Over the years I have visited many entrepreneurs and business owners. Have you ever thought why it is that one business can do so well and another is so mediocre when they are both in the same line of business? Well one insight that I want to share with you as to why this may be the case is to do with the psychology of you, the business owner.

How true it is that if you think big then chances are you will make it big…conversely if you think small then chances are you will remain small. Similarly if you think your business won’t succeed then you are likely to fail and your business will fail. On another level it is interesting that if you don’t value yourself and your business highly enough then you will undercharge for your products and/or services. This may be OK in the short term but it will mean that you will have to sell more products/services to make the same level of profit to your competitor that is charging a higher premium. In addition, the psychology of the customer often says well if that company is charging X and that other one is charging Y, then X’s product/service must be inferior to Y’s. Therefore I will buy Y’s. So not only are you selling less because your pricing is less but your margins are also lower. Plus in the long term when you wake up and realise that you need to raise your prices in order to survive your client base wont accept the huge price rise that you need to make in order to put you on a par with your competitor that started off charging higher and has been able to make small regular price increases along the way without alienating his client base.

So be bold, think big, think confidence, think value – your value and that of your product and service if you want to give your business a better chance of success!

About the author: Paul Stanford http://www.paulstanford.co.uk/blog has provided practical advice to hundreds of entrepreneurs for the past 5 years helping them to successfully start-up, transform and sell their businesses. Get in touch to see how his business http://www.4momentum.co.uk can help do the same for you. You have full permission to reprint this article provided this box is kept unchanged.

Copyright 2009 Paul Stanford

Your invitation – Save Money, Reduce your Carbon Footprint and Improve your Market Positioning – Complimentary ‘Green Advantage’ Workshop for Tourism businesses

Business Link is pleased to be working in conjunction with Tourism South East, the region’s tourist board, in delivering a series of ‘Green Advantage’ workshops.  In a period of financial uncertainty and a surge of interest in green issues and more sustainable good practice, the leading edge course enables you to take advantage of this growing market by revealing how you can make significant savings, improve your green credentials and market yourself accordingly.  Attendance on the course also qualifies you for credits towards the Green Tourism Business Scheme, Europe’s leading sustainable certification scheme for the tourism industry.

The workshop is FREE and runs from 10.30 for coffee with the workshop commencing at 10.45 concluding at 3.15pm.

Complimentary lunch will also be served from 12.45 – 1.15pm.

Throughout the workshop it will cover how to:

Ø      Save money – reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink

Ø      Buy local – sourcing and promote other local produce and attractions

Ø      Create customer advantage and adding value to your customers’ experience and develop new ‘green’ products and services

Ø      Develop an environmental policy – get the best out of your whole team, make environmental choices and win from them

Ø      Communicate your green credentials and gain a marketing advantage by retain current and targeting new customers.

Ø      Stay ahead of the pack and capitalise on new business opportunities and boost your business’ performance

‘Green Advantage opened my eyes to the massive business advantage to be gained through tapping into the growing public interest in green issues’.

Be sure to reserve your space by calling 0845 600 9 006 or visit www.ruralbookings.co.uk

About the author: Paul Stanford http://www.paulstanford.co.uk/blog  has provided practical advice to hundreds of entrepreneurs for the past 5 years helping them to successfully start-up, transform and sell their businesses. Get in touch to see how his business http://www.4momentum.co.uk can help do the same for you. You have full permission to reprint this article provided this box is kept unchanged.

Copyright 2008 Paul Stanford

Just as a clever tagline can clinch the deal for a TV advertisement, the same way the right keywords are crucial for a good PPC campaign. The keywords can act as the foundation of your entire campaign. Strong keywords will help make your campaign a success but weak ones can lead to disastrous results.

For an apt keyword list, make sure you do all the necessary research beforehand. Dig deep; search every nook and cranny until you hit upon effective keywords that will expand your keyword list.

To help you understand the keyword concept here is an example. Our base keyword will be “Real Estate.”

Because of high commissions “Real Estate” is a very saturated word on the Internet.

The first thing to do is create your first list. Think of all the alternatives that your prospective clients could use to interpret the base word. Now for the word real estate, people can use words like real property, investment property etc. these words are still very similar to the base keyword therefore you should continue the search.

Next you will need to enlarge your search into different niches or types of real estate. Some examples include; boarding houses, commercial real estate etc. After this you will be able to mix your new keywords with your initial ones and get some completely new keywords.

Real estate company names can form the basis of a separate campaign. Add .com to your regional extension. Do not worry if it is a domain that is nonexistent, searchers sometimes experiment with these types of keywords and you will get the chance to get some of these clients at a lower cost.

Try not to use general keywords; a better idea is to use keywords that specifically target your own niche market. Put yourself in your potential buyer’s shoes to discover the keywords that they use.

Here are some points to note:

- .com, .net etc. can be added to your keyword.

- You can capture visitors with company and domain names.

- Try adding superlatives to your base word like best, cheap etc.

- Find keywords from your web log files. Use keywords that your visitors have used to find your website.

- You can glance over the copy on your competitor’s site.

A good tactic is to make different lists for different categories of keywords, plurals in one, typos in another. If you do this you will be able to pinpoint your potential customers better.

Using the points in this article you can build formidable lists of keywords. With these strong keywords you can build winning campaigns, and nothing will stand in the way of your success. Wishing you prosperity!