The Write to Link Popularity

The Write to Link Popularity

by: Nicholas Dixon

Using writing as a means of boosting your link popularity can be a turnoff for many webmasters, when in fact it can lead to a wealth of links.

I first learnt about link popularity while researching about many different methods that I could use to market a Geocities site I had. After emailing countless webmasters and receiving some dismal results, I realized that it was hopeless to get people to exchange links with my freebie website.

Then I discovered writing. At first I was skeptical at using this concept but after trying it for some time, the results began to show. What was wonderful is that it only cost me some of my time.

With the help of article writing I was able to achieve a Pagerank of 4 for my Geocities website. The more webmasters that archived my articles the more links I had pointing to my site. As a result of my growing link popularity I began to see my site show up on the first or second page for some relatively competitive search terms.

Using writing as a marketing tool can save you thousands in advertising dollars. Imagine a website or ezine that costs hundreds to advertise in and you have the feature article which didn’t cost you a dime to produce. You can easily see which generates more profit in the long run.

Through the power of the written word you can be able to get free publicity for your business. Providing quality and profitable and sometimes inspiring information can help you to achieve that goal. Many top marketers have used writing to good effect.

Developing your own writing style is important. As there are many others doing the same thing you what to differ from them. How can you stand out in a crowd if you are just like everyone else.

Practicing and researching helped me to put pen to paper for my first articles. Some of your first creations maybe a bit tacky but as long as you keep going you can improve.

Writing can be a task at times. There are moments when I have written the first two paragraphs and just get stuck. The inevitable writer’s block can be a challenge to overcome. Taking a break and getting into the right frame of mind can be helpful.

Can anyone become a writer? Well the answer depends on how much effort you put into it. I have had some wonderful experiences since I became a writer. At times when there are criticisms and negative feedback, they can help you to better your skills if you use them the right way.

Many people don’t like writing. But sometimes it is the things that we don’t enjoy doing that are most beneficial to us. Try your hand at writing, if a guy from a Caribbean island can do it then so can you.

Copyright © Nicholas Dixon

About The Author

Nicholas Dixon is a writer and webmaster from Jamaica. Visit his website http://WWW.Oceanroc.com for articles, free courses and information about a cool island town.

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 10, 2004

by Nicholas Dixon

Been Burned, Scammed, Taken for a Ride…

Been Burned, Scammed, Taken for a Ride…

by: Rachel Gawith

BEEN BURNT, SCAMMED, TAKEN FOR A RIDE……..
Well don’t worry, we have all been there. I doubt there is a single network marketer or homeworker out there who hasn’t at some point in their career fallen for an envelope stuffing scheme, been talked into selling potions and pills, tried chain letters etc. But the important thing is to learn from your mistakes and take something from every experience.
My first venture into working from home came when I answered an advert in a local paper which stated I could be earning £2000 a week part time, all I had to do was call. So I did and ended up trailing along to a meeting about how much money one could make from selling herbal diet supplements and how easy it all was. So I signed up and paid the £200 for the starter pack. Full of enthusiasm I started my 68 year old gran off on the diet. Well the first week she lost a few pounds and all was going well. I paid out another £100 to have a load of leaflets printed and spent hours putting these on car windscreens. By the second week, gran had given up on the diet as the stuff ‘tasted funny’ and she was bored with a milkshake three times a day!
Then I decided to try selling the products via the internet. It was a slow process but I taught myself html coding and built my first website. Then came the hard task of trying to market my site and get people to visit it. This is when I discovered that you could apparently make thousands very easily and with no effort online, simply by signing up for a website and placing a few free classifieds. So I joined every ‘next big thing’, every site promoting untold riches, only to find that the program disappeared after a few weeks, along with my money. But along the way I learnt what I should look for in an online business, the best ways to market online and my web design skills improved drastically. At times I became very disillusioned and felt like giving up when yet another program folded, or sponsor failed to get in touch and offer support but I learned valuable lessons. And after one such online opportunity disappeared and having convinced a number of people to join me in this, I thought enough was enough and started my own online program. Even that involved a steep learning curve, the site had to be revamped numerous times, parts of the program changed but I put the knowledge I gained from being a ‘newbie’ into building a good stable program. People need support, they want to see proper products and a realistic and achievable pay plan.
So don’t give up, from every bad experience you will learn something, be it a new skill, what to avoid next time, what advertising works or doesn’t and so on…Like life home based business, especially on the internet, is a learning experience which you must embrace.
© 2004 Rachel Gawith

About The Author

Rachel runs her own online business at http://www.earnmoneyhere.com as well as publishing a weekly newsletter at http://www.freedailycash.com Other opportunities can be seen at http://www.computerincome.net You’ll also find a vast array of free tools there to help you market any business effectively online and you can post your classified ad free for 7 days.

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 03, 2004

by Rachel Gawith

Home Based Business Success and the Power of Belie

Home Based Business Success and the Power of Belief

by: Nick A. James

There was well over one million searches last month on the internet for home businesses. This means numerous people either aren’t happy where they’re at – they need more money or they want to be home raising their kids.

Think about it – people are either working so hard to pay the bills that they can’t slow down and enjoy life or they struggle to pay the bills and thus their life is stress and endless worry. Look at all the home foreclosures each month – it’s unbelievable.

However, while most people really want what a successful home business has to offer they usually aren’t prepared to make that a reality.

Let’s talk here about belief – all great accomplishments start with a seed of belief. But for that seed of belief to grow into a great accomplishment it needs a lot of water and nourishment – especially at first.

The key is to nourish that seed of belief so it grows – that seed of belief is very vulnerable at first – it can easily die as it has no roots.

Right after someone has started a home business is when it’s most vulnerable. Your brother in law Butch will say – are you some kind of moron – those home business things don’t work – my cousins Clem and Jethro didn’t make a dime in the entire 2 hours they spent working. Of course who’s to doubt a business giant like Butch – after all he just advanced to the rank of assistant night supervisor at the Quickmart after 7 short years.

Are you on fire? I heard a preacher once say – are you on fire? Or are you trying to put out someone else’s fire.

If you’re not on fire – I mean a raging fire what happens to a tiny flicker of flame – it easily goes out with the first wind.

However, a raging fire doesn’t go out with the first wind – actually when the winds blow it just serves to make the fire grow even hotter. You can go away and that fire will continue to burn where you planted it.

Actually we are all one of the following three types of people, which one of these are you.

People that make things happen People that get on board with those who make things happen and People like Butch that wonder – what happened.

As a kid why did you never have trouble getting up on Christmas morning? Two reasons really – because you knew that something really good was going to happen to you. But two you had an unshakeable belief that there would be presents under the tree. Hence the great excitement and anticipation thus creating a great positive attitude.

The secret is extraordinary people are excited to get up everyday and so should we. By believing something great will happen each day we bring together unseen forces to help us. Plus this attitude attracts the right people to aid us in accomplishing great things.

Anybody can get excited over something good that’s a sure deal – like Christmas. However, what separates the extraordinary from the ordinary are those who have the vision to see what others can’t see in the future and take action.

There are two roads in life. One is a very broad and paved road and the amazing thing about this road is that you don’t have to look for it or have directions to find it. By simply doing nothing it will find you and in 40 years or less on this giant freeway it will take you to the twin overpopulated cities of Regret and Failure.

On the other hand there is another much harder to find road as it’s simply a bare unmarked trail at the beginning and many people walk past it everyday without noticing. But once in a while to the weary, searching traveler it opens up a glimpse of the great vision it contains waiting at trails end.

The great thing about being on this second road is you meet other travelers who make traveling easier and considerably much more fun.

Everyone on this road sees something fascinatingly different ขon down the road.ข Walt Disney saw Disneyland and Epcot Center on this road. Orville and Wilbur Wright could see the future of air travel. Henry Ford could see a nation of automobiles. Our founding fathers could see a land of free men in a country that was the greatest land of freedom of opportunity the world had ever known.

So if you dare we invite you to take this path on the ขJourney of No Regrets.ข Where the hardest step is always the first.

About The Author

Nick A. James offers informative tips and information on nutrition, health and working from home. His many years of Internet Marketing expertise puts him in unique postion to help others starting a home business (http://www.healthgojijuice.com/homebusiness.html). For free newsletter, free reports and amazing info contact him at: http://www.healthgojijuice.com.

This article was posted on April 09

by Nick A. James

The Number 1 Rule for Businesses Be Professional

The Number 1 Rule for Businesses Be Professional

by: Denise Hall

Have you ever walked into a store and things looked sloppy? Stores should have nice neat displays, right? Normally, yes, but sometimes they get a bit messy on busy days and we all understand how that can happen.

But what if you were to walk into a store as soon as it opened in the morning and the place looked liked it had been ransacked? What would you think?

Youกd probably think it wasn’t very professionallooking. If a rack of shirts was haphazardly thrown together, with all the styles, colors and sizes mixed up, youกd probably walk right past it without giving it a second glance.

If a sales associate wouldn’t answer your questions or help you find something, you would consider that unprofessional, too, not to mention rude.

When we do business in the offline world we expect a professional appearance and professional manner from those who deal with customers. The same is true for online businesses.

Your business depends on how professional you are. Your website, your customer service and the appearance and quality of your work all reflect upon you, the business owner.

Two key factors of professionalism:

Good Customer Service/Relations

Quality Appearance and Writing Skills

Recently I had problems submitting information to several websites. After trying for several days I finally emailed for technical support. (After all, the website owners had messages posted that said to contact them at any time.)

I didn’t expect an immediate reply to my inquiries. I know they’re busy running their businesses, and dealing with other people, too. But I have yet to receive any replies.

Where is the customer service? Why would I want to do business with someone who seems to be ignoring me? At the very least, if it typically takes them more than a couple of days to reply to email, support questions or other requests, they should post that information on their website so customers/visitors know what to expect.

Without good customer service, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Don’t expect customers to buy from you if you can’t afford them some common courtesy.

A professional appearance is mandatory to your business, also. How many times have you read an ad or article that had numerous spelling or grammatical errors?

We’re not perfect. We all make mistakes. But if we frequently had those little red check marks on our composition papers in school, we should probably use spell check and have someone proofread our copy before sending it into cyberspace.

A prime example is a website I visited a few months ago. As I started reading about the product the owner was selling I noticed an error with the use of the word กour.ก The site said กWhen you use กareก product…..ก OK, one little mistake. No big deal.

However, as I continued reading, I discovered the webmaster referred to กareก products and กareก website on the whole page! Not once was the correct word, กour,ก used.

Frequently I read ads and articles that contain many spelling or punctuation errors. For instance, ‘thinking back to when I first started my business. I had no idea how or where to begin.ก

Iกm not a teacher, but I can see that it should be one sentence, not two. The writer cut off the first sentence before actually finishing it. Itกs like the train of thought came to a screeching halt. (In this case, Iกm the writer giving you an example. So if this sentence resembles someone elseกs work, it was not done intentionally.)

The correct way to write it is ‘thinking back to when I first started my business, I had no idea how or where to begin.ก Itกs one flowing sentence. Now it tells you what I was thinking.

Another option is to change it just a bit to make it a complete sentence. กI think back to when I first started my businessก or กI remember when I first started my business.ก Then continue to the second sentence.

Iกm not wanting to demean anyone or be overly picky. Ads, web pages and articles just look much more professional when written with no errors, or at least very minor ones.

Many customers will shy away from a website or ad that seems poorly written or put together. The customer may see the business owner as an amateur, therefore their product, company or service may not be worth much.

Do your customers expect perfection? No. But they do expect professionalism. You’re running a business, so you’re supposed to be a professional. If you give a professional appearance, theyกll believe in you and your business.

About The Author

Denise Hall is the publisher of Home Business on a Budget Newsletter. Her weekly publication contains helpful tips, articles and resources. To subscribe mailto:[email protected] or visit http://www.homebusinessonabudget.com

This article may be reprinted in its entirety with this resource box included.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 26, 2003

by Denise Hall

Email Follow Up Tips, 8 Of Them…

Email Follow Up Tips, 8 Of Them…

by: Daniel Levis

The first thing you need to do is get your emails opened & read. Spend at least as much time worrying about the subject line of each e mail in your sequence as you do worrying about the body.

Brainstorm at least five subject lines, pick the one most likely to stop your prospects dead in their tracks (tip, the only way to know for sure is to test), and use the rest of them in the body of the message. And ALWAYS begin your title with the person’s first name.

Curiosity Killed The Cat Itกs human nature to be curious. One of the most effective ways to get your message opened is to throw a little mystery into the heading. Mystery, mixed with relevant benefit, will get your message opened. But thatกs not all.

Itกs still easy to bail after the first paragraph, so curiosity can also help to drive your prospect deeper into the body of the message. Remember, the deeper your readers go into your copy, the more difficult it will be for them to STOP reading it.

It doesn’t hurt to tell a little bit about what your offer isn’t, to build up the suspense, and help drive your reader further down the page.

Tell A Story In 1919, a Russian immigrant named Max Sackheim, stumbled upon a fascinating discovery. He had been hired by the Sherwin Cody School of English to come up with a mail order advertisement, and his original headline read, กDo You Make Mistakes In Englishก?

The ad didn’t pull.

By adding one magic little word to the headline, Max was able to make the very same ad produce amazing results. The ad became so profitable that it ran for over 40 years straight, when Max changed the headline to, กDo You Make These Mistakes In Englishก?

People’s curiosity got the better of them. They just couldn’t resist reading Maxกs advertisement. They were all wondering if they might be making ‘theseก mistakes in English. Max was able to slip right under the buyer’s natural resistance to being sold, and suck them right into the advertisement.

Story telling has the same effect.

You Can Never Over Educate Nobody ever bought a hammer, because they wanted a hammer. What they wanted was a bunch of nails tapped home just right. Sequential email follow up is ideal for showing your prospects how to achieve their goals with your product.

Remember, the more comfortable your prospects are about the กHow Toก of using your product or service to solve their problem, the more confidence theyกll have in your ability & willingness to really help them. One of the most effective things you can do with your autoresponder, is to offer free courses & tutorials that show your prospects how to use your products to get the results they’re looking for.

It’s the ultimate soft sell, and it’s very effective!

Warts & All Itกs all about trust. Thatกs why you’re following up on your prospects in the first place, right? Your prospects need to be exposed an average of 7 to 9 times before succumbing to your seduction.

Pointing out the imperfections of your product can go a long way toward building that trust. You don’t necessarily have to slam your product, but giving the straight goods on the pitfalls that the buyer might encounter when using it, and helping them to avoid them, demonstrates your honesty, and openness.

Itกs like showing the front of your hands, in a facetoface encounter.

Be Specific Details, exact numbers, & vivid descriptions worked into your copy are worth their weight in gold, because they’re far more believable than generalities. When you make a claim, back it up with facts & figures.

Your prospects are both naturally skeptical, and hungry for truth.

Don’t Be Shy About Objections Every product has natural objections. Don’t be afraid to bring them up.

Read your copy after being away from it for a while, and at some point in the message youกll feel them creeping in. Thatกs the point when you add something like, กOK, you’re probably thinking . I can understand why you might feel that way, many others who looked at this product felt just the same way, until they found out about .ก

You need to come up with a list of reasons why your prospect would want to buy your product or service, and also the reasons why not.

The Fear of Loss Is Greater Than The Desire For Gain Often the fear of losing something, sometimes even something that we do not yet have, is a stronger motivator than our desire for gain.

The fear of missing out on a special price or promotion is a good example of this.

Don’t we all want what we can’t have? Work hard to find ways to make your product scarce, or at least make your offer scarce, by offering it for a limited time.

Justify Your Offer People know that you’re in business to make a profit, and that you don’t give things away out of the goodness of your heart.

When they see a sale, or a special price, or a bonus offer, the wheels naturally start turning in the back of their heads. Whatกs the catch? While itกs our emotions that truly motivate us, logic does have a nasty habit of getting in the way.

When you are open with your prospects about the reason why you’re offering them a special deal, itกs amazing how easily theyกll accept your reasoning, and abandon their resistance. The same applies to giving a legitimate reason why your special offer absolutely expires on a specific date.

So there you have it. Eight email follow up secrets, revealed.

Until next time, Good Selling!

Copyright 2005 Daniel Levis

About The Author

Daniel Levis is a top marketing consultant & direct response copywriter based in Toronto Canada. Recently, Daniel & worldrenowned publicist & copywriter Joe Vitale teamed up to co author ขMillion Dollar Online Advertising Strategies – From The Greatest Letter Writer Of The 20th Century!ข, a tribute to the late, great Robert Collier.

Let the legendary Robert Collier show you how to write words that sell…Visit the below site & get 3 FREE Chapters!

http://www.AdvertisingOnlineStrategies.com/adstrategies.html

This article was posted on March 19

by Daniel Levis

Build Credibility, Value and Trust on a Shoestring

Build Credibility, Value and Trust on a Shoestring

by: George Torok

Setting priorities in your business? Your first job is to sell. Selling is writing the orders; receiving the cash; feeding the beast. If you don’t sell; the beast, (your business), dies. The impact of selling is immediate. You may love it, but it is a beast. You need to feed it and control it.
Your second priority is marketing. Marketing is taming and grooming the beast. Marketing is everything that makes it easier to sell. Marketing is about sending messages and everything you do or don’t do sends a message. You are responsible for these messages because they impact the perception of your credibility, value and trust. The impact of marketing is long term. The best time to start marketing was yesterday. The next best time is today.
Use these lowbudget techniques to build credibility, value and trust on a shoestring.
Be a guest speaker for community groups, schools and associations.
You most want to speak in front of prospects. But sometimes you need to take side steps to get there. There are over 8,000 associations in Canada. Check the directories at the library to find associations that may have prospects. Then contact the local chapters to offer a nocharge seminar or speech. Don’t tell them you speak for free even though you do. Instead tell them that you normally charge, pick a number, but agree to waive your fee as a first time offer. The presentation must be of value and interest to the audience. It can not be an infomercial. Provide a handout with key points from your talk. Include information about your services along with your contact numbers and website on the handout. Ensure your introducer reads the introduction you prepare that establishes your expertise and what you do. But don’t stand up there and sell instead market by using examples of how you helped previous clients. Ask for a list of all attendees. If they refuse, collect everyoneกs business card for a draw. Give away a book, one of your products or 30 minutes of your service. It is more important to collect business cards than to give yours away.
After your presentation ask the organizer to refer you to speak at other associations or other chapters of the same association. Other groups you might speak to are Rotary, chambers of commerce, and various networking clubs. You don’t need to be a member to be a guest speaker. Prepare and rehearse your presentation. To become a better speaker read the book, กSecrets of Power Presentationsก, by Peter Urs Bender and visit Toastmasters, a nonprofit association that teaches presentations skills. The book is in most stores and you can find a local Toastmasters club by visiting www.Toastmasters.org
Volunteer for a charity, community cause or association.
Budget your time wisely and volunteer for a cause or group in which you strongly support. If you do, then you will work willingly and passionately. You will feel good about your contribution . Others see you at your best. They have the opportunity to know you and like you. And we would rather do business with people we know and like. By volunteering on a committee or charity you contact others who share your beliefs. And we like others who are like us. After working together as volunteers it is easier to discuss business opportunities. In this way you may discover new customers, and suppliers. You might also find partners for cross promotion or referrals. The bonus payoff from volunteering is positive media exposure. This might include photos and interviews that could result from your impact. You could join an established cause or you could simply organize your own event. A dentist donated one day of his time to give free fillings to children of single mothers just before Christmas. He received frontpage coverage.
Write and publish articles
We grant tremendous respect to those who have published works. Write a book and that is an invaluable credibility tool. Case in point; before I wrote my book with Peter Urs Bender I was a nobody. After, I was an overnight marketing guru. I say กovernightก because it took two years to write and lots of promotion. Nothing in business happens overnight, neither success nor failure.
You can and should start with something simpler than a book articles that highlight your expertise. The simplest article to write is a tips list. It could be ‘three steps to prepare for ______ก; กFive questions to ask when buying ________ก; กSeven ways to save money on your __________ก; or ‘ten tips for improving your _________ก.
The most important step in writing is to start. The second most important step is to edit and rewrite. Forget about writing excellent copy the first time. I would be so disappointed with myself to find out you can write perfect copy the first time.
Where do you publish? You most want to be seen in the publications your prospects read. These might be trade and association magazines. Members tend to read them covertocover. Of course it is wonderful to appear in a national business publication such as the Globe & Mail, Canadian Business, Profit or Small Business Canada. Copy your articles and send them to your clients and prospects. Post them on your web site and on the wall of your office for visitors to admire and for you to be reminded that you are an expert.
Feed, tame and groom the beast and it will be your friend.

About The Author

© George Torok is coauthor of the national bestseller, กSecrets of Power Marketingก, Canadaกs first guide to personal marketing for the nonmarketer. He delivers seminars and keynotes to corporations and associations across North America. He can be reached at 8003041861 For more information the training programs and more marketing tips visit the web site www.PowerMarketing.ca

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 06, 2004

by George Torok

Can the Average Person Earn a Stable Income Operat

Can the Average Person Earn a Stable Income Operating an Online Business?

by: David Moore

Is a workathome business using your computer as your income tool realistic for the average person? First, let me say that I do not believe in the notion of an ขaverageข person. There is no such thing. If there were, we wouldn’t have different acumens, different personalities, and different talents. My wife has many exceptional talents. She is extremely intuitive and seems to be able to see right through anyone who is not what they appear to be. But some of the basics (I think) of comprehension have passed her by. After 33 years of marriage I only learned last week that she was unaware of the procedure of putting gas into the car without having to squeeze the lever on the nozzle and keep holding it down. She didn’t realize you could slip the lever onto a notch and the flow of gas would shut off automatically when your tank is full. And she’s always fulfilled the function putting gas into her car, or ours, when we only had one car and she was driving it.

So on this very cold day she asked if I would mind taking her car to the station down the street to fill it with gas. She told me her hands got too cold when holding down the lever and she couldn’t find her gloves. UNBELIEVABLE! How could anyone not know you don’t have to keep holding the lever down with your hand? But you know what, I’ll bet there are lots of similar functions we take for granted whose utility others do not understand. At the same time, I’m sure there are things we don’t understand, or that we do the hard way when a much simpler application is available to us.

What’s my point? If we keep thinking the same way we’ve always thought, we’ll keep getting the same results we’ve always gotten. Einstein said it best. ขThe significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.ข

Having dispelled the notion of ขaverageข let me say that yes it is true that a workathome business using your computer as your income tool is realistic for anyone who can read and write and perform the basic functions of life whether you keep holding the lever down, or you do as I do and slip the lever into the notch on the nozzle while you get back in the car and listen to ball game on the radio until the tank is full.

But regardless of your acumen, your personality, or your unique talents, to be successful with an online business you have to have three important qualities, 1) a willingness to learn, 2) patience, and 3) focus.

You can’t just jump into an online business opportunity, no matter what it is and no matter what is promised and expect to earn money without first learning something about it. So if you’re unwilling to learn don’t get started. You’ll lose money and you’ll get frustrated and angry with yourself and everyone else.

Secondly, if you expect to earn $4000 your first month in an online business you’ll be extremely disappointed. If that’s what you are promised then that’s your first clue that what you are considering is NOT a reputable business. Now if you’re internet business savvy and you can bring along contacts and methods from previous ventures then it’s a possibility. But for the vast majority of us it’s like trying to make a call on a cell phone with no battery. You can punch in all the numbers you want but you won’t get through to anyone.

This leads me to my third point, FOCUS. Depending on where you go for the statistics, as many as 97% of people who start an online workathome business drop out before they have been in the business for even six months. It takes time to learn and patience to put that learning into practice. So if you’re unwilling to stay focused, if you’d rather watch ขAmerican Idolข every night so you can get in your vote, or if you’d rather stay glued to the TV to watch your favorite team win some and lose some every night you won’t succeed. Why?

Back to the simple principle. If you keep thinking the same way you’ve always thought you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten. So making money online is really not about acumen, or personality, or talent. Anyone can succeed and realize significant monthly income through the power of FOCUS.

I was reading a passage of scripture recently from the book of Jeremiah. This is what it says. ขIf you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how can you manage in the thickets?ข YOU HAVE TO STAY FOCUSED!

About The Author

David Moore is a member of the Wealth Online Website system. He is a home based online business entrepreneur, but his first love is his wife Cheri and their three grown children (and one awesome grandson). Dave teaches in the Social Science Department at a University (parttime) and has served on the administrtative staff of a faithbased humanitarian aid organization. He has completed post graduate programs in both Cross Cultural Communications and Higher Education Administration. He believes strongly that the application of all selfgenerated wealth must include a provision for giving back to the commmunity, the church, and other worthy causes. If you would like more information on his online business, please visit his website at: DavidMoore.ws.

This article is not copyrighted.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 20

by David Moore

Google Adwords For Your Target Market

Google Adwords For Your Target Market

by: Bobby Walker

First off, let me tell you where most Internet Marketers make their mistake. You log on to the Internet, do a little surfing, when all of a sudden it hits you right in the face! The very product that you have been looking for! The perfect ขproductข as a matter of fact! You cannot use your paypal account fast enough, so you can start selling your ขproductข on the Internet like crazy!

Do you realize what you just did? You just combined two of the hardest industries there are to make money in, Internet Marketing and Gambling! That is exactly what you are doing by picking a product before you find out if people even want it.

A product is incapable of giving you money, only people can pay you, and a ขmarketข is made up of people. You must center your product around your market to be successful on the Internet.

So how do you uncover your target market? Easy, you just go to www.overture.com to use their keyword tool and type in what you want to search for and hit enter. It will tell you the most popular keywords for that particular word or phrase and it will also tell you how many people searched that word or phrase last month.

Typically, a good market will be between 40,000 to 100,000 searches for that particular month. Less than that may be a weak market, and more than that could be too competitive. To find out for sure use the overture bidding tool for a particular word or phrase, and look at the third bid, it should be at least .30 up to $2.00. Again, less than .30 could be weak and more than $2.00 could be too competitive.

With overture, you can basically be the highest bidder and get the first position, not too much guesswork involved there. But Google Adwords is a different story, there is definitely some skill involved in with this method.

However, with Google Adwords, you have the potential to bid as little as .05 and still be in first position! However, the problem is that most people do not want to take the time or put forth the effort to tweak out the perfect Google ad, myself included.

That is when I stumbled across a website http://www.perrymarshall.active.ws, which has an excellent course called, The Definitive Google Adwords Course. The basic course is fairly cheap at $49 considering all the information you get. If you want some audio thrown in, it is only $97, and if you want the deluxe with hard case cover, you will pay about $197.

Obviously, the best part about the course is that they tell you some of the secrets that are in the course. You can enter your first name and valid email address and get a free 5 day course.

They give away some good secrets, just enough to get you wanting more. But hey, we all have to make money somehow, right?

Seriously, this is a great course, I personally bought the basic course, and I have already raised the visitors to my website by 20% within a week of reading the course. Not bad for a $49 investment, I have spent more than that buying visitors from traffic exchanges! Which you should never do, by the way.

Any and every business needs to have the knowledge that is in this course. The bottom line is, if you do not have traffic to your site, you do not produce income. So I highly, highly recommend the Google Adwords Course.

About The Author

Bobby Walker

Internet Marketer

Dallas, Texas

3 Easy Step To Online Success

http://www.homebiz365.com/pips.html

Beat the Google Adwords System!

http://www.perrymarshall.active.ws

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 24

by Bobby Walker

Cisco Certification: Taking Your First Certificati

Cisco Certification: Taking Your First Certification Exam

by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

You’ve studied hard; you’ve practiced your configurations; you’ve used your flash cards over and over again; and finally, the big day is here. Your first certification exam!

For many Cisco certification candidates, their first exam is the CCNA Composite exam or one of the two exams that make up the CCNA, the Introduction To Networking exam or the ICND (Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices) exam.

Walking into a testing center for the first time can be a nervewracking experience. You’ve got enough on your mind just keeping all that new information straight without worrying about what the testing experience will be like.

You’re not there to take the exam. You’re there to pass the exam. With this aggressive attitude in mind, let’s take a look at what you should expect (and not expect) when taking your first Cisco certification exam.

Be Early and Bring Your ID.

If the testing center is not in a part of town that you drive to in the morning, and you’ve got a 9 AM exam, you may find the traffic is much heavier that time of morning than you expected. Driving up to the testing center 10 minutes late is not a good way to get started. If you’ve never been to the center before, check their website for directions, or call them for directions. If at all possible, drive to the center the night before your exam.

Make sure to bring your wallet or purse. You cannot take the exam without proper identification. You’ll probably be asked for two forms of ID, one of which must be a picture ID.

Paper or Dry Erase Board: It’s Your Choice.

Most testing centers hand you a dry erase board and a marker. Make sure that the marker has a fine point; when you’re answering subnetting questions or performing a hexadecimaltobinary conversion, that will come in handy.

If you’re more comfortable with paper and pencil, ask for it. The testing center employee will be glad to give you some. They will mark the paper before giving it to you; don’t take it personally. That’s just to make sure you give them the same paper they give you.

The Testing Room

Despite the best efforts of VUE and Prometric, some testing center rooms are afterthoughts. I strongly advise that if you’re taking your exam at a technical school, ask to see the testing room BEFORE you sign up for the exam. If it looks like a converted broom closet, it probably is. Those rooms also tend to be right next to classrooms, which can result in distracting noise during your exam.

If your testing center specializes in giving computerbased exams rather than classes, you’re probably in good shape. Again, feel free to drop by the testing center before your exam to take a peek at the testing room. Most testing rooms have a window that employees use to keep an eye on testers, and you should be able to take a peek through the window.

When you go in, you’ll be asked to enter your social security number as your testing ID. Once you do that, the exam engine starts running. However, this doesn’t mean the test starts.

The Survey

When you take a Cisco exam, you’ll first be presented with a survey. The survey consists of 10 – 20 questions asking about your background, preparation methods, and comfort level with different technologies. This is a good time to catch your breath before starting the exam. The survey will only take about five minutes, and this time does not count against your exam time.

Pay Attention To The Exam Tutorials

You’ll then be presented with an exam tutorial, showing you how to answer the different types of questions Cisco may ask. While most of these questions types are common sense (multiple choice, single answer, fillintheblank), I strongly urge you to pay special attention to the router simulator question tutorial.

The simulator questions carry more weight than the other questions; indeed, it’s almost impossible to pass the CCNA exams if you totally miss the simulator questions. While the interface for these exams is intuitive, sometimes students who fail their exam complain that they were not given enough information to answer the question. The real problem is that they didn’t look in the right place for that information. It’s not hidden, but spend a few minutes with the tutorial and do not go forward until you’re comfortable with the simulator interface.

The Exam Itself

Finally, the exam starts! Remember, you’re not being asked anything you don’t know. If you have prepared correctly with the right tools, you’ll have a passing grade on your screen before you know it.

Speaking of that grade, you’ll be presented with it about five seconds after you answer the final question. Cisco exams no longer allow CCNA and CCNP candidates to go back once a question is answered, so be prepared for that.

Knowing what to expect when you go into the testing room for the first time will magnify your chances of success. Work hard (and smart!) while studying, achieve a combination of theoretical knowledge and handson work with real Cisco routers, and you are on your way to exam success!

Chris Bryant

CCIE #12933

About The Author

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage. The Bryant Advantageกs website offers FREE ebooks and tutorials for the CCNA and CCNP exams, FREE subscriptions to กCisco Certification Centralก, and sells the best CCNA and CCNP prep courses and books on the market today. Visit his site at www.thebryantadvantage.com today!

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 04

by Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

Profiles of Success Issue #79 : AllPiercings.com

Profiles of Success Issue #79 : AllPiercings.com One Year Later

by: Tiffany Banks

Beginning with issue # 28 (see http://www.homebusinessnetwork.com/profiles28.html) we profiled a brandnew internet startup called AllPiercings.com. )http://www.allpiercings.com) A couple (Erik & Dawn Olsen) were launching their first venture selling กphysical productsก online, and allowed us a glimpse into their thoughts and challenges involved in starting such a business on a shoestring. This is a followup one year after launch…

Tiffany: Well, Erik…youกve lasted a whole year (which is itself an accomplishment for a new business)…how are things going?

Erik: Super! We completely blew away our firstyear goals and are currently gearing up for our 2nd holiday season. Considering our sales shot up roughly 400% for the month prior to Christmas (and the fact that we have about 390 more designs than last year), we’re pretty excited to see this yearกs holiday numbers.

Tiffany: Thatกs great! But…there can’t be all sunshine, right? What are some of the กchallengesก you’re having to overcome?

Erik: There are a number of them. Right now, the biggest is our free search engine rankings. For the first three months or so after we launched, we were steadily climbing in the SERPS (ed: search engine result pages), but at the end of march, we suddenly fell like a rock. Although there hasn’t been a penalty, and we still get allot of free traffic (about 2000 visitors a day), our rankings are just now starting to climb back our of the cellar.

Tiffany: Iกm sure that problem is common to almost all online business owners. What are you doing to improve your rankings?

Erik: Well…a number of things. About 4 months ago, we started a very selective linking campaign to trade links to sites that tightly fit our focus (i.e. body jewelry, and/or the jewelry industry). This has had a twopronged benefit. One, it has started to give our site a boost in the SERPS, and two, weกve actually been getting sales as a direct result of those links.

Tiffany: Not to get too specific, but how are the numbers? You know our readers REALLY want to know about the $$$.

Erik: Specifics aside, we tripled our first year goals. Iกll leave it at that.

Tiffany: Fair enough. What other challenges have you been up against?

Erik: To be honest, our biggest challenge this year hasn’t even come from the business. Weกve had a rather nasty medical problem crop up in my immediate family which has been dominating my time for several months now. This has made me realize having a home business, while a blessing, can also be a doubleedged sword. When you run your own business, thereกs no one to กpick up the slackก for you. Iกve been doing as much as I can with the business via laptop from a hospital, and shuttling back and forth handling orders. Itกs been a real challenge, but I think thereกs light at the end of the tunnel. In six months or so, I hope that things will be back to กnormalก.

Tiffany: Definitely sounds like youกve had your hands full. Ok…aside from all the bumps in the road, youกve obviously got a hit on your hands. what are your plans for year #2?

Erik: They are almost too many to mention. Further expansion of our affiliate program (through the recruiting of specific partners), increased search engine traffic (which of course leads to more sales), a HUGE expanse of our product line (weกve got over 1000 new designs on order already), as well as expanding into other related product lines.

Thatกs just a few…as for the others…there are a number of marketing ideas Iกve some up with that no one in the industry has tried yet, so I hesitate to name them here, as I know they will be กadoptedก by my competitors.

Tiffany: That brings up a good point. Is competition a problem?

Erik: Yes and no. There are a few (and I mean only a few) competitors our there who are giving us a run for our money, but I don’t really see them as a problem. Unfortunately, some of the areas where we innovated in the sales process have been latently copied by those competitors.

Tiffany: For example..?

Erik: For example: We offer free shipping on orders over $25. That in itself is not such a revolutionary thing However, when I was having our system custom built from the ground up, I had our developers add a feature that would กencourageก a customer to spend at least $25 by telling the กSpend just $X more and get free shippingก. This feature didn’t appear on a single other body jewelry retailers site. Low and behold…a few months after we started gaining market share, this feature was quietly กaddedก to a competitors site. I guess imitation is the best form of flattery. Aside from that, the only กcompetitionก come from people building dozens of sites all pointing to the same product database. The good news is this is against Googleกs (and other) guidelines, and weกve been very successful in reporting these กnetworksก of sites, which has resulted in their getting banned from the engine(s). Iกve got no problem with competition, as long as they play by the same rules that we do. If they’re trying to game the engines by setting multiple keywordbased domains, weกll report them for as long as it takes to get them banned.

Tiffany: So…with your first year under your belt, what advice would you give to anyone who was considering ‘taking the plungeก into their first home business?

Erik: RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. Know the market you want to get involved in. Our niche was VERY crowded when we launched (and remains so). The only reason we were able to capture the kind of market share we have now is because we had both the USP (ed. Unique Selling Point) and the finances to both act and look like a player from day one. The days of putting up a site that looks like it was designed by your paperboy are long gone. If you want to compete, you have to LOOK like you can compete. In this day and age, no one want to purchase something from a site that APPEARS to be run from a garage. The good news is, with just a bit of startup capital (Iกd say $5000 is a good number to have on hand), you can build a site that from day one gives the perception that it can deliver the goods. Perception is everything.

Follow that up with awesome customer service (not a single support email has gone more than 18 hours before being answered), some great marketing twists (we sent over 200 Tshirts out a couple of months ago, which generated 3times their cost in sales), and a strong affiliate program (ours now generates over 50% of our sales), and youกll have a winner.

Tiffany: Thatกs great, Erik. Thanks for ‘talkingก to us, and weกll definitely check back in 6 months!

Note: Weกll be following up on Erik & Dawnกs progress in the coming monthกs. Stay tuned!

Note: You can visit the site referenced in this article at http://www.allpiercings.com

About The Author

Tiffany Bankกs is the Editor in Chief of the Home Business Network website.

http://www.homebusinessnetwork.com

This article was posted on September 24, 2004

by Tiffany Banks

Online Trade Winds

Online Trade Winds

by: Nicholas Dixon

A few bends ago on the online marketing road, I registered and got paid hosting for a website I have been marketing for years. Now some people may say that is minor step, but for someone who lives on a rock in the Caribbean Sea that is a privilege.

I happen to live in a society that is still grappling with technology but is slowly catching on. The average man on the street feels that you are a geek once you are into computers when in fact you were in the same mindset as him before you first started out.

Being on online marketer sets you up for a roller coaster ride which if you are not prepared for, can leave you throwing up before the ride ends. Online marketing is not a gokart race but is more akin to the Dayonta 500, so you better dig in for a long ride.

I built and ran my first website on someone else’s computer for years because I could not afford one. I did this using free hosting services until I could pay for hosting and upgrade my website. That made me feel so vulnerable at times of placing my best interests in the hand of another, but business is a gamble and I took my chances.

Instead of feeling disheartened, I used this as a catalyst for my growth. Here I was hearing complaints from others about the lack of opportunities, yet there was a goldmine right on the playground of the young the internet.

Online marketing is a great teacher for all. It forces you to forget about me and start thinking about us. It is not a game where you hide behind a computer screen and shoot off emails to thousands hoping that you will get rich. It is all about building relationships which will determine if you sink or float.

Personality is a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. It is an under used strategy that much has not been written about. Mark you though, just because you have a Brad Pitt personality that means you are already successful, instead it should compliment your other strengths.

The internet is a very powerful communicating and marketing tool that has changed several aspects of our lives. You can shoot off an email to someone halfway around the globe and it arrives quicker than an elevator ride to the first floor.

It pains me daily that persons who want a cheap business tool don’t know about it and some who have access to the net use it only to read emails and play Yahoo games. I happen to work at a computer lab and many of the persons who I have recommend the internet to as a business tool never even tried it once. Nothing baffling about that though.

Online marketing moreso the Net are fairly young when compared to most offline businesses and there is still plenty of time and space to hop on board. It will take you some amount of time, strength, courage and persistence to achieve your set goals. But at the end of the day you have something you can call your own.

Though I have not earned my first five figure check, these thoughts are what inspire me daily to help further the growth of the net. Strange huh, the net grows, my business grows, my bank balance grows, your business grows……..

Copyright © Nicholas Dixon

About The Author

Nicholas Dixon is the creator of Jamaica’s first article directory. Free content and information about a cool island town. Visit http://WWW.Oceanroc.com to learn more…

[email protected]

This article was posted on November 12, 2004

by Nicholas Dixon

Press Releases for Every Occasion

Press Releases for Every Occasion

by: Bill Stoller

To many marketers, the press release is something of a กone size fits allก proposition. You want to get media coverage, you knock out a press release, send it to some journalists and sit back and wait.

Of course, smart Publicity Insiders already know that’s a prescription for failure. You know that your press release has to have a กhookก, be wellwritten and sent to appropriate journalists in an active, not passive, manner. But there’s another part of the puzzle that even savvy publicityseekers sometimes miss you can’t just write กa press releaseก, you have to write the right kind of press release.

There’s no such thing as a กone size fits allก release. Smart publicists have variations of the press release model ready to be go, depending on the occasion.

(Note: for a general introduction to press release writing and formatting, see: http://www.publicityinsider.com/release.asp

Letกs look at some releases suitable for กharderก and more timely news…

The News Release

To some folks, กnews releaseก and กpress releaseก are interchangeable. Not to me. I use the phrase กnews releaseก to refer to a release that, well, carries actual news. Let’s face it, most of what a business has to say to a journalist isn’t exactly กstop the pressesก kind of stuff. But, on occasion, something of real significance occurs. A merger, a stock split, a major new contract, winning a national award…something that’s truly timely and important. For these sorts of events, don’t mess around. Craft a solid, hardhitting News Release that’s written in pure journalistic style (lead includes กwho, what, when, why and howก, language is in 3rd person and completely free of hyperbole). Use journalism’s กinverted pyramidก most important information at the top, next most important info in the second paragraph and so on down.

Tell the entire story in the headline and subhead. Again, don’t get cute get straight to the point. The headline กAcme Corporation Selected by Pentagon to Supply Troops with Widgetsก is far better than something like กGuess Who’s Making Widgets for Uncle Sam?ก or something กcleverก like that. In the subhead, fill in some details: ก$18 Million Contract Largest in Company’s Historyก. Talk about getting straight to the point! You’ve just given the journalist the meat of the story before she’s even read your lead.

Add a กdatelineก (Akron, OH) at the beginning of your lead (first) paragraph. In the dateline, use your company’s home town (or the location where some news has broken. You can be a bit creative here, if it helps maximize your impact. For the above example, you can dateline it Washington, DC and say that ‘the Pentagon today announced that it has selected an Akron company…ก).

In distributing the release, use email, fax, distribution service such as PRWeb or PR Newswire, or even overnight courier. The goal is to get it into journalists’ hands on the same day you distribute it.

Executive Appointment Release

Most businesses send out a brief release and headshot when someone new is hired or a major promotion is made. That’s fine, and it will get them in the กPeople on the Moveก column on page 8 in the business section. It’s an ego stroke for the employee, but that’s about it. Savvy publicity seekers use the Executive Appointment release to generate real publicity. Here’s the key don’t just announce that someone’s been hired or promoted. Rather, explain why the move is significant to the company and perhaps the market as a whole.

For example, Jane Smith has been hired as your company’s new director of sales. Not so exciting. However, the reason you hired her is because she came from a major online retailer and is planning to overhaul your sales system to compare with the state oftheart systems used by the big guys. Hmmmm…that’s a lot more interesting. So why not tell the media about it?

The key ingredient is context. Your headline may still look like that of a typical Executive Appointment release (Acme Names Jane Smith New Director of Sales), but starting with the subhead, you begin your journey off page 8 of the business section and onto page one (Hiring of Key Figure in Online Sales Explosion Marks Important Shift in Acme’s Sales Strategy). Ah, now you’ve entered the realm of news, not business as usual. And a sharp business editor will see that a local company is doing something far more significant than just making a hire.

Dateline the release, fax (or even messenger), email or regular mail it over to your local business editor and follow up with a phone call. Offer Jane Smith for interview, too.

The Media Alert

The Media Alert is a deceptively simple creature. It’s essentially a memo from you to TV, radio and newspaper assignment editors, city desk editors and others who decide whether a particular news event is worth covering. They’re used to alert the press about news conferences, charity events, publicity กstuntsก and other events.

The point of the Media Alert is to, in just a few seconds, tell a journalist about the event, how to cover it and why it’s important that the media outlet, in fact, covers it. Most publicists are pretty good on the first two points almost all media alerts do a decent job of telling what the event is, where it will be held and what time it starts. It’s the third aspect the กwhyก that will make the real difference, though. And it’s the thing most publicists do a lousy of job of conveying.

First, a word about format. Use standard press release headings (contact info, กFor Immediate Releaseก and headline). The rest of the document should be a few paragraphs, spaced at least three lines apart from one another. The first paragraph, should begin with What: and continue with a one or two line description of the event (WidgetFest 2004, a celebration of young minds). Next paragraph, When:, after that Where:

Now here’s the key paragraph,

Why You Should Cover WidgetFest 2004: The brightest young minds from around the region will gather to present their inventions, as Acme Corp. celebrates the state’s top high school science students. The event will be a visual feast, with a host of awe inspiring inventions, many colorful, active and exotic, on display. As part of the event, more than $10,000 in scholarships will be distributed to budding Einsteins by John Smith, Ohio’s Science Teacher of the Year.

The key? This line: ‘the event will be a visual feast, with a host of aweinspiring inventions, many colorful, active and exotic, on display.ก I just spoke an assignment editor’s language, telling him that this will provide lots of cool visuals, making for great video or photos. The bit about the scholarships and the Science Teacher of the Year assures him that this won’t just be a promotional stunt. So what are we offering? A nonpromotional, feelgood event with great visuals. Just what an assignment editor is looking for.

About The Author

Bill Stoller, the กPublicity Insiderก, has spent two decades as one of Americaกs top publicists. Now, through his website, eZine and subscription newsletter, Free Publicity: The Newsletter for PRHungry Businesses http://www.PublicityInsider.com/freepub.asp heกs sharing for the very first time his secrets of scoring big publicity. For free articles, killer publicity tips and much, much more, visit Billกs exclusive new site: http://www.PublicityInsider.com

This article was posted on January 04

by Bill Stoller