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How To Find The Most Successful Business And Alternative Networking People On Myspace

by Shawn Drewry

In today's information age lies a hidden goldmine of opportunity in all areas of business interests. When you have been through certain things in life, it helps you to tap into the creative mind. One of the things I've been doing recently, in which I have been successful, is finding quality, business networking professionals-- some of whom are famous-- all on MySpace.

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

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

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

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

He was born & raised in Brooklyn, New York and has been in the working world for 10 years, including corporate america. As much as he did well on his jobs, someone somewhere he worked with or even the employer themselves found some reason to wrongfully terminate them. He has learned the hard way to become an independent person, breaking the shackles of traditionally following the working class.

7 Crucial Tips for Web 2.0 Marketing

by Dave Skul

Web 2.0 offers the next generation of online marketing tools, enabling businesses to harness the power of the Internet to reach customers in unique and varied ways.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Secrets Of StumbleUpon - Becoming A Top Stumbler

by Leonard Bartholomew

Becoming a top stumbler is the ultimate goal when you use StumbleUpon. I have not reached it yet, but I know it's out there.

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

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

To get Top Stumbler means that:

1. You are posting frequently,

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

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

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

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

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

1. Introduction

2. Fresh Content

3. Tagging Your Posts

4. Making And Keeping Friends

Some clarification on #4:

Reviewing a person's site and then contacting them with a request to be added to your friends list is the easiest way to make friends. There is a wide choice of friends in StumbleUpon, even though it may not be the largest social site around. There are 3,698,021 registered Stumblers, so this should not be much of a problem.

I would not recommend making a person your friend until they show up as having subscribed to your pages in the friends tab, otherwise you end up with a lot that will just need to be deleted. Also, check their active date on their pages tab. I usually let them go for about a month and then "Remove Friend". Anyone not interested in the pursuits that you are interested in is not going to be much help to you.

Also, use the "Send To" button to "force stumble" your friends. Put in a brief message to get their attention. When they hit the stumble button, your page will show up. Guaranteed traffic! Takes about 30 minutes.

Eventually, you will also start getting pages sent to you from your friends. Help them out by voting! And remember this when you get a thumbs down. A thumbs down counts as a vote. It is a good thing, not to be taken badly. You expect others to take your thumbs down graciously when you give it out, don't you? You will not make many friends if you do the knee-jerk reaction and get defensive.

I appreciate the opportunity to share the information I have learned with you. This is by no means is the last post on this subject as long as I am a SU user, even though-- from a basics point of view-- this may be considered the last of this series.

The cumulative visit statistics from StumbleUpon for each of these posts:

1. Introduction - 291 (submitted on 10/1/07, 22 days)

2. Fresh Content - 692 (submitted on 10/2/07, 21 days)

3. Tagging Your Posts - 1702 (submitted on 10/13/07, 10 days)

4. Making And Keeping Friends - 1737(submitted yesterday 10/21/07, 1 day)

Anyone else see a trend?

Leonard Bartholomew, B.S. Computer Science, Is A Cardiac Computer System Administrator As Well As An Authority On Developing Home Based Internet Businesses Part Time. Read the series of articles on Secrets of Stumbleupon at http://www.moxie-drive.com/blog/2007/10/secrets-of-stumbleupon-becoming-top.html.

Online Focus Groups � Concept Testing and Customer Insights

by Henk Hoets

So you need to test your new product concepts against prospects, customers, or the trade. Concept testing explores consumers' reactions to a proposed product, message, or ad.

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

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

What are Online Bulletin Board Focus Groups?

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

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

Moderators, respondents and observers meet on a bulletin board focus group web site. But they don�t need to meet at the same time. They can login any time during a BBFG session.

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

How Bulletin Board Focus Groups Work

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Qualitative Product Concept Testing

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

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

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

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

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

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

Benefits of Bulletin Board Focus Groups

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

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

You can even interview busy executives, subject matter experts, professionals, and on-the-go people who don�t have time to attend face-to-face focus groups.

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

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

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

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

Copyright � 2007, Henk Hoets. All rights reserved.

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

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

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

For more information about online focus groups and focus group moderating, please visit http://h-focusgroups.com.

Internet Wars - The Millions of Dollars That Quietly Await to be Made

by Shawn Drewry

Whenever we hear of internet confrontations, we think of crazy people online doing whacky stuff. That is not always the case. "Internet beef" is among the bulls with extremely sharp financial horns. Yes, we're talking about the top internet companies "on steroids" ! Google, YaHoO, Microsoft, eBaY, MySpace and the underdog slowly taking over- Facebook.

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

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

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

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

He was born & raised in Brooklyn, New York & has been in the working world for 10 years, including corporate America. As much as he did well in his jobs, someone somewhere he worked with or even the employer themselves found some reason to wrongfully terminate him. He has learned the hard way to become an independent person, breaking the shackles of traditionally following the working class.

Understanding Smiley Icons and How to Use Them

by Craig Thornburrow

The Internet is continuously evolving. It has been incorporating all current technology into its domain and has thus stood the test of time and storm. From video conferencing to class sessions delivered online, it has touched almost every aspect of life. But none has been as popular as Instant Messaging, which gave birth to smiley icons, a product of man�s quest to make cyberspace as social as possible.

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

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

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

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

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

Celebrities: Celebrities are more like gods nowadays. There are people who have made a fortune just writing about them. So it shouldn�t surprise you that we now have some emoticons that represent them. From politicians like former president Jimmy Carter :(=) to celebrities and TV characters like Pamela Anderson &:-)3 or Alladin @:-) , there are many classes of icons that represent most things we care about, and these icons are continuously evolving.

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

Craig Thornburrow is an acknowledged expert in his field. You can get more free advice on smiley icons and animated smiley faces at http://www.smileyicon.net and http://www.smileyicon.net/animate-your-messenger-conversations-with-animated-smiley-faces.html.

5 Reasons Forums May be Hazardous to Your Website's Health

by Jerret Turner

When used correctly, forums offer new as well as experienced business owners the perfect platform for promoting new ideas and products. They're also a great way to acquire one-way links. While forums have their benefits, they also have the potential of creating huge damage to your business. One wrong thread could send a lot of bad press to your site as well as to your email account.

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

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

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

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

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

2) Link bandwagons and useless comments

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

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

3) Everyone's an expert

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

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

4) Old and stale information

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

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

5) Writing truthful, thoughtful comments is a fad

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

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

Jerret Turner, CEO of LinkAcquire.com, can help you build one-way links for better search results. Visit him at http://www.linkacquire.com. Download a free copy of Jerret's new work, The Little Linking Instruction Book, by visiting http://www.linkacquire.com/signup.html.

Carve a Niche for Your Site Via Social Media Optimization

by Steve Waganer

The Internet has changed our lifestyle to such a great extent that we rely on it for every little thing we are involved in. In fact, it is one of the best ways to get connected with our family and friends, as we are constantly swinging between the pendulum of time and work. The latest method of staying connecting is social media optimization. It is, in fact, a perfect way to churn out endless profits. Moreover, the internet is a huge platform for sharing information and interacting.

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

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

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

Steve Waganer has specialization in Web Marketing. He is expert in Search engine optimization,Search engine marketing, [http://www.cometsearchenginemarketing.com/social_media_optimization.html]Social media optimizationTo get the SEO tips from SEO firm for your website to get high rank and top position in major search engines visit http://www.cometsearchenginemarketing.com.

Forum Marketing Profits - Free Traffic And Free Advertising

by Gitte Dabek

The majority of Internet Marketers are always looking for some additional places to promote products for free and get some free traffic. But when thinking about this, did you ever consider "Forum Marketing"?

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

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

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

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

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

And please: don�t contribute just "Me, too!" posts or silly questions.

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

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

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

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

Gitte Dabek is a home business expert. She is running a website listing and rating legitimate home business opportunities. If you are interested to read more about the Top Home Business Opportunities, visit her at http://www.top-home-business-opportunities.net.

Admin Advantage - Building Credibility Using Forums

by Ryan A Chua

Black Hat SEOss will definitely impress you with all the aces up their sleeves, but if you do not want your website to be black-listed by popular search engines such as Google, then it is recommended that you try other better options that are available. Generating traffic to your website is no doubt important, but if you have long-term business plans then you need to realize that what is even more important is building and maintaining the credibility of your website. It is only when credibility is maintained that you can you hope to retain users on your website and, most importantly, motivate them to buy products or services that you might be selling through your website.

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

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

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

Ryan Chua is a professional IT and Onlne marketing consultant for the past 5 years. Ever since running his own traffic and profit-generating websites, he has been teaching others how to do the same for their own online endeavours. For more information, visit http://www.ForumSecretsRevealed.com.

Tips on Encouraging Forum Conversation

by CD Mohatta

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.

Using Forums to Get Back Links

by Sean R Mize

With the present trend in marketing and online business, competition to get the a higher and better ranking is getting stiffer and a lot more complex. In order to attain the best traffic on the net, a lot of marketers and businessmen are engaging into so many highly tremendous methods of marketing. One of the most sought-after marketing tools that many are trying to experiment on is the search engine optimization, particularly the off page optimization process. You may be asking, why search engine optimization? What features does off page optimization have to be considered as one of the most sought-after marketing tools? Well, the answer to that is very basic and fundamental - traffic driven by back links.

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

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

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

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

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

Sean Mize is a full-time internet marketer who has written over 1,574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

Web 3.0 - The Future is Here

by Sherwin F Shao

What is this mystical thing called Web 3.0 that everybody is waiting for? It's like the silhouette of a stranger through the dense fog. Man or Monster? Friend or Foe? That is the nature of predicting the future. From afar, everything looks good. From up close, it's a mess. The good news is we can affect the future, the future is not some inevitable result assigned to us.

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

What happened?

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

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

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

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

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

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

What's Missing?

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

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

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

What's Not Happening?

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

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

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

What's Next?

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

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

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

Are You Ready?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We are trying to start our vision of Web 3.0 at http://www.helpglobe.com. Come join us!

6 Hot Forum Marketing Tips

by Jon Roussel

When you are beginning your internet network marketing business, it is likely that you will be on a shoestring budget. One of the first things that you need to do with internet marketing is to build your own list. This list will be comprised of targeted prospects that are interested in the niche market that your business focuses on.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jon Roussel is a successful internet marketer in Beverly, MA. He helps people succeed with a home-based business that will generate a long-term reliable leveraged residual income. Learn more at http://www.jonroussel.ws, Jon Roussel's Website.

InfoPreneur Secrets - LEVERAGE The Resources Of Others For Explosive Wealth

by James Penn

This is one article in the series of "InfoPreneur Secrets" which discusses tips, tricks, techniques and secrets to be a successful info product creator and marketer. This article will discuss the importance of leveraging the resources of others to literally explode your sales without much additional effort on your part.

Let me ask you a question:

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

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

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

I bet �The Rich Jerk� himself doesn�t make a whole lot of sales, but he has thousands of affiliates promoting HIS products for HIM in exchange for a percentage of the sale. It�s the perfect business model for both the affiliate and the vendor.

The affiliate gets money without having to create a product. The vendor makes sales of his product that he wouldn�t otherwise have made.

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

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

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

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

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

Rules Of Social Media Optimization

by Justin Brooke

Before you can put any of these rules to use, you may want to understand a little more about the differences between social media marketing and social media optimization.

SMM = Social Media Marketing

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

SMO = Social Media Optimization

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

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

1. Increase your linkability

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

2. Make tagging and bookmarking easy

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

3. Reward inbound links

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

4. Help your content travel

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

5. Encourage the mashup

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

Jeremiah Owyang Developed Social Media Optimization Rules 6 and 7

6. Be a User Resource, even if it doesn�t help you.

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

7. Reward helpful and valuable users

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

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

8. Participate

With Social Media Optimization you can participate by joining on the conversation about your topic (or targeted keyword). Simply posting articles and sharing content isn�t going to keep the buzz going. You should continue to share information on other websites. This participation will share your knowledge with more people. One way to do this is to find people that are blogging on your topic and to give input on the conversation. Also, participate in forums or other social groups that are discussing your topic. Read comments on your articles, videos, and audios and respond to them.

9. Know how to target your audience

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

10. Create content

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

11. Be real

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

Loren Baker developed Social Media Optimization Rules 12 and 13

12. Don�t forget your roots, be humble

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

13. Don�t be afraid to try new things, stay fresh.

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

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

14. Develop a Social Media Optimization strategy

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

15. Choose your SMO tactics wisely.

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

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

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

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

Finally, when you create a movement, spark an idea, or develop a new topic don�t be afraid to let others run with it. Collaboration is key. Others can improve upon your original idea and give you credit for the start. Be sure to give credit where it�s due.

Justin Brooke started with just a $2/day marketing budget and grew his business past 6 figures in just 1 year. At just 25 years old he has been Vice President of a multi-million dollar company and nominated "Best Marketer of 2007" by the American Business Awards. Justin's award winning [http://www.mpyremarketing.com/free_lead_gen.html] social media optimization company wants to handle your [http://www.mpyremarketing.com/free_lead_gen.html]social media marketing needs.

Understanding Smiley Icons and How to Use Them

Make Your Thank You Pages Do Double-Duty

By Alicia Forest

Leverage the page your website visitors see after they sign up for your list or make a purchase. This article shares four ways to utilize this space to increase your marketing and sales without having to do more work.

I have a question for you: When people sign up to receive your ezine or other Free Taste of what it is you are offering, where do they end up? Do they see a polite thank you page from you? Do they see the default confirmation page from your list service? Do they see nothing? Are left wondering if the registration went through? People who are signing up for your list expect to see a page afterwards as a normal part of the transaction. On that page, it is important to thank them for signing up and make them feel good about their decision. Also, if you are using a double opt-in for your list, let them know they need to confirm their subscription before they will receive the information they requested from you.

There is more you can do with this page, so why not leverage it? Here are a few ideas on how to accomplish this:

1. Add, Tell-A-Friend. Most people are happy to refer you to someone else they know who might benefit from what you are offering, if you will just ask them.

You can do this easily by simply asking them to point others to your sign-up page, or by using a simple referral software program, like TAFPro, which creates a simple form to fill in with a name and email address of the person whom they are referring. Once they hit send, an email goes directly to the recipient and a copy comes to you. This is a great way to add new subscribers to your list without you having to do more work.

2. Make another offer. The best time to make an offer to someone is when interacting with you. Someone who just signed up to receive information from you is likely to be interested in something else you have to offer. Use this page to make an offer on one of your lower ticket items in your funnel. By doing so, you will gain sales you would not otherwise.

3. Ask a question. This is a prime time to gather a little market research from your readers. Ask a simple question, like "What's your biggest challenge with X?" (X represents your niche, what it is that you are offering). Add an email link where they can send their answer, and then use this information as you continue to develop offerings for your target market.

Doing this also helps in starting to build a relationship with your readers, and it keeps you up-to-date as to what they are struggling with right now so you can offer the solutions they want.

4. Refer them elsewhere. Hook up with a colleague to start trading some thank you page traffic. On your thank you page, say something like, "I know you'll also benefit from (name of ezine), published by (name of publisher)." Then give them instructions on how to sign up. Your colleague would do the same for you on their thank you page.

I implement all four of these strategies on various thank you pages, which are helping me build a stronger relationship with my readers, find out what it is that they want my help with, build my list faster and easier, (while helping a handful of colleagues build theirs), and make more sales by making more offers.

I encourage you to leverage your thank you pages this way in your own business. Making them work double-duty for you will absolutely create the same results for you that I'm enjoying, Computer Technology Articles, so pick one and start working it today.

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/.

Take Me by the Hand and Help Me Make Some Money

“Take Me by the Hand and Help Me Make Some Money”

Only a person who’s successfully accomplished what you’d like to accomplish can be a true mentor.

Only a person who’s now standing where you’d like to be has enough knowledge to bring you there.

Those two points should be kept in mind when considering investing in a “start from scratch” internet business course. You need more than information, more than resources, more than software. You need real people to help you with real problems. Problems such as:

“I’ve got a business idea...Will it work?
“Can somebody please critique my sales letter headline?”
“I need help choosing a price for my new product.”
“My advertising isn’t working...Can somebody critique it for me?”

And the course you choose should give you:

Tools to choose a profitable business model – Examples are network marketing, viral marketing, direct sales, affiliate marketing etc.

Tools to find or create in-demand products and services to sell from your website.

You can sell digital products (like eBooks which cost nothing to create and

nothing to ship) or you can sell physical products (like clothes, or electronics).

Tools that create a professional website, designed to convert maximum visitors into satisfied paying customers – With the level of software innovation now available, you can easily do this yourself or hire someone to do it for you for a nominal fee.

Tools to drive 1,000’s of eager, qualified buyers to your website – This has to do with getting traffic, both free (the best kind) and low cost. It also involves “target marketing” or marrying the right message with the right market.

Tools to automatically collect email addresses with follow up on your best leads – This will involve auto responders. This is an automated business tool that keeps in contact with your customers.

Tools to recruit an online sales force – This involves the creation of “affiliates” who’ll be happy to help you sell your products for a portion of the profits.

Tools to automate your online business and make it “hands free”.

If you can find an internet course like that...you’ve found “pure gold”.

Although he’s not an alchemist, Derek Gehl, CEO of the Internet Marketing Center, has successfully created “pure gold” To check out all the exciting details, go to tinyurl.com/2sdosx

________________________________________________________________________

Marsha Sneed reviews quality business opportunities and online resource tools that can be used effectively by newbies and experienced marketers alike to reach their marketing and financial goals. She can be reached at jcsneed@onebox.com.

3 Keys to Grow Your Business

By Grant D. Robinson

Are you on pace to accomplish your important sales and financial goals this year?

The truth is, a good majority of US Organizations have been unable to grow their businesses this year. They are not reaching their sales and financial goals. Many have all but given up.

Is this you? Are you now looking to next year to be the year you shatter previous productivity, sales and revenue records?

It is a great idea to start preparing for your best year ever, regardless of whether you are on pace to meet your goals or not. You will need to prepare!

You have realized that it takes more than just setting a goal to accomplish it. The mere act of putting the goal on paper, sharing it with your managers, and giving the extra effort to accomplish the goal is really secondary to the preparation required.

Before you begin to work toward an objective, you must insure all of the past barriers that stood in the way of prior goal accomplishment are eliminated. If they aren't, the unfortunate fact is, you will fail to meet the objective once again… for the same reasons as before.

The following are the three keys market-leading organizations have used to grow their businesses. Consider these in order to take your organization to the next level of success.

A. Operational Systems

There are two types of systems in your organization. The first is your operational systems, including:

1. Vision & Mission 2. Financial & Budgeting
3. Production, Manufacturing & Distribution 4. Sales & Marketing

All four of these systems are in place for one reason: to efficiently grow your business. They are the standards to how your organization operates from day to day. More importantly, they are the standards to how your workforce operates from day to day.

To improve productivity this quarter and prepare for your best year ever, it is vital to analyze your operational systems. In the next month, recognize what current productivity barriers must be eliminated, what operating expenses must be reduced, what unique cultural standards must be maintained, and what marketing promises must be upheld.

B. Managerial Systems

In answering the previous questions, most organizations realize an important fact: Changes to operational systems are almost always made to improve the productivity of their workforce. But the truth is; these changes alone rarely help.

Organizations failing to accomplish their goals tend to make irrational decisions. They feel if they rewrite a vision, increase spending on technology, reorganize production procedures, or alter their marketing messages, workforce performance and profits will magically improve.

However, the opposite is usually the case. The changes usually end up harming efficiency, production and morale. The usual outcome is, those employees who performed the job they were hired to do before the changes, still do. Those who failed to produce before the expensive operational modifications, still underachieve.

The second type of system in your organization is your managerial systems. The five most important processes of your managerial systems are: recruiting, hiring, training, developing and retaining (productive employees). When you create a successful managerial system, your hiring success rate, employee motivation, and the effectiveness of your leaders will naturally improve.

To prepare for your best year ever, there is only one question to ask yourself: Why haven't we been able to hire, develop and retain TOP-Performing employees in every position.

C. Focus on People

Market leading organizations realize "people" are the key to growing a business and meeting goals. The more productive their individuals are, the more productive their teams have become.

A recent study of over 2,200 managers, by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, in Human Resource Executive Magazine found, “Of the hundreds of management functions, ‘Selecting Staff’ and ‘Retention’ are the second and third most important management functions in business today.” Recruiting was ranked fifth.

Since three of the four new hires fail to meet our expectations within the first year, managers are forced to constantly replace underachievers. Recruiting is the number one management expense in business today. Although selecting staff and retention are rated very important, they rank 36th and 44th in management effort and spending respectively.

Although executives understand the importance of Top Performers in every position, their time, energy and financial priorities have become operational. With the amount of organizations failing to meet their goals or grow their businesses, it should be apparent that this strategy just doesn't work.

Hiring Top Performers for every position in your company, the first time, is the only way to insure your productivity and profits will improve. Traditionally, Top Performers are five to eight times more productive then their counterparts.

You've probably learned the hard way; that no modification to an operational system will ever increase your organization's performance five to eight times. If you are like the most effective executives, you'll understand this and will double or triple the productivity and profits of your organization by giving your managers the tools to hire, develop and retain your greatest asset; your people.

Great customer service, work ethic, motivation, productivity, and sales success comes from employees that fit your culture, their team, and the job they were hired to do. Whether it takes developing your underachievers or replacing them with someone who will naturally produce; now is the time to focus on your people to prepare for your best year ever.

Grant D. Robinson is the President of People Values and the Author of the Market Leadership System. To improve your “Hiring Success Rate” of TOP Performing Employees, watch a free, 5-minute, on-line video at: http://www.peoplevalues.com.

Make a Living in your Underwear

By Angela Bailey

Bill finished college in May. It was a beautiful ceremony, and the culmination of many hard years of study. “So what are you going to do now?” I asked him, over a cup of coffee in a local cafe. “Get a resume together and start looking for jobs” he replied. That’s the reply of about 99% of the people graduating from college. It’s the way we are socially programmed to think. It’s the same thing everybody else does. This doesn’t necessarily make it the right thing to do. I believe if you have a reasonable amount of intelligence and an entrepreneurial spirit, there are far better ways to make a living. People have the attitude that I need to work hard to support my family. In my opinion, it’s all for nothing, if you can only enjoy time with your family a small portion of your life. When I am gone, I don’t want my kids to know me as a good provider, I want to be remembered as a good father. I cannot be a good father when I am a serving and making another person wealthy and I am never around to interact with them.

Goals

The first thing you need to accomplish is to set some goals for yourself, I can’t stress enough how important goals are in your life, set personal goals and spiritual goals. Goals will give you something to shoot for. Write them down and read them everyday. Don’t set unrealistic goals (i.e. I want to make 20,000 a month in three months). Start small young man and meet the reachable goal. Then set another one and meet that. Be specific in your goals and structure the steps to meet them; don’t write a goal like…I want to be a millionaire. We all want to be millionaires, but we have to be a thousandaires first. There are plenty of books and articles on writing goals. Your first assignment or goal will be to write down a set of goals, the steps to reach them, and read them everyday. It will be the motivation to keep you on track.

Your Passion

What is your passion? What do you have or what can you create that others will pay you for? Can you create art that people would love to have hanging in their home? Can you create music that others would love to listen to? Can you write computer programs that others just can’t live without? Can you make beautiful websites? Can you write informational articles? There are no limits, choose something that you are very passionate about that others will pay you for, and then monetize it. At first, you might have to get a job while you monetize your passion. Take baby steps to start a goal to make an additional $10.00 a month with your passion. Once you reach it, bump it up to $50.00, keep this momentum going until you are able to quit your regular job and do your passion full-time. Then you will be successful

Obstacles

Ponder these next seven words carefully, “As you think, so shall you be.” Thoughts are things, if you think you can, then you will. If you think you can’t, then you won’t. Get rid of the obstacles that you have conditioned yourself to believe. It drives me crazy when you hear people sabotage themselves by blaming things that have happened in the past for the reason they cannot succeed in the future…I’m not smart enough, I never had a chance, I was raised in the ghetto, I’m too poor, I’m too short, too old, too young… enough with the excuses. Quit using other people and other events for excuses why you can’t do something or are unable to succeed; it’s all too easy to do this. The other choice takes a little effort and in reality the person down deep inside really doesn’t want to change or improve themselves, they just want to use excuses. Think about this parable; imagine yourself in the back of a truck riding down a dirt road. You are now standing in the bed of this truck looking out the back seeing the trail in the dirt from the tires. These tracks in the dirt are your past. Now think about what is moving the truck forward, it’s the engine. Consider this engine as the driving force of YOU, to improve your life, to become successful. Now ask yourself, do the tracks the tires are leaving in the dirt make the truck go forward? The answer, of course, is NO; so enough with the excuses of things that have happened in the past. It is now time to start moving forward.

Residual or Passive Income

When another company owns you, in other words trading your time for money, you only get paid while you are working. Wouldn’t it be nice to make money all the time? This is the definition of passive or residual income. The simplest example of this is having money in a mutual fund drawing interest. It doesn’t matter if you’re sleeping, eating, playing with your kids, or whatever, you are always making money. This is what you must set in place to make a living and be able to do what you enjoy doing. Again, going back to your passion; write a software program and put it on a web site where people can pay for it and download it, so it will generate money at all times. Put some photographs on a site that people can buy, create a web site that generates a massive amount of visitors and sell your ad space. There are thousands of ways to create residual income, try them out to see which ones work for you. Generate multiple sites, put different items on them, and get rid of the ones that don’t work, and keep and duplicate the ones that do.

Success and Failure

“Before success comes in any man’s life he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat and, perhaps, some failures. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do.” - Napoleon Hill

“Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.”- Roger Crawford

“Defeat never comes to anyone until they admit it.”- Josephus Daniels

“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping-stones to success.”- Dale Carnegie

Keep in mind if you are not failing, then you are not moving forward, so don’t get discouraged, keep the ‘strong will’ going and you are destined to succeed. One of the biggest fears that will go through your mind is…I don’t have anything to offer others, maybe, getting a job is the best option for me. Don’t fall into this line of thinking; it is part of the social programming you are accustomed to. You already know that getting a job is not the option you want to take. Don’t listen to others who try and discourage you, “That is crazy talk, that won’t work, just get a job!” The reason so many people, including family members, try to discourage you, is that when you try to do something to better yourself, it makes others feel guilty. You’ve heard the old saying, ‘Misery Loves Company’; they try to discourage you. Learn to trust your Intuition, even if the whole world is telling you it can’t be done. Years from now, when you look back as a successful Work at Home entrepreneur, you will be grateful you had the intestinal fortitude to stay on the straight and narrow and become a success.

Angela Bailey lives in Houston, TX with her 4-year-old son. She does freelance writing and Internet Marketing for a living. Her hobbies include Yoga, Meditation, and Cooking. Angela's Blog lists legitimate work from home opportunities go to http://findworkfromhome.com.

Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization: Any difference?

By Mikhail Tuknov

For many casual internet users, the terms SEM and SEO rarely enter their minds when they are busy jumping from one website to another. However, these terms establish much of what comes out on the results page whenever we type a word in the search tab of any accessible search engine. These terms are also responsible for all those advertisements and pop-ups that link us to even more websites, whether they connect to our original search or not. So just what are SEM and SEO?

In the simplest way possible, SEM and SEO are tools which website creators, especially those who are promoting and selling a certain service or product, use to gain a lot of exposure and a better ranking for their website. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, the simplicity ends there.

To make it a tad bit complex, SEM and SEO are not the same.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM), deals with how a website markets to gain exposure in the different search engines available on the internet. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), deals with how the web creators develop and redevelop the content, quality, and structure of their entire websites. When an internet user types in a particular word in the search tab, their websites have a better chance of appearing on the first few search engine results pages (SERPS).

To make it even more complex, although the functions of SEM and SEO seem different, they are more effective when used together. Since the main function of SEM is to gain further exposure for a website, the common means for attraction are more online advertisements, blogs, internet articles, partner and sponsored websites, and anything that can catch the eye of the internet user.

SEM also makes use of PPC (pay-per-click), and paid inclusion to push a website�s visibility. Lastly, it is also an important process in SEM to submit the name and URL of a website to different search engines and web directories, if only to inform them of the website�s existence. This is carried out to ensure the popularity of a website.

So how does SEO come together with SEM? Despite having all the advertisements provided by SEM, truly the SEO allows the internet user to easily and conveniently find what he is looking for. Since the function of SEO is to gain a better ranking in the SERPS, the web creator has to constantly optimize his website in order to cater to the needs of the internet user; making it easier for spiders or web crawlers to judge whether the website�s content is relevant to the words being searched. Optimization is not a simple and easy task. It involves having to restructure the website regularly, (by editing the html code and meta tags, changing content, reorganizing the site map, developing an easier navigational structure, etc.), to adapt to the rapidly changing demands of the internet user. Still, when done properly, not only does SEO help a website become more useful and therefore, more often visited by the internet user, it also helps gain more exposure since it increases the website�s chances of gaining a better rank in the SERPS.

Both SEM and SEO success rely heavily on the words or context which Internet user�s type in when they search for something on the internet. Take PPC under SEM, for example. PPC is an ad that is triggered by a particular word or context used by an internet user. Once a particular word or context is searched, a corresponding PPC ad for a website comes out. SEO works in the same way. The web creator inputs a particular Meta tag (or keyword) in his html that he believes many internet users will use when searching for information; information, which the web creator�s website may contain.

Although all of these processes involving SEM and SEO are tedious and time-consuming, it all boils down to knowing and serving the target audience. A web creator must be discerning enough to know what the internet users need and want, and at the same time, he must have the real passion to inform and provide the internet users with the right service and product.

Mikhail Tuknov, search engine optimization specialist and a founder of Infatex (Search Engine Marketing Company). With an extensive background in Internet marketing, Mikhail Tuknov offers SEO, PPC, SEM services. http://www.infatex.com/

3 Steps To Effectively Increase Your Marketing Response

(c) Copyright by Eva Browne-Paterson

It's well known that Internet marketers are in the business of marketing. To become successful in business, it's crucial to actively promote your business to gain new customers. Let's face it... No promotion, no new customers. It's as simple as that.

If you've ever spent money on advertising before, you will know that it can be a costly process. Whether the cost is measured in time, effort, money or a mixture of all three - the one thing that counts the most is the results. A lack of results from a marketing campaign can be a real disappointment.

More often than not, it is a case of hit-and-miss which leads to frustration and a wasted advertising budget.

This article will explain three steps that you can take to gauge how effective your marketing campaigns are and to rapidly improve the response rates of future campaigns. It also brings to light some relatively unknown tactics that some advertising companies are employing to rip-off their customers. I hope you're not one of those customers... But you might have been already without even realising it.

Step 1: T&T

You may or may not work out a proper campaign for your promotions, but let me make a suggestion to you if I may? You really should be Tracking and Testing. If you don't know how responsive a particular ad is, how can you possibly gauge the ad's effectiveness? Not by guessing, that's for sure! It is essential that you T&T because this keeps you in control of your earnings.

If your campaigns aren't creating the desired outcome - signups, sales, opt-ins, etc., something needs to be changed. By T&T, you can make changes, retest and gauge the results to repeat the process until you do generate the necessary effect and, therefore, increase your profits.

Step 2: Tweaking

What areas need looking at? Here is a short list of questions you can ask yourself. The answer to these questions should be "Yes". If the answer is "No," then simply tweak the item and T&T to produce a better response.

Ad Copy:

Does it have an eye-catching headline? Is it well written with the correct grammar and punctuation? Have you edited it over and over to create what you'd consider a perfect advertisement? Does it use hypnotic words and phrases that grab the interest of the reader? Does it make the reader want to click through to your Web site while pulling out their credit card? If you wouldn�t respond to the ad yourself, a rewrite is a must.

Product Demand:

If you truly aim to make sales, your advertising needs to be put in front of the people who will want to purchase your product. Have you carried out or have access to market research data on the product you are offering? If it's a niche-target product, are you targeting the appropriate audience? Have you polled your list or web site visitors to find out what they really want? Feedback is precious and should be taken into serious consideration.

Sales Page:

Does your sales page load quickly? Does it look good to the naked eye without making you frown or close the site in pain? Does it have an eye-catching headline? Does it appeal to the reader's sensibilities and rouse their emotions? Have you used short paragraphs? Have you included bullet point lists? Have you
refined the copy over and over again to make it as sharp as possible? Have you made it so there are no unanswered questions for the customer to ask?

Order Page:

Have you included a guarantee that removes the risk taken by the customer? Have you provided several payment options, where applicable? Have you made the purchasing process as quick and simple as possible? Have you included your contact details?

Price:

If everything else appears to be set correctly, but you're still not receiving the response you need, consider revising the price and T&T. Use a split tester, if possible, to see which price receives the better response (and it's not always the cheaper price, surprisingly). 100 is a good number to use for split-testing. ie: If you're testing two pages, the first to receive 100 responses is the one to adopt.

Step 3: QA

Usually QA stands for Quality Assurance and it still does, but in this instance, it also means Quality Advertising. T&T and Tweaking can be an ongoing process that you continually carry out using free or paid advertising.

There are many forms of advertising available on the Internet. Free advertising methods are excellent for T&T because they can illustrate how well an ad pulls through an E-zine or solo ad. You can also gauge how effective your sales page is by click-thru statistics in traffic exchanges, etc. But, for now, let's concentrate on the effective, paid advertising methods. Why? Because paid advertising brings results... Well it should -- but it doesn't always!

It is imperative that you gauge the effectiveness of the advertising vehicle that you are utilizing through T&T. If you don't, you could be throwing your hard-earned dollars straight down the drain.

If you have paid for an advertising campaign through a company and the results are less than you hoped for, you need to look into why the results were dismal. How do you do that? It certainly pays to ask questions and dig deeper to see exactly how your advertisement is being delivered.

In fact, I can save you some time and really open your eyes to some marketing methods that you probably didn't even know existed! These are methods that are being used quite frequently by some online companies who provide traffic and advertising services.

You really need to know about them now so you don't fall into that trap. Most of us have already and didn't even know it, until now...

If you utilise the 3 steps I've described above, you'll discover that your hard work really does pay off. Increased profits can indeed be yours with the right work ethic and the right quality advertising vehicle.

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About the Author: Eva Browne-Paterson lives in Australia and has been marketing online for over 12 years. She has been publishing EvieB's New-Z since 2001 at EvieB.com, is the CEO of INSTAPAY.net and a partner in the JVMoneyMakers.com group.

Looking for Quality Advertising? EQQU Ads are a NEW, Highly Targeted & Responsive form of advertising. Hundreds of thousands of members will see your ads beneath their E-mail display and view your web site. Split campaigns & Full statistics provided.

Successful Online Business: Possibilities

By Scott Lindsay

Building a successful online business is more than simply attempting to place a product on a webpage with the belief that visitors will be drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

If you spend a little time on the web, you will find many such sites with very little in the way of visual interest or compelling reason to explore the product any further. Many of these sites appear to have been created in the mid 90’s, with only marginal skill in website creation. That is not to say they receive no business, after all, their entire website is still up and running. However, if you turned away from the site quickly, chances are many others have too.

The idea of a successful website takes strategic thinking, planning, and execution. The development of an online marketplace requires research and marketing. You need to find a niche and learn to market to that niche. It may also be advisable to discover a niche that is actually of interest to online buyers.

You will likely need to learn certain online software applications and terms that allow further development of your site for easy navigation. The successful optimization of keywords and phrases allow your site to rank higher in the search engine results.

There will be security issues to address along with ezine options, RSS feeds, and the best use of autoresponders. A good website will also make use of affiliate programs for residual income and determine a course of action for a finely crafted website design.

As you roll out your website, you might want to include phased-in plans for video streaming as a means of demonstrating your product or services, or podcasting with experts in the field.

If all of this seems a little too much for you, please understand the reason I bring up so many different marketing tools is to spark the idea that there is as much that is a part of the development of an online business as there is in establishing a brick and mortar storefront.

It may seem easy – even tempting – to throw a site together, but without a plan the site is likely to perform on a mediocre level, at best.

Take the time to visit some of the more successful online stores. As you look through their webpages, you will gain some idea of the things that work on an e-commerce website. A well-defined purpose for your website will go far in determining the initial launch and success of your foray into web-based sales.

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.

Tips on losing weight

The perfect easy weight loss method has still to be discovered; surprisingly, there are methods that provide a high degree of success. Being overweight is the cause of many medical conditions which require long term attention but obesity also affects the way we see ourselves as well.

You must not forget that the success of any easy weight loss method will be as a result of the person using it as a correct attitude is paramount. Losing weight can be for health reasons, self image reasons or both but whatever the reason, you must be sure that you're doing it for your benefit and not another person.

Effective weight loss programs require you take certain facts into consideration; for instance, the time you eat during the day as well as what it is you eat, how often and whether you exercise at all. Many people have unrealistic expectations about how much weight they should lose every month but weight loss should not be rapid which can have a serious impact on your health.

To lose weight easily often means losing it slowly; for instance, one pound per week is only 500 calories a day and if some exercise and dieting is combined this can be achieved without any health implications. Too many people are consuming large amounts of unhealthy food because they enjoy eating but there is no need to force-feed yourself just because you enjoy particular foodstuffs.

Another more subtle factor is the emotional reaction to stress and problems as many people simply start eating when they feel insecure or depressed. These poor eating habits are causing serious concerns within the medical community as the number of people contracting type 2 diabetes increases which is usually as a result of obesity, not too mention cancer and heart conditions. One of the first steps in easy weight loss is assessing why the person is actually eating the amount they do as this can be the key to long term weight management.

However, current research is showing that people that do not take weight loss programs too seriously are more likely to have success. Being positive is one of the most important aspects in life as it can help us achieve things we did not believe possible. Together with the loss of extra pounds comes a boost in energy and vitality as well as a sense of well being that is directly related to an improving self-esteem.

Losing excess pounds using an easy weight loss program is as much about changing your mental attitude as it is your life style habits by reducing the amount you eat. http://www.icontentrobot.com?rid=737

Increasing Website Traffic

Internet. Business. Profit. To fully integrate all of these words into a successful merging you will need another word--Traffic. Every article you will find about making your site or company successful will always include the importance of increasing website traffic.

So, we all know that in the core of it all, traffic is the most essential thing to a successful internet based business company. Aside from ensuring that you have a great product to sell, and you have your company’s internal organization well taken care of; it would be time to get to the nitty gritty of things, increasing website traffic.

If you already have a website and you are thinking that you're not getting the traffic that you're supposed to be getting, then its time to sharpen your skills. If you are contending in this very competitive business, you should always be a step ahead of your competition, increasing website traffic flow should have been done starting yesterday.

Timing is essential, that’s an old adage known to everyone. But with increasing website traffic, you should always be on your toes and be a day ahead of everyone. Never think of today and tomorrow as a starting point for making your website traffic laden, it should always have been yesterday.

To help you out in generating more traffic for your site, here are seven surefire ways to increase website traffic starting from yesterday.

1) Invest in good advertising with search engines

Google’s Adwords and Yahoo’s Search provide great advertising schemes that are very popular and assure great traffic. Although this a surefire way to increase website traffic, it will cost some money. While some would shy away from spending money to increase website traffic, it is imperative in this case to do so because Google's Adwords and Yahoo Search are the top surefire ways to increase your traffic.

You can see for yourself the success these search engine advertising methods have reaped rewards for so many companies. Lots of sites feature these advertising systems and many have signed on to reap the benefits. Do not be left behind. Using Google and Yahoo’s advertising is worth every penny.

2) Exchange or Trade Links with other websites

When exchanging links with other websites, both of you will benefit from the efforts both of you do to enhance your site's traffic. When one site features another sites link, they could provide one another with the traffic one site generates. The efforts are doubly beneficial because it would seem like both of you are working to generate more traffic. The more links traded with more sites the more traffic can be expected.

3) Use Viral Marketing

Viral marketing allows you to spread the word about your company and product without any costs or with low costs only. This is a marketing method that can be quite sneaky; you can attach your company’s name, product or link to a certain media such as a funny video, entertaining game, an interesting article or a gossip or buzz. With this method, people get infected with the creativity and entertainment of the medium and they will pass it on to many people.

4) Search and use proper keywords or keyword phrases for your websites content.

Search engines look for certain keywords that they would show in their results page. In doing so, having the right keyword and keyword phrase is a big requirement in ranking high in search engine results. You could write your own content or you could hire someone to do it for you.

5) Write Articles that can increase website traffic.

Submit articles to sites that would contain the same subject that your site deals in. If you sell car parts write press releases and articles about cars and car parts. Attach your site's description and services at the end of the article as well as the link back to your website.

6) Join forums and form online communities

Capture a market and show your expertise and credibility. When you have a good foundation for your site, people will trust you and your site and will pass it on to many people they know and trust. Traffic will certainly increase because they know that you can provide what they need.

7) Lastly, Offer newsletters.

If many people know what you are about and your existence is shared with many others, you will find loyal traffic that can provide you with more traffic by recommendation. If you arouse the curiosity of your customers they would be pushed to help you increase website traffic.

Mark A. Shrago enjoys showing people how to Increase Website Traffic.
To learn more visit:
http://www.AllYouWantTraffic.com
http://allyouwanttraffic.blogspot.com/

Internet Marketing Tips - Handling Forum Spam

by Steven Wagenheim

One of the things that many Internet marketers do is run forums. Let's face it, getting a nice active forum going can be the key to making a nice income online. The problem with running your own forum, unfortunately, is that you're going to have to deal with forum spam. It's a big pain in the backside, trust me on this. So how do you deal with it? This article is going to give you a few no-nonsense methods to deal with forum spam.

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

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

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

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

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

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

To YOUR success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of busting your behind for peanuts online? Go to my web site and find out how I earn a monthly income that exceeds 5 figures and how I can help YOU do the same. Get your free report at http://www.mysecretarticles.com/report.html.

Instant Success

by Ward Tipton

Instant Noodles are probably one of the greatest inventions of all times. The strange thing is that they really are not instant and really are not a new invention. They are just the same old noodles in a new package and marketed a little differently.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ward Tipton has been writing SEO and SEM materials for over three years now and has recently become involved in providing new and unmatched materials by an actual Work Team comprised of professional writers, technicians, engineers, editors, Internet Marketers and a gathering of talent heretofore unmatched in the world of Internet Marketing. Visit Ward at http://wardtipton.com.

A Plan to Launch Your Product In 4 Simple Steps

By Melvin Perry

If you look at the online market today, you will be able to observe that there is major competition online. This major competition has motivated internet companies to continue coming out with new and innovative products in order to have an edge on the competition. This is the main reason of their sustained success amongst a competitive market. That is why having a product launch plan is very important for online success. Here are four easy ways to get started with a successful product launch plan.

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

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

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

Melvin Perry is an internet entrepreneur that specializes in building large email lists within a matter of weeks. He currently teaches marketers via free step by step videos how to earn thousands monthly through the list-building model via free step-by-step videos. You can snatch these videos at no cost by visiting http://www.list-building-videos.com FREE Internet Marketing Videos.