Content is King - Even In Direct Sales

You've heard it said a hundred times before - content is king. But did you know this applies to those in direct sales too?

When your potential customer lands on your rep site, are they getting all the information they need to buy? Or are they just seeing short descriptions and price information? We've said it before and we'll say it again - all direct sales reps need their own website.

Direct sales companies are only concerned with selling one way - through reps. They aren't concerned about search engine optimization, content, link exchanges, or any other methods of selling online. They pay you because it's YOUR job to drive the traffic to the site and make the contacts.

The only way to sell online (other than starting your own direct sales company), is to offer content. Lots and lots of content. This is what it all comes down to.

Here's just a few things you can use more content for:

- Search Engine Optimization
Search engines crave content. The more words on the page, the higher the rankings for certain terms will be. If this is an area you are concerned with (and you should be!), you absolutely need content.

- Articles
Write your own articles and submit them - you'll be amazed at how much they increase your traffic.

- Product Reviews & Descriptions
Just imagine how many more sales you'll make if you give your buyers more information. Give them details on how you used the product, why you like it, how it worked for you, and what it could do for them. Or better yet, details on how other customers used the product, why they liked it and how it worked for them. They are more likely to buy if they are given more facts and opinions about the product.

Learning to write online is an important skill, but not a hard one to learn. It simply takes practice....which to get practice, you need to write!

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com
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Why You Need to Use Search Engine Optimization

Selling online is a cut throat business. You have to arm yourself with the proper tools and know-how to make your website a cut above the rest. Everyday more and more people are clambering to optimize their websites and if you let down your guard, you just may get trampled on and be left in the abyss filled with so many other failed websites.

Search Engine Optimization, also known as is SEO, is widely used by many website owners. For quite a few years in the past and many, many years to come, search engines are the most widely used tool internet users use to find the websites they need to go to for a product, service and/or information they're looking for.

Most search engine users only use the top ten search results on the first page. Very seldom do they move onto the next pages. Therefore making it on the first page is a goal for most website owners. Ideally however, being listed in the top three should be the ultimate goal. The higher the rankings, the higher the ratio of the probability of "getting the click". So, it stands to reason that higher rankings equals more clicks which equals more traffic which equals more business.

Now it must also be mentioned that once you grab a hold of that top spot, it's important to keep a hold of it. As I mentioned, each day is a new day for all website owners to make themselves rank higher using SEO. It is extremely important to make your site better everyday.

So, the answer to why you have to use search engine optimization is an easy one. You need SEO to rank high in the search engines so you can make your website an income generating website. With you SEO you can get the benefit fo generating a high traffic volume. As mentioned, more traffic equals more business.

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Anita DeFrank is the author of Kick Start Your Online Business. The online world is full of possibility. It gives you the power to meet people from all over the world that you could never dream of meeting and better yet, Do Business with these people. Stop wasting time sifting through all the advice that may or may not be useful and learn from her mistakes. Learn more about her book at http://www.mommyshelperonline.com/kickstart.html

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Is Adsense for you?

It sounds so easy to get paid by simply running a few ads. But could
you be destroying your reputation and missing hundreds of sales just
for a few pennies?

If you own a website (which you should, even if your company
provides it!), AdSense can be a great source of revenue. You put up a few ads, and then you start seeing the clicks coming in. First a few pennies, then a few dimes ... before you know it, you are seeing several dollars a day. Awesome!

However, if you are trying to sell a product, you could be losing
out on HUNDREDS of dollars. What's worse, you could be destroying your reputation in the process.

When a potential customer hits your site, they have a specific idea
of what they want in mind. You only have a few seconds to sell them
your spectacular product. What happens when the first thing they see is an ad for a similar product?

Those advertising on Google are smart cookies. They know how to
write some killer headlines that really pull in results. Now think - even if your product is exactly what they want, if the other ad SOUNDS better, how fast do you think your visitor is going to go running off? You just got maybe 10 cents when you could have made several dollars. How many times a day could that be happening?

What's worse - what if someone in your company is advertising, and
you just handed the sale to another rep? Direct sales is competitive
enough, you don't need to be giving away sales!

Get out of the "side income" reasoning right now. It's absolutely
NOT worth the lost "main income".

If you are looking for another way to pull in a "side income",
consider affiliate programs. Not only will you get paid better, but you have full control over what you offer. It doesn't have to be competition, but rather something that compliments your main products.

Just remember - AdSense doesn't belong on websites selling products!

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com