What is a Blog? In Plain English Please.

by Vickie J Scanlon

If you are fairly new to the Internet, you have probably heard the word “Blog” flying around. But what is a blog? How does it work? And how can I use it on my website? These are all good questions, which I hope to answer for you.

What is a Blog?

A blog, in simplest terms, is a daily journal of your thoughts that is maintained by a blogger (which would be you) on the web. When posting to a blog you will notice that it is arranged in chronological order – with the most recent additions on top.

You can choose to allow your readers to add their own comments/feedback to any issues you may have addressed on your blog. Or, you can add audio to your blog. Pretty neat, isn’t it. What a great way to have contact with your customers.

Can it be used on my website?

Can it be used on my website? Definitely. It can be a great tool for you and your contacts. However, I personally feel that it would be a greater benefit to the established website that has a following. In other words, start with a newsletter first, to build your mailing list, than go for the blog.

If you have a following, than go for it. Don’t want to pay for it? That’s okay, you can go to www.blogger.com, they have a great tutorial and the blog is free.

What can it do for my website?

I see many inventive uses for a website that is based on content. Such as:

1.Strong communication tool – a form of contact with your customer.
2.Allow you to get to know your customers and their wants, as well as, allowing your customers to know you.
3.Can provide daily, quality content – which will pull the search engines and thus, increase your traffic.
4.Use it to advertise your links. Taking a conservative approach, and blend it in to the topic.
5.Use it to answer inquiries that people may have.
6.Use it to inform.

As you can see, the list can be endless. But I do see only one slight drawback for those who do not want to keep a constant vigil over their website – and that is maintaining the blog. The blog should be maintained on a regular basis. Why? People get bored, and on the Internet, it’s very easy to click their boredom away. Thus, keep yourself enlightened and it should keep them enlightened.

If you find this small drawback inconsequential – then go blogging.

To your success.

Vickie J. Scanlon

====================
Vickie J Scanlon has a BBA degree in Administrative Management and
Marketing. She left the corporate world as an Reports Programmer,
to begin her journey as an Internet marketer. Visit her site at:
http://www.myaffiliateplace.biz for free tools, articles, ebooks, and how to info.

About the Author

Vickie J Scanlon has a BBA degree in Administrative Management and
Marketing. She left the corporate world as an Reports Programmer,
to begin her journey as an Internet marketer. Visit her site at:
http://www.myaffiliateplace.biz for free tools, articles, ebooks, and how to info.

How To Build Traffic To Your Blog

by Priya Shah

With the growing interest in blogging as a means of online promotion and branding, a lot of marketers are starting blogs to promote their opinions, products, books and services.

But a blog is like a website. "Write and they will come" isn't exactly a magic formula to bring in traffic by the boatload.

If you need to promote your website in order to build traffic to it, you need to promote your blog as well.

Here are some ways you can become a well-read and influential blogger.

1. Write Posts That People Will Want To Read

This should be common sense, but many marketers tend to forget that their readers are real people and that you need to use the principles of online copywriting to make your headlines and copy interesting to your readers.

If you write posts that people enjoy reading, they will reward you by returning to your blog regularly.

Make your posts conversational, pithy and topical. Keep them short and stick to one topic per post.

Write often and regularly so that both readers and search engines visit your blog more often.

2. Optimize Your Posts for Search Engines

I cover this topic in detail in my article on "Search Engine Optimization For Blogs" http://www.blog-maniac.com/blog-seo.htm

But here are the most important rules to follow to get your posts listed for keywords of your choice.

* Make sure your blog URL contains the primary keyword you want to optimize for

* Use your primary keywords in the title of your post

* Use your secondary keywords in the body of your post

* Use your keywords in the anchor text of links in the body of your posts

3. Submit Your Blog and RSS Feed To Directories

If you publish a blog you should submit your blog and RSS feed to big directories like Yahoo and Dmoz, as well as the numerous blog directories and search engines.

Here is the best list I've found of places to submit your feed or blog, compiled by Luigi Canali De Rossi, who writes under the pseudonym Robin Good.

Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites
http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/

Another list of sites to submit your Blog.
http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm

4. Ping The Blog Services

There are a number of services designed specifically for tracking and connecting blogs. By sending a small ping to each service you let them know you've updated your blog so they can come check you out.

Bookmark the Ping-O-Matic ping results page so you can visit it and quickly ping a number of services with a single click.

http://pingomatic.com

5. Build Links To Your Blog

I recommend the methods here as the best ways to get links pointing to your blog

* Link to your blog from each page on your main website

* Trackback to other blogs in your posts

* Post legitimate comments on other blogs with related topics

* Offer to exchange links with other similarly themed blogs and websites

6. Edit Your Blog Posts Into Articles

One of the best methods for promoting your website is to write articles and submit them to article directories.

The suggestion for extending this to edit your blog posts into articles and submit them to directories came from the coach at "Explode Blog Traffic" who also has other noteworthy suggestions at his blog here.
http://bloghit.blogspot.com/2004/11/how-to-explode-blog-traffic.html

You'll find an extensive list of article directories here
http://ebizwhiz-publishing.com/write-articles/submit-articles.htm

7. Create Buzz About Your Blog

Creating a buzz about your blog posts and topic in the local and online media will give your marketing a viral component.

* Create a controversy around your blog or it's topic.

* Distribute bumper stickers or other merchandise with your blog's URL and tagline.

* Write a press release about something newsworthy and tie it in with your blog topic.

8. Capture Subscribers By Email

It may seem strange for a blogger to send out updates by email, but email is still the #1 choice of most people who want to receive news and information.

Using a free service like Bloglet to manage your subscriptions is easy and it allows your subscribers to manage all their subscriptions from one interface. http://www.bloglet.com

However, if you want more control over your list and don't mind mailing out the updates yourself, you can use an autoresponder system to capture and follow-up with subscribers.

RSS responder is a new script that allows you to keep in touch and follow-up with your subscribers without the hassle of email. http://ebizwhiz-publishing.com/rssresponder.htm

These tips should give you a good start to building your blog traffic.

About the Author

Priya Shah publishes an internet marketing ezine at http://ebizwhiz-publishing.com by day and doubles as a Blog Maniac by nighO http://www.blog-maniac.com Blog Brandz http://www.blogbrandz.com is the legitimate offspring of her affair with the blogosphere.

Promote Affiliate Programs Through Your Own Google Adwords Campaign

by Maxine Hough

Did you know that Forbes magazine has reported that pay per click ad sales are expected to increase to at least an astounding $8 billion by the year 2008? Pay per click though still unfamiliar to many, will be around for a very long time. One of the search engine giants to capture a lion's share of this market is Google through its Google Adwords service. A few ebooks like Google Cash and The Definitive Guide To Google AdWords provide basic and advance knowledge on releasing the incredible power of pay per click campaigns especially as this applies to businesses and affiliates around the world. Big businesses are still the largest group to benefit from incorporating pay per click in their advertising budgets but, home-based businesses and affiliate program promoters can benefit too if they understand how to use this tool.

Pay per click search engines provide a way for you to basically buy your way to the top of search results for any keyword you wish. Pay per click advertising works thru a bidding process, and your ads appear in the results pages of search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves. With Google Adwords you bid on the keywords you want to focus your ad on. For example if someone were searching on "gourmet coffee", if you're the highest bidder for "gourmet coffee" you receive top placement for that phrase and depending on the search engine, the top 3-5 bidders for that phrase also receive placement on the first page of unpaid search results.

With Google Adwords the "ad campaign" is everything. When you sign up with Google Adwords you have unlimited campaigns at your disposal. I enjoy promoting affiliate programs and in the past I spent a lot of time deciding which keywords I would bid on to attract buyers to my affiliate programs. The only tool I use right now is Ad Word Analyzer which saves tremendously on time and gives me an overview of my keyword and/or keyword phrase as it was searched on the top two pay per click search engines Google and Overture.

Now that you've done your research and you've collected your keywords and/or keyword phrases, you'll need to open an Adwords account.

1. To do this go to https://adwords.google.com/. There is a one time sign up fee of $5 and your username and password are emailed to you.

2. Now you can log into the system and select "create a new campaign". Give your campaign a name that will also allow you to create multiple campaigns.

3. Before creating your first ad, I recommend that you print out Google's set of guidelines, ebooks such as Google Cash cover this area as well. Since most of you are probably promoting affiliate programs, it's important that you notify Google of this by simply adding "aff" at the end of your ad text.

A few tips to keep in mind:

a. To keep your ad targeted, make sure your keyword or keyword phrase is in the headline.

b. Put your keyword or keyword phrase in the text of your ad.

c. In promoting your affiliate program, make sure you're linked directly to the owner's website thru your affiliate link so that you'll get the credit and the cash!

Now you can submit your ad and start tracking your campaign over the next few days. If you're not happy with your ad's performance you can make changes such as targeting other keywords or increasing your bid a little at a time. Adwords is flexible in allowing you to make changes within Google guidelines of course, to make your ad campaigns successful.

Pay per click is here to stay and it offers a high level of assurance that your ad is reaching your targeted audience. With the proper management and a clear vision, pay per click specifically Google Adwords, can provide you with well targeted and economical advertising on the internet.

As mentioned earlier pay per click ad sales are expected to increase to at least $8 billion by 2008, with Google Adwords, the right resources and a little effort on your part, you can also benefit from this increase and find yourself with a significant supplemental income each month or a fulltime "leave my 9-5 job" income. The sky is truly the limit with pay per click.

----------------------------------------

Maxine Hough is an accounting clerk who supplements her income by promoting affiliate programs online based on the techniques outlined in Google Cash at http://tinyurl.com/6z3zt, The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords at http://tinyurl.com/6exm4, Ad Word Analyzer at http://tinyurl.com/4mrto

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About the Author

Maxine Hough is an accounting clerk who supplements her income by promoting affiliate programs she has personal knowledge of and believes would be beneficial to others promoting any kind of internet enterprise.

How To Find The Top Keywords Relating To Your Theme

by Jeff Schuman

Have you ever wondered what people are searching for online?
More specifically have you ever wondered what people are
searching for as it relates to the theme of your website?

Let's say you have a website built around the theme of music
downloads. Here are 2 easy ways to get a list of keywords you
can use to build your home page and then build more pages around
each specific word.

1. Do a search by typing in music downloads here:
http://www.pixelfast.com/overture

As of November 2004 the keyword phrase" music downloads was
searched 1,068,310 times. We can also see that "free music
downloads" was searched 1,169,992 times.

As you look down the list you will find all kinds of
combinations of keyword phrases with the words "music
downloads" included in them.

You can build specifc web pages centered around each keyword
phrase. You will find that lesser searched keywords have less
competition and therefore will be easier for you to make it to
the top of a search engine and generate free traffic.

For example the keyword phrase " free mp3 music download" was
searched 22,360 times. This would be a great keyword phrase to
target in comparison to the more generic phrase "music
downloads."

2. Take a look at what people are willing to pay for
a keyword here:

http://www.team-schuman.com/7searchkeywordtool

When typing in "music download" it brings up the keyword, number
of searches, and the top 5 bids. It also brings up a complete
list of possible keyword phrases and what people are paying for
them. You can use this information to find affiliate products
relating to each specific keyword phrase and then build
additional web pages relating to each specific one. You can add
these keywords to your home page and then join 7Search as an
affiliate and add pay per click text to your pages.

Then get paid by 7Search when someone clicks on an ad relating to
that keyword. I do this to generate hundreds and thousands of
dollars each month. It is a great way to make some money on your
site for generating traffic to it. Here are examples on 2 of my
websites. You will see the text ads for the Top 10 websites at
the top of each page.

http://www.team-schuman.com

http://www.sites-plus.com

If you are looking for top keywords being searched in a broad
range of categories then subscribe to the "Keyword Report" here:
http://www.team-schuman.com/wordtracker

Click on the link for Keyword Report and you will receive the top
500 keywords people are searching for delivered to you by email
every week. Then use the Overture and 7Search keyword tools to
find more specific keywords you can build websites and web pages
around. This is a great strategy and a great way to get started
making money with your own theme website and web pages around
that theme.

Remember this simple point. People go to the internet to find
information. They will type in all kinds of keyword phrases and
variations of those keywords. The more web pages you can build
targeting those specific keywords the better off you will be when
it comes to increasing your website traffic and making more money
online.

About the Author

Jeff Schuman is using this strategy to create new websites
around specific keywords relating to a theme. You can see his
Top 10 Make Money and Top 10 Small Business Websites here:
http://www.team-schuman.com
http://www.sites-plus.com

How to Drive Traffic to Your Website with Traffic Exchanges

by Geoffrey Faivre-Malloy

The number one problem new website owners have is, "How do I drive targeted traffic to my website?"

A significant amount of time and energy is spent on this single task. A webmaster will commonly focus on:

• Ranking well in the search engines
• Pay Per Click (PPC) programs.
• Pay Per View (Banner) programs.
• Link Exchanges
• Directory Submissions
• etc.

All of these methods are viable means of getting traffic. In fact, if you're lucky or competent enough to rank well for your keywords in the search engines, you'll find that you get a very large portion of traffic to your website.

What do you do, however, if you rank poorly or, even worse, don't even show up in the first 1000 results on any of the search engines? What do you do if you don't have a budget set aside for marketing?

This is where people often turn to traffic exchanges. Quite simply, a traffic exchange is a program where you sign up and agree to surf sites in exchange for some credits. These credits are then used when other members of the exchange surf to your site.

Now, I'll be quite honest with you, this traffic is not highly targeted traffic. In fact, if this were your only method of advertising your website, you'd probably fail. BUT it is a great method of getting traffic to your site in addition to the other methods listed above.

So, why do people use traffic exchanges? Here are a few of the benefits:

• Increase your Alexa rating! Did you know that some search engines factor your Alexa rating into their algorithms? More traffic means higher search engine placement!
• Increase your branding awareness. Any marketing expert worth his salt will tell you that branding is extremely important to stand out amongst the billions of websites out there.
• More traffic equals more sales. A percentage of people surfing will be enticed by your ads and click on them to find out more information.
• Another source of revenue. Many traffic exchanges will actually pay you money to surf. More importantly, as you refer other people to the network, you'll earn a percentage of the money that they earn! It may be small amounts but if you work the system it could amount to a lot of money.

Now, before you head over to Google and search for Traffic Exchange, I'd recommend knowing a few facts:

• Some traffic exchanges are simply out to get money from you and will refer very little traffic to you.
• Some traffic exchanges have poor systems in place to stop cheaters from running programs to increase their credits faster.
• Finally, some traffic exchanges will allow popups, activex controls, site rotators, etc. in their network. Any of these can stop your autosurfing from working, or even worse, allow your computer to be infected with a virus.

The best part about Traffic Exchanges is that you really have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The worst thing that could happen to you is you get a little bit of traffic which increases your Alexa rankings and you don't get any money.

Of course, for the system to work, you've got to make sure that you do some surfing yourself. The makers of the exchange programs realize this and some of them even have an autosurf feature where you get a reduced number of credits while your browser happily loads page after page every 10 seconds or so.

About the Author

Geoffrey Faivre-Malloy is a published author, speaker and owner of Make Money at Home Based Business Opportunities, one of the most popular home based business sites on the internet. His favorite traffic exchange is the InfoWizards Traffic Exchange.

Turn Words Into Traffic!

by Dawn Roberts

Rather than searching for the newest, easiest and "best" way to get thousands of visitors to your website, why don't you try something that has proven successful and doesn't cost you anything but your own time and effort?

If you want to be successful online, there's only one magic thing you need. And that is great content!

The biggest online commodity is information. Regardless of anything you may have been told or want to believe, I assure you that people are not getting online to buy from you or click on your Google Adwords. They are searching for information, period!

Keeping these golden rules in mind, submitting informative articles to gain more website traffic while expanding your client or customer base only makes sense! You'd be crazy not to do it.

And I know some of you are saying, "But I can't write" If you can speak, you can write. That's really one of the biggest tricks there is to writing. Write like you're speaking to someone.

However, here are some additional resources to help you with your writing:

• The Netwriting Masters Course - this is 100% FREE! I promise you that if you follow the course as it's laid out, you will learn to write better! Download it now and get started on it right away. You may even find, as I did, that you love writing!
• Make Your Words Sell - Even better than the Netwriting Masters Course, MYWS is one of the best ways to learn how to write not only for the net. It will teach you how to write copy for anything. I cannot recommend MYWS enough. If you're doing business on the net - you NEED this book!
• How to Write and Publish Your Own e-Book - Learn How to write and publish your own OUTRAGEOUSLY Profitable eBook in as little as 7 days... even if you can’t write, can’t type, and failed high school English class! Get "Bragging Rights" in less than a week!

Personally, I recommend all three of the above resources. I've read them all front to back many times over and keep them handy as reference tools all the time! If you implement the advice and instructions they offer, you will make your money back many times over!

Now that you have the "How To" resources, I'll give you the "Where" resources. Keep in mind, this is a very short list. Use the search engines to help you find even more places to submit your articles. There are virtually thousands of websites, e-zines and newsletters waiting for your article!

• Ideas For Home Businesses
• Family Content
• Go Articles
• EZine Articles
• Idea Marketers
• Article Central
• Business Clique
• Boconline
• Amazines
• WorkAtHomeArticles
• Web Tools

Always remember to read the submission guidelines for all sites. I can't stress enough just how important that is!

And by all means, don't forget to add your byline to all of your articles! For an example, look at my byline below this entry.

You will increase your traffic dramatically if you write some well-written, informative articles! Give it a try - what have you got to lose?

About the Author

The author, Dawn Roberts, is the creator of www.Ideas-For-Home-Businesses.com - your complete home business resource. IFHB will help you from the planning stage, straight through to marketing your ideas for home businesses! Learn how you

Do you have the mindset of a successful business man ?

by Michel Richer

Have you always dream of owning your own Business and working in the comfort of your own home ?

As human we all want to succeed. We all want the best from life. We all want to be wealthy, to have a great house, to travel around the globe. A great wife and beautiful and healthy kids.

To have all of this you don't need to be a genius, have luck or to rob a bank.

All you need is that you use the power of faith wich means confidence. Confidence in yourself.

You also need knowledge. Like the adage: "Knowledge is Power". But you must ACT. Knowledge without action is useless. It's like having a recipe of a cake, without actually making the cake.

So to succeed you need to know what you want and after that act on it.

HOW TO SUCCEED

The first ultimate start to succeed with your home business is to write your goals and have a business plan.

Don't wait for everything to be exactly right to start...THERE WILL NEVER BE A "PERFECT" TIME! Start now, with whatever you have. The things you need will come to you as you work toward your goal.

Let's talk face to face there is no easy way to succeed with your home business. Talk to people who succeed in business like George Walton of wal-mart or other like Donald Trump. They will tell you that it takes lot's of vision and determination. You have to be a man of action to really succeed.

Like i said there is no easy road. But of course you can succeed like me. You have to be persistant.

You have to build your business brick by brick. One step at a time. You start at the base of the ladder first.

Everyone who as succeeded in life have start at the base. Thats a fact of life. Like the man you are today, start as a baby.

Even the most dynamic, highest-earning entrepreneurs in the industry took MONTHS to begin seeing an income of any real significance.

And the real wealth, the $100,000+ income we all strive for, took an average of almost 3 YEARS to achieve!

Do you think ANY of these gentlemen don’t think the ends justified the means?

Do you think for an instant that the months and years invested hasn’t been rewarded a thousand times at least? You don't even have to think about it, do you?

So now you know ! It takes an average of 3 YEARS to build a significant income on the internet.

ONE STEP AT A TIME

Every house is build brick by brick. So is your home business !

Of course we all want to go faster. But we have to start at the base first. It's a basic law. We are subject to time and circumstances.

We have to learn. We have to experiment. With learning and experimenting we get experience. And with experience we become an expert.

We have to set goals. The goals will guide us one step at a time. It will will pave the way to our success.

You cannot go on a road trip without knowing your destination. You need a map. You need time. You need to rest. You need to eat. And sometimes there is roadblock.

When we hit a dead end we turn back and take another road. But we keep going to our destination.

It's the same thing with your home business. There is bumps and jumps and sometimes we crash. But we always keep our eyes to the goal. That is what give us the drive. It's our paradise. The goal become our existence. And it is.

By never, never giving up you will reach your goal one day. One mile at a time. It's impossible that you won't reach it. Unless you die.

That's the only secrets to success. One client at a time. One step at a time. 100 client at a time. Until you reach thousand like me and make your $100,000 a year and +.

To make $100,000 a year, start by making $100 per month. After $200 a month. And after $500 a month. And after $5000. And so on and so on.

Day by day, your on your way to succeed, week by week your on your way to succeed, month after month your on you way to succeed, year after year your on your way to succeed.

Until you reach your goal in 3 YEARS. (Maybe less, Maybe More.)

We reap what we sow, but the harvest is never in the same season as the planting! Today you are planting...and will be at least for the next several months.

Your harvest will come in time. Be persistent. Be patient. Think long term. Take action every day, (no matter how small) to build your business and you cannot fail.

MY 11 SECRETS TO SUCCEED WITH YOUR HOME BUSINESS

1. Your first ultimate start must include written goals and plans. Formulate a plan of weekly activity and be persistent in following it—if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Sticking to your plan is essential for success.

2.Don't wait for everything to be exactly right to start...THERE WILL NEVER BE A "PERFECT" TIME! Start now, with whatever you have.

The things you need will come to you as you work toward your goal. You cannot become successful in anything when you're trying to do too many things at once.

3. Treat your business as a serious, full-time business, and it will become one. Think of your first six months primarily as a training period. Don't expect large earnings until after you've educated yourself.

4. Be patient. You'll work the hardest your first six months or so and get compensated the least. Big incomes never happen overnight.

They only come after you've properly shown your affiliates how to duplicate your efforts. Always be ENTHUSIASTIC!! Don't give yourself unrealistic expectations.

5. Don't complain to your upline leaders. Realize that what you accomplish is mainly in your hands, no one else's.

Also realize that, when you see a problem, 95% of the time there are factors you are unaware of. Don't jump to conclusions. When you have a problem, present it in a concise letter as positive, constructive criticism. Offer solutions if possible, too.

Not only will this approach get you better results, but you'll be building your relationship with your upline instead of tearing it down.

6. Be organized, but don't allow the act of organizing keep you from the most important element of a successful business: MARKETING.

Market and promote your business EVERY DAY! Don't let little problems upset you. Concentrate on the many positives...and the "big picture."

7. Always remember that the only thing that will never change is that there will always be changes. Don't let changes upset you.

Know that you will have to deal with changes and other obstacles, both big and small, continually. Be prepared to be flexible.

8. Don't be a negative thinker and don't let the negative attitudes of others (even if they're family members, friends, or peers) influence you.

All the great men and women in history had to overcome the naysayers who said it couldn't be done—and then went out and did it. Think for yourself!

9. Don't be derailed by "perfection paralysis." Realize that you won't be able to do everything perfectly. Do the best job you can, then move on to the next project. Keep learning and keep moving ahead.

10. Read books (such as Napoleon Hill's classic, "Think And Grow Rich") that will convince you how powerful your mind really is. Develop the tremendous potential in you (that we all have) that has never been tapped!

11. Don't quit. The only way to fail is if you give up. Remember always..."You are what you think you are"

Copyright © Michel Richer

PERMISSIONS TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in its entirety free of charge, electronically or in print, provided it appears with the included copyright and author’s resource box with live website link.

Courtesy of: http://hombyz.com

About the Author

Michel Richer is the Business Manager and Webmaster of http://Hombyz.com

The 6 Top Reasons Marketers Should Blog

by Linda J Bruton

If there is a downside to blogging, I have yet to find it. The
more you learn about blogging, the more there is to like.

In fact, here are 6 mouth-watering reasons why every marketer
should be blogging:

1- Fast Search Engine Spidering and Indexing of Your Site:

Did you know that Google owns the most popular blogging platform
on the planet? Blogger at http://www.blogger.com is used to
produce thousands of blogs. Even a complete internet newbie can
set up a blog in about 5 minutes at Blogger. And guess who can be
counted on to come by and quickly spider all those new blog posts
as they are written?

Yahoo is also embracing blogs and feeds in a big way. Savvy
marketers know that adding their blogs and feeds to their MyYahoo
page can bring the Yahoo spider to their site almost immediately.

One of the reasons that blogs get spidered so quickly is that
most of them produce a feed. Many blogs automatically "ping" (or
notify) some of the large sites that carry these feeds and make
them available for syndication. Search engines spider these sites
many times a day. Blogger, for instance, pings Weblogs every time
you make a post. You can also "ping" a free site called
Pingomatic (http://www.pingomatic.com) every time you add a new
blog post. Your ping will notify Yahoo and 11 other large feed
sites that you've added a post. If it only were so easy to get
Google to notice new pages on regular sites!

If you have a new site that you are having trouble getting
indexed, adding a blog or RSS feed is one of the quickest ways to
get the spiders to come calling.

2-Blogs can Build Your Backlinks Quickly:

If you've spent time trying to get reciprocal links to your site,
you know how frustrating, boring, and time-consuming it can be.
I've long considered reciprocal link building to be one of the
worst ways to develop link popularity. Many SEO experts consider
one-way links to be far more effective.

A blog can build one-way links to your site fast. If you've just
started a blog, you should submit it to the large blog and feed
directories. Here is a list of the Top 55:

http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/

Once you've submitted your blog to these directories, you'll find
your backlinks growing quickly. This past year, more webmasters
are using RSS feeds on their sites to keep their sites fresh and
spidered frequently. Software applications such as RSS Equalizer,
Express RSS, and CARP make this easy.

After starting my first blog, I was amazed at how many different
sites carried my feed with a link back to my site! These links
can multiply exponentially over time.

Now tell me something. Wouldn't you rather be spending your time
adding content to your site than trying to get questionable
reciprocal links? Especially when it doesn't take any extra time?

3-A Frequently Updated Blog will Keep the Spiders Visiting Your
Site Often:

Most of us are aware that the search engines like sites that are
updated frequently. If you have your blog set up correctly, every
post will update several pages of your site. Then pinging Yahoo
and the blog and feed directories at Pingomatic can bring out the
spiders in just a few hours. This is a great way to get new pages
of your site indexed quickly and frequently.

4-Your Site is Stickier and More Appealing to Visitors:

A blog on your site is an easy way to keep your site updated on a
regular basis. The upside is that visitors will come by more
often. If they find your blog interesting and informative, they
may bookmark your site. That means you have a much greater chance
of making sales. And you have a ready-made audience for any new
products you launch.

A blog can also add a human face to your website that potential
customers will trust and respond to. Most marketers know that
people buy from people they like and respect. A well-written blog
is a great way to build a relationship with your visitors.

5-A Blog Is The Fastest And Easiest Way To Build A Brand-New
Website Without Training:

Even a 10 year old could set up a blog at Blogger.com and be
blogging almost immediately. No HTML knowledge is necessary. You
don't need to know how to FTP. You don't need to know how to link
the pages in your site together. All you have to do is type in
your post and click on the "publish" button. And yet you can
still set up an attractive, spiderable site in record time.

Blogs can be used for any type of site, not just for online ezine
delivery or a place to announce new products. Using a blog you
could quickly build a niche site. Just research the best keywords
for your niche. Then write articles around those keywords and
post them to your blog. Include your keywords in your title. You
now have an instant niche site that will be spidered quickly and
be easy to maintain.

6-Keyword competition in RSS feed sites is much less than in the
SE's:

Google, Yahoo, and MSN each have many millions of webpages in
their indexes. It can be almost impossible to get top rankings
for competitive keywords if you don't have a high PR site with
lots of backlinks.

It's a completely different story at the RSS feed sites. The
competition for many high-competition keywords is almost
nonexistent. Setting up a blog in some of these high-competition
niches is a good way to successfully compete.

Marketers spend a lot of time and money getting traffic to their
sites, creating backlinks, getting good SE rankings, and building
relationships with their customers. A blog can improve your
results in all those areas. There aren't very many free marketing
techniques that can make that claim!

About the Author

For more tips and ideas on how to make money blogging, be sure to visit my "Why Marketers Should Blog" weblog at (what else) http://www.WhyMarketersShouldBlog.co

Understanding Affiliate Programs

by S. Housley

Affiliate programs are commonly misunderstood, in order to understand affiliate programs lets start with terminology. For clarification purposes, an affiliate is defined as any "referrer" or website that promotes a product in an effort to earn revenue. A merchant is defined as someone who owns a product and is sharing revenues with an affiliate based on the affiliate's performance. Affiliate programs can drive targeted traffic to your website.

There are 3 basic affiliate programs, though only the first two are commonly used.

Pay Per Click - this is when an affiliate is compensated for sending traffic to the merchant. (AdSense is an example of PPC affiliate program)

Pay Per Sale - this is when the affiliate is compensated by the merchant if the referral generates a sale or purchase.

Pay Per Lead - this is when the merchant agrees to pay for a qualified (or sometimes unqualified lead), which is very uncommon because it is subjective and up to the merchant.

Affiliate websites tend to provide information, entertainment, and content services to their customers. The online merchants sell products, goods and services online. These are programs permitting affiliates to earn money based on the visitors to your site who click through to another's website. Some pay a token amount for the click through and others provide a percentage of sales when a visitor "clicks through" to your site and buys a product or service on the other party's site. This could represent a value added service to your visitors.

Affiliate programs allow you to pay and track incentives from other websites that send web surfers, leads or paying customers to your website. Commissions based on purchases made by traffic sent from the referring website can be paid. Besides a commission, an affiliate can receive a flat fee, or other incentives for all valid transactions it refers that generate a sale or lead.

Be careful that the affiliate's web page is not cluttered with banner ads that may crowd out your link, or that be annoying to customers. Affiliate programs enable affiliates to leverage their traffic and customer base in order to profit from e-commerce while merchants benefit from increased exposure and sales.

Commonly traffic to merchant sites is measured and affiliates can clearly see conversion rates. Meaning, they track the percentage of people they are referring, and how much of it results in earned revenue. If the affiliate finds a very low conversion, they will find a better way to monetize that traffic, quite possibly with a competing merchant product.

In order to be a successful affiliate, the affiliate site needs to either have tons of traffic or target a specific audience, frequently one untapped by the merchant. It has been my experience, the closer the affiliate site content resembles the merchant products, the higher the likelihood of a good conversion rate.

Once you are committed to the idea of affiliates, the next step is to determine the kind of tracking system you are going to use. Sales can be tracked by HTML code, which is placed in a shopping cart or on the 'order confirmation'/'thank you' page, and cookies, which are created after the customers click on a banner ad. Cookie killers have been a problem for the affiliate industry. Software vendors have an advantage over other merchants in that new technologies allow software developers to better control compensation. Vendors can 'wrap' their software insuring that their affiliates are compensated for referrals, even if the customer downloads a trial version prior to purchasing. Buy now buttons in the software have affiliate ids imbedded in the download. Combined tracking systems have more success than those that rely on a single tracking technology.

In order to develop a successful affiliate network, merchants must realize that affiliates spend ad dollars on site, and product promotion. If the affiliate is not compensated fairly they will not remain in the merchants network. The bottom line is that affiliate relationships are partnerships, when both sides feel the situation is fair and equitable the relationship will be a success.

About the Author

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.feedforall.com

"Best Affiliate Program For The Newbie

Identifying An Affiliate Program That Matches Your USP"    

by Karl Augustine

When a newbie begins an online business, the temptation can be high to join most any affiliate program they see in the hopes of making extra money. Given the amount of products and services that newbies get presented with, and since newbies have a burning desire to make money fast, it is easy to see how the online newbie can get lured into joining a lot of affiliate programs without knowing if they should join them or not.

For the newbie, the danger in joining lots of affiliate programs is multi-faceted. Joining affiliate programs takes time, time the newbie could be using defining their USP, learning about getting targeted traffic, or learning other Internet marketing skills that will actually generate revenue for them. In addition, the newbie who joins lots of affiliate programs in the hopes of making instant profits, is at risk of being disappointed when they don't make money by joining the latest affiliate program and that leads to yet further "unproductivity" and poor use of time.

So, what steps do newbies take to identify the best affiliate program(s) that matches their USP?

It will differ based on the goal of each newbie Internet marketer, but here's a small set of steps that are useful to start with:

*Define how the affiliate program's offering complements your USP.
You should be able to clearly map out what the affiliate program's offering (product or service) will be useful to patrons or visitors of your web site, list or customer base. If the product that you will be promoting is something that will be useful to you and people you sell or try to sell to, it may be a useful affiliate program to join.

*Make sure that you fully review the product offered by the affiliate program, use it, and make your own assessment of it.
Don't promote a product from any affiliate program unless you own the product yourself and love it. If you own and love the product that you are promoting, you will be able to sell it more effectively because your energy and excitement level will show through in the deliver of your message to would be customer. In addition, you will be able to list and explain in detail the features of the product or service that the affiliate program is offering.

*Make certain that the web site that sells the affiliate program is set up correctly to sell the product, and sell it well.
The web site that sells the product of the affiliate program should be professional in its layout, design, sales copy, and delivery of the product itself. The web site should have a mechanism to capture the names and emails of the visitors. The web site should also have a strong auto responder series in place to follow up with and sell the visitors of that site on the product.

*Check to see if the affiliate program should be tracked with cookies so that the referring web site will get credit for each affiliate sale, even the sales that come as a result of the auto responder series.
If the affiliate program doesn't use cookies to track referrals, do not sign up.

*Take a look to see if the affiliate program is two-tier so that you can earn money from recruiting other affiliates to that affiliate program.
Most of the the noteworthy and professional affiliate programs will be two-tier although there are some notable ones that aren't, Clickbank being the most widespread. At the very minimum, the affiliate program should offer some sort of incentive to recruit new affiliates. If an affiliate program is not two-tier, make sure that you determine whether or not the product(s) being sold are professional and have good conversion rates.

*Ensure that the affiliate program makes it easy to sign up, complete with welcome email and full contact information of the point person who can answer any questions.
If the affiliate program isn't run by a third party like Clickbank, the affiliate program sign up form should also ask for your EIN # or your Tax ID # for proper reporting. For the business owner who has established a business identity, this is key for accurate bookkeeping. Some marketers have gotten away from welcome emails to their new affiliate partners because the potential affiliate partners sometimes do not want to give their name and email, they'd just like to join and make money with no 'marketing' messages hitting their Inbox.

*A strong affiliate program ideally should have plenty of help tools including any or all of the following: real-time tracking, solo email templates (even though I suggest writing your own), graphics, banners, etc.
For the newbie, the better the help tools, the easier it will be for them to feel comfortable selling the product. In addition, the affiliate program should offer follow up emails to all affiliates offering help to sell more products as well as relaying success stories of how other affiliates have made strong sales numbers.

*Ideally, the affiliate program's affiliate links should be unique to the affiliate but should also be structured so that the link is distinctly protected from would be commission thieves.
The affiliate link ID should not be visible in the URL after the would be customer gets to the sales page of the product in question.

For the newbie, the abovementioned steps will help mitigate wasting time and will maximize their time and efforts. The best affiliate program for the newbie is the one that satisfies most or all of these criteria and sells a product that meshes well with the newbie's USP.

Karl Augustine
"Starting Smart!"

About the Author

Author, "9 Deadly Mistakes To Avoid When Starting An Online Business"
Publisher, "Starting Smart!" e-zine

Design Website For Pre-Selling

by Sanjay Johari

How do your feel when salespersons knock at your door at
odd times trying to sell something you are not interested
in? I feel pity for these people who have to toil from
house to house facing rejection at most of the places. And
yet they wear a forced smile as they start their rehearsed
sales speech. When they come to me at most inconvenient
time (for me) and insist on selling when I do not want to
talk to them, I find it, if you will pardon me, irritating;
although I do my best not to show it as I turn them away as
politely as I can.

Websites which have only sales pitch as their main content
are very much like these salespersons who arrive when you
are not looking for them. Visitors go web browsing
primarily looking for specific information and not sales
offer. When a visitor arrives at a website which offers
information she finds useful and solutions to her problems,
she is likely to visit again.

A website should not be designed only for selling
something, though that may be purpose for setting up the
website in the first place. The website should provide
information and commentaries which can pre-sell the product
to the visitor. It should attract targeted visitors
interested in the content. Pre-selling arouses interest in
the product prompting the visitor to visit again. She will
try to satisfy herself with information provided,
testimonials, bio of the webmaster, links to related sites
and other considerations before she will actually buy the
product. In a way, pre-selling tries to guide her in this
direction and makes it easier for her to make a decision.

People are more inclined to buy what they "want" instead of
what they "need". Once they set their minds on buying
something, they look for reasons (or call it excuses) why
they should buy, only to satisfy themselves, though the
decision for the purchase has already been taken.
Pre-selling provides reasons which they find "compelling"
enough to part with money.

The website which has valuable content the visitor is
looking for produces a pleasant experience for her. By
pre-selling she is made to develop trust in the website and
the webmaster and will look at the recommendations with an
open mind. Once the visitor decides to buy, the website
should ensue that she does not face any problems in making
actual purchase. The links provided for the order page
should work properly and the whole process should be kept
simple. It will be very unfortunate if the prospective
buyer calls off the purchase only because she finds that
the ordering process does not work.

How will your website appear to your visitor? That is an
important question which should be asked often. Try to
visualize yourself as a first-time visitor to your site.
Then see you site as if you looking at it for the first
time. How does it appear? Does your headline create a
curiosity? Are you drawn towards the main content or other
features of your site grab your attention? Is your main
content "readable", interesting and not a sermon?
How far does it succeed in pre-selling?

Ask your friends to see your website and give their opinion
on these and other questions. Website building is a dynamic
process and is never complete or perfect. But whatever
changes are made, they should enhance its pre-selling
ability. It is good idea to actually test the website after
changes are made. Any change which tends to reduce the
traffic needs to be modified. The changes should gradually
refine the website to attract more visitors.

Pre-selling should be seen as a service to satisfy the
needs of the visitors who arrive at the website. It should
be considered as the first step before actual sale.
Pre-selling forms a bond, an understanding built on trust
between the seller and the prospective buyer which eases
the process of actual sale.

About the Author

Sanjay Johari regularly contributes his articles to various
ezines. Visit his website for top business
opportunities, e-books, articles, resources and more:
www.Sanjay-j.Com
Mailto: sjohari2001@yahoo.com

Promoting Affiliate Programs through Personal Recommendations

by Stephen Kelly

Publishing articles online is a highly effective way to increase affiliate revenue. In the current marketing environment, it is increasingly important to differentiate yourself. Consumers have become savvier and are increasingly suspicious of pure shopping websites that send them to another site to complete product purchase. Furthermore, you may capture a consumer’s purchase once, but they are not likely to return to your site. Instead, they will simply return to the retailer you referred them to complete a purchase.

One, highly effective, way to attract new visitors and motivate them to return to your site later is to publish articles related to the product you are trying to promote. For example, if you are trying to promote a new portable MP3 player, you might publish a product review online and include your affiliate links in the article.

These product reviews add value to your website and can dramatically increase consumer confidence in your site. In addition, if you carefully craft your article, you can include targeted keywords which may help you achieve a higher rank in search engines. If your review is useful, users may even link to it from their personal blog, which may also increase your search engine page rank.

You may be thinking, "I am not a writer, so this strategy will not work for me."

However, if you choose affiliate programs carefully and focus your energy on products that you have a genuine interest in it becomes much easier. There are a couple of easy things you can do to increase your affiliate revenue and make your affiliate marketing strategy easier. Write articles that give more than a recommendation. You should talk directly to the consumer about how this product has impacted your life. Speak directly about your experiences with a product, tell a story about using it, ask questions that make the consumer think about how their life would be improved by owning the product.

By writing a product review, consumers will be less likely to be suspicious when you refer them to another site. In the consumers mind, you are simply reviewing the product, but are not involved in selling it directly. If your audience begins to trust your recommendations, you will find that you can sell products to them over and over again.

Now that you have written a compelling, personal article about your product, you have to make sure that other people find your masterpiece. How do you promote this article?

One method of promoting your articles is to publish your own newsletter. Publish an opt-in newsletter that features a teaser paragraph about your article and a link back to your website for the complete article. Be sure to avoid sending your articles out as spam. Be patient as your subscriber list grows and only send people information they have asked for.

If you do not have a mailing list, you still have options. You can publish your article in article databases so that other newsletter publishers will run your article in their newsletter or on their website. Publish your new product review in an article database with a link to your website in the articles credits. Do a search on Google for “free content†� and then lea rn how to submit your articles.

Finally, you can post your articles or product reviews on related bulletin boards and forums online. It is free and people will be able to interact with you. Of course, if you try posting an affiliate link, people will notice and you will immediately lose credibility. Simply include a link to your website in your “signature†�. If your articles are interesting, people will visit your website where you can use your affiliate links.

In summary, provide your audience interesting, relevant content and they will trust your recommendations. If they trust you, they will buy from you. Promote your affiliate programs with personal recommendations in newsletters on relevant websites and online forums. The visitors will come, but more importantly they will buy.

About the Author

Stephen Kelly founded http://www.ArticleAgents.com and http://www.ReviewAgent.com, two free tools you can use to promote your affiliate accounts by publishing product reviews and articles online. Anyone may reproduce this article, as long as this information and all links remain intact.

Affiliate Program Scams To Watch Out For

by Chet Brzezinski

Affiliate programs are a great way to earn extra money or even a good living if you do things right. But unfortunately, there are alot of people out there that know this and will do everything they can to swindle you into selling their products while not having to pay you a dime. There are some merchants that view affiliates as a source of free traffic and free marketing.

Here are a few things that should draw up a red flag when you come accross an affiliate program:

No Contact Information
If they don't post their contact information on their site then you should not bother with them. To me this tells me they are trying to hide something.

Commission To High
Yes, it is great when we find affiliate programs that pay high commissions. But you also have to be careful that they are not just trying to draw you into their affiliate program by using big numbers. It wouldn't be good to earn alot of money just to get scammed. If it is to good to be true then most likely it is. A merchant will never pay more on a commission then they would get for the sale. It is just not business smart.

No Replies To Your Emails
If they do have their email address on their site and you send them an email but they never reply then you should drop them like a hot rock. If you can't trust them to take one minute to give you a reply then you shouldn't trust them to spend a few more minutes cutting and mailing you a check.

Returned Affiliate Payment Checks
If they do send you a check and your bank returns it then this would be another reason to draw up the red flag of being scammed. Of course you should always contact the merchant to try to resolve the issue, it could be an honest mistake. But if it happens in conjuction with no email replies and lousy affiliate support then I wouldn't waste anymore of my time with them.

The bottom line is that you should always use your gut feeling when dealing with affiliate programs. If you are not sure about an affiliate program then search the search engines for the merchants name. If they are known for scamming affiliates you are sure to find it in the search engines and affiliate forums.

About the Author

Chet Brzezinski has been in the affiliate marketing and affiliate management industry since 1997. View more affiliate program related articles at any of Chet's sites below:
http://www.affiliate-program-review.com
http://www.proudmedia.com

Tips For Running A Profitable Web Site

1. Address your targeted audience on your business site. Example: "Welcome Internet Marketers". If you have more than one, address them all. 2. Make sure your content and graphics are relevant to your web site's theme. You wouldn't want to use a bird graphic on a business web site. 3. Alert visitors by email when you add new content to your web site. This will remind people to revisit your web site. 4. Offer a way for visitors to contact you on each web page. List your email address, fax number and phone number. 5. Give people the option of viewing your web site offline. Offer it by autoresponder or printer friendly version. 6. Make sure a least 50% of your content is original. The other option is to offer something else original other than content, like software or an online utility. 7. Offer your visitors incentives for revisiting your web site. You could give them new content, ebooks, software, ezine, etc. 8. Publish a FAQs for your business, product and web site. They could have questions about multiple parts of your business. 9. Make sure all links on the navigational bar are clickable. If people can't get to where they want to go, they will leave. 10. Organize you web site in logical and profitable sequence. You don't want to give a freebie before they learn about the product(s) you're selling.

Web Site Design And Writing

1. Don't load your web site with a lot of high tech
clutter. Your visitors may miss your whole sales
message.
2. Don't use unnecessary words or phrases on your
site. You only have so much time to get your visitor's
attention and interest; make ever word count.
3. Don't make the mistake that everyone will totally
understand your web site message. Use descriptive
words and examples to get your point across.
4. Don't write your strongest point or benefit only
once. You should repeat it at least 3 times because
some people may miss it.
5. Don't push all your words together on your web
site. People like to skim; use plenty of headings
and sub headings.
6. Don't use site content your target audience isn't
interested in. If people are coming to your site to
find info about fishing don't include soccer content.
7. Don't use 50 different content formats all over
your web site. Use the same fonts, text sizes, text
colors, etc.
8. Don't use words your web site visitors might not
understand. People are not going to stop and look
in a dictionary, they will just go to another site.
9. Don't let selling words and phrases go unnoticed.
Highlight important words and phrases with color,
bolding, italics, underlining, etc.
10. Don't forget to use words that create emotion.
All people have emotions, people will have more
interest when they are emotionally attached.

10 Web Site Add-Ons That Can Catapult Traffic

1. Add a message board to your web site. People
will visit your web site to ask questions and answer
other people's questions.
2. Add a directory of web site links to your web
site. People will visit your web site to find related
web site links for the topic they're interested in.
3. Add an article section to your web site. People
will visit your web site to read and learn new info
related to their interests.
4. Add an archive of past e-zine issues to your
web site. People will visit your web site to read
past issues of your e-zine that they've missed.
5. Add a free ebook directory to your web site.
People will visit your site to download, study and
read new information.
6. Add a free classified ad section. People will
visit your web site to place their own free classified
ad and to read other offers.
7. Add a free link page to your web site. People
will visit your web site to place their own link and
to look at other people's links.
8. Add an "about us" page to your web site. People
will visit your web site to read about your business
and yourself.
9. Add a guest book to your web site. People will
visit your web site to leave their opinions about your
business and to list their signature file.
10. Add a free software download page to your
web site. People will visit your web site to find
new software that will make their life easier.
----1. Add a message board to your web site. People
will visit your web site to ask questions and answer
other people's questions.
2. Add a directory of web site links to your web
site. People will visit your web site to find related
web site links for the topic they're interested in.
3. Add an article section to your web site. People
will visit your web site to read and learn new info
related to their interests.
4. Add an archive of past e-zine issues to your
web site. People will visit your web site to read
past issues of your e-zine that they've missed.
5. Add a free ebook directory to your web site.
People will visit your site to download, study and
read new information.
6. Add a free classified ad section. People will
visit your web site to place their own free classified
ad and to read other offers.
7. Add a free link page to your web site. People
will visit your web site to place their own link and
to look at other people's links.
8. Add an "about us" page to your web site. People
will visit your web site to read about your business
and yourself.
9. Add a guest book to your web site. People will
visit your web site to leave their opinions about your
business and to list their signature file.
10. Add a free software download page to your
web site. People will visit your web site to find
new software that will make their life easier.

10 Concerns To Have Before Creating A MembersOnly Web Site

1. What will be the title of your members only web
site and will it have a subtitle? Will you have a logo,
slogan or graphics for your members only site?
2. What type of content will you include in your
members only web site? ebooks, articles, software,
interview transcripts, etc.
3. Will your members only web site host a member
community? message boards, chat rooms, online
classes, online consulting, etc.
4. Will you be the only content provider or will there
be other providers? Will your ask other members to
contribute related content to your member's site?
5. How will you allow people to navigate, find or
search for information in your members only site?
Links, search engine, index, table of contents, etc.
6. Will your members only web site be sold as a
product or will it be used as a promotional tool?
Will you be promoting back end products in it?
7. Will you members only web site ad contain a
guarantee, testimonials, strong headline, a major
benefit, limited offer, free bonuses, etc.
8. What type of payments will you accept for the
members only web site? Will you be billing them
once, monthly, quarterly or yearly?
9. Will you let your prospects read a free sample?
content excerpt, ebook chapter, article, a free hour
pass, free limited membership, etc.
10. Will you password protect your members only
web site, use an honesty system or change the url
every now and then?

Follow-Up With Freebies

It's important to follow-up with potential online customers.
Following up with them can increase your traffic and sales.
The more times people see your ad, the greater chance
they will buy your product or service.
Before you can follow-up with them you need their e-mail
address. You can get their e-mail address by having them
subscribe to your e-zine, fill out a web site form, or e-mail
your follow-up autoresponder.
Most people won't give you their e-mail address unless they
get something in return. The most effective way is to offer
them an internet freebie. Here are some ideas.
Free E-Gifts
It could be free software, guest books, web space, graphics
message boards, etc.
Free Internet Services
It could be free e-consulting, search engine submissions,
web design, etc.
Free E-Information
It could be a free e-book, e-report, web book, e-course,
e-zine, etc.
When you follow-up with the freebie, you can include your
ad somewhere on the freebie. If it's a free service, have
your ad in the follow-up e-mail. Make sure you always get
their permission before you follow-up with them by e-mail.
----

Best Places To Submit Your Articles For Viral Traffic Generation

by Terence Tan

This article from The Mender (Issue 38),
Metamend's Web Site Optimization and Marketing Newsletter.

If you've spent any time online trying to promote your website or business, you must have very likely realized that one of the most effective ways to generate tons of free targeted web traffic on a long term basis is to write your own informative articles and freely distribute them to other webmasters and ezine publishers for their use. Some of the benefits of this amazing strategy include:

-It's totally FREE and gets links to your website distributed to a huge number of other related websites on a permanent basis. No need to pay for the links... no need to give a return link on your own website to other sites.

-The presence of your links in many other websites also directly increases your Google PageRank and increases the targeted free traffic you get from search engines!

-When people see your name and website/company in the bylines of the articles on different sites, you will naturally be thought of as an "expert" in that field... This increases your credibility and makes it more likely that your visitors will take your recommendations to them more seriously.

The purpose of this article is to seek to create a comprehensive list of places where writers can submit their articles for distribution. By creating this list based on the contributions and "tip offs" of the visitors to HugeAffiliates.com, we hope to save you the large amounts of time searching the web for websites and article announcement services. (Yes, you can try to use google to search for "article submission sites" but you will waste precious time going through a lot of unrelated websites.)

If you find this useful, please bookmark it and use it whenever you have new articles to distribute. We will continue to update it with the latest links as we get "tip offs" from our visitors. If you have any links to suggest to us, please let us know using the "Contact Us" page on HugeAffiliates.com.

If you would like to reproduce this article and link resource in your website/ezine to increase your website's "stickability", please feel free to do so. (because of the convenience of finding all the possible submission sites on one page, many writers will bookmark your site if you have this resource on it.) Go ahead... Bookmark this page NOW! Please reproduce the whole article including any reference to HugeAffiliates.com though.

Here Are The Links:
http://goarticles.com/ulogin.html

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

http://www.freewebarticles.com/index.php

http://www.certificate.net/wwio/ideas.shtml

http://www.ideamarketers.com/writers.cfm

http://www.womans-net.com/submit.php

http://www.netterweb.com/articles/articlesubmit.htm

http://www.allnetarticles.com/submitarticle.asp

http://www.articlecity.com/article_submission.shtml

http://cerebuswebmaster.com/onsite/articles/submit_article.html

http://www.huginc.com/secure/frmarticle_submission.asp?AuthorID=11286&FrmMd=ADD

http://www.boconline.com/sub-art.htm

http://clickforcontent.com/cgi-bin/epro/reporter.pl?signup

http://www.marketing-seek.com/articles/submit.shtml

http://www.addme.com/nlsubmit.htm

http://www.scamfreesuccess.com/article.htm

http://www.connectionteam.com/submit.html

http://www.vectorcentral.com/articles-form.html

http://www.marketing-of-training.com/motoarticles/submityourarticle.htm

http://www.work911.com/cgi-bin/links/add.cgi

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

http://thewhir.com/find/articlecentral/suggest.asp

http://top7business.com/submit/

http://www.upromote.com/newsletter/submit.html

http://www.digital-women.com/submitarticle.htm

http://www.coolpick.com/way/cool/submit1.html

http://www.freesticky.com/stickyweb/submitarticle.asp

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aabusiness/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aageneral/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aainet/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/article_announce_list/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/articles4you2use4promotion/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/articles_archives/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArticlePublish/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArticlePublisher/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/articlesubmission/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Content/
Hope you found this article useful. Remember... bookmark this page and if you discover any other good sites to distribute articles through, let me know. Thanks!

About The Author

Terence Tan is the creator of HugeAffiliates.com, a web site dedicated towards the development of Multi Level Affiliate Programs as an alternative system of business.

Visit http://hugeaffiliates.com/ to learn how MLAP's can multiply your affiliate referral commissions AND for the most updated version of this list of places to distribute your articles.

This article was originally found on the Marketing Seek web site.

Other articles from this issue:
- Context Within Search and Optimization

Lead Generation Using Traffic Exchanges

by Jimmy Boyd

Leads have always been the lifeblood of any business. If you have no leads, you have no business. Everyone knows that, but the thing killing everybody out there is how to get leads for your business without going broke in the process.

There are many ways to drum up business, but the focus of this article is the use of viral techniques you can use to create leads for your business.

Viral marketing comes in many shapes and sizes, but the best way to get started with viral marketing fast is to use traffic exchanges.

The problem that people run into with traffic exchanges is they try to use some self-replicated website, thinking that if they just show the page enough, someone will buy.

Sorry, but this doesn't work. I have used traffic exchanges for years, and I can tell you straight up that they work and work for one purpose only: LEAD GENERATION.

So, how do you use traffic exchanges for lead generation?

It's actually quite simple. All you have to do is set up a simple page like this with an opt-in box.

http://www.azwebcity.com/jimmyboyd/safelistpoppage.html

You have the right to copy this page if you want. Just right click on the page, and you will see the menu pop up. From there, click on Source or View Page Source, and you can copy and paste that HTML and modify it with your details.

You will also need an autoresponder service to handle your leads. I highly recommend SendFree for this purpose. They have a free 30-day trial on their Premium Service, which is nice because you will need a little time to start getting leads for your list.

Now, go and find some traffic exchanges and promote that lead generation page in those exchanges.

This works. It absolutely works like a charm. We get lots of subscribers using this page with exchanges. However, it's a bit tiring to use the exchanges EXCEPT MillionDollarTraffic. This the best exchange we have used because the pages simply pop up for you.

Here is an Action Plan you can use to help you get started getting your own leads from MDT.

http://www.affiliate-money-pool.com/lead-traffic.html

Each time you close the special browser, you get credits to show your page. The conversion rate on this kind of exchange, which I believe is the first of its kind at the time of this writing, is much better than timer-based exchanges.

About the Author

Jimmy Boyd teaches you how to get leads for your business using free viral techniques. Learn more about getting your own leads with our free membership site.