All in an Affiliate Marketers Day

Being in the affiliate marketing business is not that hard now with the internet at your disposable. It is much easier now compared to the days when people have to make use of the telephones and other mediums of information just to get the latest updates on the way their program is coming along.

So with technology at hand, and assuming that the affiliate is working from home, a day in his or her life would sound something like this…

Upon waking up and after having breakfast, the computer is turned on to check out new developments in the network. As far as the marketer is concerned there might be new things to update and statistics to keep track of.

The site design has to be revised. The marketer knows that a well-designed site can increase sign ups from visitors. It can also help in the affiliate’s conversion rates.

That done, it is time to submit the affiliate program to directories that lists affiliate programs. These directories are means to attract people in joining your affiliate program. A sure way of promoting the affiliate program.

Time to track down the sales you are getting from your affiliates fairly and accurately. There are phone orders and mails to track down. See if they are new clients checking the products out. Noting down the contact information that might be a viable source in the future.

There are lots of resources to sort out. Ads, banners, button ads and sample recommendations to give out because the marketer knows that this is one way of ensuring more sales. Best to stay visible and accessible too.

The affiliate marketer remembered that there are questions to answer from the visitors. This has to be done quickly. Nothing can turn off a customer than an unanswered email.

To prove that the affiliate is working effectively and efficiently, inquiries would have to be paid more attention on. Nobody wants to be ignored and customers are not always the most patient of all people. Quick answer that should appear professional yet friendly too.

In the process of doing all the necessities, the marketer is logged on to a chat room where he or she interacts with other affiliates and those under that same program. This is where they can discuss things on how to best promote their products.

There are things to be learned and it is a continuous process. Sharing tips and advices is a good way of showing support. There may be others out there wanting to join and may be enticed by the discussion that is going on. There is no harm in assuming what opportunities ahead.

The newsletters and ezines were updated days ago, so it is time for the affiliate marketer to see if there are some new things happening in the market. This will be written about in the marketer’s publication to be distributed to the old and new customers.

These same publications are also an important tool in keeping up to date with the newly introduced products. The marketer has put up a sale and promotion that customers may want to know about. Besides, they have to keep up with the deadline of these sales written in the publications.

It is that time to show some appreciation to those who have helped the marketer in the promotions and sale increase. Nothing like mentioning the persons, their sites and the process they have done that made everything worked.

Of course, this will be published in the newsletters. Among the more important information that have been written already.

The marketer still has time to write out recommendations to those who want credible sources for the products being promoted. There is also time to post some comments on how to be a successful affiliate marketer on a site where there are lots of wannabees.
Two objectives done at the same time. The marketer gets to promote the product as well as the program they are in. Who knows, someone may be inclined to join.

Time flies. Missed lunch but is quite contented with the tasks done. Bed time….

Ok, so this may not be all done in a day. But then, this gives you an idea of how an affiliate marketer, a dedicated one that is, spends the marketing day.

Is that success looming in the distance or what?

How To Generate Traffic Using Only Free Methods

While there are ways to jumpstart your traffic flows, many sites don’t have the resources that others have to generate more traffic for their site. Well, you don’t have to spend a cent; all you need is the proper mindset and a lot of eagerness. You also must have the drive and perseverance to do hard work and research to generate more traffic for your site.

How sweet it is to have more traffic for your site without spending a single cent. Honestly, you don’t need to speed a single cent to generate traffic using only free methods. I’m not going to beat around the bush with you, these free methods I’m going to tell you about will take a little time and effort, but they really work.

1. Take advantage of online forums and online communities. The great thing about forums and online communities is that you can target a certain group that fits the certain demographic that you are looking for. You can discuss lots of things about the niche that you represent or offer. Another great advantage is that you know what you are getting into and you will be prepared.

With online communities and forums you can build a reputation for your company. Show them what you are made of and wow them with your range of expertise about the subject. With this you can build a reputation and build trust with the people looking for your expertise and knowledge.

2. You can also make use of newsletters. Provide people with a catalog of your products and interesting and entertaining articles. If you make it really interesting and entertaining, people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people who sign up for your newsletter, the more people there will be who will go to your site, increasing your traffic.

3. Another great idea is trading links with other sites. You don’t have to spend a cent. All you have to do is reach an agreement with another webmaster. With exchanging links, both sites will benefit. Traffic that goes to the other site could potentially click on your link and visit your site as well. This works well especially when both sites feature the same or a similar niche.

4. Write articles that could pique the attention of people that have interest in your product. Try writing articles that will provide tips and guides to others. Writing articles that provide good service and knowledge to other people will provide the necessary energy your traffic flow needs.

Many sites offer free submission and posting of your articles. When people find interest in your articles they have a good chance of following the track by finding out where the article originated in the resource box. I talked about this in the last article. Include a link or a brief description of your company with the article and there’s a great probability that they will go to your site.

5. Write good content for your site. Many search engines track down the keywords and keyword phrases your site uses and how they are used. It is not a requirement that content should be done by a professional content writer. You could do your own but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining as well as informational.

6. Generally, internet users use Keywords to search in search engines like Google to find what they are looking for. Search engines in return use keywords to aid their search results. With the right keywords, you can get high rankings in search engines without the costs and this high ranking will give you tons of traffic.

All of these methods and more will drive more traffic to your site for free. All it takes is a bit of effort and extended man hours. Learn all you can about the methods depicted here and you will soon have a site with a great traffic flow without the usual costs that come with it.

Writing the Resource Box that Makes People click

Today people who go to the internet generally are out to search for information. Whether for gaming, business, fun or anything else the internet has provided us with information that has proven to be very beneficial.

As people have learned the secrets of Search Engine Optimization, more and more sites have seen the effects articles have for generating traffic to their sites. Some have even created sites devoted entirely to providing articles that could be read by their website visitors and have links that could lead to many sites that are related to the topics and subjects of the articles.

For example, the sites may feature many articles about a whole lot of topics. As a website visitor reads the articles they have searched for, they can find at the end of the article a resource box that can be clicked on to link them to the site that has submitted the article. Of course the article would be in relation to the site. Let’s say if the article is about rotating the tires, the resource box may lead to a link to a site that sells tires or car parts.

A resource box is what you usually find at the end of an article. They will contain the name of the author, a brief description of the author, a brief description of the sponsoring site and a link. If a reader likes what they read, they would have the tendency to find out where the article came from to read more. The resource bow will be their link to the source of the article and this will entice them to go to the site and do some more reading or research for the subject or topic they are interested in.

But, like the article itself, the resource box must also be eye-catching to demand the attention and interest of the reader. While the resource box encompasses only a small space, providing the right keywords and content for your resource box will provide more prodding for the reader to go to your site.

Now that we know what resource boxes are, what are the benefits of having a good resource box? Mainly it’s driving traffic to your site. Many sites would allow articles to be placed in their sites because they can make use of the articles to fill their pages. They also get affiliation with other sites that can be beneficial for them as well. For the sponsoring site, when you get people to click on your resource box, you generate traffic that can be counted upon as potential customers.

So what would be a good content for your resource box? Basically it is keywords, learning about the proper keywords that people are mainly searching for. There are many tools you can find on the internet that can help you in determining what keywords to use.

Resource boxes can also make use of all the creativity it can get. You only get a small space for your resource box so you better make the most of it. Try to catch the attention of your reader with resource box content that make them give a second look. Unlike TV ads, you don’t have visual aids to drive your point in. But you do have the power of the imagination of a reader. With the right content, you can make them think and be intrigued.

Another tip is to use keywords that should be related to your site. Do not mislead your potential website visitors. Build your credibility so that more people would get enticed to visit your site and browse what you have to offer. Make the people click your resource box by providing resource box content that makes a lasting impression. You only get one chance to wow them and hundreds of chances to repulse them.

Never underestimate the power of the resource box. It may be small in size but they will provide a significant aid in driving traffic to your site. A boring resource box will never get a job done. Be fun and creative but at the same time show that you have a great deal to offer, too much to ask for something that couldn’t fit a paragraph? Yes and no, there are many tips and guides that can help you in doing this, the first step is realizing how important a resource box could be in making people click your link and be directed to your site.

Things You Must Do Before You Submit To Article Directories

To all writers and non-writers out there, now is the time to start digging up those creative writing skills.

With modern communication technology comes the popularity of information-based marketing, which is one of the oldest and most effective techniques in getting targeted prospects to sites and converting them into buyers. This is why article writing, submissions and publications are also so popular.

There are already many tools that people can use to make the process of distributing their articles easier. Though this is invaluable in getting the articles more exposure, this is only half of the story.

Let us take a look first at the common mistakes that some people make before submitting their contents to article directories:

1. Confusing the reason to promote the articles with the reason to write them.
In article writing, there are three key benefits why you are promoting them; branding, lead generation and promotion, which are all part of your optimization efforts.
But there is only one reason why you write an article, and that is to inform your audience. If the article is not focused on this primary and most important purpose, it will fail to achieve the three promotion benefits because no one will be interested in reading them.
You need to figure out first how to get people to read what is in your article, then make them click on your resource box. You can achieve this by producing better contents.

2. Failing to maximize the promotional opportunities of article marketing.
You may know already that your articles can help you generate additional links back to your site. But do you know that you can get more visitors and better search engine results from that same articles?
Mention keywords at strategic places. Just be sure not to overdo them. Some are even using anchor texts which is also an effective method. But it is important to know that majority of the directories are not able to support this.
Remember that is not only about the links back to your site. Part of doing well in your article marketing is getting picked up by publishers with a large number of audiences and gaining the ability of leveraging other brands because of the quality of your work. Better search engine results also are great benefits.
But these things do not put much money in your pocket. There are other factors that can turn your article marketing efforts into an opportunity that can boost your earnings. Not just increase the number of visitors to your site.
Start out with a plan and see to it that your article will serve the function that you intended it to have.

3. Publishing content that does not help your readers.
Maybe in the process of writing articles, you are thinking that all that is you wanted is links back to your site. And any visitors it can generate are fine.
Guess what? Not all article banks and directories are going to accept your content automatically. Oftentimes, they have some guidelines and specifications on the articles that they are accepting.
You can double the number of sites you can submit to by writing articles that the directories want to share with other people. All it takes is one publisher with a hundred thousand readers to increase your potential audience overnight.
Write the articles that publishers want in their publications if you want your article marketing to work the most effective way for you. This also means you have to obey the standard guidelines, spell checks, researching on a good topic and even hiring a writer to produce a good content on your behalf.

In the end, it is all really a matter of choice on your part. You can start getting a little exposure from increased links back but on a very basic level. Or enjoy massive exposure from a little extra time making quality contents.

It will be your choice. You may not be aware of the fact that an article submitted on directories is not meant to have the same level of exposure as highly-targeted content ones geared on a narrow group of people.

Learn the difference between these two and it will surely help you know what kinds of articles to write and to submit.

Article marketing is a great way to get your message across

One of the biggest problems with article marketing is you need to write articles and that isn’t the easiest thing to do for some people. We don’t all have writing skills or have been trained in developing the skills. We all have a story to tell though and that story (your story) someone is just waiting to hear.

So how will it get told? You could get someone to write it for you or you could tell it yourself. Each has its own advantages. But when you are writing short articles often (depending on the topic) people are very forgiving on the writing style if the story is interesting and catchy.

We all need to start somewhere so why not take a stab at writing your own story.

Here is a great article I found that might help you get started.


The Beginner's Guide To Successful Article Writing
By Rob Metras

When we think of writers, we tend to think of people who have a college degree in Journalism or who have taken many writing classes. Or maybe they are experts in something like nuclear fission, and can write articles explaining it better than anyone else. Actually, all you need is your own creativity!

Well, creativity plus good writing skills and the desire to be a good writer. You also have to accept that having a piece of writing you have poured your heart and soul into get rejected is a fact of life for writers. Remember, the editor is rejecting the piece of writing, not you. If you have these qualities, or if you have the desire to be a great writer and the will to develop the other skills, that is a great starting place.

The world is filled with topics. A heated PTA meeting, an obnoxious coworker, issues with aging parents, relationships, children, communities, hobbies, all the things that make up your everyday life are great subjects for articles. The ability to see the uniqueness and the commonality of your experiences will help you come up with articles other people will want to read.

Article writing has many benefits. No one tells you what you have to write, you get to choose. It is also very flexible. If you need to write between three and five am, no one will know or care. You can write your articles at the local coffee shop or at the kitchen table. It is all about what works best for you.

The next step is to create your routines as a writer. Set up a workspace with your computer, printer, paper, pencil, dictionary, thesaurus and whatever else you feel you will need. The next thing that is an absolute must is to carve out time to devote to writing and then stick to it. The difference between want to be writers and actual writers is the time they devote to actually write.

Writers who focus on books have to go months or years before they get feedback from publishers. Article writers usually get it in a matter of weeks. This helps you to identify strengths and weaknesses to focus on in the future.

To get started I would start some sort of journal and carry it around with you everywhere. Write down anything you think is interesting, cut clippings of articles you like and put them there, pictures that inspire and so on.

After you have written the article, you will want to get it published. The Writers Market is full of ideas about places to submit your article. It is available for purchase online and in bookstores. Best of luck with this exciting new career!
Article Source: http://www.affsphere.com/Web-and-Internet/The-Beginners-Guide-To-Successful-Article-Writing-1.html


One tip I have is find someone who can help you (my ‘someone’ is my wife). Get them to give you feed back on what you have written and help you (I certainly need help here) with spelling and grammar. Have them check it out before you publish it but they need to be able to be honest with you and you need to will willing to listen. I find after I have worked with something for a while I can miss the obvious mistakes.

Are you up for it? I certainly like hearing new stories and would love to hear yours.

“Article marketing can help you establish yourself on the internet”

Features Your Web Site Must Have

Just don’t focus on the home page, keywords and titles.

The first step to sales when customers visit your site to see the products they were looking for. Of course, search engine optimization and better rankings can’t keep your customer on your site or make them buy. The customer having visited your site, you must now ensure that he gets interested in your products or services and stays around.

Motivate him to buy the product by providing clear and unambiguous information. Thus if you happen to sell more than one product or service, provide all necessary information about this, may be by keeping the information at a different page. By providing suitable and easily visible links, the customer can navigate to these pages and get the details.

Understanding Your Target Customer:

If you design a website you think will attract clients, but you don’t really know who your customers are and what they want to buy, it is unlikely you make much money. Website business is an extension or replacement for a standard storefront. You can send email to your existing clients and ask them to complete a survey or even while they are browsing on your website.

Ask them about their choices. Why do they like your products? Do you discount prices or offer coupons? Are your prices consistently lower than others? Is your shipping price cheaper? Do you respond faster to client questions? Are your product descriptions better? Your return policies and guarantees better than your competitor’s? To know your customer you can check credit card records or ask your customer to complete a simple contact form with name, address, age, gender, etc. when they purchase a product.

Does your website give enough contact information?

When you sell from a website, your customer can buy your products 24 hrs a day and also your customers may be from other states that are thousands of miles away. Always provide contact information, preferably on every page of your website, complete with mailing address, telephone number and an email address that reaches you.

People may need to contact you about sales, general information or technical problems on your site. Also have your email forwarded to another email address if you do not check your website mailbox often. When customer wants to buy online provide enough options like credit card, PayPal or other online payment service.

Be Sure to incorporate these simple features into your website and you will without a doubt reap the benefits in increased profits for years to come.

How to Become A Clickbank Super Affiliate

Making money through affiliate marketing is one of the most rewarding careers one could ever have. What’s good about this business is that anyone can join and make their way to success. Affiliate marketing has been known to be cost-efficient, assessable method of conveying long-term results. In fact, you can start even with a shoe string budget. And with affiliate marketing, you can have the benefit of working from home and enjoying the freedom and flexibility of working for yourself.

But there are also some people who failed in this kind of business. It could be because they lack knowledge and tactics. If you are a web site owner and you want to join in an affiliate marketing business, you should know where to get good affiliate programs.

Clickbank is an ideal place to start. Here, you can find one of the largest affiliate marketing programs in the industry. You just need to visit their site, http://www.clickbank.com and secure a clickbank ID. From the Clickbank’s home page, proceed to “Earn Commissions” and look for the products and services that perfectly fit you and your site. These products are typically ranked according to their popularity.

Clickbank is one of the affiliate networks that serve as a 3rd party between the web merchants and the associated affiliates. It is responsible in providing the technology to deliver the merchant’s offers and campaigns. The affiliate network also do the job of collecting commission fees from the merchant and giving it to the affiliates involved in the program.

Clickbank provides you a large and increasing network of publishers or affiliates to tap into. To be more specific, clickbank has more than 100,000 affiliates who are experts in finding potential customers for your affiliate program. The reason why more and more affiliates are joining Clickbank is obvious – the process of gaining commissions in this network is absolutely fair and transparent.

For web merchants, joining Clickbank is so easy. You just need to sign up in their site for free and allow them to sell your products. Keep up a promotional web site that gives your potential customers detailed information about your offered product or services. At your website, you must also maintain a comprehensive technical support pages for your product. In return, Clickbank will promote and sell your product, give customer service for your product, allow their affiliates to pass on traffic to your web site, enable you to encourage new affiliates to advertise your web site, furnish real-time sales reporting for you and the affiliates and send you and all affiliates a paycheck twice a month.

If you’re a Clickbank affiliate wannabe, you surely won’t find it hard to be a part of this network. First, you are required to place their link on your website and if you don’t have a Clickbank account, you need to complete the Clickbank affiliate form and create your own account. Then, if you already have a Clickbank username, you are free to choose whatever marketing tools you want to use bring in more clicks and generate more sales. After selecting marketing tools, you can now get your affiliate link.

That’s how simple it is to join Clickbank. But being a Clickbank super affiliate is no minor achievement. It means you need to possess the ability to sell lots of affiliate products. You also need to have expertise in search engine optimization, email marketing, newsletter marketing, reciprocal linkage, link exchanges and other methods of promoting your merchant’s goods and services.

Among the secrets to become successful in affiliate marketing is to come up with good content based website and put your affiliate links in all your content. Your main purpose here is to give your visitors good quality content about the things they are interested in. Set aside the job of selling. It must be done by the sales letter page you are transferring them to.

Promote multiple affiliate programs in your website but don’t promote everything the world has to offer. Just choose the affiliate programs that fit your site and focus on it. Then, it is advisable to automate the whole process, giving you more time for other ventures. Yes, you’ve read it right! Automation is another key to become a super affiliate.

Of course, you have to spend more time in reading, learning and taking up the changes in affiliate marketing business. Through this, you’ll remain on top of the trends. If you are knowledgeable with online marketing, you’ll understand how important it is to stay up-to-date. In this kind of business, what worked and what was accepted few months ago may not work at present. So always see to it that you know what’s new in affiliate marketing everyday.

It’s really hard to be a Clickbank super affiliate, but you shouldn’t say NO to the thought of giving up. Bear in mind that in affiliate marketing business, you need to develop persistence, patience and knowledge. These traits will teach you to carry on no matter how tough the job is. Also, check your statistics. This will help you find out what is working and what is not. Make necessary changes if needed but do it one at a time and be patient.

Don’t forget that in affiliate marketing, everything won’t take place overnight. And it will not happen without blood, sweat and hefty time commitment. Again, just encompass patience, persistence and knowledge; then do above mentioned tactics. Before you recognize it, you will start gaining profits. Believe me, the fruits of all your efforts here in affiliate marketing will be way too sweet.

“Affiliate marketing builds your business”

How Can You Use Articles To Build Your List?

Getting customers in your site should always be ranked as high as the importance of the quality and the excellence of the product and the services you provide. They should go hand in hand in providing your customers the satisfaction they get in exchange for the money they have paid for them. Customer service should as well be as fantastic so that the customers are provided with the same satisfaction.
One of the ways you can combine marketing and customer service is through opt-in marketing. With an opt-in list you get the opportunity to introduce your site and products on a good time basis. Opt-in marketing strategy is a marketing strategy that is virtually low cost and not time consuming. Here, you get the consent of your website visitors to subscribe to your newsletters and other promotional materials such as catalogs and free promotions.
Opt-in marketing uses your list of subscribers to send e-mail to. These e-mails will contain the materials you will send to your subscribers. It is essential that you present your promotional items in a manner that will catch the interest and the eye of your subscribers to keep them wanting for more. The best way to do this is to provide fun, entertaining and informational articles.
Well written articles full of content and useful information will help in building your list as more subscribers will be enticed to your list. When they have read the samples of your contents in your sites, they will be intrigued as to what will come next. Subscribing to your newsletter will offer them a glimpse of what you have to offer next.
Many sites and companies have captured the importance of articles and this also aids in search engine optimization. As more people are heading towards the internet for their information needs, serving the right information to them via articles in your site will increase the flow of your website traffic. With more traffic, the percentage of your sales will grow. More sales turn into more profit.
There has been a rise in the importance of well written, information enriched and keyword packed articles for the content of their site as well as for newsletters. These articles provide the information many are seeking on the internet. If your site has them, more people will be going to your site for information and research.
Well written articles would also boost your site’s reputation. If they are filled with a lot of information you will be regarded as well informed and an expert on the subjects that you tackle. Your articles must be well researched so that the people will trust you. When you have gained their trust, they will always come to you for their needs on that subject.
In connection, you must write articles or commission them to tackle subjects that are closely connected with your type of business. If you have a site for a medicine tackling a certain disease, your articles should be about the disease. Or if you sell materials for home improvements provide articles with those themes. The articles that are searched for most are tips, guidelines, methods, manuals and such. If you provide these articles to your customers and you have their trust, they will always go to your site for help and advice as well as for your products.
With the loyalty of these customers, they may subscribe to your opt-in list to receive all the information you have. If you provide them with the answers for that need, they will be happy to be receiving your newsletters as well as other promotional materials to keep them well informed. Others may even forward your newsletters to other people when they find a certain article interesting.
You should provide links in your newsletter so that when other people are reading it and want to read more, they may click on the link and go to your site. With the articles you have in your site that are good, they may decide to sign up as well for your opt-in list. This will build your list and make it bigger.
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Most of all make sure to keep your subscribers happy and interested in your newsletters and promotional materials. Keep on posting and writing good articles for your site and newsletter. If you are not interested in writing them or if you just don’t have the time, there are many well experienced and knowledgeable writers available to help you out. This is an investment that will pay for itself in time.

Blogging can Help in Creating a better Page Rank

Blogging first came into existence and became popular when individuals wanted to express their feelings. Then with time, blogging started being considered as a unique tool to popularize businesses.

This was done by using a little SEO skills and well-organized blog to help the growth of your business or to start a new business. You may want to know how it is possible. Though, people read and seek information, they still like the blogs that have entertainment, since it is similar to reading a person’s deep thoughts. You can utilize this point by using your blog for attracting more reading and turning them into prospects of your web site. Just random postings on blogs about your business would not help you in creating interest from your readers. By following the suggestions given below you can create a blog that will help your websites Page Rank by using a blog:

1. Creation of user-friendly web site: In order to attract consumers through blogging, ensure your business has a web site that is user-friendly. You should also understand that it is important to think before pushing some or the other information over the Internet. Thinking indicates thinking in the lines of the products and services offered. Make sure that your web site displays a clear picture of the business you offer. The information should be easily understandable and accessible. The important information of your business should always be on the home page, rather than on a page, where no one can find it. Avoid displaying too many ads or searching for information that would annoy your readers, or you may lose the otherwise prospective customer.

2. Adding your blog: After creating a good web site, add your blog with care. You should also decide on how you would like to show yourself and your business to the entire world, the type of customers you would like to attract, and many more. If you would like to attract the high-end professional customers, the relaxed attitude or jazzy logos and pictures would not help you anywhere. Make sure that you limit such ideas for your personal blog.

3. Grammar: Use good grammar, and adopt professional writing style with no punctuation errors. Before publishing the matter on your blog, make sure to proofread them for spelling and grammatical errors. Professionals would not like to read a business blog with lot of grammatical mistakes and spelling errors, as it indicates un-professionalism. If you are not confident about your writing style or grammar, you can check out for specialized freelance blog writers within your specified budget.

4. Update your blog on regular basis so that you don’t lose out your readers. You can try updating once a day or two, as once in a week would be too long. Stagnant or stale information would bore and annoy the customer. Once you get accustomed to blogging, you would find it easy to update it daily.

5. Accept Comments and Feedbacks: People, generally love commenting. Therefore, include a comment section for your readers to write comments. Depending on the readers’ taste you can know easily what are their likes and dislikes, and what do they do. This would help you to be in par with their tastes. Check out this top blog as an example.

“Blog builds Page Rank which brings visitors”

How best to Advertize on MySpace

MySpace is an online community where users have the opportunity to create websites where others can view personal information about them and contact them. However, savvy Internet marketers have found MySpace can also be used to advertise products or service or for the purpose of self promotion. Care should be taken to review the terms of use on MySpace to ensure none of your actions are in violation of these terms but otherwise users can advertise either directly or indirectly on their MySpace website.

Why Advertising on MySpace is Effective

Advertising on MySpace can be effective as long as it is done correctly and not in a way that is viewed as spam. The effectiveness of MySpace stems from amount of users who are currently using MySpace. This includes both members who place comments as well as nonmembers who only look at other websites. With so many daily visitors it is likely there will be visitors who are interested in the products or services you are offering on your MySpace website.

Another reason why MySpace is such an effective advertising tool is there are no fees associated with using your MySpace profile to create links to your ecommerce website or to provide more information about the products and services you offer. The best way to effectively advertise on MySpace is to follow the same guidelines that would normally be followed by advertisers in online locations. This includes knowing who your target audience is and how to effectively appeal to them. This is important because a marketing campaign which does not follow these simple rules will not likely be effective.

In addition to advertising within a MySpace website there are also opportunities to advertise in the form of banner advertisements on MySpace. MySpace is able to not charge a fee to members because they generate their income through paid advertisements. Contact MySpace administrators directly to learn more about these advertising opportunities.

Selling Products on MySpace

MySpace can be also be used to advertise products or services. This can be done either subtly or blatantly. Those who are active participants on MySpace and invest time in meeting others and making friends are more likely to benefit from selling products or services through a MySpace account. This is because most people who use MySpace are not exactly looking for information about products or services so they are unlikely to seek out this information.

However, if they have online friends who are using their MySpace account to promote a product or service they may see the advertisements and find the products or services interesting. In this case they may visit a link to an ecommerce website and consider making a purchase. However, care should be taken when advertizing your website on MySpace. Links to your ecommerce website on your own profile are acceptable but placing comments with the same link on other members’ websites will likely be considered spam by both the other members and the MySpace administrators.

Search Engine Optimization And Why You Gotta Use It

E-commerce is a cut throat business. You have to arm yourself with the proper know-how and the tools to make your site a cut above the rest. Each day, more and more sites are clambering to optimize their rankings in websites and if you lose your guard, you may just get trampled on and be left in the abyss filled with so many failed e-commerce sites.
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a term widely used today by many e-commerce sites. For the past few years and the next ten years or so, search engines would be the most widely used internet tool to find the sites that they need to go to or the product or information they need.
Most people that use search engines use only the ten top search results in the first page. Making it to the first page, more so to the top three is a barometer of a sites success in search engine optimization. You will get a higher ratio of probability in being clicked on when you rank high. The more traffic for your site, the more business you rake in.
But, it is essential to grab a hold of that spot or make your ranking even better. As I aforementioned, each day is a new day for all e-commerce sites to make them selves rank higher using search engine optimization. It is imperative to make your site better and better everyday.
So just what is search engine optimization and do you have to use it? The answer to why you have to use it is an easy one. You need search engine optimization to be number one, or maybe at least make your site income generating.
With search engine optimization you can get the benefit of generating a high traffic volume. Let’s just say you get only a turn out of successful sales with 10 to 20 percent of your traffic. If you get a hundred hits or more a day, you get a good turn out of sales already. If you get only twenty to ten hits a day, you only get one or two if not any at all.
So once again, what is search engine optimization? Search engine optimization is utilizing tools and methods in making your site top ranking in the results of search engines. Getting yourself in the first page and better yet in the top half of the page will ensure that your site will generate public awareness of your site’s existence and subsequently generate more traffic, traffic that could lead to potential income and business.
Search engine optimization requires a lot of work to be fully realized. There are many aspects you have to change in your site or add as well to get search engine optimization. These will include getting lots of information about the keyword phrases that are popular in regards to your sites niche or theme.
You may also need to rewrite your sites contents so that you could get the right keyword phrases in your site without making it too commercial but light and informative. There are certain rules and guidelines to be followed with making your site’s content applicable and conducive to search engine optimization.
You will also need to collaborate with many other sites so that you could get link exchanges and page transfers. The more inbound and outbound traffics generated by sites among others are one of the components search engines uses to rank sites.
Try to search the internet for many useful help. Tips, guidelines and methods for search engine optimization are plenty to be found. Read many articles that can help you optimize your site in search engine results. The more knowledge and information you gather the better. This will all help you in getting those high rankings. This may require a little time and effort in your part but the benefits will be astounding.
If you can part with some money, there are many sites in the internet that can help you in search engine optimization. There are many sites that help in tracking keyword phrases that can help your site. There are also some content writers that have lots of experience in making good keyword laden content for your sites that have good quality.
Act now and see the benefits garner with search engine optimization. All of these will result to better traffic and more business for your site and company.
Using Seach Engine has been a must for the success of Ebooks In Abundance. Make sure you start using Search Engine Optimization if you want to be successful online.

3 Quick and Easy Ways to Build A Profitable Opt In List

You finally realize that you need a good opt-in list. After reading countless articles and seeking expert advice and having read many success stories of people creating a small fortune with opt-in lists you finally decide to have one of your own. Then it happens, you thought you knew everything there is to know about opt-in lists and have followed all the advice to the T and you still aren’t able to make a profit.

In fact, you may be losing money. You maybe hiring writers to help you out, or there are some expenses incurred, even if you have a big list, but only a very small percentage actually buys from you, you’re still losing profit. So what could have gone wrong? Why have others succeeded where you have failed? You chose a niche that you thought could be quite popular and would earn you money. The thing is just because you wrote people from the list, doesn’t mean they are going to buy instantly.

Here is some advice, for those who have started an opt-in list and have not made money, and for those who are starting.

Three quick and easy ways to build a profitable opt-in list:

1) Get your customers to trust you and your products first. Just launching your opt-in list would not make you an expert and a believable seller. Write several articles first before you start an opt-in list. Write to people who have used your site and about topics you know. Try to gain knowledge about your customers about their wants and needs and target those wants and needs.

Join forums from other sites as well. Provide expert advice and recommendations. When you feel that people trust you already, you will be able to start your own opt-in list. You can build a base as well with other forum users. You can ask them to join your list. Friends are always good customers. Put up a link to your site so that they may be able to see what your business is all about.

The truth is, the money will only come in when the consumers and subscribers believe and trust in you. People are not going to buy something out of your recommendation if they don’t know you.

2) Find a product or service that people want and need. Although it may not be your forte, if you provide a service or product that you have researched and learned about well, you can carry it forward. But only invest your time, effort and money on a service or product that your opt-in subscriber list can and want to use and that you can sell as well.

While it is true that it is best to sell something that you have interest in, there are not many people who have the same interest as you if you decide to sell something that is not entirely popular or profitable. Do your research well and you would see the profits come in. Also provide your subscribers with promotional material that they could actually use and spread around.

3) Make friends with other opt-in list users. This is only beneficial if it is someone who has already launched their own successful opt-in list. These are people who have experience in this venture and experience is still the best teacher. While there are many articles available for you on the internet to use, there is nothing like getting a first hand account from someone you trust.

Experienced opt-in list users will be able to tell you what to do and what not to do because they have gone through it. While different situations occur for different people, the general concepts are still very helpful. There are many things to avoid and these people will be able to tell you which ones.

Building a profitable opt-in list doesn’t just happen overnight. There are many things to do to be truly successful and as your list grows, you should also maintain the quality of your list. Keep it organized and manageable. Get or hire help if need be, just make sure that your subscribers are happy and satisfied and they will be willing to buy from you.

Website Traffic is Essential

Here are Five Ways to get Traffic at Low Cost

When it comes to making money from your Website there is one rule that must be obeyed. That rule is that you must be able to generate a steady stream of Visitors. It stands to reason that you will not be able to make any money if no-one arrives at your site to see what you have to offer.

This has been the demise of many a fledgling online business. They have tried but without success. It is a fact that you require money to advance an income generating Website. It is also the fact that it takes capital to make money. And this is where many have failed. They have not had the cash to invest in getting traffic to their site.

HOWEVER

Generating traffic to your website does not take a huge bundle of cash if you know how to go about it.

It is true that the "Big Guns" can drive huge amounts of traffic to their online businesses by investing very large amounts of money on sophisticated advertising campaigns and the many different marketing schemes available and even by using gimmicks. For them this is definitely worth the money they spend after all this is what has got them to the point they are today - with high volumes of traffic and huge profits they have become online Mega sites.

But don't be discouraged. You don't have to spend mega bucks to succeed if you don't have the necessary resources. Sadly there have been many people who have 'lost the very shirt off their backs' because they have depended on using high cost ways of promoting their website when they really could not afford it.

This does not need to be the case as there are several ways to generate traffic to your website without spending the fortune that you can't afford or do not have. Here are 5 Ways to Generate Traffic at Low Cost.

These methods could vastly improve your website traffic statistics. If only a small percentage of visitors convert to becoming clients it works well especially if your traffic is way beyond your present levels.

1. Get Good Quality Links pointing to your site: Well how do you do this? - Exchanging links is still a useful method. It is very rare that you come across a site that has no link to another site. Exchanging Links enables web-masters to expose their site to the net more readily and thus ensuring that their site comes to the fore in the public eye. Perhaps a more desired linking method these days is One way Linking. This is where you encourage other good quality, high ranking websites to link to your site. One excellent way of doing this is submitting your site to as many Directory sites as you can. There are usually several Directories in most niche subjects.

Most online marketers are willing to exchange links and Directories will usually accept your submission but a VERY IMPORTANT factor is that you link to "relevant" sites i.e. ones that fit with what you are promoting. It will be detrimental if you link with a company promoting "pig food" if you are trying to sell high quality jewelry or if you submit your site to a Directory promoting "belly dance costumes" if your niche is gardening. Your traffic will not appreciate that.

It is important that linking sites have a common purpose, a continuity in the provision of information or a service that interests their target traffic. If you ignore this factor the Search engines won't like it either and you will fail to make any headway.

One of the key benefits of linking strategies is that the Search engines put a high significance on your linking popularity. They see all the "back links" and consider you to be an important site to be reckoned with. As a result they increase your ranking and you move up their listings. As you move higher in the rankings your site will be seen by more surfers and you will get more "organic" traffic that doesn't cost you anything.

2. Write Your own Articles and Submit them to E-zines - If you search the internet you will find many online encyclopedias and e-zines which allow you to submit articles for free. If you cannot write yourself there are my freelance writers who, for a small fee, are willing to write articles for you. However if you want to save money you can write them yourself.

Once again it is important to stress that any article you write should coincide with the theme of your site. Everyone has expertise on something - write about what you know. If you do this those that read your articles will "feel" your knowledge and will eagerly visit your site. It is a good idea to write articles that contain guidelines or tips on the subject matter of your website. Write an interesting, information packed, article and they will be hurrying to your site for more.

All that you need to do then, and this is very important, is to provide a resource box at the end of your article that links them back to your website. You could write a little about your site or you could simply place a link.

3. Traffic Exchange - What is "Traffic Exchange"? The principle of traffic exchange services is that a website set up for the purpose receives submissions from web-masters that join the network. The person who submitted the website then earns credits by browsing other member sites on the exchange program. These credits then allow the web-master to have his site viewed by other members in the system. This means that all of the sites involved have an increases in the number of visitors to their sites.

There may be a cost involved but very often these web exchange sites are free. Generally traffic exchange programs are used by small business owners who are working on a low budget and need free or low cost advertising. And they can be a good source of traffic if used correctly.

There is a note of caution however. You should choose carefully which traffic exchange site you use. It has been said that the usefulness of some of these programs is doubtful as sites are forgotten by many people once the time limit is up. Also some say it is risky to use these as it can get you banned ~from some advertising packages and some traffic exchanges use forms of advertising that are banned. However if you choose carefully there shouldn't be any problem.

4. Create a Newsletter - Your first thought might be that this sounds like hard work. It is true that you do need to use a lot of articles to successfully build a Newsletter. But contrary to what you may think this is not difficult.

There are many websites and copywriters who are more than eager to provide you with free articles. Their only stipulation is that you place their name at the foot of their article. Your Newsletter brings you more traffic and gives the copywriter more advertising.

Your letter gets passed around and as it does more and more people become aware of your internet presence. Producing a Newsletter is great as, when folk sign up, it builds an "opt-in" emailing list of interested parties who can revisit your site time and time again.

5. Online Communities and Forum Memberships - Joining these sites does not cost you anything but your time. You share your expertise and knowledge on your website - why not with online communities and Forums. As before, choose Forums that deal with the same niche or subject as your own website.

Publish your two cents worth and amaze other members with your knowledge about your particular subject. This has the effect of building your reputation. Then as your reputation grows so does the reputation of your website. Your Website eventually becomes known for the honest and reputable business that you have known it is all along. It will then begin to be trusted and visited by many relevant visitors who, because they have come to trust you will take advantage of what you offer.

So there you have it. Five very useful ways to increase traffic to your site. On Ebooks in Abundance I am using all five strategies to great effect. Why don't YOU Start today, don2019t delay and you will definitely see your business grow.

"No sales without traffic"

Top 20 Contributing Factors For Google SEO

I read this article in Site Pro News By Jon Bergan (c) 2008 dated JULY 7, ISSUE #1112 and I thought it was really good.
Understanding Google is something that we all struggle to try and do. It is not easy as the ground is always shifting under us as they continually are shifting and changing the way they do things. So I thought that you all might like to read it.

Here is an excerpt from it that gives you the main points.

“Our journey begins by defining some of the key contributing factors that Google uses to determine a website's and webpage's ranking within its results. These factors range from keyword use to manipulating internal and external links and the líst goes on. To get you started, we have listed the top twenty factors that you should focus on in order to help get your website that little bit closer to the top of the search engine results listings.

Keyword Use Factors
The following components relate to the use of search query terms in determining the rank of a particular page.

1. Keyword Use in Title Tag - Placing the targeted search term or phrase in the title tag of the web page's HTML header.
2. Keyword Use in Body Text - Using the targeted search term in the visible, HTML text of the page.
3. Relationship of Body Text Content to Keywords - Topical relevance of text on the page compared to targeted keywords.
4. Keyword Use in H1 Tag - Creating an H1 tag with the targeted search term/phrase.
5. Keyword Use in Domain Name & Page URL - Including the targeted term/phrase in the registered domain name, i.e. keyword.com plus target terms in the webpage URL, i.e. seomoz.org/keyword-phrase.

Page Attributes

The following elements comprise how Google interprets specific data about a webpage independent of keywords.

6. Link Popularity within the Site's Internal Link Structure - Refers to the number and importance of internal links pointing to the target page.
7. Quality/Relevance of Links to External Sites/Pages - Do links on the page point to high quality, topically-related pages?
8. Age of Document - Older pages may be perceived as more authoritative while newer pages may be more temporarily relevant.
9. Amount of Indexable Text Content - Refers to the literal quantity of visible HTML text on a page.
10. Quality of the Document Content (as measured algorithmically) - Assuming search engines can use text, visual or other analysis methods to determine the validity and value of content, this metric would provide some level of rating.

Site/Domain Attributes

The factors below contribute to Google's rankings based on the site/domain on which a page resides.

11. Global Link Popularity of Site - The overall link weight/authority as measured by links from any and all sites across the web (both link quality and quantity).
12. Age of Site - Not the date of original registration of the domain, but rather the launch of indexable content seen by the search engines (note that this can change if a domain switches ownership).
13. Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site - The subject-specific relationship between the sites/pages linking to the target page and the target keyword.
14. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community - The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world.
15. Rate of New Inbound Links to Site - The frequency and timing of external sites linking in to the given domain.

Inbound Link Attribute

These pieces affect Google's weighting of links from external websites pointing to a page and ultimately will assist in the ranking of that page.

16. Anchor Text of Inbound Link.
17. Global Link Popularity of Linking Site.
18. Topical Relationship of Linking Page.
19. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community - The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world.
20. Age of Link.”

Well it was worth the read wasn’t it? If you want to read the whole article you could go to Web Pro News and check it out.

“SEO done right makes a difference”

How To Begin Social Marketing

Social marketing is a relatively new form of online marketing and is often misunderstood yet it is reaping big rewards for website owners who have begun using it in their overall marketing plans. Social marketing is truly an effective and cost efficient method of building your brand and your web site. It doesn’t require any special skills and it’s quick and easy to get started.
These social networking sites are primarily used as a tool that will enable people to connect with other people. Most Internet users have joined at least one of these social networking sites with the biggest being Facebook.

Successful social marketers tap into people’s emotions and highlight the benefits that they might feel are most important. So, for example, a campaign to promote the practice of breastfeeding would be more effective if it builds on a woman’s desire to be a good mother and provide the best for her baby, or highlights the bonding between mother and baby that it provides, than for the rational reason that it provides beneficial nutrients and antibodies,.

Here are some Steps for getting your Social Marketing Campaign off on the right foot.

1. Schedule some time each day to work on it and then actually follow through on it.
2. Sign up for one or two social networking sites: Friendswin,




Apsense, or

Giblink.

Make sure you fill out your profile completely. Be a real person and be natural, participate, make comments, getting a general sense of what members think is good and bad content, don't try to push your own content onto the networks you belong to.
3. If you don't have a blog, you need to start one. On today's web it is essential to have a blog and Wordpress is the format choice of all serious marketers. It can be downloaded free and installed by you or your webmaster. Wordpress download
4. Once you have your blog set up, you should join some blog communities which will help you generate visitors, gain some authority, and links. Most bloggers belong to some like MyBlogLog.com or BlogCatalog.com. Join groups, make friends, and interact with other bloggers especially people who write about similar things or have an audience similar to yours and who would benefit by knowing you. 5. Start a blogger.com blog and put up some good content, just not good enough to go on your main blog. This will allow you to use more of the great content you find and it gives you another place to link back to your main site, increasing traffic and link popularity over time.
6. Search for social networking sites that are geared toward your particular market niche. There are a lot of new social sites popping up which have a much more focused market and their membership might be far warmer to your information.
7. Make sure you track your results so you will know what is working and what isn’t.

I know you have other things to do so your social networking needs to fit into your current business and marketing efforts. Focusing on the interaction with people that are relevant to you and vice versa will make your experience a good one but you need to know it cannot be conquered over night. It is a gradual process you manage with all your other responsibilities and grow as time allows.
Web 2.0 social marketing technology has opened up a whole new avenue of marketing for your network marketing opportunities. Anybody with a computer and the Internet can use web 2.0 social marketing but to be successful you need to focus on quality and be consistent.

“Social marketing helps build your business”

Article Marketing, a very effective tool…

Article marketing is another marketing method that for little or no cost can dramatically improve websites presence on the internet and increase your sales.

The most common purpose for article marketing or writing articles and offering them to directories for publication is to get those all-important back links from the directories. Although this is essentially a free way to get a quality link, it does come with some work. You must be able to write a content rich article on a topic related to your site. These articles can increase your websites popularity by improving your Google Page Rank and with each link comes another doorway for traffic to find you. So how does one do it?

By writing your own unique articles on topics related to your websites niche and submitting them for publication to the best article directories you are letting the public know you have expertise and knowledge on the subject. Most article directories or Ezine sites (online magazines) do not mind giving you the opportunity to get your name out there but you need to provide them with well written articles that capture the reader's attention and offers them something. Your articles have to be of a minimum length at least 500 words and of a certain standard if you want them to be listed by the search engines, especially Google. Be sure to consult and follow the guidelines of any article directories in which you decide to submit articles.

Do not advertise in your articles if you plan to submit them to a directory, instead fill them with quality, well written information. Leave the advertising to your author's resource box. There place your URL which must be one related to the article, and if you make it your blog, that is even better. Then you could place links on your blog to all your other relevant online ventures. Many sites offer two or three links in the author's resource box which allows you to present links to different pages on your website, or to different related sites like your Squidoo lens.

Most people write their articles using Microsoft word, or some other word processing software that uses its own formatting code embedded in the article. This formatting can be seen by the search engines and could be detrimental to the listing of your article so when you have finished writing your article save it as a text file before submitting it to any directories.

If you are looking for a way to increase traffic to your web site, and most of us are because we realize that traffic is what will make us successful then articles marketing is something we need to be doing. It is a very powerful tool if used properly which can take your online business to another level. First and foremost, it allows you to link to your site from your articles resource area and again it provides a chance to show off the knowledge you have in your field. Increased traffic to your web site i.e. sales is the result of an effective, consistent, properly run article marketing campaign.

“Article marketing increases traffic i.e. sales”

Affiliate marketing can be a growing source of revenue

Affiliate marketing is a web-based marketing practice in which one or more affiliates will promote products and services for a partner business and is rewarded for each visitor or customer brought to that business by the affiliate's marketing efforts. The concept of sharing revenue or paying commission for referred business started before affiliate marketing and the Internet but affiliate marketing has grown quickly since its inception in the late 90’s.

Merchants like affiliate marketing because in most cases, it uses a "pay for performance" model, meaning that the merchant doesn’t incur any marketing costs unless a sale is made. Some businesses owe much of their success to this marketing technique, a notable example being Amazon.com.

There are many steps to take when you are trying to make money online through affiliate programs and there are millions of products and services to choose from. If they don’t find you, you can find them through Affiliate Directories. So how does one get started and how do you know what to promote to make money?

1. Begin by reading everything that you can on the different paths that are available. Knowledge is power.
2. You should always choose a product that is in a similar niche to that of your website. Ie: a website that is based on marketing should not have ads and affiliate programs about meds or dieting.
3. Always try to start with a product you have used. You want to suggest a product that you know and love. You are recommending these products to your visitors, and you want them to be pleased after they have purchased it like with my Veretekk SEO and marketing services. You can sign up and get a Silver system free.
4. Start with just one affiliate program and put all of your efforts into making your first affiliate program a success, before moving on to others. Trying to do too much too soon can be a recipe for disaster.
5. The most important step will always be the marketing aspect and often it will be the most time consuming and difficult yet it is the only way to be successful.

After you have gained knowledge through your first website, you can begin to apply the same techniques to duplicate your success. However, you should not forget to check back on your websites, ebooks and blogs, and always keep up to date on the new affiliate marketing techniques that are available.

Affiliate marketing is often driven by entrepreneurs who are working at the forefront of internet marketing and affiliates are often the first to take advantage of new emerging trends and technologies. Affiliates take risks and "trial and error" is probably the best way to describe how affiliate marketers are operating. To really be successful with this type of marketing you will often have to move quickly to be a part of the first wave where most of the money is made though some programs are successful for years.

Whatever you choose as an affiliate program, always be honest with your customers that way they will grow to trust you and the products you promote.

“Affiliate marketing builds your business”

Email marketing has become the preferred method…

Direct email marketing is one of the most powerful communication tools available today. It is easy, affordable, measurable, and highly effective. In fact, email marketing is to ecommerce as tires are to cars. You could drive a car without tires -- but it wouldn’t be pretty. Email marketing is the most important part of online marketing. Yet, I find that it is the least understood, and the least time is spent on it. Based on research conducted by the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing returned approximately $48 for every dollar spent in 2007. To put this in perspective, that's more than double the average return on investment in comparison to other forms of online marketing.

Bulk email marketing is the management of mailing lists that let you separate your email recipients according to their interests and needs, which you can then target through relevant, personalized content. That is why some people say that being successful online is all about the list. Collecting email addresses with people’s permission, i.e. they opt-in to receive your email messages because they are of interest to them is described as "opt-in email marketing" or "permission email marketing" and should not be confused with Spam (junk mail). Ethical email marketing works because every recipient has given you permission to send them this information which is of value to them. Visitors become customers when you give them the content they’re searching for. SPAMING people on the other hand will damage your credibility and negatively affect your customer loyalty which you have worked so hard to build. Smart marketers recognize people's aversion to spam and are addressing the problem with best practices that focus on permission.

Once you capture your subscribers’ emails, the key to a winning and cheap email marketing campaign is to use software or an online business or email marketing service with an autoresponder. Email marketing automation software helps marketers stop emailing their prospects and start marketing to them - in a way that is personalized, and powerful.
They allow your business or organization to send to your recipients, targeted and timely information on demand. They help you plan, build and design your email campaigns while ensuring it achieves top delivery rates so you can stay in contact and build your business and brand awareness. They not only distribute it, but can collect and analyze the data to help you increase your effectiveness.

I personally have found Veretekk to be the best at helping me both build my opt-in email list through free FFA’s or Leadsomatic and being able to stay in touch with my customers and prospective customers. They have the highest quality autoresponder and ensure that your emails don’t spam and get through with Veremail . They also have great training for all of their tools.

Email marketing is a very popular tool these days but often not utilized correctly to reach out to prospective customers. It is not the same as sending a quick email to a buddy. It takes a good amount of planning, testing, and measuring. It requires a lot of technique, and as with all marketing, the more professional it is, the better the results you will get.

Email marketing is the way to reach your target market in the most professional, efficient and successful way. It is one of the most successful, effective and inexpensive tools in attracting prospective customers, and growing relationships with current customers, affiliate partners and resellers and also increasing brand awareness. The goal is to present your email campaigns in such a way as to separate you from the rest of the crowd. If you're not reaching existing and potential customers or members with your email marketing message, you can be assured that your competition will be.

Bulk email marketing has become the preferred method of communication in today's competitive online marketplace for one reason: bulk email marketing works!

“Build your business with emails”

How do you advertise? or is that Market your business?

So what is advertising and what is marketing? In Wikipedia we discover:
“Advertising is a form of communication whose purpose is to inform potential customers about products and services and how to obtain and use them. Many advertisements are also designed to generate increased consumption of those products and services through the creation and reinforcement of brand image and brand loyalty. For these purposes advertisements often contain both factual information and persuasive messages.”
“Marketing is an ongoing process of planning and executing of the marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) of products, services or ideas to create exchange between individuals and organizations. Marketing tends to be seen as a creative industry, which includes advertising, distribution and selling. It is also concerned with anticipating the customers' future needs and wants, which are often discovered through market research.”
They sound a lot alike and when people use them concerning trying to promote their product or web page they often seem to use them interchangeably. They are not. Advertising is an aspect of marketing but it is only a part of what marketing is all about but you can’t market a product without advertising it in some way. Advertising says “buy” and “buy now and here is the reason why” where marketing starts off by saying I am here and I have a product I think you might be interested in but I want you to trust me and I will do whatever I need to do to try and prove that to you. This trust factor is very important when working on the internet as there is no face for people to see, no voice to hear, no body language to pick up on and therefore people find it hard to know who to trust or believe. Added to that is the fact that most of us have been burned by someone making big promises and not delivering.

This is even more of an issue today with identity theft increasing and the average person more concerned about privacy issues. Organizations that consistently take the high road on privacy, spam, and other like issues will endear themselves to customers and build trust.

As a result people (marketers) try using a picture of themselves or a voice recording, but even more popular today is video. Through video people can see the face and hear the voice which gives people an opportunity to get a “trust read” which is one of the reasons video is so effective in any marketing strategy today. It doesn’t change the fact though that there are people out there (and not just a few) who seem believable who are ready and willing to steal from us.

For those of us who are honestly trying to do business on the internet (and fortunately I believe we are the majority) it is all the more important to take the high road in marketing.

Next time we will start talking about some marketing methods in more detail, but I thought I needed to lay some ground work for that discussion.

“building trust will build your business”

Search Engine Optimization is Not the complete Answer

I know I have talked about this before but I feel it is worth a re-look.
Having your website optimized lets search engines link people to your website when they are searching for something using your keywords. The search engines can’t do this well or to your satisfaction without your site optimized properly but there is more to it than that.
Why when a person uses Google to search for a particular thing to buy will Ebay be listed usually at or near the top? Others have spent a great deal of time and money targeting keywords related to their site so what makes the difference? Can your website compete? The answer to why Ebay is usually listed at the top is, it has been decided by the search engines to be more popular with internet users. Search engines pay more attention to sites that are more popular so how do I get my site to become more popular? By having popular sites associate with yours, assuming that your site has good design and well written content (which is the only way you will get popular site to associate with yours).
This whole area is called link marketing and webmasters all over the world realize and understand the power that is in it and are using it to their advantage. Link marketing requires your time and effort to really make it happen. So how do we get started?
Here are some ways to get link popularity for those of us that don’t have a lot of money to spend and most of us don’t. All of them require some work on your part to find those web sites and places that relate to your site that will link to your site.
-Exchanging Links with other web sites, but they need to have a page rank that is as good as or better than yours.
-Writing articles for Ezines or online magazines where you can include a link to your site.
-Posting comments on Forums that cater to questions about your field and where you can drop a link to your site, can be effective.
-Social networking sites like youtube, “Apsense” and “zion5” where you can have links and network with others about your field are all very important to start building your link popularity.
What’s very important is to start building your link popularity right from the point you launch your website in order to be successful in attaining your search engine marketing goals and objectives, but if you didn’t start then, well there is no better time then now to start.
Over the next while we will be looking at some of these methods in a little more detail and also looking at the different types of marketing that will help you get found not only by the search engines but by those you really want to find you, your potential customers.
“marketing generates customers”

Choosing the Best Keywords isn’t easy!

We have talked about content and links as being very important and this time we are going to talk about the third leg of the stool, key words. If you really want to get free search engine traffic to your web site (and who doesn’t) then key words are the third key. This is because pages that rank higher on the Search Engine result pages for specific keywords or phrases get more search engine traffic compared to lower ranked pages for the same keyword. The majority of web users when searching for information on the web use a search engine like Google. When they do a search, most click on one of the top 5 results on the first page. As a result, the ultimate goal of any web page owner when doing Search Engine Optimization is to gain one of those coveted top spots, with the number one ranking being the primary objective in order to get more traffic.
The first thing you need to do is Keyword research in order to find out what exactly it is that people are searching for in the area that you are interested in. Then you need to pick the key words that relate the topic on your web site, and that people are really searching for. Try using keyword research services to help you investigate word and phrase variations. Services like Wordtracker, and the Google AdWords suggestion tool or software like Keyword Elite which will generate 1000s Of Keywords In Seconds, are good starting points. There is simply no substitute for doing your keyword research.
What you are looking for in your research is:
*Single word keywords are very difficult to get high rankings for, so I use three and four word phrases most of the time.
*Obviously keywords that are the most appropriate keywords for your pages, and for your business.
*Words that are highly targeted are easier to get good ranking for as they are not so competitive that you will never be able to beat the big boys whose pages are well optimized with good content and a lot of links. Targeted keywords on the other hand generate targeted visitors, that are more likely to be active while on the pages of your website.
*Stay away from generic or very general keywords even though they may have the highest number of searches they are very competitive. They are tougher to rank for and a great portion of the traffic from these words will be irrelevant and typically the least productive.
This Keyword research helps you to identify keywords that are relevant, targeted, and less competitive. After finding out what people are looking for, and what keywords they are using to find that information, you can optimize your pages with these keywords that you have discovered are best for your site and will bring significant traffic to it.
Now that we have our keyword list and we are ready to optimize our pages where do we put those keywords? That is the topic for next time.

“Targeted keywords generate traffic”

Optimizing your web site for Better results with quality links

The next component in your site search engine optimization strategy is getting quality links. Search engines have found measuring the quantity and quality of links pointed at a site a legitimate way to measure the importance of that site and they give high importance to links pointing to your website from sites that relate to yours and frown on those that are un-related. Thus exchanging links with relevant websites will increase your link popularity and in part, it will improve your search engine optimization.

Google expresses the quality and quantity of these back links or inbound links as Page Rank or PR. Thus the most common tactic in obtaining a good page rank is obtaining quality back links to your site from relevant websites. When your site is ranked well for different search engines then obviously you'll get more traffic from them and that is your goal isn’t it? Therefore initiating and maintaining linking strategies is a core factor to getting your site to move up in Google’s search results.

So let’s look at some ways to get these quality inbound links:

Start by getting inbound links from related web sites that sell products related to yours or that are associated to yours in exchange for you linking to their site. Find these related sites and send them a note requesting the exchange and giving them the info they need to link to your site and a little information on what your site is about. It is best if these links are not directly reciprocal though that isn’t all bad. If you have two web sites though try having them link to one and you link to them from the other in a sort of triangle. Thus each site gets one inbound link which is better then a reciprocal link.

You may want to consider writing relevant articles and then submitting them to article directories like ezinearticles.com. Ezines are online magazines and they provide some great benefits like, you are allowed to include “a” link to your website with every article submission. They also provide you with a chance to show how knowledgeable you are in your area. This is a free way to get a quality link, though you must be able to write a well written article that offers something to their users and on a topic related to your site. Be sure to consult the guidelines of the ezine site in which you decide to submit articles though for acceptable and best practices.

Related Forums provide another opportunity to get visitors to your site without having to pay for it. Again, it does take some time as you must first find forums that talk about questions related to your products and then make comments on them. The trick here is when entering a discussion you must provide quality information first so that it opens up the opportunity to link to your site. NOTE: You must include quality content here as most forums are not keen on sales pitches.

Blogging also provides another free way to link to your site. All of these take some effort and blogging is no exception. Since with blogging you own your own space you may think I can do what I want, but here again if there is no content and it is only one big advert then people aren’t going to stay long or come back. So quality content related to your site is essential and presenting your site as a solution to the problem you’re talking about along with a link to your site works best.

Building links to your web site is seen by many as an art so to help out, look at how others in articles, forums and blogs are presenting their links. This will give you some ideas.

Finally it is important who is linking to you as some links may even harm your sites rank. Sites that promote linking as a primary activity or with inappropriate content are never a safe bet.

Quality links from well ranked sites is what we are looking for and we are looking for the quality of the links not the amount of links.
That’s a lot to think about and work on but it is well worth the effort and will pay rewards. Link building takes time, so the sooner you start the better and as you do it, do it right.

“links build ranks which brings visitors”

Is good content the key to more website traffic?

The simple answer to that question is if there's any secret to getting more visitors, its content. Good content is at least as important, if not more important, than your site's design and is one of the most important factors in a successful website. Information is what drives the World Wide Web, and being able to meet this need will assure your website gets a generous volume of traffic.

Good content on a web site is content that is worthwhile to read and tells its visitors something they don't already know and is packed with details. It’s informative, easy to scan and digest, and grabs a reader's attention, and along with compelling images and videos will help draw people to your site over a competitor's. It is at the heart of any web site and is essential for giving your audience a worthwhile experience, conveying your message correctly, and encouraging visitors to return to your web site.

If your site has unique content it will give it an edge over your competitors. Because of this you need to be willing to invest time, effort and money into planning your site's content and making it the best it can be. Creating your own content does take up a lot of time, but it can be worth the effort. If you write the contents on your own, it becomes extremely accurate and directed to the audience that you would like to attract but the ability to write well isn’t something anyone can do without some training and practice, and therefore can mean a lack of quality and this is not a good trade off.

Good content simply is well written information which communicates to your visitors exactly what you want to communicate, with no ambiguity, while it also offers info to the search engines so our site is categorized properly within their database. Search engines like Google rank pages for quality and these rankings are affected by the amount and quality of content on your site. Creating multiple pages of content that link back to your homepage is very important because each of those pages adds to your overall link popularity and therefore your page rank. Furthermore, an abundance of good content gives your site credibility both in your visitor’s eyes and also to the search engines.

Creating new and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first and then keeping the content fresh so visitors will want to return again and again is what brings increasing amounts of traffic to your site. This quality content can also be a very valuable asset, which can be syndicated to different media distribution channels, making you money.

To conclude good content is going to help you get found and will make your site "sticky" once it is found. Therefore good content is key to an effective website which has tons of traffic coming to it and if you are selling something it will be making you lots of money and that’s the bottom line isn’t it?

Next time we will talk about links and how they fit into Search Engine Optimization.

For now “Content is King”

How to Optimize your web site for Better results.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is something that anyone trying to sell anything on the internet knows is important but knowing how to do it well that is a different story.
SEO is about optimizing a site so that it gets higher rankings in a search engine - no matter what factors the search engine uses to determine your page rank. Good SEO will figure out how to make a sites ranking higher and therefore get found easier by people looking for your information.
We know that there are a few things that are important when it comes to SEO, good content, having quality links to our web sites and good key words are all very important. When done right we know it helps us get higher ‘page rank’ so visitors can find our site easier so we get more sales and that is what we all want.
What we don’t like about SEO is that it is a process rather than an action. This is where some of us loose it. We want a step by step fool proof method for our web site. Well it just isn’t that way. SEO is, in my view, a moving target and hitting that target is what we want to do, what we try to do but it keeps moving.
Search engine optimization is built around 3 basic concepts - organic (the way a search engine places us naturally), optimizing for PPC (pay per click) campaigns and a sites content and functionality. All three areas must work together to succeed. Search engine positioning is hard work and takes hours of work on an ongoing basis.
Over the next few weeks we are going to talk about the different aspects of search engine optimization. Can we do it ourselves or do we need to hire a professional? Can we do some aspects ourselves? Is good SEO possible? How do we do it? Seems like I have a lot of questions, doesn’t it? Well I am not a professional SEO Guru so I am only going to try and communicate what I know. Even if we don’t want to do it ourselves we should know what it’s all about or we could get snowed by the people we hire. I hired a company to do some for me and it was money out the window. Am I any smarter? I’m working on it.
Next time we will talk about content not just any content but good content.

“Good SEO helps make sales”

I want help! I need help!

I want help I need help in knowing how to sell my product/s.
Last time we were talking about the problem of finding someone you can trust who really wants to help you gain the knowledge you need to make your business grow.
I shared with you a little about Inetekk's Veretekk last time and I personally think their training is absolutely great. I have not found a better or more thorough system yet. The only problem for me is that it is so good, so complete, that it takes a lot of work and training to really understand and put into practice especially if you are a beginner or only can work at it part time.

I recently came across a different approach and it is really good as well especially for beginners because it breaks things down so completely. It’s called “Guru University” . This is a completely different kind of training than with Veretekk.

Stan Stuchinski is the head of Guru University and He is not trying to sell you something or get you to understand his program. He is teaching people to use and understand how to market their own web site and products by getting traffic to it through many different methods already on the internet. Like traffic exchanges and places to advertise etc. none of which he owns or has an interest in but which he has found very beneficial for reaching that goal.

Some may think that because the lessons and information are broken down to such a simple level that a beginner can easily follow it that must mean therefore it is not that good. But this is far from the truth. Each lesson is taught in a step by step way so that beginners can benefit from the teaching but if you are more advanced you can go through it quicker. Don’t get ahead of yourself though because one of the reasons we don’t get the results we want is because we have missed an important step and by following his training that will not happen.

One of the things that Stan does is each week you receive a new one of Stan’s “top picks” to try out. Stan Stuchinski says “As a member and student of Guru U, every week (48 times a year) you'll receive our Guru University Bulletin by email. A "Top Pick" is a single program, product, or service that, after thorough analysis, has proven itself to produce genuine GUARANTEED website visitors. Each of our weekly "Top Picks" consists SOLELY and EXCLUSIVELY of those rare companies and products that can provide our students with the following benefits...” Traffic that is GUARANTEED, AFFORDABLE, requires NO ON-GOING COMMITMENT, is “NEWBIE-PROOF” and can start TODAY.

So if you are after some great information and training on how to get traffic to your web site I think Stan is one of the people who really does want to help and I highly recommend you check out “Guru University” .

“No more excuses. Get the training you are looking for.”