MLM The Easy Way - RAn Update http://www.blogmoneymiracle.com en-us EasyRSS
by Jeff Mulligan

The other day, I was talking to a guy at the health club I just joined. (Never had time when I was working for someone else.)

We started talking about our personal trainers. If you aren't familiar with the term, these are fitness experts who are educated to design work-out routines based on an individuals strengths, needs and goals.

Anyway, Rick said something that struck me right between the eyes. "I got so confused reading all the books and fitness magazines. Everyone has a different opinion of what works the best. I finally figured if I was going to work out, I might as well pick one expert, listen to them and follow their program."

Later, as I was driving my sore body home, I thought about how appropriate Rick's comment was to Internet Marketing.

Everyone's an expert. (Even people who have yet to sell their first eBook.) And there are a million programs, books, secrets, techniques and tactics that will work for you.

The problem is, you can easily fall into what my favorite business school professor called, "Analysis Paralysis".

That's where a lot of people are stuck.

They keep reading, and it gets in the way of actually doing something.

***** I was guilty *****

I was guilty of this, too. I must have bought several hundred dollars worth of books and courses before I found what worked for me.

Fortunately, the expert I decided to follow was, in hindsight, an excellent choice. And by following his advice and listening to his ideas, I have built up a couple of successful income streams.

My point isn't that my "guru" is the right one for everyone.

The point is to pick one or maybe a couple of people you really respect, and model them. Of course, make sure they are actually successful in their own businesses first.

But, when you find someone you respect and whose style you like, listen to their advice and follow what they recommend in their writings.

***** Save Your Brain *****

Following this strategy can save lots of brain cells that you would spend switching strategies and tactics. It avoids confusion and gives you a good point of reference from which to work.

You don't have to keep reading and searching for the latest eBooks. Assume your guru knows the latest tactics and will advise you of how well they work.

I'm not saying you never look at another eBook or eZine again, but, when you have one primary star you follow, it's that much easier to find your way.

Jeff Mulligan has an MBA and 20+ years of marketing experience as an ad agency Senior VP and VP Marketing for two software companies. Jeff owns CBmall, a site that provides 15 different ways for ClickBank affiliates to earn income on 1,997 ClickBank InfoProducts. http://www.myownmegamall.com .

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by David Riewe

Creating a MySpace website may seem overly complicated to those who have never done any HTML design in the past but it is really quite simple. Members who have advanced HTML knowledge can obviously incorporate more advanced features into their design but even those with no HTML knowledge may be able to create an attractive and functional MySpace website. This is possible because much of the design can be done through the use of templates. This article will focus on some of the most basic design features of MySpace to give beginners a basic understanding of the features they can incorporate into a new MySpace website and the types of changes which can be made to an existing website. This article will include information on changing the background, importing images, adding music to the website and posting quizzes for other users.

Adding or Changing the Background

The background color of a MySpace website is very important because it is one of the first things visitors notice when the website loads. If the background is garish and makes the website difficult to read, visitors may exit the page quickly. Conversely if the background is appealing it may make the entire website more appealing.

Basic HTML knowledge is required to add colors or background graphics to a MySpace profile. To add colors or background graphics go to the “Edit profile” section after logging into your account. Next enter the necessary code into the appropriate section. To get the background to appear on your profile you should include the code in the “About me” section of your account. If you are unsure of the code that is needed, there is a wealth of information available online for those who are learning HTML.

Importing Images

Many members of the MySpace community choose to post their picture on their website. Again the social aspects of the online community encourage this action because people who engage in online friendships often want to see what their new friends look like. Including pictures is the easiest way to let others know what you look like.

MySpace members are asked to upload a photo of themselves when they first sign up. This step can be skipped and done later. Photos which are uploaded to MySpace must be .gif or .jpg files. Additionally they must be smaller than 600k. The filename for photos should also not contain spaces or characters other than numbers or letters.

Adding Music to the Website

The addition of music to a MySpace website is a very common practice. This is used both by bands who want to promote their music as well as by individuals who want to let others know what type of music they like. The process of adding music to a MySpace website is incredibly easy. Members can visit the following web address to listen to music from MySpace artists: http://music.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music. If the artist has granted permission for others to use the music, there will be a button that says “Add” next to the song. Clicking on this link, when you are logged into this account, will automatically add the music to the background of your MySpace website. You are only able to add one song at once to your profile but you can change the music as often as you like by adding a new song. If you already have one song and add another, the second song will replace the original song on your profile.

Posting Quizzes on the Website

Many MySpace members include fun personality quizzes on their website and publish their quiz results. These quizzes give visitors more information about the member. The members may also post a link to this quiz so other members can take the quiz and post their results in the comments page. Different types of personality quizzes can be found on the Internet and many of these quizzes give you the code necessary to add this quiz to your MySpace website or another websites. You can copy and paste the code into the “Interests” section of your MySpace profile.

David Riewe is the webmaster of http://www.daves-inforama.com and http://www.daves-inforama.com/myspace.

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by Gary Ruplinger

If you’re not using video on your website yet, then you’re missing out on a great opportunity to increase customer responsiveness to your website.

With the ever growing population of broadband users in the United States, video has become mainstream. You only need to look at the most popular sites on the Internet and see that http://Youtube.com is the 8th most popular website in the world. Youtube is a site that shows videos, so broadband is essential to using and enjoying the site. It is estimated that 65% of Internet users in the United States have broadband access, and that number is expected to grow to 80% by 2010.

However, putting video on a website can seem quite intimidating if you’ve never done it before. I know. I’ve been in that position. When I first started learning about putting videos on the Internet I didn’t even own a video camera or know how to use one.

Fortunately, technology has made putting your videos on the Internet far easier than in the past. Now you can relatively quickly film a video, add professional looking effects, upload it, and post it on your website.

What You’ll Need

•A computer with a firewire port and Windows XP (preferably a laptop – if yours doesn’t have one, you can buy an adapter)
•A digital video camera
•A firewire cable
•A tripod
•A well lit area

Those are actually the only essential tools. Now there are a lot of extra tools you can add to really add professionalism to your videos, but those are for another time. I just want to focus on helping you get your first video up.

Step 1 - Setting Up

Go ahead and put your video camera on the tripod. Setup your laptop next to the video camera. Now go ahead and plug in the firewire cable to the video camera and then to the firewire port on your computer. Your computer should automatically recognize the camera and ask you what you want to do. Click on the capture video icon. This will open up Windows Movie Maker on your computer – a free program installed on all Windows XP computers (I’m assuming your using a PC and not a Mac since Macs are a bit more intuitive for making videos, and you probably won’t need this guide) Make sure you’re area is well lit. You will want it to seem really bright in order for it to look good on video.

Step 2 - Recording the video

All you need to do is click on capture video in Windows Movie Maker and you can record your video. When you’re done, just push stop.

Step 3 – Editing Your Video

Once you’ve finished recording your video, you’ll see your clip showing in the collections section of Windows Movie Maker. Click on the clip and drag the clip to the timeline at the bottom of the application. Once it shows in the timeline, you’re able to edit the length, and cut out parts. You can also add music or add a title screen and credits.

Step 4 – Saving Your Video

Once you’ve finished editing your video, you’re ready to save it. Just click save, and tell windows to save it in the best quality for playback on your computer format. This will keep the file from becoming huge and will make it much faster to upload.

Step 5 – Uploading Your Video

Go to http://Youtube.com and sign up for a free account. Once you’re signed up, click on my videos and then on upload a video. Find the file you saved on your computer and upload it to Youtube.

Step 6 – Publishing To Your Website

Once you’re done uploading your video. Go ahead and watch your video. To the right of the video you’ll see a section labeled Embed. Copy that code and paste it to the website where you want you video to appear.

Viola.

You’ve just put your video online.

Gary Ruplinger is the owner and operator of http://www.AVICoach.com. His site helps people learn about all aspects of online video marketing. You'll find a variety of video tutorials and guides at his site. Also, be sure to download his free report on making your site sell more with video.

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by Madison Lockwood

Podcasting in its simplest form is the uploading of MP3 files to the internet, where they can be accessed by the majority of the online universe with little more than a modern browser. You might consider a podcast to be an audio blog, although podcasts are basically standalone units of communication and not limited solely to “audio.” The term is also applied to short video pieces that are uploaded for general consumption; that is becoming more common, but the term was born as a reference to the audio format. Although the term stems from Apple’s iPod line of products it is generic in nature and refers to any MP3 (and increasingly, video) file provided via one Internet channel or another.

To that end, the number of channels that are now using podcasts is nothing short of phenomenal. They are used in educational formats (distance learning programs) and by the mainstream media. Business Week Online is an example of excellent utilization of the format. They provide professionally conducted interviews with both newsmakers in the business world and with experts on topics like developing technology. It is both an extension of their current events function and the features section of the magazine that focuses on broader industry analysis.

Every major news outlet online – ABC, ESPN, Fox, CNN and so forth – use podcasts to augment their print-and-graphics webpage formats. You can find them on political websites and blogs, often carrying the candidate’s message but more often carrying the opponent’s gaffe. This particular phenomenon has led to the practice of campaigns hiring “trackers” to trail their opponent from public event to public event with a video camera, hoping to catch a misstatement, a contradiction or some sort of unfortunate occurrence that can be distributed via the assortment of political websites and blogs that clog the web today.

You can now “subscribe” to podcasts that are delivered via an RSS application automatically to your computer. “Podcasters” are individuals or information distributors of some sort that provide an ongoing series of podcasts. Podcasts very quickly found their way to the marketing and advertising industry, which as adopted them for widespread use on the Internet. Video podcasts in particular have become the most recent form of “popup” advertising on the web. You can be clicking through a commercial site and suddenly you are watching a commercial.

The proliferation of podcasts that are webcasts of mistakes, poor behavior or just plain foolishness began with people in the public eye but now extends well beyond the currently and formerly famous. Because these snippets of audio and video are so widespread and move across the digital network so quickly, one begins to feel uneasy. What if someone catches me falling off a bicycle and thinks it looks funny enough to share?

When email entered our society, it provided a screening device to communication that was somehow comforting. Podcasts and to some degree the whole social networking phenomenon create the opposite effect. It’s easy to feel exposed, regardless of the fact that you’re still one person using one computer.

For a technical explanation of the various methods of podcast delivery, take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting. They provide an excellent and extended explanation of the various software options and delivery choices that you can make in allowing podcasts into your life. For a fairly comprehensive directory of podcast feeds and sources, try http://www.podcast.net/. As a good resource for news in the podcast universe and also for a directory, there’s http://www.podcastingnews.com/

Madison Lockwood is a customer relations associate for http://www.apollohosting.com. She helps clients understand how a website may benefit them both personally and professionally. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, & VPS hosting to a wide range of customers.

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by Jonathan Moss

Why affiliate marketing ? Well, affiliate marketing allows you to advertise products created by others on your website, and then earn up to 75% commission for each sale. You can choose from affiliate programs that sell almost anything, but you tend to be able to make the most money through selling electronic products such as ebooks, reports, software or videos. This article will provide you with a number of tips to help you make a start in affiliate marketing.

Why participate in affiliate marketing programs? Here are four simple tips.

• Find a program in a niche that you like and are interested in.
• Look for a program that is associated with experts
• Find a product in a growing market to help ensure more and future demand for the niche.
• Make sure the program has a good range of useful tools and resources to help you promote the product and grow your business.

When you have decided on your chosen niche, and selected the products you want to promote you must consider why customers would want to buy from your site. So, you must remember the following when designing your website.

• Develop unique web pages to promote each product you are marketing - your site must focus on each product individually and nothing more.
• Always include product reviews and testimonials on your site, and offer free content or reports to your visitors.
• List the benefits of the product and focus on points like how the product can make life easier and more comfortable.
• Write articles for ezines and ereports highlighting the uses of the product and include them on your site. Try to write a couple of articles per week (300 – 600 words). Remember that search engines like article sites and ezine sites such as ezinearticles.com.

Clearly you want all of your visitors to click the order button, but converting them to customers is a challenge. On average only 1 out of 100 visitors are likely to buy. Therefore, if you can generate as much as 1000 hits to your website every day, on average you can make about 10 sales. But how do you get people to visit your site ?

I have mentioned writing articles already as a way to get people to your site for free. A popular way to generate traffic for your website is by paying for it using pay per click (PPC) advertising on the main search engines such as Google or Yahoo. PPC is one of the most cost effective ways of targeted internet advertising. The idea is that you write really good short adverts which appear on the search result pages, and you only have to pay when someone clicks on your link. Your ranking in the search engine results is determined by the amount you are willing to pay for each click on your advert. The highest bid will be ranked number 1, followed by all equivalent lower bids.

There are of course many other ways to get traffic to your site, and these can be found either by searching the internet, or by reading the answer to my next question - where do you go from here ?

The answer - you should subscribe to a course which can teach you the basics of affiliate marketing, an easy to follow step by step guide. My personal recommendation is a free 27 day course by Matthew Glanfield. Matthew has been marketing online for over three years. In the second half of 2005 he generated over $100,000 of sales from only one of his websites. He now runs a number of really successful websites to help others to be able to start their own Internet business.

This course takes you from planning your first affiliate sales on day one to having a fully active website promoting your selected product by the end of the course. It is packed with valuable information and videos to get you on track as soon as possible. By signing up for this course you will also receive a free chapter, The secret formula for successful Affiliate Marketing, from one of Matthew’s courses. You will also receive a copy of a brand new ebook called Copy 101 which will help you write really effective PPC ads.

Jonathan Moss has been working in Internet Marketing for over 12 months. To find out more about affiliate marketing please visit http://27daycourse.jvmuk.com. You may reprint this article in full complete with the Author Bio.

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by William Perkins

Most internet marketing professionals agree that if you don’t have a list, then you don’t really have a business. Building a lucrative list is essential to your success. A customer list is the greatest asset of any business. In internet marketing, your customer list is your personal gold mine.

After you solve the problem of generating traffic to your website, it then becomes necessary to capture the name and email address of your visitor so you can build your own customer list. If you fail to do this, your business will fail.

It’s amazing to me how many people spend a ton of effort and money on getting visitors to their site where they pitch a product in hopes of getting a sale and then fail to capture their visitor’s name and email address.

You must focus your attention on building your list instead of on trying to make your initial sale. Remember, only 1 in a 100 people is going to buy your product after arriving at your website. You must capture the other 99 people’s name and email address so that you can show your product(s) to them again in the future.

There are a few techniques you can use to capture your visitor’s information and build a lucrative list. Here are the three “biggies” which are the most effective:

1. The Squeeze Page
2. The Pop-Up, and
3. A Simple Opt-in Form

The best method to use of the three ways to build a list is the squeeze page. A regular opt-in form might get a 10% to 20% opt-in rate, while a squeeze page is more likely to produce a 20% to 40% opt-in rate of the total number of visitors who arrive at your website.

A squeeze page is a web page with only one purpose: to capture the information details of your visitor. The squeeze page is different from using a pop-up or normal opt-in form because you don’t allow your visitor access to your website unless they give you their name and email address, and/or other details.

Therefore, a squeeze page must “sell” the benefits of your website to your visitor. A good squeeze page must have a strong benefit driven headline to grab the reader’s attention, some bullet points outlining the benefits of your website, and a call to action.

The best squeeze pages are not long. Do not make your visitor scroll down the page to opt-in. Other best practices include placing your photo on the page, make bold every other bullet point, and put a box around your "call to action" which is merely your opt-in form. Tell the visitor exactly what to do in no uncertain terms.

You must provide enough information to entice your visitors to leave their name and email address. Use good copywriting and sales techniques to “squeeze” your customers into joining your list. To ensure that people opt-in, you usually have to bribe them.

Offer some kind of free gift to bribe your visitor. A short report, a mini-course, a subscription to your newsletter, or an audio or video file is usually enough to get your visitor to join your list. In your call to action, be sure to let your visitors know that they will be given their free gift immediately after clicking the “submit” button located on your form.

Just a note here: You will not be sending your customers to your web page immediately after they enter their information details. Instead, you will send them to your “One Time Offer” page which is the subject of one of my other articles in this series of articles on list building.

Newbies are often afraid to use a squeeze page. They think that not enough people will choose to opt-in to their list. It’s true that you will need to write convincing copy and you will have to offer a valuable gift to get your visitor to opt-in. But you need not worry about visitors who don’t choose to opt-in. If your visitors are not even interested enough to give you their email address, then they probably won’t be interested enough to buy from you either.

William Perkins writes about how to start an online business, affiliate marketing, and making money online. He has packaged what he knows into a new Affiliate Marketing Handbook. You can get the first 35 pages of the handbook for free when you opt-in at his website. http://www.BigWillySite.com.

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by Sharon Housley

You think that you have mastered the art of RSS, but how much do you really know? Take the RSS quiz to test your knowledge of RSS.

Question: If something is in an RSS feed, it is perfectly fine to reproduce the contents of the feed. I mean after all RSS means really simple syndication, right?

Answer: No, that is not true. Regardless of whether content is in a feed or not, the original creator of the content has the right to restrict its use. While most people do feel that if content is in an RSS feed, it is available for syndication--that is not always the case. Various groups have made efforts to add namespaces which expand the tags used in RSS, to define whether the content is available for syndication. The two most notable namespaces that detail permissions are the Creative Commons extension and the Bloglines' Access extension. These two extensions are not yet widely supported so it is always best to check the terms of service associated with the feed or website to determine if the feed is available for syndication.

Question: RSS is only for blogs right? All blogs have RSS feeds right?

Answer: No, and No! While blogs may have helped increase the popularity of RSS feeds, RSS feeds are not specific to blogs. RSS feeds can be used for any type of content not just blogs. In fact, there are probably more RSS feeds available for non-blogs than there are feeds for blogs. Publishers have used RSS feeds for articles, press releases, discounts, podcasts, calendars, alerts and the list goes on and on.

Question: When I add a new item to the feed, do I simply edit the old .rss file or do I create a new one?

Answer: If you are adding content related to the theme of the original RSS feed, you should always expand your existing RSS feed rather than creating a new feed. Do not edit any of the RSS feed's existing items, simply add a new item to the existing RSS feed.

Question: Can RSS Feeds be set up for private list subscribers and what kind of security is available for RSS feeds to support a private feed?

Answer: Yes, while there are no provisions in the RSS 2.0 specification for passwords or protecting files, you can use any security mechanism available on the http server to protect the entire RSS feed. The security options are dependent on the capabilities of your web server.

Question: What is a feed reader?

Answer: A feed reader can also be referred to a news aggregator. RSS feed readers come in all shapes and sizes and are just tools that make it easy for users to view the contents or headlines of the RSS feeds they subscribe to. Feed readers can be desktop applications, or web applications. Desktop readers are programs that behave similar to an email client, you add new feeds and when the RSS feeds you subscribe to are updated new items appear in the RSS reader. The web aggregators are websites that aggregate all of your favorite feeds, the web page dynamically updates as new items are added to the feeds you subscribe to. Many email applications now also include the ability to monitor RSS feeds. As the popularity of RSS increases, the options to read and monitor feeds is expanding.

Question: Can you block a search engine from accessing a feed?

Answer: You can use a robots.txt to indicate to search engines that specific RSS feeds should not be indexed. Most search engines will observe the contents of a properly formatted robots.txt file.

Question: What is a GUID?

Answer: A GUID is a globally unique identifier. The RSS specification strongly suggests that each RSS feed item have a unique GUID. If you are creating feeds, a GUID is important because GUIDs are often used by feed readers and aggregators to determine if a feed item is new or simply an existing item that has been updated. Each item in the RSS feed should have a different GUID.

Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. Interested in additional RSS FAQs visit the RSS Knowledgebase http://www.feedforall.com/knowledgebase.htm or subscribe to the RSS knowledgebase feed http://www.feedforall.com/knowledgebase.php

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by John Eberhard

A new type of promotional medium has sprung up or evolved on the Internet over the past two years – namely “content hubs.”

A content hub is a type of web site that has lots of informational articles on it. A person with a web site, who needs article content for their site, can go to a content hub and download articles for free on a wide variety of topics, and then post them on their web site. These content hubs allow you to search by topic or category or by keyword.

Writers can post articles on the content hubs. The benefit for the writer is that he can mention his company and include his web site address in the article. And that provides in-bound links to his web site, from the content hubs themselves, and from every web site where that article is posted. In-bound links, meaning links from other web sites that link to yours, increase link popularity, which is one of the main criteria used by Google and other search engines to determine web site ranking.

So the content hubs service both writers who want to get the word out on their company or products or services, and people who have web sites who need article content.

The key, for a writer, is to write something that will appeal to the general public, or at least to a sizable specific niche public (such as webmasters or web promotion for instance), so that the article gets downloaded and used on lots of sites in need of content.

It is also key to include the name of the company in the article, preferably near the beginning, and include the company web address in the article as well, and in the writer bio at the end.

The article itself should not be written in such a way that it is just a blatant promo piece for your company. It has to be written so that it is about a topic that your company deals with or you are an expert on, and it mentions your company, but it doesn’t say “call us now at 1-800-222-2222 for a great deal on tires” at the end. In other words, what in marketing is called a “call to action,” where you tell your prospect to contact you or to respond for more information or to buy now, should not be included in articles for content hubs.

If there are specific key words or phrases that people use to find your web site (most web statistics programs can give you this information), or to look for your product or service, then try to find a way to include those words or phrases near the beginning of your article.

It’s a good idea to look over the type of articles that are currently being accepted on content hubs, to get a better idea of what works there, and so you can write articles that will fit this medium. Some good content hubs to look at are:

http://www.goarticles.com
http://www.isnare.com/
http://www.articlecity.com/
http://www.exchangenet.com/
http://freezinesite.com/
http://articles.simplysearch4it.com/
http://www.dime-co.com/

There are currently over 700 content hubs on the Internet.

Most of the content hubs require that you register with them before they will allow you to post an article there. Some of the sites have your article reviewed by a live person before it goes up. Some will just post it without review.

Once you get registered on a number of content hubs, it is best to post one article, then post more articles at intervals of about once a week. Make sure you include your company name and URL in each article.

If your company has any articles written already that were written for other purposes, you may be able to convert them into a form that will work for the content hubs. The key is to read the types of articles that are already appearing on the hubs and convert your content into a similar form.

Content hubs are a great way to get out information on your company, and are becoming one of the primary ways of promoting on the net.

John Eberhard is President of RealWebMarketing.net (http://www.realwebmarketing.net), a marketing consultant, writer and political analyst living in Los Angeles. He can be reached at http://www.realwebmarketing.net/contact.html.

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by Michael Moshkovich

The age of Internet shopping is taking over the world, and even the brick and the trend is even affecting the brick and mortar store with more and more customers wanting to shop on the Internet. In order to stay competitive, a store must not only have a physical location, but it must be willing to have a website from which customers can shop. It's no longer enough to have a website for customers to see what the store sells, but it must offer an online storefront so that shoppers can make purchases from the privacy of their own homes.

In order for a merchant to have a successful online storefront, it's important that he install reliable and easy to use shopping cart software. For those who are new to online shopping and don't understand the purpose of the shopping cart, let us explain a little about the process. Before the introduction of shopping card software, an online shopper had to purchase each product he wanted individually unless the merchant had an order form where the shopper could include several items. As eCommerce became more popular, the importance of a better system became pertinent. If eCommerce were going to become the wave of the future, merchants would have to make it quick and easy for customers to place an order. Thus, the eCommerce solution was the development of shopping cart software that allows a shopper to make purchases and place them in a "shopping cart" much as you do at the grocery store and pay for everything when you have finished shopping and are ready to "proceed to checkout."

Shopping cart software has opened an entire new media for the online shopper, and as a result, eCommerce has exploded all over the Internet with the introduction of stores like Amazon.com who do not even have a brick and mortar store. Yes, they have a brick and mortar building, but that is a packaging and shipping facility only, not a store where you can walk in and purchase what you like. Amazon is probably the first store of its type on the Internet, but many more have opened since then. Today, instead of just books and videos, Amazon distributes products for a great deal of retailers including ToysRUs. The technology of the shopping cart software has opened up an entire new era of shopping throughout the world, and at the holidays, it's even bigger as people flock to their keyboards and monitors instead of the malls as they used to do.

How has the trend toward eCommerce shopping affected retailers with a concrete building, especially during peak seasons such as Christmas and Easter? For those who are innovative and determined enough to enter the eCommerce market, the seasons will show a boost in business, but for those who choose to limit their business to walk-in trade, they are likely to see a reduction in the sales volume compared to the previous year's figures. With people's busy schedules and the price of gasoline, online shopping is becoming more attractive to the average shopper, especially with the ease of using shopping cart software and the attractive online storefront websites that are available. Interactive websites draw customers to their products with music, games, animation, and other tools that catch the attention of a potential buyer.

New merchants should certainly not hesitate to add a shopping cart feature from the start unless your business is only one product and no choices such as color or size. For instance, if you are selling a book you wrote, and it's only in one format, then there is no need to have a shopping cart. If, however, you offer the same book in hardcover, paperback, and eBook format, a shopping cart may be a good idea in case a buyer wants to buy more than one copy in different formats. Of course, if you have a multi-product eCommerce site, to operate without a shopping cart is courting disaster. Some of the reasons for adding shopping cart technology to your eCommerce site include:

- It allows a shopper to save his purchases and return later to finish shopping

- A shopper can return to his shopping cart and increase or decrease the number of items he wants to purchase

- A shopper as an opportunity to remove products from his shopping cart without deleting the entire order

- Shopping cart software also allows the buyer to track what products he ordered and allows the seller to include shipping information

The shopping cart software makes it easier for the seller as well because he does not have to keep track of numerous orders, and it allows him to see everything a buyer ordered at one time. In many cases, a shopping cart is also connected to online inventory so that a seller knows if he has enough of the product to fulfill his orders. It also allows him to track what customers have bought and thus know what may interest a customer for the future.

Copyright (c) 2006 WebCart

Michael Moshkovich is a web developer and internet marketer who has written over 50 articles on SEO, shopping cart software and PPC marketing. To learn more about WebCart visit us at http://www.webcart.net.

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by Shannon Margolis

In today’s highly competitive business climate, the success and longevity of enterprise businesses of all types and sizes primarily depend on efficient business process management. Considering the fact that a proper business process management plan that incorporates the latest, state-of-the-art business process solutions is what separates the successful, prominent businesses from the rest, all business-oriented companies are permanently looking for improvements in this particular area in order to strengthen their position in the market. By establishing a top-quality business process management plan, customized to fit the exact needs and requirements of your business, you can significantly improve the efficiency of your business, thus ensuring better profits and better exposure.

The concept of business process management encompasses an extensive series of specific activities performed by businesses in order to optimize their regular processes. The activities comprised by business process management can be divided into three distinctive categories: design, execution and monitoring.

The design phase either refers to designing customized business processes or adopting already existing processes and modifying them to fit the specific needs of a certain business. During the stage of business process management design, organizations can also test the efficiency and reliability of the newly developed business processes before introducing them into practice. By integrating specific software for process design to be used for obtaining graphical representations of workflows, as well as for implementing and maintaining workflows, organizations can transform the evolution of business processes into a less demanding and challenging experience.

The phase of process execution, just like the name suggests, basically refers to the execution of the previously designed processes by using various applications. While in the recent past the succession of activities conducted during this stage of business process management depended almost entirely on human intervention, today’s advanced technology allows for a good level of automation, significantly limiting the need for human intervention. Modern software in the category of Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) provides efficient automation solutions, allowing companies to use computer language in performing specific activities. Although the need for human intervention in the phase of process execution hasn’t been completely eliminated, nowadays it represents almost a negligible factor when using highly-competitive software tools.

In order to ensure that their used BPMS is efficient, organizations should check if the software respects the principles of business process architecture (accounts for all the major segments of business process architecture: enterprise architecture, policy and procedures, project management, logistics and so on). Some of the most popular BPMS used at present are built on the Microsoft Platform and include names such as BizTalk Server, SQL Server, InfoPath, MOM and SharePoint. With a good level of training in business process architecture and business process implementation using advanced BPMS, companies can substantially increase business efficiency and prosperity.

The last stage in business process management consists in process monitoring. The process monitoring stage involves performing a series of activities aimed at obtaining conclusive data on the performance of business processes, as well as finding and timely correcting any emerging problems. The monitoring of processes and the reporting of existing problems can nowadays be handled entirely with BPMS. With the right software tools, companies can rapidly identify performance issues, being provided with detailed statistic data and in-depth analyses of each distinctive category of business processes.

The long-term results provided by high-quality business process solutions and efficient business process implementation inside organizations are: significantly increased business efficiency, higher business adaptability, versatility and agility in the market. In order to ensure the optimal performance of your business processes through efficient business process management, you can either employ the services of a reputed business-consulting company and receive the latest solutions, tailored to fit the exact needs of your business, or form your own team of professionals with a good level of training in business process implementation using advanced Business Process Management Systems.

For more information on business process management please visit www.unitekconsulting.com?source=articlesender

Shannon Margolis
Marketing Coordinator
http://www.unitek.com/training

View their website at: http://www.unitek.com/training?source=articlesender/

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by George Levy

As someone who spends an obscene amount of time researching, playing and "working" on MySpace [and loving every minute of it I might add... ;-) ] I have made myself into an expert and an authority on the process of customizing or "pimping" profiles as my countless thousands on MySpace will vouch for me.

Before going deep on HOW to pimp MySpace, I'd first like to address WHY one should pimp his or her MySpace profile.

There are really two answers to this question...

The first is my expert opinion as a marketing specialist - "branding and differentiation."

As MySpace continues to grow at a frantic pace (there are currently over 108 million profiles on MySpace and growing at about 26,000 new ones daily) - it becomes increasingly difficult for an individual or an online business seeking to establish a presence on MySpace to "stand out from the crowd." A well pimped out profile allows for a unique user experience that separates and differentiates a profile from the millions of other "plain-vanilla", non-pimped profiles.

A customized profile allows for using corporate colors and logos as well as controlling the end-user experience to be consistent with one's overall brand identity.

Ok... having said that.

My second answer is more personal - simply "Because it looks cool and because you can."

So... having cleared that up.

The process of "pimping" or decorating and customizing a MySpace profile is part art/part science and consists of several key steps which should be addressed sequentially if you want to have a truly great looking profile.

In order, you must:

1. Choose the kind of look you are going for.

What will your profile be about? Is it about you? Is it for a business? Is there a specific atmosphere that you want your profile to have? You must be clear on what you want to portray and design in your profile prior to making any customizations.

This will help you save a lot of time and needless aggravation

2. Determine if you'll use a Pre-Made layout or create your own.

There are thousands of pre-made layouts available on the Internet. One need only to search in the search engines for the keywords "MySpace Layouts" to find page after page of web sites that offer pre-designed layouts for you to choose.

Another alternative, and my personal preference, is to design and develop your own profile look. By customizing your profile look and feel, you not only avoid the risk of using the exact same layout that somebody else is using but you also prevent any problems you may have with any copyrighted images in your layout that the original creator may not have secured and which may result in your profile being shut down by MySpace.

Should you choose instead to pimp your profile yourself, you will need to have a tool called a "MySpace Profile Editor" that will allow you to change most aspects of your profile including background images, colors, borders, fonts and a great number of other customizable options. You can do a search for "MySpace Profile Editor" to find one you can use.

Like in all software, there's the good, the bad and the ugly in profile editors and being tired of just finding "the bad", I personally chose to custom develop my very own easy to use, top of the line profile editor.

3. Customize your Contact table.

MySpace also allows you to customize a section of your profile called your "Contact Table." This is the small table underneath your default picture where you can select to Add as a Friend, Send a Message, Rate a Picture and other actions.

Once again, you can search on the web for "Pre-Made Contact Tables" that you can download and install but just like with pre-me profile layouts, you run into the same issues of not having a truly original profile and any potential copyright infringement issues.

My recommendation is, if you can develop your own contact table, by all means do so.

The general consensus on MySpace is that a profile is never truly pimped unless it has a custom table to go along with it...

So make sure that when you pimp your profile you choose a good looking contact table to go along with it.

4. Apply "hide codes" and "tweaks."

There are many other codes and so-called "hides and tweaks" that you can apply to your profile to make it hide specific information and change the look of many different elements including how pictures are displayed, if you want to center your profile and the order and number of how your friends are displayed. You can also apply effects to blur and reverse your images, add graphics that seem to "fall from the sky" and a great number of other options to embellish your profile.

In conclusion, pimping your MySpace profile is a very personal process and making your "Space" or profile be truly unique requires a combination of skills, patience and the willingness to try different things. Remember, in customizing your MySpace profile, there are no wrong answers and anything you create is yours to keep or discard (do overs are perfectly acceptable in MySpace... Unless of course you break any of MySpace's terms of service which can be accessed through a link at the bottom of every page on MySpace.)

Make sure you enjoy the process and don't be afraid to try new things - after all... it is YOUR MySpace profile, make it truly a reflection of who you are!

George Levy is an internationally recognized Internet marketing expert responsible for helping all types and sizes of businesses use the Internet to sell over $100 million dollars in the United States, Canada and 14 countries across Latin America. He is also commonly known as "His Mastership" on MySpace and is part of a select group of MySpace users commonly acknowledged as "Legends" and "VIPs" with thousands of friends worldwide and hundreds more added daily.

George is the expert author of the Internet Salesmanship newsletter and blog as well as the creator of best selling "MySpace Mastership" program with all the tools and video instructions necessary to Pimp your MySpace profile, make thousands of friends and become a well known celebrity on MySpace.

To find out more about George Levy, you may visit his blog at http://www.georgelevy.com and visit MySpace Mastership to receive his 5 day Free email course on achieving Mastership of MySpace at:

http://www.myspacemastership.com

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by Huzaili Aris

A conference call involves the communication between a calling party and more than one listener. There are numerous conference call services available, making it difficult to make a quick decision. The service that you choose will ultimately depend on the expectations and uses you wish get out of your conference calls. For some, only a few details matter, such as price, while others are in need of advanced services like on-the-spot technical support. Below are a few factors to consider when choosing the conference call service that is most compatible with your needs.

Business Conference Calls

When it comes time to report quarterly stats, many companies turn to conference calls. This allows them to communicate the ups and downs of their business to interested parties. A higher-level company executive, such as the CEO, often reads the company reports. Once the results are revealed, the call is then accessible for others to join in, namely stock analysts, who come with a slew of questions. Businesses may also use conference calls to promote their products or services. Seminar leaders may open a conference call to the public to share their marketing techniques or business strategies for free or a small price.

Entertainment-Based Conference Calls

Today, people are looking for more and more ways to make new friends or find the companion of their dreams. When bars and clubs get to be too much, the allure of chatting on a "party line" becomes increasingly appealing. Entertainment-based conference calls are used to provide a break from boredom, as well as a way to socialize with others. Participants call a phone number set aside for this purpose and are plugged into a whole new world of mingling and flirting.

Audio vs. Visual

Audio conference calls are less expensive and require less equipment than visual conferencing. Web conference calls also open up a host of potential problems, such as malfunctioning chat, instant message, and web cam services. Streaming video may also pose concerns. Although the capabilities of visual conference calls are vast and have a better way of getting the point across, depending on your intended audience, the concept might be too advanced.

To use visual conferencing as a business tool, you will also have to familiarize yourself with an assortment of software selections and other online options. Learning visual conferencing techniques is a process. For example, include too many large files and you may end up with a communication problem.

Conference Call Limitations

What kind of conference call do you want? Some services allow the called party to speak during a call, while other selections only allow called parties to listen to what is being said.

Conference Call Set-Up

Do you want to control how conference calls are received and made? Calling parties can place calls to desired participants or entrance to a call is gained by calling a special phone number.

Reservation vs Non-Reservation

When you choose a service offering reservation-less conference calls, you will enjoy more freedom. Calls can be placed at any time without speaking to an operator or setting up an appointment. Reservation services require you to schedule your call ahead of time.

Conference Call Commands

What sort of capabilities do calling parties have when choosing a service? Things to consider include the ability to get operator assistance, mute and unmute participants, alter ringing tones and record conversations.

Call Planning is Essential

Knowing how long your conference call will be allows you to shuffle along participants to meet time expectations. As a rule of thumb, a conference call centers on an hour or more. Larger groups demand longer time frames, but without the use of video, it is difficult to keep the interest of all participants.

Usually, about 1-3 minutes are given to each participant to voice his or her opinions. Often, an hour-long conversation handles about 1-2 topics. Another important factor pertaining to conference calls is to prepare for last-minute technical issues. Be aware of applicable time zones and schedule a conference call that will accommodate all of your desired participants. When choosing a service, make sure all customer and technical support will be handled in a timely manner.

Billing Plans

Accepting a variety of credit cards, some services offer per minute pricing plans. Once the conference call is completed, a call summary is emailed to you with all of the details. Applicable charges are then placed on your credit card. Additional plans include flat rate unlimited and monthly plans. Some companies offer a flat monthly rate of $60 for a maximum of five people that allows unlimited usage for the month.

Special Services

Will the conference call service you choose provide you with extra services? Depending on your needs, you may desire to have a taped recording of your conference call. Some services offer this luxury for a flat fee (around $25). Some charge an hourly rate if you wish to have a transcript of your call. Rebroadcasts are also offered through some services for a fee. For an extra charge, operator assistance might be available, which helps with the moderation of conference calls.

Several Conference Call Service Companies Reviewed

Accu Conference : This on-demand, fully automated toll-free service offers reservation-less service, free call recordings and live in-call web control for 9.9 cents per line. Operator service costs 13.9 cents. Unlimited use, flat-rate conferencing is offered, starting at $99 per month.

No Cost Conference : Offers free, reservation-less conference call capabilities, available 24 hours a day. You will receive a pin and dial-in phone number once a quick registration is completed. Free and cheap conference call services are good for short notice calls and limited budgets. With this option, reliability of service does become a concern.

WebEx : Offers conference call services, as well as helpful products, such as Meeting Center, Training Center, Support Center and Sales Center. They offer different solutions to better serve small, medium and large companies. They also offer decent live technical support and pay-per-use services.

OnConference : This service offers no set-up fee and has a listed price of 19 cents per minute per person with or without toll-free access.

Contact Call : Highly recommended for their operator-assisted services.

When you conduct careful comparisons and research on the many conference call services, you will be able to take advantage of a wealth of savings that regular phone services cannot provide.

Huzaili Aris is the webmaster of http://www.conferencecall101.com. Starting a conference call is not as complex as some people think. It is the easiest way to save you time and money for your business. Know all the information about making conference.

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by Jeff Davis

I’ve been scammed plenty of times.

I just lost $50 on a type at home scam!!

Not to mention the 5 years, $1000's of dollars and blood, sweat and tears, I put into trying to make money with my website.

By now, you'd think I could smell a scam a mile away.

Right?

Well, not always.

It seems that the smarter I get the smarter the scammers seem to get.

But when I decided that I wanted to work from home, I knew that I didn’t want to pay way to much money to get a job.

Nor did I wish to have to recruit tens or hundreds of people in order to get paid for whatever job I did get.

All I wanted was to do a better job than my competition.

You know--like I used to do in the “real” world.

Along the way I discovered that there were a lot of other people, just like me, who were trying to avoid the emotional and financial pain of being robbed, in a phoney scheme.

Over time, I realized that there is no 100-percent, sure-fire way to protect myself.

But I did learn--the hard way--that I could recognize some of the warning signs on the way, and how to minimize the risks of getting burned.

I eventually put my experience to work, started a web site, to help other people who want to work from home.

Following are some tips that I want to share with you so we can "flatten" your learning curve, and you won't suffer the same heartache, and frustration that I did.........

These tips are easy to follow, and I offer them below with the hope of helping you find a real way to make money online with your website.

1. Don’t pay for an opportunity, they obviously are not in it for the long haul, and have no intention of putting you first.

2. If you find that the company uses language like this in their copy, you should run screaming the other way.

Words like:

matrix, power line, no experience necessary, free information, big money fast, you get the picture, and I am sure you get bombarded by these sleezy tactics every day.

3. Look out for companies that hire “internationally”.

Chances are great that the “company” is really a person who already has an up line, down line, or whatever.

4. Don’t send an SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) for further information. If they can't afford stamps, how are they going to pay YOU?

5. Shy away from 900 numbers, most honest marketers, will provide you with real contact information. Do a "who is" and do your "Due Dilligence"

6. Don't buy courses and materials that the company "provides" for a price. If you don’t already have the tools for the job, then you probably aren’t qualified for the job.

7. Examine the advertising copy with a fine tooth comb, often time the "hook" is in small print.

8. Check the track record of the compay, before agreeing to work for it. Your hard-earned pay might end up being the owners’ grocery money, because they didn’t budget their start-up money properly.

9. The Better Business Bureau is a great place to start researching a company. Although companies pay to be listed there, any company that gets complaints will also be listed--for free.

10. Join the forums that relate to your niche, and you will find like minded people who love to expose a scam when they find one. This is a valuable resource alone, will save you a lot of time and trouble.

Don't balatantly advertise, build relationships and be a "helper". Learn to enjoy helping others.

Article by Jeff Davis. Did you find those tips on avoiding scams useful? You can learn a lot more about how to make money with your website here: http://how-to-make-money-with-your-web-site.com

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by John Case

Writing informative articles and syndicating them over the internet is an easy way to get hundreds, or even thousands, of one-way links to your site, skyrocketing your search engine rankings. As your articles spread across the internet, more and more readers who find the articles useful will find and follow links to your site. You will become known as a leader, not a follower in your field, as your name and homepage link appears on hundreds of other sites.

Many webmasters have never heard of article syndication. Those who know about syndication often avoid it, thinking it is too much trouble, or that they have nothing to write about. Other might see no reason to give away valuable content for nothing. However, producing and distributing articles is not nearly as difficult as it might seem, and the advantages are many.

Creating Your Articles

If the prospect of sitting down to write a few articles frightens you, one option is to outsource the work by hiring a ghostwriter. Ghostwriters can be found by registering at www.elance.com or www.directfreelance.com and posting a simple project outline. Writers will bid on your project, and you accept the writer with the qualifications and bid that best suits you. If you go to the trouble of hiring a ghostwriter, it is probably a good idea to get them to research and write a number of articles, rather than just one.

You can also easily produce new articles by recycling some content from your site, or creating several articles with some overlapping content. For example, if you are running a site on pilates (a type of exercise) you could easily produce four articles with titles like “Just What is Pilates?,” “A Brief History of Pilates?,” “Is Pilates Right for You?,” and “Why is Pilates So Popular with Hollywood Celebs?,” and use a bit of general information in all four articles. The content does not have to be revolutionary-in fact, there is a greater demand for general, “for dummies”-type introductory articles. You should proofread your articles before sending them out, or that one typo will soon be replicated hundreds of times. However, the writing does not have to be at the Pulitzer-Prize level. Just try to write simple, straightforward articles introducing the topics of your site, geared toward someone with no previous knowledge.

Tips on Writing Articles

Include a reprint disclaimer at the bottom of each article. For example: “Webmasters are free to reprint this article provided that it is not edited, the author's information is included, and the links are included as live links.”

Many directories will reject articles that include links to your site in the body text. Include links to your site in the “Author info” section.

The “author info” section, also called the “resource box” at the bottom of the article is a place for you to include a link to your site and brief introduction. Always remember to include this, as there is little point in syndicating articles without it. Here is an example of a simple resource box text: “John Smith is the author of http://www.Domian.com, a free guide to making an income online, and maintains an SEO site at http://www.Domain.com”

Distributing You Articles

There are a number of free article directories below where you can register and submit your articles. Most of them are large sites that are constantly growing as authors add new articles every day, meaning that the search engines often spider them. Even if your articles are never picked up and republished, submitting them to the directories alone will have a huge effect on your search engine rankings. The submission guidelines vary a bit from site to site.

About The Author
John Case is the author of the Complete SEO Training Course (http://www.complete-seo-training.com/) and maintains an experimental advertising site at http://www.awordsworth1000pictures.com/.

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by Sharon Housley

RSS is not quite a household word, but technically astute individuals are adopting the use of RSS feeds at an alarming rate. If you are interested in jumping on the bandwagon, but not quite sure of where to start, consider following these simple RSS feed tips to maximize feed compatibility and make your feed stand out from the crowd.

RSS DO's

1. Titles and Descriptions.

Always include meaningful keywords in your RSS feed's Channel title and description. Many readers will view or search for topic specific RSS feeds using keywords or keyword phrases. If you have descriptive keywords in your RSS feed's title and description the feed is more likely to be located and subscribed to by interested parties.

2. GUID Format.

Always include a GUID with each feed item. The GUID is a globally unique identifier. Each post should use a different GUID. The GUID will in some cases assist RSS news readers and aggregation software in determining when new content has been added to the RSS feed or when existing content in an RSS feed has been modified. If you do not use GUID's, the software used to aggregate the feeds may have difficulty detecting changes to feed items or the software may not always recognize new content.

3. Publish Dates.

Always include a publish date on feed items. The publish date should be used even if the content is timeless. The Publish Date will help readers determine that status of the content contained in the feed item.

4. Polish Your Feed.

Consider including images within your RSS feed. While the added images will not necessarily improve ranking, they will add a polished look to your RSS feed and help brand your feed.

5. Feed Hosting.

Either host your own feed, or set it up to forward to a third party from your website. This will allow you retain complete control over the RSS feed. You will not need to rely on the stability of another company. If you control the forwarding and at any point you are dissatisfied with the service provided by the third party, you can redirect the feed to another location.

RSS DON'Ts

1. Plagiarize.

Do not plagiarize content in your RSS feed, there is little more to be said. Written words are considered protected in most countries. Posting someone else's work and taking credit for their words is wrong and will damage your reputation as a credible source.

2. Splog.

Do not create splogs by automating feed creation. Splogs just clutter the search engines and directories and make it difficult to locate RSS feeds with meaningful content.

3. Violate Copyrights.

Do not violate copyrights by republishing an RSS feeds contents. If you quote content from another RSS feed, credit the source and provide and link to the original source of the content. As a rule of thumb, editorial content should exceed the length of the quoted material in the post.

4. Violate TOS.

Do not republish RSS feeds without confirming that feed syndication is allowed. The terms of use are not always apparent, so it is important that you check the terms of service on the publisher's feed subscription page prior to syndicating the contents of another publisher's RSS feed.

5. Provide Multiple Feed Formats.

Do not provide multiple feed formats for the same content. As far as the subscriber is concerned, the version of RSS that you are using is irrelevant. Multiple versions of the same feed simply cause confusion. Almost all RSS readers and news aggregators support all versions of RSS, simply choose a version and provide a single feed.

By adopting good feed practices, you can reap the benefits of having an RSS feed. Following these simple RSS do's and don'ts will get you started on the path to RSS success.

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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by Judith A. Wentzel

Do you have all the money you desire? Are you just making ends meet, living from paycheck to paycheck?

You can have a life of abundance. It can easily come to you, if you know how.

Having a job I adore, a loving relationship, and the life I desire allows me to lead through example. It enables me to show you how to attract what you desire into your life, just as I am doing in mine.

My life wasn’t always this great. I have had a lot of hard times and experienced more than my share of tragedy and heartache. It wasn’t until after my children had grown and moved away that I would discover what many other people already knew.

If you desire abundance, you must see abundance already in your life. Sound a bit ridiculous? It really isn’t. Let me explain.

In order to attract abundance, you must first have an abundance mindset. If you change your thoughts, you can change your life.

You may be thinking that you have an abundance mindset and have been focusing on more money, landing a better job, etc. Have you been thinking about having enough money to pay your bills off or get out of debt? If that has been your focus, it’s no wonder you haven’t attracted the money you desire. I’d bet you have continued to struggle with bills and incur debt. By simply placing these two negative thoughts (bills, debt) into your focus, you have subconsciously attracted more of the same types of issues/events to you.

An abundance mindset focuses on the lifestyle you would have living with abundance. Instead of thinking about the lack, focus on having plenty of money to manage all of your needs. Focus on having more than enough money for the things that you want.

Perhaps one of your desires is to be able to take a vacation. Focus on taking that vacation. Feel how wonderful it would be to do the things you desire. By thinking about taking a vacation and having more than enough money for the entire trip, you are focusing on what you truly want and developing a mindset that is in harmony with your desires.

Developing an abundance mindset may not be easy at first, but with a little practice, it will become your normal way of thinking. You will soon begin to see little signs of abundance coming into your life.

I suggest you take note of everything you experience, no matter how small, and be appreciative of it. For example, finding a penny on the sidewalk or getting a great parking space would be two examples of abundance. Having someone treat you to lunch is another.

When you begin to notice and appreciate the small things in your life, it will also help place you in a more receptive and allowing mindset. Keeping an abundance or gratitude journal is a great way of reminding yourself of all the abundance in your life.

Besides, if all of us would take just a few minutes out of our day to reflect on the nice things we have experienced, we would soon realize the abundance already present in our lives. It would brighten our outlook, raise our emotions, and allow us to be more of a magnet for attracting more of the same things to us.

Having a life coach can be extremely beneficial when it comes to learning how to attract your desires -- especially if they are trained in the Law of Attraction. Even Tiger Woods has a coach. Many coaches, myself included, offer complimentary consultative sessions so that people can experience the many benefits that working with a life coach has to offer.

Why not take that next step? Discover for yourself how easy it is to change your thoughts and change your life. You won’t be disappointed.

©2007 Judith A. Wentzel – Law of Attraction Coach, Life & Business Coach, EFT Practitioner & Image Smarter Marketing Specialist. Assisting individuals and small business owners to unleash the power within and skyrocketing their lives and business since 1997.
http://www.JudithWentzel.com
http://www.UsingLawOfAttraction.com
http://www.ImageSmarterMarketing.com

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by Johnny Albertson

Establishing yourself as the expert in your field will help you gain both recognition and respect. That recognition and respect transfers directly to your company. If people trust that you truly know what you're talking about, they will feel good about investing in your product.

How to Gain Recognition

There are countless vehicles through which you can brand yourself as an expert. Budgets tend to limit what most companies can do, however. While television and radio appearances will reach the greatest number of people and are also the most personal, most companies can't afford such an endeavor.

Newspapers, magazines, and other publications are a more cost effective way of gaining exposure.

The Internet has become an increasingly popular place for business owners to showcase their expertise. The opportunities for brand establishment on the Internet are countless.

A Website is the best place to start. Build a professional looking site with sound and informative content and you'll have a source of expert information to direct customers to. It is wise to upload a variety of self-written material to that Website. Whether it's E-books or articles, good writing commands respect.

Remember that it is okay to give away some of your precious knowledge free of charge. Offer the customer something useful up-front and they will label you as a legitimate source to go to for whatever your company may offer.

Branding on the Internet

Once your Website is in good shape, it's time to attract some visitors. Article marketing is one way to do this. Appearing as an expert in these self-written articles, published on various sites, will give readers the option of linking back to your site.

Article marketing is an especially effective way to gain expert status because it gives you the ability to dispense a small number of articles to a huge number of content-rich sites. The more places your name pops up, the more people will be exposed to your site and product.

You can be assured you have risen to an expert level in the eyes of consumers once these associations are made.

Another way to display your expertise is through online forums and blogs. This is a bit more casual than article writing. It allows you to remain in the first person and talk candidly with interested Web surfers. The conversational tone used in such settings will put many potential customers at ease.

Not only will they view you as an expert, they'll also feel connected to you as a real human being. Similarly, such an environment gives customers the chance to ask questions as well as giving you the opportunity to back up your product in the face of criticism.

What to Highlight

While the language you use and the information you present is most important when it comes to branding, there are other things to consider. Perhaps most vital are your credentials. Related degrees, certifications, licenses and accreditations that you may have are always good to highlight.

For instance, at the bottom of an article you have written about your clown entertainment business for a circus magazine, you might include a small blurb that says something like the following: "Tom Jones received an M.A. in the Creative Arts from Bozonion University. He is a licensed Balloon Animal Artist as well as being certified in professional stilt-walking. Mr. Jones has been successfully entertaining for over twenty-five years."

Find the right places to gain recognition. Put yourself out there and command respect through that exposure. Highlight your achievements and successes. Branding yourself as an expert is all about getting other people to recognize something about you that you already know.

It's your business and you know your industry. Get out there and showcase your expert talents!

Johnny Albertson is a musician, blogger and writer. Visit his blog, Beatin' the Blues (http://www.beatintheblues.blogspot.com/) for more insights and pearls of wisdom. Johnny is a big fan of Article Marketer (http://www.articlemarketer.com/), an online article distribution service.

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by Helen Hecker

With careful planning you can market, promote, and get (free) publicity (publicity is always free) on a limited budget; you can take the cheap and easy way to success. Whether you've just published a book, or have a book that isn't selling, now is the time to get to it; start marketing today!

Send out the same press release to the editor of your local daily newspaper every week until you are called for an interview or are written up. Your book press release should not be written as you would a sales letter or flier, it should be written for the editor and tell about your book in a factual way. No opinion or glowing remarks. Make sure your press release spells out the 'who, what, where, when, and why.'

Make sure you have at least one good press release, written in AP style, that you can send out for the lifetime of your book. Mail a press release to all the trade journals in your field over and over again; you can use the same release. When picked up by wire services, a press release can easily end up generating hundreds of mentions for your book.

Press releases can generate thousands of dollars in sales when picked up by national trade or print media. Don't underestimate the value of a good press release for making book sales.

Find a non-exclusive distributor with a good reputation to carry your book for the book store trade, as well as for other retailers. Contact any companies, corporations or organizations that might use your book for promotions; offer significant discounts for volume orders or, for thousands of copies, offer them for a small amount above your book production costs.

Place free ads periodically for your book's Website on Craigslist, in different categories, to drive even more free traffic to your Website.

Contact non-bookstore booksellers and offer to leave books on consignment. Be your own publicist and send a press release along with a review copy of your book to publications in your book's genre and to book review magazines. Offer to trade writing a monthly column in a trade publication in your books' genre, in return for display ads on the same page.

Your sales letter or flier should include an eye-grabbing headline, the benefits to the buyer, the book features, book sales information and testimonials.

Remember to make sure your book is listed in Books-in-Print; don't assume it's already listed. Every day it's important to focus on a variety of marketing approaches.

Make sure not to overlook the Internet; get yourself interviewed or profiled for sites both about writing, publishing and about the topics covered in your book. Market your book to your number one market first, and then go after the secondary markets. Try giving away one of your books in a raffle at a local function to get more book recognition.

Get as many testimonials about your book as possible, from experts in the field relating to your title, not customers; use on your fliers and back of books. I've seen publishers lose a lot of money paying for expensive display ads, so beware if you do this; I don't advise it in the beginning -- get your feet wet first so you know what you're doing.

Make sure to promote and market your book each and every day, both online and offline. Create an online contest and list it in online contest directories to drive traffic to your Website.

Use your book promotion and book marketing dollars wisely; go after the free and cheap resources daily. Make sure to test, test, and test some more before you lay out large sums of money. The success of any book marketing effort depends on a good book and just plain hard work; its been done many times before and you can do it too.

For more book marketing tips (http://www.twinpeakspress.com/) and information on selling more books, go to http://www.TwinPeaksPress.com , founded in 1982, specializing in help for authors, self publishers, E-book and book publishers with tips, advice and resources, including information on media, library and other mailing lists, and press releases - online, wire service and offline distribution (http://www.twinpeakspress.com/)

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by Willie Crawford

One of the newest buzzwords in the Internet marketing niche is co-reg leads (short for co-registration leads). The recent release of a very good product called Pipeline Profits has started a lot of open discussion about something that seasoned Internet marketers have long known about, but also rarely openly discussed.

My definition of generating a co-registration lead is "capturing the permission to send someone more information on a topic in the process of them doing something else."

Examples of generating a co-registration lead include:

1) You register a piece of software and, in the process, you check a box on the form asking for information on the products and services of the company or its associates.

2) You download a free piece of software or other gift and, in the process, you check a box requesting any of several ezines offered on the order form.

3) You enter an online drawing or prize contest and, in the process, you check a box requesting more information on building an online business.

4) You sign up for a free email account, or to use an online service and, in the process, you check boxes asking for more information on a variety of niche topics that can range from business, to health, to pets, to... “you name it.”

5) You subscribe to an ezine on a webpage and, in the process (or on the confirmation page), you are invited to subscribe to any of several other related ezines.

Number five is a technique that I have used with success. You and your partners jointly grow each other’s lists.

All of these are examples of generating a co-registration lead. In the process of taking one action, your prospect can also "co-register" for something else.

The process has been in-place for a very long time and is used by some VERY big companies. The recent product release that dealt with the topic focused on using co-reg leads to generate Website traffic. In that system, leads are generated using techniques similar to the ones outlined above, and then, in the follow-up process, the person who obtains the leads drives them to a Website and, eventually leads them to make a purchase.

The recently released Pipeline Profits is something that I checked out thoroughly, and saw as worth adding to my Web business arsenal. They have eight different videos posted on their Website that do a great job of explaining what their system is. You can watch all of those videos via "inner circle" connections at: http://TheInternetMarketingInnerCircle.com/co-regs/ Scroll to the very bottom of this page for the links to each of those free videos.

My first in-depth understanding of the nature of co-reg leads was from conversations with Edward Thorpe. Ed is now an old and treasured friend. Ed wrote an ebook, that he most recently updated December of 2006, which is entitled "Co-reg Secrets." Co-reg Secrets is available at: http://CoregistrationMasters.com

In his ebook, Ed asserts that "all co-reg leads are junk." That's a pretty bold statement in an ebook that teaches you how to use co-registration leads to build a list and grow your business.

Ed explains that this is true because, until you build a relationship with the individuals behind those "leads," they are worthless. They don't know who you are, don't trust you, and aren't even certain how you got their names and email addresses.

As Ed explains in his ebook, and Buck and Brock explain in Pipeline Profits, there are different qualities of co-reg leads. Some of the factors that distinguish one batch from another are:

1) Whether or not the box confirming that they want to receive the additional information was pre-checked. If it's pre-checked, realize that, since no conscious opt-in action is required on the subscriber's part, they may inadvertently subscribe.

2) Whether or not they are incentivized to join as many lists as possible. If they get some kind of points or prize just for joining lists, then there's a higher probability that they have no real interest in the topics of the lists.

3) How fresh the co-reg leads are. There are systems that deliver the leads to your autoresponder system as soon as the form is filled in. This is what is advocated by Pipeline Profits. There are many "list brokers" who sell lists that are anywhere from hours old to MONTHS old.

Generally, the older a list, the more "dangerous" it is for an online marketer to use it. The problems with older leads are that the person may not remember having requested information on the topic, AND the person has probably been contacted by so many others that they are now ready to "choke" the next online marketer who contacts them.

There are numerous other factors that determine the quality of co-registration leads and how useful they are in building your online business. There are numerous ways of using them in your business, and some of them can very quickly cause your business to get shut down, or can generate lawsuits from businesses that feel you have tarnished their images.

Seeing all the confusion in the marketplace on the topic of co-reg leads, I tracked down Ed Thorpe, who is semi-retired, and talked him into doing a recorded teleseminar with me. In the teleseminar, I grill him on a topic that he first wrote about at the turn of the century :-)

Like me, Ed has spent a decade online building a very successful business by teaching others what actually works. Like me, Ed believes that you benefit the most by giving. In fact, one of Ed's email signature files reads, "He who helps the most people - wins." That's the person I want in my corner, and when it comes to a topic as confusing as using co-registration leads in your online business, he is the person you should learn from. I consider him "the grand master of co-reg leads knowledge."

You can access the teleseminar with Ed at: http://CoregMasters.com

Hopefully, we have cleared up the confusion of exactly what a co-reg lead is, how it might fit into your business model, and where to learn more on this fairly complex topic.

co-reg lead, co-registration lead, lead generation

Willie Crawford (http://www.WillieCrawford.com) has been uncovering and teaching real internet marketing insider information for more than 10 years. Don't miss his in-depth recorded discussion of co-registration leads (or "co-reg leads") with Ed Thorpe, author of "Co-Reg Secrets." Get the truth about co-reg leads at: http://CoregMasters.com .

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by Stone Evans

Many people think that starting an Internet home business is hard. In fact, there is no business in the world that is faster or easier to launch. If you have 15 minutes and a connection to the Internet, I'll show you how to launch your own Internet business right away.

Before you launch your first Internet home business, you need to understand the basics. The first step of having a business on the Internet is having your own Website. This is the major stumbling block for most people. They think getting a Website is expensive or difficult. It's neither of those things. Actually, it's free and it's easy. In fact, let's go ahead and get your first Website setup right now.

To do this, I recommend using a free tool called Blogger. Blogger is used for creating blogs on the fly, but a blog is nothing more than a fancy name for a Website. To set up your blog Website now, visit: http://www.Blogger.com

Once you arrive, click the "Create Your Blog Now" button on the page. On the next page, enter a user name, password, display name and email address. Then click "Continue." On the next page, enter a blog title and blog address. These can be anything you want. Then enter the word verification code and click "Continue." On the next page, choose a template for your blog (this is what your Website will look like) and click "Continue."

Voila... Your blog/Website has been created!

Next, click the "Start Posting" button. A new page will appear giving you the option to add content to your new Website. Write a title for your page in the "Title" field and then write whatever you want that page of your Website to be about in the larger data entry field below the "Title" field on that page. You can use the tools on that page to change your fonts, make links, format your text, add pictures, etc.

When you're happy with what you've entered into the page, click the "Publish Post" button. You just created a new page on your Website! On the next page displayed, you'll see a link that says: "View Blog". Click that link and you'll see your Website live on the Internet. Pretty easy, right?! ;-) Now you can wash, rinse, repeat and create as many new pages on your Website as you want.

But, let's turn your Website into a business first. After all, Websites are a lot more fun once they are making money for you.

Here's how:

Get back into your Blogger account and click the "Template" tab. Then click the "AdSense" link near the top of the page. AdSense is a simple but powerful program that allows you to earn advertising revenue from your Website. Follow the easy instructions on that page to launch your AdSense account instantly. On the next page, click the "Save" button to save AdSense into your Website. Then, on the next page. click the "Republish" button. Your Website will instantly be rebuilt, now showing a Google AdSense ad at the top of each page on your Website. Every time someone visits your Website and clicks one of those ads, you earn money from AdSense.

You now have a moneymaking business setup on the Internet. How long did that take? 15 minutes! ;-)

The only thing you need to do now to start the cash flowing in is get people to visit your new Website. One way to do this would be to tell your friends and family about your site. Here are two more easy things you can do to drive an unstoppable flow of traffic to your new Website:

Traffic Strategy 1: Tell all the major blog directories about your new blog/Website. To do this, visit http://www.PingoMatic.com and enter your blog name, blog URL (that's the link to your Website generated by Blogger), check all the boxes on that page and click the "Send Pings" button. This will tell all the blog directories about your new blog/Website and you'll start getting some traffic from interested visitors to those directories. Do this each time you add a new page to your blog.

Traffic Strategy 2: Go back to your blog URL/home page and click the "Next Blog" button at the top of the page. This will take you to another blog of another Blogger user. Read through a post or two on that person's blog and look for a link that says "Comments" and click it. On the next page, you'll be able to type your comments and a link back to your blog inside a form. Once you've added your comments, click the "Login and Publish" button; and a link to your site along with your comments will be added to that blog. Repeat this process as many times as you want with other blog Websites. This will "link you in" to a network of sites all over the Internet helping you drive a steady stream of traffic to your blog.

Blogger is a great tool to launch your Internet home business, but it's not the only tool you should be using. To build a solid Internet home business that you can rely on, you need to register your own domain name and Website hosting account. A domain name is your unique home on the Web that you own and control. Example: domain names are yahoo.com, ebay.com, google.com, etc.

You could either register your own name as a domain or a keyword of something related to the topic of your business. Either way, if you are going to have a legitimate long-term home business on the Internet, a domain name and Website hosting account are required. When choosing a domain name and hosting account, it's important to select a company that has a track record for success. The company I host all my Websites with is at: http://www.PlugInProfitHost.com

This top-rated Website hosting company also provides several turn-key Internet home businesses called "Plug-In Profit Sites" such as the one described at: http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com which is a very popular and easy way to start earning multiple streams of income on the Internet. In fact, in addition to the blog you launched a few moments ago, you can get a Plug-In Profit Site setup in the next 24 hours and add another 5 easy streams of income to your Internet home business.

Alternatively, there are other turn-key Internet home business systems such as the one described at: http://www.HomeBusiness.org which provides a proven formula to start making money online within minutes of signing up. In fact, I earn an extra 5-figures every month using the above mentioned system myself.

As you can see, starting an Internet home business is actually a very fast and easy thing to do. Now that you know this, there should be nothing stopping you from earning a little extra income from home on the Internet. Persevere and you can make it your living just like myself and countless others have done.

Stone Evans (articles@home-business.com), The Home Biz Guy, is an Internet home business authority who has helped thousands of people launch a successful Internet home business. To learn more about Stone Evans and find an Internet home business that is right for you visit http://www.Home-Business.com .

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by Martin Lukac

Most of us been there when it comes to duplicate pages. You may have news, or articles from news companies that provide you with the news feed. Or you might have your Website designed by a third party that uses the same tools on all of their clients' Websites.

But, did you know that this duplicate content can LOWER your search engine rankings? In today's SEO (Search Engine Optimization)-driven Website world, it is important to avoid duplicate content as much as possible.

What are duplicate pages for search engines?

It is obvious that duplicate means the same as something else. For search engines, this means the same exact page, the same exact title, the same keywords etc. Search Engines send spiders -- for example Google's spider is called "googlebot," Yahoo has "yahoo slurp" -- to crawl your Website looking for and gathering content or information.

These spiders look for certain information: What is this page about? Is it relevant to your Website? etc.

If any of these search engines find the same content on a different Website, they start to compare the content. First they look when this content was indexed and from which Website it was submitted first to the search engines.

Then they start to look for links.

Are there any links on these pages that point to the same source? This way, search engine can determine who is the priority Website and they assign a higher rank to that site.

But -- what about rest of the Web-sites? What will happen to them?

If you have articles or news that are duplicate content, you Website will go lower in search engines. It may take some time until the search engines actually visit your Website and assign a duplicate content filter. But, eventually, the search engines will simply filter your Website out of their search.

What if you pay a licensing fee for these articles?

The only way for search engines such as Google to understand this, is when you E-mail them and explain your content. To do this, you will need to do a re-inclusion request.

What if you like free articles published on different article sites?

No matter what you do, the search engines will hit you with duplicate content, however, you can teach search engines about your content.

First, reduce the number of articles that you have copied. Get some new fresh well-written articles. Make sure that the majority of your content is your own and the rest is articles from other sources.

Second, articles must be related to your field. If you write about real estate, make sure you stick with real estate and finance articles only. Show search engines that you have categories and your readers benefit from these articles.

Third, do a re-inclusion request and wait.

In few weeks, you should see some movement in your site rankings. If it is not improving, reduce the number of articles again.

With free articles, it's a cat-and-mouse game all over. It's hard to figure out as how the algorithms are set in Google, for example, for duplicate content, in addition to the way Google deals with re-produced articles that you can freely post anywhere.

What if you have a Website that was designed by third party company?

Most Website companies use the same templates or similar templates. That's what they give you and rest of their clients -- the same and exact FAQ pages, About Us pages, etc.

You want to avoid this as much as possible. Always re-write these text blocks by yourself. This way, you will create unique pages for your Website.

Duplicating content is one of the biggest mistakes many Webmasters make when it comes to creating their Websites. Always try to create your own posts and, if you really want to expand your article base, make sure you provide valuable content to your users, not just another article Website.

Engine Promoter, (www.EnginePromoter.com) is a search engine marketing Website for search engine optimization and Website submission. Promote your Website and get top rotating positions on over 250+ search engines, including a niche Website submission. Engine Promoter also operates #1 Shopping Online and www.RateEmpire.com.

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by Graham Jones

Every day, you can read stories about people who have made a fortune online. Being an Internet entrepreneur is clearly attractive. You can work at home, you can choose your own hours and, so it seems, you can take truckloads of cash to the bank.

Yet, in spite of the successes we hear about, most people who try their hand at being an Internet entrepreneur fail.

They buy all the E-books and audio CDs that contain instructions from the "gurus." They attend teleseminars, Internet marketing conferences and even sign up for one-to-one coaching programs.

Yet, in spite of the thousands they spend on their own education, they still don't make the millions their mentors achieve.

So -- why is that?

Why is it that only a tiny proportion of would-be Internet entrepreneurs actually make the grade? It's been estimated that only 2% of people who try their hand at Internet marketing succeed. The rest keep trying, without any real success.

The factor that marks out the top entrepreneurs from the rest is one of attitude; that's all. What the millionaire online entrepreneurs do is treat the entire activity as a proper business. They have meticulous plans, they engage in detailed market research and they monitor every aspect of their online work, so they can improve on their results each day.

In other words, the top Internet marketers don't just "play at it;" they take it very seriously.

Yes, some of them don't work full time. But, when they do work, they work hard. They don't just tinker at things, trying an E-mail campaign here, an ad there and the occasional request to add a link to their Web site. Instead, they have specific targets they wish to achieve and then they write detailed plans about how they will go about achieving that goal.

Furthermore, the successful Internet entrepreneurs are focused on what they do. They don't try and sell one E-book today, an audio on a different subject tomorrow and a report on something else next week. While they may have several different products, they will focus their efforts, one at a time.

If you're trying to make money online and don't have the same success as your Internet marketing heroes, you could try the following:

1. Focus on what you really want to achieve
2. Choose just one product or service
3. Set targets for your sales on an annual, monthly and weekly basis
4. Work out the ways you will reach those targets
5. Do one thing at a time in your list of activities designed to achieve your targets
6. Monitor your results and adapt your work accordingly
7 Learn from what you achieve and use that knowledge in future projects

Working on just one product at a time may seem time-consuming, but it will pay dividends in the long run. Further advice can be found at http://www.magicformulabook.com

Graham Jones is an Internet psychologist who helps people make more money online. http://www.grahamjones.co.uk.

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by Joe Thompson

It is important that you conduct your due diligence before settling on one particular merchant credit card processing account provider. The reasons are obvious. You certainly don't want to be stuck paying high monthly fees. Plus, I'm sure you wouldn't want to overpay on a processing solution.

Don't let price be the only deciding factor, though! We'll look at this in a minute.

Never hurry through when trying to find a merchant account. If you move too fast, you will surely miss out on a really great deal. I can't stress this enough. Don't wait until one week before opening your doors to customers, to find a merchant account provider. Not only would you miss out on a good deal but, in some cases, it can take up to a week to approve your application once its been submitted.

Three main factors should be considered when choosing a merchant account provider (in no particular order):

* Integrity of the provider
* Price
* Customer Service

We'll look at each determining factor, in detail, so you can get the scoop on what to look for.

Integrity of the Merchant Account Provider

Don't automatically assume a provider is legitimate, just by what they have posted on their Website or what they might have conveyed to you over the telephone. The merchant account industry has a number of ruthless and greedy sales representatives who are more interested in themselves then helping you.

Here are some red flags to watch out for and suggestions to test a providers integrity:

* Repeatedly getting an answering machine every time you call.
* Representative seems to give you the run-around every time you ask them a question about rates or their agreement.
* If they use one of those free Web hosting services for their Website and/or a free domain name (i.e. www.xyz.com/user/4876/5thave/index.html), look the other way. If they can't afford a real domain name and website then they shouldn't be in business.
* They don't post all their rates and fess on their Website.

Scrutinize their merchant agreement, go over it with a fine tooth comb and question anything that appears "loose" or suspicious. You certainly don't want to get caught in a loophole.

Make sure their Website clearly shows what bank(s) they represent. It is unlawful for a merchant account provider not to show what banks they represent on their Website. Visa and MasterCard crack down hard on those who don't.

Search the Better Business Bureau, consumer reports, or online newsgroups for any unsatisfactory remarks made about the company.

Top Notch Customer Service is Paramount

Don't get carried away by great rates and forget about customer service. Customer service is king for long-term success and smooth transaction processing. You don't want to be plagued with busy signals and long hold times. Your time is precious and downtime will cost you money.

Before signing up with a company, try out their customer service number. Give it a ring and ask them a few questions. Take note of their attitude -- do they seem interested in wanting to help you? Are their answers fully-detailed, yet easy to understand?

Some aspects that should be met for superior customer service:

* Reliable availability (and yes, even on holidays, if possible. Definitely if your business operates 365 days a year!)
* Hold time of 5 minutes or less
* Friendly, courteous representatives who are knowledgeable
* A toll-free number

One last note before we move on -- don't get conned by providers who say the reason they charge high rates is because of the superior customer support they give, that other companies don't. Sure -- a slight price increase (most likely, never), but don't go overboard. Customer service is important, but shouldn't cost you hundreds more than with another provider.

This type of scam is just so they can fill up their pockets more.

Joe Thompson is founder of Thompson Merchant Services - http://www.thompsonmerchant.com, a Chase Paymentech Strategic Partner and provider of credit card, debit card, check, and gift card processing services.

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by Tyler James Ellison

The first thing you need to do when writing a press release to help drive targeted traffic to your Website is to put away your advertising glasses and put on your journalism cap. If your release sounds like advertising, it will not be read by many people and will be accepted by even fewer distributors.

You must sound like an objective third party as you write and it needs to sound like you have nothing to gain from the people who choose to visit your Website.

You should also tell an interesting story. It is a bad idea to go on blabbing about the features of the product or service on the Website you're promoting. That just doesn't qualify as interesting news.

What does qualify is a success story? Telling how a real person had a real problem that your product or service solved is very interesting and is way better than any ad you could buy.

You should also use statistics in your release as much as possible. Keep it simple, unless you plan to submit it to a technical journal, but showing real numbers does a lot to back up your claims and win you credibility.

Compare two example headlines for a moment. The first one says, "Lives saved in burning building." The second one says, "47 lives saved in burning building." It's obvious that the second is much more interesting. The number allows people to understand the scope of the event in much greater detail.

There is a right way to slip a little advertising into your press release. This sounds like I'm doubling back on myself, but not really. Don't include promotional language in the main body of the press release, but do include it as if quoting an expert on the subject.

Quoting somebody else does nothing to hurt your reputation as a writer and, if the quote is relevant, then it deserves to be included. Quote yourself, if you have to, but include quotes as the subtle way of getting a little advertising into your press releases.

Finally, when you write press releases online, usually the company will want to charge you to include clickable links with keywords embedded. You can save money by giving up the keywords in your clickable link and simply state somewhere, in the body of the release, the full URL of the Website you're promoting.

This will often (although not always) get your link, clickable, on the publication pages, without having to pay. You sacrifice the benefits of having keyword backlinks for Search Engine Optimization purposes but, if your budget is tight, then this is an excellent workaround.

There are plenty of places to submit for free, such as ArriveNet, I-NewsWire, Free-Press-Release, and OpenPr. Do some searching on your own for publications that are specific to your niche and you can submit there.

You should avoid getting your hopes up with this method, but persistence will get you one or two chances, which you can later refer to for credibility purposes. This will enhance your Website conversion ratio dramatically and you will start attracting links and traffic you never even tried to target!

Tyler Ellison is a successful entrepreneur who teaches automated marketing strategies (http://www.youcanworkthenet.com/) and encourages others to join the community at Little Guy Co-op (http://www.littleguyco-op.com/).

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by Shrinivas Vaidya

Do you know that all you need is 95 characters to survive on the Internet? The online world is not at all different from the usual offline world -- what we call the real world. Google, the busiest search engine on the Internet, started to sell advertising space on the search engine result pages in March, 2002. Instead of talking about this system, I'd like to try to answer a few questions.

* How does the system work?

It's very simple to understand. You go to Google.com, do a search and, when the search results show up, apart from the normal search results, Google also shows the ads of those advertisers who have decided to pay for that particular keyword to Google. The "paying" process in this case is a "bid" because pricing and position are determined on an auction basis.

* How much are the bids on keywords?

This is very difficult to answer. It's like real estate rates ... they entirely depend upon demand and supply of information for which the keyword is associated to.

But, one very important point here is that Google AdWords is a Pay Per Click system. This means it costs nothing to just show your ads on the Google search results pages. But, if someone clicks on your ad, Google will charge your credit card the bid mount that you have selected.

* What kinds of ads can I write?

These are normal text ads, limited to 25 characters for the title, 35 characters for the first description line, and 35 characters for the second description line. These total just 95 characters (including spaces). That's it. You get just 95 characters to show your creativity and drive traffic. Below these words, Google will also display the Website address you're advertising.

* How much time does it take to show up the ads on the search result pages?

Instantly. The moment you save your ad in the account panel, your ad becomes "active" and, depending upon the demand for the keywords you have selected, you start receiving traffic to your Website.

* How many keywords can I bid on for a given ad.

It entirely depends upon how much targeted traffic you want to your Website. It's quite obvious that bidding on more keywords will expose your ad to more search results and, thus, you can expect more traffic.

The AdWords system has a facility to create ad groups within your account and each ad group can take up to 1000 keywords.

This was a simple overview of the Google AdWords system for beginners. I hope it will help encourage you to study, in depth, more AdWords strategies that can create wonders for your online business.

Copyright, Shrinivas Vaidya

AdWords is the registered trademark of Google Inc.

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by Ken Chee

WIIIFM stands for "What Is It In For Me?"

This is an extremely important marketing concept when you want to market or sell yourself, an idea, a product, a company, a partnership or whatever you wish to sell to anyone. Here's the truth -- with compassion, because no one cares about what you do or how good your concepts/products are but, rather, how can you benefit them.

Let me show you two real-life examples:

1. I received this email from a blog, in my mailbox, earlier this week,

"Hi Ken,

Long heard about your stories from rags to riches. I'm very interested in your way of skills, interested to share some experiences with me. I'm interested in getting rich myself and being a speaker/presenter.

Any means of contacting you apart from email?

Thanks

Regards XXX"

Notice how this person phased the question? "I am interested to...", "I want to...", "I'm interested in getting rich myself..." etc.

I'm happy that this particular individual has such aspiration and desire. Great! But, where is the win/win situation here? WIIIFM?

Seriously, why should I help, apart from humanitarian reasons?

One of my young friends, Adam Wong, understood this marketing concept. Instead of asking his mentor, Adam Khoo, to coach and guide him to become a millionaire, he went to Adam Khoo and offered to help him market his IP materials online, because Adam Wong is keen in Internet Marketing himself.

In the process, he gets private time with his mentor and observes and models after his mentor, while making money online for his mentor and for himself. Smart chap.

Warren Buffett understudied and worked for his mentor, Benjamin Graham, to gain mastery on value investing.

One of my ex-staff, Jimmy Han, came to me one day and said this, even after I told him that we are not hiring because of budget: "Ken, I'm willing to work for you for $500 a month plus commissions, for a year, because I want to learn about marketing and advertising." He did. Now, he's running a start-up business using his new-found marketing and advertising insights, with another EAP graduate, Mike Sim, dealing with laptop computer accessories.

This is his email to us:

"...I would like to thank both Azhar and you for being my mentors during my stay in Just Media. Thank you and I have learnt a lot from you guys.

Cheers, Jimmy Han Qiyong"

2. I receive a phone call and an email marketing proposal today!

Happy new year.

I'm a EAP graduate of Executive Directions 2006. It's great to know you at the boot camp.

I've set up a company named XXX International Pte Ltd. We conduct events, such as conferences, forums, seminars etc., that build on 'People' through engaging people in the public, private and people sectors.

We are planning to launch a 'people action forum,' to kick off the platform for people in the corporate and community to learn, network and exchange, to further develop in their own organisational and community initiatives.

XXX International will be featuring presentations by professional speakers or trainers, keeping with the theme 'People for Success.' Speakers are invited for presentations that share real insights,experiences, knowledge and expertise. We aim to promote people engagement to foster and strengthen community relations and engagement with corporate groups in furthering organisations' objectives through the network exchange platform.

The program includes an opening performance from people sector at the forum and a dinner after the forum, to bring light moments to participants.

The event is targeted to see a gathering of 200-350 performance managers and leaders from corporates (public and private) and people sector.

As this is a newly incorporated company, I would be pleased to have your views or suggestions of how we can work from here with your expertise and resources.

The areas that we're looking forward to besides, event organisation are: a. sourcing for speakers, invitation of Guest-of-honour. b. marketing communication or advertising to carry messages across effectively, in reaching public, speakers, potential partner organisations. c. building up of teams and subsequent programs and activities.

More information of the company is at website: www.xxx.com.

I would be glad to answer your queries moving forward and any recommendations.

Looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you.

Have a good day.

Best Regards

XXX XXX International Pte Ltd tel: XXXX XXXX>

Now, my intention is to support EAP network and we grow together. One of my key secret of securing big deals successfully: I ALWAYS LISTEN AND ASK QUESTIONS FIRST!

In fact, ask good marketing and personal questions. I will explore and understand the pain/ desire/ challenges that my partners and clients are facing. I will then evaluate whether my company service or marketing/advertising expertise can add value to them.

I am sorry to say that this particular graduate email did not trigger my interest, however, because he/she did not even attempt to understand my needs! The above email is what I call features/data dumping.

Now, before you approach and market your great idea/product to your partners or clients, next time, pause and ask: What Is In It For them? I'm sure you will achieve a better result!

Ken Chee is the Group CEO of Integrated Media Group Pte Ltd. The companies specialize in ROI (Return on Investment) marketing and have spearheaded regional and local campaigns in Asia. Visit www.kenchee.com for IDEAS THAT SELL!

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by Kirk Bannerman

For reasons that I no longer remember, I kept sort of a diary during my first full year of working at a home-based business. It was nothing close to being a complete daily diary. It was more just a collection of scribbles about things that I felt were worthy of note at the time.

Since several years have passed since I wrote that diary, I decided to revisit these notes, out of curiosity.

In no particular order, here are some of the things that I made note of:

Choosing the path...

in the beginning, my enthusiasm was very high (perhaps too high?) and I was chasing off on several different home-based business opportunities at the same time (exhibiting the "dog in a meat market" syndrome, I suppose) and not focusing my efforts enough to be successful at any one of them.

I finally reigned myself in and focused on a single work at home business opportunity.

In other notes, I find reference to emotional and/or psychological issues that I experienced and are probably typical for most people when starting a home based business. When working at home a person can, at times, experience a feeling of isolation which is probably brought on by the lack of interaction of a work force environment.

There were also periods of doubt in the early going ... did I pick a viable business opportunity? ... am I doing the right things to develop my business? ... when will I start making a profit?, and
so on.

Many of the entries in my so-called diary had to do with the proverbial "two steps forward and one step backward" thing and the ever-looming temptation to become discouraged. Although I
didn't appreciate it at the time, it is now obvious that as long as you have more steps forward than backward, you will eventually get ahead!

Isn't hindsight wonderful?

Other entries reflect the fact that relatively minor events can seem huge in the early stages of developing a work at home business and can really contribute to an emotional roller coaster ride. For example, if you are just starting out and you have two customers/clients and you lose one ... that's a 50% drop! However, if you fast-forward in time to the point where you have hundreds of customers/clients and you lose one ... that's just a mere fraction of 1%! Same event, just at a different point in time.

Looking back on it now, some of the stuff I recorded now seems humorous, but I'm pretty sure that was not the case at the time I made the notations.

Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business. Visit his Website at http://www.business-at-home.us for more details.

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by Chiun Masters

It's the 21st century, and you're already aware of the rapid changes and development that your industry is going through, almost on a daily basis. It's becoming more and more competitive, and you need to grab every advantage that you can possibly get over your competitors.

The Internet seems like a good way to reach out to more customers and close bigger sales, but how would your small company stack up against the hundreds, or even thousands of companies selling products and services simila