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Just about every business owner I know wants to get in on Podcast marketing but does not have a really solid understanding of what this technology has to offer. Most think that it is just a MP3 file that is placed directly on the website, however, podcasts are strategically placed mp3 or audio type files on your site created with an rss feed. The rss feed is then used to mass distribute the audio file to podcasting sites like iTunes, Yahoo Podcasts, Podcast Alley and many more. It is a fairly simple technology that requires some amount of know-how, but it can be a very effective tool for you to attract customers to your website.

The idea of podcasting is simple enough, and as a marketer, you will want to consider podcasting as another means of reaching your customer base. Obviously, the more directions in which you attack the marketing problem, the better. Whether it is television, the radio, or the internet, you will need to be able to reach your target audience from several different outlets. Podcasting offers a new way of reaching the internet market. It is a way to reach your viewers without making them have to read through countless pages of web site material. As of today, podcasting has not fully realized its potential in the business world and most podcasts have been used for only personal purposes. It remains an untapped technology that many business owners may not have yet considered.

What I am referring to is Podcast Marketing. Through Podcast Marketing, the objective is to broadcast your audio file to as many listeners as you can possibly reach. Websites that use podcasting technology have taken off like a rocket over the last few years and they have now become so important that even presidential candidates are using their services to reach out to the internet viewer.

Most of what you find on podcasting and various other open media sites are limited to personal downloads meant only for entertainment, and they have not reached their full potential as advertising venues. For example, many situational comedy shows now offer podcasts that can be played while viewing a live episode. This type of podcast is mainly used to enhance the experience of the viewer, and they are usually played for entertainment purposes only. To find a list of PodCast Marketing sites, try out the following link: List of PodCasts Sites

Before I get into the technical details of podcasting, I would like to note that there are several companies out there that are selling these services without the proper knowledge or expertise to really help you. They do not have a full understanding of how podcast marketing really works, or what it can offer to you, the client. This guide will help you in this regard. You will be able to see that we do have a breadth of knowledge concerning this service, and that our expertise is worthy of your attention. We want to ensure that you have to spend as little time as possible in researching podcasting companies and we are confident that we can offer you a truly valuable product. Simply review our guide and you will see that we can clearly help you.
The 5 steps of Powerful PodCast Marketing:

1. Always have a plan of attack. There are various formats used to create a pod cast and you need to understand exactly what format will benefit you the most. You can post an audio file of an Interview or Commercial to boost your product. In addition, you can just make a recording of yourself as you talk about your particular industry. In any case, make sure your recordings are informative and interesting to listen to. Also be sure to mention your domain name clearly in the podcast so your listeners will know exactly where to find the services that you offer.
2. Have a few of your friends or colleagues listen to your podcast and give you their feedback on their interest level, the clarity of the audio and other factors. Keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be an absolutely perfect audio file. So long as your message is clear you will find success.
3. Make sure to have a valid rss / xml feed created on your site and upload your mp3 directly onto the site as well. Be sure to include a title and brief description of the recording to go along with your podcast. If you are not familiar with how to create the rss / xml feed, we can help you with that as well. Simply click this link for more information on rss / xml feed or you can always go with wordpress and have a special podcasting plugin installed. Once such plugin is found here
4. Test your audio file and make sure that it can be heard by other listeners. In addition, you will want to ensure that the rss / xml feed validates. In order to test your feed, we have provided you with the following link
5. Finally submit your rss / xml feed to as many podcast directories as you possibly can. This may be a bit tedious and a time consuming process, but it will be worth it because the end results can be quite remarkable. In many cases, you will be required to choose a category and add some details, but the work should not be that difficult.

Now that your podcast is broadcasted, the marketing effect will really begin to kick in. This is a very effective and powerful way to market your product online. With the rapid advances in technology, it will only be a matter of time when you will be able to access these types of broadcasts on a television set. The more avenues with which you can market your products or services will only be a benefit to you. The recent advances in handheld device technology, iTunes, Hand Held phones, as well as many other devices will help ensure that podcasting will remain a staple for your core marketing needs. Why not give it a try? You have everything to gain for only a minor investment or your time.

Author:  JD Theis – Writer for http://www.the-content-writers.com. A historian first and talented writer for web copy, seo content & print materials, JD has an uncanny way about him that allows him to take any industry and make it sound fantastic!

When it comes to using blogs for marketing your business, you can’t afford to waste time and money. You want to make your online presence a success. Therefore, you need to know everything you can about blog marketing. You want to spend as much time as possible in learning the basics about using your blog to bring in profits. You can literally make tons of money on an automatic system once you have it down.

Although, there are thousands of blogs on the Internet, there are common mistakes that beginners make. The difference between knowing these do’s and don’ts can mean the difference between losing business and growing huge profits.

To become an expert on blog marketing, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist. You just have to know some simple yet crucial principles.

1. You need to install your own blog on your own web site. This means having your blog on your business website sub domain. Do not setup a blog on a third party domain. Your blog is your network and belongs with your main site.
2. When you blog, you always want to take time out to link your posts to any related pages on your web site.
3. Many Internet blogs don’t publish under a specific categories. Many people just put up a blog and then start writing. Relevance is everything, You want to use your time wisely and get the maximum benefit out of it. Successful blogs need to be fine tuned. They need to cover every subject matter of the business. This makes them come up as an authority site with Google and Yahoo, MSN, and the  blogosphere as a whole.
4. Don’t just post  on the blog here and there. You want to post on a regular basis. Optimum is if you post at least Monday through Friday. You want to make sure that you have fresh content on the blog. Many people will stop coming to your blog if they think it has been abandoned. Conversely, they will check your blog regularly if they see new and interesting information on a daily basis.
5. Your blog categories and keywords should always match your keywords on the main web site. Make a list of keywords and create articles based on those keywords. They need to be in harmony with the rest of your site.
6. When the meta tags, urls and the content are not in harmony with each other the blog is wasted. It all needs to fit together. Your meta tags need to contain the same keyword as your content.
7. Most important is that you use a blog (publishing) platform that has as much horsepower as possible, if you want the max take a look at what the experts build for business on the web here @ www.rssapplied.com

These are just the basic principles of using blog marketing for profit. Common mistakes in blog marketing can cost you thousand of lost dollars. Therefore, you want to be sure that you use the above six steps in getting the most out of your blogs. In the next article, we’ll talk more about blog marketing and some advanced techniques you can use to help you get the maximum out of your blogs.

Now that you’ve gotten the basics of what to do and not to do with your blog, you’re probably wondering about the content. When it comes to blog marketing, a lot of people are simply writing things that pop into their head. Still, others are writing nothing but sales pitches into their blogs.

Blogs should not be about sales. They should be about information. Your aim is to connect with your market on a more personal level. Of course you don’t write personal information about your life story into the blog, but you do get personal in the sense that you give vital information to the reader.

What kind of information should you write to better market your blog and business? That is a good question. The best way to find out is to ask your market what it is that it is looking for. This may include doing keyword research with different keyword software programs such as WordTracker or Nichebot. You can also set up Ask Campaigns. This is where you email your list and ask them what their three most important questions are about your service or product.

From those responses, you will see certain questions being asked over and over again. Keep a list of those questions and that is what you begin to answer in your blogs. If you have an FAQ on your website, you can elaborate on those questions in your blog. Then, by finding out the most popular keywords in your industry, you weave those keywords into the blog posts.

This is often easier said than done, and in the end you want to balance search engine optimization with human and reader friendly blog posts. Research and collect marketing information. Keep your eye out on trends and public buzz in the industry. Study your competition. Notice any problems or questions that they fail to answer and then turn around and address those problems in your blog. Study the lingo or the language your market uses. For example, in the self-improvement industry a lot of people use the term “prosperity” or “wealthy” instead of “loaded”. Use the same kind of lingo that your readers are used to in order to make a connection with them.

Stay away from trying to sell anything in your blog. If you do sell something, make it very subtle so as not to come across as an advertisement. Another thing you want to do when it come to an effective blog marketing strategy is to write content on key business topics. Also, let your readers interact. Answer comments. This makes your blog more real to them and gets them involved. The fact that you are making people get involved with your blogs is an outstanding blog marketing strategy, because it keeps people coming back. Now they have invested something personal into it.

You also want to make your blog attractive. Pictures and banners can help, but don’t make your blog marketing strategy focus on just graphics. Words are power. Keep a good balance between the two, and if you have to choose one over the other, then words always win. In the end, you want to make your blog authentic. People are smarter than you think, and they can sense if a blog is just there to make money or if it is also there to help them. Make authenticity part of your overall blog marketing strategy and you will definitely be profitable.

Author:  Eric Thom, offering blog marketing services with proven results. Use RSS Applied services for building powerful blogs and proper training to incredibel results.

With increased internet competition and search engine scrutiny, it’s no wonder that web business owners lose business, become discouraged and drop out of the rankings.

But there’s one saving grace that can help keep web businesses afloat. It’s content.

In recent years the debate has heated up over what is required to keep websites ranked well among the search engines, but one thing we can all agree on is the need for quality, useful content. You needed it ten years ago and you still need it today.

There are many ways to provide your site with useful content however your challenge will be to keep it unique, easy to read, interesting, informative and regularly updated.

Here are a few content rich ideas that will help you achieve those goals:

1. Provide Editorials
   This is your own personal opinion about a story or event rather than an objective approach you often see in the newspaper. Editorials provide food for thought and invite viewer opinions.

   You can write editorials yourself or you can urge your visitors to write relevant editorials for placement on your site. A good editorial will keep your site interesting and colorful.

2. Provide Articles or How-To Guides
   Write articles or have them written for you. Use your articles to offer tips, facts, resources and information that your viewers might be interested in. Write articles with the intention of offering a solution to a problem. Readers also appreciate it when you include your own personal experiences and suggestions.

   Similarly offer a how-to guide that offers step-by-step instructions or advice on how someone can achieve a desired goal or learn how to do something.

3. Provide a Knowledge Base / Glossary of Terms
   Post a question and answers page and/or a glossary of terms. Both will provide a comprehensive knowledge base of information related to your site’s topic.

   A glossary of terms is a perfect way to help educate your viewers and clarify confusion. Also, as new questions come across your desk, they can be added to your Q&A page, expanding and updating your content on a regular basis.

4. Provide News Stories
   Post the latest news stories related to your site’s topic. Simply post a news item you find interesting and relevant and write a brief 2-3 line summary. Below the summary attach a link to the full story.

   Remember to post only articles that are recent and relevant. Old or off-topic pieces will result in lost visitors.

5. Offer Contests or Surveys
   Posting a contest or a survey allows your viewers to be interactive with your site.

   Contests are unique because they can make your site ’sticky’ meaning your visitors will check back frequently. Additionally, conducting surveys will provide you with information about your visitors and what they are looking for but once your survey has been completed and tallied, you can post the information to your site.

   People love to enter contests and offer their opinion. Both options offer unique ways to get your audience involved and provide you with interesting content.

6. Provide Guest Interviews
   Find an expert in your field and ask them to consider doing an interview with you. Compose a number of relevant or burning questions that you can ask your guest speaker. You can later post the question & answer interview to your website.
7. Post a Calendar of Events
   Offer a calendar of events that pertains to your site’s topic. For example, if you have a site for runners, offer a calendar of marathon events. Your viewers could come to rely on you for such events encouraging return visits.
8. Provide Product Reviews
   If you have purchased a product that your viewers may be interested in, post a product review. This not only adds original content, it creates credibility and establishes you as an informative resource. This form of content is also ideal when offering affiliate products.
9. Post a forum on your site.
   A forum often provides your visitors with candid, honest information. Visitors can also post comments, questions, articles and opinions. A forum not only allows visitors to add their content, they can also help you network and build joint ventures.
10. Create a Blog
    Blogs are easy to create, they offer a variety of information sources on a huge number of specific topics and the search engine spiders love them. That’s because blog content is updated in real time offering its visitors news and information that isn’t readily available anywhere else.

Author:  Elizabeth McGee has been a top resource for online marketing success since 2001. Her talent and experience gets YOU results. Get her Free Newsletter & Online Traffic e-book at: http://www.homenotion.com

In short, expired domain names are a GOLDMINE. Better yet, they are a goldmine on autopilot because making money with expired domain names does not really require any active work.

First of all, for those of you who may not know exactly what a domain name is, whenever you see YourWebsite.com or YourBlog.net, that is a domain name. In order to get a domain name for a website or a blog you need to register it with an appropriate company called a ‘domain name registrar.’

Domain names are pretty cheap (about 8 bucks a pop or so), and there are tens of thousands registered every single day.

When you register a domain name, this is not a permanent thing. Rather, you will register a domain name for a certain period of time, anywhere from one ot ten years usually.

Most people choose to register a domain name for only one year at a time, and in this case the domain name must be constantly renewed in order for the owner to keep it. Many times, when a domain name is approaching its expiration date, the owner will simply choose not to renew it.

How You Can Cash In On The Expired Domain Name Trend

So that is all well and good, but WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH MAKING MONEY??

Here is where the cool part comes in:

Every year or few years, the owner of a domain name must pay a registration fee or else the domain name itself will be back in the marketplace where anybody can buy it.

There are many reasons why an owner of a domain name would not renew it, including that they simply did not realize it was going to expire, they got sidetracked with other business ventures, or they simply decided that they did not want it anymore.

But the kicker is, when the domain name expires, there is still alot of traffic being directed to that site because of the previous owners promotion methods!

If you can redirect this traffic to your own site (especially if the topic of the website on the expired domain name was similar to your own website’s topic), you have a stream of new visitors coming to your website every day that is totally on autopilot.

If, as an individual or even a small business, you set out to acquire some expiring domain names for yourself, you would have a very difficult time going about this. It requires a sizeable amount of capital to be able to get into the expired domain name game an a large scale, and it is only on a large scale that you have massive success.

This is just a simple principle from Economics 101, people! ECONOMIES OF SCALE, which means the little guy doesn’t stand a chance. It’s the same reason that nobody can compete with Wal-Mart, because they have such a huge amount of working capital.

But, like the title of this section suggests, there IS a great way for the little guy to cash in on expired domain name traffic. There are a few companies out there that buy up expired domain names on a massive scale, which over time means that they have a continuous stream of TENS OF THOUSANDS of daily visitors which they can redirect to anywhere on the web they wish.

But instead of keeping this goldmine of traffic to themselves, they will allow anybody to submit their own website address and have some traffic redirected their way, which is very affordable and efficient for the little guy with a small budget.

This can be a great option for anybody who has a quality website but lacks a steady stream of visitors, as this is among the cheaper yet still effective of all marketing options.

Picking A Good Company To Get Traffic From

I will say right now up front that it IS possible to be scammed in this arena. Be on the lookout for unscrupulous companies who pander to the hopes and dreams of aspiring internet marketers, and then run away with their cash.

What is it that differentiates a legitimate company from a scam in this area? One thing is that a legitimate company will always have testimonials from customers about their service, and a scam will not.

A legit company will also be very upfront about what their entire operation is, and they will explain it in terms that even an internet newbie can understand. A scam company will take the approach of providing little quality information, perpetuating the illusion that they know a lot about this industry and you should just trust them on this point and hand over your credit card info.

Basically, if you have spent a decent amount of time surfing the web, you will have developed an intuitive sense of when a site ‘just doesn’t feel right.’ So if you feel any internal alarms going off, simply click off the site and make sure you don’t give them your money. Most likely there will be absolutely no return on investment.

Author:  Richard Weber Author for http://www.FiveStepProfits.com. Find the one Expired Domain Name company we recommend in Step Four of our Five Step Profit Plan.

How do you beat Wikipedia, the world’s number one free online encyclopedia, managed by thousands of passionate (and unpaid) editors, and a darling of Google?

In case you didn’t realize, Wikipedia already ranks top 10 for almost all popular search engine queries and keywords. Wikipedia’s main page has a PR (PageRank) of 8 and the English home page has a PR of 9.

Almost every topic and keyword imaginable has been covered (or will soon be covered) by this digital encyclopedia of sorts. The fact is they have more in-depth and complete content compared to your website or blog, and the people writing this content don’t ask for payment. Tying to match Wikipedia in terms of content integrity and completeness is suicide.

So how do you beat a giant like this?

The answer is to NOT become another Wikipedia yourself.

Look at it this way - how many people actually read an encyclopedia?

Are you telling me that just because encyclopedias exist, no one sells a book? Not in the real world. In the real world people put encyclopedias in a dusty bookshelf and use them only a handful of times in a year. But they read magazines, they buy books, they attend events and they most certainly read blogs.

The only time you should be looking at an encyclopedia is when you need a point of reference when writing a serious publication or thesis. Encyclopedias are boring, and so is Wikipedia.

So here’s Gobala Krishnan’s 5-step process to beating Wikipedia:

1. Improve your writing style
   You must improve your writing. If your writing is similar to the boring (although concise) Wikipedia text, you’re doomed. Inject your personality and develop your own style of writing. My style of writing is very plain, direct and personal. Some people choose to write in a more poetic / scholarly way. Some people inject humor or use harsh words. Whatever it is, improve your writing because it will set you apart and create a loyal readership base.
2. Become more opinionated
   People sitting on the fence sooner or later fall over. You either like something or hate it. If you’re neutral, you’re Wikipedia. Don’t become the best encyclopedia around; become the most dramatic blogger or writer.

   Express your feelings for a certain product or service you’ve tried, even if it means you may lose some affiliate commissions from your honesty. It’s ok if some people hate the way you completely flamed a product or service. In the long run people will still prefer to read what you have to say then read a neutral page on Wikipedia.

3. Stay current and relevant
   Read up on your industry, and put yourself in a position where you understand not only the past, but also the present and future of certain topics in your market. Wikipedia can’t beat you if you can (based on your established position of an expert in a focused market) foretell the future and influence others to accept your views.

   As valuable as history is, people care mostly about today and tomorrow. If you are ahead of the market, or at least up-to-date with the latest developments, write about it and let people know.

4. Perfect your personal brand
   Make everything you write, everything you sell, your sites and your design smell, taste and feel like YOU. If it’s consistent enough, the moment someone looks at a site they would know it’s yours before they even read a line of text. Don’t brand yourself as a know-it-all; brand yourself as an expert in one specific field and people will love you for it.

   Wikipedia goes a mile wide and an inch deep. You need to go an inch deep and a mile wide.

   You are a brand. Market that brand, and your online business will take a turn for the better. Common marketing wisdom has already proven the power of unique branding.

5. Don’t put all your eggs in SEO
   Search engine optimization is great and all, but it only takes another 9 more Wikipedia type of sites to completely dominate the first page of Google. There’s absolutely no way you’re going to beat sites like that in terms of pure SEO.

   Focus more on social networking, making friends, finding new business partners, and creating more non-SEO-dependent sites. There are other ways to get traffic to your blogs than just search engines, so get creative. If you’re stuck with the idea of “Write great content and the traffic will come”, you’re in for a big surprise.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is that you cannot beat Wikipedia (or any other big content site for that matter) at it’s own game. But if you change your game, as far as your online business is concerned, you’ll always win.

Author:  Gobala Krishnan is a blogging enthusiast and direct marketing expert. Subscribe to his blog at http://www.gobalakrishnan.com for marketing information that will transform the way you look at your online business forever. If you’re new to blogging, download 2 chapters of his beginners guide to Wordpress at http://www.easywordpress.com

The popularity of web video on blogs has soared over the past year, and there is good reason why. Some may ask why web video is so popular on blogs, and there are many answers to that question. Firstly, the purpose of a blog is to share information with one’s self or others. The majority of computer users are usually literate; however this is not always the case. Web video will provide an opportunity to hook their attention and give them a grasp of the concept without having to understand a word. Secondly, there are a lot of internet users who are simply to busy to read a website’s information- web video creates the opportunity to hook their attention which may have otherwise been lost on your wording of the blog/website.

For many people reading blogs or websites is something they do while doing something else- take the example of an office worker who is working but flicking back and forward between your blog. Whether the individual is just doing other things on the computer, or they are actually away from the computer but watching the video as if it were the television, the individual that is doing the viewing is able to multi-task in a way that they would be unable to do without the video on the blog. This simply helps to smooth out a person’s life so that they can do other things at the same time, should the individual be in a hurry or want to multi-task. You are creating opportunity to reach more potential viewers and customers!

Not everyone who is reading your blog will have the attention span to absorb the information you want them too, nor be able to absorb it in a timeframe that they want to. When an individual is not able to read something quickly, they may not be as inclined to work on reading a blog that they may otherwise be interested in reading. In order to make up for this, many people will post web videos on their blog sites in order to capture the attention of an individual that may be either viewing the videos on the blog or reading the blog itself. If a person sees a web video that they are interested in, they may be more likely to read the blog or website that coincides with it, even if they struggle with reading- all because they enjoyed your video content. A Blog without web video would be neglecting such potential viewers/customers.

Now that you have decided to incorporate web video into your blog, the next logical step is to submit your video to Youtube.com as well. This will drive traffic and interest to your Blog based solely on the video you are displaying on your blog. The way it works is that when you submit your video to Youtube you include a list of tags- which is the same thing as keywords. When users type in these keywords depending on the relevance your video will show up. This means that you have a captive audience interested in the material in your web video, which if they choose to visit your blog or website will more likely result in a sale or positive traffic flow. So, join Youtube today and follow the steps to upload the video you are displaying on your Blog.

The next step is to drive search engine traffic directly to your Youtube video. I believe the best way to do this is via social bookmarking. Join www.onlywire.com and submit the address of your Youtube video to all the popular social bookmarking directories. Again you can include tags which will drive traffic to your video based on the key search terms in relation your Blog web video. This will essentially cast a ‘web’ of links on social bookmarking directories to your video. Onlywire is a fantastic website that will allow you to drive free traffic to all your Blogs and Websites.

In this instance the viewer may skim or completely ignore the blog in question. We live in a fast paced lifestyle, and people expect to be entertained and engaged immediately. Utilizing web video software on your blog will only increase your chances of attention and potential sales if that is what you seek to achieve via your blog.

Author:  Peter Johnson, Provider of easier ways to put Web Video on your Blog or Websites

The way Google handles search is changing. You may not have heard of universal search yet, but it is going to affect the way your website and your company show up in search engine results, at least for Google. You may have noticed that pictures, videos and even press releases are showing up alongside websites in regular search engine results.

You need to develop a strategy to meet these changing search conditions, and that means optimizing more than just your website landing page. Images, videos and articles are all parts of your site that could be working harder for your company. Here are five tips to help universal search work for you.

Stop the presses

Make sure your press releases and company news are getting into Google News and Yahoo News. If you’re not doing press releases, you should seriously consider it. Press releases will give you one more chance of showing up in the search engine results beyond your web page. Press releases also give people looking for information about your company the chance to see you in the best light. If you play your cards right, you might get some publicity out of the deal as well.

This is the perfect chance to one-up the competition and highlight your company as an industry leader. Even if you think you have no news, you can comment on industry trends or recent studies relating to your business. The more you get your name out there, the more results you will ultimately see.

Don’t overlook images

Images are already starting to show up in search results based on text around them and the description text in the HTML image tags. It’s not difficult to get images onto your site. You can include pictures of past projects, process illustrations, graphs and charts related to your business or industry. A little creativity in this aspect of your website can pay off with your images showing up in Google search results.

Once you have the images in place on your website, make sure the search engines can find them. Pay attention to your image ALT tags, captions and surrounding text so your images show up. Always be sure to have keyword-rich descriptions with your images and use descriptive names for your files as well.

Capitalize on video content

Presentations, training videos, interviews and commercials could all be working harder for your company. Don’t let these just sit on the server when they could be showing up in search engine results and providing even more results for your site.

Consider creating a multimedia page where customers can view these and where search engine spiders can locate them. Again, be sure to have keyword-rich titles and descriptions so search engine spiders will know what they are seeing. You might also consider distributing your videos to YouTube for extra exposure and another chance to show up in the search engine results.

Make sure search engines can get to your content

Do you know if your site is easily accessible by search engine spiders? Flash-heavy sites, improper redirects and broken links can thwart your best SEO efforts. Remember, search engine spiders see your website differently than a normal user. They are looking for content and links, and it is in your best interest to be sure they can navigate your site with ease.

Above all, spiders need clear text links. Uploading a new page to your web server, while personally gratifying, may as well be invisible if you do not provide links from your main site. If you don’t lay down a clear link path throughout your site, search engines may never find your content. Site maps are an essential tool for making your content search-engine friendly. Make sure yours is updated regularly and submitted to Google with the proper formatting.

Don’t ruin your hard work

While it’s important to prepare for the future, don’t overlook the basics. Keyword-rich text and title still matter for your web pages. Quality links to your site are still essential SEO components. Just because you’ve discovered new Internet toys doesn’t mean that you should turn away from the tried-and-true methods. Use both for maximum results.

By taking the time to ensure every aspect of your website is ready for universal search, you maximize your chances of getting your name in front of potential clients and customers. Follow these tips and jump to the front of the search engine multimedia race.

Author:  President and founder of Xeal Inc., Tony D. Baker is Oklahoma’s leading Internet marketing expert with over 10 years of Internet marketing experience. You can catch Tony on the Xeal Radio Show on Sunday nights on 1170 KFAQ Tulsa or visit www.Xeal.com to sign up for a free website analysis on Xeal’s Weekly Webinar.

Picture, if you will, a Rocky-style montage. A team is involved in website creation from the ground up. A driving, inspirational song begins. The first scene is a highly contentious meeting, with a sweating and nervous marketing executive frantically drawing away at a whiteboard in front of a hostile audience. Flash to copywriters, fingers cracked and bleeding, churning away at their keyboards. Jump to web designers, sporting blurred eyes rimmed with dark circles, peering into their monitors in obvious discomfort. Finally, we see signs of it all coming together. A beautiful home page briefly appears. The music ends.

A bell rings. And… Nothing happens. The website would seem to have tripped over its own shoelaces and fallen right through the canvas, disappearing into cyberspace. The credits roll, to the eternal shame of those whose names appear.
What went wrong?

The team engaged in website creation without any regard for the role of the search engine spider. You see, there is quite a difference in what is seen by humans on a website and what is seen by a search engine “spider” (a program that routinely combs the Internet indexing websites). There are an untold numbers of expensive websites out there that are beautiful to behold from a human perspective, yet all but invisible to search engine spiders (and thus searchers), just as there are untold numbers of expensive, beautiful yachts silently and pointlessly resting on the ocean bottom in the Bermuda Triangle.

What follows is a small list of common website elements, broken into two categories: what search engines can see, and what they can not.
Three Things a Search Engine Spider Can’t See

Graphic text - Most professionals involved in website creation take great pride in their work, which is obviously a desired trait. Occasionally, however, this can present problems. When a web designer decides to use text in a graphic form (meaning that the text is actually an image), the search engine spider can not read what that text says. A common reason for a designer to use text in a graphic is because he or she wants to use a rare font that most visitors won’t have on their machines. Another reason is that the designer wants to have absolute control over how the website text renders. When faced with the choice over which kind of text to use, it is important to weigh the aesthetic choice against the potential loss of search engine visibility.

Images - As touched upon above, a search engine spider is not yet able to look at images or pictures and determine what they are (although you can and should attach a tag to them which the spider can read - commonly referred to as an “alt” tag). A spider will skip directly over your logo and masthead, any pictures, and most other graphical elements.

Flash - Search engine spiders will not read through the text in any Flash animation on your site (or any other animation). This does not mean that using Flash elements will render your site invisible; it merely means that you should not count on the text that appears in any Flash animation on your website to be indexed. If the team responsible for your website creation decides to build the entire site in Flash, however, you will encounter unique problems. While some search engines are getting better at trying to index websites built entirely on this platform, it is still an overall rankings killer. If you must have a website created entirely in Flash, it is wise to also have an alternate HTML version for search engines and people who prefer HTML sites.
Three Things a Search Engine Spider Can See

HTML text - A search engine spider relies heavily on HTML text to determine what a web page is about. Spiders, therefore, index HTML text and will even make distinctions between differences in how the text is presented. For example, text that is in a headline or is bolded is assumed to be slightly more important than regular text.

Links - Outgoing links on your pages are easily understood by the spider, especially if they are text links. The wording of these links (or the alt tags attached to them) can, like HTML text, give the spider an idea of what your page is about. However, there are certain types of links that are not easily indexed. If your website creation team embedded your links in a pull-down menu that utilizes JavaScript or other scripting language, most search engine spiders will not see them.

Tags - There are many kinds of tags, but not all are important for search engine optimization. Meta tags include the “keywords” tag, which should list keyphrases that describe the page. Another meta tag is the “description” tag, which should be one or two brief sentences that describe the page. Another tag, which is not actually a meta tag, but which has significant importance to search engine rankings, is the “title” tag. This tag contains the words that you will see in the blue bar at the top of your web page.

This list is by no means comprehensive - there are many other attributes that aren’t mentioned in this article. The primary message here is that companies should do their homework before engaging in website creation. There are thousands of resources available on the Internet that can answer your questions about any element you are considering adding before you build (or redesign) your site. Take the time to study each so that you can be sure you aren’t sacrificing your search engine rankings for the sake of something largely unnecessary.

As for the downtrodden website creation team mentioned earlier in the article, let’s remember that Rocky has been known to get beat down in the first fight but then to pull himself up from the floor and triumph in the end. The team will go back into training and eventually understand the Eye of the Spider. Cue the music…
Author:  Scott Buresh is managing partner of Medium Blue Internet Marketing. His articles have appeared in numerous publications, including ZDNet, WebProNews, MarketingProfs, Search Engine Guide, ISEDB, DarwinMag, SiteProNews, and PromotionData. Medium Blue is an Atlanta search engine optimization company that works with clients all over the country.

If you visit the popular “Internet Marketing Warriors” discussion forum, you’ll notice that I have nearly 7500 posts! If you were to visit any of several dozen other online forums and discussion boards, you’d also discover thousands of my posts.

The reason that I have so many posts to online forums and discussion boards is that I have found them a very effective marketing tool. I use online forums to:

1. Allow potential customers and joint venture partners to actually get a feel for who I am.
2. Share my knowledge on topics that I understand, while at the same time generating links back to my sites.
3. Get quick answers to questions I have and quick feedback on ideas that I have.
4. Conduct market research - investigating the problems, concerns, needs, wants, and quirks of my markets.
5. Getting a feel for potential clients and joint venture partners.
6. Getting feedback on products and services that I’m considering purchasing, marketing or developing.

As you can see, forums can be very useful for many purposes. Since I am in business online, I think of much of what I do on forums as “marketing.” In that regards, there are certain rules that I follow and recommend that you do too.

Let’s look at some of my “secret” or often unspoken rules for forum marketing.

1. Don’t be anonymous. People buy from people that they know, like and trust. If they don’t even know who you are, can’t find a link to your sites, and have no clue who they’re dealing with, they can’t “know” you… let alone like and trust you.

   Use your real name in your profiles, include links to your websites, and include a photo. You don’t need to tell them everything about yourself, but people do buy from their friends, and I’m certain that you know “who” your friends actually “are.”

2. Be courteous. For some reason, people are often ultra-rude, more aggressive, and just plain “nasty” in online interactions. The person that you’re being mean to may be an ideal customer or joint venture partner. Why would you kill the relationship before it can even begin. Also beware that others observe your interactions and take permanent (subconscious notes).
3. Consider the long-term consequences of your posts. When you make a comment, accusation, or attack someone on a public discussion forum, your words often become a “permanent” part of the search engines databases. So, even if you later apologize or point out that you were mistaken, when someone searches for a person or company’s name in the search engines, they may encounter the inappropriate remark that you made. The title of that post is often the title that show in the search engine results! Many people will look no further after seeing your post “headlined” in the search engines!

   There’s really no easy, effective way to undo the damage once you’ve posted something to the database.

4. Don’t forget to leave ways for people to contact you. If the forum allows a signature file, use one. If the forum allows a profile, set one up. Use a username that tells who you are, and not something that you’ll later want to change
5. Optimize your posts. Given that search engines DO index your posts, you want to make sure that your keywords are in the right places, such as the title of the posts (and maybe in hyper-linked text). Busy forums are frequently spidered by the search engines and are therefore an excellent way to get your pet projects indexed!
6. Use images in your posts. Some forums allow you to post an image link underneath your post. Where that’s allowed, you often want to include a relevant image. Images naturally draw the eye to where you want to focus your readers’ attention… the link that you want them to click on.
7. Participate in popular threads. Many forums give you the count of how many views and/or posts a given thread has. It’s human nature to want to be “a part of” something popular. So people have a tendency to read threads that lots of others have read, and to post to threads that lots of others have posted to. Therefore, it follows that if you post to one of these threads you’re more likely to be a part of the noticed conversations than if you post to one that ONLY you posted to or read.
8. Don’t try to be deceptive. Many forums allow the moderators or visitors to readily identify forum users through features such as IP tracking. That means that when you use multiple identities on a forum to make your topic appear “more popular,” you are often only deluding yourself. People are alot smarter than some of us give them credit for, and they often quickly see through such ruses.

   You should acknowledge that if you can figure out a “sneaky” way to get an unfair advantage on a discussion forum, then those who’ve been a part of that community and using the same software for countless years have probably seen it all. So, your tricks are painfully obvious to them - even when they politely don’t “call you on it.” Instead the community will simply ignore you until you go away.

9. Post often but watch how much time you spend on forums. Participating in the discussion at online forums has generated countless clients, subscribers, business partners, and friends. That has made it a very worthwhile investment for me. As long as you don’t use participating in forums as a means of procrastinating, it can be very helpful for you too.

Using my secret forum marketing tactics, I have built a steady flow of business and traffic to my websites. It’s also an excellent way to build some real relationships. Frankly, it’s not even in my top 10 most effective methods of generating free website traffic. At the same time, I learned a lot of those other traffic generation techniques from online forums!

If you are curious as to what my top 10 free website traffic generation techniques currently are, visit: http://Top10TrafficGenerationTechniqes.com

Enjoy your time at online discussion forums. It allows you to market while also facilitating our need for social interaction. It is also a great way to market, as long as you remember “my secrets of forum marketing.”

Author:  Willie Crawford is an 11 year veteran of internet marketing. His websites run on near autopilot, with huge amounts of traffic generated with very few simple techniques. Discover these simple, free traffic generation strategies at: http://Top10TrafficGenerationTechniqes.com

If you sell a product or service, and want to be successful quickly, you must tell people about it through advertising and marketing.

TV, radio and newspaper are still considered the major media for effective marketing off-line.

However, a lot has changed with these top three marketing vehicles in the past 15 years.

In this article some critical changes are revealed that have occurred and how you can get the maximum impact for your advertising dollar.

Television is primarily an entertainment medium. Research shows the average person spends more time with television than with radio and newspaper combined. For many years, TV was considered the most powerful advertising choice because of the huge audience it provided. Even today, nearly everyone watches some TV every day.

There are three things you must consider before spending money on TV advertising - limited lifespan of your ad, audience fragmentation, and ad avoidance.

Keep in mind that once your ad has aired, it is gone for good. There is no way your potential customer can refer back to it. This fact makes it imperative that you run your ad many times to embed your message in the mind of the viewer. Frequency is important with any advertising, but especially broadcast.

Audience fragmentation is one of the major problems local broadcast television faces today.

At one time, a huge TV audience was split over only a few local channels. Community businesses could reach a large majority of their potential customers very quickly. Large national companies, such as Coke, only had to choose from the three major networks - ABC, CBS or NBC - to reach over 80% of the population.

Today, with cable and satellite TV, this same audience is now fragmented over 200 or more channels. The percentage of viewers on local TV has dropped dramatically. Yes you can run ads on cable and they will spread them out over ten or more channels. This shotgun advertising has not worked well for small businesses because many of these stations have only a half percent or less of the total viewers. And, what are the odds that they will be watching during the 15 or 30 seconds that your ad is presented?

Ad avoidance is also a very rapidly growing problem for TV today.

Because the public watches TV primarily for entertainment, they see advertising as an unwelcome interruption - not unlike the hated telemarketing. This was true 30 years ago but there was nothing a person could do about it except channel surf or leave the room. As you know this was, and still is, often done. Today, with TIVO, pay-per-view, public broadcast stations, and the multitude of satellite and cable channels, the public has shown a willingness to pay for reduced interruption from advertising.

Radio has similar problems. It is also primarily an entertainment medium. As such, advertising is also considered an interruption. Satellite radio is one of the fastest growing industries today primarily because people, again, are willing to pay to avoid commercials. In fact, most new cars have satellite radio built in.

Additionally, radio has evolved into an entertainment source for primarily driving, and background noise at work. If you buy any radio advertising, it should only be aired during drive time.

At home, radio use drops off. People can play CD’s or listen to satellite radio. This way they can choose exactly the music or programming they prefer without commercial interruption. The radio industry understands that folks do not want to be interrupted with advertising. Many times radio stations promote themselves by offering “more music, less commercials”.

Newspaperes have had their ups and downs, but have steadily maintained their local readership base and strength for local marketing. Even when radio, then TV, came on the scene, people still were loyal in reading their local newspaper.

Unlike TV and radio, advertising in a newspaper is not viewed as an interruption. In fact, one of the reasons people buy newspapers is for the advertisement content.

Surveys have shown among 15% and 23% of those buying a newspaper do so primarily for the advertising.

You see, people do want to see and read advertisements. They do want to - and need to - buy products and services. They just want the ads on their terms.

TV’s best day of the year is Superbowl Sunday, delivering nearly 40% of U.S. households. In striking contrast, newspapers consistently deliver well over 50% of your community households. They do it every day, 365 days a year. Now that is some serious marketing power.

Another advantage over broadcast that only newspapers can deliver is engagement of the consumer at the moment they are making a buying decision. When a person is reading your ad, it is because they choose to. At that time you have their full and focused attention. And the working life of your newspaper ad is enormous because it is physical and static. Your potential customer can refer back to it anytime they wish, or even cut it out.

You may have heard on TV or radio that newspaper subscriptions and readership are dropping. This is true. But it is not to the degree they would like you to believe.

What they do not tell you is newspaper on line versions are growing much faster than the 7% or so losses in subscriptions. In fact, you will find newspaper web sites are usually the busiest web sites in any community. Be sure you take advantage of this.

Now you can see why today’s trend among business people who are in-the-know is away from broadcast and back into the old, reliable newspaper. Most all the major stores are getting back to the basics and finding the print advertising to be the best return on investment. So will you.

Newspapers, of course, should not be your only advertising medium, but it is the solid foundation on which you build an effective marketing plan in today’s environment.

Author:  Dr. John E. Neyman, Jr. is owner of Leaders Excel in which he specializes in coaching, websites, and optimization. If you would like to grow in your leadership ability contact Dr. John at john@LeadersExcel.com or http://LeaderExcelSolutions.com