December 06, 2006

An SEOs Guide for Writing Optimized Text

Note: The following is part of our company's internal operations/job manual. This is from the section providing guidelines for writing optimized text.

Optimized Text (OT) is first and foremost marketing copy for the website. Each optimized page must be written with the client's products or services in mind. They are not general information pages, but pages designed to provide the visitor with the information they seek which compels them to take the desired action.

Most clients provide some initial verbiage for OT pages as a starting point. This information can help us better understand the client's perspective on their products or services and therefore should be an excellent resource for the text. Clients also provide answers to written questions pertaining to their website, business, marketing perspectives, etc. This information should be considered during the writing process for all OT pages.

Keyword Usage

OT pages are driven by keywords. The "core term" of each OT page must be established before any writing can be done. Once the core term is known the writer must then also know the supporting phrases. A single core term can have anywhere from one to hundreds of supporting phrases. Each core term will also have a handful of other related words. It is important for core, supporting and related words be carefully considered before optimizing a page.

Core terms are the most important terms on each page and should be used as a phrase as often as good, readable copy allows.

Supporting phrases can be used liberally within the framework of producing quality content. Each optimized page should focus on no more than fifteen supporting phrases. Supporting phrases do not need to always be kept in phrase format, but each individual word of each phrase used must be present in the copy a number of times.

Related words are words and phrases symmetrically related to the core term. Related words are: stemmed variations of the core term (running and ran are related to core term run); words with similar meaning as the core term (jog, walk, hike, stroll); words most often used in conjunction with the core terms (shoes, fast, sweat, exercise, hide, hydrate, etc). Not all related words will be relevant for a particular page. Writer should pick and choose related words to be used within the proper context.

Writing Style

While keywords must be considered and used on the OT page, the ability to produce content with a natural style of writing and a focus on the marketing goals trumps all else. Each OT page must have a clear sales message that entices the visitor to continue reading offering easy click-access deeper into the site and ultimately into the final conversion.

OT should use customer focused language which speaks to them. Page should be less about "we" or "us" and more about showing them they have found the solutions to their current needs. Questions should be anticipated and answered.

Sales Message: The writer must research both the company and the product or services being sold. It is imperative that each OT page be able to obtain the readers interest and provide enough information to help users make an informed decision. It's not enough to outline a list of features; both features and benefits must be used as part of the sales verbiage. OT page should be written for best skim- and scan-ability. Use of bullet points, paragraph headings, bolds and italics (where appropriate) is encouraged.

Headings: Page and paragraph headings should be used wherever appropriate. Every page must have a page heading which succinctly tells the reader what they will find on the page. Page headings are matter-of-fact and will almost always use the core term. (Expert PC Repair and Computer Networking Solutions)

Paragraph, or section, headings should be used only as appropriate. Often a paragraph heading can be used below the page heading similar to a newspaper sub-headline (Reno based computer expert offers networking and repair solutions throughout the greater Reno and Northern California area). If the content can be naturally divided into sections then paragraph headings should be used and written similar to page headings.

Bullet Points: Bullet points can be used for outlining benefits (or features) of the product or service being offered. Bullets help break up a redundant text page while making skimming and scanning easier.

Bolds and Italics: Bolds and italics should be used infrequently and only in ways which help the overall readability of the page. Skim- and scan-ability can be improved with selective bold and italic usage of important information.

Internal Hyperlinks: Each OT page should contain a number of internal hyperlinks. Linked text should be relevant and link to other portions of the website being referenced. Links to 'about us', 'contact us', and products/service pages can be used liberally, as good writing and usability allows.

Calls to Action: Each OT page should not be an end unto itself but should be a mechanism to propel the reader onto the next page. Hyper links mentioned above are calls to action of sorts as they propel the reader to pages with more information, but the ultimate call to action is one that directs the reader to the conversion. No page should be without the conversion call to action.

Titles and Descriptions

Each OT must have both a title and description (for HTML title and meta description tags) which is separate from the visible body content. Titles and descriptions are most often seen in search engine results and therefore must let the searcher know that this OT page contains the information they are searching for and compel them to click to this page over the other pages in the search results.

Titles: The title is the clickable link found on a search results page. The title much simultaneously inform the visitor of the content of the page, prove that the page has the information the searcher was seeking (keyword usage), and provide enough compelling information to make the searcher want to click through. Titles should never be deceptive or provide information that is not found in the body content of the page. A page title should be 8-12 words in length.

Descriptions: Descriptions are often used in the search results below the clickable title. The description should provide additional relevant information that could not fit into the title. Both core and supporting keywords, along with a few related keywords should be used in the description, giving the searcher as much information as possible in a very short and succinct paragraph. Description should be 30-50 words in length.

October 05, 2006

Online Mistakes Are Costing You Big $

n SEO and SEM, time management is critical. Almost anybody in the industry will tell you that you can spend countless hours "tweaking" a website, looking at traffic analysis and conversion stats, and employing solid link building campaigns. These are all essential parts of a good SEO service but limits have to be placed on the amount of time you'll spend doing this for any one client.

Newer clients or those that are in obvious need for improvements can--and often do--have more time dedicated to each of the above, but you still have to budget your time effectively in order to prevent your profits from circling the drain. And this goes for every SEO, it doesn't matter how much you charge per hour!

The problem with time is that there are only a limited number of hours every day. I have the same 24 hours to use each day as Donald Trump and George W. Bush. When I go home after a full day of what feels like non-stop rushing to manage one client after another, I often think about how these guys must feel. They have vastly more responsibility than I, but still the same number of hours in which to get stuff done.

If I could have one wish, it would be to have more hours in the day and to require less sleep each night. OK, that's two wishes but I'd settle for either one of those--preferably the latter.

I often have clients ask me, "What more can we do to improve X". My response is almost always the same. There is plenty more that we can do, so long as you're willing to pay for it. Unfortunately, that ends the conversation for most clients. Heck, I don't mind providing a value added service every now and then; swapping images or giving advice on how to make a site more appealing to visitors. Conversions are an important part of the optimization process, but even time spent there has to be limited, unless the client has purchased an SEO package with an in depth conversion analysis service attached. Days can be spent analyzing data and improving a site for conversions and that kind of analysis simply can't come cheap.

When we put together our package pricing, we first figure the number of hours that are generally required each month to perform a task, ensuring that we’re able to create a successful end result. That’s our benchmark and we use it with the knowledge that clients will occasionally need more time spent each month on a task, and less time in other months.

Other things that have to be factored in is time spent that’s not the actual doing of the work, but communicating with the client or others about the project. Most don’t realize that this can add up to a significant amount of time, which is why many SEO firms limit the amount of “consultation time” that a client can receive each month. Pole Position Marketing doesn’t charge clients for consultation since we believe that this comes with the package. We do factor this into the pricing, realizing that some months there may be several hours spent consulting with a client, answering questions, or working out the details of the ongoing SEO campaign, while other months may be only a few. This is all taken into account.

When you consider that you have only 24 hours in a day, time management, regardless of your field, becomes one of the most important aspects of your professional and personal life. This may sound odd, but even when relaxing in my home; I’m monitoring my time. Why, because I want to make sure I get family time, chore time and even time for myself each day. Every bit of that is important for health, business and for your family as well.

There are many great books at there on time management, one easy read that comes to mind is the One Minute Manager, probably one of the most popular books on the subject of time management.

Finally, I would like to wrap this up with something that I believe came from John Maxwell, regarding the value of your time:

“To know the value of one year - Ask the student who failed their final.
To know the value of one month - ask the mother of a premature baby.
To know the value of one week - ask the editor of a weekly magazine.
To know the value of one day - ask the wager earner with six children.
To know the value of one hour - ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To know the value of one minute - ask the person who missed the plane.
To know the value of one second - ask the person who survived the accident.
To know the value of one millisecond - ask the Olympic silver medalist.





About This Author
Stoney deGeyter is president of Pole Position Marketing (www.PolePositionMarketing.com), a search optimization marketing firm providing SEO and website marketing services since 1998. Stoney is also a part-time instructor at Truckee Meadows Community College, as well as a moderator in the Small Business Ideas Forum. He is the author of his E-Marketing Performance eBook and contributes daily to the E-Marketing Performance (www.eMarketingPerformance.com) marketing blog.

October 04, 2006

How to Convince a Client They Don't Need a Splash Page

Following up yesterday's article, How to Convince a Client their Site Doesn't Need Music, I decided to write a similar one about splash pages. Splash pages are the pages that the user sees before they actually get to a website; typically, they're flash and offer some kind of introductory animation. The user clicks "Skip Intro" or "Enter Site" and from there is taken to the site. Splash pages can also exist between pages on the same site. Clients love to request them and these are the arguments I use to shoot them down:

Search engines will spider the splash page instead of the real content
Search engines look at the text on a page to determine what the page is all about. If your page is entirely in flash or some other kind of multimedia, chances are the search engines won't be able to spider any text on it. This will result in both you not ranking for the terms you want and the spidered page having a description next to it in the search results that says something like "Click to Enter." Examples include: accuplacer.com johnellis.com reachmediatv.com. A search at Google for "Click to Enter" or "Skip Intro" reveals many sites that have non-descriptive text associated with them due to their use of splash pages. These results aren't likely to get clicks.

Client: "So use a flash intro but stuff text in the meta keywords tag"
Search engines stopped caring about meta keyword tags a long time ago--it's all about what's actually on the page now.

Client: "So use a flash intro but hide keywords in the page"
Search engines can figure this out and you can get banned for it.
From Google's Webmaster Guidelines:

Make pages for users, not for search engines. Don't deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users, which is commonly referred to as "cloaking."


Search engines won't be able to spider beyond the splash page
If your splash page is done entirely in flash or with some other kind of multimedia plugin, the search engines might be unable to spider your content and your content will be absent from the search results.

Straight from the horses mouth
I found a great quote on MarketingSherpa from Jared Spool of User Interface
Engineering at Macromedia. When asked, "Flash intros, good or bad?", this was his response:

When we have clients who are thinking about Flash splash pages, we tell them to go to their local supermarket and bring a mime with them. Have the mime stand in front of the supermarket, and, as each customer tries to enter, do a little show that lasts two minutes, welcoming them to the supermarket and trying to explain the bread is on aisle six and milk is on sale today.



Most users immediately click "skip intro"
Pretty much everyone I've spoken to on the subject of splash pages always admits to immediately clicking "skip intro" before watching the animation they're presented with. Newfangled did some digging into their access logs and had this to say about their findings:

The number one reason for getting rid of our splash page was that it turned away at least 25% of our site visitors, sometimes more. This percentage has actually been researched and it turns out that at least 25% of site visitors will immediately leave a site as soon as they see a “loading” message for a Flash splash screen (even if there’s a “skip intro” link). Our access logs confirmed this for us and this over all the other reasons caused us to get rid of it. The opportunity to “prove our creativity” was not worth the loss of such a high percentage of visitors.


Slower connections will have to wait for the page to load
Dialup users are basically screwed (SCREWED!), especially if the skip button isn't readily available.

"Click to Enter" is redundant
By visiting your site they've already agreed to enter, why do they have to do it again? It'd be like opening the door to a store only to find another door that says, "haha, just kidding. Open this door to enter for reals this time."

Minimizing steps
You want to minimize the number of steps involved in reaching your offerings. Having an extra click from a splash page does not align with this idea.

Content from the splash page can probably work inside the home page
Most of the time the splash page can be trimmed down and worked into the homepage of the site. This is an effective compromise with the client because they get to keep whatever idea they were trying to promote but aren't necessarily forcing it on the user. It also wraps the content from the splash page in a uniform navigation (which is good usability).
A great example of this is Adobe's website.

Uniform navigation - For The Win
Most splash pages don't have the same primary navigation as the rest of the site; some even drastically change the design when you go from the splash page to the real site. This is confusing to users who respond best to navigation that is persistent. Splash pages also enforce the idea that they are visiting two separate sites.

September 25, 2006

Rotating Google AdSense with Related Links?

Rotating Google AdSense with Related Links?: "Source: searchenginejournal.com

A recent post on the Inside AdSense blog suggests running the Google Related Links publisher tool on your site and rotating it with Google AdSense. The basic theory behind the suggestion is that regular users of a site will naturally become attracted to the relevant video, news, and search content served via Google Related Links, and that by sometimes rotating in AdSense, one may benefit monetarily from that same space.

Shannon Bauman, Product Manager for Google Related Links, posts on Inside AdSense that “While Google Related Links don’t give you revenue directly, you can use them to keep your site fresh and interesting without any maintenance. Happy visitors mean repeat visits. And if you’re feeling especially creative, try alternating between Google ads and Google Related Links in a given space on your page. This will encourage people to look in that space for interesting dynamic content.”

Read more here...

Spread the word: bookmark it/ readit"

7 Components of a Well-Rounded SEO Program

7 Components of a Well-Rounded SEO Program: "Source: isedb.com

How can you ensure the viability of your SEO program well into the future? How can you reduce the impact of search engine algorithm changes and enjoy long-term visibility and ranking?

The answer to both questions involves having a well-rounded SEO program.

Website owners who put too much emphasis on a single element of SEO are more vulnerable to changes in search engine algorithms. If you look at the history of search engine optimization, you'll see a pattern of this:

Back in the day, a lot of webmasters relied heavily on keyword tags to drive their visibility and ranking. But the search engines demoted the importance of the keyword tag, and many websites suffered as a result.

Link exchange networks are a more recent version of this scenario. Search engines are now devaluing links that are part of link farms and obvious reciprocation schemes. And once again, some websites are suffering from it.

But how is it that some websites coast right along, largely unaffected by search engine updates? What's the differenc"

Create Multiple Sites in Google Page Creator

Create Multiple Sites in Google Page Creator: "Source: googlesystem.blogspot.com

Google Page Creator is a free online tool that makes it easy for anyone to create and publish useful, attractive web pages in just minutes.


No technical knowledge required.
Build high-quality web pages without having to learn HTML or use complex software.


What you see is what you'll get.
Edit your pages right in your browser, seeing exactly how your finished product will look every step along the way.


Don't worry about hosting.
Your web pages will live on your own site at http://yoursitename.googlepages.com

Google Page Creator is a Google Labs project, and is still in an early testing phase. If you're interested in taking it for a test drive, login with your Gmail account to begin making pages.

Google Page Creator has a new feature: you can create up to five sites using a single account.

First, enable 'experimental features' in Site Settings. Then go to the page manager and click on 'Create a site with a different address', choose an address and"

Create Multiple Sites in Google Page Creator

Create Multiple Sites in Google Page Creator: "Source: googlesystem.blogspot.com

Google Page Creator is a free online tool that makes it easy for anyone to create and publish useful, attractive web pages in just minutes.


No technical knowledge required.
Build high-quality web pages without having to learn HTML or use complex software.


What you see is what you'll get.
Edit your pages right in your browser, seeing exactly how your finished product will look every step along the way.


Don't worry about hosting.
Your web pages will live on your own site at http://yoursitename.googlepages.com

Google Page Creator is a Google Labs project, and is still in an early testing phase. If you're interested in taking it for a test drive, login with your Gmail account to begin making pages.

Google Page Creator has a new feature: you can create up to five sites using a single account.

First, enable 'experimental features' in Site Settings. Then go to the page manager and click on 'Create a site with a different address', choose an address and"

Google AdSense Adds Small Square Ad Size

Google AdSense Adds Small Square Ad Size: "By: Loren Baker | Source: searchenginejournal.com

Google AdSense has come out with a new sized ad unit, the 200 x 200 “Small Square.” The new Google AdSense ad size can run both text and image ads and may be large enough for some multimedia advertising. So new, in fact, that AdSense hasn't announced it yet, and it hasn't yet made it into their ad format page yet.

The 200×200 ad unit is called ‘Small Square’ and is available in both text and image ads, so it is very likely that they could also be utilizing them for videos as well.

You will find it in your AdSense control panel in the drop down menu when selecting your ad unit size for a new ad.

Spread the word: bookmark it/ readit"

Secrets to Beating the Sandbox 2.0 REVEALED: The Ultimate Guide

Secrets to Beating the Sandbox 2.0 REVEALED: The Ultimate Guide: "By Andy 'Organic-Is-My-Middle-Name' Hagans

The sandbox is no longer the pink elephant in the room. As webmasters, together we've cried about it, argued about it, and fretted over it. We've gone through the emotional steps, too; first there was grief (waah waah my site won't rank), then bargaining (I promise I won't spam if you un-sandbox me), anger (darn it, greedy Google just wants me to spend more at AdWords!), and finally, acceptance (OK, how do I beat it?).

Over a year ago, I wrote my Guide to Beating the Sandbox at WebmasterWorld (supporters forum). I think my post mostly stands the test of time, but there's a lot more that we know now, so I figured it's time for an update. I'm also going to try to make this guide as detailed as possible, because it seems the solution everyone (including me) constantly refers to is to build trust—without saying exactly how. So let's get short on theory, and long on details.

What is the sandbox? Does it really exist?"

August 18, 2006

Search the Top SEO News Websites from The SEO Blog :: Thank You Rollyo!

Search the Top SEO News Websites from The SEO Blog :: Thank You Rollyo!: "Now located on the right side of every page of The SEO Blog, StepForth has provided you with easy access to all of the latest and greatest SEO news! This is all thanks to a new search tool called Rollyo.

Rollyo is a new search tool that allows you to create your own 'searchroll'. A searchroll is essentially your own customized list of sites that you want to search. In other words, using Rollyo you can create a search option where your query is restricted to the sites you want to read.

'Search Other SEO News Resources Here'
I have to admit, I customized the Rollyo search code a bit. I changed the default search provided by Rollyo to allow users to search the 'Top SEO News' immediately. This search was customized by myself to search some of the most popular SEO blogs and SEO news sites such as Matt Cutts, the Official Google Blog, The Official Yahoo Blog, Jeremy Zawodny's Blog, and much more.

By providing this tool I hope tha"

August 02, 2006

Protect Yourself from Identity Theft

Protect Yourself from Identity Theft
Copyright 2006 Francesca Black

Some law-enforcement authorities call identity theft the
fastest growing crime across the country right now. In
fact, identity theft is the most called-about subject on
the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse's telephone hotline. Most
victims don't even know how the perpetrators got their
personal information.

Such fraud may account for as much as 25% of all credit
card-fraud losses each year. Not surprisingly 49% of the
victims, who have had their identities stolen, stated that
they do not feel they know how to adequately protect
themselves from this crime.

What Steps Can you Take to Avoid Identity Theft?

1. Credit Report

Order your credit report each year from each of the three
major credit reporting agencies. Check each credit report
carefully for accuracy and for indications of fraud, such
as credit accounts that you did not open; applications for
credit that you did not authorize; credit inquiries that
you did not initiate; charges that you did not incur; and
defaults and delinquencies that you did not cause. Check
the identifying information in your credit report to be
sure it is accurate pay particular attention to your
identifying information like your name, address, and Social
Security number. Make sure that you recognize every line of
information established in your file.

2. Social Security Report

Additionally order your social security earnings and
benefit statement once a year so that you can check to make
sure your earnings are correctly recorded. If the numbers
are inflated it maybe because someone is using your Social
Security number for employment. (Note - The Social Security
Administration now automatically mails these statements
annually to all eligible workers age 25 and older).

3. Checks

Call the payees of any outstanding checks that you are not
certain you wrote. The payee is the person or business to
whom you wrote the check. Explain to each payee that you
are the victim of identity theft and that you have to close
your checking account for that reason. Ask each payee to
waive (forgive) any late payment or returned check fee.
Then send each payee a replacement check drawn on your new
account and stop payment on the check that it replaces.
It's a good idea to enclose a note with each check
explaining why you are sending a replacement check and
reminding the payee that the payee has agreed to waive the
late payment or returned check fee.

4. Mail

If you are traveling be sure to stop your mail delivery at
the post office, rather than having it accumulate
unattended in your mailbox. If you do not receive your
credit card statement on time or if you do not receive a
new or renewed credit card when you expect it, your mail
may have been stolen. If you notice your mail is dwindling,
check with the post office to see if they have any change
of address posted. If a change of address request has not
been filed at the post office check if one has been filed
with the creditor. Guard your mail from theft. Deposit
outgoing mail in post office collection boxes or at your
local post office, rather than in an unsecured mailbox.
Promptly remove mail from your mailbox. Install a lock on
your mailbox if you live in an area where mail theft has
occurred. This will reduce the risk of mail theft.

5. Good Record Keeping

Be sure to keep a list of all your credit card account
numbers, expiration dates, and telephone numbers of the
customer service and fraud departments in a secure place,
not in your wallet or purse, so that you can quickly
contact your creditors in case your cards are lost or
stolen. Make a list of, or photocopy, all of your credit
and debit cards. For each card, include the account number,
expiration date, credit limit and the telephone numbers of
customer service and fraud departments. Additionally be
sure to store a list of bank accounts in secure location,
along with access numbers.

6. Lost or Stolen

A thief may steal, or the consumer may lose, the consumer's
purse or wallet. The thief then may use the consumer's
stolen personal identification information to obtain credit
in the consumer's name.

7. Collection

If you receive calls from collection agencies or creditors
for an account you don't have or that is up to date.
Someone may have opened a new account in your name, or
added charges to an account without your knowledge or
permission. Financial account statements show withdrawals
or transfers you didn't make. A creditor calls to say
you've been approved or denied credit that you haven't
applied for. Or, you get credit card statements for
accounts you don't have. You apply for credit and are
turned down, for reasons that do not match your
understanding of your financial position.

8. Notebooks

Laptops and notebooks are treasure troves of useful
information. Be sure to password protect any sensitive
information. When creating passwords and PINs (personal
identification numbers) do not use any part of your Social
Security number, birth date, middle name, spouse's name,
child's name, pet's name, mother's maiden name, address,
telephone number, consecutive numbers, or anything that a
thief could easily deduce or discover. For tips on strong
passwords refer to: http://www.password-software.com/.
Avoid using an automatic log-in feature that saves your
user name and password; and always log off when you are
finished.

9. ATM/ Credit Cards

If your ATM card has been lost, stolen or otherwise
compromised, cancel the card as soon as you can. Get a new
card with a new PIN. If you suspect unauthorized use,
contact the provider's customer service and fraud
departments immediately. Never give out your credit card,
bank account or Social Security number over the telephone
unless you placed the call and you have a trusted business
relationship with the business or organization. Place
passwords on credit cards, bank and phone accounts. Avoid
using easily available information like mother's maiden
name, your birth date, the last four digits of your SSN or
your phone number, or a series of consecutive numbers.
Cancel your unused credit cards so that the accounts will
not appear as being "open" or "active" on your credit
report. Shield your ATM or telephone key pad when using an
ATM or making a phone call with your phone calling card.
Some shoulder surfers' use binoculars or video cameras to
record your numbers. If you use ABMs or point-of-sale
terminals, always shield the entry of your PIN, and never
give your access code (PIN) to anyone. Choose a PIN that
can't be figured out easily, as you could be liable if you
use a PIN combination selected from your name, telephone
number, date of birth, address or Social Insurance Number
(SIN). Remember that no one from a financial institution or
the police will ask you for your PIN. Always take credit
card, debit card and ATM receipts with you. Never throw
them in a public trash container. ear them up or shred them
at home when you no longer need them.

10. Trash

One person's trash is another person's treasure. Shred
documents before throwing them away. Be sure to shred
credit card statements, bank statements, pre-approved
applications, any important papers with identifying
numbers. Memorize ALL passwords and PIN numbers. Keep them
private. Some thieves create identities by retrieving
personal information in your garbage or recycling bin by
"dumpster diving".

11. Public Information

Some thieves use public information, Searching public
sources, such as newspapers (obituaries), phone books, and
records open to the public (professional certifications).
Consider not listing your residence telephone number in the
telephone book, or consider listing your name and residence
telephone number without an address. If you decide to list
your name and telephone number, consider not listing your
professional qualification or affiliation (for example,
"Dr.," "Atty.," or "Ph.D .").

12. Online Banking

After completing a financial transaction or online banking,
make sure you sign out of the Web site and clear your
Internet file/caches (Internet files are retained in your
computer automatically and thus should be cleared so that
hackers cannot obtain the information). Most financial
institutions provide instructions on how to clear the
caches under their "security" section. Look for "https" in
the URL header and a padlock icon on your Internet toolbar
at the bottom of the screen; both indicate that a secure
connection is in effect. With Microsoft Internet Explorer,
click Tools then Internet Options. On the General tab,
click Delete Files, Delete Cookies and Clear History
buttons.

13. Posing

Do not release any information to anyone calling. Thieves
often pose as a creditor, landlord or employer to get a
copy of your credit report or access to your personal
information from other confidential sources.


----------------------------------------------------
Francesca Black develops educational material for
http://www.security-port.com/and
http://www.security-protection.net/a top resource for
locating security related RSS feeds.

Eight Steps To Successful Goal Setting On And Off Your PC

Eight Steps To Successful Goal Setting On And Off Your PC
Copyright 2006 Michael Madigan

You and I know no one can be totally successful. But
continual failure in personal goal planning on or off the
PC, will inevitably make you more and more frustrated and
disappointed.

Who needs that? When all you have to do is follow the 8
steps:

Step 1: The first important thing in goal setting is do
something as opposed to nothing, and get started NOW. By
placing time limits on your goals, you motivate yourself
to get started and allowing yourself the best chance to
succeed. Just remember that you can adjust your goal
setting time frames whenever you see fit.

Step 2: Decide what your goals are in any situation, are
they worthwhile, and if they are achievable. Don't be
afraid to dream a little, and rest assured the more
practice at personal goal planning you get, the bigger the
likelihood of you reaching all the goals you set. Then
write down your short and long term goals, whether they are
on or off the PC.

Step 3: Most of us fail to in setting and achieving goals
because we think we 'don't have enough time'. So in the
end, the major part of effective goal setting comes down to
how effective your time management is. But 'time
management' means actually we must be able to balance our
time in the best way possible in order to achieve our
goals. Check how time passes with reminders, audible and
visible alarms and pop ups - anything to keep you
productive and not just daydreaming.

Step 4: Break each goal down into several smaller goals
which will make this process easier. In each step evaluated
the obstacles that may stop you moving on and decide how
they can be overcome or avoided.

Step 5: Take some time for quality research and education.
Set performance goals and time limits here too! Surf,
read, chat - but keep your enquiries to the point. Keep
understandable notes throughout, including links and your
own revevant thoughts as they come.

Step 6: No matter what you do, dont expect to eliminate
every trace of uncertainty from goal setting activity. It
isn't cast in stone.. A little stress should fire up your
determination and flexibility, which you need particuliarly
in the ever changing Internet universe! Keep moving!

Step 7: Evaluate your progress as often as needed. If this
is a big goal it may take years, but stay motivated!
Review your progress daily, weekly, or at any other
interval you feel comfortable with, but as often as you
need to determine if your program is working and moving
forward. If you're not not progressing on a particular
goal, you may have to re-evaluate your approach and make
changes as necessary

Step 8: Another personal goal plan has succeeded! On to the
next one...

OK, you may struggle a little at first. Maybe once or
twice, fall back into your old sloppy ways. But
remember...people who are able to use goal setting
effectively concentrate and focus better. They show more
self-confidence, suffer less from stress and anxiety,

perform better at whatever they attempt, and are happier
and more satisfied with life. Now isn't that worth a little
investment in effort?

Set your goals for a happy life and healthy computing from
2006 into the future!


----------------------------------------------------
Mick Madigan has just issued a comprehensive eguide on
setting goals at home office and everywhere else ;-) at


healthy computing, and
recently published a unique detailed guide on avoiding
computer perils, plus no cost downloads of a stress
busting exercise audio ebook and numerous health articles at

Contextual Advertising as a Part of Your Home Business

Contextual Advertising as a Part of Your Home Business
Copyright 2006 www.eliasg.com

If you are running an online home business, you probably
realized early in the process that automated means of
generating passive income are a great way to keep yourself
highly profitable. Having one or more plans “running in
the background” and earning every single day gives you the
time to build other projects or to decrease your daily
workload.

One of the most celebrated systems of achieving those goals
is Google’s Adsense program. Other contextual advertising
plans have also emerged as a means to profit online. The
basic strategy is simple. You run spots from participating
advertisers. Every time someone visits your site and
clicks on one of those ads, you get paid. The value of
individual clicks is determined by market forces in an
auction environment where advertisers bid for locations
related to specifically chosen keywords.

Contextual advertising has revolutionized the net by
providing every site owner with an opportunity to profit
from his or her efforts. However, along with all of the
excitement and interest, a great deal of hype and myths
about success with Adsense have emerged.

One camp will tell you that Adsense if a fine way to make a
dollar here and there. Another group will proclaim that it
is a path that leads to sure riches. Who’s really telling
the truth?

Honestly, both groups are. Adsense can be nothing more
than a “penny a day” proposition for some people. Others
receive monthly checks for tens of thousands of dollars on
a monthly basis. The amount of income derived from
participation in contextual advertising is determined by
the strategy one uses to approach the opportunity.

If you just want to get an account, slap a few blocks of
ads onto your site and let Adsense “do its thing,” you are
unlikely to see substantial profits. If, however, you
approach the opportunity using a professional, tested
strategy featuring quality automation tools, they sky may
very well be the limit.

When I mentor new home based business owners, I recommend
Adsense and similar programs as a route to healthy passive
profits. However, I recommend that they utilize a smart
and proven system if they want to make contextual
advertising a meaningful part of their operation.

Don’t believe the naysayer who don’t believe Adsense can
generate more than a few cents every week. At the same
time, be wary of anyone who tells you that thousands of
dollars of earnings are available with overly simplistic
solutions. If you want to add another profitable component
to your home based business plan, invest in the tools and
education that will allow you to really earn with
contextual advertising.


----------------------------------------------------
Elias Georgi makes it easy to build your home based
business and earn a substantial income. Learn how to
increase your income in the comfort of you own home with
minimal effort by visiting: http://www.eliasg.com/

Are You "Shooting" Your Marketing Dollars with a Shotgun or a Rifle and WHAT's the Difference?

Are You "Shooting" Your Marketing Dollars with a Shotgun or a Rifle and
WHAT's the Difference?
Copyright 2006 Sandra P. Martini

In marketing your services or widgets, what approach do you
use? Do you scatter your marketing efforts over a range
hoping to hit something? Or do you take careful aim,
hitting the target more times than not?

Shotgun Marketing

Gun aficionados are going to shoot me here (no pun
intended), but whenever I use the term “Shotgun Marketing”,
I have this vision of Al Pacino blasting away in Scarface –
I’m repeatedly told that he does not use a “shotgun”, but
you get the idea.

A shotgun shoots shells over an area with the hope that at
least some of them hit the target. The word “shotgun” is
actually defined as “covering a wide range in a haphazard
or ineffective manner”.

Examples of shotgun marketing include cold calling, bulk
mailings and advertisements in large circulation general
newspapers. In the online world, shotgun marketing
includes banner advertising on sites that get large
quantities of generic visitors and spamming emails.

If you are a professional services business (virtual
assistant, web designer, etc.) and haven’t adequately
researched your prospective clients, your marketing is
going to have the same ineffective scatter-type effect.
You will blanket an area with postcards, direct mail
campaigns, newspaper ads or online advertising without ever
actually knowing if your prospects are “being hit”.
Depending on your business, this could be good or it could
be bad – either way, it’s going to get real expensive real
quick.

You naturally get wider coverage using the shotgun approach
to marketing – this could be good if you are trying to
blanket an area to let them know you exist (for example, a
new coffee shop or a new mechanic in town). The downside
is that it’s costly as studies show that you need to be in
front of someone 7 – 10 times before they even recognize
your name.

Rifle Marketing

I think you know where we’re going with this one. Rifles
bring things into focus, allowing you to take careful aim
before pulling the trigger.

If you know your target audience, really know them, you
should be able to initiate marketing campaigns with
sniper-type accuracy.

“Rifle Marketing” allows you to be more personal in your
marketing campaigns. You can also devise campaigns that
are made up of more than just a simple postcard or letter.

For example, to symbolize how much time (or business) your
potential clients are wasting (throwing away) by not hiring
you, send your sales letter in a small trash can with a
label on it (always send First Class). Your letter is
bound to be opened more often (and more quickly) than all
the other letters arriving in envelopes via Third Class
mail.

Innovative campaigns such as the preceding not only
increase the chance that prospective clients will call you,
they tell the client something about you before you even
speak: you are results-oriented, you think outside the box
and you think before you leap. This is the type of person
that smart business owners want on their team.

Which is better?

At first glance, you may want to say that the “rifle”
approach is better than the “shotgun”. However, it depends
on your business, your personality and your target audience.

Shotgun campaigns are, by their very nature, less personal
than the rifle campaigns. This may be appropriate to your
business. I generally think of shotgun marketing as
creating awareness and rifle marketing as getting results.

Whichever your preference, remember to keep your marketing
campaign true to your personal style and that less done
well is much better than more done poorly.


----------------------------------------------------
Online Business Manager & Entrepreneur, Sandra Martini,
publishes the 'Effective Entrepreneur' weekly e-zine. She
also coaches small business owners to more efficiently
manage their businesses while increasing profits and having
fun. Sandra's coaching programs are available via
teleconferencing, emails and telephone calls. For more
information or to sign-up for ‘Effective Entrepreneur’,
visit http://www.online-biz-coach.com/today.

The 3 Hidden Secrets

The 3 Hidden Secrets To Boost Your Commissions from Affiliate Programs
Copyright 2006 Jason Chew

The following article includes pertinent information that
may cause you to reconsider what you thought you
understood. The most important thing is to study with an
open mind and be willing to revise your understanding if
necessary.

Most of this information comes straight from the Affiliate
pros. Careful reading to the end virtually guarantees that
you'll know what they know.

If you are already into an affiliate program, what would be
the next thing you would want to do? Double, or even
triple, your commissions, right? How do you do that?

Here are 3 hidden secrets on how to boost your commissions
from affiliate program.

Secret #1 - Find the best affiliate program and products to
promote.

A top affiliate program and product will enable you to
achieve the greatest profits in the shortest possible time.
When selecting an affiliate program, take note of following
points:

1. Choose those program that provide a generous commission
structure.
2. Make sure that the products you promote fit in with your
target audience.
3. The affiliate program must have a solid track record of
paying their affiliate easily and on time.
4. If you cannot seem to increase your investments, dump
that program and keep looking for better ones.

There are serveral thousands of affiliate programs online.
So select the best affiliate program is important to avoid
losing your advertising dollars and earn good commissions.
To distinguish yourself from other people who promote same
affiliate programs, write short report related to the
product you are promoting. Give out these reports or short
ebooks freely from your site.

Your reports should provide some valuable information for
free and some recommendations about the products that you
promoting. Ebooks provide credibility of you to customers.
Giving them freely to customers will make them enticed to
try out what you are offering.

Secret #2 - Collect email addresses of those who download
your free ebooks using Opt-In Pages.

Most people do not make a purchase on first solicitation.
By collecting the contact information of those who
downloaded your reports and ebooks. You can make send out
emails to build relationship and follow-ups on these
contacts to remind them to make a purchase from you. Your
emails should provide value to prospects.  Get the contact
information of a prospect before sending them to the
vendor’s website. Do not send the prospect directly to the
product sites. You get paid only when you make a sale. If
you send prospects directly to the vendors, chances are
they would be lost to you forever. But when you get their
names, you can always send other marketing messages to them
to be able to earn an ongoing commission instead of a
one-time sale only.

Publish an online newsletter or Ezine. It is always best to
recommend a product to someone you know than to sell to a
stranger. This is the purpose behind publishing your own
newsletter. This also allows you to develop a relationship
based on trust with your subscribers.

This strategy is a delicate balance between providing
useful information with a sales pitch. If you continue to
write informative editorials you will be able to build a
sense of reciprocity in your readers that may lead them to
support you by buying your products.

Secret #3 - Ask for higher than normal commission from
affilate programs owners. Once you are already successful
with a particular promotion, you should try and approach
the owners to negotiate a good percentage commission for
your sales.

You are a zero-risk investment to the affiliate program
owners. The affiliate program owners will likely grant your
request if they do not want to lose a valuable marketer
like you. Do not be shy about requesting for addition in
your commissions and try to be reasonable commission.

Use Pay Per Click ads to promote your programs. PPC search
engine is the most effective means of advertising online.
As an affiliate, you can make a small income just by
managing PPC campaigns such as Google AdWords and Overture.
Then you should try and monitor them to see which ads are
more effective and which ones to dispose of.

Once you apply these 3 secrets, you will see that your
commissions will explode to a new level.


----------------------------------------------------
Jason Chew is an Infopreneur and Internet Marketing
Strategist.
For more information on market strategies and tactics,
please visit Inventing Market Niche and Strategy Blog:


bonuses on how to
generate massive Instant Cash with affiliate marketing.
Hurry get it HERE: http://saw.7daysto100kprofit.com

August 01, 2006

Video Communications the New Age Marketing Tool

Video Communications the New Age Marketing Tool
Copyright 2006 Jenni Baty

If you’re a small business, you know how hard it is to
compete against larger, wealthier competitors.  Indeed,
today’s small businesses face a dilemma. While they need to
sell their products and services as much as any Global 1000
company, many lack the marketing resources big firms take
for granted. For example, large companies have highly
aggressive sales people driving sales. These people contact
customers and prospects regularly, reminding them of a
product’s or service’s existence as well as its advantages
and benefits.  Unfortunately, many small businesses lack
the resources to do this and employing other traditional
marketing methods, like print advertising and direct mail,
is not always financially feasible either. To compensate
small businesses must find a way to ratchet up their
marketing communications programs. What’s needed is a
dynamic, cost-effective way of marketing products and
services, one that helps small businesses battle
competitors and capture market share.

The Internet has been a viable alternative marketing method
for small business. Publishing a Web site is a proven way
of selling one’s products and services, and an effective
means of reaching a worldwide marketplace. In fact, it
costs less to build a site than most people think,
particularly when compared to the cost of rent for an
off-line business. Web sites also offer benefits other
marketing tools don’t, such as regular contact with
customers and prospects and the ability to convey large
amounts of information quickly and easily. In addition, Web
sites offer consumers access to a company’s products and
services twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, all
year long.

But Web sites have one major drawback— anonymity. Consumers
are reluctant to buy from someone they don’t know. Other
drawbacks include the possibility of misinterpreting the
marketing message, the limitations in demonstrating
product’s features, and the difficulties of incorporating
customer service. Even adding e-mails to the marketing mix
doesn’t always help. While email marketing is a
cost-effective to send, easy to create, and fast to
distribute, they’re often boring, making little impact on
the viewer. And the proliferation of e-mails means that
your marketing message often gets lost in the clutter.

Video communications, which includes video e-mails, video
streaming, and live Web casts, represents the next wave of
marketing for small business. It’s proving to be so
powerful it’s revamping the way businesses communicate with
customers and each other.  Simple and easy to use, video
communications puts a human touch back into the process of
communicating with consumers, enabling sales reps,
consultants, and professionals to generate “face time” with
consumers, clients, and businesses without spending a great
deal of time and money. It’s a win-win situation for all
involved, and it’s proving highly effective for small
business.

Video communications is ideal where personal communications
is an advantage. Even political candidates are using it to
communicate with their constituencies. Howard Dean, for
example, helped transformed the face of presidential
politics by being one of the first candidates to harness
the power of the Internet. Dean broke new ground by being
among the first presidential candidates to use streaming
video on his Web site to communicate broadly and
successfully with American voters.

One of the most effective uses of video communications is
video e-mail, which the corporate world is quickly
embracing. Once dismissed as a gimmick, video e-mail is now
making in-roads into business communications. As the
technology has been refined and costs reduced, Global 1000
corporations have begun using video e-mails to reach target
audiences.

Sheridan Square Entertainment, a New York-based firm,
employs video e-mail not only for corporate interoffice
communications, but also as a way for its artists to
communicate directly with their fans. With offices in four
U.S. cities, using video e-mail cuts down on flying time
and its associated costs while generating awareness and
visibility. Organizations such as the Miami Dolphins,
DaimlerChrysler AG, and Eli Lily use video-e-mail for
everything from internal announcements to market surveys.
They also use the technology for sales training, public
relations, customer updates, and product releases.

Using video e-mails and adding streaming video to your Web
site is simple and easy.  In fact, it’s as easy as sending
text e-mails, and cutting and pasting text. Most small
businesses already have all the necessary skills to send
video e-mails and post streaming video online. And thanks
to the emergence of video portals, offering video e-mail,
video on demand, video instant messaging, and live Web
casts, businesses now have a mechanism for sending video
communications to buyers quickly and easily without
investing a lot in additional software or computer
equipment and without the platform incompatibility or long
download problems associated with Windows Media Player,
Real Player, or Apple QuickTime. In addition, proprietary
bandwidth protection enables videos to stream at the speed
most appropriate to each viewer’s connection.

Video is a boon to business marketing. It provides small
businesses with an economical yet powerful way to reach
buyers. Delivering the impact of television, it generates
higher click-through rates and increases brand recognition,
as well as shortening the sales cycle. Simple and easy to
use, video communications is the ideal way for small
business to compete against firms with more resources. It
gives them a powerful competitive edge that other
businesses don’t have, and it’s becoming the accepted way
of delivering personal rich media. More important, it
boosts sales and profits. If you’re a small business, you
can’t afford not to use video communications to market your
company.


----------------------------------------------------
Article by Jenni Baty, publisher of "Boost Profits with
Innovative Marketing – 10 ways video communications can
drive your marketing", a FREE report available with
brandable distribution rights at

5 Steps To Generate Low Cost Website Traffic

5 Steps To Generate Low Cost Website Traffic

Ever wonder how big sites get their traffic? Most of them
are spending tons of money to drive the traffic to their
sites, investing in many advertising campaigns and
different forms of marketing schemes and gimmicks. This is
all worthwhile because, well, they are what they are, high
earning, big hitting websites.

You don’t have to do this if you don’t really have these
types of resources. There are many ways to generate low
cost website traffic without having to spend what you don’t
have or can’t afford. Many people have banked on high cost
methods and have ended up losing their shirt over it.

Here I present to you the Top five ways to generate low
cost website traffic that could help your site a whole lot.
Even if you only get a small percentage of successful
visitors into client ratio it still works especially if you
get a high number of website traffic.

Exchange Links

This is a sure and proven method. Rarely would you see a
site where there is no link to another site. Many
webmasters are willing to exchange links with one another
so that they could produce more public awareness about
their sites. You’ll soon see and feel the sudden upsurge of
the traffic coming in to your site from other sites.

A major prerequisite in exchanging links with other sites
is having the same niche or content as the other site. They
should share a common subject so that there is continuity
in the providing of service and information to what
interests your target traffic.

Exchanging links also boosts your chances of getting a high
ranking in search engine results. It is common knowledge
that search engines ranks high sites that have inbound and
outbound theme-related links. With a good ranking position
in the search engines, you will generate more traffic in
your website without the high costs.

Traffic Exchange

This is like exchanging links but on a different higher
level. This may cost a bit more than exchanging or trading
links but could be made cheaper because you get to earn
credits. You can use those credits when viewing others
traffic, while you earn credits when someone views yours.

Traffic exchange services are the viewing of another’s site
or page. This is done vice versa where a site can use your
sites contents and so can you to his or her site. You both
benefit from each others efforts to generate traffic. The
other sites visitors can go to your pages and know more
about your site as well as theirs. Once again the public
awareness of your sites existence is boosted.

Write and Submit Articles

There are many e-zines and online encyclopedias in the
internet which provides free space for articles to be
submitted. If you want to save costs, you can do the
articles yourself. There are many freelance writers who are
willing to write for you for a small fee, but to save
money, it is wise to do those articles yourself.

Write articles that are themed along with the niche of your
site. Write something that you have expertise on so that
when they read it, they can feel your knowledge about the
subject and will be eager to go to your site. Write
articles that produce tips and guidelines to the subject or
niche your site has.

Include a resource box at the end of your article that can
link them to your site. Write a little about yourself and
your site. If you provide a light, information-laden and
interesting article, they will go to your site for more.

Make a Newsletter.

This may sound like hard work because of all the articles
you may need to use to build a newsletter but on the
contrary, this is not so. There are many writers and sites
that are willing to provide free articles as long as they
can get their name in on your newsletter. This will also
provide free advertising for them as well.

As your newsletter gets pass around, you can widen your
public awareness and build an opt-in list that can
regularly visit your site.

Join Online Communities and Forums

This only requires your time and nothing else. You can
share your knowledge and expertise with many online
communities as well as your website. You can get free
advertising when you go to forums that have the same
subject or niche with your site.

Share your two cents and let them see how knowledgeable you
are with the subject. As you build your reputation, you
also build the reputation of your site, making it a
reputable and honest business that could be frequented and
trusted by many people.


----------------------------------------------------
Joshua Spaulding is an Author providing average people a
chance to learn the secrets of how to make money online at
http://makemoneyonline.josh4info.com Joshua also moderates
an Article Directory at http://www.articlesalley.com which
contains thousands of high quality articles that you can
post on your website for Free.