Home Business The Easy Way - BTj Update http://www.blogmoneymiracle.com en-us EasyRSS
StumbleUpon has been one of the leading referral traffic social media networks which you should be using to boost traffic to your site/blog. You might not know that within a day if your site/blog is being stumbled by others, you might be drawing hundreds or thousands of visitors who are interested in what you have to offer. The more people who give a thumbs up and a review, the higher your chances are for your article to be exposed to others.

When you are stumbling another article, make sure that you also drop a review with relevant tagging. By dropping a review, the user will know you have given a read and he might drop by your profile and stumble sites that may belong to you as well. It will appear on your profile so that it looks more like a blog, and whatever review you give will tell others how good this article is and they will stumble further. Tagging is important as well. With relevant tags on the review, it will be sent out to others who are interested in this topic to give it maximum exposure.

Stumbling your Articles

Remember that you should try to avoid stumbling your own article, unless it is something that you think could benefit both your users and the readers on StumbleUpon-- then stumbling your own article would attract more people to see what you have.

Aim to be a Top Stumbler

This does not happen in a day, but it takes time to reach that status. Set a goal to become the TOP 50 STUMBLERS and start to stumble websites, photos and videos equally. Make sure you do not give only thumbs up and no reviews because a top stumbler does not only thumbs up, but gives a review and tagging as well.

What StumbleUpon Doesn't Want You To Know

I will now share what StumbleUpon does not intend to let you know on how you increase your status and also how you can work your way to a Top Stumbler.

Stumble more Videos and Photos

Would I be biting my own tongue if I said that stumbling more videos and photos can increase your ranks more than stumbling websites? According to my observations, a majority of the Top 50 stumblers actually have less pages stumbled on than many others but still gets ranked in the Top 50... why is that so?

The photos and videos they stumbled made a lot of difference, and it could be the way for you to become a Top Stumbler. Have you stumbled enough Videos and Photos to make this myth come true for you? If you have yet to, then do it quickly.

All in all, you need to learn how to stumble better -- don't just give a thumbs up and leave the site!

Etienne is an author and blogger who gives tips and tricks on how to make money online and strategic blogging and traffic tips. Learn how to increase targeted traffic at http://www.etienneteo.com/.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
Before you can put any of these rules to use, you may want to understand a little more about the differences between social media marketing and social media optimization.

SMM = Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing is strategically using the big social sites to spread your brand name or drive traffic back to your web presence.

SMO = Social Media Optimization

Social Media Optimization is adding key elements to your websites or content that make them easy to spread across the big social sites.

Rohit Bhargava Developed Social Media Optimization Rules 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

1. Increase your linkability

Linkability is the willingness of other websites or articles to link back to your site. One way to increase your natural Google listing is to increase how many authority sites link to you, so to increase your linkability with social media optimization is to make your site more informative and useful to others. You can do this in many ways; blog, white papers, press releases, keyword targeted articles, RSS feeds, etc. This is the most important step in Social Media Optimization and should be your first priority.

2. Make tagging and bookmarking easy

The act of tagging is to bookmark the website to social bookmarking websites. For example, if you like the content or services provided at a website, you tag it. This will show others that you approve of this site and they will check it out, making viral traffic. To include social media optimization tagging on your site, you can add tagging links such as Digg, Del.icio.us, Technorati, etc. Also, add the tagging links to other pages in your site (not just the homepage) and when visitors click the tag button, make sure that there is a suggestion box to help your visitor list a relevant tag as well as notes.

3. Reward inbound links

As I mentioned before, one way to increase your natural listing with Google using social media optimization is to get more back links. You can do this by rewarding people/websites that link to you (inbound links). Inbound links are links that send people to your site from somewhere else. One way to reward people for linking to your site is to have a “Recently Linked” section that lists all of the websites that have linked to you.

4. Help your content travel

Social media optimization focuses on providing useful content to your market. When you publish content such as an article, video, or audio file you must help it reach as many people on the web as possible. You can do this by submitting to relevant high traffic websites. When the word gets out about your great content (no matter what format) you’ll receive backlinks to your site.

5. Encourage the mashup

To mash up is to use two websites' content and mash them together. For example, YouTube makes it easy to mash their content (videos) onto your site. In addition, because it is so easy, you have added a video to your site that has a Youtube logo on the video as well as a link back to YouTube. So to encourage a mashup with social media optimization is to make it easy for other websites to use your content and reference it to drive traffic back to your site.

Jeremiah Owyang Developed Social Media Optimization Rules 6 and 7

6. Be a User Resource, even if it doesn’t help you.

One thing all visitors appreciate is honesty. With social media optimization, you should include links to other websites that will help your visitor reach their goal or find the information they want. Do this, even when it doesn’t benefit you. By linking to competitors or information not created by you, you reap the benefits of having the all inclusive information on a particular topic. In the end, more people will link to you because you have lumped all information (or links) on a topic in one location.

7. Reward helpful and valuable users

Valuable users are your best friends. A valuable user can be determined in many ways; they may send traffic to your site, add valuable content to your site, or assist visitors at your site. No matter what they're doing, if it benefits you, your site, or your service, you need to reward them. This could be by sending a personal message thanking them for their dedication. Other ways to reward your valuable users is to create a rewards systems, advertise for them or promote their efforts on your homepage.

Cameron Olthuis Developed Social Media Optimization Rules 8, 9, 10, and 11

8. Participate

With Social Media Optimization you can participate by joining on the conversation about your topic (or targeted keyword). Simply posting articles and sharing content isn’t going to keep the buzz going. You should continue to share information on other websites. This participation will share your knowledge with more people. One way to do this is to find people that are blogging on your topic and to give input on the conversation. Also, participate in forums or other social groups that are discussing your topic. Read comments on your articles, videos, and audios and respond to them.

9. Know how to target your audience

Social media marketing is about sharing content/information. Not everyone is interested in your topic, so be sure to do your marketing research and post your information and knowledge where it will be understood and appreciated.

10. Create content

Content is considered to be any form of information that benefits a visitor. Content can be a white paper, article, video, audio, widget, etc. Your job is to find a piece of content that will spark interest in visitors. No matter what market you enter, there is always a form of content that they will share with others. Find out what it is and give it to them. This will, in turn, have them coming back for more useful content. If this happens, then you know that your social media optimization is successful.

11. Be real

Internet users are searching the web for specific content. If you are providing content that links back to a website, be sure that the website is relevant. You will not be rewarded for coaxing a visitor to a site that has nothing to do with the content they just read (or watched, depending on the type of content you provided).

Loren Baker developed Social Media Optimization Rules 12 and 13

12. Don’t forget your roots, be humble

It’s easy to let popularity get to your head. When you become the shining star in your market be sure to recognize those that helped you get to the front of the pack (this ties into #7 a little).

13. Don’t be afraid to try new things, stay fresh.

Anyone on the internet knows how quickly things change. Keep up with new media content, new types of websites, and new interests in your market. By staying on top of new information you can maintain top rankings.

Lee Odden developed Social Media Optimization Rules 14, 15 and 16

14. Develop a Social Media Optimization strategy

Social Media serves multiple purposes. You need to identify what your purpose is and then publish content that will promote that purpose. Some purposes for Social Media Optimization include: branding, reputation, charity, increased traffic, increased sales, credibility, etc. Make sure that as you develop content that you are publishing and creating with that purpose in mind.

15. Choose your SMO tactics wisely.

Of all the content available on the web, only about 10% of people on the web are content creators. The other 90% are consumers and are willing to share your content. Make your content easy to consume and spread. Also be sure to create content that will have the most impact on your original purpose.

16. Make Social Media Optimization part of your process and best practices.

We all know that there are specific Search engine optimization tactics that every website should include. Just as you include keywords in your title tags and keywords in your H1 tag, you should find ways to include social media optimization aspects into the building of your website. This can be small details like including social bookmark tags on your site or encouraging incoming links with the “Recently Linked” list I covered in #3.

17. Don't be afraid to let go of a message or idea and let others own it.

Finally, when you create a movement, spark an idea, or develop a new topic don’t be afraid to let others run with it. Collaboration is key. Others can improve upon your original idea and give you credit for the start. Be sure to give credit where it’s due.

Justin Brooke started with just a $2/day marketing budget and grew his business past 6 figures in just 1 year. At just 25 years old he has been Vice President of a multi-million dollar company and nominated "Best Marketer of 2007" by the American Business Awards. Justin's award winning [http://www.mpyremarketing.com/free_lead_gen.html] social media optimization company wants to handle your [http://www.mpyremarketing.com/free_lead_gen.html]social media marketing needs.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
The Internet has changed our lifestyle to such a great extent that we rely on it for every little thing we are involved in. In fact, it is one of the best ways to get connected with our family and friends, as we are constantly swinging between the pendulum of time and work. The latest method of staying connecting is social media optimization. It is, in fact, a perfect way to churn out endless profits. Moreover, the internet is a huge platform for sharing information and interacting.

Social media optimization has become one of the most popular methods through which one can interact and gain knowledge on various serious and miscellaneous topics and issues. It has, in fact, raised the level of internet services by enhancing the visibility of the site and at the same time getting the site a higher rank amongst the famous search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo. Social media optimization, however, involves carefully planned and laid-out strategies that help many websites in gaining popularity and more business. What exactly is social media optimization? Well, it is a set of methods that generate publicity through the internet and connect online communities and websites together.

Social media optimization is possibly the best method to attract traffic to your website. Today, many businessmen prefer business conducted through social media optimization as it gives an edge over various other publicity methods. In fact, search engine marketing firms have certainly made social media optimization an excellent medium of interaction. With the evolution of information technology, net savvy people frequently visit a number of websites to get knowledge and the appeal of social media optimization is that it acts as an interactive platform. You have most likely come across videos uploaded on various sites that also offer blogging services, forums and discussion panels that further enhances the effect of social media optimization. In addition, social media optimization uses viral marketing techniques that spread their word across the web.

In this instance, the sole purpose is to get people talking about a product, service or an idea. The conventional method of word-of-mouth serves as the publicity vehicle that in turn popularizes the website amongst the users. The various other techniques utilized by social media optimization include video and photo sharing, social bookmarking and blogging. In social media optimization, the emphasis is laid upon the elevation of the link-ability of the website that encourages the inbound links. Social media optimization additionally creates tags and book marks for the website so that it becomes user friendly and is accessed 24 hours a day. With this, the user is able to bookmark it easily as well as go back to it whenever required without any hassle or trouble. Hence, the visitor attains a comfort level with the website. As a result, the website will get recognition and simultaneously gain popularity amongst the internet users. The purpose of social media optimization will be achieved. Therefore, the website will be able to create its own space amongst various search engines and also earn a rank as a top website.

Steve Waganer has specialization in Web Marketing. He is expert in Search engine optimization,Search engine marketing, [http://www.cometsearchenginemarketing.com/social_media_optimization.html]Social media optimizationTo get the SEO tips from SEO firm for your website to get high rank and top position in major search engines visit http://www.cometsearchenginemarketing.com.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
The majority of Internet Marketers are always looking for some additional places to promote products for free and get some free traffic. But when thinking about this, did you ever consider "Forum Marketing"?

There are loads of Internet Marketing Forums and even highly specialized forums for almost any niche market. They all serve many purposes. First of all, they are an informational resource, but did you know that they can also help you to grow your business?

- By contributing posts with valuable information and by being active in the forum, you can easily brand yourself as an expert in your niche and everybody likes to buy from experts rather than from the "average Joe".

- By posting regularly to these forums you can also generate a flood of backlinks to your site.

- By promoting your website with your signature tag, you will get a lot of free traffic to your sites and sales you never would have made without that.

The first trick to doing this successfully is to properly utilize the signature tags of your postings, because it’s only this little signature tag that is promoting your website, product or service. Look at the terms of every forum to make sure your signature lines comply with the rules. Then make your tag eye-catching, sticky, create it like an email headline so that it attracts the reader to click the link and read more.

And please: don’t contribute just "Me, too!" posts or silly questions.

The second trick is the information value of your post. You have to really show some expertise to the forum members to get them interested in what you have to offer and to encourage them to click on your signature lines.

Follow these simple steps and do not to blatantly advertise your business, but contribute valuable content and in a short time, you will see fresh and targeted traffic coming to your site. You have built trust and credibility within the forum community and this will pay! Not only will you make more sales, you will have backlinks from an authority site with a high Page Rank and that means additional search engine traffic!

The critical point in forum marketing really is: do respect the community, be patient and contribute value to place yourself as an expert. And do not even think to spam the forum using some tricky software tools. You will be banned immediately.

If you do it the right way, forum marketing will become a powerful weapon in your marketing arsenal.

Gitte Dabek is a home business expert. She is running a website listing and rating legitimate home business opportunities. If you are interested to read more about the Top Home Business Opportunities, visit her at http://www.top-home-business-opportunities.net.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
In today's information age lies a hidden goldmine of opportunity in all areas of business interests. When you have been through certain things in life, it helps you to tap into the creative mind. One of the things I've been doing recently, in which I have been successful, is finding quality, business networking professionals-- some of whom are famous-- all on MySpace.

One way I like to find quality business people to network with on MySpace is to head on over to my local Walmart. In their magazine section, you'll find every topic of interest ranging from fitness, Windows Vista, PC and digital camera reviews, WWE wrestling, fishing, hunting, investing and so forth. The first thing I do is head to the business magazines and randomly select any one that may deem appealing to my eye at that very moment. If it's Forbes magazine, I'll pick it up. Then, I skim through the Table of Contents to see what sounds most interesting. From there, I select what's most useful and head on over to that section. Once I am there, I skim through the introductory paragraph, looking for people's names to use as visual keywords to myself. I do it like this sometimes because if I don't feel like buying the magazine, I can still skim for fresh names of people to look for as potential business contacts to network with on MySpace

From there, I make a list of people by specific profession. For example, "Chris De Wolfe - MySpace". I then make lists by that topic under "Social Media Folk", "Affiliate Marketing Connects", "Corporate Business Execs", and so on. Once my list is compiled, if I didn't buy the magazine, I'll then take the list home with me and turn on the computer right away. Once I am logged into MySpace, I then plug in each name into the search bar, select "People" and scan the MySpace search results. Sometimes, it may be a lot of people with the same name, but finding the right person will require making your best judgment. If you happen to know the zip code the person resides in, that helps too, as does having their e-mail address.

Another savvy way of finding quality business connects is to send a friend request to associates of persons whom you've already friend requested. For example, if Steve Forbes had a MySpace page, and I friend request him, and I see that Bill Gates of Microsoft , Steve Jobs of Apple, Jay-Z of DefJam, and perhaps Steven Spielberg are on his top friends list, I'll friend request them too. This is a very effective, yet viral way of locating quality business connections on MySpace. From this point, if some of them accept you as a friend, be sure to be courteous and sound very professional when contacting high-profile business people on MySpace. Play your cards right and you'll be surprised how much the "big wigs" pay much more attention to the "little people" like you!

Shawn Drewry is the CEO of http://www.Drewryonline.net

He was born & raised in Brooklyn, New York and has been in the working world for 10 years, including corporate america. As much as he did well on his jobs, someone somewhere he worked with or even the employer themselves found some reason to wrongfully terminate them. He has learned the hard way to become an independent person, breaking the shackles of traditionally following the working class.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
Web 2.0 offers the next generation of online marketing tools, enabling businesses to harness the power of the Internet to reach customers in unique and varied ways.

Web 2.0's primary focus is getting people together to share their expertise and thoughts through social interaction. Web 2.0 principles embrace those tools and services with social networking applications.

Just as the open source movement changed the face of software development, so has Web 2.0's open source content model changed online marketing-- a change which has the potential to accelerate your business' profits.

Think YouTube, MySpace, del.cio.us, Technorati, Digg and Flickr. These are only a few of the more popular services which have revolutionized the way businesses are reaching their online target markets.

If you are considering jumping into Web 2.0 marketing, use the following tips to help you integrate Web 2.0 into your marketing arsenal.

1. Simple but not easy: Contrary to many claims, Web 2.0 marketing takes hard work and creativity to stay ahead of your competition. Your content will have to be tended to and updated continuously. Make sure you dedicate enough time and budget to keep multiple projects running. Like any marketing strategy, time and patience are critical. Committing to a long-term strategy is ideal.

2. You have to be appealing: Adding fresh and interesting content should be a priority. News becomes old fast. This is when you will have to step up your creative activity. Experiment with podcasts, quirky background information, and news about upcoming events.

3. Check your spin at the door: People who engage in social networks do so either to share knowledge or gain new knowledge, not necessarily to buy something. Recycling old information without offering anything valuable up front is detrimental. There's no getting around it-- you must give first before you can get. If your first response is to sell, people will take notice and you will eventually be pushed aside.

4. You must stay active: Web 2.0 marketing is a two-way street that allows a business to interact with a buyer on a familiar level. You can join in by including videocasts, blogs and wikis on your own site. But, creating your own social network is only half the story. You have to be willing to seek out and participate in other active online communities.

5. Authenticity required: The internet is conducive to anonymity on every level. However, using web 2.0 marketing makes you part of a community. Misuse of that very anonymity that encourages participation can hamper or ruin your plan. You have to be willing to encourage participation without encouraging abuse.

6. Get thick skin: Not everyone will say positive things about your business. Quite the contrary. You will more than likely have to prove yourself before you're given the privilege to participate, much less sell. The way in which you handle critics will go a long way towards demonstrating your poise under difficult situations. No one likes a cry baby.

7. Multimedia rules: Traffic statistics on video sharing sites tell a tremendous story about where consumers are spending their time online. With bandwidth costs continuing to decrease, consumers' appetite for the multimedia experience will only grow. This presents an amazing opportunity for those businesses willing to invest in the latest online communication technologies.

Web 2.0 is still in its infancy. Consumers have already shown they are willing to participate in open source communities. Content, especially multimedia content, will continue to be the deciding factor in whether a business succeeds or fails online. Are you ready for the Web 2.0 marketing challenge?

Relativity is pleased to offer [http://www.relativitycorp.com/]Web 2.0 Advertising - Web 2.0 Marketing - Web 2.0 Promotions - iMedia services to the internet business public. You can download a free e-book with our latest insights into the Web 2.0 marketing world by signing up to our list at [http://www.relativitycorp.com]http://www.relativitycorp.com. We look forward to providing you with fresh creative information and insight into this emerging industry.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
By Richard Henderson

Benefits of Marketing Online

Marketing rules are the same no matter how big or small your business is: (1) brand your product, (2) determine whom your target audience is, (3) get the sales, and (4) establish repeat customers. Online marketing is very effective in managing all four of these rules.

Online Marketing Defined

The definition of online marketing is: Placing your business or product on the Internet for millions of users to access so you can turn your website into a strong tool to maximize your sales and business potential.

However, online marketing is much more than putting your advertising online. Marketing online includes such areas as communicating with your customers, promoting your business or product online, and making sure that your website content is useful and up to date. The great thing about online marketing is you do not need to have a huge budget to put together an effective marketing campaign. There are tools you can use to make your marketing techniques easy and profitable; such as, website templates, shopping cart templates, and online marketing templates.

What You Need for Online Marketing to be Successful

There are some important points to consider before you get into the strategies and intricacies of online marketing:

• Communication. An important part of online marketing is how you respond to your customer's e-mail. You do not want to lose potential customers after you have made the effort to have them visit your website and then contact you for more information. E-mail is a very effective and a cost efficient way for you to generate more sales. The key to this effectiveness is "consistency". You need to be consistent in your response to your customers. You will also want to make sure the tone of your e-mail corresponds with the tone you have set in your website content.

• Human Resources. If you are going to succeed online, you need to have enough people working with you. Efficient websites incorporate a personal touch with a fast response time to customers. Your goal is to turn the visitors to your website into customers. The standard time for a return e-mail is from 48 to 72 hours. If you wait any longer to e-mail back, you risk losing the customer. If you do not have the manpower to return e-mail in two to three days, you need to take another look at your marketing strategy.

• Products people want to buy online. Before you start marketing online, you need to be sure that you have a product or service that people want to buy. Customers need to find a value in what you are selling. There are two motivating factors when it comes to selling online: cost and convenience. Ask yourself if customers will find it easier to buy online than finding a local store. Is it cheaper for them to buy this from you online?

Richard Henderson runs his own internet marketing business from home and enjoys publishing articles and ebooks for websites as well as his own customers. You can visit his latest website, which is about the imminent release of Internet Marketing Quickies Volume 2 from Andrew Fox.
http://www.marketing-quickies-2.com

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by Ann Marie Nichols

Can you get rich selling E-books? Huge profit is not guaranteed, but you can build a nice income for sure, and you can also create some nice links for your Website. Improving your links will help create better search engine ranking and more visitors to your site.

E-books are electronic versions of printed material that can contain text, sound, and images. The profit potential from selling them is high because start-up and operating expenses are very low. The biggest expense is purchasing books for sale.

You can earn even more money if you write some of your own E-books. Your writing skills don't have to be stellar. There are online sources that will take your research and craft an E-book for you. Some of these companies even take care of marketing, payments, and shipping.

Buying E-books for Sale

You can purchase e-books from authors online. eBay is another source for E-book buying. Purchase E-books with resell rights. This allows customers to sell the E-books they buy from you themselves, thus providing an incentive for them to do business with you.

Make sure the E-books you buy (or write yourself) are full of useful information and resources. Some E-books are nothing more than ads and sales pitches for the writer's products. These "ad books" will turn off customers and decrease repeat business.

Do your research to determine what types of information people are seeking. Getting rich selling E-books will depend on the topics covered, customer base, and marketing campaign.

Before buying an E-book for resale, do an online search for the title. If lots of Web sites are selling the book, it's probably a popular title and will be a good seller. It also helps to sell E-books that cater to a specific market niche. Search online forums and other group sites to locate potential target markets for niche titles. Contact these groups with a short E-mail inviting them to visit your site. Offer an incentive, such as 20% off first purchase, to increase site traffic.

E-books about current trends or hot topics will generate more income. Your income will really get a boost if you can spot the "next big topic" and write or purchase E-books to sell before the competition saturates the market.

Marketing Extras

You can use a common template for your E-books Web site, or sell them on an existing site you already have. However, to stand out from the competition, create you own Web site to sell E-books. Always add new titles to your stock, to keep old customers coming back and to attract new ones. Use E-mail to notify customers of new titles and special sales. Offer discounts on slow-moving titles.

Affiliate programs are another way to get rich selling E-books. The affiliate pays you a commission for its E-books you sell. To earn extra cash from E-books you write, start your own affiliate program.

There are plenty of online and print books that will help you learn how to get in on the E-book sales bandwagon. A good place to begin reading is, "Make Your Knowledge Sell," by Ken Evoy and Monique Harris.

Sources:

"About Making Money with E-Books," (about-the-web.com)

"Make Money Selling Ebooks," (christianet.com)

"Make Money Selling Ebooks," (homebusinessmag.com)

"Is Your Dog Selling E-Books Too?," (marketingsource.com)

About The Author:
Selling Ebooks for Revenue
Copyright © Ann Nichols
http://www.NicksProfitPlus.com

To find the best home-based business ideas and opportunities, so you can work at home, visit: http://www.NicksProfitPlus.com

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By Steven Gerber

If your affiliate-marketing program is not generating as much cash as you expected, you may be doing it wrong or you do not have the right affiliate-marketing program. You should look for the best affiliate program that will make you earn a substantial amount of income.

It is a fact that many people who have chosen the best affiliate-marketing program have earned a lot of money. They even considered leaving their regular jobs to concentrate on the affiliate marketing program business.

You may think the best affiliate program is not easy to come by and they can cost too much, but the best affiliate program is not really, what it seems. You will find that the best affiliate-marketing program is widely available on the Internet and may only cost you a small amount of money and some are even free.

Many people do not really see that a particular affiliate-marketing program is the best even if they always cross paths with it on the Internet. Therefore, in order to recognize that an affiliate-marketing program is the best, you should know how to look for one.

There are three features you should look for in an affiliate-marketing program, to know that it is the best kind, and will generate an excellent amount of income for you.

The first feature to look for in an affiliate marketing program is it should be easy to duplicate. Choosing an affiliate program should not just be easy to implement and get results in terms of income, it should also be easy for you and others to duplicate. Obviously, the reason for this is so you can duplicate your success and with this, you can duplicate your income.

The second feature you should look for in an affiliate program is it should have tasks that have to be repeated everyday. This feature is a sign the affiliate-marketing program is one of the best. It has an income earning potential. With repeated tasks daily, you can expect this program will get you the best results from any marketing program.

The third feature that an affiliate-marketing program will have is it will take in many people who will otherwise not even give it a second look. Many people who see affiliate programs like this tend to think, will this affiliate program work? In fact, affiliate programs like these are what super affiliates use in order to profit a lot of money from and spend little for it. People usually ignore these things.

So, the next time you are looking for the best affiliate-marketing program, consider these three features and look for them in an affiliate-marketing program. You will see that it is widely available on the Internet. All you have to do is find the one that is suited to your website.

By having a good affiliate-marketing program, you will be able to earn a lot of money from it. You should also expect that it will require little maintenance and will generate a substantial amount of income for you and your family. Who knows, maybe this is the answer to all your financial needs. With the best kind of affiliate marketing program Science Articles, you will be able to earn a lot of money, and worry less about maintaining your website.

Steven Gerber is a professional copywriter & marketing consultant. He is a student of Dan Lok, the World's #1 Website Conversion Expert, & in Steven's totally biased opinion simply THE BEST. You will find the latest internet marketing techniques & tricks at: http://www.websiteconversionexpert.com

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by Kevin Gibbs

Using the Internet to its highest potential when it comes to indexing and promoting your Website is vital to your business. No matter whether you provide a service or a product, getting the word out about it is your primary goal.

Google, being the world's most popular search engine, is naturally going to be one of the places you want to submit your Website URL to, and Google offers free submission opportunities.

However, merely submitting your Website isn't the answer to instant rankings and visitors. It takes hard work, patience and search engine optimization know-how to achieve a top ranking with Google. The easier your Website is to find by Google "spiders," the more chance you'll have of reaching better positions in the Google ranking index.

Google is the most popular search engine in the world today, and earning a top ranking there is definitely a feather in anyone's cap. Taking advantage of several different options will help you to obtain your goals. Determination is the key when it comes to achieving high rankings in Google, and it's not an endeavor for the weak of heart.

One of the most important things a Webmaster or Web business can do to enhance rankings is to write and distribute articles relating to your topic, service or product to article directories throughout the Web. Embedding links to your article, called back links, will get your Website noticed by Google spiders, but don't overdo it. Try to limit your back links to one per article.

Articles should be written well, grammatically correct and include keywords or keyword phrases that relate to your product or service. (These keywords should also be listed in the Meta Tags used to design your Website).

When writing SEO Google content, keep in mind the following factors for success, not only in obtaining ranking with Google, but with the success of your content in its ability to do what you have designed it to do; inform and get people back to your site.

When searching through Google's ranked pages, certain factors become immediately apparent. The most successful written content has these things in common:

1) Content is comprised of paragraphs that are fairly brief, with between 3 to 5 sentences each. White space around paragraphs and content allows for easy reading and addresses short attention spans when it comes to reading on the Internet.

2) Proper grammar and spelling is used in the content. As always, make sure that you proofread your work before submitting to article directories and banks. Make sure that use of punctuation, quotations, and sentence structure and flow are correct and proofed. If you are aware of your own shortcomings in the writing department, have someone else proof your material.

Content that is poorly written is more damaging to your reputation and that of your Website than no content at all.

3) Many articles submitted to Google, and to other search engines, are written with bulleted lists. This serves to break up large areas of text as well as to provide precise information related to a specific topic.

4) Most highly ranked pages on the Internet are updated regularly, and by regularly, that means ideally about once a week, or at least twice a month.

5) Sentence structure is varied, which means that short and long sentences are mixed together.

6) Keyword density is over-rated these days, but using keywords in your content is desired.

However, don't stuff articles with keywords when their usage doesn't add flow to the text or is too obvious. Make sure that the keywords you are using make sense within the overall focus of your article.

Choosing the wrong keywords, or choosing highly used and common keywords or phrases won't help you much, so it pays to be knowledgeable about how to go about determining how popular or unpopular particular keywords are before you even start writing.

Keyword stuffing, or overusing certain keywords in any given article, will only defeat your purpose, as search engine spiders, especially those launched by Google, seem to know every trick out there.

Bottom line: have a professional look over your text before you launch your Website. Be aware that having someone write SEO content for you doesn't mean they will do it correctly, either. Good SEO writing means more than focusing on keyword density, placement and catchy article titles. Good SEO content should contain useful, correctly structured sentences with proper grammar and spelling.

Google itself offers a terse explanation of how to get your Website content highly ranked: Good content. It's so simple that most people don't believe it's true.

A Website owner can sit down and research keywords, keyword density and Google algorithm factors until they're blue in the face, and it won't make a difference if the words don't make sense or the spelling is so atrocious that visitors will take one look, laugh and click away.

Submitting articles to article directories and providing free articles, with your Website back link in them, of course, is a great way to get noticed, but keep in mind that sometimes dozens of articles or more must be written and submitted before you're going to get noticed.

This doesn't mean just writing about anything, it means carefully choosing and selecting appropriate keywords that will get your content noticed by search engine spiders and thereby bring you the results you're looking for.

Website HTML coding and proper use of Meta tags is essential in creating Google SEO results and, as it is with anything worth having, it takes time, patience and determination to learn. There are no easy shortcuts when it comes to creating SEO content that will fly with Google and gain you a coveted page ranking.

Take advantage of the opportunity to submit your articles to free directory listings, especially at Google, as well as writing numerous, free articles for submission purposes and properly using back links. This will get you started on your way to success.

Utilizing Google tools and accessing their news, site directory, helpful hints and forum boards will help hopeful Webmasters achieve their goals when it comes to obtaining a long and enduring, and hopefully beneficial relationship with Google, whose influence reaches to the far corners of the globe.

Kevin Gibbs is the founder of articlestamp.com a successful article directory that provides user's the opportunity to improve their traffic performance. You can contact Kevin at kevin@articlestamp.com for more info on article writing.

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by Trenton Moss

A higher search ranking is what many Website owners dream of. What they don't realize is that optimising their sites for the search engines, if done correctly, can also optimise it for their site visitors.

Ultimately, this means more people finding your Website, increased sales and increased lead generation.

But -- are search engine optimisation and usability compatible? Aren't there trade-offs that need to be made between giving search engines what they want and giving people what they want?

Read on and find out!

1. Keyword research carried out

Before you even begin building your Website, you should carry out keyword research to identify which keyword phrases your site should target. Using publicly available tools such as Wordtracker (http://www.wordtracker.com), you can discover which keywords are searched for the most frequently and then specifically target those phrases.

Doing keyword research is also crucial for your site's usability. By using the same keywords in your Website that Web users are searching for in search engines, you'll literally be speaking the same language as your site visitors.

For example, you might decide to target the phrase, "sell toys", as your Website does in fact sell toys. Keyword research would undoubtedly show you that Web users are actually searching for, "buy toys" (think about it - have you ever searched using the word, "sell", when you want to buy something?). By placing the phrase, "buy toys" on to the pages on your Website, you'll be using the same words as your site visitors and they'll be able to find what they're looking for more easily.

2. 200-word minimum per page

Quite simply, search engines love content - the more content there is on a page, the easier it is for search engines to work out what the page is actually about. Search engines may struggle to work out the point of a Web page with less than 200 words, ultimately penalising that page in the search rankings.

In terms of usability, it's also good to avoid pages with very little content. A page with less than 200 words is unlikely to contain a large amount of information, so site visitors will undoubtedly need to click elsewhere to find more detailed information.

Don't be afraid to put a reasonably large amount of information on a page. Web users generally don't mind scrolling down and, provided the page provides mechanisms to aid scanning (such as employing sub-headings - see point 6 below), it shouldn't be too difficult for site visitors to locate the information they're after.

3. 100kb maximum HMTL size

If 200 words is the minimum page content size, then 100kb is the maximum, at least in terms of HMTL file size. Anything more than this and search engines may give up on the page as it's simply too big for them.

A 100kb HMTL file will take 20 seconds to download on a 56k dial up modem. Add on the time it takes for all the other parts of the page to download, such as images and JavaScript files, and you're looking at a highly un-user-friendly download time!

4. CSS used for layout

The Website of Juicy Studios (http://www.juicystudio.com) saw a six-fold increase in site visitors after switching from a table-based layout to a CSS layout. Search prefer CSS-based sites and are likely to score them higher in the search rankings because:


* The code is cleaner and therefore more accessible to search engines
* Important content can be placed at the top of the HTML document
* There is a greater density of content compared to coding

Using CSS for layout is also highly advantageous for usability, as it leads to significantly faster download times.

5. Meaningful page title

If you know anything about search engine optimisation, you'll know that search engines place more importance on the page title than any other attribute on the page. If the title adequately describes the content of that page, then search engines will be able to more accurately guess what that page is about.

A meaningful page title also helps site visitors work out where they are, both within the site and within the Web as a whole. The page title is the first thing that loads up, often quite a few seconds before the content, so a descriptive, keyword-rich page title can be a real aid to help users orientate themselves.

6. Headings and sub-headings used

Search engines assume that the text contained in heading tags is more important than the rest of the document text, as headings (in theory at least) summarise the content immediately below them.

Headings are also incredibly useful for your human site visitors, as they greatly aid scanning. Generally speaking, we don't read on the Web, we scan, looking for the information that we're after. By breaking up page sections with sub-headings that effectively describe the content beneath them, scanning becomes significantly easier.

Do be sure not to abuse heading tags, though. The more text you have contained in heading tags within the page, the less importance search engines assign to them.

7. Opening paragraph describes page content

We've already established that search engines love content, but they especially love the first 25 words or so on each page. By providing an opening paragraph that adequately describes the content of the rest of the page (or the site, if it's the homepage), you should be able to include your important keyword phrases in this crucial area.

As Web users, whenever we arrive at a Web page, the first thing we need to know is whether this page has the information that we're after. A great way to find this out is to scan through the first paragraph, which, if it sufficiently describes the page content, should help us out.

8. Descriptive link text

Search engines place a lot of importance on link text. They assume that link text will be descriptive of its destination and as such, they examine link text for all links pointing to any page. If all the links pointing to a page about widgets say 'click here', search engines can't gain any information about that page without visiting it. If, on the other hand, all the links say, 'widgets' then search engines can easily guess what that page is about.

One of the best examples of this in action is for the search term, 'miserable failure'. So many people have linked to George Bush's bio using this phrase as the link text, that now, when miserable failure is searched for in Google, George Bush's bio appears top of the search rankings!

As Web users, we don't generally read Web pages word-for-word - we scan them looking for the information that we're after. When you scan through text, you can't take any meaning from the word 'click here'. Link text that effectively describes its destination is far easier to scan and you can understand the destination of the link without having to read its surrounding words.

9. Frames avoided

Frames are quite an old-school Web design technique and, although they aren't as commonplace as they once were, they do still rear up their ugly head from time to time. Using frames is one of the worst possible things you could do for your search engine ranking, as most search engines can't follow links between frames.

Even if a search engine does index your pages and Web users find you through a search engine, they'll be taken to one of the pages within the frame. This page will probably be a content page with no navigation (navigation is normally contained in a separate frame) and, therefore, they will have no way to navigate to any other page on the site!

Frames are also disadvantageous for usability as they can cause problems with the back button, printing, history and bookmarking.

Put simply, say "no" to frames!

10. Quality content provided

This may seem like a strange characteristic of a search engine optimised Website, but it's actually crucial. Search engines, in addition to looking at page content, look at the number of links pointing into Web pages. The more inbound links a Website has, all other things being equal, the higher in the search rankings it will appear.

By providing creative, unique and regularly updated content on your Website, Webmasters will want to link to you, as doing so will add value to their site visitors. You will also be adding value to your site visitors.

Conclusion:

Optimising your Website for both search engines and people needn't be a trade-off. With this much overlap between the two areas, you should easily be able to have a Website that Web users can easily find in the search engines and, when they do find it, they can find what they're looking for quickly and efficiently.

Trenton Moss is crazy about Web usability and accessibility - so crazy that he went and started his own Web usability and accessibility consultancy (Webcredible - http://www.webcredible.co.uk) to help make the Internet a better place for everyone.

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By Sharon Housley

Let us look at slogans and how just a few words can say volumes. A slogan is a memorable phrase used in conjunction with a political, commercial, or religious advertisement. Slogans convey a deeper meaning. Slogans elicit emotions, or the slogan might paint a visual image that implies something more.

When considering a slogan or a tagline, keep in mind your objectives. What image do you wish to portray? Slogans should be short, but not to the point of being curt. Slogans should conjure positive images and distinguish the value your company or product provides.

The best way to analyze slogans is to look at a few.

Slogan: "The toughest job you will ever love" (Peace Corps)

Message behind slogan: This is much more than just a job; it takes heart to be in the Peace Corps; join the Peace Corps and you will be a better person. This job is not about money, it is about helping people.

Slogan: "Be Seen, Be Sold" (Shareware Promotions)

Message behind slogan: Being found on the Internet is not easy. Use us to be found on the Internet."

Slogan: "You could learn a lot from a dummy. Buckle up" (National Highway Traffic Safety Admin)

Message behind slogan: Learn from test dummies, be safe and buckle up.

Slogan: "Parents who use drugs have kids who use drugs" (The Partnership for a Drug-free America)

Message behind slogan: Model what you preach; do you want your children to do drugs? It is your responsibility to model appropriate behavior for your children.

Slogan: "This is your brain on drugs" (The Partnership for a Drug-free America)

Message behind slogan: Do you know what this stuff does to you? Taking drugs is stupid.

Slogan: "A diamond is forever" (DeBeers '1948)

Message behind slogan: Diamonds represent marriage; marriage should be forever. If you really want your marriage to last, seal it with a diamond.

Slogan: "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking" (Timex Corp)

Message behind slogan: It does not get any more durable than this, other watches cannot stand up, but Timex will endure regardless of the treatment.

Slogan: "For all you do, this Bud's for you" (Budweiser)

Message behind slogan: After a long hard day, drink beer to relax.

Slogan: "Where's the beef?”(Wendy’s)

Message behind slogan: Our competitors use small patties, but our burgers are big.

Slogan: "I love New York" (NYC)

Message behind slogan: New York is a special place, everyone loves NY, you should come and visit, you will love it too.

Slogan: "See what brown can do for you" (UPS)

Message behind slogan: We do more than just ship packages; we have additional offerings and can do more than just ship.

Slogan: "The few, the proud, the Marines" (US Marines)

Message behind slogan: We are a select group of very special individuals. Do you want to be elite? Take pride in representing the US.

Slogan: "Friends don't let friends drive drunk"

Message behind slogan: You will die if you drive drunk. It is your responsibility to protect your friends. Be responsible, do not let people drive drunk.

Effective slogans leave impressions in the minds of people who see or hear the slogans. Often slogans will have hidden meanings, or be a play on words. The goal of the slogan creator should be to create a memorable tagline that conveys a key benefit or differentiates the brand. Slogans will often help position the product or service in the marketplace. Slogans with just a few words can indicate superior value, excellence, or inspiration.

A business identity and image conveyed through a short statement will affect the way that consumers, competitors, and others in the industry perceive your business. Slogans will distinguish your company in a unique way. Words are powerful, and if used properly, they can be an important sales tool.

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 Terry Detty

The math or numbers behind pop-up, pop-under ads are amazing. This clearly indicates why many webmasters favor this online marketing tool over many others, especially when looking for quick results. Pop-up ads are also a very cost effective solution to send unlimited web traffic and visitors to your website. While being cost effective with this marketing selection, you will get thousands of people to actually see and visit your web site at the time they are looking for your type of products or services.

Every webmaster or blogger clearly understands how important page views are. The higher the number of page views you can achieve at your web site, the more profitable a web site or blog site will tend to be.

It does not matter whether you are selling your own products, or promoting an affiliate program, or other people's products, the results and positive impact tend to be the same. While an individual may be visiting your particular web page, this pop-up or pop-under may occur, causing that person to view the products you are selling. This is so significant because your visitors are not just any visitors. They are unique visitors, who are interested in and looking for your product.

If you are talking about earnings from the Google Adsense PPC program, the effect will hardly be different. The more page views on your Adsense pages, the higher the chances of the ads on your site you can click, and therefore the higher the earnings. Page views are a very important measurement in Google Adsense accounts. Thus, any pop-up or pop-under ad that is relevant and promises information is more valuable to visitors to a web site and is bound to yield excellent results.

The interesting thing here is the impact that you achieve from just a small percentage increase in page views. For instance, an increase of just 10 per cent of your page views will quickly register positive changes in your sales and earnings. The impact can be huge from a simple 20 per cent increase. Fifty per cent can easily send your sales and profits through the roof.

The facts are pop-up ads and pop-under ads have the potential to double or triple page views. This is an increase of 100 to 200 per cent. Online businesses MUST have visitors and traffic to visit their websites in order to generate online sales. The more targeted and timely that traffic, the higher the probability of making a sale to those visitors.

Now, begin to imagine what sort of difference this can have on the revenue you receive at your web site. If you ensure your whole pop-up and pop-under ad campaign is carried out and managed professionally while observing all the key rules to success, then this online marketing tool can make a colossal difference in the fortunes of any web based enterprise.

Terry Detty, 42 years old, finds internet marketing his passion. In addition to marketing, he enjoys reading, and occasionally gets out for a short walk.

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By Doug Allan Dammeier

I am talking about the skill of learning how to build an internet business website
constructed in a way that it brings hordes of FREE traffic to it.

Just about anyone can build a good-looking website on the internet these days with the
available technology. However, very few people know how to construct a website that is
"optimized" to drive FREE traffic to it.

Huge well-known companies with unlimited budgets continue to build fancy websites
that get no visitors! They hire degreed computer experts for thousands of dollars who
know how to pull all the software programs together and build a beautiful site.

These "experts" have the technical knowledge to accomplish this, but they know
absolutely noting about how to drive FREE traffic to these sites. In addition, traffic
equals money.

They do not know optimization and they do not know marketing.

However, anyone who takes the time to learn what the internet search engines really want
on a website will pass by all these so-called expert websites and build a website that
drives boatloads of FREE traffic to it. In addition, this can be done for very little money.

The search engines could care less about fancy flashing graphics, colorful banners, and
color pictures. What they want is CONTENT!

Simply put, content is INFORMATION. Web surfers are on the internet for one
reason...to find INFORMATION.

They type in the subject of the information they want to know more about, at the search
engines. They want information about their hobbies, interests, and occupations.

Offline businesses succeed with LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. Online
businesses succeed with INFORMATION, INFORMATION, INFORMATION.

I know of a 14-year-old teenage girl who built a website about a vacation place she loves
and constructed it the way the search engines love. Her site now ranks higher on the
internet than sites from IBM, American Express, and Wal-Mart. That is amazing!

This girl is beginning college now and she earns a terrific income from this site. She has
learned a moneymaking skill set, which 99% of the rest of world knows nothing about
and her future is secure.

Building a moneymaking internet business is not rocket science. You do not need any
type of degree. It is simply a matter of taking the time to learn a proven system of website
construction, and then taking the actions necessary to build the site. Anyone who can read
and learn can do this.

Software packages are now available with all the tools needed that allow any beginner to
create professional looking websites that bring traffic.

It takes work. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. However, it is simple and can
be done with a systematic system. It is a real business just like any offline business.
However, it can be started for a tiny fraction of the cost of most businesses.

For a few hundred dollars, you can have everything you need. In addition, it can be
grown to produce unlimited income while working from your home.

You will not get rich by the end of the month. There are so many b.s. scammers on the
internet offering their get-rich-quick programs. They tell you that you can quit your job,
stay home, and sleep while the money is pouring into your bank account. They tell you
that you will have your new website up, running, and pulling in the dollars in a few
weeks.

It is bull! There is no other way to say it. These programs flat out do not work.

Many people buy these programs, make no money, and then give up. They are convinced
the internet will not work for them.

It does work, my friend. In addition, with the right information and system, it works
fantastic.

In addition, no matter how old you are, where you live, what you do for a living, or what
your education level is; this opportunity is available to you right now. Now is the best
time to get started.

In addition, once you spend the time to learn how to build a website the correct way that
drives loads of FREE traffic to it and earns you money, you have secured your financial
future forever. You can now build more moneymaking websites. In addition, other people
and businesses will pay you handsomely to build websites for them that really WORK.

You now have a moneymaking skill set that 99% of the rest of the world knows nothing
about.

Doug Allan Dammeier lives high up in the mountains in western Washington state,
U.S.A. and operates http://www.online-moneymaking-bootcamp.com, which offers loads
of free, honest, truthful information to beginners wanting to start their own online
business. He teaches what it really takes to succeed with this wide-open opportunity and
provides a step-by-step system with everything you need in one inexpensive package.
Personal FREE coaching is available on a limited, case-by-case basis, first come-first
served.

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When the internet started, banner advertising was one of
the most popular ways to advertise. However, once this kind
of advertising became popular, it dramatically reduced its
effect. People became blind towards banner ads and click through rates become as low as 0.5%. However, many top
internet marketers still use banner advertising as one of
their top-producing strategies. You will reap the rewards
with internet banner advertising once you know how to apply
the correct marketing strategies.

One of the most challenging aspects of banner advertising is to
get people to actually click on your banner. With all the
banners looking like adverts, people have become oblivious
to this. Design your banner so it doesn't look like an
advert. Make the background white, because this makes it
blend in and look like content. Then, use blue text to
denote the advertisement. People are conditioned by using
the internet to associate blue with a hyperlink and this
will make them click on it. Use a good attention-grabbing
headline, for example; "How To Lose 30 Pounds In 20 Days".

Once you have created your banner, you need to find good
places on the internet to advertise. I suggest you look for
websites related to yours and then contact the owners
directly. Use your negotiating skills to try to lower the
advertising rate until you are satisfied that you have a good deal.

Also, try to get at least a 30 day trial to test the effectiveness of the internet banner advertising on that peticular site before you enter into a long term contract.

You will also need to create an appropriate landing page for your banner advertisement. This could be in the form of a
squeeze page. I would strongly suggest that you do not send
your visitor to a sales page as a visitor usually needs to
see your offer at least 7 times before they will consider
buying.

Follow these internet banner advertising tips and you will
find that you can produce substantially more traffic to
your website as well as increase your profits.

Would you like to know more about the traffic techniques have helped me to drive thousands of visitors to my website? I have just completed my new guide.

Download it free here: http://www.secretaffiliatetips.com

Mark Abrahams is a full time internet marketer who has helped others to earn a living online.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
If you want to keep sensitive personal information safe and secure, never host your business on your personal computer. By hosting your business on your PC, you are giving your visitors direct access to your computer and all of your personal information.

Here are some of the reasons you should never host your business via your personal computer;

* It is not secure. The internet is full of threats, and unless you spend a fortune your computer would always be vulnerable to every kind of threat that's out there. Security problems are sometimes found in server software, and these can be exploited to gain access or cause damage to your files. Your computer must be kept absolutely up-to-date at all times and without exception-- a very daunting task for a home business owner trying to go it alone.

* If you want your site to be available on a 24-hour basis, your computer must be constantly connected to the Internet. Your machine would be working day and night. This puts more strain on your bandwidth.

* While it may seem hosting your business on your personal computer would save you money, the opposite may, in fact, be true. It can cost you money!

* It also won't save you time. In addition to building and marketing your business, you would also need to maintain your server.

* You would need to learn all about operating and maintaining a server and things like DNS, web server setup, security, debugging problems, logs, patching the server software. All of the time it would require to learn these things and to keep yourself current could be better spent developing your business itself.

* If anything breaks down, it is your own responsibility to find the problem and fix it. And until you've identified and solved the problem, your site will be down. Having a website that may crash at any time is a surefire way to lose customers.

* You would need to monitor your server all the time. You cannot leave for a project and then come back to find that your site is not working.

Remember that you came into this business because you wished to make a wealthy future, become independent enough to get out of that job routine rut, and make more time for you and your family to spend together. There is no point in starting a venture that would eat all of your time and send you back to work at that 9 to 5.

Web hosting companies are professionals. For a small monthly fee, you can enjoy quality osting without any headaches attached. Learn to hone your marketing skills instead of learning how a server functions. Leave that to the geeks. Host your site with a hosting company and concentrate on your business.

Arun Pal Singh is an internet marketer and web author who runs a website at http://www.homeforprofits.com to help budding online entrepreneurs with information and ready-made products. Visit http://www.homeforprofits.com to find how his products and tips can boost your business tremendously. Subscribe to his "Online Business Manual Course" by email. Visit http://ebizgo.info now and sign up for free.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
The Internet is continuously evolving. It has been incorporating all current technology into its domain and has thus stood the test of time and storm. From video conferencing to class sessions delivered online, it has touched almost every aspect of life. But none has been as popular as Instant Messaging, which gave birth to smiley icons, a product of man’s quest to make cyberspace as social as possible.

Smiley icons are sequences of characters and symbols which represent different facial expressions, human feelings and sometimes even social gestures. They were first developed in an attempt to make the web as humanly social as possible. Later on, however, they were extended to represent all forms of humor, nationalism, celebrities and all kinds of things. And yes, it is still developing.

So, what are the most popular classes of smiley icons?

Emotions: Smileys are used to represent most human emotions. The most popular ones are smile, frown, wink, laugh, mock, tongue sticking out, etc. These are very frequently used in chat rooms and online forums.

Cartoons: From smiley icons of fat guys scratching their pot bellies to other weird symbols, there are a whole bunch of cartoon smileys that may have quite a lot of appeal to you and your lifestyle. All you have to do to get these smileys is search them online and follow the instructions to download them.

Ideologies: Since people of all faiths, creeds and nationalities partake in the discussions at the forums and chat rooms, some smart guys came up with smiley icon that represented religious symbols, socio-political identities like national flags and others. If you have been wondering how that guy that you always meet in the chat room gets to display a waving US flag, now you know.

Celebrities: Celebrities are more like gods nowadays. There are people who have made a fortune just writing about them. So it shouldn’t surprise you that we now have some emoticons that represent them. From politicians like former president Jimmy Carter :(=) to celebrities and TV characters like Pamela Anderson &:-)3 or Alladin @:-) , there are many classes of icons that represent most things we care about, and these icons are continuously evolving.

If you want to master the arts of the internet world, you have to learns its ways and be a part of its cyber culture, which includes understanding and rightly using smiley icons to deliver warmth to your online posts and break the ice created by the screen.

Craig Thornburrow is an acknowledged expert in his field. You can get more free advice on smiley icons and animated smiley faces at http://www.smileyicon.net and http://www.smileyicon.net/animate-your-messenger-conversations-with-animated-smiley-faces.html.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
One of the things that many Internet marketers do is run forums. Let's face it, getting a nice active forum going can be the key to making a nice income online. The problem with running your own forum, unfortunately, is that you're going to have to deal with forum spam. It's a big pain in the backside, trust me on this. So how do you deal with it? This article is going to give you a few no-nonsense methods to deal with forum spam.

The first thing you need to do is get moderators. There is no way that you're going to be able to run a forum on your own, especially if it gets popular. Moderators are a must in keeping a forum clean. Offer your moderators incentives to do the job. Maybe give them the right to occasionally post ads, especially if you're running a non-ads forum.

The next thing you need to do is use Captcha to keep forum spam down. This will at least stop the spam robots from posting. Yes, there is automated software that will post spam without the person having to go to the forum physically. By using Captcha, the robots will be stopped cold in their tracks.

For the real live human spammers who don't seem to want to give up, there are a few things you can do in order to discourage them.

The first thing is to ban their IP address. In many cases, these people are running off of a static IP address. In the cases where you're dealing with people who are using computer cafes to do their spamming, this isn't going to be much help. But you will cut down slightly on spam by banning IP addresses.

When all else fails, turn the forum into a paid access only forum. This will definitely keep the spammers away. While you may end up losing some of your members, the really serious ones will stay and you'll end up making an income directly from your forum. If you don't want to go that route, you can try disabling signups to your forum for a few days. This will discourage many spammers and hopefully send them on their way.

Dealing with forum spam is not fun and it's a war that isn't easily won. However, by following the above tips, you can greatly cut down on your forum spam.

To YOUR success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of busting your behind for peanuts online? Go to my web site and find out how I earn a monthly income that exceeds 5 figures and how I can help YOU do the same. Get your free report at http://www.mysecretarticles.com/report.html.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
What is this mystical thing called Web 3.0 that everybody is waiting for? It's like the silhouette of a stranger through the dense fog. Man or Monster? Friend or Foe? That is the nature of predicting the future. From afar, everything looks good. From up close, it's a mess. The good news is we can affect the future, the future is not some inevitable result assigned to us.

What will Web 3.0 look like? Let's start with how the web has evolved and go from there.

What happened?

In the old days, you really needed to read a whole book to get all the nuggets of knowledge from an author. With search engines, you can get to what you need faster and faster. So more people can now publish more ideas. Referred to as Web 1.0, static websites have sprung from every corner of the world.

Fast forward to today. The core of Web 2.0 is the latest generation of user-contributed content.

The unit of communication has shrunk dramatically. Instead of publishing a book or article, we can publish a simple blog. Just a few words and we're done.

The speed of publishing has increased dramatically. It's now lightening fast, from the author's very first thought to the moment the reader understands it.

Multi-user collaboration has become massively parallel. Forums, chats-- people are communicating everywhere.

With Web 2.0 applications, anyone can easily set up a blog or a shop on eBay. Or even join the major Web 2.0 sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, and Digg. These sites provide dynamic user-contributed content. People now flock to Web 2.0 sites because they can find any idea, or any community.

What's Missing?

So if things are so good, what's wrong?

Well, Google often returns a whole bunch of garbage, because it can't read our minds. That's because search terms aren't expressive enough. Search terms are not sufficient to provide your meaning, your context. There are billions of pages out there now, with text that can only be understood after being read by humans. So with search results, we must wade through pages and pages before we get what we're looking for.

So to solve this problem, why not make these billions of pages contain the meaning, not just the words? Why not create an engine that understands your meaning, instead of just today's simple search terms? Will that work?

What's Not Happening?

Web 3.0 has been touted as the savior. So what is it?

It's been 6 years since the prediction of the Semantic Web evolution, with RDF, OWL, SPARQL, RIF, metawebs, and ontologies. It's a deep mess. You have to be either crazy or a genius to figure that stuff out. Another faction has Web 3.0 pegged as becoming a service, somehow transforming unstructured information into structured information. Somehow, if machines talk to each other more effectively, people can access the right information quicker. That's wishful thinking.

Why will this grand vision of Web 3.0 involving intelligent machines never happen? Because humans will never be surpassed by machines in judgmental intelligence. To be interested in certain things-- that is a uniquely human trait. To belong to groups-- that is another human trait. Because a machine-generated solution, regardless of how advanced, cannot replace humans. In the end, only humans can help other humans.

What's Next?

Web 3.0 is about ideas and knowledge. It's not about shopping or entertainment. Technology-wise, we're ready for the next generation of the web, the real Web 3.0. We have everything we need to create that vision. Let me describe that vision.

Different words have different meaning to different people. Different people are identified by different demographics. There's no need for the machine to understand all that meaning stuff. As long as people understand, and communicate with the smallest possible unit of related meaning: The question and answer.

By simply matching questions with other similar questions, and by grouping the answers from all the experts, users are given access to the best possible knowledge available from all perspectives. You can thus learn at a much faster rate, bypassing the uninteresting noise for the interesting nuggets of knowledge.

Are You Ready?

If you could benefit from a more accurate search by providing accurate demographics, wouldn't you?

If you could benefit from a more accurate search by asking what you're interested in, wouldn't you?

If you could benefit from a more accurate search by answering what you know, wouldn't you?

If you could benefit from a more accurate search by rating what you like, wouldn't you?

The next generation of the web will make use of what we like, what we know, and what we've done to give us what we need. Based on our recent search history. Based on our demographics. Based on our ratings, our questions and our answers.

Given your usage, the system should know what you're interested in, and should show you questions based on the community you naturally belong to. So you will not have to avoid people you find annoying ... the system will segregate you naturally. Also, other people similar to you will, through their ratings, constantly be finding things that are interesting to you. This system is adaptive, so that as your interests change, your search results change with you.

The good news is Web 3.0 is here. And it's simpler than anybody would have thought. The bad news? It's just not what anyone expected.

We are trying to start our vision of Web 3.0 at http://www.helpglobe.com. Come join us!]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
When used correctly, forums offer new as well as experienced business owners the perfect platform for promoting new ideas and products. They're also a great way to acquire one-way links. While forums have their benefits, they also have the potential of creating huge damage to your business. One wrong thread could send a lot of bad press to your site as well as to your email account.

Forums can be a great place to learn new ideas and bounce ideas off other people. But they require a lot of time. More often than not, it's far better to spend that time concentrating on marketing your business rather than trolling the forums.

The following five points underscore why spending time in forums can be hazardous to your site's health.

1) It's not a matter of if but when you'll get flamed

The problem with forums is that you never know when things are going to get out of hand. Without any reason or warning, you can become a flame target.

I can guarantee that at least one person will not agree with you. This isn't so bad as long as the dialog takes place within the forum. But these online arguments can get out of hand and spill over into blogs, other forums, and through email.

2) Link bandwagons and useless comments

One of the low points of any forum is that 95% of the posts tend to be completely useless. Many posters are only participating in the hope of getting some mileage from a forum. For people who own a similar business, posting on a forum is the perfect way to gain some exposure and get one-way links to boot. Many times, they don't add any value to the forum.

Then there's the typical flood of "I agree" comments. These "valueless" comments can suck an excessive amount of your time.

3) Everyone's an expert

There's an old saying, "If everything is important, then nothing is important." I believe this applies to forums as well.

The problem isn't for lack of experts. The problem is trying to decipher the real experts from the flack. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to differentiate good advice from bad. This is somewhat like the blind leading the blind. Misleading advice abounds. It takes time to acknowledge the good experts from the "wannabe" experts. Time better spent elsewhere.

4) Old and stale information

People post comments and information based on what they've read or heard about. Unlike a typical publication, with its overabundance of editors, assistant editors, and fact checkers, forums are open source. You have to do your own fact checking.

Another problem is information that's just plain old. What may have been true a few years ago may not apply today. For instance, web rings were very popular in the late 1990s. Now, they're simply known as link farms. But there's plenty of information-- old information-- that shows up in search results concerning web rings; much of it in forums.

5) Writing truthful, thoughtful comments is a fad

While some forum discussions have their golden moments, many threads are one sided or between two or three parties. I liken it to two groups of people, each standing on opposite walls in a gym screaming at each other. Unfortunately, many times the good comments get stuffed underneath the bad, disrespectful, disparaging comments.

While forums certainly have their place, they shouldn't be an all too often hangout. Most webmasters would find they can achieve their site goals faster and more efficiently if they focused on their sites rather than the forums.

Jerret Turner, CEO of LinkAcquire.com, can help you build one-way links for better search results. Visit him at http://www.linkacquire.com. Download a free copy of Jerret's new work, The Little Linking Instruction Book, by visiting http://www.linkacquire.com/signup.html.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
There are many effective little techniques that encourage forum posting. One of the tricks that helps to encourage forum conversation is to end some of your posts with leading questions. "What do you think?" "How do you do it?" "Does anyone know how to ____?" Questions give an easy opening for the next person to post, just as they help foster conversation in real life.

If you start a new thread, it often is more successful if your first post is short and asks a question, as opposed to being several paragraphs in length that cover a topic more thoroughly. This is kind of surprising because you might have thought a longer post would be more intriguing, but try it and see! You'll notice a difference. So, even if you've thought about a topic a lot, try not to say much in the first post. This lets other people be "experts" too, and they will enjoy the conversation.

In writing classes they often teach you to write strong. Strong writing is well thought out, authoritative, doesn't use the word "I," has good grammar, spelling, and punctuation. But on a forum, it can intimidate others so that they won't post. If instead you say, "I think," "Gosh, how do you spell that?", include personal stuff, and so forth, it makes the writing less formal and more like you're sitting across the cafe table from an old friend! This makes others comfortable so they are more likely to open up.

Compliments about what someone posted before you also helps many of the readers to be comfortable posting because they interpret it as a friendly, gentle place. Whether face to face or online, other people will like it when they receive positive comments or are asked questions. It simply makes people feel like they are being listened to, and we all like that!

Timing is also important in encouraging good conversation on a forum. It's better to post two or three responses at a time every three or four hours, than to sit down once each evening to post because it keeps the forum fresh and people get the feeling someone is always there for them to talk to. If they check in an hour or two after they posted and they see responses, well, of course they'll be more likely to get involved in the forum than if they have to wait a day for a response.

Social network users, visit http://www.wishafriend.com/ac/holidays/christmas/ for Christmas MySpace comments. You can also find Christmas MySpace graphics at http://www.wishafriend.com/graphics/holidays/christmas/, and find Christmas Layouts at http://www.wishafriend.com/layouts/christmas/ to add to your profile.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
When you are beginning your internet network marketing business, it is likely that you will be on a shoestring budget. One of the first things that you need to do with internet marketing is to build your own list. This list will be comprised of targeted prospects that are interested in the niche market that your business focuses on.

Participating in forums is an excellent way to quickly begin generating targeted traffic. Responsible and targeted forum marketing can help you do this. You need to find forums related to your niche market. Posting frequently and answering members' questions is the first forum marketing tip. Put your unique selling proposition in your signature with a link to your website. If people like what you have to say, they will visit your website. This article discusses six forum marketing tips to help you build that targeted list.

Forums are online communities where members interact with each other through posts. A distinguishing characteristic of a forum is its specificity. Forum threads are very topic-specific. These threads discuss one topic only.

Here are six forum marketing tips to help you generate ongoing targeted traffic.

1. Determine your expertise and find appropriate forums that you can join. Look for active forums that have topics related to your business or expertise. Create new threads there, offer your knowledge, and help others--frequently. This will build your integrity and expertise.

2. Create a linked signature and include it at the end of your posts. Do not use an affiliate link.. You can use this to sign your posts. This signature must lead to your web site. The traffic you generate from it is very highly targeted.

3. Manage your forum affiliations. Do not try to post replies or threads in every forum. Find five to seven forums where you will become active and then ramp up so you make at least five forum posts daily.

4. Create interesting threads on the latest 'hot' topics. You will see that a lot of people are talking about a certain problem and are trying to find the right solutions for it. You can create a thread which offers your solution in a step-by-step format. This will continue to build your integrity and expertise.

5. Reply to existing topics with quality answers. Look for questions which people post because they want to know more information about it. Reply to the topic with a quality answer. If you do this often, people will look to you as an expert and will start to respect your opinions. They will then enter your prospecting funnel to get more information from you because they trust you.

6. Use a system to save and track your forums and posts such as Forum Fortunes, which saves a lot of time because it saves and tracks all of your posts and forums.

Following these forum marketing tips will help you establish yourself as an expert, develop trust and build relationships. Many people will contact and join you because of the information, help and assistance you continue to provide.

Jon Roussel is a successful internet marketer in Beverly, MA. He helps people succeed with a home-based business that will generate a long-term reliable leveraged residual income. Learn more at http://www.jonroussel.ws, Jon Roussel's Website.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
This is one article in the series of "InfoPreneur Secrets" which discusses tips, tricks, techniques and secrets to be a successful info product creator and marketer. This article will discuss the importance of leveraging the resources of others to literally explode your sales without much additional effort on your part.

Let me ask you a question:

What’s better than ONLY YOU promoting your product and generating sales for your info product?

Answer: Hundreds, even thousands, of marketers marketing your product FOR YOU for free!

Let us look at one of the most successful internet marketing products ever, ‘The Rich Jerk’. This is the ultimate example of a marketer effectively leveraging the resources of others.

I bet ‘The Rich Jerk’ himself doesn’t make a whole lot of sales, but he has thousands of affiliates promoting HIS products for HIM in exchange for a percentage of the sale. It’s the perfect business model for both the affiliate and the vendor.

The affiliate gets money without having to create a product. The vendor makes sales of his product that he wouldn’t otherwise have made.

The Rich Jerk is one of the must sold internet marketing info products simply because he has a huge affiliate force.

I’d rather have one thousand affiliates promoting my product passively than just have me marketing my own product aggressively.

You are limited in what you can achieve on your own. Remember that. But with the help of others, you can accelerate your internet marketing efforts by LEVERAGING the resources of others.

James Penn is an experienced niche marketer who has developed and profitably marketed a library of niche info products and reports. To discover how to create an insane passive income online by creating tiny reports, visit http://www.shortreportprofits.com

James also runs a blog which details his trials and tribulations of being an internet marketer. He posts his tips, tricks, techniques and secrets that will help YOU to make money. Visit his blog at http://www.teenagemarketer.com.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
This is one article in the series of InfoPreneur Secrets which discusses tips, tricks, techniques and secrets to be a successful info product creator and marketer. This article will discuss how to effectively persuade authorities in your niche to joint venture with you in promotion of your info product.

Joint ventures are powerful things. They enable you to leverage the resources of other people to generate profits for yourself. What a great business model! Other people promote your products, you keep half of the money.

Here are some tips to get people to JV with you:

* First contact – The first time you contact a potential JV partner should not be asking for them to promote your product. You first need to build a relationship with them. Your first email could either introduce you and your business, or it could offer your potential partner assistance. Offer to write some articles for them or to help them with any tasks they don’t want to do. If you help them initially, they’ll be more likely to promote your product later on.

* Personalize your JV email – Once you feel you are ready to contact a potential partner, make sure the email you send is personalized. Refer to their websites and their activities. Use their name throughout the email.

* Create an offer too good to refuse – Make an offer to your potential JV partner so good they won’t be able to refuse it. You could offer them some unique articles if they promote, you could offer them an increased affiliate commission, you could offer them a reciprocal mailing (i.e. you promote one of their products to your list).

Approaching JV partners is an art form. It’s impossible for me to sum up everything in this short article, but hopefully it will help you when you approach your next (or first) JV partner.

James Penn is an experienced niche marketer who has developed and profitably marketed a library of niche info products and reports. To discover how to create an insane passive income online by creating tiny reports, visit http://www.shortreportprofits.com

James also runs a blog which details his trials and tribulations of being an internet marketer. He posts his tips, tricks, techniques and secrets that will help YOU to make money. Visit his blog at http://www.teenagemarketer.com

This free report from Dr. Mani may help you with approaching JV partners - http://ezinemarketingcenter.com/jv-deconstructed.pdf.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
With the present trend in marketing and online business, competition to get the a higher and better ranking is getting stiffer and a lot more complex. In order to attain the best traffic on the net, a lot of marketers and businessmen are engaging into so many highly tremendous methods of marketing. One of the most sought-after marketing tools that many are trying to experiment on is the search engine optimization, particularly the off page optimization process. You may be asking, why search engine optimization? What features does off page optimization have to be considered as one of the most sought-after marketing tools? Well, the answer to that is very basic and fundamental - traffic driven by back links.

Back links are the most essential means of generating traffic on a site nowadays. A lot of marketers and business people have seen the strong potential of off page optimization to obtain successfully numerous quality back links on a site more than its contemporaries. Back links are link addresses that you are able to generate from sites that wish to start a connection with your site. Usually, this happens under the method of SEO that requires it to be done outside the main content of the site - thus, off page optimization.

One of the best ways to get back links is through the use of the forum. If you are able to publish your message on the forum sites where you are a member, you are given the opportunity to include on the message some of your relevant information such as the company name which you represent, as well as a bit of personal information such as your name and your e-mail address. You will be given this opportunity when forum masters see your contribution to the forum site as something that is indispensable. In order to continue getting such opportunity, you continue to submit postings that contain relevancy and pertinence.

As additional information, if you are serious about generating more back links from forum sites, engage yourself into more than one forum site and allot time for each individual site. In that case, you have far better opportunity to gain mileage with considerably more net users.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to forum traffic success, 'Secrets of Generating Traffic With Forums'

Download it free here: http://www.secrets-of-internet-success.com/2ezforums.html Traffic Generation With Forums

Sean Mize is a full-time internet marketer who has written over 1,574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
Black Hat SEOss will definitely impress you with all the aces up their sleeves, but if you do not want your website to be black-listed by popular search engines such as Google, then it is recommended that you try other better options that are available. Generating traffic to your website is no doubt important, but if you have long-term business plans then you need to realize that what is even more important is building and maintaining the credibility of your website. It is only when credibility is maintained that you can you hope to retain users on your website and, most importantly, motivate them to buy products or services that you might be selling through your website.

So, what is the best way of building credibility? Well, the truth is that there are many ways of doing that. However, if you are looking for the best solution, then I will recommend that you opt for forums that act as the perfect platform for user interaction. You see, when you start a forum on your website, what happens is that users develop positive perceptions about your website-- something that helps a lot in building the desired level of credibility. Since forums are places where users are allowed to share their views and experiences, both negative as well as positive, it naturally leads to a feeling of communion amongst those who throng your website. This helps a lot because users then feel more at ease while using your website or when buying products and services that you might be offering through your website.

Building credibility through forums should be your first priority because by doing so you not only increase traffic to your website, but also reduces costs and improves profitability of your online business. This becomes a possibility because when you have a successful forum, you no longer have to invest huge amounts on Internet marketing or hiring writers, bloggers, and SEOs. All the marketing and content gets done automatically by forum members without you having to spend a single penny. Even the mundane SEO tasks such as keyword optimization get done in the process and that, too, without raising the hackles of search engines, something that is always a possibility with SEO-assisted optimization techniques. You see, when users discuss topics related to your website, it automatically leads to the requisite keyword insertions, something that the search engines are most likely to take notice of in a positive way. That’s the magic of forums!

So now that you understand the importance of building credibility through forums, it is all up to you how well you implement that on your website. However, before you actually start a forum, you need to take certain precautions because just like any other technique, forums too have their limitations and disadvantages, especially when not used in the prescribed manner. You may be planning to get the best forum software, but believe me, if you do not know the tricks and techniques involved, you will not be able to make much progress even with the most advanced software programs. So, instead of risking your investments, I would recommend that you first learn the intricacies and the tricks of the trade.

Ryan Chua is a professional IT and Onlne marketing consultant for the past 5 years. Ever since running his own traffic and profit-generating websites, he has been teaching others how to do the same for their own online endeavours. For more information, visit http://www.ForumSecretsRevealed.com.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
So you need to test your new product concepts against prospects, customers, or the trade. Concept testing explores consumers' reactions to a proposed product, message, or ad.

But you have limited time to get voice of the customer reactions and insights about your concepts. And the target segment is difficult to recruit into a traditional focus group room.

Product and marketing managers face these problems all the time. The good news is that online bulletin board focus groups can help you with concept testing.

What are Online Bulletin Board Focus Groups?

The purpose of online bulletin board focus groups (BBFG) is to gain qualitative insights about prospects and customers. You want to understand their perceptions, attitudes, opinions, and behaviors about a topic.

A bulletin board focus group consists of a moderator, 10 to 20 respondents, and observers.

Moderators, respondents and observers meet on a bulletin board focus group web site. But they don’t need to meet at the same time. They can login any time during a BBFG session.

Bulletin board focus groups typically run for three days. The moderator posts questions and concepts, and respondents post their comments. Observers watch.

How Bulletin Board Focus Groups Work

The moderator recruits, screens and invites respondents to a bulletin board focus group.

But, rather than meet face-to-face, participants login to a secure (https) bulletin board web site, using a username and password.

The moderator sets the ground rules, builds rapport, and launches questions, concepts, and probes using a moderator’s discussion guide.

The moderator controls what respondents see, and when they see it: questions, concepts, and respondents’ responses.

Respondents post their comments: opinions, perceptions, attitudes and descriptions of behaviors.

Observers can direct the moderator to probe respondents’ answers. By the way, the respondents cannot see the observers.

Transcripts are immediately available for analysis. You get instant word-for-word quotes and insights.

Qualitative Product Concept Testing

This is how you use bulletin board focus groups for concept testing.

The moderator presents concepts on the BBFG web site. This is where you can show products, ads, messages and web sites. The moderator shows concepts using several formats: written descriptions, images, video clips or web sites.

Respondents mark-up concepts, using mark-up tools available with BBFG technology. For example, they can highlight words and images they like and dislike. And they can add their comments about specific items in the concept.

You gain valuable voice of the customer information about your concepts. You see specific words, sentences and images that respondents like and dislike. They reveal their feelings and thoughts about your concepts.

You can see if customers’ perceptions about concepts match up with your perceptions.

Another useful BBFG tool is “uninfluenced answers.” The moderator can control when respondents see other respondents’ posts. With the uninfluenced answer feature turned on, respondents must answer a question before they can see answers from other respondents about the question. The moderator can reduce group bias, using the uninfluenced answer feature. Uninfluenced answers are an ideal tool for concept testing.

Benefits of Bulletin Board Focus Groups

Using bulletin board focus groups, you can assess customers' or prospects’ reactions to product concepts, ads, messages and web sites quickly. You get rich, voice-of-the-customer, word-for-word quotes and actionable insights.

Plus you avoid travel time associated with traditional face-to-face focus groups and save thousands of dollars in travel expenses.

You can even interview busy executives, subject matter experts, professionals, and on-the-go people who don’t have time to attend face-to-face focus groups.

Also, you get better geographical respondent representation than face-to-face focus groups.

BBFG is a viable research tool. Seventy-one percent of U.S. adults use the Internet (early 2007), according to PEW Internet Research. That is about 160 million U.S. adults.

BBFG is one of the fastest-growing market research tools today. Many companies are turning to professional moderators who use it.

Bulletin board focus groups are effective for concept testing. Test new product ideas, ads, and messages, and gain valuable customer insights. Use insights to develop new products and marketing programs.

Copyright © 2007, Henk Hoets. All rights reserved.

Henk Hoets is an RIVA trained professional focus group moderator and qualitative marketing research consultant.

Henk has moderated hundreds of focus groups and in-depth interviews for major corporations, and small and medium businesses.

He is the founder of Hendriks Research, a qualitative marketing research firm. He also is a former product and marketing manager and 20-year veteran of the wireless industry. He holds an MBA.

For more information about online focus groups and focus group moderating, please visit http://h-focusgroups.com.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
Whenever we hear of internet confrontations, we think of crazy people online doing whacky stuff. That is not always the case. "Internet beef" is among the bulls with extremely sharp financial horns. Yes, we're talking about the top internet companies "on steroids" ! Google, YaHoO, Microsoft, eBaY, MySpace and the underdog slowly taking over- Facebook.

MySpace is reported as losing a slight grip on new user signups, due to prohibiting it's users from promoting their URL addresses and e-commerce business on their personal pages. Savvy web publishers desire to utlize the power of MySpace, not just to ask people to buy something, but it's also a great backlink from MySpace to have your domain name linked to. If you go to Alexa and type in MySpace to view their traffic rank, you'll see that it ranks at 6. A ranking of that number on Alexa simply equals out to be well over a billion times over in logins, logouts and new user signups daily. MySpace also prohibits the use of widgets in loading your personal content into and placing it on your page. If you have any kind of affiliate links, Google ads or anything that generates income for yourself, your MySpace account will be instantly deleted.

Google is reported to have bought more companies. Their secret plans are to create search engine friendly widgets, so that they can embed and offer these tools to users of the affiliate-owned companies they have been purchasing left and right. As Google knows they are late, Facebook has Google by the balls in creating social networking applications so that users can increase the social networking effectiveness of their personal pages. And, if you think about it, Facebook will soon have MySpace on its knees. Today, Facebook offers over 8,000 widgets. Google plans on firing back soon with their new social network called "Open Social".

These companies are all at war to grab our loyalty. They offer so many free services. If you look into the deeper picture, the more free stuff they offer, the more ad revenue they generate for their company. If you think hard enough, the same ad revenue they generate, you can too for yourself. How so? They use Google Ad Sense & affiliate links just like everyone else. The key is to network with people, use free widgets to syndicate your content, write good search engine copy, signature forums with your URL links, build many personal social pages and backlink them with your content. More content equals more traffic which equals more money for you, just like how the big boys do!

Shawn Drewry is the CEO of http://www.DrewryOnline.net

He was born & raised in Brooklyn, New York & has been in the working world for 10 years, including corporate America. As much as he did well in his jobs, someone somewhere he worked with or even the employer themselves found some reason to wrongfully terminate him. He has learned the hard way to become an independent person, breaking the shackles of traditionally following the working class.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
Instant Noodles are probably one of the greatest inventions of all times. The strange thing is that they really are not instant and really are not a new invention. They are just the same old noodles in a new package and marketed a little differently.

There has to be a lesson to be learned when this product is given a closer inspection. Here is something (the noodle) that is hundreds, maybe even thousands of years old. Yet it is now one of the most profitable food niche markets in existence today. Whether it is ramen, canton, bihon, pancit or whatever name it is known by locally, the concept is actually very amazing.

Anyone can purchase these same noodles for much cheaper if they buy them in bulk; bulk in this case being buying them by the kilo or by the pound. Throw in a little bouillon cube and voila, instant success.

So what is the lesson to be learned here from this marketing wonder? Is it that everybody needs to find a product that is hundreds or thousands of years old? That is hardly the case. The whole point is that anything can be sold and profited on if it is packaged correctly.

Who was the first one who packaged the noodles in portions that were suitable for one person? While nobody may know their name, it is certain that it could be looked up. Either way, if they patented the idea, there is a strong chance that they are not among the working-class people anymore.

Somebody once said that everything worth being invented has already been invented. This is probably not the case either. The sad fact of the matter is that most people will not ever come up with a patentable idea that will allow them to retire in the lap of luxury.

The whole idea behind marketing; whether it is marketing an idea, a product or information on the internet, or providing something tangible in a store; the concept is the same. Marketing and recognizable packaging has a lot to do with it, but it is mostly in the presentation.

These people offered nothing at all that was new. They repackaged it and advertised it as a convenience. Given the hectic pace in the world today, that concept is what sold the product. They knew what buttons to push to get people to buy.

It can be said that not everybody is going to have a life-changing idea or concept. That does not mean that they cannot get rich with the proper marketing. Finding a product that can be sold is an important factor. Creating a need or a desire is as important to success as is creating a sense of urgency to have that one product in particular. Closing the deal is easy when everything is packaged and presented properly. Making sure that the product is easily recognizable will generate return business, but that is another article.

Ward Tipton has been writing SEO and SEM materials for over three years now and has recently become involved in providing new and unmatched materials by an actual Work Team comprised of professional writers, technicians, engineers, editors, Internet Marketers and a gathering of talent heretofore unmatched in the world of Internet Marketing. Visit Ward at http://wardtipton.com.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
If you look at the online market today, you will be able to observe that there is major competition online. This major competition has motivated internet companies to continue coming out with new and innovative products in order to have an edge on the competition. This is the main reason of their sustained success amongst a competitive market. That is why having a product launch plan is very important for online success. Here are four easy ways to get started with a successful product launch plan.

When you create a product launch plan, it is very important that you have an understanding of your target market. If you release a product amongst an audience that has no interest in your product, then your product launch plan was a tragic failure. Therefore, you must really know your target audience before you come up with a product launch plan. Also, it is important that you launch your product during a time when there is maximum demand for your product in the market.

With a good product launch plan, it is necessary that you market and presell your product before the actual launch date. During this time, you must use as many methods of advertising as you can to get your message out. The internet has turned out to be the perfect medium for pre-launching successful product releases. Just put ads to your product on high-traffic websites that are closely related to your target market. Remember, a successful product launch plan always takes into account the target audience that it is marketing to.

You should always include attractive bonus offers with your product when you begin to come up with your product launch plan. Including bonuses and alluring offers with your product will improve the success and earnings gained from the launch. Another proven product launch plan is to keep the price low initially during the launch, then raise the price to normal after a few days.

Melvin Perry is an internet entrepreneur that specializes in building large email lists within a matter of weeks. He currently teaches marketers via free step by step videos how to earn thousands monthly through the list-building model via free step-by-step videos. You can snatch these videos at no cost by visiting http://www.list-building-videos.com FREE Internet Marketing Videos.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_BTj_275/user/index.php
Becoming a top stumbler is the ultimate goal when you use StumbleUpon. I have not reached it yet, but I know it's out there.

I believe that if you follow just a few steps every day, you will reach this peak. Yes, "top stumbler" and "top stumblers" are keywords in StumbleUpon, but don't confuse them with becoming a Top Stumbler. Top Stumblers are chosen by the moderators of SU.

My friend, Brian, from NowSourcing.com, wrote an exceptional article on the flocking behavior and the effect that any social media site has. People are curious about other people, and like people flock together where there is good content. This is what makes StumbleUpon such a marvelous site.

To get Top Stumbler means that:

1. You are posting frequently,

2. You are tagging your posts with "top stumbler" and "top stumblers",

3. You have close to-- if not over-- the 200 friend limit, and

4. You are using the "Stumble" button to view other web pages from other Stumblers.

The average number of votes for a Top Stumbler is around 18,000. These are the three basics that were written about previously, plus the additional task of stumbling pages yourself. The mechanisms will take over and you will get Top Stumbler on the basis reviews as well as votes.

Previous articles on Secrets of StumbleUpon are linked in the author's information at the end of this article for your convenience so you can read up on the basics:

1. Introduction

2. Fresh Content

3. Tagging Your Posts

4. Making And Keeping Frie