What Are Joint Ventures

What Are Joint Ventures

By Matt Bacak

Joint ventures are an alliance between businesses. A friend of mine normally tells me that it works on this saying:

If you can’t beat them, join them. Two heads are better than one. United we stand.

Below are some joint venture tips.

1. Joint ventures are strategic alliances where at least two businesses come together to share a market, assets, knowledge, intellectual property and profits.

2. They differ from mergers because no ownership is transferred in the deal.

3. It mainly occurs between market giants. It can also happen between small businesses to fight a common competitor, who is normally bigger.

4. It works best if the venture is between two businesses that compliment each other in the market.

5. Firms with similar products can also come together in order to penetrate the market further. This is ideal if both companies do not want to heavily invest their resources for the same goal.

6. It is not surprising to see a big firm joining smaller firms. This can be done to acquire technology, intellectual property, or other resources that would be hard or expensive to acquire.

How do joint ventures work?

The process of forming partnership is well known to everyone. However, the main aspect of joint venture lies in the execution of the business.

7. Everyone might know what needs to be done, join forces, but it is very easy to overlook the “whats” and “hows” of the business due to excitement.

8. The execution of these partnerships follow strict plans to ensure that you do not lose out on the success.

9. As much as you can find legal agreement templates on the internet, I highly recommend that you seek appropriate legal advice before you enter such a business relationship.

Should you start a joint venture?

I cannot give a direct answer to this, it involves considering various factors and knowing what the business relationship will address. The following questions might be of help:

10. What should you sell and how can you reach my target market?

11. Do you know your competitors and their strengths?

12. What do they have that you don’t?

13. Which geographical regions won’t you be able to reach with the ventures or high costs?

14. What can you offer your competitors to make them accept the joint venture? You should make them an offer they can’t refuse.

15. Can you access the correct legal resources that will structure and ensure that all parts of the business are well covered?

16. Which legal provisions will you breach in your new merger?

17. Do you know of any successful joint ventures that can share with you their experience?

18. Do you know that most of the mergers might result to a reduction of your workforce?

19. If some of your employees will be laid off due to the process, are you ready to let go?

20. What strengths and weaknesses do you have?

21. Which threats and opportunities do you face in your market?

http://EzineArticles.com/?What-Are-Joint-Ventures&id=7687586

 

Download from Calameo – Click Here
Download from Scribd – Click Here

Why Is Social Media Important in Your Business?

Why Is Social Media

Important in Your Business?

By Matt Bacak

The importance of social media in business is visible in when you consider the recommendations for successful online marketing. It is the most popular networking tool for both personal and business world. Its growth is a clear indication of its importance: it took the radio 37 years to reach around 50 million listeners, television took 13 years to reach the same target, the internet only took 4 while the social media boasted 200 million active users in 1 year.

Many companies are picking up on social media to build their brand visibility and asses their performance. A survey by Harvard Business Studies on 2,100 companies had the following findings:

1. 58% of the companies currently use social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

2. 79% of the firms either use the channels or plan to use them in their business.

3. 49% thought that the digital media is a vital part of marketing strategy.

4. 69% predicted that the use of social networks will significantly grow in the next year.

5. The companies use social to promote their services and brands.

6. 12% of the firms have employed dedicated employees to digital networks.

Here are detailed reasons why you should use social media in your business.

7. Collaborating and instantly engaging with other users. These users can either be consumers, partners or potential consumers / partners.

8. You get to be connected to other business people and have a chance to build links, partnerships and connections

9. You can share information with your audience instantaneously.

10. You have the chance to expose your business to the public within a short time.

11. With huge number of social network users, it is a great tool for cheap advertising compared to many other sites.

12. You can easily monitor consumers reactions to your products and assess them

13. By interacting with your users, it puts you in a very good position to research for new ideas for your business.

14. The interactivity of the social networks has made it a great tool for brand awareness creation. If you haven’t taken advantage of it, you are missing out.

15. With traditional media, trends were not so easy to monitor. Some networks such as Twitter allow us to monitor trends among customers with improved accuracy.

16. It is a more powerful advertising tool compared to many advertising platforms. This is because you can have more targeted ads to specific age groups, professions and interests. Facebook is a good example.

17. Having followers and users interested in your business give you a chance to refer them to your websites as leads or sales.

18. Social media presence gives you access to affordable and free publicity.

19. Listen to what the public is talking about in your niche. This gives you the chance to detect possibilities of improving your business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Bacak

 

Download from Calameo – Click Here
Download from Scribd – Click Here

Direct Mailing Tips

Direct Mailing Tips

By Matt Bacak

Direct mailing has proved to be effective to many marketers who use the traditional media. It could have been speculated that it could have died out with the wave of online marketing. Almost 2 decades later, it is still an important part of marketing and entrepreneurs should think about it. If you are wondering how you make it work for you, here are some tips:

1. Make sure your writing is all about quality. Keep your readers excited without using too much hype, lest you find yourself in garbage.

2. Once you have your readers glued to your content, tell them what you want them to do. Make use of Calls to action to direct your prospects where they should be.

3. Your grammar should be correct. We know that everyone is familiar with SMS-writing formats and you can be tempted to keep it in your mail. Do Not Try This With Direct Mailing.

4. Your headlines must be catchy. This is what will make them read your content or not. If you are not good at formulating catchy headlines, take a look around the magazines you like. You will figure out.

5. Study what works. Direct mailing has been used by many companies for many decades now. Study what has worked and apply them to your campaigns.

6. Make sure the themes you use suite your market niche. Some designs might not work for you. Keep away from such.

7. Be a good copywriter. It is the most vital element of your campaign. Know your audience and when to be funny, serious, witty, etc.

8. Watch out for your target readers. You might be off target. Do a customer audit to find out what motivates them, what they want to read, etc.

9. Integrate your direct mailing with other marketing strategies. Large firms know how to do this. They refer you to their websites, blogs, social networks, etc. Do the same.

10. Work on the functionality of your campaign. It should not just look good, but it should generate the desired response.

11. Have a follow-up plan. It is good to follow all the advice above in one campaign, then what?

12. Have a way of evaluating your strategies to know which ones work best for you. This will improve your performance.

13. Try new ideas in your mailing endeavours. Try offers, change packaging, design, etc. Marketing is all about being creative to stand out in your niche.

14. Be consistent with mailing. If you want to send only one mail and expect results, you are not ready for it.

15. Make sure your brand identity always goes out in all your mails. Your logo, theme colours, signatures, etc. Each of them should reflect your firm’s image.

16. Organize your mailing strategy before you start. Make sure you have a plan of at least 6 months if not 1 year.

17. Be realistic in your content. Do not create the impression of “junk” mail in your readers ‘ eyes. Avoid phrases such as “No Gimmick” or any that would set alarm in your readers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?Direct-Mailing-Tips&id=7666612

Download from Calameo – Click Here
Download from Scribd – Click Here
Download from Docstoc – Click Here

 

Hardcopy Versus Digital E-Books – 17 Reasons

Hardcopy Versus Digital E-Books – 17 Reasons

By Matt Bacak

Books tend to appear in two main forms which include the hard copies and the digital E-Books. However audio books are also available. In the modern world, the use of E-Books has become quite popular as opposed to hard copies. Authors or rather writers chose to market their work digitally instead of publishing hard copies so as to eventually reach the majority of the people who are definitely found in the online world. Following the exposure of most people to the internet, use of digital E-Books is better than use of a hard copy due to a number of merits that come with the Digital E-Books.

1. The main factor contributing the preference of E-Books is their affordability whereby purchasing a book online or subscribing to some of the updates by an author is cheap as one does not incur extra costs that the hard copy comes with.

2. Buying a book from a book center require one to visit the center and shop for the book hence spending money on transport in terms of fuel.

3. Other expenses include the taxing of the book that is carried forward to the readers hence more and more money.

4. In essence, purchasing a hard copy is rather expensive as only a minority of middle class people can afford such costs.

5. Basically hard copies are a form of luxury while E-Books can be easily purchased online as long as there is internet. Less money is spent as well as less time while getting an E-Book.

6. Most people have shifted to E-Books due o their line of work which include spending time online hence giving them an opportunity to browse through books.

7. The existence of Readers and E-Books is generally for the active members of the society hence most writer have settled for E-Books.

8. Authors spend less time and fewer risks when working online as the resources needed for input of their work are significantly few compared to printing out manuscripts.

9. The authors have shifted their attention to E-Books hence more of their quality work is found online though some still publish a number of hard copies.

10. The ease of distribution of E-Books has caused a change in the book industry as online sales are faster and the market is larger than sale of hard copies.

11. For the readers, the E-Books are freely accessible compared to hard copies.

12. In addition, E-Books need less storage space in relation to their nature. The storage is made on application stores found in iPhones, iPads and other android phones with similar applications. The storage space is quite free hence providing ease for carrying while travelling.

13. Using E-Books provides access to other books which provide free overviews before making a purchase or subscription.

14. Reading more certainly provides diverse knowledge of information within a very short period.

15. It is evident that digital E-Books are way better than handwritten manuscripts and prints to both the readers and the authors.

16. The benefits are significant and give the E-Books a better stand in the modern book industry.

17. Nonetheless, it is important to note the aesthetic nature of hard copies that most readers prefer. The small libraries that people keep in their homes bring out an aesthetic nature though they are prone to easy damage.

Therefore, digital E-Books are by far a better option to choose from hard copies.

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?Hardcopy-Versus-Digital-E-Books—17-Reasons&id=7626380

Download from Calameo – Click Here
Download from Scribd – Click Here
Download from Docstoc – Click Here

 

Back from Australia – The “GAP”

As I was flying back from Australia I watched
a show that was talking about innovation.

One of the guys talking shared something I liked
so much I had to write down and I wanted to share it
with you. It’s called the “GAP” but not the store.

This is verbatim of what he said:

“The gap – your taste is killer initially but your skills
are not. So you have this recognition that’s you are just not
very good right now and most people fall into that gap and
never make it out. You have to fight through that gap like
a solder. Get through that gap. And maybe you suck. Sucking
is ok because sucking is the path that you have to take to
be great”

Anyway, I never heard it called the “gap”
and thought it was a neat way to say it.

Hence, why I rewound it to make sure I wrote
it down word-for-word because it spoke to me in
a way and I thought maybe you’d like it too.

I hope you did.

Warmest Regards,

Matt Bacak

Differences Between PPC, PPV, CPV, CPA, PPA

Differences Between PPC, PPV, CPV, CPA, PPA

By Matt Bacak

 

PPC, PPV, CPV, CPA and PPA are various advertising means used in online marketing. They are used to drive traffic websites, landing pages or any online platform that could be used for business purposes.

Before we go into the differences, it is a good idea to know their definitions. Knowing what they mean and their characteristics will clearly point out major differences among them. Here are the abbreviations in full:

PPC – Pay per Click

PPV – Pay per View

CPV – Cost per View

CPA – Cost per Action

PPA – Pay per Action

By plainly looking at the abbreviations, I bet any layman would distinguish between them. Anyway, let’s get going.

PPC – Pay per Click

1. This is a way of advertising in which ads placed on websites or various online platforms are only charged when someone clicks on the ad.

2. If someone views the ad but does not click, there is no charge imposed

3. It is a good way of driving targeted traffic to a website and highly recommended in online ads.

4. Its prices range from as low as $0.01 per click to as high as $14.00 per click. This depends on various factors: competition, amount of traffic the ad would probably attract, among others.

5. One therefore needs to be careful in using this ad since it can easily drain your account overnight.

6. If you were to use it, I would recommend you use it to drive traffic to squeeze pages to collect emails for e-mail marketing.

7. Examples of these ads are the ads seen on”ads by Google” on various websites.

PPV – Pay per View & CPV – Cost per View

8. Both PPV and CPV mean the same thing; it is the amount one would be charged for any view to an ad regardless of any click made on it or not.

9. It is normally charged in groups of views, e.g. $0.30 per 1000 views and so on.

10. It would therefore prove to be quite cheap and effective if you were to get targeted traffic from it.

11. It can however be very expensive if your ad would have many views but less action.

12. Such ads there need to be very catchy and attract the required action in order to derive value from it.

13. A Facebook ad provides a good example of both PPC and PPV ads. I would recommend you take a look to see the difference.

CPA – Cost per Action and PPA – Pay Per Action

14. Both CPA and PPA mean the same thing. It is the amount charged or paid for every intended action done successfully. For instance joining an online program, filling a form, etc.

15. I find it similar to affiliate marketing only that the later is broader compared to CPA. Secondly, CPA targets long-term business relationships while affiliate marketing might not.

16. PPA is very costly compared to the others in this article but attracts great business value wherever it is involved.

17. In this type of ad, an action must be completed as required in order to be charged or paid.

 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Bacak

Download from Calameo – Click Here
Download from Scribd – Click Here



			
			
		

		


			

				
11 Benefits and Importance of SEO

			

		
			
11 Benefits and Importance of SEO


By Matt Bacak


One might think that the importance of SEO might not be much to a website. However, as much as you can receive tons of traffic from paid ads and your mailing list, your site needs some SEO attention. If you are not working on the search engine optimization of your website, you are missing on a fortune of visitors online.






If you have doubts on why you should not do some SEO justice your site, the reasons below might show you what you are missing on.


1. I receive about 17% of new visitors to my website each month from the search engines. This means that each month is a month of growth to my website.


2. On one of my websites has only 5 blog posts showing up on the 1st page of Google. Each of them attracts traffic to my website independently. This turns out to be a ton of free traffic to my website at the end of the month.


3. Apart from blog posts, I do article marketing for my website. These contribute about 5% of traffic to my website on a monthly basis. The articles mainly get traffic from the search engines.


The above examples are just an illustration on how I leverage on search engine optimization to automate free traffic. The best part (which you might not notice from between the lines) is that the amount of traffic I receive to my website grows automatically.


Below are the benefits explained:


4. SEO is the way of analyzing as well as constructing web pages and whole sites so they can be analyzed and indexed by the existing search engines.


5. This improves the relevance of the content of your website, the beauty of the content and easy to search and index by search engines.


6. By optimizing your website, you position yourself to be found by clients who do not have an idea on how to reach you. How would you feel if your potential clients could not find your contact details? I doubt if your business continuity will be rosy.


7. If your website cannot be located by online users, they might not even know that your site exists. This could translate to missing a share of the market your business engages in.


8. You might want to write content on niches that interest you but not directly related to your business. You could put the content in an article directory. The best way to have you article receive reads is through optimized platforms such as the search engine.


9. How do potential clients find you online? They go to the search engines and type words in the box and hit enter. They see your site and click on it to land to your website.


10. They can also find the exact location of your business through search Maps.


11. Your website could also be listed on the local listings. The simplest way of potential clients finding you is through online local listings.


 


Download from Calameo – Click Here
Download from Scribd – Click Here





			
			
		

		


			

				
29 Avenues of Easily Making Money Online

			

		
			
29 Avenues of Easily Making Money Online


By Matt Bacak


Once you have a website or a form of presence on the online platform, I guess you would want to know of the various ways of easily making money online. Achieving this will put you in a position of having various streams of passive income.


This article shows you the various ways and places which you can take advantage of and make some decent income online.


Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising


This is a viable way of making decent income online, either as an advertiser or a publisher. If you are a publisher, you can apply with the PPC companies and make continuous income. Here are some ways:


1. Google AdSense – This way is quite common among webmasters. They earn money from each click. The value depends on the niche and the keywords.


2. Chikita – This is similar to AdSense. They don’t pay as well, but they are still effective.


3. Google AdWords – Is a flip side of AdSense. Using it to drive traffic costs money, but the traffic is normally targeted to where you will make more money.


4. MySpace Ads – It has a concept similar to AdWords. Ads are created to drive traffic to landing pages, affiliate offers, blogs, etc.


5. Facebook Ads – It is similar to MySpace ads. They are great because they allow you to target specific demographics and channel the traffic to a desired product or service.


6. 7Search – This is a cheap option to AdWords. It has less traffic, but the cost is way low compared to AdWords.


7. Speedy Ads – It is also a form of PPC. I have never tried it but it looks pretty cool


Pay-Per-View (PPV) Advertising


You can use this technique to drive traffic to affiliate links as well as landing pages. The advantage it has is that they are not as strict as PPC sites. However, I would recommend doing more research before you spend on PPV.


8. Direct CPV


9. AdOn Network


10. Lead Impact


11. Media Traffic


12. Adoori


13. Traffic Vance


Cost-Per-Action (CPA) Offer Sites


CPA offers are a tremendous way for monetizing your website, alongside the use of PPV/PPC ads. CPA allows you to receive payment because someone completed an action. There are various offers which are quite lucrative and can earn you unbelievable amount. Some pay as “low” as $20 for an action like filling a form.


Most of them are selective on who they accept. This is because they want to make sure that the traffic you send to the offers is legitimate. Most of them will therefore talk to you on the phone before giving you access to their networks.


Here are some CPA networks:


14. Offerweb


15. CX Digital


16. Affiliate.com


17. Neverblue


18. MaxBounty


19. DirectLeads


20. Web Jam Ads


21. GetAds


22. CPA Lead


23. Epic Direct/Azoogle


24. Inuvo


25. Flux Ads


26. Market Leverage


27. Adfish


28. Clickbooth


29. Offer Vault – It compares offers from various CPA networks


Download from Calameo – Click Here 


Download from Scribd – Click Here


 


 

			
			
		

		


			

				
17 Revenue Sharing Websites

			

		
			
17 Revenue Sharing Websites


By Matt Bacak


Revenue sharing websites are a good opportunity to earning money online. Getting a site that would share revenue with you would be an answered prayer to making quick money online. When it comes to making money online, article writing is the easiest way for any beginner to get started.


I started with article writing and it wasn’t easy finding clients. The complaints from unsatisfied customers weren’t lightly taken either, I almost gave up. After learning the hard way, I came to learn that there are sites that would pay you to share content with them. This was much easier than finding clients.


I decided to compile the list for others just to help them avoid what I went through. Here they are:


1. HubPages – This is one of the popular websites that share revenue with its contributors. It is also great for backlinking. You can monetize it with Kontera, Amazon and EBay. The AdSence share is 60%.


2. Squidoo – This site is great for sharing articles. Furthermore, it is also good for niche sites backlinks. However, their system for sharing content is quite complicated.


3. Infobarrel – This is a new one and has quite much potential to grow. The highest earner on this site earns around $1500. My average earning this year has been around $90. The AdSense share on this site is about 75% to 90%.


4. Xomba – This is a high-ranking bookmarking site that shares 50% of its AdSense Revenue with you. However, they no longer allow links to your own content.


5. Bukisa – Is an article site that shares 60% of its revenue with contributors, either through AdSense or Chitika.


6. Snipsly – It shares 80% of its AdSense revenue.


7. SquidStop – This is a social bookmarking site gives 100% of AdSense revenue share to you.


8. Jevitt – It is also a Social bookmarking site that shares 80% of its AdSense revenue.


9. Seekyt – This is an article sharing site. Its’ main sources of income are through Amazon and AdSense and shares 70% of it.


10. SheToldMe – Is a social bookmarking site that gives 100% of AdSense revenue to you.


11. Best Reviewer – This site is a collection of “top lists”. An example would be “Top 15 Ways To… ” You earn 100% of the AdSense revenue.


12. TipDrop – Is a social bookmarking site where you earn 75% of the revenue share.


13. Flixya – This site allows you to share photos, videos and blogs and keep 100% of the revenue.


14. Tagfoot – Is a social bookmarking site as well as any other content that can be shared. You get to keep 50% of the AdSense revenue earned.


15. OnGoBee – This is a social bookmarking site that allows you to keep 60% of the revenue earned from AdSense.


16. RateItAll – Allows you to write reviews and rate products. You get to keep 50% of the AdSense revenue from your content.


17. Mixx – Allows you to share articles, videos and photos and get to keep 50% of the AdSense revenue.


http://EzineArticles.com/?17-Revenue-Sharing-Websites&id=7587973


 


Download from Calameo – Click Here
Download from Scribd – Click Here
Download from Docstoc – Click Here

			
			
		

		


			

				
17 Sites For Make Money Online through Freelance

			

		
			
17 Sites for Make Money


Online Through Freelance


By Matt Bacak


Freelancing online is an easy way to make money online. It is about selling your time to do projects and get paid once you are done. When you are green in making money online, you might not know where to start. I remember being scammed on one of the freelancing sites and lost close to $500 in a day.


Below is a list of freelancing sites that can be a good avenue of earning money. You might have heard of them but might have not known so much about them. Here they are and how you can use them to your advantage.


1. oDesk – This is a great home for outsourcers. It is normally being said that it is a great place for hiring programmers. So, programmers know where to go.


2. Elance – This is the first home for outsourcing. Many outsourcers love it. On the other hand, it is a great place to make money as a freelancer.


3. Mechanical Turk – This is owned by Amazon, you make money doing mini-tasks, but slightly complicated.


4. Microworkers – This is similar to Mechanical Turk. You make money doing simple tasks.


5. Fiverr – On Fiverr, you make money online performing simple tasks. Any task that you can do and charge $5.


6. Just a Five – This site is very similar Fiverr. You do any task for $5.


7. TenBux – On TenBux, you have the chance to make money with gigs which are charged at either $5 or $10.


8. GigMe5 – Looks pretty straightforward. I can bet you understand…


9. UpHype – This is a gig site, with various price points: $24, $16 and $8.


10. Dollar3 – This gig site has price points in multiples of $3, the cheapest gig being chargeable at $3.


11. Jobs for 10 – The title describes everything about the site.


12. Fittytown – This is an upscale of gigs. All gigs on this site are priced at $50 each.


13. Demand Media – This is an awesome place for freelance writer. However, one needs to be confirmed before being allowed to work. Confirmed writers earn as high as $15 per article, which I would say is lucrative for fast article writers.


14. Constant Content – Is a freelance writing article.


15. Associated Content- Here, you get up-front payments for the articles you write and additional income based on the views you get.


16. Break Studios – This freelance writing website is similar to Demand Studios. It pays up to $8 per article. The good thing is that the requirements for article lengths can be shorter.


17. iWriter – This is for good article writers. You get paid depending on the quality and length of articles you write. You can earn from as low as $3 to $8 for articles of various lengths.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Bacak


Download from Scribd – Click Here
Download from Calameo – Click Here