Marketing on the internet legitimately assumed a very important place among various managerial practices and strategic solutions that companies’ executives resort to in order to boost sales and improve performance. The last decade can also be considered the age of the internet and computer technologies.

Only a few years ago many people did not know what the internet was exactly and few people actually used it on a regular basis for their work.
Today it is hard to find a person living in our civilized society who has never used the internet. Almost everyone knows what it is and what it is used for, even though few people have a clear understanding of how it actually works. Nevertheless, the internet now is the mass media that has even more reach than television and the radio.

Long before the internet became such an important part of our lives companies realized that advertising in the mass media was the key component of marketing.

Even though marketing is a much broader area of business activity the purpose of it eventually boils down to selling more products to more customers at the highest price possible. Advertising in the media brings about information about products and thus the viewers or the readers who represent potential customers become aware of their existence. The marketing mix consists of several components and basically represents the overall offer that a company makes to a customer. It includes the four Ps that are product, price, promotion and place. Product and price are essentially the key components that define the offer made to the customer. The product is characterized by such elements as quality, features, reliability, design etc. Price is another component that determines that the perceived value for the customer.

Nonetheless, the price is usually set based on the overall features of a product. If a company has a great quality product then it can set a high price given the product is better than that of a competitor. Thus the first and most important thing is to have a product and then the second step is to determine the price. However, what also contributes to the perceived value for the customer is place and promotion. Place determines the convenience or the distribution channels that our imaginary company utilizes.

If a product is available at every supermarket or convenience store then it is more likely to sell and thus is going to be perceived as more valuable by the customer. Promotion is another important element of the marketing mix and cannot be ignored. Even if a company has a great product that sells at a reasonable price and can be picked up at any convenience store, it is important to promote and advertise the product so that people know that such a product is available on the market. The company must draw the attention of the customer to the product that it is marketing otherwise it might be not very far from defeat. At present there are millions of products out there on the market and people literally get lost when they enter a department store. Promotion helps people concentrate and focus only on the products that are being advertised ignoring the rest of the products.

The role of the internet in the marketing mix is obvious. Certainly, the internet can do very little to create a product and set the price. However, it can very much influence the other two components. Promotion and place are directly impacted by the internet. The internet offers a new distribution channel for a company because from this point on it is possible to sell the product on line and then deliver it straightly to the customer in a certain geographical area. Promotion is another thing that can be improved by simply starting to use the internet as a new means of selling and marketing products. As it was already mentioned, the internet is a great means of advertising in terms of its reach. Thus the internet can increase the perceived value of the product that is being marketed.
At present it is common for any company regardless of the nature of business that it is engages in to add the internet into the marketing mix. Many producers as well as consulting companies view the internet as an important component of marketing.

However, there are various ways of utilizing this incredible resource. A few years ago it was believed that the advertising banners that pop up on the computer screen every time an internet user opens a new window provide a great contribution to the perceived value of a product. Subsequently, companies wasted millions and millions of dollars on such advertising. Later they realized that all that cash was literally burnt because computer users get so irritated by banners and windows that appear on the screen that they shut them down immediately not even reading the content. Almost all computer users report that advertising on the internet needs to be regulated and controlled because the unrestricted access to information and resources on the part of advertisers makes work unbearably irritating and slows down performance. At present companies do not waste any more money on useless banners.

I believe that companies should not use the internet as the primary means of marketing. I should not be used as a foundation. Rather, what the internet can do is greatly contribute to the overall image of the company. In my opinion a company that incorporates the internet into its marketing mix should provide some valuable service to the customer via its webpage. For example an imaginary producer of computer parts can provide in-depth information about its products and provide on-line support to all its customers by email. Also the webpage should give insightful information about the company itself and some news that may be interesting to the customer. In other words the website should attract computer users and not distract them. That is how the component of promotion should be addressed. The internet component of marketing should contribute to the overall image of the company.

However, companies cannot use the internet the same way they use television. On television the viewers are forced to watch irritating commercial because they cannot turn them off, all they can do is switch the channel. And that is what actually happens a lot of times. Similar approaches do not work on the internet because computer users can by-pass irritating advertising and close windows and banners. Therefore, companies must be a lot more creative and imaginative while advertising on the internet. Another thing that is done by almost every company today is selling products on line. Many customers perceive it as a great service because it is possible to purchase virtually anything without even leaving the house. This strategy is effectively utilized by most producers because it creates an additional distribution channels and thus increases the perceived value of the product. Customers perceive our imaginary product as more valuable because it is easier to buy.

Looking at the situation from a financial perspective, it is a common fact that most dotcoms fail because they burn too much cash and eventually run out of money to meet their current financial obligations. Analyzing income statements of internet startups we can see that too much money is wasted on ineffective advertising. Thus the expenditures incurred by dotcoms outweigh the revenues that they can potentially generate. A few years ago the stock prices of most internet companies went through the roof because people liked the idea of conducting a business activity on the internet. However, no one really knew how to value internet companies. That is why today most investors are frustrated and the stock prices of dotcoms plummeted to the ground. I believe that the main problem with dotcoms is that their financial models were not sustainable from the very beginning. Most internet companies required huge capital inflows hoping that someday they would help generate revenues. In addition, companies that do generate revenues waste too much money on advertising and marketing which is not a good thing to do given the fact that cash is badly needed to sustain existence of the business.

To illustrate, I would look at how Dell Computer successfully incorporated the internet into its marketing mix. The company sells custom-built computer systems on the internet. Its products are not available at any retail outlet thus the internet is the primary distribution channel for this company. The webpage of Dell Computer serves two purposes. First of all it is an online store that is used for ordering computer systems. Also it provides information on all products that this company manufactures and sells through its on-line store. The other purpose that it serves is building the company’s brand and image. A great thing internet can do for a company is create a relationship with the customer. If this resource is managed the right way customers truly bond with the company. The success of Dell Computer lies in efficient management of the internet as a resource and means of communication, quality products and great technical support which is available almost anywhere. That is why people go and by Dell instead of buying some other brand.

The internet is a great resource that a company can use to its advantage. There are many companies that use it successfully. However, if it is not used appropriately it can generate losses for the company and even have a detrimental impact on the company’s image. Thus it should be carefully incorporated into the marketing mix. For one thing it creates an efficient distribution channel and for another it is a very effective means of advertising and building the brand.

Holly Odom is a freelance writer currently employed by essaymart.com - on line Custom Writing/Research company. Having graduated from Georgia Tech in 2000, he started a career in writing and journalism. Past employers include essaymania.com (from June 2001 to Sept 2002), urgentpapers.com (july 2003 to Jan 2004)

One of the most powerful aspects of Search Engine Optimization is link building. Proper link building for the purpose of rankings uses Targeting Links. Targeting Links are one of the most effective approaches, as the links pass PageRank, and are already proven to rank your competitors. The “Old School” terminology for this approach is called “Stealing your competitors rankings”.

Top SEO Companies use this method when developing top-tier marketing strategies for their clients and even their own websites. It is also the most time consuming approach to link building, but it is one of the most powerful methods of producing results.

Define your keyword targets:
Each and every link you build needs to have a keyword target when using this approach. Target a single keyword first. See who’s ranking in the top ten on your favorite Search Engine (SE) for this keyword or keyword phrase. All of those sites contain your link targets. The sites that link to them, their backlinks, are more powerful than any link that is built for the sole purpose of link popularity. These are targeted links and have much more power to rank websites. Now the keyword that these sites rank for is the Anchor Text that you want to use on your link on these targeted websites.

Now that we have your keyword target, we need to consider whether the link is really a quality link, or a spam site. Determining this is harder for the layman than the experienced marketer as some sites that show in the backlinks are obvious spammers or websites that are trying to make a buck from Pay Per Click advertising. As a general rule these have low or no PageRank (PageRank 0/10), and always have a ton of ads first. Ignore these links, as they will be temporary or detrimental to this process. Finding the quality websites in your competitors backlinks is very important. You need to weed out the garbage.

Choose the websites that have some PageRank and appear to be quality sites, if you find some sites in common when checking backlinks on multiple competitors, then those are the important links, and you should do whatever you have to do to get a link from it. Consider a reciprocal if all else fails.

Now the hard part, how do you get your link on their page next to your competitor? How can you get the link to you without returning it? Since everyone is so link popularity aware, you need to present a quality proposal to the webmaster to gain a link. You need to be a quality addition for the webmaster to want to add the link. Nowadays, it’s rare that any site will give a link without returning one. In 1999 before the Link Popularity Search Engines, this was not the case, webmasters linked to whoever they wanted to and paid no attention to reciprocal link exchanges. So how can we get a link without returning one?

Here’s a smart approach. For any link that you are targeting, you really need to try and attempt to offer the webmaster a real reason on why he should add the link. Proving that your website is a valuable resource and one-of-a-kind, is a possible way to still get a free link, and a free targeted link is a powerful link. One-way links are important for any site as it is the model of the Authority Domains. These sites have hundreds to thousands of one-way links, and very few if any reciprocal links. So you should try through whatever methods of one-way link building that you want to use, to get these targeted links without reciprocating. But a reciprocal link is better than no link.

Combine this method with blind link building (random reciprocals links), press releases and even article writing (like this one) and your site will achieve better rankings, better traffic and if your site is truly effective…it will prosper.

About the Author: Alan Rabinowitz is the CEO of a prominent NYC SEO Company, SEO Image. Visit SEO Image for more information on Search Engine Optimization, Internet Marketing and Link Building.

No matter what you say or do, your kids will chat and use IM (instant messengers) over the internet. That’s a given. But since you have the obligation to protect your children, be aware that there are parent-friendly software tools that can assist you.

Chat Watch

Chat Watch logs both sides of instant messages on AOL, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo. Chat Watch features parental controls, chat scheduling, a chat acronym translator, and more. Chat logs can be automatically e-mailed to you, copied to a network computer, or uploaded to a remote server. Chat Watch is password protected and can run hidden in stealth mode and accessible by a hot key. Chat Watch allows you to monitor and be in control of your child’s instant messaging.

Features:

* Log both sides of instant messages on AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger.

* Chat Watch can automatically e-mail you the chat logs at a pre-set time.

* The chat logs can be copied to a network computer.

* The Content Monitor quickly highlights chats that may contain offensive words. Parents can add custom words to the content monitor watch list.

* Parents can set scheduling options that determine when chatting is allowed and when it is not allowed.

* Chat Watch can run in complete Stealth mode hidden to the user.

* Task Manager can be disabled while Chat Watch is running.

* Advanced Hot Key allows for the hot key to be a combination of three hot keys for maximum security.

* Access to the chat logs is password protected.

More Information: http://www.deprice.com/chatwatch.htm

IamBigBrother

IamBigBrother records all of the internet activity for many programs including America Online, MSN, Outlook Express and more. And it logs all keystrokes typed in EVERY program along with screen shots. So basically IamBigBrother monitors EVERYTHING on your computer.

More Information: http://www.deprice.com/iambigbrotherspy.htm

SpyTech SpyAgent

SpyAgent gives you the power to log all websites visited, windows viewed, applications ran, internet connections made, passwords entered, documents printed, AIM/AOL/ICQ/Yahoo/MSN conversations made, documents opened, emails sent/received, and even capture screenshots of the user’s activities.
SpyAgent can be run on Windows startup in active monitoring mode with an optional splash warning screen. This allows you to have the option to let others using your workstation that they are being monitored (or not). A built in stealth mode is available to keep users from task-ending or knowing about SpyAgent.

More Information: http://www.deprice.com/spytechspyagent.htm

John Deprice owns and operates Deprice.Com. He reviews family friendly software at http://www.deprice.com/utilities.htm

eBay licensed merchandise sales have grown during the past five years. It is safe to say that licensed merchandise auctions have been one of the fastest growing segments on eBay.

Licensed merchandise has a broad appeal among customers of all ages.

eBay bidders are willing to pay a higher price for brand name merchandise because of the popularity of a name, and because of the expected higher quality that brand name merchandise has.

You can build a successful eBay business by running auctions for licensed merchandise.

In order to be successful in auctioning licensed merchandise you should follow certain key steps.

Step #1

Make sure that the licensed merchandise you buy is legitimate. With the mass production of knock off merchandise you need to be exceptionally careful that you are buying the real thing.

Step #2

Shop for the best wholesale source of licensed merchandise. Many wholesalers offer licensed merchandise, but their prices can vary widely. Take a look at www.wholesalequest.com to search for sources.

Step #3

Have a proof of purchase. If eBay requests proof that the merchandise is legitimate be ready to email or fax a copy of your receipt.

Step #4

Licensed merchandise will appeal differently based on demographic groups, the same way one age group loves one brand that another age group could live without.

Describe your licensed merchandise in your eBay auctions according to the demographic group you are selling to.

You should also stay on top of brand popularity. By knowing which brands are popular you will be able to offer the brands that can sell well on eBay.

Remember, just because a brand might not be popular in your area, does not meant that it will not be popular on eBay, since eBay reaches millions of customers on an international scale.

Donny Lowy operates the following wholesale sites:

http://www.closeoutexplosion.com
http://www.wholesalequest.com
http://www.wholesalecloseoutforum.com

Thankfully, the answer is probably not. Most children use the internet to socialize with friends and pursue budding interests. They manage to steer clear of the dangerous predators lurking in chat rooms and other forums who slyly manipulate their way into electronic networks of school-age friends to find and groom the next vulnerable child for future exploitation. While most children are safe on the internet, as you read these words some are in danger. Is your child one of these unfortunate few? How would you know before it is too late?

Given the risks, parents cannot feel secure with the mere probability their child will be safe. Even “good” or “smart” children are still just children and make, or can be induced to make, bad decisions with tragic consequences. Short of physically being present during your child’s every encounter with the internet, there is no way for a parent to be 100% sure their child has not been contacted by a predator. Parents need to know the characteristics of typical victims, the warning signs a predator has entered your child’s life, and steps they can take to protect their children.

Characteristics of typical victims:

* Most but not all victims are between the age of 12 and 15 years old.

* Most victims have an instant message account (most kids do) but have not set up privacy or security settings to block strangers and, in fact, willingly engage in conversations with strangers.

* Most victims tend to live in suburban or rural towns.

* Most victims are very sheltered and naïve, although a few are at the opposite extreme and willing to take very serious risks.

* Most victims tend to be loners with few offline friends. They are often looking for love and affection online. Many children contacted by predators believe they are communicating with someone around their own age, and not with an adult.

* Most victims tend to spend more than 90 minutes of non-homework time a day online, and are secretive about their internet activities. When you walk by, the screen often goes blank or windows are minimized.

* Most victims tend to have few activities outside of the internet.
Just because your child matches one or more of these characteristics does not mean they are being targeted by predators, nor is your child perfectly safe if they match none of these characteristics. In all circumstances, a parent should be ever vigilant and involved in their children’s on-line activities.

Warning signs your child is being contacted by a predator:

* Phone calls. Are strange calls showing up on your phone bills? Don’t assume you can pick out adults calling your children - a 35 year old can sound very much like a 15 year old if they want to.

* Gifts and packages arriving at your house. Many predators groom their victims by sending small gifts. Some predators have been known to send disposable cameras or web cameras for children to take pictures of themselves with.

* Secrecy. Teens are often secretive, and often it is a symptom of nothing more than their carving out an independent life for themselves. However, if your child is taking secrecy to an extreme, or has suddenly become more secretive than before, it is cause for concern.

* Trust your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. Predators are masters of manipulation. Unexplained and sudden changes in your child’s mood or behavior may be a sign they are being manipulated in ways they are not comfortable with but are reluctant to talk about.

Steps to protect your child:

* Teach your child to not communicate online with people they have not physically met offline. This absolutely means friends of friends. Predators often infiltrate a network of child friends by finding the one weak link and using that person’s trust to gain contact with others. Under no circumstances should a child meet in person someone they only know online - in most cases where a child is exploited, the child is conned or coerced into willingly meeting the predator offline

* Go through your child’s list of internet buddies and have them tell you the real name of each person on the list.

* Review you child’s home page or online profile. Make sure there is no personally identifiable information there, including photos, school name, or team names. Many predators keep detailed files on their targets and gather information over time from a variety of sources. Even seemingly innocuous information may prove harmful when combined with comments made weeks or months later. “I play catcher on my baseball team”, “I went to a Red Sox game!”, and “Big game against Bedford tomorrow - I hope we crush them!” can tell a predator their target probably lives in the Boston area and is playing baseball somewhere in Bedford the following afternoon. A quick Google search will show the public schools in Bedford and which ones have baseball games scheduled.

* If your child has been approached or harassed online, have them immediately delete their old account, pick a new username and start another. Do not let the harassment continue.

* Absolutely prohibit web-cams. Easy-to-use $20 Webcams instantly transmit high-quality continuous color video across the globe and are used by predators to exploit children.

* Most importantly, install keylogger or monitoring software on the computer used by your child. There is no other way to be totally certain of what your child is doing online or who they are communicating with - and there is no other way of keeping 100% accurate records of what was said in the event your child is contacted by a predator. Even though it may feel like “spying” on your child, a parent has a responsibility to know with certainty who is in their child’s life and keylogger software provides that certainty.

Michael Ryan owns and operates PCSentinel Software, developer of easy-to-use keylogger software such as PCSentinel’s Busted: Keylogger and Instant Message Monitor and PCSentinel’s Red-Handed: Record Instant Messages!

With the holidays literally around the corner, eBay sellers have a great opportunity to dramatically increase their sales.

With most e-commerce analysts predicting record breaking online sales this holiday, now is a great time to launch and expand an eBay business.

eBay is in essence an online market where customers set their own prices through an auction format.

Having this in mind, you need to make sure that the items you offer on eBay have a high perceived value, otherwise eBay shoppers will not bid on your item.

In addition, make sure that the actual value of your item is high so that the eBay shopper will be satisfied and will be willing to buy again from you.

Here are some tips that I have come up with to help your eBay business prosper during the holiday season.

Tip #1

eBay shoppers are looking for gift items during the holiday season. Stock up on gift related merchandise with a high perceived and actual value.

Tip #2

Collectibles sell well on eBay during the holiday season. You will see collectibles moving nicely on eBay because many people will buy them as gifts for a relative or friend who collects them.

Tip #3

Exclusive or limited quantity toys are an excellent holiday eBay seller.
Many times toy store chains will introduce an exclusive or limited edition toy in certain areas.
People who live elsewhere will often be eager to buy those toys at a premium.

Donny Lowy operates the following wholesale sites:

http://www.closeoutexplosion.com

http://www.wholesalequest.com

http://www.wholesalecloseoutforum.com

To grow your e-business and to stay ahead, you definitely need top rankings in Google, Yahoo and MSN. When people search using keywords through search engines, your site should feature in top positions in the search engine results.

The key to getting a high ranking in the search engines is to keep adding keyword rich, relevant content to your website regularly.

If you are updating your site all the time, the search engines will know they need to come back and spider it all the time. You need to get your website pages spidered and Indexed into all the MAJOR Search Engines… No Matter Who You Are, How Much Experience You Have Or What Kind Of Budget Your limited to.

CONTENT IS KING Give your visitors what they want, a theme-Based CONTENT Site. The latest research suggests that visitors will expect to find a keyword rich reference in the first 12 seconds of visiting your site. Do you need content to add to your web site? Or articles for use on your opt-in newsletters and e-zines?

Using Article content to get into Google and Yahoo listings can use a lot of method described by many so called experts. And quite true too. I want to remind one very sophisticated and elegant way to do this and believe me Google just love it. The method is Article marketing. And this is done by getting backlinks from a already listed website. In this Article can work wonder. There are many article publishing websites and ezines where an article is accepted free and after review get published.

Apart from these SEO aspect, articles are a great way to market and brand your own name. It establish you as an expert in that particular subject. Article marketing can help you to gain a good number of visitors who are highly targeted one. And these article can help you to get higher Google page rank.

Do you want a tool that automaticly picks up the articles you want from sites like those above and publishes them on your website. No hassle, simple .php script to set up and your away, leaving you plenty of time to focus on doing your business.

This is a tool that lets you:

Use an easy template to get everything set up
Use an easy template to get everything set up
Pick your own topics and where you’ll get content from
Gather as many as 1,100 articles
Turn the articles you pick into web pages
Publish those pages on your site

Keyword rich article content is King, step-by-step you can use this brand new, remarkable tool to gather keyword-rich articles, analyze their densities, and build separate web pages for each article collected.

The Internet has now become an important medium for product and service advertisements. Almost every company that can afford print, radio and TV advertisements have also ventured into placing ads on the Internet.

But with millions of websites out there being visited by millions of computer users, how can you make sure that your ad can be seen by your target customers and that your leads will be followed by these users? Here are a few tips.

1. Place an ad on the websites frequented by your target customers. Before doing this, you need to define who will be your target customers. Placing an ad on sites that they usually visit will increase the possibility that your ad will gain the attention and will be followed your target customers.

Also, consider the website’s search engine placement, traffic, external linking and the other ads placed on it. External linking will determine if there are other sites that link to this site. This will mean that people can get to the site where your ad is placed, even if they are browsing a different site. Check if many of your competitors have ads on this site.

2. Placing ads on some sites cost some money. However, there are also sites that can place a link to your site, product or service in exchange of having their link being displayed on your site. This is also true about the newsletters sent by site owners to its mailing list members regularly.

Also, having helpful links placed on your site and having sites link to your pages help in boosting search engine ranking. This is similar to making a statement that your site’s content is important that other sites have links to your web pages.

3. Pay-per-click (PPC) is also a good method in Internet marketing. You will only need to pay for the ad if the link is clicked. If you prefer this method of advertisement, make sure that you are using services that set limits on daily expenses. There are also services that help you determine effective keywords and monitor the PPC results. copy and paste this url into your browser to get professional advice on PPC for FREE.

P.S. If you are running your business online get reliable web hosting, downtime is lost CASH…. Can you afford to lose sales? Website hosting services vary, choose your hosting company wisely. Affordable web hosting is the key for small business webmasters. At White Star business web hosting is the order of the day, offering a dedicated and personalised service to small business they are hard to beat. Copy and paste the url into your browser, click and your off to a very good start.

http://www.web-hosting.org.uk.tp

4. Choose your domain name wisely. It is still being debated if domain names matter when it comes to search engine placement. Whether it does or not, having product related domain names help consumers remember your domain, so that they can go back to your site even without the links. After you have sorted out your web hosting, because to get multiple free domain names you will need a domain name to redirect your web site traffic to, go here and get keyword rich domain names for FREE

http://www.tipdots.com

5. Make sure you have useful content on your sites. While keyword density is important in search engine placement, having useless information or annoying repetition of keywords will not increase your customer’s confidence in your site. It may even affect your sites traffic and can get your site removed from search engines. So make sure that keywords are used strategically.

6. When thinking of keywords, think like your target customers. What do you think are they going to search so they can get to your site? Also, use specific keywords or key phrases. Submitting a single word or a very general phrase to a search engine will not get you to the top of the search results compared to submitting specific keywords that describe your product and services perfectly. this is a great FREE tool for keyword research, go on to

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/

This is a handy little tool will show you the results of your query from both Wordtracker and Overture for determining which phrases are searched most often. Its great - and its free

7. Track your ads. Always check how much you have spent on placing links on frequently visited sites and on PPC. There are services that allow you to monitor PPC transactions and how many of these end in sales. You always need to consider if the ads that you have placed on these websites are getting you to your target consumers and if these ads can lead to revenue.

One final tip on marketing products and services, sell the benefits. It will help your marketing strategies a lot if you highlight the benefits of choosing your products and services instead of merely discussing the product specifications. Product specifications may not mean much to customers, unless they know what these stand for (how these specifications affect the quality of the product or service).
Growing your eBusiness

Many people say getting to the top of search engine results is difficult since millions of websites exist, which can be using the same keywords. While this is true, this doesn’t mean that your website has to stacked under your competitors’ websites when presenting search engine results.

Increasing Sales Through Strategic Internet Marketing.

http://www.seotop10rankings.com

Strategic advertising and linking, together with useful content, can also get you to the top of the search results.

Email Marketing is the king of advertising in online marketing but the effect of spam filters and volume emailers has certainly put a damper on the reach it once had. This has forced online marketers to reach deep and learn new methods of online marketing. Search Engine Optimization has moved to the forefront of many online marketers advertising plans.

Search Engine Optimization is the art of designing your web pages to be ranked high by search engines for keywords that you target. There are several methods and they vary from Search Engine to Search Engine. One aspect of Search Engine Optimization relays heavily on the Onpage Optimization.

Onpage Optimization deals with the placement of keywords on the page, the header tags, the appearance of the keywords and the use of keywords in the meta and alt tags on the page. Below are some tips on OnPage optimization that I have picked up and used in my own web sites.

Step1: Select a page title that only includes your keywords.

Step 2: Use Header Tags to emphasize the keywords you have selected. Use your number 1 keyword in the {H1} tag and secondary keywords in your {H2} header tags.

Step 3: Write solid content that naturally includes your main and your secondary keywords throughout the text. If possible use your first keyword as near the top of the content and as close to the bottom of the content as possible.

Step 4: Once the content is complete go through and randomly bold, italicize and underline the main and secondary keywords.

Step 5: Be sure to use your keywords in the alt tags of your images.

As a guide you might do a search for you main keyword in Google. View the page and the source code of the page to see what OnPage Optimization that webmaster did to get a top rank.

While OnPage Optimization can be a significant reason why your web site ranks well in the search engine there are several other key factors like, page content, link popularity, site indexing and competition.

Search Engine Optimization is an equal opportunity marketing practice. If you are diligent you can create a flood of prime targeted.

Charity Adams, CEO Mom is a 8 year veteran of online marketing and lead generation. For more information on Search Engine Optimization pick up our free Ebook at http://adamsacres.com/seo

The average pedophile will victimize between 50-150 children before he comes to the attention of law enforcement. A large and growing number of predators have gravitated towards the internet, reasoning that browsing the personal profiles children themselves post on instant message services and anonymously lurking in chat rooms is less risky and more effective than hanging around playgrounds and schoolyards. The number of predators using the internet to groom children for future exploitation rises every month.

How do internet predators select their victims? Here are some important factors:

* Almost by definition, internet predators favor children who have regular (and private) access to a computer. Most victims live in suburban or rural areas while relatively few live in inner cities.

* Internet predators gravitate towards children who are online for lengthy periods of time each day, and usually at the same time of day. Predators seek children whose schedules mesh with their own, children who are online most days during a consistent time frame. Think about it… predators have little chance to groom a child for future exploitation if that child is rarely online or is online at various times of the day. Children who do not have a lot of activities outside of school tend to be online longer and at the same times of day compared to those children who have lots of activities. These children are more often targeted by internet predators.

* Internet predators prefer children who have instant message accounts. Although some predators use email, many prefer communicating with their victims through instant messages. Predators know that while emails are saved automatically and have to be manually deleted, instant messages tend to evaporate into the ether once the instant message window is closed. Parents can keep a permanent record of instant message conversations by installing instant message monitoring software on their children’s computers. PCSentinel Software ( www.pcsentinelsoftware.com ) is one vendor of such software.

* Internet predators search out children who will speak to them. Again this seems self-evident, but predators are forced to pass over children who refuse to communicate with strangers they have not met offline. Teach your children never to communicate online with someone they have not met offline.

* Internet predators search out children who are vulnerable and lonely, sheltered and naive. Predators seek to develop a relationship with their targets, often posing as children or teenagers themselves, and then use that relationship to initiate sexual discussion and activity or lure the child into an offline meeting.

* Internet predators are all the more emboldened if they find out a child is from a single parent family, having trouble at school or with the law, or has been experimenting with drugs, alcohol or sexual activity.

* Internet predators search out children who post personal profiles on the internet, especially those that provide name, age, photos, gender, physical description, telephone number, address, etc.

* Internet predators favor targets who own webcams or digital cameras. Predators often coerce children into using these devices to send images of themselves to the predator. If a child does not own a camera, predators sometimes send one to their targets for the purpose of photographing themselves.

* To be successful, internet predators require children who will not terminate the relationship at the first suggestion of sexual activity. Even if a vulnerable child with few friends is uncomfortable with sexual talk, they will sometimes put up with the unpleasantness of the conversation for fear of losing their new “friend”.

* Internet predators seem to favor victims between the ages of 12-15. These are the ages where children are discovering their own sexuality and independence, and also the ages where they are most likely to be conned into meeting with a stranger without telling their parents. Younger and older children are also solicited, but as a whole tend to be harder targets.

Michael Ryan owns and operates PCSentinel Software, developer of easy-to-use keylogger software such as PCSentinel’s Busted: Keylogger and Instant Message Monitor and PCSentinel’s Red-Handed: Record Instant Messages!

Once you’ve sold a product on eBay and shipped it, the last thing you need is for the buyer to contact you to complain. If this happens you now have to spend extra time exchanging emails and trying to please them so they don’t leave negative feedback or insist on a refund.

Follow the points below and you will protect yourself against complaints and potentially messy refund/return situations.

(1) Be completely honest in your description

This is the most important defence against complaints. If you have listed every possible problem, glitch or blemish on your product in the description in clear terms, the buyer will not have much reason to complain.

Also, if they complain to eBay, you can simply point eBay to the description and they will see you pointed out the problem.

If you are selling a DVD and it has slight scratches on the disk, say so.

If you are selling a porceline doll and it has a hairline fracture on the bottom, inform potential bidders in the description.

Hiding problems with your item will results in problems. There is no point selling an item, packaging it carefully and shipping it to the buyer quickly only for them to return it within days for a refund. You’ve wasted their time, your own time and your own money sending it to them.

A simple sentence in the description will avoid problems and can be a reference point to alert any complaining buyers to.

For example:

I recently listed an 8 VHS video set on eBay but tape 5 was almost unwatchable. To cover myself I simply added the following to the description:

“PLEASE NOTE: Tape 5 of this set is not in very good condition, it was shipped in this way and a replacement could not be sought. Most of the tape has bad audio and it is hard to pick up what [the presenter] is saying although the picture is fine. All of the other 7 videos are in excellent condition. Please do not bid if this is a problem.”

If the buyer complains now, I can point him back to this text in the listing (which, by the way, was written in red text so it stood out!)

(2) Make it clear where you can ship to

If you are selling in the UK and do not want to ship abroad, make it perfectly clear that you only ship to the UK.

i.e. put in the description “UK bidders only please. Sorry but I cannot ship this item outside the UK”

Also, eBay allows you to state in the options where you ship to. Make sure you choose the “United Kingdom Only” option.

(3) Justify the postage costs and make sure they are stated

Nothing annoys a buyer more than winning an item and then being charged what they see as too much for postage.

eBay’s stand on postage is that you can charge a reasonable fee which covers the postage and packing charge as well as any “handling fee”.

The problem with this is that a buyer will not be happy to have an extra £5 or so “handling fee” added on to compensate for your troubles. Any normal eBay buyer wants to pay the exact postage cost and no more. If the parcel turns up with a £4 stamp printed on it and they paid £10 they will not be happy.

State and justify your exact postage costs. If you don’t clearly tell potential bidders how much postage and packing is, don’t be surprised if they neglect to bid on your item.

(4) Let bidders know how long it will take to post the item

Another problem with eBay and the world today is that everyone is in a rush. People expect goods to arrive next day.

Complaints can be lowered (and feedback improved) if you let the buyers know, in the description, when you are likely to post the item and how long it will take to arrive at the buyer’s location.

e.g. “After payment I will despatch as soon as possible, usually the next working day so you should take possession of the package within 48 hours.”

(5) Don’t shill bid or use underhand tactics

Shill bidding is using someone else’s account to ramp up the price of your own auction. It is relatively easy to detect if you are shill bidding and it usually results in negative feedback and suspension/banning from eBay. Don’t trick your buyers, it isn’t worth it.

(6) Respond to buyer questions quickly and politely

If a buyer asks you a question after the auction ends, respond quickly and be polite. When using email it is hard to convey emotions and a quick response may seem rude or “stand off-ish”. Remember your manners and add a quick line to your replies such as:

“Thanks for your question, please do not hesitate to contact me with any further queries”.

(7) Act professionally at all times

Some people like to complain. Before firing off a reply email, write it but do not send it.

Wait a few hours until you have calmed down and write a polite response asking the buyer what you can do to help or resolve the situation.

You may be forced to offer a refund and in this case, it may be easier to simply refund the money and relist the item rather than argue.

If you are forced to leave negative feedback, try to wait until 90 days following the sale before you submit the feedback. This will leave the other party with less than 24 hours to respond. This is due to the fact that eBay does not allow anyone to leave feedback once 90 days has lapsed.

Ben Catt is an active eBay buyer and seller and runs an eBay Tips and Tricks website found at http://www.BenCatt.com.
He also runs a business opportunity information site - http://www.BizOppsUK.com

Today it is important to invest in better search engine placement to improve search engine ranks. Better search engine placement is very precise and starts with a proper foundation like any great structure. You need to invest in higher placement at the top of search engines. Top positioning has many factors involved that must cater to the engines to improve your ranks. Broadwave Studios is compiled of a highly skilled SEO team that is very competitive and aims for only top spots.

Better Search Engine Placement

Many people are under the misconception that higher search engine placement is something that they will gain just having their site live on the Internet. Many companies that do not invest in higher placement to improve search engine ranks will not see the ROI they deserve.

For instance try searching for some keywords related to your industry that you would like to be found for on the first page and discover where you rank. In order to achieve higher placement or improve search engine ranks we are confident that your company’s online business will benefit from our professional services. Imagine coming up on top for the most popular keywords for your industry. Top location starts with a Broadwave Studios consultation where we can unravel the problems causing your website to be lost on the World Wide Web.

Once you hire our experts to solve the existing problems of your current website you will quickly see the benefits of target marketing higher placement, improved search engine ranks and return on investment that you deserve. Your increase of unique visitors searching for your information, product or service will impact your overall bottom line. Top placement will also allow you to dominate your competition on the Internet and be the brand of choice.

http://www.broadwavestudios.com/better-search-engine-placement.html

Gregg Makarowski - is a successful Internet Marketer and author. He specializes in fixing websites that are completely lost on the World Wide Web. Many times you will hear him say “wasn’t a website originally created to market your business NOT your business market your website” ?

Membership Sites

“Do I really need to create an e-book for sale? Can’t I do some other things?”

Absolutely yes you can do many other things, you don’t need to necessarily create an e-book for sale. There are too many things out there you can do on the Internet! In fact, there are too much to list we’re embarrassed we can’t tell you everything.

Let’s have some examples:

You may be someone who’s very good in playing the piano, having a membership site to teach people how to master piano in a short time is a good idea. Maybe you know something about sky diving, sea diving, you know about mountain hiking, every each of them can be turned into a great money making opportunity.

A hobby usually, is excellent as more than half of the people who goes online every day are searching for information related to their hobbies. Membership sites are very profitable, we’ll explain why.

Let’s take a membership site for example, which teaches violin. Every week, you will only need to update step-by-step instructions where your subscribers can follow and learn.

Even if they know how to play the violin, they still need music pieces right? There are tons of music pieces out there. Updating 5-10 pieces of music you personally choose will probably be the only working routine for you each week.

After that, you can consider having a trip some where and enjoy yourself, Austria for some classical music, Disneyland in Florida, and come back the next week just for the sake of updating it! Well not really, you don’t need to return because having an Internet Business gives you the freedom to do it from anywhere, anytime - as long as you have a laptop with an Internet connection.

That’s all!

Nevertheless, you will need to do your very best to make the membership site worth while, people who are happy with your membership site will gladly become your recurring customers in the future.

The fundamentals are: you will need to sound special, you want yourself to be appealing to people, give them a reason why they must sign up for your membership site. It must be something different, that’s how your membership site will be preferred than music teachers.

For example, anyone who joins your membership site will get to learn the violin in 2 days,

“How can I start a membership site?”

There are many ways. Nevertheless, we would rather stay on to using paid membership scripts or companies which provide a membership system, trust us that’s the best way! You don’t want to waste a lot of time and effort to figure out how to get the membership system going.

We would rather pay a higher price for breads in Delifrance because they taste more delicious compared to the breads in other shops. Furthermore, we don’t want to risk having a stomach upset after our meals.

Same goes with the membership site, we would rather spend more money buying a membership script or paying for the service, run a neat and tidy membership site for customers so that they can have a nice experience in their process of learning, than confusing them with lots of unnecessary problems.

If you are interested in creating a membership site, a few of the membership scripts you can use are Interlogy and aMember, simply make a search on Google with the keywords “membership scripts” will get you all the results you need. You can even hire experienced programmers to write a membership scripts especially for you, and as for most of the professional Internet Marketers VisionGatePortal is the hot one. VisionGatePortal provides a very good membership system, hosting, as well as excellent support.

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Physical Products

To achieve more success doing business online, we will need to jump into selling physical products.

This is not a secret, but it is the best step if you want to make a difference between driving a Chevy or a Porsche. If you are aware all along, Internet Marketers who are really successful lately have been coming up with their own physical products.

Here are little examples of the famous Internet Marketers which are making a fortune from their physical products: John Reese with Traffic Secrets, Jeff Walker with Product Launch Formula, Tim Knox on eBay, Yanik Silver with Underground DVDs, Derek Gehl with Insider’s Secrets and Andrew Fox with Millionaires Mega Yacht.

People are usually attracted to something they can keep, feel, touch, see or hear. Physical products can be sold for a price so much higher than it is as e-books, or downloadable software even up to even ten times!

Now the problem is, not everyone is willing to do it. You’ll need to hire the fulfillment house to do everything for you: producing the products as you want them to be, wrap them up, and prepare them for shipping. It will cost a large number of money.

The higher the price of your product, the more you will earn. It’s something really common but sometimes they just sound so common we just happen to forget about them.

John Reese for example, earned 1.08million in one day with Jeff Walker’s product launch formula selling $997 per course. $997 is a really big number, but his product is highly sought after and many people will still buy from him.

If you’re selling books on the Internet, consider changing them to files. Make them more manageable, people want to keep something and refer them from time to time, and you’ll make it easier by providing the files with a few bookmarks.

Physical product selling is very profitable - especially when it can allow you to have vacations anytime you want, anywhere you like, and the fact that it lasts long.

Always aim for furthering your business, be a credible business man or business woman, make customers glad, only in that way can you earn a great income from the Internet.

Seth Chong is the owner of IMViral, one of the largest, greatest viral Internet Marketing Newsletter which is being spread around the world, you can sign up and see why the world’s talking about it at http://www.IMViral.com

Here is another great way to earn extra income using Ebay with very little up front money or effort. I have had several of my students concentrate solely on this money maker. Tickets for concerts, sporting events, airlines, etc. are always in demand and are super hot-selling items on eBay.

Due to the fact that you have a computer with internet access, you have a huge advantage over any traditional ticket broker. By using eBay, you can easily liquidate these tickets at a very nice profit without having to use any of the shady techniques of these brokers. Have you ever wondered when you attended a sold out concert or event where the scalpers got their tickets? Ticket brokers often employ homeless or jobless people off the street and give them a few dollars to sit in line for days for ticket placement. In return, these brokers would receive very good seats and make hundreds of dollars per transaction.

I have had students clear over $1,000/month using the following technique to jump to the front of the line. The first step is to go to ticketmaster dot com and become a member. It is free. Once you are a member you will be notified of pre-sale opportunities in which you can purchase these very hard to get tickets. You need to log on immediately and place your order the minute the internet sale goes online. Normally, the maximum amount of tickets you can buy is six per transaction. Once you have placed your order you will receive confirmation of your seat number assignment at which point you can list them for sale on eBay.

Many people use inexpensive classified ads to purchase hot selling items on eBay. You can also use the classified ad technique to locate airline reward tickets or hot concert events which you can then sell on eBay for double or triple your investment.

This technique is called “flipping”. You are buying a ticket and immediately reselling for a nice profit.

Note: Regarding concert tickets, please do your research prior to buying to make sure the concert is highly sought after and going to be sold out in order to maximize your profits. This is not mandatory because you can still sell tickets for a good profit even if the event is not sold out; but you will maximize your investment if the tickets are highly sought after.

In conclusion, join the eBay “Ticket Gold Rush”. There is a never ending group of people who want the best seats and are willing to pay a premium for them. Selling tickets on eBay is a great way to supplement your income with minimal risk.

Tim Gilberg is able to provide information and insight from a unique
perspective - that of someone who is actually doing what others just
talk about. Ebay Power Seller Platinum Status was Attained by Tim Gilberg, which is one of the highest sales levels attained selling on eBay. Tim is active on Ebay and liquidation.com as well as consulting
and working with other Top ebay Power Seller’s to give you real life
in use insight, not theories.

Visit Tim Gilberg at his website Make Money on eBay.

For today’s kids, the Internet chat room has become the 21st century equivalent of the shopping mall or other popular hangout. The most popular, MySpace.com, claims over 50 million users. Parents should be aware that these virtual meeting places are also where pedophiles “troll” for new victims. And they’re very clever too.

As a part of the pedophile’s “grooming” process, the child gets messages that flatter and compliment them. Unknown to you, the pedophile slowly becomes an important part of your child’s life by boosting their self-esteem. As the pedophile casually turns to the subject of sex, the “right” answers yield praise and the wrong replies produce silence. Eventually they may meet in person. Sometimes with tragic results. What can you do?

Here’s what to look for if you suspect your son or daughter may be in danger online:

1.Does your child cover the monitor screen or quickly close an open browser window when you suddenly enter their room?
2.Do they seem angry or defensive when you enter the room while they’re online, but remain calm otherwise?
3.Are they staying up (and online), much later than usual?
4.Do they immediately jump on the computer when they get home from school?
5.Do they prefer being online and shun extracurricular activities and family outings?

A common trick of pedophiles is to use a screen name designed to mask their true identity. Just because someone’s screen name is “Heavensent,” doesn’t mean they’re really a young girl. “SurfBoy,” may not be a teenage boy. As mentioned in the new feature film on this subject, “Hamal_18,” “You never know who you’re really talking to.”

A good rule-of-thumb is to never reveal any personal information (i.e.; phone number, address, real name, age, sex or school name), to anyone online. Your teens and pre-teens should never forget that someone else may be secretly monitoring their conversations, or “lurking.” Your child’s real friends will already know their personal information anyhow.

If there’s just one Internet-connected computer in your home, avoid placing it in your child’s bedroom where it will be difficult to observe. Favor a more public area “where everyone can use it.” Set limits on computer usage: they’re great for homework, but not at 11:00PM. But, how can you find out exactly where your children are spending their online time?

Because most kids use an Internet browser like Internet Explorer or Netscape, here’s a neat trick that’s easy to remember. When either of these programs are open, hold down the “Ctrl” key while you press the letter “H” on the keyboard. This will automatically display a detailed history of every Internet location your child has recently been to.

Click twice on each line and view the places last visited by your child.

Here’s what to look for:

1.Select “By Most Visited” from the drop down “View” menu. Are there numerous entries for one website over a period of several weeks? For example, MySpace, or the groups hosted by Yahoo, Google or MSN?
2.Do you spot the word “sex,” or any other troubling words in a listing?
3.Does any listing begin with the letters “alt” ? (a type of site where pornography is often displayed)
4.The letters “IRC” (Internet Relay Chat), indicate that your child has been to at least one site specifically to chat and nothing else. (IRC chat rooms are not maintained by any particular company like Yahoo, Google or MSN.)

If your child’s a heavy computer user but the history list is empty, you should be concerned. Deliberately erasing or turning off the browser’s history may mean they have something to hide.

Although many popular websites are “moderated,” you must not assume that these chat rooms are safe. No moderator can be expected to review thousands of messages.

Internet Messenger, or “IM” allows real-time communication between users. This extremely popular technology provides an easy way of sending short messages as well as actual voice chat, webcams, file swapping and photo exchange. It’s also widely used on cell phones and other hand-held devices. Most popular is AOL’s Instant Messenger, but there are others including Yahoo and MSN’s Messenger program.

Sexual predators love IM because:

•They can operate in relative anonymity.
•Easy to contact children by using member directories and profiles.
•Simple to have a private one-on-one conversation.
•They can easily contact children because they know when they’re online.
•Can send sexually-related messages and images.

Here’s a few tips to make using AOL’s Instant Messenger safer:

1.Open AOL Instant Messenger’s Preferences screen by clicking on My Aim, then Edit Options, followed by Edit Preferences.
2.Select Privacy from the list of options.
3.You will see an area at the bottom of the box which is titled: Allow users who know my email address to find…
4.Select Nothing about me.
5.Now, select Talk from the list of other options.
6.In the box labeled, When others want to talk with you, select Don’t Allow.
7.Now, select IM/Chat from the list on the left
8.Deselect the check box labeled “Show Accept Message dialog for messages from users not on my Buddy List.”

Despite these dangers, the Internet can help you protect your children too.

Using information made available by the Megan’s Law, you can locate convicted sex offenders living near you. A good place to start is at the FBI’s website:

http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/cac/states.htm

Use your home zip code as the main search criteria. Then, look at a map and determine which listed sex offenders are between your home and your child’s school, the shopping mall, a friends house, etc. Drive or walk by all the places you’ve located and show them to your children. Before you know it, they’ll begin to tell all their friends and the whole neighborhood will be a safer place to live.

For more information: http://www.hamal18.com (click on the “For Parents” tab)

John G. Thomas: Film Producer, Computer Expert, Child Safety Consultant, Parent

A graduate of the famed USC Film School, he’s produced & directed nearly 37 documentaries, shorts and TV shows as well as several feature films. Among his feature film credits are “Tin Man,” (Timothy Bottoms), “Banzai Runner,” (Dean Stockwell), “Arizona Heat,” (Michael Parks, Denise Crosby), and “Healer,” (Tyronne Power, Jr., David McCallum and Tobey Maguire).

Thomas dropped out of filmmaking for nearly six years. During this period he was contracted by IBM as a consultant to the L.A. County Dept of Children & Family Services. He closely reviewed hundreds of cases involving Internet pedophiles. After receiving a Special Commendation from the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors for his important contributions, Thomas walked away with a desire to make a special film.