In the early days of developing my home business, I went for the numbers instead of focusing on targeting prospects. It took me a while to appreciate the importance of targeting (quality) instead of just going for the big numbers (quantity). For online marketing, it helps greatly to get your website in front of people who are actually looking for the product, service, or opportunity that you are offering. This refers to the concept of marketing your sites to your target audience, rather than wasting your time, effort, and money on people who are not already interested in what you have to offer. Be wary of "massive action" techniques in this era when many ISPs feel their hottest marketing theme is the blocking of incoming emails, which they decide their customers do not want to receive (they are the self appointed "information police").
Many of the sources of cheap, high volume leads supply you with leads that have absolutely no interest in your particular business (or product or service) and furthermore, have been put into the list in such a manner that can get you into trouble with your ISP because you are unwittingly spamming (many of these bulk lead lists are created by robots that crawl the Internet and harvest email addresses) the recipients. In order to be effective in the promotion your particular proposition, whatever it is, you have to seek out your target market. This is as true online as it is offline. Just because you are able to reach huge numbers of people with your message on the Internet far more cheaply and quickly than you can offline, does this necessarily mean you should? What's the point of devoting your time and energies to marketing to a massive group of people without first knowing whether they, as a group, have a general interest in what you are offering? It is much more efficient and effective to first find out where your prospective customers congregate, and then target that congregation, than it is to use a shotgun approach and hope that one of your pellets will somehow find its target (you know... throw enough up against the wall and something is bound to stick).
You will find that by selectively targeting your prospects before marketing to them, your conversion ratio (the proportion of your target market that takes positive action and actually purchases your product or service) will be much higher than the results you would otherwise achieve without first taking the time to target your prospects. Once again, quality wins out over quantity. It seems that a great many webmasters have not stopped to ask themselves the all-important question...What is the purpose of my web site? For some reason, many of them seem to think that the purpose of their web site is to give away freebies. Or it could be to be a "showcase" for their products. Or it could be to create links to all kinds of resources.
Or it could be to have fancy flash graphics and build a brand name. One of the biggest mistakes people new to web design make is going for more "flash" than substance. They bog down their site with a bunch of fancy colored backgrounds, 3-D text, flash presentations, etc. If a visitor to your site is using a 56K connection and has wait to more than 8 seconds for it to load (which can easily happen on sites heavy with graphics), you can expect to lose about 1/3 of your visitors. If you're a business, the purpose of your web site is to sell a product or service.
Your web site should have one main focus. It should not be selling a dozen products, a dozen opportunities, or linking to a bunch of different affiliate programs. Presenting too many options has a tendency to confuse your visitor. When someone visits your site, it should be clearly obvious what one action you want him or her to take..
Kirk Bannerman operates his own successful home based business and also coaches others seeking to start their own home based business. For more information visit his website at http://www.home-based-business-team.com for more details.Watch Your Favourite TV Programme Anywhere
(ContentDesk) October 5, 2005 -- Good news for TV addicts. Soon they will have the possibility to watch their favourite TV programmes wherever they may be as a result of new chipsets for digital TV from a dynamic French electronics company.Founded in 2000, DiBcom designs high-performance, low power consuming chipsets - based on their patented algorithms and architectures - which enable mobile TV. This means digital television will be available for cars, laptops, PCs and portable LCD TV, and even mobile devices such as cell phones and PDAs. Indeed, last May, the company launched the DIB7700 chip which allows digital TV reception on PCs.
"DiBcom was the first company to target mobile TV receivers using broadcasting technology, and introduced the first mobile Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestial (DVB-T) receiver back in 2002," declares Yannick L?vy, CEO of DiBcom.More recently, DiBcom announced the closing of its fourth round of financing, lead by Partech International, amounting...
Top 6 Reasons for having a RSS feed - Come and explore the possibilities!
Getting traffic to your website can be hard. No one just randomly types in "makelotsofmoneyonlinequicklyandfromhome.com" and with this market slowly being filled in, it is hard to get a good rank on Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, and all the other major search engines. Although paying for advertising is effective and gets targeted results, RSS feeds are the way to go for free, cheap, and somewhat easy advertising.First off, if you don't want to write articles yourself, no problem. The web is a great resource for finding articles written by respected authors who are willing to give you their article for free (as long as you include their signature at the bottom of the article). It is very easy to take these articles, publish them on your website, and then make a RSS out of them.
But enough of the rambling, the top six reasons for having an RSS feed on your site:6. Reputation - A good RSS feed will increase your reputation as a honest and willing to help business, not just a business...
Top 6 Reasons for having a RSS feed - Come and explore the possibilities!
Make Your Own Gourmet Gift Baskets
Everyone loves to receive a gift basket. Corporate gift baskets are often given by businesses to their customers as a token of their appreciation. However, most gift baskets are person to person expressions of love and friendship.You can find a great selection of online gift baskets from the very expensive to the cheap. Or, you can come up with your own unique gift basket idea and surprise a cherished friend or loved one.It's not difficult to make your own personalized gift baskets. Most gift baskets involve a theme.Here are some sample ideas to get you started:
Watch Your Favourite TV Programme Anywhere
(ContentDesk) October 5, 2005 -- Good news for TV addicts. Soon they will have the possibility to watch their favourite TV programmes wherever they may be as a result of new chipsets for digital TV from a dynamic French electronics company.Founded in 2000, DiBcom designs high-performance, low power consuming chipsets - based on their patented algorithms and architectures - which enable mobile TV. This means digital television will be available for cars, laptops, PCs and portable LCD TV, and even mobile devices such as cell phones and PDAs. Indeed, last May, the company launched the DIB7700 chip which allows digital TV reception on PCs.
"DiBcom was the first company to target mobile TV receivers using broadcasting technology, and introduced the first mobile Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestial (DVB-T) receiver back in 2002," declares Yannick L?vy, CEO of DiBcom.More recently, DiBcom announced the closing of its fourth round of financing, lead by Partech International, amounting...
Finding a Cheap Home Gym
The committed and perseverant bargain hunter will be able to find cheap home gyms.
Discounted home gyms, home gyms on sale, and used home gyms all provide viable options for the cost conscious consumer.
Websites such as BizRate offer shoppers the chance to compare prices online in order to find the best deal.
One way to find discounted home gyms is to go directly to the manufacturer's website or factory outlet.
There you may be able to find products that are slightly outdated or are surplus and get a great deal on them.
Many websites and retailers are overstocked and perpetually offer discounts on home gyms.
It is important to find out why items are being sold for discounted prices.
It is also a good idea to find out what kind of warranty the discounted gyms have.
While most offers will be legitimate, keep in mind that some could be too good to be true.
Often, new companies...
5 Simple Tips to Prevent MS Access Database Corruption
Having spent many hours fixing Access databases during the past 10 years of my life, I've put together this short list of 5 Simple Tips to Prevent MS Access Database Corruption. While the potential causes are numerous, I've found that the majority of actual cases can be prevented by following these 5 simple tips.It's important to understand that any time an Access client disconnects unexpectedly, it may set a "corruption flag" in the .mdb file indicating that the database is in a corrupt state (regardless of whether any data has actually been corrupted or not). Any user who attempts to open the database while this flag is set will receive a message, and the database will have to be repaired before it can be used. If the users don't have permission to perform the repair, or don't know how to perform the repair, there may be significant downtime before the database is available again. This can result in a loss of productivity as well as extreme frustration for the users.
Following...
5 Simple Tips to Prevent MS Access Database Corruption
10 Ways You're Ruining Your Chances Of Getting Free Publicity Without Even Knowing It
There's more than a few ways to get your name in the news. Extravagant claims, incredible altruism, unique twists on old themes. But even the best laid plans of a top-notch publicity effort can be sabotaged by any of the following 10 deadly mistakes of the publicity business. 1. Never Leave A Job Half Done Don't decide half way through the planning phase of a publicity campaign that it isn't worth continuing.
Not if you've already committed yourself to the press. Nothing will get a reporter or program manager more upset with you than having to print a retraction to a story they helped you promote or having to schedule another guest on their talk show because you canceled. 2. Never Do Anything But Your Best It's all about reputation. Editors, reporters, talk show hosts and program managers need to know, beyond a doubt, that if your name is associated to a story, it's about a project that's sure to be done right.
Whether you're doing an interview on a show with 30 listeners...
10 Ways You're Ruining Your Chances Of Getting Free Publicity Without Even Knowing It
ink cartridges Go With Quality Over Quantity And Your Business Will Prosper 
A Christmas Story ? The First Christmas Lights
One would think that Christmas lights have been around for as long as Christmas itself. Can any of you imagine Christmas without lights? How would the children find their way in the dark, so early on Christmas morning without them? The history of Christmas lights is intricately tied to the dawn of the modern era, when houses began to be supplied with electricity.
As you are likely aware, Thomas Edison invented the first functioning light bulb back in 1879. A few years later,...
Sixty-Five Percent of Ink Jet Refill Kit Users Dissatisfied with Refill Life Span
NEWTONVILLE, MA (ContentDesk) February 28, 2004-?In a recent survey of more than 150 U.S ink jet refill kit users, Lyra Research found that respondents were generally unhappy with the life of the cartridge after the refilling process compared with the life of OEM ink jet cartridges. Sixty-five percent of respondents said that refill kits' cartridge life was worse or much worse than that of OEM ink cartridges, while just 8 percent said refill kits were much better or better than OEM cartridges...
ink cartridges Go With Quality Over Quantity And Your Business Will Prosper Sixty-Five Percent of Ink Jet Refill Kit Users Dissatisfied with Refill Life Span
What are the best Lake Tahoe lodging accomodations?
The natural beauty of this high mountain lake, and the 300 days of annual sunshine makes Lake Tahoe one of America's all-time top vacation spots. With world-class skiing and mountain biking, it provides a challenge for the most advanced outdoor enthusiasts. If you prefer a slower pace, the majestic mountain peaks and clean refreshing sierra air will tickle your senses and cleanse your spirit.
Deciding where to stay, and finding the best available Lake Tahoe lodging is really the...