The Silent Avatar Speaks

Last post I spoke about securing your downloads for your ebooks, audios, or software. You will read in the post that I settled on DLGuard to do the job.

I also said that when I installed DLGuard I would let you know my verdict on how it installs.

Well.. here’s what I found when I installed it….

Its dirt easy!

DLGuard comes with an executable file which guides you through the whole set up process. It’s as easy as following the steps. The only action you take outside of following the steps is:

1. Setting up a mySQL database, and
2. Deleting your “install” folder” when you have finished
3. Creating your autoresponder list
How easy is that?

After installation you simply point your browser to the admin url and login with your username and password.

The interface when you log in is not overly slick, but then sometimes basic is good (it saves confusion).

My task was to secure an 7 audio products and 7 physical products, using PayPal as the payment processor, and integrated with Aweber autoresponder.

So.. how easy was this to do?

Setting up the audio downloads was easy. Again, when you “add a product”, the screen guides you through the process (just fill in the appropriate blanks). Selecting the payment processor was as easy as selecting it from a drop down box.

Working out how to add a “physical” product which requires shipping was a little trickier, and try as I might to search the form I couldn’t see any reference to how this was done, so I contacted DLGuard support and had an answer the same day.

By adding the text ” — This item will be mailed to you” in the download URL field, DLGuard bypasses the need to give a download link and instead prompts for a delivery address. This is done through the “PayPal Advanced Options” – “Extra PayPal Codes”, and inputting the following: “no_shipping=2″

Integrating Aweber was a simple task of logging into the aweber account and creating a new list.  This list name (yourlistname @aweber.com) then is input in the “Aweber Automatic Sign Ups” field.

When someone purchases from you their details are automatically added to your aweber list.

So as far as I am concerned, this little piece of script that works behind the scenes to secure downloads is a real gem. I can set the download time and the number of attempts before those accessing the download link are “locked out”.

The beauty of DLGuard assigning the number of download attempts goes a long way to stopping files being passed on during the access time. DLGuard won’t stop those who pass on the download to their friends, but it does offer a first line of defence against pirated downloads.

I’m giving it two thumbs up!

Check out DLGuard here

I’m the Silent Avatar and I have spoken

Tags: Tools For Your Business, Web Design, Web Development by the silent avatar
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I know it’s been awhile since I last blogged. I’ve been overseas, had surgery in Thailand, moved 4 times, and only now getting back into the swing of things. It’s been a hell of a 6 months. When I get a spare minute I will share some of the stories from an Internet Marketing perspective about my travels.

Until then… I’ve been asked to create a website for a company who sells digital media (self hypnosis MP3’s), so part of my design of the site is checking out what options are available for securing digital downloads.

Of course undertaking a search of download software or download scripts is the first part, but the more important part is finding out how the available products perform, looking at price relativity, and ease of installation.

I tend to give a lot of credibility to the comments made through forums. Reading comments can generally give you a pretty good feel if the product does what it says it does, or falls short in any areas. Posters are usually ruthless with their critism, and generous with their praise.

After looking at the available options to secure downloads, I ended up selecting DLGuard. It’s got a lot of great features and the price is adffordable (and you have licence for two sites)

I’m not going to rattle on here about what DLGuard can do – just go to the page a have a look at the features, and when I install DLGuard I will post here how I went installing and how it performs.

Click Here! to go to DL Guard Home Page

I’m the silent avatar, and I have spoken.

Tags: Tools For Your Business, Web Design, Web Development by the silent avatar
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Every business owner knows that the key to success is how well you market your business. Your business is not any different. Your success depends on your marketing strategies.

There are many different marketing techniques, all with their own price tag attached to them, and no matter what your business you will need to develop a marketing plan that generates sufficient customers to reach your goals. No customers = no sales = no growth = failed business. Even if you are not growing you are failing as there are many other businesses to step into your shoes and take your spot.

Using many different marketing techniques will quickly drain your bank account. Your first goal will be to determine how you can reach the most people for the least amount of money.

Here is one internet marketing technique that is cost efficient and a little more adventurous for you the “Business Owner.”

Become an Expert

What is your business? Look around at your competition. How do they present themselves to the general public? How can you present yourself differently?

Go buy a local newspaper, local magazine, listen to your local radio station; watch your local TV station. Are any of your competitors currently marketing themselves as an expert in your field? Too often we get bogged down ion our own business to keep in touch with what other businessess are doing in the marketplace.

I suggest you contact your local media and discuss the various ways that you could work with them. Local newspapers and magazines will have opportunities to write “Advice” articles. Local radio and TV stations may have talk shows that could host you weekly or monthly.

Contact the various local organisations that are looking for speakers for their monthly luncheons. Your Chamber of Commerce is an ideal place to start. Join your Chamber and get an article about you and your business published in their monthly magazine.

Study your customers and choose the type of media that would reach them. Talk to your current customers and ask them to give you their opinion about which area you should market in. Find out what they listen to and what they read, and what organizations they belong to.

What type of personality do you have?

Make sure that your personality matches your marketing strategy. Radio and TV would be a perfect match for you if you enjoy speaking in front of people, have an outgoing personality and a voice that carries well. Newspaper and magazine article writing will be perfect for you if you do not enjoy speaking in front of groups.

Becoming an expert in your area of business will not take years to achieve. Stay on top of the latest news about your business. Subscribe to trade publications to keep informed about new trends. The Internet offers many ways to stay informed on any topic.

The key to becoming an expert is to take the knowledge you have and the new information received and decide how your customers can benefit from this information. Not all news is beneficial to your customers.

Your goal is to cause your customers to look at you as the one to come to when they need what you are selling. You want them to refer their family and friends to you.

Don’t be shy. Go out there and market yourself as the expert that you are. The more exposure that you receive, the more exposure your business will receive.

I’m the silent avatar and I have spoken

Tags: Internet Marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Online Business, Promotion and Marketing, Tools For Your Business by the silent avatar
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If you have been following along in my previous post “How To Get Motivated and Stay Motivated”, you will find this is a continuation where I discuss how to keep your momentum when you are the sole person responsible for your success.

If you haven’t read it already, go now and read up because you will find this post a better “fit” after you have read it.

Now having said that, lets push on…

So here we are… just starting out in a our ”work from home” business where it usually starts in some dingy den, or cramped study where the relationship is just between you and your PC or laptop.

Now if there is one thing I have found about working from home, it is that you have to be disciplined.  Even more so if you are “it” (that is, no one else to delegate tasks to).When you work from home distractions come thick and fast, and before long you can find that your day is whittled down to a couple of productive hours interspersed with paying your bills, sending emails to friends, eating, making coffee, shopping, general surfing the Net, and oftentimes playing Solitaire or Spider!  Does this sound familiar to you?

Even if you are working a full time or part time job to supplement your income, the time you DO have generally reads like the above paragraph (you just don’t waste quite as many hours doing it).

So what’s the answer?

Well, having been there and done that I could seriously see where my days efforts were all but naught when I kept giving priority to “other things”.If you are like me and are easily distracted, then consider this one of those things that makes you FAIL. In essence, you are not moving forward (well not at any speed anyway), and some days (as far as progressing your business), you are merely standing still.

Remember  what I said in the previous post?  “If you are not moving forward, you are either going backward or standing still”.

So let’s get to a technique which is sure to keep you on track.

1. Decide how much time you CAN devote to your business EACH day. Be practical. If you have to pick up kids, maker dinner, shop, pay bills, do laundry, watch your favourite show on TV, and the million and one other things that our daily life requires, factor these in when you decide how much time you can afford to spend on your business. If you don’t, these tasks will encroach upon your “business times’ and you will be less effective in growing your business.

Now that you have decided how much time each day you can spend on building your business,  it’s time to create a timetable. What?!

2. Create a timetable.If you think about it our bodies are on a timetable. We eat at certain times, get up and go to bed atr certain times, we might even have certain times of the week we do specific things (like catch up with family). All of these things happen because we are in the habit of doing them at certain times.


If you want to eliminate the time wasters that stop you from getting to where you need to go you need to become an efficient time manager.  If you are someone that is already baulking at doing this exercise, then it is definitely for you.

When creating your timetable, brainstorm what time you are going to work on your business.Look.. I know this may be anal to some people, but there is a very good reason you are deciding what time you allocate to your business. It’s all very well saying you can devote a couple of hours a day to growing your business, but if you don’t commit yourself to a time to grow your business by setting aside specific time periods you will have difficulty keeping your commitment, and fail (or at the least take a lot longer to grow your business). 

 

Think about when the best time is to knuckle down and get focused on your business – for YOU.

3. Set your tasks (aka priorties). That is, do what your business MUST have done first.  So now write down on your whiteboard ALL the tasks your business requires to GROW. You don’t need to get into specifics at this stage.

Now look at the tasks and put next to each task a Priority Rating.  Use whatever you like. High, Medium, Low,  I-10. Whatever you feel is appropriate which when you look at it quickly you can see where your focus needs to be.

So.. here is what you might end up with on your whiteboard…

Time spent each day = 2 hours. When = Monday/Wed/Friday 8-10pm

Tasks:
Create Unique Selling Proposition (USP) = 1
Create Website = 2
Monetise site = 3
Drive traffic to site = 5
Create auto responder = 4
Search out JV’s = 6
Advertise (PPC, Print Media, CPA) = 7

Now you could look at the task list and say “but they are ALL priorities!” and that would be true. Without all of the tasks completed you will have more difficulty growing your business, however you have to start somewhere, and if you have the resources to hire a freelancer, you can move your business along quicker and delegate some of the tasks.

For instance, if you have the money to advertise on Adwords or similar, you can potentially drive traffic to your site without having to tweak your website using Search Engine Optimisation tactics, or having a really top notch website. However…. if you don’t give serious thought to how your website retainsthe site visitor that you have PAID for to get there, and they simply leave the site without doing what you want them to do (ie, buy, sign up, give details, etc), then you have wasted your money.

4. Commit to working on your highest priority task, at the time you have set, on the day/s you have set and do it religiously. No excuses. Only do this task. Stay focused. Don’t wander, sidestep, or get drawn into doing other things if it is not related to your task at hand.

Doing this will keep you on track, utilise your time better, and move you towards completing your task quicker.

So there you have it. 4 Steps to growing your business and keeping yourself motivated.

To summarise…

1. Determine how much time you can realistically devote to growing your business
2. Create a timetable of when you will work on your business.
3. Set your tasks and prioritise
4. Stay focused until completed on each task

When you have finished your task,move onto your next priority. If you find you need to do other things add them to your list and re-prioritise.

TIP: Re-focus on your priorities. If you have to write yourself a sticky note with the words “Re-Focus” and stick it in front of you then do it!

If you have any of your own tips or questions about this post, please leave your comments.

I’m the silent avatar… and I have spoken

Tags: Business Tips, Business and Management, General, Tools For Your Business by the silent avatar
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