* Company overview
* Summary of your products and services
* Press releases or newsworthy items
* Professional credits
* Advertising rates
* Traffic and demographic information
* FAQs  
* Case studies, success stories, or testimonials
* Professional surveys or reports
* A calendar of industry or media appearances  

It makes sense to make sure you have a top-notch media kit available to interested parties. The promise of potential media coverage will undoubtedly boost your business and profits. And an increase in advertising sales, if you sell ad space on your website, is always welcome.

Here are the top tips to develop your online media kit:

* Make sure your press releases and newsworthy items are up-to-date and that they’re organized with the most recent release at the top.

* Take the time to craft compelling and effective press releases.

* Be sure to brag. If you’ve been in the news, featured on notable websites or received awards, be sure to let your visitors know about it.

* Make your media kit easy to find. The standard practice is to include a link at the bottom of the homepage with an easy to understand phrase like “Advertise” or “Media Kit.”

* Make the “Contact Us” button clear and above the fold.

* Be sure to include your email, phone number and address in your contact information.

* Give a clear explanation of the different kinds of ads and targeting options available with the rates up front and easy to understand.

* Present case studies and make sure to include visuals wherever possible. Quantify your case studies in terms of click rates or sales.

* Provide a demographic overview of your audience with a pie chart or visuals. Take it a step further by offering in-depth audience profiles, average time spent on the site, plan statistical data, etc. This is useful information that can help offer justification for the buy.

* Let visitors know what your website traffic volumes are and how you’ve grown. Consider backing this data up with a verifiable source.

* Include images on your media page. Photos of you, a logo that’s easy to copy or download, and any other relevant images will help media representatives gather the information and resources they need.

* Make sure the explanation of your company’s products and services is easy to understand by the average person. What benefit do you provide? How do you solve your customer’s problems? What’s your story? Spend time on this because the more interesting your story is, the more interest a journalist will have in telling it.

A good online media kit can only benefit your company. The more media attention your company can garner, the more exposure and awareness you’ll have with your customers and prospects. The end result…a bigger bottom line. And when it comes to increasing your advertising sales, attracting big customers who are willing to pay top dollar is a great way to boost profits.

What Is a Facebook Fan Page?

A Facebook fan page enables you to drive traffic to a unique place separate from your profile page. It enables you to post all of the information about your business including updates, promotions and events, links to your website and even content.
In fact, some people are foregoing a website all together and using a Facebook fan page as their primary business tool to represent them online. This isn’t necessarily a good idea because Facebook changes their rules often and if your fan page is your only online page then you may run into challenges in the future. However, as a supplemental marketing tool a Facebook fan page is an excellent way to build and grow your audience.

It allows you to customize it however you choose. You can add photos, discussion forums, micro-blogging, videos, events and a whole host of features and tools.

It provides you with the ability to instantly update your page.

You have access to the more than 300 million Facebook members. The “Fan” page means you gather fans rather than friends and this separation means you can send messages to your fans without updating your personal profile. It enables you the unique ability to separate personal and professional on Facebook – a feature many business owners are finding is very necessary.

A fan page enables you as a business owner to hold serious business discussions with interested, and qualified, prospects. It helps you build a community around your business, a vital tool to growing an online business.

Facebook fan pages also provide business owners with analytics and data so you can test and track responses and make educated decisions about your business and your social networking strategies.

And because Facebook has an API they’ve released to developers, there are a large number of people working on ways to expand the features, tools and usability of a fan page.

Facebook fan pages offer business owners a unique opportunity to create a web presence on a social networking website – a social networking website that’s presently the biggest in the world in terms of subscribers. It just makes good sense to tap into this market to build and grow your online business.

1. Make sure your turn Firewall ON. And make sure you update it when renewal comes due or updates are available.

2. Likewise, install, update and use Anti-Virus software.

3. Consider using a website validation service or technology to make sure the websites you’re visiting aren’t corrupted or malicious.

4. Don’t access important websites or accounts when using a public computer at internet cafés, libraries, and other public sites. You run the risk of your information being copied and re-entered after you leave.

5. Be aware that there are misleading and scammer websites designed to trick you and collect your personal information. It’s generally called phishing and it’s when someone sends you to a fake website made to look like a real financial institution or facility. Instead of clicking on a link from an email, simply type the business into your browser to make sure you’re using the real web address.

6. Create a system of changing your password on a regular basis.

7. Buy from well-known companies – and only provide bank or credit card information in secure sessions. Look for the https in your browser and look for the padlock in the lower right hand corner to signal it’s a secure session. You can also look for the VeriSign or other security certificate.

8. Don’t share your passwords with others and don’t write them down.

9. Avoid using the same password for all your accounts – if someone figures out one, they’ve got them all.

10. Try to create a unique, non-personal password that would be difficult to guess.

11. Be wary of files without file extensions, for example .doc or .jpg because it makes it easy for viruses to hide in them. And don’t open a file with a double extension because it probably contains a virus.

12. Don’t open emails from people you don’t know and don’t open attachments if you are suspicious or don’t know the sender. Attachments and emails can easily contain viruses and your computer and the information it contains can be at risk.

13. Don’t open an e-mail attachment that contains a file ending .exe, .pif, or .vbs as these are commonly used with viruses – unless you absolutely know who the file is from and trust them.

14. Review your ISP, Internet Service Provider, and see what protections they offer you as a customer. Do they offer virus protection services?

15. Read your bank and credit card statements. Make sure all of the charges and transactions are legitimate. If not, call the institution immediately.

16. Review your bank and credit card statements for any unusual transactions or withdrawals and notify the bank immediately if you suspect any discrepancies. And take care where you use your credit card or bank card. Carry cash and if a place or person feels suspicious, don’t share your credit card or bank number with them – pay in cash.

17. Finally, back up your information with an online back-up service and/or with an external hard drive. How often should you back up? Some experts recommend daily back-ups, others weekly or monthly. It depends on how often you add new information and how valuable that information is to you. You should also back up your website, because a hacker can get in there in a blink and mess everything up. If you have your website backed up, repairing the damage is relatively painless.

In this age of technology we have wonderful tools and freedoms. However, with this technology also come risks: risks of identity theft, risks of theft in general, and hackers and viruses which can destroy computers and years of hard work. You can mitigate these risks by taking a few simple, but savvy, steps to protect your online information.

While it’s understandable that it’s difficult to put the time in to market your business when you’re already so busy, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s that marketing that will help you stay in business.

Here are a few tips to help you easily and effectively market your skills online:

* Join a related forum or discussion board – If you offer a service of use to online business professionals, a good first step is to join a marketing discussion forum. You can start slowly and make contributions to the group where you feel appropriate. This will help you get your name out there, and other business owners will see your website link and potentially click over to learn more about your services.

Joining a marketing forum as an online service provider puts your business directly in front of many potential customers. Always remember to follow the forum guidelines and basic rules of etiquette when joining any discussion. First impressions do count, so keep in mind that while on the forum you are always representing your business – make it work for you.

* Join a networking group – Networking with others in your field is important. Not only does it allow you the opportunity to bounce ideas back and forth between people in your industry, but it can also be a great source of friendship and support.

Networking groups also help you in other ways. If a fellow service provider is too busy to take on extra work, she or he may pass the referral on to you. Likewise, you may be able to return the favor in the future. A good networking group is a fantastic way to get support, advice and even more business.

* Become an expert – People trust and like experts. And as a service provider you can become the “go to” expert in your industry. An easy way to do this is to write related articles for business owners to read. List them on your website and also submit them to the article directories online.

You can create an educational area on your service business website. This area can provide tips and articles related to your services. By conducting yourself as an expert in your industry, you let others know that you are knowledgeable in your field. If a potential client then visits your website and reads through your content, they are more likely to contact you for support.

Marketing your skills online is important. It is potentially the lifeblood of your business. And although your schedule may be busy, try to pencil in a little time each day for this important task. This simple step can make all the difference to the success of your business.

Here are a few tips to help you eliminate creative blocks from your business:

#1 – Take a break. It may seem counter-intuitive, but a creative block is often a way of your body and mind telling you that it’s time for a break. When we’re in the thick of it, it can be difficult to see things for what they really are. A short break will help you clear your mind and get focused on the task at hand.

The most effective breaks are those that help you clear your mind of your current situation altogether. And it can be anything from sitting in the sunshine for 10 minutes to going for a brisk walk. Try not to think about your creative block or task at hand and simply let your mind relax and unwind.

The idea is to simply step away from the problem for a few minutes and to come back refreshed and re-energized.

#2 – Think outside the box. Sometimes the solutions to our problems are right in front of us but simply require a little outside thinking. For example, if you’re experiencing writer’s block, instead of pressuring yourself to write the perfect article, simply jot down your research and “raw” thoughts. This will make up the bulk of your article. Then you can come back to it later and add your creative flair to make it all flow together.

Say you’re a virtual assistance and have been given a task you’re not sure how to complete. Then maybe you can join a networking forum and ask for advice. You can even subcontract that aspect of your job to another virtual assistant.

Sometimes a little creative thinking is all it takes to get rid of our creative blocks. There is no set formula for what needs to be done and you don’t necessarily have to do it all yourself. The key here is to find solutions – whatever they may be – and to not concentrate solely on the problem.

#3 – Journal it. Journals have been known to help bring clarity, peace of mind and solutions to many problems. By simply jotting down your thoughts and how you feel about certain situations, you may come to a conclusion.

If you’re experience a creative block about the direction or growth of your business, for example, journaling those thoughts may be all it takes to come a the conclusion you’re happy with.

Putting our thoughts and ideas into writing can often bring clarity and closure to many of our issues.

Creative blocks are frustrating for any business owner. The above tips will hopefully help you overcome those blocks and help you gain clarity and focus once again.

Here are our top tips:

#1 – Write and distribute articles. You may have heard this tip already, but it is without a doubt one of the absolute best ways to drive traffic to your website. Each article you distribute to the directories could mean many potential one-way links back to your websites.

This means more visitors who read your content and click over for more information. But it also means higher ranking within the search engines themselves. Search engines love incoming one-way links, and the more articles you distribute the more back links you’ll get.

#2 – Optimize your website. Search engines are sophisticated but they still can’t find your website unless you optimize it fully. Ensure all your pages include a title tag, the appropriate keywords and a short description about your website. A clear navigation structure as well as a thorough site map will also help both the search engines and your human visitors find you.

#3 – Write great content. Great website content is to search engines what honey is to bees. They absolutely love it. The content on your website should be helpful, informative and as up-to-date as possible. Adding regular fresh content will be appreciated by your human visitors as well as the search engines.

#4 – Do your keyword research. Search engines and human visitors use keywords to find your website. Your keywords are the lifeblood of your business. It pays to take a little extra time to get this step right. Some keywords can bring thousands of repeat customers to your website for years. Other keywords won’t be found or rated at all.

Use a good keyword tool like Word Tracker to find the ultimate keywords for your market. Then use them on your website intertwined with fantastic quality content.

Getting quality search engine traffic does take a little work, but it’s very well worth it in the long run. Taking the time to set up your website properly from the start will pay you back over and over again.

Google Groups

Google Groups allows group members to self-enroll or enroll by invitation only – it’s up to you. And you don’t need to have a Google email account to sign up with Google groups. You do need a Google account, but that’s free. (Yahoo Groups requires all non-Yahoo account holders to establish a Yahoo ID and then “link” that ID to their email address.)

Google Groups sends each member a message every time a page is changed or a comment is added to the thread.

Google forums are organized by topic and members must sign up for a topic to receive email alerts and updates. With Yahoo, messages are presented in a list. Whether this is a pro or con simply depends on how you prefer your messages, topics and forums to be organized. It’s a personal preference.

Both groups allow you to specify public or private membership. And you can also choose a “newsletter only” membership with both groups.

Member profiles are easy to edit via Google Groups.

The pages feature allows users to create web pages, whilst Yahoo offers sections for posting additional information. Again, this is neither a pro nor a con, simply a personal preference.

Both groups allow users to choose how they receive their emails from the group – as individual emails or as a daily digest.

Generally, most people tend to prefer Google Groups because it’s easier to use and more intuitive than Yahoo Groups. However, many users complain about their inability to moderate posts with attachments or quoted text. And owners cannot designate certain powers to managers. It’s an all-or-nothing choice.

Yahoo Groups

Yahoo Groups allows you to personalize your welcome message in a number of easy to use ways including adding a syllabus, links to external pages and attachments. (Google Groups limits your welcome message to 250 words.)

Both groups allow you to add members manually or invite them by email.

Yahoo helps users manage any email problems by tracking bounced mail. They also make it easy to resolve lost password issues.

Yahoo Groups provides a daily digest, email, or website email as options for receiving updates to the group thread(s).

Yahoo Groups offers a calendar feature. (Presently, Google Groups does not offer a group calendar feature.)

Yahoo has had a customer service issue in the past with closing groups and owner IDs without any warning or reason.

Additionally, message attachments are not stored on the group.

Many users complain about the advertising present. (Google also has ads but they’re less obtrusive)

There is a 750kB message size limit. (Google has a 5MB size limit)

Both Yahoo and Google Groups offer a number of features and benefits to business owners, non-profit organisations, and other organized associations. They enable large groups of people to communicate and work together in one area easily and efficiently.

When it comes to creating content, including books, reports, articles, blog posts, and audio and video, there are a few options. You can create the content yourself. You can hire someone to create it, or you can use PLR (Private Label Rights) content. Of the three options, PLR offers some unique benefits.

Here’s why PLR is a great source of content for your online business:

* PLR helps you provide valuable knowledge and information to your website visitors without you having to know everything there is to know about your niche topic. It broadens your expertise without having to spend the time researching and gaining the knowledge yourself.

* It is a quick and easy means of creating content. It saves you both the time creating new topics but also researching and writing. Your time is valuable and PLR can give you the time you need to focus on more profitable tasks.

* It’s less expensive than hiring a ghostwriter. PLR saves you money and as a business owner, you’re already acutely aware of how to best spend your money. In many cases you can purchase two or even three times the amount of PLR as if you’d hired a ghostwriter to write the same content yourself. This is because multiple licences are sold for PLR content.

* With PLR you don’t have to worry about it being delivered on time. Nor do you need to listen to any potential excuses, questions or timely communication issues you may deal with when employing a ghostwriter.

* You can easily edit the content to fit your particular keywords. And by adding a few personal touches to each piece of PLR, you create an original piece of content. Also, it only takes you minutes rather than hours.

* PLR is great to boost search engine optimization. Because each article or PLR piece is created around a unique topic, a little keyword research and some fine tuning of the content is all you need to publish it, be recognized by the search engines and boost your page ranking. A better page ranking means more traffic. More traffic equals more profits, generally. And because search engines look for both quality and volume with regards to content, PLR makes it easy to get noticed by the search engine spiders quickly.

* It helps you become an authority in your niche. Private label rights content helps you increase the amount of published content you have on your website and available online. Because you own the rights to it, you are free to place your name as the author. Publication helps establish you and your company as an authority on your niche topic. Authority is a key buying trigger – we buy from people we believe to be experts.

* PLR offers many options. You can easily repurpose PLR articles into books and reports to give away as bonus material, opt-in offers or even to sell. And if you purchase PLR books and reports, they too can be repurposed into articles, autoresponders, and blog posts.

* PLR comes in a variety of formats. Articles and blog posts are often the most popular; however, you can purchase PLR autoresponders, ebooks, reports, online courses, software, audios and videos.

PLR offers busy entrepreneurs an easy way to supplement their content. It fills in the gaps and it makes creating and providing content on a regular basis a much easier and less time-consuming endeavour.

Here are a few tips to help you overcome the fear of success once and for all:

#1 – Be a “big picture” person. Many entrepreneurs feel paralyzed with fear once they look at all the minute details of a business venture. Some of the most successful business owners of our time have done the exact opposite to avoid this feeling. Instead of concentrating on minute details, they concentrate on the big picture. They know that the small details can be taken care off later.

No one expects you to be familiar with every aspect of business, and there are many tasks that can be outsourced. You can also ask for help and advice when the time comes to complete each task.

To avoid not acting on your ideas, ignore the small details and become a “big picture” person instead.

#2 – Give yourself a break. We all have times when we’re scared or feel a little vulnerable. It’s important not to let these emotions get the better of you. Simply see them for what they are – a temporary feeling. Like most things, this too will pass. Tell yourself that you may be a little fearful of a certain task or phase in your business but that it can be overcome.

Being kind to yourself and concentrating on your successes and good points is the starting point to getting rid of fear.

#3 – Ask yourself – what’s the worst thing that can happen? This simple question can help you overcome the fear of many scenarios. In the big scheme of things, what is actually the worst thing that could happen if you ventured into the unknown?

Often times we realize that things aren’t that bad and our minds have a way of dramatizing certain events. Stop yourself from falling into this trap by facing your worst-case scenario head on.

The fear of success is a real issue for many entrepreneurs, and sometimes those thoughts and feelings are etched deep into our belief system. But with a little time, perseverance and action you can learn to enjoy your success and relish all those moments when something good comes out of your hard work and dedication.

1) Hire the right people. The successful virtual employee is a disciplined self-starter who is productive in an isolated environment but is wise enough to maintain connections with other outside communities. The employee must also be trustworthy, self-reliant, organized, efficient, and dedicated to their own and the company’s success.

2) Get to know them. Hold one-on-one, 20-minute meetings (or longer) at least once every two weeks with direct reports. Let the employee set the agenda, and encourage him or her to discuss any questions or concerns. Assure him/her of your trust and respect, and ask questions about his/her aspirations, quality of work life, and sense of career advancement. Work to resolve any problems quickly, and keep the employee apprised of your progress.

3) Make them feel like a part of the team. Virtual employees should be included in all team meetings. Teleconferencing and web-enabled tools like GoToMeeting.com, webinars, live chats, etc. make team meetings among scattered employees easy.

Include some form of recognition in these meetings, such as acknowledging an insightful comment, remarking on small accomplishments that contributed to the end result, and praising those who honor their commitments. Organize employee retreats once a year so that virtual and traditional employees can interact with one another, to discuss success and/or make improvements, to create a sense of unity and teamwork, and to share information.

4) Communicate, communicate, communicate – in as many ways as possible, including newsletters, electronic message/discussion boards, the company intranet, etc. The level of communication should correlate directly to the distance of the employee.

5) Set realistic benchmarks and expect regular status reports. Establish criteria for measuring progress and success – for example total contacts made or products generated. Reserve a particular time of day or the week for check-in chats and/or web-enabled staff meetings. Set interim deadlines for projects to avoid surprises or gaps.

6) Reward and recognize. Reward virtual employees’ desirable behavior in ways that are meaningful to them. A virtual employee might like an upgraded computer, a Starbucks gift card (since many of them work from coffee shops from time to time), learning and development opportunities, or simply time off. Ask virtual employees to list two or three rewards that they would find motivating and then recognize them accordingly.

Managing virtual employees is challenging but gratifying, as these employees are among the most reliable and entrepreneurial. Give them room to innovate and grow, and you’ll be rewarded with success.