Three steps to a great “How To” article.

Ask any internet marketer what type of article works best and many will recommend the "How To" article. You know, the:

• How to train your dog to stop jumping
• How to set the perfect table
• How to write a great article

and so on.

"How To" articles work very well because they offer an easily digestible benefit to the reader. However writing an easily digestible "how to" article can be difficult – they can get away from you faster than a wet cat.

Here’s an excellent three step process to make sure everything makes sense from beginning to end.

Step One: Tell them what you’re going to tell them

Step Two: Tell them

Step Three: Tell them what you told them – and why.

Let me explain!

Introduce your "how to" article with a brief paragraph which explains your topic, its importance or how the information benefits them, and what points you’re going to cover.

Use the body of the article to cover those points.

Wrap up the article summarizing the points you’ve made and remind your reader how they can apply what they’ve just learned to benefit their lives.

That’s it. A self contained recipe for a clear and concise "How to" article.

Happy writing!

eBay – What Are You Thinking??

It looks more and more like eBay is shooting themselves in the foot… and although I am a firm believer in the idea that if you think creatively, you can find a way around just about anything – it seems like eBay keeps making it tougher and tougher.

The most recent changes announced to eBay sellers is to eliminate the ability to link to any outside website/page from the About Me page and eBay Blog. They have always had this policy in place for actual listings… and many have gotten around it by including a link in their listings that point to their eBay About Me page. Then, on their About Me page, they would promote their non-eBay website by offering an opt-in of sorts to a newsletter or service.

No More… according to eBay.

So, how can you take advantage of the traffic from eBay to grow your non-eBay business?
Here are a couple of ideas…

First of all, you can make your eBay ID your website address or something similar – be sure to follow eBay’s rules when choosing an ID. A friend of mine uses: auction-moms-newsletter as her ID. If you google Auction Moms Newsletter, her site for her other business will come up.

Another MUST DO… is to follow up with your current customers – It is even more critical to have a follow up system to collect names and email addresses of your eBay customers. Be sure to not have all your eggs in one basket – get your customer list off of eBay by offering them discounts, coupons, or a free report on something they might be interested in (they are all over the internet if you google ‘free report’ and the topic you are considering)… whatever you need to do- do it. I highly recommend you find a strategy that works for you to get the names and emails of your customers.

It’s hard to say what eBay will do next – but, by keeping a list of customers and actively communicating with them will ensure that if you ever choose to go somewhere other than eBay… they will go with you.

(You can view eBay’s announcement here)

Stay tuned… there are a few things that are actually GOOD about this announcement that I’ll be covering net week…

Jenni

So You Have Backups But Do You Have These Backups?

We’ve talked about backups before. Even if we didn’t, you probably heard it from others. Backup your website, backup your blog, backup your computer. Backup, backup, backup.

You’ve got it all down. You know the importance. You’re all set. Are you? Check this short list to see if you have backups of them. Better add them to your to-backup list if you don’t.

• Your mailing lists
• Your autoresponder
• Your shopping cart sales
• Your customer contact information
• Your affiliate information

Heading For Summer, Sun And Fun In Your Service Business

Summer time is a brighter time not only because of the sunshine, but also because of the new outlooks we have after a long cold winter.   Smiles seem to be much more readily on our faces, and our energy level and vitamin D absorption into our bodies seems to be at our maximum level after a long hard winter, and a tight recession.

I am optimistic that this summer should be a time when we can create and restructure new ideas for our businesses.  Why not offer special coupon discounts, and fun give away door prizes and also incentives for people to want to use our services.  The public always like a fresh new concept and definitely an immediate savings after a long stretch of tightening their belts. 

I recommend that you invite clients into your business and give them a fun experience in addition to a service.  I would like to challenge you on your creative ideas on how you can make your service industry business a little more savvy, and  a lot more exciting.  Your ideas will be greatly appreciated not only by your clients but also by others who are in business and are at a standstill.  I also encourage you to write in and share your ideas with other women who are a part of our internet based moms family.

Also summer time is a time when we should take time out to day dream and visualize about where we want our businesses to go.  Visualization is just as critical as any other aspects of our businesses.  If we don’t visually see the plan in our minds, it is very difficult to proceed ahead with fresh and exciting concepts. 

I recommend that you take time out of each day and incorportate you visualization with some type of physical activity.  For example, try walking for about 30 minutes in a beautiful area that will spur on creative thinking.  If you are not able to take 30 minutes out of each day, I absolutely recommend that you take at least 30 minutes three times a week.  This is critical to the growth and planning and sucess of your business,  not to mention, how healthy it is for your body and soul.  And without your body and soul in a healthy postion, it is very difficult to maintain a positive focus on the  growth  and  maintenance of your entreprenuerial venture.

I am looking forward to an incredible summer of family, fun and fulfillment in restructure the fun aspects of your business.  And remember, this is an assignment that should begin at home with your family and friends and others who can be involved with the process of adding a little splash to your already sucessful business.

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