Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Top 3 Problems with Directories

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Lee Roberts



Directories have existed since the early days of the Internet, even before Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web. Originally, search directories and word-of-mouth were the only ways to learn about new websites. Google changed that! Today, search directories are used to build links into websites. But, by default, search directories have three major problems.

Problem #1: The Moving Target

Search directories use one of several methods to display their inventory. The following list is a short representation of how the inventory is presented to visitors and search engine spiders.

First In First Out (FIFO) - as the name describes listings are displayed in the order in which they are submitted. This method is good for the early listings. As more listings are added to the category, the number of pages in the category increases. This decreases the value of the category to both the owner and the company desiring to submit its site.

Last In First Out (LIFO) - as the name describes listings are displayed with the first submissions appearing last. This method is good for the later listings, but who wants to be first when they're going to show up last? As with FIFO, the number of pages in the category increases.

Alpha-Numeric - company names or keywords receive the earliest listings. As new listings are approved those listings could easily move one's listing to oblivion.

Votes - unlike government election, presenting the inventory based upon votes is extremely biased and ballot stuffing can occur. As others come in, submit themselves, and add their votes one's listing can easily fall to other pages.

Page Rank (PR) Values - Page Rank values adjust based upon numerous factors and an algorithm controlled solely by Google. One's PR value could be a five today and tomorrow it could be a three. On the other hand, one's PR value could increase. However, as PR values fluctuate so do the positions of the listings.

Problem #2: Rel=NoFollow

Over the years, search engine optimization (SEO) consultants have suggested using the online yellow pages to build quality links into one's website. This thought was based upon the idea that online yellow pages were authority sites. Whether that still holds true today is debatable.

What isn't debatable is the online yellow pages use rel=nofollow to tell the search engines to not count the links for search engine placements. With prices ranging from $100 to $300 per month, the expense of getting a link from the online yellow pages is really worth paying. One may determine that a listing in the online yellow pages will result in leads coming to one's business.

Other directories use the rel=nofollow, as well.

How do the search engines use rel=nofollow? According to WikiPedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_follow), Google ignores the link and therefore the link does not count in the search placement algorithm or in determining PR values. Yahoo follows the link, but does not use it to determine search placements. Bing provides no indication if it follows link with the rel=nofollow attribute, however it does not use the link in determining relevancy.

Problem #3: Limited Marketing Capabilities

Most search directories provide a link to one's website. Some search directories list one's link in multiple categories. Still even, some directories allow deep linking (links to internal pages).

Top search engine optimization (SEO) consultants suggest that one should build a natural inbound link profile to one's website. The natural inbound link profile uses more links to internal web pages than to the homepage. Additionally, the anchor text for the inbound links should be relevant to the linked page.

Search directories by nature allow only links to the homepage. Since the homepage cannot be relevant for every search term available to one's business, making all inbound links point at the homepage is not plausible. Even if it were, leading your customers to one's homepage and making them search one's website for the product or service they want is not user-friendly.

Therefore, traditional search directories provide little or no real value beyond increasing PR values. For this reason, search engines like Google hold little or no regard for search directories.

In Conclusion

The top three problems of search directories do not destroy the ultimate value of search directories. The importance of choosing the right search directory from which to acquire an inbound link cannot be overstated. One should carefully review the search directory before submitting and ensure the directory provides quality links, not just a link.




About the Author:
Lee Roberts, owner of CommerceRegistry.com, a SEO friendly directory and Oklahoma SEO friendly business directory. http://www.CommerceRegistry.com/ and http://www.ShopOklahomaOnline.com/ provide dedicated marketing pages that advertisers can optimize for search engine placement with multiple inbound links to one's website.


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Sunday, September 27, 2009

Use Article Marketing To Add Value To Your Product

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Enzo F. Cesario



Article Marketing is a form of advertising that can definitely add value to your product or service. By using articles written about your industry, you can establish yourself as an expert in your field and a trusted resource for your product or service. Article marketing can be equally effective in newspapers and magazines, although these traditional media lack some of the obvious advantages of new media.

People generally prefer to do business with someone they know and trust and article marketing gives you the opportunity to make yourself familiar to your target audience. Your articles should contain information of a general nature about the industry you are involved in, and should offer something useful and interesting to your readers. You will then have positively affected your target audience, and this, in turn, will have added value to your product.

Articles can be written by you or outsourced to a professional copywriter or ghostwriter. There are several good websites where you can connect with potential writers. You must use good grammar and spelling to establish yourself as a credible expert. The tone should be conversational, using simple but descriptive language and limiting technical terms. If technical jargon is required, always include an explanation of the term.

It is important to remember that your articles should be an informative and interesting read; they are not for directly promoting your product. Most publishing sites do not allow blatant sales letters to be published as articles, and you will only be damaging your reputation by distributing an article that is nothing but hard-sell copy.

Newspapers and magazines always need fresh copy, so submitting your articles to them may result in getting published. To have your articles published online, submit them to an online article directory. These directories allow you to put personal and contact information in a "Resource Box", and it is here that you directly advertise your business. The resource box is an important tool to encourage readers to click through to your site and then, hopefully, place an order.

Articles for online use will differ slightly from those intended for hard copy. In order for your articles to be picked up by Internet Search Engines, they need to incorporate search engine optimization ( SEO). This involves the use of common keywords or phrases that people would use to search for your topic on the Internet.

Keywords should be used throughout your writing so that the search engines can associate your article with the right search results. This is the single best way for interested people to find you online. The use of keywords should never be overdone, but there are a few critical places they should appear in every article.

1. Titles

Your title is very important; it's what the search engines list in their search results and if readers find your title interesting or informative, they'll click on it. And that's your goal. Obviously, your title should be what your article is about. Don't try to use all your keywords in the title. As always, keep it simple and get to the point; too many words in the title might confuse the search engines as well as readers.

2. Tags

Metatags are HTML codes that are put into your web page (in the header or body) and are used by search engines to find and describe your page. People viewing your page do not see them.

3. In the Article

Use your keywords in your article. You should also use semantically related words. For example, if your keyword is knitting, you should use words like, knitting needle, knit, knitting gear, how to knit and knitting pattern in your article. Using this strategy instead of just repeating your keyword over and over again will get you better results with search engines.

Just make sure that you don't over-use the keywords or make your articles artificial or hard to read. The best approach is to write naturally. A reader wants a quality article on a specific topic, not a bunch of keywords strung together.

4. In the Resource Box

Your Resource Box is a great place to use keywords. Just remember to use different ones every once in a while. This will help search engines figure out what your site is about. You can use the semantically related keyword strategy here as well, especially if you hyperlink the words.

Overall, you should develop about 20-30 keywords or key phrases, use a variety of them in your articles and update them regularly. Your keywords will evolve as your business evolves.

Another way to expose your articles to a global audience online is through blogging. You can upload articles to your blog, to give your readers interesting, useful information that can help them solve a problem or improve their lifestyle. Blogs are a great way of keeping in touch with customers and contacts, and continuing to add value to your product. Again, these blog articles must not be sales letters; they need to be interesting and informative. Blogs tend to be a more personal means of communicating with your readers, and this also helps to develop trust and respect for both you and your product.

If you follow these guidelines for article marketing to promote your online business, you will see your customers and your sales increase.




About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is a Copywriter and co-founder of Brandsplat. Brandcasting uses informative content and state-of-the-art internet distribution and optimization to build links and drive the right kind of traffic to your website. Go to http://www.Brandsplat.com/ or visit our blog at: http://www.brandsplatblog.com/


Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

4 Keys to Choosing the Best Affiliate Programs for Your Business

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Judy Murdoch



A couple weeks ago, one of my clients sent me an email with this question:

"I've been checking out a couple programs that say I can make lots of money by including affiliate links on my website. I could really use the extra cash right now. What do you think?"

The client asking this question is a coach who is creating his own information products.

He knows there will be a lag between the time he launches his program and when he starts getting substantive income. He'd like to find an alternative revenue source to tide him over.

  • A Typical Affiliate Program

  • Amazon.com was one of the first online merchants to use an affiliate program. I've been an Amazon.com affiliate for many years.

    Here's how I use Amazon.com's affiliate program.

    I work with small business owners and help them with marketing issues. Naturally, I will suggest books that I've read and think are useful for small business owners who are looking for marketing help.

    I recommend these books on my website and it's very easy to include a link so someone interested in buying one of those books can go directly to Amazon.com to learn more...maybe buy the book.

    As an Amazon.com affiliate, I get a special link so that if that person actually buys the book, I get a small commission.

    This in a nutshell is how affiliate programs work.

  • Sharing the Love

  • In the best sense, affiliate programs can be a win for everyone:

    - you get a little extra money for making a recommendation that you would have made regardless (I was recommending these books long before I became an Amazon affiliate).

    - Amazon.com gets more traffic (and building traffic is always desirable) and more sales (again, always desirable)

    - The person making the purchase gets a valuable resource they otherwise wouldn't have known about

  • Affiliate Mania!

  • Over the years, gobs of companies have been jumping into the affiliate game. It's easy to understand the attraction of offering an affiliate program.

    And something else started happening: everyone and their dog started offering affiliate programs. Along with the mad proliferation of affiliate programs, websites with no other purpose than being a collection of affiliate links began popping up.

    The idea behind these sites is people go to your website and see lots and lots of links to click on. If they click on a link and buy something, Voila! you get some money.

  • Affiliates of Easy Virtue?

  • Some folks think having website that is, essentially, pages of links is a really super idea.

    Myself, I think it's an example of a good idea taken to ridiculous extremes.

    From a practical perspective, affiliate link farms depend on getting massive amounts of traffic. Unless you want to work your butt off getting traffic to your website (and you WILL have to work very hard because you have lots of competition) you will never generate the level of traffic you need to earn decent money.

    What bugs me more than anything is the lack of added value. Putting up a web page with a bunch of links chosen based on the commission you'll get isn't bringing any value into the world.

    You're not sharing your own knowledge and experience to help others. You're simply directing visitors to other businesses.

    Finally, affiliate mania makes for bizarre bedfellows hence the term "affiliates of easy virtue."

    There are literally hundreds of thousands of affiliates out there. How many are selling products that you can really feel good about reselling to other people? Are these affiliate programs about making a difference or mostly about lining the sellers pockets?

  • 4 Keys to Selecting Win-Win Affiliates for Your Business

  • I'm a business owner and I like making money when it's because I helped my clients solve a problem or do something better. There's a sweetness when you make money because you add value. I can't imagine selling stuff and not caring whether or not it helps my customer.

    Here are 4 keys I recommend when you consider which affiliates to participate in:

    - Good Fit With Your Business

    I help small business owners create inexpensive, results-based marketing programs. My clients typically need help doing things like building websites, creating blogs, attracting subscribers to read articles and offers, and selling products and services online.

    Naturally I recommend website hosts, email list management services, shopping carts, and merchant account services. The vendors I use for these services offer affiliate programs and it makes perfect sense that I participate in those programs.

    I am NOT an affiliate for weigh*t loss potions, stain removers, or real estate training programs because these have nothing to do with how I help my own customers.

    - Shared Values

    When a product or service rubs you the wrong way, chances are good that the values held by seller are in conflict with your values.

    For example, I see my business as way not only to make money but to make a positive difference in the world. For this reason I don't participate in affiliates that, in my opinion, aren't adding anything substantive to the world.

    - You Use The Products And Services Yourself

    The only affiliates I participate in are ones whose products and services I actually use. I feel uncomfortable making money recommending something that I, myself wouldn't use.

    - Decent Commission

    All things being equal, I would choose the affiliate program offering a more generous affiliate commision.

    The key qualifier here being "all things being equal."

  • Bottom Line

  • Affiliate programs are hot, hot, hot these days for good reasons.

    But affiliate programs are NOT about money for nothing.

    Affiliate programs are meant to enhance and supplement your core products and services...not to replace substantive products and services or to detract from them.

    As long as you can be in integrity with the affiliate programs you support, they are a great source of extra revenue as well as a way to offer more value to your customers.

    When this is the case, it's a very sweet way to share the love.


    About the Author:
    Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!" go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm
    You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com


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    Monday, September 21, 2009

    Article Marketing - Writing for the Internet

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Enzo F. Cesario



    Article marketing incorporates writing carefully and concisely for a target audience on the Internet. While all writing begins with good grammar, accurate spelling and compelling content, there are several differences between print writing and online writing in both structure and purpose. Online articles tend to be shorter than printed text, as do the individual sentences that make up the text. Readers usually skim what they see online, so articles are not only shorter, but often broken up into small sections rather than presented as a large block of text.

    Writing online articles for the purpose of article marketing involves targeting a specific audience and providing them with relevant content that is usually intended to drive them to another resource by way of a link.

    Internet Writing and SEO

    Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a strategy for increasing traffic to a website using organic search engine results. In terms of article marketing, this means creating an article that is targeted around keywords readers might use to search for your content in the search engines. In order to drive targeted traffic to the content of the article, the article will need to rank high in the search engines. To do this, your desired keywords must be sprinkled generously throughout the text in a natural way that doesn't make the content seem like a sales pitch.

    Search engines use programs that scan the content of a website by sending "spiders" to crawl every bit of information on the site. The most widely-used search engines place a great deal of importance on backlinks, or links to a site from other websites. Article marketing helps to get these links because you have inserted them in the author's bio at the end of the article. They point to your site for readers interested in your content as well as spiders crawling the web searching for relevant linked-up websites.

    An Emphasis on Quality

    Quality content is one of the most important aspects of successful article marketing. Providing your readers with relevant information that delivers what they are searching for will drive not just traffic to your site, but targeted, trusting readers who respect what you have to offer. Furthermore, many article directories have quality control measures that protect against low quality articles. Misinformation or invalid content often will not be listed on these directories, let alone indexed by the search engines.

    The Importance of Effective Titles

    The title of an online article is essential to the success of the marketing campaign. A title that contains targeted keywords not only helps readers find the content they need, but also boosts the article's search engine rankings. Choosing the title of an online article is a balancing act that involves drawing in potential readers with clever catchiness but also satisfying the search engines' ranking system.

    Straightforward and Uncluttered

    Online readers tend to scan what they read online and need their text broken up into small logically flowing chunks. As a result, the body of the text may be divided by headlines or broken up into short paragraphs. Using sub-headings, lists, bullet points and bold key phrases are effective ways to create an article that is easy enough to read so that you will not lose your audience. The importance of keyword usage still remains, but splitting up the text into snackable chunks can hook readers and ease them from the first word to the last.

    Get Grammar Guidance

    Writing effective articles for the Internet takes time, research and practice to become an expert. Here are a few tips:

  • When writing to your audience, write using the active voice to make your words more direct, clear and concise.

  • Always use proper grammar and avoid slang.

  • Always run your text through a spell-checker to avoid simple but glaring errors.

  • If your text includes any specialized terms, define them for your audience so their read is easy and enjoyable.

  • Do not, under any circumstances, copy text from another source. This is not only wrong, it will make your article plummet in the search engine rankings due to duplicate content.

  • If you want to learn more about writing there are many good books available. A great one to start with is William Zinsser's On Writing Well: the Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction.

    Outsourcing

    If you don't feel that you can produce high-quality articles yourself, one solution is to outsource the work to freelance writers. While this can be an efficient way to get your articles written, you must make sure to find trustworthy writers who can produce content at the level of quality you desire. Outsourcing can work only if you identify a resource or company that provides writers at a cost effective rate with consistent and reliable delivery of high quality content.

    Article marketing can be a powerful strategy for generating targeted traffic and backlinks to your site. It can increase both your credibility and your search engine rankings. But to be successful, you need to employ the unique style of writing specific to the Internet. Online writing is different from print writing in structure and content, but successful online writing is guaranteed to help your business's bottom line.




    About the Author:
    Enzo F. Cesario is a Copywriter and co-founder of Brandsplat. Brandcasting uses informative content and state-of-the-art internet distribution and optimization to build links and drive the right kind of traffic to your website. Go to http://www.Brandsplat.com/ or visit our blog at: http://www.brandsplatblog.com/


    Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.

    Saturday, September 19, 2009

    Article Marketing -- Building Links to Your Business

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Enzo F. Cesario



    Online marketing has been a vast and rapidly growing outlet over the past decade. Obviously, there are many approaches to online marketing, but very few that come close to the effectiveness of article marketing. Article Marketing has provided a large portion of the visitors for some of the web's most successful businesses and it has proven to be one of the most cost effective marketing techniques today.

    What is Article Marketing and How Does it Work?

    Article Marketing is the publication of written content on websites other than your own. Sometimes these websites may have similar content or products as your business. Sound like helping your competition? Here's the catch. Your article includes a backlink - a link that leads to your own website. Simply put, you provide an article on other people's websites that ends with a link back to your own website. The idea is that for those sites using your article, they must include the link back to your site.

    The quality of your article's content is a deciding factor in how many people will publish it on their sites. This is why it is very important that your articles be well written, purposeful, and relevant to the subject. If you don't or can't write the articles yourself, you might want to consider paying for someone to write for you. In the long run it will be worth it.

    Is Article Marketing Effective

    Article Marketing has become extremely popular because of the way search engines do their searching. There was a time when the number of visitors to a site was a critical factor in its listings with search engines such as Google or Yahoo. Today, however, the key determinant is the number of backlinks: pointers from other sites to yours. To understand how the backlinks work in relevancy to your page listing, you must first understand the search engine process.

    Your page's popularity, known as the page rank, is judged by two factors: how many backlinks there are to your site; and the popularity of the sites that those backlinks are on. For example, let's say you have two backlinks to your site listed on two different websites. One of those sites, say Microsoft.com, has a very high page rank. The other, BobsDoItYourselfComputerRepair.com, has a pretty low page rank. Your site will receive more notice from the search engines because of the link on the more popular site. So, backlinks on high-profile sites will inevitably raise your page ranking.

    Creating and Submitting Articles

    When creating your articles, remember that quality is of utmost importance. People are looking for information, and a well-written, relevant article will position you as someone who knows what they are talking about in a reader's mind. If you don't think you can write your own articles, there are many online outlets for finding writers.

    Once the article is written, add a link to your site along with your by-line. This is called a resource box and can include a little bit about you and your business as well as the link to your website.

    Next, you will need to get your article submitted to other sites. You don't have to do this yourself. There are literally thousands of article marketing source sites on the Internet that can do it for you. However, the more popular ones are those that produce the most effective traffic. Among these are EzineArticles.com, ArticleDashboard.Com, and GoArticles.Com. Each of these will provide excellent sources for backlinks, but be prepared to submit only well-written articles, as they tend to be quite thorough in their screening process.

    Check Your Article Marketing Campaign

    Once you have submitted your article, give it a few weeks to make its way out onto the World Wide Web. Then, use one of the many backlink-checking tools available on the net. Most are free and can be found by doing a simple web search. Domain-Pop.com and IWebTool.com provide some of the more popular tools. The larger search engines (i.e. Google.com) provide backlink-checking tools also. These programs are usually easy to use and require no download. Simply go to the site, put the web address of your site into the appropriate space, and hit enter. In a few seconds you will be able to see how many backlinks your site has and, in most cases, exactly what sites those backlinks are listed on.

    Article Marketing is not only one of the most effective techniques for building your page rank and popularity, but is also one of the most simple and most inexpensive, particularly if you have good writing skills of your own. Remember to keep your article content similar to the content of your site. People surfing for the information in your articles will only click on the link in your resource box if it is relevant to their own personal interests. Also remember that article marketing takes time and effort. It doesn't happen overnight. With every article you put out onto the web, you are putting out another way for potential visitors to find you. Over time, this will increase the traffic to your website and will eventually increase your sales.




    About the Author:
    Enzo F. Cesario is a Copywriter and co-founder of Brandsplat. Brandcasting uses informative content and state-of-the-art internet distribution and optimization to build links and drive the right kind of traffic to your website. Go to http://www.Brandsplat.com/ or visit our blog at: http://www.brandsplatblog.com/


    Read more Articles written by Enzo F. Cesario.

    Critical Steps to Successful Sales Lead Generation in Google

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Paul Marshall



    Some website owners are more frustrated about Google optimization than for other search engines. They feel it is harder to perform search engine optimization for Google.

    Whether you are making direct sales from your website or sales lead generation (or both), optimizing for Google doesn't need to be that hard.

    In fact, in time you may find it easier to perform SEO for Google than for other search engines.

    Remember That Google Is Much Smarter Than The Other Search Engines

    Since Google is more intelligent, you have to treat them differently.

    If you're trying to spam them, their intelligence is going to be a problem for you. If you're playing by the rules and providing valuable content for searchers, then you should have no problem.

    What Google wants is valuable content that satisfies their users' search queries. They want searchers to find what they're looking for, not clicking the back button quickly, but who stay on the sites they visit.

    There are some in the SEO community who believe time your visitors spent on your site is one of the calculations Google uses right now in their algorithm to assign organic rankings.

    Whether this is the case or not is really irrelevant: we should all want to deliver quality content that meets our searchers query, keeps them on our sites and that leads to a conversion, a sale or sales lead generation.

    Are You Optimizing For Yahoo! Search And Bing, Too?

    With Yahoo! Search and Bing (formerly Live Search and previously MSN) you need to have the keyword phrase you optimize for on the page. There may be some exceptions, but this is a solid rule to follow.

    The order of the keywords makes a difference with them, too.

    As an example, with Google, Blue Widget and Widget Blue are treated the same way. Not so with Yahoo! and Live, they are treated as completely different search phrases.

    Given the very high market share that Google has, you may want to just optimize for Google and not Yahoo! or Live. After all, depending on whose numbers you're looking at, Google's market share is basically 60% to 70% of all U.S. searches!

    (And there are hundreds of other much smaller search engines, with such small market shares that they aren't normally worth worrying about.)

    But if you decide to also optimize for Yahoo! Search and for Live Search, then you will likely have to create more pages, to cover all your keyword phrases.

    So, as you create more pages for your keywords, you clutter up the Internet, unless those pages are really unique, valuable content.

    And then there is that duplicate content filter that Google has...you don't want to run afoul of that.

    If you do optimize for the other engines, unless the additional content is very unique, you might be advised to keep Google out of those pages (using your robots.txt file).

    Knowing That Google Is More Intelligent, How Do We Optimize Differently For Google?

    With Google's use of LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing), your pages do NOT actually have to contain the keyword phrase(s) you're optimizing for. But your pages had better contain words strongly related to your chosen keyword phrases.

    In fact, it is common to see high ranking pages where the keyword phrase isn't in any of the HTML tags and where it also isn't in the page text, either. Common keyword density numbers for top ranking pages in Google range from 30% all the way down to 0% keyword density.

    Why is this and how do we benefit performing Google optimization?

    Google is smart enough to understand similar words and phrases (now is when we get to use that word Synonym from English class). Thus, the actual keyword phrase doesn't have to be on the page. But words related to the same theme as your keyword phrases need to be on the page.

    But if our keywords don't actually have to be on the page for Google to understand the page is about our subject (our keyword phrases), how does Google make that determination?

    Off-Page SEO Is The Key To Your Google Optimization And To Your Sales Lead Generation

    The links from other websites to your Web pages and what these links say about your pages is the KEY to optimizing for Google. Remember, links need to be pointed towards your interior pages, not just to your home page.

    And those links need anchor text.

    Anchor text is the wording that people click on to go to your Web page, when the actual link doesn't show your website url (and file name, if going to an interior page).

    Anchor text tells Google (and to a lesser degree, other search engines) what your Web page is about.

    Even if the actual keyword phrases aren't used on your page, the theme of the page text should match the anchor text pointed to that page. You want the wording to be compatible and complimentary.

    You don't want to confuse Google as to your pages' themes. That can cause real problems.

    Quantity Versus Quality

    When considering links to your Web pages, quantity is important. You will have to research your competition to give you an idea as to the number of links you may need.

    Two tools you can look into are SEO Elite and OptiLink. You can Google both.

    But MUCH more important is the quality of your links. The better quality your links, the fewer you will need versus your competition.

    Part of how you can evaluate quality of potential links to your site is that site's home page Google Page Rank.

    Now, Google Page Rank is on a page-basis, not a site-wide basis. But the home page Page Rank can tell you if Google considers that site to be an "authority site".

    You can install the free Google toolbar if you haven't already and activate the Page Rank feature. While the information is literally months old, it's the easiest way to view a page's Page Rank.

    You want some links to your site from websites with a home page Google Page Rank of at least 5.

    One thing you do want to watch: Don't have to high a percentage of your links containing the same anchor text. Aim for no more than 50% of your anchor text to any page being the same exact anchor text.

    Wrapping It Up

    For effective Google optimization, start by pointing enough quality links to your Web pages. One-way links are much more effective than reciprocal links, where you link back to the site that has linked to you.

    Stay away from triangulated or 3-way links schemes. This is where site A links to site B which in turn links to site C. This is a "no-no" which Google can catch and will penalize for.

    Use your keywords as anchor text for your links. Hold down the percentage...don't have 70% of your links to one page using the same exact anchor text!

    Even if you don't have the keyword phrases on your page, you can still have top rankings, as long as your links' theme matches your Web page content those links are aimed at.

    Following this strategy, you can also optimize your pages for more than one keyword phrase. And without creating dozens and dozens of junk pages, just to cover all your keywords.

    You'll be able to increase your online sales and your sales lead generation, more easily.


    About the Author:
    Marketing online since 2004, Paul Marshall can help you market on a budget. He's a Sales Lead Generation expert and an Affordable SEO Services specialist offering affordable marketing services (and d-i-y Coaching). Receive your Free Introductory Consultation, just visit Strategic Web Marketing.net today!


    Read more of Paul Marshall's articles.

    Friday, September 18, 2009

    Project Management Basics for Telecom

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Nermine Shaker



    Telecom projects, like any other project, need special attention if you want the project to be successful and done on a schedule. One way to proceed on a telecom project is to hire a telecom management professional to oversee the project. Another way is to use a project management software program. There are many software programs available that cover the many facets of project planning including document management, workforce management, time/expense management, client collaboration, custom forms, knowledge management, and certified email. Either way, due to the complexity of some telecom projects, it is vital to your success to use one of these options.

    Since telecom projects can involve things like site selection, surveys, permitting, and a host of other things that have to be done in a certain order, project management is vital to a successful telecom project. If you are winging it, it is likely that your work will be less than desirable and you may end up with a bungled project and an unhappy customer or even worse - an unhappy boss.

    What exactly is project management? It is the managing of skills and resources to accomplish a goal. There are project management principles that can be put in place, like a template, and worked through manually or you can opt for some great software that will guide you step by step through the process. The most important thing in managing a project is that everything needs to be in writing and available to everyone on the team and all that information needs to be updated constantly as events happen.

    What's the Goal?

    Let's take a look at what you are trying to accomplish with project management. First, you want to make sure that you know exactly what you and your workers are doing. Who are the customers and what do they need? What do they want and most importantly what do they expect? As a company with integrity that wants a long and prosperous future, you want to make sure that everyone is clear on these points. Getting a written agreement stating exactly what your customer wants and what you will provide would be a prudent move.

    Assess Your Resources

    Once you know exactly what your customer wants, you have to make sure that you are prepared to meet their needs. By prepared I am referring to having the time, resources and skills to give them what they want. This is where project management really begins.

    Your project management will include planning, monitoring and following every activity involved in the project. You will constantly be reexamining all tasks and activities to make sure that you haven't missed anything important. This may sound difficult but once you are rolling, you will see just how using project management principles actually simplifies things. Also, once you commit to this process, I can almost guarantee that you will use some form of project management every time you work on a new project.

    Planning

    In the planning phase all of the known elements will be put in writing. Sound simple? Well, it might sound simple, but it is really a complex, thoughtful job. You will be breaking down the entire project into smaller segments or tasks. You will list all tasks and then put them in the order in which they need to occur. Then you will forecast scheduling of each task to the best of your ability and give an estimated completion date for each task and for the entire project. At this point you really need to look at possible risks; meaning things that might come up that could throw the schedule off. The planning phase really does need to be comprehensive. The more thorough your plans are, the easier it is to assess risks and forecast scheduling.

    Scheduling

    Hopefully, when you begin scheduling you will have a great team assembled and ready to go. You need to know who will be doing what and exactly when they will be doing it. Charting is mandatory in this process. A line chart showing the task and who will do it is effective here because you can put each objective on a timeline and visually capture when it is completed.

    Monitoring and Re-Assessing

    When the work begins, you will be the one monitoring and controlling the events. This is a crucial step that will save you time, money and embarrassment. You will measure the progress on your timeline and if you see that things are not occurring as planned, you will need to go back and make adjustments. Maybe you underestimated the time a task would take or maybe something unforeseen came up that you hadn't figured on in your risk assessment. If you are continually monitoring and adjusting, you will find that the project will progress at a nice, predictable rate and any customer would be happy with that. When all the smaller tasks are finished, you will have completed a large project with hopefully only a few problems along the way. Now you're ready for the next big project to manage.




    About the Author:
    Nermine Shaker is a Partner at THE SYGNAL GROUP, a telecom consulting firm that offers telecom expense management, telecom auditing and VoIP management to businesses of all sizes. Find out how to lower your telecom expenses at http://www.SygnalGroup.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.TelecomExpertise.com/


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    Thursday, September 17, 2009

    How Do I Use An Online Fax Service?

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Titus Hoskins



    Online or Internet fax has become an extremely popular service on the web. It is being used by more and more businesses and individuals who want a more mobile and a more secure way of faxing. Yet, many people still don't know exactly how online faxing actually works.

    Like anything that is relatively new, it will probably take a while before this convenient service is widely known in the general population. Perhaps, the greatest stumbling block is that most people are so familiar with faxing via the old facsimile machine in the office; getting their heads around using the web for faxing will take some time.

    However, just like email revolutionized how we send and receive our mail, so too has online fax revolutionized how we send and receive our faxes. Internet faxing is simply the more modern way to fax.

    Actually, these two new communication methods are closely intertwined since online fax is basically using your email system and your Internet connection to do all your faxing. You send and receive your faxes as email attachments usually in TIFF or PDF format.

    Remember, in order to use online fax you have to sign-up to an Internet fax service provider who will act as your intermediary to handle all your faxing. You will receive a local or Toll-Free number which you can give out to all your contacts. There is no need for an extra fax phone line. You will also receive an online site (account) where you can logon and do your faxing. Your faxes are also stored in this online account.

    However, what confuses many people is the fact that you can send/receive your online faxes in many different ways including through the old traditional office machine. Your fax service will act as your intermediary to intercept your faxes coming from an ordinary fax machine and direct them to your online fax account.

    You can also get desktop applications which will allow you to directly fax from your desktop. Most services will work with Windows Outlook and Windows Office. Finally, most services will let you send a fax by just sending an email, i.e. destination number(at)yourfaxservice.com - It doesn't get any easier than this.

    Each fax service has slightly different procedures and methods so you have to become familiar with your chosen service. Also, each service will have different faxing rates and monthly fees, but most charge around $10 a month. There are less expensive services out there so it pays to shop around, especially when you consider this is a long term ongoing business expense.

    The main reason why email or online faxing has become so popular is the total freedom it gives you. Since it is web based, you can send and receive a fax anywhere, anytime, as long as you have Internet access. You can use any mobile device such as a cell phone or laptop to do all your faxing. It totally frees you from being tied down to the old fax machine in the office.

    Plus, your faxes can be encrypted so it is much more secure than the traditional way of faxing. And no one but you has to see your faxes since you have your own private access to your account. This is important if you have faxes of a sensitive nature which you want to keep private.

    Lastly, another major reason online fax has become so popular, most faxing services are completely scalable for businesses. You can upsize or downsize depending on your company's requirements or needs. In this uncertain economy, having this flexibility is a major plus.

    If you're not using an online fax service you may just be losing out on one of the most convenient ways of doing business. You really do need it if your business depends heavily on faxing for bringing in new sales and clients; besides you may be falling behind your competition who are probably already using this new more mobile way of faxing. Can you afford not to use Internet fax?

    It's your call?


    About the Author:
    For more information on Internet Fax Services use this handy online Comparison Guide to get your own: online fax Or if you want more detailed information on Internet Faxing try here: internet fax services.

    Copyright (c) 2009 Titus Hoskins. http://www.bizwaremagic.com This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.


    Read more of Titus Hoskins's articles.

    Tuesday, September 15, 2009

    Top Ten Personal Habits

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Laurel Vespi



    Successful people have a regular routine of daily or weekly habits that reinforce the things that are most important to them. By practicing a set of personal success habits, they maintain a positive outlook, keep focused on their priorities, have more energy, and a greater sense of satisfaction with life.

    As you read this list of the top ten personal habits, you might think that most of these are nothing new. And you're probably right. These are pretty basic habits - not rocket science. The key to personal success habits is that you do them consistently.

    How many of these habits do you do on a regular basis?

    Eat Well.

    Practice the 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of the time, make very good nutritional choices. The rest of the time go ahead and indulge yourself.

    Exercise.

    Move it or lose it. Choose physical activities that you love keeping in mind that a well balanced exercise program includes flexibility, strength and cardio components.

    Practice Personal Reflection.

    In quiet moments you are more able to hear your true self speaking. Take time to create a regular practice of reflection through meditation, journaling or prayer.

    Volunteer.

    Connect with your local or global community to contribute your time, energy, and/or resources. You get to feel good making a difference and others reap the benefits. We're all part of the same interconnected world.

    Get Enough Sleep.

    Most people are in a state of sleep deprivation. During sleep your body rests and repairs itself so you are better able to take on the joys and challenges of life.

    Declutter Physically and Emotionally.

    Clutter depletes your energy. Regularly sort through and get rid of stuff that is getting in your way. This includes relationships that are no longer satisfying and fulfilling.

    Create A Success Circle.

    Surround yourself with people who will support, encourage and challenge you to be your best. These are the people you can go to for brainstorming, advice or a good old kick in the pants when you need it.

    Listen To Music.

    Music has the power to relax, entertain and heal. Build your music library and use it to support your other success habits.

    Indulge Your Creativity.

    Besides being a way to express yourself, creativity increases your problem solving abilities. You can explore your creative self not only through the arts, but also through activities such as cooking, gardening, photography or decorating.

    Read.

    Expand your mind with both fiction and nonfiction books. Even if you are not a "book" person, you can still get the same intellectual stimulation through audio books.


    About the Author:
    Laurel Vespi, certified life coach is best known as a masterful coach and sought after public speaker. She's passionate about teaching people how to stop waiting and start living a fun, satisfying and on fire life. Get Laurel's FREE report on Blissful Living at: http://www.stonecirclecoaching.com


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    Monday, September 14, 2009

    Hedge Your Bets With Job Loss Protection Insurance

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Kyle Fitzsimmons



    Although it is easy to think that you are immune from the depressing economy because you consider your job to be secure, you really can never predict the future. Hundreds of thousands of recently laid-off workers across the country thought the same thing and now find themselves unemployed with bills to pay. The most expensive bill in most homeowners' mailboxes is the mortgage bill. You can make sure that bill is taken care of regardless of your employment situation with a job loss protection insurance rider to your existing homeowners insurance policy.

    According to an article recently published on InsuranceAgents.com, the best way to find affordable homeowners insurance quotes is to shop online and get in touch with a home insurance agent. Ask your agent mortgage protection insurance and whether or not it is right for you.

    "Job Loss Protection Insurance: Myths" states that it is important to prepare for whatever the future may hold with a job loss protection insurance rider. The article states, "In any economy, let alone the one we are living in now where jobs are cut en masse everyday, it is wise to financially provide for an uncertain future. Job loss protection insurance will give you and your family the peace of mind that should the main bread winner find themselves without a job, your most costly and important expense--your mortgage--will not go unpaid."

    The article lists several myths often associated with job loss protection insurance. For example, generally you are only eligible for job loss protection insurance if you are jobless as a result of unexpected termination and not mandatory, retirement, resignation, or if you're dismissed as a result of misconduct or criminal activities. Also, if you are self-employed or own more than 10 percent of the company that employs you, you are typically not eligible for job loss protection insurance.

    Furthermore, if you are hoping to start collecting immediately after you are laid-off, then you might want to think again because most job loss protection insurance riders don't kick in for 30- to 60-days after you claim joblessness. Also, you will not have to bother with being the middleman, because your insurance company will be dealing directly with your mortgage company regarding your mortgage payments.




    About the Author:
    Written by Kyle Fitzsimmons. For more information, read "Job Loss Protection Insurance: Myths". Insurance Agents dot com provides expert articles, as well as auto and homeowners insurance quotes from up to five local insurance agents. Learn more at: http://www.InsuranceAgents.com/


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    Sunday, September 13, 2009

    Selling Your Expired Domains - Unexplained Secrets and Tips (Part II)

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 John Khu



    Selling your expired domains on auction sites is quite easy provided you learn and master the fundamental aspects of auction process. Quite a few number of auction sites allow you to sell your expired domains for a low set up and auction fee. Good domains can sell like hot cakes on these sites while the profit made by selling such domains could be very worthwhile as well.

    Afternic.com, dnjournal.com, namedrive.com sedo.com and ebay.com are some of the web portals that help you to auction your web sites. However, EBay seems to be the best web portals for auctioning purposes because of the factor of flexibility and ease of selling. This web portal comes to you with an immense reputation of being the best auction site in the world.

    Most auction sites provide a number of user-friendly features that will help you sell you domain names with considerable ease. Some of the most popular options provided by these sites are:

    Auction Registrar: An auction registrar has the ability to register expired domains on behalf of those who show an interest in buying the names. ICAAN accredited registrars can help you sell the domain names to your customers.

    Auction types - Almost all auction houses provide different auctioning procedures to make the process easier. Some of the most popular auction processes are:

    Public auctions: By far, this is the most common type of auction process. You can set your own price for your expired domains on which a potential buyer can bid for the highest price. The highest bidder will win the expired domain. You can even set a reserve price for your domain when you perceive that the anticipated price is too low, below your actual price. You can set your own time to finish the auction process; usually, auctioneers set a period of around 7 days.

    Buy It Now Auctions: You can suggest a special Buy it now price for those potential buyers who want to buy your expired domains almost immediately. Once your buyer confirms the buying intention, he or she will have to pay the set amount and purchase the domain name.

    Reverse Auctions: Also called Dutch auctions, you can use these auctions when you auction your domains at the exact price that you want to receive. The only downside of this process is that the price of the domain may drop with each day. Price will fall continuously until a potential buyer chooses to the buy the names.

    More tips to sell your domain names:

    a) Make sure that you provide a free expired domain appraisal report so that the potential buyer can study the viability of buying them.

    b) Ensure that the domain names you want sell offer a decent value to your clients.

    c) If you feel that you have trouble in selling a particular expired domain name, use an extended auction feature with promotional tool like bold or highlighted listing.

    d) Make sure that you complete the ownership transfer as soon as possible.

    e) You can even create a small brochure to highlight all positive features of the expired domain names like incoming links, current traffic and Page Rank if any.

    f) Relist the auction as and when necessary. Ensure that you offer lower price if the domain name does not sell even after an extended listing period.

    g) If you are selling a premium domain name, you can consider giving a free domain as an incentive. Bundled offers are very common in any auction process.


    About the Author:
    John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.


    Read more Articles written by John Khu.

    Saturday, September 12, 2009

    The Importance Of Creating Resistance In Your Copy

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Bill Platt



    "Creating Resistance in Your Copy" is an idea that is alien to most online marketers. After all, online marketers want to believe that everyone should buy their products and services, because the more people buying what is being sold, the more money the marketer will inevitably earn.

    Alien Marketing Concept

    This concept is so alien that most Internet marketers who see this article will react as if they are "deer in the headlights". If you are looking at this article with a blank stare - completely bewildered about my suggestion - then you are likely one of many, who are reacting the same way.

    Just the other day, I had this conversation with a small businessperson. The person with whom I was speaking was clearly bewildered at the suggestion, and she asked me, "What exactly do you mean by 'create resistance'?"

    I told her that "creating resistance" is the concept of eliminating some of your prospects, before they reach the sales page.

    Taking a step back, she said, "What? Why would you want to do that?"

    I explained to her what I am ready to explain to you now.

    In her case, by the time I finished explaining the idea to her, she realized that she was already doing that - albeit, unconsciously.

    Why Would Anyone Want To Create Resistance In Sales Copy?

    When you are writing sales copy for a product, there is seldom a need to create resistance in your sales copy. In fact, when selling a product, the need is more often to wipe out, eliminate, diminish or neutralize consumer resistance in your sales copy.

    Unless you are creating a product that sells for high dollar and you intend to offer it exclusively to a select number of people, the necessity of creating resistance in product sales copy is almost non-existent.

    However, if you are selling a service, the reasons for creating resistance in your sales copy are endless.

    For example:

    One company we work with is an Internet marketing consulting company. The company provides its services to other businesses based on the billable hour or specific service.

    In the case of this company, it does not make sense to talk to customers who cannot spend a minimum of $300 per month with them. As a result, they have created resistance in their sales copy to eliminate the broke, do-it-yourself, home business owner from their list of prospects. As a small consulting firm, it is essential for them to separate the wheat from the chaff quickly.

    By requiring an appointment for a free consultation, they direct prospects to a form to be filled out. In that form, they require phone numbers and email addresses, and they request the prospect to be as detailed as possible so that the free consultation will be meaningful.

    Another company we work with is a Virtual Assistant Agency. Once again, it is a matter of finding the customers who can actually afford the service. By telling prospects in advance that the minimum billing per month is $1000, the company is able to ensure that the only companies contacting them are those who seriously need virtual assistant(s) to help complete work.

    By signing the contract, the customer acknowledges in advance that they should send enough work to the virtual assistant to ensure that the $1000 per month minimum will not go to waste.

    Consumers Have A Natural Resistance To Sales Copy

    All of the great sales copywriting teachers speak to the notion of "sales resistance" - the natural roadblocks in the mind of the consumer that holds the consumer back from making a purchase.

    I actually found it quite interesting in that while researching this article, I could NOT find anyone talking about "creating resistance" in sales copy. The guru's are only talking about how to "eliminate" or "melt away sales resistance".

    Now, one might argue that the reason no one is discussing the creation of resistance in sales copy is because one should not do it. But I have had this discussion with a lot of people. Although no one is talking about doing it, service providers who have been in business for a number of years tend to deliberately build "sales resistance" into their sales presentations!

    Identifying And Eliminating Time Wasters

    Once a service business has been in operation a number of years, the owners / managers of those businesses tend to start seeing patterns that frequently cause financial losses to the company.

    When as a business owner / manager, you discover that certain customers cost more money than they generate for your business, you will seek ways to remedy that problem. Often times, it makes far more sense not to sell to certain people - the people who have exhibited certain traits that will lead to nothing but lost productivity for the service provider.

    If you operate a service business, you will likely have seen similar patterns yourself. In my case, there are certain behaviors that some prospects exhibit that set off red flags for me. I used to ignore those "red flag" moments, but I always regretted doing so later.

    The number one red flag for me in my business is the "carrot on the stick" approach offered by some prospects. It goes something like this: "I am going to try this once, and if it works out, I will send you tons of business."

    When I was in college, I used to wait tables in a restaurant. I saw the same behavior even then. People would come in and make grandiose promises at the beginning of the meal, "If you give us great service, we tip really well."

    Don't believe it for a moment! It is a lie, usually designed to get something for nothing or to encourage you to discount your services, "just for them".

    When I was waiting tables, it did not matter how good of service you gave those guys. You could ignore every other table in the restaurant to give them better service and the tip never exceeded two pennies!

    In my business, if you bite the bait, they will take their discount this "one time", and then they are gone... forever... I know their disappearance is not because my service is less than worthy... I have too many customers who have been with me for years; to believe that my service was the reason those people never came back.

    I have learned that the "carrot on the stick" approach is designed to take advantage of people - to take advantage of me.

    Once a prospect raises this red flag for me, I kill the free advice and the extra attention that I give to their job. I do the job and let the chips fall where they may - my basic service will stand on its own, without any effort to help the customer get more out of it. I will not let this person waste any more of my time, period. Unless this person comes back for additional service, I no longer spend extra time with them.

    Eliminating Time Wasters Is Easy If You Create Resistance In Your Copy

    As a service provider, you DO want to eliminate "sales resistance" in your basic sales copy. Once you have tweaked your copy to help the majority of your prospects to overcome their natural resistance to your sales message, then it is time to add some resistance back into your copy.

    You want as many people to buy your service as possible, but you also want to discourage those that you know will be a waste of your time and resources.

    My friend who has the consulting business allows people an initial consultation to help him and the customer to determine if they will be able to work together and if his consulting company will be able to add value to the prospects business. In his sales copy, he points out that after the initial consultation, all hours will be billable hours. Because he makes his prospects jump through hoops to get the free consultation, he is assured that he is only going to have real prospects at the other end of the phone line during a free consultation. And because his prospects understand that all work beyond the initial free consultation is billable work, they don't waste his limited time.

    The Virtual Assistant does not need to layer on the resistance at the same level. By clearly explaining what one should expect in terms of the service within the first thirty days of the agreement, it becomes self-evident to the prospect that the service is not for the faint at heart. Investing in a virtual assistant can be a bit expensive, but the payoff can also be quite large. By laying out a map of what one can expect from the service, it clearly defines to the prospect what the cost of such a service could be. And as such, it quickly filters out those people who are not a good fit for the Virtual Assistant's company.

    In my case, I don't provide much sales resistance in my sales copy to my prospective customers. In fact, the only sales resistance in my copy is my prices.

    The companies that call me a competitor have lower prices than I do - much lower prices. Although they refer to me as one of THEIR competitors, I really don't consider them to be mine. My service is so much different from theirs that I find it very difficult to think of them as "MY competition".

    For people who take the time to get educated about my service or to take it for a real spin around the block with a full ten article distributions, my higher prices are often considered a great investment of resources. With the built-in sales resistance in the form of a higher price, my customers ensure that I always serve higher-quality authors - authors who understand that the power of article marketing is in the strength of the content.

    I Might Be Going Out On A Limb With This Article...

    The fact that I could not find anyone else discussing the value of "adding sales resistance to sales copy" may suggest that I am just a total goof. But I do know for a fact that small business owners in the service industry do deliberately create sales resistance in their copy.

    In the conversation that I mentioned in the beginning of this article - the one where I was discussing this idea with a small businessperson, who had her "deer in the headlights" moment - the lady I was speaking with said to me after I explained the concept to her, "Oh, you mean like when I tell my customers that we provide 'quality' over 'quantity'?"

    Indeed! Telling your prospects that you provide 'quality' over 'quantity' automatically tells your prospects that your services may be a bit more expensive, but the quality of the work will more than make up for the difference in pricing.

    I know that many small business owners do deliberately build sales resistance into their sales copy, and I cannot blame them for doing so.

    I also know that my pricing is a disincentive to some people to use my services. But that is okay too. The publishers who receive articles from me know that I distribute a higher quality article. They may not realize that it is because of the pricing resistance on my site, but they do know that we typically distribute some of the best-written articles available online, from some of the biggest names in their industries.

    At the end of a ten-article cycle, most of my customers find that their articles have found publication on websites that have a much higher perceived value in the Internet marketplace. In fact, it is not at all uncommon for me to hear from clients who are happy to share that they have generated several thousand dollars in new sales as a result of an article I distributed for them. Now that is music to my ears...




    About the Author:
    Bill Platt has owned and operated http://thePhantomWriters.com/ since 2001. If you would like to learn more about his article distribution service, visit his website. To read 100's of Bill's Tweet-sized tips for article marketing, SEO, and more, visit: http://thePhantomWriters.com/tips/index.php Bill is also active on Twitter @contentmanager


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    Friday, September 11, 2009

    What's Your Excuse For Still Not Having A List?

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Willie Crawford



    One of the excuses we hear most often from struggling online marketers is that they don't make more sales because they don't have a list. We even hear that excuse from marketers who have been online three, or even five years.

    My question to them is always, "What are you waiting for?" "Why not start a massive list-building effort today?"

    When I look at how I built my database, I used only a few primary methods. Here are the most effective ones that I used:

    1) On many of my content websites, in many niches, I simply have an opt-in form in a prominent location on practically every page. That opt-in form is usually in the upper right corner of the page. I typically offer the potential subscribers a gift as an enticement to join my list -- perhaps a PDF special report or an audio recording.

    I also assure the potential subscriber that I will protect their data and only send them appropriate email. I also tell them that there is a handy one-click link in every email that I send that makes it super easy for them to remove themselves from my list if they ever get tired of my communications.

    This has worked beautifully for me for more than a dozen year, and steadily grows my lists.

    2) I have numerous affiliate programs. Many of these affiliate programs sell inexpensive products and pay the affiliates 100% commission on the front end product. The real purpose of those affiliate programs is to build a list of proven buyers interested in a specific topic. The commissions incentivize others to go out and send me traffic AND build my lists.

    I most often use a script called Rapid Action Profits, which allows me to pay affiliate instantly, depositing the payments directly into their PayPal accounts. This is so powerful because affiliates often need the funds TODAY, and don't want to wait 30 - 60 days for their commissions. When they can sell one of my inexpensive products, that are almost impulse buys for their customers, and get those funds instantly, they trip over themselves sending me customer... and building my lists.

    3) I often participate in quality list-building giveaways. In these events, numerous marketers ban together to drive traffic to a centralize website where gifts from each of the marketers are listed. In order to download a specific gift, the website visitor must typically visit the site of the marketer offering the gift and join his list.

    If you offer truly useful gifts, thousands of new subscribers can sometimes be gained from just one of these free giveaways. I usually offer PDF ebooks (transcripts from interviews that I conduct), MP3's or inexpensive but useful software.

    I often announce free giveaways that are looking for contributors on my blog, and to my Twitter followers.

    4) Software that displays your subscribe box on other's site, and automatically builds your list for you. There is software that allows you to participate in a cooperative effort, where partners display the boxes on each others' webpages. This is a good way to share the wealth since your website visitors are joining others' lists anyway. You may as well send your traffic to someone who is reciprocating.

    There is also newer software that allows you to display your subscribe box superimposed on affiliate websites, social networking sites, etc. You still tell your visitors to go to sites such as YouTube, Clickbank, Amazon or Ebay, but the software shows them a subscribe box and asks them to join your list BEFORE doing anything else. This is very powerful, and is largely hands free.

    For example, I can mention affiliate sites, or perhaps my profile page on one of the social networking sites, and build a list in the process of just spreading the word.

    With so many easy ways to grow your list, there really is no excuse for anyone who's been online for more than a few months not to be aggressively building a list. You do need that list to inexpensively spread the word about your business.

    Now that you see how REALLY simple and easy it is, get started building your list today!


    About the Author:
    Willie Crawford has been teaching online marketers to build their email lists since 1996. Since that time he has built a database of over 800,000. One of his favorite list-building tools allows you to automatically build a list from traffic visiting someone else's domain. Get this amazing software at: http://AutomaticallyBuildYourList.com


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    Thursday, September 10, 2009

    Telecom Expense Management - Spotting Telecom Billing Errors

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Nermine Shaker



    Whether a business has only ten employees making a few long distance calls a day, or is a burgeoning enterprise with hundreds of employees conducting thousands of calls and data transfers every hour, it is important for that business to carefully manage their telecommunication costs.

    Telecom Expense Management, or TEM, involves the constant monitoring of telecom expenses that accrue monthly. The goal of TEM is to ensure that invoices match agreed upon contract rates and tariffs, and to optimize the services offered by the telecom provider with the needs of the individual business. Effective TEM is an essential accounting task that must be conducted by companies and firms working in virtually all industries.

    Billing errors lead businesses to overpay for the services rendered by the telecom provider. These errors can waste money on services that were neither asked for nor used and will significantly eat into profit margins over time. Billing errors can range from honest mistakes made by the telecom provider, to more insidious and deceptive practices that rely on a business's preoccupation with other matters to sneak changes into the billing terms.

    Here are some errors that have been known to occur.

    1. Simple Human or Computer Miscalculations

    A common error is one in which either a computer or human miscalculation leads to an incorrect total on a billing invoice. The miscalculation may only affect the amount charged for a single telephone call, or it might be one that substantially alters all the monthly charges. These miscalculations can be fixed by bringing them to the attention of the telecom provider.

    2. Duplicate Bills

    Large telecom providers are susceptible to the same issues that negatively affect any other bureaucracy. With multiple agents handling the same account, confusion and mistakes are likely to eventually occur. If an account is not properly flagged as being billed, or communication between employees is poor, duplicate bills can accidentally be sent to clients. And unless your company is vigilant in detecting duplicate billing, you might be overpaying. Once again, this error can be fixed by bringing it to the attention of the provider.

    3. Incorrect Contracted Rates

    The agreed upon terms between the business client and the telecom provider may not always be honored. Due to miscommunication between the client and provider or sloppy account management, the rate assigned to the business may differ from the contracted deal that was negotiated when the telecom services were first acquired. This error - especially if the difference is relatively minor - can continue unbeknownst to the client for months at a time. Keen and meticulous oversight of billing statements is needed to spot this error.

    4. Unnecessary Surcharges

    Surcharges on services that should be included in the contracted plan are sometimes added to an account without the client's knowledge. Surcharges related to limits on data transfer, available phone lines or long distance use could be tacked onto the monthly bill. These additional fees unreasonably inflate communication costs, and unfairly penalize the client for using services to which he should already be entitled. Knowing what's in your contract is important here and keeping on guard for any additional fees.

    5. Cramming, Slamming and Modem Hijacking

    The most unethical of billing errors is the intentional altering of the agreed upon terms between the client and provider. 'Cramming', as it is commonly called, involves additional fees that are unrelated to any actual use or services. The provider will select and choose additional 'phantom' services and amend them to the original contract. They may be labeled as a 'Membership Fee' or 'ISP Service Fee', but are in fact nothing more than boldfaced attempts to slyly bilk more money from clients. Occasionally the terms of the original contract are ambiguous and reserve the provider's right to increase or otherwise manipulate future rates and options. A client must take charge and directly confront telecom providers that engage in this practice. They should ask their provider why they were charged those specific fees and attempt to have them removed.

    "Slamming" is the practice of switching a telephone customer's long-distance service provider to another carrier without the customer's permission. In recent years, this practice has lessened because customers now have to go through a series of verifications to change their long distance service.

    "Modem hijacking" is a variation on cramming. It occurs when software, usually delivered through a pop-up ad, is downloaded onto a business computer over the Internet. It then uses dialing software to reroute the computer modem to dial long-distance numbers. The fees charged for this can be ridiculously high.

    6. Unreimbursed Refunds or Credits

    Another error involves a late or absent refund or discount from a telecom provider. This occurs when billing errors have been brought to the attention of the provider, but the expected refund is not given. A special rate or discount reserved for business clients may likewise not be actualized. These delays and errors can be frustrating, increasing the animosity between client and provider.

    The wide range of errors that can effect your bottom line, and the subsequent monitoring that preventing them entails, is a time and resource drain that is sometimes best managed by professionals who have the industry experience to know both the needs and demands that business clients have. Though it is possible for some small clients to adequately manage their telecom expenses on their own, for most the task is demanding. Effective TEM should not be relegated to beleaguered employees already busy with other daily obligations. Using experienced experts provides the peace of mind to focus on the more important task of successfully managing your business.




    About the Author:
    Nermine Shaker is a Partner at THE SYGNAL GROUP, a telecom consulting firm that offers telecom expense management, telecom auditing and VoIP management to businesses of all sizes. Find out how to lower your telecom expenses at http://www.SygnalGroup.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.TelecomExpertise.com/


    Read more of Nermine Shaker's articles.

    5 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Telecom Consulting Firm

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Nermine Shaker



    With all the different aspects involved in telecommunications for today's businesses, hiring a telecom consultant firm is a necessity. With the advent of computers and high-speed Internet, there are many choices for a company's telecom needs. It is important not only to keep up to date on the latest telecom technology but also to do so in the most cost-effective way; otherwise, a company will lose out in today's competitive market.

    Telecommunications consultants can help your company reduce expenses, update your services and also provide ongoing support. When looking for a telecom expense management company or a telecom consulting firm for a specific project, you should keep the following questions in mind.

    How Long Have They Been In Business And How Big Is Their Company?

    A good telecom consultant should be up to date on all the latest technology in order for you to make the best choices for your company. There are resources on the Internet to check on a consulting firm. The Better Business Bureau has a website that allows you to check companies that have had complaints or lawsuits against them. A consumer website called ripoffreport.com has search capabilities that allow you to look up a company that may have consumer complaints against it.

    What Is Their Area Of Telecom Expertise?

    When looking for the right telecom consulting firm, you will want to know what areas they specialize in. The subject of telecommunications covers a broad spectrum. Once you know what you're looking for - telecom auditing, expense management, possible migration to VoIP, upgrading equipment or services - you can look for a firm that specializes in that area.

    Do They Have References Or Case Studies?

    Testimonials from former clients as well as present ones are helpful. Knowing past and present clients helps you establish how much work the firm can handle and how it handles it. A number of customers who are pleased with a firm's work says a lot about a firm's character and the people who work there. Knowing who the firm's clients are on a continual basis is also helpful. If clients return for business, it shows the firm is reliable and has satisfied customers.

    Do They Represent Any Vendors Or Sell Any Products?

    You should ask the telecom consulting firm if they use specific products made by a particular seller or if they sell that seller's products. You should also ask them if they sell any of their own products. If a firm sells another vendor's products, they probably raise the price a little to build in a profit for themselves, much like mechanics who buy a part from an auto parts store. If the firm sells their own products, the prices will probably be more competitive; however, if you have the expertise, you might want to check into getting your own materials once you know what is needed and let the consulting firm do the installation.

    In addition to possible price increases for profits, if you are quoted an inexpensive price, you might be getting involved with a company that receives commissions for products or services they recommend. Your telecom consulting firm should be unbiased and should be acting in your best interest - that means that they shouldn't be recommending their own carriers or services. That's why it's important to know if your telecom consultant represents any providers or vendors.

    What Are Their Fees?

    Once you decide who is taking care of the materials, the next step is to get the consulting firm's prices. There are a few ways that consulting firms collect fees - hourly or daily, by project or by contingency.

    A project can be billed hourly or by the day and often includes consultants' expenses. A fee-based project is a set amount of money paid to do a set project. Contingency based means that the payment is based on savings to the client. For telecom auditing, this is the most popular - the consultants get a percentage of the money they save the client.

    There are also some arrangements for consultants that stay on, working on a continuing basis to monitor equipment and allowing for continuous improvement. You would need to know their fees for this service if it's one you are interested in pursuing. You may want to be wary of a consultant who asks for a large upfront retainer or advance payments. Your consultant should want to work with your company for the best possible solution for you.

    Before choosing a telecom-consulting firm, it is important to get all of these questions answered to your satisfaction. A good analysis of your own company including what your goals are would be of benefit to decide what type of telecom systems you need. For instance, whether your company provides products and/or services locally or globally would make a difference on what installations are required. If you are local and want to expand, that could affect the system used as well. You want to get a consulting firm that is expert in the goals you are trying to achieve; one that will save you money in the long run by helping you improve what you have, or establish a profitable system to start with. You will want to decide what services you need and find a reputable firm that provides those services.




    About the Author:
    Nermine Shaker is a Partner at THE SYGNAL GROUP, a telecom consulting firm that offers telecom expense management, telecom auditing and VoIP management to businesses of all sizes. Find out how to lower your telecom expenses at http://www.SygnalGroup.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.TelecomExpertise.com/


    Monday, September 7, 2009

    How to Become a Successful Entrepreneur

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Nancy Fraser



    Ask the question, "Why did you start your business?" and many entrepreneurs will say, "to have more freedom".

    Ask them if they achieved it and many will say that its not quite what they expected.

    When someone starts a business they often struggle with how to differentiate their business from the competition. You would be surprised at how many decide that being easier to work with is their differentiation.

    The kicker is their definition of being easier to work with... it usually involves giving up rights.

    If you decide to "run without rules", what do you think your work week will look like?

    "To enjoy freedom, if the platitude is pardonable, we have of course to control ourselves. We must not squander our powers, helplessly and ignorantly, squirting half the house in order to water a single rose-bush; we must train them, exactly and powerfully, here on the very spot." -- Virginia Woolf

    Imagine you have a fully booked week and have actually had to turn business away because you have no time left to schedule....it's Monday morning and you are waiting for your 10am appointment; they are a no show. You are thinking of your next client appointment, scheduled for 1pm, when they phone and cancel. Suddenly your full day is wide open enough to drive a semi through. Even if your week gets better you have still lost the income from your Monday appointments and once the time is gone ...it's gone.

    Apply that same scenario to your invoicing and collections. You do the work or sell the goods, send out invoices and people pay whenever it works for them. In this case the never, never plan doesn't mean paying forever, it might mean never paying. It's hard for you to pay your bills with promises; it's also hard to eat or support a family.

    When you worked for someone else, you followed the rules and structure they set up to manage their business. You may have thought some of their rules were silly and ineffectual but you followed them because you had to.

    Who knew that structure, a few rules so that everyone knows what is expected; you, your employees and your customers would put everyone more at ease.

    Achieve freedom in your own business, not by a lack of rules, but by setting rules that make sense to you. Rules and procedures, how boring eh!

    The daily challenges you run into in business provide the clues to systems that will save time and money.

    What kind of system could you put in place to ensure clients take their appointments as seriously as you do?

    When do you prepare in invoice? When do you send it?

    Does the client understand your expectation re payment and what will happen if payment is not received within a specific window after the invoice is tendered?

    If you aren't paid within the time frame you expected, what is your first step...and second and third? And when do you take these actions?

    Spend your time doing business instead of rethinking your actions each time you have a problem...a problem that may have been the same problem you had last month and the month before.


    About the Author:
    Nancy Fraser of Nota Bene Consulting, works with entrepreneurs, small businesses and independent professionals internationally providing business and marketing know-how, web development and online marketing services. Free marketing tips and the free report, "Advertising Tips for Results Your Momma Would Be Proud Of" at http://www.notabenemarketing.com


    Read more of Nancy Fraser's articles.

    Sunday, September 6, 2009

    Answering the Question: What Makes You So Great?

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Judy Murdoch



    The other day I was discussing marketing options with a client and she said something which took me completely by surprise.

    "Well, I guess I could be shameless and promote myself more when I'm doing a presentation but it's not like I have anything special or interesting to say..."

    I was surprised because this woman has singlehandedly built a very successful consulting practice and works with an impressive roster of Fortune 100 companies.

    She also has two large binders stuffed with classes, workshops, and other intellectual property she's developed over the years.

    Yet, she's asking me "what's the big deal?"

    ==========================================
    How Do You Define "Big Deal"?
    ==========================================

    When I asked her to clarify what she meant by "big deal", my client went on to tell me that, in her mind, "special and interesting" means you've done something truly exceptional and ground-breaking.

    ==========================================
    Modesty is Not Always a Virtue
    ==========================================

    If you're asking yourself "what's the big deal" or "who am I to...?" you are not only doing yourself a disservice--you are doing a grave disservice to the many people and organizations that NEED your services and products.

    Plus, you're sabotaging your marketing because you're broadcasting a mixed message to your audience (My service will help even though it's not all that great).

    For tips on getting clear about "why you" and how to use this information in your marketing without sounding like a jerk, read on.

    ==========================================
    So, Why You?
    ==========================================

    I didn't start my business, Highly Contagious Marketing, because there was a shortage of marketing consultants in the world.

    The last time I looked, there were about 1.6 million businesses offering marketing support services on Google.

    And if you prefer getting marketing advice from books, you can find more than 15,000 on Amazon.com. Those are just the ones that are still in print.

    I have plenty of company.

    Yet, with so much help and support available, lots of small business owners struggle every day with their marketing, with getting the word out, with getting more customers.

    There are a number of reasons for this disconnect between the available solutions and problems that remained unsolved:

    - solution providers charge too much

    - their solutions take too long to implement or are too complex

    - they lack expertise in a field or method,

    Just to name a few.

    ==========================================
    A Question of Fit
    ==========================================

    The one relevant here is what I'm going to call "lack of fit."

    Sometimes, with all other factors being equal, the reason we choose to work with another business is because their approach, style, way of explaining things, etc., perfectly fit our needs.

    When the fit is right, we "get it" faster, we apply solutions faster, and we get results faster. There's a fun, effortless quality to work when the fit is right.

    When the fit isn't right, it's the opposite. You feel like you're struggling and somehow, you're just not learning what you need to know.

    Using Highly Contagious Marketing as an example: a percentage of small business owners like the way I explain marketing concepts; they feel like I understand their business and what's special about their products and services.

    My services aren't for everyone, but when there's a good fit between what the client needs and what I can do for them, the results are great.

    The exact same logic holds for you. You don't have to be a leading edge thinker in your field, a Nobel prize winner, or a PhD to have something valuable and unique to offer.

    You just need to understand what it is that you do that makes a positive difference to your ideal customers and clients.

    No matter how many companies "out there" seem to be offering the exact same thing as you, there are more than enough prospective customers for whom you are the BEST choice.

    For them, who you are, what you do, and how you do it is a "big deal."

    ==========================================
    Help with Who am I to-it is
    ==========================================

    Next time you have an attack of "who am I to"-itis, I recommend the following:

    (Note: I am indebted to the late Thomas J. Leonard from whom I learned this exercise).

    Call 3-5 of your best clients or customers--your "raving fans" and ask them this question:

    "What is the value that you are receiving from our work together?"

    And listen.

    If your customer answers primarily in generalities that could apply to anyone, press them for specifics by asking:

    "I'm glad to hear that but I'm wondering if I'm providing value to you in surprising ways -- beyond my role as your _________."

    And again, listen and take notes.

    When you do this, you will get, in your client's own words, what makes you so special.

    When clients do this exercise, we use the results in several ways:

    1. I ask them to keep their notes within easy reach for times when they're feeling some self-doubt and wondering "why me?"

    2. As testimonials for the clients marketing (this is, of course with the quoted person's permission.)

    3. Any and all of their marketing messages. Nothing is more potent than using your customer's own words when crafting marketing copy.

    ==========================================
    Bottom Line
    ==========================================

    Asking "who am I to" may seem attractive and modest, even virtuous. But there's no virtue when you're not helping the people who could REALLY use your help.

    Nor is there virtue in going out of business because you're not getting customers.

    Next time you're struggling around whether you're fully qualified, ask a few of your raving fans what it is about working with you that they value.

    Then listen to why they think you're such a big deal.


    About the Author:
    Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!" go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm
    You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com


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