Tag: Steps

Internet Marketing For Small Business – Part 2 of 5 Steps to Succeeding With Google AdWords

Continuing on from my last article ‘Internet Marketing For Small Business – Part 1 of 5 Steps to Succeeding With Google AdWords”, here are the final steps to ensuring a successful Google AdWords Campaign.

2. Understanding Quality Score:

Once you have added your keywords, Google will tell you your quality score. Its important that you have a good to great quality score in your keywords (usually rated out of 10), if you get a poor or OK quality score, it means you have done something wrong. It could be that you are bidding on the wrong keywords, that your landing page is not specific enough for those keywords or Google does not think your ad is related to your keywords or that the page you are sending people does not have those keywords in it.

The quality score will be determined from a number of things:

  • You need to have a high CTR: A high quality score must be over 1% and this will also depend on how your ads are showing up. If your ad is appearing on the 2nd or 3rd page, then this will mean your quality score is lower but if you are in the top 5 or 6 positions, your CTR should be over 1%. Therefore you need to work on getting that CTR as high as you with a baseline of 1% as the CTR. You should always get a CTR of over 1%, even as high as 15% and the way you get a high CTR is by testing. You write 2 different ads and see which ones performs better. Usually after 30 to a 100 clicks, you pick the ad that gets a higher click rate and write a variation on it. You then go on and write another ad that is different to that one and see which one performs better again (beating the control). When you have found a theme that performs very well, you can tweak your ads by adding a question mark, quotations around it, switch the descriptions lines or even change your url. You can do any of these things to tweak your ad so that you can get a higher CTR, thus a higher quality score.
  • Its Not A Bidding War….Most people when starting out with Google AdWords usually say “I want to be in the top position, at number 1 and I am willing to pay more than anyone else to be there”. This is the wrong way to go about it. It should not be a bidding war, it should be a fight over who is the better advertiser, that is what Google really wants. Google wants you to write an ad that gets the highest CTR so that they make more money ie. the more clicks, the more money you pay them. So if you can write a better ad than your competitors, Google will be very willing to reward you for that. They reward you by charging you less per click and putting you in a higher position on the page. Lets say your ad gets a 2% CTR and your competitor gets a 1% CTR, it probably means you are going to pay half as much per click and be ranked higher than your competitor because Google will know the user is having a better searching experience. Hence you should always have two ads running and check which ad is performing better. If one is performing badly, pause it, write a better ad and see if you can beat your better performing ad.

3. Tracking:

AdWords is probably the best system for tracking that exists. It is very easy with Google AdWords to set up your keywords and track how well they are performing ( i.e. by making you money). What is most important is to track whether the clicks are making you sales or converting into leads or sales. If your clicks are not converting, you are obviously just wasting money so it is very important that you track down at a keyword level which ones are making money for you. This is called keyword conversion tracking and there are a couple ways of doing it. The best way is to have Google do it for you. Google has some keyword conversion tracking code which they will allow you put it on your thank you or finished page and they will let you track a sale or a conversion.

The other way you can track conversions is by assigning a specific URL to every keyword (help can be found at the Google AdWords Tutorial). The better you understand how to track conversions, the better your results will be with AdWords. You will find that as you get more clicks on your campaign and by tracking everything, different keywords will perform very differently even though they may seem very similar. For example ‘dog training’ maybe very different to ‘train my dog’, you may find that one of them may convert much higher than the other one.

On another level, you can track conversions through the success of your ad campaigns. Some ads may perform better than other ads, for example one ad may have a price and the other may not, this means anyone that clicks on the ad with a price knows that they have to buy something when they go to that page – that ad will convert at a higher percentage than if you did not have the price on the ad. It will probably have a much lower CTR but also a higher conversion rate. This is really something that needs to be tested on every campaign to see if you are getting a return on investment because in the end the goal is to make the greatest amount of money. Track everything!

4. Bidding:

Over the years bidding has changed, it use to be bid low and then raise your bid and to see what the lowest point was. That is probably not the wisest thing to do anymore – at least not right now. Right now what I suggest is start by bidding high, what this does is allow you to get a good position on AdWords and a good CTR. As you establish the CTR, Google will recognize that you are a good advertiser and then you can lower your bid everyday to what Google is actually charging you (whilst maintaining your high CTR). What you need to figure out is whether you are getting a good returns for the money you are actually spending so if you are spending a $1 and getting $2 back – you know its worth continuing the campaign.

5. Last words:

Please don’t get emotional attached to a keyword because you ‘like’ the keyword or believe it should work. Do not expect to learn everything upfront and then go implementing a Google AdWords campaign effectively. If you have your own full time business and love what you are doing – then get a professional in to run your own PPC campaigns.

Blogging – How to Start a Simple Blog From Scratch? The 6 Simple Steps to Help You

Someone have asked me before: “I want to make some money online, but I don’t have money to even start a home business. I know I can use blogs to sell stuff, but I am not good at computers, and I don’t even know how to start a simple blog. Can you help me?” I smile. “Don’t worry”, I told him, it’s not as difficult as it seems.

Starting a simple blog with blogger.com can be a challenging task if you do not even know how to go about it. But not to worry, you can easily start a Free blog with Blogger.com and later monetize your blog with affiliate programs and ads …

Before you start to create your first blog, decide the name of your blog and get your Google email account username and password ready.

Here’s 6 simple Steps How to Start a simple Blog with a Blogger account:

1) Go to Blogger.com, and choose “Create Your Blog Now” to create your blog.

2) Create a Google Account. Do you have a Google account? If yes, just sign in with your Google account username and password. If not, create a Google Account here.

3) Enter the name or title of your blog here. For example, if your blog is on “Website Traffic”, so you may want to put “Website Traffic or How to Get Traffic to Your Website” here. Then, also, what will your your domain blog address to called? Choose a “keyword-rich title” domain preferably or an easy-to-remember domain name to reflect your personality or brand.

4) Next, choose your template. There are various great Blogger templates available, so pick your favourite template here. Click “Preview Template” here. If you don’t like your template, you can always change it later.

5) Great, your new Blogger blog has been created. Congratulations

6) Now, it’s time to write your first blog post… You can starting writing your content. If you have nothing to write, leave it, you can always come back again. Remember to “Preview” your post first before you “Publish” your blog”.

While starting your online business, you may face a bit of “hiccups” or failures along the way. However, as long as you never give up and are persistent, you should have no problem solving your online “hurdles”…

I would like to quote what Abraham Lincoln says “Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm”. How true this is! Never lose your enthusiasm on your online business because I strongly believe that at the end of a “dark” tunnel, there is always “light”. So, have confidence in yourself, my friend, and I will see you at the top.

Easy Steps to Create a Google Email at Your Own Dot Com Free – Own a Dot Com for Free

This used to be impossible to do without paying for your own domain name, therefore, having an email at your own dot com costs.

The key to owning your own dot com email is getting a free domain name. Once you find this, setting up the email will be easy. Google just recently launched its Google Apps service providing smart business applications for email, documents, sites and more.They are willing to host your domain name for free and take advantage of their business services at no cost.

There are several companies that say they offer free domain names. Web hosting companies give free domain names as part of their hosting package. Others are just redirection services. What they really provide is a sub domain of a very short domain name. Try using this service and you won’t be able to host the domain name in any web hosting company. Why? Because you don’t really control the domain.

In order to have full control of the domain name, one must be able to control its cname, a, mx, and ns records. If you own a domain and try to host it in a free web hosting service, the host will ask you to point your domain to their name servers. Google apps will ask you to change the cname record to what they will provide. Google can also give their mx records for you to copy and paste in your domain management.

We need to find a free domain name service that supports full DNS control and domain management. One that provides free DNS and MX services.

Once you have full control of your own domain name for free, you can now sign up for a free web hosting service. Point your domain to their name servers, modify the mx record to the one provided by Google apps and presto, you got yourself a Google email at your own dot com.

All these are now possible and easily doable. Own your dot com for free and create an email address at your own dot com free.

Let’s slow down a little bit. These are what you need and look for:

1. A free domain name. You must have full control of this domain. Find a service that provides full DNS control and domain management. One that is not merely a redirection service.

2. Sign up for a good free web hosting company. One that provides own domain hosting for free. Take advantage of what they offer like large disk spaces, 100gb to 300gb bandwidth, easy to use website builder, and a Fantastico one click script installer. This is where you will host your new domain name. Get their name servers and go back to your domain management to point your domain name to the web host’s name servers.

3. Sign up for Google Apps using your domain name. Google will ask you to activate email by providing their MX record.

4. Log back in to your free web host member’s area and at your control panel, you can modify the MX record. Enter the one provided by Google.

Once completed, all you have to do is wait 24 to 48 hours for these settings to take effect. You now have your new domain name, a good web hosting service, and your Google email at your own dot com all for free. Why not build your website from here and start a new confident journey to an online business. Or just simply have fun.

The Four Steps In Your Ultimate Niche Finding Formula Give You the Product That Sells!

This article describes Tools For Marketing: specifically, the four steps in your ultimate niche finding formula that give you the product that sells!

One thing I want to emphasize right up front is this: having a niche is a good thing because it gets you to focus on one thing, and thus you can get very good at it. Main reasons people fail to be successful in the internet business are luck of having a plan, a direction, and a focused point. Therefore, having a focused point, a niche, can allow you to combine several related interests into something that is unique and solves a particular problem. In the end, having a focus and an overall goal, i.e., a niche, will make you more successful and bring you more money, long-term.

Finding your niche and the right products to promote requires a methodic way of searching for value, volume and high profit potential. The whole process has to be done right from the beginning. That is why you need a winning formula you can follow, step-by-step, from the beginning to the end. We will therefore start with the basic niche finding – niche getting – niche winning formula that you have to follow, your blueprint if you wish, that will get you results…

Below are the four steps of your ultimate niche finding formula that will maximize the potential success of your efforts to accomplish this task. They are derived from your personal interest on a topic which denotes your passion for that topic, your knowledge about the competition – because you need to know the size of the market, and your ability to do market research to find out the demand for your niche (are people out there looking for products within your niche).

1. Brainstorming a list of potential niches. As a rule, this is the first thing you need to do to determine if there has been enough interest in the market for a particular niche. The idea here is that if there is enough interest out there for a particular topic, people would have written books about it. Dummies.com is a good place to start.

2. Discover the search volume for this niche. This is the second step towards finding a profit making niche. Here is what to do: use the Google keyword tool (you can find this by Googling for it), then search for the keywords of the topic of interest – look for keywords with a very high number of global searches – 100,000, 500,000, etc. You do not want to be in the 25 million range as this niche is bound to be too competitive and therefore hard to make money with it.

3. Determine competition. In this step you want to make sure that there is a small number of paying vendors out there – paying for ads – which means they are making money. You do a Google search for key words of interest and see the number of competitors on the right hand side of Google’s web pages; must have at least 5-7 competitors.

4. Determine if there are existing affiliate products in your niche. Once you have determined that there is a niche for you out there, and enough people are searching for products in this niche, and there is some competition for that niche, meaning people are making money in this niche, then you need to look for products to promote. You do this as follows: log on to ClickBank.com – one of the biggest depositories of affiliate products, and click on “Marketplace”. Search for your keywords related to tour niche – and see if there are enough products for you to promote and sell.

There you have it. The four basic steps to find your niche, find a product for your niche, and sell it for profit!

5 Steps to Prevent Death By PowerPoint

1. Number of slides

If you are making a Sales Presentation, I’d limit yourself to six slides. If you can’t sell yourself in six slides then you’ll never be able to sell yourself. Most sales books will tell you, that you’ve got about 5 minutes max to get a client’s attention.

After the six slides you might then want to get into individual benefits or product slides at the client’s request. Use PowerPoint Hyperlinks to get you from one part of the presentation to the next.

2. The Text

How Much Text?

The short answer is as little as possible…Generally if somebody can read the PowerPoint and understand the presentation without any further help, then it’s too much text. Many trainers talk of the use of slogans, but to define that a little more:

  • Simple Slides

  • Short Clauses

  • No Articles

  • Few Verbs

  • Size 32 best

  • Surprise me

  • Memory jogger

  • Max 6 lines

    Should you reveal line by line or all at once… Well there’s a big debate and my view is that if you have a big surprise in the text then don’t show your hand! Otherwise I’d show all points it gives both the presenter and audience an indication of the flow of the presentation.

    3. Graphics

    In simple terms, if you’re going to talk about the diagram in your presentation then its an asset, if it’s just there to make your slide pretty then its a liability. An old boss of mine used to say that every presentation needs to have one killer-image that people will remember. Even if that image takes you longer than the rest of the presentation it is time well spent.

    Designing Graphics

    The ideal graphic is one specifically made for the presentation by a professional. Failing that consider the following options:

  • For numeric information, use Excel to create graphs and then copy and paste them into your PowerPoint. (Excel has much better control over graphs than PowerPoint)

  • Use the insert -> diagram option to make semi-customised content.

  • Use Google Images to try and find the specific image you want.

  • Use the drawing toolbar to combine your images effectively.

  • Thumbnails can be useful navigational items for training Presentations, because they provide a quick visual reference for students to see what aspect of the subject the lecturer is referring to.

    4. Multimedia Content

    Generally speaking I try to avoid multimedia content and unless you are highly technically adept, I’d advise against using any kind of sound or videos in your presentation. Be aware of the following pitfalls:
    Linked files do not transfer well from one PC to another. The best method to make presentations portable is to use the package for CD option.

  • Check your audio before giving the presentation and make sure you take all the required cables. (Plan B, one presentation with sound and one without)

  • NEVER assume you can use the Internet during a presentation. It’s always best to ensure all content is on your PC.

  • Make sure you use the same version of PowerPoint on both PCs. (If you can’t check your presentation carefully before giving it.)

  • Don’t use more than one fade and more than one transition per slideshow, unless this is going to be used in a kiosk, you want the speaker to be the focus of attention not the flashing graphics.

    5. Front Page

    In many cases the front slide will be shown before your presentation and this is a great opportunity to get the audience excited about what you are going to say, make sure your frontpage has:
    The name of the presentation clearly displayed

    You have now designed some wonderful slide, so now all you have to do is speak about them!

    • 5 Steps For Finding the Right Business Online

    Simple and honest advice as to how not to be taken in on an Internet business scam. Follow these simple 5 steps and you will save yourself a lot of wasted time, energy and money.

    Number 1. Do your diligent research above all else, do not act on your emotions. This would include, making sure you Google a. name of the person that is trying to bring you into the business. b. name of the company. c. name of the product. This will give you a dearth of information you can use, when making your decision to join or not to join this business.

    Number 2. Make sure that the business you will be joining has a high profit margin and high cash flow. Too often people join a multi-level marketing company, and push pills, vitamins, lotions, and potions, insurance, vacations, health and energy drinks, etc. They have to put in hundreds of hours on the phones, and try to make a small profit on hundreds of items. Simply, does not leverage your time.

    Number 3. Marketing will be the key to your business success. So make sure you have have a market for the products your promoting, and for sure target that market. You should have high technology internet tools, such as, an automated auto responders, emails, templates, lead capture pages, just to name a few.

    Number 4. Training and mentoring. Without a doubt, make sure there is support and training provided and that your never left alone in the new business venture. There should be a training site, live conference calls and the person that brought you in, should also be a good coach and trainer.

    Number 5. This is the most important point. Who ever is trying to bring you into this new business, simply do the following. Ask that person for at least 2 references with phone numbers of people that are making at least 50K per year on a part time basis. If the person, refuses to give you the names and phone numbers, and says something like that information is “confidential”, avoid that business. When you do get the references, call those references up and interview them about the business.

    So, if you follow the above, will it assure your success in an internet business. Naturally, there are no guarantees, but it will go a long way to finding a legitimate business on the Internet.

    How to Market Your Small Business Online in 7 Fast and Easy Steps

    Without completing each of these steps successfully..the chances of marketing your small business online dramatically decrease. There will always be exceptions but these seven steps should be considered your building blocks to your online marketing success.

    1. Your own Website.

    And by this I don’t mean a corporate/brochure style site which bores visitors and has them clicking away in seconds. No. You need to entertain as well as educate your visitors.

    To do this best I think it is essential to have a WordPress Website attached to your main business website…or even on a separate domain. Don’t just name it blog! Give it a keyword rich, benefit laden title…tell them how your will make their lives better. Use the common terms others use to search for your business in Google [and the other search engines].

    There is lots of advice online on how to set up a WordPress site. If you are unsure you can hire someone from a site such as Elance or RentaGuru.

    The beauty of WordPress is that it is so easy to use. Non-techie small business owners can add fresh content, offers, audio, and videos to their site without having to pay a webmaster every time. Small business profits is as much about saving money as it is about increased revenue.

    Oh, and of course, Google and Social Media love WordPress as well. More free visitors is always nice.

    2. Add a means of capturing the names and addresses of your visitors.

    Unfortunately, buying cycles are getting longer and longer. This means that people are rarely going to buy from you the first time they come across you.

    So, to get around this you will need:

    an optin/squeeze page an autoresponder [e.g. Aweber] a series of emails in your autoresponder a free gift valuable enough that visitors will be prepared to give your their info

    This may sound daunting if you’ve never done it. However it is easy to hire someone to do it for you…or even better, learn to do it yourself. These are very low cost marketing tactics with excellent results when done right.

    3. Generate some visitors to your site.

    You can either pay for traffic or generate it using your own time. Either way there is no such thing as free traffic…you pay with time, money or both.

    Personally, I think a mixture of paid and self-generated is best. It will depend for you on your present skills and whether you are time-rich or money-rich.

    Pay-per-click [PPC] is the fastest way to generate traffic. You can have visitors to your site within the hour. Sadly PPC can be very expensive and there is a learning curve. But don’t get me wrong…well done it can be a gold mine..just tread carefully and test and track your results.

    Add new fresh content to your site every week. Make it fun. Make people smile as they learn new stuff and they will reward you by staying longer on your site and coming back for more.

    Use photos and videos. Get them involved with competitions and surveys. My favourite tip is this…see what your competition is doing and do the opposite. No one ever got wealthy following the herd!

    Other tactics to consider:

    Social marketing ezine ads swapping links get all your past and present customers to sign up put your website address on receipts, signs, and all your other marketing banner ads post articles to article directories.

    The more you do of each the more success you’ll have.

    4. Build relationships with your prospects who have signed up.

    The way to do this is to talk about their problems and offer solutions. That will get their attention!

    Make sure your personalize your emails. Tell them about yourself, your family and your business. Get them to see you as a friend/trusted advisor: give them tips and tricks industry news free info

    5. Make them offers

    When your have their trust and they know, like and trust you…they will no longer regard your offers with suspicion.

    Keep in contact regularly…you need to decide what you feel is right…but a minimum of once a week.

    Make them repeated offers: vary them different bonuses discounts bundle products and services together make sure every offer has a deadline new products and services ask them what they want and need.

    6. Keep doing more of the same.

    The fact is you will probably lose 20% of your list a month. Make sure you keep doing each of the first five steps…this will give you a list of hungry, loyal buyers. Subscribers who look forward to hearing form you. Who want to hear your latest tips, news, and offers.

    7. Never lose sight of where your focus should be:

    “How can I offer more value to my customers?”

    The moment you forget them and start concentrating on only yourself…they’ll know. It will come across in all your communications and marketing. Put them first, and they will stay loyal, and you will reap the rewards.

    10 Key Steps to Turn Your Mobile App Idea Into Reality

    Many people and companies are coming up with new mobile app ideas to make it big in their field. They either want to reach a new audience or better serve their existing customers.However, people are relatively unaware of the steps or process needed to turn a mobile app idea into reality. Due to lack of ability and information among startups and established companies, most of them don’t know how to go about shaping the app idea.

    I have helped several companies build their mobile app. Here are the 10 key steps I have followed in my 6 years of experience. I believe that my list can help anyone from any industry get their mobile app idea turned into reality.

    Step 1: Write down your feature list

    Conceptualize your idea begins by taking some notes. Before doing anything, you should write whatever comes to your mind. Writing down the feature list on a piece of paper helps you focus on your idea and expand on it. I recommend writing your idea several times and in many ways. This list also will be helpful when you are discussing with your co-founders, designers, investors or developers; they all are going to ask for it. Note that you should have them sign an NDA before you share your feature list. Your feature list should be clean and easy to understand. Also make sure it has popular and unique features, which will play the major role in success of your product.

    Step 2: Do the market research

    After writing your strong list of features, you want to do market research to find the competition, trends and market needs. Make sure there are no similar apps in the market. If there are, find out their reviews, ratings, feedback, and what is missing in them. Add features in your app that would make it unique and more attractive to the audience. After doing market research, you should update your feature list.

    Step 3: Identify the users/audience

    It is very important to find who would use your app and who the audience would be for your product. Your users are from a particular industry, gender, region, age group, existing customers, income group, specific profession, or any other group. Once you identify some demographics about the audience, you can find out what people from these demographics prefer or like. Knowing your audience helps you re-engineer your app and the features in it to cater to them. Your whole project moves around user engagement. You can also conduct focus group studies to find out what your audience may like or dislike. Your audience will decide your product’s success, and this insight from focus study can go a long way in defining product success.

    Step 4: Identify the monetization strategy

    Making money is the biggest reward and energizes for your idea. You can make money from your app idea in several ways: subscription fee, in-app buy, in-app ads, user data, sponsorship. You want to know which one works for your app, audience and market. Launching a paid app does not work these days, but you can make the app free with in-app purchase option for more functions. In-app ads are also losing their shine these days due to user experience. Having user data is becoming a big monetization technique, as you can use it to make indirect money. You can find sponsorship for the app; this works for an app with a social mission. It is important for you to select 1 or 2 techniques that would give you good return on investment.

    Step 5: Create a rough sketch/wire frame

    You may not have done it before, or may not know how to do it. However, the rough sketch or wire frame helps you define the concept and refine the requirements of your product. You can draw a rough sketch using paper and pencil, while a wire frame can be created using online tools. When you start doing the sketch/wire frame, you will be able to polish your app idea and features list further. Also, this helps you decide the proper navigation of the application. You don’t need technical skills for this step, but you need to have a common-sense understanding of how navigation works. Your wire frames, along with your feature list, will create very good specifications for you to build the mobile app.

    Step 6: Approach local mobile app developers and get estimates

    Once you have your first version of the feature list and wire frame, you want to start identifying vendors who can build your mobile app in a high-quality, cost-effective way. You should search for local vendors and some global vendors and reach out to them. Once you shortlist 5 to 6 good vendors, have them sign the NDA and send them the project details. A good vendor should check your details and ask you lots of questions. You should make sure to answer them in detail so that your idea is fully communicated. A good vendor should also be able to give you some suggestions to improve your idea. You should get proposals from multiple vendors, with time and cost for development, and compare them. You should check the vendors on past performance, process, price, time, testimonial and their eagerness to work for you. Finally, you should be able to select one vendor and start working with them.

    Step 7: Complete the UI/UX

    Once you have selected the company, you should work with them to create the UI/UX of the app. You should have them first create the detailed wire frame of the application so that you can visualize each screen, function and flow of the application. After review, you can decide to add or remove features. Once the wire frame is complete, you want them to create the visual design of the application. It should give the color, theme, fonts and visual appeal for your idea. This step will give you a near-final picture of what your mobile app would look like and how it would flow. After completing it, have your vendor reevaluate the development plan, time and cost. If the first estimate of time/cost has increased, get more funding or cut some of the features. You want to pay the right value to your mobile app developer.

    Step 8: Get the app developed and tested

    Have your app developer start building the app for you. They should be able to send you the app (in progress) every week and you should be able to test and give them feedback. It is very essential for you to QA the app as they develop it, as this helps you control the quality, cost and timeline, and learn whether the mobile app needs some tweaks. You can involve your friends in the testing as well. If you come up with new sets of features during the development, discuss those with your app developer and get the time and cost estimate. If it fits your budget, get it done right away. If not, wait for the next phase.

    Step 9: Launch the app and market it

    Once you are satisfied with the app, launch it in the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store. You should also start marketing the app. Get some consulting from experts on app marketing. You can also do self-marketing. Start on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as this is an easy way to spread the word about the app. You should also reach out to reporters and bloggers who may be interested in your app and write about it. A press release on free sites or a paid site can be very handy. If you have more in your budget, you can hire a PR or app marketing company.

    Step 10: Gather market response and prepare for the next phase

    After the first launch and marketing, you can collect user data, market response and demand. If you receive a good response, you can plan the next phase for the app. Repeat Step 1 through 9 for the next phase. This time, you should be able do them a lot faster and more efficiently. If the app is not received well in the market, find out what is hampering growth and have a plan of action.

    Time Management Techniques For Small Business Owners – 7 Steps to Getting More Done in Less Time

    Otherwise known as… how to knock the competition bandy whilst having more free time to have fun and spend with your family and friends. The primary aim for any small business owner is to make more profits. In order to be successful in business, time management techniques are critical.

    Follow these seven essential steps:

    1. Goals

    What do you want? Why do you want it? If what you’re working on isn’t taking you where you want to go… you’re ultimately wasting your time. I consistently see people talking about time management habits without ever mentioning this first important step.

    2. Break big projects into smaller tasks

    This makes getting things done more manageable. It will reduce the risk of you becoming overwhelmed by your workload. Use project management software such as Mindmanager. This gives you an excellent visual overview of the tasks that need to be successfully completed. You can also see: In what order they logically need to be done. Who has been given responsibility for each of them. When they need to be completed. And how you will measure successful completion.

    3. Prioritisation.

    Prioritize the importance of the tasks. This depends on not only what will create the most profit for your company. But also what tasks need to be completed before others can even begin.

    4. Outsourcing/delegation

    Outsource or delegate all non-critical, time-consuming tasks. The only tasks you should be doing are the ones that create the most profit and value for your company. Do the tasks that you are best at and most enjoy… and offload the rest.

    5. Systematization.

    This applies to any task or activity which needs to be repeated within your business. Document step-by-step, the most efficient way to carry out the task. Make this documentation available to all your employees. As more efficient and effective ways are discovered to complete this task…update your documentation. The ultimate goal is that every task is carried out in the same efficient way every single time.

    6. Time planners.

    Have one for every working day, week, month, and the forthcoming year. Put the tasks that need to be completed into your planers based on your previous prioritisation. Stick rigidly to these planners. Make sure you that you successfully complete each day’s tasks. There will always be times when this is not possible. Update your planners appropriately. Cross off each task is its completed. Move on to the next task straightaway.

    7. Set a time limit for each task

    Your accuracy of judging the required times will get better with practice. Unfortunately, the human mind as a habit of filling the allocated time you set for any activity. Tell yourself you need an hour to complete it. An hour it will take. Tell yourself you need all morning, and surprise surprise, all morning it takes. Use an egg timer. Find out what the most efficient working period of time for you is. For most people it is between 40-90 minutes. When you complete each time period, get up and walk around for five minutes. Get the blood flowing. Move on to the next allotted time period.

    These may sound like relatively simple time management techniques. The fact is they are incredibly powerful. You don’t need to over complicate things.

    Sit down next Sunday and plan your working week using these seven steps. The following Saturday review how much you have achieved. I think you’ll be shocked and pleased at how much you’ve achieved in your business.

    How to Write a Book FAST – Steps to Write a TIPS Book

    Have you ever dreamed of writing a book that would establish you as an expert worthy of attention? Have you seen authors get attention at seminars or on TV and thought, “I wish that was ME”? Writing a book is easier than you think when you know a few insider secrets. One kind of book above all others is the easiest to write, and you’re about to discover how to write it–a TIPS book.

    You probably already know that authors get all the attention. It’s because people innately trust authors. So if you are an expert in your niche, or if you are a business owner (which still makes you an expert) without a book, it’s time to write one. In fact, becoming an author is essential, and it should be moved off the “someday I’ll” list and onto the “Do it now” list.

    Anything is easier when you have a system, so that is what I am about to share with you. I’m giving you the “easy button” steps to write a book. And remember, you don’t have to write 300 or even 200 pages to be the author of a “real book.”

    You are an expert in something (probably several “somethings”), and no doubt you know some of the insider strategies or shortcuts that people crave. Everyone wants the easy way, right? If you have ways to save someone time, make something simple, or improve results, you have the makings of a tips book.

    The easy path is to write a “tips book.” This is simply a whole list of tips with a few paragraphs about each one. I’ll show you how, step by step, right now.

    I am going to give you a step by step trail of breadcrumbs to follow, but first, I know you have this question, because just about everybody does…

    “How long does my book have to be?”

    The answer is, “It’s up to you.” There is no Law written somewhere on stone tablets saying “this many pages maketh a book.” One of my books is 152 pages. Another is 32. They’re both books and they both make me officially “an author.”

    If you go to an online bookseller and put “tips” into the search box, you will discover there are no rules. Whether you have 101, 369, 365 or 88, it’s still a book.

    Example: A gifted cook could write a book sharing 65 simple baking techniques your grandma never taught you. Each page would have the tip and a few paragraphs of explanation. Why is this method for how to write a book so powerful?

    Because – You have all the information you need already. There is no research. – It doesn’t take much time. You can write a tips book in a weekend if you wish. – When your book is done (which will happen in a very short amount of time), you will prove to yourself that you can write a book.

    How to write your tips book, step by step:

    1. Write the tips.

    You may decide to use your word processor or use more “old timey” methods like a pad of paper or a stack of index cards. Just write each tip, in full or in your own shorthand.

    2. Assemble the tips book.

    Write each tip at the top of a page. Leave a few blank spaces and then write the explanation. You decide the length, but tips are by nature quick. So don’t get carried away.

    Insider writing secrets – Write to one person not to “you guys.” Only one person is reading the book. – Make sure you give your reader a reason to visit your website, such as a free downloadable gift. – The end of the book is the beginning of a relationship, so make an irresistible offer to your reader at the end of the book.

    Congratulations! You are on your way to becoming an author and being perceived as an Instant VIP.

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