Scott Lindsay's Articles - Article Content Provider

Display Category\|Title\|Newest\|Oldest
Web Development And Full Integration ‘Fully integrated’ is a term used to describes websites that are progressive enough to include virtually every form of online media in their web presence. If you look at sites like Yahoo, Forbes and virtually any of the major television network sites you can gain some idea of what I am taking about. These sites contain either news of blog information. They also contain original video streaming sources and audio streams including podcasts. These sites tend to subscribe ... Product Launching And Purely Perfect Profitability Should you apologize for the prices you have to charge online? I suppose that all depends on the reasons for your pricing structure. Many new online business owners feel as though they need to apologize for the price they affix to a product or service. In some cases the individual has made the item they specialize in for gifts or special occasions prior to business launch. They often view this as an act of love. They derive great pleasure in creating the item or perform... Why Use Affiliate Revenue To Grow Your Business Startup businesses may be fairly reserved in how they develop their business. For instance the use of an affiliate revenue program may be far from the mind of most startup business owner. I think one of the primary reasons the use of an affiliate program does not appeal to many conservative business owners is a belief that the business will not be as successful if they have to surrender some of the profit for each sale to a third party. In essence these entrepreneurs v... Internet Marketing And Free Advertising One of the more potent forms of Internet marketing is through the use of a press release. In many cases this is referred to as ‘free’ advertising. The reasons it is thought of in that way is because when the press release is distributed it is generally picked up by online and print magazines and published at no charge as a news item. If you have studied aspects of online marketing you already know that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a ‘free’ method of getting search e... Home-Based Businesses And The Lifestyle Shift There has been a shift in the fabric of what many want out of life. At one time it was not uncommon to see people working two or more jobs in order to afford the things they thought they needed to be considered a success. At one time people were very concerned about keeping up with their neighbors, but today most don’t even know their neighbor’s names. As we connect more and more online it seems that we care less and less about what improvements may be taking place acro... Web Design And John Q. Public When using web builder technology to develop your website it is important to know that the advancement of the site is based on the intuitive choices available that can help you expand the primary areas you select for your website. Most sites have from one to five separate primary areas that branch from the home page. These areas deal with the key functions of the business. They can include Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Us, and the Store. This area can also inc... Ecommerce And The Blue-Collar Peasants? In medieval times the common laborer was thought to be less able to understand certain elements of civilized society. These men and women were not allowed to learn to read nor could they attend houses of worship because they were considered incapable of understanding what they heard. Yes time after time these peasants were the basis for stories of renown and wonder. It is said that a peasant who listened to a sermon outside a church gathered bits and pieces of the Christma... Email Marketing And A Focused Conversation You have an interview scheduled. This means so much to you because you have been without a job for too long. You have a family and whatever money you had saved for emergencies like this is almost at an end. On the morning of the interview you ready yourself and dress in your best clothes. You sit in the waiting room and pretend to read a magazine while you hope you don’t sweat too much. You pretend to be mildly interrupted when your name is called. You lay the magazine dow... Internet Marketing Glossary The Internet has facilitated the need for an entirely new glossary that deals with all aspects of an online environment. This includes terms related to online marketing. While this is not a comprehensive list I’d like to take a look at a few terms and try to explain them in lay terms. SEO – These three letters are the abbreviated form of Search Engine Optimization. This term represents strategies to develop a website using proven methods to enhance your placement in sea... List Building And The Single Page Website Here’s a scenario for an online business that provides information and is in existence to help other succeed in their online ecommerce objectives. You should know up front that the ultimate goal for the business is to get you to purchase their marketing plan. Do they develop a flashy website with flash and animation? Do they flood the screen with video testimonials or podcasts? Do they pay a celebrity to provide a testimonial? There is a quiet awakening in a form of ma... Product Creation And The Art Of Proper Pricing Some entrepreneurs short-change themselves when it comes to fixing a price for the products they create. Often individuals do not factor in accurate costs that can lead to a realistic price that allows the business to recoup expenses in research and development. It is also possible to fail to take into account other factors such as site development costs and administration, overhead and general profit required after expenses. There are two primary ways entrepreneurs look a... Security And The Auto Complete Feature The security of your computer is important on both private as well as business applications. Many have found the use of the auto complete features associated with many browsers a popular way to avoid keystrokes. After all what could be more convenient than simply filling in a form for informational purposes and allow that saved information to be brought up with a single click? The auto complete feature is especially popular with email programs. You simply type a few let... Internet Marketing And The Art Of Practicality In times when the economy is in a downturn some business owners may conclude that there is the distinct possibility their business may be in jeopardy. Sometimes a marketing problem simply requires a change in perspective. Many of the most successful business owners found enormous success by learning new methods of marketing in a depressed economic market. If you own a custom car manufacturing company that charges hundreds of thousands of dollars for your vehicles I may ... Web Marketing And The Potential In A Multi-Site Design The concept of web development may include more than a singular ecommerce website. I have talked about the subject of web development in light of positively constructing a website. I’ve also talked about the mentality needed to envision the entire site prior to launch so you have some idea of where you want to go. The goal also included the need for a plan for growth and site expansion. This article looks at the subject from the point of view of a corporate office with ... Domain Names And The Perfect Moniker Did you know you could pay someone to help you come up with the perfect domain name? It’s true. A think tank of marketing experts can come together to help determine a perfect name for your online presence. Why would something like this be needed? It seems that most of the more obvious online names are chosen and it takes a bit more creativity to come up with a recognizable and easy to use domain name that reflects the core of your business. The good news is you may ... The Road To Success – A Pep Talk I can get excited about online marketing because I know that when used properly it can help change lives. Everyday I hear of dreams people have for business. In some cases these individuals want a magical five-step plan to get them going, but it simply doesn’t exist. If you have a dream then you know the desire for easy answers. You’d like to be able to say that your dream has a 100% chance of success, but you just don’t know so you sit back and let the idea simmer whil... Traffic Building And Finished Home Work One of the quickest ways to drive traffic to your site is to key in on a hot topic. If you have a site dedicated to why butter melts on summer days and then you place a series of supporting articles on your site you may not wind up with as much traffic as you’d like. This may be due to the fact that this is an issue most people don’t really think about much – or perhaps they’ve already learned the secret. However key in on a controversial topic like the death penalty or ha... Social Bookmarking And The Hub Of Business The act of social bookmarking is becoming something more than a potential tool for online marketing. Many entrepreneurs are finding social media sites to place business information in an informal setting. Once you finish developing your social media site the marketing potential is just beginning. Obviously you hold out hope that visitors will drop by your online presence, but you may want to go fishing for friends. In some social media environments you are allowed to... Internet And Business Online For All Ages If you were to suggest to some members of our population that you thought they could take their business online you may get an unusual response. For some the notion that you can conduct business online remains a foreign concept. You might as well be asking them to go and start a new colony on the moon. The hurdle seems way too high and the fear of the unknown remains a powerful deterrent. For many individuals there is a disconnect between the tangible and the unseen. For t... Online Auctions And The Law Of Supply And Demand An online auction can be a great way to market your business, but it can also be a place where you can deliver hard to find items at a substantial profit. Take for instance the Nintendo DS Lite. In the Christmas season of 2006 and 2007 the hand held game systems were in high demand. Store shelves emptied just as quickly as units became available. Customers heard, “Sorry we’re all out,” more often than any of them wanted to. For the online business owner it was possible ... Autoresponders Your Online Messenger Service There was a time when large cities relied almost exclusively on messenger services. Page services are still used by Government officials among others to run errands and deliver documents and important correspondence. Even in places like New York City you will still find some messenger services flowing through traffic on bicycles as they deliver messages for their clients. The roll of messengers has a long and storied past. In many ways their role has found an online cou... Spam Blocking And The Mordor Ring In the Lord of the Ring book series by acclaimed novelist J.R.R. Tolkien, Frodo Baggins carries the weighty burden of delivering a much-prized ring to the fires of Mordor where the flame that forged the ring can also consume it. The ring has caused only hardship for those that have possessed it for a time. This ring tended to mirror a form of addiction for those who carried it. The problem was the most evil life form in middle-earth, Sauron, wanted the ring and if he posse... Internet Marketing – Vision Allocation Let’s see, if we go back far enough in time we find a car. This car doesn’t have an especially comfortable ride. Someone invests shock absorbers and markets the idea. Customers discover something they no longer want to be without. In time an in-dash radio is developed and the consumer moves that item from the “whodathunkit file’ to the ‘gotta have it file’. The same is true for air conditioning, electrical seats, windows and doors. This was followed by keyless entry, ke... List Building And The Online Quiz Strategy Do you want to know what your name would be in elvish? Do you want to take a personality test online? Are you interested in downloading a podcast? Are there certain games you’d like to be able to play on the Internet? If you answered yes to any of these questions then you have likely been a statistic on an online business owner’s list building strategies. If you are a business owner then you could learn from these sites. In each circumstance these websites have provided... Banner Advertising – How To Get One Large companies that have impressive advertising budgets are doing very well with animated or video directed banner ads on some of the most visited websites on the Internet. The content is creative and professional. Many people may think of banner ads as a rectangular box with a static and stationary company logo with a clickable link. Some may remember early animated banner ads that appeared to be a game, but no matter where you clicked it took you to a business website o... Social Media And Full Court Marketing It would seem that the marketing potential of social media sites is a fairly open book. I came across a social networking site called Talent Database that seems to exist for the benefit of freelancers or business owners. The site directs new members to fine-tune their particular talent (skill) and then allow the category they select to help bring prospective fans and customers to you when they need your particular skills. The networking side of this social media site ... Product Creation And The Odd Couple I heard a story recently about two animals that are very different from each other. The first is the American buffalo. The head of the buffalo is build pointing toward the earth. The buffalo eats grass and is especially equipped to do so. The second animal is a giraffe. This animal has an extended neck and has a hard time seeing something right in front of them. The buffalo has a hard time looking up and the giraffe has a hard time looking down. Face it these animals are very... Internet And Business Online – The Biff Blasters 17 Motivation A fourteen year-old boy is fairly desperate for cash. After all he’s got a video game habit that doesn’t come cheap and mom and dad aren’t willing to pay for every new game he wants. Suddenly it occurs to the young man that there beats within his chest the heart of an entrepreneur. What he lacks in skills he makes up for in determination. He can mow and chances are pretty good his dad will let him use the family mower. It’s a start and his motivation is cash. He uses th... Home-based Business And The Hobbyist Like me you have probably had someone say, “Find a way to make your hobby pay you.” Believe it or not this is often the birthing place of home-based businesses. Perhaps you have never considered taking what you consider fun and turning it into a way to earn income for yourself or your family. Consider John Moldovan who immigrated to America from Romania via Austria. He involved himself in other work, but his passion was making wooden furniture. He eventually competed in... Internet And Business: Online Passion Is The Vein The human body is a complex piece of machinery. The blood that we have coursing through our veins carries oxygen to all parts of the body, delivers hormones and other signal messengers to the body and works to eliminate waste from the blood stream. In short our bodies could not exist without a blood supply. The same concept is true of the entrepreneur in home-based and online business. Passion is the vein that carries the lifeblood of the entrepreneur. Passion is the co... Team Building Requires A Vision Caster Summary: An open approach to change is a disarming approach while a firm approach to change is almost assured to result in a defensive posture among your team members. How exactly do you do that? If you are seeking to build a new team profile in an existing business, but are fighting the status quo it may be time for an object lesson. We’ve all experienced those moments when existing employees will say something like, “We’ve never done it that way before.” As a team ... Team Building Work Without Walls Summary: What if your team regularly had time they could spend together dreaming big dreams and pooling intellectual and intuitive resources (call it a game plan if you will) for the company to take the next step, to stir the sleeping giant, and to take a chance? Imagine a basketball team taking to the court. Something strange has happened to this team. Somehow a potent force field has surrounded each player. The opposing team can get to these players, but their own teamma... Ecommerce And The Reluctant Business Owner Ecommerce is the business of online business and it can be a radical departure from traditional brick and mortar business. It can be difficult for some business owners to make the move from a more traditional business environment to cyberspace. What you don’t see in online business can be unsettling. Things like… * You never see the customer. * You may never know when a customer is online. * You may never have to personally handle any transactions. * You have to l... Internet And Business Online – How Are You Amplifying Your Business? A group of enthusiastic cheerleaders perform their cheers just in front of the stands. The home crowd most often looks beyond the cheerleaders to the action on the field. Cheers from the crowd erupt as the favored team gets a touchdown. Even a first down is reason to celebrate. What is it that helps that cheerleader get their message of support across to the fans? A megaphone. This simple tool is used to take a message and amplify it so that it can be heard. Once the cr... There’s Power In Social Networking Social networking is a growing mechanism for allowing people to connect with each other online, develop friendships and find some entertainment along the way. Online business has found ways to used social networking to enhance their marketing, however there is another way for social networking to positively affect business. Facebook and other social sites have embraced the idea of networks. This function allows you to access others in your field, region or personal inte... Web Development And The Site Review Every online business owner wants to ensure that his or her web development objectives are on target. Web development includes Search engine optimization and appropriate use of keywords. One of the ways many individuals are helping develop their website is by utilizing reputable site review sites. Interestingly there is even a site review that reviews other site review sites. Let me seek to demystify what I am talking about. When you have worked to put all the finishing... The Joy Of Affiliate Revenue Why would anyone sign up for affiliate revenue programs when they could launch their own business site and derive a greater portion of each sale? Why sell products for someone else when you could select a product you want to make available? For many fledgling entrepreneurs affiliate revenue programs offer an opportunity that may otherwise be unavailable. When an individual develops an affiliate revenue site using web builder software they are combining a cost effect... SEO And The Content Between The Jingles Have you ever wondered why radio stations use jingles? A mini-song (jingle) is played several times each hour. Listeners can get to the place where they know that jingle by heart and can sing it even when the radio is off. The jingle is used going into a weather break or back into music. The jingle seems ever present on radio, but why? The reason many radio stations use the jingle is the same reason online business conforms to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The more you... Internet Marketing – The Art Of Capitalizing On Content I’ve said before that marketing is all about content. The carefully chosen words on your website can have a profound impact on your placement in search engines and in the perception many online users have of your website. I’m going to suggest something that you might never have considered before. When you have some spare time write an article for your website. In between other marketing efforts write an article for your website. When you have an idea write an article for y... Internet And Business Online – Startle The World With Your Next Big Idea. Thomas Edison was a ‘better idea’ man. He saw what others were doing with certain products and he believed there was a better use for the product or a way to improve the product beyond its original purpose. Online business is filled with individuals who have seen a better way to use an existing product or how to create the next phase of usefulness for a product that may have been around for a long time. The Internet is not just fertile soil for dreams it is also the per... Internet Marketing And The Integrity Of Belief Marketing by its very nature demands that you have a firm and steady belief in the product you represent. You have to count the product as so valuable that it would make no sense to keep the product away from those who would most benefit from the product. Obviously greed can be a motivator in marketing, but it will not be a sustainable motive. You may, in fact, need to hire others to help you market the product if your sole objective is the accumulation of wealth. When... Paid Surveys Minus An Emotional Investment Ben is a guy that uses his voice as a tool. He has clients around the world that will pay him to use his voice for audio advertising, podcasts or even to read books. Needless to say, Ben keeps pretty busy. There are times though when things slow down a bit and Ben has to work at finding new clients. So, in the grand spirit of marketing he seeks places where he can let others know about what he does. He pays to be included in some voice over services, but he has also been k... SEO As A Destination Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a phrase that can appear to be a catchall. It seems these words are floated around whenever anyone talks about marketing on the Internet. It can even become easy to simply think of the term in context of something we don’t understand so we ignore it. However, to ignore SEO is to invite a slow death to your online business. Search Engine Optimization is the goal, not the specific process. Essentially what it means is that that you must us... Web Design – Why Is Content So Important? What a strange title. Of course content is important! Why bring it up? That is a good question. The reason I bring it up is because for many web designers there seems to be the attitude that they should simply provide several areas of fixed content that may appeal to search engines. For most web designers this is a time saving tactic that bows to the notion that a site MUST be Search Engine optimized (SEO) without thinking about the life of the website post-launch. S... Internet Marketing And The Website Of Renown There once was a man who developed, “Ye Ole Grand Website of Renown”. It was a lovely site and he was well proud of his accomplishment. The navigation of the site surpassed Viking tales of old. Each section of the website sported a beautifully crafted signboard and Old England flare. Tidbits of knowledge were placed liberally throughout the site and the owner thought to wax fat and happy as he estimated the value of the site to his own family wealth. Lo this was a beneficent ... Home-based Business And The Roots Of My Raisin’ What happens when you determine you may no longer have upward mobility in the job you have in your current geographical location? For some this may mean locating greener grass in locations potentially far removed from where they live. For some individuals it may make sense to pull up roots and move on, but for others this scenario may be a bit more complicated. For instance if you have a close knit family you may not desire to remove yourself from that sense of support ... Home Based Business And The Attainable Dream In traditional sales you may have heard the old adage, “It’s not what you know it’s who you know.” I’m here to debunk that myth – at least in online business. There was a notion that provided the ability to think that even if a parent had messed up at least their children could do better, perhaps becoming a senator or President. The world of online business takes it one step further. No matter what success or lack thereof you may have experienced you can still find potenti... Internet And Business Online – The Value Added Objective Brick and mortar businesses are learning that the Internet is a powerful ally in perpetuating business. Certainly most online buyers understand that many traditional stores also supply the ability to purchase online. In fact many stores will make the online store more inviting by either making purchases available with free shipping to the nearest store or by making certain items available only online. At least one retailer allows customers to select a variety of free prod... Customer Service And The Heirloom Factor A couple in Colorado discovered a game they enjoyed. The game was not available in any of the box stores they visited so they conducted an online search one Christmas. They had first observed the game a year before. They loved the fact that while the game was fun it also provided a perfect tabletop feature for their home adding a unique aesthetic to their home. As they had remarked positively to their hosts about the game the year before so had many others as the one-of... Internet Marketing And The Tidbit Generation Take the time to look around you sometime in a public setting. Observe the people around you. Sit on one of those benches at the mall and pay attention to what you see. Yes, you will see shoppers, and there will be those who engage others in conversation. However, you will likely notice a husband calling his wife by cell phone to ask questions about a potential purchase. You will probably see many teens pulling out a cell phone or Blackberry to either read or send a text m... The Mystery And Glory Of Internet Marketing When a tenth class reunion is observed there are often those who will leave the event feeling as if nothing has changed. The cheerleaders are still catty and the jocks still think they are NFL material. Many of the same petty attitudes seem to come up and so many seem intent on attempting to impress others about their success and achievements. By the time the twentieth reunion is celebrated many individuals are interested in talking about their children and the successes t... Internet And Business Online – Tomorrow Will Arrive Sooner Than You Expect As we continue to move further into tomorrow we find fewer and fewer people who remember life before the computer. When you follow this truth to its logical conclusion you discover that there will come a time when there will be very few transactions that will not be managed except through the connections typically found in an online environment. Where you may find some who have never purchased online today there will be shift and this will be the exception and not the norm... Home Based Business And The Lemonade Rule With the subprime debacle in mortgage lending in 2007 both business as well as consumers began to take note that something had to change. The government got involved and pushed for help to be extended to those who may have already found themselves facing the potential of foreclosure. Subprime hit at the heart of home and auto lending. These loans were generally infused with creative payment, interest amounts and terms. For many this was the deal that sounded too good to... Internet And Business Online – The Price Of Common Sense Alfred Lord Tennyson once said, “Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.” Sometimes those with the most wisdom or common sense may not have a college degree or letters after their name. Some of these individuals never set foot in a college classroom. Some of them don’t even like to read, yet they understand people. When a crisis comes up many of these individuals refuse to panic and they can generally solve the problem by taking a step back and trying to look at the big pi... Internet And Business Online – A World Of Individuals Audio and video streams as well as mp3 players are providing an interesting shift in reality as we know it. The growth of video games has facilitated a culture that is not immune to the idea of an altered reality. A young girl in Colorado was beaten to death when a family member and friend decided to act out a scene from a violent video game they had been playing. These two teens were tried as adults in the case facing murder charges. The alternate state many of the wor... List Building, Little Black Books And A Really Big Chain In the realm of once upon a time there was a term that was often used to describe a secret list of potential dates for the owner of the list. The term was ‘a little black book’. The notion was picked up in movies, books and as a means of poking fun at someone else. The idea of the little black book had, at its core, the idea of list building. Others have used the term to describe contacts they might have in business that may be called upon when the salesman needed to r... Home-based Business And Non-traditional Income You can look across the prairie and miss it. In 1987 a water bottling company was founded on farmland near a small Nebraska town. Legend and folklore surround the Blue Creek Spring where the water runs pure, clean and cold, but for one family it has led to a home-based business that is keeping them very busy. The family employs several other people who live in the region and they bottle more than 20 gallons a minute. Pumps pull water from more than 2,000 feet below the sur... Internet And Business Online – Red Tape Removal Mike Krzyzewski once said, "The truth is that many people set rules to keep from making decisions." Take some time to think about that from the perspective of online business ownership. Is it possible to so legislate your business that you no longer have the spontaneity you need for creating something new and flexible? Most businesses enact policies to deal with issues when a situation comes up that they don’t know how to handle at first blush. Once they work through t... Audio Streaming – The Growth And The Glory Everyday someone is developing new audio streaming opportunities for consumers. From the hobbyists to communications veterans the Internet is a new media playground. Many of these Internet based audio streams are searching for voice over professionals to manage the custom identifiers for the station or podcast. Software that allows the assembly of multiple audio elements is making is possible for unprecedented growth in audio streaming in an online environment. Wha... Internet Marketing – The Consumer Is In Control I heard someone say recently that marketing is simply an elaborate scheme to take your money by making you feel incomplete without the product being sold. It is possible that this idea matches the way many people think about marketing. However, when it comes to Internet marketing there has been a shift in focus and the tables have been turned. The focus of marketing has shifted the salesman to consumer advocate. That may sound like a conflict in terms, but the truth is ... Internet Marketing And Personality Infusion Websites develop with the personality of the business owner. So, how can you take your personal interests and use them to intensify the effect of marketing? This includes both the marketing of the site and the products or services you are making available. If your personality has a bent toward humor perhaps your website may include humorous bits of trivia that deal with your industry. You might solicit humorous stories from customers (this strategies could also work to imp... Internet Marketing – Share The Joy If you are going to be effective in marketing you have to believe in your product. You can’t just think, “This is a fine product and will do a good job.” No, you have to be so totally sold on the product that you can’t help but share the news. Many business owners can find marketing a difficult proposition, but maybe it’s because they haven’t taken the time to fully review and acknowledge the product they are making available. When you get to the point of passion in reg... Product Launching – The Tale Of Two Products One of the key questions you will need to ask when it comes to product launching is an important one in relation to how you market the product. The question is this – what is the sales potential of the item you will be selling? In our tale of two products we look first at a hand crafted wooden box. This box has hand carved accents on the top and comes with a velvet-lined interior. These boxes are also the work of one recognized wood artisan. Several movie stars and even a ... Video Streaming And The Pop Culture Revival A group that had a significant following in past pop culture is currently pioneering another wave in pop culture. This group was famous in the 70’s and 80’s and has continued to see a broad base of fan support. They have indicated that they feel a bit like those who first pioneered television must have felt. Each month this group puts together an hour-long television type show that is free and available on demand. The video stream is produced with the same elements you wo... Internet And Business Online – Equal Opportunity For All Is it only those man and women who grow up in prosperous homes that can pursue the dream of owning their own business? Is it true that the young are the only ones equipped to deal in an online environment? Is nationality an indicator of candidacy for ecommerce? No, no and no! There was a time when successful businesses were often developed and operated by those who came from families of wealth. There was a time when youth was necessary to fully build a thriving business... Ebooks And New Life For Old Words The development of content for a website can have an impact on future marketing efforts. Every website relies on very specific content to help in managing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies as well as providing customers with the most comprehensive data on issues related to the intent of the site. Search engines like to find sites that routinely update their website. What that means is that no matter how good the content is on your site you will likely need to... Spam Blockers And A Kinder And Gentler Marketing Approach An advance in spam blocking is another really good reason to take list building seriously. The status quo in list building had been to lease a list and flood thousands of inboxes with your message. This cold call approach may result in some sales, but more often it results in angry recipients who reported your email marketing effort as spam. As spam blockers became more prominent in almost every email system this approach to email marketing has often implode on itself... Ppc And The Revenue Machine For some online entrepreneurs the advent of Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is something on par with affiliate revenue programs. This may sound like an odd statement so let me explain. In affiliate revenue programs a website is developed with the singular purpose of encouraging visitors to make a purchase through your site. The items they can find on your site are actually purchased from a third party website using the affiliate’s website as the portal. However because the... Web Design And The World’s Largest Pen Knife In the 2008 edition, Guinness Book of World Records will present the penknife with the most functions ever presented. This new life has 87 different tools and performs more than 100 functions. The knife’s case is almost nine inches long by four inches wide and weighs about three pounds. As of this writing about 500 of the $1,200 Swiss made knives have been sold. Web design is a bit like that Swiss Army knife. A properly developed website is compact and utilitarian. Your we... Internet And Business Online – The Net Working Developing a business online provides the potential for a dynamic that is available only minimally in traditional brick and mortar counterparts. The potential I’m talking about is networking. In a more traditional business environment you may be tied more closely to the day-to-day operations of the facility and face-to-face encounters with customers. Networking might happen in an after hours setting or by phone, but is hard to manage in the same terms as is possible in an ... Blogging – Getting Started Setting up a blog is generally a matter of following some online steps. The first thing any blogger (business or personal) needs to do is to find a blogging host. This could be a stand alone like Zanga or Blogger or a part of a social media site like MySpace or FaceBook. You will need to register with a typical user name and password. From this point on you will need to pay attention to the instructions the blog site provides. In most cases you can upload photos and m... Affiliate Revenue And The General Store Perhaps it is taxes that an individual needs to pay off. Maybe it’s the need for extra income to pay down debt. Sometimes the extra income might be useful in making a purchase a family wants. Whatever the reason the idea of affiliate revenue stream is finding converts among those who may have never previously considered an online business. Affiliate revenue programs are really the quintessential ‘everyman’ business opportunity. The primary investment is a website, hosting... Ezines Can Still Pack A Punch In the 1980’s many newspapers were developing their copy using a cut and paste technique. Obviously this was an improvement over typeset, but still time consuming. As desktop publishing came to prominence newspapers began to be developed on a computer and sent electronically to have a film made of the copy for print. Darkrooms were replaced as digital cameras gained wide acceptance. Now virtually all the functions of a newspaper (except for some of the interviews and photo... Video Marketing – The One They Come Back For I was sent a link recently to a video that was powerful in the way it presented the idea of going the extra mile for customer in ways that were easy, but unexpected. I left the viewing of the video inspired and wanting to find new ways to make my own businesses better. While I was inspired by the video and would willingly send anyone to the site I also discovered this video to be a video marketing strategy for a series of inspiring books and motivational downloads. Th... Traffic Building And The Mark Of Integrity If I go into a neighborhood convenience store and discover they make homemade soup and a hand crafted sub sandwich at a good price and with great taste I am likely to go back again. They just improved their foot traffic because I plan to come back. If I see a sign that tells me a roadside diner has the world’s best cup of coffee and I get a cup that tastes a bit like motor oil I will likely refrain from visiting that location again. They have just decreased their potential... Rss And A Statement Of Terms The way the world views media has changed. Was it so long ago that we grabbed a TV schedule magazine off the rack of a grocery store shelf and perused it to find what we wanted to watch? If we knew we were going to miss it we set the VCR to record it while we were gone. Today we can receive a full compliment of audio and video programs on demand and online. No longer are we bound by limited choice or availability. Anywhere you have Internet capabilities you also have the ... Internet And Business – One Bite At A Time A family friend once asked me, “How do you eat an elephant?” When I didn’t know how to respond he said, “One bite at a time.” This seems like either an obvious statement or an attempt a humor. For Internet marketing it is perfect advice. There are multiplied millions of web pages available online and multiplied millions of web sites to consider. How can a new website manage the marketing of a site that will exist in the midst of what may seem an infinite number of ot... Internet And Business Online – A Family Affair An executive in a big city firm develops a consulting firm online and helps non-competing businesses succeed. A farmer in Kansas develops a site that sells wheat products developed on his farm, his cookie recipe is award winning. A mom in Michigan develops products to keep kids warm in winter and her clientèle is global. Using the Internet to develop a business is making it possible for individuals from all walks of life to access paying customers that fall outside their o... Product Launching And The Emotional Investment Product launching can be a bit of an unnerving experience. Imagine what it was like for executives to roll out products like the wii, iPhone and Xbox? The manufacturer wanted to get everything right and if the buzz was significant (and it was with the three products listed), public scrutiny would likely be intense. Your product may or may not be as publicly visible as these products, but it does bear your individual stamp. Your reputation is represented when you unveil a n... Internet And Business Online – Developing Chicken Scratches Sometimes we can have some pretty incredible ideas for what we want from our websites. We can scratch down a few ideas and insist ‘this’ is what we want from our website. We can either hire someone to make the perfect website from our chicken scratches or we can use web builder technology to develop something on our own. So, what happens when we get another brilliant idea after the website is developed and in use? Well, usually we just find a way to tack the information... Internet And Business Online – Reverse Psychology Online business isn’t for you. No, it’s far too much work and there are too many unknowns. It’s ridiculous to think that anyone would seriously consider developing a business for the web; after all there are marketing strategies that are somewhat different than traditional stores. You have to think things through. There’s merchant accounts to set up, a web site to design. You have to worry about terms like SEO, PPC and RSS and how they might affect your business and its... Traffic Building And Tool Creativity There have been some amazing stories of individuals who have been very successful in traffic building in relation to their auction offerings. There have been incredible stories of how an individual will write a description of the product that reads more like a column by Ann Landers with the humor of Dave Barry. The description itself is so entertaining and relatable that individuals flock to the auction site simply to read the description. I recall one story of a mom... Paid Surveys And The Waiting Game If you’ve ever played the lottery than you have some idea what paid surveys are like. Surveys used to be a bit like telemarketing calls; disinterested pollsters would contact you at inconvenient times and rush through questions and even lead you along from time to time in how to best answer their question. Today many surveys take place online with an offer to pay the participant for their time. This idea seems a bit like free money to many who will flock to a paid su... Forums And The Coin Of Marketing Many online businesses view forums as a means of marketing goodwill to their customers, and it can do just that. However, forums are equipped with two sides, standard. If you make a forum available to site visitors you have accepted one side of the coin. You can, in fact, utilize that forum as a means of marketing trust with your customers. Feedback is an important component of a forum and this mechanism allows for the free flow of thought and allows every individual a voi... Web Design And The Cookie Cutter House If you live in a large city or if you travel you can often find a large section of homes that look nearly identical. If you’ve never lived in one of these homes it can be easy to believe that finding your home in a sea of similarity might be difficult. However each home, although incredibly similar at first glance, are amazingly different inside. Each home has a custom floor plan with multiple options that help the homeowner make their home distinct in spite of any similar... Internet And Business Online – It’s Just My Opinion The wonderful thing about writing an expert article is simply that I can project what I think about any given topic for which I have experience. Strangely this freedom may actually conflict with someone else who may have an opinion that varies from mine. Does this divergence of opinion make one individual superior to another? Probably not, but it does point out one very telling feature. You see life’s experiences are designed to be very personal so when I dispense advic... Site Promotion And The Tattoo Man There are so many ways you can market a product. Some of the more unique approaches to traditional advertising came in the form of sandwich board signs and willing men and women who would stand on busy corners and attempt to capture the attention of those passing by. Magnetic signs were (and still are) used to place a business logo on the side of a vehicle. Some individuals have sold a portion of the space on their head for a tattoo with the promise to leave their head cle... Product Creation And The Midnight Stroll Imagine being asked to climb a mountain. You gaze at the snow-capped peak and you are excited to undertake the adventure. Your instructor tells you there is a reward for reaching the summit. This only fuels your desire to get on the trail. You gather all the supplies you will need for travel and you place the burden on your back as you prepare to take the first step in your journey. You grab your walking stick and begin to take a step. “Hold on,” your instructor says. “... SEO And The Gem Dealer Some people have a hard time understanding the concept of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The notion of developing a website based on principles that involve certain words seems confusing and perhaps even a bit like hocus-pocus. In its most simple form SEO is something like the brightest thread in a tapestry or the point leader in a basketball game. This method is something like finding your favorite sports drink in a store filled with similar bottles. The use of Sear... Social Media And The Pop Culture Why would a popular musician or singing group put a social media page together? After all, aren’t they busy enough without adding the interaction that seems to be required of a social media site? In most cases these artists do not develop these pages as a result of having too much time on their hands. In fact, most of these artists do not have a significant amount of free time to devote to a social media site. That being said the social media site becomes an incredible ... Email Marketing And The Cold Call Cold call email marketing is becoming less and less effective in both return on investment (ROI) as well as recipient conversion. So why do so many online businesses continue to use leased or purchased lists to market their business. In some cases the email marketing plans that are developed are used by affiliate revenue sites that are looking to capitalize on their new venture. The net effect is not much different than a telemarketer call during the evening meal – not wel... Video Streaming And The Impatient Consumer As websites continue to grow in size and function the use of video streaming has become a comprehensive way to manage what may seem to be complicated changes for site visitors. The development of professional video streaming tours can help site visitors learn how to manage certain tasks. One of the primary reasons these video streaming tours are so successful is that they can visually guide the visitor through the most complicated of sites. Obviously the best-case sc... Internet And Business Online – A Step Toward Independence The diversification found among many businesses is having an effect on the public at large and the result is entrepreneurial diversification. General stores of a bygone era have been replaced with general stores of a super-sized variety. Stores the size of football fields (and sometimes bigger) are in line to furnish you with virtually everything you can imagine – all under the comfort of one roof. Within one store you might find a car repair department, lawn and garden... Auctions Are Not Just Hard Luck Stories If you spend any amount of time in rural America you will likely see signs that indicate an auction is planned. In some cases these auctions are the sign that hard luck finally met the banker and neither were thrilled at the meeting. A family could be displaced from a home or farm, a businessman could be liquidating assets to satisfy creditors or the passing of someone in the community has rendered their property and goods to an estate auction. An auction never really seem... Internet And Business Online Revert To Childhood Kids learn early about the need for marketing. Whether it’s cookie or candy sales, popcorn or knick-knacks or even holiday wrapping paper and cheese balls children learn what it takes to succeed. Many of these school or youth organization fundraisers thrive on the sale of products to help fund certain activities, programs or a needed purchase. These same fundraisers often reward the children for their efforts by offering increasingly spectacular prizes for those childre... Traffic Building And The Interstate There was a time when roads across America were ‘paved’ with dirt. Gravel was an improvement to these roads, but often came with a washboard feel as the vehicles chattered on to their destination. Simple two lane paved roads would eventually follow and the famed Route 66 took folks on a hill strewn ride across the country. As more and more Americans traveled the demand on these roads increased giving rise to the Interstate system. These four lane systems brought relief to ... Internet And Business Online - The Shifty Pride Factor There are practical and even motivational reasons to market when you are seeking to establish a business online. In this article let’s take a look at some of the motivational reasons. First of all, let’s break down a very specific wall that is generally erected when someone who is not comfortable with marketing objects to the idea that they need to promote a business. That wall is in many ways a reverse sense of pride. A wall is erected because they believe that if t... Business Online And The White Picket Fence Using the Internet for business has become one of the most cost effective ways to allow the entrepreneurial spirit to thrive. No longer does business aspirations mean a 2,000 square foot show room and multiple sales associates. No longer do you need to pay incredible fees for a building lease and expensive utilities. In many cases you can manage an online business from the comfort of home. This can allow you to spend more time with your family while pursuing a business ... Domain Names For A Single Word World How important is a domain name to your business? Oh, it’s not especially important if you are expecting all your traffic to come from search engines and you have a site that has used Search Engine Optimization (SEO) effectively. But what happens when you want to post a link and the full URL is listed? For some businesses that have chosen to operate their online business as a subdomain of an existing site service this URL can be especially long and may only refer to your... Web Design Extreme Makeover The development of a web design must be intentional and with purpose. I know this runs counter to any idea of freeform and learning as you go, but there is a solid reason for making sure you know where you’re going before you try to get there. Because Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies can take so long to have a pronounced effect on your website, and subsequently your traffic, it becomes important to make sure your website matches your objectives by at least 85% b...
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]