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The Magic of Float
If you've ever received a service today and paid for it in 30 days you've experienced the concept of "float" - the time difference between when you receive a service and when you paid for it. In most cases this time period is a convenience to you as a customer, but in the world of business marketing it can absolutely transform your business. In the last 18 months we've grown our marketing budget at Swapalease.com (the company that owns me) by more than 1000% by simply leveraging the concept of float. The reason we can grow our marketing budget so actively is because of a whole new breed of on-line marketing tools that allow us to actually make money faster than we spend it. And we're not the only ones. Thousands of companies are taking advantage of new on-line advertising models that are driving millions of qualified buyers to their respective sites on a shoestring budget. Let me explain the models and then we'll get back to leveraging the float. Google rocks Yes, they have a $50 billion market cap, but that's not why Google rocks. It's how they got there. Google helped pioneer a concept called "cost per click" (CPC) advertising. Google displays a handful of ads on each of its search results pages. Advertisers only pay for those ads when someone actually clicks on their ad (hence cost per click, get it?). Companies of all sizes have jumped on this incredibly targeted and efficient ad model to drive millions of visitors to their sites, and turn those visitors into cash. The beauty of cost per click is that you can start small (a Google campaign can start at only $5) and grow your budget over time. More importantly, you can use your credit card to pay for the service. At Swapalease we get thousands of qualified visitors per month that we turn into cash. Then we get a bill at the end of the month which we have 30 days to pay. The time period between when we got a paying customer (and collected our fees) and when we actually paid to acquire the customer is our float, and it makes all the difference. Google isn't the only company that provides such a great opportunity. Overture, Kanoodle, and FindWhat have nearly identical services that can drive even more traffic to your site and employ the same model. I would recommend that you leverage all of them. Collectively they can drive a massive amount of business to your Web site virtually overnight. Marketing Shangi-La Cost per click is just one example of the "buy now, pay later" model. An even better example is "cost per acquisition" (CPA). CPA is the panacea of marketing. Instead of paying publishers for the click, you get the click for free. Only when someone actually makes a purchase do you pay the publisher a commission for that sale. Smart marketers will sign up for this business every day of the week. Companies like Commission Junction and Dark Blue serve as proxies to connect interested advertisers to publishers looking to make commission revenues. Once again you have the ability to pay your fees by credit card and create a small float between the time you earn cash and the time you write a check. Your mileage may vary Each of these models, while wonderful, will only work if you have a business model that can turn site traffic into customers in short order. At Swapalease.com we collect fees immediately when customers visit our site and sign up for our service. This allows us to put money into our bank account faster than we pay it out. Ultimately we have the ability to roll the increased profits into each additional month to aggressively grow our marketing budget. Every business model is different and your mileage may vary. Grow baby, Grow You can profitably sustain your business by leveraging these and other on-line models to make money. But just sustaining your business is boring. To really grow your business you'll need to continuously re-invest a portion of the profits each month into your next month's marketing budget. The process works best when you allocate the additional cash into your next month incrementally, reserving a portion of the additional profits for potential mistakes. Beware, though, there is some risk in doing this. Spending too aggressively before you truly understand what works and what doesn't can absolutely sink you. The best approach is to start small, understand what works, and scale accordingly. The good news is there is enough traffic out there to keep you busy for a long time to come. Now just sit back and watch the checks roll in (boy that would be nice, wouldn't it?) - Wil Wil Schroter is a serial entrepreneur, author, and public speaker. Wil has been recognized as U.S. Small Business Person of the Year, twice as the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year (1999 & 2004), and is a member of the Business First Top 40 under forty. Connect directly with Wil at wschroter@yahoo.com. Visit http://www.goBIGnetwork.com.
Latest News:Site: Yahoo! News Search Results for news Myanmar's Suu Kyi to get family letters, news mags (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has managed to wring small concessions from the ruling generals in the form of letters from her family and some international news magazines, her lawyer said on Friday. JCDecaux in talks for News Outdoor Group in Russia (AP via Yahoo! News) French outdoor advertising firm JCDecaux SA said Thursday it is negotiating to buy Russian rival News Outdoor Group from global media company News Corp. News Corp tightens grip on Premiere with new CEO (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Rupert Murdoch tightened his grip on German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere by appointing News Corp executive Mark Williams as CEO in a move to get the company back on track. SEC Looks Into UAL Stock Scare; Implications For Online News? (CBS News) A ton of digits have been devoted to this in other spots but the SEC's decision to investigate takes it to another level. The backstory: a six-year-old news story about UAL declaring bankruptcy made it into the Tribune-owned Sun-Sentinel 's current news flow, was picked up by a Google (NSDQ: GOOG) News bot and, via a reporter for a newsletter, made it onto Bloomberg News. After a lot of buck ... JCDecaux and News Corp. in talks to combine outdoor ad groups (International Herald Tribune) The News Corp. chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, has recently expressed nervousness about investments in Russia, where News Outdoor generated the bulk of its revenue last year. SEC Looks Into UAL Stock Scare; Implications For Online News? (paidContent.org via Yahoo! Finance) A ton of digits have been devoted to this in other spots but the SEC's decision to investigate takes it to another level. The backstory: a six-year-old news story about UAL declaring bankruptcy made it into the Tribune-owned Sun-Sentinel's current news flow, was picked up by a Google News bot and, via a reporter for a newsletter, made it onto Bloomberg News. JCDecaux in talks to buy News Corp. billboard unit (AP via Yahoo! Finance) In a deal that would create the world's largest outdoor advertising company, French conglomerate JCDecaux SA said Thursday that it is in talks to buy Russian rival News Outdoor Group from global media company News Corp. Phila. mayor to announce grim budget news (The Philadelphia Inquirer) The Nutter administration is expected to announce grim budget news today, which is all but certain to lead to significant spending cuts - perhaps as high as 10 percent - in some city departments, according to three sources familiar with the budget. News Corp says Mark Williams interim Premiere CEO (Reuters via Yahoo! News) News Corp. executive Mark Williams has taken over as chief executive of German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere in an interim capacity, News Corp. said after the move led to renewed takeover speculation. News Corp. says Mark Williams interim Premiere CEO (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Mark Williams, a News Corp. executive named late on Wednesday as chief executive of German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere, has taken over in an interim capacity, a News Corp. spokeswoman said on Thursday. Site: news - Google News Phil Schiller bringing the news at Macworld - San Francisco Chronicle
MORE RESOURCES: Site: Yahoo! News Search Results for entrepreneurialism Lone Star Library: Green Mountain founder shares entrepreneurial insights (Fort Worth Business Press) Rural Southerner Sam Wyly came by his self-made captain-of-industry status the hard way, developing a passion for business strategy by playing schoolboy football and observing his parents? natural gift for small-business operations and hard-bargain bartering. S.C.'s brightest complete Business Week (Columbia Star) Approximately 200 high school students from across S.C. have successfully graduated from South Carolina Business Week, presented by the South Carolina Cable Television Association, July 13- 18, at Presbyterian College in Clinton. Wellington West opens Montreal branch (CNW Group via Yahoo! Finance) Wellington West Holdings Inc., a privately held, employee-owned financial services firm, today announced the expansion of its national network with the opening of a Wellington West Capital Inc. full-service retail investment branch in Montreal, Quebec. Ctek Selects Kyocera 300 Module for Z4100 Wireless Router (Centre Daily Times) Kyocera Wireless Corp. (KWC), a leading global manufacturer of wireless handsets, devices and embedded machine-to-machine (M2M) modules, and Ctek, a leading manufacturer of specialized communications solutions for industrial and commercial applications, today announced the selection of the Kyocera 300 Module for Ctek's cost-effective Z4100 Router. The Kyocera 300 Module enables reliable, ... Memphis confident of growth campaign (Memphis Commercial Appeal) One year after the launch of a $64 million economic development campaign, city officials are increasingly optimistic about the impact of MemphisED on the Bluff City. Summer break project: JTCC student lives, learns nonprofit leadership with Pheonix Project (The Petersburg Progress-Index) CHESTER ? Jamie Poniatowski, a Class of 2008 human services major, spent her summer break in Petersburg, participating in the Phoenix Project?s 2008 Nonprofit Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship Program, which transforms committed undergraduate and graduate students into effective social entrepreneurs with the knowledge, skills and connections to succeed in Virginia?s nonprofit sector. Ctek Selects Kyocera 300 Module for Z4100 Wireless Router (Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance) SAN DIEGO & RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif.----Kyocera Wireless Corp. , a leading global manufacturer of wireless handsets, devices and embedded machine-to-machine modules, and Ctek, a leading manufacturer of specialized communications solutions for industrial and commercial applications, today announced the selection of the Kyocera 300 Module for Ctek?s cost-effective Z4100 Router. $1 Million Opus Prize Finalists Announced (PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance) Seattle University and the Opus Prize Foundation today announced three finalists for the $1 million 2008 Opus Prize, one of the world's largest humanitarian service awards. Guided by faith and an entrepreneurial spirit, Marguerite "Maggy" Barankitse, Krishnammal Jagannathan and Michael Woodard are working throughout the world to give people the tools to transform their lives. Scotiabank Online Small Business Contest Last Call (CNW Group via Yahoo! Finance) The chance for Canadian small business owners to win $50,000 in cash prizes is coming to a close. As part of Scotiabank's 'Get Growing to a Million' Campaign, the online challenge has offered small business owners across Canada a chance to win one grand prize of $20,000 and six regional prizes of $5,000. In cinemas this weekend (Guardian Unlimited) RocknRolla | The Duchess | Bangkok Dangerous | Disaster Movie | Sweete Land | El Cantante | Never Apologise | Mera Pind My Home Site: entrepreneurialism - Google News Ohio House Speaker Budish touts regionalism in his first address - WKYC-TV
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