The conversion of a prospect to a paying customer is the lifeblood of any business. Sometimes a business will be good at the initial conversion, but they will stop there. A great way to help the local business is by implementing a sales funnel. This can go hand in hand with the previous implementation of a CRM system.

First, find out where most of the leads come from for the business. Ask the business owner if they have a qualification process in place to prioritize the most likely customers. The goal is to optimize the sales process and increase the lifetime value of a customer. No matter the number of leads it will be impossible to convert them all. Out of the initial set of prospects a certain percentage will become customers. After the first set of prospects become customers, then the business owner will won’t to maximize the amount spent. This can be done in with an upsell, just like when you purchase a value meal the cashier asks if you want to supersize it. This can be applied to all types of local businesses. Again, a certain percentage of the initial customers will take the upsell. As you move down the funnel, it becomes thinner and thinner. This is how it gets its name “sales funnel.”

Take a look at all the products and or services that are offered by the business. Make a list of the ones that are complimentary to each other. A great way to increase the initial purchase is by packaging similar products together to bump up the sale. The best time to offer this package is when the person has their money out and are ready to make the purchase. This is a great way to increase revenue for a local business.

There is no limit to the size of a sales funnel. A business can keep selling and selling as long as the customer is willing to spend. The goal is to zero in on the best conversion from one level of the funnel to the next. Make sure the business owner is properly tracking the sales, so the progress can be measured over time.

Stay tuned for some more service offering that will keep you local business client happy.

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First time dog owners, are often shocked to hear about coprophagia. They are even more shocked when they find their own dog actually eating dog poop. Let’s face it – it sounds gross, it looks gross, and it is gross.

If your dog does start eating poop, you need to first determine if it is a behavioral issue and a medical one. A quick trip to the vet will help you to know if this is medical in nature. Also, if your pet is eating poop you will want to make sure that all of his vaccinations and worming treatments are up to date. Various diseases and parasites can be passed through dog feces.

Coprophagia Causes:

• vitamin deficiency
• a change in your dog’s diet
• boredom
• seperation anxiety
• stress
• your dog just likes it
• dogs sometimes try to hide their poop by eating it
• trying to clean up the area
• learned this behavior by watching other dogs
• side effect of medication
• mineral deficiency
• hunger
• mistakes feces for food

Now that you are familiar with some of the causes, here is how to prevent this unwanted doggie behavior.

• ensure that your dog has been checked over by the vet
• makes sure that vaccinations and worming treatments are up-to-date
• feed your pup a nutritious diet
• make sure your dog has a healthy supply of water each day
• teach your dog the command “Leave It”
• clean up your dogs poop with a plastic baggie
• feed your pup twice a day
• keep your dogs living space clear of feces
• do not allow your dog access to the kitty liter box
• try to distract your dog
• use a muzzle when you take your dog out to go to the bathroom

Thinking outside the box to prevent coprophagia:

Add 2-4 TBS of canned pumpkin to your dogs while. While many people think that Pumpkin tastes very good, it has been tested to taste horrible when expelled in feces.

Try adding a TBS of pineapple juice, meat tenderizer, MSG, or a little spinach to your dogs food. This should have the same effect as the pumpkin.

If you are looking for a more direct approach because your dog’s stomach won’t tolerate the additional food items, you can poor lemon juice or hot sauce on the stools following elimination.

Also, check your local pet store for products designed for this problem. Solid gold S.E.P., Deter, Deterrent, Potty mouth, are just a few products which have proven to help some dogs stop eating poop. These products are also sold online at retailers such as Amazon.

As long as you stay on top of your pup about breaking this habit, you will see results. Most dogs outgrow this pretty quickly, but it may seem like an eternity to us dog owners!

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As you start article marketing to sell affiliate products, you will probably run across many different article directories. It’s important to know the best practices for getting your articles accepted, every single time!

The first step is reading the specific submission requirements for each site you join. You’ll find that an article that gets accepted at one site will not get accepted at another site. For example, some require that the content be exclusive to their directory, while others do not mind if the article has been posted elsewhere on the web as long as you have rights to it.

Some of the most popular article directories include: Ezine Articles, Go Articles, Articles Base, Buzzle, Idea Marketers, Search Warp, and iSnare.

Of course, the most popular and arguably best article directory on the web is Ezine Articles. If you want your content accepted there, you need to make sure that you have exclusive rights to it. If it has been posted elsewhere on the web you’ll need to be sure it is attributed to you using the same pen name you used for the prior submission. The article should not be PLR or spun content. It should contain original thoughts that read well and are focused on the user. Ezine Articles is very strict about the body of the article having to match what is promised in the title.

Lately, article directories have been trying to improve the content they have on their site, which means that they reject a lot of junk! At Ezine Articles the minimum content length is 250 words — but it’s recommended that you write at least 350-400 words if you want to get your article accepted right away. If you’re not sure how to write a good article, browse through and look at ones other people in your niche have submitted. You’re bound to get a feel for best practices that way!

While we’ve listed the most popular article directories above, you should realize that there are hundreds upon hundreds of these all over the web. This is a great thing for you because you can syndicate your content many times over. You can greatly expand your reach on the Web, which is always a great thing! However, know that it would take you days to submit to many of the directories out there. That’s when you may want to turn to automated submission tools for the lesser known directories.

These tools will allow you to insert your article, title, and author’s resource box, and it will automatically submit the content to a variety of sites around the web for you. This is a great timesaver since everything is so automated! Some of these tools are better than others, so it’s important to do your due diligence before buying.

Some commonly used submission tools include: Article Bot, Unique Article Wizard, Article Submitter Pro, and many others.

If you pay attention to the best practices for your articles, and focus on using a mixture of search engine optimization and writing an article that reads well, you should have no problem getting your article accepted at dozens or even hundreds of article directories.

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One of the biggest benefits of using blogs versus static websites is the fact that your visitors can interact so much. They can leave comments, add their own posts and articles (if you allow them to do so), and even interact with one another. It’s important that you monitor these activities, but that you also allow natural growth of user generated content. It will be one of the things that keeps people coming back over and over again!

The first thing you should realize is that getting comments on your blog posts is absolutely essential for blog growth. People love to see social proof that a certain blog is popular and worthy of reading. If all they see are “zeros” in the comment section next to your blog posts, they may subconsciously feel like your blog is not worth visiting again.

That’s why you need to encourage comments in any way you can. Specifically state that comments are welcome in the body of your blog post. You can even do things like run giveaways or offer free products when people comment on your blog! This will get them into the habit of doing so and can definitely help to increase your readership since it can attract more people in your niche.

Unfortunately, the fact that you allow open commenting can cause some issues with spam. There are some people out there who spend their days spamming blogs, unfortunately. There are many more people who use automated tools to do so — making this an even bigger problem to handle. There is almost nothing you can do single-handedly to stop this from happening — you’ll quickly find that your comment queue is completely filled with spam posts and you won’t be able to sift through to find the real comments!

The good news is that there are solutions around this. If you use the highly recommended WordPress script on a self hosted blog, you’ll find that it comes with the Akismet plugin pre-installed. You should definitely activate this plugin because it will save you a lot of time. No one wants to come to a blog where all there are are spammy comments!

In addition to encouraging quality comments on your blog posts, you may also want to allow for user posts or articles. There are certain plug-ins that allow you to have users write posts and publish them on your blog. This is great for you because you get free content for your blog. This is good for the users because they know they can get some good exposure for what they have written, as well as a link back to their website. Remember, fresh content always looks great to Google!

It’s important for you to encourage as much user interaction as makes sense for your business model. Put methods in place to keep the spammers out, and do everything you can to get people to comment on your blog posts. If it fits in with your business plan, you can also allow for user generated content, which can be a wonderful thing!

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One of the most important steps to losing weight is to eat right. However, like anything else in life, this step actually needs a fair bit of preparation.

Eating right can mean different things for different people. You need to identify what your exact eating goal is. In general, you may wish to reduce sugars and processed food, cut down on “junk food” like burgers and pizzas, eat more fruits and vegetables and the right kind of proteins as well as eat foods that are high on the Glycemic Index scale.

Many people fail in their weight loss journey because they think of “dieting”. Eating right is not the same as dieting. When you go on a diet, you deprive yourself of your favourite foods, and eat only a few foods that are acceptable for that diet.

However, losing weight and keeping it off is a life-long journey, so you need to have the right mentality. In addition, never deprive yourself of the foods you love. It’s true that some foods you love may be harmful for your weight loss goals, but instead of cutting them out completely, have them occasionally as treats, or find good substitutes. For instance, I love sugary foods, but I try to have dry fruits and fresh smoothies instead of cakes and ice-cream – they satisfy my sweet cravings, but I don’t consume excessive calories.

Once you’ve identified the foods that you’d like to eat in order to lose weight, you should make a meal plan. Pick foods that you’d like to have for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as snacks that you’d like to have. Assign meals to each day of the week, making sure that you have some variety, and the meals are something that you would look forward to eating.

Cook most of your meals ahead of time. It can be especially convenient to cook meals in bulk, and then freeze some portions for the days or weeks ahead. Make sure you’re always well-stocked with healthy food options, so that you don’t resort to something that’s convenient but unhealthy. Keep lots of fresh fruit on hand, and try to incorporate foods that you love into your meals – so if you prefer pumpkin over spinach, eat more pumpkin.

If you go to work, you will have to eat most of your meals at work. Buy a lunch box or a bag to carry your food to work. Don’t worry about what your co-workers will think – losing weight is your priority. However, if you’d like to look a bit cooler while you eat healthy, you might consider purchasing a stylish cooler bag to carry your food in.

Try not to eat out too often, and if you must, be prepared to order salads and appetizers, and to avoid alcohol, desserts and other unhealthy foods.

With the right preparation, losing weight will be a smooth journey.

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Dogs are sneaky and curious and the “look don’t touch” mentality does not naturally apply to them. Whether your dog is stealing food off of your plate, from the trash, or snatching your shoes from your closet, dogs can be thieves. Thieving can be both dangerous and expensive.

As many people know, chocolate is not good for dogs. Well, one day our beagle stole one of those giant Hershey Kisses off of the counter, and none of us saw her. After wondering where she was after 20 minutes had passed by without seeing her, we found her in one of our back bedrooms still working on the chocolate. We spent the entire night with her in the backyard throwing up and having diarrhea. We came very close to making an emergency trip to the vet that night.

We have established that dogs enjoy self-rewarding behavior, and thieving is included in this category. First, by stealing, your dog is obtaining the items that caught their interest. Second, they are getting attention from you when you realize that they took the item.

Dogs steal for many of the same reasons that they misbehave in other ways:

• lack of obedience training
• separation anxiety
• craving attention
• ack of dog’s own toys and chew items
• boredom
• lack or exercise
• lack of entertainment

Prevention is the key to dog thieving, no matter what the cause may be:

• Keep food pushed back out of reach on the counters.
• Buy a child lock for your trashcan.
• Keep other doors in the house closed.
• Watch your dog and correct the behavior instantly each time he tries to steal
• Clear off benches and stairs

An important piece of information to remember is feeding your dog in the dog bowl only. If you are preparing your dog’s meal and you keep tossing him pieces from the counter, he will be tempted to try and put his paws up on the counter to get the food himself.

Try having another family member play fetch with your dog while preparing his meal, or give him a favorite chew toy. If he sits and chews his toy, or plays a good game of fetch and doesn’t beg while you are fixing the meal, reward him and let him know that he did a good job.

Here are some other useful tips on stopping your dog from snatching what doesn’t belong to him:

1. Place a friendly trap for your dog. Find an item that your dog frequently likes to steal. Tie a string around the item and at the other end tie some empty cans with small rocks in them. When your dog attempts to grab his target item, the cans and rocks will come crashing to the floor and scare your dog. Because you have caught your dog in the act of stealing, make sure to discipline him by saying “ah ah” or “no no” and take away the item before your dog can dash off with it or eat it (if it is a food item).
2. If food snatching is your dogs forte than place a piece of meat on the counter covered in Thum (a product sold at your local drugstore to help people stop thumb sucking and nail biting). It is safe and non-toxic but has a very biter taste to it. The taste is also long lasting, so your dog will really learn a lesson each time he gets that in his mouth. Your local pet store also sells a similar product made specifically for use with dogs.
3. A technique that my mom used was the good old rolled up newspaper. No, this was not for beating the dog, but it was used for scaring. Every time our beagle would try to steal something off of the counter, my mom would take up the rolled up newspaper and hit her hand or the counter with it. Surprisingly so, it made a very loud noise and really startled our beagle, Mandy.
4. If sounds are not enough to scare your dog then try a water gun. No, not the super soaker type, as we don’t want to turn your home into a water park, but a small handheld pistol. The instant your dog goes to nab an item that they aren’t supposed to have, squirt him with the water pistol and say “NO.” you want your dog to realize that you are constantly watching him and will not accept that type of behavior.

Remember that prevention is the key. If you were on a diet, would you leave doughnuts and cake on your counter all the time? No, because it is a temptation and requires more willpower when those items are in your sight. It is the same for your dog. It will take a lot of prevention and a little discipline to nip this habit in the bud.

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One of the biggest benefits of using blogs versus static websites is the fact that your visitors can interact so much. They can leave comments, add their own posts and articles (if you allow them to do so), and even interact with one another. It’s important that you monitor these activities, but that you also allow natural growth of user generated content. It will be one of the things that keeps people coming back over and over again!

The first thing you should realize is that getting comments on your blog posts is absolutely essential for blog growth. People love to see social proof that a certain blog is popular and worthy of reading. If all they see are “zeros” in the comment section next to your blog posts, they may subconsciously feel like your blog is not worth visiting again.

That’s why you need to encourage comments in any way you can. Specifically state that comments are welcome in the body of your blog post. You can even do things like run giveaways or offer free products when people comment on your blog! This will get them into the habit of doing so and can definitely help to increase your readership since it can attract more people in your niche.

Unfortunately, the fact that you allow open commenting can cause some issues with spam. There are some people out there who spend their days spamming blogs, unfortunately. There are many more people who use automated tools to do so — making this an even bigger problem to handle. There is almost nothing you can do single-handedly to stop this from happening — you’ll quickly find that your comment queue is completely filled with spam posts and you won’t be able to sift through to find the real comments!

The good news is that there are solutions around this. If you use the highly recommended WordPress script on a self hosted blog, you’ll find that it comes with the Akismet plugin pre-installed. You should definitely activate this plugin because it will save you a lot of time. No one wants to come to a blog where all there are are spammy comments!

In addition to encouraging quality comments on your blog posts, you may also want to allow for user posts or articles. There are certain plug-ins that allow you to have users write posts and publish them on your blog. This is great for you because you get free content for your blog. This is good for the users because they know they can get some good exposure for what they have written, as well as a link back to their website. Remember, fresh content always looks great to Google!

It’s important for you to encourage as much user interaction as makes sense for your business model. Put methods in place to keep the spammers out, and do everything you can to get people to comment on your blog posts. If it fits in with your business plan, you can also allow for user generated content, which can be a wonderful thing!

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As your website or blog starts to grow in popularity and you start to make more affiliate sales, you might want to set your sights on becoming an expert in your niche! An expert is generally someone who has a lot of knowledge or skill with a certain topic. In general, it just takes some great research to learn all you can!

Since you have written or put together so many pieces of content in your niche, are familiar with the product offerings in the niche, and so on, the chances are very good that you’re already at this expert status! You just need for other people to see you that way too.

As an expert, you become somewhat of an authority figure. This is especially true if you now have a high traffic blog with excellent content and have a following of people who respect your expertise. People tend to perceive authority in those who are well researched, well-spoken, and knowledgeable about a certain topic. That’s why having a blog is such a great thing!

This is a great time to ramp up your efforts and start putting out your own products. As people start to trust you and value your opinion, the chances of you making life changing sales is greatly increased. People trust and value your opinion.

However, if you don’t quite have the traffic level you need, then it is time to get it! You need to start branding your name. When people search for products or advice in the niche you are in, they need to see your content, recommendations, and websites. One way to do this is to contact other webmasters in your niche and offer to make guest posts. By doing this, you are expanding your reach and establishing yourself as an expert.

Part of doing this is doing more article marketing and creating more Web 2.0 properties. The more people see your name in the articles they search for, the more of an expert you become in their eyes. Basically, you want to get your name out there anyway you can. This is the best way to make more affiliate sales!

This perceived level of expertise will happen over time, so don’t expect it to happen right away. However, the higher quality content you put out and the more willing you are to answer people’s questions and offer quality advice, the more quickly it can happen.

Another thing you can do is seek out established experts. Often times these experts frequent niche forums, have their own website, and are active on Web 2.0 properties and social networking sites. Mimic their movements and learn a lot from what these experts do and why people follow them. Soon enough you will be able to have the same effect, which can dramatically improve your bottom line.

Focus on thinking of yourself as an expert, and maintain your vision of quality and high levels of affiliate sales, and the rest will follow.

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As you start to grow your client base, you will notice that some of your clients will be offering complimentary services. This creates a great opportunity for you to bring them together and offer a cross promotion. Sometimes a business will have an informal referral network, but no official agreement. This is where you can step in and setup the formal agreement and the metrics and payouts. The local businesses can leverage each other’s customer list and generate sales for each other.

Take for example a local nutritional supplement store. Over the months you have been growing their business and collecting the name and emails of their prospects and customers. Later on, you start helping a local dietician. You can setup an agreement with the supplements store to send out an email recommending the dietician. The store will get a certain percentage from each new client the dietician signs up. So, just like that you have helped two of your clients.

This can also work with other types of marketing. The two businesses can publish coupons on each other’s websites or even something as simple as putting flyers in each other’s stores. They can even host a teleseminar together with one interviewing the other. There are many opportunities that will come up for cross promotions.

Never underestimate the value of your own customer list. Just like the importance of helping your clients this can be a great benefit to your own consulting business as well. The key is to leverage your existing customer base. You will gain even more favor with your clients and all you did was setup the cross promotion. Even if you don’t have two businesses to cross promote, you can seek out new clients by using your existing clients. This can be a great way to get your foot in the door for new business. You can call on them telling about how you are looking for promotional partners and setup a meeting. After you go over the details of the promotion, then you can leave behind your contact information and let them know to check out your website. This way it isn’t a hard sell and if they take you up on the promotion, then you have a relationship that gives you a chance to introduce your other services.

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Snacks –

Banana-Berry Smoothie

Ingredients:

1/4 cup frozen blueberries or frozen mixed berries

1/2 pear, cored
1/2 banana, frozen
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1 heaping tbsp. high-quality protein powder (optional)
1 tsp. flax oil (optional)

1 tbsp. skim milk powder
1 1/4 cup water

Instructions:

Process all the ingredients together in a blend, till smoothly mixed. Serve in a tall glass.

Ants on a Log

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raisins
4 stalks celery
1/3 cup peanut butter

Instructions:

Wash celery sticks and cut to the desired length.

Coat the inner sides with peanut butter and sprinkle raisins on top.

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