5 Keys To A Meaningful Mission Statement

Stephen Covey writes, “A personal mission statement is based on habit 2 of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People called Begin with the End in Mind. In ones life, the most effective way to begin with the end in mind is to develop a mission statement that focuses what you want to be in terms of character and what you want to do in reference to contribution of achievements.”  The same is for your business.  Writing a mission statement can be the most important activity an individual can take to truly lead one’s life and business.

Earlier this week, I wrote about “What is your Reputation.”  The article focused on how you think you are rather than protecting your online reputation – that is another conversation.  Now that you have focused on your personal reputation and what you stand for, what about your business?  What does your business stand for? What do you want to accomplish in your business?  How will you know when you have achieved it?

I ran across this banner add  the other day and thought  that it was so powerful in explaining what Magnetic Sponsoring is all about until I had to write about it, and dissect it a little.

In a 27-word mission statement, Magnetic Sponsoring was able to capture the essence of their business and where theey are headed:

Slogan/Moto: Developing Leaders and Empowering Entrepreneurs To Realize And Fulfill Their Highest Potential

Our Mission: Help 100,000 People Make Their First Hundred Dollars in Business, 10,000 People Their Fire Their Boss, 1,000 People Make Six Figures, and Create 100 New Millionaires… By December 31, 2013

Your mission statement becomes your constitution, the solid expression of your vision and values. It becomes the criterion by which you measure everything your business does.

According to Mike Dillard, CEO of Magnetic Sponsoring, LLC, “We gave a lot of thought to who we are as a company and the value we give to our affiliates.  They look to us to help them reach their business potential.  Our mission statement reflects these values to ourselves and to them.”

5 Keys to a Meaningful Mission Statement

• Pass the Mother Test: A mission statement must be a concise paragraph describing what your company does and for whom. Show your mission to your mother, if she does not understand it, start again.
• Self-Igniting: Your mission is for you and your business. It does not have to be an earth moving statement. It can be whatever inspires you.
• Value Alignment: Forget the money. A meaningful mission goes beyond the dollars and cents. If your small business is creative, focus your mission on creativity. Try to be what your core competency is.
• Measurability: A good mission statement should be measurable.  You should easily know if and when your mission has been accomplished.
• Flexibility: A mission statement can guide your company in good times and bad. A meaningful mission can act as a moral and corporate compass.  A good one helps you to make decisions aligning with changing business goals.

Comparing Magnetic Sponsoring Mission Statement to Fortune 500 Missions

When comparing Magnetic Sponsoring’s mission statement to some Fortune 500 companies, Magnetic Sponsoring mission jumps off the page.  Magnetic Sponsoring tells you exactly what they are about, it igniting and aligned to its commitment to its affiliates (values), and it is measurable and flexible.  Lets take a look at other missions.

The Walt Disney Company

The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world.

Nike

To Bring Inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world

Express Scripts

Express Scripts is a company dedicated to making the use of prescription drugs safer and more affordable for plan sponsors and over 50 million members and their families.

Harley-Davidson

We fulfill dreams through the experience of motorcycling, by providing to motorcyclists and to the general public an expanding line of motorcycles and branded products and services in selected market segments.

The Hershey Company

Undisputed Marketplace Leadership

Microsoft

At Microsoft, we work to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential. This is our mission. Everything we do reflects this mission and the values that make it possible

A company’s mission statement is a constant reminder to its employees of why the company exists and what the founders envisioned when they put their fame and fortune at risk to breathe life into their dreams. Woe to the company that loses sight of its mission statement for it has taken the first step on the slippery slope to failure.

Need help writing a mission statement for your business, try these resources:

• Stephen Covey
• Business Plan Pro
• MissionStstements.com
• Inc.

Credit: Small Business eMarketing Coach

I want to be known as the guy who is actually effective at helping people to grow their small businesses.

I was participating in a small business leadership summit last week and the speaker asked us, “What is your reputation?” All of us were thinking about reputation management; that is, managing and protecting our reputations on Facebook, Twitter, and in the Blogosphere.  But the question was more introspective.  The speaker wanted to know what we wanted our reputations to be.  After thinking about it, I answered this way:

I am in a position in my career where I can do a lot to shape my reputation.  I write books, articles and blogs, and give speeches and interviews, all of which allow me to deliver a thoughtful message about the reputation I want for myself.  I’m also clear about what I want my reputation to be.  I want people to think of me as someone who’s extremely effective in helping successful small business owners achieve positive, lasting change in behavior.  I don’t want to be just good in my field.  I want to be one of the best.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  It’s no different than an athletic training for an Olympic gold medal.  It’s ambitious, but not unrealistic.

Of course, I can’t claim that reputation for myself.  That would be meaningless, because anyone can score on a self-assessment.  I can suggest it as my goal, but at the end of the day, I have to earn it though the results.  To be considered one of the best, I don’t have a high margin of error.

Partially because of this goal, many decisions in my career boil down to this question:  Will it make me look smarter, richer, more guru-like, or will it make me more effective.  I always choose what make me more effective.  I am not known as being the smartest person with the most sophisticated theory about helping people change.  I want to be known as the guy who is actually effective at helping people to grow their small businesses.

The reputation that you want for yourself is like a moral compass.  It keeps your head focused when success roles in and when success is take longer to achieve than you want.

Now, what is your reputation?

2011 Should Be A Great Year To Start A Business

Though many small businesses struggle during times of recession, others prosper because of tough times. That’s because certain industries actually fare better when consumer and business confidence are low. Other trends have been born out of this recession as well: Laid-off workers are creating businesses in droves, and government incentives are piling on to encourage entrepreneurship and hiring.

All this adds up to one inescapable fact: The startup landscape has changed. So if you’re thinking about starting your own business in 2011, first know the trends that will affect you along the way.

Low Input Costs The reigning trend of 2010 is most businesses are starting with low input costs, according to data from MyCorporation, an Agoura Hills, Calif., company that helps startups file incorporation and trademark paperwork. This can be partially attributed to laid-off professional workers who incorporate merely to support their freelance work in between jobs. But it can also be attributed to the lack of credit available (or given) to new business owners in a recovering economy. After all, if you can’t get enough financing to buy equipment for a new T-shirt manufacturing company, you may be forced to start a T-shirt logo design company instead. The latter wouldn’t require as much cash at the outset.

Must-Have Products and Services Get in on the industries faring well. Wonder which industries are actually doing well these days? Try alcohol and chocolate. Those products, experts say, are creature comforts that help people get through tough times. Beer, wine and liquor wholesale profits grew 18%, and sales grew 5% in 2010, according to Sageworks. The confectionery industry as a whole grew 3.7% from spring 2009 to spring 2010.

Other industries doing well include repair service, since consumers are spending less on new stuff, and Web-based technology like software and mobile apps for phones. According to a report in Inc. magazine, one venture capital firm set aside $100 million alone to invest in app producers. Keep in mind that if you don’t start a business in a lucrative industry, perhaps you can start a business that caters to one.

Increased Tax Deductions for Startups Take advantage of the bigger startup tax deduction. In 2011, a new tax deduction is available to help spur entrepreneurship and hiring. Previously, startups were only allowed a $5,000 deduction for startup expenses, but the Small Business Jobs Act expanded that to $10,000. “‘Startup expenses’ are defined as costs related to investigating the creation or acquisition of an active trade or business,” says Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation.

Incorporating in a Business-Friendly State Incorporate in … Texas? A big part of starting a business is deciding where to incorporate. And based on data from MyCorporation, Texas is quickly becoming a popular place for startups to incorporate. Why? Sweeney points to its low taxes and smaller government. (The Texas Legislature only meets for 90 days every two years—very rare for a state with such a large population.) While Delaware is usually the top state to incorporate a large business, those “corporate-friendly” policies don’t necessarily apply to small business, Sweeney says. Plus, thanks to its exporting prowess and largely recession-proof energy industry, “Texas has remained stable throughout the recession.”

You are only as good as your reputation.

I have a friend who owns two local coffee shops in a small college town. Recently, he found himself  in an unscrupulous  online smear campaign launched against his company by a new competitor.   As fate would have it,  a couple of  his customers told him about the negative information sprouting up on Twitter and a so-called food blog.

After a little digging, one of Bob’s customers discovered that the Twitter posts and blog posts were coming from the new competitor. Bob was lucky, he found out about the bogus information being posted about his business early enough so no damage was done to his reputation.  But, what if his loyal customers had not mentioned the bogus posts to him?

For small buness owners, the need to protect your reputation is even more true and harder to maintain with the vastness of online social networks. While small business owners can’t afford to ignore social networks, they don’t have to fall prey to identity theft that damages their reputation and business. A host of software and services look to help protect a business’ reputation on the Web; check out which one is best for you business.

ReputationDefender’s MyReputation ReputationDefender’s agents will search for every online reference of you and your business on and report back with a comprehensive monthly report on where your name and business are popping up. According to the company, agents search more than 40 of the biggest social networks as well as all over the Internet. The service costs $14.95 a month, $12.95 a month for a one-year plan and $9.95 a month for a two-year plan. If you want to optimize searches for your name or business you can use the company’s MyEdge service. For $599 a year you get an improved Web presence, search engine optimization, professionally-written biographies and promotion of existing Web content.

KnowEm This Internet service lets you check for the use of your name, brand or product on more than 400 social media Web sites. While identifying where your name is being used online is important, it’s even better to be able to contact each site to have the name released and returned to you—this is where KnowEm comes in handy. According to the company, it has helped to reserve more than 350,000 profiles and reported back to clients instances of more than 25,000 issues of squatting and misrepresentation of a brand. For small businesses the service costs $249 and covers 100 social networks.

Online Reputation Manager If your reputation has already been slammed on the Internet and you are looking to do some damage control you might want to check out Online Reputation Managers. The service starts with an analysis of when, where and how the negative postings were generated. The service identifies who owns or manages the sites or pages hosting the negative content, determines the extent of the damage and figures out what keyword or search phrases bring up the information. The company will create a plan to combat the negative information, which could include deploying a legal team to handle any copy right infringements, pushing positive content up higher in search listings and creating new positive content to counter any negative content. Since the plan is customized for each business you’ll have to contact the company to get a quote.

Submit In Me Facebook and Twitter may dominate the social networking world, but there are numerous other players.  With roughly 150 social networks, a small business owner has to make sure their identity isn’t stolen. Submit In Me can help with that. The company’s Social Media Identity Protection service will sign up for all of the social networks for you. That, according to the company, can prevent someone else, perhaps a competitor, from claiming your identity.  All sign ups are done manually and in three business days you can be a registered user of all 150. The service costs between $145 to $280 depending on the level you choose. For a higher fee, the company will create your profiles on the networks.

Reputation Management Partners Ripoffreport.com lets consumers report incidents when they were scammed or cheated by a company. If your small business lands on the Web site, whether or not it is true, it can follow hunt your online reputation for a long time. Reputation Management Partners works with reputation management companies to get you removed from the Web site. Sure, you could try things on your own like taking legal action against Ripoffreport.com or the person that posted the claim, changing the company name or posting rebuttals, but according to Reputation Management Partners you won’t have to waste the time and money associated with that if you give them a call.

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Excerpts from FOXBusiness

Network marketing was once considered the underworld of the direct marketing community.  But, look at us now!

With the introduction of the Internet and sprawling social media venues, things have changed. No more door-to-door and word-of-mouth selling like Avon and Amway had to do a decade ago.

Now thanks to Facebook, Twitter and other online social sites, network marketing is undergoing a renaissance as companies recognize the value of exclusivity.

“It’s a more efficient way of delivering products,” said Thalia Stamatelos, who runs an Arbonne cosmetics company from her home in Syosset, NY. “It lends itself to exclusivity because it’s not a mass-market product.”

Arbonne, the Swiss skin care, health and wellness company, doesn’t sell its products in stores and doesn’t spend money on advertising or product placement. It sells products through a network of independent consultants. Consumers can only buy products initially through one of those consultants and after the first purchase via the Web.  According to Stamatelos, since Arbonne isn’t spending money on marketing, the company is able to develop products faster than larger companies.

With old-fashion network marketing, a small business would employ a team of consultants to sell its products. The consultants would typically get paid a commission and would hawk the goods at parties, to neighbors and anyone else referred to them.  But thanks to the popularity of online social networks, network marketing just got a whole lot easier.

For small businesses that want to engage in this way of marketing, embracing technology is a key ingredient for success.

“If Facebook were a country it would be the fourth largest,” said Stamatelos. “Social networking and network marketing are analogues.”

Facebook touts it has more than 400 million active users with people spending more than 500 billion minutes per month on the Web site. And it’s not just college students posting status updates and pictures.

In fact, women over 55 are the site’s fastest growing demographic. And given its reach,  it’s not surprising Facebook is becoming a haven for network marketing.

With social networks, small businesses can network with prospective clients fast and easy, said Michael  Stelzner, executive editor of Social Media Examiner.  “Small businesses are achieving amazing success after only a few months with social media,” he said.

Small businesses looking to take advantage of Facebook to sell products should make a tactful approach.

While users are willing to share personal information, they don’t like to be bombarded with self-serving ads disguised as content.

“You have to a walk a fine line between building relationships and not being ‘in your face selling’,” said Stamatelos.  “I try to take the approach of being more informative, offering more information.”

For example: Stamatelos will post articles about chemicals in the environment or the dangers of sunbathing. She noted that while she isn’t doing the hard sell, she is also keeping her private life off the page as well.

For Stamatelos, the approach so far has been working. While it’s not a strong sales avenue yet, Stamatelos is selling products based on her Facebook page.

Stelzner suggests small businesses create a fan page on Facebook, which is a miniature Web site within the online giant. People become fans of the page instead of going to the company’s personal Facebook page. The fan page is where small business can publish tips and periodically offer special discounts.

But Facebook isn’t the only way to use the Internet to grow a network marketing business.

Since your business is only as good as the people selling the products, finding good consultants can be challenging. For Stamatelos, that’s where Craigslist came in.

To build a team of consultants Stamatelos aimed her search at the salon and spa industry. Sure she could have posted “a help wanted ad” on Monster.com or Yahoo.com, but she said Craigslist is a better venue because its users are looking for less traditional jobs.

“I got a ridiculous number of responses. I met a ton of makeup artists, salon owners and hair stylists.”  Using Craigslist enabled her to reach people in the industry that she wouldn’t have met otherwise.

Another way to use the Web for network marketing is to make posts on Twitter or run a blog. Same rules apply: it’s OK to Tweet about a sale or promotion, but don’t Tweet about the greatness of the producing you’re pushing.

When it comes to blogging, keep the content informative and steer clear of the sales pitch. Incorporating video into a blog may also engage visitors.

“The goal is to offer information out there about a topic on health and wellness and offering information on ways to incorporate natural and organic products into your life,” said Stamatelos, noting that if it results in a sale all the more better.

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Article by By Donna Fuscaldo

Published June 18, 2010 | FOXBusiness

Virtual Meetings Can Be Great or Simply Opportunities to Practice Your Multitasking Skills

I recently worked at a large software development company (84,000 employees) and a large aerospace company (150,000 employees).  Both companies are world leaders in their respective industries.    At each one of these companies, I spent about twenty hours a week conducting or attending virtual meetings.  The more I participated in these meetings the better I got.  Technology used included Microsoft Live Meeting and Cisco WebEx.

Virtual meetings have their benefits, but a company that allows its employees to consume mainly virtual meetings does face some unusual dilemmas. One of the most crucial is how to handle meetings. There are advanced tools out there that make online meetings a simple matter. Instead, the real question is how to keep your employees on track.

Employees who don’t see each other on a daily basis may have limited interaction beyond your meetings. That can turn a simple meeting into a time for catching up and sharing information that only one or two people actually need. Keeping a meeting focused can take some effort, but it is not impossible.

Set Agendas and Stick to Them

Just like when you’re meeting in person, setting an agenda and sticking to it is critical for managing a meeting. If you simply schedule a reoccurring meeting and let the conversation wander, accomplishing anything is a miracle. Having a set list of what you need to cover is the first (and most crucial) step to making sure that your employees will be able to stay focused during a meeting.

Many online meeting tools allow you to put together an agenda and share it with your meeting attendees. Some even let you gather input for the agenda. Make use of those tools to create a schedule for the meeting. The faster you can get through what you need to, the less time you’ll have to spend keeping your team on track.

As you set your agenda, remember to set time aside for catching up and general conversation. For a team to function well, the members have to relate to each other. They need some of the idle chit-chat that used to take place around the water cooler, if only to develop the sort of connections that let them trust and depend on each other. Even saying that the official meeting lasts a set amount of time and inviting your team to stick around afterward just to chat can be worthwhile.

Your agenda may also be affected by time zones. If your team is spread over multiple time zones, each member’s relative ability to focus on the meeting can certainly vary. It’s not just a matter of scheduling meetings when everyone would be awake anyhow. It’s a question of whether one of your team members is going to be just as functional when she’s done for the day as soon as the meeting ends.

Getting Everyone Heard

One of the difficulties that comes up in many online meetings is that there are very few cues that you can use to see when someone wants to speak. In a meeting where everyone is physically present, it’s easier for a team member to interject a point in the discussion. With an online or phone-based meeting, however, a person can wait until the end of the meeting to be able to get a word in edgewise. That can lead directly to losing a team member’s attention.

Depending on the tools you have, you may be able to set up some sort of signal whenever someone wants to speak, but even if you don’t have a technological answer to the question, you need to take charge of getting everyone’s opinion or thoughts out into the open. Otherwise, there’s no point to having a meeting; you could just dictate the next steps and move on.

The sense of being unheard during a given meeting can make some of the other issues facing telecommuters worse, as well. For some employees, telecommuting can create a sense of disconnection and it’s only through regular interaction (even online) that the feeling can be reduced. After all, your meetings may be most of the social interaction they get in a given day.

Develop Meeting Leadership

When every meeting is exactly the same, company meetings can quickly turn into the worst part of your day. Changing things up can help keep everyone focused. One of the simplest ways to manage that is have different people lead each meeting. Your employees will each bring different strengths to organizing a meeting, letting you see what works best with your team.

As an added bonus, when your team members have sat through a meeting while trying to keep on track, they’re going to have more sympathy for your agendas and other strategies to manage a meeting. You may see some decided differences after you put your employees in the hot seat.

In order to develop your team’s abilities to lead meetings, you will need to offer some level of guidance. At the lowest level, that can mean an introduction to the management end of the tool you use for meetings. At higher levels, it can include some education on agendas and how to make sure everyone gets heard.

Create Alternative Communication Channels

Because meetings may be among the only opportunities for your team to interact, it’s easier for them to become derailed. But, if you set up other ways that your team can interact, you can help set aside meetings as a way to handle specific information and situations. Encouraging your team to use instant messenger to talk through projects and problems (rather than email, which is a slower process), allows for the one-on-one interactions that may distract your team during meetings.

Furthermore, not all information needs to be shared through a structured meeting. In some cases, keeping your employees on task during a meeting is harder because the way information is being shared isn’t particularly useful. Meetings are ideal when you need to discuss information, not when you need to simply share it. In an office-based situation, meetings make sense as a way to broadcast information throughout the group quickly. But when your employees primarily telecommute, you can’t just tell everyone to meet in the conference room in five minutes — sending a group email is a lot easier.

60 Proven Ways To Increase Your Online Influence

The HubSpot Blog is a forward-thinking blog that I follow every day to stay on top of trends in the online marketing world.  A recent post describes the work of The Influencer Project, a project that brought together top online experts to talk about, in one minute snippets, proven ways to increase influence online.

While some of the advice was obvious, like create valuable content or get on Facebook, what resonated was that these experts – all of whom have influence online, so they do know what they’re talking about – were passionate about their one or two tips.

HubSpot was granted permission from ThoughtLead, the program organizers, to offer their community both the audio file and the complete transcript. You can get the audio file and the complete transcript by following this link.

This list of 60 short sentences will give you the headlines, but you may want to take the additional time and understand why these experts came up with their practical advice. 

1. Stop talking about your products and services and create valuable content.

2. Increase conversion rates on your landing pages by improving your buttons.

3. Build your thought leadership and digital influence through transparency.

4. Demonstrate commitment and increase your digital influence through consistency.

5. Know where you’re going, then make what you say about the people around you.

6. Follow better people.

7. Align yourself with outstanding strategic partners.

8. Make connections online, then meet the person in the real world, offline.

9. Create content that stands for something: ‘Higher purpose content marketing.’

10. Look under the hood of the shiny new technologies coming out.

11. Believe in ‘social objects’ as the way we socialize and share with others.

12. Avoid ‘incestuous blogging’ and look outside your circle.

13. Start talking to people.

14. Think about your narrative strategy because people connect with stories worth telling.

15. Find people who have your audience but not your products and co-create with them.

16. Establish influence either through complete honesty or absolute fakery – not in between.

17. Give your content roots and give it wings.

18. Try Facebook advertising.

19. Develop your online influence by getting offline and meeting people in real life.

20. Get very, very good at filtering and aggregating content.

21. Be early in the news cycles of any conversation of interest, then make context explicit.

22. Increase visibility through web video; the fastest way to get your message out there.

23. Feel passionate about your content and overcome your fears of reaching out.

24. Defy convention where it’s appropriate.

25. Share good content consistently.

26. Let your passion shine to create meaningful relationships and build deep connections.

27. Learn how to talk more about other people.

28. Get on Facebook, get on Faceboook now, and use it for your business.

29. Make people around you more successful than you are, and share stories from the heart.

30. Talk about what you know because content is always king.

31. Make something worth talking about.

32. Get your self properly interviewed.

33. Repeat your tweets.

34. Get more influence online by moving offline.

35. Really understand your audience, then build things that really help them.

36. Master one niche, own that niche, then use webinar marketing to promote your brand.

37. Think about what gifts and expertise you have that you can leverage to help others.

38. Map a strategy for integrating social media with other tactics.

39. Change from thinking about my influence to our influence.

40. Get active in other people’s communities.

41. Build ‘digital dimensionality’ by showing your many different sides.

42. Listen to the conversations taking place around you, then start to engage.

43. Network with other influencers and make them aware of your consistent value.

44. Think about the authenticity, consistency, and depth of your voice and story

45. Be willing to shake up your world.

46. Learn to be a storyteller, understand the psychology of people, create quality content.

47. Share ideas liberally and get increased accountability from the digital community.

48. Establish your business model before you attempt to become influential online.

49. Be consistent, connect the practical with the profound, and listen for the silence.

50. Find a unique niche you can own, focus on it and become known for that.

51. Find out what social network your customers are using and be there for them.

52. Build a community of readers by figuring out ways to get people talking.

53. Make friends along the way by helping others achieve their goals.

54. Think about social media as strategy to enhance your existing marketing goals.

55. Be systematic in establishing relationships with those on the same business path.

56. Become an advocate for gifted up and comers as they enter social media.

57. Start the media arm of your company that educates, inspires and entertains.

58. Give more than you get and build trust and relationships over time.

59. Take a look at what you have that others can’t do and use it to get where you need to go.

60. Figure out your value, identify influential individuals and connect to them directly.

Would you like to listen to the full details from each speaker?  We’ve set up the archived audio plus a transcript of the entire event for your enjoyment here.

Building your home business can truly be a costly one.  Each time you turn around you seem to spend every dollar you have on advertising and not getting ahead in your business.

It basically will nickel and dime you to death.

You really can’t get ahead in your business if you have to spend a ton on advertising, especially when you are first starting out.

Wouldn’t it be nice if someone could show you basically step by step how you can build your home business without spending a ton of money while doing it?

Well, there is some good news.

I recently came across something that I think will really help your business as it has mine.

It is a videos series by a guy named Mike Dillard called “Building On A Budget”.

In these videos Mike shows you how to build any home business for $500 or less.

I took these free videos and purchased his ridiculously low priced book, and within two weeks of applying the techniques he teaches and am now getting as many as 10 new qualified prospects per day.

The best part is that I did not spend much money while doing it.

Now I have the tools to grow my business without getting nickel and dimed to death.

You can get free access to these videos by going here…

http://E2H2.buildingonabudget.com
(copy and paste the link into your browser)

Enjoy your new found wealth,

Emerson

The goal for most websites is to “convert” visitors; that is, you ask your visitors to do something and they do it.  This is referred to as a conversion.  A conversion happens when your visitors buy your products, order your services, make donations to your cause, pledge to vote for you, join your organization, and so on because you asked them to do so.

According to Tripwire Magazine, “If your web site front page or landing pages do not convert (visitors take action before leaving the page) you may have lost the money you spent on advertising and the opportunity to get a new customer on board.”  

Here are 10 tips for creating high conversion website front pages:

• Communicate directly to a target market
• Have a simple and powerful statement
• Clearly identify a problem and the benefits of resolving it
• Communicate the solution to the problem effectively
• Be believable
• Do not over sale
• Use video bits
• Use large type
• Select well picked words and images
• Locate action buttons to initiate action

Check out 20 Excellent Web Site Front Pages Designed for High Conversion  for examples of high conversion website front pages.  Here is an example of a political website that uses all of the techniques above and has a high conversion rate.

Salt Lake County Clerk