Leads, You Have To Have Them To Grow Your Business

Author: Stephen Meyer

You have a new home based business and you have decided it's time to start marketing. The decision you have to make is how are you going to do that and to who. The simple answer is to start prospecting.

Now the question is who are you going to prospect? Again the answer is simple, every single person you come in contact with. Well, if you're like me you will tell everyone who dares come close enough to talk to. These people are known as "leads".

Leads are a mixture of people you know and those you have never met before. In other words, they are your "Warm Market" and your "Cold Market". Of course there are other types of leads but here I'll discuss these two.

Warm market Leads:

Your warm market is made up of those people you know. They could be your closest friends or just some one you see at a local shop. Most companies will tell you the first place to start marketing is with your warm market because there is a trust factor and they are more prone to listen.

For these types of leads you're simply going to do some brain storming and write down a list of everyone you know or have come in contact with. It can be easy at first because you'll write down all your family and close friends, people you see and talk to almost daily.

This list could literally be in the hundreds and keep you quite busy for a long time to come. The "Warm Market" list is an absolute must and one you will need to create quickly to give your new business a jump start.

he list could easily be in the hundreds although off the top of your head you may not have realized you knew that many people. Remember, your warm market list is an absolute must and the more complete it is will mean more people you can easily talk to.

This list is made up of those you hold close to your heart and see every day. They are the ones you should most want to see succeed right along with you. It is them you will want to approach first.

Now For Your Cold Market, People You Don't Know:

Although it could take quite a while eventually your warm market leads will wear thin and you will want to start reaching out to those you don't know. Growing your new business to the point you want will require you to start looking for "Cold Market" leads.

If you do a simple Internet search for "leads" you will come up with hundreds of places willing to sell you leads. They will sell you leads for a price any where from 10,000 or more for $19.99 to 20 leads for as much as $300.00. If you're like me and on a limited budget $300.00 is a lot of money and $19.99 looks more like my cup of tea.

The first thing to consider is lead quality. Usually the more you pay the more you are going to get as far as leads that are responsive to your opportunity because they have recently searched the net looking for money from home opportunities. The less expensive leads are those who have searched for opportunities on the net but may have done it a month or so before. The more costly leads should be those leads that are fresh and actively searching online opportunities.

Low Cost High Volume Leads:

The number one mistake most marketers make with the high volume cheap leads is to send them directly to their main sales page on the web or hit them up with your longest sales pitch. Usually hoping 1 in 100 will respond. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way most of the time.

When I first started my web site I purchased huge numbers of visitors to my web site hoping I would get at-least one person to buy out of a hundred. It never did work that way because most were not interested in a new home business. Most were just surfing and stayed less than 30 seconds. It was a little shocking and eye opening realizing they were not in the market for what I was selling.

The vast majority of these people would never take a long look at what my web site was about because it had no interest to them. These types of visitors are simply names who clicked on some add in a program and were randomly sent to my page.

After learning the hard way these people would not buy from me directly and were not interested in my offer I came up with another plan. Every one likes getting things for free. So I created a short simple web page that could be read in just a few seconds and gave away a freebie of some sort. This freebie related to what I was offering so it created a link. By giving their names and email addresses I was able to build an email list who I could market my business to.

When dealing with the older leads or the purchased site visitor list it is much better to give them the least amount of information you can at first. Simply give them enough to give some thought. Then as that seed of thought grows you can gradually build on it providing more and more information.

High Dollar Fresh Leads:

I've paid as much as $12.25 per name with high cost leads amounting to $245.00 for a list of 20 prospects. Were they worth it, some would say no. But I say they are if you have a specific plan for them. These are not leads that harvested through some low cost advertisement some where on the net. These are leads that are captured through a lead capture page specifically aimed for your market.

As you start to pay more money for leads you will find out you also gain a lot more information about the person you are calling. With leads that cost in the medium price range you should expect very specific contact and location information. As you get into the higher brackets these leads will have even more information including how much they are willing to invest and more. Their value to you in your marketing campaign has increased dramatically the same as the cost of the lead has increased.

It would be a waste to simply put this type of lead in a email marketing campaign or a news letter. Because they are actively searching for a specific type of opportunity they need to be contacted as a soon as you have their information. Waiting could and probably will mean a waste of time and money. Many want to start their new business as soon as they can and it's a good chance some one else has beat you to them if you wait and they are in another program.

Many just want a little more detail about your offer. Out of 20 names I might sell to 2-3 of them and may not recover the cost of my purchase. While I may not recover the entire cost of these leads immediately I certainly am with residuals, bonuses and team building. Adding people to my team doesn't hurt my ego a bit either.

You will approach many different types of people as you begin to go through your leads. You will have the easy ones, your family and friends and the tougher ones, those you have never met. The main point to remember is how you are going to approach them. The most important part of that approach is your attitude and confidence. Being confident, positive and having a good attitude will do the most good out of everything you could try.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/leads-you-have-to-have-them-to-grow-your-business-281837.html

About the Author:
Stephen Meyer is a home based business entrepreneur who proudly helps others build their own successful home based businesses. Your Business At Home Opportunities and Information Center

Internet Marketing Ideas- Before You Start

Author: Sean Milea

Marketing has existed ever since there was something to sell. Now, with the Internet, a lot of the rules have changed. It's still important to look to the rules of marketing in general because the methods are tried and true. These are the 4 First Steps to Make Money with Internet Marketing.

1. Choose A Particular Market And Then Create A Unique Offer

Before you start trying to sell anything, make sure that you have a target audience in mind. Do your research before you start to make certain that there is an audience large enough for your company to make a profit. While there is someone in the market to buy anything, make sure that you advertising campaign promotes your product to your target audience. Also, you need to be sure to have a product that is distinct from those of any competitors, so that interested people know you will suit their needs best.

2. Get Appropriate Customers to Visit Your Site.

After discovering your target market a way must be found to get them to your web site. This can be done in several ways. Your site can be optimized to be more easily located by search engines. Networking groups, social networking sites, and pay-per-click advertising can also be used.

3. Include Sign-Ups For A Mailing List On Your Site

Once people visit your site, ensure that you have provided them with enough reasons to come back. One of the best ways to get repeat customers is to create an Opt-In list, having a list of e-mail address, phone numbers, or mailing addresses of people that give you permission to contact them.

4. Transform your guests into consumers.

When your target market comes to your website, use special offers, lower prices, or even free shipping to ensure that they want to purchase from you before anyone else.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/internet-marketing-ideas-before-you-start-223192.html

About the Author:
You can get a free copy of our latest ebook by clicking here: The 7 Keys To Business Marketing Success . Sean Milea writes about Business Marketing at http://www.BizRave.com

Domain Name and Web Hosting

What is Domain Name ?

It is an easy to remember name when you access
the internet. So when choosing a domain name,
remember that you will be frequently seeing that
domain, typing that domain, telling others about
your domain. Choose one that is not too long and
relevant to your business.

Nameboy will suggest a good domain
name based on keywords that you enter.

Website is your online shop front. It makes
a first impression, a feel for what your company
has to offer.

Web Hosting company is critical. They are
your online shopkeepers.

Learn more about ...





NameCheap
GoDaddy
ikeys.net
Hostingbay.net
NVU FREE Web Builder
iPower ( lowest priced domain name )



What is Web hosting ?

It is a service that allows users to post Web
pages to the Internet. A Web host, or hosting
service provider (HSP), is a business that
provides the technologies and services needed
for Web sites to be viewed on the Web.


The Best Website Hosting Company ?

Consider several factors before you make the
choice to choose your website hosting company.
As they say " You never get a second chance at
a first impression." This is true when we are
talking about your website ! So do consider the
factors :-

Webpage Space
Bandwidth
Customer Support
Reliability
Speed
Company Stability and
the Price

VodaHost is highly recommended for your
web hosting. It comes together with the free
and easy to use BlueVoda website builder and
a free domain name. You can even join their
free affiliate program to refer others so that
you can make some extra money.

Email Marketing - Getting Started With Email Marketing

Author: Andrea Morris

Email Marketing Tips For Beginners

Using your skills at writing can be very effective and profitable when using email marketing. Email marketing is a vital form of marketing that has been proven effective and uses email to relay messages to your customers and prospects. This form of marketing will allow your to send announcements, updates, and follow-up messages that all go towards creating a professional and meaningful relationship.

In order to make email marketing as profitable as it can be, here are some ideas to consider:

Bring more life to your emails by sending them in newsletter form. Emails containing only text can be boring to your customers even if the content is not. Maintain the target customer's interest by presenting your content in elegant, colorful, easy-to-read, yet professional formats. When choosing and creating the design for your emails, try to have a good balance between professionalism and art.

Use an auto-responder. Using this tool will greatly lessen your effort in tracking your email's status because it automates everything for you. Saving time and effort is important, but it will also prevent you from accidentally forgetting to send emails. Auto-responders are even more effective and useful when your subscription list begins to grow.

Include a subscription box on your website. Once you have created the perfect newsletter, getting subscribers is your next goal. A convenient way for customers to subscribe to your newsletter is through a one-step subscription box. This will give you an easy way to collect willingly given information from your customers. You can also create a website used only for collecting subscribers if you wish.

Always send follow-up messages. Failing to hold on to a current or potential subscriber is a missed opportunity for profit. Keeping your audience up to date about the current status of the website will keep them interested. By mailing out these updates, the chance of people forgetting about your website is greatly reduced. You need to stick to a shedule of communication with your customers to maintain the relationship.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/email-marketing-getting-started-with-email-marketing-209243.html

About the Author:
You can get a free copy of our latest ebook by clicking here: The 7 Keys To Business Marketing Success . Sean Milea writes about Business Marketing

Internet Marketing: Are You Using These Top 7 Resources to Get Traffic?

Author: Jinger Jarrett

The number one question I always get from my readers is: "How do I get more traffic to my site?" What these sites all seem to have in common is that the owner has failed to do two things: build a list and market.

If you add a subscription box to your site or blog, and then start driving traffic to your site, then the list building will take care of itself.

Below are some of my best traffic strategies for continuously driving a lot of traffic to your site and building your list.

1. Search Engines
If you plan to optimize your website, then use keyword phrases that have at least three to four words. These keyword phrases are more targeted, and visitors are more likely to buy. You'll also have less competition for these keywords.

Make sure you submit your site to the top search engines. Otherwise, it could take months to get spidered by Google and Yahoo. With MSN, if you don't submit, your site may never show up as MSN doesn't index every site that is submitted to it.

2. Directories
Directories are an easy way to build backlinks without creating content. It's also an easy way to raise your rankings in the search engines.

Although you should submit to as many general directories as possible, it's also a good idea to get included in as many directories on your topic as possible. Since these directories are more targeted, your visitors will be more targeted.

3. Free Classifieds
It's getting harder and harder to make money online without a website unless you want to spend money. If you're just starting out, then free classifieds are the way to go because you can test and track your efforts.

Make sure you read the guidelines for each site and follow the guidelines closely. Otherwise you could get banned from the site or accused of spamming.

Write a good ad and headline, and again, test and track.

4. Forums
With forums you can build relationships. Forums are also a good place to look for ideas to find out what others want to buy. Ask questions, answer questions, build relationships, and get ideas for your business.

5. Squidoo
This site offers one of the easiest ways online to make money, and you can build these little "minisites" fast. Since these little sites rank high on Google, it's another easy way to get the message out about your products and services or even promote affiliate programs. It's also an easy backlink technique for your site.

6. Social Networking
This internet marketing technique is like forums on steroids. Not only can you build relationships, but you can also advertise your business, join groups and forums, and use Web 2.0 resources like blogs and videos to get your message out.

7. Social Bookmarking
Social bookmarking is building a list of your favorite links. If you're a business owner, then you're also submitting news and information about your business.

With social bookmarking, you're actually building backlinks. This is also a way to share what you know, and social bookmarking is the considered to be the new search.

Social bookmark sites are where visitors go now to find what they're looking for. It includes sites like Digg, Del.icio.us, and others.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/internet-marketing-are-you-using-these-top-7-resources-to-get-traffic-205372.html