Home Business The Easy Way - KWa Update http://www.blogmoneymiracle.com en-us EasyRSS
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 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 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 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 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 Shannon Margolis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Copyright (c) 2006 WebCart

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Question: What is a feed reader?

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

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

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

Question: What is a GUID?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What You’ll Need

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

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

Step 1 - Setting Up

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

Step 2 - Recording the video

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

Step 3 – Editing Your Video

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

Step 4 – Saving Your Video

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

Step 5 – Uploading Your Video

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

Step 6 – Publishing To Your Website

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

Viola.

You’ve just put your video online.

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

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

Adding or Changing the Background

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

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

Importing Images

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

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

Adding Music to the Website

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

Posting Quizzes on the Website

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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by Madison Lockwood

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Adding Background Music in MySpace

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

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

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

Adding Videos to MySpace

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

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

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

Creating Interactive Features on MySpace

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, you’ve just come up with the best one-of-a kind ideas since sliced bread and want to launch your own business. Congratulations, you are on the road to the American dream of becoming an entrepreneur! Now let me extend my deepest sympathies for the pain you will experience as you try to get your business started.

Hey, don’t stone the messenger; I’m not the only Negative Nelly on this topic! The facts are, as stated by the Small Business Administration, 80% of small business start-ups close within the first five years. But, maybe you and your idea are different and you are prepared to beat the odds. If you still want to give it that ol’ college try, read on. (My apologies to those of you whom I have completely devastated. However, keep in mind if you are still reading and I haven’t scared you off yet…you could have what it takes to start your own business.)

Have you ever wondered why we are in awe of the Bill Gates and Martha Stewart’s of the world? Have you ever wondered why they are one-of-a-kind kinda’ guys/gals and are so well known? Well, I think it has something to do with the blood and guts they had to donate to start, build, and be successful in their own businesses. Anyone can start their own business, but only 20% of those starters are still in business after five years and even fewer are actually running a successful business; that means making money. So, this journey definitely takes more than what 80% of us have. Are you still reading? Ok, you may have what it takes.

What it takes to launch your business (we’ll leave the part about actually being successful to another article) is what I refer to as the “Eight Steps to A Successful Start”:

1. Determine Your Niche,
2. Identify Your Ideal Client,
3. Develop Your Unique Value Proposition,
4. Create Your Brand,
5. Prepare a Business Plan,
6. Prepare a Marketing Plan,
7. Develop a Sales Strategy, and
8. Accept failure, learn from it and re-group

Please note that the first eight steps have nothing to do with what you actually want to “do” in your business. In other words, if your dream is to be a career coach, you won’t actually be coaching clients until you have been a marketer, sales person, financial expert, and strategist. Oh, and for those brave Internet entrepreneurs you will also have to become an Internet guru. Note: if you know what mega-tags are, congratulations you are well on your way! Back to my point, what is important to keep in mind is that for most business launches it takes a full two years before you are “doing” whatever it is your business is all about and before you are ever the business owner of your dreams. Still reading? You are already beating the odds!

Let’s take a look at Step One, “Determine Your Niche.” Your niche is determined by defining exactly what group of consumers will be your customers. This group will consist of people who have specialized interests and needs, and have a strong desire for your service or product. An example of a strong need would be an attorney who needs a well organized back office system to keep track of past and current case loads. The group in this case is “attorneys” and the specialized interest/need is all about well-organized back office systems. So, if your product is a well-organized back office system for attorneys, this guy/gal is in your niche.

Once you’ve identified a group with specialized interests and needs, now known as “your niche”, you have to ask and come up with answers to the following questions:

Will this group spend money for my product/service? Do they have the money to spend? A good way to tell is if they have spent money for similar products/services in the past. For instance, “moms” might be a great target market for a new type of stroller, especially since they have spent money on similar products. However, not all new moms have money to spend on a new stroller. You would then want to specifically target moms who have more disposable income – i.e. extra cash for your one of a kind stroller!

Can I easily find and then reach this group of people? Physicians are easier to locate than moms. Why? Physicians are listed as a group in the yellow pages. So, if your have a product/service that targets a professional group such as physicians you will have an easier time reaching your niche. Whereas, if targeting moms, it may be harder to find that group, since they don’t have their own heading in the yellow pages!

Is this group large enough that I can make money selling to them? If your product/service is eye patches for one-eyed pirates, you may need to expand your group. However, if you are selling a new bra to women who have had breast enhancement surgery, you might have a hit!

Is this group small enough that my competition would overlook it? Yes, your competition might have over-looked the one-eyed pirate market, but that is because this group is too small. However, if your product/service is directed towards a specific need that a specific group has; i.e. women who have had breast enhancement, you might just have the perfect small market.

Have you been a part of this group? You must know the needs of your niche market. The best way to know those needs is if you have been in that group and understand the group’s dreams and desires. If you have ever been an attorney, who had need of a well-organized back office, then you would be well prepared to create and offer this service to attorneys.

Is this a group you would enjoy working with exclusively? Perhaps, you were an attorney and that is where you came up with this great back office system. That’s great, but if you got out of the litigation business because you didn't like your peers…you might want to re-think your idea of selling your handy dandy back office system to attorneys.

Can you see yourself creating other product/services for this group? No one wants to be a one-hit-wonder, ala Billy Ray Cyrus and his ‘Achy Breaky Heart’! Once you have sold everyone in your niche one of what you have to offer – where do you go from there? If your price point is high enough, maybe you can retire to Hawaii. If you are selling a $1.99 product, you will need a way to expand your line as your business grows.

Are you passionate about your product/service?

The amount of time and energy, or as I mentioned earlier “blood and guts”, that it will take to launch a business is huge! You had better passionately believe in what you are doing and whom you are doing it for, if you want to successfully launch your business.

Well there you have it, the first step in launching your business: Determining Your Niche. Take some time and answer all of the questions outlined above for your product or service. You may find that you want to make a few modifications to fit your niche or maybe you need to change your niche to better suit your business. Either way, just by taking the time to complete this first step you are already on the road to the American dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Congratulations! (And, a little sympathy for your time and trouble!)

In the coming weeks look for “So, You Want to Launch Your Own Business? May I Offer My Congratulations and Deepest Sympathy? Part II: Identify Your Ideal Client”

Keep in mind that a career coach can help you through all of these business launch steps. Career coaches act as guides on a journey of greater self-awareness and clarity, to help you find your true passion. Your coach can help you create an action plan to get from where you are to where you want to be in your career and in your life. Once you are working in your strengths, you will find you are passionate about what you are doing and the journey is not as painful as if you had made it alone.

To find out how a coach can help you, contact SmartWork Career Coaching @ 805.376.1906 or e-mail @ sfreiberg@verizon.net. One of our Career or Executive Coaches will be happy to discuss your coaching options.

© Copyright 2006 Suzanne Freiberg. All Rights Reserved.

Suzanne Freiberg, with 20 years of executive experience, founded SmartWork Career Coaching to empower women in management and leadership to make the changes necessary to become break through leaders. She has received extensive training in emotional intelligence; leadership development; and managing stress for executives. She is a Certified Career Coach and a Certified Executive Coach, as well as a member of the International Coach Federation. http://www.smartworkcareercoaching.com.
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By Tamara Esgoode

Are you finding that prospecting and working your "cold market" is getting chillier these days? I've noticed this, especially in the last year. When I contact people who had responded to an advertisement that my company ran, it is extremely difficult to establish rapport than it used to be!

I've been quite surprised to see how much more closed and suspicious people have been compared to when I made phone calls just a year ago. Perhaps the challenges in today's world have made their impact on people. They are more fearful, less likely to trust someone they don't know.

How do you build rapport and build your network marketing business in times like this? You will need a little more patience, but if you persevere and follow these five basic network-marketing strategies, you can warm up even the chilliest of cold markets!

First, I'd like to review the basic network marketing strategies that create successful organizations. It's important to understand that the people who excel in network marketing have a large circle of influence. A circle of influence means there are a lot of people that know you, who like you and trust you. If you don't already have a large circle of influence, and you want to succeed in network marketing, you're going to need to build one!

How do you build a circle of influence? One person at a time! It’s always best to start with people that you know. Contact them and ask them for referrals. Participate in your community, attend Chamber of Commerce events, and hold local meetings. You develop yourself into a leader both personally and professionally, to attract other like-minded professionals.

Online, you do the same in the Internet community. You build a presence on the Internet with a newsletter list or Blog-or both, or website, so that you can build a relationship with people. You provide a way so they can get to know you... like an online photo album, and a personal "Get to Know Me" page.

These are the basics of good network marketing. Once you've contacted the people that you know, you will want to expand your circle of influence even further and get to know some new people! You can do this through advertising or through hiring a network marketing ad agency to advertise for you. Now, how do you handle today's increasingly chilly cold market? Well, you need to take more time to WARM IT UP!!! Here are six network-marketing strategies for warming up your cold market.

1. Whenever possible, use offline advertising sources such as postcards, newspapers, radio or TV. These prospects see your ad several times before responding, and are usually MUCH more highly qualified. If your ad is credible, people will trust you more easily.

2. If you must use Internet advertising, be sure to use an established and proven leads source which includes the use of an e-mail auto responder. This will allow you to contact people via e-mail legitimately, without Spam complaints. If you are very serious about generating leads online, I recommend you create or purchase your own lead generating website. This takes time but is a lifelong investment if done correctly.

3. When you reach a person by phone, don't rush the relationship building process. Find out what they are looking for, ask good questions, and really listen. Don't be pushy, focus on their needs. If you're new at working your cold market, team up with a successful leader in your upline who is experienced.

4. Offer something of value that is free like a report, eBook or consultation, that will both qualify and educate your prospect and that will also introduce you as part of the process. For example, on your free report include a link to your online photo album and your biography or "Get to Know Me" page.

5. Follow up several times to build familiarity and credibility with your prospect. Use an auto responder to help you in this, but don't depend on it. There is nothing like a good, old-fashioned conversation to build trust. Sending a postcard in the mail also helps a lot!

6. Be a real person. Tell. Don't sell! Avoid sales pitches. Instead, share your own story. Network marketing is about being your authentic best self. Let your heart and your integrity shine, and people will remember you and trust you. When they are ready to try your product or join your team, they will call you!

Tamara Esgoode has been network marketing since 2001. She writes about http://www.homebizhearts.com.
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By Paul Speziale

What's the biggest bottleneck in any business? Besides sales, this often-overlooked feature of any business could be causing you lost sales and your long-term success. Use these tips to reduce the most costly (and annoying) bottleneck with businesses today.

Imagine for a moment that you have just spent a small fortune on marketing...you have a sale that you want to advertise and you have produced full page ads in the local newspaper setting you back $20,000 a day, sent out thousands of flyers, produced signs, sent out press releases and you even went on TV.

The big day arrives and floods of people enter your store. You look at the people clawing at each other to buy your goods, while you eagerly wait to count your profits.

Then something bad happens...

A cashier takes a break to talk to his girlfriend on his cell phone, and she breaks up with him. He returns 15 minutes later disgusted, not caring about anything, right into the heat of the crowded store. He starts being rude to the customers, taking his time and tells some of the customers off.

Appalled, your customers leave the store, and the profits you were counting in your head have vanished into the smoke they came from.

So what happened?

What happened is what many believe is one of the biggest problems of any business today...the people that interface with your customers.

Usually they are the most underpaid, under trained people in your business. They are relied upon to handle all customer inquiries, complaints, joys and questions and basically close the sales. It’s not just in retail either. Any business that has prospects phoning and asking questions or placing orders has this problem.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard a story from a disgruntled long-time customer of some business that was driven away because the customer service person couldn’t accommodate their request, I would have lots of nickels.

And you know, the people that represent your business, the ones that interface with the customer everyday ARE your business to the customer. If they are mad because of some “7 dollar an hour…can’t wait to get home to go drinking” customer service representative, they will lump you and your product right along into their mental state. If you receive a brick in the mail one day, you may be having this problem.

So how do you avoid this bottleneck?

First, isolate whomever is having any contact with your customers.

1. Who’s answering your phones?
2. Who is on the floor greeting your customers?
3. Who’s answering the emails?
4. Who is responding to your white mail?
5. Who is placing the order?
6. Who is making the sales?

Second, you need to be constantly educating them and training them as to your specials, new products, etc. Make sure you have a networked computer system to take notes for telephone operators. There is nothing more frustrating then phoning one-customer service person, only to have to retell your problem to another one 10 minutes later after they mistakenly hang up on you.

Third, educate them on how to deal with people. Once they know why certain customers behave the way they do, they might not be rude with them or they can adapt their behavior to build rapport and guarantee the sale.

Fourth, give them a little negotiating power. Some customers will try to negotiate. Give the person some room with that, just to appease the customer’s desire to “get a good deal”. Often people will warm up when there is some negotiating room.

Lastly, perhaps give the people that deal with customers a small reward for their excellent people handling skills (in other words, closing the sale). It doesn’t have to be money. In fact, chances are it will be material things, not money. Find out what your employees want the most. It can be an IPOD, or a trip, your own products, or something to encourage them. Use incentives so they make the special effort with your customers.

Paul Speziale is a direct marketing consultant / entrepreneur based out of Toronto, Ontario. He has served all industries from manufacturers to retailers, from entrepreneurs to professionals. Besides helping clients, he is working on his own projects. He also volunteers his time for several worthy causes both local and global. You can reach him at: http://www.AnelloSolutions.com: Growing Your Business Through Low-Risk, Optimized and Results Based Marketing
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By Antonio Thornton

Everyone has a hobby of some kind - most people have several. There are people who collect stamps; people who make scrapbooks or create graphic designs with their digital photos; people who love horseback riding, hiking or bicycling.

Perhaps you do something that you don't even know is considered a "hobby". Technically, anything that you engage in for fun that is outside of your occupational activities is considered a hobby- so chances are you have lots of hobbies.

Have you ever considered turning one of your hobbies into a business? You may be surprised at how virtually any hobby can be converted to profits, and without tremendous overhead or ridiculously high start up costs.

What's even better, you aren't required to have a specific product to sell! In fact, you can make your knowledge your product to sell.

If you participate regularly in some sort of hobby, you are bound to know quite a bit about it. If you make scrapbooks of your family and friends, then you probably have extensive knowledge about where to get the best deals on your scrapbooking supplies, and how to create special effects on your photo album pages.

You refer to magazines and websites for inspiration. You have the personal knowledge of what it took to get started in the hobby. For example, scrapbooking requires that you have access to supplies like paper, stickers, glue, photo albums and scrapbooking tools.

Someone who has just learned about scrapbooking and thinks they want to start the hobby will need to figure out what you need to get started. You could offer this knowledge as your product to sell. Think people won't buy it? Think again.

Have you used a search engine to look up information? You know that it's time consuming to sort through all the data to find exactly what you're looking for. Often, you're given tons of information that does not seem all that reliable. You have to determine what you can use and what you need to avoid.

When you make your personal knowledge of a hobby your product to sell- you're helping everyone who wants to find that information without spending hours searching for it.

You do not need to have a physical product to sell in order to make a profit. In fact, having an inventory or having to create physical items from materials offers a lower profit margin than selling information.

Information products are among the top items to sell for a variety of reasons. They offer a low cost to get started, meaning you start earning a profit after just a couple sales. Informational products include eBooks, online courses or email courses, software, audio files, web sites- basically anything that can be downloaded from the Internet.

You aren't required to have an inventory. You can set up your business model to allow you to earn money by the work other people do for you.

Maybe you're thinking that this is all well and good- but you still don't have a product to sell! You haven't written an eBook, and maybe your writing skills are weak. Creating online or email courses are time consuming, and to create software you need special training. You can still sell your knowledge. Create a "package" of items that someone would need in order to get started in a particular hobby, and promote it as the "everything you need to know" about starting the hobby.

Contact someone who has written an informative eBook on the topic; find someone else who has made an online video or radio show regarding it, and request permission to sell the items in your package. If they have affiliate programs, you can probably sign up for the affiliate programs and earn commission that way. Include your list of great providers for supplies or information that you refer to regularly, and anything else you know a person needs in order to get started in the hobby. This is a product to sell: selling your knowledge.

Once you've earned money from this type of information product business, you can invest in the creation of your own products if you want, or start offering more informational products that allow you to sell your knowledge.

Copyright (c) 2006 www.hobby4profit.com

Antonio Thornton started with $37 and turned his "nerdy" computer hobby into a $500,000.00 per year business. Get the free Hobby For Profit Audio Report and discover how to turn your hobby into profit today! http://www.hobby4profit.com/freeh4p.
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By Kelly Robbins

It's worth the effort spending some time and energy figuring out whom you work best with. Once you've figured that out, then what? You feel good; you've chosen a niche. How do you find the people in your niche and get your message across to them? How can you do that without feeling like you are selling to them?

Here are a few things for you to think about...

1. Does this group of people, this niche, have any outside interests in common? For example, a large group of engineers in the Midwest that enjoy hunting in their spare time, or graphic designers in the Rocky Mountains that are avid rock climbers. Is there a better way to share a common interest and get to know each other in a relaxed environment than to join them on their excursions? Establish trust, build new friendships - it all leads to enjoyable work opportunities for you.

2. Do you help out with your kid's soccer team or are you on the PTA at school? When you do things YOU enjoy, it will naturally lead to meeting new people with like interests. Your co-volunteers could work in the niche you've chosen or they may have friends that do. Doing things you enjoy, especially if it is involves getting out and meeting other people, will help YOU meet new people and make new contacts. Don't like the people you've been hanging around with? Try something new and totally different. Put your self in a very different environment, meet totally different people, and have a very different experience.

3. Get involved in local networking associations. Be more targeted than the chamber of commerce, if you can. To meet more people involved in naturopathic medicine, find out what they do. Perhaps they attend trade shows on natural health, or are interested in yoga, or vitamins, or the natural food stores in your area. How can you have a presence there? Are there groups meeting that are rock-climbing enthusiasts? Roller-blading groups?

4. Are there any small, local publications that your target market may read? For example, there are a few free magazines and newspapers in my area that are often looking for content for their readers. Classified ads are very inexpensive because the publications are small. I've also found that these smaller publications are very open to bartering to keep their pages full. One publisher offered to run ads for me for free if I delivered the free papers to 20 or so places around town once a month. I am too busy to do that of course, but the point is to be creative.

5. Look at where your strengths and weaknesses are. If you're comfortable writing and doing marketing related tasks on the Internet, you may be doing enough of that already. Get away from your computer and meet some people. The same can be said if you are an extrovert. You need to balance your marketing efforts both online and off. I do get a lot of business from my online marketing efforts, but I also know that it compliments anything I do outside my office. Meeting people and having them experience you and your energy can't be beat.

Have you seen a common thread here? All of the tips I gave you involved you getting out and meeting people. As a writer, I admit I like to stay home and do stuff on my computer. I have an awesome system in place for marketing myself online, publishing articles, and even coaching and working with people on the phone.

Getting out to meet people means taking off my favorite slippers and actually moving - not what I always want to do. Looking over the successes I've had the past few years, there's no doubt that when I do get out and speak to a group or get involved in an organization, my business gets busier. The people that I meet in person who have felt my energy and enthusiasm give me more referrals, and bring me more word of mouth marketing than the clients I have online. We are more likely to become friends.

Copyright (c) 2006 Kelly Robbins

Author of Healthcare Copywriting Secrets Revealed, Kelly Robbins is a healthcare copywriter and marketing coach/consultant. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection (http://www.healthcaremarketingconnection.com), a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, "5 critical things you must know when writing for the healthcare industry" - info@KellyRobbinsLLC.com or 303-460-0285.
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By Roy Barker

You can search for hours and still not get the information you're seeking when you want to do something as important as starting a photography business. Keep in mind that some of the photography businesses that you can specialize in may have varying requirements. You would do well to remember this once you have read this article and want to learn a little more on each of the photographic areas. With this in mind, I have supplied a free report that you can access from my site later.

Almost anyone with the right camera equipment, and the necessary skills can set up a home business, marketing photography. You only need to convert a room of your house into an office, and then you can work immediately.

Because you have modern technology in the form of SLR digital cameras, you do not even need the space for a dark room. You need only to have a personal computer and a photo-editing program. The standard is Adobe Photoshop.

Don't clutter yourself with equipment you do not need. You can hire equipment on a ‘when you need it’ basis. You have the freedom to work part time for a while until you can devote yourself full time to photography. All you need to be is a serious photographer. There are two types of photographers that make their living from photography, the serious photographer and the very serious photographer. You can always bookmark this link and then quickly access just about all you'll ever need from here.

Whilst the technical skills needed to make a successful photographer have never been easier, other aspects have changed the business. The market for photographs of virtually every type has widened. The world seems to have an insatiable appetite for photographs. However, the price has fallen as the marketing net has broadened. Photographers are needed in many more fields. For instance, many people use car web sites, which did not exist ten years ago, to sell their products as a result of photography. Cameras used by scuba diver’s are now an excellent quality, and while they are initially expensive, they have forged a new market. People celebrate special occasions more with photography, than previously. The travel and advertising markets have a greater need for landscape, travel, and nature shots.

It’s now easier to turn your dream into reality and create a worthwhile business out of an engrossing hobby. However, in today’s modern world there is more to it than simply pointing a camera, and shooting a picture. You need to be aware of marketing techniques. Marketing simply means transferring ownership of a product, in this case, an image from a buyer to seller. Be aware of any local gaps in the market in your local area. Try to be on top of your competitor’s prices, to undercut an existing photographer is one choice, but to neglect to value your skills and not charge enough to cover your overhead is another matter entirely. Remember this, it’s an important point.

Use your skills to the best advantage of the business and define what you want from it. Writing a business plan helps to keep you focused on the areas you specifically want to exploit. A business plan helps you to define your goals and strategies. It will
Need to be changed and updated, helping you to keep things in perspective. You have it to refer back to it when things become confusing or complicated. Everyone’s business plan will be different, and every objective will be different, but there are certain common factors that make up a good business plan that will help your business grow. It allows you to develop a professional attitude to your business, which not only helps you to increase your earnings, but also help you to finance your business.

For the photographer it should include, your business name, or your own, with full details of the proposed location of the business, a copy of your logo, as well as details of your copyright notices. What is the form of your proposed business (sole ownership, partnership, Limited Liability Company or Corporation)? This should be followed by a table of contents, which focuses on a logical order. There are resources that will give you further details on such as http://profitable-photography.com

Then in complete detail, list the type of business you intend to pursue, and it should contain the services you intend to offer. This section shoul