1) Converting those who visit your website or interact with you somewhere else on the web to taking action with you

2) Enabling yourself to be not just “found” or “stumbled upon” but ever present

3) Maximizing your sales potential by either making or creating something to sell on your own or promoting someone else’s product.

Stay tuned for Thursday’s launch, which will be ONLY between the hours of 10am and 3pm. Sign-up for the Tuesday Triplet where we’re describing the product launch process one step at a time while we’re actually doing it.

Some of the requirements will include:

-Availability during business hours Monday-Friday to take inquiry calls and emails and return them.

-More than half of our leads come from other business owners who are referring their clients to us so you will need to be able to be able to track where leads came from so that we can pay referral fees.

-Willingness to attend networking events with Marty or alone to build our referral network.

-Availability to attend Marty’s workshops and seminar appearances and be the “go-to” person when he gets off stage.

-Writing proposals and following up.

-Helping to create content for brochures and handouts to help you sell better.

Some skills you should have that we will be considering in the selection process are:

-A pleasant happy voice. You’re going to be talking to people on the phone, so you must have the kind of voice that people want to talk to.

-A pleasant professional appearance. You’re going to be meeting people face-to-face.

-Decent computer skills. You’re going to need to take notes in our CRM system while on the phone with leads.

-Your own computer and home office. We use our office only for meeting prospects, clients and conducting training workshops.

-Discipline to work on your own. We don’t say this lightly. Our team is a bunch of tireless go-getters. If you’re not one too, you just won’t fit in.
-Knowledge of the Internet is a plus. The more you know the easier it will be to train you to sell for us.

If you would like to chat about this opportunity more, submit the contact form. You will email with Marty directly at first and if you are potentially a good fit, he’ll schedule a call with you.

In one week worth of promotion, we packed a room of more than 100 people and we had 40 more on a waiting list. We just couldn’t fit any more into the room.

So, we’re doing it again! And, it won’t cost you a cent to attend.

This one-day-only event will be from 9am to noon on Thursday, June 24 at the Red Lion Hotel in Aurora Colorado, just off I-225 at the Parker Road exit.

Our room will only hold 125 and, as last time, it’s sure to fill up fast, so register now or copy and paste this link into your browser: http://tinyurl.com/29qr8tf

As last time, I (Marty Dickinson) will start the morning off where I’ll cover:

• The new evolution of websites and why it doesn’t make sense to use anything else for your business
• Hot strategies that are working this month for converting more of your website visitors to leads and paying customers, including less text and more video
• Updates on Google’s organic search mix and how real-time search and video is impacting your traffic today
• How the Internet marketing “heavy hitters” get more traffic to their websites using my “Traffic Triangle” process (You won’t hear about this at a Meet-up group!)
• How to get 300 minutes of benefit from every 30 minutes you spend on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin

Then, we’ll switch gears and Zak will cover the enormous power and process of more effective email marketing, including how to:

• Use best practices and winning strategies in your email marketing
• Get and keep quality subscribers
• ncrease your deliverability and open rates
• Create more compelling content
• Integrate video into your email campaigns

This is your opportunity to learn the true cutting edge online strategies for today in simple step-by-step sequences you will be able to apply immediately to your own business promotion efforts.

Learn from valuable case studies of how other businesses have effectively used these important Internet marketing and email marketing techniques to boost their business.

Join us on June 24th at the Red Lion in Aurora. You must RSVP to this free event and we are sure to fill the room before the date arrives. So, do not hesitate.

Don’t wait. Click Here NOW to Sign-up today and get ready to Profit Again in 2010!

I chose the words in a design format that I wanted my designer to use when she created my business cards. So, sure, I took things to a little higher level by first creating my design and then sending it to my designer. But, you don’t have to. There are a number of free business card creation tools on the web. Just search Google for “free online business card maker” and you’ll find a bunch of them. Or, just drop your text into an MS Word template.

The important thing to know about this card is that every time I go to a networking event or conference, 5 of 10 I give this card to will visit that domain name 101TrafficMethods.com and sign-up for my free whitepaper. The actual design doesn’t matter nearly as much as the offer I give to people.

So, let’s take a look at this more closely.  This business card has 5 important elements:

1. Create an Offer that Appeals to a Wide Audience – Almost everyone in my industry cares more about getting traffic to their website above all things business. And, most people think the only way to get traffic is to be #1 on Google.  So, it’s a pretty easy slam dunk that if I was to create an offer that would help someone to get more traffic to their website, that I’d have a winner on my hands. Think about your industry. What “topic” in your industry is so important that it appeals to practically everyone in your target market?

2. Make a Sexy Headline that Asks a Question – People love to answer questions in their minds. Start your headline with “Want to Know the Hottest…” and fill in the blank ending with a question mark.

3. Encourage a Visit to Your Website – I registered a domain name to take the reader directly to a specific page on the HereNextYear website where they can sign-up to get the ecourse and whitepaper for 101 traffic methods. This just makes the process faster than if I was to suggest the visitor visits HereNextYear.com, then look on the left column for 101 Traffic Methods and click the link and then sign-up. Ug! Too much work. A good business card design also factors in speed for the card reader to get to your offer.

4. Urgency – “Go there now because you may be eligible…” is a great way to suggest urgency in your offer because it might go away soon.

5. Name and a Benefit – You really have to be specific as to the main benefit of why the person you gave the card to should go get your offer. It should be obvious why anyone would want more traffic to a website, but I really spelled it out by saying “time proven tips to double your traffic-building productivity.”

Put all these things together and you really will be able to design your own business card. But, you will also have a business card that actually pays for itself. So many people will tell you that business cards are wastes of money and they all get thrown into the garbage can. That’s true for most business cards. But not this one. My business card is a proven tool for building my list and has staying power.

Go ahead and copy it. I did. This technique is not a “Marty special.” I got it from Alex Mandossian years ago and copied his format. So you are welcome to copy mine. Just don’t get the idea of stealing my 101 doc and using it as your own, that’s just not cool.

Come up with your own resource from your own brain and offer it to the world. That’s what will show your originality and knowledge of your business. Remember that design of your business card is not the most important thing. It’s the words and the offer that you put onto it that matters.

The post says the recall is in 23 states and 19 people have already been impacted by E. coli. Can you even imagine the dollars lost in all the lettuce that has to be thrown out now? Lettuce is almost (not quite but almost) as popular as potatoes in usage. Lettuce is everywhere!

There’s nothing funny at all about the lettuce recall and for me being someone that east salad daily for lunch I have to wonder if I should settle for a burger today. But, I do find it somewhat curious why Amazon came to mind immediately when I heard about the 2010 lettuce recall.

I guess maybe I feel kind of “recalled” when Amazon decided to stop paying its Colorado associates because of the new tax law that hit Colorado a few months ago. Overnight, I had to sort of recall about 30 websites where I was promoting Amazon product and I can assure you I lost money with their overnight decision to recall their associates program for our state.

The difference that came to mind is that after the recall of lettuce is cleaned up, there will be lettuce again. In my eyes, Amazon has lost me completely as a customer and recommender and I have found other sources for products I promote online.

The other difference is that surely you will hear about some sort of recourse taken by businesses impacted by the lettuce incident. They’ll find the source of the problem and take them out financially.

But, nothing will happen to Amazon. They’ll just keep selling their products state by state until they can take out all their former associates that help them build up. Sure wish we could put a recall in on all those people we sent their way.

How has the Amazon decision effected your Internet marketing process? Or how has the lettuce recall effected your business or lunch plans today?

Before deciding to call it a night, you can’t resist checking your e-mail one last time to see how many orders have come in over the last few hours.

When you click on your e-mail “Inbox” link, you’re met with a long pause….

The message, “Can’t Connect to Server” finally appears.

A slight tingling begins in your fingers. You wonder how many important e-mails have been lost. You then wonder if the problem is with your connection, the e-mail server, or worse yet, your web site.

Sure enough. The web site is down.

You call your web site hosting company. The voice mail message tells you that office hours will begin Monday morning. As suggested on the voice message, you submit an emergency support request by e-mail.

Suddenly, a feeling of complete helplessness comes over you. Suddenly, you realize that you are no longer in control of your own website.

This situation happens to many people around the world each week and always at the worst possible time such as a Friday night or right after a big promotion hits the streets.

One of my most eye-opening experiences to this was back in 1996. I discovered two weeks later that my hosting company was acquired by a larger, national ISP. Upon changing servers, they had mistakenly wiped out my account.

There I was completely dead in the water for 14 days. I had no one to call and no one to send an e-mail to (e-mail support wasn’t even popular then). The only action I could take was to wait.

I had always wondered what the most important component was about a website. Was it the graphic appeal? The functionality? The copywriting? The search engine rankings? No!

I learned that day that the most critical element of a website is accessibility. If your website can’t be viewed by people, it’s useless. If your web server is down, your business doesn’t exist in peoples’ eyes. If people can’t see your products to order them, they won’t. If they’re visiting you for the first time and can’t, they won’t come back. If your web site goes down, time is critical.

It took another two years of trial and error with various web hosting companies; but I finally figured out the secrets to choosing a web hosting company so that problems can be minimized if not avoided all together. Here are my findings and I hope they help you to choose a web site host wisely, the first time around:

Step 1 – Understand that cheapest is not always best
Hosting prices can range from being free to several thousands of dollars a month. Unless you have huge files, unusually high visitation or require database connectivity (such as PHP with MySQL), there are few reasons that would justify your need to pay more than $20 a month for hosting of your web site.

However, there are definitely reasons why you should not try to scrape the bottom of the pricing barrel either. The remaining steps are usually where the cheaper alternatives cut their corners and how to make sure you’re getting the most for your money.

Step 2 – Make sure YOU own your domain name
Some hosting companies will offer a “Free Domain Name” of your choosing if you sign-up with their hosting plan. If you want to pursue hosting with such a company, be very clear about exactly who owns the domain name once it’s registered. More specifically, ask them exactly who is listed as the Registrant. If it’s not you, you will not be the owner of the domain name. This could cause big problems in the event that you ever need to change hosting companies. My suggestion is always to register your domain name first at BestDomainPlace.com (my personal pick these days), and then select a web site hosting company.

Step 3 – Make sure the hosting company offers *AT LEAST* phone support or live chat
Many people who conduct business on the web love to make contact with their clients by e-mail. This is because responses to problems can be made at leisure. In the event that you have real trouble with your web site, you will want help immediately…not at someone’s leisure! Sending e-mails and waiting for support tickets to be responded to can sometimes take a week or more before the problem is solved. If getting problems solved quickly is important to you, demand a web site host that offers support by phone or at least live chat with a support tech.

Step 4 – Choose Linux/Unix hosting
As popular as the alternative might be, I’ve found that web sites with the highest percentage of up-time and lowest probability of being hacked are hosted on Linux/Unix. The operating system just seems to be more stable, pages deliver more quickly to the browser, and web-based functionality processes more smoothly in this environment.

Step 5 – Be sure you can update your site day or night
Whether you design or maintain your own web site or pay someone else to do it for you, it is critical that additions and changes can be made whenever they need to be made. Basic site changes are commonly made through some sort of software program like Dreamweaver, Contribute or FrontPage. Be sure that access to your site files will not be denied on weekends or after business hours.

Step 6 – Know what features you need and why you need them
When you talk to a web site hosting company (and PLEASE talk to them rather than just conversing by e-mail!), they’re going to (or should) ask several questions about your intentions so that they help you choose the right hosting plan for your situation.

Will you be managing a forum or a searchable database within your site? Or, will your site be simple with just 4 or 5 pages of information for visitors? How many e-mail accounts will you need? Do you have any additional domain names that you’d like to point to this site? Will you require a shopping cart with online transactions?

Have a solid plan for your site before you buy-in to a web site hosting plan.

Step 7 – Be sure you are provided with detailed visitation statistics
It is so simple for a web hosting company to offer detailed statistics these days and knowing where your visitors are coming from is so important.

Many web hosting companies do not offer any type of visitation statistics. Some tell you they do, but they’re so limited or indecipherable that they’re really of no help. Others offer statistics for a small monthly fee.

Occasionally, you’ll find someone (like one of my web site hosts) that provides detailed and graphical statistics down to the page level–for no additional charge. Here is just a basic list of what you should be able to track from your web site visitation statistics utility:

- Number of unique visitors per month
- Did they type in your domain name or enter a key word in a search engine?
- What keyword(s) did they use to find you?
- What search engines are people finding your site listed on?
- What page are they entering and leaving your site?
- Is there a day or time of day that most people visit your site?

Step 8 – Know if there are any e-mail limitations or violations
When you host a web site that includes use of a company domain name, it’s important to have your e-mail address associated with that domain name. If you have a hotmail account listed on your web site, it’s just not as professional. If your web site address is www.yourcompany.com, then your personal e-mail address should be yourname@yourcompany.com.

For this reason, most hosting companies will include a certain number of e-mail accounts that will include your domain name so that you can have some more generic accounts such as info@yourcompany.com, questions@yourcompany.com and sales@yourcompany.com for example. What you name them should be up to you.

There are two important priorities with company e-mail accounts: 1) You should be able to access your e-mail from any computer and ALSO have the ability to pull those e-mails to your computer using Outlook Express or Firefox or whichever web browser you’re currently using, and 2) There should be no limitation (within reason) to the size of an attachment that you can send or receive.

Step 9 – Make sure they’re not on the “bad list”
Most web site hosting companies will not take the time to give you references. Even if they do, the references are usually hand-picked so you’re likely to not get a good representative sample of clients hosted by a particular company. But, a web site hosting company really has to tick someone off to get listed on a bad list. So, before you choose a host, check a few complaint sites and see if they’re listed. Here are a few that I use most commonly:

- The Complaint Station
- PlanetFeedback.com

Step 10 – Listen to referrals made by others
I’ve used web hosting companies from the U.S. to Australia and I can assure you that the best host I’ve ever used is “our own” web hosting servers. That’s right, HereNextYear has offered website hosting and email hosting since 2007.

My recommendation to you is this. If your web site has complexities of any kind, host your website with a local company where you can walk in the door to talk to the owner if you need to.

Meet everyone you can on the support staff so that the next time you call or e-mail with a question or problem, you’re not just another complaining customer.

Your website host must be responsive to you. If your website has a problem, it’s your business and your reputation that is at stake and they must genuinely care with you about your success or it’s just a matter of time before a damaging problem results.

In Summary…
To use the Internet to its fullest potential for your business begins with finding a web site host that will partner with you in your venture. You want a company that will be committed to your success and will not just see you as another account taking up space on a server.

Most importantly, you don’t want to have to worry whether your web site will be “up” for people to see and use from day to day. You should be spending your time building your business.