Blogs have become very popular, and they becoming even more popular than a formal website.  A blog is a great way for a person to get their ideas, opinion or even business online without a lot of hassle. There are many reasons why a person would choose to blog over creating a website.  

1. Easy to use

Blogs are simple and easy to use. You will not need to be a computer geek to understand how to create a blog.  They can be accessed quickly and any changes can be made really easily. If you compare this to how hard it is to access a website and changing all that confusing HTML, you can see why blogs have been so popular. 

2. Change

You are able to change your blog quickly without the hassle a website may give you. You can make your changes in your blogs in seconds compared to the hours that it can take to update your website. When you are updating on a daily basis, this is a great reason to use a blog versus a website. 

3. Delivery

The information you post on a blog can be delivered quickly compared to the hours it would take using a website. Once you get the hang of it you can update your blog and have the information out to your readers in no time because the search engines pick up the new information quickly. With a website it can take hours or even days for the search engines to update your new information.

4. Organization

When you add new information to your blog there is less headache involved in the development stages. When you are organizing your site, it does not have to be perfect as the software will come behind you and organize it for you. With a website you have to organize all the different information yourself and anyone who has developed a website knows this can be very confusing and time consuming. 

5. Communication

It is easy for your reader to post any comments or questions on your blog. These comments are an important way to stay in contact with your business clients, friends, or even followers. With a website you will not have this option. 

6. Cost

Most generally blogs are free to the user so the most cost to you is your time. Blogs are a great way for a company to save on advertising costs because on a blog they can advertise for free. Again with a website they do not usually have this option. 

7. Search Engines

Search engines love blogs. They are so keyword rich that the web crawlers will attach themselves right away. With a website it takes time to create keywords that search engines will love.

These are just a few reasons why blogs have become so popular over websites. For further information blogs and to grab some really valuable blogging tools, go to the Resources section.

Most people try to tackle a HUGE project or idea and they get so overwhelmed that they never even begin. Or, they keep putting things off for one reason or another. Are you one of these people? Don’t let these MINOR dilemmas stop you from realizing your true potential! 

Success in life is nothing more than a series of small wins.  However most people try to tackle a HUGE project or idea and they get so overwhelmed that they never even begin. Trying to tackle the whole project all at once instead of breaking it down into bite size pieces will get you irritated, overwhelmed and disheartened. 

I know, I have this problem. In my case I get loads of what I believe are great ideas but it takes far too long to implement them, and this takes time. The answer, I decided, was to stop generating new ideas and start implementing the ones I had! 

Talk about a wake up call!!

Generating ideas was my form of procrastination.  That was a “light bulb moment”.  I wasn’t getting any of my ideas completed because every time I came across an obstacle I would stop what I was doing and start brainstorming on something completely different and unrelated. 

Can you relate to that?  So, let me ask you a question…  What form of procrastination is preventing you from getting your projects completed? 

You can’t make money until you launch your projects! Completed projects can do wonders for you and your business because they build momentum. 

You can’t build a snowman until you create a snowball and get it rolling.  The same principle applies to your information marketing business.  You can’t make $1,000,000 until you make $100,000.  Similarly you can’t make $100,000 until you make $10,000 and you can’t make $10,000 until you make $1,000. 

So often we are trying to go for the million right out of the gates and we get disappointed and frustrated when it doesn’t happen. 

The moral of this story … 

Just get your projects completed and available for someone to buy!!

A friend of mine who has known me for many years, came to visit and asked me a powerful question I really had to stop and think about. As we were up late one night talking, he asked me, “What is the biggest lesson you have learned in this whole process of bringing forth your vision?” I sat there and thought about it for a moment because there have been so many powerful lessons and insights I have gained, but the one that stands out above the rest has been learning that my self-worth is not my net-worth. 

The challenges you encounter along the way are in direct proportion to the benefits you gain from the outcome. I have had serious financial challenges as a part of my journey. I have always known that there was a large financial bounty for me and this has kept me holding on during the lean times. If I believed that my net-worth was my self-worth, I would have stopped in my first year as so many start-up businesses do. Did you know that the test of lean financial times is a common thread that weaves through the tapestry of most of the greatest success stories? 

I have been studying prosperity and abundance for many years and early on in my readings, I remember a book about creating abundance and the author said, “You will know you are ready for wealth and abundance when your emotions are not attached to your money.” Wow! At the time that seemed like a misprint or an impossibility. At the time, I just couldn’t understand how someone could be in a place where their emotions are the same regardless of their checking account balance. The two were directly related in my mind. 

Now, I fully understand what the author was talking about. In order to be ready for financial abundance, you must be in a place that you are the same no matter what your bank account balance says. Whether your balance is overdrawn by $25 or you have a balance of $25,000,000, you need to be consistent and unchanged. Read this one again, because it is so important as you make the moves to live your vision. Can you be the same no matter how much money you have or do you get excited and happier the closer it gets to payday? Do you feel secure when you have money in your wallet and insecure when you don’t? Do you feel like more of a person with money than you do when you don’t have it? 

People usually treat people with money very differently than people without money, so it can be a challenge to truly live this understanding. You have really got to “get” this. Your self-worth is NOT your net-worth. You are who you are no matter how much money you have, what kind of car you drive, or what restaurants you can afford to eat out at. Your level of self-esteem is not dependent on the amount of cash in your wallet or the balance in your checking or savings account. 

Learning how to be consistent and truly understand that I am an incredible person called to do great things in this world and walk in that at all times has been my greatest lesson. Yes, at the beginning a low balance in my bank account would incite panic and could even drive me to tears, but now it doesn’t move me one way or the other. I know what is coming, and I just have to keep the faith and believe in my own ability to succeed. 

Here’s the magic… Once you understand that your self-worth is not your net-worth and you detach your emotions from your money, you then move to the next level of understanding – your net-worth is a natural result of your self-worth. As your self-worth increases, you will be comfortable sharing your work out to more and more people and a natural result will be financial wealth. The great news is that by the time you get to that point, you will be completely detached from the money and it will be free to  do what you want it to do – multiply.

Forum marketing is a popular way for you to promote your product or idea. Also when you are promoting on a forum, it can be a great way to generate traffic to your site. Once they visit your site, you can then give them more information on your product or idea. It is important to understand forum marketing especially establishing relationships before you begin posting on any forums. So if you are looking at a forum to promote your site, be sure how to begin before you do. 

A forum is a type of community like a neighbourhood of sorts with the other posters being your neighbour. If you think of them in this matter, it will help you establish a relationship with them better. They use the forum boards as a way of coming together to discuss a certain topic or problem. You can use forums to get information, ask questions, make friends, and also promoting yourself and your business. You never want to just start a forum and begin promoting your business right away this will just drive your potential customers the other direction. Before you begin to promote your product, you need too first establish yourself in the forum. There are usually three basic ways for you to go about this. 

1. Register

You need to register yourself in the forum of your choice.  You should avoid making your signature line right away till you have better promoted yourself. After you have registered, you need to create a profile about yourself. This should be a good explanation about you as well as the business that you operate. Now that you have registered and set your profile take a few days to look around the forum before you post. Read other neighbours posts and get a feel for their ideas and concerns. This is also a great time to get yourself acquainted with the rules of that particular forum. 

2. Posting

When you feel you are ready begin posting on the forum but be sure you take it slow and easy. Start out by answering other neighbours’ questions and concerns. Do not by any means start your posting by immediately promoting your business. This can turn your neighbours away and can also get you banned from the forum for spamming.  Remember you want people to notice you not ignore you. 

3. Reputation

Starting with your very first post, you can begin to earn your reputation as an expert on the topic at hand. In order to do this you need to be sure to help other people with their issues and answer their questions to the best of your knowledge. The more respect you earn in the forum the more clicks you will get on your website. There are several different ways that you can use to build your reputation on a forum. The first and most important thing you should though is introducing yourself. Tell your fellow neighbours a little about yourself but you do not need to go into great detail. When you post your questions try avoiding ones that someone can find on a search engine with little or no trouble. Be thoughtful in your questions and take time in formatting them in the correct way. When you are answering a question, be sure that you research your answer before you post it so that you will not gain an unreliable reputation. 

Once you have established yourself in the forum, which can take up to a few weeks you can create your signature line and introduce it slowly. Reputation is everything when you are using a forum marketing approach. The better reputation that you have the better results you will have on your posts. 

Whether you’re just getting started or an experienced forum marketer we’d love to hear from you on the MasterKey Club Forum.

Matt Callen has decided to reveal an incredibly powerful tool of his for doing just that. To be quite honest, I’ve never seen anything like this.

You can, in a sense, be a fly on the wall behind your visitor! There’s a revolutionary new tool that anyone can use (and it’s free) that allows you to record every mouse movement, click, and action that your visitors perform on YOUR websites. So basically, you can look into your visitors’ mind, see learn why they bought from you… OR even why they decided to leave your page.

It’s one of the most brilliant services… it’s one of those things that “I wish I had thought of first!”

Anyway, anyone can implement it no matter what type of website or niche market they’ve got.

http://keyurl.net/go/visitorspy/

Matt has spent a good majority of his online time researching and developing new ways to test, track, and increase sales on his sites. And it’s proven to be one of the most influential reasons for his success online.

The higher the conversions, the more leads, signups, and sales he gets. It’s that simple.

With this new tool, you can record and see EXACTLY what your visitors are doing on YOUR site, and then you can quickly and easily learn from their actions to adjust your marketing techniques.

You can’t get any more in-depth tracking than this, I can guarantee you that. It’s like watching over your visitors’ shoulder while they’re on your site.

Check it out for yourself (it’s free):

http://keyurl.net/go/visitorspy/

I’ve been told that they’ll be closing the doors on this free offer in the very near future since this is the new launch. I’m telling all of my subscribers about this, so when I say head over there NOW… I really mean it. :-)

http://keyurl.net/go/visitorspy/

Take advantage of this one as soon as you can! I know the seats will go fast!

My father ran one of the biggest businesses in his town, and when he’d spy one of his men dithering over what to do next, he’d simply say, “Son, you can’t do everything first.” And neither can you or I. If all your options are good, then it doesn’t really matter which one you choose first. Throw a dart if you have to, but move. Make a decision. Get yourself into motion. 

Recently, I was reading an interview with Paul Hartunian, the master of free publicity, who successfully juggles several very different careers. Paul commented: 

“People don’t act because a lot of things are in front of them. I’ve gone to lots of seminars where there was so much information you were on information overload. The vast majority of people then froze; they wound up doing nothing. All this information and all these experts were right there, willing to help the seminar participants do what they want to do, accomplish what they want to accomplish.” 

They may have been given lots of great products to sell; they were given SO MANY options in that one day that they froze. 

Paul’s point was that when we’re confronted by too many possibilities, we can freeze up. 

Trying to decide which of 15 or 20 options to pursue can be frustrating, especially if all of them appear to be good choices. 

My father used to say, “A dog that chases two rabbits won’t catch either one.” He’d pause for a second, then add, “And he’ll go hungry tonight.” He was trying to get me to realize how important it is to just pick one thing and do it. 

Let’s take an example that we often see here on the Internet. How many eBooks have you bought within the last six months? Of that number, how many of them tell you how to do marketing or to make money online? 

If a book is any good, you’ll be impressed; you’ll say, “Yeah, I can do this.” But then, after a few days, you’ll read another really great sales letter, you’ll feel that you really, really need the knowledge in this new offering. Then you’ll buy yet another eBook, and you’ll again be impressed: “Yeah, I can REALLY do THIS.’ 

This cycle is being repeated over and over every day all around the Internet. 

This may have happened to you. I’ve done it. Lots of people have. 

So there you sit with perhaps dozens of books, all good, dozens or even hundreds of affiliate offerings, some excellent, and page after page of website ideas, all interesting. 

In fact, you’ve got so many options that you may not know what to do first. 

For many people, getting into motion means you’ll be stepping into unfamiliar territory, doing things you’ve never done before. So what? At least it’s interesting and exciting. But never terrifying. 

If you think starting your very first business is terrifying, you need to think again. 

Wrestling a grizzly bear is terrifying. Falling from an airplane without a parachute is terrifying. 

But starting a business? Nah… that’s not scary; it’s just unfamiliar. 

And right there we have the main reason most people lock up when they face a long list of options. It’s unfamiliar ground, so they think they don’t know how to choose. They do, but they THINK they don’t. 

Here’s a strategy for taking the terror out of decision-making. Take that long list of options. Say there are 15 items on it, and you’ve never done any of them before. 

Once you’ve examined all the items on the list, do this: Decide if all the items are REALLY about equal. If there are any that clearly don’t measure up, cross those off. You’ll still be left with lots of choices. 

Let’s say you’re left with only 10 items on your list. 

Take out a new sheet of paper. 

Write item number one on it, the first item from your original list. 

Okay, that’s it. That’s your new list of options – just one item. 

We’ve already agreed that all the choices are more or less equal. 

So now you’ve got your action agenda. One item. No more indecision. 

Now just go do it. 

And those other 9 items? They’ll be there waiting when you get done with the first task. 

See how easy decision-making can be?

You’ve started or are looking to start a home business and you don’t know how to talk to others so you can move your business forward. 

You have a wonderful home business and you want to tell everyone.  You have people that are interested.  You want to call them.  You don’t want to sound like a salesperson.  You want to give them all the information. 

1. Ask “How are you?” 

This way you start small talk and try to make them feel as ease.  Ask about the weather?  Just to make you sound like a person not a salesperson. 

2. Ask “Are you still interested in …….?” 

Make sure they are still interested in listening to what you have.  You don’t want to start out giving information if they are not interested.  If they do say they are not interested ask Why?  Sometimes it is just not a good time to chat. Find out when would be a good time.  Or they have found something else so ask what is it? 

3. Can I ask you a few questions? 

You want to ask their permission to move on.  You want to let them know you have questions pertaining to what you have.  

4. Why do you want to work from home? 

You want to know what is the reason they want to work at home.  Money, family, time.  These are the reasons they want to work at home.  

5. How much do you want to earn?  Part-time or full-time, replacement income? 

This will give you a gauge on how important it is for them to earn extra money.  It will also help you, when they start the business, to determine what they would need to do to make that extra money.  

These questions are simple and easy to answer.  They help both the business person and the prospect.  After you get the answers to these 5 questions, then go into your business and what you do.  

Now that you know what to say you can get your business moving forward and start helping others.  Make it fun and if you make a mistake, don’t worry about it.  We are only human.

When you are a new website owner and you are looking at forum marketing it can be difficult to find a proper lead generating forum. This is especially true if you happen to be looking for a specific niche that you can tap into by using forum marketing. The first thing you must do before you find any of these niche sites you need to realize that forum marketing is a skill that must be learned how to be done. If you start out by spamming the boards you will be instantly banned from the forum. There are certain strategies that you need to learn before you even begin to practice forum marketing. After you have achieved this there are 5 common forums that business owners are finding useful in their forum marketing campaign. 

1. Conquer Your Niche

This is one of the more popular forum marketing sites. The creator of this site is Russell Brunson who is one of the top internet marketers. Russell’s forum has been at the top of the charts for several years now.  One of the greatest benefits of this forum is that it has a referral program as well as an ad rotation. What this basically means is that you will get paid while you are surfing and interacting on the forum. So not only will you get paid for the clicks you will receive from your signature line but you will also get paid for posting. This is a great way to earn a double income. 

2. Warrior Forum

This forum is one of the biggest online for forum marketing. You will find home based workers from all over the world located on this forum.  This forum also has a built in ad program that you can use to promote your product. 

3. Better Networker

This forum was created by Mike Dillard who is one of the best internet marketers and has been for the past 5 years. His forum is growing daily with several home based business owners joining. This site provides the business owner with a homey and friendly atmosphere which puts them more at ease than just about any other site that is out there. 

4. Rich Dad

This site is dominated by real-estate workers, entrepreneurs and other business owners among others. This forum is mainly filled though with people who have bought one of Robert Kiyosaki’s books. 

5. Work At Home Forum

This is the one forum that first appears on the search engines. It has work at home businesses from all over the world as members. It is not as popular as the other four but is equally as important. 

There you have it the top 5 forum marketing forums that are available to you. Do not forget to honour the rules of the forum that you choose.

Organizing your home will bring you different benefits than it might for someone else with the same goals, but with completely different outcomes. 

First off, you need to know organizing your home is different for you than it is for someone else. 

Some folks don’t have a lot of clutter and junk but need to know how to maintain organization and have a place for their stuff. 

On the other hand, some homeowners have piles upon piles…a big mess, and still think it’s just a matter of needing storage. 

When, in fact, storage is the last thing you need. The first step is getting rid of clutter, rather than adding more storage just to keep more stuff. 

The thing is, once you start organizing your home, you’ll see how great and real the benefits are: 

-It’s reducing stress by having order and discipline. 

-It’s having more space by keeping clutter out for good. 

-It’s simplifying the way you live (and work?) at home by creating useful systems that work for you personally. 

-It’s a way of being on time, and not feeling the strain of running against the clock. 

Quite simply, when you finally start to make the simple changes of organization, it all adds up to give you more room to breath so you can enjoy your family and friends more. 

Being organized isn’t a matter of being rich or poor, young or old. We were never taught organization in school and, in fact, were taught to multi-task and go in too many directions at once. 

This was how they told us to live. 

Personally, I have always gone against the grain and never worried about keeping things we don’t need.  I make sure if something is not being put to use or it’s out-of-date… it’s getting sold or thrown out. I also utilize smart, affordable storage to keep only useful items.  

The funny thing is I don’t think I was raised to be organized. Nobody knew much about “organization” back then, although I was always a little “neat” as a kid. 

But somewhere along the way I figured out it made the most sense. I like to be on time and being organized makes that possible. I don’t like wasting time looking for things, like tools or ingredients for cooking or paperwork or bills. 

Being organized makes it all a lot easier. 

It’s not going to make you rich, but it will certainly save you money by avoiding duplicate purchases and late bills. 

It’s not going to make you any younger, but it will certainly give you more time to do things you might think you don’t have time to do. 

Being organized isn’t going to give you a bigger house, but it will clear clutter and open up some space so you’ll feel like you have a bigger house because there will be less congestion and “stuff” all over the place.

Having a business plan can save you money as well as give your business a competitive edge. 

I’ve found the best way to make sure a business is going to be successful is to create a business plan. It doesn’t need to be pages long and take you days and days to complete. Below I’ve created a quick 30 Minute Business Plan. 

A good business plan will help you figure out approximately what your business will cost to get off the ground. You don’t want to guess at this. Knowing your costs will help you decide what you’re going to charge. 

The 30 Minute Business Plan below also includes information about your competition. Don’t forget about them. In one way or another they exist and you’re going to want to get to know them. 

The bottom line – most businesses fail because they don’t have a clearly spelt-out business plan. Don’t make that mistake. 

For those of you who have been in business for a while, don’t think a business plan can’t help you. Your business plan should be taken out on a regular basis, reread and updated. 

Your 30 Minute Home Business Plan 

1.         What is your business exactly? Explain in one or two sentences. (If you can’t describe your     business in a couple of sentences, rethink your business and focus your idea). 

2.         Is your particular business needed? List the reasons that make you thinks so. 

3.         Where do you see your business in one year? In three years? In five years? (Be specific.) 

4.         How will you fund your business? Savings, credit cards, loans? 

5.         What equipment/office supplies/licenses will you need to get your business started? Total Cost? 

6.         What organizations and trade publications will you need? Total Cost? 

7.         Who is your target customer? Describe them. 

8.         What other businesses will you be competing with? 

9.         What makes your business different from your competitor’s business? (Include price, quality, unique services, etc.) 

10.        Where will you set up your home office? Is it going to cost me money to make a nice workable office? Cost? 

11.        Will you use daycare everyday or once a week? Cost? 

12.        How much money do you need to make each month to help my family survive? 

Once again, this is just a partial list, but there are enough questions here to give you a good idea of what you’ll be facing with a new business and the costs involved. 

A business plan is essential to your successful home business. As one great quote says, Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.