New FREE Article Marketing Series Now Available
ATTENTION: All Article Marketers or anyone interested in Article Marketing….
Your day just got a whole lot better!
The authors at EzineArticles.com have just made available a set of 12 PDFs to provide training in all areas of article marketing, including:
- Article Marketing 101
- Article Syndication
- Article Keywords and Titles
- Article Summary
- Article Do’s and Don’ts
- Article Resource Box
- Creating Great Content
- What Article Publishers Are Looking For
and much more.
ALL FOR FREE!
This is a MUST pick up for anyone interested in using Article Marketing as a source of branding and/or lead generation for their business.
I have used article marketing very successfuly to brand myself as a leader and to drive traffic to my main business website as well as this blog (perhaps you found me in this way!).
Done effectively, article marketing can mean serious results!
Check out this post in the EzineArticle.com Blog.
Happy Writing.
6 Free Keyword Research Tools That Will Blow Your Mind (And Not Your Budget)!
The one skill that EVERY SUCCESSFUL NETWORK MARKETER has mastered?
KEYWORD RESEARCH
Keyword research allows one to find niches, determine competition, and define the demand of the consumer. There are people that make a living by doing keyword research for others. There are those that are SO good at it (Howie Schwartz, among others) that they can basically name the price for their services.
I’m not going to talk about HOW to do keyword research in this post. There are volumes already published on the subject.
Simply go to Google and type in “keyword research” and you’ll get over 47 MILLION hits. There’s not much more that I can add.
But what about the TOOLS to perform keyword research?
Again this is a huge market, and there are a multitude of tools to choose from. Some cost very little. Some are rather expensive. All have their attributes and their shortcomings. And some…. are FREE.
Free keyword research tools are my favorite, as they are what I used when I first started out. And, truth be told, the average network marketer will do just fine by JUST using the free tools.
Below, I have listed my 6 Favorite Keyword Research Tools… and they are all FREE.
Enjoy.
TOOL #1: Google Suggest
Google Suggest is a Google search feature that automatically suggests search phrases as you are typing your query. The green number next to each suggested query represents the approximate number of results that would return if you select the query. I use this tool when first starting the keyword research process, as it gives me some ideas about various search phrases and the relative popularity (i.e. volume) and competition.
TOOL #2: Google Adwords Free Keyword Tool
The Google Adwords Free Keyword Tool should be a staple in every networkers toolbox. Designed to give advertisers more keyword ideas for their Google Adwords campaigns, this tool can be used by any marketer, whether or not they advertise on Google. Simply put in your main keyword or phrase (hint: start broad and narrow your focus in later searches) and hit “Get Keyword Ideas” button, and you’re off and running.
When your results are posted (within a few seconds), you will find listed your main keyword or phrase, followed by a typically long list of variations. For each keyword or phrase on the list, the Google Adwords Free Keyword Tool provides information on Global Monthly Search Volume, Local Search Volume for the Prior Month, and Advertiser Competition. You can also find the Estimated Cost-per-Click (CPC) needed to attain a certain ad position, Search Volume Trends for the past year (in graphic form), and the month of the year in which the highest search volume was hit (HINT: To see these later columns, go to the drop down menu under Choose Columns to Display and select “ALL”).
And it gets better. This tool allows you to click an “ADD” button to add the keyword or keyword phrase to a list, which can then be exported in a .csv file to Microsoft Excel or your favorite spreadsheet, or a text file to download to a text editor.
Want more? You can also choose to search for your keyword term as a Broad match, Phrase Match, or Exact Match. And it you want to develop a Negative List for your keyword, you can simply select this feature, as well.
I think you’ll agree that this is one POWERFUL tool, and it’s one of my favorites.
TOOL #3: Google Insights for Search
Another terrific free keyword tool offered by Google, Google Insights for Search allows you to compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties. Simply type in your search term, filter by time (years) or location (Worldwide, US, specific region, etc.), and hit Search.
Google Insights provides you with the most often searched terms or phrases during the time you have designated. For example, if I wanted to know the search volume of the keyword phrase “Home Business” during the years 2004-present in the US, the results would look like this:
Top searches |
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New!
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Rising searches |
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Very cool. Not only do I see the Top Searches for this keyword phrase, but Google Insights also provide the Rising Searches, those phrases that have been “breaking out” in terms of volume from one month previous to the current month.
This is especially powerful if you are looking to drive more traffic.
TOOL #4: NicheBot Classic
This keyword tool, powered by Wordtracker, allows you to type in a keyword phrase and obtain the top 50 most popular keyword listings. I use this tool to supplement the free Google tools, as many of these tools pull their listings from different sources and yield slightly different results. This is another way to supplement your keyword list and make it more complete.
This tool is also very useful in that in provides information across the various search engines. When I type in “home business”, I get a list of keyword phrases, and their relative search volume in Google, Yahoo, and MSN. I can also check out the competition by clicking on the link to these search engines provided in the table, which will show me the top PPC and organic listings for that particular phrase.
These features make the NicheBot Classic Free Keyword tool very powerful.
Tool #5: Wordpot Keyword Finder
There is a paid and free version of this site, but I’ve found the free version to be more than enough in terms of relevant keyword information. Simply sign up for a free account and you’re good to go.
Once you’ve entered your keyword phrase, the Free Wordpot Keyword tool will provide you with a list of the 50 top results, giving the total number of times any variation of the keyword phrase was searched, and the number of times your keyword phrase was searched EXACTLY. This is useful information when determining whether or not to include a keyword phrase in your list.
TOOL #6: Keyword Spy PRO
Again, there is a free and paid version of this tool, and I have used both. The Free Version of KW SpyPRO provides you with a ton of relevant information about the competition for a specific keyword or phrase. When I type in “Home Business”, I am provided basic information regarding average cost per click, daily volume, and the number of advertisers using this keyword phrase (i.e. your competitors):
Keyword Statistics  |
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| Cost/Click: | $3.07 |
| Clicks/Day: | 1,904 |
| Cost/Day: | $5,905 |
| #Advertisers: | 149 |
| Search Results: | 2,147,483,647 |
In addition, KWSpyPRO provides the Top 5 Paid Competitors and Top 5 Organic Listing Competitors for this keyword, their URL, number of keywords used, daily budget estimation, and their actual ads they use to drive traffic.
And all of this for FREE.
Although you can get even more information using the paid versions of some of these sites, and their are some excellent PAY KEYWORD TOOLS that I use and strongly recommend, network marketers on a tight budget can perform their keyword research just as easily and almost as completely with these FREE KEYWORD TOOLS.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly.
To your success!
5 Essential Strategies For Growing Your Home-Based Business Part Time
Hi Everyone,
The following is an article I recently wrote regarding the special challenges that those working their home businesses part time are faced with.
Thought you might enjoy it. Read below….
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We’ve all heard the feel good stories of people who quit their job soon after starting a home-based business to work full time from home. While this should be the goal of all home business owners, the reality is that most people need to continue working at a full time job, at least for a while. This means growing your business part time, a scenario that can often present a very different set of challenges.
There are specific strategies you can use to make sure you invest sufficient time in your home business to reach your goals.
Continue reading this article.
To your success!
Dr. Bob Clarke
Dr. Clarke’s primary business opportunity
We Met Burt Reynolds Driving A Taxi in Lake Tahoe
Well, it wasn’t really Burt Reynolds, but it sure looked like him.
It was, in fact a man named AJ, pictured here with my wife Rosemary, who turned out to be one hell of an interesting character.
I tell my team members all the time how VERY IMPORTANT it is to attend LIVE EVENTS when they are held. I explain the importance of meeting the leaders of the company, rubbing elbows with people just like them who are successful and attaining the very same goals that my new members have set for themselves.
And I tell them they must get to our Marketing Event because of the cutting edge marketing that is taught and the great discounts that are provided to attendees for those that wish to get advanced training.
All of this is true.
But one thing I NEVER considered was this:
When you travel to a Live Event, you get to meet people from all over the country, many of whom have very interesting and inspirational stories. This was AJ.
We had about an hour cab ride from Tahoe to the Reno International Airport. We were still on a high from attending the CC PRO Marketing Event from the day before, and were eager for conversation. In the cab, Rosemary and I were talking about the event, the atmosphere, the new marketing strategies we had learned, and the great parties we had attended after the event.
Our cab driver seemed very interested in what we were saying, and asked us about our company and our business. It turns out that our cab driver, AJ was not just a cab driver. No, AJ had a very interesting story, and the attitudes and beliefs of an entrepreneur.
AJ told us he had been a stuntman in the movies and TV for many years before retiring before the age of 40. Of course, we asked him what he had been in, and he rattled off such movies as Smoky and the Bandit I and II and The Spy who Loved Me. His TV show credits included Bonanza, Rawhide, The Six Million Dollar Man, and many others.
He told us that he looked so much like Burt Reynolds that he served as his double in many of his movies. Even though AJ was much older than in his working days, we could definitely see the resemblance (in fact, Burt hasn’t aged that well, either!)
His most famous stunt? He told us it would have to be skiing at breakneck speed down the mountain being chased by villains in the James Bond classic, The Spy Who Loved Me. You know the one — he flies down the mountain, chased to the edge of a cliff, only to fly off the cliff, open his parachute, and descend safety below, and skis safety away. For James Bond lovers, it’s a very famous opening scene.
But it wasn’t just his stories that amazed us. We soon found out that AJ was a clever entrepreneur who, having invested his wealth early on in real estate, had been able to retire at a very young age. He continued his real estate investments after retirement, never wanting to work for someone else.
Imagine a young 22 year old getting large sums of money for performing stunts, having the foresight and strength to invest that money rather than blowing it all on material things. Most young kids at that age would be spending it faster than they could make it.
The reason for this story? Be open at all times for stories and experiences that can inspire you to new heights, and the can remind you that you, as an entrepreneur are on the right path to freedom and success in your life.
You never know where you might find it… even in a taxi cab in the middle of Nevada being driven by a Burt Reynolds look-alike.
To your success!
Do You Have What It Takes To Succeed In Network Marketing?
Congratulations! You started a home business, and you are officially a Network Marketer.
Now the question is, do you have what it takes to succeed?
From my experience, I believe that your ultimate success will come down to what I call the 3 P’s:
Patience, Persistence, and Positioning.
- Patience — when everyone first starts their new home business, visions of dollars flowing into their back account cloud what is truly the reality of any business, from the internet to brick and mortar: success in any business is seen over time. You might be surprised how many people start in network marketing all gung-go, ready to light their business on fire, only to quit within a few months. They failed to understand that success requires patience while the components of your business are being put into place: your mindset, your marketing and your mission (Hint: Go watch your Inside Out DVD again until you get this).
- Persistence – your business will not thrive without constant attention, taking action regularly to start seeing the results you want to see. Another word for this might be consistency. Consistent effort is a key to the success of your business. Being persistent means moving forward ESPECIALLY when things are NOT going so well. Persist in your marketing. Persist in your personal development. Persist in gaining the knowledge to become valuable to your prospects.
- Positioning — you will never reach your ultimate level of success in your business until you are positioned so that you are not leaving money on the table. For those in Carbon Copy PRO, that means positioning yourself at the M3 level. I know, most of you are saying that $20,000 is way too much to even consider. You just don’t have that kind of money. Fine, I can accept that. But what is your plan? How do you plan to get to this level? You need to have a realistic plan to get to the M1, M2, and M3 levels BEFORE you lose patience that you are not seeing the results you imagined.
That’s it….. Patience, Persistence, and Positioning. The 3 Pillars to Success for your New Business.
Be Patient in Your Expectations
Be Persistent in Your Efforts
Get Positioning to Maximize your Income
When you’ve solved these, you will become your company’s next star and leader!
To your success!
Global Internet Business Coach and Mentor
Is Your Mission Statement Holding You Back?
Every business, from the largest corporations to the smallest work-at-home business needs a Mission Statement. In other words,
Why Are You Doing What You’re Doing?
For what reason? What do you want to get out of your business venture?
When most people sit down and think about it, they start thinking about what THEY want out of their business.
A new car.
A Caribbean vacation.
A boat or new house.
Fire their boss. Freedom. Wealth.
But wait….
THIS IS A CRITICAL MISTAKE!
Now you’re probably saying something like, “What’s wrong with that?”
Nothing, and EVERYTHING.
Let me ask you a question. If I approached you to join my terrific business opportunity, and you asked me this very simple question…. “Why should I join you?”
How do you think you’d react if I responded,
“You should join my team because I want a new car, a new boat, a vacation, financial freedom.”
I’m sure you’d say, “Who give a s’&t!!”
And you’d be absolutely right.
People want to join a business, or buy a product, because there is some benefit to THEM, not the seller or the business owner.
And the sooner the business owner understands that, the better.
If your Mission is solely SELF DRIVEN, this will come across to your prospect and you will repel them.
However, if your Mission is to benefit others, then your prospect will be attracted.
Rosemary and I have a Mission Statement for our business. Here it is:
Our Mission Statement is to help as many people as possible live the life they desire.
NOTICE – There is….
No “US”
No “WE”
No “I” in our Mission Statement.
There is no room for these words in your mission statement.
It needs to be all about what’s best for your customer.
To your success!
Global Business Coach and Marketing Strategist
How Much Are You Worth?
Today, I was listening to a DVD by one of my favorite personal development gurus, Jim Rohn talking about value. He asked the question, “How much are YOU worth?’
Why do some people get paid $8 an hour, while others are given millions to perform their job? It has everything to do with value.
The amount of money you make is directly related to your
VALUE IN THE MARKETPLACE
People make minimum wage at a job because they don’t have much value to the market. I’m talking economic value only here. A person may be extremely valuable to society in other ways, as a parent, a son or daughter, or a church member, for example. But when talking about value to the marketplace, I am specifically talking about the skills you bring to the table.
On the other hand, a CEO who is bringing in BILLIONS of dollars to his company is paid MILLIONS per year.
Why? because of his value to the company.
That’s why I have always been adamant about EDUCATION AND TRAINING. There’s not better way I know of to increase your value to the marketplace.
Take the example of Network Marketing.
You have just started your Network Marketing business, having never done anything like it beforehand. Flash forward 3-6 months down the road, and you still haven’t made any money.
You haven’t made any money because your value to the marketplace is still very low.
Let me ask you this.
During those 3-6 months, what have you learned? What training have you received?
Here is what my wife and I did in our first 3 months after we started our Network Marketing home business.
We signed up for specialized training in Pay Per Click advertising. Then we signed up for specialized training in Social Marketing. We bought and read as many books as we could get our hands on. We purchased CDs and listened to them in our car on the way to work. We purchased DVDs and watched them over and over instead of watching TV.
In other words, we improved our knowledge 100 fold, and in the process we increased our value to the marketplace.
When we first sponsored someone in our business (and there were very few at first), we didn’t know much and had little more to offer our new members other than the training the company offered.
But now, months later and several training courses later, we can COACH our team with a high degree of certainty that we can help them make money in their business FASTER than we made money with ours.
Why? Because we know more.
And because we know more, we have attracted more new members to our team. Along with this has come a corresponding spike in our income. It’s been very obvious to us what has happened.
WE INCREASED OUR VALUE TO THE MARKETPLACE
And now? Now we have people calling us to join our team.
How has our life changed? Not much, because we are still on a mission to INCREASE our value to the marketplace.
We recently signed up for one on one training with some of the very top leaders in our industry, to learn the hidden secrets that only the most successful network marketers know.
Why would we do this if we are already making some serious money online?
Because we know that as our knowledge and value to the marketplace increases, so will our income.
To your success!
This is the business and the automated marketing system that I chose above all others
Starting a Home Based Internet Business — How Will I Do My Marketing?
There are 3 keys to finding a home based Internet business that’s right for you. The first, covered here previously, is to find the right products to sell. There’s no easy way to find this out except to do your market research.
The second key to finding a home based Internet business is finding a company that includes a marketing system that is automated to a great extent, is duplicatable, and supplies enough training to allow you to learn different marketing methods in a reasonable time.
Here are 3 must have features for any marketing system:
The Marketing System Must Include Automation
Most people just getting into Internet marketing greatly underestimate just how many new skills they will need in order to become successful on the Internet.
This non-inclusive list includes:
- how to market online and offline
- how to develop a website so that your leads will have some place to go to hear about your offer
- how to write a compelling story so that your leads are compelled to buy (this skill is called copy writing)
- how to talk to people who are interested
- how to close your sale
- how to develop a way to keep in touch with people who are undecided (usually through autoresponder emails)
And many, many more. Now you see why I said its important to find a company to work with that has as many of these skills automated and done for you. These systems are generally called Automated Marketing Systems, and there are a few out there that are quite good. Google it and seek them out when looking for an online opportunity.
The Marketing System Must Be Duplicatable
If you can’t copy what others are doing and get success fairly quickly, you’ll be out of money and out of business before you know what hit you. You have to seek out business opportunities where people can PLUG IN to the marketing system and duplicate their success.
In the opportunity I have chosen, we have marketing system averages for sales and profits. As long as you continue to drive leads to the marketing funnel (via your marketing), you are almost guaranteed to hit these company averages, resulting in sales AND profits.
That’s because the system is EASY TO DUPLICATE, a must have feature when considering any new home business opportunity.
The Marketing System Must Include ADEQUATE TRAINING
This is a big one, and non-negotiable. If there is not enough training, there will be no way for you to learn how to market to take advantage of the automated system. And I’m not talking about the rah-rah, have a bigger why kind of training. I’m talking meat and potatoes here guys, the kind of training that tells you how to market and shows you how to get it done.
Anything else is unacceptable. Be sure to ask about a company’s training before signing up. Ask how many training calls there are each week, and what the topics of these calls are. Ask if individualized training is possible at no cost (it should be). Don’t neglect this one — it will come back to haunt you BIG TIME.
Next time we’ll talk about the 3rd key to finding the right home based Internet business for you: Compensation.
I wish you all success and prosperity,
Dr. Clarke’s primary business opportunity
Jay Kubassek’s Simple Secret To Success in Network Marketing
I just came across this video from a great friend and hugely successful network marketer that I want to share with you.
Jay Kubassek is the CEO of the company I chose for my primary income source on the Internet, but his wise words apply to all network marketers in any opportunity.
Truer words have never been spoken. It’s a problem we all face daily and one that needs to be overcome if you want to be successful.
Enjoy folks.
Have a great and productive day!
Bob’s Primary Income Opportunity
Starting a Home Based Internet Business — Which Products Should I Market?
Congratulations! You’ve decided to make starting a home based internet business a priority in your life. It may be one of the best decisions you’ll ever make in your life.
Or it could be one of the worst. It depends on how well you do your homework.
Over the next week, I will be outlining and discussing the most important questions to ask BEFORE taking the internet marketing plunge. Because if you don’t get it right in the beginning, you could be in for a bucket load of frustration and misery.
Worse, the experience may cause you to think that ALL internet marketing businesses are the same.
Believe me, they’re not.
The first questions to ask yourself regards WHAT you want to market?
FIRST QUESTION: Do you want to market your OWN products or get paid to market someone else’s?
Answer: Unless you are prepared for the financial outlay involved with creating, testing, producing, and keeping an inventory of your own product, I STRONGLY advise you to market other people’s products.
How does this work? Typically, you advertise and market someone else’s products and get a percentage of the purchase price when someone buys from you. This is a typical MLM model, but can also be found in direct sales and informational marketing. Sometimes this is called Affiliate Marketing.
It’s a great deal, done right. I mean, no inventory, no stocking, no merchant accounts, no worrying about guarantees. All this is typically done by the company that owns the products. You sole responsibility is to market the products.
NEXT QUESTION: What products should you market?
There are a couple of factors to take into consideration. First and foremost, the products you sell should be products that resonate with you, products that you believe in, and preferably products that you use on a routine basis. Your customers will smell it from mile away if you are not 100% sold on your own products, and you’ll repel people like rotten fish on a hot summer day.
What else should you consider? Consider the product saturation in the marketplace. Are you looking to sell products where the market is so saturated that it will be near impossible for you to get your foot in the door. One example is vitamins. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of companies that market vitamins, nutritional supplements, lotions and potions. I should know, I used to market them.
There were 2 problems with it. First, it was hard to convince potential customers that your vitamins or supplements were that much better than your competitors, so we ended up selling the vitamins at deep discounts to gain customers. The result was NEGATIVE CASH FLOW, a huge problem with low cost, saturated products.
The other problem is the low cost of most of these types of products. Low cost equals low commissions (which typically only run as high as 20% of retail. It’s hard to make alot of money when you are only making $10-25 dollars per sale, especially when trying to compete again hundreds selling the same thing.
I typically only get involved in opportunities that offer high end direct sales, where commissions start at $1000 and go as high as $7500 PER SALE. It’s the only way to make money quickly in an internet business, and when you’re just starting out, CASH flow is a major concern for most people.
Next time I will continue to discuss the very important questions you MUST ask yourself before you consider starting a home based internet business.
To your success!
See which direct sales opportunity Dr. Clarke chose above all others
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