newsletter_july22

BALI GLOBAL MARKET EZINE

WEEKLY TIPS NEWSLETTER

ISSUE # 22 FRIDAY, JULY 2005

FEATURE ARTICLE

DON'T LET THESE TIME WASTERS SABOTAGE YOUR PRODUCTIVITY

BY : ELIZABETH H. COTTRELL

Time Is Money…Or Time Is Time

Even the most efficient among us will occasionally waste time if we define wasting time as allowing something (or someone) to shift our attention from a high-priority activity to a low-priority activity. It is essential to say right up front that the judgment of what is a waste of time is entirely subjective, so you must determine for yourself what YOUR priorities are and what YOUR tolerance for diverging from them might be. Most entrepreneurs, however, feel that they want to learn how to improve their time-management skills and—to use a cliché—“work smarter instead of harder.”

Whether the time you waste—or think you waste—could have been spent in earning you more money or in being with family and loved ones or doing something else you love to do, this is time you’ll never get back. That’s why it’s essential to take a good hard look at how you spend your time so that you can identify your own timewasters.

The Power Of A Time Log

“Know where your time is going…[have] clearly defined goals and a plan to achieve them.” —Albert Greiner, German executive and CEO, as quoted by Alec Mackenzie in “Managing Your Goals.”

Like financial budgeting, you can’t identify where to save until you figure out what you’re spending. Along with many other experts, Alex Mackenzie and Mel Mackenzie Brown, in their classic tape series, “Managing Your Goals: The Proven System for Personal Success,” advise that keeping a time log is extremely important and that it will accomplish more than just getting a clear picture of how much time you waste. It will provide you with the specific information you need to take corrective action, as well as create a self-corrective function that comes from writing things down and being forced to be realistic about where your time goes.

Mackenzie and Brown’s time log method begins with writing out your daily goals and prioritizing them numerically (you should not have more than five to 10 goals per day). A time log can be handwritten. Include columns for Time of Day, Activity, Time Spent on Activity, Priority #, and Comments.

Log every activity throughout the day, filling out each category for each activity, and then review the log every evening. By including the priority number of the activity, you can quickly tell by glancing at your log whether you have spent your time on high or low priorities. You can also see fairly easily what kinds of things interrupted you that day and what times of day you were the most productive. Once you see where the problems are, you can focus more directly on finding solutions.

Classic Timewasters And What To Do About Them

“We have met the enemy, and they is us.” —Pogo cartoon character by Walt Kelly

Mackenzie and Brown divide roadblocks to productivity into four major categories: Lack of Planning, Disorganization, Lack of Self Management, and Lack of Control Over Work Environment. They caution that even when something seems out of your control, there are usually things you can do to improve the situation and minimize downtime.

According to surveys and time-management experts, the following seem to be among the most troublesome timewasters for most people:

Telephone interruptions
Use technology to full advantage. If you don’t have a secretary, let an answering or voicemail screen your calls, then group your callbacks to no more than twice a day (morning and afternoon) and let people know when that time is. Turn off your phone, especially your cell phone, when you’re trying to get things done. Don’t give your cell phone number out unless absolutely necessary. If you have children or an ailing relative from whom you might get emergency calls, consider installing a special line to be used only by them.

E-mail interruptions
Turn off any bells or signals for new incoming e-mail, and set aside only two or three times a day to check and return e-mail. Use your e-mail software’s filtering capabilities to filter desired mail into certain mailboxes. Use spam filters to reduce unwanted mail. Throw away e-mail after you’ve read it or file it somewhere easily retrievable.

Computer problems
While these are unavoidable, you can minimize your downtime with preventive maintenance. Use a good surge protector and consider investing in one that has battery backup and automatic shutdown in the event of power failure. Implement a good data backup system and use it faithfully and regularly. Install an antivirus program and update it regularly. Check often for system updates (Microsoft or Apple Websites, for instance) and download them when needed. Routine maintenance should include disk cleanup and defragmenting your hard drive. Establish a relationship with a computer technician as close to your office as possible, and keep the name and phone number readily available. Pay this person’s bills promptly so they’ll be willing to come in a hurry when you need them.

Misunderstandings over responsibility and authority
Whenever you’re coordinating with an employer, an employee, a co-worker, a client, or an associate, make sure everyone understands who is responsible for what and who makes ultimate decisions. Lack of clarity in this area can lead to people duplicating efforts or certain things not getting done at all, delaying the final results.

Personal disorganization
This is a biggie and manifests itself in everything from messiness and a poor paper handling system to lack of punctuality and a reputation for unreliability. If you are unorganized, forgetful, or unreliable in any way, you MUST come to grips with this and learn strategies to improve. Start with the Maria Gracia Website, www.getorganizednow.com, and go from there. Elaine St. James’s book, "Simplify Your Work Life," has some excellent and extremely practical tips for improving habits that relate to being organized.

Paper handling deserves a special paragraph because it is such a universal problem. There are many good filing systems you can use, but you must choose one and stick with it. You should strive to never handle paperwork more than once. Be ruthless about throwing mail or paperwork away that you don’t need to deal with. If you put it in a pile, you’ll have to read it and make the decision of what to do with it all over again. The only paperwork on your desk should be that relating to the task you’re working on. When you’re done, you should put everything away. To streamline correspondence, write your response on the original letter or use sticky notes. Develop templates for letters or documents that you write often so you don’t have to repeat yourself.

Lack of written goals with deadlines
Mackenzie and Brown do not mince words in their belief that written goals with deadlines are critical to success. “If you don’t choose your goals, chance will,” they warn. “Then they can’t be classified as goals…they are accidents.” Write your goals down and keep them where you can see them easily. “You can’t do what you can’t remember,” adds Brown.

Reluctance or inability to make decisions
Some people spend so much time gathering information and considering the pros and cons of an issue or idea that they become paralyzed and never make decisions. This is enormously wasteful of time--theirs and others’. If you are inclined to be indecisive, impose decision deadlines, and honor them.

Poor use of waiting time
Waiting time is unavoidable--waiting for appointments, waiting for transportation, waiting for a store to open, waiting for a software update to download, waiting for someone to arrive or call you back, etc. Plan ahead of time by having pen and paper (stationery or notepads) handy for note writing, brainstorming, or calculating. Take a book to read wherever you go, or carry your planner and do some long-range thinking and planning. If you are a spiritual person, use the time for contemplation or prayer. The main thing is to plan ahead for these impromptu spaces of time and use them productively.

Procrastination
When you put something off without justification, you are cheating yourself and anyone else involved in the project. You are a time thief, and there’s no excuse for it. Make a commitment to yourself to change. Start by identifying the real reasons you procrastinate. These might include fear of failure, fear of success, boredom, incompatibility with people involved, distaste for the unpleasant, or even the misguided conviction that you work best under pressure. “Focus on starting instead of finishing,” Mackenzie advises. “Anxiety recedes once you’ve started.”

Socializing/drop-in visitors
While you may feel that this is unavoidable, you can minimize its impact on you by devising dialogue ahead of time that will minimize interruptions and also by training those who drop in most often to respect your privacy. Explain that you have a deadline and ask if you can make an appointment that suits you. If it is work related, ask the visitor to send you a note outlining what’s on their mind. Stand up when a visitor drops in and remain standing--it’s harder to get them to leave if you are both comfortably seated. Use a “Do Not Disturb” sign on your home or office door when necessary.

Take Responsibility For Your Own Productivity!

A survey of 690 employees by Pace Productivity asked only two questions:

1) What things, outside of your control, get in the way of your productivity?

2) What things, within your control, get in the way of your productivity?

While the answers to #1 were varied, the most common response to #2 was no response at all! Analysts concluded that it’s easier to blame circumstances beyond your control than to take responsibility for your own productivity. Don’t fall into this trap. Take responsibility for your own time and how you use it. Learn from those who have studied and written about it.

The excellent sources and resources listed below include links for additional reading and viewing, much of it free of charge and some for a price. You should also check your local bookstore, university, or small-business development center for other books, tapes, and videos on time management, goal setting, and organizational skills. Use Internet search engines to find sites dedicated to these topics.

Maria Gracia, author of "Finally Organized, Finally Free," offers several tutorials from her Website, www.GetOrganizedNow.com, that can help. The featured E-course is called “Dispelling the Top 7 Myths About Being Organized.” Slide shows offered (with nothing to download) include the titles, “5 Secrets for Getting Organized,” “A Happy Balance,” “What’s Your Personality Part 1: Space Styles,“ “What’s Your Personality Part 2: Time Styles,“ and “Slay the Raging Paper Beast!”

The most important thing you can do to waste less time is to make up your mind that you’re going to do something about it and become more aware of how you spend you time now. Then you can develop an action plan so that this time next year, your time expenditures will be more in line with your priorities. Good luck!

“Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves…” —William Shakespeare in “Julius Caesar,” Act I

SOURCES

Gracia, Maria. Finally Organized, Finally Free, available in print or downloadable pdf format through her Website: www.getorganizednow.com.

Mackenzie, Alec and Mel Mackenzie Brown. “Managing Your Goals: The Proven System for Personal Success.” Audiocassette program by Nightingale Conant. www.nightingaleconant.com or 1-800-323-5552.

Mackenzie, Alec Mackenzie and R. Alec Mackenzie. The Time Trap: The Classic Book on Time Management. Fine Communications. 2002.

Pace Productivity. “The Top Time Wasters.” Pace Productivity Website: www.getmoredone.com/research3.html.

Pearce, Robyn. “Hot E-mail Tips for Time Efficiency:” www.gettingagripontime.com/articles/email-tips-1.html.

St. James, Elaine. Simplify Your Work Life. Hyperion. New York, 2001.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Biggs, Susan and Kerry Fallon Horgan. Time On, Time Out!: Flexible Work Solutions To Keep Your Life In Balance. Allen & Unwin, 1999.

Gracia, Joe and Maria. “Better Business Newsletter.” $24.95 US per year in digital version, $29.95 US print version. It consists of four pages per month that can downloaded to your computer. Time management is a regular topic covered: www.getorganizednow.com/bb.html.

Gracia, Maria. “Simple Organizing Solutions Newsletter.” $24.95 US per year in digital version. It consists of four pages per month that can downloaded to your computer. Time management is a regular topic covered: www.getorganizednow.com/sos.html.

Pearce, Robyn. About Time: 120 Tips For Those With No Time. Reed Publishing, NZ Ltd, 2001 and 2003, available through her Website: www.gettingagripontime.com/products/index.html.

Pearce, Robyn. Getting A Grip On Time. Reed Publishing, NZ Ltd, 1996 and 2003, available from her Website (book and tape formats): www.gettingagripontime.com/products/index.html.

Pearce, Robyn. “How To Stretch Time:” www.gettingagripontime.com/articles/stretch-time.html.

Pearce, Robyn and Trish Flower. Getting A Grip On Life - Goals Toolkit. Reed Publishing, NZ Ltd, 1996 and 2003, available (book and tape formats) from: www.gettingagripontime.com/products/index.html.

Rechtschaffen, Stephan. Time Shifting: Creating More Time To Enjoy Your Life. Random, 1996.

Article by Elizabeth H. Cottrell, a home-based entrepreneur, freelance technical writer, and owner of Riverwood Technologies, a desktop publishing company in Maurertown, Virginia. She is currently a staff writer and editor for IAHBE.

THINGS TO TEST ON YOUR WEBSITE TO INCREASE SALES

By : Erny Setyawati

The Internet is powerful selling tool. Never before has been easier to start a business , be able to reach out to literally millions of potential customers and make your business succeed. Yet time has taught us that there is much more to success that simply having a website or using these tools.
A lot of money can be made by promoting product and service through website , however in order to promote them effectively you will need to be committed to making it work.
Most affiliate program will give us a unique URL , though these methods work ( especially ezine advertising ) they are limited to how long the ad stays visible. We can not generate long term promotion by just submitting ads using that URL.
A website of our own. Promoting affiliate programs whether it be mlms or any other affiliate program where you are given a unique URL is limiting without a website of our very own. There are literally thousands of ways to promote if we have our own website. Therefore it is imperative that you decide how serious you are about your business and to what level you wish to take your business.
That's why we're devoting this issue to giving you the top six tests you can run on your web site right now. These tests are quick and easy to implement and can start increasing your sales by 400%... 700%... even 1,000%... in less than 48 hours!

Bottom line... testing is the ONLY way to discover what works -- and what doesn't -- on your web site, and it's the BEST way to start increasing your sales exponentially.

And if you take the plunge and test even just one of the following six things, you'll learn just how true this is... especially when you start seeing a dramatic improvement to *your* bottom line!

Test #1: Offer ONE product or service on your homepage

We've found that offering fewer products in one place with more copy describing those products ALWAYS translates into higher sales.
It's all about focus. Instead of trying to please *everyone* who visits your web site by offering a large range of products with minimal detail about each one, if you offer just one product (or one set of related products), you can really focus on one key set of benefits and answer *all* of the possible questions and doubts your visitors might have about your product.
And you don't have to stop selling your other products -- you can always offer them to your customers from other web pages or by using follow-up offers .

Test #2: Reposition your opt-in offer to BOOST your opt-ins and build a bigger list of loyal subscribers

Your opt-in offer is your tool for gathering your customers' e-mail addresses. In exchange for their address, you might offer them a free report containing valuable information or a regular free newsletter.
Your opt-in is your mechanism for building your e-mail list, which allows you to regularly keep in touch with your subscribers, build relationships of trust and loyalty, and sell them your products or services.

Test placing your opt-in in the "first fold" of your salesletter -- the area of screen first
visible to a visitor before they scroll down the page. If you have a long salesletter, you should test placing it within your second "page" of text -- after you've grabbed your visitors' attention by identifying a problem they have and established your credibility by impressing them with your credentials, experience, and glowing testimonials from happy customers.
You should also test placing your opt-in offer on EVERY page of your web site so it's always in front of your visitors, and try using a "hover ad" (see below). The more sign-up opportunities you provide, the more subscribers you're likely to get. Test it and see!

Test #3: Add impact to your promotions with "hover ads"

I'm sure everyone's familiar with pop-ups. They're the small windows containing a special offer or other information that sometimes "pop up" when you visit a web site.
Love them or hate them, pop-ups have been a very useful online marketing tool for years. However, because a percentage of Internet users disliked them, Google, AOL, Netscape, and others developed pop-up blocking software to combat them
But that was before we discovered a very impressive technology that actually lets you use ads that BEHAVE like pop-ups, but that are NOT pop-ups -- so they don't get blocked. They're called "hover ads" and they're well worth testing on your site.
In fact, when we tested adding a hover ad to our site, sales increased by 162%! They're effective because they put important information, such as your opt-in offer or a special time-limited promotion, right in front of your targeted visitors.

Test #4: Establish a problem in your copy and show how you
can solve it

In the first couple of paragraphs that appear on your homepage, you need to go into more detail about the problem you introduced in your headline -- showing your audience that you relate to them. (Only when your audience feels you
understand their problem will they feel confident that you can solve it.)

Once the problem is established, you can then begin introducing your product or service as the solution to this problem. By emphasizing exactly *how* your product or
service will solve the reader's problem, you are guaranteed to see a boost in sales!

Test # 5 :Focus on your readers... not yourself

The most successful salescopy focuses on the reader. Too often, business owners neglect this simple golden rule. Look carefully at your salescopy.
Is it filled with references to "I," "me," and "we"? Instead of using sentences like, "I designed my time-management software with the busy homeowner in mind," try "Your new time-management software will free up hours of time for you to spend with your family." See how much more powerful that is?
Try searching on "I," "me," and "our" in your salescopy and replace them with "you" and "your."

It's very important that your salescopy instills a sense of urgency in your visitors, compelling them to buy NOW. The best place to do this is towards the end of your
salesletter, near the call to action (when you ask for the sale).
Here are a few of the most effective ways to create a sense of urgency. Try testing each one against your current copy:

- Offer a limited-time price discount offer where
visitors must buy before a certain date in order to
qualify for the discount

- Offer additional bonuses for free if they buy within a
certain time frame

- Offer only a limited quantity of your products or
services

Test #6: Boost your product's desirability by adding images.

Images of your products make them seem more tangible and "real" to your visitors and are a powerful sales tool. In fact, our testing shows that you can increase sales by more
than 10% just by adding product images.
But sometimes revealing what the product is too early in the sales process can kill the sale -- you may need to highlight the product benefits and value before you reveal exactly what it is.
Test placing images near the top of the page against placing them near the call to action at the bottom (where you're asking for the sale).

You should also test adding images to your order page, and test the response to using no images at all. By carefully analyzing sales during each test, you'll learn exactly whereto place product images for maximum impact.

The writer is Erny Setyawati, Home business entrepreneur, Publisher Bali Global Market Ezine who has much experiences in Business on line. To know more about her information, please visit us http://www.baliglobalmarket.com

FROM THE EDITOR

Many successful home base business got started by people surfing the internet ,get involved in home business mailing list and to be subscribers of business ezine. It gives us great pleasure that you have been with us for a long time , or have subscribers just this week. It's great to have you with us. As small thank you for being interested in Bali Global Market Ezine , we will give speciall opportunity to all you joining Testimony Contest. It's easy - all of you can submit your Testimony about Bali Global Market Ezine. The Contestant will be chosen to be prized by one time Ad Solo publication ( $ 8 ) . The winner Testimony Contest will be placed at : http://www.baliglobalmarket.com

Have wonderful weekend

Erny Setyawati ( Editor / Publisher )

baliglobalmarket@yahoo.com

GET $ 8 FOR JOINING TESTIMONY CONTEST !

GIVE TESTIMONY ABOUT BALI GLOBAL MARKET EZINE.

JUST SEND TESTIMONY HERE INCLUDE YOUR FOTO

TO baliglobalmarket@yahoo.com

THE CONTESTAN WILL BE CHOSEN ,RECEIVE ONE TIME AD SOLO PUBLICATION

TO CAMPAIGN 1750 POTENTIAL SUBSCRIBERS AND BE PLACED AT http://www.baliglobalmarket.com

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