05.21.10

Executive Summary

Posted in About Ed Williams at 2:47 am by Administrator

From The Desk of…
Ed Williams
Business development Consultant

I was born in Belize on September 13th 1955. I begun my formal education at Wesley Infant school at an early age and failed my first year. I recall my grand mother who had taken me from my parents coming to school to meet with my teacher who proceeded to inform her that I was slow, a nice word for retarded. My grand mother the late great Beatrice Flowers was a boledo vendor and very sharp business woman who had raised her four boys by her self with absolutely no help from my grand father who had another family. She looked me in the eyes after that session with my teacher and told me that regardless of what anyone thought she knew I was smart and that teacher did not know what the hell she was talking about! I believed her. I went on to Wesley middle school where I met a famous teacher that made an impact on my life. We call her lovingly “Mother Collins” the late great Miss Ida Collins famous for very strict discipline that we all needed at that time. I must say she kept me straight and out of trouble!

Thank you very much Mother Collins!

I went on to Wesley College, graduated with honours and then St Johns, Junior College equivalent, graduating with an associate of Science degree. My very first job was as a science, math and Phys Ed teacher at my alma mata, Wesley College. Completed a one year contract after which I entered the government service as a cashier at the Government Treasury.

Thus began my four year degree in business at the University of life!
I later joined the Customs and Excise department as a Examiner. Worked my way up to a senior customs examiner and thats when I recieved my wake up call career wise! I caught the entrepreneural bug! Working with the Customs and Excise Department I spent years looking over the shoulders of Indian and Chinese Merchants who made more money in a day than I made in a entire year! To me this was like chinese torture! Thats when I realized the reason I did not continue on to becoming the engineer my dad wanted me to be. After all the engineer was but a highly paid puppet of the corporation. The CEO, the man on the great white horse was really who I wanted to be. In other words I didn’t want to work there… naaa I was more interested in ownership. This burning desire was the driving force that empowered me to put up with frustrations and humilliations for twenty plus years.

My dad was a mechanic and I as his first son of course wanted to follow in his foot steps. He proceeded to make sure I had the worst experience with that trade since as he put it “You don’t go to college to become a grease monkey.”Beg your pardon “Mechanics” I didn’t say that, that was one of Belizes best mechanics speaking!
Anyway he allowd me the pleasure of helping him only to persuade me in very creative ways that a mechanic was not what I wanted to be. I must say he succeeded especially after I tasted hot black wasted oil from an engine. I will never forget that lesson. I was under the vehicle following his instructions but he never told me that when I busted that bolt on the base pan that hot black oil would come gushing out of there!
Well guess what? I found out the hard way!
Kinda similar to the way he taught me how to swim!
Thank you so much Dad, I really appreciate you!

I shook loose from the Customs and Excise and migrated to lost Angeles in 1983, came back momentarily to tie up loose ends, then returned to Los Angeles in 1987 in pursuit of my dream. For twenty plus year I toiled and labored in Los Angeles as a small business owner and family man. I started out in the travel business with my first company I called “Belize Bookings” with partners John watler and Cliff White. As a Belizean I cherished the idea of promoting my country (our jewel in the heart of the Carribbean basin). John Watler is a Belizean and Cliff White deceased African American who at the time was in love with Belize. We had opened our doors for business just about the time a documentary about Belize had put Belize in the spotlight. We were one of the first to sell packaged adventure in Belize to travel agencies, institutions, dive clubs and individuals. Timing was right and business boomed that is until employee fraud caused us to close the doors. I then began working as a private contractor for Adler and Sons prime contractors for the bigs stores (Bullocks, Robinson and May company’s home services). Worked with them for a whopping two years to learn the business then left to pursue my dream, A Business Of My Own

The Uiversity of Life, Business Development Faculty!
So here I was, owner operator of a carpet cleaning business in Los Angeles. I bought a franchise Rainbow International Carpet Dying and Cleaning and settled in to serving my customers whilst moonlighting as a fitness trainer at Ballys to make ends meet for 4 years before transitioning to work with new Magic Johnson 24 hour fitness sales team. Plans were underway for the construction of a brand new facility from the ground up as we assembled a sales team and begun selling memberships even before the ground breaking ceremony. We begun with a small sales office with a back area where we had an excercise floor with a few equipments. We sold annual contracts financed by the bank by offering 1 week free memberships with a fitness trainer. I recalled an intensely competitive sales team and learned a lot about preselling and launching of such a facility. The Magic Johnson 24 hour Fitness Center was borned. After the facility was launched I continued to worked there for another three years whilst multi-tasking with my carpet business. Where that’s concerned I was pretty much “in” the business and as such made a lot of the mistakes we tend to make when our nose is too deep in things. Thats not an excuse for any mistakes – just a fact. During those years I discovered things about myself! Things I didn’t even know I didn’t know! I ended up in night school at West Los Angeles College, business administration faculty!

Fast forwarding to today, one nice thing about being able to sit on the outside is that you can see the blunders before they happen. As a ebusiness consultant If one of my clients is about to walk into a wall I can say,

“Hey Rudy, you might want to veer to the left about 10 degrees there, buddy. Good job, Rudy! You just missed the wall that gave me this scar right here. See?”

I didn’t have that luxury when I was at the helm, and I suspect you don’t right now, either. Knowing what I know now, I sure wish I did! So through this meduim I hope I can serve as a set of “eyes on the outside” a lighthouse that will guide your vessel safely into harbor. Click here to subscribe to my FREE ecourse on taking your income to the next level! You too can enjoy the lifestyle of the Rich and Famous.

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11.08.11

Make Your Life Easy And Improve Your Image With The Use Of Business Proposal Kits

Posted in How to..... at 1:59 pm by Administrator

There is much more to selecting a title page cover design than simply grabbing any design off the shelf. You have to consider the end result you want and the message you are trying to convey.

Why are colors so important?

Proper use of color will help shape and reinforce your message.

First, from a marketing perspective, the objective of a proposal is to sell something: a product, a service, a project, your worthiness for funding, etc. Although we like to believe we are logical in our decision-making, the truth is that emotions play a significant factor. Colors help shape the emotional component of your message. The colors a reader sees immediately trigger a subliminal nervous system response and create a specific feeling.

Second, colors capture the reader’s attention and set up a path for the reader’s eye to follow. Our brains are not wired to immediately see and understand the words on a page. Our brains first see colors and shapes; the last thing our brains do is actually make sense of the words. This is why we use eye-catching visuals in our packaging. It’s also why the first page of your proposal (the title page cover) should always be eye-catching. You get better results when you capture a reader’s attention with color.

Third, after you have created a feeling and captured the reader’s attention, you want to keep that attention. Proper use of color dramatically increases the reader’s retention of information. Plain black text on a white background might look great to you as a writer focusing on the written word, but it won’t cut it for a final professional presentation. That said, you also have to know when enough is enough. Use bold colors sparingly when you want to make a point that should be reinforced. Too much color will overload the page and your message will be lost.

You also need to consider the audience for your proposal. You don’t want to be the person who lost a big client because you sent a high-energy red, orange and yellow design to a conservative investor. Or the one who sent a classic conservative grey design to a hip and trendy high-tech startup. You may not lose a deal just on the basis of your title page cover design and color scheme selection, but many times the difference between winning and losing a client lies in the fine details – and color and design selection are important fine details to consider.

Do you want to match your document’s colors to your own logo and company colors? Or perhaps you want to match your proposal’s colors to the company colors of the prospective client you are submitting a proposal to. Or maybe you want to match colors to an event or a holiday season.

Do you want a conservative look or a bold and exciting look? That will depend on your reading audience and your industry.

What if you are trying to add a visual element to sway someone emotionally? Which colors do you pick to be congruent with the message you are trying to impart?

In other words, how do you go about picking a color scheme?

If color theory is too confusing for you, then go with blue. Blue is the most common color scheme used across the world. You really can’t go wrong with blue.

If you want to appear clean and conservative, go with blues and greys. For example, if you are responding to a government RFP, you won’t get points for using bold and exciting colors and designs. However, you probably don’t want a completely plain introduction that leaves nothing for the eye to focus on, either, so choose a plain block design in a grey or grey/blue color scheme.

If you want your proposal to seem bold and exciting, use reds and oranges. For example, if you are in a creative or high-energy field, make a strong statement with an edgy design in reds or oranges.

If you are in an industry dealing with nature or natural elements, choose earth tones, aquatic colors, or other natural color schemes.

If you are in an industrial setting, consider bold, strong colors such as black paired with another intense color like blue, orange, green, or purple.

If you are gearing up for a holiday season, go with orange/black for Halloween, rich earth tones for Thanksgiving, jewel tones or pastels for Easter, red /green for Christmas.

You may also have heard that colors have meaning.

White stands for purity and cleanliness. When used in a document background, white serves as a neutral color (along with light shades of grey) in a design.

Black represents authority, power, formality, and elegance. Use black to make a bold statement, especially when paired with other colors. Black combined with other deep colors such as purple can make a powerful impression.

Green has many meanings, such as heath, nature, money and trustworthiness. Use greens if you are in a healthcare, environmental, or financial field.

Brown has traditionally represented reliability and longevity. Use browns to show a sense of down-to-earth reliability.

Red is generally used to convey meanings such as passion, love, excitement, action, speed, strength and leadership. Use reds if you are in a leadership, sports, or event planning field (it’s especially good for weddings).

Yellow generally stands for warmth, imagination, inspiration and happiness. Use yellows to convey a friendly and inviting feeling.

Orange typically represents vibrancy and fun. Use oranges to imply a sense of action. Orange is not a color typically associated with conservative businesses.

Blue means peace, tranquility, life, loyalty, knowledge, and security. Blues are often used to signal that an organization or message is conservative and dependable. Use blues for technology, personal services, and corporate situations. Anytime you are unsure about which colors to use, go with blue.

Purple has historically been used to represent luxury, sophistication, and royalty. Use purples for personal services and high-end luxury products and services.

For a one-two punch, double up colors with multiple meanings. A great example is a financial advisor who could choose both green and purple as their primary colors to instill a sense of wealth, trustworthiness, and sophistication. Or an organization might choose green and blue to convey a sense of wealth, trustworthiness, and dependability. Using green plus other earth tones could signal wealth, trustworthiness, and a “down to earth” sensibility.

These suggestions are based on typical Western cultures. If you work in an international field, be sure to research the meaning of the colors you choose in the context of the culture in which you are doing business. For example, as mentioned above, white is a neutral color in the West, with meanings of purity and cleanliness. It is typically used in title page cover designs as a neutral design element. In Eastern cultures, however, white can be the symbol of death. This might not be much of an issue for the background of a text document, but it could have serious negative implications if white is the primary color of your product design.

A proposal kit gives you a wide variety of color choices based on many common contemporary business colors – colors that apply to various seasons, and colors that have many emotional meanings.

This wide range of color schemes is applied to a wide variety of distinct designs. So not only can you pick an appropriate color scheme, you can also pick an appropriate design. We know that designs are also very personal and distinct to a business, and we offer plenty of choices.

Do you want a simple angular design, a flowing circular design, a complex conceptual design or a design with elements related to a specific industry? Find a package that ensures you are covered with enough designs and color schemes so you can select the perfect design for your business. Using pre-designed packages also saves you the high cost of hiring a graphic designer to create a single graphic background.

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05.07.11

Why Every Business Needs A Blog

Posted in Uncategorized at 12:17 am by Administrator

 
 

 

 So
what is blogging?  How can blogging
help your business?  And why all the excitement around blogging?

 

Well, if you don’t have a website, perhaps the
best reason to launch a blog is that it’s the absolute easiest way to set up a
website.

 

You need zero technical knowledge.

 

The simplest way to get started is just to use an
online hosted  blogging software that’s already set up for you.   Some of the
most popular ones are WordPress.com, TypePad.com and
Blogger.com

 

With third-party hosted programs like these all
you have to do is log on to the system, type your article into a field and then
press “send.”

 

It’s actually much easier to Blog than it is to
use Microsoft Word.  You don’t have to worry about the design of your site. 
That’s already taken care of for you. You just use one of the templates provided
by the blogging service or software.

 

Blogs generally follow the same format anyway –
just like newspapers follow basically the same format.

 

All newspapers look about the same.  And all
blogs look about the same.

 

They have a certain look and feel.  No real
design decisions are needed.

 

Blogs are not supposed to look fancy.  They are
not supposed to look high-design.  A blog is mostly just articles and links to
articles. Not a lot of graphics.

 

Certainly no flash presentations, no spinning
tops and now explosions.  Nothing fancy.  A blog is about as interesting to look
at graphically as a newspaper.  In fact, that’s really all it is – an online
newspaper or magazine, usually produced by one person.

 

So that’s the first big advantage of blogging. 
It’s super easy.

 

If you just head on over to WordPress.com,
TypePad.com or Blogger.com – you can have your blog up on the
Internet for the entire world to see within 15 minutes.

 

So launching a blog is perfect for those who are
not at all tech savvy.

 

There are many other advantages to blogging as
well, but before I go further on that, let me first try to define for you what a
blog is, and what makes a blog different from a conventional business site.

 

What Is A Blog?

 

Blog is slang for Web Log. 

 

A blog is is a website  where entries are made in
journal or diary style.  The articles are dated. And they appear on the page in
reverse chronological order.

 

That is, the most recent articles appear at the
top of the page and than go backwards in time.  Blogs are usually long scrolling
webpages, with article after article that you see as you see as you scroll down
the page.

 

Many web designers think a site should be
designed so an entire page should be able to fit on a computer screen without
scrolling.  I do not agree with that.

 

And that certainly is not what a blog a looks
like.

 

The home page of a blog is a long scrolling page
with lots of articles.

 

Most blogs are one-man bands.   The best ones are
infused with the distinct, often quirky, personality of the blogger.

 

A blog can be on any subject. 

 

A typical blog is mostly text. But many blogs
also include audio and video podcasts.

 

The ability for readers to post comments about
articles is usually important for a blog if it’s to be popular.    The best
blogs are forums where readers can sound off and offer their perspective.

 

All blogging software allows for input and
comments from your readers.  You, as the editor, always control whether a post
gets on your blog.

 

The blog search engine known as Technorati
was tracking 80 million blogs.

 

The modern blog evolved from the online diary,
where people would keep a running account of their personal lives.

 

But blogs take many forms, including the news
based “weblog” known as the Drudge Report, founded by maverick news junky
Matt Drudge.

 

Now Matt Drudge says he’s not a blog. He says
he’s a news site.  It looks a lot like a blog to me.  But Technorati
does not include the Drudge Report it in its listing of blogs.  Maybe Drudge
has just gotten too big.

 

He says he’s a news site.  There’s no doubt he
started off as a blog and used to be thought of as a blog.

 

What’s important to know is that blogging is no
longer just a vehicle for individual self-expression.  With Internet-like speed,
blogs have gone from self-indulgent hobbies to flourishing businesses with real
revenue streams from real advertisers.

 

Some blogs have become big media properties. 
Advertisers spent $40 million to run ads on blogs in 2006 – double the amount
spent advertising on blogs  in 2005.

 

Blogging is quickly becoming one of the most
powerful marketing vehicles on the Web because blogs allow advertisers to reach
highly-targeted niche audiences.

 

One of the pioneers of blogging for dollars is a
guy named Nick Denton.

 

Denton
launched his blogging company in 2002 with a media gossip site called  Gawker
and  another blog  called  Gizmodo that covers gadgets.  His company now
has 13 blogs, including Defamer and Wonkette.

 

Gawker Media’s
blogs get about 70 million page views per month.   Each site is a one or two
person operation.   Gawker Media raked in about $3,000,000 in ad revenue
in 2006

 

Another
blogging pioneer is a guy named Jason Calacanis.

 

He
launched some 85 blogs and recently sold them to AOL in for $25,000,000 
 million.  So blogging is now big business.

 

The big
revenue source for bloggers is Google AdSense, which is expected to generate
sales of $5 billion in 2007.

 

The
fastest, easiest way for a blog to make money is to become part of the Google
AdSense network.

 

When
you do this, Google runs its AdWords ads on your blog and you are paid a
commission on each click.  So if you have a high-traffic blog, you can make a
lot of money from people clicking on Google AdWords ads that you allow to run on
your site.

 

So what
Google is paying you for is traffic.

 

This
business model – of becoming a Google AdSense partner — works best if your blog
is focused on one topic.  You want your site to fit into a definable category so
that Google will list your site high up in listings for searches that use
keywords and phrases that relate to your topic.

 

A big reason for the success of blogging is that
search engines tend to reward blogs with high rankings on listings because blogs
are newsy, educational and full of content.

 

Search engines like lots of text – especially if
its focused on a specialized topic.

 

Here are some worth looking at.  I list these
blog, not because they are necessarily great, but because they represent
different kinds of blogs, and might give you some ideas for you blog:

 

www.WealthyBlogger.com

 

This site is aimed at those who want to get
rich.  It makes money by running Google AdSense contextual ads

 

www.AndrewTobias.com

 

This blog by the famous investment advisor is
primarily designed to promote Tobias’s books and other products.

 

http://www.coudal.com

 

This is an interesting blog from an ad agency in
Chicago.  This is a great site to look at for those who want to use a blog as a
vehicle to promote your business.

 

This ad agency engages in no paid advertising to
bring in clients for its agency.   It generates new business primarily with this
blog, which drives 12,000 visitors per week to it’s general business website.

 

The articles are on the blog, where people expect
to find articles.  The general business site is more like a brochure-style
corporate site.

 

The traffic to its general site is generated by
people finding the blog to read the articles.  This blog is updated twice a day.

 

www.primalrecords.com

 

This is
an usual, but very effective blog for what it’s trying to do.

 

Primal
Records is located in Berkeley, California.  It’s a record store that
specializes in off-beat underground music.  This blog features inventory
updates, company news, special offers and announcements of in-store events.

 

The
message board is a key attraction here, which lets customers post comments and
give the store feedback.

 

This
allows Primal Records to find out what its customers want. And it helps the
store stay on the cutting edge of what its customers are thinking and looking
for.

 

This
store deals with a lot of underground offbeat music so the feedback the store
gets on its blog helps the store deliver what its customers want.

 

In
other words, this blog acts as a kind of polling or focus group mechanism.

 

For
your business to be successful, you need to poll your customers.  You want to
stay up to speed on what your customers think of you and what they want from
you.

 

www.finehomeslv.com/blog

 

This blog makes money by selling ads to
developers, realtors, home sellers and home buyers, by driving traffic to its
main site and by listing properties.

 

www.whatsnextblog.com

 

This is a popular blog by B.L. Ochman on what’s
happening in Internet marketing.  It makes money by selling advertising,
participating in Google AdSense and other pay-per-click ad programs, and by
collecting the email addresses of visitors (leads).

 

www.ducttapemarketing.com

 

This is a terrific example of using a
high-traffic blog to sell advertising, participate in Google AdSense, and
promote one’s own products. This site also works hard to collect email addresses
of visitors – essential for following up with offers to your site’s visitors.

 

 

Great For Commissioned Sales People

 

I beleieve that one of the easiest, and most
effective ways for any commissioned sales person to gain traction and set
himself apart from his peers is to start an interesting educational blog – like
one of these I’ve just listed.

 

Once
your blog is up and running, you’ll want to let your customers know about it.  

 

If it’s
good, strangers will stumble into it through word of mouth, or with their
searches on search engines.  Most important, a commissioned sales person who has
a blog on the topic of what he is selling begins to position himself in people’s
minds as a expert, not as just a salesman.

 

People trust experts. People want experts to solve their problems.

 

A big key to success in blogging is to update it all the time – everyday, even twice a
day.   Word of the most interesting blogs travels like wildfire in the
blogosphere.  Word-of-mouth on the Internet is sometimes called “word-of-mouse.”

 

The way blogs make money is really the same way all other websites make money:

 

1) A blog can make make money by selling advertising.

 

That’s how a blog called Endgaget makes money.

 

 

 

 

  

Endgaget i

If you go to Endgaget.com you will see lots of ads for tech products.  

And you will see articles with  titles like:

 

 

 

 

“How To Make a Solid State AV Switcher”

  

 

or

“E-Paper DrawBot Uses Old School Analogue
Recorder”

or

802.11n creeps closer to finality as Draft 2.0
reaches milestone

 

I have
no idea what these articles are about.   I’m not a techie.

 

But these articles are apparently fascinating, stop-the presses-type news to the
techies who read this blog . . . because this is the world’s most read blog.

 

And the techies clearly see Endgaget.com  as one of the most valuable sources of
information out there on technology.

 

The blogging world is covered by a blog called Technorati.

 

It’s a kind of search engine for the blogosphere. The main way Technorati tracks
the popularity of blogs is to count the links from other sites leading to the
blog.

 

Technorati counts 428,199 links coming into
Endgaget from other blogs.  So that’s pretty huge.

 

That’s why Endgaget is the world’s #1 blog at the moment.

 

Counting incoming links from other sites is also the main way
Google measures a site’s popularity.

 

If you want to have a high-ranking on Google and the Search
engines and if you want to have a lot of free traffic coming into your site, the
very best way is to have as many links as you can coming to your site from other
sites – and especially from blogs.

 

To be a high-traffic site, you need content that is updated all
the time.  And you need lots of incoming links.

 

Search engines love blogs.  Search engines reward the good blogs
with high rankings for the subjects they cover.

 

What’s also noteworthy about Endgadget.com is that as
recently as 2005 it was not ranked even among the top 100,000 blogs on the
Internet.

 

This rapid rise to #1 blog status just shows you how quickly a
blog can grow if it gains a following, once it gains traction.

 

The top blogs on the Internet are the tech blogs followed
by politics as the #2 category. The Huffington Post is the #1
political blog followed by Michelle Malkin’s blog at
MichelleMalkin.com

 

The next most popular topics after tech and politics are pop
culture and games followed by design and business.

 

The most popular marketing blog is Seth Godin’s.

 

I’m a big fan of Seth Godin.  You should be reading his blog and
his books if you are not already. Seth Godin’s blog contains lots of useful
information and tips on marketing (mostly Internet marketing), plus he’s a lot
of fun to read.

 

Okay Ben, you say, “but how can I apply what you are telling
me to my business?”

 

Let me tell you.

 

Let’s say you are a local realtor located in Peroria, Illinois.

 

You could have a website that looks like the site most realtors
have – which I call “business card” websites.

 

These are websites that are little more than a business card.

 

If you work for ReMax or one of the big national firms,
they give you a website that isn’t much more than a business card. 

 

Really all you get is a slot on their website.

 

It has your photo, your contact information and that’s about it.

 

Or if you are more ambitious, you might have a web designer
design a nice looking brochure style website for you.

 

That’s better than the business card site. But the problem with
it is that a brochure-style site is usually static. 

 

It just sits there.  It does not look like a news site or a blog.

 

It looks like a brochure.  And, like most brochures, it just sits
there gathering dust.

 

Plus, it’s expensive to pay a website designer to put up your
brochure style site.  You might pay $3,000 or more for a site like that.  And
then you’ll have to work through your web designer to update your blog.

 

The alternative is to pay almost nothing to have a blog – a blog
that you can update at a moment’s notice. You can throw your articles up on your
blog at 2:00 a.m. if you’re having trouble sleeping instead of waiting days or
weeks for your web designer or webmaster to get to it.

 

You can have a blog on WordPress or TypePad or
Blogger for free.  Zero cost.

 

And you can have your blog up in 15 minutes.  Then you can make
your blog the #1 blog on the real estate market and property value trends in
Peroria.

 

You could have categories on your blog that focus on each
neighborhood in Peroria.

 

Because you would be posting a new article on your blog everyday,
your blog would probably be the #1 site on organic listings in Google for anyone
looking to buy or sell property in Peoria.

 

Why?

 

Well, because search engines favor blogs over the static brochure
style websites.

 

Why?

 

Well, because blogs are updated with new information all the
time.  And that’s what search engines like.  It’s also what readers want.

 

People want to read news. They don’t want to read a brochure.
They don’t want to read ads.

 

If you are interested in getting a high-ranking on a search
engine for your site, the easiest, quickest and surest way for that to happen is
to have an interesting blog that focuses on a particular topic, and  that is
updated all the time.

 

Content really is king on the Internet.  Great content trumps all
ads on the Internet.

 

People don’t want to read ads.   They want to read articles –
articles that directly address their interest.

 

So if I were to pick just one kind of website to have, it would
not be the usual general business website that just sits there doing nothing.

 

It would be to have a blog – which is free, or almost free.

 

Blogging is also a great way to potentially make a nice living
doing what you love doing.  It can be a business unto itself.

 

Let’s say you have a full time job that you need to keep because
you have bills to pay. But you could start a blog that focuses on your hobby or
your sport.  You could work on your blog at night and on weekends.

 

And if you become part of the Google AdSense network, and allow
AdWords ads to run on your site, you will start to make money.

 

The more traffic that comes in through your site, the more money
you will make from Google AdSense, as a result of people clicking on the ads. 
You get paid everytime someone clicks.

 

I don’t do that much with Google AdSense myself.

 

I have not had time, or I would put more effort into it.

 

But I have several friends who are bringing in $5,000 and $7,000
per month from Google AdSense.

 

So that’s pretty good – especially if your blog is on something
you love doing anyway.

 

And if your blog is really successful and you start bringing in a
lot of traffic, you might get into a position in the not too distant future when
you can quit your full time job and become a full time blogger on your hobby.

 

Do you have a hobby or some passion in life that is shared by
others?

Maybe you are a wine connoisseur.

 

I just plugged the words wine and blog into my search engine, and
did not find much in the way of wine blogs.

 

There are a few wine blogs out there, but not many.  And I did
not see any that were much good.  The #1 wine blog is something called Dr.
Vino’s wine blog.

 

Wine, of course, is a multi-billion dollar industry. 

 

And there are millions, probably hundreds of millions of wine
fanatics out there.

 

I would have thought I would see a whole lot more on wine in the
blogosphere than I found.  Looks to me like there is plenty of room here for a
great wine blog that could generate near limitless advertising revenue from the
wine industry for an enterprising blogger.

 

The way to make money in blogging is to write about one topic. To
be a specialist in one area.

 

What then happens over time is that you build up a big archive on
that topic.

 

The search engines love a big archive all on one topic. Archives
on a topic are valuable to search engines because they are valuable to
searchers.

 

When people surf the internet, they are primarily looking for
information on one topic.  Your topic should be one that you love . . . because
you need to write about it everyday if you are to have a successful blog.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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02.20.11

Winning Strategies For Higher Search Engine Ranking….Introduction

Posted in How to..... at 7:03 am by Administrator

The internet is a big place. There are literally Billions of web pages out there
and sorting throught them all is a huge task. Finding your website among all those other pages
can be like finding a needle in a haystack…..A haystack the size of a city!

With the odds stacked against you, its absolutely essential that you get on the good side
of the search engine, so its easy for your market to find you.

The fact is, search engine are the first place people turn when they are looking for information.
There are more than six billion searches done every month in the U.S. alone- and some of these
people are looking for you!

But theya re not going to find you if you do not have a good ranking in the search engine results…..

According to Mark Sherpa, almost 134 million people in the U.S. regurlarly use search engines when
looking for information online. And of that number, 63% look ONLY at the first door –at most!
In fact, almost 25% of American searchers look only at the first few listings then completely ignore
the rest.

That means if you are not listed in the first results page for your top performing keywords then 84
million people aren’t going to have any idea that your business even exists.

Of course, the flip side is also true: if you do manage to get a top listing for your top keywords,
then you will be able to expose your business to millions more people– all of whom might become
your next customer!

Sure you can jump start your marketing efforts by using paid search programs like Google Adwords
or Yahoo Search Marketing to drive visitors to your site and we definately recommend you explore
this strategy.

But statistics are increasingly showing that paid search ads simply aren’t as good at encouraging
clicks as natural search results are. According to online marketing research experts, SEOresearcher.com
natural search results attrack more than 250% more visitors than paid search ads.

Why? Searchers instinctlive trust natural search results more. They think that natural search results will
provide them with more relevant information that paid search ads will. In fact, in a recent marketing sherpa
poll, marketers names Search Engine Optimization SEO as the most effective marketing strategy–beating
out email marketing, paid search and direct mail.

Thats why all serious business owners need to make Search Engine Optimization a major component of their
online marketing plan. Simply put, if you want expand your marketing reach by letting more people know
about your business, SEO is the best possible tool for the job.

Now, a lot of people are tempted to outsource their SEO efforts. They have heard that SEO takes a lot of
work and they have seen all the ads for companies who promise a #1 ranking in google–and so they give
them a shot.

Warning if you are thinking about taking this route, make sure you read this entirely series carefully. Though
there are professional, hard working SEO companies out there, unfortujnately there are also a lot of shady
companies that will charge an outrageous amount of money in exchange for a “top spot in google.”

But what they might not tell you is that this top spot is for a keyword phrase no one is searching for!
thats not going to get you any visitors.

Or they may say they will right keyword loaded articles and submit them to hundreds of online directories
so you will gets lots of high page rank links pointing back to your site.

But what they don’t tell you is that they are not going to put in the research to find the keywords that
are driving the most targetted highest converting traffic to your site–so all those articles you are
paying for won’t do a speck of good!

Even if you are not planning to do SEO work yourself it pays to have a good working knowledge of what
SEO is all about. That why you can ask the SEO intelligent question to detrmined what it is exactly they
are giving your for your hard earned money. You want to be able to make sure they are actually going
the distance, working hard to get you a top position for keywords that will drive swarms of buying
customers to your site.

Of course the cheapest and most effective way to guarantee a good search engine ranking is to do the
work yourself. And the good news is a rock solid search engine strategy shouldn’t take more than a few
hours a week to implement–as long as you know which strategies yield the best results. And thats
exactly what you will learn here, if you stay tuned.

Here is what you will learn:

• How to identify the “keyword” phrases people are typing in the search engine to find info
  related to your product or service.
• How to place these keywords in strategic locations of your website copy and html code so
  search engine spiders will view your site as a relevant content power house!
• How to understand the all important value of links_ to identify and get high quality inbound
  links to your site so search engine spiders will find your site quickly and give it a good ranking.
• How to explode your number of quality links by giving away free content.
• How to use press releases to get more high quality links pointing to you site.
• How to use blogs to grow your site and fill it with constantly updated relevant content.
  Something search engines really love
• How to turn your site into a community hang out by adding a forum to it and watch your
  internal link numbers skyrocket! Something else search engine likes.
• How to get inbound links from the most popular social book marking and media sites
  and secure a top ranking with google.

You will learn here the step by step breakdown of everything you need to know to implement strategies yourself.
As well as the ones you should avoid like a plague that will get you booted off the major search engines.

Even though the search engines change their algorythms all the time resulting in many sites getting booted of
the search listing, we know that by sticking to the logical tried and proven strategies you can sleep easy at
night knowing that this won’t happen to you.

Stay tuned for the next post in this series for more about search engines, getting them to know more about
your site and getting more traffic than you can possibly handle!.

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11.10.10

Falling short on those end of month payments? Here is another RISK FREE income stream you can utilize immediately!

Posted in Product Review at 10:17 pm by Administrator

If you haven’t discovered this lucrative income stream yet then you are in for a treat!
Yes I am talking about afilliate marketing of digital products online.
If you have then you are no doubt aware of the two most popular affiliate networks, ClickBank and PayDotCom.

While both of these are great and I highly recommend each of them, today I came across a brand new service that really caught my attention. It’s called PaySpree and the reason it caught my attention is twofold:

• The large variety of digital products paying 50% and more
• The fact that ALL its members get paid for sales instantly by PayPal!

If you don’t yet understand the awesome advantage this gives you then trust me you will soon fine out!

Even affiliates get paid for their referred sales instantly by PayPal.
And what’s the big deal about that you may ask?
Well if you have a paypal debit card (and if you don’t you should get one pronto!) you access these funds immediately 24/7 from any atm worldside!
This means you can make a sale today and access your cash immediately! If you live in a so called “third world country” like I do you will appreciate this even more!

I expect it to become quite a hit as the lure of ‘instant commissions’ played a big part in the massive success of products such as 7DollarSecrets and the RapidActionProfits scripts and many others.

I’ve actually come across products for sale that are just lists of affiliate programs that pay instant paypal commission. And I’ve seen many threads in the various internet marketing forums asking about where to find instant commission affiliate programs. Now there is an entire site and marketplace dedicated to them.

As soon as you become a member you can start promoting any product in the marketplace, and you can add your own products so affiliates can promote them for you. All commission payments are handled automatically by PaySpree!
Sounds like a winner to me

I didn’t waste no time signing up.
Had a look around and what do you know?
Its a no brainer, pretty simple and uncluttered, check it out!

Click on the banner below and let me know what you think:

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09.10.10

Common Email Marketing Mistakes to avoid

Posted in Articles at 1:57 am by Administrator

1. Buying Email Lists: 

   Effective email campaigns cater to specific demographics, tastes and interests. Using confirmed opt-in to obtain the proper permission from people who are truly interested in your targeted emails ensures that they really want to hear from you. When you buy an email list, there’s no way to guarantee that those people are really interested in your messages, so you must avoid purchased lists at all costs. You can never assume anything about the addresses of random people that are not given to you directly by their owners

2. Unrecognizable “From” Names and Subject Lines: Once subscribers are on your list, you want to make sure that they open your messages regularly. 

   Your subject line and from name/address are your only chance to grab subscribers attention in their jam-packed inboxes. To help jog their memory, always use the same email address and contact name so that there is no confusion when your messages arrive. Your subject lines must clearly present the value of the emails while staying consistent with your past subject lines to evoke recognition and familiarity.

3. Can-Spam Compliance : 

   The Can-Spam Act requires that all messages contain the sender’s valid physical postal address, but some home-based and international businesses are hesitant to include this information in their campaigns. Aside from the legal obligation, putting your contact address in your emails is the best way to show subscribers that you have a legitimate identity and that you won’t run for the hills as soon as they make a purchase from you.

4. Irrelevant and Infrequent Emails : 

   Sending emails that don’t relate back to their original request for info irritates readers and is a guaranteed way to rack up a high number of unsubscribes. Add an infrequent schedule to the previous scenario and you have a recipe for email disaster. As a rule of thumb, if you haven’t contacted subscribers in 6 months, delete them from your list. Revisit your landing page from time to time to assess your email content and make sure it matches up with your original offer.  Consistency matters – but before you can consistently meet expectations, you have to set them! If subscribers don’t know what’s coming, it doesn’t matter how consistent the formatting and frequency are – those emails will still feel inconsistent with whatever preconceived notions subscribers had about them.         Set expectations so that subscribers know what to expect from you, and when to expect it.  Expectations are easiest to address in three stages:

   • Before The Opt-In: The minute potential subscribers become aware that you’re even offering something by email, they begin to make assumptions about that offering, like:
     • What they will get if they sign up
     • How often they will get it
     • The value/benefit
     • The cost in terms of time and privacy
     • If you don’t replace these assumptions with expectations that match what will actually happen, then these potential subscribers either won’t sign up, or they’ll be confused/dissatisfied/angry when what actually happens doesn’t match those assumptions. So clearly explain in or near the optin-form:
       • What kind of content you’ll be sending (you may even want to link to a sample email)
       • How they’ll benefit as a subscriber (this is your email’s value proposition: why should someone subscribe?)
       • When/how often the subscriber will hear from you (estimate if need be)
       • What you do and won’t do with subscribers’ information (this may not be necessary in all cases – especially if you already have the visitor’s trust – but in general it’s a good idea)
   • Right After The Opt-In: Your thank you page is a critical stage in your email marketing because it links two types of interactions your subscribers have with you. Immediately before they sign up, they’re interacting with you on your website, with their web browser. They’re 100% in charge of the situation. They can leave at any time and you’ll never even know who they were. After they subscribe, however, they’ve agreed to interact with your business in a whole new way you pushing information to them when you choose), in a whole new environment (their email software instead of just their web browser). To effectively transition new subscribers between those interactions, good email marketers set expectations using the thank you page. Creating expectations on your thank you page is especially important because they help your new subscriber “connect the dots” between the time they spent on your website and the emails they’ll receive from you days/weeks/months later. Upon signing up new subscribers have a few questions they need answered right away. First thank them for subscribing then answer these questions with your thank you page:
     • “What just happened?” (they have subscribed successfully)
     • “What happens next?” (that you’re sending them an email – what the subject line is – what from name and email address it’s coming from – and what’s inside the email)
     • “What do I do now?” (go to their inbox, open that email, possibly click on something in it—like a confirm link—and also add your email address to their address books)

•  
  • Over Time: If you want subscribers to get in the habit of opening your emails, clicking on links, sharing your emails via forwards or social networks, buying products or taking whatever other action/s you have in mind… …bring the kind of value in your emails that gets them to do that – and do it consistently! If you consistently provide outstanding value, your subscribers will read them, click links, etc. They’ll also form a perception of your emails as being valuable. Both of these lead to forming exactly the types of subscriber habits you want.

5. No Call To Action : 

With all of the emphasis placed on quality content and sharp design, it’s understandable that marketers sometimes miss the obvious. When a reader opens a message and they’re interested in learning more, don’t forget they will be thinking, “What do I do next?” Give them a way to move forward easily. Include multiple calls to action and links back to your site so you don’t lose them. Set up your products favorably, and remember when creating your messages that there must be a logical sequence of events – you want readers to open, read, click-through and ultimately buy.

6. Not Testing Before Sending: 

With all of the time spent prepping marketing emails, typos can easily go unnoticed. Testing your messages before sending them only takes a minute or two and can help you pinpoint problems before they materialize. Send test copies to test accounts at several different email services to ensure that the message is readable, the images are viewable and the links are functional.

Test drive the Ultimate Email marketing software bundle for $1
Exceptional Service-Reasonably priced-Guaranteed results
99.34% email delivered. To create lasting Customer Relationships click the banner below.

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09.08.10

How to sell your local services online…..Most people see the internet as a “global” communications tool…They don’t realize that its just as effective for promoting a local business

Posted in How to..... at 10:17 pm by Administrator

                                                      You will first need to create or have created on your behalf a truly effective “Local Service Website”:

1. Click here   to create your own (link coming soon)
2. Click here   to hire the services of a professional website designer at a reasonable price (link coming soon)

There are three important goals a local service website needs to  accomplish to be truly effective.

They are as follows :

1. It needs to present a professional face to the world
2. It needs to help you build a strong relationship with your visitors
3. It needs to be well optimized for the search engines so local searchers can find you.

How to make sure your site your site achieves all three of these goals:

1. Present a professional face to the world…
   • Your website represents you hence needs to be as professional as you are. 
   • Stay focused on your services and the benefits they offer to your clients.
   • Do not include personal information such as your hobbies or your family life, or links to pet projects, such as the charities you support. Elements like these distract from your main message and make you seem less professional. People come to you site looking for a service. They want to know if you can provide them with that service not whether you support the heart foundation or the SPCA however worthwhile these causes may be!
   • Also never be tempted to put advertisements for other businesses on your site. This cheapen the whole of your website and undermines your credibility. They tend to make you look like you are going for a quick  cash grab. Plus they are a huge distraction that take hard earned visitors away from the thing you DO want them to buy – your service!
   • Finally don’t sell products with a global appeal on a sote promoting a local service.  For example, if you are a veterinarian, don’t sell dog food on your site. It undermines your credibility and does not address the reason why your visitors arrived on your site in the first place. It also waters down your search engine optimization efforts by adding content to your site that is not directly relevant to your best performing keywords.
   • In short, keep the copy on you site focused on the three things and three things only:
     • The services you can offer to your clients  
     • The benefits these services provide
     • The reasons why you are the best person for the job.
2. Build a strong relationship with your customers: You website needs to create a friendly, helpful customer experience. In other words, it needs to do the job that you would do if you were talking to your visitor in person. Make  sure it provides all the information you would normally share with your clients in person or over the phone. Be sure to include:
   • An “FAQ” section that provides answers to your clients most frequently asked questions
   • Mapquest (or similar mapping program), so people can easily find out how to get to your location.
   • Transit information that shows people how to get to your location using local train and bus services
   • A printable map that shows where the nearest parking is
   • Testemonials from happy customers to prove that other people have benefited from your services
   • An optin form that offers free valuable downloadable electronic products in exchange for visitors contact information and permission to send them email. For example: ebooks, videos, software, white papers etc
   • Also be sure to permanently feature your telephone and street address on every page of your site, so its easy for people to contact you.
3. Use proven search marketing methods to drive qualifiec leads you way: There is no point in having a website if your potential customers aren’t able to fine it! Here is what you need to do so local searches are able to fine you:
   • Optimize your site for search engines.  Make sure your top performing keywords are embedded strategically throughout your copy, as well as in your HTML code. (Specifically in your title tags, meta tags, header tags. image “alt” tags, and your video/audio). You can learn more about search engine optimization if you signup for  our $2.95 30-day trial of Search Marketing Labs here: link coming soon
   • Include lots of local references in your web copy such as:
     • your city
     • State or province
     • Electorial riding
     • local landmarks
     • Common neighbourhood names
     • Note: this helps your local effort because searchers oten type in keywords phrases like”Lawyers
       downtown Chicago” or “South Beach Florida realestate” etc.
   • Make sure your site is registered with the “local” feature of the three top search engines.
     • Maps.google.com
     • local.yahoo.com
     • cityguides.msn.com
   • Register your site with local sites, “vertical portals” and directories. Not only will these sites send you visitors. the links you will get from them will also boost your ranking with the search engines- ultimately sending even MORE visitors your way!
   • Get links from as many reputable community-based organization as possible. Such as:
     • local chamber of commerce
     • local industry associations and business groups
   • Advertize your services on free online classified sites that target your area. This is more for the links than visitors.
   • Participate in blogs, groups, forums, and social networks that focus on your community. Include signature blocks with links to your site on every post or comment you make.
   • Use geotargeted pay-per-click ads to drive local traffic to your site. These ads only appear to people who live in a certain geographic area. You can make that area as small or as large as you wish.
   • Utilize “negative keywords” to narrow your focus even further.  For example if you are a realestate agen in Madison, Wisconsin, you can make sure that useless keyword phrases like “real estate advice UK” don’t trigger you ads. Geotargeting ads reduces the traffic keeping the ads cheap and the traffic extremely targeted.

Hope that gives you enough to get started! Stay tuned to this blog for more! Upcoming topics:

• How to build your local business utilizing the internet and email even if you do not have a website!

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08.08.10

Necessary steps for monetizing your company website

Posted in How to..... at 11:38 pm by Administrator

Many small businesses feel the need to have a website even if it is just for the sake of saying they have a website. Today a business that does not possess a website is less prestigious and even somewhat looked down upon- click here to begin the process now. Acquiring a website for your business is definitely a step in the right direction but you cannot stop there. There is definitely ongoing costs to having a website, like hosting fee etc, hence it would be nice if the website brings in at least enough income to sustain itself, don’t you think so?
The necessary steps for monetizing your website is as easy as 1…2…3… Here are a few pointers regarding this.
1. A website does not have to be flashy but its important to have a means whereby your visitors can interact with your site namely opt-in to your mailing list of customers and prospects for specific incentives that enables you to target your market. The anology is shooting fish in the ocean compared to shooting fish in your own personally built barrel….. you get the picture?
One of the most important feature on a website from a marketing standpoint is a form (CGI script) on each page whereby a visitor can subscribe to a list to recieve information about your company. Its a good idea to sweeten the pot with some free offers and any other incentives desirable to specific prospects or customers. So rule number one in online marketing says:
“The money is in the list”
“The bigger it is the more money can be made.”
So list building and maintenance is the #1 critical business activity. Many business owners, myself included, fail to acknowledge this fact and as a result waste valuable time spinning their wheels. Here are some tools and resources all assembled in one place to help speed up this process.

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2. I would also create some other pages we call landing pages that will serve to segment customers and prospects. These pages usually consists of bullet pointed benefits provided in return for filling out the form ,that is, subscribing to a list.
3. The other type of pages would be the sales pages one for each major item in your inventory. These pages contain professionally prepared copy that includes the psychological triggers that moves prospects to take the desired action, that is take out their credit card and make a impulse purchase.
4. After this is somewhat in place then the next critical activity is driving traffic. Now understand that marketing is not a guessing game but a precise science We test everything and record some critical numbers like conversion which enables us to predict sales to a great degree of acuracy! So we test with pay per click at minimal cost (investment of $50) and once we establish the right variables that gives the required conversion we can roll out knowing that for example every dollor spend will yield $1.25 or more.
Conclusion: This may sound very complicated to you but its actually very simple to put all this in place step by step. I can say that because I have done my home work, paid the price., done my due dilligence. How would you like to have a first class professional work with you on this with no significant upfront investment on your part. With reasonable sequential billing for my time as the peices are put in place. There will be a need for a commitment from you as the owner of the business to have an overview of how these systems work. So you can not only clearly see the return on your investments but be the one actually running your business. Many small business owners try to avoid doing so to their own peril, only to find out that they are at the mercy of someone else instead of being fully in control at the helm of their business. Last but not least there are some resources that must be purchased namely the ones mentioned above but in the beginning until market tests are completed these will be kept to a minimum…… click here for more information

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07.21.10

How to automatically Add an Email Signature

Posted in How to..... at 8:01 am by Administrator

Click on the link below for Instructions for your email program.

• AOL (follows immediately)
• Microsoft Outlook Express (You probably
  already have this on your computer.)
• Microsoft Outlook
• Yahoo  updated instructions 9-25-04
• Hotmail
• Any other email program

Improve your business image by getting your own domain name then follow these instruction to set up you free domain email addresses forwarding to your existing email address!

---

AOL Version 9.0 for Windows

You can create up to five signatures for your email in Version 9. Just add a catchy phrase about SFI (Get Your Free Online Store) and your link to the V-Store. To set up a mail signature in AOL: Select Mail | Set Mail Signatures from the menu in AOL. Click Create. Name it SFIVstore or something to help you remember it (under Signature Name). Type the signature phrase and the link in the text field. Its best to keep it to no more than 5 lines. Click OK. Close the Set up Signatures window Check for proper operation by sending yourself an email with the signature and click the link to make sure that you are taken to the link you decide to use.

 

AOL Setup Version 7.0)                                                                                                                                     

1.  On the Mail menu on the AOL toolbar, click Mail Signatures.
2.  In the Set up Signatures window, click Create.
3.  In the Signature Name box, type a name for this signature.

For example: My normal signature

4.  In the Signature box, type the text want to use as your
signature, adding any text styling features
you want from the style toolbar.
5. Click OK.

Notes

• You can create and save up to five signatures.
• You can designate one of the signatures as a default signature to be
automatically inserted into the e-mail message box on all e-mails you write.

The above was from AOL help.

I used the above but I think that you need to know about hyperlinks.

When you are in the create or edit box in setting up the signature, to make
the text so that it is a clickable link do this:

Place the cursor at the point on the page where you want the text to appear,
right click and select "insert hyperlink" from the popup menu. On that screen in
the upper edit box type the text that you want to appear. In the lower box type
the url of the page you want to link to

If you want your email address to be clickable. Follow the steps above except
for the address type in mailto:you@yourdomain.com , substituting your address. Then when the reader clicks your email address, her email client
should open with your email address already in the to: box of the email.

OK? If you have trouble anywhere, let me know.

 

Microsoft Outlook

Create or modify e-mail signatures

An e-mail signature consists of text or pictures, or both, that are
automatically added to outgoing e-mail messages. Once you’ve created a signature
and specified the defaults for new or replied to and forwarded e-mail messages,
the signature will appear in your messages.

Create and use signatures

You can create custom signatures for different types of audiences.

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the
General tab.

2. Click E-mail Options, and then click the E-mail Signature
tab.

3. In the Type the title of your e-mail signature or choose from the
list box, type a name for your signature.

4. Under Create your e-mail signature, insert the text or
pictures, or both, that you want to use for a signature.

5. Click Add.

6. To create another signature, click New, and then repeat steps 3
through 5.

Microsoft Outlook Express Version 6.0

Outlook Express 6 is part of Internet Explorer 6. It is
included with Windows XP so you may already have it. While it doesn’t have as
many features as Outlook (part of Microsoft Office) it does have an easy way to
see and to edit the HTML code of an e-mail that you are composing.

Outlook Express is available as a free Download from
Microsoft or order it on CD for $5 shipping.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.asp

It has help to guide you in setting up to send and receive
your e-mail through Outlook Express. If you cannot use it with your ISP (AOL
users can’t), then you can get an inexpensive Hosting Account that includes an
e-mail server. It’s a smart idea to have your own domain name and hosting
account so that you keep the same e-mail address even if you change ISP’s.

Get a free 30-day trial here:

http://dollarware-hosting.com/trial 

Text-Only Link Is Easy To Do

A text-only hyperlink is pretty simple. Just type an URL
and Outlook Express will automatically turn the text blue and underline it which
is the normal formatting to indicate a hyperlink.

Set Up Outlook Express to Add Your Signature Ad Automatically

To add an Image to your Signature, and have it
automatically added to your email

First, create an HTML file that contains the image and the
web page that you want to link to.

Open Notepad and enter this into the page

<html>
Add text here.
<p>
<A href=" anchor text
">
<IMG
src="image url here">
</A>
</p>
</html>

To check that the HTML file is working right, type
c:\sigfile.html into the address box of Internet Explorer and see if it displays
the image with the link. Click the link and see if you are taken to your Site.

Next setup Outlook Express to use that file as your
signature:

Automatically Add a Signature to  All Outgoing E-mail

From the Outlook Express menu bar choose Tools, Options, 
choose the Signatures tab.

Check the box to Add signatures to all outgoing messages

Click the new button, highlight the name of the Signature
that was just added.

In the Edit Signature section, click the File radio button
and type the name of the file in the box:

C:\sigfile.html then Click OK.

The signature should now be created. If you create it as
the Default Signature, then it should be added automatically when you create a
new e-mail. You can add other signatures and then make a selection of which one
you want added with any given e-mail.

Add An E-mail Signature Image to an Individual Message

If you just wanted to make an occasional link using an
Image, here’s how:

When you "Create a new Mail message", in the window in
which you compose your message, choose from the menu bar, View, Source Edit.

Three tabs will then appear at the bottom of the window.

• Edit – edits the email body

• Source – edits the html source code

• Preview – shows you how the email should look.

Choose the Source tab and then insert this code into the
body:

<A href="
anchor text "><IMG src="image url here"></A>

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

Here’s another way to add the Image and Hyperlink.

Create a new Mail (choose File, New, Mail Message)

Click inside the body of the e-mail or the next choice will
not display

From the menu bar choose Insert, Picture

From the dialog box that appears, in the Picture Source
edit box type the full url to the picture such as

http://mywebsite.com

Now select the image by dragging the mouse pointer thru it.

While it is highlighted click on the menu bar choose
Insert, Hyperlink

In the dialog box type the full URL to the website you want
the user to be sent to.

Click ok

To make a check to see if it is setup right:

From the menu bar click View, Source Edit

Then at the bottom select the Preview Tab

Now move the mouse pointer over the image and the site that
it is hyperlinked to will appear in the status bar at the bottom. If there is no
status bar, choose from the Outlook Express main window’s menu bar: View, Status
Bar

Notes:

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator which is just the
name of the file along with the complete address to the file.

Hyperlink is the linking of text or an image to another
URL. It can be just another location within the current file or to another file
on any computer on the network or Internet. Clicking the link takes you to the
other file.

E-mail server- a computer that receives your e-mail from
others and holds it for you. You retrieve your e-mail from the server by using
an e-mail client such as Outlook Express. You also use the client to send e-mail
through the e-mail server if outgoing mail is allowed. Since outgoing mail can
produce Spam complaints, some hosts don’t allow it.

Hosting Account- You set up with a Host to have your own
space on a Web Server. The Web Server has special software to hold your web
pages and to send a copy of any page that is requested by another user. It is
usually a very fast machine with a fast connection direct to the Internet
backbone. Most all Hosting accounts will have a POP3 mail server to receive your
e-mail and allow you to receive it. If they have an SMTP mail server then you
have the ability to also send e-mail through that connectionsIn addition to
serving web pages, it might have other software to allow you or your visitors to
do other things.

—end instructions for Version
6.0———————————————————-

For Yahoo  – revised 9-25-04

Login to your Yahoo!Mail
Account. 

On the Mail tab there is
a small triangle pointing down. Click that and you should see a drop-down menu.
Choose Options from that menu.

Another page will appear.

From that page, in the
middle column, click the word Signature

On the Editor line, there
are two choices, where you select whether to send Plain Text E-mail or HTML
e-mail.

Choose Color and Graphics
which is the choice for HTML.

At the bottom click in
the checkbox beside “Add signature to all outgoing messages”

The other checkbox
switches the view from Code to Preview mode.

Click in the checkbox
beside “View HTML Source”

This puts it into Code
mode so that you can insert html code

Un-checking the box will
put it back into Preview mode where you see the resulting display from the html
code.

Paste these two lines of
code into the box WHILE the box is CHECKED

<A
href="http://www.yourwebsite.com/">

<IMG src="http://yourgraficurl.com"></A>

Then

Un-check the View Html
Source box by clicking in it

The image should now be
displayed BUT it will not WORK from here. Send an email to yourself to see if it
worked.

Add any text that you
want to be part of the Signature such as “Get Your Own Online Store, Free, Setup
Today, just click image”

Click the Save button on
the bottom left.

That
should do it.

To
Send e-mail with your Signature

Click Compose as normal
and make sure that the check box for

"Use my signature"
checkbox is checked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For Hotmail

After you create a signature, it is automatically added to all outgoing
messages.

On the Options page, click Signature under Additional Options.

Type the information you want in your signature, and then click OK.

Notes

You can personalize your signature by choosing different colors, fonts,
symbols, and more. Select the check box next to Show the rich-text toolbar and
select the options you want.

The use of HTML formatting in your signature is not recommended.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Permalink Comments

What Are The Benefits of a Signature Ad (Email Signature)?

Posted in Articles at 7:01 am by Administrator

A signature ad or email signature is several sentences inserted underneath your name discribing irrisistible benefits highly desireable to your target market prefferably with a link to an optin page. This goes out with every email you send out. It’s like an email business card that’s placed in all of your email messages. Using the signature can boost your prospect/ customer list building and impact your sales revenue considerably.

Here are some of the many benefits of using this often neglected tool:

• Free Advertising – It costs nothing to put an automatic signature
  in your email.
• Efficiency – Its quick and simple to insert a signature file in most
  email programs.
• Automation – Your ad is inserted automatically in every email you send.
• Recurrence – Your signature ad is viewed many times over the
  course of your campaign.

There are almost limitless uses of the signature file and by all means it should be included in every email you send.

What Should My Signature Say?

Your signature file should contain a short description of what you are promoting along with your link. It should be short and to the point (about 2 or 3 lines) and give the reader a reason to click on your link.

Your signature should be catchy as well. A great example would be the following:

The Ultimate Email marketing software
99.34% email delivered. Creates lasting Customer Relationships.

We provide many more examples in our Affiliate Tip for Signature Ads. You can explore that resource for many more examples of effective signature ads. You can also use your imagination and come up with an ad that will appeal directly to your particular customer or client niche.

Other Uses For a Signature

Your signature ad does not have to be limited to just email messages. It can be used anywhere you can reach an individual or group of people with text or HTML. You can get very creative with its uses, but some great places to start are:

• At the end of messages in forums.
• Facebook, myspace and other social media messages.
• Blog comments.
• Product or service reviews.

You can post your signature ad to any group or message board that will allow you to.

Please verify with the site rules or administrator before you place your signature ad in any discussion room or service. This will insure you are not spamming and that your signature ad is not in violation of any rules of conduct.

For more on spam, check our Spam FAQ.

How Do I Create a Signature Ad?

If you do not know how to insert a signature into your email client program, here are some easy to follow instructions for most email services.

If you still have questions, please feel free to contact us. Our customer solutions team would be more than happy to assist you.

Permalink Comments

07.19.10

Do Your Potential Customers Forget About You?

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:32 am by Administrator

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