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[Q63]Quotes For Tough Times

by Keith Shaw, Kei

Perhaps you are in the same predicament right now! Maybe there is currently a crisis in your life, such as the possibility that you could lose your job. As a result you feel totally powerless and out of control. Or, your needs are such in that you just can not break that long standing, bad habit that is ruining your health and wellness. And again, you feel powerless.

What is blocking your way, preventing you from achieving what you want, when you want it? Why is it so difficult to take control of your life?

As a human being you have two natures. One nature wants to advance and make positive progress in your life - pursue an education, a fulfilling career, a loving family and supportive friends. The second is negative and wants to hold you back - perhaps it is fear, self-doubt as to whether you deserve good and positive outcomes, or the sheer terror of stepping out of your comfort zone when life does not go your way.

Both of your natures are trying to gain control. Your "will power" alone decides the issue. When you put aside your fear, the one nature you concentrate on and develop determines what you will become. You can completely control and concentrate your thoughts to create "opportunity".

John F. Kennedy once said, "When written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity."

To see OPPORTUNITY in any crisis situation, embed in your mind my five-step "attitude" adjustment...

1) Know that is by supreme effort of your concentration and determination that YOU can change your whole life and accomplish miracles.

2) Believe that YOU can be that person.

3) Remember, only YOU, and you, alone can decide when the "tipping point" in your life will come. When you develop a concentrated, strong will power you will find a way or make a way.

4) Decide whether YOU will allow your positive inner self to control you or whether you will be controlled by negative internal or external forces.

5) And finally, YOU must develop the belief within that you can become the director of your life - if you will it to be.

You also have many habits that you have acquired, both positive and negative. When habits affect you negatively, know that you can break a habit when you masters the "I will..." Your age is not a barrier. In fact, concentration of your will is not hindered by your age, color, race or gender! Many have changed and accomplished great things.

Some people may say "I lost my opportunity". That may be true, but by sheer force of will, you can find a way to bring new opportunity into your life. There is no truth in the saying that opportunity knocks at our door but once in a lifetime. The reality is opportunity exists all around us, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week. It does not find us. We need to find it.

Today, your brain is matched against another's. It is often the quickness of brain action (not reaction) that determines the result. One person thinks "I will do it...", but while he procrastinates the other goes ahead and takes advantage of the opportunity. Both of them had an equal chance at the same exact opportunity. The one will complain of his lost chance and it should teach him a lesson. It will, if he is seeking the path that leads to success. You may teach a person, but that person will only know when he takes the initiative to learn to concentrate on his own.

Every time you do not concentrate, you fall behind on what you planned to do and the result is, you lose a lot. That precious time is gone forever. Every day, you have 1,440 minutes at your disposal. That's the exactly same amount of time that successful people like, a Bill Gates or a Nelson Mandela, have each day. You may find reasons for not getting things done, but most excuses are poor substitutes for ACTION. Most things in life are possible.

You may have tasks that are hard, but the harder the task, the greater the reward. It is the difficult things that really develop you. Anything that requires only a small effort utilizes very few of your faculties and yields a little in the way of achievement. So do not shrink from a hard task. To accomplish tasks that are hard will often bring you more benefits than a dozen lesser accomplishments.

Write down on a 3" x 5" index card, my five-step attitude adjustment plan and review it daily. I hope that this will get you off of your behind and working on taking control of your life through concentration.

Copyright (c) 2009 Mind Body Spirit Central, LLC

As we enter into what many enlightened souls are calling the most dire economic times since the Great Depression, online marketers need all the help they can get - regardless of the source. You have probably heard of Google; but chances are almost 100% certain, you have never heard of me. Lucky you!

Actually, the only thing you need to know about me is that I am a full-time online affiliate marketer and I make a very comfortable living from the web. Last year (2008), was my best year online so far, which left me scratching my head and saying what recession?

But that may be something of a false positive, as I will never know how much I could have made if the economic times had been good instead of bad. Plus, judging from my own limited experience, selling and marketing online may not have been hit as hard as those businesses in the real world in 2008, since consumers are doing everything to save a penny and shopping online has become a much cheaper alternative for many.

As we enter into these uncertain times, online marketers and webmasters need all the help they can get. Recently, Google mailed a small booklet to its Adsense users; in it Google gives "6 Top Tactics For Tough Times." It is obviously referring to its Adwords PPC (Pay Per Click) program and clients but Google's advice can be applied to your own general online marketing.

These tactics include: (quoting directly from the Google mail-out)

1. Focus your ads on low prices and savings.

2. Use Value-related keywords.

3. Ensure your ad groups are targeted and relevant.

4. Don't waste money on irrelevant clicks.

5. Make it easy for customers to buy.

6. Focus your money on your high-performers. (End Quote)

Sound advice and I especially like the idea of focusing your marketing on low prices and savings mainly because people want bargains in tight economic times. I also like the fact that you must make it easy for your customers to buy... something as simple as putting your "order/buy link" above the fold can increase your conversions.

Also, targeting value-related keywords, is a very effective marketing tactic. Relating your keywords to "discounts, bargains, cheap, inexpensive, lowest prices..." will help increase your sales. So too, is catering to phrases that suggest the searcher is in a buying mind-set: gifts, presents, gift ideas, wedding gifts... shoppers searching those words are ready to buy.

Plus, focusing your time and money on your high-performers is solid advice. Sometimes succeeding online is simply finding a market niche that works/performs - then running with it. Once you have found the keywords and products that perform well with your site or sites - focus the majority of your time and energy developing those niche markets.

Now here are some of my most effective marketing tactics that have worked for me and tactics I will be relying on in the coming years - even in these hard times.

o Make Keywords Your #1 Goal

This is the single most important factor for my own online success. You have to make keywords and ranking high for them in all the search engines your main objective if you're marketing online. Might sound obvious, but many beginning marketers don't truly understand how important getting top rankings for your chosen keywords will be in your online success.

Target less competitive long tail (multi-worded) keywords to get started and slowly work your way up to more popular keywords. Center your marketing around getting those first page listings (Top Five) for your keywords. Achieve this goal, (especially in Google) and it will be almost impossible for you not to succeed and make a profit with your online marketing even in bad times.

o Autoresponders, List Building & Online Relationships

Keeping in contact with potential buyers is mission critical. You must use autoresponders to send follow-up messages to build trustful relationships with your potential customers. Establishing this personal contact or trust is very important because the Internet is still a cold distrustful environment for most people.

So building a large contact list is essential. That's why the social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace can be very effective marketing tools for building this online contact and trust. Truth be told, all these social networks are, more or less, just glorified autoresponders and list builders!

o Your Unique Selling Position

You must give potential customers some very good reasons for them to buy from you or your links. Offering special bonuses and discounts works wonders for your sales. Some of my most successful pages simply consists of coupons and discounts offered by different companies. If buyers can save $100's OFF by buying thru your links, they will.

Always remember, besides looking for the best deal or bargain, consumers are also looking for a quality product. If you're into affiliate marketing, only pick top quality products to promote. Picking top brand names also makes it easier to make sales. So too is only promoting popular online merchants like Amazon, can be an effective marketing strategy. Most importantly, always remember consumers are also looking for INFORMATION on the products they are considering buying, give them helpful information and you will succeed.

o Find A Niche You Enjoy

There are millions of profitable niche markets you can choose from - pick one that truly interests you and run with it. Your favorite hobby or something you enjoy doing in your spare-time. Picking a niche market that you like is a key factor, you won't mind spending your time exploring and exploiting it. Just won't seem like work because you will be having fun while you do your marketing.

o Go With The Flow

If you're marketing online, you have to follow what's working for you. Most times you will try countless ideas or tactics - once you have found a process or system that works, really work it or scale it up. Making your first dollar is the hardest, but once you do something that earns you that dollar, just repeat that "something" a thousand times.

Tracking what works is very important so keep a close eye on your site's traffic logs to find where your customers are coming from. Something like Google Analytics is simply priceless for "fine-tuning" your site and your online marketing. It will tell you what's working and what's not.

o Target Recurring or Residual Income

One of my most effective marketing strategies is to promote and sell products and services that give you a recurring or residual income. Make one sale and get paid for years or for the life of that referred client. Concentrate on services like web-hosting, telephone, marketing programs... once customers sign up to these services, they will likely keep them for years. I am still earning income from sales I made five years ago.

Building a large residual income could be the key to surviving in tough economic times. This will be income which will carry you or your business over the rough patches since it is based upon past performance and not on your current selling situation.

o Target the Right Customers And Markets

The biggest advantage of marketing online is you can precisely target your customers and your markets. One tactic I use is to target customers who are likely to buy more than one unit of what you're selling. For example, if you target Corporate Business Gifts, a boss or employer will not be buying just one coffee mug but ten or even hundreds of mugs.

Even in tough times, seasonal markets will still perform... back to school, mother's day, Halloween, Christmas market... things might slow down but these markets will still perform even in tough times.

o Automate Everything

The real beauty of marketing online and using computers... you can automate just about every process in your marketing system. Make it a point of automating everything you do... use autoresponders to follow-up with potential buyers, use automatic check-outs, automatic reporting... just set-up your whole online marketing system that runs itself with little or no supervision from you. This will free up your time to concentrate all your efforts on marketing/promoting your site or product. Besides, nothing beats coming back from a vacation and finding out you have earned the cost of your vacation and then some - all the while you were lying in the sun and miles away from any computer.

o Find The Top Online Marketers

If you're just starting with online marketing, you need to find the top successful marketers and "model" what they're doing. This is relatively a new industry and you have to seek out the experts and pioneers who have set the groundwork. When I first started marketing online, I was quite fortunate to come into contact with some web marketing heavy-weights such as Marlon Sanders, Ken Evoy, Neil Shearing... and SEO experts like Brad Callen and Aaron Wall.

Often it is just a matter of finding the right "mentor" to follow. You need to study their techniques to improve your own marketing. Perhaps my best advice would be this: find the top online marketers and stick to them like glue!

o Make Google Your Friend

Whether you love or hate Google doesn't matter, you just have to make it your number one ally in your online marketing. Google has just about conquered the world-wide search market, Yahoo and MSN are still important, but Google is the deal-breaker when you're selling stuff online. Consumers have enormous respect for Google, a number one listing for a lucrative keyword simply means money in the bank. Marketers must realize Google will play a significant role in their online success and may play an ever increasing role in these tough economic times.

I have found using Google Search, Google Adwords, and Google Adsense have played a more than significant role in the success of my own online sites and marketing. Google tools such as Google Analytics, Google Alerts, Webmaster Tools... all have been invaluable and an enormous help in achieving my "web-based" lifestyle and livelihood. Of course, Google has also driven me around the bend more times than I can count, but no one is perfect.

Besides, when it's all said and done, anyone marketing on the web must truly embrace Google if they want to reach their highest level possible. In good times and especially in these bad times, you must make Google your friend. Your best friend. Even your BFF. When all else fails, trust in Google, forget that other guy. Then again, you better not; for you're going to need all the help you can get in these coming tough times, regardless of the source.

Article Source : seek self improvement

About Author

Both Keith Shaw & Titus Hoskins are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Keith Shaw has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing and Communications, self improvement and motivation and Leadership. Keith A. Shaw, President of is headquartered in Mount La. Keith Shaw's top article generates over 14800 views. to your Favourites.

Titus Hoskins has sinced written about articles on various topics from Personal Desktop, RSS and Computers and The Internet. Everyone has a story. Mine is called: "In Search Of The $100 Click or How I Found A Full-Time Online Income And Came To Love The Internet" It's located here:. Titus Hoskins's top article generates over 49500 views. to your Favourites.