Internet Marketing Tips

2006-10-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

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Featured Article on Internet Marketing|Online Business

2006-08-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

Internet Marketing News

Fresh Content.net

Featured Article on Internet Marketing|Online Business

How to build a basic website. Marketing Your First Business Part 1

2006-08-16T00:18:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Christopher Robinson
When you first start your business the first thing you will need to do is to market and promote it. It does not matter what business you decide to do you will need to make a website to be successful in your promotions.

All businesses need leads and one of the most cost effective ways to get them is by website promotion. There are many ways to promote your website, which we will explore in later issues, but none of these promotions will be effective without a professional looking site. There are many different types of website but we will just go into how to build a basic one right now. Here are the steps you will need to take to build your basic website:

Before you start: It is important to define your business concept and your market.

You will have already chosen your concept and defined your market so I will be brief on this.

Your market concept defines your USP (unique selling position). This is what your business will sell and how it will differ from your competition.

Defining your market is a matter of analyzing your visitors. This will not just be any visitor it will be your most wanted visitors. These VIPs deserve some thought. Ask yourself a couple of questions.

Who are my most wanted visitors?
What will attract them and persuade them to buy?
What are their interests and where will I find them?
Make a thumbnail sketch of your most wanted customer and build your website around their needs.

Making your website:

Get a good HTML editor. 2 main ones are Microsoft Front Page or Dreamweaver. This will be your biggest investment. Dreamweaver will allow you to have a 30-day free trial.

Decide on the layout of your website, it will include these pages:
Your home page
Your sales page
Content pages
About us-contact form

Your home page can either be your sales page or an introduction to the rest of your site. If it is an introduction page, it must be:
Clear
Concise
Enticing-lead people into the rest of your site.
Have simple user friendly navigation so that your visitors can move about easily
Have your newsletter subscription box for visitors to sign up for your free newsletter.

Your sales page is one of the most important pages on your site and I will go into this in further detail in later issues. Briefly it must be:

Personal
Professional
Persuasive

Your content pages are the ones that will draw in visitors and encourage other related businesses to link to you. They should be tailored to your most wanted visitors. What would they like to know and read about? Primarily they will be looking for information. This will be on and about your products or business industry. You can write informative articles, product reviews and stories or antidotes about your business industry. Include resources and links to other pages in your site. These should all be keyword rich about 3% keyword density. These pages will pre sell or warm your visitor for the sale and will lead into your sales page.

It is very important for the credibility of your business to include an about us section and contact information. You should include a way to contact you preferably a form rather than your direct email (this will cut down Spam).

So there you have it, both these HTML editors are easy to use. Have fun making your 1st website and remember the golden rules. Make it look professional, and keep it user friendly with lots of good content and resources. This will please your visitors and the little search engine bots when they visit your site.

About the author:

Christopher T Robinson is a renowned businesss entrepreneur, marketing in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. He is currently part owner of Robinson & Associates Advertising Inc. He is the author of his free ebook "Effective Internet Marketing 2006", http://www.forlifeincome.com ,
and offers tips on marketing your website at http://www.hype-factor.com/market_your_web_site.html

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2006-08-15T23:11:00.000-07:00

2006-08-13T23:54:00.000-07:00

How To Create Compelling E-mail Offers That Sell Like Crazy

2006-08-10T03:08:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Dan Lok
If you want to create a dynamic e-mail campaign, you have to offer your clients more than a simple announcement.

Far too often people fall into the trap of believing an announcement is enough to entice their customer.

Unfortunately, an announcement does little to help compel or encourage your clients to buy from you.

If you want customers to buy from you, you’re far better off offering “special deals” or a “special offer” than simply offering an announcement.

Why?

An announcement says, “Hey, I have a new product!”

Wow, that’s terrific!

But what’s in it for the customer?

You have to think about what your customer’s needs are and how you are filling them with every contact you make.

An announcement doesn’t take these needs into consideration, and that’s why far too often announcements fail to produce results.

An announcement also lacks a call to action or an incentive for customers to contact you.

It doesn’t make sense to contact someone unless you are going to offer him or her an incentive to buy your product.

Keep this in mind when creating your next e-mail campaign.

Types of Promotions

So now you know you have to offer incentives. Now, what kind of incentive do you offer in your e-mail campaign?

There are many different incentives to offer. Most people rely on the special discount offer.

You don’t always have to offer a discount however, to get people to buy from you. You can for example, offer a new product to your customers.

Say for example, you offer them a free publication, like a subscription to your newsletter if they buy your product now. Or, you can offer them 20% off your latest publication when they order.

You can also offer special deals by recognizing some special event in your personal life. Most customers appreciate e-mails that include some personal information about you. For example, let’s say you have an upcoming birthday or anniversary to celebrate. In your e-mail, mention this.

Say, “Because it’s my birthday today I’m offering you a special discount.” This will help your e-mails appear more personal in nature.

You have to share personal information if you want to build trust with your clients. Let them know something about you.

Say for example you are sharing your 10th anniversary with your partner. Let your customer’s know you are offering a one-time deal because of this.

Another promotion you can offer your clients is the “special sale.” I like to call this the “Oops, I forgot!” or “Oops, I screwed up!” offer.

In this special bonus offer, e-mail your clients a day or two after you send out an announcement.

Then let them know you forgot to tell them something in the previous “announcement”, so if they order now, they can take advantage of your mistake.

Then offer them something. Then after a couple of days send them a last minute reminder. You can phrase it similar to, “We almost sold out, and we only have a few hours left, so act now so you don’t miss out. Remember, you’ll be reaping A, B, C benefits.”

Special offers are great during holidays, like Christmas, Halloween or even Valentines Day. Speaking of Valentines Day, remember your offers don’t have to be discounts. They can be something unusual, crazy or fun. Like on Valentines Day, offer your clients a rose or chocolate for ordering that day.

Your goal should be to keep things exciting and fun. Keep all your promotions an event.

Another way to produce more feedback from your e-mails is to send customers FAQ e-mails. Let’s say for example, you send an e-mail that creates some questions you’d like to respond to.

You can send an FAQ offer or follow up e-mail that answers all their questions and presents a new offer or special deal for your customers.

How Often You Should E-mail Clients?

How often should you e-mail your clients? If a customer consistently buys your products and services, you should send frequent e-mails.

If however, you are sending a special promotional offer to someone that has never ordered from you, don’t waste too much time on it.

My experience suggests customer’s who buy something once or twice are much more likely to buy again.

When Should You Send Your E-Mail Offers?

When should you e-mail your clients? The answer is “It depends.” My experience shows Tuesdays and Thursdays are the best days to e-mail people.

Why? Who knows?

It may be people don’t want to check their e-mail on the weekends. It may be they are thinking of the weekend and not their e-mail on Friday.

They may have too much work to catch up on Mondays. For me, Tuesdays and Thursdays have always produced the best responses. Then again, I am focusing on B2B customers. Your experience of the B2C industry may be different.

These are just a few things you can do to spice up your e-mail campaign. The bottom line is this… whenever you send an e-mail, you have to create much more than a simple announcement.

An announcement isn’t going to call people to action. You have to carefully craft your e-mails, to encourage your customers to act. You want to offer your customers some incentive so they act on your e-mail immediately.

And one last point... Don’t reveal your price in the e-mail.

Your job is to entice, compel and motivate your customers to buy.

That’s the bottom line.

About the author:

A former college dropout, Dan Lok transformed himself from a grocery bagger in a local supermarket to a multi-millionaire. Today, Dan is one of the most sought-after business mentors on the Web, as well as a best-selling author. His reputation includes his title as the World's #1 Website Conversion Expert. To find out what Dan is up to now, visit him at: http://www.WebsiteConversionExpert.com

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2006-08-09T23:23:00.000-07:00

Teleseminars: What Mother Never Told You

2006-08-08T16:52:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Jeanette Cates
There are lessons that we learn as we go. Our mothers could have told us - but we would neither have believed them nor paid attention. Instead, they let us learn on our own.

In that spirit, let me share a few things I've learned about teleseminars.

1. They can "see" you over the telephone line! No, they can't see your flip flops or your bad hair day. But they *can* see your smile and your energy. So stand up, walk around, get excited! Smile into the phone, even when you're the only one in the room. The audience is watching!

2. You're talking to "dead air" when you mute the line. This is generally a shock to most people on their first teleseminar. And I've heard many of them unmute repeatedly just to be sure there is still someone listening. After all, it's lonely in there, in the muted area all by yourself. Never fear. Your audience is still there - you just can't hear their breathing.

3. Half the registrants won't show. They have good intentions when they sign up - especially for a "free" call. But things come up. Even when they have paid to be on the call, they get caught in traffic, company shows up unexpectedly, the dog has to go to the vet, the kids have soccer practice, the last episode of "24" is on. Things happen. It's incumbent on you, the organizer, to remind them about the call - repeatedly. Then cross your fingers and "go on with the show."

4. You need to do the follow-up work before the call. After the call you are stoked and pumped from the call - the last thing you want to do is take care of details! But the audio needs editing, the registration page has to change, email reminders have to go out, the transcript needs editing, you need to set up the product in the shopping system, etc. There is just a lot to do! And if you haven't done most of it ahead of time, you'll spend more time after the call than you did before. And that dilutes the excitement and leaves you less time to enjoy the moment.

5. It takes 6 hands to do a teleseminar. You have to follow the call outline, check the recording levels, IM your guest, field questions via email and watch the clock. What to do? Get help! Hire someone to record the teleseminar. Ask someone to handle the question emails for you and ask the questions on behalf of the audience. Add operator service to your line. You can't do this alone - unless you're a split personality or very talented.

Consider yourself forewarned about these lessons. But I'll know you weren't listening when on your next teleseminar you keep unmuting the line and saying 'Hello - anyone out there?'

About the author:

Dr. Jeanette Cates is an Internet strategist who helps consultants and other experts leverage their expertise into Online Success. Jeanette shares more tips and tricks in her popular course at http://www.TeleseminarBasics.com

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Auto Redirecting What It Is and How to Use It

2006-08-07T06:06:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Mark Nenadic
Many web designers are using auto redirecting techniques lately for a number of reasons. Auto redirecting occurs when a visitor to your website is automatically sent to another page when he or she has landed on a given page. This other page is frequently located on the same website but can also be located on an entirely different website.

This technique has become extremely popular as a part of search engine optimization strategies. When a website has been created entirely for the purposes of search engine optimization then webmasters will often apply auto redirection to its web pages to send visitors to the main site automatically. This is because the search engine optimized site may not have any real value to visitors. It has been designed to obtain a very high ranking. Therefore the auto redirecting takes the visitor to the correct part of the website which is meant for the visitors themselves.

This technique while commonly quite effective is extremely frowned upon by all of the major search engines. Commonly websites discovered to have auto redirectors will be penalized for this activity. However search engines are not set up in a way that they can automatically detect the majority of redirecting techniques. It is primarily the human indexed search engines and directories that catch such webmasters in the act.

This being said search engines are not against all uses of auto redirecting. In fact there are many reasons that search engines will consider quite valid for auto redirection. For example when a message has been posted on a posting board the contributor is frequently sent to a confirmation page. On many sites this confirmation page displays only for a few seconds and then it auto redirects to the main posting board once more.

There are a number of different methods that are used for auto redirecting. These include

The Meta Refresh Tag Technique

This method can be detected automatically by search engines so it must be used for a reason that they consider to be valid or you risk being penalized. There must be a reasonable delay (at least 5 seconds) used for a search engine to approve of the use of this auto redirection.

The JavaScript Technique

This method cannot be detected automatically by search engines as they are currently unable to parse JavaScript. Though this script may be positioned anywhere on the page it is best placed in the head section so that it is capable of starting as soon as the webpage loads.

The Form Technique

Since search engine spiders are currently unable to complete website forms and they do not try to submit any forms they cannot automatically detect when forms are utilized for auto redirecting. Forms are often overlooked by webmasters for auto redirecting purposes because they do not realize that the URL of a forms action details is simply a URL that is requested by the browser to the server. The form however can be given special treatment by a visitors browser if new name value pairs are added to the designated URL. However if no name value pairs exist the browser will still make the same request for the URL. Once the page begins to load JavaScript can be used for submitting the form right away.

Be very careful with the uses of your auto redirecting if you dont want to risk having all of your hard work penalized by the search engines that will be indexing you. Just make sure that you are using auto redirection for the right reasons in their books. Furthermore make sure that you are allowing a long enough delay before the auto redirection kicks in. Anything less than five seconds will be considered suspicious by search engines and they may object.

As long as you give a long enough delay then the Meta Tag Technique is perfectly acceptable and provides perfect results. However if you require an instant auto redirection because you dont want visitors to see the page that they have initially accessed then you will need to use other methods such as the JavaScript technique.

Youll find that auto redirect can give your website a very professional appearance and will help you to provide your visitors with precisely what they were looking for.

About the author:

Mark Nenadic
Mark is the director and face behind FifteenDegrees-North http://www.15dn.com , where you will find articles and resources to help with SEO, marketing and Web design.

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2006-08-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

2006-08-05T12:18:00.000-07:00

2006-08-01T17:46:00.000-07:00

How To Create Compelling E-mail Offers That Sell Like Crazy

2006-07-31T00:37:00.000-07:00

2006-07-28T19:41:00.000-07:00

2006-07-26T02:56:00.000-07:00

The Perfect Business

2006-07-25T00:40:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Linden Huckle
Everybody wants the perfect business, most Internet Marketers will tell you that they have the perfect business.

My father in-law could sell ice to the Eskimos! But I couldn’t.

It’s not the business opportunity but the person or people involved that makes the perfect business.

You must have a business that you’re passionate and knowledgeable about, it doesn’t matter if you’re selling trips to the moon or pieces of rock from the moon, you MUST be passionate about it. You can gain Knowledge about your company, product or services by watching, listening and reading as much as you can.

We live in a ‘I want it now’ society, all the way from food to success.

Unlike food, you cannot have success NOW, you must have a plan, a dream, you must set goals and then, work, work, work and work, until your dream is a reality.

It’s there. You have just got to go out and get it!

It takes time, but it’s worth it in the end.

Are you prepared to take action, or are you one of those people who talk about it, simply giving yourself reasons why you can’t do it.

There is so much information online, a whole new world of information. Information that changes peoples lives every minute of every day.

Here’s an example of the power that is, the Internet.

Lets say someone has been interested in Fly Fishing all their life, they Google a few searches on Fly Fishing, the next thing they know they’re on a Shark Fishing site which they know absolutely nothing about, hmmm….. Seems interesting, within a few hours they have a new interest and have booked a Shark Fishing holiday, within a month they are buying their very own Shark Fishing boat, within a year they’re buying a property on the coast so they can go Shark Fishing more often.

Now that’s the power of the Internet, it can change lives in minutes.

You’re all saying, ‘What has this got to do with the perfect business’ Everything!

You could be the one who is passionate about Shark Fishing and you could be the owner of the Shark Fishing web site, you also sell them the Shark Fishing holiday and their very first Shark Fishing boat. If you’re really clever you could be on a commission for the house purchase!

Now that’s what I call a perfect business.

Keep dreaming And Never Quit

About the author:

Linden has helped lots of people take control and build their own online businesses. For advice, help and tips on how to build your own online business.
http://lindenhuckle.blogspot.com/

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Choosing The Right Home Based Internet Business

2006-07-24T00:50:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Donovan Baldwin
Opportunities to start your own business used to divide themselves into two basic classes. The opportunity was either a home based business, or you set up a brick-and-mortar business. For years, there was a core of home business standbys such as Avon, Tupperware, Fuller Brush, and Mary Kay. In those days, the men had the jobs, and the women were looking for a way to make money part time. Gradually, as the work force expanded, other industries got the idea, and organizations such as Amsoil synthetic motor oils, began to make their appearances. Over time, and with the rise of Amway, the home based business gained in apparent legitimacy and people from all walks of life began to chase the dream of, if not being filthy rich, then at least being able to fire their boss and work on their schedule.

Unfortunately, con artists and businesses that should have not been unleashed on an unsuspecting public got wind of this and realized that, for many, the product or service provided was not as important as the chance to make money...lots of money!

Today, even well-meaning, well-governed companies with excellent products sometimes use the lure of "easy money" as their main enticement into their particular home based business. This IS the lure that will attract many, and, in that it is so easy and they fell for it themselves, many who sign up with these companies also use the promise of potential wealth as their main marketing tool in the muddy waters of recruiting. They are not completely to blame for this. Obviously, they would not lean so heavily upon the claim if it was not successful in luring those who believe that picking the "right" home business will make them rich...overnight!

With the advent of the internet, a whole new world, literally, of opportunities has come to light. All that was available before as a home business opportunity is now available as a home based internet business opportunity. While many old reliables have adapted and now have at least minimal online programs, the old scammers and borderline businesses have come with them. In fact, the internet now provides so many so-called, and real, business opportunities that finding an honest, genuine, reliable opportunity can seem daunting to the beginner.

Therefore, we are going to review a few points that someone hoping to start a home based internet business should consider.

1. Know thyself. Despite the claims, home businesses, worked in your pajamas as I am at this moment, require work and dedication. It is Sunday morning, and I worked every day last week. Some days I only worked two hours, but I have committed every day last week to my home based internet business.

The upside is that I worked less than 40 hours, I worked at home, I started and stopped when I felt like it, and I occasionally chose to work on things just because that's what I felt like doing at the moment. Also, I have achieved a personal point in my online business activities that I can knock off for a few days without present business suffering. You will have to work to grow your business, especially at first, and if you are not willing to do the work...don't start.

2. Know thyself part two. An important factor for success for many people is going to be how well they mesh with the business they have chosen. The more knowledge of and interest in that business that you have within your being, the more likely you are to succeed. My first truly successful home based internet business came to fruition when I selected a product that I truly believed in, a company that I had respect for, a service that I knew something about, and which fulfilled one of my own needs so completely that I had no problem enthusiastically singing its praises.

Notice that "love of money" was not found it that list. When I first became involved in network marketing, internet marketing, and multi-level marketing, I failed miserably. In every instance, I chose business opportunities based on the excitement of greed and with a get-rich-quick mentality rather than the excitement of being able to share a great opportunity and product with others who could use its benefits.

3. Know the industry. This is an important point. Please understand, I do not mean to imply that you must be intimately knowledgeable in this area, but you cannot be totally ignorant either. It will be easier to assimilate knowledge if you already have at least SOME interest in, and awareness of, the company's area of action. If, for example, you decide to sell a health related product but are not the least bit aware of, or interested in, your own health or that of other people, you are going to have difficulty succeeding.

On the other hand, if you encounter a product that you don't know that much about, but it has worked well for you and it is obvious how the lives of others could be improved by the product or service, then you have a good start on the knowledge base you need. You will be able to promote THAT product with vigor because you know how it works, and you know that it DOES work.

4. Know the company. Almost any reputable business which offers these types of business opportunities will charge a registration fee. These payments may range from a few dollars to several hundred. Due to the wide range of companies involved and the differences in their support packages, it is difficult to compare one to the other. Some of these entitle you to various levels of support, a professionally designed website, promotional materials, or differing levels of potential income. This is NOT an unrealistic demand when you consider the expenses involved in dealing with all the inquiries and demand for support a good company might expect to receive from what is generally a large group of tire-kickers.

No offense intended, but most people who ask for information will not sign up, and only a few of those who sign up will actually get down to business and do the WORK necessary to grow their new home based internet business.

As with anything that offers to take your money, YOU should take the time to find out if the company you are dealing with has a reputation for honesty and integrity. How long has it been in business? What kind of support and promotional materials can you expect to receive for your hard-earned money? Will you get a website? What does it look like? Will the website take orders for you? If I seem to be leaning heavily on the internet aspect, it is because a professionally designed website that does the selling and processes the orders can, by itself, be worth the money you pay the company to register for their services.

Just as an aside, even the best company-provided websites are often not very search engine friendly. Many new marketers take a look at their fantastic new site, submit the link to a few search engines and believe that's the end of their internet marketing program. Even the most fully search engine optimized site will not be successful without some actual internet marketing going on in the background. Learning this side of the business is part of the homework you will have to assign yourself and complete if you desire to be successful. This goes back to item #1 above. If you are not willing to do the work, the work that MUST be done, will NOT be done. You are the owner, but you are also the staff, and you must assign your staff reality based missions, and your staff must satisfy the boss (you) by diligent performance.

In the final analysis, we are all different, and there is no way that any one home based internet business opportunity will satisfy everyone. I know a man who became a millionaire with a multi-level marketing business. When I asked if he was interested in joining me in a telecom opportunity (which I had joined because I wanted to make money), he declined, saying that he just did not enjoy working with those sorts of businesses and had never made any money with them. Neither did I.

Look inside and be true to who you are. Join yourself to an honest, reputable company that you understand and whose products you respect, and then get out there and work, and you have a chance to build a successful home based internet business.

About the author:

Donovan Baldwin is a Dallas area writer and internet entrepreneur. He is a graduate of the University of West Florida, and a member of Mensa. He writes articles and website content for other webmasters and for his own websites. His favorite home based internet business opportunity can be found at http://www.MyHomeBusinessPays.com/donovanbaldwin

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2006-07-23T01:05:00.000-07:00

Successful Financial Planning For Your Business

2006-07-22T01:44:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Christopher Robinson
Financial planning is very important to your business. Lack of money is one of the main reasons that new businesses fail. Even established businesses can collapse due to poor financial management. The golden rule in every business is never to allow your business to run out of money.

Starting out: Make 2 bank accounts one for your regular household funds and the other specifically for your business. You do not need to make an actual business account you can make a personal account as this will be cheaper and have less fees. Start with a checking account and add a debit card for paying for things online.

Allocate a certain amount of money only for your business: decide how much you can realistically spend on your business. Remember not to starve your new enterprise but at the same time be sure that it will not put undue strain on your household finances. When you keep your business account separate you can keep a better control on this.

Make a budget plan: Decide where you will spend your money and how much can be allocated for each area. Make a list of all the areas in your business that will need funding. Prioritize these areas. For a new business after the initial set up the major portion of your money will be set aside for marketing your business. The quicker you can let your potential customers know of your existence the sooner you can start to make money.

It will generally take 3-6 months to make a profit and this will be small. Therefore calculate that you will be funding your business without seeing returns for at least that length of time. It often takes at least a year to get established. Patience is the key to survival here. For your first 6 months to a year reinvest any profits back into the business. in this way you will be able to grow and develop your business at a better pace.

Financial aid: resources: there are places to get information on small business loans if you need to take a loan http://www.smallbusinessloans.com offers help and places to get loans if you need.

Start small and work up: One of the biggest mistakes start up business owners do is to spend too much money to begin with and find they simply run out of money. Be patient and start small. Start with small ads and promotions and work up to larger campaigns when you have the funds. It may take a little longer but you will be less stressed out and your business will grow at a steady rate.

Your business will depend on sound financial management. The biggest mistake that most start up businesses do is not to keep good records. You can invest in a program like Quicken to help you keep records or even just keep records with Excel charts. However you do this keep printable record so that you know exactly where and when money has been spent. It is useful to keep records for Tax purposes so there are no surprises when it is time to pay taxes.

Running a business is a very rewarding experience. It is possible to run an online business very cost effectively. However it is critical to your business growth to excise caution when spending and know where every penny is going and coming from.

About the author:

Christopher Robinson is a renowned veteran in online and offline marketing, advertising in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. He is currently part owner of Robinson & Associates Advertising Inc. Mr. Robinson's internet marketing tools and ebooks website, http://www.hype-factor.com , and is the author of his free ebook "Effective Internet Marketing 2006", http://www.forlifeincome.com

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Miracle Grow Your Business

2006-07-21T02:57:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Suzanne Falter-Barns
In the marketing world, you hear a lot about micro-marketing, niche
definition, and so forth. But not a lot about WHY this kind of focused and
disciplined approach is important.

Here’s the deal: You cannot (REPEAT: CANNOT) expand your market to the
size it naturally wants to be if you’re vague and sloppy about who they
are.

Just yesterday I was on the phone with a colleague, Yvonne Divita, with
whom I’m cooking up a majorly cool live event on publishing. In the
course of just a few minutes we whittled our market down from ‘Just
anybody on our lists and blogs’ to experienced corporate and wellness
coaches, semi-advanced crafters who want to make a living from their business,
and possibly therapists who want to break out and have been in practice
at least five years. (Don’t worry, you can come too, even if you don’t
fit those niches. :) )

I hung up feeling strong and inspired … I knew who I was targeting and
just where to find them. My action step: to find associations, SIGS and
other groups that reach exactly these folks.

And so, that’s your next action step, too. Do you know where your
potential buyers and readers and fans hang out? And if you don’t, is it
because you don’t know who they are?

This is what I like to think of as ‘Micro Market Definition’, and doing
so can triple your business and build your list like crazy. BUT …
you’ve got to do your homework.

First, determine exactly how well you know your people. Imagine a
typical person in your market right now. What is she or he doing? Watching
TV – and if so, what’s on? Or is she sitting at her desk, trying to
figure out how to pay her bills? And agonizing? Or is he looking out the
window, wondering where his own child is right now – the one who just
moved away from home.

This micro market definition is different from niche-ing, because you
already know your niche, right? This is simply carving out a much more
specific, detailed picture of who supports that niche and actively wants
what you’re offering. More importantly, it’s understanding the exact
emotional frame of mind of your market.

We’re not talking about the usual, boring stats like age, marital
status, geographic location and education. Instead, determine the psyche of
the person you’re selling to, their current highs and lows, and what
the big needs and wants are that define their lives.

By knowing this, you can design a website, a blog, an ezine, bonuses
and infoproducts that speak right to their hearts. And so you can
effectively solve their problems, deliver your work, and live your life’s
purpose.

You want to think empathetically. For instance, if you decide your
market is teens going through major life transitions (parental divorce,
moving to a new state, life threatening illness in the family, etc.), I
want you to really put yourself in the position of that young person.

Here are some key questions that will help you micro-niche your own
business:

1. Are they reachable by industry or by some other situational
classification, like Empty Nesters, teens about to go to college or recent
retirees? Or are they distinguished by a life situation like depression,
recent millionaire, or weight loss support group attendee?

2. Exactly where within their niche are they (i.e. not just ‘life
coaches’ but ‘newbie life coaches considering a career in wellness but
looking at several different options, maybe six months out of training’

3. What is their biggest need right now? Where do they go looking for
support or advice?

4. If they’re niched by industry, what level are they? (Managers,
mid-level clerks, executives, CEO’s, solo pros, work-at-home Moms, etc.?)

5. How do they spend their lunch hour?

6. What do they do for fun?

7. What keeps them awake at night?

8. Do they hang out with other people in their field? Where?

9. In addition to their work (if they’re niched by industry) where else
do they tend to congregate? (i.e. Life coaches who are also Unitarian
Universalists, or Dentists who are into yoga.) (Yes, it is possible to
go a little too tight here … but an interesting exercise. This works
best with really big niches, like empty nesters or chiropractors.)

10. If there’s a gender slant to your niche, can you identify what’s
unique about this group. (Note ‘women’ is not a niche. But ‘women who
recently lost weight and are newly into healthy eating and approaching
menopause are.’)

11. Are there any upcoming situations that your micro-market is facing?
(i.e. New mothers who are about to give birth, or college graduates
about to start looking for a job.)

By having the discipline to sit down and really dig into your market –
and possibly even get some help from surveys or focus groups with your
potential market – you can lock in on who they are with much greater
precision. Think of it as the difference between a mature business and
one that’s only taking baby steps.

Go forth and conquer!

About the author:

Download Suzanne’s free list of 50 Top Publishing & Media contacts at
http://www.getknownnow.com . Drop by her blog at
http://www.getknownnowblog.com for almost daily tips on how to get
known now … the easy way!

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Finding The Right eBooks to Sell on eBay

2006-07-20T00:39:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 John Thornhill
Member name has been chosen, payment options have been arranged, and now you are ready to sell on eBay. This might be your first foray at eBay sales, or you might just be ready for a new product. Either way eBooks will surely help you make high profits while keeping costs astoundingly low. The best eBooks are the ones that the most people want, and the fewest people have for sale. Operating under this assumption will help you make millions of sales online each year, and keep you a step ahead of all the competition.

The cheapest eBooks are free; at least that is what people want you to think. The truth is that most free eBooks have been widely distributed, and thus do not help you master your market niche completely enough to make a ton of money. This doesn’t mean that free eBooks won’t make you money, or be a nice compliment to your sales library; it just means that they aren’t the best eBooks to stock. If an eBook is free there are a number of reasons why it is free, understanding these reasons can help you find valuable low cost eBooks in the end. The free eBook is usually given away in trade for an email address that can be added to an affiliate list. This is called an opt-in email list that will be used to send you product offers in the future. If a free eBook is available without having to add your email address, chances are they want to advertise the products, or services in the eBook to you. This means that the contents of the eBook while somewhat valuable will be tainted by the blatant advertising. This means that when you are trying to resell said eBooks on eBay, they won’t command that high price you so desperately need them to, instead they will sell for pennies.

eBooks worth the much money are those that are exclusive, or hard to find eBooks full of information that can truly benefit the readers. These eBooks are either self written, freelance written, or purchased in limited numbers for a copyright holder. Finding these eBooks is a lot easier then you think. All you need to do is decipher what program online will offer you the most amount of exclusive, or limited issue eBooks at the lowest cost.

You can sign up for monthly memberships to content supplier clubs, or you can pay per document online. Typically to buy a niche eBook with resale rights might cost you between $50 and $300 or so. That being said, you can charge $49 on eBay, and sell 10 copies a day for a year straight. The numbers can be outstanding, and worthwhile if you know what the public is looking for.

Another way to locate the highest demand eBooks is to have them done from scratch. First figure out a hot topic, next hire a writer, third brand the eBook so it won’t be stolen, and sold without your permission. Having a small eBook done, can greatly enhance your credibility as a vendor on eBay. Can you imagine putting the words, “only available through me” on your listing? This would help sales fly in, and keep your eBook business profitable online for many years to come.

About the author:

John Thornhill is an eBay powerseller and trades on eBay under the username planetsms.
If you really want to succeed with information products visit http://www.createprofitableebooks.com

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6 Surefire Ways To Squeeze Maximum Sales From Your Website

2006-07-18T00:49:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Jim Edwards
I would venture to say that not a single website in the world has reached its peak of effectiveness or earnings potential.

No matter the circumstances, every site can "better its best."

If a "magic" formula for website success existed, you'd see the big boys like Google and Yahoo using it.

Since no formula exists, they constantly test and tweak for new ways to squeeze more money from their sites, and you should too.

If you operate a website and want to squeeze maximum revenue from it, the following 6 tips will kick-start your efforts.

#1 - Test Headlines

Just like a newspaper headline, the headline on your website represents the single most powerful factor in grabbing a reader's eye and pulling them into your site.

Most websites do not have a headline or, if they do, it's limp, wimpy, and carries zero "punch."

Every website should carry a compelling headline to let visitors know exactly what they should expect to get from the site.

I've personally seen one headline outperform another by 400% on the exact same website.

#2 - Offer Payment Plan

Why do you think pitchmen on TV offer "3-easy payments" of only $19.95 on a $60 product?

Because the technique works for increasing sales!

Often, people either don't want to or can't come up with the payment all at once, but can pay over time.

If you sell a product priced at $100 or more, try breaking the price up into smaller payments to increase sales.

#3 - Test Guarantee Period

Like it or not, people don't always trust promises on your website to live up to the realities of your product.

To remove risk for the customer, you should offer a refund or money-back guarantee (not offering one will, in most cases, kill your conversion rate).

However, it's been said by "experts" that the longer the guarantee period, the lower the refund rate.

My experience does not support that advice. I suggest you test various refund periods to see which nets you the most sales balanced against the least refunds.

#4 - Test Audio Instructions

One of the best ways to increase sales is to include an audio button on your site that tells people exactly what to do in order to buy or subscribe.

Telling people in no uncertain terms to "Enter your name and primary email address in the box and click the button" has proven one of the most effective means of getting website visitors to take the actions you want.

#5 - Follow Up

Most online businesses totally blow it when it comes to follow-up, especially with existing customers.

Follow up with your customers at least once or twice a month and it will amaze you how easily you can make "back-end" and repeat sales.

Industry news, tips-and-tricks, and helpful hints combined with a low-key, specific offer for another product or service makes an excellent follow-up formula for both prospects and existing customers.

#6 - Start a Blog

A blog makes it extremely easy to keep your customers and prospects updated, as well as providing a dynamic means for new people to find you through the search engines and blog directories.

Blogger.com allows you to start a blog even if you don't operate a website, and WordPress.org makes it easy to add a blog to your existing website.

About the author:

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website, affiliate links, or blogs... Need MORE TRAFFIC to your website or affiliate links? "Turn Words Into Traffic" reveals the secrets for driving Thousands of NEW visitors to your website or affiliate links... without spending a dime on advertising!
Click Here> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com

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What is a Niche Market Anyway?

2006-07-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Monique Hawkins
You are interested in starting a home-based business. You also want to use the Internet for your work-at-home idea. However, you are not sure if you can make money online. To make matters worse, you are confused about what home-based business opportunity to pursue.

If this sounds like you, rest assured that money can be made online with a home-based business. You don't need to study for years until you can reap rewards. There are sound business concepts that have been taught and proven to be true by some of the most highly successful marketers in the world. What is the top sound principle that will ensure your success? It is choosing the right niche market.

You might be wondering what is a niche. A niche is simply a group of people with similar interests and needs. They are very passionate about their topic of interest. Think of a small pond packed with starving fish and you have the bait specific to their needs; they will like what you have to offer the best. This, in essence, is a niche.

Why a niche market? Well, unless you are a huge corporation with bottomless pockets, niche marketing is the way to go. You see most of the large corporations blow off niche markets because they are not trying to make an additional $1000 to $15000 per month like many home-based business entrepreneurs and other small business owners. They are seeking to make millions per month, which is good for you because you don't have to compete with those companies that have massive marketing budgets.

It really is easy to find potential customers in niche markets. Here are some examples:

Motor Home Owners - Carpet Cleaner Business Owners - Restaurant Owners - Winter Camping Enthusiasts - Siamese Cat Owners - Dentists - Landscape Company Owners

You get the picture.

Before you decide which niche market to target for your home- based business, here are four important points to consider:

1. Is the market easily defined and reachable? Do you know where they hangout? What kind of trade journals or publications do they read? Do they have clubs or are members of particular organizations?

2. Is the market small enough that you will not have tons of competitors, but still large enough for you to make a good profit?

3. Does the market have the money to spend?

4. Does the group have an insane passion for their hobby or topic of interest? Do they eat, sleep, and breathe their hobby? Are they constantly seeking more information related to their subject? A great example of this would be golfers and NASCAR enthusiasts!

Doing research related to these questions will help you pick the perfect niche market for your home-based business.

As you think about starting a home-based business and what market to target, follow the above suggestions and you will be way ahead of many other home-based business opportunity seekers who want to start a work-at-home business.

About the author:

Monique Hawkins is the small business owner of the online music box store, "Monique's Music Box" located at http://www.my-music-box.com/ She enjoys sharing information with business owners that will help them attain success. For additional exciting information about how Funded Sponsoring Franchise Systems are Revolutionizing the Home Based Business Industry?Whether You Have a Business or You're Looking for One visit http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com

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2006-07-16T00:24:00.000-07:00

8 Ways to Grow Your Business During a Summer Lull

2006-07-15T03:49:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Alicia Forest
Have things slowed down for your business now that the warmer months are upon us and people are on vacation or otherwise taking a break from their usual routines? Use this downtime to focus on getting your business ready to rock for the fall by implementing some of the 8 ideas below:

1. Evaluate your staffing needs.

If you haven't hired an assistant yet, whether that's a virtual assistant, an in-person assistant, or a combination of the two, now is a great time to do so. Begin by creating your ideal profile of what you want your assistant to look like, and then start putting out feelers to your networks about exactly what you're looking for in an assistant.

Once you've found the right person for you, the summer months are a great time to train someone so they are up to speed come the busier fall months.

If you already have help, take some time to evaluate their performance. This includes taking a look not just at your current assistant(s) but also any outside vendors you work with, like your web designer, your shopping cart system, your list service, or your copywriter.

If you're finding their work to not be meeting your needs and expectations, follow the same process as you did for hiring an assistant. Start with creating the ideal profile of who you're looking for and then put that information out to your networks for recommendations.

2. Increase your learning to increase your earning.

The summer is a great time to educate yourself on whatever it is you need to know to take your business to the next level. Choose a business-building project, like building your list or increasing your search engine rankings, and invest some of your education budget into a program or product that will help you learn what you need to know. Then plan the time to actually learn and implement the material, and you will reap the benefits come the fall.

3. Makeover or create your ezine.

Take an objective look at your ezine, and ask a few colleagues if they's be willing to offer you some feedback on it as well. Make any changes you think might help it be more effective as marketing and sales tool.

If you haven't started your ezine yet, the summer is a great time to put one together and start sending it to your list regularly.

4. Clean out and organize your email.

Is your inbox an energy drain?

Mine is! And I am committed to having an empty inbox before leaving for vacation this summer, which means I have 985 emails at present to go through and either respond to, file in the appropriate folder, delegate or delete.

I've been working through it at the end of the day for about an hour, and with each email I handle, I can feel the drain from it sitting in my inbox slipping away. Take some time each day to delete old emails, reply to ones that only require a quick response, and set the 'rules' feature to automatically sort future incoming mail into appropriate folders.

5. Revamp your office.

This is another task I'm working on at the moment. It feels great to throw out so many old files and restock my bookshelves so I can actually see what I own! And by doing so, I'm creating space for more clients and more abundance to come into my business!

But revamping your office doesn't just include cleaning out and reorganizing your stuff. If you also have tools that aren't working the way they should, get them fixed so they do, or replace them. So, if you're printer only works when it feels like it, get it fixed or get a new one.

6. Clean up your computer.

Tired of wasting time searching for stuff on your computer? Take some time this summer to clean up your files, delete ones you don't need anymore, reorganize what you do need into appropriate folders, and remove old software that you no longer use. Your hard drive will thank you!

7. Write down your accomplishments so far this year.

It's important to pause periodically and recognize your successes. And now that we're halfway through the year, take some time to write down and savor your accomplishments so far. Then plan out what you'd like to achieve for the rest of the year. This will motivate and inspire you going forward.

8. Enjoy yourself!

Summer is a special time of year, where people are more laid back and life takes on a more leisurely pace. Make sure you take some time to enjoy it. After all, isn't time freedom one of the reasons you went into business for yourself in the first place?

About the author:

WANT TO REPRINT THIS ARTICLE? You may, as long as it remains intact and you include this complete blurb with it: Alicia M Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Queen & Coach™, founder of http://www.ClientAbundance.com , and creator of "21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success System™, teaches coaches, consultants, online entrepreneurs, and self-employed professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com

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2006-07-14T02:25:00.000-07:00

Get Blog Traffic: Five Easy Ways To Promote Your Blog

2006-07-13T02:28:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Angela Booth
Every blogger wants one thing: to be read. My hunch is that of all the millions of bloggers who try blogging, and give it up, most give up because they can't find readers. They feel that if they can't get traffic to their blog, what's the point?

If you're in this position, DON'T give up. Keep blogging. It's easy to get traffic and loyal readers.

Here are five ways to get traffic. All the methods work together, but Method 5 is the most important. The more of these methods you use, the more traffic you will get.

=> Method 1: Maximize the built-in RSS features of your blog

Your blog comes with built-in RSS (Really Simple Syndication). This means that it's easy for others not only to subscribe to your blog, but also to syndicate links to your latest blog postings on their own sites.

You can make your RSS feeds (news feeds) a lot more effective by adding additional functionality to them, for free, at the FeedBurner Web site. FeebBurner will burn your feeds with components which make it easier for other blogs and sites to link to you.

=> Method 2: Get a link from another Web site

The search engine spiders (indexers) navigate around the Web using links. This means that the more links to your site, the easier you make their job. Get at least one link from another site to your new blog. Our next three methods make getting links easy.

=> Method 3: Write a couple of articles

Every Web site and every blog is hungry for content. If you set out to deliver content, you can't go wrong. You'll get lots of traffic every day, and the traffic flood will start as soon as you post your first article.

There are many sites which accept articles. Webmasters search these sites looking for content for their sites. Aim to write at least an article a week to build the links to your blog.

=> Method 4: Leave comments on others' blogs

A blog is a conversation. If you agree with an item on someone's blog, or have an additional insight, leave a comment. Since commenters are asked to leave a Web URL, and their email address, this gives you a link back to your site. Note: this doesn't always work to get you a link, for various reasons, BUT it's still a way for other bloggers to realize that you exist, and perhaps to link to you.

When you leave a comment, make the comment count -- don't just write: "I agree". Write "I agree, because the same thing happened to me when (tell the story here)." All bloggers need content, and when you provide them with content, they will repay you -- usually with a link.

=> Method 5: Blog! The more content, the more visitors

A couple of months ago, I started an experiment to see whether a new blog that I developed could get some traffic, completely on its own. I did nothing to promote the blog, I just wrote content, posting to the blog two times a week.

Would the blog get traffic, I wondered? How much traffic? Amazingly, this little blog that I've done nothing to promote -- other than create content for it -- gets 50 unique visitors a day after a few weeks.

Content is the most vital aspect of blogging -- without regular posting to your blog, there's nothing for your visitors to see or to read. Of course, you don't have to WRITE content. You can create a photo blog, or a podcast (an audio) blog, or even a vlog (a video blog). The more content you create, the more traffic you will get.

Good luck. Try these five methods -- you'll get traffic beyond your dreams before you know it.

About the author:

Angela Booth is a copywriter and veteran career blogger. Her new ebook, Blogging For Dollars, helps you develop a lucrative blogging career, and gets you started as a blogging entrepreneur. The ebook will be available from August 2006. Read the book's blog at http://www.dollars2blog.com/blog/

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5 Basic Steps To Online Success

2006-07-12T01:09:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Christopher Robinson
Starting out: 5 steps to start your business

1. Your plan
2. Your concept
3. Defining your market
4. Your product or service (can be affiliate programs)
5. Marketing your product

Your plan: Business is no different from any project you want to do. The 1st thing to do is to make a plan:

Decide what your goals are-write them down Make a rough time frame to achieve them Decide how much time you can realistically apply to your business Set aside a special time of day to devote exclusively to your business Make a daily schedule Make a weekly schedule Allocate a realistic amount of money that you will set aside in a separate account for your business. Make sure you do not overspend on your budget but at the same time do not starve your business. Set aside some money for marketing and some for developing and running your business.

Your concept:

Write down several topics that interest you and several areas that you have expertise in. Go through the list and see which ones you really love doing. Decide on a topic that really interests you and think how you can build your business around it.

Defining your market: When you start a business you will need to establish a market.

Who will be interested in the same topic that you have chosen? What products or services will they need and want- Check on overture search tool by putting in your topic keyword. It will tell you how many searches have been done- this will be your demand Check in the search engine like Google-this will bring up how many websites for this topic there are. These are your competition and represent supply Try to find something that has high demand and less supply-go through your list until you find the best one this will be your niche market Analyze your proposed customer Who are they What interests them Where will you find them (websites, discussion boards, forums and publications Make a thumbnail sketch of your most wanted customer

Developing a product or service: Based on your concept and market you can now decide what you can sell. Affiliate programs are the best to begin with as you will not have to set up any payment systems and can start immediately

Marketing your product: at first you will sell or pre sell to your market, as you will not have a website or newsletter. This called direct marketing and can be done by:

Advertising in ezines, that are related to your topic (remember to target these well) Start small with classifieds to test the publications and then go onto larger ads for better exposure. Advertising on related websites: you will need small classifieds for this Article distribution:-write or have written several articles about your business and distribute them to related publications, websites and article directories/libraries. An article distribution service is best for this. Always test track and record all your advertising.

Passive advertising: letting your customer come to you this is your second step in marketing and involves: Making your own website to attract leads Making your newsletter to capture leads Once you have established your website and newsletter you will drive traffic to the website By search engine submission Linking Pay-per-click and Google Adwords

These are the 5 basic steps to establishing your online business. In the coming issues we will go into each point in more detail to show you exactly how you can start and develop a realistic business, that will really make you money and gain you financial independence.

About the author:

Christopher Robinson is a renowned veteran in online and offline marketing, advertising in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. He is currently part owner of Robinson & Associates Advertising Inc. Mr. Robinson's internet marketing tools and ebooks website, http://www.hype-factor.com , and is the author of his free ebook "Effective Internet Marketing 2006", http://www.forlifeincome.com

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Earn a respectable Extra Income

2006-07-10T02:15:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Joshua Spaulding
When we compare income levels in different countries, it is evident that the average income per person is less than $15,000 a year, in other words, where many people are near the breadline.

Extra Income really does make people happier and improves their lifestyle. But countries which have average income above the normal subsistence level of approximately $15,000 a year, happiness seems to be income independent. For example, an average American ranks richer than an average Indian or an Austrian, but also less happy.

Why does this happen? People always look at their income relatively with some norm or the other and the norm keeps rising all the time. And this norm is what increases the spending, more or less in direct proportion to the income. Two things drive up the norm with which people compare their incomes. One is the income that they themselves have experienced -- which habituates them to higher standards of living. And the other is the income that their colleagues or neighbors get, and which they try to outdo.

The extra income options available today are targeted to generate employment and are targeted specifically at people who can use their skills that are lying dormant to make some more money for themselves. To achieve a moderate success in generating an extra income one should be aware of their strengths and weaknesses. This would greatly help in selection of a most suitable way to generate extra income.

The selection process consists of logical steps. Firstly one should ask themselves of an honest opinion of their strengths, what they excel at? What do people around them keep complimenting or criticizing them on?, are they perfectionists?, For example, if you are a computer literate you could help your neighborhood in upgrades, repairs or installation of software.

The extra income can also be augmented by doing extra seasonal chores like raking leaves in the fall or clearing snow in winters. These are just a few ideas, but making an extra income augmented with self analysis will take away the need for a second job.

Today the internet and the general market have a lot of ideas for generating extra income. Network marketing in general market terms has been successful to some extent. Internet offers something similar that says affiliate marketing. The internet also offers a host of other options like writing, advertising and simple technical non-technical jobs which can highly augment your regular income. The extra income that can be earned form these opportunities depends on how good your skills in the field of your selection.

About the author:

Joshua Spaulding is an Author providing valuable information on internet marketing at his website at http://makemoneyonline.josh4info.com and thousands of useful articles at http://www.articlesalley.com

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How To Create Easy Daily Cash

2006-07-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Timothy Rohrer
With the online industry becoming flooded with numerous business opportunities, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype when it comes to choosing a legitimate home based business. I have been in this industry for 2 years and I will be the first to tell you that it’s not as easy as everyone would like to believe. There is a secret to creating wealth online, and that secret can easily attained by anyone if they follow a few simple steps.

The first thing to do when looking into a home based business is to find a product that will allow you to leverage yourself. I have been in direct sales for sometime now and you’ll never get rich without help from other people. Its okay to choose a program that will cut you a commission check for 1 sale. However there is a problem, after that 1 sale you need to go find another person to buy your product to make yet another sale.

Select a program that uses a 1up or 2up system. A 1up or 2up system works similar to direct sales but also enables you to leverage yourself. Fore example, let’s suppose you made a sale to Bob, he is your personal sale. Bob now needs to make 2 sales to qualify. Bob goes out and makes a sale to Chris and Karen. Because Chris and Karen are Bob’s qualifying sales, the 2 sales are passed up to you (Bob’s sponsor). Bob is now qualified and can start earning from his personal sales. Chris and Karen now have to go out and get their 2 sales to qualify. Whatever Chris and Karen sell also gets passed up to you until they are qualified.

Having a great program with all the bells and whistles is great. The main reason most people fail in the home based business industry is because they do not know how to drive traffic to their website. You could have the best payment plan and business model available; however you will not make a dime until you learn how to market your product. Many 1up and 2up systems offer excellent ad-packs that allow the user to pay for premium marketing which usually results in sales. Not to mention these systems will teach and train anyone how to become a successful online marketer.

Throughout my research I have found many systems that offer the 1up and 2up model. Some are more expensive than others, but most of them contain the same information whether you paid $300, $1,000 or $4,000 for a home business.

About the author:

Tim Rohrer is an established writer and home business owner. To learn more about a program that has been paying all montly expenses, visit http://www.1step-profits.com

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Double Your eBay eBook Sales With This Tip!

2006-07-07T00:26:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 John Thornhill
Picture a storefront that is bare as an empty pool with no water. The window has no showcase pieces, no sale signs, no glaring merchandise begging to be sold. Instead it sits empty more likely to send people away, then to invite them in to shop. This is a situation that doesn’t just happen in the physical world, it often occurs in online shops as well. Not just any online shops, but eBay listings to be specific.

The way your listing looks to others is a sure tell sign of the type of salesmen you are, and what type of quality products you are offering. Never so true has this theory been then when it pertains to eBooks, and other information products. You must know that selling eBooks online takes trust building efforts to a new level. There are many sellers of eBooks that peddle useless information like it was the secret to life. Selling eBooks on eBay should be a trust building experience that starts with having a quality product to offer, and ends with a proper listing.

Spicing up your eBay listings for eBooks is not hard to do, and can be done once, and reused over, and over again. The more repetition you have creating quality listings, the easier it will be for you in the long run. EBook eBay listings should consist of at least three items to make your listings pop; cover picture, your picture, and a preview of the text.

Most eBook products that are allowed to be resold on eBay will come with a cover image file that you can use to promote your product with. If you don’t have a cover image file, you can create one easily with some basic photo editing software, of you can buy a cover for as little as twenty dollars. The cover image will help make your listing official looking, and give the customer a visual image to put with your product title. This image should be used as your gallery photo when listing your eBooks on eBay.

Your picture while not as important as the cover photo, is still very important to help enhance your listings looks. A picture of yourself will add authenticity to the product, and give the listing some much needed emotional appeal. The picture of you should be dignified, not you at last summers beach barbeque, but you in a suit, or a button down blouse. Having a picture of yourself will give the buyers more confidence to buy when looking at your eBook eBay listings.

Finally include a preview of the eBooks contents in your listing. Don’t just give the eBay members a table of contents; try to give them a sample chapter, or two to help them understand why they must own your product.

About the author:

John Thornhill is an eBay powerseller and trades on eBay under the username planetsms. If you really want to succeed on eBay with information products visit http://www.planetsms.co.uk

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Marketing for Equine Professionals: Do You REALLY Believe You’ll Be A Success?

2006-07-06T00:05:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Beth Woodward
What's it like to have a passionate business with your talent of bringing together those 'ready' clients with your beloved horses and you can't seem to connect? Whether it's not knowing what to say or simply not feeling comfortable with marketing, the end result is still the same. No clients = No business! It's difficult to pioneer a theory and approach when it's not familiar to the mainstream person. I GET IT!

I don't have a horse, nor does it fit into my life of owning one. But I have the next best thing. I know several Equine Assisted Professionals and have experienced the absolute wonder of connection and direction between me, (an issue in my life) and a magnificent horse.

No matter what your expertise with your horse, when it comes to connecting clients to a deeper level of themselves, giving an "experience" is the key. Why do I really get this? I left corporate to become a Professional Life Coach. Even though Coaches have become more known to the public, it was and still can be, difficult to get the message across with what we do. That's why "experience" is a must with what you do so it gets into the prospective clients' body. My Equine Guided experience was an awakening about my leadership. For others, it may be a spiritual awakening and more. No matter what, your clients need to get a taste of what it's like before stepping into the arena. (pun intended)

There are two HUGE points I would like to recommend when it comes to your Equine business.

- BELIEF

- A SHIFTING EXPERIENCE

Let's talk about Belief first. I've had my business since 1999 and really pinpointed my niche of Marketing "MY WAY" in 2001. Belief -- that flicker of light inside of me, is what carried me through. All of those doubts from other people really knocked me down in the beginning. But look, I'm still here. It's because I had a belief so strong that no one was going to stop me. I didn't have all the answers, but I knew I just had to keep offering my program because I could help so many people. This is called "True Belief."

Let me share something I recently learned, or actually, was reminded of. I just had foot surgery and it was pretty extensive. Before I went into the hospital I had a concern that I would lose momentum in my business with a 12-week recovery period. As I looked at what I had accomplished and believed, I saw a great downtime opportunity to create the new products I was excited about bringing to my audience. I KNEW I wouldn't have any problem. I believed everything would be all right. The second I woke up from my surgery I KNEW I would continue to achieve my goals. It's the first thing I thought about when I opened my eyes. It was like a vision that came from an angel. Through the next 3 weeks my laptop was attached to my hip with ideas just BURSTING. (in-between naps from the painkillers) It was a painful time and an inspiring time.

During my first month of recovery time I continued to learn about myself, my business, what was right for me and where I shouldn't go. I was like a sponge and one day something really hit me. A BIG AHA! BELIEF! I've had it all along but something was different now. It had a deeper meaning and it played a much bigger role. Not just for me but for all solo-entrepreneurs.

The foundation with cornerstones that I work from and I know a lot of us do when we have a business is, Belief, Trust, Passion, Business Process and Marketing. Another big piece is only doing what I LOVE and having a great spiritual connection. Feel free to fill in any pieces that are different for your foundation.

Here's the BIG AHA! Belief is the entire foundation. In fact, if I were to create a business model it would look something like this. Picture a triangle. On the left side of the triangle is Business; right side is Marketing; top is Trust; Within the triangle is Passion; and Belief is the entire foundation. Spirituality encompasses all.

I KNOW what I have and BELIEF has carried me to where I am now and where I will go. Do you know what you have? You have something magnificent! You have something that no one else has because you are unique and that's what you bring to your business. If you have a dream, go after it. If you have a business, make it a GREAT one. In either case don't deprive others of your gifts. They are in need of you and it's up to you (and your support system) to make it happen.

Now what about that Shifting Experience? How do you bring that to your prospective client when THEY don't believe or don't trust? I was recently speaking with a new client. She said she had no marketing experience and didn't feel that she could go out and market. Here's the nugget. Redefine marketing to fit you. I asked her to tell me what she "liked" to do and what she was skilled at doing? She didn't have a problem with telling me. Then she got into her faults and what she didn't like. I stopped her in her tracks. Don't look at what you're NOT good at and ONLY look at what you enjoy. That's your stepping off point and that's where you redefine marketing to fit you. You can market from your comfort zone and you will be pleasantly surprised at what will happen.

Be creative. Here are a couple of ideas to break the ice.

-- If you're a good facilitator and like being in front of people, hold an experiential demo for a group or organization. If you don't know how to approach someone find a friend that knows a group you would like to connect with or ask your friends who they know. This is called a 'warm' connection.

-- Try and get as specific as you can about the type or group of people you want to work with. If you're the person that only wants to work with the horses and not do any of the outside connecting, find someone that believes in you. There's no doubt they would go out and find someone just by talking about you. Then, bring that experience to your audience.

No matter what, you do have that choice of trying to fit into the typical marketing modes or stepping into your strengths and passions first, then connecting your marketing ideas and approach from there. Identify a few simple marketing steps that bring you energy, create a plan and work it!

Remember, You have something magnificent! Don't let marketing and the non-believers get in your way. In fact, the non-believers are tremendous allies. They fuel the flame inside of you.

Have the BEST day, keep Believing and bring the gift of the "Experience."

About the author:

Beth Woodward, CPCC, CEK (Chief Executive Kid) is the creator of the popular "MY WAY"(TM) Marketing Plan. Receive the FREE 5-Step e-course How To Market Your Way! at http://www.marketingontheplayground.com . Hear more about Marketing Your Way at the EGEA Conference January 26-28, 2007.

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Affiliate Marketing And It's Potential

2006-06-29T00:26:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Mdarma
Should you choose Affiliate Marketing Program as an Internet Business? YES.

Affiliate Marketing Program is a great way for anybody to start a home-based, Internet business. It offers a wide range of products and avenues to make good money quickly. Due to its potential, it is one of the most sorted ways to make an income through the Internet.

The most common reason that people do not get started in Affiliate Marketing is because they are not aware of what it is all about.

How can we earn a sizeable income through Affiliate Marketing Program?

To promote and sell other peoples products. The beautiful thing about this is that you have a great variety of products and services at your disposal. To help you in the Affiliate Marketing Program, there are many training materials that will enhance your Affiliate Marketing capabilities and help you to increase your income.

By selling other peoples products, you save a lot of headaches. You do not worry about keeping your books, stock or having good customers support. All these burdens are taken off your hand and you can have a good sleep. Your product or service provider will be handling all this challenges. You only worry how to increase your income. So you need to have some good training materials and guidance given to you step by step in Affiliate Marketing.

No doubt there are so many products are out there in the market, it is advisable to choose products that interest you. This will help you to effectively advertise and promote the products or services. You must not allow your temptation to sign up for several products. The secret is choosing wisely. Do not select products that you do not know or not familiar with. My reason to say this is your interest and passion for a product or services will prompt you to be creative.

Remember that there is a very stiff competition out there. You must know what your competitors are doing. Do not ignore them, find out what are doing check them out. This maybe tough but will benefit you when you are planning your marketing strategy.

What you have read is the tip of the iceberg. It would be very wise to spend some money and subscribe to a good Affiliate Marketing Program where you will be taught step by step the tactics to gain a sizeable income in a short time in Affiliate Marketing journey.

About the author:

Mdarma has been in the internet marketing and MLM programs. With the first year in the MLM he developed over 1000 downlines. He enjoys preparing articles for submission.
You will be taken step by step by Ewen to your success. Highly recommended to all.
http://www.affiliateandaffiliate.com/ewen/optin.html

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It’s never been easier to lose money starting an Internet business

2006-06-28T01:09:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Larry Blenn
I have written on this subject many times and it never ceases to amaze me to see so many people attempting to start an online business and failing. I cannot overstate enough how difficult it can be to actually make a profit from the Internet. People live by this myth that building an Internet based business is easy to do.

Building a business on the Internet can be even more challenging than a regular business. At least if you own a brick and mortar store you know that eventually someone will walk through the door. The Internet is a beast that only a select few have been able to tame. I’m sure that 99% of the people who attempt an Internet business fail primarily because they underestimate the complexities of the process.

You might as well open a fruit stand at the top of Mt. Everest because that’s about how difficult it can be to bring people to your website. I have spoken to hundreds if not thousands of people who think they have that one idea that is sure to bring them a fortune online only to be disappointed later on.

The Internet can be profitable only with proper planning just as with any business. You need to have a strong business plan for your business before you attempt anything. Some people may think that a business plan is not necessary but I could not disagree more.

Then you have the people who try every hair-brained scheme on the Internet to make a quick buck. We hear stories of overnight success and we think we can do it too. In reality that’s like winning the lottery because it really doesn’t happen as often as you might think. Everyone is looking for the homerun hit that will bring them instant success and it simply doesn’t happen that way.

If you want to start an Internet business then start with a solid plan first. It doesn’t take much time to sit down and write out your goals and your plan to achieve them. If you plan from the start you will be more likely to have long-term success. Plan for your future not an overnight gamble. If you have what it takes to persevere then you will be creating something that can bring you a lifetimes worth of income. We all have great ideas, so do yourself and your ideas a favor and plan them out first.

About the author:

Larry Blenn is the author of The Believe Factor ebook. Learn how to build a real Internet business at http://www.believefactor.com

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7 Ways To Outsell Other Ebook Resellers On Ebay

2006-06-27T00:38:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Philip Ritchie
How would you like to have your car payment or mortgage paid for? Or perhaps you would like to quit your job and work part time from the comfort of your home?

Whatever your dreams are, selling ebooks and software with resell or master resell rights can help make them a reality! But what if you are not a savvy internet marketer? Well, eBay is an easy and great place to start. It is also a great source of supplemental income even for seasoned resell rights marketers.

But, with increased competition on eBay among ebook resellers, an effective strategy is a must have to continue to grow your ebook business effectively. Don’t ever let the seemingly low prices and the thought of resell rights saturation discourage you from reaping large financial rewards. I have been selling ebooks and software on eBay for 3 years now and have developed and refined 7 tried and true tactics that will allow you to resale ebooks for up to 10 times the price of your competition.

The secret is in the listing title! Below are 7 ways to maximize your traffic, conversion and profit using smart listing strategies.

1. Keyword Rich Listing Title

This tip is not unknown but is still rarely used. Most people who sell ebooks with resell rights simply list their item on eBay using the “actual name” of the product for the listing title.

For example, “James Jackson's Giveaway Gold” is listed by many sellers by it’s title. In reality this is an ebook on how to build your email list. If you were looking for a guide on how to build your mailing list would you type in “James Jackson’s Giveaway Gold?“ Not if you have never heard of such an ebook! It should be listed as “Build Create Make Your Mailing Email List”. This would be a wise use of relevant keywords and phrases which will bring in the greatest amount of traffic to that listing. You can find these targeted keywords with a free keyword search tool.

2. Understand What You Are Selling

If you don’t know what you are selling how can you give it a proper listing title? Be sure to read the sales page that it comes with. Often times you can find useful keywords and phrases in the sales page that will help you list it correctly.

3. Check Out Your Competitor’s Listing Titles

Do this before you pick your listing title. As you start writing down possible keywords and phrases to use in your title, cross check them on eBay to see if any other of the same products pull up. Be sure to choose the keywords and phrases that give you the fewest competitors.

4. Use Misspellings To Your Advantage

People’s inability to spell means money for you. For example, a product that has to do with “Google Adsense” can also be written as “Google Ad Sense,” or even Goggle Adsense.”

5. Cross Positioning

A great example of this would be having an ebook on coin collecting but listing it as coin collecting with metal detector. There may be nothing in your ebook on metal detectors but no doubt anyone who pulls up metal detectors will see your ebook on coins and bingo, you just created a niche listing with no competitors.

6. Name Recognition Tie In

This is a great way to pull in brand name recognition traffic even though you aren’t selling the product with the name. An example of this would be if you were selling an ebook on how to create a pay per click search engine. You could list the title as something like “Make A Pay Per Click Search Engine Like Google Adwords.”

Another benefit to using all 6 of these techniques is that often times the resellers won’t find you very easily. Resellers will be looking at other resellers and trying to copy their titles while undercutting their listing price. Because most of them are looking for the actual name of the product, you will be virtually invisible to them.

7. Put Your Ebook On CD

Now that you have positioned yourself on eBay away from the rest, burn your ebooks to CD. Why on a CD? You can increase the price as well as charge shipping and handling. You can easily charge $4.99 for shipping when in fact it costs less than half that to pay for the CD and shipping materials.

There you have it. Now you can be the ebook reseller you have always wanted to be and start pulling in easy cash, the smart way!

About the author:

Philip Ritchie has been creating and selling ebooks for over 3 years. For exclusive access to his unique niche resell rights collection visit:
http://www.ebookstacker.com

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Developing an Internet Marketing Strategy

2006-06-26T01:35:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Stephen Pierce
How do I effectively develop an Internet marketing strategy? Every online business owner asks this question at some point in time. Unfortunately there is no universal answer to developing your Internet marketing strategy.

There are many different methods being used and new ones being tried every day. However, there are fundamentals that must be in place to develop a successful Internet marketing strategy.

- Internet marketing strategy one: Know your target market.

Don’t guess, those who guess fail. Check your reality; don’t think everyone needs what you are selling. Take the time and effort to develop a very specific outline of your preferred customer.

Research, ask questions, talk to people, get a firm understanding of who it is you are selling to and don’t depend on “if you build it they will come”. When you have a grasp of your target market you’ll be able to make accurate decisions about your business, not guesses based on guesses. Developing an Internet marketing strategy is like building the foundation of your business. When you analyze your target audience, you'll want to find out the answers to questions such as the ones listed below.

What products/services do you currently buy? Why do you buy your current brand? What do you like about it? What could be improved? If you could recreate the product/service, how would you change it? What Web sites do you frequent? What ezines or newsletters do you receive via email? Sex? Age? Annual income? Occupation? Title? Are you a business owner?

Depending on what your business sells or offers, there should be more questions you can develop to further hone your target market and therefore you Internet marketing strategy.

How do you get this information? Talk to people in person or in groups. Conduct an online survey. Surveymonkey.com offers excellent survey tools free of charge. Make use of online forums. Put a forum on your site. Use a promotional give away to get information. Be creative and be real.

- Internet marketing strategy two: Understand why people stay on your site once they are there.

People who come to your site and leave seconds later are not customers. Your first page should load very quickly. Be brief and to the point. Verbosity is marketing death. Good design, good writing and white space are preferred. Use tables with cell padding and cell spacing to give your pages a quality feel. Hiring professionals can be money well spent.

- Internet marketing strategy three: Don’t base your sales pitch on deception.

Make sure your links accurately describe what the viewer will get. It is a common con to have a link to a freebie or discount lead to nothing more than a hard sales pitch that the viewer wouldn’t have chosen. If you do, you’ll likely lose the potential customer.

- Internet marketing strategy four: Always provide something for the viewer, even information can make them return again and again.

Your viewers like to get new, updated material. Therefore, make sure to provide ongoing quality information as often as possible.

- Internet marketing strategy five: Always research the methods you may want to use to advertise, i.e. link exchanges, click through programs, pay per click programs, advertising on search engines, banner ads, etc.

Make sure the methods you select reach your target market. Don’t market your ego; market your product or service.

About the author:

Stephen Pierce is a business optimization strategist who provides strategies that make growing profits in your business a fast reality. To learn how to get Marketing Momentum for real business success, please visit http://www.optimizationseries.com for free marketing tips and strategies.

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8 Ways to Grow Your Business During a Summer Lull

2006-06-25T00:50:00.000-07:00

Million Dollar Ideas - How to Make a Million Dollars Online

2006-06-24T02:08:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Chris Connors
There was a lot of buzz recently over Alex Tew's Million Dollar Homepage. He made a million dollars within 6 months selling pixels for a buck a piece. This feat created a stir within the Internet Marketing Community and people were formulating million dollar ideas of their own. Many tried to replicate Alex's pixel phenomenon but without much success.

Alex made us realize that making a million dollars online is possible and all it requires is some smart, out of the box thinking. In this article, I will try to categorize the ingredients required to formulate your own million dollar idea. The Internet is vast and you can get lost in all the information, unless you have a clear thinking.

When you start working on your million dollar idea, you have to answer three essential questions - who will pay you, why will they pay you and how much will they pay you? Answer these basic questions to all your ideas and you will end up with a winner. Let us explore each of these individually.

Who Will Pay You?

This is the first question you have to ask yourself. From where are you getting your revenue? You can be paid directly by customers, which was the case with Alex's pixel website. Besides this, the most popular avenues used by Internet Marketers today are affiliate programs and contextual advertising like Google Adsense or Yahoo Publisher Network. There are a lot of other methods you can get paid but we will stick with the ones mentioned because they are the most popular.

When you want to come up with a million dollar idea, you should be clear about your revenue model. Each one of these methods can be rewarding if your idea is good. Some people may argue that getting paid directly by customers is the best model. But in my experience, you can do equally well with affiliate programs and contextual advertising.

Why Will They Pay You?

So you have frozen on your revenue model. The next step is to figure out why these guys will pay you. Whether you are getting paid by customers, a merchant running affiliate programs or contextual advertisers, there has to be a strong enough reason for getting paid. Don't look at this question at the surface level. Explore deeply the benefits that you are offering for getting paid.

If you are getting paid directly by customers, what is it that you are offering to them? Is it worth the money for your customers? If not, you need to make your product or service valuable enough to justify the payment. If your revenue model includes affiliate programs, then what are you offering which will make customers buy through your affiliate links?

Ask yourself questions like these and get to the bottom of your offering. The bottom line is that unless you are adding value to your end customers, you won't make a dime. Your million dollar idea should focus on providing something useful to your customers, something which will make them act the way you want them to.

How Much Will They Pay You?

The road to a million bucks can be as long or short as you want it to be. If you are getting paid 1 cent at a time for a customer action, you may never see a million dollars in your bank account. Your idea should revolve around a business model which pays you a handsome amount per "action". An action here is defined as that activity which triggers a payment for you. If you use Google Adsense, the action is a website visitor clicking on your Adsense ad. If you are promoting affiliate programs, the action is someone buying through your affiliate link. Each action has a reward associated with it. It can be 5 cents or a $100. I am not saying that the $100 action will make you a millionaire faster than the 5 cents action. The number of times the action is repeated might differ greatly between the two. Your idea should find a good combination of the reward and the frequency of the action. This is the key to making a quick million on the Internet.

Conclusion

Once you have answered these questions for each of your ideas, a clear picture will start emerging. You will have an in depth understanding of your ideas and their potential. The idea with the highest potential is one which has a clear revenue model, adds value to the end customers and has a high reward volume and frequency. Your million dollar idea may be worth much more than you think.

About the author:

Paper on Ten Ideas to Make a Million Dollars Online
http://www.MillionDollarSchool.com

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Developing an Internet Marketing Strategy

2006-06-23T00:36:00.000-07:00

Could You Succeed With A Home Business?

2006-06-22T22:45:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Robert Pickering
Virtually anybody can succeed with their very own successful home business, and yet the majority fail with their home business.

Why!...Three main reasons why people fail.

1. Not really getting started.

Lots of people sign up for some program or another and think that is all there is to it, and that the money will come rolling in, wrong! As with anything getting started is the hardest part requiring planning and organisation, get this part right and the momentum you create will then push your business forward in leaps and bounds, any reputable program will have all the information you require to get your home business off to a flying start.

2. Half hearted approach.

Many people fall into this category. Oh well I gave i ago, but it did not work out for me, did not really expect it to, these people are just looking for an excuse to fail. This is an attitude that we acquire as we grow up, as a child failure was not part of your vocabulary. For example learning to ride a bicycle, no doubt you probably fell off more than once, it hurt, but it did not stop you, you would get back on it until you mastered the skill, same with your home business you will have falls, it is all part of the learning curve, you will learn more from these slight setbacks than from your successes enabling you and your business skills to develop.

3. Belief

This is probably the most common category, this is also the biggest difference between successful people and the vast majority of people, no matter what walk of life they come from, everybody as dreams and ideas, the difference between some body successful, and the vast majority of people, is that successful people have the belief and conviction to make their ideas happen doing what ever is needed to fulfil their dreams, if you do not really believe in your home business how will you convince anybody else too. Believe in your business and other people will as well, believe, and your business will thrive.

Getting started.

This can seem a pretty daunting task, and this is where most people fail, but don`t worry, even if you know absolutely nothing about home businesses, as stated earlier all reputable programs will supply you with all the help, information and support that you will require, to ensure that your business is a success.

Motivation.

What motivates somebody to start their own home business, desires, pleasure. Millions dream of the benefits of owning a successful business, financial Independence for one and with that comes personal freedom, figures out indicate that on an average day six million residence of America alone search for home business opportunities, but desires and dreams of a better lifestyle are not always enough to motivate somebody into action, the biggest motivator of all is often pain, losing ones source of income, or a reduction in income for what ever reason, the emotional pain that comes with trying to exist on a reduced income level as motivated thousands of people into starting their own successful home businesses. Don`t let pain be your motivator, instead let your desires and goals motivate you and your business, allowing you and your family to live the lifestyle you deserve and dream about.

In Conclusion

Once you have made the decision to start your own home business, just keep focused on what motivated you to start your home business in the first place, this will provide the drive required to push your home business forward. A final thought, what if you was to take the action required today? what might your lifestyle be like in a years time?

About the author:

Robert Pickering is webmaster of Switchonprofits Work At Home Directory providing proven legitimate Home Business Ideas. To get a free newsletter providing top tips, and a complete guide to our opportunities available visit http://www.switchonprofits.com Contact Robert Pickering at support@switchonprofits.com

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How To Get FREE High PR ONE-WAY Backlinks To Your Website Using Articles

2006-06-21T00:55:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Cory Threlfall
We all know it, the more HIGH Quality links you have pointing to your website, the higher the search engines will rank your website. The questions is..."How can you get them without having to spend all that time doing traditional 'Link Exchanges' between webmasters, and more importantly, how can you get those high PR 'One-Way' Backlinks?"

Those are good questions indeed and I'll explain them in a moment.

But, before I do, let's first define what a "One-Way Backlink" is.

A "One-Way Backlink" is simply a link that points back to your website from someone else's without you having to reciprocate back.

It doesn't have to get anymore difficult than that.

The more pointing back to yours, the higher the search engines will rank your website depending on your keyword competition and the quality or PR(Popularity Ranking) of the backlink.

These are very important factors to consider when doing link exchanges because you want the best links possible.

I know I do, and I'm sure you do to.

If your new to the Internet Marketing scene then what I'm about to reveal to you within this article will literally save you *tons* of time and get you those much needed "One-Way Backlinks" so you can have a fighting chance for the keywords your website is optimized for.

So... what's the BIG Secret?

ARTICLES!!

Why 'Articles' you ask and how do they get you "One-Way Backlinks"?

Well, first off, if you've been online for any length of time then you know that 'Content Is King', but the beauty of writing and syndicating articles is you get to include a 'Resource Box' with your articles that has all your website details in it along with your "URL".

It's that easy and if your good at writing articles and write them often and they target a specific niche that needs to be filled then they should have no problem getting picked up and spread around the Internet with all your website details and URL attached.

And... just so you know, articles are also considered one of the Best forms of VIRAL Marketing available on the Internet, so this should give you some incentive to get started as well.

Well, that covers the first question. Lets now move onto the last which is... "How do you get those high PR 'One-Way' Backlinks?"

Two words... "Article Directories".

Article Directories are hungry for content and are always looking for fresh NEW content to add to their databases for their readers, webmasters and for newsletter and e-Zine publishers.

The great benefit to submitting to "Article Directories" is that they usually have high PR(between 4 and 6) within the search engines depending on if its new or not and is where you'll benefit.

And that's not all either. Everytime you submit a new article to an article directory it creates a NEW Optimized Page just for your article with all your website details and URL(MOST Important), so the more article directories you submit to, the bigger your network will grow with more "One-Way Backlinks" pointing back to your website from other high PR article directories.

And as those article directories are getting spidered daily by other search engine robots(known as Spiders) your new pages will get pick up and indexed within their databases as well building your link network BIGGER and Bigger.

If you see ANY potential in using this linking strategy then don't sit on the fence.

Get started today.

About the author:

Cory Threlfall is an Internet Marketer and owner of a NEW article directory that offers FREE Article Submissions and RSS Syndication called "The Article Syndicate" and welcomes all Article Publishers to come and register for FREE so they can get FREE Publicity via e-Zines, Search Engines, RSS Syndication, Blogs and The Article Syndicate. Go NOW and Register ==> http://www.thearticlesyndicate.com

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Five Steps to a Great Affiliate Program

2006-06-20T00:27:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Jeanette Cates
An effective affiliate program can be the lifeblood of your business. Not only do affiliates send you traffic and sales, but they provide incoming links and good public relations for you in the marketplace.

So how do you return the favor? By providing an excellent affiliate program for them. Here are five steps that will bring you closer to that goal.

1. Clear signup process. Write a description of your affiliate program that talks about what you sell, to whom and what you expect from an affiliate. Then tell them the types of tools you provide for them in order to make the most sales possible.

Make it easy for them to sign up. And make it easy for them to sign into the affiliate area by providing a link to the affiliate area directly on the sign up page.

2. Step-by-step training program. Most people who sign up for your program are new to affiliate marketing. They liked your product, so they signed up. Now it's up to you to teach them how to market your programs - as well as any other affiliate product.

Assume they know nothing and start with the basics in an autoresponder sequence. Tell them about each of your products - describing just one per week. Tell them about the tools you provide and how to use them with their marketing efforts. Show them how to read and interpret their statistics.

While industry statistics indicate less than 5% of affiliates actually do anything, you don't want that to be descriptive of your affiliates. Educate them!

3. Ongoing communication. In addition to the autoresponder sequence of educational emails, consider a monthly affiliate update. In this you might offer tips from other affiliates - or testimonials from customers that they can use in their marketing messages.

Consider a monthly teleseminar with you. You'll find it makes for a closer relationship and you'll have direct input as to what they need. It will give you better ideas on what to create or provide for them, as well as your marketplace.

4. Easy to use affiliate tools. Standard tools include banners, graphics, emails, and articles. Be sure you include their affiliate link on each of these so that it's a simple copy-and-paste operation. Better selling affiliates are busy, so respect their time and make your tools "no- brainers."

5. Timely payments. Nothing will turn off an affiliate faster than not getting paid on time. The sooner you pay them after the sale, the more likely they are to send out another promotion on your behalf. It's motivating to see a check arrive or money deposited in your PayPal account.

And don't restrict payment to just payments for sales. Contests, awards and prizes are meaningful, too. So ask them what would make their affiliate work more fun - then give it to them!

When you start with these five steps, you'll be 95% further along than most affiliate programs. And you'll be attracting all of the best affiliates in no time!

About the author:

Dr. Jeanette Cates works with consultants and other experts who are ready to leverage their expertise into Online Success. She offers affiliate training videos and materials at http://www.GetAffiliateManager.com

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Internet Marketing - Easy as 1-2-3

2006-06-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Stephen Wright
Visit hundreds of internet marketing sites these days. They will tell you all the hundreds, if not thousands of ideas and ways they can sell you some product or service to have you making gazzilions of revenues through the internet. Half before lunch, ok, it's tough, so it might take you until after lunch to get the other half of the gazzilion! Yeah, right!

What they won't tell you is the cold hard truth. Being successful on the internet takes a special blend of many ingredients. These include time, education, experience, luck, and yes--money.

Every day, I see more and more potential internet marketeers who have obviously cut corners, rushing to market a product hastlily put together, poor marketing techniques, you name it.

Aside from having a lot of money to begin with, experience shows that gaining experience and educationing yourself about internet marketing topics are the Number One areas that anyone wanting to get started needs to focus on. In reality the more one learns about marketing on the internet, the more they realize that you are just touching the surface! And with the continuing advances in technology, it's changing every day!

Ok, admit -- internet marketing is NOT EASY! It is not a piece of cake or the proverbial bed of roses. Now that we have admitted that part, what can be done then to advance or more accurately to accelerate the process? Here are a few tips that have helped mylearning curve:

Treat your growth to frequent "library time" on the internet. That is to say, just like going to a traditional library, you need to set aside some "quiet time" to surf the net with the express purpose of reading as much as possible about internet marketing topics. Simple searches on any of the major search engines will give you lots and lots of subjects that your can explore.

From the start, set up specific goals for yourself and your growth efforts. These should be short term, mid-range and longer term goals designed to continuously improve your knowledge. The quicker you become knowledgable and fluent with internet marketing, the sooner you will be having customers anxious to by your latest products and advice.

Obtain as much written literature and information on these topics as possible. Ideally, FREE information whenever possible. One faboulous resource for the full range and breadth of IM topics is Dotcomology. I personally use it on a continuing basis as a reference guide. You can get your copy absolutely free at the InternetMarketingUSA website.

Find and locate programs that include websites (already designed or customized for you) as a part of the program. Getting your own website on a reputable website hosting service is imparative.

Outsource portions of your work to supplement your own knowledge or expertise. Don't be afraid to use the expertise of others to excellerate your website capabilities. This is an ideal way to get your success on a fast track. Keep in mind you must shop around for reputable and low cost providers.

Get your very own newsletters and ezines going as soon as possible. The sooner you begin to share what you have learned, the sooner you will get your name and company "on the internet map". There are a multitude of benefits for this approach. To say the least, this is a great investment of your limited time.

Join internet marketing forums related to your specific area of interest and developing expertise. Start making many contributions to the various topics and postings to keep your self current on issues, build a reputation among your peers, and get your name and company on the search engines as content sources for other websites.

And lastly, stay positive and "have fun" with your efforts and activities. Maintaining an upbeat attitude not only helps you as you "learn the ropes" - it also comes through in your dealings with potential customers.

About the author:

Stephen Wright is President & CEO of InternetMarketingUSA.com. Would you like to make money online, but don't know where to begin? Here's 3 easy steps that really work:
http://www.internetmarketingusa.com/pips.html

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2006-06-17T00:54:00.000-07:00

Double Profits With Same Website Traffic

2006-06-15T03:34:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Jim Edwards
Every serious online business owner eats, sleeps and breaths targeted traffic to their website.

They spend the most money and time trying to attract first-time visitors to their sites in hopes of generating new sales and subscribers.

But, believe it or not, it’s easier to increase your income by simply selling more of the visitors you already get than trying to chase down more traffic.

The solution? Tracking & testing!

Probably the most overlooked and underutilized, but certainly the most powerful strategy for increasing sales and opt-in subscriptions.

If you spend any time or money on advertising, you must start testing and tracking.

Simply put, “tracking” means you measure the effectiveness of each individual advertising source you use to promote your business.

For example, if you advertise in email newsletters, you should know how effective each newsletter ad rates compared to all the others in terms of sales and subscribers generated.

This enables you to know whether an ad makes or loses money.

Testing means you constantly look for ways to improve your ads in small, incremental amounts that add up over time.

The most common (and effective) tests you can run are A-B split tests, which pit two variables against each other to determine which converts more lookers into buyers.

Split testing headlines, price points, and guarantee periods make, from my experience, the best places to start testing.

The reason testing and tracking can double your profits (or more) lies in the power of small, incremental improvements.

Lets say, for example, you decide to do a series of split tests on a website that currently converts 1 in every 100 visitors (1% conversion).

You test, headline, price, guarantee and a payment plan. If each of the 4 tests yields a .25% increase in conversion, you would not see an increase in sales to 2% (4x.25%), but actually an increase to almost 2.5% since each improvement builds on the last!

The most basic tool in testing and tracking revolves around the use of advertising link tracker software.

These tools measure the number of clicks on individual advertisements (text links, banners, pay-per-click ads, etc) and then measure sales or subscriptions generated as a result.

You get two choices with link trackers: a hosted service or software you install on your own server.

A hosted service offers the advantage of easy setup and use. Most of the time you just sign up for the service, enter the link you want to track, get your tracking code, and you’re off to the races.

The disadvantage of a hosted service is that, if it gets abused, using the URL of the service in your links can get your emails blocked or your pages banned by search engines.

The advantage of hosting the software on your own server is that you maintain a higher degree of technical control and can avoid the banning issues.

The main disadvantage of hosting it yourself involves the fact that you really don’t have anyone to call for help if something goes wrong.

One of the most popular hosted link trackers online is HyperTracker.com, though I’ve not used the service.

My favorite link tracker is actually part of an integrated e-commerce system at http://www.MysiteSales.com.

This service enables you to track your sales and subscriptions made through the shopping cart.

Two options for software you install on your own server are Dynatracker.com and ProAnalyzer.com.

Both provide decent link tracking, though no system I’ve tested provides 100% accurate results.

But, with that said, failure to test means you’re leaving money on the table by wasting visitors you could otherwise convert to buyers with basic effort at improving your sales messages.

About the author:

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-step and click-by-click how to get your own money-making videos posted online... "Finally! A Quick and Easy Way For YOU To Painlessly Create, Post and PROFIT From Your Own Money-Making Online Videos... Without Being a Computer Geek or Paying Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!" => http://www.WebsiteVideoSecrets.com

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Blogs Are Your Internet Marketing Secret Weapon

2006-06-13T02:01:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Mark Nenadic
These days, blogs are among the most important secret weapons that internet marketers can employ. They are a terrific way to have opinions stated in an un-moderated and public place, where ideas and insights can be shared among everyone who wishes to read them.

For internet marketing, blogging builds credibility for the website through the many opinions and ideas that are shared there. The company, and its bloggers, become recognized by their readers as a resource for useful information. Therefore, people will not only visit once, but will return again and again to find out what else is new.

Blogging itself is an extremely inexpensive, quick, and simple way to reach out to thousands of website visitors. It draws people who are in your direct target market, making relationship building a much more natural process once that visitor takes their use of your website one step further and makes a purchase of whatever product or service you are selling – and have been covering in your blog.

Blogs make you an expert in your field. That’s right, with the right researching and writing skills (or with a skilled writer and researcher in your employ) then you can become an expert in your field as far as your website blog is concerned. To be an expert, all you need to do is keep up with the latest in your industry within your blog posts, and maintain it regularly.

To make sure that you’re headed in the right direction with your blog, check up on other website blogs in your industry to see what they have posted. Naturally, this doesn’t mean that you should be posting the same things as your competition. In fact, that is among the worst things that you can do. Certainly, you’re allowed to share an opinion now and then, but your blog will need to stand out if it is to be taken seriously. If you are simply reiterating what others are already saying, then you will be seen as old news, and will be overlooked in favor of the original thinkers.

To start your own blog on your website, you need to have the right tools in place. Blogger and Blogware are only examples of the many different options that are available to you.

When you post on your blog, make sure that you’re doing it because you have something to say, and not because it’s time to post. Your blog posts need to be interesting if you are to keep a steady readership. If you’re not interested in what you’re writing then the odds are that your visitors won’t be interested in what they’re reading.

To keep up the interest, don’t take yourself too seriously. Of course you are allowed to write about serious and important topics in your industry and about your products, but you can also include some trivia and humorous commentaries that directly or indirectly relate to your blog topic and will amuse your readers. This is perfectly acceptable in blog posting and is, in fact, encouraged. It allows the readers to feel that they have made a real “contact” with you, and that you take a real joy in what you do.

Blogs aren’t just good for creating regular visitors to your website, but they are also quite beneficial for bringing in new visitors as well. You’ll find that when you are writing about any given topic in your industry, you are using the words and terms that apply to your topic. As these words become more frequently used throughout your website, for example, within your recent and archived blog posts, search engine spiders will pick up on their use and may increase your ranking for those keywords.

To sum up, here is what you need to benefit from your blog:

• The right blogging tools
• The motivation and commitment to contribute regularly
• Something relevant to say!
• Some skill in writing – if you don’t, hire someone who does
• Some knowledge in your industry – if you don’t, hire someone who can research this information
• Some perspective, not just vague ramblings

If you have these, you’re all set to start taking advantage of what blogging can contribute to your internet marketing strategy.

About the author:

Mark Nenadic
Mark is the director and face behind FifteenDegrees-North http://www.15dn.com , where you will find articles and resources to help with SEO, marketing and Web design.

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Organic SEO The New Messiah For Webmasters

2006-06-12T03:30:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Titus Hoskins
Organic SEO seems to be the catch phrase of the moment. However, unlike many other linking tactics and strategies, this one actually works.

What is Organic SEO or Organic Search Engine Optimization?

Explained simply, it's where all your linking structures originates from the content up - in other words, you let all your content created for your sites, blogs and articles do your link building for you.

Actually, the answer is as simple as this article. You're probably experiencing one of the best examples of Organic SEO right this moment by reading this article. Article marketing is pure Organic SEO. You let your article and your author's resource box build one-way links from related niche sites back to your site.

But the keyword is content. You must create high quality original content for this system to really develop and flourish. The better the content, the faster your rankings and traffic will grow. By producing valuable content in articles, sites and blogs, you are building real traffic and real links that the search engines salivate over. And they will reward your site with higher rankings and even more traffic.

Try Article Writing...

Frankly, I was rather surprised at the effectiveness of article writing. It seems like such a benevolent little creature. You write about your own experiences on the subject of your site or blog, keeping your articles short, around 500 to 800 words, although some of my best performing articles have been longer, about 900 to 1200 words.

I have only written about 60 articles. But the benefits have been enormous; spreading my content all over the web and building one-way links back to my sites and blogs. Some of these articles like the ones in Addme.com or Webpronews.com get archived and will provide good deep PR links for years to come.

There are a few techniques I use to extend the effectiveness of my articles. First, I always start with a keyword or keyword phrase that I want to target with a particular article. I do major, major, major research on my article's keywords, using sites like nichebot.com, overture.com, and a few others.

I check how much competition there is for the keywords. Combining a new keyword with ones you already have positioned high for in the search engines works well. For example, I have optimized my site for the keyword 'Free', it appears throughout my site. When I introduce a new keyword phrase I sometimes combine it with Free. Pick the right keyword combination and you will gain an edge over your competition more quickly.

Always put your keyword phrase into the title of your article. I also make it a habit of not picking the top keywords in a niche, I go for middle ranked keywords - I am better assured that I will rank on the first page SERPs for these lower keywords. Why waste valuable time shooting for the stars when you can easily land on the moon!

I submit my articles mainly to a short list of online article directories ( ezinearticles.com, buzzle.com, isnare.com, goarticles.com, ideamarketers.com, and articlealley.com ) these work the best for me. These sites rank well in the search engines and even though the surfer may go to another site to read your article first, it then delivers a much more warmed up and targeted visitor to your own site.

Other webmasters from your niche will pick up your high quality articles and place them on their sites. Organically growing more related one-way links to your site. Google looks very favorably on these one-way links and will reward your site for having them.

Article marketing is one Organic SEO tactic every website should be using. Instead of paying high prices for seo services, why not write or hire someone to create keyword rich articles for your site. The benefits will surprise you.

Try Blogging...

Blogs are another form of Organic SEO. It also builds links and traffic to your site the natural way - by providing valuable content.

For those marketers and webmasters who practice Organic SEO, the free blogging systems are a godsend. A skilled marketer can legitimately use these online blogging programs to boost their site's rankings, traffic and income. What more can any online marketer or webmaster ask for?

I use numerous blogs to compliment my sites. I base these blogs on the major keywords of my sites. For example, one section on my main Internet Marketing site examines laptop computers, I created a blog with Bloglines.com covering the same topic. Although all the content is different from what you will find on my main site.

I also use Blogger.com because it's owned by Google and is very simple to use. I find posting my weekly ezine on Blogger adds another way I can get my message out to my subscribers. Not to mention, all the linking and pinging a blog brings into play.

I also use the open source software and system, WordPress for another of my blogs on marketing. This is a php database supported program that was a lot less easier to set up on my site than I first expected. It's one of the best blogging systems I have worked with and is highly favored by the search engines. If you're not using it - try it.

In addition, I have just started using LiveJournal for another blog and that system is also very easy to use. I usually post to my blogs once or twice a week, just short helpful tips or links that a visitor or search engine would be interested in. Keep in mind, all these free blogging sites are PR9 or PR10, has to count for something.

Spam has become a problem with many of these blogging systems, I now usually block all comments or moderate them. All this spam just goes to show how effective getting links in related blogs can booster your rankings for competitive keywords.

I have found blogging to be a very effective tool for getting your keywords indexed and ranked very quickly. I also like to use blogs for those golden double-header listings in the SERPs, preferably at the number 1 and 2 spots! That's where you get two listings from your site for a certain keyword on the first page, this I find, brings in a lot more traffic than a single listing.

In art there is something called the Golden Section, a perfect proportion that works magic into any painting or picture. It is an organic and natural effect that appears everywhere in our world. For webmasters, having your site listed 1 and 2 for your keywords has to be another form of the Golden Section, made especially for us.

In that same light, Organic SEO is a natural and effective way for webmasters to grow their links and rankings. Articles and blogs are two special tools we can use to further that natural growth. Create your own Golden Section and give the search engines something to talk about by trying Organic SEO. Build your links and rankings the natural way.

Your site's salvation is only a keystroke away!

About the author:

Titus Hoskins owns and runs numerous sites on the web. To receive more useful marketing tips to promote your site and to increase your sales Click Here: http://www.bizwaremagic.com . Or grab his popular List Building eCourse here: http://www.bizwaremagic.com/opt-in.htm
© 2006. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

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2006-06-11T03:42:00.000-07:00

2006-06-10T07:26:00.000-07:00

Are You Ignoring Your Customers' Requests?

2006-06-08T01:02:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Willie Crawford
Many Internet marketing experts will tell you that the best way to find out what your customers want from you is to ask them. While that may be true, I believe that an even more accurate way is to just listen to what they're telling you, and to what they're asking you for.

To illustrate my point, I'll use a couple of examples from one of my own niches... the recipe and cookbook niche. If you already have even a minor foothold in any niche, my experience should be somewhat instructive.

In-case you're unfamiliar with my background, I earn six-figures from a soul food cookbook that I wrote and self-published. I wrote that cookbook because my site visitors asked for it.

The full story behind my first cookbook is that, when I first came online in 1996, I was told that I should focus on a niche. After building your typical "Internet marketing" site, which didn't really take off immediately, I eventually decided to build a site around the "soul food" recipes that I learned while growing up on a farm in North Carolina. I posted a few of my favorite recipes online as search engine bait, and then advertised affiliate products around the site ... usually with banners.

I was also told that I needed a mailing list to bring visitors back to the site, and to stay in touch with potential customers. With a recipe site, it made perfect sense to me to create a list where people could trade recipes. That list was an immediate hit, and has been going strong for over 8 years.

While the recipes sent out through the list were primarily from site visitors, list members grew to associate me with great recipes. They eventually started asking me if I had a cookbook. I told them "no" but that I would write one if they would buy it. I also announced that I was taking advance orders (to verify the demand). I had over 100 orders before I wrote the first word. That cookbook has provided me, and my family, with a comfortable living for YEARS!

Over the years, I tried to sell those site visitors, and list members, a variety of different backend products, but nothing sold as well as my cookbook.

For the last six years,list members have regularly told me what my next few products should be, but I wasn't really listening. List members regularly emailed me saying that they loved my recipes, but that they were on restricted diets. They often asked if I had diabetic, low-fat or low-carb recipes. They also often wrote to tell me that they'd been diagnosed with high blood pressure, and asked if I had any recipes for people with hypertension.

When I finally started listening, I knew exactly what my next 4-5 products should be. They should be versions of my cookbook featuring diabetic, low-fat and low-carb recipes. I also needed to write a cookbook for those with high blood pressure. All of those cookbooks will be rolled out to my list and sites within the next 2 months!

What's also instructive is that over the years I built up this HUGE asset... people who have bought cookbooks from me and then asked if I had more. They were telling me what to sell them. They were telling me that if I just offered them what they WANTED they would buy it.

The above is just applying basic common sense and a little bit of marketing know-how ...which most Internet marketers already possess. Let me share with you a few more insights that you probably already have but are not using.

1) The easiest way in the world to make more money from a proven, profitable niche is to "go deep." Produce multiple episodes or versions of the product. That's what movie producers do. That's what traditional book publishers do. Look at the "Chicken Soup For The Soul" series! That told me that if I produced additional versions of my cookbook, it would sell. My list members also "told" me that.

The way that I will apply this is by re-labeling my first cookbook "Volume 1" during the next printing. Then, I will introduce "Volume 2" and as many volumes as the market will bear over the years. Labeling the original "Volume 1" tells my customers to look for additional volumes. It sets up collectors to collect the complete series.

Speaking of collectors, another version of your product that you can release is a limited collectors' edition... if appropriate for your marketplace. The co-producer and host of the television cooking show that I'll tell you about later is doing just that. At my prompting, he's released a "Limited Edition Autographed Version" of his cookbook, "The Devotional Cookbook." You can see how he did that with my help at: http://Chitterlings.com/devotionalcookbook.html

What will make the limited editon of the cookbook, in the example above, sell out really fast is the fact that it really is only being released in a very limited quantity, and that a television personality is autographing copies. Ask yourself how you can apply a similar idea to your product. I'll admit that this idea isn't something that I dreamed up... it's somethings that I heard a speaker use as an example at a seminar. All I did was have my client APPLY the idea!

2) Go deep by offering more versions of your basic product. For example, with my cookbook, I offer it in PDF, print, and on CD. In a few months many of my recipes will be available on DVD since I will share them on a television cooking show that I'll be co-producing.

My mentors long ago told me that I needed not only a cooking show, but a full line of spices and sauces. Instead of listening to them, I went off in search of more exotic markets... largely ignoring the hungry market that I already had (pun intended).

It took one of my clients, coming to me with an idea for a cooking show that he had, to get me into the television business. When you really think about it though, producing a cooking show is just repackaging the information that I already have into a different format.

Listening to my market, will not only allow me to triple my book sales, it will also generate millions when the show is nationally syndicated. The show is just beginning production now, but will grow rapidly. You can follow our progress, and learn from the process, by frequenting our blog at: http://TheDevotionalChef.com/blog

You can also see how I develop and market a full line of cookbooks and related products by visiting my cooking site at: http://Chitterlings.com Go ahead and join the mailing list, as this is where I announce new products and site news.

A few people may ask why I share so much of what I'm doing in my cooking niche with you here. You may wonder if I'm not afraid of competition. The fact is that there are MILLIONS of webpages out there offering free recipes, yet I earn six-figures selling them. The fact is that there are thousands of people who have written cookbooks and are having difficulty selling them. I don't have to worry about competition because by studying Internet marketing I have learned how to dominate my niche.

What should you do with the information that I've just shared with you? Ask yourself how you can apply it in your niche. Ask yourself if your site visitors and subscribers aren't already telling you what they want to buy!

Once you discover that your product is a hit with the marketplace, listen to them as they tell you how to improve the product, and how to sell more things to them. Instead of going off looking for new and more glamorous markets, serve the one that you've already mastered. Apply the many marketing techniques you already know to your existing niche. It will pay off handsomely!

About the author:

Willie Crawford has been teaching Internet marketing for over 9 years. Take advantage of his insights and experiences by subscribing to his free, very popular newsletter at http://WillieCrawford.com/ezine.html

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The Worst SEO Mistakes That Lead To Lowering Your Search Engine Ranking

2006-06-05T23:56:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Mark Nenadic
Though there are many different theories out there regarding what makes the best SEO technique, when it comes to some issues that will work against your SEO efforts, there are some issues where everyone agrees. Among these, the most prominent are:

• Not having a web page title
• Using too many graphics, images, or flash animation on a given web page
• Having a menu system that is prohibitively complex

It is extremely important that every web page on your site has a title. Without providing a descriptive title that is search engine optimized with the right keywords, you’ll not only hurt your ranking, but you’ll turn visitors away. Consider it the equivalent to owning a store without a sign and with blackened windows. To make sure that you’re doing your best on that level, make certain that each web page on your site has its own unique title that is specific to its content. Try to make sure that it includes the primary keyword for that page, to ensure proper SEO for search engine spiders.

By using too many graphics, images, or flash animation, you may be pleasing the eye, but search engine spiders won’t see it the same way. Search engines focus on the text content of your website. Their spiders crawl through your site looking for text, keywords, and other indications of purpose. They cannot, however, understand images or flash animations, nor will they ever understand their appeal. Therefore, though images are great ways to add appeal to your visitors, by adding too much to any given web page, you’re decreasing the value of your search engine optimization. To reduce this problem, try to create a balance on your page where the text content is given the true priority, and images, graphics, and flash animations are only a compliment, not a focus for the page. You can also help your website by adding alt tags to each of your images so that you are providing the search engine spiders with a bit of text, even when it’s an image that actually shows up on the page.

The menu system of your website is the key to being able to properly navigate around it. Search engine spiders are typically considered to be relatively basic programs and struggle with anything but the most primitive menu systems. For example, if your menu involves JavaScript or a Java applet, the search engine spider will not be able to recognize any of the features, and will not be capable of properly navigating the site. Certainly, these can be very appealing to people, but search engine spiders don’t have the same ability to interpret the features of a website as people do. For proper search engine optimization, a simple textual link is your best option as it is the easiest for a search engine spider to understand. It makes your site much more likely to be seen in full by the spider, and therefore receive the best indexing and ranking results. Furthermore, the majority of the time, an extremely complicated menu system can quickly be replicated and implemented using textual links and CSS. This will make an enormous difference in your SEO results, and will be welcomed by all of your visitors who are still using dial-up and other slow connections.

If you must use a complex menu or site navigation system, then make sure that you at least provide a site map that is readily available via a text link from the home page. This site map should use text to clearly link to every one of the other pages of your web site. This way, even if a spider is unable to use your regular menu system, it will be able to reach all of the pages by way of the site map.

By carefully watching to make sure that you’ve avoided these mistakes, you’ll be making a big difference in your odds of achieving high ranking due to your search engine optimization efforts. You’ll refrain from working against your own SEO efforts due to simple errors, and will enjoy much larger amounts of traffic to your website.

About the author:

Mark Nenadic
Mark is the director and face behind FifteenDegrees-North http://www.15dn.com , where you will find articles and resources to help with SEO, marketing and Web design.

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Internet Marketing - How this changed method changed my life

2006-06-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Larry Blenn
Sometimes in life you just feel inspired by some unknown force that drives you to the brink of madness. That's how I feel about Internet marketing. I have been doing this full time now for over two years and it hasn't always been easy. I've learned so many cool tricks of the trade and I'm grateful for this experience.

If you are new to the Internet Marketing world then you probably feel as I did two years ago, a bit lost I'm sure. If you only had the right tools or if you only knew the right people you could see your dreams and ideas come true. The hard part about this business is that there are no free handouts. Your lucky if you get some help on forums and in groups. I truly know and understand how you feel.

I have spent countless hours on the computer searching and reading. This is certainly and industry that requires it's fair share of research. It has been my experience that it's unbelievably important to make connections with people as soon as possible. I think a lot of people miss this point. We tent to try and do everything alone. It's for this very reason that we hold ourselves back without even realizing it.

For those of you looking to start an Internet career I'd like to give you some advice. First off you have to get over the idea that something big is going to happen for you overnight. I know you hear stories about people who have made millions of dollars without much time or effort. In reality that doesn't happen as often as you might think. As a matter of fact, it's very rare that someone comes up with a million dollar idea.

I would compare it to winning the lottery because the chances are very slim. Having said that, you can become a very successful Internet Marketer if you learn the techniques that we all must abide by. The real key to this business is to see your dream and then never stop until you have made it a reality. I have learned one of the best ways to be a successful Internet Marketer is to use the online communities to learn from and then to market too. If you would like to learn how to market to forums and other online communities you can pick up a FREE copy of the Mind Over Marketer Ebook.This 55-page ebook will teach you some of the best techniques for marketing to online communities. You can jump start your online career by learning the techniques outlined in the ebook. I wish when I was starting out someone would have told me this information. It would have saved me thousands of dollars. I hope you learn to make your dreams come true and I'm sure if you stick with it, you will someday soon be calling yourself a real Internet Marketer.

About the author:

Larry Blenn is an Internet Marketer who has built several niche businesses. Today he provide free information on Internet Marketing techniques at http://www.mindovermarketer.com
He is also an auction powerseller and he provides free auction tips and information about auction scams. Learn more at http://www.auctionscams.org

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The Best Traffic Money Can Buy...?

2006-06-02T00:32:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Richard Grady
I will be honest; the title of this article is slightly misleading. You see, in my opinion, the best traffic that money can buy actually doesn't cost anything - it's free! :-)

I am talking of course about the magical traffic that we have all heard of but that only a select few have experienced.....free search engine traffic.

We all know that it is possible to get tons of free traffic from the big search engines - Google, MSN, Yahoo and so on but getting to the top of these engines has always been incredibly tough. Actually, I am being slightly dishonest again. Going back a few years, it was in fact very easy to get a high search engine ranking, you just put a page together, threw in a few meta keywords and a decent page title and scattered your keywords across the text content a bit and that was it. Wait a week or so and bingo, you've got yourself a front page ranking on Google! Ok, it wasn't quite that simple but it wasn't much harder than that.

Nowadays getting to the top of the engines is much harder and even if you do make it to the top, you can be dropped just as quickly if the search engine decides to change the way in which they rank websites.

However, whilst getting your site indexed and ranked in a decent position does take a bit of effort, it isn't impossible, especially if you know what the search engines are looking for. I am no expert on the topic of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) but I have studied the subject on a casual basis since I first started online in 1998. I am really a lazy SEO'er and part of the reason for this is that I have spent the time in past optimizing sites, only to have Google (or whoever) suddenly decide that they don't like my site quite as much as they did last week and dropping me way down their rankings. All that lovely free traffic gone overnight :-( I got fed up with this a couple of years ago and vowed never to chase search engine traffic again!

That said, there is nothing quite like top quality, targeted, free traffic and the buzz of getting several hundred (or even thousand) visitors every single day without spending out a single penny can't be beaten. Just think how much it would cost you to buy 500 visitors each day using Google Adwords or similar (and this form of advertising isn't anywhere near as effective as it used to be but that's a story for another day!).

Anyway, back to the point of this article.... It is possible to get very good search engine rankings very quickly IF you follow some basic rules when you build your websites. To illustrate this (and remember, I am no expert), I noticed this week that my new site, SimplyWholesale.co.uk already has several number one (and front page) rankings on Google, MSN and several other smaller search engines! I am even beating eBay on some keywords and phrases :-) Now, bear in mind that this site was launched just two weeks ago. I haven't done any 'major' search engine optimization on it - just the absolute basics. There are hardly any inbound links to the site (seriously, like a dozen absolute maximum) AND none of the search engines have crawled anywhere near the entire site. At the time of writing, Google has indexed just 17 pages out of almost 1500!! Despite this, Google and the other engines are sending me some fairly healthy traffic everyday. Just think how much traffic I could be getting in a few weeks time once the site has been fully indexed?!

So, why am I telling you this? Simple. Because getting good search engine rankings doesn't have to be an impossible task. If you know the basics and apply them to your site, there is no reason why you shouldn't start to see some free traffic coming your way. Now of course, you can't expect to do a bit of work on your site and suddenly rank no.1 on Google for a really competitive search term such as 'earn money online' BUT you don't need to. At the end of the day all you need to do is make sure that your site ranks well for a handful of relevant keywords/phrases and as long as they are words that people are actually searching for, you will see the benefits.

If you don't know how to optimize your website, just visit my forum in the signature link below for lots of hints and tips...

About the author:

Richard Grady has been helping people earn online since 1998. For lots of helpful hints and tips visit his forum at http://www.traderonlineforum.com or view his latest website at http://www.simplywholesale.co.uk

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Registering Domain Names Made Simple

2006-05-31T00:08:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Stephen Wright
Registering a domain name can be a very straight forward activity – or it can be labor intensive, stressful and a total waste of your time and hard earned money. With a few simple basic tips and some advance thought, you will be on “the easy path”.

The single most important ingredient going into domain registration is the critical decision of choosing the right name. Put in the time to do advance research into a name which reflects the general topic and nature of your online business. This will go hand-in-hand with the next element – keyword selection. There are a number of keyword selection tools available (such as on Yahoo business – formerly Overture.com, and Google). Combining you keywords and domain name into interwoven terms will greatly help with search engine optimization activities later on.

There is a growing availability of alternative extension variations today. For example, .com, net, org, bus, ws. Info, etc. have all become popular choices. With the explosion of internet traffic and usage this trend will likely continue. However, for the foreseeable future, until you have a widely popular website that receives millions of visitors that will find you no matter where you are, it is advisable that .com be used whenever possible. The com sites still enjoy the largest concentration of search traffic on the web today.

Do a basic search to locate reputable firms to handle your domain registration and web hosting. A lot of literature suggests having two different companies to handle this, rather than one company doing both. While it can be a pain to get this switched if problems arise, personally I have not heard or read of this being a major issue. However, you should check a couple of forums about this topic before starting your registration process.

The pricing and cost for registration and hosting have become extremely competitive. Make sure to shop around for the right combination of price, features, and capabilities of the firms. Pay attention to the details of exactly what is included in the monthly prices (and 1-time fees). While the monthly price may be lower from one to the other provider – the cost for additional services may far outweigh the initial low prices. Also, the amount of time (duration) of the service agreement can save you lots of money as well. The longer the service commitment, generally – the cheaper the rate plan. I have found 12-24 months to be a reasonable commitment that yields solid savings.

Regarding the choice of domain names, clearly shorter is better. After all, who can type those long url’s without making typos! No to mention shorter names are easier for you and your clients to remember. Also, by choosing domain names relevant to your keywords (and vice-versa) the search engines will reward your site on potential customer searches. It is like have a double bonus! For example having my website name of Internet Marketing USA, tied to keyword searches for internet marketing in the USA a highly relevant match, gaining me additional traffic for this combination of terms.

There you have it, some basic information to guide your domain registration activities. Armed with these tips, you will be up running, getting search engine traffic and revenues in no time.

About the author:

Stephen Wright is President & CEO of InternetMarketingUSA.com
Looking for Internet Marketing Ideas, Tips, and Solutions? Get everything you need to make money online in "Dotcomology: The Science of Making Money Online". Absolutely Free at: http://www.InternetMarketingUSA.com/dotcomology.html
NOTE: You have full permission to reprint this article within your website or newsletter as long as you leave the article fully intact and include the "About The Author" resource box. Thanks! :-)

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2006-05-30T00:42:00.000-07:00

How To Get The Most Squeeze From Your Squeeze Pages

2006-05-29T01:38:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Karl Stadler
We all want them, some of us have them, but we all need them. This could easily be a verse in the internet marketersâ€™ anthem.

The term squeeze pages or landing pages have been around for a while but its true value is only now being realized by most. It is not specifically aimed at affiliate marketers but its main purpose and most valued attributes are for the affiliate marketer.

Most affiliate marketers are faced with the dilemma of building subscriber lists to create more sales and ultimately a long term business. As an affiliate marketer you do not have access to the details of people who bought the products you are promoting, that is in the hands, or rather the hard drive, of the owner of the product.

It is a fact; sales are in a list of interested buyers. The key word here is interested.

When you know which people are interested in what type of product you have already won half the battle. Building these specific lists is the main benefit of using squeeze pages. Do not see your list as a group of people who are subscribing to some form of a newsletter, or other generic information. Just as you are selling different products as an affiliate, you should have different lists and different information for all of them.

Now if this seems to be a lot of work to you, it is, but if you want to make money you will unfortunately have to do some work.

If you create squeeze pages for every product you are selling, your subscribers will be targeted. This means that if you are promoting a product that has to do with keywords, all people subscribing through that squeeze page will be looking for easier and better ways of finding keywords.

The chances are very good that they will also have a keen interest in SEO products and products relating to adsense.

So you are able to easily nail down your different niches and the subscribers who are interested in very specific products.

One thing many marketers do, whether it is right or wrong, is the moment someone subscribes to their newsletter they blast them with ads in every single mail they send out. It feels like a sudden flurry of products thrown straight in your face with every email you receive. You judge if that works or not.

Although your subscribers have a keen interest in the products you are offering, they also subscribed to get information. That is what you told them when they subscribed to your newsletter. If all your newsletters are just sales pages disguised as informational emails, how long do you suppose they will be reading your emails for?

If you want to build a good client base you should first build a relationship with your subscribers. Once they feel they know you, and you know what you are talking about, will you be able to sell to them successfully and they would not mind buying from you. You go about doing this by sending out emails that gives valuable and useful information. Do not make any major sales pitches in your first emails, keep them simple and informative.

At the end of your emails ask for comments on what type of information your subscribers would like to receive. Collect and analyze all of the data and you will have a better understanding of what they really want.

Next step is to give them the information they requested through your newsletters. Then either create or find a good product that would fulfill that need and market that product to them.

It is not all about selling but is all about building relationships with your subscribers. Just like you do not like to be sold to with every email you receive, neither do they.

So create your squeeze pages and build relations with your subscribers, the money will follow.

About the author:

The key element to building a profitable list is with effective squeeze pages. Learn the secrets behind creating great squeeze pages and build your own profitable lists.
http://www.yourenterprize.com/squeeze/spd.php
Karl Stadler is a author and internet marketer.

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Marketing with a smile

2006-05-28T00:11:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Richard Carter
It just amazes me how many new marketers start their journey by looking for something that will make them money instead of something that will make them happy.

After all is said and done, it's not really the money that anyone is looking for but rather what the money can do for us.

To be making pockets full of cash and hating what you do would be awful. (lol, well at least not as awful as not making money and still being miserable).

My point is that if it don't feel good don't do it and don't expect any customers to do it either.

Chances are if your doing what makes you smile and makes your day a little brighter it will have the same affect on your associates, members, subscribers, customers, grand kids, spouses, and even mother in laws.

When the process of making yourself happy becomes number one priority it also becomes clear that getting what you Really want and what you Really need is what makes it happen, and then you take that process and transfer it or rather pass it on to your customers.

What do you Really want?

Just be creative and flexible and go and get it or go and make it happen. Then find out what your customers Really want? Are they visiting your online hardware store and clicking on drills?

What is it that they Really want?

A hole!

So you need to be able to offer several ways of making holes. What's going to fill those holes? where are the holes? how many holes are they going to need?

Oh my goodness it's getting fun because I see the opportunity for continuing contact and up-sales.

If their making and filling holes then their building something, so why not offer them everything they need to finish their project, and that first click on a drill may turn out to be continuing orders for everything that it takes for a construction company to build homes or boats or birdhouses, or for that matter, Your Dreams.

I'm not going to get into tactics and strategies to find out exactly what it is that your customers may Really want and I'm sure that if your reading this article then you will also be the type that learns how to use surveys and auto-responders and list builders in order to help you to build a loyal repeat order customer base.

The main thing though, to always remember is that if your not happy then you will not be able make your customers happy.

Internet marketing can be awesome at times and have you dancing on the moon but it can also turn on a dime (and it will often) and become a very humbling and discouraging experience.

Most of us, especially me and other Americans have been raised in the Now generation.

We want it Now, and we want it Easy.

Does it happen?, usually not and is the cause for most of the frustration that new marketers face.

Understand that it Will take time and it Wont be easy, but, it can be simple.

The sells techniques and basic marketing skills are time tested and will pretty much always remain the same so if you learn those and make a plan and follow your plan then it's simple in that marketing just becomes second nature and step by step.

What do I do when it just seems like I'm fighting a losing battle, like I'm butting my head against the wall, and thinking success will never happen for me?

My suggestions are to fight harder, pad the walls, and use your most important tool (your mind) to trick yourself or to pretend that everything is beautiful.

The human mind is a wonderful mechanism and is set up in a way that Will make whatever we want to happen, happen.

One fantastic thing about your mind is that it will only entertain one emotion at a time, either positive or negative.

Negative emotion, of course can only be harmful to a business but your mind will accommodateyou with all that you ask for, as in the scenario above, if you think marketing hard, then it's hard.

If you feel like butting your head against the walls, then believe me, you better pad those walls because your mind Will have you breaking out the Band-Aids eventually and negative emotion Will bring everything to a grinding halt.

You have the ability to change all of that and to guide your mind in the positive direction, and it is so simple.

Just take action! Any action.

Action is "positive" no matter how small or how silly an action is it is always positive.

Don't believe me?, you think I'm about to get into a bunch of psychobabble?, then try this.

Jump up out of your chair right now and spin around swing your arms and shake your head while shouting, (SHOUTING!) This Is The Best That I Have Felt In Days and THIS Guy Makes Me Laugh.

Just do it.

Ok, now that your smiling, and I know you are because it's impossible for your mind to accept positive and negative emotions at the same time, and like I said, Any action is positive, just apply this technique to the above scenario.

Instead of saying to yourself, marketing is hard, say this is so easy because I have a step by step plan.

Instead of saying, success will never happen for me, say wow, I can't believe that this is going just as planned and I am so happy that so many people are holding my money and are just waiting for me to ask them for it.

When you begin to feel down, Change it, Take Action, any action like making your bed reading an article, writing an article, pet the dog, wrestle with the dog, do Anything, just don't stay down, don't let anything come to a halt or to even slow down.

Set a mirror next to your computer screen and reward yourself by marketing with a smile.

We are what we think, say and do. I feel great, how about you?

About the author:

Rich Carter is the CEO of Rapid Enterprises and is an expert affiliate marketer and consultant. His main site The Master Affiliate is geared towards two tier affiliate programs to build multiple income streams:
http://www.themasteraffiliate.com
Rich also provides affiliate marketers and authors an online networking home at his "Affiliate Solutions" blog. Expert advice as well as re-printable articles are readily available there:
http://themasteraffiliate.com/serendipity/

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Bulk Email and Selecting the Correct ISP for You

2006-05-27T00:24:00.001-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Mike La Penna
It may not meet the eye as being obvious but there is a lot more to consider in making this selection than one might think.It does not matter if you do everything by the book when it comes to complying with the Can-Spam act of 2003.Even if you create an opt-in offer as opposed to going for the jugular with a heavy website-link laden sales letter,all it takes is ONE complaint.You could have followed protocol to the tee and your ISP ,sure as bears love honey,will slap you on the wrist.They may even take it further and impose some restrictions and you can be sure their abuse policy department will keep it's beady little eye on you.

So where does this leave you if you want to make a surefire go at permission-based email marketing? It means that the time has arrived for you to shop for a "bulk email friendly" ISP.Be assured that they do exist but how does one go about finding the right one?

There are many important factors to consider:

*If you elect to buy large lists,will your price include unlimited monthly mailings?
*Does their proprietary software have a user friendly template and functionality with which to create your email campaigns?
*How fast and efficient will your lists upload?
*HTML capability? (most do but your emails will stand out much better once opened with it)
*How much will your PC speed and functionality be compromised while the blast goes out?
*Company integrity-will your emails actually reach the desired recipient or merely be floating around in cyber la-la land
*Do they offer click and view tracking and reporting?
*Pricing when all else is satisfied and is tech support fast,efficient and 24/7?
*Will all of your emails contain a removal link and a secondary return email address?

Let's just take a moment to elaborate on a few of these afore-mentioned points.Unlimited monthly mailings is very important to you as many of them do not and the price points get very large for those that make send out a million emails a month or more.The template should have separate fields for the URL you wish to promote as well as a subject line,body of the main letter and email address.If possible always request a demo or trial version of the software.Most do and will gladly comply with that.Some have list loading capabilities that rival the speed of one learning Mandarin Chinese as a second language so be careful.If your PC's speed will be compromised and it becomes slow sledding,you may want to send at night as you retire so that no other job conflicts and you are not slowed down.

Removal links are an absolute necessity so that you can never make the mistake of emailing someone who has requested to be taken off your list and this conforms with the guidelines of the Can-Spam Act.Tracking codes are great and some of the quality ISP's provide that so you can monitor which ad pieces and which lists are getting you a better response.It doesn't hurt if you are tech-minded to inquire as to the quality and quantity of their servers.The tech support factor should never be underestimated.You will be dependent on them at intervals and you will want to know if they are quick,courteous,competent,always available and what is the average hold time ?

If they get a clean bill of health in all of the categories that you deem to be paramount,then it just comes down to how fair and competitive their pricing is in the end.Good luck!

About the author:

Mike La Penna is a long-time offline/online marketer who operated a chain of business supply offices in the Western United States and Canada before he entered the world of network and internet marketing.He enjoys writing articles that assist others in their marketing endeavours.
For more info,email rumrunner40@usa.com and visit:
http://www.prosperityautomatedsystem.com/members/globalgelt/

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What are you prepared to risk to optimise your chances of internet success?

2006-05-26T01:21:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 John Beavis
Everybody's got something to lose with any risk they ever take. Equally, everybody who is prepared to risk something stands to gain so much. Life's a gamble and there's little that's predictable or certain. That's what makes it so exciting!

So why do so many internet entrepreneurs risk so little and seem to be so satisfied with such scant rewards? Especially when you consider that there is a mountain of opportunity out there. And it is there, all over the world, sitting right at the end of your fingertips.

Want some of it? Of course you do - who wouldn't?

So why are you still doing what everybody else seems to want to do? You're risking nothing simply by copying others. Whether it's their copy, layout, graphic styling, headlining, offers and even typeface - it's very likely that by following others, you're just buying into their mistakes.

Why not do what those powerful ads command and: "challenge everything"?

Headlines

Whoever said it was a good idea to pan people over the head with "Secret this", "Discover that", "Unlock, unleash, un-whatever"! I got bored just writing that, let alone trying to read any of it. Scorn, derision and spades of scepticism are not the results you're after!

And 36 point, 36 word headlines? Whose idea was that? On many websites I visit, you get half the headline, in your face, in an unreadable type size all spouting pretty much the same unhinged hyperbole. Say goodbye - there goes your client, off to find somewhere sane and inviting!

Take a risk. Pare the headline down to 6-10 words that challenge the reader, wrap your arm round their shoulder and invite them into the body copy. They're banging on your door. Now bring them in for the sale!

Layout

Look out, there's a good layout about! Trouble is, you've got to trawl through some awful rubbish to find it! So many layouts that I see are so confusing! Offers here, offers there, bonus here, bonus there, affiliate offers, early bird offers, totally unconnected adverts - it's a visual explosion of bewildering befuddlement!

Why do it? "Everyone else seems to do it!" Every year, Bill Gates and lots of other hugely successful entrepreneurs give away billions of dollars to charity, ... and I don't see everyone else doing that, do you?

Take a risk. Break the mould. Do it, differently, but just make sure you do it brilliantly well. By that I mean do it cleverly and simply. Walk the reader through your store. Show them everything. Tantalise, intrigue, excite, entice and lead them gently and persuasively to doing just what you want them to do - buy, subscribe, enlist, enrol - it's your call, but it's their choice and, remember, it's also their money.

Offers

A wise old gentleman once told me that you should never give away your product or service - and don't discount it either! He was a marketing guru, worth millions and I guess he never gave anything away, except that he gave me a chance to become a copywriter for his company. For that, I've been grateful ever since.

But apart from the quality of your list of customers (absolutely vital), the offer you make is the single most important element you have to play with.

Take a risk. Use it to your advantage. There are truckloads of books out there about successful internet entrepreneurs who pitched a brave offer to their eager audience. They gave something away, for free, and yes - it was the crown jewels!

Why? Well, they knew that once a customer bought into the buying cycle, they would be hooked ... and ready for more, usually at a much higher price - provided that the product delivered all of the promise it had made.

Net effect? The customer got a smashing freebie, told their friends, blogged it and viral methods substantially increased the entrepreneur's customer list ... with people who were hungry, eager and waiting for the offer. Instead of sticking out for just one sale that may or may not come, the entrepreneur took a big risk and not only doubled, trebled or even quadrupled their earnings - their profits soared through the roof and put their businesses on a stellar footing with virtually an iron grip on the future.

"Challenge everything"

Risk requires that you "challenge everything". Do it differently and you begin to make the world work the way you want it to and the bottom line read the way that you think it should.

It isn't difficult and we all remember the story of the Pied Piper. All the children disappeared, except the one that was different. I don't know how that good old story ended, but the child that was left probably grew up to become a hugely successful online entrepreneur ... and made himself a couple of fortunes!

About the author:

John Beavis is an international copywriter, whose word skills and marketing experience could help your business to find more customers. Pick up your 10 FREE copywriting tips by visiting his website:
http://www.JohnBeavisCopy.com/Success.html

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The Truth About Free Information

2006-05-25T00:18:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Jeanette Cates
Research tells us that the primary reason people come onto the Internet is to get information. And if you ask them, everyone will say "sure - I want it to be free information."

But let's think this through. From the early days of the World Wide Web information on the Internet was free. You could find millions of articles, free reports, etc.

There were two reasons for all of these resources being free:

1. Early pioneers online could not figure out a viable way to charge for it. 2. At the end of every free article or woven into a free ebook there were "offers" for a paid product or service.

As technology has advanced we've seen a growing number of free information resources - audios, teleseminars, videos. And at the end of each there is an offer. That's why I'm always amazed when someone complains that "the information was good BUT they tried to sell me something at the end of the call."

Well of course they did! That's how they make their living. In fact, that's how all of us make our living. I would challenge you to find any profession that doesn't exist because of sales. From the friendly "call for a free 15- minute session" to the million dollar commercial on TV, no one works without a sale.

How does this apply to your Online Success?

Time and again I see smart people with a good business idea shoot themselves in the foot because they won't attend a free teleseminar. "They're just doing it to sell me something," they whine. Well of course they are! But that doesn't mean they aren't giving you priceless information in the meantime.

Only a fool would give you the gems of their business ideas and strategies without charge. What you need to beware of are those free teleseminars that give you great information and ask nothing in return. Those are not savvy business people. Do you really want to follow their advice?

When you do hear the pitch, listen carefully. Successful business people spend as much time working on the way they present their offer as they do gathering the information they will present.

Listen for the lead in to the offer. Listen to the description. Take notes. See if they offer a reduced price for just this call. Notice whether or not they offer bonuses. If they do, what is the value of the bonuses and how many are offered? How do they create a sense of scarcity - with a time limit or a limited number of products or both?

There is an entire business woven around the ability to make a good sales pitch. And whether you sell something online or you have an offline business, learning to apply that sales ability is worth more than the time you spend on the call.

The idea is that you are learning from all aspects of the call. From the introduction to the close, you should be taking notes.

So the next time you see "free teleseminar" or "preview teleseminar" sign up. Not only will you get some great information, but you'll also be able to apply their sales techniques to your business.

Bonus: Want to hear more about the value of free information? Watch the video at http://www.techtamers.com/cmd.php?Ad=236869

About the author:

Dr. Jeanette Cates works with consultants and other experts who are ready to leverage their expertise into Online Success. Her http://www.BrainDrainSpecial.com offers you the benefit of her ideas applied to your business.

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4 Secrets to Turn Any Business Into a Successful Web Business - Part 2

2006-05-24T00:55:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Lynn VanDyke
There are a few secrets that I'd like to share with you. You may have been privy to a few of them before. Actually you may have heard of all 4, but I can promise that you will finish each article with a fresh perspective. I will show you how 4 simple secrets can create a powerhouse web business. This is the second part of the 4 article series.

Before I divulge the vault of successful web business secrets I must warn you of one thing. All the information in the world will not take the place of determination and persistence. A web business is just like an offline business. It takes hard work and resolve to succeed. However working smart is heads and tails better than plain old working. These 4 secrets will turn any smart working, dedicated average Joe or Jane into a successful web business owner.

Web Success Secret #2) Without Traffic- What’s the Point?

Part 1 of this series really got down and dirty about content. Content’s main focus is twofold- make your visitors happy and make search engines happy. This article is all about making you happy! Think of this as your starter guide to increasing traffic and building a profitable business.

Traffic can be summed up in 2 words- free and paid. I consider all PPC (pay-per-click), ezine advertising, offline advertising, and paid directory submissions a form of paying for your traffic. I also consider any project that takes up your time to be paid advertising. After all in the business world time is money. Paid advertising is not bad. It just means that you are paying to receive traffic.

Free traffic is harder to attract, but it costs you absolutely no money. Almost all free traffic is the result of surfers finding your site on the search engines. We talked about using content as your ultimate search engine ranking booster in the last article.

Here are several ways to increase traffic. Some are paid advertising options and others are totally free.

- Write articles and submit them to several niche websites. Manually submitting articles to many websites can take a long time. I use a submission service to do all my hard work. Contact me for more info.

- Post in forums. Many forums will not allow you to market your product or services. That’s totally understandable. What I recommend doing is finding a really great forum that you can participant in. When people have questions, provide top notch and comprehensive answers. No selling. Almost all forums allow you to post your website in your sig file. Take advantage of that.

- Submit each page of your website to all major search engines. Also submit each page to all major search engines whenever you make a change on that page. Be careful with this one. Each engine has very specific directions and rules about submission rules. Be sure you do not spam! Submit pages according to each engine’s guidelines. I also use a submission service that does this for me at no additional cost.

- Create joint ventures with non-competing websites. Work with a company that compliments your product or service. Also be sure the joint venture is a win-win-win for you, the other company and your customers. Joint ventures can be a pain to set up and complete, but well worth it if done correctly.

- Look into ezine advertising, web advertising and/or PPC. Each method takes an initial investment and some time to learn, but can bring back traffic. Personally I do not prefer this method to increase traffic because it’s “iffy” at best.

- Print your website name on all business correspondences. This is a simple task, but one that is simple to do. Add it to your email sig line, forum sig lines, letterhead and business cards.

- Create an atmosphere of amazing customer service. This always leads to referrals from current clients. The more referrals the more traffic!

The bottom line is without traffic your site is floating in a sea of doom. No one is seeing your content or services. Traffic is the lifeline of any business, and the rule of thumb is more traffic means more income.

This brings me to my last and final point about traffic. Once you develop a nice flow of visitors you need to know specifics. Where did those visitors come from? How did they find you? What pages are the most popular on your site? What page did they enter into your site? What page did they leave your site? What keywords did they use to find you? You must know your visitor inside and out!

As I mentioned earlier, it is best to work smarter and not harder. Traffic analysis and search engine submissions can be very time consuming, but your hosting company should be providing most of these services to you free of charge. There are a small few that do this, but it is well worth the investigation. Contact me for further resources and information. Having a successful web business starts with effective content. Stay tuned for parts 3 and 4! If you missed Part 1 and would like a complimentary copy please contact me and I will forward it to you immediately.

About the author:

Lynn VanDyke builds successful websites. She provides several options for business owners including a “Jump Start Your Online Business” CD-ROM. Visit http://www.LynnVanDyke.com to learn more about her and her services. Lynn's content website is ranked in all 3 major search engines and is in the top 1% of all websites worldwide according to Alexa.

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2006-05-23T00:31:00.000-07:00

Demographic targeting -- the next big thing in PPC!

2006-05-22T00:40:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 John Navata
I want to take a few minutes to talk about a recent development in paid search -- and its implications as a new Internet marketing tool.

I'm talking about "demographic targeting," something that both MSN AdCenter (in beta) and Google AdWords have just started offering. So let's take a look at what it is and why you might want to add it to your Internet marketing strategies.

What is "demographic targeting?

Simply put, demographic targeting lets you zero in on an audience that shares a specific trait or characteristic, such as men aged 35 to 44 or people who earn over $50,000 per year.

Why use it?

Demographic targeting lets you zero in on the people who are most likely to be looking for what you're selling.

If, for example, you sell health products geared toward menopausal women, then demographic targeting gives you a way to put your ads in front of only women in the menopausal age group.

You'll pay more money for each click on your ad, but your overall return on investment (ROI) should still be much higher when you consider that your traffic is more qualified.

Who can you target?

Who you can target -- and the exact costs -- vary depending on the search engine. Let's take a quick look at the differences between AdCenter and AdWords:

MSN Ad Center (still in beta): AdCenter’s targeting features let you display your ads to key audiences who are performing searches using your keywords.

You can target searchers by geographic location, gender, age, and the time of day or week, and you can even apply a combination of targets.

With targeted search, you may be able to achieve a higher position for competitive keywords than your competitors -- that is, if your competition doesn't apply the same targets.

MSN will even provide you with data to help you determine whether your keywords are appropriate for your demographic.

Google AdWords: Unlike AdCenter, AdWords does not provide demographic data that will allow you to better target your keywords. Instead, you can target specific AdSense publisher sites -- sites that fit a particular demographic -- to display your ads on.

Besides being able to target audiences by geography, gender, age group, and annual household income, you can also target sites based on ethnicity and whether or not households have children. Like AdCenter, you can select a combination of characteristics to really drill down to the most qualified people possible. There's no doubt that demographic targeting has real potential as a great new Internet marketing strategy. And I definitely think you'll be seeing a lot more of it in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled.

About the author:

John specializes in teaching real people how to start profitable Internet businesses that make $100,000 and higher. To get instant access to all his most profitable marketing campaigns, strategies, tools, and resources that he's used to grow $25 into over $1 Million in online sales, visit: http://www.mega-dollarsonline.com and subscribe to his weekly newsletters at http://jnavata.blogspot.com

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2006-05-21T00:16:00.000-07:00

Internet Marketing - The great missing secret doesn't exist

2006-05-20T05:21:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Larry Blenn
I’d like to take a few minutes of your time to discuss Internet marketing. If you are new to the business then you may have already become overwhelmed by all of the hype and sales pitches. Maybe you have been searching for that one secret that will set you free from your job and put you on a career path of your own.

I have been a successful Internet marketer for two years now and I was once a lot like you. I spent thousands of dollars on ebooks and training manuals. I paid thousands more to take Internet coaching courses. I read every article, every blog, every book I could find on the subject. It’s funny that most people will buy a product that they think will be the answer to their prayers only to forget about it a month later and then start the cycle all over again buying more books, taking more courses and on and on.

I’m not pointing fingers because I did exactly the same thing over and over again. I can’ t tell you how much money I lost of “Get Rich Quick Scams”. Now, I’m not a stupid person. I desired to build my dreams just like everyone else. It wasn’t until I came to the realization that trying to do it all alone simply doesn’t work. Some of the greatest minds in human history did great things because they surrounded themselves with other great people. Take Henry Ford for example; Ford was an under-educated man who had nothing when he started out. But Ford surrounded himself with a group of people that he believed in. When Ford was building the first V-8 engine it took his engineers over a year to come up with a design that worked. He never gave up on his idea even when the engineers said it could not be done.

My point is that too many people think they will stumble on some great secret that only they will know and they will guard it with their lives. They will be the only ones who hold some special key and they alone will market this secret without giving away the actual secret. All this thinking leads to disappointment because there is no secret.

I built my company by believing in people as Henry Ford did. I don’t hold some great secret. I surrounded myself with like-minded people and together we built a wonderful Internet company helping people to get started in the Internet business. We believed from the beginning that we would succeed and two years later our company has become not just a source of income but also a source of pride.

Why would I try to hide some secret and then market it to you when I could show you how to be your own marketer and let you do your own thing. There is plenty to go around. We do not live in a closed society. Some of my best clients come from overseas ventures. If you stop thinking locally and focus globally your world will open up new frontiers for you.

About the author:

Internet marketing solutions - Build your own Internet business with us. http://www.iproductcreation.com

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Choosing The Right Writer!

2006-05-19T00:20:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 John Beavis
Ever made a decision that you really wish you hadn't? We all have, so, you're in good company, but when it comes to copywriters, what company do you want to keep?

There are a lot of writers out there. The strange thing is that there are an awful lot of inexperienced writers out there who have:

- An over inflated sense of their own value
- A severely impaired sense of their own ability
- A wholly inadequate business knowledge
- A plain daft charging structure!

I can see you're smiling! That tells me that you've either met them, come across them, or worse - you’ve actually hired them!

After 25 years as a copywriter covering the whole spectrum literally from A-Z, I think I have earned the right to ask … why?

But how can you spot them and avoid them? How do you judge what's good, bad and simply awful?

1. Read their website… carefully

Is it littered with spelling mistakes, or does it make daft claims about their wives' expensive habits? Does it ring with hyperbole - ultimate, fantastic, superb, unbelievable - and other such claims that are simply hard to swallow?

2. Are they promising results?

Does the writer promise results? If they do, run away, as fast as your fingers can carry you. Nobody, but nobody, can guarantee you any sort of result because no one knows what will happen, or why. All you can ever do is make intelligent decisions based on the best evidence.

3. Look closely at the structure of their website

What they are presenting and how they sell themselves is exactly what you are hiring them to do for you. Does their website work? If it's confusing, there’s every chance their thinking will be just as muddled and confused.

4. Is it easy to communicate with the writer?

The art of communication is exactly about what copywriting is all about. If the writer can't get you to respond and doesn't make it easy for you, what chance does your product, service or solution stand in that writer’s hands?

5. Take a long look at the writer's headline

This is where the initial promise is made and it has to hit home hard. In a few words - not more than 8-10 - you have to know what this writer is offering. If writers can't write great headlines to sell themselves they are not likely to be able to write one for you, either!

6. What sort of experience is the writer offering?

Does the writer have a broad span of experience that covers pretty much everything? If they are freelance and offering to sell you a service then they should be offering the wealth of experience that justifies the price they are looking to charge.

7. Sort out a sensible price!

Copy is both a skill and a saleable service, just like any other. Just like you, a copywriter is in business to make money - to cover costs and make a profit.

There is nothing wrong with profit. That's what business is all about. But there is a lot wrong with obscene profiteering. You should be able to hire the services of a genuinely good writer for £250-450 GBP ($450-650 US) a day.

In the end…

You want a writer with great experience, an inquisitive mind and huge talent with words.

You want someone who understands the human psyche and knows just what triggers to pull and in what sequence.

You want someone with whom you can build a longterm relationship. Someone that understands your business and, to a degree, understands you too!

You want someone who can bring something different to the table - innovation, imagination, creativity, flair, style, experience and knowledge. Preferably, it's someone with solid direct response experience under their belt that can help you to drive things through.

Treat them with a proper professional respect and ask no more of them than you would ask of yourself and your business will have uncovered a real gem and one of the very best allies it could ever hope to find.

It's really not such a tall order - if you know exactly what to look for!

About the author:

John Beavis is an international copywriter, whose word skills and marketing experience could help your business to find more customers. Pick up your 10 FREE tips on how to make your web copy sing and dance at: http://www.JohnBeavisCopy.com/MoreCustomers.html

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The Present and the Future of Keyword Ownership

2006-05-18T00:06:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Mark Nenadic
Have you ever seen an add that offers you ownership of a keyword? If you’re on the internet much, or if you have an email account, the answer to that question is almost certainly a yes.

There are many services out there that offer to sell you keyword ownership – specifically premium keyword ownership – for the cost of a few hundred dollars every year. The primary selling point used by these companies is that if anyone happens to type the keyword you have purchased into the address bar of their internet browser, then they will automatically be sent directly to your website. There are, in fact, about 2 percent of internet users around the globe who have this ability enabled on their computers, since it specifically requires certain element such as Internet Explorer.

Studies have shown that approximately 4 to 7 percent of all search queries are done by way of a keyword being entered into the address bar of the internet browser being used. For Internet Explorer users, any search queries performed using the address bar are defaulted to an MSN search. However, over time, most of us have installed a good deal of additional software onto our computers, allowing for such searches to be re-routed to other search portals. This is often a sign of having installed a file sharing software. Among the spyware and potential for viruses, worms, and other undesirable additions to your computer, by installing a program such as Limeware, Morpheus, or Kazaa, you may have altered your default search in your address bar from MSN to a different portal altogether.

Of the queries that are entered into the address bar, approximately 50 percent of them are the result of having accidentally mistyped their desired URL, therefore instigating a keyword search. This accounts for the between 2 and 4 percent of internet users who actually use the address bar to perform their searches.

To understand the way that this functions, it is important to know how address bars work. There are many different companies offering the ownership of keywords. So many, in fact, that they are able to compete with each other, and even sell the very same keywords, only to different search companies. This being said, it means that if you buy a keyword, then depending on the company you buy it from, they may only make the search available to those specific internet users who have installed that company’s unique proprietary address bar plug-in. This makes the total number of people quite low for entering your keyword into the address bar and then find your site.

Though it is up to you whether you choose to use keyword ownership among your online marketing techniques, it is vital that you keep yourself informed of the actual potential that this method will offer you. Never hesitate to ask questions of the company you’re considering, and if anything looks fishy or not as appealing as it should, simply walk away. There is lots of competition out there, and there is surely someone who will be willing to make you a better deal.

A marketing strategy based on keyword ownership is difficult to measure. After all, many of the tools for the process are not interchangeable, there are many competing companies all selling the same companies to your competition, and your target of internet users is quite small in the first place. It can easily happen that all of the money you spend on such keyword ownership will lead to absolutely nothing.

In competition with these keyword ownership businesses are the search engines themselves; specifically those who have their own toolbars. Many of the major search engines offer a downloadable toolbar that allows you to enter keywords and run searches quickly and easily. You are then presented with that search engine’s range of closest matches from all of their indexed websites. Not only does this not cost anything, but more than one keyword possibility can lead to your site.

As you can see, it is quite clear that keyword ownership can be quite the tricky business and must be managed with the utmost research and technical knowledge if any notable gains are to be witnessed

About the author:

Mark Nenadic
Mark is the director and face behind FifteenDegrees-North http://www.15dn.com , where you will find articles and resources to help with SEO, marketing and Web design.

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How to Create a Dynamic Marketing Plan -- Part I

2006-05-17T00:38:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Sandra P. Martini
We all recognize the importance of having a business plan (even if we haven’t yet done one), but do you recognize the value of a good marketing plan? While most marketing plans take up a few pages of the standard business plan, I recommend you take the time to create a dynamic marketing plan if you really want to kick your business into high gear. A good dynamic marketing plan is one that you review weekly, monthly and quarterly.

A truly dynamic marketing plan contains goals, objectives, action items and it both changes and grows with your business. The next few issues of “Effective Entrepreneur” will be dedicated to marketing plans and the steps necessary for creating a realistic and valuable tool.

Let’s start with the basics: Determine your goals.

Good goals are SMART:

Specific
Measurable
Action-oriented
Realistic
Time-oriented

They also have a “reason”, are consistent with each other and have some type of price tag as outlined below.

Identify what you want to accomplish: Do you want to create a website? Increase your website traffic? Get more clients? Sell more widgets? What is it that you want to do or get from completion of your goals?

What?

Your goals must be Specific, Measurable and in writing. Define as specifically as possible, what it is that you want to have, get or accomplish then write it down so you can refer to it throughout the process…it’s okay that your goal(s) may change as you complete the task, just write it down to imprint on your brain what you are working toward.

Simply stating a “goal” such as “I need a website” or “I want more clients” is too vague and gives you nothing to measure your success (or failure) against. The following are better: I will create a one page website. I will increase my website traffic by 50%. I will get five new clients. The more specific the goal, the better your chances of attaining it and the more Actionable the idea.

Be Realistic.

I am not going to be a ballerina by the end of the year. No amount of preparation between now and December will result in me performing at The Wang Theatre in Boston for New Year’s Eve. This is not a realistic goal for me.

Unrealistic goals set you up for a fall and kill your enthusiasm toward other goals that you can achieve. Be realistic while remembering that worthwhile goals should force you to reach out of your comfort zone in order to attain them.

When?

Each of your goals must also have a Time element. Time frames make the goals more measurable and more “real” for you. You know when 60 days goes by and you either made your goal, are working towards it or must re-evaluate whether or not the goal needs to be revised or is no longer realistic. Without that time element, it’s too easy to keep pushing the actions until tomorrow or next week and you’ll never be encouraged to act on the goal – consider having a deadline embedded in every goal your kick in the butt to get moving. There is no set time frame for every person or every action. Set a timeframe that is a challenge for you and be determined to make each subsequent timeframe slightly shorter to consistently improve your success.

“I will create a one page website within the next 60 days” or “I will increase my website traffic by 50% in the next 90 days” are both good examples of specific goals with deadlines.

Why?

It is very motivating to list the “why” of each goal. Why do you want to accomplish X? List all of the benefits that you, AND others, will receive from the achievement of your goal.

When tempted to play hooky or skip a conference call, it’s helpful to have a written list of why you are working so hard whether it be to grow your business or get a promotion or whatever your goal is. Seeing the resulting benefits is a great way to stay on track.

Know the cost.

The achievement of every goal comes with a cost. The cost may be financial or it could be that you need to get up an hour earlier each morning or eat more salads. What will it take for you to achieve your goal and are you prepared for it? If there is no cost, the chances are that your goal isn’t worth much. Locking yourself in a room, in a coffee shop corner or under a tree somewhere for a few hours with your laptop or a legal pad to work on your goals may not sound exciting, but it’s critical to the success of your business.

Be consistent.

Your goals need to work together. Conflicting goals are damaging emotionally and the likelihood of you completing any one of them is greatly diminished.

For example, the following two goals are inconsistent and would result in a healthy dose of frustration for both you and those around you:

1. I will spend every weekend playing with my kids during the summer.
2. I will take three college courses during the summer to further advance my career.

The issue is obvious. Three college courses while working a full-time job are going to interfere with spending every weekend playing with the children. It may work for the first week or two, but overall it’s a recipe for failure. When establishing your goals within your marketing plan, all of the goals must lead to the same end, to further your business.

About the author:

Online Business Manager & Entrepreneur, Sandra Martini, publishes the 'Effective Entrepreneur' as a weekly e-zine. She also coaches small business owners to more efficiently manage their businesses while increasing profits and having fun. Sandra's coaching programs are available via teleconferencing, emails and telephone calls. Sign-up today at http://www.thebostonvirtualsolution.com

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Product Endorsement Joint Ventures: Short, Sweet 'n Successful - Part 1

2006-05-16T01:36:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Chonticha Marijne
Successful Internet marketers prosper from joint ventures with their peers every day, so why shouldn't you? The joint venture (or JV) is a win-win, low-cost and low-risk proposition for all involved: you, your JV partner and your customers. There are several forms the JV can take, but let's focus in this article on a very popular form indeed: the product endorsement. It can be a powerfully lucrative method to rocket your sales within a very short time span... and by doing little more than sending a couple of emails!

Let's say you have a great product that you either own outright or that you have the resale rights to. However, you don't have an opt-in list to offer the product to or you want to be able to tap into more markets. Why not find a reputable JV partner with a significant and targeted mailing list and leverage their credibility and influence instead? Provided this JV partner is respected in their field, they will command the trust of their subscribers and the upside of that is that the goodwill that they enjoy can be passed on to you. Of course, your product must be of high quality as your JV partner's reputation is at stake and it must not be in direct competition with any of their products, otherwise it's highly unlikely that they will agree to a partnership.

Finding good JV partners isn't hard, but you will need to select them wisely. Team up only with marketers who have an excellent relationship with their subscribers. As an Internet home business entrepreneur, you will undoubtedly be on many potentially lucrative lists yourself, so it's a matter of selecting a few that will most likely contain your target audience. You can start off by sending the list owner an email to gauge their interest. Make sure that you show them that you are up to speed on their activities -- you're on their mailing list, so offering a comment or two is easily accomplished. Don't try to sell the entire project right off; it's better to follow up with details if they respond positively. Don't use hype, don't beat around the bush -- you'll find that keeping it short, simple, sincere and straightforward is the best approach. Don't take it personally if they turn you down. You will meet with dissappointment regularly, but don't give up, otherwise you will never hit the mother lode! Be sure to treat people courteously as they may end up doing a JV with you at another time. It should be part of your long-term strategy to develop good relationships with potential candidates -- never view them just as a one-off JV partner . Meanwhile, just move on to the next name on your list. If you have a good product, you will undoubtedly find a partner who is genuinely interested.

[To be continued in Part 2]

About the author:

Chonticha Marijne enjoys growing her online business from home in Gouda, the Netherlands. Her blog http://www.e-Abundance.com/blog offers articles, tips, tools and freebies for the Internet marketer as well as her popular report "106 Amazing List-Building Tips". This article is copyright © 2006 by Chonticha Marijne and may be reprinted in its entirety as long as both byline and copyright statement are included.

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Learn the Top 5 Strategies and Cool Tools You Need to Know About to Start Your Online Business

2006-05-15T01:15:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 John Navata
#1: Depend on the tried and tested essentials of Internet marketing

These key strategies for marketing your business online have always been effective, but are now much easier to apply. Things like...

Designing a web site that sells: As in the early days of the 'Net, your web site needs to have clear navigation and a good sales process to be effective; however, it's now much more important for your site to look professional. Today's web surfers have clear expectations of how a commercial web site should look and perform. Luckily, new tools and resources, such as the free web-building software Nvu, make it a breeze for you to create a good-looking, fully functioning business web site.

Discovering a profitable niche market: Providing a solution to a problem for a narrowly-defined niche market is still extremely important -- maybe even more so with the increased competition. But now, advanced tools such as Yahoo! Search Marketing's Keyword Selector Tool and Wordtracker can help you pinpoint exactly who your market is and what they're hungry for.

Multiplying your profits with additional income streams: If you want to pile profit on top of profit, combine several revenue streams. The host of e-commerce opportunities that are now available mean that you have an almost limitless selection of these profit-boosters: from moving merchandise on eBay to creating free web pages with Google pages that will be quickly indexed by the search engines, to selling on-demand merchandise on sites such as CafePress.com.

Expanding your reach -- and profits! -- with an affiliate program: An affiliate program can still ramp up your income while exposing your site to a wider audience. But instead of recruiting an "army" of affiliates, these days it's more important to attract "super affiliates" to your program -- a few affiliates who will be responsible for generating the bulk of your sales. These superstars can be attracted by a generous commission structure and payouts for sales generated long after an affiliate's referral. Of course, some areas of Internet marketing have changed more than others since our first course made its debut in 1998. Let's take a look at some of them... and the tremendous opportunities they offer.

#2: Make sure your e-mail gets delivered... the critical changes you need to be aware of E-mail marketing is still highly profitable. In fact, we made $2.4 million last year from e-mail marketing alone!

Not only is it a great -- and inexpensive -- way to establish relationships with your customers, but your promotions and follow-up offers can be completely automated.

However, while you used to be able to send e-mail to absolutely everyone, these days you have to be very careful. Spam -- a growing problem on the 'Net -- cost US businesses an estimated $17 billion in 2005 (Ferris Research) and now accounts for 57% of all e-mail (Ipswitch 2006)!

The consequences of spamming have grown far beyond a slap on the wrist from your Internet Service Provider or a few nasty e-mails from angry recipients. For example...

Internet Service Providers now filter all incoming e-mail for spam by blocking messages that contain particular combinations of words or phrases and shutting out ALL e-mail from the domains and IP addresses of known spammers. So if you get mistakenly labeled as a spammer, as much as 50% of your e-mail may be "filtered" and never reach your subscribers. And it can take weeks or months to resolve the issue!

The CAN-SPAM Act (January 2004) introduced laws that allowed spammers to be prosecuted if specific guidelines aren't being met. Under this Act you can be fined, and even jailed, if your e-mails don't meet certain requirements, such as an "unsubscribe" link in the body of each e-mail you send out. The bottom line is that if you want to take advantage of the profit-boosting power of e-mail marketing, you MUST make sure that your e-mails comply with the CAN-SPAM Act. You can read the full text of the CAN-SPAM regulations at www.spamlaws.com/federal/can-spam.shtml.

Once you've made sure your e-mails will be delivered, you need to think about their content. In the face of overflowing inboxes, your e-mails and newsletters need to be particularly appealing and valuable if you want them to be opened.

#3: Keep up with the search engines and take advantage of FREE sources of traffic The search engine landscape has changed dramatically since we published the first edition of our course. We used to recommend getting listed on eight major search engines: Altavista, Excite, HotBot, InfoSeek, Lycos, Northern Light, WebCrawler, and Yahoo.

Today, clear leaders have emerged, narrowing our recommendations to the top three contenders:

Google: The most important of the three, Google has a 49% share of the search market.

Yahoo: A distant second, Yahoo has a 22% market share.

MSN: With 11% of the market, MSN is still worth focusing on. With fewer search engines, keeping on top of their ever-shifting algorithms has become critical. If you can get a top listing on Google, for example, you can double your potential customers!

A new way to drive free traffic to your site is to write short articles related to your industry and post them on e-zine article directories such as Ezinearticles.com. Include your tagline at the bottom of each article you write and watch your traffic increase exponentially -- as well as your inbound links (which the search engines consider when ranking your site!).

Take advantage of as many FREE sources of traffic as you can to drive tons of targeted traffic to your site!

#4: Instantly boost your traffic with pay-per-click advertising

Paid search has exploded, becoming a widely accepted way to drive qualified traffic to your site -- fast. And with each passing year, it becomes more sophisticated, allowing you to zero in on your target market with greater precision.

Today, the major players are...

Yahoo! Search Marketing (http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/): Yahoo's sponsored search lets you advertise your site in the search results of the following search engines: MSN, Yahoo, AltaVista, InfoSpace, AlltheWeb, and NetZero.

Google AdWords (https://adwords.google.com/): With Google AdWords, you can have your ads show up in sponsored search listings for certain keywords -- and you can also advertise on other sites that match your audience.

MSN AdCenter (https://adcenter.msn.com/): MSN has recently entered the arena of paid search with MSN AdCenter. So far, it's the only PPC engine to offer keyword-based demographic targeting. Paid search is one of the fastest ways to drive qualified traffic to your site... and if done properly, won't break the bank. To learn how to profit from pay-per-click advertising in three simple steps, check out my blog post.

#5: Promote your business with the technologies that have changed the face of Internet marketing Technology has been furiously advancing since the first edition of our Insider Secrets course -- paving the way for new and highly effective ways to promote your Internet business. Let's look at some that have had the biggest impact: Audio and Video: The Internet has come a long way since its text-only roots! Programming languages such as JavaScript and programs like Macromedia's Flash have allowed for web video and audio, slide presentations, and other interactive elements.

Our testing has proven that using audio and video as part of your sales process can now have a dramatic impact on your bottom line -- if done right. Use short audio and video clips of you and your customers to personalize your site and reassure visitors that you are a credible business.

Blogging: Blogs are informal web forums that invite feedback and discussion. They're free to set up and use, and so simple that they can be created in minutes using sites such as Blogger.com. As a result blogging has exploded in popularity over the last few years.

With a business blog you can reach a wider audience, generate better search engine rankings, boost your revenue, and develop a rapport with your customers -- to name just a few benefits. And because blogs are updated frequently, search engines LOVE them.

Podcasting: Podcasting, the delivery of audio files -- typically MP3 files -- via the Internet, is one of the hottest new technologies to hit the market. It allows you to publish audio content that interested listeners can subscribe to via RSS “feeds” -- so they can automatically receive your audio broadcasts without having to go to your web site.

Direct-to-desktop technology: Direct-to-desktop technology is a way to deliver information straight to your subscribers' desktops -- without having to wrestle with e-mail filters, bouncebacks, or your competition!

Once your customers sign up, they don’t have to check their e-mail or visit your web site to get your latest news or updates. A flashing desktop icon alerts them as soon as they receive your message -- and all they have to do is click to read it.

About the author:

John Navata is an internet marketer that has been showing marketers some advanced ways to promote their products or service offline or online. If you want to find more information, visit http://www.mega-dollarsonline.com

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2006-05-14T06:09:00.000-07:00

"7 Ways To Convert Your Traffic Into Cash"

2006-05-13T00:15:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Ewen Chia
If you have a website, you can profit from even the tiniest number of visitors it receives simply by not wasting that traffic.

The KEY is in leveraging on each visitor and making sure you have a monetization strategy in place. Once you get this, you can make any website profitable with a little effort.

Here are 7 basic ways in which you can profit from your traffic today:

1. Sell a product/service

First you can sell a product or service to your visitors. This is the best way to cash in from your own product. Usually an e-book or software works the best – they can be downloaded right away without hassle and shipping charges.

2. Opt-In list

It is crucial you try to convert every visitor of yours to a subscriber of your mailing list. The most important asset that an Internet marketer has is his or her list of subscribers. They define whether you will go far in the online business venture.

With an opt-in list, there are tons of ways you can profit further into the future. You can build repeat customers and turn your list members into partners for your products. For an example of a good opt-in page, visit http://www.InstantMarketingSecrets.com

3. Viral marketing

You can provide a free product or bonus on your site to be downloaded by your visitors. Usually it’ll be an e-book where people can read from and learn useful information. In this bonus, you include give away rights and urge readers to give it away to anyone they want to. This way, you increase your own traffic, publicity and branding without needing to spend a cent.

4. 'Pay-per-click'

In this case, you get paid when your visitors click on ads you place on your site. There are many advertising programs that give you a percentage of the profits based on click through, including Google Adsense, Chitika, Yahoo Publisher Network and Kontera.

When people click on the ads shown from either of these advertising programs, you will earn money. And if your site receives good traffic, these programs alone can bring in huge paychecks to you.

5. Offer an advertising space

Targeted niche websites with high traffic can 'rent' a portion of space on their web page to advertisers. For example you can charge $300 per month in advertising fee if your web page is pulling more than 2000 visitors a day. I use this strategy at my Online Marketing Secrets blog at http://www.EwenChia.com

Other than that, you can also generate advertising revenue using exit pop-ups. By doing this, you won't clutter your website with too many ads and spoil the visitor's experience.

6. Affiliate marketing

If you don’t have your own products for sale yet, you can sell other people’s products instead and receive a commission on every sale. With affiliate marketing, you have an unlimited source of products to sell and you don’t need to go through any fulfillment issues after your sales.

One of the best affiliate marketing training resources can be found at http://www.SecretAffiliateWeapon.com where I provide continual education on affiliate marketing to members.

7. Pay-per-lead

Instead of earning money from click through, you are paid if your visitors subscribe into other people’s mailing list. Alternatively there are a lot of big companies like Coca-Cola who need surveys to be done, and by referring your visitors to complete surveys, you can also earn good profits from your website.

About the author:

Ewen Chia is a well-known Internet Marketing expert and super affiliate marketer. Visit his "Online Marketing "Secrets" blog now for more money-making secrets!
http://www.EwenChia.com

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How to Find a Good Story Angle to Pitch the Media

2006-05-12T00:41:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 John Jantsch
Here is a good rule of thumb to follow when searching for a story angle to present to the media. Ask yourself this question: Will the readers of this publication think this is interesting, entertaining, informative or useful?

Self-interested, veiled attempts at promoting your business will fall flat. The media does not care about your company’s success unless their readers care about it. The media does not care about your new product unless you can help them understand how their readers are longing to know about the problems it solves.

The following is a list of topics that can help you get a reporter’s attention. If you can find a way to position your potential story ideas using one of these vehicles, you will have a better chance of success.

Have Real News

There is nothing that gets the media’s attention like news. Now, what you think is news may not actually be newsworthy, but if you have won a significant contract or licensed a new technology you may indeed have a story that provides a reporter with a news angle.

Be First

Everyone seems fascinated with things that are first: the first company to feature a technology, the first company to do a certain type of project, the first company in the area to win a national award, etc. Of course, there are ways to be a new kind of first. The first woman- or minority-owned business in your industry to do something of note is also a first.

Be Unique

Sometimes you can receive positive publicity by simply doing or offering something that is unique. An unheard-of guarantee, service technicians in tuxedos, balloon telegrams for marketing are all examples of unique practices.

Local Angles on National Stories

If some aspect of your business is making national headlines, you may be able to weigh in with the local media on a local angle of the story. Local news reporters often prefer to quote local sources even when they are covering a national story. Has some legislation recently passed that impacts your industry? Has a major lawsuit been settled? Is a new product, service, or innovation receiving coverage? It is critical that you watch the national news trends to stay on top of these opportunities.

Ties to a Trend

Your association and industry publications often report on industry and marketing trends. Reporters love to get a jump on a coming trend. You can put yourself in the middle of a story by simply pointing out something that may be happening in other parts of the country that ties your company or product to a recognized trend.

Overcoming Adversity

Everyone loves a story with a great ending. If you personally or your firm has overcome some adversity, this may be a great source for a story.

People Stories

Promotions, new hires, awards, board appointments, wedding, births, and all other manner of story that involves people in your firm and what they do on and off the job can be a good source for story ideas. Maybe your company’s softball team hasn’t won or lost a game in 10 years. Maybe your firm has repaired eight houses for a charitable organization this year. Perhaps your firm has college tuition reimbursement program that is far better than most, and you have four new college graduates at the firm to prove it.

Solving a Common Problem

If you have discovered a unique way to solve a problem that your target market has or that impacts other firms in your same industry, you may have a story idea. Business publications in particular are always on the look out for innovative business practices. Don’t just think in terms of some solution to a client need. Maybe you’ve discovered a successful way to attract prospective employees. These stories will often be read by potential clients and really help tell how your firm is different. In addition, it is easy to show how these types of stories can benefit the readership of a publication without appearing too self-serving.

About the author:

John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide published by Thomas Nelson - due out in the fall of 2006
He is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing system. You can find more information by visiting http://www.ducttapemarketing.com

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How to Find a Good Story Angle to Pitch the Media

2006-05-11T02:11:00.000-07:00

Choosing the Right eBooks to Sell on eBay

2006-05-10T01:04:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 John Thornhill
As you may already understand, there is a great deal of profit potential in the field of eBook sales. Many have found they can generate substantial earnings by selling eBooks on eBay, for instance. There are a variety of sources that can provide some very solid information on how to operate and manage an eBook selling business. However, many of these great instructional systems fail to provide some very critical information. They don’t provide a great deal of guidance regarding title selection.

EBook sales are not just about how you sell. It is also a matter of what you sell. That is why choosing the right eBooks to place into your personal inventory is so critical. No one would think of opening a traditional brick and mortar bookstore without having some idea of the kinds of titles the store would stock. For some reason, however, many eBook resellers hop right into the eBook market without having any clear notion of what kind of eBooks they will be selling.

Picking the next great eBook seller may be more of an art than a science, and there is no sure way to predict which titles will perform the best. However, there are a few factors one can consider to help guide them in making wise decisions.

Newer titles offer more potential. Anyone seeking to make a healthy profit from eBook sales should realize that newer titles will generally outperform older titles. This is not so different than the traditional book market. However, the value of carrying new merchandise may be even more pronounced in the digital setting. Internet audiences tend to find new information and accumulate it faster than others. Thus, in order to really post huge returns on investments, you will need to stay in front of the curve. New titles may cost you more to obtain, but the value of owning reseller’s rights to the hottest new thing will certainly make that cost a worthwhile investment.

Name recognition can be important. EBook sellers need to remember what traditional book sellers have long known. Authors sell books. Regardless of the field in which you plan to operate, working with titles authored by well-respected and recognized authors will always help to increase sales. Readers seek out the familiarity of a known author and tend to respect those who have supplied valuable work in the past. Again, there is a greater up-front cost involved in working with more notable eBook authors, but the cost is a good investment when one considers the better returns they are likely to experience.

There is no perfect way to choosing titles for your eBook selling venture. One is probably best advised to being their eBook selling career by focusing on a niche with which they are familiar. This will better allow them to distinguish between the quality of titles, the distinction of the authors involved and other factors that can make a difference. Newer titles and titles by recognized authors are always more desirable than older material produced by no-names. The rights to great titles may cost a bit extra, but the expense is more than justified by the end result.

About the author:

John Thornhill trades on eBay under the username planetsms. For more advice on how to succeed on eBay with information products visit http://www.planetsms.co.uk

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Proven Techniques for Writing Persuasive Ads & Letters

2006-05-09T01:25:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Joel Sussman
Whether you're writing a marketing message to one person or a million, your chances of having an impact on them really takes off when you understand what makes them tick. You're then in a strong position to tailor your message directly to their interests, problems, needs, and aspirations. Easier said than done, but that's where market research, asking clients the right questions, personal observation, and marketing plans fit into the picture.

A marketing plan, even an abbreviated one, can be an invaluable starting point in the development of an effective ad, commercial, promotional brochure, or sales letter. Doing an analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) associated with your business or the services you offer can serve as an excellent launching pad for writing persuasive advertising and sales messages.

Laying the Groundwork

In addition to a dash of writing talent and marketing knowledge, creating effective ads and letters require a clear focus. Knowing exactly what outcome you're aiming for before you begin writing is comparable to mapping out your travel route before embarking on a cross country drive. For example, if your goal is to generate leads or to qualify prospects, your strategy might be radically different than if you were trying to make immediate sales or simply attract visitors to your web site.

Sell The Sizzle! (not the steak)

The copywriting process tends to flow a lot more smoothly if you have in front of you three lists consisting of benefits, features, and competitive advantages. Organizing them on one page in a column format is the easiest, most efficient way to manage the information. F.Y.I.: There may seem to be a thin, if not invisible, line between "features" and "benefits", but understanding the distinction can make all the difference in your marketing success. Features are important and need to be mentioned, but benefits are the selling points that clients and prospects can relate to and identify with. Basically, benefits are features that have been personalized, elaborated on, and projected into the future. It answers the questions "What's in it for me?"..."Why should I care?"...or "How will my life be enhanced by buying your product or service?"

Crafting the Message

Catching people's attention and arousing interest can sometimes be as simple as incorporating your strongest selling point into the headline or the first sentence of your ad or letter. Several tried-and-proven headline devices for drawing people into your message include asking an intriguing question, making a thought-provoking statement, or beginning the headline with the words "How To". Headlines that convey a sense of urgency, contain a short testimonial of a satisfied client, or have the feel of a news announcement also have been shown to get people to stop and read.

By the way, one of the most powerful and successful advertising headlines of all time, which was also the title of a best-selling book written in 1936, is "How to Win Friends and Influence People", by Dale Carnegie. The title/headline is filled with benefits, it contains the words "How To", and it speaks directly to everyone's strong desire to be well liked, to be in control of their lives, and to feel important. Another popular book Carnegie wrote tapped into that same formula. It's entitled "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living." Apparently, that double-barreled approach was especially effective for him.

Many well-intended ads, brochures, and letters start out with a good head of steam, but peter out as they approach the moment of truth, namely: the call for action! If you don't make it 100% clear exactly what you want the prospect to do after hearing/seeing your message, and if you don't give them a compelling reason to do so, there's a good chance you'll lose them.

As the acronym AIDA suggests, a response-producing ad or letter must first grab the Attention of the target audience, arouse Interest, trigger Desire, and then prompt Action. Without all four of those "cylinders" firing at the appropriate time, that delicate sequence of events could quickly come to a grinding halt.

About the author:

Joel Sussman is a freelance writer and Internet publisher from upstate New York. He's a regular contributor to two monthly business newspapers, and has created a web site dedicated to the topic of small business marketing: http://www.MarketingSurvivalKit.com

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Discover the Top 5 Dos and Don'ts of Web Site Optimization That Will Make or Break Your Ranking!

2006-05-08T00:30:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 John Navata
IIf you want your online business to be successful, it's a good idea to optimize your site on a regular basis to make sure it's got a good position in the Web's top search engines.

However, in order to maintain your ranking, you have to keep on top of what's happening in the rapidly changing search engine industry. The rules that affected your ranking yesterday may be meaningless tomorrow!

1. The "Dos" and "Don'ts" are constantly changing!

The search engine industry is continually evolving. You need to know which of the major "players" is powering the smaller search engines if you want to know where you should focus your optimization efforts.

a. The battle of the titans
For the past couple of years, the major search engines have been preparing to square off against each other and battle it out for the industry's top spot. Google has been #1 for a while now, but Yahoo! and MSN have been making moves to steal the crown.

Google is still extremely powerful, with about a 55% market share. Yahoo! is the closest runner-up, with about 20% of users choosing it as their main search engine. And MSN is still a distant but threatening third, with about 10% of the global usage share.

Keep in mind, however, that Google and Yahoo! power many of the smaller search engines. For example, Google powers the free listings featured on AOL and Netscape, plus the paid listings featured on AOL, Netscape, Ask Jeeves, HotBot, Teoma, and Lycos.

Yahoo! powers free listings featured on MSN, AltaVista, AllTheWeb, and HotBot, plus the paid listings on MSN, AltaVista, and AllTheWeb.

However, MSN won't be powered by Yahoo! for much longer! MSN came out with a preview of their own long-anticipated search engine technology earlier this month. They're still working out the bugs, and the official MSN Search engine is still being powered by Yahoo!. But you can expect MSN to go solo sometime over the next few months.

You need to be aware of these changes if you want to gear your optimization efforts toward the engines that will send you as much traffic as possible.

b. The changing rules of search
Of course, you also need to keep tabs on changes to the search engines themselves!

Search engines frequently change the algorithms they use to rank sites. They don't want unscrupulous site owners manipulating their indexing methods in order to get high rankings. By doing so, they damage the integrity of free search!

As soon as the search engines become aware of a trick being used by "search engine spammers" to boost their site ranking, they figure out a way to catch them.

So be careful! You don't want to catch yourself employing a "great strategy" promoted by a marketing "expert," only to find out it's a tactic the search engines hate! That could get you booted off their listings in no time flat.

In fact, that's exactly what happened at the end of last year, during what has come to be called the "Florida Google Dance."

Google made some major changes to their algorithms in November 2003 and started imposing an "over-optimization penalty" on any sites that appeared to be artificially boosting their site's relevancy for targeted keywords.

Many members of the business community were surprised to find their sites dropped from their high ranking in Google's listings. These people had to put a lot of work into revamping and resubmitting their sites in order to get listed again.

And many of the people who were penalized weren't "unscrupulous" site owners! They weren't trying to pull a "fast one" on search engines using frowned-upon techniques such as "keyword stuffing." They were simply trying to be smart marketers -- and some feel they were unfairly punished for it.

You don't want the same thing to happen to you!

So let's have a look at a list of what exactly the search engines are currently looking for when indexing sites -- and what they'll punish you for!

2. The "Dos": Legitimate tricks the SEO masters use to optimize their sites and maintain their high ranking

The search engines don't want to be manipulated by marketers. They want to provide the best unbiased results possible for any given search -- or they'll lose users!

That's why they need to change their algorithms so frequently -- to stay ahead of the tricks people use to get top rankings.

That being said, there are still a lot of legitimate ways you can optimize your site without angering the search engines and causing them to drop you from their list.

Here are some of the best things you can to do ensure your site has a high ranking:

a. Ask relevant sites to link to your site
In the past, scoring a high ranking with a search engine was all about positioning your keywords in "prime real estate" positions in your text and site coding. All that has changed, however. These days, links are king!

Search engines place a huge amount of importance on the number of sites that link to yours. But it's not just the quantity of links that matter, it's also the quality. Search engines look at how relevant the links are -- i.e., how much the content of the linking site has in common with the content on your site. The more relevant, the better!

Search engines also look at how "important" the linking site is. What kind of "online presence" does it have? How much traffic does it get?

For example, your site will get a higher ranking if it's linked to by sites such as BBC.com or nationalgeographic.com instead of, say, the personal homepage of your friend's neighbour's kid.

b. Pay attention to keyword inclusion and placement
Keywords may no longer be the sole determining factor of a site's ranking, but they're still pretty important. The most useful places to include them are:

In your domain name -- only make sure your keywords are in the root of your URL, not the stem! For example, if your main keyword phrase is "cell phones," try to get a domain name such as "www.cell-phones.com" instead of "www.mobileusa.com/cell-phones.com." Some search engines will actually penalize sites for including key words in the stem of a URL.

In the title tags in your source code

In the meta description of your site -- this is much less important than it used to be, but it can't hurt.

In your meta keyword tags HOWEVER: Be sure you only include relevant keywords! Search engines will penalize you if you try to sneak in keywords that have nothing to do with the content of your site.

c. Create content-rich "information pages" to direct traffic to your site
An easy way to boost the number of pages that link to your site is to create some pages yourself!

However, you have to make sure these pages contain valuable contents that provide people with useful information. Search engines hate "pointer pages" that have no content and exist only to add to the number of links pointing to a site.

Be sure the information relates to the content on your site and has your keywords placed in advantageous positions. This will boost the ranking of your pages with the search engines and ensure they get lots of traffic -- which they can then redirect to your site.

d. Submit your site to online directories
Be sure to submit your site to important directories such as Yahoo!, the Open Directory Project, and About.com, as well as smaller directories. Your listing on these directories will help your ranking with the major search engines.

e. Multiply and conquer!
Create a "community" of related sites that link to each other. Why stop at only one information page? The more content-rich sites that point to your site, the better!

You can also boost the number of links that point to your site by dividing it into several separate sites that all link to each other.This works especially well if you sell a number of different products or services.

If you build a different site to focus on each of your products and services, then you can also concentrate the use of specific keyword phrases on each site. That's another great way to boost your search engine ranking.

3. The "Don'ts": Tricks the search engines hate and why you should never use them, even if your competition does

Now that we've covered the "dos," here come the "don'ts." Although these questionable tactics have worked well in the past, the search engines absolutely hate them. If they catch you using any of these tricks, they may go so far as to drop you from their listings like a hot potato!

a. Beware irrelevant links! Yes, it's a good idea to get a lot of different links pointing to your site, but the search engines only like RELEVANT links. If they find sites that have nothing in common with the content on your site linked to your web site, they'll lower your relevancy rating.

b. Beware irrelevant keywords! Search engines hate finding irrelevant keywords on your site -- especially in your meta tags. If they catch you using keywords that have nothing to do with the actual content of your site, they'll penalize you for it.

c. Don't "keyword stuff" your meta tags! In the past, people used to repeat their keywords in their meta tags over and over again. This used to get them a high ranking with the search engines -- but not any more! Search engines are on to this trick and will punish you for it by dropping your ranking.

d. Don't create "link farms"! "Link farms" are the evil cousins of the "information pages" we discussed above.

In the past, some spammers used to build multiple "doorway" sites that existed only to multiply the number of links pointing to their sites.

Unlike content-rich information pages,these doorway pages would usually only include a string of keyword terms that would earn them a high ranking with the search engines.

The search engines have caught on to this tactic, however, and will drop you from their listings if they find you using it.

e. Avoid "free for all" link pages! Don't bother placing links to your site on pages where everyone and their dog is invited to put up a link. Such sites have extremely low relevancy ratings and will cost you points with the search engines.

4. Essential tools and resources to optimize your site and stay in top of the search engine game

There are a lot of great tools out there that can help you optimize your web site while ensuring that you stay on the good side of all the search engines.

About the author:

John Navata is an internet marketer that has been showing marketers some advanced ways to promote their produc or service offline and online. http://www.mega-dollarsonline.com

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Review of Programs that Submit Your Article

2006-05-07T01:05:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Darren Dunner
In the past 6 months several articles have been written to offer tools, helps & any advice on the power of writing articles and submitting these to many online ezines. In fact the word ezines is just becoming a known keyword in the web world.

If you have a site and want to generate a buzz ad get traffic you need to submit your article to ezines. In this article I will not go into the best methods of writing these articles and as most of you know by now it is not that easy to write an article and have it approved by these ezine companies. What we do want to accomplish here is the best way to go about submitting your articles.

There are a handful of very well developed ezine sites that if you do write articles you want to submit to. The problem that is most often heard is the time it takes to submit the article to all of these sites. Recently there has been a rush on developers to create programs that will do this for you automatically. There is a positive and a negative to this process.

Lets talk about the Negative first. Here are a list of reasons why you shouldn’t use these programs: 1. These programs are still newly developed and the software developers of these programs may not have tested these fully before handing these out to everyone. 2. There are reports of some programs that do not work at all and cause serious damage to PCs. One such company is called Submita www.submitaarticle.com (see below for quote from Submita) 3. Many of the ezines have a bio attached and the way the bio works is different for each site and if you are promoting more then 1 site then you need multiple bios and will need multiple submit programs these typically only handle 1 account which means you need more then 1 computer. 4. Duplicate content is another big issue. If you put submit article in several locations this can count against you.

Quote: In a recent attempt to explain the PC corruption caused by Submita (an article submission software) their response was: “Please note that we have stated clearly on our webpage that we provide you a fully functional free trial with no restrictions so that you can try the software before you buy it. It also states that we have a no refund policy.”

In reply to this: “Please note that your free trial had no functionality it was a program that had no use until you entered in a serial number which must be provided by you and was not. I had to purchase the license so I could at least try out the program to see if it worked or not”

Notice that there was no apology for the corruption the program caused and no attempt to fix the solution. Only response was “Too Bad”

Lets take a look at the positive in using these types of programs: 1. This will save you hours of sitting in front of computer logging in and out each time for each ezine site 2. Though there are some programs that do not even work there are programs that do work. One of them is Instant Article Submitter made by Rod Beckwith and Jeff Alderson and this program has nothing but great reviews and the reputation of Rob & Jeff are nothing but the best. There are other programs and other sites that do work as well if you want more information contact us directly. 3. If submitting multiple articles is an issue then do the submission and take the time to login to each account and assign the bio to it… that is still easier then doing the whole part and hopefully these programs will note this and allow users to have multiple accounts to manage on 1 program. 4. Though the article you are submitting is duplicate it still counts as back links for your site and the better you get your site ranked with back links the better you will in the search engines.

Keep in mind that every time you submit an article you are generating hype about the service or product and creating a reputation on the web as a trusted source.

One last tip is if you have a new product make sure to create a buzz about that product and name and watch as you create a new keyword on the search engines.

About the author:

Darren Dunner
http://hop.clickbank.net/?kraggen/articlesub

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Auto Surf Programs Reviewed

2006-05-06T01:45:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Timothy Rohrer
Many people are looking for new ways to make money online and a very popular way to earn money online has recently been auto surfing. Auto surfing allows you to make a small investment in agreement that you will view ads from other websites. The more ads you view, the more money you are paid based on your initial investment.

To make any kind of decent money in auto surf programs is really hit and miss. The two most recent popular auto surf programs where Studio Traffic and 12 Daily Pro. Studio traffic ran for a few years, while 12 Daily Pro survived almost 1 year. Both programs paid high returns for surfing webpage’s and a lot of people did make large sums of money, however when these systems crashed a lot of people also lost money.

My take on auto surf programs is that they work, but we never know when the administrator is going to take down the program or run with the money. Usually auto surf programs will offer a return on your initial investment that may range anywhere from 10% of 10 days or 15% over 15 days. It’s nearly impossible for a company to keep up with these high returns for such a long time and a lot of them rely on new business.

There are a few new auto surf programs popping up such as Alien Trust and Phoenix Surf, however I would be reluctant to invest any type of money with these programs given the past of Studio Traffic and 12 Daily Pro. At the same time, I do believe they will pay out; it’s just a matter of time before the program actually crashes.

If you’re looking to generate any substantial income online, look to find solid programs that have existed for years. There are tons of programs available online and I’ll be the first to admit that the majority of them do not work. However over the past few years I have found a few that do work and that I have been successful with.

Most people who are looking for an online business are usually looking for fast money and that’s why auto surf programs do so well initially. Don’t get caught up in all the hype, when a new program comes out sit back for a while on the sideline and asses the opportunity. There are plenty of ways to generate a substantial income online, just be sure to find a program that works for you and meets your needs.

About the author:

Tim Rohrer is an established business owner and writer. To learn more about a program that has been paying the bills visit http://www.1step-profits.com

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Re-discovering eBay & Amazon....

2006-05-05T01:16:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Richard Grady
It is some time (a couple of years at least) since I did any selling on eBay (although I have used it quite a bit as a buyer) but this week I decided to list a few items that have been lying around the house for months. Makes sense as I am never going to use them again so I might as well let someone else benefit and make a little money on the side ;-)

The one thing that I used to really hate about eBay was packing stuff up and taking it to the Post Office but I had forgotten the bit that I LOVED - watching people bid on the auctions and seeing your money going up! Now I should say that I only listed a few hundred pounds worth of stuff - certainly nothing that is going to make me rich but even seeing relatively small bids on your items for sale is exciting.

In fact, I was having such a ball that I started listing some of my old books and DVDs on Amazon's Marketplace. Now, if you have never heard of the Amazon Marketplace, let me tell you, this really is a very neat selling venue and a superb business concept on both sides. Quite simply, Amazon allow you to list books, CDs, computer games, DVDs, electronic goods etc for sale on their website (you don't even need to write out a listing - it is auto-generated via the ISBN/barcode number!). When someone is about to purchase a book (or whatever) via the main Amazon site, they are also given the option to buy a copy of the same item from 'Marketplace Sellers'. This means that they could get a second-hand (or new) copy of the same product cheaper from a different seller. If they opt to buy from you, Amazon takes the payment from the seller and sends you an email advising you of the sale and giving you the name/address to send the book/whatever to. Then every couple of weeks Amazon pays your money into your bank account.

Of course, Amazon takes a small commission for providing the above service but they also charge the buyer a standard amount to cover postage costs. It is a win-win situation and I think it is a very shrewd move on Amazon's part (in fact, they probably prefer it when someone buys from a Marketplace Seller since they get paid for doing absolutely nothing).

So I ended up listing 20 or so items on Amazon as well and in less than 2 days, I have already sold half of them and earned over £100! Remember this is in respect of a few books and DVDs that would have just sat on my shelves for the next 6 months/year/who knows? How often do you read the same book twice or watch the same DVD more than once?

eBay and Amazon offer two different ways of selling your second-hand possessions and both ways are quick and easy as well as being enjoyable. Having 're-discovered' both sites as a seller after several years, I am enjoying selling on both - eBay because of not knowing what the final sales price will be and Amazon because it is just SO easy (you don't even have to communicate with the buyers!).

I still can't stand the packing and shipping though! :-)

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

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Using the Big Three Search Engines for Maximizing Your SEO Results

2006-05-04T01:28:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Mark Nenadic
When it comes to getting the very most out of your SEO efforts, you need to make sure that you’re search engine optimizing with the right search engines in mind. This means that you need to cater to the Big Three. What search engines make up this ever-important trio? The answer is Google, Yahoo! and MSN. The following techniques will help you create both a long and short term SEO strategy for success, with the Big Three search engines in mind.

Google is the clear leader among search engines, so this should be your primary focus, however, Yahoo! and MSN do hold a substantial part of the internet using community’s attention, so they should not be ignored. It should be remembered that while Google does get the most traffic, Yahoo! and MSN can provide better results when it comes to certain specific categories of interest. This is why it is so very important that you cater to all three of the major search engines for your SEO and not just Google.

Since ranking is such a lengthy process, it is important that you continuously monitor and improve your site and its keywords with tracking in order to keep ahead of your competitors, and to ensure that your site keeps its high ranks. This requires continuous optimization through growth and updating.

When it comes to the Big Three, the SEO techniques that matter are as follows.

Google:

• Whenever you launch a website, submit it to a search engine, or update a site, a spider from one or all three of the big search engines may crawl your site. However, unless you provide that spider with significant keywords for ranking your site, you’ll never actually achieve rankings that are anywhere near where you want them to be, other than your business name itself. Therefore, make sure that when you are building or adding to your website, it has keywords within its text and in its coding to allow the spiders to index and rank in a way that is favorable to you.

• Use keywords that will ensure better rankings. To best complete your SEO, you need to understand that some keywords will provide you with better results than others. However, if these “best” keywords are already being used by quite a high number of other sites, since the market in your industry is competitive, then it is unlikely that the best keywords will ensure the best ranking. The only time that the ideal keywords will ensure the best results for you is if your service or product is extremely unique or new so that the keyword has not already been used extensively throughout the world wide web. In fact, if you are supplying a new product or service, then you will almost certainly receive great search engine ranking, since the Top Three adore fresh new content. In extremely competitive markets, it may take up to six months for you to see the results you want from your desired keywords. In such cases, a pay-per-click campaign may be required.

The reason that the search engines give such preference to websites offering things that are new and unique are as follows:

• It gives them the opportunity to provide something new

• There is less competition against something new or unique, so as long as the website has proper SEO, then great rankings are almost automatic.

MSN:

• MSN is typically much faster for crawling, indexing, and listing sites. In fact, if you have done your SEO properly, you can achieve a high MSN ranking within a month, even within the most competitive markets. Therefore, while Google may be your long term SEO goal, MSN can provide for you on the short term.

Yahoo!:

• Though Yahoo! can provide you with a steady traffic flow, actually getting listed can present quite a challenge. While some websites will be crawled as early as a month from their submission, this is a rare occasion, with the standard being closer to three or four months. Once the site is crawled, however, it doesn’t take long for it to be indexed and ranked. As long as your SEO is good, then you may achieve a good rank and see results before Google has even thought about sending a spider your way.

Though there are practically countless search engines out there, it is the Big Three that have you covered for both the short term and the long term for your SEO.

About the author:

Mark Nenadic
Mark is the director and face behind FifteenDegrees-North http://www.15dn.com , where you will find articles and resources to help with SEO, marketing and Web design.

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Shoppers going online First!

2006-05-03T00:39:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Richard Carter
Are you generating sales for that new widget you invented? Perhaps your going for the affiliate commissions and promoting someone elses widget. Either way, there is some very good news for all aspiring netreprenuers. Recent studies such as the one performed by burst media found that 49.8% of the people asked said that television was the media that most effectively grabbed thier attention.

Now comes the good news. The internet came in as the second type of media with 22.3% of respondents going online to browse what interests them, followed by magazines newspapers and radio respectively.

That should have you out of your chair and doing the happy dance considering that the internet is still the newest of the lot.

The number of new online entreprenuers will also be increasing due to the fact that more and more working moms have decided that they want to and now have the opportunity to stay home while they conduct business online while at the same time watching and raising their children themselves instead of farming them out to the daycare centers.

Hopefully, the ones that do decide to start a new journey online will be able to avoid the scams and the hype that so many marketers fall for (yours truely included) when their just beginning.

These days though, it's much easier to find reputable business owners and affiliate programs and mentors such as the wonderful teachers at the "affiliate classroom" or "linkshare" and "clickbank and of course "Amazon.

E-bay is always a good starting place as well for new stay at home moms who wish to get their feet wet in the online marketplace.

So is it easy to start a new career online? absolutely not. It is simple though with the right guidence, and all of, or rather most of the tried and true marketing strategies that have worked so well over the years in the real world carry over into cyberspace very well.

Actually the hardest part for the people that are Very green behind the ears is finding a good mentor.

They Are out there, and they need to find them first before wasting any time or money trying to just feel their way through how to operate a business.

Now is the time though to start because of the trends that online marketers are seeing in the consumers.

As the internet grows, so too, do the number of households that are using their trusty laptop or home computers to gather information about products and services that they want to purchase.

Oh and it gets even better.

It seems that the more that households make, the more likely they are to fly through cyberspace for what they want rather than trudging across the tundra at the local malls.

The studies show that the number of consumers that use the internet as their primary source of information about what they want to purchase are 50.6% for households bringing in $35.000 per year.

As income rises the percentage rises with 58.1% who earn between $35.000-$49.999, to 61.3% at $50.000 - $75.999 and a whopping 69.2% at the $75.000 plus range.

When the brick and mortor operators find out about these studies, the ad dollars going to TV at the moment will soon be moving online.

So if you are already here (online) get ready for the flood.

Dont-cha just love it when a plan comes together.

About the author:

Rich Carter is the CEO of Rapid Enterprises and is an expert affiliate marketer and consultant. Working with the Affiliate Classroom fledgling marketers learn the right way to earn a living online.
Pick up a free copy of the Affiliate Classroom magazine here
http://www.trker.com/go/5214/art

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Why Are Your Visitors Not Turning Into Clients?

2006-05-02T00:52:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Karl Stadler
It is a dry hot day while Bill lackadaisically watches the traffic go by on the main road. He came here to break free from the daily chores of a job, and this seemed a good investment. According to those in the know he should quite comfortably make a easy living.

What was not mentioned, nor thought of by him, was how many others are there doing the same thing. So every day now he faces Sam on the other side of the main road, doing exactly what he is doing.

Bill and Sam are both selling the same coolers, and if you are around here everyone needs one.

Every now and again a car pulls in at Bill's place having a look around, but being the shy person that he is, he just leaves them to their own devices hoping silently that they would buy. They look and they leave. Maybe one day he will see them again, and then again, maybe not.

One morning, as Bill opens up for business he notices a truck that had just pulled off the road at Sam's entrance. After watching the commotion of the people getting out of the truck he suddenly realizes what is happening, Sam is putting up a huge signboard announcing his presence.

As the days go by Bill sees his drizzle of traffic becoming less and less, all heading off to Sam. On the other side of the road.

Quietly staring across to Sam's, Bill thinks by himself whatever made him decide on this, should he call it quits. But with the amount he had already invested it would be a bitter pill to swallow.

In a last ditch effort Bill decides to follow suit. Put up a bigger board than Sam.

Geared up with his new plan he heads off to the powers that be and after looking at all the figures he comes to the cold realization that a board like Sam's will cost a small fortune, and that just to get more people who may not even buy.

He will have to sell a lot to just cover expenses, let alone make a profit.

After looking at all the alternatives he decides on a smaller board.. At the price it better work or he will be in the big city looking for a job soon, back from whence he came. 'Has my dream become my nightmare', he thinks to himself as he heads back. There is such a lot of traffic, if he could just get a little.

The board is up but the traffic only trickles in. Those that do stop stay only for a brief period and they drive off again. On the odd occasion one would buy, but the cost of that board far exceeds the profits.

One morning upon awakening it happens, in a flash of brilliance!

Scraping his last money together he buys a cheap fridge, fills it up with coke, changes the signboard to read “Free Ice Cold Coke”.

Very soon his dusty entrance road has more traffic than what it can handle.

An ice cold coke is always welcome in these parts, especially with the heat as it is. So more and more turn off to visit, and they stay for a while enjoying the refreshing drink before continuing on their journey. Many of them then also buy a cooler.

Bill decided to put his shyness into his pocket, and spoke to the visitors and before they left he asked them for their business cards and if he could call on them. To his surprise there were many more yes answers than no.

From now on Bill is remembered as the guy who gave them a cold coke on a hot day, just what they needed at that moment in time. He gave his visitors a reason to remember him, a reason to stay for a while and sold his product in the process. A few weeks later Sam's board was taken down, and Sam left, back to the city.

So how does Bill's story relate to you as an internet marketer?

Give your visitors a reason to stay for a while.

Your bonus or giveaway should relate to your product and to your advertisement.

Your offer must make a lasting impression, they must remember you. Give them exactly what they need in that moment in time, find the flash of brilliance, even if it costs a small investment.

If you give something away as a gift ask for their email in exchange, if you don't you will never see them again.

You must build up a relation with your visitors so that you are able to contact them at a later stage, or even follow up with a new offer.

You are the only one who will know what your visitors want, make it worth their while receiving it and they wont mind further communication from you.

Create a trust relationship and they will actually open and read your emails.

If your board is up and you are paying for it you must give your visitors what they are expecting, and you will receive what you are expecting.

So what is your offer?

About the author:

Karl Stadler is a author and internet marketer. If you are an affiliate marketer drive in and have a refreshing moment. http://www.yourenterprize.com/articles/refreshing-moment.htm

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Finding Your Online Business Niche

2006-05-01T04:55:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Lynn VanDyke
I recently gave a seminar to folks interested in starting their own online business. Most of them were looking for information about shopping carts, search engine optimization, hosting, and tech related issues. I believe they were all stunned when I explained that I would not address any of their questions until they told me their niche.

It felt as though 5 minutes passed by before any one said a word. I could tell that not one person knew their niche. I expected this. In fact most hopeful net entrepreneurs miss this very important first step. Choosing your niche.

It is so easy to get caught up in technical details, marketing, cash-flow charts and such, but what good is stressing about those concerns when no niche is chosen? It’s like putting the cart before the horse. Step 1 in creating an online business road map to success is defining your niche.

Websters.com defines a niche as a situation or activity specially suited to a person's interests, abilities, or nature. It also says a niche is a special area of demand for a product or service. A niche is a target market. It is focused, not broad.

Here are a few examples of niches: golfing for women, hot rods of the 1970’s, Greek desserts, and organic herb gardening. Here are examples of topics that are not niches: golf, cars, food or gardening. Do you see how a niche is focused and a topic is broad?

Determining your niche is the first step to producing a successful online business. Your business should be built around 1 niche. Your products or services should provide solutions to problems or concerns within your niche. Your site content should provide information about your niche. Creating an online business around your niche helps you rank better at search engines, positions you as an expert, and creates buzz in your industry.

Here are a few simple questions to help define your niche:

- What are your hobbies?

- What experiences/skills have you collected through school and jobs?

- What is your biggest passion in life?

- What hobby/experience/skill/passion would you enjoy building a business around?

- Have you often been told by people that you should go into business doing a particular thing? For example, sell your famous muffin mix or sell your web design services.

My best advice is to choose a niche that you are passionate about. Building a business takes effort and patience. You will have a much harder time motivating yourself through the difficult periods of business if you dislike your niche. So choose wisely.

Follow your gut and pick the best niche for you. Income will follow where passion and hard work lead. Begin researching your niche industry and then move forward with your plans.

A successful online business road map will look something like this:

- Choose niche.

- Research industry. Find problems people have in that niche.

- Brainstorm a service or product to solve people’s problems, or become an affiliate for an existing product/service.

- Choose a hosting company that provides everything you need in one low cost price. A good hosting company will provide support, easy page building, traffic analysis, search engine optimization, ability to create a newsletter and RSS feed and much more. Check out my site to see who I use for my online business.

- Begin building your site around your niche.

About the author:

Lynn VanDyke builds successful websites. She provides several options for business owners including a “Jump Start Your Online Business” CD-ROM. Visit http://www.LynnVanDyke.com to learn more about her and her services. Lynn's content website is ranked in all 3 major search engines and is in the top 1% of all websites worldwide according to Alexa.

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10 Fast Track Ways to Getting Your Customers Opening Your Emails And Buying From You!

2006-04-30T01:48:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Karin Manning
Half the battle won in advertising online is getting your ads noticed so that they have impact and create desire and urgency to push the reader into taking the necessary action.

Your subject line will determine whether or not your ad gets read.

Here are 10 ways to increase the chance of your ad getting read:-

(1) Ask people a question in your subject line. School has trained us to automatically answer questions.

(2) Use the word “free” or “fre^” to entice your targeted audience with free information, a free download, free software or a free trial.

(3) Put a smile in your subject line :O). When dealing with people face to face it is easy to respond to someone else’s smile. Online, smiles can’t be seen so add an online smile at the beginning of your subject line.

(4) Be realistic in your claims. People’s inboxes are filled to the brim with promises of millionaire status in 180 days. Be realistic and downplay the income potential. Besides, some people are only looking for a few hundred extra dollars a month, not hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, so make your offer enticing to all.

(5) Avoid using all capitals in your subject line. It is difficult to read and online it is also considered shouting so just capitalize the beginning of every word.

(6) Draw attention to your subject line by starting with the word “stop”. People have been trained to stop and listen when they see that word.

(7) Use extra white spaces in your subject line to create eye-catching gaps between your words and your letters.

(8) Be creative in your use of capital letters and lower case letters in your subject line.

(9) Capitalise Key words in your subject line to add emphasis.

(10) Be detailed and specific. For example, 365 days sounds much more than 1 year. $100.00 a day is more specific then thousands of dollars a month. Add 100 subscribers a week is better than grow your list.

****** Bonus Tricks Of Ad Gurus ******

(1) Keep your classified ads punchy and to the point by using telegraphic sentences. Get paid on 6 levels, unlimited width, $30 cash per referral… (2) Be artistic by putting “ “, * *, ~ ~, << >> around your headline. This draws the reader towards your ad and not someone else’s. (3) Word your advertising as a testimonial. It instantly creates credibility to your offer. For example, “Webmaster reveals how to drive traffic to your site in 5 minutes a day”.

SIDEBAR: If your budget is tight don’t blow it all at once. Start with free ads to track your ad writing skills and when you get more confident and are producing results move up to classified ads, top sponsor ads, regular ads, and finally the ultimate ad of all, the solo ad.

About the author:

Karin Manning is the author of The Ultimate Campfire Kitchen & Camping Guide which contains 580 delicious and easy camping recipes guaranteed to tantalize your taste buds. To immediately download your copy go now to http://www.easy-family-camping-recipes.com

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Optimize For Search Engines And For Visitors

2006-04-29T01:04:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Matt Jackson
The question on webmasters’ lips is whether to optimize their website for search engines or for visitors. There are arguments for both sides of the argument. On the one hand, without good search engine optimization a website may struggle to actually get any visitors but attracting tens of thousands of visitors a day would be of little consequence if the website doesn’t convert those visitors into full paying customers.

Keep Your Website’s Goal In Mind

It’s incredibly easy to get wrapped up in search engine optimization and to forget the ultimate goal of your website. Whether this goal is for visitors to click on links, purchase products or pay for your service you need to encourage your website traffic to do this. The most effective way is to produce exceptionally written and informative content but natural content writing never used to perform well in the search engine result pages.

Is Google Doing Good?

There’s good news for anyone looking to profit from their website and keep their customers happy. Despite being maligned by webmasters and SEO professionals, Google is attempting to update its algorithms for the better. The intention behind recent changes has been to penalize websites that rely on nothing more than search engine optimization. It seems that the major search engines are just as serious about promoting websites that are geared towards visitors as the rest of the Internet is.

Mild Search Engine Optimization And Why It’s Necessary

The problem that search engines face when determining the validity of websites is that they can’t physically crawl every website manually and have someone look over the content. They have to use software and hardware that automates this task. Subsequently, they have to use keyword rules to determine the topics that a website covers. This means it is still necessary to ensure that your website contains the keywords you are targeting and usually more than once in the entire text of the page. However, sites reaching top spot in search engine results because they have crammed their pages with keywords is something that has long been dead.

Natural Keyword Inclusion

The most effective method, then, of writing website content is to write it naturally as though you’d never heard of search engines, and more specifically search engine optimization. Once you’ve written your text with your keywords in mind you will usually find that you have included the important keywords already. Read through the content again and if there are any areas where you can naturally insert these keywords then do so. This will give extra credence to your content in the eyes of search engines but don’t get carried away. In preference to including same keyword over and over again, use several related keywords.

Keep It Fresh, Keep It Popular

One other area that will help your site greatly is the regular introduction of fresh content. By regularly updating your website you will keep visitors returning and ensure that they get value from your website, predisposing them to the idea of purchasing or clicking links. Do this and the search engines will also smile down on you without you having to get heavily involved in search engine optimization practices.

About the author:

Matt Jackson is founder and regular copywriter of WebWiseWords.com, a service that specializes in creating quality, original content for websites, forums and other new media publications. Visit their website at http://www.webwisewords.com for more information.

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7 Strategies to Choosing an Effective Domain Name

2006-04-28T06:22:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Donna Gunter
A friend of mine calls me the "Domain Queen", since at one time I owned around 50 domains. I've let many of them go (I own only 22 now) as my business has changed and developed, or I've just simply lost interest in the project. I'm often asked how I go about picking effective domain names, so as the "Domain Queen", I'll share my thought process with you.

1.What's the purpose of the domain name? Are you planning on using this name as the main website for your company, as a one page sales letter site, or squeeze page site? If the domain name will be your primary company website, try and find the closest version to your company name that you can. If you're just starting out, choose your business name and domain name with care. When I started my virtual assistant practice, I chose the name SOHO Business Solutions, as I thought everyone knew that SOHO stood for Small Office, Home Office. I think I've run into 2 people in my 7 years in business who knew what that acronym stood for. If I had it to do over again for this business, I would choose a business name and domain name with virtual assistant in the title, like InternetMarketingVirtualAssistant.com, a name I just recently purchased.

If the purpose of a domain is for a one-page sales letter site or a squeeze page, think ahead as to how you might promote this site. Because content is king in today's internet marketing world, there's little chance that either of these types of sites would be picked up by the search engines on key words. Therefore, your best promotion strategy is PPC, or "pay per click", where you're buying keywords for placement in search engines. If you're buying keywords from Google, for example, the paid listings appear at the top of a search in a blue box, or down the right-hand side of your screen. You want to be sure that the info displayed there is compelling enough to get someone to click and visit your site. So, for example, I've created a squeeze page, GetMoreClientsOnline.com, which has a compelling solution to a common problem that my clients have, as a side door gateway to my OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com coaching website.

2. Brainstorm a list of ideas of the problem you're trying to solve or the solution that you have. A domain name that clearly indicates what you do, or a problem that you solve, or a solution that you have to a problem will give a visitor a fairly clear picture of what s/he'll find on your website. What I typically do is go to my domain registrar, www.UltraNetDomains.com, and just start plugging in the names I'm brainstorming until I come up with 3 or 4 that are available. If the domain name that you type in isn't available, the service will come up with 10 or so alternates for you to consider. I found this alternate listing quite helpful recently in picking the name of an article directory site that I want to create.

3. For SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purposes, it helps to have your keywords in your domain name. Marla Regan, who's a professional organizer, has put two keywords in her domain name, OrganizedTime.com. Retirement Coach Lin Schreiber has her keyword niche in her domain, RevolutionizeRetirement.com. Consultant John Reddish has the desired outcome keywords in his domain, GetResults.com. I own a domain that I haven't yet developed for house sitters, BecomeAHouseSitter.com. Before buying your domain, make a list of keywords that someone might use to find you online. This list could include your industry, your target market or niche, a problem your target market has, or a solution that you can offer.

4. Shorter is better, if it's to be your primary domain. I haven't always followed my own rules here, as I tend to have business names that are quite lengthy. If the domain name is going to be your primary domain where your primary email address will be housed, you want your domain name to be as short, catchy, and memorable as possible. After a few times of spelling out your lengthy email address, you'll come to appreciate the beauty of a short domain name. Your domain name can contain up to 67 letters and numbers, although I would encourage you not to have one of this length, and can contain no special characters other than hyphens.

5. Purchase your your given name as a domain name. I typically tell my clients not to try and brand their given name as their business name, as that takes many years, much money, and lots of hard work to have the name recognition of Oprah, for example. However, it still pays to purchase your given name as a domain name, as well as any common misspellings of your name. Many people think my name is Donna Gunther, with an "h" in the last name, but I've been unable to register that common misspelling of my name, as a photographer in Venice, CA, has owned in since 2000. Once you've purchased your name as a domain, you can redirect it to your primary website. This means that when someone types in a domain, they land at the website to which you pointed that domain. So, currently DonnaGunter.com redirects to OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com because I don't want to use my name as a website, although that might change in the future.

6. Buy the .COM version of the name if it is available. When people hear a domain name, they "hear" .COM whether it's .NET or .BIZ or .ORG or whatever. So, it pays to find a domain name that you like that is part of the .COM family. If you just can't get the name you want, try a hyphenated version of the .COM name. For example, when I was seeking a domain name for my Self-Employment Coaching Gym, I really wanted SelfEmploymentSuccess.com, but it wasn't available. However, Self-Employment-Success.com was available, so I grabbed that. Many SEO specialists state that search engines like hyphenated names, and many online business owners use hyphenated keywords in their domain names to be more attractive to search engines. I don't have a clear answer as to the validity of this theory, so I just advocate going this route before having to resort to the .NET or .BIZ of the name you desire. Some domain name holders may be willing to sell you the domain name that you want. You can find out who owns a domain name by checking the WhoIs Registry at Internic, http://www.internic.net/whois.html. For info about country codes (two-letter) top-level domains (.UK or .CA, for example) visit http://www.uwhois.com/cgi/domains.cgi?User=NoAds

7. Consider owning other versions of your primary domain name. If you are registering the .COM version of a domain for your business, you may also want to secure variations of the name, alternate spellings, common misspellings, and the .NET and .ORG versions of your domain and repoint them to your main site to keep them out of the hands of your competitors. You can also go broke very quickly by purchasing all of these variations, so exercise some restraint in your purchases and don't go crazy with purchasing every single variation of your domain name. For my coaching company site, I own both the OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com and OnlineBusinessCoachingCompany.com and decided that was good enough.

Your domain name is the beginning of the establishment of your presence online, Take some time and put some thought into the process so that the domain name serves you well in the years to come, and is an effective tool for helping you get more clients online.

About the author:

Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Business Coach Donna Gunter helps self-employed service professionals learn how to get more clients online at http://www.OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com . To sign up for more FREE tips like these and claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.GetMoreClientsOnline.com . Read about running an online biz at our blog,
http://onlinebizcoachingcompany.typepad.com/online_business_coaching_/

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Your Home Based Business – Motivate Yourself!

2006-04-27T06:17:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Elias Georgi
Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering you own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them - every day, begin the task anew – Saint Francis de Sales

Wise men said nothing succeeds like success. Cliché, but how very true! I would say that about 90% of the time, it is the wait for success that makes one need motivation. what better motivation than seeing your home based business flush with cash? Well here are a few do’s and don’ts to help you keep motivated in your home based business.

Motivate Yourself in Your Home Based Business

1. Go-getters get motivated easily. Look at their character and instincts. Adopt their qualities, such as how they attack difficult problems. Becoming restless until you finish a task is essential.

2. Losing motivation when you are out of work for a considerable time is common. Utilize this time and network with a vengeance! Devote your time to PR and marketing. Hard work always pays off. Always remember the reason that you chose to start a home based business; that will definitely keep you motivated.

3. Have patience. Try to remember that Rome was not built in a day. Get rich quick plans almost always fail and you need to have a sound plan and work hard. There is no shortcut to success.

4. If yours is home based online business, don’t waste time surfing irrelevant sites. They don’t add value or increase your skill. Make the most of your time by adding value to your website. With your superior knowledge and service, surprise your customers. Sterling customer testimonials are often the best motivation of all.

5. Forgetting that the burden of success depends entirely on you proves very costly. You run the risk of slipping into oblivion. Use this as your main motivation factor. Since you are an entrepreneur, you need to wear many hats in order to handle all sorts of responsibilities. Your home based business will benefit most if you remember that both flexibility and adaptability are key to helping your business succeed.

6. Develop a timetable and commit yourself to it. But remember, it is just a commitment for a routine - it should not prevent you from taking risks! Unless you dedicate yourself to the cause of your home based business, you could lose interest and motivation over time. The success of your home based business should, in and of itself, be your motivation factor.

7. There are times you need to take a break. If you allow yourself to fatigue, eventually you may end up losing motivation. Join a gym or leave the office for a walk or a drive. You need time off to rejuvenate yourself, and often this time allows you to develop new business ideas.

8. Organize yourself, if you have not done so already. An unorganized workspace and a haphazard work style will gradually frustrate you before overpowering your determination. Push hard, expand your work time and finish task after task in order of priority. You will find that you will get more and more motivated as you complete tasks one by one, because you will be making steady progress.

9. Doing all things right the first time is important. But it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t attempt it again later if it doesn’t work the first time. The crux of the matter is getting things right sooner than later. With major headaches gone, you will be motivated to move on to bigger and better things.

10. If you were an employee before, imagine how your employer was getting motivated to run that big corporation (and make more money by paying you less!). Realize that he couldn’t have built that empire if he had given up right in the middle.

You can find many reasons for motivation that you can implement without wasting resources. The future that you want to give your child, social recognition and financial success are just a few. Keep these in mind, and you will never lack motivation for making your home based business succeed.

About the author:

Elias Georgi makes it easy to build your home based business and earn a substantial income. Learn how to increase your income in the comfort of you own home with minimal effort by visiting:
http://www.eliasg.com/

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Resale Rights - Are You Making These Three Mistakes?

2006-04-26T05:09:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Mike Adams
One of the biggest mistakes people make when they start selling resale rights products is doing exactly the same thing in the same way as everyone else. Another big mistake is doing what nobody else is doing.

Sound a bit contradictory? Here's what I mean...

Dan Kennedy is one of the greatest living direct marketers. In his eBook, 63 Killer Marketing Strategies, Dan says, "If you offer the same product or service as someone else, one of you is unnecessary."

Sounds a bit scary when we're talking about resale rights, doesn't it? Think more people than just you might be selling the same thing?

On the other hand, if you're trying to sell something that is totally different from what everyone else is selling, that can be a bit scary too. It's possible you might have thought of something brilliant that no one else has... but in a world of six billion people, you're more likely to find that others have had the same idea but found there just wasn't a very good market for it. That doesn't guarantee you couldn't do it more successfully. But it does mean you might have to work harder to convince people they need your product.

So what's the solution? The solution is to imitate what others are doing successfully - but without duplicating them exactly. Here is an example:

Maybe you notice that many, many people are selling a product that is a package of many resale rights products. You have master resale rights for the product, so you decide to sell it too. You set up a site using the sales page provided with the product, the graphics provided with it, etc.

If you get traffic to the website, you will make some sales. The problem is, that's what almost everyone else selling that master resale rights product does too, because most people won't take the time and effort to do something different.

You need some way to differentiate yourself, to brand yourself, while using the concept. You already know the concept works - many people have bought that package and are selling it! So the concept of bundling a number of master resale rights products together in a package, branding it, and selling it till it spreads like wildfire is a good concept that's been proven to work. But what if there was a way to double the number of sales you make that way? Or triple them? How can you do that? By varying what you do just enough to differentiate yourself. For example:

Maybe you decide to package it with a group of other master resale rights products that appeal to the same market. Or maybe you change the graphics and the sales page so that it has a totally different look and feel. Maybe you include a number of great bonuses that people have been wanting and that no one else is offering with it. Or maybe you decide to create a very similar product (just different enough...) and sell that with master resale rights instead!

The examples above are great examples for how you can differentiate yourself even when others are selling the same resale rights product. But there is one way of differentiating yourself that you typically don't want to do. You typically do not want to compete on price instead. That is the third big mistake people make. Suppose that instead of putting a nice master resale rights package together and selling it for $50, you instead decide to sell it for $1 on eBay. Let's suppose you only want to make an extra $1000 per month. Which do you think would be easier and more likely, selling 20 products in a month (less than one per day), or selling 1000 copies per month (33 per day)? You wouldn't even get the reputation you want. In fact, you would be more likely to find that no one believes the offer because it seems too good to be true! It's much better to add more value to the package and charge a more appropriate price.

If you want to avoid making the three biggest mistakes with resale rights:

1. Imitate what others are doing successfully but...

2. Be just enough different that you're perceived as providing better value, and

3. Charge a fair price for that value.

Keep repeating that process. Even though you're selling other people's products, you can brand yourself by doing something different. Then you will build your business, rather than someone else's business.

About the author:

Mike Adams has been marketing on the Internet since the early 1990's. His latest project is Gigantic Resale Rights. As part of the launch of Gigantic Resale Rights, Mike is offering our readers several FREE Master Resale Rights Packages at: http://www.gigantic-resale-rights.com/

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2006-04-25T01:06:00.000-07:00

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2006-04-24T02:00:00.000-07:00

Your Home Based Business – Motivate Yourself!

2006-04-23T05:08:00.000-07:00

Google Adsense and the Power of Duplication

2006-04-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Mal Keenan
So you get online, set up a Google Adsense website and watch the dollars roll in? Wrong! The top earners in the Google Adsense field are earning the big, big money by duplicating the process over and over.

A friend of mine saw the Google Adsense ads on my site a few days ago and was querying if that was how I made my money. He couldn't understand how these small ads could amount to a full-time online income and the fact is that they DO NOT, well not in isolation anyway.

Before we get into the nitty gritty, the truth is that at this point in time I am not making a great amount with Google Adsense but that is about to change because I am absolutely aware of and convinced in the power of DUPLICATION.

I am an affiliate marketer, I promote numerous affiliate programs throughout the Internet Marketing Niche. Some make me a few dollars per month and some a few hundred in residual income. I also sell affiliate products through Google Adwords and am duplicating this process across multiple markets. I'll not mention some of the niches here for obvious reasons:-). The point is that if I didn't duplicate what I know to work across many different programs and service I would still be pen pushing in my former offline 9-5 job.

Even this article is one of countless others. The power comes from consistently doing the things that work over and over and over again.

Getting back to Adsense, what I realise is that everyone I speak to about it ARE NOT setting up unique sites and then settling for this income. They are setting up 100s, sometimes even 1000s of sites. Then when certain markets prove more profitable than others, as they most certainly will, the smart people are building great networks of smaller sites around these niches AND linking them all together.

Can you see the power of duplication at work here?

The point of building many sites is that sooner or later you are going to hit the mark. It doesn't cost much to set up a domain and have it hosted. Plus there is software available that will literally create 100s of blogs in minutes from your top keywords.

The "clued in" inernet marketers making the moola are those that have taken action in the above way. I myself am guilty at times of looking at a plan and just not having the power to take it through to the end. This I believe is what happens to many when they even comtemplate creating 100s of sites.

The sad fact is that if you don't get of your backside and at least create one site then you are NEVER going to make Internet Marketing your full-time career.

Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will your Google Adsense Empire.

About the author:

Mal Keenan is editor and publisher of Home Business Tips newsletter:
http://www.home-business-tips-newsletter.com/
Let him set up your blog with custom header for free:
http://www.mynicheblog.com

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Are You Throwing Away Money? You Are If You Don't Have Video on Your Website!

2006-04-21T01:25:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Cathy Linderman
It’s cheap, it’s easy and anyone can do it!

Video streaming, or video on your website, is a major trend for 2006. Website owners are using it all over the internet. It is increasing profit margins for owners by increasing traffic to their site, keeping those visitors on their site longer, and creating higher sales and usage of services on sites.

It’s being used by businesses and organizations of all sizes. Video is being used to communicate, train, inform, educate, promote, advertise, sell and market products and services. The benefits are numerous and in one form or another mean increased profits for the owners of those sites!

What do you need to know to put video up on your website?

•You can do it all with a camera (digital is best), a computer, a hookup from that computer to camera, and video capture software, or you can invest in professional, production type equipment

•Your usage, quality and budget determine your needs

•You can do it all with free video capture software provided by reliable well-known providers and get excellent results

•You learn how yourself or outsource it if doing major amounts of video for corporate training or communications, or lengthy video streams

•You should have a full understanding about video streaming on the internet even if outsourcing (anyone at any level can learn this)

•You do not have to rely on expensive monthly providers if only doing a small amount of video on your website – this can be done by yourself

•It can be used in numerous ways - emails, websites, blogs, articles, directions, and in any type of internet product that uses video

•…and much more.

Finding a reliable source on the internet is a task in itself. Work with those who are already experts in the field of audio and video streaming (playing audio and video over the internet). There is a lot of excellent, free advice on the internet from reliable sources. Learn all you can from them.

The biggest misconception across the internet is that you have to be a highly technical person in order to add video to your website! NOT TRUE! Anyone can learn how to put video on their websites.

If it’s a quick short video, you can get some simple, free, downloadable video capture software to do it all for you in a few simple steps and you don’t need to learn any of the behind the scenes technical issues. But even if doing short video’s you can learn some of the behind the scenes information and do it all yourself and save fees from providers that charge a monthly fee for their service for storing and streaming video.

About the author:

Cathy Linderman currently works with internet audio and video and her business provides related resources, practical training and products for all websites, whether personal or business. Cathy and her business associate, Komee, are known for their simple, practical, easy-to-learn techniques for using audio or video on websites.
Editor: Komee Carpenter
http://www.GlobalInternetBroadcasting.com

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6 Tips on How To Maximize Your Website’s Profit Potential

2006-04-20T04:47:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Nikki Mhlanga
For your Internet business to make you a profit, you will need more than just a nice looking web design.

For most people, their websites cost them money on a monthly basis, and they do not make any money from them. Why?

There are several aspects of your website which need to be done appropriately before a visitor to your site can decide to do business with you and buy whatever you offer.

You will need to answer a couple of questions before you start to create your website, so that you can create one that gets maximum exposure, a lot of traffic, and ultimately make a lot of sales.

What is the purpose of your website? Before you start to create (or re-create) your website, consider what purpose it serves in your business? A website can be used to sell a product or service solely, to give information, or a combination of things.

Who is your target market? Knowing your target market and what they will need is the first step towards building a profitable web site. Knowing who you are trying to attract can help you begin to create marketing or advertising plans that will get your website in front of the best prospects to buy your product.

The following six tips are the powerful strategies you can use to bring in repeat visitors and higher revenues. By simply using these strategies, you can make your website more profitable.

Have Your Own Domain Name: It is important that you create a good impression for your potential customers, and having an appropriate domain name of your own helps to create that good impression and confidence. If you have your own domain name, it shows that you are a serious online business person with a perceived ‘long-term presence’ online.

Having a website homepage address that is based on a free host or only your affiliate ID number may cause you to lose some credibility with customers. There are several resources online where you can get your own domain name and a reasonable price.

Your Website Must Be Professional: Your website is your shop, so you will need to have a professional and effective website. Your website must be well organized, easy to navigate and it must clearly display the products and services you offer.

It is important for you to get someone to critique your website. You can also seek the advice of an expert to assist you built a professional and well presented website. In addition, there a lot of tips and tools online to help you built a good website that will make you some money.

Offer Some ‘Freebies’: Even though your website is meant to earn you money, you have to find ways to make it useful to visitors, and give them reason to come back. Offer some free information, ideas and tips relating to what your website offers. Do not let your website be solely a sales pitch; instead, create an impression of being an ‘authority’ in whatever topic relates to your website’s business by making your website a ‘one-stop-shop’ where visitors can get some free information and ideas and useful advice, as well as buy what they need.

By sharing your expertise and assistance without asking for anything in return, and giving away some free staff, you are creating confidence in your potential customers and customers, which will make them want to come back for more. Fresh articles, free tips and ideas, bulletin boards and a support area will make visitors want to ‘bookmark’ your site.

Your website must lead your visitor to action: Getting visitors to your site is one thing, and actually getting them to buy is another. It is important that you present and offer whatever your site offers in such a way that the visitors are encouraged to take action.

Your website must not be confusing, and must not be full of disorganized, unnecessary information because this will simply make the visitors leave.

You want your visitors to stay on your site and actually do something – buy your product/services, or at least subscribe to your newsletter. Have clear messages and your ‘sales pitch’ must be encouraging and convincing enough for visitors to act. Tell them how buying your product or service will benefit them or solve their problem.

Your site must have your own opt-in email list: Normally; some customers will need to see the offer of your service or product several times before they decide to buy. Visitors to your site are probably the best organic leads your business will ever get. Most people will come to your website only one time and then disappear for ever.

But if you offer a valuable newsletter, many of them will subscribe. You then have an opportunity to communicate on a regular basis with these subscribers. Your newsletter increases your credibility and creates trust in the long run.

Gradually, subscribers will become active clients. You will need to give your visitors a reason to subscribe to your newsletter by offering some incentives such as free coupons, a free newsletter with tips and ideas relating to what your website offers. You will need to present your invitation to them for subscribing and leaving their email in such a way that they feel that they have to subscribe.

Promote your site extensively!: The Internet is a very huge place, and you will need to market your business extensively.

Develop at least 5 online strategies to grow your business, and follow these strategies consistently. Advertise in ezines, trade one-way and reciprocal links, optimize your website, write and distribute articles to ezines, get listed with the major search engines and directories, send out a press release regularly. Decide on your monthly budget for promoting your business, and use your selected strategies to market your website.

Work on the aspects outlined above and improve the profitability of your online home business.

About the author:

Nikki Mhlanga is a trusted online residual income authority and provides valuable online residual income opportunities and resources through her website at:
http://www.smart-homebiz.com/
You can also follow these 3 easy steps to make money online in the comfort of your own home: http://www.smart-homebiz.com/pips.html

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Getting Stats from Overture.com?

2006-04-19T02:39:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Patric Chan
Most people will determine an online niche market to be profitable or not based on the tool from Overture.com

If you're not familiar with what I'm referring to, you can check the searches of certain keywords that have been made on search engines at http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion

There, you'll find out how many searches a month for certain keywords from search engines like Alta Vista, Yahoo, MSN, etc.

And most marketers will tell you a certain yardstick number of searches will be good to determine how profitable can that niche be.

If you're still using this strategy, OH BOY.

First and for all, this strategy is correct. It makes sense. The problem with this strategy is you're not applying any marketing techniques in it. You're relying on how profitable a niche can be based on numbers only!

Besides, this is 'old' technique. I think, the first time I heard about this strategy was way back a couple of years. Does it still works? Yup -- But you're missing out so many other ways to determine how profitable a niche can be.

I mean, let's say the keyword "lobster" has 30,000 ++ searches. Based on the number, it shows good sign. But really, do you think you can make money in that niche, the "lobster" niche? Maybe, maybe not. But for me, I'll definitely make sure that I've researched it by using the numbers and marketing strategies first. The next question is what is the medium that you're going to use to make money in this niche? Sell Lobster online? I doubt it. So really, numbers don't tell.

The worst is when you're not applying any marketing concepts and senses to it. Here's one advanced filters that I shared to my Chan Do Internet Success System students:

- Finding Hardcore Believers/Followers

There are certain niche markets that have people willing to spend. These are the 'believers/followers'. It's really hard for me to tell you which niches these are ... but as a simple guideline, ask yourself,

"How much do they really need it?"

For instance, model train hobbyists are crazy spenders for anything related to "model trains".

If your niche is "save marriage", you'll have a very profitable online niche market because these people need the information desperately. The value of getting the problem solved is worth many times the cost of your product.

Building a successful online business is no guessing game. It's a matter of making no money, some money or A LOT OF MONEY. It can be scientifically "predicted" to ensure your risk of failing will be very low.

You need to have an overall marketing system to be build a long-term profitable online business.

About the author:

Patric Chan is an internet infopreneur, international speaker and author. His "Chan Do" Internet Success System Training Program's next intake is coming out soon. Register now before it's sold out again at: http://www.youchandoit.com

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Tips to Writing a Good Press Release

2006-04-18T01:24:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Sharon Housley
Distributing a press release to editors and news organizations is only half the battle. Writing a press release that will be published by the media is equally important. Press releases are public relations opportunities. A well written press release, can generate exposure in publications that could be worth thousands in advertising dollars, for a fraction of the cost.

Newsworthy

News Press releases should contain a newsworthy item and be written as an announcement--not advertisement. Releases can cover a wide variety of topics.

Ideas for Press Releases - http://www.small-business-software.net/kinds-of-pr.htm

Plain Enlish

Press releases should be written in plain language so that the general population will understand. Keep explanations simple. Press releases should be in laymen terms, avoiding overly technical language .

Focus on Facts

Press releases should not contain superlatives. Avoid "fluff" and focus on facts. Editors will often use copy from a press release, and if extensive editing is required they will opt not to use the release at all. The press release should articulate the news item, in a factual way avoiding qualifiers like "best".

Illustrate Benefits Not Features

Too often press release writers will use fancy terms to describe feature sets, all the while never conveying how a specific feature will benefit an individual using the product or service. It is important that the press release explain the benefit of the product or service. This is best done by providing concrete explanations and articulating time saved, money saved etc...

Headlines That Grab

Press releases only have a few moments to attract the interest of readers. The headline should be relevant, but should attract the interest of readers. Many websites use RSS feeds to distribute news headlines, often only the press release headline will appear, therefore it is critical that the press release headline be an attention "getter" while still remaining relevant to the release.

Hook

The first paragraph should contain a hook, to secure the interest of readers. You only have the first few sentences to keep the interest of the editors and readers.

Inverted Pyramid

The contents of a press release should be in an inverted pyramid with the most important item appearing first. Each succeeding paragraph should contain supporting information with the least important information on the bottom.

Contact Details

In the event that the media decides to print the press release, they may often wish to contact the company to obtain additional details or graphics for print publications. Be sure to include appropriate contact details in the release.

Press Release Analysis:

Example Well Written Press Release: http://www.feedforall.com/press-release-rss2html-cache.htm This release announcing a new application contains specific benefits in non-technical terms that the reader will understand.

Example Poorly Written Press Release: http://www.valentine-shop.com/press-release.htm This release announcing a new web site contains no contact information and the most important information appears last rather than first.

Press releases can be an excellent tool for increasing product exposure without incurring a significant expense. Consider how press releases can become part of your business marketing plan.

About the author:

About the Author: Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net a wireless text messaging software company.

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Can Spying On Your Competitors Be Legal?

2006-04-17T01:21:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 John Navata
Competitive Intelligence is the art of staying one step ahead of the competition by gathering information about their operations. You have to know what they are up to, so I am going to show you how to check out your competitors' products and marketing schemes without them even knowing you are there. In other words, this lesson is about how to spy on the competition without getting caught.

Assuming that you have less than five direct competitors, you should always buy their product to determine their sales process (and service) and get on their mailing list to see future promotions. The relatively small price you pay for their product will pay for itself many times over in the knowledge you gain by finding out what they are doing and how they are doing it.

Some of your competitors may process orders manually and could recognize your name as their competition. Use your spouse's name, a fictitious name, an employee's name, or an alternative company name (if you have another company) that will allow the mail to get to you without revealing who you are. Also, make sure you use an alternative email address and phone number.

I do this with all of my competitors and find out exactly what they are doing, who they are dealing with, and how they are doing it... all by their email and snail mail correspondence.

Also, by purchasing their products you will be able to experience exactly what a regular customer would go through and you can then judge their product, service and operations against yours. This gives a great advantage to all of your customers because you will know the pros and cons of your competition and can more effectively sell your product or service.

Important Tip: You may even want to have one of your employees or friends call your competitor. They could pose as a satisfied customer wanting to see what products or services the company is working on for the future.

Where Do You Start?

An absolute must is to go to http://www.netwatch.ca, it will search for specific keywords (i.e. your personal name, company name, product name... or your competitor's personal name, company name, product name) in over 280,000 newsgroups.

As a side note, we used to recommend Reference.com, which was a great service with a ton of features, and most of all, it was totally free. Their site is now down for an unknown reason, but this should only be temporary. If you want to go with these guys, check their URL whenever you have the chance and see if they have any updates listed.

Another free service which you may have heard of, DejaNews, offers a very limited version of what Netwatch.ca does and what http://www.reference.com used to do. Through DejaNews, you can perform a search for keywords in specified newsgroups to find out if your name, or any other information about your company, is being used without your prior knowledge or permission. This service is a great start, but Netwatch.ca will provide you with the full details automatically (as listed below) without requiring you do to any work whatsoever.

Netwatch.ca will email you within hours of one of those keywords appearing in any of the 280,000 newsgroups on the Internet. This is critical, since you will know exactly what people are saying about you and your other competition within moments of them mentioning it. It gives you the opportunity to defend yourself or solve customer service problems before any damage is done. This is a very powerful tool, so don't take it lightly.

Let me go over three powerful uses for this service:

Imagine anytime a competitor tries to "badmouth" you in any newsgroup or public forum... or even compare your products/services unfairly, within hours you are there to reply to the post and deliver the truth (or your account of the situation).

Now, put yourself in the competitor's shoes. Imagine if anytime you wrote something, your competition was right there - as if they were watching over your shoulder all the time. Wouldn't you be very careful in the future as to what you say... and wouldn't you be dumbfounded as to how your competition was always one step ahead of you?

Remember the old customer service rule... bad news travels ten times faster than good news. One dissatisfied customer will tell ten other people, while one satisfied customer may tell one or none. All it takes is a few postings of dissatisfied customers to lose a lot of business. Can you imagine how powerful it is if you are right there to publicly take care of any customer service problems when a dissatisfied customer posts anything negative about your product or company? This will impress the thousands of people who read newsgroups but don't post on them.

I go out "looking for trouble" and find dissatisfied customers instead of them having to hunt for me. It is so easy that I am astonished no one else is doing it.

Netwatch.ca can also be a great source for sales promotions and an enormous time saver. We talked about promoting your business on the newsgroups by not only posting to them, but monitoring them looking for posts where you can offer your advice and get your SIG file posted as well. You can get Netwatch.ca to do most of this work for you!

For example, if you sell something that has to do with international investing, you could have it search for keywords such as "international", "overseas", "Japan", "Britain", and other countries. You want to search for keywords specific to what you have to offer. If you search for keywords such as "investing" or "financing", you will get thousands of results a day. You want to be very specific to narrow your results to only posts that are potential business for you. Netwatch.ca will email you every time a post is done on that subject. It could be someone asking for advice or giving their opinion… so you have an opportunity to reply and offer your assistance (and get your name, SIG file out there). Or the post you are notified of could be your competition trying to promote something (you can monitor what they are doing). This will save you from scanning the newsgroups daily, and is a BIG time saver!

Let me repeat what happens here (it is that important!). Netwatch.ca can save you the time of scanning through newsgroups daily and alerts you anytime there is something worth replying to in over 280,000 newsgroups online.

Are you starting to understand how powerful this resource is?

You can even go the extent of having Netwatch.ca search for all of your competitors' email addresses on newsgroups. That way anytime your competitors are promoting their products/services or saying ANYTHING online, you will know about it.

You can also pay for "competition" monitoring services. Companies such as:

eWatch MarkWatch

They will monitor domain names, URLs, newsgroups, and websites for activity by your competitors. Both services offer free trials so you can compare them before you commit. But note that you will spend a minimum of $100 per month for this (it can be much higher depending on what specialized services you are interested in). There is a big price difference between these two companies to watch for as well, MarkWatch being the less expensive of the two.

As a side note, there are about 50 websites and resources that will help you investigate and monitor your competition online (including a lot of other neat resources for locating "sensitive" information) that comes with my course. These resources will allow you to find information about your competitors that you would not normally have known about.

About the author:

John Navata is an internet marketer that has been showing marketers some advanced ways to promote their product or service offline or online. http://www.mega-dollarsonline.com

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2006-04-16T02:59:00.000-07:00

Google Adsense: To Blend or Not To Blend?

2006-04-15T01:23:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2006 Carlos Penn
For those who don't know.Google Adsense is a advertising medium presented by the number one search engine Google. The basic concept of adsense is that you use coding provided by Google to place on your website, blog, or what have you. When your account is approved for adsense ads then the most relevant ads will show on your webpage. When a visitor or hopefully visitors click the ad, then voila! You have a nice amount of supplemental income.

The use of Adsense is often in great debate in most popular SEO forums. The majority of the topics are on how to place the ads on your site to get the most out of a page hit. Some SEO's (Search Engine Optimizers} say that the ads should be towards the top of your page to get a higher CTR (click-thru-rate). Of course other SEO's say the bottom is best for the ads.

My opnion is that top or bottom it really doesn't make a difference. You should always place a ad in a spot on the page where it can be seen without making the visitor feel like the ads are interfereing with them reading your page information. Remember, they are at your site to get infromation on a service or product. Also the, placement of the advertisements should be in a spot where it must be read, or glanced at without making the visitor feel overwhelmed. Remember, that we all still have that ole phobia of visiting banner only sites.

One of the next topics discussed are the facts of blending the adsense ad to the rest of your site or not to blend it in with your site. Some SEO's say that you should blend to not disturb the visitor and also it seems more like a part of your site and will make them believe they should click for even more information. This is not always true when the ads are placed on a site that doesn't offer information in the first place. Then on the other hand if you make a ad that sticks out they feel it will draw attention and get more clicks. Other SEO professionals feel that this will only irritate the visitor and may cause them to leave the site.

The major thing that you must learn is to use your blending and placement together in a manner where you can say yes to the following questions:

- Did I place the Adsense ads where they can be seen? - Did I place them where they aren't obstructing what my visitors are orginally there for? - Did I blend the text color of the ad to make it look like its part of my page? - Did I match the background and border color in a way that would raise the ad off the page, giving it a slight 3-D affect? - Did I place the google adsense ad in a place that is in the line of the visitors reading path? - After looking at my page, was the placement and blend atleast where I would read the adsense and possibly click?

If you can answer yes to yourself and be very truthful then your adsense ad is in a good spot for now. Don't forget that you should experiment when you get your traffic up. Find out what works better for you and your pockets. If you would like a good idea of how this should be done just pay a visit to my site.

Have fun out there!

About the author:

Mr. Penn is the proud owner or Work At Home Help spot. He created the site to help others find work at home opportunities like the several that he now uses to make extra money on and off line.
http://www.workathomehelpspot.com

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