What are the biggest obstacles you’ve encountered in blogging success?

What are the biggest obstacles you’ve encountered in blogging success? - WebProNews recently interviewed reality television blogger Reality Steve (Steve Carbone). The interview wasn’t entirely about how to launch a successful blog, but as he shared his story with us, there were plenty of nuggets of wisdom that naturally came out of the conversation, which if you’re trying to become a successful blogger, you might be able to learn from.

What are the biggest obstacles you’ve encountered in blogging success? Let us know.

1. It’s ok to start small.

Reality Steve started by sending emails to a few friends. The friends liked his work and started forwarding his emails to their friends, and so on and so on. Social media has made it even easier to reach even more of your friends’ friends. Even Facebook started small, and grew virally.

2. Find a subject area where you know there is interest.

People have all kinds of interests. Some of them are already well-covered by bloggers, and others there is more leeway. Even still, just because the web is saturated with bloggers in any particular subject, it doesn’t mean you can’t bring a unique, helpful and/or entertaining voice to the table. Number 3 is directly related to this.

3. Cater to a niche audience.

If you’ve chose a specific subject to blog about, you’re already catering to a niche audience to some extent. However, it is that bringing a unique voice to the table that really adds to that. The thing is, this niche audience is probably already reading the other bloggers who are writing about the same niche, which is why you have to bring something different to the table.

4. Keep up with your niche religiously.

Reality Steve doesn’t blog about every single reality show, but the ones he focuses on, he keeps up with fanatically. This means fans can consider him a go-to source when they want the latest news and analysis related to these shows. That keeps them coming back.

5. Do diligent work.

Essentially, if you want to be considered such a go-to place, you don’t want to half-ass it. Be thorough. If in some cases you can’t be thorough in detail, at least be thoroughly entertaining, or informative. That doesn’t mean you have to put out long post after long post, just try not to miss things that matter.

6. Collect trusted sources (and use them).

Reality Steve has his regular sources, which he trusts, where he can get key information that he needs to be on top of news related to his area of coverage. This helps keep him at the forefront of breaking news in this space. Having these sources can also be useful for driving links to your blog from other blogs and publications.

7. Develop a good track record.

This is directly related to number six. It’s easier to have a good track record of accuracy, when your sources are trustworthy, but sometimes you may get tips that turn out to be busts. Always indicate if there is any doubt to what you’re reporting. If you can’t take it for fact yourself, you shouldn’t report it as fact to others. If you ever make a mistake, acknowledge it as a show to your audience that you can still be trusted.

8. Use social media.

Use social channels to connect with fans and promote your content (these channels can also add to your visibility in search engines – as an added tip that Reality Steve didn’t really talk about, it can’t hurt to employ basic SEO practices). “Both have been a godsend for my website,” Reality Steve tells WebProNews about Facebook and Twitter.

9. Product-related material can interest both readers and companies.

This isn’t so much a step, but just something to keep in mind, and I don’t mean this from the receiving goods for positive reviews standpoint. You might want to read up on the FTC’s guidelines if you’re interested in that. However, Reality Steve brought up an interesting point about how the networks don’t seem to mind his blogging about their shows, even when he’s spoiling their outcomes, because it brings attention to their products.

If specific products are within your niche, you can reach out to people within the companies that deliver these products, for possible trusted sources, and they might be willing to give you the occasional exclusive story or first shot at breaking news, which can also get you links and help you build credibility.

10. Stick with it.

You may start small, but obviously the goal is to become big. This can take time. Reality Steve has been doing this for 8 years. Following these previous steps over time, they should start to pay off. ( webpronews.com )

READ MORE - What are the biggest obstacles you’ve encountered in blogging success?

Corporate Branding is Key to a Successful Business

Corporate Branding is Key to a Successful Business - Corporate branding is the process of establishing a name and image for your business. It is something, which should be done by every organization, and establishes a name for your product or service.

While you can have a successful business without the use of corporate branding, it is much harder to remain in the minds of customers when you do not have a brand or logo for them to associate your business with. Corporate branding begins with the designing of a relevant logo, website, business cards, letterheads, and any other promotional materials that you might need.

With these items in place and the corporate logo established, you will begin to see why corporate branding is the key to success.

Why is Corporate Branding so Important?

When you think about Nike, what comes to mind? I can guarantee that most of you just pictured a check mark in your head. This is because Nike has spent a lot of time and money to ensure that their logo and "just do it" motto have been set into the minds of consumers for years.

This is just one example of why corporate branding is so important. Without a brand image to quickly associate your business with, you are instantly out of the minds of consumers.

If you can on the other hand, provide consumers with a lasting memory of your brand, then yours will be the first business that will come to mind when they see that image or logo. It will also allow them to spread the word about your business much easier.

Sometimes people remember logos better than the names of businesses.

You Can't Do It Alone

The first thing you need to understand about corporate branding before you begin selecting a logo or other merchandise, is that you can't do it alone. Even if you could design the image, you would not be able to produce the merchandise such as business cards, letterhead, and other promotional items by yourself.

For this reason, it is important to enlist the help of professionals. Companies who provide marketing services can conduct research based on your business, and help you choose a logo, motto, and merchandise that can help you create effective corporate branding.

While you may spend a little bit of money by using one of these companies' services, it will be well worth it when your business has a successful brand, and your traffic and sales increase. While you are new to the idea of corporate branding, these professional companies have had years of experience helping businesses get their start.

Developing a Logo

The first step that a marketing service company will introduce you to, is the development of a logo. This is the most important step in corporate branding, because it creates an image that will always be associated with your business.

A logo can be serious, humorous, or just about anything else that you like. It can communicate to consumers what type of services or goods that you offer, your quality of service, or any other important information. It is essential that you choose a logo that can't be interpreted the wrong way.

It is also important to choose a logo that makes a statement about your company, and is not just a random choice. The more content you are with your brand image, the better your potential customers will react to it.

Completing the Image

Choosing a logo is not the last step in corporate branding. In order to effectively brand your business, you need to display that logo and brand image consistently on and in all your marketing efforts. A company's letterhead, business cards, and any other promotional items used should reflect the logo and brand image that has been created.

If you are inconsistent, your attempt at corporate branding will fail. Corporate branding is becoming increasingly popular with local small businesses and large corporate companies as well. When you associate a specific logo, image, or motto with your business, the consumers are more likely to recognize your brand as one they know and trust.

Remember though, that it cannot be done alone and that is best to enlist the help of a professional marketing service when working on this strategy. ( entireweb.com )

READ MORE - Corporate Branding is Key to a Successful Business

The conundrum facing publishers

The conundrum facing publishers. With their advertising revenue drying up, newspaper publishers spent much of the spring and summer debating whether to cut off free online access to some of the material they run in their shrinking print editions.

It looks like the talk will turn to action this fall, when some large newspapers are expected to put up Internet toll booths.

They'll be testing readers' willingness to pay for information and entertainment that mostly has been given away online for the past 15 years. That happened largely because most publishers could afford to subsidize their Web sites with profits from their print franchises. But now those profits have crumbled, just as the prices for online ads are tumbling, too.

A recent study by the American Press Institute found 58 percent of the responding newspapers are considering online fees. Of that group, 22 percent expect to introduce the fee before the end of the year. The findings drew upon 118 interviews of newspaper executives in the U.S. and Canada.

The free-to-fee transition likely will occur in tentative steps rather than bold leaps that would lock all online content behind a pay gate. Publishers are taking this cautious approach because they are still trying to devise online payment plans that will generate more revenue without alienating too many of their readers.

For instance, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a newspaper with a weekday circulation of about 206,500, recently launched a Web site that includes coverage and commentary on sports, politics and entertainment that isn't in its printed product or free online edition. The service costs $36 annually or $3.99 per month.

Other newspapers that have talked up subscription plans remain reticent. Newsday of Long Island, N.Y., still hasn't rolled out fees for its Web site, even though the newspaper's owner, Cablevision Systems Corp., said it was going to do so this summer. Newsday spokesman Paul Fleishman declined to comment.

The conundrum facing publishers: It's hard to figure out how much, if anything, readers will be willing to pay. Internet search engines and digital communication tools such as Twitter and Facebook ensure people still will be able to find and share plenty of free content.

But running totally free sites hasn't been paying off for most newspapers. Even before the online market began to slump this year, Web ads were generating only a small fraction of the revenue that print ads do. The disparity has made publishers realize they need more ways to make money on the Internet, but few of them have been able to figure out how.

"This is like a four-dimensional chess game. It's really complex," said former newspaper editor Alan Mutter, who is now an industry consultant when he isn't writing "Reflections of a Newsosaur," a free blog.

The Associated Press also has been part of the online fee movement. The not-for-profit cooperative, which is owned by newspapers, is setting up a system that will track the usage of its stories. It's a crucial piece of a plan that could improve the AP's ability to run ads next to news stories and perhaps even lead the AP to charge readers to see major scoops or other "premium" content.

"The value of content has to rise," said Tom Curley, the AP's chief executive. "We are all looking how to make that happen."

Even as newspapers mull just how much to commit to charging readers, a competition is already brewing to provide the technology to enable it.

Four of the world's largest technology companies — Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., IBM Corp. and Oracle Corp. — have expressed an interest in developing an online payment system for publishers. Mutter also has been promoting his own approach to Internet fees, a concept he calls ViewPass.

Separately, more than 1,000 newspapers and magazines have signed nonbinding letters of intent to join an Internet fee system being assembled by Journalism Online LLC. It intends to begin collecting money on behalf of publishers before winter.

Backed by former leaders from Court TV and The Wall Street Journal, Journalism Online wants to run the cash register for a digital news smorgasbord. Readers will be able to buy stories from a wide range of participating publishers without having to repeatedly provide their credit card numbers and other personal information at each Web site. The content would be distributed on the Web and electronic reading devices, with each publisher dictating its own terms. As a commission, Journalism Online plans to keep 20 percent of the revenue collected through its system.

Although he isn't jumping on board with Journalism Online, News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch is sold on online fees.

News Corp. already owns the newspaper industry's most successful Internet subscription model in The Wall Street Journal, with more than 1 million customers who pay for online access. The annual rates vary from $103 for an online-only subscription to $140 for a package that includes delivery of the print edition too. Now, Murdoch hopes to make online fees pay off for his other publications, which include the New York Post and The Times of London. Murdoch hasn't provided a timeline or specifics about his plans, however.

The New York Times is considering charging online readers a membership fee, with more details promised in the fall. It's a road the newspaper has been down before, only to reverse course after management concluded that the online subscription it required to read the Times' top columnists was crimping its Internet ad sales. The subscription service, which cost $50 per year, was scrapped in 2007 after a two-year run. It had 221,000 customers when the Times tore down the toll booth.

These days, the printed versions of newspapers are suffering so much that publishers appear determined to find a way to get readers on the Internet and mobile devices to pay something, even if it's just a few bucks per month. The question is mainly which publisher will jump off the sidelines first.

"There's still a lot of `wait-and-see' attitudes out there," said Randy Bennett, senior vice president of business development for the Newspaper Association of America. "I think a lot of publishers would like to see some empirical evidence of what happens to other publishers who dip their toes into the water."

In a worst-case scenario, imposing online fees would drive away so much of a newspaper's Web audience that publishers would lose more in Internet ad sales than they would gain in new revenue.

In a best-case scenario, newspapers charging their online readers would still retain enough of the audience for their Web sites to remain attractive marketing channels. What may be even more important, the fees might make readers more willing to pay for the print editions if the same content isn't on the Web for free, especially if print subscriptions include free or discounted Web access.

Preserving the value of their print franchises is one of the main reasons for publishers to charge for Web access. That's because newspapers still get most of their money from print ads, which accounted for $35 billion of the industry's revenue last year. Newspaper print ads are on pace to fall below $30 billion this year.

Online ads, in contrast, contributed just $3.1 billion in revenue last year. And while that category had been growing until this year, it wasn't fast enough to offset the erosion in print ads. From 2005 through 2008, the industry's annual revenue from print ads dropped by $12.7 billion. Meanwhile, newspapers' annual revenue from online ads increased by just $1 billion.

Journalism Online's co-founder, Steven Brill, believes newspapers can still hold on to most of their online readership by charging for only their best work — information, images and audio unlikely to be found anywhere else on the Web. This presumes publishers will be able to prevent the content from being copied and pasted or even just summarized at other sites, a potentially daunting task.

Some publishers still have no intention to charge for online access because they have concluded online fees are bound to backfire on the newspaper Web sites that adopt them, Mutter said. The American Press Institute study found 44 percent of the respondents don't think Internet fees will provide a significant lift to newspapers' future revenue.

"The guys who hold off (on Internet fees)," Mutter said, "could get a have a huge windfall in new traffic." [ AP ]

READ MORE - The conundrum facing publishers

Success and Money

Blogging For Success and Money. Blogging seems to be the prime topic of everyone's discussion these days. Blogs appear to grow more popular by the month, as they continue to expand across the internet. A major reason for this increase is due to the prosperous benefits that come along with blogging. When done correctly, implementing this popular method of online communication into your website could bring forth much success. Many of the internet's most prominent businesses realize the importance of a blog; some say it is a must. This powerful tool is much more dynamic than the traditional website. What has made it so attractive is the convenience and freedom of user interaction. It is practically an open forum where individuals get to express their opinions and receive a wide range of feedback If you are familiar with the concept, then blogging may seem simple. While starting a blog is no difficult task by any means, turning yours into a money-making machine requires a dedicated effort.
Managed Search Engine Submission - "Now With More Engines"

Monetizing your Blog

In order of a blog to generate income, you must develop a strong strategy for monetizing it. There are several different venues which you can employ to monetize your blog:

* AdSense
* Advertising space for banner ads
* Donations
* Affiliate programs
* Paid third-party product reviews / pushes
* Selling your own services or products

Deciding on what monetizing strategy you employ depends upon the goals for your blog and its target audience. Each target audience will respond differently to your different monetizing strategies; for example, a humanitarian blog audience may be more receptive to donations, while a cooking blog audience would click through your banner ads for an organic recipe cookbook. You should develop an initial strategy, keeping your targeted audience's psychology in mind. The design and layout of your blog should reflect your monetizing strategy; for example, if you will be employing AdSense, then you may want to use a column layout with clean colors and lines. You want to ensure that your monetizing efforts are optimized in the layout of your website. As you progress with your blog, do not be afraid to test the water and adjust your monetizing strategies based upon feedback and performance results.

Generating Traffic

You may have the best blog and monetizing strategy in the world, but without traffic, your bank account will not grow. To begin making money with a blog, one must first generate traffic. Establishing a stable list of loyal readers has been easier for some than others, but it is the key to running a successful blog. When you are first beginning your blog endeavors, it may seem daunting to generate traffic when there is not a single visitor to your website. However, with a bit of strategy, you can quickly build traffic and a returning base of readers.
Write What You Know

You should consider writing your blog on a topic of your specialty or passion. The more you know about the subject matter of your blog, the better; you will be able to establish yourself as an authority and readers will come to learn from you. Content and traffic have a very strong symbiotic relationship.

Remember what you learned about in advertising class in college? Viral marketing is the most effective form of advertising - period. If people like your blogs, they will refer it to their friends, and in the internet, friends can add up to millions of people.
Regularly Updated Content

Yes, you have heard it before, and you will hear it again - content is king! Readers will flock to your blog if you provide them with insightful, unique, and relevant content that is updated regularly. In addition, when you consistently publish quality content that is rich in keywords, the search engines will frequent your site to update their indexing, which then leads to more traffic coming into your blog. The better, more frequent posts you publish, the more other sites will link to you, thus again bringing in more traffic and increasing your search engine rankings.
Managed Search Engine Submission - "Now With More Engines"

Linking With Related Blogs

Linking is another way to generate traffic and add to your blog's success. You want your site to be viewed by as many readers as possible.

Exchanging links with another blogger is a great way to make that happen. Surf the web for similar blogs that relate to your specialty and host the same audience you are seeking. Linking relative sites on your page also displays credibility to readers.

They will view you as a main source, referring other interested parties to your blog for that relative info. Friendly links also improve search engine ranking and increase the chances of someone stumbling across your blog. All novice bloggers looking to make money should know this: success is hard work. Devotion and great patience is required if you want a blog to work for you. The most comforting fact is that many people are taking advantage of this tool and creating mass revenue. While nothing is promised, applying sound search engine optimization strategies to your blog speaks volumes in the way of success.

Combining this with good old fashion communication can help return profitable results in the long journey with your blog.

READ MORE - Success and Money

Tips and Tricks to Optimize Your Website Content

Tips and Tricks to Optimize Your Website Content. We all know that search engines are very important for the success of a website. Almost 85% of new internet users find good websites by using a reliable search engine like Google.

Search engines like Google fight to index thousands of pages of content found on the internet in the right order depending on several characteristics.

Search engine algorithms may vary with time but you can ensure that you have a website that is filled with SEO optimized, original content so that your page ranks as high as possible on the search results.

The following explains best 5 tips about SEO optimizing your web page:

Appropriate landing page

Apart from finding a great niche and product, it's also necessary to have a targeted landing page to encourage paying customers. And one great tip I've found is that to ensure your landing page does not sell anything at all!

In fact, it should give a valuable resource away for free like a niche e-book, newsletters, mini-course and even tele-seminars that will educate the customer about the value of your product. Not only does it raise customer awareness but it also encourages customers to buy what you will eventually show them!

Fresh content

Fresh and new content updated daily is one way to ensure that Google keeps returning to your page again and again. Once the search algorithms are trained to realize that the content on your page changes daily and is completely original you are more likely to see your website higher up in page rankings.

SEO optimizing!

You also have to ensure that the content is SEO-optimized. This is possible by using Keywords that are recognized by search engines as related to your product.

Fill your content with an average of 2% of Keywords per page of 100 words. That means your page should run an average of 10 Keywords in a page of 500 words. Do not put in more than that as search engines tend to classify high keyword pages as spam or duplicated content.

Create a lot of internal links where a single article links to another archived articles in your blog or the site itself. This will increase site recognition and page rankings.

Keeping them simple

Don't flood your site with complex codes like Flash, Ajax, etc. Of course, the site will look great but this just tends to slow down your site and as a result might prevent search engines from crawling and indexing your website properly.

Arranging the Keywords can make or break a website!

Start strong by adding your keywords in the first paragraph and the very first line and the first line of the last paragraph. Search engines like this as it makes it easier for them to classify the article, site and content.

Try to use lateral semantic indexing where you use the same keywords in the form of plurals or related variations. The more the number of variations you put in, the better the page ranking.

There you have it.. The most important thing of all is to take action.

READ MORE - Tips and Tricks to Optimize Your Website Content

Way To Online Success

Way To Online Success,


SIMPLE PUBLICITY.

Create a stunning signature file for simple yet highly effective promotion. Most email programs allow you to attach a signature file to all your outgoing mail. Eudora Pro www.eudora.com allows me to make as many signature files as I choose.

THE RIGHT SIGN.

I receive hundreds of emails on a daily basis. A pitiful 10% of these contain a signature file - and most of these are badly written. Perhaps as much as one signature file a day will catch my eye and I'll end up subscribing to yet another ezine.

FREE PROMOTION.

You may think that it's not worth the effort. After all, how many people will really take notice of your signature? Well, think how often you request free articles, free information, send off for an ezine, post a message on a bulletin board or newsgroup .... Just think of all the subscribers you could have by now.

STICK TO ONE SUBJECT.

You can write signature files for your website, an affiliate program, your products or services, and anything else you can think of. But the one thing you *should* be promoting is your ezine. Once you've grabbed your new subscriber - then you can rave on about your website, your affiliate programs, etc. But get their email address first!

NICE 'N' EASY.

Designing a signature that commands attention is pretty easy work. Keep it short, keep it simple, and stick to one theme. Use "power" words: free, easy, how, you, now, success, learn, create ....

EXAMPLES

LARGE.

Under 50 words - can also be used for classified and ezine ads: Y O U R E Z I N E T I T L E

www.yoursite.com

How do you get hold of the latest marketing articles, hot biz tips and links? Be the first to grab awesome articles to print in your ezine. Save hours of your valuable time. Visit our award winning website or join our ezine now:

mailto:subscribe@listserver.com

Want to start your OWN home business? Don't jump in without getting the latest tips on starting and building a successful online career. Free welcome gifts for all new subscribers. Join us, "Home Business Success," today:

subscribe@listserver.com

Or visit our new website:

www.yourdomain.com

MEDIUM.

Under 35 words - can also be used for classified and ezine ads:

How do you get hold of the latest marketing articles, hot biz tips and links? Join [your ezine title] today and have access to 1000s of great articles for reuse. Subscribe here: mailto:subscribe@listserver.com

Need advice on starting or building your OWN home business? We supply you with all the tips you need - free! Don't go it alone - subscribe to "Home Business Success" today:

subscribe@listserver. com www.yourdomain.com

SMALL.

Under 15 words - can also be used for newsgroups and bulletin boards:

Want the latest marketing articles, hot biz tips and links? Join [your ezine title] now:

subscribe@listserver.com

Need advice on starting or building your OWN home business? Subscribe to "Home Business Success" today:

subscribe@listserver.com

COMMON MISTAKE.

Many signature files just carry a name and website address. Well, what use is that! I've not been told *why* I need to pay a visit - so I won't bother. There is hardly a person alive who does not think along the lines of "what's in it for me?" If you don't tell, then don't expect any results.

CHECK BEFORE YOU SIGN.

Keep your signature file to a maximum of 60 characters per line. Any larger and some email clients will break up the text, making it a pain to read. Also ensure that you use a hard return at the end of each line - TextPad can be set to word wrap at the desired length. You can download TextPad here:

www.textpad.com

If in doubt, send yourself a copy of your signature to check that it looks okay.

BE INVENTIVE TO BE SEEN.

If you want people to read your signature, you have to learn to be inventive. I figured out a long time ago that, due to their positioning (way at the bottom of your message), signatures often get missed or simply go unread.

So I designed a matching header and footer that works as a simple letter template. This ensures that people cannot fail to see my message. If you'd like to see an example of this, please send a blank email to

marie@writead.com

The header is not large enough to be offensive, and simply contains my ezine title and short and catchy slogan - you do have one don't you? This is enough to grab the attention of all who may be interested. It also works as a reminder to read through my signature file at the bottom. And this, of course, provides extra details and subscription information.

This method works extremely well. Roughly 25% of my new members have joined in this manner. So before you simply dismiss your signature file, think again. By refusing to sign, you could be losing out big time.

READ MORE - Way To Online Success

Understand the Affiliate Marketing Program

Understand the Affiliate Marketing Program. The biggest source of my online income continues to be from participating in and promoting Affiliate programs. They provide a steady flow of checks to the mail box. Some of these checks are for just a few dollars, and some of them are for several hundred dollars. But all of them are a direct result of the principles that we will be discussing in this report.

The simplicity of representing a ready made marketing concept is truly enjoyable. All the hard work has been done in advance by the company. Your job is simply to market the product or service.

Please note that while this article is not intended to offend anyone, it is going to be direct and to the point. The candy coating has been removed.

It always amazes me when I look at the stats of People who join Affiliate Programs. Over 90% of them do absolutely nothing. They don't even so much as click onto their own affiliate page. Some of this may be due to a lack of knowledge or understanding of the process. Some have the impression that simply signing up will make them a success. But, the biggest reason, in my opinion, is that they just lose interest. They only have as much interest as it takes to get signed up and hope that the company or their upline will make them rich. They decide to "give it a try" and see what happens.

Basically, what it boils down to is that the new affiliate marketer must believe in the program AND IN THEMSELVES enough to take some serious action. Now if you are the type of person who is very intent on building a big affiliate income, keep reading. If you are only casually interested in Affiliate success, this article is not for you.

PROMOTE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT YOU BELIEVE IN

First of all you must find a program that gets you excited. Yes, even with the anonymity that the Internet offers, your enthusiasm will be reflected loudly in your written words. Remember this, 'most people will make their purchase because of a testimonial or personal recommendation. Simply pasting pre written company materials is not going to yield the number of sign ups and sales that you want. You are going to have to communicate directly to the heart of your prospects. In order to do this effectively, you must exude enthusiasm and confidence.

USE PERSONAL ENDORSEMENTS

Personal endorsements and testimonials are going to provide far more credibility than banner ads and pretty pictures ever will. You must have them. Write your own. Ask your customers for feedback. Ask your upline for their testimonial. Ask your downline. Get as many legitimate words of praise for the program that you are promoting as possible.

Have you ever seen the ads that read; "I lost xx pounds - ask me how". They are everywhere; in newspapers, on buttons that people wear, laundromat bulletin boards, bumper stickers, etc.. As distasteful as they may be, they are a testament to the power of personal testimonials.

UTILIZE THE FULL VALUE OF EZINES

The most effective way to reach your prospects is through ezines. I won't go into all the reasons why you should have your own, there are already many fine articles on that subject. Let's just say that if you don't publish your own ezine, then you will have to pay someone else who does to present your marketing message. Even if you do have your own ezine it is very wise to buy or barter advertising space in other Internet newsletters to increase your exposure.

There are several ways present your message in ezines. The most common, but least effective, is through the use of classified ads. They do work, and are cheap to buy, but you will see far better results with a higher profile ad. Placing your message at or near the top of the publication gives it a much better chance of being seen. These "Sponsor Ads" or "Featured Ads" not only stand out from the rest of the ads, but they carry more credibility too. Also, many publishers will allow you to include more copy in the higher paying ads.

In your own ezine you can take liberties and write full articles that discuss the merits of your affiliate program. This can be a very effective method, but you need to remember to write it with the readers interests in mind. Nothing turns people off faster than blatant self serving commercials. Always use the WIIFM principle. The reader needs to know, "What's In It For Me".

THE BEST METHOD

The absolute best way that I have found to promote any product or service on the Internet is by sending out special news releases or time sensitive updates to a targeted list of opt-in ezine subscribers. These solo mailings are separate from the regular ezine. They focus only on one program, or aspect of it. The results are astounding. Usually within a few hours you will see 90% of the action. If the copy is written well you can see a very high response rate.

USE YOUR STATS

One last method that helps me to focus my promotions effectively is simply to study the site logs and stats pages. Many Affiliate companies will provide you with a program stats page. Most of them are only about hits, sign ups and income. This is good information to know, but it doesn't let you know which ads are working the best. That's why I like to create redirect pages on my site that are trackable in my site server logs.

Here's how it works. You create an ad for XYZ affiliate and place it in an ezine (or on a web page). Instead of putting in a link to your affiliate page address, you would create a page on your site that automatically sends the visitor to the affiliate page. Each ad that you use would lead to a separate redirect page. There are two main benefits to this.

1. The link address is going to look more professional and probably shorter. eg: www.yourdomain.com/xyz3.htm.
2. You will be able to see in your server logs which ads are drawing the most hits.

BE WISE

One caveat. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of Affiliate programs floating around on the Internet for all kinds of products and services. Some of them are dogs. They just won't work, regardless of how well you promote them. Be wise in selecting the one(s) that you are going to invest your time and money into.

When you find a good one, practice the above methods, along with your own creativity and enthusiasm, and you too will experience the joy of opening envelopes with large checks in them. I look forward to reading YOUR success story.

READ MORE - Understand the Affiliate Marketing Program

Tips for Managing the Website

Tips for Managing the Website. Tips for a Successful Website. A successful website is something that everyone venturing into the new arena of Internet marketing and communications wants to have. Your website will often be a potential client's first impression of you and your business. That being said, it is vitally important that your website represent you in a favorable manner. Your website is a component of your overall marketing strategy and should be reflective of your business and current marketing presentation. Just as your brochures and other print materials represent a level of quality and professionalism, your website should also represent that same level of quality and professionalism. As a point of comparison, you most likely wouldn't have just anyone design your company's marketing materials or for that matter, prepare your tax statements. Similarly, it is important that the person creating your website know how to effectively communicate both your message and style, and be able to create an effective experience for those visiting your site.

What does it really take to have your website be successful, and what are some of the most important steps you can take to make that happen?

1. If you intend to have a unique domain name for your website, you must first check to see if it is available. You can check to see if a domain name is currently registered at http://www.internic.net.

2. Set a budget for your website. It is important to know how much you can spend on your project. In considering costs, remember that a website is a complex matrix of text and images and a professional execution is very important. As a generalization, the larger your investment, the greater your return. In order to spread your investment over time, you can also grow and expand your website gradually. Don't forget to include costs for promotion and advertising.

3. Determine the purpose for your website and the intended results. Does this purpose support the mission and vision for your company? The number of options and variables that are possible in the design of a website are virtually endless. Without a clear idea of the purpose for your website, you may end up putting time, energy, and money into a project which doesn't meet your needs. If you know in advance the results you intend to achieve, you will be better equipped to create a website which will achieve those results.

4. Consider the design and layout of your website. Is it easy to use? Does it take too long to down load? Is it easy for Internet visitors to find information? Does it meet the needs and expectations of your visitors? Several smaller pages eliminating the need for scrolling are often more effective than one long page. If an Internet visitor doesn't have a positive experience of your website, she/he probably won't return, or won't tell someone else about it. An effective website often creates a reason for the visitor to return. This reason can take the form of unique information that changes on a regular basis, interesting and useful resources, or a way for visitors to communicate with you or with each other. Use your website to build a relationship with your Internet audience.

5. Promote, promote, promote. No one will find your site if you don't let them know about it. Your site must be posted to search engines such as Lycos, Yahoo, and Excite. There are approximately 20 to 30 main search engines and several hundred that are smaller or specialized. You can find an extensive list of website submission sites, services, and resources at http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/ world_Wide_Web/Announcement_Services/

Include your website address on all your marketing materials; business cards, and advertising; you can even paint your address on the side of a company vehicle. The idea is to have as many people see your site address, and thus your website. You may also consider hiring a publicist to help you get the word out.

6. If at all possible, begin your website now. The companies which have been on the Internet the longest are those which achieve results sooner. If you are in an industry which isn't widely represented on the Internet yet, so much the better - you'll be able to start off with a larger market share. It's estimated that there are about 200 million people using the internet with 75% of the in North America. Start your Internet presence today!

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Success with PPC ( Pay Per Click )

Success with PPC ( Pay Per Click ). Whether you're looking to do Paid Search Advertising yourself or to hire someone to do that for you - you should know what makes a Pay Per Click campaign successful - or you will end up suffering.

Paid search advertising may look deceptively easy to do. Countless times small business owners decide (and correctly so) that PPC is going to do wonders for their business and 'dive' right into it...

Unfortunately most of them don't really educate themselves enough on what to do and how to do it, and then they end up spending a helluva lot of money, with little to no results. Next they declare that Paid Search Marketing doesn't work and then they're out!

Alternatively, the small business owner hires an overpaid, over-promising PPC management firm, and lets them do whatever they like - not knowing what to be aware of in order to make sure he's getting the best possible results for the best price...

Well - despite the doom and gloom scenarios above, I'm here to tell you that PPC works for most businesses!

It works very well, and can be one of the best, quickest, most cost effective and best tracked medium of advertising/promotion there ever was... Sure, there are other ways you can market your business, but if you know how to, and if you want almost immediate results that are fully tracked - then PPC can't be beaten.

OK, let's get to the top 10 essentials of Pay Per Click marketing:

1. Know your market place

It's as obvious as daylight, but people still go into PPC without doing their research. Bear in mind that you may know your market place offline, but when you consider the internet - it may be a whole different environment. So make sure you look into it - even if you have to pay for professional research - it will be worth your while.

If you're letting an agency manage your paid search, then make sure you ask them about your market - make sure they have done their homework thoroughly.

2. Know your target audience

Again an obvious one - and yet again people don't do this step properly. Don't just list out a bunch of demographics about your prospective customers. Get into character - engineer 'real-life' people profiles (avatars), describing everything about them.

Creating about 3 customer avatars for your business, will help you understand your customers, and thus you'll be able to anticipate how they behave. Knowing how they are likely to behave, will allow you to setup a VERY effective PPC campaign process, that will guarantee you success.

Remember - your customer just wants to feel understood, then if your product/service is good - they will buy.

3. Know what you want your visitor to do

In other words decide - do you want a prospect visiting your site to:

• call you to make an appointment?
• email you with more info about themselves, before setting up a consultation?
• click on the "Buy Now" button on your landing page?
• sign up to your membership site?
• sign up to your free newsletter?
• download a free report?

The clearer you are about what you want visitors to do, the easier it will be to entice them to do just that. If you don't tell your prospects what it is they need to do to progress this visit to something that is of benefit to them, they will click away, most likely to never be seen again...

4. Know how they look for you & your product - i.e. understand searcher intent

This one's not so obvious. Only very good paid search marketers know that keywords have different intent behind them. In other words, if a searcher on Google types in "running shoes" they are highly likely to be doing some preliminary research on what types of running shoes there are.

If the same searcher typed in "running shoes reviews" - then they are likely to be still researching - but they now know that they will buy - when they find the shoe that appeals to them.

A prospect with 'buying' intent, however, will likely type in "buy asics gel kayano running shoes" or "asics gel kayano stockists". You get the idea...

5. Start small - grow big later

This simply means that it is better to find the most suitable keyword phrases for your business, and run with that small group first. This will allow you to test the 'waters' and it will help you keep control of your budget.

Later on, when you know what works and what doesn't you can add other phrases to your heart's content.

6. Split test your ads

It is amazing how many people don't take advantage of this feature on Google AdWords. Split - testing will give you a constant way of improving on your ads. Your ad is the 'window' to your sales... so you cannot afford not to be constantly trying to make it better converting than before.

7. Use landing pages (LP)

Landing pages are powerful when using them correctly. They allow you complete control of what your visitor experiences. I always recommend that if you are only wanting one result from your prospect you should use LPs. But if your resources and knowledge are limited, then at least make sure you are leading the searcher to the most search-relevant page you have on your site.

8. Track everything

This says it all - even if you don't know how to, or with what - find someone that can help you. Outsource this job, or simply head over to Google and read all there is on their Analytics service. In some cases this is perfectly sufficient.

9. Listen to your stats

Once you have your tracking working, make sure you look at your stats to see the results. I recommend you look at them once a day in the beginning - depending on the size of your campaign, the amount of traffic your keywords are getting, and the amount of money you've budgeted to spend.

Once your campaign is working and making you profit, you can start looking at it less often, but at least once a week. Also make sure to optimize it regularly on the basis of your stats.

10. Learn consistently and constantly

Learn from your successes, your failures, your competitors' successes and their failures too... I have a document template that I use for all my campaigns called - Lessons Learned. It's only through experience that you will be able to progress and optimize any paid search campaign.

Well - hopefully you'll find the above list of PPC essentials very useful. Of course there are a lot of other important points to consider, like daily budget, competitive research, and return on investment requirements, but the above 10 will be able to start you off in a very strong way.

Bear in mind that whether you're managing your own PPC campaigns, or you're hiring a professional to do it - you can use the list above to make sure you're getting the best out of your campaigns.

READ MORE - Success with PPC ( Pay Per Click )