by TJ Philpott
Working online from home seems to be the most picture perfect scenario anyone can imagine. Earning a work from home income obviously offers it advantages but with it comes a certain mental stress that is easily overlooked until you've actually experience it. With the growth and success many are achieving in online marketing more people are starting a small business in their homes. Although this does allow for folks to escape the traditional 'rat race' as we know it, these types of businesses are still fertile grounds for work related stress. No longer 'slaving away' in a 'formal' work environment no doubt offers its attractions but work is still work. The associated tensions and anxieties still exist and need to be addressed.
Due mainly to the solitude or isolation online entrepreneurs typically experience when working at home many stress related issues often go unnoticed. This can set the stage for even greater damaging effects if this stress is left unchecked.
Recognizing it does exist and can not be avoided here are 5 tips to help reduce the mental stress experienced when working at home.
Schedule Your Work Hours
It is important that you have predefined hours in which you conduct your work. Like a regular job you need start on time and avoid the habit of 'lingering' at work since it's right there in the home.
The hours that you set aside for work need to be maintained consistently. Don't allow the distractions/temptation of the home environment to disrupt this schedule.
Leave Work at the Desk
Once you've completed your work for the day walk away and forget about it. Having your work set up in the home may tempt you to 'sneak' in a little overtime since it is right there.
Discipline yourself to let work go till the next day. Whether you're aware of it or not you need the break to recharge your mind, energy and spirit.
Finding the Humor
As you know things don't always go according to plan so when the unexpected happens don't dwell on it but rather try to find the humor in it and let it go.
Schedule Personal Time
Schedule time for your personal life and maintain this schedule. It is important to maintain a 'balance' in your life between personal and professional pursuits in order to keep your mind and spirits healthy.
Realize that you personal endeavors are just as important, if not more so, then your profession since they better define who you are. Remember you work primarily to pay the bills so don't let this aspect of your life dominate you!
Consciously 'Slow Down'
Pay closer attention to your level of intensity as you work since subconsciously we have a tendency get too caught up in it leading to increased tension. If need be take the time to deliberately slow yourself down and take the 'edge' off. As your tension eases you will find your thoughts become clearer and your productivity increases.
Although working online from home does offer many freedoms it does not eliminate work related stress. When starting a small business in your home it is important to realize that stress could in fact take an even greater toll on you. Many online entrepreneurs enjoy earning a work from home income but also burn out quickly due to this stress. By consistently practicing the 5 tips we discussed above there is no reason you can't find long lasting financial success in the stress free environment of your home.
TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina.
For additional Online Success Tips
and a free guide that demonstrates how to find both profitable markets and products visit: http://affiliatequickstart.com/
Sunday, November 22, 2009
How to Get the Best Eye-Tracking Results for Your Website
by Dr. Philip Michael Zeman
Simply stated, someone who studies human behaviour and the brain (a Behavioural Neuropsychologist) can help you:
(1) select the best participants for an eye-tracking study,
(2) determine the number of participants required,
(3) design the eye-tracking task to get usable results,
(4) design task instructions, and
(5) understand how study results apply to the target population.
Why Having a Behavioural Neuropsychologist on Your Eye-Tracking Team is a Good Idea
I've had considerable experience with eye-tracking: constructing an eye-tracker from spare parts, creating calibration procedures, writing analysis software, and using the eye-tracker in multiple studies. Although my background is in engineering, more recently, I completed a PhD combining engineering, biology and psychology to create new tools to study brain activity and human behaviour. Since completing my PhD, I've seen my fellow engineers, computer scientists, and web gurus struggle to obtain clear, usable results from the latest and greatest eye-tracking equipment. In my opinion, the crux of their struggles lay in what they don't know about behavioural neuropsychology- the science examining the relationship between the human brain and human behaviour. While I can't quite call myself a Behavioural Neuropsychologist, I have trained with them and can describe some of the gotch-ya's of behavioural research. This article describes why including someone with experience in the field of Behavioural Neuropsychology on your eye-tracking team is a very good idea.
Tracking Your First Eye
Imagine if you will, that an associate of yours has just lent you an eye-tracker and you're keen on using it to optimize your web site. You want to know what people are looking at and you want to modify your web site based on this information. To investigate this, you sit a co-worker down in a chair in front of a computer and configure the equipment to track their eyes. Then you display your web site; the eye-tracker shows where they look when various pages appear. It also shows where you co-worker looks when they stare blankley ahead, confused and perplexed, asking you, "What should I do?". eye
Making Eye-Tracking Data Useful
While you might have been able to successfully track a few eyes while people viewed a few web pages, the process of obtaining useful eye-tracking results requires some thought and experience. Considerable thought and experience, actually. My recommendation is that you find someone who has a working knowledge of brain function and has done behavioural research to help you obtain useful data from your eye-tracker. This article is about why this is a good idea.
Let's assume that your goal is to optimize your web site; to get as many people who arrive on the site to make a purchase, or read about and digest an idea. Without getting into the details of what eye-movement and eye-gaze means, let's focus on the role of a behavioural neuropsychologist in the design of the actual 'experiment' that will help you optimize your web site.
The Role of the Behavioural Neuropsychologist
The behavioural neuropsychologist can help you get the most out of your eye-tracking study by helping you design the study correctly. They can do this because they have studied the science of behaviour and specialize in understanding the relationship between brain activity and human behaviour. They research WHY people do what they do, which is exactly what you want to find out! They can help you (1) select the best 'type' of participants, (2) determine the number of participants needed, (3) determine how to investigate the specific behaviours of interest, (4) design task instructions, (5) and understand how study results apply to the target population.
(1) Selecting the Best Type of Participants
When examining how people interact with their environment, the question always arises, "who are the best people to use for my study?" There are a number of human factors to consider including: expertise, gender, and the interest study participants might have in your product or service.people
� Expertise: training and experience. People often seem to have their own way of doing things and often it seems that you can predict what people will, or won't do, before they enter the room. My own experience with eye-tracking is that engineers generally do things way differently than 'normal' people. Similarly, my own neuropsychology colleagues, familiar with seeing the behaviour of students who study psychology, were at first amazed at the bizarreness of an engineering approach to completing standard behavioural psychology tasks. Engineers have been trained to apply algorithms to solve problems, and hence, their training and expertise affects how they behave in the real world. They apply strategies that are not typical of other populations. Hence, you might reconsider using an engineer in your study if you want to understand the average person. (Unless of course, you wish to understand engineers!)
� Gender: male versus female. Remember gender 'equality' movements of the past? Remember when we were told that males and females are the same? These days the data are telling us that the genders differ in many ways. Behaviourally speaking, it is not entirely clear whether or not these differences are simply the result of experience and training. A fun factoid that I recently acquired is that most behavioural rat research is conducted on male rats. I've been told that female rats are much more variable than males, and for this reason, it is harder to use them in research. My own experience with human study participants is that females are generally more variable than males (when it comes to spatial navigation). The take-home on this point is that there is a good chance that two similar studies, one with only males versus one of only females might have different outcomes. Always consider gender in your study.
� Interest in your product: interest versus indifference? If you're examining how people interact with your site, it is important to remember that people who are genuinely interested in your product will probably behave differently than people who are participating in your study simply for the ten or twenty dollars (a standard incentive to get participants in behavioural studies) you are giving them. Since the objective of a product site is generally twofold: (1) to sell to people who know and are loyal to the product, and to (2) convince people to buy your product who are new or are just 'surfing', you probably want both types of people in your study. You should probably examine the resulting eye-tracking data of each group separately so that you really get a feel for how features of your site relate specifically to each group.
(2) Determining the Number of Participants Needed
"How many people do I need in my study?" is another important question. This is a number that people always like to optimize because it directly relates to the cost of the study. You don't want too many people because that increases the cost of the study, but you want enough people so that you can be confident in the results.
� Variability of the group of people you selected. If you want to know about males, females, experts (engineers for example), non-experts (average human population), and those who are interested, and indifferent, you probably have quite a bit of variability on your hands. Variability in people generally leads to large variance in your results. Variance is something you want to strategically minimize to gain confidence in your results. Generally, it is best to be very specific about the question you are investigating and in your web site optimization goal. For example, you might shape your study to find out what engineers look at on your web site and then optimize your site for engineers. By doing so, you will probably require fewer participants to achieve your goal (particularly if those engineers you choose are male). By strategically selecting your participants, you can minimize the costs associated with your study.
� Confidence you need to have in the results. Determining how confident you need to be in your result can be a little confusing and it is often useful to simply follow conventional methods. Often 95% confidence is acceptable in behavioural research. This means that you can be confident that 19 in 20 people will act as the study results have predicted. This said, when dollars are the main concern, 99.9% confidence is better than 95% confidence because you don't want to risk making a poor design change to your site that results in lost income. However you must remember that getting 99.9% confidence might require many more study participants (increased study cost). A researcher who has experience doing behavioural research can help predict how many people will be required to attain required confidence levels.
(3) Deriving Usable Results from Eye-Tracking Datastatistics
Planning a study so that the resulting data can be easily analyzed, and usable results can be obtained is a fundamental skill of someone who has been trained in behavioural research. A Behavioural Neuropsychologist who has experience with eye-tracking can help solidify your goal of optimizing your website into some tangible research questions and apply the appropriate statistics to get the required answers.
� Formulating a statistically testable research question from the general requirement of web site optimization. Having some ideas about what comparisons can be made using an eye-tracker, and how to do the statistical analysis to answer specific research questions is a fundamental part of making all of this work. Let's consider a simple example where a web page has two links. Link A is on the left-hand side of the page and Link B is on the right-hand side of the page. You want to know if there is a real difference between how many people look at link A versus link B. From your web site logs (or Google Analytics data) you know that on average, more people click link B than link A.
However in this example, we are supplementing our click analysis using eye-tracking data to measure covert behaviour. Eye-tracking will tell us where people have looked and might tell us why people have not clicked. It is a safe assumption that people probably won't click on a link they have not looked at.
There are multiple possible research questions that may or may not include the factors of Gender, Expertise, and Product Interest described above. You might ask if there is a relationship between eye-gaze at A and B (how similar are they) and if there is a gender difference. For example, is there a relationship between the duration males look at A and the duration males look at B? Does this differ from females? Alternatively you might ask, is the latency from the time the web page appears on the screen to when males look at A and look at B different? Subtle differences in the specific question you are asking might require important differences in how the experiment is formulated and how the data collection is approached. The mechanism used to reveal information from the data in the cases described above is called hypothesis testing and it requires that the statistical test you do after data collection be known before the experiment begins.
� Finding information hidden in the data. One key advantage to having a neurospsychologist around is that they have used statistics to obtain hidden information from the data. For example, often unexpected results can be found by applying multiple types of statistical tests in a variety of ways on the data. This doesn't fit within standard hypothesis testing rules and regulations but it does help you understand your data and find effects that might be new to you. We can look for relationships between things like Gender, Expertise, and Product Interest with the eye-tracking data collected. For example, you might find that females look at B BEFORE they look at A and that this behaviour does not seem to be present in males. Now this is something potentially very useful for web site optimization and you can probably use this to improve your site performance. It would be unfortunate if money were spent on an eye-tracking study and important information, hidden in the data, was not uncovered because the appropriate statistical tests were not run to reveal it.
(4) Designing Task Instructions
A question that I have rarely been asked when talking with people about eye-tracking analysis of web sites is, "What instructions should be used to guide the actions of study participants?" The fact this question is asked so rarely suggests that it isn't on people's minds. Task instructions are very important. They are so important that there is a whole body of research specializing in how instructions affect what people do.
If you really want to study bona fide human behaviour, no instructions are best. However, a study with no instructions isn't realistic: you have to tell them something! Given that we want as little variability in the behaviour of study participants as possible, the ideal thing to do is to use the same instructions for all participants in the study. While this seems like a solid idea in theory, different peoples use and response to identical instructions is different ways. And this contributes to more variable data. For example, sometimes people don't understand the instructions given, they have their own interpretation of the instructions, or they forget what was said right after the instructions are given. This is variability that you probably don't want to appear in the final result of the study.
� Get an experienced professional to design your task instructions. A Behavioural Neurospsychologist who has had experience with these situations, has been trained to deal with the problems associated with task instructions. They have experience designing task instructions.
� Get an experienced professional to actually run study participants. These people are not necessarily Behavioural Neurophysiologists, but they have been trained to run study participants and know the value of doing things 'properly'. They have had experience 'guiding' people along when they have forgotten why they are there. They have 'already' made their mistakes and will hopefully spare you the headache of learning on your dime.
(5) Understanding How Study Results Apply to the Target Population
Finally, the last key element that I will talk about that a Behavioural Neuropsychologist can help you with is in understanding how the results of your study apply to the general human population. Said another way, it is very important that you know how your study applies to the population of existing and potential customers. A Behavioural Neuropsychologist will use all of his or her power and knowledge to design the study to represent your target population. When this is done correctly, the confidence numbers of 95% or 99.9% that describe the sample of the population used in the study can be applied to the target population of potential customers out there on the internet.
Summary and Conclusions
It is not sufficient to simply track eyes; what you need is a small study of what peoples' eyes do when they look at your web site. Partnering with someone who specializes in behavioural psychology (studies the relationship between brain function and human behaviour) can maximize your investment in eye-tracking. They will help you:
(1) select the best participants for the study,
(2) determine the number of participants required,
(3) design the task to get usable results,
(4) design task instructions, and
(5) understand how study results apply to the target population.
StepForth Web Marketing Inc. and I (Dr. Philip Michael Zeman) are currently investigating a partnership to offer eye-tracking analysis of web sites. In order to launch this new service and build our dossier we are willing to provide significant discounts for parties interested in having eye-tracking conducted on their site. We are accepting inquiries by email and phone - here is our contact information.
For more information about web marketing and web site optimization services see http://www.stepforth.com. For more discussion about Eye-Tracking and related brain activity analysis see http://www.brainandvision.com
-More Background-
What is Eye-Tracking?
Tracking eye-movement allows one to identify where people look on a web page. It shows: where people spend their time looking, the sequence in which people look at things on a page, what they do not look at, and reveals how visitors separate (or 'chunk') information on the screen.
Click here for YouTube on Brain Scan Technology Called MOST-EEG (Multiple Origin Spatio-Temporal Modeling)
Why is Eye-Tracking a Good Idea?
Many organizations are using eye-tracking to optimize their web site performance: to make information easier to find, and to increase web site conversions. These include: Microsoft, Xerox, The New York Times, Ask.com, Marriott, Sprint, among others. Eye-tracking analysis of a web site is scalable, meaning that the costs associated with it can be reduced when the behaviour of specific markets or specific users is examined. It can be made very affordable to small business.
Eye-Tracking versus Web Site Usability?
Eye-tracking is a science of human behaviour-covert human behaviour. The goal is to try to see what is going on in people's heads and use this information to improve site performance.
In contrast, web site usability is about making it easy to use a web site. It is the theory of web site design. Eye-tracking actually tells us empirically about the effectiveness of your specific web site design. It tells us how we might modify a site to optimize site performance after all the theory of usability has been applied.
Dr. Philip Michael Zeman provides consulting in the area of behavioural analysis. He recently completed a PhD involving the analysis of eye tracking and brain activity data. You can read more of the veteran StepForth team at http://news.stepforth.com or contact us at http://www.stepforth.com/
Tel - 250-385-1190, Toll Free - 877-385-5526, Fax - 250-385-1198
Simply stated, someone who studies human behaviour and the brain (a Behavioural Neuropsychologist) can help you:
(1) select the best participants for an eye-tracking study,
(2) determine the number of participants required,
(3) design the eye-tracking task to get usable results,
(4) design task instructions, and
(5) understand how study results apply to the target population.
Why Having a Behavioural Neuropsychologist on Your Eye-Tracking Team is a Good Idea
I've had considerable experience with eye-tracking: constructing an eye-tracker from spare parts, creating calibration procedures, writing analysis software, and using the eye-tracker in multiple studies. Although my background is in engineering, more recently, I completed a PhD combining engineering, biology and psychology to create new tools to study brain activity and human behaviour. Since completing my PhD, I've seen my fellow engineers, computer scientists, and web gurus struggle to obtain clear, usable results from the latest and greatest eye-tracking equipment. In my opinion, the crux of their struggles lay in what they don't know about behavioural neuropsychology- the science examining the relationship between the human brain and human behaviour. While I can't quite call myself a Behavioural Neuropsychologist, I have trained with them and can describe some of the gotch-ya's of behavioural research. This article describes why including someone with experience in the field of Behavioural Neuropsychology on your eye-tracking team is a very good idea.
Tracking Your First Eye
Imagine if you will, that an associate of yours has just lent you an eye-tracker and you're keen on using it to optimize your web site. You want to know what people are looking at and you want to modify your web site based on this information. To investigate this, you sit a co-worker down in a chair in front of a computer and configure the equipment to track their eyes. Then you display your web site; the eye-tracker shows where they look when various pages appear. It also shows where you co-worker looks when they stare blankley ahead, confused and perplexed, asking you, "What should I do?". eye
Making Eye-Tracking Data Useful
While you might have been able to successfully track a few eyes while people viewed a few web pages, the process of obtaining useful eye-tracking results requires some thought and experience. Considerable thought and experience, actually. My recommendation is that you find someone who has a working knowledge of brain function and has done behavioural research to help you obtain useful data from your eye-tracker. This article is about why this is a good idea.
Let's assume that your goal is to optimize your web site; to get as many people who arrive on the site to make a purchase, or read about and digest an idea. Without getting into the details of what eye-movement and eye-gaze means, let's focus on the role of a behavioural neuropsychologist in the design of the actual 'experiment' that will help you optimize your web site.
The Role of the Behavioural Neuropsychologist
The behavioural neuropsychologist can help you get the most out of your eye-tracking study by helping you design the study correctly. They can do this because they have studied the science of behaviour and specialize in understanding the relationship between brain activity and human behaviour. They research WHY people do what they do, which is exactly what you want to find out! They can help you (1) select the best 'type' of participants, (2) determine the number of participants needed, (3) determine how to investigate the specific behaviours of interest, (4) design task instructions, (5) and understand how study results apply to the target population.
(1) Selecting the Best Type of Participants
When examining how people interact with their environment, the question always arises, "who are the best people to use for my study?" There are a number of human factors to consider including: expertise, gender, and the interest study participants might have in your product or service.people
� Expertise: training and experience. People often seem to have their own way of doing things and often it seems that you can predict what people will, or won't do, before they enter the room. My own experience with eye-tracking is that engineers generally do things way differently than 'normal' people. Similarly, my own neuropsychology colleagues, familiar with seeing the behaviour of students who study psychology, were at first amazed at the bizarreness of an engineering approach to completing standard behavioural psychology tasks. Engineers have been trained to apply algorithms to solve problems, and hence, their training and expertise affects how they behave in the real world. They apply strategies that are not typical of other populations. Hence, you might reconsider using an engineer in your study if you want to understand the average person. (Unless of course, you wish to understand engineers!)
� Gender: male versus female. Remember gender 'equality' movements of the past? Remember when we were told that males and females are the same? These days the data are telling us that the genders differ in many ways. Behaviourally speaking, it is not entirely clear whether or not these differences are simply the result of experience and training. A fun factoid that I recently acquired is that most behavioural rat research is conducted on male rats. I've been told that female rats are much more variable than males, and for this reason, it is harder to use them in research. My own experience with human study participants is that females are generally more variable than males (when it comes to spatial navigation). The take-home on this point is that there is a good chance that two similar studies, one with only males versus one of only females might have different outcomes. Always consider gender in your study.
� Interest in your product: interest versus indifference? If you're examining how people interact with your site, it is important to remember that people who are genuinely interested in your product will probably behave differently than people who are participating in your study simply for the ten or twenty dollars (a standard incentive to get participants in behavioural studies) you are giving them. Since the objective of a product site is generally twofold: (1) to sell to people who know and are loyal to the product, and to (2) convince people to buy your product who are new or are just 'surfing', you probably want both types of people in your study. You should probably examine the resulting eye-tracking data of each group separately so that you really get a feel for how features of your site relate specifically to each group.
(2) Determining the Number of Participants Needed
"How many people do I need in my study?" is another important question. This is a number that people always like to optimize because it directly relates to the cost of the study. You don't want too many people because that increases the cost of the study, but you want enough people so that you can be confident in the results.
� Variability of the group of people you selected. If you want to know about males, females, experts (engineers for example), non-experts (average human population), and those who are interested, and indifferent, you probably have quite a bit of variability on your hands. Variability in people generally leads to large variance in your results. Variance is something you want to strategically minimize to gain confidence in your results. Generally, it is best to be very specific about the question you are investigating and in your web site optimization goal. For example, you might shape your study to find out what engineers look at on your web site and then optimize your site for engineers. By doing so, you will probably require fewer participants to achieve your goal (particularly if those engineers you choose are male). By strategically selecting your participants, you can minimize the costs associated with your study.
� Confidence you need to have in the results. Determining how confident you need to be in your result can be a little confusing and it is often useful to simply follow conventional methods. Often 95% confidence is acceptable in behavioural research. This means that you can be confident that 19 in 20 people will act as the study results have predicted. This said, when dollars are the main concern, 99.9% confidence is better than 95% confidence because you don't want to risk making a poor design change to your site that results in lost income. However you must remember that getting 99.9% confidence might require many more study participants (increased study cost). A researcher who has experience doing behavioural research can help predict how many people will be required to attain required confidence levels.
(3) Deriving Usable Results from Eye-Tracking Datastatistics
Planning a study so that the resulting data can be easily analyzed, and usable results can be obtained is a fundamental skill of someone who has been trained in behavioural research. A Behavioural Neuropsychologist who has experience with eye-tracking can help solidify your goal of optimizing your website into some tangible research questions and apply the appropriate statistics to get the required answers.
� Formulating a statistically testable research question from the general requirement of web site optimization. Having some ideas about what comparisons can be made using an eye-tracker, and how to do the statistical analysis to answer specific research questions is a fundamental part of making all of this work. Let's consider a simple example where a web page has two links. Link A is on the left-hand side of the page and Link B is on the right-hand side of the page. You want to know if there is a real difference between how many people look at link A versus link B. From your web site logs (or Google Analytics data) you know that on average, more people click link B than link A.
However in this example, we are supplementing our click analysis using eye-tracking data to measure covert behaviour. Eye-tracking will tell us where people have looked and might tell us why people have not clicked. It is a safe assumption that people probably won't click on a link they have not looked at.
There are multiple possible research questions that may or may not include the factors of Gender, Expertise, and Product Interest described above. You might ask if there is a relationship between eye-gaze at A and B (how similar are they) and if there is a gender difference. For example, is there a relationship between the duration males look at A and the duration males look at B? Does this differ from females? Alternatively you might ask, is the latency from the time the web page appears on the screen to when males look at A and look at B different? Subtle differences in the specific question you are asking might require important differences in how the experiment is formulated and how the data collection is approached. The mechanism used to reveal information from the data in the cases described above is called hypothesis testing and it requires that the statistical test you do after data collection be known before the experiment begins.
� Finding information hidden in the data. One key advantage to having a neurospsychologist around is that they have used statistics to obtain hidden information from the data. For example, often unexpected results can be found by applying multiple types of statistical tests in a variety of ways on the data. This doesn't fit within standard hypothesis testing rules and regulations but it does help you understand your data and find effects that might be new to you. We can look for relationships between things like Gender, Expertise, and Product Interest with the eye-tracking data collected. For example, you might find that females look at B BEFORE they look at A and that this behaviour does not seem to be present in males. Now this is something potentially very useful for web site optimization and you can probably use this to improve your site performance. It would be unfortunate if money were spent on an eye-tracking study and important information, hidden in the data, was not uncovered because the appropriate statistical tests were not run to reveal it.
(4) Designing Task Instructions
A question that I have rarely been asked when talking with people about eye-tracking analysis of web sites is, "What instructions should be used to guide the actions of study participants?" The fact this question is asked so rarely suggests that it isn't on people's minds. Task instructions are very important. They are so important that there is a whole body of research specializing in how instructions affect what people do.
If you really want to study bona fide human behaviour, no instructions are best. However, a study with no instructions isn't realistic: you have to tell them something! Given that we want as little variability in the behaviour of study participants as possible, the ideal thing to do is to use the same instructions for all participants in the study. While this seems like a solid idea in theory, different peoples use and response to identical instructions is different ways. And this contributes to more variable data. For example, sometimes people don't understand the instructions given, they have their own interpretation of the instructions, or they forget what was said right after the instructions are given. This is variability that you probably don't want to appear in the final result of the study.
� Get an experienced professional to design your task instructions. A Behavioural Neurospsychologist who has had experience with these situations, has been trained to deal with the problems associated with task instructions. They have experience designing task instructions.
� Get an experienced professional to actually run study participants. These people are not necessarily Behavioural Neurophysiologists, but they have been trained to run study participants and know the value of doing things 'properly'. They have had experience 'guiding' people along when they have forgotten why they are there. They have 'already' made their mistakes and will hopefully spare you the headache of learning on your dime.
(5) Understanding How Study Results Apply to the Target Population
Finally, the last key element that I will talk about that a Behavioural Neuropsychologist can help you with is in understanding how the results of your study apply to the general human population. Said another way, it is very important that you know how your study applies to the population of existing and potential customers. A Behavioural Neuropsychologist will use all of his or her power and knowledge to design the study to represent your target population. When this is done correctly, the confidence numbers of 95% or 99.9% that describe the sample of the population used in the study can be applied to the target population of potential customers out there on the internet.
Summary and Conclusions
It is not sufficient to simply track eyes; what you need is a small study of what peoples' eyes do when they look at your web site. Partnering with someone who specializes in behavioural psychology (studies the relationship between brain function and human behaviour) can maximize your investment in eye-tracking. They will help you:
(1) select the best participants for the study,
(2) determine the number of participants required,
(3) design the task to get usable results,
(4) design task instructions, and
(5) understand how study results apply to the target population.
StepForth Web Marketing Inc. and I (Dr. Philip Michael Zeman) are currently investigating a partnership to offer eye-tracking analysis of web sites. In order to launch this new service and build our dossier we are willing to provide significant discounts for parties interested in having eye-tracking conducted on their site. We are accepting inquiries by email and phone - here is our contact information.
For more information about web marketing and web site optimization services see http://www.stepforth.com. For more discussion about Eye-Tracking and related brain activity analysis see http://www.brainandvision.com
-More Background-
What is Eye-Tracking?
Tracking eye-movement allows one to identify where people look on a web page. It shows: where people spend their time looking, the sequence in which people look at things on a page, what they do not look at, and reveals how visitors separate (or 'chunk') information on the screen.
Click here for YouTube on Brain Scan Technology Called MOST-EEG (Multiple Origin Spatio-Temporal Modeling)
Why is Eye-Tracking a Good Idea?
Many organizations are using eye-tracking to optimize their web site performance: to make information easier to find, and to increase web site conversions. These include: Microsoft, Xerox, The New York Times, Ask.com, Marriott, Sprint, among others. Eye-tracking analysis of a web site is scalable, meaning that the costs associated with it can be reduced when the behaviour of specific markets or specific users is examined. It can be made very affordable to small business.
Eye-Tracking versus Web Site Usability?
Eye-tracking is a science of human behaviour-covert human behaviour. The goal is to try to see what is going on in people's heads and use this information to improve site performance.
In contrast, web site usability is about making it easy to use a web site. It is the theory of web site design. Eye-tracking actually tells us empirically about the effectiveness of your specific web site design. It tells us how we might modify a site to optimize site performance after all the theory of usability has been applied.
Dr. Philip Michael Zeman provides consulting in the area of behavioural analysis. He recently completed a PhD involving the analysis of eye tracking and brain activity data. You can read more of the veteran StepForth team at http://news.stepforth.com or contact us at http://www.stepforth.com/
Tel - 250-385-1190, Toll Free - 877-385-5526, Fax - 250-385-1198
Thursday, November 12, 2009
How to Use LinkedIn for SEO
by Andrew Plimmer
If you have been the owner of a website or a blog for any length of time, you're probably striving continuously to improve the SEO (search engine optimization) of your website. Let's face it; the more effort you put into SEO, the better your ranking will be on the various search engines, which in turn means your website will enjoy more traffic as a result.
Of course, even though you more than likely already use several social networking sites, you may not yet be sure of how much those sites can help improve your rankings. One of the best sites to take advantage of is LinkedIn. The main reason for this is that the site already enjoys phenomenal rankings due to the profiles which are hosted on it.
In the event that you already have a LinkedIn account then you can already begin improving your website's SEO with your LinkedIn account. In fact, let's take a look at a few simple ways for using LinkedIn in order to improve the SEO of your website or blog:
Step 1 - Make Use of Anchor Text and Links
Even though this is incredibly simple, it's of the utmost importance, if you want to increase the SEO of your site. You need to use anchor text in order to link to your website from your LinkedIn profile. When you create links to your various websites, it results in potentially profitable backlinks, and this is why it's important to use anchor text which makes use of specific keywords which are relevant to your website.
You need to bear in mind that major search engines such as Google will quite literally scrutinize anchor text when they rank websites. This of course means that if you had web site specific key words to your anchor text, your SEO will be vastly improved. In other words you need to avoid using names like "My Website" or George's Blog, but instead, you should try to be a little bit more creative.
Step 2 - Focus on Keywords When you Compose Your Profile
When you sit down to type up your LinkedIn profile, it's imperative that you focus on using the most relevant keywords. During the process you'll be required to include a headline, personal interests, summary, and also job descriptions and etc. Without over doing it, try to keep your profile rich with relevant keywords relating to your specific website or blog.
Step 3 - Adding Connections
The importance of using LinkedIn for adding connections simply cannot be stressed enough, particularly if your goal is to improve the SEO of your website. In doing this, you'll effectively be making your website more visible, bearing in mind that the more connections you have, the more visible your site will be to people out there in cyberspace. Over and above increasing your website's visibility on the LinkedIn site, you'll also be increasing the overall visibility of your own website or blog on the internet.
Step 4 - Customizing Your URL
Lastly but not least, you need to customize the URL which you have on the LinkedIn site, bearing in mind that LinkedIn members have an opportunity to customize their profile URL, rather than making do with the default one. In fact, you can even choose to change the URL to your own name, the name of your company, or even the name of your website. You can rest assured that if you do this it will result in your profile becoming far more visible, and this in turn goes a long way towards improving the SEO of your website.
Andrew Plimmer is CEO of Suncoast Internet, Sunshine Coast SEO, web design and web development specialists. For a free SEO analysis of your website go to =>
http://www.suncoastinternet.com.au/
If you have been the owner of a website or a blog for any length of time, you're probably striving continuously to improve the SEO (search engine optimization) of your website. Let's face it; the more effort you put into SEO, the better your ranking will be on the various search engines, which in turn means your website will enjoy more traffic as a result.
Of course, even though you more than likely already use several social networking sites, you may not yet be sure of how much those sites can help improve your rankings. One of the best sites to take advantage of is LinkedIn. The main reason for this is that the site already enjoys phenomenal rankings due to the profiles which are hosted on it.
In the event that you already have a LinkedIn account then you can already begin improving your website's SEO with your LinkedIn account. In fact, let's take a look at a few simple ways for using LinkedIn in order to improve the SEO of your website or blog:
Step 1 - Make Use of Anchor Text and Links
Even though this is incredibly simple, it's of the utmost importance, if you want to increase the SEO of your site. You need to use anchor text in order to link to your website from your LinkedIn profile. When you create links to your various websites, it results in potentially profitable backlinks, and this is why it's important to use anchor text which makes use of specific keywords which are relevant to your website.
You need to bear in mind that major search engines such as Google will quite literally scrutinize anchor text when they rank websites. This of course means that if you had web site specific key words to your anchor text, your SEO will be vastly improved. In other words you need to avoid using names like "My Website" or George's Blog, but instead, you should try to be a little bit more creative.
Step 2 - Focus on Keywords When you Compose Your Profile
When you sit down to type up your LinkedIn profile, it's imperative that you focus on using the most relevant keywords. During the process you'll be required to include a headline, personal interests, summary, and also job descriptions and etc. Without over doing it, try to keep your profile rich with relevant keywords relating to your specific website or blog.
Step 3 - Adding Connections
The importance of using LinkedIn for adding connections simply cannot be stressed enough, particularly if your goal is to improve the SEO of your website. In doing this, you'll effectively be making your website more visible, bearing in mind that the more connections you have, the more visible your site will be to people out there in cyberspace. Over and above increasing your website's visibility on the LinkedIn site, you'll also be increasing the overall visibility of your own website or blog on the internet.
Step 4 - Customizing Your URL
Lastly but not least, you need to customize the URL which you have on the LinkedIn site, bearing in mind that LinkedIn members have an opportunity to customize their profile URL, rather than making do with the default one. In fact, you can even choose to change the URL to your own name, the name of your company, or even the name of your website. You can rest assured that if you do this it will result in your profile becoming far more visible, and this in turn goes a long way towards improving the SEO of your website.
Andrew Plimmer is CEO of Suncoast Internet, Sunshine Coast SEO, web design and web development specialists. For a free SEO analysis of your website go to =>
http://www.suncoastinternet.com.au/
5 Things to Remember When Creating a Blog
by TJ Philpott
When creating a blog you'll want to keep a few things in mind from the very beginning that will help you to properly direct your efforts. If you aspire to become one of the most popular blogs in your niche your focus will have to be on the blog reader. If you are blogging to make money then realize your income will be dependent upon the people who visit your site. These people will ultimately decide how popular your blog is or how successful your promotional efforts may be so don't lose sight of that.
With that said here are 5 areas you will not want to overlook or disregard especially if you are counting on your home business blog to earn you an income.
Establish Transparency
Allow your readers to get some insight into who you are and why you blog. By increasing their familiarity with you in this way you are gaining more trust from them. Don't be afraid to share your opinion or a little bit about your personal interests, family or anything else that would be relevant to your blog or the readers.
This is especially important if you intend to promote any type of products on your site. Trust will be needed if readers are expected to make any purchases on what essentially will be your home business blog.
Create a Network
When posting take advantage of great content you may have found elsewhere and credit the source on your blog. By linking to other sites in this manner you will eventually have these sites link back to you creating a flow of traffic from their site.
Leave Comments
Visit other blogs within your community/niche for ideas on content, design, or even to see what others are talking about. Participate and if possible leave ONLY helpful, insightful, or informative comments. You will be creating a greater awareness of both you and your blog by doing this.
Do Your Research
Before you post anything be sure it is accurate and helpful to your readers. Don't position yourself as an expert on something you know little or nothing about. Be willing to do the research if you are not already an expert and over time you will gain the recognition as an authority on the subject matter.
Show Gratitude
Remember what we spoke of earlier that your readers will be responsible for your ultimate success. With this in mind periodically extending your appreciation to them for their loyalty will only help to strengthen the bond between you and them. A simple thank you will suffice and an occasional 'free' report won't hurt either. Besides gratitude is always good for the soul!
When creating a blog it is always smart to keep your ultimate goal in mind. Your site was created for the blog reader and their enjoyment. By catering to the needs of the visitors to your site you will put yourself in the position to become one of the most popular blogs in your niche. If you are blogging to make money then this will be of obvious importance to you since it will directly impact your income. Your continual attention to the 5 areas above will likely result in the greater satisfaction of your readers which will lead to the desired results you are seeking for your blog.
TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina.
For additional Money Making Tips and a free guide that demonstrates how to find both profitable markets and products visit: http://blogbrawn.com/
When creating a blog you'll want to keep a few things in mind from the very beginning that will help you to properly direct your efforts. If you aspire to become one of the most popular blogs in your niche your focus will have to be on the blog reader. If you are blogging to make money then realize your income will be dependent upon the people who visit your site. These people will ultimately decide how popular your blog is or how successful your promotional efforts may be so don't lose sight of that.
With that said here are 5 areas you will not want to overlook or disregard especially if you are counting on your home business blog to earn you an income.
Establish Transparency
Allow your readers to get some insight into who you are and why you blog. By increasing their familiarity with you in this way you are gaining more trust from them. Don't be afraid to share your opinion or a little bit about your personal interests, family or anything else that would be relevant to your blog or the readers.
This is especially important if you intend to promote any type of products on your site. Trust will be needed if readers are expected to make any purchases on what essentially will be your home business blog.
Create a Network
When posting take advantage of great content you may have found elsewhere and credit the source on your blog. By linking to other sites in this manner you will eventually have these sites link back to you creating a flow of traffic from their site.
Leave Comments
Visit other blogs within your community/niche for ideas on content, design, or even to see what others are talking about. Participate and if possible leave ONLY helpful, insightful, or informative comments. You will be creating a greater awareness of both you and your blog by doing this.
Do Your Research
Before you post anything be sure it is accurate and helpful to your readers. Don't position yourself as an expert on something you know little or nothing about. Be willing to do the research if you are not already an expert and over time you will gain the recognition as an authority on the subject matter.
Show Gratitude
Remember what we spoke of earlier that your readers will be responsible for your ultimate success. With this in mind periodically extending your appreciation to them for their loyalty will only help to strengthen the bond between you and them. A simple thank you will suffice and an occasional 'free' report won't hurt either. Besides gratitude is always good for the soul!
When creating a blog it is always smart to keep your ultimate goal in mind. Your site was created for the blog reader and their enjoyment. By catering to the needs of the visitors to your site you will put yourself in the position to become one of the most popular blogs in your niche. If you are blogging to make money then this will be of obvious importance to you since it will directly impact your income. Your continual attention to the 5 areas above will likely result in the greater satisfaction of your readers which will lead to the desired results you are seeking for your blog.
TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina.
For additional Money Making Tips and a free guide that demonstrates how to find both profitable markets and products visit: http://blogbrawn.com/
New Kid on the Block - Should Twitter be Worried?
by Craig Friesen
To many readers the idea that anything could replace or compete with Twitter today is ludicrous. Millions upon millions of people are tweeting every day - what will ever change that fact? Realistically speaking the answer is not much could hamper let alone halt Twitter's momentum. But I suspect there were many people who quietly laughed at Jack Dorsey when he introduced his brainstorm of a short message service being used by individuals to share snippets of their lives with friends and family - even today people still wonder "who cares?" That is the miracle of social and technological innovation - a simple and sometimes crazy idea gains shape and forward, virtually uncontrollable motion until it cannot help but influence the very fabric of society. I wonder how many other "ludicrous" ideas have been voiced then squelched. I also ask myself whether I would have acted if presented with the opportunity to try out Twitter in its first weeks? Consequently I found it difficult to resist trying out Sokule when it was introduced to me in mid-August 2009 a month before its official release. The rest of this article is a review of my experience with Sokule, "the gentle giant."
Can You Make Money with Social Networking?
Sokule is described as "like Twitter but monetized." I found this to be true in several ways. First of all, while the lingo is different, with Sokule you can send short messages called "squeeks" out to your trackers but included are options to increase the length of postings. And whether your squeek is short or long it can be resized and re-squeeked to Twitter automatically. Secondly, while Sokule has a free membership like Twitter it also has paid subscription options to increase its power as a social marketing platform. Thirdly, Sokule's focus on creating a messaging service for marketers makes it possible to earn an affiliate commission from referred squeekers who upgrade.
Sokule is not just about monetizing your short messages. I discovered that the leverage being provided by Sokule is worth joining alone. When you post or squeek on Sokule you can choose to broadcast on Twitter, Blogger and LiveJournal among those currently available; and soon you will be able to post directly to other social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Flickr. To be able to do this with just one squeek on Sokule is simply amazing and a great boon for anyone wanting to get a message out.
In addition to the SMS function of Sokule members have the option to add marketing links, graphics and videos to the side panels of their postit page. Some third party applications provide a similar service to Twitter users but it's nice to not have to join additional programs to get some of the same marketing advantages Sokule provides.
So Should Twitter be Worried?
From a business perspective I think Sokule has some distinct advantages over Twitter which in all fairness was not really created with business marketing in mind (as far as I know). Even without the possibility of earning commissions from Sokule I see enough unique and useful features available or in production to make it worthwhile joining for free. A good portion of Twitter followers stop using the service after only a month yet the number of new users seems to grow exponentially so I am quite sure it will be a long time before Twitter need worry about any competition. Social networking platforms like Sokule and third party applications that make use of or enhance Twitter's platform will also continue to fuel its growth.
I wish I had jumped into Twitter much earlier than I did - as a newcomer to the social networking scene I feel like I am at a disadvantage to have not "seen the light" earlier. It may be too early to really evaluate Sokule's contribution to the social networking sub-culture but from what I have seen thus far I would rather be on board now at the beginning than wishing I had later.
Craig Friesen is a freelance writer and owner of TopAffiliateProgramsMakeMoney.com. He has written articles and marketed online for several years but confesses to being late in joining social networking as a good business marketing venue. You can see Sokule in action at http://www.sokule.com/postit/topaffiliatepro or visit Craig's business website.
To many readers the idea that anything could replace or compete with Twitter today is ludicrous. Millions upon millions of people are tweeting every day - what will ever change that fact? Realistically speaking the answer is not much could hamper let alone halt Twitter's momentum. But I suspect there were many people who quietly laughed at Jack Dorsey when he introduced his brainstorm of a short message service being used by individuals to share snippets of their lives with friends and family - even today people still wonder "who cares?" That is the miracle of social and technological innovation - a simple and sometimes crazy idea gains shape and forward, virtually uncontrollable motion until it cannot help but influence the very fabric of society. I wonder how many other "ludicrous" ideas have been voiced then squelched. I also ask myself whether I would have acted if presented with the opportunity to try out Twitter in its first weeks? Consequently I found it difficult to resist trying out Sokule when it was introduced to me in mid-August 2009 a month before its official release. The rest of this article is a review of my experience with Sokule, "the gentle giant."
Can You Make Money with Social Networking?
Sokule is described as "like Twitter but monetized." I found this to be true in several ways. First of all, while the lingo is different, with Sokule you can send short messages called "squeeks" out to your trackers but included are options to increase the length of postings. And whether your squeek is short or long it can be resized and re-squeeked to Twitter automatically. Secondly, while Sokule has a free membership like Twitter it also has paid subscription options to increase its power as a social marketing platform. Thirdly, Sokule's focus on creating a messaging service for marketers makes it possible to earn an affiliate commission from referred squeekers who upgrade.
Sokule is not just about monetizing your short messages. I discovered that the leverage being provided by Sokule is worth joining alone. When you post or squeek on Sokule you can choose to broadcast on Twitter, Blogger and LiveJournal among those currently available; and soon you will be able to post directly to other social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Flickr. To be able to do this with just one squeek on Sokule is simply amazing and a great boon for anyone wanting to get a message out.
In addition to the SMS function of Sokule members have the option to add marketing links, graphics and videos to the side panels of their postit page. Some third party applications provide a similar service to Twitter users but it's nice to not have to join additional programs to get some of the same marketing advantages Sokule provides.
So Should Twitter be Worried?
From a business perspective I think Sokule has some distinct advantages over Twitter which in all fairness was not really created with business marketing in mind (as far as I know). Even without the possibility of earning commissions from Sokule I see enough unique and useful features available or in production to make it worthwhile joining for free. A good portion of Twitter followers stop using the service after only a month yet the number of new users seems to grow exponentially so I am quite sure it will be a long time before Twitter need worry about any competition. Social networking platforms like Sokule and third party applications that make use of or enhance Twitter's platform will also continue to fuel its growth.
I wish I had jumped into Twitter much earlier than I did - as a newcomer to the social networking scene I feel like I am at a disadvantage to have not "seen the light" earlier. It may be too early to really evaluate Sokule's contribution to the social networking sub-culture but from what I have seen thus far I would rather be on board now at the beginning than wishing I had later.
Craig Friesen is a freelance writer and owner of TopAffiliateProgramsMakeMoney.com. He has written articles and marketed online for several years but confesses to being late in joining social networking as a good business marketing venue. You can see Sokule in action at http://www.sokule.com/postit/topaffiliatepro or visit Craig's business website.
How to Market With YouTube
by David Bouchez
YouTube is one more piece of the Internet Marketing Puzzle. This is a great way to get your name out there, help brand yourself, and play a big role in your website's search engine placement - if done properly.. It’s also a good way for you to interact with potential customers, and attract new ones.
The thought of doing a video really scares some people; they're concerned about how their looks and the sound of their voice will be perceived.
"What will I say?". Not to worry. There are ways to create fun, stress free videos that are very effective for your marketing efforts - just stick around : )
Almost 150 thousand YouTube videos are uploaded daily, with over 80 MM users. So this market can be competitive, but there are ways to go about getting your video ranked high on the search engines.
Below are 10 basic tips to get you started.
1. Provide Value. This is not the time to create a commercial for your product or service. With so many videos out there for people to choose from, you need to give them something that they want to see. Provide useful information. Do a training video on something that people are interested in. Just make sure that it ties in with your product, brand, and service.
2. Keep it short. Ideally, keep your video between 3-5 minutes. Any longer, and your viewers may not watch the entire thing. You don’t want that because YouTube actually tracks how long viewers watch a video. If they don’t watch it in its entirety, your ranking will go down.
3. Good Quality. Make sure the sound is decent and the lighting is good. Be sure that there aren’t any distractions in the background.
4. Shy about talking on a video? There are other options. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of being on camera, look into such programs as Camtasia. This program allows you to present information directly on your screen. You don’t have to be on camera. All you will do is explain or present your topic.
5. Search Engine Optimization. Use typical SEO techniques to get your video ranked higher. Use keywords in your URL and filename. Also use appropriate keywords in your title and video description. This is a whole topic which can be very complex, so we won’t go into detail here.
6. Allow comments and ratings. This is a good way to interact with your viewers. You will have the option to remove comments if you think something is inappropriate or spammy. Try to respond to the comments as well. Allowing ratings will also help with your rankings on the search engines.
7. Place your website in the description box. Place it before your actual video description. This will help point traffic toward your website, as well as create back links.
8. Get your video out there. Post your videos on blogs, websites, and social media sites. Anytime your video is viewed, even if it’s on other sites, YouTube counts it as a view and this will help your rankings. So post your videos anywhere you can.
9. Do it often. When you start this form of marketing, make sure you create your videos frequently. Every time you learn something new, immediately make a video. Remember, these don’t have to long. The more videos you put out there, the higher your rankings will be.
10. Research. There are many more techniques for posting, and ranking your YouTube videos. As you become more comfortable with this marketing medium, you can research and learn these more advanced methods.
David Bouchez wrote How to Market With YouTube to teach the valuable skill of Video Marketing. Get No Cost Traffic and receive free video internet marketing training. Drop by right now to gain access to the training and tools you need.
YouTube is one more piece of the Internet Marketing Puzzle. This is a great way to get your name out there, help brand yourself, and play a big role in your website's search engine placement - if done properly.. It’s also a good way for you to interact with potential customers, and attract new ones.
The thought of doing a video really scares some people; they're concerned about how their looks and the sound of their voice will be perceived.
"What will I say?". Not to worry. There are ways to create fun, stress free videos that are very effective for your marketing efforts - just stick around : )
Almost 150 thousand YouTube videos are uploaded daily, with over 80 MM users. So this market can be competitive, but there are ways to go about getting your video ranked high on the search engines.
Below are 10 basic tips to get you started.
1. Provide Value. This is not the time to create a commercial for your product or service. With so many videos out there for people to choose from, you need to give them something that they want to see. Provide useful information. Do a training video on something that people are interested in. Just make sure that it ties in with your product, brand, and service.
2. Keep it short. Ideally, keep your video between 3-5 minutes. Any longer, and your viewers may not watch the entire thing. You don’t want that because YouTube actually tracks how long viewers watch a video. If they don’t watch it in its entirety, your ranking will go down.
3. Good Quality. Make sure the sound is decent and the lighting is good. Be sure that there aren’t any distractions in the background.
4. Shy about talking on a video? There are other options. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of being on camera, look into such programs as Camtasia. This program allows you to present information directly on your screen. You don’t have to be on camera. All you will do is explain or present your topic.
5. Search Engine Optimization. Use typical SEO techniques to get your video ranked higher. Use keywords in your URL and filename. Also use appropriate keywords in your title and video description. This is a whole topic which can be very complex, so we won’t go into detail here.
6. Allow comments and ratings. This is a good way to interact with your viewers. You will have the option to remove comments if you think something is inappropriate or spammy. Try to respond to the comments as well. Allowing ratings will also help with your rankings on the search engines.
7. Place your website in the description box. Place it before your actual video description. This will help point traffic toward your website, as well as create back links.
8. Get your video out there. Post your videos on blogs, websites, and social media sites. Anytime your video is viewed, even if it’s on other sites, YouTube counts it as a view and this will help your rankings. So post your videos anywhere you can.
9. Do it often. When you start this form of marketing, make sure you create your videos frequently. Every time you learn something new, immediately make a video. Remember, these don’t have to long. The more videos you put out there, the higher your rankings will be.
10. Research. There are many more techniques for posting, and ranking your YouTube videos. As you become more comfortable with this marketing medium, you can research and learn these more advanced methods.
David Bouchez wrote How to Market With YouTube to teach the valuable skill of Video Marketing. Get No Cost Traffic and receive free video internet marketing training. Drop by right now to gain access to the training and tools you need.
How To Make Money From Your Membership Site In 5 Simple Steps
by Jeremy Gislason
Membership sites can generate a very nice income, allowing anyone to quit their day job and work from home. A freedom that many people would die for.
Starting a membership site is not as difficult as it may sound. With the tools available to us today, it can be a very easy process. You simply decide on a topic, put up a site, generate the content, launch and promote the site.
Let’s go through the steps one by one.
Step 1: Choose A Topic.
Before you pick the topic you will be building your site around, do some extensive research. You are going to want to choose a topic that lots of people are interested in.
Niche topics are best, and you want to make sure that there are enough people interested in the topic to enable you to generate a decent income. Creating your site around raising goats may not do the trick. Some examples that will draw a good crowd would be cars, weight loss, video games, traveling and so on.
Once you decide on the topic of your site, break it down into sub-topics, to create tightly focused discussions. This will help to make the site engaging to specific interests.
Step 2: Build The Site.
A membership site can be put together in a mater of minutes with the right tools. There are plenty of tools on the market that will get the job done quickly and easily. Some of these tools are free as well.
If you are going to be setting up your first membership site, I would suggest using a free tool, such as Wordpress. It is easy to use and has numerous plugins that will help you to get ranked quickly and easily in the search engines.
Using some of the free tools available will let you get started without investing too much money right off the start. Later on down the road, when you are making enough money from your membership site, you can purchase something like Dreamweaver or Frontpage to build your site. But it is not necessary.
Step 3: Generate Content.
This is probably the most difficult part of planning a membership site. What will you be offering your members in return for their membership fee? The options are unlimited.
For example, you might offer e-lessons on your niche. You could offer an e-book as well. People love information and it is exactly what they are searching for every time they open a browser window. If you have a lot of knowledge in your niche, you probably have some valuable information to offer. Make the offer exciting; entice them and over deliver on what you have to offer.
Set up a forum if you have the technical know-how, or simply hire someone who can do it for you. One of the great things about forums is that once they get going, all the great content will be coming from the members. These members make up for a great community and have a lot of valuable information to offer each other.
Step 4: Set Up Your Payment System.
You need to make a decision on how you are going to charge people for their membership. With the right topic, forums can become quite large.
You can charge a very low monthly fee, or a one-time payment for a lifetime membership. With a small fee to join, you can still earn a large amount of money. Charging a monthly fee will create a dependable income. This in turn, will allow you to spend a fair amount of time and energy on the membership site, building up relationships with your members.
Some marketers offer the forum of their membership site for free, but has certain sub-forums for paid members only. The site would need to have so much good information on it, that it will lead free members to wonder what was going on behind the secret door. Curiosity will get the better of them, and they will pay for access to the exclusive members area.
Once your forum is open and you have active members, it is just a matter of time before you build a relationship with the active posters. Once you do, you have gained their ultimate trust. It is at this point that you can begin to recommend products that you feel will be helpful to them. These products can be your own, or affiliate products that you promote, enabling you to earn money from each purchase they make.
You may also consider using Adsense advertisements as an extra way to generate income. Using Adsense to place relevant adds on the forums is easy to set up. Every time a member clicks on an advertisement, you will earn a little more money.
Step 5: Launch And Promote Your Membership Site.
This is the most exciting stage of the membership website. This is also one of the more challenging steps in the process. Getting the word out will take a little work. You want to use all mediums to generate excitement and attract members. You will want to use online and offline forms of promoting the opening.
-Write and submit articles to directories related to your niche.
-Start a blog about the upcoming opening of your site.
-Post at related forums, answering questions about your related topic.
-Write a press release
-Include the web address in your email signature.
-Use PPC advertising campaigns to drive traffic to your site.
-Purchase banners on targeted websites.
Completing all of the steps above is going to take a little planning on your part, and will keep you busy for a while. But if you are passionate about the topic of your site, this should be a fun challenge for you.
Once you have members signing up to join, and the posts are coming in, the hard work is done. At this point you can sit back, relax and get to know your members.
Want to know proven ways to tremendously increase membership sales? Want to take membership marketing to a whole new level of overflowing profits? Build high-earning membership sites like a pro by going to http://www.membershipmillionaire.com
Membership sites can generate a very nice income, allowing anyone to quit their day job and work from home. A freedom that many people would die for.
Starting a membership site is not as difficult as it may sound. With the tools available to us today, it can be a very easy process. You simply decide on a topic, put up a site, generate the content, launch and promote the site.
Let’s go through the steps one by one.
Step 1: Choose A Topic.
Before you pick the topic you will be building your site around, do some extensive research. You are going to want to choose a topic that lots of people are interested in.
Niche topics are best, and you want to make sure that there are enough people interested in the topic to enable you to generate a decent income. Creating your site around raising goats may not do the trick. Some examples that will draw a good crowd would be cars, weight loss, video games, traveling and so on.
Once you decide on the topic of your site, break it down into sub-topics, to create tightly focused discussions. This will help to make the site engaging to specific interests.
Step 2: Build The Site.
A membership site can be put together in a mater of minutes with the right tools. There are plenty of tools on the market that will get the job done quickly and easily. Some of these tools are free as well.
If you are going to be setting up your first membership site, I would suggest using a free tool, such as Wordpress. It is easy to use and has numerous plugins that will help you to get ranked quickly and easily in the search engines.
Using some of the free tools available will let you get started without investing too much money right off the start. Later on down the road, when you are making enough money from your membership site, you can purchase something like Dreamweaver or Frontpage to build your site. But it is not necessary.
Step 3: Generate Content.
This is probably the most difficult part of planning a membership site. What will you be offering your members in return for their membership fee? The options are unlimited.
For example, you might offer e-lessons on your niche. You could offer an e-book as well. People love information and it is exactly what they are searching for every time they open a browser window. If you have a lot of knowledge in your niche, you probably have some valuable information to offer. Make the offer exciting; entice them and over deliver on what you have to offer.
Set up a forum if you have the technical know-how, or simply hire someone who can do it for you. One of the great things about forums is that once they get going, all the great content will be coming from the members. These members make up for a great community and have a lot of valuable information to offer each other.
Step 4: Set Up Your Payment System.
You need to make a decision on how you are going to charge people for their membership. With the right topic, forums can become quite large.
You can charge a very low monthly fee, or a one-time payment for a lifetime membership. With a small fee to join, you can still earn a large amount of money. Charging a monthly fee will create a dependable income. This in turn, will allow you to spend a fair amount of time and energy on the membership site, building up relationships with your members.
Some marketers offer the forum of their membership site for free, but has certain sub-forums for paid members only. The site would need to have so much good information on it, that it will lead free members to wonder what was going on behind the secret door. Curiosity will get the better of them, and they will pay for access to the exclusive members area.
Once your forum is open and you have active members, it is just a matter of time before you build a relationship with the active posters. Once you do, you have gained their ultimate trust. It is at this point that you can begin to recommend products that you feel will be helpful to them. These products can be your own, or affiliate products that you promote, enabling you to earn money from each purchase they make.
You may also consider using Adsense advertisements as an extra way to generate income. Using Adsense to place relevant adds on the forums is easy to set up. Every time a member clicks on an advertisement, you will earn a little more money.
Step 5: Launch And Promote Your Membership Site.
This is the most exciting stage of the membership website. This is also one of the more challenging steps in the process. Getting the word out will take a little work. You want to use all mediums to generate excitement and attract members. You will want to use online and offline forms of promoting the opening.
-Write and submit articles to directories related to your niche.
-Start a blog about the upcoming opening of your site.
-Post at related forums, answering questions about your related topic.
-Write a press release
-Include the web address in your email signature.
-Use PPC advertising campaigns to drive traffic to your site.
-Purchase banners on targeted websites.
Completing all of the steps above is going to take a little planning on your part, and will keep you busy for a while. But if you are passionate about the topic of your site, this should be a fun challenge for you.
Once you have members signing up to join, and the posts are coming in, the hard work is done. At this point you can sit back, relax and get to know your members.
Want to know proven ways to tremendously increase membership sales? Want to take membership marketing to a whole new level of overflowing profits? Build high-earning membership sites like a pro by going to http://www.membershipmillionaire.com
Friday, October 16, 2009
The Internet Opportunity Jungle....How To Succeed
by Vladimir Mesic
THE FIRST HURDLE YOU NEED TO OVERCOME
How many times have you thought about starting an Internet business, but were held back because of the FEAR.
We all have Fears and it is natural. The Fear can help us avoid getting hurt but it also STOPS most of us from reaching our FULL POTENTIAL. This is basically due to the power of our subconscious mind.
About 90% OF THINGS WE DO IS GOVERNED BY OUR SUBCONSCIOUS mind. Ever since we were born till this moment , we have been taught to think a certain way, act a certain way, and we developed all these habits along the way. Many of which are bad for us and keep us down. It is EXTREMELY HARD for us to change because we are dominated by our subconscious.
The most frightening thing for most of us is CHANGE. If you want to change your life, you NEED TO CHANGE YOUR THINKING. Your changed thinking is what is needed to enable You to take the actions that you normally would not dare to undertake. Only then, the world around you will change as well...or so it will seem. So spend some time on your personal development, or develop yourself by taking action and not allowing FEAR to stop you at whatever you are striving for.
ACTION is the most powerful thing in any body's chance of success in anything especially business.
The world is full of intelligent, educated and bright people with ideas and skills but most of them DO NOT REACH THEIR FULL POTENTIAL because they DON'T ACT on those bright ideas or opportunities. Why is that? Because of FEAR. The classic reason for not doing something and justifying taking NO ACTION is, 'it's not the perfect time'...well the perfect time will never come...this world is not perfect, nothing is certain everything involves some sort of risk etc etc., so it's just an excuse.
The only cure for that is to DO IT ANYWAY, even though it's not the perfect time or you don't feel comfortable or others are keeping you from doing it. You JUST DO IT ANYWAY.
So if you haven't ACTED upon Your idea or something your 'gut instinct' tells you you should do or try out, just BE AWARE that it is YOUR FEAR that is holding you back to REACH YOUR FULL POTENTIAL. Of course don't be reckless, do your research, get informed, but to have any chance of SUCCESS You need to take ACTION.
'I TRIED MANY THINGS ON THE INTERNET BUT HAVEN'T MADE ANY MONEY'
So you have overcome your fear of not being smart enough, computer literate enough, not having enough money to start a business and all that sort of thing, which is not in itself a prerequisite for SUCCESS on the Internet anyway, but you've DONE IT. You didn't listen to your family and friends who tried to put you down with negativity, telling you 'you're just wasting your time and money...it will never work' and so on and so on.
You went to the The Internet Business Opp Jungle and started looking, found something you think will surely make you a profit, spent all this money on countless offers and promises of making '$$ thousands in your first week', joined some or many of these only to find they were either SCAMS or you paid through the roof for some e-book, course or service, which is outdated or incomplete and which cannot possibly make you succeed no matter how motivated, hardworking or determined you might be.
Let me say something that maybe won't make much sense...even though you 'failed' 'You are already half way to SUCCESS'. Why...?
Because you have overcome your FEAR and took ACTION. The time and money that you think you wasted was not wasted at all. It is a valuable experience which you can use to your advantage in your future endeavours on the Internet and from which YOU CAN LEARN. In fact without failure you will not become successful.
If you do some research into successful Internet entrepreneurs who are making ridiculous sums of money and now have amazing lifestyles and freedom, you will see a common thread in their stories of how they achieved their success. What are those? Well it's very simple...or is it ?
1. They overcame their FEAR of failure and tried to CHANGE their lives.
2. They all spent thousands of dollars or more starting some Internet businesses and/or buying training courses most of which didn't succeed at first.
3. They persevered, and along the way they LEARNED what works and what doesn't work and concentrated their efforts in the ventures that DO work.
4. It didn't happen just instantaneously. It took a lot of work and learning from mistakes and failures
5. They spend time on their personal development. Because they know that in order to better themselves they need to change THE WAY THEY THINK. It is a part of the reason why they overcame the obstacles to success and MADE IT. That is the hardest thing to do. Change the way you think.
6. They all know the BIG SECRET to success...by MAKING OTHERS SUCCESSFUL they make themselves even more successful.
7. ...you can do research and find out other qualities for yourself.
But here is the key to YOUR SUCCESS...you only want to learn from and listen to SUCCESSFUL people, with a successful and proven advice that you can apply and put into practice now!
You definitely want to stay away from the influence of negative people, who will always tell you what you can't do. Because they believe they can't do it, it is TRUE...for them.
You also don't need a lot of vague theory and general information. You need to GET IN THERE put some time and money into your own website and learn how to effectively promote it, your product and get relevant, concrete up to date training.
My philosophy is ...If you want to learn a skill, get out there and start doing the job. Get trained while you are actually working and earning some money. No pussyfootying around and waiting for the perfect time when you will know everything. It will never happen that way.
Take a look at one more important thought: it's not important how 'HARD' you work but how "SMART" you work that will determine your SUCCESS.
Vladimir Mesic is an accomplished Work from Home Business owner and Motivator
=>You don't have to pay for comprehensive up to date and valuable information .
=> Just GO and CLAIM YOUR FREE BOOK
'Dotcomology' The Science of Making Money Online by clicking below
==> http://www.BestnSafe.com
THE FIRST HURDLE YOU NEED TO OVERCOME
How many times have you thought about starting an Internet business, but were held back because of the FEAR.
We all have Fears and it is natural. The Fear can help us avoid getting hurt but it also STOPS most of us from reaching our FULL POTENTIAL. This is basically due to the power of our subconscious mind.
About 90% OF THINGS WE DO IS GOVERNED BY OUR SUBCONSCIOUS mind. Ever since we were born till this moment , we have been taught to think a certain way, act a certain way, and we developed all these habits along the way. Many of which are bad for us and keep us down. It is EXTREMELY HARD for us to change because we are dominated by our subconscious.
The most frightening thing for most of us is CHANGE. If you want to change your life, you NEED TO CHANGE YOUR THINKING. Your changed thinking is what is needed to enable You to take the actions that you normally would not dare to undertake. Only then, the world around you will change as well...or so it will seem. So spend some time on your personal development, or develop yourself by taking action and not allowing FEAR to stop you at whatever you are striving for.
ACTION is the most powerful thing in any body's chance of success in anything especially business.
The world is full of intelligent, educated and bright people with ideas and skills but most of them DO NOT REACH THEIR FULL POTENTIAL because they DON'T ACT on those bright ideas or opportunities. Why is that? Because of FEAR. The classic reason for not doing something and justifying taking NO ACTION is, 'it's not the perfect time'...well the perfect time will never come...this world is not perfect, nothing is certain everything involves some sort of risk etc etc., so it's just an excuse.
The only cure for that is to DO IT ANYWAY, even though it's not the perfect time or you don't feel comfortable or others are keeping you from doing it. You JUST DO IT ANYWAY.
So if you haven't ACTED upon Your idea or something your 'gut instinct' tells you you should do or try out, just BE AWARE that it is YOUR FEAR that is holding you back to REACH YOUR FULL POTENTIAL. Of course don't be reckless, do your research, get informed, but to have any chance of SUCCESS You need to take ACTION.
'I TRIED MANY THINGS ON THE INTERNET BUT HAVEN'T MADE ANY MONEY'
So you have overcome your fear of not being smart enough, computer literate enough, not having enough money to start a business and all that sort of thing, which is not in itself a prerequisite for SUCCESS on the Internet anyway, but you've DONE IT. You didn't listen to your family and friends who tried to put you down with negativity, telling you 'you're just wasting your time and money...it will never work' and so on and so on.
You went to the The Internet Business Opp Jungle and started looking, found something you think will surely make you a profit, spent all this money on countless offers and promises of making '$$ thousands in your first week', joined some or many of these only to find they were either SCAMS or you paid through the roof for some e-book, course or service, which is outdated or incomplete and which cannot possibly make you succeed no matter how motivated, hardworking or determined you might be.
Let me say something that maybe won't make much sense...even though you 'failed' 'You are already half way to SUCCESS'. Why...?
Because you have overcome your FEAR and took ACTION. The time and money that you think you wasted was not wasted at all. It is a valuable experience which you can use to your advantage in your future endeavours on the Internet and from which YOU CAN LEARN. In fact without failure you will not become successful.
If you do some research into successful Internet entrepreneurs who are making ridiculous sums of money and now have amazing lifestyles and freedom, you will see a common thread in their stories of how they achieved their success. What are those? Well it's very simple...or is it ?
1. They overcame their FEAR of failure and tried to CHANGE their lives.
2. They all spent thousands of dollars or more starting some Internet businesses and/or buying training courses most of which didn't succeed at first.
3. They persevered, and along the way they LEARNED what works and what doesn't work and concentrated their efforts in the ventures that DO work.
4. It didn't happen just instantaneously. It took a lot of work and learning from mistakes and failures
5. They spend time on their personal development. Because they know that in order to better themselves they need to change THE WAY THEY THINK. It is a part of the reason why they overcame the obstacles to success and MADE IT. That is the hardest thing to do. Change the way you think.
6. They all know the BIG SECRET to success...by MAKING OTHERS SUCCESSFUL they make themselves even more successful.
7. ...you can do research and find out other qualities for yourself.
But here is the key to YOUR SUCCESS...you only want to learn from and listen to SUCCESSFUL people, with a successful and proven advice that you can apply and put into practice now!
You definitely want to stay away from the influence of negative people, who will always tell you what you can't do. Because they believe they can't do it, it is TRUE...for them.
You also don't need a lot of vague theory and general information. You need to GET IN THERE put some time and money into your own website and learn how to effectively promote it, your product and get relevant, concrete up to date training.
My philosophy is ...If you want to learn a skill, get out there and start doing the job. Get trained while you are actually working and earning some money. No pussyfootying around and waiting for the perfect time when you will know everything. It will never happen that way.
Take a look at one more important thought: it's not important how 'HARD' you work but how "SMART" you work that will determine your SUCCESS.
Vladimir Mesic is an accomplished Work from Home Business owner and Motivator
=>You don't have to pay for comprehensive up to date and valuable information .
=> Just GO and CLAIM YOUR FREE BOOK
'Dotcomology' The Science of Making Money Online by clicking below
==> http://www.BestnSafe.com
7 Steps to Better Blog Entries
by TJ Philpott
Posting blog entries consistently is one of the starting points to getting your blog notice by readers. When you first create a blog you want to be sure that your post are thought provoking, informative, or at the very least create a stir. A great way to judge the reaction to your posts is in both the number and nature of blog comments left at your site.
What we want to address here today is how to position your site to be one of the top blogs in your niche. No doubt the use of numerous SEO and blog design approaches can be very advantageous to positioning your site. Our focus here however will be on making the most out of every entry to the blog site itself.
Here are 7 blogging tips you can use immediately when posting entries to increase the popularity of your site within your niche.
Let the Reader Know How You Feel
Show some attitude when applicable in your posting, after all it is your blog. Readers will enjoy your display of 'personality' and so will you since it will make your writing a lot more fun and therefore easier for you.
Keep Post Brief
Your post does not have to be article length but in fact it would usually be better that it isn't. A composition of about 250 to 300 words will work just fine. This will help maintain the readers' attention long enough to read the complete post and it won't be as much effort for you to write.
Riveting Headline
Do what you can to capture the readers attention. Since the headline will be the first things they see try to insure it is an accurate 'portrayal' of what the content holds for the reader.
When possible the use of shock or humor will work wonderfully but be sure to deliver to the reader what your headline may promise.
Be Passionate
A show of enthusiasm or passion in your writings will serve to get your reader more involved in what they are reading. If your tone sounds bored it is only natural that the reader will quickly adopt this feeling and probably quit reading.
Also if you are passionate or excited about what it is you're writing this will only make your efforts seem more like play and less like work.
Reader Friendly Format
Make your posts easy to read by following a layout that is easy on the eyes. Avoiding long paragraphs will lessen the eye strain of your readers.
The use of bold letters or underlining also makes it easier for the reader to scan your post for the highlights or important points of the post itself.
Also when possible, try to present your points in a listed fashion whether thru the use of subtitles, numbers, or bullets points.
Optimize Your Post
Consider what it is your post is all about. By identifying the main point of the post you can isolate and select keywords or keyword phrases. By optimizing your post in such a way you now have made it easier for search engines to find your posted material.
The end result when you properly optimize your post will be more readers will now find your post when they conduct a search for content such as yours.
More readers - sweet deal!
Ask For & Encourage Comments
At the end of every post ask readers what they thought of the information you provided. This encourages helpful feedback for you and more interaction by the readers themselves.
The feedback is something you can use to improve your blog while the increased interactivity by the reader will be more satisfying to them.
Your blog entries are the foundation upon which you will build your site. When you first create a blog your focus should be on any blog comments left at your site. There is no better barometer as to how your blog site is being received by readers online. By following the 7 blogging tips we discussed above you can position yourself to become one of the top blogs in your niche. There will be other techniques like the blog design, linking and SEO that will also help but remember it all starts with the content you put on the site.
TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina.
For additional Money Making Tips and a free guide that demonstrates how to find both profitable markets and products visit: http://blogbrawn.com/
Posting blog entries consistently is one of the starting points to getting your blog notice by readers. When you first create a blog you want to be sure that your post are thought provoking, informative, or at the very least create a stir. A great way to judge the reaction to your posts is in both the number and nature of blog comments left at your site.
What we want to address here today is how to position your site to be one of the top blogs in your niche. No doubt the use of numerous SEO and blog design approaches can be very advantageous to positioning your site. Our focus here however will be on making the most out of every entry to the blog site itself.
Here are 7 blogging tips you can use immediately when posting entries to increase the popularity of your site within your niche.
Let the Reader Know How You Feel
Show some attitude when applicable in your posting, after all it is your blog. Readers will enjoy your display of 'personality' and so will you since it will make your writing a lot more fun and therefore easier for you.
Keep Post Brief
Your post does not have to be article length but in fact it would usually be better that it isn't. A composition of about 250 to 300 words will work just fine. This will help maintain the readers' attention long enough to read the complete post and it won't be as much effort for you to write.
Riveting Headline
Do what you can to capture the readers attention. Since the headline will be the first things they see try to insure it is an accurate 'portrayal' of what the content holds for the reader.
When possible the use of shock or humor will work wonderfully but be sure to deliver to the reader what your headline may promise.
Be Passionate
A show of enthusiasm or passion in your writings will serve to get your reader more involved in what they are reading. If your tone sounds bored it is only natural that the reader will quickly adopt this feeling and probably quit reading.
Also if you are passionate or excited about what it is you're writing this will only make your efforts seem more like play and less like work.
Reader Friendly Format
Make your posts easy to read by following a layout that is easy on the eyes. Avoiding long paragraphs will lessen the eye strain of your readers.
The use of bold letters or underlining also makes it easier for the reader to scan your post for the highlights or important points of the post itself.
Also when possible, try to present your points in a listed fashion whether thru the use of subtitles, numbers, or bullets points.
Optimize Your Post
Consider what it is your post is all about. By identifying the main point of the post you can isolate and select keywords or keyword phrases. By optimizing your post in such a way you now have made it easier for search engines to find your posted material.
The end result when you properly optimize your post will be more readers will now find your post when they conduct a search for content such as yours.
More readers - sweet deal!
Ask For & Encourage Comments
At the end of every post ask readers what they thought of the information you provided. This encourages helpful feedback for you and more interaction by the readers themselves.
The feedback is something you can use to improve your blog while the increased interactivity by the reader will be more satisfying to them.
Your blog entries are the foundation upon which you will build your site. When you first create a blog your focus should be on any blog comments left at your site. There is no better barometer as to how your blog site is being received by readers online. By following the 7 blogging tips we discussed above you can position yourself to become one of the top blogs in your niche. There will be other techniques like the blog design, linking and SEO that will also help but remember it all starts with the content you put on the site.
TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina.
For additional Money Making Tips and a free guide that demonstrates how to find both profitable markets and products visit: http://blogbrawn.com/
Do You Own Your SaaS Website? Part 2 - Have You Considered Pre-Existing Elements?
by Chip Cooper
Back in the day, most websites were developed completely from scratch - consequently, determining ownership was relatively easy.
These days, websites are rarely developed completely from scratch. Today, the typical website consists of some new development, but that new development typically bundles together a number of pre-existing code modules, tools libraries, web services, and content. The result - in today's component-based development environment, it's much more difficult to pin down who actually owns any given website.
And clean ownership regarding the intellectual property embodied in your SaaS website, including the necessary use rights for pre-existing elements, is essential if you have any interest in licensing or selling it in the future.
Websites Developed From Scratch
As discussed in Part 1 of this series, if you're unlike most of us and have the knowledge and experience to develop your own website from scratch, you'll be the author and copyright owner.
You'll get the same result if your website is developed by your full-time, regular employees who are acting within the scope of their employment, assuming they develop the website from scratch. The website would be "work made for hire" under the U.S. Copyright Act.
However, if you hire a contractor to develop your website, you'll own copyrights to the contractor's work product only if there is a written agreement, signed by the contractor, specifying that the work is a "work made for hire".
Ownership vs. Licensing In
Let's say you own the copyrights embodied in your website under the above analysis. As the copyright owner, you would have the exclusive rights to copy, modify, distribute, and display the works of authorship that are embodied in your website.
Essentially, ownership means control. As the copyright owner, you would be in complete control of all the copyright rights. You could grant licenses, and you could freely transfer the work in the form of an assignment (sale) of all rights to another (hopefully for a significant profit).
What happens if your website is typical - it isn't developed completely from scratch and incorporates pre-existing elements? What rights do you have?
When you license in pre-existing elements, the copyrights in these elements are owned by others. If the pre-existing elements are owned by your developer, then you'll be licensing rights directly from the developer, and at least you'll have the opportunity to negotiate, if necessary. However, if your developer incorporates pre-existing elements owned by third parties, you'll take the rights that your developer is authorized to sublicense to you - nothing more.
What Rights Do You Need For Pre-Existing Elements?
First, if you're licensing rights in for pre-existing third party elements, you need to know what these elements are. You accomplish this by requiring your developer to identify the third-party elements and their associated licensing terms, restrictions, and fees (if any).
Generally, if you're interested in licensing in a bundle of rights for the pre-existing third party elements that you'll need to pass on to a purchaser of your website in the future, the following checklist is a good starting point (however, bear in mind that the list may change depending on specific facts and circumstances):
* perpetual, worldwide rights,
* irrevocable rights (they can't be revoked in the future),
* rights to use, copy, display, and publish as incorporated into your website (and its derivatives),
* rights to modify and to create derivative works (if source code is provided),
* license or use fees (if any) should be clearly spelled out,
* right to sublicense (authorize another person or entity to operate the website for a fee), and
* right to transfer as part of a assignment (sale) of all rights in the website (with no transfer fee).
Conclusion
Today's component-based development environment is a double edged sword:
* the good thing -- the incorporation of pre-existing third party elements allows for a more efficient and cost-effective development process;
* the not-so-good-thing - incorporation of pre-existing third party elements complicates the process of accounting for use rights for the elements licensed in.
If you have any interest in licensing or selling your SaaS website in the future, you must take the steps necessary to ensure that you not only have clean ownership to the intellectual property, but also that you have acquired all of the necessary use rights for the elements licensed in.
Leading Internet, IP and software lawyer Chip Cooper has automated the process of drafting website documents for small websites with his MyLegalFirewall website documents drafting service. Discover how quick, easy, and cost-effective it is to determine which legal documents you need, draft them online, and claim your FREE Special Report, Determine Which Legal Documents Your Website Really Needs, at ==> http://digicontracts.com/kits/firewall.aspx
Copyright © 2009 Chip Cooper
Back in the day, most websites were developed completely from scratch - consequently, determining ownership was relatively easy.
These days, websites are rarely developed completely from scratch. Today, the typical website consists of some new development, but that new development typically bundles together a number of pre-existing code modules, tools libraries, web services, and content. The result - in today's component-based development environment, it's much more difficult to pin down who actually owns any given website.
And clean ownership regarding the intellectual property embodied in your SaaS website, including the necessary use rights for pre-existing elements, is essential if you have any interest in licensing or selling it in the future.
Websites Developed From Scratch
As discussed in Part 1 of this series, if you're unlike most of us and have the knowledge and experience to develop your own website from scratch, you'll be the author and copyright owner.
You'll get the same result if your website is developed by your full-time, regular employees who are acting within the scope of their employment, assuming they develop the website from scratch. The website would be "work made for hire" under the U.S. Copyright Act.
However, if you hire a contractor to develop your website, you'll own copyrights to the contractor's work product only if there is a written agreement, signed by the contractor, specifying that the work is a "work made for hire".
Ownership vs. Licensing In
Let's say you own the copyrights embodied in your website under the above analysis. As the copyright owner, you would have the exclusive rights to copy, modify, distribute, and display the works of authorship that are embodied in your website.
Essentially, ownership means control. As the copyright owner, you would be in complete control of all the copyright rights. You could grant licenses, and you could freely transfer the work in the form of an assignment (sale) of all rights to another (hopefully for a significant profit).
What happens if your website is typical - it isn't developed completely from scratch and incorporates pre-existing elements? What rights do you have?
When you license in pre-existing elements, the copyrights in these elements are owned by others. If the pre-existing elements are owned by your developer, then you'll be licensing rights directly from the developer, and at least you'll have the opportunity to negotiate, if necessary. However, if your developer incorporates pre-existing elements owned by third parties, you'll take the rights that your developer is authorized to sublicense to you - nothing more.
What Rights Do You Need For Pre-Existing Elements?
First, if you're licensing rights in for pre-existing third party elements, you need to know what these elements are. You accomplish this by requiring your developer to identify the third-party elements and their associated licensing terms, restrictions, and fees (if any).
Generally, if you're interested in licensing in a bundle of rights for the pre-existing third party elements that you'll need to pass on to a purchaser of your website in the future, the following checklist is a good starting point (however, bear in mind that the list may change depending on specific facts and circumstances):
* perpetual, worldwide rights,
* irrevocable rights (they can't be revoked in the future),
* rights to use, copy, display, and publish as incorporated into your website (and its derivatives),
* rights to modify and to create derivative works (if source code is provided),
* license or use fees (if any) should be clearly spelled out,
* right to sublicense (authorize another person or entity to operate the website for a fee), and
* right to transfer as part of a assignment (sale) of all rights in the website (with no transfer fee).
Conclusion
Today's component-based development environment is a double edged sword:
* the good thing -- the incorporation of pre-existing third party elements allows for a more efficient and cost-effective development process;
* the not-so-good-thing - incorporation of pre-existing third party elements complicates the process of accounting for use rights for the elements licensed in.
If you have any interest in licensing or selling your SaaS website in the future, you must take the steps necessary to ensure that you not only have clean ownership to the intellectual property, but also that you have acquired all of the necessary use rights for the elements licensed in.
Leading Internet, IP and software lawyer Chip Cooper has automated the process of drafting website documents for small websites with his MyLegalFirewall website documents drafting service. Discover how quick, easy, and cost-effective it is to determine which legal documents you need, draft them online, and claim your FREE Special Report, Determine Which Legal Documents Your Website Really Needs, at ==> http://digicontracts.com/kits/firewall.aspx
Copyright © 2009 Chip Cooper
Kinds Of Podcasting Content
by S. Housley
Podcasting content comes in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Businesses are finding many different and creative ways of incorporating podcasts into their business strategies and marketing plans.
Here are just some of the various types of content that businesses are turning into podcasts...
1. Audio Books
Books that are "read" aloud are no longer embraced only by the visually impaired. For example, commuters who want to make the most of their travel time have long embraced books-on-tape. The podcast medium is far more compact and portable, so audio books and similar content are now being made available as podcasts.
2. Audio Tours
Interested in a guided tour of a historic site, or a detailed explanation of a museum display? Audio tour podcasts with detailed explanations are becoming quite common.
3. Sermons
The word of God, Allah, or a bible study discussion are now all popular content for podcast material. It does not really matter the what the religious material might be -- what is important is that by turning those conversations and dialogs into podcasts, their reach is being extended and new audiences are being touched .
4. Indie Artists Demos
Independent musical artists, looking to build a community and develop a fan base, are no longer restricted by their geographical region. With podcasts, Indie artists can expand their audience and increase their reach. Indie's can use iTunes to get reactions to new material or songs.
5. Foreign Language Lessons
What better way to learn a language than to hear it? Podcasts are a perfect medium for foreign language instruction. Listeners can hear accents and phrasing, and listen to a specific lecture until they have fully mastered the content.
6. Recipes
Interested in gourmet cooking, but do not have the time to watch cooking show hosts such as Rachel Ray or Martha Stewart? Download the podcasts to learn new recipes, at a time and place of your choosing and convenience.
7. Showing Homes For Realtors
What better way to market property or homes for sale than with a video podcast? Home tours help sell available listings, and with economic conditions currently unfavorable to sellers, they need all the help they can get. Video podcasts or slideshows of the homes help entice interested buyers to learn more about properties. Using podcasting as a communication medium will help expand the homes appeal.
8. Sporting Event Commentaries
Sportscasters are always ready and willing to offer opinions and commentary on sporting events. Pre-event festivities and post-event analysis are often enjoyed by fans, and if the commentaries are made available at any time as podcasts, the listeners have much more flexibility.
9. Medical Instruction
As just one example, medical schools have recorded a variety of heart murmurs as podcasts. Medical students studying cardiology can listen to the various heart defects until they understand the different sounds and the impact those anomalies have on the circulatory system. Recognizing the sound patterns of a heart murmur can greatly aid medical students when they run across similar anomalies in a real patient.
10. Class Lectures
Universities have embraced podcasting, providing supplemental class material as podcasts. Students often listen to the material while commuting from one class to another, exercising, or relaxing between classes.
11. Corporate - Internal Sales Force Updates
Podcasting is a perfect way for a business to communicate with remote sales staff, regarding things such as addressing corporate policy changes, new product descriptions, and marketing points. Educating a wide-spread sales force about a new product or service has always been a challenge. Corporations have tackled this problem by providing audio and video podcasts that detail a product's use. Sales team members are often able to learn about new products without needing to travel to the corporate headquarters for formal instruction or sales seminars.
12. Political Debates
Are political debates a hobby, or do you just like to stay informed on the issues and candidates? Many political debates are now available via podcasts.
Potential podcasting content covers the gamut. With more than millions of podcasts now available, there are few topics that are not covered by this popular communication channel.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.
Podcasting content comes in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Businesses are finding many different and creative ways of incorporating podcasts into their business strategies and marketing plans.
Here are just some of the various types of content that businesses are turning into podcasts...
1. Audio Books
Books that are "read" aloud are no longer embraced only by the visually impaired. For example, commuters who want to make the most of their travel time have long embraced books-on-tape. The podcast medium is far more compact and portable, so audio books and similar content are now being made available as podcasts.
2. Audio Tours
Interested in a guided tour of a historic site, or a detailed explanation of a museum display? Audio tour podcasts with detailed explanations are becoming quite common.
3. Sermons
The word of God, Allah, or a bible study discussion are now all popular content for podcast material. It does not really matter the what the religious material might be -- what is important is that by turning those conversations and dialogs into podcasts, their reach is being extended and new audiences are being touched .
4. Indie Artists Demos
Independent musical artists, looking to build a community and develop a fan base, are no longer restricted by their geographical region. With podcasts, Indie artists can expand their audience and increase their reach. Indie's can use iTunes to get reactions to new material or songs.
5. Foreign Language Lessons
What better way to learn a language than to hear it? Podcasts are a perfect medium for foreign language instruction. Listeners can hear accents and phrasing, and listen to a specific lecture until they have fully mastered the content.
6. Recipes
Interested in gourmet cooking, but do not have the time to watch cooking show hosts such as Rachel Ray or Martha Stewart? Download the podcasts to learn new recipes, at a time and place of your choosing and convenience.
7. Showing Homes For Realtors
What better way to market property or homes for sale than with a video podcast? Home tours help sell available listings, and with economic conditions currently unfavorable to sellers, they need all the help they can get. Video podcasts or slideshows of the homes help entice interested buyers to learn more about properties. Using podcasting as a communication medium will help expand the homes appeal.
8. Sporting Event Commentaries
Sportscasters are always ready and willing to offer opinions and commentary on sporting events. Pre-event festivities and post-event analysis are often enjoyed by fans, and if the commentaries are made available at any time as podcasts, the listeners have much more flexibility.
9. Medical Instruction
As just one example, medical schools have recorded a variety of heart murmurs as podcasts. Medical students studying cardiology can listen to the various heart defects until they understand the different sounds and the impact those anomalies have on the circulatory system. Recognizing the sound patterns of a heart murmur can greatly aid medical students when they run across similar anomalies in a real patient.
10. Class Lectures
Universities have embraced podcasting, providing supplemental class material as podcasts. Students often listen to the material while commuting from one class to another, exercising, or relaxing between classes.
11. Corporate - Internal Sales Force Updates
Podcasting is a perfect way for a business to communicate with remote sales staff, regarding things such as addressing corporate policy changes, new product descriptions, and marketing points. Educating a wide-spread sales force about a new product or service has always been a challenge. Corporations have tackled this problem by providing audio and video podcasts that detail a product's use. Sales team members are often able to learn about new products without needing to travel to the corporate headquarters for formal instruction or sales seminars.
12. Political Debates
Are political debates a hobby, or do you just like to stay informed on the issues and candidates? Many political debates are now available via podcasts.
Potential podcasting content covers the gamut. With more than millions of podcasts now available, there are few topics that are not covered by this popular communication channel.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
What Comes First - The Web Design Or The SEO?
by Dave Talbot
This really is the chicken and egg question of the internet age but depending on who you ask will determine the actual answer you receive.
A graphic designer based website development company will argue in a majority of cases that the design comes first of course. And let's face it without that aesthetically pleasing to the eye design a visitor will bounce off your site within a matter of seconds or so they would have you believe. But then that raises the big question of how did they get there in the first place?
The most common web development curve goes along the lines of website gets designed ..looks great let's go for it. Needs some content ok, copy and paste something out of our corporate /company leaflet.....time passes and no traffic!
And then more time until eventually perhaps 6-12 months later the situation is either so dire or the company are spending a fortune on Adwords that finally the SEO expert gets called in (or somebody gets intrigued by one of those SEO e-mails that seem to hound webmasters these days), and before you know it you are on a 6 month search engine marketing campaign to try and rescue some website rankings.
Is this really the best way to go? The thousands of business owners that have been through this exact cycle will certainly argue that it most definitely is not, as this hope and pray web development criteria delays any websites success by months and sometimes years, and even more frighteningly results in thousands in lost profit, turnover and ongoing prospect capture.
What is really laughable though is that if you actually read the sales pitch on any one of the myriad of web design companies own websites many of them blatantly claim to be SEO experts as if it is a badge of honour or perhaps a must have tick in the box but a quick check of their portfolio soon reveals that if they are the search engine marketing experts, then it is clearly evident that their clients are definitely not on the receiving end of this claimed expertise.
So what is the real answer, can you really optimise a website before you launch it? Absolutely, web design and SEO should go hand in hand and the thought process of optimising a website and SEO friendly website design should form the foundations of the web development brief right from the outset, as it is the site structure, and ultimately the content that will capture free organic web traffic and also mark the website as a potential authority site or an also ran.
The search engines don't care about what the site looks like but so often this initial chance to make the best impact when the site first gets indexed is wasted, if all the search engines find is a poorly optimised site with scant regard paid to any SEO requirements or keyword capture.
Extra time and money spent on pre development SEO (which should at the very least include keyword research and SEO copywriting) gives an outstanding return on investment as invariably when the site goes live and gets indexed it will achieve a far better website ranking from day one and even in some cases a page one result straight away.
If a web designer is not promoting web design SEO as part of your initial client brief then they are selling not only themselves short but also the client, if they don't have the expertise themselves then best practice would be to team up with a non competing SEO professional to give the client the best possible start and return on investment on their new website.
And to any business owners who are commissioning a new website, if your developer does not offer this service then find one who does as a little extra investment will see your website many months ahead of where it would otherwise be.
Author: Dave Talbot: Correct search engine optimisation is a vital ingredient for any websites success. For new web development projects this is just as important as it is imperative to give the search engines the right initial impression of your website when it is first indexed. To find out more about giving your website the kickstart it requires visit =>> http://www.advancedwebmarketing.co.uk
This really is the chicken and egg question of the internet age but depending on who you ask will determine the actual answer you receive.
A graphic designer based website development company will argue in a majority of cases that the design comes first of course. And let's face it without that aesthetically pleasing to the eye design a visitor will bounce off your site within a matter of seconds or so they would have you believe. But then that raises the big question of how did they get there in the first place?
The most common web development curve goes along the lines of website gets designed ..looks great let's go for it. Needs some content ok, copy and paste something out of our corporate /company leaflet.....time passes and no traffic!
And then more time until eventually perhaps 6-12 months later the situation is either so dire or the company are spending a fortune on Adwords that finally the SEO expert gets called in (or somebody gets intrigued by one of those SEO e-mails that seem to hound webmasters these days), and before you know it you are on a 6 month search engine marketing campaign to try and rescue some website rankings.
Is this really the best way to go? The thousands of business owners that have been through this exact cycle will certainly argue that it most definitely is not, as this hope and pray web development criteria delays any websites success by months and sometimes years, and even more frighteningly results in thousands in lost profit, turnover and ongoing prospect capture.
What is really laughable though is that if you actually read the sales pitch on any one of the myriad of web design companies own websites many of them blatantly claim to be SEO experts as if it is a badge of honour or perhaps a must have tick in the box but a quick check of their portfolio soon reveals that if they are the search engine marketing experts, then it is clearly evident that their clients are definitely not on the receiving end of this claimed expertise.
So what is the real answer, can you really optimise a website before you launch it? Absolutely, web design and SEO should go hand in hand and the thought process of optimising a website and SEO friendly website design should form the foundations of the web development brief right from the outset, as it is the site structure, and ultimately the content that will capture free organic web traffic and also mark the website as a potential authority site or an also ran.
The search engines don't care about what the site looks like but so often this initial chance to make the best impact when the site first gets indexed is wasted, if all the search engines find is a poorly optimised site with scant regard paid to any SEO requirements or keyword capture.
Extra time and money spent on pre development SEO (which should at the very least include keyword research and SEO copywriting) gives an outstanding return on investment as invariably when the site goes live and gets indexed it will achieve a far better website ranking from day one and even in some cases a page one result straight away.
If a web designer is not promoting web design SEO as part of your initial client brief then they are selling not only themselves short but also the client, if they don't have the expertise themselves then best practice would be to team up with a non competing SEO professional to give the client the best possible start and return on investment on their new website.
And to any business owners who are commissioning a new website, if your developer does not offer this service then find one who does as a little extra investment will see your website many months ahead of where it would otherwise be.
Author: Dave Talbot: Correct search engine optimisation is a vital ingredient for any websites success. For new web development projects this is just as important as it is imperative to give the search engines the right initial impression of your website when it is first indexed. To find out more about giving your website the kickstart it requires visit =>> http://www.advancedwebmarketing.co.uk
7 Vital Factors To Consider Before Building Your Website And Online Presence
by Jeremy Gislason
If you want to boost your online success quicker than a New York minute, then keep reading and you will see just how simple and easy it is.
Make no bones about it, your email box is probably flooded with e-mails trying to sell you bulk e-mail addresses or promises to shoot your website to the top of major search engine rankings.
But let me set the record straight. Prepare yourself. The Internet is growing by leaps and bounds, and the competition is fierce. You have to be unique and stand out from the crowd.
Millions of people search the web everyday for information and to shop. However, surprisingly enough, there are several ways to promote your site and receive great results.
Now, don’t get me wrong…this will require you to invest time and energy. But if you do it correctly, the rewards will have you laughing all the way to the bank.
It’s no secret that if you create a website just for the sake of keeping up with the Joneses, you won’t make one red cent.
You want to have a definite idea of what you plan to accomplish by creating any website. Know this: Your purpose largely determines the look and feel of your site, as well as how you will promote it.
Let’s get started…
Define The Purpose Of Building Your Web Site And Online Presence.
Sounds simple right? You may be surprised at how often many people fail to discover the real reason or should I say “motivation” behind building a website and establishing their online presence.
Let’s take a look at some purposes that could be useful to you. Ask yourself…”Does this apply to my business” as you read each one.
1) To make money on the Internet. Obvious, isn’t it? Money is typically the primary motivation for many people to build a web site. Thanks to the hype in the media and the successes of virtual companies such as Amazon, eBay and Yahoo, many believe they too can strike it rich with an online business.
But, like it or not, an online business is just like any other kind of business. As you might guess, you will need to develop a business plan, secure financial support, invest in marketing, and satisfy the needs of your customers before you can turn a profit.
Think of it like this: This Internet is not a moneymaking machine; instead, it is the TOOL – the master communicator that can bring cash to your doorstep.
2) To reduce the cost of doing business. I hate to say this, but most offline businesses are not taking in the profits they want. However, setting up a website has helped them save money when providing information and technical support to their target audiences.
Speaking of which, it’s a lot cheaper to provide a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page on your website than to have a live person answer the same questions over the phone repeatedly.
In truth, this saves both you and your customer time. An added benefit is that it encourages people to come back and look at what else you have to offer without costing you further effort.
3) To network with other people. Not many know this, but a lot of what passes for a business or life opportunity is simply nothing more than making connections with other people.
Every successful person knows that it is not just what you know, it’s whom you know that really counts.
Look, you can use the web to network with hundreds and thousands of people simultaneously and within a shorter period of time. Imagine what this can do for your business or your career.
4) To take advantage of the Internet’s promotion power. The web allows you to reach out to millions of Internet users at a fraction of the costs associated with other means and media.
In short, you can dramatically improve your opportunities by taking advantage of the many benefits offered by this world’s fastest growing business communication system.
5) To speed up information delivery. Legend has it the newspaper news is no longer “news” because it falls so much behind Internet time.
Through blogging and social networking, the web allows readers to access different opinions and perspectives other than the ones that appeal to the interest of a specific mass media group.
What’s more, all the information can be made available at any specified time and is accessible by anyone who has Internet access.
Plus, changing information is just as easy and speedy. At the drop of a dime, mass communication can be achieved within the hour.
6) To stay in contact with everyone in real time. Let’s face it; in today’s world of high technology, it pays to be able to stay in constant contact with your employees or co-workers who may be traveling.
While burning the midnight oil, you can give them last minute information that could help close a sale or complete a project. In addition to that, you can post this information in complete privacy online.
All they need is an Internet connection to access the required information without long-distance phone bills and wasting valuable time of other people at work.
You see, web pages serve everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can build your website to match any language and needs that can put you one step ahead of the competition.
7) To offer online education. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, the amount of information available online will soon surpass all the other collections put together, larger than what’s contained in the libraries and museums.
To make a long story short, you can bet that majority of the things ever written or discovered - a major part of collectible human knowledge - will soon be available online.
If you want to make money hand over fist, then building a website and promoting it the right way will help you do just that. What I am talking about is learning how to establish a rock-solid online presence. Once you are able to do this, the rest is a piece of cake.
Want to discover the most incredible and intuitive membership site software today? Then go to http://www.memberspeed.com for details on the world's leading client and content management system, considered as the professional's choice all-in-one e-commerce solution.
If you want to boost your online success quicker than a New York minute, then keep reading and you will see just how simple and easy it is.
Make no bones about it, your email box is probably flooded with e-mails trying to sell you bulk e-mail addresses or promises to shoot your website to the top of major search engine rankings.
But let me set the record straight. Prepare yourself. The Internet is growing by leaps and bounds, and the competition is fierce. You have to be unique and stand out from the crowd.
Millions of people search the web everyday for information and to shop. However, surprisingly enough, there are several ways to promote your site and receive great results.
Now, don’t get me wrong…this will require you to invest time and energy. But if you do it correctly, the rewards will have you laughing all the way to the bank.
It’s no secret that if you create a website just for the sake of keeping up with the Joneses, you won’t make one red cent.
You want to have a definite idea of what you plan to accomplish by creating any website. Know this: Your purpose largely determines the look and feel of your site, as well as how you will promote it.
Let’s get started…
Define The Purpose Of Building Your Web Site And Online Presence.
Sounds simple right? You may be surprised at how often many people fail to discover the real reason or should I say “motivation” behind building a website and establishing their online presence.
Let’s take a look at some purposes that could be useful to you. Ask yourself…”Does this apply to my business” as you read each one.
1) To make money on the Internet. Obvious, isn’t it? Money is typically the primary motivation for many people to build a web site. Thanks to the hype in the media and the successes of virtual companies such as Amazon, eBay and Yahoo, many believe they too can strike it rich with an online business.
But, like it or not, an online business is just like any other kind of business. As you might guess, you will need to develop a business plan, secure financial support, invest in marketing, and satisfy the needs of your customers before you can turn a profit.
Think of it like this: This Internet is not a moneymaking machine; instead, it is the TOOL – the master communicator that can bring cash to your doorstep.
2) To reduce the cost of doing business. I hate to say this, but most offline businesses are not taking in the profits they want. However, setting up a website has helped them save money when providing information and technical support to their target audiences.
Speaking of which, it’s a lot cheaper to provide a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page on your website than to have a live person answer the same questions over the phone repeatedly.
In truth, this saves both you and your customer time. An added benefit is that it encourages people to come back and look at what else you have to offer without costing you further effort.
3) To network with other people. Not many know this, but a lot of what passes for a business or life opportunity is simply nothing more than making connections with other people.
Every successful person knows that it is not just what you know, it’s whom you know that really counts.
Look, you can use the web to network with hundreds and thousands of people simultaneously and within a shorter period of time. Imagine what this can do for your business or your career.
4) To take advantage of the Internet’s promotion power. The web allows you to reach out to millions of Internet users at a fraction of the costs associated with other means and media.
In short, you can dramatically improve your opportunities by taking advantage of the many benefits offered by this world’s fastest growing business communication system.
5) To speed up information delivery. Legend has it the newspaper news is no longer “news” because it falls so much behind Internet time.
Through blogging and social networking, the web allows readers to access different opinions and perspectives other than the ones that appeal to the interest of a specific mass media group.
What’s more, all the information can be made available at any specified time and is accessible by anyone who has Internet access.
Plus, changing information is just as easy and speedy. At the drop of a dime, mass communication can be achieved within the hour.
6) To stay in contact with everyone in real time. Let’s face it; in today’s world of high technology, it pays to be able to stay in constant contact with your employees or co-workers who may be traveling.
While burning the midnight oil, you can give them last minute information that could help close a sale or complete a project. In addition to that, you can post this information in complete privacy online.
All they need is an Internet connection to access the required information without long-distance phone bills and wasting valuable time of other people at work.
You see, web pages serve everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can build your website to match any language and needs that can put you one step ahead of the competition.
7) To offer online education. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, the amount of information available online will soon surpass all the other collections put together, larger than what’s contained in the libraries and museums.
To make a long story short, you can bet that majority of the things ever written or discovered - a major part of collectible human knowledge - will soon be available online.
If you want to make money hand over fist, then building a website and promoting it the right way will help you do just that. What I am talking about is learning how to establish a rock-solid online presence. Once you are able to do this, the rest is a piece of cake.
Want to discover the most incredible and intuitive membership site software today? Then go to http://www.memberspeed.com for details on the world's leading client and content management system, considered as the professional's choice all-in-one e-commerce solution.
Friday, August 7, 2009
The 5 Selling Magic Secrets of Billy Mays
by Barry A. Densa
Billy Mays, who sadly passed away at age fifty, was a pot-bellied, black-bearded Atlantic City carnival barker in a blue long-sleeve shirt and a white undershirt.
He had a loud, shrill and annoyingly exuberant voice. And he seemed to lean forward, through the TV screen, and put his nose in your face, the way only pitchmen do.
Madison Avenue style brand marketers who believe asking for an order even once, unless it's in small grey type, is undignified, contemptible and just plain bad manners, absolutely loathed him.
Direct marketers idolized him.
Consumers, well, they either loved or hated him... or were totally unaware of him (presumably Tivo owners).
Bottom line: Billy sold the hell out of stuff. And he didn't have to reinvent the wheel to do it.
Billy bellied-up to bar with the TV viewer and spoke straight and to the point: you got a problem, I've got the solution, I can guarantee it or your money back, buy it now and I'll make you an even better deal.
Inelegant to the max. But he sold and made millions. Not through artifice; there was no false imagery, cheating or stealing, just great showmanship and...
Great Salesmanship
But great salesmanship, contrary to popular opinion, is not about selling ice to Eskimos.
The truth is less flamboyant, and far more reasonable.
Simply put, behind every great salesman is a great product. And Billy Mays understood that better than most.
Because if it's a great product—it was easy for Billy to sell, using salesmanship techniques he had honed over two decades of selling.
Who better than Billy Mays could grab your attention (Hi, Billy Mays here for...)... get you excited (So fast and easy...)... make you want to buy it (No more dings, dents or scratches—and it'll save you money, too...)... and get you to buy it (But wait, order now and I'll...)
So how do you know if the product you're currently selling or developing is great... and easy to sell?
According to Billy Mays...
To be Great and an Easy Sell Your Product Must Have These 5 Essential Character Traits
1. It must solve a problem.
If it doesn't fix, mend or alleviate a nagging pain, problem, condition or situation—why would people want it, much less buy it? There must be a strong, recognizable and somewhat measurable or appreciable benefit to owning and using your product.
2. It must have mass appeal.
You may have invented the best mousetrap ever, but if only one in ten million homes has a mouse problem... you're not going to sell a heck of a lot of mouse traps. Sure, you can sell just a few at a ridiculously high price-point? But a mouse-trap priced at $50,000... how easy of a sale will that be?
3. It must be unique.
If it's the first or only one of its kind—that's a homerun! If it's not, then it should at least be different and beneficial in a way that isn't currently offered. A rose by any other name is still a rose—but a rose that never loses its petals, now that would be unique.
4. It must offer instant gratification.
If it'll only be of use next spring, why buy it today? People don't want to buy seeds. They want the fully grown tree, planted and providing shade now. We're an impatient nation of consumers. We don't want the fishing pole—we want the fish fresh, filleted, seasoned and served.
5. It must be demonstrable.
It's a law of nature: seeing is believing. The customer must see with their own eyes how easily, quickly and effectively your product does what it does. Though people will often say they can't trust their eyes—they always do.
"But wait, there's more..."
You Don’t Need TV Air-Time to be a Successful Marketer
A demonstration doesn't have be live or on TV to be effective. If you're selling off the page, diagrams, schematics, and before and after pictures will also do the trick.
And if you're not limited to a 30-second or 1-minute TV spot... you might have a distinct advantage!
When you're selling off the page, you can pile on the benefits—as many as you can think of. And, you can highlight features and advantages in bullet-point after bullet-point.
You can show why your product or service is superior to your competitors by creating tables.
You can provide testimonials, endorsements... and your own impressive credentials.
And as long as you know how to keep the reader reading—you can methodically, step-by-step, convince and persuade the reader to buy from you in a voice and style that's compelling, empowering, believable and completely your own.
I'm sure that's what Billy Mays would do. He'd begin every letter or ad with, "Hi, Billy Mays here for..."
Thanks, Billy. Rest in peace.
Barry A. Densa is one of America’s top freelance direct response copywriters. Visit www.WritingWithPersonality.com and see how easily and quickly Barry converts prospects into buyers using “salesmanship in print”. And while there, sign up for his highly regarded FREE ezine: Marketing Wit & Wisdom!
Billy Mays, who sadly passed away at age fifty, was a pot-bellied, black-bearded Atlantic City carnival barker in a blue long-sleeve shirt and a white undershirt.
He had a loud, shrill and annoyingly exuberant voice. And he seemed to lean forward, through the TV screen, and put his nose in your face, the way only pitchmen do.
Madison Avenue style brand marketers who believe asking for an order even once, unless it's in small grey type, is undignified, contemptible and just plain bad manners, absolutely loathed him.
Direct marketers idolized him.
Consumers, well, they either loved or hated him... or were totally unaware of him (presumably Tivo owners).
Bottom line: Billy sold the hell out of stuff. And he didn't have to reinvent the wheel to do it.
Billy bellied-up to bar with the TV viewer and spoke straight and to the point: you got a problem, I've got the solution, I can guarantee it or your money back, buy it now and I'll make you an even better deal.
Inelegant to the max. But he sold and made millions. Not through artifice; there was no false imagery, cheating or stealing, just great showmanship and...
Great Salesmanship
But great salesmanship, contrary to popular opinion, is not about selling ice to Eskimos.
The truth is less flamboyant, and far more reasonable.
Simply put, behind every great salesman is a great product. And Billy Mays understood that better than most.
Because if it's a great product—it was easy for Billy to sell, using salesmanship techniques he had honed over two decades of selling.
Who better than Billy Mays could grab your attention (Hi, Billy Mays here for...)... get you excited (So fast and easy...)... make you want to buy it (No more dings, dents or scratches—and it'll save you money, too...)... and get you to buy it (But wait, order now and I'll...)
So how do you know if the product you're currently selling or developing is great... and easy to sell?
According to Billy Mays...
To be Great and an Easy Sell Your Product Must Have These 5 Essential Character Traits
1. It must solve a problem.
If it doesn't fix, mend or alleviate a nagging pain, problem, condition or situation—why would people want it, much less buy it? There must be a strong, recognizable and somewhat measurable or appreciable benefit to owning and using your product.
2. It must have mass appeal.
You may have invented the best mousetrap ever, but if only one in ten million homes has a mouse problem... you're not going to sell a heck of a lot of mouse traps. Sure, you can sell just a few at a ridiculously high price-point? But a mouse-trap priced at $50,000... how easy of a sale will that be?
3. It must be unique.
If it's the first or only one of its kind—that's a homerun! If it's not, then it should at least be different and beneficial in a way that isn't currently offered. A rose by any other name is still a rose—but a rose that never loses its petals, now that would be unique.
4. It must offer instant gratification.
If it'll only be of use next spring, why buy it today? People don't want to buy seeds. They want the fully grown tree, planted and providing shade now. We're an impatient nation of consumers. We don't want the fishing pole—we want the fish fresh, filleted, seasoned and served.
5. It must be demonstrable.
It's a law of nature: seeing is believing. The customer must see with their own eyes how easily, quickly and effectively your product does what it does. Though people will often say they can't trust their eyes—they always do.
"But wait, there's more..."
You Don’t Need TV Air-Time to be a Successful Marketer
A demonstration doesn't have be live or on TV to be effective. If you're selling off the page, diagrams, schematics, and before and after pictures will also do the trick.
And if you're not limited to a 30-second or 1-minute TV spot... you might have a distinct advantage!
When you're selling off the page, you can pile on the benefits—as many as you can think of. And, you can highlight features and advantages in bullet-point after bullet-point.
You can show why your product or service is superior to your competitors by creating tables.
You can provide testimonials, endorsements... and your own impressive credentials.
And as long as you know how to keep the reader reading—you can methodically, step-by-step, convince and persuade the reader to buy from you in a voice and style that's compelling, empowering, believable and completely your own.
I'm sure that's what Billy Mays would do. He'd begin every letter or ad with, "Hi, Billy Mays here for..."
Thanks, Billy. Rest in peace.
Barry A. Densa is one of America’s top freelance direct response copywriters. Visit www.WritingWithPersonality.com and see how easily and quickly Barry converts prospects into buyers using “salesmanship in print”. And while there, sign up for his highly regarded FREE ezine: Marketing Wit & Wisdom!
Recent Google Algo Update: Link Building Stays Strong
by Richard Gilmore
It's been almost a month since Google made a set of changes to its ranking algorithm which became known as Vince Update. And although there's been an official statement from Google that it's not an update but rather some slight changes the name remained in use.
So what exactly is this update about and how you should alter your optimization activities to adapt to the new way Google ranks websites? When the update was first announced SEOs started testing things to figure out what changes were made to the algo and how it affected the influence of individual ranking factors on a site's position in the SERPs.
There were a couple of theories that stir the SEO community: the traffic-stats and the brand theory. The first one assumes that the traffic volume for a given keyword on in other words how often a certain phrase is searched for has an impact on the search rankings. For example if some company name gets a rise in the search stats the company gets to rank better for other terms as well. The brand theory boils down to Google giving preference to big companies and popular brands over other website and push them up in the rankings.
Should you start optimizing your site in a new fashion?
Now don't be scared, that doesn't mean that you should either develop your business into a giant corporation or forget about ranking anywhere on Google altogether. We'll now a closer look at why big brands started to rank much better right after the Vince update. But first let's hear what Google had to say about the update.
The official statement was that what is known as the Vince (or sometimes called 'brand') update is not really an update but rather some slight changes to the algo that only influence a small fraction of queries. First of all this change obviously influences the queries containing brand names in them. Personally I don't see anything wrong with a company ranking first for its own brand name. Moreover I do believe that the company's website holds more relevance for the user searching for its brand then a Wikipedia 'about' article. But generic keywords are a different cup of tea, so why do big brands get to rank better for these as well?
Let's once again go back to the basics. What are the major factors that determine the search engine rankings of a website: Reputation, relevance, authority, link popularity, PageRank and trust to name a few.
Big companies and popular brands remain popular online the way they are offline: they get a lot of publicity on the Internet just like they always get talked about offline. They attract a lot of 'natural' links with relevant anchor texts and therefore they get to rank high for their keywords. Consider yourself blogging about cars: what websites are you most likely to link out to in your blog posts? That's right BMW, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen - that is the brands. They are the major producers of cars. Basically the make cars and make up the industry as a whole at the same time. No wonder they get to rank high for the automobile related keywords.
So, there's no conspiracy going on. The ranking algo stays pretty much the same with the same SEO techniques, link building still being the most important one. Brands get to rank better simply because they magnet links naturally. So keep up on doing what you're doing for your site's SEO (and I hope you're building quality and relevant links). Spin off your link building campaign, think outside the box, become more creative, automate the tedious link building tasks with SEO tools and SEO software and you're sure to get your deserved rankings on Google.
Outrank any site 'brand' or not with effective SEO software and learn cutting-edge SEO techniques with this free SEO book.
It's been almost a month since Google made a set of changes to its ranking algorithm which became known as Vince Update. And although there's been an official statement from Google that it's not an update but rather some slight changes the name remained in use.
So what exactly is this update about and how you should alter your optimization activities to adapt to the new way Google ranks websites? When the update was first announced SEOs started testing things to figure out what changes were made to the algo and how it affected the influence of individual ranking factors on a site's position in the SERPs.
There were a couple of theories that stir the SEO community: the traffic-stats and the brand theory. The first one assumes that the traffic volume for a given keyword on in other words how often a certain phrase is searched for has an impact on the search rankings. For example if some company name gets a rise in the search stats the company gets to rank better for other terms as well. The brand theory boils down to Google giving preference to big companies and popular brands over other website and push them up in the rankings.
Should you start optimizing your site in a new fashion?
Now don't be scared, that doesn't mean that you should either develop your business into a giant corporation or forget about ranking anywhere on Google altogether. We'll now a closer look at why big brands started to rank much better right after the Vince update. But first let's hear what Google had to say about the update.
The official statement was that what is known as the Vince (or sometimes called 'brand') update is not really an update but rather some slight changes to the algo that only influence a small fraction of queries. First of all this change obviously influences the queries containing brand names in them. Personally I don't see anything wrong with a company ranking first for its own brand name. Moreover I do believe that the company's website holds more relevance for the user searching for its brand then a Wikipedia 'about' article. But generic keywords are a different cup of tea, so why do big brands get to rank better for these as well?
Let's once again go back to the basics. What are the major factors that determine the search engine rankings of a website: Reputation, relevance, authority, link popularity, PageRank and trust to name a few.
Big companies and popular brands remain popular online the way they are offline: they get a lot of publicity on the Internet just like they always get talked about offline. They attract a lot of 'natural' links with relevant anchor texts and therefore they get to rank high for their keywords. Consider yourself blogging about cars: what websites are you most likely to link out to in your blog posts? That's right BMW, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen - that is the brands. They are the major producers of cars. Basically the make cars and make up the industry as a whole at the same time. No wonder they get to rank high for the automobile related keywords.
So, there's no conspiracy going on. The ranking algo stays pretty much the same with the same SEO techniques, link building still being the most important one. Brands get to rank better simply because they magnet links naturally. So keep up on doing what you're doing for your site's SEO (and I hope you're building quality and relevant links). Spin off your link building campaign, think outside the box, become more creative, automate the tedious link building tasks with SEO tools and SEO software and you're sure to get your deserved rankings on Google.
Outrank any site 'brand' or not with effective SEO software and learn cutting-edge SEO techniques with this free SEO book.
5 Rules Your SaaS Website Should Follow to Avoid Claims For False Advertising
by Chip Cooper
Many Internet entrepreneurs are lulled into sleep regarding potential liability for false advertising on their websites. They don't serve banner ads or engage in pay-per-click advertising - and because of this, they incorrectly believe they are exempt from rules regarding false advertising. Nothing could be more incorrect - and more dangerous in terms of exposure to legal liability.
What is False Advertising?
Basically, false advertising is any advertising that deceives consumers. This includes misleading or deceptive advertising that technically may to true, but may be misunderstood by consumers. In most cases false advertising leads a consumer to believe that certain benefits will be received, when they're not.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act to file lawsuits against advertisers believed to be making false advertising claims. This authority extends to traditional media - print, television, radio, and telephone.
The FTC's authority for false advertising has also been extended to cover online advertising, and the FTC has been very aggressive in its enforcement on the Web. Since 1994, the FTC has brought over 100 enforcement actions against online businesses.
However, claims for false advertising aren't limited to the FTC. The attorneys general of various states have also been just as active filing claims based on state laws that are similar in concept to the FTC Act.
Why It's Relatively Easy to Inadvertently Make False Advertising Claims
Most Internet entrepreneurs don't intend to make false or misleading claims.
What most Internet entrepreneurs don't know is that It's relatively easy to inadvertently make a false or misleading claim. The primary reasons are:
- most SaaS and ecommerce websites write their own marketing copy, and
- many websites are not updated periodically.
What's marketing copy? You can boil down it down to this - it's the clever stuff you write to sell your site and it's product and/or services. And it doesn't have to be presented in the format of a typical "advertisement". It may simply be in the form of your pricing and descriptions of your products and services - and even in the text of your website legal compliance documents such as your Terms of Use (as we'll see below).
Danger signs include incorrect product or service descriptions, incorrect pricing, or photos or online demos that don't portray your products or services accurately or completely. Maybe your descriptions, pricing, photos, and demos - and even your website legal documents -- were not misleading when they were first added to your website, but you've failed to update them over time -- with the result that now they're now out-of-date and misleading to consumers.
The 5 Rules
In interpreting the FTC Act, the FTC has determined that a representation, omission, or practice is false or misleading if it is likely to:
- mislead consumers, and
- affect consumers' behavior or decisions about a product or service.
In addition, an act or practice is false and misleading if the injury caused (or likely to be caused) is:
- substantial,
- not outweighed by other benefits, and
- not reasonably avoidable.
These rules are also reflected in various state statutes that also prohibit false advertising.
Recent Illustrative Cases
The best way to get a feel of how these rules are interpreted is to take a look at some of the cases construing them. Here's a short list of illustrative cases.
1. Earlier this month, Lifestyle Lift, a cosmetic surgery company, has reached a settlement with the State of New York over its attempts to fake positive consumer reviews on the Web. The company will pay $300,000 in penalties and costs to the state. The company had ordered employees to pretend they were satisfied customers and write glowing reviews of its face-lift procedure on websites, according to New York's attorney general. Lifestyle Lift also created its own websites of face-lift reviews to appear as independent sources.
2. In May, 2009, a trial court in Washington state ordered Expedia to pay class action plaintiffs $184,000 based on its ruling that Expedia's website Terms of Use amounted to a breach of contract. Expedia's Terms of Use stated: "service fee goes to covering costs". Plaintiffs alleged that more than costs were included in the service fees and relied on an internal Expedia email that estimated service fees would generate $2-$3,000,000 in net profit for the company in one quarter. The court stated that "plaintiffs correctly conclude that profits, not costs, are the subject matter of these 'service fees.'" Therefore, according to the court, Expedia's contractual definition of service fees that was found in its Terms of Use constituted a breach of contract because Expedia "collected profits along with covering costs."
3. In 2007, the FTC filed an action against Payneless Credit Repair, LLC and its owner for making the following claims on the company's website: "Fast, Legal, Effective, Credit Report Repair ... We will fight to remove negative items from your credit reports, so you can improve your credit score . . . " The FTC alleged that the defendants violated the FTC Act by falsely representing that they can improve consumers' credit reports by permanently removing negative information, even when the information is accurate and not obsolete.
4. In 2005, the FTC filed an action against MP3DownloadCity.com for the following ad: "And best of all people are not getting sued for using our software. yes! it is 100% legal". The FTC alleged that MP3DownloadCity.com violated the FTC Act by falsely claiming that membership in its service made P2P file sharing legal.
Conclusion
Writing your own website advertising copy - as well as your website legal documents - can get you in trouble if you're not careful.
Sometimes you can be a little too clever. Other times, you may have simply failed to keep your product descriptions, pricing, or website documents up-to-date.
For these reasons, it's a good idea to be familiar with the FTC's false advertising 5 rules and to review your website periodically to ensure that all statements are true, accurate, complete - and not misleading.
Leading Internet, IP and software lawyer Chip Cooper has automated the process of drafting website documents for small websites with his MyLegalFirewall website documents drafting service. Discover how quick, easy, and cost-effective it is to determine which legal compliance documents you need and to draft them online, and claim your FREE Special Report, Determine Which Legal Documents Your Website Really Needs, at ==> http://digicontracts.com/
Copyright © 2009 Chip Cooper
Many Internet entrepreneurs are lulled into sleep regarding potential liability for false advertising on their websites. They don't serve banner ads or engage in pay-per-click advertising - and because of this, they incorrectly believe they are exempt from rules regarding false advertising. Nothing could be more incorrect - and more dangerous in terms of exposure to legal liability.
What is False Advertising?
Basically, false advertising is any advertising that deceives consumers. This includes misleading or deceptive advertising that technically may to true, but may be misunderstood by consumers. In most cases false advertising leads a consumer to believe that certain benefits will be received, when they're not.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act to file lawsuits against advertisers believed to be making false advertising claims. This authority extends to traditional media - print, television, radio, and telephone.
The FTC's authority for false advertising has also been extended to cover online advertising, and the FTC has been very aggressive in its enforcement on the Web. Since 1994, the FTC has brought over 100 enforcement actions against online businesses.
However, claims for false advertising aren't limited to the FTC. The attorneys general of various states have also been just as active filing claims based on state laws that are similar in concept to the FTC Act.
Why It's Relatively Easy to Inadvertently Make False Advertising Claims
Most Internet entrepreneurs don't intend to make false or misleading claims.
What most Internet entrepreneurs don't know is that It's relatively easy to inadvertently make a false or misleading claim. The primary reasons are:
- most SaaS and ecommerce websites write their own marketing copy, and
- many websites are not updated periodically.
What's marketing copy? You can boil down it down to this - it's the clever stuff you write to sell your site and it's product and/or services. And it doesn't have to be presented in the format of a typical "advertisement". It may simply be in the form of your pricing and descriptions of your products and services - and even in the text of your website legal compliance documents such as your Terms of Use (as we'll see below).
Danger signs include incorrect product or service descriptions, incorrect pricing, or photos or online demos that don't portray your products or services accurately or completely. Maybe your descriptions, pricing, photos, and demos - and even your website legal documents -- were not misleading when they were first added to your website, but you've failed to update them over time -- with the result that now they're now out-of-date and misleading to consumers.
The 5 Rules
In interpreting the FTC Act, the FTC has determined that a representation, omission, or practice is false or misleading if it is likely to:
- mislead consumers, and
- affect consumers' behavior or decisions about a product or service.
In addition, an act or practice is false and misleading if the injury caused (or likely to be caused) is:
- substantial,
- not outweighed by other benefits, and
- not reasonably avoidable.
These rules are also reflected in various state statutes that also prohibit false advertising.
Recent Illustrative Cases
The best way to get a feel of how these rules are interpreted is to take a look at some of the cases construing them. Here's a short list of illustrative cases.
1. Earlier this month, Lifestyle Lift, a cosmetic surgery company, has reached a settlement with the State of New York over its attempts to fake positive consumer reviews on the Web. The company will pay $300,000 in penalties and costs to the state. The company had ordered employees to pretend they were satisfied customers and write glowing reviews of its face-lift procedure on websites, according to New York's attorney general. Lifestyle Lift also created its own websites of face-lift reviews to appear as independent sources.
2. In May, 2009, a trial court in Washington state ordered Expedia to pay class action plaintiffs $184,000 based on its ruling that Expedia's website Terms of Use amounted to a breach of contract. Expedia's Terms of Use stated: "service fee goes to covering costs". Plaintiffs alleged that more than costs were included in the service fees and relied on an internal Expedia email that estimated service fees would generate $2-$3,000,000 in net profit for the company in one quarter. The court stated that "plaintiffs correctly conclude that profits, not costs, are the subject matter of these 'service fees.'" Therefore, according to the court, Expedia's contractual definition of service fees that was found in its Terms of Use constituted a breach of contract because Expedia "collected profits along with covering costs."
3. In 2007, the FTC filed an action against Payneless Credit Repair, LLC and its owner for making the following claims on the company's website: "Fast, Legal, Effective, Credit Report Repair ... We will fight to remove negative items from your credit reports, so you can improve your credit score . . . " The FTC alleged that the defendants violated the FTC Act by falsely representing that they can improve consumers' credit reports by permanently removing negative information, even when the information is accurate and not obsolete.
4. In 2005, the FTC filed an action against MP3DownloadCity.com for the following ad: "And best of all people are not getting sued for using our software. yes! it is 100% legal". The FTC alleged that MP3DownloadCity.com violated the FTC Act by falsely claiming that membership in its service made P2P file sharing legal.
Conclusion
Writing your own website advertising copy - as well as your website legal documents - can get you in trouble if you're not careful.
Sometimes you can be a little too clever. Other times, you may have simply failed to keep your product descriptions, pricing, or website documents up-to-date.
For these reasons, it's a good idea to be familiar with the FTC's false advertising 5 rules and to review your website periodically to ensure that all statements are true, accurate, complete - and not misleading.
Leading Internet, IP and software lawyer Chip Cooper has automated the process of drafting website documents for small websites with his MyLegalFirewall website documents drafting service. Discover how quick, easy, and cost-effective it is to determine which legal compliance documents you need and to draft them online, and claim your FREE Special Report, Determine Which Legal Documents Your Website Really Needs, at ==> http://digicontracts.com/
Copyright © 2009 Chip Cooper
Social Networking Sites as a Breaking News Source
by TJ Philpott
Social networking sites offer people online a gathering spot to casually share their opinions and interests with other like-minded participants. Recent events however have indicated how effective these online communities are for breaking news on a national and international level.
Although interest or opinions may vary from group to group there still remains a common interest in national or world news. Considering these social platforms connect people from all over the world on a 24/7 basis you're looking at their considerable potential as information sources.
What we're focusing on here is the ability of these social sites to gather and circulate late breaking news. Compared with the more traditional syndicated news networks it can be argued that social network sites are in fact more efficient and expedient in delivering news to the public. Take that CNN! By passing information along through word of mouth using the speed of the internet news that travels this fast is hard to beat.
Let's examine 5 reasons why a social network online can outperform the more traditional news broadcasting networks.
News Collected as it Occurs
Social platforms do not 'assign' people to gather news or information but instead are merely designed to share information or interests. Site members do however possess an insatiable and natural curiosity. Just through sheer numbers members combine to create a catch basin of global proportions. As a result they are capable of collecting information of little or great consequence anywhere in the world on a 24/7 basis.
Information Transmitted Fast
Any information picked up either through heresy or observation is usually immediately 'released' on the internet. To date there is no more efficient means with which to dispense information to the general public quicker than the net.
As is often said in basketball, 'Nothing but Net!'
Syndicated networks for the most part still have certain 'hoops' thru which they must 'jump' before releasing information. This may tend to slow their process.
No 'Red Tape' or Protocol
Without the traditional 'red tape' or protocol that syndicated news networks contend with online communities hold an unfair advantage. The legalese involving fair play, accuracy, and ethics do encumber syndicated networks. The lack of such restraints however concerning online communities does 'allow' for information to be dispensed much faster to the general public.
Word Gets Out Quicker
News tends to flow from person to person and often time is simply broadcast to the masses. The net result is that information spreads virally and this word of mouth effect should not be overlook for its efficiency and speed. There is no 'formal' channel through which information is directed which means word is spread continuously, not at scheduled intervals. This process 'increases' both speed and just as importantly exposure.
No Regulated Responsibilities
Within any social network community there is no delegation of duties, responsibilities or authority. You are looking at a world-wide community with the capability of filling any role that may seem appropriate at any given time. From observing an event or translating its meaning to distributing the information this flexibility and spontaneity enables news to be collected and spread like a wild fire.
This lack of structure is built for speed but on the other hand can lead to occasional inaccuracies in reporting facts.
Social networking sites have both the channels and the manpower to deliver late breaking news at lightning speed. Using word of mouth to spread information social sites possess the ability to transmit news unencumbered by any red tape further accelerating the transfer of this information. It is not suggested that online communities replace syndicated news networks as news source but merely that they can compliment them if needed. Social network sites based upon their prominence on the internet possess the potential to be much more than they were designed for and this should not be ignored.
TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina.
For additional Money Making Tips and a free guide that demonstrates how to find both profitable markets and products visit: http://blogbrawn.com/
Social networking sites offer people online a gathering spot to casually share their opinions and interests with other like-minded participants. Recent events however have indicated how effective these online communities are for breaking news on a national and international level.
Although interest or opinions may vary from group to group there still remains a common interest in national or world news. Considering these social platforms connect people from all over the world on a 24/7 basis you're looking at their considerable potential as information sources.
What we're focusing on here is the ability of these social sites to gather and circulate late breaking news. Compared with the more traditional syndicated news networks it can be argued that social network sites are in fact more efficient and expedient in delivering news to the public. Take that CNN! By passing information along through word of mouth using the speed of the internet news that travels this fast is hard to beat.
Let's examine 5 reasons why a social network online can outperform the more traditional news broadcasting networks.
News Collected as it Occurs
Social platforms do not 'assign' people to gather news or information but instead are merely designed to share information or interests. Site members do however possess an insatiable and natural curiosity. Just through sheer numbers members combine to create a catch basin of global proportions. As a result they are capable of collecting information of little or great consequence anywhere in the world on a 24/7 basis.
Information Transmitted Fast
Any information picked up either through heresy or observation is usually immediately 'released' on the internet. To date there is no more efficient means with which to dispense information to the general public quicker than the net.
As is often said in basketball, 'Nothing but Net!'
Syndicated networks for the most part still have certain 'hoops' thru which they must 'jump' before releasing information. This may tend to slow their process.
No 'Red Tape' or Protocol
Without the traditional 'red tape' or protocol that syndicated news networks contend with online communities hold an unfair advantage. The legalese involving fair play, accuracy, and ethics do encumber syndicated networks. The lack of such restraints however concerning online communities does 'allow' for information to be dispensed much faster to the general public.
Word Gets Out Quicker
News tends to flow from person to person and often time is simply broadcast to the masses. The net result is that information spreads virally and this word of mouth effect should not be overlook for its efficiency and speed. There is no 'formal' channel through which information is directed which means word is spread continuously, not at scheduled intervals. This process 'increases' both speed and just as importantly exposure.
No Regulated Responsibilities
Within any social network community there is no delegation of duties, responsibilities or authority. You are looking at a world-wide community with the capability of filling any role that may seem appropriate at any given time. From observing an event or translating its meaning to distributing the information this flexibility and spontaneity enables news to be collected and spread like a wild fire.
This lack of structure is built for speed but on the other hand can lead to occasional inaccuracies in reporting facts.
Social networking sites have both the channels and the manpower to deliver late breaking news at lightning speed. Using word of mouth to spread information social sites possess the ability to transmit news unencumbered by any red tape further accelerating the transfer of this information. It is not suggested that online communities replace syndicated news networks as news source but merely that they can compliment them if needed. Social network sites based upon their prominence on the internet possess the potential to be much more than they were designed for and this should not be ignored.
TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina.
For additional Money Making Tips and a free guide that demonstrates how to find both profitable markets and products visit: http://blogbrawn.com/
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
How Two Simple Changes to Your Marketing Can Increase Profits Even in Hard Times
by Tinu AbayomiPaul
It's the number one topic on an entrepreneur's mind at some point: what will happen to my business during hard times? Should we panic? How long do recessions last, anyway?
Wish I had the answer to that one, but I have no clue. Dude, I'm a website promotion specialist. How would I know? :-D
What I do know is that I'm not participating in the recession - I'm too busy and I haven't got a *thing* to wear!
I say that with tongue in cheek, but due to an expensive health problem I've had since 1992, I really didn't know what it was like to have this mystical thing called "extra money".
My spare cash always went to treating my illness, so for me, there was Always a recession.
But who has time to whine? I believe you can turn just about any circumstance into a positive.
And sure enough, my past experiences of being a penny-pinching small business woman put me in a unique position to tell you how to get your business to prosper in hard times.
The answer is simple: market smarter, and market better.
How? There are basically two steps.
First, don't stop advertising, and if you're not advertising, start. It's often the fastest, most direct route to getting customers your message.
However, spend your advertising money as wisely as you can. Track closely to determine what is working best to bring you business, and focus your money there.
Reduce or eliminate everything else. You can always return to your original plans when profits rise if you were in the midst of testing some expensive new technique.
The second step would be to append that advertising with more cost-effective marketing, especially in whatever area you're not doing now. Can you get your marketing done with a $3000 budget instead of a $5000 budget with a little extra elbow grease?
If it's worth the increase in labor, then do it.
Did submitting one article a week get you good results before? Nowadays you may need to do two.
It sounds obvious - but are you doing it?
If you're not - and most business owners aren't - don't beat yourself up. Just get to work while there's still time to have a successful quarter.
You say you're doing article marketing by posting to hundreds of directory-style sites already?
Awesome.
Now get those same articles distributed directly to ezine publishers that have better reach, and are more exclusive about who they accept. Need to test them out first? Run a classified or top sponsor ad.
If you're already doing that, think of what changes you can make to get more people to read more of the articles you're already submitting? Do some topics get you more exposure? Focus on those.
If you don't know the answer to these questions, find out. Sometimes the smallest creative change can turn your entire business around.
There's all kinds of creative marketing you can do that you can start with quickly, from blogging, article marketing or social media to organic search strategies. And of course ther are also all kinds of twists you can put on whatever you're already doing.
How do you find them?
For at least 30 minutes today, sit down and write marketing ideas. I learned a tip from a brilliant man named Allen says that after your mind has been working on something for 30 minutes, it just keeps coming up with more ideas on autopilot.
I've found that the longer I go, the better my ideas get. So even if you have to stop after 30 minutes, take that pad and paper with you.
And no matter how silly any idea seems, write it down. It may inspire something else later.
When you're done, pick the best one and go do it, or assign it to your marketing team if you have one. Research who does something similar, and follow their successes.
It's the ultimate recipe for getting a business through hard times - market harder, market smarter, market more creatively, and do it in addition to, not instead of, advertising. Some marketing tactics may take a little time to work, but that time lag is usually worth it.
In the mean time, if you keep advertising, you can get a quick boost.
The people are still out there. Your business still helps people. A recession or hard times just means you have to work a little smarter for the same amount of money.
You can do it. Don't abandon hope just yet.
How I kept a #1 search ranking out of 89 million on Google & Yahoo for 7 years - learn how you can do the same at http://trafficreality.com/evergreen today.
It's the number one topic on an entrepreneur's mind at some point: what will happen to my business during hard times? Should we panic? How long do recessions last, anyway?
Wish I had the answer to that one, but I have no clue. Dude, I'm a website promotion specialist. How would I know? :-D
What I do know is that I'm not participating in the recession - I'm too busy and I haven't got a *thing* to wear!
I say that with tongue in cheek, but due to an expensive health problem I've had since 1992, I really didn't know what it was like to have this mystical thing called "extra money".
My spare cash always went to treating my illness, so for me, there was Always a recession.
But who has time to whine? I believe you can turn just about any circumstance into a positive.
And sure enough, my past experiences of being a penny-pinching small business woman put me in a unique position to tell you how to get your business to prosper in hard times.
The answer is simple: market smarter, and market better.
How? There are basically two steps.
First, don't stop advertising, and if you're not advertising, start. It's often the fastest, most direct route to getting customers your message.
However, spend your advertising money as wisely as you can. Track closely to determine what is working best to bring you business, and focus your money there.
Reduce or eliminate everything else. You can always return to your original plans when profits rise if you were in the midst of testing some expensive new technique.
The second step would be to append that advertising with more cost-effective marketing, especially in whatever area you're not doing now. Can you get your marketing done with a $3000 budget instead of a $5000 budget with a little extra elbow grease?
If it's worth the increase in labor, then do it.
Did submitting one article a week get you good results before? Nowadays you may need to do two.
It sounds obvious - but are you doing it?
If you're not - and most business owners aren't - don't beat yourself up. Just get to work while there's still time to have a successful quarter.
You say you're doing article marketing by posting to hundreds of directory-style sites already?
Awesome.
Now get those same articles distributed directly to ezine publishers that have better reach, and are more exclusive about who they accept. Need to test them out first? Run a classified or top sponsor ad.
If you're already doing that, think of what changes you can make to get more people to read more of the articles you're already submitting? Do some topics get you more exposure? Focus on those.
If you don't know the answer to these questions, find out. Sometimes the smallest creative change can turn your entire business around.
There's all kinds of creative marketing you can do that you can start with quickly, from blogging, article marketing or social media to organic search strategies. And of course ther are also all kinds of twists you can put on whatever you're already doing.
How do you find them?
For at least 30 minutes today, sit down and write marketing ideas. I learned a tip from a brilliant man named Allen says that after your mind has been working on something for 30 minutes, it just keeps coming up with more ideas on autopilot.
I've found that the longer I go, the better my ideas get. So even if you have to stop after 30 minutes, take that pad and paper with you.
And no matter how silly any idea seems, write it down. It may inspire something else later.
When you're done, pick the best one and go do it, or assign it to your marketing team if you have one. Research who does something similar, and follow their successes.
It's the ultimate recipe for getting a business through hard times - market harder, market smarter, market more creatively, and do it in addition to, not instead of, advertising. Some marketing tactics may take a little time to work, but that time lag is usually worth it.
In the mean time, if you keep advertising, you can get a quick boost.
The people are still out there. Your business still helps people. A recession or hard times just means you have to work a little smarter for the same amount of money.
You can do it. Don't abandon hope just yet.
How I kept a #1 search ranking out of 89 million on Google & Yahoo for 7 years - learn how you can do the same at http://trafficreality.com/evergreen today.
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