Yes, I admit it - I hate asking for referrals - don’t you? Be honest. Doesn’t your heart start to pump faster and hands start to sweat even thinking about asking a customer for a referral?

If you’re like me, you hate to impose on others. Asking for names of friends or family members almost makes you feel as though you’re selling a multi-level marketing opportunity.

Not to worry. There are many ways to get a continual stream of qualified referrals without having to go through painful process of asking for referrals face-to-face.

The secret to getting referrals without asking for them is to develop referral systems that do asking for you. Here are six innovative systems for getting referrals without asking.

Referral System # 1

Make a list of people / businesses that sell complimentary products and services to your own product or service. If you sell athletic shoes your list might include health clubs, running clubs, basketball teams, or podiatrists. Now create a referral program that pays referral fees for people that are sent to you by your referral partners.

To make this system more effective, give your referral partners customized coupons, tickets, or cards that referral brings with them to your business so that you can correctly track each referral source.

Referral System # 2

Approach charities in your local area to get a list of donors that already give to charity. The United Way is a good place to start. Most United Way donors make advanced pledges or set goals to give a specified amount to United Way.

Now approach executive sponsor of United Way donation drive and make a proposal. Propose that for every referral that is sent from their organization to your business, you will take a percentage of your sale and donate it to United Way (or whatever charity they are affiliated with) in their name.

Referral System # 3

Local churches are always looking for innovative ways to raise money to sustain programs they offer to their members. Most churches would be enthusiastic about opportunity to receive a donation from you or your business.

Simply call up ecclesiastical leader and ask if you can meet with him/her to talk about a potential fundraising activity. Propose that for every referral (church member) they send your way, you will donate a percentage of sales to church. In return, church should agree to promote your business.

This same referral tactic can be done with booster clubs of local sports teams, Boy Scout troops and other organizations looking to raise money.

Referral System # 4

The fourth referral system is very simple. Give your products or services away (or significant discounts on your products or services) in local raffles. In my hometown of Friendswood, Texas local Ford dealer gives away a brand new truck in a 4th of July raffle through local Chamber of Commerce.

If there's one thing that I've learnt so far, it's that nothing beats good copy. You may have found a way to bring in 10,000 visitors a day to your site, but if your copy is lousy, you're just wasting your effort. Web sites are only as good as their copy, so if you want to run a successful website, check and double-check your copy!

Listed below are thirteen tips to better your copy and increase your sales:

1. Use short benefit-focused headlines.

Grab your readers attention from very first line by piquing their curiosity. Ask a question or make a statement that causes a question to be formed in minds of your readers. This will get them to read on as they attempt to satisfy their curiosity. Be creative, or if that fails, be informative.

2. Make your copy short and to-the-point.

Your potential clients love easy-to-digest material, so keep your paragraphs short. Three or four sentences per paragraph are fine, anything more is not.

Check format of page too. Make sure column width of copy is around ten words across. Learn from experts - newspapers publishers have known for years that narrow columns and short paragraphs keep people reading.

3. Make use of lists.

Bullet or numbered lists have to be best things around for copy writers. The human eye naturally gravitates toward a list. A list is akin to an oasis in a desert. People who are inclined to skip over long, wordy sales copy will still look at bullet lists. So use this fact to your advantage by listing killer benefits of your offer.

4. Put yourself in your targeted visitors' shoes.

Ask yourself, "why are they at my site?" People only want two things:

1. free content such as articles or tips about your service or product
2. how you can solve their problem or challenge - top benefits you offer.

5. Aim your copy at your targeted market.

Focus, focus, focus. I dare say that in any venture, be it online or offline, most important factor that determines its success or failure is amount of focus. If you spread yourself out too thin, then you're heading towards failure. The biggest mistake that can be made is not to define target audience before writing copy. When spread-shot promotion tactics are used, focus is lost on too many groups. In end, website loses visitors' attention and loyalty.

Choose one defined audience first and aim your copy at them. Don't worry about other audiences, you can add special links for them later when you become successful.

6. Give your Web visitors a lot of free information.

Everyone is attracted by free stuff, and that will be one of reasons why visitors come to your site. After visiting you five to ten times, they are more likely to buy from you. Include on your website your updating schedule, or put up a email group, so that people can be notified by email whenever there are updates on website.

7. Create useful links.

Instead of highly cliched "Please click here" link, experiment with other more useful-sounding links. Examples can be phrases that describe link's destination, such as "free ebook download on cooking", or "list of top ten products".

8. Keep your language simple.