How Powerful Ad Copy Can Make You Drool Over a Bar of Bath Soap

By Drew Eric Whitman, D.R.S.

Dear Friend:

I have a nice head of hair.

And it's a good thing, too.

Because every so often I have a "discussion" with someone that leads me to rip much of it out.

For example...

I just got off the phone with a friend who I'm helping put together a brochure. He and his wife sell homemade soap. Very nice soaps, actually. Beautiful colors and fragrances. Some look like nice big, juicy hunks of watermelon. Others resemble fresh orange slices... bright lemon wedges... and meaty chunks of coconut.

Yum.

(Do you see what PVA's--Powerful Visual Adjectives--can do to your copy?)

OK... back to my hair ripping.

Oh, what the heck.... here's the dialogue, as I remember it...

DREW: Hey George... you guys have some wonderful soaps here. These fruity soaps are especially appealing. But why just say, "Orange-Scented Bar Soap?" Or, "Coconut- Scented Bar Soap?" Why not really get into it?

Why not compare the soaps to the freshest, juiciest slices of Mandarin or Florida oranges?

Why not talk about how washing your face with it is like splashing your skin with liquid sunshine?

How the aroma reminds you of walking in the sunny, breezy orange fields of Florida?

And your coconut soap! Yum! Why just say, "Smells like coconut"? Why not compare it to the freshly cut coconuts in the sun-soaked western Caribbean... reminiscent of the milky white meaty centers and the sweet, luscious juice?

GEORGE: That seems a little over the top, don't you think? After all, we're not selling food... we're selling SOAP!

DREW: UGH. (To myself.) Of course you're selling SOAP, George, but you want to create some romance... some imagery... something that people can latch onto. It's called SELLING.

GEORGE: All that doesn't seem necessary.

DREW: NECESSARY? NECESSARY?! It's not NECESSARY to sell soap, George! But if you ARE going to do it, why not do it well? Why not do it "aggressively?" Why not do more than your competition is doing? You're not the ONLY one in this business, you know.

GEORGE: Uh huh.

DREW: I want you to make a fortune with these soaps. They're great! But you need to do MORE than your competition. Don't you want to stand apart... stand out?

GEORGE: Well, if doing what you're saying was so great, why doesn't anyone else do it?

DREW: Why does McDonalds sell billions of dollars worth of burgers? It doesn't mean the people who eat all that cow grease are smart. It means they're simply doing what they're doing.

You can't go through life saying, "If others aren't doing it, why should I?" Most people DON'T do things the best possible way. They do what they THINK is best. And since most businesspeople don't know much about creating effective advertising, they DON'T do what could be most effective!

GEORGE: (Thinking.) (It sounds like a field of crickets.)

DREW: George, listen to me.

GEORGE: I AM listening!

DREW: You're selling specialized soap. You're not selling Ivory. Or Zest. Or Irish Spring. You're selling EXPENSIVE soap that has 2 things going for it:

1) It's visually beautiful, and.
2) It smells delicious.

To NOT play up the 2 things that make your soap so appealing is MISSING THE BOAT! People don't buy your soap because they simply need to get clean. They can get clean a lot more cheaply with a bar of plain old, eyeball-burnin' Ivory. (Ever get Ivory in your eyes? Death seems merciful.)

GEORGE: Yes... but.... people will know how it smells WHEN THEY BUY IT. Plus, everyone knows what oranges, coconuts and lemons smell like. They smell like oranges, coconuts and lemons.

DREW: (To self) Dear God, help me.

GEORGE: ... so why take all that space to describe it to people who already know?

DREW: Because it helps persuade!

Look at it this way, George: if someone sees your brochure... and that someone likes the smell of oranges... then she is going to be romanced by a description that's in keeping with what she likes.

(Read that again.)

It helps her imagine! It takes up more "space" in her brain by creating a mental movie of the product! Describe the juicy wedges... the sunny fields... the handpicking that goes on in the orchards... that sweet bursting of aroma when you peel one.

And don't stop there!

Create a deep mental hook with a phrase she won't be able to shake. Something like: "The Orange-Juicy Way to Wash!" or something similar. Don't call it "lather," call it "Sweet Orange-Cream Bubbles."

GEORGE: But won't people think that's a little manipulative?

DREW: It IS manipulative. And NO, they won't think that. Besides, ADVERTISING IS MANIPULATIVE! We manipulate people's thoughts. That's what it's all about. It's not EVIL, unless you're selling junk and your claims are misleading or downright false.

It's all about sales, George. And there are degrees of selling. Hey, let's face it: you can call yourself a SELLER if you simply have something you'll exchange for money. Or, you can be a
SKILLED seller and incorporate those things that have been PROVEN to encourage people to buy. It's your choice.

GEORGE: I hear what you're saying, DREW... but all those fancy descriptions. I can't get over the fact that we're just selling soap to use those kinds of descriptions.

DREW: (Looking at watch) Well, George... that's my advice. And I've been doing this for only 20+ years. I'm sure you'll do whatever you feel is right for you. Gotta run!

DREW: Sigh. (The sound of ripping brown hair.)

About the Author:

Drew Eric Whitman -- a.k.a. "Dr. Direct!(tm) -- has created powerfully effective advertising for small retail shops, to giant, multi-million dollar organizations, including Day-Timers, Texaco, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Automobile Association, Amoco, many others. He's the author of "How to Create Power-Packed Ads, Brochures & Sales Letters that Make Money NOW!" Visit him online at:
http://www.1automationwiz.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=212290

Strategic Internet Marketing Can Help Your Internet Business

By Andy West

Many businesses are popping up today and they want to expand. They want to take their product, service, or cause and bring it to the masses. As every business professional knows, the easiest and most effective way expand your business is through the use of the Internet. With such a vast expanse of information and the constant access to any number of potential customers, it is absolutely necessary to use the Internet to market your business. Because of this another marketing tool has evolved. Many new strategic Internet marketing firms have come into prominence and are now offering services to these businesses that were not previously afforded to them. Learning what strategic Internet marketing is exactly and how can it help your business will take some research. The answers are not all that complex and they are very important to your success.

A simple definition of strategic Internet marketing is that it is a technique for defining a potential market before you enter it. While this might be a very simplistic answer to a pretty advanced question, it is the basic building block upon which the Internet marketing industry is built. If you were to start a restaurant, hotel, or jewelry store without first looking into the possibilities within that market, you would probably fail miserably. The Internet is no different. If you want to start a business there, you must approach it as if it is a normal business. This means putting in the time and research to get things right. It also means that you probably want to hire professionals to determine what you can do within the market with your product. Some people like to look at the Internet as a huge world all its own, that you can cover the entire web at once with your product. It is actually very different. The Internet is more like a little nation, with different sects and towns liking different things. The right people will never make their way to your website if you do not put the right roads in front of them.

Through strategic Internet marketing, businesses can assess their possibilities and the reality of their situation. When that is done, it is possible to set goals and objectives for a business. In order for any business to be successful, it must have those high-water marks that it seeks to hit in order to be successful. By using a strategic Internet marketing firm, your business will know exactly what you are working with in a given market. From there, you can begin to formulate a business plan.

Strategic Internet marketing is a process that will allow you to not only define your company's goals on the Internet, but also decide who your customers are and how you will reach them. Marketing is all about specialization and getting the right information to the right people. By taking a deeper look at what the market might look like, your business professionals can work with a strategic Internet marketing firm in order to bring these potential customers into your grasp.

Strategic Internet marketing firms are a great way to get a leg up on the competition within your given market. It is important to utilize these great tools in order to be successful. Failing to prepare is almost certainly preparing to fail. Approach an Internet business just as your would any other new business venture. It should include a great business plan as well as some solid product promotion in order to be truly successful.

About The Author:

Andy West is a freelance writer for Vertical Measures. Vertical Measures is an Internet Marketing Company that can help you create a strategic Internet marketing plan for your business. For more information, please visit
http://www.verticalmeasures.com .

SEO Suitable For You

By Neoone

Optimization in deviating conversation plug in structure clean-cut changes on a lacework page to make the site or webpage improve its rankings in major search engines. These days most people like to spend time on the web and be online always. Business owners have come to realize that the web is the best place where one can market their goods and wares. So these days selling and buying goods through the web is hugely popular among the public. For doing this successfully search engine optimization is one aspect that you need to take proper care of. Search engines are the source through which people search for any kind of information on the web.

So if you want to be blooming on the lacework with your business, you extremity make active consummate that you procure proper search engine optimization of your business. Search engine optimization is nothing but the different measures which are adopted for making a site extremely popular on the web. The idea is to make the product to a brand so that everyone easily recognizes it be it on the web or anywhere else. The whole idea behind search engine optimization is to make online visitors buy goods from your business site. Search engines do not view or receive a site like humans do. To get recognition on the web, sites must get rankings and ratings from all major search engines.

Now if you are faraway a game it does not lousy that you leave be an clever in research engine upsurge as well. So the best thing that you can do for your business is the hire the services of am professional to do the search engine optimization work for you. This will work out to be an advantage for you in several ways. First you can get the services of a professional who is qualified to do the work. Undoubtedly he will do the work much better then anyone else. Second you will no longer have to lose sleep over thinking and planning how to go about doing Search Engine Optimization for your business.

Once you boost over the tour engine upturn life for your force to a professional, you will just have to review the work done on a periodically basis. Most search engine optimization specialists work in affordable rates, so you will not feel he pinch in your budget also if you hire their services. Every business is different and so the methods required for search engine optimization are also different. Whether your online business is a success or failure all depends on you. As a business owner, you are the best judge of the requirements of your business.

Make undeniable to diagram the palpable showdown in the vend and treasure out what methods commit give benefits to your business. Just because some other business has adopted certain search engine optimization strategies do not mean that the same will yield results for your business as well. You have to make a wise choice as a business owner as everything depends on this.

About The Author:

The author writes about a number of different topics visit http://www.shotdogs.info

Home Business Dream Can Turn Into Nightmare

By Dustin Cannon

Many people refer to operating a home business as having a dream job, but unless you are prepared for some of the common pitfalls it can quickly become a nightmare. It makes no difference the type of business you are operating there are some issues that are common to all of them, mostly regarding your self-discipline and the understanding of others that can ruin a perfectly good opportunity.

First, you will need to realize that although you are at home you are still at work. Every time you get the urge to take care of some household chore you need to think of yourself as not really being at home and whatever that shore is will have to wait until the end of your workday. The same is true for family and friends who believe that since you are at home, you have the time to do whatever they feel is important.

It will not take long for you to lose focus quickly on your home business job, which usually leads to failure, if you allow outside influences to adjust your work attitude. Being able to conduct your business with the understanding that location is irrelevant, and the job must be completed. It may help to retain any routine you had prior to starting your home business and had to leave the house every day.

You will need to establish a work schedule, allowing time for breaks and lunch, and then go to your office and get your work done. At first the tendency may be to enjoy some of that freedom to set your own hours, but when the rest of the family is counting on you to be home from work and you are still sitting in the office, the luster of having a home business may start to fade.

About The Author:

Dustin Cannon is owner of
http://www.NicheArticleClub.com and writes on a variety of subjects related to home business. To learn more about home business Dustin recommends that you visit: http://www.home-business.com

Directory Submission Services May Be The Holy Grail For Better Business Online

By Markus Skupeika

What Internet Marketing Firms Did not Tell you for Getting Ranked?

How can your business web site make you cash flow monthly without really having to invest in to much of SEO work?

What Internet marketing experts don't tell people is the details of the process.. Mostly because they are trade secrets and keep search engine marketers very busy in the business world.. But what you can find out is one thing that most Internet marketing firms will not really elaborate on.

What most Internet Marketing Firms do not elaborate on.

A simple and great solution to get your site ranked is using directory submissions services. You may want to do it yourself but it is recommended to really outsource this service to companies who have the man-power to do this manually. Man power as about 10 people in a room submitting to directories.

Directory Submission services are very beneficial because of the following reasons.

When you submit to a directory there are tons of other people searching throughout those directories. This is additional free traffic and promotion to your site. By simply taking the time to fill in the information correctly you can be approved with a link back to your site.

Why do you want a link back to your site from a Directory?

When you receive a link back from your site; that counts as a vote in the Search Engines eyes. The more votes you receive the better opportunity you will rank. Now within the title you submit to directories, that title should be a key phrase you would like to rank for.

When Google passes over that directory and find your site with the "Key phrase" that gives you a vote for that key phrase.

The more votes with a similar key-phrase the more opportunity of ranking.

Simple and Proven Directory Submission Services

It is important that you do not over submit with the same key phrase.
Google will notice this and actually penalize your site.

How do we get around Penalization from Google?

Simply using a service that has manual directory submission services and does not submit using the same title to thousands of directories. Be sure the Directory Submission Service offers you multiple titles, descriptions, and keywords for you to enter when signing up for the service.

If you would like manual directory submission services for your web site feel free to submit to our submission center to get you ranking fast and affordably.

About The Author:

If you would like manual
http://www.dwenterprise.com/directory-submission-services for your web site feel free to submit to our submission center Free information and tools from http://www.floridaseoguy.com

3 Commonly Asked Questions About Affiliate Management

By Alice Seba

People have all kinds of questions about starting their own affiliate program and it's always a good idea to be prepared. Starting and managing your own affiliate program isn't something that can be done on the fly. It takes carefully preparation and planning, but the results are well worth it. Here are 3 commonly asked questions:

Question 1: How much commission should I offer in my affiliate program?

How much you offer will depend on the amount you can afford, taking into consideration the lifetime value of a customer, what your competition is doing and how attractive you can make your offer.

As a general statement, information products usually have a higher commission rate - often between 25-50% with the higher end being more common. Consumer products with smaller profit margins can be as low as 5%, but don't often go above 20%.

But what you charge should be based on your own unique business. Here are some more things to help you come to a decision:

Sometimes it's okay to pay a bit more for a first-time customer who will buy from you over and over again.

Always see what your competition is offering. You don't have to get into a commission war, just be sure to make your program very attractive through good conversion rates, unique and useful promotional tools and other attractive features.


Question 2: What kind of affiliate tools should I provide to my affiliates?

The simplest answer is: Give them what they want.

Talk to your affiliates and see what they need to serve their unique audience needs, and where possible, provide it to them.

For hard-hitting promotions, you can craft email copy, conduct live teleseminars with content and sales pitch, special reports, etc.

For the content-starved webmaster (and there are plenty out there), give them things like articles, free ebooks and other informational content.

The important thing is to listen to your affiliates and watch which tools convert best.


Question 3: Q: Can I have an affiliate program with a service-based business?

Sure you can. If you have a profit margin or a lifetime customer value that allows you to pay commissions, certainly.

If you have services available that are at a set price, it's easy to automate everything and run your program, just like a product-based one.

If you charge by the hour or have to give project estimates, it's a little tougher to automate completely.

Here are a few options:

- Have a script that can track who referred your potential client to you. Ex. Affiliate recommends your service through a tracking link. Potential client clicks the link, checks out your website and fills out a form for more information. Your system tells you who referred the client and if they purchase your services, you can give the affiliate a commission.

- You could do it as a pay-per-lead opportunity where the affiliate is paid a smaller fee for every person that fills out the form for more information. This would be easy to automate in most affiliate systems that can handle pay-per-lead transactions.

- Don't want to go with a full-blown affiliate program? You can institute a client referral program where you simply allow your clients to recommend your service, in return for credit for services. When a new client comes to you, you ask where they heard about you and you add a credit to your referring client's account

An affiliate force is an incredibly powerful thing and when you consider you don't have to pay affiliates anything until they produce results for you, it's one of the best deals going in Internet marketing today. Plan your program well and you'll soon have your own active force of affiliates bringing you new customers every day.

About The Author:

For more answers to your questions about starting and running your own profitable affiliate program that your affiliates will love, claim your copy of Alice Seba's step-by-step Affiliate Manager Sweetie course at http://www.affiliatemanagersweetie.com

Building Links To Your Website - How To Do It - And How Not To Do It

By David Bain

Back-link building or creating inbound links has become a great preoccupation for web masters and search engine optimization professionals. Backlinks or inbound links are links found on another web site that would lead anyone clicking it to your web site. Backlinks have grown so important that software for auto linking have become just one of the many link building tools in the search engine optimization arsenal.

--- Why are inbound links so important ---

Links leading to your site create the impression that your web site has something worthy and relevant to say and offer. It doesn't matter whether or not you agree with this generalization. The search engines do - and that's what matters! In the formula - the algorithm - that search engine use to quantify whether or not a web page is important, relevant links into that page is extremely important.

Inbound links from quality and relevant web sites give your site high link popularity ratings and the search engines will let this count towards your page ranking. The more inbound links you have from these quality and relevant web sites, the higher your link popularity becomes, and the more they enhance your total page ranking.

--- Valuable inbound links ---

Let's now talk about the quality and relevance of the web sites from which you should obtain these backlinks. A web site is quality web site when it has a high link popularity and page rank itself. The more reputable the web site is, the higher its quality and the more valuable it would be to have an inbound link from that site to your web site.

--- Build links from relevant web sites ---

A relevant web site is one that operates in a similar or the same industry as yours. Say you are running a web site that sells antiques. In this case, inbound links from other online antiques stores or web sites that provide information on antiques are more relevant than inbound links from pet shops as an example.

You have to remember that the quality and relevance of your inbound links are more important than quantity of inbound links. Of course the ideal arrangement would be to have many quality and relevant links, but failing that, you should aim for quality and relevant backlinks rather than countless weak inbound links.

--- Reciprocal linking ---

Some web masters solicit inbound links from other web masters through reciprocal linking. Reciprocal linking happens when one web site contains a link to another web site that also contains a link back to the former web site. This was the ideal arrangement for web site administrators were are having a hard time obtaining inbound links; that is, however, until search engines became more aware of the practice.

Now, search engines consider inbound links and outbound links together when grading link popularity and page ranking. The former raises your score while the latter often actively dilutes it. This new scoring system could be detrimental to web sites whose SEO strategy hinges on reciprocal linking without consideration to the quality and relevance of the other web sites it's reciprocally linked to. If your web sites are linked to unpopular and irrelevant web sites, then the inbound links that these generate do not count much, if at all. On the other hand, the outbound links that point to these same web sites would still be counted against you. The result is decreased link popularity and page ranking.

--- Link farms and site interlinking ---

To obtain inbound links, some web masters have stooped to building web pages or sites that provide only one-way links to other web pages or sites. Others have created other web sites which are heavily linked to the original web site. Creation of link farms is intentional SEO practice while site interlinking usually is mere ignorant practice. However, both of these practices are unacceptable backlink building strategies that have corresponding consequences.

--- The link building problem ---

Search Engines are becoming more and more aware of 'underhand' practices from Search Engine Optimization companies who artificially raise the prominence of their clients' websites by obtaining links from low reputable sources. Although this may help in the short-term, it could result in a high number of penalties being applied to the website that is being artificially lifted.

--- The link building solution ---

There is only one way to build links to your website in a manner that will be respected by search engines in the longer term. And that's the quality orientated slow and steady approach. Any other way could significantly harm your online business in the future.

About The Author:

David Bain is founder of the internet marketing training company http://www.PurpleInternetMarketing.com. Purple Internet Marketing offers Internet marketing seminars, One-to-one Internet Marketing Training and provide E-Business Strategy Consulting. Visit their site today to find out more.

Basic Search Engine Optimization - Beyond The Mystery And Right To The Facts

By Tim Whiston

Search engine optimization has long been the Holy Grail of Web marketing. Every website owner wants to see their sites rank well in the top engines, but exactly how to achieve this remains a mystery for most marketers.

The first thing I want to point out is this fact: The exact algorithms used by the major search engines are actually proprietary, so anyone who doesn't work for one of these companies who tells you they know exactly what it takes to put you at the top is probably lying to you.

The truth is the search engine companies don't want people like me understanding their systems and creating positive results for my clients. The people behind search engine technology believe their algorithms provide the perfect solution for a Web surfer's query.

But of course you and I know better. How many times have you tried to do a simple keyword search and ended up with page after page of irrelevant results?

Whether they like it or not, the search engines do need help from proficient designers and skilled marketers. It's up to us to add the human element that robots and software simply can't accomplish in an effort to bring searchers the best possible results.

SEO (search engine optimization) is a term with a very broad scope. There is a great deal of work and diligence involved in producing favorable search results for your website(s), but this article will take away much of the mystery that shrouds this subject and give you the basic fundamentals you'll need to create some real results.

First of all, you should know there are two aspects of search engine optimization; onsite and offsite. Onsite optimization refers to what you can do within your code to make your files more search engine friendly, and offsite refers to link building from other websites back to your web
pages.

Solid onsite optimization involves the following steps:

Title and Meta Tags:

Your title tag should reflect your primary keyword phrase. This is HUGELY important.

Often when I visit a site I see the domain name in the title bar. The title tag is the first thing a search engine robot is going to take notice of, and if you blow this aspect of onsite optimization your remaining efforts will have considerably less impact.

For instance, on one of my sites I sell an e-book to online marketers about the pitfalls of business opportunity programs found on the web. The title of my e-book is Net Marketing Exposed, which is pretty cool, but do you think this would be an intelligent entry for the Title tag of my main page? Of course not. Who on earth is going to search for 'Net Marketing Exposed'?

So my title tag reads: Internet Marketing E-book Internet Business Opportunity. My target market for the site I'm referencing consists of home-based opportunity seekers and Internet marketers so I have chosen keyword phrases that match these search terms for my Title tags.

And note you can use the pipe character ( ) to separate multiple terms in your title tag. I recommend going with at least two phrases in your title tag, but do not use the exact same words more than three times in your title.

The debate as to whether or not search engines still reference your meta tags when spidering your site is a hot topic among SEO experts. I honestly don't know if the major engines still read the keyword tag or not, but I add this tag anyway because it only takes a couple of minutes and why not take this extra step just in case right?

Whether or not you utilize the Meta Keywords tag is up to you but I do urge you to use the Meta Description tag. We know for a fact the engines read this tag because if you have it entered in the head section of your html it is what displays under your site title in the search listings.

So the description tag serves not only to add keyword relevance for the search engine spiders, it also acts as your ad when a searcher views your listing in the search results. Adding a quality description in this field can improve the clickthrough rate your listing receives once it is found through a keyword search.

Search engine Friendly File Names:

I recommend naming your page files in a manner that reflects your relevant keyword phrases. If you have a page that lists your articles on your site name that file articles.html instead of something useless like page02.html

Of course the main page in every directory will have to be named index, but that's ok as the engines are hip to that; just be sure to put some thought into your other file names.

Header Tags and Page Content:

You should also use Header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to illustrate important keyword phrases within your site. For example, the page title your visitor sees at the top of your content should be enclosed in H1 tags and should contain your primary keywords.

And obviously your main keywords need to appear several times in the content of each page. Placing these phrases close to the top of your content is recommended, and you should use underline, bold, and italic tags to add emphasis to your keywords within your content.

I have found the 'strong' tag to be of particular effectiveness. While on a visual level it serves the same purpose as the 'b' tag (creates bold text) my research suggests that search engine spiders respond better to the 'strong' tag.

Be careful not to emphasize every keyword phrase with special tags, and avoid excessive and unnatural "stuffing" of keywords onto your pages as the engines may pick this up and flag your site as search engine spam.

Image Tags:

Many designers and marketers ignore the value of proper image tagging when optimizing their templates for the engines. I can tell you right now I have seen a huge jump in ranking as a direct result of changing the structure of a site's image tags.

First of all, remember that search engine robots read text, not images. So avoid giving your image files names like 'header.jpg' or 'photo014.gif' unless you are hoping to be ranked for search terms like header and photo.

You should also be sure to use an alt tag with every image, and enter a keyword relevant phrase as your alt tag.

Going back to my e-book site as an example, my header graphic is named
http://internet-business-opportunity.jpg, and has an alt tag of "Internet marketing e-book reveals the truth about Internet business opportunities." And the cover graphic for my book is named
http://internet-marketing-ebook.jpg with a matching alt tag.

Onsite Link and Navigation Structure:

Finally pay attention to the anchor tags and navigation structure of your site. It's better to use keyword terms for a hyperlink text than to simply use 'click here'. I also suggest applying the Title attribute to add keyword phrases to your link tags.

Of course if you use image links refer back to the image name and alt tag rules.

And your menu should also be built around search engine friendly tags. For instance never use a 'Home Page' tag on your navigation; instead apply a relevant keyword.

If your website is about swimming lessons, the menu button for your home page should say 'Swimming Lessons' or something similar and not simply 'Home'.

This may seem like a lot to take in, but it's really a very simple formula for building search engine ready templates. Review this info until it is second nature and apply it to every site you build and you'll be on your way to stronger placement in the major engines.

The last, and the most important element of basic SEO is offsite optimization. This is a fancy term for link building.

To get the most out of your onsite optimization, you need plenty of good links pointing back to your website. And you should always strive for keyword anchored backlinks over straight URLs.

Again using my example site that retails an e-book to folks with an interest in work from home opportunities, I want hyperlink text that reads "Internet marketing e-book" or "Internet business opportunity".

A correctly built link back allows you to control what search engine spiders look for once they follow a link to your site. Once they arrive through an anchor tag that reflects your primary keywords, the spiders will proceed to look for these terms in your file tags and page content, which will of course improve your potential rankings.

This article has covered everything you need to get started with successful SEO. Master these concepts and you are certain to see a big jump in your search engine rankings!

About The Author:

Tim Whiston is a full-time entrepreneur who helps small businesses and indivual professionals develop a profitable web presence for their ventures. Have a look at his Website Design Service to find powerful and cost-effective solutions for your business.
http://www.timwhiston.com

Pay Per Click Advertising Does Help Bring Traffic To Your Site

By David Fishman

Why use Pay Per Click advertising? Using Pay Per Click advertising you can measure and statistically calculate ROI in a market within a few days for hardly any money. The popularity of pay per click advertising has generated plenty of interest from online and offline businesses.

Both pay-per-click and SEO are targeted to get your website placed as close to the top of search engine results as possible. In the pay-per-click world, your business depends on first impressions. Webmasters with open wallets have found that pay-per-click can provide traffic within hours or even minutes of a website's launch. When looking to advertise online one of the best advertising for your money is pay per click, since you only pay when some clicks, and if a potential customer clicks they are interested in your product.

PPC ads are found on websites, search engines and advertising networks these ads show up as text ads and appear on the sites, these ads will adjust themselves to what ever the theme is of each page. Of course, there's really a lot more to a successful PPC campaign, but that's it in a nutshell. The benefits of PPC are numerous.

Since there are so many companies on the World Wide Web you need to make your site and product stand out above all others. One marketing technique is to be listed in search engines -but again, with thousands of companies offering the same products and services as you, how can your scream for attention be heard.

Now, there any more cost effective marketing method. 1: Using Pay Per Click Advertising is a very inexpensive way of advertising. One thing that matters the most is how many visitors or should we say targeted visitors you can get to your site, the more qualified they are the more sales you will make. The biggest stumbling block for most home business owners is marketing their business.

When advertise on search engines you purchase clicks, you pay for only clicks you receive. When you look at search engine results and rankings don't believe all these results are from free traffic, many gurus use paid advertising to get the results they want and to get to the front page of the search engines. Businesses buy advertising on specific search phrases, and are then charged each time a person clicks through to their web site. Using the pay per click advertising you can get your site up to the top 10 in no time.

Pay per click advertising companies provide targeted traffic to your website, meaning everybody who comes to your website are looking for your products or services. Its very easy to place a pay per click ad, find the keywords your want to use, write the ad header and the body, put your link in and choose the amount of money you want to spend.

In order to get the most from PPC campaign, you have to know what keywords are going to work best for your field and what keywords are going to generate the most traffic. Choosing to bid on the right keywords can be the key to your pay per click success. Choosing the wrong keywords will negate even the most well planned Pay Per Click.

About The Author:

David Marc Fishman created
http://www.myarticlezine.com and http://www.vwutt.com sites. He offers free membership to create link exchanges at http://www.linknetics.com.

Bells And Whistles - Does Your Site Really Need Them?

By Tim Whiston

Current graphics technology is awesome, and I love a good video game. But market testing has proven websites that go overboard with graphic design and special effects actually convert far fewer sales than sites with clean, attractive layouts that do not interfere with the most important element - the content!

I hate it when I come to a site looking for a product or service and I can't get past the streaming video intro. I also hate it when a fat audio file loads on every page I navigate, or when the flash elements and high-tech animations make it hard to find the order button.

Believe it or not I'm saying this as a professional web designer. And guess what?

According to multiple independent studies the average Internet consumer agrees with me!

It's a fact - sites with too many bells and whistles will actually drive your customers away before they have a chance to soak up your offer or at least subscribe to your opt-in list. As a rule, I don't even recommend flash as a viable media for direct response marketing.

Look at some of the most productive retail sites in any niche and you'll find clean, appealing graphics. But these visual creatives will not overshadow the most important element of all. the site's content!

Unless you are marketing a video game, a movie, or sophisticated animation software/design service, it's the content that generates sales and not the bells and whistles that turn your site into a digital carnival.

Don't get me wrong, both audio and video elements can have a tremendous impact on your conversions; but not if these features are presented in place of quality sales copy and plenty of solid consumer information.

High-tech design solutions should be applied in a way that compliments your content. Your marketing message should never be upstaged by visual theatrics or dazzling sound effects unless you're in the business of selling such effects to site owners who don't know any better.

Regardless of how far technology advances it is highly unlikely the average consumer will ever stop demanding quality content prior to his or her purchase of your product or service. So lead with your message and let the special effects blend in and compliment your content delivery.

Keep the balance between graphic design and strong copy, and your visitors will be far more likely to stick around and give you the chance to close the deal.

About The Author:

Tim Whiston is a full-time entrepreneur who helps small businesses and individual professionals develop a profitable web presence for their ventures. Have a look at his Website Design Service to find powerful and cost-effective solutions for your business. http://www.timwhiston.com

Don't Compete For The Most Popular Keywords

By Roy Carter

A common mistake that website owners make when trying to drive traffic to their sites, is to try to compete for the most popular keywords within their niche.

Let the novices fight over these keywords. They will have virtually zero chance of getting on to page 1 of the major search engines because every man and his dog is trying to use the most popular and competitive search terms.

Just because the Overture/Yahoo keyword selection tool, or Wordtracker says there are no searches for a particular keyword or keyword phrase, that does NOT mean that nobody is using that keyword phrase to look for your product or service.

The above mentioned tools are a first port of call for hundreds of thousands of website owners. However, that means that the keywords that are thrown up are used by thousands of people as well, making them extremely competitive.

Those tools are also skewed in favour of USA results, simply because there are more people in the USA using the tools than anywhere else.

Let me give you an example...

One of the websites that I own is to do with moving to Cyprus to live.

If you type 'Moving to Cyprus' into the Overture/Yahoo keyword selection tool it reports that virtually nobody is using that keyword phrase.

That's because very few people in the USA are looking to move to Cyprus to live.

However, more than a million people a year from the UK and Europe are thinking about moving to another country to live and Cyprus rates in the top 10 destinations that they are considering (Australia is first and Spain second, USA third etc).

The lesson to be learned here is that I get a lot of traffic to my various sites from keyword phrases that are given a zero or low score by these commonly used tools.

So, if you think of a keyword phrase that you think YOU would use for a particular search, don't decide against using it, just because these tools return a supposedly low result.

While others are fighting over the most popular search terms, you can be working smart and driving traffic to your sites using keywords that are being totally ignored by others.

Remember...Work smart not hard!

regards,
Roy Carter

About The Author:

No.1 on Google out of 59,400,000 results. Want To Drive Massive Traffic To YOUR Website The Easy Way? Work Smart Not Hard!
http://www.TrafficMadeEasy.com

What Is Pay-Per-Click? When To Use It - And When Not To

By Robert Fuess

The only way to really guarantee top placement is to use pay-per-click advertising. (This is an advertising mechanism in which you pay for every click of a potential customer.) Most search engines offer this on a bidding basis, and if it generates more money than you spend on it, it can be sound business advise. In most cases, you would DO THIS LAST - after you optimize your web site and implement other promotional techniques. If you do an effective job with your website optimization and promotion, you may already come up top naturally and not have to use pay-per-click for several keywords. (This is expecially true for MSN or Yahoo.) Or if you choose to make a big (temporary) advertising campaign while you are optimizing (and have the money for this), then you may consider this.

Some keywords will cost more than others, depending on competition. Some will generate more paying customers than others. Do the math as you go along. Figure out the return on investment. This is seldom a one shot deal and often takes a few months of tweaking to get the optimum pay-per-click bid amount for the different keywords.

YOU WILL FIND SEO COMPANIES THAT GUARANTEE YOU TOP PLACEMENT FOR YOUR FAVORITE KEYWORDS. THIS IS HOW THEY DO IT. They use pay-per-click as part of the package and point to the pay-per-click listing, showing you your top placement. The natural links are normally much cheaper in the long run, since once you achieved a top ranking without pay-per-click you will have a steady stream of customers without having this kind of per-click fee.

Google is, of course, an exception. For the first year you will not likely rank for most of your desired keywords despite any valiant efforts on your part. During this period, I would encourage using Google's pay-per-click (AdWords). Although Google is the slowest to recognize your natural ranking - it will give the greatest return in the long run. While you do this - use the information they give you while you manage your pay-per-click keywords. See what is used most often - and what gives you the most sales (conversions). They have tools to help you with that.

ANY SEO FIRM that promises or guarantees top placement for competitive keywords is either selling you pay-per-click or is being boastful. Be wary with your money. You don't need an SEO
expert to sign up for pay-per-click. You may use one to help you find the right keywords or perhaps to handle optimization techniques. If they are selling you a package, pay-per-click is
often a justifiable part of it. However, don't let such a promise be a decision factor in selecting an SEO expert.

About the Author:

Robert Fuess is a veteran website designer who specializes in making dynamic search engine optimized websites.
http://www.SpiderwebLogic.com http://www.SchoolAndTeacher.com

Copywriting Makeover: Distinction and Benefits

By Karon Thackston

In part 1 of this series (seen here:
http://www.marketingwords.com/articles/articles_subtlechanges.html), we were introduced to kneelsit.com, an Australian manufacturer of ergonomic computer chairs who was in search of a high conversion rate. After spotting several trouble areas within Kneelsit's original copy (viewable here:
http://www.copywritingcourse.com/kneelsit-home-original.html), I set out to rewrite the home page with specific goals in mind.

The Rewrite

I really felt for the users of these chairs. They had back problems and medical issues, trying desperately to find relief. I can only imagine how it must feel to sit in pain all day, every day. And, after seeing so many false claims for other chairs, I could understand how they might be skeptical. So, after reading the new home page copy, I wanted the site visitors to have confidence, to see the difference in the Kneelsit chair and to understand the benefits this chair would offer.

Of course, those in chronic pain were not the only visitors to the Kneelsit site. While they were the primary segment, the audience also consisted of those with mild back pain, those with inconsistent problems or simple fatigue, and those who simply wanted a comfortable chair that wouldn't contribute to any future back problems. The copy also needed to meet their needs and provide the information they were seeking.

You can see the revised copy here:
http://www.copywritingcourse.com/kneelsit-home-new.pdf.

The Headline

The original headline did, in fact, list benefits. It stated:

Superb Comfort, Perfect Posture, Gentle Movement, Natural Balance

However, only one of those benefits spoke to audience members. Superb Comfort. While posture may have been a secondary thought, gentle movement and natural balance didn't strike a chord simply because of a lack of knowledge. As it happens, these two benefits are important, but the general population doesn't understand what they mean. It would require educating the site visitors about these two before they would grasp their full meaning. That education couldn't take place within the headline (not enough room!), so those two benefits needed to be removed.

The headline needed to evoke feelings of trust for the skeptical and a sense of stability for the hesitant. It also needed to provide an obvious benefit - one that would catch the reader's attention.

Also, because it made sense to do so, I included one keyphrase in the headline. The new headline read:

Ergonomic Chair Design Based On Years Of Research Lets You Sit For Hours With No Back Pain

The Opening Paragraph

The original copy started out just fine by naming some important benefits, but it didn't back them up. After pointing out the relief of stress and pain, it went directly into an explanation about the chair's patent.

The new copy took a cleaner path. It started by pointing out that others (users and professionals) liked the chair, and then it proceeded (in the next section) to explain why.

The original copy tried to educate readers about the importance of continuous movement and natural balance. There is nothing wrong with educating your customers; however, you need to give ample space to do that. Because the visitors had limited information about these two benefits on the home page, they may have been confused or - at the least - unpersuaded.

The new copy held firm on one feature: the swivel axel mechanism. It explained how this helped with customization of settings to fit every body type and more. With minimal education needed, the customer was able to understand that this one, patented feature offered multiple benefits.

Rather than simply listing shipping details for the close of the copy, the new version of the home page pointed out some additional benefits pertaining to quality and stylishness.

As I wrote, I looked for places to use the keyphrases chosen for this page. This was absolutely not a numbers game. My goal was not to use the keyphrases as often as I possibly could. That approach is not SEO copywriting, in my book.

Basing your copywriting strategy simply on the sheer volume of times you can include keyphrases makes the copy sound forced and ridiculous. In fact, on this home page, the keyphrases were only used a total of four or five times. Yet, to the amazement of some, the home page ranks in the top 10 (and often top five) for its chosen key terms.

The Results

Did it work? Did the changes bring out the results we wanted? They sure did! When asked about improved conversions, the owner of Kneelsit.com had this to say, "Our conversion rate has definitely improved since the rewrite. probably by around 35-40%!"

Sometimes, even though you may have included important information in your copy, it just doesn't do what you hoped it would. Take the time to explore, experiment and test. Replace a headline. Rephrase a paragraph. Subtle changes can often make noticeable improvements in conversions and other areas of business.

Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors at
http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Be sure to also check out Karon's latest e-report "How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy)" at
http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword.

Copywriting Makeover: Subtle Changes Make A Noticeable Difference

By Karon Thackston

Changing a few words in your copy can lead to double-digit increases in conversions. If that sounds like a bunch of hype from an online infomercial, stick around and I'll show you how it's done.

That's really all that happened with Kneelsit.com, an Australian ergonomic computer chair manufacturer. They had what would be considered a successful site with a continual stream of orders. All the basic information was already included on the home page, but the owner felt as though something was not quite "there" yet. He wanted a fresh approach to the site's copy, so that's what he received. And the results were simply amazing.

The Problems

While Kneelsit had great rankings for their key terms (normally #1 to #4 in popular search engines) keeping those rankings high required some attention to the SEO piece of the puzzle. Conversions, however, were not at their maximum. The business was not suffering, but it did have room for improvement. So, after receiving a sample chair to use during the process, I set(or should I say "sat") out to work.

Once I assembled the chair and rolled it up to my desk, I kept a notepad nearby so I could jot down benefits as I noticed them. In just a few days' time, I had a long list of features and benefits to refer to.

As I read over the original home page copy (which can be seen here:
http://www.copywritingcourse.com/kneelsit-home-original.html), I noticed something else. Many of the benefits I had on my paper were referenced (at least briefly) in the original copy. Some were phrased differently than I would later phrase them, but most were there.

However, in this highly competitive industry, I wanted to be sure to keep the uniqueness of the chair on the forefront. Visitors needed to quickly see that the Kneelsit was superior to other computer chairs available. The changing of some verbiage and providing more details in some areas would help keep visitors reading and help them easily distinguish this chair from others on their comparison list.

Once my list of benefits was completed, I began relating these options to other kneeling chairs and to users of ergonomic computer chairs. I wanted to see which benefits on my list were unique in the marketplace. I also wanted to know about the users of these chairs. After all, the buyer is the center of the process and should also be the focus of the copy.

My research revealed some of the reasons users would need an ergonomic chair and also the biggest complaints about some of the current ergonomic designs. In addition, I discovered which benefits were common to other ergonomic chairs and which were distinctive.

The Solutions

Armed with the research results, I started crafting the copy to speak to that one person who was forced to sit at a computer all day, in pain, and who desperately needed help. This person had tried several other computer chairs before with little to no results and was getting skeptical about finding a solution.

I looked back over my list of benefits in search of the ones that would not be found in the competition's copy. I focused on one exclusive, patented feature (the axle design) and the fact that the chair was customizable for every body type.

I laid out a plan for the new copy including keyword selection, keyword placement, benefits and key points to be mentioned.

Similar in many ways to the original copy, the new version had some subtle, but powerful, changes. The goal of the new copy was to show the true distinction of these chairs by highlighting the most impressive benefits.

I would also focus on incorporating keyphrases in headlines and sub-heads (where it made sense to do so) and throughout the copy. I had to pay careful attention to making the copy sound natural, as I never want the SEO factors to overshadow the message of the page.

In Part 2 of this series (seen here:
http://www.marketingwords.com/articles/articles_subtlechanges2.html), we'll take a look at what went into the rewrite as well as what type of results were achieved with the new copy.

Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors at
http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Be sure to also check out Karon's latest e-report "How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy)" at
http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword.

Home Based Business: Your Ultimate Tax Shelter

By Stephen Pope

Starting and operating your own home based business is the ultimate tax shelter.

Although this article has been written from a Canadian income tax perspective, the principles should be practical in other tax jurisdictions.

1. Non-Deductible Personal Living Expenses

All of us have expenses that we incur in everyday living.

Either you rent an apartment or house or you own your residence. Utilities, insurance, rent, mortgage interest, property taxes, and maintenance and repairs are typical costs of operating your home.

Likely, you have a vehicle which also consumes large amounts of cash.

Add to this, dining out, entertainment, gifts, alcoholic beverages, office supplies, telephone and many other expenditures, and you have a significant cash outflow.

In most cases, as an employee, retired person, investor, student, or homemaker, few of these expenses are tax-deductible to you.

This means that you must earn a considerable income, pay your income taxes first, and then use what is left to pay all your expenses.

Some employees may be able to write-off some of their employment related expenses, if such are required by their contract of employment. However, even in this situation, the tax deductions are very limited.

2. Your Own Home Based Business Means Tax Deductions

Now consider the situation where you decide to start your own home based business.

Suddenly, many of your everyday expenses are now being used for business purposes and are now tax-deductible.

If you use one quarter of your home exclusively for business use, you will be able to deduct (or write-off) one quarter of all related occupancy costs. These expenses may include maintenance and repairs (that are not capital in nature), rent, mortgage interest, house or apartment insurance, power, heat, water, and property taxes.

As well, your vehicle expenses used for business purposes are another tax write-off. If you use your car ninety percent for business purposes, you can deduct ninety percent of your vehicle insurance, gas and oil, maintenance and repairs, car washes, license and registration, auto club, loan interest (within certain limits), and other costs from your income. You may also write-off one hundred percent of your business related parking. Capital Cost Allownance (C.C.A.) on your vehicle is also allowed for income tax purposes; depreciation is the accounting term for this tax deduction.

The Canadian government also allows as a deduction, fifty percent of your business related entertainment expenses.

Also tax-deductible are business related telephone expenses, Internet access, office supplies, travel, books, memberships, and a host of other expenditures.

3. Income Splitting with Your Home Based Business

If you have a high paying job, you will pay higher taxes because the rates of tax increase as your income does.

With your own business, you can pay reasonable wages to your spouse and children. In this way, you can legally divert income taxed at your higher rate to your family members that are in a lower tax bracket.

This tax saving technique is called income splitting. It is another good reason why your own home based business is the ultimate tax shelter.

4. Even a Part-Time Home Based Business Works

Even if you have a full-time job, running a part-time business can be advantageous.

Of course, you must actually run a real, moneymaking business. Any attempts to write unprofitable hobbies off will ultimately fail with the taxation authorities.

If you earned eight thousand dollars during the year from your part-time business and were able to deduct eight thousand dollars in car expenses, home office expenses, entertainment costs, office supplies, and other business related expenditures, you would have a net business income of nil. You would pay no tax on this additional income.

Don`t miss this important point! Although these tax deductions are actual, legitimate business expenses, these are expenditures you would probably have made anyway, whether you had a business or not.

Thus, by rearranging your affairs to start and operate a home based business, you have been able to convert non-deductible personal expenditures into legally deductible business expenses. You have successfully sheltered your income from tax and have split your income with family members in lower tax brackets.

Yes, indeed, your home based business has become your ultimate tax shelter.

About The Author:

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years. For more profitable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/

Search Engines Are A Source Of Tension In An Online Home Business

By Kirk Bannerman

For a long time I have been a member of several search engine optimization forums and I have recently noticed that the stress level of many webmasters has gone way up (this is especially
true since Yahoo and MSN have decided to seriously try their hand at competing with Google in the search marketplace). This applies not only to webmasters involved in Internet-based home
businesses, but to webmasters in general.

Additionally, it seems that many people that are in the business of search engine optimization (SEO) are, with good reason, going completely bonkers. As Google came on the scene in 1998 and quickly dominated the search business, website optimization became largely a game of shooting at a single target, namely, pleasing Google...for all intents and purposes, Google became the "800 pound gorilla" of the search engine business.

Since the advent of search engines (particularly Google) spawned the whole SEO business, I guess its only fair that the search engine industry can once again turn the SEO business on its ear, and it seems now to be sort of a cat and mouse (not desktop) relationship that can get really interesting as we move forward.

Not only are there now several viable players (most notably Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask Jeeves) in the search engine business, but they are all adopting different and frequently changing algorithms for determining the ranking positions for websites.

The current game is that webmasters are trying to figure out how the various search engines perform the rankings and, on the flip side, the search engines are striving to be unpredictable to those webmasters and SEO firms.

For those people using websites to promote a home based business, it can be stressful constantly trying to determine "what the search engines want" and agonizing over every downward fluctuation in rankings that their website may experience.

Looking forward in time, I think we can expect that rankings will fluctuate frequently and will not be at all consistent from one search engine to another. It will be quite common that for a particular search term a website might suffer a drop in position ranking for search engine "A" and an increase position ranking for search engine "B" at essentially the same point in time.

Rather than stressing out over every position ranking "wiggle", a better approach might be to just focus on "what do visitors to my site want?". The search engines are striving to give their users a quality (relevant) search experience and if you are focused in giving visitors to your website what they are looking for, these paths will meet somewhere down the road.

You can save yourself alot of consternation by focusing upon the needs of the website visitors you are seeking to attract, rather than chasing the frequently changing ranking algorithms of several search engines. Focus on a single target instead of chasing several moving targets at the same time.

This article pertains to natural searches only, as paid search engine advertising is a completely different situation.

About the Author

Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business. Visit his website at Legitimate Home Based Business for more details.

Rss To Blog Pro - A 6-Month Review

By Will Lee

Background
Search engines are particularly interested in websites with constantly updated, relevant content. Websites that appear static without a supply of fresh content may be viewed as dormant and in their drive to provide the latest, most relevant search results to users, search engines may rank such a website lower than a website that is updated regularly.

What Is It?
RSS to Blog Pro is a fully automated blog posting tool offering self-updating websites. It's a PHP script that is installed on a single web hosting account. From this centralised installation, multiple blogs can be maintained with fresh content from various sources. Also available is an earlier, non-pro version, which has the same basic functionality, but requires a separate install for each blog it maintains.

What Problem Does It Solve?
Adding fresh - and importantly, relevant - content to websites can be a resource consuming task. Either you spend time finding and creating new content or you pay someone to do it for you. Without fresh content, your websites can appear stagnant and drop off the search engines radar. This impacts your website rankings in search results and ultimately has a detrimental
effect on any free traffic coming from the search engines. If your websites rely on search engine traffic then this can mean their downfall.

What Are The Benefits?
RSS to Blog Pro tackles the problem of needing to regularly update website content by automating the whole process from finding relevant content based upon keywords that you provide through to posting content to your website blog. In the eyes of search engines, updating a website with irrelevant content isn't nearly as good as having relevant content. The tighter your niche, the better chances you have of ranking higher as you'll be competing with a smaller number of websites. Using a scattergun approach to website content can mean you end up competing with websites across a large number of niches.

If you're building content websites with the aim of earning an AdSense income then you'll know that the ads shown are dependant upon the surrounding content on your webpages. Irrelevant content results in ads that are irrelevant to your website visitors, which means they'll have no interest in clicking on them and your generated income will be poor.

Features

* Supports multiple blog types including WordPress, Blogger Blogs, Movable Type, Type Pad, Live Journal and MSN Spaces.
* Keywords and RSS feeds can be specified for automatic content generation or you can supply your own content.
* Posting to your blogs can be scheduled at random intervals e.g. once or twice a day so that posting appears natural.
* There are no 'footprints' to identify the content as being automatically generated.
* Log records are kept so you can see exactly what has been posted and to where.
* Built-in ping functionality for blog and ping.
* A single installation will post to an unlimited number of blogs.
* Regular updates.
* User support forum.
* Two tier affiliate programme offering 40% commission to the top level and 10% for any sales from affiliates you recruit.

My Experience With RSS to Blog Pro Since August 2005, I've been using RSS to Blog Pro on an
increasing number of blogs in various niches. I'm pleased to be able to say that my income from AdSense has increased month upon month since then. With the software installed on my virtual
private server (VPS), I currently manage around 50 blogs, posting relevant new content every day or two. I'd recommend that you don't install RSS to Blog Pro onto a shared server because if you're updating a large number of websites or you're running the script frequently (every couple of minutes) then your host is likely to take a dim view on it. Considering how inexpensive and how much more reliable a VPS is to operate there just isn't any reasonable justification for risking a shared server. A VPS is like having your own server, completely isolated from any other peoples websites so you can't affect them and they can't affect you. There is the exception of disk IO, but that isn't something that should be of any real concern.

The issue of relevancy is really what makes the difference between an effective auto content generation tool and one that will never do anything for your bottom line. I can't stress it enough; without relevant content, search engines won't be able to categorise your niche and won't be able to rank you fairly amongst your peers. That means you won't do well in searches in your subject area. It also could mean your website will serve ads for tennis equipment when your niche is dog care. Visitors looking for information about dog care are highly unlikely to be interested in tennis equipment when they come to your website because it's not something which is relevant to their needs at that time.

There's no doubt that this helps to keep those websites looking fresh and my website stats show a constant stream of visits to my blog pages each month. And of course, lots of targetted visitors and lots of targetted content means a lot of clicks on targetted ads!

Support-wise, Michelle (creator of RSS to Blog Pro) has answered my email queries promptly and there's an active user forum for peer support. Michelle also visits the forum to provide assistance although some queries can take a couple of days for a response, however the user base, support forum and software is mature enough to be able to cope with almost every common question a new user might have.

Fortunately, the software is easy to install and set-up so you can expect to be running within an hour or two.

One feature that I haven't used is the ability to ping blog directories from within RSS to Blog Pro. The reason for this is that if I pinged these websites for every post made to each of my blogs then I'd actually end up pinging up to 50 times a day from the same domain (the domain on which RSS to Blog Pro is installed). Rather than risk being blacklisted for pinging too much and hogging the resources of the directories, I use the ping facility from with my WordPress blog software instead so that the individual pings come from the individual domains. Again, this will appear to be a lot more natural and it also helps RSS to Blog Pro to work more efficiently by decoupling some of the work away from it.

Conclusion
After 6 months of constant usage, I'm pretty happy with RSS to Blog Pro's performance. and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is wanting to have self-updating websites that attract targetted traffic. Care needs to be taken when selecting a host for the script, but once installed, operation of the script is simple and reliable. An excellent script in the toolbox of AdSense earners and affiliate marketers alike.

About The Author:

Will Lee is the Internet Marketing Fool (http://www.internetmarketingfool.com), sharing real life Internet Marketing advice and product reviews. RSS to Blog (http://www.rsstoblogg.com) is an automated blogging tool, created by Michelle Timothy. United Articles(http://www.unitedarticles.com) offers free syndicated content.

Home Based Business - Steps To Success

By Jon Hancock

Ready to start your home based business?

Here's some facts that prevent most beginners from ever reaching that goal, and what you need to get started. The main question lies in the fact of whether you have what it takes to run a home