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A Home-Based Business Online
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December 30
Sent to 2,320 subscribers
Editor: Elena Fawkner
Publisher: AHBBO Publishing
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Welcome and Update from the Editor
2. Home-Based Business Idea of the Week -
Online Copywriter
3. AHBBO Subscribers Speak Out
4. Guest Article - Is Your Online Business Sinking
or Swimming?
5. EBook Review - Learning the Ropes
6. Freebies
8. This Week's Web Site Pick
9. Next Week
11. Subscription Management
13. Contact Information
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1. Welcome and
Update from the Editor
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Hello again and a warm
welcome to all new subscribers!
~*~*~*~
First of all, apologies
for the delay in sending this
issue of the newsletter
to you. My webhost's servers have
been down for three
days and as a result I've been delayed
in putting the newsletter
together. If you haven't been
able to access the AHBBO
website at
over the past few days,
that's why. I also haven't been
able to access email
for a few days so if you've
contacted me but haven't
received a response, please be
patient. All is
now back to normal and I'll be able to
respond shortly.
~*~*~*~
I received emails from
several of you in response to last
week's article, "Profit
is Not a Dirty Word". The responses
were, I think, a good
representation of the polarized
opinions this issue
generates. (If you missed last week's
article, it's available
by autoresponder at:
).
Because the issue of solo
mailings is one about
which many of you will have to make
a decision in your own
businesses, I am printing the
comments received, with
the permission of the respective
authors, in place of
this week's feature article. The
article that was planned
for this week, "Look Before You
Leap ... Is a Home Business
REALLY For You?", will run
next week instead.
~*~*~*~
A couple of you have
written to say that the links in
the newsletter aren't
clickable. I'm trying to get an
idea of whether this
is a widespread problem and would
appreciate your feedback.
If the links are NOT clickable
for you, would you please
let me know by sending a blank
email to ?
I'd greatly appreciate it.
For those of you experiencing
this problem I apologize and
will attempt to get
to the bottom of it by next issue.
~*~*~*~
This is the last issue
of AHBBO for 2017. Thank you for
being an AHBBO subscriber
and for your support this year.
I look forward to bringing
you AHBBO Vol. 2 in 2017. I
wish all of you a very
safe and happy New Year.
~*~*~*~
Remember, this newsletter
is for YOU! If you have comments
or suggestions for topics
you would like to see addressed,
or would just like to
share your experiences with other
subscribers, I want
to hear from you! Please send comments,
questions and stories
to: Contact By Email
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2. Home-Based Business
Idea of the Week - Online Copywriter
============================================================
Here's a business idea
for those of you out there who are
good at putting words
together. Why not refine that skill
by learning what it
takes to be a good copywriter in the
online environment and
offering your services to those in
need of such a service
(and there are PLENTY of them out
there)?
There are many, many
resources for learning about
copywriting online,
some free, some not.
When you start your research
you will quickly learn the
common denominator -
AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire,
Action. Master
the AIDA principle as it applies to online
copywriting and you
will be well placed to offer a valuable
service to internet
marketers without the time, ability or
inclination to master
the skill of effective copywriting
for themselves.
You will find as you
progress in your research that
copywriting for the
online environment is a very different
proposition to what
works in the offline world. One major
difference is that your
copywriting has to be geared with
the search engines in
mind. Anyone looking to you to
create copy for a home
page will, even if they don't
express their needs
in these terms, be expecting
that the copy you produce
will be written not only to
grab and keep the attention
of the reader and motivate
him or her to action,
but also to optimize the page for
search engine purposes.
This means understanding the
importance of keywords
and how to write keyword-rich copy
without compromising
the effectiveness of the message of
the copy. This
can be tricky.
For this reason, your
greatest investment in this business
will be the time you
need to spend to equip yourself with
the necessary skills
to be an effective online copywriter.
Once you have this skill
mastered, however, it's simply a
matter of creating your
own website (which, of course,
will be a shining example
of the quality of your work)
and generating publicity.
In terms of what you
can offer from your website, consider
in addition to copy
for webpages, add-on services such as
drafting of sales letters
for use by your clients in their
autoresponder marketing
campaigns, preparation of press
releases and a classified
ad service. You may then want to
extend your reach to
more general site promotion areas such
as optimization of existing
webpages for improvement in
search engine rankings
to a fully-fledged promotion service.
Recommended sites (copy
and paste the long URLs so they fit
in one line in your
browser window):
-> Hodu Winning Documents
-> How to Write Million
Dollar Ads, Sales Letters, And Web
Marketing
Pieces
-> Effective Copywriting
Techniques
Recommended books:
-> The Elements of Copywriting:
The Essential Guide to
Creating
Copy That Gets the Results You Want
By Gary
Blake and Robert W. Bly
-> Copywriting for the
Electronic Media: A Practical Guide
By Milan
D. Meeske
-> Copywriting by Design
(Bringing Ideas to Life by Words
and Images)
By David
Herzbrun
You can purchase these
titles online. Amazon at
http://www.amazon.com
and Barnes & Noble at
http://www.barnesandnoble.com
are two good sources.
-----
There are many more ideas
like this in AHBBO's Home Business
Ideas page at
and
Online Business Ideas
page at
with more being added
all the time.
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3. AHBBO Subscribers
Speak Out
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Seems last week's article
"Profit is Not a Dirty Word"
struck a chord with
many of you. With their permission, I'm
sharing with you the
opinions I received from several
subscribers so you can
consider this issue for yourself in
the context of your
own online business.
Please bear in mind that
the point of last week's article
and this week's segment
is NOT that you, as subscribers to
this ezine, should be
prepared to accept the occasional solo
mailing from me, but
rather that this is an issue you need
to think about from
a BUSINESS perspective insofar as it
relates to your OWN
online business.
To clarify my personal
position on this issue, I'd like to
preface the comments
that follow with my response to Ellyn's
email which you will
read below:
"Thank you for your comments.
To clarify, I do NOT
characterize subscribers
who would prefer not to receive
exclusive mailings as
"freebie seeking tire kickers". Those
who unsubscribe to a
newsletter they otherwise enjoy merely
because they receive
one exclusive mailing do, however, in
my opinion, merit this
label. You will recall my article
was describing my experience
following one exclusive mailing.
My first. I wasn't
sending out 4 or 5 a day (that is, I
agree, GROSSLY excessive).
And the point of the article was
not that I was lecturing
my subscribers that they should be
prepared to accept the
occasional exclusive mailing, it was
that they shouldn't
be apologetic about seeking to make a
profit from their OWN
online businesses. After all, I was
speaking to those who
DIDN'T unsubscribe.
"That aside though, I
don't believe it is unreasonable to ask
subscribers to be prepared
to accept, say, one exclusive
mailing a week PROVIDED
the subscribers are receiving a
service they otherwise
consider valuable. It is, after all,
something they are receiving
for free. I, too, subscribe to
a considerable number
of other newsletters and receive my
fair share of separate
mailings. It's a price I'm usually
prepared to pay if the
newsletter's any good. If not, I'll
just unsubscribe.
But the unsub will be to do with the
quality of the newsletter,
not the fact that I'm receiving
separate mailings.
Mind you, if I was receiving 4 or 5 a
day I'd be unsubscribing
no matter how good the newsletter
was.
"The response to this
article has been surprising. I am not
used to subscribers
taking the time or trouble to comment on
my articles! I
have received five lengthy emails commenting
on it so far today,
including yours. The other four were
supportive of the position
I took in my article. This is
obviously an issue that
divides opinion.
"Thank you for taking
the time to give me your opinion."
~*~*~*~
Incidentally, I've tracked
down the URL of the article that
I referred to in my
article. If you're interested you can
read it at:
~*~*~*~
Now, here are the comments
I received:
I read your article about
"Profit" and applaud your
statement and send a
"Good for You". As an on-line business
man, I get calls, e-mails
and mail from people that ask me
to give, become a partner
with them, cover the cost for them,
or several other requests.
These people don't seem to
understand what it takes
to make a profit on the net. I
always tell them I would
be doing them a dis-service if I
gave it to them.
How would they appreciate what it takes to
own, operate and grow
a business, if it is just given to
them.
Now don't take me wrong,
I do support a worthy cause or
give advice when needed
or even just asked, but you have to
draw the line somewhere.
Keep up the good work (I really
enjoy your e-zine) and
have a Merry Christmas. May all your
endeavors turn profitable.
Ken Hylton
Hylton Enterprises
~*~*~*~
I just finished reading
your article about profit not being
a dirty word and I am
compelled to put in my "two cents." I
recently made a commitment
to advertise in your wonderful
newsletter for at least
the next 4 months. I would hate to
think that my ad is
being read by "freebie seeking tire
kickers." (I just like
that term.) I do offer free
information on my web
site but that is not my main focus. I
would hope that after
getting a few valuable ideas from the
free information, the
reader would sign up for one of the
affiliate programs that
I recommend. After all I am in this
for the money and the
profits.
The weeding out process
I believe is a terrific idea. It
gives your advertisers
like myself some degree of hope that
I am targeting people
who realize part of doing business is
spending for quality
information.
Tony Lloyd
~*~*~*~
Ellyn wrote:
I am a person who has
a full-time job, but also has a
homebased business.
I have a great interest in trying to
utilize the technology
of the internet to improve my
business. I am
one who has subscribed to quite a few
newsletters in order
to gain useful information and guidance.
Your newsletter is one
of them. After reading the subject
article, I felt the
need to respond. "Resent" might be too
strong a word, but I
do question subscribers who don't like
exclusive mailings being
characterized as "freebie-seeking
tire kickers."
I understand you did not coin this phrase,
but from the tone of
the article, you do agree with it. I
find it to be an unfair
generalization.
I am one who personally
dislikes these exclusive mailings.
This dislike is simple...if
I didn't personally request to
have the information
sent to me because of some relevance in
my life, I consider
it to be spam that is doing nothing but
taking up space in my
e-mailbox. I certainly understand
that your newsletter
and website are profit-driven endeavors,
and I don't begrudge
that effort at all. In fact, I don't
even mind the ads that
are IN your newsletter, or any
newsletter for that
matter. Paid advertising subsidizes the
endeavor, and allows
us, the subscribers, to have the
opportunity to obtain
the valuable information you make
available. What
I have a problem with is a purely practical
matter: I can deal with
having ads in a newsletter because
the entire document
is in a SINGLE e-mail. Just like a
newspaper or magazine,
you have to deal with the ads with the
content.
What I can't tolerate
is SEPARATE e-mails coming to me,
unrequested. I
subscribed to one newsletter that sent at
least 3-5 exclusive
mailings A DAY! A few mailings I found
interesting, but for
the most part, they were meaningless to
me. Hitting the
delete key is easy enough, and that's what
I regularly do, but
that misses the point....I shouldn't
have to be receiving
(and deleting) e-mail I didn't request
in the first place.
Needless to say, I unsubbed from this
newsletter, even though
I found a lot of its content
informative and useful.
Now, does wanting to
keep my e-mail "inbox" at a sane level
make me a "freebie-seeking
tire kicker?" I would think not.
Sure, I like to find
a good deal, and usually when I buy
something on impulse,
I live to regret it. I value all the
information and knowledge
I have gained from your newsletter
thus far. And
I also EXPECT you to seek adequate
compensation for subscribers
patronizing your service. But
if you're expecting
me (or anyone else) to have to comply
with receiving unasked
for, separate e-mails in order to
benefit from your newsletter,
and to be negatively
characterized if we
don't, I, for one, would have to
seriously reconsider
the benefit TO ME of continuing to
receive this newsletter.
I could probably find the
information elsewhere....and
without the stereotype.
Just something for you
to consider....
~*~*~*~
Thanks Elena!
I just finished reading
my first issue of your ezine and
had to write and tell
you I loved your article "Profit is
Not a Dirty Word." It's
something that I, as an ezine
publisher, really needed
to hear.
Lately I've been getting
almost physically ill every time I
get an unsubscribe request,
feeling like I'm doing something
terribly wrong even
though out of 2017+ subs, I only ever
get 3-4 unsubs a week.
Your article puts it all in
perspective.
Thanks again,
Ruth Farmer
editor, Classifieds
Links n more...
FREE site submissions,
software and e-books for all new
subscribers to Classifieds
Links n more... the ezine
dedicated to free and
low-cost site promotion tips and
tricks. Subscribe today!
or
Proud Member of the
Ezine Advertising Network
~*~*~*~
Sam wrote:
Profit is definitely
NOT a dirty word. Having just lost
my job and not too sure
what Social Insecurity will provide
a sixty eight year old
(going on thirty), I have begun
building a new career
for myself. I surf a lot as a result
and subscribe to quite
a number of newsletters. Those which
I find not germane to
my goals (not PROFITABLE) I drop.
Mail which does not
capture and hold my interest within
twenty lines I delete
out of hand. Not profitable to go
further. I have
little time to build .... cannot waste it
reading reams of hype
and empty filler. Therefore: Go for
it girl! Keep your eye
on your goal and follow the golden
rule. Sincerely,
Sam I Am.
~*~*~*~
When I was watching a
movie and a commercial came on, I
didn't throw the TV
out the window! And I even pay for the
newspapers that run
ads. You are 100% right. It's the
profits you make that
buy us your free ezine. Good for you
and good for us. You
don't need the crybabies that want a
free lunch without strings.
Keep up the good work!
Bob Sharpe
Free Report: How to Get
the Government to Pay You to Start
a Business
The Home Business Career
Center
~*~*~*~
So, there you have it.
Make up your own mind about what's
best for YOUR business.
============================================================
============================================================
Work from Home Now with
Medical and Dental Benefits.
Connect to the source
that has it all:
e-mail:
===========================================================
4. Guest Article - Is
Your Online Business Sinking or
Swimming?
-----------------------------------------------------------
By Tony Lloyd
When I asked Phil about
doing business online, I got a very
negative response. His
view of online business was bleak
and gloomy. He told
me "Oh, it's a bunch of hype. They told
me I could make lots
of money. Instead I lost lots of
money."
When I asked Ron a similar
question I received a much
better response. His
view of online business was pleasant
and his forecast for
the future was promising! He admits a
few rough spots and
some disappointments. He recalls, "At
first it was very discouraging
but I did not quit. I kept
looking for new and
better ways to reach my goal. In the
end, all the time and
effort paid off."
Phil and Ron both faced
the same challenge-doing business
online. Apparently each
did not take the same approach and
therefore experienced
different results. Is your online
experience similar to
Phil's or Ron's? Let's take a closer
look at each person's
online experience and figure out why
one failed and the other
succeeded.
Phil was lured to the
web by the promise of "big money." He
did not have a product
(or service) to market so he
searched the web to
find the "right" product. His search
led him to a long list
of affiliate programs. He joined a
few and started to promote
them in free classified ads.
This was not very profitable
for him so he tried a few paid
classifieds. He was
not satisfied with the results and
impatience started to
set in. After some more research he
found out that e-zine
advertising was one of the most
effective forms of advertising.
He checked out the cost of
advertising in e-zines
and placed ads sporadically. Once
again he did not achieve
the results he hoped for. The
promise of "big money"
eluded him.
Phil realized that making
money online is not as easy as
some made it sound.
He also found out that a good amount of
effort was involved.
He decided to get a web site from one
of the larger companies
offering free web sites. His web
site listed the affiliate
programs he joined and had a few
fancy graphics and links.
He used a recommended software to
submit his site to hundreds
of search engines, directories
and free classified
ads. Still, weeks passed by and no "big
money." Finally, he
gave up.
Ron started out just
like Phil. He didn't have his own
product so he joined
a few affiliate programs. He soon
discovered electronic
newsletters (e-zines) and subscribed
to seven of them. He
set aside time to read them as soon as
possible since he realized
that there was a lot to be
learned. He even printed
some of the articles he considered
very informative. From
these articles he found out that
marketing his products
involved writing effective ads.
These ads had to grab
his readers attention and move him or
her to a desired action.
He also found out that
the success of his ads depended
heavily on the headlines.
So he spent about two weeks
searching for articles
on "killer" headlines. What he
discovered was amazing.
For example, changing the word
repair to fix in an
ad featuring car maintenance almost
tripled the response
from a particular ad. He diligently
studied headlines in
all the ads he could find. He noticed
that the attention-grabbing
ads used words like FREE, YOU,
SECRET, DISCOVER, REVEAL,
AMAZING, NEW, HOW TO and DO YOU.
As he applied what he
learned he saw an increase in the
response to his ads.
The increased response was encouraging.
He felt like he was
making progress!
Unlike Phil, he consistently
placed ads in e-zines. He
eventually got his own
domain name and listed his affiliate
programs on his web
site. He also provided free useful
information on his site.
His site was simple but effective.
Download time was kept
to a minimum. There were no
unnecessary graphics
or links on his site. He manually
submitted his site to
the top seven search engines.
Besides using e-zine
ads to market his products, Ron used
"pay-per-click" sites
such as GoTo.com and Rocketlinks.com.
He got good results
from direct e-mail marketing which is
not to be confused with
SPAM or unsolicited e-mail
marketing. He developed
his own mailing list through
extensive advertising
and regularly targeted this group. He
always used a signature
file at the end of his e-mails.
Offering advice in forums
and discussion groups and
submitting articles
to e-mail newsletters were on his list
of marketing techniques,
which he would get involved with
in the future. These
two methods were highly profitable for
some of the business
men and women he admired.
Phil's online business
sank while Ron's business is still
swimming among the fierce
competition online. He keeps up
with the changes and
new trends in online marketing and
uses them to his advantage.
He often visits the web sites
of those who are successful
to learn a few valuable ideas.
Ron is consistent with
his marketing efforts and more
importantly, he is patient.
His ultimate goal is to develop
his own product or products
which would increase his profit
and give him a true
sense of satisfaction.
I sincerely hope your
online experience is similar to Ron's.
------
Thinking of starting
an online business? Have you started
one recently? Here are
proven tips, ideas, marketing
strategies and resources
that will make your new business,
home business or small
business successful. For more
details visit
============================================================
5. EBook Review - Learning
the Ropes by Harmony Major
============================================================
A very thorough, yet
succinct, journey to a successful home-
based online business.
Written for the would-be online
entrepreneur starting
from ground zero, this book covers
all the bases yet can
be digested in little more than two
hours.
Comprising 10 substantive
chapters (plus a couple of
additional chapters
and works from contributing authors
to round out the resource),
Harmony takes you through:
=> the home business
pre-launch (to knock those rose-colored
glasses right off your
face -- yes, Virginia, a home-based
business is REAL work
and takes REAL time);
=> the pros and (mostly)
cons of reselling other people's
products (not a bad
place to start if you're a newbie but
if you want to make
serious money, get your OWN product;
what to look for in
a good reseller program);
=> products and payment
options (creating/acquiring your
own products; accepting
payment online and off);
=> creating a risk-free
guarantee (with a unique twist --
the "refund appreciation"
guarantee);
=> setting up your website
(get your OWN domain name if
you plan to do this
right; free v. paid web hosts);
=> designing a professional
website (doing it yourself
-- and the free resources
you need to do it -- v. using
professional designers
-- maybe you just don't have the
time to do it yourself,
so here's some low-cost
designers to check out);
=> mastering meta tags;
=> making sure your website
is ready for the public;
=> getting publicity
with your own ezine; and
=> creating a profitable
reseller program of your own.
Very effective summary
checklists follow each chapter as
a recap and a check
on your understanding.
Harmony includes links
throughout the book to great free
and low cost resources
that are a real find. Resources
like a wonderful free
HTML editor (Arachnophilia), an
outstanding free HTML
guide and where to find a good free
webhost (if you really
must).
Running your own business
is no rose garden and Harmony
tells it like it is.
Read chapter 1 and you'll have no
illusions. But
get the mindset preparation right and you
have a good foundation
for what follows. Harmony takes
you by the hand and
leads you through the minefield in
one piece.
And no, I'm not a reseller
of the book. I just liked it.
Order at
.
Harmony's offering AHBBO
subscribers 50% off until midnight
January 2. Also,
she'll give you 10% off her Home-
Business-In-A-Box(tm)
that was featured as AHBBO's Online
Business Idea of the
Week back in October. Full details
are at
. For
the October review of
Home-Business-In-A-Box(tm), see
Consulting Services
============================================================
============================================================
8. This Week's Web Site
Pick - Search Engine Watch
============================================================
http://www.searchenginewatch.com
Nicely organized site
that's widely regarded as THE
authority on search
engine goings-on. A must if you have
an online business.
Here's a summary of the
various sections of the site:
-> Search Engine Submission
Tips
Learn how search engines
find and rank web pages and what to
do to improve the ranking
of your site.
-> Web Searching Tips
For tips on how to use
search engines more effectively and to
learn how others search
online (very useful for meta tag
construction).
-> Search Engine Listings
To find all the major
search engines.
-> Reviews, Ratings &
Tests
For a list of comparison
reviews, which search engines are
the most popular and
why.
-> Search Engine Resources
For a collection of
links to search engine-related resources.
-> Search Engine News
To sign up for the site's
free monthly newsletter.
Spending time seriously
studying the information at this
site will definitely
pay off in the form of increased
traffic to YOUR site.
============================================================
============================================================
9. Next Issue
============================================================
That's it for this week,
everyone. Here's what's in store
for the next issue:
-> Home-Based Business
Idea of the Week: Gettin' Crafty
-> Feature Article:
Look Before You Leap ... Is a Home-
Based Business
REALLY For You?
-> Guest Article: It
could be yours! Please send original
article
submissions to
-> More great Freebies
Thanks for being with
us and have a great week everyone.
============================================================
============================================================
11. Subscription Management
============================================================
To SUBSCRIBE to this
Newsletter:
http://www.ahbbo.com/ezine.html
To UNSUBSCRIBE or get
removed from this Newsletter:
If you find this newsletter
valuable, please forward it
in its entirety to your
friends, family and associates!
=============================================================
13. Contact Information
=============================================================
Elena Fawkner, Editor
A Home-Based Business
Online
Contact By Email
=============================================================
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Monday, 25-Jan-2021 04:05:49 CST