Special Speech

I am probably not the norm, maybe I am. I spent many years in corporate America and went through all the lay offs unscathed, except for the big finale. It was part of the corporate scandals and the downfall of the stock market. So what happens, the little guy gets let go. Since then it’s been an up and down hill battle. My savings has dwindled. My patience has been tried, but overall still in a good frame of mind.

While sitting in front of my computer looking for something to do from home, an opportunity appeared. I booked marked the page and must have read it well over a dozen times. The time finally came when I jumped on it and went wild. It’s been the best thing I’ve done in the last few months.

If you feel the same way, it is possible for you to make the same journey. I followed the tried and true tips from the newsletters I received. Then, after my website was set up, I saw how it was all possible. This can be done very modestly until you are ready to make the next step.

You do not have to be a Guru or Webmaster as I have learned. There are many forums about working at home or online business’s filled with great people who love to help others and the advice is endless.

The key is to stick with what you know and choose a business that reflects your interest or hobby. Do not over extend your finances and take it in little steps till you have a handle on it. Then expand it at a rate you feel comfortable with and enjoy the ride. The best part of the job is being able to call yourself “CEO”, it’s your call.

Good luck and remember to have fun.

Daniel Milam publishes Home Business articles and an informative newsletter. If you are looking for home business opportunities, time saving tips and helpful support. Please stop by and get your F.R.E.E subscription today at http://www.dcmilam.com

One of the greatest pitfalls in e-commerce is Field of Dreams thinking, the notion that all one has to do is “build it (a web site) and they will come.”

“I can’t think of anything further from the truth,” Ron Scott, a Riverside, California web designer, says. “Even if we develop an attractive, content rich web site, that is no guarantee that our client will generate enough sales, let alone traffic, to justify the expense.

“There has to be a market for a company’s products and/or services in the first place, and then it has to be properly promoted”, he went on to say.

This is why the firm recommends their small business clients answer a number of questions directly related to the development of a sound business plan before they open their checkbooks.

1. Have you adequately defined your market reach? Do you offer products and/or services that will be of interest to an international, national, regional, or local community? The larger your target audience, obviously the greater your probability of success. Could you add one or more products or services that would broaden your reach?

2. What is the global demand for your product and/or service? Do you have any idea how many internet inquiries are made about your product and/or service? For an answer to this question, Scott recommends visiting the “Pay for Performance Search” page listed under the heading “Products and Services” at Overture.com. Enter a keyword or keyword phrase you might use to find information about your product and/or service in the search engine suggestion window at the bottom of the page. In addition to finding out how many inquiries were made the previous month using that keyword or keyword phrase, you may find a dozen or more related terms and the number of inquiries made about them as well. Add the number inquiries and this will give you an idea just how much interest there is in your product and/or service.

If your reach is local or regional, be sure to incorporate the names of cities in your search terms. Pay-for-performance programs sometimes do not allow local or regional advertisers to use generic terms because their services are irrelevant to a more global audience.

3. How many of these inquiries actually come from your target market? Let’s assume you do business in Los Angeles and your target market is Southern California. If 85% of all inquiries originate in the United States and that 7.1% of those live in Southern California , then the potential market in Southern California represents 7.1% of 85% (6.1%) of all inquiries using any given keyword or keyword combination.

To calculate the proportion of inquiries in any market area, visit the U. S. Census Bureau’s web site. There you will find population projections you can use to estimate the number of inquiries that are likely to be emanating from within your market area.

4. What is your likely market share? Of those consumers actually making inquiries from your market area, how many are likely to visit your site, let alone make a purchase? Assuming that the content of your web site is inviting enough to motivate visitors to either purchase your product/service or to at least make an inquiry, what percentage are actually going to become customers? A 1% return is reasonable expectation if you are in a competitive market and you have a competitively priced product and/or service. Obviously, the more unique your product, the more the higher this percentage is likely to be..

5. How many sales will you have to make to recoup the cost of development and promotion, if only 1% of your visitors take advantage of your offering? For arguments sake, let us assume that it will cost you at least $100 to reserve a domain name and to secure a host, $500 to get a 10 page site designed, and that you budget at least $100 a month on promotion. How many net sales will you have to make to recover these costs? Put another way, how many sales would you need to start making a profit?

6. Do you know who your on-line competitors are? If you don’t, go to any search engine, enter a few keywords related to your industry and see who appears on the first page. Visit a few of them. What is their message? What do you see as their strengths and weaknesses.? What do you like or dislike about their sites? How could you make your offering more attractive or enticing?

7. Can you be competitive? Knowing what your competitors are offering, can you realistically expect to compete with them, especially when it comes to pricing? Internet inquiries generally come from individuals looking for a deal so they are price sensitive. Do your competitors actual provide pricing or to they ask visitors to make an on-line inquiry or to call for a quote? If you are in a service related business, what are you going to have to do to compel visitors to act once they visit your site? What can you do to separate you from your on-line competition?

8. How unique is your product and/or service? Do you have a unique offering, or are you in a highly competitive industry? Obviously, the more unique your offering, the easier it is going to be to get exposure and the greater your potential is going to be for success.

9. How are you going to promote your site? One of the greatest misconceptions in e-commerce is the notion that to succeed all one has to do to is submit a site to search engines. This, unfortunately, is the full extent of marketing for far too many web sites and rarely gets the job done.

One of the primary considerations when it comes to search engine placement is popularity. The more sites linking or referencing your site, the higher page rank it will earn. It is fairly inexpensive to get a link on a wide variety of permanent directories, but it takes more than directory links to significantly increase a site’s popularity. If you or your webmaster don’t take the time to negotiate link exchanges with non-directory related sites, especially those who have high rankings, you are not likely to gain favorable positioning in any but the most insignificant search engines.

10. What have you budgeted for promotion? If you cannot afford to promote your site, you might as well forget spending money on its development. To get a quick idea what it might costs to promote your product or service on line using a pay-for-performance advertising program, visit Overture.com again. Enter one of your industry related keywords in Overture’s internet search window on the company’s home page.

When the results appear, click on “View Advertiser’s Max Bids” link that appears to the top and right. The highest bidder wins the top sponsored position on Yahoo, MSN, CNN, Alta Vista, InfoSpace, Overture and a dozen or more minor search engines. The top three sponsored listings will appear above normal search results at the top of these search engines whenever the surfer uses keywords or keyword phrases the advertiser has bid on.

These questions are not all inclusive, but they do provide food for thought. Hopefully, they will help those interested in establishing a web presence a better idea of what will be needed to achieve a predictable degree of success as well as a reasonable return on investment.

If you would like more information, visit http://www.websitetutoring.com.

About The Author

Ron Scott is a web designer who spends half his time teaching small business owners how to design and maintain their business web sites in-house.

rs@websitetutoring.com

Oily skin is not only shiny, dull-colored, and coarse, it is also acne-prone, which means that a host of more serious problems can develop: blackheads, whiteheads, enlarged pores, redness, and potential scarring. If your skin is oily or you have combination skin, take control with oily skin care before the trouble escalates. We all want to have beautiful, clear skin.

Causes of Oily Skin

The cause of oily skin is not fully understood, but it is very likely that hereditary and lifestyle choices play a part. As well, those pesky hormone imbalances that occur most often in the teen years and also at menopause are a big part of the problem. Since the skin is the largest organ on the body, it also reflects the state of our general physical and emotional health, and problems on either front will have a negative impact on the skin. Pregnancy and birth control pills, which alter hormonal activity, also affect the oiliness of the skin, as will diet, humidity, and the use of cosmetics.

Skin oil is produced by the sebaceous glands, which are more active in the nose area than anywhere else on the face, and the nose area is also the site of larger pores. If you have combination skin, it means the skin on your face is generally dry or normal, but excessively oily around the nose, often extending down to the chin and up into the forehead. Sebaceous glands are also more active on the chest, back, and upper arms than on other parts of the body. The amount of oil generated by these glands is out of your control and oily skin care simply means coping with the amount of oil produced and the problems it can cause.

Oil is important for moisturizing the skin, and you can take comfort from knowing that oily skin delays wrinkling, age spots, and fine lines, and sebaceous glands become less active as we age. In the meantime, the problem remains that oil clogs the pores of the skin, and the effects are, naturally, the production of blackheads and pimples, as well as enlarged pores and redness. Oily skin care treatments involve taking steps to keep pores from getting clogged and blemishes from appearing.

The Best Diet for Oily Skin

The treatment for oily skin should start internally. This means, take care of your physical and mental health and your skin will benefit. Eat balanced meals, and make sure that you receive the necessary nutrition for good health each day. Forget the starvation diets and the food fads. Normal weight and good health are served best by diets that include daily servings of all the food groups. The B vitamins are especially important for skin health and are found in wheat germ, egg yolk, Brewer’s yeast, organ meats, nuts and beans. A lack of vitamin B2 will actually cause oily skin. Reduce the amount of fat, oil, and sugar in your diet, and you will be repaid with fewer skin problems, but that is because your general health will improve. Sebaceous glands operate independent of diet.

Because food grown in nutrient-depleted soil can be depleted of essential vitamins and minerals, it is important to add a supplement or two to your diet. Start with a multivitamin suitable for your age and sex, and then add some extra vitamin A (so that you are consuming about 10,000 IU daily) and the vitamin B complex. Primrose oil (500 milligrams) and flaxseed oil (1,000 milligrams) are both very beneficial for the skin.

Drink lots of water to help flush toxins out of your body with the help of your kidneys and liver rather than leaving it to your skin to bring toxins to the surface and eliminate them through perspiration. “Lots of water” is generally defined as eight glasses a day, and this amount also serves to hydrate your skin properly.

Since stress aggravates skin problems, it is wise to reduce your stress level through meditation or relaxation techniques.

Rosacea, a chronic skin disorder that looks a great deal like acne, will improve if you follow these same health recommendations, and an anti aging diet includes all these elements as well.

Tips for Caring for Oily Skin

Keep oily skin very clean so that pores do not become clogged and cause breakouts. On the other hand, you can have too much of a good thing here, and skin must not be treated too harshly nor washed too often. Chose a mild cleanser that promises to clean without drying, and wash with lukewarm, not hot, water. You can try a mild medicated soap or an antibacterial cleansing lotion. If your skin become dry and taut, it means the outer layer has shrunk and the oil will not be able to flow freely and more pores will clog. Aim for washing your face two or three times a day, and, between cleansings, wipe away excess oil with either an antibacterial astringent or one containing acetone, which dissolves oil. Using a clay or mud mask once a week is another good way to cleanse your skin and combat the oil production. Be gentle. A facial sauna with lemongrass, licorice root, and rosebuds is good for oily skin, but use caution if you have acne. Saunas, like high humidity, can intensify breakouts.

Moisturizers for oily skin might contain antiseptic or simply be oil-free.

Noncomedogenic moisturizers do not clog pores, and nonacnegenic moisturizers do not irritate pores. Look for the chemical benzyl peroxide, which helps reduce the amount of oil your glands produce and is a useful ingredient in lotions and creams designed for oily skin. Make sure all makeup as well as all moisturizers, cleansing lotions, astringents, and sunscreens are chosen with oily skin in mind, and are water-based rather than oil-based products.

Effective treatment for oily skin involves cleansing, moisturizing, and protecting your skin with products created to provide oily skin solutions. Although there are no natural cures for oily skin, you can certainly manage the problem and keep it from worsening. The Internet is the perfect place to search and find information about products and diet supplements needed to provide the best oily skin care possible. The Internet offers the opportunity to shop, compare costs, and order whatever you need online from the privacy of your home. Most online merchants offer discount pricing to attract customers which helps save you money. You don’t have to put up with oily skin problems; relief is just a few clicks away.

About the Author
Scott Gray is currently a freelance writer and enjoys providing information and advice to online shoppers who are in the market for anti aging options, acne treatments, and general skin care.

Contrary to what myriad Internet sites would have you believe, there is much more to small business planning than a good marketing mix and solid financials. Whether you want to sell the next big thing or you simply want to rev up sales and profits for an existing operation, no business plan template will adequately address the complex psychology of being an entrepreneur, especially a successful one.

To illustrate what I mean, let’s pretend you aspire to be the next coffee shop ingénue. You have articulated a comprehensive business plan; you have chosen your product lineup, location, promotion plan, and pricing strategy; and you have snagged some decent financing to keep you running for at least a year. On paper, you are a coffee empire in the making. “Great!” you think to yourself. “Let’s get started!”

You proceed to sign the lease, shell out some bucks to a lawyer and an accountant, order a few gazillion pounds of coffee beans in anticipation of your success, and open for business.
About six months and a few hundred lattes later, you realize that you do not possess high tolerance levels for the teen angst, high turnover, and sleep deprived yet incredibly nitpicky about extra-hot-no-whip-non-fat-double-mocha-latte-now-or-I’ll-go-postal cranky clientele that have suddenly become an intimate part of your life. You despise this situation but also realize that it will probably be your reality for many years to come, or at least until you can make enough margin to take a day off and enjoy a five-dollar coffee poured for you across the street at Starbuck’s.

Perhaps this all too common scenario points to one explanation for the alarmingly high failure rate of small business start-ups in North America. The Business 101 textbook explanation of this phenomenon would state that failure to plan is the root cause of most small business shutdowns. Indeed, without some kind of road map, inspiration can quickly turn to chaos if not complete financial ruin. But even the most well crafted business plan cannot cement the road to success, and an entirely fabulous product is no guarantee either.

Work-at-home business gurus, Paul and Sarah Edwards, cite two independent studies involving a number of successful entrepreneurs. Both studies concluded that business plans are overdone in many cases and their importance even overemphasized. What is needed, the Edwards say, is a succinct plan that uncovers key aspects of the market you wish to pursue and a simple roadmap for pursuing them (www.workingfromhome.com/pages/faq.htm). Of course, in approaching the planning process this way, you are more apt to make strategic changes when necessary because you will be less “invested” in the document itself and more interested in doing whatever it takes to succeed.

Failure to plan is a symptom, not a root cause, of small business collapse. The true “illness” lies within the heart of western entrepreneurship and the bizarre twists and turns it has taken in the information age. Get-rich-quick schemes abound in magazines and on the Internet, yet the only ones getting rich from these programs are the passionate individuals who envisioned the intricate pyramid of wealth in the first place. However, one need not take such an unethical path of deception toward financial independence.

My overpriced but thankfully small “l” liberal education taught me something I have not seen in any business textbook: Determine the correct questions before seeking answers. In saying this, I am not at all trying to sound literary, highfalutin or Stephen Covey-esque (loved 7 Habits by the way). I write only what I know from observation and experience, and it would seem to me that you cannot derive health, happiness, or wealth from something that does not reflect your personality, your vision of your best self, or your basic code for living.

Money in the hands of an entrepreneur who does not know himself might as well be lumps of coal. And a business plan written by such a person is not worth much more. No bank loan or angel moneys can replace the value of introspection. Some questions you must ask yourself:

-> What are my reasons for pursuing this venture?

-> Will those reasons be enough if I don’t turn a profit in the first five years?

-> What will I have lost if the business fails? What will I have gained?

-> Does this venture reflect who I am? Or am I only trying to be someone I think I “should” be?

Such questions should be fleshed out long before you begin typing up that business plan. How you honestly answer those questions should subsequently color every element of your marketing mix. Passion must precede planning. This authenticity will shine through in everything you do and say thereafter, andin this daythere is nothing so irresistible to your prospects as authenticity.

******
Karri Flatla is a business graduate of the University of Lethbridge and principal of snap! virtual assistance inc., a small business consulting firm providing online marketing services to the progressive entrepreneur. Karri also produces Outsmart, the newsletter for small business with big purpose. Visit http://www.snap-va.com for more information.

>From the very moment people began migrating to America, their
dreams have been to have an idea, start a business and become
rich in the process. That has always been the American dream.

In The US today more people are realizing their dreams of
financial independence than ever before because owning a
successful business is easier than ever before. A good majority
of these people gain financial independence as owners of
franchised businesses. Franchises offer the best shot at owning
a successful business for first-time entrepreneurs because they
operate on a proven system. And there are many reasons why
franchising is the best type of operation for the majority of
first-time business owners.

As a franchisee, you will not be required to draw up a business
plan; that has already been done for you. You will gain all the
benefits of a proven system, training and ongoing support and
reap the monetary rewards.

How can franchising
make you wealthy? 75% of the people who are extremely wealthy in
the The US own a business. This indicates that your best shot at
creating extreme wealth is by owning your own business. Starting
a business from scratch, however, can be a very risky and a
complicated procedure. Newly started businesses experience a
very high failure rates, most likely due to
bad planning and not having a tight hold on expenditures.
Franchising offers less risk than starting an independent
business and offers all of the same benefits of an independent
business. Franchising eliminates the need to draw up a business
plan and gets you on the road to success quickly.

If you have put all your efforts into buying a franchise,
congratulations! You have made a decision to buy the right to
sell goods or services from an established name-brand company
with a proven business plan, training and ongoing support. Soon
you will be on the road to financial independence. There are
steps, however, that must be taken to insure that everything,
from researching the right franchise to the opening of your
business, goes smoothly-most importantly, researching the right
franchise
opportunity.

Not every franchise opportunity is perfect for every individual.
Franchises come in many flavors and each is as unique as your
own personality. To find the right franchise opportunity,
research different franchises for the one that best suits your
personality, skills and interests. To clarify this point even
further, imagine an individual with 15 years of financial
planning experience that decides to purchase a franchise. He
researches different franchising options and chooses to purchase
a financial consulting franchise. Does this individual
have the potential to make this business successful? Absolutely!
Imagine the same individual, but this time around decides to
peruse a restaurant franchise. Does he have a chance? Not
necessarily! Someone with 15 or more years of financial planning
experience would probably feel lost running a food
franchise. Pick a business in which you have demonstrated
expertise. The point is that it’s necessary to own a franchise
that matches your personality and skill level. When those
conditions are met, you’ll have a greater chance at being
successful.

Once you have settled on a franchise, you will want take your
research to the next step by gathering as much information as
possible on that particular company. Do the right research! Just
because a franchise has been successful in another part of the
country does not mean it will experience the same success in
your community. Ask for contact information and talk to current
franchisees operating in territories with the same demographics
as the area in which you will be operating.

A franchise is like operating any small business - you need
capital. Build the right budget that will allow you to
incorporate a realistic cash-flow plan. The initial franchise
fee will probably have the most significant impact on your
finances. You need to have enough capital for the initial
franchise fee and enough to get through the first few months
after opening the doors to your business.

The most successful franchisees are the ones that take a less
formal and more relaxed approach to selling. Successful
franchisees genuinely enjoy talking to strangers and get
involved in community events in hopes of exploring new ways of
promoting their business. although franchisees are often
provided with standard corporate advertising programs and
national exposure for the chain, being involved in the community
and being perceived as part of the local family helps keep
customers loyal.

Franchises influence The United States in everyday life. As a
matter of fact, the IFA estimates that franchising has had a
$1.5 trillion impact on the American economy. I hope it is clear
to you that franchising offers an amazing opportunity to own
your own business and a little piece of the American dream.

I took a small group of friends to see John Lee Hooker, Jr. at a local jazz club. Hooker, son of the great John Lee Hooker, released his album Blues with a Vengeance in 2004. It scored a Grammy nomination and won the distinguished W.C. Handy Award for Best New Artist Debut. My friends enjoyed the music and had a great evening.

At the club, Hooker and his group were announced and the music began. Everyone was clapping and enjoying the fusion of jazz and blues. The keyboardist introduced the band members as they each did a solo. My friends assumed the person on keyboard was John Lee Hooker, Jr. Not so. Hooker was in the back of the room at the soundboard. He was making sure that the audio was absolutely perfect. When he was satisfied, after about fifteen minutes, he was once more announced and he went on stage.

I’ve seen that kind of behavior more than once. Bo Diddley, whom I’ve video taped before, and Chuck Berry are both extremely careful about how their music sounds. Bo Diddley inspects everything. And, every time I think of Chuck Berry I visualize him in the documentary Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll. He painfully instructs Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones on the proper way to play a Chuck Berry riff. Keith Richards, a fellow member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, did not take the lesson well, but he learned to play like Chuck Berry . . . to Chuck’s satisfaction. These musicians are so very careful about how they sound, because their music is what they are. They are professionals. Their music represents them. In essence, they are their music. Isn’t this true of small business as well? Or shouldn’t it be?

If you are a small business person, don’t you call the tune? And, shouldn’t professionalism be your rallying cry? Big business can afford a little slack in quality and service, but the small business operator must put in extra hours and take special care that their product is as perfect as it can be.

If you don’t care about your business, who will? You are your business. You are THE representative. You have the most to lose, if people are dissatisfied. But, if you take extra care, people may be as excited about your products and services as you are.

Being meticulous should produce the best example of your business. This is almost it’s own reward, but not completely. Take the time. Make sure everyone sees and hears the best. Correct any problems. You won’t be left singing the blues, but should leave everyone else singing your praises.

Author Don Doman: Don is a published author of books for small business, corporate video producer, and owner of Ideas and Training (http://www.ideasandtraining.com), which provides business training products. Don also owns Human Resources Radio (http://www.humanresourcesradio.com), which provides business training programs and previews 24-hours a day.

Pros and cons to three hot topics

Invited to be officer on the boardflattering or dangerous?
Officer and director liability is staggering. If a friend of yours is starting a company or charity and she asks you to sit on the board, carefully make your decision to accept or decline the position. If a mistake happens and the shareholders file a lawsuit, you could be named in the lawsuit because you’re a director or officer of the company; you are also personally liable for the salary of any salaried employees (if you’re an officer of a company). Before you casually accept an offer to become an officer or director of a company, make sure you have insurance, which is called “director of liability policy.” If you’re not pursuing the position and it’s something you’re invited to accept, you may want to ask them to pay the premiums on your insurance.

Limited partnership vs. general partnerships
Limited partnership: Your liability is limited to the amount of your investment
General partners: You have unlimited liability. Because you have the day-to-day control of the company, the trade off is more liability.

Smile. Some debt can be great
Good debt verses bad debt is another way to say credit verses debt. Not all debt is bad. Credit that entitles you to invest is good, such as your home mortgage (assuming your house has appreciated), starting a business, or purchasing investment properties. What determines if it’s good or bad is what you do with it. If you’re buying depreciating assets, you’re not incurring good debt.

During my years of law school, I completed an internship with a New York Supreme Court Justice and second legal internship with a law firm and also began investing in real estate. Immediately upon graduating law school and passing the bar exam, I opened my own law practice. From 1988 to 2001, I practiced with my partner under the name Miles and Gillard, where I concentrated in the area of real estate and business law.

Drew Miles

Find Out More:
www.pfbs.com

If you are interested in starting a home business career, or have already started one, there are certain legal aspects you need to consider. What sort of legal aspects? Well, taxes, insurance policies, retirement planning and/or superannuation, and registering your business to name a few. The following article will briefly touch on these different subjects to help you discover how you can protect yourself and your business.

Legalities: First and for most, once you have established your home business, you need to set up your business legally. You can do this by registering your business name and declaring if you are the sole owner, are in a partnership or corporation. Depending on the type of businesses you are running, you may also require a business license. To find out what will work best, and what is required for your particular business, visit your state/province and/or federal website.

Taxes - When you are self employed you have many tax advantages. For instance, you can write off many of the expenses that are connected to your home business. That being said, just like every other citizen, you are required to pay the tax amount you owe at the end of the year. However, some of the expenses that you may be able to write off depending on your business include, but are not limited to:

Home office - this also include supplies or equipment you need for your office

• Home office - this also include supplies or equipment you need for your office
• Advertising - business cards, web marketing, etc.
• Rent or lease of business property
• Travel - The expense of having to travel for business purposes (IE meeting a client)
• Utilities - includes electricity, gas, etc.
• Telephone and Internet- phone or Net used for business purposes
• Other interest - credit card, loan interest (IE. the interest you pay on a computer loan)
• Business Meals - money you spend on business dinners (try not to overdo it on this one)
• Etc

As you can see there are many things you can write off as far as your taxes are concerned. Therefore, make sure you make a list of all your expenses, and be sure to keep all of your receipts! You never know if you will be subjected to a tax audit. To learn more about taxes concerning your business and employment, visit your state/provincial or federal website to learn more.

Insurance Policies: Something else you need to take into consideration is insurance policies. There are plenty of different insurance plans that you can look into procuring for yourself, family and business. The following is a list of some of the more popular insurance policies:

Life insurance - Covers funeral expenses in case someone should die.

Workers compensation insurance - This insurance is only a good idea if you have employees. If an employee becomes injured on the job, this insurance compensates them for recuperation time.

Health insurance - will pay for your bills should you ever need medical attention. Depending on your plan it also helps to pay for prescription drugs, eye glasses and the dentist.

Home insurance - protects your home in the event of an unfortunate situation (IE Fire.)

Content insurance - This insurance will protect your equipment and the items within your home.

Note: There are plenty more insurance policies that you may be interested in procuring, so make sure you are thorough in your research. Furthermore, every plan is different, so choose the one you can afford that suits your lifestyle.

Superannuation/Retirement Plan - Even though you are self-employed, you are still eligible for superannuation or other retirement plans. That being said, you need to understand that you are responsible for making your own contributions to your retirement fund. With so many expenses already on your plate, you may not be interested in a retirement plan, but there are significant tax savings on the contributions you make, depending on your income and so on.

When it comes to actually selecting your fund you can choose banks, insurance companies or other financial institutions. Regardless of what you choose, you need to consider the reputation of the institution, their administration fees, their insurance cover options, etc.

To learn more about retirement plans, visit your federal website. Also don’t be afraid to talk to a councilor at your bank institution to see if they can provide you with any recommendations.

Mark Sturge is the webmaster of make-money-business-opportunities.com A site where you can find information, resources and tips on all areas career. Such as a home business career or similar work at home careers.

I was doing some keyword research on the Google AdWords site
recently, and discovered something interesting. There is intense
demand for keywords having to do with digital TV topics. Google
AdWords will predict the average CPC (cost per click) for any
given keyword (or phrase). “TiVo” averages $3.82 per click.
“DirecTV” is $7.27. “Dish Network” is a whopping $12.46.
I kid you not. People are willing to pay Google $12.46, on
average, to get their text ad listed at the top of the pile.
This doesn’t mean everyone pays this much, of course. It just
means that’s how much you have to pay to come out on top.

Now the obvious question becomes: “Why on earth would anyone pay
more than $12 for a single click?” The answer, I discovered
today, is that Dish Network has a pretty extensive multi-level
affiliate program. They don’t let individuals work with them
directly, but there are a number of resellers out there who do
most of their business through individual affiliates. The reason
people are willing to pay $12 for a click, is that if it results
in a sale, the affiliate can make $100 or more.

I did some more research, and I believe I’ve found the highest
paying site out there: BuyMyDish.com.
You can earn $120 per sale right off the bat, increasing to $140
if your volume increases. Also, if you get others to sign up for
the affiliate program, you can make a little extra on any sales
they make. Just Go
here, select “Affiliates” from the top menu, and then select
“Join”. It takes only about 2 minutes to get signed up. The
program is managed through MyAffiliateProgram.com, a reputable
online affiliate management company. They give you a wide range
of tracking tools, so you can figure out how often your banners
are being displayed, where your clicks come from, and which ones
result in sales. This is far more advanced than anything you’d
see from Clickbank. They also offer a pretty good “Affiliate
Training and Education Center”. This site has all sorts of
resources and ideas on how to be more successful as an
affiliate, including how to set up your own website easily, and
start to drive traffic to it.

One reason these affiliate sales programs are doing so well, is
that Dish Network is currently giving away the equipment. You
get a free dish, free receivers in up to four rooms, free DVR
upgrades, and free HD upgrades. Add to that the fact that the
service is cheaper than cable, and it’s pretty easy to get
people to make the switch. Satellite service from the likes of
DirecTV and Dish Network has been steadily gaining on cable for
the last several years now.

Once you’ve signed up, the question is how to get your affiliate
links out there for people to click. The easiest way would be
using Google AdWords. The problem with that, as you may have
figured out by now, is that it’s going to be expensive. One way
to get around this is to look for lower cost keywords that might
still grab interested visitors. Try some common misspellings.
“Dsih Network” and “Free Dsih” will be much cheaper, but you may
end up getting some decent traffic anyway. Also try some related
phrases like “satellite comparison”. This will be particularly
helpful if you have a website that has some sort of comparison
on it.

The other easy way to get some links out there is to set up a
blog. See my previous article about how to get set up with your
own blog site.

I think this is a pretty good program. You can’t really lose
anything, and it has potential for big profits if you start
making sales. Sign
up, and let me know how it goes!

THE HO-HUM SUMMER DAYS

>From mid June to about mid September, life on the Internet does
a slow meltdown. The lucky ones escape the screen and get away
on holiday; that is, those who have made reasonable profits for
their Online endeavors. For the rest of us, it means double the
effort for the same, or less, results.

But during these weeks there are some good benefits if you are
in for the long haul; and I hope this includes you. Almost
without exception offers for advertising space goes “on sale”
just to get your business. The “buy-one-get-one-free” pleas are
numerous.

And this is an advantageous time for you to place ads in an
Ezine with over 100,000 subscribers. The rest of the year these
high-end publications are generally beyond our budget. Generally
they have “paid” subscribers. And because they “pay” for their
subscriptions, they are more apt to read each issue even on
vacation. Now that’s an audience “on point”, so to speak.

Another advantage to these weeks is the purchase of some opt-in
subscribers to your list. Over the summer months you can work
more closely with your “new signups”, and prepare them to make
money not just for themselves but for you as well.

Of course it should go without saying that all those eBooks you
downloaded and meant to get back to and read — now is the
time. Print them and read every word. This can be your
“schooling” months, and that doesn’t cost one penny more to pick
up something that you didn’t know before. Perhaps you’ll learn a
shortcut or two that makes your Internet Marketing easier.

Further, you might contemplate finally owning your own… what?
Product? Ezine? Website? Article? If you have put this off for a
time when you should give total concentration, now is that time.
It doesn’t mean you have to write an eBook — truthfully, I
have never written one. But I DO have complete resale rights to
several and get 100% of the profits, and you should be doing the
same.

Look for the eBooks with resell rights and read them. If you
find a jaw-dropper, add it to your collection of eBooks with
100% profits going to you. Use the Summer blahs to build your
Library, and make an effort to end those “work-for-me” programs.

I like to quote Marlon Sanders when he says… “Sometimes the most
expensive thing you ever do is nothing. It’s called opportunity
cost. The price of ignorance is missing out on opportunities”.

Next look at reassessing your programs: which ones are paying,
which ones are not? Three good, solid programs are about the
limit for concentrated focus that offers value for your
investment dollar.

Revising your website: have you over-done the bells and
whistles? Would a new “opener” refresh your front page? More
color? Less color? Hey, this is a great time to study other
websites and incorporate what you find, and like, into your own.

Before you know it, Fall will arrive with gusto, and so will the
new Internet entrepreneurs; eager and open to your ideas.

Stay inspired.

C: 2004, by Esther Smith
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