Marketing Tips

You hear the stories all the time. A new millionaire who made all of their money from the internet. The truth is there are plenty of them out there but for every successful story, there are hundreds of people that do not make any money at all online. The problem is not the effort they put in to make money with the Internet, but rather it comes from not putting in the correct effort.

That might seem a little picky but think about it: If you devote your time and money into a process to make you money and do not make any, it is not the effort that keeps money from your wallet because getting money from the Internet is very real, it has to be how you put forth your effort when trying to make money.

What you need to keep in mind when looking to apply your effort correctly is a simple concept which needs to be clear, give people what they want. Whether it is a product or service that is desired or vital for people or information that is entertaining, thought provoking, interesting, helpful, important, a change of pace (which can be provided all together, in combinations or separately), when you provide something online that has this basic principle in mind you will make money online. From here it's just a matter of finding the specific things or ideas that are in demand and putting your effort into them.

Now where to start from this point? I remember scratching my head in bewilderment too because the internet is such an incredible technology as it can facilitate practically everything people from everywhere want. You actually can not "rely" on an area to determine what people want like a brick and mortar store; you need to think two ways:

1) Provide something online which can be targeted for specific areas and which caters to the wants or needs of that area (area can also mean people in groups with similar interests but not necessarily from similar living areas).

2) Take what I like to call "the general specific approach" which is to figure out what people in general want specifically. In other words, think of one a person and what he/she wants or needs in their life at the moment, then think if lots of people are like that person and wants or needs the same thing(s). The people do not have to be similar because the thing(s) that a person may want or need can be wanted or needed universally, or as close to universal as you can get.

Now you are ready to put forth effort correctly and get lots of money from it also. Remember that people will only buy what they want or need so you need to provide those things in order to make money. Everything else, like appeal and availability online comes directly from your effort so slide into your desk, pull your mouse and keyboard closer to you and apply your effort to the things that you know are in demand and earn your money from the correct effort you apply.

Eric Smith is a blogger, marketer, merchant and web site owner. He has a blog created to help a person make money on the web at http://typeathomeopportunity.blogspot.com

Posted by Simonbiz at 3:11 AM  

Labels: Blogging Tips, Good Content

Life for a struggling online marketer can be brutal. Why is that the people who need to earn money really quickly are the ones least equipped to do so? For that same reason, the person who needs to read this article most urgently is probably the one person who never will.

While answers to both the question above and the implied question may elude most of us, the truth is a that most people who can read this article can in fact earn extra money really fast with a little knowledge and the will to put that knowledge into action.

There are certainly many ways to earn extra money online and off-line. Most people will never know them all. In this article however, I would like to talk about a quick and easy way to earn extra money fast, no matter how dismal your situation may look.

This strategy will require the use of a PayPal account, so you will want to go over to Paypal.com and open an account right away. As well, you will need a Business Account or a Premier Account. This will allow you to receive unlimited amounts of cash into your account.

To earn money fast using this strategy, you will now need to find any program online that meets the following criteria.

1. The program must allow you to join as an affiliate, and promote it without having to purchase the program yourself.

2. The program must pay a decent percentage of the profit to you. The higher this commission, the better the program. It is not uncommon to find programs paying 100% commission.

3. The sales page of the program must be really enticing, so that a large percentage of the people who see it will want to buy the product.

4. The cost of the program must be low so that most people can afford to buy it.

5. The program must have wide appeal so that most people who read the sales page will be able to relate right away and express some interest.

That may sound like a tall order but let us look a little closer. Did you know that there are quite a lot of programs online these days that offer 100% commission without having to purchase them personally? Yes there are. The good thing is that a number of these programs are of high quality and are really worth the asking price.

I have purchased a number of these programs, and in some cases, I went on to make a profit from them in a very short time. Let's look a little further as well, shall we? The number one thing that most internet users have in common is the fact that they all can use more money.

Don't believe me? Next time you talk to your buddies about their online surfing habits, ask them this question. "Would you be interested in earning money from your internet activities?" I will guess that more that 6 out of every 10 will say "yes".

So take it for granted that each person who sees your site will want to earn extra cash. Now as for cost, think about this. It is widely believed that people will more quickly spend money that they have in a PayPal account compared to cash from a local bank account or borrowed money from their credit cards.

So then, if your prospect has money in PayPal, the decision to buy a $5.00, $7.00, $10, or a $15.00 program will not be so hard to make after all. So the question now remaining is this: Where do you find such a program? Most of these programs are found in the Internet Marketing industry.

You will find them surfing through traffic exchanges such as webbizinsider, hitpulse, trafficg, hitsafari, Ilovehits.com, and many more. Just look for programs that have a Paypal button at the bottom of the page and read the sales copy. Pretty soon you will find several programs that meet the above criteria.

Sign-up for this program, get your own promotion link, and then start to promote it using the same traffic exchanges, and free add sites.. You may use craigslist.com, ezinearticles, buzzle.com, hubpages.com, and any free resource you can find to promote the program.

None of these advertising sites will cost you money. You will only need to spend productive time to promote your program and watch the money roll in. That my friend, is how you earn extra money fast and without the usual inconvenience of a J.O.B.

Anthony Chambers is an online marketer and expert writer with many articles online. If you found this article useful, Anthony can direct you to a free-to-join program that will pay you 100% commission for every person you sell. Visit him at: Earn Extra Money Fast

Posted by Simonbiz at 2:39 AM  

Labels: Earn Extra Money

There are a lot of people who automatically think that network marketing is a scam. This is not true. There are companies out there that are legitimate network marketing companies that are not scams. However, there are also ones that are a network marketing scam. This is why you need to be careful about what you sign up with on the internet. Here are some things that you can look for to find out if it is a network marketing scam or not.

One: You need to look at the compensation plan. Each company will have their own compensation plan. You want to make sure that you understand the plan before you start out with any network marketing company. The ones that you want to do business with are the ones that only offer money to the people who are going to put in the effort to grow their business. When you are willing to do the work then you are the one that should get paid not the people who don't make any effort at all. When you find a company that says you can get rich quick without having to do anything, you will definitely know that it is a scam.

Two: What is the product or service like? Is it a good product or just something that was thrown together so that it looked like there was a good product? You need to be able to feel good about the product or service that you will be involved with. This is very important because when the product or service isn't good, you will never make any money because people want good things not worthless ones.

Three: You want to find out what other people are saying about the network marketing company. When you go into forums you will find people talking about the network marketing scam that they found. This will give you a good idea of what to join and what to stay away from.

Do some research on the network marketing company to find out all you can about it. You can even go so far as checking with the Better Business Bureau. The more information you can find out about the more you will know whether it is a network marketing scam. Network marketing will not last long for any company if it is a scam.

You want to be careful and choose carefully before you do any network marketing. You will always be able to find information that will tell you if it is a network marketing scam. The more you know the better your choice will be.

Want to learn the secret to Network Marketing Success please visit http://www.amazingsuccesssystem.net

Posted by Simonbiz at 1:39 AM  

Labels: Avoid Scam, Network Marketing, Right Work At Home

When someone starts an online business, and many do, they tend to think that they know what they are doing. In other words, they don't have a clue. Everyone keeps telling them that they need a nice looking website, throw some affiliate programs on it, advertise at free classifieds pages, and watch the money roll in. Easy money, right? That's what they think.

"I don't need anyone to show me how to do this. It shouldn't be hard at all. Actually, it should be a walk in the park." Many people probably think like that. So they advertise here and there. Free classifieds. Free advertising. Maybe some forum posting every day. Free traffic, right?

A few days go by. Then a few weeks go by and they only made about $30 in sales in one month. Many continue to do this and think that if they keep doing the same thing, maybe a miracle will happen.

Not so......

It so very true that the online work at home arena is highly competitive. If you are doing the same thing and keep getting the same results over and over again, not only are you killing your potential for online success, but you are allowing other competitors to pass you by. The only thing that you need to do is to stop and find someone who is already succeeding with their online business. Become like an investigator. Investigate what they do EXACTLY on a daily basis that created that wealth for them.

Here are a few good pointers on what you can do to succeed online:

1) Start Getting Educated......

Again, find someone who is very successful online and see what they are doing on a daily basis that creates their success. Do some detailed research online as to what methods and techniques are working for them and others. You can not succeed if you keep associating yourself with people who aren't successful online. So you need to take yourself by the hands and start to associate with successful online friends.

2) You need an Auto-responder.....

Before I go into explaining this subject, it is important that you know that you will want to work with an opt in email subscribers who will come to your site and give you their personal permission to send them periodic emails. What you will not want to do is to buy email subscribers. If you do buy them and send them your emails, then this can kill you and your online reputation.

Having and opt-in email list will allow you to free up lots of your time because your prospects will be receiving messages from you periodically and automatically. The nice thing about email marketing is that instead of you having to call them each time you want to promote something, which will take you forever, your auto-responder system will be working for you while you go out and have fun.

Imagine having an opt in list of 10,000 subscribers. If you were to call each one of them to promote one of your programs, think how long it will take you to reach all of them. It would be impossible for you. With email, you can contact them all in a matter of a few seconds or minutes. You write one email and hit the "submit" button, and you are all done.

"If I don't get an auto-responder and email subscribers, will this cut my chances of succeeding online?"

I am not saying that it will, but if you do get one, your income will just keep growing all the time as your subscribers do.

3) Find a mentor

After you find someone who is very successful online, email them and tell them that you will want to work with them one on one if it is possible. Don't try going into their training thinking that you know it all. Listen and follow each guideline that they are recommending to you.

This person will be your mentor. Your coach and most of all, your friend.

By stepping out and trying a proven way to make money online, you will begin to see that you too can make a nice income online. And the best advice that I can also give you is to never ever give up. A lot of people are making nice incomes online and so can you. Believe in yourself and you will succeed.

Pat Watt is the owner of http://www.workbizfromhom.com

Her website is geared for people who are interested in finding an online work at home opportunity or finding the perfect home based business.

Posted by Simonbiz at 2:43 AM  

Labels: Business Techniques

Make millions of dollars fast effortlessly. You've heard it all before, right? I know I had a million times or more.

Although internet marketing is the quickest money I've ever made, there are a few key principles that need to be adhered to for success.

There are thousands of websites online that will fill you with all kinds of hopes and promises. They are laden with ideas of how you can get rich quick in no time with little or no effort. So why is it then that none of them have worked for you? If you are reeling from previous failures and disappointments, then this is the article for you. Be prepared for your financial future to change drastically.

Start Small

Yes I know, you're probably saying that the goal here is to begin making quick cash online. However, you can't ignore reality. Websites are designed to play on your emotions. You have to differentiate your dreams from your business dealings. The truth is you need to be able to take care of yourself and your family. Start by first being able to provide a living for your loved ones and then you can move on to making your millions. Success often starts small.

Get Educated

You need to find all there is to know about your area of interest. This is critical to your success. It could be by doing research online, buying related ebooks to study, or by finding a suitable mentor. Just choose something and get working. There is a learning curve to becoming successful online. Often the difference between success and failure is being willing to do the things that others are not.

Brand Yourself

How do you think that the online gurus have made money fast? They're not endorsing someone else, they're endorsing themselves. These experts have developed personalized lead capture pages that have catapulted them to success in the industry. You can reach all of your goals by following this one easy step.

Stay Focused

It is so easy to become distracted in your campaign to make quick cash online. Your attitude and focus will have a profound affect on your success. Surround yourself around people who will help you keep a positive attitude and who believe in your success.

You can get started well on your way to making money fast online if you follow these simple principles. There are so many details that go into having success online, but just remember that is all starts with simple principles.

If you're looking to make quick cash, visit my Wealthy Marketer website.

Author: Brian McCoy is a successful internet marketer and success coach who specializes in helping others become full time internet marketers.

Posted by Simonbiz at 2:42 AM  

Labels: Earn Extra Money

If you are like most people, you are looking for a way to become financially independent and become your own boss, but you just don't know where to start! Well I am here to tell you anybody can make tons of money from working at home, but to be successful you must work smarter not harder. I mean this is why you are looking for a work at home opportunity right???, because you are tired of working hard. You need to start working smart!!

If you are looking for a quick get rich scheme, you need not read any further. The truth of the matter is, to be successful in looking for a work at home opportunity, you need to do your research. There are so many internet predators who are looking for educated fools to make money off of. I know because it happened to me. Don't be fooled by the glitz and glamour. Many companies promise you will be making thousands of dollars a month. Of course this is possible. I know people who have done very well for themselves on the internet. This takes time and dedication. If you feel you have the passion, dedication and time, than you can definitely make the internet work at home opportunities work for you!

First step: Having the passion

Do you have the passion and dedication it takes to start a home based business? Any one can have a great idea, but it takes passion and perseverance to make a great idea a reality. Think about your dream business and than think about what you what to convey to your audience. You can never go wrong when you are doing what you love. It's hard to believe, but there are people out there that will pay you for your talent and skills. Make it work for you!

Second step: Comittment

Don't believe the hype and think having a successful online business happens overnight. There are many trials and tribulations that come with being a successful online entrepreneur. So if you are the type of person that bails during the first sign of a bump in the road this may not be for you.

Third Step: Time Management

Working from home can be the most exciting experience as well as the most scariest decision you can make. You really have to know yourself and know what you are capable of. For instance if you need to be told what to do and need to be given tasks by others, than working from home may not be for you. When you are working for yourself, you are calling the shots. You are giving yourself agendas, project plans, and deadlines. So the questions are: How disciplined are you?... Can you carry out your tasks and reach target goals without someone else asking you for a status? Can you balance your personal home life and your work at home business without letting one distract the other. These are questions you need to be honest with yourself about.

Fourth Step: Having the Proper Tools

Like any other business, you will need start up capital. Research and find out how much it will cost you to start your own business. Create a business plan and keep track of all your expenses, no matter how insignificant you may think they are. Even if you are buying pens and pencils, keep track of it. This is something you will need to refer to around tax season.

I can stress enough that you must do your research. The more you know the more powerful and successful you will be.

Check out http://www.workathomechoices.com to view work at home opportunities that are scam free and will help you reach your financial goals.

Work at Home Choices is designed to help people find work at home opportunities that will help them earn more income and become financially independent.

Posted by Simonbiz at 1:37 AM  

Labels: Avoid Scam, Right Work At Home

Network Marketing systems that make money have 3 absolutely critical components. Your success as a business owner all boils down the having these 3 pieces.

3 Critical System Components to Making Money in Network Marketing

1) A System that Locates New Interested People - It's really simple, if you can't find interested prospects then you won't grow a business. If you have no systematic way of finding new, hungry, interested prospects for your business then you're probably not going to get far. Sure, you can call your friends and family, but what do you do when that runs out? Your system should help you locate new interested people.

2) A System that Educates Your Interested Prospects - When people say they are interested in learning more, then your system should help you educate those prospects so they can make a decision. If your system is set up right, you can actually have your system locate AND educate your prospect all the way thru actually joining your team. It's really possible to have people join your team without ever actually speaking to you. Don't get me wrong, you should build your relationships with your team members, but if your system is setup right, you can actually have 95% of the work done for you. Systems that locate, educate, and close your prospects make you money.

3) A System that Helps You Launch New Team Members- Once people join your team, your system should help them launch their own money making businesses. That's why you need a system that you can KNOW, DO, and TEACH. You should be able to show people how they can locate new prospects, educate those prospects so they can make a decision, and launch their own team members.

Locate, Educate, and Launch - If you have a network marketing system that does that, you can consistently make a great income for the rest of your life.

How would you like to Never Talk to Another Prospect Again? The Secret is in the details of the Reverse Funnel System. But don't take my word for it.

Check it out yourself at http://No-More-Prospecting.com

Posted by Simonbiz at 2:51 AM  

Labels: Network Marketing

Affiliate Marketing

Everyone would like to make more money, and one good way of starting to increase your income is to start making money online. However, making money online is not about getting rich quick. It's about building up a business and making profit.

If you come across a get rich scheme somewhere online that discusses how you can make thousands, or even millions of dollars through affiliate marketing, do not get sucked into the hype. Instead, use a little common sense and think about what the program actually is trying to sell you.

What you need is some fundamental knowledge of how to make money online the right way. There are tried and true methods that work. It's not a way to get rich overnight, but in the longer run it will pay off with steady income.

Affiliate marketing is when you find a good product from a vendor and then setup a marketing campaign to sell that product. You must understand that it will take work and affiliate marketing is not for the lazy. Marketing to increase your online traffic is the key to increasing your income. Here are 4 ways that have been proven to increase your income.

1) PPC or Pay-Per-Click advertising.

PPC is a great way to drive targeted traffic to your website. You are able to select the exact keywords that people will type in as your target customers. All you must do is setup a campaign, select the keywords and start the campaign. Google Adwords is by far the most popular PPC method as Google holds a large share of the search engine market.

2) Unique Content - SEO

Creating unique content for your website will be beneficial to you in the long term. The Search engines really like well developed unique content. This will enable your website to be indexed by Google and will impact your traffic over time. Creating a lot of unique content targeted towards whatever you are trying to sell is the number one way of getting a higher placement in the search engines. This is a basis for SEO or Search Engine Optimization.

3) Email Lists

Always setup a way to collect your visitors email addresses. Even give away something for free if the visitor will give you your email address. This email address list will prove to be very beneficial over time. Maybe they did not buy anything during their first visit, but you can use that email list to market to them over time and eventually turn them into a paying customer

4) Social Marketing

Sites like Facebook and MySpace are becoming ever so popular. It can be beneficial for you to setup accounts on these social networking sites and create as many friends as you can. These are people that you can send marketing information to sell your products.

There are many ways to be successful as an affiliate marketer. But just remember, it is not a get rich scheme. Many people are making money online and you can too.

If you are interested in obtaining more information about Affiliate Marketing to learn about how to properly make money online then visit Affiliate Gold Marketing

Posted by Simonbiz at 4:36 PM  

Labels: Money Makers

I have come across to many opinions that to be successful online is hardly believable. What I mean by successful online is make money online. In my humble opinion I think one obstacle people do not want or quit pursuing their internet dream is their mindset.

To be successful online we should treat this internet marketing, so to say, as a real business that we do in the real world, the differences lie on the methods of running it and with absolutely small capital people can already start their journey online.

Most of the people, who try to pursue internet marketing, might be those, who already have a 9-5 job or their own traditional business. Let me try to come into their actions, which could be wrong. They might at first want to give internet marketing a try because they heard it from someone or read it somewhere. After having their feet wet for a while, they decided to give up, perhaps, by thinking that they can earn their living already why they should face the hardship by pursuing internet marketing.

There is nothing such as easy money. Like any other business internet marketing needs investments. When you decided to go with it, one attitude that you should have is never-say-die attitude. I remembered that I almost gave up because I did not see a better future approaching. Fortunately at that time I did not let myself to do that, today I could not be more thankful to that decision.

I know learning is not something interesting, but to some people it might be. Once I decided to enter the world of Internet marketing, i knew that i should learn new thing. To be honest, I did know nothing about any of Internet marketing stuff, how people can be successful online. If you are ready to learn new stuff, then it is worth to pursue internet marketing.

So why did I say the mindset is wrong? Because people tend to give up too early because they have to learn a lot of things involving the techniques in internet marketing. Is that the only reason they raised their white flag?

I certainly would say no, some people might have been tired of being scammed believing that internet marketing is a getting-rich-quick kind of business. Remember this is like any other businesses, this is an investment, you knew that Rome was not built in one day.

Some people might be giving up because they did not know where to start, how to start, what else they should learn, and more. But they could always seek help in forums or quality e-books, which is either free or paid. I personally do not suggest a starter to buy the e-books, because some could be scams.

Don't let the mindset stops you from being successful online. Start paving your own golden path to online success, just by developing the right mindset and right attitude.

Do you want to find out the secrets behind my and my friends' online success? Please Feel Free to visit Increasing Your Online Earning Potential

Posted by Simonbiz at 4:32 PM  

Labels: Business Ideas, Money Makers

Lately I have been hearing a lot about having good content on your website from the business experts, I've been studying up on this very thing and have also seen other companies that are applying it and I have to agree that having good content does make all the difference in the world. I'm still working on building mine but came up with reasons I learned from the experts and so I'll share them with you.

Here are five reasons why we need good content and how to get it.

1. It Establishes You: Good content should reveal you or your company as an expert. When people are convinced that you know what you are talking about and are an expert in your field it gives you creditability and establishes you as a professional. Share your credentials, your experience in the field or how you have succeeded using the product or service.

2. It Distinguishes You: It makes you stand out from all the rest of the competition. Good content will give your potential customers reasons why they should buy from you and also why they should trust you. Be personable and helpful that you're not just out to get their money but really care for their success in using your product or service by giving them tips and free information to succeed.

3. It Sells Your Product: Another important reason to have good content is to sell your product or service. The biggest marketing tip online is to pre-sell your product before they even look at it. Pre-Selling is not a gimmick or hype but well written content that tells the reader and potential customer what the product can do and why they need it. It prepares the reader to not just be interested in what you are selling but ready to buy. One way is to share testimonials on how others have succeeded or benefited by your product and how they can too. Just the honest facts.

4. It Brings Returning Customers: Try having a subscriber list and create a newsletter that your client's can stay in touch with you and build a report with them on the latest tips and trends in regards to your product or service. Auto-responder emails are also great for free give-a-ways and hottest tips. You can also add other articles from outside sources to help you provide good info.

5. It Brings Happy Customers: One of the best reasons to have good content is that it can bring you returning, happy and satisfied customers back weekly or monthly, It's a win-win situation for both the business owner and the client. One last idea is once you get a good clientele base you could start your own message board for the clients to get to know each other and also for them to know you and answer any questions they may have. Building a community of people together that have the same interests and services and products will keep them coming back for more because they can encourage each other.

I'm going to re-iterate that market researchers have shown that a high percentage of successful online home businesses are more personable and helpful in aiding to the client's success by newsletters, updates, mailing lists, latest marketing tips, and how-to success steps, informative articles and message boards. Good content is about keeping the client well informed, providing for their needs and wants and communicating and touching base with them periodically.

Warning, be careful not to overload them. I receive some auto-responder emails from people that send me an email almost every day. That truthfully turns people off and needs to be avoided. They say by the seventh email you have a purchaser and that is true for the most part but if the person has already purchased your product a bi-monthly or monthly newsletter or update letter is sufficient. We want to keep our customers, not drive them away.

Well hopefully these tips have given you some food for thought and will help you in your work at home endeavors.
http://www.filoiannwiedenhoff.com/

Posted by Simonbiz at 1:09 AM  

Labels: Good Content

There are a number of strategies that together contribute for the search engine optimization (SEO). It is not wise to ignore any one of them and work more on others. Here are a few helpful tips that will help you in improving the SEO of your website in different search engines such as Yahoo!, Google, MSN, etc. All of these tips may not applicable to all search engines; however, if given proper attention to each of them, the result will be great.

Register your domain
Most of the search engines such as Google values the seniority of a website as a proof of its authenticity. Therefore, it is advised that you register your domain with all search engines much before you start the promotional activities of your website. Google has a tendency to prioritize the websites in the search engine result page (SERP) on the basis of their seniority.

Acquire one-way links as opposed to reciprocal links
It really makes a difference. One-way links are one of the best methods to improve the quality of a website. The one-way links acquired by a website is an indication of the popularity of the website. If a website contains relevant content in it, more and more websites would naturally get linked to it. This method is considered one of the most effective organic SEO methods in Google. Reciprocal linking, on the other hand, invites more harm than the good. Websites that contain excess number of reciprocal links are terms as ‘link farm’ and they are penalized by the search engines, especially Google. In the past, many websites identified this method as the easiest way to improve their ranking in the search engines, and they partnered with all types of websites, without thinking about their content most of which was irrelevant to the content of the linked website.

Submitting articles to a directory and bookmarking your website’s pages are two popular methods adopted by websites to acquire quality one-way links. Blog sites and forums are equally good in getting one-way links from other websites with the help of the signature links added in them. While submitting your links through the articles or the blogs, make sure that you include the anchor text in naming them.
Prepare best-quality content

The phrase ‘Content is King’ applies to all websites. A good content is always appreciated both by the search engines and the users. The content should be rich in keywords; however it should not exceed the desired number. Filling a website with keywords will not yield good results. According to Google, an ideal webpage should contain only 2-3% keywords in the text. You may include the synonyms and the related words and phrases of the main keyword as the secondary/tertiary keywords. If your website contains only graphic contents, you should add appropriate text near the image. Use the keywords appropriately in your h1 tag, title tag and the description tags.

Last, but not the least, update the contents in the website on a regular basis. A fresh content will always score better in the search process. The thumb rule is to follow the natural means of improving the contents of a website, rather than adopting the short-cuts.

Posted by Simonbiz at 10:48 PM  

Labels: Search Engine Optimization

Keyword density is one of the major factors that determine the popularity of a website. Compared to the other factors such as the external links that influence the page ranking, keyword density has more relevance in search engine optimization (SEO).

There are three major search engines, viz., Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. Among the three, Google alone contributes to 60 percent of the total web traffic whereas the remaining 40 percent is shared between Yahoo! and MSN with small fractions of their share contributed to small players. The three search engines have different algorithm to track the websites for relevant contents. Their criteria differ in calculating the keyword richness of a website.

Keyword density is calculated by dividing the number of repetitions of the keyword by the total number of words in the text. Keyword density is often expressed in percentage. For example if a keyword is repeated 10 times in a 1000-word article, the keyword density of that article is (10/1000)* 100= 1%. The accepted keyword density for Google is 2- 5% whereas that for MSN and Yahoo! is about 10% or higher. This implies that you can never achieve a perfect page ranking from all the three search engines. For Google, the pages with more than 10% keyword density are assumed spam. In fact, the website will bear the brunt if they go for more than 10% keyword density because Google penalize such websites by dropping their page rank to significantly lower values or removing them permanently from the search engine index. Therefore many webmasters are forced to accept Google’s terms of keyword density and to concentrate on other strategies such as the external links for improving the page rank through MSN or Yahoo!.

The selection of keywords is another important matter of concern. Search engines want that the websites contain the keywords that are appropriate to the contents of the website. There are many websites that unethically fill their websites with the most popular key words such as the ‘casino’ ‘Julia Roberts’, etc. Be careful; the search engine algorithms scan your website content to verify the authenticity of the keyword in your website. For example, the Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) feature adopted by Google follows a theme-based search for the keyword. Thus it can recognize the appropriateness of the keyword used in the website. The word ‘casino’ should be ideally used in an online gambling website, a night-club’s website, etc. Google spiders will verify the relevance of ‘casino’ by tracing other words or phrases such as ‘Poker’, ‘gambling’, etc., used in the same website. On the other hand, if the keyword ‘casino’ is used in an automobile’s website or a book seller’s website repeatedly for the purpose of attracting the search engines, it will be penalized by the search engine.

In short, the websites with appropriate keyword density would be able to draw the search engine crawlers to them easily. The appropriate key word density finds its relevance only when the keyword itself is appropriate to the content.

Posted by Simonbiz at 10:24 PM  

Labels: Keywords Secret

Internal links are the links that point to the contents that are distributed in different pages of your websites. Thus the internal links all possess the same domain name. The number of internal links increases as the number of pages of the website increases. There are certain strategies to be followed in order to make your website effective in creating internal links, without affecting the optimization of the website.

Search engines use specific algorithm to segregate the websites on the basis of the relevance of the contents in each page. According to the Pagerank specifications, your website should not contain more than 100 links in the home page. This is the maximum number, and obviously you need not include 100 links. It is ideal from the search engine’s point of view to include a maximum of 20 links in the home page of a website. If you supply more links in your home page, you would be sacrificing the search engine index of your website. The website may be ignored for having ‘too many internal links’ in it.

There is certain order for giving internal links in the websites. According to the search engine, each page of the website is considered as a stand-alone website, and each page is indexed separately based on the content value in it. Therefore it is very important to include the contents as well as the links that is very much relevant to a particular page. Thus the home page should contain the most important contents and the primary level links. The primary level links lead the user to the secondary page, where the secondary information is contained, and this page contain the secondary links that directs the user to the tertiary information, and so on. In addition to these forward linking, each page in your website should contain at least one backward link or a link to the home page.

This structured design of your website will enable it to become more friendly to the user as well as the search engines. Another important attribute to be focused is its content. In effect, every page of your website should reflect different content, but related to the main theme in some manner. This will help you to get more inbound links from various other websites that share different contents. Thus, the systematic arrangement of the internal links itself will help to improve the performance of the website as well as the scope for procuring valuable inbound links.

According to the latest search engine strategies, all links of a website may not be listed under the root directory. It is because the current search engine methods start indexing a page with a zero rank when it is freshly added to a search engine, and later on its ranking improves according to the quality of the contents and the internal links in it. Thus the directory in which the links are located does not anyway affect the performance of the website.

Appropriate internal links, thus, are inevitable components of an effective functioning of a website.

Posted by Simonbiz at 9:02 AM  

Labels: Links Popularity

The toughest thing you can do on the internet is pass up an appealing work at home opportunity. You never know which opportunity could be the one that takes you from rags to riches. But at the same time, there are many work at home scams that can waste months of your life and a great deal of your money.

While it is difficult to pass up a good offer, it would be much easier if you could identify a scam when you see one. There are some things that can assist you in picking up on a scam before you join the company. But it takes time, patience and a great deal of research to stay safe on the internet.

The easiest way to avoid a home business scam is to know the company. You will find a number of companies offering to sell you training and material to employ yourself. If you want to work for yourself, there is no reason to go through a company to do so. Take a look into the products the company sells, how successful they have been, and ask around. Your greatest asset will be those who have worked for the company or still do.

Before you pay for any material or join any program, you want to have all of the details. Whether you receive emails from the company or talk to a representative on the phone, a quality company will take the time to talk with prospects. Plot out all the feasible questions you can think of and drill the company to determine its legitimacy. This may seem a little overboard, but it can save you thousands of dollars by not joining a work at home scam.

One of the greatest home business scams of all time is the get rich quick scheme. It is amazing how many people truly believe they can make thousands of dollars in their first couple of weeks. Although it is a little more reasonable to believe after seeing the amount of falsely stated claims there are on the internet.

If you come into a home business opportunity knowing it will take time and a great deal of effort to begin seeing results, you will be much better off. What happens to those expecting quick results is they quit too soon after not seeing results. Being more reasonable and knowing what to expect will prepare you and keep you determined.

Lastly, try to join programs or businesses that already have a reputation. There are certain companies within the various industries that have positive reputations across the internet. You will hear about these companies in forums, on search engines and possibly even on your blog or website.

You have to know that getting into a work at home scam can take away from thousands of dollars and waste several months of your time. By being aware and taking the proper precautions prior to joining any program, you can avoid getting into a home business scam.

Posted by Simonbiz at 4:26 PM  

Labels: Avoid Scam, Blogging Tips, Business Ideas, Business Strategies, Information Tips

There are certain criteria that are followed by the search engines while considering the websites for Search Engine Optimization. Though the criteria may vary in different search engines, the common principle on SEO focuses on the three aspects - the quality of the content, the optimization of the content and the ranking of the website.

Content is the most important attribute of a website that determines the relevance of the website to the search engines. The standard search engine uses a specific algorithm to identify the relevance of the website on the basis of its contents. The use of keywords is of paramount importance in this context. There should be at least 3-5 repetitions of the keywords, all similar, in every single page of your website that has got the textual contents. More repetitions, however, should be avoided. The search engine program will ignore the website as ’spam’ if it uses one particular keyword more frequently.

The quantity of the contents also plays an important role in ranking the website. It is the content that determines the quality of the website. Therefore, the content has to be given much importance not only in the context of SEO, but also for gaining reputation among the customers. The search engines look for a content that has proper density of the keyword.

Optimization of the content involves different processes. Proper optimization will help the website to be caught by the search engine spiders easily and dragged to the top of the Search Engine Result Page (SERP).

There are two ways of optimizing the contents using the keyword principle
1. Using the keywords in the Meta tags and the title tags.
2. Using the keywords appropriately in the body text.

Meta tags consist of two parts- the title tag and the description. The title tag is the most important in terms of the optimization, and it is used by most of the current search engines, such as Google, Altavista, Alltheweb, etc., as the identification tag of the websites. The size of the title tag varies in different search engines.

Meta description tags, though not relevant in identifying the website for optimization, are useful sometimes in prioritizing the content by the search engines. Meta keyword tags, too, are obsolete, and do not find much application in today’s search process.

The keyword placement in the content should meet the criteria set by the search engines. The keywords should be placed in the proper vicinity of the web page. If the website is rich in graphics, forms, or table contents, the keywords should be placed in ALT tags or No-script tags.

Once the process of optimization is done, the next step is to provide the best page ranking. The fact that there are thousands of websites that are popular makes the process of ranking your website more tough. All the common search engines use a scale of 0-10 to rank a website. Though the score 10 is almost unachievable, you may try to get a score of 8 and above, if you have maintained your website well.

It is better to get a professional advice in order to get proper ranking for your website, and thus improve the SEO of your website.

Posted by Simonbiz at 12:13 AM  

Labels: Blogging Tips, Generate Traffic, Information Tips, Search Engine Optimization

Many internet and network marketers use paid advertising to generate traffic and sign ups. This is generally not sustainable, because with pay per click or banner advertising online, you are basically just a direct marketer. You are not developing any relationships with your prospects. When you stop advertising, the clicks and traffic stop. This article discusses twelve proven elements for network marketing article marketing.

With network marketing article marketing however, if your prospect likes what she reads, she' is going to see what you have to offer. This is way more effective than pay per click because you are communicating with your prospect emotionally and buyers make their decisions emotionally.

it is important to write articles with great headlines that grabs the readers attention. I often use titles such as xxx killer tips, xxx hot tips, etc. Write from your heart to attract your prospect into your article. This will help you attract emotionally charged prospects who is attracted to you as a real and honest person and for what you have to offer.

In order to generate strong traffic for your website through network marketing article marketing, you need to optimize your articles. Even if you have a well-researched and well-structured article, you will not get a positive nod from your market if it still has an foreign feel for them. That is why it is important to learn the culture of your target market to make them feel that what you have written is especially for them.

To increase the exposure and performance of your network marketing articles, here are twelve elements to follow:

1) The article should have zero self serving links in the article body..

2) The article should have no more than two self serving links in the resource box.

Your resource box at the bottom of your article should be short, sweet, succinct, to the point,and be less than 10% of the total word count of your article.

3) Is the article short (no more than 500 to 550 words)? If so, great.

4) Your article should deliver quality original content with numbered lists, bullet points or easy to glean information that their audience would find valuable.

Make sure your articles are 100% original content. Anything less is really an insult.

There are many other considerations that publishers look for, such as

5) Are you well recognized or respected within your market niche?. If so, excellent!

6) Relevancy of the article to the ezine publisher's core focus

7) Timing of the article and its relevance to current market dynamics

8) Grammar, spelling, punctuation and sentence structure are perfect

9) Simple, clean, neat and no abuse of the bold/italics/underline attributes

10) Formal approach to the article vs. blogging loose style

11) How well referenced the article is

12) No excessive use of keywords and no keyword stuffing

Write at least 100 or more articles to solidly establish your credibility. I have written over 150 articles and get hits and sign ups from them every day. Follow these guidelines and you will achieve long lasting success from network marketing article marketing.

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

Posted by Simonbiz at 1:40 AM  

Labels: Affiliate Program, Blogging Tips, Generate Traffic, Google Adsense, Pay-Per-Click

1. Be Born with a Bang! Many of you may have already passed this stage, but for those about to launch your directories, do note that the launch phase is extremely crucial and could either create a mighty wave of buzz that will carry your directory over the next few months and beyond or it could bury your directory in a blackhole. A good powerful launch will enable a large portion of the related industries to know you, particularly fellow directory owners.

2. Submit, submit, submit. Be visible to people in the industry through your submissions in many directories. Notice I said ‘BE VISIBLE’. Just submitting alone is not enough and sometimes, you need to fork out more to get Featured listings just so that you can be on the frontpage. This returns on the investment is two-fold. First, other companies and directories will more easily notice your directory and recognize that you are serious about investing in your directory. Secondly, you will usually get a stronger backlink from being at the top of the category.

3. Free Themes/Templates/Software - Anyone? Sponsorship of themes/templates and software typically cost more than directory submissions, but the returns could also potentially be much more. A single software sponsorship could give your directory attention from thousands of visitors if the software was good. Similarly with Wordpress themes that can receive hundreds of downloads over time. It is always wise to diversify your investment and sponsorship of such products are a good way of doing that. Also, the returns of your investment will stretch over a very long period.

4. Website Advertising (of course). Needless to say, you will need to buy advertising space on popular relevant websites in order to get your directory noticed. How do you find these websites? Just think about the websites that you frequent. If you are a serious directory owner, I’m sure that many of them will be relevant to directories like SEO, blogs, marketing, etc. All these websites will be good choices for advertising. Contact the owners and see if a deal can be made.

5. Creative Advertising. Many (perhaps including myself) tend to get caught up with only a few ways of advertising, either text links or banners. Some may not even have banners. But I’ve noticed that some sites like Alive Directory uses T-shirts, games and various other means to get their message out there to the public. For those who do not even have professional banners designed for your directories, this is the least you can do right now. Having varied advertising means harnesses the natural advantages of these means over text links. Banners will garner more attention and catch visitors’ eyes more easily for example. So be creative and nobody says that you are only allowed to use the traditional ways of advertising. If you think of something new, by all means do it!

6. Join da Club. No man is an island and many directory owners have gained much from being involved in the community of directory owners. Obviously, the easiest way is through forums like Digitalpoint. As you contribute your experience, lessons and ideas to the community, people will associate your reputation on the forums to your directories. Gain enough respect in the community and your directory will rise in stature too. Also, many potential customers like SEO firms frequent these popular forums to determine where they should submit their sites to. I cannot over-emphasize this point, community is one of the keys of marketing your directory.

7. Signature, email, Newsletter Advertising. Besides advertising on websites, there are also many other areas to advertise. These include buying the signature spots on members who participate actively in the relevant forums. Buying space on newsletters of blogs and email listings. These will enable you to cast a wider net of advertising rather than just being constrained to websites.

8. Write, Write, Write. This may probably fall into the same category as both advertising points mentioned above. But it is also slightly different. Writing and submitting articles will not only help to market your directory, but it will also help increase the recognition and authority of your directory if the article carries very useful information about the industry. Of course, this applies to both article directories and blogs. People who read the article will feel that the directory that sponsored the article knows its business and that in turn boosts the status of your directory. Obviously, the reverse is true too. Write a bad article and your directory’s reputation goes down the drain as well.

9. Sale! This is one word that is sure to get people’s attention. Run periodic promotions and discounts for your directory. People will sure sit up and take notice. Don’t think of it as money lost, but money invested for people to know who you are and that your directory exists! I’ve lost count of the number of times I learn about a directory only because they had a promotion going on. So be generous and put a little money on the table. It is surely not in vain.

Posted by Simonbiz at 3:15 PM  

Labels: Blogging Tips, Business Strategies, Information Tips

Do you ever wonder why your network marketing strategies just don't seem to be working? You've read book after book, article after article and even attended those seminars that are supposed to tell you all the great "secrets" of the industry. So why do you feel like you just keep pumping money into something that isn't bringing you a profit?

The reason why most people have problems with their network marketing is because they don't truly understand how the industry works. They make simple mistakes and naive decisions. Often, this is because they were sold a pack of lies from some company that reeled them in on false promises. People make mistakes because they never truly understand what network marketing is supposed to be about.

Did you know that 95% of people who get into network marketing have no prior sales experience? This leads to serious difficulties as networking marketing does involve sales and selling, regardless of what some MLM company may have said to you to get you to sign up. This is one of the biggest mistakes that people make in network marketing. They think the product will "sell itself" while they just sit back and rake in the profits.

Another common mistake is to think you will be able to sell to your friends and family. Many networking marketing or MLM programs encourage you to share these great opportunities with your friends and family when in reality, your friends and family may not even want or like the product. If you do make sales, it will only be from people that feel obligated or that pity you. Don't depend on your family and friends to make you rich from an MLM program. Even if they are kind enough to buy from you, chances are you won't be a millionaire due to it.

Millions of people are jumping onto the MLM business or network marketing train but very few are actually becoming successful from it. Why is there such a poor response rate from these programs and opportunities? The biggest reason is that people go into the business with false hopes and expectations. It's a classic scam; you're told a lot of promises in the beginning about what a great opportunity it is, how you don't need any experience and you will be rich instantly. Once you begin the program, you find out the truth was stretched and in some cases, completely fabricated.

True MLM success comes from MLM training, experience, expertise and even practice. Can you make a good living from it? Sure, you can. Can you be highly rich and successful? In time, yes you can. But don't expect it to be an overnight miracle success. And don't think that you can achieve this without some work involved. If network marketing was so simple that anyone could do it and products sold themselves, wouldn't we all be millionaires?

When you learn what some of the common networking marketing, multi-level marketing and home based business network marketing mistakes are, you can avoid these mistakes in your own network marketing ventures.

If you'd like to learn more about MLM lies and network marketing mistakes, please download your free report The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing and learn the secret to successful network marketing today.

Ann McLaren is a professional network marketer. Visit her blog for network marketing training and free downloads
http://blog.solutions-for-winners.com/

Posted by Simonbiz at 10:13 PM  

Labels: Business Ideas, Business Strategies, Information Tips

Writer's block is the patron demon of the blank page. You may think you know EXACTLY what you're going to write, but as soon as that evil white screen appears before you, your mind suddenly goes completely blank.

It doesn't necessarily matter if you've done a decade of research and all you have to do is string sentences you can repeat in your sleep together into coherent paragraphs. Writer's block can strike anyone at anytime. Based in fear, it raises our doubts about our own self-worth, but it's sneaky. It's writer's block, after all, so it doesn't just come and let you know that. No, it makes you feel like an idiot who just had your frontal lobes removed through your sinuses. If you dared to put forth words into the greater world, they would surely come out as gibberish!

Let's try and be rational with this irrational demon. Let's make a list of what might possibly be beneath this terrible and terrifying condition.

1. Perfectionism. You must absolutely produce a masterpiece of literature straight off in the first draft. Otherwise, you qualify as a complete failure.

2. Self-consciousness. How can you think, let alone write, when all you can manage to do is pry the fingers of writer's block away from your throat enough so you can gasp in a few shallow breaths? You're not focusing on what you're trying to write, your focusing on those gnarls fingers around your windpipe.

3. Can't get started. It's always the first sentence that's the hardest. As writers, we all know how EXTREMELY important the first sentence is. It must be brilliant! It must be unique! It must hook your reader's from the start! There's no way we can get into writing the piece until we get past this impossible first sentence.

4. Shattered concentration. You're cat is sick. You suspect your mate is cheating on you. Your electricity might be turned off any second. You have a crush on the local UPS deliveryman. You have a dinner party planned for your in-laws. You . . . Need I say more. How can you possibly concentrate with all this mental clutter?

How to Overcome Writer's Block

There are ways to trick this nasty demon. Pick one, pick several, and give them a try. Soon, before you even have a chance for your heartbeat to accelerate, guess what? You're writing.

Here are some tried and true methods of overcoming writer's block:

1. Be prepared. The only thing to fear is fear itself. (I know, that's a clinch but as soon as you start writing, feel free to improve on it.) If you spend some time mulling over your project before you actually sit down to write, you may be able to circumvent the worst of the crippling panic.

2. Forget perfectionism. No one ever writes a masterpiece in the first draft. Don't put any expectations on your writing at all! In fact, tell yourself you're going to write absolute garbage, and then give yourself permission to happily stink up your writing room.

3. Compose instead of editing. Never, never write your first draft with your monkey-mind sitting on your shoulder making snide editorial comments. Composing is a magical process. It surpasses the conscious mind by galaxies. It's even incomprehensible to the conscious, editorial, monkey-mind. So prepare an ambush. Sit down at your computer or your desk. Take a deep breath and blow out all your thoughts. Let your finger hover over your keyboard or pick up your pen. And then pull a fake: appear to be about to begin to write, but instead, using your thumb and index finger of your dominant hand, flick that little annoying ugly monkey back into the barrel of laughs it came from. Then jumping quickly! Write, scribble, scream, howl, let everything loose, as long as you do it with a pen or your computer keyboard.

4. Forget the first sentence. You can sweat over that all-important one-liner when you've finished your piece. Skip it! Go for the middle or even the end. Start wherever you can. Chances are, when you read it over, the first line will be blinking its little neon lights right at you from the depths of your composition.

5. Concentration. This is a hard one. Life throws us so many curve balls. How about thinking about your writing time as a little vacation from all those annoying worries. Banish them! Create a space, perhaps even a physical one, where nothing exists except the single present moment. If one of those irritating worries gets by you, stomp on it like you would an ugly bug!

6. Stop procrastinating. Write an outline. Keep your research notes within sight. Use someone else's writing to get going. Babble incoherently on paper or on the computer if you have to.

Just do it! (I know, I stole that line from somewhere). Tack up anything that could possibly help you to get going: notes, outlines, pictures of your grandmother. Put the cookie you will be allowed to eat when you finish your first draft within sight? But out of reach. Then pick up the same type of writing that you need to write, and read it. Then read it again. Soon, trust me, the fear will slowly fade away. As soon as it does, grab your keyboard and get writing!

Posted by Simonbiz at 7:59 AM  

Labels: Article Ideas, eBooks

Your layout is very important in a sales letter, because you want your letter to look inviting, refreshing to the eyes. In short, you want your prospect to stop what he’s doing and read your letter.

If he sees a letter with tiny margins, no indentations, no breaks in the text, no white space, and no subheads…if he sees a page of nothing but densely-packed words, do you think he’ll be tempted to read it?

Not likely.

If you do have ample white space and generous margins, short sentences, short paragraphs, subheads, and an italicized or underlined word here and there for emphasis, it will certainly look more inviting to read.

When reading your letter, some prospects will start at the beginning and read word for word. Some will read the headline and maybe the lead, then read the “P.S.” at the end of the letter and see who the letter is from, then start from the beginning.

And some folks will scan through your letter, noticing the various subheads strategically positioned by you throughout your letter, then decide if it’s worth their time to read the entire thing. Some may never read the entire letter, but order anyways.

You must write for all of them. Interesting and compelling long copy for the studious reader, and short paragraphs and sentences, white space, and subheads for the skimmer.

Subheads are the smaller headlines sprinkled throughout your copy.

Like this.

When coming up with your headline, some of the headlines that didn’t make the cut can make great subheads. A good subhead forces your prospect to keep reading, threading him along from start to finish throughout your copy, while also providing the glue necessary to keep skimmers skimming.

Posted by Simonbiz at 12:42 AM  

Labels: Article Ideas, eBooks, Information Tips

Google Adsense is simple to use and manage. Once approved, displaying ads on your webpage does not take time and requires minimal technical knowledge.

Google Adsense is very smart about ad selection. The ads that are displayed are only those that are relevant to your content, and Google has strict quality control on the general quality of tha ads.

Google Adsense uses text-only ads. Far from being low-tech, text ads are more effective than flashy ads. The clickthrough rate of text ads is proven to be higher than that of animated ads! more clicks equals more money, and text ads equals more clicks. Also...text ads very "low weight" and very fast loading. The Adsense program will not slow your website, or your visitors, down. You can also use graphic ads.

Google Adsense allows you to ad a Google Search box to your website. By doing this, visitors to your site can search the entire internet from your website itself. In a way, your site becomes a host to Google and you make money.

Posted by Simonbiz at 8:16 AM  

Labels: Blogging Tips, Google Adsense

If you've reached the point of exhaustion trying to keep up
with answering the mountain of emails that threatens to
bury you alive every single day, you're ready to learn
about autoresponders.

The bad news is that people expect prompt replies to their
email inquiries. However, unless you can figure out how to
work continual twenty-four hour shifts, or hire enough
people to constantly monitor incoming emails (while they're
eating up your revenue), you have a problem. The good news
is an autoresponder is an inexpensive - or even free -
method of quickly responding to emails. What these programs
do is automatically respond to incoming emails as soon as
they are received.

Emails are essential to your business for many different
reasons. Most importantly, these invisible email voices
give you their feedback about your website - for free!
However, if you spend all your working hours answering
these emails, how are you supposed to run your business?
The answer is simple: use autoresponders. Autoresponders
are programs that automatically respond to your emails
without you so much as having to click on your mouse.

There are a number of good reasons why you need an
autoresponder besides just answering your email. For
example, autoresponders can be used if you need a way to
send information about your services or products, price
lists, or if there are repeated questions asked across
large numbers of emails. Maybe you want to offer your site
visitors a special bonus of some kind, such as advice or
relevant articles. All of this can be handled by an
autoresponder. Additionally, you can advertise your
business and then build stable relationships with your
customers by using autoresponders.

Autoresponder programs vary from software that runs with
your email program to a specialized script that runs on
your web hosting company's server. This kind of script may
use a web page form or simply operate with your email
account. This kind of script is programmed to send out a
standardized message whenever an email is received. The
message is sent to a particular script or email address.

Some autoresponders can do more than simply send out
standardized messages. They can send out an unlimited
number of follow-up messages sent at predetermined interval
of time. For example, you can set your autoresponder to
send out a new message every day for as long a period as
you desire.

There are numerous companies who offer autoresponders free
of charge. Your website hosting company often provides
autoresponders as a free service. If this is not the case
with your web hosting company, there are numerous companies
who offer this service for a small fee, or free of charge,
providing you attach an advertisement for their company to
your emails.

To personalize your autoresponder messages, you can attach
a signature. Signatures in this case are much like business
cards. You can include your name, company, all your contact
numbers and addresses, and a brief message.

It's a good idea to attach a signature to every email that
is sent out. This works as a repeated reminder of your
business identity every time a customer sees it. The more
they look at your signature, the more likely your company
will spring to mind when your particular service or product
is needed.

You can create a standardized signature that every employee
in your business uses, or you can go wild, and let every
staff member create their own personal signature. Of
course, like everything in life, there are some rules and
guidelines to creating a personal signature.

Keep the length of your signature between four to six lines
of text, with no more than 70 characters in a single line.
Make sure that your email program does not cut off your
text! The content should include your name, your company
name, your email address, fax number, and any other contact
details, such as 800 numbers. Lastly, always include a
short personal message about your company. It should be a
subtle sell of your services or your products, and possibly
your company's reliability and longevity.

Another specialized use of autoresponders is to create
courses that you can then offer your site visitors for
free. You must choose a topic in which you are an expert
and that precisely targets your potential customers.

Once you have carefully chosen your subject, divide it into
a number of different sub-topics. Then offer your site
visitor a free 10 or 15 day course, each day offering a
different sub-topic. The first topic should always be a
welcome message to your site visitor and an explanation
about what is to follow. Your explanation should be
enticing, getting the point across that you are offering
free, quality information that your target audience will
find of great value.

With every lesson, include the number of the lesson, the
topic title, information about your company and its
services or products. At the end, include a few blurbs
about the next lesson to entice the subscriber to continue
on.

Make sure each topic is packed with essential and valuable
information, and leaves the visitor lusting to know more.
Otherwise, you may lose them in the very beginning.

Of course, you have to write up your course before you can
offer it. Once you have done this, and gone over the
material carefully, employing a professional writer or
editor if necessary, you must transfer your text to your
autoresponder.

There are a number of free autoresponders you can use. Try
http:/www.getresponse.com, or http://www.fastfacts.net. Or
go onto Google and you will find a long list of free
autoresponder companies. Then sign-up for your chosen
autoresponder. Once you do, you will receive instructions
as to how to set it up and transfer your text.

Email is an excellent marketing tool; it is inexpensive and
it is fast. Use it to advertise your business by choosing
your email address carefully. Your website should contain
different email addresses for different contact requests.
For example, use info@yourdomain.com for information
requests, or sales@yourdomain.com for questions about
sales. It's a good idea to set up one for the owner, such
as president@yourdomain.com. This presents your company in
a personal, approachable light and insures that direct
contact is provided.

Autoresponders are an effective and powerful marketing
tool, allowing you to make contact with thousands of
potential customers. This is an invaluable asset
considering how many potential customers you usually have
contact with before you make an actual sale. Essentially,
an autoresponser allows you to automate part of your
marketing campaign.

Posted by Simonbiz at 4:38 AM  

Labels: Autoresponders

Blogger Blogging Tips: The 10 Online Steps To Online Success

Posted by Simonbiz at 3:27 AM  

Labels: Blogging Tips

You've written and compiled an ebook. Now you have to
decide how much to charge for it. Finding the right
price is essential to the success of your product. If
you charge too little, people will think it's of
little value, and they won't purchase it, or even it
they do buy your book, you will have to sell thousands
of copies to get to the point where you can begin to
see a profit. If you price it too high when compared
with your competition, you will find yourself steadily
lowering the price, which will cause you all kinds of
new problems in the future. For example, if you sell
your ebook at first for $39.99, and later reduce it to
$24.95, don't you think the people who bought it for
$39.99 are going to be PISSED?

Choosing the right price for your ebook is one of the
most critical parts of the marketing process. The
first rule of pricing ebooks is to never underprice.
Determine the highest price your audience can afford,
and then if you find your book isn?t selling, you can
always reduce the price. Before you take that step,
make sure you are promoting your book like crazy on
the Internet and on websites. The price should be
aimed at bringing in profits, but you should never
forget that price is one of the factors that people
use in judging the value of your ebook ? before they
buy it. So always start with the highest price, and
then launch a mega-marketing campaign.

Pricing an ebook is particularly difficult because
ebooks are a fairly new commodity. Since they are
digital, the value of an ebook is as confusing as the
understanding of what digital actually is to the
average layperson. This means that we must look at
ebooks in a different light in order to determine
their actual worth in this brave, new cyber world.

Let's look at the difference between a book in print
and an ebook. A printed book is an object you can hold
in your hand, store on your bookshelf, even hand down
to the next generation. It is priced on factors such
as paper stock, design and production costs, and
marketing.

But the fact that unites ebooks and print books is
that they are composed of ideas. It is the ideas in
these books that have the ability to change, or
possibly transform, people's lives.

What do you think an idea is worth when evaluated
against the cost of paper and ink?

It is the IDEAS that are valuable! That is how you
determine the cost of your ebook.

What should I charge for my ideas?

There are all different formulas and methods for
determining the correct price for your ebook. Let's
begin with honing in on your ultimate goals.

Decide if your goal is to get wide distribution and
maximum exposure. This goal is aimed at drawing
customers to your business or service, or to
establishing the credibility of your reputation. If
this is your main goal, you should aim to keep your
price on the low side. Some authors have even priced
their ebooks at a profit loss to draw a high number of
new customers. The key is to find a price that
maximizes your profits and the number of books you
sell.

This is an excellent pricing strategy if you are
looking to acquire long-term customers. Long-term
customers are extremely likely to buy from you again
and again ? as long as the first ebook they buy is of
exceptional quality and beneficial to the customer.

However, if your book contains valuable ? and more
importantly NEW information, references, or techniques
? then you should aim to price it on the high end.

After you figure out your goal, you must figure out
what your audience's need is for your ebook. For
example, does your book solve a particular problem? If
it does, and solves it in a way that hasn't been
written about in one hundred other ebooks, you will be
able to achieve high sales at a high price. If your
book solves a problem or answers questions in a new
and unique way, you should price your book as high as
you can go. You will achieve larger profits this way,
but bring in fewer customers. Just make sure the
question or problem that your book solves is one that
is important and relevant to the majority of your
market audience. If your ideas are not common
knowledge, or you are presenting a brand new
technique, you will be able to sell books at a high
price. Just be prepared for your competition to
undercut you on price as soon as they hear about your
book.

Keep in mind that the above pricing strategy is
temporary. Eventually, you will cease to sell books at
this high price. So figure out in advance how long you
plan to offer your ebook at this high price, and when
that time is up, change your pricing strategy.

If you want to see large profits over customer draw,
aim for an audience that is looking for easy solutions
to their problems at a low price. If your book is
aimed at solving one particular problem rather than
general advice, then you can charge more. Start at the
highest price the market will bear to bring in the
largest profits, and plan to discount the book a
number of times throughout the year.

Marketing Strategies

The key that unlocks the sales potential of your ebook
is to find a single sentence that becomes your selling
handle. This sentence states what question or problem
your book answers and the benefits your ebook can
provide. Then be sure to use that sentence in every
piece of sales and promotional material, and every
time anyone asks you about your ebook.

Besides promoting your books assiduously online, there
are several other strategies that can help you sell
more books.

One is to give something away for free with your book,
such as a valuable bonus item. Or bundle several
ebooks under one price, which lowers the price for
each ebook if they were sold separately.

An effective technique for figuring out a price is to
send out a survey to your current customers. If these
customers have already bought an ebook from you, ask
for their opinion in terms of price. Do this by
creating a sales page for the new book, but don't
include a price on that page. Instead, add a number of
links to survey questions that ask pointed questions
to aid you in assigning a price to your ebook.

Another strategy is to test out prices by creating a
number of duplicate sales pages with different prices
on each page. Make sure your sales copy is exactly the
same on every page, and includes your selling-handle
sentence. Then figure out for each page the conversion
ratio between visitors to your site and sales of your
book. This will tell you what your optimum price is.

Ultimately, if you've written a book that solves a
problem or presents a new technique, your book will
bring in both traffic and profits. So be sure to write
that selling-handle sentence that sums up what problem
your book solves and what the benefits of your book
will be to the customers who purchase it. And then
watch your market come to you!

Posted by Simonbiz at 8:48 PM  

Labels: eBooks

Even if your best friend owns a top publishing
company, giving you an immediate "in," this does not
guarantee publishing success.

First, you have to write a quality book that has a
clear target audience. And your book must answer a
common problem or need that audience shares. Then you
have to develop a marketing plan, and stick to it for
at least two years.

Let's begin with the process that should commence
before you write your first word. Begin by reading A
LOT. Read both books you passionately love and books
you can't seem to make it past page five. Then figure
out what the author did in the book you loved, and
what was wrong with in the book you couldn't finish.
Write down these points so they are crystal clear to
you. Read other people's books for inspiration and to
discover what you should avoid as a writer.

The next step is to plan out your book. Narrow down
your subject, and then divide it into chapters. Each
chapter should address a specific aspect of the
problem your book is going to solve. In each chapter,
break the specific aspect down into several parts.
This will help your readers take in your information a
bit at a time instead of overwhelming them with every
bit of information clogging up the pages until they
feel like they're about to go blind. It's not quite
spoon-feeding the information to your readers, but
it's close.

The next two steps are obvious. Write your book and
then revise it. And then revise it again. And perhaps
again. Of course, writing is extremely hard, and
writing a book can seem like an impossible task. There
are many books out there that give you guidelines to
help you become familiar - and even love - the process
of writing and revision. Find a number of books about
writing. Better yet, find a number of books about
writing the specific type of book you aspire to write.
These can serve as roadmaps on your writing journey.

Once you've written your ebook and revised it at least
twice, show it to someone else whose opinion you
respect. If you're lucky enough to know a good editor,
see if you have something to barter for him or her to
go through your manuscript. Or join a writing group
and let the other members critique your work.

Then take all these ideas from other people, and
revise your manuscript one last time. And then stop!
Put down that pen! Get your hands off the keyboard!

One of the most important steps to actually producing
a book is to know when to stop writing and tinkering
with it.

You've finally written your ebook! Pop open the
bubbly! Give yourself a night out on the town!

Okay, now that this necessary celebration is out of
your system, what do you do next?

How to turn your ebook into Profits

Ebooks are a revolutionary way to publish your book
without incurring the costs of print production. All
you need is a relevant and targeted subject and some
inexpensive software, and you can transform your
manuscript into a book.

The problem, in terms of actually seeing any profits
from your ebook, is that the market is overwhelmed
with ebooks, and many of them are not worth the time
it takes to download them. Just because the ability
exists to easily produce an ebook, doesn't make it
good writing.

Make sure your book does not simply rehash old
material. You will injure your credibility as an
author by claiming to offer valuable new insights and
disappointing your audience with material they've read
a zillion times before. So spend enough time writing
and revising your book to make sure it's of the
highest quality and presents the most current
information. A good book will eventually sell itself;
false claims about your book will make it extremely
difficult to sell any future books you may write.

Assuming you have determined that you do indeed have a
quality product that answers some question or need of
your target audience with NEW information, how do you
know how much to charge for it? Rule number 1: Set a
price for your book equal to its value. An
under-priced book will only give the impression that
your book isn't worth very much.

To figure out a fair price, estimate how much time you
put into creating it and how difficult it was to
transform the necessary information into
understandable and engaging writing. Figure out how
much your time and effort is worth, and then price it
accordingly. The goal is for you to be adequately
compensated for your talent, your time, and your
effort.

Once you've figured out a price that is high enough to
convey the value of the book, but not so high as to be
out of the reach of your target audience's mean
budget, then it's time to offer it for sale on your
website. To attract sales, you will need to develop a
promotional campaign, particularly if you are an
unknown author.

There are multitudes of books about self-promotion
that will guide you in your efforts. Choose a plan
that is both creative and professional. Learn how to
write a catchy yet informative press release, and send
copies of your ebook to sites that specialize in ebook
reviews.

Learn how to write powerful sales copy, or hire
someone to write it for you. This is an essential. You
absolutely need excellent sales copy to sell your
book. Make sure the copy includes all the reasons your
target audience needs your book, and the benefits they
will derive from buying it.

Use graphics in your promotional materials. Beautiful
graphics have the power to instantly convey the
quality and value of your ebook. Graphics can also
convey the amount of valuable information the book
contains, and your careful attention to detail.
Professional graphics sell professional books. They
reassure the customer that the product is what it
claims to be.

Consider excerpting chapters for articles. You can
offer these tidbits for free on your website as a sort
of demo of your book. Include an order form for your
ebook at the end of the excerpted articles.

Finally, when you set-up your download link, make sure
to simplify the process. It's a good idea to offer a
few bonuses that make your book even more enticing to
purchase, but make sure the bonuses are valuable and
high quality. Too many bonuses that are basically a
load of useless stuff will compromise the impression
your audience has of your ebook. The goal is to convey
to your audience that they are getting a quality
product for a good deal. That means applying
restraint, especially when it comes to adding bonus
items. Too much free stuff offered diminishes your
credibility.

Make sure your book is a quality product. Make sure it
is relevant and current. Develop an effective
marketing plan that includes excellent sales copy and
excerpted articles. Then offer your book for sale, and
wait for your audience to discover you!

Posted by Simonbiz at 9:20 AM  

Labels: eBooks

The hardest part of writing is the first sentence.
When you look at the whole project, it seems like an
impossible task. That's why you have to break it down
into manageable tasks. Think of climbing a mountain.
You are standing at the foot of it and looking up at
its summit vanishing into the clouds. How can you
possibly scale such an immense and dangerous mountain?

There is only one way to climb a mountain ? step by
step.

Now think of writing your ebook in the same light. You
must create it step by step, and one day, you will
take that last step and find yourself standing on the
summit with your head in the clouds.

The first thing you have to do, as if you actually
were a mountain climber, is to get organized. Instead
of climbing gear, however, you must organize your
thoughts. There are some steps you should take before
you begin. Once you've gone through the following
list, you will be ready to actually begin writing your
ebook.

Beginning Steps to Writing an ebook

First, figure out your ebook's working title. Jot down
a few different titles, and eventually, you'll find
that one that will grow on you. Titles help you to
focus your writing on your topic; they guide you in
anticipating and answering your reader's queries. Many
non-fiction books also have subtitles. Aim for clarity
in your titles, but cleverness always helps to sell
books ? as long as it's not too cute. For example,
Remedies for Insomnia: twenty different ways to count
sheep. Or: Get off that couch: fifteen exercise plans
to whip you into shape.

Next, write out a thesis statement. Your thesis is a
sentence or two stating exactly what problem you are
addressing and how your book will solve that problem.
All chapters spring forth from your thesis statement.
Once you've got your thesis statement fine-tuned,
you've built your foundation. From that foundation,
your book will grow, chapter by chapter.

Your thesis will keep you focused while you write your
ebook. Remember: all chapters must support your thesis
statement. If they don't, they don't belong in your
book. For example, your thesis statement could read:
We've all experienced insomnia at times in our lives,
but there are twenty proven techniques and methods to
give you back a good night's sleep.

Once you have your thesis, before you start to write,
make sure there is a good reason to write your book.
Ask yourself some questions:

* Does your book present useful information and is
that information currently relevant?

* Will you book positively affect the lives of your
readers?

* Is your book dynamic and will it keep the reader's
attention?

* Does you book answer questions that are meaningful
and significant?

If you can answer yes to these questions, you can feel
confident about the potential of your ebook.

Another important step is to figure out who your
target audience is. It is this group of people you
will be writing to, and this group will dictate many
elements of your book, such as style, tone, diction,
and even length. Figure out the age range of your
readers, their general gender, what they are most
interested in, and even the socio-economic group they
primarily come from. Are they people who read fashion
magazines or book reviews? Do they write letters in
longhand or spend hours every day online. The more you
can pin down your target audience, the easier it will
be to write your book for them.

Next, make a list of the reasons you are writing your
ebook. Do you want to promote your business? Do you
want to bring quality traffic to your website? Do you
want to enhance your reputation?

Then write down your goals in terms of publishing. Do
you want to sell it as a product on your website, or
do you want to offer it as a free gift for filling out
a survey or for ordering a product? Do you want to use
the chapters to create an e-course, or use your ebook
to attract affiliates around the world? The more you
know upfront, the easier the actual writing will be.

Decide on the format of your chapters. In non-fiction,
keep the format from chapter to chapter fairly
consistent. Perhaps you plan to use an introduction to
your chapter topic, and then divide it into four
subhead topics. Or you may plan to divide it into five
parts, each one beginning with a relevant anecdote.

How to make your ebook "user friendly"

You must figure out how to keep your writing engaging.
Often anecdotes, testimonials, little stories, photos,
graphs, advice, and tips will keep the reader turning
the pages. Sidebars are useful for quick, accessible
information, and they break up the density of the
page.

Write with a casual, conversational tone rather than a
formal tone such as textbook diction. Reader's respond
to the feeling that you are having a conversation with
them. Break up the length and structure of your
sentences so you don?t hypnotize your readers into
sleep. Sentences that are all the same length and
structure tend to be a good aid for insomnia!

Good writing takes practice. It takes lots and lots of
practice. Make a schedule to write at least a page a
day. Read books and magazines about the process of
writing, and jot down tips that jump out at you. The
art of writing is a lifetime process; the more you
write (and read), the better your writing will become.
The better your writing becomes, the bigger your sales
figures.

In an ebook that is read on the screen, be aware that
you must give your reader's eye a break. You can do
this by utilizing white space. In art classes, white
space is usually referred to as "negative space."
Reader's eyes need to rest in the cool white oasises
you create on your page. If your page is too dense,
your reader will quit out of it as soon as their eyes
begin to tear.

Make use of lists, both bulleted and numbered. This
makes your information easy to absorb, and gives the
reader a mental break from dissecting your paragraphs
one after the other.

Finally, decide on an easy-to-read design. Find a font
that's easy on the eyes, and stick to that font
family. Using dozens of fonts will only tire your
readers out before they've gotten past your
introduction. Use at least one and a half line
spacing, and text large enough to be read easily on
the screen, but small enough so that the whole page
can be seen on a computer screen. You will have to
experiment with this to find the right combination.

Of course, don't forget to run a spell and grammar
check. You are judged by something as minor as correct
punctuation, so don?t mess up a great book by tossing
out semicolons randomly, or stringing sentences
together with commas. (By the way, that's called a
"comma splice.")

Last of all, create an index and a bibliography.
That's it! You've written a book! Now all you have to
do is publish your ebook online, and wait for download
request from your website visitors.

Posted by Simonbiz at 11:51 AM  

Labels: eBooks