Home Business The Easy Way - CYo Update http://www.blogmoneymiracle.com en-us EasyRSS
by Scott Lindsay

The specifics of ecommerce can require a learning curve that many are reluctant to tackle. Perhaps that's why many brick and mortar stores have not entered the world of online marketing.

It is possible to look at ecommerce and consider the things you might need and lose heart. You take a look at some of the items you need such as site design, hosting, shopping cart, autoresponders, search engine registration and a laundry list of other services and you wonder how in the world you are going to come up with a way to make it work. This is especially true for those who are just happy if they can figure out how to open their email account.

Because not everyone is adept at the specifics of ecommerce, sites that customize a package for their customers are a boon to many entering the world of ecommerce.

Don Fortner, a Direct Marketer describes a one-stop ecommerce solution, "You can really have it all. I was quickly able to build a fully functional commercial web site using the easy-to-use templates with slide shows, image maps, fully functional search engine, Pay Pal shopping cart and more! Highly Recommended."

According to High Power Sites you can find a, "solution that affordably allows anyone with even the lowest level of Internet experience to make their own professional ecommerce website."

These solutions are feature-rich in design and function and manage the very specific needs you may have in a user-friendly interface. Those who use these one-stop ecommerce solutions find they are able to successfully launch their website in a very short period of time.

Many online marketers have found that the integration of multiple technologies in one package provides a choice that gives them time to learn the skills of optimization. For some netrepreneurs this option becomes a long-term solution.

Dale McIntosh from AMJ Funding Group who uses an integrated ecommerce solution said, "My website pages are as good or better than some of my friends who are in the same type of business."

When you follow the success stories of those who have added ecommerce to their brick and mortar store you will notice a growth pattern that is more than encouraging.

Perhaps the greatest advantage to an online store is it never closes. Automated function in a solid website design allows for transactions to occur at the discretion of your clients. The fulfillment of the orders can be taken care of when you or your staff is available. Those who utilize the web for purchases enjoy the control they have in making online purchases at times that are convenient to them. Ecommerce allows you to cater to that desire.

Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many other web projects. HighPowerSites is the easiest do-it-yourself website builder on the web. Get your own website online in just 5 minutes with http://HighPowerSites.com at: http://www.highpowersites.com.
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by John V. W. Howe

One of the first considerations in building a mailing list should be “how am I going to handle all those names that I will have in my list”. An autoresponder is the answer to this “nice to have” problem.

When you study successful Internet entrepreneurs, the most common theme that runs through the success of these individuals is building a list of customers who then become faithful repeat customers. You know from your off-line life that the businesses that you continually use are the ones that do a good job and treat you right. Once you gain confidence in them, you continue to go back to them. The same is true on the Internet.

An eBook called “The 30 Day Blueprint for Success” tells convincing stories of the importance of building a mailing list. The book is a compilation of articles from 15 highly respected Internet professionals from different arenas of the Net who were challenged with the following scenario:

“Dear Internet Marketing Expert,

You suddenly lose all your money, along with your name and reputation, and only have your marketing know-how left.

You have bills piled high and people harassing you for money over the phone.

Plus, you have a guaranteed roof over your head, a phone line, and an Internet connection for only one month.

You no longer have your big guru name or JV partners. Other than your vast marketing experience, you’re an unknown newbie.

What would you do, from day 1 to day 30, to get yourself back on top?”

(The above quote was excerpted from Volume I of “The 30 Day Blueprint for Success”.)

The most common method that these individuals used was to rebuild a customer list as quickly as possible so they could be effective in rebuilding the business they once had. Just as an aside, the book was very revealing about the thought patterns of these experts during their 30 day quest to restore the income stream that they once enjoyed.

I was fortunate to be able to attend a class taught by my friend and mentor, Jim Cockrum (author of “The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on eBay”). During the class, he said that if his office caught fire the first thing he would save was the backup of his mailing list.

How to Manage a List - Autoresponders

Some might consider this a little backwards, but let’s plan for how we are going to handle the list before we figure out how to build it. We need to be able to capture basic information like name and email address. We need to be able to automatically send a reply to the person joining the list and verify that they were indeed the person who sent the request to join. (This is called double opt-in and it is vitally important so you can prove that you are not sending SPAM to the members of your list). We will need to send out emails to all the people on the list in the future when we start communicating with the customers on the list.

To handle this in any volume on your own is an impossible task, but there are services called autoresponders on the Internet that will handle all of this for you.

There are free autoresponders such as FreeAutoBot.com and there are paid autoresponders such as Aweber.com and GetResponse.com. Free sounds good for a start up, but the downside is the fact that the autoresponder puts its link and sometimes places advertising in the emails that it sends for you. This does not look as professional as a message from a paid autoresponder.

If you use a free autoresponder and then want to switch over to a paid one later, you face the conversion problems of converting your mailing list. This can be done with import features in autoresponders that allow for mass input of lists. However, this is additional work and the autoresponder will take a close look at the list since this is how large SPAM mailing lists are loaded into an autoresponder. This is your choice and should be carefully researched before you make your decision.

Let’s discuss the autoresponder, Aweber.com. The site has a 30 day free test drive that will allow you to experiment with it and decide if it is for you. Go to http://www.aweber.com look around.

If you decide to use it (and you will have to use an autoresponder to build a list of any size), one month of service from Aweber.com is $19.95 as of this writing if you start off with a monthly plan. Once you are satisfied that this is for you, you can save $60.00 per year with an annual plan.

After you have registered, log into Aweber.com and go to the “How to Get Started” page. This is very complete and has great instructions and tutorial videos to help you set up your first autoresponder.

Compose your email to send in MS Word or similar word processor. This will help you with spelling and grammar. Then open MS Notepad or a similar text editor. Notepad strips off the word processor formatting in preparation for copying and pasting your message into the Aweber input screen.

If you use MS Notepad , it is found under Accessories in Programs on your MS Windows. If you have not already done so, set up a shortcut icon on your desktop or on your systems tray for Notepad. It is very handy to be able to open this quickly. It can be used as a scratch pad for copying and pasting information from web pages to print or save for later use.

Each week when the weekly issue of Boomer eZine is being prepared for publication these are the steps that are followed:

1. Log onto Aweber and set up what is called a “Broadcast Message”.

2. Copy the newsletter from MS Word and paste it into Notepad.

3. Copy the text from Notepad and paste it into the input area on Aweber.

4. Check the formatting in Aweber.

5. Send a test email to myself to see how the email looks. This is a tool on Aweber.

6. If the email is acceptable, queue the broadcast message to send the Boomer eZine to all the names on the list.

The Aweber autoresponder automatically sends follow up emails. It is set up to send a follow up email 14 days after the initial sign up to thank a new subscriber to Boomer eZine for being a reader.

Now that we know there is a simple way to handle all those names that you will add to your list, go out and get started building your money making mailing list.

Good luck.

Copyright 2006 John Howe, Inc.

John V. W. Howe is an entrepreneur, author, inventor, patent holder, husband, father, and grandfather. He has been involved in entrepreneurial activities for over 40 years. He founded http://www.boomer-ezine.com and http://www.retirement-jobs-online.com to help Boomers (baby boomers) become entrepreneurs when they retire.
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By James Yaqins

Abstract: In addition to Google AdSense, advertisements in the business environment have played a role. Sometimes, they can use their web search engine optimization conditions (SEO) detection tool! If your website of just doing a column optimization, but just joined the Google AdSense advertising code, AdSense refers to the content of the advertisements, and may be 'food for thought' from the information.

If your website joined the Google AdSense, look at the Google advertising on their website. There are some surprising discovery and enlightenment; for example, found a new competitor, or some of the new trends within counterparts. The Google AdSense advertising in the business environment has been playing the role of relevant articles. In addition, Google AdSense advertisements and sometimes even their own web search engine optimization used as a tool for measuring the conditions!

AdSense website used as a search engine optimization (SEO) tool. This is my columns on the front page of a web site observation and the analysis found. Google’s AdSense discovered in the course of the trial, the front-page columns online marketing a new observation. Although the text of a lot and seldom changes, it also believed that, the body had been included, and web pages related to the themes of the word. However, the website of AdSense advertisements are often not normal; the advertisement bore little relation to the core content pages. In addition, visit the website, by Alexa toolbar shows, and related sites, are not directly related to the web page (Alexa website statistics and information can be used as a reference tool). According to the information analysis, preliminary assessment is the theme of the website homepage. Meta labels or website content may exist some problems search engines cannot make an accurate judgment of the core content of the website.

According to this idea, words are related to the website, so many checks Meta found that the problem is the label "page description" content, to a certain extent. Since the adoption of a common template, the website of the "page description", and the theme of the website, website content is not much correlation. Simply modify this issue shortly after a big improvement on the aforementioned issues.

This is why I use AdSense advertising, search engine optimization tool, for measuring the website as an example. However, this "search engine optimization tool for measuring" has certain limitations, are not effective for all website, Moreover, a strong correlation between advertising pages there AdSense advertising or not. Another possible situation is that theme and content of the website pages contain keywords. Corresponding advertisers do not put in advertisements or it is not suitable for advertising in this area, of course, impossible for advertising, Google advertising alone cannot determine the site of the phenomenon to a simple search engine optimization, only as a reference to a certain extent.

If your website or the website of just doing a column optimization, but just joined the Google AdSense advertising code.

AdSense refer to the content of the advertisements may be some food for thought from the information.

James Yaqins own http://www.kersearch.com, this is a free articles search engine and directory for search engine marketing. See more articles on the search engine marketing, please click http://www.kersearch.com

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by Paul Williams

Are you looking for innovative ways to increase your ROI, your bottom line and downright save a ton of money on your IT costs? Let me answer that for you! Of course you are, you would not be a savvy business owner if you did not seek out ways to stretch your money. Drum roll please, introducing Open Source technology a new way for small businesses to even the playing field with their enterprise and big boy competitors.

Why is this important? You now have access to the same or comparable solutions that normally costs hundreds if not thousands to implement and deploy. Case in point, the Open Source version of SugarCRM, which is a Customer Relationship Management tool can be had for free while one of its proprietary and commercial competitors Salesforce.com cost about $1,000 to start per year for a five user license. Another quick example has Ubuntu, which is a full-featured Linux based operating system against Microsoft XP. XP Professional edition costs $299.99, while Ubuntu costs nothing and comes freely loaded with Office utilities that rival Microsoft’s Office software suite. You do the math. Remember to include per user and or per pc price and upgrades. Yeah, I know, you have been suckered for a long time and we didn’t even mention the server operating system and licenses. Ask yourself, why am I paying for something when I can get it done for little or no cost?

Using Open Source is like using “guerrilla tactics” for your small business IT needs. Does free mean cheap? Let’s take a look. Open Source software affords the user to have software developed by hundreds of developers instead of just a few. Most of the Open Source solutions mentioned here are tried and tested solutions. Did you know that you already use Open Source? Yep, in fact if you use a web browser or use email your using opens source software. The Internet is built upon open standards and runs on Open Source software. Who currently uses Open Source software? IBM, HP, Oracle, whole governments, Google, Yahoo and Amazon just to name a few.

So you might be asking yourself, what exactly is Open Source? Open Source software in its simplest form is software that freely distributes the source code along with the object code (the actual program that you install and use), so that any programmer familiar with the language can tweak, improve, modify or customize it without needing to ask anyone for permission or wait for a vendor to do it for them. For a more verbose definition, please visit http://www.opensource.org. The bottom line is, this model of software distribution can give you a freedom and a savings that compels you to at least become a bit more knowledgeable to its uses.

These are some useful links to help get you started on the Open Source road.

http://www.opensourceweekly.com (for the latest is Open Source technology for small business owners)
http://www.sourceforge.net (the world's largest Open Source software development web site)
http://www.freshmeat.org (Open Source software repository site)
http://www.theopencd.org (a collection of high quality Free and Open Source Software.)
http://www.ttcsweb.org/osswin-cd/ (a collection of over 100 free/Open Source software for home and business.)
http://www.itservants.com (Open Source Technology Consultants)

Top Open Source Applications for your small business needs.

http://www.openoffice.org (Great alternate to the Microsoft office suite.)
http://www.firefox.com (Open Source web browser, great alternative to Internet Explorer)
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird (Thunderbird email application, similar to Outlook)
http://www.tightvnc.com (for remote connection to your computers)
http://www.mysql.com (The worlds most popular Open Source database)
http://www.phpmyadmin.com (database management tool)
http://filezilla.sourceforge.net (Filezilla- ftp application to upload and download your web content)
http://www.joomla.org (Website Content Management System or CMS)
http://www.mamboserver.com (Website Content Management System or CMS)
http://www.apache.org (Very popular Web server application)
http://www.oscommerce.com (online shop/ e-commerce solution)
http://www.sugarcrm.com (the CRM tool mentioned in this article)
http://www.dotproject.net (project management web application)
http://www.gimp.org (Image manipulation program)
http://www.nvu.com (complete Web Authoring System)
http://www.gnucash.org (personal and small-business financial-accounting software.)
http://www.subversion.tigris.org (Subversion- Document management and revision control system)
http://www.k5n.us/webcalendar.php (WebCalendar- Online calendar program for single or multiple users)
http://www.openvpn.net (full-featured SSL VPN solution)

Desktop Linux Distributions

http://www.ubuntu.com Ubuntu
http://www.redhat.com Redhat
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki Fedora
http://www.novell.com/linux Suse
http://en.opensuse.org OpenSuse
http://www.slackware.com Slackware

You can also get the server versions to take care of your business client/server needs such as Email, file, print, FTP, Web, Database, Domain, Authentication etc., There are many distributions of Linux available please check http://www.distrowatch.com for additional resources.

This list is not at all exhausting and not meant to be. This should serve as a starting place on your journey into the Open Source realm. For general questions feel free to email me, if you have specific questions about any software listed here try posting to the respective forums. A good book to read is Open Source Solutions for Small Business Problems, written by John Locke. My definition of Open Source was found in this book.

What have we learned? Before you plunder hundreds of your hard earned or borrowed money into software seek out or find someone who is versed in this technology. Research and evaluate if an Open Source solution can fit your needs. Remember, Open Source Saves!

Paul Williams is a technology consultant, who teaches people how to save money by using open source software to solve their top 10 technology business problems. http://www.opensourceweekly.com.
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By Scott Lindsay

You will need a shopping cart application to facilitate ecommerce, in order to sell products or services online. While your customers simply want a way to make a purchase, if they are interested in your product, you will have already considered tough choices

For Instance...

If you want a full solution for invoicing, statements, receipts, and company financial history, there are solutions to cover all of this with an application for a shopping cart connected to company financial data. One such company is COREsense based in New York. This service requires less redundant work, because data entry on sales to a separate accounting software application is not required due to the full integration of financial data. For most companies, this solution will fall outside normal budget constraints.

If a shopping cart does not fit your budget, you have a couple of solutions that might work depending on your technical expertise. OSCommerce is available at no cost. This product is a fully customizable solution for a shopping cart, but it does require personal programming. In many cases netrepreneurs will hire a programmer to set this shopping cart up for them.

If you have no up-front budget for a shopping cart, PayPal makes one available at no cost. However, they do retain a fee, as well as, a small commission on each sale. The power of PayPal may make this a trusted source for online transactions for your customers.

Yahoo and eBay provide shopping cart services, at $30-40 per month, and offer a few features unavailable with the low-cost or no-cost checkout solutions.

There are other online solutions for cyber transactions with the tipping point based entirely on the size and needs of your online business. If you are a large company with thousands of online transactions, it may ultimately be less expensive to purchase a shopping cart system requiring a monthly fee. In the end, the fees and commissions associated with no-cost carts could outpace a standard monthly fee from other ecommerce transaction solutions.

Your customers have a choice in where they shop online and you have a choice in how you manage online transactions. Spend some time checking out the services offered and how the fees will affect your bottom line, both now, and as your company grows.

As with all ecommerce sites, your business will not do well if it is difficult to checkout. Make sure the transaction solution you choose allow your clients to make a purchase easily. If the process if too difficult, the prospect may bow out before the sale is complete.

Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many other web projects. HighPowerSites is the easiest do-it-yourself website builder on the web. Get your own website online in just 5 minutes with http://HighPowerSites.com at: http://www.highpowersites.com
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by William Z. Piker

It is one of the supreme ironies of the Internet that the computer, so long derided as impersonal, is now being used to create highly personal experiences for Web site visitors. Because a computer can sift through vast amounts of existing information according to preprogrammed rules, computers can now take company information (or special interest information) and combine it with information supplied by prospective customers and digest it in a way that is meaningful to each individual.

What are the best ways for businesses to personalize selling and customize products in order to build business. Although many of these methods are still in their infancy, a great deal can be gleaned as to current strategies and technologies and techniques and strategies can be implemented.

To attract new customers, companies can now establish Web sites that provide highly individualized recommendations based on information provided by the customer. In this way, it's possible to tell a prospective customer exactly which product, among a plethora of possibilities, is just right for that individual or that business. The strategic idea behind these efforts is clear: By empowering the customer with information about how a specific offering meets his or her needs, the company positions itself as a knowledgeable place to buy and also demonstrates how its products are just right for that individual customer.

This information, properly used, gives an existing supplier or retailer a clear leg up on the competition: The Company is able to use its information to establish itself as the supplier of choice and to suggest services to existing customers before they request them. Companies can maintain effectively private Web sites for individual clients so that they can both provide extraordinary service and recommend new products that will be of value to these customers.

In the past, this type of personalized communication was virtually impossible: Retailers and suppliers lacked the detailed information necessary to provide these recommendations and the ability to cost-effectively communicate it to individual customers.

However, today we have moved into an era where technology allows firms to cater to the individual needs of customers in a way that have not been possible before. The value of these initiatives, both in tightening the bonds with existing customers and in attracting new customers, is high. Another business tool made possible by the Internet is something that previously was available only to the wealthy: product customization, done quickly and inexpensively.

How are companies making use of several levels of "personal" recommendations ?

In adopting any strategy based on personalization, privacy is a central issue. The ability to make the customer feel comfortable enough to give you the information you need to create a tailored product or solution is among the primary challenges companies must overcome.

1) The Web's ability to help companies establish marketing intimacy is possible because a Web site combines five elements:

2) An opportunity to present information in an interactive format, permitting customers to express their preferences to the owner of the Web site

3) Virtually costless online communications between the potential buyer and seller

4) A visual component that lets potential buyers see prospective purchases and how they would appear if personalized The ability to store tremendous amounts of personal information about their customers

5) An unprecedented ability to create systems that configure products so that costly errors are eliminated, thus reducing the expense of creating custom products

Presently, one-to-one selling can be viewed in two general categories, recommending and customization.

Brick-and-mortar companies have long known that for the most part, either a motivated buyer has done a great deal of research on a particular product, or a product has been enthusiastically recommended by a friend or business associate. This knowledge leads to two keys to establishing a Web site that motivates buying:

Ample information (so that the buyer needn't do any more research—and, in the process, possibly depart your Web site for another)

A positive recommendation.In the past effective recommendations were generally person to person, there are several reasons why these technology-based recommendations are valued now. One has to do with the dizzying array of choices that now faces consumers. A cosmetics firm may offer hundreds of shades of lipstick or eye shadow; financial services companies have become true supermarkets filled with choices; well-known cold remedies now have multiple versions that end with words such as "plus" and "sinus" and "cough."

A generation ago, the dilemma posed by the array of choices was generally solved through one-on-one interaction (selling, if you will). Someone with a cold would have stopped by his or her local pharmacy and chatted with the pharmacist about which of the three or four cold remedies carried by the pharmacy would be best.

Depending on your product and customer, several types of recommending functions may work best. But first, let's take a moment to consider how to judge effectiveness..

Personalization, like any business initiative, should be used judiciously. There are real costs that accompany developing personalized applications: They range from the hard cost of development dollars to the cost of disappointing customers or prospects who expected a better experience. It's important to assess whether a personalization effort will be effective and contribute meaningfully to new sales or customer retention before investing the time and money in bringing it to market.

The criteria for establishing an effective recommendation system are different for every product. The system chosen is dependent upon a balance of the following: (1) the nature of the product, (2) the amount of information needed from the potential buyer to make an effective recommendation, and (3) the likely willingness of the prospective buyer to share this needed information with you.

Will consumers will trust the information they receive from companies on the Web as much as (or more than) they trust sales representatives? All evidence to date suggests the answer is yes. People believe that no trusted brand will risk its good name by posting misleading information on the Web.

As you go about creating an online recommendation system, your overriding goal should be to make the online shopping experience better than what a customer might encounter in the physical world. Therefore, you need to ask yourself: "What can my company accomplish using this medium that can't be accomplished in the physical world?"

Payment issues online seemed to have been taken care of by the credit card companies as a matter of routine.

What about issues of privacy? Consider gathering data anonymously. Recommendation systems that provide advice to consumers anonymously are likely to be far more popular and, therefore, more effective. In these cases, you are able to provide the prospective buyer with value without needing to jump the hurdle of "you can trust me with this information."

If you'd prefer to record the identities of site visitors, you are one step ahead if you are a recognized brand. Consumers are already predisposed to believe in your company name. In this case, address the privacy issue head-on with a statement that precedes your online registration form: "The information gathered here is to help us better serve you; we will not share or sell this information to anyone."

Finally, if you plan to share customer data with others, then you need to be explicit about it and receive the customer's permission. The worst thing you can do is fail to inform the customer that some piece of information you determine about him or her may be used in some way the customer does not expect.

Product customization is possible because of a convergence of two elements: the Web as a one-to-one communications technology and manufacturing processes that allow for the development and delivery of custom products.

Designing your own custom desktop computer at Web sites such as Dell has become "commonplace," but what about designing your own swimsuit or, perhaps, golf clubs? These customized services provide several valuable benefits for companies: (1) They help to drive new business, and (2) customers are willing to pay a premium price for an individually designed product, which means these products and services sometimes have higher profit margins than standard offerings.

The ability to interact with customers and say, "I can create the product that is just right for you," is one of the most powerful features of the Web. Expansion of this Internet capability will be the inevitable result of the combination of (1) manufacturers creating products that permit increasing customization, (2) further advances in computing power at ever decreasing costs, and (3) new software that is continuously enhancing the options available to businesses to personalize.

Smart companies realize that the more involved the relationship becomes with the customer, the better their rate of retention. They are implementing this strategy in a wide variety of creative ways, involving both personalization and customization, and will certainly enhance their applications significantly over time:

1). Companies are creating extraordinary convenience for customers and establishing systems to speed the fulfillment of custom orders.

2). E-mail communications and reminder systems are going to be used increasingly.

The ultimate goal of every business is to have a customer who wants to hear from the business about new products that he or she might want to buy. E-mail, for the first time, provides this type of powerful tool, since it's an almost costless communications vehicle.

3). In business-to-business selling, smart companies are also linking tightly to their customers.

Leading-edge technology companies are offering custom password-protected Web sites for their corporate accounts and high-volume small business accounts. These sites are typically designed to simplify the buying process, and they offer

(1) customer online malls offering products preselected by the company to be bought by employees at volume discount prices,

(2) electronic mail links to account managers responsible for serving that customer,

(3) the ability to track the status of orders, and

(4) dramatic increases in the speed of order fulfillment through the elimination of paper forms and a reduction in errors.

This is a clear way of providing customers with additional value and of tying the customer more closely to your company. Most companies will also see an increase in revenues from these accounts.

What was called for, of course, was a new category of employee: "e-mail respondents"; yet no one wanted to add staff at an additional expense to a project that was in its infancy.

Enter "response software."

Several intelligent software systems, are able to routinely handle and route questions, so there is no excuse for underserving your customers with the first and most basic customer service—answering their questions.

Companies who are successfully managing their e-mail via electronic means are also taking the opportunity to benefit from the Knowledge they glean.Companies are finally transforming their Web sites from marketing brochures to vehicles that turn visits into sales leads. Those who develop a Web presence and fail to respond to electronic inquiries in a timely manner run the risk of losing existing and new customers.

Industry research also shows that only 30 percent of Fortune 500 companies respond to questions directed to these companies through their Web sites, which means a large number of customers aren't getting the personal attention winning companies need to provide.

As you consider the possibilities offered by personalization and customization, I suggest that these initiatives be weighed against these criteria: Will the initiative enhance relationships with my customers by adding convenience or a better ability to meet their needs?Will the initiative result in potentially high cost-savings for my organization Will intelligent product configuration eliminate and reduce costly order errors and help to target vital marketing efforts directed at the customer base entity?

Mr. William Z. Piker
IT Department Head Ace Employment Services
billys_office@yahoo.com
Interest in e-Commerce Systems as well as Vintage Computing
http://www.vintagecomputermanuals.com
http://www.badgerlinux.net
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by: Gerald Chait

Building a great internet site is a wonderful achievement. But it could also be a complete waste of your time and money unless potential clients can find it. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is one way to ensure your site is seen in the most crowded marketplace ever conceived.

SO WHAT IS SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION (SEO)?

To understand Search Engine Optimisation you must first consider how people actually look for – and eventually find - products and services on the web.

Research shows that more than 80 per cent of the world’s 290 million internet users (10 million of them in Australia) use search engines to find what they’re after.

There are many search engines available to consumers – the better known include Google and Yahoo! – but in general they all work the same way. Typically a person will enter a keyword or phrase into the search engine and immediately receive a list of recommended web pages.

Internet users are impatient, which means they seldom scan though more than a page or two of search results, and generally only access sites listed at the top of the page. If you want to be seen, your site must not only appear on a list of search results, it must rank towards the very top.

Open a search engine and type in a word or phrase someone searching for your company might use – if you fail to appear in a prominent position, chances are your site has not been search engine optimised. Without optimisation, your site is about as effective as an advertisement floating in the middle of the ocean.

HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES RANK INTERNET SITES?

Search engines regularly dispatch ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’ (aka bots) to collect information on websites. Using an algorithm – a set of complex formulas or rules – the search engine evaluates each website’s relevance and then ranks it accordingly.

These algorithms are unique to each search engine, they are highly secret and they change all the time. But in general they all obey a basic set of rules. That means it is possible improve your chances of a better ranking by ensuring your website has the most appropriate content, and that the content is structured in a search engine-friendly way – this process is known as Search Engine Optimisation.

Search Engine Optimisation is not an exact science. It requires trial and error, and there is never a guarantee of success. But without Search Engine Optimisation your website is almost guaranteed of not being seen.

Of course there are other ways of reaching potential clients. You could, for example, spend money to advertise on a search engine, and only have your advertisement appear when people search for particular keywords. That is valid way to increase your chances of reaching customers. But studies have shown people using the internet tend to trust and visit the free listings more than paid listings.

HOW DO YOU GET STARTED ON SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION?

First you need to find out if your site is actually being indexed by a search engine.

Open a search engine and type your company name in the search box. If you appear in the results it means that spiders or robots have located your site. They will place the site into a memory bank, and visit it from time to time to update their information.

If your site it not listed you could consider submitting your site to search engines. This will not guarantee that they will list you, but it won’t hurt to try. A word of advice - do not submit your site multiple times as this will only annoy the search engine people, and you need to be on their good side.

Some search engines will not accept submissions – they prefer to find your site themselves. And some simply draw their information from other search engines (a disclaimer should alert you to this practice), which makes it pointless submitting your site to them.

Once you are confident your site is being indexed, you need to identify keywords – these are the terms a potential visitor might enter into a search engine when looking for your product, service or company.

Finding the right keywords is a pivotal component of Search Engine Optimisation. There are applications that allow you to test each word by showing how popular it is and how often it is used – the result might surprise you.

A good way to find keywords is to visit a competitor’s website and see what it has listed. To do this, open their site and click on ‘view source’ - a heap of what looks like gibberish will come up, but find a line which says ‘

Gerald Chait is GM, Sales & Marketing of Software Design Group (SDG): Website Development, Design, Search Engine Optimisation, Network Support, Outsourcing Solutions, Help Desk Support, Application Development, Hardware & Software Sales. Gerald.chait@sdgtechnology.com.au or http://www.sdgtechnology.com.au.
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By Jack Doren

Difference between RSS Submit and RSS Feed Submit.

Let's compare the two solutions...

a] Both tools are desktop software, which essentially submits your feeds to the appropriate places online. As such, both tools provide the same functionality.

b] RSS Submit will submit your feeds to 78 engines and directories, while RSS Feed Submit covers 75. Not much difference here, although it seems that RSS Submit might be doing a better job at keeping their tool updated (I've been using them since April and already have received many updates that made the software easier to use and added new engines and directories).

c] Certain search engines and directories require more information than can be provided through a fully automated submission process. RSS Submit tackles this problem by first asking you to fill-in a longer form. It will automatically take you to each of the manual submission sites, where it already pre-fills the forms and only asks you to confirm manually. RSS Feed Submit makes this even easier, first requesting that same information, but then doing all the work automatically. The only question in my mind is the quality of submissions. How do they compare to each other?

d] Ease of use is a strong factor. RSS Submit takes the game here. It allows you to submit multiple feeds at the same time, save them in the management interface, and track how many times you submitted each of them. RSS Feed Submit allows you to do one at a time.

e] As far as expanding the basic functionality of the tool, RSS Feed Submit is the clear winner. It allows you to add new search engines and directories by yourself, even tackling those that would otherwise require a manual submission. This is a great user-interface for adding new sites.

f] The final differentiating factor is the price, with RSS Submit starting at $44.95 for the Personal Edition, and RSS Feed Submit selling for $29.95.

Source:

http://www.rssdiary.marketingstudies.net

Jack Doren

I am working on http://www.softwareriviewblog.com. I usually publish articles regarding latest software tools of different categories which are mentioned in my weblog. I am also handling article marketing of this Blog.
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by Oleg Ishenko

Internet Search

For the last decade the Internet has emerged itself into an integral part of our everyday life. What previously was mostly a network of research institutions has become an unprecedented medium for commercial and social use. With the number of web pages now exceeding 12 billion it is extremely difficult to find information without using search engines.

Search engines appeared almost immediately once the WWW was born. A pioneering search engine called Archie was created in the University of Montreal in 1990 and was used to search files located on public FTP sites. The first search engine created to crawl and index text files on the web, World Wide Web Wanderer or Wandex, was introduced in 1993 in MIT and worked on principals similar to those used by the modern web search engines.

However it was not until late 90s when search engines have become the major tool to find information on the Internet. Before Internet directories such as Yahoo! or BestOfTheWeb were used to locate web pages. But it didn't take long for web users to recognize the usefulness of the Internet search, once indexing and ranking algorithms have reached a state where search engines were able to quickly return highly relevant results

Search Results Relevancy

It is all about the relevancy of results. In their infancy search engines were utterly vulnerable to abuse. Originally search engines used to index file names and later meta-tags. It doesn't take much to stuff file names and meta-tags with popular keywords which are irrelevant to the document's content. When a user queried a search engine with a keyword he received results that couldn't satisfy him. That is why Internet directories with pages classified into directories by human reviewers were far more useful than the search engines of those days.

The problem of relevancy has become increasingly important with the growing commercial use of the Web. The profits of commercial websites depend on their exposure and if there is anything that can help improve the exposure in search results - it must be done. And the first attempts to influence the search results by using popular but not relevant keywords to drive more traffic were made.

With their increasing computational and storage capacity search engine have become able to index the entire content of a page. But it was still possible to abuse search results by using excessive keyword stuffing, hidden keyword-rich text or many other spammy techniques. Basing solely on the page content it was impossible to ensure the relevancy of search results and more advanced ranking algorithms were introduced.

Search Engine Optimization

But even modern sophisticated search engine algorithms are not perfect and can't guarantee 100% relevancy. There still exist many loopholes that can be exploited to manipulate search results. Search results manipulation is not necessarily an unethical conduct. Consider three biggest travel websites: http://Travelocity.com, http://Expedia.com and http://Priceline.com. They provide booking service of a similar quality and are equally relevant for keywords like 'vacation' or 'airline tickets'. But nevertheless they rank differently in search results, and it is natural for a lower ranked site to try improving its position by using search engine optimization techniques.

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is about defining what factors influence the placement of a page in search results and adjusting these factors to obtain a higher position. To optimize the relevance of a page you have to adjust keyword frequency and proximity, add keywords into headings and bold text. It must look natural though - excessive keyword stuffing might have negative effects. To increase the popularity of a page you must obtain incoming links with targeted keywords in the anchor text, and make sure that links come from authoritative pages but not from irrelevant link farms.

Search engine optimization is an extremely dynamic field. Once a loophole in ranking algorithms becomes known and widely used, search engines change their algorithms to neutralize its effect. Every algorithm update can drastically affect positions and traffic of websites utilizing aggressive crash and burn optimization strategies. Such strategies are based on the most recently discovered loopholes and tricks and are able to put your pages into top positions quite quickly. Their effect however lasts only to the next algorithm update.

Another far more time-consuming approach is the creation of websites with high quality content following so-called Google quality guidelines. This approach emphasizes the website's value for users and persuades against using tricks to manipulate search results. In short - good websites eventually will rank high. But it takes years and tons of effort to make a site popular this way. Some sites are by their nature difficult to promote this way. For example few grocery stores can afford turning their websites into top Internet grocery portals; it just wouldn't be worth the effort.

SEO alone can't guarantee a lasting effect. Not using SEO at all requires too much effort to promote a site. The wise way to make a website popular is make sure that it is useful for users, obtain quality incoming links and do not forget to fine tune your pages focusing the targeted keywords. Follow the famous Brett Tabke's Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone - after four years it is still a valid approach.

Oleg Ishenko, Berlin, Germany. BSc in Telecommunications Industry Business Management. Master student in Humboldt University Berlin. MCSE and MCDBA certifications.

Get more useful information at our Comprehensive SEO and Online Marketing Research - http://www.seoresearcher.com

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By Kanaga Siva

Free Membership, Free Submission, Free eBooks, Free Websites, Free Downloads, Free Classifieds, Free to Join; yes, anything Free has an incredible pulling power in both Internet and Affiliate Marketing.

It is simply amazing how this four letter word, ‘FREE’, can capture the imagination of the newbies, and also the most seasoned and experienced Internet Marketers, and Affiliate Marketers.

The Success of your Internet Marketing or Affiliate Marketing Business depends on several inputs such as Determination, Dedication and Motivation, among others. In spite of possessing these qualities, financial limitations can be a dampening factor in your endeavor to succeed. Therefore, an offer of free tools, free eBooks, free classifieds, etc. can be just the thing you have been longing for to boost your confidence and help you succeed in your business.

Even if you are not short of funds to operate your Internet or Affiliate Marketing businesses, the offer of free items that could be helpful to develop your Internet business is something no sensible entrepreneur wants to ignore. Why pay for something when you can get it for free?

It is important to note that in spite of the prominent display of the word Free, some items are not always Free, and some are useless; nevertheless, the urge and desire to try them out persists.

There are many scammers who capitalize on this, to make a quick buck. This is where the newbie has to be watchful and not fall prey to scammers.

Many genuine smart Marketers do take advantage of this inherent weakness of both man and woman and offer free items to promote their businesses.

There are several great free webmaster tools that are extremely popular with Internet marketers, Affiliate marketers, Internet home based business entrepreneurs, and other online entrepreneurs.

Similarly Free eBooks and Articles written sincerely with the sole purpose of educating the audience are also very popular and sought after by webmasters.

There are websites dealing exclusively with Free items that are very popular in the Internet.

Another Free item extremely popular with low budget business entrepreneurs are Free classifieds.

There are also several very much sought after Free to join affiliate programs that are long standing, safe and secure, and global in nature, who provide you with free tools, free web sites, and great support systems.

Thus the Internet abounds with all kinds of free items. Some have hidden charges. Some lead to scams. Some have both free and paid versions. Some are totally free with no strings attached.

Regular visits to the Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Altavista and studying these various free items will help you to weed out the Good from the Bad and the Ugly.

Great people do exist out there in the Internet World. They are prepared to share their knowledge and expertise with the rest of the Internet fraternity for Free. Webmasters and Online Entrepreneurs should indeed be grateful to these Individuals and Organizations who are constantly making the Internet experience much easier, cheaper, pleasant, and enjoyable for millions of Internet users.

The Incredible Power of the word FREE without doubt continues to captivate the hearts and minds of the Internet Marketing and Affiliate Marketing world, until a more powerful substitute is discovered.

Copyright © 2006 Kanaga Siva Kanaga Siva has a wealth of experience in Marketing and operating a successful Home Based Business. Visit his http://www.business-fromhome.com Website for Tips, Ideas and Advise to start and operate a Home Based Business.
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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 Aviva Brown

After you have a website, you start to learn a lot of tips and tricks for doing business on the web. One of the best marketing tools you have is on your server, and you would be amazed at how many people don't use it. That tool is your website statistics. If you have never examined your web stats before, you are missing a real gold mine of information. They are usually found in the control panel section of your web hosting company. Most web hosts will email them to you if you can't access them yourself.

Learn Important Pages Viewed Information

You are most likely familiar with your "hits" on your web stats for finding out how many people have visited your website. Most stats programs will not only tell you how many visitors you have had to your site, but what pages on your website they visited, how long they stayed on a particular page, and what page they last viewed on your website before they surfed on.

Valuable Keywords and SEO

If you're interested in search engine optimization for your website and you aren't sure what keywords to use for your site; there is usually a section in your web stats file that shows you what keywords a person entered to find your site and what search engine they used. You can put those keywords around your website on various relevant pages to increase the search engine optimization of your site. That will not catapult your website to the number one position on Google overnight, but it will increase your rankings if done correctly.

The Magic of Referrers

Another great feature is the referrer section. Know what sites or search engines are referring your website visitors. Referrals can come from other websites, news groups, clubs and forums, or even competitors - if people are being referred to your website, find out by whom. In many cases, someone who had a great experience with your firm will be referring your company to someone on a message board that is looking for a similar product or service.

Use Your Web Stats

If you notice people are leaving within a few seconds of hitting your index page. Look at it in a few different browsers because they are not all created equally. What loads like a champ in Internet Explorer may look like garbage in Firefox or Opera browsers; or it simply may take too long to load. If you notice people are leaving at a point in your shopping cart - either your shipping is too high or your program may be faulty. Find out what items are getting the most looks and promote those to bring in more visitors.

Now that you know how your web stats can work for you, jump-start your Internet business today.

Aviva Brown recommends that you promote your website by submitting it to http://www.avivadirectory.com/.

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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 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 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 Titus Hoskins

Videos are playing an ever-increasing importance in the completely online marketing process. Using videos will increase brand recognition, create buzz, and help you promote and sell your products or services more effectively. So are you using videos?

Most perceptive Internet marketers did not need YouTube or the cover of Time magazine to tell them video is the next big thing. Most web marketers were already using and benefiting from online videos long before Time and other pundits declared video and self-generated content to be having a profound impact on our daily lives.

Many online marketers have been using videos for years to promote and sell their products, mainly because the use of video as a marketing tool is cost-effective, and a very simple way to market. No online marketer can ignore one marketing trend. It is playing a major role in online marketing and will play an even greater role in the future.

Just look at how video is used by, Brock Felt and Buck Rizvi, to roll out their PipeLine Profits venture. These relatively unknown marketers are using video from the recent StomperNet event to introduce and gather buzz for their PipeLine (Co-Registration) Profits (www.pipelineprofits.com). You should also note how effectively blogs and podcasts are being used in this marketing product rollout.

More and more well known Internet marketers are using videos to create buzz, to promote and sell their products. From John Reese promotional video, standing at the Great Wall of China announcing his upcoming 'online training courses' (www.income.com), to Joel Comm, plugging his latest AdSense Templates package on Google Video, to Michael Cheney's tongue- in-cheek CMN Cheney's Marketing News (www.cheneysmarketingnews.com). Note how Cheney is offering these videos for placement on any site around the web, building links and brand recognition in the process.

Online marketers are exploiting the immediate connection and effectiveness of using video in their marketing. Videos are used to inform potential customers on different products, services or promotions offered by the marketer. These seasoned marketers know building a solid relationship with your clients is a main key to boosting your sales. The use of video is an effective and simple way to make this connection.

Most marketers also use blogs to update and connect with potential clients. Blogs and RSS feeds are perhaps the more important marketing tools, which actually gives videos their unlimited potential. It is the real power behind the throne. With the advent of the next RSS empowered Windows (Vista), one would expect Blogs and RSS to play an even greater role in the Internet marketing arena. Video has truly arrived in the online marketing world.

What we will see is every website on the net becoming its own broadcasting system, its own television channel catering to a specific niche or a broad topic depending on the subject matter covered by the site. A billion channel Internet powered by RSS and video. One only has to look at how a prominent site like WebProNews.com is using videos to see how this scenario will play out.

However, what is truly revolutionary, you do not have to be major players to get in the marketing game, even the smallest marketer can use and benefit from implementing their own videos. A simple video or digital camera can produce an informational video within minutes. These can range from the so-called 'poor man' Camtasia videos, to elaborate infomercials, and commercials. You can then upload these videos to your blog or site and distribute them around the web within seconds. Those concerned with bandwidth costs can always upload their videos to YouTube or Google Video. This simple video marketing system is available to everyone.

Current well-informed online marketers are using these videos as effective marketing tools. No reason why you cannot follow their lead and use videos to:

1. Introduce yourself or your product

2. Create buzz during a product launch

3. Build your list by offering free videos

4. Create video content to enrich your site

5. Build a more personal relationship with subscribers

6. Keep in contact with your clients

7. Create a video sales letter/pitch to sell your product or service

Nothing beats the personal and direct connection video or TV makes with your potential customers and follow-up leads. It's the infomercial personalized for the web. Soon marketers will be using video software that automatically inserts their subscriber's name in their videos for a more personal touch. Similar to what we see done now with AutoResponders with the field {first_name) personalizing all correspondence with our subscribers. Expect this personalized video marketing to be a big trend in the coming years.

Your own name is still the sweetest word on the planet. Most perceptive marketers will take advantage of this fact by personalizing their messages and building a genuine relationship with their clients. Personalized videos will help cement this relationship and make it stronger - all contributing to more sales for the marketer, of course! From a marketing viewpoint: videos, podcasts, broadcatching, web casting, and video casting are all phrases for the same thing: they are all ways to get your message in front of your customers. Obviously, video will help you reach more customers. Video will make it easier for you to promote your products or services.

Perhaps, more importantly, videos will make it easier for you to sell your products and services. It is one more tool online marketers should have in their marketing arsenal. Video is already the future of online marketingFree Web Content; you should be taking full advantage of it right now.

The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous niche websites, including two sites on Internet marketing. For the latest and most effective web, marketing tools try: www.marketingtoolguide.com for the latest Internet Marketing Strategies go here: www.bizwaremagic.com 2007 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

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By Alicia Forest

Did you know almost every person who visits your website would leave without buying? However, there are things you can do to get the most from your website visitors that can make a big difference in your bottom line. I share four of them in this article.

Did you know almost every person who visits your website would leave without buying? I know that sounds disheartening, but it is true. Just think of all the sites you have been on yourself and you have not bought from, right? However, do not be discouraged. There are things you can do to get the most from your website visitors, which can make a big difference in your bottom line. Here are four of them:

1. Use Pop-Ups...or use pop-unders…or use pop-up-tomorrow, or use whatever latest 'pop' technology is available today. Yes, they do annoy some people, but internet marketing stats tell us that they work. In addition, the one that works the best is the "exit pop", those ones that say, "wait! before you leave... take advantage of this...”

If you do decide to use pop-ups, use them sparingly so as not to annoy your visitor. You can also use pop-ups to implement any of the following strategies:

2. Invite them to be on your list...

Most people will not buy from you on the first pass. You need to build a relationship with your prospects in order for them to feel comfortable investing any of their hard-earned cash with you.

Give them an opportunity to join your list so you can build that relationship. Invite them to receive a free taste of what it is that you are offering - ezine, special report, checklist - so they get on your list. You then have the opportunity to market to them over time, which will build that relationship which will lead to more sales.

3. Find out why they are leaving...

Ask them why they are leaving your site. Not everyone will tell you, but the feedback you do receive is gold. You can then make any appropriate adjustments to your website to increase your sales and opt-in conversion rates.

4. Make another offer...

If they did not purchase on the first pass, make them another offer. Offer them another product or program of yours that's at a lower price point, or send them to someone else's site whose offering might benefit them instead, preferable one of which you highly recommend and are an affiliate of so you can earn a small commission for your referral.

Pick one of the aboveFree Web Content, test it, and see how it works for you. You are sure to increase your list numbers and your sales numbers if you start implementing even one of these strategies today.

Copyright 2007 Alicia M Forest and Client Abundance

Alicia M Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Queen & Coach™ and creator of "21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success System™, teaches coaches, consultants, and other solo professionals and online entrepreneurs how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create abundance in your business, visit http://www.clientabundance.com/.

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By James Bradley

Creating a content rich link directory is a powerful tool used by any web owner. Building relevant backlinks is a great way to boost your Search Engine Optimization and increase your overall targeted traffic...

It is a well-known fact that adding incoming links to any website is a great method of promotion and search engine optimization. Quality links can increase your page rank and ultimately get you consistent traffic and sales at seemingly no cost. Nothing comes free; the creation of a quality link directory for your website is no different. It will require time and careful planning to get the most out of this valuable tool.

Keep these tips in mind to create a powerful content rich link directory for your website.

1. Do a little planning. The first thing that always leads to success is a clear game plan. Decide what needs to be accomplished and how you can get the job done. Make lists of keywords and link categories relevant to that of your own website. Avoid using categories that are not related.

For instance, if your site is a work at home affiliate web page you would not want to include the categories health & beauty, science, automobiles, etc. To increase your Search Engine Optimization, relate your links to the overall theme and content of your website.

2. Don't become a link farm. Search engines hate "link farms". If each page in your link directory has too many links to other company web sites, your site may be labeled a link farm. Keep the amount of links on each page low, I suggest 15-25 and no more.


3. Ensure every page is keyword rich and has a few links back to your home page. Content is so important for a powerful link directory so keep it filled with keyword rich titles, meta tags, paragraphs, etc. relevant to that pages theme. This will increase the quality of your content and improve the quality of your link directory as a whole.

It is also important to include links back to your home page. This will increase your search engine optimization as the web spiders register more backlinks to your home page.

4. Use link directory software that checks links automatically. There are a lot of different programs and web sites that offer linking services. Be sure to check into them before choosing, some offer many "instant" links for a monthly fee. These links usually do not provide much help, if not hurt your SEO, so be wary.

I suggest using linkmarket.net. There are more than 60,000 potential link partners in every category of the online business world. Links are checked automatically and I have found that at $24.95 a year you cannot go wrong! There are many other programs and services, and finding one that works for you will require a little research on your end.

5. Keep it up! Simply following these simple steps and setting up your link directory is far from the end. You will want to test and retest many different aspects of the linking world. You want to be sure everything works correctly and is content rich before visitors and search engine spiders arrive.

Taking some simple steps can ensure that your link directory works smoothly and increases your Search Engine Optimization. Keep in mind that getting the best links will require some requests from you to other web owners Article Search, and be sure the software you use automatically checks links for effectiveness and removal.

James has been involved in advanced internet marketing and home business opportunities for the last 4 years within the frame work of a multi national billion-dollar company. He is a graduated student of http://www.homeincomeuniversity.com

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By Steven Gerber

Sometimes staying at home has its own advantages. Not going to work on the other hand may pose other problems. For instance, where will you get the money to finance your daily expenses? Some people may just laugh about this fact, but staying at home does not necessarily mean that you cannot earn money.

Yes, you heard it right. You can actually make money even if you do not leave the house. How you might ask, it is through reseller programs. Many people are attracted to take part in many forums on the net, and most people are into affiliate marketing. Why not participate in a different venture like reseller programs.

If you have second thoughts, then first familiarize yourself with what reseller programs are. It is simple; a reseller program means that you will be a retailer for a certain company. So how do you do this? Start by signing up for a reselling program. The company, which supports the program, will tell you what products you are going to sell, and the equal charge for each item sold. In most cases, you will need your own website, and this is where you are going to sell your products. If a certain customer is interested, put all his/her personal information in your control panel, and the hosting company will be the one to set them up for a particular program.

There are also companies that provide a website, and you will just build it according to your preferences and set the prices. This is much better because the website is already there, and you just need to make little improvements so the site will suit your preference.

There are free programs, while others require you to pay membership fees or set up fees. Do a bit of research on the different reseller programs. You can find one that will work for you.

Reseller programs are potential income generators, especially for those who want to conduct a living in their homes. Although this is less popular compared to the affiliates, it also offers opportunities for earning income. You just need to get things done in the proper manner. It requires low maintenance but produces high profit for financial independence.

Being a reseller does not make you an employee of a certain company. You act independently. You will be paid based on the sign ups made and this will done on a recurring basis. This means you can do the work at your most preferred time.

Before signing up for any reseller program, there are certain things to consider.

First, identify what you want to resell. Almost all hosting companies prefer outsourcing so they can focus more on running their business.

Then choose among the programs available on the internet. Make sure you choose one having a positive record and already well established. Do not jump at offerings, which promises high yields, yet is not well experienced or established.

After choosing the program, its time to attract prospects Psychology Articles, and the best way is to look for smaller firms or individuals.

Hosting companies prefer reseller programs because they are able to cut down costs on staffing and/or equipments. They only need to pay a minimal amount in exchange for your services. It would be best to find a particular situation in which you will be comfortable to resell in order to be successful in this venture.

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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