Everyone has a choice in. Do you want success or failure?
Of course everyone wants success. But is "to want success" enough? It's a start. If you do not take action upon your goals,
you have no chance of succeeding. Be honest...Do you really think that sitting back and saying I want
success is really achievable?
When I talk success, I am talking about your home or small business.
OH SURE! Let's all just sign up for all these Get-Rich-Quick programs,
and then watch the money flow in because WE SIGNED UP!!! Well, stop kidding yourself.
Here it is:
Success vs. Failure
Promoting vs. Dying
If you do not Succeed...Your business will fail
If you do not Promote...Your business will die
Is that simple enough terminology? I think so.
Here are the facts, POINT BLANK. It is time to format your promotion strategy, and following are
some easy steps you can take to achieve those goals. Please keep in mind that these steps are just ideas to
get you off the ground floor:
1.) PROMOTIONAL TOOLKIT
Create a Promotion ToolKit Folder on your desktop. Inside the folder create the following files:
A DataBase. You can create a Database through Microsoft Works or Word. If you do not have either of them , you can use a regular
text file. Enter into this file a list of all of your webpages and set up
columns for:
Engine/Directory Submitted To, Date Last Submitted, Next Submission Date. This will keep your submissions in
order so you will not be submitting too often.
A Text File for WebPage Descriptions. Use varying lengths. I suggest word lengths of 10, 15, 25, 35, 50, 75 and 100.
Do the same for the purpose of your site. Later, when you start publishing your own ezine, create descriptions
for that too. Also write a website announcement and keep
a record of keywords that you think site visitors will enter into the search engine when looking for sites
similar to yours.
Another Text File for Ezine Advertising. Use Ads with varying lengths. List each Ezine you
advertise in, with the dates, cost, and sales generated. This way you will know which ones to advertise again
with in the future.
You will find your Promotion Toolkit to be invaluable when submitting your site to search engines, directories,
announcement lists and all the various other places you will be listing your site. By taking the time to create
powerful, effective descriptions and announcements, you will save an enormous amount of time when actually
submitting your site because you can just copy and paste
the information from your Promotion Toolkit.
2.) SUBMISSION WORKLOG
Before you start submitting your site, please make sure you have all your keywords and meta tags in place on
your website for proper search engine positioning.
There are two vital forms of submission you must do:
submit your site to the major search engines and list it with all the online directories you can find.
DO NOT use these FREE automatic submission sites you see everywhere.
If you want to use Automatic submission, I strongly suggest you invest in good software, such as WebPosition Gold.
Start Submitting to All the major search engines using your promotion toolkit.
There are hundreds of so-called "search engines". In reality, only a handful are worth the effort of securing
a decent ranking.
These are:
Alta Vista - http://www.altavista.com
Excite - http://www.excite.com
Hotbot - http://www.hotbot.com
Infoseek - http://www.infoseek.go.com
Lycos - http://www.lycos.com
Northern Light - http://www.northernlight.com
Web Crawler - http://www.webcrawler.com
Yahoo - http://www.yahoo.com
There are a few other major players out there but these are the "big 8".
3.) VITAL PROMOTIONAL ASPECTS
Space doesn't permit a detailed treatment of all of these strategies. They're intended just as thought starters.
=>Ezines and Newsletters
The single most important aspect of promoting your business is through
targeted ezines and newsletters. This is the number one proven method for getting
exposure for your business.
For a directory of ezines that accept advertising, check out:
The Directory of Ezines - http://www.lifestylespub.com
The Free Directory of Ezines -
http://www.ezineworld.com/
http://www.ezine-news.com/
http://www.bestezines.com/
http://www.freezineweb.com
http://www.list-city.com/ezines.htm
http://www.netterweb.com
http://www.ezinepublisher.org
http://pertinent.com/
http://www.ezinelocater.com
http://www.ezinehub.com
http://www.freezinesite.com/ezdir/index.html
http://www.ezines-ads.com/directories.html
Even better, create your own ezine or newsletter. This does not have to be a big ordeal. Make it simple.
Just use it as an adjunct to your website; a way of staying in touch with your site visitors. For a really great site to
help you get started, http://www.e-zinez.com
.
=> Write Articles
Put your expertise to work. Start writing articles about what YOU KNOW. You will gain respect and admiration.
Other ezine publishers are always on the lookout for good content and if they publish your article (complete with
your byline and site details) you will enjoy traffic and
subscribers as a result.
Some good starting points for article submissions include:
Idea Marketers - http://www.ideamarketers.com
Ezine Articles - http://www.ezinearticles.com
=> Invite Referrals
Give your site visitors and ezine subscribers a way to recommend your site and ezine to others.
=> Fresh Content
Update your website content frequently to give visitors something to come back for. Invite site visitors to leave
you their email address so you can notify them when your site changes.
=> Reciprocal Links
Contact webmasters of complementary but not competitive sites and ask if they will swap links with you.
=> Discussion Boards, Newsgroups and Mailing Lists
Constructively participate in discussion boards, newsgroups and mailing lists relevant to the subject
matter of your site. Be sure to leave each message with your sig file. This is part of networking and you need
to give them an open door to your site.
=> Press Releases
There are several good press release services available.
Here's just two:
http://www.canadaone.com/promote/pressrelease.html
http://www.gebbieinc.com
Guess WHAT? This is just the beginning of your hard work. So, if having your own home business is your way of relaxing
and watching the money come in...THINK AGAIN!!!
Having a home business means long hours, hard work, and 100% dedication. And you may not even profit from it within
the first year! BUT.....it does pay off. HOW?
-No boss to listen to.
-No traffic to sit in.
-You do not have to worry about sick days.
-You WILL make alot more money then if you were working
for someone else.
-Your hard work DOES pay off.
-It is extremely rewarding.
-It is YOUR business, YOUR product, YOUR creation, YOUR dedication that made you a success. NO ONE
else's.
Don't forget that these suggestions above are just the start of getting your business going.
Success takes work. Failure takes shear laziness. You decide which you would like to be. Do you want to become part of
the big scrap heap of the 95% of home workers that fail? Why do you think the numbers are so big. People are fooled into
really thinking that they can sit back and watch money flood in.
It is those stretched out promises of Getting Rich Quick that fools people into failure.
Don't be fooled. Be realistic and honest. YOU can get rich working at home. But it does take Work, Determination and
a lot of preparation in order to achieve that goal.
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Author: Debbie Solomon
Debbie is the Creator of The HomeSource Arena,
which is The Leading Source in Certified Home Employment,
and owner of The Online Exchange Ezine, a Top Rated,
world renowned Ezine. The only Ezine that will give you
FREE Access into an Exclusive Members Only Club, just
for subscribing for FREE to The OnLine Exchange Ezine.
Please visit her site at:
http://www.marketingtrendz.com
editor@marketingtrendz.com
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