Good directions to focus on your business efforts
May 4, 2009 by World Publish
Filed under Business
If you want to succeed in your online business, there are some very basic tips that will apply to any type of online venture. A home based business required a lot of self discipline, but it also requires a good direction to focus your efforts. These should help you get started.
1. Take care of your potential customers - Any communication you receive from a potential customer should be answered promptly and courteously. That first communication from a customer is almost like an audition. They may have a question, but they are also testing you to see if they would like to do business with you, not your company, but you. They want to know who is behind the web page.
2. Be persistent - Be determined to make your business a success. You will likely encounter set-backs, but keep working to overcome them. If you chip away at the walls that appear in front of you, you will eventually tear them down.
3. Don’t expect instant success - It will take time and effort to make your online business a success. Work hard and take the necessary action to make your business work. In the end, your hard work will pay off.
4. Create a budget for your business - It is very rare that you will make your business a success without spending some money along the way. Set up your plan for how much you will spend in any given area, so you do not overspend without realizing it. Don’t be afraid to rethink your budget allocations if you see that they need to be changed.
5. Promote aggressively - The only way you will make money in your business is if people are aware that it exists. You have to spend a majority of your time and energy marketing and advertising your business. Do your research and try out different ideas, then put more effort towards the ideas that work. Your goal is to make sure as many people know about you as possible.
6. Never stop learning - Every day is a chance to learn how to do thing more efficiently. Keep your eyes open for news ideas and strategies to implement. Look for tools and techniques that will help you.
7. Communicate - If you have business partners and employees, communicate with them often. Talk to them about decisions and the direction of the company. Also, talk to them about any idea they may have and look objectively at their suggestions. They may see something you have overlooked.
8. Believe in your success - If you believe that you can do this, you will inherently work harder. You will set high goals and standards for yourself. You will not give up easily.
Remember, by following these steps, you will greatly increase your chances for success. You can do this. Grow your business!
Marketing and audio
March 7, 2009 by World Publish
Filed under Marketing Tips
Putting MP3 audio files on the Internet isn’t something new or recently invented, technology, it has been making noise online for quite a number of years, but has never had been quite so popular and talked about as it is in today’s internet market. There is definitely a buzz around it today.
When I first started multimedia design seven years ago, MP3 audio files were already spread around the Internet. MP3’s popularity rose rapidly after Napster released their P2P file sharing network program in 1999.
Because the MP3 file size is much smaller then ‘MOV’, ‘WAV’ audio format, and has better sound quality, it didn’t take too long for MP3 to become a major digital audio format of Internet.
Today, it continues to dominate the Internet’s audio market, and has remained unchanged as the best choice among digital audio music formats.
Historically, there was a lack of Internet speed and the size of computer hard disks and ROM’s were relatively small and expensive. Especially MP3 files had to be converted from ‘MOV’ or ‘WAV’ file formats and the audio recording, editing hardware and software was very complicated to use, as well as very expensive and only professional studios had deep enough pockets to purchase.
Therefore, it had never been an easy tool for Internet marketers and web developers to use to their advantage. I can still remember the struggles to compress the audio files, and balancing the quality of the sound, to make it 28.8kbps modem compatible.
Very few business websites had web audio in their website, and the ones who did were only there as background music. There wasn’t any marketing purpose or strategy behind it. It was largely designers showing off their ‘advanced tricks’, trying to impress their employers, essentially an ‘e-toy’ for website designers.
Today, the Internet bandwidth is no longer a major impediment to Internet multimedia data transferring. Technology continues to evolve at lightning speed, computers now have massive capacities and the price of hardware has dramatically dropped, making it possible for web hosting company to provide a large amount of server space for website owners to store and transfer audio and video content, at an enormously low cost.
But the price of audio editing software remained relatively high, with more advanced features, but still posed a barrier to Internet marketers who intended to make audio a part of their Internet marketing.
This presented an opportunity for Internet Marketers and software developers. Together, they have worked out these issues, limiting seldom used advanced features, keeping only the most utilized, and developed a much more simple software for web audio recording.
This new web audio software and related services has been sold and used by Internet marketers and online business owners throughout the past few years and the results are quite convincing.
Some have claimed their sales conversion rate to have increased by 40) just by adding the audio sales litter on their web page. Can this be true? I will discuss this in more depth in another issue, but absolutely, web audio and video added a new ‘depth’, a new dimension to Internet marketing. It is mainly used for audio newsletters, web audio sales letters, audio testimonials, recorded tele-seminars, raining materials and more.
It is a very simple piece of software. If you know how to talk, and how to click, you can record your message and put it online. No experiences or technical know-how necessary, no special equipment needed, except a microphone connected to your computer.
I still use the advanced Pro version audio/video production software for my complicated projects, but I like to use this small, and feature-focused software for the smaller single task projects, because of the simplicity and the time saving. And the price of the software is so cheep!
For those who don’t have a computer, can’t figure out how to plug in the microphone into their computer, or are too lazy to do so, some marketers have even designed a telephone system for recording audio files for them.
You simply pick up phone, dial their number, record your message on their system, and they will deliver your audio file to your website. But you have to pay a monthly fee for your laziness, and you still have to pick up your phone and dial the number.
Some dedicated web hosting companies, such as the one I use, ThirdSphere, also jumped onto this new trend, including related features in their service package to gain sales. It provides Flash Audio Generator, Flash Video Generator software, and helps web designers to convert their pre-recorded audio and video file to a lightweight FLV file to be put online.
As a new highly effective Internet marketing method, streaming web audio and video will continue to grow in the Internet marketing realm and continue to grasp at Internet marketers and visitors’ attention for a number of yeas, until the day when all sites on Internet have a voice and talk to us.
Internet Marketing and Web 2.0
March 7, 2009 by World Publish
Filed under Internet Marketing
If you’ve ever been involved in a small business, or possibly even a home-based business then you’ve most likely hit the brick wall, just as many people do. No, I’m not talking about start up capital, or operating expenses, because starting a home business is actually one of the most affordable ways for the average person to break into the world of business, and break out of the world of 9 to 5 slavery.
The brick wall that I’m referring to is that of creating exposure for your products and services, and generating traffic for your web sites, presentations, and business briefings. In fact, one can very quickly find themselves pulling out their hair with shear frustration and confusion.
What once was a world of duplication, manipulation, and old school marketing, has in a matter of a few short years been swept aside by those on the cutting edge of the Internet landscape. The cutting edge of what has become the world of web 2.0. Unfortunately, despite the trends, most people really do not know what web 2.0 really is.
Of course, it’s cutting edge, it’s now, it’s happening, but are you using it?
Don’t get me wrong, web 2.0 Internet Marketing is not rocket science, but you do need to be armed with the basics. Just putting a few video clips on your site, or tossing up an audio file or two that people can access or download does not make your site a web 2.0 experience. In fact this has been done for years, but what does make it web 2.0?
Here are a few things to consider before jumping head long into the world of web 2.0 Internet Marketing, and possibly a few suggestions that may make your transition into this world a bit easier.
Architecture of Participation
The first element of a well-designed web 2.0 experience is something called the Architecture of Participation. You might also hear things like RIA (Rich Internet Applications), or even SOA (Service Oriented Applications).
Despite the use of fancy buzzwords, this simply refers to the user experience. Is the site pleasing to the eye, easy to use, and most importantly does the site make it possible for visitors to participate in the content of the web site?
This could best be demonstrated by taking a look at sites such as YouTube.com, EzineArticles.com, as well as social networking sites like MySpace.com. Each of these examples has a very well planned Architecture of Participation.
Mash Ups & Integration
The next element of a true web 2.0 experience is often called the mash up, or content integration. This is actually quite simple. Again, going back to sites like MySpace.com, you’ll see that participants can implement many different sources of web content. You’ll not only see video and audio, but you’ll also see blogs, comments, and networks of friends. Many sites will also integrate content from multiple sources or sites onto a single, new web site that generates fresh content on the fly, ready for eager site visitors.
Mashing multiple streams of content onto a new web site is where the term Mash Ups actually came from, which here again, is not rocket science when you determine what content your visitors might like to see, hear, or read. It’s simply a matter of pulling the appropriate content and mashing it up into one convenient place.
Social Networking
Finally, social networking is a big part of web 2.0. Of course, it’s deeply routed in the Architecture of Participation, and it almost always implements the mash up to create unique content, but the unique factor in social networking is that it’s designed to bring like minded people together.
Networking is the key to building successful long-term business relationships, but if you’ve ever hit your friends and family up with a business opportunity, you’ve probably discovered that they’re not always as like-minded as you might have originally hoped.
Tapping into such social networks can put you, and your business or opportunity in front of literally millions of potential prospects and future business partners, and because you are networking with like-minded people, you’re not forced to go old school when it comes to pitching your opportunity or product.
Over all, web 2.0 is a major departure in traditional marketing, and is light years beyond the days of mass mailing and classified ad submission. It is a whole new mindset in terms of building relationships, by simply rethinking the design process of your next web site, and oh yeah, the best part is that web 2.0 will cost you absolutely nothing to implement into your business.
Basically, the key to web 2.0 Internet Marketing is in the user experience. Gone are the days of sit and stare web sites. With a little creativity, and a touch of web 2.0, it’s now possible to turn a one way experience into a two way stream of communication, which is the key to any business success.
Business Online
March 7, 2009 by World Publish
Filed under Business
The best role of business online is that of interdependency. We’ve all heard the old saying, ‘No man is an island.’ When it comes to online business this is especially true.
If a business owner who takes their business into the online world determines they will be self reliant and never accept the help of anyone then that individual will not be in business long enough to change their minds.
It is accepted fact that the greatest tool for long-term exposure to your website is through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Without it potential customers can’t find you. It is unreasonable to expect that you can adequately develop a website without optimizing your website for the best possible search engine ranking.
Search engines also place a high value on sites that have links placed on existing sites. These ‘backlinks’ demonstrate to search engines that others trust your site. By placing your link on their website these other businesses indicate a trust and recommendation for your site.
In effect the two strategies listed above rely exclusively on what others can do for you when it comes to your online business.
Shirley Temple once proclaimed in her movie Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, ‘I’m very self-reliant.’ American westerns are filled with lines dealing with pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and holding down the fort. Many of us have grown up to believe if we want something done right we have to do it ourselves.
This thinking is in opposition to the rules associated with an online business.
The online world can only exist because people share. Individuals share technology, but the also share links, reviews, blogs, forums and a wide range of other marketing strategies that find a commingling of interdependency.
In online business you are as dependent on others as they may be on you. Unlike the word ‘dependent’, the term interdependent indicates a mutual dependency. In other words you are depending on others to help provide links back to your site while they are equally dependent on you (or others) for the success of their business.
Have you really taken a proactive approach to networking? It’s possible you are reading this today and you’ve never considered asking someone else to place a link to your site on his or her online business site.
It can feel awkward depending on others to achieve online success especially if you’ve been lead to believe reliance on others is also a sign of imposing on their otherwise brilliant generosity.
I suppose it could be a deep-seated sense of pride that makes it hard to consider the need to ask others for help. However, the truth is depending on others is really what has made the Internet possible. The growth of this online world is comprised of a link of computers, networks and servers that are connected in a way that provides the maximum benefit for all.
Building an online business can feel a bit like trying to build a house of cards. Without the ability to rely on the other ‘cards’ around you it is virtually impossible to build.
Interdependence. This is the essence of online business.
