Become a Recognized Expert in Your Field and Increase Your Sales

A lot of people write to me to ask my advice on home businesses
and marketing. It started of with an e-mail here, a phone call
there, but soon the questions started flooding in. Now I can
barely keep up on my e-mail, and it's come to my attention that
some people consider me a guru of sorts. Boy, was I surprised to
hear that!

Now, I'm not saying that I don't have a lot to offer. I think
I've picked up a few good ideas along the way, and I feel pretty
good about sharing them. I'm really grateful for the business my
status has brought me, it's just that I never thought of myself
as the end-all authority on home businesses. I'm just a guy like
you. I've put in a lot of time and hard work to get where I am,
and I guess my ideas were good enough that I now have a
following, and my business is booming. Doesn't it make sense
then, that you could do the same?

So how did I do it? Well, first of all, I did my homework.
After first ruling out the obviously ridiculous scams, I tried
all the new home business ideas out there I could, and I
interviewed people who had tried the ones I hadn't. I read
business papers and watched business reports and basically kept
my ears to the ground. I watched how much money and traffic came
to the varying programs, and which submission ideas got the most
response. After a short time I had narrowed my marketing schemes
down to what I could tell really worked.

Next, I created a visible presence on the web in business chat
rooms and on message boards. There are several sites that I go
to regularly to answer questions and post ideas. No selling
here, just a friendly and constructive exchange of information.
People really appreciate it when you're willing to just share
information without giving a hard-sell. Pretty soon I had people
e-mailing me on a regular basis.

Finally, I started submitting articles to business papers,
magazines and ezines about anything I could think of that related
to my businesses ideas. It took me a few times, but I got a
formula down, and I started getting published, and published a
lot. A business article should never a blatant advertisement, but
an informative, well-written piece that will spark an interest in
what you do or sell. I found plenty of publications related to my
business just by searching the web, and started zinging them
articles on a weekly basis. At the end of each article I always
include my business bio with my phone number, e-mail address and
URL. That way people interested in what I have to say will have
no problem getting in touch with me.

After a few months of implementing these tactics, I had more
business than I knew what to do with, and I'm still doing great.
Now don't think I'm resting on my laurels. I'm sticking to the
program that helped me make it. I'm always looking at new ideas
and reevaluating old, as well as talking to people and getting
their opinions. I still visit chat rooms and boards and submit
articles almost as much as I did at the beginning. I just figure
that since these things are what really got me going, I may as
well share them. I hope you can use them. Remember, there's
money to be made out there if you just know how to do it.