Month: October 2011

Review: Home Business Bootcamp with George Kosch Oct 28, 2011

Today’s home business bootcamp session was buzzing with excitement as Worldprofit’s Technical Director, George Kosch released the newest sales tool for Worldprofit Members.

Release of new Personal Live Business Center (PLBC)

Over five years ago, Worldprofit released the world’s first Live Business Center.
This was an innovation then and to this day is something that has not been recreated by any other company.
Today, Worldprofit released a personal version of this technology for the exclusive use of Worldprofit Members.

What it is?

The Personal Live Business Center (PLBC) allows Members to host their own personalized Live Business Center.
Essentially it’s a landing page with an embedded Live Business Center – your OWN Live Business Center.
You are the host, you talk to people, you are in charge.
The PLBC includes an Associate sign up form, and optins for the Safelists, as well as your own personal links and order link. It’s a sales room and you are commander-in-chief. Included is an easy to use Admin area so you can personalize what your PLBC is called, as well as the messages posted on-screen
Social media has been integrated so you can customize what links you wish to show up including Facebook, Twitter and Skype etc.

The primary URL for this new basic Personalized Live Business Center is http://www.TheLiveBusinessCenter.com
(don’t worry if it doesn’t load completely, it’s temporary, we are still tweaking and polishing).

Who gets this powerful new PLBC?

Worldprofit Monitors and Worldprofit Platinum VIP Members will receive the PLBC at no cost.
Currently ONLY Monitors have the PLBC as they have been helping us test the system – thank you Monitors for your help!
When testing is done, it will be released to Platinum VIP Members as well.

What else has George Kosch got coming?

Worldprofit will also be offering a CUSTOM Designed PLBC in the very near future.
This will allow Members to have a custom header, links to your other opportunities and interests, and is hosted on the domain name of your choice.
Pricing is yet to be determined for this customized version.

What else happened during today’s training?

George demonstrated the new Solo Safelist Blaster System.
We’ve been testing this system to get it perfect.
There are two development phases of they system. First phase is getting the database built. The second phase is building an Admin area for our members so they can see who has signed up, credits, see payments from ads etc.
The stand-alone versions of the Safelist Exchange is still in development, it’s a complex system but release is still planned for end of November.

And what else?

Worldprofit’s Home Business Bootcamp Training Levels are being redone to simplify procedures and get new members directly into the marketing and sales!
The goal to is help people make sales sooner and get on track more smoothly.

George was peppered with questions about the new services by Members during today’s training.
Apologies to all members for the technical problems later in the session.

This is a sample of what Worldprofit Members said after seeing the new services today.

James: Your building on this stuff and increasing the value of the Platinum package ten fold or one-hundred fold and not raising the price…. phenomenal. Thank you!

Cheri: Love the Skype Link

Liz: Thank You for the PLBC George it is just AWESOME

Tania I am thrilled….

Charity: Thanks George, Great Training, Have a great weekend!

Linda: Thanks, George. You’re the best! Have a good weekend.

Inge: Hello George thank you for the excellent training

Tony: Great information and new tools

James; George – You have raised my vibrational energy by 10,000% this morning… you, Sandi are a blessing. I cannot wait to take massive action on all of this! Thank you

Diane: Great training Mr. Kosch as usual

Arvell: this is a game changer!

Cheri: OMG. cool cool cool cool

Frank: WOW!!!

Neil: Good Stuff

Liz: I am so excited …dancing in New York

Diane: I know. I am excited

Linda: I am awe struck…

Thank you to all of those who attended Worldprofit’s Live Home Business training today. If you missed it, or want to watch it again, the recorded version is now posted. Members can access within the Worldprofit Member area under the Training link.

Watch for updates on new products and services to be sent to the Bootcamp newsletter and posted to the message center in the Member area.

Next LIVE Home Business Training is Friday November 4, 2011.

Interested in the training offered by Worldprofit for Affiliate Marketers and Entrepreneurs, go to http://www.worldprofit.com 

Review: How Yelp can help your local business generate MORE business!

As Groupon and other Bulk-Buy sites lose favour with merchants, business owners are going back to basics to generate traffic and new business.
Yelp.com is a reviews website that allows members to post reviews (good and bad) about different types of business. The site is structured into geographical areas which is beneficial for both users of the site and for businesses.
Yelp.com provides an easy way to see what people are saying about a specific business of interest. Recent surveys report that review sites are very popular among consumers (especially 35 and under) who will frequently use these kinds of sites to search for a business, then decide whether or not to use a specific service or business.
Benefits for the Consumer
-Search for businesses by category or key words, in your specific area for hours, contact information, or website address.
-Yelp allows you to find smaller businesses that might not yet be indexed on Google Maps
-Browse what people are saying about a specific business or service, or add your own review.
-The "talk" element of the site allows for more detailed specifics on a business or service.
-Easily share your reviews on Twitter, Facebook and other social media.
Benefits for the Business
-63 million people have visited yelp in the last 30 days – that is some kind of MASSIVE – FREE exposure for your local business. People who may never otherwise have heard of your business or perhaps forgotten about you, can get acquainted with you.
-Any local business with a physical presence can benefit from being listed at Yelp.
-Business owners can add their own business listing (if not already listed) to ensure that their contact information is accurate. They can also add photos and message customers.
-Business owners (or Managers) can reply publicly to reviews or comments posted about their business.
-Business owners can pay for premium advertising, called Yelp Ads.
-Business owners can see what people are saying about their business and pinpoint for correction, problem or services issues in their operation.
-Recently Yelp has added Events listings as well. So if you are organizing an event, submit it and get instant exposure. Visitors to Yelp, in your location will see your listing as Yelp will scan the geographical location of the member logging in, so events in their area show up.
-Yelp has integrated several social media sites (FaceBook, Twitter etc) into the site so when users access these, or refer friends to the site, business owners get the benefits of even more promotion.
Review of Yelp
For the most part, review sites like Yelp.com are GOOD for local business. The exposure for a business, is tremendous and difficult to not be seen as valuable. You get free exposure by reviews being posted, new customers are introduced to what you offer, former customers are reminded that you are still there. You as the owner or manager get come control over content, by adding your own business, then commenting often, posting pictures etc. Social media allows businesses to engage with their customers in a positive way.
Yes, there are some possible disadvantages. People can write negative reviews about your business. But if you run a solid operation these will be overshadowed by the good comments that people post. Some businesses have been known to pay people to write good reviews or offer other perks. Statistical averages will most often work in your favour if you are an honest business, doing your best to provide a quality service for your customers. Remember, negative reviews can be responded to by the business owner, or manager. Customers understand that no business is perfect. False, or off-the-wall reviews stand out as such and are often filtered, removed or rated lower in terms of helpfulness. What matters to consumers is that a business owner makes an effort to resolve problems.
For more details visit Yelp.com
What do you think of Review Sites? Helpful or not helpful? What Review sites do you like?
About the Author
Sandi Hunter is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc. Worldprofit provides a number of services for the small and home-based business community including hosting, design, webconferencing, traffic, advertising, SEO, safelists, traffic exchanges, training and resources. This year Worldprofit marks their 17th year in business.

Top 20 Safelists For Affiliate Marketers

In my last post, I talked about Safelists and how they are a powerful advertising strategy for Affiliate Marketers or anyone running a home based business. I also revealed how to get the best possible response from your Safelist Advertising.
 
Here’s a summary in case you missed it.
 
A Safelist is a Membership based mailing list where Members can email each other. These emails cannot be considered as spam because Member must opt-in to receive the mailings and also have confirmed their email address. A Safelist can be used to advertise a product or service, including business opportunities, affiliate programs, home business products, Clickbank products and so forth. Most Safelists work by allowing Members to earn credits for free advertising but also offer paid advertising options. Basic Membership in a Safelist is usually free. Paid memberships allow you to post more often, or to a larger list.
 
I’ve heard from many of you, requesting suggestions for reputable Safelist sites and companies. I share with you my Top 20 Safelists.
 
This is not just a list, mindlessly copied and pasted here. Remember, successful online promotion means consistent promotion to a number of sites or lists. Definitely join a number of Safelists to increase your reach. Make sure the ads you run include the benefits of what you offer, an eye-popping offer and a lead form ideally with optin options for your own list creation.
 
These are Safelists that we use our ourselves, or own and use for a variety of campaigns on a regular basis. They are listed in no particular order.
 
Last Tip: Remember if your ad doesn’t pull don’t be so quick to blame the list, have another look at your ad.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Have you used any of these safelists? What was your experience? Which safelists do you like not on this list? Submit your comments below.

 

About the Author

sandilrg

Sandi Hunter is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc. Worldprofit provides a number of services for the small and home-based business community including hosting, design, webconferencing, traffic, advertising, SEO, safelists, traffic exchanges, training and resources. This year Worldprofit marks their 17th year in business.

Did you check your spam folder?

Andy_Bernard
While watching a recent episode of The Office, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
During a meeting, the character Andy says to his co-workers, "Ok, I have emailed you all the critical data so be sure to check your spam folder."
Oh, if only had a dime for everytime, we said to someone in our office, or to a customer, "Did you check your spam folder?"
It’s so much of an accepted problem now, companies anticipate that the information a customer requests may be filtered to spam. So in response, websites, sales material, new customer information and often telephone staff are briefed to include information on how to whiltelist, or mark email as acceptable.
For the most part we love our email don’t we? We rely on it to communicate with customers, family members, co-workers and conduct business.
Email is better than voice mail, you can send it when convenient for you, from anywhere in the world.
But will the person you are sending it to actually get it?
Maybe.
If you don’t know that someone sent you something, how will you know that you didn’t get it?
Despite the best efforts and money invested by ISP’s and Mail Service providers, the spam still gets through. You can’t find that important email from your customer, and you swear you never got the flight confirmation for your next trip. You check your email, then check again. Still nothing, but the "enhancement" emails still get through. Amazing!
It seems the spammers have won the war on junk email. Yes, some serial spammers have been caught, but take one look in your junk or spam email box and it’s busting with all kinds of offers and tidbits, malware, phishing schemes, and more.
The simple task of opening an email attachment can unleash hell on your computer, harvest it and turn it into a Bot. Almost makes you want to watch The Terminator movie again. What was that Sarah Connor said about Skynet and self-aware computers taking over the human race?
I guess a positive way to look at it is this. The spammers, and the baddies of the Internet are helping to create jobs. As they release viruses and malware through email that infect computers it increases sales of Virus Protection Software, and increases calls to the Geek Squad at your local computer shop. The spammers keep the Internet police occupied and are contributing to economic recovery.
Most of us know to check our spam folder when an expected emailed does not arrive. Sometimes Email providers like Google’s Gmail, make it a little difficult to check for misdirected email. For some reason, Gmail, (which otherwise is a great program) has hidden the Spam folder under the MORE tab. Rather than having a very obvious folder called Spam that users can see clearly then check, instead users have to click on MORE, than on the Spam sub-folder to see what legitimate email has been filtered unnecessarily. Some ISP’s block the spam before it even gets to your email box. This cuts down on spam but also means you may not get email that you actually DO want to receive, but your provider has deemed it not worthy for delivery or has blacklisted a domain.
Yes, spam is a fact if life. Just like we hate junk faxes, and telemarketers, and flyers in our mail boxes, we now we find our email boxes crammed with junk.
For most of us in an office environment we have come to accept junk email, as annoying but a part of life. The delete button is always a click away. It’s just not worth getting upset about.
About the Author
 
Sandi Hunter is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc. Worldprofit provides a number of services for the small and home-based business community including hosting, design, webconferencing, traffic, advertising, SEO, safelists, traffic exchanges, training and resources. This year Worldprofit marks their 17th year in business.

Safelist Advertising, How to Get the BEST Results

Safelist advertising is a powerful, effective advertising resource for affiliate marketers. Here’s why and how to maximize your responses.
 
A Safelist is a mailing list where Members can email each other. These emails cannot be considered as spam because Member must opt-in to receive the mailings and also have confirmed their email address. A Safelist can be used to advertise a product or service, including business opportunities, affiliate programs, home business products, Clickbank products and so forth. Most Safelists work by allowing Members to earn credits but also offer paid advertising. Basic Membership in a Safelist is usually free.
 
Benefits of Safelist Advertising
 
1. Affordable: Cost is ZERO to join most Safelists. You can either surf to earn credits for your own advertising, or you can pay a very small cost for a paid subscription. Paid subscriptions allow you to post more often and to more people.
If you can afford it get a paid subscription, cost can be as little as $10 and up.
 
2. Targeted: You reach a targeted audience of other home business folks, affiliate marketers, entrepreneurs and information seekers.
 
3. Legitimate: Once scoffed at as a cheesy time-wasting practice, Safelists are a legitimate marketing practice and have gained credibility and popularity. Spam laws have limited the number of ways to market a product or service. Safelist Advertising allows marketers to reach consumers easily and legitimately with their permission.
 
4. Variety: There are various forms of advertising available within Safelist programs. Members have many options for advertising affordably and this can include Text Ads, HTML ads, solo ads, banners, login ads, landing pages, ad rotations etc.
 
5. Reach: Creating your own in-house mailing list is ideal but does take an enormous amount of time and can be self-limiting to who is on your own list. To reach larger, new audiences, affiliate marketers have discovered the power of being able to post to a large legitimate list of people.
 
To get better results from your Safelist advertising, here is what you need to know.
 
Always, always, always promote a LANDING PAGE and NOT your website when using Safelist Advertising. Remember you want to make an eye-popping offer and get an instant result. Your website can’t and won’t do that in most cases.
 
A Landing Page that will generate results includes:
-Attention Grabbing headline
-Point form, punchy copy thick with the benefits to the reader
-A call to action, DO THIS! GET THIS!
-Lead form to gather contact details of the person.
-Option to subscribe to your newsletter, or receive further special offers
-More copy than graphics so your page loads quickly and command attention with words not distracting unnecessary graphics.
 
When posting your ads, don’t rely on just one Safelist. If your funds are limited select 3 – 5 to get started and post as often as you can.
If you have a dud ad that doesn’t get response, change it up, run a revised or different ad.
 
Make sure you have some type of ad tracking software so when you post and ad you can see the click-rate and analyze the effective of your ads. Many Safelists offer this tool for their Members.
 
Summary: The key to effective Safelist Advertising is three fold.
 
1) Get a paid subscription from a number of reputable Safelists so you can promote to larger audiences and more often.
2) Promote a well-written copy-dense Landing Page with minimal graphics. Emphasis is on eye-grabbing headline, benefit-laden copy, and ultra-fast loading.
3) Pick only reputable Safelists.
 
Tell us what you think about Safelists? What are your favourites? Submit a comment below.

About the Author
Sandihunterlg
 
Sandi Hunter is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc. Worldprofit provides a number of services for the small and home-based business community including hosting, design, webconferencing, traffic, advertising, SEO, safelists, traffic exchanges, training and resources. This year Worldprofit marks their 17th year in business. Sandi Hunter’s blog.

Review: Worldprofit Home Business Bootcamp with George Kosch, Oct 21. 2011

In today’s session of Worldprofit’s Home Business Bootcamp, Instructor George Kosch revealed some new services that have been researched and tested.
He also spent considerable time talking about promotion and why consistent daily promotion is critical to your success.
Particular attention was given to help Members who aren`t getting the results they want.

New Services Summary:

Personal Live Business Center – free for Platinum VIP Members and Senior Monitors in about next 10 days.
This will be an interactive Landing Page with the Live Business Center integrated – with YOU as the host.

One Time Offer Landing Page – now in use for all Members

Safelist SOLO Email Blaster – free for Platinum VIP Members, still being finalized with release coming shortly.

Safelist Exchange Plugin – free for Platinum VIP Members, still being finalized with release coming shortly.

Safelist Exchange Stand Alone Managed Site. Price to be determined. Tentative Release date 2 – 4 weeks.

More details to be announced.

Training Summary:

Re-emphasis on why you must promote DAILY!
Reminder to use the Landing Pages, George showed which ones, and where to post them.
George demonstrated how to post the ads to two safelists. Participants watched as George shared his desk top for a demonstration.
Discussion on simplifying tasks, new Members should not overcomplicate things, stick to the training levels.

Discussion Topics included:

Importance of watching Bootcamp Main Session Training Video for those people who are new or those of you who are stuck (Member area: top menu under TRAINING link)

-Best places to advertise and why we make recommendations for you
-Where to find our recommended list of advertising sources
-Why Safelists ARE a good place to advertise
-Solo Ads
-Why paid Memberships at Safelists are extremely good value
-Login Ads
-HTML versus TEXT ads
-Ad Cloaking
-ClickBank promotions
-Why you shouldn’t send Landing Pages out to your Newsletter list and what you should send out instead
-What to do if you don’t see any clicks on your ads when you review your Ad Tracker Stats Thank

Last words from George Kosch. If you take nothing else away from today’s training session and all you heard was blah blah blah. Remember just one word. PROMOTION. Now go PROMOTE.

PROMOTION = PROFIT! No Promotion = NO Profit!

If Members have any questions from today`s program, submit a Support Form so our Tech Team can assist you right away.  You are not alone in building your online business, our Tech Team is here 7 days a week to help you.
HINT: Before you submit a Support form, you may wish to watch the Recorded Version of today`s program, a LOT was covered today, perhaps you missed it.

What Participants had to say after Home Business Bootcamp

Arvell: I’m a customer for life!

Tania: Fantastic job George. Thank you a million. Bye

Inge: thanks George

Wallace: Well done George

Graham: Thanks George Great as usual

Barbara: Thank you, this was very helpful!

Charity: Thanks George…Great as always!!!

Frank: You’re the best George, Thank You!!

Henry: Thanks George!

Arvell: great training again George. I’m PUMPED! Gonna be a great weekend… i’ll be posting ads…. lol!

Christopher: fantastico as always

Linda: Thank you George. This is great training. Awesome as always. I am excited!

Tony: FANTASTIC Lots of exciting new tools coming out!!!

IMPORTANT: The recorded version of Oct 21st, 2011 Home Business Bootcamp Training with George Kosch is now posted.  Worldprofit Member area access, TOP MENU, click on TRAINING.

NEXT LIVE TRAINING

the NEXT Live Home Business Bootcamp with George Kosch on Friday Oct 28, 2011 at 10 CT.

Don’t forget you can continue the bootcamp training in your Member area, right on the main page when you login, below the Live Business Center are the Levels 1 – 8 that you need to complete to graduate as a Worldprofit Certified E-Business Consultant. Want to succeed? Complete the training.

Worldprofit: The Online Home Business Experts since 1994, http://www.worldprofit.com

21 Books Recommended for Entrepreneurs

Often when I am consulting with clients, I am asked to recommend books for entrepreneurs. I have compiled a list of titles on my shelf that I think are worth reading. Success in business means constantly learning and evolving, what better way to do so than sitting down with a good book. These are in no particular order. I hope you enjoy them as I have.
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley & William Danko
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries & Jack Trout
The Intelligent Entrepreneur by Bill Murphy
Ultimate List Building Tactics by George Kosch
The Wealthy Barber and The Wealthy Barber Returns By David Chilton (these will appeal especially to Canadians reading this article)
Midas Touch: Why Some Entrepreneurs Get Rich-And Why Most Don’t by Donald J. Trump and Robert Kiyosaki
The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur by Mike Micalowicz
7 Strategies for Wealth & Happiness by Jim Rohn
Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business Can Become a Leader of the Pack by Donna Fenn
Illusions of Entrepreneurship by Scott A. Shane
Escape from Cubicle Nation by Pamela Slim
The Wealthy Affiliate by George Kosch
Magic of Thinking BIG by David J Schwartz
How to Make Millions with Your Ideas by Dan Kennedy
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell (His book, The Outliers is really a good book too but less related to Entrepreneurs)
Why We Buy by Paco Underhill
The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox
Screw It, Let’s Do It by Richard Branson
Maximum Achievement: Strategies and Skills That Will Unlock Your Hidden Powers to Succeed by Brian Tracy
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
You Need to Be a Little Crazy: The Truth About Starting and Growing Your Own Business by Barry Moltz
Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar
Of course these are print books. There are lots of superb blogs and websites targeted at entrepreneurs. I will save that list for another post as it will be a very long list. For now I think you have some reading to do? Enjoy.
NOTE: Let me know what you think. We’ve love to hear which are your favourite titles. Open minds invite new ideas, sharing the best ideas makes us all a little smarter.
About the Author
Sandihunterlg
Sandi Hunter is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc. Worldprofit provides a number of services for the small and home-based business community including hosting, design, webconferencing, traffic, advertising, SEO, training and resources. This year Worldprofit marks their 17th year in business.

Feeling Frustrated and Discouraged about your online business? 20 Ways to Get Motivated.

By Sandi Hunter

Building an online business can be tough, frustrating at times, and it can be easy to get discouraged. Know that you are not alone! Everyone who has ever had the courage to try something new, to take risk, or attempt something that is difficult has felt the same way you have at some point.

Here are some quotes from people who did not start out successful, they had to earn it like the rest of us. I hope they help get you motivated again. Print them off it like and post on your wall by your computer as you are working away turn to it in times of doubt. Hey! Make up one of your own quotes, and add it to the list with YOUR name. Maybe some day YOUR name will appear on the list with other greats of our time.

“The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground.” ­ Author Unknown
(Sandi says: This one is my absolute favourite!)

“When your dreams turn to dust, vacuum.” ­ Author Unknown

“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” ­ T.S. Eliot Poet

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life we get nothing save by effort.” ­ Theodore Roosevelt

“Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done.” ­ Louis D. Brandeis, Honourable Supreme Court Justice

“Don’t feel entitled to anything you didn’t sweat and struggle for.” ­ Marian Wright Edelman, Founder of the Children’s Defense Fund

“If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.” ­ A Buddhist Saying

“The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.” ­ Robert G. Ingersoll, Poet

“We can do anything we want if we stick to it long enough.” ­ Helen Keller

“The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.” ­ Abraham Lincoln

"One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do." – Henry Ford

“Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” ­ Jacob A. Riis

“The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. It’s the age-old struggle­the roar of the crowd on one side and the voice of your conscience on the other.” ­ Douglas MacArthur, American General

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.”­ Japanese Proverb

"Plan for gradual improvement, not spectacular leaps. . .A slow and steady stream of water will, in time, erode the hardest rock." David Campbell, Ph.D

“True courage is like a kite; a contrary wind raises it higher.” ­ John Petit-Senn, French Poet

“The Difficult is that which can be done immediately; the Impossible that which takes a little longer.” ­ George Santayana, American philosopher and poet

"We all find ourselves in situations that at times seem hopeless. And, we all have the choice to do nothing or take action." – Catherine Pulsifer

"Want to get what you want? Get up off your butt and do SOMETHING to get where you want to be! Smarter, thinner, richer, whatever. None of those things are on or near your couch." – Author Unknown.

"Put YOUR QUOTE HERE! " – Add your name to it. Why not!? Let your inspirational quote come from within. I bet this one will be THE most motivating. Create it. Post it.

About the Author
Sandihunterlg
Sandi Hunter is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc. Worldprofit provides a number of services for the small and home-based business community including hosting, design, webconferencing, traffic, advertising, SEO, training and resources. This year Worldprofit marks their 17th year in business.

5 Critical Tips for Hosting Your Webinar like a PRO for maximum results!

By Sandi Hunter
When hosting webinars there are some very important points to consider so your audience has a positive experience and you professionally deliver the event. At my company, we use webinars daily to build our business, and there are good reasons that you should too.
 
There are various webinar, or webcast software and services available from a number of sources at various prices. You can host the webinar any time, from anywhere in the world. The cost to you is reasonable, and the cost to your participants can be free or at an admission price you set. Webinars can be discussion based, education or information based, sales-related, or tutorial in nature. Having a clear purpose for your webinar will help you in your preparation and marketing.
 
No matter what platform you use to broadcast your webinar, here are some tips to ensure a professional webinar.
 
1. Prepare. Before you schedule your first webinar, make sure you understand how to use the software to deliver your webinar presentation. Read through the online manuals, watch the tutorials and know how to get Technical Support should you encounter any problems. It’s recommended that you do a test run to make sure you understand how to deliver the webinar, how participants access your event, how to use any additional tools and training aids. If you are charging for your event make sure your order forms work and are secure. If you plan to deliver specific points than make sure you have either prepared presentation slides for the audience to also keep you on track or, that you have notes handy for reference as needed. In your testing phase test your camera, the sound levels and the online presentation materials for clarity, readability and errors.
 
2. Consider a Co-Host. Some of the best webinars I have attended and hosted, have been those with a co-presenter or host. It’s quite hard to just be on screen all by yourself talking away. It can feel like you are in a vacuum. Having a co-presenter allows you time to have a break to organize your thoughts. A co-host permits you to volley topics back and forth and make an online discussion more interesting for your audience. Don’t try to deliver all your points or information in one session. Consider a series of webinars with various topics on one theme, or consider segmented parts for a continuing series. Invite guest experts as a co-host to keep your content varied and in-demand.
 
3. Rules of Teaching: If you are a novice to being an educator remember some common rules of teaching. Go slow. Don’t worry about repeating critical points, it helps people learn. Summarize important points onto slides, whiteboard or visual aids. Sharing your desktop or screen allows the audience to follow along with your points. Adobe has a product called AdobeConnect that is an excellent desktop sharing program. It’s helpful to include important links for later reference by participants. Consider your audience, and their familiarity with the topic, experience, gender, background, prospect vs customer, time zone, etc.
 
4. Encourage Interactivity with Questions and Answers. Depending on how you format your webinar, you may either allow participants to post questions during your session for response as required. Or you may prefer to wait until the end of your presentation. For discussion based webinars, it makes sense to take questions or comments throughout your session. Interactive sessions are ones that are often the most memorable, the audience learn the most, and helps the host connect more meaningfully with the participants. The feedback you get from your participants will help you stay on track and hone your skills and topics as a presenter for your next event.
 
5. Record your Webinar. If your Webinar or Web Conferencing platform allows you to record the event, definitely do so. You can then archive these sessions for future use, promotion, or reference. It allows you to create a library of your webinars, and the recorded sessions add lasting power to your event long after the live session has concluded. Participants unable to attend your LIVE webinar will appreciate the convenience of watching the recorded version.
 
About the Author
Sandihunterlg
 
Sandi Hunter is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc. Worldprofit provides a number of services for the small and home-based business community including hosting, design, webconferencing, traffic, advertising, SEO, training and resources. This year Worldprofit marks their 17th year in business.

Would you rather stick needles in your eyes then blog? 10 Ways to Make Life Easier for Bloggers with limited time and writing ability.

Ok, you know you are supposed to blog. The marketing experts agree that blogging consistently is a sure-fire way to get your site well indexed by the search engines and get those oh-so-important backlinks for your site. But let’s face the reality. Coming up with fresh interesting blog content 365 days a year is darn difficult. You know it’s important but getting started is so hard. You understand you need the value that blogging provides from search engines gobbling up your content. But how? ! How do you come up with fresh blog content and find the time. Here’s some ideas to make your life easier but also to get better results for your efforts.
 
1. Blog about what you know or are passion about so the words stream from your keyboard rather then having to struggle to spit out the words and put sentences together. It’s always easier to talk about something you know or care about or that is controversial then technical or dry topics.
 
2. You don’t have to be an expert (unless you really are an expert and offering expert content on a specific topic). Write about specifics if you can, generalities if you have to, but write about something!
 
3. You don’t have to be a blogger who writes with grammatical perfection. Your English teacher is not reading your blog. Stop thinking that the world is going to judge you critically if you misspell a word or don’t know all the rules of grammar. Of course you want your blog to be as good as it can be, but don’t let the quest for perfection make a 20 minute blog post take you hours to complete.  (If you find a typo in this post, I don’t want to hear about it).
 
4. Ideally, to get the most benefit from search engines indexing your blog, you want to blog about topics related to your products, service or business. But that can be really tough to write about just one subject every day. Try spacing out your blogs so that some are on topic for your purpose, while others are off topic, or about current events. Add in your Resource Box at the end of every post (see point 7 below).
 
5. Keep your blog posts short. Keep your blog to the point, itemize, organize, number points if you have to. Do what you have to do make it easy and quick for you to write and easy and quick for your readers to digest. Sometimes less is more.
 
6. Let the world around you be your inspiration for blogs topics. This can include songs, newspaper headlines, nature, current events, other bloggers, daily happenings in the course of your life, things your kids say or do. Get the idea. There are NO limits.
 
7. Always, conclude your post with a Resource Box or Author info section with every blog. Why? So that your contact info and identifying information is tagged with EVERY blog post and not tucked away on an About page. Ensure that your Resource Box includes your name, contact details, areas of expertise, and link to your site or landing page. It is also a good idea to weave your optimal key words into your Resource Box. This way the key words you want people to find you with are associated with your blog, your name, and your company. This proves beneficial if you write about something not directly related to your business, products or services, you still get the benefit of the key word content about yourself, and a backlink to your site, or landing page.
 
8. Sometimes it helps to start with a really catchy Blog title. Take a lesson from the newspapers. They construct clever eye-grabbing attention getting headlines to draw you in. Start with a really bold, in your face, descriptive or reaction provoking headline to get immediate attention. The let your content come forth from the headline.
 
9. Set a goal to blog on a regular basis. If you can’t blog every day, then do it every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Set exact dates and times that work for you. If you don’t you will always find some other distraction to convince yourself is more important. Set a goal, stick to it, do it!
 
10. Make the most of the time you have spent on your blog by then tweeting it, posting it to Linked In, adding to your Facebook profile and other social media sites. Maximize the power of the time you spent blogging by utilizing social media to spread the message to other sites. You can use automated tools to do this to save time. Include links to your social media sites on your blog itself for even more exposure.
 
About the Author:
Sandihunterlg
 
** Sandi Hunter, is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc at http://www.worldprofit.com
Worldprofit provides hosting, design, training, traffic, support and specialized software for small and home based business owners.