Creatively marketing your corporate site takes time in the set up but you will learn that building your customers isn't about marketing your products but getting your name and reputation into the minds of internet customers.
I have randomly chosen Watkins to design a marketing approach but you will see how to apply this concept to any direct sales company.
Now let's sort through the steps of developing your online marketing plan.
Become an expert.
Be an expert on your products, your corporate website, and your current and potential customers. If you don't see yourself as an expert about your products, your company... that is your first step.
Don't try to market or pay for advertising without knowing your products and the people that would love them!
When you are comfortable with the products you offer on your corporate website begin to brainstorm about how to connect your products to internet customers.
On paper list the different categories of products with a list of potential "markets"you can target. You are ready to start your marketing plan itself.
Find your niche market.
In our example of Watkins, there is a potential market with women that are homemakers, enjoy cooking, love to entertain or create family memories with cooking traditions but remember men love to cook too.
There is a very wide range of the ages, the groups within that cook and entertain. By studying your potential customers, a theme will emerge.
Let's look at "cooking from scratch."
To know your customers, do this exercise:
Think cooking. Think old fashioned values. Think food and family traditions.
Where would they go on the internet for ideas, menus, recipes and more? Use search engines for your initial search to find a few solid popular websites. As most well built website have links within their categories, visit their links or resources to find other similar sites.
Look for homemaking, cooking, familiy focused and entertaining sites with message boards, newsletters and articles.
You are finally nudging closer to your niche market, your potential customers.
Once you have found a few websites that cater to your market, stop and study the sites. Read the articles and visit the message boards. Message boards often have posts asking for advice or recipes. Articles may have ratings by visitors which tell you more about what readers want to see. learn what kind of information your potential customers may be looking for, what they want to learn and do.
Sign up for the site's newsletter. You will learn a great deal from the newsletter. Read the articles, hints and ads in the newsletter.
Start writing.
Submit your articles, recipes and kitchen hints both to site owners that accept submissions but you can also contact the publisher of the newsletters too.
It's very important to remember not to write about your products Write about anything connected to the homemaking, cooking, entertaining site....keep your written article focused along the theme of the website you have found.
Your articles should reflect your knowledge, your passion whether it be crafts for kids or organizing a closet.
Sell outside the article.
You do not need to sell within the article or post. On the power of your words, your writing, they will learn about you, your business in your "resource box." When a reader enjoys your article, connects with your writing, they will feel compelled to click on your link.
You have made your first contact with your market through creative marketing.
This is your best marketing strategy for your corporate website. Continue to post ads on message boards that allow you to but often that serves you best with recruiting for your direct sale team.
Your products, whether it is Discovery Toys or Tupperware, are best presented online in your resource box as you build your reputation as fun, knowledgeable and credible. Over time and repeated exposure online, your name will become synonymous with your product and your company.
That once limiting corporate website will be the link between you and your customer. Your success with your business and corporate site will be based on creating a market for You.
Monday, October 19, 2009
How to Backup Your Computer Files
As I write this, it’s early December, and try as I might, I can’t remember what my new year’s resolution was last time around. One thing I can say with near hundred percent certainty is that whatever it was, I failed to keep it. Maybe you’re the same. Maybe you resolved to quit smoking, lose weight, or read more. We all make promises with ourselves, then fail to keep those promises. Worst of all, those promises might be exactly what we need most. Consider this: When was the last time you backed up your computer files? Last month? Last year? Never?
Let’s make a new year’s resolution together, you and I. Let’s promise to back up our computers. It’s important, I promise. Just yesterday the automatic backup feature in MS Word saved me about an hour’s work when my computer froze up. Given that I haven’t backed up my computer in almost a year, I can’t even imagine how much data I’d lose if I suffered a power surge or hard drive failure. It can happen to the best of us, and often does. Even high end hard drive manufacturers report an average failure rate of between five and eight per thousand every year. That may not sound like much, but let’s face it, somebody has to be those five to eight people. Feeling lucky? There are about 185 million household PCs in the U.S., according to Computer Industry Almanac, so that means about 150,000 hard drives fail each year. But even if your drive stays intact, about a tenth of all computers suffer minor data loss in any given year. A power surge, the magnets in your home stereo speakers, or even an accidental nudge can affect data storage. According to a report from the ONTRACK data recovery service, data loss can be caused by natural disasters (3% of cases), computer viruses (7%), software problems (14%), and plain old user error (a whopping 32%). Now, I’m sure you never hit a wrong keyboard button, but do you have a button on your computer that prevents a bolt of lightning? I didn’t think so.
WHEREAS our data is important, and disaster can befall even the most noble and undeserving of us, BE IT RESOLVED that you and I shall back up our computer files forthwith.
Amen, brothers and sisters. Now, where and how do we start?
STEP ONE: Choosing Favorites
Not all files are important enough to preserve for posterity. The most critical files on a computer are its operating system files. If you’re a good little consumer, you bought the operating system and kept those CDs handy and secure from data loss. If you’re not, then remind yourself to go stand in the corner later. The drones at Microsoft did not work for years just to watch you steal their work. It’s people like you that keep Bill Gates from buying his second planet. Now that you’ve been suitably chastised, either go buy a legal copy of the operating system, or include the necessary files in your “must back up” list.
The same principle goes for software applications. Maybe you bought an ad and spyware blocker you really like, but the company that coded it has since gone out of business (perhaps because other consumers weren’t as scrupulous as you). If so, include the files you need to run the app in your must list. Now it’s time to look at the remaining files on your computer and prioritize. If you’re not a digital packrat like me, it may be possible to save everything. If so, congratulations. I don’t have ten gigabytes of portable media at my disposal, so when I back up my computer, I’ll be leaving a few gigs of MP3s and questionable Windows Media files at risk. One of the first things I will save is the folder I use to save my writing assignments, because that data represents money in my pocket. I’ll back up my email address book, plus my digital photography and fiction writing efforts. I can live without “Milkshake” (what was I thinking?), but the guitar piece my friend recorded and sent to me is going on the list. Your results may vary.
STEP TWO: In Which I Tell You Where You Can Put It
That’s right, this is the section in which I’ll tell you where to store your data. It’s not a good idea to put backup files on another drive on the same computer. That defeats the whole purpose. Duplicating your files on another computer in the same LAN is almost as risky, because computer viruses can spread as fast as an imaginary Anna Kournikova JPEG. You need to find a portable storage medium that can hold all the files on your must list. Your options include floppy diskettes, portable hard drives, optical drives, tape drives, and remote servers. We’ll look at each in turn.
Hard diskettes, the old familiar 3.5” squares, hold up to 1.44 megabytes of data. They’re cheap, but 1.44 MB is less than two percent of the ten gigs of data on my hard drive. Even if each of those files were smaller than 1.44 MB (and each weren’t), I’m not keen on the idea of buying, labeling, and storing fifty diskettes. Next idea, please.
Most computer experts rely on removable hard drives for memory backups. The most popular of these drives are the Zip drive from Iomega and the ORB drive from Castlewood. They’re relatively inexpensive and hold up to two gigs of data. Basically, you’ll save your data on a Zip disk, then transfer it from the disk to the portable drive. The catch is that removable drives fail about as often as regular hard drives. They may even be more susceptible to damage from dust and rough handling. A sub-option here is to use a permanent hard drive as a removable drive. At up to two hundred gigs, conventional hard drives are bigger than removable drives, and prices have dropped enough in recent years to make this idea practical. Whatever kind of hard drive you decide to use, make sure to keep it isolated from dust, magnetic charges, and static electricity.
Optical drives use a laser to store information, rather than a magnet. Even if you’re not a tech junkie, that’s probably enough information to give you a clearer idea what we’re talking about: namely, CDs and DVDs. Less common are EO (erasable optical) and WORM (write once, read many) media; they’re less common because they cost over $1000 per drive. CDs, on the other hand, cost less than a buck and can hold up to 650 megabytes. DVDs hold up to five gigs and cost about fifteen dollars apiece. Most computers nowadays have either a CD or DVD writer (or both), but write times can be slow. My CD writer, for example, works best on the 300 kilobyte per second setting—if then. I’ll be using the remote server option. At $250 and up, tape drives are more expensive and slower than hard drives or optical media, hence less common, but also extremely reliable.
Remote servers are third party companies that store data online for a fee. This is a great option for broadband Internet users, especially people like me who don’t own a reliable data writer. SkyDesk runs http://www.Backup.com , Back-Up Solutions maintains http://www.BackUpHelp.com , and Iomega hosts iServer ( http://www.Iomega.com ). XDrive ( http://www.xdrive.com ), once a free service, now charges ten bucks a month for up to five gigs of storage. Promotions and other rates change, so it’s a good idea to shop around before selecting a remote storage service.
STEP THREE: Git ’er Done
Now it’s time to put the files you want to save on the storage medium you’ve chosen. There are several ways to do this. Your CD writer, for example, may come with proprietary disk writing software. That application may even include a backup option. If it does, and you’re more familiar with that software than Windows features, then that’s the way to go. Otherwise, backup is still relatively easy on all MS operating systems since Windows 98. Windows 98, Windows ME, and Windows XP Professional include a built-in Backup utility. To run it, just click on Start, then Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, then Backup. How easy was that? If you’re using the XP Home edition, you may need to add the utility manually. If so, insert the Windows XP CD into your disk drive and wait for the “Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP” screen. (You may need to double-click the CD icon in My Computer.) Then click on Perform Additional Tasks and Browse This CD. In Windows Explorer, double-click the ValueAdd folder, then Msft, then Ntbackup. Double-clicking on Ntbackup.msi will install the utility. Once it’s installed, you can also run the program by clicking Start and Run, then typing msbackup.exe (Windows 98 and Windows ME) or ntbackup.exe (Windows XP) in the Open field. Click OK, and you’ll be off to the races.
Incidentally, the Windows XP Backup utility also includes a bonus application called the Automated Recovery Wizard. This creates a bootable floppy that initiates backup if the hard drive must be replaced. Other options for “disaster recovery” include BackUp MyPC from Stomp ( http://www.StompInc.com , $79) and Norton Ghost 9.0 from Symantec ( http://www.Norton.com , $69.95). Ghost actually allows users to duplicate the contents of their computer over the Internet. Both have earned stellar reviews from top PC magazines.
Don’t let another month go by without protecting the files you value most. My girlfriend justifies her messy car by saying she “lives out of it.” Well, I live out of my computer. It’s not just my office; it’s the home of cherished memories in the form of pictures, MP3, and other data files. I’m resolved to keep it safe.
Let’s make a new year’s resolution together, you and I. Let’s promise to back up our computers. It’s important, I promise. Just yesterday the automatic backup feature in MS Word saved me about an hour’s work when my computer froze up. Given that I haven’t backed up my computer in almost a year, I can’t even imagine how much data I’d lose if I suffered a power surge or hard drive failure. It can happen to the best of us, and often does. Even high end hard drive manufacturers report an average failure rate of between five and eight per thousand every year. That may not sound like much, but let’s face it, somebody has to be those five to eight people. Feeling lucky? There are about 185 million household PCs in the U.S., according to Computer Industry Almanac, so that means about 150,000 hard drives fail each year. But even if your drive stays intact, about a tenth of all computers suffer minor data loss in any given year. A power surge, the magnets in your home stereo speakers, or even an accidental nudge can affect data storage. According to a report from the ONTRACK data recovery service, data loss can be caused by natural disasters (3% of cases), computer viruses (7%), software problems (14%), and plain old user error (a whopping 32%). Now, I’m sure you never hit a wrong keyboard button, but do you have a button on your computer that prevents a bolt of lightning? I didn’t think so.
WHEREAS our data is important, and disaster can befall even the most noble and undeserving of us, BE IT RESOLVED that you and I shall back up our computer files forthwith.
Amen, brothers and sisters. Now, where and how do we start?
STEP ONE: Choosing Favorites
Not all files are important enough to preserve for posterity. The most critical files on a computer are its operating system files. If you’re a good little consumer, you bought the operating system and kept those CDs handy and secure from data loss. If you’re not, then remind yourself to go stand in the corner later. The drones at Microsoft did not work for years just to watch you steal their work. It’s people like you that keep Bill Gates from buying his second planet. Now that you’ve been suitably chastised, either go buy a legal copy of the operating system, or include the necessary files in your “must back up” list.
The same principle goes for software applications. Maybe you bought an ad and spyware blocker you really like, but the company that coded it has since gone out of business (perhaps because other consumers weren’t as scrupulous as you). If so, include the files you need to run the app in your must list. Now it’s time to look at the remaining files on your computer and prioritize. If you’re not a digital packrat like me, it may be possible to save everything. If so, congratulations. I don’t have ten gigabytes of portable media at my disposal, so when I back up my computer, I’ll be leaving a few gigs of MP3s and questionable Windows Media files at risk. One of the first things I will save is the folder I use to save my writing assignments, because that data represents money in my pocket. I’ll back up my email address book, plus my digital photography and fiction writing efforts. I can live without “Milkshake” (what was I thinking?), but the guitar piece my friend recorded and sent to me is going on the list. Your results may vary.
STEP TWO: In Which I Tell You Where You Can Put It
That’s right, this is the section in which I’ll tell you where to store your data. It’s not a good idea to put backup files on another drive on the same computer. That defeats the whole purpose. Duplicating your files on another computer in the same LAN is almost as risky, because computer viruses can spread as fast as an imaginary Anna Kournikova JPEG. You need to find a portable storage medium that can hold all the files on your must list. Your options include floppy diskettes, portable hard drives, optical drives, tape drives, and remote servers. We’ll look at each in turn.
Hard diskettes, the old familiar 3.5” squares, hold up to 1.44 megabytes of data. They’re cheap, but 1.44 MB is less than two percent of the ten gigs of data on my hard drive. Even if each of those files were smaller than 1.44 MB (and each weren’t), I’m not keen on the idea of buying, labeling, and storing fifty diskettes. Next idea, please.
Most computer experts rely on removable hard drives for memory backups. The most popular of these drives are the Zip drive from Iomega and the ORB drive from Castlewood. They’re relatively inexpensive and hold up to two gigs of data. Basically, you’ll save your data on a Zip disk, then transfer it from the disk to the portable drive. The catch is that removable drives fail about as often as regular hard drives. They may even be more susceptible to damage from dust and rough handling. A sub-option here is to use a permanent hard drive as a removable drive. At up to two hundred gigs, conventional hard drives are bigger than removable drives, and prices have dropped enough in recent years to make this idea practical. Whatever kind of hard drive you decide to use, make sure to keep it isolated from dust, magnetic charges, and static electricity.
Optical drives use a laser to store information, rather than a magnet. Even if you’re not a tech junkie, that’s probably enough information to give you a clearer idea what we’re talking about: namely, CDs and DVDs. Less common are EO (erasable optical) and WORM (write once, read many) media; they’re less common because they cost over $1000 per drive. CDs, on the other hand, cost less than a buck and can hold up to 650 megabytes. DVDs hold up to five gigs and cost about fifteen dollars apiece. Most computers nowadays have either a CD or DVD writer (or both), but write times can be slow. My CD writer, for example, works best on the 300 kilobyte per second setting—if then. I’ll be using the remote server option. At $250 and up, tape drives are more expensive and slower than hard drives or optical media, hence less common, but also extremely reliable.
Remote servers are third party companies that store data online for a fee. This is a great option for broadband Internet users, especially people like me who don’t own a reliable data writer. SkyDesk runs http://www.Backup.com , Back-Up Solutions maintains http://www.BackUpHelp.com , and Iomega hosts iServer ( http://www.Iomega.com ). XDrive ( http://www.xdrive.com ), once a free service, now charges ten bucks a month for up to five gigs of storage. Promotions and other rates change, so it’s a good idea to shop around before selecting a remote storage service.
STEP THREE: Git ’er Done
Now it’s time to put the files you want to save on the storage medium you’ve chosen. There are several ways to do this. Your CD writer, for example, may come with proprietary disk writing software. That application may even include a backup option. If it does, and you’re more familiar with that software than Windows features, then that’s the way to go. Otherwise, backup is still relatively easy on all MS operating systems since Windows 98. Windows 98, Windows ME, and Windows XP Professional include a built-in Backup utility. To run it, just click on Start, then Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, then Backup. How easy was that? If you’re using the XP Home edition, you may need to add the utility manually. If so, insert the Windows XP CD into your disk drive and wait for the “Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP” screen. (You may need to double-click the CD icon in My Computer.) Then click on Perform Additional Tasks and Browse This CD. In Windows Explorer, double-click the ValueAdd folder, then Msft, then Ntbackup. Double-clicking on Ntbackup.msi will install the utility. Once it’s installed, you can also run the program by clicking Start and Run, then typing msbackup.exe (Windows 98 and Windows ME) or ntbackup.exe (Windows XP) in the Open field. Click OK, and you’ll be off to the races.
Incidentally, the Windows XP Backup utility also includes a bonus application called the Automated Recovery Wizard. This creates a bootable floppy that initiates backup if the hard drive must be replaced. Other options for “disaster recovery” include BackUp MyPC from Stomp ( http://www.StompInc.com , $79) and Norton Ghost 9.0 from Symantec ( http://www.Norton.com , $69.95). Ghost actually allows users to duplicate the contents of their computer over the Internet. Both have earned stellar reviews from top PC magazines.
Don’t let another month go by without protecting the files you value most. My girlfriend justifies her messy car by saying she “lives out of it.” Well, I live out of my computer. It’s not just my office; it’s the home of cherished memories in the form of pictures, MP3, and other data files. I’m resolved to keep it safe.
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