Building Mailing Lists, List Building, Social Media, Niche Marketing

Here is an interesting article written by Titus Hoskins that I personally have seen some of the effects of. If you do ANY internet marketing at all, I feel that this is a MUST READ ……..

Next year may just prove to be one of the most challenging times for pursuing online or Internet marketing on the web. It may just be a watershed moment for many marketers struggling to keep abreast of all the different factors which have come into play in recent months. Most of these changes will stem from two main sources for potential upheaval: the first being the New FTC (Federal Trade Commission) Guidelines regarding Testimonials and Endorsements and the second being “ALL” the recent changes within Google.

Actually, we already have the new FTC Guidelines which came into effect on Dec. 1st of 2009, but how these new rules are enforced will play out in the coming year as test-cases are brought to court. Basically, these new rules call for absolute disclosure and full transparency regarding Testimonials and Endorsements when a product or service is being offered for sale. Any business (monetary) relationship between the endorser and the company must be made known to the potential buyer. Obviously for those in online or affiliate marketing this could have a great impact if these new rules are strictly enforced. Just imagine all the website owners and bloggers who slap a few banners or affiliate links on their sites to cover hosting or operating costs… will they now have to disclose all these business arrangements?

For professional affiliate marketers and the companies/products they’re promoting, these new guidelines could cause potential headaches and/or legal ramifications since a general blanket disclaimer on their sites will no longer be suffice. To help solve this problem, many of the major companies are now placing an “affiliate” tag on all their banners and making it obvious a business relationship exists with its affiliates. In addition, many online marketers are placing additional disclaimers, affiliate seals and in other ways making it known certain links are indeed affiliate links and a relationship does exist with the product and/or services being promoted.

With these new guidelines, another big issue is email marketing, one of the major marketing techniques of most online marketers. Will a full disclosure be necessary for every email sales pitch? Savvy web marketers know the key to increased sales is in the “follow-up” and the “cookie-ing” of potential buyers; how will the new Guidelines affect this very effective marketing practice? How all these new rules or guidelines play out will make next year a very interesting one for marketing on the web.

Despite this, perhaps the greatest cause for upheaval in the coming year will be Google. There are countless reasons why Google will be a major game changer in 2010 for online marketing. Ever since Bing and more recently the potential Bing/Yahoo competition, Google has gone into complete overdrive, implementing new changes and debuting new programs like there was no tomorrow.

First, we have Google Caffeine which Google is introducing (full force) early in the new year. Google Caffeine, which is a major overhaul of its search engine, will no doubt cause many a marketer some sleepless nights as the total fall-out becomes evident. Other Google updates in the past (Florida Update comes readily to mind) have wreaked havoc on many top ranking sites, but this time Google is doing things a little differently and have even given webmasters a beta version of the new search engine. Still, rightly or wrongly, many online marketers are bracing themselves for the full impact of Caffeine. Will it mean smooth sailing or a stomach sickening roller-coaster ride for marketers and webmasters?

Second, we have the introduction of “Real Time” search which will be featured in Google’s SERPs. This will make the social media sites like Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace… much more important. Again, the implications for online marketers could be enormous since many can now reach the first page through a different route. Will it also mean more “Real Time” spam? But more importantly, will it mean a greater marketing opportunity for the online marketer who exploits it?

Third, we are seeing Google moving more and more towards “Visual Search” with the introduction of Google Goggles for mobile phones. Just take a picture and you get the Google results instantly – no typing, just point and click. Just envision countless clueless teenagers or more importantly helpless shoppers suddenly being empowered with knowledge and wisdom. Could do more for education since the invention of the printed word and the info-commercial combined. Talk about scary! But will the implications for web marketing be just as revolutionary and enlightening?

Fourth, Google has made it known through its spokesperson Matt Cutts, that site-loading times will be a ranking factor in the new improved Google. Also, proper and correct page coding will also be more important if you want your site to be at full advantage. Broken links will be a big “No-No”, while linking out to important related sites a big plus. All this is only logical, Google’s main product is and has always been its search results, anything which improves those results and provides a more pleasing experience for the Google user should be front and center. Obviously, one way for Google to stay on top, is to provide the best search results to its users.

Fifth, in order to please the end-user, Google is also moving more towards “Personalized Search” which will make SEO and ranking in the top spot for your chosen keywords a total nightmare for many professional SEOs and online marketers. If everyone can choose their own top results, isn’t SEO more or less, a lame duck? Again, the ramifications of personalized search will further play out in 2010, but will professional marketers like what they see?

Finally, while no one would argue Google is King of the Hill when it comes to online search, will all these new changes strengthen or weaken Google’s grip? Will the combined Bing/Yahoo be able to give this giant some much needed competition? Or will Google’s main competition come from an unlikely source, such as big name multi-national corporations who are moving their operations online. Can these big-name keyworded domains start directly pulling in the majority of the web’s traffic, making all search engines secondary? As people become more web savvy, will they go directly to what they’re looking for on the web, bypassing the search engines altogether – including the mighty Google? Such a scenario could have greater consequences for the affiliate marketer since a direct line to a company’s site or product will obviously mean less sales for the online marketer, who really works in coordination with the search engines, either through organic search or PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising in these same search engines.

Overall, the new FTC Guidelines and recent changes to Google, will make next year one of the most interesting times to be pitching anything online. Throw into this the full effect that a combined Bing/Yahoo might bring to the table, and you have the recipe for a tumultuous white knuckle ride, until the dust finally settles and marketers make adjustments like they always do. Until then, hold on because things will probably get a little hectic for many web marketers before we see the light at the end of the tunnel.

About The Author
Titus Hoskins is a full time online affiliate marketer. His livelihood is derived from & dependent upon search engine marketing & daily monitoring of targeted keywords, mainly within Google. He runs numerous sites, including: Free Marketing Tools & Internet Marketing Tools
Titus Hoskins Copyright 2009. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

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How many programs are you using to keep your business up and running AND moving forward? Are you doing email marketing and/or using shopping carts? Are you running your business using several programs, and keeping contact using whatever email software you might happen to have?

Does this sound familiar … You need email marketing, so you purchase aWeber, Constant Contact or Vertical Response. Then you realize that your site needs a shopping cart so you signup with 1shoppingcart or Volusion, and so on and so forth till you’re spending ALL your time just getting everything to work together properly. Now each of these “solutions” are suppose to make your life easier, help your business and you make more money, and they do to some extent. But in most cases, these “solutions” that you string together end up costing you time, lost profits, and not to mention usually headaches.

What is Infusionsoft?

Infusionsoft is the only small business web-based software solution that combines email marketing, contact management (CRM), and eCommerce into one system. But the real magic is in their automatic follow-up engine, because it finally makes it easy for entrepreneurs to achieve amazing follow-up. When this happens, more prospects become customers… and sales explode. Infusionsoft also guarantees to double your sales!

Infusionsoft helps you:

• Automatically capture traffic on your website and turn it into sales
• Follow up with every single lead without fail to ensure you don’t waste your advertising dollars
• Automate your workflow so you and your employees can do a lot more in less time
• Track where every single lead and customer comes from and report on conversion rates and ROI (so you can make informed decisions about how much you spend on marketing and where)
• Send targeted marketing campaigns using email, direct mail, automated fax and voice broadcast
• And so much more!

 
View a comparision chart between Infusionsoft and the competition.

> If you’d like more information on Infusionsoft, go here

      > Signup now at Infusionsoft for the free 15 day trial! 

Free eBook from Infusionsoft: 9 Proven Techniques to Double Sales

Infusionsoft software is written only in English.

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Can my site rank better with a keyword-rich domain name? Sure.

Can my site rank better without a keyword in the domain name at all? Absolutely.

I get questions (or assumptions) like this regularly. Actually, there are many other things going on behind the scenes that impact rank, and the domain name is rarely a significant factor.

Let’s say your website has been out there for 6 months or more and you assume, for whatever reason, that you can get a higher search engine ranking if you were using a keyword in your domain name instead of the one you have. In addition to your company web domain, maindomain.com, you rush to purchase keyword1.com, keyword2.com and keyword3.com.

From Google’s perspective, there is both a good way and a detrimental way to assign these additional domain names to your site. This can cause a much greater problem in terms of organic ranking if you get it wrong in terms of duplicate content and trust. Have you ever heard of duplicate content? Which domain name does Google have more history and trust with, your current domain name or one you just bought?

Common methods webmasters use to point multiple domain names to your web server include:

• Domain Mirroring/Masking
• Domain Cloaking
• Domain Alias/URL Alias
• Domain Redirecting

Domain mirroring/masking is sometimes called a pointer domain. It looks like it is the domain name when it is used in a browser, but it is simply a mask overlaying the real domain name and its content. When someone types in www.domain.com, it’s really forwarding to domain.blogspot.com without the address changing in the address bar. The user continues to see www.domain.com in the address bar, although the site and its contents are really from domain.blogspot.com.

Domain cloaking uses an iframe or embedded frameset to display the content of another site.

Domain redirecting (also called URL redirecting) requires all traffic that is sent through the new domain name to be redirected to the main domain name. This can also be a domain redirected to a subdirectory of the main domain, or multiple domains redirected to a complex URL. This is different from domain mirroring/masking and domain cloaking because, when a user types in www.domain.com, they end up on www.maindomain.com and the address changes appropriately in the address bar.

But, let’s back up a second and look at the issues you must consider before making this decision.

1. To limit confusion, it’s better to change the brand (or company) name to better reflect the keyword-rich domain name. This could be as simple as recreating the company logo, but you might consult your customer base first.

2. The technical procedure of redirecting domain names must be done so that the search engines do not get confused about what you are trying to do. Otherwise, you risk tripping a duplicate content filter, which would force Google to accept only one domain with that content (explained below). But the biggest risk is setting off an alarm at Google that you are trying to trick them to get a better rank.

Just for fun, let’s say you’ve gone through the trouble of changing the company name to reflect your new keyword-rich domain. Now it’s time to get technical.

If you use any method other than domain redirecting, you are going to be disappointed with your search rank. Domain mirroring, masking, cloaking and aliases confuse search engines because they see the same content under a different domain name. Google then selects one of the domain names to display that content and leaves the others out of the search results. Google chooses for you – since you are not aware of how to manage your duplicate content issues – and no one knows which domain name Google will choose. You could be saying “bye-bye” to all the hard-earned link juice pointed at your main domain name.

The more serious issue with domain mirroring/masking is the probability that Google suspects you are trying to manipulate search rank by suddenly using keywords in additional domain names. The result is either loss of whatever good ranking you did have or your site is banned from Google altogether. Ouch!

This is precisely what happened with a client. Despite my warnings, but thinking they might change the company name eventually, they bought additional keyword-rich domain names and had the webmaster point them at their server (using domain masking). Within a couple weeks Google dropped their domain ranking across the board, but did not ban them.

Of course they came to me with their issue. I gently reminded them about how this should have been done, redirected the domain names properly (using a 301 redirect) and asked them to consult me next time they’re considering a marketing or technical decision regarding the website. It took about 6 weeks – a long and painful 6 weeks – for Google to restore their good rank again.

When a company acquires additional domain names, they should be permanently redirected to the main domain name – the one, central location on the web for all of the company’s or brand’s content.

Redirecting a domain name should be handled differently depending on the type of server hosting your site (Apache or Windows), how much control you have over that server (hosted on a shared or dedicated server) and the purpose of the redirected domain name.

About The Author
Tom Shivers is an SEO consultant and president of Capture Commerce, Inc. – a professional SEO company focused on tailored Internet marketing.

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“What really is the difference between a successful business and one that closes its doors prematurely?”

It’s a question we’ve all asked ourselves at one time or another… Where seems to be a place between frustration and struggling with everyday challenges and having peace of mind? In normal life that’s hard enough at times, but in the business world … Wouldn’t it be great to get FREE, reliable, business advise from an expert that actually knew what they were talking about, AND would be something that you could REALLY use!

The League of Extraordinary Minds

Forget the odd name, this is something YOU should REALLY consider whether or not you have an online business or a brick and mortar type business. In less than 2 weeks from now, there will be 54 different people who DO have the answers. And right now, they’re handing them out for FREE!

This is your chance to get the same competitive advantage normally reserved for the top companies in the world. For six straight weeks, you’ll have the opportunity to listen-in on exclusive panel-discussions!

Because it all kicks off in two weeks, and they’re only letting a limited number of people inside, so you need to act FAST … GO HERE now to reserve your place and get your FREE pass!

Here are a few of the names you’ll hear from:

Lou Adler – Yahoo, Wells Fargo
Ori Brafman – Microsoft, Amazon, Harvard, Standforf…
Bo Burlingham – Inc Magazine, The Body Shop…
Robert Cialdini – Google, IBM, Coca Cola…
Paul Cherry – Boeing, Amex, Johnson & Johnson…
Herb Cohen – FBI, CIA, US Dept Of Justice
Stephen MR Covey – Dell, Deloite Touche, Jet Blue…
Pamela Danziger – Gucci, Google, Amex, Guiness…
Bert Decker – Charles Schwab, Siemens, State Farm
Sam Deep – BAYER, Hallmark, Westinghouse…
Dr. Neil Fiore – AT&T, Levi Strauss
Eric Flamholtz – Starbucks, Disney, Neutrogena, Powerbar
Michael Gerber – Allstate, Apple, Amex…
Marshall Goldsmith – Google, Drucker Foundation…
Joseph Grenny – Sprint, IBM…
Greg Hicks – Mercedes-Benz, GE, US Navy…
Dan Hill – Target, Toyota, Nokia…
Kevin Hogan – Starbucks, Pillsbury, Boeing, Microsoft…
Joseph Jaffe – TIVO, Fox Media, Coca-Cola…
Tony Jeary – Wal-Mart, Samsung…
Kathy Kolbe – Hershey, IBM, Pheonix Suns…
Jay Conrad Levinson – Adobe, Apple…
Julie Morgenstern – Amex, Microsoft, FedEx, Sony Music…
Christophe Morin – GE, Vistage, SGI…
Al Ries – Microsoft, Disney, Merck, Frito-Lay…
Dr. Paul Schoemaker – Fortune Magazine, Amoco…
Brad Smart – Quaker Oats, GE, Shell-Oil…
Marilyn Tam – Pfizer, Nokia, Disney, 3M…
Marshall Thurber – Sheraton Hotels, HP, ITT, Ernst & Young…
Jack Trout – Xerox, Southwest Airline, AT&T, IBM…
Dr. Jan Yager – Disney, Norelco, ABC
Sergio Zyman – Coca-Cola, Pepsico, Proctor & Gamble

This group of business minds, again 54 in all, are some of the world’s leading business experts who consult with billion dollar powerhouses like Google, Coca Cola, Microsoft, and dozens of other Fortune 500 companies. They are going to give you their unique, fresh, powerful, and highly individualized approaches to business building through nine webinar type sessions, lasting over a full six weeks. If you’re looking for clear, incisive strategies to turn your existing or startup business into a dominant, highly-profitable force in your marketplace, then you need to attend these in-depth panel sessions. Again this is FREE and is hosted by Rich Schefren and Jay Abraham.

Here are the titles of the nine panel sessions that will be discussed:

So to reserve your place in this monumental free training session, you need to go here NOW.

I’ll see you there…

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Google Adds Promoted Videos for AdSense Publishers

Google has decided to start including promoted YouTube videos in AdSense. This means that these videos are now an available ad unit that can be displayed on AdSense publisher sites.

YouTube promoted videos include a thumbnail image with three lines of text, and when clicked, they take the user to a video or a channel on YouTube, so it’s not like there will be full-sized YouTube videos in AdSense ad spots on publisher sites.

“Extending Promoted Videos to AdSense sites will enable these content producers to broaden their reach, while providing you with another way to earn from your ad space,” says Arlene Lee of Google’s Inside AdSense team. “At this time, these ads are only available in English to US publishers, but we’re looking forward to expanding to additional regions and languages in the future.”

The promoted videos are contextually targeted to AdSense publisher pages, and publishers will earn from them on a cost-per-click basis. They are available in the following formats:

- 300×250 Medium Rectangle
- 336×280 Large Rectangle
- 728×90 Leaderboard
- 250×250 Square
- 200×200 Small Square

“Just like other ads, Promoted Videos compete in our standard ad auction, so they’ll help drive up competition among advertisers bidding to appear on your pages,” says Lee. “When a Promoted Video wins the ad auction, it’ll be shown alone in one of the eligible ad formats.”

Videos of course have to meet YouTube’s advertising guidelines and terms of use, as well as community guidelines. Publishers can prevent promoted videos from appearing on their sites by adding “youtube.com” to their competitive ad filter list. This will block all YouTube content.

It should be noted that the addition of promoted YouTube videos to AdSense has nothing to do with Google’s video ads offering.

YouTube promoted videos could be a good way to increase AdSense clicks, because the very nature of them draws the user’s attention to watch a video, and at the world’s most popular online video site. Plus the videos should be relevant to the content of the page. This could be a big money maker for AdSense publishers. It should be big for people promoting their videos as well.

About the author:
Chris Crum has been a part of the WebProNews team and the iEntry Network of B2B Publications since 2003. Twitter: @CCrum237

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Here is something that I just saw on a website called Screenr (excellent site, works with Twitter and a must see itself …).

Here is a short video tutorial on a way to shorten your own domain URLs yourself without using a URL shorting service.

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Not only is this great software, but it’s FREE!

EasyPDF Maker lets you create e-books, e-Zines, articles and PDF files easily and professionally. This is VERY easy to use software which has a user friendly interface and is also a fully functional word processor.

Looking to create an eBook? You need to check out EasyPDF Maker (eBook Creator Edition)

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The short & sweet version…

A must have in your marketing arrsonal is a PayDotCom account. PayDotCom gives you options to either market your own products or offer others products throught your site or PPP. PayDotCom is also integrated with your PayPal account and is one of the worlds largest and fastest growing online marketplaces cataloging thousands of products and services (both digital and physical products).

If You’re A Vendor …

Sell your products and services through their online marketplace, and let PayDotCom take care of all your affiliate needs. All while getting paid instantly to your PayPal account (no waiting 30 days).
PLUS, over 600,000 affiliates are ready to promote your products now.

Advantages of PayDotCom are:
•Purchases pay instantly to your PayPal account.
•Sell physical products and Digital Goods
•Collect Subscriptions for your service or membership sites
•Get Paid Instantly
•No Pre Approval
•Stats Tracking
•Promotional tools for your affiliates
•Create a new product line in 60 seconds.

To use PayDotCom you just:
•Be a free member of PayPal account.
•Signup for a free account at PayDotCom.
•Set up your product or service to sell in less than 60 seconds.
•Add our “Buy It At PayDotCom” button on your web site.

PayDotCom will then:
•List Your Product In Our Marketplace Which is Seen By Millions Each Month.
•Provide real-time access to your custom “Thank-You” page.
•Enable our massive affiliate base to promote your products.
•Enable you to recruit an army of affiliates to promote your products.
•Provide you and all affiliates with real-time sales reporting.
•Provide you and all affiliates tools and stats to track all your campaigns.
•Provide you with a MASS pay file to pay your affiliates using PayPal account.

PayPal now allows any of their members to use Mass Pay regardless of their country.

Sign Up is also free!

================================

If You’re An Affiliate …

You can promote products through their marketplace and earn commissions (between 5% to 80%), as an affiliate. The PayDotCom members area allows you to track your clicks, sales, and conversions. Sign up is free!

Earn Money
You can earn sales commissions up to 80% by linking your customers to any of our products and services in our marketplace. Sign Up now for free and start earning commissions today!

Promote
With PayDotCom you can earn income by promoting our product links to your customers or by placing links on your website. Use the Marketplace to find products and services that will be of interest to people who visit your site.

Under each product or service in the marketplace you’ll see a description of the affiliate program. Just click on the description to promote that product or service.

Tools and Stats
You can get all links and the promotion tools from the Vendor’s affiliate tools when you select the product. Then you can track all your stats.

Get Paid Your Commissions By PayPal
The Vendor will pay you your commissions each month by mass pay to your PayPal account or by check.. The Vendor chooses how to pay you. You must have an account with one of those programs to get paid if the Vendor does not choose to send checks. Please note the Vendors preferred payment settings when joining an affiliate program.

PayDotCom’s fee to the Affiliate is $0.50 to $1.50 for each transaction (Based on the sale price of the product/service sold.) The Vendor’s account will automatically deduct this amount from your commissions each month. This fee will then be paid to us by the Vendor, on your behalf, at month close (at no cost to the Vendor.)

So sign up now for free and start promoting your products OR start earning money promoting others products.

CLICK HERE to see what Michael Cheney and others have said about PayDotCom

View this article at goarticles.com

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Before you can begin building any type of online business, there are a few essential steps that must be done.

First is registering a domain name. A domain name is your address, your mark on the Internet. I suggest getting a domain name that is easy to remember, that relates to the market you are targeting, and most importantly is easy to maintain and is affordable. It is also wise to use keywords that pretain to your “niche” within the name if possible.

There are several placed to buy a domain name, I recommend DirectGlobal Domains. They offer several domain extensions to choose from and currently sell .COM names for under $8 USD for a year, with specials sometimes down to $1.99 USD per year.

Next step is purchasing and setting up a web hosting account. There are many hosting companies to choose from, all offering different pricing and discounts for their hosting packages. I suggest comparing hosting services and pricing on several before signing up. A few you may want to look at are Host Gator, Just Host or for hosting several domains, WebHostingBuzz (Get 50% off their hosting plans when you use coupon code “ICE”).

You now need to decide whether you build/create your own website or landing page(s), use a pre made web template, or use a professional web design service. There are also services like WebBizBuilder which will allow you to design your own site easily using an online step by step process which already includes hosting.
(I also do web design and would be happy to talk over what you need, budget and so on …)

If you choose to “do it yourself”, you’ll need some various web tools. A few of these tools include an FTP program (to upload/download your files to the Internet), some design software like Adobe DreamWeaver, Photoshop, Contribute … (to create/edit your web pages, design and create web graphics).

Before you upload your pages/site to the Internet, you should already have a Merchant Account. A good one to use is a PayPal Merchant Account. PayPal is accepted and trusted by many and is easy to impliment.

Pretty much the only thing left to do is find a good product or products to promote. If you do not have your own to offer your customers, try signing up for a PayDotCom or ClickBank account. Another great place to find good stuff to promote and/or give away for free is with Jeff Johnson’s affiliate program.

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Ordinally posted on: June 23, 2009

I don’t know about you, but when I heard about the release of “SlumDog Millionaire” by Latif I was really looking forward to getting my hands on a copy. I have to admit the ‘hype’ was compelling. I even created a video (click here) to promote its release. Well the honeymoon’s over …

On a 5 STAR rating, I’ll be generous and give it I guess a ONE! After looking briefly at the ebooks, I also did the upgrade for the video tutorials (since I’m lazy and I personally think I learn better that way), thinking that I must be missing something from the 15 or whatever there were ebooks. I found the ENTIRE series VERY basic. The quality of the videos were ‘average’ and NOT worth the upgrade. This probably should have been released as a ‘freebee’ or ‘give-a-way’ …

If you’re a ‘newbie’, then you might want to get at least the ebook series. If you’ve been in marketing for any length of time, you might want to wait on this one

Tim Buttles
ThreeToedCrow

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