Blogger Blog Blogging: September 2007

Blog Rush – More Exposure Equals More Traffic!

Blog Rush is the newest way to increase your traffic. It’s from John Reese, a renowned and successful internet marketer. Creating a Blog Rush account is free. And installation of the Blog Rush widget is easy. It will take you less than five minutes to do all the simple and easy steps.

Join Blog Rush Now and find out for your self.

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Drive More Traffic - Increase Commissions

Posted by blogging-blogger-blog | 4:01 AM

traffic

Fechr.com – Broken Promises and Failed Expectations!

Every affiliate marketing program depends on the volume of visitors diverted to the affiliate program site. The more clicks, the more the chances of sales and hence more commission. The key is to attract more customers to your affiliate site.

How to enhance traffic?

There are heavy duty books written on this subject but the answer lies in a fundamental truth. Customers will only visit your site if they think they’ll find what they’re looking for. Therefore the key is to make them believe that your site and product offers them what they want.

There are several ways to boost traffic to one’s site, such as:

Funny videos: Very often humor does the trick for an affiliate program. Use humor in videos to get a customer’s attention. Then lead them on to the affiliate program site. This method usually has a high success rate.

Flashy banner ads: Banner ads have always been great at getting a customer’s attention. No matter what the topic the customer is reading about – even if it’s molecular theory – banner ads will get a person’s attention.

Blogs: There’s a reason why even the billion dollar companies aren’t missing out on blogs. Blogs are free, they’re great for diverting traffic and best of all can do what even an advertisement can’t! Try putting interesting content in the blog. Follow this up with a ‘teaser’ in the resource box to lead the customer to the affiliate program site. You can use a creative promotional catch phrase in the ‘resource box’ that’s specially provided for this purpose.

SEO: Also known as Search Engine Optimization, this is a way to improve your search engine rankings. By using strategic keywords that are commonly searched for by customers, you improve your chances at being listed in the top 10 search results. This ensures more clicks by customers and hence more commission!

Classifieds: It literally pays to have well thought out classified advertisements on the product you’re trying to sell. Customers are sure to visit the affiliate site.

Cloaking links: Many affiliate marketing wizards will tell you this is one of the best ways to divert more traffic. Cloaking links basically means disguising the hyperlink to make it look like a URL to your own website. In actuality, it’s a link to the product you’re trying to sell. This ensures more clicks, which in turn means more commission.

Unbiased product reviews: You can also write neutral, unbiased product reviews to promote your product. By not being self promotional, you gain credibility and customers are more likely to visit the affiliate website.

Press releases: Press releases have been used to market a product since time immemorial. These serve to create a buzz around your product, always keep the interest factor alive and best of all, keep reminding customers about your product.

A little bit on SEO and keywords

A lot of research has been done on keyword usage. There are certain phrases or words that are more commonly searched for when compared to others. This is what determines a website’s popularity on search engine rankings. Having well-spaced, strategic keywords helps list your affiliate website within the top 10 search results. This means better visibility for your product, more clicks and more commission.

Nowadays there are several tools and resources to help you research on keywords. Try and go for moderately searched keywords. Using too many common keywords risks your website being lost in the crowd of competitors and using less popular keywords means your site may never be listed in the top 10 or 20 results.

Most organizations are spending top dollar to increase their SEO rankings. They’re even hiring agencies to help them in this effort. There are several third party agencies who help optimize a website for better search engine rankings. Especially in today’s fierce competition, being within the top 10 can really make a world of difference.

About The Author

Nye Morgan is a successful work at home entrepreneur who has made money from several internet businesses. His latest project is the Online Entrepreneurs Toolbar, a 'must have' free download for people wanting to make money online. Get your copy at http://download.OnlineEntrepreneursToolbar.com/r/003

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Choosing the Right Website Designer

Posted by blogging-blogger-blog | 8:18 PM

website designer

6 comments

You've made up your mind. You want to have a website to represent your business. The next decision to be made . . . who should you hire to develop your site?

There are many people capable of building their own personal sites. They can put cute little comments and pictures of their pets or kids up for you to enjoy. But, when it comes to having a website that will be a form of marketing for your business, you want someone with experience. Someone who has an understanding of the Internet and what is the best way to boost the exposure of a website.

They must have a clear knowledge of a variety of contributing factors to your sites' success. Such factors include how best to market your site, the options and limitations of graphics, how to create a site that is effective within search engines, knowledge of the drawbacks of different browsers, and the understanding of the coding required for your site.

It is crucial that your designer understands you, your company and what you want to accomplish with your website. To determine this, you need to answer a few questions first.

What do you want on your website? What is the desired outcome of your site? Is your designer open to your ideas and provides input and suggestions for improvement? Have you checked out your competition or other websites to get ideas of what is the 'norm' for a successful site? The more information you have prior to starting a website, the more accurately you can communicate with your designer and get the desired outcome that produces the best results.

Creating a website can be an overwhelming experience. You need to ensure that your designer is easy to talk to and keeps you updated on your sites' progress. If you have questions . . . ask! After all this is your site and you have a right to know how it is coming along and in terms that you can understand.

You also need to check out websites that your designer has made in the past. Check to see that the graphics load quickly, that it is easy to navigate between the pages, and that overall you like their style.

Finally, the cost! This is a very important factor for small business owners when deciding on a website designer. Larger companies will charge more and can probably make your site very elaborate. If you need a site filled with all the bells and whistles, you will be paying for it. If you simply need a site that is a background of your company and the products or services that you provide, the cost will be considerably lower and you can use a smaller company or independent designer.

Your website is going to be a 24-hour advertisement for your company. Skimping on any of the above listed factors will have an effect on the final result of your website and the outcome that you want from it. Do your research and you can join other successful businesses who are using the Internet to boost their exposure and their revenue.

About The Author

Janice Byer is the founder of Docu-Type Administrative & Web Design Services (http://www.docutype.net), a professional Virtual Assistance and Website Design company, specializing in helping small business owners get ahead. She is a certified Canadian Virtual Assistant and Master Virtual Assistant and winner of the Most Successful Start Up 2000 and Home Based Business of the Year 2000 Awards
jbyer@docutype.net

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A Quick Guide To Web Directories

Posted by blogging-blogger-blog | 9:25 AM

web directories

4 comments

If you are a seasoned Internet marketer, then it is common knowledge that submitting to web directories can dramatically increase your page rank. If you are a newbie webmaster, then you might be quite in doubt as to how web directories can do for you. This article would relay to you what exactly is a web directory, how they work, and how you can use them in promoting your site. By the end of the article, I want you to go add your link to one of the web directories on the Internet and see how it would work for you.

What are web directories?

Simply put, a Web Directory is a collection of web sites presented in a categorized format. I suppose that you know how Yellow Pages looks like, a web directory is pretty much the same thing, only this time websites are categorized in such a way that internet users can easily navigate through them and find the website that they need.

How do web directories work?

A web directory submission is one type of marketing strategy you can employ. By simply adding your website in web directories it can dramatically increase your site’s exposure and your pagerank. Why so? Of course aside for submitting your website name, you would naturally add your website link or URL to the site. This constitute for one back link. What do you need outbound links for? Increasing the number of your outbound links would relatively increase your pagerank.

A pagerank simply refers to your position in search engines results. For instance, if an online user searches for "car parts", along with your SEO-content and bunch of good back links, you would likely hit the first few pages of the search results, thus increasing the exposure of your website. If back links are what you are after, then submitting your site to web directories is one effective way to get some.

Web directories are also one way of acquiring permanent links. Permanent links are very valuable since you would have your live link posted on web directories for good or at least during the lifetime of the web directory where you posted your link. It is important to take note though, that offering permanent links are still in the discretion of web directories owner.

Aside from improving your page rank, web directories are also a form of web advertising. In addition to using search engines, online users also rely on web directories to direct them to certain websites they are searching for. Since websites in web directories are categorized accordingly, navigating through them is easy and convenient. If for example one online user is about to buy bathroom tiles, he would probably go to the category under 'home improvement' and if your related site is under that, you are most likely to have an instant visitor, thus increasing your traffic. In the online world, traffic is everything. If you get more visitors drop by your site, then that means you have a number of potential clients, thus increasing your sales.

Choosing a web directory

There are three types of web directories – free, paid and niche directories. Free web directories are, of course, the natural choice for webmasters with a tight budget. Some free web directories requires a reciprocal link and some don’t. Reciprocal links are simply links of the web directory's URL that you are required to post in your own site. It's a give and take concept. When you post your website to a web directory, you need to return the favor by posting their URL to your site as well.

The only drawback with some free directories is that they may not be properly maintained. Spam sites may find their way into these free directories because they may lack appropriate monitoring. Then again, there are free web directories that can offer as much quality links than paid directories.

If you have the budget for it, you can also opt to submit your site to paid directories. These types of websites may charge as low as $10 per year. Some popular directories, like Yahoo, can charge as high as $299 as annual fees. The rate that paid web directories charge is relative to the website's pagerank. If the web directory site you are submitting to have PR9, then prepare to shell out a big chunk of your advertising budget. A web directory with a PR3 or PR4 would normally charge low.

The third type of web directory is a niche web directory. These are web directory sites that cater to a particular group of websites. For instance, a web directory with the niche under "business" would only allow submission from business websites. Posting your websites into niche web directories would give you better hits since you have a bigger exposure to your target market.

How to submit your website

First, you need to find a good web directory site. Check the web directory and be sure it does not contain several spam sites. One way to find out if spam sites are listed is by doing a search for terms like “Viagra”, “Sex” etc… If you notice a large number of search results, then that directory is not a good one. Because in worst-case scenario, your own website may even be penalized by some search engines.

The second thing you need to do is to choose the appropriate category where you should add your website to. You would get to your target audience better if you place your website in the right category. If not, you would not get much traffic from your possible visitors.

The next thing is to write a good description of your website. These are snippets that would describe what your website has to offer. Description should be short and catchy. It is also a good idea to make sure to write a good meaningful description as many directories do not approve websites with bad descriptions.

The last thing to do, which is very important and the part that is often take for granted, is to check if your link is working! You don't want to get your website URL misspelled or anything like that, hence the whole process would be to no avail.

About The Author

Karl Turnbull is the owner Business Directory Northeast, a free website directory that offers quality back links to webmasters around the globe. Submit your websites today! http://www.business-directory-northeast.co.uk

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Don’t get Scammed by Online Business Reviews

Posted by blogging-blogger-blog | 7:35 AM

online business, review, reviews, scam

1 comments

Are you just starting your new online business empire?

Well I was just like you not long ago, slaving away at my PC trying to find the best strategies for online business success. Throughout this period I spent heaps of my hard earned cash on information products which were meant to bring me instant riches (or so it was claimed). After wasting money on products which didn’t deliver on their promises and unscrupulous webmasters not living up to the money back guarantee, I thought a change of tack was necessary.

Instead of reading the information products marketing pages, I thought I would be smart and try and get some independent third party advice from product review sites. As I was a complete novice, I thought, there had to be people on the web who had been through this search for good products and would give honest product reviews. I was wrong!

I bought products which had great reviews on these ‘independent’ business review sites. However I was still getting stung by inferior products which didn’t deliver. This is when I asked myself the question. Why is it so hard to find honest, independent product review information?

I know I was a bit slow on the uptake (actually a mentally challenged monkey, would have caught on quicker than what I did). However that is when I started reading about affiliate programs.

The light bulb was turned on in my brain (a true eureka moment) and that is when I realised, the review sites were affiliates of the products they were selling. This meant that if I bought a product through a link on the business review sites, the review site received a percentage (generally over 50 %!) of the sale. Not a bad deal really, considering all the hard work is done by the product creator.

I smelt a rat and after further investigation I found out that most of the reviews aren’t reviews at all. They were merely marketing advertisements written by the products creators and cut and paste onto the business review sites. What a scam! None of the review sites told me about their ulterior motive and to be honest I was very annoyed especially after investing so much of my money and time.

This is when I thought, why not start my own website which gives honest reviews of information products, written by someone other than the product’s creators (i.e. me)? So I did. I don’t want you to get scammed and waste your money like I did. There needs to be more honesty, integrity and business transparency on the web.

About The Author

Scott Barnes
Webmaster for http://www.honestbusinessreview.com

Sign up today to my weekly ezine, which gives online business hints, tips and honest product reviews and you will receive a free ebook on making money with adsense, worth 50 dollars. Visit http://honestbusinessreview.com.

Exchange Blog Reviews - An Open Invitation

Running Your Own Website When You Have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia Is Easier Than You Think!

Posted by blogging-blogger-blog | 9:36 AM

website management

http://www.sleepydust.net/issue-001

Had you lived 100 years ago, it would have been much harder for you (practically impossible) to earn your own money from home as a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia sufferer.

BUT!!!

Today, we Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia sufferers are lucky enough to live in the age of the Internet - where knowledge is power. Information, information, information. THAT's what people want.

So how does that apply to you?

Well, as I wrote in the 'Focus Your Light: Earning Money From Home When You Have CFS/FM' article in Issue #001, you live in a day and age where you have great opportunities to work from home using your computer and the Internet.

As I wrote in that article, everyone knows something about something...

...including YOU!

--------SIDE NOTE-------- If you haven't read the Focus Your Light: Earning Money From Home When You Have CFS/FM' article, then I thoroughly recommend that you take a look at it.

You can check it out in Issue #001 here:

--------SIDE NOTE--------

Find a topic that you LOVE (or at least are passionate about). Something that you find INTERESTING. Then your 'work' will become 'play' because it will be on a topic that you enjoy!

So what are you going to do once you've found your topic?

You start your own money-making website.

**Claire watches as everyone runs and hides.**

Come back!

It's not as scary as you might think! I wouldn't suggest it otherwise! At least give me a chance to explain!

Running your own website gives you THE BEST chance of making AS MUCH money as you want.

Why?

Because one of your website's primary jobs is to ATTRACT VISITORS - lots of them. And once you've done that, all YOU have to do is choose how you will 'monetize' it!

**I'll be explaining the different ways that you can make money from your website in later issues.**

What's more, you can work when you want, for how long you want, wherever you want!

Okay, now there are quite a few myths about running your own website that I'd like to put straight at this point...

---

MYTH 1. Websites are expensive.

WRONG! Websites can be as cheap or as expensive to create and run as you want them to be!

You can actually run your own website for $0 if you want to. Plenty of people do.

So you don't actually need to spend ANY money to start your own website if you don't want to.

---

MYTH 2. You need to be a computer programmer to run your own website.

WRONG! You don't need to know ANY computer programming languages at all, if you don't want to!

These days, building your own website is so easy that you don't even need to know any computer mumbo jumbo at all!

---

MYTH 3. Learning to program your own website is difficult.

WRONG! It takes less than 24 hours to learn how to program your own website! I learnt the basics of programming websites in ONE day, and was ready to build my own website within 2 days!

If you do want to program your own website, then the programming language you need to learn is called 'html' - it's very basic, and VERY simple.

It's THAT easy that even kids can do it!

So don't be fooled by the myth! Programming your own website is easier than you think!

OK, so my point is that you CAN have your own money-making website. And it's easier than you think. It's very achievable!

Think about it this way - if it was THAT difficult to build and run your own website, then why are there so many millions of webmasters out there? They surely can't ALL be rocket scientists!

Point taken?

Good. :)

So what are you waiting for then?...

** Reprinting of the article above is welcome! **

The article above may be freely reproduced provided that:

(1) you include the following resource box; and (2) you only mail to a 100% opt-in list.

Here's the resource box to use if reprinting the article above:

Claire Williams is editor of sleepydust.net and has suffered from Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome since 1995.

She created 'sleepydust.net' to help Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia sufferers to deal with the condition - from handling their money worries, to recovering from their illness....

http://www.sleepydust.net

To subscribe to the newsletter in which this article was published, please go to:
http://www.sleepydust.net/ezine

About The Author

To subscribe to the ezine in which this article was published, go to:
http://www.sleepydust.net/ezine

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Writing Contests: Building Writing Credentials

Posted by blogging-blogger-blog | 12:33 AM

contest, writing

One of the ways many writers can successfully add credentials to their portfolio if to participate in a variety of literary contests. This type of contest encourages writers to put their best foot forward in both creativity and attention to detail.

It is true that there are some contests that provide a cash award for their top finishers, but there are also publishing scams that will accept your work regardless of quality. When you receive notice that your work has been accepted for publication it can be a real boost, however, a quick look at many writer’s websites can help you define the contests that are essentially vanity publishers willing to print just about anything if they believe you will purchase copies of the book for friends and family.

Many cash award writing contests cover the cost of prize awards by charging an entry fee. This factor often discourages many writers who may not feel confident enough in their writing to pay a fee to submit. This allows those who do enter a better chance at placing.

There are also writing contests that present the opportunity to have their work published online, in a magazine or in an anthology. As a rule this type of contest does not require a purchase of the publication the work will appear in nor will they assume full rights of your work. The best writing contests only require a one time non-exclusive print right. This is important because it allows you the opportunity to sell or place the work in other venues.

Beware of forfeiting full (exclusive) rights in any writing contest. When this right is given the ownership of the work is no longer yours. You will have no right to use the material in any form without permission from the publisher. It is possible to pay to enter a contest, forfeit the rights to your work and allow a publisher to gain long-term financial benefit from your work.

Quality writing contests have the bonus feature of allowing you to fine tune your skills by reading the work of others. Reading can make a good writer even better. If you pay attention you can learn what works and what doesn’t while using writing contests as a means of gaining valuable insight into unique styles and structure.

On a positive note, there have been numerous incidents in which individuals who entered a submission for a writing contest were able to use that same work for publishing in other book anthologies and magazines. The key is making sure to participate in writing contests that preserve your right to control the reuse of the piece.

About The Author

Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of FaithWriters (http://www.faithwriters.com) and many other web projects. FaithWriters has grown to become one of the largest online destinations for Christian writers. Please visit the website at: http://www.faithwriters.com.

Blog Contest, Blogging Contest - Win Prizes

Have You Identified the Enemy?

Posted by blogging-blogger-blog | 12:40 PM

blog enemy