Monday, April 30, 2007

The Importance of Anti-Virus Software

Any computer and internet user, regardless of the reasons that they are online, need to have the latest anti-virus software programs installed on their computer. Even thought most of these programs come already installed with your computer and are free, anti-virus software is absolutely essential to safe and uninterrupted internet usage. It also plays and important role in computer safety, as it can protect your vital documents and files from becoming damaged or lost forever.

How does an anti-virus software program detect and eliminate potential virus threats? This can be accomplished in one of two ways. First, the computer security program on your PC or laptop scans any files looking for virus definitions that match a virus dictionary. If a matching virus is found, the software alerts the user about the virus. The second method of locating viruses is to identify and suspicious virus behavior, such as port monitoring, spyware or data capturing. When these behaviors are detected, the anti-virus software springs into action and gets rid of the infected files.

Every so often, you'll hear on the radio or see on the news about a potential virus or worm that is spread via email. It may come with a subject line like "open this to see a funny video". Once the video is opened and downloaded, the virus infects your computer and starts eliminating or damaging files. Anti-virus software can help minimize the overall threat that viruses cause. As certain as you would lock your doors at night, or hide away valuable items in a safe location, computer safety depends on having anti-virus software installed in your machine.

There are certain free anti-virus software programs that you can trust to safely install and operate on your CPU or laptop. Programs such as McAfee and Norton are proven and respected names in the computer security industry. These companies continuously monitor and update their respective anti-virus software applications as new and more dangerous viruses are released. While the potential for completely eliminating computer viruses and their ramifications from online users is remote, having these – and other anti-virus programs on your computer can greatly reduce the risk that viruses can cause.

As with any threatening issue, there's always an element of conspiracy that's involved, and it's no different with anti-virus software companies. Think about it, if viruses were completely eliminated, then there would be no longer any need for purchased or free anti-virus software programs? Some people theorize that computer security companies actually benefit from viruses and they actually keep virus writers on their payroll! Of course, this has never been proven, but it would make for an interesting movie.

Regardless of whether or not you believe in conspiracy theories, one thing is for certain: that computer security is dependent on anti-virus software and vice-versa. New worms and programs are being developed all the time. Some viruses target specific files, like word documents or excel spreadsheets. Other more malicious programs can actually shut your computer right down. However, by installing the latest and most effective anti-virus software programs on your computer or laptop, security will increase and you'll have peace of mind as a luxury. Travel and visit some computer retailers in your area to learn more information on the newest anti-virus software programs.

When to Hire a Freelancer

If you are just starting your ebusiness, you might find yourself on such a tight budget that it is tempting to do everything yourself. From web design to copywriting, you can manage to learn just about everything on your own, especially with all the tutorials on the internet. The question is should you be running a one-man (or woman) show?

The problem with learning to do everything yourself is that you will never be an expert at any of the tasks. Not to mention the amount of time it takes to learn through trial and error. And let's face it, some people just aren't good at some things. Graphic arts might not be your area and attempting to dabble in it can result in poorly done graphics for your website.

Hiring a freelancer can be the best move you make in your online business. You will certainly end up paying for the service, but it is more than worth the cost if you can get your business up and running in days instead of months. The cost of doing things yourself is far higher. Imagine how much money you lose if you buy your domain name and web hosting and then spend 3 months learning to program HTML and create a basic website. That is 3 months that you earn nothing, but are still paying for!

You should hire a freelancer when it is more economical to do so than to try and learn the skill yourself. For example, you could certainly learn HTML and do your own website, but you will frequently run into problems and it can be difficult to get the scripts to do what you want them to. However, a freelance web designer should be able to create just the site you want in a week or less.

Freelancers come in all levels of expertise, most of which will be better than your own! You can go to places such as FindAFreelancer, Elance, and Rentacoder to look for freelancers that will do the job you can't, for an affordable price. Just post your project and wait for the bids to roll in. You can also get freelancers for any area, from banner design to copywriting, so just decide which areas of your business you are unable to do effectively and hire someone to do it for you.

This is really the best way to get started in your ebusiness. Freelancers don't have to be terribly expensive and just the fact that they are experts in their field doesn't mean they are hard to get along with. Most freelancers will willingly work for a decent fee and make changes if you aren't happy with the finished product.

Hiring a freelancer can be far more economical than you doing everything yourself. Instead, focus on your areas of expertise and get the business up and running and earning you money faster by hiring someone to help you out!

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Spyware Initiations

Among the spyware registry cleaner software that can be removed from the system are Microsoft Windows Spyware Free Download, Yahoo Spyware removal and Kazaa Spyware Remover.

Make a list of what you want to know, what you need to know, and what you already know about this subject.

The mountation of Spyware on the laptop is initiated by visiting a website, downloading a send, an attachment or just inadvertently clicking on a download you like that brings with it a buried train such as Spyware. Once this Spyware is mounted on your system it begins to go about its malicious company of collecting your special information and waiting for you to access the Internet so it can send it to its master. while spyware is planned to work in the background, you may never know of its being pending it is too behind. This is why it is a good idea to mount and run unwilling Spyware at recurring intervals to identify the being of Spyware as well as to eradicate it. Then the leftovers will have to be eradicated from the system registry by operation registry cleaner software such as laptop Spyware Remover or free Microsoft Spyware Adware eradicater software.

How Does The Registry stupid Down?

The system registry is constantly cassette all the activity of the working system counting the Internet traveler and the sites that it is accessing. Spyware being the hectic train it is, is planned to be not only one that takes up a lot of the notebook time by working in the background but also one that delays the front-end trains and army.

If you feel that you havent learned anything new thus far, there is a whole new realm of information in the rest of this article.

All the activity is singleed in the registry. This makes the registry increase out of proportion. hence the system must be constantly searchned for Spyware and it eradicated with any of the free Spyware Adware ejection tools. Now the registry is constantly being accessed for information by the working system. Every time the registry is requested for information it starts to search the full single for the information. As long as the registry has a few thousand entries, it will fetch the information rather simply but when the registry grows by thousands of entries, that too worthless information, it will dawdling down to a crawl. When this happens, it is definitely time for action.

Download Registry Cleaner And unwilling Spyware

Microsoft Windows Spyware released Download is one of the Spyware registry cleaner software that can be accessed from the Internet. Yahoo Spyware removal and Kazaa Spyware Remover are the other steadfast registry Spyware cleaner software that can do a good job of deleting the Spyware from the registry and making the system run more efficiently. When the disused information is eradicated from the registry, the registry has a lot of unfilled places.

This too can dawdling the system down. Some registry cleaners defragment the registry as well. This is the practice of bringing the registry entries faster together by charming up the unfilled places. with a free Spyware Adware removal function will terribly recover the working of the system at the same time stabilizing the working system.

If you type in the main word from the subject of this article into any reliable search engine, you will pull up a variety of resources.

A Review Of Secret Affiliate Weapon

I admit it, I like Ewen Chia. He's an honest chap. He's a great marketer and his products are certainly accurate in their facts and the information that they provide. So, what problems do I have with his "Secret Affiliate Weapon?" Well, to be honest, the only problems I have, have less to do with what is actually inside SAF and more to do with the hype surrounding it, not all of which was generated by Ewen himself. I mean let's be honest. We all expect a little salesmanship, and in that regard, Ewen is the king of salesmanship. Well, this article is going to take a realistic and honest look at SAF and hopefully give the reader a decent idea of whether or not this package is something that they want to invest in.

Ewen starts off his ebook with that basics, explaining what affiliate marketing is and helping you determine if affiliate marketing is something that you want to get into. He then goes into how much you can make doing this and then the tools that you will need in order to do the job correctly, such as autoresponders and the like. So far, nothing earth shattering. Just basic info.

After that he gets into actually getting started, such as signing up with Clickbank and other affiliate networks. He explains things like cloaking URLs, how to write effective email ads, how to market, how to find products that convert and a host of other things that you MUST know if you're going to be successful at affiliate marketing.

Anyway, I kept reading. I was waiting for that magic formula, those magic words that were going to turn me into a super affiliate. Something that I didn't already know. Now, granted, I've been at this for 4 years so to expect to learn as much as a new person would not have been fair, but still, I was hoping for something.

Well, when he got into some places to promote, that's when I started to get really interested. And son of a gun, he did point out a few places to sprinkle my ads that I had never thought of. A smile came to my face. I learned some things I didn't already know.

When all was said and done, I realized a couple of things. The first was that I really knew more than I thought I knew and maybe I didn't need to buy any more products. The other thing I realized was that everything that Ewen mentioned in his book was dead on the money. I was doing all those things and making a consistent income each month through affiliate marketing.

But here's the rub, and I hope it is something that the reader will take to heart. The hype associated with any product is not going to produce the kind of figures that people like Ewen make until you've been doing this for a very long time. Yes, you will learn the basics and enough to do this correctly, but you won't get rich overnight. If you go into affiliate marketing with the right mindset, you will find that Ewen's book will certainly help you.

Yes, I like Ewen's Secret Affiliate Weapon, which I might add comes with some great bonuses. I just understand that the income that these principals will generate at first isn't going to be able to allow the start up marketer to move into a mansion.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Google Talk

1. Foreword, getting familiar with the Google Talk service:

The Google Talk client is a software application that enables its users (people with Google accounts) to instantly communicate with each other via voice calls and instant messages. A very interesting feature, something like an innovation from Google, is that the Google Talk service supports the different industry standards. In other words, you can connect to the GT service using the official client, or you can use other Instant Messaging programs developed by third parties, or you can even set it up on your BlackBerry. The available clients besides Google's are Adium, Gaim, iChat, Kopete, Miranda, Psi and Trillian Pro.

Google Talk has been the long awaited entry of this truly global company into the IM and Voice Over IP communications market, where names like MSN, AOL, Yahoo and Skype have already been dictating the game and competing for user's choice. Considering how intense this market is, Google's entry will make it even more competitive which is a foundation for developing better products for the end user.

2. Getting started. Download. Install. The Interface:

You can download the Google Talk client from the official web page at http://www.google.com/talk/index.html. An alternative website providing fast and secure downloads is http://talk.freesecuredownloads.com. The installation is absolutely straight forward and the setup file itself is less than 2MB.

As mentioned, GT offers Instant Messaging capabilities, combined with high-quality and easy to use Voice-Over-IP calls. The software is totally integrated with Gmail, so all you need in order to login is just your Gmail username (the string before @) and password. Once you have the client installed, you will be asked for your Google username and password to login.

Login and automatically, all your Google buddies will appear in the buddy list. Of course, there is an Add Friend button, a "Search all contacts" field which searches both your Google Talk and Gmail contacts, and a drop-down under your name that lets you set your available/unavailable status and messages. There's also an Inbox button which takes you to Gmail, plus Help and Settings.

3. The technology behind Google Talk:

The developers of Google Talk have employed the open source XMPP protocol for the instant messaging feature, while the VoIP functionality is based on another protocol known as Jingle. Those are the publicly known facts, but Google hasn't disclosed any information on the technology behind their server network.

XMPP stands for Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol, open source protocol based on XML, designed for real-time instant messaging. The exact definition of XMPP as given in RFC3921 is "a protocol for streaming XML [XML] elements in order to exchange messages and presence information in close to real time."

The implementation of the XMPP protocol has allowed users of Google Talk to chat with users of other chat services as long they are based on XMPP. For example, Gizmo Project users (refer to gizmoproject.com) can IM Google Talk users using the Gizmo application. All you have to do in that case is click on Add Contact, and find the given person by his Google ID. The opposite (GT to Gizmo) is also possible, by clickin 'Add Friend' and then entering the Gizmo User Name.

Jingle extends the features of Jabber and XMPP and it's responsible for the transfer of multimedia content such as voice or video. Jingle is a new protocol created by Google and the XMPP Standards Foundation.

4. Google Talk keyboard shortcuts:

There are some neat Keyboard shortcuts that will definitely help you work better with the program. Here they are:

CTRL + MOUSEWHEEL UP/DOWN: changes the size of the current font


CTRL + E: centralizes the selected text


F9: opens Gmail and automatically fills in the To: field with the email address of the person you were talking with when pressing F9


F11: starts a call


F12: stops the call


ESC: closes the chat window on focus

If you want to write your text in bold font, enter it in between *your text*. To make it italic, type in _your message_.

5. Running multiple instances of Google Talk:

This feature is really useful if you have several Gmail accounts, for different purposes (personal, work, etc), but you don't want to keep logging on and off of them. Switching from one account to another all the time and not being able to communicate with all of your buddies can be really frustrating. This problem is solved using the 'nomutex' option.

Mutexes are used by programmers to orchestrate exclusive access to a resource. Simply put, creating a mutex guarantees that another program (or instance of the same program) can't access the same system resource (memory). By default, when Google Talk is started, it first attempts to create a mutex, and if does so successfully, then it continues and never releases the mutex, until the Google Talk is terminated (at that point Windows deletes the mutex). However, if the mutex creation fails, then Google Talk knows that another instance is already running and it just stops, so only one instance of GT can be used at a given moment.

To avoid that, you need to stop that mutex from being created in the first place. Here is how you can do that. Press the Start button on your Windows Taskbar and click Run. In the Open field enter:

"c:Program FilesGoogleGoogle Talkgoogletalk.exe" /nomutex

Now you are free to open as many Google Talk instances as you want, and login with your different Gmail accounts at the same time.

6. GTalk's command line parameters:

Besides the /nomutex parameter, there are some other ones you can use as well. To use any of the parameters listed bellow, just replace it with 'nomutex' as in the example given bellow. So the general string should look like:

"c:Program FilesGoogleGoogle Talkgoogletalk.exe" /PARAMETER

Replace PARAMETER with one of the params given bellow:

• autostart – it will set GTalk to start automatically with Windows, as long as the "Start automatically with Windows" option in the WinRegistry is checked


• forcestart – Google Talk will start automatically with Windows, regardless of the state of "Start automatically with Windows" checkbox


• S upgrade – to upgrade the software


• diag – starts the program in diagnostic mode

7. Google Talk's Windows Registry records:

To edit the settings of GTalk stored inside the Windows Registry, open the Start menu -> Run, and enter 'regedit', once the Registry Editor is open, navigate yourself down to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareGoogleGoogle Talk.

You will notice the following sub-keys, that store different option values:

• Accounts: holds the usernames and passwords, plus some connection options for the different accounts used on the client. The password is encrypted in a key called 'pw'

• Autouspdate: the information in this sub-key is used when performing Update on GTalk. Then the software will compare the value in the InstalledVersion key with the Google's response for that value. If it turns out that, there is a newer version available, Google Talk will start to download it automatically. On 27 of April, 2007, the latest version is 1.0.0.104, hence, that is the value you should for the Installed Version and Available Version keys

• Options: additional settings

• Process: this key stores the process ID of GTalk

8. A look at the future: Google Talk's Click-to-Call service:

Click-to-Call is a new service by Google and eBay, that's currently in test mode, available at http://www.google.com/help/faq_clicktocall.html. The idea is to allow users to directly call a given merchant on eBay, just by clicking at a link on his page at eBay.com. In that way, both you and the seller can verify the deal, confirm the details and keep in touch while it's being processed. This will really expand this business even further, making it more secure and reliable.

This whole idea that will have a very positive impact on the online business, is a combination between three of the most succesfull Internet companies - eBay, Skype and Google. In this project, every company offers what it makes best: eBay provides the marketplace, Skype brings the Voice Over IP communication technology, while Google comes with its leadership in search and advertising.

At the moment, the Click-to-call function works only for Google Maps. Here is how it goes. Search for a given business on Google Maps, once you find a store that you want to get in touch with, click on the 'call' link that is placed next to the phone number of that store. Once you do that, you will asked for your own phone number, enter it and press 'Connect for free', Google will call you almost instantly and connects you to the given store. Currently, this feature works only for business inside the US.

Google doesn't share your number, but you will have the phone number of the business you selected will appear on your caller ID when Google connects you. There are no charges for both local and long-distance calls, unless you have entered your mobile phone (in that case, your provider will charge you whatever his fees are).

Friday, April 27, 2007

Internet Marketing Consultant

The problem with Internet marketing consultants is that they often charge thousands of dollars in fees. This might be all right for your budget, but for many Webmasters this charge is too much and another marketing method is needed.

Without a doubt, marketing your website by the means of SEO is one of the best ways of marketing online. The reasons to this are simple: you'll get targeted traffic that is completely free.

SEO is simply optimizing your website so it appears in the search results when someone searches for something relevant to your website. For example, if you're selling grapes, than every time someone enters grape on a major search engine they'll find your website. Most Internet marketing consultants will discuss SEO with you because this is one of the most profitable ways of generating traffic.

You can easily perform SEO on your website yourself. It you're not doing this already, than I suggest you start right away. If you do SEO properly, it will make you profit a lot in the long run and your website will become a success.

SEO consists of tweaking your website until it is very well optimized for the search engines. There are many things that the search engines take into consideration when listing your site, and this is another thing that Internet marketing consultants discuss of when you have a meeting with them.

If you want to truly make money from your website, I suggest you get yourself some SEO software that'll automatically accomplish most SEO tasks. This will save you loads of time and money, and you'll be listed higher and faster on the search engines.

The SEO software I recommend, and that many Internet marketing consultants use, is SEO Elite. This is a very powerful SEO software that will get your website ranked high quickly.

Imagine – you could be getting 10 000 free targeted visitors to your website…daily!

There is no Internet marketing consultant that would offer you such sensitive information. SEO id the way to go if you want to market your website, but make sure you use SEO software to make the use of your time efficient and to get your website listed higher.

SEO Elite also comes with a SEO guide, so you'll be all set to start doing SEO on autopilot with SEO Elite!

To read an honest review on SEO Elite, simply go to my website. If you don't, you'll be losing money and customers daily. This is what the Internet marketing consultants don't want you to know, but you do now. Start making money with your website now!

Viral Marketing To Promote eBook Sales and One Time Offers

Many people have the common misconception that creating success with your business or a particular product is difficult. They are so wrong. One main key in succeeding online is by helping others in one way or another. You can find online success and quit your boring job to fulfill a successful career and business completely online. Work when you want, how you want, where you want, create your own hours, dress how you choose, and more. There are so many benefits of working online, and the best one is that you can make an unlimited amount of profit.

There is a specific strategy of succeeding online and that is with viral marketing. You can begin with giving away something for free, such as a sample of an ebook of yours, or an ebooklet. Give this product away for free and you have started your own viral marketing campaign that can bring you more success than if you did not use viral marketing.

You can use this strategy to create residual income that puts profits into your bank account every month! So, how do you give something away for free and earn money? It is actually relatively easy when you put your knowledge of viral marketing to work.

Viral marketing is not something that is new because of our developing technologies – viral marketing has been around since we have been selling products and conducting business. That is a long time, and it still works. With viral marketing you can create the necessary buzz to get consumers interested in your ideas, your products and your business.

What Precisely is Viral Marketing?

Viral marketing is a specific technique that makes use of already accessible social networks to create product, business and brand awareness. One way viral marketing can work very well is simply by the word of mouth – the number one best form of advertising out there. Online the word of mouth advertising (which is free, too!) is perfect simply because you can reach so many people (all over the globe) at one time. Viral marketing uses a network marketing or advertising method, which is effective in reaching a large number of people in a very fast and almost immediate way.

Simple Methods of Viral Marketing That Can Be Very Effective –

Using viral marketing to promote your ebooks and one-time offers can be very effective. However, you must have a variety of ways to do so in order to successfully promote your ebooks and one time offers. Here is a list of some ways to best use viral marketing to your advantage:

· Submit Your Articles to Article Databases so Other Websites Can Pick Them Up

· Join Various Online Groups Such as Google, Yahoo, and Others

· Find a Specific Niche Market for Your Products

· Provide Your Free Sources So Others Can Give Them Away

· Leave a Link to Your Website or Sales Page in Articles, Signatures, and Wherever Possible

· Acquire Success Stories From Your Customers to Show Potential Customers

· Put Your Link in All of Your Profiles So Others Can Easily Access Your Products

· Create a Free Website Directory Page So Others Can Add Their Link, and In Return Put Your Link in Their Websites

· Create a Press Release and Submit it to Various Websites and News Places to Get More Attention

· Have a Good Frequently Asked Questions Page on Your Website So People Can Easily Get Answers

· Utilize Experts to Help Back Up Your Product, Information, and Ideas

· Get Customers to Refer Others Who Could be Potential Customers

Viral marketing is a very powerful form of marketing and promotion that can mean the difference between the success or failure of your products. There are many more ways of viral marketing that can help your marketing strategies become more effective and successful.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Searching PDF - Top 6 Tips for Searching PDF on the Internet

Introduction

PDF is an abbreviated form of Portable Document Format which is invented for magazines, pamphlets, etc. to give complex visual designs. It is utilized by software known as Adobe Acrobat. The main objective behind the use of PDF is the removal of machine and platform dependence, accurate designing, and control over the technique of art and printing but it is not useful for interactive online reading. Now-a-days PDF files can be made easily using word processors, page layout, and other programs. With the help of development tools, the PDF files can be sent in fragments so that they can be received by the user properly but again this procedure will not help in raising the speed, simplicity, and user control of HTML. The scrolling down of the PDF files require much time. Also, it is hard to imitate the matter from PDF files because of the presence of side bar text and page breaks. It is recommended to use HTML version of file for onscreen searching as well as the PDF versions of the file for printing. This combination will provide the proper format. Also it has been recommended after various experiments that one should go for the HTML version or should provide a gateway page indicating a caution of not to click the link as this will come up with a PDF file, page count, and file size. Also the internal or external search engines should be protected from indexing the PDF files.

How To Convert PDF To HTML

1.PDF file can be converted to HTML with the help of Adobe's online PDF converter.

2.There is another converter known as pdftohtml incorporated by search engines and operated on Unix command line.

3.There is software known as Xpdf which is useful in breaking down PDF documents in parts.

4.BCL Magellan helps in converting PDF files to HTML maintaining the structure of graphics, hyperlinks, etc.

5.There is another program made for the conversion known as Clickcat-P2H with a facility of downloading its version on trial basis.

6.These conversions can also be done by using PDF.com's PDF2HTML application. It also provides the free trial version.

Searching PDF files

PDF files will be prepared for searching by confirming that the PDF files should possess exact document properties, by checking the version number of PDF file version so that search engine should read that version, and by fragmenting a long PDF file should be fragmented into small fragments. Now go for the option of SearchTools on Metadata. Then PDF files will get the text from PDF information fields after being indexed by search tools. If this information is not entered then a title will be generated. A file will be downloaded when clicked on a link. The search engine will present the view of text from the PDF file but it should possess an icon showing the item in PDF and should tell about the file size.

3 Benefits of Web Analytics

Web analytics is the process of measuring site statistics and analyzing traffic behavior. Here are there of the main benefits of web analytics.

It is typical for any business to do some data analysis. Data analysis is used to determine sales, profit, loss rate, and market interest. However, in terms of establishing a strong e-presence for your website, there is one tool that you could used in order to collect necessary data that you would need to promote your site.

Web analytics has been gaining steady popularity among websites, blogs and portals. It is used to analyze market trends and to identify website users or visitors. It is also used to determine the behavior of website users. It is a great tool to determine your latest website trends and your visitors' or users' preferences in terms of site features. Here are the benefits of web analytics.

Number 1: It helps monitor your visitors and users

With web analytics, you would know how long your visitor stayed in your website, who they are and where they came from. You will be able to know their clickstreams, the keywords they used, and how they came to be in your website (referrer pages, search engines, etc). You would be able to determine how many times a user or a visitor returned to your website and which pages were given preference.

In fact, a web analytics tool would tell you your website usage down to the last specifics. It would tell you about your visitor's nationality and language. It can even pinpoint the city of origin. Of course, it will tell you the IP addresses and the host used for access. Further analysis would reveal if your visitors were there to actually check out your site or if they were mere strays. Most certainly, you will know how many visitors you get daily.

Number 2: It can help you optimize your website

Once you have carefully studied the actions of your visitors or web users, you would be able to act accordingly in order to optimize your website. You would also have an idea about the things that need changing and the aspects of your website that may appeal more to your market. You would know which pages are most viewed and which are basically ignored. You would be able to adjust certain aspects of your website that need improvement or adjustments. You could then fix any technical problems; or you could also improve, streamline or reshape site navigation to better assist your site users or visitors.

Number 3: It can help you formulate a sales and e-marketing plan

Web analytics will be able to assist you in preparing for an e-marketing plan and course of action. This will be more effective because your plan would be based on actual facts and not mere probabilities. You would be able to really know what your market wants. By tracking the items which were highly viewed, you would learn which products received the highest response. You would also be able to enhance other programs that you have already employed like pay-per-click or PPC advertising. You would be able to get more clients, as well as monitor and keep your clients interested.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Internet Marketing Strategy in Web 2.0 World

The second generation of the Internet is different than the first generation so many things have changed considerably including Internet marketing. However, there are lots of ways that Boston web sites can capitalize on the differences and really market their website as a result. There are many things that can help you market your website from the actual web design to the content on the site and more. The following information will help you understand a little better how to market you Boston website design in the Web 2.0 world.

Links

Links are one of the greatest tools available to you to help you market your website and get more hits. The more links you can get pointing back to your website increases its ranking with the search engines so when someone searches for specific terms your website will have a higher ranking than others that don't have as many links. It takes a little bit of time to get lots of different links but you can do so over time by having other websites list your link, posting your link in directories, and more. When you have lots of links you will see the difference in ranking and traffic to your site.

Content

Another way to market your website is through original content. It might seem crazy, but the more original the content on your site and the more original content is added to your sit the higher your site will be ranked. That goes the same for the more pages you have on the site as well because there is more for the search engines to index.

PPC

Pay per click advertising is another great way to market your site and it is an unobtrusive way to get more traffic. You simply bid an amount of money on a certain keyword or keyword set and if your bid is the highest your ad will be ranked number one or wherever it falls among the other advertisers. When people search for a particular keyword they will see your ad and possibly click. You can make money off the clicks as well.

There really are a lot of ways for you to market your website in the web 2.0 world and these are just a few suggestions. If you implement these you will certainly see an increase in traffic and the more work you do on your website your marketing efforts will result.

Network Marketing - Creating Profits OnLine Fast - Step 3

Like so many network and internet marketers… you have been studying and learning all you can about the secrets of internet marketing. but you still are just not making enough money again this month.

You have bought courses from a bunch of gurus over the past couple months or years that claim to have the secrets you need to build a website to make money, or to build a huge list, or free traffic generators, and still you find yourself going broke from your so-called business.

Your advertising is costing too much, you are spending way more than you are making to buy leads, its taking more time than your real job, your spouse thinks you are crazy, and you are just more overwhelmed with what to try next.

You have called your hot prospects and invited them to this weeks meeting, but nobody showed up again. You just spent all day calling your leads, followed up with them by email again. You get the feeling they are avoiding you, and your heart dropped when you opened your commission check and found it short again.

You have done all the things your coach suggested, you have read every book you can get your hands on, you attend all the training calls, and you still just do not have enough prospects to talk to.

So how can you save your sanity and dream this time?

GETTING STARTED:

Step 3: Take Immediate Action and Apply Your Knowledge & Tools

Start...stop waiting until you perfect your site, list, or sales copy writing.

I bet you don't hear that much. You need to start immediately to take action and actually apply what you learned from your mentor.

If you just agreed to buy a franchise for ABC Hamburgers, would you pay the franchise fee, attend all the training, buy all the products recommended, and then not open for business until you found the ideal chef next month, or would you open as soon as today.

You would start right away and stay focused on doing everything that you had already studied and learned from your mentor in order to start to recoup your investment fast, right!

The Facts are – if you really want to succeed in marketing your business online you need to not only study and learn the core principles required to creating profits online from your internet marketing mentor, but you must take immediate action and actually do all the steps, repeatedly, and in massive amounts in order to kick start your momentum. Tentative baby steps will not work!

You must take these important steps, find yourself a true mentor who is proven to be successfully working in your specific area of interest, study and learn the core principles of creating profits online from them, and take immediate massive action today.

In the online marketing world, just like offline, you must start by finding a true mentor, study and learn the principles of internet marketing, and then immediately take massive action.

There are many internet marketers that started out finding a mentor, focused on studying and learning the core principles, but then they really did actually take the next step of taking immediate massive action and applying the knowledge, and tools they had learned and only then did they pass the real test - creating profits online .

They are not smarter or harder working than you, they simply found a mentor, focused on studying and learning the core principles of internet marketing, and stopped procrastinating and took all the immediate massive action steps their mentor prescribed for them.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Guerrilla Marketing Online

Pay close attention to this article because it contains marketing tactics that you have probably
never heard of.

Let me briefly mention some very basic principles covered in the unique marketing system.

Ironically enough, guerrilla marketing skills are used both in large corporations and small business. However, even though large corporations have originally grown from small businesses using guerrilla marketing methods, they find the system itself is better suited for the smaller business.

It's also interesting that the principle that guerrilla marketing was based on from the beginning still works
today. It's been determined that it works because it is founded on how consumers react to a product rather than on experience or guesswork.

When using guerrilla marketing methods, it is best to combine a number of skills by using the same principle in various ways rather than to rely completely on only one method.

This means that you have to be open to different ways of doing business, advertising and getting clients.

Stay on the cutting edge by using current technology,budgeting your time and resources, and making the most of your creative abilities rather than on spending money.

As you can see from these few tips, Guerrilla Marketing technique can be invaluable to promoting a successful and profitable business.

Not only is this system necessary to any new business owner, the plan it initiates is in some cases cost-free, and in this day and age that is rare. It is the most inexpensive marketing system and yet, it
produces the greatest results in terms of profits. The best part; It doesn't require an entire lifetime to
reach your goal.

Sure, it shows you how to gain new customers, but more importantly it shows you how to keep the ones you have. When a business has faithful customers, that business is going to grow. It's that simple.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Father's Day Reflections- My Dad, the Electronics Enthusiast

With Father's Day just around the corner, it's time once again to figure out what I'm going to get e.my dad. Like many men, he's an electronics enthusiast through and through. He's what companies like (or love) to call an "early adopter" - someone who just can't wait to buy the latest gadget, the faster computer, the bigger HDTV, and anything else you can think of. His obsession definitely has its benefits, though. My sister and I regularly go through his "electronics graveyard" and get fully functional computers, DVD recorders, and all manner of accessories.



But this knack of his to buy the latest electronics makes it that much more difficult to figure out what to get him for his birthday, Christmas, and Father's Day. My sister and I are thinking about buying him a new digital camera for Father's Day, one that has 7.0 megapixels, an optical zoom, and a special setting for taking eBay pictures. Dad is an avid eBay seller, and the right photos can make the difference between selling an item at a decent price and at a great pric The new digital cameras that have the special eBay setting would complement two of his passions: electronics and eBay.



We're also considering buying him a GPS receiver. The Global Positioning System is a set of satellites in orbit high above the earth, and a GPS receiver can tell you, in terms of latitude and longitude, exactly where you are. Some GPS receivers have built-in mapping tools that not only include road maps, but that also show places of interest. So, for example, when Dad's traveling and needs to find a gas station, he can "ask" the GPS system where the nearest gas station is, and then receive directions to it.



A GPS receiver is also perfect for a new "sport" that I've become interested in, and one that I think Dad would love. Geocaching is a hobby that is quite a bit like a treasure hunt. People all over the globe hide small containers that contain trinkets and logbooks, ascertain the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates of the hiding spots, and post them online. You can go online and find the coordinates of caches near where you live or travel, enter them into your GPS receiver, and then try and find the cache. It's not as easy as it sounds, but it sure is a lot of fun. Once you find a cache, you can pick up a trinket, leave a trinket, and sign the logbook. Dad's expressed an interest in geocaching, and since he does a lot of traveling for his work, my sister and I think that a GPS receiver and a book on geocaching might make the perfect Father's Day gift.





In my heart, I know that our dad will appreciate whatever gift we choose. Any type of electronics will tickle his fancy, and I'm sure that he'll enjoy either a digital camera or a GPS system. The only thing we have to worry about is whether he'll go out and buy one for himself before we get a chance to give him his Father's Day gift!

Delete Internet History File

Personal privacy is one of the most important items one can have, especially if you are on the internet browsing around checking out stuff. If you do not want someone to know where you have been, then you need to delete your internet history file. But while you think deleting this internet history file will remove all traces of your activity, you are wrong. You can still see and track where you have been. In order to completely erase your information, you need a special internet eraser program.

It is really bad if you use Internet Explorer. This software keeps track and maintains records of everywhere you do. It keeps a log of all websites you visit, the images you look at, and the videos you watch. And the other downfall of all of this is the mere fact it is clogging up your computer resources with a bunch of extra stuff. If you are using Internet Explorer, it is not good enough to just delete the internet history file. You need to completely erase everything showing where you were.

And I am not talking about just sites you are not supposed to be looking at. This is for regular internet browsing as well. If you are looking for your significant other something, you really do not want them to see what they are getting. Just a simple run of an internet eraser software program will find everything to erase your tracks. It will then ask you if you want to erase everything. If you choose yes, then bingo: All Gone! No more knowing where you were.

You can have your privacy back by doing much more than deleting the internet history file. A complete internet erase software will make you invisible, like a ghost. It is like you were never there. But this is only possible with additional software.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

7 Steps to Local Search Dominance

Right now, in every community in America, increasing numbers of people of all ages are turning to the world wide web to find products and services right there at home.

This trend, known generically as local search, presents a huge opportunity for small businesses who focus on winning in this arena. Below are 7 steps every local business should explore today in order to gain a competitive advantage in their local markets. (Someone in your market and industry will do this, why not you?)

1) Register with the primary local and social search engines and directories. Make sure you are listed on site building directories with user generated reviews. Get in those as well and manage your online reputation. (You can get this done for you on a local profile page - Local Search Profile)

2) Optimize your web site for local search. Put local terms in you page titles - not Home page. Put local terms in your anchor text - not Kitchens - New York Kitchens. Put local terms in your H1 and H2 tags. Put local terms in your body copy.

3) Put a map on your site. You can also use a simple tool to customize a map for your business. Make sure that you also include very specific driving directions to your location or locations so that you can include major streets and landmarks creating more local content.

4) Check your InfoUSA listing. InfoUSA compiles lists for direct mail and telemarketing but they also provide a great deal of the directory listing information for many of the smaller search directories. Go here and make sure your listing is correct and up to date. You can also add things like your web site address to the profile.

5) Add local content. You should create several pages of content on your site focused on local angels. You can report local news, talk about your firm's history in a town, give an overview of non-profit activities, even report on the various suburbs your staff hails from. Don't forget to put your physical mailing address on every page - that's local content too.

6) Add a Blog. A blog - not a free blogger one, but one that resides on your domain - is one of the most powerful local search tools going. You can simply post about things going on in the community, school events, neighborhood block parties, the local sports teams. It's helpful if you can do this and post content that is relevant to your primary business, but as long as the towns and neighborhoods you want to score well in the search engines with are in your posts and titles, you will get some serious lift for those terms.

7) Get local inbound links. The search engines give lots of credit for links that are coming back to your site from other sites. Go out there and find some local directories or strategic partners that will link back to your site but don't have them link back to your business name - Joe's Pet Shop. Have them link back to your site with a local search term like - Toledo's Biggest Pet Shop.

Achieving Prosperity - How To Find The Path Of Achieving Prosperity Through The Internet

It is now more and more common to find these types of actual results among individuals who have figured out what it takes to make significant money on the internet. Do these sounding familiar to you? :

"In just three years, I went from being a bartender to making a six figure annual income with my direct sales company".

"After just three months of using the internet, I am now making an additional $2,000 per month".

The internet is revolutionizing the way marketing is done. The potential for smart individuals who learn to take advantage of it is unlimited. They are making a fortune in just a fraction of the time.

So, this begs the obvious question? How do they do it? Most importantly, how can YOU do it and duplicate some of their results? It comes down to two simple things.

Firstly, they work smarter, not harder. Their time is leveraged in everything that they do. Secondly, they positioned their business in front of the two most powerful trends: a) a business allowing you to work from home, and b) Internet trends.

The way of the future, to make significant money, is in a home-based business that uses the internet in some way, shape or form. People are increasingly becoming aware of this and want to simply plug into a system that already works in addition to aligning themselves with someone who has achieved even a fraction of the success that they dream of having. By learning how to capture the attention of this population and sharing with them how your business offers what they desire, you can catapult them to the lifestyle they have only been reading about and, subsequently, can finally create the residual income you desire.

How, then, do you get the results that these "gurus" are getting?

Herein lies the issue. VERY FEW are sharing how to truly build successful organizations. They are simply too busy utilizing their various methods and resources that they don't have the time, or even want to make the time, to share their most closely guarded secrets with the masses. Why invite a significant amount of competition?

So, then how are you supposed to figure out what works? How are you supposed to figure out what does NOT work before trying it so you do not waste time and too much money on these options. Everyone seems to have the latest and greatest down line scheme or lead source or one up two up system, etc. Many of these "methods" are colossal wastes of time and suck up your marketing budget leading to discouragement and failure.

About 95% of internet marketers try something to see if it works resulting in just the same old trial and error. The major issue is that, the majority of the time, what you try fails and you haven't a clue as to why. You fail to notice that if you incorporated just one small change into your marketing efforts, you could have had a major success on your hands, for example. Don't risk your success and future of your business on guessing, hoping, and blind faith.

Are you, then, ready to find out exactly what to do and how to do it from people who have achieved the results that you seek? Do you want them to show you how to successfully market your businesses through the power known as the internet?

How can you stand out from everyone else and compete with the masses of people who have the same dreams and desires of achieving some sort of financial independence that you do? The simple answer to this is that you don't. You do the exact opposite of everyone else and discover how simple it can be to use the internet to build organizations! You just need the system and know how to make this work for you.

You have a business or are looking for a business to make money, not spend loads of it on marketing techniques that are dated or simply a waste of time. Wouldn't you like to know what DOES work BEFORE trying it?

To discover what I do, visit the links below and feel free to contact me for further information.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Marketing Like A Guerilla

If you're tired of failing with your marketing, this
article will give you some highly effective, yet
unconventional ways to increase the response your
marketing produces.

To show you what this wonderful new business marketing
system has to offer, let me give you an excerpt of an
actual page from this course.

First, let me define the term "target" marketing.
Target marketing is specifically introducing and
reintroducing your particular product to those
business or individuals who are most likely to want or
need it. When discussing target marketing, Guerilla
Marketing goes into this phase of marketing with
some wonderful examples and gives the new business
owner deliberate steps to take.

It states: There are two steps to target marketing,
which is also referred to as niche marketing. The
first is to define your target, and the second is to
find ways to reach them. Once you have accomplished
these steps, you can incorporate this information into
a guerilla marketing campaign that will give you the
most bang for your buck (or more likely, your
efforts).

So, how does a new business owner find their niche?
There are some simple guidelines to help. Consider
things like gender, age, marital status, location,
climate, marital status, and how will you service the
customer's transactions?

Once you determine who you want to target your
advertising to, it's time to decide how you best want
to reach them, whether it will be public
advertisement, news media, or one of many other
methods.

There are many ways to advertise your business but
it's important that you choose one that is best
for your business.

The amount of valuable information included in
Guerilla Marketing 101 is being offered to a select
few, and you are one of those few. Click here to
download the entire book along with the 3 free bonuses
included if you act now. This is NOT something you
want your competitors to discover first.

You have everything to gain and nothing to lose, that
is, except the profits you'll be giving away to your
competition. Click here for the rest of the story.

As you can see Guerilla Marketing is a great way to
break free of the mold of advertising that just
doesn't produce. Take these tactics to heart and
make sure that you give them a try in your business.

Guerilla Business Plan

If you have been thinking of starting a business or
already have one running, you need to be aware that
a business plan is totally essential to your success.

A good marketing plan is crucial to any business, but
especially to a business just starting out. Equally
important is a new business owner who wants to begin
their business with an ethical, positive attitude, an
attainable goal, and the means to reach it.

So how do you do it? This excellent marketing system
gives five basic principles to cause your business to
strive for those goals and then maintain or even
exceed those goals.

• Have a good quality product or service. This may
seem obvious to many but it can never become too
important. If the quality is above average and doesn't
wane, customers will come to know that and reward that
business with their faithful repeat visits.

• Put your customers first. If the customer is made to
feel special, and they can see that the business is
serious in serving them, they will continue to return
and bring friends with them.

• Determine, find, and then speak to your targeted
market. Blanket advertising is minimal in reaching
your targeted customer base and one of the most
expensive advertising techniques. Stay within your
niche for the most effective marketing results.

• Use business cards, flyers, newsletters, and
promotional literature with your face-to-face
customers always. Customers won't remember to tell
others about your product if they can't remember what
was special about it or where they got it.

• Listen and respond to your customers promptly.
Remedy any complaint immediately to satisfy the
customer. If there are numerous complaints regarding
the same product or service, the business may need to
reevaluate their product or method. Negative word of
mouth advertising can be extremely expensive.

A business plan will give you a plan of action to
closely follow in attaining your business and financial
goals.

Beginning a new business isn't easy. It can be
expensive, time consuming, and very stressful. Those
who have done it know that. That's why the wisest new
business owners have used Guerilla Marketing 101. It
cuts through the trial and error and has saved many
businesses thousands in potential lost revenue. Click
here to let us show you how you can avoid the pitfalls
of past failed businesses.

If you don't have a business plan, take a few minutes
each night for the next week to work on one. It
cold make the difference in your business.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Network Marketers - Do They Stand A Chance?

Network marketing companies are popping up all over the place. Most of which are not able to sustain themselves for long-term success. There's a large disproportion in the number of newly launched companies and the number of people joining these companies.

There are still many "old fashioned" network marketing companies out there. If you work with this style of marketing, this means you've been trained to make a list, invite friends and family to a presentation, present the business, follow-up, and get the commitment. The problem with this marketing model is that it's been around for such a long time, people see it coming a mile away. Since most people have either been in a network marketing company or know someone who has, a HUGE red flag goes up immediately and the skepticism begins before you've even presented the business. Therefore, if you are using this method, you'll likely face a lot of rejection.

In addition, people are trained the worst possible marketing and advertising strategies known to man. You're trained to present your business and attempt to sign people up who have never expressed any interest in starting a home business. It's like your trying to ice skate uphill, and your blades are dull!

If you're ambitious and after facing rejection and failure offline, you'll turn to the internet. You'll possibly purchase leads and attempt to operate your "old style" company with a "new style" marketing strategy. However, buying quality leads is extremely tough because you'll have to find a credible lead source that you can trust without emptying your pocketbook. And good leads can range from $3.00 - $10.00 a piece. If you're leads cost less than $1.25, it's very likely your leads have been sold numerous times over.

So, you can generate your own leads. If you're marketing online, this is the BEST method of operating because the people looking at your business are people who are seeking out your business. However, if you don't have the internet marketing skills needed in today's VERY competitive environment, you can blow a wad of cash quickly!

How about getting involved in an internet based network marketing company. A company that'll provide you with some great tools to automate your business and make your life much easier such as lead capture pages, a flashy movie, etc. It won't help, and here's why:

In order to make money on the internet, you'll have to generate 'targeted' traffic to your website. You'll do this by advertising and as you know, advertising costs money. Therefore, you'll have to understand how much it is going to cost you to get a sale.

Most network marketing companies will pay you some form of quick start bonus that will range from $5 - $100 (if your company is generous). And then you'll receive some residual on the vitamin auto-ship or whatever your products may be. However, it may cost you anywhere from $50 - $350 to get someone to join your organization. And here's where the true problem lies. Even though you're generating targeted traffic and you're getting some activity, it is highly probable that it'll cost you more money to get the sale than you'll actually make from the sale!

If you budget $500 per month in advertising, get 10 people to join your business, and receive a $50 quick start bonus and $2 month residual per customer, your just breaking even.

Is it really worth it?

Well, some people will tell you to sell a retail product up front and capture leads through your lead capture and retail sales to fund your advertising. This is the preferred method by savvy marketers.

A great retail product designed for network marketers is http://www.intensiverecruiting.com. Or, you could consider getting your hands on some products with resell rights. Intensive recruiting also offers a very discounted package with full resale and private label rights with ready made sales pages at http://www.intensiverecruiting.com/blowoutsale.

Even with those tools, people are quickly realizing that network marketing on the internet is not everything it was cracked up to be. What once was considered to be a match made in heaven has quickly turned sour for many network marketers.

Since advertising has become so expensive and competitive, compensation plans have not evolved enough to change with the internet environment and consider advertising expenses. Therefore it will not work for most people long-term.

If you're looking to make your life and fortune on the internet, I would recommend a direct sales style of business and pay structure. I say this because in direct sales, you'll receive a much greater commission up front. Anywhere from 50%-100% and in many cases you get the money at the point of sale. Therefore, you'll receive cash throughout the month to fund your advertising, and the commission is typically much greater than the cost to get the sale.

Money today is worth more than money tomorrow. This business model was made for the internet and will work for anyone who is willing to learn how to market on the internet.

Create Your Own Home Movies On A DVD

Are you one of those people who consider yourself "computer savvy?" Maybe you would rather call yourself "technology challenged." Either way, I can help you through the process of creating your very own custom home movie in a very fun way. I will walk you through the step by step process of organizing, editing and producing your own DVD movie.

Step One:


The first step is the most important. You need to collect all your pictures and videos that you want to use in your movie. While doing that, you should be thinking about what theme you want your movie to be. For example: you may want to do your child's birthday in which case you want to collect all the pictures and videos from that event. I always make an annual family movie to share with our friends and relatives so every January I collect all the pictures and videos of the previous year for my movie.

Step Two:


Now you have all your pictures and videos that you would like to use for your movie. If you have any videos that are on outdated technology like 8mm or VHS, you will need to have them "transferred" to DVD. You can use a web service to do this for you and it's very inexpensive. Also, if your pictures have not been scanned into the computer, you need to scan them in or send them out to have that done for you.

Step Three:


When you have everything on a disc, you can begin the editing process. You should find a movie editing program that you can use easily. Some operating systems have movie editing programs built in. When you begin to make your movie, take time to think about how you want to tell the story. For example: if you wanted to do a movie on your child's life you might want to start with your pregnancy pictures or maybe the sonogram. If you sent out birth announcements, you could have the main screen be the announcement.

Be prepared to spend several hours in this step. The editing process will be the most time-consuming because you have to organize everything and be mindful of your timeline. If you don't want an extremely long movie, there will be some pictures or video clips that don't make it in the movie. This is why organizing everything beforehand is so important. You will have to stop and come back to the project several times. Don't expect to have the editing done in an hour. It will most likely take you at least 5 hours to ensure that you end up with a high-quality final product.

The next thing to consider is background music. The best movies have the perfect background music. For example, my last family movie featured an introduction to the family and I selected "We are Family" by Sister Sledge. It was great because it was upbeat and lots of fun.

Making a custom movie takes time and it is a creative process so ask other people to view your movie before you finalize it. Sometimes you get so used to looking at the movie, you can overlook small mistakes that others will see more clearly. The final thing you need to do is save your movie as an AVI file. AVI stands for Audio Video Interleaved and is commonly used in many programs for audio video projects.

Step Four:


With your final movie saved as an avi file, you now need to put in onto a DVD. Sounds easier said than done right? First you need to research programs that do "DVD Authoring." DVD authoring describes the process of creating a DVD video that can be played on a DVD player. Select a program that says user-friendly or easy-to-use. Once you have your software you can begin to make your DVD. You can choose to have a DVD menu or just an auto-play movie which will automatically start the movie once it's inserted into your DVD player. You need to buy blank DVD's and cases. It's nice to buy cases because you can properly store your DVD's without fear of them getting scratched and also so you can give them to your friends and family. Your local Office Depot or Staples will have blank DVD's and cases for you to choose from. Keep in mind that the more you buy, the better the price. Instead of sending Christmas cards out this year, you can send your loved ones copies of your brand new custom movie on a DVD. How impressive!

I hope this article has helped you bring your memories back to life.
Good luck!

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Too Many Free Bonuses!

Who doesn't like free stuff? Free stuff can't possibly be bad right? How many times have you turned down a free bonus? You've been there before. You open a page to the next great internet marketing product and right before you get to the order button is page after page of free bonuses. The average user probably scrolls past those to see the price without even looking.

A lot of the time there's so many free bonuses it gets distracting. Some sites over anywhere from five to eight or more free bonuses. Free bonuses are used as a value adding tool to their primary product, but at some point it needs to slow down. It's best to not go overboard with adding free bonuses or it can eclipse the value of the product you're actually trying to sell. This works for both the vendor and the affiliate in trying to outdo each other and other competing products since it can distract easier than most things on a sales page. Free Bonuses are sometimes used to justify a high price tag by giving more product than originally offered. This can be a mistake too as it can backfire and make the product look cheap.

Free bonuses can drop the value of our product. When using too many a potential customer may think you are offering so many free bonuses because you don't have enough faith in your primary product. They may think the product can't stand on it's own and the free offers are meant to entice them to buy a suboptimal product with free stuff they'll read or use. Those free bonuses will probably be better for opt-in lists where you can exchange them for their email address without losing them to your main product.

Internet Marketing - What Happened for Me at One Internet Marketing Event - It Can Happen to You Too

Internet marketing conferences/events should be at the top of your list of things to do if you really want to make it on the net.

Here is what happened to me today at an internet marketing conference.

Mike Stewart, The Internet Audio Guy, was presenting at Matt Bacak's Marketing Madness Live! in Atlanta. I'd met Mike once before through my mentor Tom Antion.

Mike was presenting today on using audio and video on you blog. He was demonstrating how to upload an mp3 recording to your blog in order to podcast. Mike mentioned that in a moment he would do an interview live to show us how to do it. Sensing what was coming, I made sure that my hand was the very first one up when he asked for volunteers.

In front of 300+ internet marketers

I was able to go up on stage with Mike and he recorded a 2-3 minute interview with me on my The Article Guy services. He played the audio several times. Mentioned my name several times. Mike than added it to his blog with a link to my web site and showed the audience how to click through to my site. And he left my site up on the screen for several minutes.

All in front of three hundred internet marketers that could use my services.

2 really cool things happened so far

Two really cool things happened right away -

1) When I got back to my seat, as I looked around the room, almost every laptop had my web site up. And then people started downloading my free offer of 2 article writing templates.

2) I left the conference early to go to a concert, and I had people following me out, stopping me in the hall to ask questions, and asking me to promise that I would talk with them at the conference the next day.

What I hope will happen

Here I'll put my intention out there for you - I have been wanting to present at one of these events and today I got to be on stage with Matt Bacak in the room. Tomorrow I will talk with him about presenting.

The moral of the story - go to internet marketing conferences and volunteer!

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Google Adsense Blog Program - Understanding The Basics Of The Google Adsense Blog Program

The Google AdSense Blog Program is a fast and absolutely easy way for people with websites of all types and sizes to put up and display relevant Google ads on the content pages of their site and earn money. This article will discuss the basics of the Google Adsense blog program plus show you how to find the top paying Adsense keywords for your blog.

Because the Google AdSense ads relate to what your visitors came to your site to read about, or because the ads match up to the interests and characteristics of the kind of people your content attracts, you now have a way to improve your content pages and make some serious money with them.

Google AdSense is also a way for site owners to provide Google search capability to visitors and to earn even more money by putting Google ads on the search results pages. Google AdSense gives you the ability to earn advertising revenue from every single page on your website-with a minimal investment of your time

So what kind of ads do you have to put up? That's the good part-you don't have to decide. Google does it for you. AdSense always delivers relevant ads that are precisely targeted-on a page-by-page basis-to the content that people find on your site. For example, if you have a page that tells the story of your pet fish, Google will send you ads for that site that are for pet stores, fish food, fish bowls, aquariums...you get the picture.

If you decide you want to add a Google search box to your site, then AdSense will deliver relevant ads targeted to the Google search results pages that your visitors' search request generated.

If you're into upgrades, Google is now offering "AdSense Premium", which is CPC based and, for the time being, offers less flexibility in terms of ad sizes -- only banners and skyscrapers are currently available. You can apply using existing AdWords accounts, or you can request a new account. Applicants are usually notified within a day as to whether they've been accepted for the program.

Here's the thing you need to know: Google has no strict criteria for acceptance into the AdSense program, and Ad Sense doesn't hit you with a minimum traffic requirement. The only criteria they're really sticky about is the standard "acceptable content" requirements, and that's pretty standard almost anywhere.

If you are wanting to set up the Google Adsense program for your blog I highly recommend the website below where you will find some valuable information about the best tool to find the top paying best Adsense keywords.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Internet Marketing and Constant Change

Internet marketing is going through a very exciting phase in its existence, in my opinion. When the internet first opened up to marketing, exciting things were happening – people were writing ebooks for the first time ever – and then they had to learn to make web sties that sell – but now, the kinks are worked out and we can really work on delivering value – and getting paid for it.

However, much like the wild west, the internet has its problems and potholes. Most people who want to make money online never figure it out. Most people never make their first dollar online, let alone a living.

Everything that you go to do online is a new experience. You have to learn new skills to succeed online. For some people who are not internet savvy, even opening a web hosting account can seem like a formidable proposition. And then deciding what to sell can be frustrating. Some people find that they cannot resist the temptation to buy every sales offer that comes across their email, or at least it can seem that way. They may jump from one get-rich-quick scheme to another, failing, understandably and predictably, at all of them.

You have to be willing to take a few risks online. You have to recognize that every dollar you spend might not come back to you – although it might come back 100 fold.

But do not spend your last dollar. If all you have is your pension or your social security check, do not take stupid risks – no matter how good a sales pitch might sound, nothing is foolproof.

What To Look Out For When Starting An Online Business

Warning: What You Don't Know Will Hurt You!

After being online since 1999 and attempting to start many online businesses and failing all I can say is Buyer Beware! There are too many scams to list anymore and this article will just give you an insight into what to look for in spotting an unscrupulous scam before you lose money...

If you do not heed the advice you read here you are on your own!

Pre-Launches: This is one of the biggest scams online. If a person is recruiting people and selling product the company is already launched. The term pre-launch gives you a false sense that you are getting in before everyone else and therefore you are going to make a lot of money before other people join. Whenever you see the term pre-launch run for the hills!

Get 3 People Who Get 3 People Who Get 3 People: The math involved in Network Marketing always makes it look so appealing. Many websites today have Income Calculators where you can plug in the mathematical variables. For instance: If you recruit 5 people and they recruit 5 people in a 5 level payplan you will eventually earn over $3900 extra per month! That is very appealing to people. The problem is that if you are a good recruiter the people below you most likely are not. I remember one company I signed up over 87 people. NOT ONE person recruited anyone! This may come as a surprise to you but MOST people do not know how to build an online business, are lazy and may just want something for nothing!

Information Ebooks: I would venture to say that most Internet Marketing ebooks are a complete waste of your money. They promise you great wealth and usually sell for under $49.95 but the techniques they use are ineffective and severely outdated. I would highly recommend steering clear of information products related to making HUGE amounts of money online. This tip alone will save you $1000's.

Multiple Streams Of Income: This is one of the most common Myths you will see online. It is hard enough to build ONE successful business but the people who promote these programs promise you can build six simultaneously. It should be renamed: Multiple Streams Of Expenses. That is what it really is. My suggestion is to find a great legitimate program and promote it until it is successful and runs nearly on auto-pilot and then you can start to build another.

HYIP: This is the King of all online rip-offs! It can be disguised many different ways but the most important signal you have to look out for is the earning percentages. They claim you can earn anywhere from 1-10% DAILY on you investment! If that were true don't you think everyone would close their IRA's and 401k's and do this instead? NEVER invest in an online HYIP!

Matrixes and Powerlines: The hook here is that a company will help you build a Powerline of paying customers so you don't have to. Before you commit to your monthly payment they will send you emails saying how many people are signing up under you that you are losing potential income on. This creates a sense of urgency and many people will become victims to these programs. I saw one online that promises you will earn $1200 a month for never recruiting anyone. This is completely false and I would advise stay away from these programs.

In summary. Use your common sense. The old addage: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This statement should be your guide when choosing an online business.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

How Do Spammers Harvest Email Addresses?

Introduction

It is often difficult or impossible to tell how a spammer acquired a user's e-mail address. Is it a result of some activity the user engaged in? Did the user give his/her e-mail address to the wrong person? Is the user randomly targeted? Are there steps the user could take to avoid such spam in the future? As a result, consumers who use email are exposed to a variety of spam - including objectionable messages - no matter the source of the address.This study attempts to answer some of these questions by analyzing common activities of Internet users and looking for evidence of some activities that resulted in one e-mail address receiving more spam than others. Armed with lists of e-mail addresses, "spammers" send billions of e-mail messages every day -- messages that most users don't want.Through this investigation it is indicated that email address harvesting usually is automated, because spam can hit the addresses soon after they are used publicly the first time; the spam was not targeted; and some addresses were picked up off web pages even when they weren't visible to the eye. Still, I would say said consumers can protect their email addresses from harvesting programs.

Problem

There are many ways in which spammers can get email address. The ones commonly used are:From posts to UseNet with your email address.Spammers regularly scan UseNet for email address, using ready made programs designed to do so. Some programs just look at articles headers which contain email address (From: Reply-To: etc), while other programs check the articles' bodies, starting with programs that look at signatures, through programs that take everything that contain a '@' character.As people who where spammed frequently report that spam frequency to their mailbox dropped sharply after a period in which they did not post to UseNet, as well as evidence to spammers' chase after 'fresh' and 'live' addresses, this technique seems to be the primary source of email addresses for spammers.

1. From mailing lists.Spammers regularly attempt to get the lists of subscribers to mailing lists knowing that the email addresses are unmunged and that only a few of the addresses are invalid.When mail servers are configured to refuse such requests, another trick might be used - spammers might send an email to the mailing list with the headers Return-Receipt-To: or X-Confirm-Reading-To: . Those headers would cause some mail transfer agents and reading programs to send email back to the saying that the email was delivered to / read at a given email address, divulging it to spammers.A different technique used by spammers is to request a mailing lists server to give him the list of all mailing lists it carries (an option implemented by some mailing list servers for the convenience of legitimate users), and then send the spam to the mailing list's address, leaving the server to do the hard work of forwarding a copy to each subscribed email address.

2. From web pages.Spammers have programs which spider through web pages, looking for email addresses, e.g. email addresses contained in mailto: HTML tags [those you can click on and get a mail window opened]Some spammers even target their mail based on web pages. I have discovered a web page of mine appeared in Yahoo as some spammer harvested email addresses from each new page appearing in Yahoo and sent me a spam regarding that web page.A widely used technique to fight this technique is the 'poison' CGI script. The script creates a page with several bogus email addresses and a link to itself. Spammers' software visiting the page would harvest the bogus email addresses and follow up the link, entering an infinite loop polluting their lists with bogus email addresses.

3. From various web and paper forms.Some sites request various details via forms, e.g. guest books & registrations forms. Spammers can get email addresses from those either because the form becomes available on the World Wide Web, or because the site sells / gives the emails list to others.Some companies would sell / give email lists filled in on paper forms, e.g. organizers of conventions would make a list of participants' email addresses, and sell it when it's no longer needed.Some spammers would actually type E-mail addresses from printed material, e.g. professional directories & conference proceedings.Domain name registration forms are a favorite as well - addresses are most usually correct and updated, and people read the emails sent to them expecting important messages.

4. From a web browser.Some sites use various tricks to extract a surfer's email address from the web browser, sometimes without the surfer noticing it. Those techniques include:1. Making the browser fetch one of the page's images through an anonymous FTP connection to the site.Some browsers would give the email address the user has configured into the browser as the password for the anonymous FTP account. A surfer not aware of this technique will not notice that the email address has leaked.2. Using JavaScript to make the browser send an email to a chosen email address with the email address configured into the browser.Some browsers would allow email to be sent when the mouse passes over some part of a page. Unless the browser is properly configured, no warning will be issued.3. Using the HTTP_FROM header that browsers send to the server.Some browsers pass a header with your email address to every web server you visit. It's worth noting here that when one reads E-mail with a browser (or any mail reader that understands HTML), the reader should be aware of active content (Java applets, JavaScript, VB, etc) as well as web bugs.An E-mail containing HTML may contain a script that upon being read (or even the subject being highlighted) automatically sends E-mail to any E-mail addresses. A good example of this case is the Melissa virus.

5. From IRC and chat rooms.Some IRC clients will give a user's email address to anyone who cares to ask it. Many spammers harvest email addresses from IRC, knowing that those are 'live' addresses and send spam to those email addresses.This method is used beside the annoying IRC bots that send messages interactively to IRC and chat rooms without attempting to recognize who is participating in the first place.This is another major source of email addresses for spammers, especially as this is one of the first public activities newbie's join, making it easy for spammers to harvest 'fresh' addresses of people who might have very little experience dealing with spam.AOL chat rooms are the most popular of those - according to reports there's a utility that can get the screen names of participants in AOL chat rooms. The utility is reported to be specialized for AOL due to two main reasons - AOL makes the list of the actively participating users' screen names available and AOL users are considered prime targets by spammers due to the reputation of AOL as being the ISP of choice by newbie's.

6. From domain contact points.Every domain has one to three contact points - administration, technical, and billing. The contact point includes the email address of the contact person.As the contact points are freely available, spammers harvest the email addresses from the contact points for lists of domains (the list of domain is usually made available to the public by the domain registries). This is a tempting method for spammers, as those email addresses are most usually valid and mail sent to it is being read regularly.

7. By guessing & cleaning.Some spammers guess email addresses; send a test message (or a real spam) to a list which includes the guessed addresses. Then they wait for either an error message to return by email, indicating that the email address is correct, or for a confirmation. A confirmation could be solicited by inserting non-standard but commonly used mail headers requesting that the delivery system and/or mail client send a confirmation of delivery or reading. Specifically, the headers are -

Return-Receipt-To: which causes a delivery confirmation to be sent, and

X-Confirm-Reading-To: which causes a reading confirmation to be sent.Another method of confirming valid email addresses is sending HTML in the e-mail's body (that is sending a web page as the e-mail's content), and embedding in the HTML an image. Mail clients that decode HTML, e.g. as Outlook and Eudora do in the preview pane, will attempt fetching the image - and some spammers put the recipient's email address in the image's URL, and check the web server's log for the email addresses of recipients who viewed the spam.So it a good advice to set the mail client to *not* preview rich media emails, which would protect the recipient from both accidentally confirming their email addresses to spammers and viruses.Guessing could be done based on the fact that email addresses are based on people's names, usually in commonly used ways (first.last@domain or an initial of one name followed / preceded by the other @domain)Also, some email addresses are standard - postmaster is mandated by the RFCs for internet mail. Other common email addresses are postmaster, host master, root [for UNIX hosts], etc.

8. From white & yellow pages.There are various sites that serve as white pages, sometimes named people finders web sites. Yellow pages now have an email directory on the web.Those white/yellow pages contain addresses from various sources, e.g. from UseNet, but sometimes your E-mail address will be registered for you. Example - Hot Mail will add E-mail addresses to Bigfoot by default, making new addresses available to the public.Spammers go through those directories in order to get email addresses. Most directories prohibit email address harvesting by spammers, but as those databases have a large databases of email addresses + names, it's a tempting target for spammers.

9. By having access to the same computer.If a spammer has an access to a computer, he can usually get a list of valid usernames (and therefore email addresses) on that computer.On UNIX computers the users file (/etc/passwd) is commonly world readable, and the list of currently logged-in users is listed via the 'who' command.

10. From a previous owner of the email address.An email address might have been owned by someone else, who disposed of it. This might happen with dialup usernames at ISPs - somebody signs up for an ISP, has his/her email address harvested by spammers, and cancel the account. When somebody else signs up with the same ISP with the same username, spammers already know of it.Similar things can happen with AOL screen names - somebody uses a screen name, gets tired of it, releases it. Later on somebody else might take the same screen name.

11. Using social engineering.This method means the spammer uses a hoax to convince peopleinto giving him valid E-mail addresses.

12. A good example is Richard Douche's "Free CD's" chain letter. The letter promises a free CD for every person to whom the letter is forwarded to as long as it is CC'ed to Richard.Richard claimed to be associated with Amazon and Music blvd, among other companies, who authorized him to make this offer. Yet he supplied no references to web pages and used a free E-mail address.All Richard wanted was to get people to send him valid E-mail addresses in order to build a list of addresses to spam and/or sell.

13. From the address book and emails on other people's computers.Some viruses & worms spread by emailing themselves to all the email addresses they can find in the email address book. As some people forward jokes and other material by email to their friends, putting their friends' email addresses on either the To: or Cc: fields, rather than the BCc: field, some viruses and warms scan the mail folders for email addresses that are not in the address book, in hope to hit addresses the computer owner's friends' friends, friends' friends' friends, etc.If it wasn't already done, it's just a matter of time before such malware will not only spam copies of itself, but also send the extracted list of email addresses to it's creator.As invisible email addresses can't be harvested, it's good advice to have the email addresses of recipients of jokes & the like on BCc:, and if forwarded from somebody else remove from the e-mail's body all the email addresses inserted by the previous sender.

14. Buying lists from others.This one covers two types of trades. The first type consists of buying a list of email addresses (often on CD) that were harvested via other methods, e.g. someone harvesting email addresses from UseNet and sells the list either to a company that wishes to advertise via email (sometimes passing off the list as that of people who opted-in for emailed advertisements) or to others who resell the list.The second type consists of a company who got the email addresses legitimately (e.g. a magazine that asks subscribers for their email in order to keep in touch over the Internet) and sells the list for the extra income. This extends to selling of email addresses accompany got via other means, e.g. people who just emailed the company with inquiries in any context.

15. By hacking into sites.I've heard rumours that sites that supply free email addresses were hacked in order to get the list of email addresses, somewhat like e-commerce sites being hacked to get a list of credit cards.

My Idea

Still, we can protect their email addresses from harvesting programs. Here's how:

  • Consider "masking" your email address. Masking involves putting a word or phrase in your email address so that it will trick a harvesting computer program, but not a person. For example, if your email address is "johndoe@myisp.com," you could mask it as "johndoe@spamaway.myisp.com." Be aware that some newsgroup services or message boards won't allow you to mask your email address and some harvesting programs may be able to pick out common masks.
  • Use a separate screen name for chatting. If we use chat rooms, use a screen name that's not associated with our email address. Consider using the screen name only for online chat.
  • Set up disposable addresses. Decide if we want to use two email addresses - one for personal messages and one for posting in public. Consider using a disposable email address service that creates separate email addresses that forwards to your permanent account. If one of the disposable addresses begins to receive spam, we can shut it off without affecting your permanent address.
  • Use two email accounts. If we work for a business or organization that wants to receive email from the public, consider creating separate accounts or disposable email addresses for that purpose, rather than having an employee's address posted in public.
    • Use a unique email address, containing both letters and numbers. The choice of email address may affect the amount of spam we receive because some spammers use "dictionary attacks" to email many possible name combinations at large forwarding your spam to our ISP lets them know about the spam problem on their system and helps them to stop it. Include a copy of the spam, along with the full email header, and at the top of the message, state that I am complaining about being spammed.
    • The sender's ISP. Most ISPs want to cut off spammers who abuse their system. Include a copy of the message and header information and state that I complaining about spam.
    Conclusion

    In almost all instances, the investigators found, the spam received was not related to the address used. As a result, consumers who use email are exposed to a variety of spam - including objectionable messages - no matter the source of the address. According to research by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and several law enforcement partners, its harvest time for spammers. But, the consumer protection agency says, the good news for computer users is that we can minimize the amount of spam we receive.

    Saturday, April 7, 2007

    Pay Per Click Reviews

    There is no question that pay per click is probably the most targeted form of advertising on the Internet. Normally, when you have a form of advertising that is that targeted, you usually don't have to worry about problems. Unfortunately, pay per click advertising can put you in the poorhouse quicker than just about any other form of advertising on the Internet. In this article, we're going to briefly review the top pay per click services and the pros and cons of each.

    The top pay per click search engine hands down is Google. Some say that they are really the only game in town that really matters. There may be a lot to that as Google reaches 80% of the Internet population. And while you may reach the largest number of visitors with Google, using them does have its problems. The biggest problem with Google pay per click is that they change their rules on advertisers constantly. It is nearly impossible to keep up with them. As a result, advertisers end up getting penalized to the point where their ad costs become astronomical. So while Google may be the biggest game in town, they are also the most dangerous.

    After Google, the next top pay per click search engine would have to be Overture, which is now owned by Yahoo. Yahoo also has as decent amount of traffic but unfortunately, as far as popularity, they don't have the reputation of Google. The good things about Yahoo, however, far outweigh the lack of traffic that you'll get in comparison to Google. For one thing, Yahoo is more stable. They're not constantly changes the rules on landing pages and because of this, advertisers usually have a more consistent income with them. Also, the ad costs, in comparison to Google, are less. Yahoo's interface, unfortunately, is not as easy to use as Google's, so this is a drawback.

    After these two top pay per click search engines, you're pretty much shooting in the dark. Unfortunately, most of the ones that come after these two don't have as well targeted traffic, for some reason. For example, Miva, which is probably one of the cheapest pay per click services around with decent traffic, doesn't convert well at all. The truth is, you will make very few sales, if any at all, from Miva and the lesser known pay per click services. Part of the reason is that, unlike Google, they don't allow you to target specific countries, which is very important. The reason is because most of your targeted traffic comes from the English speaking countries.

    The bottom line is simple. Pay per click advertising can be very effective. However, in order to make it effective, you really have to study it In my signature, you'll find an excellent resource on the subject of pay per click advertising that isn't complicated and will teach you everything you'll need to know.

    To YOUR Success,

    Steven Wagenheim