Trials Of An Internet Entrepreneur – A Humorous Beginning

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It’s hard to believe that it all began almost a year ago. Time really does fly when you are consumed by the task at hand or even worse, constantly perplexed. My wife and I thought it might be fun to start an Internet store as a side business to my Professional Engineering and Contracting business. After all, I’m somewhat computer literate. How hard or demanding could it possibly be? I figured there must be a cookbook solution somewhere that would define the exact steps that if taken, would catapult us to stardom.

Little did I realize that life on the Internet is quite a bit different than the world of absolute truths that I exist in as an Engineer. Everyone is presented as an expert but few people seem to agree on any given topic. How can perceived reality differ so greatly?

The truth of the matter is, that Internet Reality is defined by the search engines and the algorithms they use to present it, and I doubt very seriously that the folks that really understand it will divulge their secrets anytime in the near future. Therefore any understanding of the reality presented, can only be reactive in nature and speculative at best. I made numerous mistakes in setting up our first store before this concept really sunk in. Without realizing it, I was trying to use an approach which may have been functional, but
did not work well with the search engines and therefore would have always limited our success. I finally came to the conclusion, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”.

My mistakes began at the very beginning, when I purchased a third party PHP shopping cart and loaded it on to a reputable hosting company. Based on everything I was told, this should be a “Walk in the Park” and we should be selling product any day. I was soon to find out that I required a working knowledge of PHP to modify the shopping cart and even worse, my page
requests timed out as often as 60% of the time. Now in all fairness to the software industry, I’m sure there are many quality solutions being offered today. The problem is, which do you buy?

In utter disgust, I turned to a suggestion seen at WorldWide Brands and chose to open up a Yahoo Store. I also purchased the first edition of Online Store Profits and followed it step by step as I created our store and was quickly up and running. From there I purchased Arelis for our link management software and IBP 8 for our site optimization and marketing. Lastly I purchased IDevAffiliate for our affiliate tracking and management needs. I’m sure there are many other effective options that can be chosen, but these are the ones that have worked well for us. Our search engine visibility and subsequent sales continue to improve, and in general “Life Is Good” and we are pleased with our selections.

I share this information with the readers because it’s healthy to admit your own mistakes, especially if it can prevent others from making similar errors. Never use someone else’s opinion, as a replacement for your own that should have been derived by factual research.

Until my next update, have a great day!

What My Friend Taught Me!

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If you are anything like me, you’ve always wanted to discover a way to have an extra stream of monthly income. But what I didn’t want was another job! I wanted money rolling-in around the clock, 24/7. No matter what I was doing or where I was spending my time. I wanted more money, I needed more money to pay my bills! If this is what you are looking for, then this will be the most exciting article you’ll ever read!

You see I wanted something that I could set-up and just let it run on auto-pilot. Something that wouldn’t really require much work, something I could put together during my spare time. My goal was just to obtain an extra $500 a month.

Within 60 days of starting, I couldn’t believe all the money I had made!

Think about where you are today financially… Don’t let yourself in up like all those people still working 9-5 for a living. I think its call a JOB (just over broke). Today more then ever you can’t count on your company to be there when you need them! You must think for the future and create your own retirement. With the price of everything always going up (especially gas) your going to need extra money to help pay those bills.

The other nice thing about this extra income avenue is you can do it whenever you have some spare time. There’s no deadline to meet. Don’t have to drive to get there. Best of all… There’s no boss to answer too! Heck, if you focused yourself, you could be making a full time income in no time at all. That’s where I’m at today!

What I wanted to share with all of you is starting your very own online Internet Home Business. Start it right from home, while watching your favorite TV show. My friend shared with me his 10-step Work At Home plan. And I want to share what I learned with you!

You can do this without a college education, experience, a large amount of capital, raw talent or luck…

Belief enough in yourself to take a chance. Enough to put the principles into action. That’s all it takes a little effort. And in no time at all you'll be more than half way to a lifestyle most people can only dream about.

Good luck and much success to everyone!

Common Sense - The Missing Link in Online Business

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I like to think that my approach to business is 1 part experience, 1 part research and 2 parts common sense. I know my business; that’s my experience. I read as much as I possibly can to strike a balance in my efforts between tried and true and newer methods of business planning and marketing. But to me, the most important, and often lacking in my opinion, is the common sense part of running any business, especially online.

I do not claim to be an expert in SEO or SEM or any of those acronym concepts. In fact, I’m not sure who legitimately can claim to be. In my observation, the rules to those theories seem to change daily if not more often. However, like most online entrepreneurs, I do try and pick up as much as I can from all sources in trying to market and run my business.

In working on both my own business and my client’s, I have found that too often I can get too focused on the technical aspects of my website and business. We are constantly inundated with tips, tricks and techniques for getting more traffic and finding new leads. Please don’t think I’m discounting any of those or disparaging those giving advice. On the contrary, I think it is necessary to take in as much information as possible in determining your own strategies. The problem, in my eyes, lies in getting too involved in these “new” concepts and losing sight or doubt your innate sense of how to do things.

I am not suggesting any hot new modes of marketing, nor am I guaranteeing any way of making thousands of dollars a week! I am merely suggesting that before, during and after implementing any new techniques, you always take a look at your website and all your materials from your customer’s point of view. Better yet, have someone else take a look.

Make sure that you have designed your site and written your copy in a way that is accessible to both ends of the spectrum: the techies and the technically challenged alike. In a perfect world, each visitor to your site would be very computer and internet savvy. Unfortunately, we all know it is not a perfect world. You must make your site as user-friendly as possible.

I spent a lot of time designing my website. I put a lot of thought into what I wanted to say, how I wanted to say it and how I wanted it to function. Those are all important things to consider and steps that must not be skipped. However, shortly after launching the site I discovered what I could improve.

The first thing I did when I uploaded the site was to inform all my friends and family. I knew within two days that I needed to make things a whole lot simpler! I had not taken into account that I have grown up in the internet age and things that I take for granted like knowing how to navigate a site via a site map or navigation bar are not second nature to everyone. I got the best feedback from my 91 year old grandfather who really wanted to see the whole site and know what it was all about. He tries so hard to keep up with the technology, but using the internet is not his cup of tea.

After speaking with him and a few other relatives, I sat down and took a hard look at my site. I went through and made two ways to get to every single page. I tried to simplify things as much as possible. I didn’t change the copy because I had made a point to write copy that was inviting to potential clients from any background. I used my keywords as much as I felt comfortable doing without sounding like a broken record.

Albert Einstein once said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.” In our excitement to boost our search engine rankings and generate traffic, I think it’s important to remember those words. The more people who can use your site and hear your message; the more customers you will have!

MySpace Countdown

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A MySpace countdown is a countdown clock that can be uploaded to a MySpace page as either a reminder tool or upcoming events for the person with the page, or to display to friends. There are several types of Myspace countdown clocks to choose from, and there is something for most major occasions. They can be downloaded from many websites off of the Internet. Many of the websites provide the code for one to put on their Myspace page. They contain fun graphics for the special occasion and run visibly like a stop clock.

Various Occasions MySpace Countdown Helps to Celebrate

There are both typical and atypical occasions that MySpace countdown helps users to celebrate. Some of the typical occasions that a MySpace countdown clock can be downloaded for are: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Cinco de Mayo, Memorial Day, Labor Day and New Years. Some less typical occasions that MySpace countdown clocks can be downloaded for are: Pregnancy, Graduation, Wedding and Anniversary, Special Sporting Events, Vacations, Retirement, Back to School, and a Soldier Returning Home. All come with cartoon-like graphics and some incorporate animation into the countdown clock. There are options to customize what the clock will look like for the celebration. For example, Valentine's countdown clocks may have options such as roses, wine, flowers, hearts, candy, and cupids. This allows the user to still customize the occasion to their taste.

MySpace countdown Caters to Special Interests

Many people with special interests will be able to find a MySpace countdown clock to fit what they like.

MySpace countdown has clocks that feature animated characters from TV and cartoons such as: The Simpsons, Futurama, Scooby Doo, Garfield, South Park, Family Guy, Yogi Bear, Betty Boop, Flintstones, and various Looney Tunes characters to name a few options. Sports fanatics are able to download MySpace countdown clocks that feature future sporting events for the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, NASCAR, and WWE. Some display hearts, cartoon animals, mushrooms, crosses, smiley faces, aliens, flowers, astrological signs, and aquariums.

Effects and Features for MySpace countdown

There are a number of effects and features that are available on some MySpace countdown clocks. Some websites offer clocks that give the user the ability to select the type of music they would like the countdown to play. Others allow the user to pick graphics and colors for the countdown. There are options for users to make their own countdown. Self-generated MySpace countdowns allow the user to put in the date of their event. This will generate a URL code that users can cut and paste into their MySpace page.

14 Tips For Writing An Effective Online Survey

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Developing a useful, well-written online survey that extracts the information you need from your users can be a challenge. In this article, I will review 14 tips for creating a useful online survey.

1) Write a brief, concise survey. Start with a mental framework that focuses on only what is essential to know. Ask questions only if the answers will give you the data you need and can use. If a question is not important enough to include in your report on the survey’s findings, then remove the question. Try to envision each question as its own specific theory that you are testing.

In addition, research has shown that people skim and skip on the web because it is difficult to read lots of heavily condensed text on a computer screen. Most users do not want to scroll through a long page of text, so your online survey completion rate will be higher if the survey is short and succinct.

2) Try to begin the survey with interesting questions. Interesting questions will inspire the respondent to keep reading and complete the survey.

3) Develop questions with answers in the proper format for your purposes. For example, if you believe your students need more time to complete the questions in your lesson, ask, “How long did it take you to complete the unit and accompanying questions?” with various time intervals as possible answers. This is better than asking, “Do you need more time to finish the unit and accompanying questions?” with yes or no as possible responses.

4) Plan ahead of time how you and your company will analyze the information before you send out the final version of the survey. This may affect your questions and format when you realize that the statistical analysis you need to perform cannot be done with these particular question results.

5) Use the simplest language possible and respect the respondent’s dignity when constructing questions. Your survey respondents will undoubtedly come from many different groups, and more often than not, are less expert in the field than you are.

6) Use neutral language. The online survey is being developed to find out what your audience thinks and is not a forum for you to air your perceptions or opinions.

7) Relax your grammar a bit so your questions do not sound too formal. For instance, the word “who” is often acceptable when “whom” is technically correct.

8) Be sure to ask only one question at a time and put them in a logical order. Questions like “If you scored less than 70% on the test and you have taken the test another time previous to this, what do you think would help you receive an 80% or above the next time you take the test?” will be difficult for respondents to answer and even more challenging for you to interpret.

9) Avoid double negatives, difficult concepts, and specific recall questions. Respondents are easily perplexed when trying to interpret the meaning of a question that uses double negatives. Respondents can also become quickly overwhelmed and lose detail of events or circumstances that are farther back in time. Most importantly, if the survey is too complex and/or difficult to fill out, respondents won’t complete it!

10) Try to use more closed-ended questions, with no more than one or two open-ended questions. Respondents usually have a better understanding of closed-ended questions because they are more straightforward and offer responses they can choose from.

Open-ended questions require a written response. An excessive number of open-ended questions can wear down the respondent and reduce the quality of the answers they provide.

11) Scaled response questions should have answers that are at balanced, comparable intervals. For example, offering choices of excellent, very good, good, and terrible would cause you to miss important information in between the values of good and terrible.

12) Whenever possible, responses should be developed as discrete amounts instead of general statements of quantities, with specific options from which to choose. It’s better to ask, “How many times a month do you go to the movies?” “0”, “1 to 3 times a month”, “3 to 5 times a month or more”, instead of “How often do you go to movies?” “almost never”, “one and a while”, “I am there at least once a week”, etc.

13) Name your survey and write a brief introduction. Providing a survey name and a brief introduction are good ways to give your respondents some background and a frame of reference. It also prepares them for what is to come.

14) Craft a well-written subject line for the email you send with the survey to capture your respondents’ attention.

While not exhaustive, the points listed above are enough to get you started in the right direction. In summary, a well-written online survey has higher completion rates and is an effective method for gathering information.

6 POWERFUL VRE(Virtual Real Estate) Business Models You Can Start Building In 2006 Using Google Adsense - Part 1

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VRE -- better known as "Virtual Real Estate" is literally everywhere online.

That's right. Everytime you do a search on whatever it is your searching for via the Internet you get a list of results. Within that list of results lye's thousands, if not, millions of pages of Virtual Real Estate that is making someone out there on the WWW some handsome profits.

The question is... "what have you done in order to stake your Internet "VRE" claim so you too can enjoy some of that profit as well?"

If you haven't started anything yet, that's okay because I did a little research for you and came up with these "6 POWERFUL VRE(Virtual Real Estate) Business Models You Can Start Building In 2006 Using Google Adsense" so you too can benefit like the many others out there online.

The first VRE business model I'd like to talk about are -- Article Directories.


VRE Model #1. Articles Directories.

Article Directories are in my mind are probably one of the best VRE business models on the web simply because they offer your audience and publishers Multiple Channels of information on any topic.

And the facts are, people come online for information.

So, what do Article Directories contain?

That's right... Information! ... and lots of it.

The other great benefit to Article Directories is that you don't have to write a single word if you don't want to because the whole purpose of starting your Article Directory in the first place is to get other people(we also call them authors) to submit their content for your readers and/or publishers to read and use.

Now, the Rule Of Thumb is simple when it comes to growing your Article Directory and that is... the more authors you recruit, the more your Article Directory will grow, filling it full of targeted information for your readers to digest and for publishers to use on their websites.

It gets better, so keep reading.

Did you know that the more pages you have within your Article Directory means... the more search engine food you'll have for the search engines to come and index into their database which will then be displayed within the search engines search results.

Remember in the beginning of this article when I was talking about the search engine results being full of Virtual Real Estate. This is where your Article Directories webpages(or your Virtual Real Estate) will be listed for web surfers find.

This also means that you'll receive a lot of FREE targeted search engine traffic to your Article Directory as it grows giving your authors FREE targeted traffic to their sites and keeping them happy, and at the same time, will be building your VRE nest egg on the WWW.

Are you starting to see the benefits to starting your own Article Directory on the Internet?

I hope so.

But don't go anywhere just yet, I'm not finished.

There's two more things I want to talk to you about before this part of the article series ends.

The first is RSS -- better known as "Real Simple Syndication" and what RSS does is it allows you to syndicate your Article Directories content or just content in general through an RSS feed so that any reader and/or publisher who subscribes to a particular RSS feed within your Article Directory will receive ANY new updated content that is published... INSTANTLY!

The other benefit to a RSS feed is... lets say you have 1000 publishers subscribed to one of your RSS feeds and one of your authors submits a new article at your Article Directory, all those publishers who subscribed to that RSS feed will receive it once that RSS feed updates and when someone clicks on the link within that RSS feed to read the new article, guess where the visitor is sent to?

You guessed it, your Article Directory, with your Google Adsense ads(I'll talk about that in a second) and whatever other related affiliate links you have on that webpage.

Now... for the BEST part, how-to make a $Profit$ with your Article directory.

I'm telling you, this is the easiest money you'll ever make for simply supplying your viewers and the Internet(A.K.A. The Information Super Highway) with what it needs the most, Information!

How do you do it?

Heard of Google Adsense(as I mentioned just a minute ago), because if you haven't, now you have.

What is Google Adsense?

Google Adsense is Googles affiliate program for publishers and how it works is it displays ads targeted towards the content on that particular webpage being viewed.

How do you get paid? Simple. Your reader just has to click on one of the ads within the Google Adsense ad box on that webpage and depending on what the topic is and keyword could pay some handsome commissions(usually between 35% to 50%).

And, guess what? You didn't even have to do any selling OR follow-up.

Not bad and believe me those clicks add up Fast and by having the search engines returning frequently for regular indexing and having RSS feeds(remember, when someone clicks on the RSS feed link on someone elses website they get redirected back to yours with your Google Adsense ads on it and other affiliate links) for other publishers to use on their websites you'll soon see your Google Adsense profits get Bigger and BIGGER!

Well, that's it for now. So be sure to be on the look out for my next installment of the "6 POWERFUL VRE(Virtual Real Estate) Business Models You Can Start Building In 2006 Using Google Adsense".

Avoid Computer Disaster: A review of Spyzooka

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In recent times, our modern society has become completely dependent on computers to survive. Unfortunately, computer hackers have taken advantage of this fact and are using spyware to slow down and render useless many home computers. Luckily, there is anti-spyware software available to regain use of the computer. SpyZooka, a popular anti-spyware program, is easy to use, does not detect false positives, and increases computer speed. This article will review SpyZooka’s effectiveness in dealing with spyware.

Unlike many of the other brands of anti-spyware programs, SpyZooka’s ease of use makes the user more comfortable in dealing with spyware. The interface is clean-lined and modern, not distracting the eye from the most important elements. Simple buttons on the left side of the screen describe the main options. To keep the interface uncluttered, the more specific options are revealed by clicking on the main option tabs. After the initial installation, SpyZooka continues to scan the computer for any spyware threats and displays scan results in a in a results tab. While the ease of use may make consumers leap for joy, SpyZooka also avoids time wasting false positives that occur with other types of spyware protection.

One of the biggest hassles of protecting your computer from spyware is the amount of time required to tackle the issue. SpyZooka avoids this pitfall by only reporting actual spyware issues. This is done by using a complex algorithm that detects and removes only spyware, not the programs that user wants to keep on the computer. It also counts the spyware issues only one time, not confusing or frightening the consumer with deceptive results and complex rating scales. With such time-saving features, Spyzooka gets the computer working faster.

Not only does SpyZooka help the consumer to use the product more efficiently, but it actually makes the computer to run faster. Spyware on the computer has many irritating effects, most commonly things like excessive popups, snail-paced internet connections, home page changes, and unbearably slow computer speed. SpyZooka removes spyware, adware, keyloggers, trojan horses, worms, malware, hijackers, dialers, unwanted toolbars, rootkits, rogue antispyware, botnets, unwanted browser plugins and any other related issues that might affect computer speed. Being protected from so many of the causes of a slow computer almost guarantees faster computer use for the consumer.

As is easily seen, SpyZooka is an effective anti-spyware program that does the job of keeping the consumer protected from computer disaster. Not only does it have a user-friendly interface, but it also avoids false positives and makes the computer run faster.

Purchasing Websites vs Building Your Own

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When you decide that you want to run your own online business, the question will soon come up in your mind about whether you should purchase an established website, or build one from scratch. The answers may surprise you, and in this article I want to go over both strategies in detail.

Building your own website from scratch is a lot of work. You will have to work very hard, and unless you have thousands of dollars up front to get started, you shouldn't expect to start earning any serious money until after a year has passed. It takes time for a brand new site to build link popularity, traffic, and content. It is necessary for a website to have these things before it can begin to earn money.

When you build a new website, you may find it hard for seasoned webmasters to take your site seriously. I've found that some webmasters will even refuse to exchange links with your site if it is brand new and has a zero page rank. You can avoid this to some extent by adding lots of content to your new site.

Purchasing a website is easier in the sense that if you buy a site that is already established, there is no need to wait long periods of time in order to get it to the point where it is earning money. If you purchase a good website, you should begin earning money within a month of making the purchase.

However, there are a few things you need to know before going out to purchase a website. You need to do careful research on the site you're interested in to make sure it earns what the owner says it earns. Request from the webmaster a copy of earning statements for the last twelve months.

Join webmaster forums and ask other veteran webmasters their thoughts on the site you're interested in. Listen carefully to their answers. If more than one person says that they wouldn't buy it, and gives good reasons for doing so, you may want to take their advice. It is also important to get the website appraised. Make sure that is is worth exactly what the seller says its worth.

You also want to make sure you buy a site rich in content. Check to make sure the content is original and not copied from another source. If you are a busy person who doesn't have time to build a website from scratch, purchasing a website would be an excellent choice.

However, purchasing an established website which is earning money will not be cheap. You can expect to pay at least $10,000.00 for a three year old website with a pagerank of 5 or 6 which is earning $500 per month. It is important to do your research and look at all the factors involved in both building and purchasing a site.

Internet Business Info That You Need When Starting a Business

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Everyone is drawn to the attraction that an Internet home based business offers. You can be your own boss and you don’t have to commute to work everyday. However, family can be one of the biggest attractions as well as distractions from a home based business. A home based business allows you to be home more often, but at the same time, your work time can be taken up with family responsibilities.

Another factor that you should consider is you will be transitioning to a completely different working environment. You will change from a people filled environment to a solitude work environment in your home. There are many factors you should think about when deciding to start a home based business. These factors will help you to decide if a home based business is right or wrong for you.

The first thing you should factor in is your personality. Are you the type of person who prefers to work alone or gets more work done when alone? Or do you prefer to work with people and become more motivated when you work with others? You should consider these very important questions before starting a home based business.

After this, if you still want to start your business then you should be sure to set your goals. You should know as much as possible about your business. An estimate on how much money you are going to spend and what your potential for profit is will help you in designing your goals. By being prepared, you can know what you can achieve and have your eyes set on a future goal.

For the best preparation, you should try talking to experts who have a business type similar to yours. Do thorough research on the business you are trying to start. This way you will be fully prepared for anything that may happen once you start your business.

One of the biggest and most important factors to consider is whether your home business is going to meet your financial needs. You should be sure your business is going to provide a steady, stable income that will meet all your needs.

It is also very important to make sure you are starting a business you are going to enjoy. Enjoying your job is the key factor that will help your business in the end. If you are not interested in your job after a few weeks or months, you won’t be progressing much with your business.

Once you have started your home business there are still several things you should consider to help keep your business running smoothly. The most important of these is your working environment organization. You should be very organized with every aspect of your working environment. Everyone should be within arms reach and the area void of distractions. It should clearly be an office, but yet comfortable.

In addition, you want to keep a well-organized work schedule. Make sure you daily schedule is well thought out as far in advance as possible. If you stray from your schedule and let daily distraction get to you then you will soon have a backlog of work, which will cause you to become stressed.

In your schedule, make sure you provide for breaks and meal scheduling. You don’t want to be in front of your computer alone in a room for more than two hours. Missing breaks or meals will cause a strain on your body and can lead to many illnesses.

There are many benefits to a home based Internet business. While you may not have the same job security as other businesses and you can have lonely times, it is a rewarding career. Just follow the suggestions here and you come to enjoy your home based business.

5 Steps To A Successful Internet Business

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STEP 1. Find something you feel is a good business opportunity. You can scour the internet for all sorts of different business ideas and opportunities. Doing a search on any search engine with the keywords Work At Home, Business Opportunities, Home Based Business, Affiliate Programs, Make Money Online, etc., will produce 1000's of different search results. Affiliate programs are THE ABSOLUTE BEST business opportunities out there because the ONLY thing you need to do to run your internet business is to market your affiliate link. With a traditional business you must deal with inventory, storage, packing, shipping, complaints, returns, phone calls, emails, checks and credit cards just to name a few! Not so with affiliate programs, once someone has clicked on your affiliate link your only job is getting the next person to click on it. Sweet deal!

STEP 2. Get your own webpage. You want to put your internet business on a webpage of your own. A webpage is like a store front. It projects respect to your business and who you are. Think about it. Do you feel the same about buying from a vendor on the street as you do about buying from a person in a store? They’re both vendors, but the store gives you a certain feeling about the person you are buying from that a street vendor just can’t give you! Your webpage dose not have to be fancy. If you only have a brief description of what your webpage is about along with individual descriptions of your product or products people will respect that. If it is affiliate programs you have decided upon, simply put a BRIEF description of what is being offered along with your affiliate link. Do not disclose too much in your description because people might THINK they know what it is all about and not click on your link. You want to let your affiliate website do all the selling for you. These sites are professionally designed to maximize the number of people who buy or join so a brief description, just enough to spike their curiosity, is sufficient.

STEP 3. Get your own Blog and make one post a day. A Blog, short for, “Web Log,” is a great way to establish yourself as an authority figure on whatever topic you decide. As people return to read your daily articles, they will eventually come to view you as an authority on whatever your Blog is about. They will eventually develop confidence in what you are saying, and will begin to trust you. As a result some people will check out your webpage to see what you have to offer them, and people tend to buy more from people they know and trust. Their confidence in you will be an additional factor that will compel people to buy from you. There are many places online that will host and let you set up your Blog for free.

STEP 4. Put Cost-Per-Click(CPC) advertising such as Google AdSense on your website. Having Cost-Per-Click advertising on your website is a way to earn additional income that can be VERY substantial. Most people who visit your website will not buy from you. If people are going to leave your website, wouldn’t you rather them leave through a link on your website that will pay you money every time someone clicks on it? Google makes putting their AdSense on your website E-A-S-Y! The ads are relevant to the content of your website. Google can even put its AdSense on your Blog as we’ll.

STEP 5. Write and submit articles to article submission sites. This is the most important advice you need to know. This is how you will get FREE advertising! People are searching the internet for free information. When you submit your articles online, the search engines will eventually find them and will spider every word. When people do a search using keywords or phrases that are in your articles, they will turn up in the search results, so be sure to insert highly searched for keywords and phrases into your articles! You will need to include at the bottom of all your articles your bio. Your bio will contain a brief description about who you are along with a link to your website. It might read for instance [ John Doe is the owner of yoursite.com. John helps people to work at home using various business opportunities that include affiliate programs. If you desire your own home based business visit http://www.yoursite.com] The more articles you write and submit, the higher the chances are of your articles keywords and phrases showing up on search results. The more links you have pointing back to your website, the higher your websites page rank with the search engines will be, meaning the higher up on the search results will your article turn up, so don’t stop writing and submitting articles! I do want to stress however, quality over quantity. Take your time and check your spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc. No one will take what you have to say seriously if you don’t write correctly.

So there you have it! Having a successful internet business is simply a matter of understanding how things work, and applying that knowledge. It dose not take any special skill or any great intelligence. If you follow these five steps, you cannot fail. The most important thing, as with anything in life, is persistence. Continue following steps three and five and watch your internet business grow!

10 Tips For Web Success

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The webmaster's biggest job is to get their traffic up and keep customers/visitors coming back. Building the site is one thing, but simply building and posting a website does not guarantee traffic. In fact, a website could be beautiful and an example of all the latest technology and still not attract a single visitor if not promoted correctly. Here are 10 tips to guide you to success with your website.

(1) The internet is a new medium.
At least compared to print, it is. A website is a waste if it simply re-hashes something which could easily be put into print. Don't have the site be just an online brochure. Put up features which take advantage of the internet as a medium of communication. Filter information for them. Provide search capability. Provide interactivity with features like forums, quizzes and tools. Web visitors like to interact.

(2) Treat the Customer's Time as Valuable.
When a person visits your website, you have their attention for that point in time. You either need to use it or you will lose it - fast. Most visitors have short attention spans, what you need to design your site homepage so that it grabs their attention and provides what they are looking for right away. Its like walking into a restaurant. If you walk in and just stand there and nobody comes to greet you, you might wonder what is happening. But, if the hostess comes and greets you right away and walks you to a table, then you will be there for awhile and eat. The same analogy goes for websites. Don't overcomplicate your website homepage. Best results will be obtained if you make it very clear where to click to find what they need.

(3) Design the site for customers, not the company.
Your site needs to satisfy the needs of customers, not the company. So, don't post content which is not really useful to the site's customer. And avoid over-flattering marketing hype about the company. It inflates the ego of the company more than it helps your customer.

(4) Involve the Visitor.
Keep the visitor involved and make them feel like a valuable contributor. Actively ask for the feedback and suggestions. Ask for communication from your visitors and answer that communication swiftly. When getting that communication, capture their email address. This will allow you to communicate with them long after they have moved on and forgotten about you.

(5) Keep it Current.
You need to have content on your website which is timely and relevant to the customer's life. Posting month-old news is not interesting. Posting dry product information which never changes is not interesting. Yes, you need to have product information and other information on your site that won't change much, but you can also post more timely content. You can, for example, post content about how your products can be used in certain situations in life. Provide tips and techniques - things which are immediately applicable and solve a problem.

(6) Pay Attention to Form/Design.
Some sites simply over-do it on the eye-candy. Big graphics just for the sake of graphics often impress the site's designer more than the visitor. Do not use graphics that are large and purposeless. Remember, some visitors may still be accessing your website via dial-up. Your site needs to load up quickly for all users. A slow website will cause your users to leave quickly. Also, pay attention to graphic and design size. Many web designers operate on fairly large screen resolutions and sometimes forget that even though a graphic looks great to you, it will appear enormous to somebody on a smaller resolution. On the flip side, don't go too light on graphics. A site which is poorly designed and using the default font and no color is not very aesthetically pleasing. Any web visitor, whether they admit it or not, judges your company by your website unless they have something else to go on. A well-designed site communicates professionalism. A poor design makes the site seem like an afterthought.

(7) Promote.
When a visitor communicates to you via email, it is best to use a web form. not only will this keep your email address from being picked up by spammers, it will also allow you to ask your customers for their email address and then store that address for later use. Employ the "push/pull" marketing strategy. A visitor coming to your website is the pull, but later you want to push content back to them in the form of a newsletter or other promotional material. Start a mailing list and use it. Invite visitors to sign up. Promotion makes or breaks a business, and as long as you respect the ethical considerations of your mailing list, you should use it.

(8) Don't Operate in a Cocoon.
The internet is a medium which is shared by millions. When you set up your website, don't operate as if you are a self-contained island. Get out there and keep in tune with what is happening on other websites related to your own. Participate in forums. Post links to other websites and ask for a link in return. Form partnerships with other sites if it is appropriate. When it comes to communication, people like personal contacts. Hiding behind general email address like "sales" and "info" is OK as long as there is a way to also email you directly. A company site which allows email direct to the management is good. Just remember how much you hate calling a company and getting stuck in their phone system. Sometimes you just want to talk to somebody. Give your visitors that ability.

(9) Have a Plan to Attract Repeat Traffic.
Use newsletters, out-going email, contests, forums, clubs, auctions - anything that will cause people to return to your website. When posting links to other websites, don't just send your visitors somewhere else. They may never return. Provide them an exit page. Give them a pop-up when they try to leave your site. Or at the very least make external links open in a new window.

(10) Track Your Visitors
Pay attention to your site's statistics and react accordingly. What are people reading? How are they finding you? Do they just come and leave right from your homepage? How long as they are on your website? Do they return? This data is immensely valuable in fine-tuning your website based on customer needs and wants. Remember, the biggest mistake of any webmaster is designing the site for what THEY want. A successful website is designed for the target audience, not to impress the site's owner.

Start Your Internet Business by Finding The Right Niche

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Everywhere you go online you hear that you must focus on a niche for your business. If you are new to Internet Marketing, this is advice you will want to pay close attention to.

Every day thousands of people come online for the first time in search of wealth. Many jump right into the markets that are already completely saturated and then wonder why they are not making money.

Given unlimited time, money and patience, they might succeed. For those that do not have unlimited supplies of these precious resources, aiming for a targeted niche market can be a much smarter way to start your online business.

So just what is a niche?

If you want the long answer, you can buy any one of the thousands of ebooks being sold online about niche markets. You can go to a dictionary and see what definition of niche it gives. But the short answer is niche simply means distinct or individual.

Everyone and their mother wants to start a business focusing on Internet Marketing. This is how the big guns are making all their money, so it must be the way to go. That is the problem. The market is totally saturated with people who have years of experience in this area. A new person trying to compete in such a broad market does not have much chance of success.

On About.com, Susan Ward defines Internet Marketing as "the strategies that are used to market a product or service online, marketing strategies that include search engine optimization and search engine submission, copywriting that encourages site visitors to take action, web site design strategies, online promotions, reciprocal linking, and email marketing".

A new person coming online to start a business has little chance of knowing enough about all the above areas to be able to compete in this market.

So how is a new Internet Marketer to have any chance at success?

Thing Smaller - Think Niche!

From the above definition you can gather the following niches:

Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Copywriting
Web Site Design
Promotion
Linking
Email Marketing

Even if you are lucky and are extremely experienced already in one of the above niches, you will still have a lot of competition in such broad niches. This may be what you decide to do in the end, but at least be willing to explore niches within the broader areas. You may find a niche you are much better suited to.

When it comes to finding a niche market, a good resource available online is Wordtracker. Wordtracker brings several tools together in one place for those trying to find a good niche to go into.

Wordtracker is a breeze to use. If you want to narrow Internet Marketing down to targeted niche markets, just type "Internet Marketing" into Wordtracker and look at all the ideas that pop up. Each of these can become keywords that you decide you want to focus your business on. Or you can pop in and analyze those keywords and keep fine tuning your niche.

With Wordtracker you will end up with a list of niche keywords that you can focus your Internet business on. Having a smaller niche will give you a much better shot at being successful than trying to build a site around a broad topic like Internet Marketing.

Remember, success in any business comes from supplying a product that the public has a demand for and that the market has room for. Find the right niche and you are on the right path.

6 Powerful VRE(Virtual Real Estate) Business Models You Can Start Building In 2006 Using Google Adsense - Part 2

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Okay, it's now time for the next installment of... "6 POWERFUL VRE(Virtual Real Estate) Business Models You Can Start Building In 2006 Using Google Adsense" series.

By now you should have a good idea of what Virtual Real Estate is and why it's to your benefit that you start a network of your own VRE sites depending on the model you choose.

In the last installment of this series I covered "Article Directories".

In this part of the VRE series I'm going to cover "Web Directories" in general and then give you some examples of what they might be and look like.

Sound good?

VRE Model #2. Web Directories.

An "Web Directory" is simply a directory on the World Wide Web that specializes in linking to other web sites and categorizing those links. Web Directory owners will often allow site owners to submit their site for inclusion. Then human editors will review their submission and if accepted, will be added to their database.

The one thing about Web Directories is they are often used as part of a website marketing strategy for being indexed in the major search engines like Yahoo!, Google, MSN to name a few.

The main strategy behind someone submitting there website to a directory is that a new site needs to quickly build inbound links from reputable sources. In doing this they will get a higher ranking within search engine results under there target keywords depending on the PR(popularity ranking) of that directory or inbound link.

That's the basic run-down of what an Web Directories purpose is and why they make a great VRE business model.

Web Directories can be and target anything you want them to. It's your directory, so you make the decision as to what it is about.

As your directory grows, so will its traffic.

And if you have targeted affiliate programs strategically placed on your directory along side your Google Adsense code, you could be making a nice, steady income form your directory like many others are right now.

Now... as I said at the beginning of this article I would give you some examples of some Web Directories with Google Adsense so you see for yourself whether or not this is something you want to venture into.

So, with that said, here are 3 directories that I think will give you a good idea of what to expect:


Free Stuff Directory:
All Free Things - http://www.allfreethings.com/

eBook Directory:
Wisdom eBooks - http://www.wisdomebooks.com/

Software Directory:
Software5 - http://www.software5.com/

Now remember, your Online Directory can be about anything you want. Your in control.

These are just some examples of whats out.

Did you happen to see the Google Adsense ads?

BINGO!

Also, pay special attention to where those Google Adsense ads are positioned because this is KEY to getting a good CTR(Click Through Rate) with your Google Adsense ads.

Now, at this point, it's up to you to make the decision on whether or not this is the type of VRE business model you want to use and start.

I recommend you surf around and see whats out there with your interests in mind. By doing that you will be able to get some good idea's as to what to expect and more importantly, model your directory and/or VRE sites from.

Well, that's it for now.

How To Make Money With Online Surveys

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If you’re got some spare time and you’d like to make some money without much work, online surveys are just the thing for you. With a computer and a little advice, you’ll be all set to make some extra cash for you and your family.

Be realistic

You first have to realize that when you take online surveys, you won’t be paid thousands of dollars. In fact, the people that do take online surveys regularly will usually say that the best way to make more money is to take more surveys.

You’ll need to sign up for a few different online survey sites in order to have a constant stream of surveys to complete.

Watching out for scams

When you do see ads to take online surveys that supposedly pay thousands of dollars, you can be certain that these aren’t legitimate claims.

In order to make money with online surveys, you will need to file your information with reputable companies. These are easy to find by looking for the company information to see if they give you ways to contact them. Those companies that seem to be hiding from you usually have a reason.

And if the company tells you that you need to pay money in order to make money, then go to another web site. You shouldn’t have to pay to earn extra money.

Market research

One of the best ways to make some extra money or earn some free products is to participate in market research surveys. These tend to come from the big name companies that want to know what their customers think. You’ll answer questions about their products and give suggestions about ways that they could improve.

In many cases, you can be rewarded with free products or cash payments.

Focus groups

Another way to make money online is to become a part of a focus group. This is an invitation from a company to set with other customers and discuss a particular product or service. You can also do these online in the form of chat rooms and message boards.

You are usually compensated for the time or the amount of information that you give to the company about the product.

Following the rules

The most simple advice for making money for doing online surveys is to make sure that you’re completing the surveys in their entirety as well as giving your correct contact information.

What many people don’t realize is that you may need to confirm your email address before you will receive new surveys to do. Check your email after you first register with an online survey web site to see if there are any other steps that you need to follow.

And check your junk email box too, as this important email may have landed in there.

Online surveys are a great way to make a little extra money when you have a little extra time on your hands. And you don’t have to get dressed up to do it.

How Community Can Make A Difference In Fighting Click Fraud

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Click fraud is a multi-faceted problem, it costs ALL advertisers, it costs Google, and ultimately, it costs legitimate publishers in lost ad revenues. Anyone who has worked in law enforcement and loss prevention in the brick and mortar world can tell you that community involvement in policing efforts is one of the single most effective crime deterrents in existence. As a community of concerned web publishers and advertisers, we can take our cue from the most effective crime prevention tactics of the brick and mortar world. Take a look at how many cities have cleaned up their streets to see how those efforts can translate to the online world and PPC advertising.

Step I: Hold Open Community Forums

The first step in any community policing effort is open communication between law enforcement and the community. Bringing everyone together allows them to share and define common goals, and create strategies to meet them. An open forum for advertisers, publishers and providers will create a sense of community and foster disclosure of methods, metrics and tactics. By opening the discussion to input from all concerned, the community can air concerns and share solutions.

Open discussion also fosters another type of interaction that has been proven to increase effective community policing: brainstorming. When you bring together many minds, solutions emerge that no one person working alone would have imagined. Those solutions include innovations based on existing strategies. This is the basis of open source software communities, and it should be the basis of creating software aimed at detecting, preventing and eliminating the sources of click fraud.

Step II: Increase Police Presence

In the ‘real world’, police departments increase police presence in a community by deploying more officers to neighborhoods in trouble, establishing community work stations and developing relationships within the community. In the Internet world, community policing has to take on a different face. There are no streets, no neighborhoods or beats to patrol. Instead, each shopkeeper is responsible for protecting his own property. And there’s the rub: the protection is only as good as the sum of the owner’s knowledge and economics.

A community solution to click fraud includes free, openly available and scalable click fraud detection software that is easily extendable. By maintaining open discussions in the community via a forum, developers can create add-ons to the existing software and make them freely available to increase the capacity of the entire community to protect itself.

Step III: Educate the Community and Notify the Wrongdoers.

Believe it or not, one of the more effective tactics of real world crime prevention is openly advertising the presence of community watchdogs. Community policing efforts that make a lot of noise are an effective deterrent to real world crime.

A community forum for click fraud prevention serves as a central distribution point for data about click fraud, its extent and the newest methods being used to defraud and to combat fraud. One of the more obvious examples of how this type of community works is in the realm of virus protection, where a number of high profile communities track the progress of new viral infections and collaborate on methods of removing them from infected computers.

Back in 1999, a new virus hit the internet that frustrated users whose efforts were thwarted as the software reinstalled itself time and again. The first mention of the virus hit the tech community boards at 5 AM EST. By 7 AM, two hours later, there were dozens of users around the world working on the solution – nearly three hours before the major commercial virus protection companies had even posted an alert. By 8:30 AM, the open community forum had isolated the solution in bits and pieces, and working from each other’s successes, had posted an effective solution to remove the virus from infected computers.

Imagine that kind of power and backing to identify, isolate and combat new methods and perpetrators of click fraud.

Step IV: Leverage the Power of Numbers to Bring About Change

There’s strength in numbers and networking. At the moment, the PPC engines rely on pre-click filtering to weed out fraudulent clicks before payment is issued for them. They respond to requests for refunds if the advertiser can prove their claim of fraudulent clicks. By leveraging the power of community, advertisers and publishers can:

- Share strategies for tracking click fraud down that goes beyond pre-click analysis.

- Support each other’s efforts when seeking refunds by sharing data to help establish a trend/pattern and make proof easier to display

- Demand more transparency and accountability from the search engines and PPC providers. This will in turn allow advertisers AND publishers to monitor their own sites more efficiently as well as report back to the PPC engines on the effectiveness of the filtering efforts.

By sharing information and support, we can make a difference and put a major dent in the losses due to click fraud. Click Sentinel is designed to capitalize on the strength of community. The Click Sentinel community is more than software – it’s a blueprint and infrastructure that is designed to foster, support and extend community and hit click fraud where it can’t fight back.

WHAT! INTERNET ETIQUETTE – Net Etiquette?

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Many people know how -- and do conduct themselves in the real world properly. However, many people are unaware that this same conduct needs to be applied online as well. Net etiquette is basically the rules you should follow while in Cyberspace. These seven rules are what I learned on my Cyber journey and what I try to follow while on the Internet – let’s see if you agree.

First and foremost, you must remember that even though you are sitting alone at your computer – and no one is replying, say to your blog, does not mean they are not lurking (reading and learning but not commenting). Translated, there are real people reading what you are writing – and if you make derogatory comments or accusations – they will be felt by that person. If you do make derogatory comments or accusations – please verify, verify, verify, verify – this is libel.

Second, be ethical – being ethical should not go out the door when you get into Cyberspace – what applies to offline business and personal conduct, applies to online business and personal conduct.

Third, if you go into a forum it is advisable to take the time to do some lurking before posting. Learn the ways of the forum before posting. Some forums will not tolerate any advertising – they are there to discuss their topic and to learn, and to share information.

Fourth, the Internet allows you anonymity, which means, you are not judged by the way you look or the clothing you wear. But you are judged on what you write – that is the only way in which people can make judgments on you and your character.

Fifth, when writing on the Internet, be sure to check your facts. Research and verify before getting on your soapbox – it can save you a lot of grief – loss creditability. Remember, your writing is their first impressions of you.

Sixth, be kind and do not use offense language.

Seventh, share your knowledge and be open to learning from others.

I would like to conclude by saying that the Internet is a vast international community of people, sharing ideas, experiences and knowledge. It is a great community, yes, there are some bad eggs, but the community is ever vigilant and will alert all to the bad eggs. While on the Internet, be aware of your conduct, for that is how the Internet knows who you are.

Make Money Online Now!

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What are you waiting for? Haven't you realized that the future is in the internet arena whether is be online marketing or simply working for companies that are based and hire online employees. If you don't do it now you may always regret it because sooner or later you will be force to make the switch but you won't be in the driver's seat any longer.

So what are the advantages to having the ability to make money online? Well there are several. For one there is increased ability to automate and therefore be working even while, you are sleeping. You also don't have to work in the typical and uncomfortable work environment. You can work when you want and this includes more flexibility to take that needed vacation whenever. You can work where you want--at home, at the library, in the coffee shop, at your cottage, or on your Caribbean cruise. You can also wear what you want, I prefer sweat pants and a T-shirt you might like your bath robe.

Other huge advantages to a "make money online" type of job are that you don't have to worry about product whether is be storage, distribution, tech support, you name it. You are most often earning commissions for selling other people's products. You also aren't limited by geography in your market. You can sell to people in Indonesia just as easily (other than maybe language barrier) as to your neighbor. The internet allows you more potential diversity of income than your typical jobe does as well. If one source of income dries up you will typically have 2 or 3 or 4 other sources to fallback on while you repair or replace the first.

So this sounds good right? So what are you waiting for? Oh...you think that the initial risk of quitting your job to make money online is too high? Well then don't quit your job! You can easily maintain both a normal job and an internet income at the same time and you will find very soon that you have nothing to fear. What about startup costs? Well depending on how you start some (data entry, surveys, etc.) have very little assuming you already have a decent computer and connection to the internet. Other cheap options include ebay and other online auction sites. So please don't wait, now is your chance to beat the mad rush and at the pace that makes you comfortable.

How To Accept Credit Cards Without A Merchant Account

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To increase sales on your website, you must accept credit cards. To process credit cards, you could apply for a merchant account through your bank or other financial institution.

Sometimes, though, you would be further ahead to use the services of a credit card processor. This is especially true when you are first starting out and have more limited resources. In this way, you may process credit card transactions without the high front-end costs and requirements of a merchant account.

Here, then, are just a few ways of accepting credit cards without a merchant account. I personally use all of these vendors and can recommend them wholeheartedly.

1. Clickbank

If your product is downloadable (such as electronic books or software), you might consider ClickBank.com . For a $49.95 initial fee, you can process credit cards and on-line cheques for $1.00 per transaction plus 7.5% of sales.

You receive additional exposure through free listing on their website and through the search facilities of other websites, such as CBMall.com.

As an added bonus, you have your own built-in affiliate program. You decide what commission (from 1% to 75%) you would like to pay your affiliates.

2. PayPal

PayPal.com has no initial fees. For just 2.9% of sales and $ .30 per transaction (and sometimes less), you can receive money from anyone.

Also, you can pay others by credit card or chequing account without supplying your personal credit information to the payee. PayPal can be used to collect money from your auctions, website sales, or even from friends or clients.

3. PaySystems

In the original edition of this article, I recommended PaySystems.com (also known as MyPaySystems.com). This is what I wrote about them:

"PaySystems.com can handle either intangible (downloadable) or tangible (shippable) products. For an initial fee of $49.00, you can accept all major credit cards as well as online checks. Fees are just 3.95% of sales and $1.00 per transaction. Alternatively, you may pay 5.5% of sales and $ .35 per transaction."

"For this, you receive shopping cart, integration with third-party affiliate programs (such as ClixGalore.com), fraud screening, multi-currency transactions, toll-free support, marketing tools, and more."

Unfortunately, PaySystems.com has discontinued their "Internet Billing Account" for those outside the United States.

4. 2CheckOut

2CheckOut.com can handle both intangible and tangible products. For an initial fee of $49.00, you can accept all major credit cards as well as online checks. Fees are just 5.5% of sales and $0.45 per transaction.

For this, you receive shopping cart, fraud detection, integration with third-party affiliate programs, multi-currency transactions, free on-line support, and more.

Incidentally, 2CheckOut.com has the same policy as ClickBank.com does with regard to sales taxes. Both companies take the position that you are selling your product to them and that they resell it to the final consumer. Thus, they claim that you are not subject to sales taxes on those sales.

Product Selection Advice for Ebay Sellers and Drop-shippers

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The first step to picking your products involves identifying you niche. It has been proven again and again that Ebay sellers who focus on a niche market are much more successful both in sales from new traffic and sales from repeat customers.

What is a niche market? It is basically a specialty store. To put it simply you focus on one group of related products. For example Children's Apparel, Cameras and Camera Accessories, Designer Handbags, Fragrances for Men and Women...etc....The point is to focus on a group of related products and if you explore the eBay stores you will notice most of the successful ones are all these types of specialty sites.

Here's a breakdown of the benefits of a niche market approach:

Initial set up is much easier. Since you are focusing on a group of similar products you can quickly and easily add all the available products in your chosen category to your Ebay listings.

It has been proven that niche market Ebayers gain a significant increase in their up-sales (meaning a customer who views you listing for a digital camera sees that you are also selling the lens he wants and he buys that too). If you are selling unrelated items like cameras and belt buckles then you are not going to have much chance at the up-sell.

You will generate repeat customers who have shopped with you before and had a positive experience. When you sell Joe Blow a printer and he later needs ink or paper he is more likely to return to you to make his purchase because he already trusts you and he assumes you will have the related products he wants, and if you have followed the niche model you will! Since you are selling printers your niche would include these accessories and you would pick up the sale. Ebay allows members to add sellers and Ebay stores to their favorites list so they can easily come back to the vendors they have used and trust.

A niche market is much more manageable and logical. It doesn't really make sense to be selling power tools and wide screen t.v.'s....you see the point? And keeping up with your inventory is a very simple matter when you are working from a niche model.

There are two invaluable FREE tools that can give you a great snapshot of the hottest products on eBay. Ebay Pop and Ebay Seller Resources. Access them through Ebay and make good use of the available tools to help you narrow your niche.

So now lets suppose you have chosen Cookware as your niche market. You build your eBay listings using only products that fall into the Cookware category. You appropriately price your items, fine tune your listings and drive traffic to your listings.

When you feel you have all your cookware products running smoothly you are ready to expand to a related category like blenders or microwaves. Each time you complete a category you move on to the next one and the list of items you are selling will grow and grow....and you will still have a niche market.

There is no limit to how far you can go with this. With enough time and effort you could find yourself running on a department store type model. The key is one category at a time. Make sure every product in that category is 100% optimized before moving on to a new category.

*Import Notes on Selection Criteria for Products*

It is very easy to get overwhelmed by the many products you now have access to. Here are some crucial factors to keep in mind when choosing your niche market and the best products within your niche:

Don't chose a niche that is already highly saturated on Ebay. You can easily determine the saturation level by doing a couple of ebay searches for products in the niche you are considering. For example if i go to eBay and search for "Cell Phones" thousands of listings are going to pop up. Your listing would get lost in the shuffle. Search for "Underwater Camera" and you will find it is a much less crowded category. If you check the completed listings you will find most listings sold telling you this is a good opportunity for a niche market. It is always a good idea to check the completed listings for a more accurate idea of how well the item is selling overall on Ebay and for how much.

When choosing products avoid items that have a low quantity available. It may seem like an easy sell but when quantities are low you take a huge risk that the item will sell out before you sell it. In some cases products with a low quantity are actually already sold out and have not been updated yet. You can always contact customer service to get more information as to the availability. My general rule is not to sell products that have a quantity of less than 25 in stock.

Do Ebay searches for any item you are interested in. You can see how much competition there is and also by checking the completed auctions you can get a picture of how much people are paying for the item. Prices can vary greatly and you may ask yourself why. It is all about the presentation which I discuss more in my in depth free guide.

Don't get to caught up in how much the retail price of the items are. The important thing is what they are actually selling for and how steady the demand is. I have a product that I sell for $5.95 plus $3 shipping. I profit only $2.30 per sale but that adds up fast when you sell 50 or 100 a week.

I discuss this topic and much more in my free online guide for Ebay drop-shippers which can be viewed at the link below

The Two Things You Must Know About Your Private Information Before It's Too Late

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Our society is maintained by information: information about who we were, who we are, and in some cases who we will become. We live in the Information age, a time where movement of information is faster than physical movement. Some say that we live in a new type of society called an Information Society, in which the creation, distribution and manipulation of information has become a significant economic and cultural activity. Matthew Lesko, a columnist, made this point clear when he wrote, "Information is the currency of today's world." Sir Francis Bacon an English statesman from the 1500s proclaimed wisely that, "Knowledge is power." His words echo today in the familiar truism, "Information is power."

In our lives today we experience how the personal information that we keep, that we share and that we lose, moves us through a waxing and waning dance of power and powerlessness. Keep your information safe and you protect your home, your assets, your family and maybe even your life. Share your information and in return you hope to receive valuable goods and services. Lose your information and the things that you enjoy and love can come crumbling down around you.

Today, instead of on paper, most of our private information is stored in electronic format on hard drives. This technology allows our world to do business as never before imagined. Business is faster, less expensive and requires far less labor than even one generation ago.

However, throughout history we discover that technological advancement has a price. Pollution and stress invades our environment and often our bodies. The loss of certain skills once familiar drives us toward a dangerous dependency. Now high-tech scam artists and thieves prey on victims around the world at the speed of light and neither needs to be awake for the crime to occur. With these things in mind we are moved to the realization that now is the time for each of us to examine the state of, and the danger to, our personal information.

Your private information is vulnerable in two ways. It is vulnerable to loss and theft. We can compartmentalize your storage locations into two frameworks, your local, personal computer storage and your online storage. These frameworks each have their strengths and weaknesses.

Your local, offline information can be stolen by someone breaking into your house, car or wherever you keep your computer. Your data can be destroyed by a hard drive crash, a fire or flood. It is difficult and time consuming to keep consistent, daily backups of your hard drive then store them at a location other than your computer. You can never be sure if your computer is at this very moment infected with spyware, adware, trojans, back doors, key loggers, bots or viruses. Each one is capable of taking control of your computer and sending your valuable, private information from your hard drive to anywhere in the world.

Many people enjoy keeping notes and documents online. People every day are discovering the convenience of having their thoughts, to-do lists, diaries, customer lists or essays available from any computer in the world. Business people, real estate agents, sales people and others are now getting more work done more efficiently thanks to the wellspring of online document authoring sites.

Now freed from the task of daily backups and concerns about loss and theft due to an infected computer, only one thing remains from making online document authoring and storage the perfect solution: privacy.

Unless you see that the address of the website you’re on begins with the five letters https, your login ID and password are sent in plain text through unknown places over the Internet. Your documents and everything you type is available to be seen, captured and used by criminals and scam artist devious enough to use that which was supposed to be private.

Once your information is on the remote computer, do you know how your data is stored? Do you know who has access to it? Perhaps it’s a computer technician who think it’s fun to read about other people’s lives and secrets. Perhaps it’s someone who sells information on the side to make a little extra money. You just can’t know. And unfortunately, none of these sites seem to care enough about your privacy to encrypt your documents to prevent this from happening.

However, one web site has come forward to address all of these issues. It securely moves your data and documents over the Internet encrypted by the same method used by financial institutions to move their sensitive data. It encrypts your documents on the server at the same level of encryption the government uses for their top-secret documents. It also has a unique, multi password system providing a further layer of security and privacy. With these safeguards in place it is easy to see why this web site’s motto is "Even we can’t read your documents."

If you have electronic information that must be protected from the two threats to your data, loss and theft, then you need to check out the web site referenced in my bio or "About the Author" section. Do it now before it’s too late.

Best things in life are free

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Yes I’m sure about it. Aren’t you?

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

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

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

For free ???

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

I just started on a search engine with three words:

money – internet – opportunity

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

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

You can do the same !!!

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

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

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

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

Remember if I can do it you can too.


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


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

I would !!!

I do !!!


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

Well to be honest there is just one thing.


Dedication.


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


Are you interested ?

Want to know more ?

Do you want to succeed ?

Do you want financial freedom ?

Do you want to see the sunset more often ?

Do you want to go skiing when you want ?

Are you dedicated ?

Get your FREE ebook.

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

DXCafés: The New E-conomy Is Coming

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It seems they've been busy on the isle of Vanuatu ...

That's where a company called Global Digital Transfers Inc ('GDT') placed their headquarters for DXinOne, the e-currency exchange system that is the main topic on Longer Life's Opportunity page.

Since I last looked at the DXiO website, I've seen a number of new developments there, featuring services from travel to advertising with earnings and payments tendered by their unique coin of the cyber-realm, the digot. It's becoming quite obvious that they're not only easing a new e-currency into cyberspace, but an entire DXEconomy to support it. That's a very clever strategy.

Now, GDT is taking measures to ensure their presence in the physical world, too. They are introducing a bricks-&-mortar element to their e-currency exchange business, deploying franchises for what they term 'LDXMerchants' (The 'L' stands for 'Licensed') to be visible via storefront at a location near you. Their function would be to service high-volume transactions in a 21st-century banking sort of manner that is yet to be fully announced.

Furthermore, they intend to incorporate other DX services into those facilities, with the obvious intention of attracting more attention to their veritable range of operations. They're going to call these centers DXCafés. Fittingly, the flagship of this franchise will be located in Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu. Such a choice not only displays respect for their host nation, it's also a relatively isolated --- and thus easily controlled --- site that will allow them to amend any aspect of its activities without drawing mainstream attention. This should increase their chances of presenting a more polished product to the world at large.

GDT has announced that their intentions will be uncompromising in their selection of global locations. They state that "We are currently working on several items that will help us present these establishments around the world, as taking short cuts will not be an option for us. The first task is to set a criterion, upon which the location of our DXCafés will be based. It is ideal that we use high traffic locations; airports, transportation terminals, accommodation, shopping centers or malls are all prime locations for us."

It's clear they're still somewhere in the planning stages when they state the basis of their deliberations when defining the characteristics of the DXCafés in these terms:

"Size of the DXCafés is also important; our designers have been working on several different concepts based on floor size. Whether as a full build or a new fit-out, a set criteria needs to be established. There is also nothing limiting us from having several DXCafés in the one city, each DXCafé may have a set coverage in regards to population, cliental and security."

However, most of these decisions must have been made already. GDT has announced that they intend to establish their first DXCafés outside Vanuatu during the months of April and May 2006 and have claimed they are currently on target to achieve this goal. To accommodate such a timetable, they say they have designed and commenced manufacture on the fit-out for the physical plants and prepared state-of-the-art computer components and technology for installation into each DXCafé.

High volumes of value are expected to be exchanged, so GDT will be requiring license agreements for each LDX/DXCafé proprietor. They will be private agreements designed for congruence with various countries' financial regulatory requirements. The license agreements are intended to ensure that all DX operations will be in accord with the needs and requirements of DXInOne and its users. The purchase price for an LDX/DXCafé license is yet to be finalized and will only be available upon request. I would anticipate this amount to be between $650,000 and $1,000,000 so as to ensure that only the most responsible and capable proprietors would be enlisted.

These are ambitious plans. I firmly believe there's a market for their services, so I continue to contend that DXinOne is worth our attention.

Very soon, it could be worth more than that. Much more.

Online Coupon-The Benefits

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Consumers that love to save a few dollars also adore using online coupons. In fact, consumers that frequently take advantage of online coupons already know the benefits that are afforded to them through the use of online coupons. Yet, do you realize the benefits that accompany the use of online coupons? If you are not in the practice of using online coupons, you probably don’t know what outrageous savings you are missing out on!

First, you can save anywhere from five to fifty percent off of many purchases when you use online coupons. Although the savings afforded to you will vary from one retailer to the next, there are virtually hundreds of big-named retailers offering online coupons that provide consumers like you with huge savings on products and services. If you are not taking advantage of such savings then you are truly losing out on significant savings—savings that can be accumulated and stored away for life’s little emergencies or money that can be spend on things that you really enjoy doing in your free time.

With online coupons you don’t have to wait for the savings to come to you. Although the local newspapers and your favorite magazines often have excellent coupons that you can use toward products and services, you often have to wait for such resources to be distributed before you can actually get your hands on the great savings they have to offer. Conversely, online coupons and the websites that offer them, provide you with immediate access to hundreds of dollars worth of savings, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. All you have to do is visit a website offering online coupons—immediately you will be astounded by the opportunities afforded to you with online savings.

Likewise, when you wait around for newspaper advertisements and magazines to provide you with coupons, such resources are limited in the type of coupons they offer and how many coupons they offer for products or services. For instance, if you receive a local newspaper with coupon inserts, you will find perhaps 20 or 30 coupons for food, toys, household cleaners and the like. However, you may not find coupons for the products you really favor and this can be a disappointment. Alternatively, when you visit a website offering online coupons you can search for your favorite retailers, and in some cases, you can search for your favorite name brands and immediately be provided with huge savings on your favorite products. Further, the coupons offered online are hardly limited in their diversity; you can find hundreds of coupons for an assortment of products and services.

Another benefit that you may be missing out on if you are not taking advantage of online coupons is the fact that websites offering online coupons have a tendency to lead you to retailers you may have not been aware of before. Using the Internet to shop opens up new doors to every shopper, because you are no longer restricted to simply shop in your local area. Instead, you can easily access hundreds of stores all over the nation and order your products from various retailers’ websites. Have your products shipped directly to your home and save money by using online coupons in the process. Moreover, in using online coupons and shopping online, you are saving money on travel costs—you can shop from home and find exactly what you need without having to shop from one store to the next scouring the shelves to find what you are looking for.

Along with the benefit of diversified shopping, you can also find out where all the best bargains are and comparatively shop on the Internet when you are using the Internet and online coupons. Many websites offering online coupons will frequently afford you the opportunity to view side by side comparisons of the offers that retailers are currently offering. A listing of retailers with each offer is supplied to website visitors and it only takes a few moments to identify the best deals available. What does this mean to the consumer looking to save money? It means that consumers can reap the most savings each and every time they shop online and use the Internet because they can choose the best deals whenever they shop.

Clearly the benefits derived from using online coupons are numerous and if you are not using online coupons you may want to start. The savings you can reap are more than worth a few minutes of your time. Moreover, you can open yourself to a diversified shopping experience and find all of the products and services you need by accessing a website with online coupons. What are you waiting for? Don’t you think it’s time you starting saving money on all of the items you frequently shop for

Making Fast Money Online

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When starting the journey of making money online try and be as active as possible in you own business.

Do and try more things often to see what works and what doesn’t. You might not succeed at first but persevere and don't get discouraged. It is all right to fail as long as you learn from it and just look at it as feedback. You will need to spend time and money to gain the experience you need. Also be ready to lose your money as well and just call it a lesson learned. A bit of burn will drill the network marketing lessons into your brain for sure.

The rule to any successful business is sell a product to make money. In order to do this you must have salesmanship and must be able to close a sale. Having plenty of customers is essential to running an effective and profitable business. Winning customers online is great for business but still has its ups and downs. You will be exposed to the whole world and have a huge market place. On the downside the exchange is so impersonal that it is hard to make people feel comfortable and trust anyone. There are several ways to overcome the lack of direct communication on the web. Accentuate the positives to compensate for all the negatives. You can gain great and loyal customers online with some positive feedback.

There are those individuals who truly believe they can log online and make a business up and be making tons of cash in a week. Let’s speak the truth, that isn’t how it goes at all. Just because the web is huge and everyone and their grandmother seem to have an online business doesn’t mean their business is successful. The ones that are took much time, money, and hard work to get there and it wasn’t overnight. For most good online marketers it took at least a year to get up and running to get successful. They had to budget their time and money well,and focus all their efforts on their business. Don’t assume that putting a huge sum of cash into your business will bring you instant rewards. It is too easy for newbies to not bother using multiple strategy methods and get burnt when their business doesn’t take off. It is important to spend your time and money on several different approaches to see which ones generate the best hits.

There is a lot of room for growth with this type of business set up. This will be due to continual marketing efforts. The money will be assured to come in at the right time. Just link up with the best feedback companies and you will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Do You Have the Winning Mindset to Earn Money Online Successfully

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Many have asked me what the key to earning money online successfully is. This is not an easy question to answer in terms of what you can do to earn money online. There are a thousand and one ways to earn money online successfully but are they really the keys to success? Unfortunately, the methods to earn money online are less significant than the mindset behind it.

What really differentiates the winning online marketers from the losing is very much not what they do but what drives them in their actions. Anyone can try and experiment with a myriad of ways to earn money online but ultimately without a winning mindset, they will never succeed.

Then what are the qualities of a winning mindset to earn money online successfully? Well, the following are considered the key pillars of a winning mindset.

1. Desire.
The fuel to succeed online is pretty much fired by what you want to gain in the end. What do you want to achieve in the end? Is it financial freedom? Or do you to want to have more time to spend with your family? Maybe you don’t want to be very rich; you just want to earn a little extra income to lift the financial burden of the family. Or maybe you hate your job and you hate your boss and you hope to one day “fire” him and be your own boss. Whatever the reason may be, you must have a strong desire to earn money online successfully, because this is what determines your motivation and is the main source of your strength. So know what you want to achieve in the end and let this be the fuel of your success.

2. Focus
There are truckloads of ways to earn money online. You can be an affiliate marketer and sell other people’s products. You can join an online MLM business opportunity and build your income from there. You can even offer your own services or products to others for a price. But whichever method you choose, it all comes down to focusing your efforts.

From the moment you step into the world of earning money online, you expose yourself to a myriad of business opportunities. They come fast and hard and they never seem to stop. Every day, there can be a new business opportunity to earn money online that seems like the “next big thing”. And you will be tempted to “jump in before it is too late”. But the sad truth is, business opportunities will never run out, but the amount of time we have will. Each of us only has 24 hours a day and we can only do so much. What you need to earn money online successfully is not to jump in on the “next big thing” but to focus on “this big thing”. You do not need so many “big things”, you only need one. So focus your efforts on what you set your sight on and give it your best. You will not regret it.

3. Patience
Many people who first begin to try to earn money online believe that they can do it fast and easy. They think that if they try something that promises them that they will earn money online successfully, they can do it in a few days to a few weeks. And if they do not succeed, the method is wrong and they give up. Sadly, this is not how it works. It is true that there are plenty of scams out there that only want to cheat you of your hard-earned cash. However, most of the time, the reason for failure is simply the lack of patience. Gathering knowledge and applying it is a necessity to earn money online. All these take time and nothing comes without it. Be patient with what you believe in and your efforts will be rewarded.

4. Willingness to take massive action and commit consistently
Finally, armed with a flaming desire to succeed, laser targeted focus on your objective and a rock-solid patience to carry it to the end, you still need the last crucial ingredient to success. You need to take HUGE MASSIVE action and be willing to commit consistently. Your mindset alone cannot win the battle for you. You must be willing to put in your biggest effort to make it a success and commit to doing it consistently, because only with MASSIVE action can you achieve MASSIVE results.

Now, take some time to review what you have done up till now. Do you have a burning desire to succeed? Have you been focusing your efforts and resisting the temptation to join whatever new opportunity that comes along? Have you been patient enough to continue what you are doing and promise yourself never to give up? And finally, are you taking MASSIVE action to turn your dream into a reality? If your answer is a resounding “YES”, then there is no doubt that you will be able to earn money online successfully.

Meet Your Toolbox: Wrenches

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There are many types of wrenches available at your local home improvement or hardware store, indeed you can get large sets of them. But if you are a typical homeowner doing small projects around the house, you may wonder if all that is really necessary and if it is, how can you convince your wife of it? Seriously, if you want to know what to buy to fit the highest number of situations you’ll probably come across, here are the basics.

An adjustable wrench is your best bet because it is versatile. It will fit many different sized nuts and bolts, without having to have an individual wrench for each size. But, you say, there are different sizes of adjustable wrenches, too. Yes, there are. One that opens to 5/16” should suit most of your needs. When you use an adjustable wrench, make sure that it is tightened as much as possible around whatever you are trying to turn or loosen. Otherwise, it may give and scrape the surface of whatever you’re working on or even worse, your hand.

Another common type of wrench that you will see around the home is the allen wrench. When you think wrench, these are not the image that pops into your head. They are usually L or S shaped and the head fits into the top of a nut (usually with a hexagon shape). The wrench is then turned to tighten or loosen the nut. You will see these a lot with bicycles, in-line skates, and probably at lot of assemble it yourself furniture that you get at warehouse or department stores. Oftentimes, these types of items that require allen wrenches will come with them, included with the rest of the hardware for the item, but you may someday need to purchase some yourself. You can get many different sizes available on a keychain for a relatively small price.

Box wrenches or socket wrenches come in individual sizes to fit standard and metric fasteners. These are the ones that come in the big kits. If you do buy a set, make sure you check to see if it is standard or metric or both. Standard will probably be best for most things around the house. If you’re working on cars, depending on the make, you may need metric. For sockets, look for ratcheting wrenches that do the turning for you to save your wrists.