Volume 1 Issue 41 1-19-07

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Table of Contents for this issue.....

1. Authors Comments
2. Q & A, Suggestions and Comments
3. Site Build It – How to build a Webpage (Video)
4. Establishing Your Identity on the Internet
5. Plan for Starting a Business on the Internet

Author's Comments

I have been working with Don Osborne of Profit Puzzle (www.profitpuzzle.com) this week. Back last year, Don asked Linda and me to complete a form he has posted on his site to create a “Real People” story. I am always hesitant to do something like this without checking out the background of the person.

I looked at Don’s site and it looked good. - Check. I googled him and he was listed on the first search page – Check. Google said that he was an expert author on Ezine Articles. I checked and he published 28 articles - Check. I felt that I had done the proper “due diligence” so I told him I would complete the questions. Then procrastination set it and it was Thanksgiving and then Christmas.

Anyway, after the first of the year, I called Don and we played phone tag. (I think we finally talked on his nickel). We had a great conversation and we found that we think very much alike. Linda and I composed the input for his “Real People” story, and we sent it to him

He has posted the story and other information about us on his site and we thank him for the honor.

Check out Don’s site at www.profitpuzzle.com.

Q & A, Suggestions and Comments

I received this question via email:

I am a 55 year old unemployed vet who wants to start a home business. I like the idea of affiliate marketing products in demand to baby boomers, but am a newbie to this stuff. My vet rep said he could help me get assistance, but I need to do the leg work and find out what I need to accomplish this employment goal.

Any ideas how I can make this happen?? Thanks for your help,

I decided that to properly answer this question, I needed to write a full article about it so look for the answers in an article below.

If you have anything for this section or you have a suggestion for a topic for an article, please go to http://www.boomer-ezine.com/Suggestion_Form1.htm and give us your input. With your input, we can improve the Boomer Video eZine.

Site Build It – How to build a Webpage (Video)

I have talked about Site Build It (SBI) in many issues. Thanks to SBI, our Retirement Job Online web site has jumped from nowhere to 8th place on the Google results page in approximately six months against some strong competition. (It is interesting to note that the site just above the RJO listing on the results page is also an SBI site). The fact that two SBI sites are in the top 10 for the keyword “retirement jobs” speaks well for the results that can be achieved with SBI.

I realized that I had been talking about SBI for a long time, but I had not used Camtasia to make a video about SBI.

Well, I kick myself in the rear for overlooking the obvious.

I made a video while I was building a webpage for the RJO site. It is 30 minutes long so settle back and see how it is done. This video is now live at:

http://www.boomer-ezine.com/SBI_Videos/SBI_Page/Click-to-Play.html

Send me questions about the video by posting on the http://www.boomer-ezine.com/Suggestion_Form1.htm


Establishing Your Identity on the Internet

If your business plan involves establishing a personal identity on the Internet, this requires some advanced planning. You say, “I am who I am so why do I have to plan who I will be?” Good question. But let me give you an example – myself, John Howe.

As part of my business plan, I decided that I would become established as an expert on the Internet dealing with the Boomer generation. I launched off on that quest. All was going well for a while until I googled “John Howe”. I found that the first several Google pages were full of information on John Howe, but alas, it was not yours truly.

The John Howe who has the first several pages of Google occupied is an illustrator from Vancouver, BC, Canada. He is best known for his illustrations based on J. R. R. Tolkien's worlds (Middle-Earth). His website is http://www.john-howe.com. He was the lead illustrator for the very popular “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy.

You know the old saying about, “If you are going to have to fight a battle, choose your own battlefield”. Well, my parents took care of that for me by giving me two middle initials. V and W. When people ask me what it stands for, I keep a straight face and tell them, “Volkswagen”. Actually it is Vernon Wallace. My parents were Canadian and having two middle names is more common in Canada than in the US.

Anyway, I chose to adopt the full name, John V. W. Howe as my Internet Name, since that sets me apart. I even had to go through special procedures with some sites (Ezine Articles, etc.) to ask them to go back and change my registered name from John Howe to John V.W. Howe.

It was worth the effort since if you google “John V W Howe” you will find that I have no competition on the search engines for that form of my name.

I pass this along to you if you are trying to brand yourself as part of your marketing plan. Do your planning and research first (which I did not) so you do not have to go back and correct prior actions like I did. Check out Google to see who has claim to your name’s space and use your initial or some variation to make yourself unique.

Plan for Starting a Business on the Internet

As I said in the Q & A, Suggestions and Comments section, I received this in an email:

I am a 55 year old unemployed vet who wants to start a home business. I like the idea of affiliate marketing products in demand to baby boomers, but am a newbie to this stuff. My vet rep said he could help me get assistance, but I need to do the leg work and find out what I need to accomplish this employment goal.

Any ideas how I can make this happen?? Thanks for your help,

This question leaves a wide open arena in which to work. I will do my best. What I propose in this plan is based on what I would do to start from scratch.

I would break the plan into short and long range phases.

Phase 1 – Short Term Plan

I am going to assume that you need to produce some quick income short term and then formulate a long term plan.

The quickest way to generate immediate income is what my friend, Tim Knox, calls the “laundry basket method”. Take the family laundry basket and go around your house and fill it with the items that you plan to put in your next garage sale. Join eBay and sell this on eBay. You will probably make more from the items on eBay than in the garage sale. You will also learn about eBay and how it works.

Set up a good “About Me” page on your eBay account to help sell you and your product.

Click here to go to eBay and to join “The Worlds Online Marketplace”.

You have noticed that I do not recommend many “must purchase” items in this newsletter, but when I do, I am 100% convinced that you should buy it. Buy “The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on eBay” by Jim Cockrum. I have this book and continue to refer to it. You can purchase it at

http://jvwh1.silentsale.hop.clickbank.net.

Register as a PayPal seller so you can easily handle the money from your eBay auctions. Go to http://www.paypal.com. At the top of the page click the “Sign Up” link.

I have published several articles and web pages about selling on eBay. Here are the links for that information:

http://www.retirement-jobs-online.com/introduction_to_ebay.html

http://www.boomer-ezine.com/V1I10_061606.htm

http://www.boomer-ezine.com/V1I6_052006.htm

http://www.boomer-ezine.com/V1I27_101306.htm

Set up an autoresponder to capture the names of your customers so you can make repeat sales to them. Always remember to grow your list in anything that you do on the Net. For information about autoresponders and list building go to

http://www.boomer-ezine.com/V1I20_082506.htm.

Another means of quick income generation can be achieved by becoming an affiliate. This will not be as quick as eBay, but you do not have to build a list or a reputation. You just have to work hard and smart. You can set up an affiliate account quickly on Commission Junction or Clickbank. You then learn about Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing. Using pay per click advertising, you move traffic to the affiliate site. It is easier said than done or everyone would be doing it, but it is quick to set up and get started.

Do some serious studying about Google Adwords and try a small campaign to test yourself. Set your budget for the campaign so you are not broke overnight if you get lots of clicks and no conversions.

I consider the “bible” of Adwords to be the book by Chris Chandler, “Google Cash”. Again, this book is a must read if you are going to work in the pay per click arena. You can buy it at

http://jvwh1.googlecash.hop.clickbank.net.

For information about affiliate programs including Commission Junction, Clickbank, and the eBay affiliate program go to:

http://www.retirement-jobs-online.com/affiliate-programs.html

http://www.boomer-ezine.com/V1I11_062306.htm

http://www.boomer-ezine.com/V1I10_061606.htm

Phase 2 - Long Range Plan

Find a target market niche about which you can become and expert. I went back into some of my books about Boomers and marketing. This is the best summary of projected “hot” items for Boomers that I found. This is taken from Brent Green’s book, "Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers".

Start of quotation from the book ……………..

The smart money in the near future will be on businesses promoting products and services designed to address the changing agendas of aging Boomers. They will seek products and services that promote better health, address the complexities of aging, encourage productive leisure, maintain community engagement, and augment their active lifestyles.

The following list suggests some of the next decade's hotter categories:

Nutraceuticals: Designer foods and supplements infused with nutritional supplements known to mitigate the effects of aging, such as Vitamins A, C, E, and beta carotene

Fitness centers: Fitness facilities specializing in exercise and relaxation programs for older people; expect these facilities to include joint-friendly aerobic equipment, yoga classes, and relaxation programs

Bionic aids: Eyeglasses that hide bifocals, hearing aids that are virtually invisible, and other forms of bionic aids that control and hide, rather than exacerbate, the appearance of disabilities

Sports medicine products: Home remedies to help Boomers better man­age minor muscle and skeletal injuries from sports participation

Home health care: Businesses and organizations focused on helping Baby Boomers remain at home by providing assistance services such as prepared meals, food delivery, homemaking, support with activities of daily living, and social connections

Cosmeceuticals: Cosmetics formulated with anti-aging ingredients, such as antioxidants and intense moisturizers

Women's apparel: New fashions that enhance and embellish mature fig­ures; new styles that reveal mature beauty, reflect midlife confidence and adapt to sophisticated, casual lifestyles

Men's casual fashions: Blue jeans, leather apparel, soft cotton sweat suits, and any garment design to project a more youthful, carefree attitude

Psychological services: More optimistic mental health services to help Boomers through the aging process

Retirement communities: Smaller, well-designed homes with conven­iences such as media rooms, home offices, and single-story living. Thinking ahead, many Boomers will also relocate to homes that have been designed to accommodate wheel chairs and other physically disabling conditions

Continuing care retirement communities: Within ten years, a segment of the generation will anticipate the final stages of life by moving into communities that offer independent living options but also provide assist­ed living and skilled nursing care

Investments and financial planning: Lacking traditional company retire­ment benefits, many Boomers are fully responsible for managing and protecting their retirement assets, so they will seek counsel about how to address this complex and dynamic aspect of their lives

Insurance: The insurance industry will continually find new ways to build products for aging Boomers with long-term health care insurance for extended nursing care, taking a leading role

Adventure and educational travel: As has been noted. Boomers are seekers and explorers; those with the means will roam widely, coupling travel with exciting adventures off-the-beaten track and learning opportunities

Grandparenting: Today more than 70 million Americans are grandparents and this will grow by 10 another 10 million by 2010; grandparents spend an average of $500 a year on their grandchildren

Nutritionally focused restaurants: Salad bars, health restaurants, pur­veyors of organic foods, grocery stores dedicated to natural products and healthy food service at home

Generation-specific publications: Those who are searching for a foun­tain of youth need resources capable of providing details about the newest breakthroughs

Integrated medicine specialists: Baby Boomers will increasingly seek medical doctors and practices specializing in holistic approaches that integrate Eastern and Western medical traditions

End of quotation from book.

This information should give you plenty of food for thought. How can you capitalize on this information? Consider becoming an expert in one or two of these areas.

Plan to set up a blog to start establishing yourself. Blogs are easy to set up and you can get started quickly. Plan to follow up with a website once you get rolling.

Use your blog to discuss, review, and focus on what your topic is. Work to be listed on or near the top of the search engine results page for your topic so you will get the traffic to your blog. Without traffic, you will not succeed on the Net. Use the traffic to continue to generate affiliate income by making recommendations and referrals.

Once the blog is established, start working on your website. With no hesitation, I recommend Site Build It (SBI) for the web host for your website. Most people’s reaction is that SBI is too expensive. My observation is if you want the best chance of success with your website, SBI is the place to build it. You can get more general information about Site Build It at

http://buildit.sitesell.com/boomer.html.

For information about people using SBI for retirement jobs, go to

http://retire.sitesell.com/boomer.html.

Email me at john@boomer-ezine.com if you have any questions about SBI.

Once you have some traffic coming to your site, put some Adsense ads on the pages of your blog or website.

Continue to grow your list of customers to which you can make repeat sales.

Publish a newsletter to keep your customers informed.

By this point you will have learned what you need to know to develop your own plans for your future.

Remember, success comes to those who work hard and work smart.

Ken Evoy, the founder of SBI, says that to succeed on the Internet (or in any business) you need BAM. (Brains and Motivation).

Good luck on building your online business. Please keep me informed on your progress

That wraps up our issue for this week. Until next week, stay tuned.

John and Linda Howe
www.boomer-ezine.com
www.boomer-guru.com
www.boomer-entrepreneur.com
www.boomer-marketplace.com
eBay Boomer Retirement Store
(http:/stores.ebay.com/BOOMER-RETIREMENT-STORE)
Boomer’s Amazon Store
(http://www.boomer-ezine.com/Amazon_Page.htm)

Administrative Details …………….

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Copyright 2007 John Howe, Inc.