Can Technology Really Improve My Business?
Whenever I meet people in the industry at conferences or tradeshows, one of the most common questions asked is can technology really improve my business? The answer obviously is yes, but what most people don’t realize is that technology is not the golden secret or unbreakable rule of thumb. Instead technology serves as a key aid in effectively deploying your sales and marketing strategy. In today’s post we’ll talk about 3 common myths regarding technology and how you can avoid falling in the anti technology trap like many other builders b

Niche Marketing : A Mini Tutorial on Starting a Business
The role of marketing in business may surprise you. Many books and seminars on marketing begin on how to develop the Marketing Plan. I believe this to be a mistake.You shouldn't begin thinking how you are going to market something until you first determine if you have something to market. You also need to have the ability to develop and service your product; will it work the way you say it will work; are there no adverse legal ramifications? Finally, can you sell of offer it for a profit?Finding your Niche MarketNetwork marketing is going through an important transformation and a big part of that transformation is tied to the social aspects of the internet. This used to be an industry that depended on the size of your address book and cultivating the relationships of friends and family. Today the internet lets us reach out to a much wider audience to find the people who are a good fit for the industry.

Cold Calling: The Bane of Network Marketing

There are a lot of people that are still told to buy leads and spend several hours on the phone calling them. Network marketers who successfully make the transition to doing business online see this as a complete waste, as there are much more effective and less painful ways to work.

New network marketers approach this process with fear and unease. For the veterans it's a bane of existence and seen as a necessary evil. They haven't begun to master network marketing on the internet and so this is the only tool they have in their playbook. There are definitely better tools and techniques available.

The initial development: Pay-per-click advertising

The first route many marketers make when moving their offline business online is to advertise with the pay-per-click (PPC) services like Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search, and MSN AdCenter. Those who click on the ads may be brought to an online business pres

ly. Today the internet lets us reach out to a much wider audience to find the people who are a good fit for the industry.

Cold Calling: The Bane of Network Marketing

There are a lot of people that are still told to buy leads and spend several hours on the phone calling them. Network marketers who successfully make the transition to doing business online see this as a complete waste, as there are much more effective and less painful ways to work.

New network marketers approach this process with fear and unease. For the veterans it's a bane of existence and seen as a necessary evil. They haven't begun to master network marketing on the internet and so this is the only tool they have in their playbook. There are definitely better tools and techniques available.

The initial development: Pay-per-click advertising

The first route many marketers make when moving their offline business online is to advertise with the pay-per-click (PPC) services like Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search, and MSN AdCenter. Those who click on the ads may be brought to an online business pres

lling them. Network marketers who successfully make the transition to doing business online see this as a complete waste, as there are much more effective and less painful ways to work.

New network marketers approach this process with fear and unease. For the veterans it's a bane of existence and seen as a necessary evil. They haven't begun to master network marketing on the internet and so this is the only tool they have in their playbook. There are definitely better tools and techniques available.

The initial development: Pay-per-click advertising

The first route many marketers make when moving their offline business online is to advertise with the pay-per-click (PPC) services like Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search, and MSN AdCenter. Those who click on the ads may be brought to an online business pres

t's a bane of existence and seen as a necessary evil. They haven't begun to master network marketing on the internet and so this is the only tool they have in their playbook. There are definitely better tools and techniques available.

The initial development: Pay-per-click advertising

The first route many marketers make when moving their offline business online is to advertise with the pay-per-click (PPC) services like Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search, and MSN AdCenter. Those who click on the ads may be brought to an online business pres

ick advertising

The first route many marketers make when moving their offline business online is to advertise with the pay-per-click (PPC) services like Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search, and MSN AdCenter. Those who click on the ads may be brought to an online business presentation or, better yet, offered a report, service or other product in exchange for a name and email address. This allows the marketer to follow up by email and spend more time with people who actively want to know more.

This leads into...

Follow-up: Automated, personal, or other?

While autoresponder messages can take you a certain down the road to building a relationship with the people on your list, it's really on part of the puzzle. Typically a marketer will load up the autoresponder software with a series of 10, 20, 30 or more messages set to go out over time and then just leave it at that.

The shortcoming of this is that people are familiar with the idea of automated messages, so if the messages are generic enough to be set up three months in advance, then it's probably not reflecting what's going on in your daily progress, changes and refinement.

The point of the messages is to share something of value about you, your business, and how you are developing it. If the messages are stale, the audience loses interest. To help with that, use the "broadcast"