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Digg it UP - It's a Community Thing!
Writing Effective CopyNever try to sell anything costing more than $5 in a small display ad or a classified ad. First of all, you don't have enough room to tell people everything they need to know to entice them to order.Instead, you need to employ the "Two-Step" method of advertising. Request the reader to send you $1 or 4 first-class postage stamps for more information. When they respond, you will send them a brochure, flyer, order form and cover letter so they can place an order for the real product.Now that pricing is out of the way lets talk about writing your ad copy. The best way to learn how is to read the ads other people have written. Don't copy them word-for-word, but use them as a guideline to write your own ads. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be writing effective ad copy just as well as the pros.Here's an example of an ad you could use to sell automobile wax: Free information on the best wax available on the market. If you care about the lasting beauty of your vehicle, send $1 for complete details to (your name and address.)Advertising in the Right PublicationEven if you make and sell the best candy in the world, you probably couldn't sell very much of it to people who are diabetics. The same goes for selling race car parts to women or dentures to teenagers.Althou
Providing a viable, safe and dynamic place for your clients and potential clients to share, tells them you CARE about what they have to say and that you VALUE them. And this has real mileage: you'll stand out from the crowd with extra selling points compared to your competitors. You'll develop a reputation that people will regard highly, remember and recommend to others. Building an online community could seriously impact on the success or otherwise of your idea.
Online What?
Don't fall into the trap of 'if I build it, they will come'. Having a chat room or message board on your site is, in itself, not enough to build community. To truly create a community your participants should:
feel they have reason to belong to it - maybe they're interested in wood carvings and came across your community of
Viral marketing involves the use of surf-exchanges, and if you don’t know what a surf-exchange is, its a site that you can join, often for free, and exchange web page views with other members.You submit the website you wish to promote, and then you usually get a ‘start page’ that you load into your web browser and you start to view other web pages. It’s usually on a timer of about 30 seconds and for every certain number of web pages you view; you earn a ‘credit’ which means that your page will get shown to others, or with certain exchanges you can earn money. (Wait! Keep that day job a little longer! There’s more…)The ratio of views to credits varies, but I would say the average was two views to one credit. You can up-grade to being a paid member and get a better ratio.Make no mistake, if you advertise your primary business in a few exchanges and start clicking away, you will very probably waste a whole lot of time and get no business. (Please re-read this last sentence over a couple of times. This is Gospel truth!)So why are we wasting time talking about all this, you may well ask. Is there a solution? Read on.Viral marketing makes use of the rewards that surf exchanges give to their members for referring others.When you refer other members to a surf exchange, you are awarded more credits and also credits when you
Two words: ONLINE COMMUNITY
Communities come in all shapes and sizes - from sharing coffee with neighbors over the garden fence to sharing ideas in an online chat room. Whatever the venue, building communities is integral to human existence and exchange.
And for new businesses, a community can play a key role in customer relations, promotion, performance enhancement, sales, recruitment, profits... Online communities are a great way of finding out what your clients think of you and your ideas, building loyalty and providing top quality customer service. Relationship building and word of mouth play vital roles in building business. If a client likes your product or service and has a good relationship with you, they are more likely to tell their friends, who may do the same. With a dynamic site and viable online community, you have fantastic opportunities to build up a loyal, active and varied client base - a crucial factor in growing your business, increasing your selling power, getting exposure and increasing profits.
Early Days Online
When the Internet was just a baby, basic, specialist and largely free-for-all newsgroups made up most online communities. They were difficult to access and understand. Website managers had few opportunities to explore their site's community potential, less advanced technology at their disposal and fewer resources for understanding how community might be employed. Websites were not that sophisticated either. Businesses weren't able to reach out to their target audience as readily, much less truly promoting an online business. Community building was at best hampered and at worse simply diluted by the Internet's limitations.
Sea Change
Things have changed!
Website managers and users increasingly understand what community is and what it offers. Internet communities are now commonly given high profile on websites and used to leverage value - anything and everything from handling complaints to building up subscriber numbers. A strand of professional community producers has developed, alongside trained facilitators (also known as moderators) who support the community. They're producing well-trafficked and viable online communities, as safe, valued and convenient as their offline counterparts.
Businesses are increasingly using all manner of community-focused tools to build relationships with clients and allow them to build relationships with one another: entrepreneurs old and new can really cash in from such communities. Still, for many people, the idea of building online communities is a non-starter. Many new entrepreneurs ignore the value of online communities at their peril. After all, having a decent website, let alone building a great online community just isn't that high on a small business' priority list. Also many simply don't know how to go about it.
Killer App
With over 400 million Internet users, building online relationships and communities could be that killer application. But there are many great reasons for creating an online community. Maybe you want an online version of your existing offline community or maybe you want to create a new internet-only community. Or maybe you want to bring together all of your clients and customers in one place.
Providing a viable, safe and dynamic place for your clients and potential clients to share, tells them you CARE about what they have to say and that you VALUE them. And this has real mileage: you'll stand out from the crowd with extra selling points compared to your competitors. You'll develop a reputation that people will regard highly, remember and recommend to others. Building an online community could seriously impact on the success or otherwise of your idea.
Online What?
Don't fall into the trap of 'if I build it, they will come'. Having a chat room or message board on your site is, in itself, not enough to build community. To truly create a community your participants should:
feel they have reason to belong to it - maybe they're interested in wood carvings and came across your community of
A proxy is an agent who has been legally authorized to act on behalf of someone else. When shareholders are unable to attend corporate meetings they can still cast their votes by using a proxy, who votes on their behalf. The proxy needs to produce a power of attorney document.Generally shareholders get a mail from the particular company, in which they hold shares, prior to any meeting containing several documents providing information about the company’s growth, performance, its management, information about changes in the share structure, notices about any mergers or acquisitions etc. The mail would contain all the matters that shareholders would require to vote during the meeting. Along with these documents, there would be a form to allow shareholders to vote by a proxy if they cannot attend the meetings in person.Importance of Proxy VotingShareholders have to carefully study all the documents provided to them and cast their votes. It is the primary means by which a shareholder can influence a company’s operations, its corporate governance and other important issues. Therefore voting and making their choices clear is very essential for a shareholder. Hence, voting in person is not possible; proxy voting becomes essential for a shareholder. Usually a shareholder has the right to cast one vote per share he owns, so it is important that
Early Days Online
When the Internet was just a baby, basic, specialist and largely free-for-all newsgroups made up most online communities. They were difficult to access and understand. Website managers had few opportunities to explore their site's community potential, less advanced technology at their disposal and fewer resources for understanding how community might be employed. Websites were not that sophisticated either. Businesses weren't able to reach out to their target audience as readily, much less truly promoting an online business. Community building was at best hampered and at worse simply diluted by the Internet's limitations.
Sea Change
Things have changed!
Website managers and users increasingly understand what community is and what it offers. Internet communities are now commonly given high profile on websites and used to leverage value - anything and everything from handling complaints to building up subscriber numbers. A strand of professional community producers has developed, alongside trained facilitators (also known as moderators) who support the community. They're producing well-trafficked and viable online communities, as safe, valued and convenient as their offline counterparts.
Businesses are increasingly using all manner of community-focused tools to build relationships with clients and allow them to build relationships with one another: entrepreneurs old and new can really cash in from such communities. Still, for many people, the idea of building online communities is a non-starter. Many new entrepreneurs ignore the value of online communities at their peril. After all, having a decent website, let alone building a great online community just isn't that high on a small business' priority list. Also many simply don't know how to go about it.
Killer App
With over 400 million Internet users, building online relationships and communities could be that killer application. But there are many great reasons for creating an online community. Maybe you want an online version of your existing offline community or maybe you want to create a new internet-only community. Or maybe you want to bring together all of your clients and customers in one place.
Providing a viable, safe and dynamic place for your clients and potential clients to share, tells them you CARE about what they have to say and that you VALUE them. And this has real mileage: you'll stand out from the crowd with extra selling points compared to your competitors. You'll develop a reputation that people will regard highly, remember and recommend to others. Building an online community could seriously impact on the success or otherwise of your idea.
Online What?
Don't fall into the trap of 'if I build it, they will come'. Having a chat room or message board on your site is, in itself, not enough to build community. To truly create a community your participants should:
feel they have reason to belong to it - maybe they're interested in wood carvings and came across your community of
It's one thing to get customers to purchase your products and another to have customers continue to buy from you. This article is going share with you the top 10 ways to keep your customers coming back for more.1. Offer a freebie with each purchaseOffering something free with each purchase is a great marketing technique and customers love it. It doesn't have to be something expensive either. It could simply be a small token showing your appreciation for them being a valued patron. Depending on the product you offer it's important to keep the free item somewhat related to what you sell in general. It could also be something with your website name on it such as; a pen, small notepad, calendar, key chain, fridge magnet, etc.2. Quality is essentialOffering quality products is truly the only way to go. Regardless whether you buy products wholesale or make your own products such as crafts, it's important that they be of high quality. Offering products that are not of high quality may earn you a first sale from a customer but rarely a second. Customers will return and purchase more products from you if they can tell they are high quality items.3. ValueQuality and value go hand in hand. Every customer is looking to purchase products that are a good value to them. This doesn't mean they have to be dirt cheap by any means. Bu
Sea Change
Things have changed!
Website managers and users increasingly understand what community is and what it offers. Internet communities are now commonly given high profile on websites and used to leverage value - anything and everything from handling complaints to building up subscriber numbers. A strand of professional community producers has developed, alongside trained facilitators (also known as moderators) who support the community. They're producing well-trafficked and viable online communities, as safe, valued and convenient as their offline counterparts.
Businesses are increasingly using all manner of community-focused tools to build relationships with clients and allow them to build relationships with one another: entrepreneurs old and new can really cash in from such communities. Still, for many people, the idea of building online communities is a non-starter. Many new entrepreneurs ignore the value of online communities at their peril. After all, having a decent website, let alone building a great online community just isn't that high on a small business' priority list. Also many simply don't know how to go about it.
Killer App
With over 400 million Internet users, building online relationships and communities could be that killer application. But there are many great reasons for creating an online community. Maybe you want an online version of your existing offline community or maybe you want to create a new internet-only community. Or maybe you want to bring together all of your clients and customers in one place.
Providing a viable, safe and dynamic place for your clients and potential clients to share, tells them you CARE about what they have to say and that you VALUE them. And this has real mileage: you'll stand out from the crowd with extra selling points compared to your competitors. You'll develop a reputation that people will regard highly, remember and recommend to others. Building an online community could seriously impact on the success or otherwise of your idea.
Online What?
Don't fall into the trap of 'if I build it, they will come'. Having a chat room or message board on your site is, in itself, not enough to build community. To truly create a community your participants should:
feel they have reason to belong to it - maybe they're interested in wood carvings and came across your community of
With study costs escalating and an increasing number of graduates entering the job market, finding the job of your choice is becoming more and more difficult. Getting a foot on the career ladder, in a position which not only supports you, but also enables you to pay off your student debts is not easy. The average graduate in the UK leaves university with a debt of ?14,000 and can expect a salary of around ?22,000. So it doesn’t take a mathematical genius to work out that student debt is likely to linger into middle age.There have been tragic stories of suicide amongst young people unable to bear the heavy burden of such a large debt at the beginning of their working lives. In addition, many more young people are forced to return to their parents’ homes after college, because they simply cannot afford to pay rent, never mind consider taking on a mortgage.Is there a way in which to reverse this trend? On an individual basis it is certainly possible to set up an extra stream of income and one of the best ways of doing this is to establish a home business. However, anyone planning to do so needs to do a considerable amount of research beforehand.The internet offers a huge array of business opportunities, many claiming to make participants wealthy without doing anything resembling work. Whilst it is much easier to establish a business online
Killer App
With over 400 million Internet users, building online relationships and communities could be that killer application. But there are many great reasons for creating an online community. Maybe you want an online version of your existing offline community or maybe you want to create a new internet-only community. Or maybe you want to bring together all of your clients and customers in one place.
Providing a viable, safe and dynamic place for your clients and potential clients to share, tells them you CARE about what they have to say and that you VALUE them. And this has real mileage: you'll stand out from the crowd with extra selling points compared to your competitors. You'll develop a reputation that people will regard highly, remember and recommend to others. Building an online community could seriously impact on the success or otherwise of your idea.
Online What?
Don't fall into the trap of 'if I build it, they will come'. Having a chat room or message board on your site is, in itself, not enough to build community. To truly create a community your participants should:
feel they have reason to belong to it - maybe they're interested in wood carvings and came across your community of
Are you a financial wiz? Are you good at accounting and numbers? Great at accumulating and saving the money you’re currently making by working for someone else? You may have what it takes to make it in the financial world with today’s financial business opportunities.If you want to get started working for yourself in the financial field, check out the latest business opportunity leads. Many of these opportunities can be found on the Internet. There are so many resourceful sites dedicated to future entrepreneurs and startup businesses looking to create their self-made wealth. Many of these opportunities and ideas are geared specifically to the financial services sector. Begin by looking for these types of sites and you’re sure to find these types of business opportunity leads in no time. You can start your own financial business and in turn create your own financially successful future.If you’re savvy enough, you can build a lucrative business by offering mortgages, loans, and other types of financial services. Maybe you’ve played around in the stock market and have had enough personal financial success that you can offer your own investment advice. Some of the latest business opportunity leads even involve becoming a high priced accountant or overhead reduction specialist. I
Providing a viable, safe and dynamic place for your clients and potential clients to share, tells them you CARE about what they have to say and that you VALUE them. And this has real mileage: you'll stand out from the crowd with extra selling points compared to your competitors. You'll develop a reputation that people will regard highly, remember and recommend to others. Building an online community could seriously impact on the success or otherwise of your idea.
Online What?
Don't fall into the trap of 'if I build it, they will come'. Having a chat room or message board on your site is, in itself, not enough to build community. To truly create a community your participants should:
feel they have reason to belong to it - maybe they're interested in wood carvings and came across your community of like-minded enthusiasts on your Carvings Are Us! company website, and feel that by belonging to it their needs are accommodated - like picking up some excellent advice on the subtleties of wood carving design.
Key tools to help build your online community include:
Polls: users submit their "vote" on topics on the site. Polls are a great way to gain feedback, but they don't allow members to share any thoughts behind their vote.
Chat: chat rooms can provide an excellent place for real-time exchange - for anything from technical support to just casual chit-chat. If you do add a chat room make sure you have a good mix of free-flow and structured chat for your users.
Message Boards: another venue for members to exchange ideas and comments that can become excellent information banks. Unlike real-time communities, you have more control of the content. Choose a message board which best reflects the structure of your site. And use consistent labels and groupings to achieve the best fit.
Mailing List: a great way for you to communicate with your members without having to add community components directly to your site. It's also a cool way to test the community waters, as members can share their ideas with one another via e-mail.
Whatever tools you use should be integrated into your site to maximize its interaction and value. Make sure you explore all the options on offer to find the best mix for you and your idea.
Building community requires heart, a nurturing understanding and bags of energy. For your online community to have value and be appreciated, your users must feel they contribute, that they are involved, and, above all, are appreciated.
So exactly what does online community building mean and what does it take to make a community successful? It's all about 'stickiness': repeat visits and an active membership depends on it. Site stickiness is crucial, especially for a small business, as you've invested a great deal of time, energy and money in your site. Every penny counts, so the last thing you want is to have a site that no one uses. Adding community can give your site features that will encourage repeat visits. People like to see responses to their ideas and suggestions, and by providing the venue they will return.
Party, Party!!
Worried about what an online community for your idea might actually be like? Well, it isn't really any different from hosting a party. When you go to a party, the host welcomes you, introduces you to some of the other guests and serves you food and drink. Great!! Basically, the host makes sure your needs are met, you are enjoying yourself and feel real comfortable.
Building your own online community is not so different. You need to give a similar level of attention to your users as you would to guests at your party. Your users should be greeted when they join your community, made to feel comfortable and a part of what's going on. They need to feel involved. And you need to continue this throughout their visit.
Getting that Community Ball Rolling
As you mill around that party, you discover other interesting guests to talk to. Some of them have similar likes and loves as you. Brilliant! The starting point of many conversations is often 'how come you're at this party', or an invitation to join in the conversation.
The same holds true in your online community - make sure you provide interesting topics and questions to your users to act as a catalyst for chat. New users should be welcomed and invited to share something of themselves. Your moderators (if not you) should
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