Category Archives: How To

How To

Tips for a Great .ws Website

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At GDI, we love to hear from our affiliates, whether its questions or feedback, hearing from you helps us offer a better product and experience. One of our new affiliates recently asked us on Twitter, “What are your tips for a great website?” Since this is too good a question not to share the answer to, read on for our GDI specific tips. It should be noted that these tips are for anyone not using a replicated site.

Your Site Should Reflect You

Your website should reflect your message and your business. This doesn’t mean cover the webpage with photos of yourself (though you can if you want to :)), but more so take the time to personalize your site.  You want you page to stand out from all the other sites on the internet, so customize it! Make your page inviting, eye catching and helpful. You can do this by building your site from scratch to make it truly unique or using SiteBuilder of WordPress, both offered by GDI.

Try SiteBuilder

If your .ws site is your first ever website, try using our SiteBuilder. The SiteBuilder has some very easy to use templates to get you started. SiteBuilder templates allow you to personalize them in a number of ways allowing you to add photos, contact forms and more. For a basic website or your very first site, SiteBuilder is the perfect choice.

Try WordPress

To be able to make an even more personalized website, try our WordPress offering. WordPress requires just a bit more website knowledge than SiteBuilder, but offers a ton of options. The benefits of our WordPress offering definitely make up for taking your time to learn a little more about creating a website. With WordPress you can use link your site with social media accounts, add plug-ins and widgets and have access to some great customizable themes. We are also working on a WordPress video tutorial for our affiliates, so stay posted for that if you’re not sure where to start with WordPress.

Make it Easy to Navigate

Your site should be easy to navigate. You don’t want a visitor to come to your page and have no idea where to go to get the information they need. All sites serve different purposes but there are a few universal things each should have: About Us and Contact Us. This way anyone knows where to click to learn more about your company and  where to click to get in touch with you for questions and business inquiries.  Be sure to have a navigation bar somewhere on your page, usually to the left or right or at the top of the page so people can easily access all the pages of your site.

Calls to Action

Finally what are you trying to accomplish with your site? Do you want a visitor to fill out a form? Buy something? Contact you or share their story? Be sure this is clear on your page. You can’t expect results if you aren’t asking for what you want!

How To

It’s Tax Time. Are You Ready?

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Many of you are lucky enough to know Bart Dangerfield as that ever helpful voice from our webinars. To offer even more to our GDI users, Bart was kind enough to share his tax tips.

As April 15th approaches here in the United States, most Americans’ thoughts turn to spring and TAXES! Yes, it’s the time of year everyone dreads. But owning your own business can take some of  the sting out of tax time.

You might be thinking, “But I don’t own a business! I just pay $10 a month to enjoy GDI’s great domain products.” Don’t be fooled. If you can earn money with it, it’s a business. Even if you just consider yourself a casual or even “unsuccessful” GDI Affiliate, you are still entitled to some tax breaks for owning your own business.

The United States is not the only country that uses tax breaks to help stimulate their economy by rewarding entrepreneurial efforts. However, for the purposes of this article, let’s take a quick look at just some of the possible deductions the U.S. allows for people like you to benefit at tax time:

  • Home office
  • Office supplies
  • Your Computer and other equipment
  • Software and subscriptions
  • Mileage for your vehicle
  • Travel, meals, entertainment and gifts
  • Telephone and other utilities (especially your Internet charges)

Of course, this is not intended to be a comprehensive overview of how to prepare your taxes this year. Go to www.irs.gov for detailed information regarding your specific financial situation and deductions that might apply to you. Global Domains International provides this information for your convenience, and not as a guideline. As always, consult a tax professional or financial advisor when considering your options. But at the same time, make sure you get ALL the benefits that are available to anyone who runs their own business, even if it does only cost you $10 a month!

Advice, How To

Be a Good Sponsor and Responsive Upline

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Sometimes we get questions on Facebook and Twitter about how to contact your upline. You can see our previous post on this here. One of the best ways to avoid upline problems is to educate our affiliates on ways to be a good upline resource in the first place, so the education and best practices spread. Read on for a few great tips to be a great upline.

Be available

Don’t go AWOL. Once you have someone secured in your downline, that is not the end of the process. Network Marketing is about building a network. You need to work to maintain relationships and ensure you and your network are successful. If your downline emails, calls or reaches out, it is in your best interest to respond and help them in order to continue to successfully build your downline.

Be open

Aside from just being available, be open about that fact! Tell your downline and your network that you are available and encourage them to reach out to you if needed. You want to establish a level of comfort that ensures everyone in your network  can achieve their full potential.

Offer Help

Try to offer help and guidance even before it is needed. All affiliates experience the same process and tend to share many of the same highs and lows. Everyone, even our most successful affiliates, had to start somewhere. Take the time to share some of the important lessons and experiences that helped to make your GDI business a success. Is there a pitfall that you experienced, but now understand how to avoid? Share the knowledge!

It All Comes Down to Relationships

Success in Network Marketing and with GDI, like many things in life, comes down to your ability to build and maintain relationships. Building a network takes time and effort and a little extra work in the beginning. Establish open lines of communication and relationships with your downline and you will ensure everyone in your network has a chance for success.

What are your tips for being a great sponsor?