Being the do it yourself type, I wanted to create my podcast from scratch. I worked on this thing for about a month and got the first segment up on Itunes. The following episodes would not show up. I switched to another great podcasting program and got on farther. I've had a devil of a time getting my podcast to work properly in Itunes.
So, I finally broke down and used mypodcast.com. The process was easy as pie. They even have a free audio program that you can download for easy submission.
I create my audio with audacity and clean it up for broadcast Adobe Soundbooth. Once the audio is done, I just upload the file to mypodcast.com. Check it out. Go to http://dmr.mypodcast.com/index.html and let me know what you think.
You've got to see this in action yourself
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
The Catastrophe Most Businesses Face When They Omit This Phase Of Operation
Every year I get to work with a few individuals who want to get started in Internet marketing. They them tell me about the ideas they want to pursue, how much they want to make and how quickly they will make it.
A few of the clients I work with have already started their business and come to me when they feel that things aren’t working. The first thing I do is ask them to show me their business plan. I really can’t work with a business if they don’t have a written plan. The reason is simple; if they can’t show me a written outline of their goals, chances are they don’t have a clue where they are in the process.
Many times, the solution to their problem is simply to get back to basics. That means starting with the preparation phase. The prep phase allows you to explore the market and identify the specific business model that gives you the greatest profit at a competitive rate.
During the Prep Phase, you get to study your market, craft the ideal business model for your company using the many profiles available to your profile. The best way to start the prep phase is to go to Google, Yahoo and Alexa among others. The reason you want to explore those sites, is because you can see the variety of websites and approaches that they take to market and sell their products.
You should make use of Google trends to examine the trend lines of your market. What you are looking for when you use these tools is the specific use of your product, how many people are using the product and in what way are they using it.
Set up a bookmarks folder that holds your research sites. You’ll be visiting them often. Here are a few of my favorite among my many research links:
• Google – use this site for checking the number of searches for a given keyword, the number of paid ads connected to a keyword and even more.
• Wikipedia – I use this site to get a handle on the history of a market or product. There are also interesting tidbits of knowledge associated to a product or service or the people attracted to them.
• Mapquest – I use this map website along with Google earth to look for geographic trends as well as similarities among target groups.
• Answers – This site covers a wide range of topics and like wikipedia, gives fairly good information on everything from apples to zebras.
• CIA The World Factbook – The government resource for worldwide information. It is updated regularly. Learn why Moldova might be a key country to look to as a future place of business.
• Keyword discovery – This site offers a comprehensive view of keywords and though it’s a pay site, is invaluable for the professional Internet marketer.
• Spyfu – Peek under the hood of your competition website to see what keywords they use to stay at the top of the search engines. Take a look at their pay per click word choices and much more. Another pay site with a free trial option.
• Google Trends – This is a must for every business owner. Whether you make your money on or off the web Google trends allows you to take a look at what’s trendy what’s popular and where the trends are most popular.
• Alexa – See where your website and other sites rank in popularity on the Internet. Use their “Wayback Machine” to see how websites have changed over time.
• NNDB – I use this site for getting information on people in the news and in history. There are lots of useful information on people and their role in society.
• Technorati – I use this site to check the popularity of blogs and the various industries they cover. Use it to check the popularity of your product.
• Clickbank and several other affiliate websites. Look at what is selling and what is not. Check out the squeezes pages of the sellers.
There are more on my list but this is a start. They will help you to see the big picture of your overall market. Take your time to ensure that you’ve got a clear snapshot of the various permutations of the market for your product. This is vital.
This is where the majority of new Internet business startups end. They spend years fooling themselves that they need just one more idea.
You need to study the market and decide which direction you wish to take. For instance suppose you are interested in selling an information product in health market? You should take the time to see if people are looking online for your intended product. Be absolutely sure that people are buying a similar product form someone else in large enough quantities to justify a business model.
Check to see if the product is on the way in or on the way out. Trends are very important; keep your eyes open. There will be a lot of temptation to skip over some steps or innovate as you go. You need to keep the numbers in front of your vision as you develop your plan. If you need more help contact me and I’ll get you more information on preparation.
A few of the clients I work with have already started their business and come to me when they feel that things aren’t working. The first thing I do is ask them to show me their business plan. I really can’t work with a business if they don’t have a written plan. The reason is simple; if they can’t show me a written outline of their goals, chances are they don’t have a clue where they are in the process.
Many times, the solution to their problem is simply to get back to basics. That means starting with the preparation phase. The prep phase allows you to explore the market and identify the specific business model that gives you the greatest profit at a competitive rate.
During the Prep Phase, you get to study your market, craft the ideal business model for your company using the many profiles available to your profile. The best way to start the prep phase is to go to Google, Yahoo and Alexa among others. The reason you want to explore those sites, is because you can see the variety of websites and approaches that they take to market and sell their products.
You should make use of Google trends to examine the trend lines of your market. What you are looking for when you use these tools is the specific use of your product, how many people are using the product and in what way are they using it.
Set up a bookmarks folder that holds your research sites. You’ll be visiting them often. Here are a few of my favorite among my many research links:
• Google – use this site for checking the number of searches for a given keyword, the number of paid ads connected to a keyword and even more.
• Wikipedia – I use this site to get a handle on the history of a market or product. There are also interesting tidbits of knowledge associated to a product or service or the people attracted to them.
• Mapquest – I use this map website along with Google earth to look for geographic trends as well as similarities among target groups.
• Answers – This site covers a wide range of topics and like wikipedia, gives fairly good information on everything from apples to zebras.
• CIA The World Factbook – The government resource for worldwide information. It is updated regularly. Learn why Moldova might be a key country to look to as a future place of business.
• Keyword discovery – This site offers a comprehensive view of keywords and though it’s a pay site, is invaluable for the professional Internet marketer.
• Spyfu – Peek under the hood of your competition website to see what keywords they use to stay at the top of the search engines. Take a look at their pay per click word choices and much more. Another pay site with a free trial option.
• Google Trends – This is a must for every business owner. Whether you make your money on or off the web Google trends allows you to take a look at what’s trendy what’s popular and where the trends are most popular.
• Alexa – See where your website and other sites rank in popularity on the Internet. Use their “Wayback Machine” to see how websites have changed over time.
• NNDB – I use this site for getting information on people in the news and in history. There are lots of useful information on people and their role in society.
• Technorati – I use this site to check the popularity of blogs and the various industries they cover. Use it to check the popularity of your product.
• Clickbank and several other affiliate websites. Look at what is selling and what is not. Check out the squeezes pages of the sellers.
There are more on my list but this is a start. They will help you to see the big picture of your overall market. Take your time to ensure that you’ve got a clear snapshot of the various permutations of the market for your product. This is vital.
This is where the majority of new Internet business startups end. They spend years fooling themselves that they need just one more idea.
You need to study the market and decide which direction you wish to take. For instance suppose you are interested in selling an information product in health market? You should take the time to see if people are looking online for your intended product. Be absolutely sure that people are buying a similar product form someone else in large enough quantities to justify a business model.
Check to see if the product is on the way in or on the way out. Trends are very important; keep your eyes open. There will be a lot of temptation to skip over some steps or innovate as you go. You need to keep the numbers in front of your vision as you develop your plan. If you need more help contact me and I’ll get you more information on preparation.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Why You Absolutely Must Have An Information Product Regardless Of Your Business Model.
Let's say you run a Chiropractic office and you've been in the profession for a number of years, you've built up a certain amount of expertise. There are things you know about the practice of chiropractic medicine and running a practice effectively that can fill a book. Regardless of your profession you can create an information product. You don’t have to be a writer.
Why is this important? Because other people are interested in what you know. Patients and prospective patients find value in learning about the subject from an insider's perspective. The material can be instructional and informative. Your image as an expert in your field goes up one thousand percent after publication. Last but not least, you can actually sell your knowledge and make money doing it.
Business owners in the service industries have a more difficult time with prospects because they tend to sell an intangible. How effective would it be if someone who services chimneys produces a how-to booklet on the dangers of chimney asphyxiation? What about a carpet cleaner who produces a booklet on the top ten things to look out for in maintaining a healthy home environment?
When you can take your knowledge and produce a beneficial information product, you will elevate your status to a level of trust and esteem that borders on public relations. When you do have a new information product you can create a press release to announce your new product. Contact your local newspapers and get the word out. If you have a client list, you can contact them to let them know you have a free offer for them if they will refer your business to others.
My clients always ask “How can I produce an information product if I don't know how to write?” My answer to you and others is if you know to talk, you know how to write. You don't have to do the work of the final creation; you just have to produce the content. The material can be edited by a professional editor and crafted into a marketable product. Once you have the original material give it to someone who knows what they're doing. Don't be proud; be rich.
You can sell the book or information product on your premises or online at your website. There are infinite ways to promote your products but my recommendation is to limit your promotions to no more than five ways.
Choose a format for your information.
Once you've gotten the ideas down and edited, you can start by marketing the product as an e-book. Based on the response of the e-book, you can take the information product to any number of other upgraded product lines. You can create:
Hard cover or paper back print on demand books
Audio books
Instructional Video series
Internet and Local Seminars
Workshops
Newsletter subscriptions
Membership sites
So what does it take to make an information product? Think of your information product as an interview or seminar. You can identify a problem or situation in your area of expertise and come up with an organized series of steps or answers to the problem. Once you layout the foundation of your speech, you now have chapters to your information product. The first step is usually the hardest. Once you get started you can get help from professional writers and editors. The benefits of an information product are too important to ignore. If you need help in developing a product, drop me an email and I’ll be glad to assist you in any way that I can.
Why is this important? Because other people are interested in what you know. Patients and prospective patients find value in learning about the subject from an insider's perspective. The material can be instructional and informative. Your image as an expert in your field goes up one thousand percent after publication. Last but not least, you can actually sell your knowledge and make money doing it.
Business owners in the service industries have a more difficult time with prospects because they tend to sell an intangible. How effective would it be if someone who services chimneys produces a how-to booklet on the dangers of chimney asphyxiation? What about a carpet cleaner who produces a booklet on the top ten things to look out for in maintaining a healthy home environment?
When you can take your knowledge and produce a beneficial information product, you will elevate your status to a level of trust and esteem that borders on public relations. When you do have a new information product you can create a press release to announce your new product. Contact your local newspapers and get the word out. If you have a client list, you can contact them to let them know you have a free offer for them if they will refer your business to others.
My clients always ask “How can I produce an information product if I don't know how to write?” My answer to you and others is if you know to talk, you know how to write. You don't have to do the work of the final creation; you just have to produce the content. The material can be edited by a professional editor and crafted into a marketable product. Once you have the original material give it to someone who knows what they're doing. Don't be proud; be rich.
You can sell the book or information product on your premises or online at your website. There are infinite ways to promote your products but my recommendation is to limit your promotions to no more than five ways.
Choose a format for your information.
Once you've gotten the ideas down and edited, you can start by marketing the product as an e-book. Based on the response of the e-book, you can take the information product to any number of other upgraded product lines. You can create:
Hard cover or paper back print on demand books
Audio books
Instructional Video series
Internet and Local Seminars
Workshops
Newsletter subscriptions
Membership sites
So what does it take to make an information product? Think of your information product as an interview or seminar. You can identify a problem or situation in your area of expertise and come up with an organized series of steps or answers to the problem. Once you layout the foundation of your speech, you now have chapters to your information product. The first step is usually the hardest. Once you get started you can get help from professional writers and editors. The benefits of an information product are too important to ignore. If you need help in developing a product, drop me an email and I’ll be glad to assist you in any way that I can.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Winning Steps To Building An Effective, Profitable Website
Have you determined the main purpose of the website? The end result of your website defines your plan for creating one in the first place. Once you come up with a plan, you'll need to evaluate it based on your final objective. Are you looking to sell something? Are you going to promote something or is it a vanity website?
Will you hire someone to design and build it or will you have to learn how to build it yourself?
If you're creating a profit centered website, you'll need to pay close attention of the market which you would be pursuing.
When creating your website, segment the site into appropriate divisions. Start with your written plan then break the plan down into logical segments. Make a link page tree that will determine your navigation system. Next, begin to create your sketch of the navigation system. Decide what the viewer will see first and what you want them to do at each step.
We are planning the website around the content. The main reason you're building is website is for the people who will visit it and so we are taking control of the message and its delivery from the start.
Your content will determine the navigation style. Your market will determine your content. Your marketing will determine your market. Your purpose will determine your marketing.
Now that we determine the focus of your website, we'll go for the look and feel. The biggest piece of advice I'll give you here is to design your website to the expectations of your audience.
Three must have sections that you need to include in your website if you are going commercial are Contact Us
FAQ
Landing pages
The Contact Us page is no longer just a link to your email address. Take advantage of the readers who go to your contact page. They can even sign up for your newsletter or fill out a survey.
Your FAQ page. Use this page to gather more information from those seeking information from your website.
Landing pages are created solely for the purpose of test marketing your web presence. It is used to either sell a product to a specific target market, generate contact information for the company, generating targeted traffic that can be tracked through a web interface. Learn as much as you can about the practice of using landing pages if you're building a commercial website. These pages are essential if you're using Pay Per Click advertising.
Your website will need to be upgraded from time to time. Remember to include that service in your plan. If you had a complex flash website built by someone, be sure to ask for the native files on a CD for future upgrades and or adjustments. You never know where your web designer will be in the future.
Keep your website Search Engine friendly and create a comprehensive plan to promote it regularly. Doing these thing won't guarantee your success, they will help to get you on the right track.
Will you hire someone to design and build it or will you have to learn how to build it yourself?
If you're creating a profit centered website, you'll need to pay close attention of the market which you would be pursuing.
When creating your website, segment the site into appropriate divisions. Start with your written plan then break the plan down into logical segments. Make a link page tree that will determine your navigation system. Next, begin to create your sketch of the navigation system. Decide what the viewer will see first and what you want them to do at each step.
We are planning the website around the content. The main reason you're building is website is for the people who will visit it and so we are taking control of the message and its delivery from the start.
Your content will determine the navigation style. Your market will determine your content. Your marketing will determine your market. Your purpose will determine your marketing.
Now that we determine the focus of your website, we'll go for the look and feel. The biggest piece of advice I'll give you here is to design your website to the expectations of your audience.
Three must have sections that you need to include in your website if you are going commercial are Contact Us
FAQ
Landing pages
The Contact Us page is no longer just a link to your email address. Take advantage of the readers who go to your contact page. They can even sign up for your newsletter or fill out a survey.
Your FAQ page. Use this page to gather more information from those seeking information from your website.
Landing pages are created solely for the purpose of test marketing your web presence. It is used to either sell a product to a specific target market, generate contact information for the company, generating targeted traffic that can be tracked through a web interface. Learn as much as you can about the practice of using landing pages if you're building a commercial website. These pages are essential if you're using Pay Per Click advertising.
Your website will need to be upgraded from time to time. Remember to include that service in your plan. If you had a complex flash website built by someone, be sure to ask for the native files on a CD for future upgrades and or adjustments. You never know where your web designer will be in the future.
Keep your website Search Engine friendly and create a comprehensive plan to promote it regularly. Doing these thing won't guarantee your success, they will help to get you on the right track.
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