10 Ways To Create A Popular Online Community

An online community could be a chat room, e-mail discussion list, discussion forum or other technologies that allow groups of people to communicate at your web site. When you have a popular online community it will increase your traffic and sales. Below are ten ways to attract people to participate in your online community.

1. Tell your visitors that you post a new, free offer every day, week or month in your online community. The free offers should be attractive to your target audience.

2. Regularly schedule experts or famous guests to participate in your online community. You could
design it to be a virtual class or a question/answer session.

3. Post testimonials on your web site from people that have participated in your online community.
The testimonials could be about what people have learned or liked while participating in it.

4. Don't allow blatant ads in your online communities. If people decide to visit your online community and see a ton of ads they most likely won't be back.

5. Post all the benefits of participating in your online community on your web site. You could write it like you're writing an ad for a product you're selling.

6. Submit your chat room, e-mail discussion list or discussion board to online community directories. You can find them by typing " the community type" with the word "directory" in any search engine.

7. Create an e-zine just for people who participate in your online community. Allow them to subscribe for free. When they receive each issue, it will remind them to come back and participate in your community.

8. You (the owner of the online community) should participate regularly. Post information that will benefit the other people. This will show them you care about your online community members.

9. Have plenty of people to monitor your online community. They could remove postings that turn
away people like profanity, spam and other off-subject postings.

10. Your online community should contain user friendly features, like a search option for archived
discussions, easy posting or chatting options, email updates or digests, etc.

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Quote of the Day:

"If I can line up the people who, back through the ages, have gone at life in ways I greatly admire, then I can feel their strength supporting me, all their standards and values pointing the way in which I am to go." -- Bonaro W. Overstreet  

10 Ways To Get New Product Ideas

Today's feature article is: 10 Ways To Get New Product Ideas

1. Solve an existing problem for people. There are thousands of problems in the world. Create a product that can provide a solution to one of those problems.

2. Find out what's the current hot trend. You can find out what the new trends are by watching TV, reading magazines and surfing the net. Just create a product that's related to the current hot trend.

3. Improve a product that is already on the market. You see products at home, in ads, at stores etc. Just take a product that's already out there and improve it.

4. Create a new niche for a current product. You can set yourself apart from your competition by creating a niche. Your product could be faster, bigger, smaller, or quicker than you competitor's product.

5. Add on to an existing product. You could package your current product with other related products. For example, you could package a football with a team jersey and football cards.

6. Reincarnate an older product. Maybe you have a book that's out of print and is no longer being sold. You could change the title, design a new front cover, and bring some of the old content up to date.

7. Ask your current customers. You could contact some of your existing customers by phone or e-mail and ask them what kind of new products they would like to see on the market.

8. Combine two or more products together to create a new one. For example, you could take a brief case and add a thermos compartment inside to keep a drink hot or cold.

9. Survey the people who visit your web site. You could post a survey or questionnaire on your web site. Ask visitors what kind of products they would like to see on the market.

10. You could create a new market for your existing product. For example, if you're selling plastic bottles to a pop company, you could turn around and sell those bottles to a fruit drink company.

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Quote of the Day:

"...if we are willing to abandon our usual coercive tactics and approach our problems sideways and kitty-corner we stand a good chance of finding our way through some interesting gates." -- Eloise Ristad

10 Ways To Get Your Ads Or Messages Noticed

Today's feature article is: 10 Ways To Get Your Ads Or Messages Noticed

Do you post to message boards, e-mail discussion lists, classified ads sites, FFA sites or newsgroups? People will usually read the subject line before they read your ad or message, so it's important they get noticed. Below are ten simple, but powerful tips to get your ads or messages noticed.

1. Use extra white space creatively in your subject line. You can add extra blank spaces between your words or letters.

2. Combine capital letters with lower case letters. Use all capital letters in every other word or use a
capital letter between every other lower case letter.

3. Add text symbols in your subject line. You could use them between words and letters. Start and end your subject with a text symbol. ( *, $, >,{,] )

4. Begin your subject line with the word "STOP!". People have been trained their whole life to stop
what they are doing when they see that word.

5. Ask people a question in your subject line. We all went to school and were repetitively branded to answer questions.

6. Use the word "FREE" in your subject line. Your offer should be attractive to your target audience. It could be free information, software, trials, etc.

7. Begin your subject line with an "online smile :)". People use smiles offline to gain people's attention and to win their trust, why not use them online too.

8. Don't use unbelievable claims in your subject line. People have or know some who has been ripped off and trained themselves to ignore those claims.

9. Don't use all capital letters in your subject line. It is hard to read, looks unprofessional, and on the internet it's considered a symbol for shouting.

10. Test different subject lines to see which ones draws the most traffic to your web site. Also, read the FAQ before posting a message or ad anywhere.

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Quote of the Day:

"The frontiers are not east or west, north or south, but wherever a man fronts a fact." -- Henry David Thoreau

10 Ways To Increase Sales By Promoting Yourself

Today's feature article is: 10 Ways To Increase Sales By Promoting Yourself

People will feel more comfortable purchasing your products if you give them a little information about yourself or business. The information could be your profile, employee profiles, overall business history, education credentials, awards you've won, etc. Below are 10 ways you can use to promote yourself.

1. Teach a free chat room class on a subject related to your business. You could install a chat room on your web site or use a free one from another web site. Before the class starts tell them a little about yourself.

2. Publish a free e-zine. Use some of the extra space in your e-zine to write about yourself or business. This could be called "A Note From the Editor".

3. Publish a section on your web site called "About Us". With your information you could also include pictures. This shows people your not hiding behind your business.

4. Write an article on your area of expertise. Include a resource box at the end of the article. You can add information about yourself in the resource box. E-mail the article to web sites or e-zines that accept article submissions.

5. Create and giveaway a free ebook. In the ebook include a section called "About The Author". Also, include an advertisement for your business.

6. Participate in online communities like newsgroups, discussion boards, e-mail discussion lists and chat rooms. You will meet many people and in return they will get to know you.

7. Donate your time, products, or services to charities. You can list the charities you've contributed to on your web site. This will show visitors that you and your business care about others.

8. Promote yourself offline; teach a free class offline, speak at business seminars, join a business club or association. Assemble fundraisers for charity. These are just few ideas to promote yourself offline.

9. Offer free consulting to your visitors. You could do it via e-mail or phone. They will get to know you and feel more comfortable buying your products.

10. Publish information about yourself and business history in your ad copy. While people are reading it they begin to trust you and your business. Don't over do it though, you want to keep them interested in your product.

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Quote of the Day:

"For children to take morality seriously they must be in the presence of adults who take morality seriously. And with their own eyes they must see adults take morality seriously." -- William J. Bennett