The Silent Avatar Speaks

If you're into Internet marketing then maybe you can relate to to the title of this post....( or am I just being a touch sensitive to others marking shite loads of money straight from the wallets of "newbies", and anyone else looking ... looking .... looking ... to make a quick buck? (sorry successsful online business). Let me explain... My email inbox has been (yet again) bombarded with product launch emails. If it wasn't Mike Filsaime's Traffic Fusion at $1495 (oops $1497) , it's Rich Schefren's Guided Profit System (at $2495.. oops $2497), or how about ... Look.. I'm not saying that these "systems" are not worth what they are asking for.. but either people are being crazy and digging deep into their wallets until they hit their credit card/s (Ker Ching),  or I'm just a tad disillusioned with the whole "up the ante lets rake in the money while we can game". In the space of 3 years I have seen product launches go from $97 to $497 to now $1497 and Rich's latest offering at $2497! Put your wallets away.. there is nothing that these guys can teach you that you can't find by some diligent surfing of the Internet. Yes.. It may take time, but how about putting that $2497 into a BIG advert in your metropolitan paper and see what that gets you. How about thinking strategically about where you spend your money for your online business? How can this money be best spent right at this time to move me towards where you need to go? $2497? Think about it... a shite load of PPC! Just monitor your competitors, their ads, and see if the same ad keeps coming up week after week, after week. If it does? Just duplicate it with your own branding. Look.. no one keeps paying for PPC if it isn't working. $2497? How about paying a crack SEO dude to really ramp up your site and get the traffic flooding in? $2497? Rent a Billboard for a week (or how ever long it gets you), in the most prominent spot in your city and stick your web address on it (and a "tease offer". $2497? How about outsourcing all the stuff you've never finished, never got around to, always wanted to add to your website, or have them blog like crazy for you, submit articles, research a niche? Hell for $2497 I could bring on board an outsource from from some far flung land that is prepared to work for months for me for that sort of money. $2497? How about hiring a PR dude to get you to speak at a Wealth Building Conference? (not for the faint hearted but definately doable). $2497? For that I could catch a return frlight from Australia and knock on Rich Schfren's door and bug the hell out of him day and night until he sat down with me and talked turkey. Now for all those reading who like to spend money on "Personal Development", I say "You go girl!" (or guy). I am definately an advocate for learning more of what you need to know about yourself, your self sabotaging patterns, and if you need to pay $2497 to find out what your constraints are then go for it. Hell..  wel KNOW what our constraints are TIME and MONEY. But I'll give you the link to shoot on over and sign your self up if you really want to... You can do it here: https://ssl2.strategicprofitsystem.com/gps/ For $2497 I could get a one on one with someone like Rich Schefren for .. hmmmm.. maybe an hour or two. Do you think I would pick his brains to bits.. do you think I would tell him what I want to do and then ask him "How do I get there". Do you think I would have a list of questions..take a recorder... video... do the whole shebang (and even take 'em for lunch is that's what was required?) But you know what?..... Do you really need to know what you don't know?  Or ... do you just need to know that you don't know, and get someone who to find you the information you don't know? It reminds me of a story I read once.. it was about the guy Ford.. (you know the one.. the guy who made the first car.. the "Model T"). The story goes like this... Henry Ford (congrats to those who got it right), wagered a bet with a friend that he could answer any question his friend put to him and get the answer right. The friend accepted the challenge, and up for grabs was a considerable amount of money... The friend asked him the question (insert your own wildly insane, hard as you can, bet you don't know the answer question 'cause it doesn't really matter what the question was he was asked). The point is this... Henry Ford picked up the phone, called his personal assistant, told him the question, and said get back to him with the answer. Touche! Mr Ford! Did he NEED to know the answer? No. All he needed to know was how to find the answer, and he only had to pick up the phone and he had his answer. Do you get it? You work hard for your money.. damn hard. Make it work for you, and stop making others wealthy, because now you know. PS. This post comes with a disclaimer. Rich Schefren is the only man who I have got up at 4am in the morning to join a live video seminar he was hosting. The man's a legend. However  he relies on people not to think about what else their money could buy. His list is so big, his contacts so far flung, his wealth (well.. I'll leave that alone 'cause we know he's not short of a dime) that he has at his disposal people just like Mr Ford had.  In a nutshell he has gotten rid of his constraints to building a successful business by finding out what he needs to know and then getting others to do the groundwork for him. How on earth do you think he manages to conduct workshops, teleseminars, run Strategic Profits, do product launces, and the thousand and one other things this guy does? $2497 for the Guided Profits System?  Now it's a choice not a "must have". I say.. Ease up fellas.. our wallets are not that FAT (and I'm not about to make yours fatter). Of course, if you agree or disagree you comments are always welcome :-) Sphinn

Tags: Advertising, Business Tips, Internet Marketing, Online Business, Promotion and Marketing, Web Design by the silent avatar
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Small Business Web Development Service One of the main responsibilities of a small business web development service it to make sure the client has a website that sells. A website that can convince prospects to purchase their product or service. Sometimes it is can be tricky getting a client to do what is best for their bottom line. But a small business web development service is like a doctor or lawyer. A small business web development services can not help a client if the client does not take the advice of the small business web development services. The number one responsibility of a small business web development services is to educate the client. It is better to not make a business deal then to make a business deal when you know the client is not going to be happy, or get good results. There are some that want a very "pretty" website, but fails to convince their prospects to purchase from them. Not only that but they make it almost impossible. The prospects arrives at the website, but don't know how to buy from you. First, you will want to check that people can find your order form easily and hassle-free. You can write a clear, concise paragraph to direct your prospects to your order form so that you can minimize the chances of them getting lost. You can also reduce the chances of losing prospects by putting a prominent link to your order page from every other page on your site. Also some people may feel comfortable paying via Paypal, some may only want to pay with their credit card and others might want to send a cheque. The more options you offer, the better your chances of covering your prospects' desired payment method. On the other hand, you will want to prove that you are a credible merchant. Is your order form secured using encryption technology? You would want to look into SSL for this. You can also offer a money back guarantee so that people will feel confident about buying from you. How about after sales support? Who do they contact when they have problems after purchasing? Alternatively, you can add customer testimonials, your contact information, address, and so on to boost your prospects' confidence. Make them feel safe about buying something from you, a total stranger to them on the other end of the Internet. As a conclusion, it would be very pitiful if you sold hard and sold well to a prospect and something goes wrong when he or she is ready to pay. Eliminate any chances of that to maximize your profits! At Silent Avatar Web Solutions you can rest assured that all of your website need for your business will be taken care of in a very professional manner. I'm the Silent Avatar.. and i've just spoken :-)

Tags: Internet, Online Business, Promotion and Marketing by the silent avatar
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What is a Marketing Plan? A marketing plan contains a list of actions needed to accomplish marketing goals. It may be for a product, a service or a brand. There are marketing plans for short term goals - 1 year, and long term goals - five years. A marketing plan could be part of an overall business plan format. A good marketing strategy is the foundation of a good marketing plan. Why does a Small Home Business require a Marketing Plan? A marketing plan can help a small home based business owner to focus his marketing efforts. It ensures a systematic technique to developing products and services to meet and gratify customers' needs. How to create a Marketing Plan Creating a marketing plan is not hard to do. Center on the content and do not fret too much about the writing style. Center on the goals and the initiatives required to realize them need to be stated clearly in the marketing plan. Bear in mind that a good marketing plan sets clear, realistic, achievable and measurable goals. It should provide deadlines, a budget and allocation of responsibilities. Marketing Plan Outline A basic marketing plan outline may include these topics: Current Market Analysis Explain the current market condition which the organization is in. This can later be used as a benchmark to tweak the marketing plan in the future. By using a marketing plan SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis and also the PEST (Political, Economic, Social, Technological) analysis tools, write a basic description of the current product or service offering, the marketing advantages and obstacles the business could experience. Consider the threats posed by competitors and also consider other factors that could affect the company in the year ahead. This will help in the formulation of strategies later on. Target Market Certainly every product or service needs a market. This explains why customer analysis in marketing plans is of paramount importance to its success. The product could be directed at the internet market as well as the offline market. It could be directed at the general public or it could be directed at a niche market. For an online market the analysis should include internet shopping stats.Once a target market is chosen, write a target market profile based on demographics and include qualifying benchmarks. Marketing Objectives List the company's marketing goals for the coming year. The goals should be specific, realistic and measurable in order to asses the marketing progress. Avoid unspecific statements like, "Increase indoor sales." Include specifics instead - "Increase indoor sales by 25%." Strategies to Achieving Objectives If the marketing aim is to grow indoor sales by 25% then a strategy has to be devised to meet this objective. For instance, there could be special a promotion for walk-in consumers. This promotion may be marketed via an emailed weekly newsletter to consumers. The strategies should be comprehensive and cover the 4P's of marketing - Price, Product, Place, Promotion. Marketing Budget Executing marketing strategies to reach marketing goals costs money. Create a breakdown of marketing connected expenses associated with the strategies. Have a look at the numbers and decide if it is too big. Do not be afraid to rescale or revise the budget until a viable figure is attained. Keep in mind that a marketing plan must remain a constant process throughout the life of a company. Marketing plans should adapt to changes in environment in order to remain applicable.

Tags: Online Business, Promotion and Marketing by the silent avatar
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Hello readers, We all have dreams and aspirations for ourselves.... things we want to do, or become. I thought it was about time I found out exactly what you are trying to achieve online (yes YOU, reading this now).  You maybe be faceless, but as a reader of my blog I take a great interest in how I can help you get where you want to go. Seems like a pretty straight forward question, but I guess like most people you haven't really sat down and defined what you want to achieve. And by that I mean have you got clear about what you want you want your end result to be from your online efforts? It seems that while the motivating factor to doing anything online is to make more money (any there are plenty of ways to do this), the people who seem to make the most money are the ones that have a clear defined goal and a passion for what they do. Yes.. goal setting takes time, and we get caught up in the "hows" of what we are trying to achieve. Goals must be measurable, and have a timeline. For instance... a good primary goal will be a statement like: "By the 31st December 2010 I will have 1000 readers of my blog, and be a online speaker at Internet Marketing Events. That's what I want to do. That's my goal. Call me crazy, but I enjoy public speaking. Notice too how the goal is measurable and has a time line. Either I will be  doing what my goal states or I wont. Either I will be doing it by the time I stated, or I won't. How to achieve this becomes a series of secondary goals.  Your secondary goals define the "how" to get to your primary goal. So what's your goal for your online business? My aim through this blog is to allow you to tap into the years of knowledge which I have accumulated about internet marketing, affiliates, web design, and of course general business sense. Are there others online who can give you this information? Sure. But each of us have our own unique problems and questions and it's not always possible for our own unique questions to be answered. If you have a question for me that you would like answered, just post a comment and I will answer. My passion is working from home, having escaped the rat race and daily grind of working for a "boss'. It's taken 3 years of dedicated commitment to do this and I treat what I do as a "business". Initially, a significant amount of this time has been taken up just getting a handle on the "who's who" of internet marketing, and the strategies they use to build a business.  I'm now at the stage where I am time poor and have to start outsourcing work, but the good thing is I have recognised that the trade off is more time for me to do what I do best. Just recently I was watching the Oprah show and there was a discussion about enjoying what you do, and it boiled down to this. Do what you love and nothing else. "What?" Yes. The focus has to be on what you do best, and let others do what you don't like (or would take too much time to learn). I would love to know how to code websites, but is this part of the bigger picture and will it take me towards my primary goal? No. I like that idea.  What about you? You want to be or do what? Post your comments and start thinking about what you want to achieve. "Dream it. Live it. Be it"

Tags: Hot Off The Press, SEO, Tools For Your Business by the silent avatar
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