Entries from February 2008 ↓

The internet has truly revolutionized the communications industry. It’s mind-boggling how much is available at the touch of a keyboard. It’s fun to use a search engine and see the list of websites available, websites that originate both in the U.S. and around the world.

Have you ever wondered how search engines rank one site over another? They use something called web crawlers. It’s a very descriptive term but it’s only partially accurate. While “web crawler” implies that a little critter scurrying around your computer, it is really only an electronic signal that asks a web server for a specific page. Then the web crawler passes the web page data to the search engine’s indexer.

In other words, Web crawlers are programs that methodically browse the internet looking for specific content. They create copies of visited pages. Later, these pages are used by search engines, which index the pages into a huge database so the information can be found quickly. A query processor then uses the database to compare a search term to the information in the database and returns with a list of the websites that theoretically list the most likely matches to the search term.

Web crawlers are used sometimes to perform automated tasks, such as gathering email addresses or other information; checking links or validating URL codes.

A web crawler generally starts by visiting the URLs in a list. It identifies all that links within that URL and add them to its list. It’s easy to see that a web crawler has a massive list of URLs and one web crawler cannot possibly visit all the URLs that exist. Thus each search engine has developed a method for its web crawlers to visit those URLs in an efficient manner, so as to visit as many as possible. Among the factors considered are how many links a URL contains and how popular the site is among web users. There is also a procedure that determines how often a web crawler visits a web site to monitor changes to the website.

Of course, each search engine has millions of web crawlers at work at any one time. With all these web crawlers exploring and revisiting websites, it was necessary for search engines to develop methods to avoid overloading specific websites. This is called a “politeness policy” and is intended to keep websites up and running despite the amount of traffic it has. Some web crawlers are also programmed to gather multiple types of data at one time.

If you do not want a web site crawled (for example, if it has personal or private information), it is possible to design a “firewall” through which the web crawler won’t go.

While the actual workings of web crawlers are often high technical and confusing to casual web users, it can be fun to learn what the various search engines “name” their web crawlers. For instance, Yahoo calls its web crawler “Slurp” and Altavista calls its crawler, “Scooter” and Google’s is called “Googlebot”.

If you have a website, it is worthwhile to research each search engine to determine how to increase the ranking of your website there. By reading and following each site’s tips and guidelines, you can improve the chances of a web crawler visiting your site and improve how your site meets each search engine’s rating parameters.

While search engines won’t divulge each of the parameters it uses (Google says it uses more than 200 of them), each engine has pages, blogs and other materials to help you improve your rankings. After all, search engines are businesses too. By helping you improve your website, they are also helping their business as well.

There are also professional consultants and companies who also help to improve your website’s rankings. While they will consider a variety of factors, they will also help compare your site to each web crawler’s operating parameters. Sometimes fixing a simple but technical problem can help improve how a web crawler reacts in your site.

Isn’t it incredible that electronic signals can be used to compile information you need in a matter of seconds? Slurp, Scooter and Googlebot are electronic friends that help each of us do our work each day. And you don’t even have to feed them.

If you are a website owner or website developer, a huge part of your online success is going to be on how you promote your website. Marketing is essential to introducing your website to as many targeted people as possible. However, you may not be familiar with some of the best ways out there for marketing your website online. By using the internet, you can take your product or service from being local, to world wide in just a few clicks of the mouse. So, if you are not familiar with the various web 2.0 tactics and techniques that can be used to promote your website, sit back and read on.

#1 - Use Social Networking Sites - One great way that you can market your website online is by using social networking sites. These sites can help you to generate a huge amount of traffic to your website. There are so many people who currently use these social networking sites to stay in touch with family, friends, business associates, customers, etc. With social networking sites you can establish yourself as a person that is credible and start communicating with people you add as friends to your online profile. Having profiles and blogs on sites like Facebook and MySpace can help you interact with people interested in your product or service.

#2 - Create Video Commercials Or Tutorials And Post Them On YouTube - Another great way to market online is to create a commercial and then place it on YouTube. Creating videos will benefit you greatly, because millions of users visit YouTube to watch videos. With a video, you can demonstrate how your product or service works, get testimonials of others who used your product or service, and the list goes on. Just be creative and different. Guaranteed you will attract attention.

#3 - Post on Craigslist - You can also use Craigslist to advertise your business. Posting on Craigslist can help drive more traffic to your website. There are many online users who visit Craigslist for a variety of reasons like searching for jobs, advertising services, or even looking for information. You can post your ad for your product or service in it’s proper category. Doing so will guarantee targeted traffic. Our company has online seminars showing you how to place images and url links in craiglist ads. Be sure to sign up for our free newsletter below.

#4 - Create Your Own Blog - Many people today are finding that creating a blog is an excellent way to market just about anything. When you build up a blog, you basically work to build up a readership, and over time they begin to trust you and what you have to say. While you will be able to use the blog to promote your product or service, you will also want to be sure that you provide your readers with helpful information that will keep them coming back again and again. People love knowledge, and when you share knowledge on your blog that people are not familiar with, you will get them to become repeat visitors. Make sure that the articles are well written and interesting as well. Offer insightful articles that deal with topics specific to your target audience. No doubt this will keep people coming back to you again for good information.

#5 - Use Online Message Boards - Yet another way that you can successfully market your website online is to use online message boards and forums. This is not really a way for you to go in and start pitching your business but a way that you can help provide people with helpful information. In these forums you should work hard to become a voice that is trusted and an expert in your field. Your objective is to make sure that you provide other users with plenty of helpful information that will benefit them. Then in your signature file you can add your website url or link for people to get more information about you and your company. Taking the time to post in online message boards and forums will help drive a lot of traffic to your website and promote your product or service. In addition, it is an excellent source to get good quality leads.

Each of these web 2.0 strategies is very important. In fact, when you use all these methods combined together, you will be able to successfully market your website online. So, if you are ready to start really marketing your business, start using these web 2.0 marketing tactics as soon as possible.

A few years back a number of experts were predicting the end of free website promotion. The thinking went since the major conglomerates were starting to utilize the internet more and more, it would eventually drive up the price on just about every aspect of online business including advertising. This would put a lot of pressure on small and home based online businesses that had benefited from the early days of website promotion when costs were free or very affordable and competition was not as widespread.

The good news is free website promotion never went anywhere. It has continued to grow and evolve just like the internet. Maybe the boom years of website promotion don’t exist anymore due to the number of websites online but in some ways its better than before. Constant growth means more people online to view your information or product.

Here are a few tips to getting the most out of free website promotion:

1. The Directories

This could be the easiest way to generate free website promotion. Just create a profile of your website including a good description along with the right targeted keywords and begin submitting your site to the many online web directories. This as you may have gathered will not generate traffic to your site overnight. However over time it will lay the groundwork for more backlinks to your site which can greatly improve your website’s search engine ranking and link popularity. Start out by submitting your site to at least five directories per day.

2. The Forums

It’s almost as if forums were built for free website promotion. Just register with the forum of your choosing, create a signature file (also known as a resource box) and start advertising. One important element to remember: To make forum advertising truly work, you must become an active participant in that community. Do not just post your latest product or service. Instead make a deliberate and constant effort to provide good information, opinion and discussion to the forum. Once people in the forum become more familiar with you, your website promotion becomes easier.

3. Courtesy

This applies not only to the forums but anywhere else you do business online. No doubt you’ve witnessed how aggressive and insulting people can be in cyberspace. There is something about posting anonymously or at least from an “undisclosed” location that brings out the antagonism in some people. A little bit of politeness and respect can greatly assist you in establishing contacts with other webmasters. This will make them more open to exchanging links with you. They may also check out your website and promote your product or service to their readers and subscribers without requesting anything in return. That’s the power of common courtesy.

4. Video

About three years ago, internet marketing pioneer and businessman Kevin McCarthy predicted that video would transform the internet. Today we are looking at the dawning of the video online revolution. What this means is free website promotion has gone to the next level. Just use a web cam or any other recording equipment to make your video and then easily upload it to the hundreds (and growing) of video sharing sites like of course YouTube and BlipTV. Video can place your website promotion in front of new customers who normally would not be interested in your product or service.

The internet continues to grow and change rapidly. The predicted collapse of small businesses online due to the demise of free websitse promotion never happened. Instead not only are the free tools that were available still around (and very effective) but new website promotion tools have been added. Take advantage of the directories, video, forums and just good old fashion common courtesy to boost your free website promotion campaigns

When it comes to traffic generation, all traffic is not created equal. While there are many ways to increase web site traffic, the reality is that increased traffic does not necessarily translate to greater business and profit. It’s the quality of the traffic you receive that is a huge factor in business success. You need traffic that is ‘targeted’ to your business. Unfortunately, the more effective ways to receive targeted traffic such as Pay-Per-Click advertising can also become quite expensive. While most of what passes for free traffic is worthless, there are legitimate ways to get free targeted traffic, and three that I use consistently to generate sign-ups for my business are Article Directories, Forums, and Newsgroups.

One of my favorite ways to get free targeted traffic is writing short articles for Article Directories. The benefits of submitting articles to these directories are numerous, and can increase you web site traffic in several ways. For starters, you’ll receive traffic from people reading your articles and clicking on your link in your ‘Resource Box’. You’ll also receive lots of residual traffic as Ezine and other publishers use your articles for publication on their web site. In fact, some of the articles you write today will bring you traffic years from now, since once published, articles tend to stay published. Another benefit of writing articles is that once you have published several informative or entertaining articles, people will start looking for your writings as they might for a columinist in a newspaper. People will start referring your writings to friends and business associates. The bottom line is, you won’t find many better ways to create free long term traffic than by writing articles. Don’t overlook this source of internet traffic.

Another one of my favorite ways to get lots of free targeted traffic is posting to forums. If you do a search for ‘online forums’ you’ll get thousands of results. Forums are a place where people come together to communicate, teach, learn and network with other like minded people. What some overlook however is that forums are also a great way to advertise yourself and your business. When signing up, most forums will allow you to have a ’signature’ which is simply a short three or four line advertisement about yourself and your business that appears everytime you make a post. This means that with each post you make, you have the potential of hundreds or even thousands of members seeing your ad, and clicking on your link. Another benefit of frequent postings in forums is that Google and other major search engines constantly index forums for listings. Having your links posted numerous times can increase your search engine ratings. Lastly, being a frequent poster adds legitimacy to you and your business. Being a member of an active forum can bring you lots of business. A couple of things to keep in mind when posting in forums; first, make certain that the forum allows you to include your signature. Although most will allow you to include it, some have rules that will prohibit you from adding your signature until you’ve posted a set number of times. Be sure to check out the terms before joining. Another thing is to make sure that your posts have relevance to the topic in discussion. Keep your posts on topic, and don’t do the ‘me too’ kind of posts. They add nothing to the discussion, and quickly reveal your motives. Forums should definitely be a part of your plan to create free long term traffic. Sign up with a few, and start posting today!

A third way to get lots of free targeted traffic is posting to Newsgroups such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. This simple process consists of posting ads at each of these sites by clicking on the ‘Groups’ link and signing up for Groups that relate to your interests. You’ll find that each of these sites have a search feature that allow you to search for groups that are appropriate for your interests. Be aware that some groups are private, and allow posts only by the person that started the group. While these groups may have interesting or educational material, your goal is to advertise yourself, so be certain that a group allows other members to post before joining. You can also start your own group. This allows you to have a bit more control over the group discussion, and can permit you to steer the discussion in the direction you want to go. Setting up a group is a simple process that involves selecting a name for your group, creating the group, and posting. Since most groups have rules about posting and spam, don’t post the same thing numerous times, or you could find that your group suddenly disappears!

When it comes to winning the website war, traffic is indeed ‘king’. While some will have you believe that all traffic is good traffic, the truth is, you need laser targeted traffic to increase your chances of success. Using the combination of Article Directories, Forums, and Newsgroups will allow you to not only increase your internet traffic, but enable you to hone in your target audience.

Traffic exchanges were one of the first things I used to generate traffic when I first came online. Since that time they have changed in many ways, but the basic premise is the same; you receive traffic in exchange for looking at other websites. While I no longer use them as much as I once did, they are still an effective way to generate lots of traffic, if used properly. Having said that, there are several things that you should be aware of in order to get the most from your surfing experience. Some of these suggestions may seem quite basic but can help immensely to make Traffic Exchanges work for you.

First, make sure you are using the right kind of browser. It makes no sense to use a browser that won’t allow you to surf several sites at the same time. In fact, surfing numerous sites at the same time is the only way to surf! While there are quite a few browser’s out there, the one I use and recommend is ‘Mozilla Firefox’. This browser is pretty simple to use once you get the hang of it, and has several features that will facilitate your surfing experience. For instance, this browser will allow you to set up ‘groups’ of Traffic Exchanges that you can open with the click of one button. The way you want to do this is to set up several groups of Traffic Exchanges that have the same basic timer. If you’re not familiar with Traffic or Hit exchanges the way the generally work is each site has a timer that allows a site to be seen for a specified period of time. It could be any period of time, but is usually 15, 20 or 30 seconds. What you want to do is set your groups up so that they all have the same basic time frame. This allows for continuous surfing and will keep you from waiting for timers to run down.

Another thing that you want to make sure of is that you have updated Virus software. It’s a fact of life that just as in the real world, on the Internet there are a small minority of people that have nothing better to do than cause others grief. Be aware of it, and make certain that you have updated Virus protection before starting to surf. While there is no guarantee that even with this protection you’ll never have a problem, it helps put the odds in your favor. After surfing, make it a point to delete all ‘Temporary Files’ and it also helps to set ‘History’ to 0 days. ‘Windows’ users can do this easily by going to the ‘Control Panel’ then ‘Network and Internet Connections’, and finally ‘Internet Options’. Doing this regularly will help your computer run better and will enhance your surfing experience. Also, don’t even think about trying to surf numerous sites with Dial-Up. If you’re one of the few people still using it, you should seriously think about upgrading before trying to surf numerous sites at the same time.

As far as what to advertise on the Traffic Exchanges, it’s your choice, but be aware that most of the people using these exchanges are fellow advertisers hoping to sell you on their product or business. You might find it difficult to achieve much success if you’re advertising the same type of affiliate program that hundreds or thousands of others are as well. Even if advertising a program that is all over the Internet, you’ll do much better if you create your own simple custom pages. Of course having your own unique product that caters to these advertisers, such as a way to build a list or increase traffic, is always in demand. So if trying to come up with a product or service to advertise, keep the needs of fellow advertisers in mind.

Traffic exchanges on the Internet continue to evolve, but it’s quite probable that they’ll be around for many years to come. If your goal is to increase website traffic but don’t have a lot of money to spend, Traffic Exchanges could be a great place to start.

Blogs can offer you a great opportunity to make more money from the internet. There are many people earning a full time income just from blogging. The great thing about blogs is that you do not even need your own domain name because you can get a blog for free at many places like Blogger and Yahoo 360.

A blog is simply like an online diary and should contain your honest opinions and views on certain topics you decide to write about. The best approach is to create one or a handful at most of blogs and then focus on adding the best and most useful content you can find. Remember that the content is one of the main keys to the success of your blog.

The first step is to decide the topic of your blog. Of course you want to stay in a niche that has many potential buyers and searchers. It is important to do your keyword research so make sure you are using a tool like the free overture keyword tool to check the number of searches for the main keywords in your niche. If there are over sixty to seventy thousand searches in a month then the niche may be profitable.

Once you have found a niche the next step is to select a name for your blog. If this is your first blog then use the Blogger platform since it is owned by none other than Google themselves so it is a great blogging service. Pick a name that is keyword rich, target the main keyword in your niche, this will help you to rank better for that keyword. The next step is to pick a template. Try to select one that is as unique as possible however do not worry too much about the template.

If you want you can customize your template and add a header image if you like by editing the html of the template. This is often a good idea since it will separate your blog from every other one and help to make it look unique. Photoshop is a great tool to help you create great headers, you can download a free trial from their site and make sure to learn from the vast array of free tutorials that are available on the internet that can show you how to make great looking header graphics.

The next step is to create content for your blog. Make sure that your content is as unique as possible. If you like you can add articles from article directories but do not rely on them solely. The best way to create content is to become like a researcher and learn all you can about your niche. Truly become an expert that people can rely on and trust. This will help you to create great posts that are also original. Learn from other experts in your niche and read their articles and visit their sites to learn more.

When using blogger it is best to not make more than 1 quality post per day otherwise you may get flagged for spamming. The best way to promote your blog without spending money on advertising is probably article marketing. You need to write quality articles on your niche around 650 words and submit them to major article directories like Ezinearticles. Also add your blog to as many link directories as possible.

You can even use article submission services to automate the submitting process since it can get tedious. This way you can focus on writing good quality articles instead of spending hours submitting them. Add 1 new post per day and continue promoting via articles to build greater web presence for your blog. Have patience and give your blog at least six months to grow and mature. Add affiliate links to the side of your blogs or at the bottom of your posts.

In time your blog may rank well in the search engines and you could receive very good levels of free traffic which you can then further monetize with adsense too. The key to all of this is consistency so keep at it and put the effort in that is necessary to make it work.

The ideal world of affiliate marketing does not require having your won website, dealing with customers, refunds, product development and maintenance. This is one of the easiest ways of launching into an online business and earning more profits.

Assuming you are already into an affiliate program, what would be the next thing you would want to do? Double, or even triple, your commissions, right? How do you do that? Here are some powerful tips on how to boost your affiliate program commissions overnight.

1. Know the best program and products to promote. Obviously, you would want to promote a program that will enable you to achieve the greatest profits in the shortest possible time.

There are several factors to consider in selecting such a program. Choose the ones that have a generous commission structure. Have products that fit in with your target audience. And that has a solid track record of paying their affiliate easily and on time. If you cannot seem to increase your investments, dump that program and keep looking for better ones.

There are thousands of affiliate programs online which gives you the reason to be picky. You may want to select the best to avoid losing your advertising dollars.

Write free reports or short ebooks to distribute from your site. There is a great possibility that you are competing with other affiliates that are promoting the same program. If you start writing short report related to the product you are promoting, you will be able to distinguish yourself from the other affiliates.

In the reports, provide some valuable information for free. If possible, add some recommendations about the products. With ebooks, you get credibility. Customers will see that in you and they will be enticed to try out what you are offering.

2. Collect and save the email addresses of those who download your free ebooks. It is a known fact that people do not make a purchase on the first solicitation. You may want to send out your message more than six times to make a sale.

This is the simple reason why you should collect the contact information of those who downloaded your reports and ebooks. You can make follow-ups on these contacts to remind them to make a purchase from you.

Get the contact information of a prospect before sending them to the vendor’s website. Keep in mind that you are providing free advertisement for the product owners. You get paid only when you make a sale. If you send prospects directly to the vendors, chances are they would be lost to you forever.

But when you get their names, you can always send other marketing messages to them to be able to earn an ongoing commission instead of a one-time sale only. Publish an online newsletter or Ezine. It is always best to recommend a product to someone you know than to sell to a stranger. This is the purpose behind publishing your own newsletter. This also allows you to develop a relationship based on trust with your subscribers.

This strategy is a delicate balance between providing useful information with a sales pitch. If you continue to write informative editorials you will be able to build a sense of reciprocity in your readers that may lead them to support you by buying your products.

3. Ask for higher than normal commission from merchants. If you are already successful with a particular promotion, you should try and approach the merchant and negotiate a percentage commission for your sales.

If the merchant is smart, he or she will likely grant your request rather than lose a valuable asset in you. Keep in mind that you are a zero-risk investment to your merchant; so do not be shy about requesting for addition in your commissions. Just try to be reasonable about it.

Write strong pay Per Click ads. PPC search engine is the most effective means of advertising online. As an affiliate, you can make a small income just by managing PPC campaigns such as Google AdWords and Overture. Then you should try and monitor them to see which ads are more effective and which ones to dispose of. Try out these strategies and see the difference it can make to your commission checks in the shortest of time.