Why Every Freelancer Needs a Weblog

Posted by Nick Usborne

If you are looking for the best way to deliver a strong sales message to a particular group of companies, blogging should not be your first choice. For something like that, use the phone or a direct mail piece.
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However, blogging does offer its own, unique set of strengths.

Here are just a few good reasons why every freelancer should have his or her own weblog....

1. A blog is a great place to showcase your area of expertise.

If your freelance niche is the writing of white papers for big companies, for instance, us your blog to show that you are an opinion leader. Use each blog entry to show that people come to YOU for opinions on this subject.

When a potential customer finds your blog, they won't find a strong sales message, but they will find a good reason to visit your main sales site and consider you for their next project.

2. A good blog generates incredible word-of-mouth.

It's the nature of the medium. If you send out a promotional postcard, one person sees it and then it hits the trash can.

When you build a reputation for being a leader in your area with your blog entries, then hundreds or even thousands of people will link to your blog, refer to it in their own communications and talk about it with their friends and colleagues.

3. Blogging brings you to the attention of the major search engines.

It is said that Google and the other major search engines love weblogs. That's almost true. What they love are sites that are frequently added to and updated. And that's why they love blogs, because they are being added to weekly or even daily.

4. Blogs drive traffic to your sales site.

If you have a web site that promotes your services, then you'll want to have prospective customers hear about the site, visit it and then contact you.

Blogs are a great way to get more traffic to your site.

This happens in two ways.

First, if your site is rich in articles and other useful resources, you can link to these pages from your blog, as and when relevant. People who respect you because of your blog will then click through to your site and read the articles.

Second, Google and other search engines will find the links in your blog quite quickly and then they will follow the link to your sales site. Google likes quality, relevant links and will reward your site with higher listings for certain pages.

Concluding thought...Blogs are not a quick fix.

As I mentioned before, if you need a quick, targeted promotional hit, choose another medium.

But if you want a presence online where you can showcase your expertise, build a reputation, reach thousands of potential customers, build traffic to your sales site and improve your search engine listings, weblogs are a wonderful tool.

About the Author

Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author and speaker. You can access all his newsletter articles on writing for the web at his www.ExcessVoice.com site. You'll find more articles and resources on how to make money as a freelance writer at www.FreelanceWritingSuccess.com

How To Set Up A Blog

By Sean Felker

A blog is an online diary or as some people call them a weblog. They can be about any topic you would like to comment on.

Setting up a blog can seem to be a very difficult task for the non techie type out there. They(the techie types) talk about MYSQL, PHP and you need a reader to read a blog in. Then they say u gotta ping the blog.

Is that a new mixed drink or something ?

We talk to our children and they look at us as if we come from another planet.

All I want to do is blog.

My Dad being basically computer illiterate a short time ago. HMM I still think he is but I wont say it to often in this house.

I wrote these instructions for him and he had had no major problems setting up a blog.

The easiest way to start a blog in my opinion and you may wish to differ ;-) are detaled in the following steps:

You will need a reader to read the blog you make or someone elses that you subscribe to.

The 1st step is an easy way to get a reader that allows rss feeds to be pulled to your My page.

1. Go to www.yahoo.com and create a my yahoo page. If you have one already go to step 2.

2. Find a free blogging service. I reccomend www.blogger.com. They have simple and easy to follow instructions, even Dad could follow them ). Now follow the

instructions on the start page. Take your time and make sure you read the instructions. Do Not speed read them like Dad usually will do .

WOW Great job!!! Pat your self on the back.

Congratulations you have now created a blog.

3. Now open up the create new post in your new blog and write new post. Now publish it.

Now your a blogger

4. Now go back to www.yahoo.com and sign in to your "MY" account.

5. Now go to add content to your front page, upper left corner of your start page.Now click on RSS Headlines.
Now copy this and paste this url in The Add New Sources box on this page.

http://making-money-online.blogspot.com/

6. Now check Sources to add. This will ad the feed to your MY page.

7. Now repeat steps 4 and 5 with your blog URL.

Happy Blogging


About the Author

Sean Felker is the publisher of the very successful and popular Work at Home and Making Money on the Internet blog:
http://making-money-online.blogspot.com

11 FREE Ways How To Explode Your Website Traffic Hit Counter

by: www.affila.com

Every website needs traffic because without traffic it's impossible to sell anything. Here are 11 simple ways how you can get your website hit counter explode.

1) Start an affiliate program. It's the #1 way how to get high quality traffic to your website. Almost every successful online business has an affiliate program.

2) Build an opt in list. This is the most important factor of any internet business. With an opt in list you can get massive high-quality traffic to any website instantly. Every successful internet marketer has an opt in list. Learn how to build a massive opt in list by sending a blank email to affila@aweber.com

3) Use a tool such as Traffic Equalizer. This tool instantly creates thousands of search engine friendly pages for your website. Each page is targeted for one keyphrase and gets traffic from search engines. Get the tool at trafficequalizer.com

4) Write articles and submit them to article directories and ezine publishers. Collect a list of ezine publishers and submit your articles to them. Also submit your articles to article directories.

5) Exchange links with other websites. Exchanging links with hundreds of other websites can bring heavy traffic to your website. You can exchange links very fast using ARELIS link exchange tool at axandra-link-popularity-tool.com

6) Create a brandable viral ebook that promotes your website. Give this ebook to marketers with large opt in lists. Let them customize it with their affiliate links that point to your website and give it away to their subscribers for free. This will bring steady, non stop traffic to your website.

7) Submit your website to directories and other websites that accept submissions. You can find such websites by visiting search engine such as Google, and searching for "add url" "your keywords", "add site" "your keywords", "your keywords" "directory". There are hundreds of other variations you can search for.

8) Post at forums. Participate in forum discussions and leave a link to your website in your signature line. Make the title of the link catchy by stating a benefit to get more people click on it.

9) Go to http://www.affila.com/ and learn about website traffic and opt in list building methods that work today. Visit the website and use your first name and email to subscribe to the course that it offers.

10) Make your website viral. In your website offer content that literally forces your visitors to tell their friends about your website. Add "tell-a-friend" functionality to your website. An excellent example of viral website is http://www.themeatrix.com. This website gets tons of viral traffic.

11) Write testimonials. Write testimonials for products that you like and that you have used. If you're lucky, your testimonial can be on the product sales page that has hundreds of visitors every day. That would mean your website link in testimonial clicked many times.

Use these methods and watch your website traffic stats literally explode.

About The Author


Learn more effective traffic generation and opt in list building techniques from http://www.affila.com/ or send a blank email to affila@aweber.com.

Should My Home Business Have a Blog?

by: Martin Neumannn

It's fair to say that blogging has taken the Internet by storm over recent years. And it's no surprise that today there are hundreds of thousands of new blogs being launched every day.

But as a home-based business owner, should I have a blog?

To put it bluntly, if you conduct any part of your business over the internet, then Yes, you should have a blog.

So what is a blog?

Wikepedia describe a blog as ..... a weblog (usually shortened to blog) is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles (normally in reverse chronological order). Although most early weblogs were manually updated, tools to automate the maintenance of such sites made them accessible to a much larger population, and the use of some sort of browser-based software is now a typical aspect of "blogging".

You might be thinking that to set up a blog is far too advanced for me, but that is furtherest from the truth. Blogger.com is a Google-owned hosted blogging platform that is 100% free to use and literally takes only minutes to set up and start posting.

Secondly, you might be thinking it's going to cost too much. Wrong! The only cost is your normal web hosting. You don't even have to purchase a new domain for your blog. It can be easily attached as a sub-domain to your current business website eg: http://blog.MyBusiness.com or as a directory: www.MyBusiness.com/blog/.

So why should your home-based business have a blog? Will it benefit me?

The truth is, a blog is just one part of your marketing strategy, although it can quite easily end up being the most valuable and cost-effective way of marketing your business to new and existing clients.

Come to see your blog as a means of getting closer to your intended market.

With a blog, you are giving your home business a personality. You are chatting informally with your market and building that much sought after long-term relationship and trust.

With credibility and trust being what separates successful home business to those that fail, a well-delivered blog can help build a strong rapport with your customers, via you offering insights into your business and your industry. In a low-pressure setting (ie: there should be no hard selling at all), you are networking with your customers in a way that humanizes your business.

So how can a blog work for my home business?

Let's take an example. Your business (which by the way, you run from home) is sells PDA add-ons.

By including a blog as an addition to your e-commerce site you could deliver news, facts, figures, views ... in fact, anything to do with your industry.

You can have your rant and raves on topics close to you. You could offer inside tips on using PDA's. You could provide links to other sites of interest that your customers would appreciate.

Your market will love you for your openness and willingness to chat informally, and in time you become perceived as an expert in your field.

But a word of warning. Don't start up a blog just to push sales, offering little but mere "buy from me now" posts. This is a sure-fire way of actually losing credibility.

If you view a blog as a way of communicating better with your customers (ie: talking 'with them' rather than 'to them') then you are well on your way to blogging success and more importantly ... business success.

About The Author

Martin Neumann is publisher of HomeOfficeVoice.com ... for the internet-savvy home business entrepreneur, HomeOfficeVoice offers news, reviews and commentary in the world of online home business.

How Autoresponders Boost Sales by up to 400%

by: John Lynch

Imagine going to bed and waking up in the morning to find that you made sales while you slept - all because of your autoresponder!

What exactly is an autoresponder? An autoresponder is an automated email program that responds to an incoming email with a message written by you. The message can be written once and loaded in the autoresponder and forgotten about. It's as easy as that.

Some Uses for Autoresponders

1. Use autoresponders as an immediate acknowledgement to those who send you information. Let the recipient know that you have received their message and when to expect a reply.

2. Create a FAQ document to answer commonly asked questions about your product or service. Use the familiar question and answer format.

3. Collect names and email addresses by using a capture form. This allows you to build a list and as marketers keep saying, lists lead to repeat sales.

4. Make all your articles and newsletters available via autoresponder.

5. Offer free reports or e-courses to show your expertise to your customers. This is a great way to capture prospects' name and email address for future follow-up.

6. If you publish an e-book, put the different chapters or excerpts in your autoresponder.

7. Archive issues of past ezines and put some of the best ones in an autoresponder and let your prospects access them.

Before you send out information via an autoresponder you should always check the content for spam triggers that may prevent your messages being delivered. To have a free check on your emails/messages go to: http://www.merchant-account-service.com/stop_spam_mail.html

If you are not using an autoresponder already you may be losing up to 400% of potential sales. Research shows that autoresponders increase your exposure to your prospects and this increased contact with them leads to higher sales.

Remember if you're not using an autoresponder and gaining these sales, your competitors will!

(c) John Lynch

About The Author

John Lynch

To get a Free autoresponder and a Free email marketing course go to: http://www.merchant-account-service.com/free_autoresponder.html.

Using Free Content to Keep Visitors Interested!

by: Anthony Jewell

If you don't want people to loose interest in your website quickly then you will have to spend some time focusing on your content. Unless you offer a service(such as web design or webhosting ect...) your audience will demand that there be new content updated every day for them or they will stop returning to your website. The truth is that to offer your visitors an abundance of great material is actually very easy and best yet it is free. Your site will double in value and usability when you start updating your content each day. Trust me when I say "your visitors will thank you for it".

By searching online you can easily find a wide range of websites that offer free information you can include on your website. The best yet is that the topics range from A-Z, so you never have to worry about not being able to find content for your website. Another great resource that you can find out there are free ecourses as well as free ebooks. The great thing is that you can use these free ecourses/ebooks(make sure to email each site to gain permission just to be safe) as an incentive to visitors to use your website. This will not only increase your websites content base but will give a real value to your website as it will become a known source of useful information.

As you add free content to your website keep in mind who will view it and who will use it. Make sure to cover a broad range of subjects but also direct the content according to what your website is about. Try to make your content as meaningful as you can and you will have visitors coming back each day to view what is new on your website. Best yet they will start to tell their friends and their friends will tell their friends ect.... Before you know it, by adding free content sections to your site you will have more and more people visiting your website. It is simple as that. We have all done it before where we've found a useful website and emailed the link to our friend. Why did we email the link you might ask? We've emailed the link because we found the content on the website to be useful/worth while. You can have people doing the same with your website.

Just remember to watch the content you put on your site and to make sure it is of use to your visitors. Your content will truly determined if your visitors are being entertained/interested and if they will come back for more.

About The Author

Anthony Jewell has over 6 Years experience in the Web & Graphics World. You can visit my business and join in conversation at http://www.logo2d.com & http://www.logo2d.com/forum

©Copyright 2005 Logo2D.com : Feel free to use this article freely but please keep in the copyright

Why Advertising On Blogs Is A Good Idea..

by: Michelle Utter

Move over ezine advertising..and make room for the new tool in town - Blog Advertising! Haven't heard of blogs? Then you need to get yourself in gear and inform yourself on the next big craze. Blog advertising is a very cheap and very effective way to reach your target audiences. Read my article today to find out why and more...

If you haven't yet heard the word "BLOG" then you have some serious catching up to do because they are the hottest and most talked about item on the web this year.

Advertisers, including Paramount Pictures, The Wall Street Journal, and the Gap, are successfully reaching niche audiences for a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising. As a result, a handful of bloggers are earning six-figure incomes from their blogs. But what exactly is a blog, and how can you take advantage of this widely untapped advertising venue? That's my aim for this article. Let's dig a litte deeper....

A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people.

People maintained blogs long before the term was coined, but the trend gained momentum with the introduction of automated published systems, most notably Blogger at blogger.com. Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and accelerate the publishing process.

Blogs are alternatively called web logs or weblogs. However, "blog" seems less likely to cause confusion, as "web log" can also mean a server's log files.

With click-through rates in traditional online advertising dropping, inexpensive blog click-throughs are as high as 5%. Blogs provide advertisers an excellent opportunity to reach a devoted audience niche for as little as $10 a week. Why blogs are good media outlets:

Most blogs have dynamic keywords and are updated daily by either the administrator of the web log or his/her members. This means, a blogger receives more targeted SE visitors and more frequently then webmasters of static html sites.

Another advantage of advertising on blogs as opposed to Web sites is that readers tend to be extremely interested in the topic and very attached to the blogger. You can't ask for a better community of users to be in front of.

Recently, BlogAds conducted a web survey of 17,000 of their readers to find out what type of people are actually surfing blogs. The results? Sixty percent of the Blogads respondents said they are more than 30 years old, and almost 40 percent reported they have a household income of more than $90,000. Perhaps most importantly to advertisers, half of those who took the Blogads survey said that over the last six months they spent more than $50 online for books and more than $500 for plane tickets; 25 percent spent between $100-$500 on electronics via the Web.

Conclusion: Clearly, no company, organization or association can afford to ignore blogs any longer. Early adopters have taken the lead, and blogs are finally entering corporate consciousness.

If you find this article interesting and you'd like to check out some of my blogs, you can visit:

http://sdtadvertising.com (Click on the Advertise on this site link to purchase blog advertising)

http://www.bn4om.sdtadvertising.com (blog advertising available there too)

About The Author

This article is (c) Copyright 2004 by Michelle Utter

Michelle is an innovator and a mainstay in the Internet Marketing Field. You can visit her new website at: http://ebookadvertising.biz

Seven Best Practices for Business Blogging

by: Karoline White

Blogs have become one of the hottest communication tools on the Web. Offering the opportunity for anyone to create their own free Web site, encouraging opinions and interaction, blogs provide forums for individuals to create their own highly personal presentations to the Web audience. They also provide for consortia of all types to experience the sort of online community feeling that was pioneered by early newsgroups and by the phenomenal success of AOL in the 1990s.

Blogs have reached into the corporate and government sectors as well. What started out as an outlet for teenage expression and grassroots journalism has turned into a lucrative communications tool for small and large businesses alike.

Corporate Blogging refers to a company producing or supporting a blog that it uses to accomplish business objectives. As with anything, there are certain “best practices” to be followed to ensure your company reaps the maximum benefits. These seven tips guidelines will help make your blog a success.

1. Fine Print. Blogging can lead to legal issues. Companies should have real concerns about liability, exclusions and limitations, and indemnity. Although there are laws that protect against libel, misappropriations and other injuries suffered as a result of posts on the Web, companies can still be held “vicariously” responsible for statements made by employees that are harmful to others. Since there are so many legal issues surrounding blogs, it is imperative that the site has some sort of disclaimer and limitation of liability.

2. Know What You’re Doing. Senior management should be educated by the corporate communications and legal department about what blogs are and how they might affect business. That way, they can be contributing members of the blog, further improving employee relations. Their support and participation is often what makes a blog more effective.

3. Create blogging policies. In any medium where an employee is sharing information, there is the possibility of leaking trade secrets or financial information. Blogging also has a tendency to become personal. A company should have a list of policies regarding blogging to ensure that trade secrets are kept secret and personal lives do not become public. Policies may include keeping financial information from being posted, as well as severe consequences for anyone using the blog for negative publicity.

4. Avoid the Marketing Blog. Making your blog into a blatant marketing campaign is a bad idea. Customers are looking for real answers and honest opinions. They will pick up on insincerity instantly. Use the blog for what it's for, transparency. This is an opportunity to make a real connection with your customers. Don't ruin it by filling it with empty advertising.

5. Keep It Fresh. Blogs are usually judged by their amount of new content. Easy to add on to, they are designed to be updated constantly. To keep your readers coming back, make your content relevant and timely. Don't forget, content can include anything from product releases to job openings, recent news to thoughts from the CEO. It's practically impossible to run out of material.

6. Reinforce the company’s core values. Use your blog to reflect your company's inner soul: its mission, goals and direction. A blog is just another medium by which you interact with your customers and employees. It's another part of the brand experience. It should be consistent with the impression the company wants to make.

7. Encourage employees to use it. Create an atmosphere where they are comfortable asserting their opinions and concerns. You’ll be surprised how the quietest employees will speak up when given such an opportunity. With all communication, blogging can become negative, so remind employees of the public nature of the blogs and the ramifications for their actions.

About The Author

Karoline White is a Content Developer for Brook Group, a full-service Web development firm near Washington, DC. More articles by this author can be found at http://www.broogkroup.com/resources and http://www.usabilityandbranding.com.

kari@brookgroup.com

15 Tips To Drive Traffic To Your Blog

by: David Riewe

There are many factors that make blogs much better than normal WebPages including the speed at which blogs are indexed, ability to submit to blog directories & normal directories, pings and track backs. All these little things can help drive more traffic to blogs. Here are 15 popular techniques you can use:

1.) Create at least four keyword posts per day. Most of the top blogs such as Boing Boing, Daily Kos, and Instapundit (with literally tens of thousands of visitors per day) publish an average of 30 small 100-150 word posts per day according to "Secrets of the A-list Bloggers: Lots of Short Posts" by http://TNL.net

2.) Submit to My Yahoo! When you submit your own RSS to My Yahoo it is indexed by Yahoo.

3.) Submit to Google's Reader. When you submit your own blog RSS to Google's Reader the Google Blog Search will index your site.

4.) Add a relevant link directory to your blog and trade links like a demon possessed! Although it may take more time than simply submitting to a search engine one time, this method is perhaps the best way to drive traffic to your site. Use software such as Zeus to speed up the link trading process.

5.) Use ping sites like ping-o-matic. Ping your site every time you add a new post.

6.) Submit your blog to traditional search engines such as AltaVista, and MSN.

7.) Submit your blog to traditional directories such as DMOZ. Directories (particularly DMOZ) increase relevance with Google. DMOZ is very picky, but what do you have to lose by trying?

8.) Submit to as many RSS Directories and Search Engines as possible. This is a simple but repetitive process that can be done with software such as RSS SUBMIT.

9.) Comment on other blogs. Do not just leave short, lazy comments like "I agree." Leave well thought out replies that will force readers to wonder "who wrote this?"

10.) Use track backs. If there is a blog that you refer to or quote and it is highly relevant to your subject, leave a track back. It increases your link popularity and may even score a few interested readers from the linked site.

11.) Go offline. Use newspaper ads, public bulletin boards, business cards, even stickers to let as many people as possible know your blog exists.

12.) Ad a link to your blog in your e-mail signature block.

13.) Use Groups (Usenet). Find a relevant group on Google groups, Yahoo groups, MSN groups or any of the thousands of other FREE group services and find like minded people and talk with them. Make sure your use your blog URL like it is your name.

14.) Use Forums. Forums are one of the best places to go for advice. Go to forums and find problems to solve. Make sure you leave your blog name, but be tactful about it; some forums get annoyed with those who selfishly drop a few links to their own site and leave.

15.) Tag your website. Tagging is a new idea that has erupted across the web. Sites like http://Del.icio.us, Technorati and many others have a social feature that allows you to place your article under keywords or "tags" that everyone interested in that tag can see.

Although these are some of the most popular ways to drive traffic to your blog, do not limit your self to tips and lists. Use your imagination and you will come up with thousands of ways to drive traffic to your blog!

About The Author

David Riewe - Internet Marketer and Publisher - Try his FREE Ezine "The Ultimate Marketing Tips" that that will Make Your Business An Outstanding Success! http://www.riewe.com.

Great Response by Auto Responder

by: Hans Peter Oswald

1. Collect leads with your autoresponder. You will get an e-mail digest of everyone's e-mail addresses who requests information from your autoresponder.

2. Publish a price list of all the products and services that you offer. You could also include order forms, product descriptions, and other sales material.

3. Publish free reports in autoresponder format. The reports should be related to your business or web site. Giving away free stuff will quickly increase your traffic. Example: You get a report about eu-domains at secura@superresponder.com

4. Collect vital customer satisfaction information by publishing a survey in autoresponder format. This type of information will help you serve them better.

5. Instead of answering every customer question that's e-mailed to you, publish " Frequently Ask Questions" in autoresponder format. This will save time and money.

6. You could publish your testimonials or endorsements in autoresponder format if you don't have the room in your ad copy. It's more effective to include all of them.

7. Provide back issues of your e-zine archives in auto- responder format. This will give your subscribers and web site visitors easy access to them.

8. Publish your entire web site in autoresponder format. Sometimes visitors don't have enough time read your entire site. They could print it out and read it offline.

9. You could offer your ebook in autoresponder format. Your visitors won't have to download it or have the software to read it right away.

10. You could publish the terms and conditions to any business transactions in autoresponder format. This could include return policies, purchases, refunds etc.

11. You get free autoresponders at superresponder.com and royal-autoresponder.com. Every mail comes with an ad of these companies. You can ask for a list with paid autoresponders with an e-mail to secura@domainregistry.de.

----

Hans-Peter Oswald
http://www.com-domains.com

About The Author

Hans-Peter Oswald
CEO
ICANN Registrar Secura
http://www.com-domains.com
secura@domainregistry.de

How I Use Email Automatic Responders

by: Jeff Schuman

An email automatic responder or autoresponder is the second most important marketing tool I have to make money online. The first would be my hosting company. Without these 2 tools my internet marketing business is dead in the water.

In the world of internet marketing, millions of sites are fiercely competing with each other to gain new clients. For any ecommerce site to succeed, it must capture the interest and the trust of its visitors. It is not enough that your site is perfectly designed or has the latest in animation of content.

You should focus your efforts not only in attracting visitors but also in leading them to make a purchase. There are dozens of marketing strategies you can use to attract more buyers and pump up your sales. One of them is by establishing an excellent and professional reputation for prompt and efficient response.

As more potential customers visit your site, you should expect a flood of inquiries and requests for information. This is an excellent opportunity for you to capture more clients and lead them to buying from your site. Thus, it is important that you carry out an efficient and prompt response to every email you receive. The fastest and most effective way to do this is by utilizing an email automatic responder.

Autoresponder services use a computer program that automatically return a prewritten message to anyone who sends an email to your site. It is widely used for responding to consumer inquiries and visitor comments and suggestions.

Follow up automatic responders are also used by e-zines in responding to people who subscribe or unsubscribe to their online magazines. Companies, who send out their e-newsletter regularly, also use utoresponders.

How can effective autoresponder services help boost your business? The answer lies in its ability to return a prompt response to any e-mail the site receives. By responding rapidly and efficiently, you create a very good impression on your potential customer. Good email autorespondrs help you get important information back to these customers immediately. An effective autoresponder service helps you communicate your message promptly, creating a sense of professionalism and efficiency that your clients will definitely appreciate.

Another very important advantage of email automatic responders is that it saves time with multiple marketing tasks. Certainly, you do not have enough time to personally make and send all correspondence. Autoresponder services allows you to send thank you letters, newsletters, product information, brochures, orders etc. to hundreds of clients almost immediately and simultaneously. Autoresponder services are also indispensable in any email marketing campaign.

Choosing the right autoresponder is very important. What makes the best automatic responder? First, you should pick an autoresponder that is reliable and can give you 24/7 service. You cannot afford to lose a customer because your autoresponder failed to answer his query or request for information. The ability to respond promptly is the first thing you must look for in any automatic responder.

Another key factor you should consider when choosing Autoresponder servcies is flexibility. Good autoresponders allow you to customize unique responses that will have maximum effect on the customer. You should avoid creating an impression that the customer is communicating with a machine instead of a real human being.

An excellent email automatic responder lets you provide the information that is specifically targeted for what the potential customers are looking for. Because any email from potential customers essentially represent the customer's intent on getting more information about your product, which can ultimately lead to direct sales, all emails are important. Thus, a top Autoresponder servcie must fulfill all these duties to help you boost your business.

For all of our autoresponder needs we prefer Aweber. They are very reasonably priced and have proved to be reliable and easy to use.

About The Author

Jeff Schuman

Team-Schuman.Com contains the best make money online and make money websites available today. If you want to make money check us out here: http://www.team-schuman.com/email-automatic-responder.html

jeff@team-schuman.com

Increasing Your Search Engine Ranking

by: Brian Collins

The methods employed to increase your search engine rankings may seem like rocket science to you, so you have probably avoided dealing with this issue. I am here to tell you - the time has come to face your website! A high search engine ranking for your website is so essential that if you have the slightest desire to actually succeed in your business, there is no way you can continue to avoid this issue.

At least 85% of people looking for goods and services on the Internet find websites through search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. The idea of optimizing your pages for high search engine rankings is to attract targeted customers to your site who will be more than likely to make a purchase. The higher your page comes up in search engine results, the greater the traffic that is directed to your website. That's what search engine optimization is about.

You can immerse yourself in all the technical information available online to figure out how to optimize your web pages to achieve higher rankings. Or you can look at a few simple items on your pages, make some small adjustments, and most likely see improved rankings quite rapidly. The first item you should examine is the title bar on your homepage.

The title bar is the colored bar at the top of the page. Look at the words that appear there when you access your home page. To increase search engine rankings, the words on your homepage's title bar should include the most important keywords or phrases, one of which would include your company name.

Then click on all your links and examine the title bars on the pages you access. Each title bar on every single page of your site should contain the most important keywords and phrases taken from the page itself. However, avoid very long strings of keywords, keeping them to six words or less. Avoid repeating keywords more than once in the title bars, and make sure that identical words are not next to each other.

The next item to put under your microscope is your website content. Search engines generally list sites that contain quality content rather than scintillating graphics. The text on your site must contain the most important keywords - the words that potential customers will be typing into search engines to find your site.

Aim to have around 250 words on each page, but if this is not desirable due to your design, aim for at least 100 carefully chosen words. If you want to achieve a high ranking on search engines, this text is essential. However, the search engines must be able to read the text, meaning that the text must be in HTML and not graphic format.

To find out if your text is in HTML format, take your cursor and try to highlight a word or two. If you are able to do this, the text is HTML. If the text will not highlight, it is probably in graphic form. In this case, ask your webmaster to change the text into HTML format in order to increase your search engine rankings.

Next we come to what is called meta tags. I know this sounds like something out of science fiction, but it is really just simple code. Many people believe that meta tags are the key to high search engine rankings, but in reality, they only have a limited effect. Still, it's worth adding them in the event that a search engine will use meta tags in their ranking formula.

To find out if your page is set up with meta tags, you must access the code. To do this, click the "view" button on the browser menu bar, and select "source." This will pull up a window revealing the underlying code that created the page. If there are meta tags, they usually appear near the top of the window. For example, a meta tag would read: meta name="keywords" content=. If you do not find code that reads like this, ask your webmaster to put them in. This may not do much for your search engine rankings, but any little boost helps.

Lastly, we come to the issue of link popularity. This is a factor that is extremely important in terms of search engine rankings. Almost all search engines use link popularity to rank your website. Link popularity is based on the quality of the sites you have linked to from your links page.

If you type in "free link popularity check" in a popular search engine, the search engine will then show you what sites are linked to your site. In the case that there aren't many sites linked up to yours, or that the sites that are linked up have low search engine rankings, consider launching a link popularity campaign. Essentially, this entails contacting quality sites and requesting that they exchange links with your site. Of course, this requires checking out the rankings of the websites you want to link up with. Linking to popular, quality sites not only boosts your search engine ranking, but it also directs more quality traffic to your website.

Search engine rankings are extremely important for a successful Internet marketing campaign. Before you go out and hire a search engine optimization company, try taking some of the simple steps listed above, and see if you can't boost your rankings yourself. Don't ever ignore this all-important factor in Internet marketing. Remember, the higher your search engine ranking, the more quality customers will be directed your way.

About The Author

Brian Collins

I Supply Info provides articles for publication on websites to help increase your search engine ranking http://www.isupply.info.