I marketed my direct sales business exclusively online for a year. I was determined to learn internet marketing.

I involved myself with a company that has an education platform that teaches online marketing to anyone on the planet, any product or service 24/7.

I was teachable and eager to learn the New School way of marketing a business online. Does this sound familiar to you?

I engaged with Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, My Space and YouTube. I wrote tens of articles, I wrote and make videos and posted them online.

I listened in on tens of conference calls and webinars to learn the new way. I spent thousands of dollars having high price vendors make poorly designed landing pages and blogs. I wrote press releases and finally taught myself to build my own word press blog very successfully.

As if this was not enough, I learned and engaged in pay per click. For your information I did pause my pay per click campaign a month before Google put the hammer down on home based business. My account is still paused and I can activate when I am ready to advertise with Google again.

I was determined not to engage my warm market PERIOD. End of that conversation. I was a good pupil and followed directions to the letter.

Why did I change my mind and turn around completely?

First I was not happy with the results I was getting with my online efforts. I looked at the successful offline businesses and realized that they indeed had an online presence but not exclusively.

Most successful businesses integrate their marketing and do both.

I realized that I wanted to go back to marketing off the internet without losing what I had accomplished and learned online. I made conscious decision to concentrate on off-line marketing and to integrate those efforts with what I learned about marketing online.

I was looking forward to speaking to people face to face and not being shut in my office interacting with my computer. YUK!

I prefer the team approach rather than being the Lone Ranger and working by myself. Sorry Tonto, no neglect intended. First know thyself and accept it.

As a Baby Boomer I realized I was missing many opportunities in my daily travels about town.

I also learned that only 12% of sales are done online.

This gap is as wide as the Grand Canyon. You been there?

I was missing a lot of opportunities to help enrich the lives of others with what I had to offer. I now spend 75 percent of my time marketing offline and 25 percent of my time marketing online.

This is a fabulous arrangement. With online and offline marketing you cannot get around work. Production is the key. Massive activity and connection with other people works well for both.

If more than 75 percent of sales are done offline where do you choose to pursue your massive activity? I learned a lot about marketing on the internet but this girl is meeting new people daily, engaging in interesting conversations, having fun-being relaxed and growing, yes growing my business.

I now market offline as well as online and it is paying off tremendously. If you have not done so, consider it as one of your possibilities. Decide how you want to spend your time, figure out what strategies you want to use for both and dive in.

Do not miss any opportunities offline to help and engage another person.

Honor yourself!

Timing is one of the keys to success.  A few short years ago if you wanted to be an investor in real estate you would not buy houses to hold.  The values were going up and up and you knew as an investor this was not sustainable.  You would buy and flip.

Today if you want to be a real estate investor you would buy foreclosures and hold. .  Most people know timing as it relates to trading stocks and bonds.  Buy low sell high.

When you make a decision to make changes in your life always do a check for the right timing.  This could make the difference between failure and success.

Yes, you have the ability to choose the best moment to get involved in an opportunity?  There are clues.  Is the opportunity old and stale?  Have you had any significant changes in your life?  If so, how can this alter your decision.

A couple of years ago I made a decision to get involved in a great opportunity.  I had suffered a major loss in my life less than a year earlier.  I thought I was doing fine.  I wasn’t.  I felt that getting involved with this opportunity would help me  feel better.  It didn’t.   I needed more time and I gave it to myself. The timing was not right for me to make a life changing decision at that time.

Are the masses diving in without training or expertise? Is it widely talked about?  If the masses are pursuing an opportunity it is over.  Go in another direction.

Do not follow the masses!

If you want to start a business today look for a business that is new and fresh, look for a niche or sub niche.  A product or service that people need but cannot find easily.  Decide on an internet, home-based  or a brick and mortar option.  What option is the timing right for?

TIP:  Only 12% of sales occur online.  There is a huge opportunity offline as well.

With the keying of several strokes on a keyboard a person can purchase a variety of products in minutes without leaving their home.  Is this form of marketing and buying the wave of the future?  Almost every home has a computer; some homes have more than one.  Is this a fad?

If you want to market a product on the internet do you have the comprehensive training for the proper execution of the product or service you want to market.  This is all a part of the timing.  Is the time now to learn Internet marketing?

You do realize there is a strategy for learning all things new.  Learn how to market your chosen niche and take advantage of this new revenue producing activity.

R.I Fritz Henry says, “ Timing, degree and conviction are the three wise men of life.”

Before you make a life changing decision think hard and long about the timing.  Is it the right time for this?

Honor yourself!

Read this only if you want to fill your leads funnel fast, easy and cheap.

A few months ago I got involved in this method of advertising only to give it up without much effort.  Recently I got involved again.  The results are really surprising.

These leads are specific to your industry and are likely looking for what you have to offer.  I have tried many marketing strategies.  Some of them work and some do not.

This one does.

This is not:

• Google Adwords

• Making phone dials

• Free articles

• Videos

• Twitter

• Facebook

• Banner advertising

This has been around for a while but is making resurgence.  It is ezine advertising.

Yes, this is it, advertising in e-zines.

E-zine owners send your ad to their e-mail list.  It works like a charm.

E-zines are electronic magazines that are delivered into subscribers email box.  The same as paper magazines are delivered into your mailboxes at your home or post office box.

These e-zines are delivered daily weekly, semi-monthly and monthly.  Some of the large e-zines have tens of thousands in their subscriber base.

No doubt you are subscribers to many e-zines yourself and you have noticed the ads in these publications.  If you want quick targeted traffic to pursue your offer this is it.

Before you advertise, subscribe to the e-zine to check out the content and make sure it corresponds with what your offer will be.

Like any advertising medium good ad copy important.  It is easy to test your ads with smaller and less expensive e-zine.  If your ad copy pull well, you have the go ahead to advertise in e-zines with a large subscriber base.

TIP:  Many e-zines allow article publication.  If you are a writer you can submit your article for publication free of charge in the e-zine.  Most importantly you can add a short biography and your website.  This is free publicity.

Contact the owner of the e-zine for the details.

There are many e-zines online, look them up and choose a few that is in your market category.  You could be in for a shock.

Expect great things from this revived advertising medium.

Honor yourself

What is your intention for your business? One could say to be successful and make money of course. How do you intend to do this? How does it happen? How much time will it take?

Who will you become in the process of building your business? This is the important question and the answer.

Let’s assume you have never owned a business yet, you really have this burning desire to work for yourself. You have done your research and decided on a business to build, yes build.

When you want an online presence you need a website.  You must purchase a website name from a registrar, this is your domain name.  It is a unique address for a page or group of pages on the internet.

Your home has an address, if you own a brick and mortar business it has an address and so does your online business or online presence.

Your domain name consist of access protocol “http” and the name you have chosen as your online address.

So many names are no longer available and buying a new one can be a tedious process.  It can be done and quite successfully as well.  It will take a bit of time and effort to get an effective name that will stand out and can easily be remembered.

Take an in-depth look at your product line and this is where you will start.  If you have a product that stop headache pain don’t choose a broad name such as “pain relief,” even though pain relief is what you are offering.

There are many types of pain, be specific. Choose a name that has relevance to your product.  Think about what people would type into search engines to find you?

Consider the length of your domain name.  How long is to long?  The key here is to choose a name that is catchy and memorable and can be used through out all of your advertising.

Most businesses use “.com” which stand for “commercial.”  If you want to use a “.com” address that is in use by another person, you can contact them and ask to purchase the name or use “.net” instead if available.  It stands for “network”.  If you decide to use “.net”  know that some people will type in “.com” as a habit.   Is this good for your business?

This a workable process when choosing a domain name:  Lets assume I want to sell a natural product that cures headaches.

1       Write down 20-30 slogans for your business. They come easy at first then get more difficult around the 20^th.  Keep going.  The last ones are the best and probably not used yet.  Some examples are:  Headache relief fast and easy, natural headache relief, proven natural headache relief, drug free headache relief and simple headache relief.  You get the point.

2        The next step is to check the name availability. As you begin to type in your names most will not be available.  You will receive suggestions from the registrar that you can play off as well.

3        Out of 20 names you will find 2-4 that could be available. You could ask questions with your domain names? “ How to get fast headache relief? “ Or if you prefer,” fast headache relief.”  Which one would a searcher type into the search engines?

4        After you know what names are available you can decide on one or continue to brainstorm.  You can also ask for help from friends and family in brainstorming for your address.

5        Decide to use or not use numbers and alphabets, “4” could mean “for” or “u” to mean “you”.  How do you want your online presence to be perceived?  Some experts say using numbers result in your website ranking higher in the search engines.

6        Some say using dashes in long domain names are easier to recognize. Example is: how-to-get-fast-headache-pain-relief, instead of, howtogetfastheadachepainrelief.  You can use this with the former.  HowToGetFastHeadacePainRelief.

Some expert’s say because of the dashes those web sites appear higher in search engines as well.  They are more difficult to type into the browsers or address bar.  If the address is available you could purchase both and point them to your website.

Brainstorming works and it is fun, fast and effective way to get a good domain name.

Three more tips:

1        If you have not gotten your name in the form of an address do so now.  If you have a common name such as “Robert Jones,” try this: “Robert Jones the teacher” maybe “Robert Jones From Florida” or what ever your past or present occupation is.  Names are moving out fast so hurry and get yours.

2        If you have plans to start a business in the future reserve your address now.

3.      You do not need to use “.com” at the end of your domain name.  When you purchase your domain name several options   will pop up.  (.net, .biz and .org)  .com is still most recognized.

You have the necessary information to obtain a great online address for you venture.  Use these simple techniques to move forward.

Honor yourself!