Mobile Advertising

With mobile phone penetration at over 60% of the population and internet subscription at over ten million users in Kenya plus majority using mobile phones to access internet,mobile marketing is fast becoming the future of advertising for every kind of business.

It is an easy,fast and affordable way of reaching potential and existing customers/clients by tailoring your targeted ad campaigns to mobile phone users anytime and wherever they are.

According to research,more consumers are now using social media and mobile advertising to compare/rate brands and make purchasing decisions.

Mobile advertising can be done either via SMS ads or mobile internet(text or banner ads).

How SMS advertising works

Subscribers register for free,choose when to receive the ads and optin to receive specified ads or content such as tips,lessons on their mobile phones from bulk sms providers.

Some of the free content received by sms contains adverts from various companies.

The subscribers may be compensated by earning points for receiving ads or referring friends.

Advertisers register and buy ad credits then set up ad campaigns online.They can choose to target consumers with demographics such as age,location,interests,income levels etc and view ad campaign statistics on their online accounts.

SMS bulk providers in Kenya include :

• Smartads
• Jumuika
• Info160
• Whive

How mobile internet advertising works

This involves ad networks,advertisers and publishers.

The ad networks manage the ad campaigns for the advertisers which includes displaying ads on various popular websites(known as publishers) with high traffic like dealfish,nation and others.

The ads are only displayed to and viewed by mobile phone users who visit such websites.

When an ad is clicked on the publisher site,the advertiser pays a certain rate e.g ksh5 for every click(also known as pay per click advertising)and the publisher rate is paid for every click.For example if an advertiser is paying ksh4 per click,the publisher site will earn ksh2 for every click.

The pay per click rate varies depending on advertiser’s needs and budget.The higher the rate the more your ad is displayed on publisher sites.

The advertiser registers,sets up ad campaign on their online accounts and can view ad performance statistics.

The advertiser can choose to target audiences by location,users with specific mobile devices like smartphones,specific mobile network users like safaricom and more.

The most popular mobile ad networks include:

• Inmobi
• Buzzcity
• Admob

Click here and learn how you can start your own sms premium rate business.

Creating and selling ebooks

You can become an infropreneur through providing,promoting and distributing knowledge by teaching or demonstrating how to do something.

Learning how to sell information online through ebooks is a great way with unlimited potential of earning from the internet economy.

Steps in creating an ebook include:

• Idea -pick an idea that people are interested in learning more about.
  Take a look at your hobbies,interests;personal or professional experiences or topics that you love and spend some time doing research.
  The internet is a great place to research about anything.You can also find what people are searching for on the internet using sites such as search.com,ask.com or google keyword tool.
  The topics you can write about are unlimited from business,travel,cooking,spiritual,personal development,money,sporting,technology,beauty,wellness/health,nutrition,relationships and more.
• Presentation – decide how many chapters and pages will be.If the topic is long,divide the ebook into series i.e part I,II or III.The ebook should have few pages to make it easy to read and understand.
• Writing – write in an informal and friendly style.Consider font size and style,length of ebook and compiling method.
  Use royalty free images from fotolia or istockphoto to give your ebook a professional look.
  You can use Word to write your draft then convert to pdf after editing.
• Editing – is the most time consuming step.Consider grammar,spell checking,visual appeal,table of contents and information sources.
• Compiling – you may choose to compile in html-.exe or pdf-.pdf which is the most easy to download.
  To easily create and convert ebooks,use ewriterpro or pdfpro softwares.
  Create ebook covers to make your ebook real and professional.
  Protect your ebooks from illegal sharing,password hacking and piracy by locking your pdf files with security software which generates an access code that works for only one valid user/buyer.
• Marketing – create a free website to promote your ebook on social media,ad sites etc.
  You can also have an affiliate program with affiliates to promote for you and pay them commission for every sale.
  Another way is giving access to a free chapter using opt in mail list on your website.

  Remember you can sell worldwide and reach global market with a digital/downloadable product.

Online Business Tools

Here are some online business tools you can use to simplify tasks and increase productivity/efficiency for your small business:

• Outright – online accounting and bookkeeping software that helps organize finances and automates bookkeeping tasks.
• Money Tracking – free online budget management tool that allows you to easily track personal or business income,expenses etc.

• Simplybook – simple and easy to use online booking,appointment and scheduling tool that allows clients to book appointments.Can also be integrated with facebook fan page.

• Task2gather – free online service that organises a business owner’s personal,family,social and professional commitments in one place.

• Bizroof – automate sales,track leads,forecast sales and analyse cashflow.Helps in monitoring business performance and speeding up revenue growth.Free version available.

• Dropbox – a cloud service that enables easy file storage and sharing by saving files instantly to computers,mobile phones and dropbox website.Also works offline.

• Officezilla – free web based and full featured intranet,social CRM and calendar that enables your business to share calendars,files etc in a secure and private place.

• Bluehost and Hostgator – affordable and reliable web hosting solutions with great features,customer support and downtime for websites,blogs etc.

• Runbox – fast and secure email services that lets you get a professional business email address.

• Online letterhead & business cards – create free letterheads and business cards and print them online.

• CBox – a unique chat and messaging web based application that brings the best features of traditional chat and tagging systems to social web and makes your site interactive.

• File conversion – free conversion of any media file format without installing anything.

• Littlepdf and PDFill – allow users to edit,merge,combine and rearrange pdf files plus encryption to prevent unauthorised use.

How Drop Shipping Works

When you use drop shipping to sell products online,you transfer the risk of packaging,shipping and storing inventory to another party(a wholesaler,supplier).

You become a stockless retailer with no inventory hanging around-often an cost effective way of doing business.You make the sale and take the money before ordering products for your customers and therefore don’t use your own money.

The following are steps of working with drop shippers:

• Sign up on the dropshipper site to set up an account and check out terms and conditions.

• Select the products you wish to sell on your site.

• Post the products description including images and prices(including shipping cost) on the site and promote your online store.

• As soon as buyer pays for the product,you email the dropshipper the product details or fill out a secure order form on dropshipper site and pay for the item.

• The dropshipper ships item to your customer and if all goes well,the item arrives quickly and safely.

Penny stock investment:path to financial freedom

This is a must read for those who are ready and want financial freedom this year with our penny stock investment guide.

From the priceless penny stock newsletter emails we receive often,the first penny stock for 2012 has already gone up from around 8 cents to 80 cents(in dollar terms) and the bullrun continues as it has a potential of reaching $5 in coming months according to projects the company is planning(gold mining company).

That’s 1,000% gains i.e if you invested like $100 you now have $1,000,reason enough to sell off your stocks and use the cash to invest in your other financial goals.

The penny stock investment has all the step by step details on how and where to invest.

Contact us if you would like to join others who are taking wise actions in creating financial success.

Choosing a web host

For your website to be visible or accessible on the web it is stored(hosted) on a server.

Choosing a good web host right from the beginning is very important for the overall user experience on your site.

Read information below on how to find a good and reliable web host:

• www.wikihow.com

• www.thesitewizard.com

• About.com

Financial Freedom:Setting up goals

Goals are your roadmap and if you set them up right,they will take you from point A to Z with few detours and little pain.

Be honest with yourself about what you can do.As long as you are meeting the core responsible goals,there is nothing wrong with enjoying your life and money.

Make financial education a priority and increase your financial literacy by taking action now.

Figure out what you need to learn,get support of experts,peers,family members to help you move forward.

Start reading newspapers,magazines,internet resources;watch tv shows and listen to radio programs about money.

Aspire to achieve a goal(what you want to be and have),acquire knowleage by setting aside time to learn about money then apply the knowledge by taking action.

It can be scary to make change happen,but think about it;if you don’t take action now,what does your financial future really look like?

Check out this free to use personal budgeting web based tool you can use to control/track expenses,budget and savings.

Thinking like a millionaire

As people make resolutions some of which have already been broken,what are are your financial resolutions or to be specific financial goals?Where would you like to be next year january?

The difference between being financial successful and unsuccessful is ability to think long term and ability to delay gratification.

People with long term perspective move up economically as they spend weeks,months and years developing skills,ability and expanding their experience.
Decide exactly how much you want to be worth in five,ten or twenty years from today.Write it down,make a plan and take action daily.

Develop ability to delay gratification.Instead of buying on impulse,put off buying decisions for a day,week or month.
If you want to achieve something you have never had before,you must become someone you have never been before.

It is about redirecting your thoughts,energy and actions into the type of person who would absolutely manifest that goal.It’s a matter of being willing to win.

Here are some resource links to help in your path of financial freedom or prosperity:

• Challenging the status quo article by Wale Akinyemi

• Cracking the millionaire code

• Rich dad online courses

• Think and grow rich free ebook

• Understanding prosperity

Drop shipping

Drop shipping involves a retailer selling products on line but products are stocked and shipped by wholesaler or manufacturer from the warehouse.

The retailer takes orders from their online store and transfers the order details to wholesaler/supplier who ships directly to customer.

The retailer’s profit is the difference between the wholesale price and the price charged to customers.

The retailer is paid when purchase is paid and then pays the wholesaler(wholesale price).

The products one can sell include variety of categories such as computers,electronics,books,movies,video games,apparel,shoes,health and beauty and more.

There are legit dropship sites where one can join and choose from the many certified suppliers.

The benefits of drop shipping include

* become a retailer with only small amounts of money

* start a business with very little risk

* no need to stock inventory or pay upfront for inventory

* you don’t have to buy packaging materials and shipping labels

* you purchase products at wholesale pricing and set your own retail prices.

Read our next article to find out how drop shipping works.

Penny Stocks

What are penny stocks?
These are stocks for small public companies that trade for less than $5 on the america stock exchange(AMEX),over the counter bulletin board(OTC BB) and Nasdaq.

One needs a good penny stock broker and looking for companies with strong fundamentals & financial position.
There are many scam and fraud stocks on the internet so one has to be very careful on where to pick your stocks from.

It is very important to do research before you invest and there are genuine online newsletters who send you via email at least five penny stocks every year.
The gains can be upto 1000%(yes very true and real) every year if you invest in upto five stocks and if you know when to buy or sell.

If for example a share starts trading at 0.20 cents and goes upto $1 in one year that’s 500% increase,if you invest $100 that will be $500 from only one stock.If you have a portfolio of 3 or 4 or more….do the maths:-)

As with any other stock investment the price may go up or down depending on market factors and company fundamentals.
Therefore it’s best to regularly monitor and track your stock investments and company activities.

A real online newsletter will analyse and give details of the companies for the penny stocks that they send you via email.
Investing in penny stocks will depend on your risk tolerance,returns expectations,skills and funds available.

Register for our penny stocks email course and learn

* how to get started

* where to open a brockerage account

* where to get good stocks(the newsletter we use to get great stock picks)

* when & how to buy and sell the stocks

* and more

Let 2012 be your year of financial freedom & success by starting today!