Making Money Online With Affiliate Marketing

Making money online with affiliate marketing is often viewed as an easy way to make cash. However, you must know the proper methods to achieve success. Below are some very effective tools and techniques to help you achieve financial success.

A) Some Initial Steps

The basic premise of affiliate marketing is to make money promoting someone else's product.

Clickbank is the most popular place to locate affiliate products. There are thousands of different products ranging anywhere from nutritional supplements to search engine optimization e-books. It's simple, just register for an account there and then browse the many products and choose one you like, then start promoting it.

How do you know when an affiliate product is worth it?

Make sure the commission you receive is at least 50% of what the selling price is. Also, $30 should be the minimum commission amount you receive, otherwise you won't be making money online with affiliate marketing - your profit margins will so small it won't make sense to continue your efforts.

B) Next In Line?

Make sure there is a demand for the product(s) you select. How do you do this? First you must think as a consumer, NOT a seller.

What kinds of keywords will your customer be using to search for the type of product you're promoting?

How much will the customer be willing to spend?

Can your product help the potential customer?

Making money online with affiliate marketing is so much easier once you have thought about and solved these issues in the beginning. It is imperative that you attempt to predict the mindset of the person you're selling to so you can make sure you are putting the product in front of the right person. This will get you into profit more quickly.

C) Some Marketing Items To Consider...

Article Marketing

Once you choose a product to promote, write commentaries, product descriptions and/or reviews so that you are creating a web presence about your product. Article marketing will easily be one of the most powerful methods you can implement for making money online with affiliate marketing. This method will not only help your presence online to grow but it will build your credibility, which is very important.

Oh yeah, in most cases article marketing is completely free!

Getting The Most Out Of Your Link

This is very important. Whenever you make a post in a forum, comment on a friend's MySpace page, or even send an email to someone, always include your link. As the number of your links online grow, so will your profits. It is very common for people to click links simply out of curiosity.

Forums

Forum participation is very effective. Make efforts to excite people about your opportunity by spreading the word like a virus. The Internet is perfect for this kind of thing.

Lightning Fast Financial Success

The most important element in making money online with affiliate marketing will come down to your marketing effectively online. If you're not sure of how to flood your site with targeted traffic, then making money will become a great challenge.

If you learn to master online marketing then you will absolutely succeed!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/making-money-online-with-affiliate-marketing-tricks-of-the-trade-343301.html

About the Author:

Justin Michael is a top business mentor online and devotes his time, energy and effort into helping others succeed online. To find out how to take control of your financial situation and earn great wealth online, visit Justin at Perfect Wealth or email him at seahawkmarketing@gmail.com

Keys to Website Success

Getting your website done up for your online marketing business? What are your expectations for a good website? What are the important factors that you are emphasizing on to get the desired results from your website? How do you plan to achieve such desired results that will project your website favorably with visitors and customers alike?

Designing a good website and making it work for you and your online business requires tremendous effort in meticulous planning, serious consideration and purposeful fine-tuning. Without all these factors, the vast amount of time, money and effort spent on starting up the website can all be wasted easily.

To achieve website success, it is imperative to consider the following points:

(1) Planning

Draft the plan for your website. What is the exact purpose for the website? This is important because it will set the direction that should be taken for the whole process of designing your website.

(2) Content consideration

Content is the meat and forms an integral part of the website. It is important to think about what content should be included on the website. Another aspect will be how often the content should be updated and how to get reoccurring content.

(3) Designing the website

This plays an important role in keeping your visitors for the first four seconds. The design of your website must speak its intention and desirability very clearly. What it has to show to the visitors must be made known in that very short time span. No beating around the bush whatsoever. It must be distinctly clear in sending its message across.

(4) Encouraging visitor participation

The website for whatever reason it is being designed must attempt to bring in visitors not only for the sake of traffic but also getting them involved by participating in the signing up of the free articles and newsletters that you are offering. The whole process must one of interaction, not just a one-way communication.

(5) Setting up the website

This poses no problems simply because there are professional web designers that you can approach for a certain fee, or alternatively, there are nowadays user-friendly software that you can purchase to design and build your own website, bearing in mind that the design has to be somewhat agreeable within limits to the intention of the website.

(6) Execution of follow-up

It will be extremely damaging if some visitor poses you a question but it is not being followed up within the same day. This reflects poorly on the efficiency on your part. It tarnishes the image of your online customer service.

(7) Promoting your website

In any marketing campaign, there is the element of promotion. After having posted your new website, it is crucial to spend some time in promoting it. It is new and therefore it has not garnered recognition or publicity withing this short period of time. It must be given some push through promoting it. There would be teething problems initially, so the website must be given close attention and nurturing, at least in this initial phase of being hosted.

(8) Executing maintenance of the website

Having set up the website on the internet, it is very important to maintain it. Enliven it with new and fresh content. Make it appealing as each day passes by and visitors returning looking forward to reading new information. Put a warm smile on your website everyday. It will be like what honey is to bees. The path to website success is being subtly laid ahead.

The prerogative after the website is being hosted is obviously getting visitors to know and come to your website. Without visitors to your website, the whole purpose of designing and hosting it will be defeated.

How do you plan to attract visitors to your website? There are several ways of realizing this plan:

(1) Submission of your website to various search engines

Submitting your site to various search engines will help in some way. Of course, it would be advisable not to place full reliance on them as they can be inconsistent. If budget permits, bidding for a spot on the search engine would be a more viable alternative simply because an extra bit of control can be exercised. Overture.com is one good choice.

(2) Put up various free offers

Who would not want to accept free offers if given? This can be best executed by explaining why the visitors in accepting the free offers would understand more about their problems on hand. "Grab free information relating to your backaches. You'll receive more of such information if your just sign in and allow me to mail you these free related information on a weekly basis".

(3)Put up ads online

It is a good opportunity to put up ads online. Run your paid ads in e-zines. Put your ad buried in another person's e-zine, or you can choose to buy a full page ad. The whole process will induce the source of incoming traffic to your website.

(4) Use word-of-mouth

This method is viral and is usually effective. Let the world know about your website by inserting your personal signature file on your name cards, brochures, leaflets, just to name a few. Inevitably, as this usually turns viral, it will lead to more website visibility.

The internet provides the opportunities for online success. All that is needed to be done is to leverage ourselves with technology. It is equally crucial to understand that website success needs good effort in planning, designing, hosting, promotion and maintenance of the website. Nothing is further from the truth that a well-maintained website is one guaranteed of success in the long run.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-marketing-articles/website-success-339899.html

For latest updates on how to increase traffic, raise page ranking, write effective articles and powerful squeeze pages, create explosive blog marketing system, learn about viral marketing, and bring in massive income from your internet marketing business, please Click here Webmaster: Jeremy Long Chia Teik

Top 10 Money Making Strategies For Affiliate Marketers

Affiliate marketing is a low-cost method to merchandise for awareness building, publicizing products and offering services.

Following traits are a must for achieving the appropriate marketing skills:

- Determination
- Endurance
- Quest for knowledge

Along with these three traits, one needs to use an adoptive strategy which helps in progressing and promoting the process of marketing. This is not a blood-sweating process but requires a lot of patience till success knocks at your door. Following are the 10 strategies which can boost your income:

1. Create your habitat

Survey the market and concentrate on a specific product. Categorize the product with extensive information. Develop the market and customize them to satisfy the consumer. Provide updated information and use of the product in more than one ways.

2. Use a search engine

For marketing online, search engines are the best service providers. Do not waste your savings by spending on making own search engine. Hire a search engine and use all your marketing up-gradation methods as inputs into them. Create your own site by adding-on to the engine.

3. Know your consumer

Provide appropriate knowledge and develop trust with your consumers. Be more credible by providing the best information available to satisfy their quest. This helps in boosting the psyche of the consumer. Create credibility and satisfaction as they read about the product.

4. Diversification

Diversify the merchandise for a particular product and promote them as to the needs of the market. At any point of time if the market for merchandise fails then promote similar products from other habitats or brands. This will help the customer to reach for immediate needs. It will help in promoting your own business and thereby, the cash rolls.

5. Marketing skills

Diversify the skills and techniques as per the requirement of the customer. Involve new trends and stay on top as a trend-setter. Seek new avenues of knowledge, learn them and make new banners with recent updates. Provide price lists along with the products.

6. Monitoring

Closely monitor your growth and achievements with appropriate value systems. Compare your growth with other similar partners. Look for trends which have improved business. Though initially one may not be highly successful, yet the need is to keep putting efforts to slowly set the pace. Evolve as a 'go getter' as time moves.

7. Using video

Specific sites like 'Google video' and 'You Tube' are advertising various promotional techniques. There are two types of video applications - (a) squeeze videos: they provide quality videos with email options. (b) Affiliate video branders: this permits online branding.

8.Rolling your commission

- Popularizing and advertising the site - with small write ups, pictures, chat rooms
- Create a free e-book - directory of products/sales/customers
- Design ads which are competitive
- Personally endorse products
- Make use of web rings - helps to be in touch with similar sites
- Post discussion on the web which gives more information
- Create a blog - helps in topic discussion and more visitors
- Be selective in your approaches

9. Effective email follow-ups

Follow-up with your prospects are essential. On a regular basis, 5 follow-ups would bring the sale to the counter. Create an auto-responder service to the people who visit the website. Tag your visitors' email id, so that you can mail them on the recent updates. This will also create am potential customers directory for you.

10. Affiliate marketing program

This is the easiest way to get started for online marketing services. It helps a good living by earning online. Different programs with different commission offers are available on the net. One needs to be choosy for the best program which suits your own needs. Affiliate associates (marketing associates) should promote recommended and successful programs. One should promote only the products and strategies which find prospects. Following are some of the techniques:

- Create affiliate networks (use click banks)

- Review revenue tips and prospects

- Make a proper survey before you start

- A management software is a must with the following functional attributes: (a) generating links (b) commission calculations (c) banner displays (d) administration reporting (e) mailing functions (f) payment processing (g) blocks frauds and cheats on net

On the customer base, one should observe the following:

- Track service/quality product
- Reliability of payment
- Money back guarantee (if not satisfied)
- Merchant reputation
- Resource promotion
- After sales service

These strategies might just be able to give you some cracking results and enable you to earn loads of money. So, integrate them into your affiliate marketing plans and see whether they work.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/top-10-money-making-strategies-for-affiliate-marketers-322487.html

About the Author: Pawel Reszka

If you would like to make money online starting today, then check out this Google Cash method right now.

The Hidden Rewards To Search Engine Optimization

One of the best ways to make money is through the use of the internet. It is not as easy as it sounds but it can be if you know what you are doing. The internet has grown so much in the past couple of years that it has become such a huge information source that very rarely will you not find what you are looking for. The internet also makes it easier for people to do their shopping for the holidays. And it also can help us find things we need to know in everyday life. The internet is also a great place to start a business and become very wealthy. You just have to hit the right markets and know how to run a business online using Google as a search engine.

Google has been the leader in all of the search engines and has been the role model for any other search engine to compare to. The reason is because some how they found a way to weed out all the garbage information and place the quality information to show first when someone does a search for certain keywords. Although you can never keep track of Google and their algorhythms there are ways to help your site look great for Google and your customers. You can improve your rankings on Google by making your website both an information site about your items you are selling and also a place that only sells the product you are offering. The main thing here is to make your website rise above all the other competition. You will have to do this in the eyes of Google and in your customers' eyes as well. It may take some time to find out which Florida SEO companies are right for you and which are in your price range.

One of the best SEO services that you can have is the art of onsite optimization. Some people have some knowledge of how this works but most people do not. This is a very touchy task because it involves the back end of the website. You first will want to do some keyword research and find the keywords that are going to bring you the most traffic and at the same time not impossible to rank for. Once you have the keywords you will then need to place some title tags on each page of the website. Use heavy keywords that are real popular in the title tags. This is one of the most important tool you can use to get you website SEO ready. Next you will need to add the keywords in the Meta tag details for each page. Once that is done you will then need to add a meta tag "description" of each page. Use a brief 2 sentence description using some keywords as well. These three steps will help your site get found by Google.

Once you make your site looking great and easy for Google to find then you can start the second phase of the SEO services and that will be the offsite optimization. Although it may take some time for your website to start seeing results don't get discouraged. The results will happen as long as you follow the rules and be ethical and don't try to cheat the system.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/the-hidden-rewards-to-search-engine-optimization-320116.html

About the Author:

Learn the advantages of hiring Ft Lauderdale SEO Companies to make your online marketing company more successful. Learn the ropes of Search Engine Optimization and how to implement it on your website to generate more revenue.

5 Ways to Succeed in Affiliate Marketing

Just what are the things needed to be able to succeed in affiliate marketing? What must one have within himself to be able to do well in this industry? There is a lot of competition involved in affiliate marketing, and to be able to rise above the norm, one must be equipped with just the right stuff necessary to propel him forward. There are five things one must ultimately possess if he wants to achieve the glory he is yearning for in this business, and these five things are a must for him to possess to be able to stand out among the rest.

The very first quality one must possess if he wants to try his hand in affiliate marketing is the willingness to learn and be trained. Treading through unfamiliar territory is scary stuff if one is not properly equipped, and he might get lost amidst a jungle of the unknown. Learning the tricks of the trade is also an important aspect of the game, and one’s willingness to know it all will give him far better advantages in the business than he could ever imagine.

The second quality one must possess is the willingness to invest time and effort even if direct results do not seem at all apparent. Although several months may pass without good news, it is important for one who has his foot in the industry to hold on and wait. It is this quality which would save him from giving up after investing a lot of himself in the business.

The third quality one must possess is self-determination. If one wants to conquer the affiliate marketing world, he must have the ability to push himself ahead. Never having to say die is a quality each and every affiliate marketer should possess, and the ability to motivate oneself into scaling greater heights is an ability which would actually take an affiliate marketer there.

The fourth quality one must possess is discipline. If one knows how to teach himself to work everyday with all the energy he can muster, then he is close to achieving what he has set his heart to having in the first place.

The fifth and last quality one must possess is optimism. Negative attitudes and hearsays should not discourage an affiliate marketer from pursuing what he has to in order to make life better for himself and for everyone concerned. Neither should anyone influence his attitude toward the business, because once in it, it is a must for him to be the captain of his ship and the master of his soul.

The ingredients to success in a business such as affiliate marketing are diverse and manifold, but the most important thing one needs to be able to make it big lies in himself alone. It is he who has the capacity to do everything to be able to realize his prospects, and the desire which fuels his heart in doing so is the gasoline which should keep the engine going.

Affiliate marketing is all about putting one’s fate into his own hands. The right attitude is the key to being able to steer one’s ship into that part of the ocean where a certain kind of serenity can be found, one that permeates the atmosphere as the ship sails calmly on.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/affiliate-programs-articles/5-ways-to-succeed-in-affiliate-marketing-316029.html

About the Author:

Tim Ng is a seasoned affiliate marketer and a student of Ewen Chia – “the World’s Top Affiliate Marketer”. Tim frequently guides people in internet marketing forums on how to make money through affiliate marketing. For more information, do refer to http://www.wealthtreasure.com

One Way Links Lead to Website Traffic

The name of the game on the internet is traffic and every webmaster realizes this. It does not matter what the niche of your site, if you do not have traffic they will never see what you have to offer them. If your site is an online business the simple reality is that you must get traffic to be successful.

Where can this traffic come from?

Email marketing is one source. You can generate a certain amount of traffic to your website by offering opt-in email newsletters and e-zines. Sending newsletters to your contacts will help keep your website in their mind and keep them returning.

Search engines are a major player in internet traffic and sent around 60% of overall traffic to those websites that are successful. The best thing about this method is that it is free and lasts, but you need to be indexed highly for relevant search terms by the search engine to get any traffic.

Links from other websites to yours can be a major contributor for traffic to your website. Traffic generated this way is typically more targeted to your niche and best of all it helps your site get indexed higher in search engine results to drive traffic in that way also.

The focus of the rest of this article will be on strategies for link building. How do you get those one way links to help you get indexed higher in the search engines?

The first and most effective way of building links is by submitting your site for review in the quality directories such as Yahoo!, Business.com and the Authority Directory. Submitting to quality web directories does not take that much time and will get you a high quality link to your website. You should be aware that there are many directories on the internet and they are not equal. A link from a quality directory can be the equivalent of links from hundreds others.

Another method of link generation is by writing articles that are rich in keywords related to you niche and them submit those to various article directories. Choose those articles directories of quality just like a web directory and Ezines is one of the best know. When you use this method make sure that you write a nice bio for the resource box that contains a link to your website with good keyword text.

Participation in online forums that relate to your niche is another good way to gain links that can bring traffic to your website. Make sure that you use the signature option with the forum to place a link back to your website. By being professional and making relevant and intelligent comments forums can be a powerful tool for your website. Do not make comments just for the sake of spamming them with your links. Comments in forums need to be relevant to the topic and offer something to the other readers. The same rules apply for blog post comments.

Always keep reading and searching out additional information as the internet can change quickly. Links will always be a stable source of gaining attention and traffic for your website.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/one-way-links-lead-to-website-traffic-315455.html

About the Author:
Increase your Websites online presence today by getting listed on The Authority Business Directory. Plus, don't forget to submit link for inclusion while you are visiting.

Never Let Someone Else Host Your Blog

Curious as to whether you should host your own blog, or blog from a remote server? This is a question more and more people are asking themselves after witnessing just how far the blog has come. Note that there are just as many disadvantages as there are advantages to doing both. But being experienced in a little programming, we believe blogging on your own server is far more advantageous for a couple of key reasons.

Reason #1: Limited Blogging Resources and Tools

Posting content through a remotely hosted blog requires that you relinquish a tremendous amount of control over how messages look and work. This is mainly because a remotely hosted blog by design is built to accommodate hundreds of thousands of bloggers. For such a big volume of activity, it can only afford to offer the very least. A blog that offers an extensive amount of features to a large number of people consumes much more resources than what its own servers can provide -- ultimately running the risk of major crashes.

Even something as simple as a low-graphic poll can consume an insurmountable amount of bandwidth if over 100,000 bloggers decide to offer one to their visitors. Imagine for example how much bandwidth a popular blog already consumes. **Popular** blogs can consume anywhere from two to three times that a week. If a blog server hosts 500 popular blogs, its capabilities would reduce with each use of a simple poll!

Resources simply aren't an issue with a self-hosted blog these days. With your own server, you can deck out your blog with as many plugins and widgets as your heart desires without having to fear server crashes or time outs. In fact, you shouldn't consume any more bandwidth with your own hosted blog than you would consume with your own hosted website.

Reason #2: Limited Money Making Opportunities

We couldn't count the number of people who want to monetize their blogs if we wanted to. The simple fact is that everyone and his "mom" wants to monetize their blog but the ugly reality is that many (free) remotely hosted blogs don't allow it. Limited resources could play a factor in this restriction, however since most monetized campaigns call upon the resources of a 3rd party, this restraint is mostly censorship. Blogs that curb 3rd party ads generally want to limit advertisements to their own products and/or services.

With your own blog of course, you can advertise whatever, whenever, where ever. You're only restricted by your conscience (or by the data revealed from your visitor stats) and the only policies that you have to follow are the policies of your 3rd party ad providers. This accordingly opens doors for tremendous opportunities with Adsense, Amazon, and any number of the hundred other affiliate schemes we have available.

An example restriction that you'd still have to watch for -- even with your own blog -- is Adsense's restriction against multiple ads. Although your own blog gives you the freedom to advertise what you want, Adsense restricts you from advertising more than a specific number of Google ads at a time and advertising Google ads with other competitive schemes like Bidvertiser. We find that Google ads used in conjunction with Amazon books ads, Clickbank affiliate links, and AuctionAds eBay products create a nice restriction-free mix of quality wares.

You will of course want to experiment. Just remember that all the plugins that your own blog comes with helps create a unique visitor experience. Open opportunities often lead to abuse, so keep a watchful eye on how your audience reacts to the ways that you customize your blog. Don't overdo it with ads and don't overburden your visitor's Internet connection with unnecessary plugins.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/never-let-someone-else-host-your-blog-309449.html

Gobala Krishnan is a blogging and WordPress niche marketing expert. Subscribe to his free Wordpress Blog Tips or register as a forum member at his Easy Wordpress Forum.

How Tagging and Pinging Work

A must read if you are using social bookmarking as part of your marketing strategy.

Tagging and pinging are common terms used in social bookmarking and web publishing, and it's important to learn how to do both effectively when you need the top rankings on sites and search engines. Search engines and social bookmarking aggregators work in very similar ways, and the most effective strategy for gaining prominence in either of these is to code your copy correctly!

TAGGING: WHAT IS IT?

Developing search-engine friendly copy has become even easier with the introduction of tagging widgets on a variety of web publishing interfaces. Tagging is simply a process of breaking down your submissions into keywords. Keywords of relevance are usually general in scope, and will make your copy fit into a variety of indexes and categories with a few simple tweaks.

Consider tagging to be a condensed version of your main idea. This is an effective approach when you are trying to make sense of the process, and the best way to do it is to start with your heading and title. Your title will serve as the main source of indexing by search engines, and you can make it stand out even more by adding relevant tags.

As a general rule, you'll want to make sure you are also using the appropriate tags and meta-tags in descriptions and heading titles. Both Yahoo! and MSN use these areas to index anything you publish, and it's important that they are relevant and free of spam.

Still, tagging within a social bookmarking site offers multiple benefits. Many social bookmarking sites such as Digg and Technorati make use of tag clouds that break out each article and section it off to different categories. Using keywords such as 'internet' or 'computer' for example will automatically list your article or submission in both areas. It's just another way for users to find articles or entries of relevance; whenever they click on one of these tag clouds, a full listing of articles with those tags will show up on their screen.

A growing number of portals and websites are offering tagging systems to index content. This is especially helpful for blogs and other larger resources where context is highly important. Think about the millions of articles and entries on the web today, and how difficult it would be for someone to find your specific article if they could only find you with a few keywords. tagging helps to create context and relevance within different categories, and once a user has reached the social bookmarking platform; it makes it much easier to find you.

More people are becoming comfortable and familiar with using tag clouds to group and find the information they need; your website can reach a much wider audience when it's easily found in a variety of areas, instead of just under one content page or index.

As each social bookmarking site indexes and aggregates the incoming data, patterns of tags start to emerge; the more popular a particular theme or idea becomes, the larger the tag cloud. You'll notice this as you review different tag clouds, and you'll see some words standing out far more than others. This means that more people are submitting articles with the same tags, and more people are viewing them. it's an easy way to monitor and review how well specific topics are doing at any given time.

TAGGING: HOW TO DO IT

Tagging each entry you submit will become a habit, but you do need to make sure that the tags are relevant and free of spam. Only use keywords that actually apply to your entry; if you start using extra words simply to gain exposure or search engine placement, another user may report it and you may be forced off the network.

Think of tagging as labeling all of your data; you are creating an easily index-able system so that search engines and social bookmarking sites can find and place your article. Breaking down your article into a 'notes' form is a very effective strategy for rising to prominence!

You'll need to break down your main idea into general topics, then narrow it down to more specific keywords. Titles in your article are a good way to start, and you do not need to include words such as 'the', 'it', or 'a'. If you do, the tagging system will usually just take them out. Be sure to pick keywords that classify your submission the best; while there are no limits to the number of tags you can add, it's important to limit them to only those of relevance.

PINGING: WHAT IS IT?

Pinging has quickly become a popular activity with the social networking boom, and in most cases it is an automatic process. Pinging is the process of identifying your IP address and making sure that it is a valid address for search engines. Pings identify the web address to various hosts, and once the address is verified, it can be networked and updated in search engines and indexes.

Bloggers make use of pinging when in cases where posts are not updated automatically. Pinging allows the user to update search engines and various indexes that a new blog posting has been submitted. This is necessary for indexing purposes only, and can help search engine spiders and indexers 'pick up' your submission much faster. Old search engine strategies required manually entering sites and submissions for pinging; today, however, most publishing platforms take care of this process automatically.

Sean S. Sampson provides valuable resources, and information to help the home business owner, and online business owner prosper with their business. For more information about Social Bookmarketing, please go to www.makinglotsofmoneyonline.com

How to Find Free Internet Marketing

Here are some great ideas that you can employ when marketing your website.

New ecommerce businesses are caught up in SEO and web optimization. They view Google as the holy grail of making profits via the internet. Their internet marketing budget is sank into buying traffic, optimizing pages, and establishing major PayPerClick programs with the major search engines. All the work, and expense, involved in following the pack, is virtually unnecessary in today’s ecommerce world.

Marketing the Website

Submitting to search engines is only the first step toward a strong Internet Marketing campaign – it should never be the full focus. There are several ways to market a website.

- search engine optimization
- Pay Per Click
- Search Engine Submission
- Generating Inbound Links and increasing Page Rank
- Building Content
- Adding Social Networking Tools such as forums

Each one of these tools have a benefit. Recently a blog community went from PR0 – PR4, and receiving 300 000 hits a month with a budget of $50 a month. The blog community invested $20 a month in a PayPerClick program to ‘boost’ their exposure on Google and be accepted and ‘ranked’ faster.

www.communati.com submitted the website to more than 3000 search engines, free, using www.webceo.com. Despite the ‘old’ search engine hype, this should only be done once or twice a year. They embarked on an article writing, forum promoting, and encouraging members to ‘put the word out.’ The inbound link campaign increased their Page Rank to PR4 within 5 months, an incredible feat.

Next, communati added social networking features like points and a chat. The important ‘trick’ to remember is that search engines give more rank to pages inside the website, not the index or home page. Building links to the home page is becoming a waste of time. Five articles with specific topics that contain high keywords, links to the rest of the ecommerce website, and ‘hooks’, will generate more PR than links to a buy now page, the index page, or a page with heavy images and graphics.

Marketing the Blog

All websites should include a blog. Not because a blog is necessary, or because people read them. The number one reason for putting up a blog is to increase keyword density, but keep in below the 5% ‘red flag’ level. It also generates dozens of extra content pages, increases the number of ‘in house’ links which are also important to increasing page rank.

A blog can also be submitted to blog directories. The best way to submit is using a service. When an Internet Marketing manager submits a blog to a directory, they must include a backward link. When they use a service they can submit to about 1000 directories without back links. The price ranges from $200 - $500. http://www.lazyurl.com/, http://www.submitcomfort.com/

One advantage of a blog is that it is submitted to the blog directories every time someone writes a new post. Web sites that are submitted more than 4 or 5 times a year may find themselves banned. However, a blog can ping the search engine several times a day without risk of being banned.

In turn, the blog search engines ‘ping’ the big search engines who give the ‘new’ content high page rank for the first few hours.

Marketing The Podcast

No podcast on your ecommerce website? Why? Submitting it to the podcast directories is another way to generate free exposure. The podcast only needs a few streaming or downloaded files to qualify. Podcasts can also be listed on dozens and dozens of free services, each building links to the main site, as well as increasing the exposure to the website. AmigoFish.com, Digg Podcasts , Podcast Pickle , www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts or http://podcasts.yahoo.com.

The most popular podcatcher software is iTunes, which is available as a free download from www.apple.com/itunes/download.

Promote Video

Does your product Appeal to younger people? Then load video at facebook, youtube, etc and then submit those videos. Don’t make a dry workshop or seminar style tutorial, but make it interesting. It is amazing how many younger people click in keywords, and then use the ‘search video only’ link to view relevant videos instead of reading articles.

The list continues. Submit your newsletter, forums, and chat directories. A single article can be submitted to more than 50 000 article submission ‘free content’ sites. No cost involved, except time, and the exposure will create a ripple effect sending your message farther across the web than a $100 000 SEO, traffic buying, and search engine submission campaign.

About the Author:

Mark Walters is a third generation entrepreneur and author. He offers free training andinvesting videos designed to speed you towards financial independence at http://www.cashflowinstitute.com/videosignup.htm

Keyword Density- How Much is Too Much?

A great article on the importance of keywords and how to use them.

Before indulging in a discussion of how much density of keywords should a webpage ideally contain, it is necessary to take a look at what a keyword is? A keyword is a word that the user searches for when using the search engine. Keywords are the function of the search engines. The ratio of the keyword to the total number of words appearing on the web page is known as the keyword density. One of the most critical aspects of search engine optimization, it can be used as a factor in determining whether a web page is relevant for a specified keyword or keyword phrase. Almost all the search engine algorithms give importance, in varying degrees, to the number of times a keyword appears on a web page. Each search engine is marked by a different calculation of keywords. While some allow a large keyword density on the webpage, others like Google place a limit on it. In order to avoid search spamming through keyword stuffing, search engines also implement measures other than keyword density.

Ideal keyword density

There is much talk about the ideal keyword density of a web page. The bottomline here is that there is no thumb rule regarding the ideal keyword density in a website, mainly because the search engines change their algorithms frequently. Also, different search engines allow a different keyword density. So, while a more than 2% keyword density is considered spamming by Google, MSN and Yahoo allow a liberal 5% keyword density in a web page. While some search engines attach more importance to keywords in your title, meta tags and web copy, Google - the most important search engine, searches for keywords in your web page text.

Also the ideal keyword density changes with the type of keywords. When the keyword is highly competitive, the website owner should focus on not more than one word per page. Pages with low competitive keywords should ideally focus upon two or three keywords per page. More often than not, search terms comprise of moderately competitive keywords. Such keywords must be used on the home page, and must be linked with internal supporting pages.

Ideal keyword density is more of a range than a figure. A 1% - 7% keyword density is what any web page should aim for. A 1% keyword density is achieved by inserting a keyword once in every 100 words of text, and so on. But a keyword used once in every thousand words would mean a watered down keyword density, which, in turn, will mar the chances of your website figuring high in the search engine result pages.

Keyword optimization

For a search engine to rank your web site highly, focus on one or two keywords per page. This will allow the spiders to be convinced of the relevance of your page content to the keyword. Keeping a one-keyword-per-page policy is the best bet. Writing a minimum of 250 words creates enough content to naturally include a good keyword density.

All this stuff about keyword density is effective in search engine optimization only for keywords that are less than highly competitive. Fiercely competitive keyword terms such as ‘Search Engine Optimization’ cannot assure a good ranking with search engines, even with keyword density as high as 60%. This goes on to show that search engines place more importance on other elements such as inbound links or anchor texts. To improve search engine ranking, your keyword density must not be too high or too low.

Another view

While many search engine optimizers swear by this aspect of search engine optimization to improve rankings, many others are quick to refute this theory, pointing out the importance of writing for the visitors instead of search engines. Citing the rankings of web pages with a keyword density as high as 20% alongside the same of web pages with a keyword density of 2%, these experts prove their point. A good ranking, according to them, is the consequence of relevant content focusing on the theme of your website, which is anyways bound to include the keyword. Losing visitors can be attributed to forced write ups that are deliberately keyword stuffed. The use of similar words instead of the same keyword again and again will increase your article’s credibility. The search engines too, have started focusing more on semantic connection between words instead of simply relying on keyword density, in their endeavor to curb spamming.

Conclusion

While it cannot be denied that keyword density is one of the aspects of search engine optimization, it is definitely not the only factor. Losing your sleep over achieving the exact keyword density in your web pages won’t help your rankings much. Writing meaningful, relevant content, without bothering about the keyword density, is the key to good ranking.

Abut the Author:

Kavya Chakravarti, a search engine optimizer and web design and development expert, consults clients about various SEO techniques. A thorough follower of SEO trends, she devices plans to improve their page ranking in search engine indices through white hat SEO.

Marketing Your Home Based Business

Some good tips for anyone with a home-based online business.

You see the marketing of the home based business does not differ from whatever marketing. You need a brand, which has the right image and an active longterm communication with your target group.

1.A Site Visitor Must Get The Right First Impression.
In all markets there are respected experts, with whom many want to make business. Also in the home based business an expert image can be built, but it requires a good planning and a lot of persistance.

Take an example from the biggest companies in the world. For instance Nokia, a Finnish company, did not invented the mobile phone. Their expertise was based on the strategy and leadership and they reached the world leader position in a few years.. But it could have been based on some other factor too, for instance in the design, but they made their choice.

2.Know Your Product.
It is a shame that very obviously many home business marketers do not bother to get the information about the products they sell. Maybe they think that nobody will find it, but the truth is that people will see it in seconds. A healthy way is to use your own products to get the consumer insight.

3. Make Your Own Ads.
This is one easy trick to strengthen the personal look of the site and make the difference from the standard affiliate program ads.The personalization will make the site visitors curios and clicking, which will increase the chances.

4. Post To Forums.
Forums are a great way to make contacts and really help people. That means that your own brand will grow, but you will also get a lot of traffic from there. Do not try to advertise. When your tips are working and people see that you are valuable, a brand, they can click your link in the sigfile.

5. Plan The Use Of Your Optin List.
This is your fanclub, your warmest market. It needs a special plan,because these people have subscribed your newsletter voluntarily and are eager to get information to run their home based businesses. You could post them the latest news or the link of your brand new article and try to build a two way, interactive contact with them. It would be useful to know as many of them personally.

6. Write Your Own Special Report.
The special report tactics is extremely strong and builds brand during a long period of time. A special report is not so difficult to write, because actually you have already the information, just put that into the form of a special report with product links in the copy, because this is business.

All these methods work ideally, when they offer an useful content to the reader and try to help him in his own home based business.

About the Author:

Juhani Tontti, B.Sc., Marketing. I Am Sure You Got Excited About The Above Ideas. I Invite You To Visit My Affiliate Program Site To Get A Lot Of Ideas For Your Home Based Business Promotions.

Marketing Online for Your Business

A good overview of online marketing.

The Internet, as well as being a fantastic source of information, is also a tremendous platform for business and commerce. With that comes the development of many different business mechanisms, which adapt as they cross from the real to the virtual trading environment. One of those functionalities, which have been well adapted to form an entirely new discipline for online business is online marketing. By combining a diverse range of different advertising and promotional channels, website owners have effectively created their own rules when it comes to online promotion, and to have any chance of online commercial success, these must be fully embraced.

One of the fastest growing sectors of online business is pay-per-action marketing, primarily in the form of pay-per-click. Pay-per-click works by displaying an advert with a link straight through to the advertiser's site. Rather than charging per impression, or for the duration of the ad, the advertiser pays only for every click through, which means theoretically, the advertiser is only paying for each interested sales lead. This may initially sound like an attractive and cost effective way to go, but there are a variety of problems with the medium which could eventually lead to its downfall.

One of the most critical problems faced by pay-per-click is what has been deemed 'click fraud'. Click fraud is where competitors deliberately click on adverts to run up the PPC budget, which can result in advertisers paying for advertising that hasn't even produce a single interested visitor to their site. However, many PPC suppliers are working tirelessly to try to remedy the situation, and they seem to be beginning to get a grasp on how best to avoid the problem in future.

Another evergreen online marketing method is that of search engine optimization. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process of making modifications to websites and combining off-site strategies to boost search engine rankings, which will ultimately result in more coverage for the website in question. In fact, SEO is such a powerful tool, that it is possible to move almost any website to one of the top few pages on major search engine results under specific keywords very quickly. For this reason, SEO is big business, and many websites of all sizes reap the benefits of SEO spend in their sales and profit margins every single year.

Online marketing comprises a range of alien marketing concepts, which traditional businesses must grasp if they are to succeed online. All in all, online marketing is a highly lucrative area, and the potential rewards are very high for those that successfully come to terms with these new marketing methods.

About the Author:

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles on many topics including Employment, Computers, and Business

Build Your Own Link Generating System

The following has some great advice on ways to improve your own link generation.

Most ecommerce sites are aware of the importance of link generating in relationship to search engine traffic and Page Rank. The idea of building 10 000 inbound links may appear daunting, but it doesn’t need to be. Just follow a few tips from the SEO Marketers.

In-Site Link Generating

This is the most overlooked aspect of link generation. Whether the ecommerce business is building a link generating system to earn revenue, or to promote their own business, they need to take a good look at how their linking system is built.

There are a few common mistakes that most sites make. Most sites create landing pages to attract new visitors. They will pay for links to this page, and will generate their own links to this page. But they forget to create a featured article link in their menu. An ecommerce site can easily have 1000 pages, with 1000 potential links to the landing page.

Blogs

One of the biggest benefits of a blog is that it is submitted to the search engines every time a new post is published. Each and every post should have an embedded link to a landing page or an article. A blog with 200 posts will generate 200 – 400 links.

Blogs are infinite. Thousands of successful ecommerce internet marketing campaigns have been built around a series of 5 – 25 blogs that are constructed for no other purpose than link generating. The thought of managing numerous blogs causes many new ecommerce business owners to panic. Most of us have read about black hat SEO and being banned. This is true, but if there are no Google ads on the blogs, then there are no rules broken.

Managing 25 blogs is easy. Think of them as a newspaper or newsletter. Each one is built to promote a service, product, or feature of your site. Each one has a link to the ecommerce site in the sidebar and in the posts. The trick is to use ‘free content.’ Do not try to use original content. It is not necessary.

The objective of each blog is to generate links and to pre-sell the product so people click through to the website. Posting two articles a week, on each blog, and on the host website, will add 102 pages of content. If each of those articles has 2 links in it, then each month the blog network is generating 816 new inbound links. In one year, the blogs will generate enough links to statistically increase a web page’s Page Rank to PR5.

Directories

Google has started to give serious consideration to websites that are listed in directories. There are directories for everything from websites and blogs, to forums and newsletters, to podcasts and live chats.

In fact, it is easy to build your own directory. The web is full of cheap and free directory scripts. Most directories increase in PR fairly quickly. Each time someone lists on the directory they must put a link back. The directory owner can also list their directory with paid services. It is not unheard of for a directory to receive a few PR8 pages within one year. Links on a PR8 page can be sold for as much as $1000 a month or they can be used to increase the traffic and Page Rank of the ecommerce website.

Blog directories such as blog catalogue can be a major source of traffic, that has nothing to do with SEO, search engines, or page rank.

Forums

Next to directories, the new SEO pundits are claiming that Google gives forums the highest ranking. This means that a link from a forum will increase the PR of a website faster than a link from a blog. However, stay away from the search engine forums like Yahoo and MSN groups. These are ‘closed’ to Google sites.

Forum posting can be tedious and time consuming. Building forums for other people to post in can take time, and should never be considered a ‘first line’ in the marketing, but after a year or two, a couple of forums can have a dramatic impact on the SEO and PR quality of a website.

One common practice is for a forum owner to make 10 – 30 accounts and have them talk to each other. This way they can offer information in relevant ‘bite size’ information. It also gives the business owner an opportunity to generate more links, and let other people generate links.

Social Networking

Using sites like facebook, myspace, bebo, squido, gather and others as social networking ‘lenses’ is fast replacing the ‘business card’ as a quick way to introduce yourself to people. A lens can build links, as well as increase PR by increasing traffic.

Social networks put the traffic generating aspect of an Internet business back in the hands of the public, giving them more control over their traffic.

Networking

Setting up a network like this is one way to generate the links needed to increase traffic and profits. However, getting a few dozen likeminded people ‘on board’ and working together can life a few small businesses above the masses and add ‘real’ power to their internet marketing campaign.

About the Author:

Mark Walters is a third generation entrepreneur and author. He offers free training and investing videos designed to speed you towards financial independence at http://www.CashFlowInstitute.com

Reciprocal Links - Yes Or No?

A great article on the topic of link exchange and their relevance to search engine rankings.

Reciprocal Link Exchange is a very popular and valuable practice. This can be a valuable tool for information sharing and it helps establish communication among web developers and creates strong on line communities.

A reciprocal link simply means that two websites are linking to each other. Both sites generate traffic for each other simultaneously.

Building links is a very good way to improve how high you rank on a search engine index. Links consist of your hyperlink of your web site that is posted onto another web site. The more links of your web site that can be found throughout the internet on other sites, usually the higher you will rank in the search engines.

You can't just put your website on the net with right keywords and all the right touches and expect your traffic and ranking will remain constant. As the web is an ever changing landscape, you have to keep track of your own web results like what is happening with the competition and also the best and highest ranked sites.

Tips and recommendations for designing a Good Reciprocal Link Campaign

- Set a goal. Figure out how fast you can do it, then create a plan to increase and improve your Page Ranking. Start your own Marketing Linking Campaign;

- Choose your reciprocal links wisely. Connect only to websites that contain related information that readers will enjoy.

- Use your time collecting valuable information on your site, and then tell everyone you can! Offer a web site full of interesting details that similar sites' readers can't live without. The best way to gain readership is by offering a valuable resource! - If you want to improve your Page Ranking try to do not link to sites that are irrelevant to yours and avoid sites that have a "Links Page" that is hard to find.

- Write relevant articles and publish them for free. Make sure to include a Bio Box that includes a link to your site. Stipulate that the article may be reprinted for free as long as the Bio Box is included. This will instantaneously provide extra links to your page when people reprint your work.

- Email other webmasters and simply ask for a link and provide a pre-coded HTML link for them to cut and paste to their page.

- Do not link to sites with directories that are haphazardly arranged with no categorization and avoid sites that contain more than 40 - 50 links per page. Your link will be hard to find...

- The fastest and most powerful way to make your website known is to submit it to as many relevant web directories as you can. Directory submission is the BEST way to gain targeted traffic to your site. - Celebrate each small success and keep in mind every small step in the right direction is bringing you closer and closer to your main target.

Choose wisely! And be patient, be persistent, be creative! Even if you only acquire one third of the links you pursue, your efforts will be well-rewarded.

Copyright © Anne-Marie Ronsen You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author bylines are included.

About the Author:

Anne-Marie RONSEN is the author of many wealth and self development books. Download FREE eBooks from http://www.e-bestsellers.com, http://www.plrbestsellers.com or http://www.UniversalPublishingltd.com... You will learn about the best tips and recommendations to improve your health, weight and wealth.

Unleashing Web 2.0: From Concepts to Creativity

Unleashing Web 2.0: From Concepts to Creativityis a must read for anyone wanting to put the power of the internet into their business site. From the review:

The emergence of Web 2.0 is provoking challenging questions for developers: What products and services can our company provide to customers and employees using Rich Internet Applications, mash-ups, Web feeds or Ajax? Which business models are appropriate and how do we implement them? What are best practices and how do we apply them?

If you need answers to these and related questions, you need this booka comprehensive and reliable resource that guides you into the emerging and unstructured landscape that is Web 2.0.

Gottfried Vossen is a professor of Information Systems and Computer Science at the University of Muenster in Germany. He is the European Editor-in-Chief of Elseviers Information SystemsAn International Journal. Stephan Hagemann is a PhD. Student in Gottfrieds research group focused on Web technologies.

• Presents a complete view of Web 2.0 including services and technologies

• Discusses potential new products and services and the technology and programming ability needed to realize them

• Offers how to basics presenting development frameworks and best practices

• Compares and contrasts Web 2.0 with the Semantic Web

If you really want to understand what is happening on the web today, Unleashing Web 2.0: From Concepts to Creativityis a great place to start.

No Money Down Marketing (Audio CD)

No Money Down Marketingis a breakthrough program for virtually any business owner who has long thought that the only way to succeed is to have piles of money sitting around. From the review:

If you think the only way to market a product or service is using your own money, you re going to love what you hear in this powerful program!

Discover the steps you can take right now to find marketing opportunities that bring you thousands of sales without investing a single dime of your own money!

If money has been your excuse for not succeeding in business, you MUST listen to what top marketing expert Robert Imbriale has to say in this powerful, information- packed program!

You'll discover the most effective no money down marketing strategies he uses daily to build his business using none of his own money.

This double-CD set is one you'll refer back to again and again as it's filled with strategies and techniques for most any business type, and most can be used immediately.

The Key To Online Branding

The importance of branding cannot be overlooked. In the ever increasing competitive business environment, you must find a way to stand out from your competitors. Read on to learn more.

Branding is the process of building a favorable image for your product or enterprise. It differentiates your identity from others in this increasingly competitive world and is a key component of most business’ strategy.

To build a strong brand presence, your communication needs to be global. Hence the internet is a vital facilitator in any branding exercise since it has the power to deepen the relationship between your enterprise and your customers worldwide.

In this piece we’ll talk about how you can integrate your website into your overall branding strategy.

The ultimate goal is to ensure that the name of your product, service or website finds a special place in the mind of your customers. How will you achieve this?

Have an attractive storefront: If you sell online, use images to your advantage. Employ an innovative website model with a focus on display backed by a description of your product. Visitors to your site are more likely to remember your product if they see pictures.

Choose a catchy domain name: This point needs your attention. Visitors recognize you by this name, hence choose a unique name that is easy to remember. It need not necessarily relate to the products that you sell, but must leave an impression. For example, Amazon doesn’t relate to books or any other products that they sell, but it sure conveys a certain image. Incidentally, if your company has a long name, consider shortening it for use as the name of the website. Remember that many successful brands are three-letter acronyms such as IBM, CNN and BBC.

Design a memorable logo: By this we don’t mean that you have to commission a complex work of art at great cost. Think of eBay, Google or Yahoo. All these companies have distinctive logos that most people are able to describe from memory. A logo creates a lasting impression in the mind of your consumers and brings worldwide recognition. Display your logo at all important locations on your site to enhance brand recall. A tagline as part of the logo may be a good idea, provided it reflects your business. Think of Wal-Mart’s tagline "Always low prices. Always."

Consider the following values before actually developing or refining the website.

Be consistent: A complete branding exercise requires targeting customers through various channels (radio, newspaper ads, event management, etc). Your message should be consistent across all channels. Only then will your identity be established uniformly in the minds of the audience.

Be creative: Branding is all about originality. So, you need to come up with new ideas to become a favorite. Think of ways in which you can differentiate yourself from your competitors. Can you be novel, without being wacky?

Reflect your qualities: The product or service that you offer is the real hero, and the website must reflect its personality. Sometimes the website has little resemblance to the other important business elements and this only serves to confuse the customer. Projecting the qualities of the product, service or company in a consistent manner will help people remember them.

Talk about yourself: The About Us section must also be an integral part of the branding effort. Think of what information will interest visitors, and compose this section accordingly. Generally, a brief description of origin, founders, size and important business milestones is appropriate.

Include a copyright statement: Your exclusive rights to your brands, trademarks and other intellectual property must be stated on the website. Not only does that give you legal protection but also another opportunity to remind the customers about who owns the brand. This is particularly important in cases where product brands are much better known than the company they belong to, and are often used in a generic sense.

A brand is quite often the most valuable property that a company may have. An online branding strategy goes a long way in cashing in on that value.

About the Author:

Hi, I am Akhil Shahani, a serial entrepreneur who wants to help you succeed. Over the years I have run many successful businesses & made many mistakes on the way. I have created http://www.aykya.com to help you benefit from all I've learned on my journey. Please visit us & download our special 'Freebie of the Month' as a thank you for your visit.

Designing Brand Identity: A Complete Guide to Creating, Building, and Maintaining Strong Brands

Designing Brand Identity: A Complete Guide to Creating, Building, and Maintaining Strong Brandsis a must read for those of you that wish to know more about the process of creating a brand identity. Large corporations spends millions on this process attesting to the importance of creating brand identity with consumers. From the review:

From translating the vision of a CEO and conducting research, through designing a sustainable identity program and building online branding tools, Designing Brand Identity helps companies create stronger brands by offering real substance. With an easy-to-follow style, step-by-step considerations, and a proven, universal five-phase process for creating and implementing effective brand identity, the book offers the tools you need, whether a brand manager, marketer, or designer, when creating or managing a brand. This edition includes a wealth of full-color examples and updated case studies for world-class brands such as BP, Unilever, Citi, Tazo Tea, and Mini Cooper.

Personalize Your Site Using a Favicon

In a world where competition is fierce, the need to make your site stand out is imperative. Here is something creative that you can do now.

With the ever increasing number of web sites on the internet, why not take advantage of this simple method of being able to personalize and distinguish your web site from others?

If you bookmark a page with Microsoft IE you will notice some sites have a special icon associated with their respective bookmark thus differentiating or branding site A from site B. Think of it as internet marketing.

It dawned on me recently how easy it was for me to locate web sites that I had bookmarked and appeared in My Favorites menu with a little icon displayed next to the web site name, so I decided to find out if I could put one on my own web site to make it stand out in the My Favorites menu and easier for whoever bookmarked my site to locate.

I started my search on Google and discovered that the little icon that replaces the IE logo (in IE) is called a Favicon (pronounced fav-eye-con) and is short for Favorites Icon or it is sometimes called a bookmark icon. The Favicon also shows in the address bar as well. Notice the red Y! symbol that appears in the left-most area of the address bar in Internet Explorer when you open Yahoo!, or the butterfly in MSN . What a great way to personalise your site.

You will require IE 5.0 or higher and a favicon.ico can show up in at least three different places in Windows:

1) In the Favorites list selectable on the Start menu;

2) In the location bar of the browser when you are visiting the web site;

3) On your desktop if you first bookmark the site, click Start, Favorites, hold down the control key and click on the bookmark to drag it to the desktop (it copies the icon as a shortcut).

The favicon.ico can also show up in the following two places:

4) On the taskbar if you bookmark the site, hold down the control key, then right click on the bookmark and drag it to the task bar, it copies the icon there;

5) On the links bar if you bookmark the site, hold down the control key, then right click on the bookmark and drag it to the Links tool bar, it copies the icon there.

If you search in the engines for favicon you will find that many sites come up offering favicon tutorials, online tools to create favicon icons, free favicon icons and installation instructions too.

A favicon should be 16 X 16 pixels with 16 colors and the file name must be favicon.ico and ideally you should search for a program that allows you to create favicons online. Remember, if you do not save it as favicon.ico it will not work. Do not make the mistake of just shrinking an image to icon size and renaming it with a .ico file extension. That will not work either because it is not a real icon file. Do not be surprised if your own favicon does not show up in your own browser when you open your site, as sometimes this can take up to a few days and even disappear again only to reappear.

I had fun creating my own personal 16 x 16 pixel image in MyImager and then found a site on Google that created a favicon.ico file and I uploaded my image and clicked on generate favicon and that is how easy it was. I then uploaded the favicon.ico file to the root web directory, in the same location as the index.html page of my hosted website and bingo, I now have a Favicon and have personalized and distinguished my web site from others. Creating such an icon adds to the professionalism of your site, marking you as a web designer who attends to detail.

So now when someone bookmarks my site with a browser that supports favicons, my favicon will appear, as opposed to a default image (a logo for Internet Explorer), which is used instead if no favicon.ico had been provided. I am sure if you look through your own Favorites Menu you will notice that the bulk of the images are the IE logo.

The favicon allows the webmaster to further promote their site, and to create a more customized appearance within a visitor's browser. Often, the favicon reflects the look and feel of the web site or the organization's logo. Have fun creating your Favicon.

About the Author:


Cynthia Minnaar works from home online and invites you to visit http://www.cyns-home-biz.com for web income generating ideas and opportunities, articles and marketing tools.

Article Source: iSnare

Eight Steps to Writing an Outstanding Podcast

Thinking of using podcasts to expand your business? Read on for some practical tips on how you can do it.

Podcasts are on the cutting edge of business communication, allowing you to speak with your own voice directly to your audience. They add variety to your blog or website and prove that you know how to stay ahead of the pack.

But hitting "record" without putting some thought into what you're going to say and how you're going to say it is a fatal mistake. Here are eight steps to follow for creating a podcast that makes your listener want to come back for more.

1. Choose a theme. Pick an issue about which you feel confident speaking. Try to narrow it down to a particular angle or perspective-think news clip, not university lecture. The best podcasts touch on a specific subject and cover it in depth, rather than attempting to discuss the history of Western Europe in three minutes or less.

2. Consider your audience. How much does your audience know about your subject? What style of reporting will connect with them? The more you put yourself in your listeners' shoes, the better you will be able to speak directly to them. Be sure to include a response to any previous questions or suggestions-your audience doesn't want to feel ignored.

3. Prepare an outline. Expand on your theme by coming up with four or five main elements or topics to discuss. Put the most important and engaging information first; this will hook your listener and entice them to hear out the rest of it. Even if you don't write your script word for word, an outline will help you organize your thoughts into a tidy framework.

4. Think ahead for interviews. If you want to include an interview in your podcast, it's a good idea to plan ahead. Make a list of questions you want to ask for sure, but remember that sometimes the best sound bites happen off-the-cuff. Feel comfortable enough with your interviewee to ask follow-up questions and allow the conversation to travel somewhere more interesting if the opportunity arises.

5. Use simple sentences and language. Keep the tone natural and conversational, as if you are speaking with a listener face-to-face-just as you would for any business writing. Toss any words that would send someone reaching for the dictionary; likewise, avoid long sub-clauses and complex syntax (these things only bury the point). Just because your sentences are short and clear does not mean your language has to be dry. Do not be afraid to use sensory descriptions to put your listener right in the heart of the action.

6. Keep it succinct. The length of your podcast depends on your subject and audience-but no matter how much information you feel is absolutely crucial to your point, listeners will lose interest if it drags. No footnotes or unnecessary diversions here; just the facts, ma'am.

7. Do a practice run. This is especially important if you're working from a basic outline. Read the script for a friend or family member for their (honest!) feedback, or record yourself once and listen to it. Be on the lookout for awkward pauses, confusing sections, and stumbling points. Make notes and do another few run-throughs with the changes incorporated.

8. Print it out. It's much easier to read from a piece of paper than from a computer screen, so print out your script before you record. Enlarging the font helps too. If you're worried about losing your place during recording, highlight a few key words or mark the beginning of different sections to keep you on track.

The more thoroughly you prepare your script, the more confident you will be when it comes down to recording it-and the more effective your podcast will be because of it.

About the Author:

Courtland L. Bovee, one of America's leading instructors in clear and effective communication, co-authors several leading college-level texts with John V. Thill, a prominent communications consultant and current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Global Communication Strategies. Their website, Business Communication Headline News, the #1 business communication site on the web, is at http://www.businesscommunicationheadlinenews.com