SEO and Article Marketing work together to provide you with the best solution to website promotion that you can have. Forget PPC programs, and forget ezine advertising. Nothing beats free adverts on the index listings of the major search engines. Why pay to have an advert on the right hand side of Google, that everybody knows is an advert, when for less money (no money in fact) you get a lovely listing on the left hand side that everybody regards as being associated with authoritative sites. Not only is it free, but it is also a more prestigious listing that a paid Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing advert. Proper search engine marketing can do that for you with a little bit of help from article marketing to give you a publicity kick start. Not only that, but a few links back to the web page of your choice from your Author’s Resource Box to help Google to help you. Google and most other search engines look upon links back to your website (actually a page on your site) as being an indication of the relevance of your web page to the search term being used by the search engine customer seeking information. Search terms are commonly called keywords, and it is worth your while learning how search engine perceive keywords. Do you know that a search term such as search engine optimization is broken down by the search engine into the three separate words, and it then looks through its index of spidered web pages for these three words. The page with most relevance to all of these gets listed first, and then downwards till those relevant to only one of these words gets listed. Of course, there is more to it that that. A site with a great deal of relevance and good content with reference to ‘search engine’ will be listed above one with poor content on ‘search engine optimization’, even if that is the title of the web page. A site with all three words will be listed highest if it contains good relevant content, but not if it does not. There are techniques that can be used to give yourself the best chance of a high listing. A high listing can never be guaranteed, hence the disingenuousness of those offering it. All that can be offered is an improvement, but not a specific listing position. Any advert on the internet that offers a guaranteed top 10 position is lying, unless they are referring to a top 10 position for a silly keyword such as “silly keyword listing”. If you have a web page optimized for that, you might get even a #1 listing on all the search engines, but who is going to be using that term in a search? SEO and article marketing can be combined to provide you with the highest possible listing for the content on your web page, since search engines generally list web pages, not domains. There are methods that can be used to maximize that position and even attain a #1 listing, but no optimization expert can ever guarantee that. Unless, of course, they work high up in Google, and are willing to help you to cheat!

Many years ago it was the norm that when someone wanted to go into business for themselves it meant using one’s own instincts and depending on one’s own personal know-how and also observing the way that the market was going to move. However, things have changed and franchises have become the new way of doing things which has led to much prosperity for franchisees. Essentially, a franchise is duplication of business concept that has proven successful for the parent company and it also means that the franchisee is the owner who hires his or her own staff and looks after the day-to-day working of his franchise in which the stakes are high since the franchisee has invested his own time, money and effort in running the business. An Already Established Concept – Another advantage to owning a franchise is that the concept has already been established and there will already be a proven track record of success. Also, the franchisee is well within his or her rights in using the trademark of the company and also its brand name which gives a license to the franchisee to market products that already has the brand recognition and which is already popular with the customers. Thus, having a franchise means tapping into a market that has already been established and is ready for more business. When one takes a franchise, there is assured support on the part of the franchiser, and even though you may running the business on your own, there is always an extra opportunity or two available from the parent company and assistance too is always forthcoming. Since a majority of franchises are turnkey projects, it means that after signing the agreement, the franchisee gets all the equipment as well as supplies that are necessary to grow the business further, and this is something that sets franchising apart from other business concepts. Next, when one takes a franchise there is less need for capital as compared to starting a business for yourself, and this can be attributed to the fact that you will already be getting experience and also a tried and tested system that the parent company has operated with success, and for which you do not have to spend unnecessarily such as on trial and error ideas. And, it also means getting supplies at lower costs because the parent company has already negotiated prices with suppliers and this benefit is passed onto the franchise. Other benefits to starting a franchise includes getting wider promotional campaigns, benefits of ongoing R & D programs, having the status of a company, not taking any more risks than are necessary, and getting a set of quality standards that are unified. Thus, with all these benefits, it is easy to see why other forms of business concepts are not able to compete with franchising.

MSN uses a search engine crawler known as MSNBot; You have to tell MSNBot to crawl your blog or website. I do not know why MSN indexes blogs(Blogger especially)during such a short time; I guess its because they are hungry for new pages… I found this secret whilst trying to get my websites indexed into search engines for Free, and that was a while ago. This is what you have to do, step-by-step: 1. Go to MSN.com and search your blog address. It will be BLOGNAME.blogspot.com for Blogger blogs. 2. MSN will say “We couldn’t find any results containing BLOGNAME.blogspot.com” and 4 lines below there is a link with the text “Send the address to Us” Click that link to index your blog. 3. You now have access to MSNBot. You’ll see a code verification system; type the correct code and the URL of your blogger or wordpress blog. Remember to include the http://… Within 3 days your blog will be indexed! When your blog gets indexed, try this system with your websites too. Getting indexed in Yahoo is a bit harder, and takes longer. 1) Go to Altavista.com 2) Click on “Submit a Site” 3) You’ll see 3 options… Click “Basic Submit”. You’ll need a Yahoo! account for this. 4) Once logged in, you’ll be taken to Yahoo!’s free URL submitter. There you have it – the simple secret of getting your blog indexed in search engines. Tommy Lee knows 33 Profitable Ideas ANYONE can Use to Start Making Money Sucking Blogs Starting Today. Fast and Easy.

The speed and accessibility of the Internet has greatly increased due in no small part to DSL technology. Only cable can claim faster speeds in the consumer market, and not in all circumstances. User can now access the Internet at incredible speeds at affordable prices that in the recent past would have simply been impossible. As is often the case, the more advanced a technology becomes, the more easily it breaks down. Although a great Internet service, DSL is subject to this problem as well. It doesn’t take a great deal to cause a serious DSL slowdown, and they can be difficult to fix. When dial up Internet access was the only Internet service available, slowdowns were less obvious. Since everything was equally slow it would usually take a dropped connection before a dial-up users perceived a problem. Now customers are used to a higher level of service, and slowdowns can be painfully obvious. The most common areas where DSL Internet access slowdowns occur are the phone line and the computer. Phone Line Slowdowns: Distance from the local phone company exchange is a factor in how fast a DSL connection can get. The further away a user is, the lower the transfer rate. Although there are signal amplifiers and filters that can mitigate this problem, it has not completely gone away. It is possible to be so far away from the exchange that service is impossible. It seems now that the direct line that feeds a users house is more often a DSL Internet issue in an area where access is available. Load coils, resistive crosses, and line taps can all create line noise. Line noise will slow a DSL connection, if not prevent a connection all together. The consumer can do little to correct most line noise, and it should e recommended that the user’s phone company be notified and request a line test. FCC regulations require a certain level of line quality, and is that is not met it is the phone company’s responsibility to fix this problem. External devices can also cause line noise. Phones, televisions, fax machines and other devices can cause disruptions in DSL service. Although these devices create only a small amount of noise, it is cumulative. If one of these devices is defective or old the noise can get bad fast. If you are having trouble with a DSL connection and believe it might be noise from external devices, unplug everything from the phone lines except the DSL modem and try your download speeds. Be sure to use the line filters that came with the DSL modem, as these are designed to help decrease line noise. Computer Issues The computer itself is the most likely problem area of any DSL connection. Hardware and software configurations are limitless, and among them are set ups that simply wont work. Add the possibility of spyware, viruses and worms and you have a multitude of possible issues. It is likely that very old computers cannot process information at the speeds DSL connections can serve it up. This can really slowdown a fast download, and cause a severe bottleneck. This can be identified by the severe slowing down of all computer processes when downloading files. Worms, viruses, and spyware cab all slow down a DSL Internet connection. This problem can be easily fixed with a good anti-virus product like Norton or McAfee. Both of these packages have Auto-Protect features that scan anything stored on the computer. Although Auto-Protect can cause slight slowdowns, it is well worth it.

To be able to attend meetings in your bathrobe and slippers. To get up every morning when you want and snuggle up to your kitten while you work. Sound like the perfect job? And if you want to take a day off there is no need to call the boss. Because you’re the boss. In fact, you are also the accountant, marketing guru, finance administrator, sales force, customer relations staff and the management team. Still sound like a dream job, and if so, why isn’t everyone working from home? Starting a home-based business can offer an exceptional lifestyle and be very self-fulfilling. It allows people to take control of their daily lives and their futures. According to Crystal Dallner, founder of Outright Communications, “many individuals miss the regular pay cheque, the interaction with co-workers and the opportunity to bounce ideas off of other employees.” While benefits of working from home include flexibility, time with family, tax write offs and the ability to design your own business, it can offer challenges. A steady flow of income, clients and branding may take some time to establish. By staying at a full time corporate job for six months, a reserve of income can be accumulated to live off before the business takes off and business building can be done in the evenings and on weekends. If it is possible, live off one spouse’s income so more time can be spent to build the new business. Getting by on less income for a short time can be accomplished by using cost-cutting measures such as decreasing the amount of eating outside the home and consolidating all debts. A third of small businesses fail within the first year and an estimated 80% of businesses fail within three to five years. As this may be a frightening statistic, there are many home-based success stories. The difference between success and failure in business is in careful planning, researching and management. With a good product or service in place, a business plan and some clever marketing, anyone can make a living by working from home. With no more daily commute or pressures of the nine-to-five routine, you can enjoy a healthier and productive lifestyle, more free time and the capability of raising your own children. As there is minimal start up costs associated with opening a small business, it can offer a rewarding career. Say goodbye to corporate life and say hello to the comfort of working from home. © Crystal Dallner 2007. All rights reserved; used by permission

If you’ve created a website and started adding your content to it, chances are you’ve also built some links and submitted some articles to the major search engines. After you have done all of the above, the next logical step, which many happen to overlook, is to take your business to the next level with an autoresponder. These tools are great to have, although many simply overlook them http://www.VeryBestCinema.org Often times, someone will visit your website through a link or search engine. In many cases, a potential buyer will look around your site and find exactly what he has been looking for. Sometimes, the buyer will get distracted with other things, and leave the site before he makes a purchase. There are many reasons as to why a potential buyer might leave your site on accident before making a purchase, although you can capitalize and make the most of this opportunity with the use of an autoresponder. By capturing the visitor’s email address, an autoresponder will give you the chance to contact the potential buyer in the future and capitalize on the sale that you missed out on before. Although autoresponders are mostly known for their abilities to automatically answer email, they are also more flexible, allowing you to do so much more. If you use your autoresponder creatively and productively, you’ll gain more leads and customers than you ever imagined. The best autoresponders out there will manage your customer list and continue to follow up with customers who have signed up on your list. You can also keep your autoresponder list updated with new products and services as well. These programs will grow with you, allowing you to build a reputation in your area of business and become an expert over time. Through the use of an autoresponder and an affiliate program you can contact your affiliates quickly and easily to let them know about new offers you have or offer them new material that they can use to help them sell your products to increase your sales and their commissions. You can also send out broadcast emails to your affiliates as well, providing them with tips and helpful advice that will assist them with selling your products. Autoresponders are also a great way to provide advertising as well. If someone is interested in advertising on your website, you can use the autoresponder to automatically send out an email detailing the cost of advertising and how the individual can find out more about it as well. This is a great asset, especially if you make a lot of income with advertising on your website. Another way you can make the most of your autoresponder is by allowing your visitors a taste of what you have to offer and the quality of your products or services. If you plan to send out samples, you should avoid making it appear to be a sales letter. If you do, you’ll normally end up losing more business than you gain. Most buyers don’t like receiving sales letters, and will avoid doing business with you if they receive a sales letter. Even if you’ve never used an autoresponder before, you can find many different uses for it. Autoresponders are great for many different purposes, other than answering emails. There are several types to choose from as well, which gives you plenty of opportunities for your business. All you need to do is select the type that works best for you – then discover more and more creative ways to use it to your advantage.

If you have created a great product that you know could be a blockbuster hit, but lack the talent, experience or time to get it into the public eye for maximum sales, it might be time to enlist some support. Fortunately, there is an army of professional internet sales experts ready to help you out and to peddle your product to thousands of potential customers. To make matters even more enticing, these marketing pros won’t require you to make any out-of-pocket expenditure. They will work on commission, giving them an added incentive to sell your product as fast and furiously as possible. We are talking about affiliate sales, of course. The affiliate marketing strategy, in its most simplified form consists of a vendor (in this case you), affiliates (the person selling your product on a commission basis), and the customers (provided by the affiliates). It’s a fairly easy model to understand and one that produces some amazing results. What do you need to recruit affiliates? One of the best strategies is to open a vendor’s account at Clickbank, Payloadz, Paydotcom or some other affiliate program management site. You will usually have to pay a nominal fee, and in return, you will be able to list your product, along with a sales page and a “thank you page.” After approval (and sometimes at least one sale) your product will be available for any of the thousands of Clickbank members to promote. There are a few tricks to making it work. You need to have a great sales page, a solid product and most importantly you need to offer a healthy commission. It might make you wince to offer half or more of every sale to your affiliates, but it is that income opportunity that motivates them to promote your product. In most cases, the net financial gain after consideration of registration and commission payments outstrips what you might have been able to make selling your product without affiliate assistance. Plus you are looking at the long-term. Each new customer your affiliate brings in will be worth a lot of money to your business as your cross-sell, upsell, backend sell and more! Using systems like Clickbank save you having to manage paying your affiliates but you may decide that you would rather manage the whole system yourself. Operating your own affiliate program may be a desirable solution for experienced marketers, but Clickbank and similar sites work well for most marketers. If you have a product to sell and want to see it “hit it big,” consider implementing an affiliate marketing strategy. The commissioned sales team can find you a steady stream of paying customers for your new product.

All websites have one thing in common. They all need traffic, and lots of it. Millions of searches are performed every day on the internet for any topic you can think of. Would you like a share of that traffic? Optimizing your site will give you better search engine placement and more traffic. Better yet, “free targeted traffic.” So how do you get this free targeted traffic to your site? First, and most importantly, you must submit the URL of your website to the search engines so that it will be included in search results. After your site has been indexed by the search engines, it is time to implement simple SEO techniques so that your site will get better search engine placement. SEO, known as Search Engine Optimization, is an important step to take when building a website. When optimizing your site, it is best to make little changes over a period of time. Search engines like to see improvements to websites, and it keeps them coming back to crawl your site for new content. Making little changes at a time to enhance your optimization strategies will go a long way with the search engines and will give your site better search engine placement as well. When done properly your website will receive traffic from users searching for the topic that is related to what your site has to offer. This kind of traffic is called “targeted traffic” because the user is already interested in what you are offering and will be more likely to make a purchase or sign up for a newsletter or whatever else you have. Make SEO a priority when building your website and work hard to achieve better search engine placement. Free targeted traffic will slowly begin to make its way to your site. Remember though it is important that your site has been submitted to the search engines before you tackle SEO strategies.

The unemployed, retired, homemakers, students and more are joining from the United States to India a networking business being described as “great, credible, honest and the best!” Strong Future International(SFI)a division of Carson Services, Inc., headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska USA was founded in 1985, by Gery Carson. According to the website, Carson is an entrepreneur who has been written about in Money Makers Monthly, Upline, Opportunity World Magazine, and other books and videos. He has authored several marketing tools and has been featured as an expert guest on live call-in radio shows. So what exactly is SFI? The site reports that it is an “exclusive marketing arm for the IAHBE (International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs) and Veriuni™, a line comprised of nutritional, cleaning, personal care, pet care, telecommunication products, and more.” Opportunity seekers are drawn to the site for a number of reasons some of which include: membership and training is free, the company is established in over 200 countries, they keep in contact with everyone who joins on a daily basis, they have many products to choose from and will dropship to customers without additional fees, and they provide business tools to affiliates to promote their products and services for various fees. Affiliates are also attracted to the company’s promise to provide residual income. This means that an affiliate would market his or her link to a prospect who would either buy a product or join the company and then he or she would refer someone and so on which would potentially give the affiliate income for years to come. Affiliates make money from the products sold through their individual url links assigned to them by the company. They are responsible for marketing those links which will connect the prospect to services and products at the site. In comparison to other networking businesses, SFI seems to have everything that any opportunity seeker would want. Unlike others, they are listed in the Better Business Bureau and can be contacted to answer questions. According to SFI representatives, SFI is not a pyramid scheme. The SFI website reports “they do not generate income solely on the process of recruiting others into a pyramid who pay a fee to get in. Instead there is no cost required to participate, and affiliates are paid only on product movement never on recruiting. And, unlike illegal pyramids, in SFI, no matter where you’re positioned in the network or when you join, you can advance to the very highest income levels and even earn more income than those above you in the network.” If you would like more information, click on the link that appears with this article.

The volume and quality of traffic really depend on how well you rank in a search engine. The more searches your site comes up for, the more traffic you will receive and the more sales you will make. So to get your site to come up high in the rankings, just follow these steps. Your content (rich in keywords) + your links = High Ranking It is really that simple. Google searches by link popularity. The higher your popularity, the higher your search engine ranking. If you type search engine into any search engine, yahoo and Google are the returned results of this query. This is because Google and Yahoo have the highest popularity and a page rank of 10. Link popularity is the number of links that search engines have for your site. Just search for “link popularity” on a search engine to find a website that will do this for you. If you can get to the top of Google, you are the top on most search engines. Google accounts for over 50% of all search engine traffic. Articles Keeping things consistent is very important. The more articles are added to article directories, the lower your article will go in the listings, but if you keep submitting new articles, then you will continue to get good traffic. Writing and submitting articles is a great way to build up the link popularity of your website. It gives you links that last for a long long long time. Close all articles with a link to your web site. The link has to be relevant to the article content! Hyperlink the keyword with your URL. Here is an example. Author Bio: “Joe Somebody is an expert in article directories. Visit his site for more article tips.” Keep a tab on your words “Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts”. This doesn’t apply to webpages. In the Meta Tags which are in the source of a webpage, you must count every word. Do some research on Meta Tags. Title Tag optimization In the title, include 1 or 2 of the most important keyword phrases. Do not list a bunch of keywords. Search engines view this type of heading as spam and you will be penalized if not blacklisted. The title tag should be a readable sentence that makes sense. Make sure your title is attracting to people, not just search engines. Even if you make it to the top, you want a heading that is interesting to people. You need people to click on your title, otherwise, all that work was for nothing. Try and place the keywords that the beginning of a title. Sometimes search engines cut it off if it is too long. Keeping them at the front will ensure that even if the title is cut off, your keywords will still be seen. Title tags need to be different for each webpage that you have. Make sure that your title is relevant to the information that is on that page. The Meta description tag Some search engines display the meta description in the search results instead of what is on the page, so make sure you word it correctly. Put the targeted keywords in the description. Do not put more than 10 – 15 words in the description tag. Also, do not overload it with keywords. As with the title, put the keywords in the front of the description if possible. Meta keywords tag Meta keywords are optional (there is much debate over this issue). Only include 5 – 7 words and only include the keywords that are in the body text. Add different spellings and synonyms of those keywords.

Creating your own products to sell online is definitely a unique way to be your own supplier. A lot of people really love to buy unique items that cater to craftsmanship. If you have good skills you can do well. Traditionally when you think of wooden items that are for sale, you think of the traditional items you see at crafts sales. It used to be that spice racks, paper towel holders and picture frames were the most common item. This has always bothered me since they are such basic and mundane items that don’t really cater to the skills of real craftsman. Even in my 11th grade shop class when most guys were making sconces, I wanted to make something practical. So I built a cabinet to house my stereo. To me this made sense. I bought the wood for $11 and ended up with something that we used in our home for years. This is how buyers think as well, give them something they can use and that they cannot regularly find in a typical department store. Target Audience Think of who your target audience is when thinking of a product to make. Large target audiences give you a better chance of selling your product on a regular basis. The typical woodworking items discussed above are often purchased by an “older” target audience. The problem is, they are not a large user of the internet shopping portals. This group is changing and starting to access shopping online, but start out with a better chance to make consistent sales. Another idea to keep in mind is to do your research. Take the time to look through the completed items portion of EBay. You can find out a lot about what items sell by looking at auctions that already closed and sold their items. You can do this several ways including accessing the “what’s hot” section of EBay, (go to sitemap at top of page and then scroll down half way down in the middle of the screen) I have found that unusual items sell the best. Think about this, table legs. Table legs that are handmade and unique, sell very well. Don’t take my word for it, do your research. A lot of woodworkers come online to buy a part of a project they cannot make themselves. Most table legs require the use of a lathe to make them. A lot of shops don’t have a lathe in their arsenal. Woodworkers tend to stock their shops with a limited budget with the die hard basic tools. You can also use a legacy ornamental mill to make some excellent table legs that will fetch high prices. Most people will wince at the thought of spending the bigger dollars to get the mill. However you can make some items on it that you cannot get or make anywhere else. I call these short cut tools. They make killer projects but cost premium dollars. The extra dollars can be justified quite easily by making more sales and the tools area tax write off, if you structure your business. I use woodworking shows to get great ideas on what to market. The vendors are eager to help you figure out a unique product that you can make with their tool. Again the key is to think outside the box.

The trend of outsourcing work / projects to freelancers is catching up with buyers / clients like wild fire and why not? Freelance service providers are professionals in their field and line of work. Hiring and subcontracting projects to such freelancers helps in reducing overhead costs as they are hired only when required. Moreover, buyers / clients are able concentrate on their core jobs while outsourcing certain specific tasks to those who know best. In order to gain maximum benefit from freelance marketplace, we suggest that you read the following tips and guidelines – 1. Be Realistic When Setting Prices and Negotiating with freelancers It is human nature to look for the best possible deals for ourselves. However, in our hurry to strike a good bargain we must not forget to value another person’s work and efforts. Try not to underestimate the job that other people do by saying – “I could do this myself! But I am short of time so I am hiring a freelancer”. 2. As a buyer of freelance professional services, remember to value the freelancer’s time, efforts and dedication in completing your project. Be willing to set a reasonable price for the job you are offering. If you deliberately set extremely low prices, you may not find any suitable freelancer to take on your project. Moreover, even if you do negotiate, you may end up getting low quality work that is a complete waste for you. Hence, be willing to compensate the freelancer in accordance with the amount of work you require and the effort needed to complete it. Do not shy away from paying the freelance worker – don’t reject the work after ample time, effort and work have been put into your project by the freelancer. 3. Explain and Outline Your Project Needs Clearly While posting your project, remember to include as many details as possible regarding the work in question. This will help in removing any chances of miscommunication and misunderstanding in the future as well as invite accurate and sensible project bids from freelancers. Be clear and direct in your language so that a freelancer is able to understand well what the project entails before accepting the work. Doing so will not only reduce the chances of time wastage; it will also value the efforts put in by the person / persons you are hiring. 4. Set prices based on the Nature of the Work While describing your project, spend a little time in clearly defining what the project is all about and how much time will be taken realistically, to complete the project (keeping in mind the technicalities if the work, amount of research that may be required and the complexity of the task.) A job may be outsourced on an hourly basis as well as on a project basis. You are the best judge of this and should decide accordingly. 5. Be Sincere If you expect sincerity from the people you hire, you should be willing to give back the same. Freelance projects and outsourced work is based on trust, dependability and clear communication.

There are no secrets on how to rank high with the major search engines because effective search engine optimizations are now immense. What is search engine optimization? Before we discuss that thing, you have to understand first how search engines work and a bit of know-how. Search engines are into providing their users with the most relevant and up-to-date information to match the search term that was used. They are sophisticated pieces of technology which allow users to quickly find relevant websites by searching for a word or a phrase. Search engine results are useless to users if the information doesn’t relate to the search term, or if the results are old. People expect the most up-to-date and fresh information that is useful to them. Updating your website everyday and adding some materials will help you get noticed by the search engines. So, if you are going to sell any type of product or service online, you have to optimize your website for the search engines, in order to boost traffic and sales. It is because over 90% of your business will likely come directly from search engine results. And for that reason, it is absolutely important to optimize your site for search engines for you to have the greatest deals in the entire world. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process by which webmasters or online business owners utilize strategic copy to augment their website’s status. It is certain that the internet has grown so fast over the years and the competition for the best search engine position has created an enormous market. Therefore, better understanding the fundamental elements of Search Engine Optimization is vital for an online business’ success. Making use of effective search engine optimization techniques will improve the page rank of your website. There are many tricks that can be used to increase page rank; the most effective method is to provide high quality content consistently. This seems like a simple concept but there are many websites that fails to provide content that visitors find interesting. Sites which provide content that are interesting, well-written and regularly updated create highly engaged visitors who are more likely to return to the website in the coming days. So, if you can set your website apart from those boring, lifeless sites then do it. You’ll surely have a step closer to achieving high page rank through search engine optimization. The next significant factor for an effective search engine optimization is to include keywords and phrases within your content. To make sure that you are properly targeting your market, you have to make sure that the keywords and phrases you have on your site are the keywords and phrase that your site is actually optimized for. The more keywords you use in your content, the more likely it is that online visitors will find your site when they do some research with those words. If you are unfailing with these techniques, then your overall search engine optimization will increase, boosting your page rank. You should also have to develop a linking strategy as a part of your search engine optimization. Not only does this provide free advertising for your site, but it makes the impression that your site is imperative because of its affiliated links. For each link that you have pointing back to you, that is another chance for your potential customer to find you. The more inbound links that you have pointing to your site, the higher you will be ranked in the search engines. Another is to develop a content stratagem. People who get to search from the internet are looking for information. The more information you provide for them and the more helpful it is, the more likely you will make the sale. Writing articles is the most effective way to build up content for your site. When writing articles to post on your site, make sure that you develop a clear means of arranging their content. You can do this by simply adding a new page to your site. This will allow room for extra articles to be added as you write them, and will allow you to build up an archive of articles which will maintain to draw online visitors. Make sure also that you have included your archived articles in a directory that is next to the root web of your site so that the search engines will catalog your online articles. Always keep in mind that search engine optimization methods are important in developing your site’s status. With that thing in mind, make sure that you write high-quality, keyword rich content and link your site to and from a deliberate family of other sites. These things will help improve your site’s popularity and coerce increased business through your online business.

EBay is one of the most powerful marketing tools around, but all too many small business owners are missing out on the opportunities it affords. Whether your business is online or brick-and-mortar, eBay is a tremendous promotional resource that you really can’t afford to overlook. It’s critical to your business success that you incorporate the traffic-heavy auction site as an ongoing part of your business strategy. Why Does eBay Matter? Explains Jim Cockrum, president of http://SilentJim.com, “Use eBay as your sales machine—if you put an item up for sale there, tens if not hundreds of thousands of people are going to see it. EBay is one of the top ten most visited web sites on the planet and the only one that’s not a search engine.” Whether your main sales venue is a physical storefront, or your own online store, eBay still provides several sources for generating leads for your outside business: • Use your eBay sales to build your mailing list. Every item you sell on eBay is a lead for future business. With each sale, you should be growing your email database so you can make recurring transactions with that customer. So many eBay sellers who’ve made thousands of transactions over the years have never used those transactions to build a customer database with which to build an email list. You need those lists to keep in touch with your buyers—you are building long-term customer relationships. The key is to give your customers good content, not simply sell, sell, sell. These are people who took the time to give you their email address, and the more that you provide them with useful information, the more you are building credibility and buyer loyalty. • The About Me page allows you to promote your outside business. A seller’s About Me page may be one of the most overlooked opportunities on eBay. Very few sellers utilize this tool, but it is the only place on eBay where you’re allowed to direct people to your own web site. You can also promote your newsletter or give away free information to your leads. It’s a great way, not only to gain buyer trust, but also to cross-market your off-eBay business. • EBay classified ads let you drive traffic to your own web site. EBay now offers classified ads that allow you to promote your own web site or physical store, as well as items you’re selling. And there are no closing fees for the sales these ads generate. Again, it’s a chance to get your items, and even your outside business, exposed to multiple thousands of targeted buyers. The bottom line is that, regardless of the venue you sell in, you need to recognize the potential of eBay for marketing purposes. You can increase your sales many times over by tapping into the resources that eBay makes available to you. Says Cockrum, “There’s so much power behind [eBay] to drive traffic, but so few people really harness that power for their businesses. Take full advantage of eBay’s promotional opportunities. It’s such a simple concept; but it works, and it can really transform your business.”

If you’ve ever worked in a corporate office for eight hours a day, 5 days a week, chances are it’s something you don’t want to do for the rest of your life. After all, who wants to be stuck in a tiny cubicle in a stuffy office building all day long? But short of winning the lottery or suddenly finding out that you’re heir apparent to a huge fortune, you’re stuck – at least, until you can find a way to financial freedom. It’s a long shot, but it’s not impossible. All it takes is a vision, courage, and some panache and you can start your own business. In no time, you’ll be on your way to breaking the bonds of wage slavery. The Big Idea It starts with a vision, a single significant idea. It doesn’t have to be unique or uncommon. It just needs to be innovative and perhaps a little different from what’s already there. Most successful businesses are so simple that you find yourself thinking why you didn’t come up with it in the first place. The best way to arrive at that breakthrough idea is to examine the things you are good at or passionate about. If you are an expert on all things Victorinox Swiss Army, then by all means start a Victorinox Swiss Army shop. Not only is it a popular brand, but Victorinox Swiss Army have a cache of products that are useful, such as Victorinox Swiss Army knives, backpacks, and camping gear. Such a wide range of products is almost enough to have consumers hooked. Keep ‘Em Coming A solitary good idea can make success within easy reach. The trick is how to grab it and make it yours. Passion is the key. If you’re passionate and enthusiastic about your Victorinox Swiss Army products, you’re clientele will feel it too. And since passion is infectious, they’re more than likely to get it from you and will keep coming back for more. Moreover, satisfied customers usually can’t keep it to themselves. Word will spread about your enthusiasm and dedication to their needs and to the product you sell, and you’ll find more and more people coming to you, hoping to be just as satisfied. With the serious decline in customer service and expertise in most businesses nowadays, you and your business will seem like a breath of fresh air. You can’t have better publicity than that. Stay On Top When you’ve finally grabbed success by the horns, don’t get too complacent. Remember that success, like happiness, is fleeting and it can be taken from you in the blink of an eye if you’re not careful. Markets and the needs of consumers are forever changing. Stay on top of the game by keeping an open mind. Keep yourself updated on the latest products by Victorinox Swiss Army in order not to be overrun by competitors. Be privy to recent trends and find ways to adapt to them. Only when you have conquered all obstacles and covered all bases can you finally leave dreary thoughts of your old cubicle behind.

Annual Gold Prices for the past 5 years show that in 2005 the gold price had the biggest annual dollar increase, with an increase of over $80. A chart of annual gold prices over the last 30 years looks like a rollercoaster. Exploration and development expenditures include all of the costs associated with manpower and activities such as geologists, contractors, engineering, drilling equipment, metallurgical testing and economic feasibility studies. Gold mining requires the use of specialized facilities and technology. Gold prices can fluctuate widely and are affected by numerous factors beyond the Company’s control. Gold is measured in Troy ounces, which weigh 10 percent more than the ounces used for potatoes and feathers. Gold is often found in rock that contains sulfides, which when exposed to oxygen, water, and specialized bacteria produce highly acidic water. Gold’s attractive appearance and malleability mean that it can be enjoyed as jewelry or other ornamentation and yet is easily convertible into coin or bullion. Where the gold price is presented in currencies other than the US dollar, it is converted into the local currency unit using the foreign exchange rate closing price on the same day. Gold prices have surged past the $500-an-ounce mark, and more gains are predicted as investors look to protect themselves against inflation fears. Gold prices historically rise when faith in paper currencies erodes, as investors seek the intrinsic value of gold to protect themselves from inflation. Gold has continued to show strength in Asian and European trading. Like all prices, the gold price reflects not only the inherent value of gold, but also the relative strength of the currency in which it is quoted. Costs are allocated to a stockpile based on relative values of material stockpiled and processed using current mining costs incurred up to the point of stockpiling the ore, including applicable overhead, depreciation, depletion and amortization relating to mining operations, and removed at each stockpile’s average cost per recoverable unit. While gold is a more stable store of value than paper currencies, it still remains a market in which governments have a heavy presence. Thus, taking into account the ever-shrinking value of the dollar, the real price of gold has hardly changed in a century. Since 1982, average annual gold prices have stayed between $300 and $450 per ounce. Record upside price potential remains firmly in the hands of investors, with average annual gold prices for 2007 on track to beat the 1981 record of $614.

The answer to that question is maybe! When I bought XSitePro at the beginning of May I had gone through a very frustrating few weeks trying to design several websites. Even more frustrating because I was designing sites for customers and myself 5 years ago but dropped out because of other commitments. I decided to start up another Internet business earlier this year and couldn’t wait to get my own site up and running again. That was when my frustrations started. OK the sites that I designed before weren’t exactly top of the notch professional; they were sort of like the Grandma Moses of the Internet. But, they were attractive, easy to navigate, well visited and different! Using my old html editor FrontPage I expected to have a site up and running quickly but found that I had forgotten most of what I’d known about using FrontPage for building sites. What I did remember was that initially I struggled to build a site even after learning html because I don’t understand ‘easy to understand instructions’. This time round I was having the same old problem. I persevered and was getting somewhere but then I decided to buy the latest Macromedia package and have a bash with Dreamweaver. Doh! it might be wonderful but I didn’t have a clue where to start even after reading the instructions. I turned back to FrontPage with a mental note to myself to try again when I had more time. A friend told me about XSitePro and I was curious enough to take a look at their site. It wasn’t long before I regretted splashing out on the Macromedia package, but I couldn’t justify another spend so I regretfully left the site armed with a free affiliate link. During the next week I kept going back and drooling over what might have been. The $197 asking price grew smaller with every visit until click …I finally reasoned that I had earned as much as that in overtime in my day job the previous week and if I could design sites more quickly and easily it would pay for itself. After downloading XSitePro I couldn’t wait to get started. I worked my through the tutorial which has you building an opticians site and was totally pleased and relieved to find that I understood the tutorial and that my practice optician site was as it should be. Next I decided to design my own site and took a look at the website and sales letter templates provided. A good selection but I must admit to thinking that although eminently usable they were a bit boring to me. I have found since that there are several sites offering some stunning XSitePro templates for sale at very reasonable prices. I made up my own design for my first XSitePro effort and managed to express my old cheerful style quite easily and much quicker than I would have done with FrontPage or Dreamweaver. As with both of those site builders XSitePro is a What You See Is What You Get editor and as with both of them I find that you do need basic html knowledge to build effective sites. Courses are freely available on the Internet. Time Saving Differences I couldn’t believe how quickly I was able to add Google AdSense ads to my pages. All I had to do was initially add my AdSense id to the software and then after that right click wherever I wanted the ads placing. I was given a choice of ad sizes and colours to enable the ads to integrate with my site and there they were. Much better than trawling through the AdSense site every time I wanted to place ads. Another timesaver is the Affiliate Wizard, you add your affiliate links and thereafter a couple of clicks and your links are on your web pages. Optimisation for the search engines is excellent for an impatient bod like me. Every time I add an image I’m reminded to include an image alt keyword. When a page is finished I click on the SEO page and I’m told what I still need to do to improve optimisation. I might have missed an image alt keyword, or I might not have included the main key word enough in the text, or not enough words in the body. A few minutes and the page is fully optimised and a chore that I didn’t completely understand before is done. If I want to change the look of my site it’s easily and quickly done on every page at once and I don’t have to figure out style sheets. I can create pop ups, pop unders and pop ins with a few clicks, add redirect pages, add scripts and lots more useful things. The Verdict I love working with XsitePro and am really glad that I gave into temptation and bought it. I find it easier and quicker to work with than any other html editor that I’ve used and I’m always pleased with the results. I’m sure that it will have it’s limitations but I haven’t found any yet. The only downside is the not so hot templates, but everything else makes up for that in spades. I don’t get excited about XsitePro but I am delighted with my investment.