MySpace is an incredible online community which gives members the opportunity to make new friends, reconnect with long lost friends, network or even meet potential romantic partners. While there are many great social aspects to using MySpace it is also important to not there is the potential for predators to be lurking on MySpace. These predators may either be nonmembers who simply comb member profiles in search of useful information or they may be members who create profiles which mask their true identity and foster online friendship for devious purposes. In general the harm which can come from using MySpace could be either physical or financial. This article will discuss how MySpace members can avoid physical or financial harm by keeping their personal information personal.
Avoiding Physical Harm
Those who agree to meet online friends in person put themselves at risk for physical harm. Although in many cases agreeing to meet an online friend in person will not lead to any problems there is always the potential for your online friend to really be a harmful predator. Not agreeing to offline meetings is the most obvious way to avoid this type of danger. However, there are other precautions MySpace members can take to avoid the possibility encountering their online friends in person.
Not posting information which can be used to track you down can help to minimize the risk of physical harm which results from interactions with MySpace members. The most obvious information which can be used for this purpose is a full name and an address. Additionally, a telephone number can be used to find out your address. These are not the only ways predators can find you. For example if you have pictures of yourself posted on your MySpace website and post a blog entry about your plans to visit Disney Land on a particular weekend, Internet stalkers can use this information to find and abduct you.
Posting about weekend plans may seem harmless but those who know where you will be and what you look like can find you even in a crowded location. Also, if you post a blog entry mentioning you will be out of town and also include your full name and the city you live in, savvy predators can use this information to determine your address and burglarize your home while you enjoy your vacation. Those who use MySpace and do not make their website private should be aware that any information they post can be viewed by others who may have malicious intentions. Keeping this in mind helps members to realize they should be cautious about the type of information they divulge on MySpace.
Avoiding Financial Harm
The information on a MySpace website can also be used, by Internet predators, to commit identity theft or other types of financial fraud. When using MySpace care should be taken to avoid giving out sensitive information such as full name, address, social security number, credit card numbers and bank account numbers. This type of information can be used to commit identity theft and the results of identity theft can be financial ruin including bankruptcy and damaged credit. Also, the result of identity theft can be difficult to reverse. Even if the predator is caught in his actions, it may be many years before the victim recovers financially.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Guaranteed To Increase Sales!
As a Publishing entrepreneur and by doing publicity for my clients, I’ve spent years studying the art of selling. The techniques that follow aren’t difficult to learn, but they require discipline and practice.
Your most important skill as a business owner is your salesmanship. Having the best product or service means nothing if you can’t get anyone to buy it, so to ensure the success of your business you must develop the ability to generate revenue – “salesman-ship”.
Here is a brief outline of 13 techniques I’ve developed for increasing sales:
1. USE THE PHONE –Absolutely the cheapest, most effective, and efficient way to find customers is by phone. Yes, “cold-calling”. Write out a script for this before you call, so you don’t sound vague. Introduce yourself, your company, the purpose of the call, and give a brief “benefit” of your product/service to the client. ”What will you do for his/her business?” Be brief, to the point, and have 10 possible objections you might get, answered in your script. This way you’re prepared for the customary “brush-off.” Always try to get a firm commitment to a meeting. This call is not to “sell” the client, it’s to get a face-to-face meeting to establish credibility – and then to sell him/her. Would you buy from a voice on the phone? No. You want to see the vendor and listen to his offer.
2. SHOUT IT FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOP – You should always be looking for new customer, and I’ve found that giving seminars, teaching, guest speaking at trade shows and organizations, or writing an article for your trade magazine or business journal establishes you as an “expert” in your field. People like to buy from experts because it reduces their fear of making a bad decision. Everyone can overcome their fear of public speaking, so find the method that works best for you and do it. As a desperate step, join a Toastmaster’s group near you or take a night course at a nearby Adult School.
3. ASK QUESTIONS – Most salespeople think that the first meeting with the prospect is the only chance to make a sale. WRONG! Before you go into your “pitch” ask questions, take notes, what are your prospects goals, challenges, etc. Helping a prospect solve a business problem creates a “win-win” relationship and closes more sales than you think.
4. AVOID “PRODUCT DUMPING” – Telling your prospect all about your product/service before you know their needs is a mistake made by 95% of salespeople. This is an inefficient selling method and upon reflection, your client will lose faith in you. I’ve met with clients on several occasions and left them with some advice and good feelings, but no sale and that’s alright. Because in the future I’m apt to get “word of mouth” referrals from them, which will outweigh what I might have made if I’d simply “sold” them a service that wasn’t an answer to their problem. Remember – nothing adds more to your credibility than a referral from a satisfied prospect.
5. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS – Selling is a numbers game, and you need to learn your “selling ratios.” How many prospecting calls do you need to get a meeting, and how many meetings to get a sale. This allows you to manage your cash flow by forecasting your sales. It also tells you how many calls are needed to increase your sales revenue.
In next week’s column we’ll continue with the 13 tips which will cover Qualifying Your Prospect and Gaining Trust to name just a few. Happy selling!
http://maximumheavytraffic.com/jenjen569
Your most important skill as a business owner is your salesmanship. Having the best product or service means nothing if you can’t get anyone to buy it, so to ensure the success of your business you must develop the ability to generate revenue – “salesman-ship”.
Here is a brief outline of 13 techniques I’ve developed for increasing sales:
1. USE THE PHONE –Absolutely the cheapest, most effective, and efficient way to find customers is by phone. Yes, “cold-calling”. Write out a script for this before you call, so you don’t sound vague. Introduce yourself, your company, the purpose of the call, and give a brief “benefit” of your product/service to the client. ”What will you do for his/her business?” Be brief, to the point, and have 10 possible objections you might get, answered in your script. This way you’re prepared for the customary “brush-off.” Always try to get a firm commitment to a meeting. This call is not to “sell” the client, it’s to get a face-to-face meeting to establish credibility – and then to sell him/her. Would you buy from a voice on the phone? No. You want to see the vendor and listen to his offer.
2. SHOUT IT FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOP – You should always be looking for new customer, and I’ve found that giving seminars, teaching, guest speaking at trade shows and organizations, or writing an article for your trade magazine or business journal establishes you as an “expert” in your field. People like to buy from experts because it reduces their fear of making a bad decision. Everyone can overcome their fear of public speaking, so find the method that works best for you and do it. As a desperate step, join a Toastmaster’s group near you or take a night course at a nearby Adult School.
3. ASK QUESTIONS – Most salespeople think that the first meeting with the prospect is the only chance to make a sale. WRONG! Before you go into your “pitch” ask questions, take notes, what are your prospects goals, challenges, etc. Helping a prospect solve a business problem creates a “win-win” relationship and closes more sales than you think.
4. AVOID “PRODUCT DUMPING” – Telling your prospect all about your product/service before you know their needs is a mistake made by 95% of salespeople. This is an inefficient selling method and upon reflection, your client will lose faith in you. I’ve met with clients on several occasions and left them with some advice and good feelings, but no sale and that’s alright. Because in the future I’m apt to get “word of mouth” referrals from them, which will outweigh what I might have made if I’d simply “sold” them a service that wasn’t an answer to their problem. Remember – nothing adds more to your credibility than a referral from a satisfied prospect.
5. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS – Selling is a numbers game, and you need to learn your “selling ratios.” How many prospecting calls do you need to get a meeting, and how many meetings to get a sale. This allows you to manage your cash flow by forecasting your sales. It also tells you how many calls are needed to increase your sales revenue.
In next week’s column we’ll continue with the 13 tips which will cover Qualifying Your Prospect and Gaining Trust to name just a few. Happy selling!
http://maximumheavytraffic.com/jenjen569
Monday, November 3, 2008
Here's Why Paying For Your Traffic Is A Smart Move
There are so many success stories you will hear about businesses making it good in the internet. The troubling thing is, there are maybe a tenfold or even a hundredfold of stories contradictory to theirs. Many have unsuccessfully launched a business enterprise that is internet based but only a handful shall succeed.
Is this through luck? That is even more remote. It takes good business sense and a lot of help and team effort. Most importantly, it is the eagerness to succeed and the determination to learn and the willingness to invest in a lot of hard work and some money.
The Very Basic
Like Neo, traffic is “The One”. Without traffic, all your effort would just go to waste. Every business needs customers, without them you wouldn’t have anyone to sell your products to. In the internet world traffic is the walk in customer. The more traffic you have the more people would be able to sell your products to.
But like any business that’s in every corner building or in the mall, not everyone that goes in will buy, but the greater of number that do come in to browse your merchandise, the greater number of people that will buy your products. It is a simple and known fact.
But, how do you get traffic, traffic large enough that could make a small percentage of eventual buyers enough to make a good profit. Many big companies generate traffic of tens of thousands a day and a measly ten to fifteen percent actually buys, but that small percentage is enough to provide them with good business.
Many of these success stories get their traffic from paying others. Yes that’s right; you have to spend money to make money. Advertising is the key. The more people that knows that your site exists; the more people would of course go to your site, that’s common sense.
While there are many ways that can get you advertising for free, this do not generate the same high volume as those methods that are getting paid. These paid advertisements include advertising schemes by Google and Yahoo.
The Value of Searches
The search and will be the easiest and fastest medium in finding what a person needs in the internet. Search engines have been very popular because they provide a vital service to many people. They are free and easy to use. With this popularity, they get many visitors and clicks that they are the most common sites that people go to. It is easy to understand why so many companies would pay to advertise with these search engines.
Search engines provide information to the millions of users that they have each day. They provide links to many sites that a user may be looking for. If your sites link pop up in the high ranks of the search results page, you get a great chance that they will go to your site. While search engine optimization is a cheaper and low cost way to get your site a high rank, paying for advertisements will ensure that you will be on the top ranks.
When you pay for your advertisements, it is like paying for your traffic. This may sound like not such a good idea, but the payoffs would tell a different story. When you pay for your traffic, you are guaranteed of a consistent traffic flow to your site. You will never go with an empty sales day.
Paying for your Traffic
Usually, you will be charged with the number of hits a link gets when your ads is clicked, this is called pay per click. For some search engines, you will be charged with the number of times your ad shows up when a certain keyword or keyword phrase is searched. It is imperative that you have good keyword content in your ad. There are many tools that aid you in using the right keyword for the right moment.
All the money you spend in paying for your traffic will not be for naught. You will get an impressive boost in traffic which will also result to a great boost in your sales figures. Paying for your traffic would be a really good idea and you will get all the benefits it has to offer.
http://itsmyfranchise.com/jenjen569/
Is this through luck? That is even more remote. It takes good business sense and a lot of help and team effort. Most importantly, it is the eagerness to succeed and the determination to learn and the willingness to invest in a lot of hard work and some money.
The Very Basic
Like Neo, traffic is “The One”. Without traffic, all your effort would just go to waste. Every business needs customers, without them you wouldn’t have anyone to sell your products to. In the internet world traffic is the walk in customer. The more traffic you have the more people would be able to sell your products to.
But like any business that’s in every corner building or in the mall, not everyone that goes in will buy, but the greater of number that do come in to browse your merchandise, the greater number of people that will buy your products. It is a simple and known fact.
But, how do you get traffic, traffic large enough that could make a small percentage of eventual buyers enough to make a good profit. Many big companies generate traffic of tens of thousands a day and a measly ten to fifteen percent actually buys, but that small percentage is enough to provide them with good business.
Many of these success stories get their traffic from paying others. Yes that’s right; you have to spend money to make money. Advertising is the key. The more people that knows that your site exists; the more people would of course go to your site, that’s common sense.
While there are many ways that can get you advertising for free, this do not generate the same high volume as those methods that are getting paid. These paid advertisements include advertising schemes by Google and Yahoo.
The Value of Searches
The search and will be the easiest and fastest medium in finding what a person needs in the internet. Search engines have been very popular because they provide a vital service to many people. They are free and easy to use. With this popularity, they get many visitors and clicks that they are the most common sites that people go to. It is easy to understand why so many companies would pay to advertise with these search engines.
Search engines provide information to the millions of users that they have each day. They provide links to many sites that a user may be looking for. If your sites link pop up in the high ranks of the search results page, you get a great chance that they will go to your site. While search engine optimization is a cheaper and low cost way to get your site a high rank, paying for advertisements will ensure that you will be on the top ranks.
When you pay for your advertisements, it is like paying for your traffic. This may sound like not such a good idea, but the payoffs would tell a different story. When you pay for your traffic, you are guaranteed of a consistent traffic flow to your site. You will never go with an empty sales day.
Paying for your Traffic
Usually, you will be charged with the number of hits a link gets when your ads is clicked, this is called pay per click. For some search engines, you will be charged with the number of times your ad shows up when a certain keyword or keyword phrase is searched. It is imperative that you have good keyword content in your ad. There are many tools that aid you in using the right keyword for the right moment.
All the money you spend in paying for your traffic will not be for naught. You will get an impressive boost in traffic which will also result to a great boost in your sales figures. Paying for your traffic would be a really good idea and you will get all the benefits it has to offer.
http://itsmyfranchise.com/jenjen569/
Creating Your Social Networking Website Profile
How you would like to meet and communicate with other internet users, especially ones that share the same views and beliefs as you do? If you would then you may want to think about joining a social networking website, if you haven’t already done so. When it comes to easily finding and communicating online with other internet users, social networking sites are, perhaps, the best way to go.
If you are interested in joining a social networking website, the first thing that you will need to do is find a network to join. You can easily find a number of networks by performing a standard internet search. For the best search results, you may want to search with the words social networking or social networking websites. In your search, it is likely that that you come up with a fairly large number of different networking sites. Popular sites that may be included in your search results may include, but will not be limited to, MySpace, Orkut, Yahoo! 360, FriendFinder, FriendWise, Facebook, and Classmates.
Once you have made the decision to join a particular social networking website, whether or not it is one of the ones mentioned above, you will need to need to register with the site. Even free networking communities require that you go through the registration process. Once you are registered, you should be able to start communicating with other community members. Before you start communicating, you may need to develop your online profile or profile page, depending on the networking site in question. Although it may seem easy enough to create a profile, there are many internet users who are unsure exactly what they should and should not include.
Perhaps, one of the most important things to include in your online website is your picture. While a personal picture is optional, it is ideal. Many internet users enjoy taking to someone that they can see in their minds, without a picture this is difficult. If you are looking to use social networking websites just to meet new friends you may not necessarily need to post a private picture, but you may need to if you are looking to find love online. When it comes to internet dating, many individuals will not even view an online profile if a picture is not included.
In addition to your photograph, you may want to include your name. Now, when it comes to your name, you need to be cautious. You are advised against giving your full name, especially if your profile or profile page contains a personal photograph of you. In addition to your name, you may want to put down your location. As with your name it is important to display caution. Your picture, your address, and your full name can be dangerous, especially if it falls into the wrong hands. As much as you would like to fill your social networking profiles with personal information, you are advised to think about your safety before anything else.
You may also want to include information on yourself. This information may include your hobbies, issues that are important to do, your likes, and your dislikes. With many social networking websites, including MySpace, you will find that there are preset profile fields for this information. In addition to preset questions or categories on your likes and dislikes, you may also find additional information, including fun questionnaires. Many social networking websites will ask that you describe your favorite color, your goals in life, your most embarrassing moment, and so on. As with your other personal information, it is important to stay as vague and possible and not use any full names, especially real ones.
By keeping the above mentioned points in mind, you should not only be able to create an online social networking profile that is filled with valuable information, but you can do so while staying safe at the same time. Your safety on the internet is in your hands, that is why it is important to think about safety, as well as internet popularity.
http://universalwebserver.com/jenjen569/
If you are interested in joining a social networking website, the first thing that you will need to do is find a network to join. You can easily find a number of networks by performing a standard internet search. For the best search results, you may want to search with the words social networking or social networking websites. In your search, it is likely that that you come up with a fairly large number of different networking sites. Popular sites that may be included in your search results may include, but will not be limited to, MySpace, Orkut, Yahoo! 360, FriendFinder, FriendWise, Facebook, and Classmates.
Once you have made the decision to join a particular social networking website, whether or not it is one of the ones mentioned above, you will need to need to register with the site. Even free networking communities require that you go through the registration process. Once you are registered, you should be able to start communicating with other community members. Before you start communicating, you may need to develop your online profile or profile page, depending on the networking site in question. Although it may seem easy enough to create a profile, there are many internet users who are unsure exactly what they should and should not include.
Perhaps, one of the most important things to include in your online website is your picture. While a personal picture is optional, it is ideal. Many internet users enjoy taking to someone that they can see in their minds, without a picture this is difficult. If you are looking to use social networking websites just to meet new friends you may not necessarily need to post a private picture, but you may need to if you are looking to find love online. When it comes to internet dating, many individuals will not even view an online profile if a picture is not included.
In addition to your photograph, you may want to include your name. Now, when it comes to your name, you need to be cautious. You are advised against giving your full name, especially if your profile or profile page contains a personal photograph of you. In addition to your name, you may want to put down your location. As with your name it is important to display caution. Your picture, your address, and your full name can be dangerous, especially if it falls into the wrong hands. As much as you would like to fill your social networking profiles with personal information, you are advised to think about your safety before anything else.
You may also want to include information on yourself. This information may include your hobbies, issues that are important to do, your likes, and your dislikes. With many social networking websites, including MySpace, you will find that there are preset profile fields for this information. In addition to preset questions or categories on your likes and dislikes, you may also find additional information, including fun questionnaires. Many social networking websites will ask that you describe your favorite color, your goals in life, your most embarrassing moment, and so on. As with your other personal information, it is important to stay as vague and possible and not use any full names, especially real ones.
By keeping the above mentioned points in mind, you should not only be able to create an online social networking profile that is filled with valuable information, but you can do so while staying safe at the same time. Your safety on the internet is in your hands, that is why it is important to think about safety, as well as internet popularity.
http://universalwebserver.com/jenjen569/
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