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3 Steps To Track Your Product Buyers - Find Out What They Do On Your Website

by Egidijus Andreika

When you are developing or designing a website you have to imagine to a certain extent how it will be used and what will attract the right kind of visitors to this site. Once the site is up and running the best way to test your theories or to find out where you can make improvements is to have hard data that you can analyse.

There are various ways of gathering information on people who visit your site. You can ask for personal information if the user wants to register but there is no guarantee that the information will be correct and not every visitor will register if they are not required to. The best way to get a definitive and accurate set of data is through visitor tracking. Each visitor to your site, however, has a web log that can provide very specific and relatively accurate information on everyone that lands on any page of a site.

Web tracking is non invasive since there is no personal information available through the web log. A java script is attached to each page that you want to track and when a visitor opens that page it is used to collect the information from their browser. Most users� internet preferences will allow this and also allow a cookie to be stored so that they have a unique tracking history. Statistical analysis can then be done either on individual behaviour or behaviours can be grouped into certain actions.

The kinds of information that are usually available from a web log are:

� Geographic location or domain
� How the site was reached; from which directory or site they linked through
� Date, time and duration of visit and how often unique visitors returned
� Which page they landed on first and how they navigated from there
� Keywords used in directory searches and site searches
� The users browser and operating system
� Which visitor made a purchase
� At what point did those who initiated a purchase give up before the sale was completed

Other information is available such as the presence of click robots or HTTP errors and the data gather can be interpreted using web log analysis software. This will generate either a tabled list or graphic information that can be used for the following:

� Understanding where your visitors are from and what markets you can accommodate more efficiently
� Establishing peak visiting hours and capacity levels
� Seeing which content and features receive the most attention and what is ignored

This kind of information can also be critical in making improvements that will make a site easier to use, more relevant and will drive traffic to and through the most relevant pages. It will show you clearly:

� What keywords are most effective
� Where improvements can be made to the functionality and user-friendliness of the site in order to increase sales
� Which marketing campaigns and directories deliver the best results

Apart from discovering which links are the most valuable to your business the nature of the sites which feed into yours can also give you a lot of other information on your visitors such as their interests and you can even abstract a certain amount of personal information from the other sights that they visit.

Visitor and sales tracking has become an integral part of CRM (customer relations management and helps to determine ROI (return on investment). It can also be used to supplement other forms of interactive information-gathering such as blog pages. Although there is no way to link the statistics to information gathered on user forums you can get an idea of how and when they are being used or whether they are being underutilised. Indirectly it can also be used to develop social media marketing.

Affiliate sales tracking software has a slightly different objective and creates more of a two-way relationship between affiliates and traders. A different kind of software is required but there are some similarities to ordinary sales tracking. The main difference is that you are not tracking visitors but analysing the performance of other sites. There are also more functional tools that can be used such as automatically generated e-mails, sales reports and commissions.

If you have a website from which you conduct or facilitate your business activities, the best way to ensure the success of your business is to ensure that your website does not hinder the function of your business in any way. As the web is a constantly evolving environment, it is almost ensured that no site will be created perfectly or in a way that will not need to be changed over time. Without viable information on how your current model is operating you have very little idea of where you can make improvements. In this regard it makes no sense to run any website for a profit if you do not intend to track sales and visitors.

Egidijus Andreika is a creator of Click2Sell Affiliate Marketing Program Network. Click2Sell provides all info on visitors, sales and conversions rates that you and your affiliates generate by different search engines, websites, PPC campaigns. Find out which your products convert the best, which affiliates bring you the highest quality traffic. Visit Affiliate Marketing Program Network.

Are You a 'Yes-Dog'?

by Suzanne Falter-Barns
www.howmuchjoy.com

There was once a time (and there still is, to a certain degree) when I would say 'Yes' to every opportunity, request, suggestion, good idea, and even mediocre idea that came my way. And let me tell you, it was exhausting.

It was like I had this automatic, knee-jerk reaction to accommodate any suggestion that came my way -- as if it were my karmic duty. I call this auto-response being a 'yes-dog'. Perhaps you know the feeling.

When you're a yes-dog, your entire being is all about making other people happy; you knock yourself out doing it. No task is too small -- you figure you've always got room in your psyche, your schedule or your soul to squeeze in one more thing that someone wants to fit in. God forbid you should say no -- for then that someone would be unhappy. Which would be unthinkable.

Like a lot of creative people, I'm naturally empathetic -- so I could literally feel other people's pain � an experience I simply wanted to avoid as much as possible. For many years, I thought it was up to me to please the rest of the world. I literally thought it was my job to be a 'yes-dog'.

These days, I'm taking a much more circumspect view. I've come to the realization that I simply can't live my soul purpose AND make the rest of the world happy all the time.

And I realize that being a yes-dog doesn't always make the rest of the world happy -- even in my little corner. The more well-known I get, and the wider my reach, the more I can see it. There is always someone, somewhere, who has a problem with what I'm doing. And therein lay the breakthrough.

I'm no longer uncomfortable with other people's pain. I mean, it's not like I relish it; but I don't run to avoid it. I've come to realize we all have a path, and a learning process we're going through. This means my entire job is nothing more than to be authentic, listen to my gut, and act accordingly. Not only will I not make everyone happy -- I can't!

If someone is upset by this, it's no longer a big problem. Rather, it's simply the way their path is rubbing up against my path; it's part of life, growth, and karma. So I have nothing to fear.

My friend Joan Sotkin has a saying, 'I don't always have to be the one who's uncomfortable here'. Amen! Since I've given up being a yes-dog, and let go of the need to be 'the one who's always uncomfortable', great things have begun to stream my way. My reach, my income, my productivity and my impact in the world
have gone up in quantum leaps.

Best of all, I've relaxed as I go about my business. 'No' is not scary -- it's empowering. And, ironically enough, the world has not turned on me in anger and resentment -- it's actually stepped right up to my door and truly embraced what I'm doing.

Are you a yes-dog? Take my handy quiz below to assess where you are. And may I suggest a step away from that easy little word, to one that can be equally empowering: "No".

The Are You a 'Yes-Dog'? Questionnaire

1. Do you find it hard to say no to your children, even when they're making unreasonable demands.
a) Always
b) Occasionally
c) Rarely
d) Never

2. Do you long to be able to tell your boss exactly what you think � but you just can't?
a) Always
b) Occasionally
c) Rarely
d) Never

3. Do you find it impossible to deny yourself 'forbidden' pleasures -- i.e. Ben & Jerry's ice cream when you're dieting -- even if you've made a decision not to indulge?
a) Always
b) Occasionally
c) Rarely
d) Never

4. Do your friends tell you that you're a pushover, and advise you to stand firm?
a) Always
b) Occasionally
c) Rarely
d) Never

5. Do you get a queasy feeling in your gut when someone asks you to do something that's just not a good fit for you � and then inevitably cave in despite your feelings?
a) Always
b) Occasionally
c) Rarely
d) Never

6. Are you uncomfortable asking for more m�ney or more responsibility around your work?
a) Always
b) Occasionally
c) Rarely
d) Never

7. Are you always the person who volunteers even when you don't want to?
a) Always
b) Occasionally
c) Rarely
d) Never

8. Are there things you long to do in life, but you simply can't find the time or the courage to get to them?
a) Always
b) Occasionally
c) Rarely
d) Never

Rate your answers:
For every a) give yourself 10 points. For every b) give yourself 7 points. For every c) give yourself 4 points. For every d) give
yourself 1 point.

If your score is 60-80, you're probably saying 'Yes' WAY more often than you want to. Consider getting some coaching on how to say no from a good friend, life coach or partner.

If your score is 40-60, your ability to say 'No' willingly is spotty � try pausing and counting silently to five before you answer.

If your score is 20-40, you've got most situations pretty well in hand. Try saying 'No' just a little more often and see what happens.

If your score is 0-20, you're doing great! Your ability to monitor when to say 'Yes' and when to say 'No' is truly inspiring.

�2005 Suzanne Falter-Barns LLC.

For information on how to find the time, energy, money to live your purpose in life, ch�ck out Suzanne's fr�e ezine, The Joy Letter. Sign up at http://www.howmuchjoy.com/joyletter.html and receive our valuable report, 35 Guaranteed Time Savers. And get a daily blast of joyful tips from the Blast o' Joy blog at http://selfhelpsalon.typepad.com/blast_o_joy/.

15 Little Known Ways To Make More Money With eBooks

by Eva Browne-Paterson - www.evieb.com

1. Allow other e-zine publishers or web site owners to republish small nuggets or excerpts of information from your E-book with your byline or ad included.

2. Make extra profits from selling monthly updates of your E-book. You could also back-end sell the extra never released chapters of your E-book.

3. Give away a free E-book and then give people an option of buying the paid version of the E-book. Also let others give away the free version of your E-book.

4. Divide your E-book content into reports then give people the option of just purchasing the info they want.

5. Purchase reprint rights to other people's E-books and combine them with yours in a large package deal or private E-book library web site.

6. Change the benefits on your E-book ad copy into links. When people click on it take them right to the order page. It'll give them a urge to buy your E-book.

7. Charge people a cheap price to read half of your E-book. If they like it, they can pay full price to read the other half.

8. Offer freebies that are related to the E-book you're selling. It could be free monthly E-book updates, a free E-zine, free consulting, etc.

9. Show your prospects a sample page out of your E-book. Just black out some of the important info. This will make your prospects curious to buy.

10. Provide a low and high priced version of your E-book. Show benefits of each version side by side. People usually spend a little more for extra info.

11. Offer the reprint rights to your E-book. You can sell the rights with the regular purchase price or as a separate higher price.

12. Make your E-book available for offline people. You could turn it into a print book, report, video, audio book, print newsletter, etc.

13. Redesign your E-book for specific niches. You can create multiple profits with very little work. Example: Turn a business E-book into a craft business E-book.

14. Give your prospects discount coupons on other products when they purchase your E-book. It could be your products or others that you made deals with.

15. Divide your E-book into online newsletter issues. You could charge a recurring monthly subscription for people to view each issue.

Eva Browne-Paterson is a popular information publisher and has recently created an amazing system for increasing your free time AND profits in under 7 days at: http://tinyurl.com/akoeq.

Home Business Ideas - The Secret to Becoming Wealthy

By Arindam C

It is curious that while we all pursue wealth, most of us are unable to define what wealth actually is. If you are thinking that wealth is all about how much you earn each month, you could not be further from the truth. If you are earning a million dollars and spending it all by the next week without saving anything, you are not getting any wealthier than you already are! Wealth is all about how much money you accumulate over a period, not how much you earn and spend.

Again, some people think that those who are wealthy are either lucky or very intelligent people. If you think so, then you are dead wrong! Wealth has nothing to do with luck or intelligence. More often than not, people become wealthy by leading a life of self-discipline, perseverance, planning, and hard work. If you do not believe me, then go and ask the wealthy people and see what they tell you. Most of them will say the same thing to you as I am saying,

The purpose of this article is to show you how you too can be wealthy like others. Simply read my article through and through to find out the truth.

Do you know what the biggest common secret is of all these wealthy people? All of them understood the meaning and essence of financial freedom and left their dead-end jobs to build their own businesses.

These people knew that they would never be able to succeed if they continue to work for their boss. No matter what kind of job you presently are in and how much you earn for that, the fact remains that working for someone else makes you his/her slave. No matter how nice and generous your boss is, you will never be successful if you work inside your boss's dream.

What must you do, then? You must repeat what your boss has done. You must build your own dream. Only in that way will you be able to become as successful as your boss.

In short, if you really desire to be wealthy, you must build your own business. Unless you spend each day focused towards building your business and quitting your job, you will never be able to quit your job and become wealthy.

So how can you build your own dream business?

You can do that in many ways. For example, you can invest money in real estate or purchase stocks. While these types of businesses need money, there is an easier way to make money without investing thousands of dollars. Remember, we are in the twenty-first century, when Internet has developed rapidly; it has developed so much to enable anyone and everyone to start a business from home. All you need is a computer and an internet connection.

How do you build your home business? You can build a home business by building an online empire, which revolves around your passion. As humans, all of us have passions. Turn your passions into business. There is nothing like earning from doing something you already love. One word of caution though; if you are just starting your home business, do not leave your old job just yet. Work each day towards building your home business. Then when you become successful in your home business and begin to earn $1000-2000 or more per month, you can quit your job and work full time in your home business, and then you can expand your business as much as you like.

In this way, you will achieve financial freedom, and be a much better and happier person than you are now. My suggestion is that you take this idea seriously. There is nothing like becoming free from financial worries. Your life and happiness depends on it.

If you are unable to find a suitable business opportunity for yourself, we can make your task easier. If you do not know, where and how you can find legitimate and lucrative home business opportunities; then simply visit our website.

Arindam is a home business expert. For more such Home Business tips please join his free e-course at:
http://jobs4all.biz

MySpace A Space for (Business-) Friends?

By Christian Kameir

There is no question that MySpace can be a great method to promote a business. MySpace is intended to be a non-commercial website by nature, but there is a difference between blatant commercialization, mentioning a product or service you offer, and providing a link as a useful resource to visitors of your website. This article will look at the opportunities to promote a business on MySpace, provide information on determining whether your method of business promotion is permitted on MySpace, and information on how to promote your business without being accused of spamming MySpace.

Review the Terms of Service Carefully

The terms of service provided by MySpace can supply the greatest insight into whether or not there are ways to promote your business through MySpace. Members of MySpace are asked to review the terms of service before becoming a member. Each member should carefully read through this entire agreement to come to a better understanding of which types of activities are allowed on MySpace as well as which types of activities are prohibited.

One of the stipulations of MySpace reads as follows, �Non-commercial Use by Members. The MySpace Services are for the personal use of Members only and may not be used in connection with any commercial endeavors except those that are specifically endorsed or approved by http://MySpace.com. Illegal and/or unauthorized use of the MySpace Services, including collecting usernames and/or email addresses of Members by electronic or other means for the purpose of sending unsolicited email or unauthorized framing of or linking to the MySpace Website is prohibited. Commercial advertisements, affiliate links, and other forms of solicitation may be removed from Member profiles without notice and may result in termination of Membership privileges. Appropriate legal action will be taken for any illegal or unauthorized use of the MySpace Services.�

This section of the �terms of service' stipulates that MySpace is created for non-commercial use unless http://Myspace.com has approved the use of a member�s website for commercial purposes. Therefore, care should be taken when designing a MySpace website to ensure the website will not be deemed a commercial website by MySpace administrators.

When In Doubt, Ask Questions

Those who are unsure of whether or not their MySpace website, as they have designed it, will be considered a commercial website should consult with MySpace administrators. This step is not necessary unless the member is concerned their content will be perceived as being commercial. Reviewing the �terms of use� agreement can provide a great deal of information. Some users may still be concerned with the possibility their website will be penalized if the administrators deem it commercial in nature.

Contacting MySpace is a fairly simple process. Members can use the, �Contact MySpace� link from the http://MySpace.com homepage. The contact page enables members to select a subject, a subtopic, and submit this information. Once this is done, MySpace provides some preliminary information, which may be relevant. If this information is not useful to the member, they can email a detailed request to MySpace.

Avoid Spamming at All Costs

If you determine there is an opportunity for you to promote your business through MySpace, care should be taken to ensure the promotion does not cross the line into spam. Spamming is taken very seriously by the MySpace administrators and it may result in links or content being deleted or the privileges of membership may be revoked when a member is found to be guilty of spamming.

Links to your ecommerce website, integrated into your MySpace website, is not considered spamming. Depending on how it is used, it may not even be considered advertising, and therefore prohibited, by MySpace administrators. However, visiting other MySpace websites and placing a link to your ecommerce website on each website you visit would be considered spam. These individuals may or may not be interested in the website you provide. If they are interested sending these links to numerous websites unsolicited, it is often considered to be spam.

Christian Kameir is CEO of the San Diego's Internet marketing company Colizer Inc. Colizer focuses on online success for small and medium size businesses that were typically using the yellow pages for advertising.

http://www.colizer.com

A Priceless Resource for the Internet Marketer

By Brad Johnson

The hardest part nowadays is that someone who is in the field of Internet Marketing really struggles to devise 'the perfect website', to attract 'the perfect customers', and develop the 'perfect product'. You do this in order to construct 'the perfect amount of exposure', develop a list, put together 'the perfect email,; and hit the send button. Now watch the magic happen as your account populates with income. It is a wonderful dream, is it not? If only it were a possibility for every Internet Marketer, newbie, or veteran to get the attention needed...Well now you can.

PC-Tutorials.com is a new online resource website designed specifically for the Internet Marketer. Through the site, anyone can submit their promotional product, watch free video tutorials, and look at a collection of articles pertaining to the one thing they want to know more about: Internet Marketing.

Those who are just starting to cut their teeth into the business of Internet Marketing will be impressed to see the help this website generates for them: It gives them exposure to their own website, products, and articles for absolutely no cost.

Even the veterans who have been in the game a long time have a chance to increase their exposure even further as PC-Tutorials.com reaches out to a targeted audience that are visiting that very site to see their products, to view their articles, to interact with the pros. PC-Tutorials.com is literally a haven for the Internet Marketer.

At last, there is no more time wasted or money spent on anyone trying to get his or her site or product noticed. It can all be merged into a site solely created to helping others get the sales, get the leads, and get the results to the offer they want to share with the world.

It is not about membership, fees, or commitments. PC-Tutorials.com is a come as you go environment that welcomes you while your there and encourages you to explore. So if you're an Internet Marketer and want that extra kick to getting some income flowing in your bank account, or you just want to find an online resource to help get you noticed, look no further as PC-Tutorials.com is created solely for YOU.

Brad Johnson is the founder of PC-Tutorials.com and has over five years experience as an Internet Marketer and Information Technology specialist. See the unveiling of this new Internet Marketing Information Technology website at http://www.pc-tutorials.com.

Benefits of Network Marketing

Everyone wants to be successful in their own way, and often that way means being successful in business. Sadly, too many end up consigned to working in a cubicle and dreaming of forgotten glory.
This no longer has to be the case. Now, through the benefits of network marketing, an individual can start their own internet business and begin living the profitable future that they had always dreamed of.

When you decide to take the future in your hands and begin network marketing, you are stepping into a world of fast paced business and high profits.

Many people have found the benefits of networking marketing for themselves and have found themselves earning over $50,000, to as much as $100,000 per month based on step-by-step systems setup by millionaires who have benefited from the network marketing concept themselves.

When you decide to begin network marketing, you will gain access to over 50 of the worlds ‘ most famous and successful business minds on Earth, including such luminaries as Brian Tracy, Dennis Waitley and Les Brown. You will learn how one individual went from living in their car eight years ago, to making $5 million in sales in the past few years alone.

Everyone wants to master their own financial future and fire their boss, and joining the Success University program can help you on that path. The program and courses will teach you everything you need to know to get on the fast track to success. Afterwards, all that remains is your desire and commitment to making the most of your future and taking advantage of the opportunities the newsletter, CDs’ and courses will present to you.

The business world is a tough one. It is dog-eat-dog out there and many do not survive. However, when you use the Success University program, you are gaining knowledge from those people who have succeeded and prospered, and they are now passing that knowledge onto you so you can begin learning how to be successful.

The world of business is large and profitable. Millions of people have made their fortunes by playing the business world right, and now they are ready to spread that knowledge onto you. They will be able to offer you the tips and suggestions that turned them into millionaires through the Success University courses, which will come to your house and computer screen full of ideas, tips and tricks from some of the leading businessmen and women on the planet.

You can go from working in a cubicle to having a six-figure income in no time flat. All it takes is your desire to succeed. Check out the Success University Program today!

For a small investment, you could take control of your financial future and get yourself on course to becoming a millionaire. Now, doesn’t that beat working for a boss and sitting in a cubicle all day long?
Success is yours for the taking, the last key to the puzzle lies in Success University’s courses and programs available for you today.

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

Social Bookmarking for Internet Marketers

By Mike Gates

Social bookmarking is one of the hottest Web 2.0 online trends. The concept of social bookmarking is about 10 years old, but due to its recent explosive growth, it has just now become one of the new internet "buzz words". It is important for internet marketers to understand social bookmarking; how it can help them promote their products and services.

So, what is social bookmarking? What is the purpose of social bookmarking's? Why is social bookmarking important to internet marketers? What is Social Bookmarking? You are probably already familiar with bookmarking web sites, sites that you want to visit again, using your Internet Explorer or Firefox web browser. The bookmarks you create to these sites are for your personal use and are stored on your computer.

Social Bookmarking is the next step in bookmarking, where you and others can share bookmarks to web sites you think may be of interest to others. This is done via Social Bookmarking services. After you have signed up for the Social Bookmarking service, you will be allowed to register a website, site description and tags (keywords) with the service - this is a bookmark. You will also be allowed to share this bookmark, or you can keep it private (depending on the service). This information is stored by the Social Bookmarking service, and is not stored on your computer.

What is Social Bookmarking's Purpose? There are really two major purposes behind social bookmarking.

1. The main purpose of social bookmarking is to have people with like interests bookmark sites they think would be useful, or interesting, to others who have the same interests. For example, I love fly-fishing. Let us say I find a site that contains some great custom-built fly fishing rods for an inexpensive price. I would bookmark that site with one of several possible bookmarking services. I would give the site I am bookmarking a title, a description and tags (keywords) related to inexpensive custom built fly fishing rods. I would make sure the bookmark is set to public so others could find it, and would then have created a social bookmark.

Now when people search the social bookmarking service, using the tag words used to define the bookmarked sites, they are presented with a list of related sites. Using our fly-fishing example above. When someone searches for "fly fishing rods" they would be given a list of related sites, including the custom fly fishing rod site we bookmarked. Most bookmarking services also have a rating system so the most popular sites are at the top of the list.

2. Another great benefit of social bookmarking is, once you have social bookmarked your favorite sites, you can easily find those bookmarked sites from any computer connected to the internet. You simply log into the online social bookmarking service and find the website you bookmarked. This can be very helpful if you have many websites you like to monitor, when you are away from home and you are not at your primary computer.

Why is social bookmarking important to internet marketers? Social bookmarking sites are very popular sites that get a lot of traffic. They have high Google page rankings and are visited often by search engines. Submitting your site to the social bookmarking services increases the chance your site will be crawled by the search engines. I have seen my sites crawled by Google only one day after registering my site to social bookmarking services.

Submitting to social bookmarking services is also a great way to get one way, incoming, high page rank links coming to your website, which helps increase your page rank.

However, most importantly, if your website is seen as having value to a group of people, your bookmark can be rated highly and can create a ton of very targeted traffic to your website.

Social bookmarking is growing at a phenomenal rate and if you want to market on the internet Feature Articles, you need to add social bookmarking to your set of internet marketing tools.

Mike Gates is a home business entrepreneur, specializing in creating multiple income streams using information products, affiliate programs and network marketing. Mike Gates is the author of the popular affiliate marketing tips guide, AffiliatePayDay (http://www.affiliatepayday.com/). Mike teaches affiliate marketers how to earn residual monthly income from residual affiliate programs.

The Crazy Numbers Behind Pop-Under Ads

by Terry Detty

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Copywriting Secrets - How to Write Killer Website Copy

By Alex Cleanthous

I always get the same question when it comes to website design...

"Is website copy really that important?"

Well, if you are interested in actually making a profit from anything you do online, it is CRITICAL that you have killer website copy!

Now I know what you are probably thinking...

What is killer website copy?

Writing killer website copy simply means using words on your website that are SO GOOD that anyone who is interested in what you are selling is COMPELLED to do business with you... right now!

The best way to write copy for your website is to imagine you are right there with your prospect selling him / her on the benefits of doing business with your company over all others.

Here is a quick exercise...

Imagine you have a 'hot' lead that is ready to buy and is enquiring about what you are selling...

Imagine that you only have one chance to convince them that your offering is the best in the market...

What would you say?

How would you say it?

What would you have to say to convince somebody to buy from you right here, right now?

Write down the answers to the above questions. This is your sales presentation.

Now that you have the answers to the above questions, you need to answer the objections as well. Remember, you are not actually there with them, but they will definitely have objections.

You only have one opportunity to get them to buy your offering. In addition, if you leave any objections unanswered, you risk losing them forever.

So what would the possible objections be? Write them down.

In addition, how would you answer them? Write down your answers.

Then combine your sales presentation with your objection handling and you have your core sales pitch.

Now it is time to rewrite your copy.

Go over the entire copy and rewrite it so it flows. In addition, when you are rewriting the copy the most important thing to remember is to...

KEEP IT CONVERSATIONAL!

Do not write as if you are a big institution (unless you are). You will get far greater results by writing as you talk.

Write as you are sitting right there with them 'talking' to them. Use stories, examples, sub-headings, bullets, and most importantly, a headline.

Usually, I recommend writing at least 50 to 100 different versions of a headline and then selecting the best headline from the list.

IMPORTANT...

The headline is the most important part of your website because it is the reason that most of your website visitors will continue to read your sales copy. Without a great headline, hardly anyone will read your website copy.

Alex Cleanthous runs a full service online marketing agency helping businesses generate profits from the Internet. For a free report on The 6 Critical Steps To Generating Profits Online visit http://www.webprofits.com.au..

The Basics Of Podcasting

by Madison Lockwood

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is this the ULTIMATE Affiliate Marketing Formula?

by Jonathan Moss

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lucrative List Building: The Squeeze Page

by William Perkins

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Basics Of Putting Video On Your Website

by Gary Ruplinger

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

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

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

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

What You’ll Need

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

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

Step 1 - Setting Up

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

Step 2 - Recording the video

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

Step 3 – Editing Your Video

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

Step 4 – Saving Your Video

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

Step 5 – Uploading Your Video

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

Step 6 – Publishing To Your Website

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

Viola.

You’ve just put your video online.

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

Myspace Design Features

by David Riewe

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

Adding or Changing the Background

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

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

Importing Images

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

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

Adding Music to the Website

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

Posting Quizzes on the Website

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

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

What Is RSS?

by Madison Lockwood

RSS is technology - a simple software program - that allows you to access web and blog content automatically. The acronym's most popular translation is "Really Simple Syndication. Once your browser or computer has an RSS reader on board, you can subscribe to any number of RSS "feeds." A feed is simply a way in which a reader may subscribe to website content - most commonly blogs or news sites. A news site, for example, may list their latest headlines or entire articles in their feed every time a new article is published. A blog would publish this feed as a series of recent posts.

Feeds are published by millions of publishers, from small individuals to large organizations like Newsweek. The value of a feed is that it brings the most current site content to you in a format that is easily scanned; further, you are spared the task of visiting each source site each day. This is typically done through the use of what is called an 'aggregator' or 'feed reader'.

Feed readers or RSS readers, are software programs that run on your computer (or PDA or phone); let you easily subscribe to feeds, and allow you to read through them efficiently. Some are relatively simple, showing the headline and summary. The fancier ones often work with (or in) your browser to make viewing the material look much like the source page. Once you have a reader on your computer, subscribing to a feed with is an easy click or drag from your browser. Sites that provide RSS feeds will usually have a button for that purpose.

There are several RSS feed formats as well as one with an entirely different methodology called Atom. Atom has become popular with some bloggers and blogging tools. Some aggregators can read both. The other acronyms you will see in "feedspeak" are XML, which stands for 'extensible markup language' and is the code standard for these simple text feeds. An 'OPML" file is a format for indexing hierarchical feed lists. If you dive into this web habit in a big way, your aggregator or reader may keep your subscription list in an OPML file.

An RSS feed is a great method for staying abreast of issues and topics that interest you. There are a number of feed "libraries," so to speak, from which you can learn what's out there in your areas of interest. Google has a built-in reader that makes the subscription process easy, as does Yahoo. Firefox has a downloadable extension for the purpose of aggregating RSS feeds, as well as a default ability to save RSS feeds as "live bookmarks" that update via the RSS feed. You can download a number of stand alone readers and aggregators; you can find them through a simple web search.

The whole RSS "movement" is a step towards utilizing the Internet more efficiently. The trick is to avoid overloading your email inbox with daily reports that you end up ignoring most of the time. For that purpose, there are sites like Feedster that will search millions of RSS feeds for articles that are relevant to your interests. Like any search tool, however, these services are hit and miss. They are still working off keywords and sometimes what they find is relevant, sometimes not. But if you want daily news broken into categories, it's great technology once you learn how to make it work for you.

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

What Is RSS?

Marketing with Content Hubs

by John Eberhard

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are currently over 700 content hubs on the Internet.

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

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

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

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

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

A Quiz: Test Your RSS Smarts

by Sharon Housley

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Question: What is a feed reader?

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

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

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

Question: What is a GUID?

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

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

Advanced Uses For Myspace

by David Riewe

MySpace members can generate a website quickly through templates. These templates enable users to create a generic website in very little time. For those who are just interested in making new friends or keeping in touch with old friends, this may be all the member needs. However, those who want to offer more on their website or those who simply want to create a more detailed website may require some more advanced knowledge to achieve the desired effects.

Adding Background Music in MySpace

The majority of websites on the Internet do not have background music. This may lead many novice MySpace members to believe adding music to the background is a difficult process but it really isn’t. In fact MySpace makes it incredibly simple for members to add music to their profiles. The steps to add music to a MySpace profile are as follows:

* Log into your MySpace account
* While logged in visit this web address: http://music.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music
* Listen to the music available and select a suitable song for your profile
* Click on the link that says “Add” below the song title
* The music is then automatically added to your profile

It is important to note that users can only add one song at a time to their profile. Clicking the “Add” link on a second song will result in the original song being replaced on the profile by the new song. Songs can be removed from a profile at any time by going to the “Edit profile” section of your account and entering the “Profile songs” subcategory. Here you have the option to remove your chosen song.

Adding Videos to MySpace

Adding videos to MySpace is also not as difficult as it seems. Even those with no HTML skills can add videos produced by other members or even their own videos to their MySpace profile. The steps to add a video to your MySpace profile are as follows:

* Log into your MySpace Account
* From your MySpace homepage, click on the “Add/Change Videos” link
* You are then taken to another webpage where you can either search through a database of previously uploaded videos or upload your own video
* To search the database, click on the search videos button and browse through the available videos
* After watching a video you can add the video to your profile in a couple of ways. First you can click on the “Add to my profile” button or you can copy the source code provided and paste this code into the desired location on your profile.

Alternately you can add your own videos to your MySpace profile by first uploading them to MySpace and then adding them to your profile. When uploading a video care should be taken to ensure the video does not violate the terms of service.

Creating Interactive Features on MySpace

Creating interactive features on MySpace is a bit more involved. Members can create features which allow visitor interaction but these features require more extensive HTML knowledge. The best way to acquire the information necessary to design these types of features is to research the subject of HTML code in books or on the Internet. However, if you find a feature on another MySpace website you would like to include in your own profile you can contact the member and ask them how to add this feature.

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

Benefits of Using Shopping Cart Software

by Michael Moshkovich

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Copyright (c) 2006 WebCart

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

Efficient Business Process Management � A Crucial Requirement for Ensuring Business Success

by Shannon Margolis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to Find a Fast Growth, High Profitability Business!

By Jim Hudson

Which company would you rather own: one in an niche industry or trade where more than half of business owners fail to make a profit, or one with 100, 1,000, even 10,000 percent growth over a period of three to five years, and stunning profitability?

Ask a group of unsuccessful business owners why their business ventures failed and most will probably cite “under capitalization.” There is often a more fundamental reason for business failure: selecting products, services and a business niche for which there aren’t enough paying customers! Of course such companies find themselves undercapitalized. In fact, one can never find enough capital to keep a company afloat if it has a shortage of customers!

Buggy whips aren’t the only product in low demand. Today, product life cycles are typically short, and getting shorter. Entering a market that has matured (and for which you don’t have a highly innovative plan to substantially increase demand, lower costs or differentiate your offering) likely will lead to financial disaster. So will entering a market that is over saturated with reasonably competent competitors.

Why do most business start-up books and business assistance specialists focus little, if any, attention on the most important question an entrepreneur will ever ask: What business should I be in?

In part, because most owners, often unwisely, have already made up their minds about the business they should start. Many entrepreneurs incorrectly assume this decision should be based largely on the specific technical skills, interests and experience they bring to the equation. Or they may know someone who claims, often inaccurately, that the business they own is a raving success, and simply decide to follow their lead. There are far better ways to plan for success.

An entrepreneur with 10 years experience working for someone else in the dog-breeding field may enjoy the work, have great technical skills, and love dogs. Before starting up a dog breeding enterprise, it is important to know that more than 65 percent of dog breeding companies are unprofitable. There are many popular small business categories that share a record of high risk and low profitability. Now, for an individual who is financially independent and for whom earning an income and a profit from their new venture is secondary, this may be fine. But few planning a new business enjoy that luxury.

Another reason most small business authors and specialists focus so little on business selection is that they know very little about the subject. Though vitally important, market research and analysis are topics most business authors, counselors, brokers and advisors have failed to study. Even some business planning consultants gloss over this key aspect of entrepreneurial success.

Our entrepreneur with the dog breeding background can use research to discover that there are many companies in the dog products and services arena that are experiencing dramatic growth. One sells dog biscuits containing only organically grown ingredients via category killer pet stores. A franchise operation teaches dog owners to manage their pets’ behavior, anxiety and frustration using behavioral science methods. A third company offers health insurance for dogs. Dogs bred and trained for explosives detection are also in high demand. Many of our dog breeder’s skills may readily transfer to an enterprise in such a niche area, where with thoughtful research and planning, opportunities for success should prove far better than those for a risk-plagued breeding business.

Does this mean no one ever succeeds in dog breeding? No, but entrepreneurs seeking high income and growth know which odds to defy and which to respect.

How do successful entrepreneurs brainstorm and research high demand, low competition, and highly profitable business ideas?

Many start by listing and analyzing their skills, interests and competencies. But they don’t hesitate to apply these broadly to business ideas they consider. For example, management experience is often transferable to many industries and niches.

Smart entrepreneurs also search for screaming success stories. More than a dozen business publications, including Inc. Magazine, Business Week, and Fortune, rank the fastest growing large and small companies in the U.S. Some target hot growth businesses in Canada, Europe, South America, Asia or other countries and regions. Deloitte Touche Tomatsu ranks companies with growth as high as 20,000 percent across the globe. Links to these high growth companies’ websites are typically listed, too. There are similar ranking sources for top selling products.

When an entrepreneur identifies a company growing as fast as 5,000 to 20,000 percent every three to five years, he or she considers how a new company might partner or piggyback on that white-hot growth. They may slice off a niche, or become a supplier, dealer, representative, distributor or reseller. They brainstorm ways in which their own new company can tap into this hyper growth. When I-Pods exploded on the scene a few years ago, smart entrepreneurs recognized the concurrent demand for accessories, and moved quickly to respond with highly profitable new products.

Wise business owners also study broad, societal trends, as well as trends within narrow industry and customer segments. They learn from futurists (management science consultants, about diverse global trends, risk management and emerging market) opportunities. Some of the best known futurists are Faith Popcorn, who wrote Clicking, Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock, and Patricia Dixon, whose website, globalchange.com, is read by thousands daily. Books, magazines (especially industry and trade publications) and websites offer a myriad of free and low cost on trends and the future.

After homing in on a handful of rapid growth industry niches, the entrepreneur’s market research efforts continue with searches for market analysis reports targeted to those niches (many are free and available from your public and university libraries). Successful owners also gather statistics on the product or service and its potential target customers. Much of this data is available from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the IRS, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Commerce Department and other federal agencies. Private sources offer data, too, usually more targeted, but at a price.

Available information includes national, state, county, city and other geographical area statistics on income, total wealth, gender, age, ethnicity, employment, number of companies in the same product or service category, number of stores per company, square footage and square footage costs per store, profitability of companies in the trade or industry, risk of failure, and benchmarking data (typical income and itemized expenses for companies with revenue comparable to your firm’s anticipated revenue), and more.

This information is recorded, logged, sifted and analyzed to determine the prospective niche’s and your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats before being incorporated into the owner’s business plan.

You’ll be amazed at how quickly you can build a wealth of information around one or two of your own favorite, highly profitable business ideas.

Before you race down to register your business name, complete a IRS form requesting an Employer Identification Number, or run to the store for office supplies, ask yourself this question: Am I satisfied that I’ve found a high demand, high profitability business, with costs I can control (or even cut below the industry benchmark), in a low competition niche that is suitable given a broad application of my skills, interests and experience?

Once you have a well-researched, positive answer to that question, you’ll be ready to realize your own screaming small business success story.

Jim Hudson began his research and writing career in 1969 as a Green Beret Magazine report-photographer in Vietnam. His firm, Blue Ocean Company, helps small business owners identify and exploit blue ocean markets (high demand, low cost, low competition, high profitability business opportunities), and develop their business and marketing plans. The Blue Ocean website, http://www.blueoceanstore.com lists over 50 links to sites that rank fastest growing companies, fastest growing new franchises, and top selling products. It also lists and links you to brainstorming tools, risk and profitability data, trends and futurist resources, free market research reports, and keyword niche-finding software. Most resources are free.

How to Pimp Your MySpace Profile

by George Levy

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

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

There are really two answers to this question...

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

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

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

Ok... having said that.

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

So... having cleared that up.

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

In order, you must:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. Customize your Contact table.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://www.myspacemastership.com

How to Start Video Blogging?

by Kanicen Nichathavan

Videoblogging is the next generation of posting ideas and products over the internet. Everybody knows about textblogging. Now they use videos for a better way of expression. This form of communication may entail a lot of resources, but it is all worth it. If pictures say a thousand words, videoblogging exceeds that by far.

A videoblog requires larger disk spaces on websites, a faster server, and a whole new set of programs to support it. Videoblogs can be fed through RSS. This is technology of syndicating your website to other RSS aggregators.

Videoblogging works with people on the internet expressing their selves. Now if you put this on a business prospective, you are up to a lot of benefits. Think of it as a powerful tool in making showing your prospective customers your line of products or your services. It’s just like showing a commercial all for free. And if you videoblog through RSS, then most probably you are getting your target market.

People like to see what they are going to buy. Some would like to see proof and be sure that they are getting their money’s worth before shelving their dimes on it. All of us know the influence of a thirty second commercial. The effect of videoblogging is similar to that. You show your product, people watch it. If they like it, they buy it. If you present it good enough, they’ll buy the product even if they don’t need it.

Now on the web, things are pretty much static, unlike in television in which all are moving. If you post something that is mobile, it would most likely catch attention. Now imaging your product parading in all it’s royalty through videoblog. You’ll get phone call orders in no time.

If your business is just starting up, you can create a videoblog right at your own home. All you need is your web camera, microphone, video software, and lights. For as long as you know how to use your camera, then you can create a videoblog.

Invest in a good web camera. The higher its resolution is the better the output. And you like to present your goods in the optimum way so get the best one possible. Make a short story, or just capture your goods in one go. Just make sure you are getting the best profile for each. Get those creativity juices flowing.

Lights are important in a production. Make sure you illuminate entirely the area you are going to use to create videoblog. The brighter the area, the crispier the images will be. You can also use lighting effects for added appeal to the presentation.

Should you require sounds for your videoblog, you need a microphone. Record you voice as a voice over for promoting the product and its benefit to consumers. Sounds are as important as videos on a videoblog. It is advisable to make your sound effects as enticing as the video.

Your video editing software can be any program. You need this to finalize your work. You can add sounds, delete some bad angles, or insert some still pictures in there too. Some programs are user-friendly and can be used even with zero knowledge on video editing. Even simple video editing programs should do the trick. Select your background carefully too. The light affects the presentation so make sure that the background and the light complements each other.

Videoblogging is a great tool but it also has it downside. It may slow down the computer so other may steer clear of it. Download time may also be time consuming especially if customer is still on a dial- up connection.

But don’t let those stop you. Let videoblogging be an alternative for you, though it is best to still keep the text and pictures present in your presentation to accommodate all possible viewers of your site.

Nowadays, the more creative you are in presenting your product to the market, they more you are likely to succeed. Videoblogging offers an interactive way of selling. You involve the customers. You instill in them the advantage of your goods. And at times, those are enough to make a sale.

Kanicen Nichathavan is the owner of Kanicen's Blog, Kanicen's Blog welcomes everyone who intends to share knowledge, interesting products, ideas and those who want to start Internet Online Business. You will find all kind of Internet Marketing Tools and resources. For Newbie and Internet Marketers this blog will be the best option for lowest prices of all kind of Internet Marketing Tools at http://www.kanicen.com.

Know the Dangers of Spamming

By Graham Burt

Email Marketing can be a very effective way of getting leads or sales. In this article, Graham Burt explains the dangers of spam. How can it harm a business? It is a very important subject. Not knowing the laws of spam can indeed close down your business.

Advertise Yes, But Do not Spam

There is a big difference between advertising and spam. It is unfortunate that a high percentage of new internet business owners do not realize the distinction between the two. This is critical. While an interesting, adequately written Internet marketing campaign can help to entice new clients and have existing clients stay with you, spam is liable to distance both new clients and existing clients. This can be harmful to profit margins for a business owner.

Email campaigns can be effective tools in the business of Internet marketing. Email campaigns may incorporate mailing regular e-newsletters that contain useful information, as well as advertisements, short instructive email courses, or emails giving discounts on goods and services. Trusted clients who opt into your email list may not label these emails as spam. They may buy other goods and services from your business as an upshot of this marketing procedure. In addition, other internet users who have specifically requested more details about your products and services normally also find this kind of advertising to be useful.

Email recipients who did not ask for information are liable to see your emails as spam. Making use of email addresses is a deceiving approach and using such addresses to send out a hoard of emails will usually be considered spam. Take heed, if you are reported for spam on a regular basis, you are likely to endanger your business. Having said that, most companies will allow you to explain your actions and let you off with a warning. However, there are those who are much stricter and will just close your account.

It is in your best interest that you learn as much as possible about the laws of Spam. Many mail providers have built-in spam filters. It will automatically block certain words; stopping your marketing email from getting through. Purchasing a software program that can check your emails before you send them so that your efforts are not wasted.

Lastly, Focus Groups provide a marvelous possibility for business owners to promote their business. By taking part in a discussion, you will unearth a huge number of Internet users who probably have an interest in your market. You could consider including a link back to your website in your signature or posting the link to the dialogue. In all events, care should be taken to study the Focus Group guidelines to certify you are not carrying out anything improper. Replying to Focus Groups, you stumble on, and posting a message containing a link to your website at a time when it is not relevant to the discussion is liable to be construed as spam by other members. If they start to look at your posts as spam, they are not likely to look in on your website via the links you post and more likely, the administrators will exclude you from their Focus Group.

Banner ads are one of the utmost favorite marketing strategies, which go along with an Internet Marketing program. These ads emerge at the top of websites and they are displayed across the width of the website. It is vital to recognize how they can be overused and be labeled as spam. Randomly placing your banner ad on a few websites, which are expected to captivate visitors similar to your target market, is streetwise marketing Free Articles, placement of your banner ad on any website, which will advertise the ad heedless of the target audience, can be construed as spam.

Graham Burt is a very experienced Internet Marketer because he learned from the experts. It is well known that 95% of new online business entrepreneurs fail due to a lack of knowledge. This website: http://www.roadmap-to-millions.com has ample content provided by Internet Millionaires to give anyone wishing to be successful at Internet Marketing an advantage over most.

Designing a Web Business for Success

By Michael Kay

"Designing a Web Business for Success" talks to the deliberate design and creation of a web business to make a profit. It uses critical business science concepts to discuss the idea and implications of effective design using examples from existing web businesses.

Every business everywhere has a design, intentionally or not; a structure that is tuned to generating profit by exploiting what is known as leverage and sustainable competitive advantage.

Let us look at a few offline examples:

If you are a manufacturer, your design involves identifying a market opportunity, developing a product, building a factory, locking in distribution, and handling customer warranties and complaints. Your leverage is in the capital you put into the factory. Your competitive advantage can include superior products and product development, lower manufacturing costs, access to capital, and locking up the distribution. You measure your success by return on investment (the capital bit) and market share (the advantage bit.)

If you were one of the big management consulting firms, your design is simple � hire the best minds � your leverage is usually a few (well-connected) partners selling work at partner prices but done by low cost juniors. Your competitive advantage; the relationships you form with clients who then prefer you to the unknown competition for jobs on which their own employment security may depend.

Things are different on the web and much more fragile. Examples�On the web, you write an e-book, put up a web site and drive traffic to it by locking into search engine keywords. That is your design. The leverage, you are endlessly told, is the small amount of time spent on the book and the competitive advantage is your expertise � captured in the book.

The problem for the web entrepreneur is that digital products are extremely easy to copy eliminating the leverage. Search engine competition is fierce and positions unstable. In addition, the apparent expertise is as easily replicated as the book (no sustainable competitive advantage.)

The bottom line: On the web, most entrepreneurial activity is transient. People enter, create something, and hold on to it as long as they can but then their position is eroded, their profits drop, and they exit. If you want to develop a long-term business, you have to shift to something much different. Thinking about the three components � design, leverage, and competitive advantage will help you enormously. A couple of examples:

In the e-book field, e-Book Wholesaler sells private label e-books to resellers with full resell rights. The design is very simple. Tom Hua, creator of e-Book Wholesaler, sources books from a stable of authors and offers them to the market with resell rights.

Very simple. However, he levers and protects his business cleverly.

The basic leverage is in outsourcing writing and selling the same book many times. He also levers his marketing by allowing each book to be personalized with your address, codes, and favorite affiliations, (generating viral marketing opportunities for the buyer plus selling memberships of the e-Book Wholesaler site at the same time - automated affiliate marketing.)

Even though he uses a membership site formula (levering a single sale into regular income), his sustainable advantage is low, being mainly in the inventory of books he has. His formula is easily copied or muddied, the primary barriers being; getting it organized and building membership. Indeed, there are others like his, including; The Viral Profits Warehouse �, and the increasing number of private resell rights sellers.

In the AdSense field, JVMembers have built something original. The design is again simple. They set up a number of AdSense sites; they promote them on the web, and populate the sites through contributions by their members. The members write short articles and share in the AdSense revenue generated from their pages.

The leverage is in the writing of the articles. JVMembers need thousands of individuals generating fresh, original content all the time (very attractive to the search engines). These thousands of writers cost JVMembers nothing and for their role in organizing it, they get 50% of the AdSense revenues. Sustainable advantage is not high in that the concept could be easily copied.

Our two examples share the characteristic of having simple structures, using leverage well, but being readily copied. Are there web businesses that cannot be easily copied? Look at the following examples:

Saleshoo is in the eBay drop ship business. They use a regular design � sourcing product and distributing it to members who have pre-sold it on eBay. Members can also buy for their own account and can derive affiliate income (marketing to new members.)

So where is the advantage? It lies in excellence of service. The major problem faced by drop ship users is reliability of supply. If you sell something on eBay, the buyer expects you to deliver it. Failure of a drop shipper can impact your reputation with eBay. Saleshoo's focus is on reliability of supply as well as good prices.

The Internet Marketing Center is a $60m business selling web tools and education. Their sustainable advantage; they started out as a guru business and migrated to a bigger entity. Today, their advantage lies in their exceptional in-house web marketing talent plus their huge affiliate organization and finally their access to capital to build exceptional products with high production values.

The message; design is critical and you need to be aware of it. Leverage is mostly well understood; analyze a few businesses to see the main components. Competitive advantage is difficult and typically found in complexity (the base of reliable sub-suppliers owned by Saleshoo) Science Articles, service (reliable supply) or mass (as in IMC).

Michael Kay edits the * Insights Letter* and *The Home-Based Business Review*. These are FREE publications stuffed with ideas, access to resources and free gifts. Subscribe now at http://www.HBBResearch.comTo find out more about writing sales letters and web business in general find "The Value of Design" athttp://www.HBBReview.com/Main_Index.html