Website Creation Simplified: Brief Overview Of The Nuts And Bolts

Before you start fiddling around with HTML editors, FTP clients, and Domain registrations, it's important to have at least a basic understanding of how all this works. This Website creation overview gives you an easy to understand look at what the process of building your own Website really involves.

A website is a collection of files that work together to form a unified whole. These various files, from images to HTML documents and PHP scripts, or instructional software, are organized by a Web browser and displayed appropriately on a computer monitor.

Website creation is essentially the process arranging information in a way that can be translated by Web browsing software, such as Internet Explorer, and presented to human viewers. To do this correctly you'll need to gain a basic understanding of coding languages like HTML, CSS, and possibly PHP.

The process of coding your site is literally the activity of entering numerous individual lines of alphanumeric code that tell the Web browser how to format and display your Web page. While seemingly complex at first, the truth is learning the most basic Web development code -- HTML -- is less complicated than learning to use the English alphabet.

Once you learn what the various command codes actually do, your next step is to practice organizing them in a structured manner within an HTML document. This is not unlike the process of creating a word processing document and saving it; the only difference is that instead of sentences and paragraphs you'll be entering HTML tags and attributes.





Once your files are complete, they'll need to be added to your Web host so other Internet users can access them. The Web host, or server, is a powerful computer that operates around the clock.

It is here that all the files and data that make up your Website will be stored. And you'll need to register a domain name and synchronize this domain with your host machine so people can type an easily remembered Web address into their browser and literally navigate to your Website by establishing a connection with your host server.

In addition to learning how to create and save basic HTML documents, Website creation requires some level of proficiency in transferring files between your computer and a Web server. This is called File Transfer Protocol, or FTP for short.

To do this, you'll need a software tool called an FTP client. This utility is installed on your desktop and can instantly form a connection with your Web host, allowing you to upload files to the Web or download them to your machine.


It is also recommended that you become familiar with the directory structure and hosting control panel your Web host provides. This will make it easier for you to manage your Website.

This sounds like a lot of work. But the truth is the average Internet user can become basically versed in all of this within 30 days or less if he or she puts forth an effort to learn.

It's beyond the scope of this article to delve into the specifics of any particular technique. But I hope at this point you at least have an understanding of what is involved in learning the Website Creation process.

About the Author
Timothy Aaron Whiston - Quickly and easily learn Web design with the author's amazing online course. You'll be an ace Webmaster in no time with this full-blown Web design course at your disposal.

Focus on SEO Before You Launch Your New Website

Are you launching a new website? There's no better time to think about search engine optimization than prior to launching a new site. By giving consideration to your on-page optimization factors, you can increase your chances of achieving top organic search results.

To prepare your site for easy indexing, be sure to follow these basis guidelines:

1. Design your site in html or similar format that minimizes the use of java script and flash. The more complex you make your code, the more difficult it becomes for the search engine spiders to read your content and prescribe the appropriate Google PR to your web page.

2. Make sure that your meta tags are coded properly and include the Robots.txt tag. Many individuals downplay the importance of meta tags. Although meta tags themselves won't drastically change the organic ranking of your site, they do create the display text users will see when your site appears in search results. If your meta tags are search engine optimized and compelling, you increase the changes of improving click-throughs.

3. Apply the proper tags to your page. H1, H2, and H3 tags are a great wall to call attention to your content and promote your keywords and keyword phrases. Try to use each tag at least once, but don't force the issues. You want your text to flow and appear normal.

In addition to ensuring that you've made your page easy to access and presented text that is optimized, you also want to consider other factors that can help long-term with your SEO efforts. So often, web designers get caught up with on page factors, that they overlook the requirements for establishing a foundation that supports long-term initiatives.

In particular, consider adding pages that you can add to over time that support link building and accessibility for search engine spiders. Be sure to include:

1. An html sitemap and an xml sitemap. Including a sitemap on you site makes it easy for search engines to access all of your website pages and index your site accordingly. Your sitemap should be in both html as well as xml. Although users would not access the xml sitemap, search engine spiders use this version to crawl websites. Additionally, key search engine submission resources like Google's Webmasters Tools require xml site map versions.

2. Include a partners page. Previously referred to as a links page, the partners page is essential for reciprocal linking. This strategy isn't as powerful as developing one-way links, but until your site has been assigned a Google PR, one-way links can be difficult to acquire. So begin your link exchange program with a partners page that allows you add or remove link quickly and easily.

3. Submission pages that encourage new content. One of the most powerful seo techniques is the addition of new content. Make it easy for your users to add or submit content to your website. When search engines see new content, they rejoice. Don't underestimate how important it is to make it simple for your browsers to add or submit content.

When focusing on search engine optimization, especially with a new website, follow the basic ideas outlined above. There are a number of other factors to consider as well. However, you should always start with a strong foundation - a site design that meets basic SEO standards but one that also supports your long range search engine optimization goals.

About the Author
Michael Fleischner is the founder of the The Good Marketing Tips Blog and has more than 12 years of marketing experience. Learn how to improve search engine rankings at http://improvesearchenginerankings.blogspot.com.

How to Sell Products and Services Online

As you might already know, the internet is considered the largest and most profitable market place today as billions of people are going online on a daily basis. This is the reason why more and more marketers are considering selling products and services online. Are you one of them? Then, you'll surely find this article useful as it contains the latest 5 methods that can help you increase your online selling.

1. Showcase your expertise online. Earning the trust of your potential clients is one crucial element in internet marketing as more and more people are way too scared of online fraud and scams. You need to assure your potential clients that you are trustworthy and that you can offer them the information and products that they are looking for. You can showcase your expertise and you can build good reputation online by sharing a slice of your knowledge using cost-effective but efficient content base marketing solutions like ezine publishing, blogging, forum posting, and article marketing.

2. Build your own website. Unless you are satisfied with eBay and other auction sites, you may create your own place over the World Wide Web where you can freely talk about your products, process online transactions, and where you can build an ongoing communication with your potential clients. Ensure that your website is content-rich (so you attract more organic traffic), easy to navigate, and up-to-date.

3. Promote your products and services. This is the key to boost your online sales and revenue. You will need to utilize several marketing strategies so you can promote product awareness among your potential clients. As you might already know, the more people knowing your products, the higher your chances of making a sale.

4. Use testimonials and recommendations. Ensure that you post the testimonials of your most satisfied clients on your blog or website. You can also seek recommendations from other experts on your chosen niche who believe that your products are the best in the market today. These can help you convince online users to believe that your products are worth their time and money.

5. Offer discounts and freebies. With so many people selling their products and services online, it is much difficult to get the attention of online users. However, you can capture the interest of these people if you can offer them something for free. Consider offering discounts when they purchase from you or throw in some freebies that they will surely appreciate.

About the Author
Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article writing success, 'Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide' Download it free here: Secrets of Article Writing

Do you want to learn how to build a big online subscriber list fast? Click here: Secrets of List Building

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 9034 articles in print and 14 published ebooks.

How to Know Your Child is Ready For Student Credit Cards

There is a point in every parent's life when they have to let go and allow their child to grow up and start to take on a life of their own. This often comes as a child graduates high school and takes off for college. But as a parent, you may not think they are ready for all of the things they need to know to get by in the world.

One of the important things you need your child to know before you 'let them go' is how to take care of themselves financially. This doesn't just mean making sure they know how to pay their rent and utilities bills, but also that they know how to take care of their credit so they can have a good line of credit throughout their lives.

Often college is when children get their first credit cards. But you may not be sure your child is ready. Here are three steps to getting them on the road to financial independence.

Have a Talk

You need to be confident that your child understands the importance of getting a credit card before you ever allow them one. The best way to assess this is to take a seat and talk credit cards with your child before approving them getting one. Make sure they understand the responsibility that comes with credit cards and that a failure to be responsible could follow them for years to come on their credit report.

Credit Card Light

Before you give them a normal credit card with a high limit, you may want to start a little smaller on the credit front:

Prepaid Credit Cards - You could begin with prepaid credit cards, which are cards that you charge with money, much like an ATM card. These will allow you to see if your child tries to keep going over their spending limits.

Student Credit Cards - Many of the student credit cards out there don't allow too high of limits. The best student credit cards are like starter credit cards that allow you to set the limits your child can charge to, so their credit can't get out of hand, even if they forget to be responsible.

Join the Big Boys

Once your child has proven he or she can be responsible with their prepaid credit cards or low limit student credit cards, you can move them into the bigger world of credit cards.

This is when you should also look for rewards credit cards that will reward your child with cash back or other perks for spending responsibly.

About the Author
Steve Sikes is an MBA and writes articles on credit cards and other financial products. To read other articles and compare and apply online for top credit card offers for low interest, balance transfers, rewards, cash back, business, airline miles, you will want to visit http://www.CreditCardWave.com

SEO Explained For People with Real Jobs

When talking to clients about marketing their business online I am asked "How do you get to #1 on Google?" While this article is not specially about how to become #1 - I will explain what the process is and what's involved.

Despite our widespread acceptance and use of the internet - I am always surprised by how many people really have no idea what SEO (search engine optimization) is about. They instinctively know WHY they like to click on that first listing in the natural results; but they don't have the first clue HOW it got there. Making matters worse is the fact that the internet world is largely unregulated and still being figured out - so it seems that everyone has their own "best practice" and definitions of things like SEO.

I usually tell clients that their intuitive feeling of WHY they trust that first listing is that - simply put - it's the best result for the phrase you type in. People seem to understand that. However most people don't really understand why one site would be better than another so here goes with a layman's explanation…

What is SEO, really?

SEO is the process of configuring a website so that it has a chance to show up in a search result for a particular phrase. In other words it is our way of telling Google, Yahoo, or MSN what we think our site is about. Many of the search engines have a slightly different formula for how they determine these results. But the short version is that they look at different factors of each website page, rank them and then give those results to you.

Why is SEO Important?

One word sums it up - competition. Depending on what study you read, there are as many as 20 billion web pages being indexed at any given time. The major search engines do their best to go through these pages and catalog them so that they can tell you about it if you use their website to search. With so many website pages out there competing for similar phrases it is absolutely critical to make sure you are using every tool at your disposal to make sure your customers can find you when they are looking.

OK, So What Should I Be Doing for SEO On My Site?

The good news is that doing SEO correctly is not complicated. The bad news is that it is time consuming and requires regular attention in order to maintain results. Our advice is to ethically follow these simple guidelines for best long-term results:

Good site structure - as simple as this sounds many people overlook this. Every day we see sites with heavy flash animation, dated frame designs, pages that don't work and broken links. The bottom line is that if you can't easily navigate a site without problems chances are the search engines can't either. And if a search engine can't go through your site you have absolutely no chance of showing up for a key phrase - no matter how pretty the flash.

Good meta-data - Clients often draw a blank with this one. Meta-data is geek-speak for the page titles, page descriptions and keywords that you enter for each page. Each page on your website should have a unique title and description that summarizes what that page is about.

We often see 2 problems with meta-data. The first is that it is simply overlooked. I am stunned at how many sites have www.yoursite.com as the page title for every page - that's wasting prime online real estate.

The 2nd problem is spam. Putting in a page title or description that does not accurately match what the page is about is considered "spamming" a search engine. Doing this will get your page thrown out of the index and ruin any chance of showing up for a key phrase. Relevant content - People seem to understand that good content is really what they are looking for when they search for something. By "relevant" we mean that the content is specific to the topic in question and recently updated. More and more we are seeing sites that have regular updates or blogs showing up higher in the search results than sites which have larger quantities of older, "stale" content on them.

Our recommendation is to add well-written, grammatically correct and spell-checked content to your website on a regular basis. This ensures that, over time, your site will become a "resource" to those looking for phrases related to your business.

Responsible link building - This is perhaps the least understood part of SEO. In a nutshell search engines consider a link from another website to your website as a popularity vote. Think of it as power rankings for websites. In general the more sites which link to yours, the better; as this shows your site is relevant to the given topic.

Sadly though link building, like keywords and meta-data, have been abused by many site owners with schemes such as link farms where sites are setup simply to house links to other sites. We encourage careful and responsible link building with sites that are related to yours or through appropriate directories and article banks.

So there you have it - SEO explained for people with real jobs. Like most things it's not really that hard but it requires discipline which is where most people get off track. If you would like help with SEO for your website, or other online business needs we would love to hear from you.


About the Author
Andre Savoie. President of WSI (We Simplify the Internet) who help companies take advantage of opportunities to grow their business online. This may include search engine optimization, paid search advertising or newer tools such as social media optimization. My focus is on helping companies find the strategy that best fits their needs and budget and then establishing goals for each marketing campaign. You can visit us at www.mywsiconsultant.com or contact us via email at andre@mywsiconsultant.com.

Questions to Ask Before You Start a New Home Business

In today's corporate climate of downsizing and layoffs, many people are considering starting their own home-based business. While there are significant risks, a good business plan which asks some key questions can really help.

Some major questions to ask yourself should deal with your GOALS for starting the business. Why do you want a home business (beyond the idea of just making enough money to live on?) Here are some of the reasons which may interest you:

Flexibility

Many home business owners love the flexibility of their home business which affords them the opportunity to set their own schedules. This can mean more time with family and the ability to occasionally step away from the business for other pleasures.

Income Potential

Business people have the opportunity (potential) to make more money than working for someone else. They also take on more risk as well.

Helping the Community

Business owners (even in home-businesses) have the ability to be a blessing to the community by employing others and making charitable contributions.

There are many more goals you can list which a small business can help you accomplish. I suggest writing down both RISKS and REWARDS when brainstorming about starting your own business. Take enough time to adequately research these two sides of the equation. Get information and coaching from those successful in the business you're going into before launching. Make sure you're adequately capitalized before beginning.

These are just a few tips to help you begin the process of transitioning into business ownership. There are many more details to research, but you have to start somewhere. What I have written here will help you begin thinking about the process and developing your vision. Don't move too fast and especially keep up the work of developing your dream of business ownership.

Good Luck!

About the Author
Mark Evants manages a profitable vending company of 2,200 machines in the mid west. For more extremely practical vending tips and articles on increasing cash flow and structuring your vending business visit: http://www.vendingarticles.net - Tips and Articles for PROFITABLE Vending!

6 Search Engine Marketing Strategies

Search engine marketing involves keeping your content fresh, using keywords that put you at the top of the first page and obtaining as many links to your site from other websites as possible.

Pleasing the Search Engines

1. Search engines love updated content. Pay attention to which sites show on the first page and you will notice that among the sites in keyword competition, it is the sites with the most updated content that win out. Either write your own articles and upload your own graphics and photos or outsource the job to freelancers.

There are many freelancers who write for reasonable rates. With one good writer or writing team, you can improve your site's rankings dramatically. Make sure the writer you choose understands SEO.

2. Keyword strategies include going for those people who instead of searching for 'weight loss' search for 'how to lose 20 pounds fast' and other more specific terms. Do not stuff your pages with keywords. The recommended density of keywords is between 2 and 3 percent of the text on your page.

Excessive keyword phrases are not only recognizable to search engines as 'stuffing', they can ultimately affect the quality of the writing. This is where LSI comes in. LSI involves using phrases that are synonymous with your original keyword phrase. Learn about LSI!

3. The more relevant sites that link to your page, the better your rankings will be. For example, if you sell creative scrap booking products, try putting links about your self-designed scrap booking pages on sites that instruct people on how to scrap book. This is one way of 'piggy backing' on the keywords used by other sites.

Write your own articles or have a freelance writer write some for you. Submit them to article directories and allow other sites to use them providing they leave the resource box or by-line connected to the article. It is a 'scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' strategy and it works for both sides.

4. You can use your blog for more search engine marketing. If you update your blog daily and ping it with blog directories, you will see an increase in your blog's search engine rankings. Link to your site from your blog. This is another means of piggy backing.

5. Purchasing clicks on search engines is another strategy used in search engine marketing. This is how sites are placed in 'sponsored sites' at the very top of the page and along the right hand side on Google. Depending on the keywords you use for this strategy, you will have to pay a few pennies to several dollars in order to beat out your competition.

Yahoo allows you to set a daily maximum amount of money for clicks. If your site is brand new, try the lowest amount of money for a week or so to test how many clicks you get and how many sales you make from those clicks.

6. Monitor your site traffic on at least a weekly basis. Note how much of your traffic is coming from regular search engine marketing. After a couple of weeks of tracking, make small changes to optimize your site's search engine rankings. Continue looking for ways to improve on your site.

Gather all the information you can find on each of these strategies. Search engine marketing, as with all other forms of marketing, is constantly changing. Stay up to date on everything there is to know about search engine marketing and you will see your sales increase considerably!

About the Author
Karla Whitmore is a creative freelance writer dedicated to supplying fresh, original and SEO rich content and plr to online businesses, webmasters and affiliate marketers.

Five Key Marketing Strategies for Web Business Growth

If you expect to achieve sustained growth for your Web business and you don't have a plan in place to get you there, you might as well forget it. Growing a profitable Web Business is a strategic process that requires long range vision, careful planning, precise execution and patience. It's vital that you know exactly what you want to accomplish and that you have a detailed blueprint to follow.

Of course you need to have a website that is optimized and tested to convert traffic, and then you need to devote time to developing and executing short-term and long-term promotional strategies. These strategies must stand on their own as well as work together to get you the best results.

Here are five key strategies you can use to advance your business and improve your profit margin:

#1. Always Look For Opportunities to Increase Sales

Let's face it, sales drive business and sales come from customers; therefore, the hunt for new customers should be phase one of an ongoing three-phase marketing approach that every online business owner should embrace.

Phase two is to follow up with these new customers from time to time, and introduce them to additional offers. The objective of this second phase is to get them to buy from you more often.

The final phase of this three-pronged strategy is to offer expensive items, or bundle multiple items into higher-priced packages. This will give your customers more opportunities to make larger purchases.

#2. Find the Best Use for Your Marketing Budget

After you have identified your market demographic, fixed your goals and decided on a promotional strategy for reaching potential customers, the next step is to figure out how to maximize your budget and get the job done without over spending. Even though the exact process will vary from business to business, the principle remains the same.

You want to expose your product or service, as often as possible, to consumers who will derive the most benefit from it. Studies show that the average consumer will see a promotion about five to seven times before taking action on the offer.

So instead of blowing your budget on a single opportunity to reach your select group, it is much wiser to get everyone's attention with repeated promotions. Use as many different forms of advertising as you can afford and squeeze the most out of your marketing dollars.

#3. Invest in a Virtual Assistant

This is an opportunity to outsource various redundant tasks to someone who is capable, reliable and trustworthy. The big advantage to you is you'll have more time to devote to activities that generate income and help you grow your business.

A virtual assistant works from his or her office as an independent contractor and is responsible for whatever administrative or operational responsibilities you assign. Compensation can be agreed upon at an hourly rate, per assignment or by retainer.

If you are not yet at the stage where you can afford to pay a virtual assistant, you can consider a suitable barter arrangement with a subscriber or a customer. You can also ask a family member or a friend for help. You can't do it all yourself and you shouldn't even consider that option for the longterm.

#4. Use the Power of Email to Convert Visitors Into Customers

Email marketing is one of the most economical and reliable ways to build a relationship with visitors and eventually convert them into buyers. It is an effective tool for staying in touch and developing the level of comfort and trust that is necessary before they will agree to do business with you.

You can use email to convince your subscribers of your expertise in your niche. The more they come to accept you as an authority, the greater your credibility will become and the easier it will be for you to make sales.

Plus, email is a very handy tool for keeping customers abreast of new products, special promotions and the latest announcements about your business.

#5. Develop a System for Everything You Do

Make sure to design methods and procedures that simplify and expedite important aspects of your business operation. Very often these systems will evolve from trial and error, but when they have been perfected they should become standard procedure.

The most efficient systems are those that get you to your objective as quickly as possible, for as little money as possible and with the least possible effort.

The above strategies are vital to the success of any online business. Together they save you time, money, effort, and provide a pathway to sustained growth and expansion. Just be consistent in the marketing practices you implement and the results will come out in your favor.

About the Author
Hermas Haynes is the founder and webmaster of eBizInfoCenter - a popular resource where you can find many more marketing strategies, tools, articles and ideas for advancing your web business.

How Can I Make Money With Information Product Sales?

Information products are making waves online as more and more people are spending their money in their efforts to increase their knowledge and improve the quality of their lives. If you are an expert on your chosen niche and if you believe that you possess certain information that can bring huge difference to the lives of online users, you better start creating series of information products now to boost your online earnings.

Here's how you can make money with information product sales:

1. Sell electronic books. If you are serving people who do not have great buying powers, you can create ebooks that will sell for $10-$30. Do a keyword research and figure out the topics that are being sought by these people. Then, kick-start your ebooks with compelling titles that can easily grab the attention of your target market. Ensure that your creations are highly informative, content-rich, well-written, easy to understand, scannable, and highly relevant to the needs and demands of your potential clients. It's also important that you write using conversational tone to make your content sound interesting and engaging. You can then sell your ebooks on your website, blog, auctions sites, or through affiliate marketing programs.

2. Create audio products. If your target market is consist of people who are willing to shell out $100-$500 on information products, you may consider creating CD series and MP3s that contain more information compare to your ebooks. This endeavor will require a small initial investment as you will need to get recording tools and equipments. These include mixing board, microphone, computer with sound card, and editing software. You will also need to rent a professional recording studio to ensure that your products will be free from hiss or other annoying background noises.

3. Offer high ticket information products. If you are targeting people who do not have any problem shelling out up to $12,000 on information products, I highly recommend that you launch bootcamps, seminars, one-on-one coaching, Webinars, advanced coaching/teleseminar programs, etc. These products will help you pass on your expertise to your customers so they can do more things in their lives. This endeavor will require a lot of research, preparation, careful planning, precise execution, etc. Remember, you need to make sure that you'll only offer the best as you expect your customers to pay thousands of dollars for you offerings.

About the Author
Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article writing success, 'Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide' Download it free here: Secrets of Article Writing

Do you want to learn how to build a big online subscriber list fast? Click here: Secrets of List Building

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 9034 articles in print and 14 published ebooks.

Personal Loans to Pay Off Credit Card Debts? Not Bad!

Get Rid of Your Credit Card Debts Fast

It takes determination of steel to pay off credit card debts with personal loans and the strategy will not work for lesser mortals. But if you think you have what it takes, this can help you turn things around. If your credit card debt is in the area of $15000, you can use a personal loan to pay it off before penalties kick in. You won't be paying interests on your interests.

At a glance, interest rates of personal loans are higher compared to credit card interest rates, but the speed with which the interest on credit card debts pile up can wreck havoc on your budget and your peace of mind. Once you pay it off with a personal loan, you can rest easy knowing that there is nothing to worry about your credit score.

Personal loans can be paid in easy installments, it looks better on paper than the revolving credit of credit cards. The fact that a personal loan has no compounded interest makes it a better alternative to get rid of your credit card debts.

Get a Personal Loan Fast

The fastest draw to get personal loans is getting it from payday loan lenders, not from the loan sharks lurking in the workplace. Most payday lenders have online application forms that you can fill up easily with the required information. Within hours or the next day, the money is deposited in your bank account.

To get fast approval, fulfill all the requirements of an online payday lender such as:

* Proof of employment - at least three months
* Recent pay slip - to show how much you are receiving in take home pay after deductions
* Checking or bank account - the money you borrow will be deposited to your account and your payment will be deducted from the same.
* Utility receipts - these will validate your home address.

What's the Best Personal Loan for You?

Like shopping for a mortgage, you need to be conscientious when shopping for a personal loan. Since personal loans are not created equal, so choose a loan program that has:

* Lower interest rates
* Flexible repayment schemes
* No requirement for any security other than proof of your employment
* No hidden fees
* Fast loan approval

Beat the Loan to the Finish Line

Earlier it was said that it requires someone with resolve to use a personal loan to pay off credit card debts. Don't mess with personal loans. If you are not careful, you will end up in more debt than before. Take the following steps to pay the loan on time:

* No matter how it hurts, pay the loan on due date.
* Try to live without the luxuries you've been used to even if it means you have to do without the daily newspaper or cups of coffee and cafeteria lunches.
* Always keep track of your payments and balances.

Lastly, read up on personal loans before you decide to get one because this is the best way to beat your credit card debts.

About the Author
Sue Jackson. Personal loans, quick loans, and fast loans from MoneyLoansCompany.com beat them to the draw when you want the fastest loan approval.

Why Do People Join Membership Sites?

Most people are suffering from information overload and need a place to find reliable, quality information amidst the hoards of questionable information that can be found online. People want to be able to save time when they need information and instead of spending hours even days researching a topic they can turn to a membership site where they can find in one location all the information they are looking for.

Membership sites can also save people money because the membership is often offered products or services at a discount.

People join membership sites because they save time and money!

People also join membership sites to be able to share with others who enjoy the same interests. You can learn a lot from other people sharing stories of how they grew such and such a plant or played a great game of golf. People join book club sites and cooking membership sites to enjoy learning new things and sharing hobbies that they have in common with others. Most membership sites have forums or chat rooms that facilitate a "community setting" that encourages members to chat with each other.

People join membership sites for the opportunity to share with those who have a common interest so that they can learn from others and have an online community to be a part of.

People also join membership sites to improve skills or receive an education. There are many mentorship or tutorial membership sites online that offer members the chance to learn a new skill or improve an existing skill. Many business membership sites show individuals how to run a business online or how to work from home. Knowledge is powerful and many members agree that membership sites are one of the best ways to increase your knowledge on most any subject.

People join membership sites to increase their knowledge about a subject or to learn a new skill, even to earn a living by gaining valuable information from those who are already earning a living doing something that are willing to teach others.

Some people join membership sites because of the bonuses, or prizes that are given to members for being part of the membership site. Some sites offer discounts to members, or give monthly awards even run regular competitions. Membership sites are always finding new ways to reward members for being loyal and participating in the workings of the site.

People join membership sites for the extra rewards and goodies that membership site owners often give to members as a way of saying thank you for being a part of the membership.

Sometimes membership site members are given the opportunity to earn money through the site like when they participate in affiliate programs run by the membership site.

People join membership sites for the opportunity to make money through what the site offers.

The reasons people join membership sites vary but could be to save time or money, share common interests with others, be a part of a community of others who like what they like, increase or gain knowledge, because of the extra rewards, bonuses, discounts, or prizes and also some people join membership sites in order to make money.

About the Author
Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article writing success, 'Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide' Download it free here: Secrets of Article Writing

Do you want to learn how to build a big online subscriber list fast? Click here: Secrets of List Building

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 9034 articles in print and 14 published ebooks.

Affiliate Marketing Tips - 3 Blunders to Avoid at All Costs

Lots of marketers tell you what to do when it comes to affiliate marketing. The problem is, very few marketers tell you what NOT to do. Unfortunately, the blunders that you make can be more costly than all the proper steps that you take. One mistake can undo a world of good. So in this article, I'm going to share with you three blunders that you need to avoid at all costs. If you do this, you'll give yourself a decent chance at being a successful affiliate marketer.

At the very top of the list is probably one of the biggest blunders that affiliate marketers make. I call it jumping on the bandwagon. Don't know what I mean? Well, tell me if this doesn't sound familiar. The latest and greatest product of the day comes out and you're all over it like a cheap suit.

You and 500 other affiliates are all promoting the same product. Well, unless you have some serious marketing chops, your chances of making any significant sales at all are slim to none. And yet, this is what most new affiliates do and then they wonder why they're failing.

Next on the blunder parade is how you actually go about marketing the product. This is where laziness usually takes over. See, most affiliates will simply write to the product creator and ask him for any canned ads that he might have. Now, any good product creator will have a few of these. Unfortunately, he doesn't have enough of them to go around to 500 affiliates. What happens is that each affiliate is promoting the product with the same ads. As a result, nobody stands out. This greatly contributes to the reason why so many affiliates don't make any money.

Finally, there is your reputation. This is the last thing that marketers think of. Unfortunately, it should be the first thing everybody thinks of. Okay, what am I talking about? Well, how many marketers promote products that are pure garbage? I'm not going to point any fingers, but you know it's true. Well, let me ask you a question. If you promote a substandard product and people buy it from you, do you think they're going to buy the next product that you recommend? Trust me, they won't.

There you have it. Those are the top three blunders to avoid at all costs. If you do this much, you'll give yourself a decent chance at being a successful affiliate marketer.

About the Author
Tired of being an affiliate failure? Want to turn yourself into an affiliate assassin like I am? Want to land in the top 20 of every affiliate promotion you tackle just like I do? Check out my site at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/affiliateassassin/index.html and start earning a solid income as an affiliate marketer.

What Corporates should know about Online Marketing

The most important function of a website is to help a company to sell their services/products to new clients.

When potential new clients/tourists need to choose between two companies with whom they aren't familiar, they are most likely to compare the websites. This is because a website is almost the only method for a person to actually see beforehand what he/she pays for. In general, more than 90% of these potential new client's decisions are decided upon the impression that is reflected from the website, regardless of the competence of these companies. The general truth is that most potential clients do not know how to technically compare companies, and therefore trust that the website's professionalism will reflect the expertise.

Therefore large amounts are invested in corporate website development.

Unfortunately most companies tend to overlook the importance of building a trusted web presence. Without having a web presence with authority almost no new visitors will end up at your website. And since every company wants to expand, they need to focus on improving their web presence in order to increase the chance of getting new customers.

The best and most effective long term solution to increase your web presence is known as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). It is a highly specialized field that focus on improving the amount of trust the rest of the world will have in your website. The more trust you have, the more potential new clients will visit your website daily.

The amount of trust your website has, is most of the time determined by search engines (for example Google, Yahoo, etc.). This is because the search engines have the most advanced mathematical algorithms available today, hence the acronym, SEO. Of all these search engines, the world's most accepted benchmark of website trust is known as the Google rank (or page rank) of your website. Therefore, if you could increase your Google rank, your number of new visitors to your website will most certainly increase.

Google Rank of well known organisations' home page:

4/10: Pick n Pay, Steers, KWV, News 24
5/10: Anglo Gold, Checkers, Spur, Shoprite, Nedbank, Old Mutual
6/10: Anglo American, Absa, Stellenbosch University, Telkom, MTN, Vodacom, Mobil, Virgin, Standard Bank, Die Burger, Sasol
7/10: McDonald's, Ford, General Electric, Nike, Coke
8/10: General Motors
9/10: Microsoft, eBay, Amazon
10/10: Google, Facebook

Another reason why Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is so important is because of the quality of the traffic (website visitors) you receive on your website. If somebody visits your website due to a search engine query, as opposed to other reasons (such as typing in the web address/clicking on a link from another website, etc), the new visitor will most likely already be looking for your services. For example, if someone types in the word "wine" in Google, they are probably looking for wine. So if your site comes up first on Google you can probably sell a bottle of wine if your offering is satisfactory. The contrary is that the person accidentally lands on your website, but has no immediate desire for the product or services.

Please note that it is possible to buy quality traffic, but this is expensive (depending on the product value and competition) and only effective in the immediate short term i.e. while it is active. SEO has a long term cumulative effect and is relatively inexpensive to maintain once a certain level of optimisation is reached.

Tips when hiring SEO experts:

- Whenever using a company in order to improve your SEO, always check out the Google Rank of their website. Since SEO is not that well known in management circles, there is a lot of companies that will try to sell SEO skills while there own SEO are terrible.

- Also try to get some form of guarantee. It is very rare that marketing companies ever give guarantees about the effects of their efforts, but if they actually do, you know they are serious about their skills.

- Try to get clear benchmarks to calculate the results of the SEO campaign. For example monitor the number of visitors that your website receives that came from natural search engine queries during and after the time of your campaign. (If your marketing team don't know how to get these figures, don't use them!)

- Make sure your SEO team have a clean record. Sometimes SEO companies may get desperate in order to get results and might step over the moral line by trying to fool search engines with unnatural 'black hat' methods. When caught out, these websites are usually banned from search engines and will not show in any search result. To look into any company's track record simply Google them. Disgruntles clients tend to write their bad experience in public forums that will normally be listed in Google's search results just below the company's own website.

Good luck with your marketing campaign!

About the Author
Wim Conradie is a majority shareholder in Matogen Corporate Web Development (www.matogen.com). He studied electronic engineering, computer sciences & industrial engineering at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa and started first web development business in November 2003. He has a 'passion for business and adding value to other busnesses'.

Can Someone Really Make Money Online From Home?

This has to be one of the biggest questions being asked every where in the world today. The internet is only one of the places where we are being bombarded with advertisements that claim instant riches. You could spend a small fortune just trying to weed through all of the scams on the market today. There are some very reputable companies that are working with people to make some very good extra incomes. But they tell you up front it is going to take an investment of time, money, and hard work on your part to make it work. You have to remember that the money is not going to fall off a tree so you will have to put a lot of effort into Your Business.

You need to put yourself in the mind set that it is a business and it is yours. It is totally up to you if it will be a success or failure. You have to suffer through the bad times just like any business before you get to the pay off. I've seen the Ads that talk about how easy it is and they pay actors to tell you how amazing it is to see people becoming rich over night. Let's be real about it, if it was that easy why would anyone pass it up. We should all be extremely wealthy if this were true.

Before you even get started you need to gain the knowledge it takes to handle an online business. Now this was the surprising part for me because I thought like most people it would take college to learn all of it. I was amazed to find that there were 100's of free online training programs. Just type it into your favorite search engine and you can start learning today. But don't get overwhelmed because there is a lot to learn. But you can do it at your own pace and it cost you nothing. Just print out a few pages each day and read them more then once if need be and then practice with a few of the ideas. Your confidence will build over time and you will be well on your way to earning a decent income.

Wouldn't it be nice if tomorrow you could go to work and tell your boss you weren't coming back? That is the vision you need to keep in your mind that will give you all the motivation you need. And yes anyone can do it if that stay with it and want it bad enough. I wish you all the best in your efforts and in the new path that your about to go down.

About the Author
Mark Owens is owner of NoMoreLabor.com and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about starting your own home based business earning 6 streams of income visit http://www.nomorelabor.com and remember to sign up for our free newsletter.