Shared RSS Syndication for the Rest of Us

Shared RSS Syndication for the Rest of Us

by: Andrew J. Morris

RSS Syndication or RSS Newsfeeds (RSS Feeds for short) all refer to the same thing. There are two parts to the process, the publisher, and the consumer. The publisher produces a small text file in a special format that lists the title and address of an article or resource published on the World Wide Web. The consumer uses a program, usually called an aggregator to read and display the contents of that simple text file, with links to the web page. Or the consumer may visit a website that includes an aggregator program, and view the results as a web page. Members of Yahoo.com, for example, can set their personal กMy Yahooก pages to display the contents of any RSS feeds they select.

That is all there is to it. Simple. Thatกs why some people say RSS stands for ‘really Simple Syndication.ก

Some confusion has arisen because an RSS feed may be used in several ways. Calling it a กnewsfeedก is the first mistake, since RSS is used for much more than news. The most common situation is for the RSS items listed to have a short title, link to the original web page referred to, and a short description of the contents of that web page. But other people are including the complete contents of their resource directly in the RSS feed. So the feed may contain a graphic image of a cartoon, an entire post to a weblog (or blog), or the complete contents of a newsletter, rather than just a link back to those resources on a web site. Other sites leave out the description, and just list titles linked back to their website. And some versions of RSS allow you to leave out the title, so long as you have a description.

Speaking of กversionsก of RSS, that is the source of even more confusion. RSS began with version 0.90, and was called กRDF Site Summaryก the RDF refers to ‘resource Description Framework,ก the method of labeling different parts of the file. This early version was updated and changed through various incarnations, including 0.91, 0.92, 0.93 and 0.94, and they began to call RSS ‘really Simple Syndication.ก Then someone came along with a different format, slightly more complicated, and called it RSS version 1.0. Supporters of version 0.94 didn’t like the implication that 1.0 was somehow an advance on 0.94 when in actuality it was a completely different format, so they came up with version 2.0 which was an improved version of 0.94, but still unlike 1.0. Rather than take sides in all this squabbling, someone else came up with their own version and called it Atom, to distance themselves from the RSS battles. Someone else developed Blogrolls that use OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language). Most of these formats are either loosely or strictly based on XML, the parent markup scheme.

None of this confusion of method and purpose has helped spread this really useful tool. Most RSS aggregators can read any of these formats, so the situation is not as hopeless as it may seem, but many folks still throw the whole thing out when they can’t figure out exactly how it is supposed to work.

On http://www.SharedRSS.com/ we use version 1.0 because it is endorsed by W3C as being supportive of the กsemantic web.ก For the casual user however, the version is really not important. SharedRSS is a simple site that performs a very powerful function … it brings the benefits of RSS syndication to all those who publish websites, but who add new material too infrequently to warrant having their own RSS feed.

RSS Syndication was designed to help people find out about new content on the web, long before the search engines get around to finding it. It makes it easy for people to find out about new content that interests them, without having to return to the search engines and wade through all the material they have seen before. For sites with frequently changing content, it has worked well for them to create their own RSS feed and update it as new content is added to their website. But what about all those sites that only add an occasional new article or story to their website, or who publish a newsletter once per month? Or those who just can’t take the time to figure the ins and outs of formatting an RSS feed? An RSS feed that only gets updated once every few months is of little value; very few people will add it to their search list in their aggregator. Shared RSS solves this problem by lumping together articles from different sites covering the same topic, and lets them announce the availability of their new material in a feed shared with others publishing on the same topic. This makes the feeds more useful to the consumer, so they are more likely to add the link to their aggregator. It benefits the publisher by making more people aware of their material as soon as it is put online.

About The Author

Andrew J. Morris is the owner and creator of SharedRSS a website that allows all website owners to syndicate their newly added material for FREE. http://www.sharedrss.com/

This article was posted on October 08, 2004

by Andrew J. Morris

Website Theft Part 1 of 3 ~ What exactly is Copy

Website Theft Part 1 of 3 ~ What exactly is Copyright?

by: Janice Byer, CCVA, MVA

(Please note that some of the information included in this article has been quoted from various locations while other information is simply my personal opinion and you will probably feel my passion in my words.)

The hot topic on many business related email discussion lists for the past little while has been website theft, both content & graphics. Either there seems to be a rash of this dishonest and unethical behaviour or website owners are just finding out that their treasured works have caught the eye of others who feel it is okay to use it as their own.

They say that imitation is supposed to be the greatest form of flattery but, take it from someone who has found their website content appear on someone else’s site, it darn well ticks you off to see your hard work being used by some one else as their own. You work hard to come up with what you include on your website and are probably more than willing to allow some of it to be paraphrased by others but when the culprit doesn’t even ask permission, you get that ขheads will rollข feeling inside.

What can be considered copyright material?

The World Intellectual Property Organization (www.wipo.org), which is ขan international organization dedicated to promoting the use and protection of works of the human spiritข, includes the definition of copyright on their website which reads, ขCopyright is a legal term describing rights given to creators for their literary and artistic works.ข

With regard to copyright in relation to the Internet, WIPO has established two treaties, which outline, among other things, that each country ขprovide a framework of basic rights, allowing creators to control and/or be compensated for the various ways in which their creations are used and enjoyed by others.ข More information on WIPO and its mandate can be found at http://www.wipo.org/copyright/en/index.html

For a complete definition of copyright and to read the Copyright Act in Canada, visit the Department of Justice Canada at http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C42/.

For a complete definition of copyright law in the US, visit the Library of Congress website at http://www.loc.gov/copyright/

Oh, and the MerriamWebster Online Dictionary lists the definition of copyright as:

Noun : the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, and sell the matter and form (as of a literary, musical, or artistic work)

What is theft?

Speaking of the MerriamWebster Online Dictionary (http://www.mw.com), they define THEFT as:

Noun: 1 a : the act of stealing; specifically : the felonious taking and removing of personal property with intent to deprive the rightful owner of it b : an unlawful taking (as by embezzlement or burglary) of property

Theft of website content and/or graphics can be considered copyright infringement.

The MW dictionary also defines infringement as:

Noun: 1 : the act of infringing : VIOLATION; 2 : an encroachment or trespass on a right or privilege.

In the next instalment of our series on Website Theft, we will look at ways to find out if your website material is being stolen; what the downfalls are of your material being used in other places; and give you some ideas for what to do when you do find out that someone is using your material without your permission.

About The Author

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

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 11, 2004

by Janice Byer, CCVA, MVA

Moving To The Top Of The Pile, Increasing Viral Di

Moving To The Top Of The Pile, Increasing Viral Distribution

by: Gregory Bendickson

You hear it all the time. Get viral by distributing info products that advertise your other offers. The main key of course is getting others to distribute your material in the first place.

And even more, getting those distributions to produce results.

A few years ago it was almost automatic and assumed that as long as your information was somewhat useful then others would beat a path to your door to redistribute it.

Not so today. With all the membership sites offering hundreds of downloads and some resellers practically giving stuff away and ignoring suggested retail prices now you are not only not guaranteed of viral success but in fact many factors are against you from the start.

There is good news though. With the growing problem of people devaluing the price and quality of products it has got much easier to get noticed above the crowd.

Just like the affiliate who creates his or her own sales page for a product (especially one that had no sales material in the first place), the would be viral distributor can also do a few things to ensure that more people distribute their products.

Tactic 1: Get people to actually WANT your product first.

I know, it sounds so obvious but then why do so many of us push the brandable aspects of it instead of focusing on the readerกs value they will get from the information itself.

You do have real usable value in your info products, services and software, right?

Tactic 2: Go the extra mile

Don’t just throw together a quick ebook and leave it at that. Add extra value by providing articles or maybe an rss news feed. Give more tools to promote your product than the average guy or gal.

The extra 20 percent of time and effort you put into your project will bring you 80 percent better results. Think of the person distributing your material not what you get out of it.

Tactic 3: Reward your distributors for consuming the words

Just imagine how much more dedicated your people would be to redistribute your info product if they actually understood it themselves first. In other words, encourage them to be a reader first and then allow them to distribute it to others.

There are several ways you can do this but one example is to hide certain codes throughout your text copy. For example you could capitalize a letter every now and then like thiS and if they add up all thE letters they Can get the Results they asked for whEn They have read Through all your textS.

(do you know what word I just spelled out above? Sorry itกs a secret.)

About The Author

Gregory Bendickson is a computer programmer and writer specializing in helping businesses get more done in less time and build bigger lists faster. Check his latest sites:

http://ViralListBuilder.WynPublishing.com/?tc=ar003

http://ViralMagnet.com/?tc=ar003

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 07

by Gregory Bendickson

Power Words And Phrases

Power Words And Phrases

by: Al Martinovic

I like to use power phrases when writing sales material. These power phrases add punch to a line or a paragraph and I usually use them to start off a sentence.

You can generally find alot of กpower phrasesก when reading good sales copy. I usually keep a notebook nearby so that whenever I come across a line or a phrase that I Iike in sales material, I write it down for possible future use.

They are also great for writers block too. When I am stuck in the middle of writing, Iกll usually refer to my power phrases, and the next thing I know, the sentences sometimes start writing themselves.

Some examples of the power phrases I use include:

กListen closely…ก

กAs you may already know…ก

กNow, I don’t know about you…ก

กWell, Iกve got news for you…ก

กLet me explain…ก

กAnd best of all…ก

กIn fact…ก

กHereกs the bottom line…ก

กQuite frankly…ก

กNow, I know what you’re thinking…ก

‘take a deep breathe and relax…ก

‘the answer is yes…ก

Power phrases can be used to grab and hold peopleกs attention so that they keep reading. Some may even call these กhypnoticก phrases.

Even single words can invoke a reaction in some people that can be used to add กpunchก to your sales material. I call these power words.

Some power words to use in your marketing include:

Free, Powerful, Incredible, Easy, Shocking, Cheap, Revealed, Best, Uncovered, Hidden, Proven, Results, Revolutionary, Profits, Fantastic, Inside, Learn, Enhance, Hottest, New, Improved, Unbelievable, Ultimate, Offer, Master, Scientific, Private, Breakthrough, Save, Guaranteed, Tricks, You, Love, Limited, Special, Secrets

You can use power words to add punch to a headline, sentence, a short ad, or whatever fancies you.

Those are just a few of the power words and phrases that I have collected over the years.

Do yourself a favor:

Another power phrase…?

No really… do yourself a favor:

Always keep a notebook nearby and look out for words or phrases that capture your attention in sales material. Then write it down. If it captured your attention, itกs sure to capture other peopleกs attention too.

And over time, youกll have plenty of power words and phrases to choose from when writing your sales material.

They sure make life alot easier…

And profitable too!

About The Author

Al Martinovic publishes a popular internet marketing newsletter at http://www.milleniummarketers.com and runs a successful home business at http://www.ineedsmokes.com

This article was posted on January 17

by Al Martinovic

Build Your Site’s Link Value

Build Your Site’s Link Value

by: Ken McGaffin

Link Value is the perceived value another site will derive from linking to you. The more value they see, the more likely they will be to link.

At its basic level, the most immediate value most sites see is a reciprocal link. ขYou link to me and I’ll link to you.ข But such exchanges rarely bring significant business benefit to either party.

Much more productive are oneway links, ขI’ll link to you because I think your site is useful and attractive to my audience.ข Such links do not come easily and involve hard work and effort. But they can bring enormous returns in increased traffic, qualified prospects and sales revenue.

To persuade other sites to give you a oneway link you need to maximize your link value. The more value they see the more likely they are to link. To create value and compelling reasons for other sites to link to you, you’ve got to consider link value from three perspectives:

The value you offer the linking website. Perhaps you offer complementary products or services: perhaps the information you publish may help them close a sale or perhaps they want to be seen as a knowledgeable source.

The value that you offer their audience – the people that will follow the link to arrive at your website. They will be interested in what you have to offer and will already have expectations based on the link they followed. Will you be able to fulfill those expectations?

The value that the additional traffic brings to your business. There’s no point in generating incoming links and traffic if you can’t convert the people who arrive at your site.

Sites that offer great link value

Let’s look at a few examples that deliver value from all three of these perspectives:

IKEA, http://www.ikeausa.com/ms/en_US/rooms_ideas/office/download1.html publishes an interactive office planner. This planner is a useful resource for http://www.gilgordon.com who provide resources for teleworkers and people who work in virtual offices: the audience gets an excellent free tool with which to plan their office space: IKEA benefits from the sales of the furniture, users of the software will undoubtedly be tempted to buy.

FutureNowInc, http://www.futurenowinc.com are online conversion rate specialists. They offer free content in terms of reports and articles, but the most attractive is the free WeWe calculator. The essence of Bryan Eisenberg’s message is that if you are to increase your conversion rates, you must talk in your customer’s language and address their problems, not about yourself using selfcentered ‘we are’ speak. The WeWE calculator allows you to do just that – enter your name and URL and you’ll get a free report by return. Many online marketing sites link to FutureNowInc.com, their audiences get a free analysis and FutureNowInc.com gather prospects.

The Online Visual Thesaurus, http://www.visualthesaurus.com/online/index.html from Plumb Design is a really cool nocost tool. Just enter a word in the search box and the visual thesaurus will create an interactive map of the word and it’s associations. The tool is an interactive feature that advertising, marketing, writing and academic sites would be happy to link to: the audience gets immediate help with their writing and Plumb Design benefit from sales of the fullfeatured CDROM or download at $29.95.

So how do you add link value to your site?

Here are four steps you can take to improve the link value of your site:

(i) Make sure that your site is customercentric and tell people exactly what you do. Be clear, simple and direct and avoid ขwe are …ข corporate speak. This alone will make your website stand out from many of your competitors and thus make your site more attractive to link to.

(ii) Many websites underestimate the value of content they already have: this can often be repurposed to increase your link value. Review the content that you already have both online and offline. Can you collate or repackage this into special reports or guides. A paint manufacturer for example could draw all its information on ‘External Decorating’ into a single guide. Such repackaging makes the best use of existing material and won’t cost a lot to do. The secret is to make reports address a specific customer need.

(iii) Create a range of fresh material that addresses customer needs in the form of articles, hints and tips, special reports. This material should be carefully aligned with your target audiences – you should have link worthy material for each of your important target markets.

(iv) Create attentiongrabbing, interactive functions or microsites on the lines of the examples we gave earlier. To carry these off effectively takes a reasonable investment in time and money but the longterm rewards in increased profile and increased traffic to your site will be well worth it.

By understanding and building the link value of your site, you’ll find that the success rates of your linking requests will increase and that other sites will link to you without being asked.

That will really bring value to your business.

About The Author

Ken McGaffin provides link building services to established and new launch websites. He is the author of the highly acclaimed กLinking Matters Reportก. You can claim your free copy at http://www.linkingmatters.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 05, 2004

by Ken McGaffin

Writing Effective Emails

Writing Effective Emails

by: Graham Jones

Sometimes email messages can get quite long, especially when you quote much of the material that has been sent in previous emails. Also, emails often get long if you have a lot to say or you need to give a comprehensive overview of a particular business situation.

Most people tend to find that the letters and emails they receive that are short are the ones they responded to most positively and had the best feelings about. Long letters do get a positive response — however, almost invariably, long communications are only given a positive rating if we have a very close and warm relationship with the person who has written to us. We rarely feel positive towards acquaintances and people we do not know, who send us long letters or emails. This has important implications for people using email in business. The vast majority of your emails at work are going to be sent to people you do not know or have only the slimmest of relationships with. Hence anything other than a short email is likely to lead towards a negative feeling in your reader. Play safe; keep it short!

This is all very well in theory, of course, but in practice, particularly at work, you need to include a lot of material. The answer is to treat the email as though it were a covering letter. Then attach the main text as a separate word processor document. All email programs can attach files to them, yet vast numbers of emails are sent without using this facility. The advantage of putting your main material in an attachment is that your recipient immediately views your message in a positive light because it is short and to the point. You should summarise the content of the attachment in a sentence or two — in that way your reader can gain all they need to know, without having to open the attached file. However, if they need more depth you have provided it for them.

One technique you can use for shortening your email is to write the main message in your word processing software, with all the detail you need. Then take a break, do something else and later on, read through your text. Now try to summarise it in a few sentences – that summary should be the main part of your email. Trying to summarise something you have just written is difficult as all the detail will still be in your mind. That’s why taking a break can help you as you leave your mind uncluttered and make summary writing much easier. Your summary email, together with the word processor document as an attachment is much more likely to please your recipient. This means there is considerable value in taking time to construct your email properly, rather than just dashing something off.

Another way in which you can be sure of keeping emails short is to avoid ‘quoting’ vast amounts of previous emails. One of the benefits of the ‘reply’ button on email programs is that you can quote the previous email. In this way the recipient can easily see what you are responding to. However, since many emails go back and forth between various people, the message can quickly become very long indeed — even though most of it is material from previous messages. The answer to solving this is to only quote what you need to send someone in order to make your reply understandable. By all means, press the ‘reply’ button to quote the original email, but then go through the quoted text and delete everything that is irrelevant to what you are going to write about. Doing so is seeing the message from your reader’s viewpoint — they don’t want to wade through the original text (their own!) just to see which point you are commenting on. It is much easier from their viewpoint if your reply is clear. In other words, only use selective quoting — not wholesale quoting of emails as is the most common practice.

An additional reason why some emails are so long is because the author is trying to cover various topics. They are almost ‘brain dumping’ everything they can think of that is important or relevant to the reader. Meanwhile, the poor recipient has to work their way through this mess to try and find out what is important. Good communication, particularly to people we don’t know, is focused communication. That means, in essence, that each email should be about one topic and one topic only. A hint to this is given in the email software itself where you have to type a ‘subject’ for your email.

If your emails are about more than one subject – stop! Each email should only be about one subject. Your recipient will react far more positively if you sent four separate short emails about four subjects than trying to cram all the material into one, inevitably longer message. Also, when these separate messages get replied to, the quoted material is shorter. Hence, think always, one message — one email.

About The Author

Graham Jones is the author of Effective Email an ebook priced at £9.99. For more details or to download a copy now go to: http://www.effectiveemail.biz.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 23, 2002

by Graham Jones

The Efficacy of Full Color Printing

The Efficacy of Full Color Printing

by: Maricon Williams

It is believed that there are only two ways to ensure customer satisfaction. The first is quality in the output and second is the affordability of the service or product. Full color printing companies are now wellequipped to fulfill customers discriminating needs. In fact, some are even assisting their customers starting from the conceptualization stage to design, printing and finally to the mailing of the materials.

CMYK or full color printing can be relied upon in giving the most accurate, crisp and detailed reproduction of your materials. Its popularity can be concluded in its rampant circulation. Time, People Magazine and National Geographic are in fact, using it. Aside from newsletters, it is also widely used by other forms of advertising materials like postcards, posters, stickers, greeting cards, brochures, flyers and folders.

Before finding an expert printer is a timeconsuming and hard task. Now, it’s as easy as flicking a finger. Right at the very confines of your home, you can pick a printer and order instantly. Regardless of the quantity of your printing needs, you can have them easily taken cared of online. All you have to do is negotiate through your computer. Be reminded though that it will cut costs if you order more.

Most, if not all of the printers are very competitive. They give reasonable and viable prices for the customers to choose from. In connection to colors, the printing companies are offering a wide variety of colors ranging form onecolor to sixcolor printing. Instant printing quotes and online approval of the four color printing job are given for you to preview and select how your printing job will push through without any hassles and delays. Not only that, the customers can already have their orders delivered in a matter of days depending if it is a rush or not.

As a rule of thumb, always consider the company image first with all your printing needs, because it is the most important thing that should reflect on your materials. That way, people will notice the company’s image and the company per se. another thing to consider is to make the message lasting. To achieve this, you must first create an impression using full color printing. That impression will eventually result to retention.

With full color printing, your needs can be delivered quickly and efficiently. Printing made faster and easier! You don’t have to worry about delays because your project will be delivered just on time!

About The Author

Maricon Williams

I love reading. Give me a book and Iกll finish it in one sitting. Reading is the chance to be transported to a different world and so is writing. Iกm more enthusiastic about writing however, since you can relay your ideas to someone else. I can only imagine that feeling when I hear a complete stranger talking about my ideas which read on an article somewhere. To relay my message to as many people is the same as touching people with music. Only mineกs less harmonic. I try to make up for it with the color I bring with words. And most of the time, it’s more than enough.

For suggestions, inquiries and additional information about full color printing services, logon to http://www.fullcolorprintingcompany.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 11

by Maricon Williams

7 Steps To Writing Articles That People Just Have

7 Steps To Writing Articles That People Just Have To Read

by: Charles Kangethe

This may come as a surprise… to you, but writing articles that get published is an art anyone can learn.

For many Internet Marketers getting publicity and the traffic it brings is second only in importance to making sales.

Writing articles, press releases, and advertising copy is a sure fire way to get publicity, but for many people, writing is a chore best avoided if possible.

Learning how to write is as simple as putting this seven step repeatable method into action.

Step #1 Define Your Topic and Set Goals.

Good writers start by clearly defining what they want to write about.

Start by focussing your mind on the topic and broad message you want to communicate.

The topic can be one you are an expert on, something you have an interest in, or even something about which you intend to do some research.

The important thing is, be clear on the topic you intend to write about.

Next, with topic and subject firmly in mind, define your goals.

Decide on the writing format you want to put together.

For instance, writing these types of articles results in different output even though you may be writing about the same content.

A report

A กHow Toก style article

A Press release

Ad copy (display v classified)

An eBook

Setting goals focuses your mind on how best to present your written material. It forces you to set standards by which you can measure the quality of your work.

Step #2 Research and Order Your Material

Depending on your knowledge about your topic, research can be a completely new study of the subject matter or it can be an organisation of your knowledge, thoughts and opinions into a logical sequence or order.

Depending on content and subject matter, the Internet is probably all you need for most research purposes.

For more complex content you have to use other sources such as

Libraries,

Interviews with experts

Public and private archives.

Make notes during your research, and catalogue the content into structured order as you find it.

Step #3 Write Mode

The objective in this step is to put all your material onto the page without stopping to edit, format or in any other way manipulate the writing.

This is a pure กBrain Dumpก, a non critical outpouring of your material onto the page.

For short articles the กBrain Dumpก can happen in one sitting. For longer articles, break down the material into manageable chapters or sections which you can then process using the write, edit and polish method.

This is perhaps the most difficult step to perform because we constantly try to improve things as we write. However, going back and forth as you write interrupts your creative flow and makes the whole process more difficult.

Such improvements come in the next two steps. For now concentrate on getting the content out.

Step #4 Edit Mode

In this stage you can now format the article, spell check, order, and replace or modify the content. Organise your paragraphs and get the layout and presentation correct.

This is where you proofread and check your grammar, turning the raw material from step 3 into a product resembling the finished article.

Editing probably takes more time than any other stage in writing.

Be prepared to spend time going over the material to get it just right.

Step #5 Polish Mode

At this point, your article is free of spelling mistakes, it is formatted correctly, the content is ordered and it flows in a logical sequence.

However, it needs polishing to improve its ‘readabilityก.

The way to do this is to take it and read it out loud.

The objective is to discover the กflowก or ‘tone and rhythmก

Flow is like an elephant difficult to describe, but easy to recognise. Just as you listen to music or a poem and identify rhythm, you should กlistenก for the rhythm of your written work as you read it out loud.

Using one word instead of another or changing the order of words can make a huge difference in the ‘tone and rhythmก of an entire sentence or paragraph. In turn, this affects the readability of the entire article.

This is what makes the difference between words people read and words people feel they HAVE to read.

Your aim is to write content using กflowก from words, tone, and rhythm that make people feel they have to read everything you write.

Think of it as compelling writing.

Step #6 Submit For Publication

Once your article is ready you must submit it to as many publishers as will put it on กpaperก for their readers.

This is the heart of the article publicity generating machine.

You can submit articles manually or automate the process to an extent using software such a ezine announcer.

The process is the same in either case.

Find the publishers by using directories on the Internet

Send them the written piece with a short cover asking them to publish

Ensure your resource box with appropriate contact details is prominent at the bottom of the published piece.

Remember you cannot over submit your writing get it published as often and as widely as you can.

Step #7 Start Again

Even though a written and published article will give you f’ree publicity, you must publish frequently and to an equally high standard in order to build a reputation as an author or expert in your field.

Start selecting a new topic and doing the research for your next article even as your current one is hitting the publishersก pages.

Use these 7 steps and writing will become something you enjoy rather than a chore.

Charles Kangethe of http://www.simplyeasier.com is a leading new wave Netpreneur and a published author from England. The กSimply Easierก brand name is your guarantee of high value, quality Marketing Products, services and Resources.

About The Author

Charles Kangethe has been involved in direct response marketing since 1982. He now lives in Suffolk County and spends his time working on new Online Marketing campaigns, with particular focus on helping new netpreneurs at http://www.simplyeasier.com

This article was posted on January 26, 2004

by Charles Kangethe

The Fall and Fall of the pZine

The Fall and Fall of the pZine

by: Sam Vaknin, Ph.D.

http://home.wuliweb.com/index.shtml

http://www.pshares.org/

The circulation of print magazines has declined precipitously in the last 24 months. This dissolution of subscriber bases has accelerated dramatically as economic recession set in. But a diminishing wealth effect is only partly to blame. The managements of printed periodicals from dailies to quarterlies failed miserably to grasp the Internetกs potential and potential threat. They were fooled by the lack of convenient and cheap ereading devices into believing that old habits die hard. They do but magazine reading is not habit forming. Readersก loyalties are fickle and shift according to content and price. The Web offers cornucopial and nichetargeted content free of charge or very cheaply. This is hard to beat and is getting harder by the day as natural selection among dot.bombs spares only quality content providers.

Consider Ploughshares, the Literary Journal.

It is a venerable, not for profit, print journal published by Emerson College, now marking its 30th anniversary. It recently inaugurated its web sibling. The project consumed three years and $125,000 (grant from the WallaceReaderกs Digest Funds). Every title Ploughshares has ever published was indexed (over 18,000 journal pages digitized). In all, the กwebsite will offer free access to over 2,750 poems and short stories from past and current issues.ก

The more than 2000 (!) authors ever published in Ploughshares will each maintain a personal web page comprising biographical notes, press releases, new books and events announcements and links to other web sites. This is the Yahoo! formula. Content generated by the authors will thus transform Ploughshares into a leading literary portal.

But Ploughshares did not stop at this standard features. A กbookshelfก will link to book reviews contributed online (and augmented by the magazineกs own prestigious offerings). An annotated bookstore is just a step away (though Ploughsharesก web site does not include one hitherto). The next best thing is a rightsmanagement application used by the journalกs authors to grant online publishing permissions for their work to third parties.

No print literary magazine can beat this one stop shop. So, how can print publications defend themselves?

By being creative and by not conceding defeat is how.

Consider WuliWebกs example of thinking outside the printed box.

It is a simple online application which enables its users to กsend, save and share material from print publicationsก. Participating magazines and newspapers print กWuliCodesก on their (physical) pages and WuliWeb subscribers barcodescan, or manually enter them into their online กContent Managerก via keyboard, PDA, pager, cell phone, or fixed phone (using a PIN). The service is free (paid for by the magazine publishers and advertisers) and, according to WuliWeb, offers these advantages to its users:

กOnce you choose to use WuliWebกs free service, you will no longer have to laboriously ‘tear and shareก print articles or ads that you want to archive or share with colleagues or friends. You will be able to store material sourced from print publications permanently in your own secure, electronic files, and you can share this material instantly with any number of people. Magazine and Newspaper Publishers will now have the ability to distribute their online content more widely and to offer a richer experience to their readers. Advertisers will be able to deploy dynamic and mediarich content to attract and convert customers, and will be able to communicate more completely with their customers.ก

Links to the shared material are stored in WuliWebกs central database and users gain access to them by signing up for a (free) WuliWeb account. Thus, the userกs mailbox is unencumbered by huge downloads. Moreover, WuliWeb allows for a keywordsbased search of articles saved.

Perhaps the only serious drawback is that WuliWeb provides its users only with LINKS to content stored on publishersก web sites. It is a directory service not a full text database. This creates dependence. Links may get broken. Whole web sites vanish. Magazines and their publishers go under. All the more reason for publishers to adopt this service and make it their own.

About The Author

Sam Vaknin is the author of กMalignant Self Love Narcissism Revisitedก and กAfter the Rain How the West Lost the Eastก. He is a columnist in กCentral Europe Reviewก, United Press International (UPI) and ebookweb.org and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com. Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

His web site: http://samvak.tripod.com

This article was posted on February 2, 2002

by Sam Vaknin, Ph.D.

Website Theft Part 2 of 3 ~ How do I know if my

Website Theft Part 2 of 3 ~ How do I know if my website material has been stolen and what do I do if it has?

by: Janice Byer, CCVA, MVA

(Please note that some of the information included in this article has been quoted from various locations while other information is simply my personal opinion and you will probably feel my passion in my words.)

In the first instalment in our series on Website Theft, we looked at the definition of Copyright and what Copyright Law covers. In this instalment, we will look at how to find out if someone else is using your material and how it can be damaging.

How do you know if your material is being used?

The first way is by word of mouth from others. Hopefully they will inform you if they have seen or suspect your content is being used by someone else. You can then investigate further to be sure before you go any further.

However, if you want to check yourself, try plugging in some of your unique content into the search field of Google. Be sure to use quotation marks around the text and don’t make the search too long. Use one sentence or part of a sentence because those who do use other’s content sometimes change a little of the wording to suit their needs. Of course, there are those that have copied information word for word.

If you have unique graphics on your website and want to find out if anyone else is using them, enter the file name of your graphic into http://images.google.com.

What are the downfalls of having your content on too many sites?

Not only does it tick you off when someone else uses your material, it can also be damaging to both parties’ standings in search engines. Search engines take a dim view of content that is used in numerous websites. They can consider is spamming so they tend to drop the placement of such websites or completely eliminate them from the search engine.

Your reputation can also be damaged if the duplicate material is spotted on more than one website. Although you know that the material is yours, others that see it do not.

What should you do when you find out your material has been the victim of copyright theft?

This is usually a personal choice but no matter what you do, remember to project your professionalism and not let the culprit get the better of you.

The first thing you need to do is to investigate as deep as possible and keep records of what you find. Keep a record of which pages you found your content on and take a screenshot or print the page, if possible. Also, you may want to consider printing the HTML code as well. Call upon the trust of others and ask them to take a look at the offending pages and how it is a duplicate of yours and see if they agree with your perception of the situation.

Also, check throughout the website to be sure that there isn’t a reference somewhere about where the owner used the material from.

Then you need to find the owner of the site. Most websites will have a contact page or will have contact info at the bottom of each page. Record this information for future reference as this will be the person you will contact about and to rectify the situation.

You can also find out who owns the website by searching a WhoIs directory. All WhoIs search functions pull their information from a main database of all domain registrations. If you simply type ‘whois’ into Google’s search engine, you will find a list of various WhoIs directories that you can try. Each will pull up the administrative and technical contact for the domain in question. The administrative contact is usually the owner of the website. Again, record this information, including the date the domain was registered.

Be sure you can prove that your content is original and that you have owned it for a longer period of time than the timeframe that the offending website has been using it. You need to have undisputed evidence that the material is yours. If you visit http://www.archive.org, you can input your website address and see the evolution of your site over many years and thus prove you have been the owner of material in question and the time period since you produced it.

Once you have the contact information, it is then recommended that you send a professional ‘cease & desist’ email to the owner. Be stern yet nice and point out where the infringed material can be found on their website and how it is duplicate of yours. As mentioned above, show that you can prove ownership. Ask the culprit to remove your material and point out how duplicates on various websites can hurt your overall standing in search engines, not to mention everyone’s reputation.

From my own personal experience, the above will generally work and the offending site owner will apologize for the unintentional (usually) plagiarism of your information. Most really didn’t mean to blatantly steal your material.

In our next and final instalment in our series on Website Theft, we will look at more ways to handle the problem of someone stealing your material and some ideas for preventing it from occurring again.

About The Author

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

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 11, 2004

by Janice Byer, CCVA, MVA

Transforming Problems into Sales

Transforming Problems into Sales

by: Jeremy Cohen

My silent fish tank was no more. Enough water had evaporated to make the filter gurgle. It was highly annoying and I knew I wouldn’t be at ease until it was silent again, so I filled the tank.

Did I fill it to satisfy a want or a need? Does it really matter? Probably not.

The gurgling tank was an unacceptable problem that required a solution: more water. I was able to solve the problem on my own. If it had turned out that my fish tank gurgled because my filter was broken I would have needed a new filter.

Filters Don’t Flow from My Tap

Where would I get a filter? How would I decide where to shop first?

There is a pet store chain in New York City that has been advertising its business for decades. When I first moved to my current neighborhood I noticed one of their stores a couple of blocks from my home. I would go there for my new filter without hesitation. I know that they have fish tank filters, exactly what I’d need to solve my problem.

Do your prospects know you have exactly what they need to solve their problems?

To sell more you must demonstrate to more prospects that you have just what they want. There are two ways you can work toward this goal:

Market to a larger audience

Improve your marketing material to attract more attention

It makes sense to do both. You can sell more by using the same marketing material to market to a larger, targeted audience. You can also increase sales by enhancing your marketing material to be noticed by more of the prospects you currently target.

Marketing to a larger audience is simple but can be quite expensive and improving your marketing material may seem like a daunting task. You can make this second task easier by knowing how to approach it.

Help Your Prospects Focus on You

When your prospects encounter your marketing material they should experience the familiar feeling of looking in a mirror.

Creating a sense of familiarity for your prospects when they absorb your marketing material helps eliminate a barrier to making a sale. People are more likely to buy from someone with whom they feel familiar. When we see ourselves in a mirror we see a clear and familiar image.

You can create a sense of familiarity for your prospects by focusing your marketing material around their problems.

Problems tend to strike an emotional chord within each of us. When we have emotional reactions we tend to become more alert to our surroundings. You can take advantage of this reaction by including client problems in your marketing material. You will increase your chance of being noticed, remembered and making a sale by presenting your marketing material to someone who has recently become more alert.

What problems do your clients have?

What problems do you solve?

Being noticed more often is good. You will sell more. However, you will sell even more if a greater percentage of the people who notice and read your marketing material take the next step and contact you.

To be contacted by more prospects your marketing material must attract attention and also clearly demonstrate believable value.

What value do you provide?

Are your offers believable or too good to be true?

How can you integrate client problems and the value you provide into your marketing material?

The answer is to use a marketing message. A marketing message is a highly specific set of words you can use to attract and demonstrate value to your prospects.

With a marketing message focused around client problems you will sell more with less effort.

What’s your marketing message?

About The Author

Copyright 2005 Jeremy Cohen & Better Marketing Results, All Rights Reserved.

The author, Jeremy Cohen, helps small business owners and professional service providers attract more clients, grow their business and be more successful with his marketing guides and coaching service. Get his free marketing guide: Jumpstart Marketing: More Profits, Clients and Success at: http://www.bettermarketingresults.com/marketingservices

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 28

by Jeremy Cohen

ข7 Incredibly Simple Ways To Profit Wildly From Pu

ข7 Incredibly Simple Ways To Profit Wildly From Public Domain Materialข

by: Ewen Chia

If you’re in the business of marketing online, a major portion of your income will come from your ability to deliver quality content and products to your market.

Now, besides creating these yourself, one of the quickest and cheapest way to acquire all the content and products you need is in the public domain.

Whatever your requirements, you can find almost anything in the public domain. Examples include texts, audio, images, stock video, music and software…which you can flexibly use in whichever ways you want!

A word of warning though…

While a large portion of this material is กfair useก, not all the works entered into the public domain database are clear of copyright restrictions.

A true public domain work is information open to the public for use, including copying, distributing and modification at no cost. Currently works published 75 years ago are considered to be public domain, while those published from 19241963 may be public domain IF the copyright was not renewed.

I would highly recommend reading the public domain FAQ pages at these websites first before you use any material:

http://www.gutenberg.org

http://www.pdimages.com

http://www.pdmusic.org

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books

However if you desire an easier and quicker method of monetizing the public domain, you will be amazed at what you can do at ==> http://www.miniebook.com/files.htm

Assuming you now have all the public domain content you want, the million dollar question is:

กHow do I truly monetize them to create longterm profit streams?ก

The answer is in these 7 simple methods:

Method #1: Kick Start An Information Empire

How many mini sites in a week can you set up to sell infoproducts that has already been created for you? Itกs a nobrainer.

Public domain provides the perfect opportunity for creating an empire of super profitable mini sites that can each make money on autopilot for you. Itกs really a numbers game…

If one mini site generates a conservative $300 per month, ten of these would mean a nice income of $3,000 every month! What if you just concentrate on getting the formula down to a science and duplicate these mini sales machines every day? Think about it.

Apply this concept to auction listings and you can also create a fortune with public domain and eBay.

Method #2: Churn Out Complete Niche Websites

Split up public domain material and use them as pages of targeted niche content for your website. Itกs a simple idea but hardly anyone exploit it.

All you do is select relevant public domain books and break them down into instant content. With a little SEO skills, planning and targeted keywordbased public domain content, you can spit out new websites that ranks highly in the search engines overnight.

This is a better solution and enhancement to automated site creation tools, which being essentially carbon copies of each other, have high risks of being banned.

While it takes work, this is one quick way to develop new niche sites on demand. You can then profit from them using Google Adsense, affiliate programs and advertising revenues. This method can also be applied to blogs.

Method #3: Get Traffic With Viral Lead Generators

A proven way to generate free and highlytargeted traffic is to create lead generating mini ebooks and make them viral. This is a strategy I reveal in detail in ขMini eBook Secretsข at ==> http://www.miniebook.com.

Basically public domain material can be fully or partially used as content for your mini ebooks, which you simply create and give away to bring back traffic to your site. Adding a viral marketing effect to your mini ebooks will explode your traffic for life without any cost to you.

Not many people are using public domain in this way and itกll be highly profitable for you to do so.

Method #4: Followup For Maximum Profits

Itกs a proven fact that following up with your prospects through an autoresponder sequence or ecourse is bound to increase your sales. This is where you can use content from the public domain to great effect.

If you can cut and paste, you can create a quality ecourse with public domain works. Itกs as easy as it gets.

Method #5: Achieve Instant Recognition And Credibility

This one is good split the public domain bookกs content into hundreds of articles with YOUR name and resource box on them.

Then simply submit these กinstantก articles and sit back. Your personal branding and name recognition will skyrocket beyond belief! Youกll also receive credibility and expert status with your articles, provided they’re good.

By the way, get this free report to populate your articles on thousands of sites and ezines:

==> http://www.instantmarketingsecrets.com/lifetime.htm

Method #6: Create Multiple Products At Lightning Speed

Have you thought about repackaging and creating different products out of public domain material? Just changing the format can vastly increase the perceive value and worth of the product.

You can take a public domain book and split it up into modules, create audio recordings or market it as a paid subscription newsletter for tons more profits than just selling it as a single ebook. Just changing the format can vastly increase the perceive value and worth of the product.

Another idea is to combine a few books with a common topic as a themed package. You can then sell resale rights to it and generate instant backend cash. Or create a highticket item by combining manuals, audio and dvds together.

The possibilities are huge!

Method #7: Use Them As Special Bonuses

Public domain material make excellent bonuses for your main product when you’re looking for increased value. Other uses of bonuses include:

As extra incentives for your affiliate promotions; as incentives for publishing articles; or even for a simple purpose like clicking to a site. You get the idea 🙂

Apply these 7 methods and your traffic, sales and income will surely surge.

If you’re ready to profit wildly from public domain material, check this out now ==> http://www.miniebook.com/files.htm

Copyright 2005 Ewen Chia

About The Author

Ewen Chiaกs Free Secret Manual กWeb Money Formulaก Reveals How You Can Start Making Quick Cash Online In As Little As 7 Days…Even From Scratch!

Click Now For Instant Download:

http://www.InstantMarketingSecrets.com

This article was posted on April 06

by Ewen Chia