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Tuesday, February 28
Tue, Feb 28 Morning Featured Article
by
tecHead
on Tue 28 Feb 2006 08:00 AM EST
How to Position Yourself as an Expert
By Nick Usborne
Whatever kind of freelance or consulting work you do, one of the best ways to attract top clients is to position
yourself clearly as an expert in your field.
And yes, you first have to be an expert. You don't have to be the world's leading expert, but you do need to know what
you're talking about, and in real depth.
To become a credible expert it first helps if you choose your niche carefully.
If your niche is too broad - like 'all consumer electronics' - you'll find it hard to position yourself as a true
expert.
If your niche is too narrow - like 'Sony PlayStation' - you'll find it hard to make a living.
Niches like 'computer games' or 'home entertainment' are perfect. It won't take you a lifetime to become an expert in
either field, and there are plenty of prospective clients to choose from.
Of course, it will help enormously if you choose a niche in an area that genuinely interests you.
>> Got expertise? Here's the next step...
One of the fastest ways to get the word out is to get your name in print. In other words, write articles.
It's the strangest thing...but as soon as someone sees your name in print, your 'expert' status automatically jumps up
several notches.
Publish your articles on your own web site. And make it known that other site editors can reprint your articles on
their own sites and in their newsletters. Get the word out through a blog and by participating in discussion groups.
And, of course, every article should include a short bio and link back to your own site.
>> What's better than having your articles online?
The next step is to get your articles printed in real print publications, on paper. Again, strangely, an article on
paper earns you more expert points than an article on the web.
Best of all, if your niche is, for instance, home renovation products and services, get an article printed in one of
the trade magazines that serves that industry.
Now you're getting in front of hundreds or even thousands of prospective clients. It's not an ad. It's better than an
ad. You're presenting yourself as a true expert, with the implicit endorsement of the editor of the publication.
>> Accept those invitations to speak
Once your name has appeared as the author of a sufficient number of useful, expert articles, you'll start getting
invitations to speak. If they don't come your way, start looking for them.
You can start out small, speaking to local business groups and marketing associations. If all goes well, you'll soon
find yourself with opportunities to speak to much larger groups at industry conferences.
And yes, being a speaker earns you major expert points.
>> Time to write a book?
Nothing brings you expert status faster than being the author of a book. Do you know enough on your subject to write a
book? It may take a little time before you're ready. But the more articles you write and the more times you speak,
the deeper your knowledge will grow.
In addition, articles and speaking engagements generate feedback from your readers and listeners. And the more
feedback you get, the better you will know what it is people really want and need to know.
If you can get published and distributed by a major publishing house, so much the better. If not, self-publish. You'll
need to do a lot of promoting to get the sales, but you can earn more money from each book sold and still confirm
your status as an expert in your field.
>> Concluding thoughts
After a while you'll find yourself writing articles, speaking at public and corporate events and signing copies of
your book or books at every opportunity.
At that point you will have truly earned your stripes as an expert and will find yourself with a very impressive list
of clients and prospects.
Start writing!
Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author and speaker. You can access all his newsletter articles on writing for the web at
his www.ExcessVoice.com (http://www.excessvoice.com) site. You'll find more articles and resources on how to make
money as a freelance writer at www.FreelanceWritingSuccess.com (http://www.FreelanceWritingSuccess.com)
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Mon, Feb 27 Evening Featured Article
by
tecHead
on Mon 27 Feb 2006 01:00 PM EST
How to Profit from your Home Business Blog
By Ian Canaway
A blog is a simple tool which all affiliate marketers should be utilising to explode their affiliate sales.
I set up my blog in about 15 minutes at http://www.blogger.com (http://www.blogger.com) itÂ’s a completely free
service, and itÂ’s really easy to set-up. I followed directions on an excellent article on getting a new website
listed in Google in 48hrs check it out here, http://www.scamfreezone.com/gg/ (http://www.scamfreezone.com/gg/). I
just followed the advice in the article and got started with no problems in no time.
I've been doing a lot of research with regards to blogging and came across a case of a 19 year old kid who was making
something ridiculous like $50,000 a year with a blog on mobile phones, from his bedroom! So clearly there is a good
earning potential through blogs, but they do take time to grow and build up a readership. Treat your blog as a
marathon not a sprint, because it will take time.
Blogs provide a very simple, quick and easy means to add fresh content to your website. As IÂ’m sure youÂ’ve heard many
times over ‘content is king’ in the search engines eyes and if you can provide high quality, regularly updated
content your website should benefit with regards to your search engine ranking.
By providing fresh, high quality relevant content you will gain an increase of both first time visitors and repeat
visitors, they will come back to check out your new content. Providing itÂ’s interesting, relevant and useful to them.
You will begin to build relationships with your readers, increasing your credibility and building their trust in you.
These repeat visitors will be exposed to your messages more and begin to trust you and your recommendations. This in
turn will fuel sales and referrals. Just make sure you donÂ’t recommend a product you havenÂ’t tried because if it is
bad you will lose all credibility!
Never recommend something you havenÂ’t tried and tested your self.
You want to send traffic directly to your blog, do it through multi-dimensional strategies. Have a subscriber box for
your newsletter to build your list from your blog. Use it as an exit pop-up from your main site or thank you page for
new subscribers, directing them to relevant content immediately. As once your prospects have got to know you through
the blog they are much more likely to explore your website and check out whatever you are offering.
Whenever you sign-up for an affiliate program or buy a product, review it in your blog and be brutally honest, your
readers will love you for it. Take a completely unbiased view point and talk about both the positives and negatives
of each product. In essence you are providing more of an insight into the product than the sales page itself, almost
a sample, this will help convert those prospects that are ‘sitting on the fence’ so to speak. Obviously when you
review your affiliate products, make sure that you use your affiliate links.
It has been shown that prospects are 7-10 times more likely to buy from a blog recommendation than from other sources!
Other ways that you can generate extra income through your blog are through the Google ad sense program, selling
banner/link space as your traffic increases or as I mentioned earlier by adding you own opt-in sign up form to which
you send your newsletter or other targeted offers.
Your blog can be syndicated using RSS, which I wonÂ’t go into here, thatÂ’s another article. But savvy webmasters can
use your blog content on their web pages. This benefits them as they have regularly updated fresh content for their
website and benefits you through increased exposure and free targeted traffic.
Be passionate about your blog, love your blog. If you do not then it will become obvious through your posts and you
are unlikely to be anywhere near as successful as you could be.
Add to your blog regularly provide good quality content and reviews and you will be on your way to blogging success.
You can se my blog at http://ahomebusinessblog4u.blogspot.com (http://ahomebusinessblog4u.blogspot.com)
"A man would do nothing, if he waited until he could do it so well that no one at all would find fault with what he
has done". -- Cardinal Newman
Get that blog started today!
(Feel free to use this article online and in your email newsletters as long as you leave it intact and do not alter it
in anyway. The byline and biography must remain in the article.)
Ian Canaway is a home business entrepreneur and the owner of http://www.asuccesfullhomebusiness4u.com (http://www.
asuccesfullhomebusiness4u.com) and also a home business based blog at http://www.ahomebusinessblog4u.blogspot.com
(http://www.ahomebusinessblog4u.blogspot.com); providing high quality information and resources Check us out Now!
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Monday, February 27
Mon, Feb 27 Morning Featured Article
by
tecHead
on Mon 27 Feb 2006 07:59 AM EST
How to Promote Your Local Business on the Internet
By PRWEB
(http://pdfserver.prweb.com/pdfdownload/208166/
pr.pdf) Download this press release as an Adobe PDF document. (http://pdfserver.prweb.com/pdfdownload/208166/pr.
pdf>Download)
Series of Free Teleseminars Teaches Small Business Owners How to use the Internet to Promote their Local Business or
Practice.
(PRWEB) February 15, 2005 -- Touted as one of the largest free events of its kind, John Jantsch, creator of Duct Tape
Marketing, launched a series of innovative teleseminars under the heading of "Local Online Marketing." The series,
which features seven, one-hour seminars, runs from February 10 to April 20.
The content of each session is focused on teaching traditional small businesses and independent professionals how to
promote their local businesses using the Internet.
Each session covers a specific small business Internet marketing topic presented in interview style by a recognized
expert in the subject at hand for that session. The event culminates with a live all-day workshop held on April 20 in
Kansas City, Mo.
The first session titled, Basics of Business Blogging or Why Every Business Needs a Blog featured Debbie Weil,
publisher of the BizReport. Over 300 small business owners attended the session held using conference call technology
sponsored by Conference Calls Unlimited.
Feedback from attendees of the blogging seminar was enthusiastic.
"I paid to participate in another seminar on blogging and this was 150 times more helpful! It was a wonderful bonus
that it was free," said attendee and future blogger Sarah Anne Ferguson.
The series continues with sessions on Marketing with RSS, Using Ezines to Connect with Clients, Building a Powerful
Email List, Online PR Strategies, Local Pay-per-click Strategies and Optimizing Your Web Site for Local Search Traffic.
To find a complete schedule and registration information for the free seminars visit www.DuctTapeMarketing.com/local-
online-marketing.htm (http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com/local-online-marketing.htm)
More information on the Local Online Marketing event to be held on April 20th in Kansas City, Mo can be found at www.
LocalOnlineMarketing.com (http://www.LocalOnlineMarketing.com)
Local Online Marketing is a sponsored by www.DuctTapeMarketing.com (http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com) , www.marketing.
about.com (http://www.marketing.about.com).
# # #
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Sun, Feb 26 Evening Featured Article
by
tecHead
on Sun 26 Feb 2006 01:00 PM EST
How to Send Emails that Get Opened
By Jeremy Hoover
Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about the (impending) death of email. From what you read on forum boards
and newsletters from well-known internet marketers, email marketing is dead. Too many ISPs are taking it upon
themselves to limit the number of emails you can send at one time, or are blocking your emails from your subscribers
inboxes.
As a way around this, many marketers are telling you to get a blog and an RSS feed. This makes some sense, but before
you invest in an ebook or multimedia course from a marketer, ask yourself if that marketer has a vested interest in
moving you over to an RSS system (i.e., they conveniently sell an RSS starter kit, or affiliate for someone who does).
On the contrary, though, email marketing is not dead. Recently, on a membership-only forum, discussion centred on how
Getresponse and Aweber have improved their open and deilverability rates for emails, even as high as 85% for
deliverability. One contributor, owner of an autoresponder company, noted that many tricks marketers use to get their
messages past spam filters (such as using "f^ree" for "free") are actually backfiring and triggering spam filters,
resulting in emails being blocked. Instead, marketers should focus on trick-free, valuable content in their emails.
Apparently, email marketing works much the same way as search engine marketing does: in the long run, you are rewarded
for building (and sending out) trick-free, useful, and informative content.
So how should you build your business? One quality blog post, article, or email at a time.
Jeremy Hoover builds residual income at http://hoovermarketing.info. If you want to build a recurring monthly income,
please visit his site for more information.
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