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Archives for September 2009

Launching a new website – Days 21-30

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checksmall-web-trafficLaunching a new website is not as easy as some would have you think. This is the last article in a series of articles that covered the promotional strategies of the first 30 days in the launching of a new website. Time will help any new website get more traffic and this site is so new that it will have to go through some growing pains for the next four months. Patience is needed to develop and get these new sites to a profitable stage.

The last week of the month showed some solid traffic increases. The total visitors for the month was 1018. As a whole, that wasn’t too bad. Next year at this time, it will be interesting to compare the differences.

Using SEO elite, I checked for the number of backlinks and there were 22 backlinks. These backlinks were acquired by writing articles and making comments on other people’s websites.

I checked the main search engines to see how many pages were indexed with each engine. Google has indexed 104 pages. Yahoo has 38 pages. MSN has only one page indexed and I’m not sure how to get more pages indexed by them. I just found a link to submit sites to MSN: http://www.bing.com/docs/submit.aspx so now I’ve submitted to that website. Alta Vista reported indexing 38 pages and All The Web has indexed 38 pages.

One strategy that I have added to this site is to add a blog. I think that WordPress blogs are very search engine friendly and I believe that adding content to it on a regular basis will be helpful.

I was able to get some help in making my website comply with the W3C, the web standards organization for all web pages. I have tried in the past to get compliant with that website, but my web skills were not good enough to understand how to change things to get into compliance. A friend of mine from the Philippines told me about a fellow named Taylor S. Ripley. He runs a web development and hosting site at http://www.turkreno.com/. I gave him a call and he was nice enough to walk me through correcting all the mistakes that were on my front page. He also helped me create a more useful sitemap and I have submitted that to the search engines.  He was so knowledgeable and helpful. I highly recommend him as a person to help you with your SEO efforts. It was so nice to meet someone that was so helpful.

So to wrap things up for this 30 Day Plan, I’d like to review the most valuable lessons that I learned during this time period.

1.  When developing a new site, submit a basic sitemap for at least part of your site to Google webmaster tools so you can start getting some traffic.

2.  When your site is completed, submit another sitemap to Google so that they will index all of your pages.

3.  Submit your new site to Yahoo, MSN, All The Web and Alta Vista.

4.  Begin the process of creating a sense of community by visiting other sites that relate to your topic and participate in their conversations on their blogs.

5. Write articles that relate to your product or website and make sure that they get distributed to a large number of directories.

6. Make sure your site is W3 Compliant.

7. Be patient and keep contributing to your site by making it better and offering people more resources and help.

8. Start trying something, anything. Some of what you do will work, and some things won’t. Doing something is better than just dreaming about it.

9. Realize that it takes time for your new project to become profitable and know that it is possible to get your sites profitable enough to support yourself.

10. Network with other people through http://www.meetup.com to find others in your community that are pursuing the same types of business.

I hope that part of this experience has helped you learn what you can do to get your sites started an on to profitability. Good luck with your projects!

Ebay’s Largest Store Owner

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Have you ever wondered who owns the biggest ebay store? The powerseller, Buy, has 867,112 successful transactions and is listed on eBay as the largest store there. Upon further research through the help of Google Maps, you can see that the address listed for this seller is in California and is located in the buy.com building.
buy-dot-com-building

The powerseller, Buy,  is actually a  leading e-commerce company that has been in business over 10 years and has over 11 million customers.

They carry millions of products in categories ranging from sporting goods, computer hardware and software, cellular, electronics, movies, music, books and more.

At their website, they even list their most searched for items: 16GB Flash Drive, 1tB external hard drive, 32gb flash drive, Cordless phone, Ipod touch, Micro SD Card, USB flash drive, cordless phones, external hard drive, iphone, iphone 3g,iphone 3gs, ipod classic, ipod nano, micro sd,  microsd, netbook, netbooks, nintendo ds, ps3 refurbished,  sansa sd card, sdhc, slingbox, webcam, wii, wireless router,zune, zune hd.

The www.buy.com website is ranked by Alexa.com, a web monitoring site, as number 238 in the United States. The lowest numbers indicate the most popular sites. There are some bad reviews about this site on Alexa, but eBay seems to have nothing but positive feedback for them. Apparently their customer service is outsourced to India which causes problems for United States customers.

Buy.com has been listed by Internet Retailer as one of the top 100 retailers on the internet. Apparently the top 100 retailers are responsible for 55.3% of retail web sales.

Amazon.com is the leading retailer on the net with $19.2 billion dollars in sales. Internet retail selling is here to stay. People are becoming more and more comfortable ordering online. How comfortable are you with online ordering?

View Buy’s Ebay Listings

10 Tips For Making Money on Craigslist

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By now you have probably heard of one of the nets’ most dominant classified ad websites; Craigslist. It makes no difference whether you are purchasing goods or selling goods, Craigslist is vital for any entrepreneur looking to make good money. First before you choose to surf the net and make money on Craigslist, you need to understand that there are a few critical guidelines to follow to help you become successful.

Why? If you don’t have the proper knowledge about Craigslist rules you might be blacklisted or banned. What am I going to share with you are the things you must know in order to learn how to make money on Craigslist and to use it in the right way.

Step 1 – Categories

You must advertise or sell items in the correct category. In case you don’t know, items posted on Craigslist are easily sorted by search engines and people surfing the net can view your listings when they are placed in the proper category.

Step 2 – Headlines

Create attractive headlines. This will be the main appeal of your ad and this will be the first thing that will attract the attention of your buyers. Write attention grabbing words and list a reasonable price for the items you are selling.

Step 3 – Use Photos

Post pictures. Listings that have pictures are easily getting noticed. Add as many pictures as possible to give the buyer a good understanding of what you have for sale. Pictures are worth 1000 words.

Step 4 – Respond Promptly

Don’t procrastinate your responses to inquiries. Respond to your inquiries as soon as possible. Remember that all inquiries are from potential buyers. Lastly be sure to follow up with your customers so that you can sell quickly.

Step 5 – Don’t Duplicate

Please don’t duplicate your ad. Craigslist can easily notice the same ad being posted multiple times and might consider it as a spam. You can be blacklisted permanently if you don’t stick with the guidelines.

Step 6 – Get Notified

Stay current with the new listing information you are interested in by using software such as AdNotifier.com. This program sends you automatic updates and messages every time a new ad is advertised in your category.

Step 7 – Resell Products

Purchase low cost items and resell them. This is so big since the resale industry is fast growing. If you have the skill for buying goods and reselling them at reasonable prices then Craigslist is a good match for your needs to start a business.

Step 8 – Use Links

You may create links in your ads. Like perhaps a link at eBay or your personal website easier to create access to your item. This will increase your chances for additional sales and possible upgrades.

Step 9 – Use HTML

Maximize the use of HTML in your ad to direct buyers to your link. This will help the buyer to get additional information about your products and services. Craigslist uses basic HTML which is not too difficult and can be learned at w3schools.com.

Step 10 – Use RSS Feeds

Use RSS feeds to stay current. When you find the search results that you are most interested in, scroll to the bottom of the page and in the right corner you will see the words RSS. Just click on that and you will get the link that you can bookmark to easily see what is current on that search. The nice thing about this is that you can see all of the ads in that category without opening up individual links.

Spend some time learning how Craigslist works. This means you’ll want to investigate what is selling in different parts of the world. Read other people’s ads and get some ideas of what you might want to do.

Of course nothing is easy at first. You need a lot of patience and hard work for your business you grow. I hope that these guidelines will help you with your money making endeavors.

How to Promote Your Website

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You know that you should be helping with your own SEO by promoting your website and providing opportunities for back links, but HOW? Here are a few ideas I shared with one of my Real Estate clients:

CRAIGSLIST and OTHER FREE CLASSIFIEDS

Craigslist is an amazing place to post advertisements for your services with a link pointing to your website. You should try it! Also, writing little articles in your Blog about what you do not only will be good for Search Engines, but they can be used on Craigslist, Backpage, and on Article Submission sites.

DON'T FORGET TO PUT LINKS TO YOUR WEBSITE!

Never waste a Blog Posting by not having links pointed back to your website. Without links you shouldn?t be wasting your time! Think of every link you place online as a vote for yourself. If your search term is ?Colorado Springs Real Estate? and you have that term set up as a link pointed to your site, as top agent Brandon Smith does at ColoradoSpringsHomeSite.com, the more links like this that appear on the web, the higher your Google ranking will be. One by one, post by post, week in and week out, think about how you can insert the keywords and keyphrases you want people to find you when searching in Google and other Search Engines.

VIDEO IS REALLY REALLY EFFECTIVE!

Think about the Video idea as well. Create your own little commercial. Using a Webcam or a little Flip Videocam is so easy now.

The best part is that it doesn?t need to be long. In fact it?s better if it isn?t. When I scan through videos and audio podcasts, I?m looking for bite-size nuggets that won?t take too much of a bite out of my day, because I just don?t have that much spare time. Think 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Talk directly into the camera about what you do for a minute. You can do that. Keep doing takes until you have ?the one.?

YOUTUBE IS FREE AND GOOGLE LOVES IT (THEY OWN IT)!

Once your completed video is on your computer and you?ve done any editing you wish to do, upload it to YouTube for Free. If you don?t have a YouTube account, set one up now. It will take just a few minutes. Once you have uploaded successfully to your YouTube account, I will point you the way of putting it on your website.

Just think how amazing it would be if you would record 30 second spots for each page on your website. Google likes to feature YouTube videos on Page 1 of their search results. If you took just a minute to add the main search words that you would want people to find your video with in YouTube, you may be rewarded for your efforts with Page 1 placement. (It happens all the time!)

FOCUS ON YOUR LOCAL MICRO AREA INSTEAD OF THE BIG METROPOLIS

Perhaps trying to throw a whole swath over a big marketing area (let?s say ?Dallas?) are not going to be as effective as focusing like a laser on the actual smaller community that they really want to market to, like ?Plano, TX.? There are thousands of people all trying to get that big market key search term placement on Google. To get that will certainly cost you a lot in paid premium search engine placement. By focusing smaller, your competition for that high Google placement is reduced significantly.

KEEP BLOGGING!

If you have been blogging, Congratulations! DON'T STOP! It's not a “get rich quick” type of operation. Think of it as a mountain building exercise and each post is a shovel of dirt. One by one you will create your mountain until it towers above all others in your field who are not putting in the time, or who only put money into the Pay-Per-Click programs.

This again is an example of the Assets vs. Liabilities theory talked about by Robert Kiyosaki in Rich Dad Poor Dad. Premium Pay-Per-Click campaigns are Liabilities; once they?ve been clicked on, they?re gone! Building your own empire online of Blog Postings containing links pointing to your website can stay up forever, and their exponential nature can build and build and bring you the benefits for years to come!

How to Make Money Online With Craigslist

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Craigslist is the best marketplace for buying and selling of products in your local community. It is a good marketplace to find hot jobs, real estate, books, electronic items or anything you need in your daily life. But it requires lots of skills to make money online with Craigslist, one of most visited classified website on Internet. Here is how one can make some good amount of money using Craigslist:

  1. Submit product or items that you want to see in the proper category. You will not get the benefit if you submit your items in the wrong category and even your entry will be rejected for submitting in the wrong category.
  2. Create an eye catching heading for your listing and if possible include an attractive price in your heading section.
  3. Include maximum pictures that you can add about the product you are listing on Craigslist. Listings with pictures perform better compared to only text listings on Craigslist.
  4. Also you can include your e-mail id your listing if you want buyers to contact you about the listing you have added.
  5. Follow-up immediately with the buyers who shows interest in your items. Buyers who show interest in your items are surely in the position to buy that item. So don't miss this money making opportunity whenever you get it.
  6. You should read Craigslist rules and regulations before start submitting your stuff here. Submit a well formatted and error free ad copy on Craigslist. Because if you do something wrong against their policies, you can get blacklisted. Never try to submit the same ad copy frequently.
  7. You can remain in touch with what other people are posting in your category with AdNotifier.
  8. Use HTML code to direct people to the link from where they can buy the product you have listed on Craigslist.

So if you are really aiming at making some good amount of money on Craigslist, never do the following:

  1. Never try submitting the same Ad copy over and over on Craigslist. This way you are just spamming Craigslist
  2. Don't post too frequently. If you must do multiple postings, keep a gap of some minutes in your postings.
  3. Don't submit your ad copy in the wrong category
  4. Don't submit an ad copy with grammatical and formatting errors
  5. Avoid including affiliate links in your ad copy

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anil_Garg
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