Writing Articles To Promote Your Website

Nov

Writing articles is an excellent way for you to get free publicity. The techniques for writing articles are numerous and beyond the scope of this article. That is why writing articles are one of the most utilized Internet marketing media today. Many marketers know that writing articles are great and powerful methods to marketing online. Although writing articles are very easy to do once you know how, getting someone to show you the tricks can be the hard part. Both the press release and writing articles are two important steps on the road to internet marketing success. I think speaking and writing articles are effective ways to keep your name out there. Writing articles are one of the oldest forms of advertising on the internet.

A quality web site should contain at least some original content. Articles make great keyword-rich content for your site. Duplicate content is penalized in the Google search engine results and many other search engines are following. Creating effective web content is a skill that is built over time and experience. Good articles are content rich. The best kept secret of traffic is still the secret of good content. Because content is still superior on the internet, writing articles provides you with a major piece of leverage online. Providing the content the search engines need is a virtual gold mine for entrepreneurs. Content is superior, this will never change on the internet. Writing web content is much like writing articles. Many people don’t realize that a website needs good content to work. Try to focus most of your time getting good content for your web site.

Here are some article writing tips. Article containing guidelines and tips for writing articles, online magazines, white papers, tutorials, educational and corporate are excellent articles to write. Here are some other writing tips to increase traffic to your site. If you don’t like writing paragraphs, you could make it a ‘Tips’ article, here is an example, 5 ways to improve your golf swing, then list the 5 good ways. The following are some good tips to master the technique of writing articles. Create a list of keywords your target audience would use to find information on your topic.

Many successful Internet marketers have found out that one of the best ways to drive traffic to their websites is by writing articles. One of the best ways to get traffic to your site is by writing articles and placing the link to your site in the author’s bio-box at the end. Nevertheless, there are ways to promote your website and increase your web traffic without spending anything. The second best way to bring free traffic to your website is writing articles. The simple answer is that it takes time to write articles, submit them and get targeted traffic to their websites. Turn words into traffic is something everyone can do to grow and expand their online business by writing articles. You can get reasonable amount of traffic by writing articles. Ever wonder how some people seem to generate traffic at the click of a button. Don’t forget about all those back links to your website, this is very important when building link popularity. Online articles may be the single best way to get traffic to your web site.

Writing articles are a great way of positioning your online business. One key point to remember, one article will not do it you need to continually submit articles to all of article sites. One strategy to use is to submit one article per week. By the end of the year you would have submitted 52 articles.

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How To Write Good Articles

By Domain Expert

Nov

As a writer you may be ready to cash in on the need for web content. There is a lot of money that can be made through content writing if you know what web publishers are looking for in high quality content. If you are a very versatile writer you will find that you can actually make content writing your full time job! The new trend of article marketing has writers very excited because webmasters all over the Internet are hungry for talented writers who can’t pump out the high quality content fast enough.

What to Write
Exactly what you should write will depend on whom you are writing for. If you are a writer that is writing pieces for an article directory you will want to keep things as generic as possible. The more nonspecific you can keep your articles the more likely a webmaster will choose your article to be displayed on his or her website. It’s important not to mention websites or specific products, as this can limit the usefulness of the article to webmasters because they generally do not want to promote anything other than themselves and especially not their competitors. Most web publishers are looking for content, not marketing pages.

If you are writing for a specific web publisher you will want to keep in mind what their business is all about. Think about key phrases or words that are often associated with their product, business, or service and include them in the article. Be sure that the key phrases you come up with or are provided don’t seem unnatural and they don’t disrupt the flow of the article. Key words and phrases are only as helpful as their placement. Remember, we are talking about quality content, which reads well and helps search engines figure out what the website is all about at the same time.

Research Required
Make sure that if you are writing on a topic and you don’t have first hand knowledge that you research! Content provided by websites is only as useful as the author that is writing. If you only provide fluff and no real meat in articles visitors will be less likely to come back to the website again, so you are actually working against the plan to increase traffic with the article. Always look at your article the way that a visitor would and try to provide all of the information you would want if you were that person.

How to Write
Your style of writing is really a matter of opinion. Many web publishers like for their content to be written in a very conversational style. This writing style allows for readers to feel as though the author is talking to them, and it’s just a very comfortable way to get information on the Internet. If you take an official tone many visitors may be turned off even though you are providing all of the information that is needed.

Market Yourself
Don’t forget your resource box! The resource box is the section either at the beginning or end of an article that tells the reader who you are, any websites that you are affiliated with, and may even provide links to the websites. This is a great way to market yourself. While a web publisher may first find your work on an article directory he or she may contact you personally for your services, in which case you usually stand to make a lot more money!

How To Sell In Your Article Without Selling

By Domain Expert

Nov

Ok, so you’re passionate about your website, you love talking about your subject and you’re excited to share your knowledge, information, and maybe your products and services with the world. But how do you share your enthusiasm with your readers without coming across like you’re making a pitch? How do you sell your products or services without ‘selling’ them.

No one likes a sales pitch and as soon as a reader senses they’re being ‘sold’ they’re likely to click away from your article. Yet quite often, in order to motivate your reader to be inspired enough to visit your website, you need to give them a bit of a pitch. Here’s how to motivate a reader to action, without selling them.

The best way to motivate your reader is to provide them with a benefit. One of the reasons tips and how to articles are so popular is that they offer a reader an immediate benefit. Ten tips to make more money today. 3 steps to looking ten years younger. The secret to retiring early. These are all examples of article headlines that promise a benefit. When your article offers content that follows through on your promise, readers are going to be hungry for more information. You’ve kept your end of the bargain in your article, they’ll trust you to provide more benefit on your website.

Tap into your readers’ desires. We all desire to be more attractive, wealthier, smarter, happier, more respected etc…when you tap into these desires in your article you immediately have your reader’s attention. How does the content of your article help solve their problems and attain their desires?

For example, if your product is an accounting software program and your article is about how to balance your checkbook, you could tap into your reader’s desire to be wealthier by keeping track of their money or tap into their desire to be respected or smarter by having their finances at the tips of their fingertips. The headline might look something like this, “Ten Tips to Give You Control Over Your Finances, and more money in your wallet.

When you tap into your reader’s desires and offer them a way to attain them, you’re a virtual hero and your readers will be excited to visit your website and learn more from you.

Don’t give your reader the whole story. Write an article about 3 ways to do something and then in the last sentence of your article tell them this isn’t the whole story. Tell your reader if they want to learn more about your article’s topic, they can visit your website and learn the whole story. Note that if you are publishing your article in an article submission site, they may not allow you to plug your website in the body of your article. If this is the case, you can plug it in your author’s resource box. However, if you’re publishing the article in an e-zine or on another website, this is a great way to draw traffic to your site.

Selling in your article copy is as easy as offering valuable content and solving people’s problems. This approach also makes it easy to write copy. Tips and how to articles are amongst the easiest types of article content to write. Get writing!

Get Your Share Of Internet Money

By Domain Expert

Nov

Imagine a business that doesn’t require thousands of dollars in startup costs – no inventory, no rent, no franchise fees. Imagine a store with the potential to start earning money for you from day one, where you can sell anything under the sun without having to worry about stocking a single item. Imagine being able to run a store in your PJs without ever having to leave the comfort of your own home. Imagining it? Here’s the reality. You can build an ecommerce storefront to cash in on the internet money making craze in just a few hours – but it takes planning, promotion and the sweat of your brow to make it into an ongoing source of internet income.

We’re in the second wave of an internet money explosion. Unlike the first, the one that made a few people who were in the right place at the right time very very wealthy, this one is open to anyone who has the right qualities. Those qualities are the same ones that made names like Sears & Roebuck household words – vision, persistence and good old-fashioned elbow grease.

The increasing ease of internet publishing has made it possible for anyone to have a fully functioning store online and in operation in less than an hour – and for less than $100. Storefront malls like Yahoo Small Business, CafePress and others let you get your own business started with full supports with just a few mouseclicks and a credit card number. But it takes far more than a ‘prime location’ to be successful as an internet merchant.

The dismal truth is that failure rate in ecommerce retail is even higher than in brick and mortar stores, even if the financial loss is generally far less. The very fact that you can start your own business for so little has turned starting your own business into an impulse decision. It’s far too easy to make a decision on the spur of the moment – and walk away when it doesn’t work out. There are things you can do to avoid becoming just one more internet money failure story. Here are five tips to help you make a success of your internet store.

Don’t Make An Impulse Decision
Don’t jump at the first ecommerce opportunity that you see. Before you make a decision, take the time to do some research and ask yourself some questions about what you want out of your business then evaluate the best business opportunities for you.

Know What You Want
Evaluate the amount of time you have to put into a startup business. How involved to you want to be? There are many different ways to cash in on internet money. It’s possible to buy into a complete setup with store, merchant account and fully stocked shelves where all you’ll have to do is promote your site. On the other hand, if you’d like to have more control, you can build a store from scratch right down to stocking the shelves.

Comparison Shop For the Best Business
You wouldn’t buy a car without comparison shopping. Why buy a business that way? There are literally dozens of ways to cash in on the internet money boom. Do you want the jump-start that goes with name recognition and support from a parent company? Then a franchise business might be right for you. Do you want total control over what you sell and for how much? Then you’ll want a business that lets you stock your own shelves. Are you creative and want to capitalize on your artistic abilities? Look into a storefront to market your own work. The possibilities are endless. Your hardest job is finding one that suits your style best.

Pick Something You Love.
The way to succeed on the internet is no different than the path to success in the brick and mortar world. It takes time and hard work. If you’re starting your own business, why would you choose to do something that you don’t love to do? Even if you decide to buy into a total package ecommerce turnkey store, pick a product that you love and can believe in. The better you know what you’re selling, the more successful you’ll be in promoting it. And when it comes to making internet money, promotion is the name of the game.

Educate Yourself.
No matter what you choose to sell, your main job is going to be promoting your website. The more you know about website promotion, the more successful you’ll be. Spend at least a few hours a week keeping up on the latest techniques of promoting your web site and watch your sales grow as you put them into practice.

The potential for making money on the internet is real. It just takes some forethought, planning and a lot of hard work. Know what you want to do. Love what you do. Believe in your abilities – and you’ll find the internet money rolling into your account.

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Content Writing Is An Art

By Domain Expert

Nov

Content writing is an art of providing a new look to your dull and mundane web business. If content writing is done as per the SEO norms then your business will prosper in full form. Ones your website is ready the next task on the cards is web content writing. You’ll be amazed to know that all the old and existing websites have started reframing their content so that they can attract more customers. It has been said that proper and exact web content establishes the delicate relation between targeted web content and commensurate increase in web business.

While doing content writing theme of the website should be kept in mind as content has direct relevance with the website. If your website looks attractive but written content is stale and out of focus then you end up loosing some of your potential customers. That’s why it should be done according to central theme of web site as well as nature of web business. Relevant content always contribute to your business and attracts more and more customers. As we know the fact that the traffic is generated from targeted content which is dependent on the chosen set of relevant keyword and key phrases. Thus, web writing should be done keeping those keywords and key phrases in mind. The crux is that when you write keyword centric content, you’re directly related to the central theme of your web site. And mind you this is the easiest of the method.

Prior gearing up for web content writing it is wise to decide on the main direction the web site is to take. As we know content development is a never ending necessity and constant updating is required. Thus, maintaining targeted content is an art and follows the logic of convergence of ideas. In big organizations, generally content writing is divided among cluster of content writers. This results in haywire of the content development and its theme. Thus, to avoid such events there should be frequent and close coordination among cluster heads and among cluster members. However, in small organizations these are rare incidents as particular content writing is headed by a particular content writer. But on the flip side, small organizations cannot cater heavy work-load which only big organizations can.

Thus, a successful web business is entirely dependent upon the proper content writing and content-development. In content writing and its management there should be a consensual approach and long-term planning which will be in tune with the central theme of the website. A lost focus can create havoc in the long term which will result in business loss. So, the final words are slow and steady wins the race.

How To Freelance As A Work-at-home Copywriter

By Domain Expert

Nov

Freelance copywriting already covers a wide range of media, such as television, radio, magazines, brochures, direct mail, and SEO copy. In fact, every word in every brochure, advert, website and leaflet you see is written by the copywriter. Before, copywriters were restricted to being in-house or by marketing / PR firms; but now, many freelance copywriters offer their services globally.

Working on a freelance copywriting job can be stressful. Just like all freelance jobs, freelance copywriting means you have to sell or market yourself, meet all deadlines or complete a job on time and on budget by making use of your skills and knowledge.
Being a copywriter enables you to choose a specific or particular market sector or product. To become a successful copywriter, you should have the ability to research a certain topic, while understanding your clients and target customers.

Aside from having excellent research skills, you also have to have imagination and creative flair to keep your ideas running while keeping your clients happy.

BECOMING A COPYWRITER

As with writing many types of copy, there are also different types of copywriters with various specialties in the market today. Some copywriters specialize in specific forms of copywriting, such as direct mail or ad copy, while other copywriters take a more general approach by writing copy on general topics for no specific type of client.

Today, freelance copywriters are known to write different forms of copy and clients expect them to handle a larger workload. Despite being demanding work, freelance copywriting can be a lot of fun and one of the best ways to make a steady income if you have the skills, the connection, and the drive to be successful.

Aside from being an avenue to earn great income, freelance copywriting also offers you the ability to work from anywhere via Internet. If you are planning to become a freelance copywriter, here are some tips to help you do the job:

1. Educate Yourself. If you want to delve into the world of freelance copywriting, then consider getting a writing degree in English, Journalism, Communications, and the like. Having an education or a background on the career you wish to pursue can be a strong step in finding work as a copywriter.

If it’s impossible for you to earn a degree, try to earn a certification in a specialty (such as marketing), or take non-degree courses that teach copywriting (or technical writing) basics offered by many colleges. Having a background in copywriting can serve as a credential once you venture into freelance work.

2. Get a pro bono work. If you don’t have any other experience, writing copy or an article for free will provide you with the experience you need. Writing pro bono copy for clients can also serve as sample copies once you market yourself as a freelance copywriter.

3. Intern. An internship from a recognized business or establishment in your field will add credibility to your skills. Aside from giving you experience and first-hand knowledge, an internship may also lead to permanent employment with the company.

4. Pursue various opportunities. Since the industry is booming, there are lots of freelance copywriters who serve as your competitors. If you are really into freelance copywriting, then you should always research businesses and agencies that may need copywriting services, both online and offline.

An excellent resource to learn about launching a freelance career is Andy Anderson’s book or audio book, “How to Make Money from Home as a Freelancer,” published by PaydayPublishing.com.

COPYWRITING JOBS

The number of copywriting jobs is enormous. If you did a keyword search on “copywriting,” you would find 500-plus jobs. This is only a small part of the market, and you could find many other copywriting jobs on other websites as well, such as FreelanceWriting.com. With the evolution of the Internet, there are more and more jobs available to write good web content among other things on the Internet. Often many freelance copywriting jobs can be found where you will find a plethora of advertising agencies. A good example of this would be in New York. Within your area, there will be a good number of smaller marketing agencies where you may be able to find work as a copywriter. The number of opportunities for a freelance copywriter is very high and this is a great field to work in.

Freelance and staff copywriting salaries usually range from $41,000 a year up to $85,000 a year or more. This is a rough gauge on what you could potentially make as a freelance copywriter.

Copywriting jobs are out there for the taking. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, copywriting jobs will grow in line with the general economy over the next decade. This means you will see about average growth for the industry but you could see enormous growth if you focus on Internet copywriting.

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How To Write Ezine Articles In Clusters

By Domain Expert

Nov

Writing several articles at once might seem pretty much impossible to do if you are just starting to write Ezine articles and find producing them one at a time hard enough. However, writing articles in clusters is not difficult and, once you understand how it’s done, you will enjoy the benefits. A group of articles written as a cluster can easily be turned into a series but for now we are looking at the how to produce a group of unique articles written at the same time around a central topic.

Some of the main benefits are as follows:

1. Writing articles in groups saves time when you are researching your subject;

2. It gives you space to fully develop a theme;

3. It gives you more unique content for your blog or website;

4. It gives you extra articles to submit to ezines or to sell.

When you write an article for publication in ezines, you have to keep the word count within certain guidelines (about 500-800 words is usually most acceptable). If your article is too long, ezines might not be prepared to give up the space required to reproduce it. If the article is too short, there is a danger Ezine publishers won’t take it seriously. Cluster writing is definitely not about turning out a number of truncated Ezine articles instead of one full length one. Neither is it about stretching or padding your material (you’ll only ever get a poor fit if you try that). It is about making full use of ideas and not wasting time or words.

If you are writing about a topic you know well, you will find yourself constantly having to edit your articles to keep the word count down. Instead of throwing away the excess material, paste it immediately into another document with a new title. I would suggest keeping the titles similar – eg “Puppy Training, Why To Do It” and “Puppy Training, When To Start”, you can swiftly move on to “Puppy Training, The Best Methods” etc. Don’t let the document get too big, anytime your word processor reaches page 2, it’s time to think about breaking it into two.

As you write, be alert to any tendency to wander off topic. You might be writing about how it is one thing to have a cute puppy jump on your bed but quite a different experience when that pup has become a 10 stone hound with muddy paws. Suddenly you remember something about doggy vitamins. Instead of popping the idea into one of your puppy training articles as an aside, put it into another new document which you can later use as part of a new cluster about dog nutrition. With one quick “cut and paste” you have kept one article focussed on the main topic and saved an idea, which might otherwise have been wasted, for a new project.

If you are writing an article on an unfamiliar topic, you might think you won’t have the problem of needing to cut down your article and will have trouble finding enough to say. However, if you undertake proper research about the subject matter (as you should if you want your article to be taken seriously), you are bound to come across material which relates to the article you have planned but does not quite fit it. Make notes of all this related material. If you get ideas for further articles as you are researching, make a note of these ideas. Research for article writing takes time, so make the most of it. Even if you can only manage two articles on an unfamiliar subject, it is two for the price of one.

Let’s look at how to use just one passing idea as the basis for a group of articles. Take the thought “my first home business venture reminds me of Apollo 13″. To make this idea into an article, we have to say what is behind the initial thought. Otherwise, the reader will be left thinking “What, it nearly got lost in space?” or “You were trying to land on the moon?”. With no explanation or clarification, the idea is meaningless to anyone but you.

The thoughts behind the idea could be about a series of numerical coincidences in regard to events, about surviving near-disasters, about how duct tape solved a huge problem and about the power of prayer. With all these four things encapsulated in the idea, you have the basis of a four paragraph article. It does not require much of an imagination stretch to see that you could have the basis for four separate articles clustered around a central idea.

Never let an idea or a word go to waste. For the time and effort cluster writing saves, it is worth trying to use the technique even in the early days of your Ezine article writing career. Once you try it, you will realise it’s even better than “buy one get one free”.

Writing Articles Can Be A Profitable Business

By Domain Expert

Nov

In the world of today, job satisfaction scores over most other factors. They are less inclined to become cogs in the wheel if they can help it. Moreover, one can do so much more today. The growth in the field of communications has opened up many opportunities. More and more people have begun to give up their day jobs in favor of more flexible work-from-home routines. The unprecedented rise of the Internet has been one of the major factors that have made this possible.

Among the groups who are benefiting from this expansion in communication are writers. The world of magazines and ezines are a vast area is open to all. In fact, anyone who can string a decent sentence together can now think of seriously think of writing professionally. These days, anyone can become a writer with a little investment and a certain degree of writing skill. Of course, it is not be all that easy when you are starting out. But once one does, the money will just keep coming in.

Marketing one’s skills becomes very important if one is looking to rake in the profits by writing articles. If one is planning to send articles to a bunch of magazines, it would be prudent to study the magazines and understand their specific styles. Having done that, one can commence writing articles that would appeal to those styles. Look at the case of someone who has to write about a spot of historic importance. His approach will certainly differ based on whether the article is intended for a business magazine, a travel blog, or a tourism website.

Writers must have the objective of selling the articles. One must write articles that will encourage more and more readers to go through them. Being able to place good content within the framework of a well-written article is a skill that writers need to develop.

Writers, in general, must bear in mind the fact that they have to write regularly if they want to improve. Practice makes perfect, and the more one writes, the better the writing becomes. It is advisable to read books and editorials that will broaden one’s horizons. It is necessary to be familiar with a large number of concepts so that if you required to write on some unusual topic, the idea will not be too difficult.

At the same time, one must learn to edit one’s own work. Typing errors are a fact of life. A single mis-type can change the meaning of a sentence. A spelling mistake might make the reader get the impression that the writer is incompetent. Thus, before attaching and mailing an article, it becomes essential to read through it thoroughly. Even a cursory proof-read could help one cull out a number of errors. Remember, when selling an article to a client, one must make sure that it is completely free of errors. To ensure that, one can also invest in some of the editing software that may be found quite readily.

Now, online writing may not result in a windfall. A client who needs a number of online articles is not likely to pay more than a small fraction of what an offline magazine might pay for an article with a similar word count. However, there is far more certainty if you are writing for the online world. The delays that are part and parcel of the offline magazine world are few and far between in the world of the Internet. One may not get a huge sum of money for a single article. However, one might manage to get paid a decent sum for a large number of articles. Also, most online articles are relatively short in length and tend to not require intensive research. Thus, a writer who is fairly quick can make quite a bit through this mode.

Another issue is being credited for the articles that one writes. Getting a byline may not be an option for amateurs. In fact, one might have to start out by ghostwriting for someone else. Even so, the point is that one is being able to hone his/her writing skills and receive payment for it. With time, one should be able to establish one’s credibility as a writer. Then, getting a byline might just be a cakewalk.

A large number of such writers start off by subscribing to some of the many freelance writing sites. This may prove useful in the case of someone who is unfamiliar with the working. Additionally, it is a good idea to acquire a website of one’s own from which one can carry out one’s article writing business. It is likely that the start will be slow, but writers have to keep trying. Once the offers start trickling in, and one starts producing good articles, there is no looking back. You could even hit the big time pretty soon.

How To Create Traffic Online With Article Marketing

By Domain Expert

Nov

The main function of many WebPages is to deliver information of value. People use search engines to find web pages that deliver information of value to them. This is where articles come in. Articles are used to give information of value to the online surfer. This demand for such articles converts them to an important marketing tool.

A Simple Process

Article marketing is a simple process. First you have to write an article that is of great value to the readers. Then you add a bio at the end of it and a couple of links within the body. Viola! You are ready to go. This dramatically affects the amount of traffic going to your website and even increases your search engine ranking. More people pour into your site from search engines as well.

The article should be anywhere between 250 – 1000 words, though larger articles are permissible as well. Do not be blatantly promotional. Up to three links are generally allowed. Make the information useful. A bio of 75 – 150 words is generally one that works well.

Proofread all your articles carefully. The smallest errors need to be avoided as they damage your reputation online. To create traffic online with article marketing, submit your articles to sites like ghostwriters.com, articlewheel.com and isnare.com. These sites charge a nominal fee. The quantity of articles you write matters here. The more articles are written, the better.

Work Towards a Great Headline

Invest your time towards writing a great headline.
A headline is what noticed first when you create traffic online with article is marketing. It is what draws a reader to read your article or overlook it. Naturally you must work on the headline as the most important part of the article. Use credible words. Be specific, believable and beneficial.

Invest Time in a Signature/Bio

The Bio is the second most important part of the article after the headline. The anchor text in the bio should include the phrase that you want to rank highly on in search results. If you want to rank highly on “New York Lawyers”, make sure that it is a part of the bio and features as the anchor text that links back to your website.

Within 3-4 days Google will start showing you where your article appears. You will be surprised and even amazed at the results. Google alerts also let you track down article thieves that copy your work.

The Time Consuming Part of Article Submission

The most time consuming part when you create traffic online with article marketing is the initial registration. Once this is done you can easily submit articles to the same directories using the same username and password.

Submitting an article to 50 article directories should generate over 200 backlinks within 3-6 months.

Bookmark the Web Pages with Your Articles

To create traffic online through article marketing, bookmark the web pages with your articles with popular bookmark sites, for example digg.com and del.icio.us, these sites are growing in popularity by the day. Adding social bookmark links to your articles makes it easy for readers to find your content. It’s also enjoyable, simple and efficient. You can use this Social Bookmarking Tool http://www.expertarticles.com/bookmark/ to bookmark your articles with more than 50+ social bookmarking sites. You can also add the “Bookmark It” button on your web site so your visitors will be able to bookmark it with most Popular Bookmarking Services.

4 Steps To Flip A Website Successfully

By Domain Expert

Nov

Determining a profitable website is not easy especially if you are looking to flip it for higher profit within a short time frame. However, with the correct steps and procedures, it is possible even for a beginner to pick up a good site with great potential to start off.

The first step to determine if a website is worth the investment is by the number of income streams it has. Most websites have more than one income channel such as Pay-Per-Click advertisement (Google Adsense etc), Pay-Per-Action programs (AzoogleAds, ClickBank etc) or selling of own products. Basically, this step is to analyze the current profitable channels and see if you can expand or add in other sources of income. Never rely only on one income source for a website.

The second step is to find out where are the traffic coming from. Most websites should have a healthy amount of constant traffic from the search engines followed by social bookmarking sites or regular visitors. If the majority of the traffic is coming from the search engines, proceed to ask the owner what are the keywords that brought in the traffic. Try out the keywords in the search engines and check out the search engine rankings of the site.

You should also check with the owner what are the top search engines that direct the traffic to the site. With these information, check the on-page optimization effort of the site and you may have more ideas for improvements after you have bought it.

The next step is to highlight the areas of possible improvements of the site. If you can come out with at least two quick fixes to the site that can increase the value created to the visitors, the traffic to the site will increase to the next higher level eventually. For example, if you can include an online tool to calculate the financial networth of a person in a financial blog, that would most likely benefit all your readers in a long run.

The fourth step is to check for back links to the site that you are interested to purchase. It is highly recommended to use Yahoo backlink analyzer to check for backlinks since it displays almost all the pages that linked to the site. You may want to use the Yahoo powered analyzer at USESEO.com.

With the above four steps, you should have no problems choosing a profitable website that can generate a stable income for some time. You are advised to check on the seller’s history as well to know more about the seller’s background before confirming the transaction.

Building A Golden Nest Egg For Your Retirement Years

By Domain Expert

Nov

Gordon Brown, speaking recently in Scotland, said that there should be a national debate on raising the state pension age, and David Blunkett, Work and Pensions secretary, told the BBC News that a rise in the state pension age should be considered.

The Pension Commission has already suggested that a mixture of higher taxes, larger savings and a higher retirement age could go some way to making sure that people will not be living in poverty in their old age.

Apparently the ‘problem’ is that people are living longer, and the pension’s commission declares that more than 12 million people are not saving enough towards retirement. Since the government, and life insurance firms, didn’t anticipate pensioners living so long, now they are saying that, in order to be able to afford to pay out on their pensions, they will have to work to at least the age of 70.

At first sight this all looks rather bleak, but it’s not all bad news, because people who work longer, particularly in a job they enjoy, actually live longer. Many people think that if they retire early they will live longer, but researchers have disproved this theory. In fact, those who stop working at 55 have nearly double the death rate of those who continue to work until they reach at least 65!

Baroness Greengross, chief executive of the International Longevity Centre UK, has said Work is a huge part of this equation, and provides mental and physical activity, self-esteem, social interaction and income for many of us is vital for older people to stay mentally and physically active.

So maybe we are all going to have to work for longer, and yet no one wants to be stuck in a job they hate for even more years than they had already anticipated.

Luckily there are some happy alternatives. There’s been quite an increase recently in people wanting to set up an e-commerce business with a view to building it up now, so that it will bring an income during their ‘retirement’ years.

Usually customers have been planning on setting up an online shop to sell products or services connected with their interests or hobbies. They’re doing this with the intention of using the internet to make money for themselves, and their families, in an enjoyable way, and setting up something they will be able to continue with well into their old age.

These days it is not nearly as expensive or difficult to set up an e-commerce website as it used to be. Getting a site that would let you sell your products or service online can be done quite quickly, and with the minimum of fuss, if you approach a company who has experience in setting up ecommerce websites. You do really need to seek professional help and advice with this though, as it’s not something a novice can do successfully by themselves.
Making your later years ‘golden’ could be as simple as expanding your hobby and getting set up to sell related products or services online. With an uncertain future ahead, the security of a little extra income is sure to be very welcome indeed.

How To Really Annoy Your Web Site Visitors

By Domain Expert

Nov

It is quite easy to build a web site. It is even easier to really annoy your web site visitors.

Build A Winner

Anyone can build a web site. Building a good web site is another story. Web designers can easily avoid some of the most common mistakes by watching out for the following pitfalls:

1. Pop-Ups – Pop-ups can really annoy a visitor as these advertisements that open automatically in a new window can be quite distracting. The visitor might be interested in looking at the content of your site but a pop-up can force the visitor to focus on other things. A better way to annoy visitors is by having pop-ups that spawn more pop-ups when the visitor tries to close the first one.

2. Never Ending Web Pages – Another way to annoy your web site visitors is by putting mass amounts of information on one long continuous page. The visitor will keep scrolling endlessly down the web page only to get lost in web site content unrelated to what he or she was looking for in the first place. Long pages are one of the easiest ways to make a web page look hokey. It is much better to keep web site pages short and sweet so that it is easy for the visitor to get right to the information that is being looked for.

3. Excessive use of Graphics – Some web developers think that by using flashy graphics they can attract visitors to their site. Instead, the visitors are likely to get irritated. Too many graphics will make your web site download very slowly. Due to slow download speeds people might leave your web site before even knowing what your site has to offer. In this fast moving world, nobody has spare time to sit and wait until your web site pages load. This is particularly true for the 42 percent of people still on dial-up.

4. Under Construction Pages – Another way to irritate your web site visitors is by diverting them to a page which reads “under construction”. Most people try to find content oriented web sites and if they come across your web page that reads “under construction,” the visitor is likely to be annoyed, having spent time getting there with no positive result.

5. Plug-Ins – Some web sites use plug-ins that visitors have to install before they can view the web site. This is one of the easiest way to really annoy your web site visitors. Some people feel that if they like a particular program then others should like it as well. A web developer might like a good-looking icon program which needs to be installed before his or her web site can be viewed. If the program is obscure and not used by most people, this will only be a source of discontent when things do not work properly on the site. Don’t make people download software to see your site. Never ever make them take extra steps to do something.

6. Lack of Content – Most people like content oriented web sites that give information on specific topics. Even search engines love content-based web sites and will rank content heavy sites higher in search results. Usually people visit a web site to see what benefit the site can offer them. Lack of proper content results in annoyed visitors leaving the web site.

7. Music – A few years back music was quite common on the web and many web sites had music that automatically played. Gradually people have realized that music creates a lot of distraction and is a nuisance to a lot of people. If you really want music then a choice should be given to the visitor to switch it on or off. Remember, may people surf the web with music playing already or while sitting in their office. When a web site automatically plays music, it will aggravate them to no end.

8. Inconsistent Page Design – Some sites are designed in such a way that after moving from one page to another the visitor feels as if he or she has come to a totally different web site. There should be some uniformity in page design or else visitors will feel lost and disoriented.

By paying close attention to factors that can annoy web site visitors, web site owners and designers can keep their visitors happy. Following, or rather not following, these eight web site annoyances, webmasters can make the most of each web visitor.

Issues You Will Confront When Using Third Parties To Build Out Sites

By Domain Expert

Nov

Nearly every ecommerce site revolves around a database to support inventory, listings and transactions. Building out the database can be a challenge. Here is what to expect.

Issues You Will Confront When Using Third Parties To Build Out Sites

Experienced web site database developers will leave plenty of time for debugging, troubleshooting and the unexpected instances. Even the best database development companies will run into set backs along the way though. Ensuring that you work with your developer to achieve a realistic time line is very important. At times, a database development company may estimate a project overly optimistically to win a bid. Choosing a company based on the shortest time line can often lead to trouble.

Also, relying on a deadline to be met can cause trouble if unforeseen occurrences pop up. Often these occurrences are the result of the originator of the work not foreseeing a business process necessary for the system. ‘Oh by the way, for that auction you’re working on, I also need integrated forums so that every auction item can have a forum thread.’ This type of added on item is sure to stretch a timeline. If you are not realistic in dealing with timelines, relations between developer and originator can sour easily.

Another favorite of database developers is the old agree on a proposal in October, client disappears for six months, then show up and expects the same timeline. Obviously if a developer estimates a project will take four months, waiting to start the project may result in delays because other clients will have come along.

Another favorite of web database developers is the push to show progress. If the originator of a project pushes for an update in undue time, a developer may rush to get to the coding and show an update. The first steps are the architecture of the whole system. This includes planning where data is stored, how it is most efficiently referenced and how the system can be expanded. Just like a construction worker needs a solid blueprint, the database coder and designers need a solid plan before building. Insisting on a plan for your database and not a code update is a good step to avoiding the pitfall of a poorly planned database.

Designing a database driven web site for heavy traffic takes considerably more time than designing a database for low traffic sites. Designing a database for heavy traffic sites generally involves designing processes to minimize hits on the database. For starters, don’t even think about storing images in your database. Instead, store references to your images.

Moving beyond the novice level of database architecture, one can reduce database hits by publishing flat HTML pages from the database periodically, so the database is not hit on each page access. Advanced web database architecture for high traffic sites might include publishing flat pages for often searched terms to once again reduce hits on the database. Slow databases kill sites, so limiting access wherever possible is important.

Similar to high traffic site considerations, search times can be dramatically reduced by designing databases for high volume traffic. A simple example is to have a separate table just for keywords that are likely to be searched that references the related pages to those keywords. This allows a search function to search this small table of keywords as opposed to one large table of pages with all of the content in it. This concept can be related to a card catalog in the library. Instead of reading every book on the shelf, one can simply go through the card catalog and find the specific book one needs.

You need backups. Automated backups at that. If things can go wrong, they will go wrong. At the worst possible moment. That is just how it is.

With backups, there are several types. You can have a RAID system that will mirror hard drives. You can also have a server-to-server backup system that transfers data to another system. There can also be a secure download backup automated from a local machine.

Security is of course a huge issue with any web database. Even if one is simply storing personal data with no financial information, the database can be a target of spammers or identity thieves. There are a myriad of different security methods. Of those, encryption of data should be used, not just during transfer through an SSL, but in the database as well. Keeping forms secure is also very important. A periodic security audit on any major web database system is essential.

“The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” This statement is as true with web databases as any part of life. Perhaps the Unforeseen Instance is an extra requirement that only became apparent after the project was started. Perhaps it’s a hard drive going bad at just the wrong time, or maybe even the dog ate your…laptop. Whatever it is, the Unforeseen Instance is almost inevitable, so be sure to put away a little extra time for this.

To wrap things up, when working with database developers, first ensure they have a solid work history designing databases. Be sure to insist on architecture and not to push your designer into rushing the project. Make sure to have a plan for backups and go over your security time and time again.

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I Know The Internet Is A Goldmine But WHAT Should I Sell?

By Domain Expert

Nov

“Do what you love and money will follow.”

Tell that to the starving artist. And yet, there are hundreds of other artists who are not starving.

People all over are turning a profit by simply selling their passion, which can come in the form of thoughts on paper, digital information, or recorded music and video. Kids today are smarter than we realize when they say, “When I grow up, I want to be rich.” What can be easily interpreted as a lazy – I want to make money without working hard – can be really seen as – I want to make money out of nothing and make that money work for me. Madonna used her voice (which cost nothing) to make millions. Michael Jordan used his skills (which cost his time) to market himself into millions through shoes, clothes, and advertising. And with the burgeoning commerce of the world wide web, making a profit from your passions is practically limitless.

But how do you do it?

The first thing is to realize is that your passion can be turned into an asset and by asset, I mean something you have that makes you money. Because you’re already interested in it what you mean to sell, you don’t have to start from zero knowledge.

The next thing to do is to find an idea and to find a niche market. People often get stumped because they feel they have nothing new to contribute. But you don’t need to reinvent a market, you just need to tap into an existing one. And there’s no easier one than the one you know already. Chances are you’ve bought tons of products related to your passion (music, art, dogs, skateboarding, fishing, ant-farming, whatever) already. You know which of these products helped you and which ones didn’t. If people are selling products or information to a specific market, then, with a good product, you have a good chance of doing likewise.

If you’re computer saavy, or even if you just check your email every day and once in a while google an interest of yours, you’ve already come across people who enjoy the same things you do. You’ve chatted with them in forums, and you know what their needs and desires are or even better the things that peeve them. If you can come up with solutions or make a better product, you can get a piece of that market and thoroughly enjoy what you’re doing.

Good Luck,

Learn How To Accept Payment Online From Your Customers

By Domain Expert

Nov

Whether you own thousands of dollars or just a few hundred-at least two hundred, and you are providing a service, it may be a good idea for you to check into accept payment online from your customers. This is a type of merchant status and the first place for you to look to achieve that status is the bank you do business with. Just because you may have been doing business with them for a long time doesn’t mean they will automatically give you merchant status though, and if they turn you down, don’t worry, you have other options. You can try a couple of other banks or you can try other companies that specialize in issuing accounts to online merchants. Do a Google search and type in credit card processing, you will find many outfits looking for businesses seeking merchant accounts. This will not be a cheap endeavor either; start-up fees to accept payments online can amount to around $200 and monthly processing fees of around $20 dollars.

While searching for your merchant account so you can accept payments online, you should also realize that you are going to have to make your customers feel safe while doing business with you online. Wherever you buy your credit card processing should also supply you with a secure transaction environment, if they don’t find one some where else before you start accepting payments online. Despite what you may have heard about accepting payments online, credit card payments are still one of the safest payment methods available online. There are many fraud-prevention tools out there so check them out and get one that will suit your needs. You can also protect yourself by using the card validation code 2 {CVC2} and the card verification value {CVV2} verification systems of MasterCard and Visa, respectively. These verification services use the three-digit codes printed on all MasterCard and Visa cards to help you determine whether your customers are using legitimate cards. Also, you may want to ask prospective processors about the costs of storefront solutions that you should have to make your website a success, things like shopping carts, Web hosting, online payment gateways, virtual checks, customer tracking, databases for your orders, and a way to calculate tax and shipping charges. These are all the things you need for a successful Web site business.

Shop around for a credit card processor that best suits your needs. Talk to several different processors and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Find out about:

The discount rate: The percentage of each transaction paid to the merchant account provider. If your monthly charges are less than a certain volume, the processor may charge a higher percentage. Just make sure you read all the fine print before you start doing business with the services you need to run your own business. You want your customers to feel secure in all aspects of doing business with you, so they will keep buying your products and you can accept payments online.

How To Setup Merchant Account Details

By Domain Expert

Nov

If you are interesting in learning more about merchant services, you will need to know something about setup merchant account details. This may seem like the hardest part of getting a merchant account, especially if you are uninvolved with many e-commerce or technological business systems. Here are some details that can help to give you a better idea of merchant account setup.

For setup merchant account information, you will want to contact the merchant account provider that you are thinking of working with. This could be your local banker, the one that manages your company’s regular accounts at present. Or it might be another lender with a better merchant account deal that includes lower terms or more useful services. When you select the underwriter for your merchant account, find out which fees will apply. Some merchant account providers seem to charge for a host of things, including the application, setup, gateway, membership, and maintenance, among others. After applying to your account provider of choice and being approved for merchant services, an account representative can work with you to set up merchant account details that will soon have your business equipped for credit card payments.

At that point you can ask more detailed questions about setup merchant account services. For example, if there is a service fee for setup, will you need to pay it first, will it be billed, or will it be deducted from your first month’s sales? Find out who will install the credit card processing software program and whether you must pay for it. Perhaps it will pay for itself in a few months, saving you this initial start-up cost. It is important to find out whether a customer services representative will be standing by to answer customers’ questions and deal with problems that may arise at the Website. Up-to-date contact or email information is essential to reassure customers they can get help when needed. You will need to know if you must find and pay someone for backup of this type or if the merchant services provider will handle this for you.

Your setup merchant account fees should be minimal, but make sure you find out ahead of time what to expect so there are no unpleasant surprises when you can least afford them. After all, you don’t want to go to the trouble and expense of opening a merchant services account only to find that you cannot afford to provide the necessary components to make it operational and customer-friendly. If possible, get a list of services and their prices before signing the contract on your merchant account.

The timeframe for setup merchant account operations should not be excessive. Most underwriters can have your Website ready to start accepting credit card payments within a few days. When they do, you will probably ask yourself why you waited so long to apply for this helpful tool. You also may be interested in getting a wireless credit card processor for travel-related sales and a pager to maintain office-to-employee communications. An e-check processor may be the logical next step.

The commercial sky is the proverbial limit when you inquire about setup merchant account options.

More Heads Are Better That One

By Domain Expert

Nov

No matter how you are looking at things, if another person looks – he will see them differently. So, to be sure you are doing the right things on the right way, you should not only think systematically yourself, but also provide channels to get feedback and other opinions.

“The manager of one car-service company phoned all his daily customers after the working time to make sure they were satisfied with the service and to ask them if they could have done something better.” This is a very good example of how one company can be closer to its customers; but on the other side – it is very time-consuming and rather expensive. There is a proverb that we can use for better solution: “If Mohammed can’t come to the mountain, the mountain will come to Mohammed.” In order to gain as much feedback and opinions from your customers, you have to be sure that they can provide it easily the moment they decide.

You have probably made a nice-looking website to provide information, promote something, get the message out there or sell something. It is now time to think of some other usage for it – gaining feedback! Here are some ways to do that using live-support software:
• Be sure to place a contact point on each of your web pages. It can include the “chat” button, the “leave a message” button or even a visible link to “contact us” – where you have all the other contact points written;

• Provide visitors with incentives to give you their feedback. For example: We appreciate any of your comments and opinions and are glad to offer prizes for 10 of our visitors each month which gave us their feedback.

• Place imbedded links in your website text to receive feedback on certain important issues. For example: We developed a new product line according to your requirements. We will be glad to chat with you to hear your opinion or new ideas;

• Place the “chat” button on the e-mails you send. That way your customers can immediately reply to your message and you get the chance to ask additional questions you are interested in;

• Make paper feedback cards which you can give together with your products or services and write on them your website address where they can interact with you and tell you their satisfaction, their ideas for improvement or simply chat with you on any issue.

56% of consumers feel respected when marketers attempt to understand their interests. So, make sure that as many people from outside the business can comment regularly on what you are doing well or badly and that way make them feel respected.

Why Do 90% Of Online Businesses In South Africa Fail?

By Domain Expert

Nov

It is estimated that over 90% of new websites fail within the first year of existence. Interestingly enough, the same can be said for the restaurant industry, as only 1 out of each 10 new restaurants experience real rewards.

With such negative odds it seems that many are taking a foolish gamble for a shot at success. Yet, there are certain individuals who are able to launch successful restaurants and online businesses time and time again with amazing success rates.

Why is this? Almost all of these entrepreneurs failed many times before they succeeded, but, the key to their success is a winning formula derived from trial and error.

The Internet is no different. Through the Dot-Bomb era, millions of websites failed and through this collective information, it was possible to develop a successful formula. A formula used by R.O.I Media to ensure the success of their websites and their clients’ websites.

Highlighted below are some of the modern principles for online success. It is guaranteed that if businesses actually adhered to these principles, 90% of them would be smiling rather than crying.

1. The 5 P’s (Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance)

The key to launching a successful online business is down to proper planning. Before launching any online business you need identify your potential target market and demand. Online Businesses have distinct advantage over traditional brick and mortar businesses due to the fact that we can identify demand for any industry based on the daily demand indicated in search volume.

For instance, the keyword “cape town accommodation” is searched for ± 350 times a day. Therefore it’s feasible to launch a site that offers bookings for accommodation in Cape Town. The demand is visible in the searches done by users.

2. Competitor Analysis

It’s surprising how many new online businesses launch and when asked the question, ‘name your top 5 competitors?’ few can give you a direct answer. By identifying your competitors, you gain valuable competitor intelligence which can help mould your business model. It’s important to see:

How much competition is in your industry?
More competition makes it harder to compete. Sometimes the better angle is to target segments with less competitor saturation.

Price Comparison
Customers in this day and age are becoming more and more price sensitive. With the internet, customers are able to shop around for the lowest price within minutes and most of the time they are drawn by a low price. It’s sometimes better to make less profit as opposed to no profit.

Don’t be caught off guard. Identify all your competitors’ prices and position yourself to be competitive and make sure you are able to make enough profit to sustain your business expenses, including marketing.

USP – Unique Selling Proposition
This is a vital question that few business owners can answer. What is your unique selling proposition? Simply put, what do you offer that your competitors don’t offer or what do you do better than your competitors. By launching a product range that is not unique in any way, will not give you a distinct advantage in the marketplace and will set you up for failure.

3. Build it and they will come (Traffic)

Many new websites spend far too much time and money on launching a website. Once the site is launched, they do far too little to promote the website and as a result few people come to the website. Being out there is not enough; you need to actively promote your website online in order to get traffic to the website. Traffic can be generated through SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and PPC (Pay per Click services).

Interestingly, 88% of all internet users use search engines to find what they are looking for. In February 2008, there were nearly 10 billion core searches done in the US alone. Search Engine Optimisation is the process of bringing a website to as high a position as possible in the search results when a user types in a search term in the search engine.

In Layman’s terms, you go to Google and type in “Blue Widgets”, and a website comes up number 1 selling blue widgets, this is due to an effective SEO strategy.

4. Leading the Horse to water (Conversion)

You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. The same can be said online. All the traffic in the world will not guarantee sales. More traffic does not always correlate to more sales.

Website effectiveness is measured using a simple metric called Conversion or a website Conversion Rate. To work out your site’s conversion rate, you divide the total amount of unique visitors (NOT hits) by the total amount of sales.

For Example: 100 unique people visit your site, 2 people buy out of that 100, you have a 2% conversion rate.
Conversion Rate = Desired Action/Total Number of Unique Visitors
The average global conversion rate is 2.4%.

The average South African website conversion rate is under 1%. What does this mean? If you are spending an average of R10 per Click (PPC), driving 100 people to your site will cost you R1000. If only 1 in 100 purchase, that sale (cost per acquisition) has cost you R1000. Let’s hope that you made more than R1000 profit or you will generate no return whatsoever. The reality is that most websites suffer from terrible conversion rates. Usually, their sites generate zero returns and actually lose money as their advertising costs exceed their profits.

Did you know that 75% of browsers back out of a shopping cart? It’s even got its own term, called “shopping cart abandonment”. People enter the shopping cart, and something freaks them out to the point that 3 out of 4 run away. Was your delivery cost too high? Did they think your site was a fly by night? Was the return policy not clear? Were they worried about submitting their credit card details? These are some of the reasons that can lead to this.

5. A website is a website, or is it?

The first step before spending vast amounts on marketing is to refine your site’s conversion ratio.
There are websites and then there are online selling machines. The difference is linked to the conversion ratio, one sells and makes money, and one does not.

By effectively increasing a website’s conversion rate, you generate more sales, and more profit without spending more on marketing.

Conclusion:

By following these key guidelines and contacting an expert company with a great track record, online success should not be contributed to luck. Proper planning and execution will ensure long term sustainable success.

Improve Conversion Rates With Content

By Domain Expert

Nov

Your site is fast and getting traffic, but conversion rates are disappointing. You may have problems with the tone of your content

Do You Believe?

You must have passion for the product or service you are providing. If you don’t believe in it, why should visitors to your site? A lack of belief will result in weak content and poor conversion rates. If you are selling quality, you are doing the prospect a favor. The tone of your site should reflect this in the content.

To effectively convert prospects, every entry page of your site must tell visitors:

1. What you offer,

2. How they will benefit, and

3. Demand they take action.

Entry Pages

Many sites have conversion problems related to entry pages. Most people automatically envision the home page as the sole entry path to the site. Sweat, blood and tears are spent making the home page just write. Conversely, a fraction of the same effort is applied to internal pages. This is a fundamental mistake.

If server statistics are checked, you may be surprised to find significant amounts of traffic entering your site through internal pages of your site. Yes, a large percentage of visitors are entering the site without seeing the home page. If your “hook” is only on the home page, your conversions will suffer. Make sure you have a concise summary of your service and the benefits on every entry page to the site and conversions will improve.

What You Offer

Tell visitors exactly what you do with the first sentence. Don’t be subtle. You only have a few seconds to get their attention. Don’t waste it. The opening sentence should read something like, “At XYZ, we offer quality tools at wholesale prices.” Bam! The prospect knows exactly what you are offering and if it fills their need.

Benefits

Tell your prospect how they will benefit from doing business with you. Don’t assume they understand it. Again, be blunt with something like, “You save money when you buy from us because we have a low overhead and free shipping.” Bam! Now the visitor knows you sell tools at a low price. This combination should result in shopping activity if they have any need for the tool products.

Demand Action

What do you want prospects to do when they visit your site? At the end of your content, make sure you tell them. “Click here to order” is a perfectly fine statement, but adding a benefit is optimal. “Click here to order with free shipping” is a superior demand. Regardless, make sure you tell them what to do and make it is easy as possible to take the requested action.

If you are offering quality, you are doing clients a favor. Make sure the tone of your site reflects that fact.

Merchant Accounts And Shopping Systems

By Domain Expert

Nov

Congratulations! You created an impulse in a customer to buy your product, but there’s one small catch–without some way to process their credit card information, your sale is gone.

One of the best ways to capture and use customer credit card information is with a merchant account (Visa, MasterCard, American Express) that is tied to your electronic shopping system. It used to be hard to get such a merchant account but no longer. It seems like every company out there is ready to give (well, not give but sell) you a merchant account, but beware.

You will run into all kinds of deals from people trying to lease you credit card swiping equipment, too. But unless you do a ton of face-to-face business, you will never see a real credit card and that credit card swiping machine will serve you better as a doorstop. I can safely say that nearly all of my sales are done via the Internet or telephone. Every once in a while, I’ll get the odd fax order, but far and wide I have no use for a physical swiping machine. Even when I do sell products at the back of the room during my speaking engagements, I just fill out a form by hand to used later, and when possible, I bring my portable computer and capture customer information electronically to be used online later. And these days it seems I am finding more and more places have wireless networks to use so I can enter all the customer, account, and order information on the spot and submit the whole transaction online instantly. It’s as if the customer was logging into my shopping cart system from somewhere else.

When shopping for a merchant account, it is important to get firm numbers on up-front fees, monthly fees, credit card percentages, and costs per transaction, so be sure to get the merchant’s definition for a “transaction,” such as whether obtaining authorization only constitutes a transaction or whether processing a return does. All of these fees can add up, but still will seem like mere pennies when the orders start flowing in.

Another piece of advice to heed–don’t try to save a few bucks by signing up for a merchant account, even if it is free, before you choose a shopping system. The shopping system is much more important. Make sure that any merchant account you consider works well with you shopping system.

One final bit of information is that you must sign up directly with American Express to take their credit cards. You can do this online at http://www.americanexpress.com/homepage/mechant.shtml.

How Long Does It Take Your Site To Load On Dial Up?

By Domain Expert

Nov

Your site is getting traffic, but conversion rates are horrible. Everything seems to be working, so what’s wrong? Your site may simply be to slow.

Load Times – Are You Driving A Ferrari or Moped?

Give some thought to the sites you have visited of the past few weeks. Were you willing to wait 20 seconds for a site to load or did you hit the back button? Why would visitors to your site behave any differently? They won’t.

Webmasters, designers and site owners universally access the web through high-speed connections. Because of this, it is easy to forget roughly 40 percent of surfers use dial-up connections. While your site may appear to load quickly on your high-speed connection, have you tried loading it on a 56k connection? The results can be shocking.

Sites that appear to load quickly on a high-speed connection can take forever on 56k. It is not unheard of to find a “fast site” actually takes 30, 50 or 80 seconds to load on a 56k. Sometimes, the load time is so slow the browser will actually “time out” and fail to show anything. If your site has this problem, 40 percent of the hits are worthless. Worse, those frustrated surfers are unlikely to try to access your site in the future even if you fix the speed problems.

How fast should a page load on a 56k connection? As fast as possible, but no slower then 25 seconds. If you can get 56k load times below 10 seconds, you can turn a negative into a competitive advantage. Surfers come back to fast sites.

Determining Load Times

The best way to determine the load time for your site is to actually use a 56k connection. While this solution isn’t particularly technical, it will let you see exactly what your prospects are seeing when they visit the site. You will be able to see what loads quickly and what appears slowly. This should let you isolate particular elements in need of optimizing.

Server statistics can also provide you with evidence of slow load times. Are users spending a lot of time on entry pages, but not visiting internal pages? Either you have poor content or a loading problem.

Finally, you can also use diagnostic programs to test load times. Typically, the programs will kick out estimated load times for dial-up, DSL and T1 connections. Make sure you test your home page and internal pages. Diagnostic programs are excellent tools, but don’t get lazy. Make sure you physically watch your site load on a dial-up connection. The experience will prove invaluable to improving your site and conversion rates.

Improving Performance

The steps needed to improve the performance of your site often depend on the nature of the site. A database driven site will have different issue than a graphic intense site. There are, however, universal factors that can be checked:

1. Graphics: Typically, browsers have to make a connection for each image on a page. The more you have, the longer the load time. Limiting the number and size of graphics can help.

2. Tables: If you use tables, try to break them up into smaller modules. Large tables can negatively impact load times.

3. Multimedia: If it flashes, explodes, spins or blinks, consider ditching it. Yes, it looks great, but is it worth 40% of your audience?

4. Size: Scrutinize the size of your pages. The bigger the page, the slower the load times. It shouldn’t be a problem if the page is comprised of text, but large pages with lots of code will load slowly.

Cheer up if you have a speed problem! Yes, you’ve lost a lot of business, but now you can fix it. Most of your competitors will never figure it out. That puts you ahead of the game.

What Is E-Commerce

By Domain Expert

Nov

What is e-commerce? e-Commerce, also known as eCommerce, is short for “electronic commerce.” Great. So what’s “electronic commerce,” then? Simple. It’s buying and selling stuff over the Internet. “Stuff” can include goods, services, or both. e-Commerce covers a broad range of businesses, from stores selling specific products, to auctions, to (legal, paid-for) downloading of music and movies. It has become one of the most important results of the spread of the Internet.

Think about it. You can go online, buy a book, and have it delivered to your door the next day, without ever setting foot in a bookstore. It seems so natural now, but people couldn’t always do that. When it comes to buying and selling stuff, barriers of time and distance mean very little anymore. e-Commerce has grown incredibly fast over the last few years. Expect this to continue, or even accelerate. Also, you can expect the line between ‘regular’ and ‘e’ commerce to blur more and more. Almost every kind of business will be done will be at least partly over Internet.

What is e-commerce? It’s a new way of doing business, relying on innovations in moving money and information around electronically, marketing goods and services over the Internet, processing the actual transaction online and Internet security. The explosive growth of e-commerce creates amazing opportunities. The chance of getting rich inspires people to invent new and better ways of doing all this. Modern e-commerce usually relies mostly on the World Wide Web, at least in part, although it can involve quite a range of technology from the old-fashioned phone call to email to dedicated electronic connections between the business and the customer.

Businesses also sell stuff to other businesses, rather than to consumers, over the Internet. Business to business e-commerce is usually referred to as “B2B”. Manufacturers buy parts, retail stores buy from wholesalers, everybody hires programmers, and more and more of this is getting done over the Internet. e-Commerce has a lot of advantages over old-fashioned approaches for B2B. Done right, e-commerce is faster, cheaper, more convenient and can reach more potential customers.

It’s worth mentioning that when we describe e-commerce as buying and selling stuff over the internet, it doesn’t quite tell the whole story. It isn’t just selling, e-Commerce also includes passing data back and forth in order for financing and payment to happen. After all, what is the point of selling stuff if you don’t get paid for it?

Oh. One more thing. You know that tiny little lower case “e” at the beginning of the word e-commerce? Ever wonder why it’s not a large, beefy upper case E? The answer is simple: the e stands for electronic, and electronic, literally, means having to do with electrons. Electrons are the sub-atomic particles whose moving around gives us energy in the form of electricity. The scientific symbol for electron is a small e.

What is e-commerce? Business done electronically. Buying and selling stuff over the Internet. What is e-commerce? Soon, it may be all commerce.

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Your Introduction To E Commerce

By Domain Expert

Nov

This introduction to e commerce will help you understand the different types of e commerce, as well as its advantages and drawbacks. E commerce is all around us, it has been for years, even long before the Internet. Staring in the 60s, businesses began sharing files and information with each other electronically, the very first form of e commerce. With the Internet, people gained the ability to purchase goods and services from businesses and each other, electronically. All these make up the face of e commerce today.

Business-to-business e commerce is the exchange and transfer of files and money between businesses, and as we’ve mentioned, this began in the 1960s. It took hold in the 80s, though, when one standard was set for electronic transactions that allowed all businesses to connect this way.

Consumer-to-consumer e commerce is when a person goes online and exchanges goods and services with another person. Ebay, for instance, is the original consumer-to-consumer site, with its auctions in which anyone can put up goods for sale to the site’s visitors.

Peer-to-peer e commerce began with Napster offering free music downloads via a file-sharing system. Now there are many more sites and computer programs that operate on that model, where users share files with each other.

And of course, business-to-consumer e commerce is simply when consumer purchase goods or services from businesses online. With the explosion of the Internet’s popularity in recent years, this type of e commerce has become a multi-billion dollar industry that’s only expected to keep growing.

An introduction to e commerce advantages includes the ability to comparison shop from the comforts of home. There’s no need to stand in line, fight crowds or pay for gas to purchase almost anything you can imagine these days. Websites cater to each shopper, often with customized recommendations of products based on the items the shopper browses, or previous purchases. It’s convenient and secure, and much less hassle than driving from store to store.

No introduction to e commerce would be complete without listing the drawbacks. Some people are unsure about the idea of purchasing online, either because they’re simply unfamiliar with how to do it, or they don’t trust that their credit card information is truly safe. Often, if they’re not familiar with the store, they might doubt whether they’ll ever received the purchased items. And some people do enjoy the act of browsing through shops for a day with family or friends. Also, some types of stores do better online that others. Large purchases, where a consumer wants to be able to see and touch the items before purchase, like furniture, for instance, typically don’t see lots of online sales.

As the popularity of the Internet and society’s growing familiarity with everything online increases, more people will become comfortable shopping online. As more people are given an introduction to e commerce by their friends, and even their children, sales will continue to rise.

Easy Tips That Explain How E Commerce Works

By Domain Expert

Nov

It’s not difficult to explain how e commerce works. E commerce is simply the exchange of goods and/or services electronically. When you buy something from eBay, Amazon.com or any online store, you’ve participated in e commerce. If you’ve ever downloaded music from a site like Napster or iTunes, that’s e commerce, too. First, lets discuss the different types of e commerce to help you understand it better.

B2B: B2B or business-to-business e commerce is the oldest form of e commerce. Back in the 1960s, banks and other businesses began sharing and transferring files and information electronically. It was still limited, because there was not one standard way of conducting this business, so not all businesses could successfully transfer with each other. Once a reliable standard was set up in the 80s, B2B e commerce really took off, because they all used the same method, and could exchange files much more easily.

C2C: Consumer-to-consumer, or C2C e commerce is popular today. If you’ve ever purchased something online from another person, rather than a business, either through an ad posting on a electronic bulletin board or an online auction, you’ve participated in consumer-to-consumer e commerce. By far, the most popular from of consumer-to-consumer e commerce is in the form of online auctions, through the mammoth eBay auction site, where anyone can put goods online for sale to the highest bidder.

P2P: P2P or peer-to-peer e commerce started with Napster, where users shared files for free. Now there are several similar websites and file-sharing programs and systems online.

B2C: We can’t explain how e commerce works without mentioning the huge amount of e commerce that takes places from business-to-consumer. When anyone purchases anything, whether it’s a download of something electronic or any item that must be shipped to the buyer, at an online store or website, that’s e commerce.

So to explain how e commerce works, it’s necessary to keep these things in mind. E commerce involves one or more of the following:

the exchange of information online
the exchange of money online
the exchange of goods or services online

To explain how e commerce works in your favor, the concepts are just as simple. If you want to purchase a book, for instance, you can find several online bookstores and compare the prices of that book to find the lowest one. You can check the cost of shipping the book, and their shipping times, and determine which store can get it to you the quickest, for the lowest price. All without having to stand in line, fight crowds, or spend any money for transportation or gas. So when you consider that you can comparison shop this way for small items and large alike, it’s easy to see the advantages e commerce offers you.

Though we can explain how e commerce works in your favor, once you’ve purchased an item this way, it’s easy to see the advantages yourself.

Website Building – Do You Need To Master Web Programming?

By Domain Expert

Nov

If you are going to do business online, you need to have your own website. Although it is possible to make money online without it, your website is your identity in the world of Internet. Moreover, having your own site may open up many possibilities that you could never have imagined.

Nowadays, getting a website onto the internet can be accomplished very easily. Many hosting companies now provide website builders which are very useful to help you build your own website. Some even provide a collection of templates that you can customize with your own links and content. However, you still need to learn a little bit of HTML so that you will not depend on someone else in case you want to edit your works. This skill is very important to make your site stands out from the crowd.

It is nice to know a little bit of web programming language if you want to build a dynamic website. However, keep in mind that it is usually the concept or the idea and not a programming tool or language which can make you money on the internet. Unless you plan to become a professional web developer, there is really no need to learn coding. Just leave the development up to other experienced developers or use a content management system which can be installed for free.

Buidling a website with CMS means you do not even need to touch any HTML editor. There are some content managements systems which can be configured easily. Mambo, for instance, is already supported by many ready-to-install modules and templates. But you still need to become familiar with the script that you will use to run your site, both on the front end and in the admin area. Spend some time before launching your website to get to know how to make some important configurations properly.

Today, many web hosting providers have already provided a wide range of facilities in their hosting plans. Fantastico, for instance, is a feature that enables you to install various scripts very easily. But if you want to use a script which is not currently provided by your hosting company, you might have to follow the installation procedure provided.

Commercial scripts usually come with installation instructions, that can be a as simple as uploading the files to your server, setting the permissions for each file and folder, and finally opening the config file and setting the options to dictate how the script functions. Installing the script yourself is actually a handy way for getting to know how it works. In the future, in case the script needs to be updated with the latest version, you do not have to hire anyone to do it.

Having the very basic knowledge on the functions and the tags of HTML is actually enough for building a website. But depending on what you want to build, you might need to know how to setup a database on your server. With phpMyAdmin this can be accomplished easily. Additionally, commercial scripts usually have an ability to create required tables automatically. That means at the very minimum you only need to find out how to create a database and an authorized user.

How about other technical aspects such as configuring .htaccess file? .htaccess is a file that can be used to perform various tasks. One of the most popular uses of .htaccess is to make a website search engine friendly. But, although important, most of the time you will never touch the file. Many scripts today can create this file for you automatically so all you need to do is to follow the installation procedure as outlined in the manual.

In summary, building a website does not require you to be very knowledgeable about web programming and other complicated technical knowledge . However, at the very least, you need to be able to create HTML code and to utilize some features of your hosting service. Reliable hosting services will provide you with some useful facilities that you can use to create various types of websites easily.

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