The Google Patent and SEO

By Stephan Miller

Google's recent Patent Application contains a lot to read and
reading it may take some time, but if you own any type of
website, this is all information you need to know. It also
brings some interesting points up. While I go over some of
the important points, know that no one knows which of these
factors is given more weight than the others.

Domain Name Registration - Google is now going to track when
a domain is registered among other things. An older domain
will get a higher ranking. No more throw away domain names.
No more jump to the top of Google results in thirty days.

They will also be tracking the length of renewal on the
theory that a person that renews for ten years will be more
likely to build a worthwhile site than someone who only
holds their domain for a year.

Google will also be keeping a blacklist of known spammers
and will be using this list when checking dns records of
websites. So spammers who make sure to get their new
throwaway domains with different nameservers in order to
throw Google off may have to try something new.

Google Spyware? - They are using "user behavior" to rank
sites. In my book, if spyware removers try to remove Alexa
every time I run it, then this function of the Google
toolbar can only be called spyware. Yes, you may check the
box on the terms of service for the toolbar, but it still
tracks your internet browsing.

But, I think the theory will make search engine results much
better.

Google will be tracking the number of times a document is
selected from the search engine results. This is a great
idea. It means you now have to write the titles of your
pages to grab the searcher's attention. And since the search
terms are highlighted in the results, maybe placing them at
the beginning of sentences in your page may make then stand
out due to capitalization. But I also see a way that this
can be spammed by a network of "search and click" spammers.

They will also be tracking the amount of time a person
spends on the page that they find. I don't know about you,
but I have been around long enough to notice a spam page and
I am gone in two seconds. This may help drop them out of
legitimate results.

Content Changes - I think this comes down to just updating
your information the way it should be updated. If you have a
forum that hasn't been active in a week, the one that is
very active with new posts every minute will definitely rank
higher.

But the document also mentions that some stale sites may not
be ranked lower if not updated that much. For example, a
site on the Civil War will not be expected to change as much
as a news headlines site and an older, more stable site may
get the rank boost.

Query Analysis - A search for "American Idol Winner" will
produce different results than it did last year, even if a
page on last year's winner has more links pointing to it.

Google will be following trends by the increase or decrease
in the usage of certain search terms or phrases. I am not
sure how this will be implemented. Will there be a quicker
ranking algorithm for new trends? Or will sites that have a
tendency to break new topics get top billing for such terms?

The search engine will also be sensitive to terms that could
be used for different subjects. When you search for "Deep
Throat" are you looking for Mark Felt or a Linda Lovelace
movie? Google will track what searchers are actually looking
for and changes in searching trends.

A Google Browser? - Google also says that they will attempt
to track bookmarks and favorites files along with cache
files to help determine the ranking of sites. The only way I
see this happening is through their own browser and again,
this brings up the question of spyware.

Topics - Pages will now be tracked for the topics they
cover. Maybe this is what Site Flavored Search is all about.
Google says that changes in topic will traced for scoring.
So a drastic change in a site may drop in down in the search
results. I think this must already be in effect, just for
some of the things I have seen with my own sites.

Anchor Text - Google says that links to pages from other
sites tend to have differing anchor text if they are
obtained naturally. Artificial linking campaigns tend to
produce anchor text that is the same.

Anchor text that changes when the page the link is on
changes will be counted as being more relevant.

Anchor text that changes with time may indicate a change in
topic on the site.

Anchor text that is no longer relevant to the site linked to
may be discounted.

Traffic - Google will track traffic to a page to determine
if the content is stale or not. This is a cue that sites
will no longer be create and forget. Google will also factor
in Advertising traffic.

Linking - Google says that legitimate sites attract links
back slowly. Whether this is true or not depends on the
definition of "slowly". I know of sites like
stumbleupon.com, where users comment and rate sites
constantly and one site sent into the mix can get hundreds
of links to it within a day just from comments posted about
it.

Google also says that exchanging links, purchasing links, or
gaining links from documents where their is no editorial
discretion are all forms of link spam. Does this mean that
if you link to someone and they link to you, that is spam?
Than a lot of bloggers out there who aren't really trying to
spam may get accused of doing so.

They will also be measuring the authority of the page that
the links are on, mentioning government documents
specifically. This smacks of information control. Who
assigns this authority and what makes one person more of an
authority of another? If a political issue is searched for,
will a Democrat's or a Republican's page come up first?

The freshness of the page that the link is on will also help
determine the freshness of the linked-to page. This is a
good argument for using a blog and pinging after your
entries.

A page that is updated while the link on that page remains
the same is a good indicator of the relevant link.

Ranking History - Ranking change is another feature that
Google will use to detect spam. Not that all sites will be
flagged as spam sites if they see a huge jump in ranking.
Some of these sites could be topical. The authors of the
site may have caught onto a new trend just as it was rising.

But Google also will measure the change in a sites ranking
to determine if the content is becoming stale, i.e. a drop
in links to the site.

Now this must mean some sort of balance and I hope they have
leeway for traditional SEO. For example, If you have written
new software and have created a PAD file for it, you can
literally get hundreds of new links in a weeks. It only
takes a second to submit.

What about if you started your own affiliate program. You
can get a lot of links quickly that way? Will Google see
this as spam? We will have to wait and see.

Finally Hope - Competition always inspires a better product
and more options for internet users. Despite the focus on
Google in search engine forums and its name being used to
define "search for something on the internet", i.e. I
Googled him, Google hold on the market has actually dropped.

When once you could optimize for Google and leave it that,
now the combined use of MSN and Yahoo is greater than
Google, with Yahoo nipping at Google's heels.

This leaves options for us as search engine marketers and
internet searchers. If one search engine doesn't suit us, at
least we know that it isn't the only one we have to choose.

About the Author:

Stephan Miller can be reached via:
http://www.stephanmiller.com

Reciprocal Link Exchange - Getting The Killer Results

By Bill Smith

New businesses start out with a lot of vigor when it comes to website promotion. However, after a while, they tend to fall back and find it difficult to promote their website. This article details on how to tackle the reciprocal link exchange with ease.

Search for related websites:
I use Arelis software to search the web for potential candidates. You can search based on your keyword(s) to find sites of interest. eg., if you run a business site, you can search for "Business link exchange" and pull the results from Arelis. Visit each site and make sure it has at least a PR or 4 or more. The higher the PR, the better your chances of being placed on a page which will have a decent PR. Remember it is the quality of links that matter, not quantity.

Request a link:
Arelis can pull the email address from the sites. From within Arelis, it is easy to send a note to the webmaster requesting a link. Webmasters who agree for link exchange will either upload your link or send you their code. Promptly add their code to your link page and write back.

The next time around you can search for a different keyword in Arelis ex "Credit link exchange" and then pull the results. Arelis can pull a maximum of 5000 results. You might want to leave your PC on while the process is running.

Verify links:
Arelis also has a built in feature to verify your active links. Once a week, make sure you verify all your link partners. If you find your link is missing, promptly notify the webmaster.

Relevant linking:
Link to relevant sites only. Ex, if you have a debt consolidation business, focus your link exchange campaign on debt consolidation, debt counseling, debt management and credit repair sites. True, each site will pass PR but related sites will pass more PR. Using software allows you to search for links, send notifications, as well as verify links in a heartbeat. The time you save can be used to gain more links or concentrate on other aspects of your business.

About The Author:

Bill A Smith is a web strategist for http://www.americreditservices.com/ For link exchange tips and resources visit http://www.americreditservices.com/reciprocal-link-exchange.

Converting Visitors into Subscribers

By Javier Salces

Visitor conversion is a challenge faced by every marketer.

If you're spending money to generate traffic, you want to do everything possible to ensure that traffic isn't wasted. This means getting more bang for your buck by convincing more visitors to subscribe to your list.

In other words, conversion improves your return on investment and limits the temptation of spending more money on more traffic.

If your opt-in list isn't converting as well you expected, there are several target elements you can experiment with to improve your opt-in rates:

1. Web Copy

Is the copy on your site effective? Poorly written copy is one of the first culprits to investigate. Start by evaluating your headline. Is it enticing? Does it pull the reader in? A boring headline can cause people to click away without even reading the rest of the page. Check your main copy as well.

Do you explain the benefits of list membership? People always want to know what's in it for them. Make sure you offer them plenty of reasons to sign up.

2. Incentives

Incentives provide additional benefits and additional reasons to join your list. If you aren't doing so already, offer a unique course, e-book or piece of software for free as a bonus to subscribers. Many times this will convert hesitant visitors into subscribers.

People love freebies and they also can't resist satisfying their curiosity.

3. Make it easy to join

Have you placed your subscription box in a prominent place on the page? Some list owners always place their subscription box at the top of the page, while others place it at the very bottom. Either position can work well, but if you have a lot of copy to wade through, you might consider placing the box within the body copy at logical points. Remind your readers why they are there and what action you want them to take.

4.Watch out for 'bugs'

Sometimes software can fail for no apparent reason. Your server might be experiencing a database issue, your site might be temporarily unreachable or your autoresponder script may be malfunctioning.

It's always a good idea to do periodic tests by subscribing to your own list to check that everything still runs smoothly.

Ultimately, conversion comes down to offering prospects enough benefits to make joining your list an obvious choice. Your copy should get them excited, motivated and curious. Make it as clear as possible that you are offering them valuable information for free.

If your copy is too much of a sales pitch and short on benefits, the visitor will have a hard time finding a compelling reason to subscribe. People are wary of hype these days and too much focus on the "buy my product!" mindset raises a lot of suspicion. Most prospects see that and immediately think "this site will spam me with a bunch of offers I don't want", and quickly click off the page.

Treat your opt-in page as an honest invitation to start a mutually beneficial relationship, and you'll see your conversion rates soar.

About the Author:

Javier Salces is an experienced online marketer who runs a successful viral marketing web site with thousands of members. Feel free to submit your own articles at:
http://opt-inleads.com/cgi-bin/vp/articles.cgi

Let's Kill All the SEOs

By Stephan Miller

Yes, it does seem to be open season. And it does seem that anyone who tries to make their website rank higher in search engine results is lumped together with search engine spammers.

Now, I would understand this a little more if search engine technology was at a level where I type a phrase in and find what I am looking for. But people's minds works differently and no search engine will ever be able to account for this factor.

A newbie to a certain technology, doesn't matter which, doesn't use the same terminology as an expert. He will use terms that relate to his areas of expertise and as he progresses, this terminology will evolve until it is more precise. Therefore, there will be many levels of vocabulary that he will use in this progression. As SEO's, we recognize this.

A person may type in "change belt in my car", not knowing that there are multiple belts in a vehicle and each vehicle may have different procedures for changing this belt.

The more "authoritative" website may never use this exact term. They will use "change a timing belt in a 94 Toyota Camry" or "changing the drive belt in a 95 Chevrolet Corsica." While the SEO, who has researched search terms on internet users, will know the vague terminology that newbies may use.

This is the job of an SEO. To bring people the information they are looking for. Maybe make a sale while they are at it, but still an SEO knows the pulse of what people are looking for more accurately than the run-of-the-mill textbook webmasters.

People looking for something on the web are looking for something quick. They do not care that the language they may use is inaccurate. They don't want to read a manual before they type words into Google. They just want the info. As SEO's we bring it to them and reap our rewards.

To do this, we learn a little about the search engines we submit to. It's a necessity. And I think this makes the internet a better place to find things. To suggest otherwise would be like saying that people born with bad eyesight should be forced to live without glasses.

Of course, I am only speaking for those on the white-hat side of SEO. Presenting a false front to search engines is not good practice. Just give people what they are looking for and add value to your site.

Let the blind continue to lynch SEO's. Let search engine's change their ranking algorithms. Let spammer's continue their games and get banned. Let the non-SEO webmasters continue to website equivalent of Siberia. Then sit down, know your audience, know your competition, know your search engines, and write.

About the Author:

Stephan Miller http://www.profit-ware.com

How To Avoid The Google.com Duplicate Content Filter

By Christoph Puetz

More and more webmasters are building websites with publicly
available content (data feeds, news feeds, articles). This
results in websites with duplicate content on the Internet. In
cases of websites build on news feeds or data feeds you can
even find websites that match each other 100% (except for the
design). Several copies of the same content in a search engine
does not really do any good and so Google apparently decided to
weed out some of this duplicate content to be able to deliver
cleaner and better search results.

Plain copies of websites were hit hardest. If a webmaster was
publishing the exact same content on more than one domain, all
domains in question were eventually removed from Google's
index. Many websites based on affiliate programs suddenly took
a big hit in loss of traffic from Google.com. Shortly after
this started some webmaster forums saw the same complaints and
stories again and if 1 + 1 was put together a clear picture of
the situation was available: a duplicate content filter was
applied.

Duplicate content is not always bad and will always exist in
one way or the other. News websites are the best example of
duplicate content. Nobody expects those to be dropped from
Google's index.

So, how can webmasters avoid the duplicate content filter?
There are quite a few things webmasters can do when using
duplicate content of any sort and still create unique pages and
content from it. Let's see some of these options explained here.

1) Unique content on pages with duplicate content.

On pages where duplicate content is being used, unique content
should be added. I do not mean like just a few different words
or a link/navigation menu. If you (the webmaster) can add 15% -
30% unique content to pages where you display duplicate content
the overall ratio of duplicate content compared to the overall
content of that page goes down. This will reduce the risk of
having a page flagged as duplicate content.

2) Randomization of content

Ever seen those "Quote of the Day" thingies on some websites?
It adds a random quote of the day to a page at any given time.
Every time you come back the page will look different. Those
scripts can be used for many more things than just displaying a
quote of the day with just a few code changes. With some
creativity a webmaster can use such a script to create the
impression pages are always updated and always different. This
can be a great tool to prevent Google to apply the duplicate
content filter.

3) Unique content

Yes, unique content is still king. But sometimes you just
cannot work around using duplicate content at all. That is
alright. But how about adding unique content to your website,
too. If the overall ratio of unique content and duplicate
content is well-balanced chances that the duplicate content
filter applies to your website are much lower. I personally
recommend that a website has at least 30% of unique content to
offer (I admit - I am sometimes having difficulties myself to
reach that level but I try).

Will this guarantee that your website stays in Google's index?
I don't know. To be most successful a website should be
completely unique. Unique content is what draws visitors to a
website. Everything else can be found somewhere else, too and
visitors have no reason to just visit one particular website if
they can get the same thing somewhere else.

About The Author:

Christoph Puetz is a successful Entrepreneur
and international book author. Websites currently operated by
Christoph are: http://www.highlandsranch.us and
http://www.smallbusinessland.com

The Click Fraud Problem

By Christos Varsamis

Click fraud has become a major problem for online marketers. If you participate on Google Adwords campaigns or Overture, you must already pay a lot for your campaigns.

What is click fraud?

Click fraud is the deliberate clicks to PPC search engine ads for completely other reasons than expressing interest for buying the related products or services.

Overture defines click fraud as clicks arising for reasons other than the good-faith intention of an Internet user to visit a web site to purchase goods or services or to obtain information.

Google defines click fraud, or invalid clicks, as any method used to artificially and/or maliciously generate clicks or page impressions.

In simple words, Click fraud means that someone is cheating you and that you pay too much for your pay per click campaigns.

Who is doing that?

Three main groups click on pay per click ads, without real interest in the offered goods:

People who join Google AdSense or other per click affiliate programs click on the ads on their own web site to make a little income. Often, these people cooperate with other webmasters to click on each other's ads.

Some unethical companies click on the pay per click ads of competitors to drive up their advertising costs.

Companies (often in India, Russia and China) hire people who are paid to click on ads. Google and other search networks provide refunds to advertisers when click fraud has been discovered.

Google and Overture employ "fraud squads," or teams of people dedicated to fighting click schemes. But at least two marketing executives say such countermeasures are missing fraudulent clicks that are responsible for between 5 percent and 20 percent of the advertising fees paid to all search networks.

This is a huge problem. There is no "pay per click" Company denying that click fraud exists. Web analytics companies estimate that the 50% of all click activity is fraudulent.

This means that your pay per click marketing activities are half effective as they could be because of click fraud.

Overture spokeswoman Jennifer Stephens refutes that in estimate, the numbers likely represent acts of fraud that are ultimately caught. She added that Overture filters most fraudulent clicks with the best antifraud system in the industry, which combines technology and human analysis.

Most advertisers are aware of the click-fraud issue but have not delved into it because of the technical complexities involved. Others are concerned that they could jeopardize their relationships with the powerful search networks if they complain too loudly.

One of the best ways to eliminate click fraud is using anti click fraud services such as ppctrax. They provide services like the below:

IP address capture.
IP address geographic Location.
User Agent (browser, bot etc.)
See exactly what keywords are generating your clicks
Date and Time stamp
System detects sudden click spikes from one or more IP addresses
Real-time email alerts at 80% and 100% of your account's transaction utilization
IP address history - alert you to prior offenders

Another similar service is "who is clicking who". Other way is the click fraud capture software like Click Auditor.

About The Author:

Christos Varsamis is an internet marketing consultant and the creator and publisher of
http://www.settinglifegoals.com

Multiple Internet Profit Streams

By David A. Wells

Have you been searching without success for a way to make money on the Internet? Maybe you've been going from one idea to another wasting more and more money without much if any return.

The conventional wisdom of internet marketing is to build a huge multi-page website and stuff dozens of affiliate links and product offers into it. And the truth is, if you do it right, these kinds of sites do make money.

Trouble is, writing 40 or 50 content rich web pages takes a lot of work, especially for a one person operation. Most people just don't have the time or willingness to build a 50+ page website.

Fortunately, there is a much easier way.

Build simple 3 page sales sites. Notice the plural. These sites are built and set on auto-pilot and then you don't have to do anything to keep them going. So the strategy is to make a series of them.

So What is a 3 Page Site?

It's a collection of components that are designed to create an income stream. The necessary components include:

1) A sales page with an autoresponder
2) An affiliate page
3) A download page
4) A free mini-eBook for opting-into your autoresponder
5) One primary information product
6) 4-7 bonus items.
7) 7-10 email, autoresponder series
8) Pay-Per-Click ad campaigns
9) Article marketing
10) Credit card processing
11) An affiliate service

That's it.

Once you're done you're done. The only ongoing thing you might want to do is write an article for each 3 Page Site every month just to drive more traffic to your site ­but you don't have to for this to work.

Once you have your site up and your marketing in place you move on to the next site. That's the key to the power of this strategy. Develop a series of auto-pilot sales sites that each make you a few hundred or a few thousand dollars every month.

These sites are simple to develop and easy to construct. Once you do your first one you'll see the power of this strategy in action and you'll be hooked.

Your visitors have one of four options when they arrive at your site. Buy, opt-into your autoresponder, bookmark your page or leave. Even a 1% conversion rate will make you a steady stream of money.

This model works. It's been working for many other internet marketers and continues to work to this day. It'll work for you too.

One of the biggest advantages of this strategy is its diversification. You build a series of small income streams that are all independent of one another. If one site goes down your income
isn't affected very much.

Plus this strategy allows you to build a large email list that you can go back to for offer after offer. The back-end sales potential is huge.

About the author:

David A. Wells is the owner of http://www.3PageSite.com

This is an excerpt from The 3 Page Site Builders Manual - a complete, step-by-step guide to making money on the internet with simple 3 page websites. You can download a free copy of the 91 page, 3 Page Site Builders Manual at http://www.3PageSite.com.

Blogs: The Hidden Ace Up Your Sleeve

By Van Whitsett

If it wasn't for my blog, I wouldn't make any online sales at all.

It's true that I have a "regular" website, my so-called "main website," which I first set up to sell my goods, in this case, men's and women's health products. It's my workhorse, the source of most of my revenue. Most of my sales resulted from generic listings in the search engines, particually Google.

That is, until Google sandboxed me.

Some of you may have heard of the legendary Google sandbox, sometimes called, "The Goggle Sandbox Effect." What happens is that newly listed sites rank well for about two to three weeks, then suddenly drop off the radar screen. These new sites are placed in a type of probational sandbox, away from the "real" sites.

Why does this happen, you ask? There are almost as many theories as there are SEO (Search Engine Optimization) experts. Many believe that this probation period is not related to the sites themselves, but to their links. It is believed that back link (pure link popularity) credit is placed in a reserve for a period of time (2-4 months) before it is applied to ranking and has an effect. The theory behind this is to combat PR (Page Rank) purchasers from dominating PR from the beginning. It is meant to deter spam websites.

Others believe this alleged filter that is placed on new websites is an illusion. These skeptics argue that the phenomenon merely echoes already existing Google algorithm calculations.

Whatever the reason, I got sandboxed, the rug pulled out from underneath me; shiskobobbed. The high-ranking and sales that I was receiving from my site suddenly plummented.

I was devastated. What's a poor boy to do now?

Desperate, I wrote to a number of online SEO forums, seeking advice from the SEO gurus. Some thought it was amusing and laughed in my face. Others offered advice such as forgetting about Google for awhile and optimizing my site for the other search engines (not a bad idea). Others thought that I should continue adding content, since content is king as far as the search engines are concerned. Still others thought I should try to gain as many quality links as I should and this would help pull me out of the sandbox (it felt more like quicksand to me.)

I committed to doing all these things, but in the meaintime, what about my website and the products that I was trying to sell, the money I was hoping to make?

I kept hearing about blogs, those personal websites that are published on the Web. As you probably know, blogs contain philosophical reflections, talk about social issues, and opinions about everything under the sun. They are usually presented in journal style with a new entry each day, or almost every day.

Some people have found out that blogs can also be used to sell products. In fact, an entire industry has evolved around commerical blogging and ways to market them. Some of these commerical blogs appear in the same journal style as the most popular blogs, while others do not look any different from a regular commerical website.

At any rate, I decided to check them out. The fact that a number of blog publishers allow you to build and post your comments for free, certainly didn't hurt either.

I studied many of the blogs that are out there on the Internet, particually the ones relating to my niche. The more I read, the more I liked. I was surprised to learn that some of the top websites in my niche were actually blogs. They ranked high on Google and all of the other search engines. And no doupt, they were making sales.

Soon, I had a pretty good idea about how I was going to build my blog. I didn't want to copy the others, I just needed to get an idea of how some enterprising webmasters were creating them.

Within minutes, I had created my blog, published it on the Web, and began posting and tweaking it. I inserted some HTML code to monitor my stats, and continued to work on making it a better blog. I also continued to work on my other websites, so that whenever I do climb out of Google's sandbox, my site will get a good rating.

Not long afterwards, I made my first blog sale!

Elated, I built other blogs. The more lines you have in the water, the better chance you'll catch a fish, right? Each was slightly different than the preceeding one, but I still hawked the same
products. All have links back to my "main" website, and all have brought me sales.

I might have been down, but thanks to my new-found knowledge about blogs, I wasn't out.

So, while I'm waiting to climb out of Google's sandbox, I have an ace in the hole and another up my sleeve that is continuing to make sales for me - my blog. Unknowingly, I had stumbled upon one of the best ways to get my products out there before the buying public.

What I had thought was the worse thing to happen turned out to be the best thing. Had Google not sandboxed me, I probably never would have discovered the awesome marketing power of blogs!

About the Author:

Van Whitsett is the author of numerous articles, both online and in the print media. He has tried (and failed) with a number of Internet businesses until he hit the jackpot as an affiliate for http://mensniche.com/wmreg/hit.php?w=102811 Mensniche. His website, Natural Male Enhancement has proven to him that the Holy Grail does indeed exist and that it's possible to earn money online.

Choosing The Blog Software That's Right For You

By Angie Noack

If you've been hearing all the buzz about blogging and want to
know what it is and how to get started, this article is for
you. Here we will discuss what blogging is, what blog software
you'll need, and what you can do with it.

What's a blog?

A weblog - blog for short - is a type of website. Blogs are
unique from other static website in that they are usually
updated often. The main page of the site usually contains the
most recent post or posts of the author or authors of the
website. Also, blogs often also allow readers to post their
comments directly to the site.

All of the factors work together to make blogs a very popular
form of website creation, and online community building. If
you'd like to try your hand at blogging, here's how to get
started.

First, decided on the topic of your blog. Maybe you want to
keep a diary of your daily life for your friends and family. If
there's a topic that you are interested in, say, politics for
example, blogs are a great way to discuss and share your
interests and comments on current topics related to your
interests.

Once you've decided on the topic of your blog, you'll want to
choose a blog software program. The great thing is, some of the
best programs and blog services are free!

Many blogging services are based online, such as blogger.com.
Just visit these sites and register with them - many will give
you free webspace and allow you to start blogging immediately.

If you want to register your own domain name and run your blog
on your own server, you will need to install server side blog
software. Not to fear, many webhosts come with an automatic
installer called fantastico that will make getting your site up
and running quick and easy.

Some of the more popular free blogging software programs are
Wordpress and B2Evolution. Doing a search for any of these will
get you the free downloads if they are not available through
your webhost.

Blogs can be useful for building many types of websites.
Examples include, corporate sights for keeping employees and
customers up-to-date, travel diaries, niche websites on
specific topics, interactive community websites, and more. The
ease of posting and editing your blog website online makes blog
software useful for many purposes.

About The Author:

Angie Noack is a business strategist with a
sharp edge for technology. With her unique ability to combine
these two skills, she's able to help businesses save time and
increase profits. You can find her online at
http://www.liquidblogging.com/blogs.php.

How to Write News Releases that Get Noticed

By Claire Cunningham

What do you do with junk mail? Are you like me? I toss this stuff without opening it - unless I see some benefit. Publication editors do the same. They toss news releases that don't demonstrate a benefit to their audience.

What's the difference between a release that gets used and one that hits the editor's circular file? Here are seven easy tips for writing releases that get picked up rather than thrown out.

1. Make sure it's newsworthy. What's newsworthy, you ask. To be newsworthy your topic needs to be timely, of interest to the publication's audience, benefit-oriented, and substantive (that is, not self-serving, hype or fluff.)

2. Write a powerful headline. The headline is what will pull in the editor or leave her/him cold. Keep it short and descriptive, but make it interesting.

3. Use journalist style. Editors are looking for the facts, not fluff. Be sure to include the essentials: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.

4. Keep it brief. Editors are pressed for time and inundated with releases. Keep yours to one page, 300-800 words. The headline and first two paragraphs are the most important parts of your release.

5. Avoid jargon. Even if you're sending a release on a technical topic to a technical journal, resist the temptation to use acronyms. Spell it out! Use common language. It will make your releases more readable and accessible.

6. Proof it. The accuracy of your release - including spelling and grammar - reflects on your company. If you aren't good at proofreading your own stuff, enlist someone else to do it.

7. Include a photo. Okay. This isn't a writing tip, but it's good advice anyway. Publications are looking for good quality visuals, so including a photo, illustration, chart or graph (with a caption, please) increases your chance of getting picked up.

Follow these tips to improve your news release writing. But remember that the keys to a successful news release program are a good list of publications and a regular mailing schedule of newsworthy items. Persistence WILL pay off.

©Copyright 2005 Clairvoyant Communications, Inc.

About the author

Claire Cunningham, president of Clairvoyant Communications, Inc., has 25 years' experience developing and implementing successful marketing and communications programs. Sign up for Claire's monthly e-newsletter, Communiqué, at http://www.clairvoyantcommunications.com.

How to Write a Sizzling Sales Letter

By Jennifer McCay

When you sit down to write a sales letter to your prospects, it can be difficult to know just where to start. Regardless of the purpose of your letter, it has to accomplish several things:

-- capture the attention of the reader
-- speak to the reader's individual needs
-- give good reasons why your prospect can trust you
-- communicate your offer succinctly and clearly
-- encourage your prospect to act now

And furthermore, it has to have sizzle. In other words, it needs to grab your prospect's attention and appeal to them emotionally so that they want to respond.

Here is my step-by-step guide to writing a winning sales letter:

1. Establish your letter's main purpose.

First of all, what do you want to achieve by sending out a sales letter? Be specific.

Do you want to generate leads? Sell your services or products outright? Use your letter as a "get to know you" device for prospects who have been referred to you by trusted colleagues?

Second, what is your offer? Any time you contact prospective clients, you need to have something to offer them. It's a busy world, and your prospects are barraged with too much information as it is. So simplify their lives by narrowing down what you are marketing to them in a way that is easy to follow.

If you're a life coach, perhaps you would be giving away a half-hour coaching session as an introductory offer.

Do you want your prospect to contact you regarding her upcoming consulting needs? Your offer might be a special report on how to get the best results from your consultant. Giving away information is an excellent way to show your expertise without having to sell your services outright.

If the latest version of your software is about to launch, you might send current-version owners a letter offering an inexpensive upgrade if they act quickly.

The important thing here is to figure out 1 main offer for your letter. Just 1. Keeping it simple will make it easier for you to write the letter to begin with; plus, your readers will easily grasp what you're asking them to do as well.

What is most successful for your prospects will depend on how well you ...

2. Give the people what they want.

Who will be receiving the letter? Outline the types of prospects you'll be contacting.

Then list their individual needs based on what you're selling. This will help you determine not only how to appeal to your readers' emotions, but also lets you figure out how many different messages you have to have to reach your targets.

For example, if you're a real estate agent wanting to market to prospective buyers in a ritzy neighborhood, as well as to less financially able individuals who are looking for homes in a more
upscale neighborhood than their own, you're going to be writing 2 different letters, or at least 2 different permutations of the same letter.

Why? Because the wealthy prospects already have established themselves and are looking for downright luxury in their new homes, whereas the latter group wants to find a home in a more comfortable neighborhood where their kids can play outside safely and go to good schools. (The
well-off prospects pretty much take these aspects of home-buying for granted, though they are still important benefits.)

Ask yourself:

-- What do my prospects need that I offer?
-- What do they want?
-- What do they desire deep down inside?
-- What do your prospects fear will go wrong if they buy?
-- How can you put their fears to rest?
-- Why should they choose you (from their perspective)?
-- What would make them absolutely thrilled with what I am selling?

In other words ...

"What's in it for me?"

Your prospects are concerned about their own needs and no one else's and they're not out to do you any favors, so your job is to show them what only you can can give them.

If you keep in mind both the rational and emotional needs and wants of your prospects, you're already a step ahead.

3. Structure your letter properly.

Although the structure of your letter is important, steps 1 and 2 lay the foundation for everything else to do with your letter. So make sure to work through the above-mentioned steps prior to getting started writing.

What's the right structure for a sales letter? The good news is that every good sales letter has several elements in common:

-- a headline, or Johnson box
-- a salutation
-- a powerful opener
-- an easy-to-follow internal structure that guides your reader from one point to the next
-- a solid offer
-- a P.S.
-- credibility boosters

In part 2 of this article, I will go through all the particulars of each element to ensure that your next sales letter is perfectly persuasive. See http://AvenueEast.com/free-sales-letter-template.htm for part 2.

About the Author

Would you like help generating enough business for your coaching, consulting or other small business? Jennifer McCay's "Avenues to Marketing Success Newsletter" delivers small business marketing tips to help you find more clients more easily, without feeling like you're selling your soul. Sign up today at http://AvenueEast.com

Online Learning Authoring System for Creating E-Courses

By Kathy Sparks

I'll go back about a year and a half when I began researching an online learning system for two of my clients. What keywords to use - online learning. Well no, that brings up all sorts of colleges, universities, technical schools, software certification schools with hundreds of listings of classes. Okay, how about "writing courses online." No again, these words simply tell me where to go to find about writing courses online.

The subject is really rather obscure. This might be because authoring systems are generally for large companies who can afford to purchase customized software specifically written for their company. Okay, let's try "online authoring course." Good, a little closer, but now I'm coming up with software packages to purchase. And they are not inexpensive. What I was looking for was a tool on line where I could have my own account and do the following at an affordable price:

- Log in to my personal account

- Create courses that have
-- Reading material
-- Self check quizzes
-- Final test
-- The ability to print
-- The ability to use PDF files with the course
-- Learners can start a class, leave class and come back to work on their class with their own personal log in.
-- Do a final quiz
-- Have the quiz graded and if successful, receive a certificate of successful completion

- Track the results of Learners
- Edit the course content on demand
- Have several different courses within one account
- Not have to worry about downloading software and publishing programs to my web site and creating login screens

And I needed a Pay as You Go price for a small start up online course business where I can increase the service as I increase business.

When I didn't find this solution a year and a half ago, I created my courses as E-books and sent them out to Learners who ordered them and wanted the ability to do their classes from the
convenience of their homes. Although easier than printing and mailing booklets, it did cause new problems, like "I couldn't get my course to download," I didn't receive the email," I can't find the Enrollment Code," but at least they weren't telling me "the dog ate my course." However, those Internet gremlins do show up occasionally.

At last I stumbled upon my perfect solution and a free 30 day trial! This is a 100% web based e-Learning toolset. I've created my first course. It really is quite easy. You don't need programming skills - simply copy and paste your material. If you are a coach, consultant, tutor or teacher and have courses to share, you should really try this tool. It's easy to get started.

Visit E-Course Management at http://www.ecoursemanagement.com to learn more about the system and to learn about the basics of writing online courses. Take a tour and then sign up for a free 30-day trial to try it out. Customer service has been terrific. It's a "virtual" blessing.

Copyright © 2005 Kathy Sparks

About the Author:

Kathy Sparks began building her successful Virtual Assistant practice after being certified with AssistU in 1998. She has partnered with clients worldwide in a multitude of professions
and is editor and contributor for "The Virtual Advantage," an online newsletter for VAs and their clients. Web site: Your Virtual Resource at http://www.yourvirtualresource.com. "I feel so good - it's like having a "busy bee" working behind the scenes to help me. I'm loving it." ~ a client.

Selecting A Domain Name That Clicks!

by BB Lee

After making the decision to join the World Wide Web Business Community. Another important step awaits your attention.

You will certainly want to select a Domain Name for your business. That's right! Your very own Domain Name for your online business.

Selecting the right domain name is often a hard task for many new online business owners.

They want a catchy name that will get attention plus deliver the paying customers to their website. Unfortunately, many online business owners insist on the wrong name. One that is not only improper for their business but also might give potential customers the wrong impression.

I've heard of quite a few online business owners naming their new business after a family pet, a child, or significant other. Not necessarily in that order!

But, alas, that "catchy" name might make it difficult for potential customers to find your website or you might attract the wrong crowd.

And speaking on the wrong crowd... "I guess you've heard the joke about the elderly woman
who hooked impressive rugs for a living and decided to start a website called hookers.com. Well, she received many hits to her website from many disappointed lecherous male surfers, so the story goes."

Before deciding the proper Domain Name let's cover a few basics:

What's A Domain Name?

In basic terms a domain name is your business name on the World Wide Web. This is how customers will find your website. The domain will show your location and whether your website is commercial (com) organizational (org) educational(edu) governmental(gov) or any one of several other suffixes.

How Might A Domain Reflect Your Business?

If you repair cars, your domain might be:
-www.autorepairs.com
-www.Qualityautorepairs.com

If you design websites a good domain might be:
-www.Qualitywebdesigners.com
-www.cheapwebdesigns.com

If you sell house plants a good domain name might be:
www.houseplantsforyou.com
www.houseplants.com

If you repair computers a good domain name might be:
www.computerservice.com
www.computer-repair.com

By reflecting exactly what your business concerns it will be easier for potential customers to find your website even if they don't know the exact URL (Universal Resource Locator). They might simply go to a search engine like Google.com and type the kind of business they are looking for.

Suppose you own a home based computer repair service on the Internet. A potential customer types "computer repair" on google...and up pops your website! They visit your website. Contact you about your repair services. Cool...huh?

What's The Deal With The Suffix?

Selecting a suffix is important. Even though com, net, org, gov, edu, tv, enjoy amazing popularity, It would be wise to select com. Why? Because it is the most popular. Plus "com" is the one your browser will automatically fill in if someone types in your business name without the suffix. Once again this will make it easier for a potential customer to locate your website. Only use net, org, or any other suffix if "com" is not available.

Availability?

After selecting your Domain Name you should determine if that name is available. You might want to download a domain lookup tool. Or use a domain lookup service online. Many webhosting services have a domain lookup tool readily available.

Domain Lookup Tool
http://www.whois.net

Download Doman Lookup Tools at:
http://www.downloads.com

If your desired Domain Name is available, NOW is the perfect time to decide if you want to register the name and select a web hosting package. Usually you will have the option to register the name for a year, two years, three for a predetermined price. I've seen prices starting at $9.99 and up per year.

Note: Many webhositng services offer free domain registration with a webhosting package. Many webhosting packages start at around $15.00 and up per month for a starter website.

Sources:

Yahoo Hosting
-http://geocities.yahoo.com/

Let's Review:

-Decide You Want A Professional Name That Gets Attention.
-Select A Name That Describes Your Business.
-Select A Name That Will Be Easy To Find Online.
-Check Availability.
-Register Your Domain With Optional Hosting Package.

After reading this informative article you should have a good understanding on selecting a Domain Name That Clicks!

About the Author:

BB Lee is the editor of SmallBizBits Newsletter.
SmallBizBits will give you the information you need to
start a home based business. Each issue features
original articles, tips, business ideas, downloads,
plus more. http://www.smallbizbitsnews.com

Increase Your Web Traffic By Using Keyword Articles

By Timothy Spaulding

If you have an online home based business you know that
routing traffic to your web page is incredibly important.
Not only in order to make sales and increase revenues but
to continue your business. However, you probably have
realized that getting your web page noticed and getting a
high ranking result from the search engines is difficult.
In light of that, here are a couple of tips you can use
that will help you increase the traffic to your web page.

First, you will need to do some research to see where your
page ranks in several different search engines. Do this by
performing searches on the keywords you think are relevant
to your web page. Once you have this information, you will
be able to take action and become better than your
competitors whose pages are being returned as higher
relevant results. No matter where you rank in the results,
if it is less than number one you have some work to do. So,
take a look at all the web pages that are ranked higher
than yours and see what these pages have that yours does
not. Evaluating your competition will help your Web page
become stronger and more competitive, something that is
important to your bottom line.

You need to do this kind of research for all the different
keywords that pertain most to your Web page and that people
search for the most often. You want your web page to rank
high in the results for a number of keywords, so be
diligent about researching what other web pages are doing
and what you can do to get your page returned higher in the
results.

One of the best ways to improve your web page ranking for a
variety of keywords and phrases is to use keyword rich
articles on your web page. This will allow you to provide
useful information for web surfers as well as include
keywords that will help your page get noticed.

When it comes to keyword rich articles, you can either
write them yourself or have them written for you. The first
thing you need is a list of the most popular keywords and
phrases people search for, and then write articles that
include useful information which uses the exact keyword
phrase multiple times. When someone searches for that
particular term, your page will be returned as a high
result as long as you are outdoing your competition. The
most important thing to keep in mind is that you need to
provide relevant, useful and pertinent information. When it
comes to outdoing your competition regarding keywords and
search engine results the relevance of your article is
essential a higher web page ranking. If you are creating
relevant, keyword rich articles, people will get to your
page and will be more likely to stay.

Finally, if the keyword articles get your web page ranked
higher in search engine results, as they should, do not
expect that it will stay that way. There is more
competition online every day, which means you will have to
be diligent about continuously tracking your competition,
what they are doing, and where your web page ranks in the
search engine results. You will have to make changes in
order to keep ahead of your competition, but as a home
based business entrepreneur you know this is an essential
part of business.

About the Author:

Timothy Spaulding is the owner of the Work At Home Business
Resource Center at
http://www.workathome-awesomeopportunities.com and Home
Made Profits at http://www.homemadeprofits.net which
provide valuable tools, articles, affiliate programs and
products for the home based entrepreneur.

Nine Hot-Selling Points to Bring More Print and eBook Sales - Faster!

By Judy Cullins

Whether you write a print or an eBook, consider that when you know the "Essential Nine Hot-Selling Points." you will write a more focused, easy to read book, giving your potential readers the answers they seek.

Why write an eBook?

You want ongoing, lifelong streams of income. You want to raise your credibility and trust ratings with clients or customers, and get your message out so the world can be a better place.

Yet, you want to spend only a little time on it. (Would you be willing to spend 4 hours a week?) You want to get it out fast (Would 4-6 weeks be OK?). You want to market Online at a low-cost investment. And, for some of you, you are ready to be innovative and even take a small risk to get your eBook read by millions, rather than hundreds!

Where are You Now?

You have the idea for your eBook; you have a lot of ideas! Take a moment and decide which one you are most passionate about now and will be for the next year or so. Focus on one great idea, and then add others you know your online audience will buy. Wherever you are, you want to know what is the next step.

Always remember you can write your print and eBook at the same time. These tips refer to both publishing ways. Remember you can sell print or eBooks online and offline.

You have your eBook well on its way, but aren't finished. You need advice on how to get it done, what's needed to publish (not much!), and how to distribute it to attract Online or toll-free telephone sales.

Who Should Write and Self-Publish an eBook?

- If you are ready to invest a little to reap a great deal.
- If you are a businessperson who wants to serve a wider community.
- If you are willing to move much faster than traditional publishing
- If you want to create active, ongoing sources of income.

One method to help make your eBook successful is to know and apply the essential "Nine Hot-Selling Points." excerpted from "How to Write your eBook or Other Short Book--Fast!"

Nine Things to do Before Writing Your eBook

Every part of your book can be a sales tool. Include the below tips, and you'll sell more books than you ever dreamed of.

1. Write for your one preferred audience. Not everyone wants your book. Find out what audience wants/needs your book? What problems does your book solve for them? Create an audience profile and keep your audience's picture in front of you as you write. Ask yourself, is my topic narrow enough? The Chicken Soup For The Teenager, For The Prisoner, and other specific groups sold far more copies than the original Chicken Soup.

2. Write a sizzling book title including benefits. You have eight to ten seconds to hook your potential buyer. While an eBook cover doesn't need fancy graphics you will want to create one that can be printed both in color and black and white. It must be easy to see and read. Include a benefit or two in your title and cover to compel your audience to buy.

3. Write a thirty-second "tell and sell." You only have a few seconds to impress your potential buyer. Include your title, a few benefits, and the audience. Use sound bites to grab attention. “Write, Finish, and Publish your eBook Fast to Pull Online Sales” shows professionals how to shortcut each step of writing, publishing, and promoting a saleable short eBook.

Include a sound bite that grabs attention. Compare your book to a successful one such as "Passion at Any Age" is the "Artist's Way" for seniors.

4. Write your sales letter/back cover rough draft before you write your book. This guides you to deliver on your promises within the chapters. In it, include the benefits your potential buyers want. Include compelling headlines, other ad copy, benefits, testimonials, and a small blurb about you, the author. If your potential buyers like it, they will buy on the spot.

5. Write your Table of Contents (TOC). As you choose chapter topics, create a chapter title that hooks your reader. Instead of "Get the Support you Need," I chose "Passionate Support" for the book on passion. Include a short blurb after the title what benefits the reader will get. When people read your TOC they will see what really hooks them.

6. Write a list of your book's benefits. Without knowing these as your write your book, it won't answer your potential buyers' questions about your topic. Benefits show the value of your products. They solve your particular audience's problem! They show your clients and customers outcomes they will gain after they read your book. Some common benefits include: more money, less trouble, more time, less stress, desirable relationships, less drama and trauma, more zest and energy, and less fatigue.

7. Write your eBook's introduction. Start it with a hook, just like your chapter beginnings. Involve your audience right away with a question or comment that includes where they are now. Include the problem your audience has, why you wrote the book, and its purpose. In a few paragraphs, include more specific benefits, and how you will present it (format). Keep it under a page. Your introduction will help you write your Web and email sales letter. Think of it as a mini sales letter.

8. Create a table of contents. Each chapter should have a name, preferably a catchy one. If your reader can't understand the chapter title, then annotate it. Add some benefits or a sub title. In my first chapter called "Why Write an eBook?" I added this partial list of benefits: Ongoing lifelong multiple streams of income, credibility as the expert, products sell easily online, buyers are more targeted and hence you create more profit.

9. Reach out to opinion molders. After an initial contact of asking for feedback, resend them the same chapter and the table of contents of your book. Ask for a testimonial then. These influential contacts' testimonials will help promote your eBook Online. You'll want to include five or more in your book sales letter for your Web site or email promotion campaign.

Design every part of your eBook to be a sales tool. This beacon brings out your best: writing a compelling, understandable, and enjoyable book that millions of Online and offline buyers will want.

Judy Cullins ©2005 All Rights Reserved.

About the Author:

Judy Cullins: 20-year author, speaker, book coach Helps you manifest your book and web dreams eBook: "Powerwriting for Web Sites That Sell" FREE "The Book Coach Says..." or Business Tip of the Month www.bookcoaching.com.

How To Produce The PERFECT Viral Ebook

By Harvey Segal

Viral marketing is probably the number one method for generating traffic and sales - IF it is set up properly.

Take the case of a viral ebook - which means a book that can be passed from one person to another bringing benefits (profits) for each party in turn.

How is this achieved ?

The basic concept is that the book contains links to affiliate products. When a reader of the book makes a purchase from a link then the affiliate receives the commission.

The creator of such a book will allow some of the links to be 'rebranded' which means a person(who we will refer to as the rebrander) can replace them with his own affiliate codes thus collecting commission. This is the obvious incentive for him to pass the book around and begin the viral progression.

If we want to maximize the benefits for everyone and create the perfect viral ebook we need to have THREE key factors in place.

1) Wide Distribution

There are many permutations in the ways that you can offer an ebook. It can be free or paid, and for either option you can charge for rebranding or offer it free; plus you can have part customization or full customization. On top of that, for a paid book you can offer resale rights and even the right to grant resale rights.

Let's keep it simple.

What we want is the widest possible distribution so that we get the most commission from the affiliate links.

So we will have a FREE book and FREE rebranding rights.

2) Quality Affiliate Links

It goes without saying that your book should contain good content on a topic of interest.

But will readers click on those affiliate links ?

The answer is 'NO' if you copy the poor example of many authors, for instance:

- have you ever opened an ebook and been faced with a barrage of affiliate links ?

- or seen affiliate products which have nothing to do with the theme of the book ? For example in a book about hypnotism you get a link to a web hosting company.

So what is the best way ?

The secret is to have highly relevant links and weave them naturally into the content in a low key style without appearing to push for a sale. So when you discuss a particular topic and want to show where more detail can be found, or how a particular problem can be solved, that's where you can mention the affiliate product as a source of further information. If you want to see really good examples of how to do this read the free book at the end of this article.

See - that last sentence was an ACTUAL working example of how to weave in a link.

3) Maximum Return For Both Parties

You need to get the rebranding balance right.

If you give away an ebook and allow all the affiliate links to be rebranded that is a great deal for the rebrander - but what do you get out of it ? No affiliate commission, just subscribers maybe for your mailing list if you have a sign-up form in the book.

Conversely if you hand out only a few affiliate links for rebranding then that provides little incentive for the rebrander to distribute the book.

Ideally what you want is the maximum motivation for your rebrander which would be

* to allow free rebranding
* to allow ALL the links to be rebranded

but in a way that you can still benefit.

Can that be possible ?

Fortunately it is, using any of 3 different methods

* if the links in the book are for your own products

* If the links are for products for which you have resale rights

* If the links are for 2-tier affiliate programs so that you collect the 2nd tier commission when a rebrander, who has signed up under you, makes a sale

And so, if you use these techniques you can begin a viral marketing campaign which will continue to generate traffic and sales with little on-going effort on your part.

EXCEPT for two issues we need to resolve

1) What happens if everyone rebrands the book and only makes purchases from their own copy ?

Well, I have found that in practice only a minority (say 10%) will take the time to rebrand a book which means that the majority (90%) will be reading your book and purchasing from YOUR links.

So only 10% will be 'lost' to you . . . or are they ?

2) Suppose you plan to produce a viral book. It's about a popular topic - so it's bound to have a wide circulation - but you can't find any of the three types of suitable links to put in the book, i.e. links to a product of your own, to products with resale rights or for 2-tier affiliate programs.

Is there a solution ?

Yes - there are answers to both problems in my book "101 SuperTips" - they are actually tips 100 and 101.

As you might expect this book is free, with valuable information linking to highly relevant products, and you can rebrand it, again for free.

By all the rules above it's a candidate, I hope you agree, for 'the perfect viral ebook' and a profitable source of revenue for you.

About the Author:

Harvey is the author of several viral ebooks including 101 SuperTips, a collection of unique Internet Marketing tips, at http://www.supertips.com/101/

A Home Business Mentor Can Help You Earn Big Bucks

By Ian Canaway

A mentor does not buy, sell or negotiate. A mentor provides a service. In essence, mentoring is simply helping someone else play their cards right and become successful in their home business or other endeavour.

Thus defined, mentoring has been a business practice for a long time. Recent estimates indicate that a large majority of successful people have used a mentor as a standard business practice.

Mentors choose to help others reach their goals for various reasons, the most common reason being to gain support and help for their own projects and from a true desire to assist others. After all, what good is information if you don't share it with someone who needs a mentor?

Many mentors help a peer or friend move up the ladder in order to achieve personal satisfaction and develop friendships. Also, you've probably experienced a friend saying, "I helped you, and now I need help too..." Basically, being or having a mentor is an exchange of services and friendship.

One reason mentoring is popular, especially in today's economy, is that it provides free training that normally would be provided at special training classes costing a lot of money. Mentors willingly provide this service, as it is simply the bottom line method of training with little or no cash. In times of little or no cash flow, mentoring is a highly desirable commodity, and mentoring is becoming even more widespread. Mentoring offers a way to hold onto cash while continuing to get advice and training.

In addition to saving costs, mentoring can improve cash flow and liquidity by avoiding the high cost of formal training. For anyone who is starting up a home business, this is vitally important. For the individual who is lucky enough to have a mentor, it makes it possible to save existing funds for those purchases where cash is necessary.

To successfully become a mentor, you must think in terms of a trainer, a financial expert, and a technical advisor if you want to help someone start their home business. After all, that is the precise reason for mentoring - to bring together an individual with success.

Your first task is to determine exactly what the individual hopes to accomplish. As a one-person training staff, you will need to know everything about the potential home business as well as get to know the personal hopes and dreams of your protégé. In effect, you are providing your expertise and/or time to help another person achieve their goals for success.

Having a mentor to help you successfully start up your home business is a stroke of luck if you are on the receiving end. You explain your wants or needs to your mentor and he/she will provide you with suggestions based on their past experiences.

You will be wise to listen to these suggestions, as they are mostly methods that have already been tried, tested and proven to work.

Your home business mentor can help you with advice on start-up costs, technical advice, and guide you through the process of establishing sales leads, getting the funding you need, and most likely provide you with the names of others who are specialized in their respective fields.

Why go it alone, making the same mistakes that have already been made by others? Let a mentor help you on the road to success by giving you the benefit of their experience.

About The Author:

Ian Canaway will help you launch your very own money making website today that's 100% ready to take orders and pull in massive profits for you right now...guaranteed!
Visit: http://www.asuccesfullhomebusiness4u.com

How To Improve Web Site Conversion Rates

By Salihu Ibrahim

Do you know your conversion rates? Conversion rate is the number of visitors to your site that take the desired action against the total number of visitors in a particular period or time. Research has shown that 60% of websites do not know their conversion rates. Then how do you improve your site's performance if you do not know your conversion rates? What do you take into consideration when making changes to your site's design? What do you do when you have plenty of visitors yet very few of them take the desired action? What do you want your visitors to do? How are they going to do it? What is the next step for your visitor after taking the desired action? These and other questions can easily be answered if some efforts are made towards tracking and calculating websites' conversion rates.

Converting your visitor is the ultimate aim of any website. Making the visitor to take the desired action is the fulfillment of a process that started from wherever the visitor clicked to come to your site. The desired action could be;

1. Sales


2. Subscribing to your newsletter or book-marking a page


3. Taking a survey


4. Downloading a software or ebook


5. Clicking on a link


6. Going through the process (that is, clicking from page to page ) before clicking on the order button


7. Etc

Most of the time we think conversion starts when the visitor lands on our Site. But conversion actually starts from wherever the visitor first locates our site. How the site was located. What description the visitor sees before clicking to your site or what recommendation or word of mouth brought the visitor to your site. This pre-conversion state is what to a large extent, can determine whether conversion actually takes place or not. This is what I call the keyword-title description-landing page formula. This formula is explained in my free ebook "Google Adwords Made Easy". You can download this free ebook at home base business ideas site.

What enables conversion to take place.

A visitor landing at your site should immediately feel comfortable with your site. First impression as they say matters a lot. For conversion to take place you must hold the visitor's attention once he lands on your site. Some of the points to note that make for easy conversion are:

1. Your website should load fast. The next site is a click away. If your site loads slowly your visitor clicks away and you have lost a potential customer. Usually, graphics, animations, are the cause of slow loading pages. Your can use some software, available free on the internet, to reduce the size of your graphics so that they load fast.
2. Your site should have a professional look about it. It should at first glance portray a quality site. This adds a little bit of credibility to the site. The site is then seen as a serious site.
3. State your case quickly. Let your visitor know what your site is about in a few words. Don't go rambling about your achievements. That can come later. Give the visitor what he is looking for.


4. Arrange your content in an easy to understand way. Whether you are using Tables or CSS for site design, make sure your content is arranged in such a way that the visitor moves from one section of the site to another without confusion or frustration. If you are catering to different kinds of visitors, demarcate your site or page clearly showing these different sections for visitors.


5. Include your Privacy Policy, Phone Numbers, About Us information on every page of your site. This builds some element of trust. Visitors may not click to these pages but the fact that they are there builds some credibility.


6. Do not irritate your visitors with bad grammar or typos. Check and crosscheck your content. Ask somebody to read through your content and point out grammatical errors and typos. These kinds of errors portray a site as unserious and therefore suspect.


7. If you must use banners use them sparingly. Do not allow your banners to distract your visitors from the desired action to be taken. Banners are been clicked on less and less these days.

Having taken care of all of the above, your site is set to present your visitors with your carefully packaged offer. You begin by getting to know your present conversion rates. It is only logical that before any action is taken to improve conversion rates, the present conversion rates are known.

What is your website's conversion rates.

There are many actions a site may desire a visitor to take once he lands at the site. It is the conversion rates of these desired actions that you want to calculate. Lets look at some the typical conversion rates that need to be calculated and what can be done to improve them.

THE SALES CONVERSION RATE.

This gives you an idea of how many visitors are buying your product out of the total number of visitors that visit you site.

The sales conversion rate = number who bought / total number of visitors x 100

So if you have about 10000 visitors in the month and out of that , 350 bought your product, your conversion rate is

350 / 10000 x 100 = 3.5%

This means that for every 200 visitor that land at your site 7 will buy your product.

How to improve the sales conversion rate:

1. Make navigation through your site to your order page so simple a ten year old can find it.
2. Make bold call to action. Example, BUY NOW, or ORDER HERE. Put it near the top, at the middle and near the bottom of you sales page.
3. If you offer free shipping indicate this at your home page and prominently on your sales page. Research has shown that free shipping is the second most important consideration for buyers apart from price.
4. Your web page should load fast. Imagine a potential customer clicking to your order page with the intention to buy only to be frustrated by a slow loading page. The importance of fast loading pages cannot be over-emphasized. Some of the ways to reduce loading time are:

   i. Reduce the number of graphics on your page. Apart from the number, you can also reduce the size of the graphics. There are a number of software you can use to reduce the size of your graphics.

   ii. Always specify the dimensions of your graphics in your html coding. In your IMG tag be sure to specify the width and height of your graphics. This makes it easy for the web browser to load the page because it doesn't have to figure out the dimensions of the graphics.

5. Experiment with different colors on your pages. Measure and track the result of any little change you make. It has been reported that change in the color of a page layout increased conversion rate.
6. Do not use Pop-ups for displaying your vital information. For example, your shipping rates. Though Pop-ups can be effective in drawing attention to vital information, it is not worth taking the chance. With all the free Popup blockers offered by most toolbars and software companies it will be counter productive to display your vital information in a Popup only to have it blocked. Displaying information in Pop-ups could seriously reduce your conversion rate. Instead use banners that will display a strong call to action.
7. Include a progress indicator on each page to your order page so that your customer knows at what stage he is. You can number the pages or steps and clearly describe each step so that the customer can easily move back and forth through your pages.
8. Make it automatic so that when the shipping info is same as the billing info, the customer doesn't have to fill the same information twice.
9. Because of credit card concerns, not all customers will want to order using credit cards. Offer other forms of payment, check, fax, phone etc.
10. Display critical information at the check out page. Information like warranties, guarantees, shipping costs, testimonials, return policies, after sales service, support service etc.
11. Develop a system whereby if a visitor abandons the checkout process for whatever reason after providing an email address, your system immediately emails the visitor offering an incentive to tell why the process was not completed. This happened to me. I abandoned purchase when the order page could not load due to my unsteady internet connection. I promptly received an email from the company. I later went back to the site to purchase the item.
12. If you are selling tangible product use high quality pictures. Since the visitor cannot touch or smell the product, it is essential to provide a top quality picture that will look like the physical product.
13. Include the number of days the customer will have to wait for the order. If possible provide tracking of the order. All these help to make the customer comfortable and close the sale.

THE SUBSCRIPTION CONVERSION RATE.

This is simply calculated by dividing the number of subscriptions (subscribers) by the total number of visitors for that period and multiplying by 100. This gives the percentage of visitors that subscribed.

Example, if the total number of visitors in the month is 9000 and 300 visitors subscribed. Your conversion rate would be 300 / 9000 x 100 = 3.3 %

Getting visitors to subscribe to your newsletter or ezine depends on where the visitor had seen the offer to subscribe. If you are promoting a subscription page, then your description must be enticing enough to lure surfers to visit your page. That is, if they are coming from search engines,ads etc. Most times people will only give their email address when they are sure they will get some quality stuff from your newsletter. If they are already at your site and it is a quality site then you may require little persuasion to get them to subscribe.

How to improve the subscription conversion rate.

1. Make sure your privacy policy is clearly stated.
2. Highlight the benefits of your newsletter to the subscriber. State plainly the high points of your newsletter. Direct your visitor to a good issue in your archives.
3. Provide a valuable free gift. Example a free ebook or report.
4. If you are providing a free ebook or report, tell the visitor what is special about your own because there are a thousand and one free ebooks and reports on the internet so why should yours be different. For me I usually get a high conversion rate from surfers seeing the articles I post at various article sites on the internet. They become interested when they see the quality of the articles.
5. Change the position of your subscription form. From upper left to upper right. Then recalculate the conversion rate. Compare the result of the two positions. Try other positions until you get the position where conversion is highest.

DOWNLOAD CONVERSION RATE.

This rate shows you how many of your visitors (in percentage) are downloading your software or ebook or whatever you have presented for download. It is obtained by dividing the number of downloads by the number of visitors to your download page. Example, you had 4000 visitors to your download page for the month and 300 downloaded your software your conversion rate is:

300 / 4000 x 100 = 7.5%

you will need to install a script at your site to monitor the download. You can get a free download monitor script at http://www.focalmedia.net/

How to improve your download conversion rate:

1. Write a compelling copy emphasizing the benefits to your visitors of whatever you are offering for download. Then make a bold call to action .example, Download Now or Start Download.


2. Download should start with the first or second click. That is do not make the download page more than two clicks away from the introductory page.


3. Make it clear to the visitor that it is a free, trial or demo download. You could list the features and benefits of the download in a Popup window. That is the popup is activated when a link is clicked and not by itself.


4. Put your download button at the top of your page with the main menu. Alternatively, you can put it at the left hand side navigation links.


5. If it is a free report in PDF make the download start when the download link is clicked. It is some times frustrating when PDF download opens up in the browser.

CONVERSION RATE FOR CLICKING ON A LINK.

Sometimes a web page is written where the main aim is for visitors to click on a particular link. The link could be an affiliate link, or a link to another page or even an email link. You have to install a script to monitor these clicks. There are many click trackers on the internet . You can get a free click tracker script at http://www.focalmedia.net/ . The conversion rate is the number of clicks on the link divided by the number of visitors to the page. Example, if the total number of visitors are 6000 and the number of clicks 1500. Then the conversion rate will be 1500 / 6000 x 100 = 25%

How to improve this conversion rate:

1. One effective way to improve conversion rate for clicking on a link is to put the link in the content. This is called in content link. The text link flows with your write up. Visitors are more likely to click on such a link than one that is not in content.
2. The text link should clearly indicate to the visitor what to do or what to expect after clicking on the link. You are sure to get a more favorable response this way.
3. If the link is an affiliate link do not use the long affiliate links provided by affiliate merchants. They are often long and too obvious get clicked less times. Get a script that will shorten the affiliate link you can download a script at home business ideas. Make your links bold.

CONVERSION RATE FOR AFFILIATE SITES.

Affiliate sites need two conversion rates to succeed. One on the affiliate's site, the other on the merchant's site. The first is within the affiliate's control while the second is not. So to succeed in affiliate marketing the affiliate has to choose a merchant with good conversion rates. The merchant should show proof of conversion rates. Or you can calculate how many visitors you sent to the merchant's site and how many converted (that is, resulted into sales).

Conversion on affiliate sites largely depends on traffic. As a matter of fact, you need a lot of traffic to succeed as an affiliate. With little traffic your conversion will be almost nonexistent and there will not be enough data to show a consistent conversion rate. For example you might make a sale after 10 visitors to your site and make the next sale after 2000 visitors. This is not consistent. The first sale after 10 visitors might have been a motivated buyer. Which means you were lucky. You need more than luck to succeed in affiliate business.

How to improve conversion rates on affiliate sites:

1. Build traffic to your site.
2. Effective pre-selling. An affiliate tries to persuade a visitor to click on an affiliate link. He has to pre-sell the product properly. Emphasizing the benefits of the product to the visitor. Building on the emotions of the visitor and leading him to click. Research has shown that most buying decisions are influenced by emotions.


3. Get your visitor to subscribe to your newsletter. With the traffic you are generating you do not want to miss out on the other visitors who do not buy. Provide an opportunity for them to subscribe so that you can still pre-sell again and again through your ezine or newsletter.


4. Provide very few choices for your visitor. Do no clutter your page with all kinds of offers. This makes the visitor to be undecided and may lead to frustration. Promote one or two product per page. Write your best review of the product.


5. Own the product you promote. This way you are able to give real life experiences about the product or service. It more believable when writing reviews from experience and this increases conversion rates.

CONCLUSION:

Calculating your conversion rates would be meaningless if you cannot determine whether you are improving or not. Stick to a period of test and be consistent. Example, one month, two weeks etc. Whichever is suitable for you. Calculate for that period. Compare with the previous period or the next period. Make changes to your pages and test again. By testing you will know what works.

Also if there is any industry standard conversion rate (especially for the sales conversion rate), compare your rate to the industry standard. By comparing you will know whether you are doing well or not. Or you can set objectives for yourself. Set a reasonable conversion rate that you want to attain within a certain period and go for it.

About the Author:

Salihu Ibrahim, has been earning his living online since 2000. One of his sites at http://www.autoresponders4all.com/ offers completely free autoresponder service for webmasters to put their businesses on autopilot.

SEO Web Content: Good Writing, Good Business

By Joel Walsh

There's a deadly myth about search engine optimization and writing for the web: that good SEO and good writing don't go together.

As a website copywriter, I hear this myth repeated back to me all the time by new clients and prospects. "Don't bother search-engine-optimizing the content," they say. "Just make sure it is well written and the keywords will flow naturally into the content." Or, they repeat the words of so many self-styled gurus: "don't write for the search engines, write for the people who will be reading what you write."

If you're one of the people who believe there's a conflict of interest between search engines and humans, you're operating under two misconceptions:

* Misconception 1: you know more about what people want to read on the web than the search engines do.

* Misconception 2: you or your writer will just naturally write the content that people or search engines want, without consciously trying to meet their demands.

Why Search Engines Know More about Your Website Visitors than You

"I want a well-written web page, not a list of keywords." It frightens me a bit when I hear this, since it demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of what search engines do.

A search engine is not simply a massive find function, like the one in the "Edit" menu of Microsoft applications. It does not just pull up any page that has the keyword in it X number of times. If it did, all pages that show up on search engine results would simply contain a list of the keywords.

Ultimately, writing for the search engines means writing for web surfers. Think about it: services like Google thrive on giving people the pages they want to read. If they consistently failed to give people what they wanted, people would stop using them.

What Your Website's Visitors Want to Read

Most of the time, people don't want to read on the web. Reading on a screen hurts the eyes. It doesn't help that a lot of web pages make it harder with text that's too small, backgrounds that are colored rather than white, and lots of extraneous graphics.

Besides, when it comes to reading matter, there is an overabundance of choice on the web, more than any library on earth. Of that, an unfortunate amount isn't worth reading. Time must be rationed.

In fact, people treat a web page much as a search engine does: they scan it. In particular, they scan it for the keywords they entered into the search engine. If they arrived via a link from another website, they are still looking for words and phrases related to their interest--which are generally the same as the keywords people enter into search engines.

In short, Nobel-prize-winning literature makes bad web content. You have to write specifically for the web. That's why the web hasn't fueled much of a resurgence in the short story or other literary writing, dashing many hopes. Ebook versions of paper books have also disappointed expectations.

Newspapers are the only paper publications that have made a smooth online transition, precisely because they are written in short, to-the-point paragraphs that are easy to scan.

Still Think Good SEO Web Content Makes for Bad Reading?

You've just read almost to the end of a piece of search-engine-optimized web content. This article was optimized for the keywords, "SEO," "search engine," "search engines," "keyword," "keywords," "search engine optimization," and "writing."

The keywords were present in headings and throughout the content. The content itself is easy to scan: paragraphs of one-three sentences, broken up by sub-headings every four paragraphs or so.

Naturally, those keywords are too broad for this page to have a chance of ranking high in search engines for them. But this page will get some of the atypical search keywords that account for as many as half of all searches. So, if someone types in a phrase like, "keyword writing search engine optimized content," this page would have a pretty good chance of showing up.

To be sure, this article is on the long side for a web page. Most people won't even scan more than 600 words of text; 250-500 is ideal.

But this article is destined primarily to be shown in an email newsletter, where attention spans are longer since people are more confident the source of the content can be trusted to repay their investment of time. Besides, as a well-structured page, it can be split into two or three pages according to the subheadings.

In short, there's much more to writing well for the web than just writing well. If you've had enough sense to have your web content written professionally, have enough sense to take the advice of most website copywriters: search-engine-optimization for keywords and good web writing are the same thing.

About The Author:

Joel Walsh is a professional content writer and founder of UpMarket Content, whose site offers information on getting great website content.

Hook Your Sales Letter Readers With Good Transition Sentences

By Alan Sharpe

Anglers in Maine catch trout using dry flies with barbless hooks. Unless they keep tension on the line all the way to the net, they lose the trout. Your sales letters must do the same. But how?

One secret to keeping busy business readers hooked is to use irresistible transition sentences. Transition sentences come at the end of one paragraph and the beginning of the next. Good transition sentences leave your readers hanging in a number of ways.

One of them is to tell your reader that a number of things are coming up, forcing your reader to transition to the next paragraph to learn what some of those things are. If you've ever listened to a person with a pronounced stutter, you know how hard it is to wait while that person completes a thought. Your prospects are the same. If you almost complete a thought at the end of one paragraph, they will begin reading the paragraph that follows to complete your thought. But that's not all.

Another way to keep your reader hooked throughout your copy is to end one paragraph with "that's not all" or a similar phrase. Or to start your next paragraph with the word "another." Each device shows the prospect that you have not finished, that the prospect has more to learn. And so the prospect keeps reading. And yes, there are some other hooks you might want to try.

You can start a paragraph with the word "you," the one word that prospects and customers never tire of seeing in print. Or you could try another proven tactic.

And that is starting a paragraph with the word "and." Read the Gospel of Mark in the Bible sometime. It's one of my favorite books. You'll find the narrative almost impossible to stop reading, it's so exciting. That's because the writer begins so many of his sentences with "and" that you are compelled to continue reading to discover what comes next. (I won't give away how the book ends. Read it and find out.) But there's another device that's just as powerful as the word "and." Do you know what it is?

It's the question mark. Put one at the end of one paragraph, with the answer at the beginning of the next paragraph, and you'll keep your readers headed towards your net.

So here's the one thing you need to remember. You've figured out by now that the secret to effective transition sentences is to keep your prospective buyer in a state of suspended satisfaction, one where they must keep reading your letter to the end before they feel gratified. And there's only one sure way of doing that.

About the author:

Alan Sharpe is a business-to-business direct mail copywriter who helps businesses attract new clients using direct mail marketing. Sign up for free weekly tips like this at
http://www.sharpecopy.com/newsletter