Building organic website traffic isn't as hard as you might think.  In fact, there are a number of very simple things you can do today that will drive plenty of traffic and won't cost you a penny!

It's the biggest mystery on the internet.  Everyone wants to open an online business.  Everyone has a great idea.  Everyone has a sure-fire strategy for success.  And in many cases, they go out and build impressive websites around their idea.  They include features that make the site sticky, drawing visitors in and invi
ing them to browse around.  The graphics are slick and the layout beautiful.  Java and Ajax make the browsing experience smooth and seamless.  But in the end, no one shows up.

The vast majority of websites never get much of any traffic.  Of course, this should come as no surprise.  There are millions of different websites, even within a single topic, and there's no way for the average internet browser to find one specific website without some help.  And that's what this article is about.  What can you do as an online entrepreneur to identify yourself to the masses and help them find their way to your website?  More importantly, what can you do to achieve that objective with little or no money?

That last sentence is the most important one so far.  We all know the pay-per-click options exist and our hard earned money can quickly and easily drive traffic to your website.  We all know it can be done at the click of a mouse.  But how much will it cost?  For those of us who have tried this type of advertising, it's truly amazing how quickly you can run a tab paying for one click here and one click there.  Well, as it turns out, there are some other options available that can drive just as much traffic and won't cost you a penny.

The first strategy is encompassed by this article you're reading.  I wrote this article and posted it to the internet for free.  Nobody's paying me a penny.  I took the time to write is all down because I know how to post it to thousands of different article directories quickly.  And at the bottom of this article is a short bio with some brief information about me along with my website address.  That means everyone who reads this article has the option of clicking through to my website directly.  It's called article marketing and it's one of the best strategies for driving website traffic.

The second strategy involves posting comments on popular industry forums.  Once you register with a forum, you can post comments within any topic you can find a string for.  Your profile usually allows you to create a signature and that signature can include your website address.  Once again, you've leaving behind a direct link to your website every time you post a comment.  And as such, I would post as many comments on industry forums as you possibly can – perhaps as many as 15 or 20 comments each day.

The third strategy is to post comments on popular blogs in your area of expertise of beginning a blog of your own.  If you post comments on a blog for 10 consecutive days, I can almost guarantee you that someone is reading your posts.  It just happens.  People find stuff and you can quickly gain an audience by creating a blog.  And of course, you can revert to posting comments on someone else's blog.  You can always leave behind a direct link to your site when you do so.

The forth strategy is to make your website easy to bookmark with any one of the many social bookmarking sites that have emerged during the past year or so.  It's the new craze and sites like StumbleUpon or Boing Boing or Digg can quickly drive traffic to your site if the content you're providing is appreciated by others.  Adding the appropriate buttons and links only encourages that process.

Driving internet traffic doesn't have to be a mystery.  It doesn't need to be a secret.  And there are lots of things you can do to get plenty of organic traffic landing on your website.  In most cases, it doesn't cost any money.  It just takes time.  And if you can allocate the time, you'll be amazed at how quickly it will also start happening.  Good luck!

About the Author

Tactical Execution with Patrick Schwerdtfeger is a strategic company focused on growth marketing and program implementation across business markets.

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Anti Spam Fanatics ARE RUINING YOUR Business!
by Laurie Rogers

Many marketers online are seriously doubting that "Anti-
Spam Fanatics" are ruining thier businesses. I have a
bit of news for you, IF YOU currently hold that "mindset",
it is time for a rude awakening! Not only are they killing
newsletters and ezines with a variety of filtering software
programs, they're also black listing domains, ISP's and
web hosts.

Don't think so you say? Check out a few of these sites:
ht
p://mailwww.cern.ch/spam/SpamDomains.html or
http://www.spamhaus.org or this http://mail-abuse.org/
Better yet, go to a search engine type in "Spam Filters"
you will be amazed at how many listings there are. Now
what exactly do these sites do?

They collect Domain, Hosting and ISP information and
BLACKLIST it. For instance, if a domain, ISP or hosting
company has a lot of "spammers" as clients, they'll then
put that company on a "Blacklist". So that ANY person
(guilty or innocent) using that ISP, Domain or Web Host
can NOT send any email what so ever to certain parties.

Now incase you didn't get that, I'll explain it in a simpler
form. Let's say you own domain @xyz.com and you are
trying to send an email to @abc.com, BUT @abc.com
uses M.A.P.S ( http://mail-abuse.org/ ) to block out any
"spammers" from reaching their clients. Now, let's say
your Web Host had a few "spammers" on their servers
at one point, guess what? You will NOT be able to send
any email to @abc.com!

Did everyone get that? Even if YOU are innocent, YOU
are really GUILTY, because of some MORON'S idiocy!
YOU are NOW going to pay the price for "anyone" who
spammed from your ISP (the bigger they are, the more
chance of that happening). Anyone who spammed from
your Web Host. And if anyone owned @xyz.com before
you did, you also get to "pay the piper" for their actions.

If you use a third party service to mail out your ezine or
newsletter and their company is blacklisted, well guess
what? Some people just won't be receiving it anymore!
I actually found that out, when I used a well known third
party ezine delivery service. And upon consulting them
about this, I ended up cancelling my account due to the
lack of company concern about the situation.

Thinking about registering that domain name? Or are
you going to jump on some fantastic web hosting deal?
Or are you contemplating switching ISP's for a better
rate? Or considering using a Third Party Service for
mailing out your ezine? Better think again and do your
history on them all, because the Anti-Spam Fanatics
ARE making business online a Living NIGHTMARE!

If you have been falsely accused of spamming or are
now being blocked because of it, you CAN fight back!
Go to: http://www.e-crucible.org and file your complaint,
as there is a pending lawsuit against "Anti-Spammers",
ISP's and hosts that utilize these programs.

By Laurie Rogers Copyright 2002 All Rights Reserved
About the Author Laurie Rogers is co-author of the Ezine Resource Guide, you
can check it out at: http://www.zineadz.com/erg.html She
is the owner of Optin Frenzy a list building program for ezine
publishers http://www.optinfrenzy.com You can also obtain
Laurie's articles at: mailto:ezinearticles@optinfrenzy.com


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Way back in the good old days of the Internet (mid to late
'Nineties), you could find all sorts of free "stuff"
online.

Everything from website hosting and email, to software and
long distance phone calls came free of charge.

Some of the free services survived, while others used their
venture capital to pay for the mansions and yachts of their
CEO's and then closed up shop within a few months - leaving
investors high and dry.

A few free services still exist on the 'Net in today&#
9;s more
realistic dot-com economy and today rates as good time as
any to take a closer look.

** Free Email **

Log on to HotMail.com and get yourself a free email account
you can access from anywhere on the planet you can find an
Internet connection.

HotMail.com and http://mail.Yahoo.com (with twice the free
storage space of HotMail) rate as two of the most
successful and long-lived no cost services left over from
the "free" glory days of a few years ago.

** Free File Storage **

http://briefcase.Yahoo.com still ranks as the number 1 free
remote file storage service on the Internet.

Store up to 30 MB of files remotely for access and sharing
from any Internet connection anywhere in the world.

Instead of lugging floppy disks around between office,
home, and laptop, you can store them online in your own
password-protected briefcase on the Yahoo high-speed
servers.

A great way to back up and share files worldwide.

** Free Website Hosting **

Tripod.com allows you to set up your own website absolutely
free.

They support their service with third party banner ads at
the top of every page you display.

A great way to get started, but any serious entrepreneur
will eventually want to get their own low-cost hosting
account costing as little as $5 a month.

DotEasy.com presents an excellent alternative to Tripod.com
if you want your own domain name and a year's hosting for
only $25 a year.

Other free hosting services include: GeoCities.com,
gurlpages.com, and myfamily.com.

** Free Software **

Freeware and shareware, two ways software developers
distribute their creations, either in a "try before you
buy" mode, or as truly free software.

Many developers around the world create software for their
own personal use but, lacking a huge buying market or the
skills to sell the software, some of them just give it away
or sell it for a nominal fee after you try it.

If you know where to look, you can get everything from
graphics programs and website builders, to FTP programs and
recipe books.

Log on to Download.com and Zdnet.com for two of the most
popular places online to find software before paying full
retail.

NOTE: make sure your anti-virus program is up-to-date and
backup all your important files before installing any
software.

Free stuff online will never disappear because, when
appropriate, it represents the perfect way to start and
develop a relationship with customers. Unfortunately, the
"boom" days of the truly free online "lunch" seem gone
forever. Sigh.
About the Author Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-
author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to
use free articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted
visitors to your website or affiliate links... "Turn Words Into Traffic" reveals the secrets for driving
Thousands of NEW visitors to your website or affiliate
links... without spending a dime on advertising!
Click Here> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com


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Give some people a computer and an Internet connection
and they think it's a license for rudeness. What is it
about the Internet that causes some folks to take all
they learned about basic etiquette and throw it right
out the window?

Think about it: Just because your reader can't see you
doesn't give you the right to be rude, but there are
millions of Net users who feel that it does. I've been
called names I'd rather not repeat in polite company
and have been replied to in ALL CAPS. I'm
not deaf....
THERE'S REALLY NO NEED TO YELL.

I attribute this newfound sense of rudeness to the
feeling of invisibility one gets while sitting behind
the keyboard. I mean, would you really come up to me
face to face and call me a "Jackass" when you can't
read simple directions on how to unsubscribe yourself
from my ezine? I think not.

In this new digital age it appears we've taken everyday
common courtesy and thrown it right out the window.
Whatever happened to "please" and "thank you?" My mother,
who taught me as a child to call all adults 'Mr.' or 'Mrs.'
would have cardiac arrest over the emails I receive on
a daily basis.

Remember the "Golden Rule?" "Do unto others as you would
want them to do unto you." Translation: before you call
someone names, swear at them, report them to Spam Cop
or do any other annoying gesture, stop and think.
Maybe you did subscribe to that ezine and just don't
remember. Try giving someone the benefit of the doubt
before firing off an ugly email message that a real
live breathing human being with feelings is going
to read. Computers may not have feelings, but people
do and there's a person behind every email address and/
or website.

Here are the 'Top 10 Do's and Don'ts' for online communication:

1) Don't reply to someone in all caps; it's equivalent
to screaming at them.

2) If you receive a newsletter and can't figure out how
to unsubscribe, before threatening to sue or reporting the
publisher for Spam, politely ask the publisher to be
removed. Any ezine publisher worth his salt will be
happy to oblige. We really don't want to hold you
captive.

3) Try to reply to all of your email messages within
48 hours. If not, many people get annoyed and will
think you're avoiding them.

4) If you publish an ezine make sure you place subscribe
and unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of every
issue.

5) Don't use foul language in an email; that will get
you nowhere. If you're upset about something, please
state the problem clearly along with how you'd like to see
the issue can be resolved.

6) If you visit a website and it's not to your liking,
don't fire off a nasty email stating what a loser
the site owner must be. Remember what your Mom
use to say "If you don't have something nice to
say, don't say anything at all."

7) Make sure every page of your website contains an
email address to contact you. Please don't make
me fill out a long form just to ask you a simple
question.

8) When replying to an email, keep the original message
intact so the person you're replying to knows what
you're talking about. Personally I receive over 300
messages a day, so I need to see your message in context --
otherwise, I may not understand it.

9) If you buy or sell products/services online, make
sure you're using an online payment service like
PayPal.com in order to move money around quickly.
Don't make snail mail your only payment option.

10) Pay your bills in a timely fashion. If you owe
someone money online don't make them send out 10
emails telling you your payment is overdue. Pay
promptly.

So there you have it; my Top 10 rules for being more
polite and less rude online. If you incorporate
these tips into your daily Internet dealings you'll
find the Net a little warmer and a friendlier place
to be.

There's enough road rage in the world, so when traveling
the information highway please remember that we're all human. Your
computer is just a tool used to communicate with others. Please be
KIND
to them!
About the Author Merle http://www.EzineAdAuction.com
"Where some of the BEST Deals in Ezine Advertising are Made"
Subscribe to Ezine Ad Auction Authority and be kept
up to date on new auctions as they're added and much
more subscribe@ezineadauction.com- To advertise on the
website send mailto:advertise@ezineadauction.com


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We hope that the following article may be informative
and helpful to your e-zine readers, or on your web site.
You have permission to publish this
article (formatted to 60 characters, approx)
electronically or in print. If my article helps others
"out there" in any way, then I'm happy.

"We share what we know, so that others may
grow".

THE FIRST STEPS TO GETTING NOTICED IN
"THE VAST AND UNCHARTERED WORLD OF CYBERSPACE"

by Craig Lock

"To win, you fir
t have to be noticed"

Thought I'd share a few hints, based on our experiences
over the past five years...

In listing our various web sites, we only concentrate on the
major (12 or so search engines) and directories, like Open
Directory, who supply their database to many of the big
search engines. We've found that we check our listings in the
search engines every two months or so and do resubmit - just
to the MAJOR search engines. Though I don't try it with Alta
Vista and especially Yahoo (as we are already high up there
with our creative writing courses). I don't dare risk them
chucking us out, though I don't think they will! We've had
some difficulty with HotBot and Lycos (especially) and Open
Directory in getting listed, so I do re-submit from time to time
and they then seem to get listed. Alta Vista seems to take a
while - about 6 weeks. Believe Lycos is "winding down" in
listing sites incidentally.

So suggest checking your listings occasionally and resubmit-
ting (INDIVIDUALLY). I don't think any of the major search
engines see that as spam.

We also submit to the regional Yahoo (Australia and New
Zealand) and find we get listed quite speedily. I bid on key words
with Go To for 'writing courses', but we've found the traffic
from them to be minimal.

A thought, sorry question, on which to end...

With all the comments and articles about search engines and
so many people spending so much time and effort "trying to
get the better of them", why don't more web marketers rather
spend their valuable energies in activities, which they CAN
CONTROL to some extent. Once you have posted to the
major search engines, monitor your positioning from time to
time (say once a month) then LET BE. You'll never beat them,
because their policies change all the time. Start concentrating
on MARKETING and carving out a UNIQUE NICHE for yourself
on the WWW with your particular products.
Be UNIQUE and "brand" yourself as an expert in your field
with your own individual "style and niche". We mainly do that
by writing articles and submitting them to article announcement
lists, like Article Announce, Free Content, Publish in Yours, Publisher
Network and Article Publish. Articles with your website in your
signature file bring traffic, which then lead to SALES...and best of
all it's free advertising and helping others at the same time by sharing
your knowledge and experiences in your field of expertise.

It's been a long learning curve for us at Eagle Products (NZ)
seeing what works and what doesn't in getting listed with the
major search engines ...like the lessons of life itself.

Hope this info may help you readers "out there in cyberspace".

Go for it and good luck.

Craig Lock

About the author:

Craig Lock has been successfully marketing products online
for the past five years. Craig is a writer, who believes in sharing
information, as well as encouraging and helping others to find
their talents and gifts, to strive for and accomplish their dreams
in life - whatever they may be.
http://www.nzenterprise.com/

For interactive computer and internet coaching on CD, click on:
http://www.nzenterprise.com/4reel/

THIS ARTICLE MAY BE FREELY PUBLISHED.

If you have knowledge, let others light their candle at it"
- Margaret Fuller
About the Author Craig Lock has been successfully marketing products online
for the past five years. Craig is a writer, who believes in sharing
information, as well as encouraging and helping others to find
their talents and gifts, to strive for and accomplish their dreams
in life - whatever they may be.
http://www.nzenterprise.com/
For interactive computer and internet coaching on CD, click on:
http://www.nzenterprise.com/4reel/


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It isn't hard to place well in the Google searches.  Whether you're selling used cars or just promoting your new ideas, the key to good placement in search engine results is proper anchor text.

If you do a search for Oklahoma City Used Cars on Google, you will notice a trend.  Page 1 has the sponsored listings, followed by the Map listings, followed by 10 natural listings of various car sales sites.

Conspicuously in the middle is a dealership.  This deal
rship isn't even inside the Oklahoma City limits.  It could not be found on Google 2 months ago.  Still, there it is.

We were able to achieve high rankings in this relatively difficult keyword strictly through anchor text link building.  Despite having a few hundred links compared to thousands for the competition, this car dealership was able to "play in the big leagues."

There are directories, link exchange programs, blogs, and comments in forums that many point to as great ways of building links.  While these are all great methods, there is a way to trump these and dominate the rankings.

Simply stated, good writing is still the best way to get to the top in Google.  By good writing, I mean articles that are compelling, well titled, and with the targeted keyword utilized in the anchor text.

If an article is compelling and posted on a free article site (such as articlesfactory.com), those who need good copy for their sites and blogs will pick it up.  While the links created from these other sites won't have the same weight that the original article had when it was indexed, it will still be a link.

For example, if you were promoting a used car website and you wanted to place well for particular cities, you would want to write good articles about used cars and put your anchor text either in the article or in the About the Author section.  Discussing Los Angeles Used Cars and placing the link within the article will help that site place better in the search engines.

The most important part is the toughest part.  The information must be fresh and you have to keep posting.  Writing one article a month won't cut it.  One a week won't even be enough for tougher keywords.  You have to be willing to put out 3-5 articles per week if you really want to dominate Google.

About the Author J.D. Rucker promotes automotive websites such as Oklahoma City Used Cars, Los Angeles Used Cars, and Oklahoma Car Dealers.

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Affiliate marketing is the easiest way to start a business online if you don't have any specific area of expertise you can sell.

There are many reasons, but here are three reasons I would start market affiliate programs:

1. You don't need to create your own products,

2. You don't have to deal with customer service very often, and

3. You can create a business on just about any topic you want, including a hobbie.

Affiliate programs generate billions of dollars every y
ar in revenue. For your success visit www.ppc-profit-marketer.com there is plenty of room for growth, and so anyone can make money. If you're looking for an easy way to start a business online, affiliate programs are your answer.

When starting an affiliate business, there are three things you need to do to get started:

1. What will your topic be?

The first thing you need to do is write down several topics you're interested in. This can be anything. Don't limit yourself in this stage of your business. You're just getting started, so right now is the time to let your imagination run free.

Once you've chosen several topics, you want to do keyword research. Look for what's called "Long Tail Keywords". These are usually keyword phrases that have three or more keywords. Some of these you will be able to use. Others you will need to discard.

Then compare the amount of searches to the amount of results you find in the search engines. If a keyword phrase is really competitive, you may want to discard it.

What's important here is that you remember there must be an audience for whatever you choose to market. Also, since you're starting an affiliate business, you're not limited to the number of topics you can promote. It's a good idea to find three to five topics you are interested in and then diversify.

2. Will you build a website?

Although some would tell you that building a website is absolutely crucial to your affiliate marketing success, it really isn't. There are plenty of marketers who send traffic directly to the merchant using pay per click, or some other marketing technique that doesn't require a website.

The purpose of your website is what's critical here. You can build a site as simple as a one page lead capture page to capture email addresses. Give your visitors a free report or some other bonus for joining your list.

3. How will you promote your new business?

How you promote your affiliate website depends on several factors. Do you like to write? Does the technique you have chosen require a lot of time? Do you have some spare cash you can use to promote your new business? By visit on www.affiliate-windfall-secrets.com if you do, then you can combine your marketing with simple websites and earn your first commissions in days.

Internet marketing techniques to consider are: search engine optimization, forums, article writing, pay per click, and free classifieds. These work well with affiliate marketing. Choose one and try it for awhile. When you feel comfortable, choose another and add it to your marketing plan.

Before starting an affiliate business, you should consider these factors. After all, if you're looking for an easy way to start a business online, and you want to start earning quickly, affiliate marketing is the way to do it.

About the Author:

www.cajuns-recipes.com
www.delicious-sandwich-recipes.com

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Theres an old saying, People vote with their pocketbook. Id like to suggest they also vote with their apathy.
Current popularity choices are in a constant state of flux. There are times when site visitors seem to respond to flash technology while other times the simple site of flash will cause them to use their back button. They just dont have the enthusiasm they need to venture through yet another animated flash design.
Sometimes visitors enjoy a stripped down site that is easy to navigate with limited bells and whistles while oth
r times it appears sites with surprises and a graphic intense format captures attention.
The problem is knowing which format is popular at any given time. more visit to :-www.instant-website-security.comSometimes your site design should operate independent of what seems to be gaining the most immediate attention.
I had been told about a site that had information I was interested in. I went to the site was met with a broad range of bells and whistles. I had no idea which function did what, but it looked cool and the sounds were great. I left with a sense of appreciation for complex site design, but never returned because I couldnt easily find what I needed.
You can develop a site design that is both inviting and easy to navigate. Many web designers feel that you must sometimes sacrifice one for the other, but Ive never found that to be true.
Web design is a simple mechanism that takes all your work and strains it into a comprehensive, yet condensed, representation of your greatest dreams and fondest hopes.
Sometimes the focus of the site can shift from what is most important in the overall understanding of your business idea to glamorous ways to present the site.
If you take a look you can find sites that seem to be more about looking good than they are about helping a visitor understand the business and products well enough to convert to consumer status.
Brick and mortar stores may give their showroom a facelift from time to time, but they also understand the decorations are not what makes the business. more visite to :-www.instant-squeeze-page-mastery.com If the decorations are wonderful they may see more visitors, but they may only be interested in seeing what it looks like with little interest in whats being sold.
In web design the first things to attend to are comprehensive content and easy navigation. Any dressing up of the site can wait until you know what your site will say and how you will get from one location on the site to the next in the fewest clicks (generally no more than two).
but they do pay attention to what you say and how you say it &' make that your priority and the rest will fall into place.

About the Author:

www.html-lockdown.com

www.impacts-audio.com

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You may have found the affiliate internet marketing products or services that people are hungry for and joined the best home based internet business too. But have you mastered the techniques to drive massive, free organic traffic to your beautiful website selling these wonderful marketing products.

Search engines are not the only way through which visitors get to your website. But I have read that most people say Google analytics for their sites show about 50 percent of visitors came from searches. The rest of their
visitors came from referring sites with about 10 percent already knew their link.  Optimizing your site for search engines, therefore is very important if you want to maintain a steady flow of visitors to your site. In this article we will discuss how seo can influence ways to make money online for your new online business opportunity.

1. Maximize Searchability Through Good Content

Match your business goals to the goals of your anticipated reader. If your site is about dogs, show pictures, describe their habits and why they are called a man's best friend. If you think your reader would want more information than you can provide on your webpage, create a page with links to other relevant sites. If your content is good, well respected sites in your field will not only be willing to link to your site, they will want to as it adds value to their site. Similarly if your site is on some online business opportunity that you wish to promote, your content is important and forms the backbone of your entire work at home business.

2. Optimize Your Website For Your Online Business  Opportunity

Before you begin thinking of ways to make money online, you will need firstly to optimize your website. Your landing page should contain hundreds of key phrase variances people use in their searches and over time, these keyword phrases also increase in number. It has been thought by many SEO experts that meta description now does not add much value as before and some search engines especially Google ignores it at the moment. So what I do recommend is although you don't have to remove your meta description, do not get overly anxious to cramp all your keywords here. Instead, put more time and effort into optimizing your website with all the relevant keywords for your online business opportunity. 

3. Internal Linking Can Benefit Your Online Business Opportunity

To do well in SEO, not only must you get links containing your main keywords in the anchor text, from other websites, you should also link to other webpages within your own website, using your main keywords in the anchor text.

Internal linking refers to linking your home page to your other pages within your website.  What you need to do is use your main keyword in the anchor text and create a link pointing to your internal webpage. This is something you can easily do to get better search engine ranking for your online business opportunity and you will be surprised that not many marketers are practicing this nor aware of the benefits. This is because many marketers still work without a marketing plan and concentrate entirely on ways to make money online.

The two most important things to consider is how you anchor your internal links and what phrases you use to link. It is a good thing to link your pages together and you can also make use of a footer by linking to all your most important pages using the appropriate anchor text keyword phrase. You should avoid using words like "click here" as the anchor text does not help you or your online business opportunity at all.

Your business marketing strategies may present you different ways of making money online, but to really succeed, you do need to focus much on SEO and link building.  Good search engine optimization is not a once and done activity. It takes significant knowledge, effort and time to gain and maintain top search engine placement. Keywords are the backbone of any SEO strategy. So using the right keywords for the website is a significant key to success in any online business opportunity.

About the Author

To find out the best ways to make money online to succeed in your  online business opportunity visit Peter Lee's Work At Home Ideas and Opportunities

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Yahoo! and India- A strategic move.

The latest news about Yahoo! buying a stake in Indiatimes couldn't have come at a more opportune moment. In a release by The Financial Times, states that "Yahoo, the US internet search engine, is in talks to acquire a minority stake in Indiatimes, the online operation of Bennett Coleman, India's biggest media group"So why this interest for Yahoo! towards Indiatimes? Let us first put forth the present Internet Market in India.

With an increase in the awaren
ss of the potential of Internet Marketing, and with various big companies such as ICICI, Citibank, HDFC considering Internet marketing as part of its budget, this only substantiates the fact of the growing online market in India.

Capturing a share of the still nascent Indian Markets

If all goes well between Yahoo! and the Bennet Coleman group, Yahoo can have the upper advantage in terms of reaching out to the Indians. We all know how aggressive Google has been in terms of improving its search features, and MSN following suit. This only intensifies the battle for the number 1 search engine. However, each search engine has its own loyal customers. However, Yahoo! has not been that aggressive and has been intelligent enough to diversify its services and not just relate to Search Engine marketing alone, targeted to the Indian Sub Continent.

Lets take a look at what Yahoo! has in store if everything goes well.

Indiatimes portal is owned by the Bennet Coleman group, which also publishes dailies such as "The Times of India" which was originally launched in 1838, the English language daily has a circulation of more than 21 million, apart from magazines such as Femina, etc and other journals. The biggest competitor to Indiatimes comes from Rediff.com However, Yahoo! has partnered with Rediff in terms of ecommerce. This gives Yahoo! the advantage in terms of partnering with 2 of the most popular portals in India in order to reach out to the most ignorant consumer who just recognizes the Internet as a medium to send mail and chat.With Yahoo! having its share in Small Businesses and with Rediff and Indiatimes too venturing into the Small-Medium segment, Yahoo! will have the upper hand as compares to MSN or Google.According to Alexa.com, which ranks websites based on the number of site clicks, the top two local portals in India are Rediff.com, ranked 139, and Indiatimes at 316 in a league of 500 most visited sites. Both lag behind Yahoo! IndiaThis leaves us with an obvious question as to why tie up with Indiatimes if Yahoo already enjoys a good ranking compared to Rediff and Indiatimes? There are various reasons behind this and one of them is to project Yahoo! India as a completely Indian Portal. Another fact is that when it comes to Online Advertising or the PPC Models, none of the 2 Indian portals have the experience in setting up the system to offer to the Indian online consumers. Although Rediff has ventured into this model, they still need to clean up the ground work.By joining hands with Yahoo!, Indiatimes can, if they want to, get the upper hand over Rediff in terms of technology implemented marketing vehicles. All said and done, the story is yet to begin. It's a win-win situation here with both parties (read as Yahoo! and Indiatimes) looking at seriously expanding their online presence. While Yahoo! can try to out beat its rivals MSN, and partly Google, Indiatimes can be comfortably slated to slide over Rediff and actually make it to the number 1 slot, with Yahoo! India backing it up.By reaching out to the Indian Markets, and already having consolidated its position in the Chinese market, Yahoo! is surely one company to look out for. After Google and MSN, may be its time for Yahoo to be in the spotlight. And finally, with these changes happening, may be its time the Indian markets have opened up and recognized online marketing.

About the Author

John Benjamin works as an Internet Marketing freelance consultant. He also operates his website http://www.promindsinc.com

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A SEO company is responsible in creating traffic and high ranking in their customers' websites. Their SEO experts are also responsible in monitoring and making sure that the traffic and ranking is maintained for a period of time. Because of this, there are a lot of new SEO companies that are trying to create name in the industry. Most of them are really true and hard working but there are also those who just wanted to scam and earn money from other people.

The use of 1-marketing-services.com/company.htm">Internet is spreading fast all over the world. Almost all transactions are now being made over the Internet and so a lot of businesses have added an online presence. They find large traffic with Internet users. Some even say that it is cheaper to market and create advertisements over the Internet than in other forms of media. In order to achieve the traffic, the website owners look for the help of SEO companies. The SEO company provides the right elements to make your website attractive to your target audience. It uses several tools to catch the attention of people and to check the products and services that you are offering on your site. 

The price for the services of a SEO company is competitive. It can give any website owner a run for their money. Once you find the right SEO Company for you, you are sure that the price you paid for is compensated. But what if you were able to get the services of a fake or scam SEO Company? 

In order to prevent this thing to happen, you should be cautious in looking for the needed SEO Company. There are some tips that you can consider before grabbing the first SEO Company that offers you their services.   

1.       Avoid getting SEO companies that send their advertisements through scam emails. If an SEO company sent you an email informing you of the services that they offer, then do some research about them. This is the initial tactic of scam companies. More reliable SEO companies do not need to advertise themselves because their clients speak for them. Satisfied clients will truly be too happy to share to others the services that they received from their SEO Company. They will surely refer them to friends and acquaintances that need their services as well. It is better to inquire from a SEO Company that is referred to you than from those that you just received emails from.

2.       Do not bite to the SEO Company's promise of achieving high rank immediately after you acquired their services. This is indeed an appealing offer but you should watch out. It is not easy to achieve a number 1 rank in the span of two-weeks or less. It requires a lot of talent to achieve this goal. You can expect to gain a high rank with the help of the SEO Company but it requires time to achieve it. It is better to go for the low but continuously moving up rank rather than the fast high rank but done in illegal manner.

A SEO Company that offers this tactic a is scammer because they are using black hat tactics to get their preferred rank. A black SEO Company also tend to use a 'cloaking' approach that can cause you to be penalized and removed from major search engines once they find out about it.

3.       If the seo company offers a relatively low price compared with the high promises that they offer, beware you may be getting what you paid for. The work done by the SEO Company is tedious so they need to be compensated for it. No matter how good they are in the service, they still need to ask for a competitive price for the work that they are willing to offer. In fact, a professional SEO company tends to collect higher fees because their consultants are already aware of the hard work that they will do to make website a better place for traffic. But there are instances when a new SEO Company can offer low price since they are just starting and wanted to create a portfolio, a name for itself and create clients referrals. You can opt for their services but be wary that you have to face the risk of taking it.

4.       Investigate and go for a SEO company based on referrals and record. If the SEO company claims a site that they worked with, check for their codes or logo on the specified site. If you cannot find one, you can always inquire from them to prove that they are indeed clients of your prospective SEO Company.

Looking for scammers is not easy but if you are determined to find a good SEO company, there's always a better option for you to locate one.

About the Author Moe Tamani is a Marketing expert with a leading SEO Company specializing in Organic SEO.

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For years conventional wisdom has said that articles are freebies and cannot be used to create income. Thanks to the powers of the Internet, this is no longer true. Thats because of a tiny item at the end of the page called the resource box.

When someone has taken the time to read your article to the end, he or she is engaged. They are truly interested in your topic and what you have to say about it. By the time they get to the resource box, they are in a great frame of mind to go further, to know more.

Here are several
principles for a Resource Box that brings in prospects:

<strong>Make the resource box seamless.</strong> Begin with the word and. Make it something like, And now Id like to invite or And now Id like to give you and follow with a link.

<strong>Design a special web page.</strong> This page will contain only that particular free offer. The page will have more information about the item and about you. It should be short with a clean, simple layout.
<strong>
Offer something small and free.</strong> By giving them a small free sample, your success rate will go up dramatically. Generally people shy away from sales offers at the end of an article and they begin looking at the article as a sales piece rather than what it is: a teaching tool.

<strong>Offer something that can be delivered by email.</strong> That way you can get those email addresses. It could be a document, an e-course delivered over time, an audio file, or a video file.

<strong>Create a follow up email.</strong> Youll do this in your autoresponder. Include the link to the delivery page where the item can be downloaded. On the delivery page, thank them for opting in and make the download the hero of the page. Under the download link, make another offer for something that costs $5-$7.

That email list is an open door for offers and event announcements like a well stocked fishing pool. Over time you will receive multiplied returns.

About the Author:

And now I'd like to invite you to get my free 30 Lesson ecourse "How to Support Your Family Using 1 Non-fiction Book." The course is delivered by email, on audio segment each day. To get yours, go to http://RoseyDowFreeStuff.com Rosey Dow is CEO of Experts in Focus--http://expertsinfocus.com

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...body of page...




Example 1mypage.html with JavaScript code

We replace the JavaScript code with an instruction for the browser to go and grab the code from a separate file. The new page will look like this.









...body of page...




Example 4mypage.html with style sheet code

We want to move this code into a separate file, so we remove it from the original page, and add a link to point to the separate file that now holds the Style Sheet code.









...body of page...

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But using simple techniques combined with a bit of care, you can easily give you images the attention that will do them justice. The materials used in printing your images play an important factor in the quality of the finished print.

1. Printer. When buying a printer think about the materials that you use. If you are planning to print large format images, choose a printer that can handle rolls of photographic paper. These printers are usually more expensive, but great savings can be made when buying paper.

2. Paper. Photographic paper comes in many different sizes and textures. No harm in testing out a few different papers from different manufacturers to see which one suits your needs best.

3. Ink.

It is strongly recommended to buy inks from your printer's manufacturers. Third party inks may mean greater savings on your part but it does not guarantee that they will be suited for your printer. It is advisable also to plan well in advance when you plan to buy a printer. If you are only going to print a small amount of images it may be better using a local photo lab. If you are planning to sell a large amount of images, your own printer will be very valuable. Having your own printer will ensure that you can process orders immediately after getting them.

Take note of delivery time though. Nowadays, offering a speedy delivery can mean the difference in making a sale. Using a third party to print your images may take a week or more before you can get your images back. This does not sound good. When you are happy with the quality of your printer you now need to consider presentation. Putting an image in to a cheap frame will not do anything for your prints. Presentation is all about giving your images the impact they truly deserve. Before you print your images start thinking about presentation.

When finished printing match your prints to your computer screen. If you think you have a problem with your final print you may need to calibrate your computer. This is a common problem with a lot of people printing at home. Most advance photographic software comes with a basic calibration program, which can be simply used in improving results.

The perfect image is not only achieved during the time it is taken. It is also achieved after it is taken. With the perfect tools and proper care. For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.colorprintingwholesale.com

About the Author Florie Lyn Masarate got the flair for reading and writing when she got her first subscription of the school newsletter in kindergarten. She had her first article published on that same newsletter in the third grade.

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Keeping records of financial transactions of any business venture and streamlining these transactions are tough tasks to undertake. Financial transactions include payable and receivable accounts, payroll management and trial balance. To make this harder task lucid and convenient, accounting software packages have come into force. These application packages can be developed by business ventures in-house or can also be bought from software vendors. Depending upon the needs they serve, the complexity and price of accounting software packages va
y to a greater extent. Scale of operation of the business venture is one of the vital factors while deciding the ideal software application for it.

Accounting software comprises of several modules. Each module serves a unique area of the financial transactions of the business venture. In accounts receivable module, financial details regarding money to be received from clients in exchange of product/service is recorded. Similarly there are other modules catering to specific financial transactions like accounts payable, general ledger, billing, purchase and sales order and stocks of company. Non-core financial activities like electronic payment, debt collection, payroll, timesheet etc are also maintained with help of accounting software modules.

Installation of accounting software adds to the efficiency of a business venture and virtually eliminates the errors that can arise from human accounting. Small business ventures can also be benefited within their budget by installing small business software. Sage is one of the leading accounting software providers. Sage accounting software is ideally designed for small and medium scale industries. Its stand-alone structure with Windows operating system is easy-to-install and use.

About the Author:

Paul Benjamin is the famous free lance author in UK. He has the expertise in related field of ecommerce. He is very popular for writing about business eCommerce, eCommerce Solution and Software.

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Investing in a quality Generic Domain Name is the most effective and long lasting Marketing Strategy for your Internet based operation. In today's competitive online marketplace, it's increasingly  difficult to get your website noticed or even seen by your prospective customers.

Unless you are a large company with tens of thousands of dollars to spend on advertising and search engine optimization -- you may end up in the bottomless pit of huge search engine databases and never get the attention you deserve...>

Now, there is an easier way to get noticed and attract millions of search engine visitors starting from day one.

The choice of your Domain Name is the most important Marketing Strategy you'll ever make to help you to rank higher on thousands of Search Engines and attract millions of visitors each year.

The truth is, websites with Generic Keywords in their domain name WILL list higher (in the first 20 listings on top Search Engines) than the most optimized websites and is easier to find on top Search Engines.

Before purchasing a domain name, there are many things to consider. In order to be seen by buyers when they are using a search engine to look for a product or service, it is essential that your website be one of the first 20 or so listed. One of the best ways to insure this, is to use a GENERIC domain name for your website.

For Example...

Using a search engine is very similar to looking up a product or service in the Yellow Pages of your local phone book - under the generic name of the product/service you will find companies that have what you are looking for. Similarly, on the internet, some search engines list websites by how closely the website name compares to the item being searched for.

If your business name is ABC Corp. and you are in the business of selling 'Baby Toys' online. You'll drive thousand times more targeted traffic if your Domain names includes your "Main Key Word" on it like:

TopBabyToys.com JustBabyToys.com CustomBabyToys.com AmericanBabyToys.com UltimateBabyToys.com or, ABCKidsToys.com; Instead of your brand name ABCCORP.COM.

A good generic domain name can put you way ahead of your competition in the search engines, and, can literally be worth many millions of dollars.

In the past, some companies believed that company recognition was the key and were willing to pay a lot of money to obtain this. The internet, however, is changing the way that knowledgeable company executives are attracting buyers.

Unless you are willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising, it is much more important to select a generic domain name that identifies the product or services you provide to users on your website.

With a GENERIC domain name and a programmer who understands the importance of generic keys to search engine spiders, your website can be way above your competition on internet search engines.

About the Author Abe Cherian is the founder of Multiple Stream Media. His website NicheDomainNamesNow.com sells memorable domain names that are highly in demand. Find out if you can find a winning domain name for your business
or personal use by visiting his website.
http://www.NicheDomainNamesNow.com

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Make Your Offer Irresistible - All good copywriters
will tell you, the secret to great copy is to make it
impossible to say "No"!

Find the Good in Everything - Rather than try to hide
negative sides to your product, try making them known
with a positive twist.

Stay Focused - Product or Audience. Keep your
advertising focused. The wider your scope, the easier
it gets to lose your reader.

What, Where, Why, Who or How - One of the quickest ways
to grab attention, is to pose a question to your<
r>readers they can't help but answering.

Tell Them What They Know - Another way to get your
reader interested is to state a negative fact that your
reader already knows, and offer a solution.

Just the Facts Ma'am - Although "Power" words are great
eye catchers and help the flow of your copy, nothing
beats providing facts and product details.

Be Sincere - People can spot phonies and phony copy
just as easy.

No Fear? Wrong! - Fear makes a great motivator. Fear of
missing a great deal or fear of what can happen without
your product.

Be Personal - Address you reader in the first person.
In many situations the "human touch" is a great benefit
as well.

Don't Write A Book - Direct Mail, whether in online or
off, needs to be just that, "Direct". Don't waste time
with "warm-up" text.

Flattery Will Get You Everywhere - Vanity will serve
its purpose, as long as you don't overdo it.

Use Power Words - Use words proven catch their eye and
them to buy.

Easy Respond Procedures - In Direct Sales especially,
you want to make it easy and obvious how they can
respond to your offer, while you have they're
attention.

Showcase Your Guarantee - With the overwhelming
abundance of Internet and Mail Fraud plaguing us,
people need a guarantee.

Offer Insider Information - People like to think they
are getting something Exclusive or Special.
About the Author Wild Bill Montgomery
ATTENTION: Are You In Business On The Internet?
Do You Want The Best In Helpful Information and
FREE Software & Sites? Want Direct Links To All
The Latest Articles? Want A FREE Software and
Reports Package? Start Getting Our Two Sizzlin'
Hot Newsletters and Find Out What You're Missing!
Go To


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The question that I most frequently hear from people is "How can I attract thousands of visitors to my site each month?" Well, driving high traffic to your site is important, but what's even more important, is designing a website that makes them stay.

After all, what's the use of spending all your time and money on creating a unique product that many people want, building a 100-page site, winning top rankings on search engines, and spending $5,000 in advertising if visitors don't stay once they a
rive?

In this article, you're going to learn 5 important website design tips to make your site more attractive. So not only your website will attract many visitors, but it will also motivate them to stay for a while, which is your only chance to let them know about your offers and turn them into newsletter subscribers or even paying customers.

#1. Your Site Should Be Fast Loading

One of the biggest problems you see on the Internet is that some websites are slow loading. There are many sites out there that take more than 20 seconds to load -- a lifetime on the Internet. People just don't have time and patience to wait that long.

The best way to make your site fast-loading is to use more text and fewer graphic. Wild graphics and animations are "traffic killers" so don't use them unless you really need to. If it takes more than 10 seconds for your web pages to load, chances are you're losing as much as half of your site's traffic!

Don't assume all visitors have fast connections. Many people still use slow connections like 36.6 kbps or 28.8 kbps, so design your website the way everyone can view it quickly -- not just the few who have
high-speed connections.

To make sure your website loads fast, view your site with slow connections. If it doesn't load in 10 seconds, reduce the number and the size of graphics. WebGraphics Optimizer is a great software that helps you reduce graphic size while the quality doesn't really change and it looks almost the same.

#2. Make Your Website Easy to Navigate

People should easily and quickly find what they're looking for. Don't make your visitors click on 10 links, scroll down each page, and click on the "back" button several times to finally find the page they're looking for.

Statistics show that we lose up to 50% of visitors each time we make them click on a link. That's why all the pages of your site shouldn't be more than five clicks away from your home page. Make your visitors enjoy surfing your site. It should be easy for them to find the information that they want.

Also remember not everyone enters your website from the home page, especially if they find your site through search engines. So make sure each page should have a title so they always know where they are at, and a link to the most important pages of your website (e.g. home page, order page, contact page and so on).

Another way to make your site easy-to-navigate is using clear link texts. Visitors must know where each link will take them at a glance. For example, if you want to create a link to your order page, "Sale" is not a good name because it's unclear and confusing. Use "Order" instead because it's common.

The key is making it easy for them to find what they want, so make your site easy to navigate.

#3. Use Suitable Colors

Your copy is the most important part of your website, so it's essential that you make it easy to read, and nothing is easier to read than black text on white background.

The easier it is to read your copy, the more effective it will be. If you use inappropriate colors that make your copy difficult to read, few people will bother reading it, and if no one reads your copy how are you going to make sales?

#4. Don't Overuse Pop-ups

What's a pop-up? It's a window -- usually a small window -- that is opened when you click on a link and open or close a window. Unfortunately many webmasters go overboard with pop-ups which only results in annoying visitors.

They think if a pop-up appears and asks to order each time a visitor closes a window, he's more likely to make a purchase... but they're completely wrong. Not only will they not make any sales, but they'll also lose a potential customer forever.

Don't get me wrong! Using pop-ups can be an effective way to get a higher response to your offer. What I'm saying is that you shouldn't overuse and abuse them. They're good marketing tools if you use them wisely.

Pop-ups are best used to offer something of high value to your site visitors... something that you know they're very interested in. Make an offer that they can't resist!

#5. Remember Your Purpose

Why are you creating your website? Do you want to sell your products and services? What do you expect from your site? Decide on your purpose before you start designing your site. This is extremely important.

Each part of your website should lead to your purpose. All the links, graphics, titles, and the colors you choose should lead to what you want from your site.

Sometimes people are so wrapped up in being a website owner that they forget their site is to sell. Instead of designing a sale-oriented website, all they're trying to do is designing a "thing of beauty". But there's a problem here: beauty won't sell.

It doesn't matter if your visitors are impressed by professional Flash animations and graphics on your site. You should ask yourself: Does your website sell or just impress people? Do people say,"Wow! How beautiful!" and then close the window and go to another site, whithout even noticing your salesletter at the bottom of the page?

Keep your purpose in mind all the time. If you expect your website to sell, then design it the way it makes visitors interested in your offer and motivates them to buy.

To your success!

Ladan Lashkari

About the Author Ladan Lashkari is a respected Internet marketing expert, and the owner of http://www.FreeNewsletterIdeas.com/ where you'll find free newsletter templates, creative newsletter ideas, honest reviews, and helpful resources to start your own highly profitable email marketing campaign.

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What makes a good website? The graphic design of successful online casinos as case study

The Internet is a visual medium, but this simple truth may be lost on us in this current era of Search Engine Optimization when text content is king. However when it comes to delivering a message intuitively and immediately, a picture, an image, or graphic design is worth a thousand words. Online casinos (much like land-based casinos have had for decades) spearheaded the amalgamation of sales, entertainment, and aesthetic experien
e, by employing smart graphic design. Internet gambling is the most prosperous industry on the web; therefore marketing agents of all fields must ask what do online casinos do right - What is the key to successful promotional design?

Much like the evolution of casino software, which I have covered in a previous article, the development of computer hardware and improvement of internet connections has set the tone when it comes to advances in web design. At the early stages of the industry websites were not much different from conventional printed pages. As time went by entered powerful graphic programs and animation players, but the designers giddy with their new toy box unfortunately tended to ignore technological limitations. Eager to amaze the user with what then probably seemed like endless possibilities left a legacy of  elongated Flash presentations that either took too much time to load, required the user to install new players every couple of weeks, were too heavy for the user's PC, or d) all of the above. Till this very day I often click on Skip out of pure habit, and I'm sure many users share the same Pavlovian response.

Successful online casinos, constantly keeping practicality in mind avoided these traps. Convenience and intelligibility have always been and always will be the building blocks of smart user interfaces; this is a key factor in your visitor's subconscious choice or deliberate decision to return to your site or shun from it. 

Nowadays files and images load within seconds and web designers can produce sites that are both user friendly and visually pleasing. Although the novelty has not fully expired, designers now curb their enthusiasm and present tamer designs rather than bombing the user with extravagant colors and nonstop visual affects. This approach pays relatively demure design proves itself effective in terms of establishing reliability and a feel of genuine quality, or in a word - class.

A short survey of today's top online casinos demonstrates that industry leaders save the razzle-dazzle for the casino software and games, and maintain a rather cool front. Instead of overwhelming the first time visitor, casinos in the know create an inviting sophisticated ambiance. Examples for the polished look can be found in www.CasinoTropez.com, www.Bodog.com, and www.Money-Casino.com . The refined touch is achieved by employing the eternal elements of art and beauty, much like in classical painting: harmonious colors, proportional measures, and lucid idea flared by a tint of the unexpected; such as a shade that seems at odds with the primary color plate or careful placement of 3D components. This formula inspires a blended sense of security and excitement.

The idea behind this style is to create an eye candy, but avoid making your visitors nauseous you can have them swooning over your games later, but first make an elegant entrance. Nonetheless designers do get their chance to run a little wild and turn on their creative juices with advertising material. Although the site should uphold a dignified appearance, banners and mailers can be more humorous and sassy. An example of playful mailers can be found here. With eye catching images, uncommon fonts, and visual or literal puns, mailers communicate pure fun and inject fresh energy to your relationship with the user.

Of course, not all online casinos are free from design foibles. Many websites simply get lost in the shuffle as they do not offer a unique visual experience and stick to tired color plates or outdated templates, while others just stick out like a sore thumb. Currently Search Engine Optimization methodologies demand that text be given precedence over graphic design, and more often than not the finished product proves that this technology impinges heavily on the creative vision. I would address website owners facing this dilemma by paraphrasing the words of maverick architect Buckminster Fuller: When you work on a problem don't think about beauty, but if your solution isn't beautiful, know it is wrong.

We are human. Our eyes guide us. Wherever we go we seek aesthetic pleasure and forever respond to beauty. Smart marketing strategies are based on endowing the users with an experience that surpasses the mere product, the chance to feast their eyes on a taste of the exquisite.

About the Author

John Martin is a web-planning and marketing consultant specializing in online casino gambling, currently providing services to Money Casino.

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Clients in Denver are always asking me about SEO. They want to know what it is, how it works, and what they need to do.

What I tell them is that SEO comprises of three main components: content, code, and inbound links in that order.

Content is still King not so much because great content creates sticky sites, but because great content does more to help your search engine rankings than many of the other tactics that SEOs use. Knowledgeable SEOs must first and forem
st be great writers who can incorporate the right ratio of keywords within your content.

The way your site is coded can have dramatic results when it comes to your organic positioning. Make sure your designer knows what this means. If your web design and development company knows what they are doing, they will know how code affects your SER (search engine ranking). Your site should also be optimized, but that can sometimes have less of an effect on your SER than the structure of the code itself.

Inbound links are perhaps the most time-consuming and troublesome of the three keys to great organic SER. Don't clutter your site with unrelated links that you trade with just anyone. Trading links does not have nearly the effect that inbound links do. Save your energy by increasing links.

If you spend your time and energy on these three core tactics, you'll definitely increase your ranking. And the beauty of it is that these techniques only improve the stickiness of your site, the performance, and your reputation as an expert in your industry.

About the Author Ivy Hastings is a Project Manager at the Denver web design company, Fusionbox.

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Do you recall days when you purchased an actual paper gift certificate to pass on to others on a special occasion? Sometimes they even came in booklets where they were broken down into smaller denominations.

Today virtually all major businesses offer gift cards that can be used much the same way you would a credit card. You can use the card until all funds loaded onto its magnetic strip are used up.

The same is true for online business. Customers can pick up a cyber gift card and have it delivered by email. The trac
ing number can allow the recipient to access your online store using the gift code they received to apply to purchases.

These processes have helped automate sales by gift card much more quickly.

If you are involved in ecommerce you can use special discount codes to entice potential customers to sign up for site membership. They will exchange contact information for a discount in your online store. You might consider it the cost of doing business while they will view it as a thank you gift. In this case both of you are right.

There is a second lesson to be learned from the change from paper certificates to gift cards. The role of business is in a constant state of flux. There are new methods being developed almost daily for business tracking and point of sales guidance in helping customers see various add on merchandise that might enhance their purchase. This has been done in stores for a long time. On the Internet we often see this in the form of the words, "Customers who bought this item were also interested in..."

This is sort of like the online counterpart to the familiar, "Do you want fries with that?"

If you've been in online business for any length of time you already know that it is different than running an actual store in many ways. What you may not realize or at least haven't thought much about is that the Internet is in the midst of constant growth. There will be new marketing techniques, advances in Search Engine Optimization and ingenious ways to facilitate the direction of traffic to your site. Don't be afraid to alter your approach to adapt to these new techniques.

Every day new distribution techniques are being implemented. Music that was once delivered almost exclusively through radio is now being found online and through mp3 players. Visual programming is no longer exclusive to television. Full-length programs can be seen online and can be downloaded for viewing on an iPod. This was the stuff of fairy tales in 1995. Today it is reality - and it won't stop here.

Never assume things will always stay the same. They have not and they will not. As consumers demand more businesses will give more. This cycle will continue until change is absolutely essential.

Continual adaptation is necessary in all business, but perhaps even more so with ecommerce. Learn, keep learning and never stop your online education. It is a brave new world and the fittest are the ones inclined to learn and apply what they know to their ecommerce business.

About the Author:
Learn How To Make A Website with HighPowerSites.com or Make Your Own Website incredibly fast at HighPowerSites.com. Build A Website with BuildAGreatSite.com. Read more!

Link Exchanges
What can they do for your business! (Part 2)

By: Martin R. Lemieux
__________________________________________

If you haven't read (part 1), please go here:
http://www.smartads.info/articles/le/10.html
_________________________________________________

TO AUTOMATE OR NOT TO?

For those of you who are trying to figure out if you should
use an automated link promoter or just simply doing
everything yourself:

Linking softwares are great (not really) I've tried 2
progr
ms myself, and I must say that both attempts
were a disaster! Now i'm not saying that eventually
that there will be a perfect software out there to promote
your link exchange program.

Right now, here are some of the problems

- The links that you will find are not relavant to your
site's content.

- Some links tend to be "Link Farms" that only harm
your search engine performance.

- You'll tend to get millions of porn sites!

and so on...
---------------------------------------------------

Here's a method that holds very strong when
I look for link partners:

---------------------------------------------------
When I find a great resource that has similar content
to my site, I will browse through their ENTIRE
"Resourceful Links" listed on their site and see if It's
a good idea to link to them!
---------------------------------------------------

Here's another method of doing this effectively
for best results:

---------------------------------------------------
If you happen to find a great resource, enter their entire
"URL" in www.google.com.

What you need to look for is this:
"Find web pages that link to www.this-site.com"

The Purpose Martin?

Once you click on the "pages that link to that site" you
will find sites that already have a great link program
related to your site!

Take advantage of linking to all the sites listed within
that search on google!
----------------------------------------------------
PLEASE TRY TO AUTOMATE YOUR LINK
EXCHANGE PROGRAM!

It get's very fustrating for an entrepreneur like me who is
trying to have a really good source of link exchanges,
especially when I have to e-mail my companies information
manually!

Try adding a "Mail Script" that takes the link exchange
information right from your site! You'll find that more
sites will want to link to yours!

Here's an example of what your form should ask:
=====================================>

1) Full Name: Martin Lemieux

2) WebSite URL: http://www.smartads.info

3) Title:

Affordable Web Design & Web Site Marketing

4) Description: (250 characters or less)

Smartads is here to help you expose your business
to the world. SEO Services & Affordable Web Site Design
for your online promoting needs. Web Site Marketing
Articles to help you get more traffic to your site.

5) Our link on your site: http://www???

6) E-mail: youre-mail@yoursite.com

7) Comments:

8) SUBMIT

====================================>
That's all you really need!!!

** TIP **

If you don't know how to install this form on your site,
here's a paid link automation program that will suit any
business out there!

Linksmanager will manage your entire link resources on
your site! This service will help you cut your time in half!!!
ENJOY!

Click here: http://www.qksrv.net/click-1-7204547

=====>

Another little "Timbit",

Give visitors your link information!

Please add your "Link Information" that you would want
visitors to add on their site! I've gone to too many sites
were I had to spend over 5 minutes trying to find their
"Link Exchange" information!

Now i'm not talking about a link on your site to your link
program, i'm talking about the information you would give
to other sites in order to exchange links!

Denying link exchanges!

Get ready, it happens to all of us! Don't get upset when
a company you just linked to has just denied your link
exchange! Many companies out there has STRICT guidelines
they are looking for. You may have not read their specific
rules they have! Don't worry about it, take a note and
move on.

There's another 1,000 000 that will link to you so don't go
have a drink from one denial! I know we all hate them but
just remember, we've all got them!

In the future, when you're put in a situation were you will be
the one denying another site for a link exchange, just
remember how you felt at the time and be considerate to
the other by telling them WHY they were denied. I often
replied to the site that denied my site to ask why my site
wasn't accepted and often I am surprised to hear the reason.
what they had to say!

I hope this article has opened your mind about Link Exchanges!
-----------------------------------------------------
About the Author Martin R. Lemieux
Smartads - President
http://www.smartads.info
Affordable Web Site Design &
Web Site Marketing
http://flyinggelatingames.com
Web Site Awards & Webmaster Resources
--
WANT TO REPRINT THIS ARTICLE ?
send me a note within our contact form. Thank You!
Go here: http://www.smartads.info/contact


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Marketers have found that blogs are excellent tools for communicating with their audience. Anyone who has something to sell or an idea to promote can benefit from using blogs.

Search engine marketers especially favour blogs because they have a number of features that make them the darling of search engines.

1. Fresh, Updated, Relevant Content

When you write a good blog about a theme that you're passionate about and post to it frequently, you're creating fresh, keyword-rich, content that searc
engines love.

2. Natural, One-Way Links

Search engines view links to your site as a recommendation of your site content. More links pointing to your site or blog boosts your visibility and search engine rankings.

Google gives more weight to natural, one-way incoming links, and blogs make it easy to get two types of one-way links to your site.

ท Similarly Themed Blogs

A well-written, authoritative blog, with unique content, is likely to get linked to from a number of other bloggers writing on similar topics. These are natural links that are viewed highly and given more weight by search engines like Google.

ท RSS Feed Syndication

Blogs and the RSS feeds built into them, help you build valuable, one-way links to your site by syndicating your content online.

3. Get Indexed Within Hours

When you post to a blog it "pings" a number of services that list blogs. This notifies the service that your blog has been updated.

Search engines like Google give more weight to blogs that are updated regularly. It is possible to get your pages indexed in Google and other search engines within hours of writing your first blog post.

Compared to the time it takes to index a website (days, even weeks), you can see why blogs are better search engine optimisation tools than static websites.

Indirect SEO Benefits of Blogs

Besides the SEO benefits, a well-written, authoritative blog can also create publicity and branding for you, which promotes even more people to read and link to your blog.

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You don't have to be a SEO expert to make a fortune on the web. Search engine optimization is not complicated at all. It may be exhausting and annoying. You may get frustrated. But it is so easy if you know the basic rules. Read the following SEO Dos and Don'ts and start making money.

You don't have to be a SEO expert to make a fortune on the web. Search engine optimization is not complicated at all. It may be exhausting and annoying. You may get frustrated. But it is so easy if you know the basic rules. Read the fo
lowing SEO Dos and Don'ts and start making money.

SEO Dos :

1. Stay natural – Search engines like natural behavior. Remember it whenever you get a tempting proposal to pay for software that will boost your search engine optimization and get you to the top search engine ranks.

2. Links, Links, Links – The online world equivalent to: "Location, location, location". Links are the foundation stones of your SEO strategy. The quantity and quality of the links pointing to your site are the main criteria that affect your search engine ranking. Never stop creating new links to your site using techniques like links exchanging, articles submitting, affiliate marketing, link buying etc.

3. Page and site optimization – Remember, Search Engines like what human like. Optimize your site according to valuable keywords, you have found on wordcount.com or overture. Make the navigation on your site easy and clear.

4. Automate and delegate – Do not work on your own – use software to automate processes and outsource some of the search engine optimization to others.

SEO Don'ts:

1. Do not shoot and forget – Search engine optimization is an ongoing task. You will not see results in a day or in a month. Do not work on one site too much too fast. In other words, add links and pages to your site gradually.

2. Do not optimize only for the best search engine – Google is not the only search engine and all search engine change their ranking algorithms every once in a while. Do your best to get your site in a high place in at least three of the best search engines.

Now that you have read the SEO Dos and Don'ts, all there is to do is work on your sites' search engine optimization. It may take time but it sure worth it – You can have fun and lots of money. Good luck.

About the Author Simply the best information about search engine optimization on SEO Dos and Donts on TiGilet. http://www.tigilet.com – Web Content Experts

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While there is no perfect method to prevent product theft, there are a number of things you can do to help minimize it from simple, common sense techniques to more advanced, technicial methods using htaccess.

Make the download page difficult to findPlace your product in an obscurely named folder and avoid using the product name itself as either the folder name or the file name.  Something like yoursite.com/85478dep/iisile458.html is better than yoursite.com/downloads/thankyou.html

Make Your Policies Clear To Your Cus
omersMake sure that your customers understand what their rights are and what your policies are regarding your product.  It is best to have this information clearly stated on your product download page.  We notice that many copywriters place such notifications within the product itself in either the EULA or directly in the ebook if it is that type of product.

Unfortunately, many products are passed around to friends and family before your product is actually accessed by the paying customer.  This is especially true for ebooks and is something that may be deterred by making it clear before they download your product.

Appearance Is ImportantIs your download page professional looking or does it look like it was thrown together at the last minute with nothing but a downlink link.  Do you have contact information available so that your customer may contact you if they have a problem accessing the file?

If it looks like your don't care about your product then your customer may not take your policies serious.  By having a tidy looking download page with full contact information and a detailed policy statement you portray a professional company image, one that takes their policies seriously.

You can increase your professional image by displaying your customers IP address along with a timestamp near your copyright policies.  This lets them know that their download activities are being logged.

If your pages end in .php and your host supports php, this is easily accomplished by adding the following lines of code...

If your page ends in .html and can not be changed for whatever reason, you may add the following code to your .htaccess file in your download directory to force your server to parse the page as if it were .php

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .html

You can modify your time stamp by changing the "echo date" code.  You can find more information on the php date format here.

You can make this look even more professional by displaying this information in an image, you can find the code to do that here.

Using the robots.txt fileMany advise to place a disallow in your robots.txt file like so...

User-agent: *Disallow: /downloads

We feel this is not the best method because you are in a sense advertising where your downloads are stored and bad bots will disregard this file anyway.  Instead we suggest that you add something similar to this instead.

User-agent: *Disallow: /*.zip$Disallow: /*.pdf$

Note that Googlebot does obey this statement but not all bots recognize this and other steps should also be taken.  More information on the robots.txt file can be found here.

Use Meta Tags On Your Product Download PagesAgain, as with the robots.txt file, this will not protect from the bad bots but is better to have in place than not.  Place the following code on your download page between the and tags.

Confirm Your Product Page Has Not Already Been IndexedDo a search on Google for a list of pages already indexed by searching with the following search term...

site:yourdomain.com

If you find that your download page or product has already been indexed, you can use the Google Automated URL Removal System to have it removed. You must first add the Meta Tag above to the page before using this tool.  More information can be found on Googles site here.

Restrict Access Through Your HtaccessThrough the use of .htaccess on Unix servers you are able to moderate access to directories or even certain files.  There are numerious techniques and variables available when utilizing these directives, so many that it is outside the scope of this particular page to try and fully explain them all so here we will provide you with a short example and you can find more information here.

Adding the following to your .htaccess file in your download folder ...

Order Deny,AllowDeny from allAllow from yourdomain.comAllow from yourpaymentprocesser.com

... will only allow users who have been referred either directly from your website or from your payment processors website to access any documents in that folder.  If unsure of your payment processors referring domain you should contact them directly for clarification as sometimes it may be different that what you think.  You also have the ability to allow or deny access by referring IP as well as country if you choose.  Be sure and test before going live with this method by making a few test purchases.

You could add to this by directing disallowed referrers to either your sales page or a support page where someone could contact you if they felt they were denied access by mistake.

Use A Professional Download ManagerThere are several products on the market that can help manage your digital downloads and assign a unique download url with each purchase. The better ones can even assign temporary passwords that expire after a predetermined amount of time.

About the Author Digital Media Copyright Protection Services (DMCPS) mission is to take sales which may have been lost for the copyright holder through various forms of piracy and allow the would be violator an opportunity to purchase a legal copy. This is a free, commission based service. Visit our website for this article complete with live resource links and code.

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Copyright ฉ 2003 Priya Shah

My habit of collecting every free eBook I could lay my hands proved very profitable to me while building my business.

Here are 20 ways that you can use free eBooks to boost your profits.

1. Build Your List

Use free eBooks as an incentive to get more people to join your list.

2. Keep Your Subscribers

Give away a new free eBook every time you mail your list or at least every month, so they have a reason to stay subscribed. Create a subscribers-only eBook library and
keep adding new ones often.

3. Get More Affiliates to Promote Your Product

Offer free eBooks and free brandable eBooks as an incentive for join your affiliate program.

4. Sell Customization Rights to Your Own eBooks

If you've written an eBook and have a number of affiliate links in it, you can make more money by selling the customization rights.

5. Back-End Profits

Purchase customization rights to others' eBooks and give them away free to your list. Profit when they purchase something through your links.

6. Become an Instant 'Expert'

Write an eBook on a topic that you know well and give it away to a target market. Once people know you as an expert on your subject, they will be more willing to spend money with you.

7. Grow Your Downline

Offer free eBooks as an incentive to join a program under you. Allow your downline to give away the eBooks as well so they can build their (and your) downline.

8. Become a Leader

Train your team by giving away free eBooks that help them learn how to build their business. eBooks help you save on the cost of ordering printed copies and shipping them to your distributors.

9. Boost Your Website Traffic

Write an eBook yourself and insert your website links in a way that gives your readers a compelling reason to visit your website, either for the resources you offer or an invitation to download more eBooks.

10. Survey Your List

Have a great idea for a new product or eBook, but need to find out if there's a market for it? Create a survey and use free eBooks to entice people to respond. To ensure a good response to your survey, offer two or more eBooks, or a product that you own, or even a download of the product you plan to create as a result of the survey.

11. Get Viral

Give away a free eBook that others can brand with their own links so they will give it away eagerly to their own lists. Include your own affiliate program, or traffic exchange programs, or two-tier or multi-tier affiliate programs that readers can join through your links, to get most from this strategy.

12. Get Free Advertising

Give away a free eBook that hasn't been circulated much or one of your own products or eBooks to ezine editors in exchange for free ads in their ezine.

13. Get Joint Venture Partners

Make your JV offer more attractive by offering your partners a valuable or unique eBook that you own or have the right to give away.

14. Build Link Popularity

Get others to link to your website by offering them free eBooks or one of your own products. The more links you have pointing to your website, the higher you will rank on search engines and the more traffic you will get.

15. Promote Your Own Products

Offer free preview versions (say, the first few chapters) of an eBook that you wrote to promote it and get more people to buy it from you. Combine this with a rebrander to get a viral effect and increase downloads of your preview version. If you are selling a software product, give away a free report that explains why your software solves your target market's problem and how it will benefit them.

16. Enhance the Value of Your Product

Give away free eBooks as Bonus Products along with your own product to enhance its value. This works best if the bonuses are related to the topic of the product you are selling.

17. Keep in Touch with Your Customers

Send your customers free eBooks often to show them you value their business and remind them of your products in a way they won't object to.

18. Get Testimonials

Offer free eBooks or bonuses to existing customers in exchange for testimonials that you can put up on your sales page.

19. Boost Flagging Sales

When sales are low, create an eBook with discount coupons or special offers and give them away to your customers. You can also use this strategy to boost holiday sales.

20. Revive Your Old Articles

Update or rewrite old articles or sections of your ezine archives and compile them into an eBook to give them a new lease of life.
About the Author Priya Shah is the Editor of "Be a Whiz at eBiz!" a
free-wheeling newsletter on internet marketing and
home business http://ebizwhiz-publishing.com
She also publishes "The Glutathione Report," a newsletter
featuring regular updates on the health benefits of
glutathione. http://www.glutathione-report.com


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