The WC Mini Mag is by far one of the best things I get each month into my mail box, especially on those drizzly, rainy days here in Vancouver.

Kelly creates the mini mag each month and since the beginning we’ve seen a few changes, but that’s what I learn is best in business. Realize what is not working and make it better and Kelly shares her insight on making business better.

One thing I’m most happy about is the audio that comes with the mini mag each month, this is a very much appreciated new addition.

This month’s audio really hit home with me, it was exactly everything that I’m working on with my own online business, specifically Scrap Venture Reports.

Kelly speaks with Aurelia from Real Life Guidance about her ebooks she’s creating for parents of teenagers. (On a sidenote, I’m really looking forward to Aurelia’s book on teens and sex, I think even in this day and age parents can be tongue tied when it comes to talking about sex with your child.)

What you need to remember going into scrapbooking as a business is that you cannot give your labor away and expect to come away with anything; scrapbooking can be labor intensive and it is certainly time-intensive and if you are going to be doing it professionally, you need to find way to make sure that you are adequately compensated for your time.

When it comes to scrapbooking, you need to be aware that you cannot simply work for the cost of your materials. Your time is valuable as well, and you need to find people who are willing to pay for it.

Luckily, there are many people out there who love scrapbooks, but don’t have the time or the inclination to sit down and make them themselves. The trick is getting in contact with these people, and there are several ways to do it.

Press Release - One way to work on getting your name out there is to issue a press release. You may have thought press releases were only for big businesses, but there are plenty of local news venues who will be delighted to spotlight a local artist.

In a matter of moments of sending out an email I had my 5 Clear Winners.

So what did they do? Well…

I’m switching mailing list providers and said that the first 5 people would get a free copy of my new report called Partner Profits, from Scrap Venture Reports.

And of course everyone who signs up does get a free copy of my “12 Keys to Marketing Your Scrapbook Business.”

You can sign up here.

I will be posting more fun little contests on the site here, so watch for more details.

What? You thought that the search engines were simply
there to help people find the products, information or
services that they were looking for? You are wrong.

Search engines are a business just like everything else.
Some are even listed on the stock exchanges and their
stock is bought and sold. The object of search engines is
to make money by helping people find the products,
information and services they are looking for.

They SELL advertising to businesses that want to sell
these products, information and services to people who
are looking for them to buy.

The key word here is ’sell’. Now when a person types key
words into the search box of a search engine and hits
search, the search results that are displayed on the
first page are mostly paid or sponsored advertisements.

Look carefully next time you do a search. At the top of
the page and on the right side of the page you will see
what are apparently bought advertisements.

They say ’sponsored links’. The top of the page ads are
the ones that cost the most….the ones on the right
side cost slightly less.

The articles that are downloaded and reproduced by
website owners and by ezine publishers all share some
common traits.

Writing articles that are designed to attract website
owners and ezine publishers are written much the same way
that other articles are written but with a few very
significant differences.

Website owners and ezine publishers look for articles
that:

1.Have attention getting headlines that also have key
words in them. Website owners and ezine publishers are well
aware of the notoriously short attention span of the
average Internet surfer.

They know they have about 30 seconds to convince a surfer
to actually read an article. If the headline isn’t
attention getting and if it doesn’t have key words, the
surfer will…well….surf away.

2.Have an attention holding first line. This same
notoriously impatient surfer reads the headline and then
his eyes automatically go to the first line of the first
paragraph of an article.

If the surfer is attracted by the headline and his
attention can be held through the first sentence, there is
an excellent chance that he will read the remainder of
the article.

“Key words’ is the term used to describe the words or
phrases most often used by web surfers when searching
for information on specific topics.

The more often a key word or phrase is used the higher the
value of the word or phrase. ‘Children’s Books’, for
example is considered of more value than ‘Youth Books’
because it is used more frequently.

Using keywords and phrases effectively on a website
might be considered a mix of art and science. The HTML of
a website should use key words in the title tag and
each page of the website should contain sentences
using the key words or phrases.

The highest ranking key words should be used in the home
page title and as many times as possible but the title
needs to make sense.

Meta tags are important as well. Put all of the relevant
key words into your Meta tags. Meta tags should never
be longer than twenty-five words long.

They should contain key words and phrases repeated two or
three times. Don’t forget that they still need to make
sense.

Let’s face it. Search engines rule the Internet and have a
lot of control over how well or how poorly our Internet
businesses do.

Every single one of the millions of people who are
surfing the Internet as we speak are using the search
engines to find the ’stuff’ they want or need.

If they don’t find our business in their search
results, we don’t have a prayer of making them into
our customers. Search engine optimization (SEO) is key to
our very survival.

The key to search engine optimization is the use of
key words and phrases in the content on our websites. If
we use them wisely and to our best advantage we get listed
in the results when people use our key words in their
searches. If we use them poorly, we won’t be found.

Key words and phrases need to be in the title of our home
page….more than one time. They need to be included in
our Meta tags, as well.

The density key words in the first 250 words on the home
page needs to be between five and seven percent. If we use
less, we won’t be listed and if we use more, we will be
seen by the search engines as spamming.

Successful marketing of products and services on the
Internet can be done in a variety of ways just like it
can be done in a variety of ways out in the real brick
and mortar world.

Four of the many methods used in Internet marketing are:

1. Search Engine Marketing: This is done by paying search
engines (like Google) for each time your advertisement
is clicked on by a web surfer.

This is called Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing sometimes.
You are allowed to write your own advertisement for the
search engine to use when providing results of searches
made using your relevant key words.

2. Affiliate Marketing: An affiliate marketing program
is set up by the owner or producer of a product or
service whereby other marketers are paid to sell
that product or service for a percentage of the sale or a
flat fee for each sale.

This is one of the more popular forms of Internet
marketing. Many times savvy marketers can set up website
businesses without owning or producing any product of
service of their own and those who do own products are
services are happy to have others selling for them.

According to denow.com the definition of Internet
marketing is: “The use of the Internet to advertise and
sell merchandise or services.

This involves use of Web sites and e-mail to inform
customers about a product, solicit their questions, and
accept their orders directly through the electronic
medium.”

According to the dictionary, ‘Internet’ is defined as: “an
electronic communications network that connects
computer networks and organizational computer
facilities around the world” and ‘Marketing’ is defined as
’selling’.

So, if the two definitions are combined, you get
“Selling using an electronic communications network that
connects computer networks and organizational computer
facilities around the world.”

That about sums it up.

The term ‘Internet Marketing’ covers an array of different
methods of selling products and services that are
delivered electronically or by freight.

The list of things that can be sold on the Internet is
basically the same list as things that can be sold in
the brick and mortar world.

Selling things in the real world means that the customer
contacts the seller by going into his place of business or
by phone.

Viral marketing is not a new concept.  The fact that it’s
been taken to the web as a tool of Internet marketing
is, perhaps, the only reason why most people know it by
name.

Viral marketing is the well-known name for
pass-it-along marketing, better known in the form of
word-of-mouth marketing such as referrals.  So can this
form of marketing really work in a niche?  Absolutely.

Although there are some forms of marketing that are not so
well-suited for niche marketers, viral marketing is
not among them.

Viral marketing may be one of your most effective marketing
tools if you’re a niche marketer.  You may be
wondering now why I would say that.

Let’s examine it for a moment.

Niche marketing is usually most successful when you find
the least-served sub-market.  For instance, say you’re
interested in marketing art supplies, something you know
a good deal about.

Well, that’s a pretty broad market. You’ll want to look
at smaller, less-served groups within that market.
So you narrow it down to calligraphy supplies, a much
less-served market.

And, as is a well known fact, people with common interests
tend to like to network, share ideas, information and
connections.  This is where viral marketing can be very
effective in niche marketing.

When it comes to business being an innovator can make a
huge difference in how successful your business is.

Whether your business is a traditional brick and mortar
business or an Internet business being innovative can
increase your profit potential in a major way.
How is this so?

Let me explain.

While there are certain business rules that should be
followed, and certain trends that are worth following,
most of the “rules” are more general guidelines than they
are rules set in stone.

So how do you know when it’s okay to be innovative and
when you should stick to the more traditional rules of
business or what is really a rule and what’s not?

Let’s take a look at some of the rules of business and
some of the guidelines.

Rules:

- Customer satisfaction is essential to success - This
is absolutely true no matter what type of business you
have.

Unsatisfied customers will spread the word about your
business as fast, if not faster than satisfied
customers will.  Before you know it your business will be
suffering immensely.

Customer loyalty has always been vital to the success of
a business.  If you’re in business and don’t offer
enough, provide high quality products or services, or
maintain pricing, your customers may be tempted to
go elsewhere.

In traditional brick and mortar businesses this has
always been a concern.  However, on the web it’s far
easier for a dissatisfied customer to just click a
couple of times and find another business to spend
their money with.

When it comes to maintaining your customer’s loyalty on
the web the key to doing so is offering more of what your
customers want and backing it with stellar customer service.

While this may seem like a daunting task to undertake,
and it does require hard work, it’s not as difficult
as you may think.

So how do you offer your customers what
they want and how they want it?

The most essential factor in giving your customers just
what they want is first, knowing what they want.  This
requires research on your part.

If you’ve not yet started your business take the time
to check out the successful competition in your niche of
choice and see what they offer.