Free Marketing = Effective Marketing

Free Marketing = Effective Marketing

by: Brandon Milford

According to Google.com there are over three billion web pages online today. So what are you doing to separate yourself from the crowd? How are you targeting your customers? How much capital are you investing in marketing? Is it working?

I hear many business owners complaining about the inability to successfully drive targeted customers to their website. I listen as they tell me about purchasing email lists and buying advertising spaces on related websites. While these methods may work there are free and effective ways to drive targeted traffic to your site.

The first is the ever popular search engines. There are a number of ways to successfully optimize your website for the search engines and subsequently receive better rankings. Search engine optimization is an enormous topic and there have been many books written on the subject and businesses specializing in this service, but I will give you a few important pointers on optimizing your website. First, be sure to have a great deal of relevant content on your website that is no more than three levels deep (the search engine’s crawler does not typically search more than three levels down). This content can include articles, white papers, case studies etc. Second, be sure to have a large number of websites linking to yours. Trade links with other website owners and place their links in a ‘Resources’ section on your website. One of the important variables, among many, that Google will use in your ranking is the number of relevant websites that are linking to yours. So be sure the majority of incoming links to your website are from businesses that provide similar offerings. Third, be sure to include accompanying text links to all of your pages if your current page links are buried within images. This is important because the crawler cannot see images, but it can find text links.

The next way to drive free targeted traffic to your website is to include a link to your site and small ‘hook’ in your email signature. I’m surprised at how many business owners still do not do this. This hook will be one sentence that tells your audience what you do. This ขsmall adข of sorts will be on every email you send out. Example:

John Smith

President

ABC Company

ขProviding communications solutions in a technology driven worldข

Next, get involved with various online message boards/discussion forums that discuss topics that are relevant to your business and provide a link to your website in your signature. You’ll be surprised at its effectiveness. Be sure to participate in relevant discussion forums so that you can learn and contribute the most by participating in knowledgeable topics and at the same time receive targeted clicks. Do not spam any discussion forums, this is not effective and will kill all credibility in your business and your product/service.

The next way to receive free targeted traffic is similar to exchanging links, but even more effective. Seek out partnerships with companies that offer complimentary product offerings and agree to place a prominent link to their site if they will do the same for you. You can set up a ‘Partners’ section on your homepage and display the company’s logo, link, and information.

It is important that we not forget about marketing offline as well. If you are just starting and need customer referrals don’t be afraid to give away products/services for free or at least in exchange for another company’s services. For instance, let’s say that you design websites. Offer a lawyer a free website for their company if in return they will give you free legal advice for a limited time. Also, offer a limited number of businesses free products/services. After you have provided a few businesses with your products/services and they are happy ask them to write a testimonial for you and display this testimonial prominently on your website. Also, give them a few of your business cards and ask them to send any of their friends your way as well. You’ll be surprised at how many people will hear about your business via wordofmouth through satisfied customers.

I hope this condensed list of suggestions have helped you in formulating ideas on how to better market your website. Use your imagination and get creative in your marketing efforts. Get out there and tell the world about your website!

About The Author

Brandon Milford is the President of Pimil.com, a web solutions company based in Georgia, and the Marketing Director for Email Marketing Software Center, a website devoted to providing knowledge and product recommendations on permission based email marketing.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 02, 2004

by Brandon Milford

Achievements Outweigh Education and Experience

Achievements Outweigh Education and Experience

by: Tim Knox

QUESTION:

When it comes to succeeding in business, which is more important: education or experience? Regina M.

ANSWER:

Regina, have you seen the television show, Fear Factor? If you haven’t seen it you’ve probably heard about it. Fear Factor is the show where they put contestants through all sorts of pseudodeath defying feats like bungee jumping off a bridge over a pool of crocodiles and driving a car through a wall of fire (you know, the stuff we did for fun in high school). The contestant who overcomes their personal fear factor wins the cash and prizes (usually at the cost of their dignity, but I digress).

The highlight of Fear Factor is the eating competition. That’s when contestants are invited to partake of all sorts of culinary fare. Yummy stuff like monkey brains, all manner of live bugs and spiders, moose intestines, old fruitcake (the horror!), and my personal favorite, live giant worms. At this point the competition becomes not so much who can overcome their fear factor, but who has the lowest gag reflex.

Your question makes me feel a little like those contestants, Regina, because no matter how I answer I am opening a can of giant worms that I will undoubtedly be forced to eat later. My highly educated peers will argue that education is much more important than experience, while my highly experienced peers will argue that experience is more important. Either way, it’s worms ala carte for me.

Oh well, I’ve eaten more than my share of crow over the years. How much worse can worms be?

It’s important to understand that the success of an entrepreneur is not measured by how much education he or she has or how many years of experience are under his or her belt. An entrepreneur’s success is measured by achievements, not words on a resume.

By definition, an entrepreneur is a risktaking businessperson: someone who sets up and finances new commercial enterprises to make a profit. Entrepreneurs start businesses. The smart ones then hire MBAs to run them.

Let’s start with education. Is a Bachelor’s degree or better required to succeed in business? Of course not. An MBA from Harvard might give you a leg up in a job interview, but it certainly doesn’t guarantee that you will succeed in business. Nor does it automatically mean that you will be a better business person than someone who didn’t finish high school. Knowledge is a good thing if you know what to do with it.

Perhaps it is the academic environment itself that turns mere mortal nerds into budding entrepreneurs. The late ‘90s proved that college students with no experience beyond organizing a frat keg party could start businesses that would exceed all expectations. Many would argue that the key to success for most of these ventures was that the founders (or the VC financing them) were smart enough to know that while they had an abundance of education, they needed experienced managers to really run the show.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin were college students when they started the company that would become Google. They were smart enough to bring in Eric Schmidt to be chairman and CEO when the business took off. Schmidt was the former CEO of Novell and CTO of Sun Microsystems. A PhD, Schmidt is a man of education and experience.

Jerry Yang and David Filo were candidates in Electrical Engineering at Stanford when they started YAHOO (Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle) in 1994. They brought in Tim Koogle from Motorola to run things shortly thereafter and now the company is led by Terry Semel, who previously spent 24 years running Warner Bros.

Now on to experience. Is experience a prerequisite of business success? Again, not at all. Many experienced entrepreneurs gained their experience in failed businesses, so experience does not instantly translate to success.

So, when it comes to succeeding in business, which is more important: education or experience? While neither is as helpful as a rich relative, here’s the answer that will hopefully help me avoid those worms: Both education and experience can play a large part in business success. The more important question is can you succeed in business without one or the other, or even without both? And the answer to that one is: yes. Can I get ketchup with those worms?

Many successful businesses were started by first time entrepreneurs who never went to college. Natural talent, ambition, drive, determination, and good old dumb luck have fueled many success entrepreneurs, myself included. I don’t have a degree (I drove past a college once. It looked hard, so I kept going). Would a degree have helped make my business trek easier? Perhaps. Then again, I know people with advanced degrees who are flipping burgers at McDonalds. It’s good experience, I suppose.

A combination of education and experience (and a variety of other things) is the best recipe for success. As the old saying goes, ขThere is no better education than that which comes from experience.ข

In the end, it really doesn’t matter how much education, experience, talent, luck or money you have. It’s what you do with it that matters.

About The Author

Small Business Q&A is written by veteran entrepreneur and syndicated columnist, Tim Knox.

Timกs latest books include กSmall Business Success Secretsก and ‘the 30 Day Blueprint For Success!ก

Related Links:

www.smallbusinessqa.com

www.dropshipwholesale.net

http://www.30dayblueprint.com

http://www.timknox.com

This article was posted on February 08

by Tim Knox

Successful Print Advertising Designs

Successful Print Advertising Designs

by: Lala C. Ballatan

Do you often see print advertisements outdoors, as much as you see Web advertisements when you surf through the Web? I’m pretty sure that you have entirely different views and reactions upon seeing and actually taking notice to these two different kinds of advertising. The differences may vary in their use of color, typefaces, and space.

Whatever else the difference is between Print Ads and Web Ads, many would still prefer the traditional print advertisements in order to promote their business, products or services. Not all people have access to the Web, such that Print Ads are still widely used and appreciated. It is also practical for a shortterm marketing plan or strategy.

Do you know what makes successful print advertisements? Here are several useful things to remember if you are launching a Print Ad:

Take advantage of a small space by not crowding too much information into it. Leave a white space which can actually lead your reader to the important information.

Ads with large photos or illustrations of merchandise get higher readership and appreciation than those with small illustrations or no art.

People do not actually read your copy, but take a look at your visuals. Thus, make your photographs or illustration occupy at least half of your entire Ad.

You must know now how your readers read, so that you could strategically place your content and not be left unread.

Typography is an important key to effective communication.

In your print ads’ headlines, avoid all capital letters. Our eyes and brains are conditioned to identify lower case letters and words. Letters and words in lower cases may just be glanced over, but with full comprehension since people are familiar with them. People also tend to read words by the shape of the word and not by reading individual letters thus, your print ads’ words must be of a distinctive shape.

Your print ads must be consistent with important information placed where readers would expect to see it. Consistency is an important aspect of your print ad since most readers must be exposed to it seven times before they notice it or take action on it. Your ad must have consistency in:

Logo

Color

Typography

Margins and borders

Layout

Spacing

Photographs and captions

You must also be consistent in your page lay out and other design elements like contrast, balance, etc.

On top of everything else, you have to make sure that your print ad communicates the main point of your advertisement – the main attraction and the necessary information for your prospective clients.

For your print ads to turn out successfully, you must have at least a single great idea, on top of several good ideas. Remember, there’s a world of difference between a great idea and a good idea. 30

About The Author

Lala C. Ballatan is a 26 yearold Communication Arts graduate, with a major in Journalism. Right after graduating last 1999, she worked for one year as a clerk then became a Research, Publication and Documentation Program Director at a nongovernment organization, which focuses on the rights, interests and welfare of workers for about four years.

Book reading has always been her greatest passion mysteries, horrors, psychothrillers, historical documentaries and classics. She got hooked into it way back when she was but a shy kid.

Her writing prowess began as early as she was 10 years old in girlish diaries. With writing, she felt freedom – to express her viewpoints and assert it, to bring out all concerns imagined and observed, to bear witness.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.digitalprintingcompany.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 14

by Lala C. Ballatan

Search Engine Marketing 101: What Search Engines S

Search Engine Marketing 101: What Search Engines See When They Visit Your Web Site

by: Robin Nobles

If you have a Web site, have you ever wondered what a search engine sees when it visits your site to add the site to its index? Do you know that it doesn’t see the beautiful graphics or the fancy Web design? Do you know that it only sees the source code, or the กskeletonก of your Web site?

Do you realize that knowing this little tidbit of information and doing something about it can make a huge difference in your search engine rankings and, ultimately, the success of your online business?

One very important thing that you need to remember is: the search engines like simplicity. The simpler your Web site is, the easier it is for the engine to determine what your Web site is about. And, if the search engine can determine exactly what your Web site is about, you have a better chance at top rankings under the keyword phrases that are important for your online business.

Letกs look at this concept in action with a page I recently created for one of my online businesses: Search Engine Workshops.

http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/articles/searchengineseminars.html

As you can see, itกs a very plain, simple page that was not created to be the กmainก or กhomeก page of a Web site. Rather, it was created to pull in traffic through the keyword phrase, กsearch engine seminars.ก

What I really want you to see is the source code of the page. So, when viewing the page, click on View on the top menu bar, then Source or Source Code.

The most important part of a Web page is what appears at the very top of the page. Why? Because a search engine starts at the top of the page and begins moving down as it indexes.

So, what appears in the section of your Web page is very important, because the section is at the top of the page.

Letกs look at the section of the source code:

Search Engine Seminarsyour path to success on the Web!

There are only three tags in the section of this Web page: the title tag, the keyword META tag, and the description META tag. Because the title tag is in the section, and because of the importance that most engines place on the tag, it is considered one of the most important tags on your page, so it should always be the first tag in the section.

Notice that in the title and keyword META tag, the important keyword phrase (search engine seminars) appears as the first words in the tag. In the description META tag, the keyword phrase is still toward the beginning of the tag, as opposed to the end.

In other words, where you place your keyword phrase in the tags and content of your page is important. If you place your keyword phrase toward the beginning of all of your important tags and toward the beginning of the contents, you’re กprovingก to the engines that the page is really about that particular topic.

Iกve mentioned one reason why the title tag is important, but thereกs another reason too. The title tag is important because it almost always appears as the title of the site in the search engine results. Your description META tag may appear in the search engine results as well and is considered important by the some of the engines. So, when you create your title and description tags, remember two things: put your keyword phrase toward the beginning of the tags, and make the tags captivating and designed to pull in traffic.

Think of it this way. If your site is #10 in the search engine rankings, but if the sites above yours haven’t gone to the trouble to create appealing titles and descriptions, a search engine user may skip over those sites to visit yours.

Now, letกs go back to the source code. Look for this tag, which isn’t far from the tag:

This is the image, or graphics, tag for the Search Engine Workshops banner that appears at the very top of the page. Notice that the engine doesn’t กseeก the graphic itself. It sees the name of the graphic (banner3.jpg), and it sees the ALT text that describes the image. It sees the width and height of the graphic. But, it doesn’t see the graphic itself. So, the engine doesn’t know that the graphic says, กSearch Engine Workshops.ก

Next, look for this tag, which directly follows the image tag:

Search Engine Seminars

An tag is a heading tag, and heading tags are very important to a Web page. Try to put a heading tag at the very top of your page, if at all possible, and use your important keyword phrase in that heading tag. When you look back at my actual Web page, do you see the words กSearch Engine Seminarsก right under the graphic? Thatกs the heading tag.

Now, look for this tag in the source code:

Is your Web site achieving the success that. . .

This is where the contents of the Web page begin. Look on the actual Web page and find the text: กIs your Web site achieving the success that . . .ก Notice that the keyword phrase (search engine seminars) appears in the first paragraph.

In other words, with all of these tags and the placement of our keyword phrase in the pageกs contents, we’re proving to the engines that the page is really about กsearch engine seminars.ก

So, letกs visit your site on the Web. View the source code. Whatกs in the section? Are your title and description tags using the keyword phrase thatกs important for that particular page? Are your title and description tags captivating and designed to pull in traffic? Each page of your site should have different title and description tags, and those tags should be based on the focus of that page what that page is really about: in other words, its keyword phrase.

How many graphics do you have before the actual contents of your site? If you have a lot of graphics, navigation bars, or buttons before the contents of your page, the engine has to sort through all of that source code before it gets to the actual keyword containing content.

Does your page contain lengthy JavaScript or other code that pushes the important contents toward the bottom of the page? If so, it could be hindering your chances at top rankings.

Are you using a heading tag that contains your important keyword phrase toward the very top of your page? Is your keyword phrase used in the first paragraph of the page? Is it used in several places throughout the page?

Look back at my page. Notice that the keyword phrase, search engine seminars, is used as link text to describe several links. Are you using your keyword phrase to describe links that are leaving the page? If not, try to do so.

Study your own site carefully, and apply these guidelines to your pages.

Doing whatever you can to push your important keyword phrase toward the top of the page and toward the beginning of your tags is the first step toward having a successful Web site thatกs ranked in the top of the search engine rankings.

If you would like to learn more about how to achieve top search engine rankings, visit: http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/articles.html

Or, sign up for online training at: http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/courses.html or 3day search engine marketing workshops at: http://www.searchengineworkshops.com.

About The Author

Robin Nobles, Director of Training, Academy of Web Specialists, has trained several thousand people in her online search engine marketing (http://www.academywebspecialists.com) training programs. Visit the Academyกs training site to learn more (http://www.onlinewebtraining.com). She also teaches 3day handson search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe with Search Engine Workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com).

Copyright 2002 Robin Nobles. All rights reserved.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 18, 2002

by Robin Nobles

What Is Most Important – Copy Or Pic?

What Is Most Important – Copy Or Pic?

by: Patrick Quinn

When, some little time ago now, I first descended upon the advertising scene, we were a good deal more concerned than most people seem to be today about the nature of the business we found ourselves in. We were always holding debates – in the saloon bar of the Coach & Horses in New Bond Street, to be tiresomely precise – about the meaning of advertising, the significance of advertising, and the past, present and future of advertising. And an unconscionably serious lot we no doubt were. Not to mention drunk.

Among the hardy perennials of our debates was the relevance of sex in advertising, and also the question of whether the copy element in ads was more important than the visual or vice versa.

Of course, these were the days when it was possible for agency personnel to slope off round the pub during working hours and nobody on the management side of things turned so much as a hair at our absence. Just so long as the work got done on time, nobody gave so much as a tinker’s cuss whether you were doing it in the office or down at the dog track. These days, agencies are a little more sanguine in their approach to creative people; and I recently heard of a designer being sacked on the spot for turning up at a client meeting wearing jeans – and I kid you not.

But back to our hardy perennials. The ‘sex in advertising’ question was a hotly debated topic, mainly because the copywriters and designers in my milieu were always anxious to attend the relevant photoshoots, and not because sex was liable to help sell anything. Thus, we were constantly coming up with speculative ad campaigns that featured semiclad females so that we might catch a glimpse of a naked thigh or better. Few of these concepts saw the light of day, but it was always worth a try.

As to the copy versus pic argument, this has still not been resolved to this day. Then, as now, I was on the side of the angels, holding that around 80 per cent of ads could, at a pinch, do without illustrations, whereas only about 2 per cent could do without words. (In regard to the other 18 per cent, you can make your own arrangements.)

Such an argument, as you’d expect, was met with widespread alarm by the designers, who saw that I was presaging their redundancy. Then as now, they would do everything they could to give their illustrations the prominence they thought they deserved. This usually resulted in a design in which the pic took up fourfifths of the ad, while the copy was relegated to eightpoint solid and rendered practically illegible.

My attitude, obviously, was simply a debating stance – true though it undoubtedly is. I am not suggesting for a moment that 8 out of 10 ads should be wholly typographical. But if you take a dispassionate look around you, you might agree with me that a whole lot of ads (and brochures and websites, too, come to that) carry pictures for pictures’ sake; and that in quite a few cases the pictures, far from helping the transmission of a message, actually hinder it.

The biggest offenders in this respect are what might be describes as semiindustrial ads. Just leaf through a trade mag (or brochure or website) and you’ll see irrelevance in illustration well carried out. You’ll see, for instance, pictures of the factory or, as they call it these days, the production operation. You’ll see pics of two obvious male models in white coats staring idiotically at a computer screen or a blueprint. And you’ll see pics of two obvious male models, plus a female model, in white coats staring idiotically at a computer screen. The female is included in the latter pic because the designer had originally planned for her to be shot with her clothes off.

Here’s what I think. With today’s wonderful digital photography opportunities, with an instant replay of whatever has been shot, one might hope that illustrations in ads, brochures and websites might be made more relevant. They might actually show the product in action – demonstration is, after all, the soul of advertising. But, no, we still get pics which have nothing whatsoever to do with the product or its benefits.

I don’t mind admitting that there can be few people in the whole wide world who know less about photography than I do. What I do know, however, is that promotional material is far better off without an illustration if that illustration does not augment the sales message. So, in this respect, copy is more important than illustration.

Mind you, there is a lot of copy around that doesn’t augment the sales message either. But that’s another story.

END

About The Author

Patrick Quinn is an award winning copywriter with 40 yearsก experience of the advertising business in London, Miami, Dublin and Edinburgh.

He publishes a FREE online monthly newsletter, AdBriefing, designed for those who have a very real interest in producing good advertising. Subscriptions are available at: http://www.adbriefing.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on November 13, 2004

by Patrick Quinn

Is a Home Business Right for You?

Is a Home Business Right for You?

by: Jeff Casmer

Every morning as people wake up and make the commute to work, many dream of the day when they will finally work for themselves. Every time the boss lets someone know that they must give up their weekend plans for the good of the company, people contemplate the benefits of being the owner of their own business.

Are you one of these people?

If you are, it is important to ask yourself some very important questions before you make the uncertain leap into selfemployment.

Many dream of the benefits of home business ownership, but few take into account the sacrifices that must be made to bring the dream to fruition. Please don’t make this mistake yourself.

You must approach home business ownership with your eyes wide open. Ask yourself the important questions, and more importantly, answer your own questions openly and honestly.

AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION

Are you the type of person who relishes every chance to gather around the water cooler for social interaction?

If so, then home business ownership may not be the right decision for you.

Instead, if you feel that you can be quite content sitting alone at your desk; speaking only to clients and really minding your own home business, then you might have what it takes to succeed as a home business entrepreneur.

If you feel at ease with your own company and don’t need a dozen coworkers milling around your desk, then you, too, could savor the freedoms that will allow you and your family, to live the lifestyle you know you want and deserve.

THE KEY TO HOME BUSINESS SUCCESS

Selfmotivation is the key to success when you start a homebased business. You need to possess the ability to push yourself ahead. Your drive and determination will be reinforced with every new sale.

The level of success that you will achieve greatly depends on the time and effort you are willing to plow into your new home business. Your organization, planning and marketing skills, will all be put into practice when you embark on your liberating journey from employee, to being your own boss. In fact, you will be the wearer of many hats and gain a wealth of business experience along the way, when you finally make that commitment to work at home.

YOUR SUCCESS RESTS ENTIRELY UPON YOUR OWN SHOULDERS

You will now be the boss. Are you truly able to work independently? Do you have the drive; the tenacity, to persevere with your home based business? Will you be able to invest the necessary time to nurture it, to watch it grow and see it through, from germination to full, glorious bloom? When you’re the boss, you are responsible for the success of your home business, from A to Z, from disappointments to victory.

When you work at home, it will empower you to achieve many things you were unable to do when you were stuck working for that tyrant boss. Remember him? Heกs the guy that wouldn’t let you take time off when your baby was sick…the same guy that called you in to work on Thanksgiving Day.

A home business means that you can take good care of your family and make money from home, simultaneously. You will have the best of both worlds! Just thinkno more dirty laundry piling upyou can do it while you work. No more scurrying around at the last minute searching for a babysitter either. And no more worrying about getting fired; youกll be the boss!

IN CONCLUSION…

Stay positive and focused on your home based business, even if, when sales aren’t up to par, you get occasional negative remarks or derogatory comments from people with stuffy, deadend jobs. Ignore their cutting words and bear in mind that success is the best revenge! Keep your admirable, positive attitude at the forefront and show them what you’re made of!

About The Author

Jeff Casmer is a successful online business coach and the owner of www.24hourwealth.com

Jeff Casmer, The Wealth Guy can help you launch your very own money making website today thatกs 100% ready to take orders and pull in massive profits for you right now…guaranteed! Visit: http://www.www.24hourwealth.com/pluginprofitsite.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 13, 2003

by Jeff Casmer

Submitting Your Site To The Open Web Directory: So

Submitting Your Site To The Open Web Directory: Some Dos And Don’ts

by: Donald Nelson

One of the most important steps in any site’s publicity campaign is the submission to the Open Web Directory (http://www.dmoz.org) as this directory provides search results for many of the most important search engines and online portals. This directory is not a robot driven spider, but a human edited directory and you must observe a few important points if your submission is to be successful.

http://resourcezone.com/ubbthreads.php .There you can ask about the status of your submission, but you must give them the date and category to which you submitted your site. You can ask questions about the procedures etc, but one more thing, don’t argue with the editors. Find out how the editors of the directory work and do your best to meet their conditions and you will be successful.

About The Author

Donald Nelson is a web developer, editor and social worker. He has been working on the Internet since 1995 and is currently the director of A1Optimization (www.a1optimization.com) a firm providing affordable search engine optimization and other website promotion services. You can get his monthly newsletter “A1Web Promotion Tips” by sending an email to [email protected]

[email protected]

This article was posted on May 21, 2003

by Donald Nelson

Google Page Rank Important Or Just Another Numbe

Google Page Rank Important Or Just Another Number?

by: Richard Grady

In my last newsletter I wrote about how your websites Alexa rating is not actually that important to the success of your online business. In this issue, I want to look at another popular statistic Google Page Rank and ask a similar question is it that important?

First a quick overview as to what the Google Page Rank actually is…

Google Page Rank (or PR as it is often referred to as) is simply an indication of the number of websites that link to a specific website. It also attempts to indicate the quality of those links. PR ranges from 0 to 10 (with 10 being the กbestก PR and 0 being the กworstก). The vast majority of small business websites will usually find they have a PR of between 0 and 5.

To calculate a particular sites PR, Google uses a fairly complicated algorithm based on the number of web links that it is aware of that link to the site in question. This algorithm will also take into account the PR of the page that is providing the link, thus a link from a web page that has a PR of 7 will be considered more valuable than a link from a page with a PR of 4.

Because of the way in which links from higher PRranked sites are considered more important, many people are choosing to buy links from websites with high PRกs just so that they can increase their own PR. I have seen sites selling a simple text link on their home page for over $700 a month purely based on the fact that they have a PR of 7 or above. This may seem like a lot of money but when you consider that the website owners that are buying these links often have websites that are in no way relevant to the content of the site linking to them, it is absolutely ridiculous.

Take this example, letกs say you have a website about health and fitness and you buy a link for $500 a month from a random website because it has a PR of 7. This random website has no relevance to your health and fitness site so what is going to happen? Well, your own PR may increase as a result of the link. You may get a bit of extra traffic but probably not much since people don’t click on links that that they are not interested in. You will definitely be $500 poorer at the end of the month!

Instead, why not spend the $500 on payperclick advertising and benefit from some quality, targeted traffic?

Of course, there is a bit more to it than that and the reason that most people want to increase their PR is because Google takes this statistic into account when determining where a website will be displayed in their search results. Many people assume that a high PR automatically equals a high search engine placement for their chosen keywords. Not so….

PR is just one of over 100 different factors that Google takes into account when deciding where your website will feature (and these factors and the main algorithm change on a very regular basis). It is perfectly possible for a website with a PR of 5 to get a higher ranking than a PR 7 site if it has better content or is more relevant for the search term in question.

Remember that relevance is all important with Google and a link from a website that is not relevant to your own site will be considered far less important than a relevant one (which makes buying links from random sites purely because they have a high PR even more crazy).

I have read several rumours lately that Google haven’t updated PRกs for a couple of months and they are considering phasing PR out or modifying it in some way. This is pure speculation but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least. PR is easily manipulated (for example by purchasing links as described above) and Google doesn’t like to have their calculations or search results manipulated. It stands to reason that they will be looking at ways of preventing this.

So, in summary, is Google Page Rank important to your business?

Well, it is a good indicator of how many other sites link to yours and how important Google considers your site to be BUT I personally don’t place too much importance on this statistic and I certainly won’t be paying out for a link from a website just because it has a high PR.

As I said above, Google changes itกs rules on a regular basis and I see little point in chasing a particular PR on the basis that it might get you higher search engine rankings. If Google do decide to do away with PR, all your work will have been for nothing.

Instead, concentrate on building quality, relevant links from sites that are connected in some way to your own site content. This will ensure that any traffic you receive via these links will at least have an interest in your site. Building links on this basis will automatically increase your PR over time (without the need to pay out for overpriced, irrelevant links). If you do things this way and Google does scrap the PR indicator, it shouldn’t affect you in any way and the links you have in place will continue to benefit you.

Remember, in the same way that a low Alexa rating doesn’t guarantee traffic or sales, neither does a high PR. Sure a high PR is a กnice to haveก but lots of traffic and high sales is even nicer 🙂

Copyright 2004 Richard Grady

About The Author

Richard Grady has been helping people earn online since 1998. Find out more about Richard at: http://www.thetraderonline.com Free wholesale search engines: UK http://www.wholesale118.co.uk and US http://www.thewholesaletrader.com

This article was posted on October 04, 2004

by Richard Grady

The 8 Most Important Website Design Principles

The 8 Most Important Website Design Principles

by: Brian Basson

Building an Innovative and Effective Website, by making full use of available technologies, is crucial for the future success of your current or future online business. There are literally 1000กs of great ideas out there, but finding the right ones and applying them to your website, is where the real trick lies.

Applying the best tips, tools and other design principles to your website, can bring you untold success on the internet. At the same time, using powerful and innovative ideas in the design and development stages of your website, will level the playing field for your business, and raise itกs competitive edge on the internet.

We have been doing web development for more than 7 years now, and during this time, many important design and development principles have come to light. Don’t waste valuable time by making the same mistakes many other web designers and webmasters do. The following 8 powerful website design principles will assist in helping you make the right choices for your online business :

1. Doityourself OR outsourcing ?

Before you start compiling your new website, you have to establish your skill level to tackle the specific project. If you have sufficient html understanding, a good idea of graphics and colors, plus fair writing skills, you mostly can do the website design yourself. If, however, you don’t have a fair understanding of html, it would be advisable to outsource.

2. Dynamic vs. Static web pages

Do you want your site to be static, i.e.. no input from visitors, or dynamic, i.e.. fully interactive, with visitors being able to log on, take part in forums, post information, etc ? Many new and fantastic scripting languages are available to make your site more dynamic and bring it to life.

3. Web Site Title vs. Domain

Before registering a domain for your site, take some time to think of related words or names that best describes your business. Compile a few possibilities and then check for availability on the internet. The best ones would normally already be ‘takenก, but innovative thinking can get you very far !! When compiling you main page, use this domain name and extend it to your websiteกs main page title tag. This is step 1 in getting future good search engine rankings.

4. Build your site around important keywords

When building the content part of your site, remember to include a fair dose of important keywords and phrases that best describe your business. These keywords, the words and phrases people use when searching for relevant information on the internet, should also be extended to all the important tags of every web page of your site. Be careful though not to overdo it, as search engines penalize กkeyword stuffingก. Also use full sentences and make them sound natural. The clever search engine algorithms have recently just become even more advanced, and can now track unnaturally sounding sentences !

5. Optimized Title, Description & Keyword Tags

Each page of your website should be individually optimized in terms of the message you want it carry. Every page is different and there for a specific reason. If the page info and page tags do not match in terms of keywords, the page will not show up in search engine results. Search engines want to give searchers relevant results, and by not applying this principle, your site will not rank well.

6. A Site Map with links to all pages

Assist the search engines by making it easy for them to index your site. If all pages can be reached from a central point like a sitemap, you will firstly make sure that the search engine spider finds all your site pages, and secondly help visitors to find relevant info and pages quickly. Sites with good structures and fresh content gets spidered more often.

7. All pages backlinked to the Site Map and Home Page

Visitors to your website will not necessary land the index page or sitemap. It is therefore imperative to give them a way to get to your index, site map and other important pages. A well structured informative website also receives more return visitors.

8. Standard background & fonts on all pages

By keeping pages uniform, you ensure your visitors know they are still on your site. Having various banners, backgrounds and fonts will only confuse visitors. Try to stick one font, or two at the most. The human eye needs to adjust every time it reads text written in a new font. Do not irritate your visitors by using many different fonts they will leave in a flash !

If you have an existing website, but nothing much have been happening for you, try to apply these 8 principles and see what good transpires…

About The Author

Brian is a freelance writer, website marketing and SEO expert & webmaster of 3 websites, including Rank Advance : http://www.rankadvance.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 01

by Brian Basson

Searching For The Right ISP?

Searching For The Right ISP?

by: Neil Shevlin

When searching for the right ISP there are a number of items to look at. How much is it going to cost me? What is the connection like? What are the Features? Is it available in my area? You will soon find that there are many ISP’s to choose from. So, it is beneficial for you to pick the right internet service provider.

The cost is probably the most important aspect to most subscribers. Yet, many are not willing to put up with the low quality provided by free ISP’s. This leaves them looking for low cost ISP’s. The best way to find the lower cost ISP’s is to search for them. Most of the ISP’s you are going to see advertising are going to be a bit higher than those who do not have as much advertising. A search of the internet may help you find some of these ISP’s.

Although the price may be right, if your connection is weak you may not to go with that ISP. This can happen because problems with the cable or phone lines are common with the ISP. It can also occur if your ISP has a large volume of users trying to access the internet at the same time. This is particularly true with dialup ISP’s that do not have enough phone numbers. Also you want to make sure that the ISP is compatible for the tasks you want to do. For instance, AOL users sometimes have problems with some aspects of the net. This is because the program that runs AOL is so dominating. If you frequent certain sites, they may list ISP’s that have problems using the site. This usually applies to sites that have music, video and effects but don’t really apply to straight text.

The features are also important. In fact, if you don’t want to be frustrated with popups you may find yourself drawn to ISP’s that offer popup blockers and virus protection. You may be worried about your children surfing the web. A feature to block adult sites may be what you are looking for in that case. ISP’s are coming up with new features all the time so you really do have some choices here.

Another important aspect is availability. Not all ISP’s are widely available. This is especially true for ISP’s that are free or low cost. Even if an ISP is available in your area, there may not be an available local phone number. When you use your dialup modem with a long distance number you may incur long distance charges while you are on the net. In addition, if there are local numbers but not many of them, you may have trouble connecting to the internet.

About The Author

Neil Shevlin is the owner of UK Broadband Review which is a great place to find broadband links, resources and articles. For more information go to: http://www.ukbroadbandreview.com

www.ukbroadbandreview.com © Copyright 2005

Please feel free to copy and paste this article and itกs resource information.

This article was posted on August 09

by Neil Shevlin

How To Get Repeat Visitors To Your Site

How To Get Repeat Visitors To Your Site

by: Jonathon White

When you have a website online it is important for you to try and get new visitors to your site, but it’s also important to take care of the visitors that you actually already have. This is because you will want your existing visitors to keep returning to your site again and again.
There are many ways that you can do this. Some of these include the following:
Updating your Website content continuously
This is an important factor to consider if you want your visitors to keep returning to your site. This is because if you keep on updating your sites content, then every time your visitors come back to your site they will see something new every time, which should then interest them even further. If you don’t update your content on a regular basis, then your visitors will end up getting bored of your site and will then go elsewhere.
Making your site more sticky
Giving your site more stickiness will make it more addictive to your sites visitors, which will in return make them want to come back to your site.
This can be done by many different approaches. For example, you can add games to your site like http://www.simplysearch4it.com/games/gamdir.html
You can even give free things away on your site. For example, you can give away free coupons, free scripts, free web hosting, etc. You can even offer your visitors free reprintable articles so that they can add them to their own site like http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/articledir.php.
Checking your site for broken links
This is very important when having a site. If your site does not function properly, then your visitors will not even bother with it. One of the most annoying things when visiting a site is when it has continuous broken links.
If you find it hard to manually check your site for broken links, then a good piece of free software to use would be the REL Link Checker Lite, which can be downloaded from http://www.relsoftware.com/.
Getting other people’s opinions
When having a site, other than your own thoughts, it is also a good idea to get other people’s opinions. For example, the colours of your site, what parts people like on your site the most, what parts people dislike the most, etc. Getting opinions from your visitors like this will help you to find out what most people dislikes about your site, which means you can then improve these parts, making it better for your visitors in return.

About The Author

Jonathon White has been doing advertising/ marketing on the Web for over three years. He is the Webmaster of three sites, which are: http://www.affiliateseeking.com a categorized affiliate programs directory. http://www.simplysearch4it.com a general web portal where people can play FREE online games, add free articles, search the Web, and much more. http://www.1hostseeking.com a web hosting directory.
The above article can be reprinted as longs as the bio lines stay in place.

This article was posted on July 20, 2004

by Jonathon White

Visibility Equates to Higher Profits

Visibility Equates to Higher Profits

by: Kathleen Gage

One of the greatest challenges businesses face is how to market cost effectively while gaining a good return on investment (ROI). Regardless of what industry you are in, the size of your organization and how long you have been in business, you must continually look for ways to gain and maintain your visibility to your market.
Gaining visibility is one of the most important, and yet often most overlooked, aspect of running a business. Perhaps you don’t run a company, but you are in sales. Visibility applies to you as well.
Before you begin to aggressively position yourself and gain visibility, think about what the vision for you and your organization is. Gaining a vision of what the organization stands for, the impact you want to have on your customers or clients, the quality of products and services, your contribution to your community, and where you want the organization to be in the future is essential as you move forward.
Your vision is your ideal future state. The statement includes what you desire your organization to be like. Again, it doesn’t really matter the size of the organization. Included in the vision are your values. What is really important to you?
Once you have your vision in mind, consider writing it down. This can help you to solidify your thoughts and to stay on track with what is truly important.
Another important aspect of your marketing is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). It is beneficial to actually write down what makes your product or service different from those of your competitors. Whether you are in financial planning, training, banking, the beauty industry, day spas, or technology, take the time to know what sets you apart. In the consumer’s mind, Company A looks the same as Company B in many ways. The same with Salesperson A compared to Salesperson B. To stand apart your job is to help the consumer understand your differences. You can do this in a very positive way without belittling or badmouthing your competition.
A simple formula to clarity your USP is to write down every reason someone would want to do business with you.

Are you an expert in your industry?
Do you deliver in record time?
Do you have a unique location?
What is unique about your business compared to your competitors?
What is most important to your prospects and customers about doing business with you? (If you don’t know – ASK!)
What can only you do that your competitors can’t do?

Once you answer these questions, create a short message to include the key information. Many people avoid doing this type of exercise thinking it is a waste of time. Fact is, when you meet with a potential customer and they ask what you do, you want to be able to concisely tell them. This process is also helpful with your current clients in that they are only one call away from utilizing the services of someone else.
Another challenge people have is once they have created a USP they seem to be married to it. Avoid the trap of having a canned USP. Make it spontaneous according to the situation.
Your USP can be used in a number of different ways; conversations, networking opportunities, on your business cards and letterhead (if it is not too long), your yellow page ad, and in your other forms of advertising.
Periodically, it is helpful to revisit your vision and USP. As you change and your customer’s needs and wants change, you may find it necessary to adjust to those changes. What should drive any change are your core values more than anything else. When you are congruent with your values, success is assured.

About The Author

Kathleen Gage is a business advisor, keynote speaker, and trainer that helps others gain market dominance and visibility within their market. Call 801.619.1514 or Email [email protected]. Get Gage’s FREE 4 day online marketing course by visiting www.kathleengage.com.

This article was posted on July 11, 2004

by Kathleen Gage