Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

This is a guest post by author Cathy Lindsay.

Some of you probably already use this strategy, but for the ones who do not or haven’t thought about doing it (like me), I truly hope that the information in this article will benefit you greatly.   

This type of marketing can be very beneficial to increasing visitors to your website.  Think of all the people that you see everywhere you go.  For instance, the grocery store, restaurants, gas station, just to name a few.  You will also be able to reach the people that might not own a computer, or, maybe they own one and only use it for personal matters. 

Think about the person that doesn’t own a computer.  More than likely he/she goes to the library or to a friends house where he/she will have access to the internet.  Think of this person as a potential customer, has your flier or business card in hand, likes what he/she sees, needs/wants the product or service, goes to your website, signs up, and becomes a customer. 

The person that only uses their computer for personal matters is also a potential customer.  This person doesn’t surf the internet.  He/she takes care of business and gets off the computer or, maybe he/she is a gamer. Whatever the case, this person hasn’t found a reason to surf the internet yet.  Possibly a brilliant flier or business card could entice him/her.

We all know that everyone isn’t going to become a customer, but, even if he/she doesn’t need/want what you have to offer, chances are that they know someone who does and will pass on the information.  Friends trust friends, and family trusts family.  Another name for this strategy is “word of mouth”.  This is one of the oldest marketing strategies ever used and, believe it or not, is still pretty powerful. 

Put your creative side to the test, create and print our own fliers and business cards.  Not only will this help keep the costs down, it will also be fun and interesting.  If you have a family you can involve them.  Make it a family project.  Think brilliance!  Create them to capture someone’s attention so intensely that they must read the entire flier/business card. 

You will need to decide how you are going to get the fliers into circulation.  You can pass them out yourself or you can hire someone.  You can offer them so much a flier or a percentage of a sale.  Whatever works best for you.  I personally hired a person that was in need of work.   

A good place to pass out fliers is in the parking lot of a mall.  Have you ever found a flier on your windshield?  And think of how many cars there are in a mall lot.   

Distribute business cards everywhere you go.  People like them and many collect them for future reference and, remember, word of mouth. 

Keep in mind that any type of marketing or promotion requires, time, patience and work.  And without persistency and consistency there will be no success.     

Easily Build A Website or Build Your Own Website Using “Point and Click Technology” in minutes with BuildAGreatSite.com.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-tips-articles/do-you-market-offline-848699.html

I’ve been online for a couple of years now.  I’ve bought a lot of products and more recently bought into some excellent coaching programmes.  And something has changed.

You see, there comes a time when you realize that you know what you need to do to succeed online.  You’ve decided what your opportunity is.  You’ve finally “paid your dues” and achieved a level of knowledge that makes your online business path clear.

That’s when you begin to feel that all the little secrets are revealed.  It’s time to make YOUR mark.  The little games are over.

All the things you did, change; there is a new focus.  A new energy courses through your veins.

You feel more confident than you’ve ever felt about your online business.  You also feel about as scared as you have ever felt about your online business.  You know what you need to do.  You just need to do it. 

I have reached this place.

I will be refocusing this blog gradually from now on.  This means that I will be posting less often but more meaningfully to it.  I have set up a new personal internet marketing blog, which will continue to be about my personal journey.  I invite you to check it out.  I have a HUGE amount to do.  As I develop my business I will post here about the products I have developed and product reviews I have made.

I truly believe that there are a lot of people online who have reached a level of expertise where they have everything they need to start to make money online.  They just lack the confidence and clarity of direction to take the plunge.

I will not be one of them.

Building a mailing list is the single most important thing you need to focus on to maximise your chances of making a success of your online business efforts.  After all if you set your list properly, build a relationship with them and send them quality packed emails, they will reward you with a regular income ad infinitum. 

In fact:

Everything you do online has to fit around listbuilding.

However, list building is not the only part of building an online business.  In brief, you need to use your own product to build a list.  Then you must nurture your list by sending value added emails from your autoresponder service provider.  This will enable to you build a relationship with your list.  Then and only then do you send emails promoting products with your affiliate links. 

So list building and email marketing should be very high on your list of priorities. 

You need to build a relationship with your list that clearly establishes you as teacher/guru/top dog/leader.  Evidence shows time and again that when purchasing a product, people will buy from the market leader.  So position yourself as the “go-to” person in your niche. 

To do this, you must produce content material in your own name – whether it’s blog content, messages set up in your auto responder, quickie reports, or full blown ebooks! 

The main things to remember are:-

·         Find out what people want and then… GIVE it to them!

·         Give value and be yourself.

·         Create interest in your subject lines so that people actually OPEN your emails.

·         Tell a story – people love to be able to relate to things and your story and experiences may strike a chord with others.

·         Be patient. 

·         Relationships, dominant positions and wealth take time to build.  Do not expect to rush the process.  It cannot happen overnight.

Focus on list building and you will put yourself in the best possible position to succeed online.  Grab a free step by step guide to building your list online and you’ll be unstoppable! 

Remember.  You’ve got to be in it for the long haul.

Please feel free to add your comments below.

Answer: Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend

This is the chosen name of my other half’s new (-ish) blog where he blogs his thoughts and opinions on financial markets. So why the seemingly odd choice of name? Well, because this song has great lyrics which encapsulate marriage, unemployment and what happens when the money dries up. All timeless themes relating to life, the business cycle and bull & bear markets.

The blog is targeted at the UK private investor who can take a long-term view on their portfolio. If that’s you, and you like a detailed, often maverick argument on what’s really going on, then head over to Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend now. After all, the idea is to buy low and sell high. If you don’t ever want to panic sell again nor buy after the bandwagon has well and truly left town, why not subscribe so you don’t miss a thing?

A piece of gemset jewellery is a must in every fine jewellery collection.  And not too long ago the gemstone would typically be one of the classic precious gemstones, namely diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and to a lesser extent, garnets and opals.  But no more!  Although these traditionally precious gemstones are still highly prized, women are increasingly seeking to add the more unusual gemstones to their fine jewellery collections.  

One such gemstone is peridot.

Pronounced “pair-ee-doh”, peridot was popular in early Greek and Roman jewellery.  In fact Cleopatra’s renowned “emerald” collection is now thought to have been mostly comprised of peridot gemset jewellery! 

Peridots are surrounded by myth!  They are thought to have the power to cure asthma, reduce fever and increase the potency of medicines.  Such fabled powers probably come from the more unusal sources of peridots.  Although peridot is a mined gemstone on Earth, coming from Tanzania, Kenya , South Africa and elsewhere, the most unusual peridot comes from extraterrestrial meteorites!  Known as pallasites, some meteor peridot is reputed to have been facetted and set into jewellery!  

Peridot is August’s gemstone.  It ranges in colour from golden lime greens to rich grass greens and from light yellow-green to deep olive.  It is widely admired for its sunlit citrus glows and has come to symolise warmth and charity.   

Go on, check out hand made peridot jewellery and make your fine jewellery collection truly out of this world!

Right hand diamond rings are one of the hottest new trends to hit the fine jewelry fashion scene in recent years.

It used to be unheard of for a woman to buy her own diamond ring.  But these days women are increasingly buying their own jewelry, and rather than wait for the traditional diamond engagement ring, women are buying gorgeous diamond rings of their own and wearing them on their right hands.  

Wearing a diamond ring was always more acceptable for the left hand. Diamond rings are thought of as the traditional engagement rings or wedding rings, which are always worn on the ring finger of the left hand.

The right hand diamond ring is marketed to financially independent women because they symbolize success, self-assertiveness and freedom, which completely different to the symbolism of the left hand diamond rings, which symbolize with love, commitment and union.

Right hand diamond rings are different from engagement rings.  There is typically no single centrepiece diamond stone, rather large numbers of smaller diamonds are arranged in much more flambouyant styles than diamond engagement ring designs.  Right hand rings are often also set with high fashion gemstones too, such as top grade tanzanite, hot pink sapphires or amethyst.

Right hand diamond rings symbolise a woman’s independent success and her role in life as a significant contributor whether or not she has a life partner.  

Right hand diamond rings have substantially widened the marketing possibilities for fine diamond jewelry, which was previously marketed to men almost exclusively.  Previously men were perceived to have the money to spend on fine diamond jewelry.  But today, marketing efforts are equally being targeted to a woman’s sense of self worth and personal achievements.   

But diamond right hand rings are not about being single.  These rings can be worn by married women too – they symbolise empowerment, strength of spirit and personal achievement.  These rings have also gained popularity simply because they are beautiful and something new to try out – a trend everyone’s enjoying.

Right hand rings can also make the perfect gift for any strong spirited woman in your life, so browse through the different designs and find one that matches her personality.

You may be worried that wearing rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings made from glass is impractical at best and downright dangerous at worst?  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Murano Glass is tough and “fit for purpose”.  It is not fragile.  It will not shatter and cut you when you wear it.  Just as car windscreens are made from specially adapted glass, Italian artisans have made fine jewelry from the special Murano Glass, for centuries. 

Murano Glass jewelry will enhance any outfit with its wide variety of colors and designs. Common hues include reds, greens, blues, lavenders, pinks, ambers, yellows, bronzes and browns. Murano Glass jewelry also comes in all shapes and sizes. The blown glass beads can be tubular, round, oval, heart-shaped, square or rectangular, strung together in stunning collections of threads which drape beautifully around the neck or creatively formed into eye-catching pendants.

Online shopping, or shopping over the internet is commonplace these days.  It seems that everyone has bought something online, or if not, knows someone who has.  And just about everything is available to buy online it seems, from books to luxury holidays, concert tickets to medical procedures, self-improvement courses, cars, and fine jewelry.  But is it really safe to buy expensive things over the web?  Let’s consider buying fine jewelry online.

There are huge numbers of online fine jewelry outlets nowadays and more and more spring up every day.  Some are online outlets for major high street jewelry retailers, others are sole traders selling their own fine jewelry online and yet others, such as EHJewels, concentrate on finding high quality, unusual fine jewelry pieces and offering them online at affordable prices.  

With so many options for buying fine jewelry online, it is obvious that many people do.  So why do they?

• Extensive Choice - Firstly, online fine jewelry retailers are able to offer significantly wider range of items than a physical retailer because there are no space constraints.  Online retailers can offer as many items for sale as they wish, as long as the customer can navigate easily through the website! 

Buying online maximises your chances of finding perfect hard-to-find pieces, such as men’s diamond jewelry or fine jewelry for children. 

• Information - Buying fine jewelry can be a nerve racking experience, especially for special occasion, big ticket items, such as engagement rings.  Information is everywhere online and all reputable fine jewelers will be happy to help, many offering pages of jewelry FAQs on their webpages. 

This is especially important if you are looking to spend a lot of money!

• Cost - This is self explanatory!  Lower (negligible!) overhead costs makes buying anything online cheaper than buying from a high street store.  This means that you get more for your money.  Choose either huge savings off high street prices or buy a better  piece than you could have afforded form the high street.   

Let’s spell this out…  When you buy jewelry online, you can afford better quality  jewelry - especially important for those once in a lifetime, big ticket items, such as an engagement ring.

• Convenience - Online shopping can be done from the comfort of your own laptop at any time of the day or night. 

Obviously important for people who can’t get to the shops! 

• Reputation - Noone wants to buy from a disreputable source and this is even more important online.  Major auction sites, such as eBay use feedback ratings from previous buyers which is very helpful in ensuring the safety of your buying decision. 

Positive feedback scores close to 100% show the retailer is genuine and can be trusted when deciding where to buy fine jewelry.  

• Payment - Always pay using a safe payment system, such as PayPal, or with a credit card for maximum buyer protection.  Genuine retailers will want you to do this in any case. If the seller seems reluctant, click away from the page!

Buying fine jewelry online gives you a wider choice of jewelry, easy access to the information you need, is convenient, more affordable and just as safe as buying in a high street store.  Provided you choose your retailer wisely, you will not regret it.  It is safe to buy expensive items, like fine jewelry, online, and the cost savings can be huge! 

Why not join the growing numbers of people who benefit by buying fine jewelry online?