Erica is someone to watch

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I strongly recommend that you visit a rising star's website. She is Erica, the owner of Erica.biz.

Today she posted about offering a waitress $100 to quite her job on the spot. Extremely interesting reading.

Go here: http://www.erica.biz

I had a similar experience at our County Fair this week. We were manning a booth for my wife's business, a local hospital. She is a nurse. Across from us was a booth selling some sort of vacuum that works well on hardwood floors.

I watched the sales lady do her pitch. Over a few hours that is a lot of pitches. She was so energetic that I was tempted to offer her a job with my growing company. Then I realized that what works at a county fair may not work in my small business promotion in Paso Robles.

But that is not what Erica's article is about. Rather Erica relates a story about how we need to treasure our self worth, our essence. That is another story. Go read it.

greg cryns
http://www.workathomeprofiles.com
http://www.wahmsearchengine.com
http://www.allaboutpasorobles.com

Twitter dominates my networking life

The strange thing about Twitter is that I "feel" I can make it work but, in no way, am I positive about that.

I am doing some testing. Put a counter on my blog http://gregcryns.blogspot.com That's this one! ;P

Frankly, I am not seeing huge activity to the blog yet. That is something to take into consideration.

I changed the background of my Twitter home page. Do you like it? Check it out. I think the background could be an important issue at Twitter.

I am testing out 5 minute phone calls hoping that this will strengthen my networking efforts. So, if interested in chatting for 5 minutes, call 805-226-8354. If I am out I will call you back. Just leave a message.

That's it for today. I really need to get some real work done. My clients are getting a bit PO'd.

Greg Cryns
http://www.ziparticles.com
http://www.workathomeprofiles.com
Twitter ID: http://www.twitter.com/calgreg

Rick Butts and Twitter Squeeze

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Social marketing - I've signed up, finally

Twitter, Facebook, MySpace - the dynamic trio.

For years I've struggled with Search Engine Marketing. The rules change daily.

I've now seen the power of using the social networks, especially Twitter. The only question is how much time I can devote to the tasks.

greg cryns
http://www.workathomeprofiles.com

Twitter gets bigger

I am overwhelmed by Twitter.

For about a week now (maybe two weeks, time flies when you are having fun) I've been banging at Twitter every day. I've learned there are scores of Twitter tools out there and more to come, I am sure. I am convinced that Twitter will just get bigger and bigger until it explodes into something owned by Microsoft or Google.

My friend, Diane Drayer who has three very good income streams on the Web and off, are planning a webinar about Twitter for our WAHM friends. Diane is out promoting her business with Sentsy this week at the State fair in Missouri so the webinar won't happened for at least two more weeks. I expect it will be in the middle of August.

I don't see many WAHM people on Twitter. I think they could benefit and that is what the webinar will be about.

This evening I phoned into Warren Whitlock's http://twitcastradio.com . I didn't know Warren previously except I am following him on Twitter. He is very knowledgable about social marketing and I recommend his Friday night shows whole heartedly.

I need to make this makeshift effort into a real blog soon. When I have time. ....

Sure.

greg cryns
Twitter ID: cal greg
http://www.wahmsearchengine.com

robots.txt

I am learning about robots.txt file to get rid of an error.

All About Paso Robles

McCain Makes Historic First Visit to Internet

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/mccain-makes-historic-fir_b_114002.html


check it out: http://www.allaboutpasorobles.com

changing my main page - a big mistake

I made the mistake of trying out WordPress for my new site and then pulling it off after a couple of days.

Well, I guess Google had a bot to my site because now I've lost the listing on Google for a lot of my pages.

Hopefully they will come back soon.

See All About Paso Robles

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I get letters from people who want to learn how to market their direct sales and MLM products.

This nice young man wrote me today. My response follows:


Paul writes:

Hi Greg,

Thanks for the mail and the tips. I do have a couple of questions for you if you have as second. Promoting a great product is where I need help, as I'm not looking for products. I've got one that I like tremendously. I'm just trying to figure out how to meet with new people and share ideas. What is promote it and how does it help you? I'm not that familiar with ryze as I just found this site. Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,
Paul

Greg's response:

Is the product Mona Vie? I am asking because then you have a REAL product as opposed to some internet marketing swindle. Liking a product is a good thing. Selling it is a another matter.

Second question: Can you sell the PRODUCT without recruiting? I ask this because so many direct sales companies reward you for recruiting. That tells me that it may be difficult to sell the product.

AVON is an example, in my opinion, of a company that cares whether its reps can make a living OFFLINE. I am sorry to say that trying to sell a lot of products ONLINE can be a very difficult task.

But it can be done.

I designed a website for my nephew. He sells a lot of vitamins made in Europe but his market is only in the US.
http://www.westeggnaturalproducts.com

He asked me what I would do if I were him to promote his business. In a few minutes I decided that Google Adwords would be a good choice. Two years later he is selling about $10,000 a month in product. His net, after paying Google, is about 25%. One thing he had going for him is that many Europeans in the US already knew his major brands.

So, to try to give you advice I need some info:

1. How long have you been selling your product?
2. Do you have previous experience in marketing a business?
3. Are you willing to invest significant money into advertising or other means of getting people to buy your product? (my nephew spends about $3,000 a month with Google)
4. How much experience do you have with Internet sales?
5. If you depend on recruiting to make your money, do you realize that you need to present it to 100 people (I am making up this number but it could be worse) to get (maybe) one recruit? And that it will take 10 recruits to get one good salesperson like yourself? You can make some money on the forced sales to your downline, but making a living on that is almost impossible considering the dropout rate. By the way, what is the dropout rate for your company?

I did a quick search and found that Mona Vie allows you to sell RETAIL by purchasing wholesale. That may be a good thing. Is there anyone in the company that you know who makes their living selling RETAIL almost exclusively? Get to know that person and find out what they do.

I know of one lady who makes a LOT of money selling a diet product. Her techniques are quite radical based on what most head bobbing direct sales reps do. (follow the company suggestions and DIE - the company wants you to maintain your PV, that is what I hear all the time) If you want to listed to a couple of audio interviews with the diet plan lady, let me know.

I babble on. Love to talk more but I'm not sure this is what you want to hear because direct sales companies consider me a crazy guy. Can you tell I'm not a fan of MLM?

Email me at: wahmwed@yahoo.com if you like, or call me at 805-226-8354.

greg

Owner:
Wahm Search Engine http://www.wahmsearchengine.com
and
Work At Home Profiles http://www.workathomeprofiles.com

United Airline gave me two round trip tickets

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My wife and I went to Chicago last Friday on United Air.

Sitting in the boarding area at Los Angeles, we noticed that the Stand-By list was 65 people. Then the UA service lady announced she was taking "Volunteers".

Curious about what that meant, I went up to her. "What is a Volunteer? " I asked.

She replied, "I am looking for people to give up their tickets to this flight and I will put you on the next flight that takes of in an hour."

I said, "What's in it for me?"

She said, "We will give both you and your wife a free round trip ticket to anywhere in the 48 states."

Interesting. "No surprises?" I asked. She said there were no catches.

Result we walked away with two free round-trip tickets and got on the next flight that left about 50 minutes later.

Also, I signed up for AAA Auto a few weeks ago. That got us a 40% discount at Hertz for the car we rented in Chicago.

I am all smiles!

greg cryns

owner: http://www.wahmsearchengine.com

Article Marketig: are we being duped about this over-hyped topic?

Everyone wants to have their website on the first page of the major search engines, of course. People who promote and sell article marketig products certainly want to keep the engine fueled.

Do your own research on article marketig like I did. The numbers just don't match what people are telling you. Submit your article to the article directories. Wait a week or two and see how you are doing? Are other websites picking up your article? Probably so.

Now check on the quality of those websites. Then check to see if your author bio has its links active. Check carefully because they may LOOK like they are hot but often they are not. You will also be surprised by how many of these crummy sites don't even have your name as the author.

There are other good ways to use articles to promote your website. I will go into those next time.

Greg Cryns is the owner of Domain Country http://www.domaincountry.com and

Wahm Search Engine http://www.wahmsearchengine.com

Gotta get doing!

I have a project in the hopper that I am fairly certain will earn me some decent money. It is also a project that I know I will enjoy.

But it's been sitting there for about 10 days. Why am I procrastinating?

I know the awful truth. I am having fun communicating with my customers and friends on the web. Is there anything wrong with that?

Well, yes. If I don't bring in more money my wife will start making faces at me. See, I need to show her the money or she gets all nervous. It's not that she doesn't bring home her own bacon. In fact, she does quite well. But she's been raised to feel that if her husband is not taking in a weekly paycheck then he must be a slacker.

The problem is that I have been slacking to some extent. I've been watching the political debates and primary election results too much. I've been doing too much YouTube.

I think I will describe this project as I do it and put the results here every day. Until tomorrow then, I'll procrastinate until then.

greg

Fastest growing California cities

Caliornia Cities
(in no particular order)

1. The City of Rancho Cucamonga City Hall is located at 10500 Civic Center Drive, Rancho Cucamonga, CA, 91730. Our phone number is 909-477-2700 and the fax number is 909-477-2848.Rancho Cucamonga has a population of 161,000 as of 2006. Ranco Cucamonga is one of the fastest growing cities in the USA. Ranco Cucamonga is in San Bernardino County. http://www.squidoo.com/RanchoCucamonga/

2. Palmdale, California, is one of the fastest growing cities in the USA.almdale City
38300 Sierra Highway
Palmdale, CA 93550
661/267-5100
661/267-5122 - fax
http://www.squidoo.com/Palmdale/

3. City of Bakersfield.
1501 Truxtun Avenue., Bakersfield, California 93301
Business Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Monday through Friday except Holidays
Ph: 661-326-3000
http://www.squidoo.com/Bakersfield

4.

City of Visalia
707 W. Acequia
Visalia, CA 93291
Phone(559)713-4300
Fax (559)713-4800
http://www.squidoo.com/Visalia

5.

Santa Clarita, California, is located about 35 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and occupies most of the Santa Clarita Valley. Santa Clarita is one of the fastest growing cities in the USA. The 2005 population estimate was over 167,000. It was rated the 6th safest place to live in the US.

Santa Clarita, California
23920 Valencia Blvd., Santa Clarita, CA 91355
Phone(661) 259-CITY (2489)
http://www.squidoo.com/santaclarita/

6.
Fontana, California, sits in Bernardino County. Fontana is a significant industrial suburb of Los Angeles. The population is largely blue collar.
http://www.squidoo.com/Fontana/


7.
Stockton, California, is one of the fastest growing cities in the USA. The estimated population of Stockton in 2005 was over 290,000. Over 660,000 people live in the area.

Stockton City Council
425 N. El Dorado Street Stockton, CA 95202
Ph. (209) 937-8212
http://www.squidoo.com/StocktonCalifornia/

Scenic and Quiet Stops in California

In a state well known for its traffic jams and earthquakes, Monterey, California is a refreshing change of pace. Monterey, which is on the coast overlooking Monterey Bay, has so much to offer, well beyond the well-renowned surf and beautiful beaches. With all the great things to see and do, this trip is well worth it, no matter the time of year, and no matter your taste.

Eye candy, right from your car

Much of the area's economy is based on tourism. The bay itself is a wildlife preserve, so the expanses of rocky Northern California coastline are absolutely gorgeous. Personally I am a big fan of taking pictures everywhere I go, and the picturesque beauty of this place is well worth the trip, if only for the lovely photographic mementos.

Especially gorgeous is an expanse in Pebble Beach called 17-mile drive. 17-Mile Drive is a great way to just cruise up and down the coach, and take in the beauty of the scenery and wildlife. Sightings include pelicans, seals, otters, and sometimes even whales.

Of course, what trip to California would be complete without surfing? If you do not have your own board or jet ski, there are plenty of places where you can rent one. For the surf challenged, lessons are available just about everywhere you go.

Year round must see attractions

For the literary, fans of Steinbeck will be happy to find that Canary Row is still there. Most of the canaries are gone now, but Canary Row is full of famous restaurants, small or large art galleries, and shops you will not find anywhere else.

Anybody with an interest in oceanography or marine biology should then proceed immediately to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which happens to be one of the world's leading research institutes. The two-story otter tank is not to be missed.

The historic perspective

In downtown Monterey still stand a number of the original, traditional adobes. These clay buildings are testaments to the rich cultural history of the Monterey Bay area. Many of the historic buildings are available for tour, and there are historic walking tours available throughout much of the city as well.

Fisherman's Wharf is also downtown, and you can get the freshest seafood imaginable there. I recommend the Liberty Fish Co. because the employees love it there. The owners are very good people, which is a rare find in the restaurant business.

Maybe even run into someone famous

Golfers won't want to miss the Pebble Beach golf courses, which are not only famous, but draw a number of celebrities such as Bill Murray every year, as well as Clint Eastwood, who lives there. Eastwood was actually the mayor of Carmel for a while, and still manages one or two restaurants in the area.

The Lost Boys was filmed and set in Santa Cruz, though they changed the name. Santa Cruz is across the bay from Monterey. The amusement park from the film is real; it's the Santa Cruz Beach & Boardwalk.

What is list building?

Imagine this……You have a website and business is booming. You are getting a lot of visitors and making a lot of sales. Everything is going really well. You feel content that you are experiencing success. WRONG!

Pretty soon your business will level out. And, once you peak, there is a real danger that you are about to begin a descent. DON’T let this happen. If you want your business to be a continued success and grow, then make the most of your website visitors to grow your business.

Right now you have hundreds, or even thousands of visitors. But who are they? Imagine if you had information about your visitors. What if you could contact them and promote your products and develop relationships? Well, you CAN do this and you NEED to do this to make yourself a success.

Having access to a customer list is like having a captive market and a customer focus group rolled into one. The possibilities are almost endless. But isn’t this is just a pipe dream for most businesses?

No! The good news is you can achieve this all by list building!

And guess what? IT’S EASY!

You can start from anywhere – or nowhere. If you currently have a list of thousands customers or you have no list at all you can very quickly build up a list as large as you want.

Think about your own website. Look at your statistics. You’ll be amazed at how few of your visitors are actually converted into sales. Experienced Internet entrepreneurs estimate that 98% will visit and leave your site without buying anything.

List building is the answer to your poor conversion rate.

But how can YOU do this?

Well the e-mail marketers mantra is:

“The fortune is in the follow up.”

No one has made a million dollars by relying on the 2% of sales they get from people stumbling onto their site. The real money is getting those one-time visitors to opt-in to your list and then persuading them to buy with your list marketing campaign.

However, this isn’t a formula for overnight success. List building can take time. But so what? If you really want success from your Internet business then it’s definitely worth the wait.

Everywhere you go you are bombarded with advertisements. Brand giants like Coca-Cola seem to be everywhere. Why? Because experts believe that the average person needs to see an advert for a product or service 27 times before they are persuaded to buy it. The same principle applies to your list marketing campaign.

Everyone on the list is a potential customer – and most of them will buy from you IF you market it to them in the right way.

People take different lengths of time to reach a decision. Some people might buy from you the first time you e-mail them. Some will need seven e-mails. Other will need 100 messages before they are persuaded to part with their money. That is understandable.

People don’t just throw money about and your potential customers need to be courted. But it is worth the effort – even if it takes two years for someone to take the bait, they will eventually. By asking someone to spend money on your site you are asking them to make a commitment to your site: you have to show them that you are equally committed by embarking on a long term list marketing campaign.

Sound hard? Well, it isn’t. Sure it takes time, desire and effort, but what worthwhile endeavour doesn’t?

In fact, list building is very simple!

It just involves creating a database of names and email addresses. But it opens up a whole world of new marketing possibilities that can change your business forever.

Building a list will turn you from just another small Internet business into a powerful Internet marketer. Even lists with only 200 names can make money – imagine how much money a list with 10,000 names can make!

And all you need is an email newsletter and list of email addresses. That’s all it takes to get started. Obviously there is hard work involved, but the start is simple! So where do you start?

Advertise your newsletter on your site. Try and hook people in. For example, your site sells bakery products: promise a new recipe every week in your newsletter. People will opt-in to your list.

That means they have given you permission to send them a newsletter with a baking recipe every week. You're just getting their trust, so don’t abuse it. Only send them information relevant to what they have agreed to receive or you could lose their trust instantly.

SPAM mail is the key to destroying your list! DON’T send people poor or irrelevant information.

The Internet has great possibilities, but trust can be hard to generate.

When you work in a local shop, people can trust you from knowing and seeing you each day. One thing the Internet lacks is that personal relationship between businesses and customers.

By building your list you CAN create that relationship. It doesn’t matter if you are sending a newsletter to 5 people or 5000 people: you must make the newsletter as personal as possible. Who would you buy a television from? A company that you have no knowledge of, or a business that you have been receiving e-mails from every week for six months? You’d probably choose the latter. Personal relationships with your customers are priceless.

Let’s look at a six step business model for your website:

1. People visit your website

2. People sign up for opt-in list

3. You email those people promoting a product

4. The recipients visit your site and make a purchase

5. You then offer the customer a special offer

6. The customer is taken to a ‘thank you’ with instructions about claiming the special offer

It all sounds simple doesn’t it? Well, it sounds simple because it IS simple. But it’s only simple if you put time and effort into building your list and developing a relationship with your customer.

Thankfully, there are ways to take a good deal of the hard work out of list building. Most web hosts, for example, will allow you to create an auto responder for your site. The best auto responders to use are sequential auto responders. Say, for example, that in a seven-week period you want to send seven different emails to your subscribers.

A sequential auto responder would work like this:

Week 1 – Send Message One

Week 2 – Send Message Two

Week 3 – Send Message Three

And so on until week seven. All you need to do is load your email messages into the system and then set the time intervals. That’s ALL you need to do. And, if you’ve judged your marketing campaign correctly, you can just sit back and watch the money roll in!

But how do you build your list?

Well, the easiest way to begin to build a list is to set up a squeeze page. A squeeze page is a page on your website designed for the simple purpose of capturing email addresses from potential customers.

But people aren’t just going to sign up are they? Well, maybe not – so offer them a bribe (albeit an ethical one).

An ethical bribe might be something like a free e-book or a special edition of your newsletter. When someone signs up on your squeeze page they are immediately sent what you have promised them. Another member of your list is hooked for life.

The squeeze page can be the first step in building that lucrative personal relationship with customers. So it’s a really good idea to include a photograph – even a video – of yourself on your squeeze page. Let the customer know who you are.

The personal relationship is very important!

OK, so you don’t think you need a list because your business is doing great? Well, think again. None of us like to think about failure, but it can happen at any time. List building prevents this.

Building a list safeguards against failure.

You might not feel like it’s worth the effort now, but you will wish you had done it earlier when your product suddenly goes out of fashion. Your market dominance disappears and you are left with nothing.

Well, you won’t be left with nothing – you will have your list. That list is the key to keeping your business alive when things start to go wrong. When you start a new business or product you will have something that most start up businesses can only dream of: a unique personal relationship with 1000’s of potential customers.

So list building is an important feature of any successful business, whether you are doing well right now or not!

Yes, you have to work and it does take some time and effort. Creating a successful list marketing campaign takes some trial and error, analysing your newsletter’s effectiveness and having the patience to build a relationship with the members of your list.

But list building is worth the investment of both time and effort.

Most web millionaires have earned their money through judicious use of list marketing campaigns. That success does NOT lie. So, be proactive and take heed of these techniques. Whether you are a success or not, these techniques WILL help you.

It really is quite simple and the benefits are huge. You might like to start by setting yourself a target: how about leaving two hours of everyday aside for adding five new names to your list? Do that for two months and you will be amazed how few names you actually need to make your list profitable. And if you are making a profit from a small list then how much money will you make from a larger list?

Well, if you want to find out – see you next time!

Visit Wahm Search Engine for great information and advertising vales
http://www.wahmsearchengine.com