Internet Marketing: Promoting Your Local Business

Now more then ever profitable opportunities exist to promote your local business on the Internet. Through search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, email marketing and local listings, you can connect with a willing audience. Your customers are turning to the Internet to find local products and services. If your competitors have an online presence and you don't, guess who gets to take home the prize

Even if you do not have a web site you can still promote your local business online. For example, you can list you business and contact information with the local search engines of Yahoo and Google. For more detail go to:www.tube-pros-espects.com. It takes an hour at the most to get a free listing on the two most popular search engines. Your listing will include an interactive map that can direct customer’s right to your front door.

And don't overlook regional and industry specific directories. Many accept free listings, or charge a nominal fee. Once again, for most a web site is not a prerequisite.

If you do have a web site, than you need to promote your local business through Pay Per Click on both Google and Yahoo. With Pay Per Advertising you bid on keyword terms that your potential customers would use in a search. For more help visit to: www.internet-marketing-online-goldmine.com .An example is "Tacoma Wedding Photographer." The cost per click depends on how competitive the term is. You only pay if a prospect clicks on your text ad and goes to your site. This is referred to as performance advertising, where you only pay if the ad performs.

The appeal of PPC is you can get it going within an hour. You set the budget, you determine what keywords are relevant, and you determine your price per click. You can also turn it on or off in an instance. The general consensus is that PPC generates a higher return on your investment over traditional offline advertising.

For those that like a challenge there is search engine optimization. SEO is the ability to optimize your web site for high search ranking. If you can optimize your site properly, you can benefit from an endless stream of free, targeted search engine traffic. It takes time and effort, but the results can take your business to a whole new level.

Another tremendous marketing tool is email. For virtually nothing you can communicate with both prospects and your existing customers. Email is an excellent method to convert prospects to customers. It can also significantly increase the lifetime value of your existing customers by simply alerting them to upcoming sales and promotions.

Knowing the power of email communication, I find it hard to believe how few use it to promote their local business. Now listen up, start collecting your customer's email addresses today. I can guarantee they will respond favorably to joining your list. We all like to be informed on bargains and special offers.

The future of your local business will depend on the Internet. It is estimated 25% of searches online are local in nature. The Internet is the perfect resource for finding local products and services, which is why your customers are searching online. Now is the time to get your business positioned to reap the rewards?

By Rajoo

Know About Internet Marketing Advertising?

Given my present understanding of my ubiquitous lack of understanding of the world in general, I ca not help but smile just a bit when I think about my beliefs when I was around 15 years old. I was in 10th grade at the time and good god did I ever have it all figured out. On a pretty consistent basis I would use words like “ignorance, short sighted and unaware” when talking to my mother; and I guess probably most other people that had the misfortune of chatting with me.

As you can probably guess, it turned out that I really didn t know everything. Well, here I am a full grown adult and, fortunately, I am much, much wiser; I currently know that I don t know anything. And, if I ever start to forget that, I am thankfully reminded on a consistent basis how little I really know.

This just happened about 10 minutes ago, in fact. I thought that I had the internet marketing and advertising thing pegged. I was thinking about all those annoying pop ups and all the other advertising that frustrates me , on the up side this irritating new field of advertising has given rise to an unprecedented number of new jobs, for the people that are able to create all the software that shields the rest of us from the internet advertising. So, anyways I had my mind made up that people could be divided up into two camps—the good and the bad. To know more about it logon to but, much like the Haitian Revolution, things have much more complexity than just black and white.

Let’s get back to the topic at hand. I sort of saw the internet marketers as a group that found their financial success wherever it happened to be and without consideration as to what was necessary in order to achieve it. Don t get me wrong, I don t think they are killing puppies or anything.

But, I do think that there is a certain pride that can come from contributing something positive to the greater community and those that choose to directly and consciously work in means that are in direct conflict with that are not on the good side.logon to. But, I just was informed about a little thing that is throwing a wrench in my good vs. evil dissection of the world. It is the business that does networking for the internet advertisers and marketers. Now, it seems like the companies that are behind all the banner ads and the like are on the short end of the stick from these internet advertisers for the internet advertisers, the victim of uncouth internet practices.

This changes everything for me. I am not simply talking about internet advertising, but the multi-layered complexities that are a spider web of friends and foes and who is crossing who and back stabbing who, while helping who else. Hmm, I have a lot to think about, but for sure I understand that I definitely don t know anything.

By Bimla

Search Engine Optimization for Bloggers

To get the needed targeted traffic in search engines such as Google, you need your blog, and your post to prominently show in the top ten search engine results. Using proper search engine optimization methods will determine your rank on the search engine results page (SERP). Every keyword or key phrase should be used in the titles and first paragraph of the post to be able to get high ranking.

Keywords are what the search engine look for in your title tag and the content of your post when someone type it in the search engine. When you search on a particular phrase, the title or the content of the web page with the exact phrase you have searched for will be the first to be shown on search engine results.

Since Google has tweaked its algorithms on title tags, it now requires that your page/posts should have relevancy to your title in a particular keyword your picked. It simply means that your title has a particular keyword that is being search and some of it is also found in your posts.

Get a lot of one way links, since link-exchange and reciprocal links are losing their effectively, and these links will only clutter your blog template. Google looks at reciprocal links with a frown. But having one-way links pointed to your blog are the best way to get page rank they said but I said since page rank does not contribute much in the search engine ranking, links to your posts from other sites with a particular keyword. It means that many sites links to your blog with a particular keyword your blog page located on your title post and on the body post itself your blog page will show higher on search engine results.

Let us say your blog post is about "fuji digital cameras", and there are thousand of links pointing to your page from the anchor text (fuji digital cameras). Your page will be put on the top list of the search engine when someone look for the term. But don't jump on creating links like this yet. A search engine will look at the thousand of links going to a blog especially if it's coming from a high ranking site.

Links should come from variety of locations (let us say forums with different ip address, social networking sites that are not owned by just one owner. Do not overuse the keyword or same anchor text in your link building effort. Just one keyword pointing to your blog post will trigger search engine suspicion.

Getting back link is easy but requires a lot of effort. You can manually submit your own created articles or rehash content from private label articles to article directories. Look for forums that allow user signature. Use the title of your blog and it's link in your signature box. Be active in forums and post or reply to posts. Read the rules however in posting so that you will not get banned.

Minor methods, but highly popular is leaving comments on other blogs. You can use as your username as your blog title in posting comments. However, you should be posting comments that are fitted on the posts or else your comments will be considered spam by the blog owner.

By Michael Warren

Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide

Of course, the Google document does not tell you how your website can be listed on Google's first result page. It is more a checklist of things that you shouldn't do if you want Google to index your web pages.

If you avoid the following things, it will be easier for Google to index your web pages:

1. Things that you should not do in your web page titles

• Do not use web page titles that have no relation to the content on the page.


• Do not use general web page titles such as "Untitled" or "New Page".


• Do not use the same title for more than one web page.


• Do not use very long titles that do not help your users.


• Do not stuff unnecessary keywords in your title tag.

2. Things that you should not do in your meta tags

• Do not use meta description tags that have no relation to the web page content.


• Do not use general descriptions such as "My web page" or "About kittens".


• Do not use only keywords in the description.


• Do not copy the entire content of the web page in the meta description tag.


• Do not use the same description tag on more than one web page.

3. Things that you should not do with your URLs

• Do not use lengthy URLs with unnecessary parameters and session IDs.


• Do not overuse keywords in your URL (kittens-cute-kittens-all-about-kittens.htm).


• Do not use too many sub directories (../here/there/down/2/buried/deep/down/content.htm).


• Do not use directory names that have no relation to the web page content.

4. Things that you should not do with your website navigation

• Do not show the same content with different domains or sub-domains.


• Do not mix www. and non-www. versions of your URLs in your internal links.


• Do not use capitalization in your URLs.


• Do not link every page of your website to every other page of your website.


• Do not over-segment your web page content. Users should be able to access any content with a few clicks.


• Do not base your entire navigation on drop-down menus or images.

5. Things that you should not do with broken links

• Do not use broken links on your web page.


• Do not block search engines from indexing your 404 not found pages.


• Do not use non-descriptive 404 not found pages. Better use 404 web pages that help your website visitors to find the correct page on your website.


• Do not use a 404 not found web page design that is not consistent with the rest of your website.

6. Things that you should not do with your web page content

• Do not use text with many spelling and grammar errors on your pages.


• Do not embed text in images because search engines cannot read it.


• Do not write text about varying topics on a single page without paragraphs, sub-headings or layout separation.


• Do not copy content from other web pages that has no extra value to your website visitors.

The SEO tips above won't help you to get high rankings on Google. They only make sure that Google indexes your web pages correctly. If you want to get top rankings on Google, go to Gary's website now at Internet Marketing Tips.

Gary's website tips makes sure that your website gets the best possible rankings on Google and all other major search engines.

By Gary Neame

To be or not to Be—what it Takes to Become a Successful SEO Writer?

I have spent many years in content writing, SEO writing and creating eBooks on a variety of subjects—that’s why I can say it affirmatively! SEO writing has become the need of the hour if you want to stay in business.

As a human being (with a mix of technical expertise as well as managerial skills), “To Be Or Not To Be” is the question that has always teased me in the past. Not just in the past …but even as of today! If we trace back the history then we will find that this famous line was first used by the legend William Shakespeare in Hamlet's Act III. Since then it has been used by many writers…may be I am the first SEO writer who is using it! But, I have a reason for it. Please keep reading to understand why?

First thing first, so let’s see who can be termed as a true SEO writer. In the simplest words, as per best of my knowledge and conscience, an SEO writer can be anybody (like you and me) who knows what he is writing and why, and eventually does writing, either for self or for others! So that means they aren’t aliens (no pun intended, of course!).

In other words we can say that an SEO writer is the one who understands the importance of keywords/keyphrases and can write the entire content carefully and articulately woven around those keywords that best fit their business category. An SEO writer actually optimizes the entire site content using various search engine optimization strategies in an attempt to achieve a desirable ranking in search engines.

But, it can be easier said than done, as there is no quick fix or permanent solution to understand different search engine optimization strategies or techniques. Every search engine, by and large, has its own different techniques and complex algorithms. And, by the time you are conversant with some particular techniques or strategies, you will find that they have been changed very quickly. Moreover, there is no written guarantee about their results and virtually there is no fixed time period as well to get the results.

So, now a hundred dollar question comes, what exactly we should do for better search engine optimization? Now take a deep breath and relax, as you are going to explore a few secrets for better search engine optimization.

First of all, you need to bear in your mind that the role of an SEO writer in not just to satisfy the search engines but human visitors as well. So a good SEO writer is the one who knows how to please search engines as well as human visitors, and the one who firmly believes that there is no short cut to success. The entire content should be written in such as way that it uses all the search terms or keywords as natural as possible (remember, it shouldn’t be maximization but optimization). So that means, if you don’t know how to use those particular keywords or keyphrases optimally (to satisfy search engines as well as human visitors) you are “out-of-focus” immediately. The websites that use particular keywords or search terms over and over are sure to be penalized by both, search engines and visitors. Can you afford it?…I know no body can afford it for sure!

You need to master and hone your copywriting skills, as high-quality and unique content is real king. It should be clear, crispy, attention grabbing and unduplicated that is free from plagiarism. In the mad race of SEO content, always avoid content that is nothing but search engine Spam. However, if you don’t have the staff or budget to generate unique, original and never seen content every month, then try some professional copywriter and SEO expert. You can’t be Jack-of-all-trades, so for the tasks that you can’t do comfortably and skillfully, there is always potential that you could outsource them to providers who specialize in the specific areas. But always be wary about their capabilities and skills unless you have actually tried them.

So when it comes become an SEO writer, you will be required to write a lot of good quality content. I know that cannot be done quickly. It may take months, years or sometimes a lifetime to become a good copywriter. It needs good command over your language, passion for writing and a lot of imagination and creativity. To become a successful SEO writer, never fall for short cuts as they are for short periods only. If you want to become an icon in your field, you need to follow a few golden principles, such as:

Write to please your readers and show utmost respect for their time and efforts. Never do overstuffing with keywords, as overstuffing can’t make your pages rank higher. Think twice before writing even a single sentence. Never use jargons and technical words that may go over the heads of common visitors. Remember, being an expert SEO writer doesn't necessarily mean that you totally get trapped in the SEO stuff and complex algorithms; instead write clear, crispy, concise and to the point. Otherwise, at the end of the day you will find that though you have generated traffic but not visitors who bring business to your website.

Last but not the least; remember “experiment” is the key here, but instead of putting others into fire, it is better to get your fingers burnt to experiment and put others into a safe place to help reach them where they want to be, safely and comfortably. So, if you want to become a true SEO writer, you need to experiment with your own stuff. You need to take the initiative to learn about the importance of various keywords (primary, secondary and tertiary), the required density and placement rules, the nature of the search engines. Get ready to do a thorough research to find the most suitable keywords based upon number of hits at various search engines when people look for particular information on various search engines. Some very good resources are the paid versions of Wordtracker, KeywordDiscovery or Overture.

As an SEO writer, you should learn, unlearn and then relearn different techniques with your own websites to gain practice and experience in search engine optimization. Read from others in the similar field, participate in discussions forums and blogs; and once you are familiar with these techniques then apply and test them on your own website. I think this is the best way to understand the search engines and different techniques, inside out.

By Rakesh Sharma

Internet Marketing Success With Ebooks

Ebooks have become a very general commodity on the Internet. You can now download Ebooks from lots of different websites and you can even visit an Ebook store to find these information products. Ebooks are hot sellers because today's computer savvy generation spends a great deal of time reading Ebooks for learning and enjoyment purposes. Some in the book industry have even begun to predict that Ebooks may make traditional printed books obsolete within the next 20 years.

Sound intimidating? It's actually not. Ebooks are usually shorter and easier to create than the traditional book. They are also much less expensive to produce. You can create an entire Ebook store for only a fraction of the price that it would cost you to publish and print one traditional printed book. For more details go to www.tube-traffic.com .To write an Ebook, all you need is an exclusive information product, a target audience, and a computer. Ebooks can be created on a multitude of programs and simply turned into a reader friendly PDF document. If you don't know how to do this, there are many different tutorials that can be viewed on the web free of charge. These tutorials offer step by step instructions to guide you through the entire process.

Once you have written several Ebooks on different or similar topics, you can create an Ebook store. Those who visit your site will appreciate the different Ebook options and the instant ability to download Ebooks containing the information they want and need. Plus, with shipping costs on the rise, free downloads are a budget-friendly commodity. Studies have shown that online shoppers are more likely to buy something if they do not have to pay shipping costs.

Almost everybody has some sort of knowledge that can help others, which is why anyone can create an Ebook. The key is to come up with an in demand topic that uses your special knowledge. Once you have thought up a topic, you can develop an outline or a writing plan to guide you through the process of writing Ebooks.

If you need inspiration or help organizing your thoughts into Ebooks, you may want to consider investing in a guide that teaches you how to market your knowledge. A good guide to try is Make Your Knowledge Sell.

If you have a topic that you are passionate about, the best-selling Make Your Knowledge Sell Ebook is the perfect place to start. This Ebook can explain you how to develop your unique knowledge into an online business. You will also learn how to target a customer base, create a website from the ground up, and make your business be successful. For more information logon to www.free-ad-sytem.com .If you have the knowledge, but are concerned with your ability to write Ebooks and express your ideas, there are also tools on the market that can help fine-tune your writing skills. One example is the Make Your Words Sell Ebook. Just about every aspect of copywriting is covered in this comprehensive guide, which includes information that you will not find in any other marketing book. No matter what kind of products you sell, you will learn how to sell more by using the right words.

Ebooks are the future of publishing. With a small amount of knowledge and a large amount of determination, you can give your customers the ability to download Ebooks that you created. And who knows, you may even make more money than you ever imagined by owning and marketing your own Ebook store.

By Dr. Zakir

Don't Let Economy's Downturn to Get You Out of Business

t's no secret that the United States, and most of the rest of the world, are involved in perhaps the worst--and certainly broadest--economic crisis the world has ever seen. In the United States, the disaster is being hailed as the worst in 100 years, or since the Great Depression. Between Main Street and Wall Street, everyone is feeling the crunch, and businesses both large and small are having to reorganize and cut down on expenses.

Large corporations often have more choices of ways to fight themselves out of a crisis than small businesses, or start-ups do. Larger entities can lop off a few hundred workers, issue more stock, sell off some assets, and a number of other options to add capital or lower expenditures to successfully navigate troubled economic waters.

During troubled times, advertising and marketing departments often find themselves near the chopping block, especially companies which use email marketing, PPC, and other forms of internet marketing. Large companies with the resources to advertise across all media, and with advertising budgets of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars to spend, can trim the fat by 10-15% and keep right on rolling. But smaller companies? Should they cut back on their advertising as well? The answer is a resounding no!

Small businesses which rely on the internet as their prime source of advertising must adapt to the new economic landscape, for sure, but drastically cutting advertising expenditures is a sure recipe for disaster. What is called for during these times is evolution, efficiency, and intelligence. While you don't have to be an expert in online marketing, you should know enough to be able to make your campaigns more effective. And if you don't know this, then now is a good time to learn! So with that in mind, let's look at a few tips to help small businesses get quality traffic without breaking the bank.

1. Never buy traffic or sign-ups. This is one of the cheapest ways to get traffic to a blog or website, but just having hits does not mean more sales. Much of this type of traffic is unqualified, meaning that the hits are likely from people who have no interest in your product, so why would they buy from you? The best conversions come from interested customers who have at least some general desire for what you are selling.

2. Save by buying separate SEO services. While it may seem that one person should be able to multitask several different online campaigns, hiring out SEO to a professional will assure that this important task is done the right way. In addition, a large portion of the SEO process, once completed, will never have to be redone, and so, will pay dividends for a long time to come.

3. Experiment. Now is the best time to innovate and try new ideas. Like you, others are searching for bargains and different strategies during these times as well. If you have lower cost products, maybe now is the time to start pushing those, rather than the more costly ones. Consider packaging your items in different combinations, or offering something for free with a purchase.

4. Don't outsource important communications tasks. If you are targeting the US market, do not outsource your writing and customer support to non-native speakers. Although it may be cheaper to outsource to non-native speakers, the quality of communication is almost always lower. During these times, customers should be valued more than ever, and every effort should be made to make them feel comfortable with their purchase and with the quality of your service. Also, there are surely lots of native writers and speakers looking for work, so in that regard, it should be easy to find talent.

5. Do outsource simple, yet time-consuming tasks. Things like social bookmarking, link building, forums, and blog commenting can be outsourced, and should be. These tasks take up lots of time, and keep you from doing more important things to grow the business. Having someone to cheaply do these tasks is an efficient way of outsourcing without jeopardizing the quality of the company.

The recession is here but that doesn't mean that your company can't still be profitable. Times like these require small business owners to be more intelligent than the rest, and by increasing efficiency and making good management decisions, your small business can not only survive, but can also thrive.

By Elena Konkina

3 Ways (part 2) to Improve Search Engine Rankings

Continuing on from Part 1, here's Part 2 of '3 Ways To Improve Search Engine Rankings'. I follow a straightforward 3-Stage Approach to getting ranked high in the search engines. Here, in Part 2, is my second Stage...

Stage 2. Get Your Website Seen:

If you goal is to get high up the search engine rankings (and it should be!) then you need to get the search services to 'see you'. This sounds an obvious statement but few people really think it through that much. In a nutshell, and avoiding all the techie jargon, search engines really want to find you, or more specifically your website. When someone types in a 'search query' they are looking for some information. If your website is relevant to what the person searching is looking for (we'll talk about this later), then the search engines really want to link your website to the searcher, which they do with the search results the search engine reveals.

The key then, knowing the search engines really want to find your website, is to set up your website in such a way as to make it be easily found by the search engines. The way you do this is to adopt some basic, but very important 'optimisation' tricks on your website - what is termed 'on-page optimisation'.

The interesting thing is, even though it's really important to do what I'm about to share with you, the on-page optimisation' methods only really are about 15% of what contributes towards your search results ranking. The 85% of where you figure in search results is dependant on the 'off-page optimisation' which I'll cover in stage 3. Even though 'on page optimisation' only makes up for 15% towards how you get ranked, it is still crucial to carry out these basic but key steps:

a) Ensure your keyword(s) appear in your pages 'Title tag' of the header code of your website (if you're not sure what this is, ask someone to show you who does know - it's that important). This is vital because it is one of the key things that search engines are looking for - matching the words the searcher types into their search (the keywords) with the title of a website, which in turn should be relevant to the search query. You can take this a stage further by adding in a description in the 'meta description tag' again incorporating your keywords, and then the 'meta keywords tag' which simply includes all your keywords, comma separated.

The search engines don't put so much relevancy these days on the description or keyword tags, but they're worth doing either way, but it's vital you include your keywords in the Title tag.

b) Make the webpage you are pointing the keyword towards relevant to that keyword. In other words don't have a keyword like 'dog training tips' and then have a webpage all about horses, cats, dogs and loads of other animals with little specific relevancy to dogs or dog training - make sure the webpage is relevant to your keyword.

c) Build into your website a simple Sitemap. Understand that the way search engines search the web is they look for (crawl) words and phrases in all the code of your website - they don't understand pretty pictures, graphics, flash animations, etc - all they want to find is words and phrases relevant to want the searcher is looking for. So make it easy for the search engines to look over your website looking for those vital words and phrases. One way to do this and make it easier for the search engines to find the info they want is by incorporating a simply site map within your website. Again, if this doesn't make sense to you, ask your webmaster about it.

By Steve Mitchell

3 Ways (part 1) to Improve Search Engine Rankings

There's lots of talk about ways to improve search engine rankings, and it's clearly a very emotive subject with many people amongst the so-called 'internet SEO (search engine optimisation) experts' fraternity, all of whom often have differing opinions about what gets a website 'ranked'.

From someone who has had all (yes all) his websites ranked on page one in the Top 5 search results for the Top 3 keywords I have targeted (and these are competitive, high traffic keywords), let me share with you now my thoughts on how to get highly ranked and get your websites listed amongst the top 10 search results for your keywords.

I have a simple 3-Stage Approach to getting ranked high. Here, in Part 1, is my first Stage...

Stage 1. Pick The Right Keyword Phrases:

Firstly I ensure I target keywords that have traffic. What I mean by that is it amazes me how many people think it's all about being placed high up the page by being "highly ranked", with no regard for the actual amount of traffic a keyword gets! What's even more staggering are these 'SEO expersts' that offer their services, usually at exorbitant rates, with promises like "we'll get you appearing in the Top 10 Results on 100 pages" when they don't have any idea what keywords are being identified by you as their client.

Let me be really clear on this - anyone can have a Number 1 position for a keyword! ...anyone - just type in a keyword phrase, say with 4 or 5 words in it (this is a 'longtail keyword'), and it is likely to have very little competition that you could dominate the Top Number 1 spot for that search. But what you have to ask yourself is how many people are actually typing in that 5 or 6-word phrase? Probably no-one I suspect. So here's the thing - yep, it is pretty easy to get highly ranked, like Top 5, for many keywords, but the first thing you need to do is identify if there are a whole bunch of people looking for that keyword, because if there isn't, then getting ranked at even Number 1 spot isn't going to make any difference to your business sales, because even at Number 1, if no-one is searching for that keyword phrase and searching for it, then there's no-one that will ever see you at Number 1.

So, before anything - before you 'optimise' your website (I'll discuss this in Part 2); before you look to get ranked high in the search results; before you do anything, make sure that you are clear on the keywords you are going to target actually have traffic, by which I mean there are lots and lots of people typing in that keyword phrase into a search service looking to find you. Get your keywords right first! ...and make sure they are keywords people are using in their searches - in lots of searches!

By Steve Mitchell

Search Optimization Rockstars

If you were a struggling musician, how cool would it be if some of the real Rock Stars would put on a seminar where they would give you instruction and advice on how you can be successful? Well in the Search Engine Optimazion

industry, this kind of stuff actually does happen.
Some of the real Rock Stars of the Search Engine Optimization industry just had a seminar in Seattle.

What does an SEO Rock Star constitute? In Search Optimization, a Rock Star would be anyone that has not only had success in getting their clients noticed but they have also been so good at it that they cause Search Engines to take notice and in some cases change.

People like, Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz.org, Stephan Spencer of netconcepts.com, Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land, Will Critchlow and Duncan Morris of distilled.co.uk, Nick Gerner a Search Researcher for SEOmoz, Sarah Bird legal advisor for SEO's, Jeff Pollard Chief Technology Officer for SEOmoz, and more.

Who was listening? Search Engine Optimizers from Hawaii, to Japan. I actually didn't even run into anyone attending from the northwest until the after party on the last night. What value could be gained from listening to those that have had success in Search Engine Optimization? In the early days of flight, The Wright Brothers weren't the only ones working on a flying machine. Many others were working on the same challenges but they were keeping their secrets to themselves. But once sustained powered flight was achieved advances in the industry were happening almost faster than they could be published.

The internet, even though it hasn't been around that long, has already changed the world we live in. Search Engines are what the masses use to give the internet a useful order. The Search Engine that gets used the most commands staggering sums in advertising dollars annually. But that position of top Search Engine is only as good as how relevant the searchers find the results it puts forth. Are searchers fickle? If they weren't Yahoo would still be king of the search world.

What makes the Search Engines struggle to keep those results pure is the fear that some other engine will do a better job and cut into their market share. SEO's are symbiotic with the Search Engines. Being a good SEO is really being a specialized business marketing consultant. An SEO takes the information about your product or service and helps you get noticed by your prospective customers on the Search Engines.

Why would someone that knows how to do SEO need to go to a conference? Two reasons really. First, because Search Engines are continuously changing to keep their results as pure and relevant as possible, there is constant change or adjustments that need to be made by SEO's to keep their client websites high in the search results. Getting together and essentially comparing notes on the things they have observed about the Search Engines is the best possible way to stay current.

Secondly, to meet others in the industry. Because there are at present only twenty-four hours in any given day, and there are millions of websites that need to be found in their respective markets, no one person or agency is going to be able to serve that need alone. Not every organization is going to serve every level of business need. If you are a Fortune Five Hundred company in a competitive industry, you may need hundreds of man hours per month to accomplish high ranking and online reputation management. But not every business serves the global market or has a million dollar budget available.

Networking with other people in the SEO industry gives us to compare notes and a chance to serve more business on more levels. Some SEO's specialize in serving certain vertical markets. Having a background in specific areas can be helpful in understanding unique needs of an individual company or a geographically limited market.

As long as Search Engines continue to change, SEO's will need to continue to educate themselves and update their techniques. A hearty thanks to leaders in the industry that take the time to share their experience and knowledge.

By Jeff Sligger

Social Networking: Danger - Warning for Teens

Are you the parent of a teenager? If so, there is a good chance that you are wondering about their safety online, as you should be. Although the internet has changed for the better, that change has made it easier for people to access the internet and pretend to be someone that they are not, someone who you would likely not want socializing with your child. For that reason, you are advised to take the proper action needed to protect your child when they are online, especially when they use online social networking websites.

Online social networking websites? What are they? If you are not an internet user yourself, you may be completely unaware of social networking websites, what they are, and how they operate. The first step in protecting your teen is to familiarize yourself with them. Social networking websites are known as online communities that aim to connect internet users with each other. Unfortunately, these social networks have become the stomping grounds for many online predators and who are they after? Teenagers and chances are your teen may be one of them.

When it comes to protecting your child, your first thought may be to prohibit the use of online networking websites. Of course, you can do this if you want to. You are the parent, you can do anything that you want; however, there is really no need to. Despite the fact that danger exists, social networking sites are relatively safe, even for teenagers. However, to be safe and stay safe, your teenager needs to know what to avoid and who to be on the lookout for. Essentially, this means that they best way to protect your child from online predators is to educate them on the danger that is out there.

One of the first things that you may want to discuss with your child is who they are talking with online. Although they may not want to give you an answer, you need to emphasize the importance of knowing who they are talking to. Since social networks work to connect individuals who do not physically know each other it may seem impossible, but it can be done. Your child should fully read and try to understand the content of their friend’s online profiles. This will enable them to watch out for inconsistent stories or any inaccurate information. Tell your teen that if they learn that someone is being untruthful they need to end the conversation right away.

In addition to who your teen is taking to, it is also important to learn what they are talking about. As with who they are talking to, your teenager may not want to give you a straight answer. Even if you are unable to get an answer out of them it is important to let them know what is appropriate and what is not. Be sure they know that it is best to completely avoid individuals who like to speak of sex, drugs, and other illegal activities. Although they may enjoy having a number of online friends, there are plenty of other individuals, especially teenagers, who would more than willing to have pleasant and harmless conversations with them.

Perhaps, the most important thing to discuss with your teenager about social networking sites is arranging physical meetings. Let them know that these meeting are unacceptable. There have been numerous reports, over the past few years, of teenagers being lured away from their home in hopes of meeting a new friend, who they thought was their age. Unfortunately, many of these online friends turn out to be older and, in many cases, sexual predators. In the event that your teenager wants to meet an online friend and you feel that they would with or without your permission, you may want to offer to go with them. Of course, it is advised that you use caution and all meet in a public place.

By keeping the above mentioned points in mind, your child should still be able to use social network sites, but use them safely. In addition to the above mentioned safety concerns and precautionary measures, you may have your own. Whether you do or not, it is important that you keep your child aware of the dangers that lurk online, awareness is the key.

By Nicholas Tan

Social Networking: Making the Most Out of Social Networking Websites

Do you belong to an online social networking website? With their recent rise in popularity there is a good chance that you do. However, it is one thing to be a community member and another to actually participate in online discussions, as well as the many other network features. That is why it is advised that you learn how to make the most out of your social networking experience.

Many internet users already think that they know everything that they need to know about their social networking community. Unfortunately, not everyone does. In fact, you can find numerous posts online of people ranting or stating that they wished that their social networking website, such as Yahoo! 360, MySpace, Orkut, FriendWise, or FriendFinder, has a particular service and feature. Too many times, those posters did not look before they started speaking because, as it turns out, many social networking websites have what people want, just everyone doesn’t know about it.

The first step, in making the most out of your social networking experience, is to familiarize yourself to the online community or communities that you belong to. This can easily be done by closely examining the website. There are too many internet users who are focused on meeting new friends that they get started right away. While it is nice to start meeting new people right away, it is also nice to know what your social networking site has to offer. This can only be done by closely examining the website. Whether you take one hour or one day examining the website, you will likely be pleased with your decision to do it.

When examining the website of the online community that you belong to, it is advised that you examine the terms of use agreement. This agreement often outlines what you can and cannot do online. Despite the fact that a large number of online networking sites, such as MySpace, have little rules, there are other websites that have them. These rules and restrictions may limit the content that you can have on your site, as well as your pictures, videos, and other media. Many websites, including social networking websites, will terminate your membership if you are found violating these agreements. By reading all of the rules and restrictions of the social networking website you belong to, you should be able to ensure that you can continue to use and enjoy the site.

One of the many benefits to fully examining the social network you belong to is that you could be alerted to network benefits, features, or services that you were previously unaware of. In addition to giving you your own profile page and allowing you to invite other internet users into your network, there are a number of other things that you can do with online social networking websites. A large number of websites have created features and sections that include horoscopes, quizzes, polls, instant massaging, chat rooms, and much more. However, before you make use of these member benefits, you must know that they exist.

If you are interested in making new online friends, it is likely that you have already joined an online social networking community. Whether you are interested in joining more or you are a first time user, you will to carefully choose your networks. By researching each social networking website online, you should easily be able to familiarize yourself with the advantages and disadvantages of each. And, since most social networking websites are free to use, there are no risks associated with giving the network a try. If you happen to come across a website that requires a paid membership and you would like to try it, you are advised to lookout for free membership plans or free trail periods. They may be able to help you determine whether or not the social networking website that you are interested in joining is worth the cost.

As you can easily see, there are a number of different ways to go about making the most out of your social networking experience. The control is in your hands. It is your decision as to whether or not you want to spend a small amount of time researching your network and everything that it has to offer. However, it is important to note that not doing so may literally mean that you are missing out on all of the fun.

By Nicholas Tan

Social Networking: Myspace - a Popular Social Networking Website

Do you surf the internet, listen to the radio, or watch television? If you do, there is a good chance that you have heard of MySpace before. MySpace is on online social networking website that has literally taken the world by storm. This is because, in what seemed like no time at all, MySpace has grown to become one of the most popular online websites, in the entire world.

The first step in joining this popular online social network is to register for an account. This can be done in a matter of minutes. Although you can view a number of different MySpace pages without registering, it is advised that you do. Registration will allow you to not only create your own MySpace page, but enjoy many of the other features that can be found on the site. What you may like most about MySpace is that it is completely free to use.

Once you join MySpace, you can create your own profile page. Although this is optional, it is the best way to communicate with others and make new friends. To make the experience easier, MySpace has a fairly large collection of profile templates. These templates not only have an impact on the background of your profile page, but the text fonts as well. In addition to using the pre-designed templates, you can also create your own, especially if you have basic knowledge of HTML.

Many MySpace users have sections that allow them to describe themselves and their likes and dislikes. In addition to these preset sections, you can also add your own. A large number of users have posted clips from their favorite movies, television shows, or music videos. You can also add you own pictures and your own videos, if you choose to do so. Although MySpace does have some rules, which can be found in their terms of use agreement, you basically have unlimited freedom, when it comes to creating your own MySpace page.

After you have created your own MySpace page, you can easily search for others. You can search for others with a wide variety of different keyword phrases. If you are looking for someone who lives near you, you can search for your town. If you are looking for someone who shares your love of animals, you can search for pet lovers. Once you have found the MySpace page of someone who you would like to become friends with, you can invite them to join your network. In addition to inviting others to join your network, there is a good chance that you will be invited to join others.

Although MySpace has been in the media because of its popularity, attention has been given to the popular social networking website, attention it probably didn’t wish that it had received. With MySpace, as well a large number of other networking sites, internet safety has become a big issue, especially with children. If you are the parent of a child, you may wish to monitor their MySpace activity or ensure that their profile is set to a private listing. MySpace has a number of safety features is place, but to make use of these features you must know that they exist.

In addition to being a traditional social networking website, one that lets you meet and speak to other members, MySpace is well known for its additional features. These features commonly include music videos, horoscopes, chat rooms, careers, and instant messaging. If you are interested in using these features, as well as the many others that can be found on MySpace, you are encouraged to register for your free membership today.

By Nicholas Tan

Social Networking: Orkut - Google’s Social Networking Website

Are you interested in meeting new people online? How about people that share the same interests as you? If so, one of the best ways to find those individuals to use online social networking websites. Social networking websites are often compared to neighborhoods or communities, but ones that are online. If are interested in making use of these popular websites, if you haven’t been already, you will need to find a social networking website to become a member of. One of the websites that you may be interested in joining is Orkut.

Orkut, sounds interesting doesn’t it? With other popular websites such as Yahoo! 360, Friendwise, Classmates, and MySpace, there are many who wonder how Orkut became the name of this popular online community. Orkut is named after the individual who created it. That man was an employee of Goggle and he is known as Orkut Buyukkokten.

If the name of the website doesn’t automatically draw you in, there is a good chance that the website features will. Like many other social networking websites, Orkut has a number of different member benefits. These benefits are what makes it worthwhile to become a member of this popular social networking website. As popular as Orkut is and as much as you would like to join, there are special procedures that you must follow. Unfortunately, Google does not allow just anyone to become a member, you must be invited.

Current community members are the only ones who can extend you an invite. This means that you should not waste your time trying to convince Google to let you join. Being invited to join Orkut really isn’t as difficult as it may sound. Orkut is so popular that there is a good chance that you know someone, if not personally than online, who can extend you an invite. By performing a standard internet search, you should also be able to find Orkut members who would be willing to extend you an invitation, without even knowing who you are.

Although many internet users refrain from joining Orkut, just because of the invitation requirements, there is a good reason for limited membership. Orkut is a social networking website that is free to use. Unfortunately, free means that many people would wish to use the website. Many online social networking sites, that are free to use, have literally become ridiculous. A large number of internet users get joy out of creating fake accounts and causing online controversy. Google decided to make Orkut a special membership online website to prevent instances like that from happening.

Orkut, like many other online social networking websites, has a number of different purposes. Of course, the main purpose of Orkut is to allow you to connect with your friends, especially the ones that have extended an invitation to you, but you can do much more than that. Once a member of Orkut, you can easily familiarize yourself with other website members who share the same interests as you do. This will not only help you make new friends, but it may also result in the finding of your next romantic partner. That is what is nice about Orkut, once you are a member, just about anything is possible.

If you are interested in learning more about Orkut, before trying to obtain an invite, you will want to visit their online website.

By Nicholas Tan

Social Networking: Popular Social Networking Websites

Do you love using the internet to meet and talk to new people? If so, there is a good chance that you have heard of social networking websites before. If you have not, you will want to familiarize yourself with them because they are rapidly becoming the most popular way to communicate with others online.

If you weren’t already aware, social networking websites are website that essentially act as an internet communities. While all social networking websites have their own rules and restrictions, many websites operate in a similar way, with similar goals. Their goals are to allow internet users to connect with other internet users online, often from all around the world. What is nice about social networking websites is that they come in a wide variety of different forms. There are many websites that are considered “general,” websites. These websites do not really have any particular focus, but there are social networking websites that do have a particular focus. Those focuses often include dating, religion, and school.

If online social networking seems interesting to you, you will have to find a community to join. You can easily do this a number of different ways. By speaking to those that you know, on and offline, you could be alerted to popular social networking websites. You can also find these websites on your own by performing a standard internet search. Whether you perform your own search or rely on recommendations from others, it is likely that you will find a fairly large number of social networking websites. Just a few of those websites that may find include Classmates, Orkut, Yahoo! 360, and MySpace.

Orkut is Google’s version of a social networking website. This website was created and officially launched in 2004. Orkut has a large number of member, form all around the world. What is nice about Orkut is that the system is easy to use, that is once you get in. To protect their social networking communities, a large number of social networking websites, including Orkut, have restricted access to the site. If you are interested in joining Orkut you must know someone who is already a member and they must invite you to join the community. If you do not personally know any Orkut member, there is a good chance that you could connect with and obtain an invitation from someone you meet online.

Classmates is an online social networking website that is rapidly increasing in popularity. This website focuses on connecting long lost friends or old classmates. Classmates is free to use, but you must become a paying member to enjoy many of their member benefits. These benefits include, but are not limited to, searching for old classmates, reading their profiles, requesting more information from your classmates, or even contacting them.

MySpace is another popular social networking website that can be found online. In fact, MySpace is known as being the most popular online social networking website. They currently have over one hundred million members! MySpace, like many other social networking websites allows you to create your own profile, in fact, your own personal page. Once your page has been created, you can easily invite other members to become a member of your network and visa versa. In addition to having a traditional profile page, with your personal information, you can also display a large number of pictures, video clips, and music clips. Although there are a number of features that makes MySpace so popular, the most popular reason for its popularity is that fact that it is completely free to use.

As previously mentioned, MySpace, Classmates, and Orkut are just a few of the many social networking websites that you can find online. Additional sites include FriendFinder, Yahoo! 360, and more. To learn more about each of these sites or to join their community, you are advised to visit their online websites and request additional information. You should be able to find these websites by performing a standard internet search.

By Nicholas Tan

Website not Performing as it Should? Ask These 7 Questions to Find Out Why

In preparing to design and write my new website, I visited hundreds of other sites to get a feel for what I did/did not want.

For example, "squeeze pages" are all the rage these days. You know, those pages which require you to enter your name and email just to get a peek at the actual website (or you can check the always-too-tiny "enter site" button to skip the squeeze page).

I've decided, at least for now, not to have a squeeze page, but fully understand why you would want one (it strongly encourages, we won't say "forces", people to get on your mailing list in order to see your website).

Regardless of whether or not you choose to incorporate a squeeze page on your site, here's a list of the top 7 questions you need to ask your website in order to determine if it's performing as well as it could.

1. What problem(s) do you solve and what result (s) can I expect?

Your website must focus on the results, not the benefits that you offer -- your prospects want to know how you can help them solve their problems. Include results-based testimonials sprinkled throughout your site if possible.

2. Do you offer an email newsletter or "tip-zine"?

If you offer an email newsletter, be sure to have your sign-up box with privacy policy on every page and on the "top" screen (in the event your readers need to scroll down to read your full page).

3. Is your site "clean"?

By "clean", I mean is the text easy to read without TOO much formatting? Do all your links work? Are your navigation buttons easy to find and understandable? Is your site free of typos?

4. Is your contact information easy to find?

I recommend putting your contact information on the bottom of every page -- you want it to be easy for your readers to find you if they have a question. Do this even if you have a "Contact Us" page.

5. Is your domain name intuitive?

When it comes to domain names (your URL, what people type when going to your site), it's more important to be intuitive than to be cute. You could have the cutest name in the world and it means nothing if people don't "get it" and visit your site. Keep it simple.

6. WIIFM

In addition to your email newsletter or tip-zine, what do you offer your readers? What's In It For Me (WIIFM) as a reader of your site? Do you share a no cost special report, audio tips, e-course? Give your readers the chance to get to know you through your giveaway item.

Note: You should still get your email newsletter up and running even if you don't currently have a giveaway item -- you can add that afterwards.

7. Do you have a picture?

If you are a solopreneur (single, small business owner) and you want to generate leads or sell products through the internet, it helps to have your picture either on your site or in your email newsletter/tip-zine.

When working "virtually", your readers will come to know and trust you through the words that you write. It helps for them to have a picture to connect to -- as people, we like to do business with people, not with faceless companies.

These are just a few strategies to insure that you have a client attractive website which enhances your online presence.

An Assignment For You. . .

Your assignment for this week is to take a hard look at your website and see if it measures up. Forget all the work you've put into it, forget that your best friend helped you put it together and look at it as a prospective client who wants to know more about your business would.

By Sandra P. Martini

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a business practice where affiliates bring in business to a provider and the provider, in turn, rewards the affiliate. It often involves using one website to drive viewers to another, website. This Internet Marketing strategy isn't as commonly used as relying on search engines to bring interested customers to a site, but it is an effective way to increase the traffic for your home page.

Sometimes a publisher is required to make the address to the affiliate website available and the publisher is paid. This is referred to as cost per mile whereas cost per click pays the publisher according to how many people actually click on the link to visit the affiliate website.

What Is the Advantage to this type of Marketing?

For many merchants, this method of "advertising" is a lot less expensive since they only have to pay when a viewer visits their site. They aren't out any money to advertise to customers that aren't interested in their product. The only drawback to this system of marketing is that there is no way to predict its success or failure or to be prepared for major growth in a short time span.

For consumers, this type of marketing is one of the ways you can find what you are looking for on the Internet. If you don't have your words just right, using a search engine to find what you're looking for may not give you optimal results. Now you have a more refined way of searching for the specific type of product or service that you have in mind.

What Is Affiliate Marketing Used For?

There is no limit to the types of products and services that it is used for. If you do a search for a weight loss program and go onto the site for one of the results, you may find links to specific programs or diet aids. If you are looking for a new computer, you might be led to a variety of computer companies as well as those with software to accompany your new PC. When you look up almost any subject, Amazon.com appears with a link to find a book that they have which is in the same category as your search criteria. All these are examples of what affiliate marketing is.

What Is An Affiliate Marketing Network?

You may have several different affiliates advertising your site while they may be advertising for others. It's just marketing on a larger scale.

The next time you are on the Internet and you go onto a site that leads into another site by clicking on a button, you will know that you are about to go to an affiliated site.

By Wayne Cooper

Profit From Creating Free Reports

Have you ever downloaded a free report from a website you’ve visited?

If you’ve surfed the internet for any length of time, you would have already found hundreds, if not thousands, of sites offering free reports on almost every subject imaginable.

Why would anyone spend so much time and effort writing and creating enough information to fill a report only to give it away? Surely, it would be logical to sell the report and earn some income from all that effort instead of just allowing anyone to access it.

Of course, there is a brilliant kind of logic behind the popularity of website owners giving away free reports.

Let’s look at some great reasons to create a free report for your visitors to download.

- Free Traffic

By offering a free report for visitors to download, you can seriously increase the amount of traffic to your site.

Of course, there will always be some people who are only interested in the freebie, but there will be a percentage of people who will become curious enough to stay and scour the rest of your site.

- Reputation

Creating a reputation as an expert within your own niche topic is becoming difficult.

Internet users are bombarded with thousands of false gurus and bogus offers that it’s harder to find quality information from someone you can trust.

By offering a free download, you can begin to build a relationship of trust between you and your readers. This step can go a long way toward building a credible reputation with future customers.

- List Building

If you’re going to offer a free download, you could display the download link proudly right there on the front page of your site for all to see. Thousands of people will download it and leave your site in search of something else.

In order to keep in touch with those people consider advertising your report prominently on the home page, but don’t allow people to download it directly. Instead, ask visitors to join your private mailing list.

By harvesting the email addresses of each person who downloads your report, you now have a way to market directly to future customers. These customers already know and trust you and they know your information so you will be increasing the chances of them buying your next report from you.

- Free Advertising

Offering a free report to your visitors is the obvious focus for most webmasters. Why not approach other website owners and offer them the chance to give away your report to their visitors as well?

By having your report available on several different websites, you reach a much wider audience and you’re benefiting from the marketing efforts of other webmasters.

- Word of Mouth

People always talk about things they like to other people. Word of mouth between friends and acquaintances can form a great marketing tool when used correctly.

If your free report has given visitors information they didn’t expect or that they really enjoyed, then they’ll be tempted to forward it over to friends to view as well.

Every time a person sends your report on to someone else, they’re introducing you as the expert to that next person. Once again, you’re increasing your traffic and you’re building your reputation – but this time someone else has done it for you.

- Free Profits

At this point, most people begin wondering if they can fill their free report with paid ads or affiliate links.

People download free ebooks and reports all the time and they already know there’s going to be a certain amount of advertising included in the material.

In order to retain their trust and increase your chances of getting a sale from your readers, be absolutely certain you’re offering content inside your report that has real value. If you
do this part first, then your readers won’t mind being directed to an ad or an affiliate link.

Just be sure the products you’re advertising are related to your report’s topic!

Hopefully, you understand a little more behind the marketing benefits of creating a free report to offer visitors to your website.

If you’d like to learn more about creating your own free report, visit: http://success-methods.com/jackpot/index.htm today and get a free e-course that will show you step-by-step exactly how to create your own free reports for profit today.

By Billy Mitchell

Role of Intelligent Marketers in Internet Marketing

If you do then my guess is that you probably market to one main niche. Whether you sell your own products, work as an affiliate or run a marketing newsletter, I would be willing to bet that the main target area for your online activities is the make money online niche or helping others to earn a living online.

The "make money online" is a great niche to work in and can yield fantastic results, enabling you to make enough money to eventually ditch your 9-5 and go it alone, working from your own home and to hours that suit you.

There is one main problem though and that is the fact that pretty much every other online marketer is working in this niche as well, and with so many marketers targeting the same group of people online to it is becoming increasingly hard for the smaller, lesser known names to get their products and services seen amongst sea of other offers from competing marketers.

The make money online niche is very very overcrowded.

Let me ask you a quick question.

What does an intelligent online marketer do to increase the chance of getting seen by crowds of information hungry customers?

Have a think about that for a second....

Well, they could:

* look for more places to post links back to their website.

* set up PPC ads and pay a lot of money to attract customers.

* approach the more respected and well known marketers to ask if they could help promote your products (let me tell you, they get hundreds of these requests a month).

* Create more and more minisites, blogs and articles in an effort to drive traffic.

They could do all this and much more in an effort to make decent money, But there is one main problem with this approach.

It involves a hell of a lot of work, time and money to put in place.

But you shouldn't let this spoil your dreams of making it online as there is a much simpler way to get your offering seen by crowds of hungry customers.

You should......... Target Less Crowded Niches!

There are many many niches that can be just as profitable and are not marketed to as aggressively as the make money online niche.

For example fishing, weddings, health and beauty, home improvement. The list goes on and on.

Of course there are also many sub-niches or "micro-niches" that can be explored as well.

For example in the fishing niche you could take a look at bass fishing, fishing lures, fly fishing, fishing bait, etc, etc

In the wedding niche, you could consider these micro-niches - wedding flowers, honeymoons, wedding dresses, wedding speeches, cheap weddings, wedding favors, etc, etc.

Of course once you have found a niche that you want to market to, you need to consider how to monetize it.

Creating a product or content yourself that is of suitably high quality to make you money involves a lot of research and development time (anything from a few weeks to many months).

If you are selling a product as opposed to making money through advertising such as Adsense then you will also need to write salescopy, create graphics (ebook covers, webpage graphics), create a salespage, download page and more.

All of this time and work before you have even made a dime.

You could outsource this task, but will end up paying anything upwards of a few hundred dollars just for one single product.

There is another much cheaper and easier option available to you that will allow you to get your product live and earning money a lot quicker.

By using ready made products that come with private label rights you will be able to get you’re offering up and running within hours instead of weeks, enabling you to get a much faster return on your initial investment.

By Chaman Dhiman

Role of Time Management in Internet Marketing

"Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money but you cannot get more time.".
Earning an income on the internet is a process that in broad terms involves three stages:

1. Getting your product (acquisition)

2. Developing your product presentation

3. Promoting the product

In this article, "product" means any tangible product, digital products (ebooks and software) and services such as membership sites, web design and development, hosting, "print on demand" for ebooks, fulfillment for orders and so on.

By necessity you will spend time in each of these stages. Each stage will involve a learning phase and an action phase. It's important to identify clearly what stage of development you are currently working on and to focus on completing that stage.
1. Getting your product (acquisition).

Choose between your own product and an affiliate product.

Key Point: Once you have your product you can stop spending time looking at other product possibilities for the time being.
2. Developing your product presentation.

Once you have chosen your product you will need to develop a presentation.

This will include your website primarily and can also include autoresponder sequences and a newsletter.

3. Promoting the product.

"We have to become better at promoting what we do than doing what we do."

This is where it is also important to be clear about what stage you are in. Remember, time is limited, so if you have already chosen your product and developed your presentation it is not productive to keep looking for products or spending a great deal of time "tweaking" your presentation.Time can always be spent tweaking sales copy, images, layout, web presentation, upgrading or trying new software, investigating new product opportunities (before the current one is complete), improving design skills, keeping up with the changing web "standards"... The list can seem endless.Key Point: Time is better spent developing a clear promotional strategy and putting it into action. For more details visit to Only when you are seeing results from your promotional activities should you consider altering your presentation (such as modifying headlines and sales copy) to assess how that affects conversion of prospects to customers.

Here are a few tips to keep you on track:

1. Name your project

You may name your project as a final name of the product or you may just give it a code name that means something to you.

2. Understand what part of the three step process you are in: Acquisition, presentation or promotion.

Here is a simple question to ask yourself to check if you are on track with your time budget, "What is this activity designed to do?" or perhaps, "What is the outcome of this activity?"

This will help you to identify if you are spending time in the wrong area at the wrong time.

3. Set up check lists to make sure everything is covered. Focus on completion.

4. Promotion: Clearly define your action steps.

5. Track the results or your promotional campaign in terms of traffic, click through rates, subscribers and purchasers. Include costs of conducting your campaign and compare that to your sales to determine your return on investment. For details visit to It is only by tracking the results of the promotion that you will know how to effectively change the presentation for further testing.A spreadsheet is an invaluable tool as a template for specifying your promotional campaign and also for tracking results, costs and return on investment. Adding in columns for each day of the week allows you to allocate your time so that all your promotions are covered in a time effective manner. This becomes your business gauge by which you assess the effectiveness of your promotional campaign.

By Chaman Dhiman

Starting a Internet Business Step by Step Instructions

The main means to earn money on the internet is by selling something. You can either sell your own product if you have one, or someone else's product for a commission.

Chances are, that if you are in the beginning stages of starting a internet business, you most likely do not have a product of your own. So what we are going to do, is show you how to sell other peoples products.

For starters you are going to need a product to sell. To do this you can open a free account with Click Bank. There you will find thousands of products to market. I would recommend that you read their getting started section to acquaint yourself with how the system works.

Then the next step is to open an account with Google Adwords. You will need to have a credit card to create your account. Without Adwords you will not be able to get anywhere so the minimal setup costs are well worth it. You will need this account to advertise the products your are selling as well as Keyword Research.

When your Adwords account is set up. Do a bit of reading to get the feel of how the system works. But here are the basics. The Adwords system is keyword driver. You bid for the keywords you want to use for your ad. In other words. Let say someone does a search for widgets. If you have placed your ad and used widgets as one of your keywords. The chances are pretty good that you ad will be seen. However the popularity of the keyword will determine the bid amount to get the ad on page one of Google.

Now for the product. Go to the market place in Click Bank and have a look at the various categories available. You can choose any product but what is important is the commissions offered and the conversion rates. Select 5 to 10 products with good conversion rates and that pay a commission of at least $20.00. For a lesser commission, it may just not be worth the effort, unless there is a very high conversion rate.

Once this is done, you need to do some research to find out if the product may be profitable. To do this you will use the Google Adwords keyword Tool. Enter the exact title of the chosen product and do a keyword search for all the keywords related to you product.

Go through all the related keywords. What you are looking for are keywords that have more then a 1000 searches per month. And that do not have too much competition. Bare in mind that the higher the competition, the higher the minimum bid needs to be to get you ad on page one of Google. The estimated required bid will give you an idea if the keyword is usable or not.

As an example, let's say someone wants to find out how to prune roses. To do this they would enter the keyword "how to prune roses." Now if this is the keyword phrase you are using for your product. The chances are very good that they will click on your ad to find out more. Now let's say that from 100 clicks you make one sale. This would mean that on a minimum bid of .10c, you would make 100% profit on just one sale. More then one sale would be clear profit.

You may think at this point that this will not make much money. But think about it. 20 to 30 products marketed in the same way, each with a profit of $200.00 plus per month. Not bad for starters.

Enough said. From the keyword list as explained above. You need to find 5 or 6 keywords that describe the product you are selling. Ad these to your keyword list. Remember. The title of the product is the main keyword. You also do not need 1000's of keywords. A select few with low minimum bids will fit the bill perfectly.

Now for the ad. If "How to knit Gloves" for example is the product, then that would be my title. Simple. For the body of the ad, have a look at the competition ads for your keyword. Use the top ones and change them slightly so that your ad is the same but slightly different.

Job done. Run the ad. A word of warning though. In the world of Google Adwords. If you do not carefully monitor your expenses against profits. It could become a very expensive exercise. What you also need to know is which of your keywords are making you money and which are not. If this is done properly. Then starting a internet business could be a very pleasant experience.

By Cecil Heim.

The Future of Stock Photography is on the Internet

When my brother John started his photography business about 35 years ago...there was no such thing as an answering machine! Nor did individuals have fax machines...He remembers being very excited about getting a fax machine...because now an Art Director could send him a layout without using a bike messenger or Fed Ex!. Now, here he is shooting without film, digitally enhancing his images on a computer and delivering them via the internet.

For twenty years he shot assignments. A huge part of the business was marketing him self to ad agencies and design firms. Thanks in large part to his foray into digital manipulation of his images; he was very successful at his marketing. He was selling stock photos through "Tony Stone", later to become Getty Images, and through "The Stock Market" along with my line of greeting cards being sold through Portal Publications. He was shooting assignments, but he was very picky and only took assignments that really interested him.

If you were an advertising agency you went to Tony Stone, The Stock Market, or a tiny handful of stock photography houses. There was no internet and thus no way for small businesses to easily purchase stock photos for their advertising needs.

After the dot com bubble burst he found him self without assignments for a couple of months...but it didn't matter because he was making plenty of money with stock photography. One gig ended and another took over. Of course, today that industry is in turmoil...first royalty-free stock photos impacted the business...and now micro-stock. I even see pay per click ads that cost the advertiser money...advertising free stock photos! I guess he doesn't have much to worry about that now because the prices can't go any lower than that free!

I remember when it took a week and buckets of money to get a good print from a photo lab! Now, if I want to print a funny animal picture I just hit command-p on my keyboard and get almost free prints that are of far better quality than anything I used to get from the lab! I can make fine art prints that are even more archival than what the labs could offer right in my own office...and these prints are in my hands in just a matter of minutes.

A few years ago my brother bought a house...a beautiful house on a hillside overlooking a valley. He was surrounded by horses, deer, wild turkeys, and even bobcats and coyotes! He planned living in that house till the end of his days. A close friend cautioned him though, that he should not count on living there forever. "One day you will sell that house" he said. My brother laughed. As I write this He is planning on selling the house in the spring.

John's greeting card business was growing like crazy. Each quarter his royalty checks were getting larger and larger. People loved the cards...the company was thriving and he was their number one greeting card artist. Still, a business consultant friend of his suggested that he create a worst-case scenario plan for his business just in case something went wrong. John found it difficult to do because he could not possibly see any worst case scenarios on the horizon. Eventually he forgot about the backup plan for his stock photo business.

Fast forward five years...the greeting card company no longer exists. It was purchased by a venture capital firm that made some bad decisions and the business for all practical purposes died. He is now with a different greeting card company and they are slowly rebuilding the business. One thing is different this time...he no longer assumes that the greeting card business will be around forever.

Two new 35mm digital cameras have just been announced...one by Nikon and one by Canon, that both shoot, in addition to extremely high quality digital stills, HDTV motion. Videos are becoming increasing popular...as evidenced by Youtube and other internet sites for sharing video clips. There is an emerging market for stock video clips.

The stock photography business is changing rapidly. More and more small business's are turning to the internet and purchasing their stock photos online and even getting free stock photos! Digital cameras are not only prolific, but producing better images and in some cases they produce images of higher quality than you could shoot with a film camera.

I believe the future of stock photography is online. Photographers need to adapt to changing times and learn to market their work on the internet.

Who was it who said the only constant is change? That is so true...but he does have a method for coping with all this change. His secret is a good attitude and continuously reminding him self of the need to stay open and flexible.

By William Lund