Your free-giveaway needs to be something that your target group finds valuable and has need of.

The product (ebook, CD, etc.) you are giving away for free needs to be something similar to your other products and services (if you have any yet) that you will be trying to sell to these people later on.

Everybody starts to get a bit panicky and anxious when they think about coming up with content for their free-giveaway.  But the truth is that if you take a look around your office, you’ll see you have lots of information that you can pull together or put into a different format that would make a great free-giveaway.

• bundle together articles you’ve written
• combine blog posts you’ve written
• provide a song clip or art sample of your work
• copy of audio of a speech you’ve given
• offer free chapters of a book you’re writing
• transcribe audio or video of a speech
• audio of a teleseminar you gave
• use existing handouts and PowerPoint slides
• transcribe a teleseminar you’ve given
• bundle tips and checklists together
• a video of a speech you’ve given

You can use the content from above to create all kinds of different free-giveaways:

• a checklist
• a quick-start guide that helps people get started in the area of expertise you specialize in
• lessons on how to do something
• offer a free consultation
• 3 months free to a membership group you have
• self-evaluation test or online assessment
• offer an introductory/quick-start session
• list of top ten tips & tricks
• steps to creating something
• free software
• links to free products
• free membership to a forum you run

Take some time today to jot down some ideas about what you know your prospects and clients need on information on and start writing….or better yet, just re-package/re-format something that you’ve already done!

One important decision small businesses need to make today is who to hire to design and develop a corporate website. You can either outsource it to a web page design company or use in-house website designers. For small businesses, I’d recommend outsourcing and here’s why:

Outsourcing Saves Money

When outsourcing web page design, you only pay for the time spent on the project or a flat-fee for the entire web design. This can result is significant savings since opting to remain in-house for your web programming produces a necessary ongoing financial commitment to the web designer(s). This commitment can be in the form of salary, equipment, bonus, training, benefits, and more.

The Competitive Drive of External Agencies Benefits your Website

The web design industry is extremely competitive by nature. Due to the need to remain competitive in order to survive in the industry, there is more pressure on external agencies to stay up-to-date with the latest technology, web designs, innovations, and developments. As a result, external agencies are often better equipped and better staffed to take advantage of modern technology to produce effective website designs.

On the reverse, most companies make the mistake of using employees from the IT department to design and program the web. IT departments typically don’t focus on web design and are usually required to address several company issues unrelated to web design. Because the IT department is not worried with whether or not they must be up to date on the latest web design techniques in order to be competitive in the web page design industry, it could result in outdated technology, old-fashioned web designs and obsolete web programming techniques.

Bigger Means Better

External agencies are normally larger than in-house web designer teams. Thus, they likely have an advantage when it comes to complex and cutting-edge websites. In addition, since external agencies are usually larger, they have numerous specialists in specific web programming fields like accessibility or usability and are often better equipped to take advantage of modern technology and challenging website designs.

Outsourcing Means Fresh Eyes

Outsourcing web page design brings a fresh, unbiased and objective perspective into the mix and ultimately enhance your marketing message and functionality.

Experience Equals Quality

Professional web page design companies typically have entire teams of experts and specialists who offer vast experience and expertise in web design and web programming. On the contrary, in-house web designers are often-times not very experienced, struggle to create high-quality web designs, and can take a much longer period of time to do so.

In-House Invites Internal Issues

Selecting in-house web designers can result in delayed and unfinished projects because your chosen web programmers may be sidetracked or derailed by internal politics or conflicting IT priorities. This problem does not exist when outsourcing web page design because you use external agencies that are unconcerned with your company’s politics and various IT issues.

If you are a small businesses, visit Resource Nation’s comprehensive list of web page design companies.

Offering something of value for free is a very important step in marketing. It is a way of introducing yourself to prospective clients in a non-intrusive, friendly manner. People are naturally more cautious and skeptical these days so you need to make it as easy as possible for them to get to know you at their pace - which will be different for each person.

As well, offering a free-giveaway is one of the fastest and most reliable ways to build a list of prospective clients and customers.  In order to do this, you must ask for the person’s name and email address. When people have indicated an interest in finding out more about you by asking for your “sampler”, then you can offer it in exchange for their name and email address.

The easiest way to get a prospect’s contact information is to have an opt-in box on your website.  When you use this in conjunction with an autoresponder/list management system such as Aweber, people’s name and email addresses are captured automatically and put into a list so you can contact them further via email.

In this day and age of Internet selling and buying, the majority of people are comfortable with giving you this information. Once you have this data you will now be able to continue to develop the relationship with these prospects and move them through the other steps in your marketing process.

If you don’t have an opt-in box but you do have a website, the best thing to do is get one created and set up.  It doesn’t cost much as it’s pretty easy to do and many Virtual Assistants can do it for you.

However, don’t worry if you haven’t got your website up and running yet, you can still collect names.  You’ll just have to do it manually and then input them into some kind of spreadsheet (Excel) or a database program like Microsoft Outlook or ACT.

There are many ways to use your free-giveaway and leverage it.  But first you need to have a free product to entice people onto your list, and into a marketing relationship with you.

I encourage you to spend some time today thinking about what you already have of value and how you can repackage it into a valuable free-giveaway that your target group wants and needs.

Quick question: When you hear the phrase “Board of Directors” do you think of Fortune 500, Mega-Sized, enormous conference table companies?

Show of hands?

It sounds impressive to have a Board supporting you. To provide direction, guidance and support to you and your business. But that’s just for the big guys, right?

What if you - small business entrepreneur - could have your own Board of Directors, AND stay the size you are?  Receive all the support and benefits the big guys do without the “bigness” of the big guys?

Enter the “Virtual” Board of Directors.

Any business can have a Board of Directors - a set of respected professionals who serve in an advisory capacity for your business. Yep, even you.

Why should you have a Board of Directors?

1. Reality Checks - Board members can bring your feet back to the ground wen you are flailing, unfocused or scattered (it happens to the best of us). They’ll keep you on track so you don’t lose traction.
2. New Insights - When Board members from different backgrounds, have different experiences.  They’ve seen different successes and failures, and have different ideas you can use in your business.
3. Provides Stability - Financial folks like when small businesses have support from seasoned professionals. It gives them confidence knowing you’re not out there on your own.

You may be wondering “why would somebody do that for me? Who am I to ask that of another professional?”

First things first….who are you not to ask that of another professional? You’re no less important than any other entrepreneur.

So, why would they agree to be on your Board?

1. Networking - being on a Board allows fellow members networking opportunities with other professionals. Make your Board appealing to other members so they’ll want to join you, and they will also benefit from the experience.
2. Leadership Experience - Professionals are continutally seeking leadership opportunities. Boards are great ways to do that.
3. Honor - What an honor to be asked to be on a Board, particularly by a business owner who is taking the initiative to take their business to the next level!

What types of industries should the professionals on your board represent? The usual suspects are industries like finance, law and human resources. Don’t forget about asking other successful entrepreneurs who have navigated the waters and make it (in non competing industries, of course). They have great insights on how to make it through the tough times, how to grow, and how to make the most of the high times.

How can a Board serve your business?

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is the latest phone system technology. VoIP phone systems convert regular telephone calls into digital data delivering the voice communications over the Internet, or a packet-switched network. Essentially, when using a VoIP system, you are using the Internet to make telephone calls as opposed to a traditional phone line.

VoIP phone services continue to advance and are becoming highly reliable and popular. The key advantage to use a VoIP phone service over a traditional phone system is that it is cheaper. Other advantages include the convenience and portability of VoIP service and the advanced communication features that are available at no extra charge.

If you are a small business and need this service, visit Resource Nation’s VoIP phone service center.

Utilizing VoIP phone services rather than traditional phone systems can result in lower costs to individuals and businesses. For example, individuals or businesses with a broadband Internet connection (DSL or cable) can make PC-to-PC phone calls anywhere in the world at no charge. Or, if wanting to make a PC-to-phone connection, there is usually a minimal charge that is typically less than traditional phone service. In regards to business owners with multiple locations, if the business locations are connected to a Local Area Network (LAN) or Wide Area Network (WAN), they can share all features of the VoIP system without needing to set up separate phone systems in each location. Additionally, calls between long-distance business locations does not cost extra as it does with traditional phone service. This is particularly attractive for businesses with hefty monthly long distance charges due to calls between various company locations, or with international customers.

Another cost-saving benefit of using VoIP phone service relates to setting up new service. For example, when setting up a new office, whether it is a home office or a commercial office, VoIP can be less expensive than traditional phone installation. With VoIP, you will not have to run separate cabling for your phone system. This results in cheaper set-up and cabling fees.

In addition to saving money, VoIP phone systems are convenient and provide portability. For example, you can take your VoIP phone service with you wherever you go and make and receive phone calls anywhere there is a broadband connection. This is particularly attractive to frequent travelers and employees on the go.

Typically, VoIP phone services allow you to use technologically advanced communication features for free. Call forwarding, call waiting, voicemail, caller ID, simultaneous ringing across multiple phones, seamless call transfers, and three-way calling are some of the features generally available. Data such as pictures and documents are easy to use with VoIP and it also works with various Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) applications, such as call center management. These popular, and often times necessary, applications can prioritize incoming calls based on the caller’s identity. The application automatically brings up callers’ account information as the call is answered so the recipient of the call can easily and conveniently see who is calling.

With its low costs when compared to traditional phone services, the convenience and portability, and advanced communication features, VoIP phones benefit everyone from individuals to small offices to large enterprises.

In my line of work as a Denver-based internet marketing consultant, I’m often asked for my opinion about business blogging. My response - “I’m all for it.”

Here’s why developing a blog makes sense for nearly any business (large or small):

• Authenticity. Blogs, when used correctly, are a reflection of the culture, values, and personality of the business they represent. As every business owner knows, when you make a friend, you make a customer for life. People want authentic friends.

• Blogs access and build community. As the internet grows and evolves, one thing is certain - our concept of “community” has forever changed. No longer are communities constrained by geography - online communities bring together people with similar interests from all around the world. If you want to participate in these online communities - either by contributing to the conversation or if you’re merely looking for acceptance - you need to interact on the same level.

• Search engine benefits. Search engines LOVE blogs - especially blogs that are updated on a consistent and regular basis. There’s an extra bonus for blogs with multiple authors too. More search engine traffic means more free visitors to your company website…and more sales.

• Blogs influence buying decisions. Jupiter Research managed to quantify the value of blogging - you can read the summary on the SearchEngineWatch.com blog, but here are the highlights:

“According to the study, blogs factor in to critical stages of the purchase process, weighing most heavily at the actual moment of a purchase decision. When it comes to respondents who said they have trusted blog content for purchase decisions in the past, over half (52 percent) say blogs played a role in the critical moment they decided to move forward with a purchase.“

In summary, blogging is a highly effective tool for marketing your business online. If you want to learn more about it, visit Resource Nation’s online marketing business center or creating a business blog at SporkMarketing.com.

Part of marketing is measuring how well each marketing tactic is working - on an individual level and as a contributor to your overall success (or not).

Some simple methods for measuring that you can start implementing right away are:

1)  Ask your prospects and clients how they heard about your business, product or service - when they are making a purchase or getting some information.

This is not an exact science because people often don’t recall exactly how they heard about you, especially if they have been exposed to several of your marketing activities.

2)  Do a survey.

You can send your clients a satisfaction survey after they make a purchase and include a tracking question in the survey.

3) Track you website statistics.

To find out how many people are visiting your website, be sure to have a statistics program in place and know how to read it. I like Google Analytics, but there are many good ones out there that are free, including www.webstats.com.

4)  Use unique codes.

If you are creating flyers or coupons promoting a particular product, service or offer, include a unique code and require clients to enter that code on your web site in order to qualify for the special bonus or discount.

When you take the time to look at how well your marketing is working, you increase the chances for your success.  You can toss out what isn’t working and expand on what is working.

If you need help with your marketing, check out Resource Nation’s online marketing business service center.