by Nick Throlson | Jan 31, 2015 | Guest Post
Successful entrepreneurs do not just become successful overnight. Every rising entrepreneur and successful company has put much work into growing and making their businesses successful. Does this mean the unsuccessful individuals did not put in the work? On the contrary, they did.
So, how come some entrepreneurs succeed and others fail? What separates and distinguishes the successful from the unsuccessful? Well, it would appear that there are a few consistent things that successful entrepreneurs do.
Great Attitude
Successful entrepreneurs often understand that greatness is not achieved by never falling. It is achieved by rising every time you make mistakes and fall. They also understand that good things will eventually come to those who plan, prepare and work hard.
This positive outlook on life and business eventually sets them apart from everyone else. Success is never about simply doing your best. It is about doing your best and then pushing your limits. Successful CEOs understand this, hence the reason they keep demanding even more of themselves and their workers. This makes them charismatic, dogged, strong, personable, and convincing? qualities that everyone admires.
Dream and Vision
There?s a clear difference between wishful thinking and having a dream and vision. It does not have to grandiose like changing the world or tackling world hunger. It could be something as simple as solving a small problem or tackling a particularly persistent issue.
It could also be about influencing and impacting the world like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates did and still do. Whatever the case, all successful entrepreneurs ?saw? what they could achieve and solutions to problems that no one else saw or believed in enough to go after.
Incredible Passion and Zeal
The only thing that keeps most successful entrepreneurs going when the odds are against them, and the future seems bleak is their incredible passion and love for what they do. This purpose is what keeps them going. As Bill Sunday once said, ?More men fail through lack of purpose than lack of talent?.
Most successful entrepreneurs will tell you that they would still do what they are doing now even if they were not paid for it. That is how powerful their zeal and passion can be. Passion is what makes them undefeatable.
It?s what causes them to look for solutions in ways no one has thought. It is what drives, pursues and pushes them to excellence. Going into business for just profits will get you some results and maybe some wealth. However, success comes from having a fire that burns within your heart and belly.
Extensive Knowledge
Most times, knowing slightly more than your competition is all the edge that you need to become successful. Successful entrepreneurs know this. This is why you will often find them studying, going to conferences, workshops, working with mentors, having brainstorming and mastermind sessions, employing smarter individuals and generally doing everything they can to learn as much as they can about their industry, market and sector. It is this edge and knowledge that empowers them to try different business approaches, create effective systems and processes, and do more than their competition.
Ability to Pick the Right Individuals
The right individuals and talent are crucial to your success. This is why you will often find successful people surrounding themselves with incredibly smart and savvy individuals who are very highly motivated. For most of these people, success is personal and non-negotiable.
When you have people like this on your team, there?s little or no need to worry about a lack of motivation. Sometimes, it is the agglomeration of these individuals working towards one goal that often results in phenomenal success.
Consistency and Perseverance
Finally, there?s no success without perseverance. Will Smith once said ?You may be faster than me, you may be stronger than me, you may be better equipped than I am, you may even be better than me. But if we both get on the treadmill, I will keep going until you quit. And when you do, I?ll still keep going?.
Quitting is not acceptable to successful entrepreneurs. This is why they persevere and remain consistent. They understand the importance and validity of the Flywheel Concept and momentum. So, even in the face of monumental challenges, they will keep going.
These are the major reasons why some entrepreneurs succeed and others fail. So, if you want to do well in business, you might as well adopt and culture these attributes.
The writer, Oscar King, is himself a budding entrepreneur who is focusing on the online space. In the mean time he writes and offers advice for others wanting to succeed. Given he is going online, he understands a big part of his success is having a solid sales platform, which he plans to acquire through FastSpring. You can learn more about Oscar on Google+.
by Nick Throlson | Jan 14, 2015 | Guest Post
Are you currently in the market for car insurance or a mortgage? Are you frustrated by all the other rate
comparison websites out there? Are you thinking there has to be a better way? Now there is. Rates.ca is
your premier destination for the best rates online. Whether you?re looking for car insurance or
mortgages, Rates.ca makes the process fast and easy. Choose from nearly 100 mortgages rates with
major brokers and lenders and almost up to 25 car insurance quotes with Canada?s biggest insurers.
Car Insurance
Shopping for car insurance is easy. Start by entering your postal code. After entering your gender, date
of birth and vehicle make and model, you?re provided with a ballpark estimate of your monthly car
insurance premiums. Answer a few more simple questions (i.e. your license type and if you?ve
been involved in any at fault accidents in the last 6 years), to get a more accurate car insurance quote.
Getting a quote on car insurance is quick and easy. My only suggestion would be to consider making
some of the questions optional. Some people may not feel comfortable entering personal information
like their marital status.
Mortgages
If you?ve recently purchased a home or you?re looking to renew your mortgage, shopping for a mortgage
is easy. Click on the mortgage link at the top of the website to see mortgage rates based on your area.
The three most popular mortgage rates are displayed up top for your convenience.
Mortgage rates are displayed based on the type of mortgage ? fixed closed, variable closed, fixed open,
variable open ? and the mortgage term. Choose from mortgage terms as short as 6 months to as long as
25 10 years. For homeowners looking to tap into the equity built in their home, choose from Home
Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) at low rates.
I found shopping for a mortgage easy. I was able to find a lower mortgage rate than my bank offered me
with more generous pre-payment privileges. This will help shave years off my mortgage and save me
thousands in interest.
My only suggestions would be if the website could detect your location and display mortgage rates
based on your city or town. Mortgage rates often vary between big cities like Toronto and small towns
like North Bay, as there?s less competition between mortgage lenders brokers.
by Nick Throlson | Jul 27, 2013 | Affiliate Marketing, Guest Post, Web Design
The internet is full of people looking to make a quick buck, but earning real cash online is easier said than done.
There are plenty of scams out there which promise easy money, but deliver nothing but misery. More often than not, making a living online takes real dedication and a lot of talent.
With that in mind, here are five ways you can make some cash online.
1 – Advertising
If you've spent any amount of time at all surfing the internet, you'll have noticed that adverts seem to be everywhere and where there are adverts, there's money to be made.
Unfortunately, you can't just set up a site and expect the money to come rolling in – you'll need an established website in order to turn visitors into cash.
But if you've got a blog you've worked on for a number of years and it gets a steady flow of traffic, then you can turn that into cash through advertising.
There are a number of options open to you – one of the most popular is signing up for Google's AdSense programme which pays you each time someone clicks on a Google ad.
Alternatively, you could join another ad network such as Kontera, which uses in-text advertising or you could even negotiate with advertisers on a one-to-one basis.
Be careful though – you need to ensure any ads you sell meet with Google's webmaster guidelines, otherwise you could receive a penalty from the search engine and that could lead to a fall in traffic.
2 – Writing
If you're an accomplished writer, then the web offers a whole host of avenues for you to unleash you talents.
Sites such as Textbroker offer authors the chance to earn money by creating content for people who need it.
The amount they pay out won't make you rich, but it can provide you with a nice little side line.
Alternatively, you may want to reach out to sites directly and offer your services. If you're doing this, it's a good idea to have a strong portfolio of work which can back up your efforts.
3 – Sell things
Selling things online can be a great way to generate some cash, although if you want a sustainable income you'll have to do more than sell your old CDs on eBay.
If you're a talented artist of craftsman, sites like Etsy can offer you a superb marketplace for your goods.
With Etsy, you have to pay $0.20 to list an item and they also charge 3.5 per cent commission on each sale.
However, this is offset by the fact that they are one of the most-visited websites in the world, meaning your work is exposed to a huge audience of potential buyers.
4 – Selling domain names
If you know what you're doing, it's possible to make a sizeable chunk of cash through buying and selling domain names.
However, you need to be careful as you could end up with a portfolio full of worthless names no one wants to buy.
Here are a few tips to help you identify valuable domain names:
They should be short and brandable – anything longer than two words is probably too long.
They should use a well-known domain extension – .com is probably the best bet as it is the most popular.
Avoid names that are confusing – domains with numbers in them or that are spelled oddly should be avoided.
Avoid names that feature trademarked terms – you don't want to end up facing a costly legal battle.
A domain name is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, so bear that in mind when looking to turn a profit.
5 – Become an affiliate
Affiliate marketing allows you to share in the success of some of the world's biggest companies. When you become an affiliate you are given a code to include in links which shows that a visitor has found his way to a website via yours.
If that person then becomes a customer of the site you're affiliated with, you get a slice of the money.
Again, you'll need a steady flow of visitors to make it worth your while, but if you're attracting traffic it can be a great way to earn cash.
So there you are, five ways to turn the internet into another source of income.
Article by Will Stevens, part of the 123-reg.co.uk blog team. The company is the UK's largest domain registrar and also offers a “sell my domain” service for people looking to divest domains they have previously acquired.
by Nick Throlson | Jul 24, 2013 | Affiliate Marketing, Guest Post, Web Design
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is one of the most widely-used and quickest ways to draw more potential customers to your site and increase sales.
But PPC can be risky, especially if you're a beginner as you can wind up not getting the results you were expecting while spending a significant amount of money.
Creating an effective PPC advertising campaign can make the difference between a thriving business and simply wasting your budget.
But don't panic. You too can create and run a successful campaign, just make sure you avoid these six very common yet extremely costly PPC mistakes:
1. Sending visitors to your home page
This must be one of the most common mistakes, especially among those who are just starting out with PPC advertising.
Say you have an online shop where you sell laptops and tablets.
You've decided to run a PPC ad for the keyword “Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2” and in the ad you include a URL that, when clicked, redirects users to your site's home page.
Now the user is on your home page and there's no sign of a Lenovo ThinkPad anywhere.
Do you really think he'll stick around and start searching through your site to find a product you promised he will find if he clicks on your ad?
Of course he won't.
So, always redirect your PPC visitors to targeted landing pages.
If you advertised a Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, include the URL to the product's landing page.
2. Badly converting landing pages
If you invest time and money into PPC advertising, don't neglect the landing page you're sending visitors to.
If you do, it's like throwing money down the drain.
A successful PPC campaign goes hand-in-hand with a great, highly converting landing page.
This means clear and conversion-oriented copy and effective call-to-actions that will make it easy for visitors to sign up, download or buy.
3. Missing out a call-to-action
Not including a call-to-action in your ad is costly as it's what gets users to click and go to your site.
Every ad you create needs to include a clear call-to-action such as “Buy Now”, “Download Now”, “Free Shipping”, etc.
A call-to-action is very important and could mean the difference between a user ignoring your ad and one actually clicking on it and buying something from your site.
4. Relying entirely on ‘broad match' keyword ads
There's just too much competition to even bother running a PPC ad campaign using broad search terms and keywords.
Instead, focus on phrase or exact match terms thus making it easier for your potential customers to find you.
Yes, you are decreasing your traffic potential but you're ensuring that your ads will only appear for search queries that are relevant for your business.
5. Targeting too broad an area
This is another common mistake and it can be an extremely costly one.
Say your business only serves London. Why would you waste money advertising in all the UK?
It doesn't make sense. Make sure you're only targeting the areas your business serves and nowhere else.
Google makes this easy as it allows you to target not just specific countries and cities but also postcodes.
6. Not testing your ads
If you create two ads, can you tell which one will perform better just by looking at them? Of course not!
Unless you're a psychic, there's no way to know which ad will make more money other through testing them.
So, start testing now. Create several ads and run them simultaneously.
Make sure you use Google AdWords' automated rules as it automatically pauses low-performing ads with low click-through rates.
All you need to do is create a rule for each campaign where you choose to pause ads when CTR < 0.2 and Impressions >= 1000.
If you're just getting started with your first PPC advertising campaign, take some time to educate yourself and come up with a strategy to ensure you get the most out of your campaign.
It's only normal to make some mistakes at the beginning, just make sure they're not one of the above six.
What are the most common PPC mistakes you've noticed?
Guest post by Alex Gavril, part of the 123-reg.co.uk?blogging team. 123-reg is the UK's largest domain name registrar and it offers managed PPC advertising.
by Nick Throlson | Mar 6, 2013 | Guest Post
For years email marketing remained the essential part of online marketing campaigns and the first priority of small business owners. It helps companies and businesses to market services and products to people who might be potential customers for them, but since email filters have become more intelligent it is harder for marketers to bypass the filters and reach inbox. But for some people email marketing is still one of the most successful marketing methods.
We will look at some reasons for email marketing campaigns still being one of the most successful marketing methods.
Access to a Huge Audience
Today almost every internet user has an email address because it is nearly impossible to make use of the internet to communicate with other users without having one. Email marketing provides direct access to internet users without borders and restrictions in between. A company or business can share the details and benefits of choosing their products or services straight with a user.
Today there are more than one social network platforms on the web and businesses are using extensively them to market their services and products, but users can easily customize their settings to choose what they want to see and hide. In contrast if emails reach users? inbox they will more probably be viewed.
Create a Mailing List
Marketing on a social network platform has some drawbacks among which updates getting lost are most common. Most users over see new updates such as promotions, discounts and offers because they are often mixed with other updates which mean more to them. It is essential in marketing principle to get attention of a user to convert it into a customer.
Users and fans can subscribe to mailing lists to remain updated while webmasters and marketers can send mails containing information about promotions and offers which they might be interested in knowing. Creating and managing mailing lists has become a skill and companies often hire a social media manager to handle and manage email subscribers and pages on social networks.
Online service such as MailChimp is an example of a third-party email marketing company helping companies and businesses manage subscribers? mailing list.
People Have More Time to Check Mails
Social networks are superb and they are one of the best ways to remain updated with friends and family, but it requires some spare time to upload your photos and tag some friends. Checking mails suits to office decorum and you only get information which is important to you. People subscribe to important mailing lists at their favorite websites and can easily read and forward them to others without getting in the social mess.
As a business owner you can send what is important for your readers and not spam them with emails to make email marketing campaign effective.
Customize and Show Your Business
With emails you are free to think creative as far as your imagination goes. You can think of creative ways to make emails more readable and user-friendly to express your business. You can use templates, your business logo and insert links to web pages which a user might be interested in.
Customize Your Campaign for Users
You can distribute mailing lists with interests and professions of users, and customize emails for different users, which is nearly impossible with social networks as you have limited resources. You can use a formal business language for emails you are sending to working professionals, while you can use more colors and a leisure talk for younger audience. Marketing campaigns designed for social networks work completely contrasts to that because each page is designed for all kinds of audience ? email marketing campaigns give you more freedom.
Verdict
Social networks and other online platforms have made socializing much easier but email marketing is still the prime medium of marketing because it gives you freedom and you can manage email listings using your own tools and use it as you like.
Mark is an online counsultant expert in email marketing and on page optimization
by Nick Throlson | Feb 11, 2013 | Guest Post, Web Design
Writing a successful blog post is an art that many people overlook when they are invited
to write a guest blog on another site, but it is important to write interesting content whether you are posting on your own website or on someone else?s blog.?Although there are some basic rules that everyone can follow, it is often a case of looking at the host site and seeing what has been successful before.It is also important to try and avoid duplicating content that has already been published, so try to look for a new angle or a new point that you can emphasise in your blog.
Choosing Your Topic
Getting the right subject for your blog is vital to achieving a good figure of people reading the blog, and also getting people to interact with you on the blog itself.? If you?re writing the blog for your own site then you will have plenty of ideas for potential topics that you can write about, but when you?ve been invited to write a guest blog its wise to
look at the audience before you pick your topic.
While it will not always be possible to choose a topic that is entirely new in every case, in order to get interest and feedback from the blog?s audience it is best to introduce a new aspect to the debate. The majority of internet browsers are very savvy, and most audiences will quickly navigate away from a blog that doesn?t offer anything new or relevant. It is also worth making sure you have an extensive knowledge of the subject you?re writing about, otherwise the audience will pick you up on any factual errors in your writing.
Consider What You Want To
Achieve
Another important aspect to consider when you are writing a blog post is to know what you want to get from the blog post.?If it is being featured on your own blog then its purpose will usually be to try and draw visitors to your site, and this means it will need to be useful information as well as being optimized to be attractive to search engines.? Guest blogs will usually be to either help bring traffic to your website, or to promote your product or service, and in
this case the blog will need to be interesting and provide information that will make the audience want to find out more.
Writing For The Audience
One of the biggest flaws that can be seen in many blog posts is that they are written from a purely promotional point of view, and don?t provide the kind of information that will make the audience want to read and interact with the post.? By looking at the website and identifying which posts get the most reaction and traffic from the blog?s audience, this can help you to identify the points about your topic that will be most interesting to them. Look at?WebsistePlanet Blog;?the key here is to provide enough information to interest the audience, but also to make them want to find out more, which is a key feature in the best blog posts.
Thomas is the web developer behind?http://www.websiteplanet.com. He also?has written a number of guest blogs for related websites.
Successful entrepreneurs do not just become successful overnight. Every rising entrepreneur and successful company has put much work into growing and making their businesses successful. Does this mean the unsuccessful individuals did not put in the work? On the contrary, they did.
The internet is full of people looking to make a quick buck, but earning real cash online is easier said than done.
If you've spent any amount of time at all surfing the internet, you'll have noticed that adverts seem to be everywhere and where there are adverts, there's money to be made.
If you're an accomplished writer, then the web offers a whole host of avenues for you to unleash you talents.
Selling things online can be a great way to generate some cash, although if you want a sustainable income you'll have to do more than sell your old CDs on 
If you know what you're doing, it's possible to make a sizeable chunk of cash through buying and selling domain names.
Affiliate marketing
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is one of the most widely-used and quickest ways to draw more potential customers to your site and increase sales.
