| Blitz
Ezine # 235 March 1st, 2004
Beginner Business Finances - Learning from your taxes
Note:
This is an archived issue. Some links and/or content
may be outdated
The Blitz-Promotions News Letter
Issue no. 235, March 1st, 2004
***************************************************
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Blitz Comments
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As
you may have noticed we've redesigned our site and have
many new programs and promotion options.
One
additional note for the pay per click series we had
last month. If you really want to go crazy looking for
the best ROI you can increase your bid amount during
lunch times (when folks are surfing at work).
+++++++++++++++++
In this Issue
+++++++++++++++++
-
Learning from your taxes.
- Search engine news - Yahoo changes the way they rank
sites.
- How to beat burnout.
+++++++++++++++++
Food for thought
+++++++++++++++++
Seven
Character Traits of Successful People
Chris Widener http://www.madeforsuccess.com
1.
They are hard working. There is no such thing as
easy money. Success takes hard work and people who are
willing to do it.
2. They are honest. Those who are successful
long-term are the honest ones. Dishonest people may
get the first sale, but honest people will get all the
rest!
3. They persevere. How many success stories will
go untold because they never happened? And all because
someone quit. Successful people outlast everybody else.
4. They are friendly. Have you noticed that most
successful people are friendly and people oriented?
This endears them to others and enables them to lead
others to accomplish the task.
5. They are lifelong learners. Successful people
are people who stretch themselves and grow continually,
learning from all areas of life, including from their
mistakes.
6. They over-deliver. The old statement of under-promise
and over-deliver became famous because it made a lot
of people successful, including the richest man in the
world - Bill Gates
7. They seek solutions in the face of problems.
Problems are opportunities to do the impossible, not
just complain. Successful people are the ones who find
solutions.
+++++++++++++++++++
Learning from your taxes
+++++++++++++++++++
Everyone that you talk to, really hates tax time. Believe
it or not there are a lot of things you can learn from
your taxes. Now is a great time to take a close look
at your business, to make some goals, trim your expenses,
and work at making your business more profitable.
++++++ A note ++++++
I
am not, nor do I claim to be a tax accountant or expert.
These suggestions I make are just that… suggestions.
Be sure to ask your tax advisor or accountant before
you implement any new tax saving strategy.
Find a nice place (like your kitchen table) and collect
the information from this year and last year’s tax returns.
Compare your profit/loss between the two years. How
did you do…better, worse? If you did better this year
take a moment and think about why. Jot some notes down.
These are important because if you continue to build
your business, it is very important to continue those
things that you are doing right. If you had a loss this
year, was it less than last year. Great. You’re improving.
Again think of the methods you used to improve your
bottom line. Even if your loss or income is worse than
last year, you can still learn quite a bit. What happened?
How can you improve it? (see below for some ideas on
doing this)
If
your bottom line is worse without a visible reason (buying
new equipment, expanding your business etc) then it
may be time to rethink your business strategy.
Now is also a great time to make some goals for next
year.
1.
Make a measurable goal. I will double my profits by
next year.
2.
Create a plan. I will increase my advertising budget,
provide better customer service and create two new avenues
of revenue.
3.
Rewards. When (positive thinking) I achieve my goal
I will take a trip to the Bahamas.
REMEMBER
THIS- a goal does you absolutely NO good unless
you ACT on it. Now take a closer look at your
income and expenses. Follow the steps above and come
up with some good goals in these areas.
When
reviewing your expenses what are some of the things
you spend most of your money on? Is there a way to decrease
or save money? One of our major expenses in our business
is web hosting. We spend close to $200+ a month hosting
our sites and those of our design clients. This is one
area that I have learned NOT to try to save money in.
I have tried cheaper plans and gotten burned pretty
badly. So I will live with the expense knowing that
my sites will be up most of the time and if I have a
support problem it will be answered promptly.
Now
is also a good time to
a)
Review your expenses.
b) Think of some ways to generate more income.
Expenses
- Saving Money
-->
Utilize the customers you already have.
It's
a well-known fact that it costs more money to get new
customers than it does to try and keep the ones you've
already had, and all you have to do is use your existing
computer database to find them. If you don’t have a
database you can download one that we use (free for
a month, from here). http://www.act.com/products/act/demo/index.cfm?
+++++++++++
Note you can also check out a couple of past issues
on building a database.
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz196.htm
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz197.htm
Here
are some tips how to cut advertising costs and get old
customers back:
1.
Check how many customers haven't bought anything from
your store (or website for the last six months).
2. Send a mailing to the customers that are still on
your database that haven't been to your website for
the past six months. Offer them a discount.
3. Send a questionnaire and ask the customers why they
haven't been to your website for such a long time.
4. Send discount notices, coupons, and current news
to all customers (if you don’t have a newsletter, start
one).
++
One way to get a discount or note noticed is to send
them snail mail.
-->
Use E-mail instead of mail (except for some of your
discounts as noted above). You will save the cost of
postage, paper, envelope, mailing time and get instant
delivery! Send messages in the evenings or weekends
for further reduced telephone rates and save even more.
Find out when your customers have the least amount of
email to deal with and send your notes then.
--> Comparison shop for all your needs. If you have
been purchasing similar goods from the same vendor for
a few months, put your regular order up for bid with
the competition ...it is likely you will do better.
-->Negotiate
everything including services. You can frequently purchase
--> at a discount by merely asking. Always request a
discount if you pay cash or intend to pay within 5-10
days.
-->Barter
for things you need. You can do it locally with business
folks in your area or on the net. Just search Google
for some resources.
--> Shop for sales.
This may seem like a no brainer. Here is an instance
from our business. We use copy paper in our printer.
Normally at Wal-mart it is around $4.00 a pack. Occasionally
they have a sell on this paper for $2.50. We buy five
packs and just saved ourselves $7.50, not much but it
all adds up.
--> Make a list and Buy in Bulk when possible. Target
the big expenses. Keep your books up to date and target
one expense during the month. Your goal is to find a
way to decrease this expense the following (and subsequent)
months.
-->Shop the web with shopping bots. The one we use can
be found below. http://www.pricingcentral.com/
Example-
I need a new shredder because mine is worn out (my daughter
is the offical office shredder so she actively searches
for things to shred). Using this service (we did this
last year) I have found the P600 (the exact same brand)
priced from $79.95 to $95.83 (don't forget to factor
in the shipping and handling costs). Keeping the lowest
price in mind, I then call around town to see if I can
find a better deal (sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t).
Another way to save some money is to use a credit card
that either gives you a rebate or something for free.
Make sure that you pay off the debt each month or the
interest will make this savings tip void. Example –
we use the Shell Mastercard to put all our hosting fees,
shop cart fees, and other monthly expenses on it. We
then earn free gas as a percentage of the bill. (Last
year we earned over $300.00 in free gas).
Know
someone that can use this advice. Please feel free to
forward it to them.
Increase
your Income
1.Focus
on your niche. Being all things to all people is not
the way to do business on the internet. The narrower
your niche the easier it will be to promote and present
your niche to folks. Using a cigar shop as an example
– do a search on Altavista for cigars. Over 440,000
+ sites, lots of competition. Now do one for ‘hand rolled
cigars’… 2900 sites. See what I mean? Take a moment
to think about your site. Ask some folks to visit. Can
they tell what you sell? (if they start with a list,
then it is definitely time to focus).
2.Backend
opportunities. Now that you have reviewed your niche,
you should be thinking of some other products that compliment
(or go with) your main product. Let’s pretend for a
moment. You have a cigar shop on the web. You have focused
your niche on handrolled cigars. Now think for a moment.
After your customer purchases your cigar, what might
they need? How about humidors, lighters, cutters etc.
Get the general idea. You will be more likely to resell
these products than trying something totally different.
3.Affiliate
programs. Many folks make tons of money by using only
referral programs on their site. My suggestion is to
incorporate some of these within your niche. Using my
wife’s site as an example she gets around $150.00 per
quarter by offering relavent magazines to her visitors.
The success of this depends on a) make sure it relates
to your niche b) make sure that you introduce the link
and don’t just rely on a banner. Offer a review of the
product or service. Some affiliate programs you can
check out can be found below (or use your favorite search
engines to find some). http://www.associateprograms.com
4.
Offer Discounts. Send a note (with your newsletter)
or email your current clients with a special discount
offer. Make sure that it follows the proper ad format,
especially in regard to the Act part of it.
5.
Offer Referrals. Your first note to your customers after
they order something should help them to bring you in
customers. This can be through a true affiliate program
(you pay them), a discount offer, or just a request
for help.
6.
Look for Joint Ventures. Getting other people to send
you business is the smart way to do business. Since
you focused on your niche, now it is time to think and
broaden your approach. This will be the start of finding
your future partners on the web. Soon we will be digging
into this topic with both hands, but here are a few
quick notes. Make sure that the JV benefits everyone
involved. Start slow and expand as you build trust with
each other. Keep an open mind.
7.
Create an e-book for your niche. Believe it or not people
will pay you for your knowledge. I have recently begun
reading a great course on the subject. I will be sure
to post the results here first. You can learn more about
the course here: http://myks.sitesell.com/blitzpromotions.html
8. Review your site. Sometimes we are too close to our
creations and can’t see the forest for the trees. Something
that may be perfectly clear to you, may be really hard
to understand for yourself. So even if you skip over
all the points this week, do this. Get several (10 or
so is usually best) folks to visit your site. Get their
feedback about it. What did they like, dislike. Was
it easy to navigate and understand? Was anything unclear?
This feedback (even if brutally honest) will help you
build a better site and take advantage of your traffic
to make sales.
9. Increase your traffic. Last month’s newsletters focused
on getting your site listed well in the search engines.
Future issues will focus on other avenues to bring more
traffic to your site. More traffic should increase your
web sales. If not then see number 8 above.
10. Decrease your expenses. Fewer expenses = more money
in your pocket.
+++++++++++++++++
Search Engine and Business News
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Notes
and prospectives on the upcoming search engine wars.
(Note: This article was written before Yahoo dumped
Google).
Yahoo,
the old superpower of the search engine world is now
going to go head to head with the current superpower
of the search engines, Google. Uh-Oh, look out, MSN
is starting to play the game too! Ok, let me put it
simpler, Google is the super search engine, Yahoo is
the super directory and MSN, well, MSN is not much currently.
Stay tuned though, Bill Gates is stirring the pot.
The
speculation is rampant about Google becoming a public
company. Google is in discussion with investment banks
about possible offerings within the first quarter. If
this is true, then get your cheque books ready, and
prepare to spend when Google goes live on the stock
exchange. It is speculated that it will be one of the
biggest events in years on the global exchange. With
a possible 1/3rd of the company going up for public
investment. What does this mean? Well, unlike other
public search engines, Google is all privately owned,
which means you don't currently see advertisements on
the homepage, etc. Once a public company, just like
Yahoo, you may begin to see changes depending on what
the public advise. This is exactly why Google has become
so popular. It is private and delivers quality results,
not quality advertisements. Well, did provide quality
results until last November. See the impact. A new look
Google that annoys you with a homepage just like Yahoo
and MSN. Fight through the rubbish to get to search!
With
that in mind, Yahoo over the past year has been conducting
its own little monopoly with the purchase of Overture
and Inktomi. As Yahoo currently enhance their directory
results from Google, it is speculated that once Google
go public, as Yahoo already is, then Yahoo are going
to drop Google like a hot rock and take up results from
their own company assets almost immediately. As Yahoo
owns All The Web (ATW), and ATW has the largest web
search database, it is unknown whether Yahoo will utilise
its own ATW or Inktomi database to provide results to
Yahoo search results.
All
you had to do was rank well in Google and that transferred
to Yahoo with little difference. Ranking well in Google
will not have any impact on Yahoo in the near future.
If your website is not optimized to perform across this
wide range of engines, and included within their results,
then your in trouble. Yahoo will utilise Inktomi results
as it wishes and sell the results to other engines as
currently occurs. The good news is, my customers don't
have to worry as my work is never specific to one search
engine. I guess that Yahoo paid submissions will once
again increase to be listed within their directory.
Once officially announced, if Yahoo go with Inktomi,
then their price may go up and let the wars begin at
Inktomi for rankings.
If
Yahoo kicks Google into touch, then guess what? Surprise,
surprise, it will also kick Looksmart Australia over
the fence from supplying paid sponsored results to them.
Yahoo, owning Overture, will utilise Overture results
in Australia very soon as they already do in most other
countries. Yes, Overture has plans to open in Australia
very soon. Hopefully the picture is starting to come
together for you.
Here's
the left field player, MSN. MSN are starting to play
the game with Internet search and pay a little more
attention to their search features and services. MSN
have been supplied by Inktomi, but wait, MSN now have
"MSNBOT" crawling around the web building a substantial
database for themselves. Now with MSN releasing some
impressive features lately, targeting broadband users,
it is anyone's guess what is to come next. I believe
that Bill Gates has not bothered before because he's
been too busy monopolising world IT and Internet browsing.
Searching
the internet is about to get a whole lot more funkier.
Good old Bill Gates and his little family, Microsoft,
are paying some attention to their own Internet features.
Lets see now, Google - "x" Billion dollar company, Yahoo
- "xx" Billion dollar company and whoo..... Microsoft,
I mean MSN - "x" Trillions of dollars. With Google and
Yahoo possibly splitting and Microsoft coming up behind
real quick, I somehow think MSN may end up the superpower
of search engines in the coming years. Money wins, lets
face it. Google can have all the PageRank they want,
and Yahoo all the other engines they want, but lets
face it, Bills money will buy technology and supremacy
if need be.
In
conclusion, all those listed with Google will now have
to concentrate on Yahoo submissions and ranking to remain
listed within Yahoo. You will also need to keep abreast
of whatever Microsoft comes up with. No longer will
there be one clear winner, but possibly three (3) search
engines going head to head to win users. Some SEO's
are about to get a real wakeup call.
Australian
owned and operated business, anthonyparsons.com performs
website optimization, submission and marketing services
to the Global community. Catering to best suit most
SEO budgets. http://search-engine-optimisation.anthonyparsons.com
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As
part of not putting your eggs in one basket... Add
your site to the new pay per click from Yahoo. This
pay per click is based around their shopping sites.
https://productsubmit.adcentral.yahoo.com/sspi/us/index2
Pricing varies by category.
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Yahoo
dumps Google - just like we said it would.
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3314171
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Is
Google Using "Latent Semantic Indexing" ?
What
is it?
You can read the report / paper by clicking
here.
What
is it in English?
This
article from Scientific
American explains it a little more -
My
Opinion - I think this technique is only part of what
has been happening lately.
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Paypal
adds new features, including: Label printing, partial
refunds, and now folks can buy without having a paypal
account. Details can be found here.
+++++++++++++++++
Quick fixes - your email
+++++++++++++++++
Making
sure that your email gets to where it's going can be
really frustrating at times. Use the following tools
to help you out.
Check
to see if your email (newsletter) will pass the filter
test.
http://www.sendfree.com/dchecker.html
Is
your IP number on a blacklist - that can cause problems
with your newsletter delivery. You can check that out
here -
http://www.dnsstuff.com
+++++++++++++++++
Guest Articles
How To Beat Marketing Burn Out And Disillusionment,
An Online Marketer's Occupational Hazard.
(c) 2004 Charles Kangethe
+++++++++++++++++
*
Once Upon A Time
--------------------
Many people set out on their Internet Marketing careers
full of hope and enthusiasm. However, within a year
or two reality sets in and hope turns to disappointment
and the enthusiasm wears off. What goes wrong and how
can you get back on track ?
*
The Wheels Start To Come Off
-------------------------------
Ironically, trouble starts with one of the Internet's
greatest strengths. Information. Or more precisely information
overload. As you research opportunities, so called "experts"
tell you "how to do it", "when to do it", "where to
do it" and offer you expensive tools and resources to
help you do it. You get confused from the widely available
advice and your progress suffers from lack of a consistent
easy to follow plan. Then just as you're getting your
head around the information, your family jump in telling
you how you are no longer any fun. They tell you that
you spend far too much time at the computer, and they
want to know why you aren't earning any money. Feeling
their doubts, you start to doubt yourself. But you struggle
on, produce your first web site and ask a favourite
forum to review it.
Back
come the opinions and advice on hundreds of things you
must do to improve it. You write your first e-zine,
but being your own harshest critic you know it stands
improvement so you delay publicising it and getting
subscribers until it is just right. It has now been
a year or more since you started and you still haven't
made any "real" money. Your early hopes and enthusiasm
are being seriously tested. You are losing focus and
your desire to carry on, to take action seems low. If
you recognise this person, start with the basics, and
use the following four steps to get back on track.
*
Go Back To Basics And Answer The Fundamental Question
---------------------------------------------------------
Success
as an online marketer starts with a simple belief. You
must believe in yourself, your talents and know your
destiny. It is this belief that will sustain you when
the wheels seem to be falling off. From the very beginning
you must have goals that drive you onwards. Your goals
are derived from the answer to this fundamental question.
"What do you want to achieve as an Online Marketer ?"
You
must find the one answer to this question, that is :
* Simple - Can be explained in three or less short sentences.
* Clear - Well defined, and unambiguous
* Personal - It must satisfy a deep personal desire
and you must strongly believe that you will achieve
it.
*
Set SMART Goals and Plans
----------------------------
Once
you have the answer, you must set long, medium and short-term
goals. Your short term goals must be detailed and explicit,
your longer term goals can be less detailed , but they
must all be SMART.
*
Specific - Each goal addresses a single, clear issue.
* Measurable - How will achieving the goal change anything.
* Achievable - Each goal must stretch your abilities,
as you reach for it
* Realistic - Each goal must be rooted in real life
which is why the starting point is to find the answer
above
* Timing - Give yourself deadlines to achieve the goals
Once
your goals are defined you must design a plan to achieve
them. Plans are the vehicle by which you achieve your
goals.
Refer
to your goals and plans frequently in order to :
* Ensure you are on track
* Ensure they are still valid
* Give your motivation a boost
*
Schedule It And Do It Right
----------------------------
Next,
create a schedule of activities, that you must achieve
each day of each week. My weekly schedule requires me
to write an article each week, update site content,
and do more work on creating my own products. My daily
schedule involves posting messages on public forums,
responding to my e-mail in a structured manner, addressing
any customer issues, building my Opt-In list and making
time for my family. I use Timesheets lite available
from http://www.timesheetsmts.com/
to schedule my daily activity. These daily and weekly
tasks are all aligned and geared to helping me achieve
my short-term goals. In turn my short term goals are
geared to helping me achieve my medium term goals and
so on. By setting your schedules in a similar way, you
develop discipline, you learn how to pace yourself and
you allocate time to all the activities that demand
your attention, including most importantly your family.
Remember despite your improving self belief you must
ask questions when you come up against obstacles. Asking
for help early on avoids many lost hours in trial and
error, resulting in less frustration.
*
Support Networks
-------------------
Working
alone is lonely, and we all need support from people
doing the same things, people who understand the issues
and problems we are going through. Public forums are
a good source of information and answers to questions,
but they offer little by way of personal, and immediate
support. Support in this context is better if it comes
from a small private support group. You can build your
own support group either on or offline if you live in
a place where there are many other netpreneurs. However
for most of us this offline support route is difficult
and unrealistic. Hence at Simply easier we will soon
be implementing a number of support cells where people
will be able to use web cams, and msn to chat and form
remote, but practical support networks. For more details
check into http://www.simplyeasier.com
and look out for the support program announcement.
------------------------------
Conclusion
------------------------------
Burn
out and disillusionment with online marketing, are an
"occupational hazard" for many marketers. Getting back
on the right track requires that you : * Go back to
basics and answer the Fundamental question
* Set detailed SMART short, medium long-term goals and
plans
* Schedule your daily and weekly activities and align
them to your goals
* Find and join, or create small support networks Use
these four steps and get back on the right track today.
------------------------------------------------------------
Charles Kangethe of http://www.simplyeasier.com
is a leading new wave Netpreneur and a published author
from England. The "Simply Easier" brand name is your
guarantee of high value, quality Marketing Products,
Services and Resources.
-----------------------------------------------------------
+++++++++++++++++
Links you can use -
+++++++++++++++++
What
is a Google Datacenter -
http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?p=66444
If
you use Google Ad Sense to generate revenue then this
charts will be very useful for you.
http://www.adsensecharts.com/
An
excellent tool that compares Yahoo and Google SERPS.
Great for doing some research.
http://www.langreiter.com/exec/yahoo-vs-google.html
+++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++
Fun and Games
+++++++++++++++++
A
wonderful place to find out if a video game is appropriate
for your child (or not)... great for Moms too.
http://www.gamerdad.com/
+++++++++++++++++
Reviews
+++++++++++++++++
We
ran out of time this month - so next month we'll have
two reviews.
+++++++++++++++++
Classified Ads
+++++++++++++++++
Make
sure to visit our sponsors.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Want
your ad in this spot for $25.00 for 12 issues. Send
me a note and I'll send you the details. Email
Us.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++
Useful links to our site
+++++++++++++++++
Find
more useful promotion and design articles here -
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/articleindex.htm
Check
out our archives for issues you may have missed.
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/ezinearchives.htm
+++++++++++++++++
Next Issues
+++++++++++++++++
April - Buying traffic
May - Increasing visitors to sales.
June - Increasing your profits - decreasing your overhead.
July - Increasing your average sale.
August - Getting ready for the holidays.
+++++++++++++++++
Final Thoughts
+++++++++++++++++
Spring is just around the
corner - if you're like me it couldn't come soon enough.
:o)
Tim
and Lisa Hamblin
Tisa Enterprises
PO Box 221
Hazard KY 41702
http://www.blitzpromotions.com
http://www.crochetnmore.com
http://www.webpageplanner.com
http://www.ineedlinks.com
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