Some Article Marketing Do's and Don'ts

I don't like article marketing per say! Strange statement for someone that writes blog posts for three different blogs. You don't have to write articles and post them to article sites to be doing article marketing. Really? Although if you write a good blog post I do suggest that you post the article to some article directory sites.

Why do I say that I don't like article marketing? Because I think that every time I do a blog post on one of my blogs I am in essence involving article marketing. Why else would I be doing blog posts! I may not be writing to promote a specific product but none the less I am promoting something even if it is something that I think will help my readers.





"Let's start with a number of "don'ts" 

* You should never begin your rough draft with the phrase "The following article is about gardening," (or whatever it happens to be). Always begin by using a thought-provoking problem or bold statement. The concept would be to draw your audience in and make them want to understand more about what you have published. 

* Never make your article too long. Shorter ones tend to be more powerful with fewer chances of your reader becoming lost in your article. 

* You should not turn your written article into a big product sales message. Steer clear of this process, it won't improve your results. Your readers are searching for true information or, precisely what could this do for me personally? They are not looking for hyped-upped ad copy. 

* You should never overly cram keywords and phrases into the articles. The various search engines aren't keen on it. 

* Don't confuse your readers by starting off a sentence and never answering it or not identifying the resolution in the article. 

And now for the do's 

* Discuss ideas that you're experienced in or you have expertise in. When you possess experience with a certain subject, it always shows in your writing 

* Do proofread your article, and then proofread it once again checking for spelling and grammar errors before posting it on the internet. 

* You should always include a professional bio box with your article. Attempt to help make the reader interested in what else you provide. 

* Regularly write articles and submit them to directories and websites. You should not stop at just submitting to a tiny handful. It's going to take many submissions for you to benefit from it. 

* Pay attention to your article statistics. Which ones are getting you the most traffic. You should promote or showcase those specific articles somehow. 

There you have it, some simple do's and don'ts of article marketing. If you don't work marketing the proper way, then you're wasting your time. You can write the best pieces in the world, however, if they're not represented correctly, or you don't follow the basic tips above, you are also wasting their time. Why not do it the proper way to begin with?" 

Taken from an article by Scott Lindsay. Learn about Working From Home and Start Your Own Work At Home Business at WAHCheck. Don't Work From Home until you do a WAHCheck! 

Article Source: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=597088&ca=Marketing

By the way, article marketers don't write articles to promote a product within that article. This is not a good thing to do unless you are critiquing a specific product. Their promotion is within the signature after the article. So make sure to end with a strong signature which of course includes your name.

Always write articles that give your readers something that they can grab hold of and use in their life and/or their business.

Hope you got at least a hint into article marketing by reading this post.

Elaine

Tips That Will Help Your Email Campaigns

If you are trying to build your business then email marketing is a must 'to-do' thing. Yes, you can market on social networks, safelist, rotators, etc. but remember it takes more than one time for someone to see your message before they are apt to buy. Having a list of potential customers is an absolute must. (My opinion and some other's opinion.)

For this post I am going to assume that you have a good list. Also let's understand that we have to send out not only what we are marketing but also good informative information that will assist your list subscribers. I have found that including both in every email is the best. 

After all is said and done the main reason for even sending out business emails is to increase your revenue. You do want to eventually sell something.

You should have a little marketing pitch worked into your message alone with some great information that you have found. It is all over the internet so finding something is easy if you are willing to look. You can just send out a marketing email for something special. Be sure to make it special. Hope you understand what I mean.

I received some interesting information about all this email marketing stuff from DEMC E-Magazine. The article was written by the editor, Abbie Drew. In the email it gives 4 Insider Tips to Higher Email Revenue:

     1. What time of day to send emails.
     2. What day to send out emails.
     3. How many emails to send out for each specific marketing item.
     4. Use of preheaders. 

Let's take one at a time and expand on them.

"1. Send emails between 8 PM and midnight. 

According to a Q4 2012 analysis by Experian CheetahMail - emails sent late in the evening outperformed emails sent any other time of day. 

Emails sent between 8 PM and 12 AM generated higher open and clickthrough rates, more transactions, larger orders, and greater revenue per email than emails sent at any other time. Email sent from 8 PM - 12 AM had return of 48 cents per email. This was triple the overall average of 14 cents per email. 

2. Deliver email promotions on Saturday. 

Experian found Saturday generated the best return on investment. 

The transaction rate on Saturday was .16%, compared with .11% overall. 

3. Increase the number of emails sent for each specific offer. 

A one time email for a singular offer, will generate response. 

You'll increase your response and your revenue if you send out three to five emails for each specific offer. Use different copy for each emailing and build on the urgency to act before it's too late. 

4. Use preheaders to sell. 

A preheader is the text shown at the very top of your email. When viewing email on a mobile devices, preheaders are most often displayed right after an email's subject line. 

Don't waste this valuable space to simply list out subscription information or links to a web version. Instead use your preheader as an extension of your subject line. 

Include additional information pertaining to your offer. Enticing preheaders increase overall email open rates by more than 17%!" 

This information about email marketing is different from what came out some two years ago so pay attention.

If you would like to subscribe to the DEMC E-Magazine then enter your name and email address at DEMC Subscription Service. You will be glad you did.

Do you have some stats about email marketing that would help others? If so how about leaving a comment for all of us. Helping others is the fun part of this business.

Good luck with your email marketing efforts...

Elaine

Content!! Is Your Content Working?

Content! Content! Content! 

What could be more important?

Your content has to bring your reader to a state of total focus on what you are saying. Otherwise, they will just glance or read the first words and move on. You don't want this to happen. You want your reader to get so caught-up in what you are saying that they will not even think about clicking to somewhere else. 

It doesn't matter if you are writing an article, an ad, blog post, email, short, small, long, etc. The content you create must draw your reader in and be good enough to keep them reading. 

Remember, content must be genuine. In other words be honest with what you are writing. Readers are not stupid and dumb. Eventually they will see right through you.

Scott Aughtmon developed this guide to help all of us with our content endeavors. Thanks Scott.



Source: Scott Aughtmon of  http://recessionsolution.com/

Some more resources for writing great content:

1. http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/blog/

2. http://www.scoop.it/t/curation-corner

Email Marketing Etiquette

Photo from: http://www.compraremails.net/

Most of us that have been in business for a period of time understand the importance of email marketing and how to use it properly. You have probably heard the saying, "The money is in the list." Well, actually the saying should be 'The money is in the right list.' 

But have you ever taken the time to learn what you should do and not do with your email marketing list? Hopefully you have. Whether you have or not here is a great infographic provided by Vertical Response and Skadeedle that shows the Do's and Don'ts of email marketing. Pay close attention; some of you need reminding.

I noticed that there is one very important item left out of the infographic Do's. It is incleded within the Don't area. An item that is required by law if you are sending a business email. That item is an unsubscribe link. This is a must. No one wants to be accused of spamming and this is one sure way to get black- balled. 

Another thing I might mention: if you are going to send out business emails be sure that each person has agreed to receive business emails from you. 

Embedded from Skadeedle

A Small Rant

I got such a kick from reading this email from Paul Myers of http://www.talkbiz.com that I asked if I could use it here on my blog. Paul has been in internet marketing and writing about internet marketing for some 15 years so one might say he has been around the block more than once. For more straight talk about the internet visit the link and sign up. You won't be disapointed.

I can't remember when I first learned of Paul and his work ethic but I can tell you it has been many moons ago. Hope you get as big a kick out of reading this as I did. Oh! and by the way, for those of you that this fits, shame on you!!!




"There has always been a strong undercurrent of conflict among people who want to use the net to sell stuff. Basically, it comes down to the spammers versus everyone else.

In the old days, that was an easy line to draw. Spam was a term used mostly to refer to unsolicited bulk email and off topic commercial Usenet posts. Many of the people engaged in this
sort of behavior back then were simply naive. 
The medium was new enough that they didn't understand the long-term impact their actions would have.

These days, we're dealing with a whole different kind of 
snake.
....

Harking back to the Auld Daze, we're now seeing a resurgence of
the whackamole spammer. The sleazeball who scrapes or buys or
steals a list of email addresses and pounds them with stuff
they never asked for, and just moves to another host when they
get shut down.

This problem went away for a while. The easy availability of
anonymous proxies, ultra-cheap hosting, careless email service
providers, and pre-paid debit cards made the reincarnation
possible. The rise of new affiliate networks that cater to the
"Internet marketing" crowd made it inevitable.

Add to it the Chinese and Russian networks that sell credit
card and Paypal account data in bulk, and the online banks that
make creating fraudulent accounts a matter of a few minutes and
a few mouse clicks, and it's become big business.

The point?

If they have to use any of those mechanisms to get access to
send their email, there is no way they can expect anyone to
believe they think they're doing something legit. They're
thieving spambags, and they know it.

If you're not one of these people, you're one of their 
victims.

If you are one of these people and you feel insulted by what I
just said... Too bad.
....

Then there are the people who feed the beast.

If you've ever run a blog or a forum and had to deal with
spammers, you know the destructive influence they have. Or if
you've ever tried to find something in a search engine and been
swamped by results that have almost no relevance, but are there
because the sites' owners paid some "search engine optimizer"
to rank them for some unrelated (or spammy) term.

This is where it gets sticky.

Have you ever paid some SEO firm to blast your links? If so,
you're part of the problem.

Funny story...

I got sick of seeing the spam from one source on a forum I
participate in. Garbage posts, with the obvious goal of getting
the link love from their signature files. So, in addition to
banning the creeps, I started calling the companies linked in
the signatures and asking why they were spamming the forum.

Ooops.

One guy told me he didn't care, as long as it moved him up in
Google's rankings. Last I knew, he'd been gutted by a Panda.

The rest were appalled at the notion that their links were
coming as a result of some kid in Pakistan spamming business
discussion forums. That was nothing like what they had been
promised by the "Professional SEO Firms" they'd hired to move
them up the SERPS.

The owner of one of those "professional SEO firms" threatened
to sue me. When I asked what he intended to base his suit on,
he said "Slander!"

My reply: "I didn't even know you existed when I called the
guy. I asked HIM why HE was spamming the forum. How is HIS
response slander on my part?"

[crickets]

You may not be able to stop the human robots these folks use
for their "work," but costing them a few clients is an
excellent way to get them to leave your site alone.

You don't have to sit back and let these slime run rough-shod
over your work.

Take back your sites.
....

And watch your back.

One of the big fads to hit the "Magic Button" circuit lately is
actually an old concept: Solo ads. The idea is simple. You pay
someone to send an ad to their subscribers, usually to build
your own list.

Paid advertising. Wow. What a concept. As long as it's 
properly disclosed, there's nothing wrong with that, right?

Here's the thing: These ads are normally sold on a "per click"
basis. The seller usually gets anywhere from 20 cents to a
dollar a click, depending on the niche and the list. (It can
vary wildly, but those are not unusual prices.)

So, some geniuses decide they're going to cash in. They offer
clicks in large volumes at cut-rate prices, and sell tons of
orders. They claim to have massive lists of targeted
subscribers who've asked to receive their emails. To make it
sound legit, they claim they'll only accept a limited number of
orders each week, as they don't want to burn out their
"valuable subscribers" with too many offers.

Sorry, folks, but these guys will take every order they can
get, for as long as someone is willing to play the sucker.

Problem: The clicks aren't really clicks, and they're not from
emails sent to real people who actually subscribed to the lists
the sellers claim. They're exposures on traffic exchanges or
PPV networks. If it costs them a penny a click, it's a lot.

You end up paying gourmet prices for dog food traffic. And it's
not even good dog food.

"Would you like flies with that?"
....

There are tons of ways these pukes abuse marketing systems. And
all of them make life harder on legitimate businesses.

They spam YouTube with "spun" videos, uploading hundreds of
copies of the same video, with slight changes. Or they download
your videos and add their own tweaks, to steal the rankings and
traffic that you created real value to earn.

So, YouTube has to tighten up their policies, and they delete
thousands of accounts. Sometimes nailing legitimate creators in
the process.

I have friends who got seriously screwed by Google's Panda and
Penguin updates. Including a guy who was making a ton of money
from AdSense, and had been touted by Google themselves as a
great example of the right way to create an authority site.

Does that mean Google was wrong?

No. They're doing what they can to stop the SEO spammers, and
this isn't an exact science. There's no way to operate on any
scale much bigger than "small group" and not have some false
positives.

That's the gift the spammers give to you. Stricter sets of
rules, which end up clumping you in with the thieves and the
sleaze. And there are so many people in these systems that it's
impossible to keep them running without tightening things up so
much that some innocent people get caught in the nets.

The scary thing is, the real spammers adjust, and they're back
in the game in no time. But legitimate businesses don't know
how to adapt to these things, so they get hurt bad.

And there is no-one to blame but the spambags.
....

Here's a fairly recent example, with a prediction.

Facebook recently started offering a service that allows you to
upload a list of email addresses of subscribers, and ask them
if they want to also follow you on their site.

Brilliant idea, really. Used properly, it's a great way to make
things more convenient for you and your subscribers. It lets
folks choose which channel is most useful for them.

I love the concept. Seriously.

Here's the rub... People are using this to invite folks who
aren't really subscribers at all. I've gotten dozens of these
over the past couple of weeks, and not one of them has been
from anyone I've even heard of in the past. The emails look
like this:

  Subject: Sum Beech is on Facebook

  Message: Hi Paul,

  Since you're already subscribed to their email updates off
  of Facebook, Sum Beech has suggested you like their Page to
  stay connected.

  If you like Sum Beech follow the link below:

Sorry, goys and birls, but this Sum Beech needs to get 
Gibbs-smacked.

This is a brilliant, simple, useful option that is going to be
ruined in no time by dipwads who are more interested in gaming
the system than in actually doing something productive with
their lives.

This sort of abuse should be punishable by 20 years of 
following grizzly bears around with a pooper-scooper and an air
horn. All the while, they'd be wondering if what they were
cleaning up was the remnant of the last guy to serve the same
sentence.

This would, happily or otherwise, give rise to the next viral
country dance craze...

"Toot. Scoop. Boogie!"
....

There are some technical options that could be useful. The one
I would personally like most to see would be a proxy blocklist,
which would let blog and forum operators keep out the majority
of the spambags. But that's just another part of the arms race.

The main point I'd like to make is simpler...

If you're doing this stuff, don't kid yourself, or try to kid
the rest of us. You're a leech, and you deserve to be burned
off the net like any other blood-sucking parasite.

If you're not doing this stuff, don't make excuses for the
folks who are. This isn't a "competitive edge." It's abuse.
These practices are inherently destructive, and should not be
tolerated.

The most fundamental basis for any civil society is respect for
the person and property of others.

Stand up for yourself.

Take back your sites!


Paul

-----===(*)===-----
Tell your friends about us. Send them to...
http://www.talkbiz.com/

Are You Checking Your Grammar?

Source: http://pilarcordoba.wordpress.com/grammar/

Writing articles, ads, blog post or whatever takes some knowledge of the use of good grammar or at least it should. Today I received a newsletter from Ezine Articles and I just had to share it with you. The name of the article is "The Twelve Days of Poor Grammar" and was posted by Ezine Articles Managing Editor, Penny.

The Twelve Days of Poor Grammar

On the first day of submission,
my article came back to me
with one spelling error, oh gee!

On the second day of submission,
my article came back to me
with two misused words,
and one spelling error, oh gee!

On the third day of submission,
my article came back to me
with three texting texts,
two misused words,
and one spelling error, oh gee!

On the fourth day of submission,
my article came back to me
with four poorly possessive apostrophes,
three texting texts,
two misused words,
and one spelling error, oh gee!

On the fifth day of submission,
my article came back to me
with five run-on sentences,
four poorly possessive apostrophes,
three texting texts,
two misused words,
and one spelling error, oh gee!

On the sixth day of submission,
my article came back to me
with six confusing contractions,
five run-on sentences,
four poorly possessive apostrophes,
three texting texts,
two misused words,
and one spelling error, oh gee!

On the seventh day of submission,
my article came back to me
with seven comma splices,
six confusing contractions,
five run-on sentences,
four poorly possessive apostrophes,
three texting texts,
two misused words,
and one spelling error, oh gee!

On the eighth day of submission,
my article came back to me
with eight double negatives,
seven comma splices,
six confusing contractions,
five run-on sentences,
four poorly possessive apostrophes,
three texting texts,
two misused words,
and another spelling error, oh gee!

On the ninth day of submission,
my article came back to me
with nine malfunctioned conjunctions,
eight double negatives,
seven comma splices,
six confusing contractions,
five run-on sentences,
four poorly possessive apostrophes,
three texting texts,
two misused words,
and one spelling error, oh gee!

On the tenth day of submission,
my article came back to me
with ten incomplete sentences,
nine malfunctioned conjunctions,
eight double negatives,
seven comma splices,
six confusing contractions,
five run-on sentences,
four poorly possessive apostrophes,
three texting texts,
two misused words,
and one spelling error, oh gee!

On the eleventh day of submission,
my article came back to me
with eleven split infinitives,
ten incomplete sentences,
nine malfunctioned conjunctions,
eight double negatives,
seven comma splices,
six confusing contractions,
five run-on sentences,
four poorly possessive apostrophes,
three texting texts,
two misused words,
and one spelling error, oh gee!

On the twelfth day of submission,
my article came back to me
with twelve dangling modifiers,
eleven split infinitives,
ten incomplete sentences,
nine malfunctioned conjunctions,
eight double negatives,
seven comma splices,
six confusing contractions,
five run-on sentences,
four poorly possessive apostrophes,
three texting texts,
two misused words,
and one spelling error, oh gee!

http://blog.ezinearticles.com

http://ezinearticles.com

Some Helpful Resources to Improve Your Grammar Skills:

1.  http://www.grammarbook.com/
2.  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/5/
3.  http://lifehacker.com/5966826/the-most-common-grammar-gaffes-writers-make-and-how-to-avoid-them
4.  http://www.dailygrammar.com/

You can find many more sites for helping you with your grammar.  Just do a search for the word grammar.

Please remember that 'you are' is your're and not 'your'. These words have entirely different meanings. This is a common mistake that I see so many writers making.

Hope you enjoyed this article. Let me know if you did or didn't by leaving a comment below. Thanks

Elaine   

PS This post doesn't imply that I don't need help with my own grammar.

Do You Purchase Gift Cards?

I do believe that about every store, restaurant and company now has a gift card that you can purchase. You see them in grocery stores, drug stores and about every where else you go. If you own a company you can even print your own gift cards.

Have you ever purchased a gift card? Have you ever been given a gift card? Are you being ripped off?


I have purchased gift cards to give as Christmas presents for several years. I have also received gift cards. They are an easy gift and most of the time you can't go wrong by giving someone a gift card, especially if you know that the person frequents that particular establishment or you don't know what to get for that person.

But did you know that companies love it when you do purchase a gift card? Well, of course they do. They make money from your purchase in more ways than you may think.

Here are some interesting stats about just how much money those companies are making:
1. Average amount of unused gift cards by household: $300
2. Value of unredeemed gift cards per year: hang on to your seat for this one, $ 6 billion
3. Average amount left unspent on gift cards: $2.30 (That is each gift card sold folks not just one.)

What if you get a gift card and for whatever reason you don't want or can't use it? Guess what, you can go online and sell it. No you won't get the face value but at least you won't waste all of it. There is even a National Gift Card Exchange Day. It is set as December 26. (I had to laugh at this tidbit of information.) You can go to http://www.giftcardexchangeday.com and check it out.

Actually you don't have to wait until December 26 to get rid of that card you don't want. Check out these sites any time of the year:
1. http://www.plasticjungle.com
2. http://www.giftcardgranny.com
3. http://www.cardpool.com
4. http://www.abcgiftcards.com

For those gift cards that you get you might consider donating them to a charity. I am sure they would be delighted to get them.

Some things to check before purchasing a gift card:
1. Is there a usage fee?
2. Is there an expiration date?
3. Does the value drop each month?
4. Is there a fee for not using?

You may be surprised at what all the gift card company can do to get your money. Be sure to read any information available before your purchase. And, be sure to read the fine print on the back side of the card. 

If you have had a bad experience with gift cards you can voice your complaint by sharing your information: https://stori.es/share/your-prepaid-card-story
On this same site you can also sign a petition to stop the unjust actions of some of the companies selling these cards.

All-in-all, in my opinion, gift cards are still an excellent gift to give.

Elaine



















http://www.uprinting.com/make-gift-cards.html

You Are Different - Embrace That Difference

Are you a networker? Meaning you spend most of your time building your dreams for financial success by using the internet.

It makes no difference if you are in MLM (network marketer) or you are an affiliate marketer promoting a companies' products. The main thing to remember is that you are working for yourself to achieve your dreams and this makes you different from many others. Different from those that work for someone else, depending upon them for your pay check.

You are different! You stand out in a crowd! You give up much to achieve the most you possibly can.

Don't be afraid to be yourself and to be different.



Elaine

Writing Tips

Coming up with ideas to write about can be a difficult task for a lot of us. Then when we do come up with something we are tied to our knowledge and ability to get out point across and keep our readers  interest throughout our article or blog post.

Spelling is my weakness. My grammar is a direct response to my education and where I grew up, so at times my southern style of jargon comes into play. That's me. You will have a different style of writing. This is what makes writing so much fun. It is an expression of ourself.




I know for me at times I have a hard time coming up with things to write about on this blog. I try to come up with a topic that is interesting. Then brain failure creeps in and shuts down my thought processes. Time goes by and nothing is written. I go to something else and forget about writing anything.

Cathy Stucker did an article last year that I think is still useful today. In it she discusses Ten Quick Ways to Improve Your Writing.

Maybe Cathy's article can help you and I solve some of our writing problems.

Here are her 10 tips:

  1. Write conversationally
  2. Avoid jargon
  3. Vary sentence length
  4. Include just one main idea in a paragraph
  5. Use subheads and bullets
  6. Use an introduction, body and conclusion
  7. Give examples
  8. Keep it simple
  9. Avoid inappropriate emphasis
10. Smile when you write

You can read the full article at http://cathystucker.com/ten-quick-ways-to-improve-your-writing

If you don't understand what 'jargon' means here is a good place to start learning:   
http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2012/01/26/the-most-annoying-pretentious-and-useless-business-jargon/?tm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

There are some excellent resources online to help your light come on. Here are a few:

Ezine Articles
http://ezinearticles.com/training/

11 Tips to Improve Your Blog Writing
http://foodblogalliance.com/a/11-tips-to-improve-your-blog-writing/

Grammar Checker
Link removed by request. Just do a search for a grammar checker. Sorry.

Dictionary and thesaurus
http://wordweb.info/

Even though this video is for students writing a paper it is an excellent source to study:


Some things I have learned about writing:
** Be myself when writing.
** Your and you're are two different words. (One of my pet peeves.)
** Being a horrible speller myself I have to use a spell checker often and then reuse it. I still may miss a word or two every now and then.
** Use a grammar checker.
** Research before starting. Plan, plan and then plan.
** Use images where appropriate but don't over use. Images take longer for a page to load.
** Use a video if possible.
** Review what I have written. Review, review and then review again.
** Use white space.  “When you try to process an unbroken block of text, it’s like trying to eat a whole apple pie in one gulp.” Author Unknown
** I like short, to the point paragraphs.
** If you have someone that can check your writing before you publish it then do so.

I am sure that most of us that write blogs or articles have lots of tips for writing and posting on a regular basis. What are your tips? Leave a comment for all of us to learn from.

Elaine

Are You Taking Advantage Of All Your Tax Write-Offs

Dr. Ron Mueller, Author of Home Business Tax Savings

Most of you that read my blog are home based business owners. My question to you is: Are you taking all the advantages allowed by the IRS? I bet not!


You shouldn't totally depend on someone that prepares your taxes to know all of the tax write-offs that home base business owners can take.

Remember, you are liable for your tax return even if a CPA or tax account does it for you. You need to learn all of the write-offs yourself.

It's your money - so way not take full advantage of saving all you can?

"Most hard-working Americans have more than half of their hard-earned wages sucked out for taxes, and then they get to live on the left-overs – called “take-home pay.”

Home-based business owners now qualify for more tax deductions than any other category of taxpayer in America, bar none!

Most working Americans are being strangled by taxes, paying more in taxes every month than their housing, their food, their transportation and their health care – COMBINED!"

NOTE: This is a time-sensitive announcement of a content-rich (and no-cost!) web briefing that could show you how to qualify for a SECOND REFUND, even on the tax returns you may have already filed. I am posting this on my blog because it is the fastest way to get the word out to the most people. And, I believe that this type of information is a valuable asset for all of us.

I know Ron Mueller and, trust me, this is NOT an opportunity to me missed! He gives great value on every call and webinar he does!

SEE DR. MUELLER'S ANNOUNCEMENT BELOW...

Are You Okay with the SIZE of Your Tax REFUND?
SERIOUSLY?

Even if you DO know about the special tax breaks for home-business owners, I'll bet you STILL overpaid your taxes by at least $1,000.00 - and probably even more!

And if you are new to, or not yet familiar with the special tax-deductions for home- based businesses, you probably just LOST up to $5,000!!! or more in Tax Refunds.

Why Do Most People NOT Claim All of the Tax Deductions they Could?

There are three reasons...

#1. You may fear you will be audited if you claim ALL of your deductions.

#2. You may not have adequate records to prove some of your deductions.

#3. You may not be aware of some of the special home-business deductions that could save you a lot of money!

THIS IS YOUR LUCKY DAY!

YOU ARE ABOUT TO LEARN the truth about the connection between amount of deductions and chances of an audit. (And it will be good news!)

YOU ARE ABOUT TO LEARN how to safely claim some deductions even if you
do not have perfect records. ("Reconstructed" records are ok with IRS.)

YOU ARE ABOUT TO LEARN about some frequently overlooked or misunderstood tax deductions worth hundreds in tax refunds. (You'll learn exactly what the top ones are!)

AND
YOU ARE ABOUT TO LEARN how to legally and quickly get a SECOND REFUND
on tax returns you have already filed.

JOIN ME SUNDAY or MONDAY -- Pick TIME & DATE
That's Most Convenient FOR YOU!

Please join me on a NO-COST webinar to learn ALL of the above.

This news is so important I will be briefing you on a Special Webinar, which I will REPEAT on these different days, in three different time slots. Select the date and time most convenient for you, and register right away! (Same content in all sessions.)

SUNDAY - May 20th
5pm Pacific, 6pm Mountain, 7pm Central, 8pm Eastern

MONDAY - May 21st
6pm Pacific, 7pm Mountain, 8pm Central, 9pm Eastern

To REGISTER for ANY of the Webcasts (which is REQUIRED)
Click on this link: http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/?af=193287
(See box in upper-right corner of homepage.)

YOU might just kick yourself is you miss this webcast. ATTENDING this webcast costs you NOTHING.
NOT ATTENDING could cost you THOUSANDS!

Get details and register NOW at: http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/?af=193287
(See box in upper-right corner of homepage.)

This is another FREE SERVICE from Dr. Ron Mueller and Home Business Tax Savings Learning Center.

Creating Tax-Smart Home-Business Owners,

Ron
Ronald R. Mueller, MBA, Ph.D. -author of
"Home Business Tax Savings, Made Easy!"

P.S. -- Although this is a "webcast," you do not need to be in front of a computer -- you can hear the audio by phone connection. It's all explained when you register, so please REGISTER NOW at http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/?af=193287
(See box in upper-right corner of homepage.)

Ron Mueller is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, and has earned a Masters degree from the University of Oklahoma, a M.B.A. from American University, and a Doctorate in Business Economics from San Francisco Regent University. He has had highly successful careers as a Senior Naval Officer and in International Marketing, Advertising, and Investigative Reporting.

Ron's website has globs of information on it so be sure to look around. You may just find something that you didn't know.

(Links within this post are my affiliate link and if you decide to purchase a product from Dr. Mueller's site I will receive a commission.)

See you on the webinar...

Elaine

How High Is Your Stress Level?

The picture may be a little funny but living a life full of stress isn't.

I have read that stress is a choice! I bet you are thinking, "yea, right!" Then why do we all feel so stressed out a lot of the time? It has always been a part of life and will continue to be so. It is what we do about it and how we handle it that matters.

Some stress can even be good. I know in my job I can work and think faster and clearer under some of the stressful situations I encounter. It allows me to block out non-essential thinking and concentrate on what has to be done. At the same time I wouldn't want to stay in that stressful state for very long. It is draining on the mind and body.

Feeling stressed out in our every-day life doesn't add anything to our life as a matter of fact it shortens our life.

"Most of us spend our lives as if we had another one in the bank."
       ~ Ben Irwin

One of the things you might try doing to relieve stress in your life, also meaning in your business, is to slow down. That's right, just slow down. Simple sounding but it actually does work.

Why do we insist on making life so complicated when it is really is so simple? Slow down and clean out the clutter. Set priorities. Clean out the garbage.
If you can do this then you will soon find that your life and your business is more fun and fore-filling.

Hopefully this movie can get you started thinking about cleaning the stress out of your life.


If your life isn't fun then change it!
If your business isn't fun then get out! Try something else.

How do you handle stress? Let me know. Maybe it will help me and some others reading this post.

Elaine

Personal Name Or Business Name?

Most of us are on several social sites for business. Do you use your own name or the name of your own business when signing up for these social sites? Or, do you use the name of the business you are promoting or the company you are working for?

Let's say for instance, you start a Twitter account and you want to promote the company you work for. Your thinking might be to use your company name or a form of it. This way when you get followers they will see your company name and then become interested in your company. Great!!! You think! 

Rather impersonal, don't you think.

Later on down the road you have thousands of followers. But, for some reason, you either stop promoting said business or you stop working for said company. OOPS!! What do you do now? 

According to Todd Wasserman in his post on Mashable.com you might want to rethink your original decision of using a company name to gain followers on any social network. Be sure to take the time to read his post before it is too late and you find yourself being sued. You can read the post here: http://on.mash.to/IgX9aI 

To me it is not a good idea to use a company name to setup a profile on a social site. I tend to stay away from doing this. Why? I want to brand myself not the company. Why? People join people not companies. People looking at your business want to know who you are first then they will make up their minds about the company you are promoting.

Take my Facebook accounts for example. I have a personal timeline and I have a business timeline. My personal timeline has only my name whereas my business timeline has Elaine Bullin: Life & Business. 

You see I still used my name for both timelines. I didn't just use my business name. Besides neither is my business name. My business timeline comes back to this blog. This is where I want people to come to. On this blog they can learn about me and the businesses I promote. A win-win situation.

Make yourself #1 not your company. Otherwise, you could find yourself in a position that you don't want to be in. Just a word to the wise.

If you didn't take the time to read Wasserman's post be sure to do so. Taking a chance by using a company name you work for or are promoting just may land you in a long drawn out legal battle.

Elaine Bullin

Teamwork

Believe it or not there is no "I" in team. A team is made up of a leader that strives to get other individuals to accomplish a common goal. Any one individual can accomplish a goal depending on what it is. Leaders are not born a leader. It takes time to develop leadership skills. A leader is only a leader if a team decides that person is a leader. Interesting thought, don't you think?

In other words, to be a leader you must have a team that agrees that you are a leader. Therefore, teamwork is imperative to getting most things done. Remember the saying, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts?" This refers to team and here I am using it to refer to teamwork.

In the video one person stood up and became the leader. Others noticed, watched his effort and determination to accomplish a goal: getting the tree out of the road so traffic could move through the street. Others were motivated to join in and help. They formed a working team and accomplished their goal together as one.

When people are willing to work together, learn from each other, develop the right skills, get the knowledge needed and not criticize weaknesses in others, much higher levels of success can be attained.

As Henry Ford said, "Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."

How does this relate to your business? For that matter, how does it fit into your everyday life? If you think that you can survive right by yourself you are just waiting for a very slippy slop down fall.


T = Together
E = Everyone
A = Achieves
M = More
Together Everyone Achieves More

Elaine

Using Robocalls? Watch Out!!!

You are deep in thought. Or, trying to eat supper. Or, into a very needed deep conversation with a family member or friend.

And the phone rings!!

Your brain gets flustered. You answer the phone with an irate voice just to hear a pre-recorded message from a politician or a telemarketer. No human to yell at. You become irrational - yelling to a phone. You can't say STOP calling me!

Your fuse is lit and about to blow. Your eyes get big and your brain goes haywire. You listed your phone number with the Do Not Call Registry and now you are wondering if they gave out your number. No, they didn't. Some people and companies just don't care. They figure they have the upper hand and can do whatever they want because they assume you will not report them. He! He! You can report the call and get some satisfaction.

Conversation is over. Supper gives you indigestion and heartburn. Your thoughts are gone.

A robocall is what you just received. Now the government is doing something about these annoying calls.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/government-cracks-robocalls-15651795



Did you know that placing your phone number on the Do Not Call Registry does not exempt you from receiving political calls. To bad!
National Political Do Not Call Registry:  http://stoppoliticalcalls.org/index.php


Extra Resources:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/250053/fcc_cracks_down_on_telemarketing_robocalls.html

http://www.fcc.gov/guides/robocalls

http://www.fcc.gov/guides/unwanted-telephone-marketing-calls

http://www.donotcall.com 


By the way, when listing your phone number don't forget to include your cell phone number. Unless you like paying for a call from a telemarketer or a politician.


Maybe this will help your digestive system a bit.

Elaine

Let me know what you think about this by leaving me a comment below.

Stress, Stress and more Stress

Sometimes we all feel like this. All stressed out and believing we have no where to go. That there is nothing we can do to change the situation we are in. We feel like life is just too much for us to handle. Can't take any more.

I am going to make a statement that I am sure that some will disagree with: Stress is not always bad. Okay, I know what you are thinking: I must have lost my cookies to state something like that. But, if you will do some research you will see that the statement is true.

Some stresses may actually be good for us if the stress you are feeling makes you really take a look at what is causing the stress. Then you take positive action to correct whatever circumstances are causing you to feel stressed. Most of the time this is not easy but will pay big dividends because you will find a way to eliminate your stress.

Stress can come on us at any time. It can be something that threatens our personal life. It can also be something that threatens our business. If you have stress in one area you will have stress in all areas of your life. The two are inseparable.

Bad stress will have a big impact on you mentally and physically. It will wear you down to a pulp. It will chew you up and spit you out. This is when you need and must take a positive step to correct the stress you are feeling.

If your life or business is causing you to stress out then maybe you need to make some drastic changes. That business is not worth your sanity and health. Look elsewhere and take some advice from this movie:



Do you have stress? Let me know how you handle your stress by leaving a comment. Thanks.

Elaine