Glenn Clawson

So many business owners struggle with marketing their businesses. Why is that?

Most likely it's because the business owner is just to busy trying to run his or her business to even think about how to market their business.

They usually resort to the "old fashioned" way of marketing, Yellow Page ads, print ads, maybe some radio or tv ads for a small fortune. But what tv or radio station does your customer base even watch or listen to, do you even know.

It's the shotgun approach to marketing. Spread enough "bullets" around and your bound to hit something. At what expense are you willing to keep thinking that type of marketing still works? How deep are your pockets?

Here's some interesting statistics recently put out by the Kelsey Group that every small business owner should pay close attention to:

• 70% of U.S. households now consider the Internet as the primary information source for shopping locally for products and services compared to 45% usage of the Yellow Pages
• 92% of Internet users say the Internet is a great place to get everyday information.
• 82% of Internet traffic starts at the search engine. If your not listed in the search engines your going to have to get creative to generate traffic for your website.
• 54% of all Americans have substituted the Internet for their local phone book.

Further findings suggest that local Internet searches are poised to surpass newspapers as the primary source of local shopping information. This means that if your customers can't find you online they'll most likely find your competitor. It was also reported that 27% of the searches online were local searches.

There is over 400 million websites online. That's 400 million other reasons for your customer to go elsewhere. Don't even worry about those 400 million other websites though if you're just marketing your business locally. You want to place high in your local searches for your keywords and build your customer list from there.

Local targeted traffic will drive customers to your business.

Online customers prefer to shop locally whenever possible! 75% of Internet users have looked for products and services within an area close to their residence or place of business. These people are looking to buy!

Take a look at your website...if a customer visits your site but doesn't purchase anything, how do you know if he or she will ever come back? How do you know if that customer actually visits your establishment that they found you online?

Do you know how to track it so you know if your website is costing you money every money, or making you money?

I can explain it to you and tell you what you need to do to turn that train around and it's a very simple process that involves building your customer list online. (that's my specialty with small businesses)

Building a customer list will immediately do a couple of things:

1. It gives you the opportunity to keep your name in front of your customer by frequently marketing to them, discounts, specials, upsells and builds brand awareness...
2. A customer list adds value to your business. More customers = more value.

You've undoubtly heard the phrase "the money is in the list". With the Internet now becoming so viable it is now easier than ever to build your customer list and market your business online for a fraction of the cost of marketing your business offline.

A huuuuge portion of small businesses are doing it all wrong when it comes to their online marketing.

The statistics show that the "old fashioned" marketing methods are fast changing. Spending big bucks on newspaper ads, Yellow Page ads, other print media, radio etc... there is no way to track just how effective those big dollar ad campaigns are doing for you. You're literally throwing money into the wind.

When a customer searches online in your local area for a product or service, do they find YOU, or your competitor?

If it's not you, you're leaving money on the table. If you want to capture some of this targeted traffic, you need to be found where they're searching.

A strong, online presence that captures local targeted traffic is essential for all small businesses.

Get them to your website, give them something of value in exchange for their name and email address, and begin building your customer list.

If you have a retail establishment that gets walk-in traffic, start collecting email addresses and build your customer database online. People check their emails almost daily and if your emails contain something of value, they'll get opened and you'll benefit from it. It's a win-win.

It's not a matter of if the Internet will affect your business, but when. Use the Internet as a marketing tool and your bottom line will grow like you never thought possible before.

If you really want to build a highly-responsive customer list via email marketing, then this post is a must read.

Unlimited follow-up at virtually no cost makes this one of the cheapest and easiest forms of marketing.

But have you ever thought about how to effectively use email marketing in your business?

Typically, with an online website, you'd have an opt-in form for your customers to submit their name and email address.

Depending on how effective your website sales copy is, your layout, and your offer, you'd get anywhere from 10%-40% of your website's visitors signing up to your list. Perhaps even up to 70% or more if you had a killer offer and highly targeted traffic.

However, there is another much more effective way for an offline business to build an email list.

Interested?

Actually, It's quite simple. (Why over-complicate things when you don't have to?)

Most offline businesses already have a steady flow of customers coming into their place of business every single day. Depending on the type of business they may see anywhere from 10-100 or more prospects and customers a day walking through their door.

Imagine building an email list at the rate of 10-50 new prospects a day!

That's 50-250 a week - that's 200-1000 a month - up to 12,000+ per year!

And these are HOT prospects.

They've already shown an interest in your products and services simply by being there and having frequented your establishment (or even your website).

Collecting the email addresses of everyone who comes into your place of business (or visits your website) is a necessary tool to building your online customer list and establishing your online presence.

The benefits of building your online email customer list are:

• Unlimited Follow-up
• Pre-sales, Post-sales, Special Offers, a Newsletter
• Virtually No Cost
• Relationship Building
• Business Asset

Here's what you do Step-by-Step:

1) Sign up for an automated marketing responder account

2) Create an opt-in form where your customer (or website visitor) can enter their name and email address. Now, most people will be reluctant to just give you their name and email address unless you make it enticing enough for them to do it. Provide something of value in exchange for their name and email address, it could be a report, a discount coupon, a recipe, a digital download containing anything of value your customer's would want.

3) Get in the habit of asking for the name and email address of everyone you do business with, especially customers. Make it a condition of doing business. Radio Shack does this and very few people ever refuse, and they've built a customer list worth millions of dollars.

4) If you're using a double opt-in system then make sure you tell your customers to click onto the link in their confirmation email which then activates them to receiving your emails.

5) Write out your automated marketing emails - these can be weekly newsletters, special offers, per-sales information, or just post-sales support.

6) Don't make it too complicated at first. Just focus on list building and start off with a simple newsletter and special offers.

I was chatting with a collegue of mine a few days ago and she told me that implementing a system just like this for her client garnered him 2 new customers in the first week - each worth $5000.

That's $10,000 in the first week! At that rate you're looking at a system worth $520,000 every year to that business. Of course, that's an exception to the rule but you can see how profitable the upside of having an email customer list can be to your business.

So, how many people walk into your business every day? How many visit your website? How many of those can you sign up to your automated marketing responder? How many of those can you convert into customers? How much is a new customer worth to you?

You may be surprised at how quickly the numbers can add up.

If you're over the age of sixty-two and facing a mortgage foreclosure, applying for one of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) home equity conversion mortgages (HECM) may be the your ticket out of financial ruin. Once you're approved for one of the reverse mortgages, which are insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), you can stop the foreclosure process and save your home.

To be eligible for a reverse mortgage, your home must be a single-family residence. An individual unit in a condominium complex is also eligible as long as the building does not include more than four residences. One other eligible property type is a FHA-approved mobile home.

When you obtain a reverse mortgage, your new home loan will pay off the loan that was in danger of default. No other payments on that old loan will be needed. Then, by obtaining a reverse mortgage loan, you are essentially deferring your mortgage payments for the rest of your life. You are never required to make a payment on a reverse mortgage. The reverse mortgage debt is settled when you are no longer using your home. At that point, the property is sold and the proceeds from the sale are used to pay off your reverse mortgage.

Funding your home with a reverse mortgage allows you to keep your home as long as you are living in it. Married borrowers can keep their home as long as one of them remains in the home. There is no expiration date on a reverse mortgage. Even if you have used all of the proceeds of the mortgage, you can continue to enjoy your house without worrying about how you're going to settle your debt.

Although you will not be making any mortgage payments during the life of your reverse mortgage, there are certain financial requirements that have to be met by the borrower. First, the borrower must maintain continuous insurance coverage on the home. This coverage may include premium mortgage insurance, as well as insurance that covers the house in the event of a fire or flood. In addition, the borrower must make all of the tax payments due on the property. Finally, the homeowner must keep the home in good repair.

Potential applicants in metro Detroit who are interested in receiving reverse mortgage information should contact us today. One of our representatives will be happy to answer all of your questions and get you started on the path to your reverse home mortgage. In no time, your foreclosure worries will be over and you can get back to enjoying life in your own home.

You can email us at GCCPropertySolutions@yahoo.com

Hello Fellow Investors,

With the Michigan real estate market being as dismal as it is right now, believe it or not, I have some great news to pass on to you about a new program I recently became introduced to.

If you've never been ahead of the curve before, I'm not kidding when I say you now have an opportunity to make that happen.

If you're a realtor, or, investor who works the short sale market, or a wholesaler, or any number of other strategies, you're going to want to sit up and pay attention to what I have to tell you in this post.

We all have homeowners we've run across that there is just nothing we can do to help them out of their situation. They either have bad credit, lost job, can't get qualified....any number of reasons why we can't help them out. Especially seniors.

How many of you have worked with seniors and have faced that dilema?

Well, I want to tell you right now I have found a way to erase that problem here in Michigan in the current real estate market. Yes, it is legal. Actually, it is even backed by HUD and Fanny Mae so it's federally insured and it's available in all 50 states, not just Michigan.

If you work with or know of anyone over the age of 62 years old, no matter how bad their credit is, I can help you put that senior into a home with built in equity, no out of pocket expenses or closing fees, and they'll NEVER have to make a house payment for as long as they live there.

It has to be a single-family residence up to a four-unit dwelling. No mobile homes or co-ops.

It's a win-win-win for everyone involved. It's an excellent strategy right now to seriously consider if you know of anyone 62 and older whose been renting, had a home and lost it in foreclosure, or has never owned a home before and would like to. Now they can.

You can help them out and help yourself out at the same time. Contrary to what you've heard or been reading about the real estate market in the Great Lakes State, all is not gloom and doom. There is a ray of sunshine on the horizon and I'll explain to you how everyone can benefit.

Look for my next post and I'll tell you more about who is eligible and what the criteria is to make this happen.

Have a Successful Week,

Glenn Clawson

"The fellow who never makes a mistake takes his orders from one who does." - Earl Nightengale