Yes, women are starting businesses in the US and many other countries at twice the rate of men. But why are businesses owned by women still not taken seriously?

In my book, “Testosterone-Free Marketing: The Yin and Yang of Marketing for Women” I reveal why marketing is challenging for millions of women business owners. Many women don’t market as effectively. They get fewer sales and enjoy less financial freedom. Some women take to marketing and sales effortlessly. Most avoid it. Women have great relationship-building skills. However, as important as relationship building skills are, they usually won’t always take a business owner all the way to having a new client or customer.

Successful Home-based Business Ownership Requires a Shift in Skills

Women start businesses with years of skill honed in previous jobs. Or, they become distributors for a product they enjoy a passion for. They also bring characteristics that make them wonderful mothers, wives and friends. Sometimes those characteristics don’t serve them in business. When a woman shifts and becomes more pro-active and more confident - the business often finally takes off.

For example, many women feel uncomfortable ‘tooting their own horn.’ They were taught ‘a good girl’ doesn’t do that. Or, a woman may have been told to wait for people to come to her. Surprisingly, many women believe making a profit is cheating or taking advantage of customers. These ingrained traits make it difficult for women to succeed.

Who Else Wants to Say Goodbye to “Testosterone-Heavy Marketing?”

Many marketing books sport either infantry-division camouflage on the cover or war and sports analogies. “Scorched earth marketing” makes many women uncomfortable. Women are about relationships, not killing. These relics of ‘old boys testosterone-heavy’ marketing make women uneasy - but they’re unsure why. Women didn’t grow up playing “war.” And even if they did play sports, friendships were often more important than the score.

It’s time for women to re-frame marketing and view it not as “killing the competition” but as “creating” so they can put more profits in their purse. Women create the human race. We can give birth to, nurture and raise a successful business.

Katherine and Lana: Women at the Crossroads of Success

Katherine struggled. Her website business was a confusing hodge-podge of freebies. Nothing led visitors to believe the information was from an authoritative source. Katherine wouldn’t call herself an expert even though she was extremely knowledgeable. Because her site was loaded with freebies, the only people who visited were people looking for freebies - not buyers.

Her family scraped along. One year later with a lot of positve changes that helped her become a more savvy, confident marketer her business has much more cash flow coming in. She raised prices on her products twice and gives away a lot less freebies. She also charges $45 an hour for her expertise rather than giving it away. When she started making more money her marriage improved. Family life became more relaxed. Recently Katherine and her family moved into a larger, newer home.

Lana is a copywriter who specialized in working with non-profits. She’s bright and computer-savvy. Lana would cut rates because she couldn’t stop thinking how she would pay the rent. I told Lana she needed to build her value with effective marketing instead of cutting rates. When people tried to chisel down her rate it wasn’t necessarily because they couldn’t afford her - but because they wanted to get the best deal. She learned to attract clients willing to pay without discounting. In six months she switched from working with non-profits to business owners and quadrupled her rates.

Discover Erroneous Beliefs that Hold Women Back

I’ve coached over 1,200 people in marketing. Half men and half women. I teach strategies to help women understand automatic behaviors that don’t serve them in business. Knee jerk reactions can keep you from enjoying the success you deserve.
You can discover new ways to grow comfortable getting new customers and clients easily. This leads to a viable, profitable business. Once you understand the “cause” and “effect” you will look at owning a business differently. Marketing is not about being tough or manipulative. It’s about knowing your value, honoring you and stating it so people want to say “yes.”

Grow Market Savvy or Accept the Crumbs Tossed Your Way

You may be skilled, well-educated and talented at what you do. But you still have to market and sell. Women need marketing and selling support that’s comfortable and works with your style as a woman. When you do you’ll get a boost of self-confidence, have a business you love and enjoy marketing and selling. You can succeed, enjoy your freedom, relax and be yourself.

With over two decades successful experience in sales, advertising, public relations, market research and planning, Denise Michaels has worked with top authors and seminar leaders. Author of “Testosterone-Free Marketing” you can discover more about Denise online at http://www.MarketingForHer.com Or, email her at: smartprotege@msn.com

The first thought of any genuine business starting out would be to have a listing in the Yellow Pages.

People tend to still be a little old fashioned and think of the printed Yellow Pages, and than they would take it a step further and try to get listed included in the Yellow Pages Online Directory and would consider that a bonus to there success.

The first thing that comes to mind with advertising with the Yellow Pages is its Very Very Expensive, and they really have alot of power to keep there price up. The downfall to advertising is there are really too many businesses and it is very difficult to stand out from the rest especially if you can only afford a simple basic listing.

The second most valuable type of advertising that comes to mind with any new business and has become increasingly more popular as the years go on is the online world and having a website,
but than with a website the next step is to be listed and be seen. The sad thing is everyone is striving to be indexed in google and all the major search engines to hopefully be noticed somewhere under a keyword that someone might type to find there business. Unfortunately even than they may not get a real picture of what they are looking for, yet just one webpage it could even be the back of a website that could be indexed, so when someone does a full search they may still not understand exactly what they have looked for.

Ok on top of that to have a website it is so technical and time consuming, to continuously have your website optimized to stand out from your competitors , its almost like having to employ a Web Specialist full time just for your business.

Would you believe Google (such a well sorted leader) are starting to put there thinking caps on about this. It was only last week when they bought a 5% share in DMOZ. Yes, that is right. For those who are not aware of this, this is a very big move on their behalf which makes it even more interesting for the online advertising world. DMOZ.com for those of you who arent aware are apparently the largest human directory in the world, the directory includes businesses mainly.

What brings to mind with this, is it seems like google are not satisfied with what they have. It seems like they need to bring out a new source in order to have a more optimized search. “The optimized search is a business directory”. Inside a business directory you get what you will find what you need alot more effectively than using a search engine or of course the Yellow Pages. It is now being realized. So the real question is this - If you spend on Advertising, you need to spend on an online business directory, but one that can be used effectively and is relevant to your country/location.

I am definitely not a fan of DMOZ, I think they have a lot more work to do. It is still a very restrictive directory and also not much room for standing out from other business if you were listed. So a directory to be most effective is the real question not just with traffic but also quality visitors and unique hits.

A real business needs a real listing to be found, seen and stand out from this real messy advertising world.

Daniel Lew - Australian Born and Director and Developer of http://www.thailand-search.com and http://www.search-thailand.com with over 12 years advertising, marketing & design experience now expanding rapidly and ready to take on the competitive world of advertising. Not to mention http://www.goldcoastsearch.com.au, taking over and developing the most unique advertising method the world will see.

Have you ever walked into a networking event full of strangers and wished you could be anywhere else?

Traditional “business building rules” tell us that we need to network. Attending a charity breakfast where you give a 2-minute spiel on your business, community luncheon where you eat rubber chicken and another cocktail hour where you feel like you’re on a speed date going from business owner to business owner with barely enough time to remember their names, much less make a great impression.

It doesn’t have to be that way!

Years ago, while deeply involved in “Corporate America” (I still shudder when saying that phrase), I took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - a personality assessment. My fears were confirmed: I am an introvert (actually, an “ISTJ” for those of you familiar with the Myers-Briggs). High level summary introverts are people who recharge their energy from within while extroverts get energy from people and other external sources. I am one of those people who draws energy and ideas from solitude and reaching within my own psyche.

Depending on the situation, everyone is both an introvert and an extrovert. Put me in a room with some of my friends and I take on the persona of a stand-up comedian and couldn’t be more at ease. Put me in a large conference room where I know nobody and am not presenting and I become the silent wallflower.

Given the choice, I prefer to be with a few close friends rather than at a large party where I know no one. While I’ve been told I’m an excellent public speaker (birth by fire in the corporate world does wonders), it takes a lot of energy for me to get “in the zone” and I have learned to do this by being well-prepared on the topic and discussing things I’m passionate about.

The following marketing techniques are some that I have used successfully and are designed to work for the introverted among us.

1. Participate in online forums and discussion groups.

It’s easy to be authentic and true to yourself while marketing your business by participating on online forums such as Yahoo Groups. You can spend as much or as little time getting to know the other small business owners, virtual assistants, etc. as you wish. There is no face to face, “will they like me?”, “will they trust me?” type of feeling. You can take your time in responding to those issues that interest you, rather than feel “on the spot” like you may at your average networking event.

I belong to several such groups and have met many wonderful people this way and have learned much from different business owners. It’s a great way to pick the brains of people in the same situation as yourself.

2. Write articles.

Take advantage of your writing skills and write and submit articles online. One of my clients was doing some research for her business and told me she’d seen one of my articles on www.killermarketingarsenal.com. The next day I received a notice from www.sbinformer.com (a small business site) asking permission to use another of my articles. As a direct result of my writing articles, I now have an audience that I may have never otherwise reached. You never know what search engines just might pick up on your article, or how your information could be valuable to someone else.

3. Know your strengths.

Successful marketing requires that you know your strengths and your weaknesses. Take time to ask friends, family, and others what they feel are your greatest strengths and weaknesses. You might be surprised to discover that what you thought wasn’t a talent is perceived as such by others. When you find yourself in an uncomfortable or nerve-wracking situation, focus on your strengths. You will be naturally more at ease when discussing something that’s aligned with your passions and that you have learned is valuable to others.

4. Visualization.

Have you ever thought about something so much that when it actually happened it felt like déj vu? Visualization is a great tool that allows you to script out an event before it happens. Just think - you can anticipate the challenges (for example, no one speaks to you when you arrive) and plan how to overcome them before they occur. Plan ahead for various situations and scenarios to avoid being caught off guard.

5. Stick to your values.

It’s important not to try and change yourself in order to successfully market your business. You will be most effective when you allow the natural you to come through. For those of us who are introverts, that means establishing a marketing plan and environment that supports us as well as follows the path by which we mean to grow with.

Go get ‘em!

Online Business Manager & Entrepreneur, Sandra Martini, publishes the ‘Effective Entrepreneur’ weekly e-zine. She also coaches small business owners to more efficiently manage their businesses while increasing profits and having fun. Sandra’s coaching programs are available via teleconferencing, emails and telephone calls. For more information or to sign-up for ‘Effective Entrepreneur’, visit http://www.online-biz-coach.com today.

Free pre-registration of sg-domains at Second Level

Cologne,13 August 2004. ICANN accredited registrar Secura
announces today, that the company is accepting free
pre-registration of sg-domains at second level.
(https://www.domainregistry.de/sg-domain.html)

Singapure is the financial centre of the Far East. The registry
has decided to introduce sg-domains at second level since 15
September 2004.

Part of the rule that gives priority to register 2nd level names
of “.sg” is the ownership of an existing 3rd level name (.com.sg
/ net.sg / org.sg / edu.sg / per.sg). The cut off date for 3rd
level name to be entitled to the priority to register 2nd level
names is 6 September 2004 before 5 pm. Therefore all 3rd level
name had to be registered before this period to enjoy the
priority in this category.You can influence the chance to get a
second level sg-domain by registering now a third level domain.
(Please note that there are other priority before this category
which will be explained in details under item 3.3)

3. SUNRISE PERIOD

3.1 During the Sunrise Period all individuals and entities are
eligible to apply for any second-level domain name. Applicants
will be required to submit a declaration form (form to be
published soon) together with supporting documents, if any,
indicating their status (i.e. trademark holders, Unregistered
well-known trademark Holder, government bodies, existing
registrants or new applicants). This form has to be submitted to
+49 221 2571213 via fax.

The sunrise period is 1 months for the application of
second-level domain names under the top level domain of .sg.
Applications for second-level domain names during the Sunrise
Period will not be processed on a first-come-firstserved basis
but will be processed subject to the requirements and procedures
set out in the following guidelines. 3.2 Where there are two or
more applicants for the same second-level domain name the
priority for allocation will be determined at the end of the
Sunrise Period in the following order:

(a) Holders of registered trademarks.Holders of word marks which
are registered with the Intellectual Property Office of
Singapore (IPOS).

(b)Unregistered Trademarks, which belong to Holders of well
known trademark holders

(c) Government Organisations that have a current Registrant
Agreement with SGNIC in relation to a current third level domain
name registered under the ‘gov.sg’ category and is identical to
the second level domain name that they want to register. For
example, in the case of holder of ABC.gov.sg, the second level
domain name it wants to register would be ABC.sg.

(d) Applicants that have a current Registrant Agreement with
SGNIC in relation to a current third level domain name
registered under the ‘com/org/net/edu/per.sg’ categories and is
identical to the second-level domain name that is under
application (i.e. existing 3rd level registrants). For example,
in the case of holder of XYZ.com.sg, the second-level domain
name it wants to register would be XYZ.sg. The third-level ‘.sg’
domain name with SGNIC must be registered before 5:00pm on 6
Sept 2004. The name applied under the 2nd level must be exactly
the same as the one under the 3rd level and the organization
name and/or first name, last name (for the case of .per.sg) must
be an exact match of the one provided by the 3rd level domain
name. In addition, the domain must be in “Active” status.
Submission for domains in “Expired” or “Deleted” status will not
be considered for application.

3.3 Where there are two or more applicants for the same
second-level domain name within each of the Group, a bidding
will be conducted to allocate these second-level domain names.

3.4 All individuals and entities are eligible to apply for
second level ‘.sg’ domain name. Foreign-based registrants have
to appoint a local administrative contact or register through
their local office.Secura is providing automatically the local
administrative contact.

4.1 The restrictions on the types of domain names to be
registered are the same as the 3rd level domain names
specifically: (a) Names, which contain certain words such as
“Temasek”, “Singapore”, “Singapura” and its variation,
“Singapore Government” or “President” or any other words that
can mislead people to think there is link to the Government;
Names, which contains “SGNIC”, “NIC” and its variations; Names,
which are obscene, scandalous, indecent or contrary to law, or
morality (e.g. “sex” or any connotations with sex or any
sex-related activities); (b) Names, which are geographical names
or names of countries (e.g. Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, etc.);
(c) Abbreviated names (either on their own or in combination
with other characters) of existing generic top-level domain name
(gTLDs) (i.e. .com, .org, .net, edu, .gov, .per, .aero, .coop,
.biz, .info, .museum, .name and .pro) and any other gTLDs
created or to be created by ICANN in the future; Names, such as
“www”, “http”, “https” or “http-www”; Names, which are similar
or identical to domain names registered under other domain name
space and which SGNIC deems undesirable; and Names, which
consist of all numerals.

5.1 ALLOCATION RESULTS SGNIC does not guarantee that all
applicants will get a second-level domain name based on their
current corresponding identical third level domain name
registered with SGNIC even if the applicants apply correctly and
on time. This is either because another applicant with a higher
priority may have also applied for the same secondlevel domain
name or the second-level domain name applied for has been
reserved by SGNIC not to be available to the general public.

6. OBJECTION PERIOD 6.1 An objection period of [14 calendar
days] is provided for the public to raise objections 6.2 A
person raising an objection to an allocation result shall
provide evidence that the second-level domain name allocated by
SGNIC during the Sunrise Period did not comply with the
Guidelines.

6.3 All disputes in relation to second-level domain names
(except disputes arising from the allocation results announced
during the Sunrise Period) will be dealt with in accordance with
the Singapore Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, Rules and
Supplemental Rules (”Dispute Resolution Policy”) referred to in
the Registrant Agreement regardless of when the second-level
domain name was registered. All applicants shall not commence
any court proceedings or administrative proceedings under the
Dispute Resolution Policy during the objection period or if the
person had filed an objection with SGNIC.

7. GENERAL LAUNCH Applications from public on
first-come-first-served basis will commenced on 3 Jan 2005. The
pre-registation at https://www.domainregistry.de/sg-domain.html
starts on 14 August 2004.

Hans-Peter Oswald https://www.domainregistry.de/sg-domain.html

1. Size of the Html emails:

Size does matters. If the emails are bulky, spam filters think they
are spam. So they will be deleted or directed to junk folder. Better
be less than 20 kb.

To make Html emails with small sizes follow these principles-
Don’t use WYSIWYG editors to create Html emails.
Don’t attach images to messages. Upload the images to your website
and link from there.
Mind attachements that you will send with emails.

2. Javascripts and executable attachments:

Don’t insert javascripts and those sort of things in your Html emails.
They potentially decrease the deliverability of your email in to
your subscribers inboxes, because people disables these in their email
clients to run.

3. Html complexity:

Most of the email clients support only minimal html. Like simple
break tags, paragraph tags etc. Don’t use complex html code like
frames, sliding menus etc.

4. Hiding and Tracking links:

Great advantage of Html emails is you can hide your affiliate links
and track who opened the emails (only if images are downloable).

5. Easy to publish on the web:

Make a template for your Html emails. So let all emails be consistent in
layout. You can publish the ezines or ecourses on the web directly from Html
emails. You don’t have to format like in text emails.

6. Attachments:

All mailing list managers has the ability to attach single or
multiple attachments. But spam filters triggered by attacments in
many email clients. So put them as download links.

7. Links in Html emails:

Try not to misdirect your subscribers. Best way linking is by using
legit wording. Like if you are keeping the following affiliate link
(example - www.affiliatesite.com/affiliate.php?idxxxx) for a search engine
optimization ebook, keep this url linked to the word
‘Search engine optimization strategies guide’. Don’t link to affiliatesite.com
This way subscribers know what they are clicking and what to expect
after clicking.

8. Email clients limitations:

Not all email clients display Html emails properly. So offer a choice
for your subscriber to opt for text emails in your email letters.

Radhika Venkata (c)

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There is a difference between bulk email and spam. However, when it comes to you bulk email server, you need to make sure that you not only know the difference, but also that you understand managing your bulk email server the easy way. If you do, you will avoid legal and ethical problems while still effectively marketing your product, service, or website.

Managing your bulk email server the easy way means doing it the right way. What does that mean? It means understanding what works with bulk email, what is ethical, and how to avoid problems with those not wanting to receive your messages.

First of all, when managing your bulk email server the easy way, you want to always make sure you are sending out a message that is worth the time of the person who will read it, and that you are sending the message to someone who wants to, or at least opts to, receive your email messages. Part of your management scheme should include getting your email lists either from an opt-in form on a company website or through a reputable email list seller.

Secondly, managing your bulk email server the easy way means avoiding returned messages. Make sure your email list, no matter where it has come from, has been thoroughly “scrubbed.” That is, make sure the email addresses are real addresses and that there are no duplicates in the list. If you send your message to someone twice, it looks unprofessional and will give you no hope of having that person take your messages seriously.

Thirdly, you should definitely consider that managing your bulk email server the easy way means setting up an easy opt-out option for those receiving your message. In fact, if you want to avoid the label of “spammer,” you must have a way for recipients of the messages to get themselves taken off your mailing list. Once you have been labeled a spammer, you will lose all credibility as well as any hope of an effective bulk email campaign. Not to mention the legal ramifications of the spam issue. So it is best to make sure you read up on and understand how you should manage your bulk email server to comply with government and local bulk email regulations.

Finally, managing your bulk email server the easy way means setting it up with reports and auto-functions. Most of the best bulk emails servers will allow you to run reports after you send each message. It can tell you which email addresses got returned, which can help you continue the scrubbing process with your lists. Also, you should be able to automatically remove addresses from which you get an opt-out, as well as add messages from opt-ins. Doing things the easy way means getting it set up so that your computer does as much of it as possible.

Keep in mind that managing your bulk email server the easy way means a couple of things. First of all, it means doing things the right way to prevent working double the amount. Secondly, it means that you set up the computer and server to do as much work alone as possible. You will soon find that managing the easy way sure beats managing the hard way.