What NOT to do with RSS

By: Richard Keir,

Everybody is hot on using RSS to increase their traffic, promote their sites and do their marketing.

Why?Well, it's newish - at least within the internet marketing segment. Not as new as it was a year or so ago, of course.

Getting significant results is a little harder as the competition increases.With the profusion of blogs and spam blog-pinging to attract the search engine spiders to index static pages, the utility of this approach has been seriously impaired by unscrupulous overkill.Pinging every 3 minutes is - even to an idiot - absurd - or at least it should be. Why not just scream, "I AM AN AUTOMATED SEARCH ENGINE SPAM PROGRAM." Lovely footprint, very hard for even a seriously brain-damaged bot to identify.

Still there are a lot of sites with RSS feeds that are real feeds being produced as pages change and new content is added. So, yes, RSS feeds still work. Maybe not as fast and maybe they are less powerful than they were, but RSS remains a valid and increasingly necessary part of site promotion.

Techniques do get abused and the early rapid response tends to decline as a result. If people were a little clearer about what they're doing and why and how it all works, the frenzied search for new approaches could, perhaps, be a little less daunting. And if the quick buck artists were less successful at misleading people into doing things that are bad for everybody in the long run, then . . . but that's how it is, was, and apparently will be forever more.

One thing about a real feed - it's for more than getting bots to index your pages. If that's all you want then you can stop reading here.

For the remaining readers (if any), consider the single most critical element of any marketing or website promotion effort. You can have the most magnificent site, the greatest ever-changing content, beautiful and valid feeds in all formats -- and very little in the way of traffic. Unlike the search engines who have all those lovely spiders we are so hot to gain the attention of - most blog/RSS search engines and directories do not send out bots in search of RSS feeds.

Nope. You have got to submit to them.........

Click to finish reading this article
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Richard writes, teaches, trains and consults on business and professional presentations, eCommerce related matters, RSS and more. For more information on RSS Marketing - www.MarketingWithRSS.com/blog and on eCommerce sites and eCommerce site building - www.building-ecommerce-websites.com

10 Reasons Why People Don't Visit Your Web Site

By: David Riewe,

1. You don't offer free original content. It's important to give your visitors information they can't find anywhere else. If you're the only source for a certain type of information, people will flock to your web site.

2. You don't offer free software. Most people like to find good deals on software for their computers. If the software is free, that is even better.

3. You don't offer a free contest or sweepstakes. It's a fact, people like to win things. If you can fulfill that need, people will stop by to visit.

4. You don't offer a free directory. Create a directory of web sites on a particular topic that is related to your target audience. People will visit because they will find what they're looking for, all in one place.

5. You don't offer a free e-zine. Most people love to get free information that they're interested in emailed to them on a regular basis. This saves them time and money.

6. You don't offer a free community. People like to have a place were they can have discussions with others on a particular subject. You could add a chat room or message board to your web site.

7. You don't offer a free affiliate program. One of people's basic needs to survive is money. When you offer them a free opportunity to make money they'll line up to visit your web site.

8. You don't offer a free online utility. When you offer a utility that can solve a problem, people will visit your web site. The utility could be a free autoresponder, e-mail account, search engine submission, etc.

9. You don't offer free current information. Supply news stories related to your web site. People want up-to-date news on the topics they are interested in. They will also be interested in visiting your web site.

10. You don't offer free samples of your product or service. Have you ever been to a store and you jumped at the chance to get a free sample of food? This same concept will also attract people to visit your web site.

Article Source: Articles Beyond Better

"Not Only Will I Give You the Secret Blueprint that I Use to Make Six-Figures Per Year Online, I'll Also Provide You with the Products, Resources and Services Needed to Do It Yourself!" www.push-button-online-income.com/pbp

Do Your Ads Add To Your Bottom Line?

By: Gary Watson,
Creating ads that present your product or service to other businesses is much the same as creating ads for consumers. The difference, of course, is that you're selling to a tightly defined niche market as opposed to a wide swath of the public. But the basics are the same because you're trying to persuade another human being to take a closer look at what you're selling.

Here are ten tips to help you create an ad that makes your audience stop, look, and take action.

1. Define what you're selling before you sit down to make an ad.

2. Know who you're selling to -- keep that person in mind as you write your ad.

3. Come up with a clear statement of your product's or service's benefit. Keep that in mind, too.

4. Write as if you're one-on-one with the reader. Think of ads you connected with. They spoke to you.

5. Stay away from ego statements unless you're skilled enough to be humble or humorous. "With a name like Smuckers, it has to be good."

6. Make sure there's a strong connection between your headline and main visual. Picture a sleepy guy crawling out of bed, and the words "Time to make the donuts."

7. Choose your ad environment carefully. Your better mousetrap may not be appreciated in Gourmet magazine.

8. Study competitive ads and make sure that yours is different. Work hard to make it stand out.

9. Solicit comments. Track results. Change your approach if there seems to be a problem.

10. Above all, be sure your product or service lives up to your claims. After all, satisfied customers and clients create your best advertising.

By Gary Watson, GW CopyWriting Services

Article Source: Articles Beyond Better

Gary Watson writes ads that add to the bottom line. To learn more, visit him at www.GWCopy.com or call 508.651.9737

Learn from Joe Robson's expertise: How To Turn Any Product Into A Bestseller

How A Beginner Could Choose a Suitable Affiliate Program To Kick Start Online Home Business

By: Woon Sung Liang,

If you are new to online business, like I used to be, the fastest way to start your Internet online business is by becoming an affiliate to sell some one else’s products because it allows you to make money from your website visitors without having to worry about shipping and payment processing.

The products from the affiliate owners are usually information products such as electronic books (eBook) and software that can be delivered as a file that is then downloaded directly to your customers' computers. They could be repeatedly reproduced and downloaded and sold at no cost. There’s no packing, shipping and delivery cost.

The question you’ve to ask yourself is how can you determine which of the thousands of affiliate programs available in the Internet is suitable?Many beginners encountered disappointment and frustration after signing up with some affiliate programs only to find out later that they eventually end up having brought in very little money if any, after wasting a lot of time and effort.Hence the choice of affiliate programs is of utmost importance.

The most important criteria you should look for are:

1) They must offer products that the market is asking for or that are already in demand i.e. the low hanging fruit type of products, rather than creating new ideas hoping that the consumers would be convinced to buy.

2) The affiliate program must offer good commission to their affiliates. Although different people define “good” differently, generally if it could bring in about $ 500/month as a start, it would be something worth looking into. As mentioned, affiliate programs offer high commission for their information products such as e-books and software. The owners of these affiliate programs can afford to give large commissions (50% or more) because of low cost of “production”.

3) It must be easy to set up with step by step easy to follow instruction. And the website should be simple and yet attractive.

4) They should provide you with banners, images, links, sample ads and articles and emails to help you promote their products. Besides, they should also have a good support system for helping you with any problems you might have.Do not be satisfied only by the above mentioned points. You should conduct further research to check on............

Read the rest of this article

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Woon Sung-Liang is a Rubber and Latex Consultant with more than 20 years of experience. He enjoys writing, travelling, playing flamenco guitar and singing. Not long ago, he didn't know ANYTHING Internet marketing... However, within just a few weeks, he launched his own website AND learned how to profit from an opt-in list, pull in sales with ezines, make money with Google Adwords and setup his own BLOG! Check this fantastic website to find out how he has done it:www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-9747

Article Source: Articles Beyond Better

Article Writing - Why Bother?

By Barbara White

There are thousands of articles to be read on the World Wide Web, and many more are being added everyday. If you take the time to do more than skim them, you will find that many articles are about similar things. Why would you take the time out of your busy schedule to add one more? We all suffer from information overload- so why add to it?
Why should I bother?

Here are some good reasons to consider why it would be to your advantage to take up article writing:

Expert Status,

By writing articles in your niche area you begin to establish your credibility as an expert in that field. When writing your article it is important to include key words in the article that relate to your specific area. This will make it easier for the search engines to link your name to your area of expertise, and your reputation will grow into ‘expert status’

Your Articles Are Needed

Webmasters, ezine editors, and publishers are looking for fresh content to publish to their subscribers. It is to your advantage that they find you. Then your article will get reproduced all over the world, and that will increase your exposure and reputation.

To Use your Resource Box

The resource box at the end of your article is your space to “sell” and promote you and your services, products, and expertise. To reprint your article, publishers have to include the resource box. Here is your opportunity for FREE advertising and unashamed self promotion.

To Gain Traffic To Your Website

By including a live link back to your site in the resource box your will increase your web traffic to your website. This is a good marketing strategy, as search engines look for links into your site and it will improve your ranking and you will get even more traffic directed your way.

Content is King
Quality content is king on the internet. The more places your articles are found on the Internet, the better it is for you. This is because when a search for your subject, name or company is done the more hits will be found by the search engines, and you will place closer to the front of the listings. (of course there is a way for your article to come up as Number One, but that is a topic for another day)

How do You Get Your Article onto The Internet, and Get Noticed?

There are several ways to do this, here are four important ways:

Publish your article on your website. To get it noticed quickly , you can submit a sitemap to Google (it’s a free service)

Register and submit your article to free article submission sites such as http://www.ezinearticles.com/ , http://www.articlesbeyondbetter.com/ . There are lots out there- do a search for them. You can also sign up to several Yahoo groups that focus on article writing and submission.

Submit to a service that will submit to sites for you. Well known submission services include Isnare, Article Marketer, Submit Your Article and thePhantomwriters.com.

Buy software that will not only submit articles for you, but help with the formatting and make them search engine friendly as well. If you intend to write articles frequently this is a great time saver. I recommend Article Announcer

So What Next ?

Start writing and increase your expert status, web traffic, and promote your
business product or service for free.

Barbara White of Beyond Better Development, wrote this article from her own experience.
Barbara started writing articles only a few months ago, and her articles have
been read thousands of times all over the world, and even been translated into
other languages.

Submit your articles for free at www.articlesbeyondbetter.com

Not got time to submit articles- check out Article Announcer

Affiliate Programs And SEO

By: AllianceLeads SEO,

While good SEO skills will get your page noticed by search engines by themselves there other tricks to help increase their effectiveness.

Affiliate programs can be a good way to increase your website’s own SEO attributes.
There are different types of affiliate programs. An older one would be the old banner concept which predates pay-per-click. Google’s Adwords is a modern incarnation of this where by people can profit from Google’s pay-per-click business.

Let’s look at some of these.Not all affiliate programs have to be for profit. There are many people who are just looking to get traffic to their sites by cooperating with other sites. Just as a strong page on your website can help increase the rankings of your other pages rankings on affiliates’ sites can do the same. Don’t confuse affiliates with guest books or link pages.

An affiliate is working with some kind of service or business to make a profit so it is a function of commerce. This will help with the search engines’ rankings. Search engines look for link pages and don’t give them a very high ranking so they wouldn’t help you very much. However since affiliate pages are used for commerce they are going to have a much stronger ranking. Affiliates can act as a team just like the pages on your site.

Another point to consider is that pages that are involved with affiliate programs are going to be set up well in order to profit from them. So this is analogous to strong members of a team making a colossal team effort. Enough strong pages driving traffic to your site is lie diverting a river to a drought stricken town.Fortunately affiliate programs are easy to find so just keep in mind what kind you would be willing to do for your site. Don’t give yourself more work than you need to.

Article Source: Articles Beyond Better

AllianceLeads SEO is a Search Engine Optimization solutions provider. With over 10 years experience dealing with high end clients, Allianceleads SEO has a thorough understanding of helping businesses compete successfully in the online world.
Visit www.AllianceLeads.com for more information.