Online Business Opportunities: Scam or No Scam?

By Jimmy Barry

Have you ever noticed how the word "scam" is used so frequently in relationship to online businesses. Just go to one of the forums where online business are being discussed and someone or someones will be throwing around the "S" word. Or, look at some of the online reviews and see how many blanket all the businesses that operate online with the word "Scam". Is this fair? Are these reviews truly unbiased? You need to know.

What is a scam? Webster's Dictionary says, "a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation." Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary describes it as "An illegal plan to make money." Wikipedia says it is a "Confidence trick", but that it may also refer to, "Seduction, the process of deliberately enticing a person into an act." According to the online Dictionary, a scam is, "A confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, esp. for making a quick profit; swindle."

Do any of these programs meet these descriptions for scam. No. There is no illegal plan to make money. There is no confidence game whose end is to swindle people from their money. I have never encountered any seductive activity. Does that mean it has never gone on? No. But it is not the common practice of these companies. All of these programs have real products that are sold. Are they worth what they sell for? You have to answer that. I don't believe many cars are worth their selling price, but evidently some do. I have problems with the outrageous food prices at some restaurants, but many people eat there. The marketplace sets the price. If people will pay the price, then it must have value to them. Who am I to say it is a scam just because I do not see the value in it.

Do these companies deliver on what they promise. Will you make the money they claim? Some do. I am a member of Carbon Copy Pro. Did I make that money with their system. No. Not yet anyway. But that was more my problem than theirs. I am a member of Never Ending Success. Did I get the software? Yes. Did I get the website. Yes. Did I make the money? I am in profit mode now and doing well. Will everyone? Probably not. But it certainly does not make the company a scam if I fail. I know several people who are members of EDC Gold. Some have made money; some did not. But, they received what they were promised. Not a scam. How about GRN, Cruise to Cash, Little Guy network? Each company delivers on its products and services. The opportunity is there.

Some would argue that if you don't get in at the beginning with these companies you can't make money. Does that make a business fraudulent? Well, I know people who went to work for Home Depot when it opened and today they are multi-millionaires. They received stock options that made them rich with the growth of the company. If you went to work for Home Depot today, would you have that same opportunity? Absolutely not.

And how about market saturation. Can the market become saturated? Yes. An area can be saturated with Chick-fil-a as well and become unprofitable.

These business are not scams. They may not be good investments for some. But they are for others. They deliver on the products but can not make people succeed who do not have the skill sets to succeed.

Can you achieve the success these business describe. Some do. Some don't. Again, I haven't. But I am working on my skills. I believe I can and I will continue till I do.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Jimmy Barry lives near Atlanta, GA and works for a non profit business that provides humanitarian needs in Africa. He has been marketing online since August 07. You can see his blog site http://www.georgiamarketers.com

How To Understand Website Hosting

By Sameep Shah

Whether you're a growing business planning on starting a website business or just a website programmer looking for a good hosting account, it’s a good idea to learn how web hosting works to ensure that your website launch goes smoothly.

There are many website hosting companies on the internet, and all of them offer a different list of services for different types of websites. Here are some of the common features that you'll see on most web hosts and how to decipher them.

Website Space

Website space is the actual location of where your website files and images reside. Your HTML web pages and even your web programming pages will be stored at this location. Some web hosts offer 100MB and others offer up to 10,000MB or more.

If your company's website only uses up five to seven pages then even 100mb might be too much space because almost all average web pages take up very little space.

If your website is content based and requires tons of images, text, articles, videos, then you should ensure that your host has more then 100mb of webspace. Many times though webspace will not be a major factor when searching for a webhost. Most hosts will provide you with a lot web space for the average website.

Bandwidth / Traffic / Monthly Transfer

Bandwidth is how much information can be transferred from your website.

Think of it this way. If you have 1 webpage which takes up 1mb and your monthly bandwidth limit is 100mb. This means that once 100 people visit your website, then your bandwidth limit will be maxed out. You will not have any bandwidth available until the next month. Most of the time though website hosts offer monthly bandwidth limits of 3,000 MB or 10,000 MB. Don't worry about bandwidth because 99 percent of your webpages won't take up 1mb.

Once you start generating thousands of visitors monthly and see your bandwidth increase then you may have to pay additional fee for that month for the extra bandwidth, and consider upgrading your hosting account. As with website space, bandwidth should not be an issue when searching for a webhost because most will provide you with adequate bandwidth for your website.

Website Programming Language

If you have features like Comments Form - to email comments directly from visitors to online email account, Newsletter Opt-in for your visitors, or any other dynamic features then you need to have support for a web programming language. There are several web programming languages. To find out which one you need for your website ask your website development team and find out. They might already know which programming language they plan on using for your website. Common Web Programming languages include PHP, Net and CFML.

Web Programming language will be a big factor when searching for a webhost because each firm will offer a different combination of support for web programming languages, so pick carefully.

Database

If your website needs to store visitor's email address, name and other important information, or keep a catalog of all your products then you will need to use a database. Some of the most common databases that are widely used include Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, and Access. Almost all hosting plans will provide support for at least one of these databases. As for web programming, you need to ask your website development team which database they plan to use.

Domain Hosting

Most of the time though a website hosting company will allow you to host one domain name such as a com, or net, but some website hosts support hosting for several website name. This is a great feature because this allows you to host multiple websites on one host, and manage everything from a convenient place. The downside is that you will have to share your website space, your bandwidth, and maybe even several other features with your other website. If your goal is to have more then one website then it's a good idea to find out exactly how many domains your web host allows on your account.

Email

Email should not be an issue when searching for a webhost. Many web hosting firms support some type of email account which allows you to have an email address with your website name: sales at yourwebsitename or something like that. Remember the amount of website space you use for your email may be limited to your overall website account, so if possible delete large and unwanted emails.

Customer Support

Support won't be a factor until it becomes one. This is why it’s a good idea to speak with a hosting staff and see how they respond. Great customer service will become a very important factor, and usually up to your website firm that will be working with them.

So how do you decide which webhost is right for you?

A good method is to first find out which of these website hosting is more important for you. If your website offers business training videos that takes up a lot of bandwidth then you should find a website host that can provide you a lot of bandwidth unless you'd rather wait until it turns into a bottleneck. Videos often take up hundreds if not thousand times more bandwidth then regular webpage and in this case your first priority during your search should be to ensure that your host includes adequate bandwidth. If you find a host that you like and if bandwidth does turn into an issue then make sure that the hosting firm allows the ability to upgrade your hosting services. Be prepared and make sure to find out the expenses for the upgraded plan.

Once you find a good host try hosting your website on a monthly basis instead of the long term discounted plans. Just like other companies, firms will offer lower price to motivate you to buy long term contracts. There's nothing wrong with having a long term contract, but it's not worth it if you decide you don't like this host, or if you find a better host.

If you're still not sure which host to sign up with then just ask your webmaster. They can recommend web hosts or offer to host your website with them. You will also see website hosts provide you with additional features such as ecommerce functionality, website statistics, easy to use control panel software such as Plesk, and other great features and software programs that can help you manage and create a great website.

Dedicated Server

If none of those plans sound right or if you plan on creating a gateway type website, with tons of content, images, videos, and if you want to be able to install your own custom software then there's another option for you, a dedicated server. With a dedicated server you can install your own software, support for your own choice of programming languages, and as the title suggests it is dedicated for your website or websites, depending on what you need. The cost is usually 8 to 10 times more then your average web host, but it allows you more control and provide you more ways to customize it. And if you plan on hosting dozens of websites then you should consider using a dedicated server.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

To find out more information visit Netlyte Houston Web Design. You can also request free information to find out how we can help you build your Website at Website Design Houston

Does Short Web Copy Outperform Long Copy?

By Karen Scharf

If you have been marketing - either on or offline - for any amount of time, you have probably encountered the long copy versus short copy argument. Many marketers argue that long copy pulls much better than short copy, whether in direct mail or on the internet.

But on the internet, attention spans are extremely fragile. Web surfers are looking for immediate gratification. Do they really want to stick around and read a gazillion word sales letter? Does long copy outperform short copy, even on the internet?

I have a suspicion that no, long copy doesn't always outpull shorter copy on the web. And so I developed the following experiment for a client:

My client offers an online quiz to their site visitors. Their web page had relatively long copy explaining the quiz and a registration form that asked for the visitor's name and email address.

After measuring the traffic, we discovered that approximately 20% of visitors landing on that page registered and took the quiz. Admittedly, that's a commendable conversion rate, but since this landing page was available to only highly targeted traffic, I had a feeling we could generate an even higher conversion.

So I tested a new page with shorter copy and the same registration form. On this new, short copy page, 37% of visitors registered and took the quiz.

I decided to take the test one step further. I removed the registration form from the short copy page and replaced it with a simple "click here to take the quiz" button. Almost 73% of visitors who landed on this page took the quiz.

So, short copy with no user barrier appeared to be the winner. But take a look at what happened next...

Since the test results seemed to prove that the less copy the better, I removed all but one sentence of the copy and kept the headline and the button. No registration form, no barriers, no bulky copy getting in the way.

But only 55% of the visitors who landed on this page took the quiz. While shorter copy pulled better, there really is the risk of not using enough copy.

So how can you apply these test results to your own website? I would definitely suggest that you begin by testing shorter copy. And remove as many user barriers as possible. If the purpose of your web page is lead generation, you may not want to remove the registration form. Or, you may want to come up with a creative work around.

Time to implement: Basically, forever. That's because you should never be done testing your website. Once you've done an A/B test, take the winner and test it against something else. And then test that winner. And so on. With that in mind, you can expect it to take 2-3 hours to set up each individual test (depending on the testing platform you are using).

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Karen Scharf is an Indianapolis marketing consultant who works with small business owners and entrepreneurs. She offers several whitepapers, free reports and checklists, including her FREE Can-Spam checklist and FREE email pre-flight checklist to ensure your emails get delivered, get opened and get read. Download your copies at www.ModernImage.com.

Which Is Best: Training Dreamweaver Personnel Or Contracting for Web Design?

By Rich Talbot

In today's business climate it is mandatory to have a company web presence. From a one-page brochure site for lone contractor to a sophisticated catalogue order application with hundreds of pages, you need to be online for customers to find you.

Some companies hire web design companies to create their site while others use internal personnel. Which is the better choice for your company?

Hiring a Web Design Contractor
Contracting with an outsourced web design firm makes the process simple. Many design firms also offer hosting or have agreements with third-party web hosts, removing one step in the process of getting a site up. Web design methods range from simple templates to completely custom-designed sites. Most projects fall somewhere between these two extremes, using methods from both.

Buying a template-designed site is quick and inexpensive. The customer chooses from one of several standard templates, provides the text to fill the pages, and is done. The down side to these kinds of sites is that they look just like every other site out there.

Custom designed sites are just that. Every page, every graphic, every Flash animation is built just for your company. You end up with a site that has a unique look and strengthens your brand, but you also end up with a substantial bill for the number of hours it takes to create such a site.

One significant drawback to using a third-party contractor is the lack of control. Once your site is up, you have to keep going back to the design firm to change it, often incurring substantial fees. Some changes you may be able to make yourself, but if you were trained in web design you wouldn't be hiring another firm.

Training Dreamweaver Personnel
It used to be that only the largest companies had dedicated web design employees because websites were difficult to create and required substantial training. Dreamweaver has made web design accessible even to non-technical people, making site creation no harder than writing a letter in Word or creating a presentation in PowerPoint.

Dreamweaver is easy to learn and most users can create simple sites very quickly. Despite its ease of use, the software has significant depth and a wide range of features that allow advanced web design projects. Training Dreamweaver users allows them to discover these advanced features, opening up advanced possibilities for site functionality.

Even small companies are seeing the advantage of homegrown websites. They have full access to their own site without needing to go through another firm. They can change content at will and see those changes reflected immediately.

Most companies find that the cost of training Dreamweaver users is less than hiring web design firms. In return they get internal experts and a website that can evolve and change as the business does.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Author is a trainer with a Microsoft Office training company, the UK industry leader in its sector. For more information on training-dreamweaver, please visit www.MicrosoftTraining.net

Direct Response Marketing: The Most Overlooked Aspect of Internet Marketing

By Diane de Silva

If you are not using the Internet to advertise your business, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to reach targeted customers. Internet marketing can include article marketing, pay-per-click ads, creating an opt-in list, e-mail autoresponders, classified ads and more. One often overlooked aspect of Internet marketing is direct response marketing.

What is Direct Response Marketing?

Direct response marketing is something we are all familiar with. Just turn on the TV late at night and you will see many infomercials. Direct response marketing requires a response from the potential client. Like the advertisers on the infomercials, you present your product, give people a reason to call (like offering a discount), and ask them to make the call.

Tips for Using Direct Response Marketing

* Make your ads unique. They should stand out from the crowd and make a lasting impression.

* Write captivating copy to elicit an emotional response from potential customers.

* Target your direct marketing campaign within an appropriate audience to ensure a high success rate.

* Show customers how they will benefit from calling you. What is in it for them? Spell it out and leave nothing to the imagination.

* Make it easy for your clients to take action. Provide links to more information, a checkout, etc. Offer an opt-in list to stay in touch with potential customers. You can also offer a toll free number for people who prefer to do business over the phone.

* Pique their curiosity. Give them crumbs of information that leave them wanting more.

* Avoid giving customers the hard sell. Invite people to buy things rather than trying to sell them something.

Encourage Customers to Take Action

The first step in Internet marketing is to educate potential clients within your niche. As you present your ideas to a targeted group of people, you must be able to provide background information, as well as specifics on your product or niche. The stronger Internet presence you can create for yourself, the better, because people will start to see you as a trusted source. Trust is a key factor for people making online purchases.

The other part of direct response marketing is enticing people to take the next step. It is your job as a marketer to give them every opportunity to contact you. Setting up an autoresponder e-mail program is one way to stay connected with potential clients without having to spend hours replying to e-mails personally. Your job is to help them make the decision to take action. Give them a reason to move forward and make the call or make their first purchase. Offer a limited time special or discounted price to encourage immediate action.

Lastly, you will want to follow up with customers to ensure total satisfaction. You can promote your product, make the sale, and then lose business down the line because of poor word of mouth advertising from an unhappy customer. Happy customers will return in the future and they will tell others about your company.

Give your customers a reason to spread good news about you and your products. Devise a direct response marketing campaign by targeting your audience, generating curiosity and giving them a call to action.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

free 28minute audio at my website which is at www.the-million-dollar-desire.com

Marketing Upsell: An Old Technique With A New Name

By James Copper

It's been around for as long as salespeople have but now it has a new name: upsell. It works on this principle. If someone has bought one thing from you it is fair to suppose they are open to buying something else from you right away. Think of buying a new car. No sooner have you committed to buy it then the salesperson is asking you about all the extras you are going to be wanting with it. Think of buying a Big Mac burger. No sooner do you order one then you are being asked if you want fries with that. If you accept these suggestions then according to the latest marketing jargon you have just been upsold.

From the salesperson's point of view what they are doing is selling you one item or service at one price and then upselling you to get you to buy the same thing but with lots of bells and whistles. Sometimes the add-ons will not be for the product or service itself but for a related product or service offered at a reduced price. Sometimes it will simply be the act of taking an order for one product and then persuading the buyer that it would really be much more economical and make more practical sense to buy a higher-priced item.

The benefits to the business owner of employing upsell techniques are obvious. There is more turnover with the same or similar effort on the part of the sales person. All it takes in suggestion based on information that the salesperson holds. It involves the salesperson have the courage and conviction to convince the buyer that it makes more sense to spend more. It is important that the buyer should think he is getting a better deal by purchasing a second item or an added-value version of the first product.

Among the marketing gurus upsell has come to have broader meanings too. It refers to repeat customers as well on the basis that if a customer has bought from you already and had a good experience and received good value for money, she will be willing to buy from you again. The ultimate upsell is, of course, the lifetime customer. The term upsell has also come to mean the kind of softening-up of the customer buying the first product leading on to higher-priced items later based on their satisfactory prior experience.

There are a lot of clever ways to upsell even on your website. For instance, on your order page you could include an alternative or additional offer. Be careful not to confuse the customer though! Perhaps the customer has the choice of purchasing a single item or purchasing more than one at a reduced price. The common denominator in all of this is that the customer must feel he is getting a better deal by spending more.

Online upsell can also occur when the customer has bought an item and get directed to the thank you page. Here you offer a second item, a newsletter subscription or sign up with an ongoing email course. If your customer subscribes then the opportunity is created for upselling in the form of upgrades, new products, etc.

Amazon has become the online leader in upselling. When you purchase an item at Amazon, other similar items are suggested on the basis that previous buyers bought these items in addition to the item already purchased. They also notify you when similar products are added to the Amazon database.

Upselling may be described as the art of sticking to your existing customers like a limpet and milking them for all they are worth, if you will excuse the mixed metaphor. It is an astonishing fact that around 60 percent of all buyers are open to being upsold at the time of purchase. An upselling strategy is forming part of marketing strategies as companies realize the beauties of this form of selling.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

James Copper is a writer for www.bigstrategies.co.uk

Latest Google Rules Hit Affiliates

By John Hartley

Google has changed its rules affecting Adwords advertising, as it does every so often. This time it is getting tough on the use of the display URLs for adverts. The display URL must match the actual destination URL exactly.

Where's the problem? Well, the easiest way to advertise as an affiliate is to link your advert directly to the merchant's page. You used to be able to do that so long as your URL was different from the merchant's URL, which you could do with a tinyurl redirect URL or a redirect page.

Generally, the merchant advertises using his own URL, so you can't use it. If he does not advertise, then you have a chance of using it. But to do so you will need to compete with a lot of other hot marketers. Why? Because Google only allows any URL to appear once in the adverts for any keyword.

Affiliates now need their own websites

This means that affiliates will be obliged to have their own websites, and to do well, each website will need to have the keyword in it somewhere. This will make it very difficult for people who market hundreds of products, purely through direct-link advertising.

There is really no choice but to have a web page of some sort for each product. Again, to do well, that page will need to be rated highly by Google, otherwise you will pay a lot for your adverts. The solution is to market several products in one niche, and use a domain name that matches the niche.

In other words, your landing page, which is where you send the prospects from the advert, will need to have plenty of text about the thing you are selling. If you selling a dog training guide, the page will need to be about dog training.

Will redirect pages work?

One sneaky way around it is to use a redirect page, which has some JavaScript code in the head which redirects people to the merchant's page. To pass the test of relevance, that page will also need to have at least 300 words of keyword-rich text about the product you are selling, or that market.

Search engines do not read JavaScript when ranking web pages, but there is nothing to stop Google setting up robots for Adwords that do read JavaScript, or at least flag a problem, and rate the page badly so you end up paying more. This is a possibility. Some people suggest that you will get banned. I'm a bit doubtful myself because Google makes nearly all its money from Adwords adverts, and wants to keep it that way. But it is probably not worth risking.

Is this big business vs the small guy?

Some folk think that this is the big corporations ganging up to push the small man out. Well, it might be, and it will not help the small operator, because it is much easier for a multi-million dollar company to set up plenty of landing pages for products than it is for a small guy.

It looks to me as if Adwords advertisers are getting the same bullet that Adsense publishers got a couple of years ago, and guess what? The solution is the same. Make sure that you do send the prospect to a landing page that is relevant to your advert, and provide a way for him or her to sign up for your list at the same time.

That way, you will be turning a problem into an opportunity, and that is the secret of success in business.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

For FREE reports and the latest reviews of affiliate marketing products and services go to www.reallyusefulmarketing.com - which is run by John Hartley.

Take Your Photography Expertise To The Internet And Rake In The Big Bucks

By Sen Ze

Photography is a hobby that is loved by many, but very few people actually turn to it as a full-time career, as it is often considered to be a hard field in which to become successful. But much like any other path you take in life, if you're willing to work hard to make it work and you're willing to take the necessary steps to ensure your triumph, you can't go wrong.

And when it comes to photography, one of the very necessary steps you should take is to give your business an online presence. With so many advancements in recent technology, people are going online for almost everything these days - and photography is no exception.

In fact, as a photographer, you stand the most to gain from the progression of the Internet! Never before has it been so easy to share your photos with millions of people around the world - and with something as simple as starting your own domain and blog on photography, you can greatly boost your financial and career prospects!

1. Share, Comment And Learn
One of the most important benefits you will gain with your own domain and blog is the chance to share your photographs with the rest of world in an easy and effective manner that you simply cannot do any other way. You literally reach out to millions of people - a big jump from being able only to share them with your friends, family and peers.

And by sharing your photos with people, you also have the chance for them to comment and give their views, much like they would comment on a blog post. By creating a network of like-minded individuals who visit your blog to see your photographs (and you visit theirs too, of course), you can hone and perfect your skill based on their input.

2. Make Money Selling Photos
Of course, you also want to make money, and that is another big aspect of getting yourself a website. By displaying smaller sized (and watermarked, for added security) photos on your website, you can give people the opportunity to purchase high-quality images that they like simply by setting up a shopping cart and merchant credit account. Thus, your visitors can buy directly from you using their credit cards, and you can make money in your sleep!

3. Make Money Selling Your Expertise
Another way for you to make money is to sell your expertise in photography. After many years in the business and with a lot of experience under your belt, you will no doubt have many jewels of knowledge to share with other budding photographers. With your own domain, you have the opportunity to turn this knowledge into cash, and here are two easy ways to do it.

Firstly, you can sell information via e-mail. In return for a monthly membership fee (to join your mailing list), you can send weekly or daily e-mails to your customers outlining photography tips and tricks that you have picked up. This is a useful way of earning recurring income for a minimal amount of work, since your e-mails can be pre-written and stored to be sent out automatically.

Another way to sell your information is to write short electronic books (in PDF format, for example, as you save a lot of money on printing and distribution) that cover a certain aspect of photography that you are an expert in. Since people who visit your website are clearly interested in photography, they are the best prospects for you to market your book to, again saving you money on marketing and advertising costs!

4. Build A Reputation
In any business, the more people that know you, the better it will be for your career. Photography is certainly no different, and one of the best ways to get people to notice you is to get a domain that is your own name. Thus, anyone that visits your website will know who you are and all about your expertise in photography. Over time, this prominence on the Internet will turn into greater opportunities in the physical world.

As you can see from the benefits above, turning to the Internet is an indispensable option for all photographers. Most importantly, however, since budding photographers often don't make much money, it is important to note that getting a domain and blog is incredibly easy and cheap to start up and maintain.

With so many benefits at such a small price, it's no wonder that many photographers have already turned to the Internet. Isn't it about time that you, too, jump on the bandwagon?

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Sen Ze and his 1-of-a-kind sites at www.SenZe.com (where else?) and www.SOLOBIS.com help you make money online in ways you've never known. Discover how to make money with your hobby within days, starting with a dotcom version of your name!

How To Sell Well On Ebay

By Abhishek Abrol

Being a seller is a lot of responsibility, and sometimes you might feel like you are not doing everything you should be. This simple checklist will help you keep on top of things.

Have you found out everything you possibly could about your items? Try typing their names into a search engine – you might find out something you did not know. If someone else is selling the same thing as you, then always try to provide more information about it than they do.

Do you monitor the competition? Always keep an eye on how much other items the same as or similar to yours are selling, and what prices they are being offered at. There is usually little point in starting a fixed price auction for $100 when someone else is selling the item for $90.

Have you got pictures of the items? It is worth taking the time to photograph your items, especially if you have a digital camera. If you get serious about eBay but do not have a camera, then you will probably want to invest in one at some point.

Are you emailing your buyers? It is worth sending a brief email when transactions go through: something like a simple “Thank you for buying my item, please let me know when you have sent the payment.” Follow this up with “Thanks for your payment, I have posted your [item name] today.” You will be surprised how many problems you will avoid just by communicating this way.

Also, are you checking your emails? Remember that potential buyers can send you email about anything at any time, and not answering these emails will just make them go somewhere else instead of buying from you.

Do your item description pages have everything that buyers need to know? If you are planning to offer international delivery, then it is good to make a list of the charges to different countries and display it on each auction. If you have any special terms and conditions (for example, if you will give a refund on any item as long as it has not been opened), then you should make sure these are displayed too.

Have you been wrapping your items correctly? Your wrapping should be professional for the best impression: use appropriately sized envelopes or parcels, wrap the item in bubble wrap to stop it from getting damaged, and print labels instead of hand-writing addresses. Oh, and always use first class post – do not be cheap.

Do you follow up? It is worth sending out an email a few days after you post an item, saying “Is everything alright with your purchase? I hope you received it and it was as you expected.” This might sound like giving the customer an opportunity to complain, but you should be trying to help your customers, not take their money and run.

Being a really good eBay seller, more than anything else, is about providing genuinely good and honest customer service. That is the only foolproof way to protect your reputation.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Did you find this article useful? For more useful tips, hints, points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques, and insights pertaining to guides on a wide variety of subjects, do please browse for more information at our websites. www.infozabout.com www.copywriting.infozabout.com

Three Major Mistakes By New Online Business Entrants

By Rami Doleh

People who are starting their journey to establish their own online business, usually commit fatal mistakes that will result in the usual disappointments that we often see in this marketplace.

In this article we will list the usual mistakes committed by new entrants into the online business marketplace hoping that we will be able to help them avoid such mistakes from the very beginning.

Mistake No. 1: New entrants, or as the market calls them "newbies," usually start with excessive energy and the first thing they do is to search for online opportunities. This is the first huge mistake.

Mistake No. 2: A huge percentage of the opportunities that will come out of the search conducted in Mistake No. 1 are affiliate opportunities. A newbie would become more excited here after reading the hyped up sales letters that he/she is getting. Eventually the newbie will do the inevitable and take out the credit card to join one of those opportunities that promise income in no time. Even if the idea was legit and in many cases it will be, the prospect still does not know anything about online business, let alone affiliate marketing.

Mistake No. 3: After few days the newbie will discover that the opportunity that he/she joined is not making any money, so now it’s time to quit and search for something else. The newbie does not know that the problem is not really in the affiliate opportunity. Actually the newbie most probably still does not know that he/she is involved in affiliate marketing. After few trials with different affiliate opportunities the newbie realizes that this online business thing is crap and waste of time and money.

The above three mistakes can very easily be joined into one. The huge mistake that is conducted here is getting into online business head first without knowing anything about it.

The first step in anything in life is learning. Before thinking of establishing an online business, a newbie needs to know the following:

1. What is online business and its different models?
2. What is online marketing and how does it differ from one model to another?
3. What are the different tools of online marketing?

These three questions are not easy to answer and online gurus have written a lost of e-books and articles trying to answer one or more of those questions. A newbie needs to search and read as much as possible about the above three issues so that he/she can create a personal opinion and then a decision.

The main resources a newbie should concentrate on to gather such information are the free resources. Don't go on buying e-books at the beginning, there is a lot of free information on the net. After you have exhausted this aspect you will have better knowledge to be able to decide which material to buy and which to avoid.

What are those free resources?:

1. Articles Directories
2. Blogs
3. Forums

After getting the appropriate knowledge a newbie is able to do, take the following decisions consciously:

1. Which online business model he/she going to adopt.
2. Which marketing strategy and tools he/she is going to use.

This means if the newbie is going to search for affiliate opportunities, he/she is going to do it consciously knowing exactly what to look for.

In this article we have followed the steps approach, which means get the knowledge first and then have the business. We admit that there is another approach which is learning by doing. This means getting involved in a business and then applying what you learn to that business. This is a good approach only if you know which online business model you want to adopt.

Affiliate opportunities have started creating training resources and courses to enable their affiliates do a better job marketing their products and services.

The problem that I find here is that only a few affiliate opportunities have constructed a structured training that would train affiliates with zero background on the ins and outs of affiliate marketing. The majority have opted on collecting e-books and other resources and put them in one place for their members to read.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Rami Doleh has dedicated all available resources to put people on the right track and help them establish their affiliate business. For more information and to find how to contact Rami for any questions visit Affiliate Opportunities

Strategies for Effective Forum Marketing

By Steve Albright

Internet forums are great tools to take advantage when you are in the process of starting your internet marketing business. Web forums allow people to communicate with each other by way of starting and commenting on various topics. Forums can range from a random collection of people with no real besides mindless entertainment to highly specific forums dealing with medical issues, hobbies, or other common interests.

As an internet marketer you should be taking advantage of these websites for several reasons. First off, they are an excellent source of traffic for your website. Obviously you want to post and become a member of a community that is interested in your website’s topic.

Further, a forum can be an amazing place to conduct market research in. For instance you can make a post in a gamers forum asking the members to rate which game strategy book they would most want to read about. This way you can get ideas about which trends are popular and where the money is going to be.

Forums can also be approached from an opposite standpoint in terms of building up your business. You want to join internet marketing forums because they are a great resource for getting answers to any technical questions you may have or just to get advice on general strategies.

Also, while interacting with the members you may find ideal joint venture partners and use these new business contacts to increase your revenue. Overall, forums can be a great place to build relationships that can result in great cross promotional ideas.

Another benefit of forum marketing is through traffic generation and back links. Most forums allow you to place a link to your website in your resource box. That means every time you post or comment, your link will be visible to all who read that discussion. This is an excellent method for driving traffic back to your site.

There are tons of possibilities for your business if you effectively take advantage of various forums. Although there are several important things to keep in mind when you venture out onto new forums. You want to be courteous and respectful of the members and you should strive to be a positive addition to any new forums.

If you expect to storm a new forum wildly by posting your affiliate links everywhere you will only make a fool of yourself and will definitely not make any money. You will quickly be labeled as a spammer by the moderators and active members, and then your posts and comments will go ignored if not simply get you banned from the forum. It's important to not burn these resources by acting inappropriately.

Yet if you are a quality poster and bring relevant and fresh information to ongoing forum topics you will prove your worth to that community. And when the time is appropriate you can make subtle recommendations for products that you sell or are an affiliate for. So if done effectively and cautiously, forum marketing can be a remarkable strategy for any internet marketer.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

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Internet Marketing for Small Businesses

By Steve Albright

A small business owner faces many challenges and headaches running the day to day operations of their company. This includes everything from managing employees, tracking finances, developing advertising strategies, and tons more.

However many small business owners are not taking advantage of one of the greatest advertising resources at their disposal. This refusal to modernize and take their business to the internet is having drastic effects on their profits.

Despite countless research studies proving the effectiveness of online marketing, it has mostly been larger firms who are taking advantage of internet marketing.

The internet offers some amazing and practical advantages for small business owners. In fact the need for internet marketing experts has skyrocketed creating a new industry of SEO, Web Design, and Marketing specialists.

However one of the best things about internet marketing is that you do not need a team of specialists to successfully market your business online. Once you learn the basics of internet advertising you are in a much better position to help yourself than anyone else simply because you know your business from top to bottom.

This means that you know your customer profile and can effectively market your products based on their search patterns and consumer needs. The beauty of internet marketing is that you effectively choose who sees your ads based on the search phrases they type into Google, Yahoo, or MSN.

Here is an example of how internet marketing is superior to standard advertising methods. Lets say you have a pool cleaning business and you take out billboard space at a busy intersection to advertise your services.

This is a perfect example of untargeted adverting which is wasteful and not effective. At best lets say that if 1 out of 1,000 people who have a pool sees that sign, you can expect less than 5 percent of those to remember your business name and follow through booking an appointment.

The more intelligent way of advertising would be through internet marketing. You write out a short two sentence ad for your businesses website and bid on relevant keywords. In this example you would want your ad to show up for search phrases like "Pool Cleaners in Chicago," obviously you would customize it where your business is based.

Now as opposed to traditional advertising, with internet marketing you have two incredible advantages. First off, one hundred percent of the people that see your ads are in the market for your services. Second you only pay when someone clicks on your ad which greatly maximizes your ad cost to sales ratio. As you can see if you are not using internet marketing as a part of your small business marketing strategy, not only are you wasting money but you are also missing out on thousands of targeted customers.

Further you can always increase your conversions by improving your advertising text. Another benefit to using internet marketing over traditional methods is that this can be done without wasting money. All you have to do is edit your ad and resubmit it, a half hour process, something that can not be done with a billboard or magazine advertisement.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

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Online Advertising Strategies for Publicity and Profit

By Paul Turner

If there's one constant in the business world, it's advertising, and regardless of how technology and communication change, advertising always adapts and grows into new and diverse markets. Decades ago, the best advertising you could buy was in newspapers and other large publications. While print media is still one of the best places to advertise your business or product, online advertising is quickly becoming the preferred method of getting the word out cheaply and effectively.

Relatively cheaply, of course. Depending on your budget and niche, you can put together a very effective advertising campaign on the Internet that could cost you twice as much and have the same reach in print media. Technology, web design, and blogging niches are perfect to advertise online, as you could probably guess, while other more traditional niches might be better advertised in more traditional media.

When looking to put together an online advertising campaign, take the time to do some quality research on what the best websites and niches would be to advertise your product. Advertising a new DVD player on a knitting website would lead to few sales, even if you bought the most visible banner on the site. Use search engines to find the most visited websites in your niche, and contact the webmaster for information on daily visits, ad pricing, and the possibilities of discounts for larger package orders.

Like any other project, you should keep track of how your online advertising performs on each website and don't be afraid to change an ad or do away with it entirely if it isn't bringing you enough traffic or sales. You know what your conversion rate needs to be in order to justify the amount you are paying per click or per month on a certain site, and if an ad is under performing then it is time to go with another option.

Above all, though, continue testing your different online advertising campaigns and making adjustments and tweaks where necessary. Look at your advertising campaign as a long-term investment, and realize that, like any investment, you might not see returns for quite a while. While using online advertising to create branding for your project or product, a good deal of patience is in order. If something doesn't work, examine it from every angle before tweaking your advertising campaign in ways that might perform better.

Remember, building a successful online business or website is all about two things: patience and persistence. You need to be patient to test your advertising, and persistent in working hard to build fresh content, make a profit, and purchase the most effective online advertising available.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Advertising Blogger focuses on online advertising options from across the Web. Be sure to check out our sister site about free stuff, you'll love it!

Are You Losing Customers Because They Don’t Trust You?

By Joan Masterson

If you are running any kind of business online, it is vital to build rapport with your customers and prospects if you are to achieve even a modicum of success. Having a solid relationship with your prospects is important because at the end of the day it could mean the difference between making or losing a sale.

Think about it, if you were given the choice of having to dine at a friend's restaurant or at the restaurant of a total stranger, which would you choose? The obvious choice here would be the friend's place because you feel comfortable there and the people know you. The same goes for your prospects. If you and a competitor offer the same product or service, who you think they will choose? Once again the obvious answer here is the person that they feel most at home with.

One of the best ways to build a special relationship with your prospect is by using an autoresponder to send them regular mailings and keeping in touch with them that way. Don't overdo the mailings though or you will alienate your prospects. You should send them emails with valuable hints and tips on how they might do something better and not always just to push products for sale.

A good way to make a friend out of a prospect is to address their needs and concerns. Ask them what you can do to help make their lives better. You could also send them free gifts from time to time. We all like getting things for free especially if it is regarded as valuable.

Your emails should be personal. Address them by name and talk to them like you would talk to a friend. This will enable your prospects to relate to you on a more personal level.

Send them educational advice from time to time. You need to establish yourself as an authority on your subject. That way your prospect will trust you if you recommend a product.

Another good way to build a relationship with your prospect is to build an e-course around your product or service and to let them subscribe to it via an autoresponder. You could set it up to send messages out daily, weekly or two-weekly. Autoresponders are the lifeblood of any Internet Marketing business these days.

If you don't have an autoresponder, you should definitely look into using a professional autoresponder service. It will make your life so much easier to build your customer base on autopilot and will free up your time to do other things that are important to your business.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

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