Social Media For Small Business - How to Use Twitter For Your Business

by: Urvi Mehta

Following up from the last set of Social Media Marketing webinars where we covered the basics of Twitter and other Social Media tools and sites, I have been getting questions about using Twitter for business purposes. In response to those questions, I wanted to write out a short list of Twitter for Business best practices and some of the most popular tools that make these practices possible. This list of tools, techniques, and what is possible is changing and expanding almost daily with the explosion of Twitter usage and discussions of Twitter merging with some other site/partner. Thus I expect to stay current on using Twitter for business purposes we will need to repost more on this topic from time to time.

• Be Real (don't hide) -

It is important that you completely fill in the registration and profile information when signing up on Twitter. If you set up your Twitter Id as a business name it is less real than using a personal name. If you still want the business name in there, you could possibly add the company after the persons name (like Dell computer has been known to do with names like "PatrickAtDell"). In the profile section, post your website. I wouldn't recommend a short URL here if you can avoid it since this is your brand and the full link helps in your SEO rankings. Also in the profile section you enter in relevant search terms in your profile description.

With the profile bio limited to 160 characters, you want to get the relevant keywords included. By doing so you don't have much space to talk about the business specifically. However you can also squeeze in more content about your business including other websites, urls, logos, or content by uploading a custom Twitter background. Be aware though that the search engines and tools people are using to find you will not pick up words or content located in the background image. That's why the keywords have to be in your description.



Finally and possibly most important is that you need to upload a picture. People want to see who they are communicating with, even if you are representing a company. If Twitters don't think you are real, they are less likely to be interested in following you and learning more about your business (we are Twittering for Business here remember). If you try to hide with no picture, just a logo, an incomplete profile or no description, the cynical side of social media marketing will take over, people will assume the worst and they won't follow you.

• Participate (be Relevant, contribute, share, respond) -

For a business or business person to be relevant in the Twitter conversation going on, they need to participate. Ask questions and elicit responses. Respond to other user's questions. Tweet not only your own relevant contributions but retweet (RT) other Tweets that you find valuable. Promote and/or attribute others where there's a reason to do so. You can build a following faster if you appear trust worthy (easiest way to do that is by actually being trustworthy), know your subject matter and don't look like you are just out the get them to buy something.

The graders and ranking sites look at both your following as well as your activity. There's a number of search tools that will help you here to see who is talking about what and who is specifically responding to you (for example with @replies). These tools can help you determine where you might want to jump into a conversation and build that relevance. This is important in being noticed by searches from other users. You build following with contribution, relevance, and responsiveness.

The number of keywords in your tweet cloud is also important. Are you an active Tweeter? If so, what are you tweeting about? Are you relatively consistent in what you discuss? There's a big difference between using Twitter like text messaging and blogging each trip to the grocery store and using Twitter for business with a targeted, specific approach to your online identity and the topics you take on. Again, the grading web sites will pick up on this targeted approach and quickly move you to "elite" status in your chosen keywords if you Tweet with some forethought.

• Automate (where possible) -

Reduce the time it takes you to research what is happening in the Twitterdom, speed up your own Tweeting, get yourself followed automatically, and build ranking faster and easier. There are several automation type tools available to help build your Twitter for business presence without having to hire a back room full of people:

--TweetBeep -Set up alerts for various keywords, people, different attitudes, and links.

--Summize (Twitter Search) - Search for your keywords, click a button and you have a custom RSS feed that you can read via your favorite feed reader, or put on your Google or Yahoo home page. A synopsis available on what's happening.

--Tweetlater - one of the more versatile tools related to Twitter. A quick list of services include; emailing a digest of Tweets (like TweetBeep), Pre-scheduling tweets to keep your tweet stream flowing, pre-saving Tweets or common snippets of tweets for faster Tweeting, Automating direct messages to people that follow you, and managing multiple Twitter Ids at the same time.

--Twitscoop - extends what Twitter Search can do with both real-time searches of specific keywords as well as what the overall Twitterdom is talking about using (the Tweet Cloud). It also shows you the hot trends in the cloud.

--Twellow - This is another research tool that extends Twitter for business use, Twellow searches people's profiles or what they are Tweeting about under specific, predefined categories, or a general search. Twellow will also show you geographically where people are Tweeting from in the US and Canada.

--Remember the Milk (RTM) - A real unique and cutting edge use of Twitter. RTM is a Task management service (set up reminders, tasks, things to do, etc.) for an individual or a small team or business. You can interact with Remember the Milk through Twitter. You simply follow the Twitter ID @rtm and then send it commands like retrieving your current tasks, adding new tasks, setting up automated reminders, even sending tasks to other Twitter users. This is a great adaptation of Twitter for business use.

• Re-purpose existing content-

With taking care of customers, blogging, keeping up profiles on numerous social media sites, all while running a business, maintaining your online presence can quickly become overwhelming. Use tools like Twitterfeed to automatically Tweet content from an RSS feeds of your other blogs or sites, and Alterthingy, another tool that helps you aggregate and repost your content across the multiple sites, and profiles you need to maintain.

In addition, several blogs (Wordpress for example) are building Twitter widgets to be able to display your tweets (and others) on your blog, thus keeping the blog actively changing and a target for better search engine ranking and more active visits.

There are any number of other ways you can use Twitter for Business and this note really only scratches the surface of what is possible. As the popularity of Twitter grows so will the unique and inventive ways of using this innovative tool.


About The Author

Urvi Mehta is a passionate Social Media Evangelist who thrives on teaching and consulting business owners and organizations on how to use Web 2.0 and social media tools and social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to help create buzz and influence their branding online.

She is the co-founder of PR Easy (http://www.PREasy.com), a full service online marketing company which serves clients around the world. Urvi teaches her clients how to utilize social networking sites, such as, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to establish themselves as authorities in their industry, acquire more clients and ultimately increase profit.

Urvi holds a Masters degree in Public Health from the University of Illinois in Chicago and is considered by her peers as someone who "holds nothing back and gives real meat." She has recently started a blog, http://www.UrviMehta.com where she discusses Social Media Strategies.

Traffic Generation 101

by James Farias

Getting Traffic to Your Website

I'm going to share some internet marketing techniques with you that will drive traffic to any website you own, but first it's important to understand how traffic works. This article will not go into minute details (that's for upcoming articles and posts). Instead, you are about to be shown a quick overview of how traffic works and how you can get your share.

So You Have a Website…What Now?

Just because you put up a website doesn't mean that Google (or any other search engine for that matter) is going to start sending you traffic. In fact, search engines doesn't SEND traffic anywhere. The search engines simply display a listing of sites ranked by what the user enters into that particular search engine's search box. The user then has to actively click on your site's link to visit your site. That being the case, the key here is to show up in the search engine's rankings on page one or page two (where people will actually see it) while also ensuring that the user wants to click on the search result for your site.

Why Is Ranking Important?

If you have a website that is promoting a product or service, then there is a good chance that you are competing with thousands (if not millions) of other pages on the internet promoting the same thing. Over 90% of all search engine users never go to page 2 of search engine results. That's why it vital to get onto page 1 of search engine rankings. That is why you need to force your site's pages to rank higher than the pages of your competitors.

How Does Google Determine How It Will Rank Your Site

While the actual algorithms that Google uses for site rankings is secret, there are many things that have been discovered. What Google looks for when ranking your site is of course relativity. If your page is offering instructions on how to assemble wedding gift baskets, then Google will index your page as a page on how to assemble wedding gift baskets. That part is simple. It won't show up (or shouldn't show up) for pages on how to repair a computer. The problem comes in the fact that you will be competing with thousands of other pages that offer similar information.

So you need to do things to your site to leap frog over those other pages and come out on top. The biggest thing that Google looks for when deciding how to rank similar pages is popularity. In other words, how many other sites are linking to your site? Google does this because they feel that, just as our country is run as a Democracy where a single candidate gets elected into office by having the most votes, the people should also decide which sites are most relevant within a given niche. In Google's eyes, if another site is willing to post a link to your site, then you must have a quality site and deserved to be ranked higher. Getting enough links (or votes) will play very heavily when Google decides where to rank you. Links to your site from other sites are called "Backlinks".

Now here's the catch… you can have 20 links to your site and still get beat out by a site that only has 10. The reason is this… Google gives "extra credit" to links that come from quality sites or sites similar to yours.

So Where Do You Get Quality Backlinks That Drive Traffic?

So now that we know some basics of what Google wants, we will start to develop a traffic plan that will help us to start ranking higher on Google's search engine. Below I provide a traffic blueprint we are going to use to get those valuable backlinks. Don't worry if it seems overwhelming. I'm going to give you a blueprint that automates most of it, and here's the good news, in addition to getting valuable backlinks from the sources below, you will also be getting additional targeted traffic!

Step-by-Step Traffic Blueprint

The following is the blueprint that I use to create a massive amount of free traffic for my websites. Here's why it works: If you actually follow through with all of these steps, you will not only create hundreds of links back to your website, but you will also get tons of traffic to your site as well. You see this plan will give you more backlinks then 99% of all similar websites. In other words, you will be a top 1% websites within your niche when it comes to getting traffic to your site.

What Google looks for when it looks for websites to rank high is content lots and lots of relevant content. This is because when people visit search engines, that is what they are looking for. Content comes in many forms...it can be articles, blog posts, videos, podcasts, etc. What you will need to focus on is building an accumulation of content and flooding the internet with our content. One thing to keep in mind when generating your content is that what will make your site rank higher is having an abundance of original content. So if you simply cut and paste content from other websites you will most likely be beat out by the site that already has that content. So you will want to make sure to focus on creating and developing original content.

Steps to flooding the internet with your original content:

1. Brainstorm ideas for an article. To come up with ideas for an article you can start by visit websites and blogs that are similar to yours. As you come across blogs, you should write a comment to their blog posts with a link back to your site whenever possible. For a detailed breakdown of how you can generate the necessary content you can see our article Creating Unique Blog Content.
2. Write an article. Use Microsoft Word or your favorite word processor and save it to your hard drive. This step is important as many people have a tendency to write straight to their blogs editor. the reason for saving this to your hard drive is that you will be using it again and again.
3. Turn your article into a blog post. Pretty self-explanatory...simply post your article to the WordPress blog on your website.
4. Distribute your blog post via social media marketing. Submit your blog post to all the major social bookmarking sites such as FaceBook, Digg, Reddit & Mixx.
5. Submit to Twitter. Generate a short Twitter blurb letting all of your follower know about your new blog article.
6. Create a Squidoo Lens. You can take your article and very quickly create a Squidoo Lens. Google loves Squidoo!
7. Post your article onto Hosted Blogs. Copy and paste the same (or slightly rewritten article onto several hosted blogs that you have created such Blogger, BlogSpot, WordPress.org.
8. Submit to article directory sites. You can publish the same article to article directory sites that get indexed by Google. A couple of good examples of these types of sites would be EzineArticles.com and GoArtilces.com
9. Send out press releases. There are many free online press release submission sites. You can rewrite your article slightly and blast it out as a press release.
10. Post parts of the article onto relevant forums. You can take portions of the article and put it out there on forums. When using forums don't spam, just add content that is relevant to an ongoing discussion or create a new discussion of your own utilizing a portion of your article and have a link to your site in your profile's signature.
11. Create a PodCast. Use the article and record it as an .mp3 audio file so that you can publish it as a podcast. You can do this with an inexpensive microphone that you can pick up from just about any retail or online store and the free open source audio recording and editing software Audacity. Best of all it only takes minutes to do.
12. Create a Video from the Podcast. Create a slide show utilizing free images you find on the web and combine it with the .mp3 audio file you created to produce a video utilizing the free screen recording software solution CamStudio. Upload the video to video sharing sites such as YouTube.

If you follow these internet marketing techniques you WILL see a dramatic increase in traffic to your site over time. The problem that plagues so many internet marketers is that they spend a little time generating and promoting content and when they don't see immediate results they give up. If you are persistent in your efforts and consistent in your methodologies your hard work will pay off in an unending supply of natural search engine traffic.

About the Author

To learn more about internet marketing and how you can dominate your niche visitIMBusinessJournal.com.

Google Secret Loophole Bonus And Review

by Greg Taylor

Google Secret Loophole reviewed on unique PPC method by IM marketer Matt Benwell. This Internet marketing product launch debuts on June 16th. Creator Matt will have a pre-launch video on his site around June 12th to build up the anticipation of this hot new PPC program that produces 20K per month income. Google Secret Loophole is a easy to follow Google backdoor formula created and developed by Matt while he was struggeling to make money online.

Benwell was in Finance before he went full time into online marketing and is a top online marketer. Matt started buiding sites around 2007 and has produced two other products that were very successful. Matt lives in the UK and relates to the average guy. This guy has struggled to make money online like millions of others and this must be why his products are very effective at helping the average guy out there that is attempting to make money on the net.

Many people new to Internet marketing might not know that Matt has a brother, Rob Benwell, who is a million dollar a year earner online. Rob is the worldwide authority on making money with blogs and his product that helped him join the ranks of top gurus is Blogging To The Bank. Matt is following in his brother's footsteps and is building his own reputation as a marketer that teaches others how to create online profits.

Matt's last product sold over $600,000.00 worth to online entrepreneurs. The first product was "Super Speed Wealth" and the next product was"Quick Fire Profits". The marketing forums are full of online marketers applauding both of these products and the frenzy is building for Google Secret Loophole.

So many marketers have been scammed with many of these new product launches that are reworked ideas and will ask is Google Secret Loophole a scam. GSC is not a scam product but a complete step by step Google backdoor formula that Matt created and perfected himself. This unique product takes the inexperienced marketer by the hand and manifest a solid income in 30 days as well as help the more experienced PPC marketer take their PPC business to the next level or two. GSL has a easy to follow video training that details the written material. $8,000.00 was spent for software to automate that makes this product totally unique.

Google Secret Loophole Review summary:Buy Google Secret Loophole and you willknow the method to profit from PPC. PPC marketing creates quick profits and experienced marketers take that success and scale it up to make millions online. This kind of marketing can empty your bank account if you don't know what you are doing. With Google Secret you will be able to copy Matt and generate profits safely and then rinse and repeat for higher income. Many marketers know you can get free bonuses for launch products when you do a search for name of the product plus the word bonus. To get cool bonuses for this do a search for Google Secret Loophole bonus.

About the Author

Greg Taylor is an Internet marketer that mentors Internet and Network marketers and teaches and writes about cutting edge Internet marketing methods.Learn more aboutGoogle Secret Loophole Bonus And Review

Targeted Content versus Keyword Density

by Kathy John

While looking for information about writing for Website pages, you simply can't avoid the topic "keyword density." I would like to start with a definition - Keyword density measures the percentage of keywords and key phrases compared to the total number of words in your Web page body.

There are many opinions about what percentage is the so called "magic number." I have seen recommendations ranging from 2 to 18 percent. This disparity can be confusing. Keyword density can make a huge difference in the quality of the text on the page and have a big impact on your conversion rate.

When you are too attached to hitting a percentage, you may be focusing more on the search engines as compare to your website's human audience. If you are doing so, this can detract from the original goal of the web page, which is to convert visitors into paying clients.



A Key Concept: The key concept to remember is "targeted content." While it is important to know the keywords that suit your product or service and use them within the content of your webpage, insisting that those phrases be repeated a particular number of times can make what you are writing dull and unreadable. So what is a writer to do?

First and foremost, when writing content for a Web page, there are several questions that need to be answered like:

What do you want to accomplish with this content? Are you trying to sell a product or get someone to sign up for a service? Do you want your visitors to subscribe to a blog or newsletter? Do you want them to visit a physical location or does your Website cater only to cyberspace? Are you trying to persuade people to see a certain point of view?

Every webpage should have a unique purpose. Once you have figured out your goals, the next question you need to ask yourself is:

Who is your audience?

You have to know about your targeted visitors and make sure that your webpage content should be effective and eye catching. One of the things I like to do once I have figured out my demographic, is to look at a picture of someone I know who fits that image. For example - if I am writing a webpage that sells gift items for young guys, I look at a picture of my mom sitting with my niece and nephew and I write the things that I know will convince her to buy that present for them.

Now that you have figured out what you want to accomplish with your writing and whom you are writing for, it is time to ask another vital question:

How is your target audience going to find you?

We live in an extremely diverse culture. Different segments of the population have many different names for the same things depending on where you live and how you were brought up. For example, you may call it a frankfurter, but someone else might call it a hot dog, frank, wiener, wiener dog, foot long or red hot. You simply should not assume that everyone refers to products and services the same way and it is vital to know the terms that searchers are using when they go to the search engines.

There are several keywords research tools that can show you which terms people are looking for and help you decide which keywords you should target with your copy.

Start Writing - Once you have identified your keywords, your audience and your purpose, it's time to get down to writing. So what should your keyword density be? The important thing is to keep the content on the page about your topic or "on target."

Four percent density is best, but that's a guideline. Often people take that guideline too seriously. Don't worry about it if you only hit 3.5 percent for a particular key phrase. Writing content for a Web page is a delicate balance of using your keywords enough so that the search engine spiders can find and index your webpage and not so much as to make the copy unbearable for your human readers.

The golden rule: Do not sacrifice the user experience in the hope that the search engines will raise your rankings.

The primary mission of the search engines is to help people easily find what they are looking for. The primary mission of your Web page should be to convert visitors into paying clients & the primary mission of the copywriter is to create original, relevant content that can accomplish both of those objectives.

General Guidelines for Keyword Density and SEO:

Put your keyword phrase at the beginning of your page title. Put your keyword phrase near the beginning of your page description. Put your keyword phrase first in your list of keywords. Put your keyword phrase near the beginning of your first paragraph. Include your keyword phrase once in every two or three paragraphs. Don't do it much more than that. Put your keyword phrase in the last paragraph

About the Author

Kathy John is an eminent analyst and writer of Information Technology Industry. He has authored many books on SEO India and Search Engine optimization . Currently he is rendering his services to http://www.profitbysearch.com.

Blogging Wars - Wordpress Vs Blogger Part 1

by Gobala Krishnan

There's a war going on in the blogosphere, and it has nothing to do with bloggers dissing each other on their respective websites. The war is about control of the blogosphere by several great, many good, and tons of terrible blogging platforms. The average newbie now has "too many" options to choose from, and the battle for blogging supremacy is hotter than ever.

At my website and blogs, I'm always asked the question "Is Wordpress better than Blogger?". The answer, of course, is "Yes". But to really understand why, it's important to look at both blogging platforms side-by-side and see which one you really need.

You also need to understand that there are different versions of Wordpress, the earliest now termed as "Wordpress" at Wordpress.org, and the hosted version similar to Blogger now termed "Wordpress.com" which is of course available Wordpress.com. Only the latter comes with free hosting on a sub-domain account. We'll discuss this in Part 2.

For Part 1 of this article, we look only at the self-hosted version of Wordpress. Here's the comparison scale:

1) Ease of Set-up And Use

Yes, it's much easier to set-up a blog with Blogspot.com and get your own Bloggger account. You can be done in 10 minutes flat. Once you're set-up you can start posting immediately. If you want to add a designer's touch to your blog, there are also tons of blogger templates available for free.

Installing Wordpress however can be a major headache if you don't know what you're doing. Since you're going to host it on your own account, you'll need to download the installation files, upload them to your server, set-up a database, and run the configuration script.

However, if you know which hosting account to get, you can choose one with Cpanel included. With Cpanel, you can do a one-click installation, upgrade and removal of your Wordpress platform.

2) Customization & Advanced Use

Blogger doesn't allow categories. You can't sort your articles into different focuses, unless you know how to hack the platform. With Wordpress, not only can you add categories, you can also display each category differently on your main page. In fact with the correct plugins you can even turn your Wordpress into a magazine-like portal.

Publishing with Blogger can extremely furstrating. It can take forever to post articles, especially if you're making changes to the entire website. With Wordpress, publishing is much faster, although if you load your system with all kinds of bells and whistles it can be just as frustrating.

With a Blogger account, you can get additional features like "Shout Boxes" that improve interaction on your site. You can also get pretty themes and nifty little tools that you can add to the core template files. However, that's as far as you can go with Blogger.

With Wordpress however, the sky is the limit. As cliche as that may sound, not only can you get themes, additional "plugins" and advanced tools, you can also extend Wordpress to far beyond just a blogging platform.

The talk today is about using Wordpress as a complete, user-friendly Content Management System or CMS. Unlike complicated predecessors like PHPPostNuke, B2, Mambo or even Joomla, Wordpress is user friendly. Plus, the availability of source codes in this open-source system coupled with a strong community makes it possible to use Wordpress as an article management system, classifieds system, direct-selling site and even a paid membership site.

4) Copyrights and Ownership of Content

I started with Blogger and I won't say that it's bad. But after a while I started to get frustrated with Blogger, and here's why: Google Owns Your Content

Google has the authority to shut down your account without warning if they don't like what you're blogging about. You don't have absolute control over your own blog. With Wordpress, you own the domain name and the blog is hosted on your own account. You have full control over your content.

With the self-hosted version of Wordpress (not Wordpress.com), you're free to write about anything you want, and use the software in any way you want. Yes, Blogger allows you to publish to your own domain, but they still own the database that holds your content! Don't forget that!

5) Search Engine Optimization and Traffic

There's this propaganda that since Google owns Blogger, they tend to favor Blogger accounts. I won't say that this is illogical, but from my experience, there's no such favoritism.

I've heard as many stories of getting indexed fast and ranking high in search engines from both Wordpress and Blogger users. As long as the content is good, the spiders will come.

When you post in Blogger, you can only "ping" a limited amount of sites, whereas with Wordpress on your own domain you can ping as many blog directories as you want, and start getting more traffic.

As a conclusion, I would say that Wordpress is only slightly ahead in terms of optimization for search engines, and building large amounts of traffic.

6) Money-Making Potential

There's no doubt that it's easier to get started with Google Adsense if you have a Blogger account. In fact you can now apply for Adsense from within a Blogger account. Not entirely surprising considering the fact that both are owned by the same company.

With Wordpress, it can get tricky. The default installation is not enough. You'll need a couple of plugins and even a better theme to really maximize the Adsense potential. However, this seems to be getting easier and there's even "Adsense revenue sharing" plugins around that allow you to share ad revenue with other contributors and writers for your blog.

When you start using Wordpress to build your Adsense websites, you'll soon discover what I mean. It's something you need to experience for yourself. I can tell you one thing though - when you go Wordpress, you don't go back.

About the Author

Gobala Krishnan is a micro-niche blogging specialist. Get a copy of his report "Wordpress Adsense System" at http://adsense.easywordpress.com

Firefox Just Got Better

by: Burk Pendergrass

The safest most secure app for browsing the internet currently available just got better and has more improvements on the way. Are you ready for the latest Mozilla release? Firefox 3 Beta 4 is available for download, but before you go running off like some half cocked Microsoft groupie notice the "beta" tag.

Hello!! The internet is a dangerous place. The Remote Helpdesk 1 Team continues to be amused (we can no longer say amazed) at people who would not dare to venture into certain parts of a city but who seemingly rush into the internet's dark corners and dimly lighted streets ill prepared.

Before you sail into a storm baton down the hatches, and before you cruise into hacker, virus, trojan, and criminally infested areas of the world wide web at least darken the windows and arm yourself. Not to take appropriate precautions will assure your computer a visit to the infectious disease controls center if not the hard drive morgue.

Firefox developers have thus far proven themselves to the best at incorporating necessary safety features into their browser while preserving user options and cruise speeds. Online PC Repair folks feel they owe a lot of their success to getting their loyal users involved in the development and testing process. These folks, like The Tennessee Mountain Man, have helped keep the programs on track and the applications minimal. For instance, if a client wants twenty-five cents - give him a quarter like Mozilla tends to do rather that twenty-five pennies as Microsoft is famous for.



It takes a lot less resources to process one coin than it does to count twenty-five. Mozilla recognizing this has given the new "beta" release a lot of new features and improved compatibility while freeing up resources. The end result being a more nimble and faster overall browsing experience. At the same time they have enhanced Firefox's security.

Released to the public via the Mozilla website Monday, 10 March 2008, Firefox 3 Beta 4 is in the beta stage of any software's life cycle. Firefox 3 Beta 4 loudly proclaims that it is "for testing purposes only" therefore it is not for everyone. It you are a newbie or maybe even an intermediate internet user, the suggestion of the Computer Man would be that you use Firefox 2.0.0.12, the latest most stable full release until Firefox 3 is out of beta.

If you just can't wait for a better browsing experience Mozilla reports "the new release includes more than 900 enhancements from beta 3, including drastic improvements to performance and memory usage, as well as fixes for stability, platform enhancements and user interface".

But that is not the half of it... not by a long shot. "Firefox 3 is based on the Gecko 1.9 Web rendering platform, which has been under development for the past 31 months. Building on the previous release, Gecko 1.9 has more than 12,000 updates including some major re-architecting to provide improved performance, stability, rendering correctness, and code simplification and sustainability. Firefox 3 has been built on top of this new platform resulting in a more secure, easier to use, more personal product with a lot more under the hood to offer website and Firefox add-on developers improvements.", according to Mozilla.

Enhancements like these reported on the Mozilla website:

"More Secure

* One-click site info: Click the site favicon in the location bar to see who owns the site and to check if your connection is protected from eavesdropping. Identity verification is prominently displayed and easier to understand. When a site uses Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates, the site favicon button will turn green and show the name of the company you're connected to. (Try it here!)
* Malware Protection: malware protection warns users when they arrive at sites which are known to install viruses, spyware, trojans or other malware. (Try it here!)
* New Web Forgery Protection page: the content of pages suspected as web forgeries is no longer shown. (Try it here!)
* New SSL error pages: clearer and stricter error pages are used when Firefox encounters an invalid SSL certificate. (Try it here!)
* Add-ons and Plugin version check: Firefox now automatically checks add-on and plugin versions and will disable older, insecure versions.
* Secure add-on updates: to improve add-on update security, add-ons that provide updates in an insecure manner will be disabled.
* Anti-virus integration: Firefox will inform anti-virus software when downloading executables.
* Vista Parental Controls: Firefox now respects the Vista system-wide parental control setting for disabling file downloads.
* Effective top-level domain (eTLD) service better restricts cookies and other restricted content to a single domain.
* Better protection against cross-site JSON data leaks.

Easier to Use

* Easier password management: an information bar replaces the old password dialog so you can now save passwords after a successful login.
* Simplified add-on installation: the add-ons whitelist has been removed making it possible to install extensions from third-party sites in fewer clicks.
* [Improved in Beta 4!] New Download Manager: the revised download manager makes it much easier to locate downloaded files, and you can see and search on the name of the website where a file came from. Your active downloads and time remaining are always shown in the status bar as your files download.
* Resumable downloading: users can now resume downloads after restarting the browser or resetting your network connection.
* [Improved in Beta 4!] Full page zoom: from the View menu and via keyboard shortcuts, the new zooming feature lets you zoom in and out of entire pages, scaling the layout, text and images, or optionally only the text size. Your settings will be remembered whenever you return to the site.
* Podcasts and Videocasts can be associated with your media playback tools.
* Tab scrolling and quickmenu: tabs are easier to locate with the new tab scrolling and tab quickmenu.
* Save what you were doing: Firefox will prompt users to save tabs on exit.
* Optimized Open in Tabs behavior: opening a folder of bookmarks in tabs now appends the new tabs rather than overwriting.
* Location and Search bar size can now be customized with a simple resizer item.
* Text selection improvements: multiple text selections can be made with Ctrl/Cmd; double-click drag selects in "word-by-word" mode; triple-clicking selects a paragraph.
* Find toolbar: the Find toolbar now opens with the current selection.
* Plugin management: users can disable individual plugins in the Add-on Manager.
* [Improved in Beta 4!] Integration with Vista: Firefox now has Vista-specific icons, and uses native user interface widgets in the browser and in web forms.
* [Improved in Beta 4!] Integration with the Mac: the new Firefox theme makes toolbars, icons, and other user interface elements look like a native OS X application. Firefox also uses OS X widgets and spell-checker in web forms and supports Growl for notifications of completed downloads and available updates. A combined back and forward control make it even easier to move between web pages.
* [Improved in Beta 4!] Integration with Linux: Firefox's default icons, buttons, and menu styles now use the native GTK theme.

More Personal

* Star button: quickly add bookmarks from the location bar with a single click; a second click lets you file and tag them.
* Tags: associate keywords with your bookmarks to sort them by topic.
* [Improved in Beta 4!] Location bar & auto-complete: type in all or part of the title, tag or address of a page to see a list of matches from your history and bookmarks; a new display makes it easier to scan through the matching results and find that page you're looking for. Results are returned according to their frecency (a combination of frequency and recency of visits to that page) ensuring that you're seeing the most relevant matches. An adaptive learning algorithm further tunes the results to your patterns!
* Smart Bookmarks Folder: quickly access your recently bookmarked and tagged pages, as well as your more frequently visited pages with the new smart bookmarks folder on your bookmark toolbar.
* Places Organizer: view, organize and search through all of your bookmarks, tags, and browsing history with multiple views and smart folders to store your frequent searches.
* Web-based protocol handlers: web applications, such as your favorite webmail provider, can now be used instead of desktop applications for handling mailto: links from other sites. Similar support is available for other protocols (Web applications will have to first enable this by registering as handlers with Firefox).
* Download & Install Add-ons: the Add-ons Manager (Tools > Add-ons) can now be used to download and install a Firefox customization from the thousands of Add-ons available from our community add-ons website. When you first open the Add-ons Manager, a list of recommended Add-ons is shown.
* Easy to use Download Actions: a new Applications preferences pane provides a better UI for configuring handlers for various file types and protocol schemes.

Improved Platform for Developers

* New graphics and font handling: new graphics and text rendering architectures in Gecko 1.9 provides rendering improvements in CSS, SVG as well as improved display of fonts with ligatures and complex scripts.
* Color management: (set gfx.color_management.enabled on in about:config and restart the browser to enable.) Firefox can now adjust images with embedded color profiles.
* Offline support: enables web applications to provide offline functionality (website authors must add support for offline
browsing to their site for this feature to be available to users).
* A more complete overview of Firefox 3 for developers is available for website and add-on developers.

Improved Performance

* [Improved in Beta 4!] Speed: improvements to our JavaScript engine as well as profile guided optimizations have resulted in significant improvements in performance. Compared to Firefox 2, web applications like Google Mail and Zoho Office run twice as fast in Firefox 3 Beta 4, and the popular SunSpider test from Apple shows improvements over previous releases.
* [Improved in Beta 4!] Memory usage: Several new technologies work together to reduce the amount of memory used by Firefox 3 Beta 4 over a web browsing session. Memory cycles are broken and collected by an automated cycle collector, a new memory allocator reduces fragmentation, hundreds of leaks have been fixed, and caching strategies have been tuned.
* Reliability: A user's bookmarks, history, cookies, and preferences are now stored in a transactionally secure database format which will prevent data loss even if their system crashes."

Mozilla provides Firefox 3 Beta 4 for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X in forty different languages, and reports it can be removed without losing your bookmarks, web browsing history, extensions and other add-ons. Best of all - it is FREE ! Just download, install, and enjoy a whole new faster browsing experience if your computer meets one of the following system requirements.

Windows
Operating Systems

* Windows 2000
* Windows XP
* Windows Server 2003
* Windows Vista

Minimum Hardware

* Pentium 233 MHz (Recommended: Pentium 500MHz or greater)
* 64 MB RAM (Recommended: 128 MB RAM or greater)
* 52 MB hard drive space

Mac
Operating Systems

* Mac OS X 10.4 and later

Minimum Hardware

* Macintosh computer with an Intel x86 or PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor
* 128 MB RAM (Recommended: 256 MB RAM or greater)
* 200 MB hard drive space

Linux
Software Requirements
Please note that Linux distributors may provide packages for your distribution which have different requirements.

* Linux kernel - 2.2.14 or higher with the following libraries or packages:
o glibc 2.3.2 or higher
o XFree86-3.3.6 or higher
o gtk+2.0 or higher
o fontconfig (also known as xft)
o libstdc++5

Minimum Hardware

* Intel Pentium II or AMD K6-III+ 233 MHz CPU (Recommended: 500MHz or greater)
* 64 MB RAM (Recommended: 128 MB RAM or greater)
* 52 MB hard drive space

And, if you still have not tried Mozilla Thunderbird,

get ready to kick Outlook Express to the curb!

About The Author

Publication of Burk Pendergrass, J.D., a Cherokee Indian and Viet Nam Vet specializing in website design at http://computermanwebsitedesign.bravehost.com/ and http://remotehelpdesk1.com/ specializing in online web based computer repair.

Installing Wordpress Themes and Plugins

by: Tim Scullin

This is just a very quick overview of how to install all the fancy themes and plugins that make wordpress such a great blog platform.

Before you read this you should already be familiar with wordpress and be part way through setting up your blog. I would recommend you read the post "Blogs 101 The Essential Tips For Setting Up WordPress" on the TimScullin blog before you start.

You can download and automatically install a majority of the plugins direct from the WordPress Admin page by going Plugins>Add New. These directions are for installing the themes and plugins you find outside of the main Wordpress site. Installing a WordPress Plugin

All WordPress Plugins install the same way.

Download the latest version of the WordPress Plugin to your computer.

With an FTP program, access your site's server.



Upload (copy) the Plugin file(s) or folder to the /wp-content/plugins folder.

In your WordPress Administration Panels, click on Plugins from the menu at the top.

You should see your new Plugin listed. If not, with your FTP program, check the folder to see if it is installed. If it isn't, upload the file(s) again. If it is, delete the files and upload them again.

To turn the WordPress Plugin on, click Activate on the far right side of the list.

Check your Administration Panels or WordPress blog to see if the Plugin is working.

Installing a WordPress Theme

All WordPress Themes install the same way.

Download the latest version of the WordPress Theme to your computer.

With an FTP program, access your site's server.

Upload (copy) the Themes file(s) to the /wp-content/themes folder.

In your WordPress Administration Panels, click on Appearance from the menu at the top.

You should see your new Theme listed. If not, with your FTP program, check the folder to see if it is installed. If it isn't, upload the file(s) again. If it is, delete the files and upload them again.

Click on the theme you want to switch to and you will see what the new theme would look like.

If you are happy with your new look then click "Activate 'New Theme'" in the top right corner.

Check your WordPress blog to see how the new theme looks.

Easy as.

If you have any issues checkout wordpress support for plugins or themes jump on Google and see what people say, there is a lot of support for WordPress out there and I'm sure you will find what you are looking for.

Remember to check out http://timscullin.com/twitter/blogs-101-the-essential-tips-for-setting-up-wordpress

About The Author

Tim Scullin broke his neck in November 2009 in 6 places and will have a full recovery, but during the recovery time he has dived into the black hole that is web marketing. Now back in action he is keen to share his knowledge to help you build your online empire as he builds his. Check out his blog http://www.timscullin.com and add him on twitter http://twitter.com/teeskie

Get More Comments On Your WordPress Blog

by: Richard Day

Setting up your WordPress blog to accept comments appears to be easy. You might think you have set it up properly, but I have found that many new bloggers get this one wrong. How many times have you found that you cannot comment on a blog article?

The most frustrating aspect of this issue is that when you have taken several minutes to create, what you think, is a great comment, only to find out your comment isn't accepted. Everyone loses: The blog owner is cheated out of a valuable comment. Comments are incredibly significant to your blog's success.

An example:

I have a particular problem with a plug-in that says "How are you at math?" This plugin is frequently setup wrong.

You are supposed to add two numbers together and put that number in the box. You dutifully enter the answer in the box only to find that it blows up and says "You must have failed math!" That "blow up" will have you speaking in foreign languages as your anger takes control of you. (I have started highlighting whatever I write in the post and I hit control- c to copy it. That way, if it fails to take my comment, I have another chance at it. )

What went wrong?

Usually, the blog owner has committed some errors in the set up. It easy to make errors because there are several check boxes that work together. Here is one suggested way to set up your blog in WordPress. I am currently using version 2.5 of WordPress, but these settings are not specific to this version. It should work with every relatively current version.

Here's how: While logged into your WordPress blog, go to settings:



* Anyone Can Register - check the box
* Users must be registered and logged in to comment - DO NOT check the box
* New user default - choose "contributor"

You are not done yet: Go to Settings, Discussion: Email me whenever anyone:

* Posts a comment - check the box
* A comment is held for moderation - check the box - A very important box to check

Before a comment appears:

* An administrator must always approve a comment - check the box - Also, very important
* Comment author must fill out name and email - check the box

Let's explain these in order:

Anyone can register: You want to check this box because you want it to be easy for people to comment on your articles, don't you? There is no good reason to restrict who can register...remember, you will be able to moderate the comment before it is shown.

Users must be registered and logged in to comment: You don't want to check this box because unless you are running a membership site or some other exclusive site, you wouldn't want to put a comment creator to such effort. Don't do it.

New user default: Here is where you CAN get into some real trouble! I know, first hand, what can happen here. I had chosen the new default user to be "Author", not "Contributor". I wanted it to be easy for people to comment on my work. I also, like many bloggers, was naive and I let them post without my moderation first.

This worked fine for about a year or so until one day I visited my insurance blog to find some of the most disgusting, pornographic pictures I have seen. What a way to make a great impression on your readers. I don't have any idea how many hundreds of people must have seen those pictures.

It was interesting how they accomplished it. Robots were employed to find blogs that were susceptible to placing comments. They register as a user without posting anything at all. . .a week later or so, then you get the "motherlode" of porn.

I went in and deleted the "comments" and banned those spammers from ever "contributing" to my blog again. I then changed the new default user to contributor not author. Read farther to see what else I had to do.

Email me whenever anyone posts a comment. I want to know if I have received a comment. If it is a good comment, I want to approve it immediately. If it is trash, I would like to know, too.

Another reason for wanting to be emailed is so that you can click on their comment and it will take you to their website from within WordPress.

I make every effort to return the favor of a comment to anyone who comments on my work. That is a good habit to follow. You will make some quick friends and get people posting more comments. In a sense, you are building a community.

Before a comment appears an administrator must always approve a comment. This may be the most important control you have. The spammers have stayed away from my blog since they cannot get their trash published.

By the way, you can set up a blacklist in that same area where you ban certain words, urls, email address, IP addresses and the lot. You must TEST your settings

Yes, I know, you think that you did it right. But did you? The best way to test it is to have a friend visit your blog and ask them to create a comment. If they can enter a comment, not being an administrator or logged in, then anyone can do it.

I am working on a Camtasia video to help you see how these settings are changed. The video is the best way to learn this detailed information, but some people just need to see it written down.

What stories do you have? Did you get spammed? Did you understand the significance of the settings you chose? Let me know your thoughts.

About The Author

Have fun and make money with your blog. Set it up properly to accept comments and the search engines will reward you. Learn how to get targeted website traffic to your website. Visit http://www.TrafficBumper.com

Here is another article that may help: Is Your WordPress Blog a Google Magnet?
http://www.trafficbumper.com/?p=96

Top 3 SEO Tips of 2008

Since 1998 I've spent the first several months of each year looking for the very best search engine optimization (SEO) tips of the previous year's end. This year I've come across the best SEO tips yet.

SEO Tip #1: Make Google Alerts Your Personal Online Spy

Google Alerts is a great way to let the world's biggest search engine be your personal online spy. This takes search engine optimization insider info to whole new level. Here's an excerpt straight from Google....

"Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.

Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:

* monitoring a developing news story
* keeping current on a competitor or industry
* getting the latest on a celebrity or event
* keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams"

As you probably guessed, it's the second one we care about most, "keeping current on a competitor or industry."




Here's how it works... Each time Google finds a reference to the query or topic you request you will be sent an email with the details. This is like having an online spy to make sure competitors are not using your protected keywords (trademarked names, company names, etc.) It's also an instant identifier to know when your site or product is mentioned in a news story or even when a topic is hot so you can take advantage of the situation. It's the easiest way in the world to stop competitors' dirty tricks and identify trends that you can take instant advantage of.

It's fast, free and works every minute of every day. Let Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts) do your most time consuming legwork while you reap the rewards!

SEO Tip #2: Optimize Your 404 Page and Always Be Found

"Error 404: Page Not Found" is a blessing that most Webmasters curse. Why? Getting a visitor on any page of your site is fantastic! Don't blow the opportunity. Not only can you make your "404" page a valuable sales tool, you can use the following search engine optimization techniques to attract customers in droves.

A.) Use your main keyword in your title, add a "pipe" (usually above the Enter key) and then use your secondary keyword. Here's as example for an SEO site "SEO - Search Engine Optimization Tips"

B.) Add some keyword rich content using one to two keywords for the page. If you have less than 250 words on the page, just use one keyword and use it no more than three times total. Bold the first use and italicize the second or third use. Keep in mind this is an "inactive" page so simply tell the visitor what your site is about and whet their appetite with a good description. Something like this works well... "Thank you for visiting SEO (bold) Group, Inc. We are sorry you landed on a missing page but don't worry, if you're looking for the very best search engine optimizations tips (bold), you're at the right place..." This will go on for a couple paragraphs or as long as you'd like then end it with something to the effect of "Please Click Here (link) to visit our site map or click any link to the left."

C.) Add your site's standard navigation system (bar, column, etc.) as mentioned above.

D.) Make the look and feel of the customized 404 page match your main site as closely as possible with a template, matched palette, cascading style sheets, etc.

E.) Create a link to the site map page if available, and make the link easy to find. You want your visitor off the 404 page and into your main content as quickly as possible.

Setting up a custom 404 page link usually takes less than five minutes on most major Web hosting companies like Godaddy.com. But whatever it takes, it's worth the effort.

SEO Tip #3: Get (Even More) Serious About Linking

I saved the most important for last. If you want to do well on any search engine, especially Google, linking is THE single MOST important thing you can do. It's that simple.

Here are the five things you MUST do to make your site #1 on Google:

A.) Find the highest page rank sites linking to your site AND your competitors' sites.

B.) Run monthly link campaigns and snatch up the best of the above identified Web sites.

C.) Run regular checks on what pages are still linking back to your site. Alsomake sure they did not move you from a high page rank page to a lower one (don't get cheated!)

D.) Eliminate any penalized sites you link to; ASAP!

E.) Check your search engine ranking AND your competitor's for each of your keywords every week. Do this, at the minimum, for Google, Yahoo, MSN and Alta Vista.

Inside Tip: Keeping up can be a lot of work so a lot of SEO Consultants (myself included) use SEO Elite (http://www.SEOeliteWeb.com) to do all the most difficult and time consuming work.

One last thing to know is that Google was originally a college student's project created for the sole purpose of defining a Web site's value by the sites that link to it. Twelve years later this is still it's main job. Linking is EVERYTHING to Google.

These few SEO tips are the very best of the best so use them wisely. Best of luck!

About The Author

An original founder of one of the first internationally established SEO companies (DotCom Pirates); Scott Jason is a highly successful SEO Copywriter and renowned researcher and the founder of http://BestSEOCopywriting.com .

What Exactly is Web 2.0?

by Llewelyn James & Euan Agnew

What Exactly is Web 2.0?

Network marketing and online businesses and websites are everywhere on the World Wide Web and a big part of their success is due to the valuable platform called Web2.0. However, for as many people that are using Web 2.0, there are an equal number of people that don't truly understand what Web 2.0 is and the possibilities and opportunities it can open for them. Many individuals are already using Web2.0 on the internet in different ways without even realizing it. Some of the more popular internet applications that are using Web 2.0 include Flickr, YouTube as well as many different Yahoo sites. So, as you can see, you are already using Web 2.0 without even being aware of it. But, do you really know what Web 2.0 is?

Web 2.0 consists of different parts, which when all put together, give the user a fantastic web experience in which they can integrate many different functions and applications. One part of Web 2.0 is RIA or rich internet applications. Two examples of RIA are Ajax or Flash, which are interrelated web development techniques which allow you to retrieve data from another site without it interfering or affecting the current page you're working on. RIA allows you to bring something from your desktop into your browser such as data, graphics, etc by means of "copy and paste", "drag and drop" or whichever method you prefer.

Another part of Web 2.0 is ROA or service oriented architecture. Some examples of ROA that may be familiar to you or you may have heard of include RSS (really simple syndication), feeds, mash-ups and web servers. The best and easiest way to describe what ROA does is that it takes web applications along with their different functions and allows them to be easily integrated in such a way that their functions can all work together with other applications to develop one dynamic website with various functions.

The third important part of Web 2.0 is the Social Web. In Web 2.0, the end user will interact with the different web applications with methods such as blogging, tagging, using podcasts, etc. In actuality, the end user is also the participant in Web 2.0 by using these different social web methods. By the use all three of these important parts of Web 2.0, you web application is going to be very "user-friendly" with many functions.

Do you remember when you first began using the internet and were trying to navigate through a page only to have it disappear as soon as you clicked on one of their links? If it didn't disappear, it would freeze or lock up, making it inoperable and almost the only way to get out of it was to reboot. Good News! Web 2.0 allows you the opportunity to use many websites by integrating the many functionalities they each have.

With each new number added after an application or software (e.g. Web1.0, Web 2.0), the world is being given a new and upgraded version of a software. Web 2.0 is offering a new and better version of the World Wide Web. Web 2.0 offers us functions and features we never thought possible in the past.

Learn more about we2.0 at: http://web20trafficbuilder.com

About the Author

Llewelyn James & Euan Agnew are founders of the Internet Millionaires Online Club

7 Ways To Use Twitter

by Neil Bartlett

If you have asked your friends and family if they are on Twitter, they may or may not know what you are talking about. While everyone and their mother seems to know about MySpace and Facebook, many people seem to finally be learning what is Twitter. The thing is though, Twitter, while some compare it to the other social network sites, is more geared towards professional adults then anything else.

While some young people may sign up for an account, they generally do not last long on there.

This is probably because you cannot post pretty graphics, write blogs that are ten pages long, and stalk the lives of other people through the millions of pictures they are posting of themselves. With all of that taken into consideration, Twitter is the place to be for the working adult that is professional and looking to expand their business through connection and customer relations. There are in fact seven popular ways people use Twitter

#1 Expand Your Circle Of Friends

With the help of Twitter you can follow people who are of like mind. Those who are in the same field as you or who have the same interests are often the people that you will find yourself following.

These people will generally follow your Twitter account as well since you all have so much in common.

The people you follow through Twitter may never come to be anything more then an Internet friendship, but that does not mean that it is not a friendship that has its place and its value in your life.

#2 Learn About Those You Admire

Whether you are following an actor, a singer, or your favorite businessperson, you are able to follow their account. Their comments may give you an insight into who they really are and how they run business. A lot can be learned through watching people that you admire. You may also learn a few tips and tricks from them without even realizing it. By making some sort of connection with the people you admire you are able to see what it is that you want to be.

#3 Keep Your Family Informed

If your mother wants to know every time your new baby does something cute or special, you may find that you are tired of placing twenty phone calls a day. But, you want to make sure that your relatives are not missing out on the important or special things that are taking place throughout your day or week. By placing easy to type messages or comments on Twitter, your family can see everything that is happening and feel as though they are really being kept in the loop.

#4 Become Famous In Your Own Right

Many people find that they need a fast, efficient, and cheap way to advertise themselves. Maybe you are staring in a new local play or an article you wrote just became published in a magazine. By placing a simple and sweet comment on your Twitter page, those following you will know about your recent accomplishments and will want to check them out.

#5 Learn How To Open Up

Those that find they have a hard time opening up to people, even with the simplest thing, find that Twitter helps them overcome those obstacles. By placing a comment or two a day you can open up to those following you and see the wonderful responses that come from such an act.

#6 Teach Others About Your Work Or Faith

When you reach out to others, there is something wonderful being felt by those who have been taught and those doing the teaching. Many people find that they can touch the lives of many by simply posting a comment or two each day about something inspirational. You have the ability to make someone laugh with your wit or make someone think deep with the use of your wisdom.

#7 Generate Traffic And Make Money

Even though you are not selling anything directly from the Twitter site, you can make use of it as a way to bring in more people. You can generate more traffic to a site of yours, gain more associates, and most importantly make more money. Use it as much or as little as you would like. You will see that with enough dedication you will be able to earn a good bit of money by using the tools available to you, such as Twitter.

About the Author

To learn how to make money utilizing Twitter and related tools, check out Twitter Traffic Machine at: http://www.nichefacts.com/TwitterTrafficMachine

Seo Free tips

by Mr D Stevens

The internet has opened up opportunities for laymen as well as professionals to carve up a niche and a reputation for themselves.

Unfortunately many individuals assume that once a site is created, thousands possibly millions will rush to it(One of my often repeated mantras:"Build it and they will come does not work for the internet" is apt here).

A great deal of fine tuning has to go in beforehand, before the massive amounts of traffic can be obtained, this is where a great deal of research goes into. Typing in any popular phrase in google, and you can be rest assured that the top positions did not get there by chance, but by researching their keywords and their marketing strategy.

One of the least mentioned and advertised part of SEO(Search Engine Optimization) is not so much getting a link on as many different pages as possible, but the keyword associated with the link, and the relevance that keyword has to the domain, url, or website it is being linked to.

Many individuals and indeed companies when venturing for a SEO strategy often focus on the url, website or domain, and aim to ensure that the keywords associated with the url, as well as the description and title of the url are all relevant for an effective SEO campaign. This is all true and good, there is nothing wrong with trying to ensure every aspect of a site's SEO campaign is relevant, to the domain, title, keywords and descriptions(there is a school of thought that keywords should not really be focused on as opposed to title and description, if the SEO is primarily aimed at Google, since Google focuses more on the title of the page than the keywords, that being said, other search engines do pay particular attention to keywords and it will do no harm to leave them in place), but enough attention equally needs to be paid to the text description associated with the link, url, or website.

One of Google's key algorithms, and indeed any search engine's algorithm to determine placement for SERP(Search Engine Results Pages) focuses on the proximity of the keyword being searched for(i.e. how soon it occurs on a page), and the density of the keyword(how often it occurs on a page), with this in mind it is absolutely crucial that whatever text description or text link being implemented into a SEO campaign is chosen for it's relevance to the domain and indeed the SERP.

It is not enough to simply give the url or link to the site, but to ensure whatever text link being used is equally spread about on the site's title, description and keywords as well as optimally dispersed in the main body of the page. This is one of the ways of determining if a SEO service can do what they claim, simply showing them the site in question, and asking for an initial consultation, with queries such as What is wrong with it as the site is now? Should there be more keywords? What type of keywords should be used for that particular niche? What type of link exchange sites are suitably to do business with, should reveal enough for any internet, and SEO layman to see if it is worth pursuing that particular SEO service.

About the Author

Mr D Stevens is a reviewer at SEo services for FREE with no obligation

Adsense-Alternatives-1

by Doug

Adsense Alternatives

Many people have started using Google's AdSense program, but there are some who find it a bit too uncertain or simply not suiting their own requirements from an ad program.

But thankfully for such people, there are many alternatives to AdSense which attempt to alleviate some of its shortcomings. Here is a list of the most noteworthy ones from the lot with a description concerning each one.

AllFeeds (http://www.allfeeds.com/?action=publishers) AllFeeds has a great pool of online advertisers to choose from. It also features many display formats that you can choose from. These include banners, buttons, XML feeds, DHTML pop-ups and so on. It also features real time reporting of your ad status. The site will mail a check every month, provided that you earn more then $25.00, while rolling over earnings for the next month if you don't. Another interesting thing about AllFeeds is that it integrates with Google AdSense, maximizing your earnings with AdSense.

MarketBanker (http://www.marketbanker.com/mb/sell.php) MarketBanker allows you the unique possiblity to set the pricing for your site. It also allows you to allow or reject any link that appears on your site (although AdSense itself does a very good job of this as well, with URL filters) There's also a statistics section which will allow you to see how well your site is doing. The ads are small just like AdSense's and they're just as easy to set up. Also, registration for MarketBanker is free.

BidClix ( http://www.bidclix.com/PubTop.html) BidClix is different because it has advertisers compete for clicks on your site, which in turn is meant to generate the highest possible profits for your page. It also has a very large pool of advertisers which ensure there are plenty of people to choose your site. However, it does require more polish on site contents then AdSense. As most sites, real time statistics are available and its very easy to get started with this service, but it's also very flexible.

Chitika (http://www.realcontext.com/index.php?option=RealContext:+Contextual+Targeting+Engine) RealContext uses Artificial intelligence to retrieve the most relevant ads for your page. And there's an extra feature which makes RealContext unique as well. Keywords are selected based upon which previous selections payed off and which didn't. That means there's a constant feedback process that ensures you gain better revenue from your ads. It also supports blocking certain adds and child-safe filtering and many more options.

AdHearus (http://adhearus.com/webmaster.php) AdHearus is a very feature-packed contextual ad provider. As with AdSense, advertisements are targeted but it doesn't stop here at all. The ads are very flexible, you can select from text-ads, banners, rectangles, pop-ups, pop-unders or skyscrapers. You can also display your own ads, through rotation, both on your site and on other affiliate sites, which makes AdHearus a hybrid with conventional advertising technologies. There's a very comprehensive on-line real time reporting feature and, as usual with such services, starting out is free and it's a breeze.

AffiliateSensor (http://www.affiliatesensor.com/) AffiliateSensor has highly customizable ad blocks, which you can make for yourself with an easy to use on-line interface. You also get realtime reporting with clicks-by-domain, page and refferer. There's integration with Google AdSense as well, through the google_alternate_ad_url so AffiliateSensor can be used as a substitute for Google PSA's (Public Service Ads).

Kanoodle Bright Ads (http://www.kanoodle.com/about/brightads.cool) Kanoodle's offering allows publishers to get ads related to topics or segments, and not the traditional keyword oriented ads. The site also groups publisher sites with advertisers by hand to ensure high-revenue generating ads. And speaking of revenue, the amount of money you receive is a clear 50% share of the amount of money Kanoodle recieves for an advertiser.

TargetPoint (http://publisher.targetpoint.com) TargetPoint is oriented more towards content publishers. It offers full control over the look the ads, statistics over your site's overall performance and better revenue. It's free to register and you earn a guaranteed 60% of the total revenue. You can get payed with Paypal of Bank checks and (most times) wire transfers as well.

Clicksor (http://www.clicksor.com) Clicksor will earn you as much as 60% from the amount of money your website produces. What you get is about the same as AdSense, there are targeted text ads, you can view the revenues from your website in real time. You can receive money via PayPal or through a check every two weeks, provided that you have earned more then $50. If you haven't made that much, your earning roll over to the next period.

Doug http://www.dougs-market.com

About the Author

I am in search of Adsense information and also willing to share some of the details I have found. Maybe I can help others as well.

Adsense-Alternatives-2

by Doug

Bidvertiser (http://www.bidvertiser.com/) Like AdSense, Bidvertiser displays text ads in your page. But the difference lies in the fact that advertisers bid over your advertising space, ensuring you earn as much revenue as you possibly can. This also means that bids will increase over time, earning you even more cash. You also get a great way to customize your ads with a very easy to use tool and detailed reports on your site's status.

Quigo AdSonar (http://www.quigo.com/adsonarpublishers.htm) Quigo AdSonar achieves relevancy by placing a filter according to your site's categories. It also offers you on-line reports of your site's status and the possibility to add your own custom ads replacing ads that don't gain you any revenue. The setup is very simple, in a similar fashion to AdSense's and quite customizable as well.

Vibrant Media IntelliTXT (http://www.intellitxt.com/site/web_01a.html) Vibrant Media IntelliTXT offers user-activated ads, highlighting certain words within the content of the page and presenting relevant ads when a user hovers his mouse over them. It uses a pay-for-performance pricing scheme and can easily be used along with other advertising methods, because it is unobtrusive. It places you in full control, allowing you to easily integrate it within your site with some simple JavaScript.

Nixie (http://www.nixxie.com/display.php?section=Partners) Nixie claims to hold a technology that can read and understand your site, enabling it to display the most relevant content to your site. Besides text ads, Nixie also features price comparison listings as well as live auction advertising. It's very easy to implement and has a good payment policy as well.

MIVA AdRevenue Xpress (http://www.miva.com/us/content/partners/arx.asp) MIVA AdRevenue Xpress is targeted towards small and mid-sized publishers. It implements Search Box functionality and also features things like a Category Directory as well as the handling of 404 error pages. It can be integrated with your page using a simple on-line wizard.

Fastclick (http://www.fastclick.com/publish.html) Fastclick offers you an impressive 65 percent of what it makes from a click on your website. Payments are done monthly, via PayPal or through checks. The ads can be formatted as you wish, and Fastclick even offers a free support serice for its members and no fees are required to register with the service.

contextWeb ContextAd (http://www.contextweb.com/Corporate/publisher/publisher.shtml) ContextAd offers the possibility of contextual ads for dynamic pages, meaning ads will change as soon as your page does. It's very easy to use and free to sing up for and offers a transparent payment policy. The ads are fully customizable and real-time reports are available 24/7.

AdBrite (http://www.adbrite.com/) AdBrite offers publishers the possibility of integrating text ads in their pages. These are done on your own rates, with the websites you approve by hand so it bares some similarities with a classic advertising scheme. You also have the option of adding a "Your Add Here" button that buyers can immediately click to ad space on your page. It can also be used in conjunction with Google AdSense, maximizing your CTR and offering advertisers the possibility of showing their links in your Google AdSense space. You have full control over the look and feel of your adds and finally, you get an incredible 75% of what the advertiser pays for on every click.

So, as you can see there are many offers for this kind of advertising, and many hybrids based on AdSense like advertising. Also, a lot of services can work together with AdSense to earn you an even greater amount of revenue for your ad space.

Doug

http://www.dougs-market.com

About the Author

Hopefully my research in the Adsense department will help others as well.

Protect Your Google Adsense Account from Getting Banned

by Robin Dale

Google Adsense is the leading company in web advertising programs which is a large system of earning for your website. Similar to all other great advertising programs, Google Adsense has well define Terms of Service (ToS) that are required to be strictly followed in order to receive benefits from this great opportunity to earn online.

I am sharing some important Adsense tips; some mistakes which should be avoid in order to protect your Adsense account from getting banned by Google Adsense. These tips are gathered from the Google Terms and Conditions and information from FAQ at Google Adsense. You may already know some of these tips but those who don't know or new to Google Adsense web advertising program I would try to explain it in very simple manners.

* Never try to click your own Adsense ads or get them clicked - You know this one very well. This is a surefire way to close you Adsense account. Never tell your office associates or friends to click on them. Keep a check if your family or children are busy increasing your income by clicking your ads and indirectly trying to stop your income. Don't even think of offering incentives for clicks, using automated clicking tools, or other deceptive software. Adsense is very smart to detect fraudulent clicks. Check the ads which appear on your pages by the Google Preview tool if required.

* Avoid changing the Adsense code - There are enough means of Adsense optimization & customizations available to change the color, background or border to suit your needs. Do whatever you want to do outside the code, never fiddle within the ad or the search code. They know it when you do. The search code has more limitations to color and placement, but you should adhere to the rules. The code may stop working and violates the TOS.

* Do not run competitive contextual text ad or search services - Never run such ads or services on the same site which offer Google Adsense competition in their field. Never try to create link structures resembling the Adsense ads. Never use other competitive search tools on the same pages which have Adsense powered Google search. They do allow affiliate or limited-text links. Update: Google has allowed you to run contextual advertising like Yahoo ads, Chitika etc provided the ads do not resemble Adsense ads.

* Never launch a New Page for clicked ads by default - Adsense ads should open on the same page. You may be using a base target tag to open all links in a new window or frame by default. Correct it now as they do not want new pages opening from clicked ads.

* One Account suffices for multiple websites - You do not need to create 5 accounts for 5 different websites. One account will do. If you live in the fears that if one account is closed down for violation of TOS, believe me they will close all accounts when they find out. You can keep track of clicks by using channels with real time statistics. They will automatically detect the new site and display relevant ads.

* Place ads only on Content Pages - Advertisers pay only for content based ads. Content drives relevant ads. Although you might manage some clicks from error, login, registration, "thank you" or welcome pages, parking pages or pop ups, it will get you out of the program.

* Do not mask ad elements - Alteration of colors and border is a facility to blend or contrast ads as per your site requirements. I have seen many sites where the URL part is of the same color as the background. While blending the ad with your site is a good idea, hiding relevant components of the ads is not allowed. Also do not block the visibility of ads by overlapping images, pop ups, tables etc.

* Keep track of your content - So Adsense is not allowed on several non content pages. But it is also not allowed on several content pages too. Do not add it on web pages with MP3, Video, News Groups, and Image Results. Also exclude any pornographic, hate-related, violent, or illegal content.

* Avoid excessive advertising and keyword stuffing - Although the definition of 'excessive' is a gray area and is subject to discretion, yet Google Adsense with correct placement, focused content and high traffic will get you much more income than other programs, so excessive advertising is not required. Keyword stuffing does target better focused ads, but overdoing it is not required.

* Ensure you Language is Supported - Adsense supports "Chinese (simplified), Japanese, Danish, Korean, Dutch, Norwegian, English, Polish, Finnish, Portuguese, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Swedish, Italian and Turkish". In addition, Adsense for search is available in Czech, Slovak, and Traditional Chinese. If your web pages language is not supported, do not use the code on such pages.

* Do not specify Google ads as your alternate ads - Several services like Chitika eMiniMalls allow you to place alternate URLs, when a targeted paying ad cannot be displayed. This involved creating a simple html page and putting the ad to be displayed instead. Even Adsense allows an alternate URL feature instead of displaying public service ads. But never use Adsense ads as alternate URLs.

* Do not confuse with adjacent images - It was a common policy to increase CTR by placing same number of images as the number of text ads, which falsely gave the impression that the text ads represented an explanation to these images. Inserting a small space or a line between the images and ads is not allowed. Make sure that the ads and images are not arranged in a way that could easily mislead or confuse your visitors.

It is always better to inquire for Adsense help from the educated staff of Google Adsense. This way you can avoid the common mistakes that could ban your Google Adsense Account.

About the Author

Robin Dale is the publisher for www.teeky.org, we offer useful & quality articles and news about Search Engine Optimization, Internet Marketing, Dedicated Server Hosting, Windows VPS Hosting UK, Linux VPS Hosting UK, e-commerce hosting, cPanel Hosting, hosting tips & UK Web Hosting.

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