Senin, 31 Mei 2010

Can Stay At Home Moms Be Successful On The Internet?

In the midst of downsizing, layoffs and the genuine need for two incomes in most families these days, there are now literally hundreds of thousands of stay at home Moms that are considering starting their own home based Internet businesses.

For those of you have had the pleasure, you know that the job of a stay at home Mom is one of the most demanding jobs you can have. I am not kidding! I have the upmost admiration for mothers who have made the decision to stay at home and care for their children, as I do for those mothers in the workplace who struggle with all the challenges that decision brings.

I have five adult daughters and on a number of occasions during their childhood, I have had the "pleasure" of staying home with my daughters for one reason or another. Don't ask me how I found myself in that predicament, it just kind of happened. I must say that I received a real education regarding this most demanding of professions.

How did their Mother actually do that day in and day out? Listen, I will take the challenges of going to an office or running my own business any day! Hands down!

Nevertheless, there are stay at home Moms, much more capable than the author of this article, who possess not only the unique skills of being able to corral their children skillfully at home, but operate their own home based businesses as well. They have determined that they can just as easily run and manage a family as well as a business, particularly an internet based business, all from the comforts of their homes.

This is the reason that so many mothers choose to work at home. They want to establish some type of financial standings while still being able to watch over their children. Making money online can be a great idea for stay at home moms. It provides a flexible schedule as well as the benefit of little commuting. Some examples of great ways to make money online are: owning a home business, completing surveys, freelancing, and reading emails. Providing mothers with the best ways to make an income online, these opportunities put money into moms' pockets.

Owning an online business can be difficult, but if a person is dedicated it can be very beneficial. Even though these businesses are not an easy task, they will still provide moms enough time with their children. There are many businesses to choose from. Some of the businesses require a fee to provide you with a product to sell. Others, such as Cognigen, will provide products and a website for free.

Completing surveys gives mothers total freedom. Because surveys are taken only when one agrees to take them, they are perfect for moms who children need constant care. The amount of money earned from surveys depends on how many surveys a person is willing to answer. A mom can earn from $25 to $600 a month from answering surveys.

Freelancing is a broad way to make money online. Freelancers are hired on to a company as a contractor. In many cases freelancing allows one to earn money for what he/she loves. One example is a mother who loves to write. There are many online opportunities for writing. The mother may start a blog or write articles on parenting. She may even put her creative writing skills to the test by writing short stories. There are other freelancing prospects such as cartooning, web design, consulting, data entry, and desktop publishing. The list of freelance jobs is abundant.

The popularity of reading emails is rising higher each day. While this is not a great way to earn large amounts of money, it is an excellent way to earn a few extra dollars. Reading emails is a fairly easy way for stay at home moms to earn money. Emails are sent to the email address that is set up with the program. Money, which is stored to an account, is paid to the person who reads the email. Most of the programs have a minimum payout. The company will only pay a person once the minimum has been reached. One should have a separate email address just for the purpose of the emails. One can use the same email address, but it is not recommended since so many emails will be
sent.

These are just some of the ideas how stay at home Moms can establish an online internet presence, generate income for themselves and their families, without negatively their primary responsibilities at home...their children. There are thousands of stay at home Moms who are successful running home based Internet businesses today.

Can stay at home Moms be successful on the Internet? Absolutely, and they are doing it everyday. You can too! So why don't you take a few minutes during the children's nap time tomorrow and see what the opportunities are. You will be glad you did!

Warm regards,
Kenny Anderson

Minggu, 30 Mei 2010

Can I Be A Success Online? Part 2

Too many people venture online without understanding which type of Internet business they are best suited to. They either go for the first one they come across that promises early wealth, or, having viewed a few options (without gaing any real insight on what exactly each one will deliver), they hurl themselves at several simply because they can't make a choice.

Both of these strategies is dangerous. The first, because any site that promises pots of cash early with very little work is nothing more than a scam (1000's of people have lost money to these schemes) and the second because if you try running too many ventures too soon you'll spread yourself thin and be unable to devote necessary time to a single opportunity.

There are many legitimate ways to make money online and discovering which one is best for you is an excercise well worth taking some time over.

In part one of this series you posed 4 questions to yourself:

1. How computer literate am I? (not at all - 1, very - 5)
2. How is my self-discipline? (bad - 1, excellent - 5)
3. How positive is my outlook on life? (terrible - 1, bright - 5)
4. How much can I afford to fail? (Can't - 1, Doesn't matter - 5)

And answered each of them with a score of 1 to 5 accordingly.

These four simple questions were carefully worded and directed at understanding not necessarily *which* business you should go for, but whether indeed you should look for an income online at all.
No matter what you're told by all the get-rich-quick sites about how easy it is to make a residual income on the Internet, or how your life will change as soon as you become a member of their program, there will still be the necessity for some input from you. In fact a lot of input from you - a lot more than they ever let on in their sales copy.

Once you are signed up therefore, and you have experienced your first few sessions working on your new 'opportunity', you will then go through a period of disillusionment as it finally dawns on you that alot more work is required than you originally thought, and alot less income is forthcoming than you were promised. Many people give up here, or go and find something else and the whole process starts again.

You can save yourself this heart-break and inconvenience by being honest with yourself at the start. Just take a moment to write down an answer those four questions. (each one should be a number from 1 to 5). Do it now before you read on.

So, lets see whether you should be pursuing an income online after all. If you scored less than 8 then you shouldn't even think about it. With a score this low, you will definately not have any success online and you'll be wasting valuable time if you try. With a score of 9-12 you might be OK but there will be something that will have to change - perhaps you need a backup plan so you can afford to fail a little more, or perhaps you should brush up your computer literacy with a software course. Maybe you marked yourself down on your positive outlook because you were in a bad mood at the time. If that is the case on any of the questions, revise the score to reflect your average outlook over a number of months. (remember, there are no zeros scored here).

With a score of 13-16 you should be good to go, and with anything above 16 you're either lying, or you should be kicking yourself for not starting online sooner!

The Next Step.

Right, so once you know you're OK to continue, your next step is to research and critically assess the full range of options available to you as a budding Internet Marketer.

In the next part of this series, we'll examine each of the money-making opportunities that exist online and identify characteristics of each of them so that you can decide which ones you're best suited to.

Sabtu, 29 Mei 2010

Can I Be A Success Online? Part 1

So you want to make your money online now huh? Great. There are plenty of ways to do it. AutoSurfs, MLMs, form-filling/surveys, Affiliate Marketing, HYIP's and the good old fashioned way: Your own product on your own website.

I'll explore each of these ways in the course of this series. So if they sound like gobledy gook to you now, fear not. Its estimated that every day over 250,000 people make the decision to start earning money at home on the Internet. That's a lot of people who don't have a clue what these terms mean either. Everyone's got to start somewhere.

For most people, a reasonable course of action when choosing an online business, is to bring up their favourite search engine (if they've even got one yet) and type the words “work from home”. The number of sites that come up when you enter such a term on Google alone is 1.9 Billion. Compare this with “find a job” (425 million) or “new career” (458 million) and you get an idea of where Internet Marketers are directing their efforts.

OK. So the good news is, if there's plenty of supply you've got plenty of choice. But how do you go about choosing the one thats best for you? How do you know which one of those 1.9 billion work from home ideas gives you the best chance of success? Lets face it, you could live until you're five hundred and you still wouldn't have read them all.

And perhaps you've got your own idea, perhaps you've used The Internet enough to have identified a niche area, a business idea you want to exploit. Either way, you're entering new waters and its best to be prepared. Even if you're convinced by your own idea, it is still adviseable to watch, and even join, one or two of the work-from-home offerings so you can learn about the ways in which business can and can't be done online.

There is a methodology I teach which helps people decide on which way to turn, if indeed they should turn to any of them. It uses a simple set of questions, no more than 5 in each set, and as long as you are honest to your core, your answers will steer you in the right direction.

The first set is 4 quick questions that you should answer without giving too much thought to. Just read them each and give the first answer that comes into your head - give your instinctive answer.

It is important to be instinctive because once you've embarked on your online career, it will be your instinct that will direct you. Don't take time theorising about what you think the right or wrong answer should be, just give the true answer. That's the only way you'll get a useful result.

These four questions should be answered in order with a score between 1 (minimum) and 5 (maximum). No zeros. Write your answers down and keep them safe.

Here they are:

1. How computer literate am I? (Not at all - 1. Exceedingly – 5)
2. How is my self-discipline? (Terrible - 1. Excellent – 5)
3. How positive is my outlook on life? (Miserable - 1. Excellent – 5)
4. How much can I afford to fail? (I can't - 1. It really doesn't matter – 5)

In part II we'll analyse your results and move on to the next stage in the process. In the meantime, enjoy researching and see if you can get a good feel of what's out there.

Jumat, 28 Mei 2010

Can anyone legitimately earn money from the world wide web?

Can you earn money from the web to help you survive, even prosper, doing so legitimately and without ripping people off or by indulging in illegal activities? The answer is yes, of course, otherwise there wouldn't be much point in writing this article, would there? :-)

You can earn money legitimately by providing information of high value to internet searchers seeking information on that specific topic.

Know that I am not a computer programmer. I do not have extensive knowledge of html, though since I've been "playing" on the web I couldn't help but learn some. I am not a graphic artist but I like to experiment with paint programs on my computer. I like digital photography, and it is gratifying to use my own pictures on my own site should I wish to. My software library does not contain much in the way of programs for web page development. I couldn't build a website from scratch of my life depended on it. My "expertise" is solely related to the areas in which I have earned my living in the years before becoming a web site publisher.

I believe that the internet will continue to grow and that every person in the world that logs on for the first time increases the potential for anyone else that wishes to generate an income from the web to be able to do so.

I believe that the major players of the web (Google, MSN, Yahoo etc.) will continue to develop their web programs to continuously weed out those that try to take advantage of folks via the internet.

So how? How does one make legitimate money? The usual way; hard work, honesty, hard work, simplicity, hard work, and a methodical approach. Oh, and did I mention hard work? :-)

All kidding aside, the 'work' involved with making money from the web entails writing down information about a subject with which you are already quite familiar. You will be telling folks about a passion you have. So, it's not hard, but it does take time. There is no get rich scheme that works - that, death and taxes are the only certainties in life that I know of.

One way to be in business on the web is by offering a virtual "store". Many companies world wide now offer their products on-line, and this is a legitimate method of generating revenue. Providing you have something that others want, and that you are positively positioned (price / service / product mix etc.) you will make money as folks will order from you. I have no interest in creating a virtual store, as I'm not interested in having inventory, a warehouse, shipping and receiving facilities etc.

There is always web site consulting as another web site revenue source. From my web wanderings it would seem that there's almost one consultant for every web site on the internet! Far too much competition for me, though the good consultants can profit, the bad ones will not. Like those that sell hard goods, a consultancy needs to be well positioned to survive. I do not have the skills to be an effective consultant to people seeking web expertise, so I don't even try.

You may consider a web site with the sole purpose of selling advertising on it as so many of the "fringe" web sites out there do now. How many times have you gone to a site to get information on a subject only to find ads, and links to more ads? Very frustrating, isn't it? Those that undertake this type of venture will find that the major search engines are doing everything in their power to ensure that "fringe" sites like theirs aren't listed with them. If the site isn't listed, no one will find it, and if no one can find the site, revenue will disappear. I choose not to be involved with this sort of chicanery.

So what is it that I do to legitimately earn money via the internet?

Using software I found on the internet I "fill in the blanks" with knowledge. I use my knowledge of a particular subject and the system turns that knowledge into a web site. The software allows me to create the site in plain English using simple word processor software. It helps me determine if there is a market for the information I want to provide about my subject, and then it converts what I write into a pretty neat internet web site, if I do say so myself!

Arriving at my site will accomplish two things for the visitor. As they wander through it they will see what an ill-skilled web site builder has accomplished using some readily available and inexpensive software. They won't know that I'm ill-skilled however, because the site looks really good. Further, as they read the content in my site they will see ads that appear from time to time on those pages. Not many, not intrusive, but ads none the less.

The ads are positioned for me courtesy of Google. Google provided me software that can "read" my site, and position "content" ads on the pages, ads that relate to the general content of that particular page and to my site in general.

Google pays me when folks legitimately click on the ads on my pages. And Google does pay me. Regularly.

The more people that visit, the more potential for visitors to click on the ads on my site, and the greater potential for earnings for me, and more importantly, earnings for the advertiser's that trust their ad budget to Google.

Folks visit my site because I write high content value pages about my subject. They find my site by using search words relating to that subject because they are interested in getting information about those words. I write pages about the search words people use, because my software tells me which words that they are using to find information on my subject. No tricks, it's a simple as that. If you write pages about things that people are looking for, they will find your pages.

When folks get to my site, I try to ensure that they will find enormous, useful content about the subject they are interested in. The content they find will entices them to stick around and visit other pages on my site. As they do this, the ads that appear will encourage them to visit those on-line advertisers, as the ads refer to the goods and services that they were already looking for, or they wouldn't have even found my site in the first place.

See how it all ties together?

Ask yourself, what is your area of expertise? What are you passionate about? What is your work history? What hobby do you have that you already know scads of people are interested in? What can you write pages of information on that really and truly provides valuable information to the people that read it?

Oh, don't worry about writing your pages in a meaningful way. The software shows you how to do that, too.

If you write words that offer valuable content about any topic, and that topic is one that people are interested in (with a world population in the billions, try to find a topic that some folks aren't interested in!) and you use a simple program to turn your written words into a pretty neat web site (helping you avoid taking the time and expense to become a web site developer yourself) then you can make money on the web.

As I've said, putting the words to paper takes time. Placing those pages into your site takes time. Research to ensure that you are targetting your page content to the words that people are searching for about your topic takes time. And if you are saddled with a "dial-up" internet connection as I am, waiting for data transmission sure takes time! :-)

Looking for a fast buck, an easy ride to get lots of money from the net? Then please look elsewhere.

Are you considering earning some money for honest work, perhaps thinking about working from home, maybe facing retirement and looking for something to fill your days, maybe a stay-at-home Mom or Dad, or you just want to help others learn about your special interest? You can earn money doing so.

Whether those earnings are a lot or a little depends on how many people are looking for information on your subject and how many pages of valuable information you give them when they find your site.

Whatever the amount is, know that you can make money on the world wide web. That's certain.

Now, get writing!

Kamis, 27 Mei 2010

Call For Bands - Going Beyond Myspace

You're loaded up on MySpace – tons of friends and fans with pictures from your most recent shows, flyers for your next tour, and comments from the peanut gallery on everything from the outfit you wore last week to the person you just broke up with. But as much as this is working, it's limiting. Hugely limiting.

With your own website, your band goes to the next level. First, there's the credibility. MySpace is for basement bands, kids who practice after school when their drummer isn't grounded. When you have your own website, you can actually be a basement band with a drummer under perpetual house arrest, but to the rest of the world, you are a professional group of serious musicians, each member with an email address that includes your band's name.

Include a link to your website in every email you send out, list it at the bottom of flyers, put it on business cards and attach it to the demo CD you send out to record companies. Reviewers can get information about you from your site and, in turn, you can post comments they print. Give bios of the band members and ways to contact you. List lyrics to your songs and tour schedules. The more you have on your website, the more street cred you get – and anything is better than a little spot on MySpace.

Next, there's the possibilities. What can't you have when you've got your own website? You can sell your new album, t shirts in a variety of styles, hats, posters, patches, pins. You can upload samples of your songs, making a pseudo-demo tape available for fans, club owners, recording executives, and potential agents to listen to. Have a variety of forums for your fans to meet each other, get rides to shows, ask you questions, discuss your music – all conveniently separated into categories that would be impossible in the endless list of comments on MySpace.

You can also communicate with your band members through your website. Use secure pages that the public won't have access to and pass notes back and forth when one is out of town. Upload clips of that bass line you're working on or lyrics that you're having trouble with. Even if you all have 'real' jobs or go to school full time, you can still have band practice via the website.

Websites are a great way to develop your cult status as well. Upload live tracks from your shows and start a bootleg craze, new millennium style. Offer limited edition, hand screened t-shirts and patches. Create a blog and pick a fan out of every show to memorialize. Make up rumors about yourself and spread them. Start an online war with another band. Get noticed and get people listening to your music, talking about your band, and coming to your shows. Then start your own label and help them make their website as big of a success as yours is.

Rabu, 26 Mei 2010

Buying Your Internet Products At A Major Discount

Making an income online has been a goal of mine for years.

My biggest desire is to retire on a sailing ship in the Mediterranean and each week on a Monday when I go out on deck, I would reach for my mobile phone and call my old boss and check on the weather back in Britain.

Or maybe I would wait until the sun was over the yard arm and call him so say “Hey do you recognize this sound?” (holding the phone over the side of the guard rail)… “That’s the sound of the Mediterranean sun kissed sea lapping against my yacht, while this” (popping the top off my chilled bottle of Grolsch), “is the sound of my chilled beer helping to keep me cool…. How’s work by the way?”

That day is getting closer, but it could have been here by now if only I hadn’t been so pig headed.

You see, I thought I knew best. I believed that if I build it they would come. Worse still, I believed I knew what people wanted.

How dumb was I?

As it turns out, not that dumb. You see, I was willing to admit I had been wrong, I was willing to look for a better solution and then I was willing to pay for it.

It’s never too late to start again. With that in mind, I started looking for solutions. These solutions had to meet certain criteria.

1. Be able to get high quality products at a discounted price.
2. Be able to offer services to absolute beginners and experts alike.
3. Be affordable.
4. Have clear instructions and/or training.
5. Offer solutions that people outside of marketing would desire.

That seems like a tall order, but I believed I could find a solution, if I didn’t then I would create one.

What really surprised me when I looked was that the solutions were there right in front of me and what surprised me more was that I had seen these solutions and ignored them because I had seen them so often before!

How dumb is that? If you keep seeing the same product being offered month after month, year after year, then it probably works. Why? Because nobody is going to spend good money advertising a lemon are they? Of course not.

Here’s one of the solutions I found and what it has to offer, remember the list above?

1. High quality products with resale rights and sometimes, master resale rights. New products added monthly and I could request a product as well.
2. This is a zero experience solution (see 4 below).
3. The cost is about the same as a large pizza and coke.
4. Each section of the member’s area has clear instructions that anyone can follow.
5. There are products that are of interest to Internet marketers and non-marketers alike.

Looks like a winner! It is, believe me, it is.

I have seen the website for this site so many times that after reading it years ago, (and dismissing it because I though I knew better), I only read it again this year.

Having read it again and again, I looked at the price and got my payment card out right away. I haven’t looked back since. I now have the new version of the site on a new domain.

One of the first things I did was read a course called “Online Advertising For the Completely Clueless!".

I’ve been running my online business for about four or five years. I didn’t think I was clueless, BUT all I could do was nod my head and scribble notes.

I was so impressed that I now offer this course for free to anyone who wants it. It’s big, really big, so are the results you can get by following the course and acting on the advice.

So by now you are saying tell me where I can get my hands on all this information, right?

OK. Just visit http://www.pushbuttononline.com/Recommends/ and don’t make the mistake I did.

If you are unsure when you visit the site, take a good look at what’s on offer, sign up for the course at the bottom of the page http://www.pushbuttononline.com then when you are done just 5 days from now, go back to the site and look again.

My yacht is becoming a reality at last.

Selasa, 25 Mei 2010

Buying Wholesale – For Consumers And Retailers Alike

Thousands of individuals earn an income by selling online through various websites such as eBay or Amazon.com. Buying products wholesale and reselling for profits is enabling an increasing number of people around the world to become self-employed. Alternatively, consumers may buy direct from wholesale sources in order to save money on their general purchases. With the upcoming holiday season, shoppers will be searching for the best deals and biggest discounts. The best discounts, however, can be found directly from the wholesaler or manufacturer.

When people hear the word wholesale, they assume that it is only for those who are involved in the retail business. It is true that some wholesalers only sell in bulk or require legitimate business information, preventing the average consumer from purchasing from such companies. However, a large number of wholesalers do sell items individually and to the general public.

Whether you wish to shop at the lowest priced wholesale sources or you are interested in starting your own retail business, it can be a difficult task to find true quality wholesale companies, as opposed to the middlemen. Wholesale middlemen are those websites and companies who claim to be real wholesalers selling a huge variety of products, but in fact, make money by getting in between you and the real manufacturer or wholesaler. This will result in the customer paying higher prices. As a casual shopper, you will be saving less; as a retailer, your profit will be lower and you may then have to charge higher prices, which makes you less competitive.

It can be extremely time consuming to locate the ‘real’ wholesale websites on the internet. Thankfully, there are websites who compile a list of wholesale companies and contact information and provide it to the public for a small price. Unfortunately, the large majority of these websites are also quite worthless. Many of these sites will list the same middlemen wholesalers mentioned, or simply provide a database of outdated information or links to wholesalers selling outdated and useless products. An extremely limited number of these directories provide links to legitimate, direct wholesalers.

Senin, 24 Mei 2010

Buying Slippers Online Can Be Risky

These are strange new times. No longer do we need to actually send mail, get cash, pay bills with a check, or worry about getting lost thanks to recent advances in technology. In most cases, we need not even go to the store in order to buy the things we need. But when it comes to things like slippers, how does a person have any idea that they will get what they were looking for?

One of the biggest risks involved with online shopping is that you don’t get to actually see or touch what you are buying. Oh sure, you can look at the nice new slippers on the computer screen. Maybe they will put them on someone’s feet so you can get some perspective on their size and make sure people aren’t trying to sell you a pair of slippers that wouldn’t even fit a small child, let alone you. But at the end of the day, do you really know how those slippers will feel on your feet or if they will even really fit.

After all, not all companies size slippers, shoes, or even clothes in the same manner. What is a medium to one company might very well be a large to another. So, who is to say that the slippers will fit even though they are supposedly in your size? This is why you need to be sure and check out the return policy of any company before even browsing through their fabulous selection of slippers. If they don’t allow returns, move on to a company that does.

Companies need to be reasonable and expect some mistakes on both sides where sizing is concerned. A reasonable return policy that allows people to return merchandise that has been tried on but found to be unsuitable or just plain not what the person thought it would be when buying it originally. Be sure to find out who is responsible for shipping costs in the event of a return. Most companies will have a reasonable time limit attached to their return policy so be sure not to decide and return those slippers six months after you decide that you don’t want them!

Shipping costs should also be investigated before even shopping for your slippers. A good many companies will offer free shipping for purchases reaching or exceeding a minimum amount. Still, some retailers may try to mask high prices by selling slippers at seemingly low prices but charging high shipping costs. Understand the shipping policy and what it will add to the price of the slippers you are looking at so that you know the true price of the slippers before adding something to your virtual cart. By looking before you leap, you can still find a great pair of slippers at bargain prices by shopping online.

Minggu, 23 Mei 2010

Buy Your Books Online And Save A Boatload Of Cash

It is now widely accepted that shopping for books in a traditional brick and mortar shop is a hassle. Usually, many serious book shoppers are trying to access a book or magazine that are blocked by men, women, and kids, laying on the floor, talking on mobile phones, or going through the books and then returning them to the wrong place without paying for anything they have laid their hands on.

This had led me to defer to the less grueling, less intrusive, and more convenient way of researching, and buying books online.

And this new concept made possible due to the brilliance of people like Gates, Jobs, and host of others, can now enable several folks buy online books and avoid the hassles of doing so in person at bookstores.

In addition to buying books online, we can also find books online that are not up for sale, but are in the free domain as they have been in existence, were written, or were approved for re-reading before intellectual property laws.

This plainly shows that there are multitudes of books online that you do not need to access or purchase.

You should note that when you do a search for online books, you will also get numerous results with your search engines from those selling books online.

This is how those people cash in on consumers. It is nice to start you up with a list of books online that are not best sellers, contemporary text books for science class, or any other type of books for sales. The following are literarily free books online....

Bibliomania.com is a user friendly website that booklovers and students of literature will find very useful. It contains a database of about 2000 books online and is sectored by category into fiction, drama, non fiction, biographies, religious texts, articles, and more.

Literatureonline.com provides easy access to books online, and it contains classics like the Bible, many Shakespeare works, quote database, many summaries chapters.

Promo.net/pg/ are the site managers of project Gutenberg. Gutenberg's books online includes"203 New e-Books" released in October 2002, 1975 new e-books, produced in 2002, this totaled 6267 project Gutenberg e-Books.

Wiredforbooks.org features books online in addition to poetry, oratory, and audio versions of literature read by the living writers, and those read by writers and the literati, reading aloud the works of those long gone.

When you are searching for not all books online, but only chapter by chapter, and page by page, you can always start with these listed websites. Type in the words, and of course not forgetting to include "free".

Sabtu, 22 Mei 2010

Business service offerings and liquidity

“Being all things to all people” sounds good, but in most cases it reduces the liquidity of a business. Business liquidity encompasses the number of prospective buyers, the business valuation, and the amount of time required to market the then close the deal.

• The most liquid scenario is a co-located web hosting client base, with no data center, offices, or employees, and only one owner/decision maker. This type of business can be under contract to be sold within 48 hours. (Post ‘Letter of Intent’ due diligence, contract preparation, integration plans etc. all take a bit of time.)

• The least liquid scenario is a web hosting company, which offers design services, has offices, a data center, and offers related services such as access, marketing services etc.

Valuation Difference:
Something I have seen many times is the owner/decision maker on the sell side has heard web hosting company valuation formulas and wants to apply that formula to his company. Inevitably the owner is disappointed when the offer comes up short in their mind, and passes on what actually is a fair valuation.

Design Services:
The decision to staff up and start offering web design services to complement the pure play hosting recurring revenue is a huge decision with regards to the effect on business liquidity. Of course design services can be a natural fit with hosting clients by helping to reduce client churn and up selling existing clients. However, the value of the revenue and cash flow generated from one-time design jobs is no where near the value of the recurring hosting revenue and cash flow.

Negatives of design departments when it comes time to sell:
• From the buyer’s perspective, acquiring the entire company and keeping the design efforts going is risky. It’s 50/50 whether the key design people will stick around after closing … regardless what they or the seller states. In addition, if you have to replace key people, the new staff will not have the relationships with the client base.
• From the buyer’s perspective, acquiring the entire company then canceling the design efforts is usually a risky decision as well. There are offices to deal with in addition to staff which needs to be let go … both time consuming and detrimental to the existing client base.
• My estimate is for every 20 buyers of a pure play hosting company, there are only 1-2 buyers for hosting design shop combo’s.

Internet Data Center:
Investing in an IDC may increase the value of the entire company by an enormous amount over time, but definitely reduces the liquidity in the short run. Typically smaller web host co-locate in the beginning, then at a later date acquire their own data center. In turn, the company will then offer space to other smaller host hence creating yet another service offering.

Owning an underutilized data center reduces the number of one type of buyer … the “cash flow buyer”, yet invites a new category of buyer, the “asset and cash flow buyer”. The later buyer is looking to both grow through acquisitions and make the swap from co-location to owning the data center. The less remaining capacity of the data center, the more of a cash flow type deal it will be, hence usually more liquid.

Jumat, 21 Mei 2010

Building Your Way To Online Success-Part 4

Just as a good business plan relies on a certain number of consistent factors to be successful, so too, does a well thought out and executed website. Your site can provide any personality you wish (i.e. fun, adventurous, touching, professional, etc.), but it’s important to tune your website to the frequency of both visitor and search engine.

For instance, if the purpose of your website is golfing, but the majority of your written material is about something other than golf it may likely provide a disconnect with visitors who are interested in golf (which is why they came to your site). Such a scenario will also reduce your ranking in most search engine results.

Search engines utilize “spider” technology that scrolls through your website looking for those things that connect the content of your website with the purpose of your website. The more often it finds words related to the intent of your site the greater your website will rank. In turn, your website will be seen more often by those using a search engine to find the products, services or information that you provide.

When writing content for your website you should map out applicable ‘keywords’ or ‘key phrases’ that make your site content relevant to your site purpose. So, using the golf example, you might write articles that focus on using keywords of key phrases such as golf, golfing lessons, golf instructions, learn how to golf, golfing videos, etc.

The relevance of your website is important to you, your visitor and ultimately the search engines whose goal is to provide their visitors with the most relevant sites available. Once you determine the target of your website you may wish to visit the following site to assist you in helping to determine which keywords or key phrases are best suited for your site.

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/?mkt=us〈=en_US

The site above allows you to type in the keyword that best describes your site. In turn, it provides you with multiple keywords or key phrases that will assist you in crafting the most comprehensive content for your site.

If you have trouble writing applicable content you may wish to find a content writer who can assist you in research and writing. Hiring such a writer can add professionalism and comprehensive content to your site. Visitors should not be distracted by misspelled words and other errors and a professional writer can be a sound investment in your online objectives. Many qualified writers can also take your ideas and polish them up so you work in tandem with a writer in crafting highly specific content for your site. You should define for any writer you work with what specific keywords or key phrases you require. It may even be beneficial to create several articles that focus on one specific keyword or key phrase.

When adding content to your website, it is important to think ahead. Define your main pages then add simple navigation tools to each page of your site. We will talk more about this in our next article.

Important information should be easily accessed on your website. Visitors should be able to locate pages within two clicks of the mouse. Without navigational structure your content will essentially be useless to visitors who have difficulty locating the material they need.

The primary rule for website development is to ensure that your visitors can click back to the homepage FROM EVERY PAGE OF YOUR WEBSITE.

Please look for Part 5 of Building Your Way to Online Success.

Kamis, 20 Mei 2010

Building Your Way To Online Success-Part 3

Here is a recap of the content of our first two guidelines for getting a successful business started:

Step 1: DECIDE WHAT YOUR BUSINESS IS GOING TO BE

Step 2: CREATE A WEBSITE

This article will extend the ideas for CREATING A WEBSITE. In the last article we talked about the design of the site which provides a critical first impression with your visitors. Remember, with website design it is better to have no online presence than a lousy one.

As important as the design is, you must convince your visitors that your site is worth a return visit. This is typically done through QUALITY content throughout your site.

A quick tour through cyberspace will show that there are many good looking websites that contain nothing of value for their visitors. These types of sites lack the longevity needed in today’s cyber savvy culture. Style and substance must go hand in hand.

Because content is a key to website development, you must determine whom your target audience is. If your target audience is fishermen, it would make little sense to include Grandma Sarah’s recipe for apple pie. It doesn’t take long to visit a variety of websites that contain advertisements for products that have nothing to do with the website. It is also easy to find websites that contain content that, while interesting, have little to do with the products, goods, services or information the site is expected to provide. When a website owner misses their target audience it leaves the impression that they have little skill in providing the very thing the visitor came to the website for – the very thing you wanted them to leave with.

Once you decide who your target audience is, you need to determine content and direction for your site.

For example, if you are selling fishing equipment, you may want to have other content related to fishing such as fishing tips or fishing locations, etc. You will want to provide content that will keep your visitors coming back for more.

Many site builders have discovered a message board to be an effective tool for bringing likeminded consumers together. You can make this happen on your website with very little time commitment required. Whatever the focus of your website, the message board should operate with a similar focus. This can provide an additional tool to drive visitors back to your site.

Visitors can be consumers of either products or information. If you are effectively catering to their informational needs you can still derive a financial return by providing links to shopping resources that may benefit the visitor. It is also possible to create a specialty shop of your own that caters to a specific segment of fishermen. If you don’t want to develop your own shop, you can link with existing outlets that provide a financial return for every sale directed from your site. You may not get rich from this approach, but it provides an added benefit for your visitor and may be another means of encouraging their return.

Unless you are independently wealthy you will need to find a source for revenue to pay for site development and ongoing hosting and other incidental costs. Make sure to develop open space on your website to allow for the inclusion of sold advertising once your site takes off. Always think ahead.

Your website is something akin to a canvas just waiting for a brilliant piece of art to take shape. Carefully map out the pages you will need for your site. First, you need a homepage - then determine what other pages you will need.

Your homepage should accurately explain and summarize your website’s mission. Work through the mission carefully to minimize words while maximizing the clarity of the purpose statement. If you are selling a product or service your homepage needs to catch your visitor’s attention immediately. Don’t make your visitor search to discover what it is your site does – it’s a game very few will play.

The following is a list of common pages visitors expect in a website:

Contact Us
About Us
Products
Services
Links

These pages are often called by other names, but once you determine the primary categories for your home page you will want to divide your content into appropriate pages. One of the cardinal rules of site development is to always make sure your site is easy to navigate. What this means is that your visitors should be able to easily find what they are looking for. If finding the material they need requires a site search, you may have lost a return customer. Don’t make them search for content. On the other hand you should always provide a prominent link back to your homepage on EVERY page of your site.

When you place multiple ads, images and flashing text on your web pages, your visitor may leave confused and frustrated. Keep things simple – never over produce a webpage and make your content easy to read. A key component to this objective is to maintain a consistent and universally utilized font such as Arial or Times New Roman. Little known fonts may not display correctly for all visitors and may provide further frustration.

BE SURE there are no spelling errors anywhere on your site! Spelling mistakes make a website look very unprofessional. It doesn’t take long to load the content onto a word processor to check for common mistakes in both spelling and grammar. Having someone proof your pages can also add to the professional objectives you desire.

Should you require assistance in devising quality content for your site, you may want to consider hiring a freelance writer to assist in content development. It will be well worth the investment!

When developing content for your website, keep in mind that your text should be as search engine friendly as possible. We will talk more about this in Part 4.

Please look for Part 4 of Building Your Way to Online Success.

Rabu, 19 Mei 2010

Building Your Way To Online Success-Part 1

As your alarm clock explodes into life each morning, and you reach out to pound it back into submission for another ten minutes, does the thought ever cross your mind that there could be a way to end this same tired, old routine?

Each day, as you make your way to and from your workplace, amidst the fumes, frustration, and financial drain that is the lot of a commuter, do you ever dream of being able to step out of your bedroom and straight into your workplace?

If you’re a Star Trek fan, you may be thinking, “Yes! Beam me up Scottie”--but if that was your first thought, then I’m afraid you may have to wait a little while longer. Transporter technology hasn’t quite been perfected yet. However, in spite of that slight delay in scientific progress, there is still a way to have the commute-free lifestyle you’ve been longing for. In fact, there are many people who have already turned that dream into a reality by successfully building their own home-based online businesses.

For the online business owner, there are no traffic jams, no co-workers breathing down their neck, and best of all, no BOSS! What more could anyone ask?

It sounds wonderful, and it certainly can be. However, achieving the type of success that will free you from the 9 to 5 rat race, does not just happen by itself.

The unfortunate fact is that most people will never reach this level of business success--not because they don’t have what it takes, but rather because they aren’t willing, or prepared, to take the time and effort needed to establish a proper business structure.

Now, right from the start, I’ll quite honestly say that this guide does not come with any absolute promises or guarantees. When it comes to business, there is no such thing as a “sure thing.” However, it does contain solid, time-tested procedures and advice that are essential for anyone who wants to succeed in any form of business. The new business owner ignores these things at their own risk--and, sadly, many do.

One of the main problems, when starting a business, is that many people begin with unrealistic expectations and the wrong information. If you do an internet search about starting a home-based business, you will be flooded with sites that promise to reveal the secrets of success that will help you to get rich quick. With titles such as, “How I Made $100,000 in 3 Days,” they tempt the budding entrepreneur with offers that seem too good to be true--and they usually are. Although it may be possible for someone to make a lot of money in a relatively short space of time, the reality is that for the vast majority, it is completely unlikely. Creating any form of successful business takes time, preparation, commitment and hard work.

Although many people want to start their own online businesses, very few actually know how to go about doing it ... but that doesn’t stop them. Armed with little more than a desire to make money, they rush in and begin something that they are completely unprepared and unsuited for.

A quick search on any topic will provide a plethora of sites providing relevant products or services for sale. If you take the time to visit these websites, you’ll quickly notice that most are quite unprofessional in appearance, and have little, if any, chance of success. Why? Quite simply because the new business owner has started things off on the wrong foot.

There really aren’t any special secrets to starting an online business, but there are some basic steps that will help you build your way to an online success.

Step 1: DECIDE WHAT YOUR BUSINESS IS GOING TO BE

At first glance, this initial stage of starting a business appears incredibly simple, if not completely obvious. Yet you may be surprised to discover how many people are involved in a business for which they have no experience or training. In fact, many have not even taken the time to research the field at all.

It makes good sense to choose a line of business for which you have some affinity. For example, if you have experience in designing and creating handcrafted items, a potential business opportunity would be that of an online store devoted to selling your crafts, and those of other artisans. Because you have a background in this particular field, you would have an immediate rapport with your target audience, and be able to understand what is important to them regarding your type of product. You would also be able to provide accurate and interesting articles that are relevant to your field of expertise. As a marketing tool, many a business has been enhanced by the introduction of an informative newsletter.

So, experience in your chosen field is definitely a big advantage. But there is one other thing that is vital--and that’s passion. There is no question that a person who is passionate about their business will have a far greater chance of seeing it become a success, than would someone who is ambivalent about their product or service. Believe me, I speak from experience.

Many years ago, my wife started cleaning homes as a way of earning another income, and she did very well.

A few years later, seeing the opportunity to make money, I decided to get involved in the cleaning business too, and I also did quite well. However, even though I was very happy to have my own business, I never truly enjoyed what I was doing. In fact, I have to admit that I dreaded the work. As a result of my lackluster attitude, I never took that business to the level that it could have reached if I had been at all passionate about it.

There is a lot of truth in the saying that “If you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life.” So before rushing headlong into the first business opportunity that comes your way, make sure that you take the time to really consider what is the right business for you, based on your interests, experience, talents and passions. If making money is the only positive factor, then think again. Taking the time to get this first step right, will ensure that you have a rock-solid foundation upon which to build the online success of your dreams.

Please look for Part 2 of Building Your Way to Online Success.

Selasa, 18 Mei 2010

Building Your Dream- Locating Resources For Nonprofits Online

A nonprofit corporation has the public’s best interest at heart. It may have an environmental, educational, religious, scientific, or literary focus (among others). In return for their services, the public can make donations to these companies and then deduct the amount from their federal taxes. In this way, it sure is a win-win situation.

Although it sounds pretty straight forward, a nonprofit can be a complicated entity. Therefore, it is wise to know where you can find answers to the many questions that are bound to crop up. The easiest place to uncover these questions is online because there are numerous websites that focus on the ins and outs of nonprofits.

For example, one place to start is by making sure you understand nonprofit language; in other words, the terms used when discussing a nonprofit organization. Check out this link:

nonprofit.about.com/od/nonprofitstartup/a/glossary.htm

Once you feel comfortable with the lingo, it is time to make your nonprofit idea a reality. But before you get going, make sure you know about the different legal matters involved in this kind of company. For example, the company will not declare a profit because it puts all its earnings toward operating expenses and providing services to the public. And in order to do this, certain regulations must be met. To get a handle on these, check out sites such as:

nonprofit.about.com/od/nonprofitstartup/a/starting_faq.htm
www.managementhelp.org/strt_org/strt_np/strt_np.htm
www.drcharity.com/npstart.html

One of the main reasons people choose to be involved in nonprofit organizations is because it is a great way to share common interests with others and problem solve in a pro-active, positive way. In fact, nonprofits are encouraged to reach out to others—individuals and corporations—who have similar goals. The following website lists 52,000 nonprofit and community organizations in 165 countries (you can add your company for free!):

www.idealist.org

Volunteerism exemplifies the spirit of nonprofits and is a big part of the nonprofit community. These sites focus on volunteer opportunities:

www.volunteermatch.org
www.networkforgood.org
www.volunteersolutions.org

If you have already established a nonprofit corporation and wish to attract more attention to your cause, nothing works better than a well-crafted website. But if you do not have the know-how when it comes to software technology, you will need some help. A web hosting company can save the day. What’s more, many web hosts offer discounts for nonprofit companies.

What would make an interesting, helpful, and fun website? With the help of a web host, you can include the following elements:

- links for locating other nonprofit organizations
- career fairs (by specialty or area)
- ideas for participating in your community
- various resource links organized by subject (teens, voting, environment, campuses, teachers, different languages etc.)
- management tips for employers
- opportunities for volunteers
- legal advice
- current, relevant articles

Clearly, there are numerous benefits of a nonprofit corporation. Not only can one satisfy one’s longing to be involved in a worthwhile organization, but it also allows one the opportunity to look beyond oneself and give back to a community at large. And it is possible to do this without worrying about obstacles because it is possible to find reliable help and guidance online.

Senin, 17 Mei 2010

Building Blocks For A Successful Blog - Get It Right Now!

If you want to build a successful blog, there are three main things that can certainly help you get started. Although many people think that building a successful blog is one of the easiest tasks out there, they are wrong. A successful blog takes more than just setting up a blog page to chat about your life. You need to focus on these three building blocks in order to even have the framework for a successful blog. Even these three building blocks are not enough however to make your blog successful. Read on to learn exactly what you need to make your blog as successful as possible.

The Look

The first building block for a successful blog is The Look. What this means is that your blog should start with an appropriate style. You can begin when you first start your blog. Many blogging software programs will help you out with the style of your blog. If you are using a blogging program that caters most to beginners, you will see that it will offer different templates for you to choose. There will be something for everyone. You can go through the templates to choose which colors you like best for the layout. Experiment with the layouts to see which templates look best on the computer screen. You can always go back and change the template later if you want to change the look of your blog. Make sure that if you are creating your own blog, without using a pre-created template that you make it look as professional as possible. You can even hire a professional to do the job for you if you wish. The more professional your blog looks, the more seriously your readers will take your posts.

The Content

The content of your blog is the second key building block you will need for a successful blog. While you can choose to create posts that have no direction or purpose, you will find that when you post interesting commentary or short information filled articles that your traffic will increase. Although you may think it is interesting, most readers will not enjoy reading about your day to day activities, unless you make them into humorous stories.

It should also be noted that the more content you have on your site, the more successful your site will be. It is basically a numbers game at this point. The more you post, the more chances you will have the one of your posts will attract the eye of someone searching for a related topic.

The Ads

The third building block is advertising. Bloggers can make a steady income using advertising on their blogs. The trick is to have a good mixture of ads and content however. If you fill your blog with ads and have no content for readers, they will be distracted and not visit your site again. A good rule to remember is that you should never have more than two or three ads per blog page. This is an important rule to remember. You should not overwhelm you readers with ads. You should only present them so that the readers can further explore them if they wish. Don’t use flashing ads or other bold ads that will annoy your readers. Choosing the right type of advertising program is part of it as well. Look into an easy to use program such as Google Adsense if you want a quick way to get started in the advertising arena.

The Dedication

The most important building block of a great blog is dedication. You must be willing to be dedicated to the blog. You have to put in the time and energy to get positive results. Even if you have the other three components, unless you take the time to update your posts each day, you will not be getting optimum results. Dedication can help a lot. It can hide the fact that you are a beginner and allow you to create a beautiful and functional blog. No matter how little experienced you are dedication can cover that up. You can have a great blog as long as you take the time to give some of your energy to the project.

Minggu, 16 Mei 2010

Building A Link Exchange Directory

There is great value in true reciprocal links; however, if you manage your links pages properly, those pages can also bring you additional search engine traffic.

Tips in organizing your link exchange directory.

- Ensure your main directory categories page is linked from your main page.
It's important that search engines can find it. Having properly organized link pages will provide you with strong keyword based pages. If you have a sitemap generated, include your full directory in there as well. Not only will this benefit you, but also your link exchange partner will get the proper credit for the exchange.

- Keep each site theme on it's own page.
Group all home-based business websites on one page, all sports websites on another, all web hosting on it's own, etc…

- Keep the pages short.
It is bad practice to put 100++ links on a page. Ideally the maximum amount of reciprocal links on one page should be 20 and link to additional pages as needed.

- Modify your Meta tags
Set your Meta tags to reflect the contents of that link page

- Always link back to your main site
On each link exchange page ensure you have a keyword-based text link back to your main URL. If someone finds your website through a search engine based on a page from your directory, you will want them to visit your main page ;-) Keep your link back to your main page in a prominent place within your directory pages.

- Keep a submission form for surfers to request a link exchange
Having a reciprocal link exchange form available for surfers saves you some time in searching out true reciprocal link exchanges. When a link is submitted for inclusion in your directory. Ensure it meets the true reciprocal link principals; make every link exchange count!

- Automate as much as possible.
There are several very impressive link exchange scripts available for free on the Internet. These scripts can save you time and money while you are building your link exchange directory.

And lastly....

- Update Regularly
Make it part of your routine to exchange links on a regular basis. Whether you have time to exchange a few links a day, a week or a month, making true reciprocal link exchanges will benefit your site for years to come.

Sabtu, 15 Mei 2010

Build And Maintain Websites For Profit

Even with limited knowledge and experience, you can build and maintain websites for profit. Here are just some ways you can do so.

1. Develop Websites for Local Businesses

Approach local business persons and sell them on the necessity and financial benefits of having a professional website. Local advertising may get you started as well, but expect to get a large portion of your business from referrals.

Charge your clients for the initial design and setup of the website. Work with them to develop a theme for their site based on their unique advantages over the competition. Keep the site simple to start with so that the cost of producing it is not prohibitive to the business and you can complete it profitably in a short time.

In this business, you can also make money on the maintenance and ongoing support of the website. Charge recurring monthly fees for such services needed as web hosting, updates and improvements to the site`s content, search engine optimization and submission, increasing traffic, traffic analysis, mailing list production and maintenance, and much more.

You don`t have to be a master Internet programmer to provide needed, additional services. There are many free and low cost sources of scripts and other resources available to you on the Internet. Offer your clients (and charge extra for) flash introductions, animated graphics, syndicated content, traffic counters, submission forms, chat rooms, pop-up windows, autoresponders, and more.

2. Sell Websites on the Internet

Build web stores, search engines, shopping portals, and other websites and sell them on the Internet.

Some develop sites from templates sold by others. Others build websites from scratch. These websites have been sold on the Internet as turnkey businesses through eBay and other websites.

Another option is to take existing free services and resell them. For example, you could take advantage of free web stores available to you on the Internet. Register a suitable domain name, obtain free or low cost web space, and host that free store at your domain on your web space. Promote your website and increase traffic. Finally, sell your website to the highest bidder on eBay. Be sure that either your Reserve Price or Opening Bid is high enough to make it profitable to you. You will need to transfer the domain name to the buyer.

3. Become an Internet Marketer

Build your own unique website based on a niche theme that has a sufficient market. Then tie in your content with appropriate affiliate programs and your own as well as other peoples` products and services.

To increase commissions and sales, you will need to regularly maintain your site by updating content, increasing targeted traffic, adding appropriate products and services, et cetera.

These, then, are just a few ways that you can profit financially from building and maintaining websites.

Jumat, 14 Mei 2010

Build A Website - The Easy Way To Profitable Websites

Everyone talks online about how easy it is to build a website and make money online. Is is really that easy or pure hype to get you to purchase the next great thing to hit the online market.

All I have to say is that it is not that easy building highly profitable websites online. But, you can learn how to build a website, that will be fully optimized for the search engines and highly profitable in a couple of weeks, using the same simple tricks I use daily. It doesn't matter if you want to build a website for free or for profit.

To win online, you have to build a website that gets free traffic from the search engines, and implement all other simple traffic methods like: posting to forums, using ads in ezines, submitting your site to link directories, writing reviews for other peoples products, reciprocal linking and pay per click.

First you have to learn how to do your onsite optimization, and for that you will have to:

1) Insert your keyword into the title of your page

It amazes me how many sites online don't have their main keyword in the title page. Just make sure to always include your main keyword in the tile page of your site.

2) Add Meta Tags

Not as important as it used o be, but I like to include it in every site I build. Add Description meta tags and your keywords meta tags.

Use one or two keywords per page only. Add your main keyword into your page description.

3) H1 Header Tags

Use your H1 header tag on each page, I always like to use a smaller font size, like 14pt.

4) H2/H3 Header Tags

Try and use at least one H2 or H3 Tags within the first three or four paragraphs

5) Last and First Paragraph

Make sure to start your first paragraph with your main keyword and to end your last paragraph with your keyword

6) Bold, Italize ad Underline your keyword

You must Italize and bold your main keyword just once, and you must use your main keyword to link out of your site to another website (use that link to create an underline keyword) , at least once.

7) The Alt Image Tag

Well, this is very useful if you have pictures that you will be including on your site. Try to use the Alt Image Tag for your pages, I use the alt image tag on my website header.

Those are the only onsite optimization tips that you should use on each and every site you build. Try to not make it look too obvious, and over do your web site optimization. Learn to build a website the easy way by just following the simple tips I have outline here.

For more optimization tips, try to get your hands on VEO Report by Colin Mc. Dougal. This is the best and most understandable guide to building fully optimized websites online.

I will leave you with one tip I learnt from The VEO report; Before you add any affiliate links to your website, you must first build a website that focus on pure content and include an about you page, and then submit that site to the open directories, like DMOZ.org, etc. After your website has been added to those free directories then you can add your affiliate links and start building reciprocal links and the above mentioned traffic methods will deliver even more traffic.

http://www.veoreport.com/

Now that you know how to build a website for fun and profit, it is time to learn by actually doing something with the information you just read. Go build your first website, the second will be better and your third will be a master piece.

Kamis, 13 Mei 2010

Budgeting For Your Online Business

What we are going to recommend here is a methodology for those who plan to establish their online business with a limited budget.

One of the most important factors for being successful in online business, or any business for that matter, is budget control regardless of how big or small your budget is.

First we need to define what the meaning of limited budget is. First, you need to believe in your heart that it is impossible to start and run an online business for free. Do not believe anybody who tells you otherwise.

The second rule is you need to budget at least $200 for marketing and administrative costs. To give you an idea of what these costs might be here are few examples:

1- Administrative Cost Items:

a. Internet Connection
b. Hosting Service for your website (If you have one)
c. Phone Bill.
d. Electricity
e. Credit Card Charges
f. Post and Courier (If applicable)

2- Marketing Costs (Depending on your general Strategy)

a. Software Programs
b. Traffic Generation Services
c. Offline Advertising
d. Pay Per Click
e. Leads
f. Autoresponder Service
g. Any other Paid advertising Tactic

Now you can add on top of the above mentioned $200 any direct costs related to your business. Mainly this includes one or both of the following:

1- What you have to pay to stay in business including a monthly subscription if applicable.

2- Inventory of Products that you have to buy.

To be able to spend your budget wisely we recommend following these steps:

1- Do not start your online marketing activity by choosing paid options. In a previous article we detailed what are your free online marketing strategy tools. We will just list them here:

a. Submit your link(s) to directories and search engines.
b. Write and Submit articles to article directories
c. Reciprocal linking
d. Posting in active forums
e. Make your website content rich and dynamic
f. Blog and Ping.
g. Traffic Exchange Services

2- Buy software programs that will help you automate the processes of the above free online marketing options. Try not to opt for subscription based services. Make sure to have software programs that have a one time payment option.

3- After few months you will realize that you have a free amount in your budget that now you can use for paid online or offline marketing options.

Our final and sincere recommendation to you is not to get involved in any online business if you cannot spend a total of $300 - $500 per month.

Rabu, 12 Mei 2010

Bring Your Search For That Person To The Internet

If you are looking to locate somebody there are a couple of ways that you can go about doing it. But with the advent of the Internet the best way is through search engines and other Internet services that allow you to locate somebody.

A generalized tool would be a search engine. You can type the persons name into the search engine and get results based on their name. This may or may not turn up search results depending on if their name has ever been in print, online, etc.

If you are looking to definitely pin point somebody your best bet would be to check out a “people locating” service. If you want to go about doing things this way you need to first find a service that works for you. The first step would be to type in “finding people” in your favorite search engine. This will return several services that will allow you to hunt down the person you are looking to find. Next, you will probably have to create an account with the service. This way they will have all of your information and will know where to deliver your results. You will then need to specify how you are going to pay for these services. Most companies accept credit card, which is usually the easiest way of doing things. Now to actually find somebody you need to provide the service with as many details that you can regarding the person. Thing includes personal details like name, date of birth, address, etc.

Remember that these services do not always work, but if you are in desperate need it is worth a shot. Do your research on each company before deciding on which one to use. It will save you time and money in the long run.

Selasa, 11 Mei 2010

Bring Your Family Home To The Internet

Are you concerned about the mental, emotional and physical distress being placed on your family by our society? Actually, you should be! The family is clearly the most important unit in our society. However, it is well recognized that the family is in a negative down spiral. The social environment in which we live is turning our families into a complex unmanageable organization.

Statistics and facts show the family being overwhelmed by uncontrollable circumstances. Money Management for example; there is never enough. The credit cards are overdrawn. You just bounced another check. You need to pay for school lunches-again. How does the young family manage on such a small income? Rent costs are out of sight. Inflation is settling on everything we purchase. How can we cope with the high price of gas?

Do you have a solution? Not likely. But there is a change needed. Maybe we need a new approach and outlook on life.

"You've got to win in your mind before you can win in your life." - John Addison

Actually this just might be the right place and time to make changes to our baseline strategy of managing our families. Now consider this very real fact for a moment.

Husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, parents, children really CAN manage their lives! You really can care for you family properly IF you can get just a little have help from friends. Think about it for a moment. If information is needed about how to manage a family where else would one go? The internet of course! There are incredible amounts of information on any subject you might have in mind. That is literally an ocean of products available at your finger tips. Really!

However, the internet is such a massive collection of products and data the average individual has no idea of how to use it properly. But the solution is rather simple. If we can’t take the family to the information why not bring the products and information to the family --- via the internet.

For instance let us put all the “products” and “help” into one place, i.e., a family oriented user friendly website. A website where you can go for one stop stopping for the information and merchandise needed for the family. Now you CAN save time and money! Now you have access to the information that might help you manage your family.

We are talking about a website that does more that just sell and run. The internet website we are talking about is a holistic family website with your family interest in mind. It is true the website would provide access to carefully selected merchants that will fulfill family shopping requirements. But if you have a family problem that needs immediate attention the website would provide access to those ebooks, documents, and links that will provide immediate help and guidance to you. AND if you cannot find exactly what you need on the website a search of the entire internet would be available for ebooks, links, document and other information. More importantly the information must be downloadable in digital form for immediate access.

A website to be of service to the family must do more than sell a product, take the money and disappear. It must supply additional functions to maintain health and well being for you and your family.

Can your family read? Of course they can! Let us rephrase this last question. Does your family read? If not why not? There are unlimited FREE downloadable ebooks, magazines, articles and other publication (any type you want) on the internet. Do you know what the top 100 downloaded ebooks were last week? You will on the family imall. Any classic work you desire is usually a free download. You can LISTEN to many popular books with free down loadable Audio eBooks? There is a fantastic selection on the internet. If you need additional documents or information you can search the entire internet with advanced ebook/ezine search pages. There are over 10,000 ebooks at you disposal. Do you suppose this would be more beneficial than 10 hours of TV violence every day for you family?

In order to stay current with the world there must be FREE informational news downloads and news letters to keep you informed. In order to save on the cost of gas you can keep abreast of the merchant national sales promotions from the current sales webpage. In addition for your convenience we have a website category directory page with many day to day informational functions. This includes a search page, news & weather, with much more

Are you interested in saving money through competitive shopping for you family? At the family imall all merchants are brought into one website for your convenience. You do not have to drive for hours just to get to each merchant. Also keep in mind anything you purchase from any of the merchants on the internet is delivered to your front door. In addition, there are ‘specialty ishops’ to cater to the popular needs of the family. When you become part of a family oriented website you seldom have to leave your home to shop.

If you ‘bring your family home to the internet’ you will be able to find and have access to what is required to manage a family. A family mall is about Internet honesty and morality. It is a website where a family member can go for an honest no scam internet deal. It is more than just selling. It is about sharing. It is about being of assistance in times of distress and in good times.

It is about your family.

Senin, 10 Mei 2010

Borders Book Store Coupon

Borders book store coupon allows you to get a great deal. Original coupon must be redeemed at the time of purchase only. Coupon allows one offer per customer, per transaction. It means you can use single coupon for ones.

Borders book store coupon can easily found in your city at nearest place from your home or if your are an internet savvy then its more easier for you as you can find may online site having a list of all coupon book store according to alphabetical order with all there contact details like place, city and phone number which will help you get contact them quickly and get your coupon book.

This coupon book has all the discount items list and what amount of discount are provided. A single coupon may not be combined with other coupons or institutional discounts. Not valid at Borders Outlet stores. Discount applies to the regular price only. May not be combined with other coupons or standard group discounts. Void where prohibited by law. Any other use constitutes fraud. Not redeemable for cash.

Borders Group is finding new ways to surprise and delight customers and turn them into lifelong friends throughout more than 1,200 Borders and Waldenbooks stores around the world. Borders book store coupon provides customers with the books, music, movies, and other entertainment items they love in a relaxing, enjoyable atmosphere. Borders book store coupon committed to people, to diversity, to customers, and to communities.

Anna Josephs is a freelance journalist having experience of many years writing articles and news releases on various topics such as pet health, automobile and social issues. She also has great interest in poetry and paintings, hence she likes to write on these subjects as well. Currently writing for this website Borders Coupon Book . For more details please contact at annajosephs@gmail.com

Minggu, 09 Mei 2010

Bons Plans pour Mariage Express

Encore jeune et pas fortuné, pourquoi se privez de ce que la vie vus offre de plus précieux pour fonder une famille? Le mariage.

Alors qu'un mariage sur le vieux continent s'évalue entre 10 000 et 15 000 euros, las Vegas vous offre des prestations pour dix fois moins cher, et en plus sortant de l'ordinaire.

Que vous faut il faire. Bon, d'accord, il faut acheter le billet, mais ensuite?
Ensuite rien de plus simple, rendez vous au Bureau des Mariages (Clark County Marriage License - 201 Clark Avenue Las Vegas, NV 89155 - Tel. (702) 671-0600) munis des papiers suivants: carte d'identité prouvant que vous avez plus de 18 ans, en cas de précédent divorce, n'oubliez pas de prendre avec vous la copie de votre acte de divorce.

Ensuite, c'est à vous de voir.
Une simple cérémonie civile au Bureau des Mariages vous coûtera qu'une cinquantaine de dollars et ne durera qu'une demie heure.

Les célèbres chapelles long du Las Vegas strip reconnaissables par leur jardins de roses vous offres des services pour une somme comprise entre $200 et 500 dollars qui regroupent un forfait de mariage comprenant l'utilisation de la chapelle, la cérémonie de mariage, des fleurs, de la musique et des photos. Les forfaits plus coûteux comprennent plus d'extras comme le transfert depuis votre hôtel en limousine ou Elvis Presley comme témoin.

Ou encore, les casinos. Selon le thème que vous désirez pour votre mariage, rendez-vous soit l'hôtel Excalibur pour un médiéval,sinon MGM Grand a un mariage en montagnes russes, Treasure Island offre un mariage de pirates à bord de son bateau HMS Brittania et le Las Vegas Hilton propose un mariage Star Trek à bord du vaisseau spatial Enterprise avec des témoins Klingon et des invités Ferengi. Les prix varient alors de de 350 $ à 3500 $, voir d'avantage. Mais vous étes tout prets des salles de blackjack et des machines à sous.

Pour la Lune de Miel, en panne d'idées ou de sous? Pourquoi ne pas faire un tour du monde depuis Las Vegas?

Las Vegas, autre ses casinos, vous permet en effet de découvrir les sept merveilles du monde en un clin d'oeil. Vous voulez Paris et le charme de ses cafés? Pas de problème, rendez-vous au Paris Las Vegas! Ici, des votre arrivée, la Tour Eiffel, l'Arc de triomphe sans oublier le célèbre opéra Garnier vous accueillent a bras ouverts!Dans une architecture très Franchie style Haussmannien, vous retrouvez toutes les spécialités françaises et européennes au sein de ses fameux restaurants, sans oublier son casino.

Envie subite de vous dépayser. Rendez-vous Venetian! A Venise et ses gondoles... Quelle femme digne de ce nom ne souhaiterait pas passez sa lune de miel dans ce décor pittoresque, et rêvasser comme une jeune fille a l'aube de ses 20 ans, en attendant Casanova... Venez vous détendre au Venetian. Cet hôtel recrée pour vous les fameux canaux, les gondoles, les palais vénitiens et la réplique de la Piazza San Marco. Elégance et raffinement caractérisent le Venetian et ses 3000 chambres. Le Venetian abrite également une superbe galerie d'art avec le Guggenheim Hermitage Museum. Et pour découvrir encore plus de l'Italie, direction le Tuscany Suites Casino

Pour les nostalgiques d'Astérix et Obelix et du fameux Ave César, précipitez vous vite au Caesar's Palace! Conçue sur le modèle de la Rome antique, le Caesar's Palace accueille également des championnats du monde de boxe et des grands spectacles de vedette.

Envie de vous retrouvez sur une île paradisiaque? Essayer le Tahiti! Ses bananiers, les tropiques et les plages de sable fin, Pourquoi trop attendre.

Alors, qu'attendez vous pour passer la bague au doigt?

Sabtu, 08 Mei 2010

Blogs, Podcasting, And RSS Within Ecommerce

You probably have heard all these terms an awful lot lately. You wonder about what these technologies do? What value to they provide? If you aren't up to speed on these new applications and how they are impacting retail online interaction then read this brief further.

Will these technologies impact you? To be honest, it's too early to tell - but awareness drives innovation and maybe your team will develop an idea/application that truly changes a portion of your eCommerce business.

Here's the rundown:

Blogs

What it is:

Probably the most well known of the three, blogs allow everyday people to quickly develop a website and distribute any type of content that they desire. Many web entrepreneurs use this functionality to develop online stores within niche markets, while using search popularity to beat out larger retailers on the specific terms within the market.

Where Blogs make make sense is within targeted online communities. Certain blog authors develop a large base of specific visitors, hence the site becomes a target market for viral marketing. By integrating your brand image within the site experience at that SPECIFIC blog, you as an online marketer are able to truly segment your marketing PRIOR to converting someone as a customer.

Should you care:

If you have a very unique value proposition, or sell to a very specific or high-value customer segment, blogs can be a great way to increase overall brand awareness. You can better connect with your customers and provide detail into the current sales/promotions that you are providing.

Podcasting

What it is:

Pocasting should be just called mobile video broadcasting - Apple's marketing/development team did a great job with branding their device to a type of emerging media! Similar to traditional radio and television, mobile video broadcasting delivers branded content in either a paid/free environment, on someone's mobile MP3 player (Apple only does video currently, but that will change shortly). Retailers can use this communication channel to further connect to their customers with promotional events, while transmitting specialty programming to meet an interest need.

Should you care:

Not really. Until video podcasting penetration increases, it's still a limited channel for advertising. The best application available right now would be an online content segment that is digitally delivered to an opt-in list. As technology advances, you can potentially do this from your current opt-in page from your website and not from Apple's iTunes platform.

RSS

RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication and is a method for electronic content distribution. RSS is transmitted via the internet, but what makes it unique is that no downloading efforts are needed by the end receiver of the content. It streams instateneously. Consumers can have news readers on their computers, either integrated into an emal client, or an aggregated web application such as News Gator, and are able to get information relating to their interests.

Already gaining steam in the travel industry and within comparison shopping engines, RSS seems to be a valuable way to push news, offers, and infomrmation to customers. Travel companies are able to provide a streaming supply of last minute airfare offers to their customer segments, without that customer having to open an email or visit a webpage.

Should you care:

Depends on the nature of your business. Do you consistently offer new prices? Do you get new pieces to your assortment consistently? Do you have a customer base that is extremely loyal that you want to reach out to with messaging? If so, RSS may another channel to help build your brand.

Jumat, 07 Mei 2010

Big Daddy Update

If you own or run a website and are trying to increase your search engine ranking, you are probably very interested in learning more about the Google Big Daddy update. Google is one of the major search engines that determine site ranking and also one of the most popular among those searching for information. Many webmasters and online businesses design their content around Google’s site ranking policies. While Google will not go into great detail in terms of describing the ways that they determine a website’s ranking; there is a lot of information online written by knowledgeable SEO experts and successful online business owners.

The emergence of the Big Daddy update is causing much confusion and upset especially among the ecommerce community. When ranking a website, the search engines do not take into consideration how long the site has been in existence. Although it does sometimes take a couple months for your site to be included in all of the major search engine rankings, the length of time you have operated your site is not a relevant factor is determining how it ranks among other sites. Since Google’s Big Daddy update, many veteran websites have experienced a drop in their search engine ranking. If you depend solely on you online business income, this drop in visitor traffic can have a devastating effect. Many webmasters and business owners are frantically struggling to try and figure out how to regain their previous rankings.

Websites that are designed mainly to provide the owner with affiliate income are being affected the most by the latest Big Daddy update. Often times when a website is created for the purpose of generating income from ads or affiliate advertising, the sight itself does not contain a lot of useful information. Webmasters or business owners will often use short keyword articles to fill the content of their pages. Often times these articles are written for the search engines only and do not provide content that is easily readable for actual visitors. Many of the articles may include the required search keywords but the articles themselves are not relevant to the topic and do not make a lot of sense. Google is now able to better detect this and the result is that these sites are being penalized for their marketing techniques.

Whether you are a new or experienced webmaster, the best advice you can heed in dealing with Google’s Big Daddy update is to make sure your website contains content that is of value to visitors. Don’t write your web pages just to please the search engine spiders. Try to have as much helpful and useful information as possible for visitors to your site. If you have a website that contains around one thousand pages of content, you are more likely to be higher ranked among the search engines than a site that only contains fifty pages.

Another important point to remember is that although Google has a big impact on how your site is ranked, it is not the only search engine available. In recent years, Yahoo has also become a popular search engine company for Internet users. Be sure that your site is listed with all of the major search engines. By doing this the Big Daddy update will not have such a dramatic effect on your ecommerce site.

Websites that have a high number of incoming links seem to be enjoying a reasonable amount of success since the Google Big Daddy update. It is a good idea to ask webmasters who have a product or service that compliments your site to add a link for your site to their web pages. However, before doing this you should make sure that the company is reputable and has a good customer service track record. Also, be sure that their site contains quality content that is valuable to visitors.

Although Google’s new Big Daddy update may be having a temporary ill effect on some websites, this can often be overcome but simply making a few changes to your site. First of all, try increasing the number of pages linking to your website. Second check your site to make sure that all of the pages contain quality well written content. If your website is mainly composed of a lot of ads and outgoing links, do not expect to have a favorable ranking among any of the major search engines. In order to achieve and maintain a successful ranking among the search engines, you have to update and add new content to your website on a regular basis. Remember there are no shortcuts or quick fixes available to improve your site’s ranking. A successful website takes time and patience.

Kamis, 06 Mei 2010

Best things in life are free

Yes I’m sure about it. Aren’t you?

When the sun is shining or snow is falling I’m enjoying life.
The sun and snow are free goodies which can make you feel good.
Also a beautiful scenery of mountains makes me realize how wonderful life can be.

It only requires the right look, positive thoughts and right attitude. This is the real wealth you can own for free.

I found another one. Wealth money wise. Also available for free.

For free ???

Yes it’s out there and it’s waiting for you.

I just started on a search engine with three words:

money – internet – opportunity

I found several sites with amazing stories of people who created extra income with or on the internet. They quit there regular jobs and made profitable income of four or five figures a month.

Some of them give away free tips on how to start or what to do to succeed. But mostly they want you to buy a product. I don’t want to criticise them. A good product is worth selling (or buying). This is how they make money.

You can do the same !!!

Just one off them offered the full package from A to Z for free.

It’s an amazing and powerful package. It’s a combination of getting started, how to create a product and how to sell that product.

There are ebooks and video support which tells you step by step what to do en how to do it. Even creating a website is explained.

If you want to start a business on the internet you will need a website. Don't be afraid. If you follow the instructions on the video you will be able to build a (necessary) website.

Remember if I can do it you can too.


With the powerful ebooks and tutorial videos it offers you the opportunity to achieve financial freedom.


Wouldn't you like to work 1-2 hours a day resulting in 10-20 hours a day payment.

I would !!!

I do !!!


Isn't there anything I should do to achieve that success, you might ask.

Well to be honest there is just one thing.


Dedication.


If you're dedicated to achieve success, you don't mind working
2 hours a day.
You can start besides your present daily job.


Are you interested ?

Want to know more ?

Do you want to succeed ?

Do you want financial freedom ?

Do you want to see the sunset more often ?

Do you want to go skiing when you want ?

Are you dedicated ?

Get your FREE ebook.

Go to: http://www.powerfullmarketingtools.com

Rabu, 05 Mei 2010

Benefits Of Online Credit Card Processors

We have all heard of PayPal. PayPal is an online credit card processor that allows online businesses to securely accept credit cards as a form of payment. In addition to PayPal, there are additional online credit card processors.

Online shopping has dramatically increased in popularity and each day more consumers think about purchasing online. Online shopping is popular because it is generally easy and convenient. Online credit card processors help to make online shopping hassle free. Online credit card processors are used by large or small businesses. In additional to nationally known companies, online credit card processors make it easy for work-at-home individuals to successfully make a profit selling homemade or wholesale merchandise.

For individuals interested in starting their own online business, finding the perfect online credit card processing company make take sometime. Credit card number are valuable information and unfortunately many account numbers are stolen each day. In addition to protecting the assets of your business, obtaining a secure online credit card processor will also protect your customers. Consumers do not want to be shopping or handing out valuable personal information to an unsecured website or credit card processing company. The best way to determine the success of online credit card processors is by searching for customer feedback on the internet. Many times clients will post feedback when they have had a positive or negative experience with a company.

In addition to personal and business security, fully researching the various different online credit card processors is a potential way to increase your profits. For allowing you to use their services, you are charged a fee. The fee and rates will depend on the online credit card processor in question. For this reason, it is important to shop around and find the best value for your money. Although cheaper rates are nice, it is not always better. Go with your gut instinct, if something seems too good to be true it may be. Research is an important tool in keeping your profits intact.

It is not uncommon to come across online credit card processors that offer certain guidelines or restrictions on their services. For example, there may be a select few of online credit card processors that limit the amount of sales it processes. This limit may be monthly, weekly, or even daily. If your business becomes a success, this restriction could only hurt it and could cause you to lose potential profits.

Another restriction may include the type of business that you are operating. Although each online credit card processor is different and they tend to operate under different standards, some online businesses may be a violation of their standards. A few examples of the businesses that online credit card processors may refuse to service are gambling sites, adult sties, or pharmacies. Before entering into a contract with an online credit card processing company, it is important to read through their contract rules and guidelines.

Credit cards are used by consumers because they are a convenient and easy way to participate in online shopping. If you are operating an online business, whether it be large or small, consider accepting online credit cards. There a wide number of online credit card processors available to serve your needs and help your businesses grow.