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  • Will You Add? - Writing for the Web

    Entrepreneurial Transitions
    Once you undertake the development of a business you utilize a variety of entrepreneurial skills. You find yourself working hard to keep things going, but there’s a real sense of satisfaction in the work.Recently I was told of a woman who had started her twenty-first business. In each case the business was related to cooking. The good news was this woman was a capable businesswoman and an excellent cook.The problem for this woman was that she got tired of running a business very easily. She would get a business established and grow weary of the day-to-day grind and would set a date to close the doors. Her husband was a carpenter and had systematically refurbished twenty separate properties for his wife’s business ventures.This woman recently started a coffee shop with a variety of baked goods for sale. The business hadn’t been open 3 months when a separate coffee shop opened in the same retail complex. When she discovered the new business she threw her hands up in despair and asked the owner of the second shop if she could come to work for her.You see, there is an invisible wall that is sometimes difficult to overcome. That wall is moving beyond the difficult work of day-to-day business where you are needed in the monitoring of all aspects of the business. Some, like the lady in our story, simply get tired and go home to regroup their strength for a later attempt. Others will find ways to derive income that does not rely on their own efforts. These are the entrepreneurs that more easily move forward.Passive IncomeIf you are a store that specializes in a product you have created, the sale of items that are available from other suppliers can provide income that is your simply because you supplied shelf space.The sale of insurance provides a means of deriving an income based on commissions that require little attention from you.The use of affil
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      How to Increase Congruence In Present Day Chaos
      Agreement and harmony in verbal and nonverbal messages increase your ability to influence. When congruence is lacking, a red flag is raised and, either consciously or subconsciously, your listener will not give you her/his full trust. It's like the clothes you wear every day. Remember that the more consistent and congruent you are in every aspect of your life, the more honest and genuine you're perceived to be. If you believe in your message, you'll practice what you preach. If you practice what you preach, you'll be more authentic, and the door of trust will then swing wide open for you. When you possess congruency, there's no need to manipulate or camouflage. Your audience trusts you categorically. As one author put it, "People love someone who seems to believe in what he is doing, who is a man of principle. It doesn't seem to matter what the principle is, as long as he holds to it against all odds, expresses himself clearly, does not get defensive and sticks to his story." When they manifest, most incongruities are found in our body language. Countless studies demonstrate that when body language is incongruent or in disagreement with the message being portrayed, the body language will always be believed over the message. Hence, if you want your message to have maximum impact on your audience, your body language must be congruent with and support or enhance your message. Are you congruent with your history, your last interaction and your reputation? Are your emotions congruent with your message? What are your audience's expectations of you and your message? When your past history and your message don't match, flags of incongruities will wave in your prospects' faces. Suspicion will be roused and your prospects will start to look for things that are wrong with you or your message. This inconsistency will decrease your ability to
      Website content, ezines, articles, e-books - if you run an online business you'll probably do your fair share of writing. If you're not entirely confident about your writing abilities, don't worry. You can master writing for the Web and learn to turn out clean, clear, and convincing copy. You just need to understand the nature of the Web and always write with your reader in mind. Here are some guidelines to get you started:

      Get organized. Create an outline of the entire site before you begin to help you stay organized as you write, and work from that outline to create each page. Start out with general information and progressively get more detailed and specific as you go on. Tackle your subject systematically and lead toward a logical conclusion.

      Make it easy to read. Computer monitors are considerably more difficult to read from than the printed page. Don't overwhelm your readers with endless lines of text. Instead, break it up into logical sections and paragraphs. Formatting text in columns rather than lines as wide as the screen will make it easier to read. Use eye-catching headings to emphasize important points and key concepts.

      Get to the point. Go straight to the point in your opening paragraph - tell the reader what you're writing about and how they will benefit from reading it. Grab your readers' attention and motivate them to read on. People are busy and there's plenty of competition for their time and attention, so let them know what's in it for them and why they should stick around to read on.

      Write for your readers. The right perspective is the reader's perspective. People visit a website because they want information and want it fast, so give them what they came for. Instead of focusing on what you want to tell them, tell them what they want to know. Ask yourself what kind of person is likely to be reading what you write, and tailor your writing to that group. Don't use any technical terms your audience might not be familiar with. You want to come across as knowledgable without talking down to your readers.

      Keep it short. When it comes to writing for the Web, less is more. Reading from a computer monitor is relatively taxing on the eyes, so be concise. Make sure you've covered your subject thoroughly but concisely. Paragraphs should be relatively short (generally, three to five sentences). If your subject can't be covered thoroughly enough in a short article or on a Web page, split it up into two articles or Web pages.

      Stay focused. Stay focused on the main idea you want to express in each paragraph or section. After you've finished, reread what you've written to make sure you haven't strayed from your topic. If you find you've digressed or gone off on a tangent, cut the extra material for use in another article. Your content should closely match your title or heading and introduction (in other words, make sure you've given the reader what you promised.

      Be yourself. Be conversational but professional. Formality and "corporate speak" seem out of place on the Web, unless you happen to be marketing exclusively to executive types. Otherwise it's fine to speak in the first person and share your own viewpoints. Letting your own personality shine through and sharing your own experiences is a great way to build a relationship with your readers.

      Don't come on too strong. We've all seen those websites that are trying too hard. Hyped up sales copy, excessive exclamation points, and text in too many different sizes and fonts are more likely to motivate the reader to leave immediately than to buy the product. Accentuate the positive, but don't exaggerate or make exorbitant claims or promises you can't keep. Instead of going for the hard sell, let your products speak for themselves. Stick to features, benefits, and objective comparisons with your competitors' products.

      Think globally. Remember, it is called the World Wide Web, after all, and your site could be viewed by visitors who have many different native languages, cultures, religions, and values. For that reason write for a broad audience. Photographs and language that are acceptable in the United States might be offensive to citizens of more traditional or conservative countries. Humor can liven up your site, but make sure the jokes are in good taste and won't be construed as sexist, racist, or derogatory toward any group.

      Check your work. Little mistakes have a way of standing out, and even one glaring mistake can undermine your professional image. Proofread your copy very carefully, more than once, and ideally have someone else proofread it as well. In particular, watch out for spelling and grammatical errors, missing punctuation, omitted or duplicated words, and poorly constructed sentences. Using your spell checker will help, but it's no substitute for careful reading by a human. You might find it's easier to spot errors in your text if you print it out and read it.

      Get another opinion. Recruit a few friends or colleagues who aren't overly familiar with your products and company to give you their opionions on what you've written. Could they understand your description of your product(s)? Was your explanation of the benefits and selling points convincing? Were they left with any unanswered questions? Be open to their criticisms and questions and use their feedback to fine tune your copy.

      Consult a pro. You might have something worthwhile to say but that doesn't mean you necessarily have a talent for writing compelling copy. If writing just isn't your strong suit, don't hesitate to enlist the help of a professional to help you get your thoughts down on paper. Depending on your own abilities, you might call in a proofreader, editor or even a "ghost writer" to help you convert your ideas into professional-looking copy.

    Jane McLain is a Web developer and SEO specialist and the webmaster of EClaunchsite.com, an online resource center for netrepreneurs with tools and information to help you plan, build, launch and grow your e-business.

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      Who Owns Toyota And Honda And When Did They Last Sell Any Ownership In Their Companies
      As I read about new debt (Ford’s planned $18 billion), secondary stock offerings (usually to financial institutions), and acquisitions of operating businesses by leveraged buy-out artists, only one thought now goes through my mind - where does the money come from to pay back the debt and the interest - or the return the new owners want for their investment?I used to feel confident that management had a plan to reduce overhead, get rid of redundant operations, improve purchasing power and otherwise increase the net profits of the business so there would be more cash to handle the new demands - but I was wrong. Certainly these expense cuts happen to some degree but for the most part raising prices is the first action taken to generate the additional money.Now sometimes the market will absorb the price increase and sometimes it won’t. When the market won’t (as in the auto business) thanks to competitive products then the managers of the business are under pressure to find other ways to improve profits.The lenders won’t excuse the debt and the new owners won’t sit still (for very long) waiting for a return on their money. Management either performs, or is replaced… or the bank forecloses on its loans and forces a bankruptcy … or the new owners strip off the assets and otherwise liquidate the business.So when we debate why the United States is no longer a strong manufacturing country, why we have to outsource jobs to low wage paying countries, why our middle class is disappearing, lets think about why Toyota and Honda can “outsource” jobs (and entire manufacturing plants) to the US.Sure I’ve read the arguments about how Ford and GM pay higher wages because of old union contracts and how the newcomers are not saddled with thousands of non-productive pensioners and an older work force which costs more in health care benefits - but I think there’s more to the problem tha
      ess is more. Reading from a computer monitor is relatively taxing on the eyes, so be concise. Make sure you've covered your subject thoroughly but concisely. Paragraphs should be relatively short (generally, three to five sentences). If your subject can't be covered thoroughly enough in a short article or on a Web page, split it up into two articles or Web pages.

      Stay focused. Stay focused on the main idea you want to express in each paragraph or section. After you've finished, reread what you've written to make sure you haven't strayed from your topic. If you find you've digressed or gone off on a tangent, cut the extra material for use in another article. Your content should closely match your title or heading and introduction (in other words, make sure you've given the reader what you promised.

      Be yourself. Be conversational but professional. Formality and "corporate speak" seem out of place on the Web, unless you happen to be marketing exclusively to executive types. Otherwise it's fine to speak in the first person and share your own viewpoints. Letting your own personality shine through and sharing your own experiences is a great way to build a relationship with your readers.

      Don't come on too strong. We've all seen those websites that are trying too hard. Hyped up sales copy, excessive exclamation points, and text in too many different sizes and fonts are more likely to motivate the reader to leave immediately than to buy the product. Accentuate the positive, but don't exaggerate or make exorbitant claims or promises you can't keep. Instead of going for the hard sell, let your products speak for themselves. Stick to features, benefits, and objective comparisons with your competitors' products.

      Think globally. Remember, it is called the World Wide Web, after all, and your site could be viewed by visitors who have many different native languages, cultures, religions, and values. For that reason write for a broad audience. Photographs and language that are acceptable in the United States might be offensive to citizens of more traditional or conservative countries. Humor can liven up your site, but make sure the jokes are in good taste and won't be construed as sexist, racist, or derogatory toward any group.

      Check your work. Little mistakes have a way of standing out, and even one glaring mistake can undermine your professional image. Proofread your copy very carefully, more than once, and ideally have someone else proofread it as well. In particular, watch out for spelling and grammatical errors, missing punctuation, omitted or duplicated words, and poorly constructed sentences. Using your spell checker will help, but it's no substitute for careful reading by a human. You might find it's easier to spot errors in your text if you print it out and read it.

      Get another opinion. Recruit a few friends or colleagues who aren't overly familiar with your products and company to give you their opionions on what you've written. Could they understand your description of your product(s)? Was your explanation of the benefits and selling points convincing? Were they left with any unanswered questions? Be open to their criticisms and questions and use their feedback to fine tune your copy.

      Consult a pro. You might have something worthwhile to say but that doesn't mean you necessarily have a talent for writing compelling copy. If writing just isn't your strong suit, don't hesitate to enlist the help of a professional to help you get your thoughts down on paper. Depending on your own abilities, you might call in a proofreader, editor or even a "ghost writer" to help you convert your ideas into professional-looking copy.

    Jane McLain is a Web developer and SEO specialist and the webmaster of EClaunchsite.com, an online resource center for netrepreneurs with tools and information to help you plan, build, launch and grow your e-business.

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      Brand Reputation Optimization - The Future of Online PR and Marketing
      “Brand Reputation Optimization” (BRO for the acronym lovers!) is a concept I have been thinking a lot about and terminology I decided to coin. Brand Reputation Optimization refers to how an organization best positions its brand for long-term sustainability and success. Success in this case refers both to the bottom line and to applying socially responsible business practices sometime referred to as corporate social responsibility. Since the web is now the preferred method by which people receive and digest information, BRO focuses primarily on online practices though it often complements, or is a catalyst for offline engagement.Search Engine Optimization (SEO) taught us that we can be proactive in helping people to discover companies and information online. However, now that every company has established an online presence, and given that the internet is increasingly the medium by which people receive their information (thus evolving their perceptions and first impressions) the “key test” becomes that of brand distinction and differentiation. As it turns out, like search engine optimization there are best practices and concrete actions that can be taken to distinguish and optimize your brand.The most important aspect of BRO is to recognize that people build brands and brands drive revenues. Many a company and business fails to capitalize on its most valuable asset – its own people. Social networks have taught us the power of passionate users and social media tool have helped us to unleash the power of collective intelligence often by breeding innovation organically. Passion drives engagement.Brand Reputation Optimization has two central applications: Internal and External. Traditionally (and bound to continue going forward) is the primary focus of brand optimization on the external (such as interactions with media, the public and customers). Still it is important to reiterate
      n good taste and won't be construed as sexist, racist, or derogatory toward any group.

      Check your work. Little mistakes have a way of standing out, and even one glaring mistake can undermine your professional image. Proofread your copy very carefully, more than once, and ideally have someone else proofread it as well. In particular, watch out for spelling and grammatical errors, missing punctuation, omitted or duplicated words, and poorly constructed sentences. Using your spell checker will help, but it's no substitute for careful reading by a human. You might find it's easier to spot errors in your text if you print it out and read it.

      Get another opinion. Recruit a few friends or colleagues who aren't overly familiar with your products and company to give you their opionions on what you've written. Could they understand your description of your product(s)? Was your explanation of the benefits and selling points convincing? Were they left with any unanswered questions? Be open to their criticisms and questions and use their feedback to fine tune your copy.

      Consult a pro. You might have something worthwhile to say but that doesn't mean you necessarily have a talent for writing compelling copy. If writing just isn't your strong suit, don't hesitate to enlist the help of a professional to help you get your thoughts down on paper. Depending on your own abilities, you might call in a proofreader, editor or even a "ghost writer" to help you convert your ideas into professional-looking copy.

    Jane McLain is a Web developer and SEO specialist and the webmaster of EClaunchsite.com, an online resource center for netrepreneurs with tools and information to help you plan, build, launch and grow your e-business.

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      We Can Definitely Learn Quite A Few Things By Observing Business Practices In India
      We can definitely learn quite a few things by observing business practices in India If you are in one of developed countries and if you tell your friends that you are going to start a business, most of them would tell you to think twice. This is because most new businesses in developed countries would fail within the first three to five years, and this is supported by statistics. India has a very poor infrastructure and also its political and economical environment is not as stable as that in developed countries; therefore, your intuition tells you that even more new businesses would fail in India. However, the situation is quite the opposite; most of new businesses manage to survive in India. It is rather surprising, but if you look at various aspects of the business operation, you would logically conclude that new businesses in India are much more likely to survive than new businesses in developed countries.One of characteristics of new businesses in India is that they start with very small capitals or none whatsoever. New businesses spend what they can spend to start; in other words, they have very little or no debt at the beginning. Since there is very little or no debt, new businesses have no obligation to make payments to any lenders; this dramatically increases their chances of survival. On the contrary, new businesses in developed countries often take huge debts to start. It is partly necessary but it is also partly a common practice, although new businesses do not necessarily have to follow the common practice. For example, it is very common for new businesses to heavily invest in new pieces of office furniture, while they are totally unnecessary in most cases.As I look at individual businesses in India closely, I find that many businesses in India have very low operating costs. I see used computers everywhere. I see old furniture everywhere. Most offices do not
      white;">

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      Another Warm Lead
      Saturday morning, I sat in my pajamas, sipping strong, black coffee and petting Ms. Kitty Cat. The telephone rang. Usually on a Saturday morning, I screen my calls, but this morning, expecting a friend, I picked up. The caller was not my expected friend. She was a financial advisor from American Express. She asked if I had received the mailing I’d requested. Wendy: I didn’t request a mailing. Caller: Did you receive a mailing? Wendy: I don’t know. Caller: It was from American Express, outlining our financial products. Wendy: I get a lot of mail. Caller: So, you’re not interested? Wendy: You should look at a program called Cold Calling College. Caller: This is a “warm call.” We said our good-byes as I choked back hysterical laughter. “Warm Call” … “Cold Call” … However else you might care to categorize it, this was a Failed Call! I was a qualified prospect. I was not necessarily uninterested. What went wrong? This caller wanted me, the prospect, to do all of the work. She assumed that because the call was (in her mind only!) a “warm call,” I was interested in the products, knowledgeable about the products and ready to move to the next step. Nothing could have been further from the truth! She made no effort to entice or interest me—instead, we had a conversation about whether or not I had received sales literature! And then, moving from unbelievable to mind-boggling, this caller assumed rejection! (A standard closing technique is to “assume the sale” and proceed accordingly.) She had it backwards. Because I was not particularly interested in sales literature, she assumed without any questions or attempts to discover what my interests, wants or needs might be that I was saying “no.” This (non)sales process was also unwieldy. Evidently, someone else had originally called me—I don’t
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    Article Submitted On: August 31, 2004



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