Getting Targeted Traffic By Standing Out In The Crowd

Writen by Jack Humphrey

Have you ever seen the trading floor in action on Wall Street? After the opening bell, things get chaotic. People who don't know what's going on might think of it as a riot situation.

It is funny to think that the world economy is so tied to something so seemingly disorganized and inefficient. But it works, somehow, and there are winners and losers each day just like online business owners who "win" and "lose" targeted traffic.

Picture a big group of guys all yelling and trying to get the attention of a couple people, who in turn, are trying to decipher what it is they are buying or selling. You cannot imagine that anyone has an edge over anyone else in this scenario.

Now picture one of the traders being 3 feet taller than everyone else. This guy gets heard and seen above all the others and has better, faster results from his obvious edge over everyone else.

Internet marketing is much like the Wall Street scenario. Everyone is yelling and screaming (with their links and ads) trying to get the attention of their market. It's chaotic yet it is organized in its own way.

The ones to understand how to be the guy who is 3 feet taller than the rest of the crowd are the winners at the end of the day. This might be from being number one in Yahoo for their keyword, or having a bigger list of subscribers than everyone else in their market niche.

Having the tools to operate in the winner's circle online is like pulling up a chair on the trading floor to see and be seen by more of your market.

In order to stand head and shoulders above the rest you must know your craft and be intimately tied to the changing currents in search engine marketing and other forms of online marketing.

This is your chair that will enable you to out-perform your competition who are below you fighting for scraps, trying to be seen and be heard above the din.

It is impossible these days to be a passive internet marketer. You cannot get the edge in online business without spending time on your craft and learning everyday how to get your site in front of your target market in new and innovative ways.

This is why every successful website owner on the web invests time and energy in continuing education. Most also attend seminars and network with other marketers to keep in-the-know and keep that chair on which they are standing on all four legs.

Getting to the top and staying there are two different things. Networking with other very smart, insightful trail blazers in your industry is how you stay on top.

That's why record numbers of online business owners are flocking to internet marketing seminars. Each year the seminar circuit grows and each year the seminars sell out with eager attendees looking to get, and keep, their edge. Thousands of people are looking for the chair to stand on that gets them seen by their target market.

Whether or not YOU think continuing education is important is irrelevant. You competition DOES and they are networking and learning specifically to blend your website into the crowd.

If you are serious about success online, no matter what your definition of success is for your business, you at least need to be aware of exactly HOW your competition is beating you in all areas of your marketing campaign.

Then you can take steps to get back in the game and compete on unequal footing with the masses who are all vying for the same attention from the same group of people in your target market.

Learn. Study. Know your craft. Internet marketing is no longer a spectator sport!

Copyright 2005 Jack Humphrey

Jack Humphrey is giving away "chairs" at the Internet Publishers Mardi Gras: Krewe of Profiteers seminar in New Orleans September 9th-11th, 2005. Come learn how to stand up and be seen on the web! http://contentdesk.com/mardigras/

Offer More Payment Options Than Your Competition

Writen by Bill Platt

In order to be successful online, you must provide your customers many quick and easy ways to pay for your goods and services. It is not enough to ask folks to send a money order or check to your house or place of business. You must go further.

OFFER MORE PAYMENT OPTIONS THAN YOUR COMPETITION

The Internet offers too many options to consumers to find the same products and services, for consumers to remain complacent with just one or two payment options.

People are becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of making secure online purchases. As a newcomer to the Internet, folks may be apprehensive about spending money online, but after having made a few successful purchases they become more and more comfortable with this new medium and marketplace.

For a lot of folks, the ability to pay with a credit card is of the greatest importance to them. Yet, a lot of small businesses either cannot or will not use a merchant account for the purpose of offering their customers more ways to pay.

THE UGLY TRUTH ABOUT MERCHANT ACCOUNTS

Some advise that you must absolutely have a merchant account to successfully operate an online business. They suggest that any business without a merchant account is seriously lacking credibility.

Well that argument may be the absolute truth for some consumers. But, if you were to look at Main Street USA, you would notice that a majority of the sole proprietorships in this country do not offer credit cards as a payment option. Yet, many of these businesses do extraordinarily well.

There is a reason why small business owners often forego credit cards as a payment option. The reason is that merchant accounts can cost a considerable amount of money to acquire and maintain.

Simply put, the cost of the merchant account makes it a prohibitive option to a lot of small businesses.

IN THE ABSENCE OF A MERCHANT ACCOUNT

While small businesses may not use merchant account services, they still need to have many payment options available for them and their customers.

Many processors have popped up to fill this need. Some examples include:

· http://www.clickbank.com
· http://www.ibill.com
· http://www.paypal.com - Now owned by http://www.ebay.com

While most of these processors get good ratings, there is also a strong movement afoot by former members of PayPal who feel PayPal has wronged them. The most common complaint leveled against PayPal is the practice of freezing member accounts without recourse.

If you have a few days to spare, you could read about the nightmares of some former PayPal merchants: http://www.PayPalSucks.com

(DISCLAIMER: I have been a PayPal member since October of 2001 and have successfully completed hundreds of transactions without problem.)

WHERE DOES ALL OF THE MONEY GO?

Online payment processors are the grease that oils the wheels of the Internet. They enable individuals to pay for goods and services they wish to acquire from small online businesses.

PayPalSucks.com puts the importance of online processors into real perspective:

"Some numbers to consider: PayPal does $16 million per day in transactions. Multiply that by their 'average' of 2.9% and you see they are making $464,000 A DAY, or about $14 Million a month."

Dot Com entrepreneur's dream of these kinds of numbers.

WHAT IF YOUR BUSINESS COULD PRODUCE THIS KIND OF REVENUE?

In order to begin to earn revenue at any level, you must begin by offering your customers more buying options.

There exists a payment processing option available to your business that permits your customers to pay you by all of the following methods:

· Visa
· MasterCard
· American Express
· Optima
· Discover
· Diners Club
· Cart Blanche
· JCB
· Eurocard
· Check
· Online Check
· Charge to Phone Bill
· Paypal
· E-Bullions
· E-Gold
· NetPay
· EvoCash
· Moneybookers
· PayPal
· Cash
· Money Order

This new payment processor is called StormPay.

MORE ABOUT THE STORMPAY PROGRAM

StormPay is a program that is very similar to PayPal, of course with exceptions. As with other online payment processors, they provide an opportunity to consumers to put money into accounts in their program for the purpose of making purchases.

If someone prefers to use a credit card, then they will not have to make a cash deposit. Credit card users will simply use StormPay to securely process their credit card transactions with StormPay merchants.

StormPay reaches beyond their competitors in three distinct ways:

· They support both weekly and monthly subscriptions.
· They accept payments for MLM's and income opportunities.
· You can earn money from your referrals and from their referrals to six levels deep!

STORMPAY HAS CREATED A WIN-WIN BUSINESS PLAN

StormPay wins with referral fees because they are gaining new customers --- you win because you earn money by helping StormPay to grow.

PayPal also understood the value of referral fees in the growth of their own business. From the beginning, PayPal has offered a $5 referral fee to anyone who brought PayPal new members.

StormPay offers a higher incentive to you to help them grow:

· Each time a member in your downline makes a purchase you will receive a percentage of the transaction fees.

· They offer real-time campaign tracking results to help you build your referral base.

MULTIPLE REVENUE STREAMS INCREASE YOUR SUCCESS

In a nutshell, businesses survive and grow by offering an array of products and services. However, it is important that you are very selective about the products and services you offer. Each of your revenue streams should be similar in nature, or else you run the risk of watering down your primary business.

For most small businesses, offering StormPay as an additional revenue stream will make sense. If you are offering your customers the option of StormPay as a payment processor, it makes sense to also ask them to participate in the StormPay affiliate program --- especially so if your products and services are offered to other businesses.

IN CONCLUSION... MORE OPTIONS EQUAL MORE PROFITS

As an online business, you must be willing and able to provide more payment options to your clients.

It might also make sense to use more than one payment processor to handle your transactions. Some consumers do not want to register with a new payment processor so that they can buy from you. Remember that your competitors are only two clicks away.

If you were to choose only one payment processor, I like StormPay best because they offer your customers so many ways to pay for your products and services.

(NOTE: To be truthful, I also like StormPay because of their affiliate / referral program. Click here to investigate StormPay further and to sign up as a member and affiliate: http://www.stormpay.com)

Please remember that my point throughout this article has been for you to offer your clients as many ways to pay as you can muster. If you will only take the time to expand the ways in which your customers can pay you for your products and services, then you will reap the benefits of greater sales by simplifying the buying process for your customers.

More payment options open the door to more sales, thereby increasing your chance of online success.

Copyright Bill Platt - All Rights Reserved

Bill Platt is the owner of http://www.LinksAndTraffic.com

• When you are tired of the struggle of the link building process, it might be time to consider our "Links And Traffic" services.

• When you are ready to employ more Natural Linking Strategies in increasing your link popularity, "Links And Traffic" can help.

• When you are ready for your links to actually generate click-through traffic, we are here.

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Secrets To Finding Great Wholesale Products To Sell Online

Writen by Chris Robertson

Finding great merchandise to sell online can be a tricky proposition. Whether you already have an online store, are hoping to open an online store, or want to sell through the many auction sites on the Web, it's always a challenge to find great products at wholesale prices.

The primary challenges revolve around inventory. Even if you are able to find a great deal on a product, there are costs involved in having it shipped to you. Once you get the inventory, you have to find a place to store it where it won't get damaged. And then, periodically, you have to count the inventory, which is always a hassle. Then, there's the danger that you got such a great price because the item simply won't sell. If that happens, you're stuck with a whole lot of inventory, and lose money in the process.

So, what's the secret to finding great wholesale products to sell online? Finding an intermediary who has great connections to wholesalers, who will only charge you for what you actually sell (no inventory on hand!), and who will deliver the product to your buyer's door (no standing in line at the post office!).

There are a number of dropship companies out there, but here is a guide to finding the best. A great dropshipping hub will offer the following features:

* Unlimited access to tens of thousands of products at wholesale prices

* Free drop ship services with no minimum order

* Free order fulfillment

* Track, report, and pay any sales tax for you

In addition, the best companies will offer you a number of options, depending on your circumstances. For example, if you already have your own online store, they will offer you access to all of their products to supplement your inventory. If you are an auction maven, they will have special programs that generate code for your online auction. And, if you're new to online selling, they will offer you:

* A customizable website, where you can choose the name, the products, and the prices

* Free website hosting

* Free email address

* Free payment processing

* Daily update of products, including the quantity available

Furthermore, the website should give you the ability to:

* Add your own banners

* Add your own HTML code

* Add your own products

* Add your own logo

* Monitor your sales and profits in real time

Whatever your online sales vehicle, you should learn all you can about getting great products at wholesale prices.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Learn more about Find Great Wholesale Products or Majon's Business and Entrepreneurs directory.

Article Marketing How To Make It Work For You

Writen by Tinu Abayomi-Paul

Information based marketing is one of the oldest and most effective techniques for bringing targeted prospects to your site and converting them into buyers. This is part of the reason that software, and distribution services that make the process of article promotion easier are so popular lately.

Though the various tools you can use to make the process of distributing your articles more easily are invaluable in getting your content the most exposure, that's only half of the story.

Getting article marketing to work for your site lies primarily in two things:

• The article you're submitting, and
• The preparation you do before a single word of your content is written.

Since those two determining factors make at least 50% of the difference in bringing you success, let's take a look at what the most common mistakes are in that area, and how to overcome them.

Mistake Number 1 - Confusing the Reason to Promote with Articles with the Reason to Write an Article

There are three key benefits to promoting an article - branding, lead generation, and as a corollary, online promotion, particularly as part of your optimization efforts.

Yet there is only one reason to write an article, and that is to inform your audience. If your article is not geared towards this as its primary purpose, you will fail to see the three benefits of promotion - because no one will want to read your article.

How many links you're able to generate by submitting your article to hundreds of sites will matter little if you're unable to get them picked up by publications, or read by people who search for information.

Sure, if you know what you're doing all those links pointing back to your site will count for something in your search engine results - but remember that generating links to your site is only one part of optimizing your site for Google, Yahoo or MSN.

To overcome this issue, you'll need to figure out how to get people to read what is in your article, and then click through to your site from your resource box. The best start to a solution is to produce better content.

In the end it's a matter of choice. You can get a little exposure from increased link backs, on a very basic level, or enjoy massive exposure from a little extra work.

Mistake Number 2 - Starting The Article Promotion without a Plan

Not every article can fulfil all three purposes of promotion. Some will work better for branding, others can generate leads and increase sales. But if you don't start out with a plan for what the function of your article should be, you'll end up unhappy with the results.

To overcome this issue, before you write a single word, decide what purpose the article is supposed to serve. An article meant to brand you as an expert should display your knowledge. One for generating leads may need to be geared towards solving a very specific problem.

An article that gets published every where and helps to make you known is not meant to have the same level of exposure as hyper-targeted content geared towards a narrow group of people. Learning the difference will help you know what kinds of articles to write.

Mistake Number 3- Publishing Content That Doesn't Help Your Reader

Maybe you're thinking: "All I want is links back to my site - any visitors the article generates is gravy."

Well guess what? Not all article banks and directories are going to accept your content automatically. You can double the number of sites you can submit to by writing articles that the directories want to share with readers. And all it takes is one publisher with a hundred thousand readers to increase your potential audience tenfold.

So if you want article marketing to work for you, write articles that publishers want in their publications.

This also means obeying the standard guidelines, running a spell check, researching a good topic to write about, or even hiring a writer to produce articles on your behalf.

Mistake Number 4 - Failing to Maximize the Promotional Opportunities of Article Marketing

You already know that articles marketing can help you generate additional links back to your site. But did you know that you can get more visitors and better search engine results from articles in a variety of ways?

You can mention your desired keyword in strategic places, though you should take care not to overdo this. Some people will also tell you to make use of anchor text, which can also be an effective method. However, you should know that the majority of directories and publications aren't able to support this.

There are alternatives to this method that are just as effective, if not more so, but they require more space to explain.

It's not just about the links back to your site either. Part of doing well with article marketing is getting picked up by publishers with large audiences, or gaining the ability to leverage other brands due to the quality of your work.

Better search engine results are great.

But by themselves they don't put money in your pocket - there are a myriad of factors that can turn your article marketing efforts into an opportunity to increase your income, not just the number of visitors to your site.

Tinu Abayomi-Paul is a Web Promotion Specialist who runs the Free Traffic Tips Blog. You can read part two of this article at http://www.freetraffictip.com/article-marketing and learn about three more common mistakes even veteran article marketers make.

Internet Marketing Strategy

Writen by Gregg Makarowski

A solid Internet marketing strategy will make or break your experience online. Many companies loose millions on bad advice from IT professionals and web design personnel that do not fully understand the complexity involved with an Internet marketing strategy. You should only deal with experts that know and understand the Internet for marketing purposes. Deal with company's that are proven on how to successfully expose your website for maximum target traffic. Get them to show you high rankings of websites of their clients or their personal websites.

Many companies online businesses went under during the dot com fall because of a weak Internet marketing strategy. Simply put, they were not educated on this at all. There is a misconception that if you have a site live that you be found by search engines for your related terms. This is not accurate.

You website needs a solid foundation for an Internet marketing strategy to work effectively with search engines. This solid foundation is really proper coding in your website's code, structure of pages, and how you build your website. Now engines are not the only way to market but one of the most effective ways to be found without spending ridiculous amounts of money on advertising your domain name. You can get Free traffic that is ongoing throughout the year because of your website being found on industry keywords relating to your website. All you need is a team of experts to build your website properly for maximum search engine exposure.

Internet Marketing Strategy for your website

Gregg Makarowski is a top search engine specialist helping hundreds of companies achieve high rankings around the globe.