5 Tips to Improve Your Website Design

June 2nd, 2009
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Stop customers from leaving your website because of poor website design. You can stop that from happening and keep those customers right there on your website. How can you do that? Here are 5 tips to improve your website design so you keep your customers on your site and keep them coming back.

Tip Number 1. The first method is to make sure your typography of your content is suitable. Make sure your lines are spaced out accordingly to the text and sentence structure. Check your font and font size that you are using. You may like using a 10-Pixel text in Times New Roman but is that big enough for all to read. Do you have to strain to read the text? If so increase the text size and maybe change the font. As we get older our eyes are not like they use to be so make sure your font size, font style, and sentence spacing is easily readable.

Tip Number 2. Reduce large images so your web pages load quickly. There is nothing more bothersome than to have to wait on images and graphics to load before the entire website displays. Make sure the important parts of your website loads quickly so you do not lose visitors. Some say a website should load within 15 seconds. After this time, people tend to get disinterested in the site and click off the site. Continuously check your website design for loading time as you are building your website.

Tip Number 3. Content sells a product or service. Updated content will sell your product and service repeatedly. Your website design should include relevant content for the visitor and for search engine optimization. The search engines love content and they love fresh content that is relevant to your keywords. Be sure to break the content up and do not write a paragraph a page long. You are not writing a high school report you are writing website content for your internet visitors. Break the content up by using short paragraphs and white space. It is easier for the reader to read.

Tip Number 4. Have a simple and clear navigation area. A good website design will have a navigation area for the internet visitor that will take them from one place to the next in the website. Test the links to make sure they are directing the visitor to the right page and most importantly are working. The navigation links should be easily read. That means the text size, font size, and color should be distinguishable from the rest of the content. If it is hard to read people will leave the site. In addition to the navigation for navigating throughout the site include a “contact” or “about us” link to your navigation area. This gives creditability to your website. People want to be able to contact someone if they have a question or something is wrong. They also like to read about the business owner. What the business owners credentials are and a little about the business. This builds relationships and people buy more from people they have a relationship with.

Tip Number 5. This last tip involves testing your website. What do I mean by testing your site? I mean to test it out like you are the internet visitor. Whatever HTML editor or program you use to design your website you should be able to click on a button to preview your website in a web browser just how it would look on the World wide Web. Test the links to make sure they direct you to the information that they pertain to and you instructed. Pay close attention to your load time, and your layout of your website. Is the content easy to read and understand? How does my graphics look? Are they overwhelming? Is the color scheme of my website off and not matching the feel of my website style? Are my paragraphs justified properly and is all spelling correct?

These tips above will help you in your website design process to ensure a professional appearance of your internet business. Step back and look at your website from your customers perspective and ask yourself is this a site that I trust to provide me with the type of service or product, I need. If you answer yes then you have completed a successful website design and if you answer no just go back and correct it until you get it right. Remember Rome was not built in a day.

Pat Turman is a successful internet business owner who built from scratch and co-owned an e-Retail Ladies Golf Store (Turbalo Golf Clubs for Women) with revenues of a quarter million dollars. She likes to help others create online business and runs numerous internet businesses herself. She has a BBA from an accredited University and has received many awards and certificates. Check out http://www.nichebusinesssecretsrevealed.com to learn more about starting a profitable internet business.

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Use Best Buy Coupons And Get Discounts On Electronics

June 2nd, 2009

Good news for those who insist on quality in everything,
best buy coupons just got.
better. Best buy is a reliable name in retail shopping. They have a huge number.
of satisfied customers, who trust on buying their products. You can get instant.
discounts on different items such as home electronics, lap tops, computers, HDTV,.
mobile phones and other useful latest gadgets.

best buy coupons is a innovative way of getting discount on your favorite electronic.
stuff, now there is no need of buying low quality gadgets. Best buy offers complete.
value to all consumers and discount coupons will let’s you buy thing in affordable.
rates. They make sure your shopping experience turns out simply the best. Today,.
inflation has affected everyone ; particularly there is majority of people. These.
people look forward to such opportunities where they can buy their required items in.
economical and budget friendly prices.

Generally, there is still confusion is buyer’s mind regarding best buy coupons. Who it.
will offer instant discount? The answer is very simple ; these coupons are offered to.
all consumers through their websites or weekly advertisements in local newspaper. If.
you are reading this article about best buy coupon you are absolutely smart shopper.
who wants to buy things in discounted and economical rates. You are among those.
buyers who are aware of constantly escalating prices of basic things. All leading.
brands including Best buy are well aware of shopper’s trend of buying things in cut.
price and discounted racks. That is a significant reason they are offering Best Buy.
Coupon for all their valued consumers to enjoy shopping while saving some bucks.
There are many websites that claim to offer best buy coupons but they scam you.
It’s best to always sign in on a trusted and reliable website. These coupons are just.
easy tools to facilitate you and let you buy electronics without any fear of the ever.
rising prices.

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Drupal Social Networking Website Design

June 2nd, 2009
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When Myspace was first launched no one dreamed it would be the success it has become. Then again, even those individuals who saw the huge potential in Myspace were utterly stunned to see how huge it has become. Let the truth be told, $30 million dollars a month in advertising revenue is hardly minor! However, in addition to being a wildly successful entrepreneurial venture, Myspace also created a cultural phenomenon. Today, it is now possible to network with people all over the world at no cost and with relative ease. Now, with the advent of Drupal social networking websites, a format exists where anyone can launch a social networking site with relative ease as well. Yes, Drupal social networking sites now provide possibly the most user friendly format for social network publishing.

If you want to see for yourself the level of quality with Drupal social networking sites, there are a number of fine venues to check out. These Drupal social networking sites include johnnycashonline.com, mylifetime.com, fastcompany.com, and many more. All of these sites are top of the line and have significant members in their communities. This would not be possible if the platform used was not one of a significantly high quality. And, yes, Drupal social networking sites are among the highest quality of platforms available. Drupal social networking sites are easy to register with and navigate. It is this user friendly approach that allows social networking sites supported by Drupal to expand their members. This, in turn, greatly expands their popularity and presence on the internet. If the goal of these Drupal social networking sites is to earn revenues, then this will greatly facilitate such goals.

As the saying goes, if we build it they will come. This is true of Drupal social networking sites. Drupal social networking sites must be built, designed, and published in order for people to sign up. That is why ease of use is critical. Thankfully, easy publishing and management is the hallmark of Drupal social networking sites. Drupal social networking sites eliminate the impediments that complex platforms place in the way of those who wish to publish and manage Drupal social networking sites. This is a benefit for both experienced publishers and novices. Actually, the benefits this provides for novices are even more important.

Keep in mind Drupal social networking sites are popping up all over the net. That is because it is human nature to celebrate common interests. Originally, social networking sites were designed to reach broad groups of people. While these types of Drupal social networking sites are still common, a number of niche social networking sites have popped up. Many of these niche sites have been produced by novices. For these people to be successful, they will need an easy to use platform. Again, this is where Drupal social networking sites shine. It allows for all inclusiveness for those that want to launch a small scale social networking site and need a simple platform to operate from. Drupal social networking sites really are perfect in this regard. Drupal social networking sites are designed for use by the “average person” and, perhaps, they can make their hobbyist pursuit the next My Space.

About the author:
As an affordable designer of award winning website designer, we included free front page search engine listings and free hosting with every website we create.

We are more than a web design studio, web developments shop, or programming house, we are a Drupal website design Firm dedicated to your businesses and your consumer interaction.

Article Source: http://www.Free-Articles-Zone.com

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Determining the Value of Links from Link Renting

June 2nd, 2009
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Determining the Value of Links from Link Renting
 by: Aaron Wall

What is Link Renting?

Link renting is a means to ‘rent’ the popularity and traffic flow of another site – you pay a monthly fee in return for a text link pointing to your site. In doing so, you can directly and indirectly drive more targeted traffic toward your website.

Many industries such as travel, pharmacy, pornography, and gaming have search results which are hyper competitive and require heavy advertising or aggressive SEO techniques. Some niche websites may see an even greater ROI on smart link rentals since many of their competitors may not include link renting in their online marketing budgets.

Some rented links provide great value in direct targeted traffic, whereas some other links provide greater value from the effect they have on search relevancy.

Most links are rented on a monthly basis with an option to renew at the end of the month. Some link prices can be as low as a few dollars a month whereas some can cost thousands per month.

There is no singular one-size-fits-all way to directly assume the value of a link. Most effective marketing has risks associated with it, but you can minimize the risks and maximize your return by breaking the value of the link down into its elements:

  1. Direct traffic from link renting
  2. Viral effect of advertising
  3. Effects of link rentals on search relevancy.

1. Direct Traffic from Link Renting:

Link renting can drive significant direct traffic. The first things you need to know are:

  • what is the quality level of the traffic?
  • how related is this audience to my product?
  • how much traffic does the site receive?

What is the Quality Level of the Traffic:

Where does the bulk of their traffic come from? Someone recently asked about ePilot, the pay per click search engine, at Search Engine Watch forums. Andrew Goodman replied “The first question I would ask myself would be: ‘where does ePilot’s traffic come from?’ Answer isn’t clear? Then it would be no surprise that the so-called traffic doesn’t convert to anything.”

This same concept holds true with any site. If you do not see any quality inbound links that could indicate a problem: or they could get most of their traffic from pay-per-click ads. Whatever the case, if you are going to spend money renting links for traffic, make sure you know where their traffic comes from.

How Related is the Audience:

It will be somewhat of a guesstimate as to how exactly how related the traffic will be, but generally it is fairly obvious when something is on theme or off theme. Some things you may want to consider when determining traffic quality:

  • What is the mood / mind set of their traffic? Related traffic may not be traffic that converts. At the 2004 Webmaster World Las Vegas Conference a speaker mentioned that a website about prom hairstyles may not be a good place to advertise prom dresses since girls do not usually look at prom hairdos until after they have already purchased their prom dresses.
  • What product should I advertise? Sometimes it makes sense to send traffic to your home page while other times it is more logical to advertise a specific product because it is hot or more related to that particular audience.

How Much Traffic Does the Site Receive:

Most honest webmasters who sell ad space understand that the traffic they receive is a large part of their ad value and should have no problems giving you that information.

Some systems such as Alexa also track traffic, but their statistics can be inaccurate due to their limited distribution.. The best way to use such systems is not for traffic estimates but for comparisons between sites. Note that Alexa has a heavy bias toward webmaster resource type sites. Additionally other companies such as Hitwise may provide more accurate traffic statistics.

From the base traffic level there is a bunch more research you can do to determine how much traffic the site may bring:

  • Who currently advertises on the site? You may want to ask them about their advertising experience. Some ad networks such as AdBright show past advertisers average cost per click and ad renewal rates.
  • How many ads are on the page? Each additional ad will split up some of the traffic.
  • Where does your ad sit? Ads that are tucked away in the footer or in common ad space may get less exposure and drive less traffic. Ads near the content may gain additional exposure and drive more traffic.
  • What ad formats can be used? Certain ad creatives may provide greater value than other ads.
  • What is the ad turnover rate? Advertisers tend to stay with a site that delivers traffic. A high turnover rate may indicate other problems.
  • Have advertisers made any suggestions? Ask if any of their past advertisers made any suggestions or stated that they found any particular setup as being especially helpful.
  • Is the traffic seasonal? Some sites have large shifts in traffic volume due to seasonal factors.

2. Viral Effect of Advertising:

Some ads go through click tracking systems which may prevent them from being indexed by search engines. This means that the only value of those particular links would come from direct traffic. Sometimes ads lead to additional exposure though.

3. Effect of Link Rentals on Search Relevancy:

Many links have a greater indirect value than direct value.

When someone links to your site it is seen by search engines as a vote of quality. The anchor text and other page elements such as the page title and headers may also help search engines further classify the link. On image links the image alt text plays the roll of the anchor text.

On the commercial web many links are bought and sold, and thus for search engines to remain relevant they must find ways to regulate link purchasing.

Some of the things you may want to look for when buying links to help maximize your ROI and minimize your risks:

  • Are the links direct links? Links that go through an ad server usually do not help build your link popularity.
  • Is the page on theme? On topic links from industry hubs are given significantly more weighting in clustering or community based algorithms such as Teoma’s topic distillation and Google’s Hilltop. If the site allows off topic links then it has a greater chance of having its link popularity blocked or devalued.
  • How many links are on the page? If a page sells an unlimited number of ads then the outbound link popularity is split up many ways, and that also could look a bit unnatural to search engines. If there are hundreds of internal links on a page then each additional link will be getting an exceptionally small share of link popularity.
  • What anchor text can I use? If you can use descriptive anchor text then the value of the link is greater since the link text helps search engines understand what your site is about.
  • What is the cost difference between site wide and individual page links? Generally site wide links may drive significantly more direct traffic, but likely they do not provide much additional weight beyond a single link from the best page on the site.
  • What is the PageRank of the page? Generally many people place too much value on PageRank, but a higher PageRank does equate to greater connectivity and slightly additional value.
  • Who links to the page and to the site? If the page or site is well connected within your topical community then search engines will likely consider links from it as being far more important than links from pages which are not as well connected.

Summary:

To best determine the value of a link you need to consider both its direct and indirect effects. Generally it is best to buy on topic links since they provide both direct and indirect value.

About The Author

Aaron Wall is a self taught, independant search engine marketer. He currently owns/operates http://www.search-marketing.info, and is learning more about the internet daily. Aaron’s articles have been syndicated across the web. He quietly works out of his house helping numerous website as a consultant and search engine marketer. You can reach Aaron day or night at (401)207-1945.

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Referral Traffic

June 2nd, 2009
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The subject of referral traffic may be a bit elementary to many folks who have been networking for a while. However, a few recent discussions with new marketers have led me to the conclusion that a brief commentary on the subject might be well received.

Referral traffic is web traffic you receive when you refer other people to the viral traffic programs (traffic exchanges, ad replicators, and similar systems) you are a member of. For the sake of simplicity, I will use traffic exchanges as my primary example in this article.

While there are a few exceptions, the huge majority of exchanges operate a referral traffic system. When you register a new account with a traffic exchange, you will be given a special affiliate URL for the purpose of building your downline in that program. Many exchanges will award you with an instant bonus of free traffic credits each time you refer a new member, and nearly all exchanges grant you an amount of referral traffic that is equal to a percentage of the traffic your downline generates while they surf.

If you are a member of Traffic Roundup, for instance, you will get an amount of free, referral traffic equal to 10% of the traffic your personal referrals generate when they surf. This means if you refer one person who earns 100 credits per week, you will get 10 free traffic credits each week from this referral. Take a moment to estimate the amount of free, ongoing traffic you could receive if you built a downline of 10, 20, or 30 personal referrals at Traffic Roundup.

Also, consider the fact that you will receive referral traffic from all active surfers recruited by your downline. Many exchanges award referral traffic benefits on five or more levels.

As you can see, the benefits of building strong downlines in your favorite traffic programs are considerable. It would be well worth a little effort on your part to lay the foundations of a solid referral traffic network.

I have worked passively to build my traffic downlines over the past year, and I receive a few thousand free hits to my web sites each month as a result of referral surfing activity. Other people I know have worked aggressively toward the building of their traffic downlines, and receive thousands of free hits every day from the efforts of their referral network.

Like just about everything in this business, building a referral traffic network is an ongoing process. You won’t see amazing results in your first week, but after a few months of consistent work, you should start to experience some of benefits of “hands free” traffic flow. With a full year of continued effort, you could be well on your way to several hundred, maybe even several thousand, free hits every day.

Tim Whiston has enjoyed network marketing on the world wide web since April of 2003. He publishes a monthly ezine, and is the author of Net Marketing Exposed.

Posted in Traffic Building | 1 Comment »

ECommerce Scenario in Pakistan

June 2nd, 2009
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Pakistan with highest growth rates in 1960s and bad politics in 1980s and 90s but, the stage is totally changed in 2000s as the economy is managed by those who once run the most successful Global Financial Houses. Today Pakistan has achieved 8.3% growth rates with highest percentage earning share zone in the whole world. Welcome to Pakistan 2005

Pakistan has all what required for a economy to grow and boom. With 160 million population, high grade Human Workforce and favourable policy enable global investors and buyers to get in contact with this growing economy.

In the arena of E-Commerce, Pakistan has technology, policies and framework for businesses to setup and grow with trust in E-Commerce trade and commerce. Recently a Industrial Trade Network was launch to establish a soft network within the industry and outside. Infuture this ITN will be connected through the broadband network to communicate, colloborate and make transaction within. Major cities in Pakistan already have WAN / MAN network and further many ISPs are setting up their fibre optics to connect cities directly to provide most economical telephone and data services

Any one from abroad can now buy beautiful handicraft or a full container load of goods through online purchase and each and every transaction will be back by World largest bank, Local Trade body and Federal Exports Promotion Authority.

So give it a try and you will find that you have landed to a right place to trade with.

Amin Lalani is the CEO of The Cyber Bridge a Business IT Consultant firm based in Pakistan and have provided several BIT related solutions.

Posted in eCommerce | 1 Comment »

5 Powerful Tips To Beat The Biggest Problem ALL Marketers Face

June 2nd, 2009
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I bet you can’t tell me… the single biggest problem facing Every Direct Marketer, new and old.

It’s not generating traffic, nor building an O’pt-In list, nor is it finding products to market and it’s not a lack of Cash.

You can buy traffic, you can buy O’pt-In list members, you can make or buy products and you can even borrow Cash.

The biggest single problem for any Direct Marketer is How To Earn Your Prospect’s Trust.

Learn how to earn AND keep trust and you open up huge new Marketing possibilities.

Too many salespeople of doubtful credentials, and too many adverts promising so much and delivering so little have hardened consumers, they no longer trust Marketers and Marketing claims without a great deal of convincing.

So how exactly do you turn a skeptic into a believer ?

Tip #1 – Make Your First Contact Count

Your initial point of contact with prospects is typically

* An advert, in a PPC, a banner exchange, a classified or solo campaign

* An entry in a Search Engine directory,

* Or an article you have written.

Unfortunate as it may be, people do judge others by first contact. If your initial impression of someone is poor, chances are that you will not give them a second look, be it in business or your personal affairs.

Make sure your initial point of contact with all prospects is to your advantage.

This does NOT mean expensive, glitzy or superficial.

It means make your initial contact Sincere.

Keep that one word in mind as you design all your sales and marketing strategies and your Initial Contacts will always be positive.

Tip #2 – Products, Pricing, Promises and Personality

Sincerity in your contacts with prospects comes from applying the (modified) 4 p’s of marketing.

* Products

Market the best products you can and never settle for second best. Add value and benefit to your prospect with quality merchandise. Resist the temptation to market “Cost Cutting” alternatives that are in fact more expensive due to their poorer real value.

* Pricing

Price your merchandise at a fair value for the producer, the consumer and the marketer. Over pricing your products is a self defeating tactic because prospects learn to avoid your pitch and with over high pricing you invite competition to under cut your cost and price base.

* Promises

Your sales literature and copy must be accurate and reflect the true benefits of your products and services. This does not mean you should be unduly modest, by all means make big claims, but make sure you can prove and demonstrate anything you promise.

Remember, in this context, any guarantee you give must be more solid than any Banks Vaults and worth as much as the contents of Fort Knox

* Personality

Inject your personality into your contact with prospects.

People love to do business with people they know. Avoid doing things you feel uncomfortable with, but do tell people about yourself, your failures, your wins, your hopes and your fears. Be the human face of you business and build a sincere relationship with prospects.

Tip #3 – Communication

When you get past the initial contact, the next hurdle in building trust is communication with your prospects.

There are several ways to do this

* A sequential autoresponder with relevant messages sent to your O’pt-In prospects at regular AND frequent intervals.

* An e-zine sent out to subscribers with useful information and not just an excuse for another advert.

* Articles showing your prospects how YOU manage your business and personal tasks, tactics and strategies.

Communication is two way traffic. Ask your prospects for input into your professional relationship and how they think you can improve it. Listen to your prospects.

Tip #4 – Credibility

Prospects always seek comfort that they are doing the right thing.

It pays to use “borrowed” credibility if you are not a world recognised expert in your field. This is where testimonials enter the picture.

Here are a few ways in which you can obtain testimonials and build credibility with a new product or service :

* Give a few samples away to a test group in return for the testimonial

* Use functionally disabled or time barred samples as demo versions which you can give away to prospects

* Develop fully functional modules with less features than the standard product and give those away to prospects.

* Develop e-courses and other training programs showing prospects the benefits and training them in how to use and consume your products and services.

Tip #5 – Service

Your prospect’s Trust is very hard earned. But this is as nothing when compared to retaining their Trust.

Once a prospect becomes a customer, too many marketers make the fatal mistake of taking that customer for granted.

Post sales service is a crunch time for cementing the Trust you have managed to win with such effort.

Make sure you stay in touch with your new customer. Offer them advice and help in the use of their new product or service. Make sure any potential issues are dealt with before they escalate.

Be available and within easy contact for your customers and prospects.

Relevant Resources

http://www.simplyeasier.com/me.html

Conclusion

As a direct marketer you can buy traffic, you can buy O’pt-In list members, you can make or buy products and you can even borrow Cash.

You cannot manufacture or in any way manipulate trust – Trust is the one thing in your business that must be earned the Hard Way.

Be sincere, do the right things as shown here and build trust with your prospects.

(c) 2004 Charles Kangethe

About The Author

Charles Kangethe of http://www.simplyeasier.com is a leading new wave Netpreneur and a published author from England. The “Simply Easier” brand name is your guarantee of high value, quality Marketing Products, Services and Resources.

charles@simplyeasier.com

Posted in Internet Marketing | 4 Comments »

How to Promote Your Blog for Free Online

June 2nd, 2009
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11 Ways to Promote Your Blog

1. Ping weblogs.com and other search engines. When you ping a blog, you are telling the search engine that you have updated your blog content and that your listing should be refreshed. Weblogs.com is a blog update notification service that many individuals and services use to track blog changes. Pinging your blogs to the search engines is the fastest way to get the search engine robots to visit your blog. Also, many people browse these sites to find something new.

2. Submit your blog address to blog search sites and directories. You can submit your blog’s url to websites such as Technorati, Daypop, Blogdex and Popdex. For a complete list of websites where you can submit your url, go to http://www.guidetorss.com

3. If you have some cash you can promote your blog using pay per click search engines such as Yahoo Search and Google Adwords.

4. Set your blog to display RSS feeds and submit your blog’s RSS feed to the major RSS feed directories online. A good place to start is http://www.guidetorss.com which provides a list of the top RSS directories.

5. Put your blog URL in your email signature. If you’re a regular at any online discussion forum, you can also add your url to your signature line at the bottom of each message you post.

6. Install a blogroll. A blogroll is a collection of links to other weblogs. Services such as Technorati spider your links to tell who’s linking to you and who you’re linking to. If you show up on someone’s Technorati link list for their site they’re likely to visit your site to see what you said, increasing your exposure. Blog owners can also visit your site to check it out if you show up on their referral logs.

7. Be an active commenter. Try to leave comments on the blogs that you regularly visit. Most comment systems also provide a way for you to leave a link back to your blog which begs a visit at the very least.

8. If you plan to have anything printed up, put your blog’s web address on it. You can print your blog URL on business cards, stickers, leaflets, etc.

9. Take advantage of blog software features that help to promote your Blog. For example, if you’re using Blogger, you can do this by turning on: “Email This Post”, “Post Pages” “Site feed” and the Blogger Navbar. These features will help attract new visitors to your blog.

10. Exchange Links with other Bloggers or blog owners. This is another effective strategy for generating targeted traffic to your blog for free. It involves contacting other blog owners for a possible link exchange partnership. All you have to do is locate blogs that are related to yours and contact the webmaster to swap links.

11. Write articles or free reports for other webmasters to publish and put your blog url in the byline. The ‘byline’ is the short paragraph that goes at the bottom of each article and describes who the author is and what they do. If you write good content, your articles will be published by other webmasters and many readers who like your article will go on to visit your blog. You can submit articles for free at: http://www.going-platinum.co.uk/

Copyright © 2005. Chileshe Mwape writes for Debt Consolidation Loans UK: http://www.best-debt-consolidation-loan.co.uk/ and http://www.secured-homeowner-loan.co.uk/. Visit these sites to consolidate debts and apply for a loan online. This article may be reprinted as long as all the above links are active and clickable.

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How to Get a Better Web Site ROI

June 2nd, 2009
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Better Web Site ROI

How to increase your business profitability by hundreds of percent

Websites are ubiquitous these days and everybody is trying to get a better web site ROI. With millions upon millions of sites all trying to appeal to the same traffic, what can you do to improve your web site ROI?

What’s In A Name

You can use Google Adwords to very quickly and cost effectively improve your business profitability by a significant amount – hundreds possibly thousands of percent. It all depends on where your site is starting from.

How?

Great question, you get a mere 4 lines of text to play with in Adwords so every single line counts. Even more than that every single letter counts (even the Capitalisation of letters will make a difference to your click through rates believe it or not).

But what’s in a name?

Your name in your ad is of course your URL. When crafting an ad, most people spend a lot of time concentrating on the headline (well worth doing as it is the most important part arguably) and on the ad text (also a good thing but not as important as you’d think).

After the headline, the next thing that prospects eyes are drawn to is…

Yes you’ve guessed it – your name – your URL!

But what can I do with my URL I hear you say?

Just because you have 1 domain name doesn’t mean you need to use it. There is nothing in Google’s T&C’s that prohibits you from using a different display URL to that of your destination URL (although you will have to own the display URL and it must resolve to a pertinent page – i.e. If you’re advertising pet food, it must be about pet food and not resolve to www.pdqprospects.com for example.

Hundreds of percent more profitable?

There is nothing stopping you using as many domain names as it takes to give you a better web site ROI.

We have conducted tests outlined above with some of our clients. Results have ranged from 46% through to 76% more profitable domain names.

These results are applicable to your bottom line profitability – remember 76% more traffic will result in a like for like increase in bottom line profits and your results are equally applicable on and offline, whatever grabs attention online giving you a better web site ROI will do likewise in offline advertising media.

We have also seen a 113% improvement on one of our tests (with a small sample) but we stopped the test early because our results were statistically significant and waiting for a larger sample was a moot point – we knew we had a winner.

Pop Quiz

One of my clients Jonathan Stanley has graciously allowed me to show you the results of our tests with him. Consider the following adverts and their display URL’s:

  • www.talkingleadership.com
  • www.thisisleadership.com
  • www.leadsuccessfully.com
  • www.myleadershipcenter.com
  • www.leadingeffectively.com

Which of the above domain names was the winner and which do you think was the loser?

Well, the results are as follows from worst to last:

  • MyLeadershipCenter.com 9 clicks
  • LeadingEffectively.com 17 clicks
  • LeadSuccessfully.com 18 clicks
  • ThisIsLeadership.com 21 clicks
  • TalkingLeadership.com 37 clicks

Who would have thought it? I certainly wouldn’t but then that’s the point you will never know until you test.

My thanks to Jonathan Stanley once again at www.TalkingLeadership.com for allowing me the use of this example.

And what else can you do with your text?

And even if you want to use your existing domain there’s plenty you can still do – remember CAPITALISATION?

And then there is subdomains or even appended directory names.

All it takes is a little creativity and you’ll find a much better web site ROI!

Tom O’Brien is a certified Google Adwords Campaign Management Professional and helps web sites get better ROI. For further tips/tricks on using Adwords effectively, visit: http://www.pdqprospects.com/index.html

Posted in Web Development | 1 Comment »

Autoresponders, Which Autoresponder Is Right For Your Business?

June 2nd, 2009
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An autoresponder is a software program that automatically sends a prewritten reply to anyone who uses your autoresponder address. It works 24/7 everyday of the year.

When you start an online business and your business begins to grow, you may find that using an autoresponder is essential.

Most successful online marketers look for ways to save time with multiple marketing tasks. Like thank you letters, newsletters, information on a product, orders, training courses, etc.

To save countless hours with these tasks, they will use an autoresponder to effectively handle all of their email campaigns.

There are several types of autoresponders one can use for their business. Choosing the right autoresponder depends on your current need and the type of email campaigns you will be implementing.

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Paid Autoresponder Services:

Using this type of autoresponder is done through the Internet with a web-based company, which host your mail list on their server. You simply upload your prewritten mailings and choose the days you want them sent out. It is simple to set up and for the most part, they are considered very reliable.

There is a monthly fee, but you will find more features using this type of service than you will with some other autoresponders.

You will want to look for a web-based autoresponder that has the features to fit your business needs. Here are a few features to look for:

Unlimited Autoresonders: Lets you create as many mailing campaigns as you want.

List Management: You want an autoresponder that captures the name and email address and stores the contact information for you.

Unlimited Follow Up: A good autoresponder will have unlimited follow-ups you can use for your mailing list.

Tracking Features: Lets you know which mailing campaign gets the best response.

Unlimited Message Length: No limits on the length of your mailings.

Time/Date Features: To be able to set specific days for a multi promotion series/messages that you want sent to your mailing list.

Broadcast: Enables you to send out a message instantly to your entire mail list.

Personalize: This feature allows you to set your autoresponder to put your recipients name in the body of your email, as well as in the subject line.

Customer Support: Provides ongoing support by phone, email or fax.

Unsubscribe Management: This feature will automatically unsubscribe your viewer if they decide to be taken off your mail list.

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Free Autoresponders Services:

Free autoresponder services work similar to a paid service but have fewer features. It’s important to understand that most of these services will place their advertisements in your messages.

Even though some companies may limit how many advertisements are used in your mailings, you may want to consider how professional your messages are going look.

Also consider that some free autoresponder services are sending your replies with 3rd party advertisements as well.

If you feel that this type of service would fit your business needs, look for companies that limit the amount of ads and do not allow 3rd party advertisements. You can go to any major search engine to perform a search for one that may work for you.

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Web Host Autoresponders:

If you are using a paid web host for your website, you will most likely find that they offer you a free autoresponder.

A web host autoresponder has limited features, as they only provide the basic autoresponder function of sending one reply to a message sent.

There are no follow-up messages that can be sent and you do not have the option to capture the list of names that replied to your autoresponder.

This is not to say that there are no benefits with this type of mailing program. You can use it for people who request information, a copy of an article, thank you messages, etc.

If you have a mailing that only needs to go out once without a follow-up, than using a web host autoresponder may work for you.

Check with your current web host to see what options they offer. If it doesn’t fit the business needs you have, move on to an autoresponder that will.

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Software Autoresponders:

This form of an autoresponder is a software that you purchase and install on your computer.

The software will give you more flexibility than a web host autoresponder, but you need to understand its advantages and disadvantages.

Set up is basically easy and there are no monthly fees to pay.

With this software you will have many options to make your business work on autopilot. From unlimited follow up replies, time/date delay features, capturing the list of names that replied to your autoresponder and building a client database.

The drawbacks in using this type of software are; you need to be connected to the Internet for it to work. If one were to send an email to your autoresponder address and you were not online, they would not receive your autoresponder message until you were connected. One solution to this problem is having a T1, DSL or Cable line and leaving your system on.

Understand that it would be up to you to maintain your list of addresses and back up your files on a regular basis.

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CGI Script Autoresponders:

CGI script autoresponders can be extremely reliable and effective providing you have total understanding of a few basic principles of installing one.

This type of autoresponder is installed on your web host server (rather than on your own computer) and you need to know the ins and outs of installing the script.

Before you buy a CGI Script, check to see that your current web host server meets the requirements that are needed to run the software. This step is a must or you can be wasting your time and money.

Another possible drawback to using this type of autoresponder is going to be the reliability of your current web host server. Do they have little to no down time? If your web host server is down, so is your autoresponder.

Some of the advantages of in using a CGI script is there are no monthly fees and you don’t have to worry about maintaining and backing up files. Your web host server will take care of this task along with your website files.

Most scripts have added features you can implement to save you time. List management, date/time delay, unlimited follow-ups, text recognition and many more.

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by – John Kovacs Copyright 2003-2005

John Kovacs is the CEO and founder of "A Home Business Opportunity". His website mainly focuses on supplying free marketing tips, resources and support for home startup businesses and Internet marketing. To get a step-by-step guide in building an online business, visit http://www.ahomebusinessopportunity.net.

Posted in Email Marketing | 1 Comment »

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