strategic internet marketing

A Hard Lesson Learned ....

2009-06-25T06:30:00.001-07:00

Are you like me? I like to handle things on my own so I don't even THINK about incorporating help with anything I am working on ... especially my business as a whole.

Well, I learned something new recently. It was a HORRIBLE experience that actually turned out for the better. Let me tell you my story:

I have a team of about 2000 associates. Since all my sites are hosted at Host4Profit except for the site that their websites are hosted on, I decided to transfer everything over. Well, I have transferred many sites before so I knew how it worked. I knew I would get access to Host4Profit before transferring with my registrar and that all I had to do was upload everything over to the new host while my old host was still active. This would make a seamless transfer. No one would ever know anything happened ...

To make a long story short, it didn't turn out to be as seamless as I hoped and things were a little messed up for about a day. Needless to say, I received TONS of emails!

What happened?!

Where did you go?!

Give me my money back!

Hello? Are you there?

Well, I couldn't ANSWER these emails because I was busy getting the transfer problem fixed. This caused most of them to email me a SECOND time, therefore doubling the amount of emails sitting in my email box! Stress was building as I worked to get the problem fixed ....

After the problem was finally resolved, I sent an update letting everyone know what happened. I got back to any emails that I felt needed answering ... this whole thing took almost 18 hours of my time and NO SLEEP for me!

The stress and the fact that I had no sleep took it's toll on me. When I got some really rude emails from some angry customers and associates, I didn't take my own advice and let it sit until I calmed down. You know what I did instead? I gave refunds to all of them! I didn't even want to deal with it ... as a result, I refunded over $1000 in sales.

I know, I know ... you're asking yourself, How could that be a good thing? Well, it made me get out of my bull stubborn I'll handle it all attitude and incorporate some much needed help. Now I have someone to answer those emails, someone to answer those calls, and various other things. What a RELIEF! Why didn't I do it sooner?! :)

If you answered Yes to my first question above, heed my advice. Take off those bull horns and find a couple of people that you trust to help with some of your dauntless duties. And if your business is not big enough yet to incorporate help and you're handling it just fine ... don't forget this advice when it grows right before your very eyes ----

About The Author

Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com

FREE Report: Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful) Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your BusinessInto A Tower of Profits! ==>> http://madmarketer.com/diane

The Lord Is My Provider

2009-06-24T14:35:00.001-07:00

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. Psalm 23:1-3

Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. Psalm 103:1-5
For those who trust in the LORD He is the all sufficient One, including their provider and healer. In Psalm 23 we find the seven names of God:
1.JEHOVAH-RA
2.JEHOVAH-JIREH
3.JEHOVAH-SHALOM
4.JEHOVAH- TSIDKNELL
5.JEHOVAH-NISSI
6.JEHOVAH-RAPHEGA
7.JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH
In verse we have The Lord is My Shepherd- SHEPHERD-JEHOVAH-RA (Jehovah the Shepherd). If the Lord is our shepherd, then we own this Psalm 23 as ours. And as our LORD He forgives all our iniquities, heals all our diseases, redeems our life from destruction, crowns us with lovingkindness and tender mercies, and satisfies our mouth with good things, so that our youth is renewed like the eagle's. When the Lord is our Shepherd, we don't lack in anything. HE is our Provider - JEHOVAH-JIREH. God's word is true:
Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham! So he said, Here I am. And He said, Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me. Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, In the Mount of The LORD it shall be provided. Genesis 22:9-14
Whatever we need God will provide. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? We shall not want JEHOVAH-JIREH (JEHOVAH is our Provider). When we know the Lord as our 'Shepherd' He will be our provider, all sufficient-one. Therefore, we shall not lack or want anything because nothing is impossible with God
And because JEHOVAH- SHALOM, The-LORD-Is-Peace, He makes us to lie down in green pastures; He leads us beside the still waters. The sheep are very happy. Lying down in Green pastures and still waters (not turbulent waters) all speak of peaceful conditions. God's word tells us that Isreal was in turbulent condition. The Midianites surrounded them. At that time, they cried. God gave a deliverer called 'GIDEON'. The Word of God records:
Then the LORD said to him, Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die. So Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it The-LORD-Is-Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. Judges 6:23-24
'Behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: 'In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David A Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, And Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.' Jeremiah 33:14-16
The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word saved as:
Save v. saved, saving, saves. --tr. 1.a. To rescue from harm, danger, or loss. b. To set free from the consequences of sin; redeem. 2. To keep in a safe condition; safeguard. 3. To prevent the waste or loss of; conserve.
Yes, Jesus Christ is our Salvation and He rescues us from harm, danger or loss, He keeps us in a safte condition and prevents the waste or loss of things for us as we abide under the shadow of the Almighty.God's word is true:
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust. Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. Psalm 91:1-4
No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation. Psalm 91:10-16
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESSJEHOVAH-TSIDKENILL. Hence He restores my soul; He leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. He delivers us and honor us and satisfies us with long life and shows us His salvation.
And then we have JEHOVAH- NISSI - The-LORD-Is-My-Banner or God My Standard of Victory.
Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Then the LORD said to Moses, Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-LORD-Is-My-Banner; Exodus 17:8-15
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4
The Amalekites came against the Israelites after they crossed the Red sea. But when Moses went up the Mountain Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands Joshua defeated the Amalekite with the edge of the sword. As we pray in the Spirit and stand on the word of God, Our Lord who suffered on the cross and his hands were lifted up with two nails, we will defeat Satan through our Heavenly Joshua, even through our Lord the HOLY SPIRIT for the LORD Is Our Banner our Victory. His word is unchanging:
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith. 1 John 5:4
And because of His anointing we shall know JEHOVAH- RAPHEGA - The Lord the healer. He turns the bitterness of life into sweetnessGod's word is true:
Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them. And there He tested them, and said, If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you. Exodus 15:26
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Psalm 23:5
Yes the Lord is our healer of all things that the enemies of life bring upon us be it physical sickness, broken hearts, inner hurts or disappointments. God's word is true:
When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses. Matthew 8:16-17
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever. Psalm 23: 5
All the way around shall be eighteen thousand cubits; and the name of the city from that day shall be: THE LORD Is THERE. Ezekiel 48:35
The Lord will be with us forever. He is a very present help in time of trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. For there is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn (Psalm 46:1-5).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Walter Kambulow is an engineer, an entrepreneur and executive who lives in Canada. He is married to Sandy who is a school teacher and they have two children Lorraine who is a graduate engineer and David who is studying engineering.

Get Rid of Unwanted White Box with the help of CorelDraw

2009-06-23T22:30:00.001-07:00

Background is always there because the bitmaps are pixel-based files. This is also the reason why it is quite tricky to remove them. However, no matter how tricky it is to others you can simplify it with CorelDraw.

Start by importing your bitmap into CorelDraw. Press Alt+F, I) and deselect it immediately so that you will not activate the Auto-Trace tool with the subsequent step. Using the Bezier tool, start creating a Powerclip Container for your image. At this point, you need not worry about accuracy because you can always go back at a future time. With the Node Edit rollup and your pointer, try to reshape the Container. Even if your bitmap's background is not adjacent, you can still Powerclip it by combining several shapes into one Container.

To create a simulated transparent background from a Mask that encloses the part of your image that you want to keep, you can also use Photo-Paint. Save As an EPS file, and Import it into Draw using the Postscript EPS filter. It will be imported into Draw as a curve with a full-color bitmap fill, which means that if you try to resize it, you'll get a tiled fill. Select the object and open the Fill rollup to avoid tiling. Click on Update From and select the object again. Click on Edit and enable Scale Pattern With Object, and click Apply.

With the bitmap selected, open the Bitmap Color Mask rollup and click on the Eyedropper tool. Use the Eyedropper to select the colors from your image to be concealed. Use the slider to adjust the Tolerance for similarly colored pixels. Because all pixels of a particular color or range will be concealed by bitmap Color Mask, you can first use Photo-Paint to fill those pixels with a distinct color and then choose it with the Bitmap Color Mask Eyedropper. Bear in mind that the Bitmap Color Mask does not work with B/W bitmaps, although you can still dispense foreground and background color with the Fill and Outline tools.

Although you could create objects and layers in earlier versions of Photo-Paint, and even preserve them with the CPT format, now you can import a layered CPT or PSD file for that matter into CorelDraw 7/8 and Ungroup to edit the layers. If you don't like the white background in your bitmap, just hit the Delete key- that easy!

CorelDraw 7/8 also includes much of Photo-Paint's functionality right inside the Draw module. Create your artwork, and from the Bitmap menu select Convert to Bitmap). Choose your color depth and resolution and check Transparent Background. If you are planning to use some of the Effects filters included in Draw 7's in-place bitmap editing, you should enclose your objects inside a no fill, no outline box to make an interface of workspace for the Effect. Draw 8 has an Auto-Inflate Bitmap option.

With CorelDraw and Photo-Paint 6, you will have an improved bitmap handling. It's like magic. You can import bitmap into Draw and watch the background and unwanted colors vanish. With CorelDraw, you can hide everything in its invisibility cloak!

Additional Information about the article can be found at http://www.fullcolorprintingcompany.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I love reading. Give me a book and I'll finish it in one sitting. Reading is the chance to be transported to a different world and so is writing.

Affiliate Commission Stolen From Under My Nose!

2009-06-23T06:30:00.001-07:00

Some people doubt that commission stealing is a
problem.

It is.

Clickbank have taken steps to plug the leaks in their
system according to Allan Gardyne's latest newsletter.

If you're an affiliate and not subscribed to Allan's
newsletter, you're missing the best newsletter in the
field...it's free... http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/

I'm glad ClickBank are moving in the right direction
because I had a commission deliberately stolen from
right under my nose!

How do I know?

Easy.

I'm the ONLY affiliate for a product I endorsed
recently.

But, when I sent my announcement, a sale appeared from
a SECOND affiliate username.

The person had changed my affiliate link to their own
so that they could pocket the commission I was due.

That's bad karma folks.

Even if stealing commissions was the easiest thing in
the world to do, it still doesn't make it right.

About the Author

Internet home business opportunity advice and help from
someone who's been online since 1997.... Neil Shearing of
http://www.scamfreezone.com

Adsense 7 keys to empire?

2009-06-22T14:35:00.001-07:00

Copyright 2005 Richard Keir

There's a lot of buzz around about how you can make a quick and easy fortune using this AdSense course or that tool or this book.

And they show you their incomes from AdSense too (though not necessarily THIS month). Now, is it just me or is something a little odd in all this?

Say, I'm making $5000 - no make that $15,276 a month from AdSense on my sites. And now I'm going to sell all my secrets on how to do that for $67 or $97 or whatever.

So what happened, did I get all bored with my filthy riches and decide to become a philanthropist and sell stuff that makes me 15K a month for a pittance? Or is it something else?

Am I saying it's impossible? Certainly not. I know people who make that more.

But a little reality. Those people don't have 5 or 6 or 50 sites. They have maybe 500 or 3000 or more. Few sites make 20 or more a day. Very few. Average income is probably less than a dollar a day. So with 500 sites at a dollar a day, you've got your 15K a month.

Now the domain names cost you maybe $3500 to $4500. Then you need hosting and somehow you've got to build the sites and get traffic to them. There are excellent tools but the ones that will let you do this kind of thing in a reasonably short time are also very (very) expensive.

And you are continually dealing with sites that don't get indexed or get de-indexed or even get banned. Traffic today, gone tomorrow. Plus, if you're not real careful with those tools you may get an unpleasant letter from Google about a DMCA copyright infringement which could cost you your AdSense account.

You can make money, you can build an empire. But it isn't easy or quick no matter what you hear. And it really isn't a business. It's not a long run proposition, it's not stable. You need to keep creating more sites as older ones fail - or you need to be smart and use those AdSense revenues to build an enduring business.

You put up with this down to here, so here are the real 7 secret keys to AdSense.

1. The best performing AdSense type is the large rectangle. This has been tested over and over.

2. The best colors are blue for the link - surfers know that blue means click me. And darkish almost black and grey for the text and url. No borders. The same background as your page. Will it merge into your content? No, that's bogus. There are maybe 4 surfers in this galaxy who can't tell a Google ad when they see one. They are not going to believe it's part of the text. Wake up, OK?

3. Another format which is being reported to more or less work is the full wide banner type layout with text ads and images directly above the links. Try it and see if it works for you. Maybe it's a fad.

4. Keywords and related content are critical if you want targeted ads. If you want high paying clicks you need to target the costly keywords AND have content that supports the keywords.

5. You need traffic interested in the ads. Which means your traffic generation techniques have to be targeted not scattershot. You might hear that 1% or 1.5% clickthrough rate is OK and 3% is good. Nonsense. Really successful people get CTRs that are often well above 30%. Even with modest efforts you should be getting an average 6 to 15% CTR (per ad impression, not pages).

6. You have to track what you're doing and you have to test variations in ad layout, placement, color and related content to optimize your income. No one can tell you how to do it except the traffic coming to your site. If you don't test and track, you're flying blind.

7. You need to keep building new sites.

You are now a member of the AdSense Illuminati. Quite possibly you already knew all that. So why are you looking for something else? Really. This is all you need to start doing it.

Probably any course or book can help you if that's what it takes to get you moving and doing. Ultimately, no one can really show you exactly how to do it. You're going to have to learn the ropes and put in the time.

Like everything in life - the greatest traffic generator, the ultimate course or the super MLM opportunity, if it sounds too good to be true, then it is. There's no magic bullet, no ultimate secret to buy. There's no easy, painless, work free, certain road to riches (except, maybe, inheriting it and that can be very hard on the heirs).

Whatever you do on the net, do it wide awake and with your brain actually functioning. The final un-numbered key is that a technique, a shortcut, an idea that will make what you do easier, faster, or more profitable - one single tiny thing - is worth more than any book or course costs. One useable idea and you've gotten a great deal. If you learned something you didn't know or had forgotten, then it's worth much more than you paid. There may not be any magic solution out there, but there are useful concepts, techniques and ideas. You just have to see them for what they are, and then get busy and really use them.

About the Author

Richard writes, teaches, trains and consults on business and professional presentations and eCommerce related matters. For more information on eCommerce sites and eCommerce site building visit http://www.building-ecommerce-websites.com - you can find more articles at http://www.building-ecommerce-websites.com/articles.

A Baker's Dozen

2009-06-21T22:35:00.001-07:00

A Baker's Dozen
Copyright Darlene Styers 2003

How many times have you been told The Money Is In The
List? Let's talk a bit deeper today and discover just how
to build a list. It goes without saying that the larger the
list, the more potential. Everyone wants their list to grow
as quickly as possible. But even more important than
subscribing is retention of your subscribers. And perhaps
the most challenging. Let's discuss 13 (a Baker's dozen)
ways to maintain your list.

ONE: Place a Subscription Form on every page of your site.
It does not have to cost an arm and a leg to have a website.
The total cost involved in the site we use is $6 per month
including hosting. No HTML knowledge is required. If you
can type you can build a site. This is probably one of the
most important things you will do.

TWO: How do you feel about the subscription forms that ask
for your life history? Actually all you need is their email
address so don't ask for more. Do you always give your true
name when filling out one of those long subscription forms?

THREE: Your Welcome Letter as well as your Subscribe page
should give lots of information about your publication.
How often do you publish? Just what's in this subscription
for the reader?

FOUR: Do you offer free advertisements or subscriber
bonuses? Tell them about it. You may want to, at least,
offer advertisements for new subscribers. However, there
are many who are simply looking for free advertisements and
nothing else. You never know when someone interested only
in free advertisements may just become interested in your
Newsletter. Be sure to make it obvious there is no cost
involved in subscribing to your list, and that their
information will never be shared with others.

FIVE: Search for websites that invite Link Exchanges. If
you have your link on a dozen websites and you gain only one
per week from each link, this could bring you as many as
600 subscribers per year. Link Exchange pages also require
that you place their link on your site.

SIX: If you are to retain your subscribers, content of the
Newsletter is important. Make it interesting, informative
and perhaps even entertaining. There are many Article
Directories that provide free content for your newsletter.
HYPE is a big turn off so be careful about sounding
unreasonable. Helpful tips make the publication
interesting. Inspirational Quotes can be motivational.

SEVEN: Suggest to your readers that they pass along your
Newsletter to others. Include your subscribe address in
every Edition of your Newsletter.

EIGHT: You may want to consider advertising your Newsletter
in other ezines. From $10 to $20 per solo ad in reputable
Newsletters can usually gain you several subscribers.

NINE: Ad Coops are an excellent way to gain new subscribers
if you are willing to publish their ads. A few coops will
enter the subscribers automatically into your list if you
are using an autoresponder that permits. The retention
rate can be rather satisfying if your Newsletter is interesting.

TEN: Writing Articles and passing them along to other
publishers can create a viral effect for you. There are
many directories just for this purpose. You might choose to
use a software program that automatically submits to
directories.

ELEVEN: Submit your Newsletter to Directories. Many search
the directories for just the Newsletter that pleases them.
This is an excellent source of new subscribers.

TWELVE: Are you using a Signature Link? Every email you
send out can have a Signature Link to your Subscriber
Address.

THIRTEEN: Watch for websites that include Testimonials.
And submit your testimonial. Let's say you have your
testimonial on 10 websites and you receive 1 subscriber per
week from each testimonial. That's 520 new subscribers per
year from this source only.

One of the enjoyable parts of publishing is finding new ways
to maintain subscribers. HAVE FUN!
===============================================
Darlene Styers is Publisher of iNetProfitz Marketing
Newsletter. You may subscribe or contact Darlene
http://www.inetprofitz.net If you have questions regarding
this article, Darlene will be happy to hear from you.
Darlene will also be happy to assist you if you are ready to
publish a Newsletter.
=============================================

About the Author

Darlene Styers is the Publisher of iNetProfitz Marketing Newsletter. She helps thousands of SERIOUS Marketers fulfil their dreams. http://www.inetprofitz.net
mailto:inetprofitz@yahoo.com

The Internet Adrenaline Rush

2009-06-21T06:35:00.001-07:00

So you've researched the market you've decided to get into on the net, you've done your
homework and you know their's a demand for your product and not a whole lot of sites to
compete with. Now your excited about the possibilities you may face. You've bought
your domain name and you have it hosted. You've submitted your site to all the major
search engines, directories, you've even implemented a linking strategy to add to your
marketing arsenal. Over the next couple of weeks you pay close attention to your
webstats, and money allowing you've bought a couple of marketing ebooks and started
testing different strategies. Some worked, some didn't. You notice your averaging 10-20
unique visitors per day, but nothing too write home about. You've done what you think
is a good job on your site, not too heavy on javascript or flash, mostly rich in useful text
content, pretty well search engine friendly. But still no major traffic to get your heart
pumping. You scratch your head in bewilderment wondering what your doing wrong.
Your thinking are my expectations to high? The answer is no. It's not that your
expectations are too high, what you have too do is come out of your shell like I finally
did. Bare down and start writing articles! I finally did this just the other day and went
from 15-20 unique visitors a day to (last count) was 103 unique visitors and 321
pageviews plus one affiliate sale! How did I feel? I was happily nervous, proud, and had
one of the best adrenaline rushes I've ever experienced! If a newbie like myself can do it
so can you. The skies the limit, just use your imagination. All the best of luck to you.

About the Author

Owner of The Ebook King
www.theebookking.com
Freelance writer covering the hottest trends on the internet including travelling topics, health topics and much more. Runs an ezine called The Ebook King Chronicles.

11 Ways to Promote Your Blog

2009-06-20T14:35:00.001-07:00

1. Ping weblogs.com and other search engines. When you ping a blog, you are telling the search engine that you have updated your blog content and that your listing should be refreshed. Weblogs.com is a blog update notification service that many individuals and services use to track blog changes. Pinging your blogs to the search engines is the fastest way to get the search engine robots to visit your blog. Also, many people browse these sites to find something new.

2. Submit your blog address to blog search sites and directories. You can submit your blog's url to websites such as Technorati, Daypop, Blogdex and Popdex. For a complete list of websites where you can submit your url, go to www.guidetorss.com

3. If you have some cash you can promote your blog using pay per click search engines such as Yahoo Search and Google Adwords.

4. Set your blog to display RSS feeds and submit your blog's RSS feed to the major RSS feed directories online. A good place to start is www.guidetorss.com provides a list of the top RSS directories.

5. Put your blog URL in your email signature. If you're a regular at any online discussion forum, you can also add your url to your signature line at the bottom of each message you post.

6. Install a blogroll. A blogroll is a collection of links to other weblogs. Services such as Technorati spider your links to tell who's linking to you and who you're linking to. If you show up on someone's Technorati link list for their site they're likely to visit your site to see what you said, increasing your exposure. Blog owners can also visit your site to check it out if you show up on their referral logs.

7. Be an active commenter. Try to leave comments on the blogs that you regularly visit. Most comment systems also provide a way for you to leave a link back to your blog which begs a visit at the very least.

8. If you plan to have anything printed up, put your blog's web address on it. You can print your blog URL on business cards, stickers, leaflets, etc.

9. Take advantage of blog software features that help to promote your Blog. For example, if you're using Blogger, you can do this by turning on: Email This Post, Post Pages Site feed and the Blogger Navbar. These features will help attract new visitors to your blog.

10. Exchange Links with other Bloggers or blog owners. This is another effective strategy for generating targeted traffic to your blog for free. It involves contacting other blog owners for a possible link exchange partnership. All you have to do is locate blogs that are related to yours and contact the webmaster to swap links.

11. Write articles or free reports for other webmasters to publish and put your blog url in the byline. The 'byline' is the short paragraph that goes at the bottom of each article and describes who the author is and what they do. If you write good content, your articles will be published by other webmasters and many readers who like your article will go on to visit your blog.

About the Author

Copyright 2005. Chileshe Mwape writes for Debt Consolidation Loans UK: http://www.best-debt-consolidation-loan.co.uk/. Visit our site to consolidate debts and apply for a loan online. This article may be reprinted as long as all the above links are active and clickable.

15 Reasons To Write An Ebook And Then Give It Away

2009-06-19T22:35:00.001-07:00

1. People will visit your web site to get the free valuable

information.

2. Advertise your products or services in the e-book.

3. You will become known as an expert on the subject

of the e-book.

4. Offer the e-book as a free bonus for purchasing one of

your products or services.

5. Allow other people give away the e-book to increase

visitors to your web site.

6. Gain new leads by having people sign up and give their

contact information before they can download your e-book.

7. The word FREE is the most appealing word on the

internet.

8. Conduct market research asking people to fill out a

survey before getting the e-book.

9. Make money selling advertising space in the e-book.

10. Give away the e-book as a special gift to your current

customers letting them know you appreciate their business.

11. Gain free advertising by submitting the e-book on

freebie sites.

12. Make money selling the reprint rights to people who

would like to sell the e-book.

13. Make money cross promoting the e-book as a free

bonus with other people's products or services.

14. Increase subscribers to your e-zine by giving away the

e-book as an incentive to subscribe.

15. Give away the e-book to people that join your affiliate

program.

E. D. Zuck is the owner and operator of 10 Dollar Specials - Your Source For Quality Software & Ebooks At Discounted Prices, as well as captez.com - A Unique Source For Web Related Content, Software, and Ebooks.

7 Reasons Why You Should Start with Affiliate Program

2009-06-19T06:35:00.001-07:00

There are thousands of business opportunities online. Most of
them require some capital to start with. Not affiliate programs!

Here are 7 reasons why you should consider joining an affiliate
program as your home based business.

1. Joining an affiliate program requires no outlay of capital.
That's right, none! You can join an affiliate program for free
and start promoting the product immediately.

2. The internet marketing tools are already provided for you.
A 'top' affiliate program will supply you with lots of
affiliate marketing tools that are 'ready to go'. You just
copy and paste and put your affiliate code in. Then you start
selling.

3. You do not need a product. It takes a LOT of time to develop
your own product to sell online. With affiliate programs, the
product is already there. Someone else spent all the time
developing it so you do not have to.

4. Affiliate statistics are already provided as part of joining
an affiliate program. You do not have to go out and buy
expensive software to track your sales because the product
owner is doing that for you. You don't even have to pay for it,
it's free!

5. You do not have any 'time lag'. With most businesses it
takes a certain amount of time in the 'start up' phase. With
affiliate programs there is no such thing. Once you join you
can start selling.

6. You do not have to worry about sales administration and
technical support. The product owner takes care of the sales
process and all the after sales service. All you have to worry
about is receiving your affiliate check!

7. You do not have to worry about direct contact with the
customer. In an affiliate program you are a re-seller so if the
customer has a complaint they contact the product owner,
not you.

Affiliate programs are simple to join, easy to start promoting
and best of all they have no downside. If one affiliate program
does not work out, you can leave and join a different one.

About the Author

David McKenzie is offering a Free Email Course
5 Tips to Being Successful with Affiliate Programs
==> http://www.1sthomebasedbusiness.com
Click now for your FREE course!

Affiliate Marketing Techniques: Scatter Gun or Shot Gun

2009-06-18T14:35:00.001-07:00

Affiliate marketing question - Should you join every affiliate
program you can find or just a few?

There are many thousands of affiliate programs on the net that
you can join. Every man and his dog is running one. But how do
you decide which ones to join?

There are two trains of thought in this area. First you can take
the scatter gun approach, which is quite popular on the net, and
join as many programs as possible. This ensures that at least
SOME of them will pay off. Well, that's the theory.

The other alternative is to take the shot gun approach. Join
some leading affiliate programs in just a few areas and put more
effort into each one. Do some affiliate marketing research by
reading as many articles on the subject as possible. This way
you can narrow down your candidates.

Well, as always there are pros and cons to both but why not do
what everyone else is not doing. It seems to me most sites are
taking the scatter gun approach. For example: We have 3,000
affiliate programs listed on our site. We have the largest
selection of affiliate programs!

Why not focus? Find your own niche. Find a particular area that
you are interested in.

Example: Perhaps your interest is in selling rare papyrus from
Egypt and you find there is only one affiliate program dedicated
to this. You join. You focus your affiliate marketing strategies
on this product. You are not thinking about selling papyrus from
Egypt one minute and then long distance phone calls the next.
With fewer products and services you are able to focus more
energy and effort onto the products and services that you have a
genuine interest in. You may even be considered an expert in
this particular area because of your knowledge.

There are many webmasters doing just fine with their hundreds or
even thousands of affiliate programs, but the market for the
scatter gun approach now appears to be cluttered.

This is where the specialists enter. The new breed of webmaster
that focuses on particular products or services. Alternatively
your focus may be on one area, and selecting only the
best-selling, highest-paying commissions for that field. Then
you target your affiliates with high level affiliate marketing
techniques. Now there is room for the specialist to succeed.

Target your affiliate programs.

Pick just a few.

Concentrate all of your time into marketing these programs
- because you are so passionate about the product or service you
are selling, you will drive more targeted traffic to your
affiliate program.

7 Essential Steps to Web Site Promotion

2009-06-17T22:35:00.001-07:00

Web Site promotion should be the major part of your web site
marketing plan. It's not enough just to design a beautiful web
site and put in on the Net. Promoting your web site has to be
done constantly if you want to get a continuous stream of
traffic to it. If you don't drive traffic to your web site, your
online business venture will soon fail.

1. Create a web site marketing plan - if you fail to plan then
you default to a plan for failure. When designing your web site,
create a plan on how to market it as well. Try to put yourself
in your customers shoes when doing this. It's too easy to just
view your web site from your own perspective. You need to have a
clear vision for your business, goals (short and long term) you
wish to achieve and the strategies of how you will accomplish
them.

2. Define your target market - many online marketers promote
their web site aimlessly in a field which is too large i.e. they
may use bulk mailing as one of their promotion strategies. Of
course you may get some visitors but the chances are you will
not make many sales. Why? You have not narrowed your field of
customers and targeted them. If you sold Cadillacs online for
instance, you are not randomly going to market to every person
on the Net. Your target market may be previous owners of
cadillacs, or people who routinely purchase luxury American
cars.

Getting targeted customers to your web site, will increase sales,
because they will have more interest in your product or service
than marketing to a general audience.

3. Use several promotion strategies - don't just stick to one
form of promotion because you never know which one will work the
best for you. If you use many channels i.e. search engines,
email marketing, forums, writing articles etc you have a greater
chance of getting more traffic to your web site.

4. Promote continuously - if you want to drive constant traffic
to your web site, you must promote it continuously. Web traffic
is the lifeblood of your online business. For example, you could
constantly optimize your web pages for the search engines,
resubmit them if needed, visit discussion forums every day and
write an article for online publications every two weeks.

5. Calculate your return on investment (ROI) - this means
keeping track of how much money you invested in your marketing
plan and what profit you received in return. This will avoid
wasting large sums of money thrown aimlessly into advertising.

If you calculate it takes 100 visitors to your web site to
generate one sale and with each sale you make $10, then you
shouldn't spend more than 10 cents to get each targeted visitor
and still make a profit.

In order to know which aspects of your marketing campaign bring
the most visitors, you must be able to monitor visitor activity
to your web pages.

6. Analyze your web site traffic - by analyzing your web site
traffic, you can determine what marketing strategies are
successful. You can then change them as necessary, to boost the
sales or services from your site.

Your analysis may include what keywords your visitors are using
to find your web site, which web pages are the most popular and
where your visitors are coming from. These are essential
statistics you should know, instead of blindly promoting your
web site and hoping for the best.

7. Test, monitor and track your results - to run an effective
online marketing campaign, you need to constantly test what
works and what doesn't. Tracking the response to an ad may cause
you to refine it until it generates a great return on the money
you invested. Once your results are satisfactory, you can then
roll out your ads on a larger scale and spend greater sums of
money.

You should also monitor your site in the search engines, so you
can optimize your web pages for higher search engine rankings.
This will attract more visitors which leads to higher profits.

Web site promotion strategies will differ for everyone, and will
depend a lot on your product, web site and your personality. Try
everything you can, record the results, and see what works for
you.

About the Author

Herman Drost is the author of the new ebook
101 Highly Effective Strategies to Promote Your Web Site
a powerful guide for attracting 1000s of visitors to your web site.
http://www.isitebuild.com/web-site-promotion

Affiliate MarketingHuh?

2009-06-17T06:35:00.001-07:00

Affiliate Marketing--Huh?
by Vickie J. Scanlon
www.myaffiliateplace.biz

In my search for a presence on the internet, I searched many avenues, but
was finding more scams and dead ends than I would care to speak about.

It was one last scam and six months of my presence on the internet that
I realized that the only way I could possibly make a living on the internet --
and gain any amount of satisfaction --was to work for myself.
Duh! But how? Affiliate Marketing seemed to be the answer.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is the promotion of another person's or company's product, in
which you get a percentage of the profit if a sale is made. That doesn't sound
so hard, does it? Well -- it's doeable if you have the information you need to
get you started in this field -- and it is work. So let me begin the enlightenment.

First and foremost, you need passion?

What is Passion?

Passion is a feeling that you have -- a feeling that is so strong that it is
your driving force in doing it.

As you can see, passion is needed in any venture if you want to
succeed. With passion, it will drive you forward through the hard times,
the bad times, and the good times when developing your business.

This passion thing, I must admit, was my first stumbling block. I believed I
didn't have a passion for anything -- and feared that maybe, just maybe,
the corporate world and it 70 hour work weeks may have consumed my passion.

However, I was not willing to give up. Not yet. I searched out sites, read articles,
examined web sites -- in search of my passion. Then one day, in the
middle of my research, I heard myself asking probing questions of -- Why?
Where? When? How? My passion was found.

Research, curiosity and learning -- my strengths and my driving assets.
My creation -- My Affiliate Place, was born. It would be a place where an
affiliate marketer or a want-to-be affiliate marketer could find information,
articles, and free tools.

So, I say to you, if I can find my hidden passion, you can too.

Onward and upward --with my passion defined, I needed a web site.

Web site! Do I need one?

Many people say you can do affiliate marketing without a web site --
however, with a website you can promote more than one product and reach
a greater number of people with the same interests. And last but not
least, marketing is the act of connecting with people -- and on the internet --
a web site is your vehicle.

Web Site Is Built. Now What!

Now that your web site is built, you will need to begin the promotion process.
There are many avenues in which you can venture. To name a few:

1. safelists
2. ezines
3. classified ads
4. writing articles
5. Off-line advertising -- brochures, flyers
6. Search engine optimization -- To get help in this area, go to
my web site at: www.myaffiliateplace.biz/affiliateinfo
-- to begin your optimization process.

As you can see, advertising is only limited by your own imagination.

To conclude, affiliate marketing is a viable way to begin your journey on the
internet and to your own business. But as you know, with anything that is
worth having, you must work diligiently and passionately, and continue
to grow and learn -- if success is to be yours.

To your success.

About the Author

Vickie J Scanlon has a BBA degree in Administrative Management and
Marketing. She left the corporate world as an Reports Programmer,
to begin her journey as an Internet marketer. Visit her site at:
www.myaffiliateplace.biz for free tools, articles, ebooks, and how to info.

9 Ways to Keep Google Happy

2009-06-16T14:35:00.001-07:00

by Rick Hendershot, Marketing Bites

A recent Google patent application has the SEO community buzzing. At a bare minimum this document reveals the direction Google is taking its future search criteria. Changes in the way Google will be evaluating pages for search rankings are intended to address two major problems:

- Search engine spam, and
- Ensuring that fresh documents score higher than stale ones

Here is a summary of some of the general principles outlined in the document. Most SEO
specialists agree these are reasonable principles, and it is only a matter of time
before they are adopted.

1. Anchor text of links is still very important. Focus on your anchor text. It should contain your most important keyword.

2. Google expects that anchor texts will vary. A lot of identical anchor text suggests an unnatural linking pattern. Anchor texts should vary, but contain related phrases.

3. Google will record when specific links were first discovered, and watch how they change over time. Links with a long life span are considered more valuable than links with a short life span. This adds support to the link delay theory -- that links do not start counting until they have been in place for a few months. So get working on those links right now, but don't expect immediate gratification from Google.

4. If a new website gets a flood of new inbound links, this will be an indicator of possible spam activity. Links should be introduced gradually and according to a consistent pattern.

5. Google acknowledges that there may be link spikes, and so an influx of new links will be interpreted as legitimate if some of the links are from authoritative sites. Go after links from authoritative sites.

6. If a stale webpage continues to receive new incoming links, it will be considered fresh. Keep adding links pointing to important pages.

7. Links from fresh pages will in some cases be more valuable than links from stale or old pages that have not been recently updated. Get links from pages that are active. If you have high value links from important sites, develop a strategy for keeping those links fresh.

8. Google places more value on a site where link growth remains constant and slow. Slow and steady wins the race. Keep getting those links.

9. Pages with many inbound links will require proportionately more new links in order to remain fresh. The assumption is that the more links a page has, the more it should be getting in the future. Otherwise it starts slipping into the stale category. Focus more attention on your most important pages.

Regardless of whether of not Google implements all of these criteria, the general direction is clear. More importantly, these points make good SEO sense, and provide a very good place to start when planning a link strategy.

About the Author

Rick Hendershot publishes the Linknet Network, a group of more than 35 websites and blogs offering advertising and link opportunities to web owners.

60 Day Sandbox for Google & AskJeeves. MSN Quickest Yahoo N

2009-06-15T22:35:00.001-07:00

Copyright July 18, 2005 Mike Banks Valentine

Search engine listing delays have come to be called the Google Sandbox
effect are actually true in practice at each of four top tier
search engines in one form or another. MSN, it seems has the
shortest indexing delay at 30 days. This article is the
second in a series following the spiders through a brand new
web site beginning on May 11, 2005 when the site was first
made live on that day under a newly purchased domain name.
First Case Study Article

Previously we looked at the first 35 days and detailed the
crawling behavior of Googlebot, Teoma, MSNbot and Slurp as
they traversed the pages of this new site. We discovered the
each robot spider displays distinctly different behavior in
crawling frequency and similarly differing indexing patterns.

For reference, there are about 15 to 20 new pages added to
the site daily, which are each linked from the home page for
a day. Site structure is non-traditional with no categories
and a linking structure tied to author pages listing their
articles as well as a elated articles index varied by
linking to relevant pages containing similar content.

So let's review where we are with each spider crawling and
look at pages crawled and compare pages indexed by engine.

The AskJeeves spider, Teoma has crawled most of the pages on
the site, yet indexes no pages 60 days later at this writing.
This is clearly a site aging delay that's modeled on Google's
Sandbox behavior. Although the Teoma spider from Ask.com has
crawled more pages on this site than any other engine over a
60 day period and appears to be tired of crawling as they've
not returned since July 13 - their first break in 60 days.

In the first two days, Googlebot gobbled up 250 pages and
didn't return until 60 days later, but has not indexed even
a single page in 60 days since they made that initial crawl.
But Googlebot is showing a renewed interest in crawling the
site since this crawling case study article was published
on several high traffic sites. Now Googlebot is looking at a
few pages each day. So far no more than about 20 pages at a
decidedly lackluster pace, a true Crawl that will keep it
occupied for years if continued that slowly.

MSNbot crawled timidly for the first 45 days, looking over
30 to 50 pages daily, but not until they found a robots.txt
file, which we'd neglected to post to the site for a week and
then bobbled the ball as we changed site structure, then
failed to implement robots.txt in new subdomains until day
25 - and THEN MSNbot didn't return until day 30. If little
else were discovered about initial crawls and indexing, we
have seen that MSNbot relies heavily on that robots.txt file
and proper implementation of that file will speed crawling.

MSNbot is now crawling with enthusiasm at anywhere between
200 to 800 pages daily. As a matter of fact, we had to use
a crawl-delay command in the robots.txt file after MSNbot
began hitting 6 pages per second last week. The MSN index now
shows 4905 pages 60 days into this experiment. Cached pages
change weekly. MSNbot has apparently found that it likes how
we changed the page structure to include a new feature which
links to questions from several other article pages.

Slurp gets strangely inactive then alternately hyperactive
for periods of time. The Yahoo crawler will look at 40 pages
one day and then 4000 the next, then simply look at the home
page for a few days and then jump back in for 3000 pages the
next day and back to only reviewing robots.txt for two days.
Consistency is not a curse suffered by Slurp. Yahoo now shows
6 pages in their index, one an errors page and another is a
index/of page as we have not posted a home page to several
subdomains. But Slurp has crawled easily 15,000 pages to date.

Lessons learned in the first 60 days on a new site follow:

1) Google crawls 250 pages on first discovery of links to site.
Then they don't return until they find more links and crawl
slowly. Google has failed to index new domain for 60 days.

2) Yahoo looks for errors pages and once they find bad links
will crawl them ceaselessly until you tell them to stop it.
Then won't crawl at all for weeks until crawling heavily
one day and lightly the next in random fashion.

3) MSNbot requires robots.txt files and once they decide they
like your site, may crawl too fast, requiring crawl-delay
instructions in that robots.txt file. Implement immediately.

4) Bad bots can strain resources and hit too many pages too
quickly until you tell them to stay out. We banned 3 bots
outright after they slammed our servers for a day or two.
Noted aipbot crawled first then BecomeBot came along
and then Pbot from Picsearch.com crawled heavily looking
for image files we don't have. Bad bots, stay out. Best to
implement robots.txt exclusions for all but top engines if
their crawlers strain your server resources. We considered
excluding the Chinese search engine named Baidu.com when
they began crawling heavily early on. We don't expect much
traffic from China, but why exclude one billion people?
Especially since Google is rumored to be considering a
possible purchase of Baidu.com as entry to Chinese market.

The bottom line is that we've discovered all engines seem to
delay indexing of new domain names for at least thirty days.
Google so far has delayed indexing THIS new domain for 60
days since first crawling it. AskJeeves has crawled thousands
of pages, while indexing none of them. MSN indexes faster than
all engines but requires robots.txt file. Yahoo's Slurp crawls
on again off again for 60 days, but indexes only six of total
15,000 or more pages crawled to date.

We seem to have settled that there is a clear indexing delay,
but whether this site specifically is Sandboxed and whether
delays apply universally is less clear. Many webmasters claim
that they have been indexed fully within 30 days of first
posting a new domain. We'd love to see others track spiders
through new sites following launch to document their results
publicly so that indexing and crawling behavior are proven.

About the Author

Mike Banks Valentine is a search engine optimization specialist
who operates WebSite101 Ecommerce Tutorial and will continue reports of
case study chronicling search indexing of Publish101 Article Resource
http://www.seoptimism.com/SEOContact.htm

COMPLETE WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION FOR SEARCH ENGINES (part2)

2009-06-15T06:35:00.001-07:00

COMPLETE WEB-SITE OPTIMIZATION FOR SEARCH ENGINES (part2)

------------------------------------------------------------
copyright (c) Pavel Lenshin
------------------------------------------------------------

Source code optimization.

title... itle

This tag is to be a winner. This is a primary spot to
include our keywords for SE spiders, bots or crawlers
(spider hereafter). title tags are the best dainty
dish for SE spiders. They eat them as cakes, so make
title tags to be tasty for them, about 65 characters long.

meta name=description content=...

Important Meta tag. Very often the description you put will
be shown at the SE searching results. To my personal opinion
they have more important marketing role of attracting
visitors than actual optimization.
The SEs' trust in description tag as well as our next
keywords tag has been greatly discriminated due to fraud
and unfair competition. Make it no more than 250 characters
long, including, of course, your targeted keywords as well.

meta name=keywords content=...

Another advisable to use Meta tag should be included with
all your targeted and untargeted, but related to the topic,
key phases separated by commas. Note that highly popular and
stand alone keywords like web-site, internet, usiness
etc. will give you nothing more than increase the size of
your web-page. I won't be mistaken, if I say that about
several millions of web-pages have them. Don't overuse your
keywords as well, spiders don't like to be forced to eat
what they don't want to.

meta name=author content=...meta name=copyright
content=...meta name=language content=... etc.

Subsidiary Meta tags that are used more likely to satisfy
webmasters' ego, rather than bring any real help in
rankings.

h1.../h1 h2.../h2 h3.../h3

In contrary to the previous tags the importance of, let's
call them, ody tags have substantially risen for simple
reason, they are readable by visitors and it is hardly to
cheat SE with them than Meta description or keywords tags
where any webmaster may put anything s/he wants.
Given that these tags determine the headers of your web-page
from the SE spiders' viewpoint, try to include your targeted
keywords in them.

img src=: alt=...

Alt is just a comment for every image you insert into the
page. Use this knowledge at your advantage. Include your key
phrases where possible and safe. By safe I mean common
sense, don't input comment like ebook package into the
image of the button that leads to your partner, say, Pizza
ordering web-site.
On the contrary, if your web-site has graphical menu and
buttons, it is very wise to include alt comments according
to directions they lead to, i.e. Home, Services, About
Us, Contacts etc. If for any reason visitors have their
browser with images turned off, they won't see any menu if
you haven't inserted alt comments.

Content

Your informational coverage should be keyword/phrase rich,
the same way as headers. In general the more relevant key
phrases your textual information will contain, the better
your chances of being emarked by SE spider are.

HTML text format tags like bolding b, italic type i and
underlining u may also have some weight in SEs placement.

Key word density and frequency are another indexes vastly
used by SE to rank web-pages. Don't overuse them though.

Link popularity (page rank)

Another extremely important parameter for your listing
position nowadays. In general the more links on third party
web-sites point to your site the better. Although try to
avoid link farms or other clubs' the only aim of which is
to artificially increase your link popularity. These tactics
may simply result in penalization or banning of your
web-site.

Link popularity without any doubt helps to increase the
relevance of searched terms more often than it doesn't, but
makes SEO even more far-reaching target, because
establishing quality incoming links pointing to your site
is beyond your direct power.

To be short, your task is to find web-sites that have
highest SE listing positions and/or page rank (determined
via Google Toolbar) and negotiate a link to your site in
return for some service, product or solicit simple exchange
of links. As you see these manual work is the most
time-consuming, but it repays if you are focused to get as
much relevant links as possible.

You may apply viral strategies by offering some free/paid
service that implies putting a link back to your site.

Google has developed its own link popularity evaluation tool
called Page Rank. It is calculated basing on consistently
changing number rules: current rank of the site the link to
your page is pointing from, its relevance to your web-site
topic, presence of targeted words etc.

Fake tactics

They are what I call them and used by webmasters similar to
ways some marketers use spam to promote their businesses.

Unfortunately, usual internet users don't have ability to
an spammers the same way SEs penalize those smart
webmasters. I don't recommend you to use any of these
tactics, even on someone's advice.

They include excessive use of related and totally unrelated
keywords, comment tags, hidden layers, text on the
background of the same color, artificial link farms,
numerous entry pages etc.
This game simply won't be worth candles if your web-site is
banned for good.

robots.txt file

Very important file every web-site should have. It allows
you to literally rule or direct SE spider to the proper
places, explaining what and where should be scanned, not
just blind waiting of your lucky day. With its help you can
also protect your confidential web-pages and or directories
from scanning and showing at the SE searching results, very
important feature many web-masters solve with ons of Java
or even Perl coding instead of one line string in the
robots.txt file that will forbid to scan download,
so-called hank you pages or anything you want!

General rules of creating robots.txt file you can find here
http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/robots.html

Design & Layout issues

Next point is to have a textual info. The simple declaration
of content rich web-site is not enough, SEs need text to
scan.

Clear to follow links. If you have Flash or Java applet
navigation menu, make sure to duplicate somewhere and
include HTML links as well. Most SE spiders cannot
distinguish dynamically created web-pages with the help of
ASP, Perl, PHP or other languages. It is also clear that all
web-pages, access to which was forbidden (no matter how) by
administrator, would also be left unnoticed. The same
relates to HTML frame sites. What frames actually do is
complicate the way web-site is being scanned, no more, no
less. When I see web-site made of frames, it is like
webmaster telling me: I want lower SE position.

Because of the excessive work spiders have to do in order to
scan as many pages as possible, their scanning accuracy,
if we can say so, have dropped, so they will hardly scan
each and every of your pages from the very top to the
bottom, it is more likely to be selective scanning, so, to
ease this process you should try to arrange the most
valuable info, including header tags and text at the very
top of web-pages. Having site map page with all link
connections of your site not only does it help your
potential visitors, but SEs as well.

All link names, inside your informational content, are to
contain your related keywords or phrases, not just click
here or download here.

Avoid a lot of javascripts, cascade style sheet tags or a
lot of image tags at the top of the page that could occupy
more than a page of HTML source code with almost no textual
info. If you have java or .css coding save them as separate
files and upload on request, leaving one string of code in
your HTML document only. This tactic is also very smart
considering general web-page optimization and space saving
purposes.

Allow to the Internet market know your business better.

About the Author

Pavel Lenshin is a devoted Internet entrepreneur, founder of
ASBONE.com, where you can find everything to make your
business prosper. Discounted Internet services,
FREE ebooks http://ASBONE.com/ebooks/
FREE reports http://ASBONE.com/reports/

5 Ways To Keep Your Online Customers

2009-06-14T14:35:00.001-07:00

1. Stay In Touch

Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis. Offer

them a free e-zine subscription. Ask customers if they want

to be updated by e-mail when you make changes to your

Web site. After every sale follow-up with the customer to

see if they are satisfied with their purchase.

2. Friendly Web Site

Make it easy for your customers to navigate on your Web

site. Have a FAQ page on your Web site to explain

anything that might confuse your customers. Ask them to fill

out an electronic survey to find out how make your Web

site more customer friendly.

3. Easy And Free Communication

Make it easy and for your customers to contact you. Offer

as many contact methods as possible. Allow customers

contact you by e-mail. Hyperlink your e-mail address so

customers won't have to type it. Offer toll free numbers for

phone and fax contacts.

4. Impress Your Customer

Give your customers more than they expect. Send thank

you gifts to lifetime customers. E-mail them online greeting

cards on holidays or birthdays. Award bonuses or discounts

to customers who make a big purchase.

5. Be Nice

Above all, always be polite to your customers. Use the words Please,

Thank You, and Your Welcome. Be polite to your customers

even if they are being irate with you. Always apologize to

your customers should you make a mistake. Admit your

mistakes quickly and make it up to them in a big way.
E. D. Zuck is the owner and operator of 10 Dollar Specials - Your Source For Quality Software & Ebooks At Discounted Prices, as well as captez.com - A Unique Source For Web Related Content, Software, and Ebooks.

Affiliate Showcase.com

2009-06-13T22:35:00.001-07:00

How do super-affiliates do it? The answer may surprise you. Visit http://www.AffiliateShowcase.com/?31252 for the web's best affiliate programs and the newest secret to affiliate success.

About the Author

None

3 Ways To Get More Website Traffic That Buys...

2009-06-13T06:35:00.001-07:00

Who else wants traffic that buys? I for sure do, and after
trying out various website traffic generating methods and
strategies. I have finally managed to pin point 3 strategies
that will almost always bring you website traffic that buys
your products or services.

1) Pay Per Click Advertising

This is probably the easiest of the three, that is why I have
mentioned first. However, it is the only that is not free.
Just incase you do not know what Pay Per Click Advertising is
here is a short description.

Pay per click advertising is when you select specific
keywords related to your product and then you bid a certain
amount per click. What then happens is every time someone
clicks on your ad, you pay for each click, hence the term
pay per click.

This service is provided by most of the big search engines,
for example Google.com, Overture.com, Findwhat.com and more.

For a list of pay per click search engines, go here:

http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com

2) Joint Ventures

Joint ventures are also a great way to get more traffic
that buys. It all depends on the quality of the relationship
between your joint venture partner and his/her opt-in list.
Usually the better the relationship, the better your results.

What I mean by this is, if your joint venture partner has
built credibility with his opt-in list, they are more likely
to buy your product or service just because of the personal
recommendation. Provided that it's a product or service they
need, of course.

Where and how do you find joint venture partners? Simply
target those people in your industry or niche who have
already established themselves and own a list of subscribers
or even better a list of customers.

You can do a search, for your particular niche and see which
websites are in the top 10, contact the website owners.

For more information on how to joint venture, click here:

http://ad-clix.com/jv-Course/

3) Your Opt In List

I have purposely left this for the number 3 spot. This is
because it completely relies on the success of the other
two ways I have already mentioned above.

An opt-in list is the most valuable asset any internet
business can own.

Your website should allow for your visitors to opt-in to your
list. This allows you to follow up with your visitors, build
your credibility and ultimately convince them to buy from

you.

It is very important to build a strong relationship with your
list and build your credibility. Email valuable information,
free stuff, special offers etc. Every email you send should
be written as if you are writing to one person, your friend.

As a result, your opt-in list will almost always bring you
more website traffic that buys your products or services.

More information on how to build a responsive opt-in list:

http://www.umeshare.com/c.php?1/11332/1222/Artilcles

These are just some of the strategies that were revealed by
top internet marketers when I interviewd them. I have in
turn taken their strategies, tried and tested them out for
myself and this article is my report on my personal findings.

About the Author

Munya Chinongoza is the author of Guru Traffic Secrets Vol.1 in

which
He recently interviewed 14 top internet marketers gurus
and asked them to reveal how they drive unlimited targeted
traffic to their websites everyday, usually with little or no
effort at all on their part:

http://www.GuruTrafficSecrets.com

Creating Your Own Internet Marketing Product

2009-06-12T14:35:00.001-07:00

Copyright 2005 Chris Stirling

There are thousands of marketing tool kits available online for a whole range of prices, but what if you are not interested in buying someone else's tool kit and are more interested in creating your own internet marketing product and toolkit to sell. Well, there are plenty of ways to going about doing this.

First, you should have considerable information that you can easily compile into a toolkit or e-book to sell. Whatever information you are including in your marketing product, make sure it is viable and relative information your customers can use and will find practical. Providing this information will carry you a long way when it comes to customer reviews and recommendations of your product. Make sure any information that is not yours is documented properly and that you have permission to use it. When you start compiling the information, make sure it looks professional.

Also, be sure the information is easy to read and understand. Bullet points, lists and step by step guides are very helpful for individuals interested in learning how to market a product. Edit your e-book or toolkit several times as well as have another set of eyes read over it to make sure it is clear, concise, and understandable. The last thing you want is to provide confusing information and receive hundreds of emails that you don't have time to response to. Do it right the first time and you will receive more customers, positive reviews and constant cash flow.

There are a variety of software programs that can help you compile this information into a professional and easily read e-book or toolkit. Certainly, if you plan on selling and creating your own internet marketing product, you will want to make sure it is professional, organized, detailed and provides real and pertinent information to your customers.

Once you have created your own internet marketing product, you will want to have a way to get it out to the public. As a result, you will need a web page or a minipage that is dedicated to selling this product to customers. Generally, you can find a web hosting company that charges a small fee monthly that will register a URL for you and host your page. Also, most have a web page builder program if you are not knowledgeable of building web pages and design. The most important aspects of this web page are reviews of the product and a purchase now button. You will want to make the checkout process as easy as possible because once customers have decided to buy; they want the process to be quick and easy. If not, you will likely lose a customer. Additionally, you will want to have Paypal or another program such as this that accepts a variety of payment options in a wide range of currencies. This will allow you to market and sell your marketing guide to people worldwide.

About the author:

Chris Stirling is the owner of Stirls.com and his Internet Marketing website is designed to help other people achieve their goal of having their own work at home business.
http://www.stirls.com

Around The Net In 90 Days

2009-06-11T23:15:00.001-07:00

Ready - Set - Go on a 90 day journey around the net.

From my Windows XP

my eyes would see

my 90 day trip

around the net.

I packed my Visa credit card

immunized my vehicle with guards

protected my domain with a great wall of fire

and found a website watchful eye for hire.

I was off and determined

to see my journey to the end

but would soon discover

the journey had no end.

But until I get to that

you must know

that the net is a vast universe of

Silver and Bronze and Diamonds and Gold.

From my travel experience

I'll give you a tip

I purchased the best my Visa would buy

and counted on my resources to not run dry

I purchased a new home

furnished it too

finished my masters and

vacationed somewhere new.

I insured my life

met my true love

dressed myself pretty

below and above.

Confident my purchase decisions

were made with great wisdom

Because I looked in the corners and cracks of the net

And found products and services that are a sure bet.

When I arrived home I noticed that

my domain rank had sank.

I had fallen from the charts

and my sales truly showed it

so I researched my findings to keep from further blowing it.

From my journey I found a great product and guarantee

to set my rank right.

So now I proceed to

educate others in their rank plight.

You see now that this journey has no end

but was really quite bold and

I discovered the net had

Silver and Bronze and Diamonds and Gold.

You can too and then you may

see for yourself that 1st Search Ranking is all I say.

My ranking is now and will continue to be

in the top positions of the search engines.

Hee! Hee!

http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?5194

1st Search Ranking not only tries to get you more traffic but ensures that the traffic you do get is converted into more sales.

Bronze Package:
Optimization of your site for 5 keywords, driving targeted traffic to your site. Guaranteed to get at least 4 top 10 positions for you within 6 months from the time that you order this service.
If you get you more than 4 top 10 positions, you don't have to pay anything extra!

Silver Package:
Optimization of your site for 10 keywords and a guarantee to get at least 8 top 10 positions for you within 6 months from the time that you order this service.
If you get more than 8 top 10 positions, you don't have to pay one thin dime extra!

Gold Package:
Optimization of your site for 15 keywords and a guarantee to get at least 12 top 10 positions for you within 6 months from the time that you order this service.
If you get more than 12 top 10 positions, you don't have to pay anything extra!

Diamond Package:
Optimization of your site for 20 keywords and a guarantee to get at least 16 top 10 positions for you within 6 months from the time that you order this service.
If you get more than 16 top 10 positions, you don't have to pay anything extra!

Platinum Package:
Optimization of your site for 25 keywords and a guarantee to get at least 20 top 10 positions for you within 6 months from the time that you order this service.
Of course, if you get more than 20 top 10 positions, you don't have to pay anything extra!

Super-Premium Package:
Optimization of your site for 30 keywords and a guarantee to get at least 24 top 10 positions for you within 6 months from the time that you order this service.
Once again, if you get more than 24 top 10 positions, you don't have to pay anything extra!

Order With 100% Confidence

http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?5194

About the author:

Janis Rae
Publisher and Editor
http://alwaysads.com
Enjoys advertising ideas as well as the products themselves.

I am a dedicated consumer. I judge and critique ads and products, and might be one of the few who doesn't holler SPAM when I get advertisements in my email, except when they get my gender wrong.

How do I drive traffic to a brand new website?

2009-06-11T06:34:00.000-07:00

Every single day, more and more people upload brand new websites to the Internet. I don't have any figures but there must be hundreds of thousands of new pages being added daily (if not considerably more!)

The one thing that all of these new websites need in order to make their existence worthwhile is traffic, which leads me to one of the most common questions I am asked and the subject of this newsletter:

'How can you generate traffic to a brand new website?'

Of course, there are a number of different answers to this question and what I would do myself is probably very different to what a completely new Internet entrepreneur would do. The reason I say this is that the first thing I do when launching a new site is make use of my existing website traffic by advertising the new site on my other established sites. In addition, I have the luxury of a large mailing list which I can use to drive traffic to the new site.

I appreciate that anyone starting out in online business won't have these options open to them (and in fairness, neither did I when I first started), so let's look at things from the beginning. Day one of your first website.....

It is a fact that the quickest and probably most effective way of bringing targeted traffic to your website is by paying for it. Now before you rush off and sink $50 into one of those '50,000 hits for $50' schemes, DON'T, this isn't what I mean. Those schemes are largely a complete waste of money. Even if you get the traffic that you are promised (as opposed to some software script visiting your site and pretending to be a visitor), it will not be targeted and therefore there is a very low chance that the traffic will generate sales. When I talk about buying traffic, I mean by using the pay- per-click services offered by most of the big search engines.

You probably already know the sort of thing I mean - for example, Google Adwords. Pretty much any search on Google will display a list of adverts down the right-hand side of the page and these are all paid adverts. Every time you click on one of them, the advertiser pays Google a fixed amount which could be anything from 5 cents upwards (depending upon how competitive the keyword is).

Pay-per-click allows you to be very selective about which keywords your advert is shown for and this allows you to target your advertising perfectly. Other big names in the pay-per-click market include Overture, Espotting and Findwhat.

Now, before you all start emailing me and saying that you already knew about PPC let me just say that I am well aware that people know about it. The problem (as I see it), is that people aren't using this type of service because of the fact that they don't want to spend any money on advertising. That's all well and good but the fact is that the Internet is getting more and more competitive each day and the chances of you building a successful website business from scratch without investing any money are tiny to say the least.

If you want to attract a decent level of traffic to a brand new website in a short period of time, it is almost a necessity that you use pay-per-click on one of the main search engines. If you don't, then the growth of your traffic levels will be painfully slow and inconsistent at best.

When I launched my very first websites I invested heavily in pay-per-click advertising. At one point, I was spending over $6000 a month on Google Adwords alone!!! Seriously I really was spending that much money. It was a constant battle to tweak the website sales copy and continue to test the advertisement text just to make sure that my sales were covering the advertising payments each month. At the time I was probably just about breaking even but buying traffic in this quantity meant that I was able to fine-tune my sales pages and start to build up a list of mailing list subscribers.

Once you have got to the stage where you know your sales pages are converting visitors into buyers, then you can start to gear up with other methods of getting traffic to your site - writing articles, linking strategies, viral methods (ebooks etc), using your eBay 'About Me' page, using your link as a signature when you post on forums etc. All of these methods will win you traffic (and in most cases it will be completely free) but it will take time for the traffic to build to a worthwhile level. If you rely solely on free traffic, you really will be building your business one hit at a time.

Of course, once the free methods of gaining traffic start to pay off, you can begin to wind down your paid methods, though you may not want to - after all, if you are earning more in sales than you are paying for your pay-per-click traffic, why stop it?

As your portfolio of websites grows, you will also be able to share the traffic around a bit by linking to your own sites and of course, if you are capturing your visitors email addresses, you will be building a mailing list of people interested in the products you are offering.

Like I say, I appreciate that the above may not be the ground-breaking secret that you were hoping for but as with so many things online, there really is no secret. Achieving success is simply about taking action and whilst you can succeed online by spending very little money, the chances are that you will succeed a lot quicker by making a bit of an investment. You don't have to be spending thousands of dollars a month as I was but any new business owner should be prepared to invest a few hundred dollars a month in order to get things off the ground....

About The Author

Richard Grady has been helping ordinary people earn online since 1998. He writes a free newsletter which is published every two weeks. To subscribe (and claim your free gifts), visit: http://www.thetraderonline.com/newsletter.html.

7 Simple Ways of Driving Traffic to Your Site Using One EPu

2009-06-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

I am not a web designer or search engine optimizer, nor do I play one on TV. However, I do know that the driving force in bringing qualified traffic to your web site is dynamic high value content. That means compelling, interesting, approachable, and immediately useful information, especially when you also directly sell products or services at your site. Increasing and maintaining traffic also demands both offline and online mechanisms to attract those visitors.

One of the easiest and most versatile forms of the content described above is a 'how-to' tips booklet. With the right writing style, not only can you use the booklet in its entirety as a downloadable bonus file on your site, it can also be sliced, diced, and reformatted to get the most mileage possible from the single document.

Imagine a booklet called 110 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Health Club Membership. Your site features health and wellness products. Look at some of the ways to use one tips booklet:

Downloadable bonus - full booklet download for visiting the site, a new title bi-monthly

Radio/television advertising campaign - This fitness moment brought to you by (your company's name) Visit www.xyz.com for 109 more great tips like this one.

Print advertising campaign - a few tips, directing people to your site for more tips.

Autoresponder service - send a tip a day or week, inviting people to your site for more.

Trade show coupon - offering free downloadable booklet at your web site

Product packaging or printed catalog - single tips, directing people to your site.

Email - a tip within any email from your Customer Service Department or in any electronic invoice, encouraging people to receive more tips when visiting your site.

Doing this with a different booklet every other month easily broadens your campaign to an entire year, keeping the content fresh, interesting, flowing, and attractive to more traffic. Your next booklets could be:

You Can Do It - Walk A Marathon
77 Ways to Prevent and Improve Back Problems
117 Tips for Relieving Arthritis & Muscular Pain
Keep Smiling! 75 Tips for Great Dental Health
108 Ideas for Getting Your Family to Eat Better

Picture what happens when you translate the same booklet into a different language to reach a non-English speaking population. You can do the same things mentioned here to bring traffic to your site.

Simplify your life and the life of your customers by giving them useful information that will keep them wanting more from you - more information and more of your products.

About The Author

Paulette Ensign is Founder and Chief Visionary of http://www.tipsbooklets.com All the booklet titles mentioned in this article, plus hundreds more on a wide range of topics, are readily available for licensing rather than using your valuable staff's time and salary.

Best Affiliate Products Where to Find Them and Select the B

2009-06-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

The BIG QUESTION on everyone's mind is...

Can you make money on-line through affiliate programs?

The Answer is YES and YES and YES!

It is totally possible to make money on-line, there are all kinds of articles and stories about people who have been successful making money through affiliate programs. A great example is Affiliate Super Star Rosalind Gardner who makes over $ 400,000 a year. You can read a review of Rosalind's successes at http://www.bestaffiliateproducts.com/rosalind-gardner.html

There are also lots of little guys doing well selling affiliate products.

It has nothing to do with getting in on the ground floor in a particular program. It has nothing to do with having loads of money to market your program. Yes, you do need to have to have a marketing budget, but that is just the cost of doing business.

What it boils down to is knowing what to look for in an Affiliate Program.

More specifically, you look at programs which provide:

1. Products/Services that are in demand. This is pretty obvious, right? If you don't have a market for your products/services then you aren't going to make any money. Now, you did your research already and found that your niche idea does have a demand...so what you are doing is looking for products/services to weave into your niche site.

The best product or service to weave in, of course, is one that you have used personally. Nothing works better than giving a personal recommendation. If you can, weave in testimonials from others who have used the same product or service. That way, there is more than one voice and that goes a long way to helping a customer make a well informed buying decision.

2. Look at the Commission Structure. The BEST commission structure is one that pays you on a recurring basis. Monthly income is the best way to go but, depending on your niche, might not always be an option for you. If that's the case then do a little investigative work and check out competitor commission structures, and then, go for the one that pays you the most for a one time sale.

3. Promote more than one product/service. Now this can get a little dicey for you because you don't want to confuse your customer but, you also want to have a few options available for making a sale. Let me explain this a little better for you, by explaining what I would do using the Golf example I referred to earlier in this course.

The niche site that I suggested I would build around the golf niche was 'used golf equipment'. I said that I would have had some sort of a membership board where people could post their buy/sell items. That membership site would, of course, be my own product, so that means I would get 100% of the money generated by it.

I also said I could incorporate some form of comparison chart for buying used versus new golf equipment. That way if, say a specific club was selling at $150 used and maybe $185 new, then the customer would be able to decide... new versus old. I would still make the commission on the new item. See where I am going with that???

Ok, now...in addition to the golf products, I would also want to have posted some good content on my web site, as to what to look for when buying used equipment etc. I would post articles that related specifically to my niche. I would then go and apply to the Google Adsense Program and would post little ads on the article pages. If a customer came and decided to clickoff into some other site, then at least I would see a commission from the click. I may then even decide to join Amazon.com or some other online book club and pick a few good golf books to recommend.

So...one niche site and I have created 4 income streams for myself. That is what I mean by promoting more than one product or service. Essentially what you are doing is giving yourself a good well-rounded product mix.

You can specialize if you want to. For example, I know of someone who is going to build a niche site around a specific coffee machine that they feel is going to take off. The machine is made from one specific company, which is ok. So they build a site around that machine, then they go a step further and weave in the coffee that you need to buy in order to use the machine. No other company's product/service is involved, just the one specific one.

See where I am going with this? and just how powerful affiliate programs can be...IF you know how to use them in the right manner.

Ok, so let's recap what we need to look for when deciding to participate in Affiliate Programs.

1. YOU WANT programs with products/services that are IN DEMAND.

2. YOU WANT programs that pay you MONTHLY COMMISSIONS if you can have the right affiliate product. Or, at the very least, you want to shop around and find the products with the best commission rate out there.

3. YOU WANT an arsenal of programs that link or tie into one another to give you MULTIPLE INCOME STREAMS.

That is what to look for in an Affiliate Program. Now, let's cover how to find an affiliate program for your niche.

The more obvious way to do this is to go directly to the web site of the merchant who you want to work with, and see if they offer an affiliate program. If they don't ... don't worry, we have a few other places to check out. We'll find an affiliate program for you.

There are three main sites that you can use, and it just so happened we covered them yesterday in Tools of the Niche Trade. To save you having to go back over your notes, here they are again:

1. Commission Junction www.cj.com

CJ is THE affiliate program directory for both physical and downloadable products. They have hundreds of merchants listed within their directory. They have also joined forces with BeFree, another affiliate directory. You can sign up for the CJ site, and then on the CJ home page you will see BFAST.

Sign up for both and then, once you are in your account, you can link them both so you get the BEST of both sites. ALL affiliates are listed, as well as their commission structures. They also provide you with banners, ads and links that you can weave into your site.

2. Clix Galore Clix Galore

clixGalore has about 3500 affiliate merchants listed within their directory. From Mickey Mouse watches to Health and Nutritional Products, and everything in between.

It also is a no cost directory to join, and like CJ, they too provide you with marketing materials to incorporate into your web site.

3. ClickBank ClickBank

ClickBank is yet another affiliate directory. It is the most popular affilate directory for downloadable products. Actually they only handle downloadable affiliate products.

Here you can make anywhere from 10% - 75% commissions on products or services you sell. Acceptable affiliate commissions today range from 25% to 55%.

The neat thing about ClickBank is that their products are listed by popularity. So, it makes your job a little easier. You can go right for the related product/service that is making the good sales.

Of course these directories will help you find the right merchant program to weave into your site in order to make money, BUT...do your homework! Find the one that is going to pay you top commissions.

Use the information you just read and apply it to ALL your niche sites and you can't go wrong!

This article is an excerpt from my 7-Day Niche Madness eCourse. It costs you nothing to sign up for it at Best Affiliate Products.

Fred Farah
The Best Affiliate Products
and Niche Market Strategies for Maximum Profits
Best Affiliate Products

About the Author

Fred Farah
Long time business man who is willing to share his expertise at his web site Best Affiliate Products
It's all about affiliate marketing to niche markets.
Lots to learn from the Niche Madness 7-day eCourse, as well as the Niche Market Strategies newsletter

Cigarette Affiliate Programs: SmokerHouse.com

2009-06-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

Duty free premium brands of cigarettes online by smokerhouse.com Affiliates are paid $1 per carton on each and every sales comming from your text/banner link. Commissions are paid monthly. Cigarette Affiliate Programs by SmokerHouse.com will give you the higest output without putting any investment.

About the Author

Analyst

Becoming a Successful Affiliate

2009-06-08T14:49:00.000-07:00

Have you often wondered why some people can
make a ton on money by promoting other people's
product and you are struggling to make one
sale every month?

There are very simple rules to follow to become
a Successful Affiliate:

1) Purchase the product.

This is a MUST to making money with an affiliate
program. Why should you purchase the product when
you can sign up for free? How can you honestly tell
other people about the product if you have not purchased
it yourself?

2) Treat the product as if it is your very own.

When you sign up as an affiliate and actually purchase
the product... take the time to either go into the
members area, read the product, contact customer
service or the owner of the product. Get an actual
hands-on experience of the product. If you purchase
the product and enjoy the benefits of it... your sales
can increase at least 1800% by thinking of this product
as your very own.

3) Be proud of that product.

If you are an affiliate and do NOT advertise it on
your website or do NOT advertise it in your newsletter,
then how are you going to sell it? Be proud that you
are an affiliate and advertise.

4) Give the product your personal recommendation.

This information goes back to step number 1. You
must purchase the product in order to give your
personal recommendation. By putting your stamp
of approval on the advertisements... your sales
will increase. What did you enjoy the most about
the product and why would it benefit other people
to purchase the product?

The end step to making sales is to tell the future
customer what the product will do for them. Why
should they spend their hard earned money on a
product that you personally would not purchase?

5) Communicate with the owner of the product.

This is a very important part of becoming a successful
affiliate. If you have a question about the product
or simply would like to introduce yourself to the
owner as their new affiliate... by all means DO IT!

You are going to become an individual to the
owner instead of an affiliate number. Get to know
the person as an individual. You can actually use
this information in your personal recommendation.

6) Use different methods of advertising.

Banners, in my personal opinion, do not sell like
a classified ad, sales letter, sponsor ad and
personal recommendations. Use text links on your
website instead of the banners. If a person sees
the same banner on a hundred websites, why do you
think they should click on YOUR banner and purchase
the product? They won't! Give them a written
explanation of why this product will help them
and what benefits they will gain by purchasing
the products.

7) Answer all emails.

If you are promoting a product and have put your
stamp of approval on the product... people who
have not made up their mind will email you with
questions. Why don't they email the owner of
the product? Simply because you have gained the
trust of this person. You are doing the promotion.

Go back to Step number 1: If you have not actually
purchased the product, you will not be able to
answer the future customer's question.

If you have purchased the product and still can
not answer the question... still take the time to
answer the email and let them know you received
their email and you can not answer the question for
them, but you are forwarding their question to the
original owner of the product.

This goes back to Step number 5. Communicate with
the owner. If you have already made contact with
the owner of the product, you are going to gain the
respect from that person. Forward that email and
let the owner know that you could not answer the
person's question and they will be more happy to
do it for you.

8) Get to know your sub-affiliates.

If the affiliate program is more than one tier,
it means that people sign up under you and sell
the product. In turn, you receive a commission
everytime they make a sale. If you are involved
with an affiliate program that sends you an email
letting you know that someone signed up under you
and include their email address... USE THIS TO
YOUR ADVANTAGE!

Send an email to the new sub-affiliate saying:
* Welcome them to the program
* Let them know the importance of purchasing
the product
* Giving tips on how you advertise
* And yes, even giving them the actual ads
that you are using to generate sales
* Let them know they can contact you with
any questions

Remember folks, your sub-affiliates can be crucial
to your success. If you take the time to help
out your new promoters, that is just more money
in your pocket.

Becoming a successful affiliate can become a very
healthy income each month if you take the time to
learn these eight steps.

About the Author

Teresa Williams is the owner/editor of TopBizNews.com.
She publishes a very successful internet marketing newsletter
and has personally composed 3 free downloadable ebooks.
Get a copy of Top Biz News delivered to your email box
by sending a blank email to subscribe@topbiznews.com or
by visiting http://www.topbiznews.com

Affiliate Marketing Basics

2009-06-07T22:34:00.000-07:00

Affiliate marketing is one of the fastest growing ways to
make money on the Internet. You can become an affiliate
for any number of thousands of companies. Most of the
time it is quick, easy, and free to join.

To start with, you basically sign up as an affiliate and
agree to receive a commission on every sale that you refer
to the company. You can refer customers from a website,
newsletter, advertisements, or almost any other way that
you can think to promote a product.

Quick Setup

You can get started very quickly and cheaply compared to
almost any other business opportunity. Although it isn't
as easy as putting up some banners and waiting for the
checks to roll in, affiliate programs do avoid the
problems of inventory, shipping, customer service, or
variety of other issues that a business must address.

Second Stream Income

Affiliate programs make a great way to supplement you
income if you already have a product or service that you
are selling. Half the battle is getting people to visit
your website, so if you are already generating a good
amount of traffic, then adding related affiliate programs
and promoting them correctly can add a good sized stream
of income to your business.

Pick a Program

One of the most important steps in starting an affiliate
program is making sure that you sign up with the right
company. There are a number of factors to consider.

1. Commission - Some companies pay as low as 2% commission,
while others can reach upwards of 60-70%. Obviously you
aren't going to make any money promoting a product that
you receive a very small percentage of the sale. Your
best off making sure to get at least 20% of the sale.

2. Product Price - You also want to pay attention to how
much the product costs. You might make 50% commission,
but if the product only costs $6, then you are only going
to get $3 a referral. You can do much better, you should
be able to get at least $20 per referral for any good
paying affiliate program.

Find a product with both a decent commission and a decent
price. Your primary goal is making money, so make the
most of your time spent referring customers.

3. Two-Tier Programs - There are programs that pay you a
commission on direct referrals, and then they pay you a
smaller commission on all referrals from affiliates that
you signed up. This is a great perk, although the
previous two factors are more important.

4. Referral Length - You should also check out how long
after you referred a customer that you still get credit.
With advanced tracking systems in place, companies can
keep track of customers for a long time after they first
were referred. Some companies promise that they will
still give you credit for a year after you first referred
a customer. Since many customers don't buy on the first
visit to a site, this can also be a great perk.

5. Lifetime/Residual Income - This is actually a very
important aspect to consider. Many companies that charge
a monthly fee for their services will pay you a
percentage every month as long as they keep the customer.
For example, the hosting company I use, Host4Profit,
charges $24.99/month for its hosting services. They pay
their affiliates an even $10/month for every referral.
This gradually builds up into a steady, sizeable income.

6. Reoccurring Commissions - You can also find programs
that will pay you a commission for every purchase that
a customer you referred makes. For example, if i refer
Joe Surfer to a site, they will pay me for every purchase
that he makes, not just the initial purchase. The length
of time varies, sometimes you can get reoccurring
commissions for a month, a year, or maybe forever.

Pick More Programs

If you can make a lot of money with a couple of products,
wouldn't it make sense to increase your income by just
joining more programs? It sounds good, but it has major
flaws. Your income depends heavily on the traffic that
your site receives, and you are only going to be able to
convert a certain percentage of visitors to buyers of any
of your affiliate programs. Too many programs dilute
your conversion rate of visitors to buyers, and actually
has other negative effects.

If you join too many programs, you won't have time to
promote any one or few of them effectively. To be a
successful affiliate, you do need to spend time marketing
your programs. Instead of picking every program on the
Internet, you are much better off picking a few good paying
programs, and spending a lot of time marketing them.

About the Author

JC's website, Redlionbooks.com, specializes in advice about Internet marketing and web site promotion. Free access to articles and ebooks, learn how to market your product or service online at Redlionbooks.com

5 Pay Per Click Search EngineTips

2009-06-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

Pay Per Click tips will help you target specific audiences, reaching over 85% of all Internet users in a cost effective and immediate way.

Over the last 3 years we have seen a growth in the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Search Engine model. This was initially fashioned by Overture, but has quickly been followed by a whole host of Pay Per Clicks.

The concept is extremely simple. You bid on words that surfers who would be interested in your website's content would use to search on. For example, if your website was about gardening...you may bid on the words garden care or lawn care etc. When someone searches on the words garden care, the search results are returned in the order of the bids placed; so a website with a 60 cents bid would rank higher than one for 55 cents and so on.

Obviously, you will want to make sensible bids that your business can sustain. The best way to know what is affordable is to look at your website stats of visitors against your sales. If your profit last month was $1,000 and you had 400 unique visitors your profit per visitor (PPV) would be $2.50. If you had 20000 unique visitors your PPV would drop to $0.50. This is a rule of thumb as not all visitors are equal - some visitors are more qualified than others and visitors from PPC Search Engines are often the most qualified around. these Pay Per Click tips will help you.

PPC Search Engines are the best valuable advertising currently available. If you write a good website and expert title and descriptions with your listings, qualifying your visitors is a relatively direct task. How can you make the most of PPC search engines...great question and here are 10 excellent tips!

Bidding on low cost relevant words
Brainstorm of all those great little words that are relevant. These are a great source of qualified traffic. With research and creativity you can come up with hundreds of low cost search phrases targeting your potential customers for just a few cents each. When it comes to Pay Per Click tips, this is arguably, one of the most important to note.

Be Specific
Forget bidding on broad-brush words like e-commerce, gifts and shoes etc. Apart from being expensive they are unfocused...that means you will be paying for visitors who stay for a very short time before clicking away. If your website sells shoes be specific. Are they for men or women or even children? Do you specialize in leather shoes, maybe Italian Leather. Are you location specific, such as London or New York? Then tailor your bids accordingly.

Stick to Your Budget
Do the calculations and stick to them. What percentage of your visitors buy? What is the cost of product? and so on. Don't be tempted to start a bidding war against a Pepsi or Wal-mart! Set a bid cap based on your calculation of your visitors' value. You are only interested in showing a profit.

Pay Per Click search engine optimisation is a full time task, as bids change without notice. You can literally, sit in front of your screen and manage your bids on an hourly basis. Naturally, this is far from practical and of course time is money. Be disciplined and set yourself a time budget as well as a financial one. Will you monitor your bids once a day or week? Three times a day or even more frequently?

Bid at Smaller PPC Search Engines
Okay, Overture is the daddy, but prices reflect that. A visitor who searches at Overture is just as qualified as someone searching on the same words at any PPC Search Engine. Often the newer and smaller PPC Search Engines have less bid competition and represent good value.

Qualify Your Title & Description
After results have been returned. Make sure your titles and descriptions are focused to the type of visitor you want. This can actually increase your click throughs by 44%. Write your title and description so that they relate to the keywords that you are bidding for.
Often using the keywords in both the title and description will increase your click through rates. People will only click if they are genuinely interested - so you'll save money that would have been wasted from clicks of people who were just browsing your link. When it comes to Pay Per Click tips, this is arguably, one of the most important to note.

----------------------------------
Resource Box

Richard Baker is Director of Blue Fruit Ltd - a specialist Pay Per Click placement consultancy.

...overdelivering solutions at affordable prices

http://www.bluefruit.com
----------------------------------

About the Author

Richard is an expert in pay per click (ppc) management and optimization techniques. He overdelivers affordable solutions for clients.

Are you making customers an offer they can't refuse?

2009-06-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

I was reading an article in Forbes Global just before Christmas entitled 'The Undeaded'. The article considered the great number of software companies who have been losing millions of $ and eating into their cash mountains built up by raising equity funding in the late 90's. The software industry is of great interest to me and this made me think about the strength of their Sales Propositions. Are the companies and their products searching for problems to solve? Are their propositions delivering real business advantage for their clients?

The issue of preparing and developing strong and robust propositions which deliver advantages to the customer, is a common problem for companies and professional firms throughout the land - and one not always well addressed.

The absence of a strong, coherent proposition which benefits customers is often one of the weak links in building a successful and profitable sale and hence a viable business. A great deal of money is invested in the employment of salespeople, the introduction of marketing programmes, networking and other 'set piece' events to generate interest in a product or service but the return on investment is dramatically reduced because the proposition presented to the customer is weak, misunderstood and lacks 'beef' and 'sizzle'!

It's like providing a mountaineer with eight days rations for a ten-day journey. He will run out of energy before he climbs the peak. This equally applies to the businessperson who is unable to efficiently articulate his / her sales proposition with sufficient knowledge, empathy and understanding and consequently loses the sale.

The sales proposition must always be framed to meet the needs and wants of the customer. [A quick working definition of these terms: 'needs' are logically-based requirements; wants are deeper, emotionally-based desires. This is achieved first by asking in depth 'open' questions to discover the needs and wants of the customer. It is a great (but very common) mistake to launch into telling your potential customers your proposition before understanding the relationship between their needs and wants and your proposition.

What do I mean by proposition?

The proposition is built in detail by assembling the features of the product or service, together with the advantages these features deliver for the customer. The appropriate business advantages are listed alongside together with relevant proofs to support the claim. The stronger the proofs are in supporting the advantages, the stronger the proposition and the better the impression made on the potential customer. With a thorough understanding of the features, advantages and proofs associated with the proposition, the easier it will be to ask the right questions and discover whether your proposition matches the needs of the customer. There is a strong correlation between a successful sales result and a well constructed sales proposition, professionally delivered after (and only after) the customer's needs have been comprehensively understood and summarised.

Why not try this as a practical example?

Go to your local car showroom and show interest in buying a car and make a checklist to see if you are asked some of the following questions. These questions should be asked by the salesperson before he provides you with any information or explanation as to his sales proposition.

What do you use your car for?
How many passengers do you usually carry in the car?
How many miles do you expect to travel in the car per year?
What's your average journey mileage?
What kind of things do you need to carry in the car?
What performance are you looking for from your car?
How important is fuel consumption to you?
How important is luxury and comfort relating to your purchase?
Who will be the main driver of the car?
How important is reliability of service for you?
Are there any other things I should know about regarding your planned purchase?

There are many other questions, which could be asked to find out the needs and wants but I do not intend to cover them all in this brief article.

If the needs of the customer are to use the car for pleasure, to travel 6000 miles per year with an average journey of 10 miles and to carry one passenger occasionally, then speed may not be so important but low fuel consumption and low cost insurance might be.
With good questions he might ascertain that the main user will be my wife. Comfort and good quality stereo together with a good security system might therefore be important.
Can you see how by asking the questions you are building a profile of the needs and wants of the customer?

You are now able to ensure that when you ultimately present your proposition to highlight the features, advantages and proofs which match the needs of your customer, the proposition will become so much more meaningful and powerful in his eyes. Equally, in a worst case sense, if your product or service does not meet the requirements of the customer you will at least gain credibility by recommending another company or product.

My experience of visiting many car show rooms with my wife last year was not good. The salespeople asked very few questions. They supplied brochures, price lists but, critically, paid little attention to my wife who was the decision maker in this purchase as she was to be the main driver of the car. (This of course raises the subject of the decision making process itself but we will leave that for another day). What's your experience of buying a car?

The comparative test

The next test of the proposition is to find out how it compares with your competition? What are the real advantages to the customer of your proposition against the competition? What are the values of your company and proposition versus the competition? How do these values support and relate to the marketing claims of the product or service? How do these values support the price?

The elevator test

This is the 30-second explanation as to why the customer should invest his time in listening to your proposition. The sales person should really be able to pass this test. It should feel both natural and smooth. The salesperson should ooze confidence, enthusiasm and knowledge as to what's advantageous and distinctive about your company, product and services.

Why not try this out with three people from your organisation to see what happens? The question could be: Tell me very briefly why I should buy from your company? Remember they should be able to support their claims with strong proofs if asked to do so.

The reference and proof test

How many of your salespeople have information to hand about positive reference stories supporting the claims of the proposition? The stronger the proof of the proposition the stronger the case for it to be accepted. The spectrum of proof varies from the weakest, which is an unsupported verbal claim, to proof of someone with credibility personally using the product or service.

This reminds me of a true story about a glass company that launched a new range of toughened glass products. The product was given to all salespeople but one particular person achieved disproportionate sales success. The Managing Director called him for a discussion to find out why he was so successful. He explained that after finding out what the customer needed he presented his proposition and took out a large hammer from his briefcase, put the glass on the table, and hit it as hard as he could. This proof convinced the customer to buy by supporting the claims of the proposition.

The Managing Director in response bought all the sales team hammers and built this process into their sales approach, but at the end of the second year the same salesman sold more toughened glass than any other salesperson.

He was again called into the Managing Director's office to explain what he was doing to make him the top salesperson again. The salesman replied I knew you would be supplying all the salespeople with a hammer so I considered how I might make my proof stronger. I decided I would take the hammer out of the case put the glass on the table and ask the customer to hit the glass with a hammer.
Can you see the power of proofs in convincing the customer to buy?

The pricing test

How many salespeople and business managers can defend the price of their product or service by understanding and articulating the proposition supported by advantages, proofs and value to the customer?
The greater the value of the product or service to the customer the easier it is to protect the price and retain profit margin.
Remember (V) Value Added to the customer = (B) Benefits minus (C) Cost.

How many companies set their pricing by looking at the value of the proposition being delivered to the customer? I have attended many meetings where the Finance Director sets the pricing based on the profit margin he requires rather than looking at the value to the customer. Concentrating on preparing, well-constructed propositions can add significant profit to the bottom line and increase customer satisfaction by convincing the customer of the real value of the purchase.

The differentiation test

Why is your product or service different to the competition's? The more differences you have that are advantageous to the customer the more you can place a premium on the price. If you can't highlight any differences why should the customer buy from you?

Summary

If your sales people, business managers and directors are unable to understand, articulate and present your sales propositions in a professional, consistent and coherent manner with knowledge and enthusiasm then your marketing investment may be leaking like a burst water pipe.

A professionally crafted sales proposition that is delivered to customers in a consistent manner, with thought and enthusiasm, supported by knowledge and understanding of the product or service as to how it will be of advantage to the customer will increase sales, profitability and increase the return on your marketing investment.

Who has responsibility for Sales Propositions within your organisation?
How well constructed are your Sales Propositions?
How good are the skill levels within your organisation in terms of understanding customers' needs and wants and presenting your sales propositions in relation to those needs and wants in a way which conveys real, quantifiable business value?
How do your propositions match those of the competition?
How does the value of your product or service to the customer support your pricing?
How do you set the pricing of your products and services?
What actions are you going to take improve the quality and delivery of your Sales Propositions?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mike is an Accountant with 26 yrs experience of successful selling and marketing achievement in the IT industry.Having served on the board of many UK companies including Unisys and Acorn Computers, Mike now runs O'Riordan Lawes, a business consultancy working with CEOs to address the issues of improving business performance and is a Non Executive of Quantum, a leading company of sales practitioners specialising in improving sales performance.

3 PUBLISHING FOR TRAFFIC STRATEGIES!

2009-06-05T22:34:00.000-07:00

1) PUBLISH FOR OTHERS

Publish e-zines for other people for free. In return
for your work in designing, updating and gathering
content, request that your promotional ad be
placed at the top of each issue.

Their duties will be to promote and send out each
issue to their subscribers. It will give you a steady
flow of traffic and no cost exposure.

2) CLONE YOUR PUBLISHING

Create a free ebook on a subject related to your
web site or business. Allow your visitor the option
of getting a customized version with their ad included
to give away.

The benefit would be that their ad in the ebook
would make them work harder to give it away. Of
course, your ad would still be inside the free ebook.

3) NON TEXT PUBLISHING

Publishing does not just have to be text, it can be
graphics too. You could create free graphics to
give away to your visitors. Tell them they can use
them on their web site if they link to your site in
return.

You could also do this with web site templates,
backgrounds, borders, scanned pictures and art
work, divider bars, etc.

QUICK READ SUMMARY

1) Publish e-zines for others in exchange for a top
sponsor ad in the ezine.

2) Create customized free ebooks for others with
both your ads included so they're more committed to
give it away.

3) Create and then give away free graphics to your
visitors in exchange for them linking to your web site.

About the Author

Larry Dotson
Over 40,000 Free Business eBooks & More when you
visit: http://www.ldpublishing.com As a bonus, Bob
Osgoodby publishes the free weekly Your Business
Newsletter - visit his web site to subscribe and place
a FREE Ad! http://adv-marketing.com/business

Book Yourself Solid Key Number 2: Choose Your Ideal Clients

2009-06-05T06:34:00.000-07:00

Copyright 2005 Michael Port & Associates LLC

The Book Yourself Solid article series continues with

Key Number 2: Choose Your Ideal Clients

Your clients are an expression and an extension of you. When I first started out on my own, I would work with anyone who had a heartbeat and a credit card. Now I live by the red velvet rope policy of ideal clients. By defining my ideal clients increased my productivity happiness and I got more perfect clients by referral than I ever thought possible.

I was able to eliminate the painful negative energy and time spent worrying about challenging client relationships. I went through an intense period of exhaustion and I wasn't able to accomplish the highest good for my clients. You can't possibly be productive, effective or successful if you're working with clients that are not ideal.

MENTAL EXERCISE: For maximum joy, prosperity and abundance think about the human you are when you are performing optimally at your peakwhen you are with all the people who inspire and energize you.
Wouldn't it be great to spend every day working with super-cool people that are both friends and clients? It is completely possible once you identify who you want to work withand with absolute certainty determine that you will settle for nothing less.

I know this can seem really scary early on, but hang with me. Embrace the concept and trust that as we move through the seven keys, your fears and concerns will all be answered. Rest assured, once you define your ideal clients, you get to dumb your duds. I hereby, give you permission to release any dead wood in your calendar. You will then Book Yourself Solid and work with inspiring ideal clients with whom you do your best work.

WRITTEN EXERCISE Start by identifying specific characteristics that your ideal clients possess. Keep in mind your favorite clients - the ones you love so much you'd practically work for free. Here are my top five to get you in the mood.

- Bright (fun, lively and expressive humans)
- Courageous (dream big and aren't afraid to take risks)
- Resilient (come back for more even in the face of failure)
- Think big (they have high aspirations and their projects benefit lots of people)
- Naturally collaborative (they see the benefit of working with others to accomplish their goals)

Now, come up with your own.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Benefits of working with Ideal Clients:

- You do your best work
- You don't feel drained or tired
- You feel invigorated and inspired
- You connect with clients on a deeper level
- You feel successful and confident
- You know your work matters and is changing lives
- Current clients consistently refer new clients to you
- The magic of you sparkles and comes to life!

Congratulations! You just created a filtration system for potential clients. I'm sure you've heard the expression A. B. C. - Always Be Closing. Instead, I sayA. B. C. - Always Be Communicating! Let everybody and anybody know how you help people (your invest-able opportunities) and who your ideal clients are. Cool? Got it? Good.

Stayed tuned for Key #3: Cash In On The Brilliant, Creative And Quirky You!

About the Author

Michael Port is the President of Michael Port & Associates LLC and is known as the guy to call when you're tired of thinking small. To spend some more time with Michael and to think bigger about who you are and what you offer the world go to http://www.MichaelPort.com.

A Free articles marketing campaign is an investment that req

2009-06-04T14:34:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest causes for failure in any marketing campaign, is the lack of patience so many entrepreneurs display.

In a way it is not really surprising that most of us are not patient. The net is full of instant-fix solutions being advertised all over the place. Some are very workable but most of them are simply hype designed to get money out of impatient people's pockets.

It is also true that any online marketing campaign is supposed to take hold and work almost immediately because of the instant nature of the net.

However if you intend to use free articles online to promote your business, then let me tell you up front that it will not work instantly.

It will take time for your articles to take hold and gain the viral effect of getting re-posted all over the net, which is the real power of this promotional method.

I recently had a client who was very interested in doing an articles promotion campaign immediately for their web site. They were keen on using my services but started off by writing their own articles and posting them on as many sites as they possibly could. After only a week or two, they had completely lost hope and interest in the articles ever generating enough traffic and sales for them.

Naturally I made an effort to present the facts to this client, but he had made up his mind. He was convinced after such a short time that articles would not work for him. I felt great pity for them. They had even forgotten so quickly, that it was an article that had made them get in touch with me in the first place. Was this not proof enough to them that it worked?

Can you buy a certain stock then sell it again the following week simply because it lost value by a few cents? Can you invest in building a house and then abandon it in the middle because it is not coming up as quickly as you would like it to? You would be crazy to do either of these two things and yet some online entrepreneurs will not think twice about dumping some marketing campaign just because it doesn't work the way instant coffee does.

When I started my first online articles campaign for myself, I would often go for weeks without receiving any enquiry. Other times traffic to my auto responder and blog would slow down to a trickle. Then after a couple of weeks it would rise again to some high figures only for the surge to be short lived.

But I stuck to my program and it never crossed my mind even one day that I should abandon my investment.

Today I consistently receive very high numbers in traffic.

So how long should one have to wait for an articles campaign online to take effect? I would say you would need to consistently post 10 new articles every month for about 5 months before you can see high, consistent and regular flow of traffic to your site.

Whatever you do before you invest in an articles campaign, remember that you will require lots of patience.

About the Author

Christopher Kyalo is a writer/marketing expert who makes money online only by posting free articles. Get his free course at bizboom@freeautobot.com and visit his blog http://big-online-story.blogspot.com. He can be reached at strongwallafrica at yahoo.com.

Planning For Your Website's Future Get Search Engine Tr

2009-06-03T22:34:00.000-07:00

Five tips to effectively schedule your content.

In order to get traffic on your site you need content. It's that simple the more
content you have the longer visitors stay at your site and the more free search
engine visitors you receive. So should you just find out what content your
visitors like and publish it? No!

Try to get as much content as you can, then schedule it. PHPNuke and other CMSes
offer you an option to program a story to appear in the future. So it doesn't
matter when you write it, it matters when you publish it.

Here are five tips on how to schedule your articles most effectively:

* Seasonal If you have articles that is more effective in a season or near a
holiday. Then schedule it around that landmark so it will be more pertinent to
visitors.

* Correspond it to your site events- if your site is launching a new service
or product keep articles about the product to coincide with your launch.

* Maintain a consistent schedule- If you adopt a frequent schedule then your
visitors will visit you more often. Google likes this to and they will send their
FreshBot to visit your site often if you have consistently new content. The more
frequently you get visited the more free search engine visitors you'll cultivate-
especially for timely topics.

* Don't overload on one topic Schedule your articles so that you do not
display too many stories about the same topic in one period. While some of your
visitors may love it, other may not be interested in that topic and may decide not
to come back.

* Tease your visitors. Show your visitors what's coming in the future so they
are encouraged to come back. For example MetOpen offers an upcoming
articles section so visitors can see what we are offering in the future. Users
of PHPNuke can download
MetOpen's free Met Future Articles module.

Copyright 2004 Heshy Shayovitz. All Rights Reserved. Permission to reprint this article is granted as long as all text
above this line is included in its entirety. We would also appreciate your notifying us when you reprint it: please send a note to reprint@metopen.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Heshy Shayovitz is president of Metropolitan
Computer Solutions- a computer consulting firm specializing in giving small
business a big business presence on the internet. He received his MBA from New York University.

Advice for Web Purchasing

2009-06-03T06:35:00.001-07:00

I recommend that you be very cautious about purchasing anything on the
internet. Why? The internet is large, new and unprotected in many cases. It
is incredibly easy for a fly-by-night schemer to set up shop, defraud some
people, then move on without getting caught. And it's often difficult to
determine who is the good guy and who is the bad guy.

Not to mention the problems of credit card fraud, privacy invasion and other
unseemly attacks on your money and good name. Some of the dangers include:

- Your credit card numbers can be stolen by any number of means. These
credit cards will then be charged up as high as they will go. You are
legally protected from this kind of thing, but you have to report it quick
and you will not be able to use the disputed amount while it is being
investigated.

- Spammers can get hold of your email address and send you undesired
advertisements.

- Unauthorized people can get your personal information and use it against
you in some way.

- In extreme cases, people may use your social security number (and other
numbers) to gain credit in your name. This is called identity theft.

Here are some suggestions to help fight some of these things.

- Make sure you are using a secure link. This is easy to determine, as you
will see the https in the site address. Your browser may also display a
locked symbol.

- Do not ever use your debit card. Some banks say you will not be liable for
fraud, but that won't help in the short term with your checking account
empty. Use a credit card so that liability is covered with the banks money,
not yours.

- Get a small, $500 credit limit card for internet purchases and pay it off
each month. This way, your maximum exposure is $500. If someone uses it
fraudulently you won't be liable anyways as long as you follow the reporting
rules, but it's nice to limit even that small liability.

- Always use a credit card for purchases on the internet. If your number is
stolen it will be protected.

- Be sure you are on the site that you think you are on. Check the address
(URL) and make sure you've spelled it correctly.

- Don't give out more information than needed to complete the purchase.

- I'd keep a notebook with a list of what was purchased when. This would be
valuable if the product did not arrive as expected.

- Be sure to save receipts to your disk drive.

- Be careful of scams. If it looks too good to be true, it's probably a lie.

- If you are purchasing anything substantial, you might try checking out the
company's customer service first. You can call their 800 number or send an
email and see how long it takes to respond.

About the Author

Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This
website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your internet
profits, enjoyment and knowledge.
Web Site Address: http://www.internet-tips.net
Weekly newsletter: http://www.internet-tips.net/joinlist.htm
Daily Tips: mailto:internet-tips@GetResponse.com

Are They Stealing Your Commissions???

2009-06-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

Are They Stealing Your Commissions???
by A.T.Rendon
Copyright 2002
All Rights Reserved

First it was Smart Tags, and they came onto your web site
and using your Keywords, they stole your visitors.

Now these same FREE software people have managed
to legally steal your affiliate commissions!!!

It might be legal but it certainly smacks of theft and
of being just plain WRONG!!!

These online services are using their FREE software to include
within the bundle, a new type of software that will divert your
earned commissions into their own pockets.

We will call this type of software - Theft-ware.

With this software, commissions that should go to you when you
provide someone like, Amazon, http://www,amazon.com/, a visitor
via a link on your web site, the software makes it appear as if the
FREE software provider is the referring link rather than you.

This Theft-ware software, which apparently is currently being
made and distributed by about 15 companies, is said to be
perfectly legal, because they make users agree to this THEFT
of commissions within the FINE PRINT, which we all never
read in accepting the use of FREE software online.

Worst of all, and typical of these sleazy businesses, is the fact
that the average user of their FREE software is totally unaware
that this Theft-ware software is operating on their computers.

If you have downloaded any FREE software from Kazaa, of the
infamous Smart Tags scandal, Morpheus, WhenU.com, BearShare,
SaveNow, LimeShop, BuyerSport, TopMoxie, or LimeWire, just to
mention a few of these modern day pirate, then you may be losing
money right now!

Some affiliate estimate that they have seen a drop of 50 percent
or more in their commissions and we are just now learning why.

The deception is simple for these companies.

It all starts when you or I as consumers download FREE software
from the Internet with the belief that it is going to help us swap
music, photos or other files, or to find the best bargains online.

As you go through the process to install the FREE software, the
little window will innocently enough ask you to show support for
their FREE software if you will shop through an affiliate program.

What you and I as consumers are not being made aware of
specifically is that when you click, I Agree, our computer
is then branded electronically.

From that point on, all future purchases you make online will be
made to appear as if made through the affiliate link of the FREE
software distributor even if it was not.

This same FREE software thus cancels a purchase made through
YOUR AFFILIATE LINK by making it appear as if it was made via
the FREE software's affiliate link.

It is conservatively estimated that the Theft-ware distributors,
including Kazaa, Morpheus, WhenU.com, BearShare, SaveNow,
LimeShop, BuyerSport, TopMoxie, and LimeWire, have had their
Theft-ware software downloaded by close to 100 million
unsuspecting Web surfers, who thought they were being
treated to a great FREE piece of software.

The affiliate market online is estimated to be a $100 billion
enterprise so one can only speculate that these pirates have
stolen millions of dollars in commissions already!!!

Amazon, and a few of the larger affiliate network sites, have
blocked some of these pirates from profiting from this deception.

However, this problem is HUGE.

We can remove programs from our computer but even so, the
FREE Theft-ware program may REMAIN on your computer
even after the original FREE software is deleted.

This is a pervasive deception!!!

The companies distributing this Theft-ware FREE software argue
that when a consumer clicks, I Agree, thus giving their legal
consent to the terms of the agreement for use, when they then
download the FREE software, they are SOL, sh*t out of luck!!!

[ Please excuse the apparent language. :-)

Technically, it might be legal but do you think this is fair?

Personally, I feel that the deception speaks for itself.

Yes, it may be legal to deceive consumers into clicking, I Agree,
by hiding your intentions within the FINE PRINT of the agreement
but even a child could discern that doing so is WRONG.

And, quite unfortunately, there may not be any easy
remedy to this nightmare.

Certainly, as consumers, we have the right to REMOVE ALL
Software made by the offending companies from our computers
And further refuse to ever deal with these companies ever again.

To remove software from your PC, do the following:

Click the Start button.
Scroll to Settings.
Highlight and Click: Control Panel.
Double-click on the Add/Remove Programs.
Click on the Name of the Software to remove.
Click Add/Remove.
Close the Add/Remove window.
Close the Control Panel window.
And, you are done.

But, since the Theft-ware part of the FREE software may
remain on your computer even after deleting it, we are
ALL going to have to keep our eyes and ears open for a
viable solution that should come shortly from the Internet at large.

A.T.Rendon is an entrepreneur and published writer.
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About the Author

A.T.Rendon is an entrepreneur and published writer.
Subscribe to our FREE Business Classifieds Newsletter
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FREE Submit To Over 3.1 MILLION FREE Ad Sites - DAILY!!!
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Attack Of The Killer Google Zombies!

2009-06-01T22:34:00.000-07:00

I was walking along the beach front this week with the warm sunshine in my face. You would think I'd be happy right? Wrong! I was absolutely raging mad!

Why?

Because I can't stop thinking about people the world over who are turning into Killer Google Zombies!

Don't forward this email onto people of a nervous disposition because I really can't restrain myself any longer.

Picture the scene if you will...

[A conversation last week though it could be this week or the next - it happens all the time...

Anon: We want lots of people to find our website but it doesn't seem to be happening for some reason.

Michael: Can you tell me some of the methods you've been using to market your website?

Anon: Well really we're just waiting for Google to update and then we'll be fine. Once that happens our problems will be over.

Michael: What else are you doing to market your website?

Anon: There isn't anything else you can do is there?

[Michael slaps head..

**In Search Of The Holy Google Grail

Yes - it's the attack of the Killer Google Zombies. People that think Google IS the Internet. Google is not the Internet. Google is not the search engines. Google is one search engine. That's all.

There are millions of Killer Google Zombies out there right now just staring at Google looking to see whether they are ranked on page 124 or 125. Wasting their energy, efforts and life in pursuit of the Holy Google Grail - The Number One Ranking...

**The Single Best Way To Get Customers To Your Website

If there is one single and most-important fact I have learned in the past 9 years about how to get customers to your website it is this:

There is no one single way!!!!

If you're looking for the 'magic bullet', the 'ultimate secret', the 'hidden treasure' or any other cheese-tastic analogy that you care to mention - forget it. Stop looking for that one killer way to explode your website's traffic levels over night - it doesn't exist.

You need to start seeing the wider picture and leaving the Google Zombies to it. You need to try other search engines, try links, try online advertising, try developing partnerships with other websites, try viral marketing techniques, try dispersing your message on other people's networks, try creating multiple websites for different niches, try an affiliate programme, try getting listed in directories, try launching an email marketing campaign and try tattooing your website address onto your forehead.

Whatever you do please promise me you will try lots of different things and not turn into a Killer Google Zombie!

Michael Cheney

Get hundreds more proven, practical and painless internet marketing tips and tricks plus FREE internet marketing products worth 159 ($288) here: http://www.magnet4web.com

A ThemeBased Website Part 3 Choosing Affiliate Programs

2009-06-01T06:34:00.000-07:00

In parts 1 & 2 , I determined that developing a theme-based
site is a great way to generate income. It's going to be a
WINing situation for the search engines, my visitors, my
merchants and ME. I've chosen a theme that I know (or can
find out about) and love. I've found lots of keywords that
are related to my theme and have lots of ideas for good
content to offer my visitors. Now I need to find merchants
who sell products, programs or services that are
appropriate for my site and will fit with my content.

Once again, I'm going to look at my list of keywords.
Since people are going to use these words to search and
I've used them to write my keyword focused content for
each page of my site... it only makes sense that the
products and services I want to represent should also be
related to these keywords. That will help me to seamlessly
recommend the product within my content and really use my
content to presell.

There are several ways to find merchants.

Technique 1: I'll do a search on my keywords at several
of the engines - Google, AltaVista, Overture, or any of
the others. Then I'll have a quick look at the first ten
or twenty listings. If I use SiteBuildIt!, the Manager will
automatically show me ten related sites for each keyword.
(You can take the quick tour of SBI! at...
http://quicktour.sitesell.com/assist3.html ) Wherever you
get the listings, some will be merchants, while
other are content sites. (Of course some are always
irrelevant. Lots of room for my theme-based site!)
I'm going to take a look at the merchants' sites
and see if they have something I'd like to offer my
visitors and if they have an affiliate program. If so,
great. They go on my keep in mind merchant list for that
keyword. Next I can explore the content sites. Maybe I'll
find ideas for content, but I'm mainly here to see if THEY
link to any merchants. If so, I can click through and see
what I find. Can you see the beauty of this? I'm going to
have content ideas and possible merchants all organized by
keyword. That's going to make things pretty easy when I go
to build my keyword focused pages, no?

Technique 2: I'll do a search for each of my keywords,
plus the word affiliate, like this... +Italian wine
+affiliate. Or I can try this... affiliate wine. What
will come up are either merchants with affiliate programs
or content sites that are affiliates. Again, for the
merchants, I'll see if I like their product and affiliate
program. For the content sights, I'll check their links.

Technique 3: Now I'm going to check the directories.
There are a lot of affiliate program directories out
there. I'll check with a few of the best, like
AssociatePrograms.com, Refer-It.com, CashPile.com and
Associate-It.com. The directories list programs by
category, so I'll go right to the catagories that fit my
site theme and see if there is any program I like.
They often have reviews as well, which I'll check.

Technique 4: One more thing I could do is to join
affiliate networks. These networks provide merchants with
affiliates and vice-versa. It's a good place to get
exposure to a wide variety of merchants. I'm sure to find
some I haven't run across already, so I'll check to see if
any programs are featured that will work for me. I can
join Commission Junction, BeFree, LinkShare, and/or
ClickTrade.

That took a bit of work, but now I'm ready to narrow down
my choices and weed out merchants with less than great
products, or poor affiliate programs. I'm going to be
pretty particular. The products I choose to represent will
reflect on me. And the quality of the affiliate program
will be reflected in my commission checks. I want my
visitors to be happy and come back to my site. And I want
fair compensation for delivering such valuable, presold
customers to my merchants' sites.

In part 4 of this series, I'll explain how best to build a
theme-based site. Questions?
mailto:yourhelpline@mail.com

About the Author

Julie Georg is a consultant to individuals and small
businesses interested in establishing a web presence.
Step-by-step directions for building a theme-based site can
be found in the excellent, free Affiliate Masters course.
Blank email mailto:tamsassist3@sitesell.net

7 Warning Signs of an Unprofitable Web Site

2009-05-31T14:34:00.000-07:00

1. Selling To Everyone Means You Sell to No One
If you do not target your offer, it will confuse your customers. People are not patient. In a recent survey, 73% of people claimed to be insanely busy. If you do not develop a target customer profile and appeal directly to them, you will lose customers. And they will never come back to your site again.

2. Web Flea Market: Buy a Web Site or Get a Grocery Coupon
People are selling Web Sites, classified advertising, pre-paid legal services, long distance phone cards, and reminder services via affiliate programs...All on the same Web Page!

Think about that the next time you go to your grocery store. Do they offer to sell you a Web Site with your pickles? Flea markets diminish the value of what you are selling. Most people who own these sites tell me they depend on selling a high volume of low price items. How do I know this is a doomed approach? Visit their sites and see if there is any life there

3. Huge graphics that make your site take 30 seconds to open, which is all the time you have to sell your customer on staying.
The worst thing about computers is that they enable us to do things we just should not be doing. Graphic design is a skill; most people get some Paint program and have absolutely no sense of size, or what the graphic makes them look like. If you want to SCREAM AT YOUR AUDIENCE AND BE OBNOXIOUS, then use big graphics.

4. This site has xxxx number of visitors (How many bought?)
Does it really matter to anyone how many people visit your store? The sure sign that a store is visited often is the success and profits of the owner. All the rest is empty bragging.

5. Explaining what technology you use, frames, etc.
To this day it amazes me how people explain the technical design of their Web Page. If you use any reference to technology, you are distracting your customer. Keep it simple.

6. Download the following plug-ins to get this site working.
No one will spend ten minutes downloading the plug-in to see your cutesy message. Avoid plug-ins, with the possible exception of Real Audio.

7. No place to send an email, or gain a free report.
After spending all this time to create a site, most people forget to ask for inquiries. They just think people will work hard to contact them. Assume that a person will visit your site once, and never return unless you remind them to via email.

About the Author

Ash Kawa has written hundreds of articles specializing in helping people succeed when the competition is tough. President of a successful Website Hosting Company http://www.hostforwebsite.com [$0.75/month & Get Un-Limit Movies & MP3 Songs on your PC!

10 Reasons to Put RSS on Your Site

2009-05-30T22:34:00.000-07:00

10 Reasons to Put RSS on Your Site.

RSS and Blogs are the topics of the moment. Seems like
everyone is talking about it. Granted, there is too much
hype about RSS and Blogs.

But where there's hype - there's interest!

And with good reason - RSS is posed to be the break out
technology of 2005. Those who don't take full advantage
of it will be left behind.

If you need convincing - here are 10 reasons why you
should put RSS on your site:

1. It's easy and fast! Not to mention Free! You can use
a free service like eBlogger and publish your Blog and RSS
feed within minutes. You can even place or publish your
Blog/RSS Feed on your own site without knowing 'html' or
'xml'. It's all done for you!

Repeat - it's simple to use and very convenient. Publishing
your blog is only a few clicks away. (If you need help - just
use the link at the end of this article.)

2. Syndicate Your Content. RSS stands for 'really simple
syndication' and it's just another way of passing along your
information. With the popularity of 'MyYahoo' and the 'Firefox'
browser (which has a built-in RSS feed reader) increasing -
syndicating your content has gotten even simpler.

The next version of Windows is reportly scheduled to have an
RSS feature. If this happens - RSS will explode.

3. Get Your Content Indexed. Using blogs to publish your
content is a neat way of side stepping the regular indexing
procedure. It gets your content indexed very quickly in most
of the search engines.

Search Engines are constantly on the lookout for 'fresh
content' - these 'link rich' blogs are a good source of
this content. Because blogs are on specific topics - they
have a concentrated source of good quality informational
material to serve out!

4. Instant Contact. Blogs give you instant contact with
your readers or viewers. We live in an 'instant' society -
we want everything five minutes ago. Blogs provide this
instant gratification. Readers or viewers using MyYahoo
have an instant link to your information or postings.

RSS Feeds will instantly spread your information to all
interested parties - bringing in targeted traffic.

5. Building Your List. People who pick up your RSS feed
or add you to their MyYahoo site - become your subscribers.
You are really building your contact list. Have a popular
blog or RSS Feed and you can build a large targeted
contact list very quickly.

Might not replace your old opt-in email list - but it can
be a lucrative addition to it! Take advantage of all
those targeted contacts.

6. Link Building. Blogs are link heavens! Build your links
thru blogs. All these links will boost your link popularity
and increase your search engine rankings.

Plus, by giving viewers/readers a way of adding your RSS
Feed creates targeted links to your site. This reason alone
is why your site should have RSS!

7. Viewer/Subscriber Feedback. Instant feedback from your
subscribers or viewers is easy with blogs. Creating trust
and credibility is so much easier when there is immediate
communication between the two parties.

8. Keyword Content Building. Blogs are especially good
for building 'keyword targeted content' for your site. All
these links will boost your keyword rankings in the search
engines. Google places a high value on 'anchor text' and blogs
are a good place to put all those links.

You can also start different blogs targeted at specific
related keywords covering the major topics of your site.
Again, search engines love related keyword linking so you
can boost your site's rankings by using blogs.

9. Monetize Your Content. Blogs are an excellent way of
monetizing your content. Blog sites like Eblogger
(owned by Google) even encourages you to use the
'adsense code' in your blogs. If you have a popular
blog - this may bring in extra income.

Plus, publishing your ezine or newsletter in a blog
can bring in revenue for months if not years to come.
All those affiliate links and product promotions get
indexed by the search engines and become accessible
to a wider audience, i.e. market.

10. Because Everyone Else is Doing It! Might sound a
bit 'Jonesish' but you do have to keep up with what
other web sites are doing. To remain competitive -
you must put RSS on your site.

Sites without the 'AddtoMyYahoo' link or the 'xml'
button will be the exception rather than the rule in
just a few years - if not months. It's simply another
way of getting your information 'out there'. It's an
opportunity and advantage that you cannot afford to miss.

Proceed without RSS at your own risk!

Titus Hoskins

About the Author

To add RSS to your Site within minutes - download this
simple RSS Report and Guide.
Copyright 2005 Titus Hoskins of bizwaremagic.com.
This article may be freely distributed if this resource
box stays attached.

Creating an Effective PayPerClick Campaign

2009-05-30T06:35:00.001-07:00

Optimizing your website for the 'traditional' search
engines can be a daunting task, and one that many people
are either unable or unwilling to attempt. Fortunately,
pay-per-click search engines (PPC SEs) allow us to specify
exactly what key phrases we want to be listed under -- for
a price.

In brief, you simply id on the key phrases you want.
Your bid indicates how much you're willing to pay for a
click on your link - in other words, every time someone
clicks your link, you pay 10 cents or whatever you bid
on that particular search term. The highest bidder gets
placed at the top of the search results, the second
highest bidder gets the next listing, and so on. It's
a quick way to get exactly the search terms you want.

Obviously you want to maximize the effectiveness of your
pay-per-click campaign since you're paying for traffic!
Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Know Your Website's Conversion Rate.

What percentage of unique visitors to your website
actually make a purchase? For instance, a website that
makes 1 sale for every 100 visitors has a conversion
rate of 1%.

Although the quality of visitors you get from a pay-per-
click search engine may be higher or lower than what you
normally get through other marketing means, knowing your
CR will give you a aseline to help determine how high
you're willing to bid.

For example, let's say your conversion rate is 1%. Based
on this, you need 100 clicks on your link to make 1 sale.
That's $10 if your bid is 10 cents/click. Figure out
whether or not your profit margin is sufficiently high
enough to justify the cost. If so, are you willing to
go spend even more to get your link displayed higher in
the search results and possibly generate more clicks and
sales? Will the additional sales justify the extra cost?

2. Target the RIGHT Key Phrases.

The goal is to drive traffic and sales to your website.
Choosing the right key phrases is therefore critical: if
you choose a search term that no one uses, you won't get
any traffic. If you choose the wrong key phrase you may
end up with visitors who aren't really interested in
your products and services. Use Overture's Search Term
Suggestion Tool to help you research the appropriate
key phrases for your business:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

3. Qualify the Visitor Before He Clicks On Your Link.

You pay every time someone clicks your link, so make
sure he's a qualified visitor! Make good use of your
title and description to encourage visitors who are
specifically looking for a product or service like yours,
while discouraging people who are just curious.

For instance, you may sell professional website templates
-- but some people are only interested in fre templates
they can use for personal websites or small projects.
These are the people you *don't* want to attract.

4. Spend Time Writing Good Titles and Descriptions.

Create titles and descriptions specifically for each of
your search terms. They should speak directly to the
type of visitor you're catering to. For instance, if
you sell a variety of golf clubs, you might bid on
used golf club, discount golf club, and ladies
golf club. Use each of these terms in the title and
description to help catch the prospect's attention.

5. Send the Visitor Directly to a Sales Page.

Instead of linking to your home page where the visitor
may be presented with a variety of choices, link to a
page which asks the visitor to complete just one action.
That doesn't necessarily mean you have to send them to
a page where they're asked to make a purchase; you can
also direct visitors to your newsletter subscription
page, or a page where they're asked to answer a survey.

6. Consider Using the Smaller PPC SEs.

Overture is the best-known and most popular of the
pay-per-click search engines. However, you can still
benefit from the smaller ones as well, such as 7Search
or FindWhat. Even though you may not get the same amount
of traffic as you would from Overture, your money isn't
wasted since you still only pay for actual clicks on
your link. In fact, the bids are usually far lower on
the smaller PPC SEs. Take advantage of the cheaper
traffic.

7. Find the Bid Position that Offers the Best Value.

Many people try to get the #1 listing for their search
phrase. While the links in the top three positions may
get the most traffic, you can still get good traffic
from links on the first few pages. Some people even
argue that these visitors are more qualified -- they
took the time to read your link and are interested in
what you have to offer. They didn't just click your
link because it happened to be the first one.

Another thing to watch for are id gaps. As an example,
at the time of writing, Overture shows the following bids
for the search phrase golf clubs:

Position #1 - 54 cents/click
Position #2 - 50 cents/click
Position #3 - 41 cents/click
Positions #4 and #5 - 40 cents/click
Position #6 - 33 cents/click

Most of the above bids are separated by several cents
per click... if you wanted position #3, you could bid
42 cents (be sure to read the bids above AND below the
position you want... otherwise, in this example you
could end up paying 49 cents/click for position #3!).
However, position #6 is available for a mere 34 cents.
That may not seem like much when you're just looking at
a single click, but that's a difference of $8 for every
100 clicks! Your savings can add up quickly. You have
to decide whether the extra cost is worth being higher
up in the search results.

Pay-per-click search engines may not be the cheapest way
to promote your online business, but they can be a very
effective part of your overall marketing plan. Remember
that it's not how much you spend that's so important,
but rather how much return you get on your investment!

About the Author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Angela is the editor of Online Business Basics, a practical
guide to marketing a business on a beginner's budget. This
guide offers loads of instantly useable tips and links, in
a down-to-earth style that even marketing ewbies can
understand! A helpful Online Business Dictionary is included
too... visit: http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/article.html

Blogs: The Hidden Ace Up Your Sleeve

2009-05-29T14:35:00.001-07:00

If it wasn't for my blog, I wouldn't make any online sales at all.

It's true that I have a egular website, my so-called main website, which I first set up to sell my goods, in this case, men's and women's health products. It's my workhorse, the source of most of my revenue. Most of my sales resulted from generic listings in the search engines, particually Google.

That is, until Google sandboxed me.

Some of you may have heard of the legendary Google sandbox, sometimes called, The Goggle Sandbox Effect. What happens is that newly listed sites rank well for about two to three weeks, then suddenly drop off the radar screen. These new sites are placed in a type of probational sandbox, away from the eal sites.

Why does this happen, you ask? There are almost as many theories as there are SEO (Search Engine Optimization) experts. Many believe that this probation period is not related to the sites themselves, but to their links. It is believed that back link (pure link popularity) credit is placed in a reserve for a period of time (2-4 months) before it is applied to ranking and has an effect. The theory behind this is to combat PR (Page Rank) purchasers from dominating PR from the beginning. It is meant to deter spam websites.

Others believe this alleged filter that is placed on new websites is an illusion. These skeptics argue that the phenomenon merely echoes already existing Google algorithm calculations.

Whatever the reason, I got sandboxed, the rug pulled out from underneath me; shiskobobbed. The high-ranking and sales that I was receiving from my site suddenly plummented.

I was devastated. What's a poor boy to do now?

Desperate, I wrote to a number of online SEO forums, seeking advice from the SEO gurus. Some thought it was amusing and laughed in my face. Others offered advice such as forgetting about Google for awhile and optimizing my site for the other search engines (not a bad idea). Others thought that I should continue adding content, since content is king as far as the search engines are concerned. Still others thought I should try to gain as many quality links as I should, and this would help pull me out of the sandbox (it felt more like quicksand to me.)

I committed to doing all these things, but in the meaintime, what about my website and the products that I was trying to sell, the money I was hoping to make?

I kept hearing about blogs, those personal websites that are published on the Web. As you probably know, blogs contain philosophical reflections, talk about social issues, and opinions about everything under the sun. They are usually presented in journal style with a new entry each day, or almost every day.

Some people have found out that blogs can also be used to sell products. In fact, an entire industry has evolved around commerical blogging and ways to market them. Some of these commerical blogs appear in the same journal style as the most popular blogs, while others do not look any different from a regular commerical website.

At any rate, I decided to check them out. The fact that a number of blog publishers allow you to build and post your comments for free, certainly didn't hurt either.

I studied many of the blogs that are out there on the Internet, particually the ones relating to my niche. The more I read, the more I liked. I was surprised to learn that some of the top websites in my niche were actually blogs. They ranked high on Google and all of the other search engines. And no doupt, they were making sales.

Soon, I had a pretty good idea about how I was going to build my blog. I didn't want to copy the others, I just needed to get an idea of how some enterprising webmasters were creating them.

Within minutes, I had created my blog, published it on the Web, and began posting and tweaking it. I inserted some HTML code to monitor my stats, and continued to work on making it a better blog. I also continued to work on my other websites, so that whenever I do climb out of Google's sandbox, my site will get a good rating.

Not long afterwards, I made my first blog sale!

Elated, I built other blogs. The more lines you have in the water, the better chance you'll catch a fish, right? Each was slightly different than the preceeding one, but I still hawked the same products. All have links back to my main website, and all have brought me sales.

I might have been down, but thanks to my new-found knowledge about blogs, I wasn't out.

So, while I'm waiting to climb out of Google's sandbox, I have an ace in the hole and another up my sleeve that is continuing to make sales for me - my blog. Unknowingly, I had stumbled upon one of the best ways to get my products out there before the buying public.

What I had thought was the worse thing to happen turned out to be the best thing. Had Google not sandboxed me, I probably never would have discovered the awesome marketing power of blogs!

About the Author

Van Whitsett has tried (and failed) a number of Internet businesses until he hit the jackpot as an affiliate for Mensniche.
His website, Natural Male Enhancement has proven to him that it's possible to earn money online.

Are You DELIBERATELY Keeping Your Website Out Of The First

2009-05-28T22:35:00.001-07:00

Search engines are very difficult to completely understand. There are no complete explanations of how their ranking algorithms work. But the very fact that the average person does not intuitively know how to crack the search engine algorithms leads to all sorts of questions; Usually variations of:

How do I get my website to the top of the search engine results pile?

Now if you have been following my newsletter, you will know that search engine optimization is not magic or something equally difficult to understand. Instead, I learnt it as a step-by-step process and that is how I have always considered it. Nothing too fancy; in fact, I could probably summarize it all in the following points:

* An understanding of how search engines hink .
* Knowing what search engines want .
* Learning proven optimization techniques .
* Applying your knowledge time and time again (experience).

Of course, SEO is not explained by those four sentences, but what they do is that they give you a structure within which you can learn and carry out SEO on your business with exceptional results. In short:

Get it right, and do it better than your competition.

But what does this have to do with today's discussion?

Basically, when you have followed the SEO strategies to the letter, and are still not seeing your website rank anywhere near where it should be on a particular keyword, then you have one of the following problems:

* Your website may have been sandboxed (specific only to Google).
* Your website might be penalized or even removed from the index by a search engine for going against a stated guideline.
* A search engine might hink that you are spamming them.

In the first case, you will have to wait it out with Google, while consolidating on your positions in the other search engines by continuously building links and adding content. The second case will never happen if you follow the advice given in my lessons; if your website is penalized, compare what you have done with what I have told you, and you will probably find out that something has gone wrong.

However, like I said in the beginning, search engines are notoriously difficult to understand - and sometimes you can do everything right and still not be ranked correctly. Conspiracy theories apart, this is the part of the equation that search engines do not always get right. SEO experts usually term this as over-optimization , and like many SEO issues this one has a lot of debate on it in SEO forums about whether websites are actually penalized for over-optimization or simply banned for spam.

What exactly is over-optimization?

Over-optimization happens when your website is considered oo good by Google - either in terms of a sudden volume of backlinks, or because of heavy on-page optimization. In other words, if Google considers that your website optimization is beyond acceptable limits , your website will be red-flagged and automatically restricted or penalized.

There is a fine line between over-optimization and spamming, and it is on this line that Google can appear to err. However, this is not a mistake by the search engine - in fact, Google calculates rankings by considering thousands and thousands of different factors - and a lot of importance is attached to average rends within the niche / keyword range that a website is optimizing for.

The bottom line is that over-optimization is non-spamming search engine optimization that is misread by Google as being beyond acceptable limits, thus leading to a penalty in search engine rankings.

What criteria does Google use?

To understand why Google can consider certain websites over-optimized, it is important to factor in the criteria that Google uses to rank websites.

When fully indexing a website, Google does not just look at the optimization of the target website; it also compares the website with all the other websites that belong to the same niche / category / keyword range. Through this comparison, Google can then figure out the following:

* Is this website way more optimized than the current top ranking websites?
* In the past, have over-optimized websites been discovered as spam websites?
* What are the trends / acceptable limits for well-optimized websites in this niche/keyword range?

Since Google is automated, it cannot do what we do - look at the webpage and determine if the purpose is spam or delivering truly useful information. Instead, the search engine uses historical trends to predict what the acceptable limits of over-optimization are, and how likely over-optimized websites are to be found out as spam.

In other words, your website may be red flagged as being a potential spamming website even though your only fault might be that you were perfect in optimizing your website while your competition was left far behind.

Google takes both on-page and off-page optimization into account when checking for over-optimization / spam, and as such it watches out for over-optimization in all ranking factors - your backlinks and your tag optimization (meta tags, title tags, header tags) being most important.

A lot of what I am talking about becomes invalid if one tries any overt search engine spamming technique , such as stuffing your pages with keywords, white on white text (something I talked about in the first few lessons) or backlink spamming (building too many backlinks with the same anchor text in a short period of time.

But it is also possible that you have followed advice and still have your website penalized for over-optimization. The real question then is:

How can you avoid such penalties ?

Avoiding the trap of over-optimization

As I mentioned at the start of this lesson, search engine optimization can be boiled down to two simple steps:

* Getting it right and
* Doing it better than everyone else.

In the context of over-optimization and avoiding unnecessary penalties, this rings especially true. If you optimize your website within search engine guidelines and according to proven optimization practices, you have it right. While putting too little time on SEO is a serious mistake, the search for perfection within SEO is a time-wasting and fruitless effort. Too much focus on getting the page structure just right can divert attention away from the more mundane but equally more important tasks - such as adding more content or monetizing the website.

The next step is to eschew perfection and find out what your competition has done. Suppose that you are optimizing your website for the term landscaping. Which of the following approaches would you realistically choose?

* Go full-throttle on your search engine optimization, spending as much time as necessary to get maximum value out of each word, link and page in your website, so that you can get the highest ranking possible.

* Analyze the top 10 webpages for the term landscaping and understand what optimization has been performed on them (natural or artificial). Calculate the number of backlinks, check for authority inbound links - and once you have figured out what your competition is doing, and do exactly the same - only a bit more .

The first approach might mean that you are guaranteed a top position on the search engines, but has two problems - you will waste a lot of time and resources in this search for perfection and more importantly, your website may be flagged for over-optimization. On the other hand, the second approach does just enough to beat the competition - without pushing you or your budget to the limit.

Over-optimization is a phenomenon that is particularly difficult to figure out - how does a SEO expert really determine whether his new website is in the sandbox, penalized for over-optimization or just doing badly in the search engines? While trying to find out the real cause for your poor rankings may satisfy curiosity, you would be better served by following the second approach above.

Search engine optimization is a long-term, low-intensity process. You keep building links and adding content, so that eventually your website not only escapes the infamous sandbox but it also starts to rank really well on the search engines. And as for over-optimization - as long you follow search engine guidelines and don't go too far above your competition, you will be fine.

About the Author

If you liked the lesson and want to learn more about SEO, visit http://www.seoelite.com/7DaysToMassiveWebsiteTraffic.htm and get your free copy of 7 Days To Massive Website Traffic! right now!

Brad Callen
SEO Elite
http://www.seoelite.com

10 Reasons Why Your Web Site Isn't Getting the Results You N

2009-05-28T06:36:00.001-07:00

10 Reasons Why Your Web Site Isn't Getting the Results You Need...

By Stuart Johnstone
www.bankofknowledge.info

There can be numerous reasons why your web site getting the results you need,
but what I've tried to do here is list 10 fundamental issues which are
relatively easy to fix.

==>> 1) You don't accept Credit Card Orders.
Your web site must accept credit cards if you want to succeed online.
Approximately 90% or more of your customers will purchase by credit card, so
if you don't offer this facility you are ruling out 90% of your potential
business.

These days people live on plastic, partly because it's convenient to use.
Don't make ordering inconvenient by not offering a credit card facility. If
someone has to get out of their chair and write a cheque etc then chances are
you've lost them. They'll simply skip to the next site and use their card there.

==>> 2) You don't have Secure Online Ordering.
People are still a bit nervous about using their credit card online. Don't
get me wrong there are millions of people out there who order online with no
reservations, but there are still people who aren't 100% sure.

You must have a secure ordering facility otherwise you will loose every
potential customer who comes to your site. Would you type your credit card
number into a site which was not 100% safe?

==>> 3) You don't accept Offline Orders.
Make ordering as easy as possible, don't put any barriers in a customers way.
Offer the facility to order through various methods, as well as Online. You
should also accept Phone, Fax, and Postal orders.

Put your phone number on your web site. Have a printable order form on your
site which can be faxed or posted to you. Even include a Freepost address on
the form to make it that much easier.

Just because your business is online, it doesn't mean to say you can't have
offline facilities.

==>> 4) You don't have your Own Domain Name
If you don't have your own domain name you are loosing credibility. People
just won't take your business seriously if it's hosted on a Free Domain.

Another downside is that most free domains put their own adverts at the top
of your site, and there's nothing you can do to switch them off. The first
thing a customer will see when they visit your site will be adverts which are
nothing to do with your business. It's hard enough trying to keep someone at
your web site without distracting them with other ads.

You can now buy domain names very cheaply. It's well worth the small investment.

==>> 5) You don't have Quality Products or Services.
If you want long term success in any business, including the Internet, you
must provide quality products or services. This may seem obvious but you'd
be amazed at what you can find on the net!

Another thing to watch is that your product may already be of good quality,
but it is perceived to be poor. This can be caused by subtle things. You may
just need to add in some complimentary bonus products to complete the package,
or you may need to re-present you offer. If your product is great but the
presentation is poor, this will undoubtedly affect your sales.

Always answer the question what's in it for me? (me as in your prospective
customer).

==>> 6) Your web site is Confusing, Shoddy, or Lacks Credibility.
I've seen some shoddy sites out there, and the first thing which springs into
my mind is lack of trust. If a site is poor and lacks credibility it will give
an impression of an amateur business, and immediately raise doubts about trusting
them with your hard earned money.

Another fault can be that the site looks sharp and professional, but is Confusing.
You must realise that people generally have a short attention span, and even more
so when they are online. Don't waste all that time, money and effort getting someone
to your site and then loose their business because they either couldn't figure out
what was going on, or couldn't figure out what to order because they were bombarded
with offers. Focus on one Key Product at a time, and then introduce others later.

==>> 7) You don't give any Incentive to Come Back to your site.
Give people a reason to come back to your site. Generally you will not secure a
sale when someone visits your site for the first time, so you need to give them
a reason to come back. That way you get further chances to offer them something.
You can prove your worth, build credibility, and hopefully receive an order at
some point during this process.

Why not give away something for Free such as an ebook, article, report, or links
to valuable tools etc.

==>> 8) You don't Follow Up your Prospective Customers.
As I've said elsewhere, generally people will not buy from you the first time
they visit your site. The best way round this is to get their email address and
follow up regularly.

This is where you can make the majority of your sales, and your fortune! Collect
your customers email address without fail when they visit your site, then contact
them regularly. It costs you nothing to send them an email (except maybe the cost
of your internet connection).

The good news is that you can get autoresponders which will do this for you if wish.
You can set them to send out different emails within different time periods, and they
look like they've been personally sent by you. A must for all those internet couch
potatoes out there!

==>> 9) You don't Constantly Update & Improve.
The Internet is always moving and changing, sometimes at a very fast pace. So you
need to keep up to date and make sure you always have that edge, or at the very
least so that you don't fall behind your competitors.

Watch out for new marketing methods and strategies. Have a look at what the most
successful sites are doing and learn from them. Keep an eye out for new trends.

Don't let your site or your business become stagnant, otherwise you run the danger
of your income following suit.

==>> 10) You don't Advertise Enough...or at All!
If you don't promote your site you won't get any visitors. You could have the best
product and the most amazing web site in the world, but if no one knows it's there,
no one will come.

Loads of people throw up a web site and then think that people will automatically
come. They think that the internet is just swarming with people and that they're
bound to pass through their site just because it's there. Well, the internet is
swarming with people, but you need to a) tell them your site's there, and b) give
them a reason to visit. It needs to be a good enough reason to visit your site
rather than the thousand's of others out there.

Yours In Success,
Stuart Johnstone
www.bankofknowledge.info

Stuart Johnstone Reveals the Secret Proven Methods used by Online Experts.
Receive the Free Report, 115 Internet Marketing Techniques To Earn 66,667 or More
Per Year Online! today and learn how ANYONE with half-a-brain can build a multi-million
pound business on the Internet with a few simple steps.

==>> For a copy of our FREE Report simply email your Name to
freereport@bankofknowledge.info?subject=115Secrets
or visit www.bankofknowledge.info

About the author:

Stuart Johnstone Reveals the Secret Proven Methods used by Online Experts.

Information Marketers Quadruple Your Profits This Year!

2009-05-27T14:35:00.001-07:00

Last year, you FINALLY finished that ebook you'd been planning for years. You wrote a quick website, added some order links, told a few people about it, and amazingly, people started buying your ebook. You had successfully entered the realm of the information marketer.

Now let's look at how you can step into the big league, and at a minimum, quadruple your profits this year.

First, let's examine your backend. No, not that backend... but the products and services you offer your subscribers after they've made the initial purchase. This is actually something you should've flowed out even BEFORE you wrote your ebook. Your system should automatically offer other related goods and services to your customers. The hardest part of the whole process is making that first sale. After that, if you offer your customers what they want, they will continue to buy from you.

For the backend you have two options that you should consider. If you haven't developed any additional products of your own, then you should offer your customers related affiliate products. This is often the best option for many marketers because all you have to do is the promoting. All of the order fulfillment, delivery, and customer service headaches are handled by someone else. Just locate high quality products that are a perfect match for your customers, make them aware of the products, and cash affiliate checks.

Your second option is to develop more of your own products. This isn't as hard as it first seems. When you wrote that ebook, you probably did a lot of research. Turn the research that you did for the ebook into other similar products. The secret... is just capitalizing on the fact that people have different preferred methods of digesting information.

Some people prefer print books, some prefer audio, some prefer video, and others prefer workshops (experiential). If you fail to offer your information in all of those formats you're leaving money on the table because you're ignoring entire segments of the market which often only buys information in their preferred format. Ebook buyers may insist upon that format because it's generally cheaper, and they can get instant downloads.

Sometimes, the different formats are a natural product progression. It's a way of offering more and more comprehensive versions of your basic product. Different customers will be ready for different levels of product. They will buy different products as their first purchase. Some will even buy ALL of your products!

Assuming your ebook is more than a compilation of affiliate links thinly disguised as an ebook, you should already have the core information for a full line of products. You offer the different products at a range of prices because your customers also have different price sensitivities. Here is the progression:

- Offer the ebook - perhaps priced below $50. Think of that ebook as a lead generator. It's bringing in highly qualified leads and helping you to build a list of people who have demonstrated a willingness to pay to solve their problems.

- Perhaps turn the ebook into a print book. Having an actual print book separates you from those who only have an ebook since most ebook authors don't have enough confidence in their work to actually have it printed up. You can use a print-on-demand publisher if you don't want to have hundreds, or thousands, of copies printed up at first. Here's the print-on-demand publisher that I recommend:

http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=146382

Although a print book is a step up from an ebook, a print book often doesn't command a much higher price. This is because people are conditioned (by the bookstores) to pay a certain price for a book. In order to get much more than that price, you have to conclusively demonstrate that your book contains unusual or hard to find information. Still, an actual printed book is an important credential.

- Offer audio in the form of MP3, audiocassettes, and audio CDs. The physically delivered forms will command a higher price than the digitally downloaded version so offer both. Offer the MP3 for those who want instant gratification. To create your audio, all you need to do is set up a teleconference where you discuss, or expand upon, the material in the ebook. You can also invite other experts on the topic to join you to generate a product - for all the experts involved to market. Record the teleconference and have it converted into the various audio formats.

You can market attendance to the teleseminar itself as a separate product. That way, you're getting paid to produce a product. NEVER conduct a teleseminar without recording it. The information shared in these events are pure gold nuggets that people will happily pay for. Even if the recording isn't something you want to sell, it can make a nice bonus to offer with another product.

For an added value product you could have the recorded teleseminar transcribed. Offer the printed or PDF transcript as a bonus with the recordings, or offer it as an upsell.

- Conduct live workshops on the topic of your ebook. Use the chapters to develop an outline and to create PowerPoint slides to use. Record the workshop and produce videotapes and DVD's to offer your market.

- Package any combination of audiotapes, audio CDs, DVD's and videotapes with a workbook comprised of your notes, transcripts, or the text of your ebook, and call this a course. This course will easily sell for $197 to prices over $1000 depending upon how you position it in the marketplace.

- Offer your content through a membership site focused on your niche. Charge for access on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. With a membership site you will need to continuously add content or make changes to keep it from getting stale. To see how I've set up a successful membership site, check out: http://TheRealSecrets.com

As you can see, the content of that simple ebook can easily be turned into a product worth over $1000. Most ebook authors will stop with just the ebook though.

Most ebook authors will never offer their customers upsells at the order form! However, since you'll have a complete line of products, you WILL offer the person, initially interested in buying just the ebook, the more expensive forms of the product. Many of them will upgrade right at the point of purchase. That's why fast food restaurants offer to super-size a meal or add fries. Offer them the regular, deluxe, and platinum versions!

After you've made that initial sale, you need to follow up with the customer and offer them additional, related products. Don't ignore the most valuable asset in your business - a customer who has proven that he is willing to spend money on products like yours. As that customer's circumstances change, he WILL be interested in upgrading and getting other related products. Don't ignore that fact.

Your system, even before you wrote your ebook, should have flowed out what else you were going to offer your customers after the purchase... and at what point in time. As you're writing the ebook and developing the upgraded products, you should also be developing a series of autoresponder messages to make your customers aware of your additional solutions to their problems.

Read back through this entire article with a pen in hand. Make notes of how you can and will expand upon that ebook or info product that you've already created. Then just do it. You'll easily quadruple your profits this year. Do it right, and the increase could be astronomical. It's all just a matter of giving your hungry market of proven buyers what it wants.

About The Author

Willie Crawford is a corporate president, published author, seminar speaker and host, tele-seminar speaker and host, retired military officer, karate black belt, master network marketing trainer, and lifetime student of marketing. He shows people how to actually generate substantial income on-line using very simple, easily modeled systems. An example of such a system that you can study and duplicate is at: http://ProfitMagician.com.

Are You Wasting Your Time With Free Ezine Ads?

2009-05-26T22:35:00.001-07:00

There are lots of ezines (newsletters) out there that offer free classified ads to new subscribers (and many even offer free ads on an ongoing basis).

This can be a nice little source of free traffic and exposure for your website/ebook/ezine but, if not handled properly it can have its downside.

The biggest problem is that, by joining a whole plethora of ezines your mail box risks becoming very crowded very quickly, and it's easy to become overwhelmed with it all.

This is especially true if some of those ezines send out messages every single day -- as many do.

To get around this, and to keep your free ezine advertising campaign under control, follow these steps:

STEP 1. Create a separate e-mail address for your ezine subscriptions (e.g. myezines@.....).

STEP 2. In your email software (e.g. Outlook Express) create a folder (directory) called 'freeezineads'.

STEP 3. Using your e-mail software set up a rule that sends all mails that arrive to your e-mail address 'myezines@....' to the folder called 'freeezineads'.

STEP 4. Prepare the free ad you want to place in the ezines and keep a copy of it handy in a text file.

Different ezines have different rules about the size of ad they will accept. Study each one carefully and be sure to comply with all their submission guidelines.

You may also want to consider the mood and tone of each ezine, and create different versions of your ad for each one.

STEP 5. Submit your ad to each ezine editor. Be sure to double-check that you've complied fully with their submission guidelines.

STEP 6. For those ezines which give you a one-off ad, it's time to re-assess their value to you. If you don't find the content useful or interesting, you should unsubscribe rather than let it clog up your 'freeezineads' folder.

Remember, though, if the ad in that ezine drew a good response from its readers, you can always check out their advertising rates and see if it's worth paying a few dollars to place your ad again (or, if you're sneaky, you could try re-subscribing at a later date and doing it again, making some changes to disguise your wicked deception:-)

STEP 7. For those ezines that allow free ads on a regular basis, make a list of all the submission deadlines and make it part of your regular marketing routine to check that list and see if you're due to place an ad.

Finally, as you continue placing regular ads with those ezines, be sure to continue measuring their effectiveness. In many cases you'll appear in the middle of 20 other ads, so it may not bring in much of a response rate.

Likewise, the response rate from each ezine is likely to drop off over time -- especially if you don't vary your ads.

Decide for yourself whether it's worth your while continuing and be sure to try out different ads to see which ones work best with that readership.

And there you have it, a pretty straightforward approach to keeping on top of things when it comes to free ezine advertising.

About The Author

Michael Hopkins is owner of BizzyDays eBook Publications.

Download Brand New Original eBooks for FREE at:

http://www.bizzydays.com

Download The eBook Publishing Success Package at:

http://selfpublishing-ebooks.htm

contact@bizzydays.com

3 Steps to Multiply Yourself Across the Web!

2009-05-26T06:35:00.001-07:00

The real key to generating profits with minimal
work is to learn how to multiply your efforts to
get your message in front of thousands of potential
customers!

It is a simple concept that money-driven marketers
have used to put their businesses in overdrive
and make tons of cash with very little effort.

Create a system that sells your product effectively,
then duplicate that system many times over
and basically double your money each time.

Think if you had 300 visitors per day, with a 2%
sell through, selling a $49 product. That equals
out to about $8,800 per month, give or take.

Now think if you could just duplicate that by
multiplying yourself across the Internet. The
idea is to do it without putting forth that much
effort.

Anybody can duplicate themselves simply by
working twice as hard, or twice as long. But
who wants to work that much?

Below is a 3 step plan that I like to use to
multiply my marketing efforts all over the
net. Try it out for yourself and I bet you will
be pleased!

1) Start an affiliate program

An affiliate program is probably the easiest way
to multiply your marketing efforts all across the
Internet risk free.

Start an affiliate program and make it a significant
part of your marketing strategy to generate
traffic. Put forth some time and make your
program a big hit, not just another program.

Set up your program to make it as easy as possible
for affiliates to make a ton of money, whether
they are newbies or professionals.

The more money your affiliates make, the more
money you make. And the easier it is for your
affiliates to make money, the more they will
promote and get others to promote. So don't
just throw up any affiliate program, make it an
incredible way to earn an income!

Here are a few things to remember when creating
your affiliate program:

- Choose a professional software that gives affiliates
commissions on all payment options (online orders,
mail in orders, fax orders, etc..) Recently, affiliate
programs who are not doing this are getting a lot
of ad mouth.

- Give reasonable commissions (25% and up)

- Give affiliates as many ways to link to you as
possible, and make it a simple cut and paste procedure
for them.

- Tell them exactly how to make money promoting your
product!

These are a few key ingredients to a successful affiliate
program. I will most likely be writing much more about
affiliate programs in this private program as there
are a lot of things to be discussed!

You can run your affiliate program with the Little Salesmen
Affiliate System at: http://www.cgitoolbox.com/package.html
It will allow you to easily do all of the above!

2) Create an effective promotional strategy

Devise a plan that will bring visitors to your website,
and that your affiliates can plug into their marketing
as well.

You want to create an effective advertising strategy
that will work and produce profits, and that you can
duplicate all over the net by letting your affiliates use
the same action plan as well.

Choose the methods that you want to advertise with
(banner ads, pay per click ads, etc..), choose how
frequently you plan to advertise, perfect the system
until it produces excellent profits, and then tell your
affiliates about it and let them do the same thing.

This is a simple process that can really take off and
start putting a ton of cash into your pocket!

3) Do an ezine ad blast campaign

Once your affiliate program is all setup and ready to
go, you need to generate a good chunk of affiliates
to get you going. Your first 200 affiliates will be the
hardest to get, so you will most likely want to advertise
the program by itself to generate a decent sized affiliate
base.

Once you have about 200 or so affiliates, the ones
who advertise will start bringing in more affiliates for
you through your website (and especially if your
affiliate program is 2 tier) and it will begin to
snowball!

I suggest picking about 10-20 or more ezines that
accept sponsor ads and solo ads and doing an ezine
ad blast about your new affiliate program.

Write an ad that tells about your affiliate program
and send it out to a bunch of ezines and newsletters
to generate a good starting affiliate base.

There are hundreds of thousands of ezines out
there with millions of subscribers that you can
advertise to. All you have to do, is find them and
you're off!

Once you have your affiliate program setup and
affiliates start promoting your website, you will
definitely see an increase in profits! It is a sure-fire,
risk free way to multiply yourself all across the
Internet!

See you at the bank,
Wes Blaylock

About the Author

Wes Blaylock
Here's Your Chance To Learn How A 21 Year Old High
School Drop-Out Pulls In Thousands Per Week, Every
Week With Specifically Designed Cashflow Strategies!
Click Here: http://www.InstantVisitors.com/?ab

Best Ways to Promote Your Website for FREE!

2009-05-25T14:35:00.001-07:00

So you just built your prize website. You put weeks of work into
making the best site possible. Everything is perfect.

So, you wonder, why is nobody coming to my site. The answer is
simple: You Must Promote!! Promote everyday and then promote
some more.

There are many ways to promote your website that will cost you
nothing. Here are some of the best ways that I have found.

*Link Exchanges

Set up a link exchange page and find sites that are complimentary
to yours. Email the webmaster and explain why you want a link
exchange. Tell them a little about your site and invite them to
take a look. Be selective about which sites you put your link
on. More often than not, the webmaster will exchange links.

You can also get on some link exchange email lists:

0ne4All-LinkExchange-subscribe@egroups.com

LinkTogether-subscribe@egroups.com

LinkTrader-subscribe@egroups.com

*Message Boards

Get involved in message boards. Don't just post an ad and never
come back. Ask questions, answer questions, and get involved
with the group. Many people have had alot of success with this
method. You can search over 310,000 forums at:

http://www.forumone.com/index.php

*Publish an Ezine

If you are serious about your business you should definitely
start an ezine. You want to provide quality information as well
as updates and information on your site. This will be one way to
gather emails and keep your potential customers coming back.
There are many sites that will help you get started with an
ezine.

http://www.e-zinez.com/
http://www.web-source.net/web/Ezines/
http://www.zinebook.com/publicz.html
http://newslettercoach.com/
http://ezine-tips.com/

*Search Engines

You should manually submit to the top search engines. You should
also get listed in the minor engines and any directories you can
find on other sites. Get listed in as many places as you
can(except possibly FFA pages). I prefer not to place my ad on
some of these FFA pages. Here are the top search engines:

Yahoo - http://www.yahoo.com

Alta Vista - http://www.altavista.com/av/content/addurl.htm/

Excite - http://www.excite.com/info/addurl/

Lycos - http://www.lycos.com/addasite.html/

Hotbot - http://www.hotbot.com/addurl.asp/

Infoseek - http://infoseek.go.com/AddUrl?pg=SubmitUrl.html/

Northern Light -
http://www.northernlight.com/docs/regurlhelp.html/

WebCrawler - http://www.webcrawler.com/info/addurl/

Do not submit to these too often, you could be banned. Every
three to four weeks is often enough.

*Announcement Lists

There are hundreds of announcement list where you can announce
your website or your ezine or business opportunity. Make sure you
follow the rules for submitting your ads to each list. You can
find
some of these lists at:

http://www.egroups.com
http://www.listbot.com
http://www.globelists.com
http://www.milomail.com

When you have a website or ezine, you have to spend a lot of time
promoting. As you promote, you will learn more about the
different ways you can do this on the internet. You must keep at
it and do not give up when things look bad. It takes time to get
your business established online. Doing these things I have
listed will help you spread the word!

About the Author

Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com
MyOwnEzine.com is a website, ezine and service which
provides the resources, tools, guidance and more to help
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Blocked Stumped And Stuck: 12 Prompts To Get You Writing!

2009-05-24T06:35:00.001-07:00

Beginning writers often wonder how to start writing. It's theworry they get themselves into right away that mostly hindersthem from getting anything written down.

Experienced writers often get stuck in the middle of their novels,stories or articles. They sometimes agonize and worry about whatto write next and that's how they are delayed.

Beginning and experienced writers and the writers in between cansometimes fall into the trap of getting themselves locked.

So here are 12 writing prompts you, the beginning writer or theexperienced one, can use to start off your writing.

PROMPT # 1 I write because... Think of as many reasons as you can. Any reasons you know and feel you should and could write, and why you write. Then from your list, see if you can turn your reasons into an essay, a story or a poem.

PROMPT # 2 Sit still for five minutes. Close your eyes and listen. Don't think, just listen. What sounds do you hear? Is there music? Rustling leaves? Is your TV on? After five minutes, write down all the sounds on a piece of paper. If you can't think of the correct words for the sounds, write how they sounded (example: bbzzztttt for something you heard). Now use the sounds on your list to create sound poetry.

PROMPT # 3: Use this prompt to start off your story: When the dust settled, he saw...

PROMPT # 4: Quotes are powerful writing starters. They evoke emotions, insights and inspirations for any writer. What's your favorite quote? It may be something a famous dead person said, or a line in a song, or a passage in the Bible. Write the quote on top of your page and write your interpretation of your favorite quote. You can inspire, motivate or even impart a lesson.

PROMPT # 5: When was the last time you received a letter? Or a postcard? Who sent it? What did it say? Did you reply to the letter? Write yourself a letter. Pretend that you are somebody else. Put yourself in your neighbor's shoes, or your old friend's shoes. If you were them, what would you want to tell yourself, or want to know about yourself?

PROMPT # 6: When you ride a bus or a car in one of your trips, what do you do? Do you sleep during the trip? Do you stare out the window and watch unseeingly the view? Or do you take it all in -- the greenery, the buildings, the people, the colors, the hues, the clouds? Recall the most recent trip you've had. Where did you come from and where were you going? Why were you going there? How long was the trip? What did you see on the way? This short exercise will help you with your power of recalling details. The more you recall, the more detailed your writing will be. Do this exercise on a regular basis and you will be able to write with good use of details.

PROMPT # 7: Watch your favorite movie. Afterwards, experiment on giving it different endings. If it's a romantic movie with a mushy happy-ending, why not re-write the ending and say, have the guy end up with the other woman? Or if it's an action film, ask yourself what would happen if the hero got killed. The thing here is you have to think of a different version for the movie's ending.

Prompt # 8. Imagine you're walking in a mall and all of a sudden, a woman grabs you by the hair and starts a catfight with you. What would you do? Would you fight back? If you're a man, think of what you'll do if another guy punched you on the nose for no reason at all. Would you punch back? Describe the fight scene.

Prompt # 9. Recall the last dream (or nightmare) you had. Describe the dream in detail.

Prompt # 10. If you were an animal, what would would you be? Why?

Prompt # 11. When you were in gradeschool, what was your most hated subject? Why did you hate it? Do you still hate it? Why or why not? Did the teacher have anything to do with it?

Prompt # 12. Put on your favorite CD or tape. What music comes out of it? When you listen to it, what do you feel? What comes into your mind?

I hope the prompts I have created for you will help you get thosewords out of your head and onto the paper.

Drop me a line and share with me your writing if you are inclined.Until then, great writing to you!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shery Ma Belle Arrieta
mailto:publisher@ewritersplace.com
Shery is the creator and author of the exciting
new series of ebooks for writers, SEEDS: Ideas for the Everyday
(Non-Fiction) Writer. You can download a FREE sampler at
http://ewritersplace.com/seeds.html. The July SEEDS ebook
contains 82 idea seeds, all based on historical events.
Visit http://www.thepublishedwriter.com/report1002.html.

8 Ways To Promote Your Affiliate Products

2009-05-23T14:35:00.001-07:00

Many affiliates fail in affiliate marketing because they limit their marketing strategies to placing referral links in their web sites, distributing links to business sites through multiple emails or posting their links to other web pages. Doing any of these alone would not guarantee sales and thus, your commission.

You have to exert effort to promote your affiliate products and make yourself ahead of the thousands of other affiliate marketers who are selling the same products in the Internet. There is actually no perfect sure-win get-rich-quick scheme or formula in affiliate marketing; but using tried and tested ways to promote your affiliate products can be of great help. The following are eight promotional techniques used and proven to be effective by experienced affiliate marketers.

First, provide visitors of your website enough information about the product. Aside from your website design, the content of your web page counts a lot in capturing the interest of the guest. Your web pages must contain factual and objective articles on the product, such as product reviews. In the informative articles, state the products' special features, benefits and advantages over other brands of its kind. Take note, you are not selling but informing.

You are trying to establish the value and desirability of the product and thus, convince the visitor that the product matches his needs and wants. He will then follow the link and complete his purchase. Spice up the content of your web pages with statements like And not only that, there's more.. that does not only create suspense but likewise hold the interest of the reader to know more of the product. There's no perfect product, of course, so you can also reveal some of its negative attributes but don't let them overshadow the good ones.

Second is through the use of testimonials and endorsements from respected or relevant individuals who are using the product. This sounds like a familiar marketing strategy but this still works. These testimonials validate the information you are presenting about the product; this way, you build confidence and trust of the client.

In addition, you exude an impression that you are an expert in the field since you are able to prove that the product and services you are offering really works as assured. Remember that your prospects are also conducting researches on their own so make sure you can back up every claim with facts and figures.

Next promotional strategy is through marketing banners. Make these banners attractive enough for visitors to click them. However, don't overuse banners as they can make your site messy, too. Webmasters say users generally do not have negative remarks about banners. In fact, they appreciate that they can shop through the site they frequently visit.

Others, however, find crowded banner ads annoying, so limit your use of banner ads. The fourth is offering newsletters, which guests of your site can opt-in to. In the newsletter, you can place informative articles, advertisements, affiliate program links, news and features. In this way, you can regularly inform them of the hottest products available or you can get their interest to check your site every now and then.

You can add to your site a forced opt-in page, the fifth most effective marketing strategy. Here you may put an emphatic headline, a problem, an offer, which is a solution to that problem and an autoresponder opt-in box. As the visitor signs up, he is directed to the business site, while you increase your highly targeted mailing list.

Remember that signing up signifies his interest, so it's not a waste of time sending emails to that possible buyer. Statistics show that most sales are generated from second and third mailings, so follow up. Using the same mailing list, you can also promote affiliate products through hank you emails.

If emailing doesn't work well for you, then try the sixth way to effectively promote your affiliate products, using advertising services like Google AdWords. The Google AdWords helps you meet your marketing goals in a fast, effective and easy manner. Through this, your own ads are connected to a large number of users who are exactly in need of your products and services.

After you have created your ads, you can see them on Google right away and many buyers online likewise can. You get quick response to your ads and you get to advertise with Internet users who are actually interested in buying. You can also define or choose your target market area, allowing you to get the best possible results.

Although you are not involved in the actual selling process, you are responsible for referring a customer to the merchandisers' business website and convincing him to buy so you are sure of your commission.

The seventh most effective way of promoting the product and compelling a visitor of your website to go to the merchants' site and buy is to tell something about the price. Higher-priced items give you the most commissions but they are hard to market since customers always have the propensity to go for the lowest priced.

But you can work on this by breaking down the total cost and putting it in words to make it appear cheaper. Instead of stating the lump sum, state how much he has to pay in affordable installments or how much dollars or cents he has to spend everyday.

Lastly, you may want to be extra generous to your prospects by giving them bonuses. Add-ons and freebies are always inviting, especially when they match the interests of the buyer. It doesn't have to be expensive; you can even just customize it, say a CD with freewares and tips and list on the best online resources on interesting topics. Make it unique so your prospects can't easily price it and compare it to the offers of your competitors. Be creative and know what your buyers want. For sure, you'll get what you want, too.

About the Author

This article was authored by Jason Gazaway. This 22 year old, 'regular' college kid was able to quit his 7-4 job because of his affiliate marketing business. He now wants to help others and show you how he did it!

For more FREE information, please go to:
Affiliate Students

Unsurrendered Love Lives ...

2009-05-22T22:35:00.001-07:00

In I Peter 3:15, we are admonished to live a surrendered life; one that will set apart Christ, as Lord in our hearts. This means we're to allow Him to exercise His Lordship over every area of our life.

Perhaps one of the hardest things for an unmarried Christian to yield, to the Lord, is their love life. Scripture abounds with examples of men who were unwilling to surrender themselves, completely, to the Lord, in this area, and how they suffered because of it. Romans 15:4 says, Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us
Let's look into the lives of Solomon, David, Samson, and Jacob (men, with unsurrendered love lives) and see what God would have us to learn from their experience.
Moreover, let's examine our own lives as well, to discover whether or not we have truly surrendered our all.
First of all, consider Solomon. God gave Solomon a discerning heart that enabled him to distinguish between right and wrong. To this, He added great insight and a breath of understanding as measureless as the sand of the shore. The Bible says there never was nor will there ever be a man with the wisdom of Solomon. (I Kings 3:9-12; 4:29-31).
Though he was wisest of men, he was still very foolish. For, he allowed his involvement with heathen women to take precedence over what he knew to be right. God tried to warn him. But, he wouldn't listen. He chose, instead, to love women who led him astray, turning his heart away from God.
Solomon reaped a bitter harvest because of the rebellion he sowed. The affect of his transgression was felt not only by Solomon, but also by his son; an innocent victim of his father's sin. Read about it in I Kings 11:1-13.
Next, we have David. David was a man with a heart toward God. He shared a relationship with Him that was unique. They had a closeness and an intimacy we should all strive to attain. God was pleased with David, calling him a man after His own heart. David, however, when it came to the affairs of the heart, never even considered that God may desire the right to exercise His Lordship even there. He had an adulterous affair with Bath-sheba, arranged to have her husband killed, and paid for it all with the death of his son (II Samuel 11:1-27 12:7-23).
How his heart must have broke when Nathan the prophet confronted him with his sin, giving him this prophetic message from God: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? (II Samuel 7b-9a).
Then, we have Samson. Samson also teaches us about unsurrendered love. Samson had been separated unto the Lord since birth. He was a man God appointed to judge His nation, Israel. The Spirit of God came upon him in power; empowering him with an unusual amount of strength. He was strong and yet weak, at least whenever Delilah was concerned. Because of his attraction to her, Samson paid a price.
Her love caused him to suffer physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He suffered physically because he lost the sight of both of his eyes. He suffered emotionally because he was betrayed by the woman he cherished most. He suffered spiritually because he lost his relationship with the Lord. Samson's unsurrendered love life cost him in every area of his life (Judges 16:4-21).
Finally, there was Jacob. Jacob had a deep appreciation for spiritual things. He longed to gain possession of the birthright, the blessing, and all that went with them. They were so important to him that he schemed and connived, deceiving even those closest to him, just so he could have them as his own. (Genesis 25:29-34; 27:1-40).
He got what he wanted. He would be the one to inherit the promises, given to Abraham and Isaac, in Genesis 22:15-18. But, it was going to be accomplished according to God's plan, not his. And what was God's plan for Jacob? It was for him to have Leah. The only problem was, Jacob wanted Rachel. Still, it was going to be Leah who would bear him a son who would one day head the Levitical priesthood. And it would be Leah who would bring forth Judah, a son who would head the tribe of Judah, the tribe from which the promised Messiah would come (Genesis 35:23).
Jacob got what he wanted however, he did receive Rachel as his wife but it cost him. He paid a high price for her, because from this day forward there would no longer be any peace in his home. There was always to be a constant bickering between his wives, each vying for his attention, both envious of the other. When Jacob was given Leah as his bride, he'd felt as if he'd been deceived, when in reality it was only God's way of keeping His promise to him.
Jacob was fascinated by Rachel. The Bible says she was lovely in form and beautiful. Leah was ender-eyed and had delicate features. It was God's perfect will for Jacob to have Leah. But, his desire was for Rachel--she appealed to his flesh.
What about you? Have you surrendered your love life to the Lord? Are you allowing Him to have His say concerning whom you date, or whom you marry?
Maybe you're like Solomon. God may have already given you a definite 'no' concerning a relationship, yet you've chosen to ignore His voice; willing, instead, to suffer the consequences. Learn from Solomon and always remember, when you play tug-of-war with the Lord, you'll always come out the loser.
Or, perhaps you're like David once was. Ninety-nine percent sold out to the Lord. yet still clinging to that one percent; refusing to acknowledge His Lordship in this area. We need to always remember that God wants our all, or nothing at all. (Revelation 3:15-16), and learn from David's experience.
Or, maybe you're like Samson; so caught up in a present love affair that your relationship with the Lord has suffered to the point where it is almost non-existent. We need to always remember Samson and never let anything, or anyone, interfere with our walk with the Lord.
Or, could it be that you're like Jacob was, right in the middle of the will of God and yet too blind to see it? Your eyes constantly drawn to only those lovely in form while God may be trying to say to you, Look, with me on the heart, that's what is really important; the hidden person of the heart. (I Samuel 16:7, I Peter 3:3-6). We need to learn from Jacob and seek to discover God's perfect will for our lives, instead of demanding His permissive will.
Bear in mind that all of these men were spiritually strong and growing in the Lord. They all had a close relationship with Him. They all loved Him, wholeheartedly. Yet, they were all unsuccessful in relinquishing their love lives to Him. Notice, also, that both David and Solomon were married men. So, even those who are married must, still, guard against having unsurrendered love.
I pray that we can learn from the mistakes these men made and I thank God that we have a forgiving Father, full of mercy and grace: One that will give us a second chance when we fall, if only we promise to once again set apart Christ as Lord in our hearts. (I Peter 3:15).

by Dot McGinnis

http://our.homewithgod.com/heavenlyinspirations/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeavenlyInspirations-originalwritings/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dot is a poet and a published author from Pennsylvania who has served as assistant editor for the Christian newspaper Majesty. She is retired yet continues serving the Lord via the Heavenly Inspirations Ministries.

Satirical Poetry About Tony Blair

2009-05-22T06:35:00.001-07:00

All Hail.

Is your hospital full of aliens, despite the cleaning firms,Antenna waving buggies, And creepy crawly germs,Then dont waste another second, now were into election spin,Just complain over and again, and up pops smily smily grin.You just have to critiscise, or mention cancellation lists,And smily smily grin appears, always eager to assist,He doesnt actually do much, just smiles and talks and grins,But takes your mind off the bugs, for the times that he pops in.

Your child has only 15 a levels, and is learning how to write,Apparently thats a bit of a problem, to just get the balance right,But if reading too is tricky, and Oxbridge hopes looking slim,Just bang the drum, and hell soon come, savior smily smily grin.Hell appear with a little girl, who has four of her very own,Who all have masters arts degrees, though still barely half grown,After lecturing her elders, arguments seemingly trite and thin,Theres still the honest eyes, the winning smile, of smily smily grin.

Is your car getting very wobbly, as if weak at the knees,Is it even trying to leave the road, and collide with walls and trees,It might not actually be the car, just the tarmac getting rather thin,So just avoid all the potholes and call in smily smily grin.And as its an election looming, he wont risk a dodgy trip by car,A helicopter will come in zooming, carrying the Great One from afar,He says some isolated craters, may even now be in our roads,Then smily smily grin will joke, it will only bother frogs and toads.

If youre looking for an interview, with He Who Never Says The Same,Smily smily grin will meet you, on any platform that you name,You just nominate a suitable assignation, & hell appear right on time,You wont as youve used the train, and Tory leaves are on the line,Amazingly on arrival hes still there, teeth beaming bonhonomie,And though your biting questions show, that effect is lost on me,He is master of the camera, and of the trained sound bite,And signals and glows and radiates, as if he is the source of light.

And beams over to law and order, onto unrehearsed live TV,Where sycophants are lined up, like ID parades mainlined on glee,And suprise suprise TV eyes, smily smily grin amazingly appears,Faultless brave and magnificent, almost flawless for his years,And yes, the isolated riot, and mass muggings still abound,But according to latest figures, it all happens underground,Anyway most good honest citizens, to believe his statistic talk,Nearly all have vehicles now, and seldom ever have to walk.

What happened to my little dustbin, its now got wheels and blue,And several other containers, which say exactly what to do,Woe betide the recalcitrant owner, putting cardboard with the grist,Thats automatic statutory fining, & slapping on the wrists,However, deface paint or criticise, your beloved huge wheelie bin,Thats straight to jail dont pass go, in the land of smily smily grin.

Or is it a good war youre after, or an end to global strife,He can do both of these at once, and make both seem very nice,Dont believe all that innuendo, put about by the simply evil BBC,Just believe in his fables, just believe we are all still free,He can now cure epidemics, save whole continents with a grin,And smile at all his critics, put under house arrest by him,Every single Royal camera shoot, rock concert or England game,Smily smily grin will muscle in, and make sure hes in the frame.

chorus.

Smily smily grin will save us all
He is powerful strong and tough,
He will carry us all onwards,
He alone will be enough,
His smile calms the multitudes,
Double smile so sincere you swoon,
And when he grins he always wins,
And he always calls the tune.

epilogue.

But the sile is of a con man,
Extra smiles are really smirks,
That we see him yet belive in him,
Can we really be such jerks,
So he grins a winning cheshire grin,
Stretching from ear to ear,
And as long as he gets away with it,
He will surely always be here.

He often counters with an old chestnut,
Used countless times and ways before,
Just throw me out with the washing,
If you really dont want me any more,
That might work well in the commons,
Where whips tell the meek where to sign,
But I bet soon more than blankets,
Will be hanging from Britains lines.

Malcolm Pugh March 5th 2005.

Smiley Smiley Grin has been tried by people
http://www.stiffsteiffs.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/smilysmilygrintonyblair.htm

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ex systems programmer aged 53.

Choosing your keywords to maximise visitors

2009-05-21T14:36:00.001-07:00

A friend called me the other day saying they were over the moon because they are number 1 in Google. Great I said...for what search term?, he began to reel off a 6 word phrase that, when I searched, only had 72 other competing listings in Google - and was searched upon just once a month on average!

The moral here is to ensure that the search term (or keywords) you are optimising for will bring you plenty of targeted visitors. This being said, you need to ensure the keywords you are choosing are not too difficult to achieve for a beginner.

When planning any kind of optimisation the first two things to consider are; 'Are my keywords ever searched upon?' and 'Are my keywords too out of reach for my site?'.

To answer the first question we can use the handy Overture Search Tool, visit < a href=http://inventory.uk.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/>http://inventory.uk.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ - and type in your keyword/s. This will tell you how many searches were carried out on your keyword/s during the previous month on Yahoo, MSN, Wanadoo, Lycos and AltaVista (to calculate the searches in Google take this figure and multiply by four - this is not an exact representation but gives a good estimation). Not only will it show you the number of times your keyword/s have been searched upon but it also displays similar alternative keywords, plus the number of searches for these too. This is a great tool not only to examine your own keywords but also gives you popular alternatives.

The next thing to consider is, 'are my keywords out of reach'. As you can imagine there are millions of websites targeting popular keywords. For example, at this moment there are over 456million websites targeting the keyword 'shopping' in Google. With this many sites fighting for a sought after keyword it is virtually impossible to obtain a top or even first page listing and would at the very least take years of work.

To see how many websites are competing for a chosen keyword is to visit Google, perform a search and the result is shown at the top right of each Google search page (e.g. Results 1-10 of about 1,456,732 for 'keyword' - would mean 1,456,732 are competing for this keyword).

If you find your keyword has millions of competitors then try being more specific. For example, if you ran a website promoting a small car dealers, the keyword 'car dealers' would present 44.6million competitors on Google. Now for starters it would be very difficult to try to gain a first page listing for this term for a beginner and also this keyword is generic to the entire country. If you were selling cars from a small dealers in Dover then it wouldn't be of much use to someone in searching for 'Car Dealers' who is based in Glasgow.

Now if we type in the search term of 'Car Dealers in Dover' in to Google we have not only reduced our competition down to 479,000 but also our market is more targeted to people living in the same town as our business - and who are more likely to visit.

For a website beginning its search engine optimisation campaign your competition should be around 500,000 websites or less, with a targeted time of 1-3 months to see some positive results.

Now after you have found your optimum keywords by using the above method, you need to add these to your site. The first method is adding them to the beginning of your Title tags e.g. (covered in the first newsletter). The title tag is the most important in the eyes of search engines - but don't overdo it. You should only use you keyword/s twice or three times maximum in your title tag and importantly each title on each of you web pages should be different.

Secondly you need to use this same keyword throughout your home page and site. The most commonly asked question is how many times should this be added - well it's best to ensure your keyword/s make up around 4-6% of all text within your page and spread evenly throughout the site, i.e. only once per paragraph.

After this the most important action to take is monitor your progress!

About the Author

Dean Cosson, founder of C2 Web Design and Website Design Essex, offers website design in and around the Essex and London area. Dean also writes search engine optimization articles for many small and medium based businesses across the UK

Buyers Drive The Process Online But The Lowest Price Isn't A

2009-05-20T22:35:00.001-07:00

Online buyers' ability to comparison shop -- aided by a vast array of shopping bots -- has turned traditional retailing on its head. But are low prices all customers want? No way!

Some web-wise merchants have responded to the Internet's new retail rules retailers by including comparison shopping on their own sites, others put their heads in the sand. Leading the list of slow to get online retailers is Home Depot who, according to the Aug 16 issue of Fortune, recently issued a Godfather-esque directive to its suppliers selling goods online. The gist of it was stop selling online or you won't be selling to us.

Dear Vendor, the May 19 letter began, It is important for you to be aware of Home Depot's current position on its'(sic) vendors competing with the company via e-commerce direct to consumer distribution. We think it is short-sighted for vendors to ignore the added value that our retail stores contribute to the sale of their products....We recognize that a vendor has the right to sell through whatever distribution channels it desires. However, we too have the right to be selective in the vendors we select and we trust that you can understand that a company may be hesitant to do business with its competitors.

What Home Depot really is worried about is its customers going straight to the manufacturer and bypassing Home Depot.

Going head to head with Home Depot won't be simple for any company. Stanley Tools, for one, has scrapped its e-commerce plans in the face of Home Depot's threat. After all, Home Depot is one of the category killers who put thousands of mom and pop hardware stores out of business.Who's to say, Fortune reporter Katrina Brooker muses, hat it can't do the same to pesky suppliers with dot.com dreams? Web shoppers, that's who!

Several factors come into play:

oOnline shopping does not provide instant gratification. Sometimes, all a customer wants is to buy something and use it right now

oPeople are still willing to pay more for superior service, even online
oFew retailers will be able (or want) long term, to sustain prices so low they cannot make a profit
oAlthough low prices might bring customers to a site, discounts alone won't necessarily keep them there or convince them to return
oOnline, a store that provides complete information from a variety of sources can be more valuable than a single site that provides only its own or partial information.

Online comparison shopping is available at a wide range of sites. These sites promise you'll never miss a sale again; 40 - 60% off retail in 13 categories; daily or weekly sales updates; and email bargain newsletters tailored to your shopping interests. Some claim to scan 50 million products.
Each of these services is powered by shopping bot software. Some even provide shoppers with the ability to search, compare and buy in a secure e-commerce environment. The majority accept advertising, but a few, like Price Scan claim to be unbiased and objective because they eschew advertising. Some online shoppers, no doubt, study the information on these price comparison sites before they make a buying decision. Then there is everyone else.

What makes a shopper decide that price isn't all that matters? Extraordinary service -- the very same quality that allows some stores to charge more for their items because they make shopping convenient, pleasant and reliable -- still can win over price. Superior service makes fancy cars, designer duds and luxury travel appealing. It also allows L.L. Bean, Nordstrom's, and a handful of other merchants able to charge more for their products than bargain merchandisers selling essentially the same goods. And great service is not going out of style any time soon.

In terms of costs, online retailers seem to have obvious advantages over bricks and mortar retailers. Traditional retailers need to spend $3 to $5 million to open a store. They usually can only pull from a 25 mile radius, meaning they need to make a fair margin. While online merchants can set up shop for less, and sell internationally, many have set prices so low that it is impossible for them to make a profit. Therefore, the good deals consumers now expect won't be sustainable over the long haul. Only the ones with the deepest pockets can hold out, and one begins to wonder why they would want to.

Retailers are dealing with online sales in different ways. Barnes & Noble made the mistake of not being first in their category to get online. Like so many other traditional merchants, they finally realized they could not afford to ignore the brand reinforcement of the Internet. Now they charge more for the same books in their bricks and mortar stores where overhead prohibits Amazon-like bargain prices. It seems they are betting that the instant gratification of talking to informed sales help and being immediately able to read a selected book in soft in-store chairs is worth a higher price. They may be right.

Meanwhile, like Amazon, a handful of online merchants realize that they need to emphasize superior service. Although low prices might bring a customer to a site, discounts along won't necessarily keep them there or get them to return. We recognize we're a price leader, but we don't say to ourselves every day, 'Let's just slash and burn, says online electronics retailer NECX' director of operations Brian Marley. I think it would be irresponsible for all of us just to compete on price, without doing the heavy lifting that goes into creating a value-added service, Marley told The New York Times.

One very innovative online approach comes from Fruit of the Loom, which provides not only its own t-shirts and underwear but also it competitors inside its e-commerce storefront. The company got 24 of the nation's top 30 t-shirt wholesalers in the $5 billion industry to commit to its electronic commerce platform. Fruit of the Loom provides consulting and software to t-shirt wholesales setting up online stores. The stores' customers then search for t-shirts from any number of manufacturers. Fruit of the Loom only demands that its products are the first replacement option offered when another company is out of stock. Online, a store that provides complete information from a variety of sources can be more valuable than a single site that provides only its own or partial information.

NECX lets customers compare their prices to other stores on the same item. Customers were comparing prices anyway, they reasoned, why not help them. The result? NECX is losing customers but making money. Sales are up 20% even though the comparison engine is the site's most common point of departure.

Still, bricks and mortar merchants have the distinct advantage of giving customers what they want when they want it -- an experience that can supercede low price. Online shopping, no matter how pleasant, cannot (yet!) provide the immediate reward of buying something and then wearing or using it an hour later.

There is a long way to go before Internet commerce shakes out. At this point I'm betting that at end of the road the lowest price won't be the winner.

About the Author

B.L. Ochman http://www.thebestwebideas.com, is an award?winning marketer who has helped local, regional and multi?national corporations to increase awareness and sales of their products both online and off. Sign up for her marketing tips newsletter, What's Next Online, at Mailto:BLOchman@thebestwebideas.com.

Affiliate Marketing: Another Way to Win

2009-05-20T06:35:00.001-07:00

Affiliate Marketing: Another Way to Win
Copyright 2004 Jude Wright All Rights Reserved

You have a nice looking website, full of content. You have links to all your favorite affiliate programs. But - no one is clicking. What else can you do to get someone interested enough to click on the product's sales page?

Did you know that you can have your own affiliate program even if you don't have your own product? Well, you can! Simply join programs that have a 2-tier affiliate program.
.
Here's what to do:

When you add the link from your website to the affiliate program's sales page, also add another link saying Join this Affiliate Program. The affiliate programs that are 2-tier will provide you with a second link for signing up
your own affiliates. Now, when your affiliate sells a product, YOU get a portion of the commission.

Of course, the commission won't be as high, but it's still a commission. And if you have enough affiliates signed up under you, they can be significant.

Sometimes the people who sign up using your send tier affiliate program link will end up purchasing the product themselves. Now you will get a commission from this sale plus you'll commission from any sale your affiliate should make in the future.

Want another idea?

Create a mini-site for just ONE of your affiliate products. Make sure it is one that has an excellent commission structure and a 2-tier program. You won't need to create a lot of different pages with a lot of content because this is a sales site - your sales site.

All you need is two pages. On the first page, create your sales copy. Do not use exactly the same sales letter that is used on the sales page for that product. Make it unique. Make it yours. Give it your own twist, your own personality. On this page you will have a link to your affiliate program
to page 2.

Create page two. This page will describe the affiliate program for this product and will have a link to the affiliate program sign-up page for the affiliate program product.

Now, promote this page - your product's affiliate program. An affiliate marketer will sign up for this affiliate program under your affiliate ID. And he or she will make sales. If you can get many good affiliates, ones who work hard to promote the product, you will make more on commissions that by actually selling the product yourself.

Another thing to think about is that you could receive residual income from your affiliates. Even if an affiliate stops promoting your affiliate product, it is likely he or she has written articles using their affiliate ID in the resource box for that article. When the article has been submitted to numerous article directory sites, and used by other websites in ezines or as website content, that affiliate ID will still be active. So, you win again!

Also, it will be easier to sign up new affiliates to your affiliate program than it will be to sell the product. Why? Because the affiliate marketer is motivated to make money. And the more money he makes for himself, the more money he makes for you! This is a good thing!

So, don't only think of affiliate marketing websites as content sites. Keep an open mind. Find new ways to promote your affiliate programs - and your affiliate program's affiliate program - to get even more choices for your multiple streams of income.

About the Author

-----------------------------------------------------
Jude Wright has been an Internet Marketer for three
years. She has just created a product that will help
other Internet Marketers keep all their marketing
information in one database. Check it out at:
http://i-marketingorganizer.com/organizer.htm

Back To Basics Knowing Your Business

2009-05-19T14:35:00.001-07:00

Your objective in your MLM business, is to KNOW Your Business, to become an expert
at it, a pro guide to your prospects. This is the most important thing you can do for
yourself and your business BEFORE you start marketing.

Before you begin to seek prospects for any venture you NEED to first KNOW your
product and/or service. This is absolutely critical if you expect to be successful. Your
goal is to become a pro tour guide to your prospects, a leader of integrity to your
down-line. Your success will largely depend on it!

Exactly what should you know?

* First, you should carefully read every web-page on your web-site. NO SHORT CUTS
HERE! Why? Because knowing your business in and out will make you an expert of all
that it
offer. This allows you to confidently and accurately respond to your prospects and
down-lines most commonly asked questions.

* If your opportunity offers a members area then by all means read everything
inside that area. Know it! The members area is an important part of your web-site and
just as important as the content on your home page. In many cases it can offer some key
information for your success, which in itself can become a selling point for your
opportunity.

* It is YOUR responsibility to help your down-line to build and if you don't know
answers to commonly asked questions you not only lose credibility, but it makes you
look foolish and inept.

MLM and Affiliate Programs are people business, and people are genuinely looking for
leaders of integrity. Why would a
potential prospect want to sign-up under you if you don't know the answers to their
questions?

So, take the time needed and read through every page on your web-site including the
members area, where applicable. Plug in-to your up-line and ask, ask and ask again.
You can never ask too many questions. Up-lines are there to help.

Ok...it has taken some time and been a bit of work, but, you should be a PRO on your
opportunity. You should be able to answer 99% of all questions asked by any
prospects interested in signing up under you and be ready to give your new down-line all
the support they may need. Is that where you are? Can you give a professionally
guided tour and presentation of your opportunity? If not... go back to basics...it will
prove to be most profitable.

To re-cap:

* KNOW your business in side out.
* Study your website and members area.
* Gain the knowledge needed to effectively help your
downline grown.
* Be able to answer 99% of the questions asked by your
prospects.
* Become a PRO tour guide for your prospects.

It will take time, it will take commitment, it will take passion. Knowing your
business is really taking care of your business. IF you take care of your business, your
business in turn WILL take care of you.

About the Author

==>>> Lois has been blessed with earning a full time

10 Ways To Improve Your Sales

2009-05-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

1. Determine your current situation. How are you currently positioned in the Internet Home business market? How do you compare to the competition? Where would you like to be in a Year or in five years and how would you like to get there? Or more appropriately how can you get there, as it is not always the way that you want that works. Planning requires that you understand how you currently stand.

2. Calculate your operational budget and determine how much you can afford to spend on an Ad campaign. Also, this is the stage to decide your campaign mediums and the effectiveness of different mediums of advertising as it applies to the specific nature of your product and or services. It also helps to retain a percentage of your earnings towards future Ad campaign on an ongoing basis.

3. Since customers are the life-blood of any business, be sure to develop a good rapport with your customers. To keep your customers visiting, buying and begging for more; let them know how much you appreciate their business. Do not spare any personal touch you can invest in the relationship. It will pay for your time and effort tenfold. Create an Ezine to communicate with your customers and to generate new leads. This can be achieved by offering an opportunity to your visitors to subscribe to your ezine from your website or purchasing leads from a leads company.

4. Now, depending on your current position, you may not even have customers yet. If you are starting from scratch, your first order of business would be to start growing a customer base within your budget of course. Create or have a Strong Sales Copy done for your promotions. Consider targeted Ad campaigns through Google or other search engines. You may also consider some of the other 'Viral' marketing Traffic Exchanges out there. Online campaigns consist of generating traffic to your website as this would improve your ranking with the traffic exchanges. Your ultimate goal is to generate free traffic which comes from a high ranking in the traffic exchanges. In other words, you need to generate traffic first and then you can work on converting the traffic into buying customers or better yet, return customers.

5. Hire, rent, or buy a coach/mentor; and if you can not afford one, get some of the informative ebooks and magazines out there. Your decision making prowess would be much better with this kind of backbone. Take note that even with all the information you may acquire from books and magazines, nothing compares to experience. Now, if you have to go on your experience then you are setting yourself up to learn the hard and costly way.

6. I hope you are getting warmed up by now. This one is a must-do for all Internet Home business marketers. I am talking about Forum participation and membership. In fact, this whole article could have been written around link promotion, and only one other means compares to Forums when it comes to promoting your link/website and increasing your ranking. Join a Forum that concerns your line of business. The Forum would promote your link as a result of your participation in discussions and postings. The flip side is that it also provides you for free, knowledge base that compares to hiring a mentor.

7. Position your business to benefit from other webmasters traffic. There are several ways to achieve this. The most prominent is link exchanges with other websites that are similar or complementary in nature to your business. You can do this by writing to the owner or webmaster of other sites, you can buy a link exchange program or join a link exchange. Most are free to join and some charge very minimal fees.

8. As your customer base grows and you start to reap the benefits of your actions. Be sure to acquire an Auto-responder to manage email campaigns and Ezine delivery. By now, your actions should start to show returns and you can complement your campaigns by purchasing a leads building campaign if you do not have one in place from the start. It is common knowledge among the big hitters that a lot of sales come from email campaigns. Use your Sales copy Ad to develop an email campaign, and stay in touch with your existing customers. This can also be used to sell new subscribers you generated using step#3.

9. Is your head spinning yet? Well if it is, you are on the right track for success and should now learn to relax and balance work and social responsibilities. This is a very crucial step to achieving anything in life. We all need to step back a little, so we can see more, refresh and increase performance. Everything contained here would be useless if you can not find balance. As you find relaxation, in whatever way you choose, remember to build a support system and share your experiences with acquaintances. You just might increase your network while doing something that relaxes you. The country club offers recreation and relaxation but, it also comes with networking opportunities.

10. At this point you should evaluate your performance and how much you are on Target or off. Go back to step #1 and reinvent the wheel again. By now you have some experience with your business and know what works best for your business. If at any point you find yourself too comfortable, go over your business plans with a fine toothcomb until you experience a little discomfort. This step would always keep you sharp, focused, and abreast of what needs improvement and adjustment. Remember, your goal is to increase sales and not to get too comfortable. Stay motivated and fairly dissatisfied.

About The Author

Robert Kempster is a fairly recent entrant into the Internet Home Business Industry. Background spans Executive Management, Computer Operations, Programming, Real Estate (former COO), and an incomplete EMBA. An ordinary person doing extraordinary things.

http://www.profitcentral.biz

support@profitcentral.biz

Affiliate Strategies Of Pay Per Click Advertising Networks

2009-05-18T06:35:00.001-07:00

The Untold Secret Of Pay Per Click Advertising:

An often misunderstood reality of Pay-Per-Click advertising is that many times you can't determine where you ad will be displayed once you sign-up with one of the PPC Search Engines. In the incestuous world of online advertising, companies are often simultaneously competitors and partners. This is never more true than in the case of Search Engine Advertising.

Even The Big Guys Do It:

If the Pay-Per-Click program you're using is from one of the major brands that has it's own consumer search destination site (Google, Yahoo, Lycos etc,) it's a little easier to tell where your ads will show up. However, even if you're working with the major players, your ads won't be limited to the Search Engine you signed up with. For example, Google has agreements with Lycos, Ask Jeeves, AOL, and other lesser known brands, to display ads from the Google AdWords program. Yahoo has relationships with MSN, and CNN.Com to display ads from its Overture Pay Per Click Program. Lycos owns HotBot.Com and has partnered with affiliates outside its network to increase the distribution of ads from the Lycos AdBuyer Pay Per Click program.

Distribution Strategies Of Smaller Search Engines:

Once you go beyond the major Pay Per Click Advertising programs it becomes increasingly difficult to know where your ads will appear. Most of the second tier Search Engines rely exclusively on networks of unknown sites for their distribution. FindWhat.Com, Kanoodle, Enhance and Search 123 don't operate sites that consumers use to search the web. Because of this they have developed relationships with thousands of smaller sites to display ads from customers who sign up for their Pay Per Click programs.

Affiliate Traffic Isn't Necessarily Bad:

Just because a Pay Per Click Advertising program doesn't have its own search site to drive traffic doesn't necessarily mean that the traffic is of lesser quality. Like everything else when it comes to a successful PPC Advertising campaign, the key is to track and analyze results on a daily basis. Set-up independent tracking URL's for each PPC Search Engine you are working with, or use a third party tracking tool like Atlas One Point to track how many clicks you're getting from each Search Engine, and how much of the traffic is converting into sales.

Can You Cherry Pick Affiliates?

As a rule, most Search Engines won't divulge the list of affiliates they are working with to display your ads. Even if you are able to determine which affiliate sites are converting better for you than others, the Search Engines generally won't allow you to cherry pick which affiliates will display your ad. However, some Pay Per Click Search Engines like Google allow you to opt out of their affiliate network.

Conclusion:

Driving traffic by displaying ads across a network of affiliate sites is a fact of life for Pay Per Click Search Engines. It's not necessarily bad, but it is something you need to be aware of as you analyze which PPC Search Engines to use, and which ones perform. By displaying your ad on affiliate sites your marketing message is put in front of more people who are looking for the products you sell. The downside is once you move beyond the big brands and venture into the vast mysterious world of affiliate networks, there is a chance the quality of your traffic will decline. As long as you monitor your traffic sources for volume, and conversions, and adjust your campaigns accordingly you should be able to benefit from the increased distribution affiliates provide, while maintaining the profitability metrics for your Pay Per Click Advertising campaign.

About the Author

Stan Hauser is a leading expert on effective Pay Per Click Advertising strategies, and the creator of http://pay-per-click-advertising-guide.com

Marketing Your Online Content

2009-05-17T14:35:00.001-07:00

As a webmaster, we need to actively promote our site. There are lots of ways to do that, both ethical and unethical. We don't have to resolve to unethical ways of marketing our site such as spamming, reciprocal link farms, page generation software and the like. The search engine algorithm will eventually catch up with that. That still leaves us with plenty of ways to market our site and content. However, the most important thing to have is to create quality content on your website.

What is quality content? Quality content is information that your viewers can benefit from. Once you create content, you want everyone to know that your content does exists. You need to distribute it the right way. Telling some strangers on the street corner about The New Guide of Stock Picking will help, but not effective. Time is precious. You do not want to reach the most viewers. You would want to reach the most interested viewers on your field. The reason is simple. You work less to get the attention of the most interested viewers.

Therefore, submitting your online content to ezines and article directories are absolutely critical. You will get the maximum number of interested viewers there. The deal is simple. You, as authors, are to submit your articles to these directories. In exchange, you can promote your website at the resource box provided. Viewers looking for a specific topic will browse through certain categories. If they see your writing and like it, they will become your customers. And what is the cost of this? For most places, article submission is free. Where else can you promote your business reaching thousands or more people free of charge?

Some of these article directories are general and some are niche. General article directories let writers publish everything from weight loss help to building your own business. These are good but you can certainly do better. The reason is while these kind of sites garner a lot of visitors, you will find less visitors interested in your field. Niche directories, on the other hand, focus on specific field and attract less visitors. However, these visitors are very interested in your field. If an article directory has a niche in finance, why would a person seeking information about weight loss visit the site? Therefore, only visitors interested in finance will visit this niche directory.

As always, the decision is up to you, as a webmaster. My suggestion is to first submit your content to niche directory and then when you have time, you can still submit your article to other general directories.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

Novice Investing Article Directory has been launched to help webmasters promote their sites in the field of finance and business. Submission is free and easy. Our URL is: www.noviceinvesting.com/Article

Developing Free Content... It's not really as bad as it

2009-05-16T22:35:00.001-07:00

I hear many writers refute the idea of writing free content. While I agree,
in the simplest terms, it is something for nothing, the benefits of free
content actually outweigh the down-side of writing for free. Is it really
for nothing?

--- The Battle for Content ---

The competition for content is fierce. Every Web site owner wants content
and hundreds of writers want their content visible on the Web. There are so
many free Web sites that you can literally advertise your goods, services,
and knowledge globally for years without spending a penny.

Of course, there is a cost involved in writing free content---time.
However, the cost in time units is only a fraction of the money that would
otherwise be spent in getting the kind of coverage available by supporting
content sites with free articles.

--- What about my income producing articles? ---

The idea is not to spend all day writing free content. Generally, once
you've completed your articles for paying markets, take an idea and generate
one free content article. I usually select a topic about which I can
generate an article in a few hours. Don't spend more than two hours on the
article over an entire day---use it as a gap-filler.

The point is to be able to generate a short article that provides a general
overview of your knowledge or work---don't dive too deep. If someone likes
your work or idea, let them come to you and pay you for a more, in-depth
version. Call it esting the waters.

--- Exercise Your Brain ---

One of the benefits I've found to writing free content is in exercising my
brain. I get a chance to generate a short article about something I know
without the added pressure of acceptance and deadlines. This is where you
get to write for the fun of it and be able to produce industry contacts and
resume fodder.

--- Resume Fodder ---

Yes, resume fodder. If some popular site picks up your article, you can use
it on your resume. Make sure that you write something that pertains to your
areas of expertise. If you post something like 101 Fun Things You Can Do
With Toilet Paper and it's picked up by an unknown MLM site, I'd think
twice about adding it to your resume.

Many major sites are monitored and rated by some of the larger corporations
and industry experts. If you article catches their eye, you could end up
with a client that you would have otherwise never had the chance to work
for. The wider the audience, the more additional work you can acquire!

--- Writing a Free Content Article ---

Writing a free content article is simple and follows a similar professional
approach as an article for a standard, paying market. A few pointers are:

* Be Concise
Keep it under 1,500 words. Some professional organizations might pickup
your article for a paying market and they usually only accept between 500
and 2,000 words. Also, if you can write an in-depth topic in fewer than
1,500 words, that usually demonstrates that you have a handle on the topic.

* Be Real
Take free content articles seriously. Be professional and write about
something you know professionally. Stay away from the MLM articles and
avoid meaningless writing.

* Be Honest
I've seen some authors use the same free content from other writers and just
modify it a little to suit their needs. Do you own work!

* Your Byline
Make sure that you byline provides enough information to identify yourself
and provide contact information. This byline is your business card!

--- Here, steal my work! ---

As I've said, I sometimes see that same article used by numerous writers.
Sometimes, unethical people steal other's work so that they can look good in
the public eye. Take it as a compliment, but protect yourself.

Protecting free content is no different than protecting paying market
content. One place to go is MediaRegister (http://www.mediaregister.com).
They will register your work online for a minimal fee. This way you can
distribute your work and protected it from the little thieves of the
Internet.

--- What next? ---

Free content articles can provide you with enormous amount of exposure on
the Web. In some cases, you can obtain exposure that you would have
otherwise missed!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Edward B. Toupin is a freelance consultant, writer, and published author
living in Las Vegas with his singer/actress wife. He currently handles
technical writing tasks for various companies in New York, Chicago, and
Denver as well as imagineers and markets feature-length screenplays.

5 Unique Ways to get more Free Traffic

2009-05-16T06:35:00.001-07:00

Ok so the first way to get traffic is not particularly unique.
But the fact is that you will get lots of traffic by writing
articles. The traffic won't come immediately but it will come.
Articles will also bring link popularity. I wouldn't be doing
my job if I wrote about free traffic and neglected to mention
articles.

If you write one article a week for the next year at the end
of that year you will have an unstoppable flow of traffic
and where there is traffic money follows.

So traffic source

#1 - Write articles

#2 - Post ads on other peoples sites. Now you're probably thinking
'tell me something I don't know' but think about this for a moment.
If there is a site that has a lot of traffic, gets spidered
frequently and has excellent page rank. Do you think pages on that
site get good search engine rankings. You betcha!

Here in the UK there is a site called UK Free Ads. It has an Alexa
rank of about 20,000 and, you guessed it, you can place ads on it
for free. All you have to do is find your equivalent of UK Free
Ads then find a keyword phrase without too much competition and
write an ad optimised for the keyword phrase. I'm not guaranteeing
a top ten listing but a percentage of the ads you write will place
well in Google and other search engines. You might even get a number
one position.

The best of these sites allow your url to be included in the listing.
But better than that some of them allow you to upgrade your listing
and have that listing redirect to the url you supply. Top Tip: Wait
until the page has been spidered and ranks well then upgrade and
have the listing redirect to your web page.

#3 - Get your site mentioned in mailings from complimentary sites in
return for you mentioning theirs. You're going to need a list for
this. But assuming you have one why not contact other site owners
with a list and ask them to mention your site in their next mailing.
In return you mention their site in your next mail. This doesn't
have to be a heavy sell, just a mention of a friends site.

At worst this strategy will put your site url in front of a lot of
people who may not have heard of you. At best you will get a lot
of free visitors. This strategy should work out just fine if you
partner with a site that isn't in direct competition with you.

#4 - Instead of just trading links why not trade home page links or
ads. Next time you visit a site and they have a space for an ad
and are inviting you to buy that space, why not contact them and
offer to exchange the ad space for a similar position on your site.
Or why not barter an ad for a mention to your mailing list. A lot
of smaller sites have trouble selling their ad space, but these
same sites still have respectable traffic flows.

#5 - The last free traffic tip is probably the hardest to pull off
but also the most regarding. The strategy is to offer something of
real value for free. If you use Adwords you no doubt know about
Mikes Marketing Tools where you will find a 'keyword wrapper'.
Or if you are into natural search engine traffic then you probably
visit Market Leap to find out how many pages you have ranked.
People need these tools and everybody recommends these sites.
They offer a valuable resource for free. Once you do that, word
spreads quickly . Mikes Tools has an Alexa rank of 5,000. Market
Leap has a rank of 900. Yes it's in the top 900 websites online.
Do you think you could make some money with that sort of traffic?

To pull this off you need a tool that is useful to your target
audience. Maybe some sort of calculator or a data manipulator or
converter. Although a software tool is an excellent choice it
doesn't have to be software. Think what tool do I use that I
could make available to others.

If your goal is to build free traffic to your sites then you need
to be thinking about this all the time. As you surf keep this need
in the back of your mind. Every site you visit think 'how could
I get free traffic from this site' or 'what is this site doing to
get traffic that I could copy'.

If you want to learn more about free traffic sources & other free
resources then visit www.ireviewguru.com/freeresources.html

About the Author

Darren Power is your host at www.IReviewGuru.com where you will find the latest marketing product news & reviews

6 THINGS YOU MUST KNOW BEFORE YOU CHOSE AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM

2009-05-15T14:35:00.001-07:00

So you want to choose an affiliate program or are you already involved in one?

These are six tips you must understand deeply. But first, understand that affiliate programs work just like network marketing. I said it works like it because it involves down-lines.

Now to get started. Once you understand these tips and use them wisely, you would make a real success out of the affiliate program you choose.

1.Choose the Right Affiliate Program.

Before you pick an Affiliate program, make double sure it is the right one. Check the company's profile. You cannot be in a moving vehicle and remain stagnant. If your affiliate program is one that makes steady progress, you also make progress. If it is stagnant, you inevitably will be stagnant. Check for the company's age. Companies in their first two years pay high, but they face the risk of quitting all too soon. They are but infants. Companies in their first seven years are more likely to be stable. Older companies are reliable. Very reliable. They have a track record which you can easily check out and have good organisation built from years of existence.

2.What are the Companies' Products.

Please be very careful. Only a thin line separates Multi-level Marketing (MLM) or affiliate programs from illegality. You are however safe if the company has a product it sells. Never join a pyramid scheme. I am not an expert at that but I suppose pyramid schemes are scams. If the company does not offer a product or service, you might as well forget it.

3.Check the Compensation Plan.

Your primary reason for joining an affiliate program is to make money! Should I say that again? To make money! So please, check the compensation plan. Make sure it suits you. When dose the company pay? At what rate? How does the company pay? If it doesn't go down well with you, just forget it and find yourself another affiliate program with which you feel comfortable.

Note however that even if the commission schedule is small but sure, the work you do can help you blow it all up. Think of $1 in 1000 places ($1000). It can be achieved weekly. You can realise that with almost all affiliate programs.

The bottom line, choose a program that suits you.

4.Join Free Programs But....
A lot of affiliate programs allow you to join for free. I suggest you join the free ones. My reason is; you can easily leave without much loss. I feel sorry for people who have tried several programs and paid heavily just to realise it is not the right one. But if you think you can afford it, then the choice is yours.

Once you've made a choice, remember these last two tips!

5.Build Your Team of Affiliates.

This can be the most excruciating part of it all, but once you have a team of down-lines who are active, it is well worth it.

Always remember, for every twelve, there is always a Judas. There will always be bad apples in a barrel. Find the good ones, train them, help them and you have simply helped yourself.

How do you know the good ones? Simple; watch out for those that ask questions, contact you and fulfil all requirements in short periods of time. Go for them and you are building a money spinning business.

6.Put Yourself in the Shoes of Those you Want to Recruit.

Make things easy for them. Put together all the information and deliver it to them. I know it took you sometime getting the information. Help them get it in a shorter time. Probably in few hours. Contact them always. Answer their questions. Give them all the help you can. Show them what to do and help them do it right.

Remember, you help them; you simply help yourself. Put yourself in their shoes and do exactly what you would have loved if you were in their shoes.
----------------------------------------
** Anyone may republish this article freely in their ebooks, ezines, websites, online article directories etc as long as the resource box is included.
----------------------------------------
** If you want an affiliate program that really pays the bills, see http://www.quickinfo247.com/7767817.90/wyk and simply sign up free now! You will get Free Training, Free Internet Income Course, Free Advertising Resource Materials, Free Guidance and Consultations and a lot of other free resources.
----------------------------------------
** If you are already involved in an affiliate program, you need all the help you can get. See http://www.quickinfo247.com/7767817.91/iahbe NOW! Helps include lead generation, books, courses, advertising tips and lots more.
----------------------------------------

About the Author

President
Empower Wealth Creation Network Foundation

10 Ways To Get New Product Ideas

2009-05-14T22:35:00.001-07:00

1. Solve an existing problem for people. There are
thousands of problems in the world. Create a product
that can provide a solution to one of those problems.

2. Find out what's the current hot trend. You can find
out what the new trends are by watching T.V, reading
magazines and surfing the net. Just create a product
that's related to the current hot trend.

3. Improve a product that is already on the market.
You see products at home, in ads, at stores etc. Just
take a product that's already out there and improve it.

4. Create a new niche for a current product. You can
set yourself apart from your competition by creating a
niche. Your product could be faster, bigger, smaller,
or quicker than you competitor's product.

5. Add on to an existing product. You could package
your current product with other related products. For
example, you could package a football with a team
jersey and football cards.

6. Reincarnate an older product. Maybe you have a
book that's out of print and is no longer being sold.
You could change the title, design a new front cover,
and bring some of the old content up to date.

7. Ask your current customers. You could contact
some of your existing customers by phone or e-mail
and ask them what kind of new products they would
like to see on the market.

8. Combine two or more products together to create
a new one. For example, you could take a brief case
and add a thermos compartment inside to keep a
drink hot or cold.

9. Survey the people who visit your web site. You
could post a survey or questionnaire on your web site.
Ask visitors what kind of products they would like to
see on the market.

10. You could create a new market for your existing
product. For example, if you're selling plastic bottles
to a pop company, you could turn around and sell
those bottles to a fruit drink company.

I hope, that I have helped you

Sincerely

Anton Cheranev

P.S. You consider difficult to create your own
product? Then I have excellent news for you! I'm
Personally Handing YOU A ' Ready-Made ' Secret To
Instant Riches... But You've Got To Grab It Immediately
Before It's Too Late!
Go to www.atargetedvisitors.com for more details

About the Author

None

Can Google Really Deliver Country Specific Searching?

2009-05-14T06:35:00.001-07:00

Can Google Really Deliver Country Specific Searching?
By: Martin Lemieux

This is a serious matter, can Google really deliver top quality search results for other countries? The answer so far is sort of. In this article I will use Canada as an example of the quality or lack of thereof, that is delivered by Google's search results.

Let's take a look at Canadian search results by Google.ca:

When you highlight Canada through Google search results and then start searching, you may be surprised at the amount of companies that aren't really Canadian. All of this also applies for the UK and other major markets as well...

In fact, many of the paid results come from American companies. Now some would argue that this is to be expected, coming from American companies with large budgets but I would disagree because a lot of the bulk of the Canadian specific results are also American companies.

It is quite evident that this is a growing concern with business owners residing in different countries.

As an owner not from the US, I would rather compete with companies that are more local than not, simply because the results would then be relevant. Irrelevant results equal to poor results and less people take the search results seriously when they keep sifting through poor quality results online.

For example; If you highlight search in Canada and search for web design, the top 2 results seem not to be from Canada. This is a serious issue. What if people click on I'm feeling lucky, they are redirected to a company outside of Canada. The average person won't know what to think about that and may disregard searching through Canadian results any further.

The more content specific the results are, the more people will search through those results. The more people will tell their friends & peers to search through those results. See, as web marketers, we do have the power to create a search term that people get familiar with. Just look at Blogging. A couple of years ago, if you asked people to search online for logging sites, you would have had a lot of confused faces staring at you. Nowadays, if you search for blogging, there are more than 900,000 results found in Google and to top that off, there is more than enough paid advertisers as well.

What do we see changing in Google?

The #1 thing we are now seeing more and more is search results listing websites with country specific domain name extensions. Here's what I mean by that....

If you were Google and you wanted to deliver better search results for Canada, how would you go about doing that?

I would look at 2 things:

1) Does the domain name end with .ca? (Ex. www.smartads.ca)
2) Does the contact information about the company match the country - Street, City, Province/State, Country. Are all of these factors listed within the contact page?

These are very important factors, evidenced to the fact that, I see Google weighing your contact page higher than anything else within your website other than your front page. So the moral is, make sure to list EXACTLY where it is that you do business within your contact page. Your website will rank higher for local searching when this technique is utilized.

Second, make sure to buy a domain name(s) that is country specific. If you live in Canada, buy a domain with the extension (.ca). If you live in the United Kingdom, make sure to buy a domain name with the extension (.uk). If you live in the US, make sure to buy a domain name with the extension (.us).

You may be asking, what if I don't want to concentrate on just local searching? Create a separate website to target different areas. There is nothing with .com, in fact most people automatically type in .com but, if you truly want to target locally, you have to play locally.

The future of search engines is local searching! We are seeing an increasing amount of evidence to sustain this claim. Targeting locally is a great start and will ultimately help you to target internationally later on!

I hope this article helps you out!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article within your newsletter or website as long as the entire article remains the same, including the author information.

About the Author

About The Author:

Martin Lemieux
Smartads Advertising Network

International: http://www.smartads.info
Canada: http://www.smartads.ca

Canadian SEO Consultants Directory: http://www.seoconsultants.ca
Canadian Search Engine: http://www.smartadsearch.ca

Beware the Click Without the Conversion

2009-05-13T14:35:00.001-07:00

It is a funny thing with pay-per-click marketing.

Marketers spend significant time and money increasing their traffic volume (click-throughs) while focusing less on the website conversion strategies that produce results from the click-throughs.

Why is this funny?

Because in essence, a click-through places money in the pocket of the pay-per-click search engine --- only a conversion like a sale or sales lead creates money for the marketer.

Under a practical perspective, a click-through rate is the percentage of times your FREE LISTING (called an impression) is clicked on to generate a PAID visitor. Until your website conversion strategies convert the PAID visitor into a valued action, the visitor is an expense.

The higher your click-through rate the greater your expense and the more revenue you create for the paid search engines. Thus by increasing traffic volume, you fuel the search engine's growth, not yours.

Another perspective is to envision a click-through as placing coins into a slot machine. You cannot win the jackpot without inserting coins yet your preference is winning with fewer coins than with more. Likewise, you need click-throughs from your paid search ads to your website to generate sales or sales leads; however, your preference should be winning with fewer click-throughs than with more. If your not focused on increasing your website conversion strategies than this gambling metaphor makes a great deal of sense, right?

The BIG Question is How to Focus on Maximizing Your Website Conversion Strategies?

How do you win the jackpot with less click-throughs? There are a few different website conversion strategies to increase your results from your paid search marketing. Some of the strategies are managed at the paid search engine level, while the others at handled at the website level (or referred to as your landing page).

Here is a quick list of website conversion strategies for turning more paid search engine visitors into sales or sales leads with less click-throughs

1. Negatively Qualify Visitors in Ad Titles and Descriptions:

Your objective is to egatively-qualify potential visitors by explicitly stating major product or service attributes, using words that connect with qualified buyers versus non-qualified ones and setting click roadblocks like prices to divert out-of-your-market searchers from clicking on your ad simply out of curiosity or false pretenses.

Ideally, you want to give the potential visitor the most important information at the impression level before you pay for them after a click-through. Consider these elements when writing your ad's titles and/or descriptions.

Always use the keyword in your title (and if possible, description). Industry research indicates that the perceived quality is approximately 60% higher in listings where the search term is included.

In the description, include short, concise statements communicating your customer benefits. If you have limited room, then prioritize you customer benefits and list only the most important ones.

Because you have limited character space, you must choose your words wisely. Certain words like, Maximize, Exclusive and Indulge have a positive persuasive impact on potential visitors versus negative ones like Difficult or Expensive.

If you have an e-commerce website Include a product's model number, your shipping incentives and shipping reach (nationwide or international), any guarantees, the price, potential inventory restrictions or other specific product or service information that customers require (or expect) to read and review before making a buying decision.

One important experience note - you will never divert all non-qualified click-throughs. It is human nature to not always read the print and simply click through an ad. Unfortunately, logic does not always apply to behavior.

2. Track Performance for the Individual Keyword:

Track your paid search marketing at the keyword-level. It is essential that you know your per click results from the money you spend.

For example, if you have 1,000 keywords active in your paid search marketing program and you spend a total of $3,000 a month - do you know which of the 1,000 keywords produce the best results?

What if 80% of your sales stem from 20% of your keywords? Moreover, what if this 20% accounted for just a small percentage of your $3,000 monthly cost? If you do not have keyword-level tracking you will not be able to make these financially beneficial assessments. Time-tested experience shows that tracking your keywords generates higher returns on investment and enable greater leverage of your website conversion strategies.

Be careful though of matching options (i.e. broad, advanced, exact, phrase and so on) offered by Google Adwords, Overture and other pay-per-click search engines. They provide convenience but unfortunately they skew your keyword performance results.

If you setup a road-match for the keyword eal estate, you will attract visitors who have entered any possible variation of the term eal estate including geographically specific eal estate keywords that may have absolutely no relevance to your product or service.

3. Employ Custom Landing Pages:

This is an absolute for all paid search marketing campaigns. Pay-per-click marketing is unique compared to other mainstream forms of online marketing. In part because marketers have the opportunity to select specific keywords, write specific ads and direct the click-through to a specific web page. This connect-the-dots process creates the need to develop consistency among the visitor's expectation from the keyword they enter to the ad that draws their attention and down to the web page they land-on. Relevancy and consistency are essential for an effective pay-per-click marketing program.

One of the reportedly major reasons why pay-per-click marketing programs fall short of their intended goal is because businesses direct all of their click-throughs to their home page or to a poorly developed contact us form or product page. Since most businesses' websites are designed to serve mutliple audiences (i.e. media relations, investors, current clients, potential prospects, customer services, etc.) they do not provide the level of relevancy and consistency expected from the visitor to get them to act confidently.

What are landing pages? Landing pages are simply web pages designed specifically for a keyword or related group of keywords. They are highly relevant to the keyword searched and consistent with the ad's claim. They immediately focus a visitor's attention on a primary call-to-action (most wanted response). In essence - landing pages ask your visitors to take an action.

If your paid search marketing is not living up to your expectations, consider which web pages you are sending visitors to. Are they relevant and consistent with your paid ads and keywords? Do they offer too many calls-to-action? Do they fit the expectations of the visitor searching on the particular keyword?

4. Consider Branding; Direct Response Objectives:

Branding has significant value for a web business and advertisers certainly prioritize it as the golden egg of their efforts. However, associating branding objectives with paid search marketing is questionable. Studies show that search users attribute less relevancy to paid search ads then natural search listings. Also considering the click cost' associated with paid search, it is preferable to use natural search for branding purposes.

Paid search is an excellent direct response channel since it can be maximized to provoke an immediate desired action. Unlike natural search where the web page variables (which are not always human-friendly) are tweaked to attain effective search engine ranking, paid search enables you to direct click-throughs to a custom landing page and to split-test the landing page to incrementally increase its direct response rates.

Ideally, only use paid search to fill any essential randing keyword gaps that your natural search is not able to represent effectively in the search listings. That way, at least your brand is presented as an option for a search users' keyword inquiry. Remember, if your not listed, then you are not an option to fulfill the user's perceived need.

Focus your paid search campaigns on direct response efforts through continuously split-testing your landing pages to increase your close rates.

5. Don't Forget Latent Buyers:

A study conducted by DoubleClick/comScore in March 2005 reported that in half of all cases studied shoppers performed searches related to the category of their purchase at some time in the three months before buying. The study also found that, on average five searches in a category come before an online purchase.

What this means to you, is even though a paid search keyword appears not to convert immediately - be patient. The average search user performs five searchers before buying online and the five searches may be across five different keywords. So before removing any non-performing keywords from your paid search marketing, consider its brand and direct response value. It may have a low scoring value but be the biggest assist to sales.

In summary, focus on qualifying your keyword clicks BEFORE buying a visitor who has little or no intention of putting money into your pocketbook. By focusing your efforts on conversion rather than click-throughs you will increase your website sales and reduce your expenses - a sure bet for hitting the jackpot. As a client of ours recently stated, Give me the campaign with 100 click thru's and 30 sales over 1000 click thru's and 10 sales any day!'

Best of Luck!

About the Author

Kevin Gold is a writer, speaker and co-founder of Enhanced Concepts, Inc. Enhanced Concepts specializes in turning website visitors into leads or sales through web conversion strategies and ROI-driven search engine marketing. If you want to increase your leads or sales and get, a free copy of Understanding Your Conversion Rate and 12 Surefire Ways to Increase Your Website Conversion visit www.enhancedconcepts.com.

Affiliate Alternatives Google Adsense

2009-05-12T22:35:00.001-07:00

Affiliate Alternative; Google Adsense

by NotePage, Inc.

The Rise and Fall of Affiliate Programs
Affiliate programs were once a great source of online revenue, a savvy webmaster with an eye for marketing could easily parley a site into a money making machine with a little luck and effort. However, the evolution and growth of the Internet has hampered the growth of fortune making affiliate programs. Constant search engine algorithm changes, along with the search engine's clear distaste for sites participating in affiliate programs; have made it a little more difficult to earn a healthy affiliate revenue. An influx in the use of software programs that terminate cookie tracking and privacy programs that prevent webmasters from tracking referrers, have also hindered the affiliate sales channel. While it is still possible to make money through affiliate marketing, other alternatives ought to be considered.

A Healthy Alternative or Supplement
Google's Adsense program allows approved websites to dynamically serve Google's pay-per-click Adword results. This has become a popular alternative and an effective revenue sharing program for webmasters. Google's spider parses the adserving website and serves ads that relate to the website's content. While the Google's Adsense program still has some issues, they are making efforts to improve it.

The website maintenance related to Adsense is very easy and requires very little effort. Webmasters need only to insert javascript into the webpage or website template. The javascript calls the ad from Google and will ensure that ads are served each time a visitor goes to the webpage. If the visitor clicks one of the Adsense ads served to the website, the website owner is credited for the referral.

The implementation, while simple, has its drawbacks. Google dictates the format of the ads. Webmasters can select from a handful of preformatted text boxes that lack creativity. A recent improvement allows webmasters to modify the ad boxes to resemble the website's color scheme. Still, a far cry from some of the creative ads webmasters are accustom to.

The example below reflects how the color scheme can be modified to match the look of the website, but the ads physically don't fit well into the overall website design.

sample modified to match sites color scheme:
http://www.hospital-software.com (scroll to the bottom)

Google determines the content of the ads that are shown/ Sometimes the ads are poorly targeted, and of no interest to the website visitors.

sample of poorly targeted ads:
http://www.real-estate-supply.com

Adwords can be a great addition to a website, and when well matched to the content the revenue stream from Google is consistent and effortless.

sample of effective Adsense program:
http://www.police-supplies.com (scroll to the bottom)
http://www.small-business-software.net (scroll to the bottom)

Not that the Google Adsense program is not without its problems.as the reporting provided by Google is lacking. Google has not implemented any way to track multiple sites that serve ads; they simply show the number of ads served, the percentage of clicks received, and the revenue earned each day. Google does not disclose the amount of the revenue they share, what percentage of the revenue they earn and what someone can expect to receive for each click. Webmasters with multiple sites will have difficulty determining which websites are producing the money in the Adsense program.

With affiliate programs many webmasters implement a new browser launch with each click off the site, Adsense removes the visitor from the website and there is not currently an option to launch the visitor into another browser.

Early on Google implemented a filtering system that allowed webmasters to prevent a specific domain's ads from being served on the website. Ad blocking meant that webmasters could prevent their competitors ads from being dynamically served on their website.

Overall, adwords are great supplements to websites where affiliate programs are either not performing or when affiliate programs don't exist that target the sites content.

Give it a Try
Implementing and maintaing Google Adsense program on a content site requires very little effort and can often bring a steady stream of additional revenue for webmasters. Consider supplementing content and see what happens.

About the Author

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com , and http://www.small-business-software.net

Amazing 1892 Golf Novel Predicted Bullet Trains TV and More

2009-05-12T06:35:00.001-07:00

Did you hear about the strange little book, written in 1892, that predicted such wonders as bullet trains, digital watches, television and women's liberation decades before those things came to pass?

The book leapt into the news in early 2005 when a rare first edition sold at auction for more than $2,000.

The strangest thing about the book is that it is not a work of science fiction, as we would generally understand the term, nor some obscure tract of religious prophecy. Instead it's a novel about, of all things, golf.

Written by a 19th-century professional Scottish golfer named J. (or Jay) McCullough, about whom very little is known, Golf in the Year 2000; or, What We Are Coming To also predicted the advent of golf carts and international golf competitions.

Published under McCollough's pseudonym, J.A.C.K., the book chronicles the tale of a character named Alexander J. Gibson who falls into a near-comatose state on March 24, 1892. He awakens 108 years later (on March 25, 2000) into a world, where, among other things, women dress like men, run businesses and hold most of the top government positions.

Gibson also learns, to his considerable delight, that women do all the work in this evolved society while the men play golf full time. Upon being informed of this fact, he cries out that it's he dream of my former existence come true! I am, indeed, a lucky man to see it. ... The world is evidently getting things ship-shape. ... Oh, how I would like to wake up
some of my old chums. I know a few who would appreciate the arrangement.

But Gibson finds that his beloved golf has changed radically, too. He has to adjust to the existence of driverless golf carts, golf clubs that automatically register their user's score and jackets that yell Fore! whenever the golfer begins to swing. He finds the jackets to be particularly grating, but it's the rule at every club in Britain: you can't play unless
you're wearing one.

He also gets to watch -- via a television-like device that works through an elaborate mirror arrangement -- a golf competition between Britain and the United States, much like the Ryder Cup (an event which did not begin until 1927).

And, he learns that wars have ceased, at least among the European powers, because international disputes are now settled by ... golf matches.

One thing about golf hasn't changed, Gibson reflects following a round of golf in which he emerges the victor--and has to listen to his defeated opponent grousing about bad luck. The same old excuses, I thought. Among all those inventions, surely they might have got something new in that line.

The main character's adventures in the year 2000 also include taking a ride in an underground tubular railway, which people familiarly call the ub, and reading about a new London-to-New York speed record of two hours and 32 minutes, which is achieved by a bullet-type train traveling beneath the Atlantic Ocean.

Little things, too, amaze him: He no longer has to shave every day; instead, he brushes a miraculous preparation of some sort over his cheeks once a week and this is sufficient to keep down his beard. Similarly, he uses a hairbrush that keeps his hair at the length of his choosing, so he never needs to visit the barber (which is good, since barbers no longer exist).

The appeal of Golf in the Year 2000 is perhaps stronger today than it was when it was first published. Golfing fans, as could be expected, enjoy it for its wry commentary on the sport as practiced in the 19th century and in the future (our present) as imagined by a contemporary of H.G. Wells, who was also writing speculative fiction about things to come. General readers have fallen in love with it, too. Not only is it fun to go through it tallying up author McCullough's hits and misses on the predictive front, the book radiates a kind of Victorian charm that is reminiscent of a Sherlock Holmes story.

Now, the world is rediscovering this little literary fantasy.

In January of 2005, news services reported that an American collector named James Espinola had paid $2,240 at auction for a rare first edition of Golf in the Year 2000. Although Espinola is said to be in the process of selling off his own huge collection of golf memorabilia, he was quoted as explaining that he can't resist buying the occasional odd thing at auction--and this was one of those things.

The Edinburgh, Scotland, auction house of Lyon and Trumbull had guessed that the book would fetch less than a quarter of what it
ended up bringing. The auctioneers' golf specialist was quoted as saying that the final price ook us a bit by surprise.

Although original editions of the book are extremely rare, it has occasionally been reprinted in facsimile editions from time to time. No one thought to make it available to the vast audiences of the World Wide Web, though, until recently.

On February 26, 2005, a little over a month following the news about the auctioned first edition, Golf in the Year 2000 made its Web debut at http://www.golf-in-the-year-2000.com. The full text of this odd and engaging book is finally available for anyone, anywhere to read--without charge.

At the end of the book, the main character declares that he does not intend to wake up and find himself back in 1892 again, and that his amazing adventure was all a dream. No, no; I'm in 2000, and in 2000 I mean to stay. Like him, the tale of his adventure seems to have found a secure place in our time.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve Smith is a writer and editor currently living near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His most recent Web site projects include Golf In The Year 2000 (http://www.golf-in-the-year-2000.com) and Tops4Tennis (http://www.tops4tennis.com).

123 Promote!

2009-05-11T14:36:00.001-07:00

Web site promotion and the accompanying site traffic it
produces are not enough to guarantee your online success.
Nevertheless, you still need them to succeed. It doesn't
matter how great your site is or how wonderful your product,
if nobody visits you won't make sales.

As owner of 123-cyber-register.com, webmasters come to me
daily for advice on how to get more traffic to their site.
Here are the three common tasks that they (and you) must do
before you begin your site promotion campaign.

1 - Identify Your Site's Key Phrases

Think like a typical web surfer for just a moment. How
do you search for information and resources on the web?
If you are like 85% of web surfers, you search in terms
of key phrases - not key words.

That said, the first task prior to promoting your site
is the identification of your sites key phrases. What
would someone type as a search query if they wanted to
find the kind of information on your site?

Take my web site as an example. The services I offer
help people professionally promote their web site.
How might somebody search for my site? They would
typically use key phrases such as...

- register web sites
- search engine registration
- search engine submissions
- register with search engines

Examine your site and make a list identifying the key
phrases a potential client would use when searching for
the information. After all, if they're looking for certain
services and products and you offer what they're searching
for, then you stand a much better chance of getting the
sale because your prospect is pre-qualified.

2 - Name Your Page Appropriately

Now that you've got your list, your next task is to
craft your page title. This is the place where most
webmasters make a mistake. They create their title page
for the visitor, not the search engine. Here's a good
rule of thumb: MAKE CERTAIN that your page title
contains your most important key words and/or phrases.

One of the popular promotional services offered at
our website is the writing and distribution of press
releases. We've learned that the top phrase most people
query when researching this topic is

Press Release Service

That's why we made sure that this phrase was a part of
the page title. The HTML code looks like this:

1 2 3 Cyber Register Press Release Service< itle>

3 - Create Your Meta Tags

There are two more places where these phrases need to
appear. The first place is within the first 250 words
of your page. Search Engines look there to determine
the content of your site. The higher your key phrase
density the better your ranking in many search
engines.

The next place to use your key phrases is in your meta
tags. This bit of HTML code helps the help search
engines and directories properly classified and indexed
your page. There are two types of meta tags - your
sites description tag and its key word tag.

The first tag is the description. Use your key phrases
to write a one sentence (25 words or less) description
of your site. Here's what my Press Release page looks
like:

Next take your key words and phrases and prepare a key
word meta tag. Here's what that tag looks like on my
press release page:

Search engines are funny things. Their rules and
ranking procedures change often. Generally speaking,
however, if you include your key phrases in the page
content, title, and meta tag descriptions, you'll have
the best chance of gaining and maintaining a high
ranking.

Good luck!

About the Author

Ted Smolkowicz is a professional promotion expert
who's absolutely dedicated to bringing more traffic to
your website. Send your hit counter spinning and your
sales rolling with Ted's excellent services, only at
this website - http://www.123-cyber-register.com

15 Reasons to Become an Affiliate Marketer

2009-05-10T22:36:00.001-07:00

2004 Rosalind Gardner - All Rights reserved
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

There are HUGE benefits to promoting affiliate programs
with your own home-based Internet business, and I've come
up with a list of 15 great reasons to become an affiliate
marketer.

Let's look at each reason separately:

1. No Production Costs - The cost to develop and produce a
new product is prohibitive for almost anyone who wants to
start a home-based business. With affiliate programs,
production costs aren't an issue. The product has been
developed and proven - all on the merchant's nickel.

2. Low Cost Set-up - Compared with building a brick and
mortar store, starting a home-based Internet business is
relatively cheap. You probably already have a desk,
Internet-connected computer and word-processing software,
which is all the equipment you may need.

3. No Fees for Joining or Licenses to Buy - I often
compare doing business as an affiliate, with distributing a
line of products in the real world. The biggest difference
is that the distributor must often pay for a license to
distribute products within a limited geographic region.
Affiliate programs, on the other hand, are usually free to
join, and geographic market reach is limited only by the
affiliate's ability to promote his web site.

4. Choose From Thousands of Products and Services - What
isn't sold online? That list must be shorter than the one
describing all that IS sold online. There are thousands and
thousands of affiliate programs selling every product under
the sun. That makes it easy to find products related to
your current or planned web site.

5. No Sales Experience Needed - When I started my affiliate
business, I had absolutely no sales experience. That wasn't
a problem, however. The companies I affiliated with
provided excellent marketing material. Using their sales
copy, I was able to get my first affiliate site up in less
than a day.

6. No Employees - The largest expense of most businesses is
employee salaries. Although there might be times when you
need or want someone to work for you as an affiliate, it's
doubtful you'll ever have to worry about hiring full or
part-time employees. When you have a project you want to
hire out, it is easy to find specialists in every computer-
related field who can work for you from the comfort of
THEIR own homes. You pay only for the project, and never
have to worry about ongoing employee-related benefits and
deductions.

7. No Expensive Merchant Accounts Needed - Setting up a
merchant account for any business is a time-consuming and
costly business. It's even more tedious for Internet
businesses. However, merchant accounts aren't a concern
when you're an affiliate. The merchant bears that cost and
handles all processing of payments. You never have to lose
sleep over potential chargebacks, fraud or losing your
merchant account when you're an affiliate.

8. No Inventory to Carry - Even if you live in a small one-
bedroom apartment, as an affiliate you can sell large items
without storage concerns.

9. No Order-Processing - Forget the problems associated
with collecting and storing names, addresses, credit card
numbers, etc. The merchant does all that!

10. No Product Shipping - The cost and hassle to prepare
and ship products to customers worldwide could be
staggering. Affiliates never have to worry about packaging
supplies or postal rates.

11. No Customer Service Concerns - Do you hate the prospect
of dealing with nasty people or customer complaints? Don't
worry about it! The merchant handles the snivelers.

12. Make Money While You Sleep - What other business allows
you as a sole proprietor to keep your doors open and keep
making money even when you take breaks or after you go home
for the night?

13. The World at Your Doorstep - The Internet is the
world's largest marketplace. You can drive more visitors to
your online store in a day, than many small-town merchants
sees in his or her brick and mortar business in a year.

14. Minimal Risk - The product you chose isn't making
money? Dump it. Take down your links and promote another!
It's that easy. There are no long-term contracts binding
you to products that don't sell.

15. High Income Potential - If you have a job, your salary
or hourly wage is probably pre-determined. Maybe there's
not much, other than working overtime, that you can do to
increase your income. With your own affiliate business on
the Internet your income potential is limited only by your
desire, effort and imagination.

There you have them - all the good reasons to start your
own online affiliate marketing business. Start today and
benefit from this incredibly simple, cost-effective
business opportunity known as affiliate marketing. The time
is right, and the time is now.

--
Article excerpted from Rosalind Gardner's Super Affiliate
Handbook: How I Made $436,797 Last Year Selling Other
People's Products Online. Rosalind is the 'Net's most
recognized expert on successful online selling as an
affiliate marketer.

Visit her site at:
www.myinfobiz.net/affbprint

About the Author

Rosalind Gardner is the 'Net's most recognized expert on
successful online selling as an affiliate marketer.

AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF THE NEW FRONTIER OF CYBERSPACE

2009-05-10T06:35:00.000-07:00

In this short piece, as we pioneer in the field of cyberspace,
I'm sharing a few thoughts on the place of technology in these
early days of the Knowledge economy, which may be of interest.

I couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead
without it.
- Jonathan Winters

AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF THE NEW FRONTIER OF CYBERSPACE

by Craig Lock

The next information revolution is well under way...It is not
a revolution in technology, machinery, techniques, software,
or speed. It is a revolution in CONCEPTS.
(Drucker, 1998)

Money is what fueled the industrial society.
But in the informational society, the fuel,
the power, is knowledge.
One has now come to see a
new class structure divided by those
who have information and those who
must function out of ignorance.
This new class has its power not from
money, not from land, but from knowledge.

- John Kenneth Galbraith

Bill Gates once described the Information Age as the Wild
West of Cyberspace. A few years ago, he also said there
would be two kinds of businesses in the year 2001:
1.those online
and
2. those out of business!

What is knowledge?

He who receives an idea from me receives instruction himself,
without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine
receives light without darkening me.
- Thomas Jefferson

We are becoming ever-more a knowledge society - with
the rapid diffusion (big word!) and exchanging of huge
amounts of information daily. This makes the sheer volume
of knowledge difficult to absorb.

We are seeing little New Zealand's rapid transition from a
pastoral to a knowledge economy, as we are fast catching
and riding the knowledge wave. I believe it's more an age
of wisdom in sharing information world-wide through the
amazing power of the internet.

Here in far-off New Zealand (near the bottom of the world),
I believe we have an excellent
foundation to be extremely successful in the global economy.
However, we must move speedily ahead to be a far more
knowledge-driven economy; otherwise we could become
also rans in the ultra-competitive global market place.

I truly believe that many New Zealanders have not yet
recognised that the Internet is the modern equivalent
of the 'freezer ships of yonder', that revolutionised our
economy last century. As we enter the twenty-first century,
the Internet will be our 'key vessel' for reaching global
markets from these far-off sleepy shores.

I think that we should be finding new paths for social and
economic development. Knowledge is replacing the old
sources of wealth and power, as the driving source in the
world's most successful societies. We must become a
knowledge export platform...and that is the vision for my
little business, Eagle Productions based in provincial NZ.

In effect, we are creating wealth through the comercialisation
of ideas. We are utilizing to the fullest, the amazing creative
potential of the human IMAGINATION to reach the world.

The digital divide: In the future there will be a widening
gap between those with the skills in the new technological
age and the ot so well off, those poor souls, who have
not put in the effort to update their computer and
technological skills. It is a matter of using our resources
wisely in this digital age.

Here in NZ I believe, we need to be driven far more
by knowledge, technology, innovation and renovation.
The first step is transforming the innovative spirit that
allows we Kiwis (New Zealanders) to turn no.8 wire into
innumerable useful tools around the farm, into a commercial
operation. It's simply a matter of sharpening the pencil of
New Zealand's focus on e-commerce. Refocussing existing
economies and enhancing existing products (traditional, such
as agriculture and horticulture) through adding value via
the world wide web.

USE Information Technology with all the amazing powers
of the world wide web .
With the web and e-mail, we must always keep technology
in perspective - by using it for 'ease of communication at
the click of a mouse', to make our lives easier and market
products and services around the globe efficiently and
cheaply in the early days of this New Age of Wisdom!

Businesses MUST get with the times and respond by
embracing the enormous international opportunities offered
by the Internet. It's either ADAPT or DIE (a slow lingering
death). Make technology WORK FOR YOU -: for your (and
your family's good, your business and especially your country.

Craig Lock

The spiritual is stronger than any material force,
thoughts rule the world.
- the great and inspirational American philosopher,
Ralph Waldo Emerson -

Creative Writing Course
http://www.nzenterprise.com/writer/creative.html

The various books* that I felt inspired to write are available at:
http://www.novelty-gift.com/
and
http://www.bridgeniche.com/CLOCK/zaniestbooks.htm
(Free chapters)

* Hard copies and e-books: Fiction and non-fiction, novels
on South Africa, travel, humour, inspiration, self help and
money books

All proceeds go to needy and underprivileged children -
MINE!

The smallest-largest and zaniest bookstore in the Southern
Hemisphere.

http://www.craiglock.com
and
http://www.elkpublications.com/godzone.htm

The nations that will be successful in the information revolution
may be large or small, and are unfettered as to hemisphere.
Assuredly, however, they will have invested in the critical information,
computer. social and Internet infrastructures.
(McGovern, 1998)

THIS ARTICLE MAY BE FREELY PUBLISHED.

P.S: DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE WORLD ENDING TODAY,
IT'S ALREADY TOMORROW IN LITTLE, SCENIC AND
TRANQUIL NEW ZEALAND

About the Author

Authors Note:

Craig Lock has been successfully marketing various products online for over four years.Craig is a writer, who
believes in encouraging and helping others to
find their talents and gifts, to strive for and
accomplish their dreams in life, whatever they
may be. He truly believes people can overcome
obstacles, rise to any occasion, and accomplish
their impossible dream with enough faith and
commitment.

Pop Windows Do They Really Work?

2009-05-09T14:39:00.000-07:00

Copyright 2005 Michael Tansey

A few years ago, pop-up windows were all the rage in Internet marketing. It seemed that every time one opened a web page they would be bombarded with offers for this or that. It had gotten to the point where surfing the Internet was almost like playing a video game; when the ads would pop-up one would try and close them out before the next one opened. This is precisely why we have seen the decline in the use of pop-up windows on the Internet today; surfers simply don't even look at the pop-ups anymore. They close the windows out before even reading the headline much less the actual ad. Very often, a surfer will even leave your site if there are too many pop-up ads. They simply do not want the hassle of closing those windows while trying to obtain the information that your site has to offer. This information, while valuable, is not as valuable as the surfers time. Studies have shown however, that even with these set backs, pop-up windows are still an effective method of Internet marketing.

Is there some way that pop-up windows can be less irritating and still be effective? Yes! What if the pop ad were seen upon exiting your site instead of entering? This would allow the surfer to obtain the information that they need from your site, feeling that they were able to come and go quickly without being hassled by other ads and offers all the while making the surfer happy. You have left the surfer with a positive attitude and therefore are more likely to respond to the pop advertisement. This is being accomplished more and more by using what is being called pop-under windows. When the surfer comes to your site, the ad is opened discretely behind your web page. Then, upon leaving your site, after obtaining all the information that they need, they will see the ad and therefore be more likely to respond. Since the surfer has the information, he has achieved his objective and is now open to do other things; i.e. respond to the pop under advertisement.

Not all pop-windows are created equally. There are some things that you can do to make your pop-windows, whether pop-up or pop-under more effective. The pop-window must be easy to escape from. If the surfer does not want to see the add, but has a hard time closing it out, they will likely become frustrated and could leave your site all together. You should either use a button that will allow the surfer to close the window or be sure that the x is easily visible. Also be certain you use no more than one pop-window per page.

When creating a pop-window, you will be asked to fill out a short information form, and choose the layout of the pop-window. When choosing the design of the pop-window, you can increase the effectiveness by creating a large headline that includes benefits that will be most appealing to the customer. You should also consider using incentives and lastly do not ask the customer to read a long and drawn out advertisement. Keep the message simple yet powerful and your pop-ads will be sure to generate profits for your site.

About the author:

Mike Tansey can help YOU start your own profitable business on the Internet within the next 24 hours...
visit: http://www.Profit-Unlimited.net/pips.html
ToReceive More Informative Tips, Subscribe Below
mailto:ProfitUnlimited@GetMoreInfo.com?subject=REF100

9 Hot Tips for Linking with other Web Sites

2009-05-08T22:36:00.000-07:00

If you have a website the chances are you receive e-mails from Webmasters asking you to make a link exchange with them. But how do you know whether you should link to their website or not? Well here are 9 rules of thumb, to help guide you through the linking maze.

1. Is their site relevant to yours?

This is key, and more and more important these days. If the answer is YES then it's worth thinking about. If it's off topic then you may want to think twice before swapping links. A link from a relevant website to your site is the preferred choice as it can help reinforce your website theme and potentially send some useful traffic your way.

2. How many links is too many on a links page?

When your link is being placed on another website, you ideally want that page to contain as few outbound links as possible. 15 or less outbound links is good, 150 outbound links is not so good. If there are a high number of links on a page [such as 150 then the value of each link out is weakened. Whilst we can only make assumptions about 'link weight' some Webmasters will use a cut off point of 50, 75 or even 100 links on a page as a top end maximum. Anything over 50 outbound links on an average resources page is certainly quite high. However if your link will appear on the page of a good quality site or 'authority website' an exchange can still be worthwhile.

3. What is the Page Rank of the site on Google?

Some webmasters focus a lot on Google's page rank as a measure of a website. If you download and install the Google toolbar you will see a measure of 1 to 10 shown via a horizontal bar for each site you are on. Typically the higher the page rank, the more important a site is perceived to be. A link from a Pr 5 page is often seen as a more powerful link than one from a Pr1 page. However, Google's Page Rank is only meant to be a rough guide and should not be taken too seriously. Tip one should always preside - a relevant link is always what you want.

4. Should the links page be categorized?

Personally I prefer a well organised links page. If your citing a resource in context of an article you would link from the paragraph, but for the purposes of resource links it is a good idea to organise your pages into relevant themes relating to your website and business. If the site containing the link you are being offered is placed on a page with 200 links all mixed up and covering every topic under the sun, then it's not ideal. If you're an online shop selling Art Prints should you really be on the same links page as Hosting Companies and Travel Agents? Make the effort to organise your resource pages, even if some link partners don't.

5. Is the links page being read by search engines?

It is important that the page your link is on can be found and read by search engines. The page should be no more than 2-3 clicks away from the homepage. You can even test if the web page is in the Google index by visiting www.google.com and typing into the search bar cache: with the full domain and page name extension after it. So your query in the Google search bar could read: cache:www.mywebsite.com/thelinkspage.html.
The page should then show in the Google index. If it does not then there are a couple of possibilities. 1/ The page is very new and hasn't been crawled yet or 2/ the site has a problem being crawled by search engines due to poor internal linking.

6. What if a Webmaster asks me to link to one site, but links back to me from a different site?

This process is sometimes referred to as '3-way linking' or a 'linking triangle'. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with 3-way linking as it can sometimes be done for convenience. However the first thing you need to do is 1/ Evaluate the site you are linking to and 2/ Evaluate the site and page you are getting the link from. So is the outbound link destination relevant to your site, and is the inbound link you are going to receive also coming from a quality related website?

7. Do I want to associate my business with this particular site?

It is a simple question to answer and this should form part of your decision making process. If you think you have been approached by a good website then the chances are others will feel the same and possibly the search engines too.

8. How do I know if my link partners are still linking to me?

You can do this manually by keeping the information for each link partner in an Excel spreadsheet or similar and then periodically check the exact URLs your link should appear on. However if you get to the stage of having hundreds of link partners this may become rather impractical. At this stage a reciprocal link checker might be advisable. www.linksmanger.com offers a link management system that includes periodic checking of link partners as well as a link exchange system for around $20 a month.

9. So what are the best links?

One answer could be he ones that deliver lots of relevant traffic. However links can mean different things to different people. Natural linking [when people link to you without you asking is a great reward, but it is also wise to ensure you have some links from quality sites in your industry. Teoma can be a good place to find such sites as it focuses more on human edited results than say Google for example. Simply make a search with a good key phrase on www.teoma.com and you will quickly see which websites are the 'authority' sites. Set about trying to get listed on as many of the best ones as you can.

About the Author

Gareth Davies is a web design consultant at GSINC Ltd based in London, UK. GSINC deliver practical web design solutions and effective online marketing strategies for business. For more information visit http://www.garethsketty.com or if you have any questions you can contact Gareth at garethsketty AT yahoo.co.uk

Change Your Site Now!

2009-05-08T06:36:00.001-07:00

Change your site! That's right, if you want the edge in
this highly competitive market, you need to change your
site now!

In order to increase your traffic you need to change the
content on your site to reflect current trends. By this
I don't mean simply changing a few words, layout etc etc,
I mean really changing it to keep ahead of your competition
by providing services that people really want.

This by no means has to affect the theme of your site, you
simply need to enhance it to provide additional much sort
after services or products. If you're happy with the amount
of visitors your site is currently receiving, and I doubt
you are, then leave it as it is, but if you want more visitors,
and you want your visitors to keep coming back, then read on!

Let's get to the how's and the why's.

How?

Firstly find out what people want, what they're really looking
for. If you can offer this service or product, people are more
than likely to buy it from you. Remember they're looking for
it because they want it and if you provide it, chances are
they'll buy it from you.

To find out what people are looking for go to a site like Searchwords.com. If you think you know what the most popular
search word at the moment is, you may be somewhat surprised
when I tell you its MP3. That's the word now, but things
change so fast in this technical age, you need to keep a close
eye on this.

Why?

There are two major reasons for doing this. Firstly, if people
want it and are looking for it and you consistently fill this
need, you will soon establish a reputation for always being
hot. Make the most of the current trends why they're
happening. I am not talking about words that have always been
searched for or products and/or services you would not want to associate your site with, but new and different trends. If you discipline yourself to check these trends on a regular basis,
you can offer the desired services long before the word is out
and everybody else is doing the same thing. This is a major key
to how successful you will be - act fast and stay ahead!.

In order to have your own site ranked well with the search
engines, you need to have relevant keywords in your metatag
area. What could be better than having the most popular search
words in your own metatags? Of course you would have to have
that content on your own site. If people are searching for
Holly Janion, and you have Holly Janion in your metatags, be
sure to contain information on Holly Janion somewhere within
the content of your site. How many times have you looked for
something via the search engines and visited the sites to find
they have nothing to do with the subject in hand. This is a
dirty trick and won't do the webmaster any favors in the long
run. Be professional, make sure your metatags correctly reflect
the content on your site.

Key Benefits

1. By changing your content regularly, your visitors will
come back often because you offer the services they want.
Your site is interesting and doesn't have the same old stuff
on month in and month out. By keeping your site content
current, you will be one step ahead of your competitors.

2. You'll be seen as a site that is current, knows what is going
on, a true professional. This will increase your visitor
returns. If someone has purchased from you once, they will
be more likely to purchase from you again. Look after your
current visitors, don't lose them to other sites that keep
current!

3. If your main theme is kitchens but everyone is looking for
MP3, add it to your site. It doesn't have to be a huge section
that detracts from your theme at all, something small will be enough. Remember just because I'm on your site looking at
kitchens, doesn't mean I don't have any other interests!

4. Don't depend totally on people using kitchens as a keyword.
You know they they're using MP3, so use it too - get them to
your site!

5. You'll still get the visitors you would have had anyway as
kitchens is still your main metatag word and what your site
is about. This method only increases your site visitors.
You're getting visitors that weren't looking to buy a kitchen
at the moment but may soon be, or know people who are, and now
they know you provide a great kitchen service.

Wade's World is an internet business solutions company offering
various free marketing resources, but we've added a whole page
on MP3 to our web site and people are using it! For how long
I don't know, but I'm keeping a watch and when the trend changes,
so will our site!

About the Author

Holly Janion is webmaster for Wade's World Ltd, a UK Internet
solutions company. To contact Holly, send an e-mail to
webmaster@wadesworld-usa.com or visit the Wade's World site at
http://www.wadesworld-usa.com

5 hot tips to boost your website traffic using free tools

2009-05-07T14:36:00.000-07:00

The net is a truly remarkable place because there are so many ways of skinning a cat. The cat we are talking about here is traffic. Simply put, the higher the traffic, the more successful the site.

Despite the fact that everybody strives for traffic, many webmasters pay out lots of cash only to end up with mediocre results. And yet the net provides free tools, some of them little known, most of them ignored. These tools can help improve the volume of traffic headed to your blog or website.

Here is how you can use free tools to increase traffic.

a) Analyze your current traffic

The best place to start is by accessing free available research on your site. If you have not been tracking your visitor install one of the many free traffic counters available online that also have tracking capabilities and collect data for a week or so.

This will give you lots of valuable information including where most of your traffic comes from, which are the most popular pages and so on.

b) Where do your clients congregate?

This information will answer a very important and crucial question. Where do your clients usually congregate on the net? Which sites do they frequent the most?

This information is worth its’ weight in gold as we shall see later in this article.

c) Launch a blog

Blogs tend to enjoy much higher traffic in general than websites do. One of the reasons is their informal nature. By knowing where your clients congregate, you will know exactly what interests them the most and therefore how to attract them.

Blogs are simple to manage and maintain and what’s more you can set them up for free using any of the many free blog hosting services. They can be extremely effective in directing traffic to your website

d) Write and post articles

Once you know where your clients tend to meet or congregate on the web, you will also be in the perfect position of knowing exactly where to post your free articles. Writing and posting articles is a much more powerful online marketing strategy than most people realize. This is because, done properly, it will also have an amazing and powerful; impact ion improving your search engine rankings and therefore the traffic you receive from search engines.

Make sure that apart from posting the articles at your blog, also post them at article directories, ezine publishers and announcement lists.

e) Use a traffic exchange site

Some people look down on traffic exchange sites. This is a big mistake. In traffic exchange sites, you win traffic to your own site by visiting others belonging to other members who have signed up at the traffic exchange site. While it is true that not everybody who visit from a traffic exchange site will be interested in what you have to offer, some will inevitably be. It is a great way to launch a campaign for increased traffic because it will give your site more exposure. It is like advertising your product on prime time TV. Many will not be interested and even fewer will respond. But the tiny fraction that shows interest and ends up buying can be a significant figure. So the idea should be to win as much traffic to your site as possible.

About the Author

About the author: Chris K. is a Technical Executive Writer for Website Source, Inc. http://www.websitesource.com. His established writing skills coupled with experience in the website hosting industry have provided internet professionals with marketing, product and service ideas for many years.

4 Simple Steps To Search Engine Optimization

2009-05-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

What is search engine optimization? Well, just what it sounds like, it's the process of optimizing your website for search engines. There are thousands of companies out there that specialize in SEO. For a fee (usually a LOT) they will optimize your website for you. If you're paying one of these companies, you're throwing away money! Don't believe me? Go to your favorite search engine and search for firefighter. Why firefighter? Because that is the one keyword that we feel is most important to this website, American-Firefighter.com Go ahead, search. Here, we'll make it easy for you:

Click here to search Google for firefighter.
Click here to search Yahoo for firefighter.
Click here to search MSN for firefighter.
Click here to search Lycos for firefighter.
Click here to search HotBot for firefighter.

(we'd link to Overture, but you'd have to scroll through 30 something sponsored listings before you get anywhere!)

What do you think of our search rankings? We think they're pretty good. How much did we pay to get these listings? NOTHING! Wondering how we do it? The SEO companies don't want you to know, but it's SO SIMPLE we just have to tell you!

STEP 1: CHOOSE your keyword(s)

Seems obvious, but a lot of people seem to overlook this. Choose keywords that are most relevant to your website. If your website is a content site, target keywords that relate to your targeted audience. This website targets firefighters, so firefighter was a logical keyword to target. If your target visitors are bus drivers, then bus driver would be a good keyword? Get it? If your site is commercial in nature, then your keywords should match what you are selling. If you sell toothpaste, toothpaste would be a good keyword. You don't need an SEO company to tell you this.

STEP 2: USE your keyword(s)

Our keyword is firefighter, and the word firefighter is used many times on virtually every page of this website (even this one!). If your keywords are bus drivers, and bus drivers is nowhere to be seen on your website, something is wrong. If you sell toothpaste and the word toothpaste doesn't appear on your website, someting is wrong. Again, you don't need an SEO company to tell you this.

STEP 3: Get Linked

This part is different depending on if you have a content site or a commercial site. For content sites you want to find similar websites. Websites that target the same people that you do. Don't think of them as competition, think of them as partners...link partners. Arrange link exchanges with these websites. Place a link to them, and in return ask them to place a link to your site. Most search engines use spiders to crawl the web, so the more similar sites they find that link to yours, the better.

For commercial websites link exchanges aren't always the best idea. Any other websites targeting the same visitors, ARE your competition. You don't really want to send your visitors to your competition. One idea is to arrange link exchanges with content sites. We have links to many commercial websites on American-Firefighter.com that we have posted in exchange for those sites placing links to our site. The second option is to advertise. Find large scale content websites to advertise with. This part can be a little tricky. Many content websites are so saturated with advertisements, and their prices are so high it hardly seems worth it. If you can't find a good content site to advertise on, we recommend Google AdWords: http://adwords.google.com Not only will your ad be shown on the biggest and best search engine on the web, but you can also have your ad shown on thousands of AdSense publisher websites, content websites that show contextual text ads served up by Google.

STEP 4: Don't Cheat!

Using doorway pages, hidden links, dynamically generated pages full of garbage, or any other sneaky tactic won't help, in fact it will usually hurt your websites success. Many search engines will ban your website if they find such tactics, and when a visitor sees such tactics, they will lose all faith in your website. A website with no visitors isn't much of a website.

Believe it or not, that's it! We have followed these four steps and have great search engine rankings on nearly every major search engine...and we didn't pay thousands of dollars to get there!

http://www.american-firefighter.com

About the Author

Lee Weaver is a volunteer firefighter/emt and builds firefighter interest websites in his spare time.

10 Things to ponder when picking your .com.

2009-05-06T06:36:00.000-07:00

1. Proper names VS Common Names. First of all there are two different kinds of names, proper names (unique words, person, place), or common names (things like cars or cheese.) The types of names that will have good lasting effect on the internet are proper names. Think of some of the biggest sites on the internet, such as yahoo or google, why are they the most popular search engines in the world and not searchengine.com? Simple, the average consumer will group names of things with there .com names. If the names are too similar they get lost in the mix. That is why no one names there car dealership cars. Sure cars are what they sell, but image the conversation, Frank asks what dealership did you buy your car from? Jim replies cars as you can image it would get really confusing. A lot of dealerships use proper names such as XYZ Motors. That is why a lot of sites such as cars.com aren't doing as well as say vehix.com.

2. Real world Brands The most successful brands on the internet are not eal world brands. That is why amazon.com does over three times as much business as Waldenbooks.com or Borders.com combined. Internet branding is something completely new. In my opinion, the sites that are going to last on the internet are the ones with proper names. Proper names can be anything, names, and unique words. Use your imagination just as long as it is catchy and unique. It was a good idea to put www.what you are selling here.com back when the internet was young. People used the URL as a directory tool. This is a dying fad.

3. KISS Method. Keep It Simple Stupid. The best sites out there have simple easy to remember names. Alexa.com Excite.com you don't see many popular names like yourincrdiblesearchingpower.com

4. Shorter means better. If there is a shorter way to use your name do it. There is a reason cnet.com isn't computernet.com and schawb.com isn't charlesschwab.com. The less I have to type in the search box the happier I am.

5. Spelling 101. Make your .com easy to spell. Back when your product was mailed by the postal service spelling wasn't as important. You could get away with misspelled words and it would still be delivered. But now you have to enter your .com name exactly right for it to work.

6. What is in a name? Words that are better for search engine names and brand names all together have less total letters. That is why Datsun which has 6 letters to make there name changed to Nissan which has 4. As general rule brand names do better with the lower this number is. Such as Yahoo it takes 3. Google, it takes 4.

7. Abbreviate. Take a look at America Online. They didn't make there site www.americanonline.com they made it AOL. Other abbreviated names include, MSN and Cnet. This goes with the keeping it shorter rule but it is another possible helper.

8. Name it after a person. In 1987, PC's Limited changed its name to Dell Computer Corporation. In 2003, the company became Dell, Inc. Dell, Inc. became the most profitable PC manufacturer in the world. Dell sounds a lot better than PC's Limited.

9. Hidden meanings. Most names have hidden meanings such as Amazon which is the largest River on earth, is the largest book store on earth. I recommend you take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listofcompanynameetymologies

10. Run names by friends and relatives. They can be your best source for ideas, and best of all they will tell you if something sounds good to them or not. Ultimately what ever .com you choose it has to sound good to you.

About the Author

I have decided to peruse my passion, internet marketing. I have spent countless hours reading books, and listening to lectures. I finally decided to take the plunge. I created http://www.awesome-possum.com June of 2005. I hope in time to be a webmaster and internet marketer full time. I hope this article was helpful and informative. Email me webmaster@awesome-possum.com anytime. I am always happy to help.

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2009-05-05T14:36:00.000-07:00

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About the Author

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Internet Business Benifits

2009-05-04T22:36:00.000-07:00

Working at home on your internet business is very gratifying. You are now the captain of your ship. You are the one who is steering the wheel. You can use your full creative capacity to bring your business to be a mega success.

The advantages of an internet business is that you don't need a physical location. You don't need to rent or buy a place to start your business. Imagine how much it will cost you to do such thing. It can cost you thousand of dollards per month to have such business.

On the internet you need a location. But it is a domain name, like you know. It can cost between $5 to $25 per year to have an internet domain name. At $25 you can even have free web hosting. So it is really cheap to do business on the internet.

Of course you need a website. You can create one if you have some web development knowledge. Or you can have one free with an affiliate program or other home business opportunity. Or you can have website template for a low investment and some are even free.

On the internet you can advertise for free. This is another benefit of the internet. You can write article like this one and publish it in ezine, website, etc. This is call viral marketing. Or you can advertise for a really low investment, like with overture or Google Adword. You pay only when someone click on your Ad. This is called Pay Per Click. You can have good traffic and good sales using PPC campaign. You can bid as low as 10 cents per click.

With an internet business you don't need no inventory unless you have youre own product that you ship by yourself. Most business opportunity ship the product for you and you keep the profits.

Imagine you don't need to keep an inventory, you don't need a cash register, you don't need credit card processing etc.etc. All this is done for you if you sales for another business opportunity. You don't need employee to train and pay. You don't need to pay for vacation, insurance, benefices etc.

An Internet home business, have many tax advantages. You can deduct your home, spouse and children (if you employ them),busines vacations, cars, and business meals. Plus, any losses you incur can be tax deductible and may even be refunded by your income tax agency.

By working in youre sweet home you don't have to get up at 6 AM in the morning to prepare yourself to go to work. You can start working whenever you want and like you want it. You can work part time like 4 or 5 hours a day and still make a decent income on the internet.

Or you can keep your current job if you are just starting your internet business and make an extra income. Or wait until youre business is running at full speed and you don't need youre job security anymore.

With an internet business you are your own boss. By being your own boss and being able to schedule your own work hours you NOW have the freedom to do what you want when you want to with whom you want at anytime. It's a great feeling to be in control of your own life and do what you want when you want.

You are an internet Entrepreneur NOW. You are the chief of your entreprise. You are the master of your destiny.

Remember your internet business should be treated as a real business. This is your new job. You are the one who takes the decisions for now on. You can manage your time without someone else telling you when you should work and take care of your business.

Starting an internet business have many advantages, but be sure you have the time and effort to give to your internet business so that you'll enjoy the financial and personal freedom you are searching for.

As long as you think positive and focused on your business target you're on the right way to a rich life, which is directed by you and it will lead you to tremendous success.

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Michel Richer, The Internet Business Specialist Can Help You Build A Successfull Internet Business That Can Generate Massive Profit !!! So Start Your Own Internet Business for FREE >> Visit Now ::

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