The ONE Thing That Separates the Men from the Boys in the Google AdWords Game

There is ONE central idea, one key concept that Google wants you to understand.

If you have this right, Google will literally reward you by giving you lower prices on clicks, and your customers will reward you by buying what you have to sell.

If you DON'T have this right, you'll pay way too much for clicks, your competitors will eat you up, and your whole Google experience will be very, very unpleasant.

The one thing that matters on Google is relevance.

You might think of this as "message-to-market match."

This will make complete sense once you understand a bit of Google's history.

Google started in 1998, after the "big boys" in the search engine game like Yahoo and AltaVista were already well-established.

At the time, few people would have bet that Google would overtake them all - but in less than five years they did exactly that.

What's even more remarkable is they did so without a bunch of hype and loud marketing. They literally built a better mousetrap and the world beat a path to their door.

So what happened?

Google's mission in life was to build a search engine that would give people exactly what they were searching for, as fast as possible. If you were searching for "California butterflies" they wanted to give you the very best and most popular California butterfly websites on the very first page of results.

They developed an amazing mathematical formula for figuring out who visited websites and why, and using that information in their search engine.

So ... when they began to sell Pay Per Click advertising, they were extremely concerned that advertisers should also put out messages that were highly relevant.

Google rewards you for being relevant, and they let people who are searching vote for you. If your ad gets clicked on, it's relevant. If it doesn't, it's not. It's that simple.

The higher your clickthrough rate - i.e., the more folks who see your ad and click on it - the less you have to pay for the position you want. But if you write lousy ads, Google will make you pay more to get your ads to show at all.

So this creates a "Darwinian" effect, a deliberate natural selection that weeds out bad advertisers and rewards good ones. What's good for Google's customers is good for Google and good for you.

When all the dust has settled, what really matters is that your ads and your content be relevant to the keywords you're bidding on. Your message must match what the person is thinking.

So ... what were they really thinking when they typed in "California butterflies?" That is the question! Figure that out and put it in front of them, and you'll win at Google. Write an ad that matches exactly what they're searching for and you'll beat your competitors by a country mile.

A Valuable Little Piece of Customer Psychology for You:

Here's a little mental trick to help you write Google ads.

Imagine that you are not you. You are your customer.

You're not the dude with the cool solution. You're the guy or gal with some stupid problem. You've got an itch and you want to scratch it.

And you're not in front of your computer. You're sitting in front of their computer. What do you type into the search bar on Google?

And what do you hope will come up?

Answer that question and you'll be successful marketing online.

Perry Marshall, perrymarshall.com

Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Jane Dyer

5 Things you should NEVER Tell a Customer

You customers are getting tired of wasting their time trying to contact you. When a call or an inquiry come in, you have an opportunity to solve a problem, and address a perception issue. The way your customer service team handles inquiries can either make or break a relationship with your customers. It can also either reinforce or void your marketing efforts.

Here are 5 things you should never tell a customer:

1. A lie –this may seem an obvious one. Depicting your products and services as the right ones, when you know they aren’t is lying. Failing to refer a customer to your competition when you product will not meet their needs is also lying.

Instead: communicate that you will be happy to connect your customer with a company that offers a product or service that will serve them better at this time. If appropriate, communicate also when your company will have those products or services available.

2. It’s the fault of “x” department – Assigning blame laterally will diminish the company reputation and brand in your customer’s eyes and reflect poorly on your credibility and professionalism. The other great excuse here is invoking company policy. Your regulations are part of an internal process designed with one goal: making your customers happy. Remember that you are a representative of the company.

Instead: own the inquiry and take the appropriate steps to be part of the solution.

3. I disagree with you – Getting friendly with the customer has its limits. This is not a chat among buddies, it is a professional conversation and you should treat it as such. Remember that you are there to serve the customer with an attitude that shows you care.

Instead: empathize with your customers by using expressions such as “I hear you”, “I understand your frustration” and move the conversation towards a solution that is agreeable.

4. I don’t know what to do about that – Demonstrating or giving the perception that you are not knowledgeable about the product or service that is the subject of the inquiry can backfire. Remember that you’re representing your company and that you’re not talking only to one customer. You’re also speaking with their family members and professional circles.

Instead: enroll the help of a supervisor or a colleague as needed and work with them to resolve the issue.

5. It’s your fault – Blaming the customer for improper use of a product or lack of understanding of a service will take you directly to the wrong side of the conversation. Remember that it is your job to provide support.

Instead: explain the proper use of a product, the terms of service, and any other feature that will allow the customer to enjoy their purchase.

Consumers are becoming savvier about their purchases. The difference in brand loyalty can be determined by a poor customer experience. Service matters most in some high dollar or transaction intensive industries such as airlines, banks, credit cards, computers, online retail, and wireless. The reasons can vary and go from security and in-flight service, to personal treatment and accuracy, warranty and pricing, the ratio of price and perceived value, and connectivity.

The gap between expectation and delivery in some cases has widened greatly thanks partly to the efforts of marketing campaigns. When customers experience your brand on the service end, it better deliver on its promises. Knowing what not to say is as and, in some cases, more important than finding the right answer.

[via fastcompany.com]
Home with God: In a Life That Never Ends

Don’t Let Selling Internationally Scare You

Matt Alper launched Copshoes.com three years ago from his living room in San Antonio, Texas. His idea was to sell specialized shoes and boots to police, firemen and security personnel. Now, three years later, he’s moved into his own warehouse, he has 11 employees and 10 percent of his total sales come from outside of the U.S.

“We’ve learned many lessons about selling internationally,” said Alper. “The two primary issues are credit-card fraud and shipping. Any U.S.-based ecommerce business that sells internationally deals with them. It’s not just us.”

Credit-card Fraud Issues
Credit-card fraud occurs when a thief steals a credit-card number (or, purchases a stolen credit-card number) and uses that number to buy legitimate goods and services from an unsuspecting merchant. The merchant will not get paid for the merchandise, but he’ll have to pay the credit card fees and he’ll lose the merchandise because he’s shipped it to the thief. This type of fraud happens every day, and everyone agrees ecommerce merchants selling products internationally are especially vulnerable. That’s because many developing and Third-World countries do not and cannot properly police these thieves and, moreover, the market for buying and selling stolen credit-card numbers is largely outside of U.S. boundaries.

U.S.-based ecommerce merchants who sell products internationally quickly learn these lessons and take appropriate precautions. Ben Boxall is president of VR3 Wholesale, a Los Angeles-based importer, wholesaler and retailer of aftermarket automotive products. Boxall’s company sells its products through several ecommerce sites (vr-3.com, vr3wholesale.com and roadmasterusa.com) it owns and operates.

“We export roughly 1,200 orders a week outside of the U.S.,” says Boxall. “And we’ve learned many credit-card fraud precautions. For one, there are certain countries that we simply will not ship orders to because we’ve received too many fraudulent cards from them. These countries include Latvia, Nigeria, Czech Republic and many others.”

“Second, we individually review each order over $250. We call every customer who placed that order unless it’s a repeat customer who’s previously been approved by us. For our company, we’ve found that fraudulent orders are generally greater than $250 each.”

Boxall continues, “We have other checks, too. We never ship to a post office box. We always compare the credit card billing address to the shipping address. And, we have what I call our ‘too-good-to-be-true rule.’ That is, if an order arrives that’s too good or simply doesn’t look right, we’ll refund the credit-card charge and reject the order. That probably cost us some legitimate business, but it also prevents us from losing money from stolen credit cards.”

Copshoes.com’s Alper will not ship to Venezuela, Indonesia or Nigeria, among other countries. “I once shipped goods to Indonesia that were, as it turns out, purchased with a stolen credit card,” says Alper. “I got so angry that I called the Indonesian embassy in Washington, D.C. It was unbelievable. They told me they couldn’t help because the Indonesian national broke no Indonesian law since it was a stolen American card. So I learned a lesson there.”

Alper agrees with Boxall that an experienced merchant can frequently detect fraudulent orders. Alper says that sudden orders from a single country will raise concerns, as will large purchase amounts and orders with multiple quantities of the same product.

Shipping Hurdles
But credit-card fraud is not the only concern for merchants who sell internationally. How to ship the products, many experienced merchants say, is the other primary issue.

Mark Romero is co-owner of Siamese Dream, a California-based retailer of clothing and gift items. Romero launched the business in 1998 as a brick-and-mortar operation, and he created Siamese-dream.com, its ecommerce site, in 1999. The business has five employees in addition to Romero, and roughly 7 percent of overall sales are outside of the U.S.

“We’ve shipped products to 19 different countries,” says Romero. “We’ve found that sending these via the United States Postal Service works best. It’s far cheaper for us than using, say, UPS or FedEx. And, we’ve found the shipments seem to clear the overseas customs process better using USPS than the other carriers.”

Many merchants agree USPS is less expensive for smaller international packages than private carriers such as UPS and FedEx. But, these merchants say, there are drawbacks. For one, merchants cannot track an international package using USPS, but they can track it using private carriers. Second, the USPS coordinates its international shipments with the postal services of recipient countries and, depending on the country, the local postal service may be unreliable.

“You learn,” says Copshoes.com’s Alper, “which countries have good postal services and which do not. Canada, England, Greece and others are quite good. But China’s postal service, for example, is terrible.”

“Lots of international customers don’t understand how expensive shipping can be,” said Romero. “It can be a material portion of the purchase and we are careful to find the least expensive shipping option for them.”

Alper has installed a shipping calculator on his site to assist his international customers determine the shipping cost. He uses the USPS for his international shipments. “The USPS is by far the cheapest, but the lack of tracking can be a problem. Also, if a package is lost, you are frequently dealing with local, overseas postal services. That can be a real hassle.”

VR3’s Boxall agrees that, for smaller packages, the USPS is the cheapest. But for cartons and pallets of goods, Boxall says that he uses UPS. “The UPS provides very helpful information for international shipments,” said Boxall. “I’d encourage merchants to visit both the UPS website and the USPS site. They have lots of advice to help with overseas shipments.”

Boxall also relies on his order-management software to help manage international shipments. Says Boxall, “We use Interapptive’s ShipWorks software to manage all of our orders, including international ones. It’s incredibly helpful. It sorts between domestic and international orders and it automatically prints shipping labels and customs forms — saves us tons of time.”

For ecommerce merchants who ship with the USPS, Boxall offers this advice. “You can negotiate volume discounts with the postal service for certain types of shipments. Many folks don’t realize that. Also, we use boxes and forms supplied by the postal service, which reduces our costs. Because of our volume, the postal service has even agreed to customize boxes for us with our VR3 logo for no additional cost. “

All three merchants have learned valuable lessons about international sales in addition to credit-card fraud and shipping matters. “Toll free numbers don’t work overseas,” says Copshoes.com’s Alper. “Selling products in local currencies can increase your profit margin,” says VR3’s Boxall. “Make sure the customer realizes he’s responsible for import tariffs and customs’ fees,” says Siamese Dream’s Romero.

The three merchants also agree that, in the end, the extra effort is worth it. “It’s far too big of a market to ignore,” said Matt Alper. “It’s profitable business for us, international customers tend to be repeat buyers, and it’s a segment of our business that we hope to grow.”

Go to source.
Is a Super Bowl Ad Really Worth the Cost?

How To Make Wads Of Cash As An Online Dating Coach

Marianne Kost, a divorced mother in New York, paid $2,000 for a profile, photographs and coaching from Evan Marc Katz, owner of two coaching services based in Los Angeles, EvanMarkKatz.com and E-Cyrano.com. Ms. Kost was new to online dating, so Mr. Katz also helped her decide which dating service to use and which men to meet.

When Ms. Kost wrote her personal essay, Mr. Katz pushed her to tell specific stories, such as, “I came face-to-face with a bull moose during rutting season,” and, “I occasionally smear a glob of peanut butter on my dog’s nose, just for fun.” Ms. Kost said she had many responses when her profile went online at Match.com.

Ms. Kost, 49, said Mr. Katz was of much help. “It was wonderful for my ego, and I felt I had a pick of the cream of the crop. I ended up having so much interesting stuff in my profile that I had a lot to talk about and write about in e-mails.”

Ms. Kost said she did not meet many men in person, because Mr. Katz had advised her to go through a long screening process with e-mail and phone conversations before an actual date. After three months, Ms. Kost met Stephen Micallef, who, like her, is an engineer. She immediately liked how he spoke of his daughters. “I liked his values,” Ms. Kost said. “He seemed emotionally mature and very open.”

Mr. Micallef, 47, liked the professional photographs of Ms. Kost. And he liked the way her profile captured her essence with details, like how she raced a storm on a sailboat and collected strawberries to make jam. “This was well written. There was thought in it,” he said. “I found her profile to be authentic, sincere and honest, and it was proven out.”

They have dated for eight months and plan to marry.

Mr. Katz said his company has helped thousands of people since it began five years ago. It offers several packages, starting at $49 for a 20-minute consultation and a line-by-line critique of a profile. For $129 to $199, people fill out a questionnaire and spend a half-hour on the phone with a freelance writer, who writes two essays for them. For $1,500, the company interviews clients, writes their profiles, takes professional photographs and coaches them via phone and e-mail about online dating. For $1,000 a month, he coaches them about dating and relationships in general.

[Via The New York Times]

The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation

How To Buy And Sell Popularity Online

Popularity was never easily measured, until the advent of social-networking sites. Now, prospective employers and others can gain some insights into an applicant’s lifestyle and character by looking at a person’s social-networking page, including the roster of friends.

So what if a job applicant’s networking page lacks friends?

Enter FakeYourSpace.com, a business founded by Brant Walker, which offered users of MySpace.com and similar sites a way to enhance their page with photographs and comments from hired “friends” — mainly attractive models — for 99 cents a month each.

FakeYourSpace was doing very well, attracting 50,000 hits a day, until a service that provided the photographs of the models, iStockPhoto.com, noticed that use and objected to it.

Kelly Thompson, iStockPhoto’s vice president for marketing, said its licensing agreement did not allow Web sites to post photos that might lead the average person to “think that the model endorses” the product, Web site or person in question.

IStockPhoto’s network of 30,000 photographers police the Internet for such contractual infractions. When they noticed how FakeYourSpace was using the photos, they reported it to iStockPhoto, which asked Mr. Walker to stop using the photographs.

He complied, and FakeYourSpace, while still viewable online, will not be fully operational again until Thursday. Mr. Walker is searching for models through agency and online auditions to replace those that had been provided by iStockPhoto, which was recently purchased by Getty Images.

But is FakeYourSpace’s business legal? The site certainly misrepresents people, but Mr. Walker, 26, said he thought that its intent was more altruistic than fraudulent.

A graduate of Platt College, a graphics and multimedia specialty school in San Diego, Mr. Walker runs the site from his San Diego home with two employees. He said the idea came to him when he noticed, while browsing MySpace pages, that “some people would have a lot of good-looking friends, and others didn’t.”

His idea, he said, was “to turn cyberlosers into social-networking magnets” by providing fictitious postings from attractive people. The postings are written by the client or by Mr. Walker and his employees, who base the messages on the client’s requests. FakeYourSpace says it does not post any messages that are threatening, pornographic or illegal.

MySpace and other social-networking sites appear to have no rules prohibiting Mr. Walker’s idea. The leading sites, MySpace, Friendster and facebook, did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Walker’s business is a variation on a growing phenomenon that Bruce Schneier, a blogger at InfoWorld.com, a Web site for the business technology magazine InfoWorld, refers to as “the social network reputation hack.”

MobileAlibi.com and PopularityDialer.com offer similar services, using fake cellphone calls scheduled in advance to provide an excuse to escape a tedious situation, like a bad date, or to make the subscriber appear in demand.

While they may be less than honest, FakeYourSpace and similar sites are currently legal, as long as the content they post is legitimately licensed. Mr. Walker said his second business, a Web site called BreakYourSpace.com that removes unwanted friends from a user’s profile by third-party messenger, had yet to have any legal trouble.

[Via The New York Times]

Do Sales Contests Work?

Commercial Espresso Machine And Coffee Cart Business

Who ever thought coffee can be a profitable niche with AdSense. But, in fact, it is, if you do it the right way? So what’s the right way? The right way is to target commercial coffee equipment and business opportunities that cost a pretty penny.

So what are the right niches? Espresso machines and coffee carts. Keywords like commercial espresso machines, “delonghi espresso machine”, mobile coffee cart and coffee cart franchise are the ones that work best for me.

And there is a very good reason for that. Thousands of people dream of starting their own coffee cart business, because it requires very low investment and coffee carts are very ubiquitous (that’s what makes coffee cart franchises very successful.

Because coffee carts and commercial espresso machines are rather expensive (several thousand dollars, generally speaking), this makes it a great Adsense niche).

In order not to violate Google TOS, I rate niches with my own star system. ** - $0.20-$0.30 per click average, *** - $0.30-$0.50 per click average, **** - $0.50-$0.70 per click average, ***** - $0.70-$1.20 per click average. While I don’t mind sharing information on ***** niches, I don’t make this information publicly available because it would quickly kill these niches or get Google pissed off at me.

All AdSense niches were tested by me personally and your results shouldn’t be very different, unless your account was smart-priced, too much time passed since my testing, MFA got a hold of the niche or your site or traffic source sucks big time.
Watch Out for Winter Workouts

A Few Moments in the Limelight Can Boost a Small Business

BUSINESS OWNERS EAGER for exposure can only dream of the celebrity attention that Stacey Griffin of New Orleans is getting.

Griffin started a new business in December selling eight-ounce boxes of purified water called Aqua2Go. The product, designed for kids and adults alike, is convenient like a juice box (and even comes with a straw) but contains water instead of a sugary-sweet beverage. With limited resources for marketing, "I started sending emails to everyone and anyone I could think of," she says.

And she sent letters with samples of her product to about 30 television shows, such as "The Today Show," "Regis & Kelly" and even "Oprah" "for giggles — the worst thing that can happen is that they'll never call me," she says.

A few short weeks later, Griffin was driving down a Louisiana highway when she got a phone call from a friend "screaming from the top of her lungs that Ellen [DeGeneres] was drinking a box and singing and dancing," she says. (See a video clip from the "Ellen" show here.)

Almost immediately, her email box started to fill up, as viewers of the comedian's talk show found Griffin's web site and asked, "Where can I buy it?" Hundreds of messages came in the first week, as well an order from a big supermarket chain and interest from other grocery stores. "This got me the national attention that I may have gotten, but it would have taken years," she says.

As Griffin's case illustrates, a few moments in the limelight can easily catapult a small-business owner from obscurity to national recognition. Whether it's Eva Longoria wearing a new designer's jewelry, or Prince playing a hand-crafted piano, or Maddox Jolie-Pitt wearing an independent retailer's T-shirt, the celebrity attention can boost an entrepreneur's profile — and bottom line.

Getting Hollywood's Attention Is Tricky

When a celebrity is spotted (and ideally, photographed) clutching your product, "you'll see a huge spike in sales from it," says Patricia Handschiegel, a consultant in Los Angeles who advises stores and designers on business strategies and owns StyleDiary.net, an online fashion site. "It's easy to get excited about it, because it does bring quick — and measurable — results."

Getting your products into the hands of Hollywood elite can be difficult, though, and requires persistence. (See sidebar below.) Some entrepreneurs, like Griffin, do their own work, aggressively sending out emails and letters, and supplying samples of their products for gift bags at gala events and charity fundraisers. Others hire public-relations specialists and product-placement firms in a bid to build a celebrity fan base. "It's become a very popular request," says Kelly Anderson, president of Clover Public Relations in Los Angeles. "Celebrity product placement is at the top of the list."

Sometimes, though, winning a celebrity fan is just plain luck, as T-shirt designer Toby Munitz can attest. Two years ago, the Vista, Calif., mother started a side business designing rock-star-cool shirts for her young sons and their friends. Since Munitz and her husband already had a thriving adult T-shirt business, she thought the sideline, called Inky Dink Tees, would be more of a hobby.

And then, actress Angelina Jolie took a liking to the shirts, picking up one emblazoned "Human Cannonball" for son Maddox to wear on his first press outing (see photo at right). "It couldn't have landed in our lap better," says Munitz.

Not wanting to miss an opportunity, the entrepreneur sprung into action. "Once we had that photo in our hands, we sent out an email blast and a mailing to our retailers, saying 'if Maddox likes it, it's going to sell,'" she says. "The retailers really responded to it. The first New York [trade] show that we did, people were just lining up."

Extend the 15 Minutes

Indeed, it takes quick thinking and strategic decisions to parlay that brief moment in the spotlight into a lasting way to generate sales, says Handschiegel. "You really need to be prepared, not just in being able to fulfill the orders but to leverage that minute up to the next level," she says. Business owners should quickly incorporate a celebrity customer into their marketing efforts, using phrases such as "as seen on" in pitches to clients, partners, distributors and media outlets, she recommends. And, try to win more celebrity fans, she recommends.

That's what Munitz, whose T-shirts are now sold in close to 200 boutiques nationwide, has done. After the Maddox photo, she turned to professional help, hiring Anderson's firm Clover. "I don't have a PR background, and when this started happening, magazines started contacting me and they were asking for press releases," she says. With help from Anderson, she's picked up more celebrity-parent clients, including Reese Witherspoon and Heidi Klum.

Can the celebrity attention ever hurt? Sometimes, says Handschiegel, who recommends that business owners seek a celebrity who would well represent their product. A designer who makes sophisticated jewelry, for instance, might want to target elegant actress Cate Blanchett rather than party girl Lindsay Lohan, she says.

Anderson, who represents numerous business owners who make baby, maternity and parenting products, says certain clients have told her, "I don't want Britney Spears because she doesn't represent a good model for parents." Not all share that thought, though; Anderson's client Munitz falls squarely in the "there's no such thing as bad publicity" camp. "If Britney's kids were in my stuff, it wouldn't matter to me," she says.

Griffin, the water-in-a-box maker, is thrilled with her exposure on the "Ellen" show — even if DeGeneres made up a jingle for Aqua2Go that was a little risque. In front of a live studio audience, the comedian sang a tune that mimicked singer Justin Timberlake's performance on "Saturday Night Live," in which he sang about making a novel gift for his girlfriend, "....in a box." (We can't print the full title here.) DeGeneres switched the words, explaining the steps needed to "suck the straw in the box" of Aqua2Go.

"I thought, oh I can forget getting into Disney World," Griffin says, with a laugh. But any apprehension vanished when the producers called a short time later and invited her to appear on DeGeneres's show. "I nearly dropped the phone and passed out." (See the clip of Griffin on "Ellen.")

Now Griffin is planning to sell as many as 2.3 million boxes of water this year (an eight-pack of boxes retails for $3.89), far more than she ever would have expected in her first year of business. And, "I haven't paid 50 cents yet for advertising," she says.

Stumbling on Happiness

10+ Unusual Ways To Make Easy Money On The Internet If You Love Writing

1. Make money naming domains. The original idea comes from Dane Carson’s blog. While you can earn money as a contributor for services such as PickyDomains.Com, here is a better idea. Go to Google or any other search engine, find sucky domain names and contact their owners directly, offering them your services. The key to success is to make it 100% risk free. Inform your prospective clients that you’ll accept money only if they like your domain name. If you come up with one approved domain name a day and charge what PickyDomain charges, you can make $1500 a month. Another twist – come up with cool domain names, like SiteToRemember.Com or ItsMe.Com, register them yourself and sell them on the aftermarket.

2. eBay arbitrage. A lot of people like buying stuff on eBay, because it’s cheap. And some people never buy on eBay, because they are afraid of being ripped off. Here is your solution. Go to Craigslist.Com and see what items people buy and sell most often. Look at prices. Then go to eBay and see, if you can get it cheaper. Once you find your niche, you can buy things on eBay (or better yet, act as a representative for an eBay powerseller) and sell them for a profit using local classifieds and Craigslist. You can do this online as well. Set up a proxy store, and when you get an order, simply buy the same item on eBay for less, substituting shipping address from your own to that of your buyer.

3. eBay copywriting. If you are good at copywriting, go to eBay and look for highticket items, like boats. Find auctions with totally sucky descriptions. Contact an owner and inform him or her that good description of his or her item is likely to increase the chances of that item being sold. Then offer your services for a 1% of the selling price.

4. Get Paid Writing Reviews. This idea comes from a blog called Business Ideas That Work. A site called SoftwareJudge.Com pays up to 50 dollars per good review. However, if you are good at reviewing software, you can do this on your own. Go to CNET or any other site that lists software. Find sites that don’t have any reviews or testimonials. Contact developers directly, offering them your review services. Good reviews and testimonials increases sales, so you shouldn’t have any difficulties convincing developers that they need your services. And you get free software and games too! Oh, and you don't have to limit yourself to software alone.

5. Social Bookmark Whoring (oops, I meant to say PR). RedDit and Digg can bring a crapload of traffic. And traffic means money. If you have experience creating linkbate titles and getting to the top, why not offer your services? Say, you charge 10 dollars for submitting news to RedDit, Digg, StumbleUpon, Furl, NewsVine, Fark and all the other social bookmarting sites. The key is to work only with interesting stories, so you don’t become a spammer. 10 news a day and you are 100 dollars richer. You can probably work out a deal with online PR agencies, because they are totally clueless about this.

6. Writing Google AdWords Ads. Every time I see “Cake Icing. Used And New. eBay.Com” type ads or “Four best sites on killing your wife”, it makes me wonder. Aren’t there any GOOD AdWords ads copywriters? Look’s like a great job to me. The ads are only three lines long and if you charge 10 bucks per ad, you can make a lot of money. And the customers are easy to find, too. Just look at all these terrible ads that Google displays on their search engine and contextual network.

7. Wacky blogs. Steve Pavlina gets over 300 dollars a day from AdSense alone, writing on wacky topics, like polyphasic sleep, astral projection and psychic development. Or take David Icke, who claims that president Bush in an alien and a reptilian. Your blog doesn’t have to be true, it just has to be interesting.

8. Blog whoring. There are a number of services, like PayPerPost.Com, that pay for promotional blogposts. Once again, you can do the same thing, cutting the middleman out.

9. Unique Personal Ads. Write memorable personal ads for online daters. Most personal ads suck. “Hi, my name is Bambie, I’m a Vergo, I’m 19 and I love dogs.” Here is my favorite personal ad. If people pay for resume writing, they might pay for a great personal ad.

10. Poet For Hire. This is nothing new. Still, if you love writing poetry, why not make some money with your rhymes.

11. Don’t EVEN THINK about majoring in English, Medieval Literature, Journalism or GET A REAL JOB, IF YOU WERE DUMB ENOUGH TO DO SO. Just kidding. If you love writing, just write, and the money will follow.

Portsmouth MS students show off ideas at Invention Convention

Hot Franchising Trends for 2007

• Senior-care services: As America ages, the senior-care industry is maturing beautifully. Growing 342 units in 2006, established franchises are flourishing and new ones are emerging. Franchising only since October, Caring Transitions specializes in senior home transition and the liquidation of personal belongings, usually in the event of death. CEO Gary Green aims to have 30 to 50 franchises throughout North America within the company’s first year. Adds Green, “There’s a huge need for this.”
• Personal-care services: Baby boomers may be young at heart, but their desire to look young as well has spurred the growth of franchises offering laser, skin-care, med-spa, massage, fitness and tanning services. “Twelve thousand people turn 50 every day in the U.S.,” says Charles Engelmann, CEO of Radiance Medspa. Engelmann believes the key for continued growth in the industry is education about the services. “Less than 10 percent of the American public is aware that these treatments are available,” he points out, “and less than 4 percent have actually experienced them--it’s already a multibillion-dollar industry.”
  
• Enrichment learning programs for kids: When it comes to learning programs for children, the segment increased by 850-plus units, but 2006 also saw diversification with new types of programs, such as a cooking school and an abacus learning program. Obviously, the franchising industry remains focused on children--and children’s education in particular. According to educational market research and consulting firm Eduventures LLC, revenue for assessment, tutoring, test-preparation services and supplemental content suppliers grew 6 percent to $21.9 billion in the 2004-2005 school year.
  
• eBay drop-off stores: The largest global online marketplace has been creating opportunities for all, including franchises that list and sell items for those lacking eBay savvy. While the early-established eBay drop-off franchises like iSold It generally dominated the market, a few fearless competitors joined the race in 2006. Meanwhile, eBay is still going strong, with users worldwide trading more than $1,590 worth of goods on the site every second.
  
• Food: Franchises and their customers will never go hungry. Franchises serving up salads and smoothies enjoyed healthy growth last year, a couple of chicken-wing newcomers made their way into this year’s listing, and coffee franchises are holding their own (even major players Burger King and McDonald’s have upped their gourmet coffee offerings to capture a portion of the coffee profits). Additionally, nonrestaurant food-related franchises are growing: chocolate fondue, food as gifts (like fruit baskets) and wine, to name a few.
  
• New and unique concepts: Hamburgers and pizza will always be American classics, but innovative, original and sometimes wacky franchise concepts are starting to shake things up. Cereality has made it big with endless hot and cold cereal options, Miami Rice Pudding Co. offers more than 30 flavors of rice pudding, and P.B.Loco keeps things nutty with its extensive line of savory and sweet peanut butters. Says Ken Hall, co-founder of P.B.Loco, “Our market research showed [that] many successful companies take existing products and either add a new twist or improve on them.”
  
• Business consulting/staffing: Every business needs help sometimes--and that need is keeping business consulting and staffing franchises growing. In addition to nearly double the number of business consulting franchises, there is also a new emphasis on companies offering small-business and franchise-brokering/consulting services. Regarding staffing, we saw significant growth among the larger companies in 2006, and it looks as if franchises might be making a comeback in an industry they once dominated. “Some companies are making franchising a large part of their growth strategy,” says Richard Wahlquist, president and CEO of the American Staffing Association in Alexandria, Virginia. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts staffing services will be one of the fastest-growing industries over the next five to 10 years.

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Dell program to award $30,000 to innovative small business

5 Great Online Resources for Women Entrepreneurs

Business is business, right? The numbers are either in the black column or the red one, regardless of whether you’re wearing a tie or a skirt. So the majority of business advice, like the articles, podcasts and blog entries posted each week here on StartupNation, is just as applicable to women entrepreneurs as it is to men. However, there are some areas of business ownership, such as securing traditional financing, that tend to pose a greater challenge for women entrepreneurs. Additionally, many women have a desire to connect with, support and learn from other emerging and established female business owners. Particularly those who’ve been there, done that and can help us navigate some of the pitfalls as well as inspire us to reach new heights.

Five excellent resources for women entrepreneurs

National Association of Women Business Owners - This premier organization for women entrepreneurs has tons of resources to help you build your business, including discounts on useful products and services for members, such as an offer from Wells Fargo to waive the opening fee for a business credit line. Their free newsletter, which is worth signing up for, provides brief summaries of relevant articles on national business trends, economic issues, networking, effective presentations and sales strategies.

eWomenNetwork - Like the name says, this one is all about networking. Members can receive free coaching, connect with other women entrepreneurs and promote their products or services to the most visited, membership-based women's networking organization on the internet.

Center for Women’s Business Research - If you’re in need of compelling numbers to help build your case when seeking financing, government contracts or support, this site offers a wealth of information which is organized for quick access. Their annual Executive Roundtable offers high-level advice and networking opportunities in a one-day format.

Principal Financial Group Free Teleclasses for Women Entrepreneurs - These for-women-by-women teleclasses cover topics such as negotiating tactics, client service, motivating employees and goal setting. If you miss a class, each is archived so you can tune in at your convenience.

Make Mine a Million Business - The sole goal of this organization is to help women-owned businesses pass the million-dollar mark. Depending on the size of your business, you can apply for a program award, which includes up to $45,000 in financing and a year of mentoring from a team of business advisors, or a micro loan of up to $10,000 from Count Me In For Women’s Economic Independence, which created its program to award loans based on other factors besides credit history. Already up the business curve and want to give back? You can also volunteer to be a mentor to other women entrepreneurs.

Tap into the experience of other women entrepreneurs

At times, venturing into entrepreneurship can feel a bit like you’re hanging out on a branch all by yourself with no tree trunk in sight. But with online resources like these - and the StartupNation community , of course - women entrepreneurs can tap into the inspiration, tools and support you need to turn your business ambitions into business realities.

Tami Anderson and Elizabeth Howland co-founded andHow Marketing, and have 35 years combined experience marketing to women across a variety of consumer goods and services.

Why You Should Knock Yourself Off.

Creating Sales Tools That Build Your Brand

If you’re like other entrepreneurs, you know a good logo is important to branding your company. Let's say you already have a great logo. Then what? You need to create a variety of marketing materials that'll help build your brand.

How can you do that? In a word: Coordinate. All your materials should graphically connect to one another. They should convey the same look and feel, include common images, and evoke similar emotional responses in your customers. When viewed side by side, your stationery, brochures and other promotional materials should look like a cohesive family.

Of course, your materials don’t need to match each other completely, but some elements should remain consistent from one piece to the next:

Color: Color is one of the most important components of brand identity because it plays a large role in memory retrieval. Choose a primary color (preferably a Pantone Matching System, or PMS, color--ask your printer about it if you need help) that’s appropriate for your company’s image, then use it as the dominant color on all your marketing materials. You can also select a secondary color to use as well, but make sure you use it sparingly. Preferably, the dominant color you choose will appear in your logo. You may find a book on colors and their perceived meanings helpful when selecting your dominant color.

Key Graphic Elements: Consistently use distinctive symbols, shapes and borders that convey the image you want to communicate. For example, a high-tech company might feature bold, angular graphics, while a clothing store might use rounded, soft shapes. Selecting some similar basic graphic elements helps customers recall your brand faster. Also, choose a photographic or illustrative style and stick with it. Black-and-white photos, for instance, are often a unique way to make an impact while setting your brand apart.

Fonts: Select just a few fonts for use on all your materials, including at least one primary serif font and 1 primary sans-serif font. (Serif fonts have “feet” at the bottom of the font, like Times New Roman. Helvetica is an example of a sans-serif font.) These two fonts should be the ones you use most frequently. Serif fonts work well in paragraphs and most text blocks, while sans-serif fonts should be reserved for headlines, numbers in charts, very small text and text reversed out of a color. You should avoid using more than two different fonts within the same document.

Messaging: The tone of your copywriting helps convey your image. Use the same voice on all your marketing materials. For example, is your brand friendly? Be conversational. Is it expensive or exclusive? Be more formal. It also helps to create a tagline or positioning statement--something memorable, meaningful and concise that summarizes your brand or your offering. Taglines often appear under a logo.

Logo Usage: Your logo is your brand’s most basic graphic element. It should appear on all your materials, and, when possible, it should appear at the same size and be placed at the same location on the page. Proportionate resizing is OK, but your logo should never be altered or redrawn. Consistency is paramount.

Remember, awareness and recognition are keys to growing your business. Creating a family of marketing materials that tie to one another helps differentiate you from the competition and builds brand loyalty.

---

John Williams is Entrepreneur.com's"Image & Branding" columnist and the founder and president ofLogoYes.com, the world's first do-it-yourself logo design website. During John's 25 years in advertising, he's created brand standards for Fortune 100 companies like Mitsubishi and won numerous awards for his design work.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Inventor reflects on fogless mirror

Every inventor has a thousand ideas. But it's the rare one who has 350 of his ideas actually on the market.

Meet Zlatko Zadro, president of Zadro Products in Huntington Beach.

After careers selling large computers and refurbishing real estate, Zadro decided in 1983 to try marketing one of his inventions.

The result is an international company that makes 350 products, many of them patented. It has 40 employees in Huntington Beach and 800 in China. Many inventors can learn from Zadro's practical approach that focuses on customer needs, not his own desires.

Start with a problem. The whole thing started when Zadro thought about the difficulty men had shaving in the shower. The hot water supposedly softened the skin and whiskers for a more comfortable shave, but men couldn't see to shave because a regular mirror fogged up.

Zadro attached a thin tube behind the mirror, dispersing hot water to keep the mirror the same temperature as the air to avoid fogging.

He hired people to help with the design because he's not an engineer, but he built the prototype himself in his garage.

Zadro started selling the mirrors whenever he spoke to college business classes and broke onto store shelves through the Los Angeles Gift Show.

Learn before growing. For five years, Zadro only had one product.

"I needed to learn retail and distribution," he said. "A company shouldn't grow for the sake of growth."

He attended many trade shows and signed with a national sales representative with an established retail clientele.

Build on success. When Zadro did add to his product line, it was to solve another problem. Men with poor eyesight had trouble using the original fogless mirror. So Zadro added a mirror capable of magnifying things by up to five times. Later, he added pushbutton automatic magnification. And lights. And clocks. And a caddy to hold the razor. The top-of-the-line fogless mirror has all those features, plus the light turns on automatically when the shaver removes the razor from the caddy.

Listen to customers. Zadro spends much of his product-development time talking to his retail clients and hanging out in their stores to talk to customers.

"The ultimate decision maker is the consumer," he said. "That's who my boss is."

His mirrors sell in specialty stores like Bed Bath & Beyond, in catalogs such as Hammacher Schlemmer and Sky Mall, and he does sell one small mirror at Wal-Mart.

Avoid distracting lawsuits. After introducing a new product, Zadro figures he has three years before copycats appear on the market. But he usually doesn't file patent infringement lawsuits.

"The startup cost for a new product is half a million dollars so not everyone can do it," he said. "Should I spend my money on patent infringement lawsuits or research and development" of new products?

"Also, it didn't hurt me to have other fogless mirrors on the market because it helped consumer awareness of the product."

Don't fall in love. Zadro claims an astounding success record: nine of 10 products he takes to market are profitable, some more so than others.

Of course, he doesn't pursue every idea. "I have a folder this thick," he said, holding his index finger and thumb three inches apart, "of those concepts."

With 350 products, "it's not whether (a new product) is good but whether it can penetrate the market and have profitable market share," he said.

One product that didn't succeed was a women's mirror and makeup holder. Zadro isn't sure why but speculates that the packaging didn't convey value to consumers.

Seek new problems. Mirrors have been good to Zadro Products, but the founder isn't spending all his time adding doodads to existing products.

The newest Zadro product is a UV light for disinfecting phone receivers, keyboards and the like. It was developed by engineers in China, where SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) has been a health problem.

Zadro is already working on a larger version to disinfect large surfaces like kitchen countertops, and a spoon to disinfect drinks.

And he's always looking for other "innovative ideas that make life easier," which is the company's slogan.

[via ocregister.com]

The Lovely Bones

Ten Things NOT to Name Your Business

Having recently returned from a Florida vacation, the land of boutiques, and, roadside businesses, I deem myself worthy of judging these places by their names.

Some words used in business names just bring certain connotations to mind, and, it can be enough to make me not go inside and shop.

Most of them, in an effort to keep from sounding outdated, actually date themselves even more in the process.

If your business is named any of these things, I'm not talking about you, yours is great, and, I will be sure to shop there.

Anyway, my list of terms to avoid when naming a business:

1. "Today's" - Anyplace that has to call themselves "today's" anything is likely stocked with "yesterday's", and, not in a vintage-y sort of way.

2. "Modern" - Again, methinks thou tryeth a bit too hard, to convince me.

3. "Classy" - guaranteed to be the sleaziest stuff you can imagine.

4. "Savvy" - screams, "I'm trying to convince you that I'm an authority here, and, I'm 'hip to the scene'.

5. "Swanky" - although it's kind of "retro", my grandmother used to say it a lot, and, I don't usually shop at the same places she did. The jury may be out on this one, but, the word just bugs me.

6. "Lady" - brings up quite the seventies visions. Break out the avocado and harvest gold appliances. Only the best for Classy Ladies.

7. "Tidy" - often describes something called a "nook", or, a "cottage" (both my personal shopping hell, yet, I hang with people who eat this stuff up) . Your business is supposed to be "tidy", that's not really a major selling point for me.

8. "Charming" - Full of either gingham, or, junk referred to as "gently used", or, "distressed".

9. "N' Things" - just don't.

And, finally:

10. Anything with a "K" where a "C" belongs - If you own "Kountry Klutter Kakes", I will Kut you.

The World Is Flat : A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century