The Market Outfit

How’s your life going right now? If you had to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, would it be an 8 or better? If someone could take a snapshot of your life at any given moment, what would it look like? Are you laughing, smiling and happy, or frowning, sad and worried? It seems as though negativity and dissatisfaction is quite commonplace and a happy, positive, upbeat mood and lifestyle is rare. Granted, society, current events, and everyday occurrences do play a major role, but doesn’t it make you wonder if you’re on top of life, because you’re successfully calling the shots, or life’s on top of you, stealing your happiness and satisfaction, making you follow where it decides to take you.

Allan’s mood was down in the dumps. He’d been looking for a job with virtually no success for more than six months. He was out of unemployment, job prospects were slim, and he was losing hope. He spent a great deal of his time either job hunting, or sleeping, for sleeping was the only way he could escape his chaotic life and find some peace from the troubles that plagued his every waking thoughts. He had an extremely negative attitude, and even when he was trying to put his best face on for his interviews, his hopeless demeanor shone through like a beacon.

Allan sat at his computer preparing yet another round of resumes when a pop-up came on screen. It asked him to rate his level of happiness on a scale of 1 to 10. Allan check-marked a 1! When he submitted his score the results appeared on another screen that said, “Your happiness level is in direct proportion to your level of success. For guaranteed success… find happiness, a light heart, and become a director!” Allan thought about the survey for the rest of the evening, and the following weekend. A few days later he was contacted for an interview. He’d been trying to adjust his mood by paying more attention to what was going on around him, taking note of the good things that he had in his life, and not focusing on his unemployment.

When Allan went to the interview, he was rather surprised to find it was not a traditional interview. His prospective employer wanted to see how Allan interacted with the staff because it was a supervisory position and he needed to mentor his staff. Despite his surprise and trepidation Allan threw himself into his interview and tried to draw strength from “the positive.” Allan was offered the job on the spot for an annual salary that was way more than he’d ever made in his life. When he asked his boss why he was offered the job, he was told that he had a “good attitude.” Allan was quite pleased that he took the time to read the pop-up that changed his life. He was even happier that he decided that he would always try to direct his life instead of having life circumstances direct him. How did he begin making the change? Allan put this to practice by using meditation, relaxation techniques, and writing to keep him on track. He recognized that his former behavior had been learned, and knew that he needed to substitute new tools for old habits in order to create successful change.

So if life has control over you, why not choose to grab life by the tail and chart your course. With all that is going on in the world, let a positive attitude guide your way and become your mantra. With practice, life will become similar to a revolving door, allowing laughter and positive energy in, and having it flow back out to others. The gift of a kind word, helping hand, or radiant smile has far-reaching affects. The secret to having a life that you lead is to create a reality that is uniquely yours, but one full of passion, promise, and the pulsation of life.

Eva Gregory is the author of The Feel Good Guide to Prosperity.
All rights reserved.

10 Ways To Extend The Reach Of Your Site
by Titus Hoskins

Successful websites extend their reach far and wide! They
build links, connections, partnerships, or use whatever means
they can to extend the reach of their sites. By extending
their reach, these websites create greater exposure,
bringing in more targeted traffic, leads and sales.

You should do the same with your site. It will greatly
increase the importance of your site - boosting name
recognition and increasing your site’s visibility.

Lets look at a real life comparison, ever build a large
patio or outdoor deck onto your house and suddenly realize
you have not only doubled the floor plan but you have also
changed the very nature of the house itself. Or you build
a gazebo or a guest house on your property… and suddenly
you and your visitors have a different view or opinion of
your property. In fact, you have expanded the reach of your
property by building these extensions.

Think of your website in the same light - by building simple
extensions you can change how your site is viewed and judged
by others; resulting in many positive benefits. Little things
that are so simple to do, yet it can have far reaching
implications for your site. You can, in fact, extend the
reach of your site to all corners of the globe.

Here are some of the best techniques for extending the
reach of your site, some of these are very simple, some a
little more complex:

Article Writing
Get one way targeted links placed all over the web by writing
simple ‘how to’ articles on the topic or theme of your site.
Extend the reach of your site by simply including your live
links in the author’s resource box at the end of your articles.
Simple and very easy to do - just try it!

Viral Desktop Applications
You can extend the reach of your site by placing links directly
onto the desktops of your visitors by offering them simple
desktop applications like wallpaper, software programs, or
ecalendars, like the DATEwise desktop eCalendar (see below).
These are great for building brand recognition.

Old Fashion Link Building
Finding related websites and asking for reciprocal links
is still one of the best ways to extend your site. Takes a
bit of hard work but it pays off big time. And don’t forget
about testimonials, simple little recommendations about a
site or product, these can be great link building opportunities.

Bookmarks
Make sure you have a bookmark link on all your pages.
You might also want to make a favicon - small logo that goes
with your bookmarks. And subtly ask those who bookmark your site
to place a shortcut on their desktops.

Ezine or Newsletter
You can reach and keep reaching your site’s visitors by
building your own opt-in list newsletter or ezine. Broaden
the scope of your site by offering diverse information in
these publications.

Viral eBooks and Reports
These can be simple ‘how-to’ ebooks on topics related to
your site. Include links to your website and build name
recognition as well as tageted traffic.

Forum Posting
Becoming a regular poster on all the online forums will
give your site greater exposure and build site or brand
recognition. More importantly, if you offer helpful and
well informed information your site will acquire a resident
expert - you!

Off-line Advertising
Placing your site’s logo or URL in off-line places, billboards,
t-shirts, caps, but try to resist the latest trend - putting
URLs on body parts! Off-line exposure will greatly extend
the reach of your site.

Burning CDs
Burning your best programs or information on CDs, DVDs or disks
and distributing these around to all interested parties
will create more recognition. Great for reaching non-online
computer users.

RSS Feeds and Blogs
This may prove to be the granddaddy of ways to extend your site.
The original name for RSS stood for ‘Rich Site Summary’ - you
make a summary of your website and syndicate it to all interested
parties. Other webmasters will take your syndicated RSS feeds
and place them on their sites. You create mini satellite sites
of your content all over the web!

In addition, as your site expands and grows, other opportunities
will present themselves… in traditional media such as TV, Radio
and Print advertising. Starting an affiliate program for your site
is another option you may want to consider. An affiliate program
can greatly expand the reach of your site. So too, will starting
mirror sites in different languages or countries.

As you can plainly see, there are countless ways to extend the
reach of your site. However, just trying a few of these will boost
your site’s creditability and visibility, bringing in more targeted
leads and traffic. So it’s your move, don’t just let your site
sit there, start implementing some of what you’re just read.

The whole world is waiting…

About the Author

Get a Free DATEwise eCalendar & Personal Planner for your Desktop.

Click here for Free Desktop Calendar

Copyright © 2005 Titus Hoskins of Free Marketing Tools

This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

When it comes to website affiliation, you will need to know how to conduct a market study because this is how you will find your target audience. Without a targeted audience, your marketing campaigns will not be effective. It is good to keep track of your objectives.

Now, initially you might have few ideas as to what to promote so think of your hobbies or work activites that you have knowledge of. So, while the article may seem to imply you start some corporation to impress potential merchants, it is not necessary at all. Rather, what follows gives you some idea of what to consider. There is no point promoting companies that disappear quickly as it is a waste of your efforts.

Marketing Study Outline

In order to be able to conduct a decent targeting and marketing campaign, you must first understand the fundamentals of finding out what they are. They only way to do this is to follow a specific guideline for you to follow. Check out the guideline below.

1. Your Objective to the Research

• Explain in one paragraph why the research is being done, what you hope to learn and for what purpose the information that you attain may be used

2. Description of the Market

This should be general like one paragraph

Who is your Target Market(s)

• Why you chose this particular market

• Get a complete profile of your market (e.g., demographics, psychographics, behaviors)

• What benefits does your market seek (i.e., what points-of-pain or problems are being solved)

• What factors can affect their decision to purchase or use your product/service

• What attitudes do they have about the products/services that are currently not on the market

• How is the product used

• Products and Services that appeal to the target market

• In general terms, what is currently so appealing to this market

• If there are no current providers, what types of products/services may appeal to this market in the future (i.e., what is used now to solve the problem).

3. Market Metrics

Get many Size estimates (current and future) for all of the following:

• Overall market

• Current size as it stands

• Potential size for the future

• Actual penetration of current products/service within the entire market

Individual market segments

• Current size

• Potential size

• Actual penetration of current products/service within the total market

• Usage rates

• Frequency of product purchases

• Growth estimates (current and in the future) for:

• Overall market

• Individual market segments

4. Competitive Analysis

Listing the competition by market share ranking (by each target market if possible) is a good way to size them up. You can also be more specific by searching for individual points listed below.

Current Competitors - full analysis of top competitors including:

• Products & Services (e.g., description, uniqueness, pricing, etc.)

• Their Market share at current

• Current customers (targeted audience)

• Positioning and promotion strategies

• Partnerships/Alliances/Distributors

• Recent news

SWOT Analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats

It is extremely important to focus attention on the SWOT section of this report. While most other information in this report can be gleaned from company and secondary materials, much of what appears in the SWOT section is based on the researcher’s own opinions of the competitor based on the information that is collected.

Potential Competitors (any competition in the future)

• You will need to get an explanation (though it need not be as detailed as Current Competitors) on who they are or maybe and why they are seen as potential competitors

5. Additional

• Extraneous Variables

* Discuss factors that may affect this market (e.g., technological, social, governmental, competitive, etc.)

• Market Trends and what is expected to happen in the future

If you can follow these basic tips for finding and selecting your target market, you should be ready to search online and check out the competition and their rankings in the search engines. Below are some general guidelines for you to follow in creating your competitive analysis which is the most important factor in being an affiliate marketer. Knowing your competition just as well as your audience is the key point which is going to keep you on top.

GUIDELINES FOR DOING A COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

The competitive analysis section works best when it follows a format like the one that is shown below.

• General Company Information which includes name, location (headquarters, other locations of importance), website address

• Summary of the Business which includes a section that will summarize the company, business units and the general nature of the business

• Business Overview should include sections on the history, ownership structure, types of businesses, mission, strategy/objectives, and key executives

• Recent News/Developments such as important company developments within last 6-12 months (e.g., reports from news sources, press releases, financial statements)

• Financial and Market Share Analysis - includes sections on corporate performance, trends, market share for product

• Marketing in general should include sections on products and services that are offered, target markets, positioning, customers/users, pricing model, promotional efforts, sales force, and distribution

• Other Miscellaneous Issues like adding sections on technology capability, partnership arrangements, and intangible issues

• A list of your Competitors where you will list key competitors facing this company

• SWOT - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

Once you have completed your market analysis and target audience, you will want to choose who you are looking to affiliate with. You can start by looking at comsumer sites on the web to get ideas of what is hot and more importantly, what is not.

Now you may not be this comprehensive and that does not matter.There are affiliate directories out there you can go to and find out more and that is where you should spend some time conducting research.The purpose of this article really is to convey the fact the marketplace is huge and help you to consider the good companies from the bad companies.

Have a great affiliate product to promote but it is at a lousy web site? Overcome this challenge today!
Visit http://www.seriousedge.com

I need a car. I’ve been a pedestrian for too long. I need information. I’ll hop on the web. Search for “car buying guides.” Whoa! Over 15 million sites/pages! Refine my search. “Free first time car buyer guides” and narrow it down to only 4 million. That’s about as refined as I can get right now. Look over the first page of my results, chose some links with names I recognize. Open some pages. Lots of interesting articles. Let’s see if I can pull together a cohesive list.

What type of vehicle do I need? Notice I wrote “need” not want? I want a cool car, but this is a major investment and cool doesn’t really last that long. Do I buy new or used? What kind of driving am I really going to be doing, and in what kind of conditions? How much can I reasonably spend for monthly maintenance? How much can I spend on a loan or lease payment? Should I buy from a dealer, an auction or private sale? How’s my credit rating? Where should I buy insurance? Lots of questions to answer, and probably some I haven’t included here.

Before you search for that cool car, decide exactly what your needs and wants are. Don’t buy what you want, buy what you need. Don’t get into a cash bind because you spent more than you can really afford because the “cool” factor fades fast but those monthly payments continue. Review your budget to determine how much you can really afford. That means not only the car payment, but insurance and an estimate of your monthly maintenance (gas, oil, etc.)

Check your credit so you have an idea of what type of loan you can qualify for. Decide on a firm price (payment or full-purchase), because dealers and salespeople will be doing their best to get more out of you. Be firm and stick to your dollar amount. If financing, decide on a realistic maximum payment you can make. If possible, check with your bank to see what type of loan you qualify for.

With the internet, it’s now much easier to compare vehicles. Take the time to check out some websites that offer information about vehicles and compare. Don’t just rush out and buy the first car you see. Remember, your vehicle is a major investment and unless you can change vehicles every year, this car will probably have to last you 4 or 5 years. Be choosy. Look at the pictures, sure, but READ the information. Check to see if the dealership offers web discounts (that is, if you buy from them they will offer some discount for using the web).

Educate yourself about vehicle pricing. Dealerships have to make a profit; otherwise they would not be in business! Simple economics. Dealers will negotiate, but YOU have to be prepared as well. The dealers and salespeople know their bottom line on any vehicle. Again, check the web for information regarding pricing. Ask family and friends to help you learn about vehicle pricing. There are many factors that most people don’t even know about.

Make certain you qualify for insurance. Check out your state’s department of motor vehicles website and learn the minimum insurance necessary. Check around the web and you’ll find many major insurance companies with rate comparison features. Use those resources. Be very aware that your past driving record will affect your rates, but also if you are a first time buyer, be ready for slightly higher rates to begin with. After all, the insurance company is really gambling on your not making any claims against the insurance. Think about the type of driving you will be doing and review the “extras” offered by the insurance provider. Also, the type of vehicle you are looking to purchase will affect your rates as well. Older cars usually mean less safety features, so rates will be higher. Your vehicle insurance is just as important as your health insurance.

A short note here about car dealerships (and not just the new vehicle showroom guys). I personally have not had good results buying from a private seller. Way too many variables and basically no recourse if something isn’t right. Dealers have certain rules and restrictions they must comply with, such as title registration time limits, the lemon law, and the “buyers remorse” (3 day changed my mind) rules. Dealerships must be licensed and follow the laws; private sellers often don’t. Dealerships also can provide a wider range of options than a private seller. Go to your state motor vehicle or department of licensing website and educate yourself. What you don’t know can hurt you.

Also, there is a list called the Customer Service Index (or something similar) which each car maker maintains for dealerships. The ranking indicates who a dealership satisfies customers not only in sales, but also in service. Basically, go to the manufacturer’s website, search for customer service index and then navigate the website to find that manufacturer’s criteria for a great dealership. Yes it takes time, but this is a major investment. Family and friends can help here as well.

Once you have decided what type of vehicle you want, and which dealerships you want to check out (always try at least 2 dealerships, don’t just settle on one!), take someone with you, preferably someone knowledgeable about the vehicle you have chosen (a family member or friend you feel comfortable with). That person will probably ask some questions you didn’t think of! I’m a wimp when it comes to negotiating, but my hubby isn’t, and he knows about cars. I let him do most of the questioning, even though I was the one purchasing the car. Believe me, it helped, because he asked questions I really never thought about.

Last, but certainly not least, TEST DRIVE THE CAR! Sounds simple, but it is very important. Just because you found what looks like the car of your dreams, it may still not be right. You need to be comfortable behind the wheel, your sight lines should be clear, you should be able to judge your surroundings based on the size of the vehicle, and you should be able to find all those little areas of vehicle maintenance you can do yourself.

Remember, a vehicle is a major investment. It should be chosen with care and deliberate thought. There a many factors to consider and, ultimately, you are the one that has to pay for any mistakes in your choice.

Steven Anderson is the Reservations Director for Hawaiian Discount Car Rentals, specialists in car rentals Kauai. He has personally researched and experienced many of the Hawaiian activities and as described above.