Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Willie Crawford
As I travel from seminar to seminar, and meet people new to internet marketing, I witness a lot of people quickly discovering the power of setting up joint ventures. Many of these people understand that if they could get large list owners (and people with busy websites) to recommend their products, they could make a lot of sales really fast.
They understand that one big joint venture partner can make or break a product launch.
They understand that one successful product launch can propel them to an incredible level of success.
So the light bulb comes on, and the marketers start trying to figure out how to set up join ventures. They start tracking down prospects left and right, and frantically trying to set up those lucrative joint ventures.
However, most of the newer internet marketers completely miss the most important part. They neglect to consider what the wants and needs of their potential joint venture partners are.
They "know" that they have a great product (or a great product idea) and they believe that a lot of people will want and benefit from it.
They also believe that all of the potential joint venture partners on their "hit list" will absolutely love their joint venture proposals.
What they fail to consider is:
1) These potential joint partners already have projects that they are launching -their own or their clients.'
2) These potential joint venture partners already have their own products that they are trying to sell and are even looking for joint partners for.
3) These joint venture partners are often constantly being approached by dozens of others seeking the same type of joint ventures that you seek.
4) These potential joint venture partners, if they are in the same niche, may already have a product that competes directly with yours.
Identifying these all-to-common mistakes, you can now avoid making them, and in the process dramatically increase your chances of getting a "YES" to your joint venture proposal.
Just having that knowledge gives you a huge potential advantage over the hordes of others seeking joint ventures with the same potential joint venture partners. However, having that knowledge is not enough - you need to actually use it.
Setting up lucrative joint ventures is not really an insurmountable challenge. It just involves framing your offer in terms of how it will benefit your potential joint venture partners.
It has to answer the question "Why would I spend time promoting your products rather than focusing on my own?"
Very few less-experienced internet marketers answer that question, or are even aware that this is what's really on potential joint venture partners' minds.
Now you have a distinct advantage. You know what many marketers miss in requesting joint ventures. Your next step is to use that knowledge. It really is that simple.
About the Author:
Willie Crawford is a joint venture brokers who has been launching products over the internet for 12 years. For more of Willie's joint venture tips and strategies, register for his teleclass at: http://WillieCrawford.com/JVTeleseminar/
Thursday, November 20, 2008
These 10 SEO Tactics Bring Me Over 2000 Visitors Daily
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Titus Hoskins
No matter how hard some people try to mystify SEO, it is not as complicated as many would lead you to believe. Despite all the techno jargon that many in the field will throw at you: SERPs, SEM, PageRank, Keyword Density, Vertical Search, Algorithms... SEO is really simple to do if you understand some basic concepts and follow some easy steps.
Search Engine Optimization is getting your content listed in all the top positions in Google, Yahoo and MSN for your targeted keywords. When someone does a keyword search in a search engine for your particular subject or niche - you want your site or content to be at the top of the list.
Here are 10 SEO tactics that have worked and are working for me at this moment in time. I make this clarification because you must understand search engines, especially Google, are constantly redefining how they rank pages. Here are my favorite tactics and strategies:
1. Quality Content is and always will be your number one factor for getting high rankings and keeping them. You must understand search engines are simply businesses who supply a product like any other company. That product is information. They must offer quality results to anyone using their service to solve a problem, answer a question or to buy a product. The more relevant, the more targeted the search solution they return, the higher the overall quality of their product and the more popular their search engine will become. Providing quality content is vital for SEO success.
2. Keywords are your number one tools for achieving high rankings. You must understand keywords and how they work on the web. You must know how many searches are made each day for your chosen keywords. Sites like Wordtracker and Seobook will give you a rudimentary number of searches. Design your pages around your targeted keywords and don't forget to do some deep-linking to these pages on your site. Find and build backlinks to these interior keyword pages and not just to your home page or domain URL. Picking keywords with medium to low competition has worked out well for me. So too has using the more targeted and higher converting "long-tail" keywords been very beneficial for me.
3. Onpage Factors and site design will play a major role in the spidering and indexing of your site/content. Make sure all your pages are SEO friendly, made sure all your pages can be reached from your homepage and no pages should be no more than three levels away from it - keeping a sitemap listing all your major pages makes the search engines happy. Make sure you have all your meta tags such as title, description, keywords... are all optimized. (Title = around 65 characters, Description = around 160 characters) Remember, your title and description should not only be keyword targeted but these are the first contact/impression anyone will see of your site - make sure you use them to draw and entice interested visitors to your site and content. Also make sure your title and URL are keyword matched for maximum effect. Having your major keyword in your Domain Name also helps, using a pike | to separate different elements of your title has helped my rankings, so too does having your keyword in the first and last 25 words on your pages.
4. Google will send you the most qualified traffic so concentrate the majority of your SEO efforts on Google. Don't ignore Yahoo! or MSN but Google is king of search so give it the respect it deserves. With its new browser, Google's influence will only grow stronger so you must optimize your pages for Google. Use Google's Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics to fine-tune your pages/content for Google. I also use Google Alerts to keep up on my niche keywords and for comment link-building on the newly created pages Google is indexing.
5. Link Building is still the most effective way to boost your search rankings. Make sure you get backlinks from relevant sites related to your niche market and make sure the 'anchor text' is related to your keywords but don't ignore the text and overall quality of the content linking to you. The anchor text is the underlined/clickable portion of a link. Don't forget linking is a two-way street, make sure you link out to high quality, high ranked relevant sites in your niche.
6. Article Marketing is a well established method of getting quality backlinks and it still works. Writing short 500 - 700 word informative helpful articles with your backlinks in the resource box is still very effective for getting targeted traffic and backlinks. Longer articles have also worked for me and I use an extensive network of distribution including SubmitYourArticle, Isnare, ThePhantomWriters... plus other major online sites. Don't forget the whole element of blogging and RSS feeds in your article distribution. And always remember you're also using these articles to pre-sale your content or products. Don't forget to leverage sites like Squidoo, Hubpages... to increase your rankings and traffic.
7. Onsite Traffic Hubs have worked extremely well for me. These traffic hubs are whole sections of your site devoted to one sub-division of your major theme. For example, if you have a site on Gifts, then wedding gifts could be a separate section. This would be fully fleshed out with extensive pages covering everything dealing with wedding gifts - a self-contained keyword rich portion of your site on wedding gifts. Works similar as a sub-domain but I prefer using a directory to divide it up, such as yourdomain/wedding_gifts. (Most experts suggest always using a hyphen in your urls but underscores have worked fine for me.) Search engines love these keyword/content rich hubs but keep in mind you're creating content to first satisfy your visitors.
8. WordPress blog software is extremely effective for SEO purposes. WordPress software is easy to install on your site even if you have no experience with installing server-side scripts. Besides search engines love these highly SEO friendly blogs with their well structured content and keyword tagging. I have at least one of these on all my sites to draw in the search engines and get my content indexed and ranked. I also use Blogger (owned by Google), Bloglines and other free blogs to help distribute my content.
9. Social Bookmark/Media Sites are becoming very important on the web. These include a whole range of social sites like MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter... media news sites like Digg, SlashDot, Technorati... you must get your content into this whole mix if you want to take full SEO advantage of Web 2.0 sites. You should be joining these sites and using them. It's time consuming but it will keep you in the swing of things. One simple thing you must do is to put social bookmark buttons on all your pages so that your visitors can easily bookmark your content for you. You can use a WordPress plug-in or I like using a simple free site/service from Addthis.com which gives me a simple button to put on all my content.
10. Masterplan! Many webmasters and site owners forget to develop or have an overall masterplan/strategy when it comes to SEO. You must have an understanding of what SEO is and what it can do for you and your site. More importantly, you just don't want SEO - you want effective SEO. In order to achieve effective SEO you must have three things: Relevance, Authority and Conversions.
First, your content/site must be relevant to the topic or niche area you're pursuing - your content must fit in and be related to all the other sites in your niche. That's why closely themed sites do so well in the search engines, they give only relevant content to what's been searched for or discussed.
Second, your content/site must be perceived as an authority site on your subject or niche. Establish this authority position and the search engines will love you and your content. One way is to develop this authority, besides offering superior content, is to form links/partnerships with other perceived authority sites in your field. Always strive to make your site an authority site - tops in your niche - the one site everyone has to check before drawing or forming a conclusion.
Third, conversions should be your main goal of any SEO efforts because you want to convert your targeted traffic into site members, subscribers, buyers or just repeat visitors. If you're into online marketing, conversions will be the most important element of the whole SEO process because you want buyers, not just visitors coming to your site.
Most of all, you must convince yourself Search Engine Optimization is not difficult, nor is it the equivalent of the online bogeyman as many would like you to believe. Used effectively, SEO can give you the targeted traffic you're seeking, just follow some of the outlined steps/tactics listed above and you will have SEO working for you and your site in no time at all.
About the Author:
The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous websites. For the latest web marketing tools try: Internet Marketing Tools (http://www.bizwaremagic.com). If you liked the SEO tips above, why not try this Free 7 Day Traffic Course here: Internet Marketing Course Copyright (c) 2008 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
Copyright © 2008 Titus Hoskins
No matter how hard some people try to mystify SEO, it is not as complicated as many would lead you to believe. Despite all the techno jargon that many in the field will throw at you: SERPs, SEM, PageRank, Keyword Density, Vertical Search, Algorithms... SEO is really simple to do if you understand some basic concepts and follow some easy steps.
Search Engine Optimization is getting your content listed in all the top positions in Google, Yahoo and MSN for your targeted keywords. When someone does a keyword search in a search engine for your particular subject or niche - you want your site or content to be at the top of the list.
Here are 10 SEO tactics that have worked and are working for me at this moment in time. I make this clarification because you must understand search engines, especially Google, are constantly redefining how they rank pages. Here are my favorite tactics and strategies:
1. Quality Content is and always will be your number one factor for getting high rankings and keeping them. You must understand search engines are simply businesses who supply a product like any other company. That product is information. They must offer quality results to anyone using their service to solve a problem, answer a question or to buy a product. The more relevant, the more targeted the search solution they return, the higher the overall quality of their product and the more popular their search engine will become. Providing quality content is vital for SEO success.
2. Keywords are your number one tools for achieving high rankings. You must understand keywords and how they work on the web. You must know how many searches are made each day for your chosen keywords. Sites like Wordtracker and Seobook will give you a rudimentary number of searches. Design your pages around your targeted keywords and don't forget to do some deep-linking to these pages on your site. Find and build backlinks to these interior keyword pages and not just to your home page or domain URL. Picking keywords with medium to low competition has worked out well for me. So too has using the more targeted and higher converting "long-tail" keywords been very beneficial for me.
3. Onpage Factors and site design will play a major role in the spidering and indexing of your site/content. Make sure all your pages are SEO friendly, made sure all your pages can be reached from your homepage and no pages should be no more than three levels away from it - keeping a sitemap listing all your major pages makes the search engines happy. Make sure you have all your meta tags such as title, description, keywords... are all optimized. (Title = around 65 characters, Description = around 160 characters) Remember, your title and description should not only be keyword targeted but these are the first contact/impression anyone will see of your site - make sure you use them to draw and entice interested visitors to your site and content. Also make sure your title and URL are keyword matched for maximum effect. Having your major keyword in your Domain Name also helps, using a pike | to separate different elements of your title has helped my rankings, so too does having your keyword in the first and last 25 words on your pages.
4. Google will send you the most qualified traffic so concentrate the majority of your SEO efforts on Google. Don't ignore Yahoo! or MSN but Google is king of search so give it the respect it deserves. With its new browser, Google's influence will only grow stronger so you must optimize your pages for Google. Use Google's Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics to fine-tune your pages/content for Google. I also use Google Alerts to keep up on my niche keywords and for comment link-building on the newly created pages Google is indexing.
5. Link Building is still the most effective way to boost your search rankings. Make sure you get backlinks from relevant sites related to your niche market and make sure the 'anchor text' is related to your keywords but don't ignore the text and overall quality of the content linking to you. The anchor text is the underlined/clickable portion of a link. Don't forget linking is a two-way street, make sure you link out to high quality, high ranked relevant sites in your niche.
6. Article Marketing is a well established method of getting quality backlinks and it still works. Writing short 500 - 700 word informative helpful articles with your backlinks in the resource box is still very effective for getting targeted traffic and backlinks. Longer articles have also worked for me and I use an extensive network of distribution including SubmitYourArticle, Isnare, ThePhantomWriters... plus other major online sites. Don't forget the whole element of blogging and RSS feeds in your article distribution. And always remember you're also using these articles to pre-sale your content or products. Don't forget to leverage sites like Squidoo, Hubpages... to increase your rankings and traffic.
7. Onsite Traffic Hubs have worked extremely well for me. These traffic hubs are whole sections of your site devoted to one sub-division of your major theme. For example, if you have a site on Gifts, then wedding gifts could be a separate section. This would be fully fleshed out with extensive pages covering everything dealing with wedding gifts - a self-contained keyword rich portion of your site on wedding gifts. Works similar as a sub-domain but I prefer using a directory to divide it up, such as yourdomain/wedding_gifts. (Most experts suggest always using a hyphen in your urls but underscores have worked fine for me.) Search engines love these keyword/content rich hubs but keep in mind you're creating content to first satisfy your visitors.
8. WordPress blog software is extremely effective for SEO purposes. WordPress software is easy to install on your site even if you have no experience with installing server-side scripts. Besides search engines love these highly SEO friendly blogs with their well structured content and keyword tagging. I have at least one of these on all my sites to draw in the search engines and get my content indexed and ranked. I also use Blogger (owned by Google), Bloglines and other free blogs to help distribute my content.
9. Social Bookmark/Media Sites are becoming very important on the web. These include a whole range of social sites like MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter... media news sites like Digg, SlashDot, Technorati... you must get your content into this whole mix if you want to take full SEO advantage of Web 2.0 sites. You should be joining these sites and using them. It's time consuming but it will keep you in the swing of things. One simple thing you must do is to put social bookmark buttons on all your pages so that your visitors can easily bookmark your content for you. You can use a WordPress plug-in or I like using a simple free site/service from Addthis.com which gives me a simple button to put on all my content.
10. Masterplan! Many webmasters and site owners forget to develop or have an overall masterplan/strategy when it comes to SEO. You must have an understanding of what SEO is and what it can do for you and your site. More importantly, you just don't want SEO - you want effective SEO. In order to achieve effective SEO you must have three things: Relevance, Authority and Conversions.
First, your content/site must be relevant to the topic or niche area you're pursuing - your content must fit in and be related to all the other sites in your niche. That's why closely themed sites do so well in the search engines, they give only relevant content to what's been searched for or discussed.
Second, your content/site must be perceived as an authority site on your subject or niche. Establish this authority position and the search engines will love you and your content. One way is to develop this authority, besides offering superior content, is to form links/partnerships with other perceived authority sites in your field. Always strive to make your site an authority site - tops in your niche - the one site everyone has to check before drawing or forming a conclusion.
Third, conversions should be your main goal of any SEO efforts because you want to convert your targeted traffic into site members, subscribers, buyers or just repeat visitors. If you're into online marketing, conversions will be the most important element of the whole SEO process because you want buyers, not just visitors coming to your site.
Most of all, you must convince yourself Search Engine Optimization is not difficult, nor is it the equivalent of the online bogeyman as many would like you to believe. Used effectively, SEO can give you the targeted traffic you're seeking, just follow some of the outlined steps/tactics listed above and you will have SEO working for you and your site in no time at all.
About the Author:
The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous websites. For the latest web marketing tools try: Internet Marketing Tools (http://www.bizwaremagic.com). If you liked the SEO tips above, why not try this Free 7 Day Traffic Course here: Internet Marketing Course Copyright (c) 2008 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
Essential Sales Tips - Emotions Are the Key to Sales Success
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Larry Pinci and Phil Glosserman
What REALLY drives people to do business with you? You might think it's your expertise, product knowledge, great service, or even competitive pricing. Sure, all these factors are important, but in today's crowded marketplace they are not enough to distinguish you from the others who offer the same products or services as you.
The Number 1 Factor in Successful Selling
There is one powerful distinction in sales that gives certain professionals a profound advantage: Regardless of what you're selling, whether it's products, services or advice, people buy based on feelings. They decide to buy when they experience certain feelings about a product or service AND the person offering it.
Those who put this distinction into action consistently produce excellent results--they seem to be born with "the golden touch." On the other hand, those who don't know how to evoke feelings in the selling process constantly struggle with inconsistent or mediocre sales.
Your prospects may analyze the quality of your product, service, or price, but in the end, feelings are the juice that motivates them to decide whether to do business with you. If you already have great products and services and you want to take your sales to their true potential, you must "sell the feeling."
Most salespeople are aware that buyers are driven by emotions, but very few know how to evoke the right emotions intentionally. The so-called "natural-born salespeople," who consistently produce great results, are able to do so because they know how to 1) create great rapport with their buyers, and 2) reach them on a feeling level with respect to what they are selling.
The 3 Feelings that Motivate People to Do Business
Take a moment and recall a great sales experience where you were the customer or client. What made it great and what did you feel as you interacted with the person providing the product or service? More than likely, you felt the three feelings, universal to human experience, that people need in order to feel motivated to do business with someone:
Trust - People feel they can depend on you--that you mean what you say and you'll do what you say.
Confidence - They feel you have the goods, the know- how, the competence, and expertise to meet their needs.
A feeling of being taken care of - They feel you have their interests at heart and that you'll take care of them throughout the transaction, and beyond, if necessary.
In our Sell the Feeling sales seminars, we routinely ask attendees to tell us about their most positive experiences as a customer or client. Invariably, the experiences they recount were with a salesperson or provider who evoked the feelings of trust, confidence, and a feeling of being taken care of.
How to Sell the Feeling
We want to leave you with something that will help you get to the heart of the matter and sell the feeling. As soon as you use this it will start working--not in a week, a month, or a year--but right away!
Every salesperson worth his or her salt knows that questions are one of the most important tools in sales and are key to personalizing any sales conversation. However, most professionals only ask what we call "information questions"--the standard questions designed to find out what your buyer wants with regard to your product or service. Information questions are essential, but they rarely get to the heart of what motivates someone to buy.
In our book, http://www.sellthefeeling.com/>Sell the Feeling, we focus on three kinds of questions that evoke the feelings that motivate people to do business with you. One of these is what we call "emotional needs questions." These questions are designed to elicit the feelings your prospect anticipates having as a result of owning or using your product or service. When you address emotional needs, your prospect will feel trust, confidence, and care, at a level that goes way beyond what normally occurs in a typical sales conversation.
The most powerful emotional needs question is: "What's important to you in (or about) x?" For the x, you would substitute your product, service, or you as the provider. For example:
What's important to you in a car?
What's important to you in a computer service plan?
What's important to you in a financial adviser?
Since you are looking to evoke positive feelings, we recommend you tag on some language about the product or service that will trigger a more emotional response as your buyer considers your question:
What's important to you in a car that you would absolutely love?
What's important to you in a computer service plan that would be ideal for your company's needs?
What's important to you in a financial adviser who would be your first choice to work with?
It's important that you ask the emotional needs question BEFORE launching into any detailed description of your product or service. Once your buyer answers the question, you may want to ask, "What else is important?"
Finally, when you describe your offer, address the emotional needs the buyer has given you, using his or her words. These words are keyed into their emotions, and when you use them you will tap into what they want and need to feel in order to do business with you.
Remember: People buy based on feelings. Find out what they need--what's REALLY important to them--and sell the feeling!
Copyright 2008, Larry Pinci and Phil Glosserman
About the Author:
Larry Pinci and Phil Glosserman are business coaches and corporate sales trainers based in Los Angeles, California. They work with companies and individuals in a variety of industries throughout the U.S. Their book, Sell the Feeling: The 6-Step System that Drives People to Do Business with You, was awarded U.S. Book News Best Business/Sales book of 2007. Participants in their corporate sales and business referral-building seminars have seen their sales volume increase 24 to over 250 percent in just one year. For more information, go to http://www.sellthefeeling.com
Copyright © 2008 Larry Pinci and Phil Glosserman
What REALLY drives people to do business with you? You might think it's your expertise, product knowledge, great service, or even competitive pricing. Sure, all these factors are important, but in today's crowded marketplace they are not enough to distinguish you from the others who offer the same products or services as you.
The Number 1 Factor in Successful Selling
There is one powerful distinction in sales that gives certain professionals a profound advantage: Regardless of what you're selling, whether it's products, services or advice, people buy based on feelings. They decide to buy when they experience certain feelings about a product or service AND the person offering it.
Those who put this distinction into action consistently produce excellent results--they seem to be born with "the golden touch." On the other hand, those who don't know how to evoke feelings in the selling process constantly struggle with inconsistent or mediocre sales.
Your prospects may analyze the quality of your product, service, or price, but in the end, feelings are the juice that motivates them to decide whether to do business with you. If you already have great products and services and you want to take your sales to their true potential, you must "sell the feeling."
Most salespeople are aware that buyers are driven by emotions, but very few know how to evoke the right emotions intentionally. The so-called "natural-born salespeople," who consistently produce great results, are able to do so because they know how to 1) create great rapport with their buyers, and 2) reach them on a feeling level with respect to what they are selling.
The 3 Feelings that Motivate People to Do Business
Take a moment and recall a great sales experience where you were the customer or client. What made it great and what did you feel as you interacted with the person providing the product or service? More than likely, you felt the three feelings, universal to human experience, that people need in order to feel motivated to do business with someone:
In our Sell the Feeling sales seminars, we routinely ask attendees to tell us about their most positive experiences as a customer or client. Invariably, the experiences they recount were with a salesperson or provider who evoked the feelings of trust, confidence, and a feeling of being taken care of.
How to Sell the Feeling
We want to leave you with something that will help you get to the heart of the matter and sell the feeling. As soon as you use this it will start working--not in a week, a month, or a year--but right away!
Every salesperson worth his or her salt knows that questions are one of the most important tools in sales and are key to personalizing any sales conversation. However, most professionals only ask what we call "information questions"--the standard questions designed to find out what your buyer wants with regard to your product or service. Information questions are essential, but they rarely get to the heart of what motivates someone to buy.
In our book, http://www.sellthefeeling.com/>Sell the Feeling, we focus on three kinds of questions that evoke the feelings that motivate people to do business with you. One of these is what we call "emotional needs questions." These questions are designed to elicit the feelings your prospect anticipates having as a result of owning or using your product or service. When you address emotional needs, your prospect will feel trust, confidence, and care, at a level that goes way beyond what normally occurs in a typical sales conversation.
The most powerful emotional needs question is: "What's important to you in (or about) x?" For the x, you would substitute your product, service, or you as the provider. For example:
Since you are looking to evoke positive feelings, we recommend you tag on some language about the product or service that will trigger a more emotional response as your buyer considers your question:
It's important that you ask the emotional needs question BEFORE launching into any detailed description of your product or service. Once your buyer answers the question, you may want to ask, "What else is important?"
Finally, when you describe your offer, address the emotional needs the buyer has given you, using his or her words. These words are keyed into their emotions, and when you use them you will tap into what they want and need to feel in order to do business with you.
Remember: People buy based on feelings. Find out what they need--what's REALLY important to them--and sell the feeling!
Copyright 2008, Larry Pinci and Phil Glosserman
About the Author:
Larry Pinci and Phil Glosserman are business coaches and corporate sales trainers based in Los Angeles, California. They work with companies and individuals in a variety of industries throughout the U.S. Their book, Sell the Feeling: The 6-Step System that Drives People to Do Business with You, was awarded U.S. Book News Best Business/Sales book of 2007. Participants in their corporate sales and business referral-building seminars have seen their sales volume increase 24 to over 250 percent in just one year. For more information, go to http://www.sellthefeeling.com
Can Branding Ever Be Heart Centered?
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Mark Silver
Sometimes the world delivers up vocabulary words that are just plain wrong. Painfully wrong. Words like "branding," which the world of marketing seems to love, but regular folks and cows just seem to hate.
And it's because of how branding has often been used. Companies have done psychological studies on how to craft an environment that gets you to react in the way they want you to. It's like herding cattle into the searing-hot iron--ouch.
Of course you don't want to use branding. Why would you ever want to do THAT?
Is There Anything Redeeming About Branding?
When you take the manipulation out of it, branding isn't that bad. It's just a poor word choice to describe this: how a person experiences your business. And, it can be powerful. Let me give you an example.
After last year's Path to Profitability Retreat, we were discussing Starbucks in our marketing class. Starbucks which, despite recent stumbles, grew 14,000% in ten years. Yes, that's not a typo--fourteen thousand percent.
What's more, one of my clients admitted to preferring Starbucks over another coffee shop, even though she didn't really like Starbucks' coffee that much.
Shock. Amazement. She knowingly spent a couple hundred dollars a year at Starbucks, even though she didn't really like Starbucks' main product.
Why Such an Irrational Choice?
One word: "home." Home? Yup, home. My client said that she preferred the "homey-ness" of Starbucks, how comfortable and dependable it was compared to this other place.
That is to say, you can be great at whatever it is you do, and clients that love what you offer may still avoid you. Huh? That doesn't seem to make any sense. But it does if you understand branding.
But let's not call it "branding." Some macho, "business is war and war is hell," person must've picked that word to describe what is, essentially, the job of a gracious host(ess). No need to be flinging the stuffed olives and salmon croquettes at anyone. Let's pick a different word.
Let's Call It "Worldview"
When you are in the business of making things better for people, no matter how you do it, you are helping to presence, to bring into being, a better version of the world. More love. More peace. More effectiveness. More connection.
Accounting, real estate, naturopathic medicine, consulting--whatever you do, you're presencing a world.
So, it's a good idea if all parts of your business help to presence that world. If the look, feel and how you deliver your invoices has a similar effect on your clients as your healing work, your world feels congruent to them, and they can fully rest into it.
When this happens, people feel safe. They feel at home. They feel as if they are stepping into the better world they are striving toward.
This is why you want to be clear about your worldview, and apply it to all aspects of your business. Because every single aspect of your business can be healing, and can play a part in supporting your clients.
If this seems abstract, let's take a look at how this would work for you.
Keys to Applying Your Worldview
How do your clients feel when they've gotten your best work?
When you are in the zone and you are delivering great work to your clients, how do they feel? What are some of the words they use to describe that feeling? Calm? Inspired? Jazzed? Rested? Relieved?
Identify three or four words like that.
What's the opposite of your best work?
Pick some aspect of your business that you avoid, dislike, or that just feels troublesome, which also touches your clients. For instance, billing, setting appointments, or your website.
What don't you like about it? What are the three or four words you would choose to describe your experience with it?
Transform the worst into the best.
Now, time to presto-chango shine up that troublesome part with the qualities of your best work. Should your invoices be on cool paper, with a fun font and graphic, and use friendly language? Should the door to your office be decorated differently? Would it be a good idea to replace that utilitarian notepad with something that reflects the better world?
Starbucks pays extreme attention to the decor in order to create that "homey" feel my client likes so much, and that attention to detail has skyrocketed their business. You may not be dreaming of 14,000% growth, or world domination (hopefully not), but the lessons here are real.
Pick one aspect of your business' world at a time, and step-by-step transform it so that every part of you and your clients' experience is helping to presence the world you are wanting to live in. Your clients will love it, feel safe and come back.
The best of my business to you and your business,
Mark Silver
About the Author:
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your Business: How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line. He has helped hundreds of small business owners around the globe succeed in business without losing their hearts. Get three free chapters of the book online: http://www.heartofbusiness.com
Copyright © 2008 Mark Silver
Sometimes the world delivers up vocabulary words that are just plain wrong. Painfully wrong. Words like "branding," which the world of marketing seems to love, but regular folks and cows just seem to hate.
And it's because of how branding has often been used. Companies have done psychological studies on how to craft an environment that gets you to react in the way they want you to. It's like herding cattle into the searing-hot iron--ouch.
Of course you don't want to use branding. Why would you ever want to do THAT?
Is There Anything Redeeming About Branding?
When you take the manipulation out of it, branding isn't that bad. It's just a poor word choice to describe this: how a person experiences your business. And, it can be powerful. Let me give you an example.
After last year's Path to Profitability Retreat, we were discussing Starbucks in our marketing class. Starbucks which, despite recent stumbles, grew 14,000% in ten years. Yes, that's not a typo--fourteen thousand percent.
What's more, one of my clients admitted to preferring Starbucks over another coffee shop, even though she didn't really like Starbucks' coffee that much.
Shock. Amazement. She knowingly spent a couple hundred dollars a year at Starbucks, even though she didn't really like Starbucks' main product.
Why Such an Irrational Choice?
One word: "home." Home? Yup, home. My client said that she preferred the "homey-ness" of Starbucks, how comfortable and dependable it was compared to this other place.
That is to say, you can be great at whatever it is you do, and clients that love what you offer may still avoid you. Huh? That doesn't seem to make any sense. But it does if you understand branding.
But let's not call it "branding." Some macho, "business is war and war is hell," person must've picked that word to describe what is, essentially, the job of a gracious host(ess). No need to be flinging the stuffed olives and salmon croquettes at anyone. Let's pick a different word.
Let's Call It "Worldview"
When you are in the business of making things better for people, no matter how you do it, you are helping to presence, to bring into being, a better version of the world. More love. More peace. More effectiveness. More connection.
Accounting, real estate, naturopathic medicine, consulting--whatever you do, you're presencing a world.
So, it's a good idea if all parts of your business help to presence that world. If the look, feel and how you deliver your invoices has a similar effect on your clients as your healing work, your world feels congruent to them, and they can fully rest into it.
When this happens, people feel safe. They feel at home. They feel as if they are stepping into the better world they are striving toward.
This is why you want to be clear about your worldview, and apply it to all aspects of your business. Because every single aspect of your business can be healing, and can play a part in supporting your clients.
If this seems abstract, let's take a look at how this would work for you.
Keys to Applying Your Worldview
When you are in the zone and you are delivering great work to your clients, how do they feel? What are some of the words they use to describe that feeling? Calm? Inspired? Jazzed? Rested? Relieved?
Identify three or four words like that.
Pick some aspect of your business that you avoid, dislike, or that just feels troublesome, which also touches your clients. For instance, billing, setting appointments, or your website.
What don't you like about it? What are the three or four words you would choose to describe your experience with it?
Now, time to presto-chango shine up that troublesome part with the qualities of your best work. Should your invoices be on cool paper, with a fun font and graphic, and use friendly language? Should the door to your office be decorated differently? Would it be a good idea to replace that utilitarian notepad with something that reflects the better world?
Starbucks pays extreme attention to the decor in order to create that "homey" feel my client likes so much, and that attention to detail has skyrocketed their business. You may not be dreaming of 14,000% growth, or world domination (hopefully not), but the lessons here are real.
Pick one aspect of your business' world at a time, and step-by-step transform it so that every part of you and your clients' experience is helping to presence the world you are wanting to live in. Your clients will love it, feel safe and come back.
The best of my business to you and your business,
Mark Silver
About the Author:
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your Business: How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line. He has helped hundreds of small business owners around the globe succeed in business without losing their hearts. Get three free chapters of the book online: http://www.heartofbusiness.com
Several Ways to Optimize and Tweak Your Expired Domains
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 John Khu
Trading and dealing with expired domains offers several opportunities to make decent income online. It is no wonder people call this business as online realty because of its exciting business concept. Talking about expired domain business is just like dealing with those premium properties in a big city filled to brim with fiercely competing realtors. Experienced realtors have the habit of promoting and advertizing their premium properties in an efficient manner so as to make them saleable at equally premium prices. Expired domain industry is almost similar to a real estate industry where you will be competing with thousands of competitors to sell your expired domain names.
Along with those magnificent expired domains and their superb opportunities, you can also use the exciting search engine marketing techniques to optimize and tweak your expired domain names as well. Right now, every domain marketer has a limited availability of 21 top level domain names to choose from; .com, .net, .biz, .org and .info are some of the most famous top level domains in the expired domain name industry.
Expired domain traders choose to buy domain names that can yield better online profits. However, buying such domains could be a lucky affair because of the uncertainties and imponderables involved in the business. Keyword enriched domain names are the most desirable names that can offer you a number of benefits while combining a newly purchased domain name with an efficient search engine optimization (SEO) technique will help you launch the domain to very high search engine ranking.
All search engines simply love and adore keyword rich domain names because seeking to find a precise keyword in a domain seems to a very firm indicator of the domain
's usefulness and relevance to a search command. When you flip your expired domains by making them relevant to search engines and later supplement high quality inbound traffic and links, then it is possible to sell your domains at a very high and premium price.
Simply speaking, keyword enriched domain names and the actual URL paths may not relate to each other. But careful tweaking of these parameters will help you achieve better organic ranking on top search engines like Yahoo and Google.
For example: When you search for keywords like "fresh flowers" on the major search engines, you may reach
www.proflowers.com on both Yahoo and Google, both returning the top raking for the site. Obviously, there is a visible tweak carried out here to make the site appear on top of the search engines.
If you own non-keyword optimized expired domains, you can still tweak it for better rankings by supplementing a number of keyword enriched page names. For example, a simple search on Google for search words. "Diabetes cure" will take you to pages like
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/Diabetes-Cure.html or http://www.diabetes.org/for-parents-and-kids/what-is-diabetes/cure.jsp
Incidentally, both of these pages sit on top of the search engines to reach prospective customers within no time. Using these techniques, you can build an inventory of highly useful expired domains that can provide you a chance to earn very decent income. Let us assume that you have plans to build an inventory of expired domain names over a niche keyword like "fresh flowers". It is easy to find useful domains centering on this keyword. Some of the useful keywords could be:
Fresh garden flowers
Fresh annual flowers
Fresh roses
Fresh flower boutique
The major benefit of enriching your expired domains with useful keywords is the branding ability and capacity to reach top of major search engines.
About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.
Copyright © 2008 John Khu
Trading and dealing with expired domains offers several opportunities to make decent income online. It is no wonder people call this business as online realty because of its exciting business concept. Talking about expired domain business is just like dealing with those premium properties in a big city filled to brim with fiercely competing realtors. Experienced realtors have the habit of promoting and advertizing their premium properties in an efficient manner so as to make them saleable at equally premium prices. Expired domain industry is almost similar to a real estate industry where you will be competing with thousands of competitors to sell your expired domain names.
Along with those magnificent expired domains and their superb opportunities, you can also use the exciting search engine marketing techniques to optimize and tweak your expired domain names as well. Right now, every domain marketer has a limited availability of 21 top level domain names to choose from; .com, .net, .biz, .org and .info are some of the most famous top level domains in the expired domain name industry.
Expired domain traders choose to buy domain names that can yield better online profits. However, buying such domains could be a lucky affair because of the uncertainties and imponderables involved in the business. Keyword enriched domain names are the most desirable names that can offer you a number of benefits while combining a newly purchased domain name with an efficient search engine optimization (SEO) technique will help you launch the domain to very high search engine ranking.
All search engines simply love and adore keyword rich domain names because seeking to find a precise keyword in a domain seems to a very firm indicator of the domain
's usefulness and relevance to a search command. When you flip your expired domains by making them relevant to search engines and later supplement high quality inbound traffic and links, then it is possible to sell your domains at a very high and premium price.
Simply speaking, keyword enriched domain names and the actual URL paths may not relate to each other. But careful tweaking of these parameters will help you achieve better organic ranking on top search engines like Yahoo and Google.
For example: When you search for keywords like "fresh flowers" on the major search engines, you may reach
www.proflowers.com on both Yahoo and Google, both returning the top raking for the site. Obviously, there is a visible tweak carried out here to make the site appear on top of the search engines.
If you own non-keyword optimized expired domains, you can still tweak it for better rankings by supplementing a number of keyword enriched page names. For example, a simple search on Google for search words. "Diabetes cure" will take you to pages like
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/Diabetes-Cure.html or http://www.diabetes.org/for-parents-and-kids/what-is-diabetes/cure.jsp
Incidentally, both of these pages sit on top of the search engines to reach prospective customers within no time. Using these techniques, you can build an inventory of highly useful expired domains that can provide you a chance to earn very decent income. Let us assume that you have plans to build an inventory of expired domain names over a niche keyword like "fresh flowers". It is easy to find useful domains centering on this keyword. Some of the useful keywords could be:
Fresh garden flowers
Fresh annual flowers
Fresh roses
Fresh flower boutique
The major benefit of enriching your expired domains with useful keywords is the branding ability and capacity to reach top of major search engines.
About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.
How Anyone Can Actually Build A Six-Figure Income
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Willie Crawford
At a recent job fair, I watched an endless procession of retiring military personnel, and contract civilian employees, parade past a dozen employers. Many of them filled out applications and handed them in to several of the bigger employers.
Many of them also talked to me, and I explained that when I retired from the military, I stepped right into a six-figure job that I had created, which has since grown into a seven-figure income.
The six-figure salary range was something a few of them "dared" dream of, but most saw it as impossible.
To an Internet marketer who understands the power of residual income, I know that earning six-figures per year only takes putting forth the effort to find fewer than 200 customers.
My secret is simply that I market items that offer a residual income. An example is the all-in-one video, audio, article, and press release submission service at http://EasyPushButtonTraffic.info
This service sells for $97 per month, and I earn 50% commission. To earn six-figures per year from that, I need a mere 172 customers (172 customers x $48.50 per month commission X 12 month = $100,104). If I gave myself a year to get those 172 customers that would equate to me just needing to find one customers every two days... with a few "fishing days" built in.
Given a quality product, any Internet marketer who couldn't find one customer every two day isn't really trying. Given a quality product, finding one customer every two days can be as simple as:
- Writing and submitting a few articles on the problems that the service solves.
- Creating and submitting videos on the problems that the service solves. Let those videos actually show you using the product to solve the problem. Nothing sells like proof that they can watch unfolding!
- Doing a press release on the problems that the service solves... pointing out a new and exciting solution.
- Visiting discussion forums where your ideal customers hang out, and just engaging in conversation, but posting links to the product that you're promoting in your signature files.
- Writing short reports (ebooks) on the problems that your service solves, spending a lot of time explaining why the readers really DO want to solve the problem, and then pointing out that your product is the perfect solution.
- Creating a blog on the topic of the problem that your product solves, and then frequently discussing the problem, your product, and people who have benefited from using your product.
- Writing articles and ebooks on related topics such as time management, website traffic generation, branding, marketing a product, etc., and in the articles and ebooks explain how your product is ideal for solving problems related to those topics.
As you can see, making one sale every two days is as simple as getting rid of all of your excuses, and then getting into action.
Yes, you do have to take actions that produce results, but most people running affiliate programs will even share with you what has proven to work best in promoting their products.
I actually market SEVERAL products that provide me with a six-figure annual income. These are all products that pay a residual income... products such as my shopping cart system, web hosting, and the video submission service mentioned earlier.
Getting back to those soldiers that I mentioned at the beginning of this article. ANY of them could easily take the product at http://EasyPushButtonTraffic.info and build a six-figure income.
I say that because I am a product of the same training that they've had. I know that they have the discipline, tenacity, perseverance, and resourcefulness to accomplish some very difficult jobs. Getting in front of one customer every two days, who is ready to buy, should be child's play to them :-)
Anyway, I've just shown you how anyone can actually build a six-figure income if they are willing to just drop the excuses and implement a simple plan already laid out for them. The only thing really stopping most people is that "very natural" 4-letter word... F-E-A-R.
We all have it. That's why many of us prefer working for others and letting the company assume the risk. Many of us also have courage though, which I define as nothing more than the ability to take action despite the fear!
Fear paralyzes many of us. Taking action lets us walk though that fear, and then look back and see that it has vaporized.
If you're ready to take action, and walk through your fears... instead of selling Internet marketing products that offer a one-time commission, consider the wisdom in offering the ones that pay a residual commission.
Remember that a $48.50 commission per month, times 172 customers, equals $100,104 per year. By the way if you'd like to market that specific product, sign up at: http://easypushbuttontraffic.com/epbtaffiliatepage.html
If you are just interested in using the product, then don't register as an affiliate since you CAN'T earn a commission on sales that you make to yourself. Allowing that wouldn't be fair to people who actually want to go out and build that six-figure business.
I HAVE just shown you how easy it really is. If you "hang out" with me at seminars and conferences, I could prove to you that I do this all of the time. However, this isn't about me, it's about whether you're ready enough to take the necessary action.
"It's decision time, soldier!"
About the Author:
Willie Crawford has been marketing over the Internet for 12 years. During that time, he has written over 1100 articles. Recently he has added multi-media and more press release to his marketing mix, with very notable results. Willie now loves, and highly recommends Easy Pushbutton Traffic at: http://EasyPushButtonTraffic.info
Copyright © 2008 Willie Crawford
At a recent job fair, I watched an endless procession of retiring military personnel, and contract civilian employees, parade past a dozen employers. Many of them filled out applications and handed them in to several of the bigger employers.
Many of them also talked to me, and I explained that when I retired from the military, I stepped right into a six-figure job that I had created, which has since grown into a seven-figure income.
The six-figure salary range was something a few of them "dared" dream of, but most saw it as impossible.
To an Internet marketer who understands the power of residual income, I know that earning six-figures per year only takes putting forth the effort to find fewer than 200 customers.
My secret is simply that I market items that offer a residual income. An example is the all-in-one video, audio, article, and press release submission service at http://EasyPushButtonTraffic.info
This service sells for $97 per month, and I earn 50% commission. To earn six-figures per year from that, I need a mere 172 customers (172 customers x $48.50 per month commission X 12 month = $100,104). If I gave myself a year to get those 172 customers that would equate to me just needing to find one customers every two days... with a few "fishing days" built in.
Given a quality product, any Internet marketer who couldn't find one customer every two day isn't really trying. Given a quality product, finding one customer every two days can be as simple as:
- Writing and submitting a few articles on the problems that the service solves.
- Creating and submitting videos on the problems that the service solves. Let those videos actually show you using the product to solve the problem. Nothing sells like proof that they can watch unfolding!
- Doing a press release on the problems that the service solves... pointing out a new and exciting solution.
- Visiting discussion forums where your ideal customers hang out, and just engaging in conversation, but posting links to the product that you're promoting in your signature files.
- Writing short reports (ebooks) on the problems that your service solves, spending a lot of time explaining why the readers really DO want to solve the problem, and then pointing out that your product is the perfect solution.
- Creating a blog on the topic of the problem that your product solves, and then frequently discussing the problem, your product, and people who have benefited from using your product.
- Writing articles and ebooks on related topics such as time management, website traffic generation, branding, marketing a product, etc., and in the articles and ebooks explain how your product is ideal for solving problems related to those topics.
As you can see, making one sale every two days is as simple as getting rid of all of your excuses, and then getting into action.
Yes, you do have to take actions that produce results, but most people running affiliate programs will even share with you what has proven to work best in promoting their products.
I actually market SEVERAL products that provide me with a six-figure annual income. These are all products that pay a residual income... products such as my shopping cart system, web hosting, and the video submission service mentioned earlier.
Getting back to those soldiers that I mentioned at the beginning of this article. ANY of them could easily take the product at http://EasyPushButtonTraffic.info and build a six-figure income.
I say that because I am a product of the same training that they've had. I know that they have the discipline, tenacity, perseverance, and resourcefulness to accomplish some very difficult jobs. Getting in front of one customer every two days, who is ready to buy, should be child's play to them :-)
Anyway, I've just shown you how anyone can actually build a six-figure income if they are willing to just drop the excuses and implement a simple plan already laid out for them. The only thing really stopping most people is that "very natural" 4-letter word... F-E-A-R.
We all have it. That's why many of us prefer working for others and letting the company assume the risk. Many of us also have courage though, which I define as nothing more than the ability to take action despite the fear!
Fear paralyzes many of us. Taking action lets us walk though that fear, and then look back and see that it has vaporized.
If you're ready to take action, and walk through your fears... instead of selling Internet marketing products that offer a one-time commission, consider the wisdom in offering the ones that pay a residual commission.
Remember that a $48.50 commission per month, times 172 customers, equals $100,104 per year. By the way if you'd like to market that specific product, sign up at: http://easypushbuttontraffic.com/epbtaffiliatepage.html
If you are just interested in using the product, then don't register as an affiliate since you CAN'T earn a commission on sales that you make to yourself. Allowing that wouldn't be fair to people who actually want to go out and build that six-figure business.
I HAVE just shown you how easy it really is. If you "hang out" with me at seminars and conferences, I could prove to you that I do this all of the time. However, this isn't about me, it's about whether you're ready enough to take the necessary action.
"It's decision time, soldier!"
About the Author:
Willie Crawford has been marketing over the Internet for 12 years. During that time, he has written over 1100 articles. Recently he has added multi-media and more press release to his marketing mix, with very notable results. Willie now loves, and highly recommends Easy Pushbutton Traffic at: http://EasyPushButtonTraffic.info
How to Attend TV Show Tapings
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2007-2008 Jordan McAuley
Celebrities are the most accessible, oddly enough, when they're at work. If you're a Jon Stewart fan and you show up at his favorite deli while he's eating, chances are you're probably going to disturb him. But if you get tickets to a taping of The Daily Show that he hosts in New York City, your chance of shaking his hand and getting him to sign something is much better.
The stars who work in live television depend on the audience to help them do their job. For sitcoms, the audience provides the laugh track. If the audience doesn't laugh at a joke, the writers will scramble to modify it or come up with a new one. So when you watch a television sitcom like "Friends," you're hearing the actual audience laugh that was at the taping that day and know that they had some input into the final version as well. For late night shows like Stewart's, the host needs you to laugh at his jokes or he'll be left high and dry on national TV. And on talk shows like "Ellen" and "Oprah," the host and producers need to be able to feel out the audience so they know what's working or not working.
Most TV shows that have a live audience also have a "warm-up guy" whose job is to tell a few jokes, lay out the ground rules, maybe do some audience participation and get everyone in the studio totally warmed up for the show. If there's a delay or a break in shooting, this guy has to keep things going so the audience doesn't get bored and leave. He's also your best bet to get to the on-screen talent and sometimes will even bring a star up to the audience section.
Some stars will hang around after and talk to the audience one on one. Some won't, but the warm-up guy will talk to anyone, and if you can make him feel important, he can quite often help you get to the people you really want to get to.
Don't ask the producer if you can go backstage--he'll say no. Don't ask an intern if he can get something signed--he'll say no. But that warm-up guy is usually working so hard (and is maybe even a little annoyed that he's not the star of the show) that you can sometimes get him to do you a favor if you play your cards right.
TV show taping tickets do not cost money, except for special circumstances like concerts, awards shows and sporting events. Sitcom tapings and game shows are free of charge. Often the audience will be much small than you expected ("The Daily Show" seats maybe 100 people) while half the audience noise in a "Wheel of Fortune" taping is from the crew itself.
The peak television production season is generally August through March for most of the major networks. These include ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, UPN, WB, TNN, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. Situation comedies, reality specials and game shows are the ones most likely to require a live audience since dramas don't require audience interaction. Remember that a TV show taping is not a quick prospect. You're not there for just the half hour you see during the final product. You've got to be there early, you've got to sit around while things are getting set up, you've got to go through the "warm up" then the cast will likely do one rehearsal from start to finish. Then they'll film several takes for each scene so the editors have plenty of options. This can take a long time (often up to eight hours) and they're not going to serve lunch or dinner partway through (although of course the actors can eat all they want from the catering table backstage...and often come out on stage eating to rub in the fact that they're eating and you can't). But it's still fun. Just make sure to eat before you go in, make sure to use the restroom before you take your seat, and turn off your cell phone!
Often the funniest part of a live TV taping isn't the acting itself, it's what goes on behind the scenes. If an actor is making a joke, the actors off camera will often react to what he or she is saying in an unexpected way. People will crack up, others will adlib, shots will get messed up and have to be repeated. It's an interesting look at what goes on behind the scenes of television, even if you don't get to meet the star of the show.
To get a ticket, see the resources below. You normally have to make reservations for popular shows months in advance because they fill up quickly. If all else fails, you can sometimes find studio workers handing out tickets in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard (where the famous handprints are) and in front of the Hollywood and Highland shopping complex next door.
Once you have your ticket, the rules are simple--applaud when you're told to, laugh when you think something is funny, don't yell out at random times, don't curse, don't disrupt other people around you, stay seated until the end of the show (toilet breaks come before the show, not during) and don't take photographs.
Remember, if a scene has to be redone, you're going to have to laugh all over again. Know going in that this isn't so much about your entertainment as it is your assistance in putting together a good show. If you get bored easily by repetition or having to sit for a long period of time, attending a live TV taping probably isn't for you. On the other hand, if you enjoy watching how television shows are created and don't mind following the rules, you'll have a lot of fun, learn a lot, and maybe even get to meet (or at least watch for a long time) your favorite star!
To Attend TV Show Tapings:
ABC Network Live Shows
212-456-7771
netaudr@abc.com
Audiences for most ABC shows are handled by an outside entity, but they can direct you to who you need to talk to via the information above.
CBS Network Live Shows
212-975-2476 (New York)
323-575-2458 (Los Angeles)
To get tickets for a CBS show by mail, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:
CBS Tickets
7800 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90036
NBC Network Live Shows
212-664-3056 (New York)
818-954-6000 (Los Angeles)
Tickets for NBC shows with a live audience are normally not available through NBC. You can, however, find tickets for many of their shows at http://www.TVTickets.com which is run by Audiences Unlimited, Inc. and not affiliated with NBC.
To Attend TV Show Tapings in Los Angeles:
Audience Associates
323-653-4105 or 323-467-4697
tvtix@tvtix.com or groups@tvtix.com
Audience Associates regularly recruits for crowd scenes in movies. Web site reservations are given the highest priority.
Audiences Unlimited
100 Universal City Plaza
Building 153
Universal City, CA 91608
818-753-3470
tickets@audiencesunlimited.com
Audiences Unlimited Web site includes show schedules, previews, show changes, studio maps and more.
CBS Studio City Tickets
7800 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Free tickets to live tapings of CBS TV shows can be acquired at CBS' ticket window on the west side of CBS TV City facing Fairfax. The ticket window is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., although it is sometimes open on the weekend if a show is being taped then. For tickets by mail, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the address above.
HollywoodTickets.com
818-688-3974
tickets@hollywoodtickets.com
This Web site allows you to print your own TV taping tickets off on the Web site and also allows you to browse TV taping line-ups so you can find the best shows to fit your schedule.
Paramount Show Tickets
323-956-5000 (General)
323-956-5575 (Information)
323-956-1777 (Reservations)
To Attend TV Show Tapings in New York City:
Good Morning America
If you want to watch Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson do their thing, call 212-580-5176 or just turn up weekday mornings to Times Square at 44th Street and Broadway, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Saturday Night Live
Ticket requests are only handled in August and are given out in a lottery system. Send a postcard with your name, address and phone number, as well as the number of tickets to:
NBC Tickets
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
Standby tickets are available from 9 a.m. every Saturday at the GE Building. These are given on a first-come, first-served basis and are strictly limited to one per person.
Today Show
Just show up between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. at 49th Street and Rockefeller Plaza if you'd like to get on the "Today Show." It will probably help your chances if you dress like a chicken, have a cute child in your arms, or construct a twelve foot sign that says "Kansas Loves Al!"
TRL
Call one month before the show you want to attend by calling 212-398-8549. Alternatively, try going on a standby ticket by arriving at 2 p.m. or earlier at MTV Studios, 1515 Broadway at 43rd Street. Young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 are preferred by the producers.
To Attend Talk Shows in the U.K.
BBC
The BBC is always looking for people to take an active part in their game shows, comedy audiences, and even documentaries. More information can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/whatson/beonashow. For free tickets to BBC TV and radio shows to http://www.bbc.co.uk/whatson/tickets
TV Recordings
If it's shot in London, you can probably get tickets at this Web site. Registration is required.
BeOn Screen
Search BeOn's directory of TV programs and register for email updates. This site is also used as a resource for TV producers who often place ads for the projects on this site.
More TV Show Taping Resources:
Audience Associates
On Camera Audiences
Studio Audiences
This site brings together a whole bunch of other Web site's information together in one place. You can find the contact information for any show right here.
New York TV Show Tickets, Inc.
This site lists New York television shows as well as discount Broadway tickets, starving artist tickets, secret discount codes, TV locations and city tours.
About the Author:
Jordan McAuley is the author of The Celebrity Black Book and the Founder of http://www.ContactAnyCelebrity.com located in West Hollywood, California. His exclusive online database provides accurate celebrity contact information including the best mailing address, agent, manager, publicist, production company, and charitable cause for over 54,000 celebrities and public figures worldwide to fans, businesses, authors, nonprofits, and the media. Affiliate Program at http://www.contactanycelebrity.com/affiliates and earn 50% monthly recurring commissions!
Copyright © 2007-2008 Jordan McAuley
Celebrities are the most accessible, oddly enough, when they're at work. If you're a Jon Stewart fan and you show up at his favorite deli while he's eating, chances are you're probably going to disturb him. But if you get tickets to a taping of The Daily Show that he hosts in New York City, your chance of shaking his hand and getting him to sign something is much better.
The stars who work in live television depend on the audience to help them do their job. For sitcoms, the audience provides the laugh track. If the audience doesn't laugh at a joke, the writers will scramble to modify it or come up with a new one. So when you watch a television sitcom like "Friends," you're hearing the actual audience laugh that was at the taping that day and know that they had some input into the final version as well. For late night shows like Stewart's, the host needs you to laugh at his jokes or he'll be left high and dry on national TV. And on talk shows like "Ellen" and "Oprah," the host and producers need to be able to feel out the audience so they know what's working or not working.
Most TV shows that have a live audience also have a "warm-up guy" whose job is to tell a few jokes, lay out the ground rules, maybe do some audience participation and get everyone in the studio totally warmed up for the show. If there's a delay or a break in shooting, this guy has to keep things going so the audience doesn't get bored and leave. He's also your best bet to get to the on-screen talent and sometimes will even bring a star up to the audience section.
Some stars will hang around after and talk to the audience one on one. Some won't, but the warm-up guy will talk to anyone, and if you can make him feel important, he can quite often help you get to the people you really want to get to.
Don't ask the producer if you can go backstage--he'll say no. Don't ask an intern if he can get something signed--he'll say no. But that warm-up guy is usually working so hard (and is maybe even a little annoyed that he's not the star of the show) that you can sometimes get him to do you a favor if you play your cards right.
TV show taping tickets do not cost money, except for special circumstances like concerts, awards shows and sporting events. Sitcom tapings and game shows are free of charge. Often the audience will be much small than you expected ("The Daily Show" seats maybe 100 people) while half the audience noise in a "Wheel of Fortune" taping is from the crew itself.
The peak television production season is generally August through March for most of the major networks. These include ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, UPN, WB, TNN, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. Situation comedies, reality specials and game shows are the ones most likely to require a live audience since dramas don't require audience interaction. Remember that a TV show taping is not a quick prospect. You're not there for just the half hour you see during the final product. You've got to be there early, you've got to sit around while things are getting set up, you've got to go through the "warm up" then the cast will likely do one rehearsal from start to finish. Then they'll film several takes for each scene so the editors have plenty of options. This can take a long time (often up to eight hours) and they're not going to serve lunch or dinner partway through (although of course the actors can eat all they want from the catering table backstage...and often come out on stage eating to rub in the fact that they're eating and you can't). But it's still fun. Just make sure to eat before you go in, make sure to use the restroom before you take your seat, and turn off your cell phone!
Often the funniest part of a live TV taping isn't the acting itself, it's what goes on behind the scenes. If an actor is making a joke, the actors off camera will often react to what he or she is saying in an unexpected way. People will crack up, others will adlib, shots will get messed up and have to be repeated. It's an interesting look at what goes on behind the scenes of television, even if you don't get to meet the star of the show.
To get a ticket, see the resources below. You normally have to make reservations for popular shows months in advance because they fill up quickly. If all else fails, you can sometimes find studio workers handing out tickets in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard (where the famous handprints are) and in front of the Hollywood and Highland shopping complex next door.
Once you have your ticket, the rules are simple--applaud when you're told to, laugh when you think something is funny, don't yell out at random times, don't curse, don't disrupt other people around you, stay seated until the end of the show (toilet breaks come before the show, not during) and don't take photographs.
Remember, if a scene has to be redone, you're going to have to laugh all over again. Know going in that this isn't so much about your entertainment as it is your assistance in putting together a good show. If you get bored easily by repetition or having to sit for a long period of time, attending a live TV taping probably isn't for you. On the other hand, if you enjoy watching how television shows are created and don't mind following the rules, you'll have a lot of fun, learn a lot, and maybe even get to meet (or at least watch for a long time) your favorite star!
To Attend TV Show Tapings:
ABC Network Live Shows
212-456-7771
netaudr@abc.com
Audiences for most ABC shows are handled by an outside entity, but they can direct you to who you need to talk to via the information above.
CBS Network Live Shows
212-975-2476 (New York)
323-575-2458 (Los Angeles)
To get tickets for a CBS show by mail, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:
CBS Tickets
7800 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90036
NBC Network Live Shows
212-664-3056 (New York)
818-954-6000 (Los Angeles)
Tickets for NBC shows with a live audience are normally not available through NBC. You can, however, find tickets for many of their shows at http://www.TVTickets.com which is run by Audiences Unlimited, Inc. and not affiliated with NBC.
To Attend TV Show Tapings in Los Angeles:
Audience Associates
323-653-4105 or 323-467-4697
tvtix@tvtix.com or groups@tvtix.com
Audience Associates regularly recruits for crowd scenes in movies. Web site reservations are given the highest priority.
Audiences Unlimited
100 Universal City Plaza
Building 153
Universal City, CA 91608
818-753-3470
tickets@audiencesunlimited.com
Audiences Unlimited Web site includes show schedules, previews, show changes, studio maps and more.
CBS Studio City Tickets
7800 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Free tickets to live tapings of CBS TV shows can be acquired at CBS' ticket window on the west side of CBS TV City facing Fairfax. The ticket window is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., although it is sometimes open on the weekend if a show is being taped then. For tickets by mail, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the address above.
HollywoodTickets.com
818-688-3974
tickets@hollywoodtickets.com
This Web site allows you to print your own TV taping tickets off on the Web site and also allows you to browse TV taping line-ups so you can find the best shows to fit your schedule.
Paramount Show Tickets
323-956-5000 (General)
323-956-5575 (Information)
323-956-1777 (Reservations)
To Attend TV Show Tapings in New York City:
Good Morning America
If you want to watch Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson do their thing, call 212-580-5176 or just turn up weekday mornings to Times Square at 44th Street and Broadway, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Saturday Night Live
Ticket requests are only handled in August and are given out in a lottery system. Send a postcard with your name, address and phone number, as well as the number of tickets to:
NBC Tickets
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
Standby tickets are available from 9 a.m. every Saturday at the GE Building. These are given on a first-come, first-served basis and are strictly limited to one per person.
Today Show
Just show up between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. at 49th Street and Rockefeller Plaza if you'd like to get on the "Today Show." It will probably help your chances if you dress like a chicken, have a cute child in your arms, or construct a twelve foot sign that says "Kansas Loves Al!"
TRL
Call one month before the show you want to attend by calling 212-398-8549. Alternatively, try going on a standby ticket by arriving at 2 p.m. or earlier at MTV Studios, 1515 Broadway at 43rd Street. Young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 are preferred by the producers.
To Attend Talk Shows in the U.K.
BBC
The BBC is always looking for people to take an active part in their game shows, comedy audiences, and even documentaries. More information can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/whatson/beonashow. For free tickets to BBC TV and radio shows to http://www.bbc.co.uk/whatson/tickets
TV Recordings
If it's shot in London, you can probably get tickets at this Web site. Registration is required.
BeOn Screen
Search BeOn's directory of TV programs and register for email updates. This site is also used as a resource for TV producers who often place ads for the projects on this site.
More TV Show Taping Resources:
Audience Associates
On Camera Audiences
Studio Audiences
This site brings together a whole bunch of other Web site's information together in one place. You can find the contact information for any show right here.
New York TV Show Tickets, Inc.
This site lists New York television shows as well as discount Broadway tickets, starving artist tickets, secret discount codes, TV locations and city tours.
About the Author:
Jordan McAuley is the author of The Celebrity Black Book and the Founder of http://www.ContactAnyCelebrity.com located in West Hollywood, California. His exclusive online database provides accurate celebrity contact information including the best mailing address, agent, manager, publicist, production company, and charitable cause for over 54,000 celebrities and public figures worldwide to fans, businesses, authors, nonprofits, and the media. Affiliate Program at http://www.contactanycelebrity.com/affiliates and earn 50% monthly recurring commissions!
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