Free Wahm Articles

Team Online Parties

2007-09-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

Keeping your team motivated can be a difficult task sometimes, but
oh-so-very important. Looking for a new and unique way to give your
team that boost it needs? Read on ...

Instead of a traditional online party or a team meeting, how about
combining the two? Hold a Team Online Party. By doing this you'll
accomplish quite a few things:

First and foremost, you'll motivate your team with a fun and
unique atmosphere.

Teach your team more about your products and review important
information such as company policies, procedures etc.

Teach members recruiting and sales techniques.

Help your team obtain business building supplies.

The first thing you'll want to do is choose an online party room. We
highly recommends MomChats.com.

Next you'll want to choose a couple of dates and times that you have
available and contact your team members to vote on a day and time
that works for them. You'll want to try to satisfy as many members
as possible, but remember that there's a good chance that you won't
satisfy everyone.

Once you've picked a date, chosen your room, booked your party and
invited your team members, you'll want to start planning your party
games.

Again, you can choose traditional online party games with a twist.
If your policies and procedures are not listed online, you might
want to request your team members to "bring" them along to the
party. Here are a couple game ideas to get you started:

Trivia
- One of your games could be as simple as simply asking questions
directly from your manual about company policies, procedures etc and
have your members answer them. The team member who answers the most
correctly wins.

Scavenger Hunt
- Another idea would be to help your team become more familiar with
your catalogs or your company websites by holding a scavenger hunt
for products. Have them tell you what page such and such is located
or how much a certain product costs. Again, the member with the most
correct wins.

For the prizes, you'll want to take this opportunity to let them win
business building items such as information products (Ex. ebooks),
business cards and other items needed for their business such as
samples. You can get very nice looking and very inexpensive business
cards from Vista Print as well as many other items such as
promotional magnets, calendars and stationary. Buy samples by the
bulk from your company and break them down into smaller quantities
for prizes. Ebooks with information about home businesses make a
wonderful and very inexpensive prize that will continue to give back
to you. Remember, the more successful your team members are, the
more successful you are too.

You'll also want to take this time to congratulate team members for
any accomplishments. Don't forget to congratulate for even the
smallest accomplishments. This is a perfect time for a little slap
on the back and celebrate.

Just remember to be creative. The more creative you are, the more
fun it will be. The more fun you make it, the more successful it
will be. You'll want to put in as much to planning this as you would
a traditional online party.

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your
next team online party such as more game and prize ideas, visit
http://www.directsaleshelpers.com/team-online-party.html

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The Customer is Sometimes Rude

2007-09-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

Business is not all fun and games. If you are running your own business, you absolutely must have a thick skin. Being easily hurt or upset isn't going to get you anywhere.

Imagine for a moment you holding a home party. As the guests are looking at catalogs, one says "Look at this lamp, it's so UGLY!". You note which one they are looking at, and realize you have one just like it in your own home.

You have two options here. Either you get rude right back at her, or you offer to help her find something more her taste. While the second option is obviously the better way to go, sometimes we tend to react on instincts first.

The same is true while networking and being active in business communities online. While these places shouldn't be the main source of customers, know you WILL sell to other business owners. If you react rude to another WAHM, you are going to lose sales pretty fast. Not only are you going to lose out on a possible sale from the person you offended, but also others reading it too.

Customers and business owners are going to have opinions. No matter if it's on your website, your products, or your method of marketing. Some comments may be constructive critisism, others may be down right rude. Regardless, fighting back is NEVER going to look good on your part.

Granted there are always going to be those who will never buy, but that still doesn't mean you should be rude back to them. Word travels regardless of who they are, and your business is going to be hurt. Always keep in mind that bad news travels at least twice as fast as good news.

Bottom line - the next time you feel someone is being rude, grit your teeth and smile. Getting down to their level never helps. Besides, don't forget, you never know who's watching. You're a business owner and your reputation is on the line.

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com.

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Find Your Marketing Strength - Part 2

2007-09-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

In part one we talked about why focus in marketing is so important. This part goes into more detail about various forms of marketing, and why it's so important they be focused on.

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Possible one form of marketing that requires the most focus. Just throwing in a few keywords or doing link exchanges without a purposes will get you nowhere in the search engines. SEO must be learned, practiced, and studied. A site is not optimized, a page is. So you need to work on optimizing one page at a time.

Is it worth the time? Absolutely! If this is something which interests you, and you enjoy writing content. If not, you might do better with another form of marketing.

2. Blogs
You may have been told blogs are a great way to pull in traffic. This is true. But it's another form of marketing which requires dedication. Setting up a blog and putting up a few posts a year isn't going to help much. If you use blogging as a marketing tool, be ready to post to your blog at LEAST once a week (more if you want the blog to really help your business).

Blogs make great "search engine food" because they are pure content and updated on a regular basis. This form of marketing works well if you enjoy SEO as well, since they can be easily focused on together. Just like SEO though, if you don't enjoy writing content this isn't for you.

3. Article Marketing
If for some reason a blog is out of the question, article marketing may be a form of marketing for you. Similar to blogging, you need to be able to write. Not quite as much as blogging, but still several articles a month are required for this form of marketing to work.

Basically what you'll do is write articles related to your business. Pick out a few of the top article directories on the net and submit your article. If done on a regular basis, you will soon have a steady flow of traffic to your site. This form works especially well for those attempting to gain subscribers to a newsletter.

4. Forum Marketing
A newer concept in online marketing, but still one which can have a huge impact on your business. In part one we mentioned one of the "basics" of business was some involvement in communities (meaning you are a member of 2 or 3 message boards or groups, and offer advice at least once a week). Forum Marketing (or "network marketing") takes that a step further.

Instead of just stopping in occasionally, this is one of the only tasks you do. You aren't just a member of a few communities, but rather 10 or more. For those who have been told "don't spend all your time at groups and boards", well you will love that we've just given you permission to do just that. If of course you love to help people, share ideas, and spend all your day chatting. Yes this really IS a form of marketing!

The idea behind this is your are making a name for yourself at any given community. You aren't spamming them, but rather becoming a respected member. Although for it to be absolutely beneficial, you must be involved with a community that's also your target market. If you have trouble finding a community, start one. Either a message board or yahoo group works just fine. Actively chatting with your target market is a fantastic form of marketing!

5. Paid Advertising
While some may shy away from this form of marketing just because of the cost, others have built an entire business with nothing but paid ads. Those who enjoy math will flock to this form, since it requires figuring out your return on investment (ROI). The goal is to spend less than you make.......and use money to make money.

It too requires focus, despite what some may think. The rewards can be huge if you unlock this form of marketing though. Testing is required to see which ads pull in the most money for you. You also need to search for various types of paid advertising which will earn you the most ROI.

There are many, many more forms of marketing online and offline as well. We've only just scratched the surface! As we've mentioned in both parts of these articles, focus is required for ANY form of marketing.

However, it is acceptable to focus on more than one IF they are enjoyable and successful for you. As long as you are keeping a focus on what works, your business will succeed.

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com.

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Find Your Marketing Strength - Part 1

2007-08-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

There are hundreds of different ways to market your business both online and offline. While it's good in the beginning to test out various types of marketing, you'll eventually going to want to focus on how you market best.

Finding your strength in marketing is going to have a huge impact on your business. You'll be able to spend your time focused ONLY on what works, instead of scattered in a various directions.

Also, when focused on just two or three different forms of marketing, you are able to gain the maximum benefits from those forms. When your focus is scattered, you aren't going to benefit near as much.

Let us give you an example. Let's say you are good at writing articles, and they have proved to help your business. Not just "alright" at writing, but you can write several articles a day without problems. You spend half your time on the articles, and the rest of the time doing "busy" activities that aren't beneficial to your business. Had you spent all that time on articles, how much further would your business be right now?

Here's another example. You enjoy learning about search engine optimization, but haven't quite fully learned it just yet. Instead of learning more, you throw a few keywords on your website then move on to something else. Will just a few keywords help? Absolutely not. Instead of focusing on that form of marketing, you've only done a small part thus making it almost a pointless task.

Before going any further let us say this - there is NOTHING wrong with seeking out new forms of marketing. However, most marketing is not a "quick fix" or a "set and forget". It takes time to make any form of marketing work in your favor. But if you don't enjoy it nor focus on it, it's never going to work for you.

Also realise there are certain "basics" to any marketing plan that you are going to need to learn. Websites, newsletters, and some imvolvement in communities (we say "some" because "full" involvment is a marketing form all on it's own) are all things you must do.

Bottom line is - marketing is just like chosing your business. Success comes with passion and ability to focus. Now that you understand this, in part two we'll discuss some of the various ways to market and why focus in each are important.

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com.

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Motivation - Where to Find It

2007-07-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

by Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank

While we all have our own ways of finding motivation, sometimes we all need a little shove. We'll tell you what gets us moving when you don't feel like doing anything at all.

One of the perks of owning a business is working your own hours. However, it can be very tempting to just say "I don't feel like working today". You do have the option to do that without "losing your job". But every day you take off, the motivation to work on your business gets a little less.

Before you know it, your motivation is completely gone. You don't feel like working at all, and start to feel your business is failing. Well of course it is if you aren't doing anything!
Obviously what you need to do is get your motivation levels back to normal. You have to WANT to work on your business to succeed. The best way to find motivation is actually pretty simple...

Read.

When you don't feel like working directly on your business (or really don't know what to do), this is the best time to do something indirect. Read, learn about new ideas, soak up information, and find new projects.

Read until you find the spark, and run with it. Which it WILL hit, simply because new ideas get us excited. Business owners love to be busy, or we wouldn't be building a business to begin with.

Visit your favorite WAHM resource websites. First you'll want to browse around the article / resource sections and - yup, you guessed it - read. Read the articles and make notes - no, not mental notes. Open a word processing document or even better, pull out that old notebook and pen. Make notes of anything that jumps out at you. Before you know it, you're note taking session will turn into a "brain dump" listing all your ideas for your next project.

After you've read all the articles you want to, and you're looking for some more motivation ... hop on over to your favorite WAHM message boards. Browse around older topics and join in on some of the conversations. Visit your favorite blogs and read what they have been doing, or resources they recommend.

So the next time you feel your motivation lacking, go and learn something new or review things you've already learned. The main idea is to keep yourself involved one way or another. Keep active and the motivation will stay with you. You'll be surprised how fast your business grows with motivation!

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com

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Let Them Play

2007-06-28T05:59:00.000-07:00

by Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank

The purpose of a craft show or home party is to attract customers. You are also giving them the chance to touch, play, or try on the products. Telling them not to touch is going to have them moving on as quickly as possible.

Here's an example as to how to drive customers away:

We attend quite a few craft shows. It's not always possible to find sitters for the entire day, so my kids are with me sometimes for part of it. They always seem to find the Discovery Toys rep first thing.

Now I'm a parent that watches my kids. I tell them not to touch. I pull them away from the table, especially when I know I'm not going to buy that day. Our regular DT rep who we see on a regular basis always says "hey they're fine, that's what the toys are here for!". Well still, I want to keep her booth open for children of paying customers.

The DT rep we saw this weekend couldn't have been more different. My kids wandered over to the table right off the bat. I was right behind telling them not to touch and trying to herd them out of there. Even still, the rep told my kids to leave certain things alone and put them back. Not really rude, but repeating what I was already saying. This didn't make me happy in the least, because I WAS watching my kids.

Now not only did she upset a qualified potential customer (parent with young children), but she failed to really show off her products. Our normal DT reps knows the more kids playing the more parents it attracts. If space permits, she'll even set up an extra table specifically for the kids to play.

When you see your kid interested in a toy you know is educational, you are more likely to buy. Plus when parents come to collect their kids, our normal rep uses that time to talk about the company and products. Not like this other rep who spent that time scolding the kids for touching toys (how dare they, right?).

At a craft show or home party you aren't just showing the products. You are demonstrating. You are letting potential customers try them out. Candles you let them smell. Food you let them sample. Scrapbooking materials they make a project with. Pampered Chef you cook with. Bath products you have samples sitting out to try. Other products you let them pick up and touch.

Sometimes it's not so easy to let them try products before buying, but you've got to do your best to let them. For example, I once saw a scrapbooking rep at a craft show who had fancy scissors sitting on the table with scrap paper. She encouranged people to use them.

You don't just show the product, but how it's used. Seeing it in action is the best way to push a potential customer right to their checkbook. Even if kids are touching items you don't want them to, just grit your teeth and smile. Let the parents take care of their own children.....and of course, buy from you.

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Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of Direct Sales Success, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. For additional help at offline events, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com/offline-events.html

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Craft Shows: Pay and Stay

2007-06-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

If you pay for a table at a craft show, it only makes sense to show up. Sure things come up, but you should always try your best to make it. You should also try your best to stay for the entire show.

Over the weekend we attended an outdoor craft show. Our instructions stated we were allowed to set up on Friday night, and stay as late as we wanted to Saturday evening. The schedule of events showed activities clear up to 10pm at night, so we knew we would be there until at least dark.

The tables next to us were obviously new at craft shows. Not only did they not show up until Saturday, but a few left in the afternoon. Sure the sales slowed down a bit, but we knew it would pick up later on that day. The schedule was given to all vendors ahead of time, so we all knew it was coming.

What baffled me the most was what one vendor said to me as she packed up at 2pm. When asked if she was leaving already, she stated "yeah, we have another show tonight".

What??

Now why would you pay for a table at two different places? Not only did they not set up Friday, but they left early Saturday too. They missed out on all those sales in the evening, even though they paid for the table. Right now I'm sure they are thinking they won't return to this show because of lack of sales. Of course they didn't make enough sales if they were only there half the show!

If you want to make the most of your craft show, you MUST be there for the entire show. Don't show up late and don't leave early. Outdoor events are going to have slow periods depending on the type of event and what's scheduled.

Also, don't overbook yourself. You can only be in one place at one time. Paying for two different events on the same day is just throwing profits away.

Bottom line is, if you pay for a table, stay there!

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Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of Direct Sales Success, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. For additional help at offline events, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com/offline-events.html

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6 Steps to a Successful Home Party

2007-06-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

Everyday someone is coming up with a new way to market your direct sales business (which of course is great). Keeping your business interesting and fresh is important. However, don't forget the tactics that made direct sales companies (aka home party plans) popular.

Home parties are not only an excellent way to showcase your products, but are also a great deal of fun. There's nothing more entertaining than getting a bunch of people (usually women) together to show and test your merchandise. Hands on beats other tactics hands down time and time again!

Following a simply guideline can help you have successful home party that runs smoothly and everyone enjoys. The following guideline will give you the basic idea of how to do this and can easily be adjusted to fit your own tastes / needs.

Before the Guests arrive...
Be sure to arrive at your hostess's home about an hour or so before the start of your party to review any last minute details. Set up a refreshment table and re-arrange furniture if needed. Set up your display and do a quick review of the guest list. Review any before-party sales. Don't forget to lay out the catalogs, brochures and business cards!

Greeting the Guests...
Have the hostess warmly greet each guest as they arrive. Have her introduce you and engage in some general chit-chat. Ask them about themselves, what do they do, how do they know the hostess, do they have any children? Remember to smile!

The Ice Breaker...
Games are a perfect ice breaker. Play a game or two to make the guests feel welcome and comfortable. Make your games fun and with as much interaction with the guests as possible. Another good ice breaker is to thank your hostess for holding the party and giving her a gift. If you offer gifts to guests who bring friends; now's the time do hand them out.

The Presentation...
Start showing guests the items that you've brought for display and give a brief description that you've prepared before-hand on each one. Guests love hands-on viewing. After each description, hand the merchandise to the guests to get a better look and pass around. At the end of your presentation, discuss the opportunity for guests to become hostesses themselves and briefly discuss the rewards. Be sure at some point to open the floor to the guests for any questions, comments and/or concerns. At this time the hostesses should be doing any last minute preparations of the refreshments.

Finishing up Guest Orders...
Be prepared to help guests fill in their order forms and answer any questions about sales tax and shipping costs. It might not be a bad idea to bring along a calculator for quicker or more accurate order totals. Also be prepared to accept checks and let it be known who you'd prefer the checks to be written to. Make sure you thank each guest who purchases and give them a copy of the completed order form.

Ending the Show...
Once again you should thank the hostess for having the show. Be sure to thank each guest for coming as they leave whether they made a purchase or not. Don't forget to have all the needed information to contact guests after the party concerning their orders or potentially hosting a party themselves. And don't forget to have fun!

Remember, it's your party so get creative! The more fun your guests have ... the more chances you have of future bookings. Some simple planning and organization will open the door of opportunity wide open. Make sure you hold your head high, put on a smile and walk right in.

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com

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3 SEO Tips for Direct Sales

2007-05-31T13:58:00.000-07:00

While this could easily turn into another "you need a website" article, it's really about search engine optimization for direct sales reps. It's just important to you (maybe even more so) than it is for others in different industries.

Before you read any further, know you are going to need your own website. There is no way around this, as you can't optimize a rep site. It looks identical to all the rest of the rep sites out there, and search engines hate identical.

1. Check your company terms
It's important you check with your company to make sure you can actually have your own site. It's also important you double check that you can use your company name. Being able to use a heavily searched for company name could be a huge asset if used right.

2. Use keyword phrases
Once you know you can build a site on your own with your company name, you need to come up with a list of keyword phrases. Keep in mind you will only use ONE keyword phrase per page. Each page needs to focus on just one set (a phrase) of keywords. Start here to find out what others are searching for:
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

3. Build incoming links
Write articles, use your signature line on forums, and seek out link exchanges. As long as you have links coming into your site, the search engines WILL index you automatically. Which is something you need to realize about search engines - they will crawl your site as long as you have quality content and links coming into your site. Do not fall for the "submit your site to 100s of search engines" scam. It happens automatically!

For more advanced search engine optimization work on your site, I highly suggest Cricket's SEO class at:
http://www.gnc-web-creations.com/seo-optimization.htm

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com

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Newsletter or Ezine Advertising

2007-05-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

Online Advertising Secrets Exposed - Part 5

This is one of the most direct ways that you can advertise online. Newsletters, often referred to as ezines are like magazines online. Most of the time they are presented in a newsletter format rather than an actual magazine. But they have one very big advantage over most types of online advertising. They are very targeted to a particular topic. They are not paid for, except with a few exceptions such as financial and scientific ezines, but are usually sent free to their subscribers. The way that the owner makes money from their ezine is through advertising, either for their own products, or other people’s products that they have an affiliate link for, so that they get a percentage of the sale.

Because the readers of the ezine have signed up for them and receive them on a regular basis, they are very targeted on their market. After all if the readers were not interested then they would just unsubscribe. Any ezine owner that has a successful ezine also knows that they have to give their readers good content and not just advertising. There has to be a balance where the main emphasis is on the content, providing good informative content for the readers that is both interesting and useful and occasional advertising. But even then to be really effective the advertising has to fit in with the context of the article so that it is more seen as helping them to find something that could help them with a problem than just trying to sell them something.

A lot of ezine owners sell advertising space in their ezines because it is a good way to make extra money. But you have to be very careful that the ezine audience is the same as you need for your product and if the owner gives you advice on how to write your ad you should listen, as they know their readers.

It can’t go unsaid that you should also start your own ezine by collecting subscribers from your site and from your customers. If you give them quality content and occasional offers, especially if you give them a good discount, then you will be able to sell to the same readers again and again. But you need to make sure that the ezine is good so that they keep reading. Ezine advertising is a really good way to start getting good conversions for your products and when you start to get your own subscribers then you will begin to see your profits grow.

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Anita DeFrank, owner of http://www.MommysHelperOnline.com is a busy work at home mom. MommysHelperOnline.com is the leading resource available online built to assist you with your home business. Whether you're brand new to the work at home game or you're an old pro, be sure to stop by today.

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Advertising With Articles

2007-04-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

Online Advertising Secrets Exposed - Part 4

Advertising with articles is not only an extremely effective way to advertise online it is also one of the fastest ways to see a return on your investment. If you have a limited budget then this is the way to go because it doesn’t cost anything to submit articles. It works like this; you write an article on a topic related to your business or product. Then you include a resource box at the end that has text describing your product with a link to more information. Then submit it to article directories where webmasters look for content for their websites or ezines. They then publish your article if it fits in with their site. The whole thing is done on a no cost basis and is beneficial to everyone. The ezine publisher or webmaster gets a free article, the article directory gets visitors to their site and you get publicity for your business.

Usually the only stipulation for the person publishing your article is that they are not allowed to alter it in any way. This includes keeping the resource box and link to your site at the end of the article. One of the reasons that this works so well is that the only people who will publish your article are ones that have a site on that subject. You then have a targeted audience that is already interested in the subject of your site who is reading your article and then clicking through on your link.

If you do not mind doing some extra work then there is an even more effective way of advertising with articles. Instead of submitting your article to a directory, you can search out the websites that you would like to see your article on and contact the owners to see if they would like you to write an article for them, (with your resource box of course).

A lot of website owners like to get extra content and if it is a high traffic site then it might be worthwhile offering to write exclusive content for them. This means that you write articles them only and that you will not send to other sites. This will make the owners a lot more interested in getting free exclusive content for their site.

But remember it is not so much quantity as quality that counts. A good article that is well written is much more likely to be used than a lot of articles that are not so good. But if you do it right then article advertising can be a very effective way of promoting your site.

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Anita DeFrank, owner of http://www.MommysHelperOnline.com is a busy work at home mom. MommysHelperOnline.com is the leading resource available online built to assist you with your home business. Whether you're brand new to the work at home game or you're an old pro, be sure to stop by today.

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Are You Tracking?

2007-04-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

The first sale off your website comes in. You're so excited, everyone you know hears about it. Before you know you see another, and another. When you are asked where the visitor came from, you may shrug and think it's unimportant. What matters is you got paid, right?

WRONG.

One of the most important aspects of business is knowing what makes you sales and what doesn't. You end up wasting time and money repeating actions that don't make you money. If you knew where those visitors were coming from, then you could duplicate the efforts in that specific area.

Let's put this way. Say you run 10 ads in different places, each costing you $5 each. You make 10 sales from all those ads. To duplicate those results without tracking, you'd have to spend another $50. But if you tracked those visitors you would only spend more money on the ads that worked.

The same goes with other forms of advertising. Let's say you visit 5 message boards every day as your main method of advertising (which we don't recommend by the way). It brings you 5 sales a week. If you track your visitors you can easily see which message board is bringing the traffic, cutting the time you spend on message boards down to maybe 2 or 3 a day instead.

So what can you do to track your visitors?

Simply set up a stat tracker of some kind on your website. And yes, even if you are given a rep website from your company, you NEED a website. This is one of the reasons why you do. We can't stress this enough. Your online business will be VERY limited without your own website.

Tracking is very important to any online business. It doesn't matter what type of business you run, you absolutely need to know where your visitors are coming from to increase your sales.

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com

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Advertising Through Content Sites

2007-04-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

Online Advertising Secrets Exposed - Part 3

Content sites are one of the more effective ways to advertise online. If you have your own content site, then you are making your own traffic by advertising in the search engines. This means that as long as your content site is on the same topic as the product that you are trying to sell, then your traffic is going to be much more targeted. The people that are going to your site are going there to find information, so it doesn’t take a genius to realize, they are interested in that topic. So, common sense tells you that to make the best use of that traffic, you have to sell something that relates to the same topic.

You need to make sure that the quality of the content on the site is good. If the content on your site isn’t any good, then the people who go to your site will be unlikely to buy from you. But if it is good, then they will be more likely to view that product as being good as well.

You’ll also want to make sure that the content on your site is mostly original. If you just have the same content that other sites have from article sites, then the search engines will just see it as duplicate content and they will not send people to your site. But if you have original content on your site then the search engines will send properly targeted traffic to you. So if you have the right products that match the content, then you have a good chance of them converting well.

Content sites are one of the best ways of advertising online, because once the site is built and you have plenty of back links to it, then all you have to do is add content on a regular basis keeping it fresh. Another reason is because aside of the hosting costs, you have a free source of good traffic that you can send to your sales page. And in return, you’ll get targeted traffic that is interested in the product that you are selling for very little cost to you.

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Anita DeFrank, owner of http://www.MommysHelperOnline.com is a busy work at home mom. MommysHelperOnline.com is the leading resource available online built to assist you with your home business. Whether you're brand new to the work at home game or you're an old pro, be sure to stop by today.

Targeting Your Online Advertising

2007-04-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

Online Advertising Secrets Exposed - Part 2

When targeting your online advertising, keep in mind that there are hundreds of millions of web users and at least some of them are probably looking for a product just like yours. This gives you a huge potential for profit if your product is good, your advertising is seen by them and if it lets them know how good your product is and why it would be a good thing for them to buy.

But if you are not targeted enough in your audience, then it is quite likely that you will either waste a lot of money, a lot of effort, or both. Many people, when they start advertising online, try to keep their advertising as wide as possible, placing ads just about anywhere. The reason behind this is usually that they think that the more people that see the advertising, the more they will sell. After all a product that is seen by millions of people will sell better than a product that is seen by thousands, right?

Although this sounds reasonable and in fact may be partly correct, it does not work in the context of getting a return on your effort and money. If you are advertising an exercise machine that is usually bought by women hoping to tone their thighs, there is no point in advertising it just as an exercise machine. If you do this you will be spending your advertising budget on advertising it to runners, body builders, people recovering from a broken leg, soldiers, athletes and who knows how many others. Unfortunately, many of these people will probably never buy it but you will still be paying for the advertising. However, if you sell directly to middle class women in their twenties, then you are much more likely to get a better return on your investment.

All of this is especially important if you are using pay per click advertising. Then you will want to make sure that the only people clicking on your ads are those more likely to buy. That way you get a much better return on your investment and your advertising will be much more successful. So ultimately, a lot less people may see the advertising, but it will be seen by those that are actually interested in buying it rather than those that will probably not.

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Anita DeFrank, owner of http://www.mommyshelperonline.com/ is a busy work at home mom. MommysHelperOnline.com is the leading resource available online built to assist you with your home business. Whether you're brand new to the work at home game or you're an old pro, be sure to stop by today.
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Online Advertising Secrets Exposed

2007-04-08T12:12:00.000-07:00

An overview of online advertising ...

Online advertising can be a very cost-effective solution to promote your business or product. There are many different types and although many can give you good exposure for your money, some can lose you money very quickly if you do not know how to do it properly. Online advertising is not the same as offline advertising. It is in many ways a much more direct medium than TV or magazines.

If someone is looking at a web page that you are advertising on, then it is because they have chosen to go to that page. Of course it could be that they are just surfing around, but people these days tend to be more web savvy and targeted in what they are looking for and in the sites that they look at. Most people now use more targeted searches and so if you target your advertising well enough so that it appears in places that are highly relevant to your site, then it is quite likely that you will get a good result.

There are many different types of online advertising such as, pixel advertising, ezines, banner ads, article marketing, forum marketing, text links, pop ups, ecourses, back end product sales, content sites, pay per click, joint ventures, viral marketing, and thats to name just a few. You have to decide which is the best for your product and/or service. If you're not experienced, one of the easiest ways is to find out what methods the bigger sellers in your market are using. If they're successful in the same market as you, then it is a good bet that this type of advertising works well with that market. But that only means that it is a good place to start, after you have had some success, you will have a better idea of what the market wants and what other ways you could advertise to them.

Online advertising is really like any other type of advertising in that you have to know your market and what they want. You also need to know the right way to reach them. The best way is if you are a part of this market and are interested in what you are selling, so that you will know what they want. But if you are not, then it is a good idea to do some research. Visit sites that are on the same subject (especially forums) to find out what they are interested in. That way you will know what to sell them and how to sell it.

Online advertising can help give you exposure to your business if it's done properly. It can be very lucrative or you can loose some money. Do your research, advertise properly and you'll be on the lucrative side with no problem at all.

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Anita DeFrank, owner of MommysHelperOnline.com is a busy work at home mom. MommysHelperOnline.com is the leading resource available online built to assist you with your home business. Whether you're brand new to the work at home game or you're an old pro, be sure to stop by today.
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Stop Being Lazy and Run Your Business

2007-04-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

by Kara Kelso and Anita DeFrank
http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com

This may be harsh words, but they need be said. Over the past few months we've noticed an epidemic of laziness. It needs to be stopped!

Let us explain a little more.

Quite often we see a post on a group or message board for someone looking for free advertising. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, we need all the exposure we can get on our sites. Not paying anything for it is even better. These posts are always followed by a slue of "me too". Again, this is understandable.

Now here's where the laziness kicks in.

In the past few weeks we've made some posts in search of link exchanges, articles, submissions, and partner exchanges. In other words, free advertising in exchange for several sites. The response? Slim to none.

What happen to all those who wanted free advertising? Did the word "in exchange" scare them away? If it did, then that's a shame. They all had the perfect opportunity to promote their business, but passed it up because in required them to do something. Something other than handing over their link of course.

Even worse, you tend to see the same people asking same questions on many boards. Questions such as "how do I promote my business?" or "I need to advertise, where do I start?". The answers are written all over the place, yet they aren't being read. Either that or it's being ignored because "it looks too hard to do".

Everyone seems to want that magical way to drive hundreds of visitors and sales to their site, without spending the time or money. Let's put this to rest once and for all - there IS no easy way to build your business. It takes time and/or money to build a solid buisness. What's more, no one is going to do it for you.

So while it may sound harsh, get to work! Put those suggestions and ideas for promotion to work. Get more involved with projects others are asking help for. Don't spend all day surfing boards looking for the easy way to succeed. The only place you are going to find success is within yourself!

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com

Is Lack of Focus Holding You Back?

2007-04-02T23:59:00.000-07:00

There are no shortage of marketing ideas out there. Online and offline, there's literally thousands of ways to promote your business. Although if your focus isn't on any of them, how will you succeed?

We admit it - we're guilty of having focus issues. When a new idea or business comes along, it's hard not to get excited. You drop what you are doing and get right to work on it. Unfortunately that excitement fades within a few weeks, and you are back to square one. Before you know it, there's tons of unfinished projects and half-way promoted businesses.

Lack of focus is holding you back.

Here are some tips to help you stay focused:

- Set Goals
Give yourself goals or specific things you want to accomplish before you stop on any given project.

- Set Hours
If time is an issues, set specific work hours. Don't go anywhere between those certain hours. Even if it's just 3 hours a day, it's something.

- One Project/Business
Instead of splitting your focus among many businesses, keep your focus on just one or two businesses or projects. Do whatever time allows you, not just what sounds interesting at the time.

- Wait a Week
If you spot a new business that sounds interesting, don't jump on it. Focus on your original business for awhile. If it still sounds exciting a week or two later, then it might be something worth giving a second look.

There are other ways to keep focus, but these are just a few.

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com

Free Start Up vs. Kit Requirement

2007-03-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

Some people won't join a company unless it's free to join. To be very blunt, you're better off without them on your team. These people are what some might call freebie seekers. Not that there is necessarily anything wrong with this. We all love a freebie, right? However, this really isn't something you need on your team. Why you ask?

When someone isn't required to invest at least a little bit of money, then they're also not required to put any thought into it either. I mean after all it's free, what's the loss? Since there's no need to invest any money, there isn't any. So they jump in head first without learning anything more than the "free sign up" only to find out later that the company isn't a fit after all. And think about this ... How many free companies have you joined simply for the discount? When you join a company for the discount, you really don't have any interest in marketing the business at all, do you? Now keep in mind, this isn't always true. Not by any means.

It's been my experience that when people are required to put a little money into it, they're more likely to actually think about it before they join. They will likely read all the fine print of becoming a consultant. Hopefully they'll actually make a purchase to test the ordering process, the shipping costs and time, the quality of the product and most importantly do a little research to see the marketability in their area. In other words, are they going to be able to sell this product in their area? How many other people are selling the same product or something similar?

Another point to keep in mind is that there is now an investment. They at least want to make that money back, right? There's more than likely a spouse or other family member who is going to expect them to at least give it a good try because there is now an investment.

Most companies offer start up kits that are perfect to give your business a jumpstart including some of their best sellers, samples, brochures, catalogs etc etc. Of course what each company offers is different but for the most part, this is generally what is included. Some companies have expensive start ups. However, most companies offer these products as greatly reduced prices making it very affordable to start your own business.

With that said, it brings me to my next thought. If your prospects can't afford an inexpensive start up kit, they may want to consider getting a j.o.b first and start their new business on the side. It takes time and money before your business will start making business. Against the popular belief, your business cannot survive on free advertising/promotion methods alone. You're going to have to invest some kind of money at some point. At the very least, you need business cards and catalogs. That list itself, can be longer however, you can at least get a small start there.

So to wrap up a long story, having a business that requires recruits to pay to start is not a bad thing. Happy recruiting!

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com

How to Train Your Team

2007-03-07T10:49:00.000-08:00

How to Train Your Team

Your downline is one of your most important parts of direct sales.
Your sales come first of course, but having a well trained team
selling for you can account for half your income.

The following are three simple ways to train your team, while
building your own income at the same time.

1. Hold Meetings
Use meetings not just to direct your team, but let it be open for
ideas as well. Holding monthly meetings to talk about the month is a
great way to help everyone as a whole. Talk about who sold what and
where, and any special tips anyone might like to share. It's a great
time to answer questions as well!

2. Teach by Example
If you aren't selling products yourself, this needs to be at the top
of your list. Just as children pick up things from their parents,
your team is doing the same.

3. Newsletters
Publish a weekly or monthly newsletter. Include expert articles
designed to help motivate and train your team. You can also include
a summary of your meeting as well, for those that didn't make it.

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank specialize in helping direct sales
consultants succeed with their business. Need help building your
team? You can find expert articles to train your team at
http://www.directsaleshelpers.com/team-articles.html

Search Engine Optimization Exposed

2007-03-04T20:02:00.000-08:00

How do they Find You?

Search engine optimization is utilizing techniques and methods in order to make your website rank as high as possible on search engine result pages. The higher the ranking, the higher the probability of "getting the click". So, it stands to reason that higher rankings equals more clicks which equals more traffic which eventually equals more business.

There are many aspects you can change on your website or add as well to make your website a little more search engine friendly. A few little examples would be adding titles, meta tags and alt tags. Done in moderation and properly, link exchanging is also a good technique to acquire backlinks. The amount of backlinks you have is another one of the components search engines use to rank sites.

Keep in mind though, a large portion of SEO revolves around properly using keyword phrases about your niche or website theme within your pages. Do not (and I repeat ... DO NOT) mutilate your webpages with keyword phrases. Yes, you want to include your keyword phrases throughout your page for search engines but keep in mind, they are not your customers. You need to find a nice balance between keeping both the search engines and your readers happy. So in other words, if it cannot be read smoothly and make sense ... change it. Would you place an order on a website that looks like it was written by a child?

Don't be afraid to do a little research and reading on how to make your website a little more search engine friendly. There are plenty of articles, ebooks, reports and other information sources of the like available. It might cost you a little money and it'll certainly take some time, but the benefits will come back tenfold over and over again.

Search engine optimization does require a little bit of work but it's really not much more than using a little bit of common sense. Start optimizing your site today so you too can reap the benefits of more traffic. Besides, we're all in business to make money, right?

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Anita DeFrank is the author of Kick Start Your Online Business. The online world is full of possibility. It gives you the power to meet people from all over the world that you could never dream of meeting and better yet, Do Business with these people. Stop wasting time sifting through all the advice that may or may not be useful and learn from her mistakes. Learn more about her book at http://www.mommyshelperonline.com/kickstart.html
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Content is King - Even In Direct Sales

2007-02-25T23:20:00.000-08:00

You've heard it said a hundred times before - content is king. But did you know this applies to those in direct sales too?

When your potential customer lands on your rep site, are they getting all the information they need to buy? Or are they just seeing short descriptions and price information? We've said it before and we'll say it again - all direct sales reps need their own website.

Direct sales companies are only concerned with selling one way - through reps. They aren't concerned about search engine optimization, content, link exchanges, or any other methods of selling online. They pay you because it's YOUR job to drive the traffic to the site and make the contacts.

The only way to sell online (other than starting your own direct sales company), is to offer content. Lots and lots of content. This is what it all comes down to.

Here's just a few things you can use more content for:

- Search Engine Optimization
Search engines crave content. The more words on the page, the higher the rankings for certain terms will be. If this is an area you are concerned with (and you should be!), you absolutely need content.

- Articles
Write your own articles and submit them - you'll be amazed at how much they increase your traffic.

- Product Reviews & Descriptions
Just imagine how many more sales you'll make if you give your buyers more information. Give them details on how you used the product, why you like it, how it worked for you, and what it could do for them. Or better yet, details on how other customers used the product, why they liked it and how it worked for them. They are more likely to buy if they are given more facts and opinions about the product.

Learning to write online is an important skill, but not a hard one to learn. It simply takes practice....which to get practice, you need to write!

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com
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Why You Need to Use Search Engine Optimization

2007-02-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

Selling online is a cut throat business. You have to arm yourself with the proper tools and know-how to make your website a cut above the rest. Everyday more and more people are clambering to optimize their websites and if you let down your guard, you just may get trampled on and be left in the abyss filled with so many other failed websites.

Search Engine Optimization, also known as is SEO, is widely used by many website owners. For quite a few years in the past and many, many years to come, search engines are the most widely used tool internet users use to find the websites they need to go to for a product, service and/or information they're looking for.

Most search engine users only use the top ten search results on the first page. Very seldom do they move onto the next pages. Therefore making it on the first page is a goal for most website owners. Ideally however, being listed in the top three should be the ultimate goal. The higher the rankings, the higher the ratio of the probability of "getting the click". So, it stands to reason that higher rankings equals more clicks which equals more traffic which equals more business.

Now it must also be mentioned that once you grab a hold of that top spot, it's important to keep a hold of it. As I mentioned, each day is a new day for all website owners to make themselves rank higher using SEO. It is extremely important to make your site better everyday.

So, the answer to why you have to use search engine optimization is an easy one. You need SEO to rank high in the search engines so you can make your website an income generating website. With you SEO you can get the benefit fo generating a high traffic volume. As mentioned, more traffic equals more business.

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Anita DeFrank is the author of Kick Start Your Online Business. The online world is full of possibility. It gives you the power to meet people from all over the world that you could never dream of meeting and better yet, Do Business with these people. Stop wasting time sifting through all the advice that may or may not be useful and learn from her mistakes. Learn more about her book at http://www.mommyshelperonline.com/kickstart.html

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Is Adsense for you?

2007-02-02T05:39:00.000-08:00

It sounds so easy to get paid by simply running a few ads. But could
you be destroying your reputation and missing hundreds of sales just
for a few pennies?

If you own a website (which you should, even if your company
provides it!), AdSense can be a great source of revenue. You put up a few ads, and then you start seeing the clicks coming in. First a few pennies, then a few dimes ... before you know it, you are seeing several dollars a day. Awesome!

However, if you are trying to sell a product, you could be losing
out on HUNDREDS of dollars. What's worse, you could be destroying your reputation in the process.

When a potential customer hits your site, they have a specific idea
of what they want in mind. You only have a few seconds to sell them
your spectacular product. What happens when the first thing they see is an ad for a similar product?

Those advertising on Google are smart cookies. They know how to
write some killer headlines that really pull in results. Now think - even if your product is exactly what they want, if the other ad SOUNDS better, how fast do you think your visitor is going to go running off? You just got maybe 10 cents when you could have made several dollars. How many times a day could that be happening?

What's worse - what if someone in your company is advertising, and
you just handed the sale to another rep? Direct sales is competitive
enough, you don't need to be giving away sales!

Get out of the "side income" reasoning right now. It's absolutely
NOT worth the lost "main income".

If you are looking for another way to pull in a "side income",
consider affiliate programs. Not only will you get paid better, but you have full control over what you offer. It doesn't have to be competition, but rather something that compliments your main products.

Just remember - AdSense doesn't belong on websites selling products!

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com

5 Super Tips to Building a Successful Team

2007-01-25T12:40:00.000-08:00

While you always want to put your customers first, don't forget about your silent income - your team members!

A good team member usually won't take up too much of your time. Aside from a few question here and there, the hardest working downline members are busy working their business and training themselves.

However, it's important to remember this - even if they don't ask for your help, they may need it. Make sure you are paying attention to all of your team, not just the ones contacting you.

Here are a few things you can do to help keep motivation up, and let your downline know you are behind them 100%:

1. Team newsletters
Do you have information or tips to give? Organize them in a simple newsletter. This can be monthly, weekly, or random. Just be sure you have a list they join when they sign up under you. Follow all spam laws on this one!

2. Team incentives
Hold a montly contest for the most sales, or something similar. This helps boost your own income, while getting your team motivated at the same time. If your company holds a contest, sweeten the deal and offer something extra if someone from your team wins.

3. Give a personal touch
Don't forget about birthdays, holidays, and other special days. Keep good track of these important dates and include your downline members on your "card-giving" lists. The extra note will let them know they are important to you!

4. Team Blog
A great way to keep in contact with everyone. There is many different ways you could set this up to fit your needs. You can give all team members full access to make posts or you could have it set up so they can only leave comments, ask questions etc. You can keep your blog private so only yourself and your team members have access or you can keep this open to the public so everyone can read it.

5. Team Training
Part of your responsibilities as a direct selling leader is to train your team members on the specifics of building their direct selling business. One way you can do this is to hold face-to-face team meetings with local team members. Another way thanks to the wonderful world wide web, you can now hold meetings with team members from all over the world. No matter how you choose to do it, training is a necessary part of your role as a team leader.

There are many other ways to help motivate and train your team, Just remember, they are working for you as hard as they are working for themselves!

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive to help women in direct sales. Find out how you can earn some extra cash while training your team at
http://www.directsaleshelpers.com/affiliate.html

Three Ways to Automate Your Business Fast

2007-01-25T12:34:00.000-08:00

The use of autoresponders is a great way to automate your business fast, freeing up precious time you could be using to do other important aspects in your direct sales business. Set up properly, they’ll make your business more automated without losing that personal touch. The following are just a few ideas for you.

Business Opportunity Information
You could set up your autoresponder to send out information on your business opportunity. For example, you would take a list of frequently asked questions about your business and put them into your autoresponder. Put a form on your website for potential recruits to request more information and then it’s all done automatically for you. This also saves you from having to answer the same questions over and over again. Don’t forget to set up a follow up message to ask if they had any more questions or needed more information!

Catalog Requests
Set up an autoresponder for potential customers to request catalogs. An example on how to do this would be like this: Set up a form on your website for customers to enter their mailing and email address. Set up your autoresponder to send them a message letting them know that you’ve received their request and you’ll be sending out the catalog. Then have it set to send out another message in about a week – just to confirm that they’ve received your catalog and making sure they didn’t have any questions. Next you might want to set it to send out another message in 3 – 4 days maybe offering a special discount “just for them”. Then for your final message, you could let them know about a newsletter you offer with instructions on how to join.

New Recruit Training
Autoresponders are a great way to train your new team members! Here you could take a list of important information about the company, product etc., and put them into the autoresponder to be automatically delivered over time. Another idea is to set it up to send out business tips about online parties, home parties, or just running their business in general. With this, the possibilities are endless.

The above is just a touch of what you can do because, as mentioned, there are so many things you can do with an autoresponder. With a little bit of creativity, you’re sure to come up with something that will help your business stand above the rest and with a little research you’re sure to find a program that will work for you.

For a jumpstart on your research, feel free to take a look at the autoresponder we recommend at: http://www.mommyshelperonline.com/autoresponder.html

Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com