The Work At Home Ideas Blog

The Biggest Work at Home Pitfalls Revealed!

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 19:36:00 +0000

"The secret of success is to know something nobody else knows."

When you decide to build a career online, or feel that the time has come to start your own business, there are a few major pitfalls which you should try to avoid. Ive outlined the most important ones to give you a head start. This way you will probably save a lot of time in the process.

Make sure that you take it serious, whatever kind of Work at Home idea you might have, promise yourself to fully commit yourself to it. There is no way to succeed with anything on line or off line, if youre not prepared to give it all youve got.

Dont expect anything to happen overnight. For any home business, or traditional business for that matter, to become successful you need to invest time and find the capability to be patient. There will be ups and downs, moments of glory and moments of despair. You have to invest in a learning process to improve your skills and in the end reap the rewards.

Stay focused on your goals, write down a list of things you want to achieve with your work at home idea. Once you have written your list you can break it down in sort of assignments.

Lets say that one of your goals is making $2.000,- a month. Start coming up with steps you need to take to achieve this goal. If you cant work these steps out yourself, there will always be a person in the same field of expertise who you can find to give you advice.

After you have done the above and started your new career, you should track your progress at all times. This way you can pinpoint when things work and when they dont work. Try to focus on the things that dont work first and bend them around. A lot of fine tuning might be needed to get the whole process to run smoothly.

A final word of advice, dont let anybody or anything keep you from your goals. If to you it is worth fighting for, then you should be ashamed not to fight. Not fighting for your own future will end up with a never to be answered question. What if? Me personally, I dont want that question hanging above my head the rest of my life. Take action and enjoy the ride.

Using the above guidelines are intended to help you to keep a clear picture of what it is you actually want to achieve.

Harrold Swalve is a published author and successful online entrepreneur. He owns the Home Business Resource Center http://www.pocketmoremoney.com To read more off his articles just visit his blog at http://www.pocketmoremoney.com/blog/blogger.html

Ronald

http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Internet Marketing Buyers Beware

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 17:23:00 +0000

Internet Marketing Buyers Beware
Copyright © 2006 Willie Crawford

One of the saddest things I've witnessed in personally consulting with literally hundreds of people, is someone attempting to start an online business with a virtually useless product. These are usually people trying to sell outdated products that are generally available for free from hundreds (if not thousands) of other websites.

I see the above far too often. Here are two ways that I've seen this happen:

1) Someone, often a newbie, buys a set of reprint or resale rights from a long copy sales page. This page does such a great job of selling the package that the prospect can see setting up dozens of sites and "making millions."

The newbie buys the package, picks out a few products that look promising, and begins setting up websites for each. Shortly afterwards is where I often come into the picture, as these webmasters often approach me for help in getting more sales. They are perplexed as to why they haven't made even a single sale.

I often take a quick look and instantly identify the problem. The product is often "older than dirt" and available all over the internet for free. At other times, the product is not outdated, but is available on dozens of other sites at a much lower price. In the latter case, the webmaster is trying to sell the product at the price that was listed on the sales page where the bundle of products was described. This would work if it weren't for the fact that MOST of the other people who bought rights to the product were selling it much cheaper, or even using it as a freebie to get new subscribers.

2) A relative newbie buys a package containing dozens of "web businesses-in-a-box." These are complete packages containing a ready-to-go website and a product (usually software or an ebook). Often these ready-to- go packages are comprised of outdated products that countless other people are GIVING away.

How do you avoid the two situations described above? There's a Latin expression - "caveat emptor." It means "let the buyer beware." It means that it's the buyer's responsibility to know what he's buying.

Does this mean that you shouldn't buy these packages of reprint and resale rights? No, it just means that you need to know what you are buying. You also need to know how to properly market it. I've made a small fortune from buying, repackaging, and then reselling reprint rights, resale rights and private label rights.

My secret is that when I buy one of these packages, I go through and look for items that I can combine in different ways. I look for gems within these packages that weren't even emphasized on the sales page, but that I know many of my customers would get a lot of use out of. I look for items that I can add to other packages I'm already selling... to breathe new life into an old sales page or add more value to my offerings.

As an example, I once purchased a resale rights package that included 38 PDF cookbooks. I added these cookbooks to the sales page for my soul food cookbook that I was already selling (as a time limited bonus). This increased my sales for that cookbook substantially while adding practically nothing to the cost of delivering the basic product. If you'd like to see that example in action, check out my sales page at: http://Chitterlings.com/cookbook.html

Another one of my secrets is that I buy private label rights and source code, modify these, and come up with new products at a very low cost. I've done this with over a dozen ebooks, and with several software titles that I currently market. This gives you your own unique product at a very low cost.

The final thing that you MUST do is not overpay for these reprint and resale rights. You WILL find lots of marketable gems in these packages. You can market these as parts of new packages, or as stand alone products. However, you do want to minimize your initial investment.

You can actually find packages containing literally thousands of dollars in reprint and resale rights for under $100. You can even find these bargains for under $50. An example, is the Kick Start Mega Sale, conducted to raise funds for building a homeless shelter. Here you can get a package worth over $4000 for pennies on the dollar. This package is available for a very limited time at: http://kickstartmegasale.com/ks/?ksa=2

You CAN set up an online info-marketing business and do extremely well. The whole key is to get started with the right product... one with some real value. The whole key there is to do your due diligence, and to be aware of the traps. Now, you need never fall victim to the horror stories that we opened this article with. Feel free to pass this article on and to help spread the word.

------------------------

Willie Crawford has been marketing and teaching on the
Internet since late-1996. One of the most unusual
projects he helped orchestrate involved using an
Internet "fire sale" to fund the launching of a television
show, and building of a homeless shelter. Read about
that at: http://kickstartmegasale.com/ks/?ksa=2

---------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

The Benefits of Affiliate Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 21:01:00 +0000

The Benefits of Affiliate Marketing
Copyright © 2006 Michael Saville

Affiliate marketing has become one of the most effective ways to advertise online. It is also one of the easiest ways for anyone with a website to make a profit online. Affiliate Marketing is an agreement between a merchant and a website owner. The website owner, or the affiliate, allows the use of their site for the promotion of the merchant's products by linking to the merchant's website. In exchange, the merchant pays a commission to the affiliate on all sales generated by the affiliate. Every time someone clicks on the link on the affiliate website and proceeds to make a purchase, the affiliate gets a commission. The merchant will pay the affiliate only when a customer clicks on the product link and makes a purchase.

Affiliate marketing programs are described as a win-win situation for both the merchant and the affiliate because of the pay-for-performance scheme. Both the merchant and the affiliate enjoy some benefits in affiliate marketing. There are many benefits on the merchant's side. It gives the merchant a wider market in which to advertise a product or service. Affiliate marketing will give the product or service the maximum exposure that it may not get with other traditional advertising techniques. The more affiliate sites a merchant has, the higher the traffic, which can convert to sales. Affiliate marketing is the equivalent of having an army of sales people who will do the advertising and will only get a commission if a customer purchases.

Meanwhile, since an affiliate marketing relationship is a win-win situation, the affiliate also enjoys many benefits. Foremost among these is the easy way to make a profit. The affiliate can earn by having an ad or link to the merchant's website, which prospective customers will hopefully click and proceed to make a purchase. As soon as the customer clicks on the ad on the affiliate's site, is redirected to the merchant's website and goes on to buy that particular product, the affiliate earns a commission. The more referrals there are the more profit for the affiliate.

Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to earn money while at home. There are virtually no production costs. The product is already developed and proven by the merchant, and all you have to do to find, as many prospects as you can that will bring in the profit for both the merchant and the affiliate. Affiliate programs are usually free to join, so affiliates do not have to worry about start-up costs. There are thousands of products and services you can choose from. You can find affiliate programs for every product under the sun. Surely, there is a product or service out there that is relevant to your website.

In addition, there is absolutely no sales experience necessary. Most affiliate programs offer excellent support when it comes to providing marketing material. The simplicity of affiliate marketing allows you to be an affiliate marketer at the least cost and the most comfort. You can even build a successful affiliate marketing business right in the convenience of your own home. In affiliate marketing, your responsibility is simply to find prospects for the merchant; you do not have to worry about inventory, order processing, and product shipping. These, along with customer service support are the duties of the merchant.

Because of the global reach of the internet, you can easily find thousands of prospects. You can intensify your advertising campaign by exploiting more aggressive and productive strategies such as viral marketing. By attracting more prospects, you also maximize your potential to earn. Another benefit of an affiliate marketer is the minimal risk involved. If the product you are advertising is not making money then you can dump it and choose another. There are no long-term binding contracts tying you to products that are not making enough money.

All the same, the best benefit of being an affiliate marketer is the opportunity to increase your income; and you can make a profit even if affiliate marketing is only a sideline business. With your own affiliate business, you can earn easily earn extra income, although you do have to exert effort and use your imagination to maximize your earning potential. Indeed, affiliate marketing is one of the simplest and most effective business opportunities on the web today.

------------------------

For more information on affiliate marketing visit http://www.affiliate.marketing.me.uk

-------------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Tell To Sell: Five Ways More Web Content Helps You To Sell More

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 16:00:00 +0000

Copyright © 2006 Angela Booth

You have a Web site. You're disappointed.

Your site just hasn't lived up to promises like: "Get a Web site -- you can do non-stop business 24x7, every day of the year"! Your site has been live online for six months and you haven't made a single sale. You doubt that you ever will.

Want to know why your site isn't selling? It's simple. There's not enough content.

Use your imagination, and come with me for a moment, as we walk through a local mall -- any mall. Let's go into this shoe shop. Do you like those Nikes? Want to try them on? It's OK, I'll wait while you buy the shoes.

Now, what made you buy the shoes? You were given dozens of signals that prompted you to buy, because you had enough information. A Web site doesn't have the advantages of a shop in a mall. You have to give your visitors enough information so that they feel comfortable doing business with you. People feel at ease when you have enough content (that is, text, images, multimedia) on your site to prompt them to buy.

Here are five ways in which more Web content helps you to sell more:

1. More Web content brings more traffic, and more traffic brings more sales

When you've got content, you can use search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to bring more traffic to your site. The Web search engines (Google etc) are indexing software. If you have a four-page site, with 200 words on each page, you're giving Google just 800 words to index. A few more pages with more words will make a lot of difference.

2. You can target the Long Tail of Web surfers

Chris Anderson's Wired article coined the term "The Long Tail". His book of the same name was published in 2006. As applied to Web content, you can target the Long Tail of Web surfers if you offer more information on your site: you increase the chance that you'll reach the people who are most interested in what you're selling, because more people will find you via the search engines.

3. You can instill enough confidence in your visitors so they feel comfortable buying from you

Compare your Web site to the shoe store in the mall. Your visitors can't know more about you than what's on your site -- are you giving them the confidence that you're a good company from which they can buy with confidence? You're going to have to work hard to give them confidence. Give them the information they need to feel comfortable buying from you.

This is where a blog helps your site, because although you're targeting a global audience, people are individuals, and you make one sale at a time. When you blog, you're adding content to your site, and giving people confidence that they know you and your business.

4. You can establish yourself as an authority in your industry

If you've got a tiny site, unless you've got an additional platform, such as a bricks and mortar store, a book, or a catalog, you may be an expert in what you do or sell, but you need to be able to show this. Saying on your home page "We're the greatest" doesn't help, unless you provide evidence.

5. You build Trust Rank with the search engines, which delivers more traffic

With millions of new Web pages being created every day, it's harder for search engines to decide which sites to return as query results. It seems that Google and Yahoo are starting to estimate the value of pages according to trust factors. No one knows how the search engines calculate trust, but offering more content on your site is a way to add to your trustability, especially when other sites begin to link to yours.

So, now you have five good reasons to add content to your Web site. Remember the shoe store. You were told in hundreds of ways that you could buy at the store with confidence. More Web content gives you more ways to convince your visitors to buy from you.

------------------------

Angela Booth is a veteran copywriter and marketer. She develops marketing strategies for businesses large and small. Visit her creative copywriting site at http://angelabooth.com/ and her Creativity Factory marketing copywriting blog at http://www.angelabooth.com/wp/ NEW: subscribe to Top Words, Angela's exclusive free marketing tips ezine: http://angelabooth.com/Top_Words/subscribe.html

------------------------

Ronald
http://www,affiliateutopia.com/

Easy Ways To Get The Family Involved In Your Home Business!

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 19:20:00 +0000

by BB Lee (C)2002

(Clever tips to turn your home business into a family affair)

IT'S SUMMER VACATION!

The kids are screaming. "It's "WAY TOO HOT" outside. And there's nothing to watch on cable." Kids are bouncing off the walls!

"MOM". We're B-O-R-E-D!

Your husband complains he doesn't remember what it's like to have a decent conversation with you. And he looks at the family album to remind himself what you look like. Why? Because you've locked yourself away in your home office. Toiling away for hours on your computer.

Instead of your family constantly fighting and bickering over your venture. Let them join in. And become a vital part of your home business. Ultimately, this will bring the family closer together, help them to understand the business factor, teach your children responsibility, build their self confidence. And who knows, you might be on the verge of your own Family Business Empire!

Here's a few nifty tips to get the whole family involved in your business during summer vacation or any school break. And, of course, you can adapt them to your own situation. Find out what works for you!

-Delegate easy task to the younger children. Let little fingers sort pencils, pens, office supplies into the right compartments. Arrange file boxes or stack them neatly. Sort sheets of paper by color or weight into neat little groups. You could easily turn this into a game and make it fun. Reward them with a healthy snack or favorite toy.

-Let middle children spell check your letters, proof-read papers for you. Or file and sort papers, run copy machines, send faxes. You might arrange to pay them a small salary or purchase something they've asked for.

-Assign your older children to answering the business telephone. Taking messages. Running important errands to the post office or purchasing needed office supplies. Consider paying older children a nominal salary if your budget allows.

-Assign your spouse to checking your email, downloading important files, helping with accounting or financial statements. Or delegate your spouse to research special projects.

-Once a week have a business meeting with your spouse and children. Discuss where you are now and where you see the home business in a year. Discuss any new projects, task, or assignments. Discuss openly any problems. Let the children and your spouse add their input into how they would like to see the business managed.

Use these suggestions to meet the unique challenges you may face in running a home business. Make it a family affair! And, remember, running a home business is not like running a corporation. Ultimately, you must realize it is the family that is most important.

~ Article may be freely distributed as long as the resource box is included.

========================================================== BB Lee is Editor/Publisher of SmallBizBits FREE Home Biz Newsletter published twice per month. You can visit SmallBizBit's website at http://www.angelfire.com/zine/smallbiz. Subscribe Now! And you will receive 5 ebook Bonus worth 100.00. To subscribe ...mailto:Smallbiz-subscribe@topica.com ----------------------------------------------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Good Online Business Ideas – Four factors that you should consider

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 21:03:00 +0000

Copyright © 2006 Guillermo Puyol

Many people sometime in their lifetime consider starting a business of their own. Lately, these entrepreneurs at heart tend to resort to the internet as the medium for their businesses. Unfortunately, most of them fail drastically. The reason for that most of these people fail is not lack of effort, knowledge or business background; it is their business plan. Some of these eager individuals are so enthusiastic about their new quest, that they forget to stop and come up with a plan. Now, I don’t recommend you over-plan things to the extent that your idea will sound impossible. But do consider whether or not your business idea has the following parameters.

First of all, your idea has to be something that excites you and drives you. You have to be completely passionate about what you want to do in order to be successful at it. It is very hard to find a successful entrepreneur that doesn’t like what he is doing. When you think of a business idea, consider whether you would be happy doing that for the rest of your life. Is your investment buying you freedom or is it buying you a job? It is interesting to me to see the number of people that invest their life savings in a business that doesn’t appeal to them; you see them buying franchises to become professional burger flippers, pizza toppers and chicken fryers, and they slave away firing manager after manager in order to make their business successful.

Once you have found an idea that sounds exciting, you should try to determine whether you can afford to carry it out. In this stage of the process it is necessary to find out how much will it cost to launch the business, but most importantly, how much it would cost to keep the business running. At first it is very likely that you will not be profitable; you have to make sure you have enough capital to run the business for at least two or three months without making a penny. It pays to be pessimistic when it comes to this. You should find out whether you are going to need partners, investors or creditors in order to finance your operation.

Another point to consider is how much work (labor) will take to keep the business running. If you are going to require a customer service department, or shipping department, then you must see how many people you will need to employ. This will be closely related to the budget aspect of your business plan; the more people necessary to run the operation, then the more money you will need to start out.

Last, but not least you must consider the most important aspect of all –the one you have no control over: time. Do you have the time to manage your business or will you have to hire somebody else to manage it? The more time your business takes out of you, then the less time you will have to start another venture.

In conclusion, you want a business idea that drives you, something that is within your budget, it doesn’t take too much labor to keep it running and it is time friendly. Only with a business model like this will you be able to succeed online.

------------------------

Author of "Turn Ideas Into Cash! Newsletter" The newsletter features great online business ideas, advice and tools that are essential to beginning webmasters as well as seasoned pros. To get your free copy log on to http://www.TurnIdeasIntoCash.com

------------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Double Profits With Same Website Traffic

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 21:06:00 +0000

Copyright � 2006 Jim Edwards

Every serious online business owner eats, sleeps and breaths targeted traffic to their website.

They spend the most money and time trying to attract first-time visitors to their sites in hopes of generating new sales and subscribers.

But, believe it or not, it�s easier to increase your income by simply selling more of the visitors you already get than trying to chase down more traffic.

The solution? Tracking & testing!

Probably the most overlooked and underutilized, but certainly the most powerful strategy for increasing sales and opt-in subscriptions.

If you spend any time or money on advertising, you must start testing and tracking.

Simply put, �tracking� means you measure the effectiveness of each individual advertising source you use to promote your business.

For example, if you advertise in email newsletters, you should know how effective each newsletter ad rates compared to all the others in terms of sales and subscribers generated.

This enables you to know whether an ad makes or loses money.

Testing means you constantly look for ways to improve your ads in small, incremental amounts that add up over time.

The most common (and effective) tests you can run are A-B split tests, which pit two variables against each other to determine which converts more lookers into buyers.

Split testing headlines, price points, and guarantee periods make, from my experience, the best places to start testing.

The reason testing and tracking can double your profits (or more) lies in the power of small, incremental improvements.

Lets say, for example, you decide to do a series of split tests on a website that currently converts 1 in every 100 visitors (1% conversion).

You test, headline, price, guarantee and a payment plan. If each of the 4 tests yields a .25% increase in conversion, you would not see an increase in sales to 2% (4x.25%), but actually an increase to almost 2.5% since each improvement builds on the last!

The most basic tool in testing and tracking revolves around the use of advertising link tracker software.

These tools measure the number of clicks on individual advertisements (text links, banners, pay-per-click ads, etc) and then measure sales or subscriptions generated as a result.

You get two choices with link trackers: a hosted service or software you install on your own server.

A hosted service offers the advantage of easy setup and use. Most of the time you just sign up for the service, enter the link you want to track, get your tracking code, and you�re off to the races.

The disadvantage of a hosted service is that, if it gets abused, using the URL of the service in your links can get your emails blocked or your pages banned by search engines.

The advantage of hosting the software on your own server is that you maintain a higher degree of technical control and can avoid the banning issues.

The main disadvantage of hosting it yourself involves the fact that you really don�t have anyone to call for help if something goes wrong.

One of the most popular hosted link trackers online is HyperTracker.com, though I�ve not used the service.

My favorite link tracker is actually part of an integrated e-commerce system at http://www.MysiteSales.com.

This service enables you to track your sales and subscriptions made through the shopping cart.

Two options for software you install on your own server are Dynatracker.com and ProAnalyzer.com.

Both provide decent link tracking, though no system I�ve tested provides 100% accurate results.

But, with that said, failure to test means you�re leaving money on the table by wasting visitors you could otherwise convert to buyers with basic effort at improving your sales messages.

------------------------

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-step and click-by-click how to get your own money-making videos posted online... "Finally! A Quick and Easy Way For YOU To Painlessly Create, Post and PROFIT From Your Own Money-Making Online Videos... Without Being a Computer Geek or Paying Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!" => http://www.WebsiteVideoSecrets.com

----------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Organic SEO The New Messiah For Webmasters

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 18:20:00 +0000

Organic SEO The New Messiah For Webmasters
Copyright © 2006 Titus Hoskins

Organic SEO seems to be the catch phrase of the moment. However, unlike many other linking tactics and strategies, this one actually works.

What is Organic SEO or Organic Search Engine Optimization?

Explained simply, it's where all your linking structures originates from the content up - in other words, you let all your content created for your sites, blogs and articles do your link building for you.

Actually, the answer is as simple as this article. You're probably experiencing one of the best examples of Organic SEO right this moment by reading this article. Article marketing is pure Organic SEO. You let your article and your author's resource box build one-way links from related niche sites back to your site.

But the keyword is content. You must create high quality original content for this system to really develop and flourish. The better the content, the faster your rankings and traffic will grow. By producing valuable content in articles, sites and blogs, you are building real traffic and real links that the search engines salivate over. And they will reward your site with higher rankings and even more traffic.

Try Article Writing...

Frankly, I was rather surprised at the effectiveness of article writing. It seems like such a benevolent little creature. You write about your own experiences on the subject of your site or blog, keeping your articles short, around 500 to 800 words, although some of my best performing articles have been longer, about 900 to 1200 words.

I have only written about 60 articles. But the benefits have been enormous; spreading my content all over the web and building one-way links back to my sites and blogs. Some of these articles like the ones in Addme.com or Webpronews.com get archived and will provide good deep PR links for years to come.

There are a few techniques I use to extend the effectiveness of my articles. First, I always start with a keyword or keyword phrase that I want to target with a particular article. I do major, major, major research on my article's keywords, using sites like nichebot.com, overture.com, and a few others.

I check how much competition there is for the keywords. Combining a new keyword with ones you already have positioned high for in the search engines works well. For example, I have optimized my site for the keyword 'Free', it appears throughout my site. When I introduce a new keyword phrase I sometimes combine it with Free. Pick the right keyword combination and you will gain an edge over your competition more quickly.

Always put your keyword phrase into the title of your article. I also make it a habit of not picking the top keywords in a niche, I go for middle ranked keywords - I am better assured that I will rank on the first page SERPs for these lower keywords. Why waste valuable time shooting for the stars when you can easily land on the moon!

I submit my articles mainly to a short list of online article directories ( ezinearticles.com, buzzle.com, isnare.com, goarticles.com, ideamarketers.com, and articlealley.com ) these work the best for me. These sites rank well in the search engines and even though the surfer may go to another site to read your article first, it then delivers a much more warmed up and targeted visitor to your own site.

Other webmasters from your niche will pick up your high quality articles and place them on their sites. Organically growing more related one-way links to your site. Google looks very favorably on these one-way links and will reward your site for having them.

Article marketing is one Organic SEO tactic every website should be using. Instead of paying high prices for seo services, why not write or hire someone to create keyword rich articles for your site. The benefits will surprise you.

Try Blogging...

Blogs are another form of Organic SEO. It also builds links and traffic to your site the natural way - by providing valuable content.

For those marketers and webmasters who practice Organic SEO, the free blogging systems are a godsend. A skilled marketer can legitimately use these online blogging programs to boost their site's rankings, traffic and income. What more can any online marketer or webmaster ask for?

I use numerous blogs to compliment my sites. I base these blogs on the major keywords of my sites. For example, one section on my main Internet Marketing site examines laptop computers, I created a blog with Bloglines.com covering the same topic. Although all the content is different from what you will find on my main site.

I also use Blogger.com because it's owned by Google and is very simple to use. I find posting my weekly ezine on Blogger adds another way I can get my message out to my subscribers. Not to mention, all the linking and pinging a blog brings into play.

I also use the open source software and system, WordPress for another of my blogs on marketing. This is a php database supported program that was a lot less easier to set up on my site than I first expected. It's one of the best blogging systems I have worked with and is highly favored by the search engines. If you're not using it - try it.

In addition, I have just started using LiveJournal for another blog and that system is also very easy to use. I usually post to my blogs once or twice a week, just short helpful tips or links that a visitor or search engine would be interested in. Keep in mind, all these free blogging sites are PR9 or PR10, has to count for something.

Spam has become a problem with many of these blogging systems, I now usually block all comments or moderate them. All this spam just goes to show how effective getting links in related blogs can booster your rankings for competitive keywords.

I have found blogging to be a very effective tool for getting your keywords indexed and ranked very quickly. I also like to use blogs for those golden double-header listings in the SERPs, preferably at the number 1 and 2 spots! That's where you get two listings from your site for a certain keyword on the first page, this I find, brings in a lot more traffic than a single listing.

In art there is something called the Golden Section, a perfect proportion that works magic into any painting or picture. It is an organic and natural effect that appears everywhere in our world. For webmasters, having your site listed 1 and 2 for your keywords has to be another form of the Golden Section, made especially for us.

In that same light, Organic SEO is a natural and effective way for webmasters to grow their links and rankings. Articles and blogs are two special tools we can use to further that natural growth. Create your own Golden Section and give the search engines something to talk about by trying Organic SEO. Build your links and rankings the natural way.

Your site's salvation is only a keystroke away!

------------------------

Titus Hoskins owns and runs numerous sites on the web. To receive more useful marketing tips to promote your site and to increase your sales Click Here: http://www.bizwaremagic.com . Or grab his popular List Building eCourse here: http://www.bizwaremagic.com/opt-in.htm
© 2006. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

-----------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Learn the Top 5 Strategies and Cool Tools You Need to Know About to Start Your Online Business.

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Tue, 16 May 2006 19:20:00 +0000

Learn the Top 5 Strategies and Cool Tools You Need to Know About to Start Your Online Business.
Copyright © 2006 John Navata

#1: Depend on the tried and tested essentials of Internet marketing

These key strategies for marketing your business online have always been effective, but are now much easier to apply. Things like...

Designing a web site that sells: As in the early days of the 'Net, your web site needs to have clear navigation and a good sales process to be effective; however, it's now much more important for your site to look professional. Today's web surfers have clear expectations of how a commercial web site should look and perform. Luckily, new tools and resources, such as the free web-building software Nvu, make it a breeze for you to create a good-looking, fully functioning business web site.

Discovering a profitable niche market: Providing a solution to a problem for a narrowly-defined niche market is still extremely important -- maybe even more so with the increased competition. But now, advanced tools such as Yahoo! Search Marketing's Keyword Selector Tool and Wordtracker can help you pinpoint exactly who your market is and what they're hungry for.

Multiplying your profits with additional income streams: If you want to pile profit on top of profit, combine several revenue streams. The host of e-commerce opportunities that are now available mean that you have an almost limitless selection of these profit-boosters: from moving merchandise on eBay to creating free web pages with Google pages that will be quickly indexed by the search engines, to selling on-demand merchandise on sites such as CafePress.com.

Expanding your reach -- and profits! -- with an affiliate program: An affiliate program can still ramp up your income while exposing your site to a wider audience. But instead of recruiting an "army" of affiliates, these days it's more important to attract "super affiliates" to your program -- a few affiliates who will be responsible for generating the bulk of your sales. These superstars can be attracted by a generous commission structure and payouts for sales generated long after an affiliate's referral. Of course, some areas of Internet marketing have changed more than others since our first course made its debut in 1998. Let's take a look at some of them... and the tremendous opportunities they offer.

#2: Make sure your e-mail gets delivered... the critical changes you need to be aware of E-mail marketing is still highly profitable. In fact, we made $2.4 million last year from e-mail marketing alone!

Not only is it a great -- and inexpensive -- way to establish relationships with your customers, but your promotions and follow-up offers can be completely automated.

However, while you used to be able to send e-mail to absolutely everyone, these days you have to be very careful. Spam -- a growing problem on the 'Net -- cost US businesses an estimated $17 billion in 2005 (Ferris Research) and now accounts for 57% of all e-mail (Ipswitch 2006)!

The consequences of spamming have grown far beyond a slap on the wrist from your Internet Service Provider or a few nasty e-mails from angry recipients. For example...

Internet Service Providers now filter all incoming e-mail for spam by blocking messages that contain particular combinations of words or phrases and shutting out ALL e-mail from the domains and IP addresses of known spammers. So if you get mistakenly labeled as a spammer, as much as 50% of your e-mail may be "filtered" and never reach your subscribers. And it can take weeks or months to resolve the issue!

The CAN-SPAM Act (January 2004) introduced laws that allowed spammers to be prosecuted if specific guidelines aren't being met. Under this Act you can be fined, and even jailed, if your e-mails don't meet certain requirements, such as an "unsubscribe" link in the body of each e-mail you send out. The bottom line is that if you want to take advantage of the profit-boosting power of e-mail marketing, you MUST make sure that your e-mails comply with the CAN-SPAM Act. You can read the full text of the CAN-SPAM regulations at www.spamlaws.com/federal/can-spam.shtml.

Once you've made sure your e-mails will be delivered, you need to think about their content. In the face of overflowing inboxes, your e-mails and newsletters need to be particularly appealing and valuable if you want them to be opened.

#3: Keep up with the search engines and take advantage of FREE sources of traffic The search engine landscape has changed dramatically since we published the first edition of our course. We used to recommend getting listed on eight major search engines: Altavista, Excite, HotBot, InfoSeek, Lycos, Northern Light, WebCrawler, and Yahoo.

Today, clear leaders have emerged, narrowing our recommendations to the top three contenders:

Google: The most important of the three, Google has a 49% share of the search market.

Yahoo: A distant second, Yahoo has a 22% market share.

MSN: With 11% of the market, MSN is still worth focusing on. With fewer search engines, keeping on top of their ever-shifting algorithms has become critical. If you can get a top listing on Google, for example, you can double your potential customers!

A new way to drive free traffic to your site is to write short articles related to your industry and post them on e-zine article directories such as Ezinearticles.com. Include your tagline at the bottom of each article you write and watch your traffic increase exponentially -- as well as your inbound links (which the search engines consider when ranking your site!).

Take advantage of as many FREE sources of traffic as you can to drive tons of targeted traffic to your site!

#4: Instantly boost your traffic with pay-per-click advertising

Paid search has exploded, becoming a widely accepted way to drive qualified traffic to your site -- fast. And with each passing year, it becomes more sophisticated, allowing you to zero in on your target market with greater precision.

Today, the major players are...

Yahoo! Search Marketing (http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/): Yahoo's sponsored search lets you advertise your site in the search results of the following search engines: MSN, Yahoo, AltaVista, InfoSpace, AlltheWeb, and NetZero.

Google AdWords (https://adwords.google.com/): With Google AdWords, you can have your ads show up in sponsored search listings for certain keywords -- and you can also advertise on other sites that match your audience.

MSN AdCenter (https://adcenter.msn.com/): MSN has recently entered the arena of paid search with MSN AdCenter. So far, it's the only PPC engine to offer keyword-based demographic targeting. Paid search is one of the fastest ways to drive qualified traffic to your site... and if done properly, won't break the bank. To learn how to profit from pay-per-click advertising in three simple steps, check out my blog post.

#5: Promote your business with the technologies that have changed the face of Internet marketing Technology has been furiously advancing since the first edition of our Insider Secrets course -- paving the way for new and highly effective ways to promote your Internet business. Let's look at some that have had the biggest impact: Audio and Video: The Internet has come a long way since its text-only roots! Programming languages such as JavaScript and programs like Macromedia's Flash have allowed for web video and audio, slide presentations, and other interactive elements.

Our testing has proven that using audio and video as part of your sales process can now have a dramatic impact on your bottom line -- if done right. Use short audio and video clips of you and your customers to personalize your site and reassure visitors that you are a credible business.

Blogging: Blogs are informal web forums that invite feedback and discussion. They're free to set up and use, and so simple that they can be created in minutes using sites such as Blogger.com. As a result blogging has exploded in popularity over the last few years.

With a business blog you can reach a wider audience, generate better search engine rankings, boost your revenue, and develop a rapport with your customers -- to name just a few benefits. And because blogs are updated frequently, search engines LOVE them.

Podcasting: Podcasting, the delivery of audio files -- typically MP3 files -- via the Internet, is one of the hottest new technologies to hit the market. It allows you to publish audio content that interested listeners can subscribe to via RSS “feeds” -- so they can automatically receive your audio broadcasts without having to go to your web site.

Direct-to-desktop technology: Direct-to-desktop technology is a way to deliver information straight to your subscribers' desktops -- without having to wrestle with e-mail filters, bouncebacks, or your competition!

Once your customers sign up, they don’t have to check their e-mail or visit your web site to get your latest news or updates. A flashing desktop icon alerts them as soon as they receive your message -- and all they have to do is click to read it.

------------------------

John Navata is an internet marketer that has been showing marketers some advanced ways to promote their products or service offline or online. If you want to find more information, visit http://www.mega-dollarsonline.com

------------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

19 Rules For Writing Killer Headlines

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Thu, 11 May 2006 20:31:00 +0000

19 Rules For Writing Killer Headlines
Copyright © 2006 Quick Turn Marketing International, Ltd.

Following are 19 rules you can use to write headlines that will reach out and force the prospect to read your website and sales letter.

1. Your headline must offer somethign that your target market wants very badly.

2. Your headline must include something of self interest to the reader.

3. If your product is new or improved, say so in the headline.

4. Do not just invoke curiosity in your headline, you must also include something of interest to the reader.

5. Avoid negativity in your headline. Always turn the negative into a positive statement.

6. Your headline shoudl suggest a quick and easy way to achieve the benefit(s) stated.

7. Your headline should be believable.

8. Determine what would make you buy your product, and then try to incorporate that idea into your headline.

9. Avoid making your headline so short that you don't get the main point across.

10. Avoid clever headlines that makes the reader think "how clever." Cleverness rarely gets people to read your web page or spend money.

11. Avoid headlines that sound dead, or like they should be at the bottom of the statue like "To Server Humanity Better..."

12. Suggest in your headline that your copy contains useful and valuable information.

13. Use your headline to reach out and grab the reader's attention.

14. Avoid hard to grasp headlines that require the reader to think about what you are saying.

15. NEVER trust your own reaction to your headlines. Instead, get the reaction of someone else.

16. If you emphasize a word in your headline, make sure that word means something and is important.

17. Remember that large type words act as a stopper. They get people to stop and pay attention, so choose the best words that will get the most attention.

18. Don't let an artist or layout person decide which headline words to emphasize. An artest thinks in terms of color contrasts and tones, not in terms of making money!

19. Avoid writing an ad that attracts the wrong people. Make sure your headline attracts the people that are most interested in what you have to offer.

If you will follow these simple guidelines for writing your headline copy, you will be more likely to have a successful headline and a successful ad! Take some time right now and look back over these guidelines.

Then, try to write your own headlines. When you have a few that you think are wonderful, run them by a friend. If that friend asks to see the rest of your copy, you know you have written a true killer headline.

------------------------

Dan Lok is widely known as "The World's #1 Website Conversion Expert!" But what do you care? Well, if you rush over to his site... I think you'll come to your own conclusion that he's the real deal when you see how much FREE (yet extremely valuable!) profit-producing info he's giving away. Check it out now at: http://www.WebsiteConversionExpert.com

-------------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

What is YOUR Definition of Marketing?

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Wed, 10 May 2006 19:18:00 +0000

Copyright © 2006 Marketing On The Playground (TM)

What I have discovered through my experience of marketing is, it’s all in how we define it. We can think of marketing the way most of us do which puts us in the box of making cold calls, knocking on doors, going to numerous networking groups, sending out mail, speaking, the list goes on and on of what we have known. The simple definition of marketing is: letting your audience know what you do. From this simple idea, it’s up to you how you want to market. You have complete freedom in “how”.

Here’s the bottom line!

No Marketing = No Clients = No Money = No Business!

HOWEVER…

You do get to Market YOUR WAY! You get to have FUN! and be extremely creative. In fact, give yourself permission to market YOUR WAY and change the formula above to:

Market YOUR Way = More Confidence = Attract more clients = A THRIVING BUSINESS!

Now, let’s change your definition and Guess What…your definition will be different from each businessperson you meet. We are all unique. We choose different business paths; wear different clothes; drive different cars; have different viewpoints—our marketing approach should be just as unique?

Here are 3 examples of “marketing” provided from entrepreneurs.

1. I didn’t like networking groups but thought I would try some out. My definition of a networking group is this: It had to fit with my values, it had to be fun, and the group had to come from a unique perspective. Most of them were about collecting as many cards as you can. I tried 4 groups and one fit perfectly. EwomenNetwork comes from “giving first” and they have a wonderful format that gave me permission to ask for what I wanted. It was very safe, very professional and very genuine. I’ve been a member for 3 years – it’s the only one I attend consistently.

2. I have a Web Design company and one of my passions is voyager canoeing. I began to utilize outdoor-related themes in our marketing messages and promotions. Most important, I decided that canoeing was also a great way to network. As a professional woman business owner and an experienced canoe guide, I developed a Ladies Voyageur Day. I hosted a group of entrepreneurial women on a guided canoe trip. The event was so successful it has become an annual sponsored event.

3. I had always found marketing to be a distasteful chore. I was diligent and had managed to stay busy as a consultant by networking and following up on leads, but it was an unpleasant duty, and I avoided it whenever possible. I think one of the best-kept secrets to becoming successful at marketing is first choosing to be of service to a group of people you truly care about. With my new mission in mind, all of a sudden, marketing became effortless.

The clients I wanted to serve were people I really cared about, I wanted to spend time with them. Instead of dreading networking events. I began looking forward to them as a place to meet new people I could help. Before, I had avoided business lunches finding them boring and awkward, but now I enjoy listening about new opportunities to be of service.

To summarize our 3 marketing definitions:

- Giving first, asking, “How can I help you forward your business, ”rather than saying, “What do you do.”

- Creating a marketing approach that doesn’t feel like marketing because I’m doing what I love…Voyager Canoeing

- Being a service to a group of people

OK, do you have a new perspective on the definition of marketing? What are your thoughts with the questions below?

1. What was your original definition of marketing and is it different now?

2. Did you give yourself permission before this class to think of marketing ideas outside of the box? If not, what permission will you give yourself now?

There is a marketer inside of all of us – it’s just a matter of identifying the true, authentic marketing person inside of YOU.

------------------------

Beth Woodward, CPCC, is the creator of the popular Marketing On The Playground Program, and the "My Way" Marketing Plan. Find out more about how to market "YOUR WAY" with the free e-course 5 Steps To Market Your Way at http://www.asimplemarketingplan.com .

-------------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Adsense, The Great Secret

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Tue, 09 May 2006 19:21:00 +0000

Copyright © 2006 Karl Stadler

What is the great secret to huge earnings with Adsense? The truth is, there is no great secret.

Let us look at adsense from the top.

Adsense pays you a percentage of money for each click that you generate on your website. Which brings us to two very important facts that few seem to realize when building their adsense websites.

You need traffic to click on your adsense ads.

Your ads must be relevant to the search of the visitor.

Lets dissect them one at a time.

Traffic.

You can create adsense sites with software, buy pre-built sites, use PLR and so on. This is a nice quick fix to solve your problem of generating adsense income, or so many seem to think.

Most of the time you will have wasted your time and money. It would have been much better spent taking the dog for a walk or doing the dishes.

For an adsense site to be successful it needs visitors, many visitors. If you have just put up a new site it will mean you have not been indexed neither do you have any page ranking. Your 2000 page pre-built website at this moment in time means nothing. Don't forget that a thousand or so others have followed the same route as you, some before and some after, quite a bit of duplicate content don't you think?

Lets move on. The search engines have come by and your pages are now indexed after two or three months.

Suddenly to your great surprise for the next month you have a total of two clicks, or worse none whatsoever. Four months down the line becomes six and still the results remain the same.

Fortunately you do not need to feel alone, there are many who have done exactly the same thing with the same results. But from your perspective the internet sucks and there are only a few who will make money and the multitudes of others will buy their products.

Sorry to tell you the truth, you are wrong. If you went about building your adsense empire with a plan, and not a quick fix, things would be quite different. But we all still love quick fixes and buy them, so there is no need to feel bad.

Building your adsense site takes careful planning. You can do it as a new site, subdirectory or implement it on your current site.

The very first thing that you must do, and I cannot stress this enough, is keyword research.

It is a long and arduous task and does take a lot of time and thinking to get to the right keywords. It is the life or death of your site. You can have the best optimized pages around, but if you chose the wrong keywords you will never be seen.

The wrong choices would be keywords that are never searched for or the competition is so high that you will be competing against many high ranking websites, and your pages will just get lost in the maze.

Only when you have your keywords in place is it time to develop your content. You should try to create as many of these pages yourself. Now you are not able to write one thousand pages all by yourself but if you write one page a week, by the end of the year you will have 52 unique pages, that is what the search engines are looking for. Your pages need not be long 400 to 600 words are fine as long as the content is relevant, but we will get to that now.

If you are just starting your site you can mix up your pages with articles, PLR content and your own, but do create your own unique content as often as you can.

Now lets look at relevance.

If a visitor lands on your page from a search engine result he must find your content relevant to his search, otherwise he will leave as quickly as he came. He will not be clicking one of your adsense ads either to his next destination.

Why not?

Your adsense ads on your page will be reflective of your content, not his search, which means they will have no meaning to him whatsoever. That is why it is so important to have relevant content to your keywords, that is what brings the visitor, keeps him on the site and gets him to click an adsense ad when he leaves.

Placement of ads and the way they appear have been proven to increase or decrease CTR. Unfortunately this information is only obtainable through research over a period of time. You have to use different formats and placements on different pages and track each ad separately to establish which work best.

But the internet is constantly changing, and what is working now will not necessarily be working in six months to a year, so unless you have been doing the research yourself over a period of time and finding the right information at the right time, you will have to pay to get your adsense working effectively and profitably.

This is the great secret to successful adsense pages, it is nothing more than research information as to what is working best at this time. The information is gathered through persistent testing, tracking, more testing and tracking until the right combinations are found and then doing it all over again. The secret is finding and using the information first.

------------------------

Karl Stadler is an author and internet marketer. To find out how to research your keywords and get more “secret” information on the look and placement of your adsense ads please visit
http://www.yourenterprize.com/articles/find-your-keywords.htm

------------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Proven Techniques for Writing Persuasive Ads & Letters

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Thu, 04 May 2006 19:19:00 +0000

Proven Techniques for Writing Persuasive Ads & Letters
Copyright © 2006 Joel Sussman

Whether you're writing a marketing message to one person or a million, your chances of having an impact on them really takes off when you understand what makes them tick. You're then in a strong position to tailor your message directly to their interests, problems, needs, and aspirations. Easier said than done, but that's where market research, asking clients the right questions, personal observation, and marketing plans fit into the picture.

A marketing plan, even an abbreviated one, can be an invaluable starting point in the development of an effective ad, commercial, promotional brochure, or sales letter. Doing an analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) associated with your business or the services you offer can serve as an excellent launching pad for writing persuasive advertising and sales messages.

Laying the Groundwork

In addition to a dash of writing talent and marketing knowledge, creating effective ads and letters require a clear focus. Knowing exactly what outcome you're aiming for before you begin writing is comparable to mapping out your travel route before embarking on a cross country drive. For example, if your goal is to generate leads or to qualify prospects, your strategy might be radically different than if you were trying to make immediate sales or simply attract visitors to your web site.

Sell The Sizzle! (not the steak)

The copywriting process tends to flow a lot more smoothly if you have in front of you three lists consisting of benefits, features, and competitive advantages. Organizing them on one page in a column format is the easiest, most efficient way to manage the information. F.Y.I.: There may seem to be a thin, if not invisible, line between "features" and "benefits", but understanding the distinction can make all the difference in your marketing success. Features are important and need to be mentioned, but benefits are the selling points that clients and prospects can relate to and identify with. Basically, benefits are features that have been personalized, elaborated on, and projected into the future. It answers the questions "What's in it for me?"..."Why should I care?"...or "How will my life be enhanced by buying your product or service?"

Crafting the Message

Catching people's attention and arousing interest can sometimes be as simple as incorporating your strongest selling point into the headline or the first sentence of your ad or letter. Several tried-and-proven headline devices for drawing people into your message include asking an intriguing question, making a thought-provoking statement, or beginning the headline with the words "How To". Headlines that convey a sense of urgency, contain a short testimonial of a satisfied client, or have the feel of a news announcement also have been shown to get people to stop and read.

By the way, one of the most powerful and successful advertising headlines of all time, which was also the title of a best-selling book written in 1936, is "How to Win Friends and Influence People", by Dale Carnegie. The title/headline is filled with benefits, it contains the words "How To", and it speaks directly to everyone's strong desire to be well liked, to be in control of their lives, and to feel important. Another popular book Carnegie wrote tapped into that same formula. It's entitled "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living." Apparently, that double-barreled approach was especially effective for him.

Many well-intended ads, brochures, and letters start out with a good head of steam, but peter out as they approach the moment of truth, namely: the call for action! If you don't make it 100% clear exactly what you want the prospect to do after hearing/seeing your message, and if you don't give them a compelling reason to do so, there's a good chance you'll lose them.

As the acronym AIDA suggests, a response-producing ad or letter must first grab the Attention of the target audience, arouse Interest, trigger Desire, and then prompt Action. Without all four of those "cylinders" firing at the appropriate time, that delicate sequence of events could quickly come to a grinding halt.

------------------------

Joel Sussman is a freelance writer and Internet publisher from upstate New York. He's a regular contributor to two monthly business newspapers, and has created a web site dedicated to the topic of small business marketing: http://www.MarketingSurvivalKit.com

-----------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

The Secret to Wealth Online

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Wed, 03 May 2006 19:10:00 +0000

Copyright © 2006 Timothy Rohrer

Success is highly dependent on the individual behind the business. Granted there is enough information available on the internet to make your head explode, but being able to identify the correct business opportunity can lead you to a massive wealth building nest egg.

Last summer I decided that if I wanted to change my financial situation, I had to first change what I was doing. Many people dream of making an extra income online, but very few actually do it simply because it takes time and effort. I am living proof that anyone can do this if you have a strong desire to succeed. To make a long story short, I did some research online and found a company called, “Mazu Publishing.” The company has been reviewing home based business opportunities for 10 years and provided some very good information on home based businesses. I’ve taken the information from various companies and applied it online which lead to a massive explosion of my income.

Initially, during my research online, I found many companies with the same shallow promises claiming to make me a millionaire in a few months time or even a year. I am a firm believer that online businesses work, but it’s just wrong to make false claims unless you have a large sum of money to invest and can double your money every month, you will not be a millionaire in 1 year. Each of these companies had their own unique costs and different business opportunities. I decided to go with the most reputable company that was affordable at the time and one that fit my needs.

Many people ask how do you know exactly what type business opportunity to get involved with if there are so many choices? The first thing I look for in any company is how long they have been around for. New companies come and go everyday, but a company that has been around for a few years provides some credibility.

The second most import aspect when looking for the right opportunity is being able to identify a product or service that people need. In some cases it’s a task that you can perform online such as trading or perhaps an investment that offers a 10% return on your money per month. My recommendation is to choose the opportunity that best suits your needs. If you feel up to networking and talking with other people, then perhaps a company with a great product to show other people is what you are looking for. If you do not wish to talk to anyone or sell anything, then perhaps you are looking for a passive opportunity where all the work is done for you.

When you find an internet business that looks good, make sure to find out how long the company has been around for. Find a business that is suitable for you and not for someone else. What you feel is a great business, may not be for the next person. One thing successful people have in common and that they are confident and decisive. If you feel the opportunity is right and you know you can make it work, than your chances are it will succeed.

------------------------

Tim Rohrer is a business owner and writer. To learn more about a proven system that has been paying all the bills month after month, visit http://www.profitplusonline.com

------------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Writing Your Own EBook for Sale on eBay

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Tue, 02 May 2006 21:16:00 +0000

Writing Your Own EBook for Sale on eBay
Copyright © 2006 John Thornhill

Those who sell eBooks on eBay generally focus their efforts on the sale of material authored by others. The eBook seller purchases resale rights to other eBooks and then offers them for sale in an effort to generate a profit. However, some sellers also write their own eBooks and the results can be very impressive.

Writing your own eBook for sale on eBay can be a great way to make your eBook project more profitable. Self-authored titles have a few advantages that warrant consideration.

First, in an increasingly crowded market, fresh new products really stand out. A new eBook on a hot topic can post impressive sales numbers right away, as customers are clamoring for new information and fresh perspectives on a number of topics. By producing one’s own eBook they can insure they are the only seller offering the product and that they are selling an eBook custom-built to match their understanding of the marketplace’s needs.

Second, self-authored eBooks provide a chance at making every sale a long-term residual moneymaker. One can include links back to commercial sites operated by the author as a means of directing qualified traffic to the site. A well-crafted eBook can also serve as a wonderful place to introduce a series of affiliate links that may result in later sales netting the author a commission. When you sell an eBook written by someone else, you usually do not have an opportunity to take advantages of that impressive form of revenue creation.

Third, self-authored eBooks can give you a boost over the competition by building your personal credibility. There may be a score of people offering an eBook on widgets, but if you are the only author personally offering your take on the topic, you will have a significant advantage in terms of credibility over your competition. This increased perception of expertise will often directly translate into sales.

Of course, the eBook can also be sold in a variety of other venues, increasing its value to the seller even more. Ebay sales may be only one of many potential areas in which the self-authored eBook is offered.

Authoring an eBook is not an easy task. There is research, writing, compiling and a variety of other skills and time-consuming measures involved. It is also not necessarily a perfect fit for every eBook seller on eBay. Some sellers are not interested in writing or simply do not have the requisite skills required to author their own eBook. These people may want to consider hiring a freelance writer or ghostwriter to produce an eBook or to pursue different avenues within the eBay eBook selling marketplace.

However, if one has the skill to produce, or the willingness to commission, a unique eBook they can profit tremendously. Selling eBooks to which you and others have resale rights can be profitable, but exclusive ownership of your own title gives you an advantage over eBay competitors.

------------------------

For more advice on how to succeed with information products visit http://www.privatelabelplanet.com/

------------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Home Business Success With Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Mon, 01 May 2006 20:12:00 +0000

By Christopher Kyalo

Many have found home business success in affiliate programs on the World Wide Web. However the problem has always been in setting up and maintaining personal web sites to help drive traffic to their affiliate sites.

Web sites have always been critical and very important tools in many a home business success story. However they are costly and very time consuming to maintain. Then there is the problem of building up enough traffic to make your affiliate program successful.

But all these problems hindering home business success seem to have been solved neatly and beautifully by blogs. Blogs (or web logs, as they were referred to in their early days) have taken the World Wide Web by storm and are now at the heart of every leading home business success of recent times that you can think of.

The magic with blogs is that they tend to pick up traffic and links at very high speed. So the result is that within no time at all any business owner can end up with a home business capable of bringing in success in the form of hundreds of thousands of dollars in affiliate commissions.

Blogs have brought the reality of home business success closer to many and have dramatically improved on the odds for success for many.

Learn more about the best home business opportunity from a blogger who rakes in thousands of dollars... and growing from their home business.

-----------------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Creating Content for Your Online Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 19:21:00 +0000

Creating Content for Your Online Marketing
Copyright © 2006 Mark Nenadic

It has been discovered that visitors to websites read the content differently than they would if they were reading the same content in print. When a website visitor is reading a website’s content, then instead of reading it word for word, it is more likely that he or she will scan over the page looking for the specific information that he or she wants from the page. Therefore, the style of writing used for print material is not the same as that which should be utilized for a website. The style for the web, especially in the case of marketing, must be much more succinct and effective. Remember that it is the reader, not the writer, of the content who will determine the sequence that will be followed for the content.

To do this, there are a number of things that you need to keep in mind as you write your web content:

1. Instead of thinking like an online marketer, you need to think like the reader. This means that you need to make certain that anyone scanning over your content will find it easy to discover the information they’ve been seeking.

2. Always keep the reader in mind as you write each part of the copy. Use a style that is much more casual than you would in print, because the reader will need to be able to relate to the wording.

3. Apply more of a journalistic-type writing style. This means that your wording will be simple and direct, and any complex sentence structures should be avoided. Don’t use any unnecessary words or “fluff”.

4. Never let the end purpose of your content leave your mind as you write. Online marketing is something that must be done with purpose in order to reach a specific target. The design itself, the copy, and the navigational tools should all work together toward your online marketing message.

5. Make your copy personal so that it reads as though you’re speaking directly to your prospective client. This can be done by using the second person, that is, writing “you”, so that the reader will feel as though he or she can personally relate with what you are trying to say.

6. Always tell your reader the benefits of whatever you’re saying. Copy should be written in order to directly inform readers of “what’s in it for them”. This means not only saying the features of any given product or service, but also why these features are good for the reader’s needs and desires.

7. Give order to your content by saying the most important things first so that they are the first points that your readers will spot at the top of the page. Since your readers will be scanning to find information that is worthwhile to them, you need to catch their interest as soon as possible or they will simply go elsewhere.

8. Don’t make your content one or two enormous blocks of text. Instead, break up your paragraphs into smaller, more manageable and more inviting paragraphs of no more than two or three sentences. You can also use subheadings and bullets to make scanning easier and more appealing.

9. Be consistent with your writing style throughout your site. Every page from your website should be written with the same feel, the same layout, the same words that are capitalized, and the same number of headings, so that everything remains consistent. This is extremely appealing to web users, since it makes scanning dramatically simpler.

10. Of course, you should never forget the ever-important keywords to be included to maximize SEO – search engine optimization – one of the most effective online marketing efforts you can make. Furthermore, scanning your content becomes much easier when keywords are there to be spotted.

None of these points are very difficult, however, they are somewhat time consuming. Fortunately, they are worth every moment you can put into them. Whether this means hiring a professional, or doing it yourself, these techniques provide you substantial results that you’ll be able to see growing over time. Just don’t forget to keep up those efforts as you add new pages to your website, or if you change the site’s design in the future!

------------------------

Mark Nenadic
Mark is the director and face behind FifteenDegrees-North http://www.15dn.com , where you will find articles and resources to help with SEO, marketing and Web design.

-----------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Child Care Options For Work At Home Moms

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 04:04:00 +0000

By Jeff Flow

Taking care of children can be one of the biggest obstacles that women have when they want to have their own home-based business. The reality is that toddlers are not going to keep quiet during business calls or take a nap when you want to get work done. This article will give you some practical ways that you can get childcare for free or for a minimal cost.

At first you thought it would be OK to have the kids around all the time. You thought about no commutes, flexible hours, lunch with the kids. However, if you want to really get work done, you are going to have to be creative in childcare options.

One way to have childcare is to create a childcare co-op. This is basically a group of work at home parents that swap child care duties. Keep track of the hours that you watch each child and make sure everybody gets the fair amount. The benefit of this is that you get free childcare. The downside is that you can’t work while you are watching other people’s children.

The next way is to mom-swap. Instead of many people working together this is basically you and a friend trading off childcare days. Make sure you set clear boundaries, so neither of you take advantage of the other. It would also help if the kids get along well. If they don’t this could end up to be a bad experience.

You could also share a sitter with a friend. Have the sitter watch both of your children at the same time and split the costs. Make sure that you communicate with your friend to avoid complications.

You could barter services in exchange for child care. This will save you money and still pay the person taking care of your children.

It is important to make a plan to take care of your children during the time that you are working.

You may also want to go to the church and ask the Sunday school director if they have any babysitters. They may have someone that would take care of your children for a low rate. Make sure to ask for referrals.

For this to work, you are going to have to spread the word that you are looking for childcare. If you take the time to look around and ask around, you can find the best childcare at the lowest price.

Super Affiliate Handbook: “This is the amazing true story of how one woman, with no previous business experience, earns $435,000+ per year online ... selling other people's stuff!” Super Affiliate Handbook

------------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

7 Strategies to Choosing an Effective Domain Name

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 19:06:00 +0000

7 Strategies to Choosing an Effective Domain Name

Copyright © 2006 Donna Gunter

A friend of mine calls me the "Domain Queen", since at one time I owned around 50 domains. I've let many of them go (I own only 22 now) as my business has changed and developed, or I've just simply lost interest in the project. I'm often asked how I go about picking effective domain names, so as the "Domain Queen", I'll share my thought process with you.

1.What's the purpose of the domain name? Are you planning on using this name as the main website for your company, as a one page sales letter site, or squeeze page site? If the domain name will be your primary company website, try and find the closest version to your company name that you can. If you're just starting out, choose your business name and domain name with care. When I started my virtual assistant practice, I chose the name SOHO Business Solutions, as I thought everyone knew that SOHO stood for Small Office, Home Office. I think I've run into 2 people in my 7 years in business who knew what that acronym stood for. If I had it to do over again for this business, I would choose a business name and domain name with virtual assistant in the title, like InternetMarketingVirtualAssistant.com, a name I just recently purchased.

If the purpose of a domain is for a one-page sales letter site or a squeeze page, think ahead as to how you might promote this site. Because content is king in today's internet marketing world, there's little chance that either of these types of sites would be picked up by the search engines on key words. Therefore, your best promotion strategy is PPC, or "pay per click", where you're buying keywords for placement in search engines. If you're buying keywords from Google, for example, the paid listings appear at the top of a search in a blue box, or down the right-hand side of your screen. You want to be sure that the info displayed there is compelling enough to get someone to click and visit your site. So, for example, I've created a squeeze page, GetMoreClientsOnline.com, which has a compelling solution to a common problem that my clients have, as a side door gateway to my OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com coaching website.

2. Brainstorm a list of ideas of the problem you're trying to solve or the solution that you have. A domain name that clearly indicates what you do, or a problem that you solve, or a solution that you have to a problem will give a visitor a fairly clear picture of what s/he'll find on your website. What I typically do is go to my domain registrar, www.UltraNetDomains.com, and just start plugging in the names I'm brainstorming until I come up with 3 or 4 that are available. If the domain name that you type in isn't available, the service will come up with 10 or so alternates for you to consider. I found this alternate listing quite helpful recently in picking the name of an article directory site that I want to create.

3. For SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purposes, it helps to have your keywords in your domain name. Marla Regan, who's a professional organizer, has put two keywords in her domain name, OrganizedTime.com. Retirement Coach Lin Schreiber has her keyword niche in her domain, RevolutionizeRetirement.com. Consultant John Reddish has the desired outcome keywords in his domain, GetResults.com. I own a domain that I haven't yet developed for house sitters, BecomeAHouseSitter.com. Before buying your domain, make a list of keywords that someone might use to find you online. This list could include your industry, your target market or niche, a problem your target market has, or a solution that you can offer.

4. Shorter is better, if it's to be your primary domain. I haven't always followed my own rules here, as I tend to have business names that are quite lengthy. If the domain name is going to be your primary domain where your primary email address will be housed, you want your domain name to be as short, catchy, and memorable as possible. After a few times of spelling out your lengthy email address, you'll come to appreciate the beauty of a short domain name. Your domain name can contain up to 67 letters and numbers, although I would encourage you not to have one of this length, and can contain no special characters other than hyphens.

5. Purchase your your given name as a domain name. I typically tell my clients not to try and brand their given name as their business name, as that takes many years, much money, and lots of hard work to have the name recognition of Oprah, for example. However, it still pays to purchase your given name as a domain name, as well as any common misspellings of your name. Many people think my name is Donna Gunther, with an "h" in the last name, but I've been unable to register that common misspelling of my name, as a photographer in Venice, CA, has owned in since 2000. Once you've purchased your name as a domain, you can redirect it to your primary website. This means that when someone types in a domain, they land at the website to which you pointed that domain. So, currently DonnaGunter.com redirects to OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com because I don't want to use my name as a website, although that might change in the future.

6. Buy the .COM version of the name if it is available. When people hear a domain name, they "hear" .COM whether it's .NET or .BIZ or .ORG or whatever. So, it pays to find a domain name that you like that is part of the .COM family. If you just can't get the name you want, try a hyphenated version of the .COM name. For example, when I was seeking a domain name for my Self-Employment Coaching Gym, I really wanted SelfEmploymentSuccess.com, but it wasn't available. However, Self-Employment-Success.com was available, so I grabbed that. Many SEO specialists state that search engines like hyphenated names, and many online business owners use hyphenated keywords in their domain names to be more attractive to search engines. I don't have a clear answer as to the validity of this theory, so I just advocate going this route before having to resort to the .NET or .BIZ of the name you desire. Some domain name holders may be willing to sell you the domain name that you want. You can find out who owns a domain name by checking the WhoIs Registry at Internic, http://www.internic.net/whois.html. For info about country codes (two-letter) top-level domains (.UK or .CA, for example) visit http://www.uwhois.com/cgi/domains.cgi?User=NoAds

7. Consider owning other versions of your primary domain name. If you are registering the .COM version of a domain for your business, you may also want to secure variations of the name, alternate spellings, common misspellings, and the .NET and .ORG versions of your domain and repoint them to your main site to keep them out of the hands of your competitors. You can also go broke very quickly by purchasing all of these variations, so exercise some restraint in your purchases and don't go crazy with purchasing every single variation of your domain name. For my coaching company site, I own both the OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com and OnlineBusinessCoachingCompany.com and decided that was good enough.

Your domain name is the beginning of the establishment of your presence online, Take some time and put some thought into the process so that the domain name serves you well in the years to come, and is an effective tool for helping you get more clients online.

Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Business Coach Donna Gunter helps self-employed service professionals learn how to get more clients online at http://www.OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com . To sign up for more FREE tips like these and claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.GetMoreClientsOnline.com . Read about running an online biz at our blog,

http://onlinebizcoachingcompany.typepad.com/online_business_coaching_/

---------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Marketing: Reach, Engage, Connect & Deliver Value

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 19:04:00 +0000

Copyright © 2006 Robin Harris, DesignerLife

Marketing is painted up to be a big deal, let's get rid of the smoke and mirrors and see "The Marketing Wizard of Oz" for what he really is ... a form of communication that we already know how to do. Once we get past the illusion that marketing is a mysterious activity that stands between us and success... the next thing we need to do is reduce marketing to language we can understand and then create activities around its intention. I like to use the RECDV acronym to make it very simple.

RECDV stands for Reach, Engage, Connect, and Deliver Value.

Once you have identified your Ideal Customer (IC) and the problem or desire you are going to address for her or him then you must plan how you will RECDV.

Reaching is about getting in front of your ideal customer. To do this you have to know where your ideal customer gathers, physically or metaphorically. Where do they gather, what web sites do they visit, what search terms do they use when searching for help, who is already in contact with them, what causes do they support, what organizations do they belong to, what publications do they read, what mailing lists are they on, what hobbies do they have, where do they eat, where do they shop, where do they live, where do they work, and this list of questions go on and on. Be an IC detective and start asking questions that take you deeper into your IC's world.

If you don’t know who your IC is, your first assignment is to find out. If your customer doesn’t have natural affinity for your solution, you have a mismatch and this is not an IC. If your product or service does not solve or address the IC’s concerns and needs, you have a mismatch, and you don’t have an IC. Reaching is about locating the IC and positioning yourself in front of them so that they know you are there.

Engaging is about eliciting their interest in you and what you have to offer to help them solve their pressing problems or fulfill their strong desires. Notice the focus is on them not you. How you get their attention is by speaking to their wants and needs and temporarily setting yours aside. Standing in their shoes, ask yourself, what form of communication would be most appropriate and most effective. How do you engage your IC into going on the "first date", i.e. to check out your offer to see if it meets their needs? This is where your knock-out 30-second elevator speech comes in. When someone asks you what do you do, your answer should be intriguing, interesting to someone who is your IC or someone who knows people who are, it should create curiosity and cause the person to ask for more info, it should be on-target - no being vague allowed, it should be professional, and credible, and you should feel passionate about telling people - "this is what I do". Don’t try and create demand, reach for those who are already want what you have.

Connecting is about making sure that once you have your IC's attention, you carry-through with the communication so that it resonates with them. It's the follow-up that reels them in and makes them feel you totally understand the problem and probably have just the solution they were looking for. Don’t ask for marriage on the first date, inject the appropriate amount of time to move the person from the first date, to dating, to engagement, then to marriage… you get the point don’t you?

Have you ever gone on a first date with someone who seemed like a good fit only to discover they were from another planet? That's called disconnecting ... in marketing it looks like you trying to sell ice to an Eskimo. Although some sales-types pride themselves on forcing or manipulating a sale, that is not the way to deliver genuine value - not to mention such tactics lack integrity. When you know who your IC is and the value you can bring to them, these kinds of tactics are totally unnecessary.

Delivering Value is the way I recommend making the connection and then when you make the sale, deliver even more value. I highly recommend using strategies to allow your IC to receive some value prior to beginning an official "sales cycle". This can be accomplished with samples, free newsletters, free classes, informational website, brochures, audio CDs, public speaking, consultations, and more. The point is that you begin to deliver value to your IC before you ask for money. Once they know you have something of value to offer, you can begin the sales cycle but without any pressure tactics. Delivering value is critical to maintaining a relationship with your IC and it is absolutely essential for follow-up sales and future referrals. It includes good customer service but goes far beyond that - you treat your IC as if they matter not just when you are trying to make the first sale but throughout the relationship.

That's RECDV. It makes good marketing sense, doesn't it?

There is no shortage of ways to RECVD. Don't box yourself in and don't be afraid to try something new. You will have to test everything you do - marketing is experiential and no one can teach you to be successful at it if you won't get on the court and take some risks. Even experienced marketers have to venture out and try new things when the old things stop working or new techniques emerge. Let this be okay and you will be okay.

RECDV is not a one size fits all approach to marketing. Your RECVD is going to be unique and will have to be constantly refined as you grow and as the world changes. :-)

------------------------

Robin Harris, The DesignerLife Coach, is a Certified Comprehensive Coach and Guerilla Marketing Coach, Instructional Designer, Prosperity Trainer, and founder of http://www.TheSuccessCafe.com , the virtual gathering place for Prosperity-Central, the free community of excellence that offers free training and coaching for Prosperity Seeking Entrepreneurs. For more help with marketing visit Robin's Marketing site: http://www.Marketing-With-A-Story.com and learn how to set up a marketing system that works for you 24/7.

-----------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Drive Your Website Sales like crazy by Just Giving Away Freely!

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 21:27:00 +0000

Copyright © 2006 Jason Chew

Who else want to drive your website sales like crazy by following simple marketing strategies and tactics to promote your products?

If above sounds like you, then you should read on....

Often, we find it hard to market/sell your products to customers. There could be nothing wrong with our marketing strategies but we still don't get the sales. If you notice that alot of companies always give off free products and samples during promotions. You will ask yourself do giving off something free really works?

Everyone likes things that are free. Things that are given free are called freebies. If the things that you given to free to visitors to your website are useful and valuable, they become 'goodies'. Your visitors will come back to your website for more. Freebies can be used as the the 'virus' to provide the viral marketing effect. When visitors come to your website, try to give something valuable and quality to them, i.e the goodies. The objective here is to give them free good stuffs so that they will want more of them.

Together, there are 3 types of 'goodies' you can give for free:

Goodies #1 - Articles

Have articles on topic related to what you are selling given to free to visitors to your site or ezine directories. Your articles should include links that linked back to your website.If your article provide quality and valuable information that interest them, they will come back to sign up for your Opt-In list, or to purchase from you.

Goodies #2 - EBooks

Give eBooks to existing subscribers and people who signs up to your Opt-In list or newsletter. The eBooks can be bundled together with the things that you are selling or incentives for buying your products(see Bundled Bonuses).These eBooks should be on subjects that related and compliment your main subject. These will help them to 'addicted' for the subject and then you can come back to your website for more.

Goodies #3 - Bundled Bonuses

You can also bundled together other things (like softwares, eBooks and reports) with the things that you are selling.All these bonuses will have links pointing to your site, or have links in them that point to things you are promoting. You can use someone else goodies, i.e products from other people that you are given free or resell rights and free to redistribute, as bonuses to buying your products.You can use software available in the market to 'rebrand' them by inserting links that points to your website or products you are promoting or embedding a file that have information of your website and products.In this way, you will constantly reminds your visitors of your products and your site.

With all these in place, the next thing you ONLY need to do is to spread your 'infectious' goodies or drive traffic to where your visitors can get your free products and information. These can be done by again distributing your goodies through other people's channels and networks like publishing your articles on some ezine directories or give your free eBooks or softwares in public domain.

Remember givers get! You need to give first before you can take your profits. Give your goodies as freebies to drive your sales crazy!

------------------------

Jason Chew is an aspiring Internet Marketer and Entrepreneur.
Get the free $100K Report on how to bring in $100k a year in just 7 days here: http://100k.7daysto100kprofit.com

------------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

How To Attract More Visitors To Your Website

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 20:30:00 +0000

Copyright © 2006 Craig Binkley

There are numerous factors to consider when evaluating the potential commercial success (i.e. profitability) of a website. A few of these include content, quality of the content, items being marketed, appearance, etc. I could go on forever about the various website building blocks needed in order to be successful, but without traffic (visitors), no website is going to be profitable.

You may think that the site you have created is top-notch, but if the only ones visiting it are your family and friends then chances are very good that you’re not going to make many sales (or whatever it is your site is designed to accomplish).

So how, as a Webmaster, do you tackle the seemingly huge task of getting traffic (that’s so vitally important to your success) driven to your site? To answer that, we first need to look at two types of visitor categories:

Non-targeted: A non-targeted visitor is defined as a person that is not truly interested in, or searching for, what your site offers. They may have stumbled across your site while searching for something else. While they may or may not purchase goods/services from your site, it should be assumed that they were not actively searching for what you’re marketing.

Targeted: A targeted visitor to your website would be a person that found your page using some type of search parameter. This person would have been actively searching for the content that your site offers. This person is much more likely to purchase from your site than the non-targeted visitor. Obviously, targeted traffic is what a website owner needs in order to be profitable.

Now here is the dilemma of the day: How do you generate traffic and then how do you determine if that traffic is targeted or non-targeted? Below I have listed some of the major ways of driving traffic to your website along with the type of visitor to expect from each one.

Search Engines: If you have optimized your site correctly, visitors you receive from the major search engines such as Google, MSN, and Yahoo (and many of the lesser engines) should be targeted to your site. These people have actively searched out the keywords that have led them to your page. The best thing about this traffic is that it is free.

The downside of generic search engine traffic is getting your site ranked high enough so that people actually find your site. Most people will not look much beyond the first three pages of search results. So if you are not in the top thirty results for a certain keyword, the chances are good that you’re not going to see much traffic from them.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC): Pay-per-click, much like the generic search engine results discussed above, should be highly targeted traffic. The basic premise with PPC is that you place your ad with the different search engines, directories, etc. and then they distribute your ad according to your selected keywords. When a person clicks on your ad, you pay a set price. When done correctly, PPC can be an excellent way of driving targeted traffic. The downside of PPC is that you pay for every single click. Though many of the top PPC companies allow you to set up a monthly budget, it can still become very expensive.

Cost-Per-Action (CPA): Cost-per-action works much like PPC. The main difference between the two is that you pay only when the visitor performs a required task at your site (purchase, sign up, etc.) Of course the cost for this service is much higher than standard PPC. Also, CPA services usually require that you place a piece of code on your “Checkout” or “Thank You” page which alerts them to the fact that the visitor came from their service in order for them to charge you accordingly.

Traffic Exchanges: A traffic exchange website (Traffic Swarm, etc) is based on the idea of “You scratch my back, then I’ll scratch yours.” I.E. they will display your ad the same number of times that you’ve clicked to view someone else’s. Some offer ratios of 1:1 (meaning for every time you click on another ad, your ad will be displayed), while others offer differing plans. The downside of traffic exchanges is that most of the people clicking on the ads are doing it for the same reason you are – to get their ad placed. Therefore, any traffic generated through a traffic exchange will more than likely not be targeted. It is possible to make the occasional sale or sign up through these services, but they will probably be few and far between.

Article Submission: Writing & submitting articles about a subject that’s relevant to your website content is an excellent way to receive targeted traffic. This can normally be done for free or at a very low cost. An added benefit is that each time a website posts your article you will receive a one-way link to your website-- which is highly favored by the search engines.

The process is really quite simple: 1) Write an article about a subject that visitors to your site would be interested in. At the bottom of the article place a “resource box” that contains a little blip about you and/or your website along with your link. (See my example below entitled “ABOUT THE AUTHOR”). 2) Submit your article to the many online article directories. This can be done manually or with software programs designed to automate the process for you.

If your article is well written, it may be placed on hundreds of highly visited websites. When a person reads your article and decides to click on the link you’ve provided in the resource box, you get the [usually] free targeted traffic. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Link Exchange: Once upon a time link exchanging was the BIG thing. I believe that has changed and no longer is as heavily-weighted by the search engines. The whole point of exchanging links was supposed to be because you believed your visitors would benefit from your link partner’s content. Link farms changed & abused all of that, so the search engine “points” given for backward links have been adjusted down. Don’t count them out completely as a way to drive traffic to your site, but don’t count on them solely either. Exchanging links with like-minded websites can still deliver some decent traffic, which, in theory, should also be the coveted targeted type.

In conclusion: As a website owner, targeted traffic is the name of the game. You can have the best looking site with the coolest graphics, but if no one can find your site then all your work isn’t going to do you much good.

Seek out highly targeted traffic for your website. Optimize your site for the search engines and then choose a few of the options listed above to start driving visitors to your site today. Once you get the visitors there...well, that’s another article for another day.

------------------------

Craig Binkley is a husband, father and home business owner. Visit his Work From Home Directory located at http://www.workfromhomehelper.com for legitimate work from home opportunities and ideas.

-------------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Google Adsense and the Power of Duplication

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 19:09:00 +0000

Copyright © 2006 Mal Keenan

So you get online, set up a Google Adsense website and watch the dollars roll in? Wrong! The top earners in the Google Adsense field are earning the big, big money by duplicating the process over and over.

A friend of mine saw the Google Adsense ads on my site a few days ago and was querying if that was how I made my money. He couldn't understand how these small ads could amount to a full-time online income and the fact is that they DO NOT, well not in isolation anyway.

Before we get into the nitty gritty, the truth is that at this point in time I am not making a great amount with Google Adsense but that is about to change because I am absolutely aware of and convinced in the power of DUPLICATION.

I am an affiliate marketer, I promote numerous affiliate programs throughout the Internet Marketing Niche. Some make me a few dollars per month and some a few hundred in residual income. I also sell affiliate products through Google Adwords and am duplicating this process across multiple markets. I'll not mention some of the niches here for obvious reasons:-). The point is that if I didn't duplicate what I know to work across many different programs and service I would still be pen pushing in my former offline 9-5 job.

Even this article is one of countless others. The power comes from consistently doing the things that work over and over and over again.

Getting back to Adsense, what I realise is that everyone I speak to about it ARE NOT setting up unique sites and then settling for this income. They are setting up 100s, sometimes even 1000s of sites. Then when certain markets prove more profitable than others, as they most certainly will, the smart people are building great networks of smaller sites around these niches AND linking them all together.

Can you see the power of duplication at work here?

The point of building many sites is that sooner or later you are going to hit the mark. It doesn't cost much to set up a domain and have it hosted. Plus there is software available that will literally create 100s of blogs in minutes from your top keywords.

The "clued in" inernet marketers making the moola are those that have taken action in the above way. I myself am guilty at times of looking at a plan and just not having the power to take it through to the end. This I believe is what happens to many when they even comtemplate creating 100s of sites.

The sad fact is that if you don't get of your backside and at least create one site then you are NEVER going to make Internet Marketing your full-time career.

Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will your Google Adsense Empire.

------------------------

Mal Keenan is editor and publisher of Home Business Tips newsletter:
http://www.home-business-tips-newsletter.com/
Let him set up your blog with custom header for free:
http://www.mynicheblog.com

-------------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Is Internet marketing just another JOB?

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 20:38:00 +0000

Copyright © 2006 Richard Grady

There was a thread on my forum this week in which a few members were discussing how many hours they spent working on their online businesses.

A handful of members admitted to putting in over 40 hours per week working online and I have to say, this is not uncommon. When I first started my Internet businesses, it was normal for me to work into the early hours and then grab a couple of hours sleep before getting up to squeeze another hour in before I went to my real job. When I left my job and went full-time, my hours online increased dramatically.

Even today (when so many of my day to day tasks are automated) I still work a minimum of 35 hours a week and this can rise to over 100 hours if I have a specific project on the go. It's not just me - you will find that most successful online marketers work some serious hours, probably many more than they ever did in any 'proper' job.

So is this online business thing just a big con? By setting up a successful Internet business are you merely committing yourself to a different type of job? Possibly yes but at least you get to do things on your own terms :-)

By pure coincidence, I noticed another thread in a completely different forum this week in which someone was asking a very similar question but in a slightly different way. The lady in question had given herself a target of earning (from memory) $2000 a month from her online business efforts. The last couple of months she had hit this target one or two days before the end of the month. This month however, she had already made the $2000 by the 18th. Her question was simply this, 'What do I do now? Do I continue working/promoting in order to earn more money or do I take the rest of the month off?' It's a fair question - whenever anyone talks about working online, they nearly always state that they can take as much time off as they want and the 'Internet lifestyle' dictates that once you have earned your salary for the month, you should spend the rest of the month lying on a beach somewhere!

Of course, it doesn't happen like this and although it would be nice to stop working on the 18th each month, it makes more sense to 'make hay while the sun shines' and continue pulling in the money. At the end of the day, every penny that you earn today puts you closer to complete retirement (as long as you are doing sensible things with some of your money such as saving and investing!)

One of the responses to the above post was a great little story which I have heard before and I thought I would share with you. It will give you something to think about and will help focus your mind as you set goals and targets in respect of your business and your life in general.....

One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish.

About that time, a businessman came walking down the beach trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his family.

"You aren't going to catch many fish that way" said the businessman to the fisherman, "you should be working rather than lying on the beach!"

The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, "And what will my reward be?"

"Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!" was the businessman's answer.

"And then what will my reward be?" asked the fisherman, still smiling.

The businessman replied, "You will make money and you'll be able to buy a boat which will then result in larger catches of fish!"

"And then what will my reward be?" asked the fisherman again.

The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman's questions. "You can buy a bigger boat and hire some people to work for you!" he said.

"And then what will my reward be?" repeated the fisherman.

The businessman was getting angry. "Don't you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let all your employees catch fish for you!"

Once again the fisherman asked, "And then what will my reward be?"

The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, "Don't you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again! You can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach looking at the sunset. You won't have a care in the world!"

The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said...

"And what do you think I'm doing right now ??"

------------------------

Richard Grady has been helping ordinary people earn online since 1998. He writes a free newsletter which is published every two weeks. To subscribe (and claim your free gifts), visit: http://www.thetraderonline.com/newsletter.html

------------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

10 Reasons Why People DON'T Buy From You

noreply@blogger.com (Ronald) — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 19:15:00 +0000

Copyright © 2006 John C Alzza

1. You don't make people feel safe when they order. Remind people that they are ordering through a secure server. Tell them you won't sell their e-mail address and all their information will be kept confidential.

2. You don't make your ad copy attractive. Your ad lists features instead of benefits. The headline does not attract at your target audience. You don't list any testimonials or guarantees included in your ad.

3. You don't remind people to come back and visit. People usually don't purchase the first time they visit. The more times they visit your site, the greater the chance they will buy. The most effective way is to give them a free subscription to your e-zine.

4. You don't let people know anything about your business. They will feel more comfortable if they know who they are buying from. Publish a section called "About Us" on your web site. Include your business history, profile of employees, contact information etc.

5. You don't give people as many ordering options as possible. Accept credit cards, checks, money orders, and other forms of electronic payments. Take orders by phone, e-mail, web site, fax, mail, etc.

6. You don't make your web site look professional. You want to have your own domain name. Your web site should be easy to navigate through. The graphics should be related to the theme of your web site.

7. You don't let people read your ad before they get your freebie. When you use free stuff to lure people to your web site include it below your ad copy or on another web page. If you list the freebie above your ad they may never look to see what you're selling.

8. You don't attract the target audience that would buy your product or service. A simple way to do this is to survey your existing customers to see what attracted them to buy. This information will help you improve your target marketing and advertising.

9. You don't test and improve your ad copy. There are many people who write an ad copy and never change it. You have to continually test and improve your ad copy to get the highest possible response rate.

10. You don't give people any urgency to buy now. Many people are interested in your product but they put off buying it till later and eventually forget about it. Entice them to buy now with a freebie or discount and include a deadline date when the offer ends.

------------------------

Visit http://www.fastestmoneymaker.com where you will find tons of ways to make people buy which may in return change your life. You won't believe how effective it can be if used properly. Learn the methods of the top earners!

-----------------------

Ronald
http://www.affiliateutopia.com/