<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>Latest Articles by GREGBURRUS</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/</link>
<description>Articles at Populate.NET</description>
<language>en-us</language>
<item>
<title>Free Internet Marketing Trials Can Help Your Online Business Become Profitable</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/Affiliate_Programs/free-internet-marketing-trials-can-help-your-online-business-become-profitable.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/Affiliate_Programs/free-internet-marketing-trials-can-help-your-online-business-become-profitable.html</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ As a solo business owner, you know that one of your primary functions is to get the word out about your business. This means conducting a repetitive activity on a daily basis. To many people this type of activity gets to be boring and tiring and it seems to take the fun out of your internet marketing business.

So if like me, this means you are constantly on the lookout for the ideal program that can free up some of your time and remove some of the boredom of repetitive activities. Because you must perform internet marketing, promotion and advertising consistently and forever to survive and profit you probably want all your marketing programs to be holistic, have an  end to end marketing system and be automated as much as possible.  To that end here are a list of features you should consider as must have in your research for the ultimate marketing and advertising program.

Free Trial -Look for a free trial or a free set of services. This way you try out the new functions of the program to determine if it meets your internet marketing strategy. You can try it out on your real customers and the prospects in your list and see if it works well when you send visitors to the program's internet links.

Free Website Builder - whether you have your own website or not, sometimes building another internet website is not in your time plan and or is just not what you want to do. The other benefit of a free website is that sometimes your objectives and the objective of the potential advertising program may not match, but you can use their website and not waste time building another website. It also gives you the ability to see how well the advertising and marketing program of the program yu are researching actually converts visitors.

Building Your Down line - When you join these internet marketing programs you do a lot of work during the trial period. A key benefit is getting people to join your group or down line during the trial underneath you. This is a powerful way to start gaining immediate benefits by building your down line right from the start using the freebie services of the internet marketing program.

Strong affiliate program - Finally you want a strong affiliate program, loaded with predefined messages so you don't have work to hard to start your marketing and promotions follow-up program. When your prospective internet marketing program provides pre-written follow-up auto-responders sequence, you can use them in your autoresponder and provide follow up advertising that will occur independent of you.

Since most of the programs you research overstate their capabilities, you need to carefully do your research and get as many free features during the trial period as possible. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>When Success Is Mandatory Blogging Will Bring You Fame and Help Your Business Grow</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Internet/Blogging/when-success-is-mandatory-blogging-will-bring-you-fame-and-help-your-business-grow.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Internet/Blogging/when-success-is-mandatory-blogging-will-bring-you-fame-and-help-your-business-grow.html</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Blogging is one of the most popular things to do in the internet. It can serve as an emotional outlet for some people by writing about their feelings; it can serve as a website that can let people tell their original short fiction or non fiction stories, and it can also serve as a website for advertising. Indeed, blogging brings fame. In fact, there has been quite a few people who blogged and became famous because of it.

As a business owner, you will definitely want to use blogging as your tool for marketing. In fact, you will see that a lot of businesses today are now using blogs as an advertising tool that can definitely help in raking in the profits and attracting more people to buy from their business. A more detailed concept make it an advertorial which is explained as an advertisement and a tutorial. 

Whatever products you are selling, you will be able to find innovative ways to write about it in blogs. Whether you are a car salesman, an insurance salesman, or an affiliate marketer, you will be able to bring out the best of your products through blogs.

Basically, the key in marketing in blog websites is to pre sell the product you are trying to sell. You need to let people buy it before they actually buy the product. By doing so, you will be able to achieve success and make your business famous. So, how can you pre sell your products through blogs?

Simple - all you need to do is make a great blog about the product that is informative, easy to read, and entertaining. Also, the technique used by most successful marketers in writing blogs is that they never aggressively sell the product telling the customer that they should buy this and that.

A successful blog should get your potential customers to think like they need to buy the product because they want it and not because you told them to. So, how can you do this?

As mentioned before, never aggressively sell the product in the blogs. Instead, try telling a story about the product as if you are the customer. First,tell them a little bit something about the product,then tell them what it did for you and what benefits you got, and lastly, you have to tell them that you are definitely and genuinely crazy about the product and that you will always buy it.

If you believe in your product, then this should not be a problem for you.

When writing blogs, you have to convince and make your readers believe just as you would believe in the product you are selling. Don't just describe the product but tell them what it is like using the product. This is how you make readers believe.

You have to be one of them. You should never be a seller but you should be a regular person just like thosewho loves to use the product and is recommending it for everyone to use.

This is how a blog for your business should be like. And, the best part about this is that you don't really need to work hard in marketing your product. After writing the blogs and someone came across your blog website and read your blog, and if they like what they read, they will not only purchase the product you are selling but will advertise for you for free. Always remember that recommendations by fellow customers are the best type of advertising that you can get. It's better than TV ads as well as advertising in billboards.

Just remember to update your blogs once every week. This way, people will be able to have something more to read and really gather a lot of loyal readers and customers.

As you can see, when success is mandatory, blogging brings fame. This is guaranteed to work and as a business owner, you can be sure that blogging will definitely make your business much more famous as well as yourself. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>10 Tasks To Automate So You Save Time and Money and You Still Make Sure Your Customers Stay Happy</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Business/Small_Business/10-tasks-to-automate-so-you-save-time-and-money-and-you-still-make-sure-your-customers-stay-happy.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Business/Small_Business/10-tasks-to-automate-so-you-save-time-and-money-and-you-still-make-sure-your-customers-stay-happy.html</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ First let's be clear about what we mean by automate. When I talk about automation I'm not talking about ignoring your customer needs. As a small business flexibility and keeping track of customer preferences are a must. Therefore automation for a small business owner means utilizing smart, simple systems to automate certain aspects of running your business while you continue to serve and meet your customer's needs.

It bears repeating that you must continue to serve your customers in in such a way that the customer is consistently and effectively served, and you are free from continuously getting stuck in the repeating of repetitious and the very mundane activities we have to do to run our business.  With that in mind, the following is my short list of the types of tasks and projects that you can automate without losing sight of your customer.

1.	After you make a product sale, you should use a set of emails to follow up and continuously check on your customer satisfaction. 

2.	If you run an email communication program then you should automate your regular tasks as much as possible.  

3.	Are you a coach or other service type professional?  Then you want your customers to schedule and change appointments via an automated unattended, online scheduling system.  

4.	Appointment reminders before appointments work very well to remind clients to come prepared to the next session.  

5.	Set up your payment system for recurring invoices and payment receipt services. 

6.	You know the life of your business depends on building traffic and growing your list. Using automated lead generation systems work very well.
 
7.	Stop interrupting your workflow, start uing your answering service, voicemail for getting messages rather then you stopping work.

8.	Autoresponder answers to some routine email inquiries.

9.	Use automation for sending certain forms and documents to new clients.

10.	And when you have a template that allows you to fill in blanks and create consistent answers.  

If you notice the above ten recommended automation processes are what I call behind the scenes activities. These are the standard somewhat mundane stuff you have to do everyday. So do this wisely, and don't overboard with the automation. Watch and monitor your results is the process to follow.

So while automation for the service-based business may seem contrary to the mission of your company which is too directly serve the needs of your client in a way that significantly impacts his or her life, automation can help. You need to make it work for you not against you and automating the above tasks is the way to go. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Fundraising Can Be Easy When You Plan It First</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Business/non-profit-organizations/fundraising-can-be-easy-when-you-plan-it-first.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Business/non-profit-organizations/fundraising-can-be-easy-when-you-plan-it-first.html</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ If you have been tasked with been a fundraiser for your organization, how do you feel? You've decided to support a cause, organization or activity that desperately needs funds and now are probably wondering just how will you find the needed money? 

You know that raising funds can be a challenging activity, it is probably not your key skill but you have to do something. Well we know that fundraisers cost time and money, so how can you organize a fundraiser that will HELP rather than HURT your cause?
You also know that there are many people who have done this already and you really want the fundraising challenges but would love to know which tips and tools to use. You also want to appear professional, make sure your event goes smoothly and helps you raise enough donations to meet your fundraising goals.  What are some of the things a successful fundraiser needs to consider if the goal is to get them to show up and spend? 

Details - you need to spend the time appropriately planning all your activities. Do not fall into the trap of fundraising before you plan. You need to understand what activities are required, who will or should be involved where will you hold it, and what is your contingency plan for when things go wrong?

Events - A great social gathering may draw a crowd, but is a festive get together what you need or a more laid-back educational type event. Producing an expensive large social event that really draws in the big crowd may be more then you need since you have to also cover your costs. So you have to make sure you have a large enough volume of people to make sure you meet your goals. 

Tracking - There are a million things to do but if you lose sight of your goals you hurt your cause. You need to status and track the amount of money you need throughout the fundraising activity because there is nothing worst then having what appears to be a successful event but it misses your target and your stakeholders are not happy. 

Remember when success is mandatory, instead of wasting the time and talents of friends, organizers and followers to organize a fundraiser that disappoints, why not build a plan that will not only seize the attention of potential supporters, but ensure they come to show their support with real dollars. 

Before you start planning your next fundraiser, take some time to learn the secrets for hitting the right notes with supporters. Find out how to maximize your fundraising budget and even learn how to get supporters to commit to annual donations! 
It's time to roll up your sleeves and start the ball rolling. All you need is a little guidance! ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Traffic Building Using Article Marketing Requires The Correct Internet Components</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Writing/Article_Writing/traffic-building-using-article-marketing-requires-the-correct-internet-components.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Writing/Article_Writing/traffic-building-using-article-marketing-requires-the-correct-internet-components.html</guid>
<pubDate>Sun, 14 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Have you thought about and devised all the ways you can drive traffic to your business to build your list? Have you thought about a traffic building framework that gives you an overall picture that you could then pick and choose the most appropriate traffic building strategy from? 

Many of us have because the possibilities are endless, when you think about it. However when using one strategy, article marketing, you need to know your target market, your niche in that target market and how to do keyword research.  

Target Marketing - The first step before building traffic with article writing is defining your target market. A target market is a specific group of consumers at which a company aims its products and services. Your target customers are those who are most likely to buy from you. Then you must target a niche within that market.

Niche Market - According to Wikipedia, a shortened definition is that a niche is how an organism makes a living. The ecological niche describes how an organism or population responds to the competitors (e. g., by growing when resources are abundant, and predators, parasites and pathogens are scarce).

By definition, then, a business that focuses on a niche market is addressing a need for a product or service that is not being addressed by mainstream providers. A niche market may be thought of as a narrowly defined group of potential customers. To be specific a niche market is a focused targetable portion or (subset) of a market sector.

Keyword Research - Once you know your niche or subset the next step to developing your article and getting your set of targeted customers is to perform keyword research. 

This is a crucial step because keyword research is a vitally important aspect of your search article marketing campaign. Crucial step because customers search using keywords or keyword phrases.  If your site is targeting the wrong keywords, your customer will not find your articles. 

To get the customer usable keywords, you need a good keyword tool to get the proper keywords. When you select the appropriate keywords, this means you will have the correct words and phrases that customers actually use to include in the text of your articles. 

Article Development - It is at this point with the target market, the proper niche of that target market along with the correct set of keywords that you start developing your article.  

There are a number of article development methods that we discuss next and you need to select one that works best for the way you think and work. When the prospective customer searches for a product or service, having the proper structure and internet components your potential customers will find your article. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>12 Reasons To Always Make The Most of Your Nonprofit Events</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Business/non-profit-organizations/12-reasons-to-always-make-the-most-of-your-nonprofit-events.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Business/non-profit-organizations/12-reasons-to-always-make-the-most-of-your-nonprofit-events.html</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Having problems, having people support your cause? Not sure what you need to do to move people to help you in your nonprofit organization. 

1. Create Awareness
You can create awareness of your organization's causes. Most events offer the ability to do free advertising. Make the event an integral part of your annual advertising and marketing program. 

2. Solicit Donations
You have the ability to solicit donations and make all your events a fundraiser. You never know who wants to contribute to your cause. Therefore always have a donation jar and a list of causes available and on display. 

3. Membership 
Events are a great opportunity to secure new members. All you need to do is leave your membership forms around. One potential member may read and agree to sign up and instantly your event just became  successful membership meeting, 

4. Special Causes 
Do you have a special need like a physical structure that requires community and neighborhood agreement before it can be improved? Develop a special handout and carry away piece that will inform neighbors about how they can support your cause. Make the marketing piece focused and distinguishable from your normal organization material so it is memorable. In any case an event gives us a chance to influence the community to support your primary or very special cause. 

5. Education 
When you educate the meeting participants on your cause, they appreciate and will spread the word for your organization. This also helps your organization meet its community outreach goals. 

6. Media
The media may never come to your nonprofit monthly meeting but will gladly come to an event. A way to increase the incentive for them is to invite your high profile elected officials who support your cause. We invite and they write. This is a great way to get free publicity. 

7. Branding
Build your organizations brand. If you are suffering under the reputation of another group because another organization has a larger profile, then an event should become a branding opportunity. 

8. Community Relations 
Establish community relations. Create a win-win situation, meet your neighbors, partner with them and help support their causes. 

9. Government Support 
Most nonprofits need some form of local government support. An event helps you chat up local government officials who you may not come across during your local travels. Sometimes you may learn something you didn't know and you can help sell your cause. 

10. Networking 
Build your community relations network. An event brings in many people from many neighborhood organizations. Networking with all the other community groups will help strengthen your cause and build your reputation. 

11. Grant
When you attend grant training one of the line items that is clearly required is community support? If your cause requires some level of community support, he proper business event helps you gauge community interest and build a supportive group all in one place. 

12. Advertising Dollars
An event raises your profile and demonstrates to store owners and business owners in town that you have an audience. They in turn will support your nonprofit with Advertising dollars.

Remember, support starts before you ask for help not when you need it. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Why Send A Press Release And Can A Press Release Really Build My Credibility And Profitability</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/Site_Promotion/building-traffic/why-send-a-press-release-and-can-a-press-release-really-build-my-credibility-and-profitability.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/Site_Promotion/building-traffic/why-send-a-press-release-and-can-a-press-release-really-build-my-credibility-and-profitability.html</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ When you hear about a website owner or information products marketer using press releases, do you think why are they sending press releases? Or better yet why should I send a press release?  If I did send one how do I write a press release that has real value? 

Well questions like these are borne out of days gone by where press releases as shown on TV seem to always be the latest earth shattering invention. Then as the press release was finally announced there was this flashing spinning graphic jumping out of the TV like in old superman movie that meant the world would radically change due to this announcement. And anything less was not worth doing a press release on. 

Well the days of superman saving the world are gone and so are the old ways of creating and producing press releases. The answer is no,  you will not be banned from the hard copy paper world for ever if your press release is not absolutely earth changing, and no Clark Kent's editor Perry White will not look you up and write a bad story on you and your business. .

The internet has many valuable resources and you want traffic and a sale. Also understand that the internet has more benefits then the traditional publishing network in that it also provides valuable back links to your website. With additional back-links, your page rank rises and you will see more traffic and more traffic equals more sales. 

Also you need to understand that the world of the internet has many legitimate websites that people can locate, read and possible have an interest in your product. Also understand that every offline newspaper, magazine or news place of worth has an online posting website. The online and offline world have all come together at some place called the internet. 

So do you really care where a customer comes from as in from the local paper or from a far way website? If they buy your product that is what is important, not some false perception we harbor from days gone by. A sale is a sale which equals revenue.  

Understanding the reasons to write a press release and the benefits, lets quickly list the components and steps required of you when its time to format a press release.

There is an industry almost standard layout and format and to be professional it is recommended that you adhere to that standard. The first line will usually say FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE and usually just like that in capital letters.  Allow some spaces and start the body of the press release. Include city and state and include a date. There are some debates on length but 700-800 words are more then adequate. Include press contact information at the top or bottom and close the document with the characters -30- or use # 3 times. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Discover Fast Video Article Marketing Strategies That Drive Traffic and Dramatically Build Your List</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Business/Advertising/multimedia/discover-fast-video-article-marketing-strategies-that-drive-traffic-and-dramatically-build-your-list.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Business/Advertising/multimedia/discover-fast-video-article-marketing-strategies-that-drive-traffic-and-dramatically-build-your-list.html</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Looking to generate traffic to your website? There are many options available and some come and go depending on the whims of the internet market and some of the key players who decide what's popular and what's not. Today one of the most powerful strategies for attracting traffic is video marketing. 

However when it comes to making video you have many options and you can create from scratch or use what you have to repurpose them for your current needs. To aid and stimulate your thinking, here are a number of ways to use video marketing to market your business in a publicity or marketing campaign.

-Take the articles you have that are more paragraph oriented and develop an article and repurpose them to a video article.

-Take all your step by step articles and turn them into instructional videos. Expand on each bullet to make sure the user understands what each bullet means. 

-Create short video overviews about your products and tie the whole suite together with a product portfolio overview. 

-If you provide service, develop a mini service demonstration showing how your product works in a specific situation.

-Develop a press release and include a video links that demonstrates additional points beyond what is written. 

-Next time you perform a presentation, create a short video snippet of your presentation and post them at your site.

-Create detailed step by step demonstrations such as how to videos of your product.

-Develop deep interest in you as an author and construct short little videos that discuss portions of your Book or eBooks.

-Develop a video overview of your website. Walk the site page by page and deliver a detail explanation using a screen-capture software program.

-Shoot video of your next business event and submit the video to your website and to the media. 

-Submit a video to local newspapers, TV and see if they host it on your website.

-Use video on a one-page sales letter as it is powerful selling tool and it can close the sale while you sleep.

-Generate many, many leads and pull traffic by posting them to a video site like YouTube. 

-Start a new product or services and develop a video blog on a specific subject.

-Many sites have advanced pay per click to pay per play video. So now yu can get pay while others watch.  

-Enhance your affiliate business and make it more personal by developing a video as an affiliate instruction tool. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Building Your Opt-In List Begins With Many Alternative Marketing Strategies</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Business/Advertising/building-your-opt-in-list-begins-with-many-alternative-marketing-strategies.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Business/Advertising/building-your-opt-in-list-begins-with-many-alternative-marketing-strategies.html</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Building your opt-in list begins with having a website that will persuade visitors to spend some time on your website.  Build your list with a mix of the following internet marketing strategies. 

On Website Strategy Solutions
Use as much original material as possible. It doesn't take long for today's surfers to decide if this page is going to be worth further attention. 

Be sure you have numerous cross links to various pages on your site so the visitor can browse through it. 

Design your site so your pages can load quickly. Forums are a good area to ask members to view your site or particular page. 

Offer your visitors freebies--ebooks, software, articles etc. that they can download from your site. If a visitor does nothing else than to become one of your subscribers and be put on your opt-in email list you have won the first battle. 

Design your site so your pages can load quickly. Don't load it up with too many pictures and long blocks of text. Leave enough "white space" so one's eyes can be drawn down the page. Articles should be broken up into short paragraphs and adjust your text so it is easy to read--not too small nor too light. Difficult in reading the content will discourage a visitor from continuing. 

Proofread your pages so you don't make grammatical and spelling mistakes. You need to appear a professional. If you are not sure of the effect the page is presenting let someone else take a look. Forums are a good area to ask members to view your site or particular page. 

Off Website Strategy Solutions
Advertise a free ebook. People love free offers and an ebook of your knowledge can be a strong presale item. 

Use email signatures, which you can add to the bottom of your emails. In a few lines you put your name, short description and appropriate link to your website or offer. 

Send an email to an individual email address and ask the recipient if they would like to sign-up for your mailing list or offer the option to decline from any future mailings. 

Off Line, Non Website Strategy Solutions
Try finding a local business that is related to your product and offer them a discount voucher to give their customers for your product. 

Take out small ads in local or niche magazines to advertise the product. 

Try sending a fax broadcast to businesses that could benefit from your product. Send them your product for review. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>What is Your Fundraising Goal?</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Culture_and_Society/Social_Issues/what-is-your-fundraising-goal.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Culture_and_Society/Social_Issues/what-is-your-fundraising-goal.html</guid>
<pubDate>Sat, 17 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Many organizations depend on fundraising to get the things they need. People fundraise to get a new swimming pool for their town, or to get special facilities for their school. Sometimes people fundraise to get money for people who need special health care or to help disabled or disadvantaged people. Fundraising is always for a good cause and helps people or organizations in their hour of need.

Once you take on the role of fundraiser, the first thing to do is set a specific goal. Whether it's a large goal or a small one, it needs to be phrased in a way that people can relate to before they will get involved. Naturally the fundraising is to raise money, but what is the money actually for? Does the school need 10 new computers? How would this change the lives of the children attending that school? 

The children won't just learn how to play games on these computers, but they will learn skills that they will need all through their working lives. It will benefit them because they will be more employable if they are computer literate. They will learn to do things on their school computers that they would never learn just by having one at home.

Once people can see exactly how they - or their children - would benefit from these computers, they will get behind the project and offer help wherever possible. This goal will benefit teachers by making their work more interesting and easier. It will motivate the children to learn since most children love using a computer. 

The next goal - or the sub-goal - will be to find out the amount of money that is needed to achieve our goal. To do this, we need to know how many computers are needed and what sort they will be. Will there be printers and scanners to go with them? Should they be networked?  Who will install them and see that they are running properly? There may even need to be blinds installed to reduce the screen glare. The money raised will need to cover all costs, not just the purchase price of the computers. Each sub-goal should be itemized with an approximate cost.

Other questions that need to be addressed for your fundraising campaign are what specific activities you will use to will accomplish your goal, and when they will take place. A timeframe needs to be established, too. If there is no time frame, the fundraising could drag on until everyone is sick and tired of hearing about it. To have specific goal of raising a certain amount of money by a certain date gives people something to work towards and a sense of satisfaction when it is accomplished. ]]></description>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>

