Before I address the following questions: What is a blog? and What can a blog do for your business?, let me pose a few “What if . . .” questions to you.

Keeping in mind that before your prospects and customers buy from you, they need to know you, like you, and trust you. In other words, they need to know, whether overtly or covertly, that they have a trusting and ongoing relationship with you. What better way to accomplish for them to get to know you, trust you, and like you than with a blog?

Now, here are my “What if . . .” questions:

* What if less than two minutes after creating and publishing your blog, it were to be promoted to thousands of prospects without any extra effort or cost on your part?

* What if your blog gave you immediate access to hundreds of international prospects?

* What if you had immediate access to hundreds of prospects in your city, state, or country who had interests and hobbies similar to yours?

* What if every time someone clicks on a hyperlinked keyword in your Profile that describes your hobbies, occupation, industry, favorite books, movies, music, or artist, your blog pops up?

* What if every time you left a comment on someone elses blog, you could leave a hyperlink to your website, blog, or email? (a mini no-cost commercial!)

* What if whenever someone enters your name or business name (completely or partially) into a major search engine, your website or blog pops up in their search results?

* What if every time you post content on your blog, it would bypass the spam filters and instantaneously appear on your subscribers desktop without any extra effort or cost on your part? (- an excellent opportunity to get your sales, special messages, or time-sensitive announcements into their hands, or actually in front of their eyes!)

* What if your satisfied customers had the opportunity to place their self-generated testimonies on your blog? (Although some will take the initiative to do so, others might need encouragement. That’s all right. Just make an incentive opportunity of it! Offer some incentive for their efforts.)

By now you should be beginning to see the powerful marketing potential a blog offers you. These are just some of the powerful customer relationship management features a blog offers you.

But wait! There’s yet more!

* What if you were to combine these powerful features with other online and offline efforts such as a blogathon, teleseminar, webinar, online articles, and others?

* What if doing so would enhance your customer relationship management?

* What if doing so would decrease returns and refunds?

* What if doing so would increase sales?

Think about it! I realize that successful marketing and sales are still high-touch entities; however, I also realize that when you combine your high-tech efforts with your high-touch efforts, you’re bound to be successful!!!

Now to answer the original questions, What is a blog? and What can a blog do for your business?:

A blog, short of web log, is an interactive web-based journal that encourages participation from viewers. It looks like and does everything a website does and more! A blog serves as an excellent supplement to your website and other marketing efforts. Entries, called posts, are published by date on the page according to your predetermined quantity and are archived in the margin according to your predetermined frequency.

A blog offers your business countless marketing options. Specifically, a blog:

* gives viewers, prospects, customers, and subscribers who might have had difficulty in the past immediate access to you.

* helps to reduce your time spend distributing emails and other messages.

* improves your content delivery rates by 100%.

* improves your search engine rankings.

* publishes constantly fresh content.

* bypasses spam filters completely.

* improves your online visibility.

* enhances your web presence.

* generates more visitors.

and more . . .

So, if you don’t already have a blog, I only have one question for you: What are you waiting for? !?

Don’t let this cutting-edge technology, this powerful marketing tool, pass you by. Online companies are popping up all over the internet offering you free blogs. My recommendation is that you grab one, or two or more! Most, if not all, are extremely easy to create, but may be time-consuming, according to your already hectic schedule, to maintain.

If that’s the case in your situation, you might want to call in outside help. Consider the high school computer techie next door, or the college-age computer-major son or daughter of a friend who could always use a few extra bucks.

I leave you with this wish: May you always be successful in looking for and using new and creative ways to maximize your earning potential.

Remember: When you maximize your potential, we all win! When you dont, we all lose.

About The Author

Etienne A. Gibbs, MSW, Management Consultant and Trainer, conducts lectures, seminars, and workshops, and writes articles on: … helping you maximize your potential for individuals, schools, small businesses, and non-profit organizations, Reach him at www.MasterBlogBuilder.com/.

master.blogbuilder@yahoo.com

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“I get contacted by (X) salespeople a day that sell (whatever they perceive your product or service to be). Why should I spend any of my time with you?”

How can salespeople prospect successfully if their target prospects see them as just one of many possible (and nearly identical) sources for a product or service?

The key challenge when prospecting in a crowded field is finding some way to capture enough of a prospect’s attention to convince them to meet with you. This all-important first meeting is the starting point for building a relationship, which in turn is a crucial element of success in “commodity” sales. Here are four strategies that will help you win more of these elusive first meetings:

1. Write and distribute Special Reports.

What special report could you write that would be useful to your target prospects? Conduct the necessary research, write the report, make sure your name is highlighted on the cover page, and get the report into your prospect’s hands.

What is the value of a special report that you have authored? Think about it — How many of your competitors have authored a special report? Do you think authoring a special report might create the impression of significant or unusual expertise? Do you think it might increase your credibility with your target prospects?

2. Deliver Business Interest Seminars.

Seminars are another great way to build credibility and initiate relationships. To be effective, they need to address subjects (ideally, problems or frustrations that your company solves) that your target prospects really care about. You and your company can offer these seminars on your own or in partnership with suppliers or other (non-competing) companies that wish to pursue the same target prospects.

3. Build relationships with other salespeople that sell to your target prospects.

What other products and services do your target prospects buy? Which companies provide those products and services? Who are the salespeople for those companies?

Look to establish mutually beneficial relationships with salespeople from non-competing companies where you can refer prospects to each other. Your success rate for booking appointments from referrals should be much higher than your success rate with cold calls.

4. Learn from successful salespeople in your company that have “cracked the code”.

You don’t have to re-invent the wheel. Invite the successful salespeople in your company to lunch or dinner. Use your time together to pick their brains by asking them the following questions:

• How did they achieve success?
• What are their favorite prospecting techniques?
• If they are at a stage where they are focusing solely on servicing existing accounts, how did they originally initiate their relationships with these accounts?

After the meeting, think about what they said and decide which of the suggested prospecting approaches might fit well with your own talents and interests.

Conclusion

The key challenge when prospecting for "commodity" product or service sales opportunities is capturing enough of your prospect’s attention to convince them to meet with you. This article suggested four strategies to help you win more of these elusive first meetings.

Copyright 2005 — Alan Rigg

Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling: Why Most Salespeople Don’t Perform and What to Do About It. To learn more about his book and sign up for more FREE sales and sales management tips, visit http://www.8020performance.com.

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But, sometimes I wonder about those small businesses that ignore the perceptions and behaviors of the key audiences with the most immediate impact on their businesses - the very people who hold the future of that small business in their hands!

To me, it’s a matter of dollars and cents, even of survival!

So, what are we to make of small business failures? Especially one where it’s obvious that enough well-placed publicity might have altered the behavior of sales prospects in a positive way allowing the business to prosper and avoid a Chapter Eleven filing?

What a waste!

Truth is, the folks who make up these key audiences, like the rest of us, act on THEIR perception of the facts before them. If a small business overlooks this crucial reality, and fails to prepare by monitoring how these people view it, who is to blame if misconceptions flower leading inevitably to negative behaviors?

Of course, the small business itself.

The title of this article speaks of a commitment to small business. While I believe that public relations is indispensable to small business success, our commitment must be conditional.

Here’s why.

We are committed to your small business, and will help you every step of the way:

IF you take the time to meet with members of your key audiences and evaluate their feelings and beliefs about you;

IF you are committed to move into action when you discover troubling perceptions;

IF you accept that what people BELIEVE to be true, versus the truth, defines your public relations problem;

IF you are willing to raise your profile by regularly speaking before business and fraternal clubs, by meeting with the media, and by promoting your business as appropriate, thus building the kind of good will you will need should things go awry.

IF you prepare carefully written, persuasive messages that directly address the misconceptions you discover during your fact finding;

IF you select effective communications tactics that will carry your messages to those key audiences in a timely manner. Tactics such as meetings, speeches, luncheons, facility tours, promotional events, emails, media interviews and many more.

And IF you track your progress by speaking regularly with members of those key audiences, and monitoring both the media and the reaction of community residents and other businesses, adjusting your strategy and tactics accordingly.

A lot to ask in return for our commitment to a small business? Perhaps, but without such a commitment in return, a positive result is unlikely.

Public relations and small business ARE wonderfully compatible and a very good fit.

That’s why my commitment remains on the table.

Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy would be appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net.

Robert A. Kelly © 2005.

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to business, non-profit and association managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University, major in public relations.

Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com; bobkelly@TNI.net

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As a matter of fact, expertise can get in the way of being a good marketer. As a highly-trained professional, it’s easy and natural to communicate about what you know and how you do it. But it falls on deaf ears and glazed-over eyes when you use words, images, and language that are about your expertise, not about the problems you solve for your target audience.

What Marketing Professional Services Is Not

The most common misperception is that marketing is about wowing prospects with your expertise using slick brochures, advertising, websites, logos, press releases, flyers, networking, and “communications programs.” You are wasting your firm’s time and money if your approach to marketing starts and stops here. Why? Because unless you’ve clearly nailed (and tested!) your message to intended clients, investing prematurely in these things will only accelerate how much you’ll confuse them!

Logos, brochures, websites, and ads are mere tools that help you communicate your message in a way that builds and sustains relationships with your target market. The expensive and frustrating mistake I see professional service firms make over and over again is that they jump to develop the tools of marketing before they’ve clearly identified the right things to say, to the right audience, with the right timing, in the right combination of ways, using the right tools.

It’s actually a bit more complicated than that, since each of these tools should be thought of as a strategy (i.e., your online strategy, your networking and referral strategy, your direct mail strategy, your PR strategy). All of these strategies, then, get woven together in a sequence and combination — an integrated system — that makes sense for your firm and your market, based on your business objectives and your resources. More on that later, but first, let’s look at what marketing your professional services really is.

Marketing Professional Services IS…

…all about building trust. Getting people to buy your expertise as a professional service provider is an intangible sale. As sales guru Harry Beckwith says, it’s “selling the invisible.” Sure, you may have “consulting services” or “IT services” or “financial planning services” that seem pretty tangible to you. But for your intended client, it’s about trusting that your firm is their best choice — out of all others offering the same service (so it seems from your client’s perspective!) — for solving their problems. Period.

So how do you do this? Through a 2-phased approach to creating a “system of strategies” that reaches out to, learns from, and educates your target audience. Do it right, and you’ll create a buzz that attracts more clients to your firm than you ever thought possible. For specific tips on what to consider in building your firm’s system of marketing strategies, keep reading…

Here’s what you need to consider before you spend another dime on brochures, business cards, a website, or flyer (ditto for the time you spend networking or giving talks — these tips apply to any method of communication, written or verbal!).

Think of this in two phases: Phase 1 is about building the case for your intended clients to trust you, as a basis for deciding that your firm is the best one to solve their problems. Phase 2 is about building relationships through the strategies that makes sense for your firm, given your unique goals, needs, resources, etc. This month, you’ll get tips on Phase 1…next month, we’ll look at Phase 2.

During Phase 1, you must…

* be crystal clear about who your intended client is and is not. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, the more niched your services are, the easier it is to communicate with them in specific ways, and the faster you’ll attract clients. If you try to sell your services to “small business” or “homeowners,” guess what…so are a lot your competitors. Look different through your clients’ eyes by defining your unique niche. Linda Falkenstein’s “Nichecraft” is a great book to learn more, also available on our website, under Books.

* develop language to talk or write about your firm that focuses on your intended clients’ problems, not your services, or worse, the processes you use. This solution-based language is the foundation for any packaging and promotion you do verbally (i.e., during sales meetings, telephone calls, networking events) and in writing (i.e., online through your website and newsletter; offline through brochures, direct mail, etc.).

* for every single encounter you have with your target market (i.e., through your written materials, online, in person), answer the questions “where is the reader or listener’s head right now? what’s in it for them to pay attention to us? what is their burning problem right now that we can help resolve?”

* develop a core “solution statement” that tells who you serve and the problem you solve. This becomes the “magnetic north” of your marketing strategy. For example, ours is “TurningPointe Marketing helps professional service firms attract more clients, stabilize their business, and take their practice to the next level.” Whether it’s at a networking event, on my website, this core statement drives everything we do and keeps us focused.

Whether it’s in a letter of introduction, how we introduce ourselves, who we do and do not consider a prospect, where we spend our time, it’s all about helping professional service firms grow their business. By the way, this core statement usually gets an “interesting…how do you do that?” response, which gets the conversation going. Notice we don’t say “We do marketing strategy.” That more typical response is about us, not them, and does nothing to invite further dialog.

* articulate and demonstrate your “case” for why intended clients should trust you. This is done through articles and talks that share your expertise, case studies illustrating your results with clients, third-party recognition in the press, awards, testimonials, and so on. These things become the building blocks for strategies you’ll use in Phase 2.

* “productize,” package, and price your services in ways that make it easy for your intended clients to buy from you. High-end consulting services is only one way to work with big companies. What other smaller, less expensive, short-sales-cycle offers can you make?

Next month, we’ll look at what’s involved in Phase 2 of your “system of strategies” to market your professional services. Remember, the key is to see marketing professional services as a relationship-building process, not tactics, that begins with a client-centric mastery of how you communicate with your target audience. Like any solid relationship that lasts, your relationship with intended and current clients must be based on trust. Start with that objective in mind, and the m-word you’ll start to enjoy is “more” in the form of more clients, more results, and more return on your marketing dollars.

© 2003 TurningPointe Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved. We encourage sharing and publication of Your Monthly TurningPointe in whole or in part if copyright and attribution, including live web site link and email link, are always included. Please let us know where and when it will appear. Thank you!

(c) 2004 TurningPointe Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved. Marketing educator, Kelly O’Brien, is creator of the “Create a TurningPointe!” Marketing Bootcamp. To learn more about this step-by-step program, and to sign up for FREE how-to articles and 20-page marketing guide, visit http://www.turningpointemarketing.com

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It is a funny thing. People will say, "You really need goals." But when you ask them what theirs are, they sheepishly reply, "I don’t have them, but everyone really should."

There are many reasons why people don’t set goals. Some of the biggest reasons are:

? People don’t know how

? People have set them in the past but didn’t reach them

? People are afraid of failure

Of course setting goals is just an exercise that we know helps us achieve goals. So, while we all want to achieve goals, many of us don’t even set them.

The Real Objective

Think about it. Is goal setting really the objective? No. What we really want is goal achievement. Goal setting is a part of the recipe, so while we need to learn this skill, it is just part of your solution. The biggest missing ingredient in most people’s goal achievement recipe is faith, conviction, and lack of doubt. In other words, a deep seated, in the gut belief.

The fact is that most of us don’t achieve our goals (however clearly or vaguely they are set) because we don’t ultimately believe that we can reach the goal. That is why I believe the first step to successful goal achievement, regardless of your process or the steps you follow in setting your goals, is to absolutely believe that you can (will) accomplish it.

Driving a Ferrari doesn’t make you a race car driver. Having the best paints, canvas, brushes and easel doesn’t mean you will paint masterpieces. And having the best goal setting process won’t guarantee goal achievement either.

But belief will.

The Size of the Goal

Much is written about how big goals should be. They should always be big enough to stretch us ? how much we should stretch depends in large part on what we can believe. If I have a total conviction that I am capable of and will reach the larger goal, then it is fine. Because without belief, you won’t hit the goal, regardless of what it is.

David Schwartz wrote in The Magic of Thinking Big, "Believe Big. The size of your success is determined by the size of your belief. Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success. Remember this, too! Big ideas and big plans are often easier — certainly no more difficult — than small ideas and small plans."

It is a known fact that our beliefs become our reality. Most of us accept this as truth, but haven’t applied it to goal setting. Beliefs lead to actions which lead to results. If you believe, you will act in accordance. If you feel your belief wavering, act as if your belief was strong and your belief will become stronger.

So rather than starting with a goal setting process; start from a state of belief. Begin by thinking about things you want to achieve, and believe you can and will achieve. Then write them down, and follow the process or format of your choice.

Start with belief ? be it for your personal, family, financial, professional or business goals ? and you will have taken the most important step towards achieving your goals.

Kevin is Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group (http://KevinEikenberry.com), a learning consulting company that helps Clients reach their potential through a variety of training, consulting and speaking services. Kevin publishes Unleash Your Potential, a free weekly ezine designed to provide ideas, tools, techniques and inspiration to enhance your professional skills. Go to http://www.kevineikenberry.com/uypw/index.asp to learn more and subscribe.

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Consider:

An HVAC company recently paid $750,000 to a customer who was raped by a service technician. His employment application indicated no criminal convictions and the employer did not perform a complete background check. An employee who had previously been convicted of passing bad checks forged signatures contracts. The court judged his employer negligent and awarded $175,000.

After driving for a telephone company for only a week, an employee was involved in a traffic accident. The jury learned that the company never saw the employee’s driver’s record which had five tickets within 18 months. They awarded the injured party $550,000.

Companies often don’t adequately screen their new applicants. They should. Crooks and cons can cost your company a fortune.

Even if it were as simple as making an informed choice between a great service technician and one with an untrue work history, wouldn’t a small investment be worth it. In today’s business environment of easy access to computer systems and the proprietary information stored on them, even a temporary employee can wreak havoc on a company in a very short amount of time.

Corporate management has enormous pressure to hold employees to the highest ethical standards. Background checking cannot give employers everything they want but, there are data bases and sources for many other kinds of information; criminal data bases, sex-offender registries, workers compensation histories and of course critical screening for drivers licenses, employment history and educational history.

Bad hires can be devastating for a firm. Even a low level employee might mange to embezzle a few thousand dollars or drive away customers or at the l east consistently not show up for work costing you your hard earned customers business.

While it might be impossible to safeguard a company against every potential act of dishonesty, Hiring professionals can minimize the chances for unscrupulous behavior by understanding who it is they are really hiring. This means developing easy to institute background checking procedures that are utilized at all levels of the organization.

Established in 1996, MEPatWORK is the leading full-service recruitment solutions provider in the HVAC, sheet metal, refrigeration, control, electrical, plumbing and piping industries. Headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, this privately held company also has offices in in Chicago and Pittsburgh and specializes in finding top talent for all levels of contracting, wholesale, manufacturing, consulting engineer and facilities management firms within these trades.

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Search engine optimization has become a major factor in internet marketing among webmasters. We can all say that if your website is nowhere near the top 10 rankings on Google, Yahoo, or Msn then you simply don’t generate any traffic from search engines and you don’t make money with it. Many webmasters are constantly trying to get on top by tweaking their websites and using all kinds of methods and tricks that usually won’t do much for you anyway. Search engine optimization is actually easier than you think. It’s all about three major things like original content, unique quality of links, and popularity in searches made specifically for your website.

If you even want to be included in Google index then you must have original content on your website. Your content cannot be duplicated and you should carefully review everything you decide to publish on your pages. Write your own content and never try to duplicate someone else’s site which could result in permanent penalty from Google. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with fresh original content simply because we do not have all this time to write it. There are a few ways you can gain content without writing it on your own. You could create a forum on your website where visitors could interact with each other and make constant posts. This would keep the search engine spiders revisiting more often. Also creating possibility for visitors to submit their articles to be published on your site in exchange for a link back is another way to do it.

How to gain unique one way links to your site? Well, it’s also easier than you might think. Writing press releases is highly beneficial to get the word out and gain links back from highly trusted mediums like PRweb.com. Also writing your own articles to be published on other people’s websites can produce not only many links but also lots of targeted visitors which could result in many sales for your business. This actually saves you a lot of time and money because you don’t have to look for webmasters to exchange links with or even buy links as some webmasters do.

Another factor that effects your search engine rankings is popularity of your site within searches being made. Let’s say your site was featured in one of the major nationwide newspapers that would result in many visits to your site and searches being made for your particular domain name from different IP addresses. Google would notice that and immediately put you out in front all of the search results. If your site is popular and people are looking for it then you could gain rankings even without many links to it.

I believe that trying to trick search engines and gaining tons of links in a short period of time with one example of anchor text in it would result in red flag for Google which could put you out of search results or even get you banned. If you gain many links by writing articles and press releases then you should be fine. Remember that original content, quality one way links, and search popularity is the key to your success.

For some seo resources please visit http://www.affhelper.com/search-engine-optimization.html

About The Author

Copyright Policy: If you wish to publish this article on your website or newsletter you must include all the urls and make them clickable and followable by search engine.

Pawel Reszka is the author of this article who earns $300,000 per year promoting affiliate programs online. Affhelper website is published by Pawel Reszka and provides affiliate marketing resources.

support@affhelper.com

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Regardless of your law firm’s focus ? criminal, civil, corporate, family, business, etc. ? the greatest challenge most small to mid-size firms face is the lack of a strategic and disciplined approach to business development. Relying on referrals does not a strategy make! And waiting to get serious about marketing until that major case is wrapped up is way too late.

Whether you’re frustrated with past marketing efforts that have been expensive, time-consuming, and haven’t paid off?or you think you can’t afford to take a sophisticated, results-driven approach to business development like the big firms do, guess again. While your firm may not have its own in-house marketing expert on staff or the generous marketing budgets that the larger firms enjoy, you can systematically and affordably attract more clients than you ever thought possible. It just takes a thoughtful strategy that leverages the laws of marketing, and an ordered approach to stay on track.

Laws of Marketing

First and foremost, marketing is NOT about brochures, websites, advertising or cold calls. These things may or may not be tools that make sense for your firm, once you’ve leveraged the laws of marketing.

There are two basic laws of marketing1 that must be mastered by professional service providers who want to stop wasting time and money on ineffective marketing efforts. They are:

1. Build your base (carefully craft your message)

2. Reach out to your market (build and nurture relationships)

Here’s a quick look at what each of these laws requires?

Build Your Base. This law means spending thoughtful time defining your firm’s niche, developing language that grabs your prospects’ attention, articulating what makes your firm stand out from other firms offering the same services, demonstrating your value, and illustrating your firm’s authority to deliver better than all other choices.

Unfortunately, 90% of professional service firms ignore the law of "build your base" and rush to communicate about their firm without a carefully articulated message. This leaves your target audience unconvinced or, at best, confused about how your firm can serve them better than all others vying for their attention. Invest a little time in building your firm’s base, and you’ll be ahead of most of your competitors.

Reach Out to Your Market. This law involves developing and implementing a system of strategies to build and sustain relationships with your target market and current clients. They are executed both offline and online. They are done systematically and repeatedly. They work in synergy to create an unstoppable buzz and attraction to your firm that takes on a desirable life of its own, once you’ve put them in place. These strategies include things like networking, direct outreach (personal or mass mail), PR, articles and speaking, keep-in-touch systems, using technology to attract, develop, and retain relationships; tapping centers of influence, developing joint ventures, launching a client relationship strategy, using a customer creation system, pursuing a relationship selling strategy, introducing a win-win fee strategy, and developing next-level strategies for current clients.

Orderly Conduct

This is the hard part for most law firms…making marketing happen is a function of carving out the time from precious billable hours - not an easy task! However, you can do it, especially if you take a disciplined and orderly approach to staying on track. This means you have to?

Get focused. Schedule a meeting with key decision-makers in your firm to discuss making a commitment to marketing. You don’t have to make any major decisions at this first meeting, except determine how much time you can commit weekly to your firm’s marketing efforts. Start small (2 hours per person) and put it in your schedules. Then schedule your next marketing meeting to discuss the results of your homework, the attached Are You Ready for a TurningPointe? marketing assessment!

Get organized. Use the results of the marketing assessment to stimulate discussion about where to start. At this point, if you’ve not done market strategy and planning before, call in an expert. It’ll save you lots of time in the end, since you’ll START with a strategic marketing plan that makes sense for your firm and is realistic to implement.

Some basics to consider when developing your plan include:

? Keep it simple; don’t take on too much at once. Spread out your deadlines.

? Identify a mix of short-term, easily implemented goals and longer-term, harder-to-implement goals. Build in some quick "wins" for an immediate return on your investment.

? Prioritize but be flexible; be willing to change dates or put things on hold when other marketing priorities make sense (which means you don’t stop, you just shift).

? Identify the obstacles (people, time, money, lack of expertise, etc.) that could derail you and plan tasks for how to overcome them.

? Plan for how to make marketing a reward, not a punishment. Build in rewards for people who take time from billable hours to market.

Stay on track. At a minimum, guard one hour every week for a status check on your marketing plan ? even if you’re a solo practitioner, that means making an appointment with yourself! The mere act of focused thinking or discussion about marketing every week will make an enormous difference in your ability to attract more clients.

Once you have a smart plan in place that’s realistic (see Get Organized, above), all you have to do is focus on taking one step at a time, then another, and another. Each small marketing task builds momentum and before you know it, you’ve implemented a major goal. The key is to keep moving?or if you stop, get restarted. It also helps to have "accountability" to an outside party, who keeps you on track through regular telephone and in-person coaching sessions.

The Defense Rests

So your practice has a stellar track record of client victories, you do good work that you care about, and you know your contribution makes a positive difference in the lives of your clients. What if you could reach more clients than you ever thought possible with all that you offer?

Apply the laws of marketing through an ordered plan of action that keeps you on track, and you will. Case closed.

References

1 Middleton, R. Laws of Marketing TeleClass. Action Plan Marketing, Inc. 2003.

(c) 2004 TurningPointe Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved. Marketing educator, Kelly O’Brien, is creator of the “Create a TurningPointe!” Marketing Bootcamp. To learn more about this step-by-step program, and to sign up for FREE how-to articles and 20-page marketing guide, visit http://www.turningpointemarketing.com

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Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He works worldwide, mainly by phone, with small business owners, managers and corporate leaders. He has hundreds of hints, tips and ideas at his website, http://www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com . (Note to editors. This article may be edited for use in your publication or newsletter as long as a live link to the website is included)…helping you, to help your people, to help your business grow…

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I have been reading 3 ebooks that I have downloaded. Cant say I’m finished either of them yet though. But holy WOW. What jewels of information they are !!.

The first I’m gonna review is the Super Affiliates Hand book.

YES I actually paid for and downloaded some affiliate ebooks. I’m hardly gonna rant and rave about products I haven’t actually bought and paid for. That would be just plain dumb and very crooked. SHIT you can go to google and type in affiliate product reviews or whatever it takes to find reviews and then cut and paste the info into your blog or website. Really though?, whats the point. I think anyone who has even the slightest bit of smarts can see through shit like that. AND I hate cut and paste reviews I have seen a few of them and they all lookie like absolute GARBAGE.

HAHAHAHAHA which brings to mind a great saying I heard a friend of mine say the other night.

” you can put a piece of shit on a doily (spelling?) but it’s still a piece of shit.” I just love that saying and it’s SO TRUE.

Dont believe me?, just go look. I recommend you do. Just dont take my word for it. Hell you don’t know me from whole in the wall……

Ok on to the reviews, enough of my dribbling.

I recently bought the Super Affiliates Hand book, by Rosalind Gardner. I have her website link over on the right hand side there. (Net Profits Today), This is a great product and I highly recommend it, for anyone either starting out or who has been at it for any length of time.

Read the amazing true story of how one woman, with no previous business experience, earns 400,000+ per year … selling other people’s stuff online!

In her down-to-earth, sincere and often humorous style, Rosalind Gardner guides you through the entire process of building an affiliate marketing business on the ‘Net. In 230+ pages, and more than 68,000 words, you’ll learn how to pick the best programs, negotiate a commission raise and save time, money and effort on everything from affiliate software to web hosting.

To learn exactly how she does it, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you visit: Super Affiliates Hand book

About The Author

Shane Higginbottom is a blue collar affiliate marketer. Yes I just said blue collar… I work for my money not just promte garbage out dated rehashed e-books. Come read my blog to see what I think of those types: http://affiliatesforyou.blogspot.com/.

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