Toronto is not a city short on modeling jobs. As a matter of fact, Toronto has a very vibrant market for modeling jobs. Think about it – there is a large number of marketing and production companies located in Toronto and based on their work projects the need for models of all kinds is steadily increasing. So, if you are looking for work and think that a job as a model is something you would like to do – don’t delay, because there is money to be made from modelling all the time. [Read more...]
Local Lead Generation for Small Businesses
Many small business are struggling these days with their marketing efforts. Old school advertising strategies can only go so far and unless a small business adjusts their marketing efforts, they will lose out to the new advertising channels created by Internet-enabled phones and the Internet itself. But most small businesses have limited resources in regards to sales and marketing and while a business owner is used to wear many hats, learning the more difficult marketing strategies required to succeed on the Internet is almost impossible. If you talk to a business owner about Google Quality Score, A/B Split testing, Web Analytics, Pay Per Click advertising, or Facebook advertising you often lose them because they do not understand the lingo or have problems keeping up with those things already.
Then service providers entered the market offering to manage the online pay per click marketing efforts for a fee. However, the risk still stays with the small business. These service providers take 10% of the marketing budget in fees alone without providing any sort guarantees. Small businesses are at the mercy of these providers and need to trust them a lot. [Read more...]
How Search Engine Optimization can jumpstart your Business
Your small business website is an important tool that you should use for communication with existing and potential customers. The basic idea is to attract people looking for information, products, or services in your industry. When you decide to invest time and money into website optimization, you significantly increase the chances of people finding your small business website.
SEO-Optimize Your Website to Reach More People on the Internet: Although your business is unique, you most likely have a bunch of competitors you are dealing with. When you type “kitchen cabinets” into your favorite search engine the search engine returns results that (eventually) match your search term. However, not necessarily the most relevant result occupies the number one spot, but rather that result is high up there that is best optimized for search engines.
Your website may contain more information or maybe it looks better and is easier to navigate than all the other websites of your competitors, but the search engines don’t really care. It takes a little more than having the website – if it is not optimized a less valuable website might outrank you easily.
Search Engines Don’t Care how pretty your website is. You need to have very good content and you need to have the “recognition” from other websites (in form of a link to your website) that your website is “valuable”, too. Just because you think your website is good and valuable does not count. Others need to think the same way and the way to show this is by linking to your website.
Search engine optimization, or SEO is the process of acquiring such links. However, this is an art and if it is done wrong it can hurt your business rankings in search engines. Not every inbound link is created equal. If the link comes from a reputable source it carries value. If it comes from a spammy link farm, it might count against you. There are many service providers looking for your business, but who is good and who is bad. Over the years Aaron Wall of SEO Book has emerged as one of the best SEO’s in the world. His SEO Book was an online bestseller and now has turned into an online product where you learn from the best and keep control over the process, too. The SEO Book Online Training program is designed with you in mind and provides everything you need to better optimize your website for search engines. Most small businesses cannot shell out thousands of dollars for a questionable service and Aaron Wall has addressed exactly this problem.
Read more about the SEO Book online training here.
11 Reasons How not to sell Air Conditioning (or any other product)
Going through the process of buying and getting installation of a central air conditioning unit, I have seen many different sales pitches and sales people and it is amazing what these guys do to not sell you an air conditioning system:
#11: Telling the customer how nice and cool his house on a hot summer day
#10: Telling the customer how expensive your service and your products are because you are the best company out there and everyone else will just sell you sh!t. I know you are expensive and that your services are recommended, but that is no reason to bad mouth your competition because there are other good companies out there that do not do this in front of a customer.
#9: Smelling out of your mouth like FREON 22
#8: Inflating prices because the customer can get a tax credit and you want some piece of that action, too. I am not stupid – it is easy to find out wholesale prices for anything you sell.
#7: Making promises you cannot keep. A full breaker panel is a full breaker panel and a sub panel has to be put in no matter how you talk around it.
#6: Inflate prices for addons or the possible installation of a sub panel.
#5: Inflating possible savings of more energy efficient AC units. Don’t you think a customer will do some research on the Internet eventually and discover your lies.
#4: Show up totally sweaty and look like a punk with no manners. I know that not every company has dedicated sales staff and that service technicians come out providing estimates. My 5 year old son who is playing 15 feet away from where we sit does not need to see your fat belly and your bad manners. I understand that you were fixing a dirty furnace just an hour ago, but still if that is what I can expect if I would buy from you …
#3: Contradict yourself during the sales talk with a customer. Yeah, I noticed that ….
#2: Forget what my requirements are. It’s not fun to correct you several times during a 30 minute conversation.
#1: After you took all the measurements and fed your computer with all the data (and saved it in front of my eyes) you are telling me that you have to come out again and want to give me your sales spiel just to provide me with a quote for a higher rated AC unit. You were able to present me with several options before and even made the same change I am asking for now by making 6 clicks. My house has not changed a bit since you were 2 days ago. Then you send me an offending email telling me how great your company is and what service I would receive and that this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship and that you will treat me like family, but at the bottom of the email you pretty much tell me to “P!ss off” if I do not buy what you either already quoted me or if I do not let you come out. FAIL!!!
Over the last week I had the “opportunity” to talk to several sales people and service technicians of different heating and cooling companies in my area. I am in the market to get central air conditioning installed. Above list represents my experience with these people. The winner was a) very polite, b) very knowledgeable, c) provided tons of information, d) had a great track record with the BBB and a local (honest) review website, and e) offered fair pricing. He was dressed properly, did not work with many sales tricks (if at all), and did not pressure us to get the sale.
I was not on the lookout for the cheapest offer or the fastest installation. I want something that works and has a good warranty. I also want a company I can trust and use as the service provider down the road. It’s amazing that some companies put so little effort in to get the order. It’s even more amazing how high some companies are flying – I guess pride comes before the fall. If you are selling any product, put yourself into your customer’s shoes and look at the list above – are you doing the same thing to your future customers or are you having a hard time converting a lead to sale?!
10 Ways To Get More Profit From Your E-zine
10 Ways To Get More Profit From Your E-zine
by: Ken Hill
Publishing an e-zine will help you to strengthen your status as an expert in your field and convert more of your visitors into customers.
The following tips will provide you with ways to successfully increase the revenue you get from publishing your own e-zine:
1. Write your own articles.
Writing articles will help you to connect with your readers, share your knowledge, and promote your business through your resource box. If you have an affiliate program, let your subscribers as well as your other affiliates reprint your articles with their affiliate URLs in your resource box. You’ll be able get more of your readers and visitors to join your affiliate program and successfully promote your business.
2. Include testimonials for your products or services within your e-zine.
Your testimonials will increase your readers’ confidence in your product. Include testimonials from your customers and also from other experts in your field.
3. Provide examples of how you’ve helped your clients.
For instance, if you design web sites you could provide examples of the web sites you’ve designed. Your clients will enjoy the free promotion that you give them and you’ll be able to showcase your work.
4. Offer a free e-book as a bonus for subscribing.
Your e-book will help you to successfully promote your business and also help you to effectively promote affiliate programs you’ve joined to your new subscribers.
5. Sell advertising space.
Once your e-zine is of sufficient size, you can rake in more profits by selling ads to your subscribers and visitors. Offer your readers special limited time offers to get more people to buy advertising for the first time and to get more repeat sales. Also provide testimonials in your e-zine and on your site that share how advertising in your e-zine has paid off for your advertisers.
6. Write a product review.
Your product review will help you to successfully “soft sell” your affiliate program’s product to your subscribers. Focus your review on how their product will specifically benefit your readers, and share your positive experiences with the product. Don’t be afraid to point out some minor negative aspects about the product, and keep your review hype free. You can also write reviews about products you’ve bought that disappointed you. Your subscribers will appreciate your honesty and you’ll be able to increase their trust in you.
7. Swap an ad for your business.
You’ll be able to get your ad run at no cost in a targeted e-zine in exchange for running that publisher’s ad. Track your swaps, and then swap your ads for longer runs with publishers whose e-zines gave you an excellent response.
8. Swap a recommendation with another e-zine publisher.
Recommend another publisher’s product in your e-zine in exchange for her recommending your product. You’ll be able to get more sales than you would from a paid e-zine ad because your product will be endorsed by a trusted source.
9. Use your thank you page to your advantage.
Your thank you page is a great place to offer a special sale, recommend one of your affiliate programs, and include your signature file. In addition, you can get more new subscribers that would be interested in your products by swapping an ad or recommendation for your e-zine on this page.
10. Send out a special solo mailing to your subscribers.
You could announce a special promotion, a new teleclass, or a sale on advertising in your e-zine. Keep your special mailings to one or two a month. Bombarding your readers with emails will decrease the effectiveness of your mailings and cause you to get more unsubscribe requests.
About The Author
Article by writer, Ken Hill. Do You Publish an E-zine? Want more subscribers? Put your e-zine promotion on autopilot with this must have e-zine promotional tool. Over 1600+ places to promote your e-zine. Learn more now at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=4604.