Kristie T’s Home Business Blog Fun, mom-geared work-at-home tips and advice on making money on the net.

I have alarming news for anyone who sells ebooks as unsecured PDF’s. The new version of Adobe Reader 8 has a button that says “save as text”. And sure enough, if you click it, it converts the text in the pdf file to a txt file.

I noticed this just yesterday when my client sent me a news story as a pdf and I was just about to open my tool that converts pdf’s to text when I noticed that Adobe has this new feature.

So if you think that your pdf is protecting your ebook from theft, think again. Imagine how easy it would be for someone to take your entire ebook, rewrite it a bit, and republish it as their own. That’s not a very comforting thought is it. And yet I’m sure it will start happening more and more. As far as other formats, I’ll be researching into other formats.

I know that exe is a possibility. But it’s kind of a pain because usually people have to download a reader to open the exe with.

Anyone else have bright ideas for alternative pdf formats?

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Tonight I am teaching a class at my local community college on “Business Blogging 101″. It will cover the basics on what blogging is, how blogging benefits your business, building an effective blog, and best blogging tools.

Here you can take a peak at the College of Lake County fall schedule of small business course offerings. There you will see my Business Blogging 101 course and other entrepreneurial courses. That might give you an idea of how teaching about your topic of expertise might fit into an entrepreneurial line up at your local college.

Teaching at your local community college does several things.

- One, it gives you a way to give back to your local community by sharing your expertise with people who normally wouldn’t have access to that high level information.

- Secondly, it let’s you add to your credentials that you lecture as a college professor and teach about what you do.

- Thirdly, although you cannot market yourself during a college class, you can let your students know that if they have questions after class, they can contact you. That can sometimes turn into business.

- And last but not least, it let’s you put together material that you can use as a product, speaking program, ebook, audio program, or public seminar for fee!

So if you are a guru at what you do, why not contact your local community college small business or entrepreneurial department and see if you can teach a course! Besides, it feels really cool when someone raises their hand with a question and you can help them! I love that feeling - and you will too!

Would you like to teach at your local college?

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I’m sure your library is probably as crazy as mine. But sometimes I think I have so many awesome resources, that I forget what I have. Someone once said that the only thing that will be different 10 years from now is the books you read, the people you meet, and the experiences you have.

I have more the enough books that I’ve read - that’s for sure. My goal for next year is to IMPLEMENT what I have read. No more learning (which will be hard - I love learning)

Well, here are the books I have in my library. I have read 80% of them. The others, need to sit down and read.

Is your library as big as this? - And there are LOTS of ebooks and books in the basement haven’t even accounted for here.

(more…)

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It’s funny…. people really bust their brains trying to think of what products and services to offer when sometimes the answer is right under their nose. Often the BEST product ideas come just from listening to your customers. What do they need? What are their problems? How could you help them solve them.

Recently this happened for me. In my web design business, I really stive to make sure that in addition to looking great, that their website is making them money. And recently a client said to me, “Kristie, you really should bill me for the time we talk. What you say is so helpful to me. I really appreciate it.” And then about a week later, another client said, “Kristie, let’s talk ‘on the clock’ You give really great adice when we talk.” And then again a couple weeks later, still another client asked to “book some time to talk about his business.”

So a little bell went off and I said, “Hmm, I guess it’s time to start offering coaching!” And so I put up a web page for my marketing coaching. Well let me tell you that word of mouth kicked in. And the great news is that my schedule is filling up with new marketing coaching clients.

Just a little lesson to always keep your ears perked - if you listen, your audience will tell you exactly what they need and how you can help them!

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I was just Googling along today on a search though the 21,900 returns for Kristie Tamsevicius (you know, a little vanity search) and I came across something appauling. ..

Someone else is SELLING my ebook I wrote from 10 years ago without my permission.
What the *%~? (insert explicative of your choice) is that about?
That’s outright theft! Charging for something, earning a profit on something that is not even theirs!??

See here:
http://www.master-resale-rights.com/products/Ultimate_Guide_to_Ebook_Marketing-576-39.html

The Ultimate Guide to Ebooks is the first ebook I ever wrote from like 10 years ago.

What gives people the right to think they can just start selling your stuff? I mean the nerve! I emailed them and said to take it down. But what else can you do really?

What would YOU do?

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For those of you who use private label articles or free reprint articles to get ideas for content, here’s a way to jumpstart your thinking on content for new ebooks, teleclasses, and special reports - public domain works. There are over 18,000 free ebooks at Gutenberg that are public domain and that you are free to use.

According to Wikipedia,

public domain comprises the body of knowledge and innovation (especially creative works such as writing, art, music, and inventions) in relation to which no person or other legal entity can establish or maintain proprietary interests within a particular legal jurisdiction. This body of information and creativity is considered to be part of a common cultural and intellectual heritage, which, in general, anyone may use or exploit, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

Even some of today’s big name authors and speakers have snagged up public domain works, giving them their own creative touch, and selling them as new products.

Why not stop by and see what public works you could use? Tell me, do you know anyone who has used public works from Gutenberg to create a product?

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Want to boost your passive income? Here’s a tip for organizing your affiliate links so you are more focused and make more money.

As a member of Alice Seba’s Mom Mastermind group, I have learned a lot have things that have boosted my passive income. In her Affiliate Marketing Sweetie program, she shares simple, but powerful ideas for making more money online promoting affiliate products.

Here’s one tip that made me $49 extra dollars the very first day I used it. Alice suggests putting your affiliate links on your My Yahoo startup page as bookmarks. That way they are always in front of you and easy to grab the link, send a note, and promote it. Here’s how to do make My Yahoo your home page and customize it with your own bookmarks:

STEP 1: SETUP A FREE YAHOO ACCOUNT (if you don’t have one)

1. Go to Yahoo.com
2. Click on My Yahoo link at top right
3. If you don’t have a Yahoo account, you’ll be asked to create one.
4. After you have a Yahoo account and log in, you can personalize your My Yahoo page.

STEP 2: HOW TO MAKE MY YAHOO YOUR HOME PAGE
Just go to here and pick the My Yahoo layout on the far right:
http://promo.yahoo.com/homepage/

STEP 3: HOW TO ADD AFFILIATE BOOKMARKS TO YOUR MY YAHOO PAGE

1. Look for the section on the side called Bookmarks
2. Click the Edit button, this click edit content
3. Then click the add bookmark button
4. Add the web address of your affiliate link where it says Site URL
5. Then add a descriptive name of the site like Alice’s Sweetie Program
6. Then click either Save of Save and Add another.

Presto - Your done!
Now you can access your My Yahoo page at any time on your computer just by hitting the home button on your computer.
It will serve as a daily reminder of the wonderful array of products that you can recommend to your list.

Now go off and earn some big fat affiliate commission checks! Let me know when this tip gets you an extra affiliate sale because of the reminder!

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These days it seems that using SEO to get traffic to your site is an uphill battle. Everyone and their mother is an SEO expert and counting on high rankings to get your traffic is becoming a much tougher game. That’s where pay per clicks come in. They even the playing field. You can use pay-per-click advertising to get your business listed on the major search engines for people seeking information regarding your products and services.

Here are 3 pay per click services to consider:

1) Microsoft AdCenter - Just launched, Microsoft AdCenter is the new guy to the pay per click block. And according to a 2006 study conducted by WebSideStory shows that Microsoft adCenter converts customers at a rate that is 48% higher than Yahoo! and a full 57% higher than Google.

2) Yahoo Search Marketing - Search Engine Giant Yahoo joined the pay click click game in an attempt to keep up with forerunner Google. Through Yahoo Local Sponsored Search listings, Yahoo helps local businesses target visitors demographically. Local mom and pop businesses can now use the power of the web to send customers to their brick and mortar storefronts.

For people implementing pay per click with Yahoo, I even found a Yahoo Search Marketing forum devoted entirely to strategy with this kind of marketing on Yahoo.

3) Google Adwords - And of course the reigning rock star of the pay per click world is now Google Adwords.

If you aren’t using it now to promote your products, you should! Seriously, it’s a great way to drive traffic to your site for just A few bucks. All you do is write a couple of ads, and * BAM * Google publishes it instantly to millions of potential customers.

It’s one savvy way that internet marketers are split testing ad Elements of their sales letter. Run headline A against headline B - the One with the most clickthrus wins!

But if you don’t know what you are doing, it’s an easy way to lose A lot of money quickly.

Here’s a cool free ecourse on Google Adwords with great tips On how to get the lots of traffic without losing your wallet! There’s no charge for it. You can find out about it here: http://www.webmomz.com/adwords.htm

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If you are marketing products or services online and aren’t using teleclasses then you are leaving money on the table. Teleclasses or teleseminars are a powerful way to get known for what you do and market online. It gives you the ability to sell your product to hundreds of people while talking on the phone from your living room chair! It’s like a television infomercial, except that you can do it from home while wearing your pajamas.

Here are 5 Ways that Teleseminars Grow your Business!

1) You build your newsletter subscriber list.
2) You sell more products to people because they get excited hearing about it.
3) You can offer free preview teleseminars to market your seminars and get people to sign up.
4) You can record your teleclass and sell it later as an audio product
5) You position yourself as a top expert and gain load of credibility
6) You build your relationship with your audience as they get to know you and hear you during the call

With a little marketing, some good content, and a good presentation on your part, you’ll put together a super teleclass that will go a long ways to market your business. What questions or ideas do you have to share about holding teleseminars to grow your business.

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Recently I bought a huge order of shipping envelopes from Uline.com. And yesterday in the mail I got the nicest order from them. It was a thank you card with a twist!

It said,

“Thank You for ordering shipping supplies from Uline. We appreciate you as a customer and look forward to serving you again. We hope you will continue to take advantage of what uline has to offer:
- Uline.com with many features including order history and order tracking
- Quote department to personally assist you with high volume orders and special services
- Expanded locations nationwide to speed service and reduce shipping costs”

And included in it was a sturdy, plastic rolodex card with their phone number and my customer number written on there!

WOW was I impressed. And you know what I did? I ordered 100 more envelopes!

How easy would it be to put a similar message on your thank you page, an autoresponder message, or a thank you card via mail?

In it, you’d just have to thank your customer, then offer them 3 additional related products and services that might be helpful to them!

Treat your customers like gold, let them know you appreciate them, and most importantly, let them know how else you can help them!

What cool ways do you wow your customers? Have you ever had WOW service that knocked your socks off? Share your “over the top” customer service experiences here!

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