Avoid These 5 Web Site Blunders!
April 30, 2009
The Web is intended to help people find information quickly and easily. So why do so many sites make it difficult for users to get what they need? While neat design can add impact to your message, make sure the message itself doesn’t get lost in the mix.
As president of a copywriting firm that writes and edits dozens of online projects a year, I’ve come across several common blunders that prevent effective communication via the Web. Here are my top five:
BLUNDER #1: Hiding who you are and what you do.
It’s sad that many sites make it a challenge to figure out what they’re about. Yes, it may be cool to have a giant dancing logo on your home page, but don’t forget WHY your visitors are there: to learn what you can DO for them!
Be sure your home page includes a *short overview* that clearly and concisely describes what you have to offer. It’s also a good idea to repeat your tagline or a short mission statement on *every page* of your site. Why? People can pop in and land on an inside page via a search engine/directory link that you may not be aware of. Make sure they know who you are right away.
Making Money Amongst Murder and Mayhem
April 29, 2009
Making Money Amongst Murder and Mayhem
by: Nicholas Dixon
It’s official. My country is the murder capital of the world. In 2005, nearly 1700 murders were committed in Jamaica. That’s more than the amount of soldiers who died in Iraq last year and that is frightening indeed.
But what does murder and mayhem has to do with making money? For me it is waking up knowing that today could be my last day. It inspires me to make the most of every opportunity that I come across.
Many of us do not experience physical murder and mayhem, but it could be taking in the mind right now. One example is being trapped in the rat race of the working world. Mind you though, working for someone is not bad, but it becomes so when your job restricts you from doing the things you have always wanted to do.
What is your passion in life? Are you living it? Then you are slowly killing your soul. What are you good at? Make a list of your passions and then select one or two that really appeal to you. Now do some research and find out what kind of business revolves around your passions.
5 Leadership Power Principles!
April 29, 2009
95% of Workers Fail Because of This…But They Can Fix It
Did you know that your career success is based on your mastery of one important skill?
Failure to apply your leadership power usually prevents you from realizing success in the workplace.
The organizational chart may not show you as a leader but you can act like a leader if you choose to do so.
Leadership power is the primary cause of successful outcomes, great achievements and evolutionary progress.
Most people think only executives, presidents and generals possess any leadership power but the facts reveal another truth - power is held by those who know where to obtain it and how to share it with others.
The problem with many of us is this - we need to learn how to empower our skills, enhance our competence and energize our leadership power.
Power Principle 1 - Invest in your Infrastructure!
Your infrastructure contains the elements that will make leadership power available to you. You must invest the time and effort needed to build a strong, capable infrastructure.
=> Element-1 - MODEL SUCCESS - study the leadership methods of great leaders
Combining the Mind and Effective Goal-Setting
April 28, 2009
Goals are of vital importance in our lives. Many of us spend our lives without any definite purpose, simply drifting from place to place. Setting goals help us to focus our lives and to advance confidently in a definite direction. Without them, I don’t think our lives can truly be complete.
If you are looking for proof of the importance of goals, you need not look any farther than two pivotal studies on success and goal-setting, one completed by Yale University and the other by Dr. Lewis Terman of Stanford University.
In the first study, Yale University kept track of their graduates during a 20 year period and found that the 3% who set goals were worth more financially than the entire 97% of the students who did not!
In the second study, Dr. Terman of Stanford conducted a study of 1,528 students all with IQ’s above the genius level. His study found that intelligence had nothing to do with success and financial acumen but that goal-setting did!
Planning to Realize Your Goals
April 27, 2009
Recently, I wrote about about creating specific, compelling goals that pull you towards what you want in your business, career and life.
It is important to have a goal written down, and it is equally as important to the write down the reasons why you want that specific goal. The drive to accomplish your goal is in the reasons why you want it.
With a specific goal in mind you have your target, and by being conscious of your reasons, you will maintain the drive to accomplish it. The final thing you need is a plan.
Some people are natural planners. They are able to look out over time into the future and visualize the actions and events that need to happen in order to get what they want.
For some of us though, this doesn’t come as easily. We like to fly by the seat of our pants, or “wing it” as they say.
Generally, people who like to wing it are not as comfortable dealing in the realm of details and specifics. They are classic “big picture” people. They like concepts and ideas, and are good at creating vision and setting strategy, which makes for a good leadership.
7 Marketing Lessons I Learned From the Muscleheads at Golds Gym
April 26, 2009
Can I share a secret with you?
I love working out. So much that several years ago I considered a career in fitness. I modeled for Reebok and Ironman magazine, made it to the final round for hosting a fitness TV show, and I moonlit as an aerobics instructor and personal trainer for several years while I figured out how to get out of my day job in publishing.
Now that I make a great living online as The E-zine Queen, I still make time for my health. And I’m lucky to live close to the most famous gym in the world: Gold’s Gym at Venice Beach, California. On a daily basis, I’m surrounded by bodybuilding legends like Lou Ferrigno and various men named “Gunther,” athletes like Kobe Bryant and Jennifer Capriati, and celebs like “The Rock”. The place is an absolute circus, and I enjoy the entertainment factor.
When I first joined Gold’s two years ago, I didn’t pay much attention to the “muscleheads” - the professional bodybuilders. But I’ve come to realize they can teach us a lot about marketing and business success. Here are 7 lessons we can all learn from.
Power Pricing - Getting the Right Price for Your Products and Services
April 25, 2009
There’s an old joke about the New York City blackout. Power was out everywhere, and the electric company couldn’t figure out what was wrong or how to fix it. Finally, they decided that the only one who could solve the problem was a long-retired worker who knew the system inside and out. He came out to the power plant, looked around, picked up a hammer and tapped one of the generators.
Suddenly, lights came on all through the area. Overwhelmed with relief that the problem was solved, they asked how much they owed him. “$20,000,” he replied. $20,000? For tapping with a hammer? “Well,” he said, “tapping with the hammer is $10. Knowing where to tap is worth $19,990.”
There are a couple of lessons to be learned from the joke. First of all, the value is higher when the problem still exists than after it has been solved. After all, if told he could restore the power for $20,000, officials would have written him the check immediately, without question. Afterward, the problem wasn’t so urgent–it was solved. Quote your price and get agreement while the customer still feels the urgency (and the pain that you will remove). That’s when the value is highest to them. Your agreement can include conditions and guarantees, such as the results you will obtain, and deadlines, if they want assurances about results.
How To Delegate for Fun and Profit
April 24, 2009
Ah, the wretched pain of delegation. It comes easy to some people. But others ? you know who you are ? would rather undergo a double root canal than hand over a task and walk away from it.
The good news is that this is a disease you can recover from. And the better news is that when you choose to give up control you benefit along with the delegatee.
As with most things in my life this knowledge was hard come by for me. I had just received a huge promotion to a project which was mind-numbingly large. The first day on the job I asked the assistant of the woman I had replaced why he thought she had had difficulty. He said that she had been unable to delegate; had given him virtually nothing to do and had only emerged from under her staggering workload to complain about how overwhelmed she was. This was sobering news for me as this was also my M.O. at the time. I figured I needed to change ? and fast.
The Absolute Basics of SEO
April 24, 2009
The Absolute Basics of SEO
by: Matt Canham
Search engine optimization is the process of maximizing the ranking of you site in search engine listings. The most important factors to consider to achieve a high ranking are: the keywords you use, your title, your description, the text of your site, and the links others provide to your site.
To begin selecting keywords, consider what words and phrases the people you are trying to reach will be searching on. When placing keywords in your keyword tag, it is best to use phases rather than single words. Almost all single words are in very widespread use, thus will not tend to produce high rankings. Keyword phrases can be better tailored to your business. Also, since phrase searches produce fewer results, people are more likely to search on them. It is also a good idea to produce a list of keyword phrases for every page of your site. If you must include difficult to spell words, it is a good idea to include some common misspellings of these words as well.
8 Sales Lead Generation Methods
April 23, 2009
I’ve been getting lots of email from my readers lately. And one thing that I hear often is that people need more sales leads.
In order to generate sales leads, you need three things:
- A written profile of your target prospect,
- A list of suspects containing potential prospects,
- A method of reaching your sales prospects.
In this article, I am going to discuss eight proven methods of reaching your sales prospects.
Complementary Partner ReferralsI put this sales lead generation method first because this one generates the highest quality sales leads. How you do this depends on the market you are in. There have been a lot of articles written about networking through chamber and association meetings, so I won’t rehash that here.
If you are selling business to business, you want to strike up relationships with sales reps from companies who call on the same businesses as you do. An example is if you sell an information technology consulting service, then partner with a few computer systems hardware vendors. These reps call on the same customers as you and you complement each other by sharing leads and information about customers and prospects.
