When it comes to search engine optimization strategy, there are basically two camps ? those who view search engines as adversaries to be conquered at any cost and those who regard search engines as partners in their online marketing efforts. Long-time readers of my articles probably already have a good idea of which camp I fall into; however, I believe both approaches can be effective optimization methods.

Adversarial Optimization Methods

Service providers who have this "adversarial" philosophy will tell their prospects that the formulation of a search engine optimization strategy is much like a high-stakes game of chess. It’s an "us vs. them," "winner-take-all," and "every man for himself" mentality. It’s also rooted largely in technology ? under this philosophy, success is defined as unraveling the latest search engine algorithm to find new optimization methods and exploiting its technical aspects for immediate benefit.

The underlying premise of this search engine optimization strategy is that you must use optimization methods that trick the search engines into showing a website predominantly in the results since the site isn’t currently offering attributes that the search engines consider valuable. The primary benefits of this approach are that it doesn’t require much work on the part of the client and that results can be realized more rapidly. These qualities both stem from the fact that there isn’t a large amount of additional content needed, nor are there many wholesale changes to make to the website when using such optimization methods.

continue reading.....

If you’re new to Internet Business, this might be hard to absorb. "Me? Giving away for free? I’m in business, not charity!" I heard you. That thought came across my mind once. Let me tell you the wonders of giving something away for free.

Let’s face it ? shoppers on the web love getting something for nothing. So don’t disappoint them. Give them what they want. Still don’t see the point? Alright.

The benefit of giving something away for free is that you can use the e-mail addresses you receive with entries for future mailings such as newsletters and follow-ups related to your products and services.

Secondly, giving something away for free allows you to prove your worth. Sharing your expertise freely in your newsletters and offering people to try out your services for free would keep your prospects away from sitting on the fence or feeling indecisive about contracting with you.

continue reading.....

Tips To Boost Traffic, Increase Website Visibility, And Let The World Know You Exist
 by: Paul Wilson

Directories help locate websites within specific or definite categories. The difference between search engines and directories is that, directories feature only vetted websites, sites that have a certain standard and contain information of substance.

One of the aims of using directories is to boost traffic. To achieve this, one must choose to be featured in large, organized directories like Yahoo, DMOZ, and LookSmart. These will drive highly targeted traffic to you site (subject specific), increase significantly the link popularity, and Google PageRank.

To maximize exposure:

• Find a category that is most relevant to your website. The category and subcategories must totally fit the subject of your site and its purpose. For example, if your site is health related business the site must feature under health and not business. Only then, will surfers seeking health related websites access yours. Do a keyword search that is relevant to your site on the directory. The directory will throw up categories relevant to the key words. Choose one which is suited in all aspects.

continue reading.....

If you want to make money online with a work from home business then you are going to need lots of good targeted traffic to your web site and or affiliate links. One way to get good targeted traffic is to pay for it. I know you were hoping to do this business of yours without spending a dime right? Well if that’s what you are thinking you better keep working for someone else and forget about working from home with your own internet business.

I have been paying for traffic ever since I started my online business over 4 years ago and one of the best sources of targeted traffic is through pay per click search engines (PPC) or pay for placement search alternatives like Google adwords or Yahoo Sponsor Listings, formerly Overture.com.

Google adwords and Yahoo Sponsor Listings are the kings of pay per placement search engines. They are also the most expensive but you will get the most targeted traffic from them. If you cannot get a free listing in the top 10 on their main search results under the sponsored listings then you may want to consider pay per placement. Sponsored listings usually appear at the top above regular listings on Yahoo, and down the right side of the page at Google.

continue reading.....

The world has seen the emergence of a new style of journalism, based on a ‘raw feed’ directly from the source. And the common notion that surrounds the emergence of serving ‘raw feed’ is that the journalists testing the new waters are bound to wreak havoc on institutionalized media.

Also a popular notion is that Weblogs changes the nature of ‘news’ is in the migration of information from the personal to the public. Unquestionable, a blog is a medium that gives maximum exposure to one’s creativity. Just by hitting the ‘post’ button and any personal writing becomes published writing.

Weblogging is driving a powerful new form of amateur journalism. Today, millions of Net users - young people especially - have taken up the role of columnist, reporter, analyst and publisher while fashioning their own personal broadcasting networks.

For the inexperienced, a blog consists of a running commentary with pointers to other sites. Some, like Librarian.net, Jim Romenesko’s Media News or Steve Outing’s E-Media Tidbits, cover entire industries by providing quick bursts of news with links to full stories.

Journalism and blogging together is becoming popular day by day, more than any other form of blogging. Following reasons are considered to extensively contribute to its increasing popularity:

continue reading.....

Ok, so over the past month or so I’ve been collecting various search engine optimization questions from all of you. Today, I’m going to answer what was the most frequently asked question over the past month.

You guessed it… What is the Google Sandbox Theory and how do I escape it? When you finish reading this lesson, you’ll be an expert on the good ‘ole Google Sandbox Theory and you’ll know how to combat its effects. So, pay close attention. This is some very important stuff.

Before I start explaining what the Google Sandbox theory is, let me make a few things clear:

The Google Sandbox theory is just that, a theory, and is without official confirmations from Google or the benefit of years of observation.

The Google Sandbox theory has been floating around since summer 2004, and has only really gained steam after February 4, 2005 , after a major Google index update (something known as the old Google dance).

Without being able to verify the existence of a Sandbox, much less its features, it becomes very hard to devise strategies to combat its effects.

continue reading.....

Potential niche products exist all around us, but how do you decide which ones are likely to be worth pursuing?

Here’s a quick method that will give you a pretty good indication without having to spend large amounts of time and money on the task.

Step One:

This is a fairly obvious step - find out if other marketers are spending advertising dollars in that niche. If they are, you can be pretty certain that it’s a profitable niche.

Why?

Because savvy marketers “don’t” spend money on advertising that doesn’t show a profit.

You can check this out quickly on “Pay Per Click” search engines like Overture and 7search where advertisers pay each time someone clicks on their listing.

Let’s check out an example.

For demo purposes I’m going to search on the keyword “snoring” because I have a project in progress on the subject of “how to stop snoring without surgery”.

continue reading.....

The Web’s Press Releases Paradox
 by: Daniel Borel

Search Engines love text, the more the better, they do not really prize images. People do not read anymore, the less the better, they favor images. Leave the fancy writing alone! So what?

On one side, a great number of press releases services ask for articles that count at least several hundred words, meaning several thousand of signs. On the other side, Google Adwords allow ninety-five signs to summarize one’s whole purpose.

What is the solution?

Just read press releases, they give you the answer.

First of all, a spectacular title with a maximum of ten words preferably easy-money or instantaneous-success or secrets-for-richness or income-without-work oriented…

Then a compelling first paragraph that depicts a first-class ticket to success with no struggles, no risks, no failures. Just to make the reader go on, dream on.

Finally the bulk of the press release. Frequently the most entertaining part of numerous press releases. The author begins with a speech about himself, his believes - some more words gained with the development of the personal reasons behind these believes - his (preferably famous) colleague’s opinion. But this is often not enough to reach the required number if words. This is the time for the fairy tale about Old Uncle Willy who was a baker but nevertheless had real good insight into

continue reading.....

When we speak about viral marketing, we are not talking about the newest disease. We are not talking about a Mad Cow Disease variant or something that you need to be vaccinated for. In fact, we are not referring to a disease at all.

What we are talking about is literally the most powerful traffic generation technique available on the internet. Viral marketing is so powerful that it makes the search engines look small and insignificant in comparison. Even link exchanges, as powerful as they can be, wilt into oblivion in comparison.

What you do with viral marketing is create something, anything, that visitors will want to give to other people. This thing, whatever it is, contains a link and perhaps a short advertisement for your website, ezine or ebook. So far so good, this is just good marketing. The viral part comes in because the people who receive these items want to give them to other people, who in turn want to give them away also.

So you see? What you get is an explosion of marketing for a very small price. It’s actually kind of like an avalanche, in that you throw a snowball down a slope and it just grows and grows until the whole mountain of ice and snow is tumbling down.

continue reading.....

There are thousands of marketing tool kits available online for a whole range of prices, but what if you are not interested in buying someone else’s tool kit and are more interested in creating your own internet marketing product and toolkit to sell. Well, there are plenty of ways to going about doing this.

First, you should have considerable information that you can easily compile into a toolkit or e-book to sell. Whatever information you are including in your marketing product, make sure it is viable and relative information your customers can use and will find practical. Providing this information will carry you a long way when it comes to customer reviews and recommendations of your product. Make sure any information that is not yours is documented properly and that you have permission to use it. When you start compiling the information, make sure it looks professional.

Also, be sure the information is easy to read and understand. Bullet points, lists and step by step guides are very helpful for individuals interested in learning how to market a product. Edit your e-book or toolkit several times as well as have another set of eyes read over it to make sure it is clear, concise, and understandable. The last thing you want is to provide confusing information and receive hundreds of emails that you don’t have time to response to. Do it right the first time and you will receive more customers, positive reviews and constant cash flow.

continue reading.....