One of the most successful online marketing strategies you can do these days is to submit your articles to various article submission websites. This is a great way to promote your services, your expertise, and, most importantly, grow your subscriber list!

It has been well documented that one-way links to your website increase search engine rankings more than reciprocal linking, and article submission is an excellent way to achieve one-way linking.

However, the downside is that it takes time to manually submit your articles, and if you have several articles, you could spend hours submitting them to the various websites. There is software available that will automatically submit your articles for you, but you do need to check this out carefully. And if you do decide to manually submit your articles you need to have a system in place that makes maximum use of your time, but also keeps a detailed record of which articles you’ve submitted where, and when.

If you have articles already written, you’re off to a great start. All you need to do now is to set up an article submission system. But if you don’t have any articles written, then you might find the task of writing quite daunting, and you’re not sure where to start.

I have always found a good article comes from working with my clients on a day-to-day basis. They might have a question that requires a detailed reply. Use this reply to form the basis of an article. For example I had one client ask me, ‘how do I get an mp3 audio file to you, and how do you turn it into a word document?’ I sent them back my reply and, hey presto, I’d got the basis for an article.

Brainstorm some ideas. Some great article titles, and which will also get you thinking, are:

[Number – odd numbers work best] Top Tips For [fill in the blank]

How To [fill in the blank].

Try and come up with three or four articles – you will probably find that you can think of a lot more!

So now you have your articles, you need a system for submitting those articles. Below are my tips for an organized and efficient article submission system (I use it so I know it works!):

1. Convert all your articles to plain text as this will make the submission process easier! Most article submission sites require plain text articles; some will allow html. You will need to refer to each site for their guidelines.

2. Create a spreadsheet to track your article marketing strategy.

3. Use this spreadsheet to track the article submission sites, log in info, and other relevant information.

4. Go to each of the article submission sites and submit each article to the article directory by copying and pasting from your plain text document.

Plan to spend about 20 minutes each week on your article marketing strategy - schedule this time in your calendar to keep yourself on track - and you'll soon find your articles appearing all over the Internet!

Online Business Manager & Virtual Assistant, Tracey Lawton, supports professional speakers, coaches, and authors to operate an efficient, organized, and profitable business. Learn how to create an efficient and organized office in 7 EASY steps, and receive free how-to articles at http://www.OfficeOrganizationSuccess.com.

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When you are starting a franchise business for the first time, you need to be aware in advance of the type of products and services you will be selling to consumers within a particular target market industry. While in saying this, it might seem obvious to you, but understanding what your business is providing and to what customers you will be targeting is essential to the long term success of your business.

In order to ensure your business is successful from day one, consider writing up an effective sales plan, where you can state clearly who your customers are, what potential customers you need to target, how to pitch your sale and close the deal.

View the following points on how you can create an effective sales plan…

1. Study Your Consumer Base

The first step you should take in writing up an effective sales plan is to conduct some useful consumer market research. Understanding who your customers are and what their needs are will be essential to your selling pitch of products and services.

For example, if you are setting up a café franchise in your local community, you will want to target business professionals for lunch time specials, couples and families for evening meals and brunches, and finally take-away customers who will want on-the-go sandwiches and beverages. In understanding your market requirements and needs will make it easier for you to sell your services within a “niche market”.

Secondly, if you have existing clients who already know about your business brand and services, you should not rely solely on their consumer presence, but rather widen your existing consumer base to include new customers and find innovative ways to retain and build consumer loyalty to your brand and business.

In this way, you will effectively manage more business sales than if you didn’t carry out some vital consumer market research…

2. Set Realistic Goals

After deciding who your customer base is and why and how you will target them, the next step is define realistic goals on how you will achieve consistent sales growth for the forthcoming months of business.

This is not an easy task, but one that must be ascertained prior to the launch of the new franchise business. In order to be successful in the long term, you must set realistic weekly and monthly sales goals and it is up to you or a sales employee to determine these goals and how to reach them.

Most importantly with this step is not to be too ambitious with your sales targets, you need to allow yourself some flexibility if some months are much slower than others and to determine if a great month will balance out a bad one!

In order to assess your predictive sales targets you can enlist the help and advice of the franchisor, which will have completed the very same process with established franchisees. Never be afraid to ask for help when it comes to successful sales of your business…

3. Target the Right People

Now you know exactly what groups of consumers you would like to target and the realistic goals you have in achieving your sales quota for the month/year, the next step is to follow through with the sales pitch and deliver some results!

Once again, achieving sales targets can mean a number of different things and can be achieved via a number of different formats depending on the franchise business and industry you are working in. For example, if you are selling luxury holidays online, you will be targeting consumers via email, internet and phone. If you are in the fast food industry you can achieve sales targets via marketing and promotional offers to get consumers to come to your fast food restaurant. Whatever method of sales you choose to implement you must target your consumer base effectively with no “hard sell” unless really needed!

4. Practice Your Sales Pitch

If you are targeting consumers directly either by phone of face-to-face you must perfect your sales pitch on how you can promote and actively sell your products or services. You must know the main benefits of your product and service and use these points as your main argument when posing the sales pitch.

Before you meet face-to-face with a potential client be sure you know as much as you can about the individual and how your product or service could enhance their life personally or their business. This will ensure you know exactly how to win over the customer and how the service or product of your business will have a positive impact on them when they decide to buy.

5. Closing the Deal

This is the most important part of the sales plan and you must attract attention for your product or service via marketing and advertisings as much as you can. Creating brand awareness amongst the consumer market you are targeting will ensure on some conscious level of the consumer’s knowledge of whom and what you are in business.

Be careful of objections to your sale and identify some other “benefits” you could use to attract the customer in a different sales pitch. Remember customers will want to know why you are providing this service or product so be upbeat, positive and passionate about your business.

After you close a deal, remember to maintain after-sales customer care so that you retain your customer and build an effective and loyal relationship. This will help your business to grow and be consistently successful.

Aine Meade is a Website Editor for Franchise Direct, a leading Internet franchise advertising portal. Aine creates high quality franchise information for its international websites in the U.S., and Europe. Aine has a BA (First) in English and History; MA in Literature & Publishing; Diploma in Media Journalism and a Diploma in Marketing.

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Sometimes size does matter. When talking about a piece of chocolate cake – bigger is always better. When evaluating new cell phones – smaller gets the nod. In franchising, there are some advantages to being part of a large franchise system and other advantages to joining a small system. The question is not, “Which is better?” but “Which is better for you?”

Advantages of Large Franchise Systems

Everyone is familiar with the really big franchise companies such as McDonalds, Subway. Each has over 25,000 units and they are ubiquitous around the country if not the world. Since franchise companies generally start out with a single unit, growth of this magnitude takes years and years to achieve. Large franchise companies have had the opportunity to test and prove their value over and over again, which is the main attraction of franchising  a proven operating system.

Perhaps the most obvious advantage of a large franchise is name recognition. When you see the Golden Arches your mouth will start watering even before you smell the hamburgers frying. Larger systems will have larger advertising budgets, meaning there will be more, and usually better, national advertising campaigns, increasing name recognition. Even moderately large systems, those with units numbering in the hundreds, have been around long enough to have tweaked their operations to the point they provide a pretty low risk to potential buyers. A smaller or newer franchise system may have to adjust their operations many times before achieving optimal results.

Support is an additional advantage of being a franchisee in a large franchise system. To achieve growth, a company will need to have a dedicated support staff that can help franchisees with any issue or problem. Also, larger companies are more likely to provide new franchisees with such specialized resources as demographic profiling, real estate assistance and technical support.

Advantages of Small Franchise Systems

With all of the advantages of a large franchise system, not everything is a bed of roses. First of all, there’s the whole idea of being a small fish in a large pond. If you like individualized attention, in a small system you may have a direct line to the company’s president or vice president. In a large system, you contact person may be a low-level employee in the giant corporate structure.

Franchisees in a small franchise system can have a greater say in the business as a whole and will sometimes have more flexibility in managing their own businesses. Once a system grows to a substantial size, there will generally be extensive rules for franchisees as well as a staff who ensures the compliance of each and every regulation – from the color of your businesses’ roof to the way you greet customers at the counter. At a smaller franchise system you will usually find fewer rules. If you like to do a bit of experimenting, a smaller franchise company may allow you to do so and will even welcome your ideas and suggestions.

Another advantage of smaller franchise systems is that they are less likely than large franchisors to be sold out in your area. If you want to join a large franchise, you may have to wait until an existing franchisee wants to sell.

And that brings up another point: Subway does not need to look for franchisees. They probably get hundreds of inquiries every week if not every day. Of those inquiries they are only going to be interested in awarding franchises to people with very strong qualifications. A smaller, newer franchise company is going to be more interested in you and may be willing to make accommodations so that you can join the team.

The franchise company and the people running it are more important than the size of the business as far as franchisee satisfaction goes. If you are interested in a business but unsure if you’d be a good fit, there’s one sure way to find out and that’s by talking to a number of franchisees in the system.

You will need to ask if they felt the support and training they received prior to opening their franchise unit was adequate. Find out how they feel about the support they are currently receiving and if they feel they are on track to meet their financial goals.

Both large and small franchise concepts have advantages and disadvantages so the more you understand about the company and your role as a franchisee, the better equipped you will be to make the decision.

Kimberley Ellis is the President of Bison.com, a leading online resource for franchise and business opportunities. She has been quoted as an industry expert in USA Today, Wall Street Journal and a variety of local and regional publications regarding trends in business and franchising. Kim combines her entrepreneurial spirit with a diverse background in marketing and operation to help others succeed in franchising.

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Business Pundit: 23-cent Pizzas… Are you kidding me? You can’t even get a White Castle hamburger for that. However, yesterday in Ohio 86 Papa John’s Pizza stores decided to sell 23-cent pizzas as a truce after they agreed to offer a franchise in Washington D.C. t-shirts calling LeBron James a “CRYBABY.” This was in response to the Cleveland Cavaliers star complaining about hard fouls during a NBA playoff series that was with the Washington Wizards.

The idea of the 23-cent pizza was a way to make up with the Cleveland area fans and honor James by selling pizza for the same price as LaBron’s jersey number, 23. Papa John’s planned on selling more the 75,000 pizzas.

The promotion had crowds standing for hours in extremely long lines waiting for the 23-cent pepperoni pizza. While everything went off without a lot of pandemonium, there were scores of complaints about the wait and line cutting.

The good that came out of this promotion is that all the money went to the LaBron James Family Foundation.

What are your thoughts?

Do you think this was a good idea?
Do you think Papa John’s saved face or were people just taking advantage of a deal?
In your opinion, will this charade have any long effect for Papa John’s?
Was this just another marketing gimmick based on controversy?

23-Cent Pizza: Good Idea or Bad Promotion? [Business Pundit]

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We reviewed Wix a few days ago, and found it an easy-to-use online application for creating, publishing and promoting Web content in Flash. With Wix's drag & drop interface you can easily add audio, video, images, text, animation, decoration and more.

Wix.com has graciously agreed to give away free trial accounts for the first 100 users who sign up exclusively through GetEntrepreneurial.com. You can make use of this opportunity to try Wix out for yourself. Sign up here: http://www.wix.com/Welcome/GetEntrepreneurial

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“Life’s weather is but temporary. It’s the seasons that really matter. Finding balance in the storm. Life” - Anon

Do you find yourself spiraling downward when something happens that you find upsetting? If you say yes, it’s not usual. Many people feel happy when something happens that they want or like and fell unhappy when something unwanted occurs.

Here’s an example:

A few years ago I was in a car accident. I had just left my house and I had a few errands to run locally. I admit I tend to drive fast and I noticed the two cars ahead of me had come to a stop. The lead car was waiting for traffic to clear in order to make a left turn. I quickly applied my brakes and saw I would be able to stop safely as I checked my rearview mirror to see who was behind me. It was evident to me that the car behind was also going too fast and was going to hit me. The impact was strong enough to push me across the opposing lane of traffic bounce off of a guardrail before I was able to stop the car.

You might say, “Boy Lorraine, not a good day!” I agree that it wasn’t what I wanted my day to be.

The downside? My car was fully paid for and, a week before had undergone major maintenance work. The accident totaled my car.

Some immediate blessings? I was bruised and unhurt and I could have been killed. Apparently, when I was hit and pushed across the road, the lead car had finally made the left turn because there was no traffic. I called a healer friend who came immediately and met me at the hospital (where I was checked out for any injuries). My chiropractor opened his office to do a session.

When I returned home, my spirits were low and I could have begun feeling sorry for myself and bemoan the ramifications of having to get a new car, etc. It was a perfect invitation for my mood to start plummeting. Instead I chose to look at the experience from a wider lens.

Here are 7 ways to shift your mood to a better place:

1. Gratitude. Focusing on all you have in your life is an immediate mood shifter. Honor the losses that might be part of any circumstance and allow your viewpoint to expand in appreciation for all the riches you have that truly matters.

2. Interrupt negative self-talk and choose a better thought to put your attention. Notice where your thoughts are focused. What stories and dramas are you creating? Are they serving to help you feel better or worse? If you’re unable to let the stories go and dramas go immediately, exaggerate it BIG. Really act it out and play with it so that it becomes absurd. It might even become funny! Click here to read my article on dealing with negative self-talk. Take a stand and choose to put your attention on a better feeling thought.

3. Accept what happened. Dwelling on the past and ruminating on the details only adds more stress and upset. What we resist, persists. The more we struggle against our unwanted life circumstances the more power we give our unhappiness to affect our present moments. It is what it is. Each moment is temporary and gives birth to the next. Acceptance opens the door to…

4. Look for the blessings. Every situation is a healing and growth opportunity. Asking questions like: What are the gifts from this experience? (Focus on the gratitude). What can I learn from this situation? Recognize everything happens for a reason even if it appears to make no logical sense. Approaching life from this perspective invites greater ease and flow. Looking through the eyes of the Victim or the Champion/Hero/Creator is a choice. Seeing your life experience with appreciations invites possibilities to unfold.

5. Ask for help. Reach out to your circle of friends if you need an ear, a hug, a boost or a kick in the butt to get yourself into a healthier mindset. Be willing to receive help and invite the people in your life to be a loving support if you need it!

6. Help someone. Our natural state is one of loving generosity and well-being. Extending support to another can be a great heart lifter in reconnecting us to our spirit.

7. Do something that brings you joy, makes you laugh, and feeds your spirit. A few months ago, my buddy Anita Pathik- Law and I were talking on the phone and we started laughing. The kind of laughter that turns into side-splitting laughter that continued for over 6 minutes. It was hilarious. She recorded it and if I ever need a boost, all I have to do is play it and I start laughing!

Dr. Lorraine Cohen, President of Powerfull Living, brings more than 25 years experience in personal and business coaching, psychological counseling, and sales to thousands of spiritually minded business owners, entrepreneurs, and leaders from a wide range of industries. Learn more about Lorraine’s services, success products and programs.

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Create a Strategy

The first action you must take is to create a marketing plan. You must get clear on who is your best customers, where to find them, what problems you solve and why they should buy from you. This does not require a long document but clarity in thinking. All eleven actions are documented in 49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) to Grow Sales. The book is available on Amazon.com.

Be Consistent

You must be consistent in your message and brand throughout all your marketing activities. Otherwise potential customer can get very confused. Most people do not lose an opportunity to the competition; they lose the opportunity to complacency of the prospect. When the prospect gets confused they do nothing. Be consistent in your message.

Use Press Releases

Let the world know what you are up to. Use press releases to target specific locations. Write the press release with a unique angle that makes it easy for reporters and other readers to read your message. There is the possibility for a huge return for minimal investment.

Create Controversy

Take you message, your story and build some controversy so it is interesting to others. Take something that everyone is talking (newspapers, magazines, industry blogs, etc) about and incorporate that into your message.

Write Articles

Writing articles is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to get your name out and increase visibility. There are hundreds of sites looking for articles. The key is to write about what your prospects what to hear about, provide value and have a clear call to action.

Networking for Referrals

The quickest and fastest way to get new business is to ask for it; especially from your existing customers. They know your products and services so pick up the phone, take them out to lunch and ask them if they know anyone who they would introduce you to who could use your products or services.

Create Your Business Mastery Advisory Board

Create your own advisory board. Many business owners think they can go it alone. You can’t and the sooner you realize this the faster you can the result you want. It is all about people. If you do not test your message with your peers and see what works, you are wasting, time, energy and money.

Generation Leads

Use Teleseminars and Webinars as a marketing tool so people can find out what you are about. These can be free or paid. The key is to provide value so people listening want to engage you. The beauty of this approach is people who are interested in what you are promoting naturally opt-in to listen to your story.

Use Electronic Newsletters

Electronic newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with your audience. They opt-in so you know they are interested. Having someone buy your products and services is as much need as it is timing. Your name (product) needs to be top of mind when they need something. A newsletter can do that for you.

Speaking Before Groups

Public speaking is one of the best approaches to generating new business. You need to be professional and provide value but where are you going to get an opportunity to have 100 people pay to listen to you talk about what is important to you and how it can help them. If you are afraid of speaking, get trained. There are many different organizations to help you.

Create an Event

Create and event and make it a party. People are social animals who love to be involved and find deals. You can do a grand opening, grand reopening, anniversary sale, holiday sales or any one of 100 reasons to have a party and invite people into your business.

What to do next to Grow your Business

I had a consulting company hire me to help them grow their business. All I did was bring them back to what they did successful to grow their business. Effectively, they got selfish. This resulted in a 35% year over year growth rate.

I worked with a patent agent and he had a 150% return on his investment. We got him focused on who his idea customer is. By simply getting clear and targeting his ideal client, he had his best month ever. I worked with an Information Technology company and we reduce his time to make for a specific product by 800%.

I worked with a telephony company and took a service they provided to their existing customer at no charge and help them turn this into a product they use to expand their market.

It is all about getting clear: your market, your customers, your product, your services and taking action. If you are thinking about taking action you are already too late. It is not about thinking, it is about doing. If you don’t know how, hire someone, read a book, call someone who will share with you his experiences. Take ownership for your situation and take action to move forward.

After a successful consulting career, Ron Finklestein has spent the past 6 years building his business AKRIS LLC and helping entrepreneurs and business owners build their businesses by helping them solve the tough problems that hold them back. Ron is called The Small Business Success Expert by his clients because of his passion for their success and his knowledge of business.

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Business Know How, by Stacey Mayo: Here are 10 of 26 proven strategies gleaned from interviews with highly successful people who have overcome obstacles to accomplish such feats at climbing Mt. Everest, winning a Grammy, becoming a multi-millionaire, becoming an established author and humorist, a professional pitcher in the Major Leagues, an internet entrepreneur who earns millions and more. Regardless of your career or industry, when applied, these success principles can shorten your learning curve and be a catalyst for your success.

1) Create Wealth in Alignment With Your Passions

It is important to focus on what you are passionate about first and then find a way to make money at it. Get in touch with your heart first, otherwise, the left side of your brain will rule out perfectly good ideas without having explored them.

2) Honor Numero Uno: Design Your Life Around Your Priorities

Many people try to fit their dreams into their life and complain there are not enough hours in the day to make it happen. If you want your dream to become a reality, make it a priority. Otherwise, it will never be more than a pipedream.

3) Visualize Every Step of Your Dream and Watch the Magic Unfold

The muscle movement that helps us physically take action in our lives begins in the mind. That is why all great golfers, tennis players, basketball players, etc. visualize themselves making a shot beforehand. An experiment conducted by Alan Richardson, an Australian psychologist, found 23% performance improvement among subjects who visualized every day for 20 days. In his paper published in Research Quarterly, Richardson wrote that the most effective visualization occurs when the visualizer feels and sees what he is doing.

4) Easy Does It: Inspired Action Always Trumps Forced Action

Inspired action is joyful action that is in alignment with your dream. It is action you want to take and the idea of it brings a smile to your face. When you take inspired action, you are aligned with what you are doing and things flow naturally.

5) Laser in On One Idea, Business or Income Stream at a Time

One of the mistakes people make is diversifying too quickly. This is true whether you are trying to build multiple streams of income or are just working on several different ideas at one time. The key is getting the first stream or idea up and running, producing good revenue, and having systems in place so it will keep running without you before going on to the next unrelated stream.

6) Strengthen Your Relationships: Your Financial Independence is Dependent on Your Connections With Others

Many people think of the day when they will be financially independent as “freedom day.” And, while financial independence is a worthwhile goal, it does not mean that you are free of your dependence on other people. As a matter of fact, in order to create financial independence, you just might need a lot more people in your life than you have right now.

7) Develop Your Resilience Muscle: Bounce Back From Setbacks

The truth is that you will have setbacks along the way. This is just inevitable. The sooner you accept that, the better. Many of these setbacks will take the form of circumstances that come up and block your way. If you look closely, you may find these setbacks are directly correlated with your innermost thoughts, fears, and limiting beliefs. This is because we create what we focus on including those things we don’t want.

8) Streamline Your Efforts; Align Your Natural Talents With Your Goal

Success comes easier and more quickly when you enhance your strengths and delegate in areas where you are weak. Your natural talents are those things you do so easily and naturally that you think they are no big deal. Many of my clients were overlooking their natural talents when they first came to me. They thought if it is this easy for them, it must be this easy for everyone. This is rarely the case.

9) Disarm That Sneaky Inner Saboteur

Even when we know what we need to do, we often don’t do it out of fear of experiencing the emotions and other things that may come up as a result. Fear of failure and fear of success are the two biggest internal fears that people often face. Most other fears such as fear of rejection fall underneath one of these major categories.

10) Shorten Your Learning Curve by Learning From The Best

You can learn from the people who are barely getting by, from those who are doing fairly well or from those at the top of the heap. Talk to people who are already successful and find out how they did it. That’s what the book, “I Can’t Believe I Get Paid To Do This!” is about. Its purpose is to provide success principles and philosophies from those who have excelled. They’ve already been down the road and you can learn from their experience. Why reinvent the wheel when someone else already did a great job of creating it?

Top Ten Strategies For Becoming Uncommonly Successful [Business Know How]

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