it to succeed. Many entrepreneurs work 60 hours or more, but they are doing what they love and that's why it's fun to them. Part-time businesses yield part-time results. Full-time businesses yield better results and more cash flow.

Take this list out the following morning and follow it to the letter. At the end of the day, look at your list and see how well you did. The tasks you didn't accomplish, you move to the next day's list until all your tasks are done. If you found an obstacle to achieving your task, it can become a subtask that needs to be completed so that the entire task can be checked off. Note it on your to do list and use it as a guideline for how well you are accomplishing in your day.

TWO TYPES OF LISTs

There are multiple ways to create a to do list. The two most common are to list everything and then put a priority next to each item, with the number one being the highest priority. Then, you follow the to do list by nature of priority. At the end of the day, you just use checks to determine whether a task was accomplished or not. Then you move it to the next day's list.

The other way to do the to do list is to list the actions by order of importance for the following day. The first task would be done first the following day and the second task second and so on. Then, at the end of the day, you grade each task based on an old-fashioned letter grade system with an "A" being Excellent and an "F" being failure. This system can be a bit harsh but more motivating than the previous system. Whatever you don't accomplish, or don't accomplish well, can be put on the following day's list.

The first system has the advantage of being a rotating, non-judgmental, form of organization. The second list is very hierarchal and is good for people who are more comfortable with grading themselves or into perfectionism. There is no right or wrong way to do a to do list. You may find your own unique style.

The point is not to follow someone else's system perfectly, it's to find a way to organize your day that works with your personality and daily habits to bring you to optimal use of the minutes you have in your work day.

Dwayne Garrett is the author of several eBooks and popular software applications, he also offers an affordable Shopping Resource that will save you a ton of money on some of todays popular ebooks, softwares and videos. http://www.BumRushMedia.com
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The Affiliate Marketing Option

Dwayne Garrett offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
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Article Title: The Affiliate Marketing Option
Author: Dwayne Garrett
Category: E-Commerce, Start Up, Article Marketing
Word Count: 505
Keywords: brand marketing, brand mindset, branding marketing, branding marketing consumers, branding strategy
Author's Email Address: dwaynegarrett@gmail.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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If you are not selling your own products, but instead are focusing on affiliate marketing, you will still need some knowledge of HTML coding or experience with software packages like Frontpage or Dreamweaver. Both of these packages can be downloaded off the Internet for free trials to see if you feel confident using the product.

You can download free templates today from many sites that are easily installed on web servers, if you understand how to connect to a web host using FTP (File Transfer Protocol). This will provide you with a free design layout to use for your Internet presence, which can cut significant time off your development stage. You will need to upload these templates to your server and test them out and later tweak them by changing the HTML the way you want it.

If you don't have any idea how to connect to your main server, you will not be able to upload web pages to your web site. You must have this capability if you are programming your own web pages. Both the newer versions of Dreamweaver and Frontpage have FTP capabilities. Reading the tutorials that come with these packages can help you learn how to use the feature.

If you are using Frontpage, a Microsoft product, you can search their online knowledgebase for articles on how to do certain things in Frontpage or to find out whether you've hit a bug within the product. The knowledgebase for all Microsoft products is located at http://support.microsoft.com/search/. If you are using Dreamweaver, they have a developer's forum for people who are learning their products at: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/ . There is a great little HTML coding Free-ware that will allow you to build web pages like you would in a simple word processor. Go to:
http://nvudev.com/index.php to check it out.

If you don't know how to upload pages to your website, you will need to look up FTP and understand how it works. What you will want to do is get a training manual for your software or checkout free trial FTP programs like WS_FTP (http://www.wsftp.com/) or Coffeecup (http://www.coffeecup.com/).

These programs are dedicated to FTP and can help you get started learning FTP, however, they are not necessary as standalone products if you have Dreamweaver or Frontpage. If you decide to use a different HTML editor than either Dreamweaver or Frontpage, you may need to load a separate FTP program to get this capability.

Whether you are selling your own or someone else's goods, you want to be able to market your site to attract visitors and turn those visitors into paying customers. Unlike a brick-and-mortar store, your typical advertising campaigns relying on word-of-mouth, good customer service, and walk-ins won't work.

If you have no visitors, you have not word-of-mouth and then it definitely won't matter how good your customer service is. The primary goal of any online business is to attract and retain Internet traffic and convert visitors to paying customers. This takes a whole new set of skills that can combine technology with business savvy.

Dwayne Garrett is the author of several eBooks and popular software applications, he also offers an affordable Shopping Resource that will save you a ton of money on some of todays popular ebooks, softwares and videos. http://www.BumRushMedia.com
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Geke's Guide To Google Adwords

Don Alexander offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
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Article Title: Geke's Guide To Google Adwords
Author: Don Alexander
Category: Marketing, Advertising, E-Commerce
Word Count: 787
Keywords: online business, home business opportunity, home based business, success university, omnitrition,
Author's Email Address: alexanders4omni@yahoo.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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The biggest well known secret in generating wealth in the internet based business or e-commerce is Traffic. Everybody knows it; every site wants it and every site needs it.

The point of websites is to be visited and viewed. Many elaborate designs, money and countless hours of developing a site to make them beautiful and attractive are utilized. Without traffic, it is for naught.

With traffic comes a potential customer which basically means sales which in turn means profit. While many sites have collapsed in the past with the downturn of many internet based business, many smaller sites have generated good money by concentrating on a certain niche and some subniches.

This is a reason why e-commerce site laser target certain groups of people and drive them to their site to showcase their sites and products. Precision marketing is essential so that you could count on all the traffic on your site as potential customers.

Using Money to Make More Money

It's a common business notion that if you want to make money, you have to spend money. One good way of spending money for business gain is through advertising. Advertising brings in the people because through advertising, they know that there is such a company or product in existence.

With the right type of advertising, you can see the spurt of traffic growth to your site. With a high volume of traffic, even if only a small portion or percentage turns out to be buying customers it is still a good average of profit generating income.

Right now, there is no other advertising scheme that would be worth every cent than using Google's Adwords. The surge in popularity of Google's Adwords is very evident as you can see so many sites sporting this ad scheme.

In using Google's Adwords, you pay a certain fee depending on the number of keywords your ad is keyword sensitive to. Each time a person does a search in Google, the keyword or keywords use generate ads in the side of Google which are generated by the keywords they have assigned for their ads.

This method laser targets the traffic a site wants for their site. This also ensures that you are readily visible in the first page of a search result. Paying Google for this ad scheme ensures that your target group of people sees your ads. You drive your laser targeted traffic to your site which provides for their needs and wants. You can also be sure that you can meet their demands and needs.

Aside from Google, you can also be featured in their other search networks, these includes sites like, AskJeeves, AOL Search and Netscape. These sites also show Adwords ads that react to searches done by visitors.

There are also content networks, non-search engine sites that feature Google Adwords, which will also carry your ads. But this is subjected to the niche the site features. Your chosen keywords will determine which content network shall feature your ad. The frequency of your ad shall also be determined by your allowed budget.

Laser Targeting your Traffic

To get a good number or estimate of the traffic to buying customer ratio it is good to laser target your traffic. Knowing that your traffic are all potential customers and are interested in your products and company provides you with a more accurate statistics. This will show you how effective your utilizing of Google Adwords is.

Drive laser targeted traffic to your site by using keywords or keyword phrases for your Goggle Adwords that pertains to your company and to your products. There are many online internet tools that can help you in choosing keywords and keyword phrases that are currently in demand that could help drive laser targeted traffic to your site.

With your Google Adwords ad, you are ensured that every click to your ad is a potential customer that is precisely looking pr interested in what you have to offer. Make sure that your Google Adwords ad has the right keywords so that you can drive you're laser targeted traffic to your site.

The one rule to never break when using Google Adwords: Always stay within your advertising budget. Also, make sure you use Google Adsense or another service to monetize your site so you have money coming in, and not just going out your doors.

Another wonderful source to Google Adwords is Perry Marshall. Perry offers free tutorials about how to use Google Adwords and has done quite well himself marketing using Google Adwords. Simply type in Perry Marshall and Google Adwords in your Yahoo search box.

Using Google Adwords to help boost the drive to increase laser targeted traffic will prove to be very beneficial as many other companies can attest to. The benefits are high with the cost relatively justifiable.

Don Alexander is owner of leading-online-business.com and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic Don recommends you visit http://www.leading-online-business.com
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Don't Take Feedback At Face Value Only - There's More To It Than You Think

Steve Dempster offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
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Article Title: Don't Take Feedback At Face Value Only - There's More To It Than You Think
Author: Steve Dempster
Category: E-Commerce, E-Business
Word Count: 733
Keywords: ebay shop,ebay shopping,ebay business
Author's Email Address: stevendempster@btinternet.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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For many eBay users, positive feedback has become the Holy Grail of a member's credibility. But there's more to feedback than meets the eye. This article looks at a couple of points to bear in mind.

Ask most eBayers what they look for when dealing with a seller or buyer and they are likely to say one word - 'feedback'. This magic number has attained the status of a near-obsession matched only perhaps by the kudos of powerseller status. Yet what does feedback really show?

Okay - it shows how many times buyers or sellers have left their vote for a member when they are good eBayers - doesn't it? Well, that's not quite correct. The easiest way I can show you is to go by my own feedback and explain what it means.

At the time of writing, my feedback number - the one alongside my eBay username - stands at 694. I'm not a powerseller and compared to some eBayers I'm a beginner, yet the figures still tell their own story. Say you wanted to find out a bit more about me - you'd click on the number, revealing the Feedback Profile page associated with my username. There's my feedback score - 694 - but hang on, what's this other number mean, the one by the side of 'all positive feedback'?

This number, in my opinion, should also be shown by a member's name. Why? Simple - it shows the true numbers of eBayers who have left feedback for me. In my case it's 1061. This means that customers have made more than one purchase from me - any number of them between 1 and 367.

This indicates that (without blowing my own trumpet), quite a few buyers have seen fit to make repeat purchases from me. Unless they were crazy, they wouldn't do that unless I had won their trust and they knew I sold good items. This figure also includes people I have brought from and here the same applies - by leaving repeat positive feedback they are indicating that they are happy with my buying from them.

So how about my positive feedback percentage score? No secrets there, it's 99.9%. What - not 100%? How can I be trusted if I don't have a perfect score? Truth is that a lot of sellers now - in effect - manipulate their feedback score to avoid negative feedback. How do they do this?

Easy. They simply do not give feedback to a buyer until that buyer has left them, the seller, feedback first. I call it ransoming - they hold the buyer 'hostage' with the threat of negative feedback. Unless the buyer returns positive feedback - regardless of the fact of it being deserved or not - they will not leave at best any feedback and at worst will leave negative feedback in a 'retaliation' strike. Beware of sellers like this!

Personally I always leave feedback for a buyer as soon as payment is received. If they pay quickly then I figure they deserve it! If I despatch quickly, sell good items and give generally good service I expect them to give me the same. However, I don't hang on to that 100% figure as a lifeline - my eBay activities (and yours!) ultimately depend on the goodwill of buyers and sellers. This means that, if I screw up - and it has happened! - I want to know so I can put it right. If I do, I figure I still rate positive feedback. If I don't - I deserve what I get!

So what does that 99.9% figure really mean? It means that I have had one - that's right, just one - bad feedback in over 1,000 transactions. Guess what? It was a 'retaliation' strike when I dared to complain about a faulty item! And let's face it - a seller with a feedback score of 20,000+ won't mind the odd negative strike - it isn't going to change their percentage score worth a damn. However, for a relative newbie with a score of say 10 that single bad result would plummet their percentage score to 90% - to my mind totally and utterly unfair. The big sellers know this - hence 'ransoming'.

So next time you look at a seller's feedback score, don't just take it for granted they're good - take a look instead at their overall rating. You might just get a shock!

Steve Dempster writes informative articles for the web and is also a confirmed eBayer. To learn more about levering your eBay sales, take a look at http://www.anewlife4u.co.uk/ebayshop.html or visit his eBay shop at http://www.theinvisibleedge.co.uk/page5a.html
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Master The Online Marketer's Formula

Al Mendoza offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
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Article Title: Master The Online Marketer's Formula
Author: Al Mendoza
Category: Internet Marketing, E-Commerce, E-Business
Word Count: 787
Keywords: list building, sales copy, money online, entrepeneurs, online marketing,
Author's Email Address: editor@marketingthinkbox.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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90% of the subscriber emails I receive everyday ask, 'how can I start making money online'? I don't have time anymore to provide personal responses to every single person who writes so let me help by clarifying a few points right here.

First, my own customers have told me they do NOT have a list, and they can't understand why they aren't making any money!?

OK I'm going to finally reveal the formula that all online marketer's use to make big money online. Here's the Master Online Marketer's Formula (for any market or niche):

Making money online = a list + sales copy + products + timing

Each one of these factors is critical to success. I'm not going to repeat what I talk about in my Online Training Lessons, but what I will do is get you to think about the most important thing you should be doing online.

In other words, What is your marketing priority?

Let me start by saying that I can't believe the amount of junk sales pitches I see in my email box everyday you get them, I get them, everyone gets them.

You're probably very confused about the pitches you receive- they all look so good! Each one promises to make you rich just buy their product or follow their plan and you will be!

Gheesh are you still falling for that?

Let me be blunt:

Forget about making a $million dollars start by making a few hundred each week, then a few hundred each day pretty soon you'll look at your bank account and scratch your head saying,

Where did all that money come from?

To be in that happy situation you have to concentrate on your #1 job as an online marketer:

1) Building your list,
2) Write effective sales copy,
3) Find targeted offers for your subscribers and
4) Get the 'timing' right

If you're not making any money online right now this is the reason you don't understand or know how to work the Master Online Marketer's Formula .

#1: You need a list.

The best ways to build a solid list is to participate in discussion forums, create mini-ebooks to give away and to sell inexpensive items related to your niche on ebaY, use PPC (cheaply), and use eBay as a 'lead generator' by selling inexpensive products and asking your buyers to opt-in to your list (most will if your information is any good)

Ok what else do you need?

#2: You have to know how to write.

I'm sorry, but that is the truth.

If you can't put two sentences together that promote a product or service that gets a response you will have a very difficult time making money- it can be done, but it will be much harder for you to be very successful.

Writing is not difficult writing so that you are communicating clearly IS difficult.

And the best copy I have ever seen is simple and convincing.

It's not hard, but you have to think clearly about what you want to say BEFORE putting it in writing.

Clarity is key. Simplicity is key.

#3: Finding Targeted Offers

This comes after you have provide good, solid content to your subscribers to prove that you know what you are talking about.

Finding targeted offers is not that hard. You need to search for them online. You need to think about what it is your subscribers would want to learn or know or what tools would be helpful to them. When you find something that you think would interest them join the products' affiliate program (if there is one) and 'announce' it to your subscribers.

#4: Timing.

The best time to send offers to your list is between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM US Eastern Time. Don't ask me why, it just is.

There's much more to 'timing' but we'll save that for another time but, just realize

There are all kinds of things that prevent your offer from being opened and read, none of which have anything to do with you.

You just have to know ahead of time that no matter how great your offer is, some people will just not be interested, even if they do open your email.

My final words of advice:

If you think making money online is complicated you're wrong- it's simple.

I did not say easy, I said simple.

It will take work if you want to make money without work, then play the lottery.

If you want to make money and don't mind a little effort and some thinking, then stick around, I've got plenty of ideas how to boost your income.

AL MENDOZA has been doing Internet Marketing since 1998 and earns his living 100% online. Mr. Mendoza has authored several publications and ecourses. He is the CEO of http://www.MarketingThinkbox.com
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Sales vs. Marketing

Brett Nordin offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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Article Title: Sales vs. Marketing
Author: Brett Nordin
Category: E-Commerce, Growth Topics, Converting Traffic
Word Count: 534
Keywords: sales vs. marketing,conversion,ecommerce,online sales,online marketing,internet marketing,business
Author's Email Address: brettnordin@gmail.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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Sales, as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, is "The exchange of goods or services for an amount of money or its equivalent; the act of selling."

Although this is a good definition of a sales transaction, the process leading up to the sale, whereby a prospect is converted into a client, usually involves a lot more. Longer sales cycles and higher prices demand even more time to build client trust and requires more effort for them to stick with your product or service offering. Marketing, defined in offline terms, is what you do when you are not in front of the customer to persuade them to buy what you are selling. The act of sales is what you do or say on the phone or in person. By dissecting the definition between sales and marketing, we start to take a very different view of how we "sell" offline vs. online.

The promise of ecommerce was to give the consumer the lowest possible price. By cutting out brick and mortar retail centers, overhead costs are reduced and products were delivered more conveniently to a customer's home or businesses. Price and convenience have now become commoditized in many ecommerce verticals, causing companies to look more closely at their online marketing activities to attract prospects, increase sales and retain clients. In the online world, one could argue that there is no such thing as sales. There is no face time with the customer to persuade them or interact and appeal to their emotions. However, companies have learned to ask prospects what they want and then use technology to tailor their sales message to better connect with the problem or need. Also, companies like Amazon have pioneered predictive buying and can bolster sales by offering products related to items already purchased. These two examples best emulate offline selling by creating an artificial intelligence at the point of sale.

Online marketing can be best described by what the prospect experiences before and after the sale. The pre-sale activities are: Identifying prospects, sifting and sorting them into buying groups, raising the demand for a product and then lowering the barrier to a sale. After the sale, promotions, education, webinars and email drip letters can all be effective stick strategies. The key to successful marketing is the online message must be persuasive enough to get a prospect or client to act. Without action there can be no sale. So the area between marketing and sales become even more blurred when the entire process is strung together.

For business owners this gray area is not critical operationally and it's dangerous to get hung-up on the terminology. The important thing is to generate more sales. To best analyze a businesses current process, break the sales cycle into 5 parts:

1. Prospecting (identifying, sifting and sorting)
2. Conversion (raising demand and lowering barrier)
3. Creating a unique buying experience (what happens at the point of sale)
4. Saying thank you
5. Keeping in touch (retention)

Sounds simple right? You'd be amazed at how many companies drop the ball during most of these steps. By breaking your own sales cycle into these 5 steps and brainstorming with your team how each can be improved, you'll see large increases in revenues and profits.

To view one of the most valuable prospecting and retention systems I've uncovered, visit http://www.squidoo.com/xlrevshare
Brett Nordin is an entrepreneur and small business owner who writes about various topics including sales, marketing and business development.
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8 Ways To Develop Trust Online

Brandi Cummings offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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- Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to brandi@telecentrex.com
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Article Title: 8 Ways To Develop Trust Online
Author: Brandi Cummings
Category: Small Business, E-Commerce, E-Business
Word Count: 781
Keywords: internet sales, online trust,
Author's Email Address: brandi@telecentrex.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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In a world before the Internet, email, teleconferencing, web conferencing, and fax communications most business was done in person. People met face to face. They communicated their ideas and their character to one another with words, voice inflection, facial expressions, body language, and in their handshake. Through all of this communication, spoken and otherwise, a relationship developed and trust could be earned. Much of today's business is done without ever meeting anyone. Even the briefest of relationships one might experience with the saleslady at the department store can be avoided by ordering this year's holiday sweaters online. So without all of that human contact, how does one build trust with their customers?

Since so many people will first find your website when looking for products or services that you offer, this is where you have to start building trust. Even the most basic elements of your site can put your visitors at ease and start to develop trust.

1. The colors you choose will set the mood on your page. Choose colors that give the impression of professionalism. Try blues, grays, black, and white and limit your use of louder colors such as red, orange, and yellow. They have their place on your site for things that you would like to draw attention to but should be used carefully when creating the
actual color theme for your site.

2. Keep your contact information clearly visible. You should have multiple ways you can be contacted including a toll fee number and email form, as well as online instant chat if possible. Knowing that you will be available if they need assistance will put your customers at ease.

3. Your website content should not be product driven but customer driven. Quality content that is honest and helpful will contribute to your customer's level of trust in your company. Help educate them not just about your product or service, but also be free with your knowledge about the industry as a whole. For example, a real estate agent might also include information on their site about finding the right mortgage. A site that markets products to home based businesses might have other information that would be helpful to them such as setting up a home office or establishing a business entity to protect their assets.

4. Tell people about you and your company. Have an About Us section on your site that tells the history and mission statement of your company. If appropriate have pictures and bios of employees or partners. Keep this information updated with press releases announcing what's new with you and your company. These could be new products, features, employees, events or what you are doing in the community.

5. Testimonials can be faked. To make them more real to your customers use photos of the person giving the testimonial, include their scanned signature or have audio testimonials instead. Doing these things will give your testimonials more clout and further trust.

You can continue to build on the trust that you have started to develop with your webpage through your communications with your customers.

6. Have a toll free number and friendly, knowledgeable customer service staff to answer it. This might either be your first or second chance to establish yourself as a professional and reliable company in the eyes of your customers. Take advantage of it by showing your customers that you are a professional, trustworthy company that takes their relationships with their customers seriously. Do this by having the phone answered professionally every time and if your customers have to be sent to voicemail make sure that their calls are returned within hours, not days.

7. Blogging is a great way to communicate with your customers. It allows you to not only speak to them, but for them to speak to you. Use your blog to build relationships and share knowledge with your customers, not just tout your products and services. Allow people to comment and ask questions to start a meaningful dialogue to further trust.

8. Continue to share your knowledge with newsletters. Newsletters are a great way to continue to build trust even after the sale is done. It reconfirms for the customer that you are still there to help them if they need it.

When you can't look your customers in the eye as you shake their hand, it can be difficult to earn their trust. However, with the right approach online, you can still reach out to your customers and give them the confidence that your company is worth their time and ultimately their purchase.

Brandi Cummings is an expert author on the unique issues facing small and home based businesses. Visit http://www.Freedom800.com for more information about using your toll free number and phone system to establish a professional and trusting relationship with your customers.
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Internet Marketing and E-Commerce for the Helping Professions

Ryan C. Nagy offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
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Article Title: Internet Marketing and E-Commerce for the Helping Professions
Author: Ryan C. Nagy
Category: E-Commerce, Tools and Resources
Word Count: 918
Keywords: internet, marketing, ecommerce, health, practitioner, coach, psychologist, psychotherapist
Author's Email Address: news@ryannagy.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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Online marketing, products and ecommerce offer great potential for passive and active income for small businesses and sole-practitioners. Unfortunately, many people in the helping professions, such as psychologists, social workers, psychotherapists and coaches, do not know how to capitalize on the new opportunities in internet sales and marketing.

In the last several years, many internet technologies have evolved so that non-technical people can use them to create websites, blogs and digital products. This can help you make substantial amounts of money and grow your practice online. But where to start?

There seem to be two primary questions that health practitioners ask about internet marketing:

1) What is internet marketing and how can it help in my practice?

2) What's the best way to find people online so that they attend my classes, come in for sessions, and buy my products?

To answer the first question, what internet marketing "is" depends on what you want to do. What do you need from your practice and what you are willing to do to get it? Let's go over several illustrative examples to get an idea of what the possibilities are.

Using the internet to build your practice and fill your workshops.

For one of my clients, the internet provides a way to keep her classes and workshops full all-year-round. She does not spend money on traditional marketing, such as yellow page or newspaper advertising. Nor does she spend money on brochures or direct marketing. What does she do instead?

She has built a large "permission based" email list from her websites and classes. People give her their email addresses and she mails to them every 4-6 weeks. In every email she gives away a no-cost bonus, such as worksheet or handout that can be put to immediate use. She will often write about useful research findings and news related to her field.

She loves to communicate via email and she enjoys connecting with her clients. The end-result? People look forward to reading her emails. Her seminars and workshops fill-up months in advance! Can you imagine using the same process to fill your practice?

The key here is relationship. Be helpful and always be aware of your potential clients' needs. Help them whenever you can. They will reward you by trusting you and - eventually - giving you their business.

Passive Income

Many practitioners in the helping professions reach the point where they want to not only work less but also keep their current income.

Let's be honest about why. Our professions are deeply satisfying but sometimes draining. And as we grow both personally and professionally our needs change. Perhaps you want time off to write a book or create a new product? You want to give yourself a sabbatical and travel the world? You can do it.

The problem for most practitioners is that they are in the business of trading their time and skill for money. If they don't work, they don't get paid! I ask them (and you) a question: Have you considered learning how to keep making income without having to work everyday? This is where the idea of "passive income" comes in.

What is passive income?

Passive income is money that comes to you automatically without you having to work to get it. You do some initial set-up of your income streams and then you let it take care of itself.

Downloadable audio, video and ebooks are a few examples of passive income opportunities. You can sell them as training and educational materials to your clients and have the system set-up so that the sales, delivery and support are done automatically. In other words, when someone buys a product from you, you don't have to burn a CD, address an envelope, go to the post office or even process a credit card number. The whole process is automated on the internet. There are dozens of companies set up to help you do this.

Does Internet marketing sound complicated or expensive to you?

Internet marketing for health professionals can be complicated and it can be expensive. But it doesn't have to be. Several years ago you would have needed a web programmer, graphic designer, marketing consultant and more. Now, all that you need is the right strategy and the ability to use web browsers (like Firefox or Internet Explorer) and email.

Blogs and basic websites to sell your ideas and products can be created for no-cost and don't require any programming skills. There are ecommerce systems to sell products and services that can be set-up in less than 5 minutes. Many allow you to upload and sell products online for $5.00 per month. You can collect credit card payments without needing a merchant account.

Forms to create your "opt-in" email lists are pre-programmed in many web-based customer contact services (called auto-responders). And if you still feel that you want a website designer or some other help, you can hire one in India for $5 - $10 per hour. Several independent companies will let you post your projects and have people bid on them.

Interested in taking the next step?

Take a deep, relaxing breath and begin to explore. Use google and yahoo searches to find the web-based businesses of people in your field. See what they are doing. When ready, join some marketing email lists or forums that interest you. Some marketing email lists will send you a useful message every month and give you no-cost resources for learning how to make money online. And if you don't like the information, you can always cancel and join another. Remember: You are in control.

Ryan C. Nagy, M.A. is a Feldenkrais Practitioner & Consultant, who co-owns, The Web Whisperers, with Bill O'Hanlon, M.S. Come see Ryan at http://thewebwhisperersblog.com, or http://www.ryannagy.com. See his latest workshops at http://www.thewebwhisperers.com
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Two-Dozen Items to Consider When Choosing the "Right" Merchant Account

Jay Douglas offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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Article Title: Two-Dozen Items to Consider When Choosing the "Right" Merchant Account
Author: Jay Douglas
Category: E-Commerce, Home Business, Small Business
Word Count: 449
Keywords: merchant account, sales, credit card processing, accept credit cards, merchant services
Author's Email Address: jaydouglas2005@gmail.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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With the dizzying array of merchant account processors on the Internet today, it can be a daunting, if not outright frustrating task to determine which provider you should entrust the handling of your sales. But the process of deciding which provider is right for your business might not be as difficult as you might have imagined.

In fact, veteran business owners know that there are several options you should look for before you settle on any given merchant account provider. It might seem obvious, but the choice you make upfront in your decision-making process could literally mean the loss or gain of thousands of dollars in revenue. In fact, it could mean the very survival of your business altogether.

Here then, are two-dozen options you'll want to consider when determining whether a particular merchant account provider is right for you. You might not find all these options in one particular merchant account provider. But this list is certainly worth consulting before you take the plunge.

Ask yourself whether the merchant account provider you are considering:

- Allows you to set up an account for free
- Allows you to get paid instantly
- Allows you to offer 95% affiliate commissions
- Allows you to sell digital products
- Allows you to sell material products
- Allows you to sell subscription based services
- Allows you to set ANY price for you product - no price maximum
- Allows you to NOT offer a money back guarantee if you don't want
- Allows you to protect your products from unauthorized access
- Allows you to easily test different advertising campaigns
- Allows you to easily determine products actual conversion rates
- Allows you to set custom affiliate commission percentages
- Allows you to accept affiliates automatically or by manual approval
- Allows you to customize your checkout page
- Allows you to get additional information from customers
- Allows you to set automatic product price increase or decrease
- Allows you to show or not show your product's conversion rates in the marketplace
- Allows you to track product conversion rates by different traffic source
- Allows you to track product conversion rates by search engine
- Allows you to track product's popularity between affiliates
- Allows you to track percentage of sales made by affiliates
- Allows you to track the number of active affiliates and their performance
- Allows you to Track unique visitors to your product's website and their behavior
- Protects affiliates so they are paid commissions due

So there you have it. As noted previously. Most business providers will not offer all the options above. But we know of one merchant account provider that does offer all these services and 54 others that you might want to consider. And you can get the details here...

http://www.cbsqueezevideos.com/merchant-accounts.html

Jay Douglas is a video producer who researches and reports on the best ways to ensure profitable business growth using the latest cutting edge tools. Check out his latest find to determine whether it's a good fit for your particular business. http://www.cbsqueezevideos.com/merchant-accounts.html
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Exponential List Building with Viral Bait

Brett Nordin offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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Article Title: Exponential List Building with Viral Bait
Author: Brett Nordin
Category: E-Commerce, Growth Topics, Network Marketing
Word Count: 660
Keywords: viral marketing,marketing,small business,mlm,network marketing,viral campaign,direct response ad
Author's Email Address: brettnordin@gmail.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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The key to relationship marketing is building a list and then developing trust. In the Mortgage business I don't expect to get a sale today, my product sells for thousands of dollars and my clients have a problem I can solve every 3 years on average. So I have to be in the long term relationship business which means that I treat everyone on my list as a future client or referral source.

For the purposes of this discussion, I'm going to focus on building the list through viral marketing. Viral marketing is often thought of as a joke email or a chain letter that gets blasted around the web. In the business world, viral marketing is the Holy Grail. A small media seed can grow into a fast moving sales message that multiplies exponentially without additional cost. The viral bait becomes the first of many conversations that we hope will lead to a sale.

Over the years I have researched and developed information products (the bait) that I give away online in exchange for an email address. Once I have the email address and permission to communicate with the new contact, I can begin robotic trust-based selling campaigns that position me as a trustworthy service provider. This type of push/pull marketing is simple. However, creating a viral campaign that spreads without continuous pushing is not easy and often takes trial and error.

Creating a robotic list building system contains 3 main elements:
1. The viral bait - This has traditionally been an information product or other ethical bribe that is given to someone in exchange for permission to communicate with them about your product or service. You can easily create an ebook that provides valuable information about a subject related to your product or service.
2. An ongoing conversation - Communication can take on many forms (i.e., email, teleseminar, webinar, newsletter, promotional advertising) and works as a sifting and sorting tool that makes your prospects identify themselves as potential clients.
3. Conversion - For my business conversion is typically handled over the phone but many lower priced items don't need an explanation and can be purchased directly online by building the demand (benefit selling) and lower the barrier to the sale (guarantee or discount).

The key to the system working virally is identifying the right bait. It took me years to figure out that people only care about mortgage information when they have an immediate need for a mortgage. You may be thinking to yourself, that's great, a prospect that has an immediate need is closer to buying what you offer. However, even though I provided useful information that differentiated my services and positioned me as a trusted source, I didn't have the time or resources to build deep relationships with the prospect. Ultimately I acquired a list of people who could only compare my service on the basis of price.

Besides price, the other downside to my mortgage campaign was that it never became viral. My bait was so specific to a problematic niche that there was no perception of universal value to others. So the chain stopped with the last respondent. In order for the leads to keep coming I had to keep spending. My marketing costs had a linear relationship to the response I received, not the exponential response I was hoping for. With conversion rates slowing in the mortgage industry, the ROI was low and not worth the effort.

So within the past year I re-created my bait to have broader appeal and my campaigns have been viral and achieving 10X the opt-in rate compared to the previous bait. I have completely cut-off my advertising campaigns and the leads are still coming in. That is the power of viral marketing.

If your list building has not met your expectations or is not bringing an effective ROI, go back to step #1 in the robotic list building system. Bait is the gate keeper to the system and the key to viral marketing success.

To see the viral bait that I utilize to build my list, visit http://www.squidoo.com/xlrevshare
Brett Nordin is a business consultant and entrepreneur with a passion for various business topics including sales, marketing and business development.
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Health and Safety E Learning

Shaun Parker offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
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Article Title: Health and Safety E Learning
Author: Shaun Parker
Category: E-Learning, E-Commerce
Word Count: 586
Keywords: health, and, safety, training, online
Author's Email Address: parker@highposition.net
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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In this day and age of compensation claims for even the most minor strains and accidents it pays all employers to comply with Health and Safety regulations to cover themselves as well as their employees. The Health and Safety Executive regulations have, for a number of years now, made it a legal requirement for all employers to assess and reduce the risk to staff in the workplace.

Some employers, pressed for time as well as money, find this a problem. Whole work days are sometimes lost, venues need to be booked and paid for and transport provided. All this comes at the expense of the employer but surely cannot be as costly as the amount of sick days taken in the name of work related health problems.

Figures from the Health and Safety Executive for 2003/04 show that 448,000 British workers were reported to have suffered from work related musculo-skeletal disorders (the umbrella term for Repetitive Strain Injury). This was a staggering increase of 52,000 from the previous year.

Direct and indirect costs to society amounted to a phenomenal 5.7 pounds billion in the year 2004/5. The Health and Safety Executive attributes this to the 450,000 cases of workers absent through back complaints and 375,000 through back and upper limb disorders. Amazingly, they even report seven year old children to be suffering RSI complaints so schools also need to implement the regulations.

Repetitive Strain Injury is a common occurrence in offices where staff spend the majority of their day sat in front of a VDU, or DSE. Display Screen Equipment is a broader term for VDU and covers all the equipment at a desk including keyboard and mouse, which have been the cause of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome when used incorrectly.

DSE Risk Assessment and Training are Health and Safety requirements and are quite simple to practice. There are recommended guidelines for the angle of a VDU, the positioning of a keyboard, mouse, desk and chair. All should be set up for the individual employee to ensure comfortable working positions.

Employers are liable for the cost of sight tests for VDU operators when requested but there is no evidence that, when used properly, a VDU screen would cause any health problems. Only when there is unnecessary glare, bad posture or a wrongly positioned unit does a problem occur. There is certainly no evidence to suggest there is any worsening of eyesight from use of a VDU.

So, employees do not want to be injured at work and employers do not want to spend man hours and hard earned profits on Health and Safety Training. However, there is a solution. It is now possible to train all employers and their staff in all Health and Safety aspects without ever having to leave their badly positioned, overly bright VDU or their wonky chair.

It is now possible to meet all the legal requirements of Health and Safety Training on line. It is called Health and Safety e-learning. Risk assessments are set out for employers and employees can set their own agenda for DSE training thus reducing impact on work schedules. Training can be completed over time at a pace that suits the individual and training certificates can be printed out at the conclusion.

This solution is cost effective, requiring minimal resources and a Learning Development Advisor is assigned to the company involved to keep track of the training. It is also recommended that results be saved to a database to establish an audit trail and prove your company's compliance with Health and Safety Regulations.

Health and Safety expert Shaun Parker looks into the new health and safety on line training. To find out more please visit http://www.complywise.co.uk/
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Internet Marketing Business Obstacles

Dwayne Garrett offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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Article Title: Internet Marketing Business Obstacles
Author: Dwayne Garrett
Category: E-Commerce, Start Up, Internet Marketing
Word Count: 403
Keywords: brand marketing, brand mindset, branding marketing, branding marketing consumers, branding strategy,
Author's Email Address: dwaynegarrett@gmail.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

It is a well-known statistic that 50% of all businesses fail within the first two years. Within five years, a total of 95% of small businesses fail. These are daunting statistics that are coming from the Small Business Administration (SBA) office, with study after study proving the difficulty of establishing a successful business. These statistics are equally true of online businesses where the same factors that affected the failure of solid businesses correlates to e-commerce with too many entrepreneurs who don't know the obstacles they face.

But What Are These Statistics Based On?

Despite these negative statistics, you have to take a look at these statistics with a grain of salt. Even the SBA admits that many of the statistics are affected by people who are in business part-time as opposed to full-time and never had any intention of being in business for themselves long-term. They may have filed the business with IRS to make use of deductions or to claim income, but it doesn't really point to the determination to stay in business long-term.

If you want to start a business part-time, odds are you too can get it to survive for at least two years, and maybe five years top without committing yourself to its growth.

However, if you want to stay in business long-term, the success will be determined by how much effort and learning you have placed into the business. Obviously, if you see this business as your livelihood, you will be more motivated to grow the business rather than letting outside situations make or break your potential for success.

One thing you need to understand from the start is that looking at other people's failures is only helpful in instructing you on what not to do. It is not going to tell you how to grow your business. For that, you need to study successes. So, use everything to your advantage, whether it is success or failure.

The key to growing a business is flexibility, know-how, and a drive to succeed. Do learn from other people's mistakes, but don't let their failures determine your own potential for success. If you can't believe that you can succeed where others have failed, then you shouldn't be in business for yourself to begin with.

By balancing what you should do with what to avoid, you can steer clear of traps and make it to the highway of high earnings in less time and with more confidence.

Dwayne Garrett is the author of several eBooks and popular software applications, he also offers an affordable Shopping Resource that will save you a ton of money on some of todays popular ebooks, softwares and videos. http://www.BumRushMedia.com
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

How To Choose Online Gift Cards

David Urmann offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
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Article Title: How To Choose Online Gift Cards
Author: David Urmann
Category: Online Shopping, E-Commerce
Word Count: 489
Keywords: gift cards, online gift cards, all occasion gift cards, best gift cards, review online gift cards, b
Author's Email Address: solutionsforweb.1@gmail.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

There are several occasions when you need to buy a gift for your family, friends and acquaintances. To choose a gift can sometimes become a difficult task. Certain things always crop up in the mind of the buyer, whether the recipient will like it or not or it may be the case that the person has everything.

To save you from this problem online gifts cards have come which will provide the complete satisfaction gifting something of his/ her choice. They make the perfect choice for gifting as the recipient can buy anything that their heart wishes. These gift cards work like gift vouchers. Internet companies with storefronts and retailers usually offer gift cards.

Online gift cards are available in different denominations. You simply have to choose one and the company will take the pains of sending the Virtual card directly to the recipient along with an encrypted e-mail having ID number to ensure safety of the gift card. These cards work like gift vouchers, you have to type in the virtual number given when you check out after choosing the gift.

After receiving the gift people go to the particular website, place the order of the items they want after that they enter the ID number at checkout. The amount of the item is deducted from the account and the left over amount can be used later.

It has been found that many people who have gifted and those who have used it both feel satisfied and contented. People prefer to go for it simply because it does not require lengthy procedure. At the same time you don't have to tax your brain or search shops for the ideal gift for your near and dear ones. Even the recipient does not have to compromise with what he/she gets.

While choosing a card make it a point to search online the stores which offer wide range of products. These cards have no expiry date which makes it the best choice. The one who possess the card can redeem it even after 3years. Some people prefer giving cash instead of gifts but that usually ends in spending the money on other thing except buying a gift.

One such gift card is E bay gift card from E bay- the world's online market place. For choosing this card you need not to be the registered user of E Bay once you shop here you will find there is something for one and all. But to buy E Bay certificate it should be purchased using Pay pal (an E Bay company).

One should check the conditions laid out for redeeming the certificate before buying the card. In all, the online gift cards are a wonderful way to present someone so that the person can really go in for a product of his or her choice. So next time, you want to gift someone, just don't forget about the online gift cards.

For more information visit our website http://www.gift-cards.org
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

The Joy of Online Shopping

Patrick Tang offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
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-----------
Article Title: The Joy of Online Shopping
Author: Patrick Tang
Category: E-Commerce
Word Count: 590
Keywords: Online Shopping, Internet Shopping, Online Services
Author's Email Address: patrick.tang@fabulouslygourmet.com.au
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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Have you ever tried shopping with a screaming baby, a tantrum-ing toddler or in the rain? Don't have a car? Don't have the energy to try to tackle an overcrowded or understaffed shop? Tired of running to the shops every day for a couple of items or having to schlep bags and bags of groceries in from the car? Online shopping could be the answer to all your worries.

Online shopping involves purchasing products or services over the Internet. Online shopping is done through an online shop, e-shop, e-store, virtual store, webshop, Internet shop or online store. All the products in online stores are described through text, with photos and with multimedia files. Many online stores will provide links for extra information about their products. They often make available, safety procedures, instructions, manufacture specification and demonstrations. Some will provide advice or how-to guides. As you are already on the Internet, you can search for product reviews that other consumers may have posted. Some online stores have place for these reviews on their own sites. Many allow users to rate their products. Advice such as this from other consumers, about a product, would be unavailable in a conventional store.

There are many advantages involved with online shopping, the most obvious of which is convenience. As long as you have a computer, online shopping can be done from home or from work. There is no need to take the time to travel to a conventional store. Also, online shops typically operate 24 hours a day so you don't need to rush to get there during business hours. Particularly if you have a broadband Internet connection, browsing online can be done very quickly - in fact, it can be quicker than browsing up and down the aisles of a physical shop.

With online shopping, there is no need to wait in queues at the check-out once you have your items. You are not required to lift any heavy or awkward-sized and shaped packages. Your shopping is collected with the click of a button and "deposited" into your shopping trolley by no physical effort on your part.

You will often be given a choice as to how to receive the merchandise you have bought - either it can be delivered to you or you can go to the store to collect it. This flexibility can be very useful depending on how soon you need the item or when you will be home.

Search engines and online price comparison services are useful for finding sellers of a specific product. You can also, very quickly, find good deals on various items. Some items will generally be cheaper if bought over the Internet due to the smaller size of the "brick-and-mortar" store, reduced stocking costs for the seller and significantly lower staffing overhead. On large orders (as determined by the retailer), shipping costs may be waved. There are also many websites that compile information on coupons and discounts.

With the takeover of the market by big retail chain; variety of specialised items continue to diminish; goes with that is also the choices from a consumer perspective. However, Internet shops have taken over this niche as many are operated by small retailers who understand this need. This means you can search on the Internet and it is very likely that someone is selling that specialised item that you have been looking and more importantly without the need to run around the town or ring anyone.

Online shopping is becoming more and more widespread and accepted due to these many conveniences.

Patrick Tang is the author of this article. His passion for good quality gourmet food and gifts has driven him to setup Fabulously Gourmet (http://www.fabulouslygourmet.com.au) for the Australian Community.
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Online Shopping Carts - Preventing Customer Frustration Online

Andy West offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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Article Title: Online Shopping Carts - Preventing Customer Frustration Online
Author: Andy West
Category: E-Commerce, E-Commerce
Word Count: 651
Keywords: online shopping cart, storefront,
Author's Email Address: andik@verticalmeasures.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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There are millions of retail websites on the Internet that use online shopping carts to enable customers to order products or services online. If you've ever shopped online, however, you know that all online shopping carts are not created equal. Some are confusing to use, don't allow you to make changes as you progress through the ordering process or are limited in terms of payment options and other features.

Having a shopping cart system that doesn't work well or is limited in functionality is often a mistake new websites make. They lavish lots of time and money on making the site appealing, showing off their products or services in the best possible light and even adding cool flash add-ons and other extras, but cut corners on the shopping cart because they see it as a mundane, boring feature that is strictly utilitarian. The problem that arises from that attitude is that shoppers can quickly lose their enthusiasm for purchasing a product or products if they become frustrated when going through the online checkout.

Online shopping carts should be customer friendly. People make mistakes; it's a fact of life. If your website's online shopping cart system is well-designed, it will allow for errors by having links on each page for going back and making corrections or enabling the shopper to change his mind on one item without losing his entire order in the process.

Internet shopping is only as convenient as the payment options for most people. If a retail website offers wonderful gifts, clothing or furniture but doesn't accept credit cards, it will lose a hefty proportion of its customers. Conversely, if a variety of options such as major credit cards, PayPal and e-checks are available; shoppers will be more inclined to make purchases.

Shopping carts must also have back end flexibility. Of course, offering lots of different options and services through your online shopping cart system is great for your customers, but if it isn't easy to use and adapt to your own company's needs from the back end as well, it won't help. If you have a flexible, intuitive back end design, however, you'll find that a more complex shopping cart system can actually make your work easier.

There are many companies today who offer custom designed online shopping carts as well as companies that offer several different software packages that you can tailor to fit your specific needs at a reasonable cost. Using these specialists to help you implement an online shopping cart experience for your website can improve everything from your customer service to your bookkeeping, since you can use these systems for not only placing orders, but for tracking inventory and assessing sales trends.

When researching online shopping cart options for your website, ask some serious questions about what the provider can offer you. Considerations on whether the software package will include the source code so that you can customize your online shopping cart as your needs change should be an option. Find out if there is technical support available if and when you need it. Research what types of payment options can be set up with the shopping cart program. And learn if the system is a dynamic one that can evolve and change, as shopper's needs change.

Be sure when you're looking for the right online shopping cart service or package that you really know what you'll need. Whether you offer customized gifts or require drop-down menus for color, size and style choices, your decision will be based on your needs. Also, find out what the return policies are for the particular product you are interested in. Knowing as much as possible about what you want will ensure that you don't fall short when you invest in your website's online shopping cart system.

Andy West is a writer for AspDotNetStorefront, a premier online shopping cart and storefront provider. Visit http://www.aspdotnetstorefront.com/t-s-online-shopping-cart.aspx for you Ecommerce storefront needs.
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Add Income To Work At Home Internet Business Site With Online Auction Site

Juhani Tontti offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
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Article Title: Add Income To Work At Home Internet Business Site With Online Auction Site
Author: Juhani Tontti
Category: Network Marketing, E-Business, E-Commerce
Word Count: 595
Keywords: internet business,work at home business,home business,work at home internet business,
Author's Email Address: runner@welho.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

To get a picture about the chances for your work at home internet business, lets look at the key figures of the biggest company in that business: 2 billion items listed, $ 50 billion annual turnover from 170 million shoppers. Over 2 million daily visitors, who spend in average two hours navigating around the pages and listings. Amazing!

Every single second this site sells with $ 1.000, times 60, times 60, times 24, makes $ 86,4 million per day. Over 70 % of online auction site users earn more than $ 50.000 per year, they have what you need. This makes you even more excited: 95 % of users are individuals or work at home internet business owners!

A good thing is that the online auction sites have, what we strongly need: a huge targeted traffic and an infrastucture in place, so what we need is the strategy how to make money. The online auction site is a marketplace and a work at home internet business newbie can start to sell right away, in less than an hour and he get immediate access to millions of buyers, who are actively looking for items.

Now you may already think, what kind of products would sell well in the auction sites? It is amazing that people sell items from cars to motorbikes, from collectibles to small personal items, like knives and everything between the sky and earth!

Find below a simple step by step plan, how to start:
1.First: Pick A Product To Sell!
The experts recommend to start slowly. Sell something from your home, an item which you know and can describe well enough and which you do not need any more. Just one item. This will give you a picture about the selling process.

2. Study At The Learning Centers Of The Auction Site.
Some of these marketplaces have a really professional and easy to follow learning sections, with a lot of articles and other useful material about the business. You can get tips about the products, which are hot sellers right now, how to price them and how to promote your offer to make a decent profit for your work at home internet business.

A working strategy is to find a group of products, which sell over a long period of time, slowly but steadily. This can be slower way to riches, but at least you can control your business much better and keep it in your own hands.

Okay, when you have sold the test products, you can buy products for sale. Hopefully the test sale has showed you some indication about the market potential and the target group. The product know how is one of the key questions in the long run, because people make some questions.

You see, it is wise to sell what you like and know. That way you can get your own style and be ahead of the competition. Nobody can copy your feelings, your personal touch. If some of your competitors will sell the same product, it will be your personal touch, which will differentiate you from the other offers and build a brand for your business.

Like generally in the Net, the brand is what sells. You must obtain credibility or trust among the target audience and that does not happen overnight. But after you are seen as an expert on your field of online auction site marketing, you can easily transfer that expertise into new products, because you are the category expert, not a product specialist. That is very important for the profits of your work at home internet business.

Juhani Tontti, B.Sc., Marketing. Online Auctions Rock! Find More Useful Information About This Work At Home Internet Business Opportunity:http://www.Way2Miracle.com. Check Also My Work At Home Business Directory:http://www.online-home-business.biz. Just Click HERE:
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How To Waste Your Time And Money In Internet Business

T. O Donnell offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
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Article Title: How To Waste Your Time And Money In Internet Business
Author: T. O Donnell
Category: E-Business, E-Commerce, Internet Marketing
Word Count: 574
Keywords: internet marketing, web development, software development, internet business, ecommerce strategy
Author's Email Address: content@tigertom.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

The internet is a great way to make money while sitting on your bottom. You lounge around in your pajamas, and the cheques drop in your letter box. Sure, that happens. For some.

There are many ways to waste your time, money and energy online. Many people give up on their internet business because they get caught up in these snares:

1. Content Is King.

You can write hundreds of eloquent, informative pages, only to have them ripped off by a 'scraper'. You can be _the_ definitive site on a topic, only to have sites which have better SEO and SEM outrank you. You need something that is unique, or near it; something a lazy spammer can't duplicate easily.

Also: Anyone who uses the word 'content' to describe what they're offering is halfway to being a spammer. Think about an 'elevator speech' for your site. How would you describe it in five words to someone? (That someone is also a non-techie, by the way).

You've got to be able to tell Joe Public what the main benefit is in a short and simple sentence. If you can't, you're probably wasting your time. People don't want 'leveraged media aggregation services'. They want sex, money, power, beauty, laughter; something that helps _them_.

2. The Latest $197 Software.

You need a script. You try to 'Google' it. You find one for $197 which seems OK. What you didn't realise is that you could search through popular freeware directories first; likely there's a free version of what you seek, that thousands of other webmasters are using. Or a cheaper one you could adapt.

Beware: There's a class of cookie-cutter one-page internet marketing sites out there. Anyone researching how to make money on the internet will soon find them. They sell over-hyped, latest-trick software which will deplete your bank balance, or worse, get your site banned.

By the time a newbie gets to hear about a wheeze, it's already been sucked dry by the inventors. In the middle are hucksters who claim to have made $1000s with it, and now they're letting you in on the 'secret'.

Fact: When you've got a sure-fire way of making a lot of money, you keep it close to your chest. You only let it go when it's tapped out.

3. Reciprocal Linking.

Someone told you this works. Someone else told you it's useless.

The truth: I'd say it works if you trade links with related, high-quality sites for a while, then stop. You get some search engine attention, then you work on getting links from different sources. This makes your backlink profile more 'natural'.

If all your links are reciprocal you risk being flagged by a search engine algorithm. Engineers are constantly on the lookout for signs of quality, and signs of spam. Too much of one form of promotion too quick, and BAM!, you're penalised, or banned.

4. Drudgery Which Should Be Automated.

You've heard you need backlinks. So you start submitting by hand to directories. This is boring and time-consuming. What you didn't know was that there are submission services which will do 1000 in a day, for $50.

You need a software. You learn PHP to write it yourself. This takes ages, and bug-fixing is a chore. What you didn't realise is that a freelance would code it for $200, and support it for six months.

In summary: You have limited time. Spend it thinking up ways to make money. Anything related to computers can be automated; that's what they're for.

T. O' Donnell is an entrepreneur publishing Wordpress theme ( http://www.ttfreewordpressthemes.com ), loan ( http://www.ttloancalculator.com ) and mortgage ( http://www.tigertom.co.uk/mortgages-uk.shtml ) softwares in London, UK.
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

For Website Marketing: Back-Door Strategies to Stand Out From The Crowd

Cathy Goodwin offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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Article Title: For Website Marketing: Back-Door Strategies to Stand Out From The Crowd
Author: Cathy Goodwin
Category: E-Commerce, Ezines and Newsletters, Lead Generation
Word Count: 548
Keywords: internet marketing,lead generation, book reviews,marketing strategies,internet marketing strategies
Author's Email Address: cathy@cathygoodwin.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

As a web site marketer these days, in the 21st century, you have to work harder than ever to stand out from the pack. Everybody's sending out ezines. Nearly all of us hold teleseminars.

Add your ezine and teleseminar and you're joining a parade down Main Street. Sometimes you can generate leads even more effectively if you also run through the alleys and knock on back doors.

Often these back-door "sneaky" strategies seem too easy to be effective. But simplicity can be deceptive. You need to plan carefully to avoid wasting time. Used incorrectly, the back-door approach can backfire. You have to play by rules that change overnight and that aren't easy to figure out.

Strategy #1: Contribute to a discussion list related to your topic.

For lead generation, join a group whose membership matches your target market as closely as possible. Choosing the right group can be challenging. For example, you may be eligible to join a forum after attending a workshop or purchasing a manual. Or you may pay to join a mentoring group. These groups create forums and discussion lists directly related to your interests, but moderators tend to be extremely cautious about self-promotion.

You can also search through yahoo or google for groups. For example, you can search on "professional women discussion list" or "work at home dads discussion list." Some websites feature lists of discussion groups, often arranged by topic. Searching through listings takes time but, with patience, can produce some good results.

Tips:

Once you join a forum or discussion lists, it's a good idea to "lurk" for awhile. Get a sense of the group's mood and style. Introduce yourself. Evaluate your responses. If you sense a lack of interest (and occasionally even hostility), consider withdrawing from the group.

The challenge is to draw a fine line between contributing proactively and becoming a nuisance. Success depends on finding just the right blend of asking questions and providing expertise.

Example 2: Write reviews for online bookstores.

As an avid and eclectic reader, I began writing reviews for one of the online bookstores. Originally, I was just having fun and actually felt guilty for taking time from my "real" work. I wrote about everything: mysteries, business books, nonfiction.

To my surprise, these book reviews began to attract subscribers, clients and invitations to be interviewed by professional reporters and writers. Recently one of my reviews was quoted in a blog, giving me valuable (and totally unexpected) publicity.

When these readers came, they were highly motivated. Unlike readers of ezines, they were prepared to pay or resources. After all, bookstores don't give away books! I suspect many hold a credit card in one hand as they surf with the other.

Tips:

Choose best-selling books related to your topic -but not exclusively.

Write carefully, using correct grammar and style. I've found that I get the most response by being edgy but thoughtful, and not too long or too short.

Follow the guidelines concerning what you can disclose about your business. Your review can be edited or removed entirely if you appear to be selling or if you use inappropriate words.

Bottom Line: Often we find our most successful back-door strategies by accident. But applying those strategies callsapplyin for planning, flexibility and responsiveness to change.

FREE 7 Best-Kept Secrets of Websites That Really Attract Clients: My Special Report gives you insider tips to convert tire-kickers to buyers and earn money while you sleep. From Cathy Goodwin, The Content Strategist, at http://www.copy-cat-copywriting.com.
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

Top Tips for Writing an E-book

Shakil Zaman offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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Article Title: Top Tips for Writing an E-book
Author: Shakil Zaman
Category: E-Commerce
Word Count: 534
Keywords: online business, e-book, home business
Author's Email Address: support@Rapid-Cashflow.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

You've probably heard about e-books-they're everywhere on the Internet, and it seems like everyone is writing them. You've probably even thought about writing one yourself. But, what to write about? You need some e-book ideas.

First, e-books are electronic books that are downloaded and saved onto your computer. Some e-books must be purchased, and some are even free. You can read them directly from your computer, or print them out to read at any time.

The intriguing thing about e-books is that you can cut out most all of the middle men (agents, publishers, wholesalers) and take care of all the work yourself (writing, editing, formatting, copywriting, and selling). E-books are a great idea for those of you who want to be more independent in your success. Plus, by using e-books, your success can come much quicker than with a traditional print book.

Now that that's cleared up, let's start thinking about some e-book ideas. You may already know what you want to write about-great! But make sure it's a topic that people are going to be interested in reading. Otherwise, don't expect big sales. Whether you know what you want to write about or you simply know you want to write, when thinking about good, profitable e-book ideas, check to see if your topic is one that is in demand.

One of the great benefits of writing an e-book is that you can use it to market several of your affiliate products, by simply placing your affiliate urls in the book itself as recommended links to visit to get more resources. Also, if you are planning on writing an e-book as a bonus giveaway then you can allow your affiliates to brand your e-book, that is your affiliates can also place their affiliate urls in the e-book and benefit by promoting the giveaway e-book.

When thinking about e-book ideas, remember to also consider your knowledge of the topics. The phrase "write what you know" applies to e-book ideas just as it applies to all writing. Write about something you know a good deal about and about something that people want to know a good deal about. See the connection?

Your primary focus for writing the e-book must be to add value to the people that will eventually read it. It is a way to develop trust with your customers
and if you provide quality information, you are more than likely to get repeat sales for further e-books that you write or even products that you endorse simply because you have broken the trust barrier.

Also, do a little research as to how much information
already exists on your topic. If you know a good deal about both the circus and underwater basket weaving, and find that there is a demand for information on both topics, look around to see which topic already has the most information out there. If there are 100 e-books already in circulation about the circus, but only 8 about underwater basket weaving, consider underwater basket weaving as one of
your e-book ideas. There is both an interest and a demand.

Shakil Zaman publishes Home Business Tips, a fresh and informative newsletter dedicated to supporting people like YOU! Come by and grab a F-R-E-E subscription today at: http://www.Rapid-Cashflow.com
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

Are Alternative Health Practitioners Successfully Using Internet Marketing?

Ryan C. Nagy, M.A. offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
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Article Title: Are Alternative Health Practitioners Successfully Using Internet Marketing?
Author: Ryan C. Nagy, M.A.
Category: Small Business, E-Commerce, Alternative Medicine
Word Count: 810
Keywords: alternative health, marketing, ecommerce, feldenkrais, rolfing, massage, intertnet, passive income
Author's Email Address: news@ryannagy.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

Several months ago, I asked several hundred alternative health practitioners to tell me their most important questions about internet marketing. Two major questions emerged:

1. What exactly is internet marketing and how can it help me?
2. What's the best way to target people on the internet so that they attend my classes, come in for sessions, and buy my products?

Alternative health practitioners such as Rolfers, Massage Therapists, Hypnotherapists, Accupuncturists, Feldenkrais Practitioners and the like, have business needs that are similar to the needs of other business. They need more clients and steady income. Most are passionate about their work, interested in growing their practices and creating a sustainable business.

However, unlike many traditional businesses, alternative health practitioners are often practicing a modality that people have not heard of, or do not fully understand. Alternaitve health practitioners need to introduce people not only to a new method but to a new way of thinking, being and acting in the world.

Internet Marketing, in many ways, can be like the various alternative modalities themselves: What internet marketing "is" depends on what you want, what you need and what you are willing to do to get it. The first step is to get an idea of what the possibilities are.

Filling your workshops and building a practice

For one of my business partners the internet provides a way to keep his classes and workshops full. He has a large "permission based" email list to which he mails every 4-6 weeks. In every email he gives away a no-cost bonus, such as worksheet or handout that can be put to immediate use by the people on his list. He will often write about useful research findings related to his field. The end-result? People look forward to reading his emails and his seminars and workshops fill-up months in advance. Can you imagine using the same process to fill your practice?

The key here is relationship. Be helpful and aware of your potential clients' needs and help them whenever you can. They will reward you by trusting you and giving you their business.

Passive Income

Some alternative health practitioners reach a point in their careers where they realize that they want to work less but keep their current income and lifestyle. Is this you? Perhaps you need some time to write a book or want to take a sabbatical and travel the world?

The problem is that you are in the business of trading your time and skill for money. If you do not work, you do not get paid. It would be useful to ask yourself a new question: "How can I keep making income and sustain my business, without having to work everyday?" This is where the idea of "passive income" comes in.

What is passive income? Passive income is money that comes to you automatically every month, regardless of where you are or what you are doing. Downloadable audio, video and ebooks are a few examples of passive income opportunities. You could sell training and educational materials to your clients and have the system set-up so that the sales, delivery and support is done automatically in the background. In other words, when someone buys a product from you, you don't have to burn a CD, address an envelope, go to the post office or even process a credit card number. The whole process is automated on the internet.

Does Internet marketing sounds complicated or expensive to you?

It can be complicated and it can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be. Several years ago you would have needed a web programmer, graphic designer, recording studio and more. Now, all that you need is the right strategy and the ability to use a web browser and email.

For instance, blogs and basic websites can be created for no-cost and don't require any programming skills. There are ecommerce systems that can be set-up in less than 5 minutes and allow you to upload and sell products online for $5.00 per month. You can collect credit card payments without needing a merchant account. Email collection forms are pre-programmed in many web-based customer contact services (called auto-responders). And if you still feel that you want a website designer or some other help, you can hire one in India for $5 - $10 per hour. Several independent companies will let you post your projects and have people bid on them.

Interested?

Take a deep breath, relax, and begin exploring. Use google to find the web-based businesses of people in your field. See what they are doing. When you are ready, consider joining marketing email lists or forums that interest you. Some marketing email lists will send you a useful message every month and give you no-cost resources for learning how to make money online. And if you don't like the information, you can always cancel and join another. Remember: You are in control.

Ryan C. Nagy, M.A. is a Feldenkrais Practitioner & Consultant, who co-owns, The Web Whisperers, with Bill O'Hanlon, M.S. Come see Ryan at http://thewebwhisperersblog.com, or http://www.ryannagy.com. Listen to his Feldenkrais Podcast at http://www.utahfeldenkrais.org/blog
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Nouveau Marketing: Community Based Marketing to the Power of X

Brett Nordin offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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Article Title: Nouveau Marketing: Community Based Marketing to the Power of X
Author: Brett Nordin
Category: Small Business, E-Commerce, Network Marketing
Word Count: 612
Keywords: marketing,small business,network marketing,internet marketing,ecommerce,home based business,MLM
Author's Email Address: brettnordin@gmail.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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It happened again today. Call me jealous or call me envious, but when I get marketing advice from a 13 year old, I get mad. Not like I want to throw a chair mad but more angry at myself for letting my intellectual capital shrink to an all-time low. It's time for me to catch up.

I don't consider myself a classic marketer but when I think about making money and getting business, I think locally. Physical territories fill my head and visions of knocking on doors, blanketing a community with mailers and joining the local rotary. I'm not old, I just don't know anything else. If you are like me you probably have a website but have no clue how to make it anything more than a digital business card. Meanwhile, I see others who are getting paid for Google Ads and have a first page ranking on Google.

I do have my moments. This year I developed two online/offline campaigns that were wildly successful. However, I find myself still in awe when I talk to small business owners who are being successful using only virtual means to generate sales.

Let's get back to the 13 year old. While I've been sleeping in my own backyard, a whole world of community based marketing has taken place. Social networks and groups have sprung-up all over the internet. Sites like MySpace, Friendster, Squidoo and YouTube are connecting people according to their interests, creating virtual niche markets. 9 year-old entrepreneurs are making $50,000 a year on the internet. Young people aren't the only ones getting in the act, I've seen many seniors getting savvy and promoting their products and services through these free websites.

Getting started can be daunting, so along with my 13 year-old friend, I've created a list of 7 must-haves for anyone who is going to change the way they think about communities and start Nouveau Marketing.

1. Think Niche. The internet creates opportunities for infinite diversity. Find areas where your products or services can be tailored for a specific group or audience that has a burning desire to buy your solution. Online niches are going to be much larger than any local market niche.
2. Get involved. Join groups on various social networking sites and begin developing relationships globally. If you can't find a group for your business, start one.
3. Automate. Online relationships are much less intimate than face to face selling and take more time to develop. Have strategies that keep your message in front of prospects in an automatic way. A good example is a drip email campaign.
4. Acquire email addresses. Building a list online is like gold, just like in the offline world. Develop promotional drip campaigns and stick strategies that raise the propensity to buy or make repeat purchases.
5. Create virtual products. Even if your product or service is offline and tangible, information products about your business can be inexpensive giveaways that build trust and move a prospect closer to a sale. Examples are free reports, consumer guides, newsletters and other media.
6. Learn conversion. Forget about traffic until you first learn how to make sales. If you know how many sales you can expect from a certain number of visitors, you can build an ROI model and justify buying traffic.
7. Create an experience. People are willing to pay more for an experience, just like at Starbucks. Learn how to create an experience for your online prospects and you'll sell more at a higher price.
These must-haves are just broad strokes and the devil is in the details. Start by educating yourself by researching internet marketing sites and learning about tools that make virtual business a reality.

To learn about a Nouveau Marketing tool that I discovered during my research, visit http://www.squidoo.com/xlrevshare
Brett Nordin is an entrepreneur and small business owner who writes about various topics including sales, marketing and business development.
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How the Right Product can Make or Break your Online Business

Shakil Zaman offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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-----------
Article Title: How the Right Product can Make or Break your Online Business
Author: Shakil Zaman
Category: E-Commerce, Home Business
Word Count: 706
Keywords: online business, home business
Author's Email Address: support@Rapid-Cashflow.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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Anyone interested in making money online should carefully consider the steps necessary to choosing an appropriate product to promote. Starting a business on the Internet is not difficult compared to the traditional brick and mortar business model, but selecting the right product is one of the fundamental keys to becoming successful.

It cannot be stressed enough that one of the first steps in making money online is choosing the right product to market. Without the right product, your online business is already starting at a disadvantage. Therefore, in order to start making money online, it is recommended that you select a product that is not already saturated in the market.

So there is some research involved on your part. It is easy to determine which products have already reached their saturation level, as ads for these products will be shown on almost every website. Since many other people are selling them, this product will reduce your chances of making money online.

However, it is a better idea to not only find a product that appeals to large number of people, but also a product in which only a small amount of people are advertising. This will be a better guarantee for making money online.

One way to find products that are just being released is by signing up for as many of the credible newsletters being offered in your niche as possible. While it may be a hassle to receive all this information from these newsletters, you will find that many of them are run by top marketers that are on the verge of releasing a brand new product, and are more than happy to have you promote it for them as an affiliate even before the product is officially launched.

If you are at a loss in deciding on a product that can lead to making money online, consider your hobbies or interests. Many online bookstores that are making money online were started with the owners having a passion for reading. If none are your interests can be turned into a profit-making product that can be designed, it is a good idea to consider making money online by selling the product of someone else.

The popularity of affiliate programs has exploded on the Internet as a legitimate way of making money online. There are numerous reasons to consider joining an affiliate program, because it reduces the hassle of having to design your own product to be sold. Many affiliate programs provide their affiliates with resources such as banners to help affiliates market their products. In the end, this can lead to an increase in the number of people making money online.

When selecting an affiliate program, ensure that you are being paid appropriately for the product you are promoting. Generally, information products pay the highest percentage, usually between forty to sixty percent of the sale price. Many great information products can be found at Clickbank, which specializes in providing digital information products.

Another great type of affiliate program is the pay per lead model of affiliate marketing. This type of program is generally offered by many credit card and mortgage companies where you get paid, usually around five to ten dollars, just for referring a valid lead that fills out a form on their website. Clearly, it is much easier to get someone to fill out a form than to have them pay upfront for a product so promoting this type of program can be very profitable.

So the bottom line is that you must find a product that inspires you while at the same time will provide solid profits to meet your financial goals in your online business.

Let's face it, if you are not excited about the product and if you do not believe that your product can truly help other people and that it adds value to their life, then your promotion campaign will be hampered due to your lack of enthusiasm. Also, you simply will not enjoy your online business as much as you deserve to. So take the time to shop around for the appropriate product to promote and you will have a solid foundation onto which you can build a thriving internet business.

Shakil Zaman publishes Home Business Tips, a fresh and informative newsletter dedicated to supporting people like YOU! Come by and grab a F-R-E-E subscription today at: http://www.Rapid-Cashflow.com
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How to Choose an Ecommerce Storefront for Your Business

Andy West offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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PUBLICATION GUIDELINES
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- Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity.
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- If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links.
- Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to andik@verticalmeasures.com
- Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article.
-----------
Article Title: How to Choose an Ecommerce Storefront for Your Business
Author: Andy West
Category: E-Commerce, E-Commerce
Word Count: 638
Keywords: ecommerce storefront, shopping cart,
Author's Email Address: andik@verticalmeasures.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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Choosing an ecommerce storefront drastically affects your sales. Choose wisely and sales double, triple, or more. Choose poorly and you waste your time and money.

Selecting the right ecommerce storefront begins with determining which features you will need. Doing some research and finding out about the different features available will help you select the services designed to target your individual business needs.

If you already have an existing website that is drawing traffic, adding an easy-to-use shopping cart may be all that you need. Deciding whether or not you want the capability to add html code to your existing website or if you want to be able to restructure your product pages completely are questions you should ask yourself while doing your research. Figure out what additional services you may need. Some ecommerce services offer search engine optimization to increase your traffic, website design to give your online business a new look, email delivery for your client base, and inventory control to help you track your merchandise.

If you need a domain name, server, and client management system in addition to the ecommerce service, these features may not be offered by every service. Decide which features might benefit your company the most. Search for a company that offers everything you need.

How user-friendly the service is should be important to you. You may not want or have time to learn HTML in order to use the features you are paying for. Make sure you know how much of your time is required to set up your ecommerce storefront. Many ecommerce solutions are set up in a way that allows you to use the features even without knowledge of HTML.

These services also vary greatly in price. Setting a budget and sticking to it helps you sort out unnecessary features to select a product that you can live with easily. Another consideration is billing. Some companies will charge one flat fee where others you'll receive a monthly bill.

Studies have shown that customers prefer a speedy checkout. Choose software that allows you to customize the number of clicks needed to check out. You may want the capability to customize other aspects of your service, like providing a consultant or a translator to customize your website further.

One important aspect to consider when choosing an ecommerce storefront service is the shelf life of the software. You do not want your current software to become obsolete in six months. Select one that offers research and product updates on a regular basis to keep your features and software fresh.

Any reputable business offers a satisfaction guarantee. You should thoroughly research the cancellation and refund policies before signing up with an ecommerce storefront. Be wary of any company that does not extend a money-back guarantee.

Read through the customer testimonials available for review. Find out what your competitors have to say about the product. Look for any complaints filed with the online better business bureau.

Customer service is important when deciding on this storefront service. If the company is in a different time zone, check to see that they have adequate customer service representatives available to assist you during your regular business hours. Learn if the company has a service available to help walk you through the setup of your new website.

The company should offer training seminars, videos or troubleshooting guides to help get you through the setup of your new site. As new features become available, training materials should be released to help you learn about these new features.

Getting answers to these targeted issues is the first step toward finding an ecommerce storefront solution that is right for your business. Knowing what you need before you shop gives you the advantage of quickly narrowing down the choices to find the perfect solution.

Andy West is a writer for AspDotNetStorefront, a premier ecommerce storefront and shopping cart provider. Visit http://www.aspdotnetstorefront.com/t-s-online-storefront.aspx for you online storefront needs.
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Maximize your Online Storefront

Andy West offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
-----------
PUBLICATION GUIDELINES
- You have permission to publish this article for free providing the "About the Author" box is included in its entirety.
- Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity.
- Do not use this article in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act. If sent by email, this article must be delivered to opt-in subscribers only.
- If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links.
- Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to andik@verticalmeasures.com
- Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article.
-----------
Article Title: Maximize your Online Storefront
Author: Andy West
Category: E-Commerce
Word Count: 597
Keywords: online storefront, online shopping cart, online business,
Author's Email Address: andik@verticalmeasures.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

In recent years, online stores have become increasingly popular. More and more merchants are realizing that they can reach a bigger customer pool by using the Internet. If you are thinking of creating an online store, then you need to think about your online storefront and how to handle customer purchases through an online shopping cart.

The bottom line when it comes to online business is customer satisfaction. Therefore, you are going to want to make it as easy as possible to navigate through your site. Thankfully, there are companies who specialize in creating the perfect online storefront and shopping cart for your needs.

One of the main things to consider is just how many items you will be selling on your site. This number will directly reflect the type and cost of the platform that you will need. Keep in mind that you can always expand or upgrade your online storefront down the line, so try to keep it to a minimum at the beginning.

In order to create the perfect online storefront, it's best to visualize your website as a physical store in a shopping mall. Choosing the right eCommerce software will give your customers the opportunity to check out your prices, browse your vast collection of merchandise and even read some testimonials. The proper online storefront will accentuate any of these features so that your customers can navigate through your store with ease.

There are a number of other advantages to choosing a proper storefront for your online business. Most providers will ensure that all of your products receive their own custom search engine Meta tags. These will automatically make your products more attractive to the search engines, which can send more qualified leads in your direction.

The most important thing to remember is customer satisfaction. If you don't have satisfied customers, soon you will not have a need for online storefront software or shopping cart services. Choosing a storefront that will make it easy for them to shop and purchase as well as find products and information will keep them coming back.

And since word of mouth spreads quickly over the Internet, you are sure to gain new customers if yours are continuously happy.

Most people who shop online do not have all day to browse around a never-ending website. Online shoppers are known to have very short attention spans. Therefore, you need to make all of the possible information available and immediate. Ensure that it is quick and easy to navigate the site, make purchases and find information. If your customers are satisfied with their first experience, they will likely keep coming back.

You are also going to want an attractive and professional online storefront design. The company that you choose to deal with will be able to help you design the perfect first impression. Depending on your budge for the project, there are literally hundreds of different ways to go about it.

Having a good storefront will also allow you to keep track of crucial numbers behind the scene. This can include inventory, bookkeeping, shipping addresses and client information. Everything will be available at the click of a mouse, so you are sure to save hours in your day with the proper system.

Every online business needs a storefront platform in order to run their business successfully. Ensure that it suits the size of your business, is easy to navigate and has all the features you are looking for, and you will be set for success.

Andy West is a writer for AspDotNetStorefront, a premier online storefront and shopping cart provider. Visit http://www.aspdotnetstorefront.com/ for you online storefront needs.
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Is Your Website Making an Indecent Proposal?

Robert Regnerus offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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PUBLICATION GUIDELINES
- You have permission to publish this article for free providing the "About the Author" box is included in its entirety.
- Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity.
- Do not use this article in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act. If sent by email, this article must be delivered to opt-in subscribers only.
- If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links.
- Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to brian@rjrcomputing.com
- Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article.
-----------
Article Title: Is Your Website Making an Indecent Proposal?
Author: Robert Regnerus
Category: E-Commerce, Converting Traffic
Word Count: 773
Keywords: website, sales, internet
Author's Email Address: brian@rjrcomputing.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

How many people get married on their first date? I'd guess that it happens maybe one time in ten thousand, and I'd also guess that most of those marriages end before the bride and groom have gotten over their hangovers. There's a reason that people spend months or years deciding whether or not to get married-you can't gather all the information you need to make such an important decision in a short period of time.

There are just too many unknowns on a first date-you may be able to tell right away that your date looks good or dresses well, but what can you tell about their flaws, history, or plans for the future? Not much, because they, like you, are trying to appear as attractive as possible. You need time to get to know someone, and find out where they've been, find out what your friends think about them, and find out whether they're in it for the long haul. And, of course, your date will need time to find the same things out about you. If you propose marriage on a first date once, it might be good for a laugh. Keep talking about it, though, and you're more likely to get arrested than married.

The same basic principle applies in business. Lots of purchases happen quickly and without much thought-the equivalent, maybe, to a quick dance in a club. However, if you sell a product or service with a long buying cycle, if you're asking for the business equivalent of a long-term relationship, you need to allow your customers time to get to know you before they commit. You probably know this already, or you'd have a hard time staying in business. But here's the question: does your website reflect the fact that you know it, or does your website demand too much of your customers too quickly? Let's look at the questions your customers are asking, and how your website can give the right answers.

Are You Attractive? First impressions are just as important on websites as anywhere else. Your site needs to tell the customer right away what business you're in. You need to assure the customer that you do in fact provide the product or service they're looking for, and that you can do it in a professional manner. If your site is a jumbled, incoherent mess, you'll lose your chance with the customer right away.

Who Are You? Once you have the customer's attention, you need to let them know exactly who you are. Your site should provide a brief history of your company, including key dates, major accomplishments, and any major changes you've gone through. You'll probably also want to provide some basic information on yourself and the key members of your team. Educational background, years in the industry, and the awards you've won are the sort of things you might want to include. Remember to keep this stuff short and to the point, though-don't start rambling about your favorite foods or your astrological sign.

Can You Be Trusted? You cannot overstate the importance of trust in long-term business relationships or large purchases. Your customer needs to know that you have honesty and integrity, but you can't just say "Trust me!" You need to demonstrate your trustworthiness. A good way to do this is to provide references from your other customers. Ask a few of your best customers to write testimonials for you, and try to make sure that they speak to your reliability, honesty, and ethics. You should also point out that you have accreditation from whatever professional organizations govern your industry. If you're a member of the Better Business Bureau, point that out as well.

Are You Serious About This? Make sure that your site demonstrates your customer service and product support capabilities. If your customers are spending a lot of money with you, they need to know that they're not going to regret it a month down the road.

What's the Next Step? Once you've answered these other questions, it's time to ask your customer to move forward with you. Again, you don't want to tell them to BUY NOW! Just tell them how to reach you on the phone, or how to set up an appointment, or how to fill out an inquiry form. If you've shown yourself to be a worthwhile partner, you'll have greatly increased the chance that your customer will be ready to take the plunge with you.

Bob Regnerus, "The Leads King", is an expert at generating online traffic and converting visitors into prospects and clients. To learn how your website and blog can be successful, effective tools for your business, please visit http://www.TheLeadsKing.com or contact Bob at 1-877-349-2615.
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

A Dollar Store Franchise as Your Home Business

Ryan Machara offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
-----------
PUBLICATION GUIDELINES
- You have permission to publish this article for free providing the "About the Author" box is included in its entirety.
- Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity.
- Do not use this article in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act. If sent by email, this article must be delivered to opt-in subscribers only.
- If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links.
- Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to grayarea78@gmail.com
- Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article.
-----------
Article Title: A Dollar Store Franchise as Your Home Business
Author: Ryan Machara
Category: Business Opportunities, E-Commerce, Home Business
Word Count: 510
Keywords: franchise, dollar store, home business, work at home, work from home
Author's Email Address: grayarea78@gmail.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

The opportunity to have your own home business is more prominent than most people think. While most people would like to work out of their homes, they think it is impossible since they don't have any great ideas for products or services they could provide. However, the truth is you don't need a great idea to start your own home business. Instead you need an opportunity such as being part of a dollar store franchise.

Everyday more and more dollar stores are appearing in cities all over the United States. This is due to the fact consumers have limited financial resources and want the most goods and products for their money. In fact, economists and business experts see these discount stores as one of the best business opportunities in the current market. You can take advantage of this opportunity by becoming part of a dollar store franchise.

There are many advantages to being a part of this type of franchise. Most importantly is the fact that you have assistance getting your store up and running. It can be a huge task to find a location, hire staff, order supplies and manage all the financial aspects of the store. While you can do this on your own, a dollar store organization offers you knowledge and information from individuals who are experienced and have done it themselves.

Another advantage of a dollar store franchise is the fact you can normally get products and supplies for less. Companies that provide these discount stores with their products can offer discounts due to the fact that they provide supplies in a large quantity. While you could get the same products from the same company as an independent dollar store, it would be more expensive than what it costs you as a franchise.

Having the opportunity to be part of a brand-name discount chain also exists when you open a store as part of a dollar store franchise. When starting an independent dollar store you will have to give it a unique name in order to avoid lawsuits from competitors with trademarked names. However, by being a part of a recognized franchise you can affiliate with a brand-name store which with established credibility and loyalty with customers.

Finally, a dollar store franchise provides you with the opportunity to have a home business and work from home the majority of the time. The staff you hire to run and manage your store can take care of things on location, while at home you can oversee the various financial aspects, such as ordering supplies, sending invoices, paying bills, completing payroll, ensuring taxes are paid and more.

The opportunity to be part of the booming dollar store business, while still having a home business is possible. Numerous companies offer individuals the possibility to be part of this exciting franchise opportunity. If you're interested in it for yourself you should check it out today so you can start working for yourself tomorrow.

Ryan is an expert with dollar store franchises! Please visit http://www.OnlineShoppingProductReviews.com for more information.
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

Communication Helps Create Business Success

Alan Guinn offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
-----------
PUBLICATION GUIDELINES
- You have permission to publish this article for free providing the "About the Author" box is included in its entirety.
- Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity.
- Do not use this article in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act. If sent by email, this article must be delivered to opt-in subscribers only.
- If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links.
- Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to aguinn@theguinnconsultancygroup.com
- Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article.
-----------
Article Title: Communication Helps Create Business Success
Author: Alan Guinn
Category: Growth Topics, E-Commerce, E-Commerce
Word Count: 407
Keywords: Business Communication, SaaS, E Management, Newsletters, EZines, Online Organizer
Author's Email Address: aguinn@theguinnconsultancygroup.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

Business schools announce the importance of clear communication to the world; established businesses address it in forums and within Annual Reports, and small, entrepreneurial businesses learn how important communication is...some of them, the hard way.

Clear communication between business and clients should be one of the key objectives for every entrepreneurial business owner.

The importance of clear communication distills down to common sense. If one knows what customers want and need, one can design what is sold and the program can be created to meet the needs if the client or customer.

But in the hurry-scurry and topsy-turvy business world environment of today, how can one entrepreneur stay directly in communication with clients and customers? Good entrepreneurs actually seek out ways to communicate and keep their message in front of clients, and embrace tools which make their jobs easier and less intense.

One of the newest tools to assist in maintaining communication between client and business owner is an effective online organizer. Most offer similar functions and efficiencies with many of them using similar platforms as a basis for operation.

What should one seek in an online organizer? Look for software that allows newsletter generation features based on multiple templates. Be sure it also offers direct newsletter transmittal to predefined opt in email addresses, allowing contact between client and entrepreneur. If contact is important, seek out organizers that spin up a newsletter or e-zine using simplified templates and will send it to a defined user group. This will allow the opportunity to send different ezines or newsletters offering different content to predefined users.

Think this is impossible to achieve? By searching out an online organizer, the opportunity to subscribe on a Software as a Service (Saas) basis is available for less than the cost of a cup of gourmet coffee a day. Business owners will find themselves hard-pressed to avoid subscribing because of cost.

Users will find not only contact management software that keeps current clients separated from leads, but also templates for websites, as well as a complete user-friendly E Suite for newsletters, targeted email, and Ezines in some of the organizers available online. Templates speed development and WYSIWYG functionality allows even digitally-challenged users to create professional-looking documents for opt in email users.

Small and Medium Business owners now have another low cost tool to enhance and expand communications with their clients and customers.

Alan Guinn operates an award-winning Worldwide Consultancy, searching out new products and clients. He found his ideal organizer at http://www.youronlineorganizer.com
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Efficiency and Effectiveness...Get Organized for Business Success

Alan Guinn offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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Article Title: Efficiency and Effectiveness...Get Organized for Business Success
Author: Alan Guinn
Category: E-Commerce, Ezines and Newsletters
Word Count: 540
Keywords: SaaS, Organizer, Online Organizer, Your Online Organizer, New Products, Business Planning, ECommerce
Author's Email Address: aguinn@theguinnconsultancygroup.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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Every business owner is a simply great businessperson. Just ask them and they will tell you. After all, spending years and years in a corporate position, learning all about management, leadership, and how to achieve unparalleled success paves the pathway of success.

Thunk!

Welcome to Reality 101. Sorry to break the news, but with no guarantees in life, there is no guarantee that anyone is going to be successful as a businessperson.

Consider this. Even with the best Business and Marketing Plan, a heavily capitalized and well-managed roll out, and superior experience, knowledge, and street smarts, one might be successful. Or not.

Even the best entrepreneurs in the world can fail miserably. And it is not necessarily because of flawed ideas or they lack new and exciting concepts. History bears out that some of the best minds, the most pioneering individuals, have developed dismal track records of failure across the landscape of their success. The train wrecks of previous business owners who believed they had a sure thing are easily visible to those who simply search them out.

Today, a successful entrepreneur must ask him or herself, What must be accomplished faster, smarter, and at less cost to be successful in this venture?

One key element to proven success is to search for methods to achieve unparalleled efficiency.

Efficiency in a business offers a key which allows every element of business to be harmonized and focused, allowing faster success within the venture. Organization is paramount, and there are a variety of tools available online to increase efficiency.

One of the newest tools available is an online organizer. A variety of online organizers are available, offering different features to meet the needs of most businesses.

Look for an organizer which is not simply a paper organizer, digitally enhanced. Seek out an organizer that offers many different features, and choose the features needed to help meet the specific needs of the business.

It is not just what the online organizer accomplishes in terms of improvements in efficiency, but it is more how it changes small and medium-sized businesses into dynamos of communication. Imagine being able to manage a contact database that can be expanded to as many as 5000-10,000 contacts. Wherever, imagine the ability to connect to the Internet and have full and unlimited access to all contacts, access to image and document libraries, management of multiple email accounts seamlessly. Create a website or a blog.

The most useful attribute to Small and Medium Businesses, however, is the ability to create newsletters, send them to identified databases of contacts, utilize an autoresponder, and measure email campaign results with the use of a complete suite of E-Management Software. Close sales with automatic precision and increase both profits and connectivity. Build relationships with ease.

Worried about the cost of an online organizer? Some are free, but even the most advanced models cost less than $3 a day. That is less than a brand name cup of coffee in many markets. Is it worth adding this type of efficiency to a business for less than the cost of a cup of coffee a day?

Alan Guinn owns and operates an Award-winning worldwide Consultancy which focuses on Marketing, HR and Seminars/Webinars. His world revolves around clients and new ideas.

Visit http://www.theguinnconsultancygroup.com.
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Online Shopping Is Gaining Ground This Holiday Season

Mike Fletcher offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
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Article Title: Online Shopping Is Gaining Ground This Holiday Season
Author: Mike Fletcher
Category: E-Business, E-Commerce
Word Count: 477
Keywords: shopping,Internet,Christmas,online,gifts,Christian
Author's Email Address: mike@audiobookstoreportal.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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Where are you planning on doing most of your Christmas shopping this year? The answer to that question to a growing amount of people is they will be doing their shopping online. In fact, a Yahoo! Poll shows three out of four holiday shoppers will buy gifts online and most are likely to purchase from small businesses.

Yahoo commissioned the survey by Harris Interactive. It found that nearly one third of holiday shoppers reported that they would do half of their Christmas shopping online. The figure is especially high (two thirds) for those who are looking for specialty niche or boutique retailers for unique or hard to find gifts. One main reason for the popularity of niche shopping online is that you can save so much time finding them all at your home computer instead of having to drive all across town or to other towns to find the right item.

One interesting figure found is that one fifth of those who choose to do their Christmas shopping online report that they do it while online at work. Men were the most likely to choose to shop online while at work. Young workers were especially likely to shop online while working. The survey found that one fourth of those from the age 18-44 report shopping online while at work in contrast to only 13 percent of those who are 45 or older.

Security and ease of use were the two biggest factors in helping to make the decision to shop online for the holiday season. Three quarters of those who shop online for Christmas says that both choosing a trusted secure online payment system and easy navigating through the site are the two main decisions on choosing where to shop online. Other important factors are simple check out, easy registration, customer service and an attractive and professional looking website.

Some of the main reasons to shop online are better prices, convenience, avoiding malls and crowds and time saving. Shopping online can offer substantial savings. It is very convenient to do your shopping from the comfort of your own home and not have to fight traffic and the crowds of shopping centers and malls. Free shipping is available at many online stores too.

Online retailers often offer deals just like their brick and mortar counterparts do for holiday shopping. However, instead of the holiday shopping season beginning on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, the big day for online shopping is Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving. The sales on Cyber Monday have been growing every year and the same is expected for this year.

So where do you plan to do your shopping for this year's Christmas gifts? If you are like most Westerners, you will join them in changing your holiday shopping to an online store.

The author is publisher of the Online Christian Shopper (http://www.onlinechristianshopper.com) Christian clothing and jewelry Web portal.
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

Three Online Trends That Will Impact Your Business

Robert Howard offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
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Article Title: Three Online Trends That Will Impact Your Business
Author: Robert Howard
Category: E-Commerce, Management, E-Business
Word Count: 1265
Keywords: customer experience, online experience, internet, e-business, e-commerce, online trends
Author's Email Address: rhoward@everestkc.net
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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If you've listened to your customers - or attended a retail industry conference - over the past five years, then you know that cross-channel retailing continues to be a hot topic. Not only are more and more Americans going online, but a growing percent of them use the Internet to research and purchase products. Retailers can no longer fudge their online experience; customer expectations for online customer service levels are also rising.

All businesses should take note. Although the impact of cross-channel buying behaviors is most prevalent in the retail industry, it is a trend that will increasingly impact all businesses in nearly every industry.

1. More Consumers Are Going Online

In the late 1990's, the era of irrational exuberance was in full form. Internet companies of all kinds promised to change the world with their latest e-product, e-exchange, or e-service. You may recall that stock prices for just about any e-Business climbed to unprecedented (and apparently unfounded) heights. It all came crashing down as the now infamous dot-com bubble burst.

Although many investors turned their backs on dot-com companies as a result, consumers did not; the number of people surfing and shopping online has continued to climb. Today, an impressive 73% of adult Americans use the Internet, according to the Pew Internet Project. Not only is the total number of on-line surfers steady and growing, but the amount of time they spend online is also increasing. Those numbers will only continue to increase as today's well-connected teenagers grow into tomorrow's prospective customers. Today's teenagers age 12-17 are even more connected than their adult counterparts, with 87% of teenagers going online according to the Pew Internet Project.

The importance of the Internet in everyday life also continues to climb. From product research to social networking or from news & entertainment to health care research, today's consumers are increasingly looking to the online channel. It's becoming hard to avoid it. In 2007, 47% of adult Americans have a broadband Internet connection at home, according to the Pew Internet Project. Most working adults have a computer on their desk that can access the Internet, and many mobile telephones now have web access on their tiny screens. Furthermore, Wi-Fi connections are becoming as common as your local Starbuck's store and cable operators continue to look for ways to integrate Internet access with traditional television service.

Any business that turned their back on the Internet as a result of the dot-com collapse in 2001 has in effect, turned their back on their customers. Although many early dot-com businesses collapsed, some in spectacular fashion, it has not dissuaded the lure of the online experience. As more potential customers are going online, businesses should take note. Without a viable Internet presence, your business is missing out.

Key Trend: If you think you can afford to ignore the Internet channel; think again. 73% of adult Americans, and 87% of teenagers, are online today.

2. More Are Using The Internet to Research and Shop

As more and more adults are going online, a growing percent of them use the Internet to research and purchase products. Over 70% of all online consumers use the Internet to research products, according to Forrester Research. That translates into $400 Billion of store sales - or 16% of total retail sales - that are directly influenced by the web as consumers research online and buy offline; a trend that is forecast to grow at a compounded annual rate of 17% through 2012 according to Forrester Research.

The influence of the Internet on retail transactions could have an even bigger impact. By 2009, 41% of all U.S. retail transactions will be influenced by online experiences, according to Jupiter Research.

The Fortune 500(tm) rankings are further proof that the Internet should be a strategic channel for any retailer. Pure Internet companies Amazon and eBay have passed some well known traditional retailers in the rankings. According to Fortune's 2007 rankings, Amazon has passed notables Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Limited in total revenues. eBay has passed other well-known brands including Bed Bath & Beyond, Molson Coors, and Ross Stores.

Regardless of how you slice it, the impact of the Internet on retail transactions will make up a sizeable component of how consumers research and buy products.

Key Trend: Consumers are increasingly using the Internet channel to research and purchase products. Over 70% of all online consumers use the Internet to research products. By 2009, 41% of all U.S. retail transactions will be influenced by online experiences.

3. Expectations are Rising

As adults become more comfortable with the Internet, their expectations for their online experience are increasing. In fact, 85% of adults expect their online service levels to be the same as offline, an increase of 3% from the prior year, according to a survey conducted by Tealeaf. If those service level expectations aren't met, 40% of online consumers will abandon their transactions entirely or turn to a competitor according to the Tealeaf survey.

The online world has also become a key influencer in purchasing decisions. An impressive 43% of American adults identified online information as the most powerful influencer of their purchase decisions according to a report published by Accenture.

The large majority of adults now expect to be able to choose from a multiple shopping channels. In fact, 80% of consumers feel that it is important to have a choice of shopping in multiple channels when choosing a retailer, according to a Sterling Commerce survey. The survey also found that 90% said it was important to be able to return an item purchased online in a physical store; underlying the importance of cross-channel integration to the consumer.

While the retail industry seems to have embraced the Internet with online catalogs, promotions, and interactive product selectors, other industries should take note. The impact of the Internet on buying decisions is here to stay. Cross-channel integration is becoming an increasingly important requirement for meeting buyer expectations in nearly every industry. The highly fragmented health care industry - for example - will likely see an increasing demand for integrated online and offline services including scheduling, diagnosis, insurance claims, and the holy grail of health care: medical records.

Key Trend: Customers' expectations for shopping across multiple channels is increasing.

* 85% of adults expect their online service levels to be the same as offline.
* 43% identified online information as the most powerful influencer of their purchase decision.
* 80% feel it is important to have a choice of shopping across multiple channels when choosing a retailer.
* 90% said it was important to be able to return an item purchased online in a physical store.

Recommendations

The Internet is not just for retailers anymore. As adults become increasingly comfortable with the Internet, they grow more reliant it for their purchasing decisions. Any business that does not have a viable Internet presence needs to catch up. Simply putting up a web page is not enough. Businesses should seek to create an online experience that mirrors - or exceeds - offline service levels.

Integration is key. Online and offline channels should not be treated as independent and disconnected offerings. Creating a seamless experience between online and offline channels is very important. Customers overwhelmingly expect a seamless customer experience between online and offline channels. Start by making your business web site functional rather than simply informational. Offer a way for customers to initiate or complete a transaction online and coordinate that experience with corresponding offline services.

Although the dot-com era as we know it may have died in 2001, the Internet has continued to grow into a business channel that businesses can no longer ignore or neglect.

Robert Howard is the Founder and Chief Executive of ClearBrick LLC, an innovative business services company that provides do-it-yourself business solutions and advice.

ClearBrick can be found online at http://www.ClearBrick.com.
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How to Accept Credit Cards for Business: Fast Processing for the Fast-Paced Business

derek smiley offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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Article Title: How to Accept Credit Cards for Business: Fast Processing for the Fast-Paced Business
Author: derek smiley
Category: Online Shopping, Credit, E-Commerce
Word Count: 541
Keywords: credit card machines, credit card for business, instant online business 0 apr credit card, Wireless
Author's Email Address: del@forrent.me.uk
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

There are many situations where you will be faced with the need to take credit card payments or find an instant online business 0 apr credit card. You may be opening a new business, or expanding what was once a small sideline into a remarkably real business. In today's environment, you will need to be able to process payments of all sorts, and with the right kind of credit card machine at your disposal, you'll be able to do so.

How to accept credit card for business will be your first concern. Accepting credit can be a big step for a small business and there are many things that you should keep in mind before getting started.

The best place to start is the bank where you do your other business transactions. For accounting purposes, it might be best to set up a separate account for your business transactions. At the same time, you can get a service package for your business. Most likely, you'll find yourself referred to a third party processor that can get you set up.

One thing that you will have to consider when getting all of this set up is the type of credit card machine you'll be using to accept payments. To find the right sort of model for you, you must think about what your business is like and when and where you will be taking payments.

The most basic sort of credit card machine is stationary. You'll find that they come with and without printers and if you run your business from home or have a shop front, this might be ideal. These can be mounted on a wall or secured to a desk or countertop and are perfect for most businesses.

If you travel or are constantly on the go, a wireless machine might be something that you need to look into. A wireless credit card machine in the UK and worldwide is something that is used by people like taxi drivers to take fares and if you are always on the move, this might be the best option for you. If you are vendor of some sort, and travel to conventions and seminars, this will be ideal because not only can it travel with you, but it can also sit at home and act as a stationary machine.

You might also want to consider the fact that you might not need a physical machine at all. If you do all your transactions over the phone or the internet, there is a good chance that you will be able to use a virtual credit card machine. By using your computer and internet to interface, you'll be able to run the cards of customers through a virtual terminal. Aside from not having a machine, this option behaves identically to both wireless and stationary credit card machines and is cheaper than purchasing physical equipment.

Starting a business is often a bit nerve wracking, but one thing that should be breezy and simple is taking your customer's money! Make the right choice when it comes to credit card machines and you will be able to do business in the way that best suits you.

DrS has been in sales 30 years. "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him/her drink it. Unless you put salt in the oats." Salt is your why (or if you don't know why, what you don't want out of life) plus education and action, to make it happpen. http://www.creditcardmachines.eu
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

The Two Most Important Factors In eCommerce Design

Philip Bennett offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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Article Title: The Two Most Important Factors In eCommerce Design
Author: Philip Bennett
Category: E-Commerce, E-Business
Word Count: 1143
Keywords: Shopping cart, ecommerce solutions, online store software, ecommerce, shopping cart software
Author's Email Address: phil@bennettenable.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

OK, so the title isn't strictly true there is one important factor in ecommerce shopping cart design and two things you have to do achieve it. The goal is to make people purchase your product. The two things you have to do to make them buy is to help and persuade.

When you design a site you need to pay serious attention to it's usability and it's persuasive abilities. The aim of a good eCommerce solutions is to gently (or not so gently) persuade the sites user to purchase the product they want to make sure that they find this as easy as possible you need to make sure that your website is as usable as possible. There are thousands of usability and persuasive design methodologies and we don't intend to cover them all in this article. We have identified a couple of the most important factors in both areas and given you some tips and guidance to help you tailor your shopping cart software to increase sales.

Usability Design

When a customer lands on your internet store they will only have a certain amount of patience, once this all runs out they will give up and leave your site for one of your competitors. The easier your site is to use and the less they have to think about how it works the longer they will stay on your site, and the more likely they will be to purchase from you.

With the increase in the use of CSS and the increasing accessibility of graphic manipulation packages people are able to completely customise the way the 'things you click' on their web-site look, the limit it pretty much their own imagination. Unfortunately this can lead to some confusion for users who have to think about what is clickable and what isn't, this will cause them to get frustrated.

With text links it's best to follow HTML tradition, keeping links in a contrasting colours and keep them underlined. Users also like to know where they have been, so keeping links that have been visited in another colour is good practice.

The best course of actions with buttons is to .. well .. make them look like buttons. I know it seems patronising but a lot of people forget this when they have spent a lot of time making sure the buttons on their site fit in with the design. Raised looking buttons are difficult to make look nice and clean without them looking a little '2001' but it's really worth spending a little time thinking about your buttons.

One of the easiest way to lose customers is to actually lose them. If you customers can't find their way around your store, or can't find their way to wherever they want to be they're not going to buy from you.

What's the best way to achieve this? Well it's probably by using tabs. they give a good idea of where the user is, and how they can get to where they want to be.

Tag Lines are frequently dismissed from modern website design in order to make at design look less cluttered, and certainly there are situation where removing a tag line will do no harm but generally there are useful. It is important that a customer know as quickly as possible if your site will sell the product they are looking for. A good example of this is Amazon when they first launched they used a tag-line similar to 'Online Bookstore' because when customer landed on their page they would have had to think a little to work out that a company called Amazon was in fact an online book store. However as Amazon are now so well known they have removed it as it's no longer needed.

Persuasive Design

Once you've addressed the Usability of your store and your visitors can find their way around your site easily and find their way to where they want to be, you must then consider the second important part of the design. You need to make then go to where YOU want them too, the order confirmation page. Below are 3 tips for making this happen.

Once the user has put some items into their cart and clicked on the checkout button there is a good chance that they really want to buy something. So whatever you do make it as easy as possible for them to put their credit card details in and click the order confirm button.

A design practice that we implement is removing all unnecessary links from the order process. For example all links to the home and search boxes are removed. If the user goes searching for other products then it's possible that they'll get side tracked and forget that they were going to buy your products. But make sure that the user still has access to the information about the product that they're buying, we try to implement this by including all the information on the shopping cart page, or by linking to pop-up with the info in, we do not link back to the original product page as this could lead to further distractions.

Long checkout processes with multiple pages is also something that should be avoided. Only ask the customer for information that you really need.

One of the main ways that people will look for products on your site is by using the search box. Rigging (or Mapping) your searches will allows you to map products to keyword, so when a customer searches for a word related to a product that does not include the keywords in the title or the product text you can make sure the products show up. This is just like a customer asking a shop assistance for a product when they know what they want the product to do, but are just not sure of the name of the product.

You need to make your product descriptions and products images as descriptive as possible, do not ever assume that your customers are as well versed on your products as you are. If there is something they want to know and you haven't covered they will do one of three things:

- Ask you, which happens a lot less than you would imagine.
- Go and look on a competitors web-site, if they have the information then it's likely you've lost a customer.
- Give Up.

Also the more information that you include the more 'spider food' there is got the search engines, writing the product descriptions is a good time to focus on Search Engine Optimisation.

Following a couple of these simple guidelines you should see a marked increase in the conversion rate for your store. There are also many other usability and persuasive design models that you can apply and we defiantly recommend searching for some more to apply to your shopping cart.

Ecommerce Shopping Cart Software (http://www.ecommerceshoppingcartsoftware.co.uk/) is a one stop shop for all the information you need about shopping cart software and ecommerce solutions. This site is brought to you by Bennett Enable eCommerce Solutions (http://www.bennettenable.com)
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My Power Mall Business Evaluation

David Cowley offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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Article Title: My Power Mall Business Evaluation
Author: David Cowley
Category: Business Opportunities, E-Commerce, Internet Marketing
Word Count: 969
Keywords: business, on-line business, My Power Mall, shoping, mall
Author's Email Address: dfcinvestments1@yahoo.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

I have looked at numerous on-line money making opportunities over the last 10 years and very few have been truly free or that actually provides a product or service that would be of benefit to me. Today I am looking at My Power Mall (MPM).

Here is the basic information. You will get a free power mall when you sigh up. You will receive a rebate on all of your purchases. You can give away free power malls to anyone and you will receive a commission on all purchase up to 9 tier levels deep. You will receive all of the tools needed to become successful in your new business.

Sounds good so far, but then all of them do sound good in the sales letter. The first thing I looked at is there any store in the system that I would actually use? Having the ability to shop on-line at a bagel store in Nebraska would not be of benefit to me. You have the ability to shop on-line at places like Sears, Target, PETsMART, Starbucks, Hickory Farms, Ralph Lauren, Overstock, Wes Marine, Old Navy, OfficeMax, Gap, Circuit City, and K Mart just to name a few of the over 1000 of stores available and you receive rebates on everything you purchase.

I shop at some of the stores listed and when I looked for a large price markup on the items for sale I could not find any. I have seen other on-line stores that increase the price per item so high to compensate for the commissions paid that anyone that does any type of price comparison would never shop at that on-line store unless he or she lived in a very small town and the nearest store was over 50 miles away. That type of opportunity would limit my target market and I would get very few if any commissions on sales.

Is it really free? If I have to spend 30 bucks or so per month to maintain an active account then I do not consider that opportunity to be free. If I have to purchase some type of mailing list or do any advertising to get a minimum number of people signed up under me to maintain my active status then again it is not free.

Does My Power Mall have any qualification minimums? Nope, no mandatory minimums, no meetings, no selling required, no activity requirements and the company guaranties that their will never be any. If you take a look at what they are offering you can see why this is true. Only one on-line store exists.

Everyone that has a power mall uses the same set of computer programs and the only thing different is your ID number is being used to determine who gets commission for the sale. Once you set up a database to keep track of member ID numbers it is not much more costly to keep track of 1 member as it is to keep track of 100,000 members. No programming staff is required to help members customize the malls or extra computer space to take care of all of the different malls. No approval process, as soon as you sign up you will have your mall ID within seconds.

No selling. This is right at the top of my list of things that I do not want to do. I hate selling. I don't want to send out sales letters to all of my friends or even people I do not know. I like to write articles and I do have web sites for my articles on allergies, heart disease, diamond and so on. When I write an article on allergies or diamonds I do not tell the reader that you need to go out and purchase this vitamin because, or go to this jewelry store and buy diamonds. I like to write article that contain useful or interesting information. I do put adds for one or two vitamin companies or jewelry companies on my web sites and if the reader wants to purchase something then great and I do get a commission on the sales.

This may give away my age but quite a few years ago I went to England on business. I was out with some people from work and the topic of blue jeans came up. When asked how many blue jeans I owned I told them I had about 6 pairs. Right away they thought I was rich. Why, because at that time blue jeans were very hard to come by in England and were going for about $150 each. My cost was about $30. I sold them my blue jeans for $100 each.

American products are still very hard to come by in a lot of foreign countries. My Power Mall group has made arrangements with a company to send just about everything they sell to just about any country. It will cost extra for the shipping and the customs paperwork but if a customer from Uruguay wants to purchase Craftsman tools from Sears it can be done.

One last thing, My Power Mall donates a percentage of profit to non-profit organizations. They even give you the option of signing up your favorite non-profit organization for a win-win situation. Can I recommend this company? I have just signed up with them and I do not have enough history with the company to give you a fair and honest report so you will have to check back later. They have passed all of my tests but you need to take a look at them yourself and see if they pass all of your tests.

David Cowley has created numerous articles. Visit http://www.mpm-team.com
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

My Power Mall Business Evaluation

David Cowley offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
-----------
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-----------
Article Title: My Power Mall Business Evaluation
Author: David Cowley
Category: Business Opportunities, E-Commerce, Internet Marketing
Word Count: 969
Keywords: business, on-line business, My Power Mall, shoping, mall
Author's Email Address: dfcinvestments1@yahoo.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

I have looked at numerous on-line money making opportunities over the last 10 years and very few have been truly free or that actually provides a product or service that would be of benefit to me. Today I am looking at My Power Mall (MPM).

Here is the basic information. You will get a free power mall when you sigh up. You will receive a rebate on all of your purchases. You can give away free power malls to anyone and you will receive a commission on all purchase up to 9 tier levels deep. You will receive all of the tools needed to become successful in your new business.

Sounds good so far, but then all of them do sound good in the sales letter. The first thing I looked at is there any store in the system that I would actually use? Having the ability to shop on-line at a bagel store in Nebraska would not be of benefit to me. You have the ability to shop on-line at places like Sears, Target, PETsMART, Starbucks, Hickory Farms, Ralph Lauren, Overstock, Wes Marine, Old Navy, OfficeMax, Gap, Circuit City, and K Mart just to name a few of the over 1000 of stores available and you receive rebates on everything you purchase.

I shop at some of the stores listed and when I looked for a large price markup on the items for sale I could not find any. I have seen other on-line stores that increase the price per item so high to compensate for the commissions paid that anyone that does any type of price comparison would never shop at that on-line store unless he or she lived in a very small town and the nearest store was over 50 miles away. That type of opportunity would limit my target market and I would get very few if any commissions on sales.

Is it really free? If I have to spend 30 bucks or so per month to maintain an active account then I do not consider that opportunity to be free. If I have to purchase some type of mailing list or do any advertising to get a minimum number of people signed up under me to maintain my active status then again it is not free.

Does My Power Mall have any qualification minimums? Nope, no mandatory minimums, no meetings, no selling required, no activity requirements and the company guaranties that their will never be any. If you take a look at what they are offering you can see why this is true. Only one on-line store exists.

Everyone that has a power mall uses the same set of computer programs and the only thing different is your ID number is being used to determine who gets commission for the sale. Once you set up a database to keep track of member ID numbers it is not much more costly to keep track of 1 member as it is to keep track of 100,000 members. No programming staff is required to help members customize the malls or extra computer space to take care of all of the different malls. No approval process, as soon as you sign up you will have your mall ID within seconds.

No selling. This is right at the top of my list of things that I do not want to do. I hate selling. I don't want to send out sales letters to all of my friends or even people I do not know. I like to write articles and I do have web sites for my articles on allergies, heart disease, diamond and so on. When I write an article on allergies or diamonds I do not tell the reader that you need to go out and purchase this vitamin because, or go to this jewelry store and buy diamonds. I like to write article that contain useful or interesting information. I do put adds for one or two vitamin companies or jewelry companies on my web sites and if the reader wants to purchase something then great and I do get a commission on the sales.

This may give away my age but quite a few years ago I went to England on business. I was out with some people from work and the topic of blue jeans came up. When asked how many blue jeans I owned I told them I had about 6 pairs. Right away they thought I was rich. Why, because at that time blue jeans were very hard to come by in England and were going for about $150 each. My cost was about $30. I sold them my blue jeans for $100 each.

American products are still very hard to come by in a lot of foreign countries. My Power Mall group has made arrangements with a company to send just about everything they sell to just about any country. It will cost extra for the shipping and the customs paperwork but if a customer from Uruguay wants to purchase Craftsman tools from Sears it can be done.

One last thing, My Power Mall donates a percentage of profit to non-profit organizations. They even give you the option of signing up your favorite non-profit organization for a win-win situation. Can I recommend this company? I have just signed up with them and I do not have enough history with the company to give you a fair and honest report so you will have to check back later. They have passed all of my tests but you need to take a look at them yourself and see if they pass all of your tests.

David Cowley has created numerous articles. Visit http://www.mpm-team.com
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

The Need to Be Online

Jonathon Hardcastle offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
-----------
PUBLICATION GUIDELINES
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- Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity.
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- Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article.
-----------
Article Title: The Need to Be Online
Author: Jonathon Hardcastle
Category: E-Commerce
Word Count: 522
Keywords: E-business, business, finance, investing, technological systems
Author's Email Address: jonathon@awesomeemails.net
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

One can say that things seem to be more difficult for a manager, who deals with e-commerce, as any action taken must be made with speed and accuracy. But as the new economic rules show, speed and accuracy is considered to be a must for any type of company. This is the outcome of a very important shift that has happen to retailing. The power has gone to the buyer. Since competition and global markets have given to buyers more choices-more products/services to choose from, more ways to buy, and more access to information-they are more and more in control of both transaction and sales. Where once there was scarcity of choices, there is now an overabundance of options. Thus, companies must now formulate marketing strategies to achieve the desired competitive advantage. The interesting issue here is that the battlefield where competitive advantage is won or lost is not on based on best price but on access.

What is critical today is accessing the customer. How, where, when, and what he or she buys and, most importantly, owning the relationship with them. Internet enables business models and the emerging marketing strategies give e-businesses the tools to reach the consumers whenever and wherever they choose to perform a purchase. As specialists believe, the companies that first will recognize and act to incorporate the strategic changes happening in their industries will be the winners in the recently formed new economic state. But, as competition in almost all markets has proven to be very adaptive to change and the reaction patterns used can easily transform the scene, Internet and e-commerce have become a highly important matter for companies that strive to find ways to reduce operating and transaction costs, find new resources, upgrade services and actually fulfil customer expectations better than competition. At the same time today's corporations have to overcome threats and problems that arise and keep their clientele satisfied at all times so as not increase the number of lost sales.

At this point it must be noted that some customers are more interested in receiving a better service than enjoying a lower price deal, especially when prices have very small variations between competitors. Thus, companies actually have little choice regarding whether or not to invest in e-business. The pace of innovation in this highly technology-based environment demands that companies have to take risks so as to be viable. In fact, lack of action in the Internet era may result in most cases in commercial death.

Through the use of newly developed technological systems, which can work either via the Internet for direct use by the customer, or via Intranet for indirect use by the customer and direct use by a company's employees located in the premises of an actual e-shop, precious time can be saved, costs can be minimized, and the whole communication process can become even more simple. These types of innovative strategic techniques, which cover the needs of the customer when planned and executed with care and precision, can elevate a company from being a follower to the innovator's place and gradually even to the position of a market's leader.

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles for http://worldofinvesting.net/ - In addition, Jonathon also writes articles for http://letstalkaboutbusiness.com/ and http://letstalkaboutfinance.com/
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

What Type Of Company Should I Set Up?

Jeffrey Benson offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
-----------
PUBLICATION GUIDELINES
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- Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity.
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- Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to jeffrey@brainybusiness.com
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-----------
Article Title: What Type Of Company Should I Set Up?
Author: Jeffrey Benson
Category: Start Up, Home Business, E-Commerce
Word Count: 554
Keywords: startups, setting up business, business growth
Author's Email Address: jeffrey@brainybusiness.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

When setting up your company you need to decide at an early stage how you intend to structure it. What type of company legally beneficial - a Limited Company, a Partnership, Limited Liability Partnership or Sole Trader?

This decision can have both legal and practical implications, so it's an important decision to make. It's advisable to seek individual advice before you commit yourself to any of the four basic options:

Limited Company

A limited company is where shareholders (members or owners) have limited liability to the company's debts. Their liability is restricted to the value of the shares that they own or the guarantees that they signed up to. This could be as little as £1.

A limited company is a separate legal entity. It can sue and be sued and will continue to exist even if the members or owners die or resign. It can only be folded if it is wound up or struck off the register by Companies House.

In return for these benefits, limited companies are governed tighter rules and regulations than partnerships or sole traders. Among other things they are obliged to:

• File annual accounts and returns at Companies House, facing penalties if they are late.
• Appoint at least one company director and a company secretary - and face criminal prosecution if they fail to.
• They have to use the word limited in their company name
• Notify any changes to members, officers or registered office address.

Partnership

A partnership is a business arrangement where 2 or more people (usually up to a maximum of 20) are in business together to make a profit. A partnership agreement has no limited liability of debts as partners share the business costs, profits and debts

Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)

The Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) came into operation on 6 April 2001. It is a new legal business structure that aims to combine the flexibility of a partnership arrangement with the benefits of limited liability. The main differences between a limited company and an LLP are that that the latter is taxed as a partnership rather as a corporation and that it has more organisational freedom. An LLP's duties in return for the limited liability status are similar to those applying to limited companies.

Sole Trader

A sole trader is someone who is in business on his or her own account. They are self employed and personally liable for any debts the business incurs.

It is imperative that you work out which of these four options is right for you as it has wide-ranging implications. Often the decision will be forced on you by the rules of the business you work in or your personal circumstances. For example a solicitor or accountant planning to set up his or her own law or accountancy firm is in effect forced to be either a sole trader or in a partnership. This is because the law currently does not allow solicitors or accountants to limit their liability and therefore, will not allow them to form limited companies.

You may like the independence that a sole trader has to offer or you may wish to limit the risk you are taking by opting for a Limited Company or LLP. Either way, you need to consider the decision carefully and should seek specialist advice from your solicitor or accountant.

Brainybusiness.com provides business and personal development resources to help small and growing businesses start, manage and expand their business. The site contains books, articles, free ebooks and resources. Visit: http://www.brainybusiness.com
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

Traffic Exchange Program and Free Traffic. Does It Works?

Chun Yin Yu offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
-----------
PUBLICATION GUIDELINES
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- Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity.
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- If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links.
- Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to candle21428@gmail.com
- Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article.
-----------
Article Title: Traffic Exchange Program and Free Traffic. Does It Works?
Author: Chun Yin Yu
Category: E-Commerce, Network Marketing, Business Opportunities
Word Count: 476
Keywords: affiliate program review, traffic exchange, traffic, affiliate, SEO, free traffic, marketing tips
Author's Email Address: candle21428@gmail.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

Many webmasters are interested in getting more traffic to their web site, especially the new web site. Without a doubt many of the new webmasters will have a try on the free traffic exchange program all over the internet. So the question is, does it work?

What's good about Free traffic exchange?

First, You got traffic and a lot of traffic without paying a dime. Some of your traffic will actually click on your ad or buy products from your site. Most importantly, it is free! (the best weapon on internet marketing Ever)

What's bad about so-called FREE traffic exchange?

They are not targeted traffic and you will have to either "work for credit" (e.g. watch their ads, click the banner) or "pay for credit" (usually more expensive than you actually buying the targeted traffic. Also,people are reading your site just to get "credits" and are not necessarily interested in your products.

Almost everybody who need to promote their website(s) have joined such services one time or the other. It's the lure of fast traffic that drives webmasters into signing up such services. But unfortunately, the quality of traffic you get from these services is inferior because it's just members who visit other's web site to get credits. If you have a web site to sell something, traffic exchange program may not be a good way to get targeted customers and boost your revenue.

However, if your product is targeting to a group of webmasters or people who sit in front of the computer all the days, traffic exchange program may be a good way for you to get targeted customers.

As I have mentioned before, you actually get "traffic" from those program and it is only a matter of fact on "HOW" you attract your customers to spend 1 minute to read your products or your web site. The beauty of traffic exchange program is that, over 90% of the people in this program are either webmasters or marketers. If you have products or service targeting this group of people, traffic exchange program will no doubt be your number 1 choice.

How to use it wisely?

As I have mentioned before, using "free traffic" to sell affiliate program and webmaster tool, such as seo tools and other online marketing program, would be a wise way. But what really bring you real cash is the "reputation" you build up among other webmasters when you use those "webmaster-targeted" program.

How do you build up your reputation?
1) Provide free content for them
2) Develop downstream using those "free tool"

Then once you have built up your reputation, chances are other webmasters who use this free tool will follow your recommendation and you will be able to make tons of cash from those webmasters (your customers).

Good program such as instantbuzz, trafficswarm and trafficg is a good way to get started if you are new to this "free" traffic exchange stuff.

For more information on affiliate program review, traffic exchange, SEO and online marketing tips, please visit my blog at http://affiliateforyou.blogspot.com/
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

The 10 Myths To Keep You Away From Online Business

Moe Tamani offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
-----------
PUBLICATION GUIDELINES
- You have permission to publish this article for free providing the "About the Author" box is included in its entirety.
- Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity.
- Do not use this article in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act. If sent by email, this article must be delivered to opt-in subscribers only.
- If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links.
- Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to newsletter@themoroccanbazaar.com
- Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article.
-----------
Article Title: The 10 Myths To Keep You Away From Online Business
Author: Moe Tamani
Category: E-Commerce, Business Opportunities
Word Count: 761
Keywords: business,Marketing,SEO Services,Search Engine Optimization specialist,SEO, Company,internet market
Author's Email Address: newsletter@themoroccanbazaar.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

We are living in a world where the Internet has a far bigger role to play than just connecting people beyond geographical boundaries or enabling VoIP. Internet drives most businesses today, whether we talk about internet mail, online presentations, business meetings through video conferencing or generating revenue through PPC campaigns and other internet marketing strategies. There are however many misconception out there that confuse new netpreneurs my word for online entrepreneurs.

Let us look at the 10 myths that have kept many people away from being successful entrepreneurs or from generating revenue on the internet:

Myth I: Not good enough
There are many people who feel that they are not smart enough or good enough to do online business and the truth is that although business over the internet might not be for everyone but it is not impossible.

Myth II: Not enough time
Most of you are probably doing 80hrs a week and to add to it is the commuting time and the time you spend with your family. Most people would ask how can there be time left for an online business after all this. If you are working 10 hrs a day and if you are commuting by train then you can always think and jot down your ideas while traveling. Spend about an hour every night before you hit the bed to browse through the internet and find the required information and the right sources that will help your business.

Myth III: Not enough money
Although it may seem like a costly proposition on the outside but the truth is that the internet is really cheap. Most website hosting companies are also offering cheap hosting services ranging from as less as a $1 a month. A simple website design using basic HTML will not cost you more than $100 and broadband is also available at low costs. So you can set up an online business within a budget of $150 with ease and start reaping the benefits from the first month itself.

Myth IV: Not an expert
You do not have to be an expert to start an online business. You may need to be a construction engineer to build bridges, but you do not require any kind of educational qualification or work experience to be successful on the internet. All you need is an understanding of how the internet works and how you can take advantage of the internet to generate revenue.

Myth V: What should I sell?
There are many who believe that they have nothing to sell at all on the internet but they are wrong. You do not have to really start by selling a product or a service of your own. You can choose to sell some other companies product or service on a commission basis and then slowly grow from there.

Myth VI: Competition
One of the worst excuses is that there are already a lot of players in this field and hence it is difficult to survive. The truth is that competition is everywhere but as long as you have the desire to succeed, you can overthrow any competition. Another important thing is that your loss will be someone else gain.

Myth VII: Making money
Some people believe that the only people really making any money are the ones who tell others how to make money. This is not true because although there are many people who advice people on how to make money but such people comprise of only 1% of the internet business.

Myth VIII: No Success
There are some people who have met with failure but that is no reason for believing that they are not cut out for internet business. Sometimes, the reasons for failure are because of our own faults like not being able to capitalize on an opportunity or failing to recognize one or bad decision making.

Myth IX: Search Engine Ranking
There are many who believe that there business can not reach places without a search engine ranking. This is untrue. Not everyone is on the number 1 page of Google but that does not mean that they are not successful businesses.

Myth IX: Advertising Budget
You do not necessarily require an advertising budget to increase the visibility of your business. There are many different ways of doing it without even spending a dime like back linking, article submissions etc.

Remember analyzing at times is paralyzing so no more postponing and jump in for a wild ride.

Moe Tamani is a search engine optimization specialist for SEO 1 Services links http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com
http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com/company.htm
http://www.seo-services-expert.com
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------

It's The Eyeballs Stupid

Tim Dillard offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
-----------
PUBLICATION GUIDELINES
- You have permission to publish this article for free providing the "About the Author" box is included in its entirety.
- Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity.
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- Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to tim@dlbllc.com
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-----------
Article Title: It's The Eyeballs Stupid
Author: Tim Dillard
Category: E-Commerce, Internet, Advertising
Word Count: 910
Keywords: internet marketing, internet marketing houston, advertisin and branding, the new media
Author's Email Address: tim@dlbllc.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

Ask an 18 year old today if they read the newspaper and you generally get a laugh. Being 49, I recognize that laugh. It is the same one I gave my parents when they wanted me to put water and a little dab of Bryl Cream on my hair and cut my hair above my ears back in the 1970s. It was sooooo outdated.

You see, the newspaper world just does not get it. They think the same eyeballs that read a newspaper are going to read the same copy online. What they are unable to do is monetize effectively the online eyeballs. Thats because their investment is still tied up in big buildings, huge printing presses, enormous staffs, cutting down millions of trees and spending millions on gas to get the newspapers to the people that are no longer reading them.

Pity.

Have we seen this all before? Remember the railroads? The railroads are the classic study of how an industry has it all and loses it. They failed to recognize they were in the transportation business in what is taught in chapter one of Business 101 in every college. So, the airlines came in and took over the monetization of moving people from point A to point B.

When Bill Gates and Steven Jobs were going door to door with their silly little operating systems, the IBMs of the world laughed them out of the conference rooms. Why? Because America was built on manufacturing. Appliances and machines and ships and tanks needed to be built. Designing software was something for college geeks. It was a role Gates was obviously type cast by God to fulfill!

Jobs and Gates looked at each other as if to say,
They dont get it, do they?

And countless billions of dollars in lost revenue later, the IBMs of the world finally get it. And Steven Jobs finds himself as CEO of Disney, not exactly the fifedom of the geeks, is it?!

Ironically, the newspaper world is selling ads in their newspapers and in the process you can get a banner or something like that on their respective websites. Why? Because they think the battle is about content. Its not.

Look at Myspace.com and Youtube.com. Sure, there is lots of content on both, but the reason they exist is for connectivity. What the newspaper world has failed to realize is that we are no longer in the Information Era. We are headlong into the Internet Era where Connectivity is King and content is measured by volume, not quality.

Still dont get it? Look at the emails of anyone under age 25. Check their spelling. If content is king, spelling would be queen, right? LOL Spelling doesnt matter any longer. Just communicate and do so with volume and rapidity.

THE DEATH OF THE INFORMATION ERA
There are lots of sites built on content. Yahoo is indexing over 12 billion pages. Type anything into Google and see how many matches you get. That is because we have too much information. In the Information Era, information was king. If you owned the Information you had power. The Information Era birthed, yes, you guessed it: Information! You do not have to be a geek to figure that out. But something more important was occuring as we went through the Information Era. So much information was generated that every piece of information now has a counter part. Whatever you believe or say, someone else is published saying the opposite.

So where is the truth? Remember, to the victor go the spoils? Right. The victor in the Internet Era wins on quanitative grounds, not qualitative. In the Internet Era, truths first cousin is called volume.

Now, thanks to the Internet, the first entity in the history of mankind not owned by anyone, information has lost its grip on power. To gain power on the Internet, you need connectivity. Once you achieve connectivity, you get eyeballs. Write something or sell something from one site and see what reaction you get. Then write or sell the same the thing and get it visibility on 100,000 sites.

This is the whole point. If you miss this one, you will miss the entire Internet Era. You will find yourself thinking it is about Google or Youtube or Myspace.

Heck, even the newspaper world will tell you that the more eyeballs you get the more money you make. But they still think you get the eyeballs with a great article or a great writer. No, you get eyeballs with any article on 100,000 other websites. And guess what? Many of the editors of those sites will never even read the article. Why? Because its not about content, its about connectivity.

Connectivity gets you eyeballs.

Its about eyeballs stupid.

Because without eyeballs on the Internet, there is no cash. And cash is still king. At least until we move to the retinal eyescans and finger print verification through the Internet. Then, cash will be laughed at the same way 19 year olds now laugh at the concept of a newspaper.

Look next time for The Death of the Information Era.

Tim Dillard is CEO of DLB, an Internet Marketing & Branding company based in Houston, Texas. He is founder of North Pole Network,shown in malls in 36+ states at Christmas-time. His company owns Tops In America.com, and more than 5000 websites. http://www.dlbllc.com
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Money-Making E-Book Income: 6 Huge E-Book Revenue Generating Ideas

Derek Wood offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
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Article Title: Money-Making E-Book Income: 6 Huge E-Book Revenue Generating Ideas
Author: Derek Wood
Category: E-Books, Internet Marketing, E-Commerce
Word Count: 421
Keywords: ebooks, e-book, online publishing, epublishing, ebook writing
Author's Email Address: articles@bhg-uo.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
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If you are like many men and women in the world today, you may have at least some interest in learning how to create a worthwhile e-book income for yourself. Every day more and more people are becoming successful at earning a substantial e-book income. In the course of this article you will be provided with a few of the most useful e-book income generating ideas you can get.

1. One profitable e-book income generating idea that can be helpful to you is to begin by developing a highly targeted marketing campaign. By identifying and targeting the specific niche markets that will be the most interested in what you have to write about, you'll be well on your way to enjoying a profitable e-book income and even the e-book income success.

2. Another highly profitable e-book revenue generating initiative is to merge your e-book with other products or services that you offer or promote. These types of cross promotion efforts have been demonstrated to be incredibly successful when it comes to generating incomes through e-book sales..

3. Take the time to setup an e-book specific website. Constructing and promoting a single web site that is devoted to just one e-book topic can prove to be a very useful marketing tool.

4. Do not forget about blogging your e-book as a potentially profitable income generation idea. Almost everyone has a blog in this day and age, and many writers are making significant enhancements to the marketability of stuff that they've written about, including e-books, through their blogging efforts.

5. A big step that you can also use to increase your e-book profits is through forums. There are many forums where you can add your signature bylines to your messages. This increases traffic, and visibility of your product. Some forums will also allow for active promotion or discussions around your e-book topic. You want to become actively involved in one forum or another that address the issues that you discuss in your e-book.

6. Once you have actually written an e-Book, try to get yourself interviewed on one of the many Internet based talk shows that are actively online these days. There is always a rising number of these online shows that are even hosted by various online radio stations. By learning how to make use of these programs, you can easily promote your own e-book and greatly improve your possibility of enjoying a highly profitable e-book income, not only today but into the future as well.

Start your own e-book business with the Absolute Beginners Guide to E-Book Publishing at: http://www.BeginnerEbookPublishing.com

Get more free internet marketing information online by visiting http://www.Real-Internet-Success.com
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