This is a follow-up to last week's insight. To refresh your memory, I told you the "7 Things You Must Know About Your Prospects."
This same information is certainly important to know about your customers as well. But your customer bios should be slightly more extensive. Here are the 7 things you must know about your customers:
1. Their Name- Nothing speaks to an individual faster than their first name. Use it to build your relationship with your customer.
2. What They've Purchased- If you know what your customers purchased in the past, you have a good idea what they will buy again. (And won't waste your time promoting products of little to no interest.)
3. How Often They Purchase- Individuals who buy rarely from you may need additional encouragement?€?more marketing. Whereas, consistent customers may not need extra sales pitches, but might benefit from a newsletter or coupon.
4. How Much They Spend (on average)- Why spend precious time pitching products to customers that they can't afford? It might embarrass your customer, shows your lack of personal interest, and may cause customers to lose interest.
5. The Last Time They Purchased- Have you lost a customer without even knowing it? Who's still loyal? Who has strayed (and needs to be brought back)?
6. Each Interaction You've Had With Them- Documentation is important for obvious reasons. But being able to "recall" previous conversations will make your customer feel important and appreciated.
7. How They Feel About Your Business- Feedback from your customers is the best way to improve your products/services, meet your customers needs, and attract more customers.
Note: Remembering each of your customers and all of these details about them is impossible. Be sure to keep an accurate database that can easily store and retrieve this information for you--and make you look like a star to your customers!
Sincerely,
Clate Mask
President, Infusionsoft
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Joint Ventures: The 4 Secret Questions You MUST Answer Before Seeking Joint Venture Partners
by Donna Gunter
If I had to begin my business again from scratch, I would look at forming strategic alliances and seeking joint ventures partners much sooner in my business growth plan. Asking a more successful business owner to help you promote your site or to form an alliance where you both benefit is one of the quickest ways to turbocharge your success, provided it's done correctly.
However, therein lies the problem. Most joint venture requests are made with absolutely no planning and no forethought. Since I've had an online business for many years, I get emails every week requesting me to promote or joint partner with someone in some way. Almost all of the requests are immediately deleted because the person making the request has simply not done his/her homework and presents me with, at best, a very ill-conceived plan.
There are a few simple steps you should take BEFORE seeking out any joint venture partners or strategic alliances. Here are 4 secrets to success in your joint venture partnership request:
1. Product ties into target market. I'm always getting joint venture requests from people who have products that make absolutely no sense for me to promote. The most mismatched request I've gotten for a JV is with a portable shuffleboard game business owner. No one has joined my list to hear about the latest in any type of game, and undoubtedly my list members would wonder what crazy pill I'd taken the day I send out an email to tell them about this product. It's a complete mismatch for my list.
However, the promoter of this game just didn't get it. He continued to insist that my list would benefit because everyone needs relaxation time, and this game would provide that. Wrong, wrong, wrong. His interest in the JV was due to the fact that I have a large list. A large list doesn't matter if it contains the wrong target market. For successful joint ventures, approach businesses who serve the same target market as you and who sell similar products.
2. Reliable tracking software. A second way to get shot down immediately in your joint venture request is to tell your prospect, "Oh, I'll manually track your affiliates when they write your name in the 'referred by' box on my order form." Yeah, right. That NEVER works. The only way I'll joint venture with anyone is if they are using reliable affiliate tracking software that provides me with a unique affiliate link that I can use throughout any web pages I create or emails I might send, as well as permits me to check on my affiliate commission sales at any time. To successfully make a joint venture request, offer your JV partner the ability to reliably track his/her success with the joint venture.
3. Worthwhile commissions. "I'll offer you $2 in commission for every sale that you make!" While this JV requester thinks this proposal should make me stop in my tracks and hang onto his every word, a proposal this inconsequential just isn't worth my time. Your product has to be priced high enough that the commission option will be worthwhile for your JV partner to promote. To determine what this might be, take a look around potential JV partner sites. At what price ranges are their products offered? What commissions are they offering to their affiliates?
I was in a teleclass recently with a well-known Internet marketer who said he wouldn't even consider a JV partnership unless he received around $1000 per sale. In this case, the JV requester's product will need to be priced at least $2000 in order to award commissions of that magnitude. Can you play at the level at which you're making your requests? A good JV partnership is born when the requester and the partner offer similarly priced products and similar commission structures. Make it worthwhile for your JV partners to promote your product.
4. Conversion rates. The worst thing you can do is say, "I don't know" when your JV partner asks you the question, "What is the conversion ratio of your sales letter?" Your JV partner has no desire to be your guinea pig and test the success of your sales letter for you. You need to know your conversion numbers before approaching anyone with a JV partnership offer. This means that you should know that out of X number of visits to your site, Y number buys your product, i.e. 1 out of every 100 or 50 out of every 3000. The higher your conversion rate, the more likely someone will accept your offer to joint venture.
If you don't know the conversion number, try some pay-per-click advertising or start first with JV partners with smaller lists. This will allow you to tweak and improve your sales letter page and thus increase your conversion ratio to better prepare you to make requests to more powerful JV partners.
Joint venture partnerships are a very effective way to rapidly increase your sales and grow your business. Do your homework and get your plan in the place now so that you can add this strategy to your marketing arsenal.
Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a baby boomer business online. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.OnlineBizU.com
Copyright (c) 2009 OnlineBizU.com
If I had to begin my business again from scratch, I would look at forming strategic alliances and seeking joint ventures partners much sooner in my business growth plan. Asking a more successful business owner to help you promote your site or to form an alliance where you both benefit is one of the quickest ways to turbocharge your success, provided it's done correctly.
However, therein lies the problem. Most joint venture requests are made with absolutely no planning and no forethought. Since I've had an online business for many years, I get emails every week requesting me to promote or joint partner with someone in some way. Almost all of the requests are immediately deleted because the person making the request has simply not done his/her homework and presents me with, at best, a very ill-conceived plan.
There are a few simple steps you should take BEFORE seeking out any joint venture partners or strategic alliances. Here are 4 secrets to success in your joint venture partnership request:
1. Product ties into target market. I'm always getting joint venture requests from people who have products that make absolutely no sense for me to promote. The most mismatched request I've gotten for a JV is with a portable shuffleboard game business owner. No one has joined my list to hear about the latest in any type of game, and undoubtedly my list members would wonder what crazy pill I'd taken the day I send out an email to tell them about this product. It's a complete mismatch for my list.
However, the promoter of this game just didn't get it. He continued to insist that my list would benefit because everyone needs relaxation time, and this game would provide that. Wrong, wrong, wrong. His interest in the JV was due to the fact that I have a large list. A large list doesn't matter if it contains the wrong target market. For successful joint ventures, approach businesses who serve the same target market as you and who sell similar products.
2. Reliable tracking software. A second way to get shot down immediately in your joint venture request is to tell your prospect, "Oh, I'll manually track your affiliates when they write your name in the 'referred by' box on my order form." Yeah, right. That NEVER works. The only way I'll joint venture with anyone is if they are using reliable affiliate tracking software that provides me with a unique affiliate link that I can use throughout any web pages I create or emails I might send, as well as permits me to check on my affiliate commission sales at any time. To successfully make a joint venture request, offer your JV partner the ability to reliably track his/her success with the joint venture.
3. Worthwhile commissions. "I'll offer you $2 in commission for every sale that you make!" While this JV requester thinks this proposal should make me stop in my tracks and hang onto his every word, a proposal this inconsequential just isn't worth my time. Your product has to be priced high enough that the commission option will be worthwhile for your JV partner to promote. To determine what this might be, take a look around potential JV partner sites. At what price ranges are their products offered? What commissions are they offering to their affiliates?
I was in a teleclass recently with a well-known Internet marketer who said he wouldn't even consider a JV partnership unless he received around $1000 per sale. In this case, the JV requester's product will need to be priced at least $2000 in order to award commissions of that magnitude. Can you play at the level at which you're making your requests? A good JV partnership is born when the requester and the partner offer similarly priced products and similar commission structures. Make it worthwhile for your JV partners to promote your product.
4. Conversion rates. The worst thing you can do is say, "I don't know" when your JV partner asks you the question, "What is the conversion ratio of your sales letter?" Your JV partner has no desire to be your guinea pig and test the success of your sales letter for you. You need to know your conversion numbers before approaching anyone with a JV partnership offer. This means that you should know that out of X number of visits to your site, Y number buys your product, i.e. 1 out of every 100 or 50 out of every 3000. The higher your conversion rate, the more likely someone will accept your offer to joint venture.
If you don't know the conversion number, try some pay-per-click advertising or start first with JV partners with smaller lists. This will allow you to tweak and improve your sales letter page and thus increase your conversion ratio to better prepare you to make requests to more powerful JV partners.
Joint venture partnerships are a very effective way to rapidly increase your sales and grow your business. Do your homework and get your plan in the place now so that you can add this strategy to your marketing arsenal.
Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a baby boomer business online. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.OnlineBizU.com
Copyright (c) 2009 OnlineBizU.com
Get Your Article Published: 5 Popular Reasons Why Articles Are Declined (And How To Fix Them!)
by Steve Shaw
Article marketing is a great way to drive traffic to your website and establish yourself as an expert in your niche. Anyone can do it--all you have to do is write educational articles on the topic of your specialty and then submit them consistently.
Sounds easy enough, eh?
Well, article marketing isn't hard, but you still have to ensure that you're submitting articles that publishers want to publish--after all, what's the point of writing an article only to have a publisher look at it and say, "Nope--not what I'm looking for!"
The truth is that most quality publishers will review the articles that are submitted, and they do so using editorial guidelines that help screen in the quality articles and screen out the substandard ones.
Each publisher makes his own decisions about what he considers acceptable, so the exact rules will be different across publishers, but there are some guidelines that most publishers say, "That's where I draw the line--send me an article that violates that rule and it goes in the trash!"
You want to steer clear of making one of those fatal mistakes, don't you?
Let's go over 5 of the most popular reasons why articles are declined with some tips on how to avoid these faux pas:
1) Promotional articles.
A promotional article is one that is sales oriented or self-serving. Promotional articles are detect when the author talks about their own business, website, products or affiliate products in the article body.
That sort of information should be included in the resource box, rather than the article body. Whenever you're writing an article, please resist all temptations to toot your own horn in the article body (or article title) or make reference to your own business, website, products or affiliate products.
2) Non-applicable Title.
The title of your article should reflect what your article is about. If it makes sense in the context of your article, you can include your keywords in your article title; however, if you have written on a topic outside of what your keywords are, you should not include your keywords in your title.
First and foremost, your title should tell the reader what your article is about, and anything you promise in your title should be delivered on in the article body.
For example, let's you want to use the title "500 Tips For A Happier Marriage". That means that in your article you actually need to deliver on that title--you should list 500 tips for a happier marriage. I doubt if you'd have room in your article for a list that long, but you can try! If you only list 9 tips in your article though, your title would more appropriately be "9 Tips For A Happier Marriage".
3) Keyword overuse.
Yes, it's a great idea to know what your keywords are and to make sure that the articles you write are on the topic of your website, but it's not a good idea to unnaturally pepper your article with keywords.
Know what your keywords are, but write naturally about your topic. Remember that your most important readers are human--they need to be able to understand your article and overloading the article with keywords can turn a reader (and a publisher) off.
4) Too many words in anchor text.
If you've decided to use an HTML resource box, limit your anchor text to 3 words or less. It's not appropriate to hyperlink long blocks of text, as publishers can think that looks low quality--your hyperlinked words should be your keywords or variations of your keywords rather than entire sentences.
5) Grammar/spelling errors.
Use the spelling and grammar checkers on your word processor and then put the article away for at least 24 hours. By taking some time away from your article, you can come back to proofread it with "fresh eyes". Then you'll be able to spot mistakes you might have missed the day before. If at all possible, ask a friend who is good in the grammar and spelling department to proofread your article too.
You can't be too careful when it comes to grammar and spelling! Incorrect grammar and spelling can get your article declined in a heartbeat. Bunches of spelling and grammar errors make an article look low quality. Even if your article does slip through with errors, you'll have to live with it appearing on websites all over the internet with the mistakes, and there's little you can do to fix things then!
It pays to take time on the front end to ensure that you're submitting a quality article that appeals to publishers. If you can avoid these 5 common decline reasons, then there's a very good chance that publishers will be happy to publish your article!
After you've written and polished your article, you'll want to invest in a high quality article submission service - SubmitYOURArticle.com allows you to submit articles automatically to hundreds of targeted publishers with the click of a button. For more information go to=>
http://www.SubmitYOURArticle.com
Article marketing is a great way to drive traffic to your website and establish yourself as an expert in your niche. Anyone can do it--all you have to do is write educational articles on the topic of your specialty and then submit them consistently.
Sounds easy enough, eh?
Well, article marketing isn't hard, but you still have to ensure that you're submitting articles that publishers want to publish--after all, what's the point of writing an article only to have a publisher look at it and say, "Nope--not what I'm looking for!"
The truth is that most quality publishers will review the articles that are submitted, and they do so using editorial guidelines that help screen in the quality articles and screen out the substandard ones.
Each publisher makes his own decisions about what he considers acceptable, so the exact rules will be different across publishers, but there are some guidelines that most publishers say, "That's where I draw the line--send me an article that violates that rule and it goes in the trash!"
You want to steer clear of making one of those fatal mistakes, don't you?
Let's go over 5 of the most popular reasons why articles are declined with some tips on how to avoid these faux pas:
1) Promotional articles.
A promotional article is one that is sales oriented or self-serving. Promotional articles are detect when the author talks about their own business, website, products or affiliate products in the article body.
That sort of information should be included in the resource box, rather than the article body. Whenever you're writing an article, please resist all temptations to toot your own horn in the article body (or article title) or make reference to your own business, website, products or affiliate products.
2) Non-applicable Title.
The title of your article should reflect what your article is about. If it makes sense in the context of your article, you can include your keywords in your article title; however, if you have written on a topic outside of what your keywords are, you should not include your keywords in your title.
First and foremost, your title should tell the reader what your article is about, and anything you promise in your title should be delivered on in the article body.
For example, let's you want to use the title "500 Tips For A Happier Marriage". That means that in your article you actually need to deliver on that title--you should list 500 tips for a happier marriage. I doubt if you'd have room in your article for a list that long, but you can try! If you only list 9 tips in your article though, your title would more appropriately be "9 Tips For A Happier Marriage".
3) Keyword overuse.
Yes, it's a great idea to know what your keywords are and to make sure that the articles you write are on the topic of your website, but it's not a good idea to unnaturally pepper your article with keywords.
Know what your keywords are, but write naturally about your topic. Remember that your most important readers are human--they need to be able to understand your article and overloading the article with keywords can turn a reader (and a publisher) off.
4) Too many words in anchor text.
If you've decided to use an HTML resource box, limit your anchor text to 3 words or less. It's not appropriate to hyperlink long blocks of text, as publishers can think that looks low quality--your hyperlinked words should be your keywords or variations of your keywords rather than entire sentences.
5) Grammar/spelling errors.
Use the spelling and grammar checkers on your word processor and then put the article away for at least 24 hours. By taking some time away from your article, you can come back to proofread it with "fresh eyes". Then you'll be able to spot mistakes you might have missed the day before. If at all possible, ask a friend who is good in the grammar and spelling department to proofread your article too.
You can't be too careful when it comes to grammar and spelling! Incorrect grammar and spelling can get your article declined in a heartbeat. Bunches of spelling and grammar errors make an article look low quality. Even if your article does slip through with errors, you'll have to live with it appearing on websites all over the internet with the mistakes, and there's little you can do to fix things then!
It pays to take time on the front end to ensure that you're submitting a quality article that appeals to publishers. If you can avoid these 5 common decline reasons, then there's a very good chance that publishers will be happy to publish your article!
After you've written and polished your article, you'll want to invest in a high quality article submission service - SubmitYOURArticle.com allows you to submit articles automatically to hundreds of targeted publishers with the click of a button. For more information go to=>
http://www.SubmitYOURArticle.com
Friday, March 27, 2009
Todays lesson, "Let Me Get You In Before Others"
There's a chat room for just about every subject imaginable these days. Peruse the popular Paltalk chat rooms (the largest service of its kind for "live" interaction) and you'll find everything from instruction on day trading futures and Forex, to support groups for your overweight guinea pig.
According to Gary Bacchetti (aka The Gentle Mentor) who teaches Internet Marketing tips and tricks to Newbies on the service, it was a room waiting to happen. "I can't believe no one paid attention to this struggling group."
On the service there were several marketers pushing MLM programs but appeared to be little more than hype rooms. "Find a need and fill it - and that's exactly what I did." I feel like the Pied Piper of Internet Marketing for Newbies."
Aspiring entrepreneurs pop in nightly, thirsty for information about autoresponders, list building secrets, tips, tricks, shortcuts, what works and doesn't work.
Bacchetti helps beginners avoid the myriad of sucker traps, what he calls the "Yeah Right" ads - ads so ridiculous they probably warrant a welcome visit from the Federal Trade Commission.
Bacchetti and his newbies meet Monday evenings at 8:00 p.m. eastern. The extreme popularity of the program made it necessary to add Saturday afternoon at 1:00 eastern in order to accommodate oversea marketers.
In addition to "live" training in the chat room, the course incorporates gotowebinar.com enabling dozens of viewers to watch Bacchetti's screen in "real-time."
The course is a newbies dream, the perfect answer to, "OK, so now what do I do?"
As promised, I will be sending you
only information that has real potential,
not garbage offers that only make the
owners rich.
Here are the details of my $15.00 per sale
commission program.
YOU are paid by paypal automatically
so there is no need to wait for a check
in the mail.
Remember, my program is free to join and
you are instantly approved.
If you sign-up now, you will be able to
practically, as Ron Popeil would day,
"Set it and forget it!"
Le Minh Sang
https://paydotcom.com/r/78643/click2down/23479836/
I will be coaching you on how to kick start
this program to get ~$15 per sale!
I told you I am going to help you get wealthy!
Le, see you in the bank deposit line!
Gary Bacchetti
The Gentle Mentor
PS: Just so you know it's me sending you my
newsletter each day - my FROM line will
always say Gary Bacchetti, The Gentle Mentor.
I have tons of free things to send you
and teach you.
Here's the link again:
https://paydotcom.com/r/78643/click2down/23479836/
According to Gary Bacchetti (aka The Gentle Mentor) who teaches Internet Marketing tips and tricks to Newbies on the service, it was a room waiting to happen. "I can't believe no one paid attention to this struggling group."
On the service there were several marketers pushing MLM programs but appeared to be little more than hype rooms. "Find a need and fill it - and that's exactly what I did." I feel like the Pied Piper of Internet Marketing for Newbies."
Aspiring entrepreneurs pop in nightly, thirsty for information about autoresponders, list building secrets, tips, tricks, shortcuts, what works and doesn't work.
Bacchetti helps beginners avoid the myriad of sucker traps, what he calls the "Yeah Right" ads - ads so ridiculous they probably warrant a welcome visit from the Federal Trade Commission.
Bacchetti and his newbies meet Monday evenings at 8:00 p.m. eastern. The extreme popularity of the program made it necessary to add Saturday afternoon at 1:00 eastern in order to accommodate oversea marketers.
In addition to "live" training in the chat room, the course incorporates gotowebinar.com enabling dozens of viewers to watch Bacchetti's screen in "real-time."
The course is a newbies dream, the perfect answer to, "OK, so now what do I do?"
As promised, I will be sending you
only information that has real potential,
not garbage offers that only make the
owners rich.
Here are the details of my $15.00 per sale
commission program.
YOU are paid by paypal automatically
so there is no need to wait for a check
in the mail.
Remember, my program is free to join and
you are instantly approved.
If you sign-up now, you will be able to
practically, as Ron Popeil would day,
"Set it and forget it!"
Le Minh Sang
https://paydotcom.com/r/78643/click2down/23479836/
I will be coaching you on how to kick start
this program to get ~$15 per sale!
I told you I am going to help you get wealthy!
Le, see you in the bank deposit line!
Gary Bacchetti
The Gentle Mentor
PS: Just so you know it's me sending you my
newsletter each day - my FROM line will
always say Gary Bacchetti, The Gentle Mentor.
I have tons of free things to send you
and teach you.
Here's the link again:
https://paydotcom.com/r/78643/click2down/23479836/
Friday, March 20, 2009
RedZee Complaints Pile Up - Read This Before Using Redzee!
by Ross Dunn
From what I can gather RedZee should change their mascot to an animal more identified with shiftiness than a cute Zebra. Ever since I wrote "Seeing Red - Search Engine RedZee Reviewed" I have lost count how many people have either thanked me for saving them from spending money fruitlessly at RedZee or have told me they wished they saw my article before they paid for advertising there. But what brings me to mention RedZee today is an email I received from "Abe" (his name has been changed to protect his identity), a RedZee victim who is asking me to help him recoup nearly $1500 USD he spent on the search engine. Interesting, well let's dig deeper here:
Abe, why are you trying to recoup your spend?
"After a week and several hundred "hits" I realized the service was a scam because I had no conversions and my tracking software showed that all my the "visitors" from RedZee landed on the same page and stayed less than 1 second."
And what can I do to help?
"I was wondering if you can help me by providing your expert opinion to my credit card company regarding RedZee's Referral Spam practices that have resulted in my receiving thousands of 'hits' but no conversions over the past 6 weeks."
My heart goes out to Abe because I believe he is likely correct in his concerns judging from the bad reputation RedZee seems to have; see "RedZee Scam". Unfortunately, in order to help him with this I would have to:
> Have Abe sign a contract protecting me should this issue escalate and RedZee take this to court.
> Thoroughly examine his web site analytics data to ensure his findings were properly referenced.
> Review his web site to make sure nothing could have gone wrong to impede the data.
> Examine the data that RedZee provided and compare it with his analytics data.
> Prepare my findings for his credit card company along with fulfilling the other requirements of my expert testimony. This includes explaining that RedZee has misrepresented itself.
What does Abe's credit card company need to follow through in a chargeback to RedZee at this point?
"A second opinion from a qualified expert. This should be on the expert's letterhead, it should be dated, it should state the expert's years of experience in their field, and it should bear their signature and explain the manner in which the service is deficient or not-as-described. Also, please have the expert provide copies of their credentials (For example, a copy of the expert's license in the field). The second opinion must support your dispute about the level of quality or misrepresentation of the service that was received."
I hate to say this but I honestly do not think this process would be financially worthwhile for Abe considering he is only out of pocket $1500. That said, I do believe we need more awareness in the form of blog postings from other people who have been wronged by RedZee... in the long run that will have a far greater effect. The more people that get insight into RedZee's questionable business practices the less business they will receive.
To end this posting I have two questions for our readers:
1. If you could pick an appropriate mascot for RedZee what would it be?
2. How do you feel about RedZee? Share your story in our comments section!
Please post your answers in our comments and we will post them ASAP!
Lastly, help us get the word out and save other people a lot of headaches by linking to this article RedZee Complaints Pile Up - Read this Before Using RedZee!" or republishing it elsewhere (with link credit back to this original posting please).
Oh and of course once again I welcome any official reply from RedZee on their complaints. I know from past experience they never reply but the door is always open.
Ross Dunn, CEO, StepForth Web Marketing Inc.
Here are some other great resources on RedZee:
Quote from RedZee Search Engine: The Top 3 Scam:
"A quick search for RedZee, even from the RedZee site itself, returned plenty of results with people complaining of low or non-existent conversion rates and traffic that behaved more like a bot than a human visitor. It would appear that people who have used the RedZee Top3 Search Results service in hopes of paying next to nothing for visitors have gotten exactly nothing in return."
Quote from RedZee Scam and Unprofessionalism:
"I was ripped off by RedZee also. I spent $900 for targeted traffic from RedZee. I got some traffic but it all appeared to be from BOTS since I got no subscribers for my FREE newsletter that normally converts at 29%.
When I asked for a refund, John Kelly asked for my traffic stats, which I sent. They offered to give me more traffic which they did, but I still got no conversions for a FREE offer despite their "sending over 7000 click visitors."
I again asked for a refund and said I would file a claim with the credit card company. He then said, "we have never lost a charge back claim."
Ross Dunn is the CEO/Founder at StepForth Web Marketing Inc.; based in Victoria, BC, Canada and founded in 1997. You can read more of Ross's articles and those 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
From what I can gather RedZee should change their mascot to an animal more identified with shiftiness than a cute Zebra. Ever since I wrote "Seeing Red - Search Engine RedZee Reviewed" I have lost count how many people have either thanked me for saving them from spending money fruitlessly at RedZee or have told me they wished they saw my article before they paid for advertising there. But what brings me to mention RedZee today is an email I received from "Abe" (his name has been changed to protect his identity), a RedZee victim who is asking me to help him recoup nearly $1500 USD he spent on the search engine. Interesting, well let's dig deeper here:
Abe, why are you trying to recoup your spend?
"After a week and several hundred "hits" I realized the service was a scam because I had no conversions and my tracking software showed that all my the "visitors" from RedZee landed on the same page and stayed less than 1 second."
And what can I do to help?
"I was wondering if you can help me by providing your expert opinion to my credit card company regarding RedZee's Referral Spam practices that have resulted in my receiving thousands of 'hits' but no conversions over the past 6 weeks."
My heart goes out to Abe because I believe he is likely correct in his concerns judging from the bad reputation RedZee seems to have; see "RedZee Scam". Unfortunately, in order to help him with this I would have to:
> Have Abe sign a contract protecting me should this issue escalate and RedZee take this to court.
> Thoroughly examine his web site analytics data to ensure his findings were properly referenced.
> Review his web site to make sure nothing could have gone wrong to impede the data.
> Examine the data that RedZee provided and compare it with his analytics data.
> Prepare my findings for his credit card company along with fulfilling the other requirements of my expert testimony. This includes explaining that RedZee has misrepresented itself.
What does Abe's credit card company need to follow through in a chargeback to RedZee at this point?
"A second opinion from a qualified expert. This should be on the expert's letterhead, it should be dated, it should state the expert's years of experience in their field, and it should bear their signature and explain the manner in which the service is deficient or not-as-described. Also, please have the expert provide copies of their credentials (For example, a copy of the expert's license in the field). The second opinion must support your dispute about the level of quality or misrepresentation of the service that was received."
I hate to say this but I honestly do not think this process would be financially worthwhile for Abe considering he is only out of pocket $1500. That said, I do believe we need more awareness in the form of blog postings from other people who have been wronged by RedZee... in the long run that will have a far greater effect. The more people that get insight into RedZee's questionable business practices the less business they will receive.
To end this posting I have two questions for our readers:
1. If you could pick an appropriate mascot for RedZee what would it be?
2. How do you feel about RedZee? Share your story in our comments section!
Please post your answers in our comments and we will post them ASAP!
Lastly, help us get the word out and save other people a lot of headaches by linking to this article RedZee Complaints Pile Up - Read this Before Using RedZee!" or republishing it elsewhere (with link credit back to this original posting please).
Oh and of course once again I welcome any official reply from RedZee on their complaints. I know from past experience they never reply but the door is always open.
Ross Dunn, CEO, StepForth Web Marketing Inc.
Here are some other great resources on RedZee:
Quote from RedZee Search Engine: The Top 3 Scam:
"A quick search for RedZee, even from the RedZee site itself, returned plenty of results with people complaining of low or non-existent conversion rates and traffic that behaved more like a bot than a human visitor. It would appear that people who have used the RedZee Top3 Search Results service in hopes of paying next to nothing for visitors have gotten exactly nothing in return."
Quote from RedZee Scam and Unprofessionalism:
"I was ripped off by RedZee also. I spent $900 for targeted traffic from RedZee. I got some traffic but it all appeared to be from BOTS since I got no subscribers for my FREE newsletter that normally converts at 29%.
When I asked for a refund, John Kelly asked for my traffic stats, which I sent. They offered to give me more traffic which they did, but I still got no conversions for a FREE offer despite their "sending over 7000 click visitors."
I again asked for a refund and said I would file a claim with the credit card company. He then said, "we have never lost a charge back claim."
Ross Dunn is the CEO/Founder at StepForth Web Marketing Inc.; based in Victoria, BC, Canada and founded in 1997. You can read more of Ross's articles and those 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
How To Choose The Right Web Hosting Plan For Your Business
by Jeremy Gislason
Posted on March 19, 2009
Any business, whether they’re brick and mortar establishment or an online business, needs a website. A website needs a host. A web host stores all the pages of your website and makes them available to computers connected to the Internet. Like most internet services, there are a lot of options. Web hosting is no different. When it comes to choosing a web host, you have two basic options, do it yourself or choose a hosting plan.
For the small to medium-sized business, hosting your own website quite likely has too many hurdles to be worth the effort. The initial costs for purchasing, setting up and organizing all the necessary hardware, licensing the software can be overwhelming and time consuming. Not to mention the recurring costs of a stable and reliable Internet connection. For most companies, except the very largest of firms, hosting your own website just doesn’t make sense. That leaves the second alternative, finding a hosting company and choosing a plan. Let’s begin by taking a look at choosing a hosting company.
Choosing Your Hosting Company
There are literally thousands of web hosting companies to choose from and evaluating them can be difficult. The first question you will want to ask a potential hosting company is what types of hosting plans they offer. There are likely to be several choices from starter type packages to the platinum version with all the bells and whistles.
Here are a few basic criteria to examine:
Service and Support:
Money Back Guarantee – Finding a web host is an investment but you don’t want it to be a risky one. Look for a host that offers a guarantee.
24/7 Technical Support – This is important. What happens to your business if your web host crashes? If you have an online business, you’re dead in the water. Know that not all technical support is created equal and just because someone offers 24/7 customer service doesn’t mean they’re actively available. It may mean that you get to leave a voicemail or stay on hold for hours and they’ll get to you when they can.
Testimonials and references can be extremely useful. Find out if other customers are happy with the hosting service and
Ease of use:
A Control Panel is your central hub of information. It is where you find all of your statistics and are able to manage all of your account features. If your host’s control panel is too difficult to navigate or doesn’t offer the tools your business needs, then it is best to look elsewhere. Your website is your business and your control panel needs to be easy for you to use. You don’t have time to spend searching for the information and tools you need.
You will probably want to upload scripts for message boards, email forums, set cookies, and the like. . If this is the case, you will want a web host that allows you to install and run scripts. Most hosting companies offer CGI, Common Gateway Interface, a protocol that allows web pages to interact with scripts on a server.
You will want to have email accounts for your website. For example, admin@ yourcompany.com and sales@yourcompany.com, etc…A POP (Post Office Protocol) Email Account is an email account hosted on your site and you will probably want more than one. Most hosting companies offer packages with different levels. For example, a beginner or starter package will have 1-5 email accounts, a middle of the road type account may offer up to 50 and a full business package may have unlimited email accounts available.
Website construction tools and/or Microsoft FrontPage extensions. You need to be able to design and develop your website. Many hosting companies offer templates and design tools. In addition they may offer FrontPage Extensions. FrontPage is a website design software program that is fairly easy to use and if your host allows you to upload your website onto the server.
Features:
Do you want to know who is visiting your website? What about what pages they visit or how long they stay online? What about click through rates? Any effective marketing plan or website plan needs to evaluate these statistics. This means you must find a hosting company that not only tracks this information for you but makes it easy for you to access and understand.
Marketing features like autoresponders and mailing list management are a fantastic feature but not all web hosting companies offer them. Take a good look at what your business needs before you sign on with a company. Sometimes a hosting company includes marketing features in your package and sometimes they are offered ala carte.
Security is important too. Look for a SSL, Secure Socket Layer, Secure Server. SSL is a protocol that allows for encrypted transmissions online. If you are collecting private information from your visitors, you will want this and you can include it in your privacy policy.
Some hosting plans offer shopping cart software integrated right into your account. This isn’t a must but it will save you a step if you offer products for purchase on your website
Members only areas require passwords but not all hosting companies offer this feature.
Choosing Your Hosting Plan
Nearly all hosting companies offer different types of hosting plans, including "shared" hosting and "dedicated" hosting. In addition, some hosts also offer a "virtual private" hosting option.
Here are the details and benefits of each.
Shared Hosting:
Shared hosting or "virtual" hosting (which is different from "virtual private" hosting described below) is when the hosting company hosts your website on its own physical servers for a monthly fee. In this type of arrangement, the hosting company will also be serving other companies' websites from the same physical server. The hosting company is responsible for the technical details relating to keeping your site up and running, including server setup, bandwidth management, backups, and security.
Price is perhaps the primary advantage of shared hosting. Since you're only using a portion of a single server, your costs are less than those for dedicated hosting. Also, since you are not directly responsible for management of the servers, you don't need to commit as many resources to routine maintenance of your website. This also means your hosting company will handle many of the security matters for your website; you don't need to make any direct investment in the software and hardware needed to secure the site.
However, because your website is on the same server as other clients, you have no direct control over the server as a whole, and certain site administration tasks may be more time consuming as compared to a site that is on a dedicated server.
Dedicated Hosting:
Dedicated hosting means your Web server is sitting on its own box, owned and managed by the service provider. Dedicated hosting means you will have more direct access to make different types of changes to your site compared to a shared hosting plan. The degree of host management depends on what exactly is offered by the service provider. Most providers offer special managed dedicated server programs that ensure continuous monitoring of server performance as well as routine tasks like data backups.
When you have a dedicated hosting solution, your website resides on its own server. This means that your company can directly control the machine and determine which Web applications are running on it. This also means that it is less likely that activities of other websites on the same physical server will negatively impact yours.
In addition, because the server only responds to client requests for information from your own website, there is likely to be a faster response time for the same amount of traffic across the server. If your server has a dedicated IP address, it will likely be easier to handle certain anonymous FTP and SSL encryption activities. Dedicated hosting arrangements are generally favored for high-traffic businesses. Because your website is the only one on the server, however, dedicated hosting costs are generally higher than with a shared hosting plan.
Virtual Private Hosting:
Virtual private hosting means that the server software is "virtualized" to permit the hosting of multiple websites on a single physical server (as with shared hosting), but each has its own copy of the operating system and permits greater customer access to the server (as with dedicated hosting). Virtual Private Hosting is generally available at a lower overall cost than traditional dedicated hosting, but provides the customer with much greater control and access to the website.
Need Reliable and Powerful Hosting? - Host your MemberSpeed based site (or any site) with our new powerful hosting solution specifically created for our members...*FREE* domain name with each account at: http://www.MemberSpeedHost.com
Posted on March 19, 2009
Any business, whether they’re brick and mortar establishment or an online business, needs a website. A website needs a host. A web host stores all the pages of your website and makes them available to computers connected to the Internet. Like most internet services, there are a lot of options. Web hosting is no different. When it comes to choosing a web host, you have two basic options, do it yourself or choose a hosting plan.
For the small to medium-sized business, hosting your own website quite likely has too many hurdles to be worth the effort. The initial costs for purchasing, setting up and organizing all the necessary hardware, licensing the software can be overwhelming and time consuming. Not to mention the recurring costs of a stable and reliable Internet connection. For most companies, except the very largest of firms, hosting your own website just doesn’t make sense. That leaves the second alternative, finding a hosting company and choosing a plan. Let’s begin by taking a look at choosing a hosting company.
Choosing Your Hosting Company
There are literally thousands of web hosting companies to choose from and evaluating them can be difficult. The first question you will want to ask a potential hosting company is what types of hosting plans they offer. There are likely to be several choices from starter type packages to the platinum version with all the bells and whistles.
Here are a few basic criteria to examine:
Service and Support:
Money Back Guarantee – Finding a web host is an investment but you don’t want it to be a risky one. Look for a host that offers a guarantee.
24/7 Technical Support – This is important. What happens to your business if your web host crashes? If you have an online business, you’re dead in the water. Know that not all technical support is created equal and just because someone offers 24/7 customer service doesn’t mean they’re actively available. It may mean that you get to leave a voicemail or stay on hold for hours and they’ll get to you when they can.
Testimonials and references can be extremely useful. Find out if other customers are happy with the hosting service and
Ease of use:
A Control Panel is your central hub of information. It is where you find all of your statistics and are able to manage all of your account features. If your host’s control panel is too difficult to navigate or doesn’t offer the tools your business needs, then it is best to look elsewhere. Your website is your business and your control panel needs to be easy for you to use. You don’t have time to spend searching for the information and tools you need.
You will probably want to upload scripts for message boards, email forums, set cookies, and the like. . If this is the case, you will want a web host that allows you to install and run scripts. Most hosting companies offer CGI, Common Gateway Interface, a protocol that allows web pages to interact with scripts on a server.
You will want to have email accounts for your website. For example, admin@ yourcompany.com and sales@yourcompany.com, etc…A POP (Post Office Protocol) Email Account is an email account hosted on your site and you will probably want more than one. Most hosting companies offer packages with different levels. For example, a beginner or starter package will have 1-5 email accounts, a middle of the road type account may offer up to 50 and a full business package may have unlimited email accounts available.
Website construction tools and/or Microsoft FrontPage extensions. You need to be able to design and develop your website. Many hosting companies offer templates and design tools. In addition they may offer FrontPage Extensions. FrontPage is a website design software program that is fairly easy to use and if your host allows you to upload your website onto the server.
Features:
Do you want to know who is visiting your website? What about what pages they visit or how long they stay online? What about click through rates? Any effective marketing plan or website plan needs to evaluate these statistics. This means you must find a hosting company that not only tracks this information for you but makes it easy for you to access and understand.
Marketing features like autoresponders and mailing list management are a fantastic feature but not all web hosting companies offer them. Take a good look at what your business needs before you sign on with a company. Sometimes a hosting company includes marketing features in your package and sometimes they are offered ala carte.
Security is important too. Look for a SSL, Secure Socket Layer, Secure Server. SSL is a protocol that allows for encrypted transmissions online. If you are collecting private information from your visitors, you will want this and you can include it in your privacy policy.
Some hosting plans offer shopping cart software integrated right into your account. This isn’t a must but it will save you a step if you offer products for purchase on your website
Members only areas require passwords but not all hosting companies offer this feature.
Choosing Your Hosting Plan
Nearly all hosting companies offer different types of hosting plans, including "shared" hosting and "dedicated" hosting. In addition, some hosts also offer a "virtual private" hosting option.
Here are the details and benefits of each.
Shared Hosting:
Shared hosting or "virtual" hosting (which is different from "virtual private" hosting described below) is when the hosting company hosts your website on its own physical servers for a monthly fee. In this type of arrangement, the hosting company will also be serving other companies' websites from the same physical server. The hosting company is responsible for the technical details relating to keeping your site up and running, including server setup, bandwidth management, backups, and security.
Price is perhaps the primary advantage of shared hosting. Since you're only using a portion of a single server, your costs are less than those for dedicated hosting. Also, since you are not directly responsible for management of the servers, you don't need to commit as many resources to routine maintenance of your website. This also means your hosting company will handle many of the security matters for your website; you don't need to make any direct investment in the software and hardware needed to secure the site.
However, because your website is on the same server as other clients, you have no direct control over the server as a whole, and certain site administration tasks may be more time consuming as compared to a site that is on a dedicated server.
Dedicated Hosting:
Dedicated hosting means your Web server is sitting on its own box, owned and managed by the service provider. Dedicated hosting means you will have more direct access to make different types of changes to your site compared to a shared hosting plan. The degree of host management depends on what exactly is offered by the service provider. Most providers offer special managed dedicated server programs that ensure continuous monitoring of server performance as well as routine tasks like data backups.
When you have a dedicated hosting solution, your website resides on its own server. This means that your company can directly control the machine and determine which Web applications are running on it. This also means that it is less likely that activities of other websites on the same physical server will negatively impact yours.
In addition, because the server only responds to client requests for information from your own website, there is likely to be a faster response time for the same amount of traffic across the server. If your server has a dedicated IP address, it will likely be easier to handle certain anonymous FTP and SSL encryption activities. Dedicated hosting arrangements are generally favored for high-traffic businesses. Because your website is the only one on the server, however, dedicated hosting costs are generally higher than with a shared hosting plan.
Virtual Private Hosting:
Virtual private hosting means that the server software is "virtualized" to permit the hosting of multiple websites on a single physical server (as with shared hosting), but each has its own copy of the operating system and permits greater customer access to the server (as with dedicated hosting). Virtual Private Hosting is generally available at a lower overall cost than traditional dedicated hosting, but provides the customer with much greater control and access to the website.
Need Reliable and Powerful Hosting? - Host your MemberSpeed based site (or any site) with our new powerful hosting solution specifically created for our members...*FREE* domain name with each account at: http://www.MemberSpeedHost.com
5 Reasons Why You Should Turn Your Articles Into An E-Book
by Steve Shaw
Posted on March 19, 2009
There's no way to get around it--marketing a website means creating content on a continual basis.
It can be content for articles in article marketing, blog content, a Squidoo lens you're creating, ezine content, or any of the other limitless types of marketing content designed to drive traffic to your website.
The options are endless, but where in the world do you find the time to do all this writing? On top of marketing your website, you have a business to run, right?
The bright side is that if you're clever you can train your marketing content (namely, the articles you create in article marketing) to do double, triple, and quadruple (or more) duty by re-purposing the content to suit different marketing tools.
One of the most effective ways to multi task marketing content is to use your article marketing articles as the basis for an e-book.
Here are 5 reasons why you should create an e-book from your articles:
1) It's easier than you think.
I know what you're thinking-- "Write a book? That sounds a bit over my head."
I hear you, but please be assured that writing an e-book is much easier than writing a novel or a book that's sold in the bookstore.
Really, if you can write an article, you can write an e-book. An e-book is just a collection of articles (or chapters) on a central topic.
You can make your e-book as long or as short as you like--there's no need to go to a cabin in the woods and hunker down as you spend years crafting an epic novel.
The more information you provide, the more valuable your book will be, but even if you provide only a dozen pages of useful information on a topic of interest to your target market, your audience will appreciate it!
2) You can morph your book into an marketing resource for your affiliates.
Imagine that you've created a 40 page book that is chocked full of valuable information. You give it to your customers and potential customers, and they love it, but then your affiliates (if you have an affiliate program) start contacting asking you if they can use the e-book as a marketing tool for your product.
This scenario has actually happened to me before, and I ended up taking that original e-book and creating another book for the use of the affiliates where they could re-brand the content and offer it on their websites.
3) If you offer the e-book in your resource box, it gives the reader a great reason to click through to your site.
This is HUGE--whenever you're writing a resource box, you want to be sure to offer the reader a reason to click through to your site. If the reader has found your article useful, what better gift to them than to offer a book on the same topic that gives much more information.
Your resource box could say something like, "For more tips on this topic, please pick up your free e-book at [your URL]."
And then at your website you could capture their email address and then deliver the book to them.
This actually accomplished two goals--
*Luring the reader back to your website
*Building your list
4) An e-book demonstrating your knowledge can build customer confidence (which makes sales more likely)
Article marketing entails writing articles on your topic of expertise (the topic of your website). People find your articles when they're looking for information about your topic.
Rather than hoping that your readers will somehow find each and every one of your helpful articles, why not collect all that valuable information and put it all in one spot (an e-book)?
5) You get more mileage out of your marketing efforts.
Obviously, right?
This is why morphing your articles into an e-book is so advantageous--you can kill two birds (or more!) with one stone. You can get multiple uses out of one piece of marketing content, which saves you time and increases the exposure and reach of your marketing efforts.
Are you convinced yet?
First, start writing articles for article marketing, then when you have 10 or more articles written on a topic that will appeal to your target readers, start assembling your e-book.
Before you know it you will have an arsenal of marketing resources that will be steadily working to draw targeted traffic to your website.
It pays to get double duty out of your articles, and then you can save even more time by using an article submitter, getting maximum exposure for minimal effort. For more information on how to do this, go to
http://www.SubmitYOURArticle.com
Posted on March 19, 2009
There's no way to get around it--marketing a website means creating content on a continual basis.
It can be content for articles in article marketing, blog content, a Squidoo lens you're creating, ezine content, or any of the other limitless types of marketing content designed to drive traffic to your website.
The options are endless, but where in the world do you find the time to do all this writing? On top of marketing your website, you have a business to run, right?
The bright side is that if you're clever you can train your marketing content (namely, the articles you create in article marketing) to do double, triple, and quadruple (or more) duty by re-purposing the content to suit different marketing tools.
One of the most effective ways to multi task marketing content is to use your article marketing articles as the basis for an e-book.
Here are 5 reasons why you should create an e-book from your articles:
1) It's easier than you think.
I know what you're thinking-- "Write a book? That sounds a bit over my head."
I hear you, but please be assured that writing an e-book is much easier than writing a novel or a book that's sold in the bookstore.
Really, if you can write an article, you can write an e-book. An e-book is just a collection of articles (or chapters) on a central topic.
You can make your e-book as long or as short as you like--there's no need to go to a cabin in the woods and hunker down as you spend years crafting an epic novel.
The more information you provide, the more valuable your book will be, but even if you provide only a dozen pages of useful information on a topic of interest to your target market, your audience will appreciate it!
2) You can morph your book into an marketing resource for your affiliates.
Imagine that you've created a 40 page book that is chocked full of valuable information. You give it to your customers and potential customers, and they love it, but then your affiliates (if you have an affiliate program) start contacting asking you if they can use the e-book as a marketing tool for your product.
This scenario has actually happened to me before, and I ended up taking that original e-book and creating another book for the use of the affiliates where they could re-brand the content and offer it on their websites.
3) If you offer the e-book in your resource box, it gives the reader a great reason to click through to your site.
This is HUGE--whenever you're writing a resource box, you want to be sure to offer the reader a reason to click through to your site. If the reader has found your article useful, what better gift to them than to offer a book on the same topic that gives much more information.
Your resource box could say something like, "For more tips on this topic, please pick up your free e-book at [your URL]."
And then at your website you could capture their email address and then deliver the book to them.
This actually accomplished two goals--
*Luring the reader back to your website
*Building your list
4) An e-book demonstrating your knowledge can build customer confidence (which makes sales more likely)
Article marketing entails writing articles on your topic of expertise (the topic of your website). People find your articles when they're looking for information about your topic.
Rather than hoping that your readers will somehow find each and every one of your helpful articles, why not collect all that valuable information and put it all in one spot (an e-book)?
5) You get more mileage out of your marketing efforts.
Obviously, right?
This is why morphing your articles into an e-book is so advantageous--you can kill two birds (or more!) with one stone. You can get multiple uses out of one piece of marketing content, which saves you time and increases the exposure and reach of your marketing efforts.
Are you convinced yet?
First, start writing articles for article marketing, then when you have 10 or more articles written on a topic that will appeal to your target readers, start assembling your e-book.
Before you know it you will have an arsenal of marketing resources that will be steadily working to draw targeted traffic to your website.
It pays to get double duty out of your articles, and then you can save even more time by using an article submitter, getting maximum exposure for minimal effort. For more information on how to do this, go to
http://www.SubmitYOURArticle.com
Monday, March 16, 2009
Blogs, WordPress and Google
by Scott Van Achte
Posted on March 16, 2009
It's no secret that a continually updated website with new content being added regularly stands a good chance of doing well in Google. One of the long standing methods to regularly expand a site's content is through the use of a blog.
While there are numerous platforms to choose from for managing a blog, few can compare with the immense flexibility offered with WordPress, and at a cost of free, the price can't be beat either.
Google likes fresh new content, and setting up a blog on your site, assuming it is updated often with interesting and relevant material, can be one of the best things you can do to help out your search rankings. The beauty behind WordPress is that there is a wide array of totally free plug-ins you can easily install that will make your blog totally search engine friendly.
The following are some basic guidelines and essential plug-ins you should consider when you install your WordPress blog.
Template Design
The first configuration you need to do is work on customizing the design template to match your existing site. I suggest finding a template that matches as closely as possible to the look you are going for then work on tweaking its graphics, colors, and other particulars till you achieve the desired appearance.
Most of your changes will occur in the header.php, footer.php, index.php, and page.php files in the theme editor, however, the theme you install will dictate which files actually need to be updated. You will also need to make some adjustments to your CSS file. These changes all involve working with code and graphics, and are most likely left to a professional.
Once you have your design set up, the rest of the customization is considerably less technical. The following are suggestions that most people can do themselves and you probably will not need an expert to help you here.
Settings
Permalinks
The next thing you need to do is customize your URL's. You do not want the default post URLs ("pageid=#") as they are simply not search friendly and you want your default names to have some meaning to them. While you can customize your URL's with various plug-ins, you may not always think to do this, so be sure to have a default you can live with.
Under the settings tab in your dashboard, click on permalinks. Here I suggest choosing one of the settings that includes the post name. Including the month and year is totally optional as it will have little to no impact on your search rankings, but you definitely do want to include the post name.
WWW or no WWW
With WordPress, there is no need to worry about the www vs no www redirects. It is handled for you, but you do need to select which variation you want, and it's very simple to do. Under "General Settings" you will see two fields; one for "WordPress address" and the other, "Blog address". Ensure that both these fields include the "www" (or not), whichever you prefer, and that's it. (I always recommend using the "www" version of your URL as most people linking into your site will use it, and this will help keep a consistency among your site.
Required Plug-ins
There is an almost endless supply of free plug-ins out there that you can add to your site ranging from photo galleries and spam protection, to social media integrators for Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and others. While many of these others will benefit your blog and search rankings, the XML Sitemap, and SEO plug-ins are truly essential.
SEO Plug-in
When setting up your new installation, the first plug-in you need to install is one that will allow for totally customized title, meta description tags, and page URL's. There are a number of tools that do this ranging from the widely popular "All in One SEO Pack" to a relative newcomer "HeadSpace2".
While I personally have yet to try HeadSpace2, it is high on my list, as it has been recommended by many industry professionals as the best WordPress SEO plug-in. For any new blog installation I highly recommend this plug-in be installed right away.
XML Sitemap Plug-in
To the best of my knowledge, HeadSpace2 does not have an XML sitemap option, and as such I highly recommend "Google XML Sitemaps". This plug-in will automatically generate XML sitemaps for you on the fly and submit it to Google every time you add, remove, or update a page or post. This helps ensure that Google has the latest information at all times. It's a very simple plug-in to install and configure and once setup, you can forget about it and it will do the job for you.
A well optimized site loaded with relevant content can do very well in Google if setup correctly. The power of WordPress can make this process incredibly easy so all you have to worry about is writing those great articles and selling your customers. The plug-ins and functionality of WordPress are endless and when installed correctly can make the optimization of your blog considerably easier, increasing your chances for top rankings.
Scott Van Achte is the Senior SEO at StepForth Web Marketing Inc.; based in Victoria, BC, Canada and founded in 1997. You can read more of Scott's articles and those 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
Posted on March 16, 2009
It's no secret that a continually updated website with new content being added regularly stands a good chance of doing well in Google. One of the long standing methods to regularly expand a site's content is through the use of a blog.
While there are numerous platforms to choose from for managing a blog, few can compare with the immense flexibility offered with WordPress, and at a cost of free, the price can't be beat either.
Google likes fresh new content, and setting up a blog on your site, assuming it is updated often with interesting and relevant material, can be one of the best things you can do to help out your search rankings. The beauty behind WordPress is that there is a wide array of totally free plug-ins you can easily install that will make your blog totally search engine friendly.
The following are some basic guidelines and essential plug-ins you should consider when you install your WordPress blog.
Template Design
The first configuration you need to do is work on customizing the design template to match your existing site. I suggest finding a template that matches as closely as possible to the look you are going for then work on tweaking its graphics, colors, and other particulars till you achieve the desired appearance.
Most of your changes will occur in the header.php, footer.php, index.php, and page.php files in the theme editor, however, the theme you install will dictate which files actually need to be updated. You will also need to make some adjustments to your CSS file. These changes all involve working with code and graphics, and are most likely left to a professional.
Once you have your design set up, the rest of the customization is considerably less technical. The following are suggestions that most people can do themselves and you probably will not need an expert to help you here.
Settings
Permalinks
The next thing you need to do is customize your URL's. You do not want the default post URLs ("pageid=#") as they are simply not search friendly and you want your default names to have some meaning to them. While you can customize your URL's with various plug-ins, you may not always think to do this, so be sure to have a default you can live with.
Under the settings tab in your dashboard, click on permalinks. Here I suggest choosing one of the settings that includes the post name. Including the month and year is totally optional as it will have little to no impact on your search rankings, but you definitely do want to include the post name.
WWW or no WWW
With WordPress, there is no need to worry about the www vs no www redirects. It is handled for you, but you do need to select which variation you want, and it's very simple to do. Under "General Settings" you will see two fields; one for "WordPress address" and the other, "Blog address". Ensure that both these fields include the "www" (or not), whichever you prefer, and that's it. (I always recommend using the "www" version of your URL as most people linking into your site will use it, and this will help keep a consistency among your site.
Required Plug-ins
There is an almost endless supply of free plug-ins out there that you can add to your site ranging from photo galleries and spam protection, to social media integrators for Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and others. While many of these others will benefit your blog and search rankings, the XML Sitemap, and SEO plug-ins are truly essential.
SEO Plug-in
When setting up your new installation, the first plug-in you need to install is one that will allow for totally customized title, meta description tags, and page URL's. There are a number of tools that do this ranging from the widely popular "All in One SEO Pack" to a relative newcomer "HeadSpace2".
While I personally have yet to try HeadSpace2, it is high on my list, as it has been recommended by many industry professionals as the best WordPress SEO plug-in. For any new blog installation I highly recommend this plug-in be installed right away.
XML Sitemap Plug-in
To the best of my knowledge, HeadSpace2 does not have an XML sitemap option, and as such I highly recommend "Google XML Sitemaps". This plug-in will automatically generate XML sitemaps for you on the fly and submit it to Google every time you add, remove, or update a page or post. This helps ensure that Google has the latest information at all times. It's a very simple plug-in to install and configure and once setup, you can forget about it and it will do the job for you.
A well optimized site loaded with relevant content can do very well in Google if setup correctly. The power of WordPress can make this process incredibly easy so all you have to worry about is writing those great articles and selling your customers. The plug-ins and functionality of WordPress are endless and when installed correctly can make the optimization of your blog considerably easier, increasing your chances for top rankings.
Scott Van Achte is the Senior SEO at StepForth Web Marketing Inc.; based in Victoria, BC, Canada and founded in 1997. You can read more of Scott's articles and those 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
Friday, March 13, 2009
Can Twitter Work For the Small Business
by Laurence Ainsworth
When I started using Twitter I had two objectives. One was to see how Twitter functions as a social media marketplace and the other was to get a sense of how smaller businesses could use it as a channel to market.
Despite the hype around it Twitter still seems to me to be a niche product. That is based on the composition of its members. It reminds me of all those speed networking events that were so popular, their limiting factor was that it was predominantly sellers who attended and what we really need is buyers. I don't pretend to suggest that Twitter will die out as speed networking has but it does suffer from this phenomenon of too many sellers.
There are some areas where Twitter is well suited. The B2C environment for one, and there is certainly anecdotal evidence that companies have generated real revenue from Twitter and those providing digital products have found it a regular source of new business. It is however fair to say that this is not a quick win, it does take time and effort to build up a reputation and presence on Twitter. Mostly however its time; for those who are involved in delivering digital services, this is not an issue since using online environments is their natural marketplace. For those offering physical products and services it's a more challenging environment. However, if you're selling into the B2B or SoHo markets then it can still be an effective route. Essentially the fact that you can readily communicate with the decision maker and that the sales process is simple and short means that using Social Media Marketing (SMM) works well and having good visibility on twitter will certainly generate interest.
At the other end of the scale major corporates' have the time and resources to dedicate the man hours necessary to regularly insert their message and build that vital link of trust with their customers and prospects. So you can see many of the worlds largest businesses using Twitter including, Dell, Ford, etc. Dells assertion that it obtained $1million in revenue from Twitter has been well publicised. We must however accept that larger businesses already have an advantage since they've built a level of "trust" around their brand long before Twitter came along and they leverage that advantage further now.
One should not forget also that Twitter is more attractive to business because postings are necessarily short and unlike Facebook, You Tube or MySpace are text based. Interestingly this will make it more readily adopted by the professional in a higher age group and therefore more suited to today's decision makers.
The more difficult question is how "Fred Bloggs of Bloggs Joinery" can use Twitter. B2B business is not necessarily well suited to Twitter and many owner managers don't have the time to devote to develop a network, and quality is still as important as quantity. This is ignoring the import question of whether they "get Twitter" which is likely to be a major hurdle in itself. I have spoken to a number of small business owners who just don't "get it" and have subsequently stopped using it before they really had a chance see what it could do for them. So what options are open to them, well firstly assuming there is sufficient marketplace on Twitter for their product (something that is seriously open to question), they could encourage all their staff to join Twitter and use a collection of voices to build up a following or secondly, outsource. This may seem an extreme step or even heresy in Social Marketing, but to me it's an inevitable consequence of how social marketing works. SMM agencies will naturally develop enormous power simply by having several clients each with several users promoting several products. With that infrastructure its becomes almost inevitable that they would harness all the voices from all the clients to cross promote each new product growing in power and effect each time they add new clients. The next logical step is to dispense with real voices and create surrogate voices after all it's relatively easy to create personas which people can use as templates. If true it would completely undermine the concept of Social Media Marketing as we know it.
Laurence Ainsworth is using is founder of Exigent Consulting which provides advice and support for small to medium businesses. Exigent specialises in Business Turnaround, Sales and Marketing and Mentoring &n Coaching.
He can be found on http://twitter.com/laurenceexigent and at http://www.exigent-uk.com
He is a regular contributor of articles on marketing and sales and is a frequent Blogger and Twitter
When I started using Twitter I had two objectives. One was to see how Twitter functions as a social media marketplace and the other was to get a sense of how smaller businesses could use it as a channel to market.
Despite the hype around it Twitter still seems to me to be a niche product. That is based on the composition of its members. It reminds me of all those speed networking events that were so popular, their limiting factor was that it was predominantly sellers who attended and what we really need is buyers. I don't pretend to suggest that Twitter will die out as speed networking has but it does suffer from this phenomenon of too many sellers.
There are some areas where Twitter is well suited. The B2C environment for one, and there is certainly anecdotal evidence that companies have generated real revenue from Twitter and those providing digital products have found it a regular source of new business. It is however fair to say that this is not a quick win, it does take time and effort to build up a reputation and presence on Twitter. Mostly however its time; for those who are involved in delivering digital services, this is not an issue since using online environments is their natural marketplace. For those offering physical products and services it's a more challenging environment. However, if you're selling into the B2B or SoHo markets then it can still be an effective route. Essentially the fact that you can readily communicate with the decision maker and that the sales process is simple and short means that using Social Media Marketing (SMM) works well and having good visibility on twitter will certainly generate interest.
At the other end of the scale major corporates' have the time and resources to dedicate the man hours necessary to regularly insert their message and build that vital link of trust with their customers and prospects. So you can see many of the worlds largest businesses using Twitter including, Dell, Ford, etc. Dells assertion that it obtained $1million in revenue from Twitter has been well publicised. We must however accept that larger businesses already have an advantage since they've built a level of "trust" around their brand long before Twitter came along and they leverage that advantage further now.
One should not forget also that Twitter is more attractive to business because postings are necessarily short and unlike Facebook, You Tube or MySpace are text based. Interestingly this will make it more readily adopted by the professional in a higher age group and therefore more suited to today's decision makers.
The more difficult question is how "Fred Bloggs of Bloggs Joinery" can use Twitter. B2B business is not necessarily well suited to Twitter and many owner managers don't have the time to devote to develop a network, and quality is still as important as quantity. This is ignoring the import question of whether they "get Twitter" which is likely to be a major hurdle in itself. I have spoken to a number of small business owners who just don't "get it" and have subsequently stopped using it before they really had a chance see what it could do for them. So what options are open to them, well firstly assuming there is sufficient marketplace on Twitter for their product (something that is seriously open to question), they could encourage all their staff to join Twitter and use a collection of voices to build up a following or secondly, outsource. This may seem an extreme step or even heresy in Social Marketing, but to me it's an inevitable consequence of how social marketing works. SMM agencies will naturally develop enormous power simply by having several clients each with several users promoting several products. With that infrastructure its becomes almost inevitable that they would harness all the voices from all the clients to cross promote each new product growing in power and effect each time they add new clients. The next logical step is to dispense with real voices and create surrogate voices after all it's relatively easy to create personas which people can use as templates. If true it would completely undermine the concept of Social Media Marketing as we know it.
Laurence Ainsworth is using is founder of Exigent Consulting which provides advice and support for small to medium businesses. Exigent specialises in Business Turnaround, Sales and Marketing and Mentoring &n Coaching.
He can be found on http://twitter.com/laurenceexigent and at http://www.exigent-uk.com
He is a regular contributor of articles on marketing and sales and is a frequent Blogger and Twitter
How to Write Press Releases
by Jeremy Gislason
Step #1 - Newsworthy Websites Generate Great Press
A successful publicity campaign using a press release requires a good story. You need to come up with something original about your site that will be interesting to the general public and not just to people involved in your niche subject.
Two ways to get interest in your press release are:
1. Relate your press release to a topical issue that has recently had a lot of media coverage. Tie it to anything - as long as it has relevance to your membership site.
2. Tie your press release into a particular event, exhibition or tradeshow that somehow relates to your niche subject.
Step #2 - Follow the Format
Title
Cover the most interesting aspect of your press release in as few words as possible. Make it punchy and attention grabbing, with maximum impact.
Subheading
This is your chance to add some detail about what your press release is about without spoiling the effect of your forceful heading.
Lead paragraph
This will be a factual paragraph giving all the details of your story. It will answer the questions who, what, where, when and how. If the editor has read further that your title, this paragraph will make up his or her mind about whether to use your press release.
Main body of text
The rest of your text will give information to support the story you told in the lead paragraph. Including quotes from your members is often an effective technique in this section, but remember to respect their privacy.
Boilerplate
The final paragraph, known as the boilerplate, will be a few sentences about your membership site, what it is about and what you offer.
End your press release with the word “End”, add your contact information after so the editor can contact you easily to clarify information.
Essential tips for writing your next great press release:
1. Always write in the third person.
2. Keep your press release as short as possible. Edit ruthlessly and get rid of any unnecessary words and phrases.
3. Avoid hype phrases to describe your membership site such as ‘one of a kind’ or ‘out of this world’. Your press release is not a sales pitch.
Step 3. - The path to profitable publication.
If you want to get your press release published offline, here are a few pointers:
Research your publication
Choose a publication that is suitable for your niche subject, and which will be read by your target audience. Read that publication regularly, and get an idea of the kind of articles they print as well as the tone used. Find out who the most appropriate journalist or editor would be for you to approach with your press release.
Make the call
When contacting the editor, your approach will be polite and professional. Always call before you send them your press release; busy people tend to delete unsolicited e-mail.
If you get their voicemail, don’t be afraid to leave a concise message with the main angle of your story and your contact details. Call again if you don’t get a response for a couple of days.
If you speak to them in person, introduce yourself briefly and then check if you are calling at a good time. Offer to call back at a more convenient time if necessary.
Don’t launch into a sales pitch about your membership site. Briefly give the editor the details of your story in a straightforward way.
Follow up - quickly
Have a press pack ready before you contact the editor and send this as soon as possible after you have spoken to them. This will consist of your press release and any appropriate photos etc.
Give the editor a couple of days and call again to follow up.
Jeremy Gislason is a leading expert on membership sites, marketing and online business. Do you want to market and sell all of your products faster? Free how to business and marketing courses at: http://www.MembershipMillionaire.com
Step #1 - Newsworthy Websites Generate Great Press
A successful publicity campaign using a press release requires a good story. You need to come up with something original about your site that will be interesting to the general public and not just to people involved in your niche subject.
Two ways to get interest in your press release are:
1. Relate your press release to a topical issue that has recently had a lot of media coverage. Tie it to anything - as long as it has relevance to your membership site.
2. Tie your press release into a particular event, exhibition or tradeshow that somehow relates to your niche subject.
Step #2 - Follow the Format
Title
Cover the most interesting aspect of your press release in as few words as possible. Make it punchy and attention grabbing, with maximum impact.
Subheading
This is your chance to add some detail about what your press release is about without spoiling the effect of your forceful heading.
Lead paragraph
This will be a factual paragraph giving all the details of your story. It will answer the questions who, what, where, when and how. If the editor has read further that your title, this paragraph will make up his or her mind about whether to use your press release.
Main body of text
The rest of your text will give information to support the story you told in the lead paragraph. Including quotes from your members is often an effective technique in this section, but remember to respect their privacy.
Boilerplate
The final paragraph, known as the boilerplate, will be a few sentences about your membership site, what it is about and what you offer.
End your press release with the word “End”, add your contact information after so the editor can contact you easily to clarify information.
Essential tips for writing your next great press release:
1. Always write in the third person.
2. Keep your press release as short as possible. Edit ruthlessly and get rid of any unnecessary words and phrases.
3. Avoid hype phrases to describe your membership site such as ‘one of a kind’ or ‘out of this world’. Your press release is not a sales pitch.
Step 3. - The path to profitable publication.
If you want to get your press release published offline, here are a few pointers:
Research your publication
Choose a publication that is suitable for your niche subject, and which will be read by your target audience. Read that publication regularly, and get an idea of the kind of articles they print as well as the tone used. Find out who the most appropriate journalist or editor would be for you to approach with your press release.
Make the call
When contacting the editor, your approach will be polite and professional. Always call before you send them your press release; busy people tend to delete unsolicited e-mail.
If you get their voicemail, don’t be afraid to leave a concise message with the main angle of your story and your contact details. Call again if you don’t get a response for a couple of days.
If you speak to them in person, introduce yourself briefly and then check if you are calling at a good time. Offer to call back at a more convenient time if necessary.
Don’t launch into a sales pitch about your membership site. Briefly give the editor the details of your story in a straightforward way.
Follow up - quickly
Have a press pack ready before you contact the editor and send this as soon as possible after you have spoken to them. This will consist of your press release and any appropriate photos etc.
Give the editor a couple of days and call again to follow up.
Jeremy Gislason is a leading expert on membership sites, marketing and online business. Do you want to market and sell all of your products faster? Free how to business and marketing courses at: http://www.MembershipMillionaire.com
Is Your SaaS Agreement Enforceable -- Even Against Simba, The Agreeable Cat?
by Chip Cooper
I thought I'd seen and heard it all in my Internet law practice, until a client referred me to an interesting article about a kitty cat named Simba that walked across a keyboard and clicked on an online, click-through agreement (also known as a "click-wrapped" agreement). The article is entitled "The Agreeable Cat", by Ann Loucks, and you can read it at http://www.ohesso.com/essays/essay006.htm.
My client wanted to know whether the agreement was enforceable. My reply - against Simba the cat, or its owner who put Simba up to this?
After a chuckle, I thought the question really had merit, and this is my analysis.
The Specht Case
The most significant case regarding the enforceability of online agreements is Specht v. Netscape Comms. Corp., a 2003 case in which the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court decision that Netscape's online agreement was not enforceable. By holding that the agreement was unenforceable, the reasoning of the case provided specific guidelines for enforceability.
In the Specht case, Netscape's website developer designed its download page for Netscape's SmartDownload software with little regard for contract enforceability.
Netscape's download page provided a download button that triggered the download of the SmartDownload software. The only reference to a license agreement required the user to scroll to the bottom of the same web page which provided a link to the license agreement. Clicking on this link directed the user to another page which stated that use of the software was governed by a license agreement that required still another click before the user could read the contract terms.
The 2nd Circuit ruled that Netscape's agreement was unenforceable because of 3 deficiencies:
* the user did not have to click on an I ACCEPT button to indicate assent;
* the text on the web page accompanying the download did not clearly state that agreement was a pre-condition to use; and
* the failure to provide "reasonable notice" of the existence of contract terms.
The Register.com and Two Ticketmaster Cases
Three additional cases - the Register.com case and two Ticketmaster cases - when taken together with the Specht case, make it clear that courts are most likely to enforce online agreements where the user gives express assent. Express assent is usually given by clicking on an I ACCEPT button.
Now we get back to the facts of the hypothetical case involving Simba the cat. Is the online agreement "accepted" by Simba enforceable against its owner who created the elaborate system for Simba to "agree"?
We'll leave enforceability against Simba out of our analysis, out of deference to the agreeable cat.
Simba's owner believes she has agreed to nothing. She states: "The download begins and I have personally agreed to nothing". In essence, she argues that since there is no express assent (by her), there is no binding contract.
Not so fast, according to Register.com, and the two Ticketmaster cases. These cases also stand for the proposition that absent express assent, assent may be inferred from proof that a defendant (i) had actual notice that use or access was conditioned on legal terms, and (ii) continued to use or access a site, service, or software after acquiring that notice.
Conclusion
In summary, the online agreement would be enforceable against Simba's owner if she had actual notice of legal terms and her use continued after acquiring that notice.
More important than the specific facts and result of the hypothetical case involving Simba the agreeable cat, are the fundamental principles that support virtually universal recognition that online agreements, provided they are presented properly, are generally enforceable, even in the absence of express assent -- a significant legal foundation upon which our Internet economy depends.
Chip Cooper is a leading intellectual property, software, and Internet attorney who's advised software and online businesses nationwide for 25+ years. Visit Chip's http://www.digicontracts.com site and download his FREE newsletter and Special Reports: "Determine Which Legal Documents Your Website Really Needs", "Draft Your Own Privacy Policy", and "Write Your Own Website Marketing Copy -- Legally". Copyright 2009 Chip Cooper
I thought I'd seen and heard it all in my Internet law practice, until a client referred me to an interesting article about a kitty cat named Simba that walked across a keyboard and clicked on an online, click-through agreement (also known as a "click-wrapped" agreement). The article is entitled "The Agreeable Cat", by Ann Loucks, and you can read it at http://www.ohesso.com/essays/essay006.htm.
My client wanted to know whether the agreement was enforceable. My reply - against Simba the cat, or its owner who put Simba up to this?
After a chuckle, I thought the question really had merit, and this is my analysis.
The Specht Case
The most significant case regarding the enforceability of online agreements is Specht v. Netscape Comms. Corp., a 2003 case in which the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court decision that Netscape's online agreement was not enforceable. By holding that the agreement was unenforceable, the reasoning of the case provided specific guidelines for enforceability.
In the Specht case, Netscape's website developer designed its download page for Netscape's SmartDownload software with little regard for contract enforceability.
Netscape's download page provided a download button that triggered the download of the SmartDownload software. The only reference to a license agreement required the user to scroll to the bottom of the same web page which provided a link to the license agreement. Clicking on this link directed the user to another page which stated that use of the software was governed by a license agreement that required still another click before the user could read the contract terms.
The 2nd Circuit ruled that Netscape's agreement was unenforceable because of 3 deficiencies:
* the user did not have to click on an I ACCEPT button to indicate assent;
* the text on the web page accompanying the download did not clearly state that agreement was a pre-condition to use; and
* the failure to provide "reasonable notice" of the existence of contract terms.
The Register.com and Two Ticketmaster Cases
Three additional cases - the Register.com case and two Ticketmaster cases - when taken together with the Specht case, make it clear that courts are most likely to enforce online agreements where the user gives express assent. Express assent is usually given by clicking on an I ACCEPT button.
Now we get back to the facts of the hypothetical case involving Simba the cat. Is the online agreement "accepted" by Simba enforceable against its owner who created the elaborate system for Simba to "agree"?
We'll leave enforceability against Simba out of our analysis, out of deference to the agreeable cat.
Simba's owner believes she has agreed to nothing. She states: "The download begins and I have personally agreed to nothing". In essence, she argues that since there is no express assent (by her), there is no binding contract.
Not so fast, according to Register.com, and the two Ticketmaster cases. These cases also stand for the proposition that absent express assent, assent may be inferred from proof that a defendant (i) had actual notice that use or access was conditioned on legal terms, and (ii) continued to use or access a site, service, or software after acquiring that notice.
Conclusion
In summary, the online agreement would be enforceable against Simba's owner if she had actual notice of legal terms and her use continued after acquiring that notice.
More important than the specific facts and result of the hypothetical case involving Simba the agreeable cat, are the fundamental principles that support virtually universal recognition that online agreements, provided they are presented properly, are generally enforceable, even in the absence of express assent -- a significant legal foundation upon which our Internet economy depends.
Chip Cooper is a leading intellectual property, software, and Internet attorney who's advised software and online businesses nationwide for 25+ years. Visit Chip's http://www.digicontracts.com site and download his FREE newsletter and Special Reports: "Determine Which Legal Documents Your Website Really Needs", "Draft Your Own Privacy Policy", and "Write Your Own Website Marketing Copy -- Legally". Copyright 2009 Chip Cooper
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
7 Easy Methods Of Blogging For Money
by Cory Threlfall
Posted on March 2, 2009
Aside from having to have a blog to start with blogging for money is actually pretty easy. If you love to write you can make a decent living with your blog. There are a few key points to focus on when considering the possibility of blogging for money, the first one is diversity. It is hard to make a decent amount of money on a regular basis with a blog if you only employ one method of monetization.
Monetization Methods
1) Adsense:
This is perhaps the most commonly seen form of blog monetization. It is easy to start, you don't have to do anything at all after you have it set up, and it has the potential for earning you a reliable amount of money and is facilitated by a reputable company—Google.
2) Paid Blogging:
This seems like a no-brainer but there are a few different ways to make money creating paid posts. There are several companies online that will have opportunities for you to write posts for pay. The two main differences to look for when considering this type of work are the form posts need to take when doing the opportunities from those companies: freeform, or advertorial. Freeform type posts are easier to do because you can write about any subject that interests you so long as it includes a particular keyword or phrase with a link. Those types of posts also keep your blog from looking like one big billboard and that will make your readers happier, and your traffic up.
3) Affiliate Links Programs:
These are gaining popularity amongst blogging for money community because they allow bloggers to choose the types of links they put in their posts or sidebars making them more focused on the subject of their blogs. You can usually find affiliate opportunities at any company selling items online, or one of the many affiliate 'brokerages' that will not only keep track of your link sales but pay you directly in a lump sum for all of your links at once rather than having money filtering in from various companies individually.
4) Asset Sales:
If you know a subject well and can write about it consider developing your own eBook on the subject and selling it from your blog. Your readers already know you, like your style of writing, and are probably interested in the same things you are so will pay for the information you know about it. EBooks are easy to put together and sell online with, or without a publisher and you can often do the entire thing yourself saving you a great deal of money and earning you a good income from sales.
5) Paid Blogging Networks:
This is a slightly different way to make a profit blogging for money. Instead of using your own blog or blogs you join a network that hosts a blog for you and pays you a portion of sales proceeds from links they place on your blog. All you do is post regularly and encourage readership and receive a tidy check on a regular basis for the effort. It is one of the simpler forms of blogging for money.
6) Donation Buttons:
Don't want to advertise or sell banner space on your blog? Just ask for money. How simple is that? Set up a PayPal 'donations' button and get money sent to you by appreciative readers. It works, and it is just one of the many ways to start blogging for money.
7) Blog Flipping:
This is one of the more unusual methods of blogging for money as it doesn't actually involve advertising anything at all. People who flip blogs are much like people who flip houses, they open a blog, build it up, make it pretty, and then when it is in a good position to make money, that means it is old enough to join companies that will pay the owners to blog, popular enough to sell banner ads, or link ads, they sell it to someone who wants a blog that is ready made to do the work.
Looking to become an expert blogger in record time AND are serious about earning BIG money with blogging, then I highly recommend you check out my honest make money blogging product reviews. I've checked out all the top blogging products on the Internet and these are the ones that I think will benefit you most ==> http://www.makemoneybloggingreviews.com
Posted on March 2, 2009
Aside from having to have a blog to start with blogging for money is actually pretty easy. If you love to write you can make a decent living with your blog. There are a few key points to focus on when considering the possibility of blogging for money, the first one is diversity. It is hard to make a decent amount of money on a regular basis with a blog if you only employ one method of monetization.
Monetization Methods
1) Adsense:
This is perhaps the most commonly seen form of blog monetization. It is easy to start, you don't have to do anything at all after you have it set up, and it has the potential for earning you a reliable amount of money and is facilitated by a reputable company—Google.
2) Paid Blogging:
This seems like a no-brainer but there are a few different ways to make money creating paid posts. There are several companies online that will have opportunities for you to write posts for pay. The two main differences to look for when considering this type of work are the form posts need to take when doing the opportunities from those companies: freeform, or advertorial. Freeform type posts are easier to do because you can write about any subject that interests you so long as it includes a particular keyword or phrase with a link. Those types of posts also keep your blog from looking like one big billboard and that will make your readers happier, and your traffic up.
3) Affiliate Links Programs:
These are gaining popularity amongst blogging for money community because they allow bloggers to choose the types of links they put in their posts or sidebars making them more focused on the subject of their blogs. You can usually find affiliate opportunities at any company selling items online, or one of the many affiliate 'brokerages' that will not only keep track of your link sales but pay you directly in a lump sum for all of your links at once rather than having money filtering in from various companies individually.
4) Asset Sales:
If you know a subject well and can write about it consider developing your own eBook on the subject and selling it from your blog. Your readers already know you, like your style of writing, and are probably interested in the same things you are so will pay for the information you know about it. EBooks are easy to put together and sell online with, or without a publisher and you can often do the entire thing yourself saving you a great deal of money and earning you a good income from sales.
5) Paid Blogging Networks:
This is a slightly different way to make a profit blogging for money. Instead of using your own blog or blogs you join a network that hosts a blog for you and pays you a portion of sales proceeds from links they place on your blog. All you do is post regularly and encourage readership and receive a tidy check on a regular basis for the effort. It is one of the simpler forms of blogging for money.
6) Donation Buttons:
Don't want to advertise or sell banner space on your blog? Just ask for money. How simple is that? Set up a PayPal 'donations' button and get money sent to you by appreciative readers. It works, and it is just one of the many ways to start blogging for money.
7) Blog Flipping:
This is one of the more unusual methods of blogging for money as it doesn't actually involve advertising anything at all. People who flip blogs are much like people who flip houses, they open a blog, build it up, make it pretty, and then when it is in a good position to make money, that means it is old enough to join companies that will pay the owners to blog, popular enough to sell banner ads, or link ads, they sell it to someone who wants a blog that is ready made to do the work.
Looking to become an expert blogger in record time AND are serious about earning BIG money with blogging, then I highly recommend you check out my honest make money blogging product reviews. I've checked out all the top blogging products on the Internet and these are the ones that I think will benefit you most ==> http://www.makemoneybloggingreviews.com
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