Sunday, March 30, 2008

Is Internet Marketing Working For You?

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

Determining whether or not your Internet marketing campaign is working for you is a very important part of the advertising process. This is so important because while there is a great deal of Internet marketing which can be done without a great deal of expense, other types of Internet marketing do have financial costs associated with them. Also, in both cases there is a time and energy burden to orchestrating the Internet marketing. For all of these reasons it is important for business owners to continuously evaluate their marketing techniques and strategies to determine what is working and what is not. This will help the business owner to focus his efforts on marketing strategies which are providing positive results as opposed to those which are either not providing results or are only providing lackluster results. This article will examine a few different marketing strategies as well as how business owners can evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies.

Affiliate marketing is certainly one of the most cost effective Internet marketing strategies available. This marketing strategy involves having other website owners known as affiliates post an advertisement on their websites to direct Internet traffic to your website. This marketing strategy is cost effective because in most cases the affiliate is only paid when he produces a desired result such as enticing an Internet user to click through the advertisement or to purchase a product or service once they click through the ad. While the business owner is only paying for the advertisement when it produces a desired effect, it is still worthwhile to evaluate the effectiveness of these ads to determine whether or not they are working well.

Fortunately affiliate marketing ads have a natural feedback mechanism which makes it easy to evaluate how well the ad is working. This feedback is provided in the form of code imbedded in the advertisement which specifies which affiliate generated the website visitors. This information is provided for the purposes of issuing payment to the affiliate but it can also provide the business owner with useful information on which affiliate ads are the most effective. This information is especially useful when the affiliates are posting different ads. The business owner may conclude the ads posted by the more successful affiliates are more appealing to potential customers and may opt to use this style of ad for all of their affiliates.

Free Web Log Directory

Business owners who use Internet marketing strategies such as posting on message boards to promote their business might want to consider asking customers to complete a short survey when making a purchase. This survey can include useful demographic information which is always helpful for marketing as well as information regarding where the customer learned of the products or services you offer. Including the message board web address as one of the responses will give you a good indication of whether or not the message boards are helping to drive customers to your website. You may also have some unofficial feedback in terms of the response to your postings on the message board. If the general consensus is in support of your posts, you may infer you are generating some interest in your business or website through this tactic.

Finally, an Internet marketing strategy can be evaluated by studying website traffic results as well as sales receipts. Anytime you implement a new Internet marketing strategy or technique it is worthwhile to study your website traffic reports and sales receipts carefully to determine whether or not there is a spike in either traffic or sales immediately after the marketing effort. For example, if you send out an e-newsletter to those who have requested additional information about your products or services, you may notice there is an increase in traffic or sales soon afterwards. This is a good indication the e-newsletter was well received and effective. However, if there is not a marked increase in traffic or sales subsequent to the e-newsletter it indicates the marketing effort was not effective.

Internet Marketing with an E Newsletter

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

One very popular Internet marketing strategy is to publish and distribute an e-newsletter on a regular basis. E-newsletters are essentially emails which may contain content, graphics, links and subtle forms of advertising. In general e-newsletters should be informative in nature and useful to the recipient but should also serve some type of marketing purpose as well. This article will examine e-newsletters and explain how they can be used effectively as a marketing strategy.

The first item to consider when attempting using an e-newsletter as a marketing strategy is the distribution list for the e-newsletter. This is very important because you want to ensure you are distributing your e-newsletter to recipients who will be interested in your products and services and will likely view the e-newsletter as worthwhile instead of viewing it as spam. Using deceptive tactics to harvest email addresses and sending out your e-newsletters blindly to a large audience is not a good marketing strategy. This strategy is not worthwhile for a couple of reasons. Most importantly this type of strategy does not help you to reach your target audience. You may reach some members of your target audience by accident but are not likely to reach a large population of this intended audience.

Additionally, sending your e-newsletter unsolicited to a large audience with no interest in your products and services will likely result in your e-newsletter being viewed as spam. This can have more serious consequences than simply being a wasted effort. Specifically, recipients of your e-newsletter may block your email address or even report you to their Internet service provider as a spammer. This can have damaging consequences such as loss of business or even harsher penalties.

A better way to establish a distribution list for your e-newsletter is to set up a forum for interested potential customers to register to receive additional information from you. This could include registering with your website online and requesting to be added to your email distribution list or providing an email address and requesting additional information in some other manner. Sending your e-newsletter to recipients who have specifically requested more information is a good idea because these Internet users are already interested in your products and are likely to appreciate the e-newsletter instead of viewing it as spam.

The content of your e-newsletter should be considered next. This may include the actual copy contained within the e-newsletter as well as graphics, links and advertisements. Keeping direct advertising to a minimum is ideal but it is acceptable to use soft advertising techniques to promote your products or services. The copy in your e-newsletter should insightful information which will be useful to your readers. You may wish to include objective articles, product reviews or shorter articles containing useful tips. Links to your own website or to other websites which might be of use to your target audience can also be included. These links may come in the form of direct advertisements or the links may be embedded in the copy of the e-newsletter when appropriate.

If you plan to utilize an e-newsletter to promote your products or services, you should consider hiring an experienced writer to create the content for your website. This will help to ensure you are providing your readers with top quality content. Likewise if you intend to include graphics you should have a graphic designer assist you to ensure your e-newsletter looks professionally put together.

Internet Marketing the Easy Way

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

Just like there are no magic weight loss cures or ways to earn money from home without a great deal of effort, there is no one simple solution to guarantee Internet marketing success. However, Internet marketing is not overly complicated and many business owners can enjoy at least some degree of Internet marketing success with only limited knowledge about the industry. This article will discuss some of the simplest Internet marketing strategies business owners can implement to promote their business online.

Participation in industry related message boards is one of the easiest ways a business owner can use the Internet as a promotional tool. Message boards are websites which provide a forum for Internet users who share a common interest to share information related to this subject or just socialize. Business owners may opt to join message boards which closely relate to their industry or the products or services they offer. This is important because doing this gives the business owners access to a group of Internet users who fall into the target audience for his products or services. It also gives the business owner the opportunity to promote his own website. Many message boards allow users to place a link to their own website in their signature. Business owners who do this and also contribute useful commentary on the message boards may attract potential customers via the link they place in their signature.

Additionally, some message boards may even allow users to post links in the body of the message. This gives the business owner the opportunity to offer his link in response to questions and comments when doing so is relevant and offers something of value to the online conversation. However, care should be taken to carefully review the terms of service and all guidelines on the message board before posting links to ensure this is not a violation of the policies of the message board. Failure to adhere to message board policies may result in removal from the message board or the posts being viewed as spam by other users.

Another simple, but effective, Internet marketing strategy is to hire a consulting firm with search engine optimization (SEO) experience to assist you in achieving high search engine rankings. While the concept of SEO can be rather complex and understanding the most effective strategies and how to properly implement them may take years of experience as well as continual education, the ability to hire a qualified SEO firm is as simple as knowing how to interview candidates and select the most qualified one. Handling your own SEO efforts can be rather difficult but hiring another firm to take care of this for you is not only easy but it can have a significant impact on your website traffic because high search engine rankings typically translate to improved web traffic. This is because Internet users trust search engines to serve the most relevant websites first and typically only visit the best ranking websites when they search for a particular term.

Similarly another simple way to enjoy Internet marketing success is to hire a consulting firm to plan and execute your Internet marketing strategy. Just like SEO, Internet marketing is essentially a full time job. Business owners may have a great deal of difficulty trying to run their business and organize their Internet marketing. Outsourcing this work eases the burden on the business manager and will likely produce more favorable results.

Internet Marketing for Beginners

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

Internet marketing for beginners is somewhat of an oxymoron. This is because while in theory the concepts behind Internet marketing might be quite simple, executing effective strategies can be extremely difficult. This can even be tough for those who are quite experienced in the world of Internet marketing. With this in mind, this article will attempt to explain the concept of Internet marketing for beginners and will outline some basic strategies which can help a business owner to launch his own Internet marketing campaign. We will cover concepts such as creating a website, placing banner ads, sending out e-newsletters, orchestrating an email marketing campaign and optimizing your website for search engines.

Business Forums

One of the most basic steps for starting an Internet marketing campaign is to create a website. If you don’t have a website or have a poorly designed website you should consider creating or re-designing a website to adequately market your products. If you do not have experience in web design, there are a number of software packages which make it simple for those with no design experience to create a functional website. However, hiring a web designer is worthwhile because he can work to create a website which is attractive, functional and suitable to your products and series. He can also help you include more advanced features on your website.

Banner ads are another popular option for advertising your business on the Internet. Banner ads are advertisements which typically appear along the top of a website but it may also include smaller ads in other locations. Banner ads typically include graphics and text which entice Internet users to click on the advertisement. Once a user clicks on the ad, they are directed to your website. This type of advertising can be very effective when care is taken to place the advertisements on high traffic websites which attract an audience who may have an interest in your products.

Sending out e-newsletters can also be a part of an effective Internet marketing strategy. E-newsletters are essentially emails which may contain a variety of information including informative articles, useful quizzes, relevant advertising or any other information which is deemed worthwhile for the recipients of the e-newsletter. The importance of these newsletters is that they can be used as marketing tools which are not viewed by the recipients as an advertisement. One way to do this is to incorporate links or other soft sale approaches into the copy of the e-newsletters. However, care should be taken to keep these references minimal so the e-newsletter is not viewed as spam.

Email marketing campaigns can be another successful aspect of an Internet marketing campaign. Email marketing essentially involves sending out emails to a group of individuals who may be interested in your products and services. Care should be taken in sending out these emails to avoid sending emails which are unsolicited and will be viewed as spam. One way to do this is to only send out the emails to users who have requested inclusion on an email mailing list. Another way to do this is to provide value in the emails as opposed to just including advertisements. This can be done by offering relevant advice in your emails and other useful information which may be of interest to the recipients of the email.

Finally, optimizing your website for search engines is a critical aspect of an Internet marketing campaign. Search engines rank websites according to quality and relevance for particular search terms. Many Internet users appreciate the effort by search engines and use these search engines to find the best websites on a particular subject. This means the Internet users are likely to only visit websites which rank well with search engines. Therefore if your website is not high ranking, you are not likely to generate a great deal of traffic from Internet users who use search engines to find relevant websites. Top ranking websites are likely to obtain the most traffic from search engines and all websites falling on the first page of the search engine results will likely enjoy some degree of success in improving their traffic.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Hiring a Consultant for Internet Marketing

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

If you are considering jumping into the world of Internet marketing but do not have experience in this type of marketing, it is definitely worthwhile to consider hiring a consultant to assist you in your advertising endeavor. This is important because they can do a great deal to assist you in ensuring that the marketing effort is a success. You may pay more for their services than you would to handle the Internet marketing on your own but the results you gain from the effort will likely be significantly higher. Hiring a consultant to assist you in your Internet marketing campaign is even a worthwhile endeavor if you have some experience in Internet marketing but are competing in a competitive niche and need some additional assistance to help you rise above the competition.

The key to hiring a consultant to assist in an Internet marketing campaign is to hire the right consultant. You will find there are many different options available to you as Internet marketing has become a huge industry. However, not all consultants are created equal. You may find that some consultants can create significantly better results than other consultants. There are, however, a few characteristics to look for when seeking a qualified consultant in the Internet marketing industry. Surprisingly cost is not one of the most important considerations. Experience and past performance are much more important. You can compare costs among consultants who are similarly qualified but using cost as a primary source of evaluation is not recommended.

Experience is very important when it comes to selecting a consultant to assist you in an Internet marketing campaign. Experience is critical because consultants who have a great deal of experience also have a great deal of understanding of which techniques work best and which techniques are not as effective. This can save you a great deal of time and money as there will likely not be as much experimentation necessary as there would be with a less experienced consultant. More experienced consultants will also likely be better skilled at dealing with clients and will likely answer your questions more quickly and keep you better informed about the progress of your Internet marketing campaign. All of this is important because you will likely be very interested in receiving progress reports and staying up to date on everything that is going on with your Internet marketing campaign.

Seeking out a consultant in the Internet marketing industry with an excellent past record of performance is also very important. This is so important because consultants who have had a great deal of success in the past will likely have a great deal of success while assisting you as well. Past performance is considered to be one of the best indications of future performance. This does not mean that new consultants are necessarily going to perform poorly but there is some risk involved in selecting a consultant who does not have a great deal of experience or who has not performed well in the past. You can feel much more confident putting your Internet marketing campaign in the hands of a consultant who typically generates the type of results you are looking for in your own Internet marketing campaign.

Once you have evaluated consultants on the basis of experience and past performance, it is time to start considering price. Considering price early in the process of seeking a consultant may cause you to be influenced by price over performance. Some consultants may be incredibly affordable but if they are not capable of producing the desired results, it may end up being a complete waste of money. However, once you have narrowed your list of potential consultants down to a few qualified candidates, it is definitely time to start comparing prices. Once you are confident each of the candidates on your list is well qualified, choosing the least expensive candidate is worthwhile. However it is important to note all of the fees involved to ensure you are making an accurate cost comparison.

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Evaluating the Response to Your Internet Marketing

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

Starting an Internet marketing campaign is only the first step in the battle. Sure it is a good idea to start an Internet marketing campaign if members of your target audience are likely to use the Internet to research or purchase the products you sell or the services you offer but these marketing efforts may turn out to be a complete waste of time if you are not diligent about evaluating the response to your Internet marketing. This means each time you implement a change to your marketing strategy; you should evaluate the results of the change to determine whether or not it generated a greater profit for you. This is important because it can help you determine what is working and what is not working for you.

Evaluating the response of your Internet marketing can be done in a number of different ways. Customer surveys and embedded HTML code are two of the most popular methods of evaluating the effectiveness of an Internet marketing campaign. Customer surveys can be as simple or as complex as you like depending on the amount of feedback you would like to receive. However, one of the most effective ways to find out how well your different marketing tactics are working is to include a question asking the consumer where they first learned about your products or services. This is important because if you find a great deal of your customers are learning about your products or services through a particular venue, it is a good indication this method of advertising is working quite well for you.

Embedding code into your advertisements for the purpose of receiving feedback is also a popular method of evaluating the response to your Internet marketing strategies. Advertisements can be coded so the business owner receives feedback each time an Internet user clicks through a particular advertisement. This is useful for letting the business owner know which of his advertisements are attracting the most attention. If the business owner is using two different designs for his advertisements he may discover one design is attracting more attention than others and may make the decision to convert all of the advertisements to a more effective style. Similarly a business owner who is running the same advertisement on several different websites may discover he is receiving more traffic from one website than others. He may also discover some websites are not attracting much attention at all. This would give the business owner an indication of which advertisements to cancel and which ones to keep running.

Finally, the response to an Internet marketing campaign can be evaluated by carefully reviewing website traffic statistics after implementing changes to the marketing strategy. This information is useful because an unusual spike in the amount of website traffic immediately after implementing a stage of the marketing campaign can provide positive feedback that the change was well received by potential customers. While this method of evaluating the response to an Internet marketing campaign can be effective it is important to note implementing multiple changes at once will make it difficult to determine which changes were the most effective. Therefore if you plan to use website traffic as feedback for how well your marketing strategy is working it is important to only implement one major change at a time so they can each be evaluated separately.

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Creating Email Lists for Marketing Campaigns

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

If you plan to do some Internet marketing to promote your business endeavor, you should seriously consider email marketing as at least one tier of your Internet marketing campaign. Many business owners shy away from email marketing because they believe all email marketing campaigns are purely spam. However, this is not true and not partaking in this type of marketing can cause your business to lose out on a great deal of business. By not appealing to potential customers via email, your business may lose a great deal of business to competitors who are using email marketing campaigns to reach customers around the world. However, the first step of an email marketing campaign should be creating an email distribution list. This article will discuss some popular options for doing this and should help to the reader to learn more about what is acceptable and what is not when it comes to email marketing.



Once you have made the decision to start using email marketing to promote your business you are likely facing the dilemma of compiling an email distribution list. This is essentially a list of email addresses to which you will email your advertising and promotional materials. One common way to gain a list of email addresses is to purchase a list from distributors. However, this method is not very effective at all and we do not recommend it. The problem with purchasing an email list if you have no way of knowing whether or not the members of the list would have any interest at all in your products or services. This is very important because while you want to reach a large audience with your email marketing you also want this audience to be members of your overall target audience.

When you purchase an email list you may be sending your email messages to some users who might be interested but this is largely coincidental and is not likely to be well received because the message was not solicited.

Internet users are very quick to delete materials they believe to be spam without even opening or reading the emails. In fact some Internet service providers include spam filters which may automatically delete your emails if your messages are deemed to be spam. These filters run complex algorithms on the subject heading and content of the message to determine whether or not it is spam and are quite adept at weeding out spam. Therefore you run the risk of having your email marketing effort turn out to be a complete waste if the majority of recipients never even read or receive the message.

A far better way to create an email distribution list for your email marketing campaign is to ask current customers as well as interested potential customers to register with your website to receive additional information and periodic updates about your products and services as well as other information which might be of interest to them. This provides you with a database of email addresses from current customers as well as potential customers who have a genuine interest in your products and services and who are interested in learning more about these products and services.

Once you have a list of interested customers or potential customers you can send emails or create e-newsletter for distribution to the members of your email list. These documents should contain a wealth of valuable information as well as a soft sell pitch for your products and services. This information will be valued by the readers and may help to persuade them to try your products and services.

You might also want to include useful links to either your website as well as other websites which may be of interest to your readers. Your content should also contain a portion which urges the reader to take a specific action such as making a purchase or at least investigating a product further.

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Are You Already Marketing On The Internet?

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

Take a moment to think about how you would really answer this question. If given enough thought just about any business owner who utilizes the Internet for any purpose will likely find that whether or not they intentionally organized an Internet marketing campaign, they may already be marketing their products and services on the Internet. This article will examine some subtle ways business owners may already be marketing their business on the Internet.

Do you have a website for your business? Business owners who answer yes to this question are already marketing their products or services online just by virtue of the fact that they have a website online. Having a live website means there is the potential for curious Internet users to access your website. You may not be actively promoting your website but you may still find that your website generates interest in your products despite the lack of promotional endeavors; this is a form of passive marketing.

Do you participate in message boards and include a link to your website in your signature? Again business owners who answer yes to this question are already marketing their website online. Savvy business owners realize the importance of participation in industry related message boards to create an interest in their products and services, establish themselves as knowledgeable about the industry and offer a link to their own website even if it is in the signature line of their posts. However, even business owners who do not realize this may already be inadvertently enjoying the benefits of Internet marketing which result from message board participation just by doing something they enjoy and may be doing as a form of leisure activity.

Do you include keywords which are relevant to your business in the content of your website? Business owners who answer yes to this question are also already marketing on the Internet by optimizing their website for these keywords. These search engine optimization (SEO) affects the websites whether or not they were even aware of the concept of keyword density and how it can help to SEO a website. Business owners will likely use certain words often depending on the type of products and services they offer just because it is natural and logical to do so. This tendency, however, can result in search engines boosting your website rankings for these particular keywords. The concept of SEO is much more involved and complex than simply using keywords frequently but business owners can gain some benefit just by naturally applying relevant keywords to their website.

Do you solicit feedback from your customers online? This is yet another example of how business owners may be accidentally marketing their business on the Internet. Most business owners realize the importance of soliciting feedback from customers for business purposes and business owners who offer products online might solicit feedback in the form of online surveys. Although the business owners may be doing this simply for a business purpose the fact that it is done online makes it fall into the category of Internet marketing.

We have already discussed several ways in which business owners may already be marketing online but what about business owners who want to have an increased online presence? Business owners who may already be marketing online accidentally may wish to launch a full scale Internet marketing campaign. The best way to do this is to hire a consultant with experience in Internet marketing to assist you in creating a campaign which is effective for your target audience.

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Monday, March 24, 2008

Benefits of Being an Affiliate Marketer

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

Affiliate marketing has become one of the most effective ways to advertise online. It is also one of the easiest ways for anyone with a website to make a profit online. Affiliate Marketing is an agreement between a merchant and a website owner. The website owner, or the affiliate, allows the use of their site for the promotion of the merchant's products by linking to the merchant's website. In exchange, the merchant pays a commission to the affiliate on all sales generated by the affiliate. Every time someone clicks on the link on the affiliate website and proceeds to make a purchase, the affiliate gets a commission. The merchant will pay the affiliate only when a customer clicks on the product link and makes a purchase.

Affiliate marketing programs are described as a win-win situation for both the merchant and the affiliate because of the pay-for-performance scheme. Both the merchant and the affiliate enjoy some benefits in affiliate marketing. There are many benefits on the merchant's side. It gives the merchant a wider market in which to advertise a product or service. Affiliate marketing will give the product or service the maximum exposure that it may not get with other traditional advertising techniques. The more affiliate sites a merchant has, the higher the traffic, which can convert to sales. Affiliate marketing is the equivalent of having an army of sales people who will do the advertising and will only get a commission if a customer purchases.

Meanwhile, since an affiliate marketing relationship is a win-win situation, the affiliate also enjoys many benefits. Foremost among these is the easy way to make a profit. The affiliate can earn by having an ad or link to the merchant's website, which prospective customers will hopefully click and proceed to make a purchase. As soon as the customer clicks on the ad on the affiliate's site, is redirected to the merchant's website and goes on to buy that particular product, the affiliate earns a commission. The more referrals there are the more profit for the affiliate.

Blue-Surf

Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to earn money while at home. There are virtually no production costs. The product is already developed and proven by the merchant, and all you have to do to find, as many prospects as you can that will bring in the profit for both the merchant and the affiliate. Affiliate programs are usually free to join, so affiliates do not have to worry about start-up costs. There are thousands of products and services you can choose from. You can find affiliate programs for every product under the sun. Surely, there is a product or service out there that is relevant to your website.

In addition, there is absolutely no sales experience necessary. Most affiliate programs offer excellent support when it comes to providing marketing material. The simplicity of affiliate marketing allows you to be an affiliate marketer at the least cost and the most comfort. You can even build a successful affiliate marketing business right in the convenience of your own home. In affiliate marketing, your responsibility is simply to find prospects for the merchant; you do not have to worry about inventory, order processing, and product shipping. These, along with customer service support are the duties of the merchant.

Because of the global reach of the internet, you can easily find thousands of prospects. You can intensify your advertising campaign by exploiting more aggressive and productive strategies such as viral marketing. By attracting more prospects, you also maximize your potential to earn. Another benefit of an affiliate marketer is the minimal risk involved. If the product you are advertising is not making money then you can dump it and choose another. There are no long-term binding contracts tying you to products that are not making enough money.

All the same, the best benefit of being an affiliate marketer is the opportunity to increase your income; and you can make a profit even if affiliate marketing is only a sideline business. With your own affiliate business, you can earn easily earn extra income, although you do have to exert effort and use your imagination to maximize your earning potential. Indeed, affiliate marketing is one of the simplest and most effective business opportunities on the web today.

7 Ways to Drive Laser-Targeted Traffic

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

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An affiliate marketer may have all the things needed for him to be able to succeed in a business such as affiliate marketing. He may have the necessary drive, diligence and perseverance to be able to understand how the system works. He may have all the tools necessary in maintaining the business, including a really unique and interesting website which could earn him a fortune if only the whole world could see it. However, all these would prove useless if he does not know how to drive traffic to his website. His business would sink into oblivion together with all the sales, fortune and dreams that he might have realized if he only knew how to do this particular task.

Getting people who matter to see one’s website is a difficult undertaking if he tries to consider the fact that there are rivals everywhere waiting to pin him down. The immensity of the internet as well as the affiliate marketing world has given birth to the fierce competition between affiliate marketers, each of whom has his own great product to offer. With all the websites piling on top of each other, how would one be able to stand out? The seven best ways to drive laser-targeted traffic to one’s own website would help those who are bent on sticking it out with this business wherever it is bound to take them.

The first step in driving traffic to one’s website is by relying on search engines and what they can do for the affiliate marketer concerned. Because they are popular for driving free targeted traffic, they should not be ignored by all means. Having top search engine rankings is vital in building popularity links, and the use of the right keywords is important in attaining this goal. Once a website is on top of the list, it is easily accessible to anyone who wants to see it for himself.

The second way in driving traffic to one’s website is by contacting other webmasters for a possible link exchange partnership. Locating websites that are related to one’s own website is the primary task. Once there, he should be able to establish communication by personalizing everything as much as possible. It is then possible to make reciprocal link exchanges between webmasters whichever way the affiliate marketer prefers.

The third way is through writing one’s own articles. This is an effective way in promoting a website, because good content that are appreciated by readers will lead them to visit the writer’s very own website out of sheer interest.

The fourth way is through joint venture marketing. This is one of the most effective ways of promoting a product or a service. Having a partner through ad swap or link exchange is beneficial to both parties as it allows them to reach a wide customer base in a short amount of time.

The fifth is through joining affiliate programs. Having affiliates to do the work means allowing them to bring tons of traffic to a website. Skyrocketing sales would be realized as a result, and both the affiliate and the website owner will benefit from the situation.

The sixth is by having a list of subscribers that one can refer to every so often, because they are those which would prove to be valuable assets for the marketer concerned. The use of autoresponders and personalized newsletters is one way of keeping track of them all, and holding on to them by letting them know about new products and services is an essential task that should be done by the affiliate marketer concerned.

The seventh is by knowing one’s market through and through. It is important for traffic to be targeted to those who might have a special interest in the theme or topic of one’s website. This way, a solid customer base is going to be created. Once a potential customer shows an interest in a particular website by paying it a visit, one must not waste time in trying to show him that his effort is worth it.

Traffic generating strategies are important in trying to make one’s affiliate marketing career inch forward. It is always advantageous to plan one’s moves in any business that he might undertake. This is particularly so in affiliate marketing. If one knows how to get people to see what he has to offer, then he is on the right track.

5 Things You Must Have to Succeed in Affiliate Marketing

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

The idea of being mere passengers on a ship meant to sail to the farthest points does not appeal to people who like to put their destiny into their own hands. They have the desire of maneuvering the ships themselves, of being able to be the ones to take it anywhere they want to. Being aboard a ship on its way to a particularly great destination is something each and every one of them dreams of, and the knowledge that they have the capacity to steer it themselves is what makes them actually want to.

Perhaps this is the reason why more and more people are succumbing to one of the most popular businesses around – affiliate marketing. It is because in this business, there are no bosses to order the employees around. There are no deadlines to meet and no clutter of work do to. One only needs to be equipped with the tools needed to succeed in a business such as this, and he is bound to get what his heart ultimately desires.






Just what are the things needed to be able to succeed in affiliate marketing? What must one have within himself to be able to do well in this industry? There is a lot of competition involved in affiliate marketing, and to be able to rise above the norm, one must be equipped with just the right stuff necessary to propel him forward. There are five things one must ultimately possess if he wants to achieve the glory he is yearning for in this business, and these five things are a must for him to possess to be able to stand out among the rest.

The very first quality one must possess if he wants to try his hand in affiliate marketing is the willingness to learn and be trained. Treading through unfamiliar territory is scary stuff if one is not properly equipped, and he might get lost amidst a jungle of the unknown. Learning the tricks of the trade is also an important aspect of the game, and one’s willingness to know it all will give him far better advantages in the business than he could ever imagine.

The second quality one must possess is the willingness to invest time and effort even if direct results do not seem at all apparent. Although several months may pass without good news, it is important for one who has his foot in the industry to hold on and wait. It is this quality which would save him from giving up after investing a lot of himself in the business.

The third quality one must possess is self-determination. If one wants to conquer the affiliate marketing world, he must have the ability to push himself ahead. Never having to say die is a quality each and every affiliate marketer should possess, and the ability to motivate oneself into scaling greater heights is an ability which would actually take an affiliate marketer there.

The fourth quality one must possess is discipline. If one knows how to teach himself to work everyday with all the energy he can muster, then he is close to achieving what he has set his heart to having in the first place.

The fifth and last quality one must possess is optimism. Negative attitudes and hearsays should not discourage an affiliate marketer from pursuing what he has to in order to make life better for himself and for everyone concerned. Neither should anyone influence his attitude toward the business, because once in it, it is a must for him to be the captain of his ship and the master of his soul.

The ingredients to success in a business such as affiliate marketing are diverse and manifold, but the most important thing one needs to be able to make it big lies in himself alone. It is he who has the capacity to do everything to be able to realize his prospects, and the desire which fuels his heart in doing so is the gasoline which should keep the engine going.

Affiliate marketing is all about putting one’s fate into his own hands. The right attitude is the key to being able to steer one’s ship into that part of the ocean where a certain kind of serenity can be found, one that permeates the atmosphere as the ship sails calmly on.

3 Necessary Tools for the High Rolling Affiliate Marketer

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

What does it take to become a successful Affiliate Marketer? What are the ingredients of an affiliate marketing success story? Is there a shortcut to Affiliate Marketing glory? All these questions play around in the minds of affiliate marketers who want to make it big in this business.
Although affiliate marketing is touted as one of the easiest and most effective ways to earn money online, it is not as easy as it sounds. The wise affiliate marketer plans every action and executes it the best way he can. He should also maximize the potential to earn by utilizing the right tools necessary for a successful Affiliate Marketing business. We have consulted some of the most successful affiliate marketers in the business and below are the top three necessary tools for a successful affiliate marketing business.

Important Tool #1: Your Own Website

The most important and indispensable tool in Affiliate Marketing is your own website. The first step in any successful affiliate marketing business is building a good, credible and professional looking website. Your website is the jump off point of all your marketing efforts. Thus, you must first build a user-friendly website, which will appeal to your prospects and encourage them to click on the links to the products and service you are promoting and make a purchase. Therefore, you must first concentrate your efforts in building a website that will cater to what your prospects need.

The most important thing you should consider is that almost all web users go online to look for information, not necessarily to go and buy something. Above all else, make your website full of original, relevant and useful content. People will love articles that are appealing and helpful. Keep in mind that, in the internet, content is still king and good quality content will not only build your credibility, it can also help you achieve a higher search engine ranking. By posting relevant and useful articles, you establish yourself as a credible expert in the field, making you a more trustworthy endorser of the product or service you promote. Establishing a good reputation is a good step in building up a loyal consumer base.

Important Tool #2: Incentives

Competition is extremely tight in the internet world. You must always be one-step ahead of your rivals to ensure that you capture a significant share of your target market. Therefore, you must use every possible means to encourage people not only to visit your site but also to click and proceed to the websites of the products and services you are promoting. Building an opt-in email list is one of the best ways to gather prospects. Offer a newsletter or an e-zine. Better yet, offer incentives to your prospects to encourage them to subscribe to your newsletters. You can present free softwares, access to exclusive services and other freebies that will be helpful to your prospects.

Important Tool #3: Link Popularity

The importance of driving highly targeted traffic to your website cannot be emphasized enough. The all-important web traffic is at the top of the list of the most important entities in the internet world. Attracting people to your site should be the first step you should carry out. Do everything to achieve a high search engine ranking. Link Popularity is one of the factors that search engines use to determine search engine rankings. Therefore, to enhance your link popularity, you must launch an aggressive reciprocal link campaign.

One of the best ways to do this – at no cost at all – is by submitting articles, with your website's link at the resource box, to e-zines and free article sites. You will not only gain exposure, you will also have the opportunity to advertise for free, just include a link back to your site. The more sites you submit your articles to, the better your link popularity is. Make your articles original, relevant and useful so that more websites will pick it up and post it.

These are but three of the many tools that an affiliate marketer can use to maximize earning potential. The possibilities are endless and are limited only by your imagination, creativity, resourcefulness and determination. You can always explore other ideas and adapt other strategies, which you think might help you become a high rolling affiliate marketer.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

"Maximum Exposure on Low Cost Internet Ad"

"Maximum Exposure on Low Cost Internet Ad"
(Make the most of a low cost Internet advertising method)

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

Advertising had long since been a major determinant of a business' success. This would include the presentation of the product / service to the consumers. What really matters is how it is presented to the target market to be able to capture it.

Whatever the package, the ad media also plays a great role in determining the success of the product or service awareness.

What may be its advantages over other proven medium like the best-selling TV ads?

Advantages

1. Low Cost

Eventhough the Internet ad might be viewed as "classy" or far-reaching, as compared to other medium, this is far cheaper than most. Internet Ad Packages are offered for as low as $29.99 for a one-month run-time period.

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2. Capture market

Should your product / service aim to cater to the younger generation or the corporate-oriented ones, Internet ad would be best since they would always be "hooked-up" into the net surfing sites that might have a link to your very own. Result, a great number of "hits" on your site!

2. Hassle free

All you would ever really need is a PC (and some knowledge and bright ideas in forming your site) wherein you could open your site, search for the best Internet Ad package, and check / update the status of your ad. You may actually never have to leave your home to advertise!

3. Updated ads

Unlike the TV ads that need to be updated on a regular basis, Internet ads may run for quite some time without the need for change. If so, change in the site is very minimal and may be done easily at home.

Disadvantages

1. Scope
Limited market may be captured if one would solely use the Internet Ad for advertising. Although most people now are into the use of technology, i.e. surfing the Internet, still, majority of the average consumers still relies on the old form of advertising as a means of gathering information about certain products / service.

2. Additional cost

If one would enlist the help of another professional or establishment to produce the site for their product or service, this would entail additional costs on the part of the entrepreneur.

Given the stated list of advantages and disadvantages about low-coast Internet Ad, an entrepreneur may now weigh in its applicability to his / her product or service.

The aim of Internet ad is to offer the widest range or "Maximum Exposure" of the brand at the least possible cost. Now, does that not sound good or what?

How to Make Use of Cheap Internet Banner Advertising

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

For years now, internet banner advertising has captured the World Wide Web for it has become a large help in saving an amount of money while reaching beyond territories. Banner advertising played a major part in market trafficking all over the internet and many individuals and companies have bought themselves these cheap internet banner advertising. Some made use of it financially; others have no idea on what to do with it.

With your cheap internet banner advertisement, would you just sit in front of your computer and wait for people to notice you? Would you let your company get trampled by other company’s marketing strategies?

Okay, so you admit you bought internet banner advertising, but does that mean you won’t do anything about it because it costs cheap?

These following steps will help you get up on your feet and make your cheap internet banner advertising priceless. With these simple instructions, there will always have traffic on your website.

First, to be able to capture the attention of your target audience, your title and topic should be thought of with concern. You have to make the people believe that your cheap internet banner advertising is worthy of their time. The advertisement has to meet the audience’s need.

For the people to bring attention to your internet banner advertising, you should be able to raise the curiosity and convince the people. You should be able to deliver your products or services with strong words that may lead the target audience at deciding.

You should be able to constructs words on your advertisements that could lead the target audience that you are directly talking to them to give a sense of familiarity on your services.

As you persuade the people by calling for them and directing them to buy or entail your services, they give importance to your business proposal. Your cheap internet-based banner advertising will become one of the sought for ads there are.

Make sure to present your ads to the global community repeatedly to get them familiar with you and your services.

Always remember that having a website doesn’t mean it could sell products by itself. You must be sure to accompany it with marketing strategies. By buying banner advertising, you or your company would save time and money while achieving market sales. These internet banners advertising may come cheap, but it could lead you or your company to riches.

Best Internet Marketing Solutions Without Overspending

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

The Internet has made this world an open enterprise. It has become important for companies to further expand their market and their consumer targets. Engaging to Internet Marketing maybe a risk for people who wish to be involved with this type of business.

Ensure that most of your target consumers will surely acquire your product. Consider the best products which will definitely capture their interests and needs. This means that you need to identify specifically who these people are, their location and financial level in the society. Have a marketing knowledge and skill to achieve your goal in the field of Internet marketing.

At the present, you can use varied Internet Marketing Solutions that is being offered by companies which can be your tool for support to your consumers. This solution maybe email marketing, search engine optimization or creating web pages or sites. Since you need to maximize your return profit, you need to choose Internet Marketing Solutions that will help you achieve this. These marketing techniques will not cost much since they are very self-explanatory, thus, learned easily.

Email marketing is a common Internet marketing Solution. This is a cost effective way of communicating and interacting to your consumers, driving them to visit your website and check out your products. It may be in a way of marketing articles, leading them to forums or newsletters. A newsletter has an advantage of expanding your consumers as more and more sign up on it until you can have a bulk list of emails.

Another great Internet marketing solution is through websites. This is a good promotion strategy to employ since you can display all the necessary information for your target consumers. The website should capture their interest and be complete since every transaction, from inquiry to payments may take place. All correspondence that will be done online must be well-facilitated by the features of your website.

Another Internet marketing solution is search engine optimization. This is a type of service for your website that you can make use of in order to raise the number of visitors to your site. Once a consumer uses a search engine, your website will rank high in the list of searches which in return will increase your site's traffic.

Considering these Internet Marketing Solution, there are different companies offering software products containing one or all of these solutions. It would be a great opportunity to try one of these which will match your financial capability and expected return profit.

Aggressive Internet Marketing Made Possible

Mission: Aggression
Aggressive Internet Marketing Made Possible

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

Aggressive internet marketing means full-blown marketing and promotions that exceed any businessman's expectations. A business needs fierce internet marketing. No more, no less. But to make it low cost? Is that even possible? How can something so aggressive be affordable?

Luckily, you can avail of inexpensive aggressive internet marketing if you just look hard and good enough. Be keen and alert and know what's going on in the online industry. The following questions will help you discern if your chosen internet site to do the marketing fits the bill.

1. Does the company offer free website design?

Even if you know your HTML, it is still more advisable if a professional team does it for you. Some internet marketing sites offer free web design to make sure that your site's needs are met. It's a must that marketing is integrated to the web design. If the company requires you to pay more than fifty bucks for the web design, then so much for straight-forward internet marketing! Look somewhere else!

2. How many keywords does your web site cater to?

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Having too many keywords or key phrases to focus on will make your page ranking drop. Creating smaller web pages with content that emphasizes only a few keywords will serve Internet marketing endeavor better.

3. How search engine-compatible is your website?

Internet marketing is coined "aggressive" only if it is a hundred percent search engine-compatible. There are about 10 major search engines online and your site has to work accordingly with them. Find out if your internet marketing site is expert on search engine optimization.

4. Do you know your competitors?

Affordable aggressive internet marketing pushes your business forward by taking note of your competitors. Analysis and evaluation of the competition is mandatory to figure out your shortcomings and advantages over them. If this feature is excluded from your internet marketing plan, you're getting a mediocre deal.

5. How efficient is the monthly marketing plan?

Usually, you're asked to pay a monthly fee for the marketing plan. For a marketing plan to be efficient, it must zero in on the following things: webpage development, link exchanges, web content, updates and technical support. Of course, also included are the standard SEO, competition analysis and keyword density.

If you've procured the right answers for the previous questions, then you can finally say: "Now that's low cost aggressive internet marketing."

The Best Internet Advertising is Free Internet Advertising

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

Free internet advertising is one very important method for promoting your products and services to thousands of free classified ads.

Most of these free classified ads web sites give you the power to facilitate marketing with features such as classified ads submitter forms. Features like this give free Internet advertising an extremely fast way of getting your products or services on line. It is accessible 24/7 allowing you access anytime, it's very effective and efficient and most of it comes free. No downloads. No sign-up fees. No hidden charges. No annual or monthly fees. No sales fees. It is absolutely free.

Free internet advertising makes it easy for you to put free ads on several of the premier quality web sites whenever you want, for free. This kind of benefit you get from free internet advertising can only do, to say the least, miracles for your business. Most of these free internet advertising companies give you 3 slots to advertise any product or service for free.

Free internet advertising is the perfect way and best way to make your products or services known to the millions of prospective consumers in the Internet and make your web site start producing money. There is an enormous audience for free internet advertising that is present in the Internet, that the probability of anyone needing your services or wanting to buy your products is very high. There are free services out there that may suit your services, products and web site. Browse the internet for the best free internet advertising for assessment on their amenities and features how to advertise or join your web site for free internet advertising.

Most web sites promoting free internet advertising have features like classified ads submitter – where you can get a enormous exposure with instant results and expand your sales by large volumes over night, opt-in email lists – non spam bulk emailing program, guaranteed 100% legal. Opt-in email lists are created by people who have volunteered or ‘opted-in’ their email addresses to these lists. These lists are very effective for creating personalized email to prospective clients.

Free internet advertising provides a great technique for building traffic. People constantly search on online free internet advertising ads for specific services or products. Free internet advertising target clients inclined to buying a particular kind of product or service in mind.

And the best reason to advertise in free internet advertising is because it is absolutely free.

Making a Hyper Responsive Opt Work

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

Getting the attention of people to buy a certain product is challenging. There were times in the past when telemarketing was at times more of a nuisance rather a convenience to people. The same goes for sales people who would go house to house and show a product and were simply turned down.

Now as people have approached the digital age, there is a faster way of doing it as that is through hyper responsive opt. This is basically creating a mailing list and sending the information to people which will contribute to sales.

A person can do it in the office or at home and it can only be done if one is serious about making money online. This can work for people who want to do it full time or for those who just want some extra cash and do it part time.

Here are some benefits and features of using hyper responsive opt;

1. With a click of the mouse, the product a person wants to sell can get to the customer in lightning speed. Surveys have shown that the average person will only buy a product only after being exposed to the ad or the message after 7 times. By establishing a customer base via the internet, one no longer has to search for new ones that much but rely on the existing clientele to further spread the word and increase sales.

2. Some people will not immediately buy the product that is offered but by keeping the names in the mailing list, it is possible that when a product of interest is on hand, the person will then buy.

3. When a site has been made, it can be used to bring in additional revenue as new people who want to join the business can be charged for advertising.

4. This can also be used to propose joint ventures with other people making the business grow further.

To give further detail how it works, here is the step by the step process of hyper responsive opts;

· The first thing to do is to determine what customers need. It should be a product or a service that should provide a solution of some kind that will improve the quality of life either at home or at work.

Marketing a product especially new ones takes time and money to establish itself. Profit is not made in the first sale but occurs when the customer decides to buy again or through repeat sales.

· The next is to do the proper research. If the business is done with a group of people or a single proprietorship, it is best to brainstorm for the best possible brand or product name. It should be catchy and will easily be remembered. Given that there are probably others who have been in the business longer, it is best to think of other names just in case it can no longer be used.

· A product of good quality should be sold at a decent price. Sometimes, the product one makes is already available in the market. To be competitive, one must figure out a way to convince people as to why this product is better than the other leading brands. What features does it have that the competitor doesn’t? What makes it unique and what service can it give as well?

· Just like a normal business, one must acquire the right equipment and machines for the job. These could be merchandise that is either physical or electronic and an online ordering system.

To be successful, one should be sure that the goods that a customer will order can be delivered on time. If there are any problems, a customer support staff or system should be ready to cater to that.

One does not need a wonder product to make it work. All it takes is a list of people who one can contact without being accused of spamming. Soon, this will get the attention of the right people and sales should start coming in.

Any business big or small must maximize marketing to get the message across. Online business is just one of the new ways of making money. It is up to the person to find that need and take advantage of it.

Updates on RSS Directories

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

RSS directories are popular these days. RSS is widely used initially by news sites to allow others to syndicate their news stories. Now, a lot of other websites are using RSS. It is being used in flagging new forum headlines, auction listings, sales listings and others.

The meaning of RSS is actually not clear. RSS may or may not be an acronym, actually. RSS may stand for Really Simple Syndication. But others say its Rich Site Summary and sometimes Rich Syndication Standard. The noted creator of RSS directory would be Netscape. It was released sometime in March 1999. The included a UserLand application which is called scripting news. Netscape stopped developing it, but UserLand continued doing so. Another company, RSS-DEV Working Group also released their own version.

RSS directories are sites that collate all RSS links and place them in different categories for other applications to use. This is similar to web hosting, only instead of web pages, they contain RSS links. These links will pop out on the website and when you click it, you will be directed to the main source of the link.

RSS poses a lot of uses for those who’d like to use the Internet for marketing or commerce. Here are the things you can do with it:

Create links from their website to yours.
If you are selling or promoting something, web traffic is important. The more RSS directory you upload, the more chances you have people seeing those and checking your site out. And if they have customized their sites with your RSS feeds, then they would get updated listings from your site to theirs automatically.

Collating analysis.
If you have a brand and you’d like to know how your competitor is doing, you may use RSS to see what they have so far. Get a directory of their product or service so you’ll know first hand what they have come out with. With the data gathered you now can plan on how you can counter them.

Tracking your own progress. If you can check out your competitor, of course you’d like to check out too how your business or product is going too. With an RSS directory of your own, you can know how many people are interested in what you are selling or offering.

Increases productivity.
Putting up RSS directories, let’s say for newsletters, adds efficiency to your company. If you use RSS for sending out newsletters instead of mailing them to recipients, you’d eliminate the possibility of your letter being classified as spam by users, or being sent in a closed mail account.

Increases efficiency.
There are a lot of websites or news articles that could be beneficial to your brand or company. At times, you’d like to add them to your site. Without the use of RSS, you’d have to copy the entire thing down and note where you got it. If you use RSS, then the headline and part of the story shows up on your site. And this is an automatic process now. If you use RSS, you just include the directory and automatically, the headline appears without you doing much.

Posting RSS directories could cost you some. But the benefits override it. Some sites even offer free RSS directory posting. If you are just starting up, you may like to check those out. The more RSS directory you have up, the more the possibility that you are sending out information to the people interested in your goods. Reason behind is that people will only get the RSS feeds that they are interested in. If they get yours, they sure are the target market.

Disseminating information online has become easier with RSS. The technology provided a cost-effective way of transferring facts and figures out. Utilizing it would definitely add up to your marketing approach. With it, you have an avenue of reaching out to even more people so easily.

RSS uses XML to syndicate pages. Though that sounds a little technical, there a lot of websites that has user-friendly interface to guide in building your directory. Go ahead and put up your RSS directory up now. RSS has proven to be essential. It has ceased to be an option; it has become a necessity.

Learning the Basics of RSS

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

What is RSS?
You probably have seen this three-letter acronym in the course of your internet surfing. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary; syndicating means republishing an article that comes from another source such as a website.

An RSS is a means of publicizing updates about websites. It may or may not include a summary and photos of the latest posting. But those that provide summaries (thus Rich Site Summary) allow users to skim through the article so that they could decide later on if they want to access the website source. The RSS feed usually contains the title of the update originating from the website. It is also usually the link to the website source.

What are the benefits of RSS?
RSS gives benefits to both readers (users) and web publishers.
1. It gives you the latest updates.
Whether it is about the weather, new music, software upgrade, local news, or a new posting from a rarely-updates site learn about the latest as soon as it comes out.

2. It saves on surfing time.
Since an RSS feed provides a summary of the related article, it saves the user’s time by helping s/he decide on which items to prioritize when reading or browsing the net.

3. It gives the power of subscription to the user.
Users are given a free-hand on which websites to subscribe in their RSS aggregators which they can change at any time they decide differently.

4. It lessens the clutter in your inbox.
Although your email address will be required to enjoy the services of online RSS aggregators, RSS does not use your email address to send the updates.

5. It is spam free.
Unlike email subscriptions, RSS does not make use of your email address to send updates thus your privacy is kept safe from spam mails.

6. Unsubscribing is hassle-free.
Unlike email subscriptions where the user is asked questions on why s/he is unsubscribing and then the user would be asked to confirm unsubscribing, all you have to do is to delete the RSS feed from your aggregator.

7. It can be used as an advertising or marketing tool.
Users who subscribe or syndicate product websites receive the latest news on products and services without the website sending spam mail. This is advantageous to both the web user and the website owner since advertising becomes targeted; those who are actually interested in their products are kept posted.

What are the drawbacks of RSS?
The disadvantages of RSS use are brought about by its being a new technology and some user-preference concerns.
1. Some users prefer receiving email updates over an RSS feed.

2. Graphics and photos do not appear in all RSS feeds.
For conciseness and ease of publication, RSS feeds do not display the photos from the original site in announcing the update except for some web-based aggregators

3. The identity of the source website can be confusing.
Since RSS feeds do not display the actual URL or name of the website, it can sometimes get confusing on what feed a user is actually reading.

4. Publishers cannot determine how many users are subscribed to their feed and the frequency of their visits. Moreover, they would not know the reasons why users unsubscribe which could be important in improving their advertising.

5. RSS feeds create higher traffic and demands on the server.
Most readers still prefer the whole update over a brief summary of the entry, thus they still access the site.

6. Since it is a new technology, many sites still do not support RSS.

How do I start using RSS?
There are two things needed: an RSS feed and an RSS aggregator or reader. The RSS feed comes from an RSS-supported website. There are also websites that provide a list of RSS feeds of different websites. An RSS aggregator is used to read the RSS feed from the source website. It scans and collects data on latest RSS feeds from the worldwide web.

An aggregator comes in two forms: a downloadable program also known as desktop aggregator and an online or web-based aggregator. Downloadable aggregators may require payment before they can be acquired, while internet-based aggregators are usually free of charge. All you need to do is to register an account then you are ready to use their services. Both versions allow you to customize or choose which RSS feeds to enter. Paid aggregators are usually chosen by more experienced users and they usually allow more freedom in customizing feeds.

1. Choose an RSS aggregator to use. For beginners, web-based aggregators are recommended since they are usually user-friendly

2. Scan the homepage of your target website for the RSS or XML button. It contains the RSS code you need to enter in the aggregator. Copy this code. Syndic8 provides a directory of websites that support RSS.


3. Paste the code (which contains the URL of the website) in your aggregator. There is a space provided for pasting the code.

After you have done these three easy steps, you can start reading the RSS feeds coming from the website. New postings appear as they are published real time at the source website.

RSS and Internet Marketing

The original idea of RSS came from Netscape, where their intention is to provide a means for users to customize their personal homepage to contain links to websites that interest them, similar to bookmarking websites.

The application of RSS to internet marketing was an unforeseen development to RSS technology developers. Since users are given the freedom to add RSS feeds to their aggregators, those who are interested in particular products and services available in the internet can now be notified real time. Marketing becomes more specific to interested people and not a hit-and-miss operation.

Those who intend to use RSS for marketing their products and services should consider linking up with email account providers, (e.g. Yahoo, MSN, Google mail); networking websites (e.g. Friendster, Multiply, My Space, Hi5); websites of newspapers and television network websites (e.g. New York Times, CNN) for medium to big-scale companies. Small-time industries can also look into networking websites as well as personal blog websites (e.g. Blogspot) and websites of clubs and organizations that would probably make use of their products or services e.g. a fishing supplies store can look for the website of their local fishing club for possible RSS marketing.


Clearly, RSS is an innovation in information management in the worldwide web as well as online marketing. We can expect better RSS technology in the not-so-distant future as its popularity increases among users and website owners alike.

A Guide to RSS Aggregators

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

One of the most popular features of Internet portals, websites, pages and even emails is a frame that features an organized list of news headlines and periodic updates from other web sources. Really Simple Syndication, formerly “Rich Site Summary” or simply, RSS makes this possible.

Most users visit a lot of websites whose content continually change, such as news sites, community organization or professional association information pages, medical websites, product support pages, and blogs. As Internet surfing became an intrinsic part of business and leisure, it became important to get rid of the very tedious task of repeatedly returning to each website to see updated content.

RSS easily distributes information from different websites to a wider number of Internet users. RSS aggregators are programs that use RSS to source these updates, and then organize those lists of headlines, content and notices for easy reading. It allows computers to automatically retrieve and read the content that users want, then track changes and personalize lists of headlines that interests them.

The specially made computer programs called “RSS aggregators” were created to automatically find and retrieve the RSS feeds of pre-selected internet sites on behalf of the user and organize the results accordingly. (RSS feeds and aggregators are also sometimes referred to as "RSS Channels" and "RSS Readers".)

The RSS aggregator is like a web browser for RSS content. HTML presents information directly to users, and RSS automatically lets computers communicate with one another. While users use browsers to surf the web then load and view each page of interest, RSS aggregators keeps track of changes to many websites. The titles or descriptions are links themselves and can be used to load the web page the user wants.

RSS starts with an original Web site that has content made available by the administrator. The website creates an RSS document and registers this content with an RSS publisher that will allow other websites to syndicate the documents. The Web site also produces an RSS feed, or channel, which is available together with all other resources or documents on the particular Web server. The website will register the feed as an RSS document, with a listed directory of appropriate RSS publishers.

An RSS feed is composed of website content listed from newest to oldest. Each item usually consists of a simple title describing the item along with a more complete description and a link to a web page with the actual content being described. In some instances, the short description or title line is the all the updated information that a user wants to read (for example, final games scores in sports, weblogs post, or stock updates). Therefore, it is not even necessary to have a web page associated with the content or update items listed -- sometimes all the needed information that users need would be in the titles and short summaries themselves.

The RSS content is located in a single file on a webpage in a manner not very different from typical web pages. The difference is that the information is written in the XML computer code for use by an RSS aggregator and not by a web user like a normal HTML page.

There are 2 main parts that are involved in RSS syndication, namely: the source end and the client end.

The client end of RSS publishing makes up part of the system that gathers and uses the RSS feed. For example, Mozilla FireFox browser is typically at the client end of the RSS transaction. A user’s desktop RSS aggregator program also belongs to the client end.

Once the URL of an RSS feed is known, a user can give that address to an RSS aggregator program and have the aggregator monitor the RSS feed for changes. Numerous RSS aggregators are already preconfigured with a ready list of RSS feed URLs for popular news or information websites that a user can simply choose from.

There are many RSS aggregators that can be used by all Internet users. Some can be accessed through the Internet, some are already incorporated into email applications, and others run as a standalone program inside the personal computer.

RSS feeds have evolved into many uses. Some uses gaining popularity are:

·For online store or retail establishments: Notification of new product arrivals
·For organization or association newsletters: title listings and notification of new issues, including email newsletters
·Weather Updates and other alerts of changing geographic conditions
·Database management: Notification of new items added, or new registered members to a club or interest group.

The uses of feeds will continue to grow, because RSS aggregators make access to any information that individual users like more convenient and fun.

Entertainment RSS Delivered Straight Into Your Homes

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

RSS which stands for really simple syndication is a format that is associated with the XML family of file formatting. It functions by continuously running through the websites to scan for updates. It then sends these updates to all of the people who are subscribed to these websites using a feed. This is used most often in web syndication.

To be able to use an RSS feed, you need to have an aggregator, also known as a feed reader. These aggregators are available widely online, so it won't be that hard to scour the net to find the one that you're looking for. There are a variety of aggregators to choose from. Best of all is that you can download them for free.

RSS feeds are often used in blogs, news, and entertainment websites. Anything that relays information to subscribers, and is often updated. These updates are then sent to all of the subscribers of these sites that carry RRS feeds. The updates are summarized, so you'd have an idea what stories they are referring to. If you are interested in the information it's relaying, you can then click on the text to get the longer version of the text.

The great thing about RSS feeds, is that you can also read them through your cell phones, and they come in PDAs.

Most entertainment websites carry RSS feeds such as BBC, Reuters, Boston Globe, CNN, etc. Music reviews, game news, interviews, movie stories, are also put into RSS feeds. This makes it a lot easier for fans to follow stories about their favorite movie stars, sports heroes, latest gaming news, etc. It is offered to you unadulterated, and free from annoying spam that clutters your emails.

A lot of businesses also use RSS feeds to reach their customers. This allows them to directly relay information, uncorrupted, and instantaneously. As soon as you download an RSS feed, you receive the information right away.

Entertainment RSS is an all in one stop. You don't have to click from website to website to get the news that you're after. Entertainment websites that carry RSS offer you the news that you need, automatically as soon as they're updated. This saves you the time and the trouble of having to scour the net for the information that you're looking for.

It is easy to subscribe to entertainment RSS feed, just click the button that indicates the RSS feed. You usually have to copy the URL into your aggregator, but some RSS feeds automatically download into your reader. You can unsubscribe to an RSS feed anytime.

There are some search engines that allow you to search information contained through RSS feeds. There are also feed directories that categorize RSS feeds by order of interest. This makes it easier for people to locate all of the information contained in RSS on any available topics online.

Local news can also be found via RSS. So now instead of tuning into your TV sets to get the latest headlines, updates, and sporting news, you can subscribe to an RSS feed. This way, you get all of your news at once. This allows you to control the way you receive information, and enables you to receive news at your own free time.

The great thing about this is that readers can read the headlines and summary, and then can choose which stories they want to follow. This gives the reader control over the content of the information they are receiving. This way, they are not bombarded by numerous advertisements and countless useless information that they don't have any use for.

Individuals who have blogs with syndicated content can submit the syndicated versions of their blogs to RSS feed directories. This way, blog enthusiasts can have access to their RSS feeds.

Feedster is one of the most popular search engines. You can use this search engine to find numerous entertainment articles, stories, reviews, using an RSS feed. The great thing about RSS feeds, is that you're always updated with the latest news and happenings.

RSS feeds is revolutionizing the way information consumers get their content. Instead of being bombarded with a plethora of useless information, the consumers now can select & reject the material that goes into their consciousness.

Blog RSS

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a tool useful for saving or retaining updated information on websites that you frequently visit or websites that are your favorite. RSS utilizes an XML code which scans continuously the content or subject matter of a certain website in search for new informations then transmits the information updates by way of feeding the information to subscribers.

RSS feeds are generally being utilized in blogs or news sites, though any website wanting to broadcast and publish information can use them. Once new information is sent, it will contain a headline, a little bit of text, and either a rundown or a brief review of the news or story. A link is needed be clicked upon to read further.

So as to accept RSS feeds, a feed reader is needed, called an aggregator. Aggregators are widely and freely available online, and all that is needed is a bit of searching, you will be able to locate a certain interface that best interest you. What’s more, RSS feeds can likewise be read and retrieved from cell phones and on PDAs.

Once you encounter upon a website that you want to add or insert to the aggregator, the process can be done in two ways. Almost all sites offering an RSS feed displays an “RSS” or “XML” button in their homepage and with one click, it promptly add that particular feed to one’s aggregator. Some aggregator however, requires the need to copy and then paste the URL of the feed unto the program.

Whatever the method used, you can be certain that the feed will be accessible soon as you have inserted it, likewise, in just seconds, the next update can arrive. In the event that you do not anymore would want to accept or take in updates, you may simply delete or erase the feed from the aggregator.

Through e-mail subscriptions, you can receive newsletters. RSS feeds on the other hand, can be more convenient in keeping up with newsletter updates since they are prompt and available in an instant; you no longer have to wait for a scheduled time or day to obtain a news summary, plus, these news will never be detained through a spam filter.
RSS feeds are widely used everyday by individuals who understand and appreciate the accessibility of fast reports and news that can be readily read and only read certain updates that appeals to them.

Aggregators

Aggregators are popular use of feeds, having several kinds. Web aggregators or portals as they are sometimes called, create this view which is then made available in a Web page. Also, Aggregators have been incorporated into e-mail patrons, users of desktops, or dedicated and standalone software.

Offering a collection of special features, such as combining more than a few related feeds in just a single view, hiding certain entries or statements that has been already viewed, and classifying entries and feeds, the aggregator is a versatile component.

Why make a feed available?

You will have more viewers, since now, your viewers can conveniently see your site without even going out and looking for that certain site. While at first, it may seem corrupt, it will in fact enhance the visibility of your site; this is so because users can easily keep up or keep tract with your site, to allow them to view in a way that they want to; it’s more probable that guests are aware should something that is in their interest is available or accessible on your site.

For instance, every month your website broadcasts a new feature. Having no feed, your viewers will always have to keep in mind to go to your site in a certain time to see if they discover something new; that is, if they can remember, and if they still have the time. However, if you supply a feed for your viewers, they can just point to their aggregator and it will instantly provide them a link along with a description of happenings or events at your site immediately.

What format to choose?

Syndication is very confusing as it uses a lot of formats that can usually be come across in the web. However, this can easily be solved as in general, syndicated libraries are used by aggregators which conceptualize a particular format that a feed is in, in order that they can utilize a certain syndication feed.

With this, whatever format to pick is just a matter of personal preference. RSS 1.0 is far reaching, and practical should it be integrated into Semantic Web systems. RSS 2.0 is very easy and simple create by hand. And atom is an IETF Standard, does it brings constancy, stability and a natural and accepted community to support its usage.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Utilizing the secrets of opti lists

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

Emails are replacing regular mails from the post office. Not only because it is cheaper, since you do not need to buy a stamp, it’s also definitely faster. Emails can be sent in as fast as five seconds, depending on the server, anywhere in the world.

No doubt emails are being used to distribute news letters, promotional mails, and other stuff. How then would you be able to round up email addresses to send those marketing mails you have? Here is where an opt-in list comes in.

An opt-in list is a directory of email address you can send to those mails to. Though it seems to be easy to find email addresses, if you are talking thousands in numbers, it is going to be hard. Besides, you have to determine the recipient of the email. You wouldn’t want your readers mostly male if you are selling lipsticks, right?

A good opt-in list should include the profile of the email address owner. Here are tips on how to create a comprehensive opt-in list for target market.

Create your website.
Creating a website is made simple nowadays. A lot of programs are milling about assisting regular computer users in making and maintaining websites in a real simple way. Some website creator just needs you to cut and paste, like that of a regular paint program. Several web hosting sites are available too. Some are even free. If you have a site of your own, you can ask visitors to register with you or sign your guest book as they leave.





Set up a promotion or a freebie.
Not all the best things in life are free, as they say. But you can definitely try to give something out for sure. You can see this done all over the web. Free screensavers, free games, free download of programs. And what do they need from you? They just ask for an email address, your name and a little something more about you. Then you can place a check box on the registration form for sending of email. For sure, you can think of something to give out as well.

Write and write some more.
There are some web magazines where in readers can submit their writings for a particular topic. If you had a chance to do so, add a link to your article providing information about what you are trying to promote. Some readers of your article may enjoy your work so much they’d like to contact you, so don’t forget to leave your email address too.

Pose an easy opt-out option.
People who like to join your opt-in list would, along the way may want to opt out of it somehow. People who are wary of joining may not join at all if they see that it would be near impossible to remove their email address from the listing. Show them that it is as easy to opt-out as it is opting in.

Check other’s strategy too.
It would be better if you can find a partner in generating an opt-in list. This way, you can split the expenses and both of you can share the list generated. It will be best to partner with a company that has a business similar to your own line. Both of you can profit more should that be the case.

Use offline ways too.
You can put up a small raffle preferably in a supermarket for a certain item they buy. You can place an email address opt-in part in the raffle entry to add to your list. This way, you’d also know the buying preferences of the participants if you mark the entries systemically.

Creating an opt-in list entails a lot of work and funds. You should outline how much you will spend in creating an opt-in list. People appearing at opt-in lists are sales prospects. They are those interested in a certain product that you may be selling. Obtaining an optimal opt-in list would boost your sales up so these tools are undoubtedly essential.

Acquire an opt-in list now or generate one. Either way, you are reaching to people that can be your one of your treasured customers for a long period time.

How to Build An Opt-In Mailing Lists?

Copyright © Bassem Sabry

One of the powerful tools in online “email” marketing is to build an opt-in mailing list. An opt-in mailing list is a database of peoples’ names and email addresses that have subscribed to an email list via a web form giving that list owner permission to send them periodic emails on the topic they are interested in. The best gift of this powerful tool is the possibility of being able to talk to people who are particularly interested in your product, service or organization.

This gaining popularity of building opt-in mailing list is known as Permission Email Marketing.

There are do’s and don’ts in starting your opt-in mailing list. Here are some of the most important tips worth mentioning:

DO’S

1. Put a subscription form prominently on your website. You can create your own subscription form using a software Sign-Up to’s form builder.
2. Inform people that they can subscribe to your email list on the signature of your normal work emails. This will enable it to link straight through the form on your website.
3. Ask people permission if they do want to be subscribed on your mailing list. As much as possible avoid being suspected for SPAM.
4. Open options for subscription especially during your interactions with them. Always be ready with your subscription cards if you run in on events.
5. Be clear on how people can benefit from subscribing and how often will you contact them. Make them know exactly what they will be receiving.
6. If you can, contact new subscriber as soon as you can. Welcome them with notes and tell them what to expect.





DON’T

1. Add everyone who has ever emailed you to your list. Always ask permission first.
2. Purchase lists that you are not 100% sure that are opt-in. Always have an evidence to prove the legitimacy of the opt-ins.
3. Abuse people’s trust. This is a sure way to ruin your brand and you. Soon enough they will ignore your messages.

Building your opt-in mailing list is cheaper than in sending direct mails. Printing, envelopes and paper used as material further add up to the cost. Here are some ways to effectively start your opt-in mailing list:
1. Free Newsletter. One of the most effective ways to build an opt-in list is to offer your online visitors freebies of value such as newsletter which will contain information that they can relate to such as tips, tools, recipes, travel itineraries and others.
2. Make it Easy to Subscribe. Provide easy steps for subscription so that subscribers may find it easy to do so and would not be discourage. For more subscribers, tell them the exact benefits they can get out of the subscription.
3. Quality Content. Be sure that what is written inside the newsletter, freebies and information found in your website are all of value to increase visitors dropping by your website.
4. Forums. Discussion boards and forums are all over the net. Try to actively participate in these boards especially those in the line of your interest or your business. Try to build your reputation with credibility.
5. Write articles. This makes you an instant expert in your chosen field of interest. You just have to play on it and use it well in your business goal.
6. Co-registration. A very effective way to build a monster list in a very short time.
7. Write an e-book. An excellent freebie for those who visited and subscribe in your mailing list. The e-book does not have to be expensively made or elaborate but it can be a compilation or a collection of best articles, business tips and resources.

In building opt-in mailing lists always keep in mind to offer something of value to your prospects. Remember opt-in lists are the foundations of most profitable internet business so do not miss chances for improvement and developing new strategies.

Having an opt-in list is not easy, it is hardwork but with some relieving advantages too. But to build an opt-in mail list has to be focused and effective in truly capturing the desired target. Take a look at these 10 Quick Easy Steps to Building A Highly Targeted and Responsive Opt-in List.

1. Choose your target market or niche. Remember you are not the only one competing in internet marketing; you have to be sure who your internet marketing is.
2. Be sure that you can reach your target audience online.
3. Do not waste on time on a non-profit investment or spending. Always monitor your spending.
4. Forums and discussion boards are available for maximum use. Find your target market problems.
5. Identify what is keeping your customers from getting what they want and help them get it.
6. Try offering your viewers solving some of their problems.
7. Set up a simple direct response mini-site.
8. Get an auto-responder account. It is important for you to acquire and set this thing up because this is where your visitors will come.
9. Bait your potential customers through giveaways like: ebooks, special reports, mini courses and coupons, etc.
10. Reach out in any way you can to your target market.

Opt-in building is a tedious work but with amazing results. The process of building it takes time and effort but persists. Always treat your “find” as a goldmine so that you will offer them the best deals in the market, those with great quality and value. Doing all these, would earn you credibility and a profitable business on the Internet.

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