How to get your site listed at Yahoo!

Getting your site an optimum listing in Yahoo! is perhaps the most important step in effective web site promotion. An optimum listing in Yahoo! can bring in more traffic to your site than all the search engines combined.

In addition to this, getting listed in Yahoo! will also help you improve the link popularity of your site which helps in improving the ranking of your site in the search engines. In this article, we focus on how you can get your site an optimum listing in Yahoo!.

First, you should note that Yahoo! is not a search engine - it is a directory. Unlike the search engines, an actual human editor evaluates your site.

Before starting, read Yahoo!'s instructions thoroughly. Read their Help Index  and their How To page .  Familiarize yourself with these instructions because they mean every word of what they say.

Before you submit your listing, go through your entire site and ensure that there are no missing graphics, no links leading to empty or non-existent pages, no "Under construction" symbols and no typos or grammatical errors. Your site should be easy to navigate, should load quickly and should look professional.

Furthermore, your site must provide unique content. Yahoo!'s definition of unique content is very strict - if your site simply consists of a one page sales letter, or, if it only contains links to various affiliate programs, you will find it impossible to get listed.

Also, your site needs to be in its own domain, especially if it is of a commercial nature. Having your own domain adds more credibility to your site and tells Yahoo! that yours is a serious site which won't be taken down very soon. Getting into Yahoo! is hard enough - not having your own domain will make it that much harder.

If your site is of a commercial nature (i.e. it is selling something), you need to mention the physical address of your business either in the home page of your site or in a separate Contact Us page which is linked prominently from the home page. This should be the actual physical address of your business - not a Post Office Box address. Of course, mentioning the physical address of your business is something you should be doing anyway - it boosts the credibility of your business which improves sales. Along with the physical address, you should also mention a phone number and a fax number (if you have one). Of course, you should always mention an email address.

Also, before submitting, select the two most important keywords for your site based on their popularity.  While selecting the keywords for your site, you should look at both the popularity of the keyword as well as its competitiveness. However, for the purpose of this article, don't worry about the competitiveness - select keywords only on the basis of popularity.

Your first task is to find out whether your site is already listed in Yahoo!. Type in the domain name of your site in Yahoo!'s search box, and see whether your site comes up in the Web Sites section. Note that for your site to be listed in Yahoo!, it has to come up in the Web Sites section. If it is listed in the Web Pages section but not in the Web Sites section, it means that your site is listed in Google, not Yahoo!. If your site is already listed but you are not satisfied with the listing, read the last section of this article on changing your site's listing in Yahoo!.

Assuming that your site is not listed, your objective is to get your site a high ranking in the Web Sites section. Here are the factors which influence the ranking of your site in the Web Sites section:

1. Presence of the keyword or a part of the keyword somewhere in the name of the category or in the name of a higher level category.
   
2. Click Popularity: The concept of click popularity means that when a user searches for something in Yahoo!, it tries to find out which sites satisfied the user's needs. It does this by keeping track of two things:
   
   a) which sites the user clicked on among the sites displayed in the results, and
   b) how much time the user spent in those sites.
   
   The logic behind this is that if a user clicked on a particular site and spent a lot of time in that site, that site must have satisfied the user's needs and hence, must be relevant to that particular keyword. In this case, the site's click popularity for that keyword improves and so does its ranking for that keyword. But, if a user did not go to a particular site, or returned to Yahoo! soon after going to that site, that site must not be providing relevant information for that particular keyword.
   
   In this case, the site's click popularity for that keyword declines and so does its ranking for that keyword.
   
   When you first get your site listed in Yahoo!, since Yahoo! does not have any data on the click popularity of your site, it will be listed right at the bottom of the search results. A question that arises here is - how a site which is listed right at the bottom of the search results can have many users clicking on it so that its click popularity improves. The answer to this is that when a user clicks on a site which is listed at the bottom, its click popularity improves by a greater extent than when it is listed at the top. This means that it only requires a few users clicking on your site to improve the click popularity of your site when it is listed at the bottom.
   
   So, how do you ensure that your site's click popularity is high?
   
   There are only two ways of improving the click popularity of your site - the description of your site in Yahoo! needs to be attractive and you need to build an excellent web site with great content which satisfies your visitor's needs so that they stay longer in your site.
   
3. Presence of the keyword or a part of the keyword in the Title and Description - If you want to rank highly for a keyword, the Title and the Description that you use to submit your site to Yahoo! should contain the keyword. Note that this Title is not the title that you have used in the home page of your web site and that this Description is not the description that you have used in the Meta Description tag of your home page. Rather, it is the Title and the Description of your site's listing in Yahoo!.
   
   An important point to note here is that Yahoo! searches for strings rather than words. This means that if one of the individual words of the keyword is embedded inside another word, this will still boost your rankings. For instance, if the keywords applicable for your site contain the word Australia, but the description of your site in Yahoo! contains the word Australian, the fact that the string Australia is present inside the word Australian will be taken into consideration when your site is ranked.
   
4. Prominence of the keyword in the Title and the Description - "Prominence" means how close the keyword is to the beginning of the Title and Description. Other things remaining the same, closer the keyword to the beginning of the Title and the Description, higher your ranking.

Now we come to the Title for your site. The Title is important not only because the presence of a keyword in the Title helps to boost the ranking of your site, but also because sites in the various categories in Yahoo! are listed alphabetically according to the Title. However, Yahoo! insists that the Title should always be the official name of your site. Hence, short of changing the official name of your site, there is not much you can do about the Title.

Now we come to how you should write the description of your site. When you write the description, your aim should be to make the Yahoo! editor's job as easy as possible. You should not give the editor the feeling that he/she needs to edit your description in any way. The moment an editor starts to edit your description, you risk having your keywords removed from your description or worse, having it changed in a way which does not reflect the content of your site.

Your description should be a single sentence which conveys what your site is all about and contains the two keywords you are targeting as close as possible to the beginning of the description. However, your description should not just be a list of keywords - the description that you use should be a proper sentence and should be grammatically correct. It should also be attractive to your visitors so that they actually click on it, which will improve the click popularity of your site, and hence its ranking in Yahoo!.

Broadly, here are the rules that you should remember when forming the description:

• Make sure that the description can tell a visitor what your site is all about. Things like "Have a look at our site" or "Welcome to my site" does not tell a visitor what your site does.
  
• Avoid hype of any sort. Avoid using ALL CAPS or exclamation marks. Phrases like "The best web site dealing with widgets!!" or "Offers the BEST QUALITY, CHEAPEST WIDGETS you can find anywhere" are inappropriate.
  
• Don't capitalize any word in your description - not even the first word. For some reason, Yahoo! prefers that the first word of your description is not capitalized. If you look at the sites in any Yahoo! category, you will find that almost none of them have the first word capitalized. Of course, if some of the words in the description are proper nouns, then you should capitalize them.
  
• Write the description in the third person. Don't say "We offer financial planning and credit counseling services", say "offers financial planning and credit counseling services.".
  
• Don't make your description too long - limit yourself to 10 words at the most. If you are lucky, you may be able to get accepted with a description longer than 10 words. However, longer the description, higher the probability that the editor will want to edit it.
  
• Check your description for typos and grammatical mistakes.
  
• End your description with a period. If the editor has to add the period to the end of your description, she may also end up editing the description, which is not what you want. Your aim is to have the editor accept the exact description that you had written in order to ensure that your keywords are not removed from the description.

Now that you know the description that you should use, it is time to establish the category to which you should submit your site. First of all, you need to determine whether your site is regionally specific. If your site is applicable to a specific geographic region, then you should submit your site to the appropriate Regional Category in Yahoo!. However, if your site is not specific to a particular region, then your site should be listed in one of the main Yahoo! categories.

Now, if your site is commercial in nature (i.e. if it sells a product or service) and is not regionally specific, it belongs somewhere under the Business and Economy > Shopping and Services or Business and Economy > Business to Business categories. If your site is targeted towards individual consumers, then your site needs to be under the Shopping and Services category. If your site is targeted towards other businesses, it needs to be in the Business to Business category.

If your site is both commercial in nature and regionally specific, your site needs to be under the Business and Economy > Shopping and Services or Business and Economy > Business to Business category of the relevant regional category.

With this background, let's see how you can determine the appropriate category for your site. Simply search for the two keywords which you have determined earlier. Go through all the categories which the top ranking sites belong to. Note down the category (or categories) which contain sites which are very similar to yours. In many cases, there will only be one category which contains sites similar to yours. In that case, this is the category to which you should submit your site. If you find that there is more than one category which contains sites similar to yours, and if you are convinced that all these categories are applicable for your site, select the two categories which contain the least number of sites. Your primary category will be the one with the least number of sites. The secondary category will obviously be the other category.

Now, create a text file in which you can record the details of your submission. Note down the date when you are submitting, the URL of your web site, the Title and the Description of your site as well as the URLs of the category (or the 2 categories) which are applicable for your site. Now go to the URL of the Primary category for your site, click on the Suggest a Site link at the bottom of the page and follow the instructions there. (If that category does not have a Suggest a Site link, then it means that it is a very general category to which new sites cannot be added.)

Instead of submitting your site right away, I recommend that you first use a dummy, non-existent site to know the questions that Yahoo! is going to ask you. Note down the answers to these questions in the text file so that you can paste them later when you are actually submitting your site. Of course, don't actually submit the dummy site by clicking on the final submission button - just use it to get an idea of the questions that Yahoo! will ask you.

Of particular importance are two questions. Yahoo! asks you whether there is any other category in which your site should be listed apart from the category to which you are submitting. If you have been able to locate more than one category which is applicable for your site, mention the URL of the secondary category in this field.

Yahoo! also asks you for some comments regarding your submission. If you have a unique product or service that not many other web sites listed in Yahoo! are offering, mention this here. Or, if you provide lots of articles and tips related to your business, mention this here. You can also use this to point Yahoo! to the testimonials that you have received. The comments should be made using less than 200 characters.

Also note that Yahoo! asks for your physical address, phone number, fax number, email address etc. These should be the same as the particulars listed in your site.

Once you have noted down the answers to all the questions that Yahoo! is going to ask you, double check everything present in the text file to ensure that there are no mistakes and that all the URLs (i.e. the URLs of the categories as well as the URL of your site) are working correctly. It is very difficult to change your site's listing in Yahoo! once you get listed, and hence, you need to ensure that you do everything correctly the first time. Then, offer a prayer to Goddess Yahoo! :-), go to the URL of the primary category for your site, click on the Suggest a Site link listed at the bottom and submit your site. Make sure that you follow all the instructions that are mentioned here to the absolute letter.

Now, remember that if yours is a commercial site and is not regionally specific, it must be under the Business and Economy > Shopping and Services or Business and Economy > Business to Business categories of the main Yahoo! directory.

Yahoo! no longer offers a free submission option for sites under these two categories - you have no choice but to pay them $299 for the Business Express submission option. For more information on this, go to their How to Suggest a Business Express Site page. Read the instructions and terms and conditions of the Business Express submission in order to ensure that your site is eligible.

Paying them $299 does not guarantee you a listing and your site is not given any preference in its rankings. Using the Business Express option merely guarantees that your site will be reviewed within 7 days and that, in case it is not accepted, you will be told why your site was not accepted. You shall also have a chance of appealing a rejection within 30 days. Of course, all the instructions regarding choosing a proper description and choosing a correct category are still applicable.

Once you have finished submitting, don't delete the text file - you will need it later when you want to again submit to Yahoo! (in case you are not accepted the first time).

What to do if your site is not accepted

A common reason for Yahoo! rejecting a site when it has used the Business Express submission option is lack of original content. If you get a message from Yahoo! that your site was rejected because of a lack of unique content, then your site may either be full of affiliate links and nothing else, or it may be a one page direct response sales site. In the former case, as I mentioned, your site cannot hope to get listed. In the latter case, you need to divide up your sales message into multiple pages.

Consider adding a few articles and tips related to your site. Then, send a polite reply to Yahoo! thanking them for their constructive feedback. Point out the fact that after receiving the feedback, you have added the articles and tips. Be specific here - tell them the exact URLs which contains these articles. Then request them to review your site again and add it, if they find it appropriate.

Another reason that they may say that your site lacks original content is that you already have another site listed in Yahoo! and are trying to get a new site listed. If the two sites have essentially the same content, then you will definitely be rejected. However, even if the two sites have substantially different content, you may still be rejected. In this case, there is no point in appealing the rejection - Yahoo! will definitely reject your site again when you appeal.

Instead, what you can try doing is to remove all links from the new site to the old site (and vice-versa) and ensuring that the design of the new site is also completely different from the old site and that no part of the content of the old site is present in the new site (and vice-versa). Then, wait 2-3 months, and again submit the new site to Yahoo! using its Business Express submission.

Another common reason for the rejection of sites is that in Yahoo!'s opinion, the site is still under construction. If you are convinced that your site does not contain missing graphics, links leading to empty or non-existent pages, "Under construction" symbols etc., then a common reason for Yahoo! saying that the site is under construction is that the site cannot be properly viewed under Netscape.
 
Yahoo! editors generally use Netscape and hence, it is vitally important that your site be accessible using Netscape. You need to ensure that your site can be viewed properly in Netscape v3.0 and above. In order to see how your site looks under different browsers, go to http://www.anybrowser.com/siteviewer.html

Once you have ensured that your site is accessible under Netscape, send a polite reply to their rejection note thanking them for their constructive feedback and then stating that the site no longer contains any elements under construction. Then request them to review your site again and add it, if they find it appropriate.

How to change your site's listing in Yahoo!

If getting your site listed in Yahoo! is tough, changing your site's listing is a Herculean task. Firstly, note that Yahoo! does not care about the ranking of your site. Hence, if you are trying to submit some minor changes to the description with a view of getting a higher ranking, you are unlikely to be successful. You should only think about trying to change your listing if

a) the URL of your site has changed, or
b) the official name of your site has changed (and hence the Title of your listing should change), or
c) Yahoo! has accidentally listed your site without a Description, or
d) the Description contains a typo, or
e) Yahoo! has placed you in a totally inappropriate category, or
f) the nature of your site has changed and the current description does not reflect the new nature of your site.

The URL for changing your site's listing is http://add.yahoo.com/fast/change Read the instructions thoroughly before submitting your change request. In the last text box, provide solid reasons as to why your site's listing should be changed.

If you can't get your site's listing changed within 1 month from the time that you have submitted your request, try submitting your request again. If you still can't get your listing changed within 1 month from the second request, follow the procedures outlined in the section on what to do if your site can't get into Yahoo! using the free submission. However, don't submit a change request using the Business Express submission - Yahoo! specifically forbids that.

Wrapping things up:

Once you have got your site into Yahoo! (they will send you an email if you are accepted), your site will be added to Yahoo!'s What's New section. Furthermore, your site will be marked as new and will be placed at the top of the category (or categories) for 1 week from the time that your site is first listed. This placement at the top of the category can bring in quite a few visitors to your site every day. After the first week, the position of your site in the categories will be according to the alphabetical ranking of your Title. This will generally be accompanied by a decrease in the number of visitors to your site from Yahoo!.

Initially, because Yahoo! lacks any click popularity data on your site, it will be placed at the bottom of the results when someone searches for the keywords applicable for your site. However, with time, your site should start moving up leading to an increase in traffic to your site.

Improving the link popularity of your web site

Link popularity, i.e. the number of sites which are linking to your site, is an  important factor as far as search engine placement is concerned. Other things remaining the same, more the number of links to your site, higher will be its ranking.

What is important is not only the number of links to your site, but also the types of sites which are linking to you. A link from a site which is related to yours is more valuable than a link from an unrelated site.

In this article, I explore different methods by which you can improve the link popularity of your site. I start with the methods that you shouldn't bother using, then go on to the moderately effective methods, and then end with the most effective methods you can use to boost the link popularity of your site.


1) Submitting your site to Free For All (FFA) pages

A common misconception among many Internet marketers is that while FFA pages may not directly bring in traffic to your site, it will help to improve the link popularity of your site, and hence, will indirectly bring in traffic through the search engines.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Most FFA pages contain only a certain number of links at a time. This means that when you submit your site to a FFA page, your site will be placed at the top of the page. However, as more and more people submit their sites to the FFA page, your site will be pushed down, and finally, when it reaches the bottom of the page, it will be removed.

Hence, in order to ensure that the search engines see your site if and when they come to spider the FFA page, you will need to ensure that you submit your site to these FFA pages on a regular basis - at least once a week.

Even if you used an automatic submission program to do it, can you imagine a worse way to spend your time and/or money? Furthermore, many search engines recognize these pages which only contains links to other sites as FFA pages and may completely ignore them. And while I haven't yet seen any evidence that submitting to the FFA pages will actually penalize your site, there is every possibility that this might happen in the future.

Hence, when it comes to FFA pages, my advice is simple: don't even think about them.

2) Joining Reciprocal Link Services

Some people have recommended that in order to increase the link popularity of your site, you can join some reciprocal link services. The basic idea behind these services is that you add some pages to your site which contain links to other sites which are members of that service, and in exchange, these members will also add pages to their sites which will contain a link to your site. Theoretically, more the members of that service, more your link popularity.

However, I have plenty of reservations about using this method to boost the link popularity of your site:

1. Most of these services require that you add a visible graphical or text link from your home page to the pages containing the links. If they require a graphical link, it can completely destroy the general look and feel of your site. Even if they require a text link, how would you feel if a visitor to your site clicked on such a link and found one of your competitors (who is also a member of this service) right at the top of a page?
   
   Also, while most of these services disallow adult oriented sites, I have seen situations in which some adult sites have been able to become members. How would you feel if an adult site found its way to the top of one of these pages?
   
   
2. Most of these services give the same pages containing the links to each of its members, i.e. the pages that you are required to upload to your site are exactly the same as the pages which all the other members of that service are required to upload to their servers. Even the file names of the pages tend to be the same for all the members. Most search engines are now able to detect such duplicate pages in different domains and may either ignore the pages or may even penalize all these domains for spamming.
   
   
3. Instead of linking only related sites with each other, most of these services link all the members with each other. This means that lots of unrelated sites will be linking to your site. As I mentioned before, links from unrelated sites are simply not as valuable as links from related sites.

Hence, I don't recommend that you join any reciprocal link programs.

3) Exchanging links with other webmasters

Another way of improving the link popularity of your site is to exchange links with other webmasters who have sites which are related to yours, but are not direct competitors. Here's how you can do it:

First, open a database program like Microsoft Access and create a new table containing fields like FirstName, LastName, Email Address, URL etc. Then, make a list of the sites belonging to your competitors. Then, go to Google, and type in the following in the search box:

link:somesite.com -url:somesite.com

where somesite.com is the domain name of one of your competitors. This will give you a list of all the sites which are linking to that competitor. Then, find out in what context a particular site has linked to your competitor. If this site is an affiliate of your competitor, then your chance of getting a link from this site is limited, unless you offer an even better affiliate program.

However, if you find that this site has a Links page which contains links to other sites, one of which is a link to your competitor, then it is an excellent prospect for exchanging links. Find out the name and email address of the webmaster of the site and add them to your database. In this way, go through all the sites which are linking to your competitors, locate those sites which you think may want to exchange links with you, and build up your database.

Once you have done that, create a Links page in your site, and add the URLs of these sites to the Links page. Then, send an email to these webmasters, introduce yourself and your site, congratulate them on building an excellent web site, tell them that you have already added a link to their sites from yours, and then ask them whether they would be kind enough to add a link to your site. In your email, emphasize the fact that exchanging links in this way will be mutually beneficial for both of you because it will help both of you drive traffic to your sites.

Wait for a month or so to see the response. Some webmasters will agree to link to you. Others will simply not respond. After a month, remove the links to those sites who are not interested in exchanging links and using the methods outlined above, try to locate more sites with which to exchange links.

When you send the email to the webmasters, make sure that you personalize each email. Don't begin every email with "Hello Webmaster", begin with "Hello Mike". If you want, you can use email merge programs to automatically personalize each email. You can check out some email merge programs by going to http://download.cnet.com and searching for "email merge" (without the quotes).

The main problem with this method of improving the link popularity of your site is that it takes a lot of time. You may find that the number of links you manage to get just does not justify the time that you spend over it.

Another thing that you can do is to mention in your Links page that you are willing to exchange links with other web sites. This allows other webmasters who come to your web site to propose a link exchange.


4) Starting an Awards Program

A moderately effective method of improving the link popularity of your site is to start an awards program. You can have web sites which are related to yours apply for an award from your site. The sites which win the award get the chance to display the logo for your award. This logo is linked to your site, preferably to a page which contains more information on the award.

If you publish a newsletter, consider declaring the winners in your newsletter. You can also perform a review of the winners' sites in your newsletter. This adds useful content to your newsletter and also gives more webmasters the incentive to apply for your award, since you may review their sites in your newsletter. This also gives them the incentive to subscribe to your newsletter to see if they win the award.

Make sure that you give awards to only those sites which deserve to win. If you give your award to sites which don't deserve it, your award will have little credibility, which will, in turn, hurt the credibility of your company. Furthermore, make sure that the logo you design for the award looks professional. If it doesn't, not many webmasters will want to display it in their sites.

5) Giving testimonials

This may sound a bit unusual, but giving testimonials for products or services which you find useful can be another moderately effective way of improving the link popularity of your site. If you really like a product, simply write to the company and tell them why you liked the product so much and how it has helped you.

Chances are, the company will write back to you to thank you for your comments and will ask you for permission to display your comments in their web site. Tell the company that you have no problems if they publish your comments, but request them to add a link to your site along with the testimonial. There is every possibility that the company will agree since publishing the URL of your web site gives more credibility to the testimonial.

Of course, please don't go about giving testimonials to every company you can locate just because it will improve your link popularity :-)

6) Posting to Message Boards and Discussion Lists

Another moderately effective method of increasing the link popularity of your site is to post to online message boards. At the end of every message that you post, you can sign off by mentioning your name and the URL of your web site. If the message board allows it, you can even include a short promotional blurb about your site at the end of your posts. However, make sure that the individual messages that are posted to that message board are archived in static HTML pages ( i.e. the URLs for the individual messages should not contain a "?"). Otherwise, the search engines will consider these pages to be dynamic pages and may not spider these pages and hence, will not be able to find your link.

Email based discussion lists which are archived on the web in static HTML pages can also be used to boost the link popularity of your site in a similar manner. In this case, the signature file that you use with your email program should contain the URL for your web site.

7) Setting up new web sites

Yet another moderately effective method of improving the link popularity of your site is to set up new web sites and have these new sites link to your main site. If you are Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon.com), you can afford to purchase hundreds of new domains and have these new domains link to your main site. If you are not Jeff Bezos, you can simply set up new sites with some of the free web hosts. (Of course, your primary web site should always be hosted in a separate domain of its own). Simply add a few pages of unique content to each of your new sites, and have each of the pages in your new sites link to your main site.

If you use this technique, make sure that you do not duplicate content across multiple sites. If you do, the search engines might penalize your sites for spamming. You need to ensure that all the pages that you create for these new sites contain unique content.

The disadvantage of this method is that some search engines refuse to spider sites which are present in the free web hosts. Still, there are many search engines which will spider these sites, and hence, the link popularity of your main site will improve in these search engines.

8) Starting a Link Contest

A good method of improving the link popularity of your site is to give away prizes to other webmasters if they link to you. The prizes that you give out should ideally be something which other webmasters will find valuable enough to want to link to you, but which do not cost you too much. For instance, if you publish a newsletter, and have unsold ad inventory, you can give away some free advertisements in your newsletter to the winners. If you sell a software (or an ebook), you can give away a free copy of your software or ebook to the winners, since it doesn't cost you anything to produce an additional copy of digital goods like software and ebooks.

Link contests work best if you run the contest on a continuous basis and if you declare new winners frequently. If you run the contest for a few months, and then stop it, the webmasters who had linked to you will all remove their links. However, if you run it on a continuous basis, and declare new winners every month or so, the webmasters will have the incentive to keep their links to your site.

Also, make sure that you require all participants to have a link to your site either in their home page, or in an internal page of their site which is linked to their home page. Also ensure that the page which contains the link is no more than two levels deep from their home page ( i.e. it should not take more than two clicks to go from the home page to the page containing the link). If they don't do this, the search engine spiders may not index the page which contains the link to your site, and hence, may not find your link.

9) Writing articles and allowing them to be re-published

This is by far one of the best ways of improving the link popularity of your site, and one of my favorites. Whenever I write an article on search engine placement, I first publish it in my newsletter and then I publish the article in my site as a separate web page. I also submit it to the following article submission sites:

http://www.ezinearticles.com/add_url.html
http://www.ideamarketers.com
http://www.marketing-seek.com/articles/submit.shtml
http://certificate.net/wwio/ideas.shtml
http://www.web-source.net/articlesub.htm

Many webmasters and ezine publishers frequent these article directories in search of articles. Submitting my articles to these directories gives them the opportunity of re-publishing my articles. While I have had some success with each of the above directories, by far the best among them is the ezinearticles.com directory.

Now, at the end of each article, I mention that people are free to re-publish the article as long as they include my resource box (i.e. my bio) at the end of the article. I always include the URL of my site in the resource box. This means that whenever someone publishes one of my articles in his/her web site, I have another site linking to my site. Also, many ezine publishers archive their ezines in their web sites. If they have re-published my article in a particular issue, I again get a link.

Writing articles is also an excellent viral marketing tool. As some webmasters and ezine publishers publish my articles, other webmasters and ezine publishers will read my article. Some of them, in turn, will publish my article, which will again be read by other webmasters and ezine publishers, some of whom will publish it... and so on.

Also, since only web sites related to mine would be interested in publishing my articles, all these links tend to come from related sites, which, as I mentioned earlier, are more valuable than links from unrelated sites.

Writing articles, of course, has another very important benefit - if you write good articles, it makes you known as an expert in your field. This helps to improve your credibility, which makes people more comfortable about buying your products or services.

Some notes about writing articles:

• I have learnt through experience that some webmasters will publish other people's articles and will display the complete resource box but will not link to the URL mentioned in the resource box. In order to prevent this, you need to explicitly state that the article can be published only if the URL mentioned in the resource box is linked to your site.
  
• Your resource box should not be too long - it should be no more than 6 lines long, formatted at 65 characters per line. Otherwise, other webmasters and ezine publishers will hesitate to publish your article.
  

10) Starting your own affiliate program

This is another excellent way by which you can improve the link popularity of your site. When you have your own affiliate program, you give other webmasters the incentive to link to you. In this case too, since most of these web sites will be related to the industry in which you are operating, these links will be more valuable than links from unrelated sites.

When you start your affiliate program, you need to decide whether you want to run the program yourself, or whether you want to outsource it from a third party. While outsourcing your affiliate program has a number of benefits, doing so will not help you improve the link popularity of your site, because affiliates are going to link to the third party's site. In order to improve the link popularity of your site, you need to ensure that the affiliate links are pointing to your domain.

The affiliate program software that I highly recommend and have used for the affiliate program of our search engine positioning services is Kowabunga Technologies' My Affiliate Program.Although this software is hosted in a domain owned by Kowabunga Technologies, they give you the option of having the affiliate links pointing to your own domain.

11) Submitting to the directories

This is by far the most important step as far as improving the link popularity of your site is concerned. As I mentioned before, what is important is not only the number of links to your site, but also the quality of the links to your site. No links are as important as links from some of the major directories like Yahoo!, the Open Directory etc. Hence, it is vitally important that you get your site registered by these directories.

Also, you should submit your site to as many of the smaller directories as possible. You can get a list of such directories at Yahoo!

How to choose the right domain name

The importance of having your own domain name cannot be over-emphasized. If you are running an online business, and don't yet have a domain name, you are probably losing thousands of dollars worth of business because of this. Why? Simply because, unless you have a domain name, your customers will simply not feel comfortable buying from you.

In order to sell on the web, you need to build up your credibility. Having your own domain name is the first step in that process.

So, now that you are convinced that you need your own domain, how should you name your domain?

Here are a few do's and dont's regarding this. While the availability of domains which follow all of these rules may have become limited, try to follow as many of these rules as possible.

1. Consider naming your company and registering a domain name starting with the digit 1. Better still, choose a name starting with "1st". Why? When people create directories of web sites, they have to decide how they are going to classify those web sites. One way to classify web sites is to list them on the basis of how "good" they are. Another way is to simply list them in chronological order (and sometimes in reverse chronological order) based on the dates the sites were submitted.
   
   The other, and far more popular classification system is alphabetic. Now, the first character in the ASCII chart which can be used as the first character in a domain name is the digit 0. The next character is the digit 1.
   
   Normally, you wouldn't want to start a domain name with the digit 0 since it might send all the wrong signals to your customers. For instance, if we had named our domain 0SearchRanking.com, it would be telling our customers that we cannot get them any search engine rankings at all! Hence, unless you really have a good reason for doing so, you should avoid using domain names starting with the digit 0.
   
   Instead name your domains starting with the digit 1. More specifically, name your domains starting with "1st". This will ensure that you get a high alphabetical placement in those directories which classify sites alphabetically. Furthermore, depending on the industry in which your company operates, it may also send the right message across to your customers - it indicates that you are the first company to consider in your industry.
   
   And guess what - the mother of all directories - Yahoo! - lists web sites alphabetically based on the Title that had been submitted. Yahoo! wants the Title to be the official name of the site. This implies that sites which start with the digit 1 will be placed at or near the top of a category. Assuming that you can get your site listed in Yahoo!, just look at what a top ranking in one of the categories in Yahoo!'s directory can do for the popularity of your site!
   
   Furthermore, a small caveat here. If you are going to name a domain starting with "1st", also register the domain which starts with "ist". Then, have the domain containing the vowel "i" redirect visitors to the domain containing the digit 1. This is because people will often type in 'ist' when they mean '1st' and vice-versa. Also, for every email alias that you create for the domain containing "1st " (like sales@1stcompany.com), you should create the corresponding email alias for the domain containing "ist" (like sales@istcompany.com).
   
   Also, this strategy of registering domains starting with '1st' is mainly applicable if yours is a somewhat new company. If you own a well established concern with a well known domain, you simply cannot change your company name and your domain in a hurry because you will confuse your existing customers.
   
2. Don't want to start your domain name with "1st"? Consider starting it with "A", "B" or "C". Although domains starting with A, B or C will be listed after those starting with the 10 digits, you can still get a pretty high alphabetical placement with A, B or C.
   
3. Try to register a domain which contains a popular keyword applicable for your industry. This will help your customers remember your domain name better. Furthermore, for searches conducted in Yahoo!, a higher ranking will be given to those web sites which contain the keywords in the title.
   
   And according to Yahoo!'s instructions, the Title should always be the official name of the site. Thus, if the domain name contains a keyword, you will be able to include the keyword in the Title which will improve your ranking in Yahoo!. As a minor side-benefit, this can also help to increase the ranking of your web site in some search engines. Hence, in an ideal case, you should register a domain of the form 1st[keyword].com (without the brackets of course).
   
4. Don't register a domain containing the digit 0 in it, unless it is going to be part of a recognizable word (like 1000 or 2000). This is because the digit 0 is often confused with the vowel O. If you feel that you must register a domain with the digit 0, make sure that you also register the corresponding domain containing the vowel O.
5. Try to avoid using domains that contain '2' for "To', '4' for 'For', 'u' for 'You' and so on even if they seem to make your domain sound 'cool'. Your customers will easily get confused if you do so. However, if you must register such a domain, register the expanded form of the domain as well, i.e. if you are registering greatthings2do.com, also register greatthingstodo.com.
6. Should you or should you not use hyphens in your domain? Well, the jury is out on the question. While some Internet marketers will tell you that domains containing hyphens are difficult to remember, spell and pronounce, others will state that domains containing hyphens are, in fact, easy to remember, spell and pronounce. Go figure.
   
   Personally, I would feel that whether or not hyphens are helpful has to be determined on a case by case basis. However, if you register a domain containing hyphens, make sure that you also register the corresponding domain without the hyphens. Once you do that, you can simply redirect visitors from the domain without the hyphens to the domain with the hyphens.
7. Don't make your primary domain too long. Even though 67 character domains are a reality, exactly how many of your users will want to type a domain name like thisisanexampleofaverylargedomainname.com?
8. Always use ".com". If yours is a serious business site, avoid using domains ending in "nu" or "to". Your business will have little credibility if you do so. You can consider registering a ".net" domain, but since most people are familiar with ".com", it is better to stick to convention.

   While it is unlikely that you will be able to register a domain which satisfies all the rules that I outlined above, try to follow as many of the above rules as you can.

Keyword rich pages

How to create keyword rich pages

 

Once you have established the keywords for which you should optimize your site for the search engines, it is time to figure out how you can get a high ranking in the search engines for those keywords.

The solution is to create Keyword Rich Pages (KRPs) - pages which provide good content and in which a particular keyword is repeated a number of times so that the page gets a top ranking for that keyword.

This article is focused on how you should create these KRPs. I am assuming you have a working knowledge of the different HTML tags like the Title tag, the Meta Description tag, the Meta Keywords tag, the Heading tags, the Alt Tag etc. If you don't, just go to http://www.utoronto.ca/webdocs/HTMLdocs/NewHTML/htmlindex.html for a good introduction to such HTML tags.

Now, let us assume that your company sells packaged tours to Australia, and that you are targeting the keyword "travel to australia". Here's how you create the KRPs:


The Title Tag:

The first and most important tag to consider is the Title tag. You should always begin the Title tag with the keyword that you are targeting. Also remember that the search engines are going to display the Title tag while they are displaying the results of a search. Hence, you need to make the Title tag attractive to humans as well.

Here is one Title tag that I may have used: "Travel to Australia and discover its scenic beauty". Have a look at the Title tag - it uses the keyword right at the beginning and also tells people how beautiful a place Australia is.

Of course, all Titles need not be like the one I used. The Title that you use depends on the subject matter of your site. However, you should follow all the general rules that I have outlined here.

Meta Description Tag:

The Meta Description tag is used by many search engines to provide a short description of the page that is listed in the search results. Hence, like the Title tag, it is important that the Meta Description tag be keyword rich as well as attractive to humans.

The rules for the Meta Description are more or less the same as those for the Title tag. However, the content of this tag will generally be longer than that of the Title. Here's what I may have used in the Meta Description tag:

"Travel to Australia - We take care of all the details of your trip so that you can travel with complete peace of mind."

Note how this description repeats the keyword and also the benefit that it stresses - it says that the customer will be able to travel without having to worry about the intricate details of the trip - you will take care of them.

Meta Keywords Tag:

The Meta Keywords tag has become less and less important as far as search engine optimization is concerned. In fact, you can get top rankings without having anything in the Meta Keywords tag at all. However, just to be on the safe side, you would want to include some keywords in the Meta Keywords tag. You should also include some of the common upper/lower case variations of the keyword.

The rules for the Meta Keywords tag are pretty simple - don't repeat any keyword in the Meta Keywords tag more than three times and don't repeat any keyword one after the other. Here's what I may have used in the Meta Keywords tag:

"Travel to Australia, tourism, travel to Australia, Down Under, TRAVEL TO AUSTRALIA"

Note how I have introduced "tourism" and "Down Under" just to separate the different instances of the keyword.

Body of the page:

Now we come to the actual body of the page. Begin by getting hold of a nice (but not too large) picture which is applicable for the page that you are creating. In the present case, I might include a picture of the lotus shaped Sydney Opera House. Place this picture at the top of the page.

In the Alt tag for the picture, just mention your target keyword once, i.e. the Alt tag would be "Travel to Australia". You can include other words in the Alt tag, but it should start with the keyword you are targeting.

Once you've put up the picture, it is time to create a Heading for your page. Use the H1 tag to do so. Again, in the H1 tag, mention your target keyword once, i.e. like the Alt tag for the picture, the H1 tag could be "Travel to Australia". Again, like the Alt tag, you can include other words in the heading, but the heading should start with the keyword you are targeting.

Now it's time to create the actual text of the page. The way you create the text of your page would depend largely on what you want the visitor to do after reading this page. In some cases, you may simply want the visitor to go to the home page or another specific page in your site after reading this page. In this case, you should write the text in such a way that the visitor is attracted to the page that you are targeting.

You would also want to provide links to the home page or the specific page that you are targeting at strategic places in the KRP. Or, you may want the visitor to click on the link to an affiliate program that you are a member of. In this case, you would stress the benefits that the visitor gets by purchasing the product or service that the affiliate program is selling.

You would also want to provide links to the affiliate program at strategic places in the page and/or at the end of the page. Whatever it is that you want your page to do, there are some general rules to follow:

1) The first thing to remember is that some search engines don't recognize the Meta Description tag. These search engines will often simply take the first few lines of text in the body of your page and display that as the description. Hence, you must ensure that the first few lines of text in your page are attractive to human beings.

2) Ensure that as many sentences as possible in the page contain your target keyword once. The keyword shouldn't just be placed on an ad hoc basis - the way the keyword is placed in every sentence should actually make grammatical sense and the repetition should be such that your human visitors do not feel that you have deliberately repeated a particular phrase throughout the page.

This is not only important from the point of view of ensuring that your readers don't get a bad impression of your site, but also from the point of view of search engine optimization - the search engines may penalize your page for spamming if they find that you have randomly repeated the keyword throughout the page. Also, while repeating the keyword in the page, try to repeat the keyword once near the top of the page and once near the bottom.

3) Make sure that your paragraphs are not too long - each paragraph should be no more than 3 or 4 sentences long. This is because people on the web simply don't have the time or the inclination to read long paragraphs.

4) Try to ensure that the page contains links to other pages with the keyword being present in the text under the link. This can often lead to a higher ranking for your page.

5) If possible, link to other pages which have the keyword in the file names. This can again lead to a higher ranking for your page.

6) There is no hard and fast rule regarding the total number of words that should be present in the KRPs. As a rule of thumb, try to ensure that there are between 500-600 words. However, if the number of words falls a bit short of or exceeds this limit, don't worry too much.

Once you have created the page, ensure that the name of the file in which it is saved contains the keyword and that the individual words of the keyword are separated by hyphens. In this case, the name of the file would be travel-to-australia.html. This will get you a higher ranking in the few search engines which give a lot of emphasis on the keyword being present in the file name.

Now that you have created the KRP, you cannot simply upload it to your site and submit it to the search engines. This is because the search engines take a rather dim view of pages which only contain outgoing links to other pages but do not contain any incoming links from other pages. The search engines may penalize sites which have such pages.

What you should do is to provide a link to these KRPs from the home page of your site. Now, you don't want people who are seeing the home page to actually follow these links to the KRPs - you only want the search engines to follow these links. However, you can't create links with hidden text ( i.e. text with the same color as the background color) in your page since the search engines will almost certainly penalize or even ban you for doing this.

What you should do is to create a small transparent gif image. Then, name this image with the same file name as the name of the KRP you have created. Hence, in this case, you should name the image travel-to-australia.gif . Then, add this image to the end of the home page and have it link to the KRP. Also, you should explicitly set the border of the image to 0 (add border = "0" to the img tag of the image). Otherwise, when you get the image to link to the KRP, a border may be visible.

That's it! When you want to target another keyword, create another KRP for it, make a copy of the image that you created for the first keyword, rename it to the file name of the new KRP, add the image to the home page and then link it to the new KRP.

Repeat this process for every keyword that you are targeting. Once you have created all the KRPs and once you have got the home page to link to each of them, upload all the KRPs and the gif images to your site, and submit your home page and each of the KRPs to the search engines. When you are submitting these pages, to be on the safe side, make sure that you submit no more than 1 page per day to any search engine - otherwise, you run the risk of some search engines ignoring some of the pages you have submitted.

Follow all the rules that I have outlined in this article and you can soon see your search engine blues disappear for ever!

10 SEO mistakes

Top 10 search engine positioning mistakes

 

 

When it comes to search engine optimization, there are certain common mistakes that I see people making over and over again. Here's a list of the 10 most common mistakes. By avoiding these mistakes, you can avoid a lot of anguish and frustration in the long run.

1. Optimizing your site for the wrong keywords
   
   The first step in any search engine optimization campaign is to choose the keywords for which you should optimize your site. If you initially choose the wrong keywords, all the time and effort that you devote in trying to get your site a high ranking will go down the drain. If you choose keywords which no one search for, or if you choose keywords which won't bring in targeted traffic to your site, what good will the top rankings do?
   
   
2. Putting too many keywords in the Meta Keywords tag
   
   I often see sites which have hundreds of keywords listed in the Meta Keywords tag, in the hope that by listing the keywords in the Meta Keywords tag, they will be able to get a high ranking for those keywords.
   
   Nothing could be further from the truth. Contrary to popular opinion, the Meta Keywords tag has almost completely lost its importance as far as search engine positioning is concerned. Hence, just by listing keywords in the Meta Keywords tag, you will never be able to get a high ranking. To get a high ranking for those keywords, you need to put the keywords in the actual body content of your site.
   
   
3. Repeating the same keyword too many times
   
   Another common mistake that people make is to endlessly repeat their target keywords in the body of their pages and in their Meta Keywords tags.
   
   Because so many people have used this tactic in the past (and continue to use it), the search engines keep a sharp lookout for this, and may penalize a site which repeats keywords in this fashion.
   
   Sure, you do need to repeat the keywords a number of times. But, the way you place the keywords in your pages needs to make grammatical sense. Simply repeating the keywords endlessly no longer works. Furthermore, a particular keyword should ideally not be present more than thrice in your Meta Keywords tag.
   
   
4.  Creating lots of similar doorway pages
   
   Another myth prevalent among people is that since the algorithm of each search engine is different, they need to create different pages for different search engines. While this is great in theory, it is counter-productive in practice.
   
   If you use this tactic, you will soon end up with hundreds of pages, which can quickly become an administrative nightmare. Also, just imagine the amount of time you will need to spend constantly updating the pages in response to the changes that the search engines make to their algorithms.
   
   Furthermore, although the pages are meant for different engines, they will actually end up being pretty similar to each other. The search engines are often able to detect when a site has created such similar pages, and may penalize or even ban this site from their index. Hence, instead of creating different pages for different search engines, create one page which is optimized for one keyword for all the search engines.
   
   
5. Using Hidden Text
   
   Hidden text is text with the same color as the background color of your page. For example, if the background color of your page is white and you have added some white text to that page, that is considered as hidden text.
   
   Many webmasters, in order to get high rankings in the search engines, try to make their pages as keyword rich as possible. However, there is a limit to the number of keywords you can repeat in a page without making it sound odd to your human visitors. Thus, in order to ensure that the human visitors to a page don't perceive the text to be odd, but that the page is still keyword rich, many webmasters add text (containing the keywords) with the same color as the background color. This ensures that while the search engines can see the keywords, the human visitors cannot.
   
   The search engines have long since caught up with this technique, and ignore or penalize the pages which contain such text. They may also penalize the entire site if even one of the pages in that site contain such hidden text.
   
   However, the problem with this is that the search engines may often end up penalizing sites which did not intend to use hidden text. For instance, suppose you have a page with a white background and a table in that page with a black background. Further suppose that you have added some white text in that table. This text will, in fact, be visible to your human visitors, i.e. this shouldn't be called hidden text. However, the search engines can interpret this to be hidden text because they may often ignore the fact that the background of the table is black. Hence, in order to ensure that your site is not penalized because of this, you should go through all the pages in your site and see whether you have inadvertently made any such mistake.
   
   
6. Creating Pages Containing Only Graphics
   
   The search engines only understand text - they don't understand graphics. Hence, if your site contains lots of graphics but little text, it is unlikely to get a high ranking in the search engines. For improving your rankings, you need to replace the graphics by keyword rich text for the search engine spiders to feed on.
   
   
7. Not using the NOFRAMES tag in case your site uses frames
   
   Many search engines don't understand frames. For sites which have used frames, these search engines only consider what is present in the NOFRAMES tag. Yet, many webmasters make the mistake of adding something like this to the NOFRAMES tag: "This site uses frames, but your browser doesn't support them".
   
   For the search engines which don't understand frames, this is all the text that they ever get to see in this site, which means that the chances of this site getting a good ranking in these search engines are non-existent. Hence, if your site uses frames, you need to add a lot of keyword rich text to the NOFRAMES tag.
   
   
8. Using Page Cloaking
   
   Page cloaking is a technique used to deliver different web pages under different circumstances. People generally use page cloaking for two reasons:
   
   i) in order to hide the source code of their search engine optimized pages from their competitors, and
   ii) in order to prevent human visitors from having to see a page which looks good to the search engines but does not necessarily look good to humans.
    
   The problem with this is that when a site uses cloaking, it prevents the search engines from being able to spider the same page that their users are going to see. And if the search engines can't do this, they can no longer be confident of providing relevant results to their users. Thus, if a search engine discovers that a site has used cloaking, it will probably ban the site forever from their index.
   
   Hence, my advice is that you should not even think about using cloaking in your site.
   
   
9. Using Automatic Submission Tools
   
   In order to save time, many people use an automatic submission software or service to submit their sites to the major search engines. It is true that submitting your site manually to the search engines takes a lot of time and that an automatic submission tool can help you save a lot of time.
   
   However, the search engines don't like automatic submission tools and may ignore your pages if you use them. In my opinion, the major search engines are simply too important for you not to spend the time to submit your site manually to them.
   
   
10. Submitting too many pages per day
    
    People often make the mistake of submitting too many pages per day to the search engines. This often results in the search engines simply ignoring many of the pages which have been submitted from that site. Ideally, you should submit no more than 1 page per day to the search engines. While many search engines accept more than 1 page per day from a particular domain, there are some which only accept 1 page per day. Hence, by limiting yourself to a maximum of one page per day, you ensure that you stay within the limits of all the search engines.
    
    
11.  Devoting too much time to search engine positioning
    
    Yes - I lied. There's another common mistake that people make when it comes to search engine optimization - they spend too much time over it.
    
    Sure, search engine placement is the most cost effective way of driving traffic to your site and you do need to spend some time every day learning how the search engines work and in optimizing your site for the search engines.
    
    However, you must remember that search engine optimization is a means to an end for you - it's not the end in itself. The end is to increase the sales of your products and services. Hence, apart from trying to improve your site's position in the search engines, you also need to spend time on all the other factors which determine the success or the failure of your web site - the quality of the products and services that you are selling, the quality of your customer service, and so on.
    
    You may have excellent rankings in the search engines, but if the quality of your products and services are poor, or if your customer service leaves a lot to be desired, those high rankings aren't going to do much good.

Pay Per Click Competition Analysis

The Crowded Pay Per Click Market - A New Approach

 

I have been involved directly with pay per click advertising for a little over three years now, developing programs like Keywords Analyzer and AdWords Dominator so that users could take full advantage of keyword research and other techniques that would help them succeed in positioning their businesses at the top of the search engines.

Over the years though, it has been quite astounding how fast pay per click advertising has developed. Three years ago, when I first wrote the Keyword Master's Course, I considered that 15 AdWords ads (or two pages of results) was bordering on overtraded and indicated a market that was too competitive.

But fast-forward just a few years and we commonly see keywords with 40 or 50 ads and some even more than that. Anyone out there reading this article who advertises on AdWords will know what I mean.

So, clearly, the success of pay per click advertising has brought its own problems.

Three years ago, it was almost as simple as paying more money and getting a good position - but not any more. Now you have serious competition in the same spaces and so some new techniques are required.

Now - keyword research will always be the critical first step to successful pay per click marketing, but it's rapidly getting to the point where it is not enough. The new threat to your success comes from the other competitors who are trying to outgun you.

A new approach: Market Mapping

So a new approach is required which involves looking at what your competitors are up to and finding ways to beat them.

Those of you who have studied marketing will know what market mapping is.

Essentially, there is no magic in it; it is simply a method of graphically depicting your market and who the competitors in that market are.

Now, in the context of pay per click advertisers, the way to do it is to create market mapping groups around tightly targeted keyword lists. You then look at the advertisers who keep appearing in that group and look a little more closely at their ads and positioning.

Here's an example of a market map for AdWords.

What you are looking at here are all the AdWords advertisers for a keyword list ranked as to how much traffic they are each getting across that market group.

The power of an approach like this is that you can get an instant "feel" for a market and who the competitors are that you need to compete against.

So that is step 1 - analyse the market and identify the competition.

Once you have built up a profile of your market and individual competitors, then you turn your attention to the individual marketers competing with you.

In the market map above, you would start by identifying the top 10 or so competitors by traffic. You then examine each one closely to see what it is that makes them superior to the rest.

As far as pay per click analysis is concerned, take a close look at their ads. What are their average positions?  Take a look at the headlines and copy.  See if you can learn anything from them then write your own copy to attack their headlines and copy directly.

You also need to have a close look at their individual landing pages. Writing good ads is only half the battle. Converting the visitors who follow the ads to your site is the other half.

Follow your competitors' ads and see where you end up. Advanced pay per click operators know that one of the best ways to maximize conversions is to craft a landing page that answers the problem in the ad.

Conclusion

These are just a couple of areas that you need to think about in order to compete in today's pay per click environment.  Clearly all markets are getting more competitive. You need to think now in terms of not only keyword research and campaigns, but also how you are going to deal with the competitors who are fighting for the best position.

You can simplify this task by using Competition Dominator to map your market and help you identify your competitors quickly and easily.

Keyword selection

Choosing the correct keywords for your site

 

In this article, we focus on the correct way of finding out the keywords for which you should optimize your site for the search engines. This article will give you the formula for the Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) - a mathematical formula which I have developed to help you determine which keywords you should be optimizing your site for.

Step 1: Open your text editor or word processor and write down all the words and phrases that you might have searched for if you were looking for a company which offers products and services similar to yours.

For example, suppose your company organizes packaged tours to Australia. Here's a list of phrases that I might have searched for if I were planning to make a trip to Australia:

tourism in Australia
travel to Australia
travelling in Australia
travel agencies in Australia
travelling agencies in Australia
Australian travel agencies

Of course, the keywords that came to your mind may have been different. But that's not important - the important thing is to get an initial list of keywords.

You may be wondering why I have not used single word keywords. Here's why:

• Firstly, single word keywords tend to be hyper-competitive. A search for "tourism" or "travelling" in any search engine will probably generate hundreds of thousands of pages. While it is possible that you may get your page in the top 10 for such a single word keyword, it is quite unlikely.
  
• Secondly, because of the sheer number of pages that single word searches can throw up, most search engine users have realized that they can get more relevant pages if they search for phrases rather than individual words. Statistical research has shown that most people are now searching for 2 or 3 word phrases rather than for single words.
  
• Thirdly, single word keywords won't get you targeted traffic. When people search for "tourism", they are not necessarily looking for tourist destinations in Australia - they may be interested in any other country of the world. Even if you got your site into the top 10 for tourism, you gain nothing from such visitors. However, when someone searches for "tourism in Australia", he/she is your potential customer, and hence, it makes sense for you to try and get a top ranking for your site for that keyword.
  
  Hence, whenever you are trying to generate keywords, try to be location specific. Try to think of keywords which apply to the geographic area that your product or service is designed to serve.

Step 2: Open any spreadsheet program that is installed in your hard drive. I assume you are using Microsoft Excel. If you are using some other spreadsheet program, just change the spreadsheet related procedures outlined here to fit your program.

Create 4 columns - one for the keyword, one for the popularity of the keyword, one for the number of sites that appear in Google for that keyword and the last for something I call the Keyword Effectiveness Index (don't worry - I'll explain what KEI means later on). In order to ensure that you can follow what I am saying, I recommend that you add the following column headers to the first four columns of the first row of your spreadsheet:

Keyword
Popularity
No. of Competitors
KEI

Step 3: A great way to obtain a list of keywords related to the ones you have developed in the first step is to use WordTracker's keyword generation service.  Wordtracker is a paid service but you can use their free trial tool.

Click on the "Trial" option at the top of the site. In the page that appears, type in your name and email address and click on the "Start the trial >>" button. In the next page, click on "Click here to start the trial". In the next page, type in the first keyword that you developed in Step 1, i.e. "tourism in Australia", in the text box. Click on the "Proceed >>" button.

Step 4: In the next page, WordTracker will display a list of keywords related to the keyword that you had typed in. (Just scroll down the left pane to see the keywords).

Now, click on the first keyword in the left pane which is applicable for your site. In the right pane, WordTracker will show a list of keywords which contain the keyword you had clicked on in the left pane.

Then in the table that you have created in your spreadsheet, copy each of the keywords in the right pane and paste them in the first column of the table. Also, copy the number of times those keywords have been used ( i.e. the figure present in the Count column in WordTracker) and paste them in the second column.

In order to ensure that you can follow me, make sure that you type the first keyword in the second row of your spreadsheet. Of course, you should only bother adding a keyword to your spreadsheet if it is applicable for your site.

Once you have added all the keywords in the right pane which are applicable for your site, click on the next keyword in the left pane which is applicable for your site.

Once again, WordTracker will display a list of keywords in the right pane which contain the keyword you had clicked on in the left pane. Again, copy the keywords in the right pane which are applicable for your site and paste them in the first column of your spreadsheet. Also, copy the figures present in the Count column and paste them in the second column beside the corresponding keywords. Repeat this process for each of the keywords in the left pane.

Step 5: Once you have finished with all the keywords in the left pane, press your browser's Back button a number of times until WordTracker again displays the text box which asks you to type in a keyword. Type in the second keyword in your original list ( i.e. "travel to Australia"), click on the "Proceed >>" button and repeat Step 4. Do this for each of the keywords that you developed in Step 1.

Step 6: Go to Google. Search for the first keyword that is present in your spreadsheet using exact match search (i.e. you should wrap the keyword in quotes, i.e. you should type a quotation mark before typing the keyword and a quotation mark after typing it). Google will return the number of sites which are relevant to that keyword.

Add this number to the third column of the spreadsheet in the same row in which the keyword is present. Repeat this process for each of the keywords present in your spreadsheet.

Once you have done that, your first column will contain the keywords, your second column will show the popularity of the keywords and your third column will contain the number of sites you are competing against to get a high ranking for those keywords.

Now it's time to calculate the KEI!

Step 7: The Keyword Effectiveness Index is the square of the popularity of a keyword multiplied by 1000 and divided by the number of sites which appear in Google for that keyword. It is designed to measure which keywords are worth optimizing your site for. Higher the KEI, better the keyword. How the formula for the KEI is arrived at is beyond the scope of this article.

Here's how you can calculate the KEI.

I am assuming that you have created the spreadsheet columns in the way I recommended in Step 3 and that you are using Microsoft Excel. If you using some other spreadsheet program, you will need to adjust the formula to the requirements of your spreadsheet program. Click on cell D2. Type in the following exactly as it is shown:

=IF(C2<>0,B2^2/C2*1000,0)

Then click on the Copy button to copy the formula, select all the cells in column 4 which have keywords associated with them and press the Paste button to paste the formula. The KEI for each keyword will be displayed.

Step 8: Use your spreadsheet program's Sort feature to sort the rows in descending order of the KEI. In Excel, you would click on the Data menu, click on the Sort menu item, choose KEI from the drop-down combo box named "Sort by", click on the "Descending" option next to it, and then click on OK.

And guess what - that's it! You now know the keywords which you should optimize your site for.

You can now start optimizing your site one by one for each keyword, starting with the keyword with the highest KEI. Exactly how many of the keywords you choose to optimize your site for largely depends on the amount of time that you can spare from your normal business activities. But whatever the number of keywords that you target, it obviously makes sense to go for the most effective keywords first.

Tying up the loose ends:

The number of related keywords that WordTracker displays in the trial version is limited. In order to get all the keywords which are related to the keywords you had developed in Step 1, you would need to subscribe to WordTracker's paid service.

12 mistakes affiliates make---part3

10. Are you learning from mediocre sources?

 

Because conditions are changing so fast on the Net, you need to learn fast and grab the opportunities which exist now.

One way to save time is to learn from Internet experts. You won't make so many mistakes that way.

Learn from people who are earning a very good living from Internet marketing.

Neil Shearing persuaded 10 Internet experts - some of whom are earning millions of dollars - to reveal what it takes to make huge profits on the Internet. These aren't "magic bullets". They're valuable insights for serious business-building. They could change the way you do business and change your life.

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/diamonds

Learn from experts.

11. Have you forgotten to add a dash of personality?

When Chris Pirillo published his Libera Manifesto on his site he received a huge flood of responses.

Chris received that outpouring of support because he injects his personality into his writing and because he's acknowledged as a hard-working expert in his field.

Too much of the Internet is cold and anonymous. Your visitors appreciate knowing that there's a real person running the site they're visiting.

Inject your personality into your site.

12. Are you failing to PLAN?

 received an email from someone who had bought a domain name and was trying to decide what to do with it.

Whoops! That's getting things backwards.

First you have to decide what you want to do. Here are three main options for affiliates. They all work.

Option 1: "Go where the money is," says the highly successful Marlon Sanders.

Do research on what is popular and sell that. Do a survey, find out what people want and sell it to them.

Want to know what's hot? Here's a really fast way. Keep an eye on Yahoo! Shopping - http://shopping.yahoo.com/ . Yahoo! has done lots of research and endless experimenting. It knows what sells.

Look at the "What's hot" list, where you'll find such things as digital cameras, MP3 players and Razor scooters.

Option 2: "Follow your passion," says Ken Evoy. Choose a topic in which you are passionately interested and build a site around that theme. That way, you'll enjoy what you're doing and derive a great deal of satisfaction from it. It won't seem like work.

"Everyone, absolutely EVERYONE, has a special interest... a passion," he says.

Having trouble choosing a topic? See Ken's free "Affiliate Masters" course. It shows you how to brainstorm your concept.

Option 3. Become passionately interested in something. Immerse yourself in all the little details about a topic and suddenly you'll become so absorbed that it's like a hobby, not a business.

That's what affiliate programs have become like for me. Perhaps for you it could be digital cameras.

If you become passionately interested in products which are hot sellers with little competition, that's even better!

12 mistakes affiliates make---part2

4. Are you failing to capture email addresses?

 

If you don't collect addresses, your marketing effort is a one-shot wonder. You're making only one attempt per visitor to achieve a sale and then giving up.

As branding expert Rob Frankel says, people like buying from people they know, like and trust.

If you're not giving people a chance to get to know and trust you, don't be surprised if they don't buy.

If you're not collecting email addresses, you're seriously crippling your marketing. Remember how the big dot-coms poured buckets of money into banner advertising and TV advertising? Now they've finally realized that collecting email addresses is much better value.

It's getting harder and harder to do, because we're all deluged with spam and newsletters which don't provide the information we need. So get started now, before the competition becomes even stronger.

You may not want the commitment of publishing a weekly newsletter. Perhaps you don't believe you have the necessary skills. One option is to simply offer a monthly Update newsletter, telling people what's new on your site.

Perhaps you don't like the thought of being tied to a weekly or monthly publishing schedule. You don't have to be. You can publish irregularly, only when you feel you have something worth saying - or selling.

If you want a no-nonsense, no-hype guide to newsletter publishing, I highly recommend Ezine Adrenaline: How to Create, Publish and Market A Profitable E-zine on the Internet by Kate Schultz. It tells you all the stuff you need to know.

Build an opt-in email list.

5. Do you have visitors but no sales?

Some affiliates complain that they receive thousands of visitors but can't turn those visitors into buyers. To them, I usually recommend re-reading Ken Evoy's article on pre-selling. Studying that article and implementing Ken's suggestions could have a huge impact on your sales.

Donald Skarzenski reported on a company which bought a MILLION visitors but - whoops! - hadn't first taken the time to figure out what to do with them. It's a tale of stupidity on a grand scale.

6. Are you doing the same tired old things over and over?

 

It's time to try something new.

If you keep repeating actions which fail, you'll continue failing. If what you're doing isn't working well, it's time to change it, to move out of your comfort zone and try something new.

Here's something you can do. You can syndicate your columns or tips all over the Net to other web sites. Imagine how that would boost your image, your traffic and your sales.

Each web site publishing your column simply puts two lines of JavaScript code on its page at the location where your column is to appear.

All you do is paste your column into a Syndicator form and click a button. That one button click automatically updates all syndicated web site pages.

You don't even have to create the script. Acclaimed CGI expert William Bontrager has done that for you.

You can learn how to syndicate your content.

Try new techniques.

7. Are you building a business on a foundation of sand?

 

Are you promoting questionable products and services in the hope of earning high commissions?

Or are you building something of VALUE? Are you creating a business you're proud of?

Even if it's a small site, build a USEFUL, strong web site, one which provides valuable information and helps people. Not only will this give you a great sense of achievement, it will do wonders for your marketing.

If you build a site or write a newsletter which helps people, your readers will do a lot of your marketing for you.

They really will.

I love it when I see my sites mentioned on other web sites, in newsletters, in mailing lists and in books. I love it when web sites link to mine.

For example, my assistant Glennys is building a useful resource with PayPerClickSearchEngines.com , the first directory of pay-per-click search engines. Most of the links to it were created simply because website owners like it and want to recommend it.

Ralph Wilson, publisher of the hugely popular Web Marketing Today newsletter, has created a massive, valuable Internet marketing resource which earns links the same way.

Such voluntary links are pure gold. People see the site recommended, visit it, and add a link on their site, and so on...

Such a site takes time to build but after a while momentum builds. If you're the expert in your niche, you'll be interviewed for articles in newsletters and books - and those articles will attract more interviews for more articles...

All those links and favorable mentions don't just boost your reputation and sales, they help boost your ranking in search engines such as Google.

Build something useful.

8. Are you selling ONLY other people's products?

 

It is possible to earn a living that way, but such successes are rare.

Create your OWN product. Then you can use affiliate programs for back-end sales. That works well because someone who has just bought a product is often in the mood for buying a second, complementary product.

When you create your own product, you control your destiny. You control how it is marketed. You control how much profit you make. Neil Shearing's newly revamped Internet Success Blueprint tells you how to do it, how to create an ebook, illustrate it, and sell it, with or without a merchant account. Neil describes, step-by-step, how he earns his living online.

Create your own product.

9. Are you just SELLING instead of HELPING?

 

One of my favorite email discussion used to be John Audette's I-Sales Digest. There were many reasons for its success. One was that members of that community helped each other in their posts to the mailing list.

John says that I-Sales Digest was the major force behind his success in building a multi-million-dollar business. The digest gave him an opportunity to build credibility, respect and trust while encouraging people to help others.

John sold I-Sales Digest to someone who didn't have John's flair and didn't seem to care enough about his readers. It quickly folded.

Is your website or newsletter just selling, or is it helping people learn?

Help people learn.

12 mistakes affiliates make---part1

12 mistakes affiliates make - and how to fix them

 

Affiliates struggling to earn $100 a month often find it hard to believe that other people could possibly earn as much as $10,000 or even $100,000 a month in commissions.

Believe it. Big commissions do happen. And you can expect to hear about even bigger commissions.

Forrester Research predicts that affiliate programs and affiliate networks will produce $280 billion annually in e-commerce sales by 2008.

In most programs, 5% of the affiliates generate the vast majority of the sales. If you're not in that 5% and want to be, you'll have to change what you're doing.

Here are 12 mistakes you could be making, and how to fix them.

1. Are you telling people how to make money on the Internet when you don't know how yourself?

Perhaps - just perhaps - you can succeed at this, but it's the most obvious trap into which new affiliates fall. You join a few affiliate programs and set up a site offering Internet marketing tips, work-from-home tips, instant-business tips, or be-your-own-boss tips.

The advantages of doing this include having great products to promote, high commissions and lots of help from Internet marketers.

However, if you do this, you face two massive challenges.

   1. You'll have hundreds of thousands of web pages out there competing with yours.

   2. You're competing with the planet's best marketing EXPERTS. Some of the brightest brains in Internet marketing are working full-time to grab the attention of your target audience.

I'm not saying you can't succeed in this field, but if you're new to affiliate programs, this is definitely NOT the best place to begin. If you're struggling, find a less well traveled path.

You don't have to abandon your existing website. Just launch a new one based on a new theme. Later, when you've learned more and really have something to offer, it will be time to revamp your marketing tips site.

Choose a new theme. Try a new niche.

2. Are you promoting the PROGRAM instead of the PRODUCT?

Over and over again, affiliates join a two-tier affiliate program and then create a page telling other people to join it. I've done this myself with LifetimeCustomers.com. However, that site is not my core business. It's just one page, which I created fairly quickly.

Feel free to try that technique, but don't pin all your hopes on it.

Unless you're really skilled at signing up key people in key places, or know how to sign up many thousands of affiliates, you're not likely to get rich on second-tier commissions.

The people you sign up will tend to copy you and try to sign up more people... Whoops! That sounds like the worst aspects of multi-level marketing. Who's going to actually SELL something and earn commissions?

I once read a report which claimed that my success with the SiteSell affiliate program is due to the fact that I've signed up thousands of sub-affiliates.

That suggestion was just a silly guess - and it's utter rubbish.

Only a tiny percentage of the thousands of dollars I earn each month from SiteSell is from second-tier commissions. I succeed because I promote the PRODUCTS. They're incredibly good value, I believe in them, and I succeed by telling people so.

Here's proof that "affiliate programs" is a tough, competitive field.

Try typing "affiliate programs" into Google. You're competing with 33,000,000 other pages. Try the phrase without the quotation marks and you're competing with 118,000,000 other pages. That's a mammoth increase on the pages found a couple of years ago. [UPDATE: Those are August 2006 figures.]

Promote the PRODUCTS.

3. Are you using banners instead of endorsements?

 know. It takes time, effort and money to buy and study the product you're trying to sell. It's much easier just to cut and paste a bit of HTML code. However, personal, enthusiastic endorsements out-sell everything else by miles.

If you put in the effort, you'll get the sales. You can probably quadruple your sales by endorsing the products you sell.

You can also combine graphics, text, short descriptions and relevant articles. However, best of all are your own, original personal endorsements.

Write honest, enthusiastic endorsements.

 

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Good question! I keep hearing the same question over and over... what is internet affiliate marketing? And how can I profit from it?

Internet affiliate marketing is defined as a widespread method of promotion in which an affiliate (or associate) is rewarded for every view, sale, and/or registration produced through the affiliate's effort.

It's similar to collecting a finder's-fee or the commissions typical of retail store clerks. The more one sells... the more one gets paid.

What are Affiliate Compensations?

Compensation calculations vary and could be based on any of the following:

PPC (pay-per-click) a specific amount is paid for each visit

PPL (pay-per-lead) where registration or sign-up counts

PPS (pay-per-sale) a specific commission per sale is paid

If your goal is to generate your total income online, you can drive traffic from your subscriber lists to affiliate links just as easily as to your own product links.

What About Sales Strategies?

You'll want to watch for great products and services with the potential to benefit your niche and your mailing lists. To build trust and income, it's best to recommend only those products that will be of specific interest to them. It's a win-win situation for everyone that way.

When an affiliate is marketing any product, the cost of advertising the product is absorbed by the affiliate. It's important to keep this cost in mind when promoting products. The higher the percentage of affiliate income possible from any quality product, the more that product is worth promoting.

When a product is sold through the affiliate's link, depending on the service used, the total sale is divided up among the vendor or service, the affiliate, the taxing authority, the shipper (if any), and the payment processor.

It is common and expected that all affiliate details be spelled out in the affiliate sign-up process. However, you needn't be afraid to contact any vendor to clarify their affiliate program if you have questions. Often you can telephone or email for a fast reply.

Is an Affiliate Lifestyle for Me?

Many standard retailers offer very small rewards for affiliate sales while most internet marketers offer around 50%. This is why being an affiliate of digital products can be very lucrative in a relatively short period of time.

Although the number of affiliate programs for tangible goods and off-line services is rising, a completely digital lifestyle can be developed solely from digital or downloadable internet marketing affiliate products that may never take physical form.

Of course it's important to note that as an affiliate of any tangible product, you generally never do more than promote a link to the product online. So in that sense it's the same as a digital product.

One of the best places to find digital products to affiliate with is ClickBank.com. They have an automatic affiliate 'hoplink' program built into their payment processing service so that affiliate payments are not left up to the product owner to process.

Boosting Your Google Adsense Income

So you want to increase your Adsense income? Whether it be Adsense Google or Adsense Yahoo the tips here can help you boost your Ad Sense income. Log into your Adsense account, and look at your last month's stats.

There are three key areas that contribute to your earnings: Impressions, Clickthroughs and Effective CPM. Improving your stats in any of these areas, or preferably, all of these three key areas will increase your Adsense earnings.

Page Impressions
Impressions are the number of times your web pages with Adsense ads have been viewed. You can increase Impressions by increasing traffic (preferably targeted traffic) to your web pages. Some of the best ways to increase targeted traffic to your web pages include:

Create more web pages, with related, focused content.

Create more links to your web pages.

List your websites under related categories in more directories.

Set up a directory of related sites on your website and accept related reciprocal links.

Write related articles, with your site information in the 'resource box' at the end of each article, and submit them to article directories.

Clickthroughs
Clickthroughs are the percentage of viewers who click on your Adsense ads. You can increase Clickthroughs by increasing the relevance of Adsense ads on your site, and by tweaking the format and placing of your ads.

Although you can't order which Adsense ads show on your site, you can influence the relevance of the ads by maintaining a tightly focused website. If every page on your site relates tightly on the site topic, it's more likely that the Adsense ads will too. For example, if every page of your site is about web hosting, and the word 'web hosting' appears several times on every page, its likely that your Adsense ads will relate to web hosting.

The best way to tweak your ad format and placement is to invest in an Adsense Tracker software program, and test, test, test!

A good Adsense Tracker program will reveal to you specific information that can help you improve your clickthrough rates. Tracking which page is getting clicks, what ad format (size of ad), the date and hour the ad was clicked, where the visitor came from before he clicked on your adsense ad, which keywords were used on the search engines is very valuable information that can ultimately boost your Adsense income!

People who have done a lot of testing suggest that the best format (ad size) is the large rectangles, 336 x 280 or 300 x 250, with the background and border colors the same as the page behind it, so that the ad blends into the page. The best placement is toward the top or center of your page. Try to mix in your Adsense with the content part of your pages. (a good sample of this is right here at WebBizDeals)

Try these suggestions first, and then track and test, to be sure of what works best for your pages.

Effective CPM
Effective CPM is a measure of your average earnings, per thousand clicks. You can increase your Effective CPM by selecting topics that attract high bids from Adsense advertisers, and building pages and whole websites on higher paying topics.

You can get a good idea of the top paying Adsense topics by looking at information on Adwords bids, or bids on pay-per-click search engines like Overture. There are a number of keyword research tools available, both free and paid, that can help you find high paying topics. A handy free tool I find very useful is: http://search.rightnow4you.com

Adsense Formula
So now you have the basics of increasing your Adsense income. It's a deceptively simple formula:

Build pages and websites on high paying topics for the best Effective CPM.

Format and place your Adsense Google ads for maximum Clickthroughs.

Promote your sites to drive targeted traffic to your Adsense web pages for maximum page impressions

Web Hosting Reseller

See how easy it is to start your own web hosting reseller business just like I did here at WebBizDeals.

Secrets to Making Money As a Web Hosting Reseller!

Do you need to make some extra money each month to pay off your bills? How about take that dream vacation you've always wanted.

Maybe you already run a successful business, and you're looking for ways to make additional money with less effort.

Perhaps you're a web designer looking for ways to provide web hosting to your clients while increasing your profits.

It may be that you want to quit your day job, get out of the 9 to 5 rat race, and start working for yourself from the comfort of your own home.

I started my first web hosting business with a $20 investment right here on WebBizDeals. And with just a little bit of know-how and effort you can do the same.

Being a hosting reseller is the ultimate business as it produces residual income from all your customers.

If you're reading this, you're probably interested in making more money, having the freedom to do the things you want, and living life to the fullest.

Do any of these things strike a chord with you?

• Work at home
  
  
• Run your own business
  
  
• Control your own schedule
  
  
• Spend more time with your family and loved ones
  
  
• Get hosting for your own websites for free
  
  
• Make money while you're sleeping

Did you know that the Internet is a 24/7 money-making machine?

At all times, regardless of what you're doing, money is being made by someone on the Internet. That means that while you're eating, working, playing, sleeping, money is flooding into the pockets of Internet entrepreneurs from all around the world.

The Internet is Huge, and there's piles of money to be made with plenty of room for anyone to join the system and start profiting.

That's one of my reasons for sharing this information with you. The web hosting reseller market is so HUGE there's enough room for many more players.

Imagine owning your own web hosting reseller Internet business. Each time a customer makes a purchase the money is automatically sent to your account, even if you're sleeping!

Trillions, yes trillions, of dollars are being spent on the Internet and thousands of people are enjoying a new lifestyle and fulfilling their goals and dreams each day.

Would you like to be one of them?

I actually stumbled on being a web hosting reseller after spending some time selling products on eBay. Heck, what did I have to lose? In terms of business opportunities, the startup cost was tiny (only $20 in this case).

Besides I needed a web hosting account for my own website. Since I knew I would be expanding into having even more websites, I figured by just reselling a few of those 100 web hosting spots I could break even on the $20 month web hosting fee and get my own web hosting for free!

Needless to say, I have had free web hosting for many years now... plus lot's of extra cash profits.

If your looking to just pay for your cost of hosting and get your own web hosting service for free that is very simple to do. If on the other hand your looking to make the big bucks then you will have to put in a little more effort into this venture.

Why Web Hosting?

Every day there are thousands of new websites added to the world wide web. Today there are millions upon millions of websites, and millions more are being added each year.

Guess what?

EVERY single one of those websites has to have a web host!

If they don't have a web hosting service, then nobody will be able to see their website. That's a fact.

As you can imagine, the web hosting business is a hugely profitable and rapidly growing industry. There are already thousands of web hosting companies in existence.

However, don't think for a moment that there is too much competition for the little guy. There are literally so many websites being added to the web each day that if you could even capture a small fraction of a percent you could be rich!

Think about it... web hosting is one of the most powerful business opportunities you can start without spending a fortune.

Keep this in mind: "Web hosting revenues will reach $19.8 billion by 2004, up from $1.4 billion in 1999" - International Data Corp.

 

What exactly is a web hosting reseller?

Web hosting resellers are people who buy or lease web hosting resources (server space, bandwidth) from an internet service provider and then resells those services to others.

This is very easy to do and most of the business at hand is setting up new accounts in an admin control panel.

A word of caution to web hosting resellers to be...

This information is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme. You will not be able to do nothing and make money. It's not MLM or any of those "bizops" you've tried before. Being a web hosting reseller is a  real opportunity that takes real work.

After you put in some real work you'll see the fruits of your labor as you sign up client after client. At that point you have the option of sitting back, taking a break, and watching the profits roll in on auto-pilot. Or you can become even more successful by surging forward and becoming like a select few out there - true elite web hosting resellers.

It's really up to you how successful you wish to be. Some web hosting resellers are happy with a few hundred or a few thousand extra dollars per month. Others want to go for the gold. It's your business so you get to decide what kind of success you want for yourself.

Becoming a web hosting reseller is not for everyone! I know this sounds cruel, but some people, even armed with the proper information, still fail to run a successful business. Here is a little test to see if you have what it takes:

Web Hosting Resellers Test

1) Do you desire to make money by running a web based business?

2) Do you have a good understanding of the Internet?

3) Are you willing to learn new things?

4) Are you willing to work?

5) Do you know how to use email?

6) Do you know how to use FTP?

If you answered yes to the above questions you are a perfect candidate to become a successful web hosting reseller.

If you were unable to answer yes to any of the above questions I would recommend working on those areas first.

Web Hosting Resellers Opportunities

If you've been researching reseller programs for awhile now, you've probably seen ads that say make $XX or $XXK per year. While it is true that the potential with many reseller programs is virtually unlimited, most examples you see are best case scenarios which in reality rarely happen. Most calculations do not take into consideration clients that quit your service, nor do they take into account any marketing expenses.

To put this in perspective, you must keep in mind that you'll have clients that will drop your service after several months. On the other hand, you'll also have clients that stick with your service for years and years if you give them good service and support.

Of course you are only limited by the amount of time and effort you want to invest in your business. Set reasonable goals of getting X amount of clients each month and then building on this each month. This will result in you creating a residual web hosting income for yourself that get's bigger and bigger each month!

The only catch to the whole business is being sure you deal with a reputable company that provides you with fast servers and good service. There are many fly-by-night companies out there to just make a buck, so be careful and make your decision wisely.

Best Reseller Hosting we have found and continue to use today. They are absolutely wonderful when it comes to speedy customer service, fast servers, and very knowledgeable to boot. We highly recommend that you put them at the top of your list.

Top Internet Service Providers

How's the dial-up working for you these days?

I tell you, with technology like that, it's hard to believe anything better could come along. LOL!

That's a good one, I know. Not that anyone actually ever thought dial-up was the bomb.

Okay, so maybe a few people did, but that was simply due to the gargantuan Internet craze. We were all so flabbergasted by the World-Wide-Web and the inexplicable access to cyberspace, that we weren't paying too close of attention to that horrific dial-up noise, and the constant out-of-the-blue cut-offs.

However, these days it's an entirely different story. Now we want our cake and we sure as heck want to eat it too. We've seen the grass on the other side, and we're certainly not settling for a brown, sun-scorched lawn.

Uh, that probably sounds a tad weird. But anyway, the point is we all want to experience an interruption free, fast as ever cyberspace with no hassles. So, do you know who the top Internet service providers are?

 

I like to keep up on the top Internet service providers and their deals. Currently I am with a tiny company known as RoadRunner. Well, it's actually not so tiny. The truth is they serve millions of web-surfers on a daily basis.

Are you a RoadRunner customer?

Hey, they did have a pretty sweet package deal going when I signed up with them. Wireless cable high speed Internet, unlimited long distance, and a decent cable TV package, all at one low monthly cost. I love those sorts of things. The smaller I can make my monthly bills, and the less of them I have to grapple with, the better.

Some of the other top Internet service providers now days are Comcast and AOL. I'm sure you've stumbled across those at one time or another.

These days it's all about the speed. Who is offering the highest speed for the lowest price.

Since we all live in a world of chaos, where time is hard to come by and patience are little to nil, cable high-speed Internet is mandatory. No one wants to wait around for that web page to load or that media clip to finish. We all want fast and hassle free results.

Are You Searching for Top Internet Service Providers?

Are you currently searching for the top Internet service providers? This is not a problem. The truth is they're rather easy to locate. Simply hop on your home computer and punch in the keywords "top Internet service providers." This will get you started on that path to web-surfing without the annoying quirks.

Start Home Based Business

Would you like to earn money by starting your own home based business?

Keys to Starting a Successful Home Based Business

People choose to work from home for several reasons including the desire to stay home with their children, the need for extra income, or simply being dissatisfied with their current job.

A home based business will provide you with an exciting way to earn money and be your own boss.

Numerous opportunities are available to internet marketers.

 

You'll find our popular home based business flash tutorials a speedy way of getting started.

When starting your home based business you should develop a business plan and research your options thoroughly.

Making wise decisions and following your business plan each step of the way can help you in creating a steady stream of income.

Operating a home based business will require hard work and effort. You will not become wealthy over night. It will take determination to succeed as an internet marketer. The amount of money you make will be directly related to the amount of work you are willing to do.

When making your business plan, include both short and long term goals. Determine how you will achieve those goals and put your plan into action.

Affiliate programs are excellent programs and there are numerous other internet marketing offers that will create steady income if you are willing to make the effort. Check out Make Money 4 Real to get your cashflow started right away.

Some programs may require an initial investment from you and others are advertised as free.

Research all internet marketing opportunities carefully to make sure you understand the terms and conditions.

Starting a home based business is one of the most exciting and challenging endeavors you will ever undertake. A sound business plan and the will to succeed will set you apart.

Choose the products or services you provide carefully. Make certain your services will be needed over the long term and make customer service your top priority. A loyal customer base is the key to the success or failure of your business.

A home based business is an excellent way to gain independence and financial freedom. A sound business plan and a strong work ethic are all it takes to succeed.

The Right Search Engine Submission Service

If you have a website then you already know the importance of traffic. Traffic is to Internet marketing as location is to real estate. It's the only thing that really matters.

If you cannot generate targeted visitors to your site, you will not make any sales.

If you are having problems getting traffic to your site then a search engine submission service could be the answer to your problems.

You have built your company, printed out your PR materials, designed and created your website, and now are ready for the next step—finding a search engine submission service.

You could go the other way, go solo, submitting your site URLS (all separate pages) to the hundreds of search engines, major indexes, and specialty indexes…if you have a few hundred hours to blow.

But if, as most of us are, you are busy beyond recognition of what it means to sit down, take time, read, research, and submit, the ideal way to go is the search engine submission service.

Visit SEO Made Easy so you can average $15,000 visitors to your website daily using only free search engine traffic! Cool!

Here's what that very SE submission service, the RIGHT one, will do for you:

A Good Search Engine Submission Service Submits Your Site To All Search Engines

The SE service will usually use an automated submission tool which will submit your site to the major search engines. Keep in mind that this would take you months, likely, and will still take time to get you listed by the search engines (a few weeks to a few months, depending), but your site will appear on most if not all of the following:

Alexa
AltaVista
Apinet
Big Finder
Entire Web
Exact Seek
Google
Info Tiger
Mixcat
Search It
Search Sight
Search Warp
Subjex
Surf Gopher
Tower Search
Moodule
National Directory
Quest Finder
What U Seek
Yahoo!

A Good Search Engine Submission Service Submits Your Site To All Major Indexes/Indices

The SE service will not use an automated submission tool which will submit your site to the major search indexes, per se, but will, once you take a very few minutes to decide, will submit for you those you indicate. These include the following:

DMOZ/ODP [Open Directory Project]
Emporium Directory
Jayde
MSN
Search King
Splat!
Turnpike
Yahoo! [All the Web]

A Good Search Engine Submission Service Submits Your Site To The Special Indexes And Open Indexes

The SE service will have some degree of capabilities to submit your site to those indexes that specialize in the same areas as or areas relevant to the content of your site/the products and/or services you offer at your site.

For example, if you are a freelance writer, offering ebooks and writing and editing services, you might have the search engine submission service list you at bluetreebooks.com, write it up, and other relevant indexes.

So, what does it mean to use an SE submission service and how do you know which one to go with?

In your research effort, read the guidelines and fine print disclaimers. For instance, Yahoo! Accepts free submissions, but those free submissions are prohibited in the commercial directory section, which costs. [Free submission is restricted to non-commercial sites.]

Also important to pay attention to…are those search engine submission services that GUARANTEE number one ranking!

Submission services just submit (do all the grunt work so you don't have to); they do not have any control over acceptance of your site, ranking statistics, or any other such omnipotent, or god-like, promises.

In fact, if you ignore careful investigation, such services may offer keyword and other manipulation that will instead get you black-balled by the top search engines.

So, try a professional service that is up front, efficient, and effective in helping you do what would otherwise take repeated and timely effort on your part (as you have to submit your site/pages on a recurring basis, staying fresh and updated every few months, that is).

Consider the following service, keeping in mind this writer has NO affiliation or investment in it…besides having used the service with great results:

Selfpromotion.com is a premier service. As you can probably tell by the name, you do some of the work, too. That is, you register with Tooter ( selfpromotion.com), you set up your profile and check the engines and indexes you want to submit to, and tooter does the rest.

If you are satisfied, you "donate" to the brains behind the service, Robert Woodhead (who is clear, concise, exacting, knowledgeable, and funny as all get out).

I am almost embarrassed to admit I sent a piddly ten dollars (as a new freelancer still building…), but will now return as Woodhead has done for me and so many others every few months, and send some more thank-you money.

A good search engine submission service is hard to find and should be revered!

For those of us that have more than one website to manage we are in 'awe' when we find that special search engine submission service.

Pop up Add Blockers

We all love to surf the Internet! That wonderful cyberspace of facts, ideas, and answers.

We turn to it daily when in need of some information.

Although we can't do without our trusty PCs and Macs, we can't stand the common annoyance of pop ups. These ridiculously random adds and websites pop up out of nowhere. I mean come on, we didn't even ask for them! What's the deal?

Pop-up ads or pop ups are a form of online advertising on the World Wide Web. They are intended to assist in increasing web site traffic or to capture email addresses.

A variation on the pop-up window is the pop-under advert. This opens a new browser window, behind the active window. Pop-unders are not in your face, but hide in the background. They are not seen until your current browser windows have been closed, making it more difficult to figure out which web site they came from.

Luckily we now have pop up add blockers! Whenever there is a problem, we work hard to create a solution, and pop up add blockers are certainly a solution we can all appreciate.

Do you hop online to find a product, or maybe just check your email? Don't you get frustrated when you can't even complete this one simple task?

Pop ups just keep coming. Every time you close one, two more open. Yikes!

Your first reaction may be to toss your PC out the window, but that isn't the most reasonable of solutions.

If you are able to type in the words, "pop up add blockers," then you can locate a solution to this travesty. No matter what search engine you use, all will give you results on pop up add blockers.

You can purchase software that will obliterate your pop up affliction, or some sites offer free downloads. Why pay when you don't have to. You can download a solution to those annoying pop up adds that often retard your net surfing. It's that simple.

Many browsers are designed these days with pop up add blockers. This is a must for any new computer you buy.

Being a Mac owner myself, my G4 Ibook came standard with the Safari browser, which has proven flawless. The Safari browser has the pop up add blocker option. I leave this on at all times. I have not once seen a pop up with this browser. I would assume that this feature works the same on PCs, because I know that it's available.

No matter which computer you prefer, pop ups are a thing of the past.

While pop up adds are definitely irksome, they also can leak spy ware and other garbage into your computer system.

The websites we view and emails we receive, leave us vulnerable to breeches. We do not want any of these corrupting our computer with a virus or slowing it down.

If you are having a problem with pop ups, jump online and you will surely find a solution fast. After all, the Internet should be a fun and fast place to surf, and it can be again with pop up add blockers.

Online Business Opportunities

The good news is that online business opportunities are everywhere!

If you are a budding entrepreneur or you are a seasoned business owner, online business opportunities may fit your needs perfectly.

These businesses are home based and require very little to get started, some as low as $35 for the initial business membership fee.

The advantages to owning a home based business are many, and all you really need is a well equipped computer system, a high speed internet connection, adequate work space, and commitment and dedication.

A huge investment isn't always required to take advantage of online business opportunities, as mentioned above, and those new to the whole thing should do their research, and speak with people who know something about what you want to do, before getting involved with something that is nothing more than a scam.

Reputable online business opportunities are listed in a number of online publications that post reviews and ratings for home based businesses, and are a good place to get reliable information to get you started.

My sister is a perfect example of someone who's fed up with the chaos and anguish of a work place. She complains constantly about having to go to work. Now, this isn't because she hates her work. She simply doesn't like the atmosphere. The noise, the tempers, the headache. Who needs it? She is always telling me that she would like to work from home.

Well, many people are making this happen these days with the Internet. If you have a business idea, then maybe you already know how to make money online. Start your own company. A friend of mine designs children's clothing and markets them online. She does this all from home. She even has a regular cliental now.

There is much more out there than stuffing envelopes and joining online affiliate programs, not to say that people cannot be successful in these ventures of course. Any type of home based online business opportunity must be right for the person who chooses to enter into the venture.

Obviously you wouldn't want to be a medical transcriptionist if you don't have the necessary computer equipment and the skills and the knowledge to do the job. The internet has opened up a whole new world for people who are tired of the traditional Monday through Friday, nine to five gigs, and the commute from hell. More people now work from home than ever before thanks to online business opportunities and the World Wide Web.

The key on how to make money online is finding your knack. What are you good at? You can research all of these things on the web. It's more than easy to get information on what you enjoy. Simply pick a topic involving your interests, then type in some keywords. You will receive a number of websites that can offer guidance. No matter what your aspirations are, there is likely to be a market for it somewhere.

You would be surprised at the number of things people can now do to make money in the privacy of their own home, without the travel and daily headaches.

More online business opportunities include web designers, graphic artists, and editors which all find work online. They can actually hang out at home all day, and not bother with the madness of the workplace.

It is ridiculous to assume that you can't make money online. With the popularity of the Internet, it's more than feasible to attain an online job.

Online business opportunities may be the answer for you if you want to be your own boss, to not have to be somewhere by a certain time, and conform to what someone else is telling you to do.

If you are motivated and have a bit of cash to get going, then you are well on your way to becoming an entrepreneur and possibly making more cash than you could ever dream possible. It happens, it really does! Just be knowledgeable about the online business opportunities you are seriously considering, and when you choose the right one, go for it with all you've got!

A Winning Marketing Strategy Internet Strategy

On a scale of one to ten, having a good marketing strategy, internet strategy, in business rates about a fifteen!

No matter what kind of business you have -- whether you sell products or a service, as the saying goes, "if you fail to plan, then you're really planning to fail."

Creating a business with no internet marketing strategy, or worse yet no strategy at all, can mean you working 60 to 80 hours a week all year long -- and losing money in the process.

On the other hand, you can be a smart and successful entrepreneur by planning out your marketing strategy. Internet strategy is what separates the losers from the winners. Those who have a business strategy (plan) work fewer hours and make lot's more money -- and they usually attribute their success to having a strategic plan and following it like a blueprint.

So what is a good marketing strategic business plan?

Very simply, it's the process of defining the goals and objectives for your business, creating a plan of action so you can reach your goals, and then following the plan.

How To Create A Marketing Strategy - Internet Strategy Blueprint

How do you create a winning internet marketing strategy plan for you business?

1) First, know what your vision for your company is. If there were no barriers, nothing stopping you from taking your company as far as you can -- what would that look like?

2) Next, what are your company's core operating values? What are its guiding principles? In other words, why are you in business and how do you do business?

3) Now create a 3 to 5 year plan. Your long-term plan is based on the broad objectives that will help you get from where you are now, to where you want to be.

4) Develop a plan for this year. These are the specific objectives you plan to accomplish this year that will lead you closer to your long-term goals.

Remember to be "SMART" when setting your annual goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-oriented). Include a list of the barriers that are stopping you from getting where you want to go.

Figure out what resources you've already got, and what resources you need to get you past those barriers. These include specific internet marketing strategies you'll use for your business.

Then create an action plan that clearly lays out how you will achieve your goals. Involve key employees or business partners with this part of the planning process.

5) Create a set of milestones or benchmarks. This is very important, so that you can measure your progress. Treat yourself to something special as you reach each milestone. (this makes it  much more fun and enjoyable as you reach each goal)

6) Share the plan with your employees, business partners, or anyone else who will be involved in the process. Your annual strategy is the roadmap that will make sure everyone ends up at the same destination -- but to be effective, everyone needs the same map!

7) Put the plan into action! Now that you have the roadmap, it's time to begin the journey. This is where most people fail. You must take action!

8) Check your progress. Just like any trip, you need to check the map every now and then; to be sure you're still on the right road. If something isn't working, the sooner you figure it out and make the necessary adjustments, the sooner you'll be back on track.

Keep in mind sometimes you'll need to tweak your marketing strategy. Internet strategy success is measured by testing and tracking your successes and failures. Keep the good and throw away the bad.

9) Follow the same cycle next year. (Dream, Plan, Act, Check).

Creating a business strategy and following it will ensure that you enjoy the journey as much as getting to your final destination.

Marketing A Business

Many of us now days are in search of that goldmine. We all want to know how to make money online. This way we can hopefully do something we enjoy, while doing so from the privacy of our own homes.

Whenever anyone starts off a business, one of the first aspects they concentrate on is getting new clients.

This is of course, assuming they have the necessary skills to survive in the business in the first place.

Once the clients are in, the projects begin. Once the projects begin, the work continues till the money comes in. And the cycle continues till the business finds new clients or the clients themselves finds new places to take care of their business.

But among the thousands of businesses I have had the opportunity to see through, very few, if at all, have ever concentrated on marketing a business.

Not many businessmen realize this, but marketing a business is probably one of the most important things they can do to grow their business.

A lot of people see getting new clients as marketing a business. Nothing could be further from the truth. Getting new clients is one of the aspects of marketing a business. But marketing a business involves a whole lot more than merely getting hold of clients.

Branding is a part of marketing a business. Sales too is part of it. Why, even something as backend oriented as accounting and book keeping is also an integral part of marketing a business.

In fact, marketing a business is all about creating a brand for the business. And branding is serious business.

Once a business, any business has a brand, it will begin to gather a reputation. And once it manages to gather a sufficiently large reputation, then clients will flock to it. So why waste time trying to get the clients to come to you when you can play all your cards right, concentrate on your core competency and the clients in turn come to you!

But before one presumes or assumes that marketing a business is easy work, one must realize that nothing again could be further from the truth.

Not only is any marketing serious and back breaking business, it is especially so in the case of business.

Marketing a business is no easy task. It takes years of assiduous application, a whole lot of patience and constant, consistent and dedicated skill before one can even begin to build a reputation. And the troubles don't end when a reputation has been built. It needs to be sustained. Only then can anyone reap the benefits.

Another strategy that most people overlook is positioning.

Positioning is the best plan that any business can implement.

Positioning is putting yourself in the right place in the eyes of your market. You get your market to know you as an expert that can be trusted. You get looked on as a reliable resource for information.

Positioning is easy to do. Just give free information of interest to your market. Your market is the people who would be likely to buy the services or products you offer.

There are tons of marketing concepts, but the most important first step is to draw up a plan for marketing a business. I assure you, you won't regret it.

Make Money From Home

Do you want to make money and live comfortably???

One key to making more money is to begin to really welcome the idea that money can come from anywhere, and at anytime. It starts with your mindset.

Whether you have millions now, or whether you are down to your last penny, the basic principle is the same: Be open to multiple sources of income.

 

A quick look at any internet-based job search results, be it on Craigslist or on another job site, will reveal a host of job offers enticing you to make money from home quickly and easily, raking in hundreds of dollars a day with just an email account and some quick thinking.

Even the newspaper classifieds have been filled with these ads, offering at-home data processing jobs or money-by-email offers.

Though a very few of these make money from home ads are legitimate, the grand share of them are scams. How do I know this? Because I was caught up in one of them myself.

Though the old envelope-stuffing or pyramid schemes have died out for the most part, these online make money from home schemes have quickly replaced them. They're nothing but enticing, offering good, easy money from the comfort of your own home and keyboard.

I was home from college for a few weeks and had a lot of time to kill before going back to school. I was pretty close to broke, so making money from home seemed like a great idea. I replied to one of the job postings, inquiring about the position and sending in my resume for the company's review.

I received a quick reply, which told me that I had been approved and that I would be processing all sorts of orders from home, all I needed was an email address.

The email was vague on what sort of work I would be doing, which should have roused my suspicions. It did, but not enough to make me stop reading.

The email said the only thing I had to do was complete a seven dollar payment to the company via PayPal to verify that I was serious about the application and to cover the cost of sending me my "training materials". This should have set off an alarm as well.

Imagine, you apply to work at a company, they agree to hire you, but ask you for a $10 bill first.

Still excited about my luck, I paid my money. In return, I received a MS Word file detailing how to propagate the scam, putting up job postings, offering the job processing orders, and then receiving money from the suckers who replied to the posting.

After a lot of badgering, the guy who scammed me eventually refunded my payment.

A quick Google search revealed that the scam is pretty well known, and that I should have realized that it was too good to be true.

If you really want to make money from home, stay away from these scams and look for postings which look for freelance writing, editing, or design work.

If anybody wants you to pay money in order to take a job you're going to get scammed without a second thought.

Logo Designs

Wherever you look these days, there are logos. We are surrounded by them. Logos on web sites, logos on t-shirts, logos on TV...

Logo designs seep into our sub conscious and become part of the culture. They are an effective marketing tool for companies and are worth a thousand words.

The owners of logo designs are very protective of them and will not allow any infringement. The logos are used across the brand, on advertisements and products.

Nothing is more effective in getting the attention of potential clients than a catchy logo onlookers can associate with your business. You don't have to be a professional artist to create an attractive logo for your business or for your personal use.

There have been logos in use since the early part of the 20th century. The classic Coca Cola bottle was one of the first to carry such a symbol. Posters, pub mirrors and tin wall advertisements had them too. Logo designs were on shop fronts, buses, railway stations and in newspapers. Nowadays, they also pop up on our computer screens and TVs.

Clothing manufacturers make extensive use of logos and many of us are walking advertisements for them. It's almost impossible to buy a tee shirt or a pair of jeans on the high street without a logo printed on.

Some people flaunt logo designs as status symbols. If people have bought designer labels such as Gucci and Fendi, they want other people to know about it. One of the most recognizable logo designs is the famous swoosh symbol of Nike. The three stripes Adidas logo is very familiar too. These logos are very minimal, as is the contemporary fashion.

Logo Designs - Text or Picture?

When designing a logo, carefully consider the merits of text-only, and whether a pictorial symbol is likely to add value. Words denote meaning, as they require little mental interpretation, even compared to picture symbols. We are used to picking out and interpreting strong words, as we do so hundreds of times every day.

A lot of time and money is invested in coming up with the right logo idea for a company. It's going to brand the products forever, unless a company is prepared to ditch it and invent a new one. British Airways and British Telecom did just that and no one really understands why. It must cost millions to change logo designs. They appear on every sheet of company stationary and literature.

The importance of a good logo is not lost on the music industry. Record companies want to shift product as much as anyone else. The classic logo designs help to define a band. The Rolling Stones are a prime example with their big, red lips logo. Heavy metal bands such as Metallica and Megadeth use gothic lettering to full advantage. The late Johnny Cash was always seen walking away with his guitar slung over his shoulder. The Explicit Lyrics Parental Warning stickers are probably the most potent of logo designs ever.

Logo Design Software

You don't have to be a professional artist to create an attractive logo for your business or for your personal use.

There are a number of logo design software options that make creating the icon quick and painless. Many of the products available are so easy to use that you can have an eye-catching icon that represents your business completed and ready to print within minutes.

AAA Logo design software is an example of the many products available on the market today. This software offers over one-hundred different templates that you can use to create your very own image. These templates allow you to make a creation that is entirely yours from scratch. You simply use the template to build your unique image from the ground up. The result is a personalized logo that reflects your skill and imagination.

My favorite software program for logo designs can be found here. I have been using this program since selling web sites for profit. The program is as easy as pie and definitely made for the beginner. You can create something very simple such as I have with my medical symptom web site within just a few minutes. If you want to create something with a little more spice that is easy to do as well. Check out these logos I have used in the past at Simple Digital Products.

You can offer logo designs to other small businesses for profit or even offer a few other great services to make even more money like eCovers and Flash Ads.

Logos are surely here to stay. If companies could put them on a chip and insert them into our brains, I'm sure they would.

A word of warning:

Many creative people want to express so much in very little space. Try to keep your general idea concise and clean. The logo designs in software programs offer a plethora of options and it is easy to make the icon way too complex.

Decide what it is you want to communicate and focus on that. Consider the message you are trying to convey and shorten the message to just a few words. After all, a picture paints a thousand words, but few people have time to absorb that much information. The ideal logo is clean, direct and eye-catching.

Logo designs will keep evolving just like new cars, electronic goods and so on.

How To Publish

Do you like to write in your spare time?

 

Would you like to know how to publish a book?

Do you sense you have what it takes to write a publishable non-fiction book?

Do you have a true story to tell, a teaching you want to express, or a set of guidelines which others would benefit from?

Do you have clearly brilliant ideas flash through your head? Do you suspect there is a target audience for them?

If you answered yes to all the above questions, and you want to know how to get published, and you do not know how to begin, here are some helpful suggestions:

Begin learning how to publish a book at your local library learning about book proposals. A book proposal is what all non-fiction writers must write first. Publishing houses or literary agents do not want to see your actual book first; they want to see a book proposal first. This fact may take some getting used to, but you must come to understand the importance of a book proposal if you want to know how to get published.

A book proposal consists of at least six main elements: It includes a short overview of what the book is to be about, a brief biography of yourself, a detailed description of the book's target audience, a book outline or chapter by chapter summary, one or two sample chapters, and a marketing strategies section.

Begin by writing the overview. This is usually about two pages, double spaced 12 point type. Essentially, it is a sales pitch. What is your book to be about, why would anyone one care to buy it, and who are the people that will be caring? You must answer those questions as strongly and succinctly as possible and you must also show why you are qualified to write the book.

Amongst the many good resources at the library, you should know about: How to Write a Book Proposal, by Michael Larsen. This book discusses all the details of how to get published and gives many examples of book proposals. Of particular importance is the section on "mini proposals," as these are becoming increasingly common in the publishing industry.

If you want more info on how to publish a book you can always contact a publisher and request an interview.

Working on your overview, and also the chapter summary section, will help you fine-tune and polish your book idea. At first, you may not like the idea of writing a book proposal. "Why cannot they just see my book, instead of seeing what my book will be about?!?" you may be asking.

As you start to understand how publishing houses work and how they are clearly in a business, you will start to understand how writing book proposals is the best way to help you learn how to get published. Book proposals are the easiest way for people to assess your idea and its market potential.

The good news you will find out is this: Writing the book proposal can save you a lot of wasted time. Why spend four years working on a book that has no audience? It is better to spend six months working on a book proposal and find out early on that your idea is not sellable.

The other good news is this: Once, writers used to go to the library or gather in groups to learn about resources, but the Internet has opened up an array of writers resources that are suited for writers of all different levels.

And best news of all: If your idea is sellable, writing the book proposal will fuel your inspiration. A great book proposal gives birth to a great book.

How To Earn Money

Many of us now days are in search of that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We all want to know how to earn money.

This way we can hopefully do something we enjoy, while doing so from the privacy of our own home. Let's face it, we don't want to deal with customers or the public. The public is full of angry patrons who take their daily frustrations out on you for no good reason. Why put up with them if you don't have to. The fact is that there are many options on how to earn money from home.

Stay at Home Moms

 

Stay at home moms make their children a priority but often they find it necessary to supplement the family income. Many want to find out how to earn money from home and still be able to care for their children. And many are doing it, too. Some are more than just supplementing the family income, they are replacing it. They are finding innovative ways of working from home and they are teaching others how to earn money in ways they've never imagined.

If It Sounds Too Good

If you want to make money over internet, you have to keep a certain fact in mind. You have probably heard this a thousand times before, but that does not make it any less true; if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Watch out for scams!

Discovering How to Earn Money

Others have learned how to earn money while still working a day job. They may do this temporarily as a way to save up for a vacation or a big expenditure that they normally couldn't afford.

Stay at home moms aren't the only ones discovering how to earn money in a way that is more convenient for them. Dads, singles, and grandparents are learning how to earn money and they are teaching others how to do it as well.

Many times people will object with the excuse that they just don't like selling things. Selling is not the only option for making money though. People are making money through web sites, publishing information, doing surveys, or offering services for things they enjoy doing.

Easy Ways to Earn Money

To get your cashflow started I recommend the Make Money 4 Real program. This is a great way to get some cash rolling in while your trying out different opportunities that interest you. Heck, you might just decide to stick with getting paid to do free offers along with the backend residual money that comes with it.

If you're looking for guaranteed easy ways to earn even more money, look around your house and itemize your own personal interests. If you're looking for ways to make fast money, think simple. Organize a garage sale, get rid of some things on eBay, offer to sell things for friends and family. If you're crafty and able to sell some of your creations, it may be a wonderful way to bring in some extra cash. Try to cash in on some of your hobbies and interests.

The key on how to earn money online is finding your knack. What are you good at? You can research all of these things on the web. It's more than easy to get information on what you enjoy. Simply pick a topic involving your interests, then type in some keywords. You will receive a number of web sites that can offer guidance. No matter what your aspirations are, there is likely to be a market for it somewhere.

You can start by searching for what interests you, such as affiliate sites, selling on Ebay, offering health products, selling candles or flowers, or any number of retail items and services.

You may even have a business now, that does not have a web site, and adding one would provide you with another way to market your products or services and make money online. Web sites enable you to reach millions in a market that is only going to increase over time, providing you with an innovative way to increase your income potential.

Many careers are attained with online work. Web designers, graphic artists, and editors all find work online. They can actually hang out at home all day, and not bother with the madness of the work place. Yaaa!

Do Your Research

Before you jump into something, do your research and find out what people want and need. You may not need to sell a product, but if through your research you find something popular, go for it.

You may have a service you could sell or information also to make money online. Start by checking out www.adwords.google.com or www.overture.com and search for keywords that interest you. You will be able to see which keywords are most popular and what most people are looking for. This will give you a place to start and help you decide what to sell.

Once you have decided on a product you'll need a domain name, and then develop a web site. You can do this yourself rather inexpensively or hire someone to do it for you. Once you have the web site, you must locate a hosting service to make it available to view on the internet.

Last, but not least, you must market your web site, so that you can get it viewed by as many people as possible. This can be the trickiest part. There are many ways to do this, on your own, through key word optimization, search engine optimization, and other professional web site marketing services.

Again, there are many ways to earn money. Look into the many options that are available before you settle on something. Talk to others in chat rooms and in forums about how to earn money. There are many online who have been doing this for some time and most of them are quite happy to share what they know. Ask questions. Get details. Think carefully before you choose. If you don't rush into anything you're more likely to find a way to make money that you'll enjoy and will be profitable for years to come.

Running a business can be more complicated than you might think, and simply setting up a web store does not guarantee that you'll make money. In order to really earn money on the web, you need a business marketing strategy, and hours of work to get everything rolling and eventually turn a profit.

How To Create Your Own Website

I am one of the last likely folks to tell you how to create your own web site, but in one respect, I am the best kind of person to help you.

That is because I, with no clue at first, did hours of studying and hands-on, self-taught, trial-and-error practicing (and screwing up so badly I had to start over) that I can give you a few hints on what to avoid, at least.

Further, because I used the experts who are revered as the net gurus of gurus, I figure I can at least direct you to their advice on how to create your own website.

Like I said... I started without a clue, then went on to selling websites for profit. Who would have thought? Mother of 7 has fun designing websites part-time and makes good money in the process! Hey, take a look at the name of this domain if you have any doubts.

 

With a little patience and determination you can do the same thing! All it takes is a little knowledge of html and learning to upload files and you'll be on your way.

If your in a hurry and want to skip the html learning curve there our some good page generating programs out there that are easy to use. Here is a free one that I use myself. (this one is very nice as it is so easy to use along with making you BIG money from Adsense and affiliate sales)

Another great software for creating websites is what I call Web Design Made Simple. This is another software program I use on a daily basis and is excellent for both beginner and pro.

Back to learning how to creating your own website with html...

You need to make the site readable and easy to navigate (also known as easily navigable)-need to make your site user-friendly, especially if you are setting up a place where people will come for products or services you want to get paid for.

This means you need to cut out most of the whirling, flashing junk; make the font readable (Verdana is typically the best choice and size should be easy to read for everyone from kids to older people); and you should have a menu.

The menu should have clickable pages. And the color should change once the user has clicked. There is no need to make the header of the page the user is on clickable. That is, for example, if user is on the HOME page, the menu word, HOME, does not need to be clickable, or "live".

Color specialists and psychologists and advertising professionals have spent hours and hours and money and more money to figure out what colors work best on a website. Many higher-end advice pages on how to create your own website will give you the stats and demographics (for which ethnicity or gender or age group, for example, is attracted to which colors). There are even cutting-edge, top-o-the-line reports on the latest color scheme successes.

But if you have little time or money, go with solid, crisp, unobtrusive colors and little (or NO) patterns. One picture-in the upper left-hand corner-will suffice.

Keep each page clean. Stay left-justified (no paragraph indenting), and break up paragraphs often, using anchor text (that which catches the eye) by BOLD-FACING and using lots of subtitles (also called sub-headers, for the html geniuses).

You do not need fancy, groovy, costly whistles, bells, or programs. If you own a pc, you likely have a program already which will be a complete package for building a site and which will also (typically) have a tutorial on how to create your own website.

Look for WebBuilder, or FrontPage.

Read a lot...

Read the site pages on how to build your own website at Jakob Neilsen's site, www.useit.com/alertbox .

Ed Zivkovic's Work at Home Webmasters, at www.ezau.com.

And even check out Robert Woodhead of Self Promotion.com, who not only gives clear and helpful advice on how to create your own website (keyword needs and all) but also offers a service to help you get your site listed with the major engines when you are done!

Of course, once you learn how to create a website, there is still the question of what to put on it. The Internet has so much junk already, just there to look cute and take up space, so it would be a shame to just add more to the trash.

Honestly, the secret to how to create a website which people will want to read is to understand, and write for your audience.

If your desired audience is just your friends, then it is easy. You simply have to put up things that your friends would like, such as pictures of social gatherings that you have together, and maybe information about what you are doing.

If you want a wider audience, however, a good bit more thought must go into creating your website.

Good luck and do it well!

How To Create A Web Page

The Internet is probably our prime source of entertainment these days. I mean, come on, think about how much time you actually spend online. We download music, watch movies, send email, work, write, and frolic endlessly in cyberspace, you name it. Suddenly, the high is to know how to create a web page. Everyone seems to want their own website or page to post somewhere.

Are You Wondering How To Create A Web Page?

If you are the type of person who is wondering how to create a web page, chances are that you have not done any hands on type of web design, maybe none at all. Really, creating a web page can be easy or very difficult, depending on how ambitious you are and what you want to include.

Creating A Blog

If you are only after creating your own blog, then there is absolutely nothing to it. All you really have to do is to register with one of the many services set up to make blogging easy, such as Blogger.com, myspace.com, or livejournal.com. They will tell you step by step how to create a web page, but believe me, it is easy to do on one of these sites. The layout is already set up for you, the page is basic and functional, and no programming knowledge is required.

If you are after something that is a little more fancy and hands on, than more effort is required. You can register a domain, for example, which will cost a few dollars. That way, you get to chose what name your website goes by, and set it up the way you like.

Point and Click Software

Once you do that, you can set out to learn html, however this will take you some time. A shortcut is to use software that is basically 'see and click' or what is referred to as "What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get".

There are several different types you can use and are especially useful for people who do not know much about how to create a web page, but want to do something customized on their own.

There our some really good page generating programs out there that are easy to use. Here is a free one that I use myself. This one is basically to create a websites with income potential from Adsense and affiliate sales.

Another great "point and click" software is what I call Web Design Made Simple. This is another software program I use on a daily basis and is excellent for both beginner and pro.

Some programs you may run into that are labeled "point and click" are sometimes offered with a web hosting service so no extra out of pocket expense is required other than your hosting fee. However, if you don't want to depend on a service and want something on your own desktop you may want to try out several other good html editors, namely Frontpage or Dreamweaver.

Going From Clueless to Selling Websites for Profit

I have always loved Frontpage and starting using it long before I became a web master. I actually went from not having a clue about how to create a web page to selling websites for profit. (right here on WebBizDeals)

My first introduction to Frontpage was using it to do my ads for eBay. Remember, I had no knowledge of html at this time. I used the software for about a year and without realizing it had learned how to create a web page, websites, and yes, I had learned html without knowing it. I have heard many other people say the very same thing. I then had people offering me money to create websites and that is when I knew I was now a webmaster. I went on to sell hundreds of websites on eBay.

Another great program I use occasionally is Dreamweaver. It is also very much like FrontPage and very easy to use.

Of course, learning one of these programs will take more effort than just pasting your text up on a blog, but if you want to know how to create a web page instead of using some prefabricated template, there is no better solution.

Personal Space

If you desire your own personal space for others to review and comment, no problem, it's available. Everyone is taking advantage of this goldmine of freedom and space that comes without a price tag, and the best thing is, it is infinite. It literally can't run out.

Internet sites such as smplanet.com and superpages.com will aid you in your journey to a personal web page. You can actually create web pages in minutes. Other sites like myspace.com are ruled by millions of random people, just looking for a place to post pictures and info about their selves and families. It is a good way to communicate and share on a public site without the hassle of monthly fees.

Although these personal web pages have become so popular, there are measures to take when diving into cyberspace. We have to remember that once we create a web page and post information on these public sites, our lives can be viewed by millions, and we may not always like who's viewing. It is always good to be careful as to what you post for the world to see.

Graphic Design Companies

One of the more popular fields to consider for today's job market is computers. This can range from a variety of different jobs involving software, hardware, or the Internet. A major career path now days concerns graphic design. Haven't you noticed all the graphic design companies out there?

There are many graphic design careers for people interested in getting into this creative field as well. You can choose a great job that suits your talents and individual personality since there are so many options. If you do a little research you may find a couple graphic design careers that will suit your dreams.

One of the most appealing graphic design careers is logo designer. This is a great job for someone who likes to work on short term projects and move on to the next thing. It also appeals to a creative mind that can focus on the fundamental elements of a company and squeeze it into a concise image.

The image will be used for years and years to come. It will probably last as long as the company. This great choice of graphic design careers is not for everyone, though. You have to have a keen eye and you have to understand the art of brevity and simplicity.

Go Solo or Join a Graphic Design Company?

You can become a logo designer and go solo or you may want to join one of the graphic design companies to get your feet wet. You'll always have the option of going solo later and working from home when you know how it all works.

If you want to show off your artistic abilities by drawing up intricate designs then this is not one of the graphic design careers for your personality. If your work is clean and concise, then a job as a logo designer may be perfect for you.

Let me tell you, graphic design companies are abundant these days. I think many people are drawn to this field because of the numerous job openings and competitive salary. Hey, that's something we all strive for, right?

If graphic design companies are going to offer a decent income, then folks will come a running with their new degrees.

My younger brother's wife chose a career with graphic design companies. I say companies because she's worked for two now. Hey, with competition comes better pay. It's all about supply and demand and the highest bidder.

So, have you considered a computer-based degree for your future career? It truly can mean the difference between success and unemployment.

I must admit that one of the benefits of working in graphic design is the freedom. A number of graphic design workers choose to work from home. This is always a bonus to any type of job.

Searching for Graphic Design Companies

If you are in search of employment from top graphic design companies, it's high time you get on the ball in cyberspace. The web is the only place to surf for new jobs these days. It's a synch to hop online and take advantage of the cool and innovative career search engines.

Check out which graphic design companies are hiring on Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com .

Also, check out this great logo software as a starting point for your own logo designs or if you wish to pursue your own business in graphic design.  eCovers and Flash Ads are just as simple and will make you look like a pro.

Targeted Web Traffic---How To Get Targeted Web Traffic To Your Website

Everyone who has a website knows that to have sales you must have traffic, or what some people refer to as visitors. Having traffic is good, but having targeted web traffic is a whole lot better!

 

How To Get Targeted Web Traffic To Your Website

What is Targeted Traffic?

It is simply visitors to your website that have an interest in what your website topic is about. For instance, people interested in buying coins will find coin websites on the web interesting.

On the other hand suppose our guy, Joe, who has an interest in coins likes to browse around the Internet looking for specific coins for his coin collection. Makes sense, right?

Well, suppose Joe clicked on a link while browsing and ended up at your beauty salon site. Joe has no interest in beauty products and could really care less, so clicks off your site as quickly as possible. This is called traffic, but it is in no way targeted web traffic.

Targeted Web Traffic is all about finding the people who have an interest in your topic or product.

How do I get targeted traffic, I can hear you asking?

The following are proven and tested methods for getting targeted web traffic:

LINKING. Contact website owners that have similar, but not competitive websites to yours, and ask them for a reciprocal link from their website to yours. Be sure to select your link partners with care. You want to match closely your customer's profile.

FORUMS. Subscribe to forums that discuss your topic of interest. Answer questions and join in the discussions. This is called becoming an expert in your chosen field (or topic). People will see you as an expert by the posts you make on the forum. This is a great way to drive targeted traffic to your website as each post you make will include a signature file which will have a link to your website.

Each post or reply you write on the forum should have a discreet link to your website in the signature file.

What can be placed in your signature is often determined by the forum moderators. Keep in mind: do not spam the forum or you will be kicked off and no longer be able to post comments.

This is one of the most productive ways of getting free traffic to your website as those who click your link already have an interest.

VIRAL MARKETING: E-Books: often used, these are usually free informational books for your visitors that all who receive them can also give away freely. Since you will have links inside the ebook to your website or affiliate products it's a win-win situation.

NEWSLETTERS. When people visit your website you can offer something of value for free if they sign up to your newsletter (like a mini e-Book). Your newsletter should be written tightly geared towards your website topic. It should be published regularly at weekly or bi-weekly intervals.

ARTICLE MARKETING. Article marketing seems to be the latest rage and with good reason. It's by far the best free method of promoting your business and increasing your sales and opt in subscribers.

By submitting your articles to article directories, article announcement lists, and ezine publishers, you accomplish several things:

You establish yourself as an expert in your field. Readers are more likely to listen to you if they feel you know what you are talking about.

By attaching a resource box to your article, you are giving the reader a link to your website. If the reader is impressed with your knowledge, they will likely click on your link to see what it is that you are offering. This is true targeted web marketing at work.

E-ZINES. Contact e-zine owners that have your target readership and buy advertisements from them. Be sure to TEST a small run to see that the return on investment is sufficient to cover the costs involved. If you are purchasing an extended run of advertisements haggle with the e-zine owner for a discount on the price. This is a secret inside tip most people are not aware of, but can save you a considerable amount of money.

JOINT VENTURES. Contact online marketers looking for new products to sell. They often have large mailing lists with eager to buy customers. Normally they are willing to email their list with an offer for a good commission. This works particularly well with informational products such as ebooks and downloadable information. Again, it is a win-win situation. It can boost your income enormously in a very short period of time.

BUY TRAFFIC. This is probably the cheapest in terms of time and most expensive money wise. It gives a traffic boost normally within 30 days.

What are you buying?

You are buying traffic from expired domain names which the company selling the traffic has bought. They are domain names still registered on the search engines which are still getting a considerable amount of traffic. The previous domain name owners have either lost interest in the site or simply forgot to renew the registration.

This means that the traffic from the expired domain name is simply redirected to your website. This is usually high quality traffic as only websites with traffic such as you want is redirected to you. As always, a test run to see if this traffic is suitable for your website topic is highly recommended.

When you apply some of these techniques consistently over time you will find a rich source of targeted web traffic coming to your website. This, combined with quality products will ensure the success of your online business.