The Vahoo Info Connector

Perhaps the most well-known politician from Costa Rica today, Professor Ottn Sols has vocally opposed the provisions of DR-CAFTA (formerly CAFTA until the Dominican Republic joined the negotiations). The founder of the Citizens’ Action Party and a two-time presidential candidate, Prof. Ottn Sols regards DR-CAFTA as a mechanism that aims to eradicate the internal market that brings profits to small farmers and industrial companies of Costa Rica and has since demanded for renegotiations.Prof. Ottn Sols’ arguments are very much plausible, considering the possible effects the agreement will have on the Costa Rican economy. One of his arguments is about the potentially huge flow of cheap products coming from the United States. Under the terms of the DR-CAFTA, 80% of the import taxes on all merchandises and products coming in from the United States have been eliminated, with a phasing-out scheme for the remaining 20% to be conducted in subsequent years. Such agreement would hamper the growth of Costa Rica’s local market. From a businessman’s point of view, the lowering of the tax barriers of imported goods, poses a threat to any thriving internal business. Any consumer will pick a shirt made in the United States instead of the local brand almost always. According to Prof. Solis, it’s not just an attack on Costa Rica’s local market, but on Costa Rica’s democracy itself.With his laudable rebuttals and criticisms of DR-CAFTA, he may be right.

Building Customer Loyalty is always difficult if you find that your clients come one and you never seen them again - you are sadly losing money. It costs far more to obtain a new customer than it does to sell more to your existing customers.

The way you do this is to keep in touch and make them feel valued. Some ways of doing this are:
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Lastly - if your clients are not returning - have you checked that you are offering what people thought that they were buying and that they are not leaving unhappy or disappointed. Write to them shortly afterwards, or talk to them before they leave and ask for feedback. Act upon it!

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© Copyright 2005 Biz Guru LLC
Lee Lister, writes as The Biz Guru, for a number of web sites including her own sites http://www.BizGuru.us. With over 20 year’s management and business consultancy experience with businesses large and small as well as being a serial entrepreneur, she now helps others set up, develop and market their businesses. Also visit http://www.FindMeLinks.com for our internet marketing solutions or http://www.clikks.com for all our informational products.

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

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It is the level of customer service provided by a business which dictates whether we come back to buy more or vow never to return. I recently had an experience which is a perfect example of this:

My partner and I decided to check out a new café which is marketing itself on the quality of its food and drink. As we walked through the door we noticed that the opening hours indicated the place should have closed half an hour before. My partner asked a waitress if they were about to close. She looked confused and said she would have to ask her colleague. A few minutes later her colleague rushed past us without acknowledgement and began banging about with the coffee machine. After a few moments, when she had neither spoken nor looked at us, we took our leave, despite having made a special trip to get there. Do you think we are likely to return?

The International Customer Service Institute polled 20,000 people who had chosen not to go back to a business. 32% had not returned for a wide variety of reasons ranging from moving from the area to preferring a competitor.

A massive 68%, however, had decided to take their custom elsewhere simply because of the indifference of an employee they had dealt with. Just one negative contact can send your customers elsewhere, never to return.

A high level of customer service is essential to ensure both the long-term health and reputation of your business and your own job satisfaction. In my article ‘Customer Service - the Best Way to Deal with Customers’ I look at the choices we have in our daily encounters with our customers and clients.

Andy Britnell specialises in sales and customer service training for the private and public sectors. Go to http://www.andybritnell.co.uk/ and you can sign up for my FREE monthly newsletter and FREE e-mail coaching.

I coach corporate and SME clients who wish to achieve better results - see http://www.executive-coaching-for-business-growth.com/

Your most profitable online business opportunity is hidden in your well loved hobby and basically stuff that you love to do.

There is no denying the fact that you will tend to do very well whenever the subject at hand is something that is close to your heart. You will tend to be very good at it and you will usually possess the skills required to turn that hobby into a serious cash generating opportunity and your most profitable online business.

Blogs or web logs as they were called in their earlier days have made it very easy for people to cash in on their hobbies in a big way. All you need to do is to launch a blog that deals in your pet subject which will usually tend to also be your area of expertise. Chances are then much higher that you’ll be able to generate the sort of content that will attract huge traffic. This will almost automatically yield your most profitable online business opportunity.

Remember that you will also tend to spend a lot of time doing something you love without looking at it as extra work that you have to do. This is exactly how the really big profits are made in any business - as people are having fun and the time of their lives.

There is really no other way of finding your most profitable online business opportunity.

Learn more about the best home business opportunity from a blogger who rakes in thousands of dollars… and growing from their home business.

First of all, if you don’t have your own affiliate program that you are in complete control of, then you DON’T have you own affiliate program. If you don’t own the database or are not at least able to download it, then you DON’T have your own affiliate program. If you have a limit on the number of products, price, or limited control of your creatives, then you DON’T have your own affiliate program. If you can NOT directly contact your affiliates, then you DON’T have your own affiliate program, someone ELSE does!

How can you fix this?

Running your own affiliate program gives you full control and allows you to boost your sales significantly. Your product is the life-blood of your business and your affiliates are the arteries. Don’t entrust that to just anyone.

Your affiliates are your salesmen; they are the officially-licensed resellers of your product or service. Train them, massage them and treat them right! You can’t do that with a system you have no control over.

An automated affiliate management program allows you to easily train, manage, pay and reward your affiliates, all from one central nerve center. You have complete control over everything about your affiliate program.

When you got your first job, you were trained how to do it, right? Well, the same holds true for your affiliates. Train them on how to sell your stuff. An automated affiliate management program effortlessly manages this process for you. It also imposes NO limits on price, the number of products, or messages you can send to your sales force (affiliates) either.

The system should also allow you to upload both text and graphic ads and banners to your affiliate center. That is where your affiliates go to grab their affiliate code, banners and text for their promotional efforts. You can come up with your own creatives and upload them, ready-made for your affiliates to use in all types of promotions (i.e. banners, classifieds, ezines, lists, etc.).

You can also use your autoresponder(s) to set up a training series for your affiliates that teaches them exactly how to promote your program. You can view sales and conversion stats for your affiliates. They can also view their own stats, but the beauty is that you can use this information to direct messages to certain groups of affiliates.

For instance, you can send a special message to your strong affiliate(s) offering them a larger commission as an incentive to promote your program harder. You could also use the statistical data from your affiliate center to target those struggling affiliates. You can even inquire and direct more focused training or help their way.

You run YOUR affiliate program with complete control! You can set up trackers for the banners and ads so you can track banner campaigns, or just see how well your classified ad pulls. Be creative; do it your way. That’s the real power in having your own robust affiliate program that you control. You have the flexibility to run it the way you want.

You can find stand-alone affiliate software, or affiliate management software in many places on the Internet. Simply perform a search for it in your favorite search engine. There are also many hosted systems that don’t require you to mess around with any new software up-loads and learning curves. A program like this is best if you want a robust, integrated system that you can simply plug your products into and get bookin’ with some sales! Integrated systems also tie in many other features, like sequential autoresponders, list management and email marketing capabilities, ad tracking, expense tracking and product management functionality.

Rigid systems like ClickBank are good, but you have no control over it and NO database. Your affiliate database belongs to ClickBank. Don’t get me wrong. ClickBank has its place, but if you have your own product/service and you’re serious about your e-business, then you need to have full-control over every aspect of your e-business. Letting someone else have your database is like having no business at all. What the heck is that?

Online, hosted systems were created just for this purpose - Total e-business automation, from click to sale. You Have Control - You Own The Database - You Set Your Limits - PLUS, it is integrated with all of your business’s other marketing and ecommerce functions for a Total Kick Butt - Take No Prisoners All-In-One E-Business Automation System!

Don’t forget the stand-alone programs that run from your website that you completely own outright. These, you have to configure and upload to your server. You may have to create a database and edit some scripts in order for this type of affiliate program to work correctly. If you’re that savvy, then a stand-alone system may be what you need. However, if you don’t have time and/or the expertise, an existing hosted solution is your best option. They are already tested and proven and just waiting for you to plug your business in.

That’s the secret to increasing your traffic and your sales using affiliate management programs. You face the truth about your affiliate program, realize the opportunities, choose your option then, execute!

Ettione Stuckey is a wiz when it
comes to automated
affiliate management. Check out his proven automated
affiliate management
system to put your affiliate program on auto-pilot.
http://prowebware.com/affiliate_management.html

If your business features products or services for sale, undoubtedly the topic of eCommerce has come up. What is eCommerce? Literally defined as “the conduct of financial transactions by electronic means,” it refers to purchases made over the Internet. There are popular slang terms such as ebusiness, click and mortar, dotcom, cyber-mall and multiple spellings (eCommerce, e-commerce, E-Commerce), but they are all basically the same thing. Don’t let the different phrases confuse you, it all comes back to the same principle: selling online.

So how do you know if selling online will be beneficial for your business? There are a few basic questions that can help you with this decision. First and foremost, can you afford to develop a professional eCommerce storefront on your Web site? You’ve heard the phrase “if you can’t do it right, it’s not worth doing at all”. This is especially true in regards to eCommerce because people will not purchase from your Web site if it looks amateur and is poorly done.

Custom developed eCommerce sites can cost tens of thousands of dollars, but pre-built shopping cart solutions such as WebSolutions’ Marketplace can provide your business with a professional eCommerce storefront for a fraction of the cost. Another benefit of a program like this is whereas a Yahoo or eBay store may be less expensive to get going, it’s going to be less customizable, and as your business grows, you’ll outgrow the site and need to start over again. An option like the Marketplace provides a great starting place with unlimited building potential and growth.

After the cost issue is addressed, you need to evaluate the potential of selling your product or service online. Are any of your competitors selling online? If not, have a brainstorming session and try to think of any logical reasons why they aren’t. Could it be that they tried and failed or is it that they just haven’t thought about selling online yet? One key to remember is that once you make the decision to sell online, your product and pricing is now available 24/7 to anyone that stumbles upon your site.

After evaluating your competitor’s Web sites, you need to look at your product line and determine your target audience. Who buys from your now? Are you selling to businesses or individuals? If the answer is businesses, are they generally companies that are active on the Internet or businesses that don’t rely on the Web as much (such as mechanics, restaurants, etc.). If the answer is individuals, what demographic(s) are you advertising your products or services to? You need to be sure that the people you want purchasing your product have access to the Internet and are willing to shop online. Few businesses realize that over 80% of the world’s Internet access speed is still dial-up, so loading huge catalogs, Flash files, and large graphics will deter a prospect from purchasing.

Finally, you need to determine how you can make your business stand out from all the rest. If you’re selling copier supplies, why is someone going to come to your site versus the other millions of copier supply Web sites? Are you going to sell based on price, location, quantity, quality of service? Are you going to provide online shipment tracking, account management, wish lists, real-time credit card authorization and processing, and other advanced eCommerce applications to make your site more professional? These are all issues that need to be addressed before you start designing your first product page.

Taking the next step of selling online is a big decision for your business and isn’t to be taken lightly. There is significant cost and risk involved, but there is also significant reward waiting to be had. Be sure to consult with your Web developer to find out which options are available to you and do your research ahead of time. Not every eCommerce site is profitable, but if you prepare, there’s no reason yours can’t be.

WebSolutions is a professional Web site design, development, and hosting company based near Chicago. Their expertise in eCommerce has been highlighted in print and television and their custom developed solutions and pre-built shopping cart application (The Marketplace) has been successful for businesses nationwide. Jon Kee handles all sales and marketing related activities for WebSolutions and can be reached by phone at 630.375.6833 or email @ sales@wsol.com. Visit us online: http://www.wsol.com

Copyright 2006 www.4income.net

Majority of the affiliate programs have built-in type of
advertising that they recommend. You join their program, start
with their banners, e-mails and traditional style of
advertising. Before you know it, there are thousands of
affiliates using the same material and the competition becomes
overwhelming.

The need to stand out from the crowd is obvious.

Splash pages are the solution. Splash page is a condensed
version of the affiliate program with your magical twist.
Usually a single html page. Here you can express yourself with
different designs, such as graphics, layout, content, sound etc.
This is where you can add your personality as well as target
different audience for various types of promotions for the same
program.

Summarize the program in short yet effective marketing material
without too much hype. Copy the “key” points of the program with
some of their graphics and colors too match. To build a splash
page decide the type of audience you are after. Let say for
example you are after the traffic exchanges. The action is fast
and you have couple of seconds to get the viewers attention. The
person is surfing number of programs simultaneously and unless
you capture their attention they are gone forever.

So how do you do this?

To explain this question let’s rip-apart some of the splash
pages, created for 2 of the affiliate programs.

The first page is aggressive, fast action, designed for the
traffic exchanges and particularly for the “testosterone” type
of audience. To grab their attention, focus was on their
audio-visual senses.

The first thing you hear when you enter the site is flyby with a
huge explosion. This does get the attention. Once this is
accomplished the noise is toned down with the all-time favorite
Top Gun theme. As for the visual, the flashing “Brand New”
banner does the trick. The theme of the program is “No Nonsense
Fast Cash” so it is included upfront aswell as the fact that is
free to join. The background is night time with flickering stars
all designed to act on the subconscious of the targeted
audience. The black inside the border is to compliment the theme
and the content is basically summarizing the program. The
“electrified” enter sign is to keep the adrenalin going.

This first impression is the key. If you are able to arouse the
viewers curiosity within these few seconds, congratulations! You
have overcome the main hurdle.

The other page is designed for different audience. It is for the
general audience with genuine interest to make money.

The colors, graphics and the entire layout are toned down. The
theme here is residual monthly income. The chosen background is
faded US dollars which compliments the page nicely. The colors
are green and once again acting on the subconscious of the
audience. The title reveals the program and the content is the
summary of the program. The key focal point in this splash-page
is the movie. Excellent presentation that does all the selling
for you. It is so powerful and well composed that it is the
marketing tool. The rest of the site is designed to reinforce
the main theme. The income calculator is added as one of the
motivators, that answers “show me the money!”. Here a viewer can
play around with the numbers and see exactly how much money they
will be earning. Some of the slogans are taken from the main
program, here again, keeping within the context of the affiliate
program.

These are just some of the examples of how to use your
creativity to target different audience. You can use different
themes for the same program.

One thing is a must. Make sure you can measure your success. If
a particular design is not working change it.

Just remember this is not about you, but your ability to
effectively relay your message to the targeted audience.

An attraction of affiliate marketing is the savings that the merchant will gain when he no longer conducts his own advertising and publicity. Some merchants, who already have a well-established affiliate marketing program, no longer bother to conduct any activity that will lead to more sales. Such may not impair the current sales of the online business, but it failed to tap into another avenue of selling that can increase the revenue of the online business.

Thus, the merchant must still conduct some form of advertising even when he has an effective affiliate marketing program, and even when he has hundreds of affiliates conducting the promotions for him. The merchant must look into making a second or even a third sale to the customers he acquired. Such is called back-end selling. The practice of back-end selling can complement affiliate marketing.

Here are some ways that a merchant can perform back-end selling:

Newsletters - Whether through email or sent through snail mail, these publications are perfect avenues to introduce the other products of the merchant. These other products are the back-end products. Therefore, in the merchant’s website, there should be a part where the customer is asked whether he would receive free newsletters from the online company. If the customer clicks yes, then this customer will be taken to a page that will ask for his email or mailing address.

Thank You Letters - Sending a thank you letter for patronizing the merchant’s products is not just a form of courtesy. It is a wise business practice. With the thank you letter, the merchant must mention the back-end product.

Customer Satisfaction Calls - If the merchant is not comfortable in writing brilliant thank you letters, he may choose to give the customer a phone call. During the phone call, the merchant will check if the customer was happy about the product they already bought. This call shows a concern for the customer. But it is again an avenue for back-end selling. The merchant will attempt to mention the back-end products.

Customers Only - In the website of the merchant, there will be a webpage that can be accessed only by its customers. When a visitor has become a paying customer due to affiliate marketing, this paying customer can go to the webpage that contains more about the product that he has bought. In that same page, there may be ads for the back-end products

Back-end selling for the merchant becomes easier because the customer has already given his trust after the initial sale brought by affiliate marketing.

Peter Garant’s affiliate marketing site sells affordable unique website content to webmasters that understand the need for unplagerised and high quality content on their websites.