Get Your Blog Google-Ranked in 30 Days or Less (Part 2)

By Frederick Townes (c) 2008


If you haven't read Get Your Blog Google-Ranked in 30 Days Or Less, Part 1, you aren't going to want to miss it. But, here are even more useful suggestions to put your blog on steroids without any blog-roid rage. Please read on.

25. Focus on ranking for three key words or phrases to start. The keywords you select should appear in your HTML title tags and within the site's content when appropriate. However, watch keyword density levels. Anything above 5% starts to sound like gibberish. 2% to 3% keyword density provides more creative latitude for the content developer, and still lets bots know what the site is about.


24. Only purchase ad links on relevant niche sites. This, by default, limits competitive links and delivers more qualified (knowledgeable and ready-to-purchase) visitors to your site.

23. Participate in your link community. Forum and blog links are ephemeral, lasting a day or two as web fodder, so there's always the need for more green. Interact by posting to not only drive traffic with the link, but to also pick up another link from a credible site. All good.

22. Publish new content on weekdays. Even search engines need a break. Actually, more people are online Monday through Friday so your latest blog post is still the latest when posted on Monday rather than Sunday. A little thing, for sure, but little things mean a lot online.

21. Write content for various experience levels. For many spaces DIYs are the largest sector. Some readers are just starting out. Others have been at it for years and probably know more than you do, so post blogs to appeal to a broad range of skill sets – from green rookie to wizened old vet.

20. Cite the sources of your content. This adds credibility to your posts. It also provides a trail for a reader interested in learning more about the topic at hand.

19. Focus on contextual relevancy before quantity of links. Connectivity within a market or topic segment has more value than SEO anchor text, at least in the short term.

18. Poll your readers. Everybody's got an opinion. Provide a platform to let posters and readers vote on a topic related to your site. It doesn't do any good if you run a retail outlet and poll visitors on who they'd like to see in the White House. Stay on topic.
Editor's Note: No SPN Issues Apr. 11th & 14th
Regular issues of the SPN newsletter will begin again on Wednesday, April 16th. In the interim all readers are invited to visit the SPN website where new article & blog posts are made daily by some of the Web's top writers.
Visit the new and improved SiteProNews today
17. Create surveys. Surveys are more in depth than a poll. One survey you might want to try is one in which buyers rate the services and products you sell. Great marketing information. Consider placing a satisfaction survey somewhere on your site.

16. Write about popular brands or celebrities where possible. It doesn't matter if you're blogging short sales in the market or clothing for the over-sized human, celebrity and name brands get picked up by spiders.

15. Find free stuff to give away. Free still works on the web. There's lots of open source software (OSS), mortgäge calculators, real-time stock feeds and other digital goodies that visitors can download free. Free is nice.

14. Answer questions on Google groups and Yahoo Answers. People write in with all sorts of questions, some sure to fall within your area of expertise. By signing on as an authority in a field (your arena) you build credibility. Plus, it's fun helping others from the comfort of your own work station.

13. Add imagery and video content to your posts. A picture is worth a thousand web words. Charts and graphs simplify complex information and don't take up a lot of room. If you aren't an artist, create a relationship with a freelancer. Don't use clip art.

12. Use QA sessions in your blog. You're the expert. Also, invite guest bloggers to handle questions beyond your skill set. Helpful, simple advice keeps visitors coming back and makes you a guru.

11. Syndicate content outside of your blog. Every site owner needs content. Fortunately, there's plenty of it free for the taking. Sites like www.helium.com, www.ezine.com and www.goarticles.com are content supermarkets. Post your piece and pick up non-reciprocal, in-bound links for your effort. Content syndication increases link popularity.


10. Direct (future) page rank efforts to well-optimized content on your home site. Don't direct visitors and bots to the garbage bin of out-dated content stored in the site's archives. Point them to the new news.

9. Update or create a Wikipedia page and link to your site. Another means of establishing yourself as an authority. Just make sure the Wiki piece is accurate, well written and typo-free.

8. Submit industry or topical news to general news sites. Not just industry related sites. If a small oil and gas company brings in a gusher, it's of broader interest than to just industry insiders. Also adds credibility and another link.

7. Deep links or links to sub-pages are vital. There's a tendency to link from a remote site to your home page. Not necessarily the best strategy. Consider linking to pages deeper in the site – pages related directly to your blog post. This way, visitors are in your site and less likely to bounce.

6. Respond to comments in your blog. This accomplishes three important objectives: (1) it shows that there's a human behind the blog; (2) it gives you a chance to show your expertise; and (3) you can lead the thread in a new direction or keep the discussion going. Oh, it's also the polite thing to do, as well.

5. Cross link your posts. Link amongst your related blog posts using the keywords you're optimizing your blog for as the anchor text.

4. Get linked alongside related blogs on other sites. You can contact the blog administrator to swap links, you can become a regular guest blogger if your writing is good enough or your knowledge extensive. Niche sites are great for building blog links networks.

3. Bait your blog. Post unconventional and controversial articles to create lengthy threads that, in turn, create site stickiness.

2. Be consistent into month two. Keep the tone, style and topicality of your blog consistent for the first two months until spiders get it. Then, you can branch out to peripheral topics to expand reader interest.

1. Network offline. Helpful networking tools include www.linkedin.com, www.meetup.com and www.mybloglog.com. These sites provide real world contacts to simplify and streamline the process of networking. They're also useful in building beneficial online relationships - not to be overlooked. Also reach out using conferences that are available in your area and abroad.

The keys to building a successful, well-tended blog run the gamut from good content to good contacts, and from credibility to controversy. There are lots of ways to expand your blog community and develop quality rankings at the same time.

Once you've got all of this down your next steps are to begin monetizing your site.

So, blog.
About The Author
Frederick Townes in the owner of W3 EDGE Web Design. W3 EDGE is a Boston web design company that specializes in search engine friendly design, Internet marketing and conversion optimization. Contact them today for a free quotatíon and more information on how to make the most of your online presence.

3 Top Tips for Great Web Page Design

Great web page design is very important to making sure that your customers see your company in the way that you want them to. Just as you put a great deal of effort, time and resources in ensuring that your bricks and mortar storefront is bright, clean, and attractive, your website needs the same kind of attention. This article will explain the top three ways to make your website work for you!
When I started Future Access in 1995, St. Catharines website design guru's thought that good web page design was no more than putting up a few pictures, a page of text, and that was it. Little to no thought was given to how things made you feel, the logical path you would expect someone to take through the site, or where you wanted them to end up. It was much more about being trendy and cool by being one of the first companies in your industry to have a website at all!
Today, now that bandwidth limitations have been greatly reduced and multimedia content is everywhere, great web page design has become a way for small companies to level the playing field and compete on par with much larger rivals. In my experience, as we have developed better and better websites over the years, our customers' customers continually give positive feedback (and their business!) to companies that have made effective use of their design.


People have enough stressors in their life as it is today, and they don't need their experience on your website to add to them. Everywhere you look, busy, highly pressured individuals are seeking after a Zen-like experience, feng-shui, or just simplicity in general. So should it be on your website. Do away with the unnecessary extras, flashy gimmicks, and fancy doo-dads. Resist the temptation to say everything you want, or put a list of every single product you offer all on one page.
I have come to realize that less is more, and that users really appreciate the simplicity of a clean, uncluttered look on websites. The success of Google's web page design is a prime example. Look how clean Google's homepage is compared to its major competitors like Yahoo and MSN. They have so much white space, they even offered a black background for the 2008 Earth Day in order to reduce power consumption on the monitors of their millions of users.
The simplicity and ease of use have allowed a single company to capture half of the market share of the entire search engine industry, and catapult them to market leaders and innovators in many other areas as well. Remember this, give the user what they want (not what you want), and less is more.
Part of keeping your site clean and easy to use is simple, intuitive navigation. Many times in my online browsing experience I have come across websites that have a beautiful homepage, and then completely change the design on their inside pages. Menu items that were clearly outlined across the top have now moved to the left hand side, or have disappeared altogether. I have no idea how I am supposed to progress through the site, and in fact I can get lost altogether on some pages.
I have found that a much better approach is to use clear, consistent navigation. This means that the links to your various pages should appear in the same place and in the same order on every page on your site. If you have many pages for your users to navigate, a drop-down menu can be a very effective tool. Everyone is used to clicking or rolling over a menu at the top of a program like Microsoft Word and have a menu drop down from there. If your website allows them to navigate in the same way, you keep the experience consistent and help users to get around your site with ease.


So now that we have established that your website should be clean, simple, and easy to navigate, how do we make it beautiful? What is going to create that emotional response that you create when people walk through your doors into your bricks-and-mortar storefront?
After years of St. Catharines website design at Future Access, creating hundreds of websites for our customers, I have come to realize that the use of high-quality photography really separates a great site from an average one. The key is to use the right photograph, and not to overdo it. A collage of 9 or 10 images a blurred together on your homepage, many of them indistinguishable because they are wide shots reduced greatly in size will not be effective. Instead, a single large, high-quality close-up photograph that showcases your product or service can work best.
If you want to use more than one image, a moderately paced Flash animation can create extra emotion by having them fade into one another, or by panning across the picture very slowly. A photographic technique called "depth-of-field", where the foreground of an image is in sharp focus but the distant background is completely blurred really draws attention to the image. Don't believe me? Check it out next time you are browsing the web and see for yourself!
Now you have all the essential advice you need to create fantastic website. Great web page design includes a clean uncluttered look that eliminates unnecessary information. You need an intuitive navigation system to help people get around easily. And finally, you should use great, high-impact photography to create an emotional response. That's it! Now, go and check your website to see if it meets these criteria. If not, go to it!



About the Author: Bill Janzen has been doing web page design since 1995, and owns Future Access, a St. Catharines website design company

Social Media Advertising Will Succeed

Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Despite the fact that social media advertising has yet to hit its stride and is taking some lumps for low click rates when compared to high pageviews, it will succeed. Social media is a different type of advertising platform from information-oriented websites and the two should not be compared.

The reality is that social media delivers the holy grail for advertisers on the Internet: a mass-concentrated U.S. audience reach similar to television. Tell us your thoughts...

The top 25 social media networks delivered over 155 million unique visitors in Feb. 2008 with 70 percent coming from MySpace, Facebook and Classmates.com. Add in YouTube and Flickr and you get another 60 million totaling an estimated 215 million humans viewing social media monthly.

Compare that to television where an average 24-hour period delivers around 50 million unique viewers. The highest viewership day of the year, Super Bowl Sunday, has an estimated 110 million unique U.S. residents viewing television. Even over an entire month there is arguably less than 200 million total unique television viewers.

The Internet has become a powerful platform for advertisers to reach mass audiences via user generated video too. According to comScore Video Metrix, U.S. Internet users viewed over 10 billion videos online in the month of December alone. Imagine a 15 to 30 second commercial with each video view and the Internet seems ready today to compete with broadcast TV in delivering commercial views.



Advertising on social media is not about clicks or click rate any more than TV commercials are; it's about quickly reaching reaching a huge U.S audience. Sooner rather than later, advertisers will see social media as a great way to reach mass audiences. After all, in terms of audience size there are several Super Bowls every day on Facebook, MySpace and YouTube!

It simply doesn't matter what the click rate is for Facebook, MySpace and YouTube because they reach huge audiences that major advertisers like Ford, Pepsi and McDonald's can't help but see the value in. Predictably, Adwords buyers will see the value too.

Click rates are a reflection of pageviews and social media sites similar to TV have a large overlapping audience that hang around them all day, every day. Television would have a low click rate too if an ad campaign were measured over the course of a months worth of programs on the same network, assuming you could click the screen.

People also tune in and out of TV just like they do with social media. According to Compete's figures for every unique visitor to YouTube there are 54 pageviews. With Facebook, a unique visitor creates an amazing 564 pageviews in a month and on MySpace each person generates a staggering 1,110 pageviews.

The social media audience is loyal, large and habit-oriented just like broadcast TV. They also hit the prime youth-tilting demographic who are big spenders online and are considered a high value audience by ad agencies and advertisers. Ultimately, what advertisers value is the audience, not just the clicks.

» Comment HereSubscribe to our Newsfeed

About the Author:
Rich Ord is the CEO of iEntry, Inc. which includes WebProNews and numerous other vertical and community sites.

The 10 Step Plan To Successful Email Marketing

When website owners and marketers talk about online marketing, they often refer to SEO and PPC. Email marketing can sometimes be overlooked despite being one of the most powerful methods to reach potential customers and to keep existing customers coming back for more. Perhaps a factor in this is that direct email campaigns are commonly associated with spam emails, but careful list management ensures that this need not be a problem.
There are a number of stages to a successful email marketing campaign and by nailing as many as possible you can improve your results. The key to success, though, most commonly lies in the planning stage – if this is your first foray into email marketing then be prepared to treat it as a test run. The more direct email marketing campaigns you run, the more opportunity you have to optimize the process and improve your results. Here are ten of the most important steps to an effective email campaign.
1 – Determine Your Ultimate Goal
This might sound obvious, but having a clear goal in mind will help to concentrate your efforts. There are many effective uses of an email marketing campaign from increasing brand awareness to pushing a new product or seasonal promotion. Each of these uses typically demands a different campaign with its own style and its own components.
Increasing traffic to your website is not usually a bottom line target. The reason for increasing traffic to a website is normally to improve sales and increase profits. In the majority of cases, it is more desirable to attain greater sales through fewer visitors, than having a site awash with visitors but with a poor conversion rate.
A prolonged and careful email marketing campaign will naturally help to improve brand awareness. Your readers will naturally remember your name and the products or services that you sell as they gain more and more exposure to your marketing emails. Similarly, as long as you produce relevant and useful emails, your potential customers will grow to trust you making it more likely that they will purchase from you now or in the future.


2 - Your Opt-In Email List
There are a couple of key aspects to this section. YOUR opt-in list will generate better results than the use of somebody else's list. If you have taken the time and put in the effort to grow your own list, then the members of that list will already have some degree of awareness for you, your products, and your website.
Developing your own list can take time and money. To get a head start it is possible to buy or rent email lists from others. In these cases it is particularly important to pay attention to the second important factor – the list MUST be an opt-in list. Every member of that list must have opted in to receive marketing communication from you and they MUST be given adequate opportunity to opt out of future communication.
Particular care needs to be taken with your list management techniques to ensure that you are not deemed as being spam. If you purchase lists or partial lists then members that opt out need to be recorded separately. If you purchase another list that includes the same name and you subsequently email that person without their express request to be re-included in your list then you face the very real possibility of being flagged as sending spam email.
3 - Establish Performance Tracking Techniques
Tracking the performance of any advertising campaign should be foremost in your mind. This is the only true method of determining its worth and is the only way you can optimize your advertising to generate the best possible results. Web analytics are an absolute must-have, and with the wealth of affordable and even free choices available today there is no reason not to have a good analytic package in place.
Tracking code can also be placed into an HTML email. You need to operate a degree of caution when implementing code into HTML emails, because it could lead to your email being blocked by over zealous spam filters. If you can use hyperlinks that include tracking code, and your analytics package includes referral data, then this can generate the majority of the information you require.
The more information you can gleam from an advertising campaign, the better. You will be using these results to fine tune future advertising campaigns, so too much information is better than too little. If in any doubt then consider using an email marketing management service to conduct the tracking on your behalf.
4 – Ready Your Website
Directing visitors to your website is only a portion of the battle ahead. Once a reader clicks through the links in your email, you then need to be confident that your web pages are optimized to complete the sale. Conversion rates need to be high on the pages you direct traffic to, but you also need to target the traffic to the most appropriate pages and vice versa.
Consider the anchor text, or link text, that you will be using in your email. If you are encouraging readers to learn more about a product then don't direct them straight to the purchase page unless that page includes the inferred information. Similarly, if you have pre-sold your readers so that they are poised and ready to buy, and your CTA (Call To Action) indicates that this is the next step then you can navigate readers through to a more direct sales page.
Introducing a new product or a new concept will usually take more information than you can provide in a single marketing email. If necessary, add a page or multiple complementary pages, to your website. Direct readers to these pages so that you can combine the use of your email marketing and your optimized and informative content to really persuade and hammer the message home hard.
5 – An Effective Subject Line
The subject line of your email is the first thing your readers will read, and you need to ensure that it won't be the last. Human spam filters can be just as difficult to avoid as software spam filters, even for genuine email. You should certainly avoid the use of typically spammy subject lines and opt for a more effective approach.
There are many ways to write an appealing subject line. A newsworthy subject line will often grab the attention but only works effectively in limited cases. Otherwise, try to evoke an emotive response from the reader. The strongest emotions include greed, love, and even hatred or controversy. With these latter two it is again important that you exercise appropriate caution otherwise you may alienate your readers against this and future marketing emails.
Intrigue and appeal work very well. An intriguing headline will draw your readers into the main body of the content and the subject line will have then done its job effectively. Never mislead in the subject of your email but do try to peak your reader's curiosity to the extent that they can't help but open the email and read it fully.
6 - Email Body Content
Finally we reach the main body content of the email. That it's taken to point six to do so is an indication of how important the planning and preparation stages are. The subject line has hopefully driven a good portion of your list to open the email, and those readers should be intrigued enough to want to read more.
Research shows that the more personalized the message, the more likely it will be to succeed. Start with a personalized greeting and use a friendly, even conversational tone, throughout the message. Inform readers of what they need to know but do so informally and in as friendly a manner as is possible by email.
The email absolutely has to be grammatically and factually correct, and must not contain typos. These types of errors can be an instant turn off for readers. Run a spell check. Twice. And then check it manually and have somebody else check it again for you. At the same time check the links and ensure that they do indeed direct to the proper pages.
Include a Call To Action, or CTA, rather than just a link. A CTA is a direction that points your visitors to perform your desired action. This could be to click a link, make a purchase, or even forward the email to friends. The CTA needs to be clearly defined an, obviously, as effective and accurate as possible.
7 - Hyperlinks To Your Site
The entire point (although probably not your ultimate goal) of your email is to get readers to click on links and visit your website. Include two or three links in the body of your email and make sure they are relevant without being too obvious. Lead readers to click the links rather than directly point it out and find something more effective than “click here” to use as your anchor text.
Two to three links is the ideal number. Too few links and your email won't prove effective at driving traffic, while too many links will detract from the actual content of the email. If your email is very short then offer two links, or offer three links within longer messages. Contextual links (that is, those that appear within the body of the email rather than at the end) are usually significantly more effective.
Check and double check that links work and direct to the correct page. Once you've done this, have somebody else check them too. The number of marketing emails that have failed because of broken or incorrect links is alarmingly high and this is not a trap that you want to fall into.


8 - Choose The Best Time To Send Your Email
The time you send your email can have a significant impact on its effectiveness. During the night, most people's emails fill up. In a lot of cases, this can mean that your reader will be faced with tens of emails in the morning, many of them rubbish. This leaves a very real chance that they will simply ignore or delete your email without noticing who sent it, what it is about, or whether they have any interest in reading it.
Consider your target market and when they are most likely to be sat in front of their email. Those with a global market may find this more difficult because of the time difference, but otherwise bear this in mind too. Not every website or marketing email is geared towards residents from the same country.
9 - Test Email
Initially, send a test email to yourself, friends, family, or colleagues. This is more to determine that it arrives looking as expected. Once you have done this and are happy with how your email looks, you should then move on to send a second test email to a small selection of your list. This gives you ample opportunity to make any last minutes changes or tweaks according to how this small test run performs.
You might even consider sending several tests out to different groups, if you have a large enough list. This enables you to test the subject line, content, and product price, by making alterations before each test run. Be sure to test the different components separately, though, so that you can determine what needs changing and what works well.
A test email also gives you chance to check that you are set up and able to track the results and any other information you want to track. A good email marketing service will do this by default, because the test email can prove to be one of the single most effective ways to improve the performance of a one-off email shot.
10 - Monitor, Optimize, And Start Again
Being careful not to send emails too frequently, you should send regular communication to your list. An unloved list will be more likely to unsubscribe and readers become most responsive after approximately seven items of communication from you. Monitor results, check bounce rates, and look for ways that your campaign could be improved.
Once you've found the best ways to improve a campaign make the improvements and begin the procedure again from the beginning. This process of monitoring, optimizing, and starting again will help to increase exposure, improve brand awareness, and generally improve results and profit levels.
Why Your List Is So Important
A list can last you a lifetime and it is possible to continue selling to the same list members over and over again. In fact, once a list member purchases from you, and presuming that everything goes smoothly during and after the sale, they will be more inclined to purchase from you in the future. You will have won their trust, gained their favor, and they can be relied upon to help you with extra sales in the future.
Look after your list and your list will look after your profits.



About the Author: Matt Jackson, founder of WebWiseWords, offers SEO copywriting and a range of other web content writing services to increase traffic and improve conversions for your website.

Google Sacrifices Clicks To Increase Advertiser ROI

Tuesday, March 04, 2008Wall St.'s CPC panic might be premature

Google investors are still at the table eating their losses after comScore's report that paid click revenues were flat in the month of January. Impending recession was the chief suspect among speculators, but nobody finds any real support for that. More astute observers noticed that revenue flattened very soon after webmasters began reporting on decreases in AdSense earnings.

Editor's Note: It's hard to think of a time in history where an advertiser actively sought to decrease the number of referrals coming through the system. Perhaps it should be considered that Google is working to qualify buyers the way offline salespeople do. Is this a positive development? Give us your thoughts in the comments section.
Remember that? I'm sure you do. Our readers had lots and lots to say about it, and posed lots and lots of theories, again with the economy as the prime culprit. But what if I told you that revenues were flat and Google appears to think that's a good thing? It's all about the quality of search ad real estate, baby.
A leading theory is that Google decreased the clickable area of AdSense ads in order to cut down on accidental clicks. They did that about mid-November, just before some publishers noticed a drop in earnings, which was just weeks before comScore released a report saying AdSense revenues had flattened.
If decreasing the clickable area of an Adsense ad is the direct cause, why would a smart company like Google do such a thing? The answer posed for that question is that Google plans to make it up by creating a higher value on the clicks that do not happen accidentally. This could be a win win win for Google, Adwords buyers and Adsense partners, as referrals cost more, but are more likely to convert.
Convert visitors with Google Analytics - free
ComScore also believes that the flattening in January revenues is due to a new Google strategy to raise the value of clicks, i.e., fewer clicks for more money.
In lieu of economic causes, comScore's Magid Abraham and James Lamberti write, "The evidence suggests that the softness in Google’s paid click metrics is primarily a result of Google’s own quality initiatives that result in a reduction in the number of paid listings and, therefore, the opportunity for paid clicks to occur. Add your comment.
"In addition, the reduction in the incidence of paid listings existed progressively throughout 2007 and was successfully offset by improved revenue per click. It is entirely possible, if not likely, that the improved revenue yield will continue to deliver strong revenue growth in the first quarter. Separately, there is no evidence of a slowdown in consumers clicking on paid search ads for rest of the US search market, which comprises 40% of all searches."
So even though there were fewer clicks in 2007, Google made more money. It looks like they're trying to repeat that in 2008.
Bill Tancer at Hitwise similarly found that if declines in revenues were economic-based, or an indicator of recession, then Google traffic to retail sites might be among the first hit. However, Google traffic to shopping and classified sites was actually up year over year.
No slowdown among RimmKaufman clients, either, says Alan RimmKaufman. "Across our clients, comparing February 2008 to February 2007, we did not observe evidence of an advertising or sales slow-down: median same-client Google ad-spend was up 22% year-over-year, and corresponding same-client resulting PPC sales were up 26%."
>>> article continued here...
» Comment HereSubscribe to our Newsfeed

About the Author: Jason Lee Miller is a WebProNews editor and writer covering

How To Guru-Proof Yourself Against Big Product Lauches!

By Titus Hoskins (c) 2008


Even for those of us who have been dabbling in the Internet marketing arena for a decade or more, all these latest frenzied "Info-Product Launches" are downright scary. In recent months it is not only the product launches themselves that have become a little frightening, but also the rate at which these product launches keep bombarding all of us in the marketing world. It has become so relentless you feel like you're an extra, ducking for cover in some war movie; Saving Private Ryan comes quickly to mind.

Once upon a time, not too long ago, you might get hit with one or two really major launches in a year. Now it seems like we are getting two or three a week. Those actively looking for good, solid marketing information will be totally drenched in the latest "How To" ebooks, videos and courses. Plus, throw in all those debuting membership sites, seminars, and private coaching sessions and even seasoned marketers are in serious danger of getting "Info Product Launch Burn-out."




For the beginning wannabe online marketer it is a virtual mine field. One misstep and you can wake up, scratching your head: did I actually pay that much for a marketing product I can barely understand, let alone put into practice. Don't get fooled by all the promises of instant wealth or quick riches. If getting rich was as easy as 123... we would all be sporting Donald Trump hairdos.

To make matters worst, all the latest marketing trends seem to be promoting the laziest ways possible to make a quick killing on the Internet. With this simple marketing tactic or that SEO trick, even the dimmest light bulb on the planet can have roaring online success without even breaking into a sweat or using up any of those precious brain cells. Heaven forbid.

The marketing hype has become so palpable and obnoxious it's like a rich relative who won't shut up about how much he's earning while sitting in his pj's and playing with his PDA.

"How I made 1 million in 52 minutes." "How I made 100 grand with only a list of 45 subscribers..."

Who is to blame for all this "Info Product Feeding Frenzy"? Well we won't mention names but these marketers are not shy about what they're doing. Just the opposite, they brag and boast about how they can manipulate, control and whip prospective customers into such a buying frenzy just to see who can sell the largest amount of product in the shortest amount of time.


Some savvy and ruthless online marketers have turned this whole launch process into an art form, offering flashy videos with real valuable content in order to hook potential customers and capture their email contact information. The info-product launch flows out like a well-rehearsed opera:
Giving the specific date and countdown clock showing when the product goes live.


Incorporating a blog to keep everyone, including the search engines, informed.


Strictly limiting the product or buying time to increase demand.


Even manipulating you to buy the product before someone else beats you to it.


Having top-name JV partners whipping their devoted followers/subscribers with extra bonus offers.


Even enticing said affiliate partners with top prizes from ipods to sports cars.


Everything is in marketing sync for the big day.
Some of the top marketing pros and experts are now even offering courses on how to do exactly that: courses showing HOW you can warm up and psychologically cultivate a whole list of prospective buyers by giving away very valuable information in videos, reports and online calls... all to make that final sale.


There is nothing wrong with making a sale. There is nothing wrong with making a hundred sales, but there is something intrinsically wrong when you know in your heart of hearts what you're selling will never be used by half the people who are buying it.

How many of those sales are from naive or desperate buyers looking for a 'quick fix' or 'easy ride' to the good life? How many even if they have the money to buy your product will never have the will power and fortitude to carry out the marketing game plan in your product?

How many people are being fooled by all this marketing hype and rhetoric... how many will actually benefit from buying your product? Makes one wonder if that old saying is really true that in any gold rush, it is the people selling to the miners who make the most money.

All of these marketing products should not only come with an income disclaimer, which all the marketers prudently include, if only by some magical power we could see displayed on each product in big bold letters the tell-tell statistic: "How many buyers will actually read/ view/ use and ultimately benefit from the marketing info-product they have just purchased?"

That would be one statistic worth discovering. Of course, there's no way of knowing, but one could argue this number is quite large. Otherwise, if you believe all the claims on these products, half the world would be Internet marketers and rolling in dough.

Online marketing is not easy. It can't be done overnight. There is a learning curve and you must pay your dues. Be extra wary of any short cuts and anyone offering them. Magic formulas do exist and while buying the latest marketing product and information can definitely make the journey easier; always remember, no product can make that journey for you. No product or system can automatically make you rích. Don't be fooled by flashy headlines, smart videos and the latest next big thing.

Nor can anyone say these info-products don't have real value or merit. They do! They are of tremendous value to those who can benefit from them. If you're marketing on the web and your sites/marketing are earning you $200-$300 a day or an hour - even just a small tidbit of information or advice can dramatically increase your íncome. Over time the amount paid for any info-product will be returned to you a hundred-fold. Sometimes it has nothing to do with the info-product itself; a marketer might mention a piece of software or program he/she uses in their work that when applied to your own can make a big difference in how much you earn. Been there, done that.

For everything is relative; even the large amounts charged for some of these seminars, coaching sessions or info-products can be justified if the buyer gets his money's worth and then some. It all depends on the position/angle you're coming from and how much the information impacts your online business, which will really determine if one benefits from a particular info-product or not.

So the next time you're bombarded by the latest info-product by some of the world's best online marketers... STOP, take a deep breath and step back from all the marketing hype and manipulation. Then honestly ask yourself: How can I use this information? Will I use this information? Perhaps, most importantly, can I really afford this product at this time or can it wait?

If you decide to buy, protect yourself by thoroughly checking out the marketer's reputation beforehand. A money-back guarantee is only as good as the marketer's word. If there is a payment option - take this route because you will lose less money if refunds are not honored.

Above all, if you're buying the product because you believe it will solve all your problems and will virtually give you the path to the easy life, just remember this... you have to do some work. You have to put in some sweat equity. You have to do your own homework; no one else can do it for you. It doesn't work that way. Sure some smart, successful marketer can sell you the answers, but you still have to write the test yourself.

Like most things in life, there are shortcuts; but you have to take them yourself in order to get to where you want to go. Online marketing is no different.
About The Author
The author, a former artist and teacher, is now a full-time online marketer who has numerous websites, including two sites on Internet marketing. For the latest web marketing tools try: BizwareMagic or MarketingToolGuide

2008 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

SEO Basics in 45 Minutes

By Kalena Jordan (c) 2008

As most people who read this newsletter will know, Jill Whalen is a pioneer in search engine optimization. Nicknamed the First Lady of Search, Jill founded the site HighRankings.com in 1995. Today High Rankings has grown to be one of the pre-eminent SEO companies in the US. Jill's company is dedicated to educating its clients and sharing its knowledge with the industry at large through the High Rankings Advisor newsletter, the High Rankings Forum and her in-house seminars.

In her presentation for Webstock 2008, Jill gave the audience a 45 minute tutorial in SEO Basics. First up, Jill discussed what SEO isn't. Some of the most common SEO myths she exposed included: PPC Myths: PPC ads will help organic rankings PPC ads will hurt organic rankings Tag Myths: you must have a keyword-rich domain you must have keyword-rich page URLs heading tags are necessary (H1, H2 etc.) you need to use keywords in meta keyword tags, in particular you need to use keywords that are included in your page content.
Jill says that it's actually better to use the keyword tag to include misspellings and other keyword varieties that you don't have in your pages. using keywords in comment tags will hurt your rankings. Content Myths: page copy must be a certain # of words. Jill actually made up the 250 word limit a few years ago and it's stuck, but there is really no set limit to please search engines. that you need to bold/italicize your target keywords. that you must use a specific keyword density. Jill says that keyword density tools are ridiculous. that you must optimize a page for a single keyword or phrase per page. Instead, try to optimize each page for 3-5 phrases that are related, so that your copy reads better than repeating one phrase over and over. that you need to optimize for the long-tail searches. You don't generally need to optimize for these - engines will find them on their own. duplicate content will get your site penalized. There is not a penalty as such, but engines will filter out duplicates in lieu of the original copy (or what they think is the original).
Design Myths: your HTML code must validate to W3C. Not even Google.com validates! your navigation must be text links not images. Surprisingly, graphical navigation is fine as long as you use ALT tags. you can't use Flash. It's fine to use Flash, as long as it is one element of your page, not a complete Flash site. Use a text-based site too if using a Flash site. certain design techniques are black hat. Javascript code is legitimate, not just used by black hats. Link Building Myths: that Google's link: command is accurate. It's not a useful tool. Use Google Webmaster Tools or the Yahoo link command instead. that reciprocal links won't count. From the right site, reciprocal links are fine, even very helpful. that pages are ranked in PageRank order in the search results. They're not. Google Toolbar PageRank is not accurate anyway so ignore it. you must be in DMOZ or Yahoo Directory to get good Google rankings. In Jill’s opinion, the Yahoo Directory is not worth the money these days. Submitting, Crawling and Indexing Myths: that you need to submit URLs to engines. Provided you have a link to your site, you will be found and indexed. that you need a Google Sitemap. Not needed for the average site. It won't change your site rank. that you need to update your site frequently. frequent spidering helps rankings. Not true. that you need multiple sites. This won't help in the engines and creates more maintenance work. that you need doorway pages. Jill says this is so 1995!
SEO Company Myths: that a #1 ranking will always lead to more traffic or sales. The good rankings need to be for keywords and phrases that people are actually searching for. that the company can place pages in certain positions. Not possible, unless they’re using Pay Per Click or sponsored spots. that your rankings will tank if you stop paying the company. Rubbish! that they have a "proprietary method" of SEO. They’re lying! that they have a "special relationship" with Google. Again, they're lying. Google has no relationships with organic SEO companies that Jill is aware of. that they can increase your rankings without doing any on-page work. Run away! Next, Jill defined what SEO is. Her definition of SEO is "making your site the best it can be for your site visitors AND the search engines". She made the point that search engines need to:- Find- Crawl- Index- Determine relevancy- show results So you should keep these top of mind when designing and SEOing your site.
Jill also made the point that search engines don't know you. So you should disclose what you sell and who you are in plain language that naturally incorporates the keyword phrases. Dumb down your pages for users. What search engines want is good content. If you're not getting good traffic from your pages, they're broken, she says. In a nutshell, make sure your pages speak to your target audience and solve their problems.
Jill then discussed how to choose keywords to target on your site. She recommended brainstorming with friends, family and business colleagues and creating a seed list of keywords. Then take that list and run it through keyword research tools such as WordTracker or Keyword Discovery and even Google AdWords to determine the best keywords and phrases to target.
Jill says there are three types of keyword phrases: 1) General and highly competitive terms - not good choices.2) Long tail - uncompetitive terms - generally no need to SEO for. 3) Relevant and specific terms, which are the best to choose because they highly searched, yet are targeted enough to bring qualified traffic. Next, Jill explained where to put your keywords. She recommended putting them in: - anchor text- clickable image alt attributes (alt tags)- headlines- body text copy- title tags (Don't make your titles less than 10 words, she says.) - meta description tags Jill finished up by teaching the group how to measure SEO success. She said that high rankings are not the best measure of success because you might be ranking for phrases nobody is searching on. Instead you should be looking for increased targeted traffíc to your site and more conversions. Use your web stats to give you the clues as to whether your site and your SEO is working.
As for the future of SEO, well despite the rumors that SEO is dead, Jill doesn't think that the big engines will switch to exclusively paid listings any time soon. In her opinion, there will always be some free ways to get listed so there will always be a need for SEO. In the same vein, a crawler-friendly site will always get good results and off page criteria (e.g. links) will always be important.

About The Author

Article by Kalena Jordan, one of the first search engine optimization experts in Australia, who is well known and respected in the industry, particularly in the U.S. As well as running a daily Search Engine Advice Column, Kalena manages Search Engine College - an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and other Search Engine Marketing subjects.

Six Proven Secrets to Writing A Trash Proof Press Release

By Bill Stoller (c) 2008 PublicityInsider.com

In baseball, it's said that you know an umpire is top-notch when you never notice his presence. If he's doing his job, he won't call attention to himself in any way. It's much the same for the writer of a press release. When the recipient of a press release focuses only on its content -- and not on its creation -- the writer has succeeded. With that in mind, here's how to develop a style that can help give you a big edge in placing your press releases.

1) Master News Style By Reading News Stories
The folks who write wire copy for the Associated Press are masters at presenting information without calling attention to themselves. Read all the AP wire copy you can and get a sense of the rhythm and flow of their writing. Examine their choice of words and sentence structure (typically, they choose the simplest way of saying things) and their overall tone of solid objectivity. This is the style to which you should aspire.

2) Write a Great Lead
The lead paragraph in a press release should, theoretically, be able to stand alone as a news item. A standard news lead answers the Five W's -- Who? What? Where? When? Why? Successfully answer those five questions in one paragraph and you've summarized everything beautifully.
Bad lead:
The new Acme X100 is drawing raves from customers, who call it the best thing to happen to the flanging industry since the X99.
Good lead:
Philadelphia, August 15, 2007-- Calling it a "milestone day for our industry", the Acme Company unveiled the first flanger capable of creating widgets using only solar power. According to Acme President Joe Blow, the X100 is expected to find wide use in the developing world, where access to traditional electric power is unreliable.
The Five W's are answered! Who: the Acme Company. What: theintroduction of the solar-powered X100. Where: in Philadelphia (the headquarters for our fictional company). When: August 15. And, most important, Why: for use in the developing world.

Remember this: in almost every release that's successful, what put it over the top was the answer to "Why?". You must make plain the significance of your news by answering that question succinctly and without hype!

3) Write in Third Person
Perhaps it's a silly convention, but press releases really should be written as if they're coming from an objective outsider to your company, not from within your business. Of course, the journalist knows better, but nonetheless, they expect releases to be written in the third person. In short, here's the difference between first person and third person:
=> First person: We've developed the Acme X100.It's our most advanced model ever.
=> Third person: Acme Industries has developed the X100, which a company spokesperson called its "most advanced ever"

4) Attribute All Opinions
Never flatly state an opinion. If you want to state an opinion or, as in the above example, make a claim, always attribute it to a representative of the company (which very well may end up to be you!). Anything apart from entirely factual info (dates, store availability, product features, biographical information, etc.) should be attributed. Again, the best way to get a feel for this is to read wire copy. Start sorting out the things a reporter feels comfortable with, including without attribution and things for which he uses a named source.

5) Use the Inverted Pyramid
On the first day of Journalism 101, aspiring scribes learn about the Inverted Pyramid. Basically, it's way of organizing information so that the most important information is at the top -- the widest part of the Inverted Pyramid -- and, as you funnel down to the narrowest point, the information becomes less and less vital. There's a good reason for this: if a reporter's 10 paragraph story gets cut to 6 paragraphs because of space considerations, the reader will still be informed of the most important news. What's cut will be background, quotes and other nonessential material. When writing a press release, the Inverted Pyramid is equally important. First, it's the style the journalist is comfortable with and second, it assures that even if a rushed reporter can only read the first couple of paragraphs, she'll get enough info to decide whether to use the release or not. If you bury the best part of your release in the fourth paragraph, the recipient may never make it that far.

6) Remove all "Stoppers"
A "stopper" is something that will stop a journalist in her tracks and distract her attention. Once that happens, your release is toast. The point of your press release: to present information in the least obtrusive way possible. Consider it this way: the journalist isn't dumb -- she knows full well that you've sent her the press release for purely commercial reasons, hoping to get publicity that will make you more money. She can live with that as long as [a] there's something in it for her (a good story) and [b] she's not reminded of your commercial desires too often. A "stopper" breaks the suspension of disbelief needed for this little dance to be successful. It's the boom mike showing up in the frame of a movie -- once you've seen it, it's hard to convince yourself that you're really experiencing something that happened during, say, the Middle Ages. Here are some "stoppers" to avoid:
=> Clunky language. Journalists keep their language pretty simple. Long words, compound sentences and lofty, pretentious phrases are no-no's. Keep your sentences short. Don't try to present more than one idea in a paragraph. Avoid words you wouldn't use in everyday circumstances.
=> Hype and puffery. The ultimate "stopper". Confusing press release copy with advertising copy is a pervasive problem with businesspeople. Don't call yourself the greatest, the hottest, the coolest, the most unique or anything of the sort. If you must make a claim of superiority for your product, service or company, attribute it. Acme President Joe Blow said the X100 "has the opportunity to revolutionize the industry" is much better than The revolutionary Acme X100 is the greatest industrial advance since the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk.
=> Trademark Symbols. Including TM or copyright symbols that scream, "hey, check me out! I'm a press release! I come from a business! The legal department made me include this stuff!"
The bottom line: write like a journalist, avoid the stoppers and answer the Five W's and you'll succeed!

About The Author Bill Stoller, the "Publicity Insider", has spent two decades as one of America's top publicists. Now, through his website, eZine and subscription newsletter, Free Publicity: The Newsletter for PR-Hungry Businesses he's sharing -- for the very first time -- his secrets of scoring big publicity. For free articles, including our no-cost report, "Press Release Secrets", go to: PublicityInsider.com.

Top 10 Ways To Raise your Site In Google

Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008

No matter how much some people claim the SEO industry is a den of snake-oil salesmen, there are still definite ways webmasters can improve their rankings, and thus their visibility in Google's search results.

Editor's Note: This by no means a comprehensive list of SEO techniques employed by the industry to get better rankings in Google. If so, it wouldn't exactly be an industry, would it? That means there's a lot we're leaving out. What do you recommend? Let us know in the comments section.
This isn't a manipulation game—Google absolutely hates that game and will punish you for it—which is perhaps what the darker element of the SEO world sells. Good, in-bounds SEO is made up of smart, user-and-search-engine friendly techniques. Think of SEO as a performance-enhancing drug—one that won't get you kicked out of baseball.
That being said, there are tons of things webmasters can do to help their sites perform better in search, so this list is not by a long shot finished. It is, though, what we think are the top ten strategies for better search engine—and by "search engine" I mean "Google" – placement.
1. Title tags
Listed by others as one of the Big Three (tags, links, and text), we're putting title tags at the top. The words in the title tag appear in the link that pops up in the search result. This is where you tell the search engine (and the would-be visitor) as succinctly as possible what needs to be known: company or publication name; relevant, targeted keyword or keyword phrase taken from the text of the page. Each page should have a title tag as Google ranks each page individually, not the site in its entirety.
2. Content
The order of the Big Three is very debatable, but really they work as parts of the whole; not one of them can be left out if the machine is to work properly. In this case, you probably understand that content should be quality, however that is defined, but it should also be rich in the keywords you are targeting to drive search traffic. That doesn't mean just throwing them in there like you're cooking up a pot of SEO gumbo, though. Keyword use and keyword variation should natural and not overstuffed. For the visual text part of the page, focus on working in the relevant words and phrases you want people to find you for.
3. Quality Links
Or more specifically, backlinks, links to your site from outside sources. Links are your letters of recommendation. If nobody's recommending you, or the recommendations seem phony, then it won't work. Authority links are weighted most heavily, of course, so try to get industry-related authority sites to link to your site.
Convert visitors with Google Analytics - free
4. Quantity Links
Authority (high quality) links are by nature more difficult to get, so you'll have to start somewhere else unless you already have the brand recognition you need from square one. Many SEOers propose "link-swaps" to each other and it used to be common trade to buy and sell links. But as Google demonstrated last Fall, you can't buy Google's love that way. In fact, you'll get the opposite of love. So, try to get as many links as you can from industry peers the good old-fashioned way – by promoting. Submit links to respected directories like DMOZ and Yahoo, as well. A large burst of low-quality, non-authoritative, or bad-neighborhood links, though, can do a lot more harm than good; so keep things natural.
5. URL
The importance of the URL is often debated, but one argument seems to make more sense than the others. Search engines don't like too many parameters in the URL (easy to confuse the spiders with & and ?) and people can't read those long URLs and tell what they mean at a glance either. The people aspect here is especially important, because they're the ones clicking and they need to understand where a link leads them at a millisecond glance. Lesson: keywords in the URL are a good idea.
6. Spider Food
Search spiders eat HTML, not Flash. They eat text, not pictures. Make the spiders happy with HTML and lots of text to eat.
7. Site Architecture
There's a lot to consider here, but the goal is creating a site spiders can easily access, a site that tells them where to go and what to index. Sitemaps are vital for this purpose, as is proper use of Robots.txt. Just this week, Google's Webmaster Trends Analyst Susan Moskwa posted 7 must-read Webmaster Central blog posts about these very topics.
8. Frequently Updated Content
You could start a site, slap some content on it, and let it sit there in cyber space. It'll be indexed, most likely. But you really expand your credibility as a devoted, relevant source if you update regularly. In addition to spiders, it gives people a reason to come back, too.
9. Start a Blog
A great way to establish yourself as an authority voice on the Internet is to start a blog about the industry you're in. Maintaining a blog means another entry point with regularly updated content that eventually with some authority helps pull up the main site via targeted links to the site, or specific pages within the site. It's not a spam blog, which will be zapped eventually, if there's useful content on it and legitimate linking.
10. Don't Forget Humans
This is so important, it probably should be higher up on the list. There's an art to designing a site that is friendly to both Google crawlers and the people you ultimately want to convert. Without people, what's the point? So first design for them, and then tweak to please the spiders, not the other way around. Jakob Nielsen is a usability guru you'll want to check out. He's been telling people how make user-centric websites since web directories were still phonebooks—you know, on paper.

About the Author: Jason Lee Miller is a WebProNews editor and writer covering business and technology.

Keep Your Online Business Alive in 2008

By Chris Crum - Thu, 02/07/2008 - 5:09pm.You don't have to die no matter what they tell you...
Recently, Vitabase CEO Greg Howlett predicted the death of the little guy in online business in 2008. This is a man that is responsible for getting two multi-million dollar companies off the ground, so it's not as if he has no experience in the field. "It is simply going to become more and more unfeasible for small budgets to compete online," he says. If his prediction is true, then what are you going to do to get the most out of your small budget?Review Your Marketing PlanStep back and evaluate your marketing techniques. It is up to you to assess the situation and figure out which methods are working for you and which aren't. Are there steps you can take to improve the ones that aren't or are they just lost causes? Sometimes a method can seem like a lost cause when the proper amount of time isn't put into it. Take social media marketing for example. Time is money, so if you don't have the time to dedicate to a particular marketing method or the money to pay someone else to do it, perhaps that particular method is not for you, but I will say, if you have the resources, exploring as many marketing options as possible is probably going to work to your benefit. Assess ExpensesTake another step even further back, and look at your business spending practices. Look for ways to cut costs so that money can be put to more helpful purposes (such as more marketing). Look at your office supplies. Can you get better deals from other suppliers? Do you have employees that are constantly lacking something to do? Perhaps it is time to consolidate. It sounds harsh, but you're running a business, not a charity. Don't make any hasty decisions in this area if there just happens to be some temporary downtime, but evaluate your employee/workload ratio. These are just a couple examples. If you look hard enough, you'll probably find all kinds of ways to save money here and there.NetworkGet to know people in your niche, especially the big wigs. Go to conferences. Participate in blog and social media conversations. Frequent forums related to your niche. Brand yourself as an expert in your field and become known. These are ways to build credibility and those with credibility will have a better chance of survival.Perhaps "death" is a bit of a strong word in the context of Greg's prediction, but he's right in that it's not going to be easy. Being budget conscious is as important as ever and yours should be taken into consideration whenever making a business decision. What advice do you have to keep an online business alive in 2008?

About the author:Chris is a staff writer and content coordinator for iEntry, Inc. which publishes titles such as SmallBusinessNewz and WebProNews.

Internet And Business Online And Stage Fright

Entireweb Newsletter * February 7, 2008 * ISSUE #412
If you can't see images, click here to view this newsletter online * Printer-friendly version
To ensure that you receive all our newsletters to your inbox, please add newsletter@entireweb.com to your address book.


If you're a person who hates to even think about getting up on stage and performing for an audience then you may have some understanding of what it is like for some to consider starting their own online business.
For many people who experience stage fright there are two dynamics at work. The first is a feeling that they would love to be able to perform. In fact some might even believe they have everything it takes to be a great performer. The second is that they are fully convinced they would freeze on stage and not be able to perform. The potential embarrassment keeps them sidelined.


The idea of business ownership is very similar. If you visit enough brick and mortar stores you can begin to identify individuals who are gifted in multiple areas. They would be prime candidates for business ownership, but in may cases they would never seriously consider the idea although they may be equally certain they could make a business successful.
In most cases this dynamic may be attributed to the fact that the individual has never owned a business previously and may be uncertain that their present skills are enough to develop a business.
It may also have to do with a constantly shifting future timeline. For instance an individual may have a date of five years fixed in their mind to begin their own business, but that date is constantly on fast forward and the business idea never seems to be developed.
This process can be a bit like agreeing to play a part in a locally produced musical. You attend all the rehearsals and memorize your lines. You learn the music and are outfitted with a costume. However, after the dress rehearsal you go home and never return for the actual performance.
In the case of developing an online business a prospective owner can look at the potential of site development, hosting packages, product availability and a myriad of other issues and then just when family and friends think the business will launch the entire thought process stops and the business idea is simply referred to as "the business I could have started."


It really is a bold step to develop a business. You are assuming a variety of risks and rewards and you are placing a dream on a pedestal for all to see. What happens if no one likes your business idea? What will you think if the idea is ridiculed at some point? Wouldn't it be easier to just forget about it?
There are countless potential business owners who have shelved great ideas because they have developed a case of 'stage fright'. They would like to own a business of their own, but they find more comfort in the idea that playing it safe (and out of the spotlight) may be the only option they could handle.
Stage fright comes when anyone has to perform in a setting they are not comfortable with, but the great performers always find a way to ensure that the show will 'go on'.
You can be one of the great performers you just need to find the right stage and then confidently work through your performance.



About the Author: Scott Lindsay - Use the Website Builder with HighPowerSites.com or the Easy Website Builder at BuildAGreatSite.com. Make Money and Sell Ebooks at BooksWealth.com.

Is Your Business Ready For Valentines Day ?

by Chris Crum

Valentine's Day is in 7 days. If you have not already done so, it is time to really start thinking about whether or not this holiday can have an impact on your business.

Now is the time to target couples. What are you selling that would appeal to them? It's time to start promoting whatever that may be. Some businesses will have to try a little harder to figure that out than others, but if you look hard enough, you might be surprised how you can use the holiday to gain business.

Valentine's gifts don't have to be limited to jewelry and chocolate. Use the holiday as an excuse to have a sale.

Marketing based on events captures attention.

Like the Super Bowl, Valentine's Day is just another event you can take advantage of with your marketing direction.

Grow Your Business With Our Email Marketing Service - 60 Day Free Trial

If you sell jewelry or chocolates or run a restaurant, then you should have no problem coming up with promotional ideas, but if you sell cars, hardware, plumbing services, or other things not commonly associated with the romantic holiday, it doesn't mean you can't use the day as an excuse to offer a special or run ads based on the event.

It may seem ridiculous to have a Valentine's Day special on plumbing, but why not? I can see the ad now. "Get her the gift she's really been wanting...get that toilet fixed." Send Valentine's Day coupons. Chances are, they're going to need a discount after shelling out hundreds or thousands on jewelry.

A few things to keep in mind when marketing for Valentine's day or any other holiday:
plan ahead of time (it's getting a little close now, but if you hurry you can still get something together)
appeal to as broad a demographic as possible within the holiday
make your offer worth checking out
Do you have any other ideas to help get some extra business out of a holiday? If so, please share in the comments.

About the Author:
Chris is a staff writer and content coordinator for iEntry, Inc. which publishes titles such as SmallBusinessNewz and WebProNews.

Starting A Small Business Blog

Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008
If you run a small business you may want to consider starting your own blog to raise awareness about what you do.

There are some basic strategies you can use to start your blog. Consider who your audience is and write on subjects that will make them want to read your blog. Select a blog service that helps you build traffic and sends alerts if a reader comments on one of your posts.

Use an angle that will be compelling to your readers and at the same time be sincere in your views. Provide links on your blog to other sites that are related to your business and read the other blogs to stay informed about events or news that is happening in your field. Eventually other bloggers will start linking to your blog.

Keep your blog up to date so readers don't become frustrated with outdated content and will keep returning to see what you are saying. Keep tabs on your traffic to your site and don't be afraid to try other ideas to capture a larger audience.

Search engines like Google or Yahoo are another part of attracting readers to your blog. To generate traffic, use keywords in your headlines and blog postings that are related to your business.

Use an RSS feed so first time visitors to your blog will comeback again. If you connect readers with your blog's RSS feed your content will be syndicated whenever you write a new post.

Respond to comments you receive about your blog post even if they are negative or offer a perspective you don't agree with. Use your own voice and be honest.

Here is a link for a summary of five free blog services.

If you are not comfortable with writing your own blog you can turn to someone who works for your small business to write for your blog or a family member or friend who knows and understands the business. Also it's not a bad idea to have an occasional guest blogger write a post for your blog for variety and to fill in if you are not available.

Market Motive - Get A 24 Hour Free Pass!

Blogging is not just for large corporations it can benefit your small business by helping to create your brand. Even if you don't think you have a brand the truth is you do. Your customers or clients will view your blog as something real that shows how focused you are on the services you provide and can establish your business as an industry leader.

Here are some main reasons to start a small business blog.

1. A blog is an economic way to market your small business and enhance your brand, reputation and sales.

2. Blogs can provide you with immediate customer feedback. If you receive negative feedback look at it as a way to improve your business.

3. Blogs are easier and less costly to manage than a Web site for your small business.

4. Blogs can help attract new customers along with opening up the possibilities for new partnerships.

5. Blogs can help you and others learn and communicate about what your business does.


» Comment on this article

About the Author:
Mike Sachoff is a staff writer for SmallBusinessNewz and WebProNews.

Google Leads Others In CPC Inflation

By Jason Lee Miller

Controls 77% of search advertising spend


Google takes in nearly 77% of the total search advertising spend, as of Q4 2007, and raked in 97% of all ad spend increases, according to a study by Efficient Frontier. Despite Nielsen's recent report that Google search share had slightly decreased, numbers like these on the advertising revenue side could mean good things for a flagging Google stock price.

We'll know more about that when Google releases its earnings report on Thursday.

Efficient Frontier conducted its study by tracking campaigns of clients between Q4 2006 and Q4 2007, covering 17 billion ad impressions and 270 million clicks on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. The clients were advertisers in the Finance, Travel and Automotive sectors.

Google Leads In Search Spend and CPC Inflation

Google's share of the search spend increased by 8.6% last year, growing from 70.5% to 76.6%. ROI on Google increased by 7.5%.

That kind of dominance is a blessing and a curse for advertisers as Google's search share presents a cornered market and larger audiences, but Efficient Frontier also says Google's universal search and expanded broad match updates didn't do much to affect campaign performance.

Thanks to increased competition and a change to the AdWords algorithm in August, top positions have become costlier in terms of CPC bid prices. In fact, Google led the other two search engines in CPC inflation last year as CPC prices spiked 22%, half of which occurred in Q4 following the AdWords algorithm update.

The AdWords algorithm update did not appear to have an effect on click-through-rates, which remained steady in 2007 until a 12.5% increase in CTR in Q4 2007. Google penalizing sites with poor landing pages is thought to be a direct factor in the increased CTRs.

Despite the increased cost on Google, Efficient Frontier still names Google as the engine of choice because of the sheer volume of referrals it generates.

Yahoo ROI Up, Search Assist Kills CTR

It sounds like mixed results for Yahoo. While advertisers enjoyed a 39.4% increase in ROI since Panama was completed in February 2007, the overall ad spend on Yahoo declined by nearly 4%, leaving the company with just 17.9% of the search spend.

The ROI wasn't enough to make up for the declining volume of searches on Yahoo, which led to lesser investing in Yahoo search advertising. In addition, Yahoo Search Assist, which allows users to refine searches, possibly led to a 34% drop in CTR last year.

MSN Is King of the Molehill

The good news for MSN is that it leads the other engines in ROI and CTRs. The bad news is, hardly anybody using it, which means there's less competition affecting ROI and CTR. MSN pulled in 5% of search engine ad spending last year.

But things are looking up. Though CTRs were 50% higher on MSN than Google last year, that statistic actually declined 16.5% between Q4 2006 and Q4 2007. Efficient Frontier suggests increased competition as a reason for declining CTRs on MSN.


News Tags: Search, Advertising, Yahoo, Google, SEO, Panama, SEM, ROI, AdWords, CTR, Microsoft
About the author:
Jason Lee Miller is a WebProNews editor and writer covering business and technology.

How to Write a Famous Blog

Blogs, or web logs, are one of the fastest-growing means of mass communication. Articles about blogs, a form of online public journal, have appeared in the New York Times, Time, and Newsweek. The "blogosphere" has affected elections and corporate policy, and some blogs have thousands of readers a day. Moreover, they are fun to read, and writing them can be enjoyable too.

Steps: Go to a simple blog creation site. A few common sites for blogging are: MuseCrafters.com, vox.com, wordpress.com, Inthewire.com, Blogger.com, livejournal.com, journalhome.com, freeopendiary.com, or the ever popular Myspace.com. You can also try using a Google search for free blog hosting sites, and you'll easily find one that fits your needs.
Choose one that appears to be "User Friendly" for you. I've known a lot of people who start a blog not knowing a single thing about making their site individual to them, and, let's face it, HTML codes are a hard trick to learn, so check it out. If it looks a little too hard to create, and navigate the blog site and you're confused, then don't use that site. I tend to use Inthewire.com, because even though it may go down for a few weeks at a time, it's the most user friendly.
Choose what type of blog you want to create. Carve out a niche and pick a catchy title that captures the essence of your blog. Remember that a blog, like your clothes, is an extension of you. For most people your blog site may be the only thing they identify you with and you want to be sure that who you are on the inside is reflected on the outside...er...inside of net...you know what I mean.
Some claim that posting at least once every day is best; Some also say that three quick posts a day are far more effective than one long post every three days. Others claim that when they update a blog every other day they get more readers than when updating two or three entries in a single day. Whatever you do remember that for most bloggers, it's all about reading and many of them would prefer content rather than quantity. Once you get started you'll find that you attract a certain readership, and you may have to adjust how you work your journal to appease and keep the readers you've obtained.
Some recommend putting together about a month's worth of material before you tell anyone about your blog. I recommend that you just start writing and fame will come in time. Feel free to go back and rewrite entries to make everything just the way you want before or after you "go public." You can edit any entry at any time with most blog sites. Writing a popular blog doesn't happen overnight. The essence of the blog stems from journaling which means the blog is FOR YOU. Work it how you feel most appropriate.
When you're ready, tell close friends about your blog and ask them to tell their friends. Often if you use it as another way to network with those people around you, you'll get a better response. If you push it too hard don't be surprised if they ignore your blog because they feel you're fishing for compliments and attention...remember, blogging is about you, and the more attention you put into yourself, the more people are going to notice.
Look around the Internet for blogs you love. Read and post to them religiously. Leave a note that actually has something to do with their site so that they know you actually took the time for pay attention to the material posted; do not expect anything back in return. Just commenting will cause others to be more likely to visit your and do the same. Often when you make comments to sites a link to your own personal site will already be included with your comment, unless you are posting from one hosting site to the next. If your at ITW and you read a blog on Myspace then it would be appropriate to include such a link.
Build a network with other people in the blogosphere - make friends online. This is the best way to get readers and a great way to meet people you would otherwise never know. If you get one thing from blogging, this will be it.



Tips: There are different types of blogs, but the majority fall into these three categories: personal/journal, collaborative (more than one author), and topical (based on a particular subject or niche). There are also photoblogs and link compilation blogs. Successful blogs find a niche and stick with it. Is there some aspect of your life you're burning to share? Are you an expert in some field of knowledge? Are you obsessed with current events? Find your passion and your reason for starting the blog, and go for it. Again the key is: it's for you; others will not be willing to read if they sense you're trying too hard to be popular.
A personal blog is sometimes the hardest style to do. Even if you're a brilliant writer and profoundly funny, you have to remember that people who know you "IRL" (in real life) may be accessing your journal. Some bloggers have found many quarrels have started because of information that was published in a personal blog. The key to this is: a) Only use first names if permission is given; if not, use the first initial of the person, and never use last names. b) If the information you share may get someone into trouble or hurt some feelings, then make the entry private (so only you can read it) or don't post it at all. c) Remember that the blog is about you, not about gossip or what your mother's uncle's baby's momma did to the guy across the bar last week...we don't care, and I'm sure that person doesn't want everyone on the world wide web to know either.
HTML, the language used to design websites, is your friend. Learning basic HTML is far easier than the foreign language you studied in high school. The Help section of Blogger.com can teach you all the HTML you need to learn in order to manipulate your site, add links in text and anything else you need to make your site exactly the way you want it.
Remember you can be anonymous to most of your readers. This is one of the best aspects of blogging. No one has to know who you are! If you prefer, you can even invent a blog personality to use. Nonetheless, always consider that you should be nice and polite so everyone has a handy-dandy time online.
A good way to make a popular blog is to make other blogs popular. That is, visit, read, and thoughtfully comment on other people's blogs. On most blogger sites, a link to your own blog will be automatically included in your comment. So the more blogs you post on, the more people will be driven to visit your blog. Of course, don't just go on and post one-word spam, because that might keep people away.
For any new or advanced blogger, it would be wise to pay attention to those English classes and look for ways outside of your blog to expand your writing experience and expertise. Part of blogging is kind of like writing for a newspaper. Remember to keep your blogs well spaced, and if you can title them, be vague but attention-getting with the titles.


Warnings: Don't be rude when blogging because that will make you unpopular or popular with rude people. You don't want rude bloggers or readers participating in your site.
Don't post your blog link everywhere because it can actually seem rude if you appear extremely desperate to have visitors.
Be careful with your identity. It's so easy for someone to find you through the net or to find those you talk about. Protect the people you know and, unless they give you permission, don't use their names or other personal information in your blog.

Tips For Getting Your Local Business Found In Local Searches

by Chris Crum Small Business News


Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008
While it is always good to get customers from around the globe, your goal should be to have a dominant presence in your hometown. While local search marketing can certainly be beneficial to eCommerce businesses, it is especially important to Brick and Mortar businesses that need customers coming in off the streets.

Following are a few pointers to keep in mind.

» Give us your thoughts...

Local Keywords

While this one may seem fairly obvious, you need to think about terms a local searcher would use to find your business. They'll most likely use the city and state in their search, so you'll want your site to be optimized for those as well as business-specific keywords.

For example, if you run a record store in Nicholasville, Kentucky, you'll want to optimize for phrases like "Record Store, Nicholasville, Kentucky", "CD Store, Nicholasville, KY", "Music, Nicholasville KY", and so forth. If your business is located in a small town, you may also want to optimize for the nearest larger city.

Pay Attention to Local OneBox AND Google Maps

There is more than one method of capturing local searches on Google and it is important not to only utilize one of them. Bill Slawski of SEO by the Sea has a wonderful SEMMY-nominated article on this matter I would suggest reading.

Use The Leading Email Marketing Service
For Small Business - Free 30 Day Trial

By the way, Slawski also has a wonderful glossary for local search on Google that could prove extremely helpful.

Trust and Authority

Of course links are important in any SEO campaign, but if you want to rank up there with the big boys, you need quality ones. You may have submitted your site to a slew of business directories that can get you links, but are the ones you’re submitting to authoritative?

In an interview with Michael Gray, SEOBook author Aaron Wall says, "Before a local business spends money submitting to any of these business directories they should make sure they submit to the Yahoo! Directory, DMOZ, and get at least a few other links so they have enough link equity to outrank the general directories for their own brand specific searches, and hopefully some more general local ones as well."

Of course these points are just the tip of the iceberg. There is a ton of information out there that can help you on your way to getting your local business found by people in your area. What other tips come to your mind?

AdWords Aimed at MySpace Users

By Janet Meiners - Fri, 01/25/2008 - 8:29pm.

Reaching demographics
This is an exciting development . Google is testing a new feature to allow you to target ads to specific demographics on MySpace and other web sites. So it your web site sells NY Yankee tickets and your main demographic is men aged 30-45. Your ads can show up just on profiles of men who are in that age group.
You can then adjust your bids accordingly. The ads will be filtered by age and gender demographics and you can get reports to further refine your results.
Many people are blind to ads on social networking sites, but assuming you’re great at capturing your audience’s attention, this could be huge. People spend a lot more time on MySpace than a regular web sites. Recent data put the average time people spend on MySpace as a whopping 29:36 minutes. Plus they return to the site more frequently.
This feature is for Google’s content network. That means your ads can be targeted to display on other’s web sites - this feature isn’t available for the ads that show up next to a Google search. The feature will apply to contextual or placement-targeted campaigns (with CPC or CPM bidding). Only certain sites in the Google content network will participate (see below).
Here’s where it gets interesting. Advertising on social networking sites. Why? Because people give you their age and gender when they sign up. Sites provide this information to Google (if they have the user’s permission) in bulk. Note: you can’t target people under 18.
Here is the initial list of social networking sites that advertisers will be able to target (I can’t wait until blogs are added to this list. It’s interesting that dating site Plenty of Fish is on the list.):

myspace.com/friendster.com/hotornot.com/blackplanet.com/imvu.com/plentyoffish.com/

miss34.com/aooa.degesichterparty.degazzag.com/wolke10.deinvisionfree.com/flodeo.com/

picturetrail.com/beltrano.com.brmigente.com/cupidbay.com/unister.deasianave.com/glee.com/

faithbase.com/flirtbox.com/sexyono.com/parperfeito.com.br

Not only can you target specific groups but you can exclude them also. As Google’s AdWords blog notes: “…you can modify your bids for a particular audience segment, such as increasing your bid for 25-34 year-old males by 230%. Second, you can ask that your ads not be shown to certain demographic groups if they aren’t meeting your ROI goals.”
You’ll know if certain demographics work because of detailed Google reports. You can see how your campaign performances (impressions, clicks, CTR, and conversion data). based on gender and age. I wonder how long until this feature is open to everyone. No word on that yet.
Google will test the feature over the next few weeks with selected advertisers in the U.S. and U.K. Want to be a tester? Sign up here.

Does This Happen To Your Google Adwords Campaigns?

Posted in Internet Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Google Adwords | Friday, January 19th, 2007 | Trackback

I don’t consider myself an adwords expert, I have however been using Adwords since the day it was started and have spend 10’s of thousands of dollars on it.

When adwords first came out I used it alot then for a while I got away from it. Last August (2006) I got back into using Adwords once again.

I measure everything I can in every campaign I do to the best I can. Meaning, sometimes I can’t measure something because of a limitation of an affiliate tracking mechanic.

There’s one thing I’ve noticed which I can’t remember anyone talking about (could
be just me not paying attention to them) with adwords, which is…

>> The longer you advertise the better your results

Now I have noticed a few exceptions to this which I will explain in a second but for most programs that I’ve been working with, which is a wide range of markets testing adwords (I have about 54 campaigns/sub-campaigns running) there is a common trend.

First let me say there are going to be many factors to this, for example some of my campaigns get 15% clickthrough some get 1% but they both have one thing in common…

It took MONTHS before I started to see a steady flow of sales from the campaigns. In fact if I had deleted some of the campaigns that were doing nothing for weeks I would have never knew they were actually some of the best converting.

The majority of the campaigns converted like CRAP for the first month or two, then all of a sudden one day they started converting and more and more started to do the same in approximitely the same time from when they had started.

So, if you have a campaign that’s failing you may want to test lowering your CPC to something managable you can maintain and not worry about losing too much money because one day the sales may start rolling in (and when I say one day it’s very strange to all of a sudden get several sales a day consistantly what has been a failing campaign.

Let me note with Adwords my basic strategy is to bid on extremely specific keywords a
person would enter when they were ready to buy something, AND i bid extremely low. Usually the products I promote I can get in the top 8 for 10-15 cents.

So, what I also wanted to explain is that adwords DOES seem to work extremely well for me when I’m bidding on keywords that have not been searched for heavily in the past. I’m talking about products that got a big buzz in the news or something that were not searched for in the past.

This article is simply an observation from my testing. There may be external factors that
are causing this with my ads (such as the way I setup the landing pages). However I do want to note I’ve gotten the same results testing a review page, squeeze page and a direct affiliate link (while there was no other affiliate links in the results) in multiple markets.

10 Ways To Increase Pages Indexed

By Jason Lee Miller - Tue, 01/22/2008 - 12:15pm.

Or how to make Google pay more attention


For a while now webmasters have fretted over why all of the pages of their website are not indexed. As usual there doesn't seem to be any definite answer. But some things are definite, if not automatic, and some things seem like pretty darn good guesses.

So, we scoured the forums, blogs, and Google's own guidelines for increasing the number of pages Google indexes, and came up with our (and the community's) best guesses. The running consensus is that a webmaster shouldn't expect to get all of their pages crawled and indexed, but there are ways to increase the number.

PageRank

It depends a lot on PageRank. The higher your PageRank the more pages that will be indexed. PageRank isn't a blanket number for all your pages. Each page has its own PageRank. A high PageRank gives the Googlebot more of a reason to return. Matt Cutts confirms, too, that a higher PageRank means a deeper crawl.

Links

Give the Googlebot something to follow. Links (especially deep links) from a high PageRank site are golden as the trust is already established.

Internal links can help, too. Link to important pages from your homepage. On content pages link to relevant content on other pages.

Sitemap

A lot of buzz around this one. Some report that a clear, well-structured Sitemap helped get all of their pages indexed. Google's Webmaster guidelines recommends submitting a Sitemap file, too:

· Tell us all about your pages by submitting a Sitemap file; help us learn which pages are most important to you and how often those pages change.


That page has other advice for improving crawlability, like fixing violations and validating robots.txt.

Some recommend having a Sitemap for every category or section of a site.

Speed

A recent O'Reilly report indicated that page load time and the ease with which the Googlebot can crawl a page may affect how many pages are indexed. The logic is that the faster the Googlebot can crawl, the greater number of pages that can be indexed.

This could involve simplifying the structures and/or navigation of the site. The spiders have difficulty with Flash and Ajax. A text version should be added in those instances.


Google's crawl caching proxy

Matt Cutts provides diagrams of how Google's crawl caching proxy at his blog. This was part of the Big Daddy update to make the engine faster. Any one of three indexes may crawl a site and send the information to a remote server, which is accessed by the remaining indexes (like the blog index or the AdSense index) instead of the bots for those indexes physically visiting your site. They will all use the mirror instead.

Verify

Verify the site with Google using the Webmaster tools.

Content, content, content

Make sure content is original. If a verbatim copy of another page, the Googlebot may skip it. Update frequently. This will keep the content fresh. Pages with an older timestamp might be viewed as static, outdated, or already indexed.

Staggered launch

Launching a huge number of pages at once could send off spam signals. In one forum, it is suggested that a webmaster launch a maximum of 5,000 pages per week.

Size matters

If you want tens of millions of pages indexed, your site will probably have to be on an Amazon.com or Microsoft.com level.

Know how your site is found, and tell Google

Find the top queries that lead to your site and remember that anchor text helps in links. Use Google's tools to see which of your pages are indexed, and if there are violations of some kind. Specify your preferred domain so Google knows what to index

Your Web Startup Is A Basket Of Fail

Hey everyone, check this article out! I guess it all depends on the way or what you think. Read the replies to this article.

Sincerely J. D.



By David A. Utter - Fri, 01/18/2008 - 11:52am.

Someone else will do it better


One person took a few hours and about a hundred dollars to build a credibly effective music search engine, and why that experience demonstrated how addressing problems will be a better use of time than building the next Google.

As the eponymous Red of RedFerret.net observed, "How hard is it to make a simple web application today?" As it turned out, not real hard at all.

Those efforts comprised about four to five hours of time, half of which appears to have been spent on crafting a logo and a page, and around a hundred dollars. Meet Groupzz, a meta music search engine.

We filled the lead-lined writing room with the sweet strains of Cliff-era Metallica, to the "delight" of WebProWorld admin and co-worker Raf Robinson across the hallway. 'Ride The Lightning' and 'Master of Puppets', streamed nicely through the Groupzz player. The proof of concept site sped through our searches and found hundreds of options for each.

Here's how Groupzz came into being, according to RedFerret.net:

Step 1 - Spend half an hour searching, locate a $99.00 script on Sitepoint (there’s probably free around, but I’m in a hurry see?)
Step 2 - Spend a couple of hours creating and tweaking a simple logo and page (yeah, so I’m not the world’s best designer, OK?)
Step 3 - Locate a free hosting supplier at webmaster-networks.com
Step 4 - Upload the whole shooting match via FTP and test
Step 5 - Point an unused $9.95 a year domain of mine at the server
Step 6 - Sign up for Shopping Ads, and embed the advert codes
Step 7 - Promote on the Red Ferret Journal…and profit!! Or not!!
"Unless your idea is unbelievably different, and more importantly, useful or hugely entertaining to a major section of a target population, you probably won’t gain traffic fast enough to make it work before someone else comes along and does it cheaper, faster, easier, or just plain better," said Red.

"Please stop trying to create yet another MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Google or whatever."






News Tags: Search, Social Media, RedFerret, Groupzz
About the author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Follow me on Twitter, and you can reach me via email at dutter @ webpronews dot com.
Comments
By Steve (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 2:07pm.
It is possible - I did it.
I own www.slwebsolutions.com and I started this company out of nothing. No outside funding just thousands of hours of building the site and business and marketing it. The business works and is successful and now supports the income of many people. Myself and my company have learned many effective ways of marketing websites and we can lead you in the right direction.

What I did? Built on an idea and focused on marketing, marketing, and more marketing. Made sure that my clients were given enterprise quality services and treatment and my business has flurished. The web solutions industry is very competitive which was a huge obstical. If you have a niche that is not very competitive it is NOT hard to gain steady traffic nor expensive. If you are depending on ads as your only source of income you will need a very large number of visitors.

Don't give up. If you truely want an online business to happen it can happen. Understand that It's not easy and takes time to be profitable. You can't whip up a script in a day and expect success. Be prepared to spend a large amount of money or put hundreds to thousands of hours in it. Contact me on our website and ask for Steve in your email.

reply
By Adam (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 12:31pm.
Fast Baby Steps...All The Way To The Finish Line!
In the new web-world, rapid development is a must. As Michael mentioned in his comment, this simple site probably won't last on this $99 sciript if it gets some real traffic.

In reality though, you only need to go one step further than this example, but that does not necessarily involve large sums of money. Using a quality open source programming framework and a talented programmer or two, can net a truly scaleable professional app/website.

The old days of building some Titanic application with a team of developers on some monolithic platform is long gone. Anyone using this old style will be buried. Every day that passes 'rapid-development' speeds toward 'hyper-rapid-development'. You need to get your idea out there as fast as possible before someone else does.

So it's true, it's quick and easy to build a simple web app. However, you'll likely need to go a step further than buying an off-the-shelf script to create your new empire. But, look at Python/Django. There are numerous small quality web apps that have used this combination and been built in a matter of days.

Now in the case of Groupzz.com, they have teh idea out there in sa few hours with just $99 our of their pocket. They can watch and see if it becomes popular. If it is a hit, take that next step and artie a replacement app that will scale. Seeing the simplicity of this app, a scalable replacement should not take long to build anyways! Marketing is the key...and you've already started down the right path there. :)



reply
By Guest (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 12:15pm.
Keep Trying - YES
RedFerret must be talking about himself and his lack of success. Too bad. He should keep trying.

I had never heard of RedFerret, so perhaps his article was just a last desperate attempt at gaining attention. I looked at his sponsor filled website and see why his is a failure.

My only question is why did David at WebPro feel his article was worthy? Perhaps even after the somewhat success of WebPro, David still does not accept that small level of success as successful?

In the mainframe days, my small company sold $30,000 software products and we did not need to sell many to achieve a level of profitable success. But even after success, holding onto the benefits can become a serious problem.

Now, I am screwed after the dotcom-bust. My only option is to attempt to gain a little success on the Internet. I'll drop dead before I give up.

reply
By ThoughtSponge (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 12:15pm.
Too negative
I never like articles like this. Reason being that you don't know and can't tell anyone else what the next big idea will be. So how can you tell people what not to create if you don't know what is going to work in the first place?

reply
By Darren E (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 10:20am.
If at first you fail, fail and fail again!
There will always be someone out there with an idea of being able to start their own web developer's business. Many of them will be married housewives with kids looking for an outlet to create extra income for their families. Many will be graphic artists who want to expand their skill set through the web. Some will be computer I.T. people who dabble with Adobe products or (gasp) Front Page.

The good news with this is the web CUSTOMER wins. There are enough developers out there to satisfy budgets from $100 to several thousands of dollars. Those who try to discourage other developers or the less experienced creative minds are often the ones who are wallowing in their own failures or frantically holding on to their current success with fear of falling behind.

With just about any business there will be success and there will be failures. It's whether or not we triumph in the face of adversity or let the negativity of others drag you down with them.

Overall, there is money to be made in this industry in more ways than one and new ideas are evolving every day.

reply
By Al (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 9:27am.
You never fail until you quit trying
Telling people to just give up is about the worst advice anyone can give concerning any subject.

It is those of us who continue to try in the face of adversity that make the innovations that improve our world.

There are others who have "already done that". There will be others who "do it better". That simply means that I must continue to investigate, learn, and innovate.

Do NOT give up! Keep developing ideas and methods. Yours may be the next big sensation.

reply
By Red (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 9:26am.
We're back, and we want your money... :-)
Yep, my web host disappeared from under me just after the article ran, but I'm now back on another free host and we're shooting for the moon. Or at least somewhere East of that nice restaurant in the main street. :-)

More seriously, I wasn't trying to put anyone down or discourage hard work and a dream. Just perhaps putting it into perspective so that people would think a little more about the reality of their chances of success.

Red

reply
By Michael (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 8:51am.
Your Web Startup Is A Basket Of Fail
David, I had to chuckle after reading your article, Your Web Startup Is A Basket Of Fail.

As a person who has spent over $100,000 and countless hours creating a start-up website, to be launched this year, I saw your article and my heart sank. I thought, "could he be correct, am I just wasting my time".

And then the "chuckle". I clicked on the groupzz link and ... nothing.

I think it only fair to explain to your readers that virtually anyone can create a website in minutes, but unfortunately that is how long it will last once "real" traffic starts hitting the site.

Business fundementals and planning for success are still critical in this web world, and that still takes time, money and risk.

Thanks for the chuckle.

Getting back to my Big Basket of Fail.

Michael

reply
By Guest (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 8:47am.
keep trying
For every thousand or 10 thousand web 2 start-ups there will only be a couple who succeed, but that is not a reason to tell people not to try. Some of us dream of being the next Google, YouTube... but understand that it is not always possible.

I have been working away on Mobbly.com now for a year and it just start to get there but as i get there the goal posts move. But as with the start up of webpronews I am sure there we others about when you started but continuing to provide a good resource you have steadily increased your market share.
So in conclusion yes i would like to be the next google, but I will settle for adding a little to my living.
reply