As consumers, we get offered upsells all the time:  the car rental company offers upgraded insurance packages, the furniture retailer suggests scotch-guarding the fabric, the fast food joint wants to super-size your meal, the electronics store offers extended warranties, and so on.

So why do most small business owners cringe when it’s suggested that they should be utilizing upsells in their day-to-day interactions with their customers?

Many of us tend to think we’re being pushy salespeople or we’ll make our customers angry at us for wanting more of their money or time.

It’s all in how you approach it.  If you have created products and services that truly help people, then telling them about something else (an upsell) that could increase their satisfaction or help them faster or easier is almost your duty.

Unless you’re upselling in a really obnoxious or annoying way, most people will either upgrade and say thanks for the great offer or just say “no thank you”.

Of course, only some clients will take advantage of the upsell offer but if you don’t let people know about it, then you’ll have no one buying your add-ons!

Take a look at all the different components of your marketing strategy to identify areas where it makes sense to let the customer know about an upsell product or service:

• the thank-you page in your shopping cart can list other products people may want to buy
• the email to people providing the download link to an electronic product they’ve purchased can have a suggestion for the next ebook that would most benefit them
• an insert in a workshop/seminar binder telling them about some products and services they may find beneficial in implementing what they’ve learned at the seminar
• a thank-you email after purchase, telling people about a membership club or teleseminar series they may benefit from as well
• a flyer inserted in the monthly newsletter mailing informing people of an upcoming seminar or teleseminar

Don’t be afraid to upsell your customers - just do it in a helpful, non-pushy and authentic way, and watch your revenue increase.

It seems that every day we hear bad news about the newspaper industry. Simply put, readers are moving online – and fast.

Of course, one source of news is the blogosphere. It’s amazing that this is a relatively new thing (the first blogs started to pop up in the late 1990s).

With all this interest, the business valuation of blogs should be strong, right?

Well, to shed some light on this, 24/7 Wall Street has a great analysis on the topic. Interestingly enough, it appears that there has been a fall-off in valuations. The main reason: the sluggish ad market, which has become pervasive.

To calculate the business valuations, 24/7 has analyzed blogs by looking at their overall traffic and what kinds of advertising rates they would typically attract. Other factors include: employee headcounts, types of technology platforms, brand strength and growth rates.

So, which ones are the highest? They include:

Gawker Properties - $170 million
Huffington Post - $90 million
The Drudge Report - $48 million

Can I help it that I am smiling from ear to ear?  I have been floating on air for the last 24 hours.  Let me explain.  I have been telling our clients and writers alike to engage with our readers for quite sometime.  Of course, their response is “yes” then they never do anything about it, or should I say their response is “I never get anything out of it”.  Quite honestly, I wonder if people know what “Engage with your readers” really means.

I asked one of our clients to join every Social network they thought would have their target market and start engaging them in NON-sales copy.  If you are into online marketing, you can see the blank looks on their face.  You see, we are entering a second Internet phase; businesses are downsizing and trying to stretch every dollar looking for efficiency.  They’re shifting their budget from PPC, while using SEO for organic traffic.

What does that mean?  In simple terms, great content with a mix of social media. The new era of marketing, which created the foundations of marketing on the web, made its way to a new buzz in the industry - Inbound Marketing.

What Is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound Marketing focuses on bringing the customer to the business, instead of the business searching for the customer

In outbound marketing, the “traditional” way, companies use poorly targeted techniques to bring in customers.  They use radio and T.V. advertising, spam, cold-calling, print advertising, junk mail and more.  In other words, they use every method that most people get irritated about.

These techniques are long out-dated, less effective and more expensive, thanks to technology.  TiVo, spam filters, caller ID that blocks cold calls and tools like RSS render print and visual advertising almost useless.  While these methods of advertising still work to some extent, it’s much more expensive.

Inbound Marketing flips outbound marketing on its head.

The Internet opened up whole new avenues and marketing possibilities.  Instead of television ads that scream at potential customers to “buy, buy, buy”, or junk mail that gets thrown away, inbound marketing has a gentler, more persuasive technique.  Entertaining, informative videos, interesting blogs, useful content and tools – inbound marketing is a soft, inviting whisper rather than a pounding sledgehammer.  With these tools and techniques, highly qualified customers are attracted to the business through a combination of curiosity, confidence and trust.

The Three Components of a Successful Inbound Marketing Campaign

1.  Content:  Every Inbound Marketer knows that content is king.  Information and persuasive writing, helpful tips and tools help attract potential customers to the company’s website or business.

2.  Search Engine Optimization: Potential customers find this informative content much easier through SEO.  Building your site, and building up inbound links to your site, through optimization and website design “best practices” maximizes your search engine rankings.  SEO brings your product, website or company into the public’s eye, so they can begin the buying process.

3.  Social Media:  When the content is truly helpful, informative and interesting, people tend to discuss it with their friends, family, co-workers etc.  Distributed across several networks, it gains credibility and authenticity, making it more likely to draw people to your website.

You’re wondering what any of that has to do with the smile on my face?  In one day I was able to prove that using inbound marketing can not only save you money by getting free targeted traffic, but you learn that investing in your company’s future sometimes has it’s rewards without trying.

I was featured in Businessweek.com for engaging in Social media.  That alone has sent our website a nice boost of traffic.  I know I may not get all the business that‘s out there but, the way I see it nobody does. However, the new business I do get can result in a higher base of  happy customers, more referrals, and ultimately more sales.

Although women have owned successful companies for decades, over the past decade or so, women are launching new businesses by record numbers. According to diversitybusiness.com, “women-owned businesses contribute over $1.4 trillion in sales to the U.S. economy.” Success like that deserves some attention.

In January 2009, diversitybusiness.com announced they will hold their annual national business conference, at which the top women-owned companies will be recognized and awarded. They also announced their Div500, which is the annual listing of the nation’s top 500 women-owned businesses. The women-owned businesses that make their list range in revenue size from $20 million to over $1 billion. To join diversitybusiness.com and the rest of the nation in recognizing successful women-owned companies, below is a list of the top women-owned companies of recent years. These women-owned companies are continually thriving, bringing in millions to even billions of dollars annually.

• Omega World Travel – This woman-owned company tops the Div500 list as the most influential and successful business of 2008. The company is based in Fairfax, Virginia and sees a whopping $1.2 billion in annual revenues according to The Washington Post. Omega World Travel offers a broad range of travel services. The extremely successful company was launched in 1972 by Gloria Bohan, who is now President and CEO of Omega World Travel. Bohan’s drive and success has led to an accomplished career and an induction into the Enterprising Women’s Hall of Fame.
• Zorch – Named the number one woman-led company in 2008 by Inc. Magazine, Zorch was launched by the driven Nicole Loftus in 2002. Zorch is an online portal from which corporations can purchase a variety of promotional merchandise. By creating this company, Loftus has saved and will continue to save her clients millions of dollars each month by cutting out middle man distributors and putting corporations directly in touch with a network of manufacturers that meet Zorch’s high-quality standards.
• Willett Travel – This Los Angeles, California-based business was established way back in 1943. It is Los Angeles’ oldest independently owned travel agency and serves all travel needs, from corporate travel to leisure travel.
• Exact Staff, Inc. – This is another California-based woman-owned company. Exact Staff, Inc. was founded in 1996 by Karenjo Goodwin. The accomplished company has been recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the Top 100 Women-owned Businesses in California. Exact Staff is a staffing agency, finding temporary and full-time employees to match the needs of various employers. Goodwin, now President of the company, has nearly 20 years of experience and leadership in the employment industry and has been a featured speaker at various events and conventions. Additionally, Goodwin has authored several industry-related articles.
• Maria’s Italian Kitchen – This thriving restaurant first opened in 1975 in New Jersey. Owned and run by Maria Alfano, this family-style eatery has had huge success, so much that Maria’s daughter, Madelyn Alfano, opened another Maria’s Italian Kitchen in California in 1985. Since then, Madelyn has expanded the company to nine more locations.
• Associated Speech and Language Specialists – One interesting aspect of this successful women-owned business is that all employees are also women. The all-female company is owned and was founded in 1994 by three moms. The company evaluates and treats various speech, language comprehension, communication, and swallowing disorders.
• Clockwork Active Media Systems – This successful woman-owned company designs interactive web-based applications for business clients. Co-owner Nancy Lyons helped re-build this company in 2002. Among her accolades, Business Journals 40 under 40 and Business journal’s Top Women to Watch.

I remember when my business coach talked about creating products and services that would be ongoing and provide recurring revenue.  At the time, I was just starting out and getting one little ebook created and off of my plate was proving to be an arduous task.

The thought of doing something on an ongoing basis scared the heck out of me!

But now that I’ve gotten some marketing tactics running consistently and smoothly (well, most of the time!) and have a few products and services to offer people, I’m re-looking at the thought of ongoing services to offer.

Who doesn’t get excited when you hear the words “recurring revenue”?!  Especially for us small business owners who have experienced the whole “feast or famine” nature of doing business at some time.

But it’s not just the money that gets me excited; it’s the fact that I would have loyal, stick-around clients and customers that I could really have a meaningful, rewarding business relationship with.  To me, it’s always been really satisfying to see people progress and learn over a period of time, and get to share in their triumphs and missteps and really see them grow.

There are many examples of ways that you can “sign up” clients for a lifetime:

• set up a members’ only blog or forum
• send out a CD every month
• sell a subscription to your monthly newsletter
• have a membership program
• have ongoing coaching calls
• have a “book of the month” type of program
• have a teleseminar series

There are many ways to offer ongoing help and assistance to your prospects and customers - you’re limited only by your imagination and your target audience’s needs!  So start brainstorming today and reap the rewards of recurring revenue and an ongoing connection with people.

Using social networking as a form of social media marketing is the new fad. Social networking refers to a multi-media social structure which essentially facilitates communication between groups, individuals, and organizations. The most commonly recognized social networking web sites include Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace. However, there are several more social networking web sites available. In addition to social networking sites, there are other ways to accomplish social media marketing through blogging, instant messaging, widgets, and more.

Companie use social networking to gain credibility, foster employee relationships, build a forum for communication with customers, and in most cases, boost sales. Company recruiters are even going to sites like LinkedIn to get access to the almost 25 million resumés posted.

If you are going to jump on the social networking bandwagon, make sure you have a strategy in place for your business or work with an online marketing agency before you spend the time creating a Facebook or MySpace page. Let’s take a look at some of the companies using social networking and which tools they are utilizing.

• Absolut Vodka – uses an online video ABSOLUTworld as well as a page on Facebook entitled Top Bartender
• Acura – has a Facebook page, Acura TSX Connect as well as a widget on Yahoo, Acura RDX Traffic
• Adidas – utilizes social networks on MySpace
• American Express – has a blog entitled OPEN Forum
• American Red Cross – has a blog entitled Red Cross Chat
• AT&T – participates in Microblogging on Twitter: ATTNews, ATTblueroom, and OnwardSmallBiz. Also, AT&T has a YouTube video, Share AT&T, allows Photosharing at Flickr photostream, and has a fan page on Facebook
• Bank of America – has two social networking pages: Small Business Community on Clearspace and  Medal Me! on Facebook
• Best Buy – participates in Blogging: CMO’s Barry Judge’s blog and Barry Judge on Twitter. Also, Best Buy has a Geek Squad HQ video on YouTube and a social network created to allow retail employees to support each other (Blue Shirt Nation)
• Boeing – participates in Blogging:  Randy’s Journal and Tanker Facts
• Burton - utilizes Microblogging with storedotburton on Twitter
• CNN - utilizes Microblogging on Twitter: Political Ticker
• Coca-Cola – has a Facebook social networks (Sprite Sips and CokeTag) as well as blogs: Coca-Cola Conversations. Coca-Cola also utilizes virtual worlds on Second Life: Virtual Thirst and widgets, such as Coke Bubbles
• Dell – participates in a lot of Blogging, such as Direct2Dell, Nine official internal blogs, and Ideastorm. Dell also Microblogs with 22 corporate accounts on Twitter
• Ernst & Young – utilizes Facebook for hiring: Careers page
• General Electric – participates in Blogging: From Edison’s Desk
• Google – has several blogs, including their Official Blog and over 30 other corporate blogs. Google also has a You Tube video Google channel
• H&R Block – Microblogs with a Twitter account and has a social networking Facebook fan page
• Motorola – utilizes Blogging with their Broadband Insights blog
• Oscar Mayer – has a Hotdogger blog to give fans an insider look at the Wienermobile.  Oscar Mayer also utilizes Microblogging with their Wienermobile page on Twitter and uses Photosharing at The Wienermobile In The Wild
• Peace Corps – participates in Microblogging with a Peace Corps Twitter account
• Pizza Hut – uses social networking web sites, such as Facebook: pizza hut fan page
• Revlon – utilizes widgets, such as Lash Fantasy
• Saturn – makes use of social networks, for example ImSaturn
• Southwest Airlines – participates in Blogging (Nuts About Southwest) as well as Microblogging (SouthwestAir). Southwest also has an online video at YouTube channel. They also allow photo sharing at Flickr group and they have Widgets (Ding!)
• Starbucks – participates in crowd-sourcing at My Starbucks Idea and Microblogging at Twitter account

If you are a small business and looking for an online marketing agency to help with your social networking campaign, visit Resource Nation’s vendor center for online marketers.

Having an information product is the best way to do something once and get paid for it over and over again.  It’s the way smart business owners and solo-preneurs stop trading time for money and start trading all that great, valuable knowledge in their heads for money!

So where do you start?

Here are 3 ways for you to inexpensively and quickly create an info-product:

1)  Offer a teleseminar or teleclass

• record it using audioacrobat
• offer the MP3 or burn some CDs and offer it with a transcript if you want

This is a good choice if you are starting from scratch and aren’t already doing any training or workshops.

2)  Use an existing training program or workshop

• record the training or program and offer with or without the transcript
• if you already have a recording, then just package up with an introduction and sell as an MP3 or CD, or as a higher end product that included both the transcript and audio
• if you’ve only got the written version, record it yourself using audioacrobat

Choose this one if you are already delivering some content to people and you can take advantage of an existing program or booking.

3)  Re-purpose existing articles, reports and blog posts

• collect the best ones, add an introduction and sell as an ebook
• record some of the articles and add an MP3 or CD to charge more

This works well when you have lots of existing content (i.e. articles and blog posts) that is still relevant and “fresh”.

As you can see, creating info-products - especially “beginner” ones - can be inexpensive, quick and painless!  Take a look around you and see what opportunities you can take advantage of to make simple, yet valuable, information products that you can offer to your prospects and clients.

It’s obvious…we are in a recession. Recessions lead to bankruptcies, businesses closing their doors, layoffs, job-cuts, and more unfortunate events. Many companies, both small and large, are cutting hundreds and even thousands of jobs and the unemployment rate in the United States is at one of the highest it’s ever been at before.

Many well-known companies are reducing expenses to get through this time. Whether it be outsourcing financial services, switching to VoIP, or implementing online marketing tactics that produce a higher ROI, companies are tightening budgets and unfortunately, cutting jobs. Some of these job cuts might lead to more profit as those companies find ways to make systems better while some of them won’t. Either way, here’s a list of companies that have and will continue to cut costs. If you are looking for a job, I wouldn’t recommend you start here.

• Sears Holdings – In January, Sears Holdings dismissed 300 corporate employees as consumer spending slumped. Consumer spending will likely continue to slump, so watch for more jobs cuts and possibly even the closing of some Sears locations.
• Broadcom – They cut about 3% of their workforce (200 workers) and tightened discretionary spending. The latter resolution is probably better than the alternative of cutting back more jobs.
• Caterpillar – They announced a quarterly profit plunge of 32%, and then fired 20,000 employees. Shortly after, they increased their layoffs from 20,000 to 22,110.
• Black & Decker – Power tool sales have declined, and most likely will not pick up again any time soon, so Black & Decker will eliminate 1,200 jobs.
• Sprint-Nextel – This wireless provider giant fired 8,000 workers resulting in more than $300 million in severance charges. But, on the bright side, they will save $1.2 billion a year in labor costs.
• Harley-Davidson – Experienced a 60% drop in profits in their fourth quarter of 2008, and then fired 1,100 (10% of workforce). Not many people will have much money to buy a Harley-Davidson in 2009, so I don’t foresee profits getting much better. Watch for more job cuts and possible store closings.
• Intel – Although many have estimated the information technology field will outlast this recession, Intel closes five manufacturing plants and fired 5,000 employees.
• Target –This popular store cut 400 open positions and 600 employees sue to low sales.
• Time Warner – Television and movie giant, Time Warner and its subsidies (including big names such as AOL and Walt Disney) laid many people off over the past few months. Time Warner Cable reduced their workforce by 10% (700 workers) because of declining ad revenue and continues to fight the ever-lasting decline.
• Texas Instruments – Fired 3,400 (12% of workforce) in January alone.
• Home Depot – After firing about 7,000 at their headquarters, closing all of their high-end home design shops (Home Depot Expo), and several of their original warehouse shops, they also took or severely cut back worthwhile employee benefits and incentives, such as tuition reimbursement, dental insurance, employee discounts, Christmas bonuses, and more.
• GM (General Motors) - cut production at several plants throughout the US and in January they fired 2,000 in Michigan and Ohio. Watch for more cut backs and possibly more plant closings, especially since the car business is taking a heavy hit during this down economy.
• Starbucks – Not that there isn’t enough of them anyway, but they are closing 900 stores worldwide and firing 6,700 people in the process.
• Boeing – An aerospace giant that has historically been a leader announced in January that it will lay off an undetermined number of workers in 2009 as part of a broad effort to reduce costs. They had previously announced the firing of about 4,500 workers in 2008, and then increased the number to 10,000 workers (6% of the workforce). They continue to lay people off and apparently don’t know when they will stop or how many people they will let go.
• Microsoft – This billion, if not trillion, dollar company had its first mass layoff in its 34-year history. They fired 5,000 people.

Other companies worth mentioning, whether for their continued economic woes, potential for cutbacks, or for another reason, include DHL Express, United Airlines, Reynolds and Reynolds, and Farmers Group.

Many businesses and salespeople concentrate all their energies on the really “hot” leads - the people who want something right now and are willing to pay for it now.

I believe this is a big mistake.  ALL of your leads are valuable.  Just because they aren’t customers yet, doesn’t mean they won’t become one later on when their circumstances change or their need is more acute.

There are many reasons why prospects may not be willing to engage your services immediately:

• they are dealing with more pressing things at this time
• they do not have enough information about your product or service
• they are not ready to make a decision
• they do not yet feel comfortable or trust you enough yet
• they are comparing information from other companies and trying to determine the best choice for them

By following up repeatedly with prospective customers, you have a better chance of getting the sale when they are ready to buy - because you’ve remained top-of-mind by providing valuable communications with them.

When you keep in contact with your leads - warm or cold - you are sending them a powerful message: that you believe they are important and worth cultivating a relationship with - even if they haven’t bought anything yet.

So be a smart marketer and treat all of your leads - wherever they are in your marketing funnel - with the same level of respect and importance.  Remember that today’s leads are tomorrow’s customers.

If you are a business looking to grow your lead volume, consider Resource Nation’s vendor program.

You know those sayings that just inspire you the minute you hear them? The ones that make you think, “I can do it!” Read below for some of the best motivational business quotations and be inspired. Enjoy!

1. Business is more exciting than any game - Lord Beaverbrook
2. It takes more than capital to swing business. You’ve got to have the A. I. D. degree to get by — Advertising, Initiative, and Dynamics - Ren Mulford Jr.
3. Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you’re not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were - David Rockefeller
4. If you did not look after today’s business then you might as well forget about tomorrow - Isaac Mophatlane
5. Being able to touch so many people through my businesses and make money while doing it, is a huge blessing - Magic Johnson
6. The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same - Carlos Castaneda
7. Surviving a failure gives you more self-confidence. Failures are great learning tools.. but they must be kept to a minimum - Jeffrey Immelt
8. Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Thoughts are things! And powerful things at that, when mixed with definiteness of purpose, and burning desire, can be translated into riches - Napoleon Hill
9. It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change - Charles Darwin
10. Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing - Vince Lombardi
11. In all realms of life it takes courage to stretch your limits, express your power, and fulfill your potential. It’s no different in the financial realm - Suze Orman
12. People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps - Mary Kay Ash
13. In business, I’ve discovered that my purpose is to do my best to my utmost ability every day. That’s my standard. I learned early in my life that I had high standards - Donald Trump
14. In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins:  cash and experience.  Take the experience first; the cash will come later - Harold Geneen
15. To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart - Thomas Watson, Sr.
16. The absolute fundamental aim is to make money out of satisfying customers - John Egan
17. I have found no greater satisfaction than achieving success through honest dealing and strict adherence to the view that, for you to gain, those you deal with should gain as well - Alan Greenspan
18. Hire character.  Train skill - Peter Schutz
19. The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency.  The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency - Bill Gates
20. Let’s be honest.  There’s not a business anywhere that is without problems.  Business is complicated and imperfect.  Every business everywhere is staffed with imperfect human beings and exists by providing a product or service to other imperfect human beings - Bob Parsons
21. The NBA is never just a business.  It’s always business.  It’s always personal.  All good businesses are personal.  The best businesses are very personal - Mark Cuban
22. You can fool all the people all the time if the advertising is right and the budget is big enough - Joseph E. Levine
23. Industry is the soul of business and the keystone of prosperity - Charles Dickens
24. I don’t pay good wages because I have a lot of money; I have a lot of money because I pay good wages - Robert Bosch
25. For all of its faults, it gives most hardworking people a chance to improve themselves economically, even as the deck is stacked in favor of the privileged few.  Here are the choices most of us face in such a system:  Get bitter or get busy - Bill O’ Reilly, about capitalism
26. You’re most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning - Bill Gates