How To Create A WordPress Blog

WordPress is a popular blogging software that you can use to create a very professional looking blog. Blogs boost your site’s traffic and help you build relationships and trust with your visitors. The more trust your readers’ have for you, the more likely they are to become your customer.

There are two ways to set up a WordPress blog. You can install the blog on your own server. If you are a Watersweb Hosting or Shop Kit Plus customer, you can install the blog with the push of a button. (You’ll need to make sure you have an unused database available in your account.) The benefit to this is that you can pick your own, unique blog address. For instance, your blog address can be www.yourdomain.com/blog.

You can also get a free blog at www.wordpress.com and let WordPress host it for you. Your blog’s URL will have “wordpress” in the domain. However, if you are new to blogging and do not yet have your own domain, this is a great way to get started with your blog. You simply enter the username you would like and your email. WordPress will create your blog and email you the password.

There are many different themes to choose from, enabling you to create a blog that fits your website and target market. You can further customize your blog by adding widgets, such as a calendar, RSS feed, links and other items to the sidebar. You can also change and customize the entire theme by editing the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) of your blog.

How To Create A Blogger Blog

Blogger helped create the blogging explosion that hit the internet recently. Blogs are a great way to connect with your customers and build relationships.

It is very easy to set up a Blogger blog. Simply go to www.blogger.com and enter in some basic information. Blogger has quite a few different themes to choose from, and you can further customize your blog by choosing the colors and fonts.

Blogger makes it very simple to add page elements to your site, such as RSS feeds, Google Adsense, and other items.

If you want to further customize your blog, Blogger allows you to change your template by editing the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) of your blog.

You can host your blog for free by using Blogger’s host service. Your blog’s URL will have “blogger” in it, for example http://yourblog.blogger.com.

You can host your blog on your own web host by changing the ftp settings in your blog. This will allow you to customize your domain, such as www.yourdomain.com/blog.

Another option is to switch to a custom domain. If you have registered a URL, you can go to the “publishing” section of your blog’s settings and enter the domain. When someone goes to that domain, they will be directed to your blog.

Blogger will also allow you to write your posts in advance and set them up as drafts. When you are ready to publish them, you simply press a button and your post is on the web.

Inserting pictures and links in your blog posts is also very simple using Blogger’s editor. Blogger’s comment section allows you to control who can post comments and whether or not they can add links to your blog.

How To Conduct Professional Interviews

The number of websites that are featuring podcasts is growing rapidly. They are a great way to connect with your visitors and provide them with information they are looking for or teach them about your product. If you are looking into offering podcasts, the subject of interviewing someone can seem like a daunting task. Here are some tips to make it easier:

Send Your Questions Ahead of Time
In order to make the most of your podcast, send the questions you are going to ask to your interviewee ahead of time. They will be able to prepare answers; and your podcast will sound much smoother.

Test Your Equipment
Don’t let your first interview be the first time you actually plug your microphone in. Set everything up and practice a few times before you conduct your first interview.

Be Early
If you are going to meet your interviewee(s) on a conference line, make sure you show up several minutes in advance. You will want to greet everyone as they come onto the conference line. If you are going to call someone for a one-on-one interview, be ready to call them at the appointed time. No one wants to sit around and wait to be interviewed.

Know Your Game Plan
Your interviewee is a busy person. Before you start the interview, have a game plan in mind of how long the interview will take. Let them know what you expect, and watch the time while you are talking to them.

Preliminary Chat
Greet your interviewee and chat for a moment before you start the “nitty gritty” questions. This will give you a chance to get comfortable speaking to each other and will make the interview banter sound friendly and comfortable.

Ask Questions in Order
Ask your interviewee the questions in the same order that you had sent to them before the interview. If you start jumping around and asking them questions out of order, your interviewee can get flustered and your podcast will not sound as professional.

Let The Interviewee Listen First
It is a polite gesture to allow your interviewee to listen to your interview before you publish it. On a side note, you do not have to take their editing suggestions.

Deciding What Product You Want To Sell

Welcome to Episode #3!

Are you wanting to sell physical products online from your home — but you have no idea what to sell? Today’s show covers the steps you should take to decide what product or products you want to sell, based on your target market and your passions.

So, set aside 20 minutes or so listen to our podcast. If you have any thoughts you’d like to share, you’re welcome to post comments on our website.

Thank you!

–Michelle Waters, The Physical Product Seller’s Coach
Learn how to write sales generating product descriptions

How To Add Audio To Your Site

Adding audio to your site will make your site more personable to your visitors. It is an interactive experience that will allow your visitors to see you as a real person. This can build trust; once trust is established your visitors are more likely to become customers.

Subscribing to Audio Acrobat is a very easy way to add audio to your site. For about $20 per month, you can create audios and videos, and allow your visitors to listen to them live over the internet or download them to listen to at their convenience.

Audio Acrobat will provide you with a special number that you can dial with your phone. You can create a recording of just yourself, or you can record a phone call if you are interviewing someone. Another option is to hook a microphone up to your computer and speak directly into it.

When you are finished with your recording, the service will generate a piece of HTML code that you can publish to your site. This will allow your visitors to listen to the audio or download the Mp3.

If you want to increase the traffic that comes to your site, you may want to try your hand at podcasting. Podcasting is a new phenomenon, and is somewhat similar to blogging. Rather than reading a blog, your listeners will listen to your voice via your podcast.

Your listeners do not need to have an iPod; podcasts can be downloaded to any Mp3 player, and your listeners can listen online, too.

You can set up an RSS feed, so your listeners will always have access to your latest podcast. Audio Acrobat even includes iTunes integration, allowing your listeners to automatically download your podcasts into their iTunes.

You can allow your visitors to listen to your audios for free or you may charge for them. If you are allowing people to listen to them for free, you may want to monetize them by having paid sponsors. This acts in much the same way your local radio stations present commercials. You can simply announce that the podcast is being sponsored by and read the ad that you and the sponsor agree upon.

Are stumped when it comes time to write your product descriptions?

Are your current descriptions in need of desperate help? Many work at home moms struggle with writing descriptions just like you. Some WAHMs can hire writers to spice up their descriptions. Others live with write descriptions that don’t help increase sales — and in some cases, turn customers away.

My friend Melissa sent me an email today telling me that she is preparing to release a product that will help you learn how to write great descriptions that generate sales. Naturally, I had to share this with you.

She is still in the process of launching her product, so if you sign up today, you can get a special introductory pricing. So go check it out!

Click Here to learn how to write sales generating product descriptions!

How To Sell Your Own Products With Affiliate Marketing

If you have created a product, and want to sell a lot of it, but don’t have a lot of money to invest in marketing, you may want to consider starting an affiliate program. Offering an affiliate program will allow you to develop a sales force throughout the world. And the best part is, you will only have to pay them after they make a sale.

There are several options for managing your affiliate program. You can choose to have a third party affiliate network handle the tracking for you. However, some of the companies charge a sizeable fee.

If you are technically inclined, you can install scripts onto your server. You can also hire someone to do this. Be advised that if something goes wrong, you will need to hire someone to fix the problem.

You can also choose to subscribe to a shopping cart system that includes an affiliate management system, such as Shop Kit Plus. These programs are great because they include the shopping cart and affiliate manager.

To help your affiliates sell more of your product, you will want to create some tools for them to use. You can have images and graphics of your product as well as text links. You may also want to create some sales letters, articles, and special reports that they can use on their website to gain publicity for your products.

Stay in contact with your affiliates by sending them motivating emails; create excitement and urgency with your affiliates by offering incentives. For instance, you can have a contest where the affiliate that sells the most during a certain time period wins a prize. You can also offer coaching to help them determine ways to increase their sales.

You don’t have to wait for people to join your affiliate program. You can recruit affiliates. Visit sites that are complimentary to yours and ask the website owner if they would like to partner with you. You can send them a sample product, and offer them a special commission. For instance, if you normally offer 40% commission, offer these special partners 50%.

Another option is to outsource this work to an affiliate manager, also known as an AM. They can handle the day to day tasks of your affiliate program as well as recruiting new affiliates and answering current affiliate’s questions.

Paying a monthly fee for your affiliate managing program, and possibly the salary of an affiliate manager will take a way from your profits, but the fact is that you will be able to sell so much more product with an affiliate team than you could by yourself that these costs more than pay for themselves.

How To Increase Your Conversions

Your conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who take a “desired action” when they visit your website. The “desired action” could be purchasing a physical product, clicking on another website, signing up for your newsletter, or anything else you want your visitor to do. In general, the higher your conversion rate is, the more money you are likely to make. The following are some tips on increasing your conversion rate.

Grab Your Visitors’ Attention With a Catchy Headline
Your headline is the first thing your visitors will read. You will want to grab their attention with a catchy phrase that clearly states the biggest benefit your product has to offer.

Give Your Visitor A Compelling “Call To Action”
Your page should include a “call to action”; some examples include “click here to purchase now” and “click here to sign up”. Try using words and phrases that create a sense of urgency, such as “limited time offer”. Remember, if you do not ask them to take action, they won’t.

Format Your Text With Bullets
Many people prefer to simply scan web pages rather than read them. Use bullets to explain your products benefits. Your visitors’ eyes will be drawn to the bulleted text.

Use The Correct Images
The images you use on your website should explain what your product is about in a visual manner. If you are promoting dog products and your site has pictures of rabbits, you are going to confuse your visitor. Your images should also be clear and easy to see.

Keep Your Site Professional Looking
Keep your site professional and easy to navigate. Having a professional looking site builds credibility. Keeping your site organized with easy to find links will keep your visitors from getting “lost” and clicking away all together.

Add Your Photo and Signature
Adding a photo of yourself and your handwritten signature will also add to your credibility and create trust. Your visitors will get to see that they are doing business with a real person; not some nameless, faceless computer.

Provide Testimonials
A testimonial page will provide further credibility. If possible, ask the people that are providing the testimonials to allow you to publish their photo. If your visitors see that real people, just like them, are using your product (and are satisfied with it); they will be more likely to purchase from you.

Give Them More Than One Payment Option
Giving your visitors more than one payment option will only help increase your sales. Perhaps your visitor wants to pay by paypal as they are unsure of submitting their credit card info online. However, if paypal is your only option, you will be losing out on sales, as not everyone has a paypal account.

How To Increase Your Circle Of Influence Offline

Increasing your circle of influence offline can help you expand your customer base. Your circle of influence is the group of people that make up your friends, family, current clients, acquaintances, etc.

When you increase your circle of influence offline, this opens up new possibilities for your business. You may meet someone in need of your products, or someone who will recommend your products to others.

You can increase your circle of influence offline by joining networking groups, clubs, and other organizations. Some examples would be your local Chamber of Commerce and the American Business Women’s Association. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself to the other members. They are all there to network and grow their businesses, too.

You can also meet new people by taking a class. You can take a class at your local college or check into a hobby-type class such as knitting or French cooking. If you are a parent you have the opportunity to meet many new people every day at the park and your children’s school. Get to know the parents of your children’s friends.

As a physical product seller, it’s a good idea to go where your target market is going. For example, if you sell baby slings, you might go to La Leche League meetings, where you can meet parents who have young babies and are interested in attachment parenting concepts. Make sure you wear/use your products, so people can see them, if appropriate.

Volunteering is another great way to meet new people. You can also get to know people by frequenting the same places often. If you get coffee every day at around the same time, you will most likely get to know some of the other patrons who get their coffee at the same time. You will also get to know the people behind the counter.

When you meet someone new, smile and introduce yourself. Try to make small talk about a subject you both have in common. If the town you live in is expecting a snowstorm, you can chat about that. If you are both standing in line to pick up your children from school, ask what grade their child is in. If you are at the video store and someone picks up a copy of your favorite movie, tell them how much you loved it.

Your first conversation with the person does not need to include what you do for a living. If you have a quick, friendly conversation with them, the next time you see them you will recognize each other and say “hello”. After a time, you will feel comfortable around the person and can start talking about your business.

Remember, If you want a referral, ask for one. You can say something like, “if you ever know anyone who wants to use cloth diapers, let me know”. That simple statement could open up a whole conversation. The person you are talking to could have been looking for cloth diapers or perhaps a friend or relative of their’s is expecting a baby and considering diapering options.

Stay friendly and open while you are meeting new people. Don’t be afraid to mention your business, and you will see your circle of influence widening and your client base expanding.

BBB Warns Of Phishing Scam

The Better Business Bureau is warning all businesses in Northwest Florida of a spoofing scam using the BBB name and a false BBB e-mail address to entice recipients to access potentially damaging hyperlinks.

Read more here…

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