An Internet Business Income Opportunity – eBusiness Is On The Rise

What is an Internet business income opportunity? This is one question that many people ask about when they first learn about working at home through the Internet. The fact is that you can make a good residual income by working at home with an Internet business. The startup expenses associated with an Internet business income opportunity are nowhere near what it would cost you to startup a regular bricks and mortar business. Selling on the Internet is called ebusiness and millions of people have latched onto this new way of making money, a very good Internet business income opportunity.

Consider all the things you have to do to startup your own regular business. Office space, staff, salaries, cost of equipment – these all add up to a great startup expense. With an Internet business income opportunity, you get everything you need for your Internet business startup for one low cost.

People from all walks of life are starting up their own home based business which lets them work from home on a full or part time basis. The Internet business startup expenses only include the cost of a computer, an Internet connection, the purchase of a domain name and web hosting services. If you already have your own computer and the Internet connection, then you are already on your way to taking advantage of an Internet business income opportunity.

An Internet business operates from your own home. Depending on what it is that you do, you don’t have to have a stock pile of inventory or deal with shipping products to customers. You can become a reseller, which means you simply take the orders from customers through your website. You do need to find a supplier for your Internet business startup, but this is only easy to do. With this type of Internet business income opportunity, you can sell products from your website by sending the orders to a company, which in turn sends them out to the customers. You retain the profit from each and every sale.

One thing you do need to know about an Internet business income opportunity is that it is not a get rich quick scheme. You do have to work at it and working from home requires discipline. It means that you do have devote a specific amount of time each day to growing your business, whether that is finding new affiliates for your website, adding new products to sell or spending time writing. Most of the Internet business income opportunities give you all the tools you need to succeed, but you do need to work at it. Just setting up a website and not doing anything with it will not get you anywhere.

If you are looking for an Internet business income opportunity there is no shortage of choices.

Alternatives in Payment Systems

Every good business person knows that one of the best ways to boost sales and traffic to their product is to allow for multiple payment options. By offering many different methods of payment, you allow the masses to all be equal in the purchase of the same goods. This eliminates the upper scale clients from having this product while keeping the less than fortunate from going without. There are many fashions of payment these days that can accommodate just about everyone.

Anyone who limits the acceptable payment methods to a mere few can easily be losing business and in turn losing money. As word of mouth on the net is a very fast river, that mentality of limited payment options can easily break your success online. The bottom line is you must allow for convenient ways for your customers to pay for the product, or you will loose out on business. The method of paying by credit card is by far the biggest payment method going right now, with over 90% of all sales coming this way. It is clear and by far the most used method of payment, and a company would be ill advised to eliminate that fashion of payment from their options. It is not a difficult chore to set up your site to accept credit card payments; actually it is much easier than you think. There is a new contender in the payment option ring today; this payment method is the PayPal account.

This handy account has a completely revamped system that has eliminated all the quirks and bugs of its previous version, and is now very simple to use. This great tool is very safe for the transfer of funds to you, so there is minimal worry by the client. It also has a very good tracking system in place to protect you as well as the clients themselves. Again this is not the only contender in the ring, as the debit card seems to be gain momentum. It is said that this will be the vehicle of fund transfer for the future; clearly it is here to stay. It would not be advisable for any business owner to exclude these payment methods off their list. Toll free number and order forms still find their way into this option list of payment, as they have been reliable in the past and easy to keep track of. This is what is known as an offline transaction.

When it comes down to it, the idea of business is not to merely get by it is to succeed. If you limit yourself you are they opening the door for the competition to succeed and in turn shut you down. After all, a sale is still and always will be a sale.

All About Las Vegas Message Boards

New to Las Vegas? Want to know everything about Las Vegas and at the same time meet new friends from Vegas online?  Las Vegas has long been one of the centers for entertainment and life in the United States. It is where the great gambling games thrive and along with gambling, Las Vegas has the reputation of being the playland getaway of the world.

Well, there’s a lot more interesting about Las Vegas.  Now, if you want to know more about it, including its people, history, entertainment, nightlife, gambling, historical spots and everything Las Vegas, there is one thing that I can recommend – try joining and participating in some interactive Las Vegas message boards.

Yes, you heard me right. I said Las Vegas message boards. These hubs, also known as forums or bulletin boards, can now be accessed easily and quickly through the Internet. Several sites out there on the web have designed and developed their own Las Vegas message boards for the people from Las Vegas and other parts of the world to meet and make friends. At these portals they can talk everything about this playland getaway of the world. They can exchange thoughts and share their experiences in the city, and the Las Vegas message boards are a great place to learn, as you can ask questions and receive answers from the other members of the boards.

Just like the other forms of interactive forums that are highly accessible online, the Las Vegas message boards are divided into different sections.  There are sections for the entertainment and sports, dining, weather, and for general information about the city. Well, I have emphasized some sections of the Las Vegas message boards below for you to better understand how the boards are managed and organized. Note, however, that this is not a complete list of typical Las Vegas message boards.

Top 10 Section

Usually, the Top 10 section of a Las Vegas message board is where a list of one of the most popular features in Las Vegas is posted.  It is here where you can as questions, post recommendations, or post a review about the top ten best values in the city.  For some, this section serves as a great guide for you to get started when you get to the town.

Weather Section

The weather section of Las Vegas message boards commonly presents a guide to the monthly averages for the city’s unusual climate.  It is here where the members of the board can ask and post recommendations on what to pack during a certain season.  It is also at this section where you can find links to the current forecast.

Casinos

Thinking for playing at the Las Vegas casinos? Want to find recommendations or suggestions about the best casinos in town? If so, then the casinos section is the place to go. Usually, what is presented in this section is not only every casino in Vegas, but every casino in the nation. The local and toll free phone numbers and even home page web addresses of the casinos can even be accessed just at this section. You can also find information about the hottest games in town right at the casinos section.

As I’ve said earlier, there are other interesting sections covered by the Las Vegas message boards. If you really want to know everything about them, just search them online. As simple as that!

All About Adwords And Adsense

Everyone is scrambling for news about the new kids on the net – AdWords and AdSense that is. You’ve got to hand it to Google. They’ve really outdone themselves this time.

AdWords is Google’s pay-per-click advertising program. AdWords is similar to other pay-per-click advertising programs, but the other side of the coin, AdSense, makes it an incredibly powerful advertising program. I’ll get to that in a moment, for now let’s take a look at AdWords and how it works.

With AdWords, you can create your very own advertisements or you can have Google’s team design the advertising campaign for you. When you create AdWords advertisements, they appear on the internet right away. You have complete control of your budget as you only pay when your ad is clicked on and you can set your very own daily limits for what you are willing to pay. There is no minimum budget or locked in time that you have to run your campaign. You choose the keywords you want to target, so you get targeted traffic from your ads – people who are looking for specifically what you have to offer.

You can rely on Google for quick, friendly and knowledgeable support when you need it. Additionally, you can access performance reports that keep you informed on how well your advertising is doing so you can make changes as needed.

I know all that sounds pretty similar to other pay-per-click programs, but now let’s take a look at the other side.

AdSense…

AdSense adds a powerful punch to the AdWords program as well as giving website operators the ability to make money from their websites by displaying Google Ads (those from the AdWords program). So, as an AdWords advertiser, you’ve got an advantage in that website operators are providing high quality content to browsers and because of the keywords, your ads appear on their websites in clear view of individuals who are looking for your products or services.

As a website operator, you can choose keywords for the AdSense program that are relevant to the content you provide. The keywords will draw in relative advertisements to be displayed on your website, things that your browsers are interested in, which adds value to the information provided to your visitors. When your website visitors click on a Google Ad, you gain revenue from that click. Providing high quality, relative content is key to making money with AdSense.

AdWords and AdSense are win-win propositions for advertisers and website operators. Advertisers get targeted traffic to their websites at minimal costs and website operators make money for having the ads displayed on their websites. AdWords and AdSense are welcomed additions to the world of e-business and internet marketing.

Alexa traffic rank: what it is and why you should care (or not)

Alexa is an Amazon owned company that is famous for its public traffic ranking service via its alexa.com website. Website promotion guides often make a big deal about how to improve your Alexa ranking because a top position is often associated with high profits. As a new webmaster, you must understand a few very important points about Alexa’s service. This article will explain what the data collected by Alexa mean and then describe why you should care or not.

There are three numbers that Alexa reports, reach, page views and overall rank. Reach refers to the percentage of all web users that visited your site. Alexa reports this number as “reach per million users.” For example if Alexa reports a reach of one, it means that on average out of one million web surfers one visits your site. Page views simply measures the average number of pages a surfer examines when at your website. Those sites with a lot of content and targeted visitors tend to generate a larger number of page views. The overall Alexa rank is a combination of the reach and page views numbers such that the larger both of them are the lower the site’s rank will be; for Alexa, a smaller rank indicates a more important website.  Alexa reports these numbers for each day, one week and three month averages and the overall change over a three month period. So, how does Alexa gather these data?

On a daily basis, Alexa collects statistics about the number of visitors and page views for every website on the Internet. Actually, it does not have data for all the sites. You see, data collection happens via web surfers that have downloaded and installed the Alexa toolbar for their Internet Explorer browser. When one of these users visits and explores a site, the toolbar sends this information to Alexa’s servers. What this means for webmasters is that only those sites visited by users that have decided to install the toolbar will actually have data collected for them. In addition, since only a rather small subset of all possible Web surfers actually uses the toolbar, the ranking is a statistical average that is not necessarily a true indication of the quality and number of a site’s readers. In fact, the number is really inaccurate for sites with a small number of visitors and Alexa admits that this is true for those sites not in the top 100,000.

To make matters worse, the toolbar is only available for Internet Explorer. Of course, IE is the browser used by the majority of Internet users with data showing that it is used by about 83% of them (onestat.com). This is not a problem unless your audience is more likely to be in the other 17% of surfers, i.e., those that prefer to use Firefox, Safari, Opera or another alternative browser. For example, slashdot.org is a technology news site with an audience that is known to be very anti-Microsoft; Slashdot’s motto is “News for nerds. Stuff that matters.” One expects that most of its users would use any browser other than IE and in fact it was recently posted that an estimated 65% of Slashdot’s readers use a browser other than IE. As of this writing (July 12, 2006), Slashdot’s ranking was 176 with a reach of 5450 per million surfers. Slashdot is known for something called the “Slashdot effect” that is when a story on the front page links to a site, it receives so many visitors that the servers often are not able to handle the sudden increase in traffic. In other words, I would expect that Alexa’s rank is actually an underestimate of Slashdot’s true rank.

From a statistics point of view, Alexa’s rank cannot be thought of as an unbiased statistical measure. The sample of people used by Alexa for collecting data is not a randomly selected set but rather it is biased towards users of Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer as well as those who are willing to install the toolbar and submit to Alexa information about their browsing behavior. If your audience is similar to Slashdot’s then don’t expect accurate results. Anticipate the same if your audience includes people who are pro-privacy and would never install a toolbar that calls home making their browsing behavior known to a large corporation.

So, if you really want accuracy in terms of your site’s number of users and page views then you are better off using analytics software, for example Google Analytics, rather than Alexa. However, many advertisers use Alexa’s ranking as a neutral third party estimate of a site’s popularity; they consult Alexa in order to determine how much advertising space is worth on your site. This is the reason why many webmasters display their Alexa rank on the front page. If you happen to be on the upper end of Alexa’s ranking then you should be able to benefit from it; if you are not then you probably shouldn’t lose too much sleep over it. Focus on adding fresh content to your site; this way you will be able to drive more traffic to your site via the major search engines and also keep your visitors coming back.

Alexa Toolbar - The Ultimate Internet Tool

There are numerous tools available on the Internet to assist online businesses. A valuable tool that you should use is the Alexa Toolbar. Even better, this tool is free.

Alexa Toolbar

Founded in April 1996, Alexa.com was designed to provide an interactive web navigation system. The most impressive part of the platform, now owned by Amazon.com, is the free Alexa Toolbar.

First released in 1997, the Alexa Toolbar is known as the “B.S.” detector for Internet sites. With over 10 million users, the toolbar tracks how people use the Internet and turns this information into ranking statistics for each site on the Internet. For instance, Yahoo is ranked as the number one most visited site on the Internet.

So how do you use this tool? First, you download the Alexa Toolbar as follows:

1. Go to Alexa.com.

2. Click “Download Alexa Toolbar” at the top of the page.

3. Click “Install” on the next page.

Reload the page you are viewing and the toolbar will appear across the top of your browser. The tool provides you with valuable information regarding any site you are looking at, including your own. It tells you the traffic ranking of the site compared to all sites on the Internet. The tool also provides you specific traffic information for the site and lays out sites that are similar to the one on your screen. Instead of making baseless assumptions regarding how “good” a site is or whether it is successful, you can use the Alexa statistics to get a better idea. If any company approaches you claiming they have a lot of traffic, you can just pull up their site and review the Alexa statistics. This allows you to verify who is receiving a significant amount of traffic and who is feeding you a line of “B.S.”

Let’s look at Google.com using the Alexa toolbar. Load Google on to your browser and click the #3 number in the toolbar. The Alexa Toolbar information for google shows:

1. The site is the 3rd most popular site on the Internet. [Yahoo is No. 1.]

2. The site takes .8 seconds to load, which is very fast.

Next, click the “see traffic details” link on the page to dive into the site statistics:

The site shows consistent traffic through the year, maintaining a number 3 position. 214,00 out of every million surfers visit the site, which is an excellent “reach” rating. Each visitor views approximately 5.4 pages on the site, which means that users are working there way into the internal pages of the site. This is always good news for a site.

As you can see, using the Alexa Toolbar system can provide you with specific information regarding web sites. The next time you are contacted by someone claiming they have millions of hits or are considering advertising on a site, you can use the Alexa toolbar to get an objective view of the site.

Aim for the Moon, If you miss...

The saying goes like this "Aim for the moon, if you miss at least you will be among the stars!"

When it can’t be done – do it. If you don’t do it, it will not be done.

A new idea can be either unfamiliar, or silly, or both. It can be judged by description, it needs to be done to exist. It’s unlikely that anyone will invest or sanction the cost of something they don’t understand, therefore you have no choice but to do it yourself. You have to find a way to get it done

It’s exciting. It’s difficult and it’s fun. If it was easy anyone could do it. The film Citizen Kane is a very good example. It was stolen not sanctioned Orson Wells couldn’t find any financial backers, but he raised a small amount for casting. He begged, borrowed and milked people into building sets and shooting full –blown screen test which eventually formed a third of the film. Now it existed.

Backers could see what they were getting and he got the money. Without him doing it when it ‘couldn’t be done’ it would be another in the endless list of ideas that never happened. Myles Munroe says the wealthiest underground deposits are not the oil fields of Arabia or Alberta, not the Natural Gas deposits of the North Sea, it’s not even the diamond mines of South Africa – rather its cemeteries across the world. For in those graveyards are books that were never written, art never painted, songs never written, companies never started. In those tombs lies the greatest wealth potential – ideas.

You have them every day – what will you do with yours? What stops you from pursuing yours? Fear? Perhaps you are searching for an idea – well think outside the box. If you can’t think of anything that hasn’t been thought of already, then you need to start playing by the rules.

The person who doesn’t make mistakes is unlikely to make anything. Benjamin Franklin said “I haven’t failed. I’ve had 10,000 ideas that didn’t work. Thomas Edison said  “Of the 200 light bulbs that didn’t work, every one of them told me something that I was able to incorporate into the next attempt. Theatre director Joan Littlewood said “If we don’t get lost, we’ll never find a new route.”

All of them understood that failures and false starts are a precondition of success. It takes a positive attitude to make mistakes well. Samuel Beckett said “Fail, Fail again, Fail better!”

It’s wrong to be right.
Being right is based upon knowledge and experience and is often provable. Knowledge comes from the past and its safe. It is also out of date and the opposite of originality.

Experience is found in solutions to old situations and problems. The old situations are probably different from the present ones, so that old solutions will have to be bent to fit a new problems) and possibly fit badly). Also, the likelihood is that if you’ve got the experience, you’ll use it. This is lazy.

Experience is the opposite of being creative. If you can prove you’re right, you are set in stone. You cannot move with the times or with other people. Being right is also boring and you mind is closed. You are not open to new ideas.

Star being wrong and suddenly anything is possible. You are no longer trying to be perfect. You are in the unknown, with no clue as to what will happen, but there’s more of chance of it being worthwhile than if you try to be right.

Most people worry about suggesting stupid ideas because of what others will think. Yes, it’s a risky business – you can look silly. Risk is a measurement of a person. People who won’t take them are trying to preserve what they have. People who do take them often end up having more.

Let’s dare to try new things, to aim high knowing that if we miss – its ok… we are closer to something new that has never been seen or heard of. 

You should take a look at Internet Marketing, Forex Trading and other crazy ideas that everyone will doubt and predict your failure in. But its ok to try and fail…  but what happens if you don’t fail? What would your life look like if you were not afraid of the new, of being wrong or failing once again?

Thanks for reading,
Your Rich Cousin
(Author and Business Success Story) Get the free e-book that got me started and helped me start making money at http://www.richcousin.com It's so straight forward and easy to understand AND you will have the support you need to start making a great income online.

Adwords Top Tips: Create Your Own Adwords Miracle!

Are you looking to learn how to optimize your ads, increase click through rate, reduce advertising costs and maximize return on investment in one go? The following tips will help you in achieving those aims.

Keeping Track On Your ROI (Return on investment)

This is one statistic that you really need to know. You need to know where your conversions are coming from on a keyword level. Detailed knowledge on this will seriously reduce your advertising costs which into increases your overall profit. Google now provides a useful service from within your Adwords account called 'Analytics' which will provide with this vital information.

How to Improve ROI?

Conversion rates will need to be improved. This can be achieved by:

Traffic Quality – One of the major mistakes that new adword users make is bidding on to general a term. You need to narrow down your keywords. For example, instead of bidding on 'sports car' you may do better to try 'red convertible sports car'. If you can attract more targeted traffic you will have a better chance of converting them into actual sales.

Ad Copy – Try some simple split testing. Test the same ad, but with different headlines. Make sure you click the 'show ads equally' option within your account. This will be an ongoing process that will forces you to gradually write better performing ads.

Landing page – Do you have your own landing page?

If you are only direct linking to the merchants page then this will not apply to you, although landing page is something that you should be looking into. If you do have a landing page you will need to constantly monitor and update. Are people clicking through to your merchant? If not then work must be done on the landing page to remedy this. Try improving your page headline, write better reviews, make links stand out more etc. Maybe you could offer them something free? The point of a landing page is to pre-sell the product to them before they even get to your link!

Advertising Through Email

During a email campaign address to your clients, members or mailing list subscribers it is also necessary to monitor it and know when your emails are actually read.
The "Email Marketing Use and Trends Report: H1 2004" created upon the information collected from the MailerMailer's 70 million clients, proved the following :

1. Email checking
The same day you send the email - This is when most of your targeted audience ( 80% ) will receive and read your email. 95% of your target audience will receive and read your email after 6 days of delivery.

2. Failed Email
Sending out a email can fail  : when one of your subscribers changed his/her's email address without letting you know, if the email is marked as spam or if the email server of one of your subscriber(s) is not responding or it's offline.
A recent study proved that the failure rate when sending the first 5 emails to your subscribers is 6,6%, after you delete the invalid email addresses from your mailing list the failure rate when down to 3,9%.
Sending an email to goverment institutions will have a smaller failure rate ( 2,41% ), e-commerce companies ( 3,8%) and real estate agencies ( 4,19%).

3. Opening and viewing the email
It is already know and proved that sending an email to goverment institutions, telecommunication companies, ecommerce companies, real estate agencies, have the highest receving and reading rate. Most of them receive and read your email within the first 48 hours.
Also, emails sent on Monday's have a bigger receving & reading rate compared to the other days of the week.

4. Link clicking
Emails containing links were accessed in a proportion of 4,27%.


Even if a small number of emails are send during the weekend, the ones that were sent on Saturday( 5,11%) and the ones sent on Sunday(5,54%) were received and read often then thouse sent during the week. In the same time, emails with a personalized subject were opened and read by more people than thouse that just had personalized content or thouse that were not personalized at all.

Be smart when sending out emails. Creating and maintaining a mailing list can be a very effective tool that you can use when running a web site or a online business.

Advantages Of cPanel Hosting

Cpanel or popularly known as hosting control panel system is the next generation web hosting system which is currently heading the list. Cpanel is a cheap hosting control panel for linux webhosts and managed dedicated servers. With its embarking into the World Wide Web, it has lent the power to accurately monitor your website. It means you can make changes according to your own liking and taste, not withstanding the requirements. It is the proven stability, easy to use feature; security and exceptional functionality which has made this hosting servicereally count its worth. Furthermore, you also get the advantage of friendly web based interface, adding up of parked domains, reading webmail, monitoring the bandwidth usage, addition of email accounts, moreover, you are also able to view your visitor statistics, and still many more to mention. The list of features is endless. In short a complete package one can ever dream off.

Herein you are in the total control of your website as you get access to your very own Cpanel with every Cpanel hosting account. Thus, it truly makes a lot of sense in managing your own website without any hassle. The core idea of this cpanel hosting is that it allows you to manage your domain through a web interface. There is also a feature whereby the transfer of the control and responsibility of managing your web site is made to you and you get to become the sole controller. It is the most advantageous web hosting serviceas you get to manage all aspects of e-mail, backup, files, CGI scripts and FTP. Not only this, cpanel hosting also allow you to take the entire backup of your website, managing cron jobs, protecting web directories, configuring http redirects and custom error pages also configure spam filters, accompanied with the viewing of disk space and allowing you to set up a shopping cart. What more, they all are available on a touch button system. It’s an enhanced servicewhich makes you control your website on your terms teemed with an array of features.

Cpanel also has an add on named as Fantastico through which you can install lot of ready to use free scripts at few clicks of your mouse.

This web-based control panel is comprehensively designed in a three-tier structure which makes web hosting quick and pretty simple. Using cpanel hosting; you will no longer need to go through hundreds of Linux-based commands just to be the admin of your server. It is loaded with every tool you need and now you can stay focused and pay more to your business instead of the server administration.

The official site of cPanel control panel is http://www.cpanel.net

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Email

With the growing popularity of the Internet more and more people are communicating via email. This fast and efficient method of communication is perhaps the preferred method of online communication at the present with thousands upon thousands of emails being sent each day. The many uses of email are what make it so appealing and so versatile. Whether you are sending a greeting to a grandparent or sending files to a coworker, you can easily utilize email to do so.

Email has come quite a long way since its introduction, yet it is still used for many of the same reasons. Basic electronic communication has essentially evolved into a more resourceful tool as one has the ability to do much more now then they once could. Along with the usual sending of files and text messages through email, one can send greeting cards, manage their emails by assigning them to folders or classifying them as junk and even organize and manage their daily tasks on some email servers.

This wonderful tool is not without its downside however. Some people choose to send worms and viruses via email and in the process infect and damage quite a lot of computers. A virus email can often be very difficult to detect, especially to someone with very little knowledge of computer viruses and how they work. If you notice that you have an anonymous email or an email with a name foreign to you then you may not want to open this email as may likely be a viruses and the mere act of opening the email makes your computer susceptible to infection.

Along with the abovementioned problems privacy has also become an issue with email activity. Virtually every email that you send has to go through a number of computers before it reaches the inbox of the intended receiver and along the way there exists a distinct possibility that an individual could hack into your email and read it. Thus it is imperative that you have a bullet proof password.

Advance Online Networking - Getting Others To Read Your Emails

Do you get emails from people asking favors and stuffs. Probably JV requests, or perhaps sending a press release or anything like that.

Well, that's normal, right? I get some from time to time.

But here's the thing - with all the JV requests that you get, in between the SPAMs, and also important emails that you are already waiting for, those kind of emails are mostlikely to get ignored.

Now imagine that you are the one sending that email out. Maybe you are writing to propose a JV. Maybe you just wanted to say Hi. But again, just like how you would treat emails like those, those people you are writing to may do the same thing.

So how do you get pass that?

This is somehow related to my previous post about how to make money in the make-money-market. The key point is to make yourself a more familiar name.

Imagine this - the moment they open up their inbox they recognize you. You yourself would mostlikely to open an email from somebody you know rather than a stranger.

But how do you make that other person know you even before opening the email?

I've got a few tricks to that - I call it Advance Online Networking.

How does that work? Well, here goes ... People don't really have to know about you only from the email that you send them. Let say that you don't subscribe to my newsletter. And suddenly you got an email from me. The FROM writes, "Iszuddin Ismail aka Kidino". Would you open it? Maybe ... if the subject line is interesting enough. But most probably you'll just click the delete button.

Now, what if you were at a seminar the week before and we met there. We talked about business strategies and even exchanged cards.

Then later you got that email, "From: Iszuddin Ismail aka Kidino" You might be saying to yourself, "Ah ... it's that guy from the seminar last week."

See the difference?

Here's the big secret ... you don't have to be at seminar with me, or anything other guy to be able to create that effect. It can all be done online (atleast almost all).

Again ... How?

[+] 1 - Forums ... Best with Private Forums

It's no secret that you can meet a lot of interesting people in forums. And it's sometimes surprising to see who's participating in that forums. I think in cases like this, private forums work best. For one thing, there isn't a lot of members. That makes it easier for the other guy to know you. And the feeling with private forum is different.

For example, when I am in TurningIdeasIntoDollars.com (TIID), I feel that I can share more details when seeking advice. I don't feel that risks of copycats and sabotage that much.

Apart from that, private forums normally are joined by people who are more serious about their business. This is a good place to search for potential business acquintances.

There're two things that you can do at forums. First is to participate in discussions. Give valuable insights and share your tips, tricks, opinion, experience, etc.

The second thing that you can do is start a great topic to discuss. When you created an interesting topic, more people will respond to it. And that will make you are more known person.

[+] 2 - Commenting Blog Posts

The person that you are trying to get in touch with might also be an active blogger. That's a good thing. With this, I recommend that you get an RSS aggregator like SharpReader and subscribe to their site feed, you know the RSS or XML. I can't really teach you that here. It's out of the topic. But with an RSS aggregator, it's eaiser to follow what that person is writing in his/her blog.

Apart from watching what they write, here're other things that you must do. Be on the lookout for interesting topics. Better still, topics that are related to you, or those that you can share valuable points. And just do that - share your points by commenting on their posts.

When you have something to share about what they wrote, go over to that blog and drop a comment. You see, most bloggers are more anxious about what people comment on their blogs rather than what they get in the email.

So give a comment, and they will read it. And that will make yourself known to that other person. Better still, give more comments everytime they put new posts.

[+] 3 - Putting Blog Trackbacks

This is something else that you can do if you are a blogger yourself. Sometimes you see that one blogger started to write about something, and suddenly other bloggers follow.

Well, you can do that too. There's nothing wrong in following ... When somebody wrote about an interesting thing, you can write about that same thing. But make sure you do these two things.

One is to credit that first blogger. You can say something like "Sam wrote about XYZ in his blog. I think ... " The second thing that you should do is put a trackback. In your blog admin (like WordPress), there's a place where you can put in trackback URLs. A trackback is like a comment, it's just that you do it from your blog and not theirs.

Look for a trackback URL and put that in when you are writing a new post. Be sure that you post and the other post is related. Don't put trackbacks to a post about vegetables when you are writing about the computers.

[+] 4 - Join a Teleseminar

Every now and then, there are free teleseminars that you can join. I am sure that you'll learn something interesting in there, even if you know there's going to be a sales pitch at the end.

But every chance you get to join a teleseminar, do it. Normally at the beginning of the teleseminar, there's a intro slot. You get to say your name and tell where you are coming from. Make sure you do that.

And at the end of the teleseminar, there may also be a Q&A session. Participate in that - introduce yourself and ask your question.

One time ago, I participated in a teleseminar and I said, "This is Kidino from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia." And that host said, "Woow!" I am sure that she remembers me - true enough, it's proven when I wrote to her.

[+] 5 - Buy their product and give feedback

Yep ... pretty basic but not many really do this. If the person that you are trying to get in touch with has a product, buy it. Then write to them telling how you like the product (if you really like it that is).

Good business person will take product support very seriously. And when they get an email from a customer, most of the time, they think it's a support request. Now, when you write something unexpected, like praising them about their work, you'll be remembered.

Now you can write your email ...

Now, if did some of the things above - the Advance Online Networking, the next time you write to them, you won't be a stranger. It's easier to get people to read your email when you are not a stranger to them.

You know this yourself because I am sure you get a number of strangers constantly emailing. Here's a few more tips.

When's the best time to write?

Sometimes it's about timing. These times are the best times to send an email to the guy you are trying to get in touch with. Why? - Because they are still in the mood and most of the times, very anxious to know what people think about what they just did.

So here it is ...

If that guy/gal is a blogger, write a comment after a post - then email.

If you subscribed to this guy's/gal's newsletter, write an email after you've received an issue.

If you are interacting in forums, try doing a private message. If you get a response, then invite the other person to continue in email.

Adsense Web Tool: Increasing Your Adsense Revenues Starting Today!

There was an individual named Joel Comn who once making only $30 daily with Adsense, a program where it allows you to make money when visitors of your site are clicking on the advertising links that are placed in the host’s website. Until one day, he decides to have a try of other ways of increasing his Adsense earning.

After he had used several Adsense tools, Joel doubled his commission from $30 to $60 daily. But would you believe that his commission actually sky-rocketed for more than $500 per day? His earnings climbed up, making it $18,343 last December 2004 and it is quite possibly that his revenues may keep climbing after that period. It sounds impossible, but an individual have done it.

Adsense Basics

Joel Comn is now one of the successful Internet marketers that derive some of their revenues through the Adsense program. But you need to keep in mind that you can not earn as much as $18,000 per month if you will just allow Adsense to place its ads on your website. There are things you need to consider in order to make as much money as Joel did.

You need to apply for an Adsense account. Remember that you must be investing in your own domain so that your application will not be rejected. Make sure that your site’s contents are organized and be viewed as professional.

After your site has been accepted, Adsense will give you a code that you will place on your website, enabling them to start placing ads on your site that are with relevance to its content. For instance, if your site is about air-conditioning, Adsense might place ads that deal with different kinds and models of air-conditioning equipment.

Adsense Web Tool

Part of Adsense program is the use of Adwords, or relevant words that is integrated with Adsense advertisement. In order to attract more visitors that are generating impressions or “clicks” to the ads in your site, you must let Adsense know what Adwords are relevant and related to the contents of your webpage. In this case, the Adsense Web Tool can help you.

Adsense Web Tools provide you with Adsense HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) ad code to place on the web pages which you want to display the ads. The Adwords that will be generated using the Web Tool are based on the keyword analysis, word frequency, and the overall link structure of the web. Adsense will have an idea what your webpage is all about, and it can precisely match the advertisement on each page.

Maybe you will wonder how Adsense know what appropriate Adwords needs to be displayed in your site. If Adsense has spidered your site, it automatically knows what Adwords are to be displayed in your site. However, if your site has not spidered yet, Adsense makes use of your site’s URL first to decide what Adwords are appropriate. This is where your own domain will be important. You must invest on your own domain. Keep in mind that it has a significant impact on your Adsense revenues.

It is important that you make use of Adsense Web Tool so that you can maximize your possible earnings with Adsense. Do not rely alone on the displayed ads. Remember that you need to make it “clickable” to every Internet user that will visit your site. Start right and earn as much as $18,000 a month through Adsense!

Adsense That Works

People unconsciously ignore ads, not because they aren’t interested in the products or services that are being offered, but a natural instinct to focus on the material they’re reading and block out “distractions”. Remember: they’re on the web to look for information. That can be a particular song they want to download, an article on their favorite celebrity, or a chicken recipe they can cook for dinner. They’re concentrating on that issue, and their minds are quickly filtering out whatever seems to intrude on that search. That includes the background noise of the room they happen to be surfing in, and the visual noise on the web page.

Ads are said to be “visual noise”, and ironically, the larger (and more obvious) the ad, the more likely it’ll be ignored. That seems to go against all instincts of advertising—bigger should be better, right? That may work on a highway, when a looming billboard will catch your either whether you plan to look or not, but on the Internet, there are just too many ads. As a gut-reaction, the eye skips over anything that looks like the “traditional” advertising banners, regardless of the text contained in them. That’s why if you look at the studies, 468 x 60 ads, and the 728 x 90 ads, actually get the lowest click through rate.

But the challenge of Adsense is to make people read the ad, and click on it. How do you accomplish that if the brain automatically dismisses your message as “junk”? Simple: by not looking like an ad, and then inserting yourself at the point where people would be most interested in what you say. Then, website viewers not only notice you, but see you as a valid solution (or at least, a possible solution) to a pressing problem.

The Color of Money

Traditional graphic design principles will tell you to use bright, contrasting colors to get somebody’s attention (it’s also called the “bright neon sign” phenomenon). But for Adsense, you get better results when you take the subtle approach and blend into the page that you’re on. Instead of looking like an ad, you are seen as a valid editorial content: as informative, helpful, and credible as the article they happen to be reading.

That’s why your ad background and its border colors should be the same color as the web page on which it’s located. If your website’s white, then your ad assumes that color; if it’s blue, then you know what shade to pick. This isn’t sneaky, it’s reader psychology. Advertisers in magazines have been doing it for years—not copying the color, but the font of the magazine pages. Readers are then more likely to continue reading the ad text rather than skipping it over it because it’s “not part of the page”. By the time they realize that it’s an ad, they’re intrigued by the benefit being offered (and if they aren’t, at least they know about you—much more than what you would have accomplished if the ad had been dismissed). By applying this principle to your Ad Sense, you get better results.

Another trick: use the standard blue color for your links, but make the advertiser’s URL (the domain name below the ad text) in a very unobtrusive color and size. Combine this trick with making the rest of your website content a non-traditional color that is not as noticeable as blue (for example, a dark green), and you have a more subtle way of drawing attention to your Adsense links. Readers will gravitate towards the link, thinking that it is a neutral and objective way of finding more information, and click. And you know what that means for Adsense revenues.

Location, Location, Location

As they say in business, location is the secret to success: be where your market needs you (and in this case, reads you). For example, avoid placing ads on the left or right periphery of the page: people don’t bother looking there, since the webtext flow is from top to bottom. Unless a photo or other graphical element pulls their eyes to the side, there is no reason for them to look beyond those margins. Plus, Internet users are conditioned to look for content in the center— so you also have to be in the center to be deemed “valid content”.

This rule is particularly true for people who have a very specific question or concern and found the page by typing key words into a search engine. They are not interested in anything outside that query. To get their attention, place a large rectangular ad above your content (for example, the top center column) but below the title. Then, choose a message that is related to the key words that were probably used. For example, if it’s a website about “widgets”, and your article is a review on the latest “blue widgets” then Ad Sense on “Find Cheap Widgets Now!” would have a high percentage of clicks.

Why does placing Ad Sense underneath the title work so effectively? Because there is an immediate association with content. Your website title summarizes the topic or concern, the text expounds on it, and your Ad Sense is sandwiched within those two very important elements. You would not get this kind of click through if you placed it above the title, where it’s perceived as literally “outside” the topic and hence, irrelevant or secondary.

Since Google allows you to put three ad blocks, where do you put the other two? At the end of the content, preferably above the Author’s Box. This reaches the educated, and perhaps slightly more cynical reader, who had preferred to read up on the topic and is now ready to make an intelligent, informed decision about what products or services to buy. You can place a third ad block at the side if you have a short article or are concerned about cluttering the site. Otherwise, put it within the content, catching visitors who may be quickly bored with the article and may not reach the end of it, and is willing to “click away” from the site (and hopefully to the advertisers).

Adsense Template Tips To Income And Sucess... ASAP!

What does small and big websites have in common? Two words. Adsense templates.

From the time adsense and adsense templates had been introduced, it has proven to be one of the most effective ways of generating more money over the Internet. You can never see a site without one of these ads plastered in some part of their pages. It does not matter what your site is catering to. The only thing important is the presence of these adsense templates.

Although a lot of site owners have used these ads to their advantage, there are still those who have not. If you are just one of those wanting to have one of these adsense templates into your site, you surely would want to know how to make the most of the templates.

How do you use adsense templates to generate you more advantage and income?

1. Simple website layout.

Try to maintain the simplicity in your site. Not only will your visitors find it easy to search on the things they need, but your ads will clearly be visible. Putting on too much graphics, pictures or flashes can definitely divert your visitors from clicking on your ads.

If the primary purpose of your site is to generate more adsense income, then focus more on getting people to click on the ads. Give your adsense the space they deserve where people can see them the instant they come into your site.

2. Adsense template design.

Put your adsense in the place where you think they will be more profitable. You would also want to make sure that they go well with the colors you are using on your site. You would not want them to be overridden by the background colors you are using.

Try to keep them as visible and as complementary to your site as possible. Check out other sites that are using adsense. See how they position their ads and how you react to them.

3. Articles.

Put articles that are very much related to your target market and what your site is about. It is best to write out original articles with contents that people do not get to read everyday.

You can also make use of ghostwriters to supply you with original contents if you think that writing is way beyond you. Just make sure that the contents are original to avoid being accused of duplicating other articles.
4. Keeping track of who comes in and out of your site.

Having a close watch over the people that are visiting your site is necessary if you want to keep track of the income your site is generating. Get to know what ads people are clicking more on. You may want to pattern those that are being ignored to those that are being clicked often.

If you find that none of your adsense or pages are being visited much, then maybe the other aspects of your sites are causing these problems. Check out your keywords or your topics.

5. Generating traffic.

Even if your site is the best looking site over the Internet, it would not matter one bit if traffic is not coming your way. No visitors simply means no income.

And even if you are using the best adsense template around, if you have not planned your strategy correctly, then all your efforts will result to nothing in the end.

Adsense Secrets & More Revealed!

Professionals have their own adsense secrets to success. Some of them have the same while others have unique strategies.

If you will make a research on the web about Adsense secrets, you will only be guided by the different websites with their ads and they will most likely sell the answers to you. Since you are hoping to get answers to all your questions, you will do anything just to know their secret.

You may think of buying any solution that you are presented but understand that almost all the people who want to share their adsense secret are the same.

Now before you make any move, it will be helpful if you do some research on the different search engines. There may be a hundreds of forums that will be displayed on your search. It can be a good way to get valuable information that you can use on your site.

Reading articles written by professional internet marketers are also a good source. Some of the marketers share their own experiences and adsense secrets to help the beginners who wish to succeed in the field of marketing. You can read through hundreds of articles and you can surely get something out of reading them.

Although most of the answers that you can get will ask you to do a little bit of work, it will be worth the try if you really want to succeed. Everyone in the marketing field increased their profits without trying the different strategies.

The web service is a good source for adsense secrets. You can use good keywords to find advices and tips. You can use keywords in the search engines such as: adsense tips, increase adsense income, adsense experiments and adsense adsense tricks. You will be shown with a lot of good information that you can choose from.

If there are different strategies shown, you can choose one which you think will best work for you. But if you can use two or more at the same time, chances are you will be getting good results in a few days. However, these strategies need dedication and perseverance.
You also need to have your own sense of style to be applied on the adsense secrets.

The internet will be the best resource and its all in just one click and you are in for success. You just have to be patient in making your search.

If you want to increase the traffic of your site, you will obviously increase your income. The real adsense secret is to be on top of the search engines or have more and more visitors on your site.

In order to increase traffic to your site, you can have a fresh content into your site. It is necessary to post different articles every other time so that the visitors and readers will visit your site more often. Just make sure that the articles are relevant to the theme of your site.

You can find a lot of good authors who will offer services at a low cost provided that their names will be displayed in the author resource box.

The real adsense secret is to have a good site that your readers can benefit a lot while doing the same for you. it is important that you know your customers and you know what they exactly need.

Adsense Revenue Exposed Review

Are you exhausted from servicing your clients, struggling to find work or overwhelmed while paying the bills? Then you need to invest some time in developing passive income. Passive income is money you make even when you are asleep or working with a client. One avenue of passive income is to partner with Google.

Thousands of businesses are paying Google to carry their advertisements on search results. You can profit from this fact by partnering with Google even if you know nothing about internet marketing. You can create content rich web sites about any topic including your hobbies, your business, current events, a blog and much, much more.

If this sounds interesting you need to read "Adsense Revenue Exposed" by Michael Rasmussena and Jason Tarasi. This e-book is a mere 29 pages and a quick and easy read:

The main chapters included in the e-book:

*Make Sense of Google AdSense - and make money!
*How much can I make with AdSense and how do I get started?
*Join the AdSense Program
*The 5-Step Plan To Success
*Summary and Additional Resources

Some of the topics covered are:

*3 reasons your website should be using Google Adsense (and nothing else) right now.
*How to keep your competitors ads from showing up on your website.
*How to let visitors search the web from your site (and profit while they do it)
*The simple mathematical formula behind Adsense that makes you cash. (And makes some Google Adsense users up to $25,000.00 a month.)
*The trick to creating a website Google will love (and will end up making you the most profits with).
*How to format your ads to get the most clicks (and cash)!
*Where to place your ads for maximum exposure (there's a technique to it).
*5 tips to selecting super-keywords that bring in visitors that are ready to click.

The authors begin with an overview of Google Adsense and Google Adwords. Next you are lead through the steps necessary to set up Google Adsense and install it on your site to create income for you. This e-book highlights the technical aspect of setting up Adsense and getting it installed on your site. I wish this e-book had been around when I set up Adsense on my site. I would have saved so much time!

The next chapter of the e-book is a five step plan for success covers do's and don'ts, Google rules, Adsense options, tools, scripts and additional resources. The language is non technical and there is very little jargon making it easy for everyone to read.

This e-book will help with both the inexperienced and experienced AdSense publishers. I've read a number of e-books lately about Google Adsense and this is one of the best.

(c) 2006, Davis Virtual Assistance.  Reprint rights granted so long as the by-line and resource box are reprinted intact and all links made live.  You may not use this article in any type of spam or sell it alone or with other articles.

Adsense Good or Bad?

I have often pondered this question?

Here are my own basic thoughts on the complex subject.

Most websites I visit have some kind of adsense system running; I would estimate that some of these are making good money from the Google system. Certainly sites with over 1000 visitors per day should receive a small amount of revenue.

Generally I believe the adsense system is a good one, however like most things these days the adsense system has been misused by individuals who fully understand how search engines work; unfortunately these people have already made their money. These people have used many tactics in the past to raise their sites page ranking, thus ensuring more visitors, more visitors means more revenue from the system. These sites are generally kept open for a few months and then closed down, with the next one instantly opened up. This practice has been going on for years. The sites are even sold daily on EBay; I would imagine they are just about to be banned.

What normally happens when a few people misuse a system is it leads to others suffering, and in this case it has happened. Google is sandboxing new sites for longer. Saying this company had to act, they have now introduced the ‘Big Daddy’ update. This update has affected sites that have large numbers of irrelevant links or millions of irrelevant web pages. Unfortunately it has also affected the ranking of genuine businesses; hopefully this is just a temporary blip. My own opinion is the internet should be a level playing field for everyone; however I somehow doubt it ever will be.

I believe there is a place for adsense on most sites as long as it is discrete, well set up and does not look out of place, (fonts, colours etc), The main thing to think about is what do you want from your visitors. Most sites offer a product to potential customers. This causes the dilemma of balancing potential revenue from adsense against losing a potential customer, what I mean by this is, a visitor may be interested in your site, however you could lose them instantly to Google. This is why in my opinion is if your site has a product you are selling, you should never employ adsense on your homepage.

In conclusion I like the system, it is easy to set up and user friendly. I hope Google manage to filter out the unethical element who in the end will only spoil things for everyone.

About the author - Peter Arkwright recently retired from the military, he is now the Managing Director of http://www.bizseller4u.com
A new portal that allows people to list their Business for Sale

This article is free for republishing

AdSense Fraud

It's worthwhile to examine Google's definition of Google AdSense and Click Fraud , before delving deeper into “AdSense Fraud” .

Google AdSense fraud is one of the diseases that plague the Ad Words advertisers. The AdSense program essentially allows website publishers/owners to sign up with Google, enabling them to display Google Ads on their sites. These publishers essentially act as “Google Partners”. The ads chosen by the Google bot for display are contextual and the ads are related to the contents of the publisher's website, more specifically that particular web page. The intent for Google is to capitalize on the traffic to these (in practice) niche sites and provide highly direct targeted traffic to the advertiser. A subset of the users of the Google Partner website, click on those ads and Google charges the advertiser per click. Google shares the booty with the website publisher but the revenue sharing ratio falls under Google's “undisclosed “criteria. While the exact amount can be reverse engineered, the take home lesson is that the final amount is proportional to Google's income from that click.

In theory it's a match made in heaven. The advertiser gets good ROI through targeted traffic, the publisher gets to monetize the traffic on their website and the web browser gets to buy that classic CD that he couldn't live without. Not to mention that Google gets a wad of cash. The gods of lucre smile beneficently on all.

Unfortunately, this happy façade hides blemishes. Severe ones. For all Google AdSense Publishers are not created equal. While (we daresay) many advertisers have a genuine website, providing a valuable or interesting service to the world wide community, there is a significant number of unscrupulous operators who are out there to prey on the advertisers. These creatures of the night (and we will explain later why we use that term), make websites for the express purpose of milking AdSense revenue.

This category of fraudsters deserves a taxonomy of its own, which we have developed (the other categories, click fraud and impression fraud are even bigger problems in some industries). In the interest of not being gender biased, we have alternated between genders. We hope that our lighthearted tone does not mask the revulsion that we feel towards these cheats.

Regressive Fraudster ( aka ClickMonkey ):

This guy is at the bottom of the food chain. Inspired by the riches of his neighbor Ms. Jones, who has been making more than ten grand a month in AdSense revenue, he plans a course of action. He “invests” in a clickbot software( a simple google search reveals many) and gets a list of anonymous proxy addresses. He then goes to register a few domains and hires someone off of elance to create a “network of sites”and “ click bot ” . He hopes that the interlinked sites will provide each some “link popularity” and increase his page rank. If only it were that simple! He then proceeds to use the 30 dollar clickbot to start clicking on the sites. Or he could click on them himself manually using the proxies. We don't call him click monkey for nothing. He clicks and clicks all the way to see his account getting banned. No banana for this monkey! His calls of despair to google fall on deaf ears. This person is likely to quit, but sometimes retries to get up the food chain, the Wanna -Be-Fraudster.

Wanna -Be Fraudster ( aka BOZO):

This girl searches for high paying keywords like “home loan equity” (current ad words rate: 45 dollar), or “web hosting” (ad words costing 20 dollar). She correctly guesses that the AdSense payout is proportional to what Google earns and therefore homes in on such words. Her strategy is to make a page with contents that are appropriate for the targeted high payout keyword. She moves ahead by clicking on the link multiple times and recruits friends and family to give them a click. Or ten!

Little does she know that Google has a 45 day inspection period before she get her nubby little fingers on that cash. With little to no knowledge of Click through Ratio , her greed couples with her ignorance. Seeing her ill-gotten paper wealth multiplying in her AdSense interface, she increases the clicks. Google however inspects the CTR and throws a fit when they see a CTR exceeding 20%. Furthermore, Google notices clicks mostly originating from a few IP addresses and that essentially seals her fate (or rather docks her earnings). That virtual cash is now just some deleted bytes on a hard disk on Google's servers. She moans, nay she rail against the cruelty of Google's policy. Some of these people wisely cease and desist such activities, perhaps philosophizing about the NFL (no free lunch) theorem. Others however see it as ground school for the next stage of nefarious behavior. The Almost-There Fraudster.

Almost-There Fraudster ( aka SmartAlec ):

The archetypical ATF is supremely confident in his ability to fool Google. Like the BOZO, he looks for high paying keywords and makes appropriate website(s). Let's assume that he is in a third world country, just to make the case more interesting. The case described here is 1 year old news. He has read this article and taken the learnt the subsequent lesson . He knows that that the clicks from the IP Addresses of USA, UK & Canada are worth much more than the clicks from the IP Addresses from the third world countries. He therefore seeks to befriend people from such IP addresses by logging onto messenger services.

This way, he gets the unique, unrelated IP clicks and (he hopes) that Google is fooled. Remember “creature of the night”. Well, these people typically are more than a few time zone removed from the US or Canada and therefore are up at odd hours whenever they feel that their targets are most likely to be active. Plus they sometimes have to deal with “inconveniences” like a day job.

AT fraud thinks that the clicks he obtained by trolling on these sites is a job well done. He has got clicks from the IP address of his choice .. An interesting factoid is that for AdSense, state also matters. Clicks from Washington and New York State have the highest payout for AdSense Fraud.

He has just one problem. His tragic flaw. While he worked so hard to get the unique IP and high earnings, he is not able to maintain a good CTR. He is likely to cross the limit of 30-40% of daily CTR and 10-20% of overall CTR. He ends up in the same purgatory as the BOZO. The account is banned, and he gets the abominated email. Yes, the “AdSense account closure”. Almost-There is never good enough in this nether world of AdSense gaming. Although it is possible that he would have made a few thousand dollars before the punishment catches up to his crime. Crime doesn't quite pay, now does it? Well, gentle reader, unfortunately crime _is_ paying to the next category. Fraudster Maestro ( aka Satan's Spawn).

Fraudster Maestro ( aka Satan's Spawn):

This category of fraudsters is the most sophisticated and rarely gets caught by google . She has researched the high paying keywords as well as the CTR issues well. She has the smoothest lines in the business of soliciting clicks. She can flirt online, and ask to click the “link” for her picture. Or she may claim that clicking the link causes the hungry child to be fed in Ethiopia . Let's follow a typical “simple” chat session:

US User : hello

FM Fraud: what are your coordinates, handsome?

US User : NY , NY

FM Fraud: Oh! Wish I could be there. Can you help out a damsel in distress?

US User : sure

AT Fraud: I have made a site and want to see if all the links on this page are working or not. Can you please click on the links and see if the other page loads?

US User: Sure. Link?

FM Fraud:www.fraudstersite.com/high-value-keyword-page.html

US User : wait! Yes I checked all the links and they are working fine.

FM Fraud:
Thanks

US User : so can we talk about you now? ( Message Not Delivered as the fraudster has blocked the User and is busy looking for a new victim)


And she has lots of tricks up her repertoire besides chatting up strangers. She knows about opt in lists, usenet and blogs where she can snare the victims. Technically savvy and able to empathize with her victims she doesn't let arrogance get in her way to success. Since she is very mindful of the CTR issues she has a secret weapon. She has optimized her site for some low paying keywords which are really not competitive. She organically gets lots of traffic (but for things unrelated to those competitive high paying keywords). In her website, she may be giving away free greeting cards Or free screensavers. End result is a fabulous impression count. The second step for her is to makes unrelated pages on the same site and these pages pertain to the high paying keywords. These keywords are used to attract the victims of chat sessions. The process of getting the clicks is different but the results due to CTR are very lucrative.

So, how does all this geek talk affect the PPC advertiser? It's a 5 billion dollar+ dollar market(for exact projections onto the future, please check out our FAQ, and with a 20% + fraud rate, we are talking about a 1 BILLION dollars fraud per year. Even Dr. Evil may be impressed by such a number. It's greater than the cumulative GNP of a few banana republics. And a fair chunk is ending up in the coffers of these fraudsters. We know from anecdotal evidence, how people are clearing up to 20 grand a month. All, courtesy of the hapless PPC advertiser.
We want to emphasize that there are lots of authentic sites serving genuine content. But unfortunately the existence of these people (as discussed above) reduces the ROI of many advertisers to the extent that they rethink their interest in PPC. In the word of one of our organic SEO customers, with PPC “you always get a little less back than you put in”. It needn't be that way, if you watch carefully where your ad words traffic is coming from and take some steps (such as traffic analysis or at the very least a log file analysis) to protect arm yourself. Look for patterns, some of which are obvious(such as large traffic spikes from India). Unfortunately other patterns may require a doctorate in artificial intelligence. Still the keyword is to stay nimble. Convincing search engines to refund money is a lot tougher and a lot more work than proactively watching for problem visitors and taking steps that you deem appropriate. Before the situation goes out of hand. Remember, an ounce of prevention…



We want to emphasize that there are lots of authentic sites serving genuine content. But unfortunately the existence of these people (as discussed above) reduces the ROI of many advertisers to the extent that they rethink their interest in PPC. In the word of one of our organic SEO customers, with PPC “you always get a little less back than you put in”. It needn't be that way, if you stay nimble. Convincing search engines to refund money is a lot tougher and a lot more work than proactively watching for problem visitors and taking steps that you deem appropriate.

Some things you can do to stay ahead of the game. This is by NO means an exhaustive list, but it's a start. It's sorted by the level of protection in ascending that you may need.

1> Let your visitors know that you are tracking them and know quite a bit about them. For instance, if you visit www.sofizar.com , you will see information about yourself. You can display this information to all your visitors, or only to some of them. It can be in-your-face or subtle, but it will remind at least some of the fraudsters that they are being watched. Sofizar provides free sample code and connection  to its database allowing you to display “premium” information(like City, ISP, ISP contact number).

2> Invest in a serious visitor tracking software. Set alarms based on the number of times a person clicks on your site in a certain time period(hourly, weekly, monthly). Display the same information to someone who is definitely PPCing your budget to death, as a custom message box. Something harsh, if the pattern keeps  up.  “We are logging the usage, and we are noticing that you keep clicking on our site through PPC. If you don't cease, we would be forced to call your local ISP at +91-23-344-5678”(if you see the information that we can glean about visitors, you will know we can get even more specific). This will weed some of the casual fraudsters.

3> Start checking for things that we have discussed earlier, by investing in an industrial strength data collection package. Based on your data collection, one strategy is to score each visitor, deducting(or adding points), based on the following (non exhaustive) list.

a. Visitor conversion/past conversion history.

b. Visit Depth Analysis.

c. Visit Time Analysis(time spent on each page, and time of day the visit happens).

d. Cookies/Javascript/”Unknown OS”

e. Keyword Cost analysis.

f. Anonymous Proxy Server

g. Is part of “Fraudster list”.

h. Country/Localization analysis(are you really targeting people in Sao Paolo , Brazil for your French Restaurant in New York ?).

4> Do pattern matching. See what your top 20% of your customers do as part of a “macro pattern” and match the visitor against that pattern.

Keep in  mind that you will get a few “false positives” and vice versa. A few innocent people may get tagged unfairly as “fraudsters” while a few “fraudsters” may well give you the slip. It's not an exact science, but over a period of time you can get fairly close. If you decide to take up your case with Google, you have to make a very convincing case. All based on meticulous data, instead of (what may be considered by them as) paranoia.

Over the long term, as the threat evolves and the  fraudsters improve, you have to keep adapting your strategy using your friends, diligent data collection, statistics and pattern matching.

If you have any further question, comments or want  us to give you a free evaluation if your PPC campaign  is a likely magnet for fraudsters, please email to: art@sofizar.com .
For more information about adsense fraud visit: http://www.sofizar.com/adsense-fraud.php

Adsense And Yahoo Their Fight For Advertising Supremacy Is Going On!

Two of the biggest names in the Internet are Yahoo and Google. Its no longer surprising that competition will exist between these two giants. When Google has launched its adsense campaign it started dominating the Internet but of course Yahoo will not just let this pass without creating one of their own. If Google has Adsense, Yahoo on its part has created the Yahoo Publisher. But comparing the overall design of the two programs we will see that they are somewhat similar in some respects.

To better understand the two programs it would be best that we discuss them separately.

Google’s Adsense

Let us start with the infamous Adsense Program. This program is an automated ad service that allows small web owners to display advertisements on their own web pages in return they will receive a portion or a share of the pay-per-click revenue that Google will generate out from the Adsense. This is an additional income for web owners.

Google’s adsense in one view may seem to be a simple concept but behind it is a complicated technology that only the smartest and the brightest team of Google can effectively accomplished. The adsense program is wholly automated and makes use of a crawler that assesses the contents found on a publisher’s site. After the evaluation is complete Google will then provide the publisher with some Javascript code to embed in their pages.

If ever the Javascript is activated a call is made back to Google to pull some ads out from the adsense program. The ads generated will be in accordance to the content found on the page. For example if the content of the page deals on wheelchairs then all ads regarding wheelchairs will appear. If you want to gain more from adsense it would be best to customize the colors as well as the formats to match the theme of your site.

This will make the adsense appear as if it is an original part of the page. This will lead your site visitors to think that it is a link to one of your site’s pages and would therefore click on it for additional information that they may require.

Yahoo’s Publisher

There are several features that set Yahoo’s Publisher distinct from Google adsense and these are as follows:

1. You will not see the Google’s famous tagline—“Ads by Google”
2. The ad blocks used by Yahoo do not touch each other
3. Another obvious distinction is the text inside a block is cut off and ends in an ellipsis.

These are just some of the prominent features that differentiate Yahoo’s Publisher from Google’s Adsense. But unlike Yahoo, Google requires its advertisers to refrain from using incomplete phrases and to limit the phrases to a certain number of characters per line.

In using Yahoo’s Publisher when you click on the ads you are transmitted to the advertiser’s page but you have to pass through first an Overture server. This Overture Server by the way is Yahoo subsidiary or soon to become Yahoo Search. The main function of this server is to do ad serving.

Now that you know the features and benefits of both programs you may now decide which of these two would be more advantageous for your sites.

Adsense: Top Tips On How To Make Your Adsense Business Work Better!

Most of you may have heard about Adsense and the income it generates. However, most people don’t know how these thing work or how to make it work properly. Firstly, here is an explanation of what is Adsense all about.

An Adsense is a program designed by one of the most popular search engines, Google, to create income for your website. It is very much like an affiliate program that is delivered by Google on where you will display a text or image links where people visiting your website can click on.

You will make money in Adsense programs when people visiting your website clicks on the adsense program. Every click made by visitors in your website is equal to a specific amount of money. So, it is very important that you should generate targeted traffic into your website in order to make this work.

You may also place a Google search box in your website where your visitor can search for relevant text ads and will be displayed on your website. Another feature in the Google Adsense program is the Adsense referrals. Here, you can make money by displaying Google’s referral buttons in your website.

Application in Google Adsense is very easy. You just have to fill out an application form found in their website. Adsense is available for any websites except on pornographic websites and hate websites. Your contents should have a specific topic where Google Adsense will choose an adsense program related to the contents of your website.

All you need to apply is to have your own website.

Make sure that your website does not have any pornographic content, racism, or any other content that may offend some people. Joining in an Adsense program is fast, easy and most of all free.

Why join an Adsense program? The answer to this question is obvious: To make money at home. Adsense programs are free and relatively easy to join in one. You may think that having an Adsense program displayed in your website can lead people away. However, if you have a good content and an attractive website, you will be sure that those people will always come back and read more of your topics.

One great type of website for an adsense is a blogging website. A blogging website can generate you a lot of targeted traffic and also a lot of clicks in the Adsense program.

The placement of your Adsense program is also very important to generate clicks. Usually, you can place your Adsense program anywhere in your website. However, there is a specific placement to generate more clicks. For example, it has been found that placing your Adsense program at the top of the web page generates more clicks than that of web pages that places Adsense programs below their web page. Another way to generate clicks is to place your Adsense program near rich content areas. This is because people focus more in these areas and tends to click on them more.

An Adsense program can give you a lot of income opportunities if you do it right. Try to make your website score a high rank in order to qualify in Adsense programs. Adsense programs are also one of the easiest ways to generate extra cash. You just have to update your website from time to time in order to keep on creating more targeted traffic. Try to consider making a blog website, these types of website creates huge amount of targeted traffic and can virtually take care of itself.

Adsense – Still A Cash Cow?

With the advent of Google losing a court case (and a shed load of money) and the continued problem of click fraud the question is now on the tip of everyone’s tongue – “Is Google Adsense still the cash cow that it was?”.

In this article I’ll take a look at ways in which the average webmaster may still develop a successful Adsense business and how to use the up and coming Google witch hunt to your advantage.

There are currently two main problems that are facing Google, both of which are serious and could lead to the demise of both Adsense and Adwords.

The first and most serious problem is that of click fraud. For those of you who do not know click fraud is the act of clicking on your own (or a friends) ads in an attempt to generate artificial earnings.

This is such a problem for Google as it ensures that the value that Adwords purchasers gets is significantly less then they would want, thus ensuring that sooner or later they will just get up and walk away (with what remains of their advertising budget firmly clamped in their hand).

To remedy this problem Google have tried putting several rules in place such as not allowing the webmaster to show Adsense ads in auto surf sites (to name but one restriction).

The second problem that Google faces relates to content, notably the amount of original content which is out there.

The problem in this case is that many people have purchased article scraper software (software that you point at someone elses website and just shout ‘Fetch!’ – it then returns a document collection which is a complete rip off of the site).

This was already a problem before the advent of Adsense sites and with the continual chain of people chasing high value keywords it has become worse; It is now possible to search for a given phrase on Google and return nothing but duplicate content for the first few pages of search engine results.

In order to address this problem Google has been modifying it’s algorithm to effectively punish people with duplicate content, the extent to which an individual site is ‘penalized’ is currently a matter for debate.

So, given Google is about to launch a witch hunt looking for sites with nothing but duplicate content and for people performing click fraud what can you do?

After all there are so many people out there using site generation tools that Google can trace and/or document obfustication technology (you’ve seen the ads – “We can make your one original article into 300 and Google will never know!” – yep, and anyone who visits your site will just find drivel with spelling errors or contextual mistakes).

Step 1.
If you must use site generation software make sure you find one that leaves no trace behind itself, ask yourself – ‘If I was looking at the source code from the generated page how would I know that it’s machine generated?’

Step 2.
Don’t use site scraping tools, they're immoral and a waste of your time

Step 3.
Do include RSS feeds into your pages, they add fresh content with no effort on your part (at least one of the site generation tools now supports this kind of functionality)

Step 4.
Don’t click on your own adverts, Google will can you in the blink of an eye

Step 5.
Do get incoming links from established sites (in the same area as your niche content)

Summary.
If you are at all serious about creating an Adsense income you need more than one site and so it is inevitable that you will use site generation tools (because there aren’t enough hours in the day for you to create the amount of pages by hand), by all means use these tools but use them ethically.

When using site generation tools ensure that they allow you to add multiple blocks of Adsense /Clickbank /Ebay code to each page (it saves you a lot of time) and that it performs search engine optimization for you (both on page and off page).

You should also take the time to write some of your own original content – like this or perhaps pay a ghost writer to create a batch of articles for you (don’t forget to ad your bio box at the bottom of everything you write).

To answer the initial question, yes, it is still possible to make LOTS of money from Google – you just need to be careful.

Addressing Emotions: Live Chat And Customers

When people buy things, the decision to actually purchase is a combination of logic and desire. That latter half of the buying process is clinched and what the web seems to lacking – some heart.

If you leave a visitor on his own to buy from your site, what would encourage him to make the actual purchase? How do you nudge the ones who have doubts?

Searches are not enough.

If there is someone to answer questions, rather than referring to a list of FAQs, a prospect is more easily converted into a customer.

On a web-based store, this can be made possible with the technology of live chats. When a visitor has established a history in his visit (length of stay, depth of search, number of visits, etc.), you can already see the interest. An online sales agent can then pop up a dialogue box asking what he can do to help. Better than a search box, he can guide the visitor into buying something, or help that person find something suitable.

That special treatment.

Many, if not all buyers, want to be treated as valued customers. That personal touch of having someone know what you want, is an edge that pushes sales further, even generate repeat sales.

Post-sales support is also enhanced by this personalization. A dissatisfied customer is not likely to come back for any more dissatisfaction. If there is a person who can answer a challenge, or respond to a query in a way that is suited for that customer, you will have some happy people coming back for more.

Some tips.

It isn’t all that easy though. In a live chat, your agents must be careful. There is still the danger of breaking the deal. Here are some tips that can help make the chat more positive, if not a success:

1. Be courteous. Do this especially if the visitor is aloof or rude. A canned intro helps. This should bear your company tone and stance.

2. Avoid making your customers repeat themselves. Have your agents read the profiles and histories of your customers before they engage in the chat.

3. Let your agents personalize after the intro. All calls are unique. Cases vary among customers and so do the responses to them. Make sure your agents are well-equipped with the knowledge and training that will not only give a satisfactory answer, but also actually respond to the situation at hand. On the other hand, if you are wary about this much latitude among your agents, have a group think of every possible scenario in creating the canned responses, though that can prove to be a lengthy and drawn-out process.

4. Keep all records of all chats in the history. If possible, create a summary of the chat session to go with the file to save time for people reviewing it. This will help you create a more precise profile of your customers.

Surely, there are more things you should bear in mind, but these will do for a start. The more you use this technology, the more you’ll learn on how to make it more effective.

Add Video To Your Website Or Blog To Increase Its Value

Over the years we've heard a lot about how to give your web site more value. At first everyone said to put lots of interesting information on your site and you would see a stampede of visitors come your way.

Then we were told to dress our sites and blogs up with logos, graphics, and photos. That helped to bring traffic, too.

Finally we were told to give your sites all the right keywords to bring in the utmost in search engine traffic. By now, that technique has been used just about everywhere it can be.

Now, the Internet is moving to a different phase. Increasingly, top sites are using video to increase their value and bring in lots of traffic. Think about the last time you logged into Amazon or CNN. You very likely were greeted with a professional-looking video that started up on the page and relayed a movie preview or news report.

In the past, you would have to hire a video production house to create, process, host, and post your video, all at a cost of thousands of dollars. But not any more.

Now you can have that same kind of professional video on your site or blog for a price that fits any budget. It's relatively easy to create using low-cost equipment commonly sold for home use.

In the course I teach, I show students how to use Hollywood tricks to transform any space in your house into what looks like a National TV studio. You can do this for under $97, camera not inlcuded. Now that's an advantage for your site or blog that you shouldn't pass up.

What should your site or blog video be?

* Interview yourself or an expert, giving information that your visitors would find interesting.

* A demonstration of how to use your product or service.

* A high-tech, entertaining addition to your ebook or instructional CD.

We live in the television age, when just about everybody would rather look at a video that SHOWS them how to do something rather than have to read about it or listen to someone tell them about
it.

A video gives you much higher response and a far better informed customer base. When people really understand what you are offering and what you can do for them, making sales (often at a higher price) is far easier.

Achieve Indepencence Through Web Lead Generation

Before setting up anything, it is important that you understand the high relevance of lead generation to your business' success. It is highly important for you to be able to find ways for lead generation because without lead generation, your business will really suffer. Leads potentially lead to shoppers, and shoppers potentially lead to sales and profits. Thus, with no leads, you can have no shoppers, and so forth.

1. Business Breeds Business

A poor quality of lead generation will end up costing you a lot of wasted time and money. The initial impression people have about your business is very important. And if people hear that many of their friends are shopping somewhere, they are likely to try shopping there also. Take command of your company's lead generation - never leave the sales of your business as well as its growth, efficiency, and image, to fate.

2. Growth Is More Important Than Profits

You always need to supervise your company's lead generation so that you won't be left in the dark when it comes to your company's growth (or lack of it). If you are now interested in taking command of your company's lead generation, here are some simple tricks of the trade.

3. Use The Internet

Since hundreds of millions of people are logged on to the internet every single day, whether they are looking for something specific or just browsing around, it is highly important that you are able to bypass all the lead brokers as well as the other competition on the internet and just directly connect to your desired customers straight to a company's web site. You MUST have a website. In this day and age, your customers not only expect it, they demand it.

4. Lead Generation

Choose a lead generation that you can efficiently control and which is highly dependable. Make sure that your lead generation system is cost effective and specifically targeted to internet lead generation. Start getting off the lead generation habit of merely doing internet sales leads. It is advisable for your company to be able to develop a type of lead generation program where you will be able to cut out the middleman. You will not only be able to increase your company's lead generation but it can also improve the quality of your company's internet lead generation wherein you will be able to cut your costs per lead.

It is important to note that being able to create an effective internet sales lead generation system or program comprises of being highly sensitive of what you prospective clients want such as the right keywords or phrases that prospective clients usually use in the internet search engines. It is to the client's advantage that he or she will be able to choose the right keyword or key phrase (the ones that are most likely to be used by their prospective clients) because the whole point of lead generation is to basically be able to gain as much exposure over the net as possible as well as being able to provide all relevant information to their prospective clients.

About Dead Websites

Have you ever heard about ‘dead websites’? It is about the websites which end their life on internet after a while. What happens to these after their death? Is there an archive where you can trace them? Does anyone keep statistics how many websites are dying daily or monthly? Which country or which category has actually the biggest cementry of websites? Is there a study about the reasons of their death? The questions could go on.

The idea about this dark part of internet came up when I was surfing on a shortwave radio in the middle of the night. Suddenly, I caught the words ‘Tod und Sterben im Internet’ from a German channel. The program was almost ending. ‘Tod und Sterben im Internet’ means ‘death and dying on internet’. How sad it sounds! But what does it actually mean? I can’t give a better description than the next I found on the internet:

‘They are born, they grow, they are loved by a few, they communicate a few things, and then they go on to die. The death of a website generally goes unmarked, unnoticed, and unrecognized. A dead website is no longer a valuable enterprise but a historical record, a fiercely marked arena of time. A website that has died gets no funeral, no sendoff, no eulogy, and often gets no final words. Websites seem to die a strange death - they are both very public and very private organisms, created by a living few for a living audience and when they pass, the act of viewing them or reflecting on them is inherently solitary. (see: www.deckchairs.net/blogs/main/archives/000721.html)

You would think that the Google Robot which spiders every online information and transfers it to earning would also have an answer to this interesting problem. Unfortunatly, after searching for a week I was not able to find any answer at Google or Google Lab.

On the contrary, I found that search engines in general do not like dead sites. One of their princpiles is to deliver more actual and content dynamic sites in their results. Therefore they don’t like dead sites, dead links and every website which has any smell of death. They even don’t like what we might call exhausted sites, sites which are build up ones and never changed or worked on later. These can also be interpreted as potantially dead or close to dead and are therefore placed at the bottom of the search results.

The searchengines might not be interested in them but that does not decrease their importance for the history of the internet or social-economic sciences. The questions mentioned at the top are worth studying this problem in depth. Still, it should be mentioned that the general interest in the topic is still waiting. This might come in the near future.

In fact the few information that are available on the internet already give a hint to the coming up. The website www.archive.org gives for example an insight into the history of many websites. If you type an URL in their ‘waybackmaschine’, you might get screenshot results from 1996 on. It is interesting to follow the development of the design of some nowadays very popular sites. Archive.org is connected to Alexa and therefore shows only the sites which are ‘caught’ by Alexa. Neverthless, it is a very important and highly valuable contribution to this field.

Another site called www.disobey.com shows in the category ‘ghostsites’ a list of dead sites or ghost sites like they call them. There are also comments added to some dead websites; about their development and the reason of their death. The site and its list are a product of personal input of the editor of the site, Mr. Steve Baldin.

Of course, also in this field the smart ones are first. A website already promotes itself with ‘How to bring your site to life again’. Like their co-operators in the company world, they promise to bring life in a dead website. Within three months your dead website will have the best position at searchengines. Another website explains how you gain benefit from a dead website. Imagine website x was working in the travel business. You also have a travel website and know that x is out of life. So trace the backward links to x, explain the situation to the webmasters of these given links and tell them that your website could be a subsitute for the dead x. Your site will have, so the website confirms, in no time 10-20% more quality linkpartners.

Unfortunatly, the social rule seems to be valid also over here. Like the Dutch expression says: ‘For the one it is his death, for the other his bread.’

Not to be a bread for others, don’t forget to say when you open your browser each morning and see your homepage:

Still Alive!

(published at: http://www.tobook.com/newsletter/newsletter.asp)