Website Builder Traffic Tools

Do you wonder about your website? Is it ranked? Where is it ranked? An excellent free tool for automatically tracking your website is http://www.rankingcheck.com . It allows you to track up to 10 websites free and notifies you of any changes in these rankings at Google, MSN and Yahoo.

Demographics is fundamental to your marketing but do you really know the numbers. An excellent site for key word, website demographics is http://adlab.msn.com/Demographics-Prediction/  Just plug in your website address and some keywords and find out the age and gender segments you are really addressing.

The web is all about niche marketing. A great way to keep track of your niche to see what others are doing and to get new ideas is simply to sign up for a Google alert. It notifies you of any new developments as often as you want. It's easy to modify, delete as you wish.

If you are looking for free leads and a way to get your message out across the internet, Veretekk deserves a look. A couple of Portals could be important for your business development http://leads-plus.blastomatic.com   and  http://leads-plus.etracking.net  There are a few others but I'll let you poke around a bit. Use Veretekk if you want to get your website ranked well on the search engines. It works.

Colm Maher

http://leads-plus.veretekk.com

leads-plus@veretekk.com

Mega or Mini Websites?

Is it wise to have one huge mega website covering each aspect of your business or several mini websites focusing on specific areas? I have recently decided to go with the mega website plan for now. I will be closely watching the results over the next six months. Based on my last six months, the mini website strategy has not worked.  Perhaps I should have given it more time?  Based on experience in other areas, I find that if something's  going to work, you know it by initial results that just keep building-- success breeds success.

My decision was partly based on a comment I read that really stated the obvious but it sunk in: people search the net looking for information and when they find a good website, they save it so they can return later to read/learn more. So the question I had was: was there any real value in each of my mini websites that would result in people saving any of my mini websites? Well there was value but was it enough value? The other problem with multiple websites is that people never see the whole picture of your business. Can they make a good decision without all the facts? I doubt it. 

I understand that website content is supposed to be the number one reason for high rankings in the search engines but I am not sure that's 100 % true. Based on this argument, a mega website wins every time. It's certainly easier to manage one large website since you know where everything is. When you have multiple webstes, sometimes it takes time to find articles/pages that you know are out there but on which website?.

From an advertising perspective, a mega website wins every time because you focus on one website rather than splitting your time and money between advertisng multiple websites.  Multiple website could also cause confusion in the minds of the searcher. I know for a fact that once you confuse a consumer, you have given them a reason not to buy and they move on. If you have too many mini websites, the consumer could easily think you are in multiple businesses and you could lose credibility and a customer. 

The upside of mini websites is that they can cater to specific niche markets that the mega website will miss.  For example, the new mega website I writing about http://www.wellnessopportunity.org is most certainly about building a wellness home business and stresses serious wellness products but it also talks about getting leads for your business, website development for your business and search engine optimization (seo). Now would you expect a "wellness opportunity" website to delve into such matters? No. If you have a web based home business, shouldn't you know or learn about this? Yes.

Reduce personal taxes through home business

There are many advantages to owning your home business. Some are purely emotional, and some are based on sound business planning. The potential tax savings related to owning and operating a small home business are often overlooked or simply glossed over. This probably due to the fact that taxes are complicated, that's why they are all kinds of accountants focusing on the wide variety of tax specialities.

There is one company, Wall and Associates, that provides a service to small home business owners in Canada and the USA. The "Easy as ABC" website features a free tax savings calculator that uses their estimated numbers for possible deductions once you plug in your expected income. The system also allows you to change the numbers as you like. As I said the system is free with no strings attached. It's definitely worth checking out because it has tax information for small businesses in both Canada and the USA.

It's a good website to refer prospects to since it is a third party independant accounting company that specializes in the home business tax field. Recommend by Immunotec. 

Colm Maher

colm@wellnessopportunity.org

Skype "colmbonne"

One problem with the wellness industry is that there is a lot of hype. Many of the vitamin, minerals, "health foods" on the market have been designed by accountants not scientists. Marketing teams push the envelope on health claims that are not supported by science or anything else. The real problem here is to sort out what's real and what's hype. Hype can look and sound like the real thing because the people promoting it are good at what they do. The amazing part to me is that 1. they get away with it and 2. They don't seem to mind playing with people's health just to make a buck. It is no wonder that many consumers feel that vitamins just don't work. In order for vitamins and such  to work, there has to be something of real value in the pill or the box. As a result of these shady practises, the Canadian and US governments are getting more involved in natural product regulation. This will eventually get rid of the shady characters in the wellness business but it may also stifle the development of future wellness products.

 The drug industry is very much behind this regulation because they fear that this tiny wellness industry threatens their humongous empire. By the way, anytime you see a study in Google about certain vitamins, minerals or health foods that don't work, check around a bit and find out who funded the study and what were the ingredients of the formulation used. I have found that a lot of studies are funded by drug companies and the potency of the product tested is way under effective levels. But who reads the background material? The bottom line is that you the consumer have to be proactive about the wellness products you consider. Do your own research. If the people/institutions/companies doing the research are credible, then the product is probably ok. Just remember, everyone is different and what works for one person may not work for all. Even drugs do not work for everyone--I've heard that some drugs only work for 50% of the people who take them. So when your doctor says "here, try this" That's what he/she  means. He or she doesn't know for sure whether it's going to work for you either. And then there's the side effects. Drug companies have managed to portray themselves as the great health saviours of mankind. The problem is they are not focused on the cure but on treating the symptoms. If you cure someone, you have lost a customer. If you treat the symptoms, you have a customer for life. This improves the bottom line and makes accountants and investors happy.

The bottom line for consumers is pro activity. Don't make your health, someone else's responsibility.  Whether its a drug or a wellness product, do your own due diligence, as best you can, until you are satisfied. Then monitor the results you are getting. It can seem like a fulltime job at times but your health is worth it. Where would you be without it? 

Business Crediblity: When you find new leads, the key for them will probably be the crediblility of the opportunity. Why should they join you? It's a real

good question to have good answers for." A little hype" is fine and is expected and accepted in any sales oriented situation, but "all hype" is not.

Your opportunity has to have real meat on the bones to make it attractive to serious business people.

Back in the old days of Amway, you only had to see if your white shirts were whiter and that your

LOC actually cleaned what it was supposed to clean to know that your products worked. Enrich International,

used to sell a fibre and senna combination that left no doubt that they worked for most people.

Public meeting extolling the virtues of having a good bowel movement were good for business.

 (what a way to make a living) Most of the time, it's good to sell and promote products

where the benefits are easily proven by personal observation. However, there are many products, especially,

nutritional products where the efficacy of the product is much more difficult to prove especially in the short term.

Most of these nutritional type products are accompanied by personal testimonies that are heavily discounted  in medical circles.

I have been in many different mlm's and all stated that their products were the best on the market. "On the cutting edge"

is a common phrase. So I started wondering, "how do you know they are the best products?". What research has been done?

Where is the evidence? (Usually no where or highly questionable). Most of these type claims come from the marketing department,

not the research department. (What research department?) . It's unfortunate that many of the natural product/vitamin

industry products areborn in the business office, and formulated by the accounting department and sold to us a

 "natural wonders". Increased regulation in both Canada and the USA should rid of this kind of "rip off"  business practises.

The question remains, how do you know the products actually work. If they work self evidently, great! If they do not, do your

due diligence about the research that went into the formulation and the subsequent clinical studies to prove the products work.

Why waste money on products that don't work when you buy products that do work. The most expensive pair of shoes you

can buy are those you never wear. The most expensive vitamin or food concoction that doesn't benefit you in any way is

the most expensive health product you will ever buy. Finally and most important: do you want to recommend a product

to a friend or customer that does not work? That's why you should always say: "I don't know if it going to work for you or not,

but what if it does?" Doctors' will  give you a prescription and say "try this" (He or she's not sure it's going to work for you either).

'Hype" is often used in network marketing companies to get the troops excited so they can go out and recruit more people.

If the "hype" isn't supported by facts, you can end up featured on Market Place on the CBC TV network or some other

USA investigative TV unit. That's not good for business or your health so its best to check the products and the people

before you invest your time, money and energy in a bogus business relationship.