Minding Your Business-Online Book Publishing: Digital Fulfillment Delivers

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business!

By: Shaun Fawcett

This is another in my series of articles that explain the Online Publishing Model and how small-time authors and/or self-publishers can use the OPM as a more lucrative alternative to the often archaic and dysfunctional traditional book publishing model. In short, using the OPM you'll make more book sales and you’ll net more profits, faster. Yahoo Small Business Web Hosting - Build a great web site with our easy-to-use tools   Typically, you will create your book/ebook in a source word processing program such as MS-Word or WordPerfect. Once you have converted it into PDF format you’ll be ready to start selling it via the three primary channels that make up the Online Publishing Model: 1. Sales-Mini-Sites, 2. Digital Download Distributors, 3. Print-On-Demand (POD) Distributors. This article explains Channel 2, Digital Download Distribution. Discovering exactly how the digital fulfillment channel works was a major breakthrough for me. That discovery alone has resulted in many thousands of dollars in ebook sales that I otherwise wouldn't have made. Really! Based on my experience, the use of this one online distribution channel is guaranteed to add thousands of dollars annually to your bottom line sales! That's right -- if you harness the digital fulfillment channel of the OPM you'll sell hundreds more ebooks than you would just selling them from your Web sites. DIGITAL FULFILLMENT: DEFINITION It's important that you understand exactly what I'm talking about when I use the term "digital fulfillment", as opposed to print-on-demand (POD) fulfillment. Digital fulfillment refers to when your ebook is delivered to the buyer strictly in electronic form as a "digital download" product. Essentially, it's the same as when your ebook gets downloaded from your Web site, except that, the digital fulfillment is provided by a digital download distribution company through their distribution network. A typical example of digital fulfillment in action would be when you provide your ebook electronic files (PDF) to a company that distributes digital download ebooks to amazon.com, for example. Amazon.com would then offer your ebook to its customers as a digital download product. IMPORTANT: When I talk about “digital fulfillment” here, I am NOT talking about delivering a downloadable ebook to your buyers from your own “sales-mini-site”. I’m referring to when one uses third party vendors and/or distributors to deliver a digital version of one’s book through their own channels. THE SECRET OF DIGITAL FULFILLMENT As I stated in the other parts of this series on the OPM, I have spent the past few years immersing myself in learning about the tools and techniques of successful Internet marketing to help me sell more of my ebooks/books. In the process, I have purchased scores of "must have" books from many heavy-hitter big-name Internet marketers. But NEVER have I read anything about the digital fulfillment strategy in ANY of those many books/ebooks from the gurus! In fact, I basically stumbled across this largely unknown money-making publishing secret by accident when I asked a major book selling company if it would be possible to sell my ebooks through their Web sites in addition to my own. They promptly answered that "yes", there is indeed a way to do that… by using a digital fulfillment company. Although I didn't fully realize it at the time, that was a breakthrough moment for me! Typically, a digital fulfillment company maintains large digital libraries of books and ebooks. They deliver those products electronically "on demand" as digital download e-books in response to orders from publishers, distributors, booksellers, and libraries. Bottom Line: The major digital fulfillment companies offer a vast distribution network, folks. Exploiting this channel means much more than just getting your ebook and/or book listed on amazon.com. It means getting your title in front of the vast majority of all ebook wholesalers and retailers! WHY DIGITAL FULFILLMENT, WHEN YOU ALREADY HAVE A WEB SITE? That's a good logical question, and you may be surprised by the answer. I have found that there is minimal cross-over between the people that buy ebooks at my Web sites and those who buy them through sites like amazon.com, and others. That's right. In fact, out of thousands of sales through both channels I have received only one e-mail that indicated a buyer had seen my ebooks at both places. Another proof of this is that, although I use the same list price for my ebooks on my Web sites and at amazon.com, that company quite often chooses to offer a 30% discount, which actually makes it a much better deal to buy the ebook at their Web site. In spite of this, sales at my Web sites remain strong. In fact I continue to sell more ebooks from my Web sites. So, it's pretty clear that people aren't doing cross-comparisons of prices. They appear to be two mutually exclusive groups of shoppers! (However, I should add that people who buy the ebook at my Web site also receive a number of bonuses that don’t come with the ebook when sold through a distributor). The key point here being -- if I didn't offer my ebooks online through amazon.com and other digital download distributors, I would probably not make over 95% of those sales through my other distribution channels (i.e. my Web sites). Lucky for me, I now know about this little secret! DIGITAL FULFILLMENT - EASY TO SET-UP If you're careful, and plan ahead when you create the original version of your ebook that people will purchase and download from your Web site, you'll also be able to provide the same efiles to your digital fulfillment distributor with few changes, if any. Typically, it will take only 10 to 15 days from the time you submit your efiles until you will start seeing your ebook show up on book retailer Web sites as digital downloads. This channel works folks! In fact, just this afternoon I checked my account and found that over 30 copies of my Recommendation Letter Kit ebook have sold so far this month, and this is one of the slower months for that product! I've also sold more than 25 paperback versions (POD) of that same book this month through the same digital distributor, but I'll get into the POD model in the next part of this series. The really exciting thing about these digital download sales is, as I explained above, they are IN ADDITION to any sales that you will make via your Web site. It's almost like "found money". That’s what makes using the Online Publishing Model so exciting; it gives you three equally productive selling channels for your books and/or ebooks. Shaun Fawcett is the author of numerous “how-to” books on everyday practical writing help. He also writes about how to create and publish books and ebooks. His popular book that explains how to implement the Online Publishing Model can be found at: http://InstantBookWritingKit.com

Minding Your Business 8 ways to build the habit of success

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business! By: Ahmed Al-shraify

To become successful, we have to first understand what the word "success" really means. The Cambridge Dictionary defines success as; "the achieving of desired results, or someone or something that achieves positive results". Despite the actual definition, the word "success" has now been associated with monetary rewards by society. Often times people think that to be successful means to be rich. The truth is, one must first be successful before he can ever be rich. Once a person fully understands that concept, he allows himself to reach his full potential. Success is a habit, and money is attracted to the habit of success. Below is a list of 8 things I believe you can start applying today, that will help you build the habit of success in your life. Make the decision You will not accomplish anything in life without first making the decision to commit to accomplishing that thing. You will not get healthy without FIRST committing to a healthy lifestyle. Before you can become successful, you must first commit to success. Most people say they want "it", but they don’t ever commit to getting "it", and to making the necessary changes needed to get "it". Talk is cheap, you MUST make the commitment first and figure out the "how-to" later. Convince yourself that success is attainable, and that it’s not an impossible thing in your life. Don’t credit your failures or shortcomings to "Bad luck" or to a "lack of opportunities". You must take responsibility for your failures, and understand that the reason you are not where you want to be in life is due to a lack of commitment to success. Plain and simple. Yahoo Small Business Web Hosting - Build a great web site with our easy-to-use tools Write down your goals Most people don’t see the value in writing their goals down on paper. "I have my goals in my head" they say. We live in a time where we are exposed to an overflow of information every day. Your goals WILL get lost somewhere in the chaos of all of that information if you don’t write them down on paper and revisit them EVERYDAY. Write down your goals on a piece of paper once when you first wake up, and once before you go to sleep everyday. Get in the habit of focusing your attention on your goals. Some people are not even able to commit to writing down their goals on paper twice a day, and then they wonder why they cannot achieve them. This isn’t some law of attraction stuff (although that stuff works). This is a method to get your mind focused solely on your goals and off of the latest social media buzz or nonsense. It’s very easy to get side tracked nowadays. I recommend you try writing your goals down twice a day for 1 week straight and if somewhere within that week you stop doing it, then that’s how you’ll know that you have a problem with the habit of success. Do the Math Set a financial target/goal for yourself , and then do the math to figure out how to get it. This is straight out of the Grant Cardone playbook and I credit it 100% to him. First you must figure out what you have to offer to the world, then you have to figure out "Who’s got my money". For example, if I am someone who’s very good at athletics, and can offer athletic training, then I will target athletes, that’s "who has my money". After you do that, you must figure out how much money you can make from what you have to offer. If as an athletic trainer you make 70$ per hour, then you must use that to break down the math of how to reach your financial target. For example, let’s pretend that I am an athletic trainer, my target audience (Who got my money) are athletes, I charge 70$ per hour and my goal is to make 100,000$ in 1 year. First, I will divide my goal (100,000$) by my hourly income (70$) to determine how many hours I must work to reach my target. (100,000 divided by 70 = 1,430) I know that I must get paid for 1,430 hours of work in 1 year to reach my goal Second, I will divide the hours I must work to reach my goals (1,430) by the number of days i have set for myself to accomplish my goal (365) to determine how many hours per day I must work to reach my goal. (1,430 divided by 365 = 4) I know that to reach my goal I must get paid for 4 hours of work everyday If you are charging 70$ per hour, and are training 4 clients per day for only 1 year you will reach 100,000$ in that time. Once you break down the big numbers, you will see that they are not as big as we think they are. Do the math, to make the big numbers seem smaller. Seek knowledge The amount of time people spend consuming junk is ridiculous, and I am guilty of it as well. I know it’s hard to look away when Kanye West is going wild on twitter, I understand that. With that being said, you must counteract the junk that you are consuming by gaining more useful knowledge and information. There is no shortage of great content out there for people to learn from. Rather than spending all of your time watching cat videos on YouTube, you’d be better off learning from people like Grant Cardone, Gary Vee, Bob Proctor, who are consistently dropping amazing and useful FREE content everyday. Invest in yourself and in your personal development. I recommend the book Think & Grow rich for anybody who is looking to get started in moving towards the direction of success. DO NOT overlook the power of a good book. Find mentors, role models, & teachers This is very important for people who are just getting started in their careers. You must find someone who you want to live like and study everything that they do, did & are going to do. You must find people who are great at what they do and emulate them. The average Canadian makes 51k per year. There is a cycle that is going on and we are constantly falling into this cycle of mediocrity because we are being taught the wrong information. Most people want to become millionaires, but are getting their life advice from someone who makes 51k a year… That doesn’t add up. You must forget everything that you have been taught about money, and find someone who can actually teach you about how to make it in the quantities you want. If your goal is to be a millionaire, then go get advice from a millionaire. If you don’t have access to any millionaires, then follow people like Grant Cardone, and Bob Proctor who can mentor you through the unlimited amounts of content and information that they put out. Get rid of bad habits and Junk Bad habit is the kryptonite to success. People love to hang out with toxic people, drink toxic beverages, and waste time being unproductive in toxic environments. This isn’t a judgement of anyone, nor is it a question of morality… this is an assessment of poor time management skills. How are you spending your time? And with who are you spending it? I recommend that you stop giving your time away, and focus on spending it on income producing activities, or personal development. The people, and places that you give the most time to will directly influence the growth or lack thereof in your life. Become stingy with your time, and value you it the same way that you value the worthless pieces of paper known as money. Surround yourself with winners This plays into the previous point of getting rid of the bad habits, and the waste of time in your life. To get rid of something is difficult; but to replace something is easy. Once you get rid of the toxic parts of your life, look to replace them with something positive. Network with like-minded people who are looking to achieve the same things that you are. Create a mastermind group with someone who supports your goals and ambitions, whether it’s with your mom, uncle, cousin, girlfriend, etc. Find someone who supports your visions, and meet with them regularly. You will see a HUGE difference in your life and in their lives as well. Clean your room This last one is for all you dirty folks out there, CLEAN YOUR MESSY ROOM. All the moms out there will thank me for this last point. A messy room is a representation of a messy mind. Clean your room, you will notice a big difference in your overall emotions. Give it a try and you will thank me later. These are few things you can start doing today, to start building up the habit of success in your life. Most people think success is a crazy, unattainable thing and that is not the case. We are all capable of success. Take responsibility for any shortcomings you may have and start working towards success. Don’t be a little bitch. Thank you for reading, be sure to follow me on Instagram @Thedonshraify for more posts like this.

Minding Your Business Winning the World Cup?

Presented on US Sports Net by Yahoo Small Business!

By: Franziska Hall

The world cup is in full swing and everyone is cheering on their favourite teams (including me who stayed up until 4am to cheer on the Aussies, of course I am all for the Swiss too). Why would I talk about the World Cup in an article for small business owners? Well, firstly to get your attention and secondly because there are a couple of great learnings we can take on board from this awesome event. Dedication, hard work and focus: All of the soccer players are and have been so dedicated to their purpose, winning the world cup! The players are fully committed to their teams and have been working so hard to get where they are. It wasn’t just a quick achievement, but years, even decades of dedication, hard work and focus. Get 20% off Localworks with code LOCAL20. Be discovered across 60+ maps, social media, search engines, and mobile apps for less than a $1/day with Localworks! In your business you usually can’t expect a quick get rich scheme (even though some people might promise you exactly that). It takes dedication, hard work and focus to get ‘the plane off the ground’. But once it’s off the ground, the views can be spectacular. Fan base: The soccer teams at the World Cup have a massive fan base and are being supported by so many people. This really does help their desire to win, they don’t want to disappoint their supporters, team mates or themselves. Who is your fan base? Who are your supporters? Build a fan base that is cheering you on and supporting you in your ventures. Your fan base can be your friends, family or colleagues. You want to hang out with people that believe in you and are helping you reach your vision. It is so motivating to have people around you to share your successes with. Team play: No soccer team will ever win the World Cup without amazing team play. Each player has a defined role and knows exactly what role he plays in the team. Do you have defined roles in your business? Who is your marketing, sales, finance or admin person? Even if you are the one doing most of these tasks, it is essential to define them and spend time in each of them. And if you do have a team, make sure each team player knows what is expected of him or her. To your World Cup success, Franziska Maybe Aussies could focus a bit more on soccer and less on rugby. I think I might be in trouble for saying this. Go Socceroos! Franziska Iseli-Hall To receive FREE instant access to marketing resources valued at  $197, http://www.basicbananas.com Franziska Iseli-Hall In the Past: She has a corporate background in advertising, relationship management and marketing. Founder of different businesses such as Swiss Travel Australia, Leader Chicks, German/French and Spanish Home Study. http://www.basicbananas.com

Minding Your Business- Importance of Chat Support to Small Businesses

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business!

By: Cyril George

Thinking that you can achieve online business success with a plain website that simply displays your product is a big mistake you should remedy as early as now. With technology continuously evolving, consumers are expecting more and more from online shops. Yahoo Small Business Web Hosting - Build a great web site with our easy-to-use tools  They want the convenience of shopping from home yet an experience close to that when shopping at a local store. One of the things they look for is the assistance they get from staff. They usually have questions and they want answers. One way to meet this need is to get a live chat for website. THE CONVENIENCE OF LIVE CHAT Live chat is convenient for consumers. Even when shopping online, many consumers want to get help (when they need it) from a real person. What is surprising is that most of them would choose live chat support over assistance via phone or email. Live chat is just more convenient than dialing a toll free number or composing a long email that contains all their concerns. Moreover, live chat for website usually involves a shorter wait time than call centers. Emails are usually answered within 24 to 48 hours. Consumers want prompt answers. TAKING ADVANTAGE OF CONSUMERS’ LOVE FOR LIVE CHAT Take advantage of live chat support. With a live chat box on your website and a high number of consumers using it, you can double your sales and build or improve your customer base. It is best to have a team that can answer live chat queries 24/7. While you can be offline, won’t it be great for you and your potential customers if there is a communication channel available round the clock? SAVE ON LIVE CHAT SOFTWARE Live chat for website has become cheaper than ever with several companies that offer similar programs. You can find an affordable live chat software and get all the necessary features. Just do your part – conduct research – before making a purchase. Compared with phone support, live chat offers big savings to business owners. For instance, when the line is breaking up, callers tend to hang up and businesses would have to make a callback, which costs a few bucks, to salvage the sale. With live chat for website, costs are reduced because the average interaction cost is also reduced.Save on Payroll with livechat Moreover, you can reduce payroll expenses. Skilled live chat support representatives can handle several chat sessions simultaneously. Some live chat programs offer canned responses, making answering frequently asked questions fast. Whether you have just started your online business or have been online for quite a while and want to boost your conversion rate, getting live chat for website is definitely a wise thing to do. Provide consumers a convenient way to reach you. While phone and email work, adding a live chat box to your website can help a lot, especially in establishing your involvement. Take advantage of consumers’ love for live chat support by meeting their expectations in terms of the quality and speed of customer service. Save on customer service expenses and see your conversion rates and sales soar. Coversine provides professional live chat services for your ecommerce website. We will understand your business products, and guide your visitors to make the best buying decisions.

Minding Your Business-Buying Domain Names: The Importance of Investing in Multiple Names

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business!

By: Austin Power

The same way a person will have a first name, and other names, nicknames preferably, is similar to how you can carve a unique niche for your business by providing multiple names that can act as a pathway through which potentials visitors can notice your goods and services. The digital space is a wide area, requiring that visitors have to take some time to navigate new areas in the web space, with an assurance that a need has to be met. Since you don’t expect to find identical services online, you sure will come across services that are similar, in terms of delivery and quality. So, to make the journey of finding you on the vast digital space easier, you can resort to buy domain name. The reason is that visitors on various social media platforms can easily get to you, regardless of how distant apart you are. So, when you decide to buy domain name, you shouldn’t think that you are wasting resources, but cleverly making use of the opportunities you have on ground. On this account, here are three important pointer for businesses that are planning on getting multiple domain names.  Artlicle Continues Below... .....1. Wide coverage The same way wide popularity is the desire of every business investor, it can also become a burden when you don’t have the right tools to manage the influx of visitors to your website. Nothing draws visitors closer to you like quality service. Therefore, you need to have the right resources to maintain the consistency in which you have built your business upon for many years, especially in the areas of quality service delivery. To ensure that you continue giving your visitors the best of your services as you expand both locally and internationally, you need to buy domain name, as a way of ensuring that you reach out to all your customers satisfactorily. 2. Specified landing pages In the process of becoming a known brand internationally, you should also prepare ways in which you can accommodate the influx of requests for your services. In order to manage demands properly, you need to get multiple domain names, as a way of creating specialized business areas that can meet the needs of your visitors promptly. On your part, you are making it easy for your website to interact with your visitors, as you take note of their insatiable demands on your website. 3. Search Your domain names should be able to cover areas in which visitors are likely to search on several search engines. Apart from the fact that you need to buy multiple domain names to expand your business, you need an SEO service London expert advice to check out processes that can help you navigate the digital space successfully. Leaving out an SEO service London expert out of your plans may push you to buy domain names that will not facilitate traffic on your website. The reason, therefore, is that an expert knows how the digital space operates. So the practices that can pull in traffic and income are areas these experts are already into, which you need as a template for ensuring that your investment in SEO practices are not in vain. Register Your Domain for $9.95 with Yahoo There is a thin line between what can happen to you when you invest smartly and when you invest ignorantly in business. Whatever methods you have to apply to facilitate your business growth in time, you should endeavor to work with experts in the field, ensuring that you are guided properly when investing in multiple domain names. After all, domain names are made to give your business a good edge over others. https://www.createregister.com/domain/register-a-domain/ https://www.createregister.com/seo-service/

Minding Your Business-Show Your Tablet Some Love, Tips And Tricks To Reduce Energy Consumption

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business!

By: Stacy Hulmes

The tablet pc is very portable because of its weight and size, however as devices become more powerful and feature rich, the potential for energy consumption increases. Learn some tips and tricks on how to make your tablet last longer and do more. Become a Tablet Jedi and operate just by intuition. Usually people do not have to read menus before operate the tablet pc. It is all by intuition and nearly no need to learn. It can be easily used with the fingers. It suits every person. Some parents even buy the tablet pc for their little child to read digital story books and play interactive games. Yahoo Small Business Web Hosting - Build a great web site with our easy-to-use tools As the main input is a touch screen, it is not good and not efficient if we have to type a lengthy document. We can us the built-in virtual keyboard with the touch screen. However, it is still not as comfortable as typing on a real keyboard. There's a solution for this problem. It will be covered inside the tips section. . Unsuitable for using long hours. The power will be eaten up quick if we do not do any optimization from its default setting. Watching movies and Playing games will consume the power very rapidly. How can we tackle the problems and enhance the performance? Here are our 4 hints to improve your tablet pc: Use external real keyboard and holding rack when you are doing typing job. There are some lightweight small keyboards in the market can be put into a tablet pc bag. If you do a typing job, you can use that to improve the typing experience. In addition, there are some mini rack designed for holding up the table pc and you will be more comfortable when typing. Turn off non essential apps and services like Wifi, Bluetooh and GPS For example, if you are just using Google doc to edit your work document at a bistro. The GPS function may not give you any value at that period but just wasting your power. Then just turn that off! Adjust the screen to a suitable brightness level. The default setting of the tablet pc may be a bit brighter than what you need. We can save power by adjusting that down to an appropriate level. Using cloud technology. There are loads of online services that replace traditional PC programs. They are using cloud technology so not using any CPU power. Google docs is a free tool which can replace clunky office applications. Make use of remote desktop software, connect to your pc at home. Allowing you to make use of a higher CPU power from your tablet pc. All you need is an internet connection which is secure, you can do all the tasks just like you are sitting in the office. One great advantage is that you can synchronize your files. It is because you are using the same files no matter you are on the street, at your home or at your office through the remote desktop. Stacy Hulmes is a technology and social media writer and deal contributor for BuzzCouponCodes.com

Minding Your Business-Digital Advertising Blog | 5 Steps to Optimise Digital Advertising Campaigns

Presented on US Sports Net by Yahoo Small Business!

By: Sparc Media

In this article, we list the 5 Steps on How to Optimise your Digital Advertising Campaigns. Step 1 – Targeting Strategy To begin with, it is important to have your campaign set up with individual strategies for age, demographics, interests, behaviours, or any other target criteria you are using. This is so that each parameter can be tracked individually and you can optimise them in and out depending on the performance. Get 20% off Localworks with code LOCAL20. Be discovered across 60+ maps, social media, search engines, and mobile apps for less than a $1/day with Localworks! Make sure that your targeting strategies are in-line with the campaign brief provided by your client so that you can give them insights on the things which are most important to them. Step 2 – Advertising Research Simultaneously derive insights from qualitative market research based on the product you are advertising and the consumers you intend to target. Additional information from market research in relation to the product and the psychographics of the audience will broaden the targeting funnel which will further assist in serving better results. For example, Sparcmedia ran a campaign for a chain of family health clinics in Brisbane who were trying to promote an offering for skin cancer awareness. Through qualitative research, we found that Brisbane had an audience segment of students from Japan who were highly conscious about skin cancer due to the high rate of skin cancer in Japan. Armed with this market knowledge we tested a strategy, utilising a small amount of the client’s budget to target Japanese students. This strategy was a success and resulted in increased conversions for the campaign, with an eCPA much lower than other strategies. Step 3 – Advertising Insights Start observing key activities such as the impact of the time of day, the day of week, placements and performance of URL/sites as they play an important role. You should also be tracking consumer reaction towards each component of the advertising campaign. For example, if you have five creatives in circulation, instead of bundling the engagement rate and seeing the overall for all five, have them split out so that you can understand which executions get greater levels of engagement. Pause the ones that are less effective and focus spend on the 2-3 which have the greatest success. This will ensure that you get a greater engagement rate overall, plus get insights on the types of creative which your audience responds to. Once the campaign is up and running analyse it for a period of two weeks before making adjustments. You need to ensure that the optimisations you are making are based on a statistically relevant level of data. Step 4 – Optimise After two weeks, optimise the campaign towards the parameters mentioned in Step 3 The process of optimisation can include: Higher bidding or allocating more budgets towards the URL’s that generate higher engagement (CTR, views, conversions.) Pausing the under performing line-items. Bidding higher at the most active hour of the day that is providing maximum engagement. Increase spends towards the best performing strategies (gender/age/interests) Optimise spend on a daily basis until the campaign ends. Step 5 – Analyse When the campaign has finished, analyse the results and deliver post-campaign insights that will help the clients grow their business with effective decision-making. Useful insights include: Information around the engaged audience in comparison to the targeted audience, information on which creatives performed and why, information on which strategies performed and why. Wherever possible, overlay this with market data. Instead of patting yourself on the back for a great click through rate or for the number of sales you achieved, start understanding why you got that result, because when you know that, it will be easier for you to replicate the result again and again on an ongoing basis.

Minding Your Business! Fund Your Sport Teams the Right Way

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business!

By: Casey Evertsen

	Every sports team out there could use some extra money in their account. Most sports teams would like to buy cool uniforms, get better practice materials, and improved training equipment. Depending on the sport, equipment is going to vary in cost so it is important to know how much money you will need in order to get everything taken care of. Most sports teams in high school, and club teams in college, rely on sports fundraising in order to get the extra money to pay for all of their gear. Even local youth sports teams do the same thing. If you are looking for sports fundraising ideas then you might try selling a discount card. A Portion Of Contributions To The US Sports Student-Athlete Outreach Program Will Go to Hard Working Youth and High School Sports Programs Around The World! Your Donation Of Any Amount Will Go A Long Way To Help Bolster The Future Of These Hard Working Student-Athletes, Their Families, and Their Schools! A sports fundraising discount card can be a great way to generate some extra cash. Most people associate high school football teams with going out door to door to sell sports fundraising discount cards, but the truth is that any team or group can do the same thing. All it takes is some local merchants and retailers to offer some discounts to people that purchase the sports fundraising card. Once these companies and sponsors have been set up then it is up to the team to sell this sports fundraising idea to the community. Yahoo Small Business Web Hosting - Build a great web site with our easy-to-use tools Pricing is another big issue when doing sports fundraising. You will want to make sure that the discount card is affordable but that you also get a big enough cut to make it worth all of the extra effort. Typically, this type of sports fundraising idea includes the card being sold for around $10. This can actually turn out to be a really good deal, as long as there are a lot of discounts and that the card can be used multiple times. Take all this into consideration when deciding on this sports fundraising idea. The next major obstacle you will have to overcome when using this sports fundraising idea is creating a sales force. While most of the kids on your teams will probably be outgoing enough to talk to friends and family about it, the only way to really make money off of this sports fundraising is to get it in the hands of neighbors and other people in the community. You might come up with a simple sports fundraising sales script that the kids can follow so that they know exactly what to say when they go to the door of someone they don't already know. Sports fundraising is always more effective when there is this kind of planning and preparation involved. If the kids feel comfortable with selling this sports fundraising idea then you are likely to sell a lot more. Last of all, if your discount card sports fundraising doesn't work out the way that you had hoped then don't be afraid to try something new. Selling products is always going to be on the menu when it comes to sports fundraising but as long as you have something new and of high quality, then you won't have a hard time selling it. The important thing about this method of sports fundraising is to make sure that you can get into contact with as many people as possible.  Casey Evertsen is the creator of The Spirit Sleeve in Logan, Utah. A division of Lin Manufacturing, Spirit Sleeve is a fundraising idea that helps students show their school spirit while helping raise funds for school programs.

Yahoo Small Business Presents: Local Listings Are Your Online Storefront on US Sports Net!

BY | SMALL BUSINESS

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What’s more likely is that a prospective customer will start their for a business like yours by opening their laptop or pulling out their phone and doing a local online search. The results they get will usually be a mix of relevant websites and listings for local businesses. Appearing in these local listings is key to you getting these customers into your store or shop, and how your listings appear is as important as a physical sign over your doorway.

Appearing in a local listing search puts you front and center with a customer who is actively looking for a business like your. Your listing tells them where your business is located, when you’re open, what you specialize in, and puts them one click from being able to call or email you.

Which local directories are important?

There are a variety of directories that provide local business listings on the internet. Some will be sites you know, such as Google, Yelp, Yahoo, and Foursquare, while others may be less obvious, such as Superpages (the online version of the proverbial phone book) or TomTom (listings used by navigation devices). There are more than 100 different directories, some catering to networks of websites and others to specific devices.

So, which local directories should a small business focus on if they want to attract new customers?

The short answer is: as many as you can. Why? Because unless your small business already has so many customers that you can afford to ignore large parts of your market, you want to be sure you have an opportunity to be discovered by as many potential customers as possible. The most important directory is the one that a local customer is searching in right now, and since you can’t predict which directory that will be, your best plan is to ensure your have complete and accurate local listings in all top directories.

Inaccurate listings hurt your business

Situations you want to avoid include having a local customer look for a business like yours, only to find a list of area competitors that excludes you from consideration. Equally as bad is when you a listing for your business appears, but it has inaccurate information, potentially prompting the customer to call a disconnected phone number or telling them you are closed on Saturdays when in fact you’re open seven days a week.

But wait, if the listings are for a business I own, why are some showing incorrect information?

There are a variety of reasons for inaccurate listings and some can keep a small business owner up at night. Some directory listings start out wrong and are created by directories that scrape the internet for information and create local listings based on what they find. This can result in the listing containing a phone number assigned to a former employee and an address that was only used for a special event.

Other times, the information pertains to an older location, a set of services you no longer offer or business hours that you’ve long ago expanded. Unfortunately, all too often the incorrect information was provided to the directory by a villainous competitor trying to get an advantage by making sure your business is cast in a poor light by customers searching online. Other times the inaccurate information comes from an online user who sees your listings and thinks they are correcting a mistake. When a few people make the same “correction”, the new information can end up becoming part of your listing, even if it’s inaccurate.

Add up all these possibilities and it’s no surprise that the unmanaged directory listings for a lot of small businesses end up being inconsistent and frankly confusing for prospective customers looking for you online.

Consistent local listings direct customer to your site

With more than 100 different directory sites out there, is it important that they are all accurate or should a small business owner focus on just those sites that get the most visitors?

The answer is that providing consistent and accurate information across as many directories as possible is important for two primary reasons.

1. Consistency can help you appear more often when people search for your business. Search engines are constantly crawling the web and compiling information that it believes pertains to local businesses. When they find inconsistencies, it reduces confidence in that information and could result in your listings being pushed further down in search results – making your business harder to find online. Having information about your business that is consistent across the web can be one of the quickest ways to start improving your search ranking.
2. Every customer is potentially a valuable one, and you don’t want them going to a competitor just because they can’t find you on one of the small directories. You never know which potential customer will end up establishing a long-term relationship with your business, perhaps referring a profitable slew of friends and family who also become customers. And just as can’t predict precisely who those folks will be, you can’t be certain that they only use Yelp or Google when looking for local business and services. Extending your local listing to a wide swath of local directories is like casting a broad net that increases your chance of finding new customers.

When it comes to attracting new customers, as well as helping existing ones connect with you, having local directory listings that are accurate across the web is as important as any other marketing your might do for your business. Creating and updating those listings can be time consuming, but there are some online tools that can make it painless and will pay dividends with new customers and increased sales.

Writer’s bio: Dan Breeden is the head of content and communications for Yahoo Small Business. Prior to that he was the editorial director and a writer for publications around the Pacific and has written for such publications as the Los Angeles Times, The Mercury News, Honolulu Advertiser, Maui News and Inc.com. Find him on LinkedIn.

• Dan Breeden
• Type article
• Image https://78.media.tumblr.com/d4397cbb4ae93a20ad3f0ed022936057/tumblr_inline_paj8v2DUmH1s0q0tw_540.png
• Provider Yahoo Small Business Advisor

Minding Your Business-Reaching Your Goals Begins Here

Presented on US Sports Net by Yahoo Small Business!

By: Bill Treasurer

Most people perform better when they are heading toward a goal. But it is important to understand that the goals must motivate. If your goals leave you feeling inadequate, stressed out, or over-worked, then you will lack the motivation to complete them. Yahoo Small Business Web Hosting - Build a great web site with our easy-to-use tools Goals that motivate have specific characteristics: * Clarity. Clear goals are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART). When a goal is clear and specific, people know what needs to be done and what is expected. * Challenge. We are often motivated by achievement, so we'll judge a goal by how difficult we perceive it to be. If it is too easy, we won't give it as much attention and energy. However, if it demands us to stretch ourselves in order to achieve the recognition of a job well done, we are more likely to be motivated to excel. * Commitment. For goal setting to be effective, the goals need to be agreed upon and understood. While this doesn't mean you negotiate every goal with every employee, there is value in engaging the people working towards the goal in crafting it. When we help to create the stretch goal, we are more connected to the challenge and more willing to commit. The harder the goal, the more commitment is needed. * Task Complexity. For goals that are highly complex, we have to not only give people sufficient time to meet the goal, but actually provide the time to practice or learn skills that are necessary for success. The purpose of goal setting is successful achievement, so you have to be careful that the conditions around the goal support that success rather than stifle it. * Feedback. Incorporating feedback into the goal setting process allows for expectations to be clarified, difficulty to be adjusted, and recognition given. In particular, when a goal is long-term in nature, it's important to set benchmarks that help people gauge their success and see their achievement. Once the goals are defined, each goal should be "drilled down" with specific objectives and measures. Objects can be thought of as the yardstick; measures can be thought of as the exact location on the yardstick of each goal area; and both short-term and long-term objectives and measures should be defined. When determining your objectives and measures it can be helpful to ask, "How will we know when this goal is achieved?" "What, exactly, will be different around here when the goal is attained?" I appreciate this simple statement from Sir Edmund Hillary: "You don't have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things - to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals." ©2016. Bill Treasurer. All rights reserved.

Bill Treasurer is a professional speaker and the Chief Encouragement Officer of Giant Leap Consulting. His most recent book, Leaders Open Doors, became the top-selling leadership book on Amazon. Bill has worked with thousands of executives from top organizations, including NASA, Accenture, CNN, Spanx, Hugo Boss and the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Learn more at http://www.billtreasurer.com and http://www.giantleapconsulting.com.

Minding Your Business: Just Say The Magic Words

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business!

By: Colleen Davis

Words have proven time and again to provide the means for any marketing campaign such as brochure printing, to get a positive reaction. In fact, words can make or break your business when printing brochures. Such is the influence of the right words that negative images can be made positive for virtually any business. Messages come in different forms and appearance. And the answer to a marketing offer can either be a yes or a no depending on how the message is conveyed through your words. A positive image can therefore be influenced from your readers’ minds when you paint your message into something that would work between you and your target audience. Yahoo Small Business Web Hosting - Build a great web site with our easy-to-use tools What makes a brochure printing for example effective is the language used. In other words, the "magic words" you include when designing and printing brochures can make a difference whether you’re going to sell or not. Some may grab, and still others may remain short of expectations. "Magic words" are actually ordinary words, which become magical when placed strategically in your brochure printing, or any marketing collateral for that matter. Even more so when they are placed in an unexpected context. They become magic for the readers because they create intrigue and fascination even when they’re used to seeing and hearing the same words everyday. It doesn’t take special skill or expertise to write the magic words into your marketing collaterals. Business owners and marketers can master the art of incorporating the magic words without any difficulty. The only thing you need to realize is that words used in any ordinary and everyday conversation can become magical when used in an unusual perspective. Most of these words are basic descriptive words that suddenly have a different connotation from its literal meaning. The first step in having magic words in your brochure printing vocabulary is to create your basic message. Then insert a few suitable descriptive words wherever you can in your message. With the addition of selected magic words, you add more warmth and oomph to your otherwise bland message. Your collaterals have greater meaning and more impact with the right words to convince your target clients of your offer. The addition of magic words when printing brochures works well when you want to influence your target clients with your offer. When you include magic words to your message, you not only provide your target readers with a marketing tool that has more impact, but more importantly, you increase your persuasive qualities, which can eventually lead you to generate profits fro your business. For more information, you can visit this page on brochure printing

Minding Your Business Motivation: Luck has nothing to do with it.

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business!

By: Andy Kay

That’s right: Luck has nothing to do with it, as some allegedly "fortunate" people say. And in this case, "it" doesn’t just mean confidence. It means life. Life as you'd like it to be. And the life that we see someone leading, when we immediately consider them "lucky". See, whenever someone seems to reap all the rewards in life, we tend to think of them as "fortunate" or "lucky", yeah? Well, would you believe me if I told you that ascribing "luck" to anyone or anything is potentially harmful to us? What exactly is luck anyway? Many people would probably define it as something like, "when things coincidentally fall out to your advantage". But is it really just that? Register Your Domain for $9.95 with Yahoo And more importantly, would we need more than merely coincidence to receive the gifts of life? (SPOILER ALERT: Yes. Yes it does.) When Michael Jackson recorded the "Thriller" album, did it sell millions because of "luck"? Or was it because he had spent his entire childhood and adolescence working his derrière off, meticulously honing his craft and gathering a hugely talented team of producers, songwriters and A and R people behind him? When Steve Jobs released the first iPhone, did it become hugely successful because of "luck"? Or was it because he dared to take chances, push the envelope, fulfil the needs that his customers had -- even ones they didn’t realize they had -- and amass an army of professional developers and marketers behind him? Sure, Michael Jackson was probably as close to being the proverbial natural talent as they come. And Steve Jobs, according to many, was a natural visionary who simply thought outside the box and dreamt big. But what good would that have done them if they hadn’t put in the work, insisted upon their dreams, and kept at it for years and years? Luck has nothing to do with it because "it"doesn’t happen without taking action. Here’s another thing: Have you ever seen "Forrest Gump"? If not, it’s a fine movie, and you should see it at least once.* Forrest Gump, our titular protagonist, is clearly slow-witted, but likeable. And he somehow manages to walk through life and attract all kinds of success and fortune as he cluelessly goes along. Only he never realizes it. Because success and fortune simply doesn’t resonate with his humble mind. Let’s pause here for a moment. Now, think about your own life. Have you ever learned a new word, and then in the following days and weeks you saw and heard that word everywhere? Or have you ever been unemployed and looked for jobs, and all of a sudden job applications are everywhere? I know, right? The key word here is awareness. Forrest Gump doesn’t consciously experience fame and fortune, because his awareness is on a different level. When we’re consciously aware of something, we’re gonna find it. Not because there’s more of it, but simply because we’ve become aware of it. Like a hunter who deliberately ignores anything but the potential sights and sounds of his prey. Luck has nothing to do with it, because what good would all the coincidence in the world do us if we weren’t aware of it? "But wait a minute! What was that thing you said about how ascribing luck to anyone could be "harmful"??" Yeah, see, that’s because it’s something that non-fident people tend to do. Which is rarely beneficial. It’s when we’re non-fident that we tend to think in terms of "luck" — and "bad luck". Specifically, we tend to think that other people get all the luck, and that we’re victims of unfortunate circumstances. This is a conveniently easy way of thinking, because it takes the responsibility for our lives out of our hands. And for the same reason, it’s also a dangerous way of thinking. But when we allow ourselves to go for the life we want, consistently taking action and raising our awareness will make sure that we get it. Some people might be born with certain advantages, yes. But imagine how many people never put that advantage to any use. Either because they never see the possibilities and/or because they’re simply too shy to act on it. And now, think of all the famous media persons who obviously wouldn’t recognize talent even if it came out of nowhere and took away all their limelight. Think of all the wealthy corporate leaders who got where they are by being uncompromising, cold as ice, playing the game and doing what’s best for the company no matter what. Think of all the powerful politicians, all the Frank Underwood’s of the world, who got to where they are by lying, manipulating, and probably worse. Really, luck has nothing to do with it. But being aware of our opportunities, and taking consistent action towards them has everything to do with it. ACTION ITEM: This week, take up learning something new. Something you've been wanting to get into, only you couldn't find the time (or whatever excuse you made for yourself). Set aside 1/2 hour every night, monday through friday, for working on that thing only. Nothing else. This means, turn off your phone. No phone; no social media or other distractions. Just you and your new challenge. Getting into this sort of habit will eventually prove to us that luck has nothing to do with it. -- And that practice, consistency, and focus are the keys to accomplishing pretty much anything. * Yes, I know it’s originally a book. So are a lot of great movies. Andy Kay helps people who are held back -- by fear, overwhelm, anxiety, indecisiveness, anything. He knows what works and what doesn't, and he doesn't tolerate "spiritual" BS about "higher powers" and "purposes". Although God has built success in every Human Being Not Failure! -- We have access to all the power we need to achieve our own purposes; period. Visit https://www.getconfidencecoaching.com and get confidence and empowerment for free!

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