The Secret Benefit Of Search Engine Optimisation: Increased Usability

The Secret Benefit Of Search Engine Optimisation: Increased Usability
by Trenton Moss
February 23, 2005





A higher search ranking is what many website owners dream of. What they don't realise is that by optimising their site for the search engines, if done correctly, they can also optimise it for their site visitors.


Ultimately this means more people finding your website and increased sales and lead generation. But are search engine optimisation and usability compatible? Aren't there trade-offs that need to be made between giving search engines what they want and giving people what they want? Read on and find out (although I'm sure you can guess the answer!)...


1. Keyword research carried out


Before you even begin building your website, you should carry out keyword research to identify which keyword phrases your site should target. Using publicly available tools such as Wordtracker (http://www.wordtracker.com/), you can discover which keywords are searched for the most frequently and then specifically target those phrases.


Doing keyword research is also crucial for your site's usability. By using the same keywords in your website that web users are searching for in search engines, you'll literally be speaking the same language as your site visitors.


For example, you might decide to target the phrase, "sell toys", as your website does in fact sell toys. Keyword research would undoubtedly show you that web users are actually searching for, “buy toys” (think about it - have you ever searched using the word, “sell”, when you want to buy something?). By placing the phrase, “buy toys” on to the pages on your website, you'll be using the same words as your site visitors and they'll be able to find what they're looking for more easily.


2. 200 word minimum per page


Quite simply, search engines love content - the more content there is on a page the easier it is for search engines to work out what the page is actually about. Search engines may struggle to work out the point of a web page with less than 200 words, ultimately penalising that page in the search rankings.


In terms of usability, it's also good to avoid pages with very little content. A page with less than 200 words is unlikely to contain a large amount of information, so site visitors will undoubtedly need to click elsewhere to find more detailed information. Don't be afraid to put a reasonably large amount of information on to a page. Web users generally don't mind scrolling down anymore, and provided the page provides mechanisms to aid scanning (such as employing sub-headings - see point 6 below) it shouldn't be too difficult for site visitors to locate the information that they're after.


3. 100kb maximum HTML size


If 200 words is the minimum page content size, then 100kb is the maximum, at least in terms of HTML file size. Anything more than this and search engines may give up on the page as it's simply too big for them.


A 100kb HTML file will take 20 seconds to download on a 56k dial up modem, used by three in four UK web users as of March 2004 (source: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/intc0504.pdf). Add on the time it takes for all the other parts of the page to download, such as images and JavaScript files, and you're looking at a highly un-user-friendly download time!


4. CSS used for layout


The website of Juicy Studios (http://www.juicystudio.com/) saw a six-fold increase in site visitors after switching from a table-based layout to a CSS layout. Search prefer CSS-based sites and are likely to score them higher in the search rankings because:





The code is cleaner and therefore more accessible to search engines


Important content can be placed at the top of the HTML document


There is a greater density of content compared to coding





Using CSS for layout is also highly advantageous for usability, as it leads to significantly faster download times.


5. Meaningful page title


If you know anything about search engine optimisation you'll know that search engines place more importance on the page title than any other attribute on the page. If the title adequately describes the content of that page then search engines will be able to more accurately guess what that page is about.


A meaningful page title also helps site visitors work out where they are, both within the site and the web as a whole. The page title is the first thing that loads up, often quite a few seconds before the content, so a descriptive, keyword-rich page title can be a real aid to help users orientate themselves.


6. Headings and sub-headings used


Search engines assume that the text contained in heading tags is more important than the rest of the document text, as headings (in theory at least) summarise the content immediately below them.


Headings are also incredibly useful for your human site visitors, as they greatly aid scanning. Generally speaking, we don't read on the web, we scan, looking for the information that we're after. By breaking up page sections with sub-headings that effectively describe the content beneath them, scanning becomes significantly easier.


Do be sure not to abuse heading tags though. The more text you have contained in heading tags within the page, the less importance search engines assign to them.


7. Opening paragraph describes page content


We've already established that search engines love content, but they especially love the first 25 words or so on each page. By providing an opening paragraph that adequately describes the content of the rest of the page (or the site if it's the homepage), you should be able to include your important keyword phrases in this crucial area.


As web users, whenever we arrive at a web page the first thing we need to know is whether this page has the information that we're after. A great way to find this out is to scan through the first paragraph, which, if it sufficiently describes the page content, should help us out.


8. Descriptive link text


Search engines place a lot of importance on link text. They assume that link text will be descriptive of its destination and as such examine link text for all links pointing to any page. If all the links pointing to a page about widgets say 'click here', search engines can't gain any information about that page without visiting it. If on the other hand, all the links say, 'widgets' then search engines can easily guess what that page is about.


One of the best examples of this in action is for the search term, 'miserable failure'. So many people have linked to George Bush's bio using this phrase as the link text, that now when miserable failure is searched for in Google, George Bush's bio appears top of the search rankings!


As web users, we don't generally read web pages word-for-word - we scan them looking for the information that we're after. When you scan through text you can't take any meaning from the word 'click here'. Link text that effectively describes its destination is far easier to scan and you can understand the destination of the link without having to read its surrounding words.


9. Frames avoided


Frames are quite an old-school technique, and although aren't as commonplace as they once were, do still rear up their ugly head from time to time. Using frames is one of the worst possible things you could do for your search engine ranking, as most search engines can't follow links between frames.


Even if a search engine does index your pages and web users find you through a search engine, they'll be taken to one of the pages within the frame. This page will probably be a content page with no navigation (navigation is normally contained in a separate frame) and therefore no way to navigate to any other page on the site!


Frames are also disadvantageous for usability as they can cause problems with the back button, printing, history and bookmarking. Put simply, say no to frames!


10. Quality content provided


This may seem like a strange characteristic of a search engine optimised website, but it's actually crucial. Search engines, in addition to looking at page content, look at the number of links pointing in to web pages. The more inbound links a website has, all other things being equal, the higher in the search rankings it will appear.


By providing creative, unique and regularly updated content on your website, webmasters will want to link to you as doing so will add value to their site visitors. You will also be adding value to your site visitors.


Conclusion


Optimising your website for both search engines and people needn't be a trade-off. With this much overlap between the two areas, you should easily be able to have a website that web users can find in the search engines, and when they do find it, they can find what they're looking for quickly and efficiently.






This article was written by Trenton Moss. He's crazy about web usability and accessibility - so crazy that he went and started his own web usability and accessibility consultancy ( Webcredible - http://www.webcredible.co.uk/ ) to help make the Internet a better place for everyone.

Residual Income -- Making Money while You Sleep

by Frann Leach
May 20, 2005


What exactly is Residual Income?


"Residual income is the reason that MLM business opportunities can be so lucrative. It's the reason why as many as 10% of new millionaires made their money in MLM... and who knows how many settled for just half a million?"



You're looking into business opportunities on the net, and you keep coming across the term 'residual income'. At first, you ignore it, one more piece in the puzzle that constitutes trying to find ways of making money online. But residual income keeps popping up. It seems lots of people are making a big deal out of this. Probably, it would be a good idea to find out what it means.


Residual income, also known as royalty income, is income that you keep on getting for months or even years after the work you did to earn it is finished. So, for instance, a song writer will get royalties on his song every time it is played on the radio, even years afterwards. The royalty for songs and literature lasts throughout the author's lifetime, plus 50 years, paying a small amount for each airplay, which can add up to a lot of money over the years. A big hit brings in a huge amount, which gradually fades down to a tiny trickle over the years, depending on the popularity of the artist.


How do you make Residual Income?


Not everybody is a pop singer, though! So why do people online go on about this so much? How can an ordinary bloke earn residual income? Oh, heck, I'm no good at writing stuff...


No, no. Chill. There's no need to worry. The way to earn residual income does not necessarily involve any writing skills at all. For example, you can make residual income as interest on shares. But you may prefer not to invest large amounts of cash in an institution that can drop through the floor and take all your hard-earned savings from you overnight.


Another possibility is investing in property. Buy a house, do it up, and rent it out or sell it on for a profit. A lot of work. A lot of up-front investment. And no guarantee the housing boom is going to continue long enough for you to even get your initial investment back.


But there is another way...




Looking for a Residual Income Opportunity


The way to earn residual income that you have been stumbling across all over the net is almost certainly a variation of the type of business opportunity known as MLM ('multi-level marketing'), relationship marketing, network marketing or referral marketing. There are many of these online, all offering different products, different pay plans, different startup costs and different trading zones.


At first glance, they all seem much of a muchness, but look again and you will find there are many pitfalls for the unwary. It's important to do your homework, and check out exactly what is on offer for your initial investment.


But it's definitely worth the effort. After all, residual income is the reason that MLM business opportunities can be so lucrative. It's the reason why as many as 10% of new millionaires made their money in MLM... and who knows how many settled for just half a million, or less?


Finding a network marketing business


Obviously, the level of investment is a factor for most of us, but in general, you will probably find the required investment is pretty minimal, far less than setting up your own business or buying a franchise. Once you've scraped together enough for your initial investment, it's time to find the MLM for you.


Is it legal?


The first thing you absolutely need to consider is: does this opportunity follow the rules governing network marketing businesses? You probably know that pyramid selling is illegal. Many people believe that MLM and pyramid selling are the same thing. This is not the case, as MLM is completely legal. So, how do you tell them apart?



As a swift rule of thumb: if you earn your money from sales or from getting customers (or recruiting others who sell or get customers), then it is a legal MLM business; if money is paid out merely for recruiting other representatives, with no customers or sales involved, then it is an illegal pyramid scam. Steer well clear!





Pick a product you can be proud of, at a good price. It's much easier to sell something you consider to be worthwhile. How sincere can you be about a shoddy item, or one that is overpriced? Before you can convince customers to buy, you have to convince yourself.

Pick a market you can sell to. If you're over 50, don't try to sell products aimed at kids under 20. You don't speak the same language or see things the same way. Similarly, if you're younger, products aimed at pensioners are probably not your area.

Even if you are pitching to the right market, it's also important that you feel right about selling this product to your market. For example, if you have a product that is aimed at people over 60, but you feel bad about selling goods to pensioners for some reason, it would be better choose a different product with a different market.

Once you have eliminated products and services that you can't work with, you will probably find you have reduced your choices to a more manageable number. This is the time to compare the companies you are looking at.


Choosing like from like


Right, so you have a number of network marketing businesses to choose from, all within your investment budget, with products and markets you can deal with confidently. The next step is to check out



how much is the initial investment?

how long does this cover you for? a year? a month?

is the product a 'pre-sold' consumable? (eg. gas, water, telephone, broadband, electricity)

do you need to keep stock? if so,

do you have to pay for your initial stock on top of your initial investment?

how much space will you need for storage?

is this a perishable product? if so, how long before you have to throw it away?

what is the company's policy on returns?



is a website included in the package, or do you have to pay extra for this?




In general, holding stock, dealing with deliveries and returns, is a nightmare and best avoided. No matter how wonderful your product, people will change their minds, send things back, and repeat business is not guaranteed.


The best product is what is called a pre-sold consumable; these are products your customer uses regularly, and is billed for monthly or quarterly. So long as your product is well priced and properly supported by the company, you will find the highest levels of residual income from these products. They have the added advantage that you never have to deliver electricity in the rain, or pay a refund for unwanted water and then wait for the company to reimburse you.


You may think a website is unnecessary. But, really, here you are trying to find an opportunity on the net. If you do set up in MLM, you will be trying to recruit others to work in your downline. Don't you think a website would be a good idea? Yes, I know you can set one up for yourself, but unless you are wealthy enough to pay someone, or skilled enough to write your own, it's not going to be a patch on what you would expect. You have to have something that can impress a potential prospect. It should both sell your product and act as an aid to recruitment. In the longer term, perhaps you will want to augment your free site with others, but when you first start, a good quality free website is a definite plus.


What about the residuals?


You should look at the potential residual income with care. The main rule to remember is: avoid 'forced matrices'. If you have a choice between one MLM with a forced matrix and one without, go for the one without. The forced matrix restricts your income.


The second rule is: choose the matrix (not forced) with the highest number of levels. The more levels, the higher your residual income will end up. It's a bit hard to explain briefly, so I won't try.


There are thousands of opportunities available online, many of them through my page at: http://www.informationzone.biz/what-an-opportunity/, but whichever you choose, do bear these points in mind before making a final decision.


Finally, let me wish you as much success as you deserve in your new venture.

©Frann Leach, 2004


About the Author
Frann Leach
http://www.informationzone.biz/

Frann lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. She has her own internet marketing business and is always on the lookout to recruit go-getters like herself.
Find out more: here

How to Profit from your Home Business Blog

How to Profit from your Home Business Blog
by Ian Canaway
February 23, 2005


A blog is a simple tool which all affiliate marketers should be utilizing to explode their affiliate sales.


I set up my blog in about 15 minutes at http://www.blogger.com/ it’s a completely free service, and it’s really easy to set-up. I followed directions on an excellent article on getting a new website listed in Google in 48hrs check it out here, http://www.scamfreezone.com/gg/ . I just followed the advice in the article and got started with no problems in no time.


I've been doing a lot of research with regards to blogging and came across a case of a 19 year old kid who was making something ridiculous like $50,000 a year with a blog on mobile phones, from his bedroom! So clearly there is a good earning potential through blogs, but they do take time to grow and build up a readership. Treat your blog as a marathon not a sprint, because it will take time.


Blogs provide a very simple, quick and easy means to add fresh content to your website. As I’m sure you’ve heard many times over ‘content is king’ in the search engines eyes and if you can provide high quality, regularly updated content your website should benefit with regards to your search engine ranking.


By providing fresh, high quality relevant content you will gain an increase of both first time visitors and repeat visitors, they will come back to check out your new content. Providing it’s interesting, relevant and useful to them. You will begin to build relationships with your readers, increasing your credibility and building their trust in you.


These repeat visitors will be exposed to your messages more and begin to trust you and your recommendations. This in turn will fuel sales and referrals. Just make sure you don’t recommend a product you haven’t tried because if it is bad you will lose all credibility!


Never recommend something you haven’t tried and tested your self.


You want to send traffic directly to your blog, do it through multi-dimensional strategies. Have a subscriber box for your newsletter to build your list from your blog. Use it as an exit pop-up from your main site or thank you page for new subscribers, directing them to relevant content immediately. As once your prospects have got to know you through the blog they are much more likely to explore your website and check out whatever you are offering.


Whenever you sign-up for an affiliate program or buy a product, review it in your blog and be brutally honest, your readers will love you for it. Take a completely unbiased view point and talk about both the positives and negatives of each product. In essence you are providing more of an insight into the product than the sales page itself, almost a sample, this will help convert those prospects that are ‘sitting on the fence’ so to speak. Obviously when you review your affiliate products, make sure that you use your affiliate links.


It has been shown that prospects are 7-10 times more likely to buy from a blog recommendation than from other sources!


Other ways that you can generate extra income through your blog are through the Google ad sense program, selling banner/link space as your traffic increases or as I mentioned earlier by adding you own opt-in sign up form to which you send your newsletter or other targeted offers.


Your blog can be syndicated using RSS, which I won’t go into here, that’s another article. But savvy webmasters can use your blog content on their web pages. This benefits them as they have regularly updated fresh content for their website and benefits you through increased exposure and free targeted traffic.


Be passionate about your blog, love your blog. If you do not then it will become obvious through your posts and you are unlikely to be anywhere near as successful as you could be.


Add to your blog regularly provide good quality content and reviews and you will be on your way to blogging success.


“A man would do nothing, if he waited until he could do it so well that no one at all would find fault with what he has done”. -- Cardinal Newman


Get that blog started today!


(Feel free to use this article online and in your email newsletters as long as you leave it intact and do not alter it in anyway. The byline and biography must remain in the article.)


Copyright Ian Canaway 2004-11-30


http://www.asuccesfullhomebusiness4u.com/


Ian Canaway is the owner of http://www.asuccesfullhomebusiness4u.com/ and you are invited to come and have a look round his new home business blog at http://ahomebusinessblog4u.blogspot.com/. For home business tips, advice and product reviews. Happy Blogging!

How to protect yourself from online attack

How to protect yourself from online attack
by
Frann Leach
May 20, 2005

As everyone knows, it's a jungle out there on the net, but with a few simple
tricks and traps, you can protect yourself from the virtual beasts that are
lurking, just waiting to attack the unwary. Take the time to apply these few
simple steps to protect yourself now.

You know, online security isn't just for big corporations. It's true they
stand to lose more (in terms of value) than you or me, but they have sufficient
reserves to be able to weather the storm, whereas the average small business or
man on the street is in a much more precarious position.

Why you need to protect yourself online

Using your credit or debit card online isn't as dangerous as it used to be,
but there are other ways in which using your computer can be made difficult,
even impossible. Viruses are just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many
different ways your computer can be preyed on whilst you're online, and even
after you've disconnected. Apart from worms, viruses, trojans, data miners, and
keystroke loggers, there's spyware, adware and who knows what else out there.
All of them trying to take advantage of you and/or your computer.


The slimeballs who write these products have many purposes. Very few of them
are purely vindictive or disruptive. For example, many viruses which
install themselves onto a computer do it no harm at all. Instead, they use the
system's email program to send out spam, starting with everyone in your address
book. And although everyone I know deletes spam immediately, presumably they
must get some sales, or this type of virus would be pointless.

Protect your personal data, too

It's important to be as secure as you can, because in extreme cases, even
your identity can be stolen, and used in ways that will disadvantage you for
a long time to come. And though this may be fairly rare, it's definitely on the
increase.

There are also many viruses or trojans which disrupt the data you have on
your computer, in some cases causing so much damage that you have to reformat
the disk and start again (which happened to me recently). That's fine if you've
kept backups, but how many of us really do back our data up?

We all know we should do this, but when was the last time
you made a complete copy of all your data?

This sort of attack tends to be at the amateur end of the scale. But if you
have children who surf the net, or you correspond with someone with kids who
surf, you are at risk. The areas where they surf are some of the most
likely sources of this type of virus. But any of us can fall
victim just by a single moment of inattention when checking through our
emails.

How to protect yourself and your personal data

So how can you protect yourself from all these different threats?

• Get yourself a firewall. Sysoft offer a href="http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm">free
  personal firewall which is very good, and makes your computer invisible to
  many types of attack - the best defense possible.
  
• If you haven't got one already, install a virus-checker, such as
  AVG, which is available for href="http://http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php">free
  download and set it to start up whenever you turn on your computer.
  
  
• Schedule a daily or weekly update for your virus checker at a time
  when you are usually online, but not using the computer for anything requiring
  100% of its resources.
  
• Get a copy of Ad-Aware, available for free download, and run it at least once a week.
  
  
• Download and install a free copy of Spyware Blaster. This will load up when you start up your computer and sit in the background, preventing access to your private data by thousands of different types of spyware. Do make sure it is regularly updated, though, or you may fall foul of a new attacker.
  
• Run Spybot Search and Destroy once a week to check for anything missed by your other lines of defense.
  
• When making a payment online, make sure the connection is secure. Secure
  sites start with https:// instead of the usual http://. On IE, a yellow lock
  symbol will appear in the bottom right hand corner of the screen in the status
  bar.
  
• Don't make payments on public computers, such as at internet cafes,
  libraries and so on. You don't know how secure these are, they are very likely
  to be infected by keystroke recording viruses.
  
• In addition, if you're logging onto an Instant Messenger such as Yahoo or
  MSN on a public computer, make sure the box to remember the password is
  UNCHECKED, or someone could steal your identity and send offensive
  material to your buddies (this happened to a friend of mine).
  
• Finally, if practical, change your password regularly. However, don't fall
  into the trap of changing it so frequently that you can't remember it and have
  to write it down or put it in a data file. That would be a lot less secure
  than sticking to the same password you've always had - so long as it's not too
  obvious.

Watch out for snakes in your mailbox

Even though you may have installed all these pieces of software, keep them
up to date and use them religiously, it is still vital to take care with
incoming emails:

• If you get an email which is very short and doesn't 'sound' like the
  person it's supposed to be from, with an attachment, DO NOT open it.
  Delete it straight away. (If there's any doubt, you should still delete it,
  but you could just email your friend and check with them that they didn't send
  you anything. It's far better to suffer a tiny bit of inconvenience and be
  safe, than to end up trashing your hard disk.)
  
• Take special care with emails that appear to come from banks and payment
  processors, like paypal. These are particularly popular targets for Phishing
  scams (used to collect your personal financial information, so that your
  account can be emptied at their leisure). Often these say that your account
  has been inactive for some time, and ask you to click on a link to re-confirm
  your details. They are almost always scams. If you feel you must respond, go
  to the website by your normal route, DEFINITELY NOT by clicking on the
  link in the email. But my advice is to just delete them.
  
• Finally, I have recently come across a piece of software which I liked so
  much that I now use it to monitor my incoming mail. It isn't free, but you do
  get a month's free trial. If you do decide to buy, the cost is very reasonable
  (I paid $37, or about £18, which includes VAT), certainly a lot less than you
  stand to lose without it. It doesn't just filter out possible viruses, but all
  sorts of spam, as well. And everything is nicely color-coded, so you can see
  exactly what's what. If you would like a free trial, go to Mailwasher.
  

No excuse not to protect yourself!

(To make it easy for you, I've collected links to all the above-mentioned
security programs at
www.informationzone.biz/security.html)

Using these tools, you can protect yourself from almost any malicious
program, and if you do pick up a virus or a piece of spyware, for example, you
can catch it quickly, before it can do irrevocable damage.

About the Author
Frann Leach
http://www.informationzone.biz/

Frann lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. She has her own internet marketing
business and is always on the lookout to recruit go-getters like herself.

Find out more: here

Dealing with Spam

Dealing with Spam
by Frann Leach
May 20, 2005


Despite the recent laws introduced both in the US and the UK recently, there seems to be no letup in the flood of unwanted email clogging our inboxes. In fact, if anything, the problem seems to be getting worse.


I get around 60 to 80 emails a day to my main address at the moment. It didn't used to be as much as this, and some of the increase is legitimate, but recently anything up to 25% of that is spam. It really is getting unmanageable.


Because they seem to filter out quite a bit of stuff I am waiting for, I have instructed my ISP not to filter my mail at all, so I get the lot, spam and all. At least this means I don't get the problem of missing mail, but now I have to do all the sifting myself, which takes time.


So I decided to devote a little bit of my fast dwindling 'spare' time to looking for a piece of spam-busting software. I wanted something that would




give me full control

allow me to vet all my mail

reduce the hassle involved in setting up individual email filters

bounce the spam

remember where it came from and set up a blacklist

delete the stuff I don't have time to read



AND I wanted it to be easy to use as well.


Quite a tall order, you would think. But I found exactly what I was looking for, at a price that won't break the bank - even MY bank. On top of that, there's a free trial, which does everything I want, so I even got to try it before paying out the measly sum they're asking for it.


I've been using it for a couple of weeks now, and my email experience has been completely transformed from what was beginning to be a really unpleasant chore. All I have to do is set it running, and it checks all my various email addresses and compiles a list of what has come in, colour coded so that I can see what's on my whitelist, what's on my blacklist, and what it doesn't recognize.


I just go through the list, marking off the ones I want to keep and the ones to bounce or delete, then tell it to process the mail, and it sends the ones I want to my email client - I use Mozilla Thunderbird, as I find Outlook Express unstable.


Once I have marked an email for bouncing, it remembers that address for next time and marks it as blacklisted - though I can still see it in the list, so I am safeguarded in case I made a mistake. It also remembers friends and displays them in green, but again, I can change my mind at any time.


I really do like Mailwasher. I've tried controlling spam through the email software, and it's cumbersome and difficult. This software is in a completely different class. I love it.


You don't just have to take my word for it, either. There've been over 5 million downloads of MailWasher Free, but you'll be hard put to it to find a bad review.


It's been voted Best Anti-Spam by Australian Personal Computer magazine, has 100% favourable responses by CNet subscribers, and is rated 5 cows by tucows.com.


'Nuff said? Why not try it now. You can download it here.

About the Author
Frann Leach
http://www.informationzone.biz/

Frann lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. She has her own internet marketing business and is always on the lookout to recruit go-getters like herself.
Find out more: here

One Shot... One Kill!

One Shot... One Kill!


(c) by John Colanzi

Many marketers have compared the art of marketing to the art of
war. Some of the names used by marketers for their systems bears
this out.

Don't think so?

What do these programs bring to mind?

* Guerilla Marketing

* The Warriors

* Stealth Marketing

Looking at those names you know these guys mean business. So what
separates these successful marketers from the 95% who fail?

They're not smarter than the average marketer, but they do market
slightly different.

The vast majority of marketers are going to battle with a shot
gun. They have no clear cut target. They are closing their eyes,
pulling the trigger and hoping they hit something.

They may occasionally hit something, but sooner or latter they're
going to run out of ammunition. Unless they are extremely lucky,
their advertising budget will be spent with little or no sales to
show for their efforts.

The top marketers on the other hand, think like a sniper. They
know that they may only get one chance to close the sale. They
take careful aim and make every shot count.

They know their target.

So what do these snipers do?

The most important element in their arsenal is their targeted
list. They are masters of building and working their list.

By targeting their market they place the odds in their favor.

By making every shot count they have enough reserve funds to turn
around a losing offer and make it into a winner.

If you truly want to succeed, learn the difference between a
suspect, a prospect and a customer.

Put away that shot gun and make every shot count.

Start targeting your advertising campaigns and remember,
"One shot, one kill!"

Do that and you'll avoid being the next casualty.

Wishing You Success,

John Colanzi

target="_blank">http://hop.clickbank.net/?annafan196/johncolanz

****************************************

Copyright (c) John Colanzi.


John Colanzi uses the Plug-In Profit Site

to earn multiple streams of income from

home on the Internet. What about you?...

target="_blank">http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main-269


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How To Brand Yourself On A Shoestring Budget

How To Brand Yourself On A Shoestring Budget
(c) by John Colanzi

Have you spent hours on end trying your best to make money on theinternet and ended up empty handed? Trust me you're not alone.

I've been there myself.

After running into a brick wall for years, I've finally foundwhat works for me.

If I were starting today and could choose one method to promotemy business and to brand myself, it would be writing andsubmitting articles.

Why?

** It's Free promotion

** It's extremely viral

** It brands you fast

** Most marketers won't do it

Your articles are actually more than just free promotion, they'refr^ee promotion on steroids.

Think about it?

What's the main feature of the average ezine? The featuredarticle. Get featured in an ezine and you're the spotlight ofthat issue.

Get featured in multiple ezines every week and readers will besaying, I see this name everywhere.

You're branding yourself fast and it hasn't cost you a dime.

Once you start getting your name recognized, the articles willstart taking on a life of their own. Have a few webmasters pickthem up and you're name recognition (brand) keeps spreading.

It's truly amazing what article writing can do. After you've beendoing it long enough, readers will get the feeling they know you.

There's not much chance of that happening from running an ad. Anad is just one of many and gives no clue as to who you are.

The fourth reason I gave for writing articles was, "Mostmarketers won't do it."

If you're serious about your business and branding yourself,there is one thing you should realize. You have to start thinkingout of the box.

Become a contrarian. Learn what everybody is doing, and thenstart doing what they are not.

You're a unique individual and you don't have to follow the herd.Birds of a feather may flock together, but the brave eagle fliesalone.

Get in the habit of writing and submitting articles andhopefully, the next article I read will be yours.




Wishing You Success,
John Colanzi
http://hop.clickbank.net/?annafan196/johncolanz

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Copyright (c) John Colanzi.

John Colanzi uses the Plug-In Profit Site
to earn multiple streams of income from
home on the Internet. What about you?...
http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main-269

****************************************