Bryan Ellis on the Explosion In Virtual Real Estate Investing

Bryan Ellis Reviews

Bryan Ellis is widely recognized as a expert in the fields of real estate investing and internet marketing, so it’s no wonder he’s regarded as a founding thinker of the new phenomenon of Virtual Real Estate Investing. I recently spoke with him about this topic:

Landlords, rehabbers and foreclosure investors, take notice – you may soon be focused on the new concepts of Virtual Real Estate Investing. Everything from using the internet as an avenue to make more money in real estate to online games such as SecondLife seem to be included in the popular definition of this term. And the pure financial potential is staggering.

In order to figure out the truth of the matter, I sought out Bryan Ellis whose experience in the fledgling industry is truly impressive.

“I began using the term ‘virtual real estate investing’ in the late 1990’s when I realized the clear similiarities in profit strategies, regardless of whether the real estate in question is ‘virtual’ or ‘physical’” said Ellis.

One example of the parallels between virtual and physical real estate Bryan Ellis cites is the similarity between the monetization of domain names versus physical property. He points out that control of a domain name or even a specific web page is much like controlling a real estate property: “those assets can be monetized in similar ways: By selling them for a profit, by leasing them, by offering advertising, etc. It’s not even necessary to own a website in order to profit from it.”

Bryan Ellis points to the example of websites like HubPages, Squidoo, Google Knol, etc. “Each of these services allows any person to write an article or create other type of content, and then allows the author to share in the revenue generated on that page. It’s almost as if you’re renting retail space in a highly desirable shopping district, only you get the benefit of a ‘great address’ in the form of a well-known domain host like Google.com but without paying a single penny in rental fees. It’s a win-win scenario.”

I must admit: Its easy to see the parallels. For example, if you’re the owner of a desirable property, its desirability is (in a business context) largely due to its being in a location that is of interest to others. Similarly, ownership of a desirable domain name is valuable for the same reasons. Regardless of the type of asset, you can sell or lease or use any number of strategies to turn the assets into cash.

In our next installment of this series on virtual real estate investing, Bryan Ellis will share the internet analogies to the physical concept of real estate development.

Get Your Message Read through Mobile Billboards

How do you describe a mobile billboard?  Well as most of you already know what a regular billboard is, a mobile billboard is exactly the same thing, except it is moving or mobile.

You can see it in various forms.  You can see it in advertising trucks San Diego, or vehicles built specifically to carry billboards around.

Why are people using this form of medium to get their message or brand across?  I have some unique insights I am going to share that I have gained from running my own San Diego mobile billboards company.

First let’s talk about what it is going to cost you.  Mobile billboard rates are actually very comparable if not better than your traditional outdoor media such as traditional billboards.

With the cost being very competitive if not better there is another advantage that weights it in it’s favor.  Actual impressions or exposure to the consumers.

Compared to the usual billboards out there, that a prospect could just pass it by without even looking.But the way in which a mobile billboard get’s it’s message across, it is much more effective.And the way it accomplishes the task is by being smack dab in the consumer’s face.  You can’t just drive by it.It is stuck with you in traffic right at eye level

This is very powerful.A prospect who is caught in traffic with an advertisement staring at them in the face can’t be turned off.

That is one of the obstacles that TV and Radio face as traditional forms of advertising.With Tivo and satellite radio that many consumers have, a person could virtually never see or hear a commercial.

So going with a mobile billboard allows the business to get their message read and impressed upon the mind of the consumer.

If you want to build brand recognition as a business, there aren’t too many better ways to display your ad than by showing it in beautiful color as a full color display ad.It speaks loudly for attention.And when your prospect doesn’t have anything else to do in traffic, you really don’t need to scream as loud as other forms of advertising.

With a lot of businesses struggling because of the economy, using mobile ads might be just the trick they need to save their business.More leads and more sales are going to happen by using this type of advertising. 

You are going to get exposure.You are pretty much guaranteed to getting your message read and heard.  What more can an advertiser want.

You can see it’s effectiveness by the way more and more businesses are using it to advertise.In 2004 by itself, there was more than $5.8 billion went towards this form of advertising.With all kinds of money being spent, it must be effective.

So for businesses looking for a shot in the arm for more customers, this might be the ticket they are looking for.

Small business consulting? – Selling your know how to businesses

small business consulting

I founded an online company that provides help in the form of small business management and accounting software tools and know-how to thousands of startups and small businesses all over the world and whenever I explain to folks I meet what I do, I often get asked the same question “Given my what I know, how could I put it to use and make regular money from small business consulting? I’m always ready to offer guidance as I am fortunate enough to spend the biggest part of my day talking to small business owners and workforce who are always willing to tell me about their problems and needs.

This is what I tell them:

The net is the best way for finding customers and it makes it straightforward to reach them and sell your expertise. A lot of small businesses turn to the internet to find knowledge or trusted advisors who can provide them with better ways of doing things and help them resolve problems.

Information marketing – package and sell your expertise to businesses through the Internet

Make no mistake this opportunity isn’t just to be found in small businesses it’s equally applicable to large businesses. You can repackage and sell your expertise in a multimedia format such as video, audio or documents. The systems to make superb content are widely available on the world wide web. Creating a course in simple to use internet formats is now simple and inexpensive. You just have to be prepared to spend a modest amount of time studying the tools. The objective here is to generate [content.

You should start by deciding what you want to achieve. Consultancy and Information marketing are great bedfellows and if you do both can be very profitable as the consultancy will provide you with the questions, the answers to which repurpose for sale through the internet and sold over and over again.

If you are starting from scratch with no customers but have expertise you know would be valuable to others then produce a no longer than 120 secs video to introduce yourself and your expertise to your potential client(s). Unless you know the market exact problem then make the video generic and usethe following format – S.T.A.R (Situation or Task, Action, Result). Be creative and concise. Now upload the video to your website/blog or even YouTube if you don’t have the former and send the target(s) an invitation by e-mail containing a personal message and a link to the video. Follow this up with a phone call. If you know the specific nature of the prospect(s)problem then don’t make the video public, just put it somewhere secureon the Web or even on a disk and post it, again follow up with a call.

This method is ideally suited to situations where you are individually targeting target(s). The one objective you should be constantly pursuing is the creation of a list that you can converse with and sell product to.. Consistent interaction with your list will reveal peoples needs that will help you define what to sell. The more people on your list the more consulting and information marketing opportunities you will uncover. If you would like to know more about how to do this then visit any of the links in this article. I would be delighted to help you.

Base Business Home Internet Marketing Opportunity Small

There are lots of business opportunities that you can find on the web with a good search. A keyword search with terms like “Top Home Business” or “Computer Home Business” will get you some good information. “Top Ten Home Based Business” is another search term that should produce some good results.

At the top of the page are a few tabs, containing Promotion Management, the page you’re on. The next page lists some Yahoo instruments that help you enhance your advert behavior. On the new form page that appears, you might enter facts to conduct a search (see Compute 1-four)7In the big text box at the top of the page, type the search terms that interconnect to the site you desire to analysis.

The SERP exhibits its outcomes as a list of Websites that encompass the word or term you looked for. SERPS gather and store facts in reference to how many, and how regularly, searches are finished on key words or terms. The input is used to rank terms in request of recognition and to help vend keyword promoting to clients.

Numerous businesses start out as lone proprietorships since they’re easy. While the owner hits a particular level of revenue, nevertheless, it makes sense to integrate based on the portion of self-work levies being paid. The benefit of sparing few thousand dollars outweighs the cooperation concern of incorporation.

You might find a corporation with no objections that markets the kind of material that often gets tagged as a swindle or shows up on purchaser watchdog lists. Work-at-home designs and business possibilities are often amid the list of top culprits. Lawful cases have been started. Even though you may not know of anything rigid yet, check for indictments that have been filed contrary to an organization or some unresolved lawful cases that may point to deceit in the making.

Prioritize the variant options or actions, from most to minimum craved. For illustration, it may be more vital for visitors to click a page filled with items instead of click a link to register for a newsletter. Visitors to a Website scan data by commencing at the top of the page and moving downward.

Pay-Friend is then the only choice your clients have for buying items from you. As well as these valuing issues, all plans have a victorious deal price (STF) tacked on to your biweekly charges. This price permits Pro-Stores to take a portion of your gross sales as well as the biweekly price you already pay.

The Jobs Creation Act of2004 removed the ballot to pay the tariff owed. Dimension does matter, and occasionally a tinier firm is the more superior choice. Even albeit some people imagine that a big, distinguishable accounting firm is the way to go, that’s not unconditionally the case.

In Novel II, Chapter 1, we give you a peek of what to anticipate of the tariff guy while we converse the pros and cons of assorted ownership frameworks for your business and how each form is levied. Despite what kind of business framework you pick, you face numerous tariff-interconnected necessities while you run an online business. For starters, few kinds of national and state levies are in all likelihood to apply to you, as we explain in the next few areas.

The excellent news is that copyrighting your data isn’t pricey. For example, you might copyright some primordial facts you contain on your site. Here are some other variables: You could guard pc designs you have written.

Let the internet be your friend and search for information there. Begin your online search with the keyword phrase “Turnkey Home Business”. You can get additional information from a search like “How To Start Internet Business”.

? you can need to choose, beforehand, whether or not you can have these restrictions. Global Marketing These might play as your secondary or tertiary keyword. That is why numerous people favor to vend the resell rights to their item.

Advertising Consultants

Let’s say you want to promote a new service or product, but the much expected success is still far away. How can you replace the old advertising strategies with some new ones that are more fruitful? If there is no novelty in the promoted products, and there is some serious competition too, the challenge of getting visible will be a considerable one. So what is it that makes you stand out? Advertising consultants could make a difference for the matter.

advertising consulting

Advertising consultants often have the answers that can turn a product or service into a hit. They rely on the fact that in the consume society, people are easily influenced by advertising and they buy what they are told. It is all about image and publicity. As a result, advertising consultants are very much sought after by people who want to gain profit and increase the market for their product.

consultant advertising

There is tough competition between advertising consultants as well. Their offer has to include more than present success. Of course, an advertising campaign is truly effective when sales also increase. The ideas advertising consultants sell the public on through their commercials and ads may be more or less inspired and successful. Based on the degree of their campaign’s success, based on how biting their ads are, their contractors are going to gain more or less profit.

Advertising consultants nowadays know it is all a matter of image in order to sell a product. Ad categories vary, but in recent years there has been a growing preference for testimony-like ads. There are some middle class people just like the target buyers who simply need to show how happy they are with their product or service choice. When the person invited to speak about the product is a VIP or when the product itself is associated with the image that every one of us would love to identify with, then advertising consultants have made it big for sure.

advertising consultants

Clever advertising will know how to take advantage of some issues that people look for, carefully avoiding anything that may cause resentment. That means that, advertising consultants who are good at what they do have a very keen sense of identifying just the right message to be associated with the product or the service that they want to make known.

Benefits of Mobile Billboards

There is a growing movement of advertising dollars going to another form of advertising for businesses large and small. I am not referring to doing some advertising on the internet.  What I am talking about is doing outdoor media advertising and more specifically truck advertising.

Outdoor media has many forms, but one of the ways that is gaining huge popularity is the use of truckside advertising.

Today a consumer has the choice in their hand of whether or not to see and hear the add. With Tivo and Satelllite radio becoming popular, the consumer can easily turn off all traditional advertising.

That is why there are a lot of businesses that are looking for other ways to advertise.  They want more ways to reach consumers.

But not only are they begging for other ways to reach the customer, they want it to work.

Mobile billboard advertising has that advantage. It gives the advertiser a great way to have their advertisement shown without getting turned off. With the way the ad reaches the customer you can see why.

You have the branding or advertising of the business boldly on display on the side of the truck or mobile billboard.  Those are usually vehicles specifically made just for the task of being a mobile billboard.

With their message boldly displayed, and appearing to them in traffic. A consumer has no choice but to read it.  For an advertiser who wants maybe more brand recognition, this is a way to go.

Then when it is compared to other ways of advertising.  The mobile billboards prices are actually very competitive, if not cheaper for what you get.

Because when you think about it, your advertisment will be noticed by the consumer because of they way it is delivered. More often it is likely at rush hour, or when they get stuck in traffic. So the prospect is left with nothing but having to read it.  With that advantage, a businesses brand or message can easily get across.

When you see and realize how much is being spent on outdoor media advertising, you see many businesses are realizing it’s potential.  In 2004 alone, $5.8 billion dollars was spent.

So for a business in search of creative ways to get their ads out, using advertising trucks is something they should think about. 

Not the stationary billboards on the side of the road people are used to. But something put right in the consumer’s face is most definitely going to get the message across.

Postcard Printing: Cut Your Marketing Costs

Do you need to trim your spending, but maintain your outreach to prospects and customers, then postcard printing may let you do both.

Because they’re smaller, and all in one simple unit with just two faces, postcard printing generally means less set up time and less ink used in print runs.

Once you’ve decided on postcards, you can also choose between color and black and white, which may give you another cost-cutting option. However, many postcard printing companies now print color for the same price as black and white, so this may no longer be an avenue of savings.

The cost of mailing a postcard in the U.S. beats the cost of mailing a letter; and that can make a significant difference if you do a major mailing. The pennies do add up once you get to mailings in the thousands or tens of thousands.

You also enjoy cost savings on processing costs, because the postcard is ready to travel as soon as it’s printed. You do not need to stuff mailers into envelopes, and that too represents a sizable saving. 

Where your time may increase slightly will be in writing. Because you have limited real estate for your message, you may need extra time to boil down the messages. This is especially true if you use an image and no text on the side opposite the mailing address. Crafting a concise postcard message will be good exercise in building your communication skills.

This brings us to one of the differences between postcards and mailers in envelopes – postcards generate leads, not sales. Most postcards should emphasize contact information, such as phone numbers and web addresses as the end point, not the sale. Sell when the prospect calls or visits your website, not on the card.

Bottom line, you can maintain your reach at a lower cost with postcards, but remember you’ll aim for leads, not sales, with them. And, get that sales message concise and just right before you begin printing postcards.

Smart and Cost Effective Marketing

This morning the sun is shining bright outside as you and sit comfortably in your office. With a cup of hot coffee by your side and memories of your last holiday still fresh in your mind, even if you say so yourself, today at least, life is sweet.

As you take a sip of your morning Caffè macchiato you feel a rush of cool air on the back of your neck and catch a movement out of the corner of your eye. As if from nowhere there is now an impeccably dressed stranger sitting in the chair opposite. Surprised, you bet; you didn’t hear anyone knock and just as you are about to say something he begins in a calm and measured voice.

‘Here is the deal’

‘I am going to advertise your product on a billboard at the busiest junctions in every city of the world.’

‘I will be able to tell you how many people see the advertisement, their gender, age group and nationality.’

‘I will tell you what they think of your product and in many cases I will give you their contact details. While they are looking at the billboard I will allow them to view your website and even make a purchase if they feel the urge.’

‘I can have all this setup in two days and it will cost you less than a small advertisement displayed in your favourite trade journal.’

He pauses. ‘Interested?’

Now you might think that such an offer was too good to be true, you might think that you are going to wake up soon or maybe that it really is time to get a lock on that office door.

But let’s just take time to reflect. If you are still reading this well I am that man who has come from nowhere and offered you a deal.

The advertising site is on the Internet and the billboard I’m offering is the much underrated online survey.

Stop for one moment and start to associate an online survey not with ‘market research’ but with ‘marketing’. Not any type of marketing but ‘Marketing’ with a capital ‘M’ and in flashing neon lights. Marketing that is direct, effective, quick, and low cost.

You can advertise a published online survey on a website, or via email and like a billboard by the side of a major road junction, your message will appear in front of people. Unlike billboards where the number of people that see the advert has to be estimated an online survey records the number of times a survey is started.

Surveys can ask demographic questions such as gender, age and nationality and in doing so you are obtaining metrics about the effectiveness of your promotion and are interacting with the respondent on a one-on-one level.

Unlike billboards where the message is often subliminal, or maybe just trying to achieve brand awareness, with online surveys you have the opportunity to connect with the public to find out what they really think about your product, how it relates to them, how it is perceived.

Using an online survey website it takes only minutes and hours to create a survey and using the power of the Internet an online survey can reach hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis.

Throw in a prize as an incentive for people to complete the survey, maybe some Pay Per Click advertising to capture an even wider, or more focused audience and you are still talking low cost effective marketing.

‘So then, tell me. Do we have a deal?’

Action steps to better financial controls

business accounting software

Ask any seasoned business manager how much time they spend dealing with problems in the business and the answer will almost always be a substantial amount. Regardless of how well you have planned there are always going to be problems that occur at the worst possible time. Spotting serious problems in the most well run of businesses is often quite difficult. I cannot see how any manager can be worthy of this title if they are not a good problem solver.

Good financial controls are critical to the successful management of any business. Financial controls are the guardians that detect and bring problems to the manager’s attention. Good financial reports, the type you can produce from small business accounting software is a key element in implementing good financial controls. It is critical that you can create reports using small business accounting software that let you examine the differences between planned and actuals in focus areas such as cash flow, expenses and revenue. Begin by identifying a minimal group of numbers and relationships that you need to monitor and then design your accounting or financial reports to present these critical factors in the right format.

Vigilantly keep an eye on the margin on sales and don’t hesitate to investigate any changes regardless how insignificant they might be. Volume sales operations are particularly sensitive to changes in margins as losses can multiply quickly and therefore it is vital that you monitor both the changes in margin and volumes. It is good practise to focus on the behaviour of fixed costs against your business plan especially at the beginning of a financial year. Scrutinise the debtors reports found in most small business accounting software specifically for the average number of days it takes for you to get your invoices paid, this is a really essential operating ratio that every business should have in place.

Experience is the way to learn and over time you will learn which financial controls should be highlighted in your accounting reports, just make sure you have the right small business accounting software that can generate these.

 

Four Questions Answered About Local Online Advertising

local directories

Should You Be Doing Local Online Advertising?

Local online ads connects local businesses to customers in their areas. Long gone are the days that people look up a business or product in the yellow pages…nowadays, people type what they are looking for in a search engine. Local online advertising allows you, the small business, to get your name and contact information in front of people who are looking for YOU.

 

How does local online advertising work?

Local online ads uses specialized search engines that provide results based on the user’s location or the location they specify. Search engines can guess at a user’s location using the IP address of their computer where they are accessing the internet. Some cities and towns have directories that are specifically targeted to that geographic location. These are excellent places for you to submit your site.

 

How do I know a directory is worth while?

  • Popularity of the Site – Enough Traffic? A site called Alexa will provide you with their site ratings. Visit Alexa.and enter the directory into the domain. Alexa gauge the website’s traffic.
  • Price – A limited amount of online directories are no charge, in which case you should list with them. If there is a cost to have your site listed with them, you can determine if the money is beneficial. Use the other four criteria to determine if it is worth the cost invested. (location, popularity, appropriateness, etc…)
  • Location – Does the directory cover your location or service area?
  • Appropriateness – Some local directories cater to specific types of industries. If your company’s product is sporting goods, you don’t want to be listed in a travel directory. Make sure the type of directory is appropriate to your business type.
  • SEO – You want your website listing to help your organic traffic. You can determine their Page Rank by visiting to prchecker.com.info. A low page rank is between 1 and 4 while a page rank between 5 and 10 is one of the major directories.

 

How do I submit a listing to a directory?

Locate local directories that are similar to your business, give your website to the company by filling out their form and provide monetary payment.




Search
Categories