Three Ways To Get Top Quality Content For Your Niche Websites

Writen by Kathy Burns-Millyard

Three Ways to Get Top Quality Content for Your Niche Websites

Good, popular, profitable niche topic websites need good content. Period. You and I both know this.

Now, there are many ways to get content online...

1. You can hire freelance writers, and have them create custom content to be used by you exclusively. This is the best way to get content, because if you choose your writers well, you can get decent content on the topic of your choice. And chances are pretty slim that anyone else online will have the exact same content you have. The cheapest rate I've seen this service at though, is $4 per article. Usually it's more like $10 and up per article if you want good content. So a mere 20 articles will cost you at least two hundred bucks!

2. Another great way to get content online though, is to join membership sites like Nicheology and Push Button Health. These sites give you a steady flow of rough draft content for one set price each month. The content usually needs some work, but it's generally worth it for the price paid. The catch though, is that these sites are usually filled to their limit. So if you want to join, you'll find yourself waiting in line... sometimes for over 6 months!

The other problem with membership sites is the number of people who have access to the exact same content. Nicheology for instance, limits the number of active members to 1500. That's 1499 other people besides yourself who have access to the exact same content. BUT... that's not including all of the previous members who ALSO had access to that content... and it's not including all of the new members who will come around in the future. They'll have access to that same content as well.

3. Now, one more excellent way to get website content is through free article distribution websites and mailing lists. You can literally get thousands upon thousands of articles completely free this way. There's a couple of catches to this method though... First: You have to keep the author's name on the article. You're not allowed to change or edit the article. Usually you're not even allowed to link to one of your websites, pages or affiliate programs from within the article either. Then you have to include the "bio box" at the end of the article. This - by the way - tends to be an advertisement of some sort. And last but not least: You have to link to the author's website. And in many cases, you have to link to several of the author's websites.

Oh yeah... one more thing about these free articles: Since they're free - tens of thousands of other websites use them too!

Putting quality content on your website will help bring in relevant, targeted traffic. And that usually brings in more clicks... and more sales. Hopefully the above brief comparison helps you understand the different ways to get content for your site. Study them fully, and choose which one works best for you, your site needs, and your budget.

© 2005 Kathy Burns-Millyard

Visit The Guru Gazette at http://www.gurugazette.com for more of Kathy's articles, tips and advice. Also check out her brand new article content packages: http://www.gurugazette.com/Content-Packs/ You can get 20 quality articles for niche topic websites at just $0.74 each!

The Niche Factor

Writen by F. Terrence Markle

What's all the talk about niche marketing? It's all about marketing to a special area of demand for a product or service! There are plenty of opportunities available if you haven't got into niches yet. As everyone knows.. the Internet market is huge. Niches are everywhere and they are here to stay. Do the research and you can find one or more profitable niches that will make you smile all the way to the bank.

Should you pursue Internet marketing products or niche marketing?

There are a lot of newcomers and more experienced marketers wanting to sell Internet marketing products. Unfortunately, it is the absolute worst choice unless you are an experienced and successful marketer! The arena is saturated with marketers that have a strong foothold and are not about to relinquish their firm grip. They are only interested in pushing their products. Can you blame them?

Forget it when the gurus say.. "I want to see you succeed and I will show you how." What they really mean is... "I want you on my prospect or customer list so I can promote my products and sell to you forever." It's a simple matter of protecting your turf.

Get smart and get the heck out of trying to sell Internet marketing products online. You are most likely setting yourself up for failure if you try to compete with the established marketers. Instead... go after niche marketing with a passion. It's a very dynamic and wide open marketing opportunity.

What is niche marketing anyway?

Niche marketing has been around a long time. However, it is getting a lot more attention in Internet marketing and will continue to grow. A niche is a tightly defined group of potential customers with a specific "want or need".

Large businesses are not interested in small niche markets. They want to sell to the large masses. The niche marketer, however, can make a very comfortable living marketing the right product or service to a niche market. It's what I call the "Niche Factor".

The trick is to find a niche you can capitalize on and has a potential customer base with unsatisfied wants or needs. Develop a product or service to satisfy that customer base and you are on your way. Don't make the classical mistake of developing your product first and then trying to find a market for it. Fight the temptation and do it the right and profitable way.

Niche marketing is all about satisfying the wants or needs of a specific group of people. As an example, assume that an individual wanted information on Louisville Slugger baseball bats. The market segment could be baseball, the niche could be baseball equipment, the sub-niche could be baseball bats and the sub-sub-niche could be Louisville Slugger baseball bats. This classification could go down to even deeper levels depending on the market category.

A focused or tightly defined niche will enable you to assess the worthiness of the potential market. You need to be unique and highly specialized in order to define a niche where you can compete on a level playing field.

The Internet has tons of information on just about any topic you can possibly imagine. People are always searching for products and services on the Internet. Most individuals want free information. If necessary, however, they are willing to spend money for the right information.

There are more niche markets than you can shake a stick at. You can put just about any keyword or keyword phrase into a major search engine and get back search results that range in a huge number of sites to just a handful. No matter what your skill, hobby or special interest... you can rest assured other people are looking for information on that specific topic.

Find out what people are searching for and develop or acquire a product or service to sell to them that satisfies their wants or needs. Just make sure it's in a profitable niche.

How do you identify your niche market?

This is the most critical area of niche marketing. You need to research and analyze the supply and demand of potential niches before you rush out and build your website. The niche has to have enough potential customers willing and able to spend their hard-earned money on a product or service they want or need.

You need to carefully look at your skills, interests, hobbies and any other factors that could influence your decision in selecting a niche market. Make a list of all the possible things you could market to a specific niche market. You need to brainstorm and let your imagination run wild. You will be surprised at the number of items you wind up putting on your list.

You can develop your own product or service after you identify a niche but it's not absolutely necessary. You do not need to be an expert in your selected niche. The ability to research your niche, analyze the profit potential and select a product or service are the key requirements.

If you are unable to develop your own product, you can always find an expert to provide you with valuable content or someone to develop a product for you at a negotiated price. Look at your likes and dislikes very carefully before deciding on a niche market to service. It will be a tough road to walk down if you hate doing whatever is required to satisfy your niche market.

Summary and Conclusion

* First, select a niche based on the items previously discussed.

* Second, determine if a demand exists in your chosen niche by using the available research tools like Overture, Wordtracker, etc.

* Third, perform whatever tests are necessary to determine if there is potential for profit in your selected niche.

* Fourth, analyze the information you acquired and determine whether to proceed in servicing the niche.

* Fifth, develop or acquire a product or service to satisfy the wants or needs of your niche.

Unless you already sell a profitable Internet marketing product or service, do not waste your time trying to sell Internet marketing information to all the other marketers. It's a dead-end situation and only a very small number of newcomers or semi-experienced marketers will be successful at breaking through the barriers. The odds for success are stacked against you. The established and profitable marketers selling Internet marketing information only want to sell you their products.

Why fight it? Capitalize on the "niche factor" and look for a profitable niche market where you can satisfy the wants and needs of the potential customers in that niche. Do not try to be everything to everybody. Be unique and specialize in your niche or niches.

Sell a product or service tailored to meet the requirements of your niche market and you will earn a respectable if not a significant income. If you are really motivated, develop multiple sources of income by catering to multiple profitable niches.

Do yourself a gigantic favor and pursue niche marketing and not the marketing of Internet marketing products. Pursue niches where you can make money and not be just another starving and dissatisfied marketer!

Copyright (C) 2006 – F. Terrence Markle – All Rights Reserved Publishing Guidelines: You have permission to publish this article in its entirety as long as the bylines and the resource box are included. You must make all links active.

Get my FREE report "The Niche Report" with Master Resale Rights: http://www.QuikSystems.com/report/niche2.php

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An Internet Marketing Strategy For The Mystified

Writen by Lee Lister

Ok, you've got your web site set up, you are sure that it is search engine friendly and you are pretty certain what your customers want. You've identified at least 3 affiliate programs/products that you want to promote and you think that they meet your potential customer's needs. So now what?

Well unfortunately the days, that I can remember, of "build it and they will come" have long gone. Unless you promote your web site – no one will know that you are there and no visitors means no sales. So where so you go from here?

Well take a deep breath, a pen and paper and let's start on your Marketing Strategy. Briefly for a new business, with a relatively inexperienced marketer, your strategy will probably include the following options:

* Pay Per Click Advertising
* Email Marketing
* Community Marketing
* Classified Advertising

So let's get started – and before you start panicking, you are just writing your Marketing Strategy. This course will explain how to do all of the following.

Your Advertising Kit

For each of your programs/products:

1. Write a short advert – say 50 words.
2. Write a very short advert – say 15 words.
3. Write a short article – say about 400 – 600 words.
4. Decide on your keywords – say about 30 – 50 words.

Your Marketing Kit

For your web site theme:

1. Write at least 6 short auto responder messages.
2. Find or write at least 2 giveaway products.

Your Marketing Tools

1. Your web site
2. An autoresponder
3. A good email account

Now let's put all of these together into your first Marketing Strategy.

1. Submit your web site to all the major search engines. This will start to get your web site noticed. As this takes a long time, it needs to be the first thing that you do. You can do this yourself or pay someone else to do this for you. We provide this service for our customers for $20 a month, which includes submission to Google, Yahoo and MSN.

2. Set up your autoresponder form on your web site and load your messages into the autoresponder. Ensure that you offer one of the giveaway products as a bonus for signing onto your ezine. The second giveaway can be set up for message 3 or 4. Your messages should be sent in the following intervals. Day 1,3,7,7,7,7

3. Set up your download pages, for your bonus products as well as the products you are selling. Ensure that you provide an extra offer on each download page.

4. Submit your article – including your resource box, to about 6 major ezine article sites. Limit yourself to 6 at the moment. Each of these submissions, if accepted will give you a link to your web site. If too many links to your new web site appear very quickly, search engines assume that you have been using "black hat" SEO tactics (a total no no) and will not list your site.

5. Identify 4 forums that discuss the topics of your web site. Set yourself up an account name that describes you well. We use the name "Biz Guru" which is our trade mark and name. Set up your signature to include your web site address. Start answering questions asked within the forums. Do NOT post adverts for your web site or products. Use this time to establish your credentials. If you answer questions well and contribute to the forums, your web site tag will be noticed.

6. Set up a PPC campaign – you can start with the smaller search engines first. Take your very small advert and your keywords and use them in your campaign. Most search engines will help you with your choice of keywords. Remember to set a budget and test, test and test again until you get quality and converting traffic.

7. Set up some classified ads. You can do this one of two ways: i)choose one or two major sites/email lists and advertise with them. ii) use an ezine ad blaster to send your ad out to numerous lower quality places.

8. Test, Update and Modify. Review, change and add to your PPC keywords. Submit more articles and adverts. Start tactfully promoting your products in the forums. Submit your articles to more article directories.

Well that's the what to do.

© Copyright 2006 Biz Guru LLC Lee Lister, writes as The Biz Guru, for a number of web sites including her own sites http://www.BizGuru.us and http://www.clikks.com for all our informational products.

If you want more information on the how to's then clikks@aweber.com

With over 20 year's management and business consultancy experience with businesses large and small as well as being a serial entrepreneur, she now helps others set up, develop and market their businesses.

This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Internet Marketing Start Right Start Smart

Writen by Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D.

When a professional or small business owner decides to launch their business on the Internet, they often start with a website. They've heard that everybody has to have a website. Then they learn that they should have an email newsletter.

Many people start out piece-meal. Website with one company, newsletter delivery with another provider, online payments with another, and as each need arises they get an account with a new provider. In a previous article (http://snipurl.com/Internet_Marketing1), we recommended starting with a shopping cart marketing system. The next step is to establish your online presence.

Website First, Blog First?

As stated above, it wasn't long ago that you would get started with your online business by creating a website. However, after several months and several thousands of dollars you may learn your website isn't enough. You do need a web presence, and there is an alternative to hiring a web designer to do it for you — you can create a blog for your business.

Since the invention of easy-to-use blogging programs, we recommend to many small businesses and professionals to skip a website, and start off with a blog. A blog can do just about anything a website can, and has several big advantages. (A blog actually is a website, only its software provides for easily updated content and reader participation.)

1. A blog is user-friendly. You can learn how to manage it yourself, no need to hire a web designer, pay big fees or be at the mercy of their busy schedule.

2. A blog is inexpensive. An account at Typepad.com, the leading blog provider, runs from $5-$15/month.

3. Blogs are search engine friendly. Even if in the beginning you don't have a clue about how to optimize your site for the search engines, don't worry. Just know that when you are writing about your niche, to your targeted audience, you will be using the very same keywords that get entered into Google when people are searching for things. This will increase your chances of getting found on the 'Net by the people who want and need you. Websites are a little more complicated and if they aren't updated frequently, they don't get indexed by the search engine spiders very often.

Huh? What's a Spider?

Don't worry about the technological jargon. You don't have to understand how a blog and search engines work right now. But you do have to know that these elements are "must-do's" for anyone who wants to use the Internet to build and grow a business online.

Take some teleseminars – there are plenty and they're often free – or, buy a couple of ebooks that show you how to manage these tasks.

Don't make the mistake of getting overwhelmed by all the possibilities and all the companies trying to sell you their services. Start out slowly, ask questions, gather information, inform yourself about the options and benefits before you even think about setting up your website or blog. While we can't really make recommendations for you without knowing about your business niche, in general, you can't go wrong by setting up a shopping cart and a blog so you can start your business online the smart way. The two go hand in hand. If you want to make money online, you can't have one without the other.

As the The Blog Squad, Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman have teamed up to work with professionals to maximize their marketing strategies by implementing blogs, ezines and ecommerce tactics. They are co-authors of "Build a Better Blog: The Ultimate Guide for Boosting Your Business with a Professional Blog"," Confessions of a Reluctant Blogger: From Boring to Brilliant in 30 Days" and "Secrets of Successful Ezines: A Guide to Writing and Publishing an Ezine that Gets Results." Are you ready for a blog? Take The Blog Squad's free assessment at http://snipurl.com/Blog_Assessment.

Customers How To Reactivate Them

Writen by Justine Curtis

Every website owner thinks they face the same challenge: How to get more traffic to their website. "Build it and they will come" worked for Kevin Costner in "Field of Dreams," but that approach leads to a failed business when it comes to your web site. Any savvy web site owner knows that it takes a lot of work, time, and money to bring a visitor to your site for the first time.

Smart marketers also know that it rates a lot easier and cheaper to get people to come back for a return visit or purchase than to attract them for the first time. The following tips will help any web site owner convert more one-time customers into repeat customers. Follow Up Your Orders

Firstly; you must set up the process to re-contact your customers after they order. This will remind them that you're still in business and ready and willing to sell to them again.

Now that you have the opportunity to re-contact them you must learn their future needs and wants. When you send them any information remind them that you're open to any questions or advice and give them a customer satisfaction survey. This kind of data can be useful to successfully present new offers and products to them.

Next, you can send your back end offers. Give your customers plenty of incentives and deadlines to order. You could offer them a discount for ordering before a certain date or bonus products if they order within a certain time frame. Tell them you have only so many items left in stock and they are available on a "first come first served" basis. All these techniques can greatly increase your chances of gaining repeat business and further sales.

Once you've exhausted the initial follow up contact try one or more of these options to keep your customers returning to your web site. They may not all be appropriate but try those that best fit in with your business type. The most important thing to remember is that if you add any of these new ideas to your web site, don't forget to re-contact your old customers and let them know that you've added the new service and include a link in your email so they can go straight to the new section.

Surveys

Hold an interactive poll or survey on your web site. Ask your website visitors questions about a topic of intense interest to them. Not only do people enjoy giving their opinion, but they'll also want to read the results as you compile them and update them on your website over the next day or week. You can easily run a poll for free by having a short response form on your web site or by just having people email you their responses to your survey questions.

Free Prizes

If appropriate, hold an ongoing prize drawing on your web site. The prizes you give should fit with the interests of your target audience and enable you to showcase what you offer for sale from your website. For example, if you sell CD's you could give away something like a travel CD wallet with your web address on, if you sell computer systems and products, you could give away a voucher to be spent on goods from your web site.

Offering prizes on a monthly basis for example, gives you a great opportunity to re-contact your past clients each month. Make them return to your web site to enter the draw each month and include special offers and incentives on the first page they land on when clicking the prize draw link.

Original / Hard-to-find Content

People go online first and foremost to get specific, relevant, timely information in areas that interest them. For some that means news articles, for others sports scores, and for others it means current prices for things like stocks or commodities.

Whatever content they want, give it to people in a way they can't find anywhere else (or at least not very easily) and make it easy for them to see that your site rates a bookmark in their browser so they can return often.

Brain Teasers

People love a challenge, especially in an area that holds great professional or special interest for them. If you can provide a quiz, trivia questions, puzzles or some other "brain teaser" for people, many will take up the challenge. You get them to return to your website by posting the answers and making that the only way they can see if they got it right.

This is also a good way to link into the prize draw. Why not ask a question in order to enter the draw? Make the answer information they can find in your web sites pages. It's also a good idea if that information is a great selling point for your business. For example, "How much postage to we charge for a CD?" or "What products do you get for free when you order a new Notebook computer?" Don't forget to include links or hints on where to find the answers they need.

Breaking News

People crave up-to-the-minute news on subjects about which they feel very strongly. Some investors, for example, spend hours combing the Internet for nuggets of information to help them evaluate specific markets, companies, or stocks. One way to make your site invaluable to your audience members is to simply post a news bite, tip, or current "nugget" of relevant information on your site at regular intervals. If the information you give makes people jump up and take notice you can quickly build up a regular following.

Resource Directories

Few things keep people coming back to a website more than a constantly updated directory they can tap for industry specific resources any time they need them. This technique works especially well if it's hard to locate good resources related to your topic because people place a higher value on hard-to-find information. Why not include links to businesses in associated industries, support services, training opportunities, etc.

These are just a few ideas of how you can reactivate one-time customers. If you have any ideas or have tried some of our methods that have proved particularly successful, why not drop us a line? We'd love to hear from you.

Is your web site driving high quality, targeted customers to your business? Learn how to make your web site work harder for you by signing up to our f.r.e.e. monthly newsletter packed with tips, information and advice on all areas of Internet marketing. Start making more money from your web site TODAY. http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/newsletter.html To catch up with previous issues of this newsletter, visit: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/internet_marketing_newsletter_.html

Acquiring Potential Customer Information Four Ways To Increase The Lifetime Value Of Your Customer

Writen by Tom Swanson

Having knowledge about your customer base has myriad benefits but, hands down, the most important benefit of obtaining this critical information is using it to establish a strong enough relationship with them to encourage repeat sales and boost their "lifetime value." Lifetime value is a term for how much a loyal customer is worth – how much they'll spend – over the course of their relationship with your business. Hopefully, that relationship lasts their entire lifetime, literally.

That said, here are four ways to increase the lifetime value of your customers.

Add a Member's-Only Section to Your Site

Encourage more customer interaction by adding a special member's-only section to your website. This section should be a special area for existing customers and anyone else, for that matter – after they register (and give you their information in the process).

When your customers enter the members-only section, they should have access to member-only specials or discounts, as well as specialized information that's exclusive to members. An example would be a nutrition company offering the latest insights about health and nutrition.

If you provide enough value for your members, you can start to ask them to participate in activities that will give you more insight into their lifestyles – like quick surveys about their habits and what products or services they value the most. You can then gather that information and post it in your members-only section to provide compelling reasons for members to visit frequently.

Let the members know you appreciate their thoughts and value their opinions. The "member's-only" title makes the area appear special – and it is – but don't limit access to the section; everyone who registers should be allowed to login and access the information. Remember, your goal is to collect information from as many existing and potential customers as possible.

Since you'll be implementing a section to your site that has restricted access, you'll need to integrate some sort of login function. A good IT staffer should be able to handle this no problem, but if you're a super-small operation and don't have that kind of resource, you can use a web-development tool like the one found at http://www.tools4webmasters.com/t4wsentry.htm. Yes, it costs money, but only about as much as it would to pay an IT professional to do the same thing, and sometimes taking the DIY approach can be more beneficial than you think – knowing how to manage the back end of your site can certainly come in handy.

Take Advantage of Message Boards

Taking advantage of online message boards is a great way to learn about your customers. Message boards are simply forums where people interested in the same topics can go to post their ideas and thoughts on subjects of their choice, get advice from experts, and socialize.

Like with the members-only section, you'll want to include a registration section so visitors can join the board, and you can collect their information in the process. You don't have to require registration, but make sure it's available. There are all sorts of great resources for this. My personal favorite is Invision's Power Board (http://www.invisionboard.com/ip.dynamic/products/index.html). It's easy to install and manage, and it has all the built-in tools you'll ever need.

Once you've got some visitors to your message board, you can let them suggest topics that they want to discuss and you can be the moderator. This gives you a chance to learn what subjects concern them so you can provide targeted information for their needs. You can also post discussion topics of your own to see how people respond to them.

Visit your message boards frequently to find out what your customers are talking about – what's on their minds. These messages can provide invaluable insights into what your customers think and what they want. Not only are message boards a great tool for you to learn more about your customers, but they also create a sense of community that, if popular, will increase your site traffic dramatically. Really, they're a must-have for your online presence.

Besides having a message board on your site, you can also visit other public message boards and even set up your own remote boards that are hosted on another site. The advantage to using these is that they're hosted by sites that already get a lot of traffic, so you can really build up a user base even if your website doesn't get a lot of traffic. Some good places to establish free message boards are: Yahoo! Groups (http://groups.yahoo.com/), MSN Groups (http://groups.msn.com/), and Google Groups (http://groups.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg&q=).

Encourage Your Customers to Complete Satisfaction Surveys

When a customer makes a purchase on your website or in your store, send them a short satisfaction survey – either electronic via email or hardcopy via the regular old U.S. Postal Service. You can personalize the surveys depending on what they purchased, or you can just send out a standard survey to everyone.

Customers, the same as just about everyone, like to be appreciated. Satisfaction surveys show them that you're interested in their thoughts and that you value their patronage and their opinions. You might want to develop the surveys on your own, but you can easily have your employees circulate them. When you get them back, compile the results in a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel.

Like just about any method of acquiring data, it's a good idea to give your customers an incentive to fill out the survey. For example, you could enter all of the completed surveys in a weekly or monthly drawing for a free product or service or some other prize.

Beef Up Your Referral System

In a previous article, I mentioned adding a tell-a-friend option to your website. It's a wonderful idea, but I'd like to elaborate on that just a bit. You can greatly improve your rate of referrals if you offer an incentive – are you seeing a pattern yet? Encourage your customers to send their friends and family to your website by offering a referral bonus.

This special bonus can be in the form of discounts, free services, or – what I think is most effective – cold, hard cash. Everyone likes a little more cash in their pockets, and if they like your service already, they might drive a lot of customers your way - you'll practically have another sales rep on your team. And be sure to make a big deal about the referral to everyone who is involved – remember, customers like to be appreciated.

An easy way to generate referrals is to print simple business cards that you can give to existing customers to hand out to their friends. Include your contact information, including your website address, and include the referral bonus system you have in place – you never know how big your referral system can get if you nurture it.

Implementing These Ideas

All of these suggestions for increasing the lifetime value of your customers through customer-data acquisition are easy and inexpensive to implement, and they'll have you reaping huge benefits in the form of a larger customer base and increased lifetime value of those customers. With just a little effort on your part you can learn a lot about what your customers think and what they want and, in turn, you'll see your sales increase noticeably.

Copyright 2005 Tom Swanson

Author: Tom Swanson
Web Site: http://www.lowhangingfruit.com
Email: tom@itimeinc.com
Phone: 563-323-4609

Tom Swanson's experience in sales, design, marketing, copywriting, multi-media advertising, and publishing have given him incredible insight into the world of marketing both online and off. Combining creativity with real-world, hands-on experience, Tom writes articles to help local businesses learn to strategically leverage their Internet presence and capture easy online profits. His articles include thoughtful, down-to-earth explanations of various marketing media and philosophies, and local businesses can take away simple tools, ideas, and techniques that they can implement to shape their local Internet marketing efforts.

© 2005 Low-Hanging Fruit

Growing Your Business Online A Fresh Perspective

Writen by Susan Thompson

Rather than thinking about the web as technology, let's consider the web as a purely connective device - perhaps the most powerful connective tool that mankind has created to date.

The web can literally - physically - connect companies, people, ideas, and processes instantly. It can bring people and companies that might be miles apart together to appear as if they are united, and in one place. Here lies tremendous opportunity for you to connect with your customers and prospects, and also to use the web as a mechanism for implementing the business partnerships (or alliances) that you've made or plan to make. Creating "E-Alliances"

Similar to traditional alliances (that have not used the web in the past), on-line alliances (or "E-Alliances") may be formed for a number of specific purposes:

1) to generate awareness and develop targeted leads (internet traffic);

2) to expand your reach faster than you could alone;

3) to take advantage of the clout or customer base of another company (or another website); and

4) to distribute your products and services through another company (or website) to increase your sales and/or reduce your costs.

In any case, but especially on the internet, one of the main aims of a strategic alliance is to add value to your company, by having the unique partnerships you create become a significant barrier to entering your market. As we all know, it truly is the business relationships that we create and cultivate that are hardest for competitors to reproduce. Alliances that are well thought-out and implemented effectively, by their very nature, can often profoundly differentiate your products and services, and thus your company.

Leveraging the Web's Connective Power

When a business looks at maximizing its internet presence, there are a number of applications that can provide immediate value:

1. Search Engine Optimization - For most companies, search engines account for approximately 85% of the people that visit their sites, especially those with business sites. Therefore, we must begin to think of search engines as important business partners. Registering your keywords is an important first step; however regular, ongoing submissions to top search engines is absolutely essential. It does no good to launch a great site and not be committed to securing and maintaining your web site ranking.

Search engines send out "robots" periodically to update your website information in their database. These robots look for changes since you registered, or since they last searched your site. Make sure your site has keywords embedded in the code for every page. In addition, actively changing your site's content (with great attention to using strategic, relevant, focused keywords on every page) helps to ensure that your site remains fresh and accessible.

Search engines truly are the best way to make sure your site is seen by the highest number of unique visitors in your field. Being included on the first page of the most popular search engines within the top 2 to 3 (keyword) areas that you select should be your initial, 3 to 6 month objective. It takes skill and persistence, and a lot of looking at your company from your prospects' and customers' vantage points.

I can't stress enough that you must know what you want to accomplish online before creating your website. As such, the keywords your want to "own" should be identified and built into your site's architecture, web copy, and overall internet marketing/sales strategy from the beginning - not just added in when you are ready to submit your already-completed site to the search engines. Your site needs to be search engine-friendly, not just "techie" or "beautiful."

Also be aware that when you are aiming to reach a very narrow target market via the internet, other niche directories and sites often become just as important as search engines in meeting your marketing/sales objectives.

2. On-line Links and Partners - It's one thing for the general user to be able to reach you via a search engine. But, it's much better if your desired prospects choose to visit your site outright. Be assured, there are incredible opportunities on-line to create targeted traffic - direct to your site. These include:

- Link and Affiliate Programs - Strategically connect your site to non-competing sites that have a similar target audience. This can take the form of a "link program" (where you arrange for and/or swap links) or an "affiliate program" (where one party pays the other for click-throughs and/or sales from their page.)

- On-line Content Providers - Also think of internet content providers, internet media websites, and internet business directories as your partners. Here, for example, you can arrange to be featured as the "showcase product" on a popular site, or to be listed in a "5 Most Innovative Products" feature on-line. The websites of publications and trade associations in your industry are a good place to start. (Public Relations professionals also have many opportunities to secure more coverage if they target on-line features, in addition to traditional features.)

- Preferred-Provider Relationships - Actual co-marketing on-line is the next logical step. For example, many organizations invest in sending a professional, but affordable direct mail piece out that that directs prospects to a customized offer on their site. Along the same lines, your company might negotiate to become the "preferred-provider" to a company's clientele - recommended by the other company and connected via your websites.

- On-line Distribution - Finally, through business-to-business e-commerce applications on the web, many companies are tying their marketing, sales, order entry, accounting, stock and fulfillment systems together to sell more of each company's product, at a lower cost.

3. Pro-Active E-Marketing - Everything we've been discussing thus far is an action you take to have others visit your site. You can also take the initiative to use the web to creatively reach out to others. Offering some type of benefit on-line or adding a simple questionnaire to your site is the first step in gathering the data you need to converse with prospects. They will tell you what they need. Ask them. Have them choose to receive information from you. Only send them what is valuable - by email, or whatever way they prefer.

4. Your Customers - Of course, your customers are your ultimate partners. There are many ways to serve them better on-line. These include: offering a frequently-asked questions (FAQ) section on your site and easily-accessible e-mail contacts; allowing customers to make account changes on-line; soliciting their feedback on-line; providing your newsletter and information about your new products and services to them on-line; and when appropriate, up-selling (or cross-selling) them on-line.

Don't forget about the opportunity to feature your customers on your site via testimonials, pictures, and case studies that "tell the story" of how your customers benefit from your products and services. It's good for them, and good for you.

The Two Toughest On-line Challenges

I've just described many ways for you to take "your next step on the web." But regardless, in closing, remember what I consider to be the two most important keys to internet success:

One…As we've mentioned, the web is a connective device. It does not stand alone. To gain the most benefit from the web, you must focus on integrating your internet activities with your other business processes, especially in the sales and marketing area.

Two…Just as with any business endeavor, it is the unique and creative ways that a business uses the tools available that determines its success. I challenge you to stretch your imagination. Try some new things. Refuse to view the internet primarily as a scientific, technology-driven tool, but instead strive to use the web in highly creative ways that set your company apart. Innovation and timing count for everything on the web.

Susan K. Thompson is owner of the consulting firm, Emerald Coast Entrepreneur, http://www.emeraldcoastentrepreneur.com specializing in business start up and expansion. With a rich background in academic, corporate, and entrepreneurial achievement, she cuts through the theories and finds solutions that work.

Permission is hereby given to reproduce this article online without any further arrangement. The only proviso is that it be published in it's entirety, which includes this footer.

©2005 Emerald Coast Entrepreneur - Susan K. Thompson

Seven Secrets That Keep This Realtor Up At Night

Writen by Roselind Hejl

Being a Realtor is not like it used to be a few years ago. Now, in addition to being experts in marketing homes, we have to be highly skilled webmasters, too. My day job is marketing my listings, my night job is marketing my web site. I go from closing to copywriting, from public relations to page rank, from BPO's to SEO. Why is this necessary? Well, its like this....

Secret # 1: Google must like you.
I depend on my web site for a constant supply of business. It works pretty well. People get to know us there, and they get to like us, and they are often motivated to call us for help in buying or selling a home. But before they can get to know us, and get to like us, Google has to get to know us first. And Google has to like us.

Secret #2: Google only likes you if other people like you.
So how does Google know if other people like you? Well, if they like you, or at least respect you, they sometimes put a link on their site pointing to your site. Well, after a while, a lot of people figured out that they could pretend to be in love, and just exchange links. But, rumor has is that Google has caught on to these marriages of convenience. So now reciprocal links may not be a reliable way to show how well liked you are.

Secret #3: People might like you if you give them something.
This secret has been out for awhile. But what can we give people? Well, we can give them some content for their websites. Not everyone can create content for their websites. Some people are content challenged. These folks presumably go to places on the internet where content is offered for free, and help themselves. There is a thing called RSS - real simple syndication - a tool folks can download onto their websites. Under a headline like, "What's New," a stream of fresh real estate news, blogs and articles can flow through their site. Pretty good for a busy webmaster. Here is where we come in. We can supply this material in the form of articles. These articles have our name at the bottom, and a link pointing to our site. We get their unrequited love and one-way link - and that is a good sign that we are, indeed, popular.

Secret #4: Google likes you better if people, who are in your same business, like you.
Over the past year, I have written eight articles. I sent these articles to some sites that are depositories of potential web site material - where people can come and help themselves. Of course, when my articles are placed on these sites I have a link back from them. But, they are not in the real estate business. So, a link from them is not so hot. They may like me, but they are not like me. What I really want is for some real estate related sites to borrow my articles and embellish their own sites. And, surprisingly enough, some have.

Secret #5: Google likes you even more if people, who are more important than you, like you.
So how do you find these more important people? Same way you find anything. Just Google on a certain phrase and see who is on the first few pages. I emailed my article on "real estate inspections" to the top 20 websites listed for this term. One responded. The National Association of Certified Home Inspectors accepted it for their site. Now I have a link from an important site within my field. That emboldened me to send my eight articles to www.IRED.com - a very respected real estate site, and they were accepted there, too.

Secret #6: Some say that short articles are best, but I don't buy it.
I have read that you should not write more than 500 words, because people don't have time to read. They will read the top part and miss your name at the bottom. I say go ahead and write whatever you want. But, get to the point, and use short paragraphs, because fine print is hard to read online. My articles have been 1200-1400 words.

Secret #7: A catchy title is helpful, but not necessary.
Titles like the one I used for this article are supposed to be read a lot more than something like, "Viral Marketing for Real Estate." Frankly, I find titles like, "Seven Shocking Secrets..." vaguely insulting. (I used it here just for fun.) I think it is fine to use a title that simply says what your article is about, and move on. If it is a decent article someone may put it on their site. You don't have to stoop to tabloid level. In fact, a more straightforward title might be a better fit on someone else's website.

While this is mostly about pandering to the great machine, there is a possibility that a real human being might read your article and learn something. And, look you up. And email you about some business. You have to play to two audiences - robotic and human. Robots are easy to fool. Humans are not. You have to really have something to say. That is the real secret.

Roselind Hejl is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker United in Austin, Texas. Her website - http://www.weloveaustin.com - offers homes for sale, market trends, buyer and seller guides. Let Roselind help you make your move to Austin.

Austin Texas Real Estate Guide

Online Writers And Miss Spellings In Titles

Writen by Lance Winslow

Some writers on an online article submission site have decided that purposeful miss spellings or any miss spellings are not in keeping with the quality necessary to help such websites. In fact these folks want to make a rule against it? Well I just so happened to be the most prolific online article writer on the Internet with nearly 5600 articles and so I took a sample of all my articles and titles and copied them into a Microsoft Word File and ran spell check.

Okay so here is the deal. I have 5580 articles or 161 pages of titles and I have here some 220 Titles with theoretically miss spelled words. With 35 titles per page that is 6.2 pages of the 161 pages with miss spelled words in the titles or supposedly miss spelled words. Personally some might have a problem with this, I sure as Sheet don't.

Of these words many are industry words or words in everyday speech, the news, newspapers, scientific words. A few are purposely miss spelled and about 10% are mistakes frightful indeed, makes one look bad, however if there are 22 mistakes in Titles of 5500 articles, I can accept that error of .05% that is ISO 9000 certifiable or Six Sigma Black Belt quality. The Industry words, which are correct but spell check shows incorrect are about 80% of the 220 miss spelled word titles. Personally I see no reason for a rule against miss spellings in titles of online articles, as I believe no problem exists that is worthy of mention. Consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Google Checkout Badges The Results Are In

Writen by Nick Temple

Over the last few days, I've been testing the Google Checkout badges on a series of keywords. Here's the experiment - and results.

Question: How does an AdWords ad with a Google Checkout Badge perform against an ad that does not have the badge? Theory: Since Google Checkout badges are new, I would assume that I would get a higher click-through rate on the badge with the ad as curious people click, but a lower conversion rate (hence higher cost per conversion).

Summary: I was wrong. The ad with the Google Checkout badge performed better across the board than the ad without.

Google Checkout was the hands-down winner.

Experiment: I created two identical opt-in pages, hosted on two seperate domains - one with the badges, one without. I then created two identical adds: the difference was in their Display and Link URL's - google then added the [badge] to the one with the appropriate URL. I also made sure that the campaign had optimization turned off, so taht each ad would be served equally. Both ads were served approximately 50% of the the time, so had approximately the same number of impressions (within 1%). No ads were displayed on the content network, which don't display the badges anyway.

The add with the checkout badge had a 40% higher click through than the ad without. The conversion rate was 17.5% higher with the badge in place.

This translates into more leads for less money, period.

Some notes: in addition to the badge, the domain names themselves were different, so that could have factored into the conversion. One was the product domain, the second (with the badge) was my personal domain, nicktemple.com - I would actually expect nicktemple.com to do worse than the product domain, however that probably needs to be tested seperately.

Also, the product had to do directly with Google Checkout, so these respondants may have been biased in favor of a checkout badge to begin with. Finally, the test is new, and as more more clicks are processed, the confidense level of the test will increase.

All that said … so far, the checkout badge is a clear winner, though more testing will be needed over the next few weeks in other markets to verify.

Nick Temple, the Virtual CTO, is the premier ecommerce consultant and technology specialist. His new training system, Google Checkout Secrets, reveals exactly how to implement the Google Checkout system on your website for maximum profits. Visit http://www.GoogleCheckoutSecrets.com

How To Flip Switch Amp Get Your Customers To Buy Your Second Product Instantly

Writen by Murtuza Abbas

If you want to get your customers to buy your second product, then the third one, and so on, then this might be the most important article you'll ever read.

Have you ever imagined why your customers don't buy your second product once they purchase your first product?

This article will show you some powerful reasons for the same. Once you understand them, you can correct them and you will instantly flip switch your marketing system to convert your customers into life time ever paying customers at your command.

Here YOU Go...

Reason 1 - Fail to Introduce Another Product.

You failed to follow up after the first sale. After the sale you could have introduced a second related product in the thank you e-mail.

If you introduce some related product instantly after the sale, the customers instantly grab them as they still have their credit card in hand.

Reason 2 - Delay in Shipping Your Product.

You failed to ship the product in time you stated. If they wanted your product in a hurry and you didn't provide them, they won't rely on you again.

Reason 3 - Product Failed On Your Promises.

Your product did not deliver as per your promises. If your product did not accomplish their desired goal they surely won't try out your second product and risk their valuable money once again.

Reason 4 - Low Quality Customer Support.

Your customer couldn't get in touch with you when they had a "after question" sale. You could have added extra lines of support to get their queries solved.

Reason 5 - Lack of Quality Content.

Your customer did not want to revisit your web site because it didn't offer much. You could have offered more original valuable content or freebies on your website.

Reason 6 - Your Competition Rules You.

Your competition is providing free shipping with their product. You must be aware of how they are targeting your customers and closing their sales.

Reason 7 - Customer Forgot Your Website Address.

Your customer did not recollect your web site address. You should have given your customers your web site information in your product package along with back end product offers so that they could revisit and have a look on your product line.

Reason 8 - Poor Quality Customer Service.

Your customer service did not solve a problem or customer query they had with your product. Your customer service should be trained to handle most problems.

Reason 9 - Upsell Your Products and Services.

You didn't up-sell when they were in the buying mood. You can always try to sell your other products when they're ready to buy your first one. This will boost up conversion ratio of your website.

Reason 10 - Failed to Provide a Risk Free Guarantee.

Your competition offers a powerful money back guarantee. You must always be thinking of advanced ways to remove the risk from your customers.

Everything you may have heard about converting your customers into ever paying customers might be true. But this article has shown you some amazing ways to get your customers to buy your second product without any resistance.

One of the most difficult and time consuming tasks in this internet marketing game is to find out first time customers.

But this article has shown you how to get more out of your existing customers by applying some no cost and low cost tactics right NOW.

There's never been a better time for you to attract MORE sales, profits and customers, than it is today!

Grab FREE $147 'Profit Pulling Minisites' Vault.

What if Murtuza creates Your Own money-making website Ready to take Orders in Less than 7 Days? Learn how to start an internet business…

http://www.7DaysToEarn.com/internet-business

Viral Marketing Spread The Word

Writen by Judy Webb

While a virus, in Medicine, is the smallest infectious agent, it is an extremely potent strategy in Marketing speak with similar abilities to proliferate. It is an effective means of advertising and relies on an understanding of what individuals may accept, should the price favour them.

Viral marketing by definition is any type of a marketing campaign that encourages those in receipt of an advertising message to voluntarily pass it along to friends, family and others that may be interested. [unlike a bad "virus" which one would not want to knowingly spread or pass along.]

Examples of successful viral marketing are: hotmail and their simple teaser at the bottom of all their emails that stated "Get your free private email at www.hotmail.com."

In its first 1.5 years, Hotmail acquired over 12 million subscribers.

eGroups.com [Yahoo Groups] is a free place on the Net with tools for groups to share ideas, coordinate schedules and exchange documents. It reached 4.1 million users at a faster pace than Hotmail did.

MeMail.com, the Canadian publisher with over 300,000 subscribers, has 97% of its new subscribers from direct referrals.

Every time a subscriber passes along a story or joke, attached is a subtle endorsement for MeMail.com brand.

Other forms of viral advertising are based on the idea, that people will pass on and share cool and entertaining content, which is often sponsored by an individual or company.

This is looking to raise awareness and use of a product or service. These viral commercials can take many different forms: funny video clips, interactive Flash games, images, or even text.

R.S.S. is not just a gift, but a means to propagate your brand via incoming links. It will provide content to any who wish it, but its true purpose is to infiltrate the market, virally.

Viral marketing is usually carried out by email, although it is not the same as email marketing.

Email marketing is a message that is sent out by a company to a database.

In Viral marketing a conventional database is not used. The idea is to get your reader to pass your message on to their friends, family or associates. The message then carries a powerful personal endorsement and is much more likely to be read and/or acted upon.

When a viral campaign is properly constructed and executed, you will be rewarded exponentially by the spread.

Example: 2 readers tell 2, which in turn tell 2 more and so on. It spreads 2+4+8+16+38+64 and hopefully swells to a reach massive number of readers that act on your offer or message. Ironically, even without action or direct financial participation, a mental impression can be formed through branding.while no-one will click on the large billboards that fill the landscape, the memory of it, can prompt future action with the sponsor in question. Exposure and impressions have consequences, both on and off line.

Most internet programs including mlm's initiate novices by impressing them to harvest their "circles of influences". This involves such novices telling everyone that they know, and giving the product a personal recommendation, or endorsement.

Some insist that a circle of influence strategy could spread the word to an incredible nine hundred people.

Examples of viral marketing can be seen everywhere: free email addresses, branded software, branded ipods or accessories, bravenet tools, some newsfeeds, syndication and other content, jokes (via email and offline), quotations even, anything that people want for nothing but agree to a link, like phpnuke or WordPress.

Look at the Marlboro Cigarettes campaign suggesting saving miles to purchase merchandise. Most items purchased are branded physically or by word-of-mouth, "I got it from Marlboro catalogue by saving miles".

Miles that can only be accumulated by purchasing a pack of their cigarettes.

By offering a simple download with an email or as a bonus to your offer your branded name will become known. For instance you can go here and download a great set of tools that will benefit webmasters at any level. This branded tool will benefit both the consumer and the one making the offer.

E Books are invariably information products that can be branded and embedded with affiliate links. These are often given away as free reports, but with the firm consciousness that they will be passed on to enhance a viral campaign.

Brand it, and recieve widespread recognition. Embed it with affiliate links, and recieve any associated revenues.

Indeed, affiliation programs could be considered to be viral in nature. While the new affiliate may not make a sale, they will surely be aware of the product and may even purchase it themselves. This does happen, incidentally.

The most powerful vehicle of a viral marketing strategy is the one that is carried to the most valuable target of all; Those that want something, and those that want something else!

Good Luck and happy viral marketing.

Judy Webb is a strategy analyst with http://www.thewebbpage.com. If you want a powerful suite of Webmaster tools (which I still use myself), you can download it here Webmaster Tools , with my compliments. You may reprint this article if done in total, including this resource box.

Ecards As A Marketing Tool

Writen by Dessy Oundian

As any successful businessman will confirm, having a great product or service is just the beginning. After all, in this day and age, everything comes down to marketing. The more creative you are in your marketing efforts, the more successful your business is. There are many ways to promote your business without spending a fortune. In this article I will describe one of the most powerful tools on the Internet – ecards!

Ecards (electronic greeting cards) are a great example of efficient marketing on the internet. You have a service open to the Internet users. The ecards they send from your site invariably contain promotion for your company, products or services. They are advertising tools that are immediate, inexpensive, personalized and although sent via email, S.P.A.M.-free.

This form of Internet marketing is extremely effective. More than 50% of the U.S. population and 85% of all Internet users visit a greeting's site annually, according to research firm Jupiter MediaMetrix. Why not use even a small percentage of these potential clients to you advantage? OK, BlueMountain.com has more than 100 million unique visitors each year, but even with less numbers, the potential is there. Remember, with each sent ecard from your site you have at least two potential clients!

If someone utilizes the ecards service on average only twice a day, in the period of a year the service is advertised approximately 730 times. Multiply this number by the number of registered users and you get yourself a healthy advertising stream. Recognizing the huge potential, in 1999 Excite@Home Corp. paid $780 million for the purchase of BlueMountain.com. How much would you pay for that type of advertising?

No need to answer -- you can have an ecard site for a lot less. The concept is the same, and you can use it just as the big boys. You can build a database of qualified prospects and use ecards to:

• Promote - promote products and services

• Brand - create company awareness among your client base

• Invite - invite people to seminars and events

• Remind - send appointment reminders

• Inform - send Client appreciation memos, Recruiting/hiring notices, etc.

• Reference - send Birthday wishes, Holiday greetings, Thank You's, etc.

OK, so now you know you need an ecard section on your site. What do you need next?

Content:

Custom content: If you have a larger budget you can have an well-known artist create custom animated ecards for you. On average, a Flash animated ecard costs $350.

Leased content: A much cheaper way to obtain high quality content is to use the services of a company like Cardsup Greetings (http://www.cardsup.com). Their ecards have been used by such sites as Yahoo Greetings, Regards.com, ecards.com, etc. For a very reasonable price you will get:

GREAT CONTENT for your existing web site, made by some of the best animators/cartoonists in the business.

TIMELY UPDATES -- you will receive monthly Flash ecards! Each month you will get from 5 to 30 additional ecards at no cost.

SCREENSAVERS -- you will receive all additional animations as screensavers too, and you will be able to sell them to your customers.

Ecards software:

There are a lot of very good ecard programs on the Internet. I highly recommend the following:

• eCard Plans (eCards for web sites)

• eCard web hosting(Web hosting for eCard web sites)

About The Author

Dessy Oundian is a the marketing Guru behind etoon.com -- one of the largest searchable cartoon databases in the world. Find T-shirts and other custom apparel, get information about licensing our cartoons or send e-cards.

Why Havent You Got An Article Directory

Writen by Marcus Gardner

With the advent of Jagger, Google's latest update, more than ever people are talking about good content and how important it is to have on any site. Good, relevant content is loved by search engines and visitors alike. Quality content is a powerful tool for Internet marketing and promotion purposes.

Sadly, it seems not everyone; in fact very few have got the message about article marketing, and the fact that you don't have to be the articles author to profit form them, and this in spite of the free advice given by many experienced web masters, that shows that good content and first-rate submission work can grant you a massive publicity online and a growing income.

Even if the search engines change their algorithms, there should be little if any adverse effect on sites with good content, especially if fresh content in the form of well written articles is being added regularly. What many have failed to realise is that the Internet is about nothing but content. Without good, relevant content the Internet would be nothing. In the words of many practiced marketers "content is king".

So how do you make money and satisfy the search engines and your visitors alike? This is where running your own article directory comes into play, it isn't difficult or particularly complicated, and there are some wonderful benefits to having your own article directory:

Your site grows on a daily basis with that all important relevant content.

Every new page is indexed by the search engines, because the content is relevant to the keywords in each article category, your keyword and key phrase score goes up. Especially important in Google.

Your PR will grow over time as the quantity of quality articles on your site increases.

Article directory sites give you targeted traffic; this usually means higher click-throughs on your Adsense and other affiliate links.

No need to worry about constantly changing your content, a few clicks from the mouse in the admin panel is all it takes to add to your content.

Monetizing your site is easy with use of Adsense and any other affiliate scheme you like the look of. Best of all most of theses schemes are FREE to join!

It is plain that the benefits of your own on site article directory far outweigh any disadvantages, So What's to Stop You? Don't know where to start! This is really easy! Visit the nice people at www.articledashboard.com they have a very useful FREE script just for this. It's really easy to install, or if you don't fancy doing it yourself, or are unsure how, they'll install it for a one off of $50. They also provide a nice little PDF file on how best to profit from your new article directory.

Drawbacks!?!

Some say too many articles too quickly could give the search engines the idea that you're a spammer. I have to say I disagree. If your site is a new domain that has never before been registered, then you may find yourself playing in Google's sand box for about three months. However, if your site is older or has been registered before then my personal opinion is that no harm would come, especially when you provide the search engines with what they expect to see – steady growth be that five a week or fifty a day. NO ONE (except the bods at Google) knows the criteria Google uses for sand boxing sites.

On Quality

Use your judgement! After all, you know a piece of garbage when you see one, and it'll do you and your site no good at all publishing garbage.

Marcus Gardner is a qualified reflexologist of 11 years standing , who also holds numerous computing qualifications http://www.multiis.com

Some Tips For Exchanging Links

Writen by Shouvik Mazumder

Search engine Google looks for determining the rank of any site on:

1) Content of the site

2) Link popularity of the site (i.e. the no. of inbound links to that site)

Exchanging links with other sites is a great way to generate traffic to your website. Links done properly will repay the effort and not be subject to the whims of the search engines. No more need to be concerned unduly about SE algorithm changes.

What Does It Mean By Exchanging Links With Other Site?

You find a site that has similar content like your site. Then you can ask that site owner to put your site link in his site. In exchange you put his site link in your site.

Why Have A Links Page In Your Site?

A links page should give your visitors a choice of quality information and resources, not just a web page to improve your search engine rankings. Quality information on a links page is the best long-term strategy to improve search engine ranking.

Search engines are becoming very sophisticated and realise that many sites are putting up links merely to improve their rankings.Therefore always exchange links with web sites that are connected with theme of your site.

How Do You Find Link Exchange Partners?

One way is to go to the search engines and look for sites that are compatible with your own. Send the webmaster an email requesting a link or phone him or her personally.

An easier way is to register with the free link exchange program which will give you quality links and save you a lot of time. the following is a link exchange: http://www.linkmarket.net/

How Can I Tell The Web Site I Want To Exchange With Has Any Traffic?

Check the traffic ranking with Alexa (www.alexa.com). This will give you a good idea of its popularity. Also check its page rank with Google. If a web site has a page rank of 4, it is more popular than one with a page rank of 20. Try to exchange links with sites that have more traffic but you must be realistic also.

How Do I Show Other Links On My Web Site?

You can put your links anywhere on your web site, provided you do not have a large page with links to all kinds of sites. Remember, keep your links relevant to the content of your site (i.e. link to those sites that matches contents of your site).

If you have only a few links, the best way is to have a list with the title of the web site and a short description of its content. Large numbers of links are not recommended as it looks a bit tacky.

Exchanging links can be worth the time and effort if done properly. The golden rule is only exchange links with other web sites that have content related to yours.

Shall I Consider PR of Site While Exchanging Link?

You don't need high PR (page rank) to be a high ranking site. You don't need high PR to have quality content. If you're going to link to content, link to it because it's good and because your users will find it helpful. If you're going to exchange links, a quality site (even with low PR) can in some instances give you a lot more traffic than you think.

some guidelines to follow here:

1)Low PR+good quality+relevant content = Consider linking.

2)Medium PR+bad quality+no relevant content = Do not link

3)Low PR+bad quality+no relevant content = Do not link.

4)High PR+bad quality+no relevant content = Do not link.

5)Medium PR+good quality+relevant content = Consider linking

Linking to a high PR site just because it has high PR will not help you. Linking to a highly relevant site (i.e. site having similar content) because it's highly relevant is what will help you.

What are Link exchanges??

These are sites where you can submit your site in its directory to exchange links with other sites. You can see the directory to view related sites. Following is a link exchange: http://www.linkmarket.net/

Following are some of the legitimate strategies while exchanging link:

Method 1 - Link Backtracking

Visit a site that is similar in topic to your site.Go to Google.com and type "link:www.nameofyoursite.com". Click on every link, opening each one in a new window. Close all the pages with Page Rank less than 5(they are not worth bothering with).

This process takes you straight to the links page of a number of reasonable sites. ...and because they link to other sites, they will probably link to you too!

Method 2 - Using ADD URL Feature

Once you have done lots of backtracking, you can move onto an easier (but less nutritious) source of links. Do a search for these phrases - "add url" "submit url" "add a site" "submit a site" "add a link" "link exchange".

This should provide you with a big list of pages that have a simple link exchange feature. (Though most will be over-populated link site or banner farm sites). Use their "Add URL" feature, and submit your site.

Method 3 - The Link Exchange Box

This is the best way to get links. Just let add other site owner add their sites to your site.It's unbelievably easy.

Method 4 - Using Abnormalities in sites

Do a search on Google for a short term that is relevant to your site. Major corporations and well-known websites will probably fill up the top twenty positions on the list. Keep going down the list, until you find a site with a long address. (Any site with a long address is probably not a major site, or is a sub page of a larger site). If the site has Page Rank 7 or higher, but doesn't look like it's a major site, search at google with "link:thissite.com" and find the number of back links it has.If the site has several hundred, or thousands of back links,then without wasting your time, go for another site.

If the site has very few back links, there must be one very interesting back link in there somewhere. Find it, and see if the place will give you a link too.

Shouvik Mazumder is an active internet marketer for some time and has been busy keeping testing different marketing procedures. SFI Affiliate Program

10 Top Internet Marketing Tips

Writen by Daniel Peterson

The keys to succeeding with marketing in the online world are very similar to those used in the offline world ( the land of bricks and mortar ). What you need to bear in mind is that valid assumptions made one minute online, can quickly change as the internet is changing so quickly. You need to keep your wits about you and move with the times, or get left behind !

Here are 10 tips to get you started: -
1) Find a niche. If you don't care about money, then choose what you know. Otherwise do some research and find out if your niche is worthwhile in a profitable sense.
2) Learn from people who have already succeeded. Success can be modelled. If you do what they do, and learn from them ( I dont mean plagiarism ), then it's inevitable you will become a success too.
3) Keep an open mind and educate yourself. It's worth buying a product if you can learn just ONE new thing from it. Don't ever think you already know it and have it covered. There will be somebody else out there doing it smarter and faster than you.
4) Find out what people want in your niche then give it to them.
5) Test. Test. Test. Once you have traffic, test the conversion rate of the visitors. Conduct split tests. Measure. Compare. Adjust. Repeat.
6) If you have a local service you can STILL use the internet to market your services. Ignore those that say you can only serve if your area is applicable to the global marketplace.
7) Have a plan. Do something towards your goal every day. Break it down and don't lose sight of what you are trying to achieve.
8) Don't get discouraged if you don't see instant results. Success comes to those who persist. If something isn't working make sure you have given it CHANCE to work first. If it still isn't working, have a good look at what you are doing and then get back off the floor and go at it again. It will be worth it in the long run. Don't quit.
9) Invest some time to learn the internet culture. Join a few good forums on internet marketing.
10) Subscribe to our newsletter ( sorry I had to plug it ) and we'll help you succeed. Okay, okay, here's another bona fide top 10 tip: Be passionate about your business and your clients - they are your lifeblood.

Article by Daniel Peterson of http://www.information-on-internet-marketing.com ( The resource for succeeding in internet marketing )

Got Some Lafs

Writen by Kathryn Thomas

Could you use some laughs? I’ll bet you could, especially if they increased your online sales. And, no, I’m not talking about jokes, cartoons, and riddles.

L.A.F.S. stands for Little Ads For Success - specifically, business cards. Most people’s idea of a business card is more of a calling card. It has their name, their company’s name, their phone number, and maybe their address or their website address. Typical card. I’m not talking about using your typical card, either.

Think of your Internet marketing techniques. Aren’t they all designed to either get someone to your website or get them on your list? That’s the purpose of L.A.F.S. Just like your ads on the Web, these little ads exist only to get someone to your website.

But how?

You could offer a special incentive on your card, like a discount that only card-holders can get at your site. People always like to get a great deal.

You could offer a free gift that only card-holders get just for visiting your site. This gift needs to have a high perceived value, so that your prospect will remember that he wants to visit your site to get that special gift. Put a code on the card that enables them to get this gift, and you will also be able to track the results of your L.A.F.S. Put a different code on each design, so you know which ones work the best.

You could also make them curious about your site. For example, one of my L.A.F.S. simply asks:

Do You Know 3 People Who Could Use An Extra $100,000?

Does that get their attention? Does it make them curious? You betcha!

There are two important things to remember when you design your cards:

One, never get your prospect’s attention by misleading them just to get them to your site. This would be BAD publicity -- best avoided!

Two, never try to use your card to actually sell your product. Your goal is to get them to your site, where your sales copy will then do its job.

O.K. Now you’ve got your L.A.F.S. How do you put them to work for you?

You leave a trail of L.A.F.S. behind you! Give them out EVERYWHERE you go. Give them to EVERYONE you meet. When you go to the gas station, give one to the attendant. When you stand in line at the bank, meet the other people in line around you and give them your card. When you get to the counter, give one to the clerk. When your car battery dies, and someone gives you a jump, give a card to your new friend.

Change your routine so that you visit different gas stations, different branches of your bank, different grocery stores, and a variety of restaurants. Go to networking events sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. Go to kids' sports events and meet the parents. Give out L.A.F.S. at the mall. If your market is a small or specific niche, be creative in finding places that you may encounter these people.

With consistent effort, you will be surprised how fast you can go through a thousand cards!

So leave your trail of L.A.F.S. - Little Ads For Success - all the way to the bank!

About The Author

Kathryn Thomas, born, raised, and living in Texas, believes in doing things in a BIG way. Be sure to visit her at http://www.HeresTheMoney.com to get free advertising, list-building, gifts, cash & prizes!

The Basics Of Private Label Rights

Writen by Joe L Golson

Its Importance and Its Implication in Online Marketing

Since the advent of the Internet, business had been good, if not better than before. This is because the Internet provides more viable means of disseminating information about the products and the business all at the same time.

Hence, most businesses know that the proliferation of the online business will definitely boost the income-generating potential of the business.

However, most online entrepreneurs contend that for an online business to generate good income in the Internet, the business must have its own product. This is because everything is a sale, even the thoughts that you have in your mind could count as a product for sale when presented in the Internet for other people's use.

But contrary to most popular beliefs, having your own product does not limit you to the many possibilities of earning more by using a "license" that is attached with an "information product" that you may acquire online. These are known as private label rights.

Private label rights is just one of the three "basic rights" that are embodied in the concept of resale rights marketing. Among the three, private label rights are considered as the most moneymaking and rewarding.

Private label rights are represented in a certificate or authorization that is attached with an "information item." The basics of private label rights is to permit people to transform, reorganize, change, or improve the elements of the said merchandise to go well with the buyer's personal desires and yearnings.

For example, if you have a private label right, you can easily segregate the contents of an ebook, and persuade somebody to buy the contents as sequence of pieces of writing.

One of the best things about private label rights is that you can actually do the same thing inversely. For instance, if you were able to buy a set of information products like a collection of articles embodied with private label rights, you can easily bring them together without the risk of some law-related predicaments. Hence, you can collect different articles from different owners. With a common thought, you can come up with a creative masterpiece.

In addition, with private label rights, you can simply append some information on the said product to make it more meaningful and creative, thus, creating an impression of having a product of your own.

Best of all, you can even put your name as the author of the said work. This is the most gainful aspect of having private label rights. In this way, you do not have to acknowledge the primary author of the work.

So for those who are not yet aware of the rewards of using private label rights, here is a list of some of the advantages:

1. It is just the thing for marking your name and your business' name.

With private label rights, you can easily acquire informative products that you can use as your own. Hence, this creates an impression that you are making your own product and that you are a professional and a skilled person on the given field.

In turn, you get the trust that you need in order to compel them to buy your product.

2. It triggers creativity.

One of the best things about private label rights is that you can be creative in a thousand and one ways. This is because you can assemble the different elements and come up with a new and near-original work without having any difficulty of creating such product.

3. Develop a product!

With private label rights, you can simply modify or improve a product if ever it does not fit your taste or needs. In this way, you can both cut back wasteful time by looking for products that are totally worthless or save more money by avoiding to create a whole new product.

However, even if some people contend that it is totally unethical for a person to sell the private label rights for his creations, one cannot simply surmise the fact that engaging into this kind of activity is also beneficial to the seller especially if the product is already nearing the closing stages of its "market life."

This goes to show that people must learn how to give way to any possible changes to any product that might have already lost its income-generating potential. By allowing other people to modify or enhance the features of certain products, the advancement of such products will continue to take place. Hence, the cycle will go on.

Indeed, the basics of private label rights are not just necessary for most of the online marketers who wish to earn more income aside from their own products but also for the whole market as well. This is because the whole system of a give and take relationship dwells in the business and that is exactly where income generates its power.

Joe L.Golson
Tru-gold Online Marketing Solutions
For the right online marketing solution for your online advertising success
Get A $97 Value Private Label Rights Package... Absolutely Free!
http://url123.com/ws97u

A Beginners Guide To Internet Marketing Who Should You Believe

Writen by Jason DeVelvis

If you are new to the Internet Marketing arena, you are probably confused by all of the information that you have read. There is so much information out there that it can be overwhelming even to the most seasoned Internet Marketers. There is a multitude of beginner's Internet Marketing information. There is even a whole lot of conflicting information that is passed around. You are told to do this or that, then told why you shouldn't do this or that by yet another Internet Marketing Guru. Who should you believe?

Okay, take a deep breath, and try to forget everything you've heard. It is time to start over at the beginning – by first determining which Guru you need to listen to.

Not all Gurus are alike – and not all Gurus are actually Gurus! This is the first step in determining who you should be taking advice from when it comes to a beginner's guide to Internet Marketing.

When you find an Internet Marketing expert that you think you would like to follow, you need to do some research. There are many who claim to be experts five minutes after turning on their very first computer. These are not the people you want to follow. There are many who use methods that aren't quite ethical – or even legal. Again, these are not the experts you want to take advice from. The hard part is determining who is who in the Internet Marketing world.

Get the guru's name. Do a search in any search engine, and read everything that you can find about that person before sending them any money. Next, visit one of the quality Internet Marketing forums, and ask the other members what they think of a particular marketer, and who they would recommend for a beginner's guide to Internet Marketing. If possible, try to find a forum where the person in question is not a member. (Note: a guru may be well-known in one forum and not known at all in some others)

Visit the guru's website, and download any free information that is available. See what they have to say in their free materials before you spend money on their products. You will eliminate many using this method. Is the material written in a language you can understand? Does the writing seem professional? Do they seem like they have something to say that others are not already telling you?

If you like what you've seen so far, look to see what their product offers are for a beginner's guide to Internet Marketing. Does it seem like you will get a lot of value for your money? If so, it is time to subscribe to the guru's free newsletter. See what kind of content they send you. If it's just a bunch of advertisements, this guru may not be the right one for you. But if they give you valuable content, then you may have found your guru.

Jason is a successful Internet Marketer, and posts regularly on his Adventures In Internet Marketing blog. Take a minute right now to sign up for his newsletter!

Virtual Real Estate Investing In 2006

Writen by Jack Humphrey

Virtual real estate is becoming more and more lucrative as the "overnight successes" (spam sites) are disappearing due to search engines "sand boxing" all new sites and de-listing spammers.

Gone forever are the days where anyone with moderate experience could come into a market and dominate it within a month or two in the search engines. Since Google and other engines no longer reward new sites of any kind with immediate results, only the mature, savvy e-real estate investor will win the day in 2006.

Smart niche site network publishers have been gearing up for 2006 with solid, well-thought-out site designs, content strategies, and niche research to place content rich sites up with no other goal than to let them grow and season into very valuable properties in 6-8 months time.

Having a site entrenched in the search engines means you have been around for at least 3 months - and that is stretching it. Rewards are coming to those who wait patiently. And only to those content site publishers who build real sites, not the spammy sites we were all waiting anxiously to disappear from the engines last year.

Finally, content, which has been referred to as "King" for years, (but treated in reality like a cheap whore until recently) is truly the focus of smart investors looking to build a network of sites on special niches to attract lucrative advertising and product sales revenue.

Many virtual investors and developers who have built now popular sites are selling their networks for millions today.

And this is the real "out." Smart virtual real estate investors not only build to profit in the short term, but are building popular sites and networks of sites with an eye to cash out big in the coming year.

All it really takes is good research, creativity in isolating a market, and most of all - patience. The longer you let your network grow and season and the more popular you make it with strong promotion tactics, the more it is worth to investors who are looking for any site network that moves traffic.

The second level of virtual real estate investing is buying up networks of content sites and focusing the traffic on profitable product lines, affiliate product sales, services of all kinds, and for advertising revenue.

Investors who sell traffic via banner advertising, pay per click, and any number of text linking schemes always seem to have a higher demand for ad space than traffic supply. This will continue to be the case in the coming years and smart niche site publishers are banking on the advertising industry's insatiable appetite for good targeted traffic.

Once people get over the Adsense boom and bust period of 2005, they will start to realize that Adsense is merely "funded research" and the big game is the virtual properties themselves.

Biggest mistake in 2006?

Spam sites! Once they are dropped out of the engines, and they all have been or will be soon, they are totally valueless. Complete and utter failures from the domain name to the time and money poured into them.

Yet publishers who go the extra mile and exercise a modicum of respect for their industry are still floating the wave of profits by creating real sites.

Think about it this way: A publisher who starts from nothing today and builds one rich content site per week in 2006 is going to have about 52 sites this time next year.

With a good marketing plan for each site which includes no SEO tricks and nothing even "grey hat" in the mix, she should have the ability to isolate 10 sites in her network worth spending more time on than the others. This is given that the revenue model for each of the 10 sites is producing at least $10 per day.

Turning those 10 sites into $30 a day earners can pluck up over $100,000.00 in revenue in a year's time! With good research on profitable niches to provide with good content, and a simple but solid marketing plan for each site, anyone with the proper training and patience can get into the game.

Now the publisher in the above example is pulling in $300 per day with just 10 sites. Last year it took upwards of 100 or more spam sites to do the same thing with no hope it would continue from day to day depending on when the engines caught up with them and de-listed them.

The publisher in the above example can keep that money rolling in indefinitely without fear because her 10 sites are perfect content sites that search engines love. No tricks and no spam software involved.

A publisher can then go on to find the next 10 winners in their network or continue to focus on the current 10 with an eye on drastically improving one or all of the sites' profit margins with ramped up marketing and content development.

Now comes the great part. A publisher who finds their 10 winners and develops them into sites that average 300-500 visitors per day each now has a network of sites pulling in 3000-5000 eyeballs each and every day.

Depending on the markets served with the 10 winners, a site network like this, which has proven revenue and traffic, can easily value from $150,000.00 and up these days.

Why? Because of the traffic, proven profits, and the quality of the sites themselves. This is something that was totally forgotten in the Adsense spam site days. The guys who built 5000 sites with no more value than a single, traffic-less affiliate casino site have lost everything they worked for. Once they were out of the engines, they were out of business.

And they have nothing to sell. No assets. No content means no value. No search engine rankings means no serious traffic and no revenue.

But the publisher who built just 10 content sites last year that are now doing at least $30 each per day is sitting on not only $109,500.00 gross yearly revenue, but also a network worth far more than that which they can sell to rabid investors looking for just such a deal to land in their lap each and every day.

Again, all it takes is knowing the niche publishing industry and the tactics for creating and marketing content rich niche sites and a little patience.

This is what the market wants. All you have to do is give it the elbow grease it deserves to reap massive profits down the relatively short road to success.

Copyright 2006 Tale Chaser Publishing, Inc.

Jack Humphrey is the managing partner of http://www.contentdesk.com and author of the renowned Power Linking series of internet marketing courses. More information on the niche publishing industry can be found at http://www.contentdesk.com/csb

Why Christians Fail At Internet Marketing

Writen by Sean Mize

A Christian begins to think about marketing online, and wants to market to the Christian Internet Market. After some extensive research, he or she finds that the Christian Internet market is saturated with multilevel, get-rich-quick, gifting, Ponzi schemes, and surf programs. The Christian either chooses to become involved in one of the above-mentioned schemes, thinking that is what Christians are looking for, or decides that Christians aren't willing to pay for good content or services online.

Unfortunately, the Christian is wrong on both accounts. Christians are willing to pay for good content and services online, but sadly enough, there are very few good Christian services online. Why? Because marketers, both Christian and Secular alike, have assumed that Christians will not pay for online products, because they are unwilling to spend money online. That is the problem. While many Christians, in the early years of the Internet, may have been reluctant to spend money online, with the advent of better Internet filters and screening software, more Christians are spending time online. I contend that the only reason they don't spend more money online is because of the dearth of good Christian content online. I believe there is a conspicuous absence of good Christian content online, and I believe that those who step up in 2006 and supply the content will get rich doing it.

That may be a bold statement, and some of you will quit reading right now. Go ahead.

Those of you who are still reading, think about this for a moment. When is the best time to get involved in a new window of opportunity? When it first becomes a new window of opportunity, right? I contend that this year, 2006, will be a break-out year for Christian online marketing and sales.

Now, get me right here. I do NOT mean more Ponzi schemes and multi-level games. I mean good, Christian, grounded, chockful-of-useful-information web-based content. Content like information materials that teach about popular Christian topics like Christian self-improvement, Christian dating, Christian success, and Christian values. Products like Christian books, Christian videos, Christian web-sites, Christian marketing tools, and Christian studies.

Another vital point here. These products must be two things:

1) Bona-fide faith-based products that are not ashamed of the Christian identity and

2) High-quality products that contain as much or more good content as a competing secular product. You cannot think that just because a Christian sees a product with a Christian label that that will close the sale. It must be worth every penny you price it at.

If you want to get involved in Christian Internet Marketing, now is the time. Do it.

Sean Mize is a Christian Entrepreneur and Christian internet Marketer, and the author of "The Christian Guide to Maximizing Your Time", which can be ordered via Christian Success Network

He also co-publishes a Christian Article Directory. To read articles or submit articles for inclusion in the directory, click here: Christian Article Bank

Note: You have my permission to reprint and distribute this article as long as it is distributed in its entirety, including all links. © Sean Mize 2006