By - Suzanne Morrison
<)))
I have been a member of the IAHBE (International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs for 3 years now and have found it to be an invaluable resource for the latest home business related news, tutorials, tips sofware and books, as well as a great way to get your hands on a number of great books, audios and software for free!
The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs was launched back in January 2002 and has thousands of members from all round the globe.
I've put together a brief FAQ style review of the IAHBE so you can decide whether or not it is the right online business resource for you and your home business.
What are the benefits of an IAHBE membership?
The main benefit of the IAHBE is the massive wealth of information and resources for your home business. Your membership includes the following:
1) An Intropak worth over $1000
Everyone who joins the IAHBE receives a pack of gifts, valuable discounts and information worth over $1000. At the time of writing this includes:
- A free book "The Home Business Revolution's Greatest Entrepreneurs"
- A free subscription to the Home Business Connection magazine
- A free audio cassette "Underpaid and Overtaxed?"
- Free 30 day trial of Affiliate Mastery
- 15 Free Leads
- Five books by the Fortune Now author and world renowned business speaker and trainer, Tom "Big Al" Schreiter for the price of one
- Generous Discounts on various other books, advertising, business cards and more
2) Access to the IAHBE Learning Center
This is a huge password protected collection of articles, audio tutorials, seminars, business E-Books, software for both PCs and Macs, marketing courses and various other resources to help you with your home business. The IAHBE includes both US specific information and international information.
3) Freebies each month
The IAHBE membership also includes physical freebies each month. For example, this month the membership included a book worth $26 "The New Culture of Desire" by Melinda Davis and a year's subscription to the magazine "PC Magazine" worth $131!
Are there any disadvantages?
Although the majority of the resources in the IAHBE website can be used by anyone regardless of where they live, the free magazine subscriptions are generally only available to those who live in the USA and the free books do have a higher shipping charge for those who are not based in the US. Despite this, there is still lots of useful resources for international members to make their membership worthwhile.
What is the cost?
The cost of the IAHBE membership is US$29.95 per month. If you are a member of SFI this will also qualify you as an Executive Affiliate (EA) for the lifetime of your membership, which will allow you to earn extra commission.
Are there any guarantees?
There is a 30 day money back guarantee. If you dislike the IAHBE you can just cancel your membership within 30 days, no questions asked and you will receive a full refund.
How do I sign up?
Just visit the IAHBE website or become a member of SFI and purchase the IAHBE through the affiliate store.
About The Author
Suzanne Morrison works full time from home and is the webmaster of Home Business Ideas. You can find out more about the IAHBE here.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
What is Preconstruction Real Estate Investing?
By - Karen Kusumakar
<)))
Investing in pre-construction real estate is one of the most profitable investing opportunities available in the market today. Even though it’s a fairly old strategy, very few investors have a good understanding of it. Preconstruction real estate investing can be best explained with an example:
A developer is planning to build a 100 unit condominium development in a very popular location. The developer has already worked out the numbers and thinks that the project will make a handsome profit. Since he doesn’t have the required amount of capital to complete a project of such magnitude, he approaches banks to request financing.
But before banks lend out millions of dollars to the developer, they want to know that the project has the potential to sell after completion. Since there is no way to know the future and banks like to reduce risk as much as possible, they require the developer to pre-sell a certain number of the units (usually 25%-50%) before they will lend money. In this example a bank agrees to finance the developer if 40% of the units are sold before construction begins.
There are very few home buyers who are going to commit to buying something without actually seeing it with their naked eyes. So the developer has no choice but to approach real estate investors who understand the risk and reward of such ventures. In order to reward these investors for their risk, the developer gives them a 10% discount off the appraised value (after construction value) of the condos if they sign a purchase agreement (contract).
This creates a win-win situation where the developer is able to secure financing and the investors are able to get built-in equity by getting the property below appraised value. The investors who buy these condos before the construction is completed are called pre-construction investors, and this investment strategy is called preconstruction investing.
In this example it was a development from the ground up, but the term “pre-construction investing” can be used for any purchase made before the actual completion of a real estate development. The development may be from ground up or just a renovation project i.e. A condo conversion project where preconstruction investors buy before the renovation is complete is also an example of pre construction investing.
In general, pre construction pricing is 5% - 15% lower than the market value of the finished property. Sometimes the developer may offer other financial incentives instead of a price discount. Some examples include cash back after closing, closing cost credit, free upgrades, rental guarantee or lease back, paid property taxes, waive assessments waived, management fees waived, etc. However, in most cases the developer will offer a combination of a price discount and other financial incentives in order make the deal sweeter for preconstruction investors.
After the construction or renovation is complete, pre construction investors’ have two options to exit. Either they sell their property and make a quick profit, or they can hold the property as a long term investment and build equity. Sometimes investors can also profit by assigning the contract to a fellow investor for a small profit even before assuming title to the property.
Below is summary of the process of preconstruction investing:
The pre construction investor buys a house, condo or townhouse from a reputed developer in the preconstruction phase at a price discount and/or other financial incentives.
The pre-construction investor waits for the construction or renovations to be completed.
After completion of the construction or renovation, the preconstruction investor sells the property immediately for a profit. Or the pre construction investor holds the property to build additional equity due to appreciation and by paying off principal using the rental income. In some cases, exit by assignments is also possible.
About The Author
Karen Kusumakar is the co-founder of Preconstructionfind.com and is an expert at bringing profitable pre construction projects to real estate investors. For a current list of preconstruction condo & home opportunities please visit http://www.preconstructionfind.com
<)))
Investing in pre-construction real estate is one of the most profitable investing opportunities available in the market today. Even though it’s a fairly old strategy, very few investors have a good understanding of it. Preconstruction real estate investing can be best explained with an example:
A developer is planning to build a 100 unit condominium development in a very popular location. The developer has already worked out the numbers and thinks that the project will make a handsome profit. Since he doesn’t have the required amount of capital to complete a project of such magnitude, he approaches banks to request financing.
But before banks lend out millions of dollars to the developer, they want to know that the project has the potential to sell after completion. Since there is no way to know the future and banks like to reduce risk as much as possible, they require the developer to pre-sell a certain number of the units (usually 25%-50%) before they will lend money. In this example a bank agrees to finance the developer if 40% of the units are sold before construction begins.
There are very few home buyers who are going to commit to buying something without actually seeing it with their naked eyes. So the developer has no choice but to approach real estate investors who understand the risk and reward of such ventures. In order to reward these investors for their risk, the developer gives them a 10% discount off the appraised value (after construction value) of the condos if they sign a purchase agreement (contract).
This creates a win-win situation where the developer is able to secure financing and the investors are able to get built-in equity by getting the property below appraised value. The investors who buy these condos before the construction is completed are called pre-construction investors, and this investment strategy is called preconstruction investing.
In this example it was a development from the ground up, but the term “pre-construction investing” can be used for any purchase made before the actual completion of a real estate development. The development may be from ground up or just a renovation project i.e. A condo conversion project where preconstruction investors buy before the renovation is complete is also an example of pre construction investing.
In general, pre construction pricing is 5% - 15% lower than the market value of the finished property. Sometimes the developer may offer other financial incentives instead of a price discount. Some examples include cash back after closing, closing cost credit, free upgrades, rental guarantee or lease back, paid property taxes, waive assessments waived, management fees waived, etc. However, in most cases the developer will offer a combination of a price discount and other financial incentives in order make the deal sweeter for preconstruction investors.
After the construction or renovation is complete, pre construction investors’ have two options to exit. Either they sell their property and make a quick profit, or they can hold the property as a long term investment and build equity. Sometimes investors can also profit by assigning the contract to a fellow investor for a small profit even before assuming title to the property.
Below is summary of the process of preconstruction investing:
The pre construction investor buys a house, condo or townhouse from a reputed developer in the preconstruction phase at a price discount and/or other financial incentives.
The pre-construction investor waits for the construction or renovations to be completed.
After completion of the construction or renovation, the preconstruction investor sells the property immediately for a profit. Or the pre construction investor holds the property to build additional equity due to appreciation and by paying off principal using the rental income. In some cases, exit by assignments is also possible.
About The Author
Karen Kusumakar is the co-founder of Preconstructionfind.com and is an expert at bringing profitable pre construction projects to real estate investors. For a current list of preconstruction condo & home opportunities please visit http://www.preconstructionfind.com
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
7 Steps Of Mega Adsense Earners
By - Andrew Daum
<)))
The Google AdSense program is like finding money in the street.
Kids in High School are making thousands of dollars a month with Adsense... Housewives, Retiree's, Mom and Pop's who've never made a dime on the Internet have created full time incomes by simply placing AdSense Ads on their web site or blog.
Then you have the "Super AdSense" earners. We have all heard of them... the Elite few who are on track to make half a million dollars a year or more promoting AdSense sites.
Do not be mistaken though... these people are not building like your Mom and Pop's do. They have systems in place that create sites for them... people who build sites for them... they have outsourced and automated many of the tedious tasks such as posting to blogs and searching for keywords.
While most people cannot emulate everything these Super AdSense earners do... many of them you can.
Here are 7 Required Steps you can implement today to copy their success.
1) Starting today... treat your AdSense business like it is a REAL business and track what you do.
Begin tracking what you are doing that works... as well as what you are doing that does not work. This will keep you from making the same mistakes over and over, and you can repeat the steps that have worked in the past. As simple as this step seems... most people do not know the reason(s) to their success or failure.
2) Utilize the latest tools and software available.
The Super AdSense earners are not any smarter than your average person. I know many people think they are... but for the most part, they are regular non techie people.
They are smarter in one respect though... they use the latest tools available to them to automate most of the tasks involved with researching and creating sites. They use the latest keyword, site creation and search engine optimization tools available. The tools they use are their secret weapons.
3) Quit chasing the Mega Dollar keywords.
You cannot compete with the search engine experts who create sites for the $80 payout keywords. You may get lucky every now and then... but in the long run, you are better off building sites for the low to mid range payout keywords. The competition is less, and your chance of success is much higher over the long term.
4) Choose broad niches and break it down.
Choose a broad subject as your main theme (lets use computers for an example). From there... break it down into as many sub niches as possible.
Using Computers as the example... you could build sub niches/sites like laptop computers, computer hard drives, computer keyboards, etc, etc. You could literally build hundreds of sites around one major theme and stay totally focused. Once you have exhausted every possible sub niche of that major theme... choose another main theme and repeat the process.
5) KISS
Keep your sites easy to navigate and forget the fancy graphics that distract your visitors attention. Unless you are just building AdSense sites for the fun of it and to impress your friends... the purpose of having the site is to have people click on one of the ads, right? Then keep the site layout simple... dump the scrolling banners, dancing chickens and colored scroll bars... they are distractions.
6) What is the purpose of your web site?
Your web site cannot be everything to everybody. If you have a full fledged ecommerce site, with products for sale... links to other products, it is not a good site for AdSense. If the primary focus of the site is to sell products... let it do that.
Do not distract or confuse your visitor with to many options or choices. The best AdSense sites are AdSense only content sites that sell nothing. They are sites that "Tell"... not "Sell."
7) Be consistent.
This is not one of those deals where you build one site and you are done. Refer back to Step #4. You must continuously build in order to be successful.
Think of it as planting a crop that you will harvest in a month or two, and the sites you build are seeds. Once the seeds have grown and matured... you will reap the harvest. The more seeds you plant... the larger the harvest.
To sum it up... utilize the tools available to automate as much of the process of building sites - doing research and building keyword lists as you can. This alone will help keep you organized and on track. Be consistent in building... treat it like the business it is and you will reap the rewards of your harvest.
About The Author
Andrew Daum is the Publisher of the New Traffic Tools Newsletter. You can subscribe by visiting his web site at; http://www.newtraffictools.com/ and receive updates when the latest to be released traffic building software is available.
<)))
The Google AdSense program is like finding money in the street.
Kids in High School are making thousands of dollars a month with Adsense... Housewives, Retiree's, Mom and Pop's who've never made a dime on the Internet have created full time incomes by simply placing AdSense Ads on their web site or blog.
Then you have the "Super AdSense" earners. We have all heard of them... the Elite few who are on track to make half a million dollars a year or more promoting AdSense sites.
Do not be mistaken though... these people are not building like your Mom and Pop's do. They have systems in place that create sites for them... people who build sites for them... they have outsourced and automated many of the tedious tasks such as posting to blogs and searching for keywords.
While most people cannot emulate everything these Super AdSense earners do... many of them you can.
Here are 7 Required Steps you can implement today to copy their success.
1) Starting today... treat your AdSense business like it is a REAL business and track what you do.
Begin tracking what you are doing that works... as well as what you are doing that does not work. This will keep you from making the same mistakes over and over, and you can repeat the steps that have worked in the past. As simple as this step seems... most people do not know the reason(s) to their success or failure.
2) Utilize the latest tools and software available.
The Super AdSense earners are not any smarter than your average person. I know many people think they are... but for the most part, they are regular non techie people.
They are smarter in one respect though... they use the latest tools available to them to automate most of the tasks involved with researching and creating sites. They use the latest keyword, site creation and search engine optimization tools available. The tools they use are their secret weapons.
3) Quit chasing the Mega Dollar keywords.
You cannot compete with the search engine experts who create sites for the $80 payout keywords. You may get lucky every now and then... but in the long run, you are better off building sites for the low to mid range payout keywords. The competition is less, and your chance of success is much higher over the long term.
4) Choose broad niches and break it down.
Choose a broad subject as your main theme (lets use computers for an example). From there... break it down into as many sub niches as possible.
Using Computers as the example... you could build sub niches/sites like laptop computers, computer hard drives, computer keyboards, etc, etc. You could literally build hundreds of sites around one major theme and stay totally focused. Once you have exhausted every possible sub niche of that major theme... choose another main theme and repeat the process.
5) KISS
Keep your sites easy to navigate and forget the fancy graphics that distract your visitors attention. Unless you are just building AdSense sites for the fun of it and to impress your friends... the purpose of having the site is to have people click on one of the ads, right? Then keep the site layout simple... dump the scrolling banners, dancing chickens and colored scroll bars... they are distractions.
6) What is the purpose of your web site?
Your web site cannot be everything to everybody. If you have a full fledged ecommerce site, with products for sale... links to other products, it is not a good site for AdSense. If the primary focus of the site is to sell products... let it do that.
Do not distract or confuse your visitor with to many options or choices. The best AdSense sites are AdSense only content sites that sell nothing. They are sites that "Tell"... not "Sell."
7) Be consistent.
This is not one of those deals where you build one site and you are done. Refer back to Step #4. You must continuously build in order to be successful.
Think of it as planting a crop that you will harvest in a month or two, and the sites you build are seeds. Once the seeds have grown and matured... you will reap the harvest. The more seeds you plant... the larger the harvest.
To sum it up... utilize the tools available to automate as much of the process of building sites - doing research and building keyword lists as you can. This alone will help keep you organized and on track. Be consistent in building... treat it like the business it is and you will reap the rewards of your harvest.
About The Author
Andrew Daum is the Publisher of the New Traffic Tools Newsletter. You can subscribe by visiting his web site at; http://www.newtraffictools.com/ and receive updates when the latest to be released traffic building software is available.
Monday, June 25, 2007
The Art Of Building Your Downline – How Numbers Add Up
By - Alan Johnson
<)))
First of all, I’m not going to waste your time (or mine, for that matter) by illustrating the history of MLM, or by insisting on other general aspects.
If you have no idea what MLM represents, if you are unaware as to the meaning of the terms “upline”, “downline”, “referrer” or “referral”, then you need to be doing some serious reading (I suggest bookmarking this article, and documenting yourself on MLM in general before reading further).
OK, you know what MLM is all about, and want to start earning some money.
You see headline after headline, promise after promise: “earn thousands of dollars monthly by simply referring your friends”/”achieve financial freedom by joining our program”.
Before joining any MLM, you need to stop fooling yourself into thinking you will become rich overnight and understand what exactly you are getting yourself into.
After all, you can’t win at a game without knowing the rules, can you?
Are high earnings possible with MLM programs? Yes.
But, things look a lot easier on paper than they are in practice.
A 4-figure income is possible, even 5-figures are not out of reach, but don’t think you will ever even get close to such earnings just by inviting a couple of friends to join under you and leaving things at that.
As you know, MLM stands for “MultiLevelMarketing”. What does the term “MultiLevel” suggest?
Exactly, the fact that you earn not just from people you invite directly, but also from the ones your referrals invite, and so forth (the actual number of “levels” is different from program to program).
The name of the game is having a healthy downline, in other words, having active referrals (referrals capable of promoting/ referring).
Do you think you can succeed by simply inviting a couple of people to join under you and leaving it at that?
Think twice, you have about the same changes of “getting lucky” as you do at winning the lottery.
The bottom line is that very few members of your downline, if any, will actually prove to be active promoters, and just standing by will not do you any good.
If you want a solid downline, you cannot expect things to work themselves out, because they simply won’t, and your earnings will reflect that attitude.
“Passive income”, doesn’t mean that you earn money for doing absolutely nothing, it means that, if you do your job right, at a certain point, your downline will naturally increase, without you actively participating in the process.
Note the wording: “at a certain point”
It’s reaching that “certain point” that separates winners from losers.
And what exactly is your job, as the referrer, you ask?
It most certainly isn’t inviting people to join your downline and leaving things at that.
Your job is training your downline, offering them all the tools and support they need to become active promoters. Don’t assume your referrals are born promoters, assume the contrary and train them to become such, the results will be well worth your efforts.
How to train them?
First of all, they need your full support. By e-mail, by phone, by video conference, by whatever means necessary. Don’t turn your back on them, answer all of their concerns calmly, patiently and don’t keep them waiting too long. Fast, quality support can and will get you far.
Secondly, set yourself as an example. Show them how it’s done, explain your techniques, share your results. Nothing encourages referrals to be active more than having their upline as an example.
Also, add a community “feel” to your downline, make your referrals feel right at home. Set up a special forum for them to interact with another, and, of course, with you, hold conference calls, anything you can think of that could encourage them to stay in contact with you, aswell as with their own referrals.
Another important aspect: not all of your referrals are expert web-designers, in fact, you will find that a lot of them would like to promote their referral link online, yet have problems with starting a website. As you imagine, if you provide them with the tools, you have another active member as a part of your team.
Be supportive, be unique (you have to, if you want people to choose you as their upline over another person), be understanding and calm, and your odds at success are looking better and better.
About the Author: This articles has been brought to you by Alan Johnson, experienced web marketer and owner of AglocoVIP – build your downline with the leading agloco promotion team
<)))
First of all, I’m not going to waste your time (or mine, for that matter) by illustrating the history of MLM, or by insisting on other general aspects.
If you have no idea what MLM represents, if you are unaware as to the meaning of the terms “upline”, “downline”, “referrer” or “referral”, then you need to be doing some serious reading (I suggest bookmarking this article, and documenting yourself on MLM in general before reading further).
OK, you know what MLM is all about, and want to start earning some money.
You see headline after headline, promise after promise: “earn thousands of dollars monthly by simply referring your friends”/”achieve financial freedom by joining our program”.
Before joining any MLM, you need to stop fooling yourself into thinking you will become rich overnight and understand what exactly you are getting yourself into.
After all, you can’t win at a game without knowing the rules, can you?
Are high earnings possible with MLM programs? Yes.
But, things look a lot easier on paper than they are in practice.
A 4-figure income is possible, even 5-figures are not out of reach, but don’t think you will ever even get close to such earnings just by inviting a couple of friends to join under you and leaving things at that.
As you know, MLM stands for “MultiLevelMarketing”. What does the term “MultiLevel” suggest?
Exactly, the fact that you earn not just from people you invite directly, but also from the ones your referrals invite, and so forth (the actual number of “levels” is different from program to program).
The name of the game is having a healthy downline, in other words, having active referrals (referrals capable of promoting/ referring).
Do you think you can succeed by simply inviting a couple of people to join under you and leaving it at that?
Think twice, you have about the same changes of “getting lucky” as you do at winning the lottery.
The bottom line is that very few members of your downline, if any, will actually prove to be active promoters, and just standing by will not do you any good.
If you want a solid downline, you cannot expect things to work themselves out, because they simply won’t, and your earnings will reflect that attitude.
“Passive income”, doesn’t mean that you earn money for doing absolutely nothing, it means that, if you do your job right, at a certain point, your downline will naturally increase, without you actively participating in the process.
Note the wording: “at a certain point”
It’s reaching that “certain point” that separates winners from losers.
And what exactly is your job, as the referrer, you ask?
It most certainly isn’t inviting people to join your downline and leaving things at that.
Your job is training your downline, offering them all the tools and support they need to become active promoters. Don’t assume your referrals are born promoters, assume the contrary and train them to become such, the results will be well worth your efforts.
How to train them?
First of all, they need your full support. By e-mail, by phone, by video conference, by whatever means necessary. Don’t turn your back on them, answer all of their concerns calmly, patiently and don’t keep them waiting too long. Fast, quality support can and will get you far.
Secondly, set yourself as an example. Show them how it’s done, explain your techniques, share your results. Nothing encourages referrals to be active more than having their upline as an example.
Also, add a community “feel” to your downline, make your referrals feel right at home. Set up a special forum for them to interact with another, and, of course, with you, hold conference calls, anything you can think of that could encourage them to stay in contact with you, aswell as with their own referrals.
Another important aspect: not all of your referrals are expert web-designers, in fact, you will find that a lot of them would like to promote their referral link online, yet have problems with starting a website. As you imagine, if you provide them with the tools, you have another active member as a part of your team.
Be supportive, be unique (you have to, if you want people to choose you as their upline over another person), be understanding and calm, and your odds at success are looking better and better.
About the Author: This articles has been brought to you by Alan Johnson, experienced web marketer and owner of AglocoVIP – build your downline with the leading agloco promotion team
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Increase Links Naturally with Link Popularity Building (LPB)
By - Wendy Suto
<)))
Businesses can gain a competitive edge with Google and other significant search engines through relevant link building strategies. The search engines track links in ranking algorithms while crawling the Web. It is advantageous to grow the number of incoming links to your company’s site alongside effective search engine optimization techniques.
There are numerous link building solutions.
1. Free and paid link directories
Link directories all provide either one-way or reciprocal links. Some are free, while others are paid only. Link directories are beneficial because Websites that place your link on their site without requesting a link back to their site are considered more valuable than reciprocal or link exchanges, in the eyes of major search engines. There are many reputable directory sites that are well trafficked by potential buyers for your product. You will find one-way and reciprocal link directories by typing into any search engine search box, keywords like “submit a link”, “add a URL”, or “add link”.
Some small business owners will only link to sites that link back to their site. This creates reciprocal links pages and triangular link patterns. Reciprocal links do not improve a Website’s rankings, and should only be done to give value to site visitors. This is not a savvy SEO tactic or a wise link building practice. Stay clear of SEO companies who use these link exchange strategies; they are not considered real SEOs by other professionals in the field.
2. Corporate Blogging
This is an ever growing Internet trend gaining in popularity with businesses – corporate blogs. Blogging started as personal spaces for individuals to share their thoughts and the events around them, like an online diary. Corporate blogging is then defined as another way to publish business-related content and gain more visibility for your company on the Web. By offering information and sharing knowledge, a company can quickly establish itself as a leading industry expert, get information to customers quickly, increase sales, attract journalists seeking news releases, and attract new customers looking for relevant information.
3. Article Directory Submissions
Article directories are sites that house free reprint articles, allowing authors (people like you) to become known as experts in a field or industry. These sites help authors gain one-way link popularity because others seeking free articles to reprint on their newsletters, Websites, blogs and in print can find them here. Reprint articles can only be used elsewhere if providing a link back to the author’s Website. You also receive free advertising and promotion.
4. Press releases
Submit your company’s news releases to sites like PRWeb.com and PRNewswire.com to allow journalists and bloggers to find important information about your company, its products and services. These releases also build links coming to your site, and attract attention from prospective buyers.
5. MySpace.com
This is a tremendous opportunity for free publicity, through networking with prospects from around the world. Place your business profile, your company logo and business pictures, commercials and videos, write comments on other myspace.com profiles, receive email, instant message, and search for prospective clients. MySpace.com also has a business section that is cost effective and a great way to share your business with people searching for a certain product or service. This is another way to increase your link popularity.
6. Yahoo! Answers
This site is relatively new, and lets people in all industries become an expert in their fields. Answer questions in categories related to your expertise. Choose a subject from an extensive list of categories. Create a profile on Yahoo!, and you get to list up to 3 other one-way links. Yahoo! Geocities offers free a Website template and tools to build a simple Website. All these avenues add a host of easy ways to increase Internet visibility for your business.
7. One-Way Links on other Business Sites
Even with these link building strategies, having one-way links are considered much more valuable than link exchanges, also called reciprocal links. One way links from other related business sites or blogs with pertinent subject matter to the Website is an excellent way to drive traffic to your site. Although it is time consuming asking other sites to link to your site, these methods will assist in building stronger link popularity interest among the major search engines.
8. Business Networking Sites
FastPitchMedia.com and LinkedIn.com are two business networking sites that give professionals and business executives many resources under one place. These one-stop shops give professionals a lot of excellent exposure for free, by housing a database of business owners linked to each other’s online networks. Try something new! Create a profile through these sites, and you will reach other decision makers, stay in touch with others in your network, fill a key position, and keep contact information current.
About the Author
Wendy Suto is president and CEO of Search Circus, Inc., an ethical SEO firm specializing in website link popularity and organic search engine optimization, blog marketing, Web site copywriting and article marketing solutions. As a certified search engine optimization consultant, she teaches SEO seminars in Cleveland, Ohio.wendy@searchcircus.com
<)))
Businesses can gain a competitive edge with Google and other significant search engines through relevant link building strategies. The search engines track links in ranking algorithms while crawling the Web. It is advantageous to grow the number of incoming links to your company’s site alongside effective search engine optimization techniques.
There are numerous link building solutions.
1. Free and paid link directories
Link directories all provide either one-way or reciprocal links. Some are free, while others are paid only. Link directories are beneficial because Websites that place your link on their site without requesting a link back to their site are considered more valuable than reciprocal or link exchanges, in the eyes of major search engines. There are many reputable directory sites that are well trafficked by potential buyers for your product. You will find one-way and reciprocal link directories by typing into any search engine search box, keywords like “submit a link”, “add a URL”, or “add link”.
Some small business owners will only link to sites that link back to their site. This creates reciprocal links pages and triangular link patterns. Reciprocal links do not improve a Website’s rankings, and should only be done to give value to site visitors. This is not a savvy SEO tactic or a wise link building practice. Stay clear of SEO companies who use these link exchange strategies; they are not considered real SEOs by other professionals in the field.
2. Corporate Blogging
This is an ever growing Internet trend gaining in popularity with businesses – corporate blogs. Blogging started as personal spaces for individuals to share their thoughts and the events around them, like an online diary. Corporate blogging is then defined as another way to publish business-related content and gain more visibility for your company on the Web. By offering information and sharing knowledge, a company can quickly establish itself as a leading industry expert, get information to customers quickly, increase sales, attract journalists seeking news releases, and attract new customers looking for relevant information.
3. Article Directory Submissions
Article directories are sites that house free reprint articles, allowing authors (people like you) to become known as experts in a field or industry. These sites help authors gain one-way link popularity because others seeking free articles to reprint on their newsletters, Websites, blogs and in print can find them here. Reprint articles can only be used elsewhere if providing a link back to the author’s Website. You also receive free advertising and promotion.
4. Press releases
Submit your company’s news releases to sites like PRWeb.com and PRNewswire.com to allow journalists and bloggers to find important information about your company, its products and services. These releases also build links coming to your site, and attract attention from prospective buyers.
5. MySpace.com
This is a tremendous opportunity for free publicity, through networking with prospects from around the world. Place your business profile, your company logo and business pictures, commercials and videos, write comments on other myspace.com profiles, receive email, instant message, and search for prospective clients. MySpace.com also has a business section that is cost effective and a great way to share your business with people searching for a certain product or service. This is another way to increase your link popularity.
6. Yahoo! Answers
This site is relatively new, and lets people in all industries become an expert in their fields. Answer questions in categories related to your expertise. Choose a subject from an extensive list of categories. Create a profile on Yahoo!, and you get to list up to 3 other one-way links. Yahoo! Geocities offers free a Website template and tools to build a simple Website. All these avenues add a host of easy ways to increase Internet visibility for your business.
7. One-Way Links on other Business Sites
Even with these link building strategies, having one-way links are considered much more valuable than link exchanges, also called reciprocal links. One way links from other related business sites or blogs with pertinent subject matter to the Website is an excellent way to drive traffic to your site. Although it is time consuming asking other sites to link to your site, these methods will assist in building stronger link popularity interest among the major search engines.
8. Business Networking Sites
FastPitchMedia.com and LinkedIn.com are two business networking sites that give professionals and business executives many resources under one place. These one-stop shops give professionals a lot of excellent exposure for free, by housing a database of business owners linked to each other’s online networks. Try something new! Create a profile through these sites, and you will reach other decision makers, stay in touch with others in your network, fill a key position, and keep contact information current.
About the Author
Wendy Suto is president and CEO of Search Circus, Inc., an ethical SEO firm specializing in website link popularity and organic search engine optimization, blog marketing, Web site copywriting and article marketing solutions. As a certified search engine optimization consultant, she teaches SEO seminars in Cleveland, Ohio.wendy@searchcircus.com
Friday, June 22, 2007
7 Search Engine Optimization Strategies That Work!
By - Michael Fleischner
<)))
Although the concept of SEO can be somewhat complex, there are a number of basic search engine optimization practices you should note before starting any SEO related activity. These basic principles are essential for any web page or website for which you are attempting to optimize. Keep in mind that these are just some of the fundamental SEO practices you should consider.
1. MetaTags
Metatags are simple lines of code at the top of your page (source code) that tell the search engines about your page. I recommend that you be sure to include the following meta tags: title (no more than 7 words and unique for each page), keywords, description, author, and robots tag. The robots tag instructs the search engines to read all or some of your website.
2. Create or update your sitemap
Developing a site map is a simple yet highly effective way of giving search engines the information they need to crawl your entire website. This ensures that the engine has an up-to-date record of your pages and content. The key to improving search engine results is making it easy for your website pages to be located and crawled. There is free software on the web (like www.xml-sitemaps.com) that helps you generate a sitemap. Once you create a sitemap for your website, submit to Google and Yahoo. Additionally, place a link to the site map on your home page.
3. Ensure that all navigation is in HTML
Too often I see navigation in the form of java script or images. Even though the navigation technically still works in this format, it’s not optimized. The benefit of creating your navigation in HTML is that you consistently build internal links throughout your website by keeping the navigation constant and easily identified by search engines.
4. Check that all images include ALT text
Your image alt text is spidered by search engines. If you’re not including your keywords in your alt text, your missing out on a huge opportunity for improved search engine result placement. Be sure to label your images appropriately and they may even show up as the number one result on Google. Additionally, Google has a database of images (Google Image Search) that indexes pictures as well.
5. Use Flash content sparingly
As mentioned earlier, content generated through java script or flash is a big no-no. Some webmasters like to use flash because of the presentation. It’s okay to use sparingly, but only after your site has been properly optimized with basic SEO in mind.
6. Make sure that important page elements are HTML
Keep in mind when optimizing a web page crawlers are basically only looking at your source code. Anything you've put together using an image or other multimedia component is likely to be invisible to search engines. Therefore, the most important elements of your page, where the heart of your content is presented, should be presented in W3C optimized HTML source code.
7. Place keywords in your page content the right way
I’m sure you’ve heard the importance of placing the right keywords or keyword phrases in your content. To show the search engines that your article is focused on a particular keyword or keyword phrase, be sure to sprinkle it throughout the content. Additionally, include your keyword in headers and sub-heads. That is to say that your keyword should be contained in an h1, h2, or h3 tag.
Learning to optimize your website for search engines takes time and most of all, patience. Start with the basic principles I’ve outline here and you’re off to a good start. If you’re new to SEO, or even a well seasoned veteran, begin by prioritizing which pages are most important for you to optimize. Sometimes people think that they need to optimize all their pages right away and the task becomes too overwhelming. Start small, begin with your primary and/or secondary pages, and go from there.
About the Author
Michael Fleischner is an Marketing Expert and Search Eninge Optimization Specialist. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and has appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Read his blog at http://marketing-expert.blogspot.com.
<)))
Although the concept of SEO can be somewhat complex, there are a number of basic search engine optimization practices you should note before starting any SEO related activity. These basic principles are essential for any web page or website for which you are attempting to optimize. Keep in mind that these are just some of the fundamental SEO practices you should consider.
1. MetaTags
Metatags are simple lines of code at the top of your page (source code) that tell the search engines about your page. I recommend that you be sure to include the following meta tags: title (no more than 7 words and unique for each page), keywords, description, author, and robots tag. The robots tag instructs the search engines to read all or some of your website.
2. Create or update your sitemap
Developing a site map is a simple yet highly effective way of giving search engines the information they need to crawl your entire website. This ensures that the engine has an up-to-date record of your pages and content. The key to improving search engine results is making it easy for your website pages to be located and crawled. There is free software on the web (like www.xml-sitemaps.com) that helps you generate a sitemap. Once you create a sitemap for your website, submit to Google and Yahoo. Additionally, place a link to the site map on your home page.
3. Ensure that all navigation is in HTML
Too often I see navigation in the form of java script or images. Even though the navigation technically still works in this format, it’s not optimized. The benefit of creating your navigation in HTML is that you consistently build internal links throughout your website by keeping the navigation constant and easily identified by search engines.
4. Check that all images include ALT text
Your image alt text is spidered by search engines. If you’re not including your keywords in your alt text, your missing out on a huge opportunity for improved search engine result placement. Be sure to label your images appropriately and they may even show up as the number one result on Google. Additionally, Google has a database of images (Google Image Search) that indexes pictures as well.
5. Use Flash content sparingly
As mentioned earlier, content generated through java script or flash is a big no-no. Some webmasters like to use flash because of the presentation. It’s okay to use sparingly, but only after your site has been properly optimized with basic SEO in mind.
6. Make sure that important page elements are HTML
Keep in mind when optimizing a web page crawlers are basically only looking at your source code. Anything you've put together using an image or other multimedia component is likely to be invisible to search engines. Therefore, the most important elements of your page, where the heart of your content is presented, should be presented in W3C optimized HTML source code.
7. Place keywords in your page content the right way
I’m sure you’ve heard the importance of placing the right keywords or keyword phrases in your content. To show the search engines that your article is focused on a particular keyword or keyword phrase, be sure to sprinkle it throughout the content. Additionally, include your keyword in headers and sub-heads. That is to say that your keyword should be contained in an h1, h2, or h3 tag.
Learning to optimize your website for search engines takes time and most of all, patience. Start with the basic principles I’ve outline here and you’re off to a good start. If you’re new to SEO, or even a well seasoned veteran, begin by prioritizing which pages are most important for you to optimize. Sometimes people think that they need to optimize all their pages right away and the task becomes too overwhelming. Start small, begin with your primary and/or secondary pages, and go from there.
About the Author
Michael Fleischner is an Marketing Expert and Search Eninge Optimization Specialist. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and has appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Read his blog at http://marketing-expert.blogspot.com.
Sell Like an eBay Powerseller
By - Michael Ellis
<)))
There isn't a week that goes by without someone asking me how to sell products on eBay. It's a great question! And I enjoy talking about the topic quite a bit, but my answer is always the same - sell like a Powerseller! Here's what I mean...
An eBay Powerseller is someone that generates $1000 or more in sales for three consecutive months. You don't have look too far on eBay to realize that the place is literally crawling with Powersellers.
I've spent over 5 years studying eBay, as well as, buying and selling products under several eBay IDs. I noticed that there are two types of eBay Powersellers:
1. Niche Powersellers
2. On-Demand Powersellers
The Niche Powersellers specialize in a particular area - like antiques, coins, dolls, etc. This particular area is a hobby to these people and they are very good at finding products at a low enough cost within this market to sell for a nice profit. These Powersellers are hard to imitate.
One the other hand, the On-Demand Powersellers are not very familiar with the products they sell, but they are very familiar with what the eBay community wants and how they can go about getting it. I call them On-Demand Powersellers because they seek out products to sell based on the level of demand inthe eBay community. These are the Powersellers that you should try to follow.
A common misconception that new eBay users have is thinking that all Powersellers are large retail outlet doing business on eBay. This simply isn't true. The majority of the Powersellers that I know typically run their business out of a basement or garage. Ebay has a great way of leveling the playing field in this respect. For example, a student can open an account and create ads that are just as enticing as any large company that happens to be selling the same products on ebay.
So how can you do business like On-Demand Powersellers?
That's actually an easy question to answer; obtain a seller's permit, find a demand for a particular product, and then find a wholesale supplier for that particular product.
A seller's permit will allow you to purchase products for wholesale from wholesale venders. This is the first thing any legitimate wholesale company will ask for, and if you don't have one, they could very likely not do business with you.
You can obtain a sellers permit at http://www.businessnameusa.com
You can find the demand for numerous products on eBay by using the eBay 'Hot Items' resource (in link below). This resource consists of (among other things) a 40+ page pdf document that lists which items are hot sellers in the numerous categories. The data is usually for the previous 2 months.
Find out 'What's Hot' on eBay at http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/whatshot.html
After you've identified which items were hot sellers, go to eBay's Advance Search and conduct a search for those products to make sure they're still hot sellers (have plenty of bids). Also do a search for the same product with the 'Completed Items' option in the Advanced Search checked. This will show you which auctions sold and how much they sold for.
Once you have a product in mind, do a search on Google for the manufacture of the product. When you get to the website, look for a contact number, or a 'Dealer inquiry' number. This information is also usually on the box of the product itself, so it may take a run to your local store if you don't have any luck on the web.
Give them a call. Inform them that you run a business and are interested in becoming a dealer of the product. Most are very helpful in getting you setup. However, be aware, some may have a minimum purchase order. Never the less, if you did your eBay research correctly, you'll know how much these items have recently sold for, and how much they are currently selling for, thus, you can be pretty confident that the money will be made back.
I recently came across two Powersellers that are extremely successful doing with this process. One Powerseller had sold over $100,000 worth of those little robotic-vacuuming-Frisbee thingies in 60 days! The other Powerseller does extremely well selling dog chews. Both Powersellers simply identified the demand for these products, then sought out the manufactures and became dealers… the rest is history.
Sincerely,
Michael Ellis
About the Author
Michael Ellis is an Internet technology expert that specializes in marketing products and services online. Be sure to visit Michael's website http://www.victorykey.com/ for FREE Internet Marketing articles, tips and discussion forums.
<)))
There isn't a week that goes by without someone asking me how to sell products on eBay. It's a great question! And I enjoy talking about the topic quite a bit, but my answer is always the same - sell like a Powerseller! Here's what I mean...
An eBay Powerseller is someone that generates $1000 or more in sales for three consecutive months. You don't have look too far on eBay to realize that the place is literally crawling with Powersellers.
I've spent over 5 years studying eBay, as well as, buying and selling products under several eBay IDs. I noticed that there are two types of eBay Powersellers:
1. Niche Powersellers
2. On-Demand Powersellers
The Niche Powersellers specialize in a particular area - like antiques, coins, dolls, etc. This particular area is a hobby to these people and they are very good at finding products at a low enough cost within this market to sell for a nice profit. These Powersellers are hard to imitate.
One the other hand, the On-Demand Powersellers are not very familiar with the products they sell, but they are very familiar with what the eBay community wants and how they can go about getting it. I call them On-Demand Powersellers because they seek out products to sell based on the level of demand inthe eBay community. These are the Powersellers that you should try to follow.
A common misconception that new eBay users have is thinking that all Powersellers are large retail outlet doing business on eBay. This simply isn't true. The majority of the Powersellers that I know typically run their business out of a basement or garage. Ebay has a great way of leveling the playing field in this respect. For example, a student can open an account and create ads that are just as enticing as any large company that happens to be selling the same products on ebay.
So how can you do business like On-Demand Powersellers?
That's actually an easy question to answer; obtain a seller's permit, find a demand for a particular product, and then find a wholesale supplier for that particular product.
A seller's permit will allow you to purchase products for wholesale from wholesale venders. This is the first thing any legitimate wholesale company will ask for, and if you don't have one, they could very likely not do business with you.
You can obtain a sellers permit at http://www.businessnameusa.com
You can find the demand for numerous products on eBay by using the eBay 'Hot Items' resource (in link below). This resource consists of (among other things) a 40+ page pdf document that lists which items are hot sellers in the numerous categories. The data is usually for the previous 2 months.
Find out 'What's Hot' on eBay at http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/whatshot.html
After you've identified which items were hot sellers, go to eBay's Advance Search and conduct a search for those products to make sure they're still hot sellers (have plenty of bids). Also do a search for the same product with the 'Completed Items' option in the Advanced Search checked. This will show you which auctions sold and how much they sold for.
Once you have a product in mind, do a search on Google for the manufacture of the product. When you get to the website, look for a contact number, or a 'Dealer inquiry' number. This information is also usually on the box of the product itself, so it may take a run to your local store if you don't have any luck on the web.
Give them a call. Inform them that you run a business and are interested in becoming a dealer of the product. Most are very helpful in getting you setup. However, be aware, some may have a minimum purchase order. Never the less, if you did your eBay research correctly, you'll know how much these items have recently sold for, and how much they are currently selling for, thus, you can be pretty confident that the money will be made back.
I recently came across two Powersellers that are extremely successful doing with this process. One Powerseller had sold over $100,000 worth of those little robotic-vacuuming-Frisbee thingies in 60 days! The other Powerseller does extremely well selling dog chews. Both Powersellers simply identified the demand for these products, then sought out the manufactures and became dealers… the rest is history.
Sincerely,
Michael Ellis
About the Author
Michael Ellis is an Internet technology expert that specializes in marketing products and services online. Be sure to visit Michael's website http://www.victorykey.com/ for FREE Internet Marketing articles, tips and discussion forums.
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