Internet and Businesses Online

If you are new to having an online business, you need to be part of a strong team. If you have been online a while and are struggling to succeed, you need to join a strong team today.

Why do I say this?

The answer is simple. There is too much to learn and too much to do for a typical person to "make it" online working alone. You must master a lot of skills pretty quickly and the opportunity to be overcome with informational overload is very real.

Here are a few key items a team can help you with.

1. Getting started-- you can plan yourself into the poorhouse working from home. You need to take immediate and massive action to succeed working from home If you are stuck in "planning mode", you won't make any money. Your team can give you a "success plan" that others have used before you. This is very valuable, especially if you need income quickly. A success plan will give you the actual steps you need to follow in a well thought out, methodical order that will allow you to make steady progress towards your early goals when you join the team.

2. What to do and what to avoid-- there are a lot of things you can find to do that are a total waste of your time. There are other key business building actions that are "must dos". Your team will point you in the right direction on what to do and just as importantly what not to do. This can make or break your business. It is very easy to try to do too many things when you have just started your business. This can cause you to do none of them well and you will quickly "burn out" as well. You only want to be working on critical tasks when you are starting a new online business. Your team will make sure you are only working on these critical tasks.

3. Accountability-- your team can help hold you accountable to get done what you commit to. An accountability partner can really help you make sure you are getting key tasks done and will keep you focused. This is very important in the early stages of building your business. Your accountability partner will check on your progress and will "call you out" if you are not meeting your goals and getting things done. When you have an official accountability partner, it makes it very easy for you to get critical feedback on how you are doing as far as task completion and overall progress. This keeps you from working blindly and getting frustrated by lack of progress.

4. Motivation-- your team will help keep you going, especially if you hit some bumps in the road. When times get tough, it is very helpful to have some of your team help you get back on track. This can be very helpful if you have had a lot of issues in the past are in a stressful period of your life. You must stay motivated to "stay in the game" long enough to see some positive results. Motivation is a key to your success, and your team can really help you stay motivated, even in trying times.

5. Success stories-- when you are first getting started in any online business, people will ask you how you are doing. When you are just getting started, it is very beneficial for you to be able to talk to people that have already been successful in your company or venture. You team can help you bridge the gap until you are a success. This can be a simple phone call to one of your prospects to let them know you are part of a great team. Always remember, "success leaves clues". You want to work with a team that know how to be successful. You simply follow their guidance and you are well down the road to your own success.

6. Earning while learning-- a team will help you learn what you need to while you are starting to earn some money. Learning and earning go hand in hand, and your team will accelerate both your learning and earning if you take the time to ask for help and take action upon what you are taught. Your team knows how critical early success is, and they will do what it takes to make sure you do some earning while you are learning the ropes in your business.

As you can see, there is huge value in working with a good team. I highly recommend you find a solid team to work with, irregardless of what online opportunity you choose to pursue.

It does not matter what you do and what you are selling - Everything starts with a lead.

Leads become customers and customers puts money in your pocket at the end of the day. You can compare this method with a funnel. The more leads you put into the top of the funnel the more customers you will get and the more sales you will make, plain and simple.

There are literally thousands of ways to generate leads. Some are free and some you have to pay for.

I want to focus on a few free methods that you can use on the internet to generate traffic to your website which in turn generate leads to you.

Methods include :

1. Articles
2. Press Releases
3. Videos
4. Blogs
5. Social Media

Articles are the easiest and quickest method to generate free leads. Choose a topic to write about that is in line with what you have to offer. Articles should consist of 250 words and then post it to your favorite articles submission website. Remember to offer value to your readers, don't try to sell them something, people don't like to be sold.

Press releases are almost the same as an article. The major difference is that you must write it in a format that you tell the audience your story in news format. Your heading would be something like this for example - "Internet Guru explains exactly how he started his successful online business in just a few short months." Press releases are also generally shorter than articles and can be posted on various submitting websites.

Videos are an excellent way of generating free leads. You can use a webcam or any digital camera that supports video. Videos should once again offer value to your prospect. They must be able to walk away with something to value of them after watching your video without having to purchase something from you.Videos should not be longer than 2-3 minutes.

Blogs are a great way to connect with your prospects on a more personal level. Make sure that you have photos and stories on your blog so that people can relate to you. Remember that people generally buys from people... if they can relate to you then they will most probably buy from you. You can setup a blog by using WordPress.

Social media such as Twitter and Facebook are also brilliant tools you can use to generate free leads. Once again, this is to build rapport with your prospects. A good rule of thumb is not to try and sell anything using social media. Use the tools to connect with you prospects. Make them come to you and don't ever chase after any prospect again.

By using these 5 methods you can easily generate free leads within a few days.

Want to run a successful online business but not sure which internet business tools are the best to use? Discover the same resources that I and many successful online entrepreneurs use to run their businesses. And the best part is, most of them are absolutely free!

1. Email

The best free email service is Gmail by Google. You can set up a free account quickly and easily and even forward emails from your Gmail account to another email account.

Because of the amount of spam email that plagues the internet, it is best to offer a Gmail email account when you subscribe to a service. That way you won't clog up the email space provided by your internet service provider.

2. Social Networking Sites

There are 2 main social sites that I use to network and communicate with people:

Facebook

Twitter

Both these sites are hot. Set up a free account right now and start inviting your friends, colleagues, etc to join you. You can end up developing networks of thousands of people and keep them up to date with the click of a button. Best of all, its free.

3. Roboform

This handy little password tool saves you heaps of time. There is a free version (holds up to about 10 passwords) and a paid version (unlimited passwords). It installs on your PC and creates a new toolbar on your web browser.

Whenever you go to a site that you need to enter a username and password, Roboform will automatically enter the details for you with the click of a button! I couldn't imagine life without it.

4. Domain Name Registration

I use Namecheap to register my domain names. As the name suggests, the prices are competitive. Also, they have an easy-to-use domain management interface.

5. Web Hosting

While Namecheap do offer web hosting services, instead I use Kiosk.ws.

The main reason I use Kiosk is their understanding of internet marketing businesses. If I was to have a few complaints about spam, etc, Kiosk won't shut down my domain and seize possession of it - as other hosting companies have done and will do.

Another reason I choose Kiosk is their excellent support services. I live in Australia and my hours are after-hours in North America but I know I can get live 24 hour support with Kiosk - and I have.

Also, they have a generous referral compensation program which you can use to your benefit as you recommend them to your friends and associates.

6. FTP Software

Once you have your own domain and a hosting account set up, you will need FTP software to easily upload/download content for your website.

I use Filezilla, a free open source solution that is the most widely-used FTP software available today.

Note: Make sure you download the "client" version.

7. Content Management System (CMS)

Wordpress is the best (and it's totally free) content management system for your website. Wordpress is easy to install and is very user-friendly.

Wordpress makes it easy for you to write and maintain content for your website. Also, it is extremely search engine friendly which means that you'll have greater presence in Google and Yahoo! and, therefore, more free visitors to your site!

You can install Wordpress from within Cpanel (in your web hosting account) under the "Fantastico Deluxe" section; this is the easiest way to install Wordpress, or you can download it directly from Wordpress.org and follow their setup instructions.

8. Webpage Design (HTML Editor)

Because I own Microsoft Office I use FrontPage for my basic webpage designs, such as landing pages. There is a free, widely-used alternative called Nvu. Nvu allows you to create and edit your own web pages.

You don't need any programming skills so don't be concerned if you're totally new to this.

9. Autoresponder

If you want to build a subscriber list for a newsletter or otherwise, I highly recommend AWeber.

AWeber is easy to use, highly customizable, and has a high delivery rate. It is considered the industry standard and is used by most of the biggest players in internet marketing.

Tech support is superb. My requests have always been responded to within 24 hours and they even have a live support chat feature.

10. Keyword Tools

Keyword research is so important to building an online business. There are 3 main keyword tools that I use:

i) Google Keywords Tool

This is an awesome, free tool provided by those who know keywords best; Google. With this tool you can find out how many people are searching a particular keyword and how competitive a keyword is with advertisers. The Google Keyword Tool is the best keyword tool.

ii) Keyword Elite

Great tool if you want to easily generate keywords lists of hundreds or thousands of keywords (the Google Keyword Tool will only give you back a maximum of 150 results per search).

With one click of a button, Keyword Elite will search Google, Yahoo, Ask, FreeKeywords, Meta Tags, misspelled words, Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery.

Also, you can easily filter keywords based on positive or negative keywords.

iii) Keyword Spy

Keyword Spy is a weapon that I've only recently discovered and added to my arsenal. With Keyword Spy you can search any website or affiliate offer and find out exactly who is promoting it and what the keywords are they are bidding on. Very powerful tool.

11. Payment Processors

Clickbank makes payment processing easy if you have a digital product you want to sell.

Clickbank take care of everything; they handle credit card payments and also refunds. Also, they handle affiliate commissions.

To set up a merchant account with Clickbank, sign up as a vendor.

PayPal is a great free alternative for payment processing.

12. Office Software

For my word processing, spreadsheets and databases I use Microsoft Office mainly but there are a couple of free solutions that are just as good:

i) Open Office

ii) Google Docs

Open Office works just like Microsoft Office and is even compatible with it. You can exchange and modify documents with other Microsoft Office users.

Google Docs is awesome. You can use an online word processor, spreadsheet and calendar just like you would use Microsoft Office. The one major advantage with Google Docs is that you can access the program and all your documents from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. Also, you can assign anyone permissions to view and/or modify one, any or all of your documents!

13. PDF Creator

If you create reports, such as this one, you will need to have a PDF printer to convert your word documents to PDFs. There is a free one that I use called PDF995.

There are a few free PDF converters out there but I like PDF995 because you can download free add-ons that allow you to create customized hyperlinks within your PDF document.

14. Paint Program

Editing images can be a big part of creating an online presence. An excellent free image editing program is called Paint.NET.

15. Screen Capture

Capturing screenshots is a great resource, especially when you are preparing a how-to guide. ScreenHunter is a free program that is easy to install and use.

16. Video Creation

Creating videos is a must these days. We all know how to create videos with our video cameras but creating screen recording videos is extremely useful.

The most widely-used screen recording video software is Camtasia Studio. It is not cheap but it is a great product. I have a copy and used it to create a video ecourse and other projects.

There is a free alternative but I haven't used it myself so I can't comment from personal experience. It is called CamStudio and it comes highly recommended by those that do use it.

Creating screen recordings is a great way to teach others how to do something. You can then use that knowledge to drive traffic to your site by posting your videos online. Which brings us to the next resource I use...

17. Video Hosting

The most popular video hosting service on the net today is YouTube. YouTube membership is free and it also costs you nothing to upload as many videos as you want. The only limitation is that the video length can be no more than 10 minutes (unless you are willing to pay for a different plan).

YouTube is a great source of free traffic. Videos are so popular and they will only continue to attract more and more visitors in the years to come.

Even better than hosting your video just on YouTube is to get it on 20+ sites, all with the push of one button... how do you do this? With an awesome free service called TubeMogul.

PayPal is a subsidiary of the online auction and shopping website EBay. PayPal is an ecommerce business site that facilitates paying, transferring and receiving money through internet. The transfer can be made either by using the credit card or the bank account. PayPal serves as an intermediary between the payer and the payee.

PayPal processes payments and receives payments for customers by charging a fee depending upon the currency, country of the sender and receiver, payment option, account type of the recipient and the amount involved. Thus PayPal not only offers easy transfer of money across the world, but is also a secure way to transfer money.

PayPal serves as the platform for various PayPal-games which are based on customer skills. Few PayPal games are Poker, Stock trading, Forex and Finance. These are known as PayPal games because they accept PayPal as the mode of funds transfer.

PayPal Trading enables traders to interact and execute monetary transactions like trading in currency, stocks and other investments.

So with the small amount in the PayPal account, customers can multiply their funds by applying their skill. The recommended PayPal games and their reviews help the customers to take informed decisions to maximize profits. 

Another PayPal game that can increase our wealth is the PayPal Currency. PayPal account can be opened in different currencies which include US Dollars, Australian Dollars, Great Britain Pounds and Euros to name a few. A PayPal account holder can convert the funds in his PayPal account from one currency to another and take advantage of the Currency exchange rates adopted by PayPal. Thus without trading, profits can be earned by merely converting funds to different currencies.PayPal games not only offer secure transfer of funds, but

also recommends games which can reap more profits out of small investments.