Martha Retallick, “The Passionate Postcarder,” hails from Tucson, Arizona, USA. She is the author of Postcard Marketing Secrets, a downloadable PDF manual will show you how to put postcards to work for your business–profitably. Learn more about it at:http://www.PostcardMarketingSecrets.com

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Defining a quality group is not as easy as it looks. You first need to conduct the research into meetings, type of attendance etc. The next thing you want to know is the size of the group. Size does count as a smaller group will not often have enough leads for each individual. You should also make sure that the level of the person belonging to the group is at the appropriate place. By level we mean: is the person belonging to the group an influencer on decisions or are they the person that makes the actual decisions? Often with these groups, it is the salesperson that attends, and they can only suggest something to the decision makers. The decision maker does not necessarily need to be the CEO, but it is likely that they are part of the administrative executive. Do not waste your time with groups that do not have access to the decision makers.

Influencers can have some effect, but in the long run, if they cannot get you in front of the decision maker, you are most likely wasting your time. Be picky about the quality of the group you may eventually join; if you are to bring leads in and they are to offer you leads, make sure the quality of the group is where you need it to be. For example, do not expect high level consulting business from a printer-paper salesperson. It is not likely they will know who you need to know.

Even though quality is important in a group, quality can be found in various types of groups that you will come across. Quality may be defined in several ways. First is the quality of the attendees and the level of decision making they have in an organization. Second is the quality of the leads that are generated by the attendees. The leads need to be of some value and they need to include an introduction to the company needing your services. Let’s take a closer look at some of the types of groups that could possibly fit your needs.

Group Survey

Name of the group

______________________________________________________________

Where does the group meet?

______________________________________________________________

Day and time of meetings (is it weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly?)

______________________________________________________________

Group Size ___________________________________________________

How many people do you know in the group? __________________

Group Focus _________________________________________________

Decision Making Level of the participants

______________________________________________________________

Are there exclusivity requirements? ___________________________

Number of Leads expected:

Receive in a month __________ Give in a month ________________

Further Comments

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite, She decided to find the best ways to get people’s attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the "Networking Queen".

Blueprint for Networking Success: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprint for Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in June 2005. For more information visit http://BlueprintBooks.com

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1. Printing your own checks is easy. With the newest computer software that is available, anybody can figure it out. The programs can work with your other business software, eliminating exhaustive input.

2. You have control. Outsourcing your payroll and other payments to another company will come with unwanted issues. By printing your own checks, you have the control.

3. It’s easy to make changes. Using another company to print your checks creates many lines of necessary communication. All of this communication takes time, which takes time away from your small business.

4. Personalization. There are many options for you to personalize your business checks. Choose many styles or you can create your own. Place your company’s logo or watermark on your checks to create your identity.

5. Options. Whatever type of check is right for your accounting needs, you have plenty of options. There are three-per-page checks or full-page continuous feed computer checks. All styles are designed to work in your printer, laser or ink jet.

6. Versatility. When you lose or gain new employees and need to make changes to your payroll, you can do it yourself. There is no delay in the changes when you have the control.

7. Cost. Taking on responsibility for your books will allow you to save a few bucks. Business checks and software is fairly inexpensive and will reflect a savings on your bottom line.

By rolling up your sleeves and jumping into your books will only take a few minutes a day. Buying your business checks will present an opportunity to save time and money, allowing you to focus on the reasons you went into business to begin with.

Robb Ksiazek is a successful author and publisher for http://www.checks-4u.com. He has researched and written hundreds of articles and can simplify your online search by recommending merchants for the best value and selections in business or personal checks, address labels, rubber stamps and envelopes.

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Proper keywords and placement on your Website is crucial to your search engine rankings. After preparing your list about keywords well, you should begin placing those keywords on your website. But, which part on the website should it be placed?

1. Title Tags

As you open a front page via the web browser, the Title tag would appear on the top of the front page as usual.

As for the search engine, the Title tag is vitally crucial. Comparing with other parts on the website, the part of search engine stands high proportion for the Title tag. So, to put keywords into this tag is the turning point of heightening the vision scale of search engine. Besides, the Tile tag would also appear on the searching result of search engine and then be hyper-linked to your website. Therefore, that the Title tag is described well or not relates to if browsers can be drawn attraction to click your website as choosing from numerous searching results. And Title tag is the first description that people can read as searching results are shown via search engine; thus, make the Title tag easier as possible as you can so that people can realize what your website is about.

2. Meta Description

Meta Description is kind of HTML tag and mainly used to describe the content of the front page. But these years the Meta tag isn’t arranged into the running rule of operation analyses because that isn’t as important as the Title tag. But we still suggest readers to compose the Meta tag because certain search engines would manifest the content of Meta tag in the searching results. That is to say, it can be the attraction for web browsers to click and read materials inside. Remember the description cannot be exaggerated; otherwise, as web visitors browse your website but find out the content isn’t like what you describe, he may recede soon.

3. Meta Keyword

The keyword tag isn’t that crucial as the Title tag and Meta description. But if correct keyword tags can be noted down, it may do good. As one types keyword tags, he should choose the keywords which relate to content of that front page to avoid surplus, irrelative or duplicate keywords. This tag won’t be read by people in common condition except for the search engine.

4. Headings

Headings are words placed between —– in HTML tag and mainly prompt browsers what the main content is and for the search engine, it stands in the pivotal place for the search engine.

5. Context

The ratio of numbers of keywords to words on that front page is called keyword density. Your keywords should appear in the appropriate website content. When it comes to numbers of times and frequency, you can search for the keywords you want to optimize in the search engine and compile statistics about the density of top keywords on the website.

To protrude keywords on the website appropriately will be helpful for the ranking of website in search engine. But, excessively modifiers may be considered as Spam by the search engine. By: Bill Naugle Visit: Websiterankingtop.com

Copyright 2006 Bill Naugle

About The Author

Bill Naugle has been writing articles, press releases and ebooks to help Webmasters achieve success in search engine rankings. He has written on many subjects. He started writing on the internet in 2001. http://www.websiterankingtop.com/

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So whether you are designing a simple flier or developing a plan for a strategic partnership you can increase your chances for success by following these five tips.

1. Develop Your Marketing For Your Potential Clients ? Not Yourself.

What looks good to you may not necessarily be appealing to your audience. It’s OK to ask your friends and associates for feedback ? but their comments are only relevant if they are members of your target market. Also ? just because everyone else advertises in a certain way is not a proof that it works.

2. Provide Answers To These Three Critical Marketing Questions:

QUESTION 1: What’s this about? Check that your materials immediately and clearly communicate what you offer, who it’s for and what’s the next step you are asking them to take.

QUESTION 2: What’s in it for me? Don’t make your audience guess about what’s in it for them by leaving this information out or hiding it in the small print at the bottom. Use clear language free of industry jargon. Describe your offering not from the perspective of what you do but in terms of what the clients will receive and how they will be better off as a result of it.

QUESTION 3: Why should I listen to you? How will you establish credibility with your audience? Include your photo and prominently display your contact info. Present case studies, statistics, endorsements, testimonies from satisfied clients. If people don’t believe you they will not respond to your offer.

3. Always follow the proven A.I.D.A. format.

ATTENTION Use a powerful headline that grabs attention. Don’t try to be cute, don’t expect that your prospects will take the time look for a deeper meaning in your clever slogans ? they won’t. So be as direct and to the point as you possibly can. If you can boil the essence of the benefits you are offering to just one short sentence what would it be? That’s you headline!

INTEREST Now that you have their attention you must quickly build your prospects interest. Use subtitles, questions and short stories to illustrate and communicate how well you understand their needs. This is a good place to allow your audience to connect with the pain their problems are causing them.

DESIRE Technical descriptions and numbers provide information but don’t incite action. Your marketing must arouse in your prospects the emotion of desire. Show your audience how a solution is available and achievable to them through doing business with you. Offer powerful performance promise and eliminate the risk of giving you a "try" by a strong guarantee.

ACTION Without this part your marketing is like a salesman who gives a great presentation but forgets to ask for the order. Give your prospects a compelling reason to take action. Make your offer so incredibly irresistible they simply cannot refuse!

4. Follow up, Follow Up, Follow Up?

Over 80% of all sales are made after the prospect has heard from you at least seven times. Yet a typical business person gives up after just one or two follow up contacts.

Plan your follow-up steps in advance. Use a combination of mail, email, telephone and personal visits as your follow-up strategy. At each opportunity provide your potential clients with value ? this way they will forgive you the intrusion.

5. Develop a System

Most entrepreneurs and professionals waste their time and money on one-shot, fragmented promotional tactics. They practice "hit and miss" marketing system; they try a strategy and abandon it before it has a chance to produce any results.

Instead of developing new marketing strategies look for ways to improve the ones your are currently using. When you find a promotional strategy that works for you build a system around it so that you can consistently implement it over and over again.

Following these tips will make all the difference in the world between struggling to get clients and becoming wildly successfully in marketing your services. They are worth investing your best efforts and getting the support you need to implement them effectively.

(c) 2004 Adam M. Urbanski

The Author, Adam Urbanski, a Marketing Mentor, helps Service Professionals and Small Business Owners attract more clients. For more free tutorial articles, hot how-to tips and a FREE 32-page marketing guide go to http://www.themarketingmentors.com

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Most people spend more time planning a one to two week vacation than they do planning their lifetime career. When planning for a vacation, you look at where you want to go, what your reason is for wanting to go to that particular place, how long it will take to get there, whether or not you want to take any side trips, what type of budget you will need, and what type of clothes you will need to take. You may also speak with people who have been there to find out a little more about the destination and activities or do some research on the internet or at the library or a travel agency.

It is important to do the same type of planning for a career. You need to take a look at where you want to go and how you are going to get there. You will need to look at: whether or not you need post-secondary education or some type of training. How long will it take you to get the skills you need? What is the best way to get these skills? What kind of money do you require for the life style you want? Think about whether or not you know anyone who is currently working in this field or if you know anyone who knows anyone working in this field. Where else can you go to find out more information?

If you are still in school, speak to a guidance counsellor and ask for information. You can also do informational interviews with people working in the field you are interested in. Another option is speaking with a career counsellor or doing some career tests.

If you are out of school, contact an employment agency to speak with a counsellor or do some personal research at the library as well as networking and making good use of your contacts.

Step Two - Prepare:

Preparing for your job search involves doing a thorough personal inventory to determine your transferable and adaptive skills. Learning more about your skills prepares you so that you will be able to tell an employer the skills you have that match the job that you would like to have. This takes time. It may involve completing a questionnaire or sitting and writing down all the things you have done over the years. This is not simply listing your job description, as most people do more than what is listed on the job description, it also involves activities that you do at home.

Most of us take our skills for granted. We are so used to doing certain tasks that we do not recognize that not everyone can do what we are doing. We also do not always recognize the skills we are using in our daily activities ? problem solving, decision making, driving, fixing appliances, preparing food, personal counseling. People may express amazement or be impressed by something that we take for granted. Listen to what they are saying. This is a strong skill for you and may be developed into a career goal.

Once you have reviewed your skills, you can work on developing a 30-second summary of these skills, also known as an "elevator speech", which can be used during a telephone contact, in your cover letter, in an interview, or when talking to friends about your job search.

Preparing also means doing research on companies you might like to work for. This research may be done at the library, through personal contact, informational interviews, reading newspaper articles, or an informal visit or tour.

The development of a targeted resume is another crucial step. A targeted resume is one which highlights specific skills to demonstrate your suitability to an employer. It provides details of your work experiences which match the skills they might require. A cover letter should also be prepared for a targeted employer.

Another part of preparation is reviewing potential interview questions and determining the type of information you want to provide or you may be expected to provide to an employer. Following this, you need to practice speaking about yourself in order to be comfortable in presenting yourself to an employer.

People often think about getting a resume prepared, and maybe a cover letter in response to a job ad, but then they forget about preparing for the interview. Although a good resume and cover letter can get you in the door, the interview is what gets you the job.

Step Three - Practice:

Practice!! How many people would step on the ice in an NHL game without having practiced? How many people would step on stage to sing or act without several rehearsals? How many Olympic athletes would compete without any preparation? Very few, if any - and yet, when we fail to practice our interview techniques, it is comparable to doing one of the above.

Practicing can take place with a friend, family member or a counsellor. There are many books available that provide sample questions and sample answers. Feedback on your interview skills may involve peers, general comments, and/or videotape. Here are some sample questions for you to use:

·Tell me about yourself. ·What do you look for in a job? ·How long would it take for you to make a meaningful contribution? ·Why are you looking for a new career? ·How would your boss describe you? ·How would your colleagues describe you? ·What were the five most significant accomplishments in your last position? ·What are your strong points? ·What are your weak points?

A videotape is an excellent way for you to see yourself as an employer would see you. You can dress as you would for an interview and have someone you know act as the interviewer. You will then be able to notice how you handle yourself, how you sit, and how you respond to questions. For instance, did you give enough information or too much information. You can also note if you have any habits you are unaware of. This will help you become comfortable in presenting your skills to an employer.

When you think of the years of training it takes a hockey player to reach the skill level of an NHL player, or the years a ballerina spends in practicing before she performs at the NAC, a few hours of practicing your interview/presentation techniques isn’t asking too much.

Step Four - Perform:

Think of your interview as a performance. You must prepare for it (research the employer, practice interview questions), dress appropriately (dress for the job you are applying for), and have the proper equipment (copy of resume, references, portfolio, and pen) to show that you are ready to do the job.

The first two to three minutes of your interview are the most important. An employer usually makes a decision based on your appearance and your opening presentation. It is important that you make the most of these precious minutes.

A smile is a big part of your wardrobe. If smiling doesn’t come naturally to you, practice in front of a mirror until it feels comfortable. Ensure that your body language doesn’t send the wrong message. Don’t cross your arms across your chest, or keep checking the clock. Check your appearance, both standing and seated, in a mirror. It is important to try to relax, but do not slouch in your chair. Don’t chew gum during your interview, and if you are a smoker, try to have your last cigarette at least 10 minutes before your interview and freshen your breath with a breath mint.

Another important point is to never say anything negative about your previous employer. It may make the employer wonder what you would say about them, and you never know who is related to whom.

Make sure that you have some questions to ask the employer. Not "how much money will I make and how long do I get for vacation?", but questions that show you have researched the employer and have some knowledge of their company. Make a list of potential questions to ask. If the interviewer has been very thorough and you can’t think of any questions, at least find out when they will be making a decision and ask if it is ok to follow up.

Here are some sample questions you can ask.

Why is this position open? What are some of the more difficult problems one would have to face in this position? What significant changes do you forsee in the near future? What are some of the objectives you would like to see accomplished in this job? What are some of the long-term objectives you would like to see completed? How is one evaluated in this position? What accounts for success within the company?

Step Five - Post-Mortem:

Once your interview is over, review it in your mind. Was there anything you should have said that you didn’t, or anything that you said that you shouldn’t have? Make a mental note, or write down how you felt about the interview. By reviewing your interview, you can prepare for the next one.

Once you get home, it’s time to prepare a thank you letter. In this letter you thank the interviewer(s) for their time and the opportunity to find out more about the company. Express appreciation for the way they handled the interview, the information provided, etc., as well as expressing your desire to work for the company. If there was anything you forgot to tell them about your skills during the interview, or any information you said you would provide them with, now is your opportunity to do so.

Don’t forget to follow up one to two weeks after your interview to indicate that you are still interested in being considered for the position and to check on whether or not a decision has been made. If they have hired, and you are not the successful candidate, ask permission to call back in case there are any other openings in the future and let them know that you would like to be considered.

Remember that you usually have to go through about 200 “no’s” before you get to a “yes”. Try to keep positive about your job search by sticking with a routine and talking with as many people as possible about looking for work. Let everyone know that you are currently unemployed and tell them the type of work you are looking for. Attend workshops on Job Search or consider joining a Job Finding Club for extra support during your job search.

Fran Watson is a Career Counsellor, Workshop Developer/Facilitator, Coach, and member of Toastmasters. You can find out more at www.franwatson.ca where you can also sign up for her FREE ezine, “Fran’s Facts and Findings”.

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If you’re guilty of using puffery in your business plan, you risk filling your plan with circumstantial evidence and bold claims that won’t do a thing to market your business. These frivolous claims add nothing to help an investor decide whether your business venture is truly any different from the other ventures they are evaluating. To weed out general, non-provable, inane claims, you need a plain and simple puffery sensor. And, here it is: whenever you make a claim in your business plan ask yourself this question, “Will investors really believe this?”

Let’s take as an example a business plan for a car dealership that included these claims:

• “We’ve got the largest selection of Ford cars and trucks in the entire city.”
• "We’re the largest volume Ford dealer in the southwest.”
• “We sell more Fords than anyone else in the state.”

Seasoned investors read right over this kind of hollow puffery in business plans. They’re to the point that they expect entrepreneurs and business owners seeking investment monies to say anything and everything in an attempt to impress them. In fact, one of the great pioneers of action-oriented advertising, Claude Hopkins (Tested Advertising Methods: http://testedmethods.bizplansecrets.com/) often drew this analogy to describe the use of general, non-provable, inane claims in advertising and I’ve found it equally applicable to writing business plans: “Platitudes and generalities roll off the human understanding like water off a duck’s back. They make no impression whatsoever.”

Aren’t puffery, platitudes, and generalities all the same thing? You bet they are. And if you believe Mr. Hopkins, these kinds of statements roll off the human understanding like water off a duck’s back. They make no impression whatsoever. I don’t know about you but if I’m spending my money and time writing a business plan to raise capital for my business, I want it to make an impression!

Here are some other examples I’ve seen in business plans. A commercial realty company says, “We Go The Extra Mile For Our Clients.” It’s puffery. How about this wonderful statement regarding a consulting firm’s competitive advantages …”Knowledge. Expertise. Determination.” That’s it. That’s the first line! That’s their big “hook” to get investors to part with their money and back the firm’s business plan. They might as well not list any competitive advantages. Then there’s the construction management company that claims, “We fine tune the process to create unique building solutions that function better, cost less, and open sooner.” Don’t get me wrong. All of these sound like fine benefits. But do you really think investors believe this? If you play the puffery game, it can cost you your credibility, lengthen or even prevent you from getting funded. Avoid these kinds of statements in your business plan - they make no impression whatsoever on potential investors.

Now, suppose this construction management company explained their "unique" process, provided cost comparisons, and gave the actual length of time to complete their last twenty projects against industry standards for similar projects. And, suppose they provided customer testimonials to back their figures. Would this be more believable? More convincing? See the best remedy for puffery is hard verifiable facts and evidence. The same type of facts and evidence that you would want a defense attorney to present to a judge and jury on your behalf if you were on trail and facing death row. Okay, I think we beat puffery to death already; it’s pretty straightforward. To summarize, let me repeat Claude Hopkins’ quote: “Platitudes and generalities roll off the human understanding like water off a duck’s back. They make no impression whatsoever.” So use the puffery sensor as you write and review the statements in your business plan. Simply ask yourself, “Will my potential investors really believe this?” If the answer is no, dig deeper for the evidence that will convince them.

Article by Michael Elia ? mike@business-plan-secrets-revealed.com. Mike is a CPA/MBA, visit his site http://www.business-plan-secrets-revealed.com for a free business plan guide and more articles on business plans.

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Today, it’s time to ignore that conservative nature and throw out that fixed rate mortgage. If you have a home, no matter when you purchased or refinanced your mortgage, you now need to refinance your fixed interest rate mortgage to an adjustable rate mortgage.

Now, before you begin to panic and start calling me all kinds of unsavory names, read on, and you’ll see why an ARM is actually a cash goldmine, and you need to start panning for this gold immediately.

When I was originating loans fulltime, I could barely get the word ARM out of my mouth, before the customer would say, "Oh no! I don’t want an adjustable mortgage. I’ve heard how the rates change and your payment skyrockets, and some people actually lose their homes. No, no, I don’t want my rate to change." Of course, once I illustrated the thousands of dollars they would save in just a few years and quashed all of those myths about loan payments "blowing up," most of them decided the ARM was not the "devil loan" it’s made out to be.

But why risk an adjustment of your rate, you may ask, when you can have it fixed for the life of the loan? The answer is twofold and quite simple. The first part is the most important, and that is the average American either sells or refinances his or her home in four to seven years. So, if the chances are that you’ll sell or refinance in five years, why fix your rate for 30 years at a higher interest than you can get on an ARM?

The second reason to get an Adjustable Rate Mortgage is because the interest rates are so much lower than fixed rates. And since these great rates are fixed for a particular period, five years on a 5-year ARM and three years on a 3-year ARM, there really is no risk, at all. Again, in most adjustable rate mortgage programs, the interest rate does not adjust monthly or yearly (although programs with these types of adjustment periods do exist at much lower rates).

For example, as of publication of this article in 2004, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage was going for around 5.75%, and a 5-year Adjustable Rate Mortgage was going for about 4%. Suppose you’re financing $100,000. The 30-year fixed rate of 5.75% would give you a monthly payment of $583.57 (not including your taxes and insurance, which vary from state to state and county to county). The same $100,000 financed at 4.0% interest yields a monthly payment of $477.42. The difference in these two payments is $106.15. This is $1,273.80 each year, and $6,369.00 for five years. I can hear you saying, "Wow, that’s hard to believe," but these are real numbers and real savings. You may be saying, "Sure, but the rates change." This is true, but the difference in the fixed rate mortgages and the ARMs is almost always the same, regardless of what rates the market bears, so you’ll always save a ton of money in the difference in these two payments.

The numbers are even more staggering if you finance $150,000. The fixed rate payment is $875.36 and the 5-year ARM payment is $716.12 ? a monthly savings of $159.24 and over $9,500 for five years. If you buy or refinance a home and finance $200,000 or more, you’ll save between $13,000 and $15,000 over five years, with the 4% rate as opposed to the fixed rate of 5.75%.

Bank that money and you can buy a decent car for cash, or pay for a year of college, or take a European vacation. Pretty powerful stuff, huh? Now, if you’re one of those people who is really into cutting into the term of your mortgage, and you can afford the higher fixed-rate payment, simply apply the difference back to the principal loan amount. You’ll build equity in your home very quickly, and you’ll always have the option of paying the lower payment.

So, get your adjustable rate mortgage today, and start using your own personal goldmine.

Mark Barnes is author of the wealth-building system, Winning the Mortgage Game and other investment real estate books. He is also a suspense novelist, and his new novel, The League, will thrill both suspense and sports fans. Learn about Mark’s wealth-building system and get his free home loan course at http://www.winningthemortgagegame.com. Learn more about The League and read an excerpt at http://www.sportsnovels.com

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Not long ago I attended a call with some of the top journalists working today. And I learned that not only do 79% of these editors find their sources and their story ideas from blogs — a healthy number start their day by reading their favorites. An editor from Wired said he actually spends TWO HOURS PER DAY reading blogs.

Wow!

So that means, platform builders, we need blogs that are media savvy. Here’s my Top Ten list of Things the Media Savvy Blog Must Have. (Remember, our job is to make the media’s job ridiculously simple!)

1. Use keyword-rich headers and descriptions, And make sure you make those same keywords your categories. This is why I’m always harping on how important it is for folks to spend time building their keyword list — and researching it on sites like Overture and www.wordtracker.com

2. Feedblitz. Gotta have that little subscribe box in your upper right hand corner. Then Feedblitz sends the subscriber an email with an excerpt every time you post. Available at www.feedblitz.com

3. Sitemeter. The preferred counter among those who know because it spits the only number that matters, Unique Visitors, your way once per week by email. How convenient! www.sitemeter.com

4. Link to your Media Page. A simple typelist link in the margin will do it — there’s a great example at Andy Wibbel’s blog/site at www.andywibbels.com I love how Andy is a master of simplicity. Link this to your media room on your regular site. (What’s a media room? Where the media find you, of course!)

5. Set up a sign up form that downloads a digital freebie. Find a system that supports it — my favorite is 1shoppingcart.com, which collects the data and then delivers an autoresponder with download links in it. This is a great list building tool.

6. Use pictures. I think they make the blog seem more readable, and appealing to the visual types. I get good fr.ee.graphics from Google (just click the Images link after you do a search.) Also there are some great cheap shots to be head from www.istockphoto.com which are only one dollar apiece.

7. Lots of links in posts. It’s not only blog etiquette, it’s a way to attract SE spiders and bots to your blog posts. They love content rich blogs with lots of outgoing links.

8. Write with brevity. I’m working in this. Make shorter, more frequent posts to drive SE traffic. And keep your blog as casual and ‘free wheeling’ as it’s meant to be.

9. Typelists — copy in the margins — that have visuals and important short captions drive traffic to site. I get a great sales conversion rate from my blog because people like my product shots in the margin. Small, snappy covers will do with a bit of short descriptive copy.

10. Audio clips. In this, the age of podcasting, it can’t hurt! You can create audio links through sites like www.audioblog.com

Copyright 2006 Suzanne Falter-Barns

About The Author

Suzanne Falter-Barns

Download Suzanne’s free list of 50 Top Publishing & Media contacts at http://www.getknownnow.com . Drop by her blog at http://www.painlessselfpromotion for almost daily tips on how to get known now the easy way!

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What disturbs me the most is that many of them are talented and skilled professionals; real experts in their field. With just a bit of marketing know-how they may have been able to generate healthy six-figure incomes doing the work they love.

Instead, they spend tons of money getting more certifications. They are becoming "master technicians" mistakenly thinking that alone will get them clients. But that’s not how it works at all!

Let’s take the coaching profession for example. You see, prospective clients don’t even know the difference between ICF, CTI, Hudson, Adler, CoachVille or any other certification. They have no clue what CPC, MCC or other letters you might be putting behind your last name mean ? nor do they care! What they care about is results ? what benefits they’ll receive.

There’s a lot of talk in the coaching community right now about certifications, and while I agree it is important, it doesn’t matter one bit if you don’t have clients! Plus, you can be the most educated, certified, qualified, and professional coach out there and still struggle to stay busy.

You might think that’s common sense, right? WRONG! I see coaches drop thousands of dollars in a blink of an eye to get another certification and agonize for months over a hundred dollars investment in a marketing course!

The good news, unlike getting certified, learning a few simple marketing strategies doesn’t have to cost thousands of dollars. And it can make all the difference in the world. As a matter of fact, here are my top four "practice marketing secrets" absolutely free.

Marketing Secret #1 ? Know Your "Ideal" Client

It’s critical that you know who they are, what their biggest problems are, how they make decisions, what they like to spend money on, where they hang out, etc. The "narrower" you describe your ideal clients and the more you know about them the easier it becomes to get your marketing message across.

Marketing Secret #2 ? Become An Expert

And I don’t just mean be good at what you do. Heck, you should do that anyway! I mean position yourself as an expert in a specific area.

For example, you might be work with C-level executives in the insurance industry, or teach sales skills to realtors, or do turn-around consulting in manufacturing, or help working young mothers achieve life balance, or become a dating guru. Whatever makes you tick ? just focus on one thing!

Marketing Secret #3 ? Use Multi-Step Marketing

This is where I see so many professionals completely blow it. If a potential client doesn’t sign up for your services what do you do? Forget about them? I hope not! You work hard to get new leads and meet potential prospects so why give up on them? Many people simply feel uncomfortable doing business with someone they don’t know too well.

You should have a systematic way of keeping up with them ? for years, if that’s what it takes. Let them get to know you, your company, and your services. You never know when their situation might change and they might be ready to sign up.

Marketing Secret #4 ? Get Help

Just like your clients need your help, don’t be afraid to get help in the area of business and marketing. One of the most idiotic things I hear from professionals is "I should be able to do this myself." Have you ever seen a brain surgeon operate on his own brain tumor. After all ? he should be able to do it himself, right?

About 4 years ago I was struggling with closing sales and was really frustrated to see my potential clients hire other experts even though I was a lot more qualified to help them. I got the help of a successful sales coach. His advice not only quickly produced results to pay his fee but it also allowed me to make trips to my bank a lot more often.

There you have it ? those are my top four secret marketing tips. OK, so maybe they are not so secret after all. In that case ? I’m sure you are already happily working with all the clients you can possibly handle

(c) 2004 Adam M. Urbanski

The Author, Adam Urbanski, a Marketing Mentor, helps Service Professionals and Small Business Owners attract more clients. For more free tutorial articles, hot how-to tips and a FREE 32-page marketing guide go to http://www.themarketingmentors.com

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