Crafting Your USP - It's Not What You Do It's How You Do It

There are very few totally unique business types in this world (and if they start out unique they don't stay that way for very long).That means there are thousands of businesses in the same industry as yours.

So what makes you different from them?Why should people buy from you and not them?

In the past, businesses focused on tangible things such as price, product range and decor to try and make themselves stand out.That is fine as far as it goes, but all of these can be replicated.

If you compete on price there will always be someone who will undercut you.If you compete on range then someone will extend their range or mirror your product range.These are all temporary solutions.

If you want to create a business with longevity you need to be aware that what people really buy is something intangible.Every business creates a feeling or emotion that goes beyond what you do.It is this feeling or emotion that is the true essence of your USP.

To start with you need to look at what human needs you are fulfilling.Abraham Maslow back in 1943 proposed that people have different human needs.At the base level are the physiological needs for survival - food, water and sleep.Without these needs being met, then the body shuts down.

Next come the safety and security needs - personal safety, financial security, health and well-being.These needs take over when the base needs are generally met.

Next come the social needs - a need for belonging, for close friendships and supportive communities.

Next comes self esteem, respect by others, respect for others, confidence and achievement.

Finally comes self-actualisation - the need to maximise your potential.

While Maslow has his detractors, it is still a very useful model to consider.When you are in business you are really in the business of satisfying one or more of these human needs.But it is how you satisfy these needs that makes your business stand apart from others.

Take motels which provide a bed to sleep in.If it were as simple as just providing a bed then all motels would be the same, but motels provide much more.Some provide a safe haven, others provide a family atmosphere.Some are status symbols that show a person has "arrived" and others provide opportunities for personal reflection and growth.

But within these options the motels you are happiest in are the ones that make you feel a certain way.Think about ...you can be staying at the highest quality hotel, but if you are treated like garbage then you won't want to return.If you are treated with value and respect, then you will feel important and want to replicate this feeling.

There have been some studies that have shown that the greatest predictor of whether or not a doctor will be sued is not whether he or she made a mistake, it is how they made the patient and their family feel when they treated them.If they made a mistake but still were caring and made the patient feel valued, then the likelihood of being sued was dramatically less.

What makes a business totally unique is the feeling they give to their consumers.This feeling is intangible and can be broken in an instant if you do not act consistently with the feeling.It can also be the strongest bond on earth that attracts customers to you as if by magic if your business is truly in alignment with this feeling.

It is this feeling that needs to be reflected in all of your marketing, in all of your copywriting, all of your business images and all of your thoughts and actions.When you do this, then customers naturally are attracted to you and your marketing is much more effective.

So how do you put into words the unique feeling you give to people?

First you need to discover what that feeling is.You can do this through a range of means: talking with your favourite clients, listening to your employees when they talk about your business, taking time to reflect or meditate on the peak interactions you have had around your business.You can even have someone interview you to quietly tease out the threads of this feeling and help you put it into words.

Generally you will get snippets of words, fragments of ideas and wisps of concepts.By weaving these wisps together and then testing them with people to gauge their response, you will begin to be able to craft together the right words.

It may take quite a few variations to get the combination of words right, but when you do will you will have a solid "yes" in your heart.

Creating your USP this way is more challenging than having a marketing company go away and "write one for you", but it is a more fulfilling and more successful process.A good marketing company or copywriter will help you through this process so your end marketing material resonates with the true essence of your business.

Once you know how you want to make people feel, then you need to review all of your business processes and actions to ensure you give that experience in everything that you do.

After all ...it is how you do what you do that really makes the most difference in business.

About the Author

Ingrid Cliff is a freelance writer and the Chief Word Wizard of Heart Harmony - a writing services studio that helps put your business into words.

For a free copy of the "7 Secrets of Compelling Copy & Powerful Words" visit her website http://www.heartharmony.com.au "> www.heartharmony.com.au .

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Internet Marketing Ucovered: Discover The Industry Secrets

Internet marketing refers to the practice of communicating a company product or service over the internet.It is also known as web marketing, online marketing or eMarketing.There are many forms of online marketing ranging from search engine marketing to banner advertising and paid search marketing.The industry in the UK is rapidly creeping up on television as the most popular and effective medium of advertising.

Internet marketing can refer to anything from direct email campaigns to banner advertising within a social networking website.There are two main types of internet marketing that generally separate the medium; paid marketing and natural marketing.The former refers to the purchase of advertising space within a website and the latter refers to the practice of optimising websites to enable natural profile within search engines.

Paid marketing is one of the most lucrative parts of web marketing and the practice incorporates any form of online advertising that has to be paid for.A homepage interactive advertisement on a leading social networking website for twenty four hours can expect to draw in over one million unique hits in that period however the client can expect to pay in the region of 30,000GBP for the impressive results.Other forms of paid internet marketing are banner advertising, paid linking and paid search.

Paid search is the practice of bidding for keywords in the sponsored listings of a search engine.Otherwise known as pay per click advertising this is a very popular form of web marketing for corporate clients who invest more in paid search than natural search.

Although paid search is an important part of online marketing, many corporate clients neglect organic search optimisation and get involved in expensive bidding wars over the most popular keywords, the best results are seen when a combination of paid and organic search are used strategically.

Organic search is the practice of formatting a website in line with search engine compliancy so that it ranks highly when internet users search for certain key terms.This process is specialised and involves the optimising of all aspects of the website from the programming to the inbound links.The more relevant to site is to what it is trying to achieve, the more the search engine spiders will recognise it as being relevant.

There is no formula for search engine optimisation however fundamental principals can be observed and adhered to, enabling optimum search listings.Since 1998 Google has been returning unique and relevant search results which used innovative technologies to filter results for relevancy to the search term as opposed to predetermined criteria which were easily manipulated by internet marketing experts.

These internet marketing malpractice techniques such as black hatting, keyword stuffing, hidden scripts and server side cloaking, were used to manipulate search engines such as Alta Vista and Lycos to obtain high results without relevancy to the key search term.

Google now punishes websites using techniques such as these including banning a website completely from the search engine.Industry professionals specialising in SEO will testify to the damaging effects of these practices on a website's online profile which personifies the importance of organic SEO compliance.

The natural listings that can be obtained through compliant search engine optimisation can be enhanced with other paid internet marketing strategies such as pay per click advertising.For seasonal trends and specific product launches combined internet marketing strategies have proven to provide an unprecedented return on investment.The traceability of internet traffic provides essential data that can be analysed to hone online marketing strategies, ensuring that your campaigns are reaching the most relevant consumers.

About the Author

Dominic Donaldson is an internet marketing guru and works freelance for some of the largest names on the web.

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Using Product Recommendations to Increase Your Bottom Line in Affiliate Marketing

There are loads of methods that you can grow your earnings and keep up your accounts which you have worked so diligently for already.A lot of the techniques and methods can be learned easily.There is no need to go anywhere or look any further.The methods are found online, 24 hours a day and all 7 days a week.One of the more vital methods of making more on your affiliate marketing bottom line and sale is by using product recommendations.

A lot of marketers understand recommendations are one of the best and effective methods of promoting a any product.When the customer or visitor believes in you enough, it is very likely that they will as well trust your recommendations.You should be very cautious when using this approach, though.If you begin to promote anything by recommendation, your credibility will probably lose its weight.This is more often the case if the recommendation is seemingly over hyped and without much merit.

Do not be scared to talk about anything that you don't like about a particular product or service.Instead of losing any credibility for you, this is likely to make your recommendations seem much more realistic and is likely to bring up your credibility.Keep in mind, that if your prospects are particularly interested in the thing you are offering, they will be more than happy to find out what the product has to offer, and what is not so good, and especially the way in which the product will be of use to them.

When you are recommending a particular product, there are a few things to keep in mind that will make it work more efficiently and to your advantage.Here is a saying from a top internet marketer; you should keep in mind this simple equation: Price resistance diminishes in direct proportion to trust.So, if the visitor has the feeling and belief that you have expertise in your niche, this will more likely than not compel them to making a purchase.So remember that, if you are not showing any confidence and self-assurance in recommending your products, the visitor is likely to feel the same way and will go and look for another product or service that they feel is more beneficial.

So how do you create of establish a presents that exudes expertise?One of the best ways is by offering different and creative solutions that cant be found anywhere else.Also remember to present proof that what you are showing works as you have said.This can be done by providing prominent testimonials and comments from credible and known personalities, in related fields of course.

You should stay away from hype as much as possible.It is best to present your self in low key and confident, than to be boastful about getting attention.Your goal is that you do not want to be seen as unprofessional and allow that thought be prominent in minds of your possible customers and clients, now would you?

It's always advised to be cool and self-assured at all times.And never forget; your prospects are not likely to be stupid.A lot of them maybe getting tips from experts and might actually have understanding about the things that you know.If you reinforce your methods with strong facts and data, this will definitely make people put in hundreds, and even a lot more money on your promotions.But if you do not have this information, your customers will be clever enough to seek out and look at your competitor's website and what they have on offer.

When recommending a product, it is also vital that you also give away promotional freebies.Visitors likely to be familiar with the tradition of handing out freebies in order to promote your own products, but there are not that many people do it to promote affiliate products.You should offer freebies which will promote and also have some information contained in them about your products or services.

Before you decide to recommend a product, it is a good technique for you to try and test the product and its support, but not a must.You shouldn't run the chance of advertising rubbish products or services.Obviously this is bad after how long it has taken you to build up your credibility and your trust from your visitors.All that it will take to mess up your credibility is only one silly mistake from you.

Where you can, it's best to recommend a product which you have 100% confidence in.Having a look at the products support is probably the first thing before you start to recommend so that the visitors you are refer it to are not being left with no help for their predicament when a problem comes up.

It's good to look at the affiliate market and to view the techniques that are being used.You might find that you haven't been focusing on the right recommendations which your products should be getting.It's not always your plan of action that is making your program work.So remember make good product recommendation and one of the few that are successful.

About the Author

Uchenna Ani-Okoye is an internet marketing advisor and co founder of Top Affiliate Programs

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A Guide To PLR

What is PLR?Like me you also might have heard this word many times.PLR refers to Private Label Rights.We can get PLR articles, PLR ebooks, PLR software products etc.But what does this mean?right?Suppose that we bought 5k PLR articles for $ 5 (yes, these PLR things are pretty cheap now a days - don't get shocked seeing the price), then we get the right to publish them in our blog by changing the content a little bit and make pretty good amount of money.Not just that, we can even publish them as it is - no one is gonna sue us for that - just because these are PLR articles, and we have the right to do whatever we want with it.

PLR products come with Master Re-sale rights as well.It means that we can sell the same thing to others - just like the seller sold them to us.

How to get these PLR products like ebooks, articles, etc?A good place to get PLR products is from forums like DP,namepros etc.There you will find people selling these kind of stuffs for pretty cheap price.As I have mentioned earlier, you can get 5K of PLR articles for even $5 - so that speaks about the price of the PLR products.So, don't get scammed from people when they tell you that they are gonna give you 1000 PLR articles for just $ 100.There are a lot of people who knows nothing about PLR products and end up wasting their money for PLR products this way.These guys get excited when seeing such an offer and buy them the same moment.Only after buying it for such high price, these people comes to know about the real value of those PLR products.

How to make money with PLR products?You might be wondering whether it would be easy or not?right?It's pretty easy to make money from PLR products if you do it the right way.Here we are going to explain you one of the many things that you can do with PLR products.

Suppose you bought about 1 K PLR articles from someone.The next thing you should do is to find an article re-writer who would re-write these articles for you for pretty cheap prices.It's gonna cost you just $ 25 for 25 articles of 500 words each.Give the article re-writer 25 PLR articles from your collection of PLR articles and ask him to re-write them ask soon as possible.Most of the re-writers would do it within 24 hours of time.This way, you have done the most important part.Now let's get into the next part.

Now you are having with you 25 unique articles.You may check it for plagarism before you pay the article re-writer.Don't pay if it doesn't pass copyscape.There is no use of plagarised content.It's because search engines would find out easily if our site/blog ishaving copied content and will penalize our site the same moment.Thus we won't be ranking in the search engines from then on - and thus our blog/website will be of no use from then on.Let's hope that you got 25 copyscape passed articles from those 25 PLR articles that you submitted to the article re-writer.

Publish one article each day in your blog from those 25 articles.This way you can have 25 blog post that are 100 % unique and copyscape passed after 25 days.During this time, you can do little bit of promotion to your blog and make it indexed in the search engines.Indexing in the search engines is not a tough job.You can find people who would do that for as cheap as $5 in forums and all.So, the amount of money you have spent so far is just $ 25 and you are with a blog that has 25 unique articles which is indexed and is 25 days old as well.

Now, goto your favourite forum which allows you to sell websites and blogs.Post a thread informing others that you are selling your blog which consists of 25 articles.And don't forget to mention that the site is 25 days old and indexed too.You would be getting at least $ 100 for such a site.So you get a profit of $ 75 from one blog.Just think, if you are having 25 such blogs.The earning potential from PLR products is thus infinitely large.

About the Author

If you would like to buy Premier PLR Products at a great low monthly price then visit the authors site here http://premierplrmonthly.

com

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Using The Most Cost Effective Lead Generation Methods

What is the most cost effective lead generation?How about free?While the internet offers us every single type of prospective business, you now have the choice of investing grand amounts of capital all the way down to starting a business for free.Those that are available for free have received a lot of criticism, but with a little creativity and some determination, you can make it work if you want to.

The truth of the matter is that the less money you spend on lead generation the more effort you need to put into it.But if you are serious about creating a new and improved income stream for yourself, and you have to start with little to no capital, your sweat will do.

Online forums and online communities are a good place to start.Here, you can always develop a few business relationships, offer some idea trading solutions, and develop the rapport you need in order to offer a good business opportunity to potential customers or associates.Finding the right demographic is not as difficult as you might believe.There are forums for businesses in every major internet service provider and carrier, as well as plenty of forums that are available through independent servers and developers.Building a positive reputation while you are in there can help bolster your online image and give you a strong grounding for when your business really starts to develop.

Using your wits alone can offer you a distinct advantage.You can start building a mailing list by offering newsletters, freebies, and special bonuses before you even present your business.For most people who don't have the capital, being able to build a reputation first has often led to an easier transition once the capital starts to accumulate.

Being personable, developing a strong reputation, and offering great and creative ideas and free email bonuses will eventually increase the traffic to your website and even lead to additional marketing venues that others are willing to offer up.In some cases, other individuals will be able to point you to other forums that are likely to be interested in what you have to offer.

Link trading is free.It is a very common technique used among internet marketers that offers you a change for more exposure without spending any money.Link trading involves offering a business a link on your website in exchange for a link on theirs.That way, the traffic that hits your site is exposed to their site and the traffic on their site is exposed to your site.Link trading has been around for quite some time, and you are likely to get a handful of clients or associates through this process over time.

Take up your own article writing.There are ample free submission sites that allow you to submit keyword laden articles that are rich in content and useful information.This is a great way to promote your site and there are many professionals who can instruct you on how to drive your traffic from the article to the site.There are numerous methods, but the most common is a backlink, a link within the text that brings people directly to your website.

While there is a lot of effort involved in creating just these three methods of bringing traffic to your site, those who have started with nothing more than sheer determination and a desire to succeed often do when they have to work so hard for it.Simply purchasing a few sign ups and paying someone to do your marketing for you might bring in the financial profits earlier.But there is more to internet marketing than financial profits alone.There are emotional and character building profits that can never be spent.

Thanks to the internet, there really is no limit to what a person can do if they really want to.Any one who wants to create a full time income from a part time work at home program can do so if they throw their heart into it.It's just that few ever really do.You have the power to develop an online business if you want to.You have the power to change your financial picture if you want to.It just takes consistent effort.

About the Author

OR if you would like to succeed immediately to create financial freedom working only 4 hours a week, check out www.

secrets2internetfortunes.com

AND receive a limited FREE copy of the amazing 113 page Book "Online Fortunes A Beginners Guide!
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