Seven Sure Steps In Building Your Reputation Online. If All Things Are Possible, Why Can't I Balance My Checkbook?.
If you have to part with your hard-earned money for some goods or services, who would you rather trust: a novice provider or an expert one?
The answer to that question is what makes branding so much important. Branding is the process, nay, the art, of stamping a seal of professionalism and reliability on products or services that are related to you. It's the core of every business and the heart of every successful trade.
Donald Trump has made a living out of branding. He has established for himself a reputation for producing quality goods. Since his name has been attached to this perception, he has extended the same to all his products. Today, people choose his offerings because of the Trump name.
The same principle can be applied online. Brand yourself as an expert in a certain field and people would go to you whenever they'll have needs relevant to your specialization. It's the best advertisement there is: a public perception of your indubitable expertise.
The Internet has taken this a step further with the formulation of a strategy called viral branding. The trick here is to allow the spread of your expertise is such a way that the number of people who would view you as a bankable provider would grow exponentially. Contrary to popular belief, this is quite easy to pull off.
Here are some ways to brand yourself and allow the word to spread like wildfire. Soon enough, your reputation would be synonymous with excellence.
1. Write about something you know by heart. Words convey your expertise, so you better use this avenue well. Write an e-book, or a special report, or an article even. Make sure it is informative and helpful for anyone who chances upon it.
2. If you don't have the time to write, hire a ghostwriter. There are a lot of them on the net. Some charge high, while there are those who have reasonable rates. Find someone you could trust, and who would be able to present the topic you have in mind in the most interesting way possible.
3. If you have written, or have caused the writing, of an e-book or a special report, you have to distribute it with enough incentive for the reader to spread it in his network. Usually, a quality work would do the trick. But to be sure, give it away for free, or bundle it with other products. Explicitly state that the reader can give it away to his friends and family members. This would make your work go viral.
4. If you have written, or have caused the writing, of an article, submit it to as many free articles sites on the web, with your name and website prominently displayed in the resource box. Encourage the readers to republish the article for as long as they maintain the resource box.
5. Publish your own eZine. An eZine, or electronic magazine, would be a consistent venue you could use to show your subscribers your reliable business plan. Encourage them to ask questions, and answer these queries in your eZine. One person's question would then become everyone's concern, and broadcasting your answer to all of them could only reinforce your good reputation.
6. Provide excellent after purchase service. No matter how good your product is, the buyer won't remember your name unless you give him something extra. A good post-purchase service, i.e. technical support, eligibility for freebies, etc., would assure you that your clients will remember you instead of merely remembering the product.
7. Establish relationships. Treat people well and chances are they will treat you just as nice. Every online acquaintance is one person more to your network, and that one person has a separate network of hundreds more. Having good relationships with the people you deal with is the best way of getting the word out that your name means good business.
Cedrick Reese is the webmaster of http://www.eclectic-info.com, Start an easy Home-Based Business through Affiliate Marketing and Adsense. Other sites include http://www.Your-RealEstateCourses.com and http://www.PremeirHosting.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
For me, the most terrible time of each month is the day our bank statement comes. We commonly call it BSS (Bank Statement Syndrome). I don't know why it is, but I have trouble getting the parsonage checkbook to balance with the monthly bank statement.
That ominous document intimidates me every time it arrives. After all, the bank's business is keeping track of accounts. They have hundreds, maybe thousands of accounts and I have just one. On the surface, it seems a rather simple thing for me to keep our checking account up to date, but I assure you, it is not. Every time I try, I lose interest.
Keeping our checkbook accurately balanced is almost like a circus balancing act; everything is up in the air. No matter how often I add those figures, I never get the same result twice. I have resorted to adding up the figures at least three times and then take the average. So far, I've been batting a .195 and have been dropped by the major league, which has lost interest in my career. This may satisfy my conscience but it does little to appease the accounting department of my friendly banking institution.
The thing flustering me more than anything else are those fees. The average bank has more fees than a West Virginia hound dog has fleas. Everything I turn around there is another fee. (I need to stop turning around.) Somebody needs to invent a fee powder.
Each bank must employ a stable of employees whose only job is to dream up these fees. How else can you explain it? These fees are creative enough to cover every aspect of a person's wallet, retroactive three generations back.
To open an account there is a fee. Each account carries a monthly maintenance fee. I have been paying this monthly maintenance fee for several years and I have yet to see someone from the bank come out and mow my lawn. What is this maintenance fee? What are they maintaining? They certainly are not maintaining my checkbook.
With all the fees I am paying, I would expect someone from the bank come to my house, sit around my table, and help me balance my checkbook. I would supply the coffee and donuts -for a small fee of course.
Another thing I do not understand is the ATM fee. Why do I have to pay money to the bank to get my money out of the bank? Whose money is it anyway?
I think banks offer monthly bonuses to the employee who comes up with the most creative fee for that month to impose on its customers. Fe?Fi?Fo?Fum all those bank fees are dumb.
Once upon a time and far far away, banks would bribe customers with toasters or umbrellas to open accounts with them. Those very days are over, you can be sure. Now, I'm the one bribing the bank to keep my account with them.
Last week I slipped the cashier the usual quarter and asked her to make sure my deposit got in my account, please. I do not know whether it is bribery or just a gamble and probably would do better with the Florida lottery.
I would not mind it so much if only my checkbook would occasionally agree with the bank statement. It takes a lot of effort on my part to keep some semblance of order in my checkbook. I am not always as successful as I would like. I make mistakes and sometimes they cost me. At my bank when I bounce a $3.75 check, I have to take a second mortgage out on my house to pay the fee.
I would close my account and transferred to another bank that there is a closing fee, a transfer fee and a fee that has no explanation whatsoever. Just a goodbye jester from my bank, one last chance for them to screw up my checking book.
Some people think God should do everything for them. All they have to do is sit back and enjoy themselves and God will do everything for them. A prevalent attitude about faith supports this erroneous notion. Someone once compared this idea of faith as putting a "nickel in the slot and pull the lever" and you get what you want.
Some things in my life only God can do and I need to understand what they are and allow Him to do them. However, some things in my life God expects me to do. God will never do these things for me. I must come to grips with this distinction. If I don't, my life will be miserable.
Some people are sitting around waiting for God to do something He is expecting them to do. As they wait, they become frustrated and start accusing God of all sorts of sinister things.
Part of getting to know God is understanding this. What is my responsibility as a Christian? What does God expect from me?
An Old Testament verse puts much of this into perspective. After Solomon dedicated the Temple God responded by saying, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV).
For the most part, many people are sitting around waiting for God to balance their checkbook when He has put the pencil in our hands.
Reverend Snyder is currently ministering at the "Family of God Fellowship" in Ocala, Florida. More of his articles are available for reprint at his website: http://www.godspenman.com/ Rev. Snyder is available as a guest speaker. He writes a weekly column and is the author of "You Can Always Tell a Pastor; But Not Very Much" available at: http://www.jamessnyderministries.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
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