Internet Success Recipe

by:
Elizabeth McGee

Thousands of people are attracted to the internet each day in hopes of starting an online business. The internet offers a channel of opportunity for anyone motivated to start a business of their own and the opportunities are almost endless.

For anyone that has created a successful business online or attempted an online business they know, better than anyone, that jumping on the internet, creating a website and trying to make sales does not constitute success. There are some key ingredients that will increase your chances for success.

Honest Sincere Passion

It's really not enough to hate your day job or your boss or your traffic commute. You must have the personal drive to put your talents and expertise to work for you! There must be an inner passion that pushes you to success and gives you the patience to keep on truckin', so to speak and not give up.

Creating your own business means you must be willing to make sacrifices for the greater good. Nothing worthwhile was achieved without time and sacrifice and you must be prepared to recognize that.

A common reason why people end up back at their day jobs giving up the goal of business ownership is that the sacrifice was too great. Starting a business was too much work, took too much time and left too little money for fun. Those things cannot stand in your way. If they do then keep up the day job, it's easier.

Professional Website

To do business on the web you must begin with a website. This is your storefront, it's your introduction to the world. It tells people who you are, what you are about and what you have to offer.

Your website should be simple and make a positive impression. It should be easy to understand and navigate. Use appealing colors and fonts. Don't use a lot of flashy graphics or popups.

Make ordering off your site as simple and easy to understand as possible. Be obvious about all product and shipping costs. Highlight the benefits to your readers and display a call to action.

Compelling Content

Develop content that compels your viewers to buy. Learn to appeal to their emotions. Making more money, saving time, losing weight or making tasks easier all encourage readership and sales. It really doesn't matter what you are selling as long at it can convey how it will help your viewers and is targeting the right audience.

Understand who your readers are and what they would most be interested in reading. Find out what their key interest are and choose content that addresses those interests.

Targeted Audience

You must get your website and sales offers in front of the people most interested in your product or service. Pay per click advertising is the ideal way to reach your target audience. If you do classified advertising select only publications that are associated with your topic. If you sell weight loss products you don't want to advertise in a real estate publication.

Opt-in Email List

It's imperative that you obtain an opt-in email list that you can communicate with on a consistent basis. It's common knowledge that viewers need at least an average of seven exposures to a product before they buy. Getting your product in front of your viewers on a regular basis means increased revenue for you. It also allows you to make special offers, provide useful information and build credibility.

Develop Trust and Credibility

This is key to obtaining sales and repeat visitors. Your viewers must feel that you are trustworthy and know what you are talking about. Product reviews are a great way of developing trust. If you've developed a website for example, write about your experiences and what you recommend. Write reviews on e-books you've read or tools you have used. When doing so be sure to highlight the negatives as well as the positive.

Always include an 'about me' page. Be honest about how your started your business and how you ended up where you are today. Share your feelings and emotions. If you don't recommend something be sure to explain why not.

Offer something free on your site develops trust as well. E-books make great free tools. Offer free coupons if you have them. Create a sense of offering. Express that your website is there to help and educate your readers. Don't ever place emphasis on yourself. Be empathetic to your viewers by putting yourself in their shoes and understand their needs.

Always include a 'privacy policy' page. Your viewers need to be reassured that their privacy is your utmost concern. Don't ever sell or share anyone's email address. If you collect IP addresses explain what you use them for. If you collect email addresses assure your readers that they may opt-out at any time.

Invite your readers to communicate with you by also including your email, your business name, address and phone.

Superb Product Delivery

Nothing turns a visitor away faster than confusion in the ordering process. Keep your order process easy and simple. Be up front about all costs including shipping costs.

If you state a product will be delivered within seven to ten days try to get it to them in five. People love it when you can beat their expectations.

Follow up with a client after delivery. Make sure they've received their product and if there is anything further you can do for them.

Relieving Stress with Exercise... and Losing Body Fat in the

by:
Jamie Clark

Feeling stressed out lately? Don't worry, there is a simple and incredibly effective solution -- one that will help you lose weight in more ways than you might think!

Relieving Stress with Exercise

Research has proven that relieving stress with exercise is one of the best ways to improve your overall health. Regular exercise provides an amazing array of anti-stress benefits to the human body -- including reduced muscle tension, improved cardiovascular functioning, increased blood oxygen levels, and reduced cholesterol and triglyceride levels, just to name a few.

Relieving stress with exercise also, of course, burns calories and helps to reduce body fat. Since most other anti-stress 'remedies' (especially pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, and overeating) cause you to gain weight it's obvious that exercise is the best option.

Control Cortisol, Lose Weight

But, besides burning calories, there's another reason relieving stress with exercise helps you to reduce body fat. Exercise produces chemicals that help to lower cortisol production. Cortisol is a "stress hormone" that has gotten a lot of press lately because many new diet products claim to block it.

While the effectiveness of these products has yet to be proven, there is little doubt that controlling cortisol levels is a very important factor in weight loss and long-term weight control -- not to mention optimal health and fitness. Relieving stress with exercise is an absolutely fool-proof way to lower cortisol in the body.

Elevated cortisol levels are fully or partially responsible for everything from sugar and carb cravings to overeating to low energy levels... and more. Experts also believe that high cortisol production increases the amount of "toxic fat" stored on your body -- this is the abdominal fat that may trigger cardiovascular disease and inflammation-related health problems.

Summary

Relieving stress with exercise is, without a doubt, the best way to deal with your physical and mental tension. Not only will regular exercise reduce stress levels, it will also help you control how much cortisol your body produces. This, in turn, will help you to avoid food cravings, reduce dangerous abdominal fat, and basically feel much better. So, next time you feel stressed out, get up, get out, and start relieving stress with exercise!

Confessions of a Personal Fitness Trainer

As your personal fitness trainer my passion is to teach, coach, understand, push, prod, cajole, investigate, research and apply, over and over… As a ‘Fitness Role Model’…well…I feel vulnerable with weakness, so, in hopes we can all learn, from my own weakness, here goes…My Confession.
Last year I had a number of clients who started stubbornly on the Atkins diet despite my warnings. Immediately I saw almost profound results in their weight loss. I reminded them it was the loss of water weight, and warned of the strain on the kidneys and the high cholesterol risk.
During this time I was mastering my yoga practice as a complete vegan but found that my immune system had been profoundly compromised and I was currently on my third cold for the fall season
Atkins was in the media again because of new study results indicating lowered cholesterol. I went to the Atkins book yet again with a more open mind, and decided to try the diet. I liked the contrarian view point to the current AMA position of the low fat diet, which seemed to be producing a society of increasing obesity. Atkins view of sugar as the culprit making you fat, not fat, made sense and the extra work from all the protein for the kidneys… it’s benign. I wanted to use his diet as a tool to get myself entirely off of any sugar.
I started out on the high protein, low carb aspect of the diet. As I reintroduced the animal proteins into my diet I could feel myself get stronger and the colds, finally stopped. I also saw my muscle bellies start to open and swell again. The cold of winter was not as painful as it had been while on my vegan diet.
I then summoned up the courage to start bringing fats into my diet, including bacon, egg yolks, cream cheese, heavy cream, whipped cream, even bacon rinds. On a daily basis I would marvel at having eaten these “forbidden foods” only to awaken the next day thin, svelte. I couldn’t believe this, result! I was loving eating all these foods so familiar yet banished since …childhood
I was in full swing eating the high fat, high protein, low carb diet at the time when the pictures on my website were taken. www.vitalsignsfitness.com I felt strong, but I had no energy!!! My walks on the beach were lethargic, I had to force myself to go that extra mile. I was thin but I felt like a beached whale. My love affair with Atkins continued a few more months. I followed his prescriptions religiously.
Eventually I had to add more carbs, I needed more energy. By carbs I mean vegetables, salads and whole grains. At this point I gained back the total of two pounds I had lost on Atkins. Body fat went from 16% to 18%, my energy was better. After 7 months I decided it was time to get the blood checked out and to my horror discovered that my cholesterol which had always been around 150 had rocketed up to 300!! Luckily my HDL to LDL ratio was still at a healthy level. Thanks to my forcing myself to exercise, I kept my HDLs high.
I immediately started drinking hot lemon juice with cayenne pepper every morning to clean my blood. I have now thrown away all the high fat foods and have once again, come back full circle to moderation and balance. A balanced diet. It takes a little more discipline but my energy is back and I can now eat the same meals as my husband so dinner preparation is simpler. My weight has not changed since I gradually introduced the carbs. I avoid at all costs the “white foods” flour, sugar, milk. I drink unsweetened soy milk I avoid foods in packages, boxes and bags. I feel a fine layer of fat but that’s okay its winter, I need it, and in the summer, heat always melts it off. I am completely off sugar and alcohol to keep blood sugar low.
Log into www.vitalsignsfitness in the Chat page where a discussion has already begun re: Atkins and other diet plans, add your comments or just read and muse. Or go to the Nutrition Program page and find out how many calories (protein, carbs, fats) you should eat to sustain your current or ideal weight.

Deborah Caruana RN, AAHRFP, NASM, ACE,
www.vitalsignsfitness.com
email deb@vitalsignsfitness.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DEBORAH is a highly respected authority in personal training for overall health and fitness, with more than 22 years of experience and success.

Be Better at Business – And Lose Weight, Too!

by:
John M McKee

Many of the issues and challenges faced by managers and professionals are more similar than not to those of someone trying to lose weight in an effort to improve his or her health and wellness. In business, individuals often secure the services of a success coach like myself to “fix” certain areas of their professional life. The desired fixes typically range from a desire for a promotion and/or a salary increase, to on-the-job performance enhancements, to improving one’s personal productivity, to boosting one’s level of enthusiasm about their job. Having coached literally hundreds of executives on how to improve their professional life, I recently came to the realization that many of the issues and challenges faced by aspiring professionals are more similar than not to those of someone trying to lose weight in an effort to improve his or her health and wellness. In short, both of these groups often seek someone or something that, with minimum effort, expense, and time, can get their situations fixed and on a desirable course for the long term. Like many challenges faced by business people looking to enhance their career path, those with weight-related challenges may also be failing to realize that the weight problem is actually a symptom of other, more deep-seated problems that are occurring elsewhere in their lives. In other words, the obstacles overweight and obese people face may, in fact, not necessarily be food-related at all, just as problems at work may have very little to do with what’s actually occurring on the job. In my practice, BusinessSuccessCoach.net, I use an holistic process to assess all of the elements required to affect our client’s success in business, rather than analyzing what is likely a mere symptom. This exclusive process, known as The Four Windows Method takes into account the whole of an individual -- not just the obvious areas related to the problem at hand. Although created for use in a business context, The Four Windows Method is infinitely adaptable to those attempting to lose weight. With The Four Windows Method, health seekers can work through a series of actions designed to provide a status review of their life using four distinct windows. Unlike other coaching methods that are tactical in nature, your final analysis, and the action plan derived from this assessment, will be strategic, holistic, and all encompassing. When you move on to work toward weight-loss success, there will be No Walls to hold you back. This reasoned and methodical approach of The Four Windows Method will help you to understand where you are, what you want, and how to get there and you’ll be healthier, and happier, as a result."Losing weight rarely relates to simply implementing the ‘right diet’ or the ‘right workout’,” said Raphael Calzadilla, B.A., CPT, ACE and a Certified Personal Trainer. “From my extensive personal and professional health experience, I’ve learned that one must first understand the driving emotional and psychological forces in their life in order to make the required behavioral changes. McKee’s Four Windows Method is one such process. It can help health seekers get on the right emotional track, allowing them to more effectively work toward -- and reach -- their goal." About the Four Windows Method, Susan Burke MS, RD, LD/N, CDE noted, “It’s clear John McKee understands that weight loss encompasses much more than just food modification. His introspective Four Windows Method digs deeper in an attempt to uncover one’s true motivation for overeating, which has resulted in the ‘symptom’ of an overweight or obese condition. McKee’s Method is designed to achieve permanent behavioral change to achieve and maintain a healthy weight for the long term and, as such, it’s an effort that I wholeheartedly endorse.” By applying The Four Windows Process to your weight loss effort, you will surely be well on track toward improved health and wellness