Whether you are purchasing your first or your fiftieth online ad, or even using free advertising, there a few things to do to prepare for your advertising campaign. Taking these steps ahead of time will help you determine which ads work and which aren’t as successful. Whether you are spending money or time, know if your efforts are paying off.

1 – What is the purpose or goal of your advertising campaign?
A common answer to this question is “to get website traffic” but is that really all you want? Think about what you want your visitors to do once they arrive at your site. Do you want them to make a purchase, join your business opportunity, or sign up for your newsletter? Setting a specific goal focuses your campaign for greater success.

2 – Get your landing page is ready.
Keep your goal in mind when you decide on a landing page for your campaign. If you want newsletter subscribers, don’t send visitors to your home page or your shopping pages. Your ad invites visitors to do something; make it easy for them to do it by designing a landing page that walks them through the process.

In some cases your landing page may be fairly short and simple. If your ad copy is long enough to presell the prospect you may not need additional marketing on the landing page. For example, a solo ad may provide enough information so that a visitor is ready to complete the offer when the arrive. But a banner ad or text link may have just peaked their curiosity enough to get them to visit, and additional marketing may be needed to get them to follow through.

Whether it’s a short or long landing page, make it very clear what you want your visitors to do, and be sure to ask them to do it. Don’t assume that if they see a form they’ll fill it out. Specifically direct them to complete it.

3 – What is your measure of success and how will you know if you’ve achieved it?
Having a specific goal for your campaign makes it easier to track and measure success, but you will likely need to fine tune your definition of success. For example, if your goal is product sales, you can measure success by dollar value, number of units sold, conversion rate (the percentage of visitors that make a purchase), or return on investment.

Your website statistics or analytic program probably provides all the information you need to track your promotions, but if not, you may want to invest in an ad tracking program or service. Or you may be able to use other methods such as sending results to to a special email address or by using a coupon code to identify the campaign.

Establishing your goals, having a well thought out landing page, and tracking results will help you recognize successful campaigns and determine what needs to be changed to improve results.

Linda Stacy manages several online resources for direct sales consultants. Generate your own leads for your direct sales business with a direct sales directory listing.

As a Direct Sales Team Leader, I often hear consultants say that they have a Phone Phobia. These consultants will avoid making or receiving telephone calls in regards to their home business.

When it comes to making business calls, consultants often fear the following:

1. Fear of not conveying their message correctly.
2. Fear of not getting the results they hope to achieve.
3. Fear of rejection or getting no’s.
4. Fear of not being liked by the person to whom they are calling.

When a person has a genuine case of phone phobia, they will avoid the telephone like it was their worst enemy. In fact, in Direct Sales, the telephone can be a valuable business asset.

Here are a few tips on how you can overcome this problem.

1. Write 3 business related scripts. You will need one for: party hosts, customers and for pitching your home business opportunity. If you are not comfortable with drafting up a telephone script, ask your team leader or sponsor for assistance.

2. Role Play with a fellow consultant or with your team leader. The more you practice, the more comfortable you will get when the time comes to make your business calls.

3. Tag Team with a fellow consultant or with your team leader. When you need to make business calls, see if your team leader will do a three-way call with you and the person you need to call.

Making and receiving business phone calls is an important part of having a Direct Sales home business. Sit down and make a list of why you are avoiding the telephone. Once you have your reasons, try solving the problem with one of the above tips.

Do You Need More Bookings?

For years I was a head-down, “git-er-done” sort of chick. If I’m totally honest, I still have a lot of that girl in me and I honestly fight against her fairly often. Let me explain. While it’s great to have that type of drive and determination, what I learned a few years ago was that never getting off the tread mill to look at the bigger picture and create a long (and short) term plan for my business would hinder my growth in the long run. Once I finally lifted my head long enough to realize that I was working much harder than I would be if I actually had a clear plan, setting aside and honoring time for planning in my business got easier.

Consequently, I’ve done quarterly and annual planning for my life and business for the past 3 years and it’s absolutely made a difference! The thing is, next year is almost here, and now is the time to really start thinking about making a plan for 2012.

Let me lay out a few tips and tricks that may make it easier (dare I say even fun) for you. This is what’s worked for me (and I have to give a shout out to my sweet, amazing, rock-star friend Krista Clive-Smith – formerly Krista Green – for teaching me most of what I know about planning. She’s still one of my planning partners).

Plan Time to Plan (and stick to it!) – First and foremost, you have to actually make time to sit down and go through a planning process. That means putting at least a half day on your scheduled dedicated to annual planning sometime before the end of the year, and then scheduling in at least a half day at the end of each quarter to solidify your plans for the next quarter. I’ve actually spent the last three years at a weekend retreat with my mastermind group dedicating an entire two days to this. For the first time this year, I won’t have that luxury so will rely on planning sessions over the phone with a few strategic partners as well as a full day I’m planning to hole up somewhere quiet in December where I’ll unplug and plan. Bottom line – put it on your calendar and honor that time, no matter what.

Choose a Theme For Your Year – This might seem sort of “woo woo” but it’s probably had the greatest impact on me. I get quiet, check in with my higher power, and “ask” for my theme. It always comes through loud and clear. This year, it was “Relax and Receive the Blessings.” That’s fairly counter intuitive to my “go, go, go!” energy, and has transformed my life and business as I’ve stopped trying to push and control and instead moved where I’ve been lead.

Choose Your Major Areas of Focus – I outline at least three to five major areas of focus for the coming year, making sure not to neglect anything in my life or business. This supports the harmony in your life and keeps your “eye on the prize” in all areas. My areas for this year were:

• Direct Sales Training
• Spirituality
• Home and Family
• The Undivided Divorce (a new project I’m starting with my ex-husband that’s just about ready to roll out)
• Self Care

Notice that there’s a balance between business and personal. Strive for that.

Identify The Projects In Each of Your Focus Areas – For those of you who, like me, are all about the action, this will be your favorite step. Decide on three to five projects in each of your areas of focus that will move you toward fulfillment in each area. These will truly become the vehicle for getting your goals. Be as specific as you can and take some time to really let this flow.

Make an Action Plan – Now break down your major projects into smaller chunks. Which project will you work on each quarter (maybe all of them, maybe not), and then decide what you’ll do in each area. That way, you’re working intentionally throughout the quarters of each year, the months of each quarter, and the weeks of each month. You’ll be surprised at what you’ll actually come up with when you take the time to sit down and plan your action areas and steps. Then make sure you’re doing short monthly planning at the beginning of each month and weekly planning every Sunday. The more specific you can be with where you plan to spend your time, the better. I use a brilliant free tool called Workflowy for this. Can’t beat it.

Make a Plan and Be Willing To Be Inspired – One last thing…make sure you stay open to inspiration. Even the best laid plans sometimes need to be ignored if you have an inspired idea or a circumstance presents itself that you just can’t let go by. So make a plan and then be flexible and open to take inspired action as well. I hope this excites you and makes you eager to actually plan and implement for 2012?

Those who are in a Direct Sales business tend to really work their butts off when it comes to advertising their home business. For those of us in this line of work…we have to work “much” harder than those in big corporation to get the word out about our business.

With that said, we don’t have the advertising budgets that the big guys have so we need to get creative with our advertising campaigns. Today I thought I would share a few “creative” ways I have successfully marketed my business over the years and all of these ideas are super affordable.

T-Shirts: I went to VistaPrint.com and had a dozen T-shirts printed up with my business information on them. I got a variety of sizes and did it when Vista Print was having a deal on them. I then handed these shirts out to friends & family members and had them wear them while running errands in our community. Cost was less than $8.00 a shirt and it’s an advertising campaign that keeps on giving since the shirts can be worn many, many, many times!

Cook Books: Since I was selling products for a kitchen company I would actively seek out print ads in charity cook books in our community. The PTA, local Animal Rescue Groups, Health Groups, Scouting Groups, School Groups, etc. have cook books printed on a yearly basis and then sell them to raise funds. For around $25.00 you can get a 1/2 page print ad with your business info printed in the back of their fundraising cook books.

High School Year Books: Every year I would spend $50 to $75 to have my business ad printed in the back of our local high school year books! These ads are a ‘worthy’ and ‘affordable’ investment and your ad will be seen for many years by hundreds of people.

School Art & Athletic Programs: You can get affordable print ads in your local school’s arts and athletic programs that they hand out at their functions. (plays, sport’s games, etc.) and you can usually get these ads for $25 and up.

Magnetic Car Signs: Many Direct Sellers do invest in magnetic car signs for their vehicles to advertise their home businesses. However, you should purchase several of them and let your family and friends slap them onto their cars when they are out and about doing their errands. You could give them a free gift or a continual discount on their purchases to help you out by keeping it on their cars.

These 5 creative advertising and marketing ideas are all relatively affordable and make for a worthy investment in your business. When it comes to advertising your home business it is time to think “outside” the box and get creative with your marketing campaign.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales for the last 25+ years and is a professional product reviewer and ghostwriter. You can visit Shelly’s home business resource web site at www.workathomebusinessoptions.com/ for FREE home business tips, info and resources. You can visit Shelly’s professional ghostwriting web site at www.twoclassyghostwritingchics.com/ for additional information on the ghostwriting services that she and her partner Chris have to offer.

Do you ever wish you could make networking pay off more quickly? You know that you’re not supposed to be too fixated on your bottom line when it comes to networking. Instead, you’re supposed to be helpful and focused on making connections.

Here’s a secret – you can be helpful AND still improve your bottomline at the same time. It’s a matter of giving back, and building goodwill – with the right people.

Here are seven tips that can turbo-charge your networking results…

1) Network in the right place – The key to productive networking is to be in the right place at the right time. When you spend time and money on going to networking meetings, make sure these meetings are filled with people that are good connections for you.

How would you know? Ask yourself a few questions…

* Who comes to the meetings
* Are there enough people you connect with?
* Do they share or service your target market?
* Can you comfortably pass referrals to other members?
* Do you have anything in common with the members?
* Do you enjoy the meetings and the people there?

For example, if you’re a financial advisor, you want to network in places where people have the kind of money that would allow them to invest in your services – or know many people who do. If you’re offering subcontracting services such as installing drywall, you’ll want to go to events that have a lot of builders and contractors who could hire or refer you.

2) Think quality over quantity – Whether it comes to selecting networking events or potential connections, always think quality over quantity. It’s not about how many networking events you attend each week, but about whether the ones you do attend have members who either are or know people who would be good connections for you.

The same is true about building relationships with people. You only have so much time, so be sure to connect with people who are or know people you can do business with.

3) Build relationships with super connectors – Taking this one step further, you’ll really be able to accelerate your networking results if you connect with super connectors. But don’t just toss your business card at them and ask them to send you referrals. Instead, treat them with respect and appreciation – show interest in what they are doing and develop real relationships with them.

4) Become a resource – Why not become a super connector yourself? You can do that by becoming a resource, which you do by getting to know a lot of people and then connecting them with each other. That way, you’ll find that your potential prospects will seek you out, and you’ll have more opportunities to be of service, which will pay off in an ever-growing range of connections.

And you don’t have to wait until someone asks for an introduction. Be proactive. Start by making a list of the people you know. Consider both your inner and outer networking circles. Then think of whom you need to connect and introduce to each other. Consider who their target prospects are and look for aligning opportunities. For example introduce a realtor to a mortgage broker, or your accountant to a biz coach.

Just by spending 30 minutes each week, you’ll be surprised at the number of introductions and referrals you can generate for your network.

5) Give testimonials and get more referrals – Another highly effective way to turbo-charge your connections and referrals is to give endorsements and testimonials to others. You’ll be amazed how quickly others will begin to endorse you right back. After all, what goes around comes around!

Go to your LinkedIn account today and find one of your contacts you can endorse – a few minutes are all it takes!

6) Follow up more than once – A lot of networkers find it hard enough to make even one follow-up connection. While making that call or sending an email is crucial, it’s even more important to follow up repeatedly. Make a second and third call, follow up after one-on-one meetings, and focus on building real relationships with your key prospects and prospective referral partners.

Too much work? Remember, this is about quality over quantity. Select a few key people and focus on developing deeper relationships with them, instead of making dozens of first phone calls each week.

Not sure what to say? Ask them what projects they’re working on, who would be a great referral for them, or any resources or people they may want to connect with. Don’t forget about the personal connections – family, hobbies, vacations etc. This isn’t a sales call – it’s a relationship builder.

7) Have an attention-getting introduction or “Audio Logo” – One of the most powerful tools for connecting with just the right people is an attention-grabbing networking introduction or “Audio Logo”. Make sure you have one you can use for either a typical networking event 60-second introduction or a conversational one for social situations.

A powerful audio logo will position you apart from your competition, keeps you top of mind and makes you easy to refer – you’ll attract clients and referrals!

Not sure how to craft an amazing jaw-dropping networking introduction? Please check out my 2-session Webinar course “Audio Logo Success Secrets”. I walk you through step-by-step exactly how to craft your attention getting Audio Logo and then on the second call you can get feedback and on-the-spot coaching. Click here for details.

The more of the above tips you put into practice, the more productive your networking becomes, and the faster you’ll get results. So get started today!

And if you’d like more tips on how to turbo-charge your networking, check out Sue Clement’s FREE Networking Makeover.

There are many ways in promoting a business: the use of huge billboards, the frequency of TV commercials, massive PR campaigns and a lot more. This is likewise true for an individual. To be successful in one’s career, you should wisely promote yourself using effective marketing techniques.

Self promotion is not just 15 minutes of fame. Self promotion is building long term relationships and a good reputation, lobbying for a promotion, as well as positioning yourself as a subject matter expert in your area.

The following are the keys to successfully promoting yourself:

1. Network. – Networking means building relationships and getting to know other people, their abilities and interests and by doing so this may provide mutual benefit in the future. Do networking NOT for the sake of “doing networking” but do it because you learn something from everyone you meet. You will never know when you can help someone or when she or he can help you. You can network by joining organizations and doing some volunteer work.

2. Go out of your way and meet people in other departments. – Do not confine yourself with just your department. Go out and meet other people in other areas of your company. Even though your job has no connection whatsoever with their job, just meet and build relationships with other people. Show interest in them. The more people you know, the more visible you are.

3. Be a resource for people. Volunteer to be a resource person and speak to groups. Public speaking is a sure way to let other people know your expertise so they can be able to benefit from the information you are going to give them. Communicating and presenting to groups establishes you as an expert in your field. This also gives you an avenue to network and increase your visibility.

4. Promote Your Success.  Let people in your organization know about your success. Send out an email, memo or a report detailing how you did it and what process you used. Do not forget to state the measurable results you have attained. However, a word of caution, never disseminate proprietary information or divulged any company secrets when you promote your accomplishments.

5. Document Your Success. – Translate your success stories into a document for others to refer to in the future. This paper can strongly enhance your credibility, creating awareness and highlighting your professional standing. If possible, create a personal website that can serve as an online portfolio. At the very least, leverage your profile

6. Keep agreements and commitments.  Whatever you say or commit, honor it, no matter what. Nothing makes a more powerful statement of integrity and reliability than doing what we say we will do.

7. Give away Business Cards.  In any appropriate occasion, be ready with your business cards. Bring your business cards at all times. It is the most common method of self promotion. Be certain that everyone you know knows exactly what you do and how to locate you.

8. Stay Connected always.  Always stay in touch. Send appropriate notes of congratulations, thank you letters and news clippings on topics of interest to friends, clients and colleagues on a regular basis. Make possible referrals to clients and colleagues whenever possible. Return phone calls promptly. Stay connected always by make your presence felt virtually through social networking sites.

Suzanne has been writing articles online for a couple of years now. Not only does she specialize in writing on Everyday Practical Tips, you can also check out her latest website on fry pans at stainless steel fry pan which reviews the best and most affordable stainless steel fry pans.