Top Tips for Web Design

This article takes a look at the top 10 web design tips for users at any level. It will give you 10 complete different points to contemplate when you next begin a site design or when talking to your web design consultant/employee. Design is never straight forward and web design has the additional unpredictable complication of technology thrown in. This means that you need to consider the consequences of your design decisions and how it will effect the most important people who see your site, the users themselves. The following tips should help you consider this and have a positive effect on your site and its users. 1. Navigation & Functionality You should never sacrifice overall functionality for artistic extravagance. It is highly unlikely your site will ever achieve its purpose if the people who visit it cannot clearly and easily navigate around it. Your site should look good but first and foremost consider how someone who knows nothing about the site would think when they landed there. Something occurring in website frequently these days is Mystery Meat Navigation. This is a term coined by Vincent Flanders and it is used to describe site where navigation structures are so obscure and difficult to process that users cannot identify them at all and end up running there mouse across whole sections of a screen just to identify hyperlinks. 2. Images People say images are worth a 1000 words and in web design that’s true in 2 ways. Firstly an image can do a lot more than text in some situation but secondly they are much, much bigger files with a higher download time. It is widely accepted users will click away from a page that takes longer than 5-10 seconds to load and every time you put an image in a page you are increasing the likelihood of this happening. Additionally each image you imbed into a page design activates an additional HTTP request to your server so dividing an image into smaller ones or using lots of small images across a page does not solve the problem. ALT tags should also be factored into the code of a website. They are a huge help to people who have either images turned off in a browse, mobile broswers that can’t read the images or a random error preventing the image from showing. They also hold a small SEO benefit. 3. Tables It is advised that you use CSS and not tables to format a document but in some cases tables can be necessary. Remember one thing however, a table cannot be displayed until it has fully loaded. This can potentially cause a huge problem for users as they wait for the page to load, nothing appears then out of nowhere the whole page is done. Someone is much more likely to click away when nothing is loading than when they can see progress. 4. Fonts Don’t design sites to use fonts only you have, chances are they will be converted into some dull font and ruin the effect you were trying to achieve. Save special fonts for specific headers and convert them to images. Make the rest of your site in standard fonts so that as many browsers as possible will see it in the way you meant it to be. Recommended fonts for high scale compatibility are Arial, Verdana, Courier, Tahoma and Helvetica. 5. Plug-Ins Plug-ins hold a lot of potential for both users and designers but it can easily be misused and misguided. Plug-ins have a many forms and uses, the most popular being Java and Flash Player. I have heard a lot of people say that these plug-ins are “safe” and that everyone has them but this is simply not true. Every plug-in has a stack of different versions and connects differently depending on the browser the user is surfing with. Think if your users will really want to browse to other sites to download a plug-in, restart the browser then navigate back. If the answer is no use other tricks at your disposal to make your page unique and save the big guns that are Flash and Java for times where it is essential. 6. Tags The “tags” I am referring to hear are meta keywords and description, title, alt and h1 tags. Together these tags help manage your sites search engine optimisation (SEO) potential and this is defiantly something not to overlook. Helping people find your site will bring more traffic in and more conversion if you are a retail site. The higher search engines rank you the more traffic will filter down and the more successful your site will be. Try to keep a constant theme running through all your tags but do so in a subtle way. Splashing the same word 1000 times on your page will only have negative effects so make sure you strike the correct balance between informative and spammy. 7. Browsers In a perfect world everyone would use the same browser and your website would look the same on everyone’s screen but unfortunately this is not the case. Every browser has its own specific functions and styles and learning to make you code cooperate with both can present some serious problems. The three you really need to concern yourself with are Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. These make up a good 95% of the browser market at the very least and while there are some additional popular browser I would not recommend you spend time optimising code for the rest. The only thing you can do is do your best and stay away from browser specific functions, you’ll never make someone get a new browser. 8. Pop Ups Something that is very important to remember is that the user should be in control of their browser and desktop. Do not place unnecessary pop ups and window opening links everywhere and the user will feel they have lost control of the site, become annoyed and close the windows. There are some exceptions to using the (_blank) attribute but I would steer clear whenever possible. 9. Text Layout Text is part of your design to and positioning it correctly on the page is very important. Try to get all the copy you need as early in the design process as possible. This means you will be able to design around the copy instead of trying to cram it into smaller spaces because someone wrote twice as much copy as they said they were going to. Use the right alignment for the right situation, remember 99% of people will prefer left align and while justified look aesthetically better it can be very difficult to read in longer bouts. 10. Site Search In this day and age finding what you want on a website in paramount. After you have followed the first tip on navigation you should also provide a search bar on your site so that a visitor who cannot immediately see what they are looking for can search. Many internet studies have seen the success of these smaller additions to your site and free ones are available from Google and many other SE operators. Conclusion Taking these 10 tips into account will help you design a more user-friendly and successful website, sometime it may seem like they are hindering your grand design but failing to take notice may result in your site being a very pretty stop sign for browsers. Just because you can find your way around your Flash menu system that takes 6 minutes to load doesn’t mean Mrs Smith who needs the product can.]
by: Frank Woodford

How to Maximize your Page Rank

Why care about the Page rank? As mentioned in previous articles, Page Rank is one of the familiar variables in determining appearance in SE results. Although today the importance of page rank has been descended, and sometimes we see pages of PR 3 or 4 getting to first places in Google, Page Rank is one of the variables SEO's often deal with because this is the variable we know a lot about and can approach sensibly. The second good reason to learn about PR is using it to emphasize important pages of your website, like the Homepage ( you know how annoying it is when SE presents some negligible page of your website higher than the Homepage) What is PR? PR ranges from 1-10 and indicates the number and quality of page incoming links. Page Rank is calculated as follows: PR(A) = log10((1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + ... + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))) when : 0 PR(T1) – Page rank of page T1 linking to page A. T1, ….,Tn C(T1) – number of outbound links in page T Notice that the 1-10 scale is accepted because of logarithmization of the equation. Therefore , each group of page rank ( PR1,… PR10) is not equal in size and getting to higher PR group is getting harder with every step. This article deals with page rank maximization techniques: PR0 – Page rank zero This rank is usually given to: new pages pages with very few incoming links websites being caught using Black Hat Strategies to promote their website. Webpages with PR0 can harm your website in case that one of your pages links to PR0 page. Although, if PR0 page links to your page , your pages is not hurt nor benefited because Google assumes you don't have absolute control over your incoming links. Even so , you may exchange links with PR0 page in case that The PR0 page doesn't contain hidden text or other forbidden elements of black hat SEO The page is new and therefore gets zero ranking. PR leakage Although PR depends on your incoming links, linking to other websites can cause you PR leakage, therefore use only necessary links to other websites. Linking to pages inside your website does not cost you PR therefore you can do it freely. Make sure every page in your website links to other important pages since every link has its contribution. Leaving Dead end pages wastes this contribution. Use PR to emphasize important pages: Creating links smartly to most important pages of your website, like Homepage, gives it PR boost and helps emphasizing its importance in front of less important pages in the website. This is the most popular and beneficial link scheme emphasizing your homepage: All pages in the website link to Homepage (first priority page) Page of x priority is not linked to other pages of x priority but only to Homepage, page of x+1 , and X-1 priority. (for example, categories are not linked between them). No jumping between pages in non hierarchic order : for example Page priority 1 doesn’t link to page priority 3 , and page of same priority are not interlinked. If we count the relative distribution of PR between all the pages, in this scheme, Homepage gets the highest rank. If we link the categories , Homepage rank descends and category PR raises a little. If we link all the pages at the website to each other, all of them get the same but low PR. To get the highest Homepage PR we must link all the pages to Homepage only and Homepage must link to all the pages. Exchanging/ Purchasing Links Incoming link is more effective if it comes from high PR page. Page with few links is better contributor than page with lots of links (in case they are of same PR) Exchange links only with well ranked websites because exchanging links cause PR leakage. This leakage must be weaker than link contribution otherwise the exchange is not beneficial. Don't exchange pages with PR0 pages because in best case scenario it doesn’t help you. (Unless you expect this page to be very popular in short period).
by: Gally Reznor

Indexing Your Website

Index is a website which contains details and links to millions of websites divided to categories and topics. Indexes can have multiple purposes. Local Business Index – like Yellow pages. This kind of indexes apply to people who are searching for services in their town or area. It is a good idea to sign your company into few such indexes in case your business is locally oriented like flower shop or electrician. Inclusion in these indexes , at least the most popular of them , is usually quite expensive but also useful from the point of view of customers seeking local service and search engines, since you can include your site URL and earn a strong incoming link . Global Business Index – like Hoovers.com or business.com. These indexes usually contain data about large companies with turnover of few millions of dollars a year. Not everyone is able to enter such index, although some of them allow small companies listing in exchange for reciprocal link or inclusion fee . Inclusion in these indexes is important to large companies who apply to customers worldwide , and they also give a good incoming link in terms of SEO. The third type of indexes is Internet indexes which main purpose is to provide incoming links to websites. Usually these indexes are manually edited which means it can take months before the editor approves your link. Some indexes like yahoo require inclusion fee , some are free, like DMOZ and some require fee or reciprocal link. Website promoters largely use indexes to provide the new built websites with incoming links, although , not all indexes are usefull and important in terms of link strength and website promotion. Therefore I suggest to submit your website to as much as possible free indexes but be careful before paying for listing or exchanging links with nameless indexes. In this article I will list some of the most important indexes to be included in. General Guidelines to submitting your website to index: Make sure your website has no pages "Under construction" or "Not exist" (Error 404) , since some indexes might disqualify your website because of that. Wright down a short profile of your website which includes: Site Name , Full URL, 10-15 key words and phrases, short description (200-500) characters. Site name should not include many keywords, it might cause rejection by the editor. Open an excel file dedicated to indexes and directories where you keep all the passwords and usernames since you will probably need to come back to these websites few times to follow up your registration. Place your website in the most suitable category, in order to improve your chances to be indexed and later to improve the impact of the indexing on your page listing in search engines. Indexing takes a lot of time because index editors are volunteers and the demand is huge, so be patient and do not submit your website more than once , since it makes you look dummy and may cause your website be rejected . DMOZ Open Directory Project This is the most important and appreciated index on the web. It is edited by volunteers , and has more than half million categories and around five million websites. The main importance of DMOZ is its influence on major search engines like Google , Yahoo and etc. which derive information from DMOZ and ascribe large importance to links incoming from there to your website. To include your website in DMOZ go to www.dmoz.org , find the most appropriate category to your website, press Add URL and follow the orders. Take few minutes to read DMOZ terms of submission in order not to mess up your application. DMOZ will reject your website If it is placed under wrong category, mainly under construction, has no value to public or is poorly described. Description must be objective otherwise most chances it will be excluded. DMOZ will not notify you about reception or rejection. If you can't find your website, don't hurry to submit it again , try asking at DMOZ forums what is the status of your application. Entering DMOZ index is the only way to enter Google website directory. Yahoo Directory Yahoo is the most popular website in the world and US. Inclusion in its index might be worth the huge fee of 299$. Wright a short description (10-25 words ) , make it objective and fluent , include 2-3 keywords but do not exaggerate. Make sure your website is in a good condition (no 404 pages and under construction pages) Yahoo is not condemned to include your website even if you pay the fee , but they are supposed to review your listing in about 7 workdays. In yahoo index you don’t need to pick a category , one of the editors does it. Must say, most of the websites are included. Business sites must pay the fee every year while non-profit sites must pay only once.
by: Gally Reznor

Good Website Content

Reading a website is not similar to reading a book or a newspaper, therefore before you start spilling money on campaigns be sure your site is built in accordance with internet writing standards. Lets talk about few simple rules you don't want to break when building a website: Don't waste your visitors time Time is money. Most people decide whether they are interested in what the website has to offer in just to seconds. Therefore make sure your landing page provides the most crucial and appealing information about your business. Number one time waster is a heavy loading pages with lot's of flash animations and pictures. Make sure your web pages are not too heavy otherwise you might loose your visitors before they entered your website. Most of the visitors need to find what they are looking for fast, otherwise they look for it elsewhere. As a webmaster you must make sure your data is well categorizes and divided to relevant pages , categories, headlines and sub-titles. A visitor must be able to navigate your website easily and successfully. Avoid too much "Special affects" By this I mean don't include too much flash movies and avoid using music if you don't have to. As we mentioned earlier, Flash has a large loading time which damages viewer experience, besides too much flash may be annoying and search engines can't read it. Music is a great thing, but somehow music and websites do not fit too well. If you want to put some background tune anyway, make sure a user can silence it quickly and easily. Or in contrary , let the user click "Play" and begin the music when he decides. Pop-ups and new pages If you have links in your site , I strongly advise you not to use the pop-up option and not to open these links in new window. Seemingly pop-ups and new windows are a very good idea if we don't want the visitor to navigate from our website but many years of experience shows that users prefer to click "Back" buttons. As to pop-ups , most of browsers tend to block them , and you don't want to waste your viewer time on enabling pop-ups. Text Use standard fonts which are supported by all browsers, like Arial and Times New Roman. You don't want your viewers to get gibberish and go away from your website. Don't use very small or very large fonts . You don't want your pages to smear for miles and you don't want to scare away people with poor vision .
by: Gally Reznor

Create Successful Business Website

Congratulation, you finely decided to upgrade your business with a website. This is really important step which can take your business to a new level structurally and financially. 1. Well built and properly advertised website can bring you hundreds of new customers who wouldn't have heard about your business otherwise. 2. Most of people do not search for services on yellow pages no more but open Google , Yahoo, MSN, etc. Therefore your presence on the net is a very important strategy to earn new clients. 3. Website is your face when it comes to clients who arrive to you via the net. If your website is well built, even if you are a small business owner, clients will be more willing to work with you. Now that we understand the importance of a good, reliable website for a business, let's go over some basic steps to make sure your website will be a success story: Determine your budget: Website building can cost you nothing or cost you thousands of dollars. I think that the best site is the one which benefit will excel its cost. Therefore every business owner must determine his appropriate budget . Some companies offer absolutely free websites. There are some advantages and some disadvantages in such a website. The first and the biggest advantage is the zero cost. If your website turns out useless , you don't lose any money. The main disadvantages of free websites are usually the limited storage space (which means you can't build a large website) and limited bandwidth (if many users enter your site at once, it might become slow or even unavailable). If you have a large sum of money to put on your web site, you may go to a custom Web Design firm. They will usually offer you two or three unique design sketches which they embed in their Content Management System and a directions about how to enter your content into it. The problem about this option is it's high cost. There is no second chance to create a first impression: Design is naturally one of the most important aspects in website success. Website design must represent your business as a prosperous, impressive and trustworthy therefore there is no place to disregard it. Quality content: In order to be found in search engines and attract serious visitors you must fill your website with high quality content. We suggest you enter information about yourself , your business and products. Professional articles and further information from your field of interest might add more value to the website and present you as an expert in your field. Keeping in touch: Once you have earned clients you better keep in touch with them. There are number of fast and cost effective ways to do so: 1.By mail. Today spam mail is a felony, but once a customer signed up at your website and gave his agreement to receive your e-mails, you should keep in touch with him , informing him about new products, services and sales. 2. By SMS. If your business is very dynamic you might use the SMS technology to keep in touch with your clients at real time. 3. Keep in touch with your clients by blogs and forums where you can offer them technical support
by: Gally Reznor

Make Your Own Website: Achieve Success With Your Site

There are many reasons for you to make your own website. You may want to sell a product or service, or you may want to share your thoughts and dreams with the world. No matter what you want to do online, you can design a website (http://www.buildyoursite.com/) to do it. When you are thinking of making a site on your own, there are a few things to think about. The first thing you will want to decide before you make your own website is what you want to accomplish by doing so. This is the most important thing you can do when you are ready to make a website (http://www.buildyoursite.com/). Knowing the purpose will allow you to make any other decisions more clearly. After you have completed these stages, you need to locate the company that will be your web host. This company will provide several important pieces for you. At a minimum, they will be responsible for registering your name and associating it with an appropriate web address. In general, you will be running your service from their space, so the host takes over administrative and physical security responsibilities. If you choose to use their equipment, you must sign an agreement concerning additional charges should you need more bandwidth or disk space than the minimums. Dedicated web space is space that you paid for. There are no advertisements on dedicated web space unless you want there to be. Unlike free hosts, paid hosts will not insert ads onto your site. If you make your own website (http://www.buildyoursite.com/) and pay for the hosting, therefore, you have more control. Choosing your own domain name allows you to personalize the site even further. There is a ton of information about website building online. Some companies offer website building tools, while others only use HTML code. You will be able to find lots of HTML tutorials online if you are interested in learning. Doing a quick search in your favorite search engine will find hundreds of links to websites that offer these tutorials. The sky is the limit from here. You will be able to create a personalized and snazzy site. How it ends up is up to you. You can put as much time into the project as you want. Either way, when you make your own website, you will end up with something that is entirely your own. This is almost a form of art.
by: Tem Balanco

Having an At Home Business with Network Marketing

Have you ever dreamed of having an at home business? Are you a single parent who has to care for his or her child, and cannot pull off too many shifts at work or rely on a babysitterís services forever? Are you a stay-at-home mom who has a lot of friends and kids and a house to take care of, but not the time to go to an office and spend nine hours (possibly even some overtime) in order to augment the household savings? Are you a student who needs some extra income in order to have some money in the bank? Believe it or not, you can make money at home, and one option for you is network marketing. You might have heard about network marketing: you will need to get people to buy things from you, and you also need them to be able to recruit more people to serve as your downlines. Your friends have to be able to give you commissions, and they have to be able to get commissions as well so that they can add to your commissions. You might also have heard about network marketing in a not-so-good light. People reportedly invested their lifeís savings in a network marketing scheme that yielded very little or nothing at all. People reportedly bought low quality items that they could not sell, and ended up draining their savings accounts because of things that could not be disposed of. People reportedly recruited people but got no commissions, or were paid with fake checks. There are truly network marketing schemes that start off as frauds and scams ñ and it will be entirely up to you and your best judgment to see if you are encountering someone who will take away your money. Having an at home business can be difficult, especially if you are not adept with computers, or if you are having a hard time motivating yourself to work around a schedule. If you are going to work at home, you need to devote yourself to your network marketing: have a set time for networking, such as through posting at forums, talking to would-be clients, or working on a website that advertises your network marketing scheme in order for you to get clients. You may need to learn more about computers and the Internet as you go along: you need to know what forums to post on, who to talk to, and how to post. Some people might use shorthand text when posting, but avoid this: it will look unprofessional, and you can ruin your business. Moreover, avoid mass mailing or hard selling techniques. On the Internet, mass mailing is looked upon with disdain, and if you send out large amounts of email, you will most likely have your email landing in the Spam box of your prospective clients. Instead, post on forums or have a website, and give your contact details. Avoid being labeled as a Spam sender in order for people to hear from you. These are only a few tips that you may want to keep in mind as you start off with network marketing at home. You donít need many friends, or many clients: you need only a few good men (and women) who are able to sell and recruit as fast and as efficiently as you. You also need a lot of commitment and optimism: you may find doors, both real and virtual, shut on your face; and you will find that not everyone appreciates network marketing and the possibilities that it brings. Do network marketing well, and your at home business can soar.

by: Daegan H. Smith

Having an At Home Business with Network Marketing

Have you ever dreamed of having an at home business? Are you a single parent who has to care for his or her child, and cannot pull off too many shifts at work or rely on a babysitterís services forever? Are you a stay-at-home mom who has a lot of friends and kids and a house to take care of, but not the time to go to an office and spend nine hours (possibly even some overtime) in order to augment the household savings? Are you a student who needs some extra income in order to have some money in the bank? Believe it or not, you can make money at home, and one option for you is network marketing. You might have heard about network marketing: you will need to get people to buy things from you, and you also need them to be able to recruit more people to serve as your downlines. Your friends have to be able to give you commissions, and they have to be able to get commissions as well so that they can add to your commissions. You might also have heard about network marketing in a not-so-good light. People reportedly invested their lifeís savings in a network marketing scheme that yielded very little or nothing at all. People reportedly bought low quality items that they could not sell, and ended up draining their savings accounts because of things that could not be disposed of. People reportedly recruited people but got no commissions, or were paid with fake checks. There are truly network marketing schemes that start off as frauds and scams ñ and it will be entirely up to you and your best judgment to see if you are encountering someone who will take away your money. Having an at home business can be difficult, especially if you are not adept with computers, or if you are having a hard time motivating yourself to work around a schedule. If you are going to work at home, you need to devote yourself to your network marketing: have a set time for networking, such as through posting at forums, talking to would-be clients, or working on a website that advertises your network marketing scheme in order for you to get clients. You may need to learn more about computers and the Internet as you go along: you need to know what forums to post on, who to talk to, and how to post. Some people might use shorthand text when posting, but avoid this: it will look unprofessional, and you can ruin your business. Moreover, avoid mass mailing or hard selling techniques. On the Internet, mass mailing is looked upon with disdain, and if you send out large amounts of email, you will most likely have your email landing in the Spam box of your prospective clients. Instead, post on forums or have a website, and give your contact details. Avoid being labeled as a Spam sender in order for people to hear from you. These are only a few tips that you may want to keep in mind as you start off with network marketing at home. You donít need many friends, or many clients: you need only a few good men (and women) who are able to sell and recruit as fast and as efficiently as you. You also need a lot of commitment and optimism: you may find doors, both real and virtual, shut on your face; and you will find that not everyone appreciates network marketing and the possibilities that it brings. Do network marketing well, and your at home business can soar.
by: Daegan H. Smith

Internet Network Marketing as Key to Earning Extra Income

It is true that internet network marketing, especially those which are closely linked to multi-level marketing, has not achieved a completely positive reputation in recent years. Some say they have earned while a good number also claim that it has caused them to lose a lot of money. The reason in all these is that, in internet network marketing, the type of people included in the network will mostly dictate the level of income that you will make. With this, a little research is indeed necessary at the very start. While internet network marketing is quite easy to do, it should not be done in an untargeted manner. There has to be clear direction and purpose in your activities and a reasonable plan linked to it. One has to have an idea who are to appreciate the benefits in the network and who are more likely going to work at the same pace as you do to continuously realize these benefits. In other words, the right members are the key to generating a significant extra income. There are certain techniques that must be done in order to be able to attract these people to your network. Here are some proven-to-be-effective methods: 1. Create interesting articles for ezines, short for electronic magazines. In this way, you catch the attention and interest of readers and build your credibility. Eventually, whatever you offer them will be difficult for them to refuse. Likewise, the principle here follows mutual giving. The readers gain something from you by reading your article. In return, they give back by at least exploring the business that you have to offer. 2. Find resources to be able to give freebies. Anything free is most definitely attractive to anyone. After a while, you will see that you have formed a relatively good network awaiting what you can offer them. 3. Develop your own website. Your website will be like your reception area at the World Wide Web. You present what you can offer people there. You build interest in your business and how people can take part in it. Make sure, however, that you have a link to a sign-up form. Of course, you do not want to spoil any budding interest by letting them wait for a long time to actually join your network. You have to take effort to be able to accommodate them as soon as a good sign of interest is there. 4. Provide as much useful information as possible. The only way to address any doubts is by responding to these doubts with reliable information. In this way, your potential network member does not try to obtain the information from someone else and end up getting misled. 5. Obtain commitment. Online network marketing does not prosper with complacent members. You have to make it clear at the very start that extra income does not come without hardwork. It must be clear enough to your network members that they have to exert some effort as well to realize the benefits. The bottomline in all these is that within your online network, there has to be trust. It should be enough reason for each to actually take action and work effectively. Remember, you may consider it as a virtual organization which relies so much on team work, just like in any other organization.
by: Daegan H. Smith

E-business: A business necessity?

E-business (electronic business) is not only about buying and selling, but also servicing customers and collaborating with business partners on the Internet. In the late '90s, e-business was seen as the Holy Grail of commerce - the next big thing. Promises included increasing the efficiency of distribution, disintermediation, reducing marketing and procurement costs, and decreasing errors in data distribution. Investors pumped billions into companies with no more than a business plan and a spreadsheet. It was a revolution and virtually everyone was on board. Then, between March 11, 2000 and Oct. 9, 2002, the technology-focused NASDAQ Composite Index lost 78 percent of its value as it fell from 5046.86 to 1114.11. E-business became the butt of jokes on "The Tonight Show" and "Saturday Night Live." Virtually everyone got out of the tech stock sector. Investors and decision-makers were overenthusiastic during the rise and overenthusiastic during the fall of the tech sector. The truth and the value of e-business lies somewhere in between. There were numerous problems with the implementation of e-business in the '90s, as there have been problems with technology implementations all along. (Note the FBI's recent abandonment of its four-year, $170 million software project to track terrorists.) Obviously some of the business plans were not viable (selling dog food online comes to mind), but many others were. Some ideas required revamping legacy systems in a short period of time, which was impractical. Technology has been changing so quickly in the last 20 years that nontech companies have found themselves challenged to keep up. When business strategy and technology come together, you often have mature, experienced business managers who lack an understanding of technology interacting with younger IT people who understand the technology, but not the business uses. Communication between the two can be difficult at best. Perception vs. reality According to the eWorld Survey by IDC, one of the premier global market intelligence and advisory firms in the information technology industry, there are a number of areas where the promise of e-business has fallen short of the reality. The perception has been that the website is the primary focus of e-business initiatives. In reality, it is also about tying existing systems to a server that allows information to be accessible to the Internet. The study says, "There is still a lot of work to be done. Sales, logistics, supply chain, customer relationship and database software investments can and must be leveraged by corporate websites." The gap between what companies expect of their e-business investments and what their existing e-business infrastructures are capable of exists in two dimensions: the capabilities of the websites themselves and integration with core business systems. E-business for small business Although there are many examples of well-executed, relatively small e-businesses on the Internet, some still believe that the hurdles are great for small businesses desiring to conduct integrated e-business ventures. The truth is that declining service provisioning costs, like server, communications and hosting have allowed smaller businesses to make big waves in this arena. According to the IDC study, "Small enterprises can benefit from the Web by gains in productivity and by tapping markets not previously available to them. While many small firms are particularly challenged by the complexity of inhabiting the (Internet), they need not make giant leaps to get there. Online capabilities can gradually evolve from e-mail to simple websites, then to providing pre- and post-sales online environments, then leveraging their Web investments to make internal processes more efficient." While it is certainly true that the first generation of e-marketplaces has had trouble gaining critical mass, the IDC study found that brick-and-mortar companies know about e-marketplaces and plan to use them. Regardless of the pitfalls and problems, the Internet has clearly revolutionized the way we do business. Internet-based product research and procurement, e-mail, the ability to sell surplus items on eBay, Internet-based Electronic Data Interchange and other Internet-based functions have all become accepted and even critical parts of our everyday business lives. Despite its slow start, successful e-business projects in the aftermarket are many and diverse. From the Technology Enhanced Standards-Based Trading (TEST) program, which uses industry standards to create an automated trading environment between Dana and O'Reilly, to ArvinMeritor's exceptional Web-based trading exchange, aftermarket companies are realizing and implementing e-business to finally achieve some of the goals that were promised a decade ago. Here are a few other examples that come to mind. Bob Moore, in his opinion piece, "Staid Carquest makes bold acquisition" (in the December issue of Aftermarket Business), mentions Worldpac. He states, "They have been a remarkable case study in taking the traditional aftermarket business model, standing it on its ear, kicking backsides and taking names." Worldpac is an Internet-based ordering system that has built a several hundred million dollar aftermarket business that focuses on providing high-quality parts for high-end specialized import repair shops. The HDeXchange, Inc. (www.hdexchange.com) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the efficiency of the heavy truck parts industry through electronic commerce solutions. Edward Kuo, general manager, states that there are currently 120 major distributors using the exchange, which represents more than 50 percent of parts purchased by independent distributors in the market. HDX is currently examining how their model could be employed to benefit the automotive aftermarket. One example from the performance and accessories side of the market is Reliable Automotive, a performance and accessories aftermarket WD, headquartered in Kansas City. Alise Miner, Reliable's IT director, pointed out at the Aftermarket eForum in Chicago last August that their Internet-based ordering transactions have increased from 24 percent to more than 80 percent in the past two years. Realizing the hurdles Here are a few final hurdles to realizing the advantages of e-business. "The Last Mile" is a phrase developed to describe the difficulty of getting broadband Internet service into homes and businesses. Delivering technology to the end user in our market represents a similar challenge. According to "e-Commerce in the Canadian Aftermarket," a 2003 report funded by AIA Canada, interview and focus group discussions indicate that lack of participation among installers could be a barrier to achieving e-commerce goals within the aftermarket. Legacy systems are probably the biggest issue affecting the adoption of e-business technology. Much of the legacy software and methods of doing business in the aftermarket will need to change. Current problems include information scattered across different physical locations on computers running disparate operating systems. A third hurdle is difficulty getting cooperation within the enterprise. Here's a quote from the Dana/O'Reilly TEST Report: "Central among the findings of the TEST team was that cultural issues, not technological issues, were the greatest impediments to effective implementation of standards-based trading. It seemed that more time had to be spent selling the idea of adopting standards than on the actual compliance with them." Tapping into technological potential Some of the other rewards of all this hard work, most of which have yet to be realized, are data mining, knowledge discovery and artificial intelligence. Data mining is the extraction of hidden predictive information from large databases. Knowledge discovery is the process of identifying valid, novel, potentially useful and ultimately understandable patterns and models in data. One famous example is the discovery by a supermarket chain that there is a high likelihood that men who purchase beer also purchase diapers. Who knew? Artificial intelligence is the work of programming computers to make decisions in real-life situations. An example would be a software program that notes a sharp decline in inventory of a best-selling product and automatically places a reorder with the preferred supplier. Here are some questions that might be answered by data mining and knowledge discovery tools. Does the average 30-year-old Caucasian male in the Atlanta suburbs purchase a bug deflector to enhance the look of his vehicle or to limit bugs on the windshield? When are the primary bug hatching times in St. Paul, Minn.? Will extreme winter weather in the Northeast enhance the sales of batteries and coolant? How will stainless steel exhaust systems affect exhaust system installers in the north central states vs. the northeast states vs. the southern states? Should we be geographically repositioning assets? A recent Gartner Group Advanced Technology Research Note listed data mining and artificial intelligence at the top of the five key technology areas that "will clearly have a major impact across a wide range of industries within the next three to five years." One final concept that can be implemented in stages and begun immediately is a concept we will call "Data Maximization." Data maximization is the process of discovering all of the existing and potential desires of various sets of information recipients and then planning and building toward the sum of those desires using data that is currently in our control. Some of this information will be the normal items stored in a database: purchase orders, product numbers, specifications and installer locator data. Other sets of information might not be currently stored in a database, such as installation diagrams, product images and material safety data sheets. Put yourself in the data user's shoes. If you are a replacement brake manufacturer, a repair shop might need installation diagrams, service notes, technical service bulletins, recalls, safety notes, part specifications and a part number cross-reference. Online training could also be provided, and WDs may need online ordering and information to assist them in supporting their jobbers and installers, as well as current promotions, sales training, and pricing and inventory. Data maximization is a two-way street. The more value you provide to the user by meeting their needs, the more information you will be able to glean from your user base, either through online ordering habits, tracking their online behavior or user surveys. The cost of technology implementation is often more heavily weighted on the side of training and acceptance than it is on actual software and hardware. The cost of beginning technology implementation and then abandoning it can be devastating. This may require more extensive research and planning than other business processes and perhaps needs a healthy dose of skepticism. The bottom line is that e-business is a must in order to compete in today's environment. Ignore it at your peril.
by: Dan Jondron

Even The Laziest Person In The World Can Work From Home

Looking for the right job seems tough. Imagine being jobless and you are scouring through the classifieds everyday just to find a suitable job that you want. Imagine being a retiree and you just cannot seem to find a company who would hire you. Imagine your family is breaking apart because you often have to stay in office till the wee hours before you get home. Imagine earning a mediocre sum of salary and you cannot seem to find other jobs to support you and/or your family. An online job would easily solve all your troubles and woes. Even the laziest person in the world can work from home. Having said all these let me tell you how it works. All you need is just a set of computer, sign up for a company you wish to work for and you can start earning your salary from home. But please be aware that there are some companies out there out to scam people like you. Be alert and not fall into their trap. It is a pleasure to work from home as you can do whatever you like. You need not be afraid of being reprimanded by your boss. You need not be back from lunch on time. You can take naps for as long as you like and no one will bother you at all. If you are into data entry, all you need to do is to accept assignments from the various companies, complete them on time and you will get paid accordingly. If you are into surveys, just select the survey which you would like to do, complete it and you will receive your money. If you are into internet marketing, you would need to own a site, promote which ever products you wish to promote and wait for the cash to roll in. All these jobs all require you to just work from home. No questions asked. This is why even the laziest person in the world can have such a job. by: Mathias Conner

The 7 Lies Of Network Marketing

When you are looking for ways to make money, you will most certainly look for all possible
avenues of an honest living and make sure that you get the most for an investment, if you have to
make one. You may also have encountered network marketing, and because of the negative images
surrounding it, you might have been discouraged to join. Your hesitance is understandable, but
guess what ñ you might have heard the 7 lies of network marketing before, and you need to change
a bit of your mindset in order to see how network marketing can help you.
Network marketing can actually help you earn cash if you do it right, so take a look at this list
before you dismiss it entirely.
1. Network marketing requires you to pay out with a lot of money. Not all network marketing
schemes require you to make an investing ñ in fact, some of them will require a small fee in
order for you to start purchasing things, which you can then sell. If you encounter a network
marketing scheme that tells you to pay up front with an exorbitantly high amount, and you are
made to expect a lot of returns that sound unreal, then the deal might be a scam.
2. All network marketing schemes are scams. Sure, there are some bad guys out there who want to
get your money and run, but not all marketing schemes are out to ruin your life. There are
actually extremely good people who want to help you succeed, so donít be afraid to try out a
scheme ñ better yet, donít be afraid to ask the network marketing scheme officers questions, and
do your own investigating to check how good a scheme is.
3. Network marketing will not earn you any money. Network marketing can actually pay out
generously, and if you do it right. If you are able to get stable and reliable downlines, you can
actually earn a lot of money!
4. You can earn millions through network marketing, and within the first few weeks of work. Now
donít get your hopes up too high ñ network marketing requires some degree of work from you, so
donít believe network marketing offers that tell you that you need only a few tasks done before
you can start laughing all the way to the bank.
5. Network marketing is illegal. Itís not.
6. Network marketing requires you to have loads and loads of friends and to network constantly.
Well, you do have to network constantly, but if you are able to pick out three or four friends
who share your aspirations, and who are as sales-savvy as you, then you will fare better than
people who have hundreds of friends but only a handful who are able to meet the sales-savvy
levels of network marketing.
7. Network marketing products or services are of low quality. People actually buy such products
and services, and money is made off them. You only need to pick the right program that has
products and services that you believe in so that you can sell them better.
These are only 7 lies of network marketing, and there may be more misunderstanding, thanks to
negative images often propagated by mass media. To find out more, do your own investigating, and
see how network marketing might be able to help you. Who knows? You might find a good program
that has the right fit for you, and you can start networking, selling, and earning. by: Daegan H. Smith
other Subject :-
Women & Fashion : http://womennfashion.blogspot.com/

Email Marketing Consulting: Boost your Online Business!

In todayís online business, the most effective method in promoting online products is by using
the method e-mail marketing. Now there is a boom in the email marketing consulting business. But
is email marketing consulting really important to help your business. Letís find out how it
works.
When you are going to use email marketing for your promotions, always check if your marketing
campaignís content is good enough for the visitors to see. Your marketing campaign must catch
their attention so you will definitely earn from it.
Email marketing may sound simple but the real thing is, its way too hard to do. You will be
encountering a lot of struggles in your email marketing and the fact that it eats up your time so
much that you canít do any other things. To make your email marketing a success, you can hire a
professional email marketing consultant.
A marketing consultant is all you need to make your online business easier. So what exactly does
an email marketing consultant do? Email marketing consultants can be a freelancer skilled enough
in areas of email marketing campaign developing. There are a lot of companies that employ email
marketing consultants. They have the talent to make effective promotions, newsletter and several
special offers for your online business.
There are several points to check if you are going to hire an email marketing consultants. Email
marketing consulting needs the right strategy so it will deliver good results. Read on to know
the best techniques an email marketing consultant may use.
Check if it is included in the consulting the good training materials like sample emails, Banners
and even a sales letter that have had a good conversion rate.
Another strategy is to learn the niche market where to promote the products through the use of
email marketing. This will require research studies but it will pay off by the time you are
included in the competition. One good technique in email marketing consulting is to find a good
niche for your product.
Email marketing consulting finds the best place for marketing the products in the many website
forums. Forums is the place where you get to talk about anything under the sun 24/7, may it be a
product promotion, politics, concerts and many others. There are thousands of active forums on
the internet. Just type what interest you most and these forums will give you what you want.
Email marketing consulting firms should keep focus on your business goals. They need to listen
and share your ideas so that things will go hand in hand for you and your business. An effective
email marketing consulting should know exactly the things a customer would want to achieve. They
need to discus with their client if they have any plans to change if they are really needed.
Always keep them updated with all the things that you want to incorporate in their promotional
strategies.
These are some of the techniques an email marketing consulting undertakes to provide you the best
possible service and success for your online business. You should be careful hiring email
marketing consultants, because there are freelancers who pretend to be helping you but the fact
is they just want to grab the opportunity to get your money. Choose a good email marketing
consultant. An effective email marketing consulting needs email ma-rketing experts to give you
the best service for the success of your online business.
by: Daegan H. Smith
other Subject :-
Women & Fashion : http://womennfashion.blogspot.com/

How to Effectively Manage Online Business Easily

For struggling owners of internet businesses utilizing affiliate marketing, the biggest problem
encountered is usually managing the different aspects of the business. These could include
monitoring payments received, tracking affiliate performance, doing product inventory, creating
sales reports and basically, making sure that the entire business is running smoothly. With all
these things to take care of, it would help if you have an all-in-one solution to your problem.
In this case, an affiliate marketing network portal might make managing your business easier. But
you should make sure that your affiliate marketing network portal features the following:
Accept Different Payment Methods
In order to provide your customers with more convenience, you must make sure that you can accept
different payment methods. This means that aside from credit card payments, you must be able to
accept PayPal and Moneybookers as well as receive direct payments thru payment gateways such as
Google Checkout, Authorize.net and Worldpay.
Handle Multiple Merchant Accounts
In addition to offering multiple payment methods, your affiliate marketing network portal should
allow you to manage all your merchant accounts easily. This is possible with a user-friendly
interface, which will allow you to see details of the sales and check all transactions as well.
Having an affiliate marketing network portal can also allow you to see the performance of your
business in its entirety.
Minimize Clutter in Your Sales Page
In order to make your products’ sales pages more customer-friendly, you should make an effort to
de-clutter by reducing the number of payment methods. It would surely create a more professional
looking sales page and it would minimize confusion for your clients. Aside from this, you will
also be able to save time when you are adding payment buttons on your sales page. You simply have
to add one and you will receive all payments from PayPal, Moneybookers, payment gateways and even
directly!
Increase Sales with Affiliate Marketing
With an affiliate marketing network portal, you will be able to enjoy built in networks of
affiliates. You should also make sure that it allows your affiliates to place payment buttons on
their website and direct these payments to your merchant accounts. This way, your sales page is
not the only one generating sales but your affiliates’ sites as well. Your affiliates will, of
course, enjoy commission for each successful sales transaction.
Offer Monitoring System
With all these things going on, it would help if you are able to monitor affiliate performance as
well as track sales quite easily. It would mean that you can determine how well your business is
doing. Aside from this, having a monitoring system will provide you with a way to assess your
business and look for ways to improve it!
Although there are many affiliate marketing network portals, you must only trust reliable
providers such as Click2Sell.EU ( www.click2sell.eu ). You will only have to sign up, add your
items in the Marketplace, put payment buttons on your website and see your profits soar. You will
surely enjoy their many benefits!
by: Egidijus Andreika
other Subject :-
Women & Fashion : http://womennfashion.blogspot.com/

How To Start A Successful Online Business When Your Budget Is A Big Zero

Everybody needs to have something extra to do in order to earn a little more than his or her 9 to
5 job entails. Most people choose the Internet as a tool since this provides a way out without
the hassle of finding a office or shop space and it cost relatively less than setting up a real
life business.
How Much Does It Cost To Set UP An E-Business?
Well, let us look first at what it entails. The first thing you would need with e-commerce is a
website which you may design yourself or have a professional do it for you. This would be your
virtual shop – hence, it needs to be presentable, inviting, and easy to navigate. Simplicity
would work fine, just as long as the website is attractive enough to get the surfer interested in
looking around and functional enough to get him or her what they want when they want.
Then, you would need a domain name and web hosting services. A domain name is
www.yourbusinessname.com or edu, org, or whatever which would be your address on the Web. In
order to have a good 24x7 presence on the web, you would need a good web host which would give
you sufficient bandwidth (meaning space to spread your website) so many people could watch and
use the website at the same time. You need to have a server uptime of at 99.8% and that would
cost some funds as well.
Once you have a great website and an excellent web host, you would need to concentrate on getting
people see and visit your 'shop'. For this you would need to advertise online and offline with
whatever means you have. There are many, many ways to draw customers to your website, but in
order to make the effort count you need to concentrate on attracting only those people who are in
some measure interested in what you have to offer. This is called targeted advertising, i.e. you
target your dragnet to only those surfers who would be most likely to buy something.
There Are Excellent Alternatives
The above procedure would at the minimum cost you about US $500. If you insist in getting
outstanding quality in everything you endeavor, the cost might go to US $1000. This means that
unless you have this capital, you might not get the returns you would have planned to get. So,
what happens if you do not have this cash ready to invest?
Do not worry – there are some great alternatives to set up a very profitable business. It is
called affiliate network. What you need to do here is find a great affiliate network – some of
them charge a huge fee to allow you to become a member, while yet others offer you all kind of
help for free + offers you an excellent commission for every item you sell for them. The
Click2Sell.EU ( http://www.click2sell.eu ) is one of such super affiliate networks which offers
you an excellent platform to launch your business, even if you do not have your own website. They
help you with everything for free + they offer some mind blowing returns for the promotion of
their products. You can easily add your products to the marketplace and start selling online
within minutes by accepting payments. Moreover, an army of affiliates will be there waiting for
your product to promote. You can easily make money this way. So if you want an excellent business
with zero capital – checkout it out today.
by: Egidijus Andreika
other Subject :-
Women & Fashion : http://womennfashion.blogspot.com/

Boost Your Business With Blogging

Business blog is an incredible online marketing tool that saves you thousands of dollars but
provides great business opportunities in just one click. Blogs are user-friendly, customized and
flexible medium for disseminating useful information for effective positioning of your products
in the market.
Companies engaging in business blogging have a definite edge over its competitors. Here are some
advantages:
a) Word-of-Mouth. In a survey, there are currently 14 million blogs with 80,000 more being added
each day and about 30 percent of the 50 million users are blog readers. Imagine how much gain
your company will have, if your products are advertised through blogs. With Internet, information
spreads so quickly especially if an impressive write-up goes with your product. Soon your blogs
will be passed on to hundreds of possible customers.
b) Awareness and loyalty. Open communication with your customers creates trust and loyalty among
them. Being there to respond to their questions and comments make them all the more willing to
try your products and services.
c) Feedback. Blogs is good for product research and reviews. It would be easier to improve on
your products if you observe your customers’ thinking and behavioral patterns. You can also take
immediate action to your customers’ concerns.
d) Community halo-effect. Bloggers are reasonable, friendly and helpful. They are more than
willing to create blogosphere of comments regarding your product. The only thing you have to do
is embrace and take active part in the culture and your product will surely be considered in
their next stop to the supermarket.
For better marketing results, actively promote your business blogs by submitting your blogs to
blog search sites and directories. Do not forget to paste in with your blogs, your URL. Be sure
that your blogs contain exclusive information with value and are always updated to keep readers
popping in, read up your blog, move on to the next and click on again for updates.
Blog is like a setup booth in the biggest trade show on earth everyday. Marketing possibilities
are just around the corner waiting to strike your sale scales up.
The Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds are important too in conjunction with your blogs to get
the best benefits. Use effective keyword phrases to generate high ranking status in the search
engine traffic. In this way you have better chances of people finding your website leading to
your blogs. More traffic means more potential sales.
For this to be successful, you can use RSS for news update feeds which can be read through RSS
reader application. This is a very useful tool for business and internet marketers as well.
If you are already convinced with the potentials of business blogs for marketing and targeting
sales increase, your company is now ready to start blogging. But first, you have to be in tune
with your company’s business objectives and determine if blogging will really help you achieve
your goal.
1. Several blogs are dedicated to teaching people the do’s and don’ts of blogging, READ them!
Include in your reading materials blogs that are consumer-based too to give you an idea.
2. Setup several test blogs right away.
If your initial try out with blogs worked well, you can now start setting up your blogs.
1. Study blog design. Blog hosting services provide pre-designed templates. But if you opt for
paid blog service, you can ask your artist to design and layout your blog site to match the
company’s identity and needs.
2. Choose a topic. Its good to have a line-up of topics you want for your blogs but be sure they
are in consonance with your business objectives. This would be a test of your flexibility and
open-mindedness since results may be going against the set objectives.
3. Remember the following safety measures in blogging:
- legal issues are sometimes involved in blogging; it is safer to include disclaimers and
limitations of liabilities;
- corporate communication and legal department are responsible in educating the senior management
on how blogs might affect business;
- create blogging policies; set limits on who gets to blog and what information are allowed to be
made public;
- avoid outright marketing blog or you will shy away your readers;
- make content updated, relevant and fresh;
- reinforce the company’s core values; and,
- encourage employees to use it.
4. Start blogging and complete 20 posts before going to marketing.
5. Begin marketing.
6. Regularly monitor the coming ins and outs of readers and get updates. Then, measure your
results.
7. Adjust if needed. You can always play with your designs in the blog site as long as it remains
to match the company’s identity.
8. Strive to be consistent with your topic all the time.
9. Try to have unrelated topics with general and broad appeal.
10.Schedule updates regularly. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday would be best to update blogs.
Once you have done all these things, you can now ultimately enjoy the benefits of business
blogging.
by: James Murray
other Subject :-
Women & Fashion : http://womennfashion.blogspot.com/

Working From Home Is Forever A Dream?

Working from home seems like a dream that everyone wishes for, but you can make this dream come
true. Working from home might seem much like a scam, but in actual fact, there are companies who
are willing to hire people to work from their homes. There are so many job opportunities for you
to choose from. From taking online surveys to doing data entry work, just like a normal clerk
doing his/her daily job in office. But the difference is, you can get to do this by working at
home and you can have your own tea break or maybe even a nap on your comfortable bed.
It is true that there are many scam sites out there wanting to con you. But you can prevent that
from happening. All you need to do is to do a little research and you can be safe from those
scams.
Reaping in a hundred and fifty dollars a day can be achieved. But it requires tremendous amount
of hard work and research. Imagine having yourself signed up to 15 survey companies out there,
and they each have 5 daily surveys for you with a payout rate of 2 dollars per survey. All you
have to do is to complete all 75 surveys and you can reach the 150-dollars-a-day target. It may
sound simple, but having to do 75 surveys really takes up a lot of your time. But after all, you
still get to work from home. And with such a tempting amount of income, who can resist it?
There are other ways to earn 150 dollars per day. You can take up data entry job, reading emails,
writing articles or maybe you can venture into online marketing for those who are willing to try.
All of these jobs require you to just sit down in front of your computer and start working from
home.
If you are willing to work hard, you might even earn more than 150 dollars a day. It all depends
on your willingness to learn and the amount of hard work you put in. Remember, there is no free
lunch in this world. Some might think that working from home sounds tough, but let me tell you
that if you manage to pull through from all the hard work, everything that you do after the
hardship, would be as easy as memorizing the alphabets ABC. by: Mathias Conner
other Subject :-
Women & Fashion : http://womennfashion.blogspot.com/

How To Build An Internet Marketing List Of Over 100,000

In anticipation of an upcoming launch of Jeff Walker's Product Launch Formula 2, I told my list
that I was going to offer a solo mailing to one of my lists of over 120,000. This immediately
started a flood of emails asking how they could order early... something that I anticipated.
The second flood of emails asked how I had managed to build such a huge database. Rather than
answering that second question in individual emails, I decided to answer it with this article.
First of all, I should point out that I've been in business online since late-1996, and have been
slowly building my lists almost since the very beginning. So, I didn't accomplish this overnight.
Still, I know that you can build a huge list rather quickly if you use the right techniques.
Here are some of my favorite list-building techniques:
1) Put a sign-up form on every page of your websites, except for direct sales pages where it
would interrupt the flow too much. Next to that sign-up form, give a powerful reason why they
need to join your list, and ask them to take action.
Next to the sign-up form, assure them that you will protect them from spam. Also post a few
testimonials as proof of the value your newsletter provides.
2) Write information-packed articles and distribute them everywhere appropriate. I've written
over 850 information-packed article on the topic of Internet marketing. Those articles
demonstrate my expertise, share useful information, and bring visitors to my websites ready to
join my lists.
I believe in sharing a lot of cutting edge information in my articles. Many people only drop
hints, but I'm not afraid of sharing too much. The reason is that knowledge grows exponentially,
and since I'm constantly learning new things, I can never teach you everything that I know.
Since I don't fear running out of useful information that you will value, my articles are
genuinely helpful, and that generates lots of loyal subscribers.
3) Write information-packed, inexpensive ebooks and then allow affiliates to sell them for most
of the profit.
I create a steady stream of ebooks - largely expansions of my articles - and then I set up
affiliate programs where affiliates earn as much as 100% commission. Money is a great motivator
for getting others to send you lots of new "paying" customers and subscribers
My favorite tool for setting up these "ebook traffic magnets" is Sid Hale's Rapid Action Profits
script. This script allows you to set up a system where an affiliate earns INSTANT commissions
which are paid directly to their Paypal accounts.
High commissions are a great motivator for people to send you new potential subscribers. When
those commissions are paid instantly to affiliates who often have cash-flow problems, it's like
pouring gasoline on a fire.
You'll find Sid's Rapid Action Profits System at: http://TheRealSecrets.com/RapidActionProfits/
4) Run pay-per-click campaigns... when the math makes sense. This is something that I don't see a
lot of my competitors doing. However, when I know that my conversions rates or backend profits
are sufficient, I often run pay-per-click ads... sometimes even for free items.
With pay-per-clicks, you need to closely monitor your results. You also need a good idea of the
lifetime value of a new customer or subscriber. To me, it makes perfect sense to lose a dollar to
gain a new highly qualified subscriber.
If you're paying attention, you'll notice numerous Internet marketers who run promotions where
they pay a dollar or more for referrals who simply opt-in to a list. I essentially do the same
thing when using pay-per-clicks. With pay-per-clicks you reach new subscribers who may not
already be on a dozen other marketers' lists.
5) Use free giveaways where appropriate. I contribute to, and help to promote free giveaways,
when they are well managed and the quality is high. I've built large lists doing this and have a
friend who got over 5000 subscribers from one of his first giveaways. I've written about how I do
that many times before.
The key with free giveaways is that you need to offer a gift of high enough value that your new
subscribers instantly bond with you. You still have to develop the relationship, but your gift
should start it on a positive note.
Many people who participate in free giveaways offer "absolute garbage." Once their new subscriber
downloads their free "gift" and look through it, they HAVE to feel insulted.
My rule is to always offer a gift that's good enough to sell. I was humored when, in one recent
giveaway, I contributed resale rights to one of my new ebooks, along with a rough website. Before
the giveaway was even over, at least one fast-acting individual had my ebook set up using the
Rapid Action Profits script mentioned in number three, above.
6) Give away free viral ebooks. Write ebooks on topics that you know a lot of people are
interested in. In those ebooks recommend specific solutions to problems, and include affiliate
links to buy those products. Make some of those links rebrandable.
If the ebooks are filled with lots of useful information, AND they have links that can be
rebranded, then you have an ebook that should go viral. People are incentivized to spread it!
In these ebooks, offer some type of a free bonus... perhaps an audio recording, or a template, or
free piece of software, but require readers to visit your website to get this bonus. On your
site, require them to register, or join your mailing list, to get the freebie.
If the original ebook delivered tremendous value, then the new potential subscriber will have no
objection to joining your list. If the free ebook offered marginal value, then they have to
assume that your other "gift" will be more of the same, and so they won't subscribe.
For creating viral ebooks, I recommend using the "Viral Document Toolkit" a next-generation PDF
brander created by David Schwartz. The Viral Document Toolkit allows you to easily create
rebrandable documents where you can specify links, and text that can be rebranded. You can even
specify rather large BLOCKS of text as rebrandable... and even rebrand hyperlinked images! You
create a rebrandable ebook, and then pass along the ebook (with most parts locked, but some parts
changeable) along with the rebrander tool, to your subscribers, website visitors, customers, etc.
Since they can profit from changing the ebook, they happily spread it, and in the process build
you a huge list.
You'll find the Viral Document Toolkit at: http://ViralDocumentToolkit.com
David finished testing the Viral Document Toolkit software March 1st, 2008, so you'll be using a
tool that 99.9% of your competitors will have never seen. VDT is actually so revolutionary that
NO ONE other than a few of David's closest friends have even been allowed to touch it, until now.
If you make your new viral ebooks good enough, you may be pleasantly surprised to see your
competitors promoting them ;-)
6) Take massive action and do it immediately. One of my secrets to building my database so large
is that when I'm shown a new tool or technique, and it passes "the common sense test," then I put
it to immediate use... provided it doesn't distract me from something more urgent that I'm
already working on.
Many of my contemporaries, and subscribers, complained about having no list as long as five years
ago. Many of them still use that same excuse for why they've not made any real business growth
progress.
I'm not sure why this is since all of the techniques that I, and that many of my mentors use, are
so simple... and even obvious!
The key is not to over-analyze things. That traps you into "paralysis by analysis." Instead, get
into the habit of doing while others are still "thinking about it."
My friend, Dr. Joe Vitale, taught me that "money loves speed!"
I've just shared with you some of the techniques that I've used to build a massive subscriber
database. Of course, I can't cover every technique that I use in this short article. I will close
by sharing that part of the key to growing your list is actually retaining the subscribers after
you get them. To do that, you merely need to deliver tremendous content telling them how to solve
their most pressing problems.
Simple - right?
by: Willie Crawford
other Subject :-
Women & Fashion : http://womennfashion.blogspot.com/

How to Raise the Money to Start Your Internet Business in 5 Easy Steps

So, you have discovered that perfect home-based business that is going to have prospects banging
down the door to sign up…but you don't have the money to invest. The investment requirement may
be $1500, it may be $1000, it may be $100.
The point is that you have NO money to spare, if you want to keep a roof over your head and food
on the table. This describes most, in today's economy, but you are special because you are wise
enough to realize that if you just keep doing what you are doing now, you are just going to keep
getting poorer.
Now mind you, that doesn't mean you can walk into your boss's office, drop off your resignation
letter, and tell him to pound sand just yet…that comes later. But, you know that while your day
job will make you a living, your online business will make you a fortune. Right?
So the challenge is to raise the money to start your business as soon as possible. The methods I
am about to teach you will do just that, PLUS generate recurring monthly savings that will become
your advertising budget.
Step 1: Where is My Money Going Now?
The simplest and best way of making money is to reduce your costs. But you may already only be
buying what you need! So, we are going to reduce our costs WITHOUT sacrificing the goods/services
that we need. But first, what ARE our costs?
Exercise: Take out last month's bank statement and credit card bills. Itemize each of your major
costs. Your list may look something like this:
* Mortgage on house or cost of renting * Car payments * Health Insurance * Car Insurance * Homeowners Insurance * Groceries * Fast food/lunches out at work * Telephone/Internet/Cable * Gas
These are just a few. It can be frightening to see just how much money you are spending to keep a
roof over your head!
So now that we know WHERE our money is going, let's take action to divert more of it away from
other people's pockets and into our own. We will do that via…
Step 2: Competitive Bidding--Who wants my business?
It is simply astonishing how almost every company utilizes competitive bidding, and yet how few
households do! For every item we listed up there, there are dozens, hundreds, or thousands of
different companies who would love to have you as their customer!
Let's make them compete against each other, shall we?
Exercise: Find your policies for Health, Auto and Home Insurance. Find exactly what your
coverages are, and your premiums. THEN, go online to a competitive bidding website, fill out your
information, and request quotes from dozens of bidders! I personally use LowerMyBills and
E-Health Insurance (links are provided in the resource box below). Representatives from these
companies will be scrambling all over each other to provide you with their most competitive
quotes, especially if you…
Tip: TELL THEM that other companies are bidding for your business! No one wants the competition
to get a customer, so they will cut their margins as much as they can! Tip: Create URGENCY by telling them that you are only accepting bids until X date, at which point
you will choose the most inexpensive offer that meets your needs!
You will be astonished at how much this will reduce your monthly costs. This is a service that I
perform for clients, in exchange for a % of whatever I save them, and believe me that is a pretty
penny. But you don't need me to do it for you, you can do this yourself!
Savings: (will obviously vary from person to person, this is what I tend to see on average) Savings on health insurance: $200 per month Savings on car insurance: $100 per month Savings on home insurance: $75 per month First-month savings on insurance: $375 Ongoing monthly savings: $375/month
Wow! That's a nice chunk of change right there towards your business. And your actual results may
be much higher or much lower, but chances are that right now, unless you bid out your insurance
annually, your provider is probably treating you like a 200-pound 4th-grader taking your lunch
money.
Step 3: I Can Pay Less, to Save MORE?!?
Have you been reading the news about the economy? In an effort to turn around the recession, the
FED has been slashing through interest rates with speed and vigor usually seen only in Japanese
Samurai movies.
Take out that mortgage bill, and see what rate you are paying. 7%? 6%?
We'll use an average mortgage amount of $200,000, and assume your current interest rate is 7% at
a 30 year fixed loan. Ergo, your payment is $1,330.60 per month.
Do you have any idea JUST HOW MUCH money you can save by refinancing now at a lower rate?
With the Fed rate cuts, loans at 5% are easily available. Just that 2% drop in interest will
lower your payment on the SAME LOAN to $1,073.64…saving you $237 per month!! Let's add that in… 1st-Month Savings on Refinancing at lower rate: $237 Ongoing monthly savings: $237/month
And you can roll in your closing costs to the loan, so you don't pay anything up front, and STILL
be saving this much (a few thousand over a 30-year loan just knocks off about $20 per month from
your savings, which is already factored in above).
Step 4: Waste Not, Want Not
Now we are going to look at such a simple, obvious, and EASY way to save money, that never even
occurs to most people.
What are you doing for lunch at work? Are you getting fast food, because it's easy and
convenient? If so, you are spending about $6-$8 per meal!
Or do you eat out a restaurant? That gets REALLY expensive, anywhere from $10-$20 per meal or
more! For this example, we will say that you are like most of working America and you eat lunch
at a fast food place, spending $7 per meal.
So not only are you clogging your arteries and getting poor nutrition, but you are spending $210
per month just on lunch!!
Start bringing your lunch to work with you. Make yourself a sandwich, or whatever you please. The
groceries will add up to $1-$2 per meal, if that. Let's say $2 per meal.
1st-Month Savings on Brown-bagging it for lunch: $150!! Ongoing monthly savings: $150/month Benefit to your health: Priceless!
And how badly do you REALLY need that $3 Mochachino from Starbucks every morning on the way to
work? If you cut that out of your budget, there's another $90 per month you save!
BUT I LIKE MY FANCY STARBUCKS DRINKS AND DON'T WANT TO GIVE THEM UP!!
Ok, fiiiine! Give it up for just the first month then. If you are going to be able to make
$1000's of dollars per month by starting your internet business, wouldn't you be willing to make
that small sacrifice?
In the words of Jim Rohn, "OF COOOURSE!!"
Step 5: Take Advantage of the Economic Stimulus
By now you've probably gotten the letter from the IRS about the Economic Stimulus Plan…you are
going to be receiving a check for somewhere between $300 and $1200 in May 2008!
If you spend it on bills, it's gone, and the bills will be back…with friends. That's why you want
to start your internet business in the first place, right? So that you will have gigantic loads
of income streaming in again and again from your marketing efforts?
For this example, let's assume you are married, below a certain income level, and have 1 child.
Your tax rebate will be $900 (or possibly $1200, but let's be conservative).
Ok, let's recap. So far, we've managed to raise:
Savings on health insurance: $200 per month Savings on car insurance: $100 per month Savings on home insurance: $75 per month Savings on Refinancing at lower rate: $237 per month Savings on small luxuries like Starbucks: $90 month 1 Unexpected Tax Rebate Coming in May: $900 month 1! Savings from not eating out for lunch: $150 per month Total Savings for First Month: $1752 Ongoing Savings per Month: $762 per month
WOW! We are there!! You have raised $1,752 to start your business, which is more than most cost!
Not only that, but you will be saving almost $800 per month…let's take $400 of that and invest it
our business as our Advertising Budget, and we will have LOTS of prospects coming to our site…and
from there, it is just a matter of the Law of Averages to generate out your sales.
My Passport to Wealth business only costs $997 to get started, and an advertising budget of $350
per month gets you a professional Marketing Manager who does all your marketing for you, AND a
personal sales assistant who calls all your prospects! I have included a link in the resource box
to learn more about this hands-free automated internet business.
So that would leave an extra $752 in month 1, even above and beyond the cost of investing in your
business…AND you would have ongoing savings of $412 per month.
Do you think you could find a use for this extra money that you raised?
"OF COOOURSE!!"
by: Robert Hunter
other Subject :-
Women & Fashion : http://womennfashion.blogspot.com/

Three Home Based Business Marketing Secrets

Marketing is the part of business that no one seems to like. Perhaps that's because it's
confusing and made to be even more confusing when you begin to read books on marketing and its
applications to the business world. So, are there any secrets that actually work and that you can
actually apply to your online business? The answer is yes. There are three home based business
marketing secrets that you can keep in mind as you begin this adventure into running your own
business - and as you become a success.
Less is More
One of the things that marketing professionals don't tell you is that you really don't need to do
as much as you think you do. By simply adopting a strategy of telling as many people as you can,
treating each customer with respect, and then repeating this cycle, that's going to bring in a
lot of new business. Word of mouth advertising may not get as much press as it once did, but it
certainly still works when it comes to smaller home based businesses.
You also want to keep in mind that these marketing secrets don't require a lot of time or a lot
of money in order to be effective. Something as simple as adding your website address to your
emails is just as effective as running a commercial on TV and a lot less expensive to implement.
Think about smaller ways to spread the word instead of bigger ways. Target only the customers
that have already shown interest in what you have to sell and you're certain to market for
success.
More is Less
You also want to remember that a customer on the internet these days is accustomed to seeing a
lot of advertisements, so they know when they are being 'sold' something. Instead of focusing
your messages on sales exclusively, try bringing the customer information they can use -
informational articles, etc.
When you put too many advertisements in outgoing emails or you simply push your company too much,
you will turn off prospective customers. Even if they are interested in what you have to say, the
more you talk to them about the same things, the more they're going to wonder what the 'catch' is
and why they should buy from you at all.
Recognize that your customers are smart and that they WILL respond to you, even if you don't tell
them about every sale or every feature for your products. You just don't have to beat them over
the head with what you want to sell them.
Use Your Home Based Appeal to Bring People to You
By adding a personalized touch to your marketing strategies, you will begin to pull in more
customers, almost without trying. So often, online businesses forget that it's their placement
and location that allows them to be unique. Instead of downplaying the fact that you work from
home, make sure that your customers know it. Show them pictures of your office and pictures of
yourself to make the experience more personal. This is a marketing strategy that works no matter
what you are selling. Since people aren't meeting you in person, the personalization will do the
'talking' for you, making a customer more comfortable with you.
Try adding a blog to your website that will introduce the kind of person you are and what you are
capable of helping a customer with. Or you might want to include a video of yourself talking
about your product or a personal story that relates to your product. The internet can be such an
impersonal place, so try to connect with your customer more.
by: Scott Oliver
other Subject :-
Women & Fashion : http://womennfashion.blogspot.com/

Five Kinds of Successful Online Businesses

If you're seriously considering starting an online business, it makes sense that you would want
to choose something that's going to do well right from the start. When you're investing time and
money in your business, it would help to know if you're setting yourself up for failure or for
success. Here are five different kinds of online businesses that have proven to be a hit with
customers. Perhaps you can find your perfect business idea here too.
Health and Weight Loss
Everyone either wants to lose weight or wants to improve their health. We're a society that wants
to take care of our bodies and if we look good at the same time, that's all the better. If you
want to start an online business, you might want to focus on ways to help people lose weight or
simply to improve their health. You can do this by offering fitness and health related products
on your website or perhaps by offering eBooks that will help them make better health decisions.
Try to find something that relates to a question or a concern a person has about their health -
and then you have a viable and profitable business plan.
Beauty
While it used to be that beauty was something that only women talked about, that certainly isn't
the case any longer. That said, women are still the consumer group that is much more likely to
invest in makeup and skin care products, though men too are looking to improve their appearance.
With anti aging face products, both genders can begin to reclaim their youthful appearance, which
will help them feel more confident in any setting. Selling high quality makeup products and
helping customers with their choices is a great business plan, as it allows customers to have the
department store experience from the comfort of their home.
Exercise and Sports
But weight loss isn't the only concern with it comes to health for customers. Exercise and sports
are other areas where you can make a profit with your online business. For example, selling
sporting equipment or products related to sports fans is still a big business. When you work with
the team and their product line, you will be able to access thousands of fans who want to support
their team with licensed products.
Fashion
Of course, fashion is still a hot seller, no matter where you are. If you can present high
quality fashions on your website, you will attract not only the teenaged sector, but also those
in their twenties and thirties - of both genders. Look to celebrity and gossip magazines to show
you what's hot and what's not and then look for a vendor that sells the same or similar items
that you can them turn around to sell for a profit.
Low Price Goods
No matter what you choose to add to your website, if you can sell products available on other
sites for a much lower price, you are going to do well. This goes for fashion, beauty, exercise,
sports, etc. If you can find high quality products that can be sold at much lower prices, you
will draw in many more customers than you could have with higher priced goods. For example, if
you can find a way to sell organic goods and clothing for much cheaper than healthy food
specialty stores, you can help those that want to be healthier, but can't afford the higher
prices of other stores.
No matter what you choose, try at first to think of things that you yourself might want to buy
online - chances are good that you're not the only one.
by: Scott Oliver
other Subject :-
Women & Fashion : http://womennfashion.blogspot.com/