The Elements of a Great Headline

The Elements of a Great Headline
The sales headline is the vital part in any sales letter. Even if you have the best testimonials and income statements your visitors can not be convinced if your sales headline is not eye catching. For that reason it is absolutely imperative for you to learn on how to write a good sales headline.

The following are factors you should consider when writing a sales headline.

For your sales headline to be powerful you need to include various psychological triggers. Psychological triggers are the words which have been proven to stir up emotions.
In addition to the psychological triggers, you need to ensure that you have interesting conceptual hooks in your sales headline. For example if there are some specific features that your product has and no other seller has them in the market then you should make that your headline.

You also need to find out a way to intrigue your customers into reading it more, even beyond the conveying point. For example if you are intending to say something mysterious or to make a bold calm. This will bait your customers to read more, if only to find out that you were serious.

You need to remember to keep in mind that your headline should match up with the rest of your sales letter.
* You should make a list of all the problems that face your customer that your service or product has.
* You should turn every problem you had got in the first step into a headline.
* You should write three headlines and test each one.
* You need to add testimonials to the past users or buyers of the product if you have got any.
* You need to introduce your product from a problem point of view that your product is out to solve starting from the existing problems.

Lastly, when you are writing a powerful headline you need to remember to always test it before you launch it to determine which works best than the other. To do this you can create two sales pages and then test their conversion rate.

Copywriting Mistakes to Avoid

Copywriting isn't as difficult as some people make it out to be. But on the other hand there's nothing wrong at all by knowing about the more commonly seen mistakes in copywriting that will work against you.
Below are 7 copywriting mistakes to avoid at all costs.

1. Spelling and grammar mistakes are among the simple mistakes that affects your copy's conversion rates. It's just that things like this do not look good, they reflect poorly on you and people will judge you by it. So, easy fix is to proof your copy, make the edits and revisions you need to do, and then you're good to go. If your prospects get a feel that you haven't taken your sales copy seriously, then they'll obviously feel that your product isn't that worth it. Instead of trying to check for everything at once, you can read it once for spelling, once for grammar, once for organization, etc.

2. A common copywriting mistake is not taking care of the punctuation when writing the copy. In all your copywriting, be 100% clear about what you're saying, and take care that the product benefits are expressed as benefits and not features - tell them what's in it for them.The reason grammar mistakes are important to keep at a minimum is because you'll start creating too strong of a negative impression, and then people will extend that to how you conduct business

3. Another simple mistake that copywriters commit is that they don't have any convincing testimonials lined up in their copy. Its important to remember that people don't buy for logical reasons, all purchases are made for emotional reasons and then justified, afterwards. In order to increase their trust in your product before they actually buy it, you've to show them how the other people have benefited from it. If you don't have testimonials, you really need to get some because they'll help you to create almost instant trust and some rapport with your site or blog visitors. Having real testimonials from happy customers is a sure shot way to increase your conversion rate.

4. Use of negative words is also a common mistake people make. It all has to do with human psychology because you want to avoid creating an uncomfortable emotional state in your reader. Don't use words that make the reader feel unhappy. Avoid using words such as 'disastrous' or 'painful', instead go for positive words such as 'amazing' or 'peaceful', etc. All sales copy has strategy and tactics involved with it, and that's the main reason for using negative words - they help to accomplish the overall goal.

5. Too many copywriters think that the post script (P.S.) does not need to be included in the sales copy. It is just as vital as your headline as it will improve your conversion rate. You use post script to remind your customer about the advantages of using your product. There are going to be times when your buyer doesn't really know if he should actually hit "purchase". In those moments the P.S. is essential for getting the job done. If you truly want to make money you need to help your potential buyer want to take action and make them feel like they are buying something worthwhile from you. Its those times that the P.S. is exactly as important as your top of the page headline.

6. Subheadings, or subheads, are a tremendously important aspect of all sales copy, and there are many kinds of mistakes that can be made with them. The headline is a super-critical part of all sales copy, and you just can never not have a headline. The paragraph is used in sales copy for the same reason it's used in any other form of writing. As you write your sales copy, it will have a main body, and the main body will have different sections each of which having a subheading for it. Subheadings make it easy for the reader to scan through the sales copy before actually getting down to reading it.

7. Keep your paragraphs relatively short, no more than 5 sentences max, because any more and your readers will respond negatively. You want your reader to actually read the copy and understand, and one way to help accomplish that is to be sure to use white space in your sales copy material

Is Your Glass Half-Full Or Half Empty? How Positivity Can Change Your Life

Do you know what happy, successful people think about every day? It’s simple. They think about what they want and how they can get it. Positivity can change your life.
When you spend your time thinking and talking about what you want from life and how you can achieve it, you will feel happier and more in control. When you think about happy things, your brain releases endorphins, which give you a feeling of well-being. It doesn’t take long to develop a positive attitude.
The Importance of Optimism
Psychological tests have shown that happy people have a specific quality that enables them to live a better life. That quality, of course, is optimism. If you’re groaning at the thought of such positivity, because you worry that you can’t become an optimist, then stop right now. According to WebMD, optimism can be learned. It’s all about cause and effect. If you change your way of thinking and align it with optimists, you will start to feel happier and see results.

The Happy Find The Good In The World
There are two distinct ways that optimists deal with the world, which sets them apart from the rest:
• First, they remain focused on what they want, looking for ways to achieve it. They set clear goals and remain confident they will achieve them.
• Second, in every difficult situation an optimist will look for the good. When something goes wrong, they determine what lesson or knowledge can be drawn from the situation.
If you look for the good in someone or something then you will always find it, and in the looking, you will find yourself more cheerful.

The Power Of Positive Thinking 
Optimists seek the lesson in every obstacle. They don’t get upset and look at where they can lay blame. They control their emotions and look at things logically.

Positive thinking has several benefits to your life:
Motivation: Willpower and motivation come from a strong mind. Negative thoughts lead to negative actions. When you replace pessimism with optimism, you reshape your outlook.
Strong Relationships: Happiness attracts happiness, thus happy people attract people who are happy. If you surround yourself with negativity, you will only attract negativity. Positivity breeds trust, which builds strong relationships. Without trust, relationships cannot survive. We are hardwired to seek trust.
Confidence: Negativity spreads and can impact other attributes, such as self-esteem and confidence. The key to leading a happy life is loving yourself. Optimists laugh louder, love harder, and walk taller. They glow.
Strong Mind & Body: Negative thoughts are draining and can have a severe impact on your mental health. They can leave you struggling to get up in the morning and inhibit your ability to sleep. Fatigue leads to weakness, sadness, and a lack of motivation. Therefore, negativity takes a toll on your whole body.

Choose Happiness
You can make the choice today to see the glass as half full instead of half empty. Look at your blessings rather than noting every shortcoming. Look at the best in everyone around you, because in truth, the majority of people are honest and good. Look for the good in their actions and in their words, and resolve to be of good cheer.
It’s easy to be upbeat when everything in your life is going well. However, it’s even more important to do so when everything is going against you or is falling apart. You can still draw from your inner strength and look on the bright side of life, it will pay off in spades.

3 Magic Words That Can DOUBLE Your Sales

You should be doing this every single time you sell a product or service because it will invariably increase your bottom line. Marketers have added hundreds of thousands of dollars to their sales funnels by simply incorporating these three words into every sales system they create.  

What are the 3 magic words? ALWAYS BE UPSELLING. Every single time you sell anything, offer an upsell / downsell sequence because it can turn your original $47 sale into a $300 sale or more, simply by offering the customer additional options. 

Offer something that is complimentary to the original offer. It might make the original offer easier or faster to implement, go into more depth, offer more options, or even perform a service for them. It could be coaching, an additional information product, software, a membership program or anything else that helps the customer to achieve the result they want. 
 
What if you don't have a product or service to offer as an upsell? Then find an appropriate affiliate product that matches your original offer. And here's a secret: When a customer turns down an upsell, they are typically more open to buying a lower cost (downsell) product. It's almost as though the higher ticket item warms them up to the downsell offer. This is why car dealers and real estate brokers like to show cars and properties that are too expensive for the client. Once they show the client something more affordable, the client is more likely to make an offer than if they'd been shown the lower cost model in the first place.

2 Magic Words To Make You A Marketing Rockstar

If you want your content to be seen and shared, and if you want it to make a lasting impression of prospects, then the written word is seldom enough anymore. Let's do a test: Tell me everything you can about the person who wrote the blog post you read yesterday. Drawing a blank? Now tell me everything you can about a video you saw yesterday. Different story, right?  

What if someone calls you on the phone to sell you something you're interested in, versus someone that shows up at your door. Which one are you more likely to buy from? Assuming you're not freaked out that a salesman appeared out of no where with the product that adequately fits your needs, you're going to buy from him, not the faceless person on the phone. 

Obviously you can't visit your prospects in person, but you can do something almost as good – USE VIDEO People remember video over the written word because it engages more of the senses. If you only use the written word, you're simply not going to make nearly the same level of connection that you could have with video.  

Now then, you might be afraid to get in front of the camera. If so, you can start out with slideshow videos, animated videos or screencast videos. Then move up to videos of yourself because this is the real pay off. This is where people start to feel like they can really connect with you and they KNOW you. Remember, content is more important than quality. You don't have to be the next Steven Spielberg to make this work, you just have to be authentic with something to say that people want to hear.

1 Magic Word That Quadruples Productivity And Profits

What is That Magic Word

There are a myriad of tasks any one online marketer needs to perform, and the faster and better those tasks are completed, the more profitable the business can be. But struggling marketers who are trying to balance administrative duties, product creation, social media, customer service, formatting and uploading books to Kindle, writing blog posts, setting up JV's, recruiting affiliates, writing emails, setting up autoresponders, doing research, writing sales copy, answering emails, forum posting and all their many other marketing tasks might be better off doing less, not more.

If you've ever been on a ship, you probably noticed the captain doesn't cook the meals or swab the deck. Nor does he maintain the engines, hoist the sails, plot the navigation or the other 101 duties that are done aboard a ship. Rather, he is the pilot of the entire operation, instructing everyone else on what to do. 

Perhaps it's time you think of yourself as the pilot of your own business. Do those tasks which you are extremely good at, and OUTSOURCE the rest to professionals who excel in those areas. You will not only get far more done, but odds are the work will be completed faster in a more professional manner. And when you can quadruple your efforts by adding a few part time outsourcers, you can also quadruple your results and your profits. 

Don't kid yourself – you cannot do it all and make the kind of money you want. As soon as you can afford to, start outsourcing. It's not only one of the most profitable things you can do, it also gets you away from the grindstone and able to see the big picture so you can better navigate the waters of your business.

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Getting Better Email Open Rates

The success of email campaigns can be gauged by the number of email open rates. The more number of readers read the email, the greater chances of people taking the desired action. But for this, the readers must be motivated into clicking on the link.

Over the first few months of 2017, there has been a massive increase in the number of emails going into SPAM boxes rather than the Inbox across all email providers. One of the worst for this was GMail with its horrible platform choice of splitting your emails into Primary, Social and Promotions tabs. Awful!!

Also Aweber - the online marketers autoresponder of choice - has seen a large decrease in deliverability. Tests undergone by my mentor have revealed that you can now get a 30% increase on your emails getting into the Inbox by using ConvertKit. This is a relatively new service but one that is owned by online marketers and run with their interests at heart.

The very first thing which any reader will notice is the subject line. It is the most important factor which should resonates with the mind of the readers and should compel them to open and read the email. The subject line should be personalized depending upon the recipient’s interest, and other factors.

So creativity needs to involve creating words of motivation. The brand should make its mark so much so that the customers must set up expectations for the brand. Recipients should be anticipating the emails.

For this the services or products provided by the company should meet their current needs and interest. The recipients should know what to expect when they are opening the email and they should be made to feel that they will miss something very important if they didn’t open your email.

Apart from the subject line, lot of attraction also lies in the content of the newsletter. The content must be original along with being compelling. If the content of the email can be found elsewhere, the customers may forgo the thought of opening the email and instead going for the one of a kind content.

The content should also have valuable information which can be used by the readers. It could concentrate on the free offer, or the big discount.

Another factor which forces the reader to open the email is his relationship with the company.

Email readers fall into different categories. They can be irregular purchasers, potential clients, information hungry subscribers or existing clients. The method by which they decided to subscribe and the reason also tells a lot about the customer’s interest.

Did they find the website through a search engine or did they sign up when buying products? The subscribers who have sought for information and then signed up for the emails are more likely to open the email, when compared to subscribers who signed up while buying a product because of a pre-checked box meant for signing up which they forget to uncheck. 

A strong personality is a must for the success of the email. If the actual CEO or the marketing director is behind the newsletter, the readers get more interest in the email and the email open rates will boom immediately. The email list should be of high quality and should be well-maintained always. Also, efforts must be made in expanding the email list with targeted audiences which are more likely to open the email and take the desired action. Most of the times, long-time list members become inactive. So the list must be segmented based on list age and the inactive customers must be offered interesting incentive to bring them out of the hibernation.

The mailing frequency is also a very critical issue. Sending mails out too regularly will hamper the growth of email open rates as the recipients will get irritated, so does scarcely send mails as the recipients will not remember who you are.

The time of sending also is important. Test different time and days for finding out which time works best for every type of audience. The time of the year should also be considered here. People tend to open emails less frequently in summer which means lower email open rates. Holiday season means good email open rates for commercial emails and lesser email open rates for information oriented emails and newsletters.

The number of legitimate opt-in emails being caught in the spam filters is increasing by the day. Although the message is being shown as ‘delivered’, the end recipient won’t be seeing the email at all. Care should be taken to avoid certain words and symbols which are the cause of spam filtration. Do NOT put the word FREE either in your subject line OR the text of your email. Put a different word like zero cost or f.ree

The bottom line is to do every job exceedingly well in order to achieve higher email open rates. For email newsletters, sixty percent email open rates can be achieved and for commercial emails, about forty percent email open rates can be achieved.

5 Tips to Succeeding at Affiliate Marketing

It does seem wonderful, doesn’t it? The idea of sitting at home in your pajamas and watching the dollars pour into your PayPal account. The beauty of not creating a product, handling fulfillment and customer support, etc. but still earning a juicy commission for each sale. And of course, who can deny the joy of not working for the man… and living life the way you want to.

Such happiness… but are these merely castles built on polluted air? Is it really possible to make a 5 or even 6 figure salary as an affiliate marketer? Or is this dream only reserved for a lucky few?

Here’s the truth. Yes it is possible to build a massive income solely usinf affiliate marketing - when you do it right!
If you’re reading this, you too can do it. The only things that separate the minority who succeed from the majority who don’t, are just a few simple practices and a mindset which makes all the difference.

This article will give you 5 tips that you should follow like gospel. You can bet your last dollar that the top affiliates are using all the tips below. Neglecting these tips can be perilous to your affiliate marketing quest. Or you could take a shortcut and check out our 12-part video series that goes step-by-step on how to create an affiliate website, drive traffic to it and monetize it HERE

1. Giving up is NOT an option.
The road to becoming a good affiliate or a top affiliate is a hard one. There will be a learning curve that you’ll need to go through. You will encounter failure repeatedly and will face self-doubts often.
If you throw in the towel and quit during the hard yards, you will never see success. Success usually comes to the affiliate marketers who keep trying, keep pushing forward, keep learning from mistakes and making corrections, etc. Success is not linear.
You must have the strength to persevere till you attain success. Failure may be a setback but never an option, Keep on keeping on.

2. Build a Website/Blog
You should start a blog or website so that you can attract visitors and content. Even marketers who use paid advertising, usually have websites with simple squeeze pages and funnels.
You’ll need to learn how to build a website or a blog, create content, etc. Yes… there is work involved. You should always purchase your own domain name. Do not use free domains or blogging sites.

3. Planning is key.
You must have a plan and work the plan. Do not create a new plan every 10 minutes and hop from plan to plan. Create a detailed plan of action and follow through with it to finality. Only by doing this can you hope to achieve any success.
Many affiliate marketers get distracted. One day they’re doing video marketing and the next day they’re thinking of selling tee shirts on Facebook.
The eagle that chases 2 rabbits catches neither… It’s a good saying. However, eagles always have the good sense to only target one prey. It’s marketers who have problems staying focused.

4. Never Stop Learning
It’s tough but that’s the way it is. The online landscape is always in flux. Nothing is constant but change. What does that mean? It means you will constantly need to keep learning and adapting.
You will need to stay updated and enjoy the learning process. For example, old static sites are dropping like flies in the SERP rankings for not being mobile responsive. So, marketers had to hurry and make their sites mobile responsive because more people are surfing the net with their smart phones these days.

5. Diversify when you’re ready
Never put all your eggs in one basket. When you become a successful affiliate marketer, you may look towards creating your own products. For example, if you’re making good money promoting a digital book about tinnitus, how about getting your own tinnitus eBook created?
You could make sales for yourself, recruit other affiliates to promote your product, etc. The possibilities are endless and highly interesting.

Learn to outsource the less important stuff. Focus on working on the business and not in the business. Of course, it will take time to reach this level where you can leverage. However, once you’re ready, go for it and your earnings will skyrocket. When this happens, you will become a part of the elite marketers that you once looked up to.
It may have taken you a while to get there… but you’re there now. Give yourself a pat on the back and keep going.

How to Think of Video Topics For Your Channel by Adam Payne

Very good info, as normal, from Adam Payne to help you with keyword research on YouTube.

4 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Affiliate Campaigns

The hard truth is that if you can’t get targeted traffic to your affiliate links, your online business is never going to succeed and is dead in the water!

You could have the best sales copy, the best product and a state-of-the-art website… but if there is nobody seeing it, you’re not going to make a cent. I know because I have been there!

Once you have all the vital components in place such as a good squeeze page, offer, sales funnel, etc. then you should dedicate the majority of your effort to driving traffic to your offer. This is vital if you want your online business to succeed.

This article will give you 4 ways of driving traffic. Focus on only 1 or 2 at a time till you master them. Many beginners make the mistake of dabbling half-heartedly in several different methods and not succeeding with any single one. Focus, focus, focus.

1. SEO
Search engine optimization is like Indiana Jones finding the Holy Grail. It’s next to impossible to master it. Truth be told, Indy’s chances were higher. That being said, you should still do your best to learn as much as you can about SEO.
The fundamentals are roughly the same. Optimize your content for the keyword and related keywords. Have a keyword optimized title, descriptions, tags, etc. Things have changed quite a bit these days.
You should write for people and not the search engines. Gone are the days of keyword stuffing. Good content will keep visitors on your site longer. This increased visitor retention will boost your rankings.
If you’re buying backlinks, make sure your anchor text is widely diversified to make it all look natural. And these days have a lot of anchor text that just says things like "click here" or "to find out more" etc. Your best course of action will be to get a guide on SEO and learn all that you can.

2. Forum Marketing
This is another excellent way to drive traffic to your offers or pages. The concept is simple. You will join forums related to your niche. You’ll then lurk for a while so that you can pick up on the vibe of the group, understand their lingo, problems, desires etc.
Next, you should join in the discussions and post helpful comments and information. This will get your name out there and more people will start trusting you. In your forum signature, you will have a link back to your page.
People who have read your posts may get curious and click on your link. The more posts you have on various forums, the more traffic you will get. Do not spam the forums. Just aim for a few posts in different forums daily and let the traffic snowball with time.

3. Article Marketing
Ho! Worry not! It’s not dead yet. Things have just changed dramatically. Gone are those days when you submit a dodgy article to article directories and your article ranks. Google has gotten much smarter these days.
Now, you will need to write content that is top shelf and highly useful to the reader. You may submit these articles to sites or blogs that have high traffic. Just Google “your niche + write for us”. This will bring up several sites that need content.
Assess the traffic the sites get and approach the site owners with your article and see if they’d be interested in publishing it on their page with a link back to your site. Trust me, blog owners are always looking for content to save them having to write it all.

4. Email Marketing
Yes… the list, the money… you’ve heard it all. You’ll hear it again too. Why?
Because it is 100% true. Make sure you have a squeeze page to capture the emails of as many visitors as possible. A fantastic tool for this is ClickFunnels. It is owned by Russell Brunson who knows a bit about online marketing!!!! This is the only way you will ever have a chance to market to them again.
Over time, the size of your list will swell and if you’ve been doing things right and building trust, when you are ready to promote an affiliate product to them, they will trust your recommendations and make a purchase.

These are just 4 of the many ways you can drive traffic to your affiliate links. Choose one and focus all your attention on it. Once that works, outsource the menial tasks to maintain it and focus on a new traffic method. In this way, you will have visitors from many different traffic methods over time.

There is a 5th one which has become more and more popular in recent times - https://lakesideprofits.clickfunnels.com/optin4xbzz70t
5. Social Media Marketing
Using all of the social media platforms but especially Facebook and Twitter you can really build your online business and start making money from affiliate sales. Check out our free offer below by simply clicking the image.

21st Century Business Women and How to Be One

When the first generation of women entered the workforce in earnest in the 1970s, they succeeded in the only way they could – by imitating men. Authoritarian leadership and tight control was the hallmark of that day’s businessman, and women were not exactly welcomed into the ranks of management. Well ladies, that was yesterday, and today is today!

Forget what your mama or your boss told you, because following the rules can be bad for your career. Today’s CEO/entrepreneur can no longer tap his/her company’s full potential using a “command-and-control” style. The 21^st century business woman needs to be able to build a vision based on the awareness of economic transformation, then help her partners and staff fulfill that vision. She must draw on a wide range of skills to get to the top and stay there. Following are 7 Key Characteristics that are essential:

1. Sell the Vision: A leader with a fresh, independent plan for her company’s growth and future has a distinct advantage in luring and keeping great talent and investors. Vision is not some lofty ideal, but an obtainable concept that is easy to understand and will make the company grow to another level.
2. Reinvent the Rules: While women have traditionally been socialized to please others, the 21^st century leader knows that good girls rarely post great returns. The strong managers/owners today not only anticipate change, they create entirely new organizations that respond to shifts and search for innovation.
3. Achieve With A Laser Focus: Go where others fear to tread! Being aggressive and ambitious has long been considered male traits, but they are key qualities for new leaders. Today’s business woman has the ability to home in on opportunities that others may simply not see, and then excel in that uncharted territory.
4. Use High-Touch in a High-Tech Era: When a number of leaders are conducting business by e-mail, voice mail, passwords, and PINs, the female entrepreneur succeeds because she guides with a strong, personal, bed-side manner. Today’s business woman is just as technologically savvy as her peers, but her skill with staff and customers is “high-touch” which gives her a critical edge and separation from the “pack”.
5. Challenge or Opportunity? – Women are great at turning a challenge into an opportunity instead of using the “slash-and-burn” approach. They are able to make bold strokes, but they also win the cooperation of others in the organization in making any transformation a success.
6. A Customer Preference Obsession: In this information age which makes it easier to shop around for the best “whatever”, businesses must work harder to give people what they want before their competitors do. There is no substitute for spending time with clients to become expert at their businesses and learn their demands. Female leaders are almost intuitively adept in doing just that, and without the client even suspecting.
7. Courage Under Fire: Show me any career woman or female entrepreneur today that isn’t able to “stand-the-heat” in any tough-call situation. Their decision-making skills are rooted in a high level of confidence, because they’ve had to weather and surpass any and all “corporate” storms they’ve encountered over time.

It takes a certain mind-set and bravado for anyone to start their own business and succeed, but it’s even more difficult for a female entrepreneur. Let’s face it, ladies! We’ve always had to be twice-as-smart and twice-as-confident as any male counterpart in the corporate world. After all, if we can bear and raise the future generation, how can running a successful business scare us?

7 Steps To Achievable Goals

How many times have you heard that being successful is all down to setting goals?
It may come as no surprise to you to learn there is a lot more to success than just setting your goals.

Most of us, at some time, have been told that an essential part, if not the major part, of being successful is setting goals. If that were true many more of us would be successful millionaires, actors, parents...etc.


In this article I show you why many people fail to achieve their goals and how to be successful whatever you want or need.

1) What is a goal?
A goal is a target achievable in measurable attainable steps. It is more than just a desire or a need and has an existence of its own. A desire or a wish is less tangible and often just fleeting. Who doesn't desire or wish to win the lottery with all its millions in prize money. Very few would not but, despite the widespread desire, it is not a goal. A goal is a desire, wish or need achievable by actions you can take. It is more than a mere wish or desire.

2) How to set a goal?
Setting a goal is a process which starts with an achievable wish, need or desire. First you must decide on the following

• What do you want?
• Where do you want to be?
• Your status, career or qualifications?

A goal can relate to any desire, wish or need achievable by actions you can take.
You then break down the goal into small individual steps or actions. Achievable goals are goals where you can influence their realization and measure your progress towards them. Achieving long term life changing goals is a process of achieving, step by step, short and medium term actions.

3) What actions are required?
Goals require action on your part. You first need to decide what action is required to achieve the goal. Your first action is always to always write your goals down. Putting pen to paper, and this is one time when a real pen and paper are required, gives your goals an existence of their own.
Writing a plan is an essential step in achieving your goals - without it you will, over time, amend the long term goal to fit your reality. You will eventually reduce the goal to a wish, and wishes only come true by chance.

4) Analyse the results
You then need to analyse, and work out in detail, how you are going to accomplish each individual goal. This means writing a detailed plan of what tangible actions are required to achieve each individual goal.
These actions then become smaller shorter term goals leading to major longer term goals.

5) What steps do I need to take today?
Every day ask yourself "What steps do I need to take today?". By now it should be all planned in advance so check your plan and make sure you take each step every day. If you discover additional steps are needed add them to the plan.

6) Review your achievements every week and month
Every week review your progress for the week. Check what you've done and what you may have missed. Adjust your plan for the next week or month.
Your plan should always take into account what you will do today, tomorrow, this week, next week before the end of the month, in the next 3 months, 6 months...? Always write down your results.

7) What if things go wrong?
If goals were easy to achieve everyone would be successful millionaires. Goals are difficult because they move you outside your comfort zone to do things differently. To be successful you have to face your own fear of failure and take risks. There will be setbacks, expect them, they are part of the process.

If you are not prepared to take action towards your goals then you are wasting your time. True success comes from the daily actions we all take. Using goals ensures that all the actions you take are moving you in the direction you wish to go. Daily or weekly reviews keep you on track and applying these simple tips will ensure you achieve your goals

How To Create Your Own Info Product

An informational product can be a digital book (known as an e-book), a digital report or a white paper, a piece of software, audio or video files, a web site, an ezine (electronic magazine), or a newsletter.
Any product that's informational, instructional, or educational in nature can be considered an info product.
What we'll be discussing this week, which is how to create your own info product.

Here are a few of the reasons why information is the best product to sell online:
* It's fast to create, fast to market
* There's no inventory to stock
* The startup costs are low
* You can automate the sales and delivery process
* There are no shipping and handling charges

One of the best things about information products is that you don't need a product designer or a manufacturing plant to crank out the goods. You also don't have to spend months and months doing product development.

If you have a computer and a word processing program you have everything you need to create a best-selling info product in a very short amount of time.

Great, you say, but I'm no writer. How the heck can I get into the information business?

The good news is you don't have to be a great writer to create a great info product. If you don't have the ability to create the product yourself there are several avenues you can take to info product success.

Co-author with a writer

In my opinion, expert knowledge is much harder to come by than great writing skills. If you are an expert on a subject that people will pay to learn about, you just need a good writer to take your expert knowledge and put it in a saleable form.
I know many subject matter experts who can't write their names in the snow and many excellent writers who don't have the expert knowledge required to create an informational product that will sell. Co-authoring can be a match made in Heaven if an equitable co-authoring arrangement can be made. Co-authoring means that you both get credit for creating the product and share in the revenues.
If you are an expert on a topic, but not a writer, find a writer to co-author the project with you. Conversely, if you're a writer without specific knowledge, find a subject matter expert and partner with them to create the product.

Hire a ghost writer

A ghost writer is someone who will write the ebook for you anonymously, with the writing credits going solely to you. You supply the expertise and guidance and the ghost writer puts it in a readable format. You can hire ghost writers on an hourly basis or for a flat fee, depending on the scope of the project.
There is no shame in using a ghost writer to put your thoughts to digital paper. You don't really think all those pro athletes and Hollywood actresses can write 300 page books now, do you?

Publish a directory

Can't think of a subject that you're qualified to write about? Try compiling a directory. A directory is nothing more than a listing of specialized information that you target market to a particular segment of the buying public. For example, there is a company that publishes a dropship and wholesale industry directory that is a listing of company names, addresses, phone numbers, and website addresses. They simply have someone research the industry and compile their findings in a directory format, package it nicely, and sell it online for $27.

Sign on with an affiliate program and sell their info products

There are thousands of companies that sell informational products and most have affiliate programs that you can sign on with. Becoming an affiliate basically means you become a reseller of the company's products. You promote the product, you make the sale, the company delivers the product, and you earn a commission.

Pricing of your product

The key to creating a successful info product is this: the information must be worth far more than the price of the ebook itself. If you're charging $27 for your product, it must give the buyer many times that price in perceived value.

I asked info product expert Jim Edwards, co-Author of "How To Write and Publish Your Own eBook in as little a 7 Days" for his advice on how to create a killer info product.

Here are Jim's Top 5 Tips:

* Niche It - Make sure you are targeting a highly defined niche audience... don't try to sell to everyone. You can get a lot more money showing life insurance agents how to find more customers to buy $250,000 policies than you can trying to sell a product on generic sales skills improvement.
* Hit Their Pain - Make sure your info product hits a painful problem that members of your target audience will do just about ANYTHING to solve. The more intense the pain, the more they're willing to pay to get rid of it.
* Give Them A Taste - Give people a taste of what you offer in your info-product by giving them a sample. Just like the wholesale clubs get you to buy tater-tots in a 50 lb. bag by giving you one to try, you can induce people to buy your information by letting them read the first chapter or listen to the first few minutes of an audio.
* Entertain Them - People hate to be bored. Increase the power of your product by adding humor, drama and other entertainment elements that make them want more and more. This will not only help with future sales to satisfied customers, it will also keep your refunds down and increase word of mouth advertising.
* Keep it Evergreen - Don't make the mistake of creating a product that hits a fad or a fleeting market. Create info-products that can be updated with very little effort. This allows you to create a product once and keep the sales rolling in for years (literally) to come!

So now you have a good grounding in where to start. Good luck with your project. Remember, keep going and consistently taking action.

How to Get More Likes, Follows, Stumbles or Subscribes

How to Get More Likes, Follows, Stumbles or Subscribes

Getting more likes, follows, stumbles or subscribes at the end of the day means you'll get more traffic to your website and more money in your bank account. It also means you'll have more long-term reach to launch viral campaigns from and promote new products.




So how do you get more likes, follows, stumbles or subscribes?

Make It Prominent on Your Website

• By default, Facebook has a very small "Like" button. The same is true for the default "retweet" buttons. In fact, each social network generally doesn't have buttons that are very well optimized for conversions.
• Did you know that you can actually create much bigger buttons? Depending on the service, you might need to use a program or just get someone to do a tiny bit of code for you ($5 to $10 outsourced), but you can really make your "Like" or "retweet" buttons look any way you want.
• The same is true for subscribes. Make sure it's large and prominent on your website. Don't just put your opt-in box in the upper right corner of your website and hope someone opts in. Have them appear across your site, in your posts, any where you can really.

Use Social Proof

• Another powerful element you can use to get more likes, stumbles, follows or subscriptions is to post how many other people have already done the same.
• Are you more likely to "Like" something if nobody's liked it, or if a hundred of your friends already have?
• There are many ways to take advantage of this principle. For example, for StumbleUpon, you can display the number of stumbles you've already gotten on your website. For RSS subscriptions, you can display the number of existing subscribers.

Ask for It in Your Content

• One overlooked technique is to simply ask. Want more follows on your Twitter? Ask! The call to action is so intuitive that some people leave it out. Yet the simple act of asking for it can make a big difference.
• An even more effective way to ask for actions is to give some sort of incentive for it. For example, tell people to "Like" your page, then post on your wall if they want to enter a contest. Since there's such a strong incentive, they're much more likely to do so than if it were free.

Give People Options

• Some people will prefer to "Like" you on Facebook. Others prefer to follow you on Twitter. Others prefer subscribing by RSS or by email. Still others want to "Thumbs Up" you on StumbleUpon and so on.
• Give people the option of interacting with your website in whatever way they like. If you only have the "Like" option, you'll miss out on all the RSS users. The opposite is also true.
• If you use social proof, make your buttons prominent, ask for the action in your content and give people options, you'll have a very high visitor-to-action ratio at the end of the day.

Brilliant Business Ideas for Entrepreneurs

Business Ideas for a budding Entrepreneur

Many individuals nowadays prefer to have a home-based job rather than working eight hours each day in the office.
These are just a few of the huge array of business opportunities you can choose from.

Widen your horizons and look for more possible businesses ideas.

• Dig up magazines, journals, and other publications that might provide additional business ideas for entrepreneurs.
• Do your research on what the latest trends are. Who knows, you may find the right business idea for a new entrepreneur and strike gold.
• Try Multi-Level Marketing – Do you have the ability to persuade people to avail of products and services you offer? Do you have a wide network of friends and contacts? Do you have enough time on your hands to move around talking to people? Then you probably have a future in the world of Multi-level Marketing or MLM. This is one of the fastest growing businesses today and you can have it based right in the comfort of your own home.
• Be an eBay Businessman – This is the online version of the garage sale, if you have some things you don’t really need, you can actually earn some money by putting those up for auction at eBay. Just make sure you stick to products that you know about. You can also start making your own products such as candles, art jewelry, and many more. You can sell these on eBay or any other internet mall site.
• Be a web entrepreneur – the internet offers vast potentials for earning money. From freelance work to AdSense, there is simply an abundance of business ideas you can choose from. You can start by setting up your own website, no need to have technical know-how about web design, just make sure that the site looks good and it provides excellent content. Then, sign up for an affiliate program – this is where you will earn. Then, learn as much as you can about search engine marketing and promote your website. Regularly update your site with new content and just wait for the revenues to come in. It may not be much at first but over time, affiliate programs can help you earn a decent income – and you didn’t spend too much except your time and your knowledge.

Let’s assume that you are just about to start your own business – a new entrepreneur so to speak.

Whether you are a homemaker looking for ways to earn extra income or an unemployed person trying to start a business from scratch, there are several opportunities and ideas you can tap to start a business without spending too much capital.

The following business ideas will not guarantee instant riches within months but they have the possibility to grow into full-time businesses in due time.

Some Inexpensive Business Ideas for a new Entrepreneur

There are virtually no limits as to the choices of business ideas for entrepreneurs. There are literally thousands of options. From pizza parlors to freelance writing, from services to products, you can definitely find a business idea perfect for an entrepreneur like you.

However, which among these thousands of options are you going to stick with?

As mentioned above, you should be enthusiastic and passionate about your business. There is an adage in entrepreneurship that goes like this: “Do what you love and the money will follow.” 

However, this formula does not guarantee instant success.

Many entrepreneurs have pursued business ideas that are in line with their interests with varying degrees of success and failure.

Which business idea should you pursue?

The first step to starting your own business is to find a brilliant business idea that will make money. To find that excellent business idea, you should think creatively, even out of the box, so to speak.

You can start by asking yourself what interests you. You must be enthusiastic and passionate about your business idea. That’s why as much as possible, your business endeavor must really be in your field of interest.

You can also find business ideas from your friends and family members. You can also do some research on the internet to find the hottest business ideas today.

Another great way to think up a new business idea is to observe the latest trends. Go to Google Trends and see what sort of things are trending.

Starting a Business

Starting a Business takes a lot of thinking and planning. Finding an excellent business idea can be a daunting task - what with the different options of business ideas you can choose from. But this does need to be your first step on the road to being the master of your own destiny.