Saturday, January 19, 2013

Personal Plan for 2013

This morning I woke up and was browsing Pinterest (I'm definitely obsessed!) and had an epiphany. There was a delicious looking recipe that I wanted to try by Cooking Classy - Teriyaki Chicken. I love teriyaki chicken! So I decided to make it for dinner tonight and realized something.

My life is incredibly boring!
Lazy Dog


All I have the energy for is sleeping and working with occasionally social networking in between. What makes my life interesting? What can I tell people that is unique about it? Nothing! I keep saying 'I want to do this' or "Someday I will be better at that', but the truth is the intention to do these things is not going to get me anywhere.

Which all leads me to my New Year's resolutions:

1) Cooking more than grilled cheese - I'm going to dedicate myself, that no matter how little sleep I've had or (soon-to-be) the stacks of work on my desk, I will cook a meal for my family at least once a week trying a new recipe each time.
There are so many to choose Personal Plan from and beautiful webpages dedicated solely to cooking and baking that I should have no trouble (or excuse) finding different recipes to try weekly. 

 


2) Playing the acoustic guitar - I bought one for myself this past year and my parents got me a Personal Planself-learning book so as long as I make the time to teach myself, say maybe two hours or so a week, I believe I can do it.

 









3) Become a healthier version of myself - I purchased gym memberships for myself as a Christmas present and I can't wait to get back to exercising! I've actually been itching to get going again and this is the perfect time to join with all of the holiday discounts offered. This can tie into the cooking resolution in that the meals I plan can be healthyPersonal Plan options. With health being a top priority for all of my family (especially this year) we're all in the right mindset to get this resolution ticked off our lists.

4) Enjoy life more - during the holidays work hours are definitely more intense so it's only been work and sleep for me, but now that they are passed  I want to enjoy living life. I'm going to better my cooking skills. I'm going to work harder on my blog. I'm going to learn all about cameras and become a better photographer. And lastly, I'm going to get in shape and love the way I look and feel.

Personal Plan


 So what's your plan for the "New Year"? 

 ""We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities."" Ralph Waldo Emerson



"And Forward We GO!"
Jody O-

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Small Business, Start 2013 Off Right

Small Business
1. Trying to take care of everything yourself can be harmful to both your well being and your business. With only one person in charge of the whole show, there’s only so far you can scale.However, small business owners are also notorious for having trouble handing over the reigns.

This year, consider tasks that you can delegate down, such as the countless tasks that are easy to do and don’t require specific expertise. If you’re worried about costs, just remember how much of your valuable, revenue-generating time you’ll be freeing up.  Your business can’t grow when you’re focused on busy work.

In addition to delegating down, think about areas of your business that you should delegate up. These are the tasks that require special knowledge and skills and ones not related to the core wheelhouse of your business.

While DIY may seem easier on the wallet in the short term, it’s typically better in the long run to hire a specialist to handle complex issues, such as an accountant for bookkeeping or taxes or an expert for handling your legal paperwork like incorporation.

2. Get Your Books Ready for Tax Time Early This YearSmall Business

Are you guilty of waiting until the last minute to organize and file your taxes? Do you find yourself wading through emails, drawers, and your car to find any stray business receipts you can expense? Do you need to try to remember a full year’s mileage expenses on April 13th?

Don’t wait until April to start on your tax forms this year. Start fresh by organizing your books from day one of the new year and start gathering what you need for your prior year’s taxes now (even if that means outsourcing your accounting or signing up for a new cloud-based application).

3. Protect Your Assets with an LLC or Corporation While legal fine print isn’t the most exciting part of running a business, forming an LLC or Corporation can be critical to your business and personal financial health. These business structures protect your personal assets from any liabilities of the company.

This means that if your business can’t pay its debts or happens to be sued, your own personal property may be shielded from any judgment. In addition, these formal business structures can improve your tax situation and carry other benefits that you may want to discuss with your CPA or tax adviser.

If you’re not quite ready to take the plunge to incorporate, you should at least register your business name with the state. This simple step is known as filing a DBA (Doing Business As or Fictitious Business Name) and it does two things:

  A. It makes sure that you’re legally able to use a business name.
  B. Ensures that no one else can use your business name in your state.

4. Put Your Customer First. As a small business owner, you know you wouldn’t be anywhere if not for your customers. As you move into the new year, put your customers first in all that you do. A small business can stand out in a crowded market by offering impeccable, personal, and customer-centric service.

Treat your customers as people, not numbers or sales figures. Listen to your customer’s needs and bend over backwards to make them happy.

5. Set Aside Time for Yourself. As an entrepreneur, you probably suffer from little separation between your personal and work life. This year, make a point to set aside time for yourself each and every day. Go to the gym, do something you enjoy or just turn off your phone and other devices for a half hour each day.
Small Business
It’s important to recharge your batteries in order to stay focused and motivated throughout the year. A change of scenery can stoke your creativity. Who knows what brilliant plan you’ll dream up when you step outside your daily grind.

Sticking to a goal is tough for anyone. The most important thing is to create realistic ones that make sense for you and your business. What are the goals you’ve set for your business in the new year?


Paulo Coelho“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist



"And Forward We Go!"

Friday, January 4, 2013

Backlinks for Your Blog


 

Blog Backlinks
Everyone knows the importance of " backlinks" for their blog. The main objective behind making backlinks is to get a good page ranking. It is wise to always try to get good "backlinks" for your blog. Good page rank will help in getting more traffic to your site.

Here are the better ways of getting good solid "backlinks" the right way. Also known as White-hat backlinks.

Guest Posting 

This is a good way to make "backlinks" for your blog. Of course this has to worked out with the blog host ahead of time. If you know someone who will allow you to guest post on their site, definitely post a guest post. You would want to be able to use your blog URL some place in your post. Again, it would be a good idea to OK this with whomever blog you are guest posting on. And besides getting yourself "backlinks," I hope your intentions would be to bring your host some value also.

  Hopefully the host blog will have the same niche as you, that would be a big plus. In most cases the host blogs readers will take a look at whats going on at your blog as well. Here's more help with backlinks.

Blog Commenting

This is an easy and fast way to make more "backlinks," and more bloggers are adopting this way to make "backlinks."  Read other blogs in your niche and leave a comment. Pretty simple....Sometimes by reading other blogs you can pick up on some of your short comings and improve upon your writing skills.

 

Social Networking Sites 

Today, there are many social networking sites on the Internet. So you can make "backlinks" to your blog by signing up on social networking sites. Most of these sites are top ranked sites. So getting links from these sites will improve your blogs backlinks to get better SEO page ranking. 

  Forums

Another highly successful way of building links, forum posting requires you to register on a few forums related to your blog and post or start new threads on them. Most forums allow users to use signatures which include links to your blog. The more often you post and reply on the forum, the more backlinks and traffic it leads to. Posting on a few forums a day is a good way to ensure your link building efforts stay on the right track.

And Forward We Go! 





 

Thursday, December 27, 2012


Happy New Year everyone!
It's almost here the first of January. Does everyone have their resolutions ready?

I have mine all ready to go, this year I plan on growing my website and joining more affiliate programs. Which is great but my main focus is going to be on my readers and team members. For this new year of 2013 I will be showing you some great and useful content to help you make the choice of where to start with your marketing business and how to go about setting it up, as well as what to do after you set it up. I'm sure everyone will find it truly helpful.




As always many of my posts will be on my own website which is profitswithjody.com, but don't worry I will also be posting useful information on here.

I am also taking requests at this time, if there is anything you would like me to address this year, maybe a question you have or just about anything, please feel free to ask away. Because honestly without you, I wouldn't be where I am today.

I want 2013 to be our best year ever, and together we can make that happen.

Please everyone have a safe and happy new year this year and I will see you in 2013.

- Jody -

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Subject Lines, How to Make Your Email Subject Lines Work for You

Subject lines are the first, and sometimes only, impression an email makes on a potential client. Mastering this magical one-liner is not easy. The key here is to diversify your email subject line. Any one of the ideas below, if used too frequently, will lose its efficacy.
Here are some examples of how to master that tricky subject line and cause people to want to read your emails.

     1. Compound Topics: I’ve seen this used regularly. The key here is to cram about as many topics, brands, or product names into the subject line as possible, in hopes that something will grab the users attention. In order for this strategy to work, it’s important to still keep the subject line scan able by breaking up the topics. I personally like using the “+” symbol. (“New Nike + Reebok + Adidas Shoes!” vs. “New Nike, Reebok, and Adidas Shoes”)

     2.  Short and Simple: If you can communicate the topic email in 2 words rather than 6, you’ll stand apart from the rest of the inbox clutter. Now this one can be a little difficult because it's very short but whenever you can use this method.

     3. Use Special Characters: I like using special characters in order to change things up a bit and communicate ideas. Below are a couple of suggestions: just enter your product or service and you're all set.
            ______ = Great Gifts
            Huge $avings on _____
            { ______, In-Stock Now }
        ________ @ YourURL.com!

    4.  Question Marks and Exclamation Points: Creative use of Question marks and exclamation points within subject lines can stress urgency or create curiosity in the mind of the subscriber. To create urgency you can write something like " You Have to Check This Out Now!!!!!" or "Why Haven't You Been Doing This All Along???"

      5.  Top 10 Lists: There’s something very attention grabbing about top 10 lists (or top 7, 13, or whatever). People want valuable information in short, scan-able lists so they can read which list point speaks to them. A list delivers value that can’t be achieved by endless paragraphs, even if they contained the same information. Personally I prefer lists more because reading a large paragraph seems to take more time and sometimes when your checking your email you only wanna look through it quickly and be on your way.

     6.  All Caps: Yes I know sometimes all caps does turn people away because they feel it's spam, but I have frequently seen it used by large companies that would probably not be doing it if it was harmful to the delivery rate. However, I do suggest only using all caps on special occasions. In addition,  I don't think the whole subject line should be in all caps. There is something to say about putting one word in all caps compared to putting the whole subject in all caps. “HUGE Sale this Friday Only” vs. “HUGE SALE THIS FRIDAY ONLY” the second seems too aggressive and personally it would turn me off from reading the email at all.

     7.   Use the Magical Word “Free”: This sounds crazy I know, but people react to the word "free". We all love free stuff and we love getting gifts too, so if your subject reads "Proven Way to Generate Leads Free" more people will click on it. On the other hand if you could offer a "free" gift with your product this would entice people even more... "Huge Sale Friday, Free Gift Inside", but you must keep good on your promise of a gift.

     8.    Use the Recipient’s Name: Let’s face it, we love to hear our name. Adding the recipient’s name to the subject line will make them believe the message is personalized for them. I would strongly caution, however, not to use this tactic unless something in the email is personalized for this individual. Simply appending the name to the beginning of a subject line, and not delivering personalized content, isn't right and the person will catch on to this quickly after opening the email.

     9.  Leave them hanging: Subject lines that end with an …  suggest there is a continuation of the topic within the body of the email. An example of this might be “Checkout these new widgets…” or something similar. It drives people crazy to have an unfinished sentence in their mind, it's like when you watch a movie or TV show and the ending says To Be Continued... I get very upset because I want to know!!! It's just how the human mind works, we don't like unanswered questions or ideas.

     10. Make them Witty: If appropriate use witty subject lines that make your readers smile.

     11. Solution Oriented Subject: Rather than using product names in the subject, consider writing from a solution oriented perspective. Some of the people your writing too will not know all the products you are introducing to them and it would come in handy if your subject line told them exactly what the product was for. "Look Ten Years Younger" rather then "New O'lay Lotion"

    12. Don’t Be Gimmicky: If your subject line is “How to Live Forever” and the content of your email is offering a new alternative health supplement, your readers will eventually see through your gimmicks. The subject should be intriguing, but not over-promising.

The key to successful subject lines is a/b testing. Without solid data, there’s no guarantee any of these tips will necessarily improve your open rates. Every subscriber list is different, so it’s essential that you understand what works for your list.

As always, I hope this helped you understand how to create a good subject line for your emails. Be sure to leave comments with any other successful subject line tactics you’ve seen.

If you want to check out more posts like these check out my other website at profitswithjody.com

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Niche Marketing, How to Find Your Niche.

Niche Marketing, How to Find Your Niche

I feel that everyone here knows what a niche is. If you didn’t well…a niche is an area where a living thing is able to survive and thrive. In this case we are all struggling marketers looking to find a way to better our business or create a new one... We need to find a niche that we fit in other then, struggling marketer. Preferably, striving marketers.... right? So to get into a different niche we are going to have to find a niche to market too, which could also be to struggling marketers but only if you have something that works to market to them.
Niche marketing is finding a market where you see that you can market your specific product or service. Some of you may find a market and then a product while others may find a product and then find market, either way is fine.

How do you find your niche in niche marketing?

 Well the answer is a little tricky but I'm sure we can work through this together. First you need to find a place where the knowledge and skills that you already have make it possible to develop a product that is needed if not required. For example a person who was raised in a farming area would most likely find their niche in agriculture instead of fashion design. It also must be a place that you passionate about. You must WANT to get up and work hard on something in order to succeed at it and there is nothing worse then having to wake up and work on something that you don't like.

Another important concept in niche marketing that you need to keep in mind is that it is helpful to find an area where you on top of the competition or you at least have the ability to grow above or around them. 

The laws of supply and demand

 Do we all remember this from high school? This is a very helpful step in finding a niche, you definably want to find a profitable niche to begin with. You need to find an area where the supply is low and the demand is high in order to get the best profit. An example would be  when the latest Iphone came out there were very few of them (supply was low) and everyone couldn't wait to get their hands on one (demand was high).
The beauty of the internet is that it literally gives you instant exposure to every market that there is in the world. This allows you to take advantage of whatever your particular skill is (for example making surf boards), even if your geographical area would otherwise limit you (for example you live in Siberia).

I hope this article helped you understand how to find a niche in marketing. Without a niche it is hard to get anywhere. If you have any ideas that I didn't cover or any other tips for finding a niche please feel free to comment.

For more great posts like this one please check out my website here ---> profitswithjody.com

Thursday, December 13, 2012

5 Reasons To Start A Marketing Blog

Blogging is a concept that started in the late 1990′s.  It used to be a way to leave comments on an existing webpage.  An opportunity for visitors to react or voice out their opinions.  What started as a single sentence comment has evolved into pages of personal opinion on just about anything and everything.  As it we move forward, online advertising has also joined the blog’s potential. Now many people are useing a blog as a "Marketing Blog".

                    Here are 5 reasons why you should use Blog Marketing

Blog Marketing


1. Some Blog space is Free  Because blogging is yet to be proven as a mainstream online advertising vehicle, most sites see it as something to add to current marketing tools and offer it for free. Opportunity for free web time is definitely a bonus ! Especially to any business that is just starting up. However, paid blog pages are strongly recommended. They can generate more income for your growing business.

2. Blogs are genuine.  In this day and age where advertising is everywhere, we tend to be very sceptable of the credibility of advertisements. In blogs, real people talk about their real-life experiences. Reading a blog about a products use is like talking to someone about their personal experience with the product your interested in.  You want to buy a tested product. See the good along with the bad befoe making a purchase.

3. A Blog is Straight Forward.  The easiest way to get your product or service on the net is with blogging.  No special skills are needed…These days the an average adult can read and type, even if only with index finger. It’s like putting your opinions together in a way that makes sense to anyone interested enough to read your thoughts in your blog. If you have a PC and an Internet connection (who doesn’t?) then you can do a Marketing Blog. It can be a product or a service, your choice. You want to try bring out the truth behind your articles and hopefully entice your readers to also try your product.

4. Truthful Blogging builds Your Reputation.  As you get more and more into writing your experiences on a particular product or service, your readers will come to realize that they can depend on your posts for their own informational needs. You will be building trust with your readers. As a consequence, more readers will visit your blog and more bloggers will link to your blogs.  As companies and professional organizations notice the growth of your readership base, they may soon get in touch with you for advertising on your blog page, or make you an affiliate, which pays for every referral generated from your blog site.

5. Blogging builds your market  Unless you are a famous person, chances are only your best friend reads your posts. Your friends has a lot of friends, so he or she lets her friends know how interesting your blog site is.  But you need not depend on friends to increase your reader base.  Look at the many ways to build your market blog through blogging:

-Use your email. Blogging is overcoming email’s popularity in quickly reaching and expanding your market.  In this age of speed and quick access, logging in and downloading email is simply taking longer than clicking into a blog site.  Let your visitors explore your site by using a short email message or teaser to your blog site.  If your email is on a different subject, just use your email signature to give a link to the site.

-By having your readers sign up.  An easy way to get your readers email address is to give them an opportunity to subscribe to your blog site.  Keep some exclusive information for your subscribers to entice readers to subscribe and give their email address.  Just be responsible in how you use their email address, as the last thing you want is a comment on your blog accusing you of being a spammer.

Blog Marketing

-By getting to know your readers.  Conduct a  survey among your readers to understand their profile and interests.  Ask consumers to give you feedback on a post, an ad link, or a trial that you shared.  This is getting to know your readers, without the commitment and intrusion of a face-to-face meeting.


-By joining a blog network –A network of blogs maybe a collection of blog sites that share the same industry, interest, readership base, payment mode, etc.  Consumers find credibility and convenience in clicking one link to several real bloggers about a single subject.  Clearly, more bloggers are better than one.

-By using RSS (Rich Site Summary) RSS is the fastest growing technology on the Internet today.  As such, having RSS feeds to your blog is definitely another means of generating awareness for your readership base.  Having a variety of feeds can add interest to your blog site. I will be doing a post soon on what RSS  is exactly and How to use it :)

Give your business a boost by effectively using blogging as an Internet marketing tool!

If you would like to share your opinion on this topic please comment and share :) .
As always I hope to hear what you have to say, and please subscribe to hear about what about what I'm participating in.

-Jody O-

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Hello World !!! Welcome to Marketing :-)

 

 

This is almost my very first blog post about “marketing” and I am very exited:) !!!

 

My name is Jody Ostrander and just about everyone calls me Jody O. I am working at making a living at home through Internet marketing. I know the word marketing means different things to different people. This is what Wikipedia has to say about “Marketing” : Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers. Marketing might sometimes be interpreted as the art of selling products, but selling is only a small fraction of marketing. As the term “Marketing” may replace “Advertising” it is the overall strategy and function of promoting a product or service to the customer. My goal is to help as many people as possible to be as successful as they care to be. To do that I intend to introduce (market) my readers products that I personally use and know to be reputable as well as lucrative. :) My intentions are not only to introduce my readers to successful products that will make them money, but be sure they fully understand how to implement the service or product to its full potential.  So I have a lot of work to do :)

  I believe in multiply streams of income 


My goal is to create multiple income streams and to make them as passive as possible. By “passive” I mean, they don’t require a lot of time and energy to keep them going.Have you ever wondered about working at home and being your own boss and having all the control over your own life?  I am doing it and I love it !!!  I do enjoy making my own schedule and making all the decisions. Of-course all the mistakes are mine, but I try to keep them to a minimum. :)
So I have created this DIY (Do it yourself) blog to share with you my knowledge and personal experiences with marketing and making a profit on the Internet. You can follow along with me through this blog and you can see this is the first post ever to this brand new blog.

Passionate About Marketing?

Of course I am!!!!
Yes, I love marketing! I’ve been in marketing for over 2 years and love the creativity and analysis involved. I’ve found that marketing is very rewarding and challenging because I work with virtually all functions, and there are so many ways to promote brands/products/services, reach consumers, increase sales, etc. Because marketing plays such a key role in the companies that I’ve worked for, I get to be more involved and see more of the bigger picture.
I’ve had many successes as a marketer and also the opposite. What I’ve found is that the opposite has opened my eyes to different ways of doing things. Some of the more unique things (off the beaten path) that I’ve tried have ended up generating the best results. I feel fortunate that I’m able to earn a good living at what I love doing!

Will I Only Be Blogging About Marketing?

I’ll try !

No, All of my post will not be about  marketing, some may just be about my life or a funny story I

 felt was worth sharing. But I will have tons of good information that can help you on your journey to
making that spending money I mentioned earlier.

Want to know more?

Author/humorist Jill A. Davis once said of second chances: “Like trains, they arrive and depart regularly. Recognizing the ones that matter is the trick.” Inevitably, in life we often watch others succeed as we take a back seat, but the important thing is being ready when it’s your time to shine. Join me HERE so I can tell you when your train is on it’s way in….I don’t want you to miss it !

 

If you are still wondering who I am and what I do or why I do it. Please check out my about me page here.

Thanks for visiting and please feel free to Comment 
And Forward We Go !!!
-Jody O-