How to Boost Traffic to Your Blog:Keyword Research

by: Ryen Kim

How to use keyword research as traffic building method? If you are serious to make money from blog, you must think about keyword before you write. And use that keyword repeatedly (more frequently than your high school English grammar teacher would say "it's a good English.") in your blog. Why you have to use a keyword? Using keyword in your blog is one of powerful ways to bring traffic to your blog. Why? It's simple. People search using keywords to look for information. If your blog includes those keywords, they will find your blog from the search engine result page and will come to you to find the information they were looking for. But is that really simple like that? Not exactly. Two things must be considered. The keyword you're using must be related to your blog topic. When you're blogging about 'racing car' for example, if you use 'basketball' as a keyword, it won't help you bring the traffic. Moreover, if the visitor came to you to find information about 'basketball', he will leave your blog having bad impression on you because he couldn't get any relevant information from your blog. So, the rule number 1 is to use the keyword related to your topic. Suppose you discovered high demand keyword (a keyword many people uses) related to your blog topic, does using that keyword guarantee you a lot of traffic? What if many bloggers are talking about similar topic using that keyword? If so, although many searchers use that keyword, probably they'll go to other bloggers who are ranked more highly in the search engine than you. The point is that you have to find the keyword that has high demand but a few supply. In other word, you have to find 'niche keyword.' How to find the 'niche keyword'? It's two fold. First, find the demand and then the supply. How to find the demand of the keyword? Use a keyword search tool. I found Search It is handy and best of it's free. A con is that an additional promotion page provided by SBI (Site Build It) will be open. But you can close it and that doesn't harm you from using search tool, Search It. Here is a short introduction on how to use "Search It!" Once you get through Search It, you will see Search It! window which has 4 boxes. Suppose you want to talk about 'car', choose 'Brainstorming' at step 1 box in the "Search It" window, choose 'overture suggestion' at step 2 box type 'car' (without quote) at step 3 box click 'Search It!' button (you may notice that there is step 4, but you don't need to fill it at this stage. If you try write something the program will tell you that you don't need to choose at this time.) then a leading page will be open, which explains the technique you are using. Click 'Please .....results.' link to see the result. the resulting page looks something like, Count SearchTerm 3467549 car 1914166 car insurance You see the number in Count column? That's the demand of the keyword. You also notice that other search terms are shown in the result page. Save this keywords and count somewhere, in case you have to refer it later. How to know the supply of the keyword? For this end, you don't need any other tools. Just go to Google, Yahoo or whatever search engine you like and type car in the search box. Look upper right bar of the search result page and you can find something like "Results 1 - 10 of about 301,000,000 for ''car". The number '301,000,000' is the approximated number of supply. For sure, not all of them are blog, but realize that if you talk about car you're just 1 out of 301,000,000. This means that you may not pick up "car" as your keyword and choose other topic if you want many visitors to find your blog from the search engine. This is why you need to save above demand table somewhere. Now that you know the topic "car" is too competitive, the next thing you can do is to find the number of supply for other keywords from the table you saved. Continue this step until you find less competitive keywords. You may choose several keywords and use them in your blog. But remember that if you post a short blog, it's better to focus on only one keyword. If it's long, you may choose primary and secondary keyword. To sum up, Use Search It to find reasonable demand of the keyword related to your blog. Check the number of supply from a search engine, for example, Google. Choose the keywords that have high demand and low supply. Finally use that keyword in your blog repeatedly with the frequency of a bit more than your high school English teacher would tell you. You may want to know how to write so that you can increase traffic, which is the topic of how to boost traffic to your blog: part 2. You can read it at Traffic to Blog:Part 2. About the Author Ryen Kim is an MBA, specialized in marketing research and analysis. His current focus is blogging and home based affiliate business as a work-at-home scheme. He is a founder of Blog Sites and running Hom Based Affiliate Business web site.

Blogging For Profit; The Simple Success Strategies Of A 19 Y

by: Ian Canaway

A blog is a simple but powerful tool which all marketers and businesses should be utilising to explode their sales, build credibility and improve customer retention. I've been doing a lot of research with regards to blogging and came across a case of a 19 year old kid who was making something ridiculous like $50,000 a year with a blog on mobile phones, from his bedroom! This is an extraordinary case but clearly there is a good earning potential through blogs, however they do take time to grow and build up a readership. Blogs provide a very simple, quick and easy means to add fresh content to your website. As I’m sure you’ve heard many times over ‘content is king’ from a search engines’ view point and by providing high quality, regularly updated content your website should benefit with regards to your search engine ranking. By providing fresh, high quality relevant content you will gain an increase of both first time visitors and repeat visitors, they will come back to check out your new content. Providing it’s interesting, relevant and useful to them, you will begin to build relationships with your readers, increasing your credibility and building their trust in you and your business. These repeat visitors will be exposed to your messages more and begin to trust you and your recommendations. This in turn will fuel sales and referrals. Just make sure you don’t recommend a product you haven’t tried, if it is bad you will lose all credibility. Whenever you buy a new product, review it in your blog and be brutally honest, your readers will love you for it. Take a completely unbiased view point and talk about both the positives and negatives of each product. In essence you are providing more of an insight into the product than the sales page itself, this will help convert those prospects that are ‘sitting on the fence’ so to speak. As it has been shown that prospects are seven to ten times more likely to buy from a blog recommendation than from other sources! There are many ways in which you can monetize your blog, for example, by using it as a tool to promote your own products or affiliate programs. Other ways that you can generate extra income through your blog are through the Google Adsense program, selling banner/link space as your traffic increases or by adding you own opt-in sign up form to which you send your newsletter or other targeted offers. Your blog can be syndicated using RSS, enabling savvy webmasters to use your blog content on their web pages. This benefits them as they have regularly updated fresh content for their website and benefits you through increased exposure, free targeted traffic and extra inbound links. To get the most benefit from my blog I use a technique called ‘blogging and pinging’, whereby every time I post to my blog, I ping Ping-o-matic.com to inform the search engines and blog directories I’ve updated my blog. You should submit your blog feed to blog directories to gain more exposure. You can do this manually however, these are three automated sources that I have had the most success using and best of all…they are free! http://pingomatic.com/ http://www.rssfeedpromoter.com/. http://www.feedsubmitter.com/ Be passionate about your blog, love your blog. If you do not then it will become obvious through your posts and you are unlikely to be anywhere near as successful as you could be. Add to your blog regularly provide good quality content and reviews and you will be on your way to blogging success. About the Author: Get your FREE step by step guide to setting up your first blog, visit: http://www.trafficstrategiesonsteroids.com/blogsetup.pdf - Ian Canaway will help you launch your very own money making website today that's 100% ready to take orders and pull in massive profits for you right now. guaranteed! http://www.asuccesfullhomebusiness4u.com Source: www.isnare.com

Make Money Blogging Using These Nine Powerful Strategies

by: Brandon Hong

I'm sure there are more creative ways to make money blogging, the ideas below are meant as a resource pool for you to draw from, and a launchpad to kickstart the thinking process of making money from blogging.... The question "How to make money blogging" sits high on every blogger's mind. In fact I received many questions on "How to make money blogging" when I conducted my first webcast to answer my subscribers' most pressing questions on Blogs and Rss. You can make money Blogging in a number of ways, and in this article I share with you up to nine ways in which you can make money blogging. 1. Make Money Blogging by Selling Advertising Space Before the advent of Blogs, we have e-zines and selling advertising space on ezines was a popular way to earn extra money. If you run your own Blog, you can let others advertise in your Blogs with banner ads, solo ads, sponsor ads, classifieds and so on. Now that we have Blogs, you can repeat the same business model that e-zine publishers do, that of selling advertising space. One popular advertising company that helps Bloggers look for advertisers is Blogads (www.Blogads.com). Besides placing advertisers ads on your Blog, you can also make money Blogging by placing Google Adsense into your Blog. In my "Marketing Rampage with Blogs and RSS" Videos, I show you how you can customize your Blog template to include the Google Adsense into your Blog template so that you can make money blogging. 2. How to Make Money Blogging by providing technical services such as Blog hosting or setting up Blog You can also earn money blogging by providing technical services such as helping people to set up their Blogs or providing your own Blog hosting service. One example of this is www.typepad.com . This is a Blog hosting service provider that charges a monthly fee. Typepad lets you create your Blog and they will host your Blog for you, and provide you with a number of Blog features. 3. Make Money Blogging by setttin up joint venture marketing Joint Venture marketing is a powerful marketing strategy employed by many top online marketers. Basically how joint venture works is this: You promote person B's products to your subscriber and customer list, and you get a cut from whatever sale that follows from this promotion. You can apply the principle of joint venture marketing to Blogs as well. If you have a substantial readership to your Blog, you can also promote or endorse certain products to your Blog readers and this way, and split the profits from the sales generated. This is another way to make money blogging. 4. How to Make Money Blogging from using the Membership model Over time, if your blog has lots of postings and provide good quality content, you can consider turning it into a membership site and charge access for it, again giving you another avenu 5. Make Money Blogging by turning your Blog contents into products Another way in which you can make money blogging is to repackage your Blog contents into an e-book or an audio product and sell it. For example, if you run your own Podcasting show or an 'online radio show', you can easily compile your podcast recordings into a CD compiliation and sell it. 6. How to make money blogging by swapping blogs You've heard of ad swapping when it comes to e-zine publishing, where publishers publish each other's ads in their own e-zines. This way, you save on adveritising costs. You can repeat the same model to Blogs, as swap ads on Blogs as well. So instead of paying up front, you get to save, which means more money for you to spend! 7. Make money blogging by turning blog contents into RSS feeds and sell it as premium feeds Your blog contents can be turned into an RSS feed. If the content is good, you can look for web businesses that are looking for good content for related topics and sell their feed to them. 8. How to Make Money Blogging by well, asking! Hey, who's stopping you from putting a PayPal donation jar or button on your Blog? After all, there are lots of generous people out there you know. 9. Make Money Blogging as an Affiliate Marketer Another way you can make money blogging is by promoting other people's products on your Blog. This is also known as affiliate marketing. In affiliate marketing, you get paid a commission when someone clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase. Depending on the subject of your Blog, you can recommend products that solve people's problems. For example, I had a subscriber who asked me how she can blog about cats and make money from blogging about cats. I shared with her that firstly, perhaps she might want to go niche instead of targeting the broad category of "cats", and using the example of a Persian cat, which is a niche by itself, she can start a blog on Persian cats, providing valuable information as well as recommended solutions and products to the upkeep and maintenance of Persian cats. About the Author Brandon Hong is the author of "Marketing Rampage with Blogs and RSS" Videos E-course and also "Blogs and RSS Revealed" comprising an Ebook and Audio webcast, that teaches businesses strategies of building more responsive buyers and increasing search engine rankings, using Blogs and RSS. www.blogs-and-rss-revealed.com www.marketing-rampage-with-blogs-and-rss.com

Choosing The Right Blog-Tools

by: Gunnar Berglund

Choosing The Right Blog-Tools Bloggers are constantly discovering new ways to express their ideas through new markup. There are bloggers who are using the latest state-of-the-art “visual” web design programs, but few others consider using HTML code is not a bad idea altogether. The XHTML family can accommodate extensions through XHTML modules and techniques to develop new XHTML-conforming modules. These modules permit the combination of existing and new feature sets when developing content and when designing new user agents. With so many different ways to access the Internet, the XHTML family is designed keeping in mind the general user agent interoperability. Through document profiling mechanism, servers, proxies, and user agents are able to create best effort content transformation. This language is both RSS and XML conforming. The content can be readily viewed, edited, and validated with standard XML tools. XHTML documents can utilize applications (e.g. scripts and applets) that rely upon either the HTML Document Object Model or the XML Document Object Model. Bloggers may also use Movable Type for the weblog. Movable Type is a powerful, customizable publishing system, which installs on web servers to enable bloggers to manage and update weblogs. This enables a blogger to hand edit the other parts and pages, including the Daily Links, in TextPad. Bloggers may use a date format string for the individual entries, and for monthlies. Movable Type Installation is followed by Plugins. There are many to choose from. MT Plugin Directory and the Movable Type Support Forums are two resources that can be referred to. Most of the plugins make users typographically correct and enables them to properly use curly-quotes, ellipses, em-dashes, and en-dashes. A feature of pluggins combines trackbacks (comments on other articles from other blogs) and comments into one page. Another use is to create author comments and addendums in the comments engine. Few plugins may allow bloggers to add additional fields, example: using keywords field to create additional fields. Few others create a collection of links at the bottom of each individual entry page. Title attributes can be used with all the links. Movable Type includes a default RSS Feed. Bloggers may set up individual feeds for each thread and comments feed by following the naming convention of individual archives - changing it to an .xml ending. Bloggers may even add a Subscription Field. Also, bloggers may consider using a WebDrive in place of a FTP client. This tool is used to map FTP and WebDAV servers to a network drive letter in Windows using remote files like local ones in any application. Blogger may also consider using validated HTML 4.01 Transitional code with a validated stylesheet. Blogs demand more than graphic design and HTML proficiency. They demand extensive interaction with visitors. So, installing a Discussion Forum is a must, as it allows communities to exchange ideas and opinions. Tools that could be considered are database programming, CGI/Perl scripting, Flash animation etc. In addition to this, bloggers may consider having an Accessory Sideblog - another blog that stores ancillary information and tools for the existing blog. Accessory Sideblog allows: · Easy updation · Changes in entries/ information from within Movable Type interface · Availability of comments and trackbacks Bloggers may consider buying opensource weblogging softwares. These easily installable softwares offer features like: fully-integrated comments, searching, file uploading and image handling, completely customizable output through dozens of templates and variables, multiple author support, etc. For example: few blogs allow bloggers to provide a template of their page that indicates where they want your posts to appear. Clicking the "Publish" button automatically sends their new page to the website where they want their blogs to appear. Similarly, there are sites that enable bloggers to place the RSS feed of their blog onto any html page. For example: bloggers can copy the completed JavaScript and paste it on any web page they would like to distribute. Bloggers can host their blog on their own as well with any good web-hosting company. They can choose a good web host, buy space on their server and host their blogs with them. ------------------------------------------- © 2003 - 2004 Gunnar Berglund About the Author Gunnar Berglund has been a "internet- hardworker" for the last four years He publishes The meonit Gazette http://gazette.meonit.com and run http://www.emarketingprofit.com

Comparing Free Blogging Software

by: Don Beavers

With the increased interest in Blogging (web Logging), many web hosting providers now provide an assortment of free usage, open source blogging software packages. Among the most popular of these blogging tools are B2evolution, WordPress and Nucleus. Each of these programs offer similar basic features, so the question arises as to which one is easiest to use and would be appropriate for the requirements of your particular website. The answer lies in the true purpose of your blog website. If your primary goal is to share your opinions and ideas with the general public, you would want to utilize a different blogging tool than a user who was creating product blogs as a commercial sales effort. A blog for search engine promotion would have entirely different requirements. All of these uses are viable reasons to create a blog, however each requires different features to be successful. WordPress Blogging Software Available for free download at: http://wordpress.org/ It is hard to beat WordPress for general personal blogging. WordPress is an open source, state-of-the-art personal publishing platform with a focus on presentation and usability. Everything related to creating and updating your blog is available through an intuitive graphical interface. With WordPress there is no need to compile your work. You simply write your column. You then select the features you want and your blog is instantly created and published to your website. If you are on vacation, you can schedule your uploads for some date in the future or even email your column to the server! The system allows multiple users with multiple blogs divided into categories and sub-categories. This allows multiple family members or friends to create their own blogs along with yours. Easy customization and the availability of many "plug-ins" that provide more functionality (add new features as you learn) makes this software a very good choice for most individuals. B2evolution Available for free download at: http://b2evolution.net/ B2evolution is another advanced web log tool that features an integrated XHTML validator. It supports recursive subcategories, cross posting and has a really cool integrated "skinning" system. The "skinning" system allows you to create multiple blogs in separate categories with different appearances for each blog. You simply "change the skin" for the blog to create a totally new look and feel. The "skinning" feature, combined with the built in multi-user administration management tool, makes the system robust enough for more commercial endeavors, such as product promotion blogs. If you have much to publish with multiple themes, this is the software you are looking for. Nucleus Blogging Software Available for free download at: http://nucleuscms.org/ Though Nucleus is an extremely robust blogging tool in its own right, it also contains some powerful features that can provide benefits in promotion of your blog. Nucleus offers the ability to optimize its URLS, creating simple page addresses that do not have and "&" or "=" characters. This makes the pages search engine (and user) friendly. Another great feature is the ability to show the contents of multiple weblogs on one page. This could allow a website owner to manipulate the optimum text / keyword balance on pages for better search engine rankings. Nucleus also provides RSS and Atom feeds that can be extremely helpful when promoting a website. If part of your blog's function is to work as a search engine marketing and promotion tool, Nucleus is an exceptional software package. Each of these blogging software packages offer the basic tools that you would need to create a successful blog and all three are PHP - MySQL open source (free to use) packages. You should try to select the software that helps you achieve the long term goal that you have in mind for your website based on the unique extra features offered by each. About the Author Don Beavers lives in Bryan, Texas and is an enterprise level PHP-MySQL programmer at the Datavor Web Directory and at the Shopping Elf directory Shopping Guide

What Is A Blog? - A Beginner's Guide to Understanding Blogs

by: Michael Turner

A blog is short for weblog, which simply means a website that is updated frequently with new information and is organized by date and submission. Blogs are typically a way of journalizing information whether it be personal, business, or what have you. It’s like an editorial and a journal all mixed together and available online for constant updates and submissions. As a beginner, you probably want to know more about blogs and why people are using them. Blogging started out when the Internet was new and the individuals who were technology savvy found it fun and entertaining to post different things they found on the web for other people to visit and enjoy. It caught on quickly and a community of blogs developed, allowing people to read other peoples blogs. As time went on, new technology was developed that allowed even the non-techie to create their own blog and join the blog culture. Blogs are popular because they relay experiences, interesting thoughts, comments, photos, web links, and plenty of other information that people find interesting. Today, blogging is really popular and many people will send you a link to their blog so you can keep up with their experiences such as vacations, studies, pregnancies, and any other thing you can possibly think of. What started out as a way to navigate the web and figure out all of the newness that was the Internet of the early ‘90s, turned into a way for people to journalize their experiences, share photos, and keep people up to date on their lives. In response to the popularity of blogs, many websites launched software and free sign-ups for blogs so anyone could have their own blog and share their experiences with the entire world. And so, blogging has continued to grow and weblogs have multiplied into the millions. In fact, there are so many blogs on the web that you can practically become part of your own community with people worldwide, sharing your life, experiences, and thoughts with people you would never have met. Blogs truly are linking people together and they are an amazing phenomenon. If you are interested in blogging, all you have to do is join one of the many blog websites that will allow you to set up your own account and have your own blog space on the web, giving you a personal space to share photos, experiences, stories, links, and basically anything else that you care to share. Many people even find that writing blogs are excellent stress relievers and quite cathartic, so you might receive some additional benefits from your blog than just the joy of sharing your personal information. Go online today and find a blog website where you can set up an account and get started! About the Author Michael Turner shows you exactly how to increase web site traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it today at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/

How to Use A Blog for Free Traffic

by: Leah J Bradshaw

One of the Number 1 traffic building secrets is adding content to your website. Have you ever considered that a blog could be the tool that makes this very possible, fast and extremely easy to do. Blogs are written in RSS or Atom, both very effective content managment systems. Getting a blog for free is easy at www.blogger.com. After you set up your blog you need to change your settings to archive daily so you have a new page of content every time you make a post to your blog. Blogging daily is best if you want to add new content every day. If you archive daily, then post each day the blog software will generate a new page of content for you. It's definately the fastest and easiest way to add content. The best way to integrate a blog into your website is to make your website into a blog. If you have fresh relevant content on your blog then top search engines like Google will return more often to gobble up that fresh content. That means your site will be spidered more often, and if you just built another page you want spidered, just leave a link within your blog posts to that page and the spider will follow it. This is a great way to get your pages spidered fast. But it's important to have the pge you are linking to be somewhat related to the topic of your post. Google is getting more picky about the content of the pages where your incoming links are coming from. Also, it is important to optimize your blog just as you would for a website if you want to get theat free targeted traffic. Optimizing is easy, include your keywords within the title and description of your blog, as well as in the title posts occasionally. And don't forget to include the same keywords within the link text of your incoming links to your blog. Most bloggers don't see the traffic potential their blog holds if it was oiptimized just like any other webpage. One more factor to consider: Google loves blogs Not simply because it's a blog, but because of the nature of blogs; They usually have fresh relevant content on a specific topic. That's what Google loves. Give it what it wants and it will visit you more often. About the Author Leah J. Bradshaw is the author of the Free Targeted Traffic Report; "Jumpstart Your Traffic in as Little as 10 Days". She also authors a Moms Free Traffic Blog to help work at home moms get free traffic.

How to Get Started Blogging in 5 Minutes or Less

by: Linda J Bruton

I put off starting a blog for a long time because I thought it would be hard. I thought it would be technical. I thought I'd have to install scripts and tear my hair out getting them to work. At that point, most of what I'd read about blogs and RSS was just so much geek-speak. Was I ever wrong! When I finally got the courage to give it a go, I went to blogger.com and signed up for an account. To my amazement, I had a blog set up in about 5 minutes. My first post was uploaded to my site about 10 minutes later. The only thing even remotely technical I was required to do was enter the FTP settings for the website my blog would be published on. But even that wasn't a requirement. With Blogger, you can set up a blog on their site, Blogspot, and not even worry about FTP settings. Since then, I've started 3 Blogger blogs on different sites. Blogger remains one of the most popular blog applications in the world simply because it is so simple to use and set up. If you're a technophobe or don't have the time to learn something completely new, I would urge you to drop by Blogger.com and take a look. You could be blogging - and enjoying the benefits - almost immediately. Another very simple blogging tool is Wordpress. This blog is my first Wordpress blog, and I'm very impressed with how powerful it is - as well as simple. Wordpress is installed on your own website, but don't let that stop you. Most hosts that have Cpanel already have Wordpress ready for you to install. Look in your Cpanel for the Fantastico application, click it open, and then choose Wordpress to install. It will automatically install it on your site for you, and you can start blogging right away. If your host doesn't already include Wordpress in the scripts on your server, you can still pick it up at: http://wordpress.org/ Then go to the Wordpress Wiki for instructions on how to install it in 5 minutes: http://wiki.wordpress.org/?pagename=5MinuteInstallation Wordpress is free, open-source software. It is very simple to install, even for technophobes, and has a lot of online documentation. There are also many sites with free Wordpress add-ons and templates. I'm using a template for this blog that I picked up at Alex King's site: http://www.alexking.org/index.php?content=software/wordpress/styles.php The Wordpress Wiki is a wealth of information on all things Wordpress, including installation instructions, help files, a long list of template sites, and all kinds of hacks and extras you can use to modify your blog and make it original. If you're a Wordpress user, another place to visit is the Wordpress discussion forum: http://wordpress.org/support/ If you're a new blogger, both Wordpress and Blogger are very user friendly. There isn't a long learning curve. And you won't have to learn any new technical tricks. Why not give one of them a try? About the Author For more tips and ideas on how to make money blogging, be sure to visit my "Why Marketers Should Blog" weblog at (what else) http://www.WhyMarketersShouldBlog.com

10 Ways You Can Use Blogs RIGHT NOW

by: Andy Wibbels

Now that you have got a basic understanding of the ins and outs of blogs, and some options available, you're probably wondering: How does this help my business? How does it help me to stand out? 1. Team Communication. Companies use blogs internally to communicate project status to stakeholders and managers. It beats clogging everybody's email with mass broadcasts. It allows these missives to be archived, indexed and easily searched. 2. Enrich Your Clients. You can easily link to articles and resources relevant to your readers and their needs. You can more easily attract experts to provide value-added content to your audience. 3. Get to Know Your Customer. Nobody buys from someone they don't know. Blogging allows you to demonstrate your expertise and point-of-view quickly and easily. In addition, blogs allow the customers to receive your updates in the format they choose. 4. Collaborate. You can create your own marketing buzz to drive attention and buyers to your products and services. Some companies use internal blogs to report on projects or to track work groups distributed around the world. 5. Research and Development. Weblogs are the perfect forum to test out new ideas and receive instant feedback. You can allow others to see how you develop your products and services, and at the same time, they can tell you how best to serve them. 6. Go Global. Blogs, like other online media, allow you to take your business and ideas to a global market. Translation services are getting better every day, allowing more people to read online content in different languages. I've helped bloggers from New York to New Zealand, from Indiana to India. 7. Hidden Entrance to the Press. Journalists are busier than ever and blogs provide a virtual directory of pundits on any topic. You and your company can be the content expert they're looking for. Furthermore, if your company is talked about in the blogosphere it could end up using that exposure as a back door to the press. 8. Get Published. Publishers are turning to blogs to find new writing talent. Blogs can give a publisher a taste of your writing style as well as a sample of your depth of knowledge. Content specific blogs show a a commitment to a certain topic or subject matter. 9. Write your book. Let your readers help you write your latest book or article. Post chapters or ideas, then let readers help you in researching, testing and suggesting ideas. Or, use a blog after your book is published to update the material or to answer questions from readers. 10. Success Stories. Invite clients to blog about their successes with your products and services - it's like a living testimonial that never ends. As clients share their experiences, your prospects can see first-hand how you can help them, too. Copyright © 2005 Andy Wibbels About Andy: Andy Wibbels is a blogging evangelist and creator of the Easy Bake Weblogs seminar that has helped hundreds of small businesses all over the world leverage blogs and RSS news feeds to increase profits and save time. You can download his free special report on business and blogs at http://easybakeweblogs.com/.

Make Money Blogging

by: Matt Bacak

You have created a blog and your blog is dedicated to a niche industry. Have you ever thought that the blog could make money for you? We would look here in this article, ways and means, to make money blogging. Lets first have a look at what are the prerequisites for a blog needed to make money: 1. Blog needs to be dedicated to a niche market. 2. Updated regularly. 3. Enough back links (Don't worry for it. Directory submission would be enough to begin with) 4. Good blog host or application (blogger, Xanga or typepad recommended), and 5. High quality articles or news items supported with images. Get the above criteria in place and Hurrah... You are ready to Make Money Blogging. Top 5 Ways to Make Money Blogging Lets now take a look at top 5 ways using which you could make money blogging: 1. Google Adsense Google Adsense delivers text and image ads to the authorized websites/blogs depending on the content of the website. Small code is required to be pasted at proper locations on a webpage and Google automatically recognizes the page. Google shares the revenue it gets from the advertisers whenever a visitor clicks on these ads. Google bills advertisers on price per click basis (PPC). Advertisers are required to pay only when any visitor clicks on their ads. They bid against each other for the keywords in order to receive better placement and thus prices for each keyword differ from one another. It is better to choose keywords for your blog which pays high $ per click. 2. Amazon Amazon Associate program is another important way to make money blogging. The Amazon Associate program gives opportunity to website/blog publishers to promote any product from its inventory by adding a predefined code to their website/blog, which, when clicked by a visitor, takes them to the relevant product page. Once the visitor buys the product, the blog owner will be compensated with a commission. 3. Blogads You can use Blogads as an effective tool to have a better control over the advertisers in your blogs. You can analyze and compare your profits with any one of your online agencies. Blogads can be simply specified as an advertising service used for the web logs or blogs. From the total money generated by Blogads, it retains 20% of it and the remaining money is paid to you through PayPal or checks. Alternative Services: • Crispads is another useful network focused on the blogs. You can put your advertisements in their blogs using Crispads. You can move through their RSS/ATOM feeds that help in generating revenues. • Tagword – It is similar to Blogads. It makes you select the ads and their price. Users can place their text-based ads in the site within minutes and the ads will be displayed instantly on the website. 4. Affiliate Programs Your affiliate programs can help you earn a lot of money for selected products and services. Lot of websites offers you to become affiliate members. These affiliate programs can provide a better reach and an in-depth exposure to the products. The commissions for the sales differ according to the quality of the product, sales and marketing strategy involved. You can gather information related to the commissions by looking into the catalogues of Link Share and Commission junctions. 5. Text Links Text links has emerged out to be the best form of moneymaking source that you can use instead of cluttering or crowding the page with ads. You don’t have to make these text links prominent within your website. This link can act as an extra value to your site and will also help to promote the rankings of other sites. In most of the cases you will find these text links placed in the bottom of the web pages. The best part of this strategy is that the publishers send and accept links as the market continues to grow. About the Author Matt Bacak, The Powerful Promoter and Entrepreneur Magazine e-Biz radio show host, became a "#1 Best Selling Author" in just a few short hours. For more information, visit Bacak's site at http://www.powerfulpromoter.com or sign up for his Powerful Promoting Tips at http://www.promotingtips.com

How To Make Money From Your Blog Content

by: Evelyn Lim

Writing a blog can be fun and exciting, but it can also be rewarding. If you do not know how to make money from your blog content then you need to consider implementing the following suggestions in your blog. Make Money Tip #1 Adsense Adsense is an incredible service offered by Google to help you make money and help others advertise as well. Basically, with Adsense you choose several ads that blend or complement the information talked about in your blog. Then, when individuals click on the ads that are present in your blog, you receive money! Best of all, Adsense is free to use on your site, so this is a great opportunity to make money without really having to do very much. Make Money Tip #2 Affiliate Marketing Affiliate programs are another great way to make money as well and work on the same premise of Adsense. The web surfer has to click on the affiliate website’s link and when they do so they are redirected from your blog to the link they clicked on. You will get paid affiliate income for the click, and if they make a purchase when they are on that website you will get paid affiliate income again. Make Money Tip #3 Blog Ads Blog ads can help you make money as well. Blog ads are not too different from Adsense or Affiliate marketing, but they are in the sense that blog ads connect web surfers with advertisers. Then, when any ad placements are made a commission is exchanged. Make Money Tip #4 Business Blog You can use your blog to simply converse about any topic that is important to you, but you can also use your blog as a tool to help you make money. Advertise your business services; make your blog a business blog by focusing at least part of your blog on your business services. This way, you can still communicate whatever it is you need to and make money as well. When it comes to making money from your blog you can do so easily with these tried and true tricks of the trade. Whether you utilize Adsense, affiliate marketing, blog ads, a business blog, or a combination of all of the above, you will certainly benefit and make money. Don’t delay and start implementing these types of money making strategies in your blog today. Not only will you make money, but your blog will become more popular as well. About the Author: Evelyn Lim is the publisher of a regular and FREE newsletter aimed at helping the home based business owner. She also aims to educate her readers on skills of acquiring mulitple sources of online income. To subscribe to her newsletter, please visit http://www.e-BizMap.com Source: www.isnare.com

Top 10 Tips for Blogging

by: S. Housley

Tips for creating a blog. There are no hard and fast rules on how to blog. Having said that, bloggers will likely increase their exposure by following some simple blog guidelines. 1.) Stay on topic. Opinions are generally accepted but the content of the items in the blog should all relate to a general theme. Unless you have an uncanny knack for wit, humor or cynicism, the majority of your readers will be interested in the content that relates to a specific defined theme or loosely defined area of interest. Most readers won't care that you eat Cheerios for breakfast. They may, however, be interested in the fact that vinegar takes out stains and that toilet paper rolls make great wreaths. Define a topic and stick to it. This will ensure that you create a loyal following of interested readers. 2.) Stay informative. If you are attempting to create the impression that you are knowledgeable about a specific industry or sector, be sure that you stay current on news. If you are endorsing a product or voicing an opinion, be sure to check your facts; your reputation is at stake. If you are offering an opinion, be sure to qualify your post, making it clear that the content is intended as an editorial. 3.) Old news is not news. While blogging every day can be a drain, it is important that the information presented is current and accurate, writing an article or blurb about something that happened 6 months ago, will not be of interest to many. Telling your audience that Martha Stewart was convicted and will be going to prison, after her sentence is completed will make people question the value of your columns. 4.) Adhere to a schedule. Create a schedule and stick to it. Realizing that blogging requires time and effort, don't create unrealistic expectations and be unable to deliver. An occasional lapse or holiday is generally understood but readers returning to find stale, out-dated content are going to find another blog with similar content. New blogs and RSS feeds are popping up on a daily basis. If you have worked hard to develop an audience and a community you don't want to lose them due to lack of communication. 5.) Clarity and simplicity. Keep your posts and blog entries clear and easy to understand. Remember, the web is global and expressions, idioms and acronyms don't always translate. Sometimes a little explanation goes a long way. 6.) Keyword-rich. If the goal of your blog is to increase your visibility, include related keywords in the title of the blog. Use the title as a headline to attract interest. Each item post should have a title that will attract attention but still be relevant to the post. The title should be no longer than 10-12 words. 7.) Quantity matters. In order to attract the attention of search engines, you will need to develop content and substance. A headline or simple sentence is not going to generate the interest of readers or help with search engine ranking. Be sure to archive old blog posts to develop a large portal of similarly-themed content. 8.) Frequency. If your blog content is updated frequently, search engines will tend to spider the pages at regular intervals. 9.) Spell checking and proof-reading. It only takes a few extra moments and can save you from having to make embarrassing explanations. Remember that whatever you publish on the Internet can be found and archived. Think carefully about what you post before doing so. 10.) RSS. RSS will increase your blog's reach. It is important that you include your blog's content in an RSS feed to increase readership and distribution. Most weblog audiences are small, but with time and regular updates audiences grow. Bloggers may never have more than a few hundred readers, but the people who return to regularly are generally interested in what you have to say. About the Author About the Author: Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing and publishing RSS feeds and NotePage http://www.notepage.net a wireless text messaging software.

Use Auction Templates For eBay Success!

by: Sydney Johnston

Auction templates are simply a must for successful online auction selling. One day I spent approximately 45 minutes writing a listing for an item that would make me about $5 in profit! I suddenly realized the stupidity of what I was doing. Here I was scheming and plotting to become a net millionaire - and I could work at WalMart and make more money than this! It seems as though you are selling products on eBay, but really you're not. What you have to sell is: Your time Your knowledge And you must maximize the use of your time, rather than spend it constantly writing listings. The best way to do this, of course, is with a template. A template is a pattern that you can use again and again, without having to write news listings every time you have an eBay auction. Here is an example of a template that I used when I was selling ready-made websites on eBay: http://auction-genius-course.com/listings/template2.shtml I only had to make a few changes on the page, such as ... The picture at the top left The website name The appraised value ... and my auction was ready to list. Time spent: under five minutes! Personally, I make my own templates, but if you do not want to do likewise, you might consider eBay's management service which offers templates as part of its package. http://pages.ebay.com/sell/tools.html Naturally, there are many off-eBay auction templates as well. Free template sources: http://auctionsupplies.com/templates http://nucite.com/templates http://web.thenetter.com/free_templates_and_graphics.html http://www.firstauction.com/template/template_generator_others.htm http://www.antique-central.com/tips1.html http://auctioninsights.com/practice/auction-template.html http://desacs.com/downloadtemplates/auctiontemplates.htm http://woowoodesigns.com/collection1.html Paid template sources: http://www.auctiontemplatecentral.com http://www.auction-resources.com/templates.html http://www.pc-limited.com/ebay.html http://www.auction-lizard.com/lizard http://zoovy.com Without auction templates my eBay success would have been much less than it is. If you are selling the same items repeatedly, you must use templates or you will waste far too much time in repetitious, tedious tasks. Success isn't about killing yourself working 20 hour days, but about managing your time to make maximum profits. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sydney Johnston, the AUCTION QUEEN, was one of the original sellers on eBay and has been selling on eBay since the winter of 1996. She is the originator and teacher of the famous Auction Genius Course, a powerful 16 hour multi media seminar on the Internet that teaches her students how to sell on ebay.

3 Unusual Formats For Auctions on eBay

by: Sydney Johnston

eBay users are accustomed to only two "standard" formats for sales on eBay: either the 'regular' auction which involves bidding and waiting; and the Buy It Now, which is an instant purchase. But there are three other formats that are less well known. 1. Live Auctions Before eBay, the traditional auction included live bodies in chairs and an auctioneer up front (talking so fast he was frequently unintelligible). Any buyer can still participate in these live auctions via eBay. Live auctions are a hybrid - a buyer is 'sort of' present in a live setting yet is at home using an Internet connection. The products for sale are usually expensive and unusual. There are such items as expensive and unique coins, Asian art, native American artifacts, incredible jewelry, costly furniture, memorabilia from major sports stars and even history. Today, for instance, there are documents signed by John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, James Madison and Ulysses Grant (he confides that he was strenuously opposed to the "wicked" war with Mexico). If you choose to participate in a live auction, be certain that you register first because you can't just drop in on a whim. You can find all the details here: http://www.ebayliveauctions.com 2. Private Auctions Private auctions are similar to the typical auction that we're all familiar with except for one detail - the identities of the bidders are kept secret. Only the seller has access to the names. Why would anyone create a private auction? It's usually for one of three reasons: * The item is quite expensive and buyers might be uncomfortable having others know they can afford such merchandise. Their concern about their financial status is most likely misplaced because it is quite possible to distance yourself from eBay contact information, but much of selling is about perception. * The buyers might be embarrassed by the nature of the merchandise. * Some sellers habitually use private auctions to make it harder for their competition to snoop on them. 3. Restricted Access Auctions This is usually for sales of "adult" items. The main purpose is to prevent children from seeing this kind of merchandise, and is similar to having covers on racy magazines at store checkouts. To bid on these items, the buyer must: * Be 18 years old * Must have supplied credit card information to eBay.The theory is that no one under 18 can get a credit card and therefore cannot get into these sections. * Agree that he is voluntarily accessing restricted access auctions In addition, restricted auctions are excluded from the Featured pages. So if you are a seller using this format, your listing will be harder to find. Even though they are less well known, these three formats for auctions on eBay still account for tens of millions of dollars in sales each year. If they suit your business model, you might consider them. About the Author Learn how to sell on eBay with 16 hours of online instruction taught by a 10 year eBay veteran. Own an eBay business instead of an eBay hobby. http://www.auction-genius-course.com

7 Hassle-Free ways to buying a new car

by: Prashant Desai

According to NADA, almost no single car model is sold at the same fixed price by car dealerships in a particular area. Every buyer receives a different final new car price quote. In other words every Honda Accord buyer in your area would have paid a different price for the car based on which car dealer they went to and how well they negotiated the price. Therefore, there is no level playing field on buying a new car. As you may have guessed, this translates to either visiting as many car dealers in your area as your time permits or negotiating really hard with a shrewd car dealer. My 7 hassle-free tips to buying a new car will certainly help you save money and pay one of the lowest prices in your area for any new car. 1.Finalize what car model you want and how much you’re willing to spend. This way you’ll be less pressured into making hasty decisions. 2.Identify two other competing car models that you might consider buying or can use as a negotiating leverage with car dealers. By doing this you’re showing the car dealer you have done your research and are not emotionally attached to this particular model (even though you may be). 3.Collect Internet new car price quotes for 3 competing car models. Do not step into a dealership without getting online new car price quotes. www.autoauctionbids.com is a good website to receive new car price quotes from multiple local dealers rather than just 1 car dealer as in the case of most Internet websites. Through magazines and publication, identify the dealer invoice price. 4.Take these new car price quotes and invoice price information to the car dealers who provided the online new car price quote to you. This not only shows the car dealer you have done your research, but also shows you are serious about buying a car. 5.Now that you have invoice price & new car price quotes from 3 competing car models, stick to the total price of the car during negotiations. The car dealer may lead you to monthly payments, trade-ins etc., but only focus on negotiating the final price down. 6.During the negotiation, mention about an even lower new car price quote received on a competing car from www.autoauctionbids.com. See if the dealer would match or beat it. Leave if you have to and see if the car dealer calls you back. 7.At this point, you are already getting a great deal on the car you want, so you can always go back to that dealership and buy the car at that price, which is probably the lowest price in town. The advantage of this process is that, you’re not engaging in much face to face negotiation with the car dealer, since you already have some facts to share like the new car price quote and invoice price. However, the disadvantage of this is that the car dealer who made the lowest new car price quote on www.autoauctionbids.com, will pretty much be the lowest price you would pay for the car. You may be leaving money on the table unless you keep going back and forth from dealership to dealership to see if they would beat you new low new car price quote. An alternative to this and the ultimate hassle free way to buying a new car would be to continue negotiating on the Internet. AutoAuctionBids.com allows buyers to send back the lowest price quote received for a particular car to all participating dealers. The car dealers can view this lowest new car price quote and submit a lower quote. Another participating dealer can view this new low price and submit an even lower price. This can go on for up to 3 days and at the end of the car auction, buyers can contact the lowest bidding car dealer and buy the car most of the time at below invoice price. The best part of it all is that you can conduct 3 separate auctions for all 3 competing cars absolutely free, with no obligation to buy at the end of the auction. In summary, remember all new car price quotes are different and car dealers will make a hefty profit if you cannot provide facts about competing dealer new car price quotes and competing car models new car price quotes. Collect these prices first and no negotiation will be required. About the Author Prashant Desai, author of various consumer tips articles and industry expert for AutoAuctionBids.com. Email him at p_desai@autoauctionbids.com to sign up for e-Newsletter and visit www.autoauctionbids.com for more information.

10 Things You Should Know Before You Bid On A Business Product

by: Larry Dotson

1. Know the value of the product before you bid. If the product is brand new, check to see what price retailers are charging for it. If the product is used or reconditioned, you will want to pay way less than the retail value. 2. If the product's description or picture isn't detailed enough for you, contact the merchant to get more information before you bid. You don't want to take a chance to waste your hard earned money. 3. Know the highest price you will bid for the product and stick with it. Don't get caught up in a bidding war; you may end up paying more than the product's worth. Don't forget to add in the shipping price with your bid. 4. Visit a few online auctions before bidding because some merchants auction the same product in many auctions. You usually can purchase the product for a lower price in a unpopular auction because there are less bidders. 5. Know the time the auction begins and ends. You also want to know how long it will take to ship. If you need the product by a certain date, you'll want to estimate the time it will take to receive it. 6. Know the payment options the merchant accepts before you bid on their product. If they only accept checks or money orders, it may take even longer to get the product because the payment has to clear. If they accept credit cards make sure they have a secure server. 7. Know if the merchant offers a warranty or money back guarantee or before bidding on a product. You don't want to get stuck with a product that does not work or you're not satisfied with. 8. Online auctions will, sometimes, allow you to check the merchants history with their auction. Check to see if people have complained about the their products or business practices before you decide to bid. 9. It's important to place a bid early in the auction to show other bidders you are interested in the product. If someone does out bid you, don't be afraid to out bid them. Remember not to go over your maximum bid price. 10. Another reason to know when the auction ends; you can place a last minute bid. The other bidders may not be keeping track of when the auction ends or may not have the time to bid again. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Larry Dotson. 2213 Pages Of Internet Marketing Information! 1075 FREE Internet Business eBooks, Web Books and Courses! Visit: http://www.ldpublishing.com

4 Tips To Saving A Bundle At Your Next Car Auction

by: Chris Fox

Many of us have been at the car dealership and have been drained by a salesperson during price negotiations for the purchase of a new car. Most people give in too easily or do not negotiate at all to avoid the dreadful act. This only means more money in the car dealers’ pocket, while you are out of several thousand dollars! Yes, they make that much in profit per car. This article unveils the dealer’s selling tactics and how you can get around them. But before we dive into the new car buying tips, we need to understand what makes up the dealer’s profits. In addition to the MSRP (manufacturer suggested retail price), which is the dealer’s cost for the car plus an additional 20-25% profit, a dealer also gets financial incentives from the manufacturer when a new car is sold. This is called Holdback. Depending on the car, dealers can make hundreds on each car through holdbacks. Dealers also get additional incentives and bonuses on selling a car before the end of the month and/or quarter. A shrewd dealer can make several thousand on a new car even by selling it at invoice price. This is how new car buying can become tricky for the consumer. Ready to learn how not to put a dent in your wallet on your next car purchase? Here are four tips to get you started. Each one is a dealer tactic to watch out for. 1. The Guilt Trip As you may have noticed, every desk in a dealership has photos of the salesperson’s family, instead of photos of cars. Midway in the negotiation, the sales person will bring them up and make it look like his little commission check can hardly pay for his daughters college and little Bradley’s braces. A seasoned salesperson will soon have you feeling guilty for driving the price down and hurting his commission. Watch out not to fall for this tactic, since you already know about holdbacks and incentive programs from manufacturers. 2. Wearing You Down Come prepared to spend half a day at the dealership or pay whatever the dealer asks for. Car Dealers are trained to delay and tire you out to the point where you give in and accept their price just to get out of there. After you make your offer, sales people typically claim they would have to run it by their manager. You may then have to re-start negotiating with the manager, who is also a seasoned salesperson. This dance goes on for a while until you give in. Remember, there are multiple dealerships in a city, so they need you more than you need them. Demand to speak to the manager after a certain time period or threaten to leave. Because you are devoting a lot of time to bargain with the dealer, they know you are a serious buyer, so they will not let you leave. The earlier you can speak with the manager, the faster you can leave. 3. The Test Drive We all enjoy a good test drive and look forward to it. Although it is essential to test drive a car before you buy it, remember to not show your absolute love for the car to the salesperson. Their goal is to get you emotionally attached to the car, so it becomes a must have for you. I have learned it the hard way. To hide your emotional tears from the salesperson, mention the features of a competing car in the same class, like the new shape, light, leg room, resale value etc. This will make the salesperson a little vulnerable. 4. Monthly Payments This one is to confuse you. Dealers will start talking about monthly payments rather than the total price of the car. They will start by asking how much you are willing to pay per month and how much of a down payment you are willing to pay. Since people don’t want to look like they cannot afford a certain car, they will usually give a higher number. Big Mistake! You have left little room for negotiation when this happens. Always steer the conversation to the total price of the car and do NOT mention any trade-ins at this point. Only after the total price of the vehicle is completely negotiated then talk about interest, monthly payment and trade-ins. General Rule; As a general rule, remember to only focus and negotiate on the Total Price of the vehicle. Everything else is pretty much the car dealer’s trough. If the above new car buying tips seem like a lot of hassle, yet you still want to get the best price in town, there are some websites that do this for you. www.autoauctionbids.com for example is a great website for this because you can collect price quotes from multiple local dealers for a particular car as well as its competing car models (like Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Ford Taurus) and compare them. The website then allows you to send back the lowest quotes received for each car make to all participating dealers in your area through the website itself. Dealers view this price and continue to submit new lower prices over a 3 day period. By putting local car dealers in such a price competition allows you to avoid the dreadful face to face negotiation and yet gets you the lowest price in town for up to 3 competing car makes. The best part about AutoAuctionBids.com is that it is absolutely free for you and there is no obligation to buy after the new car auction is over. About The Author Chris Fox For more information on cars and car auction visit http://cheap-car-auction-portal.com.

10 Easy Ways To Promote Your Website For Cheap Or Free

by: Jen Merkel

Please consider this article for your website or newsletter - printed or virtual. Permission to reprint if byline stays intact and links are activated on the Internet. You may make minor formatting changes or correct any typos. If you use it, please notify me and send a copy of your publication. TITLE: 10 Easy Ways To Promote Your Website For Cheap Or Free AUTHOR: Jen Merkel, Freelance Writer WORD COUNT: 1,482 URL: http://jenmerkel.bravehost.com Mailto: jen.merkel@cox.net "10 Easy Ways To Promote Your Website For Cheap Or Free" © 2004 Jen Merkel You've built your website and you're quite proud of it. The graphics look nice, it has a few interesting pieces of information and it showcases your subject perfectly. But how do you draw people to it and get that hit counter climbing without breaking the bank? You’ve got your meta tags in place but you just can’t afford to pay the humungous fee to be a featured advertiser on a mega-search engine. Here are a few easy and quick ways to publicize your website which are either cheap or free. 1. Link Exchanges One of the most effective ways to get traffic moving into your site is to list it as a link on other sites of interest to your target market. If you don't already know of another site similar to yours, just do a Google search using a few appropriate keywords. By using Google to do a search on the words "link exchange" you will also find entire sites – some free, some with a fee – with directories of sites willing to exchange links. Once you find a site, see if they have a links page and scan it to make sure yours would be a good fit. Usually instructions on exchanging links are somewhere on the website, but if they're not simply e-mail the webmaster or site owner and ask if they have a link exchange program. Be sure your site does not compete with theirs. After all, you will have to reciprocate with a link to their site on your own. Corporate sites don't normally do link exchanges, you will have much better luck with a site owned by an individual or small business. If you don't have a banner, you can create one for free online. A very user-friendly site for this is www.addesigner.com, but there are several others out there as well. 2. Join a Web-Ring Web-Rings are a way of driving traffic to your site from others similar to yours. You simply place a web-ring banner on your home page using specified HTML code and you’re automatically part of the network. When a visitor clicks on the web-ring banner at one member’s site, they are directed to the next site in the web-ring, potentially yours. There are some things to consider when joining a web-ring. For example, when one of your site’s viewers clicks on your web-ring banner, they are being directed off your site onto someone else’s. If you join a web-ring, find one matching the interests of your target market that doesn’t have a large number of members competing with you. For example, if your site sells aquariums, join a site for tropical fish enthusiasts rather than one with for people who sell pet products. 3. Host a Contest Everyone loves to win a contest, and if yours offers something of value to your target market you can spark a lot of interest. The prize doesn't have to be big - maybe a $10.00 gift certificate, a set of books, a pretty piece of jewelry you purchased on closeout, or of course one of your products. You may be able to get prize donations from your link partners or others in your network simply by offering them credit and a link on your site throughout the contest. It's also smart to offer extra entries to a contestant if they refer someone else – word of mouth (or e-mail) is extremely powerful! 4. Win an Award This may take some legwork on your part, but it could be well worth it in the end. If your site is rich in content and appealing to the eye, you have a good chance of winning some sort of web award. Simply do your Google search on "website award" or "site of the day" and research the links for application procedures. If you win, the payoff will be the privilege of posting an award banner on your home page for all to see. The site hosting the award will literally be sending visitors to you by way of a link. 5. Put a Link in Your Signature Line The easiest and quickest way to get publicity for your site is to put a link in your signature line. Every e-mail you send will announce your site, and including an enticing one-line ad such as "enter our contest to win a $10.00 gift certificate" will likely increase your traffic. 6. Join an E-mail Group In case you aren't familiar with e-mail groups, they are basically networks of people with a common interest or purpose, using e-mail to communicate to each other. Using a single e-mail address, you can send a message to a whole group of people with interests similar to yours. Rest assured, no matter what your target market is, there is an e-mail group for it. It is important to keep in mind that most frown upon advertising and all ban spamming, however you are usually allowed to put a link in your signature line and make special announcements. Just be sure you actually contribute to the discussion - don't just assume you can use the list for free advertising or you will be shunned very quickly. Two of the most popular websites for e-mail groups are Yahoo Groups (http://groups.yahoo.com) and Topica (http://www.topica.com), both of which offer free memberships. 7. Publish a Newsletter It can be sent daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly, but be sure you send it out on a regular basis. Mine is published weekly on Fridays without fail. My readers have learned to look for it and I'd never consider letting them down by missing a deadline. Aside from being consistent, it is a cardinal rule to offer something of value to your readership. Don't use it solely as a venue for advertising – there are plenty of places to put text links and banner ads within it. To maintain readers, you will need to include some helpful information as well. If you aren't much of a writer, there are articles available on the web that are free for publication, providing you include a link to the writer's website and a promotional paragraph. If you have a hard time finding these, consider posting a call for submissions on writers' websites offering $5.00 and free promotion via a byline. You will be pleasantly surprised how many people respond with fresh and well-written ideas. 8. Purchase Advertising Think advertising is expensive? Think again. There are countless inexpensive opportunities for advertising on the Internet. Start by looking for sites which target the same market you do, providing they don't directly compete with yours. Chances are they have a link for people interested in advertising on their site. If you can’t find it, simply e-mail the webmaster or site owner and inquire. Another option is to do a search on eBay. Many sites put banner ad placement on auction. You can find ad spots on eBay for as little as $5.99, but remember, it is an auction, and someone could easily beat you out. I recently saw a banner ad auction get up to $269.00. Don’t forget however, because it’s an auction, you have the power to limit the amount you will pay a your maximum bid. It is important to have a banner ready to go, since you will usually need to obtain permission from the website’s owner before bidding on the auction. Always read the terms of the auction carefully, to make sure you understand the dates your banner will be up and exactly where it will be placed. 9. Promoting Your Business Using an Online Network Just starting to catch on is a unique way to network with other small businesses by way of shared advertising. The basic idea is to swap business cards, flyers, or coupons (called "fillers") for your site with other small business owners. They will put your fillers in their customer orders and you will put their fillers in your orders. Many groups put together bags or packs with a compilation of member fillers along with other goodies the recipient will enjoy. These can be given out at area businesses, schools, day care centers, parties... the list is endless. If you have trouble finding a networking group think about starting one of your own. 10. Write an Article With a little work and a free morning, you should be able to put together a couple of paragraphs for a "how-to" piece on your area of expertise. Just be certain it somehow relates to your website. Use your article in your own newsletter or search on writers' websites for sites or e-zines looking for articles that may be a good fit for your piece. Whether or not they pay for publication they will be an excellent way to get the word out about your site. Just be sure to keep your byline brief and don't reference your website within your article unless absolutely necessary. Jen Merkel is a freelance writer living in Chandler, Arizona with her husband and two children. Working from her virtual office, Jen offers business writing services (press releases, proposals, etc.) as well as assistance with meeting and incentive planning. Please visit her website at http://jenmerkel.bravehost.com or send her an email at jen.merkel@cox.net. About the Author Jen Merkel lives in Chandler, Arizona with her husband and two children. Working from her virtual office, she offers business writing services (such as press releases, reports and proposals) as well as meeting planning assistance. Please visit her website at http://jenmerkel.bravehost.com or email her at jen.merkel@cox.net.

10 Keys To Creating A Profitable Online Business

by: Jan Peterson

Starting an online business is not always as easy as it may sound. But, running an online business has many benefits over its offline counterpart. First, and the most appealing, is you'll most likely be working from home from your own computer, and working the hours that suit you. And secondly, you have the potential to make a lot more money than you would if you were working for someone else. Before embarking on an online entrepreneurial quest for the perfect home-based business, it's advisable to look at the array of online business opportunities available, and decide which would be the most suitable for you. While it's quite conceivable, that the most profitable and legitimate type of online businesses can be operated successfully by one person, most involve a collaboration of skills and input. For the individual, making money online is a very real prospect, but there are some important factors that should be considered before taking that first vital step. 1. Should you sell a service? Unless you have a well-developed skill such as, web design, graphics design, writing or some other creative or artistic flair, you'll have to concentrate on finding or creating a product. In selling your services, you must first determine whether a paying market actually exists for your services. Initially, you'll need to do some research and look at similar services being offered. A good indicator is usually when there are numerous similar services available. This would suggest a buoyant market, but it's not always the case. A friendly yet inquisitive email sent to a few established service providers in the business you're considering, should give you an insight. Take a good look at the existing competition. Look at the quality of their work. Could you do it better? What prices are they charging? Could you do it cheaper? If you can effectively do either of these you're on your way to building online wealth. 2. Should you sell a product? More people than ever buy products online, but the main thing to consider is whether you want to sell a tangible product or a virtual product. As with selling a service, you must first determine whether a market exists for your product. Look at similar products then decide whether there's room for another player. All products will have to be sold through a website, from which an order can be taken and a payment can be processed. If you have the knowledge and necessary skills, you can easily build the website yourself. Otherwise you will have to pay a professional. A tangible product is something that can be held in the hand, therefore it will also need to be packed and shipped. Processing orders is very time consuming, but more importantly you may have to keep inventory, which can be very expensive plus you'll need to find storage space. An alternative is to sell virtual products. These include downloadable e-books, videos and information products. You'll still need a website with ordering and credit card processing facilities, but you will not need to keep any inventory and it won't take up any space (except on your computer's hard drive) Many successful Internet marketers use this method to maximum effect. 3. Selling someone else's product Some of the best online business opportunities are very simple to set up and run. The first of these is affiliate marketing. You simply find some existing products that are being successfully sold on the Internet, and sign up for their affiliate program. Basically, this is straight-forward process. You complete an online application form and you're given a reference number, which you can embed into your marketing links. The host company will also track your sales and pay you commissions. All you have to do is sell their products. Some people go overboard on affiliate programs, trying to sell anything and everything they can sign up for. It's advisable to concentrate on a few related items such as e-books on a similar subject. When that enterprise begins to make money online, start all over again with a set of different products. With careful consideration and clever marketing, affiliate programs can be the perfect way of making money online. A good place to start is www.clickbank.com 4. Buying a business or franchise If you'd prefer to buy a readymade business, there are many to choose from. Some established and profitable Internet businesses will gladly sell you a franchise. This will most likely be a clone of their existing business, but beware! Owning a franchise business on the Internet will prove useless unless you have territorial rights. The problem with online franchises is your limitations on what you can sell. You must sign an agreement with the franchisor, that you, the franchisee will only sell their range of products. Check out the various franchise opportunities at www.usatoday.franchisesolutions.com 5. Online investment opportunities Not strictly a business opportunity, but investing in real estate or stocks and shares has become big business in itself. The Internet has opened up all kinds of opportunities for investors, and it's so easy to go online and find stock brokers willing to advise you where to put your hard-earned cash for the maximum return. The big consideration with investing is to remember that prices can fall just as quickly as they rise. For all the information you need on investments, visit www.investorguide.com 6. Finding the right market Whatever service or product you decide to offer your online customers, you must first establish whether there's a need for it. If there is, you'll have to work on an effective strategy of getting your product in front of your prospect ahead of the competition. It's been proven time and again that small is big. The small or niche market has been responsible for many people making a nice profit from the Internet. It's as well to remember, that a niche market on the internet could number well over a million potential customers. Just 5% of a market this size, each buying a product with a $10 profit margin, would return $500,000 in profits. A few examples of niche markets might be: Holidays for singles over 40, sports and fashion wear for children 6-24 months or easy car maintenance for lady drivers. 7. Online Auctions The phenomenal success of online auctions, eBay in particular, is unprecedented. Not only are the online auction companies making large profits, they give everyone an opportunity to sell something to anyone anywhere in the world. From fashion accessories to collectibles and sports equipment to memorabilia, there appears to be a market, although limited, for everything. The key to success here is to buy wholesale and sell volume. When you've got to the point of making good money from online auctions, simply write a book and tell everyone else how you did it. To get started in online auctions, go to eBay, click on wholesale, buy some stock and resell individually back on eBay. 8. Paid Surveys Some people might not consider clicking boxes alongside questions a valid business opportunity. But if you consider it work, and the survey companies are willing to pay you, then it must be a form of business to be considered. It's something almost anyone can do, doesn't require any specialist knowledge or skill and can be done from anywhere. The downside is, it's tedious and won't make you a fortune. However, it's the ideal part-time opportunity for people with a few hours to spare or to run alongside a new venture during the 'quiet' periods. To sign up for online surveys visit: www.surveyclub.com 9. Enthusiasm, Commitment and Self-Discipline Looking at the various online business opportunities and how you should evaluate them is only part of the equation for online wealth building. Working for yourself in your home-based business will require real enthusiasm, commitment and copious amounts of self-discipline. Whichever route or opportunity you consider, all will require a degree of 'do-ability'. Be prepared to spend more time at your computer, especially in the early months, building your business and getting your products in front of likely prospects. If you do it right, an online business can pay you big monetary rewards. 10. Accounting the costs If you plan to set up and run an online business as your main source of income, beware! The tax man cometh! An online business is no different to a bricks and mortar business, in the eyes of the IRS. If you establish an online business and you're making a full-time income, don't forget to inform the authorities. You must have a business name, although this could be your own name, preferably a business bank account and you'll need to inform the IRS. You'll need to keep records of all your business transactions for accounting purposes and you'll need to set aside a percentage of your profits to cover taxes. Microsoft's Excel program is perfect for keeping records of this nature, but don't forget to keep a back-up of your files, just in case. The message here is to play it straight and keep it legal. Of all the things you should consider, when planning to start an online business, the most important is undoubtedly marketing. Marketing strategies can make or break a business. About the Author: Jan Peterson, Founder of http://www.GoldStarReveiw.com, provides in-depth research and candid reviews of over 400 business opportunities both online and offline. Go to http://www.goldstarreview.com for your FREE Report on the Top 10 business opportunities. Source: www.isnare.com

9 Razor-Sharp Strategies For Building Success and Adding Zer

by: Dan Lok

It's easy to get so caught-up in the day-to-day obligations of your business that you find yourself trapped in the present, regretting the past, and with no time to worry about the future. It's easy… and it's deadly. Give yourself a "time out." Pull back from where you are so that you can get a better perspective and see where you're headed. And while you're waiting for your own new ideas to hatch, let me share nine of the sharpest and smartest strategies I know for moving up the success ladder: Strategy #1 - The Buddy System Find a strategic business partner who shares your objectives…but not your business niche. You can trade leads, share marketing info, sell package deals, etc. Strategy #2 - Brand "You" Brand your name and business. Create a niche that's uniquely yours.You can easily do this by writing articles and submitting them to e-zines or web sites for republishing. Strategy #3 - Going…Going…Gone! I don't have to tell you what a giant eBay has become. You don't have to become an "auction house," but you can start an auction on your web site. The type of auction could be related to the theme of your site. You'll draw traffic from auctioneers and bidders… and they have LOTS of friends! Strategy #4 -The Sincerest Form of Flattery There are dozens, probably hundreds, of "self-help" books out there with titles like "The Thinking Patterns of Successful People" and "How Seven People Each Lost 100 Pounds." They're popular because the best way to succeed is to model yourself on other successful business or people. Learn how your "heroes" got where they are and follow in their footsteps. Strategy #5 - Be A Risk Taker, But A Smart Risk Taker Taking a risk may be scary, but without risk… business life offers very few rewards. Sometimes you have to risk money to get results. Just remember to look before you leap… and make sure you know where you're going to land. If you're going to pay a P.R. firm to do your marketing, for example, do a thorough "background check" and make sure you're getting the best for your money. Strategy #6 - Winning Hearts and Minds Include emotional words in your advertisements. Use ones like love, security, relief, freedom, happy, satisfaction, fun, etc. Strategy #7 - That's Two Thumbs…Way Up Ask people online to review your web site. Positive comments or negative, they're all good! Someone who gives positive feedback is now a likely customer. Negative comments aren't published, of course, but they can be used as springboards to improve your web site. Strategy #8 - Do What You're Good At Too many professionals get overloaded doing things that don't make money and don't further business. Instead of trying to be a one-man-band, outsource part of your workload: secretarial work, accounting, marketing, etc. In addition to giving yourself more time to do what you're good at, outsourcing relieves you of tax reporting, health benefits, etc. Strategy #9 - One From Column A, Two From Column B Combine a product and service together in a package deal. If you're selling a book, offer an hour of consulting with it. If you install roofing, offer a combination package with rain gutters. To make the deal irresistible, the combination price must be significantly lower than "if purchased individually." New ideas are usually the difference between success and failure. Remember to take a little time out of to brainstorm. It's time well-spent! Copyright 2004 Quick Turn Marketing International, Ltd. If you've been dreaming of earning mountains of money and selling more of your product or service than ever before, then you must grab Dan's free mini-couse: http://www.dansrant.com