The oh-so-cute Citroen C2 – worth R150,000 -The draw is on 14 April – go, go, go Get Entries for this prize and many others by creating a free membership at JustPlay and completing simple online questionnaires.

Click Here to join the JustPlay website Today!

1. Press Releases – Make press releases that are newsworthy and draw the attention of the readers. The releases should be short and to the point with an opening sentence or phrase that is convincing and holds the attention of the reader.

2. Search Engine Marketing – Having a website and using the services of a search engine is a necessity in today’s environment where greater numbers of people are accessing the Internet for their requirements. The website host must be reliable so that prospective customers can access the site without difficulty. The website design should be imaginative to draw attention of viewers. Websites are an inexpensive method for accessing a greater number of people. The website should have the company’s contact details, including the business phone number and email address. Advertise in newsgroups that are in a similar line of business so that the site is easily accessed.

3. Trade Shows – Rent space at trade shows and hand out promotional material to clients. Keep a feedback or order address registry of clients. After the show, contact them, keeping the promised made at the booth.

4. Direct Marketing – Create a finely tuned list of targeted recipients and directly market to them by phone, email, or standard mail, providing them with explanatory material.

5. Yellow Pages – Make an ad stand out in the yellow pages with an attractive design and listing under a specific, targeted category.

6. Public Service – Promote the company in a positive manner in the community by sponsoring events, donating products to local charities and holding events with local groups. Distribute promotional t-shirts, pens, mugs, etc. with the company’s brand emblazoned on it.

7. Business Card & Network Groups – Keep professional and well-designed business cards handy. Join a networking group for support and business leads.

Implementing Low Cost Marketing Ideas:

Use knowledge, skills, systems and tools to create a low cost marketing strategy for new businesses to attract customers on shoestring budgets.

Knowledge: Read books on marketing knowledge, buy a couple of manuals from web marketing masters, or subscribe to online continual education services. Learn marketing strategy from the experts.

Skills: Develop these four important marketing skills: Ask straightforward questions to learn of the client’s needs and problems. Listen carefully and provide a problem solving approach. Write a compelling story of marketing materials to attract customers. Demonstrate practical ideas and understand the working of the product.

Systems: Define responsibilities, schedule marketing activities and use computers to automate tasks and hire people for clerical activities. Focus time and attention on the clients to deliver products or services in a stipulated period. Manage contacts to add to the database. Send information to prospective clients and response to each query to handle clients respectively.

Tools: The basic tools required to target a market include: Communication tools like phone, email and websites. Information for clients about the business, life written proposals, brochures or pamphlets. Things displaying the company name, logo and contact information like business cards.

I hope that these 7 low cost marketing ideas will help you in your business! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need any further guidance with creating a successful marketing strategy for your business.

According to many critics out there; it is impossible to make a living with online data entry and affiliate marketing jobs, blogging, MLM, etc, but are the critics really qualified to make such generalisations of all ‘work at home’ business opportunities?

When reading through a friend’s blog a while back regarding ‘work at home’ business opportunities I noticed that the average reader responded saying that it is junk, some responded with questions, some wanted to investigate, and ONE person shed some light on the entire debate.

From hundreds of comments only ONE person knew the truth about home based business opportunities, and the truth is this:

As mentioned in a previous post ‘The TRUTH about ‘Get Rich Quick’” there is a high probability that any of these millions of ‘work at home’ business opportunities will actually make you rich, however most of these opportunities are entered into by what I call the ‘lazy web bum’ – A person who would join an online business and then expect to become a millionaire the very next morning without lifting a finger. Yes, true, this CAN happen, but the probability of that is very minimal (Don’t get your hopes up!).

Allow me to explain this in the simplest manner:

You have just started working at a new company and it is your first day at the office, you are very enthusiastic and all your co-workers seem pleased with your attitude. You decide to sit back and relax while your boss is not around, watching the others work and waiting for your pay cheque. At the end of the month you get fired because your work has not been completed and you do not get paid.

If that was the case under normal circumstances you would not have any success in the company, you will be left at square one; job hunting AGAIN, hoping to find another alternative that will give you the most amount of money with as little work as possible.

‘Work at home’ business opportunities are similar to the above, the only difference is that in this case you are your own boss and we all know that you won’t fire yourself, so what is there to do when things don’t work out? Blame it on the business system that you joined? Yes?….. NO! This is the mistake that many people make, they blame the system instead of blaming themselves for not putting in enough effort, or for not investigating and studying, learning, understanding the business concept, how to make it work, and actually making it work.

The conclusion: YES!! WORKING AT HOME REALLY WORKS!! But the question is, does working at home really work for YOU? Some people do not have the knowledge or self discipline to create a successful home business, but I will leave that topic for another post where we can evaluate whether YOU are a ‘work at home’ entrepreneur or just another rat in the ‘rat race.’

Youtube spoof awesomeness from pantlessknights (via) – From The guys at Grasshopper.com

Monday, March 8, 2010 – 11:00AM – 12:00PM EST
( 6:00PM – 7:00PM GMT+2 – South Africa)

A significant live webinar will be presented to entrepreneurs and leaders from all over the world, offering an effective means, to help empower and transform many peoples lives, including your own!

Please join us for a life-altering presentation!

Click here to register at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/929272450

“When iLearningGlobal launched in March 2009, I knew this would be a perfect fit.”

- William Debauchez, Independent Marketer

Why did you become involved with iLearningGlobal?

” Passionate with marketing systems, I run a community that helps network marketers from all over the world transition to an online approach.

A lot of them had never been in business before. I would refer them to signature books and products, often times written by some of our faculty members. When iLearningGlobal launched in March 2009, I knew this would be a perfect fit. Not only could I use it myself, I could refer my clients to it, plus make it my primary opportunity, and free myself from national boundaries. We achieved presence on 5 continents within 4 months.”

.

How has personal development helped you in your life?

“Self-development played a key role in my life. From summer jobs selling books door to door, to getting though my studies, and finally a late career change in aviation decided just before September 2001, I’ve always believed in continuous learning and personal development. I remember fondly of the summer of 1992 where after knocking on doors without success for hours, I sat under a tree and pulled out “Life is Tremendous’ by Charles Tremendous Jones…I went on to generating a large enough check to pay for my studies at the end of the summer…Continuous self-improvement and fundamental core belief got me to where I am today and that includes being a pilot for one of the most prestigious airlines in the world.”

How is iLearningGlobal making a positive difference in your life?

“I feel a very strong connection with iLearningGlobal, “an unprecedented opportunity to learn with the best from anywhere in the world, and share the dramatic positive impact personal development can have on people’s lives”. It’s given me the opportunity to apply my sales and marketing skills to an area that I am really passionate with. As a result, I went on to developing a marketing system that’s second to none and support marketers all over the world in building their teams.”

What are some successes you have had through the application of principles you learned in personal development or iLearningGlobal?

“Working hard had implications on my relationships and my wife and I, who already had a tense relationship since my daughter was born, were looking at a major collapse…

And so I turned to the library, which I mostly used for business thus far, and found John Gray’s content. After watching the videos, things changed immediately. I was the first to watch your material and bought 2 of John’s books. My wife found the books on my table, and impressed with how dedicated I was to our relationship, she started watching the videos, and then took one of the books.

One month later, we were so happy, we could not believe it. Our stress levels were completely reduced. We experienced love and tenderness again, and great quality time as a family. We just love each-other again. We started making plans again, and a month after, my wife announced that we were going to have another child.”

I’m not going to tell you that “content is king.” You already know that. There are reasons why your best bet for running a successful online business revolve around your content though.

Content is arguably the most important aspect of your web efforts. This will likely be as true as ever as search engine results transform into more personalized versions of what we have come to know. Not everybody is going to get the same results and this makes content all the more important.

If you provide good, quality content, it is going to attract links, period. It is true that this will not always happen without the appropriate attention to site promotion, but once people see your content, they will link to it if it is good. It’s that simple. There are tons of sites dedicated to linking to (what they perceive to be) good content alone. That is their whole purpose.

Look at sites like Drudge Report, Techmeme or even Google News,. While the ways these sites choose what content to display may differ from each other, they are each rooted in what they consider to be valuable content, and everything on these sites links out to other sites. With good content, there is no reason why sites like these (or others depending on your niche) can’t be linking to your content.

When your content generates more links, it is likely to achieve greater visibility right along with them. Whether that be from search engines, blogs, or sites like those mentioned above, more doorways are created for entering your own site. People don’t link to bad content (generally speaking) unless they wish to insult it, or are for some reason misled about what they are linking to.

Especially in Multi Level Marketing people are still taught some strange things like:

• Everyone is your prospect.
• Everyone can do this.
• You don’t have to sell.

Common sense tells me, that if no qualification and no selling from my side are required to do the job, it should be a piece of cake to earn tons of money; but after having a closer look at the person who’s telling me this, I can sense that something isn’t quite right: maybe the person obviously struggles himself to earn enough money, maybe I have the strange feeling that I’m not being told everything, and maybe this stranger (who is offering a great business opportunity) tries to shovel it all down my throat although I haven’t met him or her before and don’t know anything about his or her work ethics and the company.

Network marketing seems to be the same as Multi Level Marketing and isn’t it standing for: bug your friends and family and try selling them something? What else can my network be, than my social contacts? Am I willing to loose my friends and anger my relatives? No product can be good enough to make up for all the troubles!

And then, suddenly, another thought might sneak into the brain: this is so annoying, it must be illegal. What kind of illegal, similar sounding method comes into mind? Pyramid schemes! Of course! It must be the same – only the name changes, but basically it’s the same: make a lot of money by investing a little money, tell all your friends and relatives about it and have them join too!

The huge amount of Spam, fraud and slimy offers dwelling on the World Wide Web are not helpful either. Nor are the ‘business opportunities’ where you opt in and ‘everything will be done for you’ – why then, would anyone need you to join?

If you want to become successful in network marketing, you need to learn how to attract people to your business rather than bugging them and annoying every stranger crossing your way. You need to be comfortable with the fact that you are indeed selling something and that it is absolutely OK to do so.

You will need to learn marketing skills, to offer value to others and to put a lot of work into your business. You will need to develop skills and gain knowledge – does this sound like a pyramid scheme? No, it doesn’t and these are the reason why network marketing and MLM have nothing to do with illegal pyramid schemes.

Once you thoroughly study reputable Network Marketing or Multi Level Marketing companies you will discover that there is nothing sinister or illegal about it, and that it is most definitely NOT a pyramid scheme as often misconceived.

Be careful of the scams and schemes out there, but don’t shut yourself off from the wonderful and lucrative business module of Network Marketing. Sure it requires a lot of effort and hard work, and on top of it all you need to have the right knowledge in order to succeed.

As I have stated in a previous article – My advice is to take a second look at what MLM really has to offer before you shove it aside!

Quitting the never ending rat race is a personal decision that many work from home entrepreneurs face. Their reasons for wanting to work from home vary. Some people find that they simply have no other choice but to work out of their home office. Perhaps they have to take care of their elderly parents or their children, or they themselves are house-bound. Some people are retired and find that finally having an opportunity to spend time in their own home is a huge comfort and joy. Even college kids, stay at home spouses, and those recently downsized are finding that the Internet is simply the best option for starting and running a profitable home based business.

Working from home is a serious commitment that all entrepreneurs should consider. However, they must be aware of the negatives and risks of the Internet. The Internet is fraught with get rich quick schemes. It is also overflowing with misleading business building hype and flat out work from home lies. Any program or opportunity that promises big bucks with little work is a fraud. Proper research and common sense should eliminate any frauds and scams. Developing a solid Internet business requires partnerships with strong and professional companies.

Building a real business, no matter what kind of business, requires hard work. That’s the bad news. The good news is there has never been a better time to start a business from you home because the Internet makes it a log-cost and low-risk venture. Building an online business or home business does not require massive amounts of start-up capital. With that said, it is possible to over-spend on your business simply by neglecting the research.

Learning about web hosting companies and traffic building strategies in the beginning of your home business plan is a tremendous positive step. There are many web hosting companies that offer cheap domains and seemingly endless features. The problem which many web entrepreneurs face is they invest in the wrong web hosting company at the start up phase of their business. They soon discover that they have not built and online business. They have simply built and online brochure that sits with very few visits by the millions of web surfers. Now they must invest more and more money into building a bigger and better site, or paying a firm to optimise their web pages, or paying a search engine to display their ads.

A web business that sits without visitors is not a business at all. Online entrepreneurs know they need and income to be successful. They also realise that building an online business is a series of steps. They must rank well in search engines by providing excellent content filled pages. In return for ranking so well, the search engines send droves of targeted customers to the online business. Now that the online business has their customers, it can begin to develop a relationship with them. It warms the customer by creating a welcoming and personal feel. All of the great information and the atmosphere of the website will build a trust between the business and its customers. It is this relationship that leads to profitability.

Forget the long string of classic work-at-home dead-end jobs like envelope-stuffing and telemarketing. Use the Web to build something terrific that excites you, a business to be proud of, that is your own, and that earns you a substantial income. Working from home rewards entrepreneurs in so many ways. If you are interested in an online business or work-at-home business, you must be smart enough to do the research!

Nonetheless, the rewards for getting it right are massive. Not just in terms of your income but, perhaps more importantly, in terms of the improvement in lifestyle that comes if you can work from home. Initially you have to work harder to start your business but, once it has, you could work as little as 4 hours a day in return for a fantastic improvement in your quality of life.

So what are the best ways to legally make money online?… Each of these steps outlined offer a basic introduction to the most effective ways to generate an income for yourself and your family working from your own home. Each has the potential to provide anything from a little extra cash to a very healthy full time income. They are not presented in any order of preference and it should be noted that most successful Entrepreneurs use most, if not all of these, techniques to legally make money from home.

1. Affiliate Programs: Fundamentally, if you act as an affiliate it means that you advertise other products in return for commissions on any sales made by a customer who has arrived at the product via a link from your advertisement. This way to legally make money online is best achieved by placing advertisements in the form of banners or contextual links on your website or blog. You will need to learn a little about web design or blogging. once your site or blog is designed you can place your affiliate links on them (As seen in the sidebar of this website) and, if done correctly, will soon start earning some commission. You don’t even need a website as you can use “Landing Pages” such as facebook pages, Hubpages or Squidoo lenses to advertise your affiliate products. Furthermore some products don’t even require that you make a sale. They ‘convert’ (meaning pay commission) for you sending them possible customers which they can then promote to (often known as ‘leads’). However the best commissions are invariably earned for referrals that result in direct sales.

You can find affiliate programs for products in many ways. Search engines, directories, forums and social networks are a few of the places you could find affiliate programs but perhaps the best places to start are within affiliate networks such as the SFI Marketing Group. Affiliate pay-outs can be extremely high and it is not unusual for successful Internet Entrepreneurs to earn substantial incomes this way.

Sounds easy to legally make money online with affiliate programs then? But of course it is not that simple. It’s totally useless having a great site or blog with high quality affiliate links if no one is looking for or visiting your links. No traffic equals no sales and wasted effort. This is where you need to either look into other home business opportunities which I will share further-on in this article. or you have to understand the online marketing process. From ‘keyword analysis’ through ‘product selection’ to ‘link building’ - a clear affective and powerful marketing strategy is essential if you are really going to legally make money online. You either have to hire someone to help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or take some time and effort to master online marketing techniques.

2. Information Products: - Information Products are digital and therefore have minimal storage and delivery costs. Once designed and produced your overheads thereafter are extremely low and sales prices represent high percentage profits. Information products can be ebooks, software, training videos or anything else you can view online or download. There are many ways to sell and to market digital products from placing them on your own sites or blogs to marketing them via social networking such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. And most importantly; Direct Word-of-mouth.

Many people think that it’s impossible for them to produce a product that anyone else would be interested in let alone want to buy. But fortunately there are great companies such as iLearningGlobal which allows you to market their recognised,  high quality information products and earn a great commission for doing so.

3. Membership Sites: A membership site charges a recurring subscription fee to those members who wish to join. The successful ones offer their members access to specialist products or information that is difficult to find elsewhere and has continued value.

Marketed correctly (there we go again) membership sites can be an extremely profitable way to legally make money online. Of course whilst you are building your list of members you are also developing a valuable list of people who are interested in your chosen niche market. These people may well be interested in other niche related products you have to offer.

Conclusion: Each of these methods introduced here offer the opportunity for you to legally make money online / from home and each has the potential to provide you a substantial income. These approaches are by no means intended to represent an exhaustive list of methods. The Internet and Business world is a dynamic and rapidly developing market place and the best businesses are able to rapidly adapt to these changes.

Inevitably all of us are better at some things then others and most successful Entrepreneurs specialise in certain aspects of business. The great thing is that there is now a place where you can learn all the skills required to run a successful business, and you can even use the built in business module to generate an income while you are learning new skills. All successful entrepreneurs have one thing in common, they understand the importance of continuous learning, to constantly improve their skills in all aspects of business and to understand all the fundamental parts thereof. Therefore it’s essential that you spend some time improving your knowledge and skill set. The best plan is to tap in to the iLearningGlobal daily success stream and learn as much from them as possible. Keep learning. Improve your skills for as long as you are in business and you will find that your business will continuously improve and your pocket will continue to grow!

Thoroughly research, plan you marketing strategy and whatever method you favour, you will be able to legally make money online!