Home Business The Easy Way - KWa Update http://www.blogmoneymiracle.com en-us EasyRSS
by Cher K Markov

Ads are of different types. Whatever may be the type of ad, it is clearly meant for some sort of business. In our day-to-day lives, we are exposed to hundreds-- maybe even thousands-- of commercial messages per day in one form or another. It may be from the boring, copy-laden radio commercial to the easily skimmed, forgettable newspaper ad, to the billboard on the side of the bus to the logo on the side of the building and finally to those annoying pop-ups you see on every other website.

A research conducted by the University of Washington in the year 1999 showed that an average American is exposed to 500 to 1,000 commercial messages a day. That's anywhere from 182,500 to 365,000 commercial messages that a person will view for a year alone. That was way back in 1999. What could be the situation now in this digital era?

Definitely, the customers are sick to death of pop-ups, fly-ins, and pop-unders. This could be a real worry to the business persons as the traditional ads are annoying in nature. Alternately, one should look for the next generation ads like Peel Away Ads. These are now very crazy on the internet and are used by the corporate multinational companies to attract the online consumers because of their pleasing way of being non-annoying in nature.

Peel Away Ads is a new breed of ad technology that is not only pleasing to the eye, but also effective in drawing the customer’s attention, causing them to click. The working of the peel away ads is simple in approach.

Based on proprietary technology, a small animated "peel"-- also known as “Curl” or “Dog Ears”-- is displayed on the top right corner of a web page. If a website visitor moves the mouse over the corner or page peel, a large clickable ad is displayed. When the visitor moves the mouse away the ad rolls back up and leaves your web page viewable.

Don’t be under the impression that there is a lot of web designing in the secret of displaying peel away ads. This is done with a simple software script that is easily customizable. So from now on, every webmaster can have these next generation ads in their websites at an affordable cost in line with Big Corporations.

Cher K Markov is an Internet Marketer that writes articles on various resources. She has made a good review on webmaster tools like Peel Away Ads (http://hubpages.com/hub/Peel_Away_Ads_Script) that really work in modern day business for the website owners. She also invites you to visit the popular Home Based Business Opportunities that make money online at http://makemoneyonline.onlinedownloads.org.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_KWa_115/user/index.php
By Aviva Brown

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

Learn Important Pages Viewed Information

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

Valuable Keywords and SEO

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

The Magic of Referrers

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

Use Your Web Stats

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2) Link bandwagons and useless comments

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

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

3) Everyone's an expert

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

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

4) Old and stale information

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

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

5) Writing truthful, thoughtful comments is a fad

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

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

Jerret Turner, CEO of LinkAcquire.com, can help you build one-way links for better search results. Visit him at http://www.linkacquire.com. Download a free copy of Jerret's new work, The Little Linking Instruction Book, by visiting http://www.linkacquire.com/signup.html.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_KWa_115/user/index.php
by Laurie Hayes

One of the most powerful words that can help you save time, increase productivity, feel better about yourself and reach your goals faster and easier is only two letters long! The problem is, it’s almost the most difficult word to use.

Discover how to put this little powerhouse to work for you without guilt or fear.

A common characteristic shared by successful home business owners is the steadfast, almost fanatical way in which they guard their time.

Large corporations and businesses hire people and spread the responsibilities and, although I highly urge you to leverage your time by surrounding yourself with people who will take care of lower return activities, there is still no escaping the many interruptions and distractions that are a part of home business life.

People who play at the top of their game, whether in business, sport or life, have learned how to either eliminate or reduce distractions by mastering the use of one simple word ... "No."

The inability and fear around using these two little letters has caused more home business failures, tears, stress, frustration and relationship troubles than any other.

And, although many new home business owners insist their greatest weaknesses are lack of marketing and sales skills, the biggest obstacle that is blocking their ability to develop these skills is the fact they are not saying "no" to time-robbing activities, so they can focus on building and growing.

Lack of time is the number one challenge every one of my clients brings to the table when we begin working together.

Learn to say "no" to doing everything yourself.

Oftentimes I'll hear, "But I'm in start-up, I have to guard my spending," and I respond with, "You can't save yourself into profitability. You have to focus on making money."

This mental block will never allow you to grow, especially at an accelerated rate.

Low pay-off activities can be delegated, bartered, given to volunteers, students and family members. Do some creative brainstorming with your coach, mastermind group or trusted colleague.

Learn to say "no" to the demands of daily living.

How many times have you said "yes" to the following, even though you either didn't want to or knew it would take you away from your own priorities?

- taking care of your neighbor's kids after school because she had a hair appointment

- volunteering to cover the refreshments table at your child's high school dance

- loaning out equipment or items you know you won't get back unless you ask for them several times

- agreeing to listen to your friend rant for the third time this week about how his wife is trying to ruin him in a nasty divorce battle

- taking your mom to visit her friend across town every week because your brother and sister are too busy

- making Johnny and Sally's beds because they have to rush to school in the morning and don't have time

- going to every birthday and holiday dinner a family member hosts

- reading every single e-mail and taking every single call that comes in ...

By not saying "no" to the hundreds of non-critical demands that are placed on you every month, you will not create the business success or freedom you want and deserve.

The two biggest obstacles in mastering the skill of saying "no" are fear and guilt.

Fear that you will be loved less or rejected and feeling guilty that you may have hurt someone's feelings.

Saying "no" doesn't have to hurt anyone or cause you to be rejected and the way you deliver the message can make all the difference for you.

To refuse a request, be honest and assertive in your reply by stating, "I'm sorry, however I have to turn down your offer/request at this time because I've been so busy with obligations, I've neglected my own priorities and have to give them my attention right now."

If others get angry with you or try to make you feel guilty for wanting to give yourself the attention you deserve, it's time to decide whether or not they're the kind of people you want in your life.

Start small. Build your "no" muscle slow and easy and work your way up to the larger demands. Like any skill, you can develop it, and once you become a master, you'll enjoy quantum leaps in your happiness levels and business success.

2007 © Laurie Hayes - The HBB Source

Laurie Hayes, founder and Director of The HBB Source, helps freedom seekers cross the bridge from employee to home-based entrepreneur. Subscribe to her FREE E-zine for valuable tips and resources designed to create business success, at http://www.thehbbsource.com

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By Ken Mathie

There is only one 'right' way to use email lists for marketing purposes and that is to use it with a list of prospects who have contacted you first. This is what is called an Opt-In list. What it means is the consumers have opted to include their email address in a mailing list which means that your mails are not considered spam because they were 'opted' for.

Here's why:

Your contacts will not complain about receiving valuable information from you. They welcome the opportunity to receive many different types of emails such as:

* last minute' reminders
* special offers
* hot information about new products
* news 'from the very hub' of their industry
* product/website updates
* even links to affiliate 'like' sites

Here are some more key tips to keep in mind when trying to build your own email hot list.

1. Capture Addresses

You can only email your customers if you have their addresses, so start collecting them now. Make sure there is a prominent place for an email address on all customer response forms you use both online and offline. It helps when you use software that is designed to hold multiple email hot lists, so you will only have to input the information once.

2. Use ASCII Text Only

Keep it simple. Include lots of white space in your messages. Use headlines and sub-headlines. Don't overuse words that are in all capitals. Make it easy for the readers to scan and to read.

3. Use Wide Margins

Limit yourself to 55/60 characters or less per line, because it is simply more attractive to the reader and it helps you to point out anything that you want to draw attention to.

4. Deliver Your Most Important Information First

Key benefits and sales points must be communicated in the first screen people read because many readers do not read an entire email, whether they opted in for it or not. If you save the good stuff for the end of the email, or try to capture a reader's attention by leading into it, you will do nothing except lose business.

Think about it; would you want to have to hunt around for the best part?

5. Make The Subject Line Your Headline, Too

This is what people are going to see first. If your headline is strong, crisp, and compelling, they'll open your email. Concentrate on this all-important element. For example, if you are offering a free gift with purchase, your subject line could read "FREE gift for you!" I don't know about you, but this would get my attention if it is from a web source that I signed up for.

6. The Shorter the Better

Unlike other kinds of sales writing, where long copy outsells short copy, the standard for email sales letters are different. Think about the way you sort through email, especially when you have a backlog of messages. The time you spend online is generally short. Respond to this new business medium by keeping your emails just as short.

7. Test

Keep a good record of your responses by testing one element of your email at a time. Start with the subject line. Test headlines, body copy, layout, and the PS at the end. Successful marketing copy is always tested, one element at a time, to make sure those things are running smoothly and to get rid of the stuff that is not working.

Today, the largest companies online,including Apple, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo! and many, many more are using acceptable and responsible commercial email. If they can do it, YOU can do it too.

Start building your opt-in email lists today! I would suggest that you keep it simple to begin with, and build a growing text file of email addresses. But, ultimately, you will want to personalize your messages, because it substantially increases your response. Gather as much information as you can when people contact you, such as the reader's name, and apply it
to the email, but, at a minimum, capture their name and email address. In time, this list will become highly profitable for you. The list is the most important aspect of any successful email marketing campaign.

8. Use Autoresponders

When you are contacting your clients through emails that require a reply from the reader or a sign up or order form etc. you should be sure to include an autoresponder that will let your client know that their email was received. You can find many different types of software that will do this for you. If for no other reason; than so that you can free up some of your time.

Writing an Autoresponder Message that Gets Results!

The autoresponder is fast becoming the hardest worker of Internet marketing. With theautoresponder, you can deliver your sales message or other information to all of your clients very quickly. And you can deliver it 24 hours a day to any Internet email user in the world. This must sound awesome, right? But, you might be wondering how you can create an
autoresponder message that gets real results.

Here are some methods of power communication that will give you the success that you crave. I know this because I have used them. It is great for emails, letters, mailbot copy, World Wide Web content, ads and more.

1. Focus on the reader, not yourself

Your message should be about the customer's needs and how your product will fulfill those needs, not about how wonderful you are and how great your product is, because, in the end, it is all just your own opinions and it turns people right off.

Don't focus on yourself and your life too much. Take a look at my first few paragraphs above. How many times did I talk about "you" and "your" as opposed to "I" and "me"?

2. Make it personal.

As with any sales letter, you have to write your autoresponder message as if you were having a one-to-one conversation. Pretend you're sitting down to talk to a friend. Allow your message be friendly, animated and informal. You can even use some slang, if it's appropriate.

3. Be sure to Emphasize the benefits.

Rather than thinking of yourself as selling a product or a service, think of yourself as providing real services to your clients. You want to know what the benefits to these services really are here. This is what you should be asking yourself:

"What does the customer get out of my product?"

The answer should be something like "more time," "more money," "more fun," "an easier life," "better health," or "greater safety."

Benefits and features are two different things. Feature are: "This computer has a Pentium 4 processor." A benefit is more like this: "Lightning-fast Pentium 4 processor means you get more work done in less time."

4. Include a "Call to Action" in your response

You need to know exactly what you want the reader to do after reading your message and then tell them to do it. Ask yourself these questions:

What do you want? Do you want a reply by email? A visit to your Web site? An order called in to your toll-free number?

Let the user know what responses you want, and let them know in a compelling, urgent, benefits-oriented way. Include complete contact information, and triple-check it for accuracy.

5. Offer useful information.

One good autoresponder strategy is to offer a free report that offers useful information but including a sales message and an "advertorial" approach.

For an example, distribute a report, "10 Tips for Selling on the Internet and the Web." Tell the user how to order your book on the subject, etc. You can even include an order form. Readers will not resent your pitch because they got so much value from the report.

6. Use correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.

You tell the world whether you're a professional or an amateur by the quality of your marketing communications. Take the time to edit your autoresponder message for errors. If you're terrible at grammar etc. get someone who can edit it for you.

7. Create a better layout to make it easier to read.

Since a mailbot message is delivered in plain ASCII text, your design capabilities are going to be very limited. Here are a few tricks you can use to make your message a bit more readable:

* For a headline, use ALL-CAPS and insert a blank line before and after it.

* Use short paragraphs, say 5-7 lines at the most (100 words).

* Set out all of your material in bulleted lists -- its easier to read.

* Use "white space with catchy headlines" to center important material and call attention to it, like the following does:

Now available:
Solid strategies for "Affiliate Marketing"!
Send any message to ken@profitdot.net

Warning: Don't get fancy with your script fonts because not all computers are the same.

8. Don't Break the law.

False advertising is still illegal, even if you're on the Internet. In many countries, pyramid schemes (MLM) and chain letters are illegal. You should assume that all tax and licensing laws in your town, state, province, country and so forth still apply. If you're not sure about something, check.

9. Read feedback people send to your autoresponder.

A good autoresponder system will send you a copy of the request every time someone sends for your report. With most systems, the user doesn't have to type anything in the body of their message when they send in the request; however, they usually do. By reading the message and replying to the user personally, you may increase your chances of selling to that person because it shows that you are listening.

If you create a strong, well-written, persuasive message, your autoresponder can help you increase your sales and fulfil any and all of the goals of your email marketing effort, which will certainly make it a whole lot more worth while.

PMCezine.. Home Biz News & Tips. Weekly up-to-date powerful strategies to outsmart, out market and outsell even your toughest competition. Receive your six free egifts when you subscribe. http://www.pmcezine.comet/

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By Laurie Brown

Maximize the Profit Potential of Your Retail Customer

Let us be honest. It is getting harder and harder to make a decent profit from our retail customers. The internet abounds with articles such as ” “ “ “ etc. Our customers are coming in and telling us how much over invoice they are willing to pay. So how can we maximize their profit potential?

1. Build value

A Purdue University study showed that when the customers perceived value exceeds the price, meaning that customers felt that they were getting more than they were paying for, eight of ten would buy. So where do we build value. Look to build value in each of the three p’s…Product, Place, and Person.

PRODUCT

Know your product inside and out. Find the interesting details that customers might not be aware of. When doing your walk around, it does not just spout off features. Make sure you tie features to your customer’s hot buttons. Use the phrase (or something like this) ‘and what that means to you is’…. It is best to talk about an average of three features per walk around position . It may seem like “more is better”, but studies show that customers tend to get overloaded and can have a negative reaction to too many features. Spend at least 15 minutes a day on a Power break, learn something new about your product, read owners manuals and articles about your product, walk the used car lot, talk to a mentor in your dealership. Do what it takes to be an “expert.”

PLACE

Then ask yourself “what sets my dealership apart?” Have we been in business for 40 years, are we a family business, are we a “no hassle” dealership, do we have more inventory than our competitors? How are we distinct? Once you have answered the questions, make sure your customers know it. Does your dealership have a mission statement? Do you know what it is? Talk about the goals of your dealership with pride.

PERSONAL

However, the most important place to build value is doing business with you. First, it is the only thing that you have to offer that they cannot get anywhere else. Your willingness to “go the extra mile”, be patient, be well informed, help a customer buy a vehicle, rather than “sell them” will go a long way towards setting you apart from your competitors. The world is changing fast, make sure you are aware of new technology that will help you stay connected to your customers.

Check your “bad attitude” at the door. Your customer is making an impression of you in the first 90 seconds that they are spending with you. Your smile, eye contact, warm handshake, and enthusiastic greeting will prove to them you are someone they want to do business with, repeatedly.

2. Follow-up! This is the place most sales consultants fall down. We are so busy dealing with ups that we forget that our best and easiest customers are the ones that have already bought from us. Get a customer contact program such as ACT and use it. Call your customers within 24 hours after the purchase to make sure, if everything is ok. If not, move heaven and earth to fix the problem. Write a handwritten thank you note. Then check in (with their permission) via a phone call, email, or newsletter at regular intervals. Make the contact personal. Use the information you learned when you were building rapport to continue that process. Ask how Johnny did in little league. Congratulate them on Becky’s graduation. The more personal the conversation, the more effective it will be. There are sales consultants who make their clients service appointments. The goal is to add value and have your name be on the tip of their tongues. In addition, be assured that they will come back to you when they buy their next vehicle.

3. Ask for referrals, your happy customers are your best salespeople. Let their great experience be a story that they tell repeatedly. In addition, if you have done an exceptional job, do not hesitate to ask them to recommend you to their friends, co-workers, and family. If you explain that you build your business by positive word of mouth, they most likely will be happy to help you out. Do not forget to thank them for their referrals. Again, a hand written note is essential. Some states allow bird-dogging. IF yours does not, you could “thank them” in a variety of other ways. A dinner at a local restaurant, or free oil change will tell them that you are grateful.

Following these simple steps will allow you to maximize the profit you can get from your customers. Remember it makes better sense to work smarter, not harder.

Laurie Brown is an international speaker, trainer and consultant who work to help people improve their sales, service, and presentation skills. She is the author of The Teleprompter Manual, for Executives, Politicians, Broadcasters, and Speakers. Laurie can be contacted through http://www.thedifference.net, or 1-877.999.3433, or at lauriebrown@thedifference.net

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By Scott White

Brand Identity is a promise, one given from business to customer to expect certain things. Whether that promise involves product quality, service, price, or a million other things; it varies from brand to brand. However, the one thing common among all brands is the need to be a strong brand.

Why is brand identity so critical?

A strong brand identity can position a company above its competition all by itself. However, acquiring a brand that strong takes time, money, and effort to develop. It is not as simple as just redesigning a logo or rewriting a tagline. Brand identity is the reason your customers choose you instead of your competition.

How to rework your brand identity.

Successful re-branding involves "evolution," not "revolution." You must impress upon your existing customers that your new brand is just a new and improved version of the same you. It is important not to get crazy with a re-branding effort because you could end up destroying fragile emotional ties and customer loyalty.

Brand identity is much more than marketing.

Having a brand identity that resonates with your market is important, but not at the expense of the people within your company. They need to get it, and be your brand's most fervent ambassadors. Do your employees believe in your company? Do they feel like they have a vested stake in its success? Companies with solid brand identities can say yes to these questions. Can yours? If not, here are some things you can do:

Get every aspect of your company on the same page: Easier said than done, right? Well, that does not mean it is not necessary. Get all your departments talking to each other and understanding each other.

# Promote everyone to the position of brand ambassador: Give everyone a common understanding of the company, its mission, and their part in it. They should feel like they have ownership-even if they do not.

# Reinforce brand values and behaviors: To do this, use the tools you have, such as internal communications...and like a good basketball coach, consistently promote these fundamentals until they are second nature.

Your employees will ultimately determine your success or failure. That is why it is so important to have them buy into your company's brand identity. However, that is not something that you can force. You, as leadership, must earn it. However, once you do, you will have a company that is full of happy, motivated, successful brand ambassadors.

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru, a leading Corporate Branding and Branding Research firm in Boston, MA. Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.

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If you were to walk into a business establishment, but you couldn't find the products that were being offered for sale or someone that could help you, chances are pretty good that you would leave, right? When you look at a website that's poorly designed, the same things happen. Visitors who can't immediately figure out a website are more than likely going to go back to the web search page to see what other sites are available. It's a matter of creating a user friendly site – and here's how you can do it.

Step #1: Less is More

Many businesses think that adding a lot of bells and whistles to a website is the way to increase their customer traffic. When you have a lot of graphics, Java applications, and other add-ons, you're not only going to confuse your visitor, but you are also going to overwhelm them. These are distractions that will make your website load slowly and, for some visitors, it may not load at all.

You need to start thinking about creating a website where less is more. You want to include the things that your customer needs in order to learn more about your business and to buy products or schedule services. Everything else is taking away from the basic goals of your business – which is also taking away your ability to make money.

Here are some things that you will want to remove from your website, or at least from the home page. Visitors make their decisions about your website from the first page they see, so this is where you need to quickly establish a professional impression.

Remove bright colors. Remove flashing words. Remove video clips (unless that's your business). Remove animated graphics.

Step #2: Remember the Basic Things Your Customer Needs

Like the first step, you need to realize that less is more. There are only a few things that a customer needs when they enter your site:

A home page that identifies who you are and what you sell. An About Us page that talks about the company. A list of products. A way to pay for things. A place to get help or contact information.

Try to look at this list as a check list of the things you absolutely have to include in order to be user-friendly. These are things that a website visitor is going to look for, so when you don't include them, you will confuse them and often make them look for another website that is more accessible in terms of their needs.

Step #3: Make Sure Contact Information/Help is Available

A way to contact you can be as simple as an email address, while other websites have 'live' support desks. In most cases, as long as there is a way for a customer to get help, this will help them in their experience with you. You might want to include a FAQ or Frequently Asked Questions section that will help them with basic queries, while offering an email address for more complicated questions. A phone number is another easy way for customers to contact you and for them to feel like you are always available for their needs.

Extra Credit: Look to Other Successful Websites

If you still aren't sure what to include and what not to include on your website, look at other websites that you frequent. You will notice this formula is the same. They offer simple ways to access different features, without being confusing or too energetic.

You can also include a comments section for visitors to tell you about their website experience so that you can make adjustments as necessary.

Scott Oliver offers free video coaching to help you build a profitable home business FAST. Get an hour of "Website Traffic Secrets" and "Minisite Creation Tactics" for FREE -- immediate access here: http://www.InstantWebsiteBusiness.com]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_KWa_115/user/index.php
How can you achieve great sales with your product? In any campaign that you are about to launch, you need to put in efforts to influence the decision-making of your customers and to put them totally in the favor of your company. Well, basically, the whole idea is to play with the psychology of the consumers!

Let's look at some tricks you can use to influence the minds of the consumers. These tricks are useful not only to the ordinary sales person, but also to larger firms.

First, consider using mutual exchange, which is the most powerful trick. You can start off by giving freebies to the customers. Initially, the customer will accept it, but from the next time, he will feel obliged and will try to return the favor. For example, offer your product free initially. If the customer is satisfied with the product, he will pay for it the next time. This principle causes some confusion to some. To be effective, remember that the product should be given totally free without any condition to be fulfilled. For instance, it is definitely against the principle to quote in your sales line, "Spend over $40 and get a free download of an ebook!" The right sales tag should be "Download the ebook absolutely free!" If the ebook is really good and useful, the customer might think of buying other ebooks from your company, and even recommend your site to friends.

The next trick is to present something as if it is of high value, but it should cost only a small amount (or none at all) for the company to produce. An example is that of information. The whole idea is to attract the customer that you are revealing to them a big-time, valuable secret, which is not known to anyone at all. But beware that you do not turn the big secret into another advertisement.

Most customers do not reject free samples. And that's the next tip. Give out free samples to your targeted customers. However, bear in mind you should use good quality products only. Some companies have not been successful in using this tip because they distribute samples of poor quality or even rejected products! The customers have a bad impression of the product and will therefore not buy it.

Catch the customers with words that initiate immediate action. For instance, "One-Time Offer", "Offer While Stock Lasts" and "Last Day Offer", just to name a few. These are really motivating as the customer gets the impression that the offer is valid for a limited period only and the product is of a limited edition. What's next? The customer feels that he should go out and buy it before it is too late.

Another way to increase sales is to trick the customer into making a commitment, step-by-step towards the goal, without realizing it. How can we achieve this? To begin, when a customer requests information, provide him with the relevant details for free and make him fill out a form with his contact information. The content of the form can be getting offers and information about products in the future. A word of caution - no advertisement at this point! Once the customer provides his contact information, then will you start the advertisement about your products and services! A good example is to conduct surveys.

You can increase the sales of your products if you apply these tricks appropriately in your business.

CW Teo is an expert in personal development. He established SecretX University to help you learn all you need to know about Internet Marketing for FREE. Visit http://www.SecretXuniversity.com.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_KWa_115/user/index.php
by Charlie Cook
http://www.marketingforsuccess.com

========================================
Summary:
Want to hit your revenue numbers this year? Discover
which numbers to pay attention to.
========================================

Everyone wants to see growth in sales and net revenue. It's important for small business owners to set income goals and to watch sales results, but too much emphasis on these numbers can prevent you from reaching your goals.

Using your revenue figure to guide your marketing is like driving by looking in the rear view mirror the whole time. That number tells you where you've been. It doesn't tell you how to get where you want to go.

There are a couple of key numbers and ratios to keep in front of you that will help you get to your sales 'destination'.

Like an Iowa farmer growing soybeans, you've got to carefully plant seeds and nurture plants to maturity to ensure a good harvest and a good profit. The amount of seed you plant and the percentage that germinates and grows well determines your farm's profitability. The same is true in marketing and sales; the number of leads you generate and the number you convert to sales determine your income.

These are the two most important numbers to pay attention to in marketing. Use them to evaluate your marketing and determine how many sales you'll generate:

1. The number of qualified prospects in your database.

These are people who've told you they have a concern or problem you can help them with and who want to hear from you again.

2. Your prospect-to-client conversion rate.

The percentage of qualified prospects you convert to paying clients.

The math is simple; the more qualified prospects you have and the higher your conversion rates, the more revenue you'll generate.

Your sales will stay frozen at present levels if you focus on how much revenue you're making and ignore the importance of building your list of qualified prospects. You could double your business in the next few months by building your database of qualified prospects and improving your conversion rates.

Marketing Numbers

You don't need to be a math wiz to become an expert at marketing math. Pay attention to these numbers on a weekly basis;

- The number of people who saw your ads, read your articles or received your mailings.

- The percentage of these people that responded to your ad or article. It's not how many ads you run, but how many people pay attention to your ads that matters.

- The percentage of respondents that actually gave you their contact information and added themselves to your database. These are the people who have identified themselves as qualified prospects who are interested in learning more.

If you're marketing through your Website, it's incredibly simple to identify these numbers daily and weekly to track the success of your marketing. Here's how;

1. Look at the number of unique visitors to your Website daily or weekly.

2. Divide this number by the number of people who contacted you. This is your conversion rate of site visitors to qualified prospects. If your site is set up correctly, at least one out of ten people should be contacting you and adding themselves to your list of qualified prospects. If you use Google Ads to drive visitors to your site, you can send visitors to specific landing pages and increase your conversion rate to 20% or even 25%.

What should you expect from your Website? For every hundred unique visitors to your site per week, 10 to 25 should be sending you an E-mail requesting more information about your products and services. Each month, your list of qualified prospects and your sales should grow.

Before you finish this article, make a commitment to apply this simple marketing math to grow your business. Set a goal for your business. Look at how many qualified prospects your marketing is currently generating.

Write this number down, then put a diagonal line across it and next to it write down the number of qualified prospects you want to add to your database each week.

I've been doing this little exercise for two years with my current Website. My goals for acquiring qualified prospects get larger each month as my business grows. My latest goal is 500 new prospects per week. This translates into 6 to 7 percent more business each month. With a little planning, you can see your business grow just as fast.

2006 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals, small business owners and marketing professionals attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up
to receive the Free Marketing Strategy eBook, '7 Steps to get more clients and grow your business' at http://http://www.marketingforsuccess.com.]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HomeBusinessTips_KWa_115/user/index.php
by John Case

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

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

Creating Your Articles

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

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

Tips on Writing Articles

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

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

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

Distributing You Articles

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

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

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

RSS DO's

1. Titles and Descriptions.

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

2. GUID Format.

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

3. Publish Dates.

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

4. Polish Your Feed.

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

5. Feed Hosting.

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

RSS DON'Ts

1. Plagiarize.

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

2. Splog.

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

3. Violate Copyrights.

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

4. Violate TOS.

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

5. Provide Multiple Feed Formats.

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

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

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

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

Business Conference Calls

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

Entertainment-Based Conference Calls

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

Audio vs. Visual

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

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

Conference Call Limitations

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

Conference Call Set-Up

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

Reservation vs Non-Reservation

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

Conference Call Commands

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

Call Planning is Essential

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

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

Billing Plans

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

Special Services

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

Several Conference Call Service Companies Reviewed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I’ve been scammed plenty of times.

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

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

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

Right?

Well, not always.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Words like:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Could $5 a day make you rich?

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

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

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

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

What's missing in the equation for success?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

.. and it goes on and on.

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

1. Keyword Research

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

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

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

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

2. Effective Ad Copy

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

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

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

3. Consistency

• Deliver what your ad promises. Always.

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

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

4. No Hidden Costs

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

• VAT and postage should be clearly mentioned as extras.

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

5. Comprehensive Search Engine Marketing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other articles to read:

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

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

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

Farhad Divecha

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are really two answers to this question...

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

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

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

Ok... having said that.

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

So... having cleared that up.

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

In order, you must:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. Customize your Contact table.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://www.myspacemastership.com
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by Christian Kameir

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

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

Visibility is key to sitemap generator

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

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

Who can benefit from a sitemap generator?

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

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

Working with a sitemap generator

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

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

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

Creating a dynamic sitemap generator

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

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

Tips for using a sitemap generator from google

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

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

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

Mr. Christian Kameir is the CEO of http://www.colizer.com His web site can be found at http://www.kameir.com.
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by John Eberhard

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are currently over 700 content hubs on the Internet.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Copyright (c) 2006 WebCart

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

Internet Search

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

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

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

Search Results Relevancy

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

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

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

Search Engine Optimization

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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by William Perkins

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SO WHAT IS SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION (SEO)?

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

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

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

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

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

HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES RANK INTERNET SITES?

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

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

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

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

HOW DO YOU GET STARTED ON SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As a business grows and matures, there are a number of stages that evolve.
Home business operations are no different in this regard, so it is important to understand these stages, prepare for them and avoid disruption to your customers as well as disruption to your revenues. We will review these stages briefly in this article.

A home business, or a business started within a major corporation develop through various stages. You can summarize these as follows - Business Concept, business evaluation, launch preparations and launch, start up and initial operations, and evolution beyond the entrepreneurial stage. Each of these stages is critical and be given the appropriate attention deserved to ensure success. In addition, different skills are required during start up, for example, compared to more mature operations and year over year revenue growth.

A company's life cycle is divided into two major activities. Initially the focus is on start up, securing funding, building initial services and products, and delivering those products and services. The search for customers can be all-consuming. Everyone in the company, whether it is a one-person operation or a company of five, must multitask and do what is necessary to launch and build the initial customer base. The skills required at this stage are more entrepreneurial and imply strong commitment and faith to the concept the company is built around.

Once the company or home business has reached year over year growth cycles and is well on the way to becoming stable and generating revenue, the entrepreneurs typically do not do well in this environment. Hiring professional managers with experience in the areas that your home business has decided to specialize in will ensure continuing success. By this time, your business has grown well beyond a home based business and needs to expand into regular business quarters.

This is also a major step for many businesses and be managed well to maintain e