Three Ways A Website or Blog Directory Can Help Your Business

There are many website and blog directories online today and for good reason. They are popular because being listing in a directory gives a link back to your site, which all sites need to rank with the search engines. A website or blog directory is a place for you to describe your site, services, and products without being afraid to toot your own horn.

Some directories give you only enough space to list your website URL with a brief description while others will give you enough room for a full-page display. The more room you have the better. On directories that allow a full- sized article about your site you can go into a lot more detail, giving you the chance to open visitors up to the idea of your product or services. Most of these directories that allow a full-sized article will also allow you a couple of anchor text links back to any page on your site. This is like gold and is the kind of website or blog directory you should be seeking out.

Three Ways Directories Help Your Site

A Backlink - Every time you list your website or blog URL in a directory this creates a backlink to your site. Backlinks are a lot like a report card to the search engines, so the more backlinks you have the better your site may be rated.

Traffic - Not all directories will produce traffic for you, but some of the more popular sites will occasionally send traffic your way. In this case the backlink is more important than the amount of traffic.

Exposure - The exposure you get from listing in a directory is two-fold. You get your site exposed to visitors of the site as well as the people listing their blogs or websites. In fact, more of your exposure may come from other website owners. Before they list, they look at sites already on the directory to see what competition they may have.

Promoting and marketing your blog or website takes a lot of time if you do it right, unless you outsource some of the tasks. And promoting through directories is just one of the ways. Many of the directory sites allow free listings and some ask for a reciprocal link. You can also pay for a featured listing in many cases. Usually these featured listings don't cost that much and could last for a month or year, depending on the owner of the site.

A featured listing usually either highlights your listings or even shows it in a rotating slider across the pages. Anytime you can have a featured listing it will get your site more attention.

Promoting your website is the one thing people tend to ignore after getting it up. The right directory will give you a head start to building backlinks and rank.

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6 Obama Strategies to Grow Your Business

Regardless of your political affiliation or whether you are a registered voter, there are some business strategies you can learn from President Barack Obama. Whether you are just thinking about starting a business, have just started a business or you are looking for ways to take your business to the next level, you would be wise to pay close attention to how President Obama manages his team. Here are six tips you can to advance your business by using the strategies gleaned from the leader of the free world:
Share freely - While he was a candidate President Obama shared a lot of 'inside' information on how they government works that many of us had never heard of or paid attention to. Take the "pork barrel" and "earmark" talks. He made sure we understood what all of this meant. Don't hesitate to share great information and content in your newsletter, on your blog or website because you think if you share too much free stuff, people won't buy. This is simply not true; people will buy. They will buy because now that you have shared all this knowledge you are now considered an expert and you have increased your validity in the eyes of potential customers.
Admit when you have messed up - President Obama quickly acknowledges when he has made a mistake be it selecting someone for a post that was not thoroughly vetted or something else. If you have messed up with a customer, quickly admit it and do something to rectify it. If you have lost that customer, try to gain them back by acknowledging your mistake and offering a gift to make it up to them. This free gift could be a free product or service, a huge discount or a refund. It's best if you do this immediately after the infraction has occurred but as they say, "Better late than never."
Make it about them - President Obama always put staffers out front so they get the credit for a great job. If he has asked them to head up a project, notice how he allows them to go to the microphone first at the beginning of an important news conference. If you have employees, do the same - give credit where credit is due and let others shine. If you don't have employees, put your customers first. Whether you are creating a new product or service or adding content to your website, always keep in the front of your mind the benefit to the customer. It's not about you; people are seeking your goods and services because they are hurting some how or they need help with a problem. It really is about them.
Learn how to ask for help - President Obama doesn't pretend to know everything. When he selected people for various posts, he stated, "... will help me with..." You'll often hear him say "My team will help me with..." Even if you are a solo entrepreneur, you need to assemble a team to help you and don't be shy about asking for their help. Some examples are hiring a virtual assistant or enlisting the services of a business coach or mentor. You may have to rely on your family too. Do you have a spouse or teenager that could help with packaging and mailing your products or updating your database? Ask for help; your family will be especially honored that you thought enough of them to ask.
Get personal - People do business with people. While remaining professional, find ways to connect with customers and potential customers in a very real and personal way while maintaining your professionalism. One can't help but feel like they know President Obama, like he's one of us - the regular folk. Notice how in the past he an NBA game between his beloved Chicago Bulls and the Washington Wizards. Now, I'm sure he could have sat in the owner's skybox but guess where the President of the United States chose to sit? He sat courtside and shook hands with common folk and had quite a chat with a cute little blonde boy. A very dear friend of mine met President Obama during the campaign. My friend is a retired professional basketball player and he told me that while at a private event for then presidential candidate Obama, when my friend was introduced to him, Barack Obama asked, "Do you ball?" When my friend shared his background, Obama connected with him - very deeply.
Stay in contact - Even after the 2008 election was over, the Obama team still churned out emails. The email may have been controversial encouraging the reader to take some type of political or civic action or the email may have been a 'just keeping in touch with you' type email. The emails did not feel intrusive but the emails kept the Obama brand before the recipient. To successfully build and market your brand you must stay in front of your prospective customers and your target market. When you do send newsletters, emails, postcards or other communication, make sure you are offering substantial information that the reader can actually use and make sure what you are saying ties into what you are selling without sounding like you are selling each and every time you communicate. Yes, there will be times that you are straight out selling - it could be a new product or service you are announcing; just make sure that you balance your customer communication by sending out great, informative and helpful information while mixing things up with your sales message.

President Obama is a political genius but he is also a smart politician and leader because he knows how to share credit and information, acknowledge his mistakes, put others first allowing them to shine and he allows people to get to know him as a person while maintaining his professionalism and leadership status. Finally, he stays in constant contact with his target market. Whether you are a budding entrepreneur or you have built a multi-million dollar business, your business will thrive if use the lessons taught by President Obama.

Carmin Wharton is a home-based business expert and the founder of http://www.e-blackwomennetwork.com/, a membership community designed to take businesses owned by women of color from startup to prosperity. Carmin's mission is to help women earn what they're worth and make it big in their home-based business on their own terms.

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Make Your Marketing Campaign Earth-Friendly

For every tree cut to make papers, a hundred more is grown to replace the fallen ones. But what if the planted trees are not enough to replace the lost ones? Will we be looking into an unhealthy future? Will the next generation still enjoy the same luscious forests we have today? Hopefully, they have a better Earth than we have today. But that will only be achieved if you start taking care of our planet now.

Green advocates are actually implementing different eco-friendly activities that will help save out planet. But the effort doesn't have to rest on them. Every other people, organization, or entity has to do their part. The business sector, in particular, has to make its own contribution. Eco-friendly activities can be done in several ways. It's best to start with their marketing plan. Why don't they create an Earth-friendly campaign that will make use of eco-friendly marketing materials?

Going green doesn't mean that you have to be intense and expensive in your materials. The current materials you use such as your business cards and greeting card printing will still do only that you will be making them ideal for the planet while allowing them to represent your business and put it in front of your customer's mind. It's best if you create your materials with focused messages that indicate how your business cares for the environment. This will help them understand your advocacy better and even be encouraged to become part of it.

There are a lot of possibilities in green marketing. Just consider the image your will create from showing your concern for the environment while promoting your own brand. Your green materials will surely beef up your green credentials. From your logo down to your message, your campaign will surely be noticed and appreciated. Because you are trying to send a meaningful message to your audience, you are making it easy for them to get a positive image of you. Just make sure that your message is simple and direct. If you can excite them with your interesting design, that would help a lot in your campaign.

It would be best if you go for a customized design. You can out eco-friendly icons in your design to show people that you are serious in your advocacy and you want them to follow your example. It would also help if you use eco-friendly options in designing and printing your materials. For instance, use soy-based ink when printing your business card or greeting card templates. You can also opt for recycled paper and stick with standard sizes to avoid additional cost and materials. It would also be ideal to print in large quantities to cut down print runs and save on printing expense.

However, green printing doesn't mean that you create with less appealing designs. With the technology available today, you have plenty of options to be creative with your design. The eco-friendly materials you will use don't have to restrict your design. In fact, this should challenge you to be more creative with your design.

Remember that your target audience will be making big decisions when it comes to where they spend their hard-earned money. Help them in their decision-making process with your green campaign. Keep your eco-friendly materials impressive and effective and people will surely share your goal.

Michelle Abreu has been writing articles online for about 2 years now in a trusted printing company. You can also visit this website for more practical ideas about creating custom greeting card printing online, and get your free greeting card templates carefully crafted for you.

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Setting Up your Affiliate Marketing System

There is much speculation about how much money you can earn online without your own product. Marketing your own digital product on the Internet can be very lucrative but there is no reason why you can’t profit a great deal by using creative methods that offer real value to Internet surfers and have your own product as well.

An affiliate program is really not as difficult to set up as you may think. Thanks to the high demand for affiliate systems recently, there are now lots of ways to set up your own program.

Here's what you need to set one up:

1. A web site with your own domain name.

2. At least one product or service that you own completely.

3. A system to handle commission tracking and payment.

That sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it? Well, actually it is! And it's getting easier all the time.

The first two items listed above are self-explanatory. Of course, you need your own website and your own product or service. You can't very well set up an associate program if you don't own the site or the product(s) you will be promoting. If you have not taken these two steps, you'll need to do them first. Once you've managed to get by these two steps, you can move right to step three, setting up your program.

You will need to search the Internet for a system that will handle commission tracking and payment. You can try to do this yourself but you will most likely miss some and missed ones are missed income. There are free ones, as well as, paid ones.

The positive aspects of an associate management system are many:

1. You can sign on associates more rapidly and grow a larger force of resellers.

2. You'll enjoy the automation and online management of affiliates.

3. These systems provide full sales statistics for both you and your associates.

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What's the Most Exclusive Loyalty Card?

Other regular questions revolve around the most prestigious credit card to have in your wallet and what my favourite loyalty programme is. My answers to nearly all these questions have changed over the seven years I've been involved in developing programmes, so I thought it was time to share my thoughts and write a small series of articles that address each of these questions.

Today, I'll discuss the most exclusive loyalty card.

Airline Frequent Flyer Programmes

There are two candidates for me:

1. The British Airways Premier Card.

This card is only available by invitation and membership is determined by the British Airways Board. It is possible to hold a Gold BA Executive Club card and never graduate to this ultimate level. Holders of this card are responsible for over £1m of expenditure on BA flights per annum and, according to The Times, include Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP, Paul Walsh of Diageo and John Connolly, Chief Executive of Deloitte.

Benefits include:

Getting a seat on a full flight (yes, someone else is bumped off)Your flight may be held if your connection is lateCardholders are met at the door of the plane to be fast-tracked through immigrationUpgrades from Business to First

2. The Marquis Card, from NetJets.

This card is arguably more exclusive than the British Airways card.

Once you have purchased a Marquis Jet Card, you are entitled to book a guaranteed private jet, anywhere in the world with less than ten hours notice. You can choose between 9 different aircraft types, according to the size of your party.

Pricing starts at $115,900 for 25 hours flying time...

Hotel Programmes

1. Hilton Hhonors Diamond VIP Membership

The main benefit of this programme is a guaranteed room in any Hilton hotel with only 48 hours notice. Other benefits include instant upgrades of your room type on every booking. Also, access to Executive Lounges on the top floors of some of their large city hotels can be handy too.

If you have one of these cards, then you'll know Hilton very well, either having stayed 28 times in a year, or a total of 60 nights in a year.

Retail Programmes

Many luxury retailers have tended to shy away from loyalty, even though they could use a loyalty programme to develop a longer lasting and more personal relationship with their customer base. Loyalty is not just about points and discounts; it can be simply an enhanced, preferential experience that demonstrates a retailer is willing to take the time to understand their customer better.

It could be argued that some of the luxury goods manufacturers, like Vertu (phones) do run their own 'invisible' loyalty programme through their CRM activities, made public in 2009. As a customer, you might not get a card to show off or any definitive benefits, but the more you spend, the more you'll find you'll be rewarded.

So my 'Most Exclusive Loyalty Card in the World Right Now until I find a more Exclusive one' is the:

Harrods Rewards Black Card.

This card is available for customers spending over £10,000 per annum at Harrods.

The main benefits are:

Priority service at 'By Appointment', the personal shopping service at HarrodsMore reward points when you spend than in lower tiersFree alterationsFree car parkingFree tea and coffee in the cafesPoints redemption at any time, even when their sale is onA choice of 10% discount day, twice a year

As far as I know, there isn't a different card for each tier; I signed up when I spent £20 and was given a black-coloured card. Surely that's a missed opportunity, isn't it?

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