So Just What is Affiliate Marketing?

September 30, 2008

Affiliate marketing has many descriptions, yet all have the same meaning. Affiliate marketing is a huge business piece on the Internet. It is a cooperative effort between merchants and an affiliate’s website. For many years now, affiliate marketing has proved to be a cost-efficient, measurable method of delivering long-tern results. It has become famous for Internet sites who are trying to make some extra or additional income for their site. Every day, people get interested to affiliate marketing and want to make money out of it. But in many cases, these new affiliates do not fully understand the affiliate world and make costly mistakes. In other words, affiliate marketing has often been misunderstood.

One of the common misconceptions that are being associated about affiliate marketing is “selling”, though selling is an important activity of affiliate marketing and the central function of a business operation. Another is that affiliate marketing is commonly linked with “advertising”. While the importance of advertising in marketing a certain product is not to be underestimated, the fact of the matter is, advertising like selling, is merely a part of the many functions of marketing.

In affiliate marketing, an affiliate is compensated for every visitor, subscriber and/or customer provided through his efforts. The said compensation may be made based on a certain value for each visit. The most attractive aspect of affiliate marketing from the merchant’s viewpoint is that no payment is due to an affiliate until results are appreciated.

The merchant is any web site owner that wants or desires to take advantage of performance based marketing. The benefits to the merchant are many. First, the merchant maintains and operates the affiliate program. If it would be extracted, the merchant needs to do their part by researching interested affiliate websites to ensure that they are a good fit for that particular website. Finding a fit for their merchandise would be the key to more generated income. The merchant has access to markets and customers without him spending valuable time searching out. Banner ads on affiliate sites are not distracting to the site user. It might produce interest for that product and drive the consumer to the merchants’ website. It is also the merchant who decides how much he is willing to pay for each sale that results from a visitor sent from an affiliate.

The affiliate or the affiliate marketer also sees a lot of benefits. The affiliate is a web site owner that promotes one or more merchants and their affiliate programs. Affiliate marketing can generate a full-time income for the affiliate. But this is not an easy task to accomplish. The affiliate needs to have a better understanding with the merchant what the commission will be, expected payment method and time involved in the contract. The affiliate has also the responsibility to stand for the merchandise their user based would be most interested in. For example, if the site has a user base of mainly stay-at-home mothers, then on-line job openings such as surveys would be a good match for them. This group would also appreciate direct links to children’s products and informational sites. Merchandisers often provide targeted, best-seller items and personal support to their affiliate. They often offer sales promotions that will benefit the merchandiser as well as the affiliate. Affiliate marketing is a great situation for both the marketer and the affiliate. If they would work together, they can be an advantage to both. Plus the fact that it seems to make sense, it is easy and inexpensive way to start, and you can be up and running within a few days. But there is one thing to consider, it is how to get traffic and make your offer different than all others.

Affiliate marketing is typically being run by affiliate networks and this affiliate networks are composed of two functional bodies, the group affiliates and the group merchants. Each has their special function and role when it comes to affiliate marketing. The affiliate network acts as a third party between the merchant and the associated affiliates. The network provides the technology to deliver the merchant’s campaigns and offers. The affiliate network also collects commission fees from the merchant and then pays the affiliates which are part of the program.

The merchant is any web site owner that wants or desires to take advantage of performance based marketing. The benefits to the merchant are many. First, the merchant maintains and operates the affiliate program. If it would be extracted, the merchant needs to do their part by researching interested affiliate websites to ensure that they are a good fit for that particular website. Finding a fit for their merchandise would be the key to more generated income. The merchant has access to markets and customers without him spending valuable time searching out. Banner ads on affiliate sites are not distracting to the site user. It might produce interest for that product and drive the consumer to the merchants’ website. It is also the merchant who decides how much he is willing to pay for each sale that results from a visitor sent from an affiliate.

The affiliate or the affiliate marketer also sees a lot of benefits. The affiliate is a web site owner that promotes one or more merchants and their affiliate programs. Affiliate marketing can generate a full-time income for the affiliate. But this is not an easy task to accomplish. The affiliate needs to have a better understanding with the merchant what the commission will be, expected payment method and time involved in the contract. The affiliate has also the responsibility to stand for the merchandise their user based would be most interested in. For example, if the site has a user base of mainly stay-at-home mothers, then on-line job openings such as surveys would be a good match for them. This group would also appreciate direct links to children’s products and informational sites. Merchandisers often provide targeted, best-seller items and personal support to their affiliate. They often offer sales promotions that will benefit the merchandiser as well as the affiliate.

Affiliate marketing is a great situation for both the marketer and the affiliate. If they would work together, they can be an advantage to both. Plus the fact that it seems to make sense, it is easy and inexpensive way to start, and you can be up and running within a few days. But there is one thing to consider, it is how to get traffic and make your offer different than all others.

Tom Gieroski, the author of this article is quickly becoming a well established online entrepreneur. He offers a complimentary newsletter with great ideas and advise to make it where others have failed in online business. To get more great advice please visit http://www.buildbigmoneyonline.net

ASP.Net Shopping Cart is the Ecommerce Tool of Tomorrow, Used Today

September 30, 2008

Ever since Bill Gates unveiled his ASP technology (Active Server Pages) in the 90s, programmers and web developers have gone to great lengths to incorporate their web pages to streamline with this advanced technology. Of course, ASP is already a thing of the past, per say, as around 2002 the Microsoft Corporation unveiled their handy .Net Framework which offers unparallel and streamlined data efficiency never before seen. And with this amazing new addition to the already great Active Server Pages encoding comes the ASP.Net Shopping Cart, which is literally the technology of tomorrow, available today. The ASP.Net Shopping Cart is a more efficient, far more secure and much more affordable modern day version of the ASP shopping cart, only the ASP.Net Shopping Cart lauds the technology of being multi compatible between both browsers and servers, and most importantly different types of operating systems.

In enters the major credit cart batch processors who service the major credit card corporations and banks around the world. Considering the topic of security is always fresh in the minds of banking executives, many favor the newer, more secure and more data efficient ASP.Net Shopping Cart. This is for several good reasons. First and foremost, it packages the data in a more secure manner, offering a higher level of encryption and a faster rate of delivery to the main servers that process the batch date.

This equals less chance of the confidential data becoming compromised and allows for the credit card companies to easily process the data batches without having to worry about hackers stealing personal information from thousands of E-wallet purchases. As of just recently, the major credit card companies have issued a requirements list for all vendors who are planning on using the efficient ASP.Net Shopping Cart method for securing and processing payments, a strict code of compliance gauged to virtually eliminate identity theft in the age of tomorrow.

Visa’s Payment Application Best Practice assessment, or commonly referred to by industry insiders as the acronym, PABP, mandates that all online shopping carts must be an ASP.Net Shopping Cart, compliant to their high security standards by the end of the fiscal year 2008. For many older merchants who have been using the dated and aging ASP standard technology this means that an upgrade is definitely in order sometime within the next few short months. For those who refuse to comply with this mandated security update, they may have some harsh penalties to face.

Because data integrity is the main theme of credit card and online security companies as we head into the next calendar year, many are cracking down on the lazy practices of the past; practices that have allowed hackers repeatedly to compromise large portions of data and contribute to their growing losses and large portfolio write-offs each year due to online theft. And from the customers’ point of view, the more secure the better. With an ASP.Net Shopping Cart not only are merchants assuring the consumer that their personal data is secured during processing, but they are also protecting themselves from liability should that data become compromised.

As one can see, the ASP.Net Shopping Cart is not only here to stay, but it is clearly the most promising shopping cart of tomorrow, available today. Considering that no other shopping cart offers such inter-compatibility, online security or data transfer capability, it should be no wonder why the purveyor of such a great technology origins from the guy who created the most widely used operating system ever, Mr. Bill Gates.

AspDotNetStorefront is a premier asp.net shopping cart software provider. Visit AspDotNetStorefront for all your online shopping cart needs.

Blogging and Traffic: Create a Blog to Get Traffic to Your Website

September 30, 2008

Blogging is a great way to get traffic to your website, and if you create a blog for no other reason than that, you are practically certain to get positive results. Blogging and traffic are made for each other, and there are several ways of using blogs to promote products on your site.

The first question is what kind of blog? Although there are alternatives, the most popular blogging software packages are Google’s Blogger and Wordpress. This offers you four blogging options, and three ways of creating a blog to get traffic to your website.

Why four from just two blogging packages? Here is the answer to that question, and how if you create a blog using each, you will maximize your earning potential from your products:

Blogger

Blogger is blogging software owned by Google. Most people run their blog from BlogSpot, Bloggers blogging host. When you do that you have less control over your blog than if you operate it from your own IP address. Blogger is very easy to use, and very easy to get started with, and is popular with those who don’t want to worry about templates, plugins and designing their own blogs.

Wordpress

Wordpress can also be run from the Wordpress hosting site. However, where Wordpress scores over Blogger is in the fact that the software can be uploaded to your website, and can be run from there. This enables you to use any of the thousands of Wordpress plugins and templates that provide an almost unlimited degree of functionality in your blogging that will help to drive traffic to your website.

When you create a blog with any of these two different packages, whether run from your own computer or from the blog host, you are able to provide fresh content daily to your virtual website. Because that is what a blog is: it is in effect a web page, in the same way that a Squidoo lens and a page on a website is a web page.

Bogging and Search Engines

Blogging allows you a presence on search engines such as Google and Yahoo, and allows those with little idea of SEO or even of web design, to sell products online. There was a time when blogs were a rarity and something new, but blogging is now a way for anybody that knows how to create a blog can drive traffic to their website or to their blog page and help them make money through free advertising.

However, even a blog has to be advertised. Blogging in itself is not an advertising technique, but one of displaying your thoughts, idea, products or advertising your products. Now, you might think I am being a bit duplicitous here, stating that blogging is not a means of advertising yet can be used to advertise! Yet both statements are true. Let me explain why.

Is Blogging an Advertising Technique?

Yes and no. You can create a blog in order to get traffic to your website, and in that respect you are using your blog for advertising. You can place a link to your website: your squeeze page, sales page or just a content page. The question is, how do you get people to read your blog, and then click on one of these links? The link could be placed at the bottom of every post, and on a permanent page on your blog, but how do yet get traffic to your blog: you have the same problem now as getting traffic to your website!

What you have here is that blogging can be use to promote another site, whether it be a website, another blog or a social networking site such as Facebook, MySpace or YouTube. You can use all of these to promote and sell products. However, how do you get people, to find your blog? Creating a blog is fine, but that is only the start.

Use Article Marketing in Blogging

There is one way, and that is article marketing. By writing articles about your niche or product, and then including a link to your blog in the article, you can use the article to advertise your blog. If you can persuade a reader to click on your link, they will reach your blog on which you provide them with links to your website, your other blogs and your Facebook and MySpace home pages.

Perhaps you can’t write, and maybe don’t know how to use articles properly, or even where to get them. Well don’t worry. If you want to make the best use of the internet than create a blog, get blogging and then use the help provide online to make best use of your blog make money.

Blogging and traffic go together, and it is easy to create a blog to drive traffic to your website or any other online web page (such as another blog). You only need to know how.

I can show you how: check out Article Czar for information on how articles can be used to make money from your blog. You will get a gift for visiting and I will also show you how to set up your Wordpress blog on your website.

Hello Crackpot… Er, I Mean…. SEO Expert!

September 30, 2008

I left SEO ladies and gentlemen. I have no further use for it. In fact, I have completely lost respect for everything that it stood for, (that is, if it ever stood for anything!). The reason why I am so against it is because everybody and their next door neighbor is professing TOP GOOGLE RANKINGS!

SEO, (Search Engine Optimization) has been reduced to a red hot, under the radar, right as rain business to an absolute travesty. It has been brought down many pegs into a mundane way to make a quick buck. Being an SEO now registers somewhere between toilet technician, (also known as plumber) and mortgage expert, (see, real estate genius for hire).

This used to be a great profession but now I find myself lost with the whole thing. A lot of this has to do with the fact that there are so many people in this game and doing things poorly. I also may add that the wide amount of people I see in this game are doing a lot of the same expected things. The SEO’s I have a serious question of doubt with lies with the ones who do three jobs at once.

I’m sure you have seen them. I run into a whole gaggle of these types in business breakfast meetings. They are the ones who prepare taxes, run real estate and then do search engine optimization on the side. The initial obsession with getting to the top of the search engines has spun wildly out of control. Now everyone is on this bizarre tech bandwagon looking for a few handouts and some kudos.

Its like the Wild West again these days and the small retail and medium sized businesses has been turned into the Badlands. Its real, “Shoot Em’ Up “ out there. It’s difficult to see who is taking this whole gambit seriously if at all.

SEO, on the whole, has really lost its scope.

CHANGING GEARS AND MOVING FORWARD

I’m not complaining though. When you get right down to it we live in some pretty exciting times. Now you can get your company listed in 32 minutes on the search engines if you got a keen mind and some imagination. That has got to be uplifting for somebody!

I got into a bit of flack with my own inner circle of professionals and friends lately and maybe for good reason. You see, I sort of dumped all of my coaching groups that I participated in and left them for a higher sense of reality. I stopped listening to a lot of the rhetoric that I was listening to from the “experts”. You know the ones I mean. These are the guys who have built their fortune through incorporating a ton of affiliates throughout the country to sell their own, “internet marketing secrets”.

Leaving this herd was the best decision I could have made. It allowed me to get my head up above the ocean of crap that is out there and get to what’s real – my own sanity. I was searching for new environments and for new challenges and to create some new history. When food critic Anthony Bourdain did this he was hailed a ground breaking hero. In my own circle I found that my trusted associates stopped associating with me and not returning my calls or email messages.

Snobs.

Who needs them, I said. Let them wallow in the thick of the night while they fret over their high pay per click bills and lose countless hours of precious sleep. I was on the right path because I was forging something out of nothing and cultivating my own new brand of customer.

That doesn’t make me a bad person does it?

THE POWER OF PRE-SELLING THROUGH WEB 2.0 ENVIRONMENTS

The first thing I realized was that reaching people through web video was not only a major critical decision for me – it was mandatory. You see I hated talking on the phone to lukewarm prospects and cold fish. This eliminated some very troublesome problems in my marketing. It allowed me to say whatever I wanted to say without interruption and it freed up my time.

I did not have to worry about skipping out any important parts. I was able to say everything I wanted to. I could record my marketing messages and know that they would reach my intended audience. This was a great relief to me.

Using Web 2.0 technology helped my campaigns stay on track with my audience. I did not have to worry about added expense such as direct mail, word of mouth and the dreaded webinar services. You could lose your shirt in webinar costs. I know I did. I wanted something more powerful that I could control without having to fork out tremendous amounts of service fees.

Getting a solid grip on search engine behavior was always a top goal of mine. But I wanted the ease of automation to help carry my company to a new – low stress – high pre-selling environment. And that has helped carry my company to a new playing field.

Harnessing the power of Web 2.O is a very powerful way to make an impact with your audience. I stopped counting bots and pay per clicks and hoping that my web pages were being seen by the right people. I made it a priority to connect to the right group of people by making some deliberate choices. I made it a necessity to put myself in front of online niche markets.

Try a couple of new combinations and let this go to work for you too. This can make a whole new world of difference for you. You have to let yourself experiment with the boundaries to see what is possible. You may be surprised and find yourself tapping into a whole new network of people. This can help propel your business to extraordinary levels.

Instead of listening to the local crackpot SEO – take your marketing seriously and forge ahead. You don’t have to be a certified search engine optimization expert, (SEO) but you do have to have a little bit of an imagination and some guts.

Carry on!

Ted Cantu runs i-Cantu Media LTD which is a Web 2.0 Video studio located in Farmington Hills, Michigan. You can find him at, http://www.1seomichigan.com Download his FREE,

Two Tier Affiliate Program Exploits eBay Goldrush

September 30, 2008

It won’t have escaped your attention that eBay is the ultimate location to watch money change hands every minute. A place where thousands of Traders frantically compete for Bargain Hunter’s Cash.

The Result? Fierce competition, plus huge demand for products and services capable of giving one eBay Trader the ‘edge’ over another.

Back in the American Gold Rush, Pick & Shovel Merchants made fabulous profits, while most Prospectors just got back-ache, moonshine poisoning and about enough gold to replace a lost tooth filling. Well, now there’s a chance for you to become a ‘Pick & Shovel Affiliate’ for the eBay Gold Rush.

Consider the first rule of Wealth Building: Find a huge, hungry crowd, then feed it. Might those thousands of eBay Traders qualify?

Do you imagine they would respond well to a proposition which could substantially increase their earnings?

Here’s the thing. Your long term affiliate success is more likely in a big, active marketplace (like eBay) than in some tiny niche. In addition, entrepreneurs (like eBay Traders) are less resistant to buying because, where it suits, they can justify their purchase as an ‘investment’.

But choosing to promote ‘any old offer’ likely to appeal to eBay Traders simply won’t do. You must choose very carefully. Top ‘Two-Tier’ Affiliate Programs place you in a great position to leverage your returns.

Why? Because all worthwhile Affiliate Programs have key features, e.g.

Strong Brand

No Quibble, Money Back Guarantee

Good Commission

Residual Sales Potential

Quality Promotional Material

However, the real clincher’s the presence of a ‘Two-Tier’ Reward Structure.

Most affiliate programs only allow you to earn commission when

someone clicks your affiliate link, then buys.

However, with Two-Tier Programs, here’s what happens if someone who clicks your affiliate link is ‘just browsing’, but at the same time ‘receptive’ to money making opportunities. (Note, this could include nosey competitors checking up on your activities).

He (or she) clicks your affiliate link to learn what’s on offer. If a sale results, great! You earn a first-tier commission. But whether or not that happens, something useful occurs. When using your link to visit the Merchant’s Website, a cookie is typically deposited on the visitor’s PC (often that cookie remains active for months).

Now, even if it does not enter the mind of the person who clicked your link, to join the Merchant’s Affiliate Program there and then, it doesn’t matter.

Let’s say they return to the Merchant’s Website ‘weeks’ later. At that point, they decide to join the program.

Because the cookie identifies you to the Merchant as the original referrer, you stand to earn ’second-tier’ commissions on every sale the new affiliate generates. Dependent on the Terms of the Program, you could earn effortless commissions for years to come!

(By the way, the new affiliate who joined the program sometime after clicking your link, doesn’t loose part of his / her commission as a result of your involvement. He - or she - becomes a promoter of the Merchant’s Program on exactly the same terms as you, and is eligible to earn first and second-tier commission - just like you).

OK, your second-tier commission might only be (say) 10% but, by selecting the ‘right’ Two-Tier Program, that 10% can amount to $20 or $30 per sale (more in some cases).

Just consider what might happen if some of those who discover, then join, the affiliate program via your link, are ezine publishers, or owners of high-traffic blogs / websites? If they promote the Merchant’s Offer successfully, the number of second-tier commissions you stand to receive could be enormous!

Important: Don’t make the mistake of confusing this with MLM or Pyramid Selling. Likewise, don’t sit back waiting for others to generate ’second-tier’ commissions for you, while you do nothing to earn first-tier ones. Simply look on second-tier commissions as a welcome bonus.

Let’s Review.

Find a big active marketplace (eBay’s Ideal). Join some top Two-Tier Affiliate Programs. Actively promote for normal ‘first-tier’ commissions. But standby for a windfall on the second-tier, every time someone with serious ‘web-traffic influence’, joins the same program through your link, then promotes the Merchant’s Offer successfully.

‘Strong’ Two-Tier Affiliate Offers likely to interest eBay Traders take time to track down, but here’s a couple of excellent examples: www.commissionoffer.com and www.commissionoffers.com. When viewing these Sites, remember to open the link to the ‘affiliate program’ and check out the Terms, Promotional Aids etc.

I’ve also discovered a cracking Special Report (with Resale Rights!). I intend to release 50 Free Copies. One can be yours just for sharing your opinion on this Article & Two Tier Affiliate Programs. But don’t delay! I’m considering a domain name change. If I go ahead, my website link (see below) will stop working, and you’ll miss out!

To Your Success!

Max

www.affiliatebrief.com

Max Tyson is an Affiliate Marketer specialising in Two-Tier Programs, who manages over 20 Websites. Discover Max’s recommended ‘Top’ Two-Tier Affiliate Programs, and secure your Complimentary Report of value to both novice and experienced affiliates, by visiting: http://www.affiliatebrief.info

Nofollow 101 - Understanding The Nofollow Tag

September 30, 2008

What is Nofollow?

Nofollow is an html attribute first introduced in 2005 by Google. Originally, the rel=”nofollow” attribute was added to discourage comment spam in blogs. Links with nofollow should not influence the link target’s ranking in the search engine.

From the Google Blog:

From now on, when Google sees the attribute (rel=”nofollow”) on hyperlinks, those links won’t get any credit when we rank websites in our search results. This isn’t a negative vote for the site where the comment was posted; it’s just a way to make sure that spammers get no benefit from abusing public areas like blog comments, trackbacks, and referrer lists.

From Google Answers:

“Nofollow” provides a way for webmasters to tell search engines “Don’t follow links on this page” or “Don’t follow this specific link.”

So the rel=”nofollow” attribute is a tool that can help define your most important links to the search engines.

Search Engines that support nofollow: Google, MSN Search and Yahoo!

History of Nofollow

Originally, the nofollow attribute was used on the page-level with a meta tag. It instructed search engines not to follow (crawl) outgoing links on a page. Example: see code example on main site

Another way to tell search engines not to follow (crawl) pages was to include them in a robots.txt file. But it was more difficult to prevent robots from following individual links on a link by link basis. The rel=”nofollow” attribute allows webmasters to easily instruct the search engine robot to not crawl a link.

How to Spot Nofollow Links?

You can install browser plugins, or edits to Chrome to show a highlighted color over nofollow links. You can also install a plugin to your blogging software.

Nofollow Implications

Links are now either dofollow or nofollow. From the perspective of building links to your site or blog, dofollow links will always give you more link juice. While nofollow links won’t either harm or help your link building. With that said, how you decide to build links with respect to the nofollow attribute (whether you want to get ONLY dofollow links or both to create a more natural array of links) will be an individual choice. How to use nofollow in link building strategy is a discussion for my next post!

Nofollow FAQs

How Do I Remove Nofollow?

1. Browser Plugins - highlights all links which are nofollow

- Chrome extension - add text to ChromEdit and follow directions

- FireFox has a version of the ChromEdit called ChromeEdit Plus

- Firefox plugin - SEO for Firefox

2. Blog Plugins

Wordpress Nofollow Plugins:

- Lucia’s Linky Love - Rewards frequent commenters, you can set how many comments must have been made to be awarded a dofollow link.

- Nofollow Reciprocity - Detects nofollow links, if you link to a site and it is nofollow, your link to them also becomes nofollow.

- NoFollow Free - removes the nofollow attribute from blog comments and inserts an image band at the top of your pages with the phrase: “NoFollow Free” (optional).

- Dofollow - Simply install and activate, all nofollows are removed from comments and trackbacks.

- Dofollow (WP Plugin) - allows nofollows to be removed from comments, pingbacks and trackbacks but you can also set a comment age limit as well as have nofollow removed left by user type.

Andy Beard has a list of more nofollow plugins; including those for Blogger, TypePad and Moveable Type.

How Do I Add Nofollow?

For more control of your inbound and outbound links, you can add tag rel=”nofollow” within any html tag. Example: see code example on main site

Does a link with nofollow count as a backlink?

Opinions vary on whether the nofollow attribute is completely discounted, or just given less relevance to the search engines. Keep in mind that how the search engines view nofollow may also vary. However, according to Google, that answer is no.

Why would I want to use nofollow on a link?

You might want to use nofollow on a link you don’t endorse, but has information you want to point to. On blog sites, you may want to give a nofollow link to spam comments and give credit to comments that are well thought out or contribute to your post.

For more information, please see the entire Nofollow 101 post at the http://SearchEnginePeople.com blog.

SEO Toronto offers internet marketing services; Search engine optimization, search engine marketing, Social Media Marketing and reputation management, located in Toronto Canada. See the SEP Blog to view the Nofollow 101 post with links.

Are World of Warcraft Private Servers Legal?

September 30, 2008

Is making real world money on World of Warcraft legal and if it is, is it ethical? With a game as popular as World of Warcraft there will always be people who see money in it. Some players offer their services to play World of Warcraft for days to build a complete character with experience and assets. When the character is complete they sell the character for a lot of money. The person who bought the character does not have to go trough all the “boring” first levels and has an instant strong character to play with. Other players make money by creating add on’s and other modifications is this bad? Is it legal? and is it ethical?

Well you can have some question about the ethical part, but almost all off these kind of activities are pretty harmless and it can even encourage more people to play World of Warcraft and of course pay the monthly fee for it.

But what about World of Warcraft Private Servers?

Most World of Warcraft private servers are in a legally vaguely defined area. Some of these World of Warcraft private servers are just created to take income away from the original game makers, in this case Blizzard. They conduct illegal practices just to lead gamers to their servers and away from the official World of Warcraft private servers.

There is however a completely different group of World of Warcraft private servers that are perfectly legal. They are almost all set up by serious World of Warcraft players who like to create a world that they have designed and where they have control over every little detail of the game. They can for example make the leveling easier or earn gold much quicker. In fact there are World of Warcraft private servers for everything you can imagine.

These World of Warcraft private servers are legal and you can try them out if you want to, the creators are just World of Warcraft enthusiasts who have created a world that they have designed and like to share it with other game enthusiasts. You can try it out because this is legal as long as you have payed for the original game. There are many of these World of Warcraft private servers available and you just need to do a little search online to find one you would like to try. With some of these servers you can even switch your officials World of Warcraft game over to these servers, which is not difficult at all. Some of the private servers are free, with others you need to pay a monthly fee, just as with the official game.

So as you can see there are ways to make money with games like World of Warcraft and most of these kind of activities are completely legal, and if its ethical? Well that is something you need to decide for your self. As far as we are concerned just have a whole lot of fun with World of Warcraft private servers.

Jenny Cumbersome plays online games as if here live depends on it. So if you want to find out about some world of warcraft system requirements or if you are searching for a Age Of Conan Wiki just visit her site.

Keyword Optimization Made Simple

September 29, 2008

Keyword optimization is important if you want your web site to achieve maximum success. Search engines crawl your web pages on a regular basis to determine whether or not your web site provides content that matches commonly used search terms. If you have keywords or keyword phrases that are in line with commonly used search terms, there is a good chance that your web site will appear higher up in search engine rankings than sites that have not utilized keyword optimization.

Rules of Keyword Optimization

Keyword optimization is a complex topic, but it can be boiled down to ten simple rules. If you follow these keyword rules faithfully on your web site, you are almost guaranteed a higher place in search engine rankings.

1. You should choose at least one targeted keyword phrase for every page on your web site.

2. Keyword optimization becomes less effective when you water it down. While you can target multiple keyword phrases, you should only target two or three at the most for each page.

3. You should choose keywords or keyword phrases that match the overall theme of your web site. For example, you wouldn’t want to choose the phrase “medical school” if your web site focuses on celebrity fashion.

4. People who research keyword popularity ahead of time have more success with keyword optimization. A good example of a free tool that will help you with this is Google’s Keyword Tool, https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

5. Your chosen keyword should be spelled correctly. There are a lot of other people who will tell you otherwise, saying that misspelling words is a good way to get stray traffic on your web site. The truth is that misspelling a keyword on purpose is nothing more than poor keyword optimization strategy. Your web site is better than that and so are you.

6. The keyword or keyword phrase that you choose should be popular, but not too popular. Your goal should be to pick something Internet users will be searching for, while avoiding terms that have been done to death by larger and more established web sites.

7. The crux of keyword optimization is choosing where to insert chosen keywords and keyword phrases on a web site page. The best thing you can do is pepper the content with keywords, i.e. the targeted phrase should be used throughout the content versus concentrated areas.

8. Always, always, always use your targeted keyword or keyword phrase in the title of your article.

9. Keywords should be used in Meta titles and Meta descriptions–this is one of the most important rules of keyword optimization.

* Keyword optimization works best in moderation. If you use too many keywords your writing will look like spam to search engines.

A Final Thought on Keyword Optimization

Keyword optimization might seem like a lot of effort, but it is worth your time to learn how it works. When you use keywords and keyword phrases correctly on your web site, search engines will notice and reward your efforts by sending traffic your way.

Cliff Posey owner of Websites That Succeed. After a 30 year career in radio that began in the 10th grade I reached my goal of becoming a major market radio station Program director ended with working as a major market Program Director. I developed Radio Career Consultant’s a website that offered career help for radio people. After that I developed Love Song Cards and now am focused on a website offering free website tools, articles on site development and free ebooks on website at http://www.webbusinesstoolsonline.com. (Websites That Succeed)

Affiliate Marketing For Beginners - Income at Your Fingertips

September 29, 2008

Your Affiliate Success is at Your Fingertips

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Article Marketing

Want a great way to build your online marketing program? Try article marketing in your niche. It has several benefits to offer. First, it’s a great way to increase traffic to your blog or Web site. It will establish you as an authority in your market sector and that notoriety will drive people to seek you out. It will not cost you any outlay of cash. Your time has value, of course, but when you start out, you have plenty of time on your hands and article writing is a very productive way of filling that time. What’s more, you have total control over the content and the quality of the material that goes into the article. That is crucial to succeeding with article marketing.

Quality Material

The most vital element in any article is to provide what your reader is looking for. That is quality information that he/she can use to move forward on the Web. Your first order of business is to write for your customer. Know what he/she is thinking and looking for and give them what they want. Do your research, draw up an outline and then write your material. The best option is to do your own writing. That ensures that your material will not get flagged for duplication or even worse outright plagiarism.

There are tactics that call for setting anchor links in your article that link back to a product or service you are selling. That may work in some cases, but your focus should not be on pushing your business that blatantly. It is far more effective to offer actionable advice that will cement trust and confidence in your relationship. That relationship will be the driving force behind the motivation to buy from you.

Authority

As you develop your writing, you will eventually become an authority or top expert in your field. As such, your readers will come to regard you as a useful resource for their own well being. That is when you know you have achieved a key goal. When people come to expect your articles and anticipate them as part of their business growth your business will grow and develop. That comes with good content that puts the reader first. Always do enough research to ensure that your content is current and accurate. Offer tips and suggestions that will anticipate your reader’s problems and be preemptive rather than reactive. Avoiding a problem is a much better option than waiting until it’s too late and you need the information after the fact.

Writing Style

Write in the same style that you speak. Everyone has a particular tone, choice of words, and way of expression. Be true to yourself and your genuineness will come through. That is where your legitimacy will shine and your voice will come to establish you as original and reliable. Use vocabulary people can follow and understand; avoid jargon and business speak. And remember KISS at all times; keep it simple stupid!

Author Biography

The author biography or signature, as it is sometimes referred to, is the one area where more open and active selling can occur. This is where a back link to your Web site, blog or product landing page is customarily placed and in most cases, most commonly accepted. This is where you can write a more targeted “ad” or benefit related statement about what you have to offer. Remember to keep your reader in mind. Offer a solution in the form of a free report or eBook that solves a problem. For example an author bio could end with “For a free report on how to groom your pet without causing it anxiety or pain, visit mypetgrooming.com for tips and information”.

This is a pretty common way to get your readers to your Web site or blog.

Article Directories

There are several options for distributing your articles. Obviously your Web site or blog is one point of distribution that you will use. Another is the Article Directory. This is a site that collects articles for distribution on the Web. You submit to them for free and in exchange, you permit them to publish it for use by their membership. You can protect your material by copyrighting it. You can also allow use of your material freely under the condition that your author bio be included in all distribution. This is a great way to get your material out across the Web and creating a good source of back linking to your Web site or blog.

There are hundreds of article directories but there are some that have more authority than others. Ezine Articles and Go Article are two very important sites to keep in mind as you distribute your material.

One way to automate your distribution is to use automation software to do the job for you. It takes some time up front to set up the system, but when you are done setting up, distributing articles to 30 and 40, 50 or more article sites will be very easy to do. Some services offer distribution for a monthly fee, others will sell you a software package for a one time price. Using article distribution software is the way to go if you intend to write on a regular basis.

Conclusion

Article marketing should be a part of any internet marketer’s campaign in their online marketing program. It is an easy, cost effective way to establish your affiliate marketing business and establish yourself as a reliable, trustworthy expert. It pays for itself over time and has been the mainstay of every Super Affiliate that is working on the Web.

So give it a try and get yourself going.

May Your Travels Be Prosperous!

Over the past 20 years Claude Pelanne has worked in a series of startup ventures including some of the first commercial webcasts. He is an internet marketer and serial entrepreneur. Feel free to distribute this article in any form as long as you include the resource box. For tips and resources to get into internet marketing visit cpelanne.comcpelanne or claudepelanne

Internet Blogging Advice For Beginners

September 29, 2008

With the advent of internet, every individual have started making money through different practices! Out of all, Internet blogging is the most efficient and brilliant method of practice, which brings good deal of money with little efforts. Well, you might have a question on how to succeed with Internet Blogging. This is of course a usual query that most of the novice raise-up!

Internet blogging is an interesting concept that came to light during the time of 90s. Internet blogging is where you can post your comments on a webpage that is designed already, and moreover it helps the visitors to share their personal opinion and leave their point of comments there. Here are some exclusive reasons which clearly describe why blogging is used as the best Internet Marketing tool. Take a quick look on the flow-up to know better about the facts and truths.

Internet blogging is of course simple and can be done with little efforts. The most brilliant way to achieve your piece over the internet could be more effective achieved through Internet Blogging. The best of all is, Internet Blogging never requires any hard and unique skills to make success your way. As a normal fellow being, anyone can type, read and of course click something with mouse. Internet Blogging is a kind of writing something on a virtual paper, where you can share your experience, idea, desired and the exact truth behind something.

1# Internet blogging is simple and easy to achieve, if you merely have a computer and Internet. Advertise your blogs and make good deal of money through the interesting ad campaigns.

2# Internet blogging is reliable and authentic. When it comes to Internet Blogging, it is a real-time sharing where individuals will be paid for their online information sharing. As known well, content is the king for achieving search engine success. Write unique, fresh and informative content to your blogs, so that more number of visitors will come through your way.

3# Internet blogging is absolutely free and they are proven to be the most excellent online advertising media and most of the websites find blogging as the up-to-date marketing tool. Anything that comes out free is a real bonus, particularly if the bonus helps better in internet business. To disclose something exact, paid blogs always worth more and they generate good deal of money and keeps your business growing.

4# Internet blogging establishes credibility. With regular postings, you can make your readers come through your way all the time and finally make them to depend on your writings for the every information they look for. When days pass on, you can achieve the prestigious status by being branded as an expert author. Good number of readers visits your blog and they even request linking to your personal blog. This will certainly bring incredible traffic and as a result your marketing campaign will work more efficiently than anything.

The above described Internet blogging techniques and handlings will help you to bring a thriving success and of course they bring you outstanding business with potential turnout.

Arpit Agarwal is Technology Enthusiast and a Professional Blogger. To get more tips on Internet, Blogging and Technology, visit his blog.

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