*Take 15 minutes a day to wade through your desk
Yes, just 15 minutes a day can make a big difference. Throw away unimportant papers; put away manuals or books you are not using, file bills and other important documents. Binders and cabinets are an organizers best friend.  Put important loose papers in a binder for safe keeping and put notebooks and books in cabinets so they are out of the way and off your desk.

*Keep a disciplined email system
An entrepreneur’s email can get up to a hundred emails a day or more! Who has time for that?  Start bulking down by unsubscribing all that “junk” that you just thought you would read but has been sitting in your inbox for 2 months.  Color code clients and make separate folders to put “to do’s” in.  Try out an email management program like Outlook or Windows Mail to keep your emails in check. Using a Virtual Assistant to manage your daily in box is easy and can save you hours!

*Return calls in batches.  Leave specific messages and the time you called if the person you’re trying to reach isn’t available.

*Have a master to-do list for each day at your desk.  As simple and as obvious as it sounds, just by doing this you will be able to focus on exactly what the priorites are for the day. It also helps to give a sense of accomplishment, nothing feels better than crossing off one of those tasks!

So in the morning before you do anything else, spend 15 minutes today and get to work.  I also recommend also a great book called Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity by David Allen that is a great resource for your office.  Now get started!

Sell a Painting of Your Services

Have you ever watched a really great commercial that makes you want to run out and buy that product right away?  Or have your child run up to you after seeing a toy commercial and say “I need that now!”?  Of course we all have that is the power of advertising.  So why not use those same concepts when promoting your product.

Paint a Picture

Just like the title states, paint a picture of your service for your clients.  Paint a physical picture using descriptive words.  Just because I can’t “see” your service in front of me I can “imagine” what it will look like when I am using it. 

Believing Is Achieving

Before you try a product or service you want to “see” that it works.  Seeing testimonials, reading stories about someone using it, you the owner talking about how great it is these are all great ways to let people know that you and your customers or clients believe in your product.

Make Customers & Clients Have a Graphic Memory

Just because you get the initial sell don’t stop your customers and clients from coming back.  Keep drawing them back with the same techniques when updating them about new products or services.

Using these simple techniques can help you get and keep clients coming back to use your product or services time and time again.

Have a Great Format
Making your newsletter look good is easy today with the different programs that are out there to help you build and send out your newsletter.  With programs such as iContact, Aweber, 1 Shopping Cart and Constant Contact it couldn’t be easier.

Create Readable Content

We’ve all done it, you sign up for a newsletter and then inevitably you read it once and then either unsubscribe from the newsletter or you just delete as soon as you receive it.  To make sure that you keep readers and grow your list make sure your write about what your target audience is interested in, make sure it’s fun and informational and make it personable so that readers can connect with you and your brand.

Leave Your Calling Card

At the bottom of each article make sure that you offer readers a short biography, your website address and all contact information.  This way you can make sure that if they like your stuff they can contact you.

Let Readers Be Heard

Make sure you let your readers let you know what they think.  Making sure that your readers know that they are valued for their opinion is a great way to keep loyal followers.

Offer The Reader Something

Leave the reader with something, a coupon, a discount or a promotion. No matter how small the offer, you will be surprised how many readers will save your email and actually use it! You can also track how well certain coupons an promotions do and improve or change future newsletters.

If you aren’t doing a newsletter and would like too but too busy, you can always turn to a virtual assistant to set up, maintain and even write them for you.  So what are you waiting for?

• Blogging – Have you virtual assistant write up blogs to post on your site. A VA can not only write a post and post it to your blog but can publicize your posts in several ways.
• Article Submission – Do you have articles that you’ve written but haven’t had time to submit?  Have your virtual assistant do it.
• Twitter-Your virtual assistant can write up your tweets and schedule them for a week at a time so you don’t have to worry about it.
• Facebook – Have your VA send your friends and fans birthday greetings as well as posting upcoming events and specials.
• SlideShare – This is a fairly new application that brings PowerPoint and Social Media together. 
• YouTube – YouTube is a phenomenon that is also new to the business world.  Have your virtual assistant demo products, tape interviews, etc.
• Pod Casting – Consider yourself a radio host?  Why not, have your assistant set up the show, book guests, write content.

Whatever platform you choose one or all of them you don’t have to go it alone. Social Media is more than just a fad or a phase, it is a proven way to network and build your business and the best part is that it is free!

Shouldn’t that be the way every business is?  If yours isn’t running this way maybe it’s time to reevaluate your number one priority and that’s the customer.  Here are a couple tips to showing a customer your business cares:

• Associate unique experiences with each individual, not just a carbon copy of every interaction you have with every customer
• Get feedback from customer or clients after the sale, don’t just let them walk away to never hear from you again
• Get a lead database to keep track of customers and clients so that you can make notes about what clients and customers like that come to you
• Treat customers and client the way you would like to be treated, just like when you go into your favorite store.

It may sound like common sense but showing a client or customer right off the bat that you care and are interested in their needs can lead to them being a long standing customer.

Keep a Calendar
You are probably implementing this in your business but how about for your life outside of work?  Have 4 different people going in four different directions can be confusing so keep track of activities with a calendar.  Try using different color pens for different people so you can just take a quick glance to see what you’re looking for.

Make Lists
A calendar can keep track of your kids but who keeps track of the “to do’s”?   A list is a great way to keep way to make sure that everything gets done, purchased, completed, or dropped off.  You can use a small pocket sized notebook or your  PDA. Whatever you choose make sure it works for you. 

Keep Work Time-Work Time
When you work from home it is already a challenge to separate your business from your family because there is no “daily commute” and “working late” probably means you fire up your computer after dinner (don’t get me wrong these are great things) but when there are little ones lurking around all the time it’s probably seems more like Chucky Cheese than My Business, Inc.  Structure your day so that when you are at work you are working and when you’re at home you are at home, not both jumbled together.

Hopefully using these little tips will help your family and business run smoother and let you enjoy it to it’s fullest.

There are several different types of affiliate programs and Pay-Per-Click is just one of them.  Google AdSense is a hugely popular program.  It is free to start and easy to use.  Along with Google’s tools and support starting your own AdSense campaign is super easy.  Combining links from Commission Junction saves time by providing affiliate advertisers for you instead of you having to spend lots of time finding them yourself. 

Having the right tools can also help you along the way.  By using keyword tools like Google AdWords which is a free service or a pay for service like Word Tracker.   Search engine monitoring tools are also helpful at giving you a snapshot of all the different analytical that you’re marketing efforts are making.  Try a program like CleverStat which is easy to use and offers a free monitor for Google.  

Affiliate marketing can be a tricky to get into and may take several tries to get it right so don’t get discouraged.  Make sure you do a lot of research before jumping in and make sure you don’t give up too easily.

Visit their site page to change to your new URL http://www.facebook.com/username/.  You can either use one of the suggestions that Facebook gives you or even enter a desired name.  This is just like a website however so if what you want is already taken you are out of luck and have to choose another name. 

Whatever your reason for using Facebook now you get a chance to extend the reach of your profile even more but if you’re doing it for business you can either use your business name or use something to reflect your business personality. Come see us at our new URL  http://www.facebook.com/OffsiteBusinessSolutions

These are just some of the survey software options out there. Make sure you do your own search to find the right one for your company. Most sites have a features page or video demo that you can use to see available services and how easy the software is to use.

Survey Monkey. Their site is not only easy to use but it is easily customizable too. You can add your own logo and specify what type of responses can be given for each question. Once your survey has been sent out and replied to by candidates you can analyze the responses in several different ways. You can get updates in real time which allows you to view the results as soon as they are collected. At the end of the survey a download spreadsheet is available also with all the raw data from the survey. Pricing ranges from free for the basic package to a yearly pro service that is $200 a year. 

WorldApp Key Survey.  This survey offers both customer and employee surveys but they go way beyond that. You can choose from a customized survey that you build yourself or make one from their over 200 templates. The software can also send out email reminders to surveyors who have yet to complete the survey. Also, whatever your company size they have solutions for everyone from individual professionals to enterprises. This company offers a 30 day free trial which can give you enough time to see if you like the software before committing to it. You can also request a demo by one of their customer service agents who can help you with any questions you may have before signing up.

PollDaddy.  This is a free way to create surveys and polls for your website, blog and social. This survey feature is added directly to your site to give customer and clients a way to give feedback. This is a great way to get “voluntary” feedback because you aren’t targeting surveyors or giving them anything in return. If a customer likes or dislikes your service or you are thinking about adding a product or feature they can give their feedback if they want, not feeling pressured to do so. PollDaddy free service has limited features but they do offer two Pro accounts that you can pay for. PollDaddyPro and PollDaddy 2 which range from $200 to $899 a year. Check out their account comparison page to see the difference in features.

Not many people have can take time out of their busy day to answer questions, let alone do it for nothing. It is a good idea to, in the opening statement for your survey offer the surveyor something a free gift, a coupon for a percent off services or products. Anything to make them feel like you are making it worth their while. The average survey is between 10- 20 questions so try to stick with that. Any more than that and the surveyor may not likely feel impelled to spend time taking it and if it’s too short you may not find all the information you’re looking for.

Finding out your key demographic information is easier than ever using survey software. Most programs are easy to use and can add great benefit to your business and how it promotes its services it customer or sells its products in the future.

Most webinar programs today offer more than you think. Engage your viewer’s with live streaming video and polls and surveys that allow your participants to share their views and opinions or record your event to send to participants for reference. Another advantage of a webinar is that you don’t have to find somewhere to put all these people. Have you had trouble in the past trying to find a venue for your conference or meeting? Worry no more. With a webinar you no longer have to spend time and resources searching for a place to accommodate a couple or even hundreds of people. Here are a couple examples of the top webinar programs out there to get you started:

Gotowebinar.com – Go To Webinar is one of the top rated programs out there. Some of the features are desktop viewing, ability to change presenters, integrated audio using VoIP and collaborating with other members in real time. Pricing is provided in two ways 1) you can pay monthly for $99.00 a month with a total annual cost of $1,188 or 2) you can purchase a whole year up front for $948.00 and save 20% over paying monthly the total. A 30-Day Free Trial is available as well.

Instant Presenter – The thing with Instant Presenter is that it is not just a webinar service. There are several features that you can use for smaller conferencing needs like e-classes and sales presentations. Their webinar services are also full of great feature: no software to install, live audio and video personalized meeting URL. With Instant Presenter you can get a two-week free trial and there are two ways to pay which is Pay per Use or Unlimited Monthly Use. For your next meeting consider a webinar before you hop that next flight to not only save you money but time as well.