What costs less than a penny an impression, drives qualified traffic to your web site, positions your company as an authority, helps boost search engine rankings, generates buzz, and may even result in traditional media coverage? Three words: optimized press releases.

An average optimized release will:

• Be read by well over 100,000 people (journalists, industry analysts and prospective customers).
• Be published on more than 850 other web sites.
• Have an average cost per read of less than 1 cent (or a CPM of about $8 for you media folks).

Want to try it? Here are four basic steps to successfully optimize an existing press release.

• Decide which search terms to target with your press release. Search terms are the words and phrases your target audience might type into a search engine in order to find your web site. There’s a definite art to selecting search terms, but you can get a lot of good information from Wordtracker.
• Use the search terms in the headline, subhead, and copy of the press release. Don’t overdo it - it still needs to read well and present your news item accurately and succinctly. Still, it’s usually fairly simple to swap out wording that no one is searching for (such as “enterprise systems”) for more precise, product-oriented language that your target audience is searching for (such as “enterprise resource planning software”). Another example: Instead of writing about “our products,” write about “our fiber-optic transceiver products.”
• Build links into the release that point to related pages on your web site. Search engines consider the number and quality of links pointing to a site when determining rankings. To further impact rankings, include your search terms in the text of the links themselves.
Hot Tip! BE SURE TO USE YOUR KEYWORDS IN YOUR PAGE TITLE: Many search engines will look to see what words you have used in your page title tag. It is VERY important that you include the keywords you want to be found under in this title tag.
• Distribute the release via PRWeb, an electronic distribution system built just for the Internet. Pony up for paid distribution - while PRWeb has an option to distribute your release at no charge, you won’t get nearly as many benefits by using that option.

What happens next?

• The release shows up nearly instantly in both Google News and Yahoo News. These news engines have over 27 million unique visitors a month in total. Often, it’ll show up in regular search results too.
Hot Tip! Do you have a secondary XML sitemap designed for search engines (see XML sitemap generator http://www.seo4internet.
• The release is fed across the Internet and picked up by other sites that publish syndicated content. Your release shows up on numerous other sites — again, building awareness and site visitors.
• It’s emailed to appropriate segments of an opt-in email database of over 100,000 journalists. So, in addition to the online marketing benefits, you may get traditional media coverage out of this!
• A web page is created for your release on PRWeb’s site. If you’ve built links pointing to your site into the release, every time your release is posted somewhere on the web, it creates more links pointing to your site.

Consider extending your traditional PR efforts to the online world. Optimizing press releases is a cost-effective, measurable tactic for increasing your position in search engine rankings and building traffic to your site. We’ve been doing it for over a year and a half - let us know if we can help you reap the benefits of this powerful marketing medium.

Stacy Williams, a search engine marketing specialist, is founder and Managing Partner of Atlanta search engine placement company Prominent Placement, Inc. Williams has a combined 16 years of experience and education in marketing, having overseen web site development projects and traffic generation campaigns since 1995, and has been doing search engine marketing since 1998.

A member of the Technology Alliance of Georgia and the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association, Stacy Williams is a frequent lecturer on search engine marketing. She has written articles for Digitrends, SEO Today, Competitive Edge and iMarketing News. She also presents regularly at each of the U.S.-based Search Engine Strategies Conferences.

25d4

“Objection” is a term taken directly from sales and marketing training, and it is important you understand the significance of objections to your eBay sales process.

Objections are those points, sometimes small issues, which make a bidder or a buyer think again about going for your offering.

In your auction description you need to remove as many of these objections as you can.

These are the kind of objections which your prospective buyers will have.

Objection 1
Is the seller trustworthy?

The buyer usually doesn’t know you. If they’re serious bidders they will check you out. How will they do this?

a) A good Feedback Rating will be one way they assess you. Be determined in getting your feedback up, and making it all positive.

b) They might also click through to your About Me page. This page gives you the opportunity to convey your personality and your honesty.

One of eBay’s standard About Me page formats lets you display your recent feedbacks - always useful - and also your other auctions, again useful. This is in addition to anything about yourself which helps to show what a sincere and genuine person you are.

And finally, if you have a web site from which you sell products or services, you are allowed to place a direct link to it from the About Me page. (This is in marked contrast to your auction description page, where eBay does not allow direct links to web pages.) So, create an About Me page and incorporate the points mentioned.

c) A prospective bidder may wish to ask you a question. As you will know, there is a standard eBay facility whereby a bidder can ask a seller a question. You should really welcome questions.

Why do I say this?

Well, if a bidder asks you a question, first of all you know they are interested in your offering. They wouldn’t have wasted their time on typing out their question to you if they weren’t. Also, by asking you a question they are qualifying themselves in as a real prospect. And you now have the chance in your reply to directly influence them. Depending on the nature of their enquiry, you have the opportunity to convey your integrity, honesty, credibility, fair mindedness, helpfulness, expertise, knowledge, other appropriate products etc.

So, if questions are such good things, why not make it easy for the bidder to ask one? Always have some text in your auction description offering to answer any questions, with a link to your email address. If you have a little knowledge of HTML coding you will know how easy this is to do. It is far better than simply relying on buyers finding the standard “Ask the seller a question” link provided by eBay.

d) You might consider a moneyback guarantee, if it’s appropriate and you can “afford” it.

Why would you or should you do this?

Well, when you think about it, in online auctions, the buyer is normally asked to take all the risk. They usually pay the seller up front - before the item is delivered to them. The risk is all theirs that the seller doesn’t perform.

To some buyers, particularly on higher value items, this risk is so high that it can cause them to have second thoughts about bidding. You know you are trustworthy, but they don’t. By offering a moneyback guarantee you are offering what is known as “risk reversal”. You are taking the risk off your buyer. In effect you shoulder the risk.

I know this works, because I use it myself. In thousands of auctions I’ve run, I can count on one hand the number of people who have invoked my moneyback guarantee.

If you can practice “risk reversal”, it will help your auction success rate, and it is vital on Dutch auctions.

Objection 2
How do I pay?

Always maximize the number of payment options you will accept.

You should provide different types of payment options for your buyers:

PayPal
Nochex
Check
Postal Order
Banker’s Draft
Bank Transfer
Cash

You can accept credit/debit cards on your auctions if you open accounts with relevant payment processors like PayPal and Nochex. These enable buyers to pay you with a credit/debit card even though you aren’t a business, and you don’t have what is known as a Merchant Account.

As you probably know, PayPal is owned by eBay. Therefore eBay make it really easy for you to take PayPal payments from your buyers. But don’t forget other payment processors, like Nochex. It might just be that your interested buyer only has a Nochex account.

Opening accounts is free. Paying anyone via PayPal or Nochex is also free - which is why so many auction bidders and buyers use them.

There are charges for you as a seller, however, and these are incurred when you receive money and/or when you transfer money from/to your PayPal or Nochex accounts from/to your own bank account. Check out the respective fees via their web sites.

In my experience, the rates of charges are reasonable for giving you the significant advantage of being able to accept credit/debit card payments on your auctions.

If you are selling low value items, say less than £3 ($6), it may be prudent to add a small sum or percentage to the final sale value to cover this.

Speaking personally, I never ask the buyer to incur additional charges for using PayPal or Nochex. By now, you should have realized why - it’s called removing an objection! I take the view that buyers who wish to pay by credit/debit card should not be discouraged in any way - and a surcharge of this nature might just prevent them from bidding or buying.

If you don’t have PayPal account and you’d like to create one, go here:
http://www.paypal.com

If you don’t have Nochex account and you’d like to create one, go here:
http://www.nochex.com

As I mentioned, they’re free to set up.

Objection 3
Is delivery expensive?

Always fully describe your delivery details within your auction description. Be up front about shipping costs.

If bidders or buyers aren’t given this detail within the auction description, they may become suspicious that the seller is hiding something, and therefore decide not to bid.

There is no reason why you cannot say up front how much P&P will be. You can find out the real delivery costs of the company you plan to use. You can get these details from their website.

Once you have the postal costs you can add the appropriate handling and packaging costs, and there you have the figure to let your buyers know in advance that you’re not hiding anything.

You have just removed another doubt in your prospective buyer’s mind.

Incidentally, there have also been occasions where sellers have sold items at what appear to be cheap prices, but have inflated delivery costs to compensate, or even over compensate. Never do this!

Objection 4
What happens if the item arrives damaged?

In your auction description you should cover your policy in relation to damages and insurance.

If you’re selling higher value items you may wish to consider using a delivery service which includes insurance. Remember, even though the buyer has paid for it, the item is your property until it is accepted by the buyer. So if it is damaged in transit, this is your responsibility. You will have to arrange a replacement or a refund, and claim your costs back via your insurance.

Don’t forget, if you do need to have enhanced insurance cover, it is perfectly reasonable to include this is in your delivery costs as shown in your auction description.

Objection 5
How professional is someone who has multiple spelling errors?

You might consider it to be very unreasonable for any bidder to pass by your auction just because you have spelling errors.

However, they may believe someone who won’t take the trouble to get their spelling correct might be equally unprofessional elsewhere.

You and I might feel their stance to be unreasonable. With spell checkers available, however, there’s no reason to have any spelling errors creeping through on your auction page.

So, spell check your auction description page - please.

Objection 6
What do I do now?

It’s all very well describing your auction in full detail, but you should always “ask for the order”. Tell them what to do now. In other words, don’t forget to suggest to your prospective buyer that they make a bid today for this valuable, rare, stunning, limited edition item!

And remind them that when they win the item they will be enriched by the strongest benefit you have already identified to them in your auction description.

Objections - Summary

Don’t leave these points hanging in your auction for the bidder to ponder and make assumptions.

If you spend time removing these objections, you will be repaid handsomely. I can guarantee you will receive more genuine bids on your eBay auctions.

Brian McGregor is an eBay and internet entrepreneur. He recently created the ‘eBay Master Class’ for eBay sellers. For your free copy, please go to http://www.workwinners.com/ebm-request.htm

An internet mlm business is very different from an offline business. Your promotions if done well would mean that you only need to work entirely online. This means no more calling on the phone if you do not want to. This article identifies internet mlm success as personified in three qualities that any internet mlm business owner must have.

Internet savvy basics

This is a basic skill needed to run an internet mlm business. I do not mean you need to be able to program or anything like that but a good internet mlm business owner must be conversant at least to be able to amend simple html code on his website. You should spend time reading up on the latest marketing and Search Engine optimization techniques online. You also must be able to answer emails online as a minimum as the downlines that you hope to attract must also be somewhat internet savvy otherwise it would not have been possible for them to signup with your internet mlm business.

Existing system to follow up on leads

Many people get signups to their internet mlm business opportunity online but the problem is that there is no followup system to work with your leads. Most people only make a purchase when they see an offer seven times. Thus in this case your followup system should have an autoresponder so that your offer can be sent to your potential customer’s email inbox more than once. You also get to build a loyal list where you can introduce other business ideas to them as you start making money in one internet mlm business.

Article writing or the willingness to learn
The best way to make money with home business and to promote an internet mlm business is to write articles and submit them. Doing so will yield two benefits. You will learn all you can about doing well in an internet mlm business and improve your personal knowledge and in addition you will be seen as an expert in the area of internet mlm business. Submitting articles represents one of the best free publicity any aspiring mlm business owner could use. The signature line in your article will bring you much needed website traffic and help you generate more internet mlm leads.

In conclusion, the three minimum requirements to making money online include as a minimum being internet savvy, a followup system for your leads and also a willingness to learn how to write and publish internet mlm articles. By doing all three steps on a consistent basis, you will start seeing some internet mlm success in any business that you start.

Joel Teo is the successful owner of several
successful internet business ventures.Click here to learn how you can
start your own successful internet business today.

http://www.massive-profits-online.com

Copyright © 2005-2006 Joel Teo the Coolest Guy
On The Planet

Have you ever played Monopoly? This classic board
game is based on the acquisition of wealth through
buying, renting, and trading real estate property using
play money.

Have a go at it, and you’ll be surprised how much it
can teach you about running a successful business
online. I discovered eight helpful pointers for you to
start with.

Let’s get started…GO!

Everybody begins on a level plain. You get the choice
of token to mark your place on the board. Usually I
pick either the wheelbarrow, terrier, or ship. Not a
surprise if you know that I enjoy gardening, dogs, and
the sea.

Whether it’s based on aesthetic appeal or affinity for
what is being represented, your personal choice is one
initial triumph; an essential 1st step into the game!

Lesson #1 Start With Something You Like

This simple technique creates a winning combination for
your business. You have firsthand knowledge and
experience in a niche that fascinates you, and you
impart this with so much excitement that you’re
audience can’t help feeling the same!

Interesting people are people who are interested, as
the saying goes. Furthermore, your passion for the
subject will drive and motivate you through the daily
routine of running and growing your business.

With the roll of the dice, the race begins! Whether or
not you have an idea on how to proceed, your biggest
challenge will involve skill and a bit of luck.

Lesson #2 A Little Luck Never Hurt Anyone

With the dice, many say it’s in the wrist. But whichever
way you put it, everybody could use a bit of it every
now and then. Some are luckier than others, landing on
squares of opportunity and free cash. Others land on
rent after bill.

It’s not altogether different in internet marketing.
I’ve landed on losing squares because I didn’t use my
head. And sometimes I happen to sign up for a
newsletter just when they launch a pre-release discount
for a product I just happened to need at the time.

Lesson #3 Lay Out Your Game Plan

You can tackle this game in many different ways, but
you need to establish a game plan. If you’re the
independent type, you might want to learn from scratch
by playing around with ideas. All systematically, of
course.

Focus on the small groups and move up from there, luck
with the dice notwithstanding. Or make a beeline for
prime properties and keep building houses and hotels
for long-term profit.

You can choose any number of combinations with which to
proceed and have a go with it, but be prepared to play
many times over! It is the only way you’ll know what
works for sure.

And sometimes, the smarter way to go is by asking
someone who has played the game and always come out
on top. You will still have to play it yourself, of course, to
make little improvements until it works right for you.

No matter how you develop your game plan, be sure to
follow it through. Persistently. Consistently. Systematically.
Don’t get easily distracted if something new happens to
land on your lap. If it’s consistent with your plan, you’ve
struck on luck!

The same goes for running your business. You can save
yourself plenty of time and heartache by adapting
proven methods from those already successful before
you. They’ve been around the block enough times to know
what works and what doesn’t. All the same, blend in your
own personal twist until it works for you.

Lesson #4 You Gotta Spend Money to Make Money

What do you do once you land on an opportunity
square…pass? I would be hard-pressed to name anyone
who hops around the board without buying a single
property!

Maybe the first few rounds won’t be as rough since the
game has just begun. Nobody has yet put up houses or
expensive hotels on their properties. Rents are not yet
so high. Maybe you’ll get lucky on the Community Chest
or Chance cards. And you’ll even make it to GO. That’s
another $4000 in the bag. With time, however, you’ll
find your wallet empty as you hop from house to hotel.

At this point, you might begin to regret all the passed
opportunities you let slip through your fingers.
Monopoly is about investment and return! Lest you
forget, your wallet will remain empty.

In online business, a free ride is alright. Many people
have started out this way. But bear in mind that your
business will need prime web real estate and a marker
(www.yourbusiness.com) to go with it, if you’re at all
to be taken seriously. Else your credibility, image,
or reputation will suffer before you have the chance to
even build it.

You don’t have to spend on everything right away. Just
the essential tools that your market sees: website,
autoresponder messages, list management, etc.

Lesson #5 Jail Time Does Not Pay

Other players get ahead and beat you to the prime
squares. You’ll waste what little resources you have,
trying to get out.

The internet is no different. While nothing compares to
learning your lessons the hard way, you’d be much
better off learning from other people’s mistakes. At
such a critical stage when you’re just starting out,
your reputation cannot easily be repaired once
shattered, whether by SPAM or other unethical business
practice. Establish a code of ethics and faithfully stand
by it!

Lesson #6 Give Back to the Community

The Community Chest card usually collects donations,
taxes, and other related fees to keep the monopoly
community (a.k.a. the Bank) intact and progressive.

The internet community requires no different. While you
do have bills to pay — we all need to make a living!
— the mechanics of buying and selling exists as a
well-oiled machine because of the interaction and
exchange of information without constant thought for
personal profit.

Go pro bono once in a while. Help for the sake of
helping. Answer questions and offer practical advice in
the forums and discussion groups. Write articles
offering valuable information from your own knowledge
and experience. How about some free products?

Lesson #7 There’s Always a Chance to Start Over:
Pass GO, and Collect $$$

GO is a place of refuge. Passing it always comes with a
sigh of relief! An excellent time to examine property
cards and glance at the status on the board. Assess
your progress. Make necessary adjustments in your
plan: acquire properties to prevent others’ monopoly
or add to yours?

Going back to square one is also ideal in internet
marketing. It is an opportunity for you to re-group.
Assess your progress, based on your plan. Are you
keeping your time-schedule? Are you accomplishing the
tasks you’ve set out to do?

Where does your business stand at this point in time?
Step back for a moment and look at the big picture. You
can then make the necessary improvements. You can
also modify your game plan for better results.

Lesson #8 Your Attitude Makes Your Game

How do you deal with bad luck on the dice, when you’re
constantly landing on properties that demand
staggering prices for rent? Do you resign before you
even try to get back up? Or do you give yourself that
little pep-talk and play on?

What is your business attitude? It’s important to make
a stand. How you choose to deal with the demands of
your business and its problems, determines your chances
for success.

Even in its varying degrees, success ultimately lies
with you. It is in your hands. If that is what you want, you
have little choice but to develop the attitude for running a
successful business.

Identify your capabilities and compensate for your
weaknesses by improving on your strengths. And always,
always always…adapt accordingly!

The stakes are high. And your only opponent in the end,
is yourself. What’s your game plan?

Go ahead. Roll the dice. Opportunities await. And GO is
never far from sight.

Often lucky with the dice, Margaux Alhanen doesn’t
mind giving discounted rent. Off the board, she gathers tools
and compiles notes for internet marketing beginners at
http://www.imnotebook.com Download your free eNotebook
entitled “Starting Ahead: How to Develop a Winning Attitude
in Business” today!

Buying Guaranteed Signups is one of the most popular advertising methods available for MLM Internet business opportunity promoters. They offer a very cost-effective way of building a downline for any MLM program. For newer MLM Internet business opportunity promoters who have little experience in internet business advertising, Guaranteed Signups can seem like a heaven-sent, cost-effective way to guarantee their success.

In my earlier experiences with MLM Internet business opportunities, Guaranteed Signups were unheard of (this was over 5 years ago) among MLM Internet business opportunity promoters. Whether or not they were around at the time, I don’t even know. But one thing is for sure. They have grown to become of the biggest advertising methods for MLM Internet business opportunity promoters.

At first glance, whether you’re a MLM Internet business opportunity newbie or an experienced and successful Network Marketer, Guaranteed Signups grab your attention and interest like few other advertising methods will. Just the thought of getting dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of new prospects placed in your downline makes you start dreaming of the potential wealth.

At some point in researching Guaranteed Signups, most people become skeptical, thinking that something this great is way too good to be true. And they are certainly right to be skeptical. I mean, how can a company recruit this many targeted people to sign up for your MLM Internet business opportunity, and still make profit on the low price paid for them? It seems unlikely that they would be able to deliver this kind of service to your MLM Internet business opportunity.

So…Do these Guaranteed Signups work or not?

To be brutally honest, they do sometimes work, but the vast majority of the websites that sell these are scams. What they do is use information harvesting programs, similar to the ones spammers use. They harvest thousands of names and email addresses, and they simply fill their orders with these. Most of the sites you will find searching on Yahoo and Google are of this variety.

There are some ways to utilize this marketing method and advertise your MLM Internet business opportunity with it. One good way is to find Paid To Read sites that have a member base that gets paid for visiting sponsors’ sites, reading emails, and sometimes, signing up for programs! This guarantees you that you will get real people, who are generally familiar with MLM Internet business opportunity programs to sign up for your program. Personally, I have had some success with this, but I have had far greater responses from other websites who sell Guaranteed Signups.

Among all the scams in this industry, there are some honest businesses that provide real Guaranteed Signups to your MLM Internet business opportunity. These sites are well established and generate these signups through splash pages and targeted advertising, rather than incentive. The best website I have come across is Apache Leads. I recommend them to all my website readers at www.successforfreedom.com and all of my mailing list. You can visit their website at Apache Leads and browse through their services. They not only sell Guaranteed Signups, but they also sell numerous other services to advertise your MLM Internet business opportunity. Among these, is a new form of Guaranteed Signups, called Guaranteed Paid Signups, or Guaranteed Signups with Paid Upgrades. They sell large orders of these signups, with which they will guarantee a certain number of paid upgrades in your downline! This is tremendous for jumpstarting your MLM Internet business opportunity. It does require a bit of a hefty investment, but has proven to be well worth it!

The bottom line is this: Guaranteed Signups can be a great way to market your MLM Internet business opportunity. But watch out. There are too many scams out there with this industry. Only buy them from reputable sites like Apache Leads and sites that are incentive based. Be careful and good luck with your MLM Internet business opportunities!

Joe Borowy runs http://www.SuccessForFreedom.com and is dedicated to providing honest opportunities and resources to his honest readers. Join our Community today! http://www.SuccessForFreedom.com

You can read more about Apache Leads in our Promotion Methods section!

Using search marketing to place your web site in front of people searching for what you’re selling is no longer a revolutionary concept. Everyone knows that search engine marketing is not only incredibly effective, but also an affordable means to drive conversions from hot prospects who are ready to buy.

But what about prospects who are, well, a bit lukewarm? Is there any value in using search marketing earlier in the buying cycle, before the searcher has their credit card in hand?

Several studies have shown that the answer to this question is a resounding “yes.” This is true whether you’re a B2C or B2B marketer, and whether you’re selling paperback books or technical solutions with a price tag in the six figures.

On the consumer side, an Enquiro study found that the percentage of people who would use a search engine during the various stages of the buying cycle are:

• 9% for Awareness
• 68% for Consideration or Research
• 43% for Decision
• 28% for Purchase

Let’s look at an example. A consumer who is ready to purchase might search for “sony ericsson s700i,” which is a “brand” search term. But before he decides that’s the type of cell phone he wants, he might search for a “generic” search term, such as “mp3 player cell phone.” This would be during the consideration or research phase.

comScore found similar results in research done across several consumer categories. They found that while consumers using branded search terms were roughly 30% more likely to purchase online during that session as compared to searchers using generic terms, generic terms resulted in the greatest number of total purchases — over 60%. This is simply because many more people use generic terms. A majority of searchers never use brand terms; instead, they rely only on generic terms.

What is the key takeaway for B2C marketers? You need to be visible on search engines throughout your customers’ buying cycle. If you’re only found when they’re ready to purchase - if you’re only visible on brand search terms — you are probably missing opportunities.

Let’s turn our attention to business-to-business marketers. Do the same rules apply here? Absolutely. Not only did Enquiro find that 95% of corporate purchasing agents use the web to research products and services before selection, but they also found that 64% said a search engine would be the first place they’d turn early in the buying cycle.

This is a typical buying cycle for a business buyer:

• Needs identification (I have a problem - is there a solution available?)
• Requirement specification (What type of solution best fits my problem?)
• Research & evaluation (Which brand of solution best fits my problem?)
• Selection (Where will I buy the brand that I’ve chosen?)

The buying process can be more complex on the business side since there’s often more than one person involved in the decision. Savvy marketers will not only try to hit each stage of the buying cycle, but they’ll also try to reach each person involved in the purchasing decision.

Often, the person feeling the pain in the organization is not the ultimate decision-maker. However, this person is important because he is the one who identifies the problem, researches solutions, and usually “sells in” the chosen provider or brand to the ultimate decision-maker. This influencer’s searching behavior will most likely be quite a bit more in-depth than the decision-maker’s, spanning a lengthier period of time throughout the process.

The decision-maker may only run a few quick searches on the chosen provider’s company or brand name in order to do a credibility check. And, since 55% of web users (business or consumer) expect to find top brands in the few top search engine results, you’d better ensure that you’re easily found by the decision-maker who’s performing her due diligence.

What is the key takeaway for B2B marketers? Like B2C marketers, you need to be visible on search engines throughout your customers’ buying cycle. There is also an additional level of complexity in that you must be found easily by different people involved in the buying process, each of whom may be searching with different agendas.

Finally, let’s talk timing. On the consumer side, comScore found that only 15% of people made a purchase online in the same session in which they began a search. This means that 85% of purchases occurred later, with nearly 40% of all purchases occurring between five and 12 weeks after the first search was conducted.

On the business side, Enquiro found, not surprisingly, that the budget for the particular item affected the length of time between the search and the purchase date. More than 80% of items with a price tag of less than $500 were bought within a month of the search date. However, 89% of items with a price tag of more than $50,000 took place between one and 12 months after the initial search date.

What is the key takeaway for all marketers? As wonderful as web analytics software can be - especially the packages that can trace online conversions back to their search engine sources - their data will be incomplete due to the lag time in the buying cycle. Yes, set your cookies with as long an expiration date as you can, but recognize that you’re getting more sales from search engines than your software is able to measure.

One last point is worth mentioning. Both consumer and business buyers doing online research early in the buying cycle will, ideally, learn about your brand during this process. Some of them will come back later to the search engines and search for your specific brand in order to determine where to buy. So over time, your presence on generic search terms will increase the number of searches run on brand search terms. Your search marketing campaign will, in effect, create brand awareness. With the proper analytics tools in place, you can measure this aspect of brand awareness and watch it grow along with your sales.

Sources:

• Enquiro, “Inside the Mind of the Searcher,” 2004
• Enquiro and MarketingSherpa, “The Role of Search in Business to Business Buying Decisions,” 2004
• iProspect survey, 2002
• comScore study released December 13, 2004

Stacy Williams, a search engine marketing specialist, is founder and Managing Partner of Atlanta search engine marketing firm Prominent Placement, Inc. Williams has a combined 16 years of experience and education in marketing, having overseen web site development projects and traffic generation campaigns since 1995, and has been doing search engine marketing since 1998.

A member of the Technology Alliance of Georgia and the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association, Stacy Williams is a frequent lecturer on search engine marketing. She has written articles for Digitrends, SEO Today, Competitive Edge and iMarketing News. She also presents regularly at each of the U.S.-based Search Engine Strategies Conferences.

There are so many internet marketing possibilities for promoting
an online business, or even a traditional business. The ability
to engage in internet marketing has truly opened the door for
women in business and has made working from home a lot easier
than it used to be.

Internet marketing can be much less expensive than traditional
marketing and it can reach a huge, precisely targeted audience.
Because there are no geographic barriers in internet marketing,
it is truly possible to do business worldwide and to sell
anything from anywhere, even from the comfort of your own home.

Following is a simple explanation of some of the most common
internet marketing options that you can use to promote your
business.

Article Distribution

Distributing professional articles with a resource box that
directs readers to your website is a very valuable and effective
method of internet marketing. The articles can be given away with
permission to reprint at-will under the terms that the article
content and resource box cannot be changed. Many website
operators will post these articles on their websites which will
direct visitors to your website as well as enhancing your
internet marketing link campaigns.

Directory Listings

Directory listings are a form of internet marketing that can be
very useful. Directories are a lot like search engines, only
listings in the directories are managed and ranked by people
rather than by automated, electronic means. Many directories
accept directory listings free of charge, so they can be an
inexpensive and effective form of internet marketing.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a viable internet marketing technique that is
very similar to direct mail. Generally, it is best for internet
marketing messages sent via email to be sent to opt-in or
subscriber lists. However, third party lists can be purchased for
the purpose of email marketing.

If using third-party lists, check into how the email addresses
were collected and make sure that they are truly targeted lists
with content gathered from individual who opted to receive
information relevant to what you are sending.

Ezine Advertising

Ezine advertising, as an internet marketing option, is a lot like
advertising in a magazine; only the “magazine” is delivered to
subscribers electronically rather than through the mail.
Companies that distribute online newsletters often sale
advertising in their newsletters as well, and some may even trade
out for an advertisement in your newsletter.

Link Campaigns

Building links to your website from other websites that have
information relevant to your target market should be a part of
your internet marketing plan. Link popularity, the number of
links coming in to your website, and link relevancy, the
relevance of the website that is linking to you, can improve your
website ranking in the search engines as well as directing
targeted traffic to your site.

Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing

Pay-per-click search engine marketing is one of the most
successful forms of internet marketing. Basically, pay-per-click
search engine advertising is a process whereby you bid on
specific keywords that will direct targeted traffic to your
website. You are listed in the search engines based upon the
amount you bid for the keyword. You are charged the bid price
each time a visitor clicks on the search engine listing, through
to your website. This is a good internet marketing option because
you only pay for successful click-throughs which result in
traffic to your website.

Portal Listings

Portals are similar to directories but are generally specific to
a topic or industry. Because visitors to portals have interest in
the topic, getting listed in a portal that is relevant to your
business can be a very effective internet marketing technique for
driving targeted, qualified traffic to your website.

Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing is a much preferred internet marketing option because the majority of visitors to just about any website come via the use of a search engine. Search engines use what is
called spiders or crawlers which are really just software
programs that index websites and determine their relevance, based
on the search engine’s rules, to the information a person using
an internet browser is looking for.

There are also meta search engines that draw from the results of
other search engines, and specialty search engines that are
geared to a particular topic or industry. To get listed in search
engines, a website needs to be optimized and submitted to the
search engines. Major search engines include Google, Yahoo!, MSN,
Alta Vista and others.

Copyright Christopher J. Enders. Are you at the end of your rope,
fed up and confused by all the scrambled internet marketing
advice you’re getting? Whether you are new to internet marketing,
or a website owner who wants to make more money from your
website, learn the proven strategies that will sky-rocket your
internet business at http://BiznessTips.com

I hope you have not had a negative experience on ebay. I was very much enjoying the site until one day, some freak tried to steal nearly £200 from selling me an item which did not exist. This article explains what happened and also the advice the police gave to me.

As I have already mentioned I was having lots of fun buying and selling on Ebay for a number of months without any problems at all. I regularly sold second hand mobile phones and was doing very well for myself. If I ever bought anything that cost over £100, I would offer to meet the seller somewhere, normally just off the motorway. I pulled off what I believed was some good deals and also managed to offload some of my unwanted items which I either had no interest in anymore or that I had no longer a need for.

Unfortunately all good things have to come to an end and it certainly did with ebay.

One particular morning I was looking to purchase another second hand mobile phone, which I would then re-sell on. There was an advert for a buy it now phone with the asking price low but not extremely low.

There was a mobile number to phone if I had any questions. I decided to phone the number, his name was Tony and I asked him the general type questions. He sounded and seemed really nice, however stated that he was unable to meet me as he was unable to drive as he had not past his test. The alarm bells should have already started to ring, but me being a bit stupid they didn’t.

His house was a long way from where I lived and reluctantly I agreed to pay via a bank transfer. He assured me he would post the phone, that very day via Royal Mail Special Delivery to arrive by 11am the next morning. He seemed very genuine, they always do your thinking and that was that.

Next morning have a guess what arrived, yes nothing at all, nor the next day, nor the next.

I tried e-mailing him, texting and ringing his mobile phone, guess what, there was no reply.

I realised what a fool I had been, however decided to go to the police. They were very helpful and half an hour later I had a crime number however was warned that it was very unlikely I would ever see a phone or recieve a refund of my money which was £170. The police advised me to be very careful as they regularly have complaints from people who have been defrauded on ebay, I was not alone!

Outside the police station I sent Tony a text with the police crime number. To my shock he phoned me straight away swearing at me but eventually agreed to refund me the money, if I stopped the police action against him.

I was very lucky, I am sure many other people as the police stated, never get their money back.

Stephen Hill has a number of websites including:

http://www.stammering-stuttering.co.uk

http://www.ski-chalet-information.co.uk

http://www.panic-attack-symptom.co.uk

As eBay has grown and evolved over the years savvy eBay sellers have
had to adapt, as is the case in any business. In the early days of eBay,
virtually any items put up for sale would receive multiple bids. This
allowed the sellers to start an auction at $1 and not have to worry
about the final winning bid amount. The market price on eBay would
dictate the true value of the product.

As time passed, more and more sellers entered the eBay arena which led
to a dramatic shift in starting bid techniques. A majority of eBay
Powersellers now use the fixed price format. In order to do this
effectively, the seller needs to do a lot of eBay research prior to putting
auction items up for sale.

By using the eBay Search Function and researching the last two weeks of
completed auctions on an item, you can gauge what that item should sell
for. It is a good idea to eliminate both the high and low final sale
prices and then take an average of the remaining items to determine the
fixed auction price.

There are several reasons top eBay Powersellers use this pricing
strategy. Even though there are more sellers and increased competition,
buyers are also more knowledgeable and they will also do a simple check of
recent sales before they look for the item priced in the average range
and simply buy it now.

This allows Powersellers to obtain market price and actually increase
their sales because they do not have to wait for the end of the auction
to complete the sale of their items. Another plus, this also thwarts
the auction sniper who uses automated programs to shoot off a
computer-generated bid in the closing seconds of an auction.

Use the pricing technique that the top tier of eBay’s elite sellers are
using today to increase your monthly sales and receive fair market
prices for your auction items.

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

I don’t think there are people who don’t know about ‘Disney’ and
their stuff. Still those guys advertise a lot.

Everybody knows the ‘Microsoft’. Still they don’t spend a day with
out advertising.

Why?

Advertising is the simple, basic and a MUST follow step in your
business.

= You can reach many people who don’t know about your product

previously.

= You can make potential customers from advertising.

= You can explode your sales by advertising.

= You can brand yourself from the crowd by advertising.

How to advertise to get all the above results?

“TARGETED ADVERTISING”

Targeted means the advertising specifically points to your potential
audience.

If you keep a flyer on ‘Chocolates’ in a Grocery store is also
advertising. Keep that flyer infront of the schools will be
‘targeted advertising’.

There are few excellent and proven methods to do this ‘targeted
advertising’.

1. TARGET KEYWORDS IN SEARCH ENGINES:

By keeping keywords in your title and keyword metatags you can direct
good amount of targeted traffic to your site.

Select target keywords in phrases.If your website is about ezine
articles, then you can use the keywords like-

free content

free ezine articles

free reprint articles

content for ezines

ezine articles

articles for publishing

You can see the keywords pertaining to your website at-
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

If it is necessary, use your demographic location in keywords like-

realestate business Miami

DON’T forget to keep few keywords in your title of the pages and in the
text content.

Always look in to your weblogs to see what keywords people are using
to reach your site. Add them to your keywords list.

2. PAY PER CLICK SEARCH ENGINES:

You can use the same above principles in selecting keywords. Always monitor
your bidding money and track your results.

3. EZINE ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS:

http://www.ezinearticles.com/add_url.html

http://www.ideamarketers.com/

http://www.ebooksnbytes.com/articles/submit.shtml

http://www.smallbusinessoutpost.com/forms/submit_article.htm

http://www.web-source.net/articlesub.htm

http://www.dime-co.com/articlesub.html

Before submitting articles:

1. Select your audience.

2.Try to be brief and clear. DON’T write a topic which you don’t know
by yourself.

3. DON’T give your article a feel of sales page.

4. DON’T put affiliate links in the body part of your article.

5. DON’T forget to keep Resource box at the end of article.

6. Don’t delete the links on your server,if you submitted them in
previous ezine articles. If you delete them, people will see ‘page not
found’ error. You are losing a potential customer.

4. EZINE ADVERTISING:

Ezine advertising do works if you are careful in selecting the ezine
that focused on your website topic.

You can search for the ezines of your interest at-

http://www.freezineweb.com/

http://www.marketing-seek.com/directory/index.shtml

http://www.ezinesearch.com/

http://www.ezinelocater.com/

http://www.ezineworld.com/index.php3

http://ezine-universe.com/

http://www.ezineadsource.com/

http://ezinewebring.hypermart.net/

http://www.ideamarketers.com/

1. Select the ezine that pertaining to your website or product.

2. See how many subscribers are there for that particular ezine.

3. Take care of the position of the ad like top place, bottom at the end
of the ezine etc.

4. Track the results.

5. YOUR OWN OPT-IN LIST:

You must have your own opt-in list. When people subscribed to your
mailing list means, ‘I am interested, send me the information’.

With this type of targeting you will get good results with your advertising
campaign.
http://www.scripts4webmasters.com/follow-up-autoresponder-pro/index.shtml

You can take your visitors email addresses by:

Giving freebies

Publishing ezines

Conducting surveys

Contests

Free membership to your private site

ONLY thing you should follow is “DON’T exchange your mailing list with
the third parties”.

Radhika Venkata (c)

Subscribe to ‘iNet Marketing Ezine’ which is completely focused on Internet Marketing. Receive FREE Ebooks with Resale rights! http://www.webmasters-central.com/subscribe.shtml

FREE Ecourse 30 days Solid workout to increase your online profits! http://www.ebooks-world.com/ecourse/index.shtml

Optimizing Your Title Tag

Without question the title tag of your page is the single most important factor to consider when optimizing your web page for the search engines. This is because most engines & directories place a high level of importance on keywords that are found in your title tag. The title tag is also what the search engines usually use for the title of your listing in the search results.

What it looks like:

Here’s the title tag of this page:

Where it belongs:
The correct placement for the title tag is between the and tags within the HTML the makes up your page.

Tag limits:

We recommend that your title tag be between 50-80 characters long - including spaces! The length that the different search engines accept varies, but as long as you keep within this limit you should be ok.

Tag tips:

We recommend that you include 1-2 of your most important keyword phrases in the title tag, BUT be careful not to just list keywords. If you just list keywords you risk being viewed as a spamming the engines which can ultimately lead to you being blacklisted by the search engines. Your title tag should include your keyword phrases while remaining as close to a readable sentence as possible to avoid any problems.

Make your title enticing! Don’t forget that even if you get that #1 listing in the search engines your listing still needs to say something that makes the surfer want to clickthrough and visit your site.

Since the length of your title tag could be a little long for some engines we suggest placing the keywords at the beginning of the tag when possible so that you do not risk having them cut off.

Each page of your site should have it’s own title tag with it’s own keywords that related to the page that it appears on.

Stein Dozien
SEO
http://www.instantnlimitedincome.com/

What we are seeing in today’s business world is revolutionary, land marking, mind blowing. What is it that I’m talking about?

Why of course it’s the internet. Critical mass is only a moment away. How is this possible? Quite simply it’s being made possible through affiliate programs and multilevel marketing.

Sharing the profits isn’t a new concept. It’s been around for quite some time. Never before has this idea been utilized in such a manner.

In the beginning, the internet was raw. A new frontier just waiting for the bold to realize it’s potential and CAPITALIZE.

What we are seeing now is an evolution on a grand scale. Internet marketers have realized that if you give everyone a chance to profit-the businesses will work even better.

Even traditional “brick and mortar” businesses have started to “utilize” and “adapt” these business methods. It took them a little while to catch on as they have a tendency to change at a slower pace than that of the internet.

But the BOTTOM LINE is, ordinary everyday people profit more now than ever.

Ordinary people with little or no money can now achieve what was once “seemingly impossible”.

Multi tiered affiliate programs and reputable multilevel marking companies are now becoming commonplace allowing more residual income to be earned. What does that mean in layman’s terms?

It’s becoming easier to be financially free! Anyone with a computer can become a millionaire! Don’t have a computer? Try your local library. If you have a library card-you’re in business.

Sweat equity has become a four letter word.

There have always been limitations to sweat equity. Mainly-these limitations cannot be overcome without consuming our most precious commodity. OUR TIME.

Recently my grandfather passed away at the ripe old age of 79 and it changed my life forever. I realized the day of his funeral that if I was to do anything with my life, it should be to spend more time with those I love.

For the better part of my life, distance, family disagreements, attitudes, and lots of other meaningless garbage separated me from my relatives.

So in a nutshell-I GREW UP NOT KNOWING MY RELATIVES.

I’ve got a big burn to be free and I have a feeling that you most certainly do as well. I want to get to know my family and help them out any way that I can. It simply breaks my heart to see them struggle needlessly. How about you?

The way I see it, the only way that you can achieve true financial freedom is if you help others do the same. It’s called the law of increasing returns. Sow the seeds and reap the rewards. One could simply sit back and watch it all happen, or do something! The internet will continue to expand with or without you. Why not choose to take sweat equity and give it the boot! There has never been a better time, and as they say: You will never be here again.

Wanna learn how to generate thousands of highly targeted visitors, absolutely free?
=> http://www.iwantchoices.com

1f72

Aaargh! Why is my competition getting way more hits than mine?

There are several reasons why, but I hope to explain at least the major reason.

Poor titles with a lack of highly targeted keywords

The majority of eBay sellers are completely unaware that they are jeopardising
their success through lack of knowledge. Knowledge is POWER and the most
effective way to power-pack your auctions is to use highly targeted keywords in
your auction titles and descriptions…

Let’s start with your title …

eBay estimates that over 90% of users search eBay by using the basic search
feature which means they only search the auction titles.

So what does this mean for me?

Above all else … it means focus more on your auction titles first and foremost
and then consider integrating those same highly targeted keywords into your
auction descriptions.

So where do you find these highly targeted keywords and which ones should you
use?

The best place to start is with ‘eBay
Pulse’ http://pulse.ebay.com/ and browse through the top popular searches in the category where you
would like to list your auction using the Category drop-down box. Jot down the
list of the top 10.

Now the number of words allowed in your auction titles is limited so be sure to
find several popular search terms that you can easily integrate into your
auction title remembering to make it sound interesting also - not just a swag of
keywords!

You can generally assume that on average, people search for the same terms on
eBay as they do in search engines. In light of this, to see how valuable your
chosen keywords really are I suggest using the Overture Keyword
Selector Tool at
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ to see how popular those keywords/search terms are by the
estimated number of times they were searched for in all the major search engines
for the past month.

Please bear in mind that these results are not entirely accurate, however they
will give you an overview of which keywords are the most important and will be
searched for the most.

Enter each search term separately and from the results jot down the top 5 search
phrase results for each of the keywords.

Another hot tip is with eBay itself. Go ahead and search for similar items to
which you want to list and take note of 3 things.

1. The title at the top of the page - here eBay lists other highly targeted
words for your item.

2. Underneath the search box (depending on what you have searched for) you will
see ‘related searches’ which can give you more ideas.

3. Be sure to click the check box on the left hand side for ‘completed items’
and then click the search button and have a look for items that have sold
similar to yours. When the results are returned, click the column title called
‘price’ to sort by final price.

Make note of the most successful sales and look at their titles. (As a side
note, it pays to look at what category they listed in and also anything you can
learn from their description, layout etc - remembering of course not to copy
their text or photos).

Now you’re ready to strategically integrate those highly targeted keywords &
phrases into your auction titles to drive highly targeted traffic to your
auctions.

Remember, as I mentioned earlier, be sure to make full use of the best keywords
but the title must make sense and be inviting (not just a list of keywords that
will get your auction deleted for keyword spamming) - You need to be creative,
after all you may get hundreds of visitors from searches but you still need them
to click on your title!

Find out how easy it is to seriously
Make
Money on eBay. Everything you need to launch your own highly profitable Ebay business overnight … It’s all here from one convenient source at
http://www.livingfreeonline.com

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as you leave the article title, author, body, resource box & links intact, unaltered & active (means NO changes whatsoever).

Many major search engines (Google, Fast, Inktomi, MSN) now have the capability to index PDF files and return them in search results. If you are a Web site owner with PDF files on your site, this is good news. If you are an SEO, you also know that the new capability presents potential usability problems. And what exactly is the big deal? Let’s find out.

Searching for “blessing of a Christmas tree” on Google returns a link to a PDF file as the first result: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=BLESS