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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_CBa_182/user/index.php
In this article I show you my top twelve tips for creating effective Google AdWords ads.

I've been testing the Google pay per click advertising system for awhile, with much success. These tips will help you create ads that generate higher click-through rates, and lower cost per click.

1. Target The Right Audience

Target the right audience by selecting the language and countries that you want to target. For example, I exclude all countries where English is not understood by a large percentage of the population.

2. Refine Your Keywords

Use square brackets "[...]" around your keyword/s.

For example:

[google]
[google adwords]

Your ad will only show when the search is for the exact keyword phrase you have included within the brackets.

The ad will not show for searches that include other keywords. In our example, this would be for searches such as "google search," or "google news."

3. Test Multiple Ads Simultaneously

Always test 2 (or more) ads simultaneously. This is what is known in the print industry as an A/B split test.

Find out which one produces the higher click- through ratio. Then replace the weaker performing ad with a new one.

Continue this process in your never-ending quest to get the highest click-through ratio possible.

4. Track The Return-On-Investment Of Each Ad

Google tracks the click- through ratio of each ad. But it doesn't track the conversion ratio.

Use a special tracking link in each ad to track its conversion ratio. For example, you could attach each ad with an affiliate tracking system link. Make sure each ad produces a return-on-investment.

5. Include Targeted Keywords In Your Ad

Include the targeted keywords in the headline and the description of the ad. Google will highlight searched keywords in bold in the ad.

When people scan search results, they look for the keywords they have entered. Searched keywords highlighted in bold certainly help to catch the user's attention. For this reason, ads with searched keywords usually perform better than ones without.

6. Sell The Benefits

Spell out one or more major benefit in your ad. For example, make more money, stay younger- looking, lose weight, get healthier, live happier, etc.

7. Include Attention-Grabbing Words In Your Ad

Start your headline with an attention-grabbing word. For example, "Free:, New:, Sale:, etc." Make sure you stay within Google's editorial guidelines.

8. Use Words That Provoke Emotion & Enthusiasm

Use power words or call-to-action phrases that provoke emotion, enthusiasm and a response.

Here are some examples of power words:

free, cheap, sale, special offer, time- limited offer, tricks, you, tips, enhance, discover, fact, learn, at last, free shipping, etc.

Here are some examples of call-to-action phrases:

* Buy Today - Save 50%
* Download Free Trial Now
* Sale Ends Tomorrow

Make sure the phrase is specific to your business, otherwise Google may reject the phrase.

9. Sell Your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)

What makes your product or service better, or different, from the competition? Spell them out in your ad.

For example, one of Amazon.com's first taglines was "Earth's Biggest Bookstore." That's a powerful USP!

10. Link To Relevant Landing Pages

If an ad is for a specific product or service, create a landing page for the ad. Include relevant and useful information to convert the customer. Generally, a well- designed landing page will almost always convert more visitors than if you simply sent the visitor to the home page.

11. Remove Common Words

Remove common words, such as "a, an, in, on, it, of, etc." Remove every word that does not absolutely need to be in the ad. Make every word count.

12. Deter Freebie Hunters

Deter freebie hunters by including the price of the product or service at the end of the ad. This will improve your overall conversion ratio and lower your average customer acquisition cost.

This may reduce your click -through ratio, but that's OK. After all, you're not trying to target everybody, only potential customers. In most cases, freebie hunters will never become paying customers.

Conclusion

Remember that advertising is a never-ending series of tests. Always track your ads. Never stop testing different keywords and ads to improve your conversion ratio and lower your customer acquisition cost.

Advertising in the Google AdWords advertising system works. It may not necessarily produce as many visitors as Overture, but the click-through cost is usually lower.

Master the art of advertising in Google, and you could outsmart the competitor who's always outbidding you in Overture.
About The Author: Michael Wong is the editor of GoDefy.com - the world's first online marketing comparison shopping search engine and Mike's Marketing Tools. Michael is also the author of the leading Search Engine Optimization Guide and numerous marketing tips.

Publishing Rights: You may republish this article in your web site, newsletter, or ebook, on the condition that you agree to leave the article, author's signature and photograph, and all links completely intact. Full instructions on how to copy and upload my photo to your server can be found at http://www.onlinemarketingbusinessopportunity.net/

Michael Wong is the editor of http://GoDefy.com - the world's first online marketing comparison shopping search engine and Mike's Marketing Tools. Michael is also the author of the leading Search Engine Optimization Guide and numerous marketing tips.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_CBa_182/user/index.php
By Michael Moshkovich

These are tips on what to avoid during the developing stages of your internet marketing business to give yourself the best chance at success.

You need to know several things before building a business in internet marketing. More important, several aspects need avoided when building an internet marketing business. Avoid overuse of keywords, and waiting to advertise your website. It can be detrimental toward the success of your internet marketing business.

All over the internet, search engine optimization and keyword optimization are one of the most important parts to internet marketing. What people do not realize is, this does not mean put your targeted keywords in every line of content. Overusing your keywords throughout your content makes it difficult to follow along with what you are saying. You have to learn to create a balance between the two extremes of not enough use and too much use of keywords.

Keywords are a vital part to the content you distribute in your internet marketing business. The content itself will either draw in readers or push them away. When you begin writing your content, it is easy to get off the subject and begin writing about nonsense. However, it is crucial you provide quality content related to your websites overall theme.

Aside from the content on your website, the information you provide in your emails and other internet marketing schemes is crucial to generating more sales. Because your internet marketing business is new, the logical thing to do is make your point clear and concise. Sometimes clear and concise is too long. It is difficult to learn when you first start out, but you will quickly realize the best email messages get your point across in a short message.

The last thing that is oh too common with newbies is waiting to begin marketing your website until it is more developed. The problem is you are wasting time to begin generating potential sales. Your website constantly needs developing, because in internet marketing, the best way to stay on top is to constantly be evolving and adding new content.

On top of the potential profit you could be missing, you have no idea whether your hard work is what the public is looking for until you give them a chance to look at it. The best way to build a people-friendly website is to get feedback and criticism, because this allows you to learn from your mistakes and build off what people are telling you.

Although you do want to put a lot of research into how you can build a promising internet marketing business, what not to do should be of equal importance to you. While there are several things you need to avoid, Business Management Articles, these are some of the worst mistakes you can make in the internet marketing business.

Michael Moshkovich is a web developer and internet marketer who has written over 50 articles on SEO, shopping cart software and PPC marketing. To find out more information about WebCart visit us here (http://www.webcart.net/). For eCommerce marketing tips, visit the WebCart Blog (http://www.webcart.net/shoppingcartsoftware).

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by Matthew Hesser

It sounds too simple to be true, but it really is ... A well-targeted and timely PRESS RELEASE to the media is the most powerful form of marketing and advertising on the planet!

A high quality press release, with the proper targeting and distribution to reach the correct media members, could have many businesses sailing on a sea of new sales and profits. Just one feature or a mention in a popular or targeted business publication has the potential to cause some business's phones to literally be ringing off the hook!

The next big question that arises, "How do you go about writing a quality press release that will grab the attention of the media and your particular audience?"

Here are some tips to help you succeed:

* Pick a "Newsworthy" Angle.

Press releases are not an advertisement. Do not try to sell your product or service. Do not use "hype" in press releases. Instead, give the media what they want and they will give you what you want.

What the press and media really want is a story! Just provide the "Who, What, When, Where" and "How" with regards to the uses of your products and/or services in a story format. Show examples of ways that people have used your products and services to their benefit. If you can include some emotions in your story, all the better.

Ask yourself: "Would this be something that I might read in a newspaper?"

* Get a Good Start.

The headline and the first few sentences of the first paragraph are the absolutely most important part of the press release. If you don't catch the reader's interest here, you will lose your audience. The best way to do this is to use your most hard-hitting information FIRST rather than build to a climax. This may be opposite to what you would normally do when writing other material - but it does work! What follows in your press release are the details that SUPPORT your story or theme.

* Write to the Media.

Remember, a journalist, editor or reporter, not necessarily a client, is reading your press release. It's not your job to sell them your product or service. It IS your job to give them an interesting story or piece of news that they will be happy to share and announce to their audience.

* Keep your release short and to the point.

It should contain no more than about 500 words and no more than two pages.

Include your contact information. Provide full contact name, company name, full address, phone number, E-mail address and Web site URL. The contact name should be someone who is knowledgeable and available to answer any questions by media members, such as editors, reporters and journalists.

Targeted press releases to the media have helped thousands of companies succeed. They are the most powerful form of marketing and advertising on the planet!

Remember: One article is all it takes!

For more information on how you can get a quality targeted press release written or have your press release distributed to the targeted media contacts in our 600,0000 press and media contact database, please visit our Advanced PR department at Majon International.

Matthew Hesser is President and CEO of Majon International, one of the most popular Internet marketing and advertising companies online, located at: http://www.majon.com . To get a high-quality targeted press release written and/or distributed to the press and media, as well as get GUARANTEED media and press coverage for your business please visit: http://www.advanced-pr.com

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By Stuart Elliott

Wow, what a strange question!

This question, however, has nothing to do with seeing your prospect as a mythical person, like the dragons in fairy tales of old. It asks whether you really know your prospect.

Actually, there is some truth to both sides of the question. A lot of would-be marketers think they have found a killer product and write a sales letter to match, only to find out later (to their cost) that there is no market for that product.

But, what I really want to discuss today is…

Do You Breathe The Same Air As Your Prospect?

I mean, do you really know your prospect? Do you talk the same talk as him/her? Do you live the same life as him/her? In short, can you honestly say that you can identify with your prospect?

When you write a sales letter, not only do you have to know your product intimately, you have to taste it, feel it, own it and use it. But…

You have to also KNOW your prospect intimately.

Too many marketers today, whether they be Internet or Offline marketers, locate a product or service that they think will sell. They research it in depth and start to write a sales letter for it, but fail to put the same amount of effort into identifying who they are writing the sales letter to.

"You may have the best product in the world, but how can you write a killer sales letter for it if you don't know who will buy it?"

You must learn everything there is to know about your target market: what their needs are, what their desires are, how they think, how they talk and, yes, even how they dress.

For instance, say your product is the latest high-tech skateboard. You've researched it endlessly and know that it will benefit your prospect because it is lighter and stronger, thus giving him/her more speed -- and it will never break. How do you think your prospect will react if you walk up to him/her wearing a suit and tie, then try to talk to him/her in language that would be more suitable for the annual financial meetings of a fortune 500 company?

Or -- say you're selling a top-notch financial product. How do you think your prospect would react if your opening words were "Yo, Dude! What's the juice?"

I can tell you that he/she would probably laugh in your face. You certainly wouldn't hold much credibility in his/her eyes.

Far better if you took the time to learn your prospect's habits, then approached him/her wearing similar attire that he/she would wear. Immediately, you'd start to fit in. Now, when you talked to him/her about your product and use familiar language, he/she will listen with open ears and be begging you for a chance to try out your product, because you're talking to him/her on his/her level.

Don't be misled into thinking there is no need to worry about clothes when addressing prospects via the Internet, either. A photo of yourself adds instant credibility to your sales letter but, of course, that photo must show you in attire that matches the minds' eye of your prospect. For instance, a picture of you sitting there in your underpants wouldn't do much for your credibility if you were selling stock market advice, would it?

So -- the next time you sit down to write a sales letter for that killer product you've identified, take the time to research your buyers, let them live inside your head for a while before you put pen to paper.

That way, when you do write your sales letter, it will talk the same language and walk the same walk as your prospect. Thus, you will gain his/her respect immediately he/she starts to read it.

Also make sure there is a market for your product. You don't want to be selling skateboards to dragons, do you? (Remember, dragons can fly, so they have no need for a skateboard!)

About the author:

Stuart Elliott is a world class copywriter. Drop by http://howtowritekickbuttcopy.com to pick up a free copywriting power guide.

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by Jan Sepstrup

Could $5 a day make you rich?

No, and that's why I was quite skeptical when I started reading Dennis Becker's new e-book on making money on the internet - "5 Bucks A Day".

It reminded me of an e-book I bought a couple of years ago with a title something like "Double Your Way To A Million" - In theory it would work if you could double your profit each day starting at 5 cents, but only in theory.

I recently participated in a couple of internet marketing surveys, and when I saw the results I realized - much to my surprise - that I was in the top 5% - I do earn some money from the internet. Not much, but I learned from these surveys that 95% earn zero or very little money from all their efforts.

You have all this information from various e-books and e-courses but nothing seems to work for 95% of internet entrepreneurs.

What's missing in the equation for success?

"5 Bucks A Day" is not an e-book that teaches you anything about AdSense, affiliate marketing, listbuilding, blogging or internet marketing. Thats not a bad thing - after a few months newbie internet entrepreneurs probably have their hard disk filled with e-books teaching these subjects - and they're still not making any money.

I've read Dennis Becker's e-book - "5 Bucks A Day" a couple of times and I was really surprised. It was like standing in the middle of the internet marketing wilderness and suddenly you could clearly see which way to go. This e-book describes an easy step-by-step guide on how to find your way in the wilderness - it's all about FOCUS and ACTION - a strategy that anyone can follow no matter what type of internet business you have.

I did some research on what other internet marketers were saying about his e-book and here's some of the comments I found:

"Your report is just what the doctor ordered! I definitely challenge anyone who cannot get some value out of it to look more closely! Some of my favorite books are ones that didn't 'click' until the second or third reading. Definitely DO NOT underestimate this one."

"This is really an excellent report. You've got a great online business perspective. This is a refreshing, novel approach. You're also an excellent communicator (and motivator!). It's obvious you care about your readers. You've prepared a thorough road map that offers substantial benefits to the Internet marketing community. For that, you have my sincerest appreciation. I can't recommend this highly enough."

"What a breath of fresh air you are! This has to be one of the best reports I've ever bought here, and will definitely have a profound effect on my business. Most of us are drowning in internet marketing tactics and tools and business ideas. The hard part is having a simple strategy to use all that stuff that will make us money in a reasonable time. Your $5 a day strategy accomplishes that beautifully!"

"Thanks for sharing your powerful strategy with us. I have read it the first time and will be reading it the second time. This is just what I needed to put things into perspective and take consistent action to achieve my goals."

"Thank you very much for turning on the "dummy light"! I like your approach and message. So many of us keep looking for the next greatest piece of the puzzle on the table, when it was really in our hand all along."

.. and it goes on and on.

Conclusion

"5 Bucks A Day" turned out to be more than I expected and it fills a gap in the market - a simple practical strategy you can use to structure your efforts in making money on the internet. This e-book really gave me an ah-ha experience - a real step-by-step strategy I can and will use in my internet business. I really think this e-book should be on the "Top 5 e-books" list for any internet entrepreneur.

I highly recommend this e-book - Read more here:
http://www.jasmedia.com/5bucksaday

Jan Sepstrup is the editor of the Google Smart Tools Newsletter from http://www.go-smart-tool.com/4free - Newsletter, toolbar, e-book and videos for Google Adwords, AdSense profit and Internet Marketing.
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by Chad McDonald

Successful businesses have many things in common. Let's look at the big 'R' of recognition and how a digital advertising network may help.

Recognition can be illustrated by two individuals entering a crowded room at a party. Both walk to the far side of the room. One of them slips through the crowd easily and unnoticed as they reach the far side. The second person takes much longer to reach the far side, because they are engaged in conversations along the way as they continue to meet acquaintances and friends down the path.

Which type of person would you like to model your business after?

Your business is in a continual battle for your customers' recognition, whether you know it or not. If you happen to be fortunate enough to be in a marketplace with very few competitors, that will not last for long. You need your business to be at the forefront of your client's minds so, that when they require your products or services, you are the go-to people.

Marketing your business is a necessity. Putting your name and logo out there and keeping it there is a must. This lets clients know that you are "still around" and in business. Frequency is a good way to achieve the "stand-out factor" in recognition.

I'm reminded of television and radio ads I've heard or seen in the past. They run continually, with a catch phrase or musical jingle, over and over again on the radio or television, until you are absolutely sick of hearing it. You also cannot get it out of your head.

Although this type of advertising is expensive, it can be very effective, and the recognition factor is quite high. Television and radio can reach a large audience, and they are broad in their appeal. In a brief sentence, you are paying to market to both those that are your potential customers and to a large segment of those who are not now and probably never will be your customers.

There are more economical ways to pursue frequency. The point is to define your target market demographic, and invest your marketing funds into the locations that will best be seen by them.

Another factor to consider: "Can I market myself in a place where I will stand out from my competition, or where my competition does not have a presence?" Why would you market yourself in a flyer or newspaper right beside your competition and risk blending into a crowd, and ultimately being ignored?

Another issue to look at is diversification. As the saying goes, "don't put all your eggs in one basket."

When you look at your advertising budget for the year, try to find the affordable solutions that will continue to reap during the full year of your advertising budget. An expensive radio or television promotion may give short-term gains for that weekend sale, but what about the rest of the year? Your clients may end up wondering, "Where did they go, I haven't seen or heard anything about them for so long."

Don't always look for the old stand-bys in marketing, but keep your eyes and ears open for the latest and greatest ways to market your business. With the costs of technology coming down dramatically, new options such as digital advertising on LCD and Plasma screens are becoming more and more affordable, and the paper billboards and posters are becoming a thing of the past.

With the flexibility, and curb appeal of full color and motion video footage with computer-generated graphics available to you, this is an option you don't want to pass by without a good look.

Ultimately, recognition is required if you want to get people "in the door" of your business (or on your Website for the new E-businesses). This is going to cost you money, time and effort up-front, any way you look at it. But, if you have successfully reached your target market, the payoff will be worth it.

Chad McDonald of ETA, a Canadian dynamic signage business with a digital signage advertising network (www.procontentsite.com/Digital_Advertising_Network.html) of LCD and Plasma screens.

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By Lisa Packer

You absolutely must trigger an emotional reaction with your copy, if you intend to get response - whether you are looking for a lead or a sale. It does not matter whom you are marketing to, either: Business - to - business sales are still decided by human beings, just like consumer sales. All human beings buy on emotion.

With that in mind, here are seven ways to trigger emotions in your copy:

1. Tell a story. A good story captures attention, and draws the reader in. Right away, his emotions are stirred, and he cares about the outcome. Meanwhile, a lesson or sales message can be conveyed without resistance. That message will be remembered much longer, as good stories are hard to forget.

2. Paint a picture. Be vivid in your descriptions. Let the prospect see himself enjoying life after your product or service has solved his problem.

3. Stimulate all five senses. By merely describing the sight, smell, feel, sound, and taste of something, you make it real to your prospect. You mentally transport him to where you are - or transport your product to him. He will be aware, engaged - and emotionally involved with what you are telling him.

4. Promise benefits. Show him what you are going to do for him. Tell him how his life will be better, how time will be saved - and what he will do with that time - by using your product. Let him know, "What's In It for Me."

5. Use power words. Give your copy punch and excitement by using action words and vivid descriptors. Avoid all forms of the verb "to be." Show your product or service in action, and it will impact his heart.

6. Use a friendly tone of voice. Speak directly to your prospect, and sound like you are talking to a friend. Read your copy aloud and see if it passes the "barstool test." If it sounds like you are talking to the person on the barstool beside you, this is good. If any line or sentence makes you stumble, rewrite it.

7. Be honest. Banish all hype and half-truths. Emotion is conveyed subtly, and so is dishonesty. The same prospect "radar" that will pick up your passion and sincerity will also sound the alarm if you are lying. Your prospect will catch on, and you will lose him.

Use these tips to trigger honest emotion in your prospects. If you combine them with an offer that truly brings value to his life, you and your prospect will both be winners.

Does your marketing forge an emotional connection with your prospects? It can. Lisa Packer, author of "The Power Of Emotion: 6 Triggers That Turn Prospects Into Customers," specializes in copy that does just that. Get a FREE copy and explode your response rates at http://www.lisapacker.com today!

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by Cynthia Minnaar

With the ever-increasing number of Web sites on the Internet, why not take advantage of this simple method of being able to personalize and distinguish your Website from others?

If you bookmark a page with Microsoft IE, you will notice some sites have a special icon associated with their respective bookmark, thus differentiating or branding site A from site B.

Think of it as a form of Internet marketing.

It dawned on me recently how easy it was for me to locate Web sites that I had bookmarked so they appeared in My Favorites menu, with a little icon displayed next to the Website name, so I decided to find out if I could put one on my own Website, to make it stand out in the My Favorites menu and, thus, make it easier for whoever bookmarked my site to locate it.

I started my search on Google and discovered that the little icon that replaces the IE logo (in IE) is called a Favicon (pronounced fav-eye-con) and it's short for Favorites Icon, or it's sometimes called a bookmark icon.

The Favicon also shows in the address bar. Notice the red Y! symbol that appears in the left-most area of the address bar in Internet Explorer when you open Yahoo!, or the butterfly in MSN.

What a great way to personalise your site!

You will require IE 5.0 or higher and a favicon.ico can show up in at least three different places in Windows:

1) In the Favorites list, selectable on the Start menu;

2) In the location bar of the browser, when you're visiting the Website;

3) On your desktop, if you first bookmark the site, click Start, Favorites, hold down the control key and click on the bookmark, to drag it to the desktop (it copies the icon as a shortcut).

The favicon.ico can also show up in the following two places:

4) On the taskbar, if you bookmark the site, hold down the control key, then right-click on the bookmark and drag it to the task bar, it copies the icon there;

5) On the links bar, if you bookmark the site, hold down the control key, then right-click on the bookmark and drag it to the Links tool bar, it copies the icon there.

If you search the search engines for "favicon," you will find that many sites come up offering favicon tutorials, online tools to create favicon icons, free favicon icons and installation instructions.

A favicon should be 16 X 16 pixels with 16 colors and the file name must be favicon.ico. Ideally, you should search for a program that allows you to create favicons online.

Remember, if you do not save it as favicon.ico, it will not work. Do not make the mistake of just shrinking an image to icon size and renaming it with a .ico file extension. That will not work, either, because it is not a real icon file.

Don't be surprised if your own favicon does not show up in your own browser when you open your site, as sometimes this can take up to a few days, and it might even disappear again, only to reappear.

I had fun creating my own personal 16 x 16 pixel image in MyImager and then found a site on Google that created a favicon.ico file. I uploaded my image and clicked on "generate favicon," and that's how easy it was.

I then uploaded the favicon.ico file to the root Web directory, in the same location as the index.html page of my hosted Website and -- bingo! I now have a Favicon and have personalized and distinguished my Website from others. Creating such an icon adds to the professionalism of your site, marking you as a Web designer who attends to detail.

So, now, when someone bookmarks my site with a browser that supports favicons, my favicon will appear, as opposed to a default image (a logo for Internet Explorer), which is used instead, if no favicon.ico has been provided.

I am sure, if you look through your own Favorites Menu, you will notice that the bulk of the images are the IE logo.

The favicon allows the Webmaster to further promote his or her site, and to create a more customized appearance within a visitor's browser. Often, the favicon reflects the look and feel of the Website or the organization's logo.

Have fun creating your Favicon!

Cynthia Minnaar works from home online and invites you to visit www.cyns-home-biz.com for Web income generating ideas and opportunities, articles and marketing tools.

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By Elias Georgi

One of the fundamental choices many new successful home business operators must deal with is how to continue growing their income levels once they have found their way through the initial stages of start up and growth. Expansion of your operations usually involves more space and hiring people to assist in growing their business.

A decision to expand operations cannot be taken lightly. You have been very successful operating your home business out of your home and income has met your expectations, yet you feel there are more opportunities available. These are fundamental decisions every successful entrepreneur must make since it involves more responsibility.

One of the most significant items to consider is the increase in overhead costs; rental of space, additional equipment, additional supplies, and inventory, as well as employees to pay. These are a few of the items to consider as part of your decision to expand your work at home income level.

The increase in sales and revenue must be able to carry these expenses. The first step is to evaluate how much additional revenue must be generated to cover the increased cost. Margin levels may change, so it is important to assess this level as well. Many entrepreneurs fail to ensure there are sufficient levels of margin to cover their expenses and provide them with profit.

Leveraging your business with increased sales is definitely the way to go. With the proper levels of assessment and planning, entrepreneurs will be able to facilitate the success of their initial business to evolve into a large business operation. As you expand, there are items you overlooked that were not factored into the cost of operation.

For example, training of new employees or subcontractors is also considered overhead and missed by many. Training materials, as well as, time to learn the various tasks need to be allocated and paid for. Many employees are there to earn a living, not to build a business. When quitting time comes, they leave their jobs even though there may be customers waiting for service or work piling up. Entrepreneurs who are invested financially and emotionally often have a very difficult time adjusting to these attitudes.

Finally, you may decide to use a bank loan to leverage your business and grow it. Your bank may request income statements and you must be able to show progress financially month over month towards profitability, in addition to paying your loan. Neither the entrepreneur, nor the bank relishes this role as investor; they will sometimes become quite involved in daily operations from a financial perspective.

Managing these types of issues takes more and more time from daily operations and productionFind Article, which also must be accounted for as you expand your home business income levels.

Elias Georgi is an experienced and successful sponsor, mentor and coach for many thriving, tested and proven home businesses. Elias offers proven Internet opportunities and strategies. Visit his Website: work at home business opportunities (http://www.eliasg.com/), he also runs the article directory (http://www.exclusive-article.com/)

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by Huzaili Aris

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

Business Conference Calls

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

Entertainment-Based Conference Calls

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

Audio vs. Visual

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

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

Conference Call Limitations

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

Conference Call Set-Up

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

Reservation vs Non-Reservation

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

Conference Call Commands

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

Call Planning is Essential

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

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

Billing Plans

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

Special Services

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

Several Conference Call Service Companies Reviewed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I’ve been scammed plenty of times.

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

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

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

Right?

Well, not always.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Words like:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Creating Your Articles

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

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

Tips on Writing Articles

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

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

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

Distributing You Articles

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

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

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

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

There are really two answers to this question...

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

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

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

Ok... having said that.

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

So... having cleared that up.

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

In order, you must:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. Customize your Contact table.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://www.myspacemastership.com
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by Sharon Housley

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

RSS DO's

1. Titles and Descriptions.

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

2. GUID Format.

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

3. Publish Dates.

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

4. Polish Your Feed.

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

5. Feed Hosting.

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

RSS DON'Ts

1. Plagiarize.

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

2. Splog.

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

3. Violate Copyrights.

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

4. Violate TOS.

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

5. Provide Multiple Feed Formats.

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

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

Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net a wireless text messaging software company.
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by Shannon Margolis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Copyright (c) 2006 WebCart

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

As competition increases in the online market space, more companies vie for Top 10 placement on the search engines, driving up costs per click. In such an environment it is imperative for companies bidding on top positions to convert as many visitor clicks into customers as possible. This article discusses a few measures all companies can take to improve conversion rates on their e-commerce sites.

1. Keyword Research

• Ensure that your keyword research (http://www.accuracast.com/resources/seo/seo-keywords.php ) is thorough. If you only select the most obvious keywords, you will pay more, since all your competitors will also be bidding on them.

• If you select only generic keywords, you will suffer low conversion rates since visitors typing such words in are often not yet ready to buy.

• If you miss out the unique keywords which no one else is bidding on, you will miss the opportunity to sell to visitors that search on these keywords.

• Use negative keywords to discourage irrelevant searches from displaying your advertisement.

2. Effective Ad Copy

• Ensure that your ads describe your product or service precisely.

• Do not lie in your ads to attract visitors. If visitors don't find what your ad promised on your site, they will leave, making your conversion rates fall.

• Use your ad to discourage the wrong sort of people from clicking. E.g. if you sell a premium product, don't use words like "cheap" or "bargain".

3. Consistency

• Deliver what your ad promises. Always.

• Make sure that your offline and online advertising image is consistent.

• Most importantly, for e-commerce sites, ensure that the price quoted is consistent throughout your site and through the entire checkout process.

4. No Hidden Costs

• Make customers aware of any extra costs at the very start of the checkout process.

• VAT and postage should be clearly mentioned as extras.

• If the amount quoted at the start is unexpectedly different from the final total, customers will abandon the checkout process and shop elsewhere. This will make your conversion rate suffer greatly.

5. Comprehensive Search Engine Marketing

• Customers often browse and return for products. If they can't find you when they return, you will loose the conversion.

• Top 10 placement in the natural and paid listings often reinforces customer trust in your brand, making them more likely to buy from your site.

• Ensure that your search engine marketing campaign (http://www.accuracast.com/services/ ) also builds a brand in the minds of browsers, so that when they are ready to buy, they will come to your site since it is the only one they recognize.

When you increase conversion rates on your e-commerce site, you can automatically afford to bid more per click without suffering a loss. If you find CPC's rising and profitably diminishing rapidly, the first step you should take is to review your site to ensure that you are converting as many visitors as possible. The maths is very simple:

If you currently pay £1.00 per click on Google, convert only 1% of these clicks, and the profit you make on each conversion is just £100, your total cost = total profit, meaning you just break even.

If you have to raise your CPC to £1.10 per click in order to maintain your top 10 position, you will suffer a loss.

However, if you just raised your conversion rate by 1%, you would actually find yourself making a profit, since your cost would now be £110 for 100 clicks but the profit made from 2% conversion, i.e. 2 sales would be £200!

Other articles to read:

• The advent of RSS advertising (http://www.accuracast.com/seo-weekly/rss-advertising.php )

• Website accessibility important for disabled visitors (http://www.accuracast.com/seo-weekly/website-accessibility.php )

SEO Weekly ( http://www.accuracast.com/seo-weekly/ )

Farhad Divecha

Before founding AccuraCast, Farhad worked for and provided consulting services to a number of large and medium sized enterprises in the UK and USA including 3Com, Proctor & Gamble and Household (HFC, HSBC). He has over 7 years of experience marketing products and services online and offline.
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by John Eberhard

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are currently over 700 content hubs on the Internet.

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

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

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

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

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

I love taking pictures. I just can’t get enough. The more pictures I take the better I want to get. This also means that the more pictures I take; the more high quality equipment I want. It’s an addiction. Many photography hobbyists have the same problem I do. If you don’t want to pour all your money into your photography hobby, there is another option. You can turn that photography hobby into a successful photography business. A great way to get started doing this is through stock photography. Businesses all over are looking for pictures to use in brochures, websites, advertisements, and more. These businesses will happily pay for your pictures rather than hire a photographer to take pictures for them. Here are some tips on how to get started on making money from your photography.

The first thing you need to do to start your stock photography business is to decide if you want to sell your pictures on micro or macro stock photography sites. Micro stock sites (ie. istock, dreamstime, and shutterstock) operate on the premise that if you offer photography at a low price, you’ll get more sales (which they do). These sites sell pictures for as low as a dollar for small sizes, up to ten or twenty dollars for a large copy of your picture. They also offer other options like allowing prints, and exclusive license (they pay you a lot more but you can no longer sell the picture to anyone else). Photographers get a percentage of the sale, which can vary from 20 to 80 percent of the sale price. Many photographers don’t like these sites because they sell photography for much less than they feel it’s worth, but many small businesses rely on them for affordable stock pictures. The other option is macro stock photography (ie Alamy and MyLoupe). You will probably sell A LOT fewer pictures on macro stock sites, but on these sites you make significantly more per picture, usually around $250 per photo (as opposed to the 60 cents I made off my first micro sale). Most of these sites will only accept pictures with over 6MP, but if your camera has fewer pixels, you can learn to upsize your photo in an editing program. While it is your own choice which route to take, many photographers start out on micro sites and then start moving their best pictures over to macro photography sites as their skills improve. You should note that some macro sites will not do business with photographers who sell their work on micro sites, so be sure to check their policies before uploading.

Once you’ve started uploading pictures, you need to remember not to stop. The more pictures you have online, the more sales you will make. Most sites have uploading limits and if you can, you should try to put up as many pictures as you are allowed. You should also put your pictures on as many sites as possible. Many people have their favorite stock site and only look for pictures there. This means you can put shots up on multiple sites; although many sites will guarantee you a higher percentage if you decide to upload a picture to their site exclusively. I would try not to overlap picture on macro and micro sites since someone probably wont pay $300 for a picture they can get for $1.

The next key to becoming a top seller is to take pictures with content that sells. Whatever you’re subject is, you will almost assuredly sell more pictures if the background is a solid color. Black and white are the best, but any solid color will work. Generally people want a subject without a background. If the background is a solid color, it’s much easier to remove with an editing program. If you want to know what subjects sell best, most sites have a section where you can see their most popular downloads. Just remember to get inspiration from these photographs, don’t copy them. If all else fails, you can never go wrong with pictures of people. You will need to get releases signed ahead of time for pictures of people with recognizable faces and also of recognizable property.

Hopefully these tips will help you get started making money with your photography. Just remember that, just like getting the perfect shot, starting your business takes time. You just need to work hard and not give up, no matter how slowly it starts. Many people started out slowly and are now making enough on stock photography sites to take photographs full time.

Lawren Graf is a writer for http://www.digitalshotsguide.com/. Be sure to sign up for her informative and helpful digital photography newsletter at http://www.digitalshotsguide.com/.
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by Sharon Housley

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Question: What is a feed reader?

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

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

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

Question: What is a GUID?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sitemap generator programs can be downloaded from various sources on the Internet. Sitemap generator programs have two fundamental purposes. Sitemap generator programs help surfers navigate a site effectively. At the same time, a sitemap generator program encourages search engine spiders. Google offers one of the most popular sitemap generator programs ever to hit the Internet.

The sitemap generator of google makes it possible for a website to get listed and get updated by the google search engine. Setting up the sitemap generator helps speed up the addition of the web pages of a site to the google listing. The sitemap generator also makes it easier for a site to get noticed by online surfers. In addition, any changes made to a website that has a sitemap generator is immediately picked up by google. The sitemap generator also helps keep online information fresh and up-to-date for users.

Visibility is key to sitemap generator

Visibility is a major concern when using a sitemap generator. A website that is completely indexed has better chances of getting top search engine placement in page results. Many of the popular browsers used by searchers and that support java recognize sitemap generator programs. These include firefox and Internet explorer.

An online consumer that searches for a specific content on the web can immediately be directed to any one of the web pages of a particular site. The sitemap generator makes it easier for a search engine to provide accurate results from web pages they are familiar with.

Who can benefit from a sitemap generator?

A sitemap generator is highly recommended for websites that often do repeated modification of their web pages. A sitemap generator can be used for websites of any size, regardless of the number of web pages a site may contain.

Although using a sitemap generator is not a guarantee of increased site rankings, it does however provide a website a better opportunity of getting listed on a search engine.

Working with a sitemap generator

Most of the available sitemap generator programs available on the web make use of extensible markup language or XML. Similar to hypertext markup language or HTML, XML is used widely in blogs and syndicated feeds on the Internet. Each line of a XML code for a sitemap generator has a specific purpose.

The location or identifies the name of the web page of a website. The line indicates when the web page was last modified. The format for can either be dd.mm.yyyy, dd.mm.yyyy hh:mm, dd/mm/yyyy or dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm. Shortcuts can also be used to simply the assignment of dates to the cell.

advises the search engine of a specific time frame when the web page is regularly updated. This can either be done on an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis. For web pages that are not updated, the value 'never' is used. indicates the level of priority that a search engine should give a particular web page of a website. These levels range from 0.0 for least priority to 1.0 for high priority.

Creating a dynamic sitemap generator

Creating a dynamic sitemap generator is useful for websites containing various web pages. The google search engine makes it easy for users to adapt their google sitemap with the help of a python script.

The python script generates a sitemap using sitemap protocol. This creates a sitemap from either access logs, URL lists or from web server directories.

Tips for using a sitemap generator from google

As one of more popular search engines offering a sitemap generator for websites on the Internet, google offers a few tips for its loyal users. Using the google sitemap url encoder/decoder is helpful for submitting sitemaps to google. For websites that have numerous web pages, creating a sitemap can be a tremendous task. For this situation it is best to click on the column title in order to make it easier for a URL list to get sorted.

The google sitemap generator allows users to save their settings after creating a sitemap. Users can use these saved settings as a guideline for succeeding sitemap generator updates. The sitemap generator also recognizes the use of robots.txt files.

Using a sitemap generator is a positive move in getting top ranking on the Internet's top search engines as well as high visibility among online users.

Mr. Christian Kameir is the CEO of http://www.colizer.com His web site can be found at http://www.kameir.com.
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By Elaine Currie

Working at home gives you the freedom to use your time in a flexible way. With no boss to set deadlines for you, it is up to you to ensure no element of time wasting creeps into your flexible schedule.

If you are new to working at home online, one of the hardest things you have to do will be to learn effective time management. Time is too precious to be wasted. It is essential to remain focused on the task you set out to do and complete that task before starting another. There will be numerous distractions inviting you to wander off course spending a little time in some completely unplanned activity. For anyone working at home, there will be distractions; such as a ringing phone, a parcel delivery, a demanding child, a bright day that just begs you to wax the car, a dog that wants walking, etc.

When working at home online, in addition to all the normal domestic distractions, you contend with the Internet's own array of distractions. If you thought controlling domestic life while working at home was complicated, the early days of working online will seem like trying to perform delicate surgery in the middle of a three-ring circus. Offline distractions will quietly tempt you to wander off course. The distractions you will encounter on the Internet positively clamor for your attention.

Working at home provides the freedom to make your own schedule and the flexibility to work any hour of day or night you choose. The main attraction of working at home is there will be no boss breathing down your neck. In the absence of deadlines set by a boss, it is up to you to use self-discipline to get your work done.

When you work for yourself, you will undoubtedly start with every intention of managing your time sensibly and following a schedule that will enable you to balance work and family life. Working at home online involves more than just good intentions. It requires planning, determination, persistence, and unwavering self-discipline.

When you first start working at home online, you will be tempted to check your website at regular intervals. You will be tempted to check your sales figures several times a day. You will feel the need to check in at your favorite forums, and your email inbox will have an almost irresistible attraction. It is natural to feel like this. Each of these detours from your planned day will not take long on its own. If you add up the time spent on each one, you will be looking at an hour or more wasted each day.

Those self-inflicted time wasters are a danger in themselves, but the danger lurking within them is worse. Every visit you make to a forum and every email you read can contain a link that you will not be able to resist clicking. This is where working at home online has unique dangers you would not experience if you had an offline home business. Clicking any one of those links can lead you to a website full of information that looks as if it might be of benefit to you. There will be offers of tools to save you time, e-books to educate you, and advertising that promises to make you a fortune. Your decision to read just one email can lead you down a path that costs you another half hour in wasted time.

The problem with these online temptations is they tend to arrive disguised as something to help you in your home business. Ironically, many will claim to save you time while you are building your business. You will develop an instinct that enables you to ignore these offers because you have seen it all, (or something very similar) before, but the early days are a dangerous time. Your best defense in the early days is self-discipline. The solution is not always easy but it is simple: make a plan and stick to it. Have a list of things to do each day and make yourself work through the list systematically. The best way to do this is to use a system of small goals and rewards to keep you on the straight and narrow path until good time management replaces those bad habits.

If you fail to exercise self-discipline and resist the temptation to wander the Internet back roadsFree Reprint Articles, you will find yourself spending long hours at your computer with nothing to show for the time spent apart maybe from a touch of eyestrain.

Do you earn money working at home? For more time management tips and useful home business resources, visit Elaine Currie's Work At Home Directory (http://www.huntingvenus.com/).

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By Steven Gerber

Selling is one of the best ways to earn money. Actual selling can be difficult, especially if you need to go to different places, carry your products, and offer it face to face with your customer. Some are even ashamed to do the actual physical selling, because they do not want to face rejection.

Selling, nowadays, is done through physical product selling, and through affiliate programs. Have you heard of that term before? If you are new on the net, it simply means selling a product or service through commission basis. However, this involves online selling, unlike the physical selling that most people dread.

If you have your own website, it is much easier to start an affiliate program. It is an opportunity that you must not ignore. It can offer you a considerable sum of money, if you know what it is all about, and how it works

Here are important things that you should know before you join an affiliate program:

1. There are different types of affiliate programs; including the pay per sale, pay per click, and pay per lead, bounty, and two-tier.

Once a customer buys a particular item, you will be paid a commission by 'pay per sale'.

The 'pay per click' type pays you every time a customer visits the site, and it does not matter if the customer made a purchase or not, however, you will earn more if the customers purchase something. With a PPC type, companies pay at the range of .05 dollars to .15 dollars.

You are paid a one-time fee only for each customer that visits the site; the payment is usually between two dollars to five dollars. If a customer signs an application, you will get the higher yield.

If you refer a customer, you will get a finder's fee. In the future, if the customer makes any purchases, you will no longer receive a commission, and this is called a bounty.

If you make direct sales, you get a commission; and if your sub-affiliates generate sales, you will also obtain a commission out of their sales, this is called two-tiered.

2. The benefits of an affiliate program include: Bringing prospects to visit your site. You will not deal with people such as wholesalers, brokers, customer service, employees, technical support, process orders, warranties, and many more. You do not need to stay on your computer to keep track of the site. You are free to go for a vacation, rest, etc.; and you can do it from anywhere as long as there is an internet connection.

After weighing all these factors, it is time to decide if you will join an affiliate program. Once you decide to join, the company will give you a URL or a link. This links are used to gain access to the company's website.

This will allow the company to monitor your website, and the payment or commission that should be given to you.

Affiliate programs make money, so why not join the force. The internet is just there waiting for interested people who are willing to venture into different business opportunities. If you are capable, and can become an effective affiliate Computer Technology Articles, act now and join.

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 Carol Solomon

If you want to market your business on the internet, building your business with email newsletters is an extremely important skill.

One reason that email newsletters are so effective is it keeps you, (and your service), in the minds of your potential clients. When your potential clients are ready, and they have a need for your service, they will contact you.

Connecting with people through email newsletters takes a special kind of skill. Email newsletters create familiarity and comfort with the readers. The main purpose of an email newsletter is to build a relationship with your subscribers.

REMEMBER: It is not your readers' job to remember you. It is YOUR job to make sure they do not forget you.

Since I like to respect your time (and follow my own advice), here are eight ‘quick tips’ to increase your success and profit in writing for email newsletters:

1. Spell it out. People want "step by step" instructions – it makes any task seem easier and more manageable. If you can tell someone "how to" solve a problem or manage a difficult situation in steps, your newsletter WILL be read.

2. Send it out often. Many coaches think they do not have time, (or words), to write a newsletter more than once per month. However, anyone who has survived to adulthood has enough material to write for a lifetime :-). Keeping it short and sending it out more often gives people more opportunities to contact you.

3. Give your readers a consistent product with a consistent format. Consistency builds trust and confidence. The number one reason people buy something is trust and confidence in the person making the offer.

4. Make many offers. Put an offer for your services in every issue and encourage people to contact you. Offer different products and services – for example, some clients want individual coaching, others prefer a group. I offer both.

5. Some people will never hire you, but they will purchase an ebook or a teleclass. Find out what your readers want and create it for them.

6. Offer something free (and valuable) – a free consultation, teleclass, or a special report. Even if your readers do not take you up on it, it is beneficial to offer something – your readers will remember that you offered a gift.

7. Don't forget how valuable your information is to people who do not have it. Most professionals underestimate the VALUE of what we know. Personally, I think that the work we do is BEYOND the value of money – how can you put a value on helping someone build a business or be more effective in their life and work?

8. Be patient. You are building a relationship with your readers. It can take about 1000 subscribers before you start seeing income. Once you get that first client Health Fitness Articles, you will never look back.