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WELCOME TO eHOW NAIJA
Here you can find just about anything you think you might need for your online business. Every article posted here will start with the word: "How To". We will keep updating this blog with enriched information on a daily bases. So do check back from time to time.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

How To Set Your Website As a Browser's Homepage

Every time I log on to the Web, my browser window opens up on the same Web page. If you'd like to do this as well, keep reading - it's very simple and should take you max five minutes.

What is a Home Page?

When you initially open up your Web browser, the very first page that you will see is called the "home" page. The home page is your jumping off point to the rest of the Web. You can specify absolutely any page on the Web as your browser homepage.

How To Set Your Browser Start Page in Internet Explorer

  1. Click on your Internet Explorer icon; you'll find this in your Start menu, or the toolbar at the bottom of your desktop window.
  2. Type in "Google" to IE's search box at the top of the browser window (this is just an example, you can use any website that you want).
  3. Arrive at Google search engine home page.
  4. Go to toolbar at the top of browser, and click on "Tools", then "Internet Options".
  5. At the top of the pop-up, you'll see a "Home Page" box. The address of the site that you are currently at (http://www.google.com) is there. Press the "Use Current" button to specify this page as your home page.

How to Set Your Browser Start Page in Firefox

  1. Click on the Firefox icon to start up your browser.
  2. Navigate to the site that you'd like as your Home page.
  3. At the top of your browser window, you'll see the Firefox tool bar (this includes the words "File", "Edit", etc.). Click on Tools, then Options.
  4. The popup window will open up with the default option of General. At the top of the window, you'll see "Home Page Locations." If you're satisfied with the page you're currently at and would like to set it as your Home Page, click on "Use Current Page."
And that's it, folks. Once you do this simple bit of housekeeping, every single time you start up your browser you will be at your designated home page. When you're finished surfing the Web and want to get back "home", all you need to do is click on the home icon or open a new browser window. Simple and easy.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

HOW TO BECOME A PROFESSIONAL ARTICLE WRITER

Article writing is a great way to market your business online and also can earn you enough bucks as a ghostwriter. You would want your audience to think that you're a professional writer after they've read your articles. When this happens, you can be assured that these people will trust and respect you.

Here's how you can become a professional web article writer:

  • Stick with facts. Although using controversy and exaggeration will help you in getting your audience to pay attention, over stretching the truth or resorting to blatant lies are simply not acceptable in this field. Remember, your goal is to educate your readers and not to mislead them. Verify every single data that you put on your articles and back them up with research when and as needed.
  • Let's say you were thinking of writing an article on Bass fishing to promote an e-book via ClickBank or Amazon. Well, for starters you need to head on over to Groups.Google, type in bass fishing to see what questions people were asking in this niche. Every niche has their own language, a set of common buzz words they use. Find that language, write down any common buzz words and target your article around the most commonly asked questions. Now, do you think an article like this might hit the right buttons in a reader in this niche. Pay a visit to FAQ.org and check out the bass fishing "frequently asked questions". Here you will get even more quality core-issue information that speaks to the concerns of your target market. Use what you can.

  • Writing style. Your readers will consider you a professional web article writer if you use a distinct writing style that is uniquely yours; something that demonstrate wit, exceptional writing skills, talent, and deeper understanding on the topics that you're writing about.
  • Writing errors. Professional web article writers spend considerable amount of time to make sure that their articles are perfect. They read their articles not only once or twice but until they're completely satisfied. Do the same. Check your articles for grammar, spelling, and other errors before you distribute them online. Remember, they are your image in the online arena thus, it's just but right to make sure that they're flawless.
  • Impress your readers. As a professional writer, you must understand that it's your responsibility to prioritize and impress your readers. This will happen if every writing element you use and every piece of data you share compliment the needs and demands of these people. Remember that you do not have to write a huge-manuscript-of-note... in fact keeping your articles between 350 -- 500 words of interesting content is more than enough to convince your reader of the value in visiting your site for more of the same. As far as possible try and give your reader information they can act on immediately. Actually giving them a plan of action they can follow will drastically increase the attention your article commands.

Don't forget that as the reader glances over your article they are constantly thinking 'What's in it for me". Giving them clear benefits to reading your article will make them want to find out what else you have to offer. Do you think that they might want to click on your bio-box to find out?...I know they will.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

HOW TO SELL YOUR STUFFS ON AMAZON

  1. Step 1

    This is a great news for the merchants in the house. Amazon.com has a very hot marketplace with millions of customer across the globe; where you can sell whatever stuff ranging from books, electronics, software, furniture, and so on, whether new or used stuffs. First step is to go to Amazon.com and on their website look to the bottom left side where you’ll find “Selling on Amazon”. Click on the link “Sell Your Stuff”

  2. Step 2

    The link will then take you to the “Sell Your Stuff and make money – it’s that easy” page. This is where they tell you that you can “Earn cash by selling your pre-owned items on Amazon.com. It’s easy, it’s fast, and it doesn’t cost you a penny until your item sells” if you are choosing individual plan. They have two price plans: individual plan(to sell little stuffs with no subscription fees) and pro merchant (to sell a lot of stuffs with a monthly subscription fee of only $39.99 plus selling fees on items that sell).

  3. Step 3

    Just below the welcome, there will be a box where you will list the item you would like to sell. Amazon has 18 categories from books, sporting goods, automotive, and more categories including one called “everything else” to use if your item is not listed in the category.

  4. Step 4

    Search by title or keyword to find your exact item in their marketplace. Once you have done this, click on the “Start Selling” button.

  5. Step 5

    You will then be taken to the page which shows all items that are relevant to your keyword or title. Depending on your item, you may see one or multiple items to choose from. Once you have found an item that is like yours, click to the right on the “Sell Yours Here” button.

  6. Step 6

    You will next verify the item you are selling, select the item’s condition. You need specify if your item is a new or used item and then add comments about the condition of your item. Once you are ready, click on the “continue” button at the bottom of the page.

  7. Step 7

    On this next page you will enter the price for your item, the quantity you have available for sale to sell, your location, and select your shipping methods. OK what about the shipping? Amazon.com will credit you for the cost of shipping. There are preset credits for each shipping method so you are not out the money of shipping.

  8. Step 8

    Once you have completed this you will be taken to the sign-in page. If you have an Amazon.com account, you will sign into it here, or you can create one if you don't have an account yet. First you need to go to amazon.com and set up a sellers account. This will require a credit or debit card, not to charge you for the account, but to verify who you are, and to charge each month for amazon fees, for selling on their site. The fees are minimal, much less than eBay.

  9. Step 9

    Once you are ready, click on the “Submit your Listing” button at the bottom of the page and your item will be listed in the Amazon.com Marketplace.

  10. Step 10

    Once your item sells, Amazon.com will immediately send you an email alerting you of the sale. You can follow their easy-to-understand and follow instructions. You need to send your item within two business days and after the buyer confirms to Amazon that they’ve received your item—Amazon will transfer the money to your account. You will receive the price of your item + a credit for shipping – Amazon’s small commission.

Tips & Warnings
  • Pricing your item well will help it sell. Be realistic about what it's worth. Amazon will provide you information about other similar items to guide you in pricing yours.
  • Be sure to ship your item in the time frame and with the shipping method chosen by the buyer. Amazon closely watches its sellers to ensure that their clients are getting what they pay for so follow through with your end of the deal to get your money.

Friday, October 23, 2009

HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN INFORMATION PRODUCT FOR FREE

One of the best ways to make serious money as an internet marketer is to create your own info product. That is what all the gurus are doing and a lot of them become stinking filthy rich this way. You don't have to be a guru to create your own information product. I am going to show you how easy it is to make your own eBook or video product so that you can start making some serious money online.

You can make a video series or an eBook or both. I am just going to talk about writing the eBook, but for the video series most of it is going to be the same.

First, you need to decide what you are going to make the eBook on. Do research in forums and find a problem that many people have. This is going to be your topic. You are going to write the eBook as the solution to these peoples' problem. Make sure that there is a huge demand for this and that the competition isn't too fierce.

Then start doing keyword research on this and look for a great topic and name for your eBook. I suggest you you use Word-tracker or Google's free adwords keyword tool to do research for your info product. Decide on the name and make sure your keyword is contained in it.

Now start doing research for your eBook. Gather all the articles, free eBooks, PLR eBooks etc. that you can find that is related to your topic. These will be your source material that you are going to use for the eBook. Search on Google for: "Your Topic"+"free eBook". You will find some free source materials that you can use. Also look at articles at EzineArticles.com and such. They are free to use.

After this you want to choose a basic outline for your eBook. Think and plan some chapters. Write down all the chapters that are going to have in your eBook. Use all your ideas. Then you start to fill them up chapter by chapter. Use all the source material that you gathered, but don't copy it word for word. Write it in your own words and see if you can put your own personality in it to make it unique. Set yourself some goals. Try and finish one chapter a day.

Next, try and get some nice pictures in your eBook and change the fonts and sizes so that it looks professional. Make sure that your eBook has some nice links to your other products and sites inside for some juice back end sales. This is an easy way to get free viral traffic to your websites.

Finally, you want to get someone to proof read it for you. Get more than one person, especially if your first language isn't English. You can hire people for this on sites like Elance. If you are satisfied with it, compile it into PDF format. This is the best format for your info product.

You can use easy software like ebook-gold to publish your e-book. Make it brandable if you are going to create a free info product. This will make sure that people want to give your product away and your traffic will grow virally.

When you have your finished product, you only need to make a great sales page for it (outsource if your copywriting sucks) and start getting traffic to your sales page. Check our post on how to sell your ebooks online. If you don't want to pay for website traffic to your info product, you can get these Free Traffic Courses for free. You will learn all the free traffic generation secrets that exist.

This may sound easy, but it is still hard work to create your own info product. It will pay off when you see the cash flowing in though. And then it is off to create the next one. Good luck!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

HOW TO BE A BETTER SALES MAN by ASKING 6 SMART QUESTIONS

No longer viable are the days of selling a one size fits all product or service to customers. If you are still stuck in that kind of mentality, you will be left behind. The market is evolving into needs based selling and customer oriented focused services. However, it is not easy to be a needs based seller that is customer oriented. This requires knowledge, skill and the correct attitude.

In order to become a truly customer oriented salesperson that sells on needs, you need to know what your potential customers are thinking and what you should focus on in order to clinch that deal. Here are 6 questions you need to ask yourself in order to become a customer oriented needs based salesperson:

Question #1 - What are the reasons that your customers are engaging in a conversation with you?

There are three reasons why customers engage in conversations. To create a new status quo, to repel an old status quo and to maintain the present status quo. Find out their purpose of engagement which is one of the reasons stated here and you will be on your way to serve them better.

Question #2 - What is their comfortable budget?

Almost every customer will have a figure in mind even when they tell you they don't. Never buy into those stories as customers are always shopping for the best deals and they will not tell you that so that they can be more flexible in their decision making.

If your product or service is above their budget, you have to justify why the charges are higher and what the customers are actually paying for.

If your product or service is less than their budget, you also have to explain the rationale behind that. Never leave your customers to make perceptions. Chances are they might think that the product or service
rendered is going to be under expectations for the price they are paying for.

If your product or service matches their budget, your customers will lap up your product or service without hesitation, which is the ideal situation that rarely happens.

Question #3 - What level of quality do they desire?

You will be surprised to know that the popular belief of the best quality with the right price will normally move your customer's hearts. In reality, customers do not always go for the best quality even though the price may be justified.

Ask your customers what level of quality they are looking for and match their requirements with your product or service. Always keep in mind that the customer have the final choice, avoid making presumptions that your "best" is theirs.

Question #4 - What is their underlying value tone?

This is often taken note of by sophisticated needs based sales people. They know that the customers have to meet their own value judgment on products and services and will assist them in matching the right product or service with their budget. An easy way to prevent buyer's remorse is to imagine you in their position and see what pros and cons are for purchasing the product or service offered.

Question #5 - What product features and functions are customers looking for?

The easiest way to find that out is to ask your customers directly. Ask them about the features and functions they need and those they can do without. Ask them on how they are going to use your product or service and find the matching fit. We do not like to pay for things we do not need, so do your customers. The focus should always be on satisfying their needs. When they realise the high ethics that you are operating with, chances are you have a loyal customer that will keep returning and also refer new customers to you.

Question #6 - Their preferred mode for payment?

The very last step of the business transaction is the closing. Even though every part of the sales process may precede smoothly but the transaction still fails because your customer's preferred mode of payment and structure is unavailable. The solution is to offer flexible and accommodation payment modes. Try to focus on making it a pleasant and convenient shopping experience for your customers.

The above points are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to needs based selling. The ideal sales process is always to strive for a win-win situation for your customers, organisation and its people. Everyone ends up benefiting and happy, so do your pockets.

Ben is an entrepreneur and also a operations manager in a corporate training company. He has extensive knowledge in the areas of finance and corporate training. He has also started his own online business dealing in multiple areas of trading in the year 2008. In addition, he takes time off to self-improve continuously in order to keep abreast of the latest developments in the economy where knowing where the market leads, is crucial for the survival of every business.

HOW TO BECOME A MILLIONAIRE- THE STEPS

They are finally out. The steps to become a millionaire are here. You can read them, learn them, know them by heart, apply them in your daily lives and you may soon find out for yourselves how good it is to be one of them.

The good news is that the steps to become a millionaire are available to everyone. Whether you are young or old, or employed or unemployed, or rich or poor, the secrets are available to you. It has been available for decades and yet only a few believed that these could truly let things happen in their lives.

The first step is to have a dream. Do not be afraid to dream a bigger dream, because as they say, you are only as big as your dreams. If you can think it then you can achieve it.

Know yourself, your limitations and abilities. If you are lacking in one aspect you needed to have in order to get to that dream, do something about it. I so much believe in self development. It pays you a lot to learn new skills and equip yourself to be ready for challenges.

Make a plan to overcome that missing part. Learn and find ways to see your dream into the finish line. Research through every resources like this blog site for information/ideas that will help you make a better business plan.

Act on your plan. At least make a start, do it now, plant the seeds of your dream, and keep moving towards it. You must love what you are doing, this is the advice of many successful people. Aim towards excellence. Don't take failure at its face value, use them as a lesson. Develop self-discipline. Never lose sight of the goal, move toward it with persistence.

It may take some years and a lot of hard work but know in your heart that the dream is worth it. Get motivated to be able to fire on in the presence of challenges.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

HOW TO MAKE MONEY READING BOOKS

There are many authors today publishing lot and lots of works online and offline and this provides an opportunity to make money by reading books. Knowing how to get paid to read books will help you to start a new career if you are the type of person that enjoys reading. You can become a book editor, a book reviewer or you can write your own books and market them online. There is a lot of money in the book industry and you can be part of it.


BECOMING A BOOK EDITOR

Apply for a position as a book editor. You can become an editor to read books, reviews or articles online. There are many websites that pay freelancers and other editors to write all or part of books for editing purposes or sometimes just for their opinion.

Although it is beneficial to have some experience in editing, it is not always necessary to get a job as an editor or as a freelance editor.

In most cases you will get a free copy of the book or ebook just for reading it and giving your opinion or edits.



BECOMING BOOK REVIEWER

Apply to become a book reviewer. Book reviewers read books for book companies for various reasons. The company may need someone to read books to see if they are any good. They may need a written review of the book or they may have other requirements for the book reading.

There are many websites on the internet that offer various freelancing work for individuals that want to do various reading and writing tasks for clients and are paid a set fee, not an hourly rate.

I have never heard of anyone getting paid to read emails or forum posts so be careful of scams.

Knowing how to get paid to read books will help you to bring in extra income for your family.


WRITE A BOOK

Write a book and read it to edit it and review it yourself. It is important that you read your own writing and perfect it before trying to market it to others.

There are many ways to make money in the writing industry. You can write online to make money, you can write a book to make money and you can write for others to make money.

You can make money writing a book, so get started today.

You should read everyday to stimulate your brain.

HOW TO BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR EVEN IF YOU WORK FOR SOMEONE ELSE

I'll bet you have known people who are very successful in their work, even if they work for someone else. Maybe the person is a hairdresser working in someone Else's salon, but over time that person has created more following than anyone else in the salon and has a good reputation around town. Maybe the person is an administrative assistant and you notice that the office she manages seems to answer requests faster than other offices in the organization. There is finally a name for this type of person, and the name is entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs thrive and are highly successful in an organization. They like and need the structured system, and they don't want to assume risk. Yet they add value over and above what their job description says. They improve systems, service customers well, or are extremely creative about solving problems within the confines of what the organization will allow.

Many entrepreneurs hone their skills within an organization before going out on their own. I did, and I know hundreds of others who have done the same. The confidence built by working with a structure encourages some entrepreneurs to decide to leave the structure - they become willing to take on the risks themselves. If you are an entrepreneur right now, and you've decided you want to leave the organization and do it yourself, here are three ways to make it work.

1. Start saving at least 10% of your money so that you'll be able to monetize your new business when you go out on your own. In other words, tithe to yourself. Keep your job while you build funds to carry you through the opening months of your soon-to-be business.

2. Develop a "leave the 9 to 5 work plan". Set a date and then start working through the details. Build your plan for your new business, for sure, but also build your exit plan. The two plans should be seamless and supportive of each other.

3. Start an informal advisory board for yourself and your new business. This can include supportive family members, friends, other successful entrepreneurs, or a coach. Share your plans and get feedback.

There are dozens of other ways to help yourself toward becoming an entrepreneur. But these three things are a great start and will give you structure. As an entrepreneur, you are used to structure. Make it and take it with you, and you'll be firmly on the path to success.

Monday, October 19, 2009

How to add Adsense to WordPress Posts

Want to post to a WordPress blog and also want a way to add extra income into your pocket for your efforts. Inserting an Adsense advertisement in your post is fairly easy to do. I will show you how to quickly and easily do this.

  1. tep1

    If you don't have a Google Adsense account, then go to www.google.com/adsense and set up an account. Once your account is active, then you will want to go to the "Get Ads" link. Select Adsense for content, this will create ads relevant to your articles content.

  2. Step2

    Next you want to select "text ads only" from the drop down box. This will allow the fastest page loading speed, extra graphics will show down page loading speed.

  3. Step3

    Next select 468x60 banner, this allow a space for about 2 to 3 ads to be placed in the area below your WordPress post. If you use the wrong size it will page your post run off the right side of the page and could mess up the format of the page. Don't worry you can always remove what you put on there and it will go back the way it was before.

  4. Step4

    Next select what colors you want for the Adsense ad, you can customize all colors in the ad. If you find a scheme that works well for your website, make sure you save the scheme and it will be there for all your Adsense ads.

  5. Step5

    You can click on the "preview this ad" link to see what it will look like.

  6. Step6

    There are other options such as text type and font that you can set, corner styles, I usually leave it as default. Click on "Continue" and it moves on to the next page.

  7. Step7

    The next page will allow you to select a "Channel" this is if you are directing an Adsense ad to a specific domain. You don't have to select a channel to continue, if you don't have a channel you can add one. I create a channel specific to the URL (domain) where the Adsence ad is placed. This is used for generating report, tracking performance of your ads. Select a channel and/or hit continue.

  8. Step8

    The next page creates the ad, it displays the size of the ad and the date it was created.

  9. Step9

    Click on the "generate code" button, this will take you to the next page where the javascript code will be displayed in a box. This code will be inserted at the bottom of your WordPress post, so highlight all the code text in the box and press Ctrl+c to copy it.

  10. Step10

    Open a second tab in your browser and go to your WordPress site, log in and go to your article/post and select "edit", select the HTML tab on the right. This will open your post in HTML format. Place the curser at the bottom of your article, hit Ctrl+V to paste the code at the bottom. Publish and view the page to see if it looks ok, if it looks fine then you are done!

How to Get a Free Domain Name and Web Hosting

are you looking for a free domain name, or perhaps free web hosting?

  1. Step1

    The first step to getting your own domain name, for free, is by doing a search online. Most of the time web hosting providers will throw in a domain name if you buy web hosting(which is TOP companies such as godaddy, bluehost, hostgator, etc). Then there are companies that provide just a domain name, and some that provide you with free hosting and a free sub-domain. And lastly, there are providers that just provide the hosting. Here are some great sites to get you started:

  2. Step2

    http://www.officelive.com/
    http://www.co.cc/
    http://www.weebly.com
    http://www.synthasite.com
    http://www.000webhost.com/
    http://www.godaddy.com

  3. Step3

    Most people argue that by getting a free hosting provider or domain provider you will not get all the full benefits of your website. For instance, there maybe multiple time where your website is down, or the company itself ends up shutting down due to lack of funds. However, it is choosing the right hosting company that makes the difference.

  4. Step4

    Offlive, by microsoft, presents beginning business owners with a chance to be seen online. You get a free domain name for a year and it includes it's own website maker. However, it's not as stylish as creating one yourself or having someone design it for you. But it is a start.

  5. Step5

    Websites like Weebly and synthasite, which is a growing trend now days-offer a small amount of webspace and a sub-domain within their service. However, they also offer you to forward your domain name to their servers. If you have no web design experience and want an easier way to get your site up this is what I would recommend to you.

  6. Step6

    person can have up to 2 domains in their name. If you upgrade you can have up to 100. It's a nice deal and even though they aren't a top level domain name, it's still a domain name and a chance to make the name you want for yourself. Since obviously the growing trend of websites there are hardly any names available now.

  7. Step7

    Lastly, check out 000webhost, they offer 1500mb of disk space and the ability to use multiple domain names. However, you only get two mySQL databases. If you need more than that you'll have to upgrade. The service is alright, and I would definitely recommend them, wait...isn't that what i'm doing right now?

  8. Step8

    I paid the yearly fees to have a domain name, I have also paid the monthly fees to have web hosting. Frankly, if I can get it all for free and still do what I want, then it works for me. But it may not always work for you or the next person that's looking for a domain name and web hosting. I hope you found this article informative, if you know of any other places to get great service for free, leave me a comment.