7 Signs You Hired The Wrong SEO Company

I was browsing a small business forum the other day and noticed a post by a business owner. The business owner had hired a “SEO Expert” to increase their rankings in the Search Engines. After nearly a year, their website was no where near the top of any Search Engine.

He emailed his site to me to take a look at it for him. It only took a second looking at the source to realize this guy had hired the wrong person to do SEO on their website. A quick look at his site with my Firefox SEO extension showed no backlinks.

The on-page SEO (or lack of) was horrible plus his Copywriting was not optimized either. It was no wonder this site didn’t rank. This site was in a small niche and it shouldn’t have been that hard to rank well, especially over a year’s time.

If you have questions about your SEO expert, here are 7 signs that you’ve hired the wrong SEO expert or company.

1. Your Real Estate Agent website ranks #1 for Viagra in your City.
2. There are no backlinks pointing to your website, but you find that your website has 367 outgoing links to Gambling and Porn sites.
3. When you pull up your SEO’s website, it says “This Account Has Been Suspended.”
4. Your think “BlackHat SEO” is the name of your SEO Company.
5. Your SEO expert’s idea of on-page optimization includes typing your keywords across the top of your index page, over and over and over.
6. More than 95% of people with Guestbooks on their websites know your URL.
7. Matt Cutt’s knows your URL by heart.

Okay, so that was a little tongue in cheek list, but there are a lot of people/companies out there who will take your money and do little to get your website ranked. There are also those who can actually damage your website. Buyer Beware when hiring an SEO Expert or SEO Company. Here’s a post about questions you should ask your potential SEO company.

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Will Google Deliver The Death Blow For BANS Sites?

Google and BANS. Once we thought this was a match made in Heaven. Nowadays, if you’re a BANS owner, you probably think you’ve been in affiliate marketing Hell. First there was the Ebay Partner Network canning hundreds of eBay affiliates, many who had Build A Niche Storesites up, and now Google has been either penalizing or out right deindexing BANS sites from the SERPS.

Yeah, for some of you BANS owners, it’s been a pretty tough last few months.

I’m knocking on wood here. If you remember right from my initial Build A Niche Store Review, my goal was to build 100 BANS sites. Now I’m thanking my lucky stars that I have AMADD (Affiliate Marketing Attention Deficit Disorder) and only made it to 30 sites before I lost focus and went off doing something else. So far none of my sites have been touched by either Google or eBay. I’ll give you my theories on why that is on down the page.

A Few Theories Why Google Is De-Indexing BANS sites.

I’ve been following a lot of the chatter on forums about this subject as well as receiving a lot of email. This is what I’ve figured out to this point. No one has 100% concrete proof why Google is de-indexing BANS sites. There are a few theories floating around.

1. The BANS program was being used by a lot of spammers. Many of these guys/gals were throwing up huge numbers of BANS sites on .info domains. They never bothered to change anything with the programs, their only concern was to get as many BANS sites up as they could, as cheaply as they could. This left a huge footprint for Google to follow.
2. Most of these same people never bothered to put any content on their sites. They were simply ebay sites with ebay auctions on them. This would be what Google calls a “thin affiliate” site. And we know what Google does with thin affiliate sites.
3. In order for Google to get all the spammy BANS sites, it had to take some legitimate sites along with them. It’s the shotgun approach. Use a huge pattern to make sure you get all of them. Try and limit the casualties but go forward knowing some innocent victims will be in the pattern.

My Theory On Why Google Hasn’t De-Indexed All BANS Sites

Even as far back as when I bought the Build A Niche Store program, there was talk about Google finding the footprint of all the standard BANS templates and possibly penalizing them. It seems this bird has come home to roost. From the start, here is what I did to try and make my BANS sites unique from all the other cookie cutter BANS sites.

* I changed up the CSS a little bit on every site. I made sections like the header and content fields larger and smaller.
* I changed the colors on every site.
* I changed the size of the headers on every site and used graphic headers.
* I DID NOT go out and start sending hundreds of backlinks to my sites. I built them up over time using blog carnivals, article submissions, reciprocal linking and adding one way permanent links.
* I added content to nearly every page plus I used a lot of graphics.
* I never put eBay auctions on my main page. I put content on the index page to make it look as much like a informative content site as I could. Just look at how many BANS sites have nothing more than auctions on their front page.
* On many of the domains that hosted my BANS sites, I added blogs, article directories and forums to many. (mostly just blogs that supported the main domain)
* I never put more than 2 BANS sites on one hosting account plus I paid extra for all sites to have a dedicated IP’s. I’ve read stories of people hosting all their BANS sites with one hosting company. Wow, I can’t fathom that idea. I’m just too paranoid I suppose.
* I only used dot com domains. Of course, these last two items is what I do for nearly all of my affiliate sites, not just for BANS. I want to make it as hard as possible for Google or any other search engine to spy on my websites.

Now, I’m not saying if you do these things that Google will not index your site. These are the things I did to every BANS site I had. I did these things from day one and as I said above, knock on wood, my sites haven’t been touched. In fact, many are still climbing the SERPS.
Is the Build A Niche Store Still Worth Buying?

I’ve had a few emails asking that question. Honestly, I’d say yes it is. But only if you intend to build sites that have a lot of content and you make them unique. If you’re plan is to buy it and throw up a bunch of BANS sites without adding any value to them, I think you’d be wasting your money. Google is on to you.
Alternatives to The Build A Niche Store program

If you’ve been reading this blog for more than a week or so, you know I’m impressed with the PHPBay plugin for WordPress. As I stated in my post Advanced Build A Niche Store Strategies, I’ve been using PHPBayand WordPress to make blogs and stores with eBay auctions. It seems every week that my PHPBay/WordPress stores outproduce my Build A Niche Store sites. Hey, it’s no secret that Google is crazy in love with WordPress blogs. Why not take advantage of that? Plus, to be honest, a WordPress blog and PHPBay combination site just looks much better than 99% of the BANS sites out there, mine included. (hey, maybe Google hates ugly sites?)

Whatever the real reason that Google is de-indexing or penalizing BANS sites, owners using this program need to proceed with caution. If you continue to make sites with BANS, then do everything in your power to make them unique and stand away from the crowd.

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Make Money Online Quick

For whatever reason, from time to time people need to make money online quick. Maybe you have Johnny Knee Breaker banging on your door wanting that $100 he loaned you …with interest. Or perhaps it’s a unsuspected bill that shows up and must be paid quickly. Either way, it all boils down to needing to get ahold of some quick cash. When faced with this situation, some people turn to the Internet to see if they can make money online quick. Some succeed but most do not. Here’s a few tips to put you in the “success” category.

Generally, making money online is a long term project. No, wait. What I mean is, making a sustainable income online is a long term project. I don’t want you to get the notion that making money online quick is common or a long term solution because it isn’t. Now having said that, I do know some places you can legitimately make some quick cash. You won’t be able vacation in Paris with the money, but you just might be able to keep Johnny from breaking your Knee Caps over that $100.

To begin with, if you’re reading this, I’m assuming you know how to operate a computer and get yourself around the Internet. If that is the case, then you need to check out Project Payday. This is a service that helps you make cash by filling out those offers you see all over the Internet. Project Payday is free to sign up for and they have loads of training Video’s and even a mentoring program (which, I highly recommend if you want to maximize your earnings over a long period). As if that wasn’t enough, they even have one sweet guarantee. It simply states that if you follow the easy 4 step process and don’t make money in 24 hours, they’ll give you $100. Now that’s a guarantee you won’t see many programs make! It’s one of the few legitimate ways I know of that allows you to make some quick money online. Click here to learn how to get started making money today with Project Payday.

If I needed a $100 within a few days and had no other means to get it, this is the program I would use.

Many people make full time incomes from home by selling things on Ebay. When I used Ebay for income, I visited Garage sales, Estate auctions and classified sites like Craigslist for stuff to resell. It wasn’t until I got the Free Ebay For Dummies starter kit that I learned how the Power Sellers make money. Over a fairly short amount of time my Ebay income tripled. This Starter Kit has loads of tips for Ebayers and even lists of Dropshippers and Wholesalers where you can get products.

Do you also realize that there are people that have no Sam’s Club or Cosco nearby? These people shop the internet for household items you and I take for granted. There are many people on eBay who do nothing but buy bulk items at these Warehouse stores and resell them. Sometimes they break the bulk items down into single units, other times they can sell the whole product at a nice profit. Again, make sure you know what you can buy a product for, how much it will cost you to ship it and the price range of what you can get for it. You don’t want to be sitting on a basement full of Tang you bought from Cosco!

A lot of people have turned to Freelance Writing to make money online. They either sell articles on Forums like DigitalPoint or sign up for services like Freelance Home Writers. This is like a job board for Freelance Writers where you sign in and view Writing jobs that Companies and Individuals have posted. There are other benefits and features to this service, so visit their site to learn more.

One more place you can make money online quick is Etsy. Etsy is an auction site where people go and sell their crafts. This site has really exploded lately and many people find they can stay home and make crafts to sell. If you’re especially crafty, handy or other wise capable of making something useful or beautiful, you may want to give Etsy a try. Some people are raking in the money with their crafts.

Have you ever thought about selling an ebook? Do you know you can sell it on Amazon? You can thanks to the Amazon Kindle. You simply become an Amazon publisher and you can write ebooks and Amazon will publish them. They go into a library where Kindle users can download them, for a fee. You get a percentage of the fee each time someone downloads your ebook. The ebooks don’t have to be your’s either. You can grab some PLR ebooks and publish them as well.

These are only a few ways you can make money online quick. There are others I’ve discussed throughout this blog. These will get you started. Just use some common sense and don’t panic if you suddenly find yourself needing money. Just turn on the computer and go to work.

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9 Low Cost Ways To Promote Your Site

Here are 9 Low Cost Ways to Drive Traffic To Your Site

1. Pay-Per-Click Programs - You should try Adwords and other Pay-Per-Click programs such as Yahoo Publisher Network and Microsoft AdCenter, only if you have a good understanding of how PPC programs work. Newbies should not dive into PPC unless you have a large budget. A better way to use Adwords would be to use the site targeted feature of Adwords and choose sites that are relevant to yours. Site targeted Adwords are charged on a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) basis rather than a per-click basis.
2. Banner Advertising - In my blog post title “15 Adsense Alternatives“, I feature 15 programs to replace Adsense. You can use many of these same programs, such as AdBrite, to advertise on. Speaking of AdBrite, I’ve seen them on some very specific sites where Adsense was not used. This could be for a variety of reasons, but it’s worth checking into sites where you’d like to advertise and see which program they are using to monetize their site.

3. Sponsored Reviews- Paying for a few site targeted reviews of your site could bring in a huge flood of new readers to your site. Sites like PayPerPost, ReviewMe and SponsoredReviews can be a low-cost goldmine for site owners.
4. Private Advertising - You don’t have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to get your ad on sites like JohnChow or ShoeMoney to take advantage of private advertising. There are a lot of popular sites on the Internet that have very targeted readers where you can buy an ad for peanuts. You can get a nice banner ad on some of these sites for as little as $25 per month.
5. Text Link Ads- Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what Google says about buying text links. When done right, Google or no one else can spot a paid link. They’re effective when placed on the right site and when done correctly. I Do Not recommend buying site wide text links in sidebars. I think the best links to buy are the ones in related post about relevant services or products you offer. You can find links on sites such as the Marketplace on DigitalPoint Forums, SitePoint, Text-Link-Ads and TextLinkBrokers. Another effective method is just to email the site owner and offer them some money to buy a one way link to your site. Don’t try to be cheap, it’ll turn off the site owner and they may never respond!
6. Blog Networks - I’ve never used Blog Networks, but I know a few site owners who swear by the traffic from Blog Networks like Blog Explosion, Blog Advance, Blog Soldiers and the new Blog Rush. With these networks, you get credits for sending traffic to other Network members sites. In many cases, you can also purchase credits at a reasonable rate. In turn, you use these credits to “buy” impressions back to your site. As good as that sounds, I still bring in more traffic with article marketing and ezinearticles.
7. Stumble Upon Ads- StumbleUpon sends me a lot of traffic naturally on many of my sites. But for those who just don’t have the time or expertise to get that rush of traffic from SU, they do have ads and many can be had for as little as 5 centers per click. This is cheap in anyone’s book!
8. Paid Posters - This is another method I’ve never used, but know some people who swear by it. This works by paying people to post on forums and blog comments and leaving a link back to your site. From the prices I’ve seen, you can get this done for as little as 10 to 20 cents per post. Browse the Marketplaces on DigitalPoint Forums and SitePoint to find paid posters.
9. Automobile Ad Wraps - (bet you didn’t see this one coming!) These can be very effective if you have a product or service that serves a local market. This program works when a broker pays drivers to drive around with magnetic signs or auto-wraps on their vehicles. People pay attention to ads on vehicles and this can drive some very targeted traffic to your site or local business. Places to look are; Ad-Wraps, AutoWrapped.Com and AutoMurals.Com. I know a small businessman in the Northwest that post “Want Ads” on Craigslist, Kijiji and other local classified ad sites looking for driver. He cuts out the Middleman and saves some serious money in the process.

The important thing is to test, test and test more if you want to take full advantage of any of these programs! I think you’ll be amazed at how much traffic you can generate with a little bit of money.

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10 Niches To Make Money From in 2009

Yesterday I was reading this article from Forbes about the 10 things that people are still buying even in this down economy. After reading it, I realized that Forbes just outed 10 hot niches for 2009. I thought I’d share them with you and comment on how you might make money with a few of them.

The first thing according to Forbes that we Consumers are still spending money on is Smart Phones. If I was in this niche, I would concentrate on building sites over a specific phone. Say, the Blackberry Storm or a Samsung. The iPhone niche is very competitive and unless you already have a authority website about iPhone’s, I’d stay away and go after one of the other lesser known Smart Phones.

Video Games and Consoles are the second item on the list in the Forbes article. Their theory on why we’re still buying this is that Consumers want a quick escape from reality. I say it’s because Video Games are addictive and addicts buy stuff! Whatever the reason, people are still buying them in droves. Pick a game and build a site around it. Websites about the Wii, PlayStation and XBox are really popular. Unless you can come up with an unique angle, I’d concentrate on picking a game since the Console market is flooded right now.

Gym memberships are also on the list. I’m not sure why people would cut back on their spending then blow bucks on a Gym membership when you can get a decent workout at home or by walking/jogging around your neighborhood, but Forbes says it’s so. I’ll just stick with my Health niches and maybe write some articles on Gym reviews if I need that traffic.

Personal care also made the list of things we keep spending money on. This would be an easy one to implement with Health. You could also start a affiliate site with a lot of persona care items. Just research the niche and try to find one not full of big players like Johnson and Johnson.

Toy building sets also made the top 10. This one surprised me a bit and I’m still not sure if they mean the Toy Building Sets their self or Toys in general. Their theory is that it’s hard to say NO to you kids. There’s a lot of truth behind that statement as I can relate to that! The article says that Lego sales were up 12 percent in 2008! In November, the word “Lego” was searched for over 673,000 times according to the Google Keyword tool. Anyone have a Lego blog? ;)

Car Maintenance is also on the list. Consumers aren’t rushing out and buying a new car now days but they are spending money on the ones the do have. This would be a good niche if you could find some specific products and build an affiliate site around them. Everything from products that clean and beautify your car to performance enhancing products would be good sellers.

Another surprise for me on this list was Dress Casual Shoes. Google shows 33,000 searches for Casual Shoes and 49,000 searches for Dress Shoes. Grab a domain with the words Dress Casual Shoes in it and you have several options to profit from this niche. A blog reviewing Casual and Dress shoes to an affiliate site selling both Casual and Dress shoes would be a hit if you can rank the site on page one of the Google SERPS.

Restaurants was on the list also. Most specifically fast food chains as people are looking for inexpensive meals. I’ve always thought about starting a blog and reviewing the popular menu items at fast food places since I eat out a lot. But I just haven’t had the time.

Movie tickets took my be surprise also. I guess the American Family is looking for alternatives when it comes to entertainment. The article says that attendance is down but profits rose in 2008. I’m not sure how good a niche this would be because I the prices of everything at Theaters are outrageous these days. I also believe services like NetFlix, Blockbuster and Red Box have taken a big chunk of money away from the Theaters. But hey, maybe you can get an unique angle on this niche and make some money from it.

Netbooks is a niche I think some money could be made at. These are relatively new to the market and due to the low price, becoming more and more popular. Review sites and affiliate sites would be a good way to monetize these niches.

If you were looking for something to make money from in 2009, the above 10 hot niches should do you well. Several have been good niches for years and will likely be so in the future. Do some research on them and pick one or two and give them a try!

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Link Laundering - Link Building Like An Internet Mobster

How To Turn Low Quality and Questionable Links into High Quality One Way Links

Warning: The following method of link building (link laundering) is looked upon as either a Gray or Black Hat technique by many in the Internet World. I feel it’s my duty to educate my readers about these tactics so you’re aware of them if you ever see your competition using them against you.

link launderingHave you ever ran across sites that ranked higher than your site, but felt your site was much better, so you wondered how that could happen? Some of you may have actually used tools like SEO Quake or SEO for Firefox and found that those sites had more links to them than yours did.

“How could they be getting so many links when I’m busting my ass for a few links a month?” you might ask yourself

“My content is better, my on page SEO is better, site design is off the chart, I have more RSS subscribers, my domain is older plus I’m better looking than those guys” you may think to yourself

Come my friend, let me introduce you to the underworld of link laundering.

Let’s me start by saying that link laundering usually involves a network of sites or blogs that the Webmaster owns or has access to. It can be done without a network, but link laundering is easier in many regards if you own or control a network of blogs or websites.

Link laundering is a lot like money laundering. You take low quality, crappy links and turn them into high quality, relevant, one way anchored links pointing to your main site. In reality, you’re turning these low quality “questionable” links into high quality “trusted” links.

What many of you do not realize is that many of the “White Hat” bloggers and Website owners out there use this same technique to boost their rankings.

I’ve spent hours upon hours of following their foot prints to figure this out. Some hide it better than others, but with a little determination you can find out where your competition is really getting those high quality relevant links.
How Can a Website With Fewer Links Outrank My Site with Hundreds or Thousands of Links?

Let me sidetrack just a little bit here to explain why this happens. First off, we’re talking about Google here just to make things clear.

In a nutshell, Google looks at the links pointed at your website and gives these links a value. If you have thousands of links coming into your site but they are all links from low PR sites, they’re passing very little link value (juice) to your site.

Let’s say your competition only has a few dozen links coming into their site. However, unlike the links coming into your site, your competitor has links from Websites that have related content and these sites have high PR.

Google looks at this and decides that your competitors site should be ranked higher because he has links from “trusted” (high PR) sites that are related to his site. Their way of thinking is these other sites are “voting” that your competitor has much more relevant information for the chosen Keyword because of all these one way links with the keyword in the anchor.

There are other factors that determine how much “value” or “juice” links pass, but this should give you some idea of how Google looks at links and determine why one link pointing at a site is more valuable than another.
Now Back to Link Laundering

Imagine if you will, a Pyramid with 3 tiers. The bottom tier has 3 blocks, the middle has 2 blocks and finally at the very top is the King block!

Now also imagine each of those “blocks” as websites.

On the bottom tier, the 3 blocks represent disposable websites. These are your crappy throw away sites. If they get banned or de-indexed, no problem link launderers will get more. Many of these websites are free Blogger or WordPress sites.

The way link laundering works is that the Webmaster will go out and get thousands of crappy, low quality links pointing at these disposable sites. These links may be questionable but certainly nearly all will be low quality. Links from places such as Guestbooks, comments, directories, trackbacks, etc. are all pointing at these sites.

It’s pretty much certain these links will be obtained by spam. Black Hatters use many tools in farming these links. Scripts and programs are designed to search out these places and leave the Mobsters links.

Now the sites at the bottom of the Pyramid have thousands of low quality links pointing to them. This will give these sites some value in Google’s eyes due to the volume of links coming in, provided they’re not de-indexed or banned first!

What the Webmaster will do now in the link laundering process is add some content to these bottom tier websites and place one way, relevant links with anchor text, pointing at a site on the 2nd tier.
The 2nd Tier of the Link Laundering Pyramid

Now the 2nd tier of the Link Laundering Pyramid are sites that have a little more trust. These are sites that generally have a PR2 to PR4. These are your intermediate sites.

They’re the Wiseguys and Lieutenants of the Internet Mobster family.

They have more value than the lowly crappy sites below, but they aren’t near as valuable as the guy above them.

These sites “wash” the links and make them legitimate.

The first tier sites may have general topics. This makes it easier to link out to the 2nd tier blogs or websites.

The 2nd tier will consist of sites that are specific. This will give their outgoing links more link juice to the top tier blog or website.
The Big Kahuna or Numero Uno Mafiaoso

This is the block at the top of the Pyramid. This is where the laundered links end up after they have been filtered through the lower sites or “washed”.

This is the Webmasters money site. It’s the site they want ranked well and it’s why they go to all the trouble to use link laundering and increase their “trust” and rankings.

Wise Webmasters will also be sure to mix the links coming from their network with those from other sources to make it look more legitimate. This makes it harder for search engines like Google to figure out the network.

The Webmaster will also have many low quality links pointing at their Main site as well, but these links will be from legitimate sources and from “white hat” sites with low PR. This is to make the links seem more natural.
Another Twist on Link Laundering

Another technique some Webmasters will use in order to launder links or to boost the rankings of existing low quality links to their site is to send a lot of these easy to get, low quality and questionable links at pages that already link to them. In many instances, they do not own these sites.

By boosting the PR of these pages, the links on them pass more juice (value). Which helps the Webmaster’s Main site.

For example, let’s say that Bob’s Blog linked to you back in 2003 from a page in his blog. You go back to see Bob’s Blog but see that Bob hasn’t posted since 2005. It’s safe to say Bob isn’t blogging any longer and is probably on a Tropical beach somewhere enjoying his Internet loot…or sleeping at the bottom of the Bay with the fishies.

Anyhow, the Webmaster will start sending a lot of low quality links out to the page on Bob’s site that is linking to his site. If something bad happens and Bob’s site gets slapped, nadda problem. The Webmaster just lost a low quality link. However, more times than not, the PR of that page increases and sends more link juice to the Webmasters site.

This 2nd technique can be used in conjunction with traditional link laundering techniques or by itself.
In Summary

The link laundering techniques above are but two examples. There are many variations and I used the Pyramid as a simple example to help you see how it works. Many times a link laundering Pyramid will have a really wide base with dozens of blogs receiving low quality links. Also, in many instances, the blog may have 4 or even 5 tiers to really “wash” the links and turn them into sparkling “White” links.

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7 Link Building Mistakes You Should Avoid

There is so much B.S. flying around Webmaster circles these days about what you should or should not do about link building. One “Guru” will tell you that you should “Do This” when building links and another will tell you “Not To Do This” when link building.

If the top SEO experts around the World can not come to an agreement about what should or should not be done when building links, then what is the every day Joe supposed to do?

Just take a look at the document over at SEOMoz about ranking factors.

Rand surveyed the Top 37 SEO experts in the World. Basically the Survey is a series of questions asked to each expert. This group of experts could not come up with an agreement rating more than 1 on many of the questions!

So now that we know the “experts” can’t agree, I might as well tell you the mistakes I’ve made/seen done by many Webmasters.

1. Failing to procure reciprocal links. I’ve seen so called SEO Guru’s say that reciprocal linking is dead and they will hurt your site. This just isn’t so. As we say in the South “They’re talking out their asses.” I have several blogs and websites with PR2 to PR4 that have nothing more than reciprocal links pointing at them. The important thing to remember is to make sure they links your trade are from quality sites. It doesn’t matter if they’re PR0, just make sure they’re not from a spam/adult/pharmacy/hate type site. Reciprocal links can be on a resource page if you run a website or a Blogroll for you bloggers. Just remember to trade!
2. Failing to acquire low PR links. For some reason, many Webmasters do not want PR0 sites linking to them. This is link building suicide! One day, those PR0 sites could be the next PR5 or better. Frankly, I don’t care who links to my sites. I can’t control it and if they’re passing any amount of authority, which even PR0 pass some, I’ll take it. It also looks natural when you have many more low authority sites pointing to your site than all high PR sites.
3. Failing to link out. Once again, we’re talking about making your site look natural to the Search Engines, especially Google. Authority sites link out to other authority sites. Google expects to see this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a site stuck in the SERPS only to get a little boost when I linked to a higher authority site. In several instances, I’ve had the position right below Wikepedia. Seemed no matter how many links I added, I was stuck. I would then link to the topic in Wikipedia. In a few instances, that was all it took to leap frog me over them in the SERPS. So link out to authority sites! Before using a service like 3 Way Links, read reviews like 3waylinks.net review, it’s a good article on 3 way link systems.
4. Failure to check your reciprocal link partners websites. Once you exchange links with someone, you need to follow up on a routine basis and make sure the link back to your site is still there. Some sites go down, accounts are closed, domains let expired and purchased by someone else, Webmasters changing website topics and some Webmasters simply taking your link down after you exchange links. I’ve seen people put ‘nofollow’ on the links after they’ve made a trade. I’ve seen it all happen, that’s why I monitor my link partners and you should also.
5. Failing to use Anchor text in your link. If someone gives you the opportunity to use Anchor text in the link back to your site, use it! In my opinion, anchor text in a backlink is the second biggest off page ranking factor for seo. Only the relevancy and authority of the page where the backlink originates is more important in my experience.
6. Failing to cover up your paid link footprints. Look, from here to the end of time, people will sell links. And from here to the end of time, Google will be trying to find paid links. And from here to the end of time, you’ll see blogs, websites and blog networks (think Backlink Solutions) get de indexed for selling links. If you’re going to buy or sell links, you’d better be hiding your footprint or Big Daddy G is going to find you one dark, cold and stormy night. There are several ways of hiding your footprint, I covered one way in my link laundering article a few weeks ago.
7. Failing to build links. I see people on the forums all the time asking how they should go about link building or how to get started link building. Many say they don’t know how and so they don’t even try. People! I hate link building as much as the next person, but it’s not Rocket Science. You may be able to rank high in a low competitive keyword niche with on-page SEO, but for a competitive niche where’s there’s money to be made, you’re going to need some relevant backlinks! TIP: One of the most effective link building strategies you can perform is to find out who’s linking to your competition and get links from them. You simply go to Google and type in link:yourcompetitorssite.com. You’ll then get a list of sites that are linking to your competitors site. Browse that site to see if there is a place to put a link to your own site at. If not, simply Contact the person running the site and ask kindly for a link. Many times they will not respond, but some will. Now, out of those sites, do the same thing. See who’s linking to them and get links from those sites!

Okay, so there you have 7 of the biggest link building mistakes either I have made or I see made on a routine basis. What’s important to remember is that these mistakes are avoidable. Some have temporary effects on your rankings while others can have permanent effects on how your website ranks in the SERPS.

So what’s up with the flurry of link building articles lately? Well, it’s a work up to a document I’ve been working on and off now for nearly a year. It started off small and has taken a life of it’s own. Stay in touch if you’re serious about link building, because this article will have over 100 link building strategies outlined perhaps even closer to 125 or more!

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How Long Should A Blog Post Be

How long should a blog post be? Ever since I started blogging a few years ago, that is one of the questions new bloggers have asked. The blog Guru’s will tell you that blog post need to be short. The theory is that if you make longer post, the reader will get bored and leave your site.

It has always been said that Internet users have short attention spans. That’s still true for the most part.

When I first started, the rule was the post should be between 250 and 500 words. I naturally write long articles as it is. So I was getting comments and email saying my post were too long. So I started trying to keep them around 500 words. That was hard for me to do!

Here are a few reasons why you should be writing long blog post:

* If you’re only interested in attracting Social traffic, stick to making those short, concise post. Most Social readers have shorter attention spans than a 3 year old, especially if they come from Digg.
* If on the other hand, you want your post to rank high in Google SERPS and bring in loads of targeted organic search traffic, you’re more likely to do it with longer keyword optimized post than shorter ones.
* You’ll naturally have more long tail keywords in your long blog post. Long tail keywords bring in more targeted organic traffic to your site.
* Looking at it from Google’s perspective, which post is more informative? A short one or long post? Google is in the business of delivering targeted relevant information to Internet searchers. Google’s algorithym searches for the most relevant and informative information on the Internet when you enter a search into the the search box. So which post do you think it will return higher in the SERPS? A 250 word post about ‘Mens Hair Loss’ or a 1400 word article?
* If you run a content rich site with Adsense, you can increase your CTR with longer post and articles. Why? Because you’ll stand a better chance of the reader losing interest and clicking on an Adsense ad. Yeah, I know, it’s a pretty underhanded Adsense trick hunh? But it works ;)
* You may lose a few RSS subscribers who do not like long post, but you’ll also gain a few more who feel long post are more informative and detailed. They’ll see you as a detailed authority on the subject.

What constitutes a long post?

The way I look at it is, anything over 1000 words is a long post. I know some who say 700 to 800 words is a long post, but a 1000+ word blog post is much better, especially if it’s keyword optimized.

Long post are also more detailed. Instead of making some short-to-the-point sentences, you can take your time and go into more details with your post.
Tips For Optimizing Your Blog for Long Post

If you’re worried about losing your RSS subscribers to long post, here are a few tips that will help you keep them interested and to optimize your long post.

* Use the H3 tag to break up your long post into sections. Properly constructed H3 headings also add SEO benefits to your long post.
* Use bullets and numbers to break up list or for making points
* Use blockquotes when quoting others or for highlighting a resource
* Use Bold, Italics and Colored Text to get your point across and to break up your long post.
* Not all of your long post have to be a War and Peace novels. Just the really important post you want to expand on and the ones you want top rankings for. It’s okay to mix short post with long post. I’ve done this same thing here on AffiliateWatcher.Com

Still not convinced that long Blog post are better?

Take a look at the thumbnail picture below (click it to enlarge the picture). It’s a screenshot I did of a search for “How To Monetize A Blog With Adsense.” I posted it Monday morning and when I got home that afternoon, I was sitting at the #2 spot for that keyword term.


I jumped over some pretty big names to get to the #2 spot with nothing more than a 1400 word post about how to monetize a blog with Adsense. The only reason the B2evolution network outranks my post with their little generic post is because they have more backlinks to that page. It would be rather easy to outrank them and take that #1 spot away with fewer backlinks because my post has more weight than theirs.

Fortunately for me, this happens a lot with my long blog post. Whether or not it’s on this blog or one of my other ones. Long optimized blog post rank better! I no longer ask; how long a blog post should be, I just start writing and stop when I’m done!

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Article Marketing Smackdown - Article Submission Sites Reviewed

I’ll guess that most of you know what a smackdown is. Well, I’ve decided to put some popular article submission sites in head to head review. I guess you could call it a article marketing Battle Royale. I get a lot of questions from readers wanting to know which is the best article submission site out there.

I know many of you use article marketing as a means to brand your blogs and websites and to drive traffic to them. That’s cool, I do for some of my blogs and websites also. Article marketing is a very good way to get the word out about your product or service.

The problem for many blog and website owners is deciding on which article submission site or service to use. There are many article submission sites on the Internet today. For the purpose of this head-to-head review, I’m choosing the most popular article submission sites that I know of. Some are free and several are paid. I have either used these services in the past and/or I currently use them. The article submission websites are Ezinearticles, iSnare, GoArticles, Article Marketer, Article Marketing Automation and Unique Article Wizard.

How The Article Marketing Smackdown Will Be Judged

To judge the Smackdown, I wrote an original article for a specific website of mine. I made it unique for each article submission site (as best as I could, each site has it’s own rules). I then submitted the article to each submission service and I’ve been waiting on the outcome for a few weeks. I believe enough results have come in now to bring this Smackdown to an end.
So, without further delay…I bring you the results of the article submission smackdown!

Unique Article Wizard

I’ve been using Unique Article Wizard (UAW) for about 6 months now.

I’m here to tell you that this has been a very good investment for me. I simply love UAW!

UAW’s is a very unique service. Due to the non-disclosure letter you have to sign when joining, I can’t go into details about how UAW works, just trust me when I say it will bring in a lot of one way links to your sites by distributing unique article to blogs, websites and directories. This service has been the fastest way to build legitimate one way back links that I’ve found, bar none!

But that’s not all. Unique Article Wizard also has another very powerful feature in that it can make each of your resource boxes unique as well. It’s possible to add links to many websites with just one article.

You can also choose how many times your article is distributed each day. You can have it blasted out to all the places at once or choose your own number. I like to “drip” my articles out as I think having a bunch of backlinks show up at once is not good for a site. Especially small sites. So I “drip” my articles out by choosing to have them submitted at a rate of about 20 to 30 per day.

After your article has been distributed, you can check to see the actual number of sites and email subscribers where your article was submitted to. You find this button in your dashboard in the column next to your article title. Neat stuff.

Now, the article I submitted to was distributed to 543 websites and directories and 71 email subscribers. Out of that number, I can track about 107 backlinks (as of this writing, I expect this number to increase over time) I received to the website I had listed in my resource boxes. That’s a pretty high number! (I’ve actually had some articles do better than that!)

The cool thing is, as people find these articles, they’ll use them and I’ll still be getting backlinks long after the submission is over with.

Another benefit that isn’t advertised is this. Hit the page reload button on your browser when you’re viewing your article on UAW and you’ll see a completely new article every time your refresh (again, I can’t tell you how they do this, but it is very powerful). It’s awesome. I then will take one of these unique articles and submit it to the free article submission sites. I’ve also submitted them to Article Marketer to have them submitted. If you have blogs or websites in the same niche, you could use one of these unique articles that UAW makes as content on your site.

Article Marketing Automation (AMA)

I’ll be honest and tell you that I passed Article Marketing Automation the first time I heard about it. I wasn’t impressed with the advertising or the $47 per month price tag. Besides, I was already using UAW and figured that this service couldn’t be any better. Plus they used the words “spin” and “spun” in their advertising and that sounded cheap to me. I had visions of my sentences looking like “Affiliate marketing rolls down ice cubes after desert” or some other crap like that.

Thankfully, I was wrong.

But about two months ago an Internet Marketer who I trust told me I should be using AMA. He told me it was as powerful as UAW and had some other cool features that UAW didn’t.

So I signed up, figuring “What the hell, I’ll cancel if I don’t like it“.

Do I think that AMA is as good or better than UAW? No. But it’s close, damn close!

What I like about AMA is that its network is only made up of websites and blogs, not directories. Also, my favorite feature is that you can add up to 3 links to the body of the content. There is no resource box! All links go into the body. In my opinion, these anchored links will pass more authority when in the body of the article than a resource box. (some site owners either remove the resource box or nofollow the links in resource boxes when using other article submission services)

Here’s a big tip for you. Whether it’s an article you’re submitting or whether it’s your own site, put the links as near to the top as you can get. Google figures they must be important if you put them near the top and you’ll get more weight passed on to your site or to an interior page if the link happens to be on your site.

What I don’t like about AMA is that their network seems pretty small. They advertise 2000 sites, but I haven’t seen near that many. Of course, I know that my articles don’t go out to all of them, but the best I’ve seen is a few hundred. Word has it that they’re continually building their network, so that is the good news. Since they’re fairly new, it may take a little while longer for them to get to the size that some of the others are.

But, since the links are in the content instead of at the bottom of the page in a resource box, the backlinks I am getting are passing more weight to my sites. It’s probably only a small difference, but I’ll take all the help I can get!

The article I submitted to AMA has been published 77 times (as of this writing) and three quarters of those articles have been indexed by Google so far. Not bad!

If the level of service, both Customer service and the level of article submission, continues to grow, I see great things happening with Article Marketing Automation. Right now, I think it’s well worth the money. You can spend a lot more and get a helluva lot less with some of the other article submission services out there! This one is a keeper in my book! If they’re like any other Internet services, once they start growing, they will continue to raise the price, so you’d better get in quick if you want to lock in at a low price. Click here to learn more about Article Marketing Automation.

Ezinearticles

Ezinearticles has been around a while. In fact, I believe they were one of the first article directories. At least as best as I can remember. If any of you have read my previous post about Ezinearticles, then you know others as well as myself have had some problems with them over the years getting articles accepted. Looking back, I think this started in earnest whenever they started their “Premium” paid service. I don’t know if it was coincidence or not.

They offer both a free submission service and a $97 per month “Premium” service. I looked over the “features” of the premium service and to be honest, I don’t see the benefit. Certainly not $97 per month worth! There are too many other services that offer better service and more features for less than $97 per month IMHO.

But back to the smackdown.

I submitted the article about 3 weeks ago. It took several days for the article to be accepted. I have noticed over about the last month or so that my articles were being accepted faster. I don’t know why, I just know the last few times I’ve used them it has went off without a hitch.

Anyway, the article has been viewed 232 times and published 16 times as of the writing of this post.

Ezinearticle doesn’t tell you where they submitted the articles to or which sites have accepted your article. But judging from my WordPress dashboard, this article has sent me 19 backlinks to a site of mine. Looking through my sites, I found 8 visitors who came to my site through that article and my EZA dashboard said I’ve had 9 URL clicks. Not great, but better than nothing, especially on the backlinks.

GoArticles

GoArticles is a free submission site. Being free, the features are limited as to the stats you’ll get from your articles. The article I submitted has received 56 request since I submitted it. Now that doesn’t tell my everyone who has used my article because any article on GoArticles can be cut and pasted without requesting it.

One thing I really like about GoArticles is that you can put links in the body of the article and they don’t get bent out of shape about it.

As for the backlinks I received from that article, a search of my stats showed that I’ve received 8 backlinks from that article. One of them on an Authority blog.

Not great results, but remember, it’s free and you can add links in the body of the article without them getting all pissy about it. Also, I’ve never had an article rejected by GoArticles. From what I can tell, you’re article is accepted very quick. Hey, it’s free, what do you have to lose!

iSnare

This is a paid to submit an article service. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that they probably don’t make much money from this site because of the poor customer service and submission time I and others have had with them. It took over two weeks for my article to be accepted and distributed. From what I can tell, I haven’t received any traffic or backlinks from that article.

For the price you have to pay iSnare, their customer service and submission time should be a helluva lot better. I personally wouldn’t use them again until they start submitting articles for free or improve their customer service. There’s just too many good article submission sites out there, both free and paid ones, to put up with the B.S. from them.

Article Marketer

I’ve been using Article Marketer for over a year now. I’ve never really been happy with their service, but at the time they were one of the best article submission sites around. They advertise that you’re article will be reviewed by the next business day (or the use to advertise that, haven’t checked recently) but that hasn’t been my experience.

Here’s what normally happens. I submit an article and generally there’s something wrong with it in their eyes. Either it doesn’t meet the 400 word requirement, the keyword density is too high or a dozen other reasons I’ve had. They kick it back to me, I fix it and resubmit it. Now I’ve lost another day.

You see, apparently the “by the next day” starts at the time of the LATEST SUBMISSION, not when you originally submitted it. So when they reject your article and you go back and fix it, the submission process starts all over. You move to the back of the line.

The problem is, I think they’re overworked and their editors look for reasons to reject your articles. I’ve had some of my articles rejected for the stupidest reasons imaginable. One of the most common is that the article does not meet their 400 word requirement. Doesn’t matter that I just pulled it off MS Word document that showed the word count at 500 words. Or that I rewrote an article from EZA that said the article had 475 words. Somehow their counting doesn’t add up.

I also like their excuse. “Most directories won’t accept an article with less than 400 words” or something to that affect. Bull! I get 250 and 300 word articles accepted at many article directories all day long.

Like I said, either their editors are snowed under or they are not native English speaking editors. I have a hunch it may be a little of both.

I once wrote an article on a classic consumer product. For the sake of this post, let’s say the article was over the Model T Ford. So in this article I’m giving the history of the Model T Ford and describing how automobiles have evolved over the years.

They rejected the article the first time due to ‘too many keywords’. So I changed it up and resubmitted it. Then it was “we don’t accept articles that are product reviews. You will have to either change the wording of the article or compare the product with two other like products”.

WTF! Who’s smoking crack over there!

So I changed the article up. Sounded really stupid without using the words Model T Ford, since it was an article over the Model T Ford (well, not over the Model T, but over a Classic product that has been in service for more than 50 years). But I hope you get the point.

That’s just a few of the problems I have with them. It’s not uncommon to take a week or more to get my articles accepted by them after jumping through all the hoops they put in your way.

Since this is a paid service, I expect a lot better Customer Service than that and way better service from their submissions. I noticed that they’ve lowered their price to $21 per month now. I wonder if those of us who are already subscribed will get a discount?

I have to be honest with you. Until their submission acceptance service and their Customer Service gets a lot better, I wouldn’t recommend them. Not at $21 per month. If this was a free service, I could handle it. But when I’m paying top dollar, I expect better service from a company.

Now, on to the submitted report. Their site says my article was submitted to 945 directories and websites. It doesn’t tell me how many accepted my article. NOTE: Just because your article is submitted to a directory or website doesn’t mean it will be accepted. The site owner has the final say. This is true with all services that I’m aware of.

Out of that 945 directories and websites, I can track 22 backlinks. The reason is because of Google’s duplicate content penalty. Since this service blast out the same article to a thousand or so directories and blogs, only a few will be indexed by Google.

Click here to learn more about Article Marketer
And the Winner of the 1st Annual Article Marketing Smackdown is…

Well, IMHO it’s a tie between Unique Article Wizard and Article Marketing Automation.

The Pro’s of Unique Artilce Wizard is that my articles were submitted to more directories and websites, bringing me more backlinks.

The Pro’s of using Article Marketing Automation is that each article ends up on a website or blog, not an article directory (that’s not a bad thing either, it’s still a backlink to your site!). Plus, I love how the anchored links are embedded into the content, not at the bottom of the page in a resource box. While I got fewer links with AMA, the links I did get were embedded into content on legitimate blogs and websites. This equals maximum passing of the link juice if the subjects are relevant!

Article Marketer comes in at third simply because of the amount of directories it submits too. The number of backlinks should have been greater, but they weren’t. Which tells me not all of the articles are getting indexed because all 945 articles were same with the same resource box. Other factors could have contributed to this, I don’t know.

Another negative about Article Marketer is that they use two types of resource boxes. One that you can only type in your url, which does not become a hyperlink on the site it ends up on. The other is the traditional resource box with two links in it. I speculate that many site owners choose to use the 1st resource box that only shows your URL as text. This could also be the reason for low backlinks versus the numbers of sites the article was submitted to.

Down at fourth we have Ezinearticles. Pretty decent backlinks for a free service. If I had to pay for this service, I drop it in a heartbeat due to the lack of submissions and the backlinks it produces.

GoArticles isn’t great, but they’re free and you can put links in the body of the article as well as the resource box. That alone makes it worth my time to add my articles to GoArticles.

iSnare. I wouldn’t waste a dollar or my time on them until they get their act together. When I hear others starting to have good results with them, maybe I’ll try them again, but not any time soon!

So there you have it. The finals of the Article Marketing Smackdown. If you’re on a limited budget, then use GoArticles and Ezinearticles until you can afford either Article Marketing Automation or Unique Article Wizard. You’ll build backlinks with the free sites, but at a much slower pace than you will with UAW or AMA. UAW and AMA will give you the most bang for the buck and help set your linkbuilding on the fast track to higher rankings.

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How To Make Money Online - January $2500 Challenge

I received an email the other day from a reader. Basically she said it was easy for me to make money online because I had all the expensive tools, contacts and resources the average person didn’t. Hmmm…I wonder how she thinks she knows me so well without having met me?

Anyway, it was probably a troll email, but it did get me to thinking.

Could I start out with nothing and make some decent money online without all my tools and resources? Yes, I think I could.

So I decided to challenge myself for the month of January. I’m going to start a Challenge to make $2500 online during the month. Why $2500? I don’t know, it seems like a decent number. Plus, that’s $30,000 per year before taxes. I’d say that’s pretty close to what the average household brings home in the U.S. At any rate, that added income would sure come in handy to many families across the World right now, not just here in the U.S.

I’m setting some guidelines for myself to try and make it as fair as possible.

Here are some of the guidelines I’m setting.

* I’ll only be using free or low cost resources that are available on the Internet and accessible to the general public.
* I’m only going to start the Challenge with $50. Nearly anyone can beg, borrow or steal (just j/k’ing about the stealing part) fifty bucks. Sure, you can get started with nothing, but in reality, an online business is just like any other business. You’re going to have to put up a little money. Any money I make, I’ll reinvest it into the challenge if I need to.
* I won’t use any of my existing websites for help. It would be much easier, but I realize many people do not have a network of websites in place, so mine will be off limits to help me with this challenge.
* I’ll use a variety of techniques to make money online. I haven’t sit down and figured all the ways that I’ll try, but I will do a weekly post and let people know what I did the previous week and how much money was made or lost for that week.
* At the end of the Challenge - win, lose or draw - I’ll be giving away a lot of my resources to a few lucky readers. (I’m thinking a website here, tools, ebooks, etc…) Since I don’t know where this will take me, I don’t know yet what I will have to giveaway!
* To be elgible for the giveaway, all you need to do is leave a comment on any of the post relating to the January $2500 Challenge and ask to be entered. You must let me know through the comments you want entered as some people will not be wanting to enter but yet want to comment. Extra entries will be given to people who blog about the January $2500 Challenge.

Although I sincerely believe anyone can make money online if they just put forth a good effort and stay focused, I know that many people don’t have a clue where to start. I’m of the mindset that making money online is a long term proposition, but I believe some money can be made rather quickly in certain areas. These short term money making projects can help you get by while waiting on your long term business to become profitable.

I’d love to hear from you folks. Suggestions, comments or just to enter the giveaway that will happen at the end of the Challenge, leave me a comment. I’ll keep you updated as I sit down and plan how I’m going to make money online with the January $2500 Challenge.

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Affiliate Marketing for Beginners

Affiliate marketing for beginners can be confusing and downright costly. But it doesn’t have to be.

Many new people to affiliate marketing don’t know how to get started so they end up jumping in to a program or system. Generally this leads to failure and they’re looking for the next quick money maker. They can spend a lot of money and time on programs that do not work. After they fail or make little money for their effort, they’re ready to proclaim to the world that affiliate marketing is a fraud and scam.

This doesn’t have to be the experience you take away from affiliate marketing. With a little patience and planning, affiliate marketing can be enjoyable and profitable. But it won’t be overnight!
Affiliate Marketing May Not Be For You

Let’s face it, affiliate marketing may not be the right way for beginners to make money online. Some do not have the knowledge or the ‘want to’ to spend large amounts of time building websites and blogs, doing keyword research, learning SEO in order to get their websites and blogs ranked high and researching the best affiliate marketing program for their needs.

Some people just want to jump in and start making money online. That’s alright too. There are programs for beginners and those who just want to make some quick money without going to the hassle of building websites.

Project Payday is an unique program that allows anyone to get started making money quickly without special skills or knowledge and without a website. If you can surf the Internet, you’ll probably be able to make money with Project Payday. I think it’s one of the best ways for beginners to get their feet wet making money online. In fact, it’s so easy that they guarantee that if you’ll follow the 4 easy steps outlined and do not make money in 24 hours, they’ll give you $100. It doesn’t get much easier than this!

Freelance Writing is becoming more and more popular due to all the Companies and Individual Internet Marketers looking for Web Content. Some freelancers will go at it on their own while others choose to get started making money quick by joining a membership site like Freelance Home Writers. Members of this site get to choose which freelance writing jobs they want. Companies and Individuals alike can post writing jobs at the site and the Members can pick and choose which jobs they want to accept based on the project or how much the job pays. Normally with this kind of membership site, you can choose how much, or how little, you want to work.

Other affiliate marketing beginners find eBay a very attractive start. There are a ton of ways to make money with eBay. You can simple get started by visiting Garage Sales in your area looking for bargains and reselling them on eBay. You really have to know what you’re looking for and how much the item is really worth or you could end up with a house full of junk that you can’t sell. That’s why the beginning eBay Entrepreneur should get one of the many starter kits out there designed to show you what you need to know to become a good Seller on eBay. Most of these kits, like the eBay For Dummies Starter Kit, will also have resources to wholesalers and DropShippers should you ever want to really make it big as a Power Seller on eBay.
I Really Want To Get Started With Affiliate Marketing

But for those who don’t mind all the long hours and hard work of building and promoting websites that sell affiliate products, a great reward awaits those who learn the proper way of making this business work. Some will fail, having spent a large amount of money along the way. But for those who put the time and effort into learning and doing, there can be a Rainbow at the end of their Journey.

There are many paths to making an income from affiliate marketing for Beginners. That’s what this blog is all about. Showing you different ways to start an Online Business and growing it into something that will provide income for you. There are also many pitfalls that await those who blindly stumble through this business. I’ll try and show you how to avoid those. Sure, you’ll probably make mistakes, we all do. It’s how you deal with them that matters.

So pull up a chair (as if you haven’t already done that), take some notes and start planning your path to Internet income. Affiliate Marketing for Beginners isn’t that difficult, but it will require some time and attention to details on your part.

Read More..

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners

Affiliate marketing for beginners can be confusing and downright costly. But it doesn’t have to be.

Many new people to affiliate marketing don’t know how to get started so they end up jumping in to a program or system. Generally this leads to failure and they’re looking for the next quick money maker. They can spend a lot of money and time on programs that do not work. After they fail or make little money for their effort, they’re ready to proclaim to the world that affiliate marketing is a fraud and scam.

This doesn’t have to be the experience you take away from affiliate marketing. With a little patience and planning, affiliate marketing can be enjoyable and profitable. But it won’t be overnight!
Affiliate Marketing May Not Be For You

Let’s face it, affiliate marketing may not be the right way for beginners to make money online. Some do not have the knowledge or the ‘want to’ to spend large amounts of time building websites and blogs, doing keyword research, learning SEO in order to get their websites and blogs ranked high and researching the best affiliate marketing program for their needs.

Some people just want to jump in and start making money online. That’s alright too. There are programs for beginners and those who just want to make some quick money without going to the hassle of building websites.

Project Payday is an unique program that allows anyone to get started making money quickly without special skills or knowledge and without a website. If you can surf the Internet, you’ll probably be able to make money with Project Payday. I think it’s one of the best ways for beginners to get their feet wet making money online. In fact, it’s so easy that they guarantee that if you’ll follow the 4 easy steps outlined and do not make money in 24 hours, they’ll give you $100. It doesn’t get much easier than this!

Freelance Writing is becoming more and more popular due to all the Companies and Individual Internet Marketers looking for Web Content. Some freelancers will go at it on their own while others choose to get started making money quick by joining a membership site like Freelance Home Writers. Members of this site get to choose which freelance writing jobs they want. Companies and Individuals alike can post writing jobs at the site and the Members can pick and choose which jobs they want to accept based on the project or how much the job pays. Normally with this kind of membership site, you can choose how much, or how little, you want to work.

Other affiliate marketing beginners find eBay a very attractive start. There are a ton of ways to make money with eBay. You can simple get started by visiting Garage Sales in your area looking for bargains and reselling them on eBay. You really have to know what you’re looking for and how much the item is really worth or you could end up with a house full of junk that you can’t sell. That’s why the beginning eBay Entrepreneur should get one of the many starter kits out there designed to show you what you need to know to become a good Seller on eBay. Most of these kits, like the eBay For Dummies Starter Kit, will also have resources to wholesalers and DropShippers should you ever want to really make it big as a Power Seller on eBay.
I Really Want To Get Started With Affiliate Marketing

But for those who don’t mind all the long hours and hard work of building and promoting websites that sell affiliate products, a great reward awaits those who learn the proper way of making this business work. Some will fail, having spent a large amount of money along the way. But for those who put the time and effort into learning and doing, there can be a Rainbow at the end of their Journey.

There are many paths to making an income from affiliate marketing for Beginners. That’s what this blog is all about. Showing you different ways to start an Online Business and growing it into something that will provide income for you. There are also many pitfalls that await those who blindly stumble through this business. I’ll try and show you how to avoid those. Sure, you’ll probably make mistakes, we all do. It’s how you deal with them that matters.

So pull up a chair (as if you haven’t already done that), take some notes and start planning your path to Internet income. Affiliate Marketing for Beginners isn’t that difficult, but it will require some time and attention to details on your part.

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7 Techniques To Make Cold Hard Cash In A Week - Online!

Let’s say for the sake of this post that you woke up this morning and found yourself without a job and just enough money on-hand to last a week before the Wolf came calling at your door. Let’s also pretend you know nothing or very little about internet marketing or affiliate programs.

Could you make extra cash online in a week to buy your Family’s groceries? Could you make enough money to pay your electric bill?

Believe it or not, many people find their self in this situation or one very close to it every day.
Here are 7 Techniques you could use to put some cash in your pocket within a week working online.

1. Project Payday - As an experiment one day, I tried Project Payday just to see how long it would take me to make extra cash. It was free to join so I signed up at their website, downloaded and watched the training video’s they provided. I followed the directions for getting set up to a ‘T’. All total, between the sign up, watching training video’s and implementing the instructions, took me a little over 2 hours. I then spent about half a day just browsing and reading to get a feel of how this program worked. I then put my name out as being available for some “jobs” and I made $50 by the end of the first day. Next day I put about 6 hours into the program and made over $200 total. They have a $100 guarantee that states that if you follow the simple 4 step process and do not make money in the first 24 hours, they’ll give you $100. Pretty cut and dried and the best guarantee I’ve seen. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a get rich quick scheme. You’ll have to work at it but you can earn money quickly. I personally found it very tedious though! I’m not cut out to spend long stretches at the computer. You can sign up for free with Project Payday and get started today by clicking here. It’s one of the few legitimate, yet quick ways to earn extra money online that I’ve found.

2. One word. Ebay. There are so many ways to make money with ebay that it isn’t funny. Ebay has allowed many people who would not have been able to support their self or their Families to make more than enough money to live well. One technique that I used when I was between jobs many years ago was to visit Garage sales and Estate auctions and buy products to sell on ebay. You have have a good idea what something is worth in order for this to work. Looking at something and saying “Oh, this looks like it’s valuable” isn’t good enough. You’ll wind up with a house full of junk! One way I tripled the amount of money I made with ebay was to learn how the Power Sellers made money. I found that many of them used dropshippers and Wholesalers. I signed up for a FREE starter kit called Ebay For Dummies (I think I had to pay $2 for shipping and handling). This “starter kit” had loads and loads of great information in it that helped me make a lot of money with ebay, including lists of Dropshippers and Wholesalers. If you’re serious about making money with Ebay, then you need to get your hands on this starter kit called Ebay For Dummies.

3. Become a Freelance Writer. It’s easier than you might think and you don’t need to be an English major to make money with this. In fact, it’s probably better if you’re not! You can sell your articles at Forums like DigitalPoint Forums and SitePoint Forums. Each has a market place. Don’t expect to make a killing here but you can make some extra cash. If you really want to ramp up your earnings from Writing, then I’d suggest signing up for a service like Freelance Home Writers. This is a service like a job board where you log in to see what kind of Writing Jobs are available. Some will have the prices they are willing to pay for articles, some won’t. There’s also a couple of other benefits to signing up for their service. Check them out if you’d like to make money from home Writing.

4. Become a local Online Go-To Guru. Do you know how to do one thing on the Internet well? Do you know how to sell items on ebay? Make a basic website? Graphics? List products and services on Craigslist? There are a zillion and one small businesses out there that would love to be online but their owners do not have the time or know-how to get their businesses online. This is where you come in! There are also many people who would love to know how to use ebay, Craigslist or how to surf for coupons and other bargains on the Internet. Offer to teach them…for a price!

5. Are you a Photographer? There are several freelance photography websites on the Internet where you can sell your photo’s. You don’t have to be a Professional either. Just as long as your photo’s are clear and eye catching, you can sell them on sites like iStockPhoto.com. There’s a huge demand for stock photography and illustrations. You might as well get your share of the cash! There’s also a huge market for other types of photo’s, but I’ll let you figure those out for yourself ;)

6. Sell your Service. Do you know how to use a specific program inside and out? Can you take QuickBooks or any of the MS Office programs and make them beg for mercy? Then you have skills that are in need. Places such as eLance, RentACoder and others have forums set up to help you sell your services. Some of these pay really well also, they’re worth checking out if you need some quick cash!

7. Set up a local directory site. I’m telling you people something right now. I think the future of the Internet is in the local markets. Remember when the Internet got off the ground and the buzz word was “Think Globally?” I’m going to tell you now to “Think Locally!” There is no reason you can’t get some cheap hosting, grab a directory script and create a local directory. You can be selling ads to local businesses before the week is out. Poof. Done. You could also start a local newsletter, but you’ll have to have a subscription base first.

Whether you’re a college student needed a few extra bucks for the keg party, a stay at home Mom who needs some extra cash for the heating bill or just found out your company doesn’t need your services any longer, you can use the techniques above to help bring home the bacon.

There is no reason anyone has to lay back and go broke. I’ve known people who were dead ass broke and would not lift a finger to do anything except complain about being out of a job and having no money.

There are opportunities all around us to make money online. It’s up to you to get up and do it though, no one else will do all the work!

Some online entrepreneurs have used the above techniques plus others to start part time cash businesses and grew them into small fortunes. You don’t have to become the next Donald Trump, but there is no reason why you can’t make extra cash online to live off of if you had to.
What are some ways you’ve made quick cash from the Internet in your local market?

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7 Quick Ways For College Students To Make Money Online

I received an email the other day from a College Student wanting to know how they could make extra money online. The email stated they didn’t have a lot of time because of their studies. So after giving it some thought, I came up with a list of 7 quick ways college students could make extra money online.

I dismissed blogging because it takes some time to get a blog established and making money. I assumed the emailer needed money fairly quick.

Here are my suggestions to the emailer.

1. Project Payday: A few months ago, I experimented with a legitimate way to make money quick online with a program called Project Payday. I took about half a day and researched this project online. Seemed real people were making real money with it. Not getting rich, but making enough extra money quickly to pay some bills or other stuff. The next day I signed up with Project Payday, watched the training video’s and browsed the Forums to get a feel as to how this program worked. In all, this process took me a few hours. The next day I followed the directions and made myself available for some “jobs”. The first day, I made $50. The next day I hit it hard for about 6 hours and brought down $225 for my efforts. The following day, I worked 3 to 4 hours total and made $130. I soon found out one drawback to this program. It’s boring! No special skills are needed other than the know-how to operate your computer and use the Internet, but it is tedious work. I’m not cut out to spend hours behind a computer! Most people can make money quickly with this program, but you’ll have to put the time into it. The more time you put into it, the more money you’ll make generally. It’s that simple. If you’re interested, check out Project Payday by clicking here. It’s free to sign up, so go ahead and sign up, read the promotional literature they have and watch the training video’s. They even have a guarantee that says if you follow the simple 4 step process in Method 1 and don’t make money in 24 hours, they’ll give you $100! This is the best guarantee I’ve seen online. I doubt anyone will need it though, because it is that easy to make money with Project Payday.

2. Become a Freelance Writer - Can you Write a sentence? Then you may have what it takes to make money as a Freelance Writer. You don’t have to have a degree in English either. In fact, if you can write in an easy to read manner, you have what it takes to make money writing Web content, short stories and other media. You can sell articles on Forums like DigitalPoint and SitePoint, but don’t expect to make a whole lot. Or you can sign up for a service like Freelance Home Writers. Basically this is a job board for Writers where Companies and Individuals needing Writers post their offers. You can either accept or reject them, it’s up to you. Click here for more information about the Freelance Home Writer program.

3. Ebay - Yes, ebay. As long as there are College Students, there’ll be some students who need money and those who are making money. You could easily sell stuff for other Students and take a small commission from them. A better way would find Dropshippers and Wholesalers. This is how many Power Sellers make their living from eBay. Back when I made money with Ebay, I visited Garage Sales and Estate Auctions to buy stuff to resell. It wasn’t until I got the FREE Ebay For Dummies starter kit (I think I had to pay 2 bucks for shipping) that I really started making some good money. This starter kit is full of tips and advice for people wanting to make money with ebay. It also has lists of Dropshippers and Wholesalers that you can use. Click here for more information on this free starter kit.

4. Become an Online Tutor - I’m not sure what this pays, but I’ve known people in the past who have worked with companies like e-Tutor, SmartThinking and Tutor.Com. Online tutoring is an in-demand service and growing all the time. If you like helping others learn, this could be just the ticket for you. You will have to set aside a certain number of hours per week, anywhere from 2 hours on up on average depending upon which service you go with.

5. Give eLessons - Do you know MS Word inside and out? Can you make an Excel spreadsheet scream for mercy? Can you work magic with Quicken? Well, there are thousands of people who just want to know the basics of these programs or are looking for some updating. You can advertise on places such as Craigslist and Kijiji or even the local newspaper. You’d be surprised at the number of people just wanting to learn the basics on operating a computer and who are willing to pay someone to teach them!

6. Write Term Papers and Other Documents for Fellow Students - Many moons ago I dated a college student who had a waiting list of other students, professors and off campuss people to write documents for. She was a very good researcher and writer. She probably made more money doing that than what she’s doing now! If you’re good, word will get around. You can also advertise in the school paper and bulletin boards, both online and offline.

7. Become an Online Juror - Even Lawyers need to practice! There are places such a eJury and TrialJuries.Com that stage mock trials. The Jurors get paid anywhere from $5 to $60 depending on how complex the case is. There’s no guarantee you’ll get a case, but it has to better than cleaning up after the old folks at the Senior Citizen Center! Many colleges have access to these mock jury trials, but from what I’ve been told, they don’t pay as much as the online jury pools. Also, as with anything in life, if you slack off on the Jury, don’t expect to be called back. The more you pay attention and get involved, the more likely they’ll “keep your name around.”

Some college students show up on the first day in a bright shiny BMW convertible. Those are the ones who do not need help. For most College Students, a few extra dollars a month goes a long ways in making it easier to study for their classes. If you’re in a pinch, there’s no need to run down to the Blood Center to give blood, just turn your computer on and go to work.

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5 Secrets to Effective Pay-Per-Click Advertising

With so many companies swarming the World Wide Web with their products, how can you and your products and services stand out? Your ready answer would most likely be effective marketing. But how? How can you catch the eye of a surfer skimming carelessly through web pages? How can you keep the attention of a typical website reader who spends no more than 30 seconds to read any given article online? How can you garner sales online?
One marketing technique is to be listed in search engines - but again, with thousands of companies offering the same products and services as you, how can your scream for attention be heard?

One technique is pay per click advertising, or PPC. You write out and place an advertisement in a search engine, list yourself under keywords of your choosing, and bid on the placement of your ads. This narrows your field to the people who are actively searching for your products and services.

If someone finds the ad and clicks it, that person goes to your website, and you pay the bid price. As a rule, the higher you bid, the higher your ad goes in the list of search results for a certain keyword, and the more people will go to your site.
PPC can be used to widen your reach, but it can be very expensive, especially if people click your ad only out of curiosity, or if you bid on more keywords than your budget can handle. However, PPC can get you customers and increase your profits. If done well, it can earn you money.
Here are five tips to get the most out of PPC.

Get Ten Specific Keywords.
If you are a company specializing in exercise equipment, don't select "exercise equipment" or "gym" as your keywords. Chances are, there will be hundreds of thousands of other bidders waiting to jump on those same keywords. Be specific. Try "treadmill" or "stationary bike." Select a maximum of ten words, just to test the waters and see how your potential customers respond. If the first ten keywords succeed in getting you a larger market, then research additional keywords which are not as specific. However, if your first try yields less than satisfactory results, then try another set of keywords if you can still afford it.

Write Your Ads but Write the Truth.
Most ad writers will broadcast their wares as being the be-all and cure all of all ills and pains. If they do this, web users will click on their ads and storm the site. This is well and good if the product or service will live up to the ad's promise - but what if it doesn't? A customer clicks, you pay, but the customer doesn't buy. You lose.
Write a succinct but accurate ad that doesn't sue vague language. Avoid using words such as "free," "low cost," "extremely effective," and "cheap." Tailor your ads to fit the keyword, and if you can, include your prices on the ads. This way, you will get a buyer who is ready and willing to purchase your product or service.

Budget Your Bid.
It's tempting to go all out and set your prices, especially if you think your product will sell. But what if it won't? Set a monthly budget of about $100 for your bids, and bid just right - bid too high and you will run out of money, bid too low and your ads
won't show up.

Even if you believe in your product, keep within bid budget, and do not get into bidding wars, especially with another advertiser who has a much larger budget than you. Don't waste your time thinking about your bids. Instead, invest your time in designing what your ad is linked to, which brings us to:
Make Your Site a Professional One.

The standard rules of web design apply. Check your web content for spelling and grammatical errors. Update your web content regularly. Fix any broken links and images. Design your website so that it will be easy to navigate and load, so do not use Flash animation, as this will slow down your buyers' browsers. Link your ads to the exact place on your site where your product or service appears.
Know When to Stop.

PPC ad campaigns can lead more buyers to you, but take care to check profit against spending. If you have already spent double your advertising budget, but have had little or no sales, consider dropping your campaign. You can also measure your progress in clicks. A total of 300 clicks is average for any ad. If your ad has reached 300 clicks and you have made no sales yet, then terminate your PPC project.
Equally as important as knowing when to stop is knowing that all is not yet lost and you can still go on. Running a web-based business means investing time, money, and effort, so keep your PPC up and running as long as you are raking money in. PPC, after all, may first mean pay-per-click, but, if you're successful, can soon mean Profiting Perfectly in Cash.

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Pay Per Click: Using Adwords effectively for recruitment websites

Why Use PPC?
When thinking about your online marketing portfolio have you ever considered Paid Search or “Pay Per Click” (PPC)? With the ever increasing competition to get you site on the first page of Google, Yahoo or Live Search for phrases like ‘architecture jobs’, ‘sales jobs’ or ‘marketing jobs’ PPC may seem like an attractive option; you can determine which keywords you want your PPC Ad to appear on, when and where you want your Ad to show and how much you want to spend per month with instant results. By following a few key guidelines you can really maximize the potential of your PPC campaign by generating quality CV’s at a low cost and low risk. You can also add tracking code so that the ROI from your PPC campaign is easily calculated, making PPC an effective and measurable marketing tool for your recruitment website.
Save money by spending time setting up your Campaign
Setting up a PPC campaign is easy but there are pitfalls to avoid. Too many people make the mistake of just adding the keywords and leaving the campaign to run ending up with a huge credit card bill and not much else to report. Remember that Google makes a substantial part of its revenue through Adwords!

So where do you start?
Thinking about your budget is a good place to start. The more money you spend, the more keywords you can bid on and therefore the more CV’s you can get. Once you have decided on your budget set your daily budget limit accordingly otherwise you could see a huge bill at the end of the month!
Writing a good Ad
Once you have decided on your budget you can start looking at what your target jobseekers or clients might search for e.g. “architecture jobs”, “social care recruitment”, “project manager jobs in London”; this will form your list of target keywords. Now you can start writing your Ad. Here the fun starts; you have got only 95 character spaces to create a compelling Ad that is going to entice a jobseeker to click on it – and not on your competitors! There are a few key rules to remember when writing your Ad:

•Make sure the keyword appears in the Ad; the words go bold and the job seeker will see that your site is relevant.
•Be creative in your writing; “apply for 100’s constructions jobs” sounds more enticing than “construction recruitment agency”.
•But also be specific; if you’re only recruiting for graduate positions you don’t want a senior professional clicking though as they are not going to apply for a job and you’ve just used up some of your budget.
•If you’re targeting a specific geographical area e.g. “surveying jobs in London” then say it. It means you’ll save money by only generating a targeted audience to your site.
•Give a call to action e.g. Submit your CV, Apply today! – this is ultimately what the jobseeker wants.
•Create multiple Ads, i.e. create a different Ad campaign for each of your sectors; if you’re a technical recruiter create an Ad campaign for architecture, another one for construction and so on.
And once a job seeker has clicked on the Ad think about where they end up…
•If your Ad is about engineering jobs, the jobseeker is expecting to find engineering jobs, so link your Ad through to the engineering jobs page not the home page.
…and what you want them to do when they get there
•Make sure that there are clear calls to action; register for a job / contact you / submit their CV so the chance of getting that CV is high.
How to make your money go further
It is worth checking your account settings before you set your new PPC campaign live. Think about when jobseekers are most likely to be searching for jobs; it is unlikely that at 4am you’re going to get many serious applications and if Monday to Friday is prime job seeking time do you want your ads appearing on Saturday? Also think about where you want your Ad’s to be displayed. By switching off the content network you can then focus on the real traffic and significantly decrease your susceptibility to click fraud. And if you want your job to display at or near the top of the sponsored listings alter you position preference so that you’re Ad’s display in the top 5.
Tracking / Reviewing / Testing / Tweaking
So how successful was your Ad? By adding the tracking code to the goal pages on your site e.g. your registration thank you page, you can determine how many CV’s you generated from your PPC campaign and the cost of each CV. Calculating your PPC ROI from there is very easy.
Feeling creative? Have another look at your Ad results, from here you can see which ads are generating a high number of jobseekers to the site or in technical jargon a high “click through rate“ (CTR) and which Ads are being displayed a lot (have a high number of “impressions”), but are not being clicked on. You can then try different Ad campaigns under the same keywords to see which one generates a higher CTR, or remove ones which are not generating much traffic. Through a bit of trial and error and monitoring your PPC performance you can tweak your campaign to have a higher spend in areas where you have the most jobs and on the best traffic converting key phrases. Linking Adwords into Google Analytics will give you even more data to play with.
With a bit of patience and tweaking your PPC campaign can be an effective marketing tool for your recruitment website, generating instant results at a high ROI which is all completely measurable and can be tailored to any budget.

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