The Netbook Review

How To Improve Your Search Engine Rankings

Want more search engine traffic?…you need better search enginerankings, it’s that simple. Although the process of getting yoursites to rank higher in the search engines may not be so easy.Anyone who’s been advertising online for any length of time knowshow difficult it can be to get your web sites to move up throughthe ranks of any search engine, and with difficulty comes more andmore stress about traffic.

I’m going to give you some useful tips that will show you how toimprove your search engine rankings so that you’ll get more searchengine traffic. believe it or not it’s not hard at all, once youdevelop a step by step system of things you must do on a dailybasis you’ll find you can get any site you create to rank in theorganic side of the search engines for just about any keyword ofyour choice. Some keywords will naturally take more work to get agood ranking for because of the competition for that keyword.

The first tip to improve your search engine rankings is to learnbasic Seo (search engine optimization). There is a ton ofinformation about web site seo and most of it is free, just typeseo tutorial into any Google search bar or you tube search bar ifyou learn better by video and presto, all the Seo tutorials youneed. You want to make sure your web sites are pre planned with theSeo structure already in place, and your web site optimized forit’s keywords prior to it going live, that way it will take lesstime to get a good ranking and thus better search enginetraffic.

Tip 2…Bookmark your sites as they go live to give them thekick start they need and get the search engine spiders activelycoming to your pages. Bookmarking and social networking will dowonders to improve your search engine rankings and ultimatelybuilding your search engine traffic. Social bookmarking for trafficgeneration is a very powerful tool when used properly, but it mustbe used responsibly or you run the possibility of getting yourbookmarking accounts shut down and your profile banned. There isexcellent information on the web about “web 2.0 marketing” thatwill help you to get the most out of social sites and therecommunities.

Tip 3…is a biggie when it comes to learning how to improveyour search engine rankings and it’s all summed up in oneword…”backlinks”. How many higher ranking sites or pages that areclosely related to yours can you get to link back to you?, it isone of the biggest factors in getting your sites to move up in thesearch engines that will have an immediate effect on your rankingsand ultimately traffic. There is also a huge amount of informationabout how to obtain these backlinks, some of it’s free but you canalso find some real gems in mini backlink reports that won’t costan arm and a leg.

Finally…if you put these few little tips into a workableprogram, there is no keyword that you couldn’t eventually dominatein the search engines, you’ll find yourself bringing in obsceneamounts of traffic because of your first page rankings on the majorsearch engines. There are so many methods that teach you how toimprove your search engine rankings but I suggest you learn thesebasic tips explained above and you wont have a problem with trafficgeneration ever again.

About the Author

SomeSearchEngine Trafficmethods have stood the test of time…whileothers are just fly by night fads. Discover an entirely new rankingmethod athttp://www.search-engine-traffic.orgthatis absolutely taking the Internet by storm.

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Tags:  better, bookmarking, engine, engines, improve, ranking, rankings, search, seo, traffic

5 Strategies In Building Backlinks To Your Blog

While no one knows exactly what the formula for search enginerankings is, we do know that it has a lot to do with how many”votes” you have out there on the web. These votes are counted asbacklinks. If you think about it, what do you when you findsomething you really like and want to share with others? You linkto it! That’s why the search engines count these so highly. Whileyou should definitely aim to get to the point where others willlink to you, it’s possible to take things into your own hands fornow.

Below are some of the top strategies you can use for buildingbacklinks to increase the value of your blog in the eyes of thesearch engine.

Write Articles and Submit Them

Writing and submitting articles is a great way to buildbacklinks! There are sites out there like EzineArticles andGoArticles that allow you to post your content with a link back toyour site. That means you get to have your link on authority sites!The more articles you write, the more you can submit them. Thebeauty of this is that you can often submit the same articles todifferent sites, or rewrite them quickly to have something that ismore unique.

Comment on Other People’s Blogs

It’s a great thing to remember that a huge part of blogging isgetting involved in the community. Commenting on other people’sblogs will not only get you some recognition from their readersright away, it also counts as a backlink! Keep in might that someof these links are termed as “nofollow”, which means the searchengines may not pass along ranking or “juice.” That’s okay, becausethe algorithms are always changing, and since these links are sohighly targeted they are a great thing.

Write Guest Posts

Writing guest posts for other niche blogs is an amazingstrategy. People love to let you do this because it gives them aday off from blogging. Readers love it because they get a freshperspective on a topic they are interested in. You’ll love itbecause it means you get a link back to your site and all you hadto do was write an extra post for the day.

Use Social Bookmarking Sites

Another thing you can do is bookmark your sites. Now, there aresome rumblings out there that these won’t count as highly in thefuture as they do now. Still, bookmarking your sites lets thesearch engines know “you are there” for fast indexing. If you takethe time to make sure the sites you bookmark with are high quality,you’ll get the benefit of those links as well.

Paying for Links

There are many different ways you can pay for links. It isimportant to know that Google and other search engines frown onthis because it’s like you’re gaming their algorithm. Whether youchoose to do this or not is up to you, but it can be an effectivestrategy if you don’t go overboard and aren’t obvious. You cancontact people directly or even work through link exchangenetworks.

Learning how to build backlinks to your blog is extremelyimportant if you want to rank well. Add a few links at a time andthey will build up in a massive way over the long run.

About the Author

Andre Niemand is a dentist,with a love for marketing, especiallythe latest unique strategies.Find out how you can easilychoose the right platform formaking money with your blogathttp://www.swotreviews.com/BLOGGINGandusing PPC to drive yourtrafficathttp://www.swotreviews.com/PPC

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Tags:  articles, blog, blogging, building, engines, love, people, search, strategies, swotreviews, write

How Would You Like To Earn A Substantial Amount Of Money From Your Forum?

Every single day people are trying to figure out how they canmake money online, if only they realized how easy it was, theywould probably be kicking themselves right now! You can actuallystart earning money on a forum! Yep, it’s true, you can earn moneyseveral different ways on a forum, either a new or an old one. Iactually prefer starting from scratch and would advise you to trythis out with a clean slate but really you can try whatever youwant and do it however you want to do it!

Obviously forums are a HUGE part of the Internet, there are wellover millions of them available all over the place, in every singlecategory and niche you can think of such as; sports, gaming,electronics, art, celebrities, outdoors, travel, cooking, etc.These sites are plentiful because there are so many different typesof people online, from age, creed, sex, nationality and interestswhich is why even if you build a brand new forum and market it,masses of people will join it, which is obviously what you want.For the most part making money on a forum isn’t an instant moneymaker, first you need to design it, host it, get the topicstogether, and then of course, get people to join it.

But for the most part sites like Warrior Forum, Name Pros, andSite Point make thousands a dollars a month off of their forums andyou can too, once you receive a certain amount of people. Usually Idon’t like to introduce ads until about a thousand members becausethen people think “hm, this site is all about the ads”. And peopledon’t like being sold on the spot. Give it some time. Let yourbacklinks flourish with article marketing, directories, blogs andadvertising. Once you reach about 500 members or so, you can thenintroduce ads and other money making strategies. Some of thesestrategies are listed below, in no particular order.

- AdSense - You can place ads on your site, have it becontextual or otherwise. When people click these ads you will bepaid a certain “affiliate” commission. There are some people outthere making thousands of dollars a month just on AdSense alone, sothis is a great idea that is not only quick but easy.

- Google makes all the ads for you, all you have to do iscustomize them and to place them on your website. Simple stuff.

- CPM banners - These are banners from CPM (click per thousand)that you can place on your websites. Now depending on what type ofCPM site it is, you will either get paid per click or per action.If you get paid per click then you will receive a percentage perevery click. If its a pay per action then all you have to do is getpeople to “view” the ad on the page it’s on. Notice on most CPMprograms, the click is worth more than the view because anyone canget a view! These banners can be relevant or irrelevant to yourwebsite, again it depends on the website you use! In some casesthey will let you customize your campaign and pick the category ofthe banner. If you have a gaming forum, place gaming ads. If youhave a cooking forum, place food ads.

- Affiliate link - Links can be placed anywhere on your forum,as long as they follow the regulations and rules of the websiteyour getting the ads from. I link to join affiliate hubs likeAmazon, Linkshare and Kolimbo, because they have a huge amount ofaffiliates available right in their network and everything isorganized. When you belong to an affiliate program like Amazon,Linkshare or Kolimbo, you can be an affiliate with as manycompanies/businesses as you want. There isn’t a limit. But moreoften than not I find it a good idea to focus on no more than 3brands/products/services. After you get over three it just becomesmore work. And if your can’t figure out how to make money on three,how in the world will you be able to make money on 30? Its commonsense. Only do as many as you can do while making profits in theprocess.

- Membership Fees - Obviously I wouldn’t charge a fee right offthe bat, instead make it so everyone can join for free, but thatthey can only go to certain parts of the website. I know of onewebsite which has free memberships, but if you want to visit say,the download section, you have to pay a membership fee. Obviouslythis section needs to be incredible because you really don’t wantyour members to feel cheated but also because you want to give thema reason TO upgrade and TO pay TO visit that section. You can alsomake members pay per thread. Obviously don’t do this for everythread on the forum because it’s not viable and it’s also not veryfair.

Instead, make them pay a fee to post a thread in a specialsection like the service or marketplace area. Some sites charge$10, some sites charge $20. But really if you think about it, youcan use the fees for threads as profit or as a terrific way to makemoney for hosting, which on some servers can get expensive,especially if you have 500,000 members that are active!

- Banner Space / Sponsor Ads - Personally I wouldn’t offer thisservice and one of the other banner options at the same timebecause A) the member who bought the space could as well feel thatpeoples attention is diverted away from his or her ad, but alsobecause too many ads leads to less members. Ads can sometimes getannoying when forum owners go overboard. So just make sure you picka happy medium. You can charge people X amount of dollars perday/week/month/year and let them place one of their text links, orbanners on your site (where space is available aka ad space).

I don’t recommend starting a forum solely for making money offof itself. You have to be interested and passionate about yourforum and then when people see that enthusiasm behind it, theywould be much more willing to join, however, it is a good way tomake money once you start receiving enough members and enoughposts. Remember a forum can have 100,000 members, but if there areonly 2 posts, people are probably going to wonder what’s up.

Some people make the mistake of trying those services like ForumBooster which makes you pay X amount of dollars to receivemembership sign ups. Listen if you are going to do something likethis, I would say pay for posts, not members. Members won’t bringmore members (who are active) but helpful non spammy posts willbring more members and make more people want to post, plus this isa good way of getting your forum indexed by Google, Alexa, andYahoo bots!

About the Author

This author is a HUGE fan ofFreeforumtoday.com

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Tags:  earn, forum, free, join, like, making, members, money, pay, people, place, substantial

Live from PubCon South: The Twitter and Microblogging Revolution

Here I thought I knew a thing or two about Twitter, and then Icame to this session!! The session was given by Jon Henshaw ofRaven Internet Marketing Tools, Dan Zarrella, a social and viralmedia consultant, Lee Odden of TopRank, and David Snyder of Search& Social. The session covered many great tools to use withTwitter and strategy and tactics around using Twitter forbusiness.

Jon Henshaw

Jon gave pointers on how to get started with Twitter. Hementioned the tool Twitority to find friends. You can also followRSS feeds from Twitter Search to find people who tweet about yoursubject.

He does not recommend “pimping” yourself or your company rightoff the bat. Develop relationships first. Don’t overfollow tooquickly! He suggested Twimailer which gives you more informationwhen someone follows you, like their number of followers, theirinterests, etc. so you can decide off the bat if you want to followthem back.

Some interesting facts:
Twitter users are most active on Wednesdays
Monday and Wednesday are the best day of the week to getretweets.
The best time to tweet to get retweets is between 5am-4pm.
Twitter users are most engaged during 8am-4pm.

Use keywords and hashtags in your twitter posts and keep mosttweets non-promotional. No one wants to follow you if you onlypromote yourself.

He highly recommended TweetDeck for following tweets. He alsorecommended Friend or Follow, a tool that lets you put in yourusername to see who is following you back. SocialToo also givessome valuable info. HootSuite allows you to SCHEDULE tweets.Splitweet keeps track of tweets. TweetStalk allows you to followsomeone without technically following them in Twitter.

Lee Odden

Lee started off by sharing some stats about Twitter- it hasgrown by over 964.5% in a year. It is starting to encroach ontraditional search tools, like Google Blog Search. Lee covered themany benefits of using Twitter, many of which are related to publicrelations and brand.

Lee discussed a social media roadmap, looking at audience,objectives, strategy, tactics and measurement in determining asocial media plan. He showed that Twitter outdrives trafficdirected to their blog at TopRank over other tactics, likeStumbleUpon and other methods. It’s also helped with gettingcovered by reporters.

Some tools Lee endorsed:
Twhirl and TweetDeck
TwitterFon for iPhone
search.twitter.com
Twitturly.com (track retweets) and backtweets.com/top-links
Cli.gs and bit.ly for URL shortening and analytics
twellow.com and twibs.com -Twitter directories
twitter.pbwiki.com - a wiki of applications for Twitter

Dan Zarrella

Rules to get Retweets:
Leave room for people to put in RT to retweet you
Don’t put the @ as the first symbol
Give credit
Try to keep the original tweet as much the same as possible

70% of all retweets contain a link- it’s a great way to promotecontent! More followers = more retweets, but it’s not as strong ofa correlation as you might expect. The most retweeted wordsinclude: you (how YOU can do something), post, blog, new blog post,please retweet, etc. Asking for a retweet does work, but don’t doit every time.

How tos and instructional content, news, warnings, freebies,etc. When you ask for a retweet with using the word “please,”you’re more likely to get a retweet. The more something isretweeted, the more likely it will be retweeted again.

Also be sure to display tweet-it buttons so that readers ofcontent can easily Tweet the blog post or content.

David Snyder

Last up was Dave Snyder who told us how to “pimp Twitter formoney” -what we all want to know! Dave coverd a case study aboutThe Book Bank Foundation, where they increased brand awareness andgenerated leads. Don’t use followers as your core metric - that’snot true measurement. It’s about viral communication. They raised$20,000 in two months via Twitter use.

How did he do it? First they seeded with power users on subjectsthat were relative, like homelessness. He stressed solid contentcreation. Defintely monitor and measure. Dave uses TweetLater,which is a Twitter management service. Dave says you shoulddefinitely track retweets.

Dave’s main rules:
Have a game plan
You get what you give
Be consistent

About the Author

Janet Driscoll Miller is the CEO and Lead Search Strategist ofSearch Mojo afull servicesearch engine marketing firm. Her company offers both SearchEngine Optimization (SEO) services and Pay Per Click (PPC)Management services to help clients improve search enginerankings.

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Tags:  blog, content, dave, lee, like, microblogging, pubcon, retweet, retweets, revolution, search, south, tweet, twitter

SEO And Expired Domains-Partners In Progress

Expired domain name trading is not that easy as you think it tobe! This is true especially when you have a domain that is notcommercially feasible and viable. In general, the most commonperception among people is that one buys an expired domain just tocapitalize on the previous sites page rank as well as traffic.

However, this seems to be the conventional way of thinking!Times are changing and they will change in the future as well! Thecurrent buzz words are domain flipping, which means converting anexpired domain into a viable entity capable of producing decentincome for the owner. In general sense, an expired domain loosesall its page rank and accumulated traffic, as soon as it drops andbecome defunct. It means that most of the expired domains in theregistry are as good as dead and useless. Thus, expired domainindustry is an intricate business, when you may need to try veryhard to sell a pack of domain names.

You are indeed very lucky, if you are able to sell a domain namefor a good asking price. However, it may not be the case every timeyou sell a domain name. Some of the domain names may fetch you avery small profit, while others may provide you an ampleopportunity to earn lots of profit. Thus, you will need to find asuitable strategy to make your domain more viable and strong.

SEO is possibly the best known and well proven technique toassist your expired domain based web site to achieve that elusivecommercial success. You will need to know the benefits anddisadvantages of using this technology before choosing to apply itstechniques. Major search engines never recognize expired domainsand their backlinks and traffic. Thus, you may need to buy a domainbefore it actually expires and becomes defunct.

SEO technology works very well with your expired domains basedweb sites, just because you are starting afresh with new web siteand a new identity. You will need to make sure that your web siteis perfect with excellent content, as well as cleverly insertedMeta tags, to help your domain find its way to the top of thesearch pages.

On the alternative, it is still possible for you to find anexpired domain name that boasts of traffic and incoming links.There are one or two minor issues here:

A) Domain flipping is a process of converting your expireddomain into an entity like an active web site. If the expireddomain name that you purchase does not relate to your businessconcept, then it may not be really wise to buy that domain, even ifit has good traffic. However, you can still change and migrate overto the business concept related to the expired domain in question.Under such a scenario, you can always use the technique of SEO tomake your site productive.

B) Ensure that the domain that you purchase has a clean record;some sites may have links to black hat systems and paid link websites.

If these methods fail you, you may have to go for an expireddomain that is capable of domain flipping and subsequent SEOpromotion. SEO techniques ensure top placement in famous searchengines, better page rank, plenty traffic and incoming links.Expired domains that are SEO enabled could bring you better incomeand sizeable profits.

About the Author

John Khuis an author and also a seasoned professionalwith vast experience in expired domain name business. He is theowner of the web sites calledhttp://www.expireddomainsecret.comwhich provides completeand up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternalsecrets.

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Tags:  business, domain, domains, expired, flipping, good, partners, progress, rank, search, seo, traffic

Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Use Firefox Over Explorer

If you are someone who operates an online business, conductsresearch using the Internet, utilizes email, or simply reads aboutcurrent affairs online and you do any of this using the InternetExplorer browser from Microsoft — you are not only corrupting yourcomputer, but you are missing out on several major features.

Here are 10 Reasons Why You Should Be Using the Firefox Browserover Explorer:

1. Faster Browsing
Have you ever felt compelled to knock your monitor off your desk,due in large part to the time it takes to load the InternetExplorer browser? Firefox has a powerful cache system that storessites that you visit frequently, so that the next time you want tosee that site again, it loads faster in Firefox.

2. Plugin Support
One of the best features, especially for Internet marketers, is theplugin support for Firefox. You can download an install pluginsright from your browser and customize it to fit your needs. One ofthe best plugins for marketers is the SEO plugin for Firefox.

3. Security
This should be #1 overall, since security is a major concern online- but how good is security if you can’t browse fast enough to eventhink about it. Firefox will warn a user when a risk is evident andwill even stop you from visiting known hacker, spyware and virussites — so your computer stays healthier, longer.

4. Download Manager
Firefox allows you to control your download files in one pop upinterface. You can pause a download, remove a download, come backand download the file at a later time. And you you notified of thesize and location of the download when it is complete. SinceFirefox is half the size of the massive Internet Explorer, downloadtimes are cut in half.

5. Page Info
No matter what page you are viewing in Firefox, you can always”right-click’ anywhere and the Page Info box will open up, whichprovides the viewers general information, media that can be foundon the page, permissions and page security (in a tabbedformat).

6. Blocking Images
You’ve undoubtedly viewed a site in the past that was full ofpictures, advertisements or images that really distracted you fromobtaining the result you were looking for. In Firefox, you candisable all images by simply “right-clicking” on an image andselect the option to block all images on that page.

7. Open Source
Firefox is an open-source project by Mozilla. This is an advantagebecause literally thousands of independent programmers can work onbuilding Firefox and troubleshoot and repair any foreseen securityissues the browser may experience, before they even happen.

8. Password Manager
Firefox has a password manager built into the browser so that youmay easily store usernames, email addresses and passwords for yourfavorite sites. If you ever forget what your username or passwordis, Firefox allows you to easily access the information in theirsecurity tab. You can also delete one, or remove all passwords withone click of a button.

9. Restore Previous Session
Has your browser ever crashed at the wrong possible time and youhad to go back and try to redo what just got undone? Firefox comeswith the ‘Restore Session’ feature, so even if your browserabruptly shuts down, when you enable Firefox again, you will begiven a choice to restore previous session, or start a newsession.

10. It’s Not Microsoft!
How many times over the years have you heard, or heard of InternetExplorer warning of ’security threats’? And how many times did youhear about Firefox on the evening news during the same period?Exactly.

Hands down, I recommend everyone who is currently using theExplorer browser to switch to Mozillas Firefox browser. It’s safer,it’s faster and comes with many more usable features that don’tclutter our tool bars.

About the Author

Steven M. Lewis is an Internet Success Planner & OnlineBusiness Developer. Learn proven Internet marketing tips that willhelp you build and grow a profitable online business. For marketingtips you need to know, visit:http://www.stevensmarketingtips.com

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Tags:  browser, business, download, explorer, faster, firefox, online, reasons, security, session, using

Review and Comparison of 3 Popular Website Builders

It has never been easier to create an online presence bybuilding your own website. Website builders are very easy to use.You can easily design a very professional looking website. If youwould like to use one to design your own website, there are severalgood options to choose between. It may be difficult to know whichone will best fit your exact needs. To make it easier, here is acomparison of three very popular website builders.

VodaHost builders
VodaHost has two very popular website builders: BlueVoda andSoholaunch. They are both very easy to use and include over a dozenvideo tutorials. All together, they cover every aspect of websitebuilding. They have a forum where you can easily get answers toyour questions. Their support team is also always ready to help youif you are stuck. Both of their website builders are free with yourVodaHost web hosting account. This also includes one free domainregistration. You can host an unlimited number of websites withyour account.

BlueVoda
This is VodaHost’s award winning drag and drop website builder. Itis incredibly easy to use. You can literally design a website inunder 30 minutes. You can build it from scratch or you can custommake one of their many web templates. They even have hundreds ofpre-designed logos you can use. It is also compatible withFrontPage Extensions and Dreamweaver for those who use thoseprograms. If you want to do some eCommerce and need shopping cartsand merchant accounts, they have made that easy as well.

BlueVoda is a very good choice if you need a website in a hurry.It is also great if you need your own site to refer to for youraffiliate or network marketing products. This is a huge advantageif you do article marketing, as most article submitters don’t allowany affiliate links. BlueVoda is also perfect if you have writtenan e-book,as the VodaHost account comes with an E-book and DigitalDelivery System and an Affiliate Program Software included. Withthis you can easily create a website for your e-book, and you caneasily sell it through an affiliate program or on ClickBank.

Soholaunch
This is a very easy to use drag and drop website builder foreCommerce websites. It is an online website builder. You can choosefrom hundreds of freestyle template designs, or you can upload yourown custom template. You can easily be able to set up productcategories, shipping, taxes, payment methods, exchange and returnpolicies, and much more. They also have an affiliate programsoftware included with your hosting account.

If you wish to make a pure eCommerce website, the Soholaunch isa very good choice for you.

Site Build It!
This is not your regular hosting company and website builder.Simply put it is an all-in-one system of software tools that canhelp you build a profitable business, not just a website. It isstep-by-step system for site brainstorming, website building,hosting and marketing. Their system is very easy to use with manytutorials and they always give great support to theircustomers.

Site Build It! (SBI!) will help you build a website with acontent people are searching for. That way you can easily attractthe right people. SBI! will make your website search enginefriendly. It will even perform the all-important SEO (Search EngineOptimization) for you.
That will make sure the search engines find your website. Alltogether, this will create a flow of highly targeted free trafficto your website. That way you don’t have to depend on advertising.This saves you both time and money.

SBI! was created to help you build a profitable business thatwill grow long-term profits. Would you like to create an e-businessthat is not purely eCommerce, but also theme based? Would you liketo turn your hobby into a business? Would you like to work fromhome? Would you like to attract more customers to your offlinebusiness? Do you have a website or an online business that is notattracting enough traffic? If can you answer yes to any of thesequestions, then SBI! is your best choice by far.

If you are a professional webmaster building sites for others,SBI! will enable you to build them a profitable business instead ofjust a website. Your customers will love you for it!

About the Author

To learn more about the website builders recommended by theAuthor, you can visitYourVodaHost.info
andSiteBuildItToday.info.

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Tags:  account, bluevoda, build, builders, business, comparison, easily, easy, like, popular, review, sbi, vodahost

Tips To Improve Your Homepage

Your homepage is the most critical online presence that you own.If you create the right first impression, users will continue toclick through your site and you’ll have the opportunity to enticethem to buy. Mess up the homepage and selling online will be anuphill battle.

First things first

Your homepage needs to:

1. Tell users what your website (or the company it represents)does simply and clearly.

Example 1: Creative Cards - we offer lavishly colored greetingcards printed on richly textured papers, suitable for very specialpeople and occasions.

Example 2: Garden tools for less, no glitz, no glamour, ourhardworking garden tools do not need designer labels they sellbecause they are durable, useful and low cost.

Find a punch line, a hook which will get your customersinterested and eager to follow through to the next step.

2. Differentiate your products or services from thecompetitors:

‘Exclusive suppliers of pima cotton from high in the AndesMountains.’

‘In the 2007 best new scrapbook products survey, crafters ratedour brands the best for combined looks, performance and price.’

‘The largest selection of toasters on the Internet from over 40countries around the world, sold with our 100% money-backguarantee.’

On the Net, where products can’t be physically touched, wordsare crucial to convey the right mental image to your customers.

3. Show your users how to get to what they need on yoursite.

More on this topic later.

Combine relevant text, photos and graphics

Have you ever seen a webpage that has lots of cute graphics butthey really have nothing to do with the substance of the site? Donot waste this valuable space! Yes, photos and graphics are good,many users don’t read well and if you are selling to internationalaudiences you may be able to convey more information with picturesthan with language. But, every photo and every graphic must berelevant. Photos should be of products, customers using products,staff supplying services, relevant settings for your products.

Craft the text with care

Jargon turns people off! Plus using jargon presupposes thateveryone who visits your site will understand what you’re talkingabout.

The medical supply site that offers:

‘DME reimbursable under most third party contracts, withappropriate physician approval and pre-authoriasation required insome cases.’

may never attract all of those people who need to read that:

‘We supply wheelchairs, walkers and other home medical products.If your physician writes that the equipment is necessary, most ofour products are covered by health insurance.’

Or, even better:

- Wheelchairs, walkers and other home medical products;

- Most products covered by health insurance (may need physicianapproval)

In general, the homepage does not require text with completesentences; use phrases and summary text to quickly convey yourmessage. Break up text with bullets, highlighted phrases orunderlining. However, don’t keep changing font; that appproachoften detracts from the message and can be confusing to thereader.

Avoid banners and advertising

If you want to make your site like thousands and thousands ofother sites that are desperately trying to make a buck with bannerads and other advertising formats cluttering the home page, youwill find that the small extra revenue you might gain is probablyoffset by the number of users who don’t want to be bothered pickingthrough the page to get to what they want.

Display your product but not your inventory

If you sell pottery, of course you should place pictures of yourproducts on your home page. However, the home page should not bethe catalogue. Use the home page to show stunning examples of yourproducts, to categorise your inventory, or illustrate the use ofyour products in a lovely setting. Draw the viewer in to look morecarefully; don’t ask them to sort out image after image on thatpage.

Make your search area easily recognisable

If you offer search capability (and you must), be sure that thesearch function is represented by a little box that can be typedinto, that’s what people look for, anything more stylised isconfusing.

Headings and links should be explained

Lead the user through your site with links along the side and/oracross the top. (Beware of putting important information along thebottom of your site; many people never scroll down to look at thewhole page.

Which links are more interesting?

It will depend on your context, here is an example:

- About Us
- Products
- Background
- How-to
- Wholesale
- Contact Us
- News and Awards

Frankly, it’s not too hard to create a website that’s much, muchbetter than the majority of websites out there, particularlye-commerce sites. Put yourself into your customers’ shoes and askwhich first impression you would like to have when visiting yourhome page the first time. Then convert your concept into a designfollowing all or some of the recommendations outlined in thisarticle.

About the Author

eSources is the Internet’s largestwholesaledirectory of verifieddropshippersand dropshipping suppliers,wholesalers,importers and distributors. Findyourwholesaleproducts, offers and suppliesinstantly.

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Tags:  convey, customers, esources, home, homepage, improve, people, products, suppliers, tips, users, wholesale

Six Steps to Creating Your Own Website

There are many reasons to create your own website. One of thebiggest advantages to personally creating your site is that you arethen solely responsible for the content and appearance. This meansyou have control over how potential clients view your business.Additionally, creating your own site will teach you many valuableskills that will come in handy when performing basic maintenance.These skills will save you a great deal of time and money.

Step 1: Visualize the Outcome
In order to make sure you site meets your final needs, you mustcome up with a concept for the site in advance. How should theappearance of the site represent your business? What do you hopethe site will accomplish? Ensuring that you goals are clearly laidout will make you much happier with the end result.

Some of the common reasons that people create websites includeproviding information about a business or service, increasing salesand traffic to the businesses website, and offering a positive viewof the company to potential clients. Think about these and otherspecific goal you would like to accomplish with your website.

Step 2: Decide on a Domain
It is very important that you select the appropriate domain foryour website. Having the right domain name will make it easy foryour clients, both new and existing, to find your website when theyperform a search. Another important thing to think about whenselecting a domain is possible copyright and trademarkinfringements. Before you make your final decision, perform a quicksearch to make sure your name, slogan or trademark does not belongto someone else.

After you have chosen a domain, register it with a reputablehosting site. It is important to ensure that you have the rights toyour domain name for the foreseeable future. You may have thiswebsite for a long time, so make sure you register the domain foras long as you can.

Step 3: Pick a Host
After you have decided on and registered your domain name, it istime to decide on a host for your website. Hosting services run thegamut from very basic to full-featured. Some of the more elaborateones can include eCommerce features and the ability to handle highvolumes of traffic. Refer to your goals for your website, anddetermine you hosting needs based on those goals.

Step 4: Create the Code
Now it is time for the actual coding of your website. Before youbegin, give some thought to the goals you outlined in Step 1. Whatare you hoping to achieve with this website? Let you vision for thewebsite dictate how you choose to design the pages. Some of theelements you may want to consider include borders, background,layout, and graphics.

The task of learning to code is actually easier than you mayanticipate, but it makes sense to invest in quality tutorialsbefore you begin working on your website. Knowing everythingnecessary will keep you from wasting time and money fixingavoidable errors.

Step 5: Test, Test, Test
It makes good sense to test your website before deploying it to theInternet. Take a look at your website on your own computer andensure that everything functions correctly. Some possible problemareas to focus on include forms, message boards, and eCommercesolutions. You may be tempted to skip testing, but rigorous testingof your site will ensure that clients are not frustrated bynon-functional areas.

Step 6: Deploy and Promote
Now that you site has been properly tested, meets your goals, andlooks attractive, it irs time to deploy it. This is a big step, butdeploying your site is not the end of your work. You still need tointroduce your site to the world and make sure that it is promotedproperly.

To make sure your site gets the attention you want, have you URLprinted on all business cards and any professional correspondence.If you advertise, update your ads to include your URL. Anotherconsideration is optimizing your site for search engines. This willhelp attract additional business.

About the Author

Brooks Freed is a website developer who has found a unique wayto train
people on the creation of new websites. His DVD tutorialprogram,
available at
offers important
website creation information in a format optimized for visuallearners.

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The 10 Commandments To Being Successful On Utube

Today many refer to YouTube as the, “fastest growing website onthe web.”

Over 100 million visitors watch video clips each day. By somereports, there are more than 60,000 people who upload videos withina single day.

YouTube was “born” from the creative minds of a couple of formerPayPal employees. It first became active on February 15, 2005 .Despite its enormous size the Youtube website is still in itsinfancy.

Who Uses YouTube?
Everyone. From wannabe stars to your local politician. Yes, it’strue, political candidates and fans alike now use YouTube as aninformal medium for advertising. Barack Obama is one of a fewcandidates that have a large fan base on YouTube.

Even political commentators are joining in, realizing millionsmay hear their voice and message, and even internationallycandidates are using YouTube as a platform to market their campaignand platforms.

Web 2.0 offers many cost-effective ways of promoting yourwebsite and YouTube is no different. And that’s just one part ofUtubing. It is also one of the most fun ways of promoting yourwebsite. There is music, there is video, there is creativity, andthere is marketing. A terrific mix, isn’t it?

* Browse around

If you are new to YouTube, take your time and have a lookaround. It’s a fascinating world out there. Take your time. Look atthe kind of videos others have made. You’ll find some of yourfavorite music videos, movie scenes, vintage videos, personalvideos, documentaries, and of course, a glut of marketing videos.If you find something in your niche, make a note of it. When youmake your own video, you’ll need to come up with somethingdifferent from your competitors.

* Create a video

That’s what you’re there for. Grab a video recording device -your camcorder, digital camera, webcam, or your cell phone, and getstarted. Like anything else, you won’t get it right the very firsttime. If you look at your first video and feel like pulling yourhair out, remember that you’re not alone. Making a video is mucheasier in your mind than in practice. Over a period of time, you’llget better at it. Which brings me to another point; just one videowon’t win it for you. Once you’ve uploaded your first video, startworking on the second video and then the third. Yes it’s not easybut it’s much easier than some of the other marketing techniques.This will also give you an opportunity to experiment with a varietyof techniques. Some may flop miserably while some may enjoy widepopularity and may turn into a rewarding viral distribution.

* Spare a thought for the viewers

YouTube is free but viewership has to be earned. So here ishumble advice. Do not make videos that take forever to load. Peoplehave other things on their mind. And a site like Utube has manychoices for them to pick from. A study on video-sharing websitessuggests that a video works best when it is under 5 minutes inlength. So even though YouTube allows you a maximum of 10 minutes,keep it under 5 minutes.

Before you upload your video, ensure that the file format isaccepted. YouTube accepts .WMV, .AVI, .MOV and .MPG formats.

* Entertain

I’ll say this a hundred times over - YouTube is not yourmarketing collateral. DO NOT sell your product on Utube. Use itwisely to get people interested. Once they start flocking to yourwebsite, you can sell all you want. The minute you start boringthem with your “Buy Me” messages, they’ll turn the other way. Thebest way is to come up with something entertaining that the viewerwould want to sit through. When you have six interesting videos onsomething, the viewer will surely want to know you. That’s whenyour marketing begins.

* Add your website URL

You’ve made a great video and you’re getting a lot of comments.All of it will count for nothing if it doesn’t result in increasedtraffic to your website. So add that all-important URL with yourvideo. You may add one before the video and one after the video.Add your URL to your YouTube profile as well.

* Market through others

Whoever said you need your own videos to attract traffic? If youdon’t want to spend time creating a video, approach a popularYouTube user. Offer them a payment for displaying your link ontheir videos. That’s encouragement for them to come up withinteresting videos and a marketing platform for you withoutsweating too much.

* Put up a video on your social networking profile

This may not seem relevant at first but it will surely help youget popular. Put up a bunch of hit Utube videos on the other socialnetworking profiles that you use. A few examples are Digg,De.li.cious, Orkut, and Reddit. That will make your profileattractive and help in getting new contacts.

* Participate

If you want others to visit your profile on YouTube, start withvisiting their profiles. Browse through videos, add comments fortheir videos. Don’t spam their profiles. Offer genuine comments andtry to initiate a dialogue.

* Spread the word

If you have uploaded your own video, get your friends and familymembers to view it and rate it. Nothing works like a five starrating. Ask them to chip in with a few good comments as well. Thebiggest mistake is to assume that uploading a video is the end ofit. It needs a lot of promotion to make your video visible.

* Tag your video

Now this one is the most obvious idea. Use appropriate andrelevant tags for your video. You wouldn’t want a person to missout on your video if he or she is looking for somethingsimilar.

What you’ve read above are just a few ideas you can use to drivetraffic to your Utube profile and thus to your website. You’ll findmore as you go along. As you see other users, you’ll pick up a fewinteresting tactics. The bottomline - be innovative, be observantand be smart.

About the Author

For a collection of themost viewed utube videosortop rated utube videosfrom hand selected video websites allover the internet, visit:http://www.best-utube-videos.com.au

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