tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84518621901766663142024-02-25T01:30:02.032-06:00Azgrand Internet MarketingProviding quality products, services and training in online marketing since 1999.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-47601662500099149272015-11-08T12:41:00.003-06:002016-01-26T14:47:38.514-06:00How to Blog, Part Four...Choosing a Theme<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/?p=1008" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="1:40 PM">11/08/2015</a></div>
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Within any blog platform that we have talked about before, you will have many choices of themes. The mistake many people make is to choose what looks like the easiest and quickest theme that comes along and call it “good enough”, when they should be looking a lot deeper than that.</div>
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If you are only looking at a blog to be read, it is not as important as choosing a theme with the proper components to use as a sales site. However, looking at the future use of the blog at some point down the road is more important than just putting something out there to get started.</div>
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<b>The colors</b><br />
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Most blog themes allow the colors of the page to be changed, even on Blogger. The colors should always reflect the topic of the site. The topic of gardening would usually suggest something in green and brown tones, in other words, earthy colors. A topic of cars or mechanical things usually works best with "tool box red" and black, or even yellow and black. More general topics can never go wrong with something in shades of light blue, as that is usually the color that is easiest on the eyes as a background.</div>
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Of course, if you have a particular logo with colors in it, you want to always choose a background with accents, rather than clashes with, your logo colors. If you use a photo in your header, you want to choose something that will go well with the rest of your site. Any other add-ons, such as photos and banner ads, can usually be chosen for their colors, so that they compliment the colors in your site.</div>
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The one thing that nearly everyone agrees on is that dark background colors and bright text are hard on the eyes, and yet there are many themes out there that are designed specifically for these colors. For topics like rock music, motorcycles, and "dark" subject matter, this can be appropriate, but be careful of the layout. Don't overwhelm people with long blocks of text to read. Try to keep the text bright, larger, and to a minimum. Make sure you leave plenty of paragraph breaks, and use lots of images to break up the dark background. Those images can be photos, or even banner ads. Adding changes of color to any background helps to break up the monotony of long blocks of text, and makes the page more visually appealing.</div>
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<b>The fonts</b><br />
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Anyone can do the research to see what the easiest fonts are to read, but usually something in Century or Arial (or something close, like Verdana) is the easiest to read. I have seen many themes that include some form of fancy script, and usually will not even waste my time trying to get through it. That isn't just my opinion, but that of anyone who has ever done marketing studies to attract the most people. In some cases the font can be changed within a theme, but depending on how the blog is set up, it might be easier to just choose a different theme.</div>
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The size of the font is also important. I have seen some sites that have such small font, that I refuse to even read them, let alone try to follow their posts. ALWAYS... think about who your readers are, and what devices they may be using to read your site. Normally, the older people get, the worse their eyesight becomes. If your target audience is an older age bracket, then choose something with a font that is large enough to read without a magnifying glass! Again, some font sizes can be changed in the theme, but it may take tweaking the code (only doable in the dot org version of Wordpress). If that is beyond your current expertise, then the easiest thing is choose a better theme!</div>
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<b>The layout</b><br />
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Themes come in all sorts of varieties, and all kinds of standard layouts. In many of them, you can choose how many columns you want (which also includes the sidebars). Most blogs will only need two columns, which means a wider post column, and a narrower sidebar. Studies have shown that is it most advantageous to put the wider column on the left, as people generally read left to right, and their eyes go to the most important information first. For casual blogs, that is normally enough.</div>
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For certain marketing applications, where the author intends to use a lot of sidebar gadgets/widgets (they are same thing, and are only called different names by the different blog platforms) containing ads or other information, they may want a third column. That could mean a narrow sidebar on either side of the post, or in some cases, a wider post column to the left followed by two sidebars on the right, or even vice-versa.</div>
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Gadgets or widgets are the little building blocks of most blogs, and most are already programmed to do certain things, such as add a subscribe form, a search form, add social buttons, an archive of past blog posts, etc., while others are more generic, allowing you to add your own text or html language to perform other functions, such as adding a payment button. Typically, they will remain standard and show on every page of your site without having to install them on every page. On Wordpress blogs, you can install plug-ins to give you many more choices regarding how the widgets show up, but most bogs will not do that.</div>
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The placement of the widgets is also important, especially when you get into marketing. Most blogs will only allow the placement of the widgets in certain places. Here's an example of a glitch we have run into...</div>
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Because of the way sites display on mobile devices, the sidebars do not always show up at all, so if you have ads in them, or even a list of your archived posts, people on mobile devices will never see them! The only thing most of them see is your header (often without your header photo) and the main blog post. The only way to get people to see these other things is to include them in the body of every single post you write, which takes a lot more work!</div>
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Here's something else we just noticed this morning... when we looked at one of our blogs on my smart phone, and clicked on the "View as web page" link at the bottom of the post, it showed the widgets in the side bar, but still failed to show the footer widget at the bottom of the page! I think this is an error in the way the blog was set up. Why it reads widgets on the side and not on the bottom is anyone's guess... but things like this happen! And it's why you should always look at your site on various devices and different browsers, to see how it is showing up! Either one could change the font style, the layout, and affect other things. Your goal is design the site so it appears as well as it can across the board, on all browsers and all devices if you expect to hang onto your readers! </div>
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Some blogs will allow you to add a widget to the top of your post, but that still doesn't mean it will show up on a mobile device. This is where the technology on one hand hasn't caught up with the technology on the other hand! Before mobile devices came along, there wasn't a problem. But as of a few years ago, the number of people accessing the web through mobile devices passed the 50% mark, and today, they are far in the majority of all users. If we don't satisfy the needs of the mobile market, we will automatically lose most of our readership, and if we are monetizing our sites, we also lose a good percentage of potential income!</div>
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Much of the problem lies in the smaller size of the mobile screens. In order to keep the fonts somewhat readable, the information can't all be jammed onto the screen at the same time. The engineers and designers have decided that the best way to alleviate reading problems is to show only one column at a time. But some sites and themes will allow the rest of the site to be seen if you keep scrolling down past the initial post, and others won't. The latter seems to block ALL widgets, regardless of where they are placed... even at the top of the post column.</div>
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This is something that I hope the industry in general will correct as time goes on, but for now, we have to figure out ways to do "work-arounds" to these problems. It could mean testing each theme on a mobile device before we actually choose on that will work the way we need it to work!</div>
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It would be impossible to come up with a list of all the browsers, devices and themes that are completely compatible with each other, as the developers are fixing many problems after the product has been released and tested by the public.</div>
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<b>In summary</b><br />
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I have mentioned the main things to watch for in choosing a theme, and why you have to be careful in what you choose. I have seen many third-party paid themes and plug-ins designed for Wordpress that the developers were too much in a hurry on to test them out thoroughly. Often the greed for profit over-rides the need for perfection, they leave it up to the public to do the testing, and make the corrections as they are reported to them. </div>
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As always, if you have a question on anything, post it in the comments. I will take a look at your site and make my recommendations on it free of charge.<span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"> </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-82238992039917717362015-11-08T12:39:00.001-06:002016-01-26T12:47:42.339-06:00How to Blog, Part Three...Choosing a Site Platform<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/?p=1003" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="1:37 PM">11/08/2015</a></div>
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Although there are many ways to create a blog online, I’m going to discuss only two platforms, WordPress and Blogger, and discuss the differences between them. They are without a doubt, the two most highly used platforms on the web. I have been using both of them for several years now, and have been studying marketing practices and techniques long before that (15+ years as of this writing). I been using both platforms for marketing purposes, and as such, have more “in-depth” knowledge about how they work and why you should use them.</div>
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I won’t get into how to set them up, or how to create a domain, as there are plenty of other sources for that directly from the providers. They teach mostly the technical end of getting the blog to do what you want it to do, but leave out the psychological part of why you should do it, and how it will look to other people. What is not said is how to operate a blog properly for real readers, so that it becomes something that the public actually wants to look at and read. But it helps to know what’s available and how it “should” be used.<br />
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<iframe src="http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?t=incarazg01-20&o=1&p=26&l=ur1&category=amazonhomepage&f=ifr&linkID=BDIRV2VKHEJ4GMMN" width="468" height="60" scrolling="no" border="0" marginwidth="0" style="border:none;" frameborder="0"></iframe>
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Before we begin, let it be known that ANY blog, especially free ones, have one main rule… that it be used primarily as a means of communication between the user and the public. Although it is physically possible to do, if you were to set up a blog as a static site without allowing comments, and with nothing but sales hype on it, the owners of it will likely shut you down before you ever get started good. The only way they can't is if the program is installed on your own domain. Then the blog is basically "your" property, and they can't shut down your domain! </div>
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Some (like Blogger) will allow sales to take place, as long as the main intent is to provide useful articles (posts or pages) on which comments are active and the public can communicate freely with the site owner through those comments. WordPress (the free dot com version) will only allow their own advertising, unless you own the (also free) dot org version of it on your own domain. In the latter case, you can do whatever you want with it.</div>
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Let’s discuss WordPress first. This is an “open source” program, meaning that there is no specific “company” behind it, but rather it is a collaboration of many developers all over the world. There are over 600 programs of this type and growing all the time, including things like OpenOffice, and many web building programs, audio and video programs, and many other specialized programs.<br />
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This can be both good and bad. In one sense, everyone looks out for everyone else, and works for the benefit of all, but in another sense, because it is not a product which a traditional company would depend on, and from which only certain ones make money from it, there is no direct incentive to fix things that a user may find wrong with it.</div>
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It has been my experience that just because you may find all sorts of plug-ins, themes and apps to go along with it, doesn’t ensure that they will all work to the level at which they are hyped, and getting support for them may not always be expedient. After all, most of them are developed by certain individual programmers, who develop both free and paid versions of these products. Some may do it as a “sideline” to another job, and you may have to wait hours, if not days, for them to even respond to you.</div>
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Also, WordPress is devleoped in two different versions, one for the free blog market at <span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">WordPress.com</span>, and one for use on domains at <span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">WordPress.org</span>. Believe me when I say that they are NOT the same product, although most parts of them are interchangeable to some degree! I have had occasion to use both, and although some themes may be common, the components within them may be set up totally different. Some of the themes may “look” alike, but behind the scenes, on the <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="265:.BelievemewhenIsayth_1" data-skim-product="1957704" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1957704" data-skimwords-word="control%20panels" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dcontrol%2Bpanels" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">control panels</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, they ARE different… sometimes radically different!</div>
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The dot com version is meant for the general public, most of whom are beginners at web work, and the developers don’t want anyone messing with the background code of the site, which would obviously affect everyone using it. They present what they want you to use, and if you don’t like what they offer, it’s your tough luck! You can try a different theme, but that’s about all you can do. You can’t get into the code at all, nor do they allow any of the 20,000+ plug-ins to be installed to get it to do what you want. On the bright side, they do take care of their own updates for you. But be aware, there are many things that you can do on the dot org version that you will not be able to do on the free dot com version!</div>
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If you read into the user agreement of the free version, it basically says that they DO NOT allow any other advertising on the free site except what they put on there themselves. That means that you CANNOT do anything to sell a product, either your own or through an affiliate. After all, they are providing you with a free site to use (actually a sub-domain of the main WordPress site) at their expense, and if anyone is going to make money, they want to be the ones to do it! Other than individual developers selling certain themes, plug-ins and apps to go along with it, there is no other way for the platform developers to cover their expenses. They are providing not only the programming for the site and support for it, but they also have to provide the servers on which millions of these free sites are hosted for you. That all costs money.</div>
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They will allow a donation (to you) payment button on the free site, but they don’t even make that easy to install. You can’t just use the provided code from the payment processor. You have to jump through hoops by using only the button image, and then create a link from that directly from the blog editing window. It won’t even work in a widget. You have to add it to a page or post of your blog. I know, because I just had to do this for a customer. If you try to add the code to a widget, the button may work, but it messes up the operation of all the other widgets! What a pain!</div>
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However… WordPress does provide a platform at WordPress DOT ORG for use on privately owned domains, and that is a world of difference away form the free version. Once you download that version to your domain, you basically OWN it, and have free control over literally everything! You can get into the root code of the site and tweak it to suit your needs. You can obtain countless additional themes from third-party developers (some free and some paid), countless additional plug-ins (some free and some paid) to manipulate anything about the site, and other apps for mobile devices (again, some free and some paid). If you mess something up totally, all you have to do is reload the platform and start over again. And on this one, you CAN export the files to your own computer as a backup and the import them back into a new platform or even another blog, including Blogger, so they have to you covered, no matter what.</div>
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In fact , it has become so popular that most hosting companies provide a quick way to install WordPress (dot org) right from their “C” panel, where you set up other things on your domain, such as email accounts and much more. OR… you can install it from the <span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">WordPress.org</span> web site. But you still need to know how to get into and operate your own “C” panel for other things.</div>
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And because you own both the platform and the site, you can do whatever you want with it as far as advertising or selling! The down side is, because you own it now, they won’t update it for you, so expect to get into the dashboard to check on your site nearly every day to watch for manual updates to plug-ins, themes, and occasionally, even the platform itself. If you fail to monitor the site and perform the necessary updates (required to keep up with changes in other things, like Microsoft updates) it can affect the performance and security of the site.</div>
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Now…let’s discuss the other popular blog platform, at <span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Blogger.com…a</span> Google product.</div>
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Blogger is totally free platform, owned and backed by one of the largest companies in the world, with a learning curve that is much easier than WordPress. It has several differences, the main one being that there is NO version for you to "install" on your own domain, although Blogger provides a method for you to create your own domain for your blog right on the dashboard. You can create a domain and do a quick redirect to a Blogger site, but the blog platform is still not “yours”. Blogger still owns it and has final say on what you do with it. However, they are more “liberal” with their permissions.</div>
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The main one is that if you read the user agreement, you will find that you CAN use it for selling! In fact we have had sites out there for years that have both affiliate links as well as our own payment buttons on it. But we follow rule number one, in that we provide informative articles and allow readers to comment on them. As long as you allow those key ingredients, and don’t break any other rules, you should be fine.</div>
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There are many other blog platforms out there, and I cannot cover all of them. It used to be that social sites were not blogs, but features have improved to where the definition of what is a blog is becoming very gray. Many social sites have new features that blur the line even more. The problem is that many of them get cluttered up with so many other posts and ads that are forced on you and your readers that your own content gets lost among all the other garbage, and many people don’t want to be bothered by all that social nonsense… they just want to read about what YOU are doing. Also, you have no control over much of that clutter or the rules you have to play by. With your own site, YOU have control.</div>
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So take a look at each of the free platforms. If you even “think” you might want to make some additional money with your blog (after you get used to running one), then stay away from the free WordPress (dot com) blog. It not only won’t let you make any money but it’s features are very limited. You can stay with free by going to <span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Blogger.com</span> and still make money if you do it right, OR you can set up your own domain and hosting and install the free <span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">WordPress.org</span> for use on your own site... or... you can set up a Blogger blog, and then purchase a domain right from your dashboard. If you choose one of the other blog sites that allow you a page or a sub-domain of their main site, then I am limited on my ability to help you because I don’t use those other sites.</div>
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I have found that in nearly everything in life it always pays to use the best if you can afford it, and since these are all free to use, along with being the biggest and the best in the fields, then how can you go wrong? The communities that use them are HUGE, the support is there, and anything you want to know can be learned from reading the tutorials, watching the videos on both their own sites as well as YouTube, and either one of these will do what you need to do. If you are “technically challenged” then I would suggest Blogger. If you like to play around with everything you get to see how it works, then<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">WordPress.org</span> on your own domain is probably what you want.</div>
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But no platform of any kind will attract or keep readers if you don’t follow certain standards, and those include everything from the colors of your site, to the size and style of the font, to the overall layout and navigation, to your own spelling and grammar.</div>
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No one wants to read a site with a bunch of mis-spelled words, run-on sentences with no paragraphs, bad grammar, or poor writing style. In the next few posts we are going to get into what makes a blog look good and attract readers who want to subscribe to read even more of what you have. If you can’t hang onto them with the basics, then you might as well forget about trying to sell to them with anything else. I can’t give you that kind of education. I can only advise you on what works. If you need to go back to night classes to learn how to talk correctly and spell properly, then that’s on you. I can only tell you that blogging isn’t texting, and no one wants to read a bunch of gibberish and spelling shortcuts. You’re not just messaging your friends here. This will be out there for the world to see, and they won’t tolerate sloppiness in what you deliver.</div>
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“Nuff” said.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-80879863404834838662015-11-08T12:37:00.002-06:002016-01-26T12:24:39.794-06:00How to Blog, Part Two, Keyword Density and Relevance<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/?p=1001" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="1:36 PM">11/08/2015</a></div>
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Now that you have an idea of why keywords are important, the next thing is learning how to use them, In Part One we discussed how to find the keywords related to your topic that people are using to search. We discussed how to use them in your site URL, site title, and tag line, right on down to the paragraph headers.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Keyword density…</strong></h2>
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Now the question is how many times do you have to use them in your posts or pages. The reason that makes a difference also relates to relevance. Using too few keywords will result in the search engines thinking that the words only showed up as a fluke, and don’t really mean much to the rest of the article. Using too many of them, and it will think you are “keyword spamming” the article just to get your site recognized by the search engines… and any experienced marketer knows that doesn’t work anymore and will actually reduce the ranking of your site. Maybe at one time in years past it did work, but the software engineers who program the search engines have gotten smarter of the years, and stopped allowing that a long time ago!</div>
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How many times you should use your keywords in the article really depends on how long the article is, but generally, if you use them about three to five times in the article, that will be a good balance. You want the article to read “naturally” as though a human wrote it. If you use too many keywords too often, it comes across as though a robot wrote it that was only looking for high density. The search engines are smart enough to know the difference these days, and they are getting smarter every day.<br />
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Keyword relevance…</strong></h2>
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In the "old days", there was a thing called “meta-tags”… hidden html language that couldn’t be seen on the page, but instructed the search engines as to what the site was about and how it should run. The problem was that marketers would abuse the meta-tags, and load the keywords meta-tag with anything and everything that they thought would get them traffic, even if it had nothing to do with the page it was on!</div>
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Eventually, the search engine programmers got smart and decided not to play those games, as it made for unfair competition in the search results. Today, most meta-tags are ignored, except for the description. Although they have tried to improve the situation by adding a snippet of text from the page, rather than leave the search listing blank, it still can't replace the manual act of adding your own "best first impression" and/or "most compelling sales message" in the description form on your site. We'll discuss that more later. How much importance is placed on a site is much more dependent upon “real world” relevance, in such areas as</div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How the site ranks in importance to the rest of the internet. This is decided by many things, but included is the amount of traffic the site gets, how many other sites are “talking” about it (having the URL linked within their pages) and also how often it gets fresh content.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Having fresh content is extremely important because a static site that is simply put “out there” and then ignored by its owner will soon go down in importance because it is getting stagnant, and no one is using it. It becomes “irrelevant” to the world. This is why blogs have become so popular. Having new posts written is great, but also, every comment that is made on a post creates fresh new content, a sign to the search engine that this site is being used and is still relevant to the rest of the world. And the best part is, the owner of the site doesn’t have to do it, so it lessens his workload! His readers do it for him!</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The site has to be relevant within itself, also, to gain the respect of the search engines. Having just the right amount of actual search terms (keywords) within all parts of the site, tells the search engines that it really is about what the public is searching for and they will bring it up higher in the search results.</li>
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Part of being relevant is also in how the description is written. The search engines are now programmed so that the description contains an excerpt of some relevant text within the article. That helps the search engines to know that the article is important, plus, that description shows up below the search listing on the web, to tell the reader what the site is about. Because many people today think that “all” the meta-tags are ignored, they wrongfully assume that the description meta-tag is also ignored. As a result they allow the search engines to randomly pull a part of the text from the site which may or may nor mean anything to the reader.</div>
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We’ve all seen search result listings that show nothing but a bunch of gibberish under the URL line. Sometimes it is so bad that it actually drives the potential visitor away rather than attract them! The webmaster is missing two of the most crucial aspects of any selling… the first impression and the sales pitch!</div>
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A description on the search listings is the very first thing a potential visitor is going to see when he searches for what he wants. Leaving that most important “first contact” to chance is a mistake that I see WAY too often! If you don’t say something in that first introduction to grab the reader’s attention, he won’t click on that listing and you may have lost him forever! That's WAY too important to leave to chance!</div>
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Those who know how to use html and have access to the code of their site can easily insert a description meta-tag in their header. But most of the free “public” sites and blogs won’t allow access to their proprietary code. So they normally will have a form box somewhere in their settings to insert a description line that will show up on the search results on any search engine.</div>
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It is the site owner’s responsibility to make sure that the description line is the most important first impression and sales pitch (rolled into one) that they can make it. If it doesn’t entice the reader to click on that listing to find out more… then that potential visitor may be gone forever! Whether you are looking to build your readership or are actually selling a product… the technique is the same!<br />
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If you have any questions on this, please...let me know in the comments, and I will answer ASAP.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-39029230357383610872015-11-08T12:36:00.001-06:002016-01-26T12:09:32.997-06:00How to Blog, Part One...Know Your Keywords and How to Use Them!<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/?p=996" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="1:35 PM">11/08/2015</a></div>
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The one thing that inexperienced bloggers tend to forget is how people are going to find their blog. If they are just doing a blog for family to watch, then it may not matter, but if you want to attract readers to your blog, then you have to follow the same basic rules of marketing as anyone who is running a high pressure sales site. Both require following certain rules. The name of the game is traffic, something that both will need, whether selling something or not.</div>
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Some of the most important rules are created by the search engines, like Google, Bing, Ask, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and many, many others. No matter how good your site looks to readers, if you don’t make the search engines happy, they won’t match your site to the keywords that people type into the search forms on those sites.<br />
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Keyword tools…</strong></h2>
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How do you know what people are going to look for? The answer lies in certain software that marketers all know about, but few others do… especially if they have never blogged or had a web site before. This software can tell you how many times a month certain words are searched for, and that is the main thing you need to know. Some software can also tell you many other things, including related words and how many times they are searched. In general, the better the software (cost-wise) the more information you can find out.</div>
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There are many professional-grade pieces of software, most created by professional marketers, as they are the only ones who know what a marketer needs. Still each one may have their own idea about what they need. But even a beginner can learn how to find out what words people use to perform searches, and do the research for free.</div>
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Google, being the largest and most popular search engine on the planet, had created a free research tool available to the public. Originally it was created for their Adwords paid search listing program, but anyone could use it. That is no longer available without signing up for an Adwords account, but social bloggers probably won’t have a need for that if they don’t plan to do any advertising or selling. Still, you have to know what keywords people search for.</div>
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I did a simple Google search for “free keyword tool” and found several sources listed below. Some of these may overlap, but look through them and try out each one.</div>
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Keep in mind, any effort on the web is rewarded by the amount of time you put into it, and even blogging requires a certain amount of research before you even start. If you fail to learn your job, you will always appear to be an amateur at it, and will never get the results you wish for.</div>
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To help you decide which of these free online tools to use, always check reviews by Googling the name of the tool with the word “review”, and find out what others say about it. To find out more about each one, always watch any tutorials associated with it, and also search for the name of the tool on YouTube and look for tutorial videos on how to use it.</div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2013/09/13/keyword-tools/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Find 8 free keyword tools here!">Duct Tape Marketing</a> has a list of eight free keyword tools.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://internetmarketingninjas.com/blog/search-engine-optimization/12-free-keyword-tools-replace-googles-keyword-tool/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Here are 12 free keyword tools!">Internet Marketing Ninjas</a> has a list of twelve free keyword tools.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://pamorama.net/2014/01/04/10-keyword-research-tools/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get 5 free and 5 paid keyword tools here!">Pamorama</a> has a list of five free and five paid keyword tools.</li>
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If you look on down through the search results, you will see many other free keyword tools. We use another professional-grade tool, <a href="http://micronichefinder.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get a professional-grade keyword tool here!">MicroNicheFinder</a>, that costs around $100, but as always, you get what you pay for. Beginner’s or casual bloggers won’t need as much detail as a professional tool provides.</div>
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Knowing how the search engines match sites to searches is the first thing to learn. They have a very common sense way of doing that, starting at “the top” and working down.</div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The first thing they look at is the URL of the site. Does it contain the same exact words that people are searching for? Being able to use the exact words people would search for in your topic is helpful, but if you can’t figure out a way to use the keywords in the URL, there are ways to compensate.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The title of the site is the second thing the search engines look at. Your site title can be different than your URL. If you aren’t able to find a URL with your ideal search terms in it, then you should definitely try to work words that relate to your topic into the title of the site.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Your tag line, or sub-title, is the next thing the search engines will look at. Some people also refer to it is the “slogan”, although I have seen sites with a sub-title AND a slogan. However you use it, you should definitely work your search terms (keywords) into the highest points of your site as you can, especially if you couldn’t work them into the URL.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Post and page titles are the next item the search engines will look in, to see if it can find matching keywords there. Blogs will automatically attribute certain “H tags” to certain areas of your post or page, but you can use the dashboard to over-ride their decisions. For beginner’s, an H-1 tag is always a header…larger font in bold type, to really stand out. Next is the H-2 tag, normally used for sub-headers, slightly smaller font than the main header, but still bold. The H-3 tag is normally used as a paragraph header… one more step down in size, but still bold. They continue down in size and importance to H-4, and in some cases down to H-6, but the search engines only look as far as H-4 tags.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The next step in their search are the words in bold print, normally reserved for words that are very important. You should never have to choose a bold font for normal paragraphs, as it can cause the search engines to ignore the entire text, or cause it to think that “everything” is a keyword, in which case it can think it is being “spammed” with keywords (an illegal practice) and will actually demote your search listing! If the theme that you are using has too small or too light of a font for the paragraphs, then choose another theme. (We’ll talk more about readability in a later post.)</li>
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Once you learn how keyword tools work, the information might amaze you. Just the difference between using a plural word as opposed to a singular word can make a difference of tens of thousands of searches per month. Knowing a simple difference like that can “make or break” the success of getting readers to your site!</div>
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Now that you understand how and why keywords are important to your site getting found by the search engines, we also have to discuss two more things before you ever write your first post… and that is keyword density and relevance… both of which are also important to how the search engines will rank your site in the listings. These will be discussed in Part Two of our series, so stick around.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-46390602732108386792012-11-04T12:33:00.000-06:002016-01-25T18:48:09.661-06:00Easy Money Left on the Table<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/11/04/easy-money-left-on-the-table/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="4:13 PM">11/04/2012</a></div>
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You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">: Wayne Gretzky. Read more at</em><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/wayne_gretzky.html" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/wayne_gretzky.html</a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Foolish blogging…</strong></h2>
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I read blogs every day that are a waste of time for both the writer as well as their readers. Many of them do nothing but talk about every-day activities of the writer and have no particular use to anyone except the writer’s ego and a need to say what they have to say. Others have tremendous value to their readers for various reasons, even if only to inspire the reader to do something with their life than read useless blogs!</div>
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Both types of blogs have something in common, in that they somehow manage to acquire loyal lists of readers, or at least followers, regardless of how silly or pathetic the reason is. On the better blogs (but still not the best) the writers actually put useful information out there for all to partake in, and yet stoically refuse to tell people where to buy the products that they talk about!</div>
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That is a disservice to their readers as well as to themselves! They sometimes go to great lengths to write lengthy reviews of the products, telling people of both good points and bad, and even show pictures of the products… and the pictures go nowhere… except to (maybe) a larger and also useless version of the same picture! That is not helping their readers nor helping themselves to profit from their actions!</div>
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What a foolish waste of time that is!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What makes a blog good…besides just writing…</strong></h2>
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The “best” blogs, not only review products, but also provide a place for the reader to buy those products! If I am reading a blog, I don’t even want to be told about a product unless there is a link to it! If I want that product, and have to waste precious minutes of my time to go research and find a vendor for it because the blog writer was too lazy to present it properly I am going to be pissed! If I don’t want to buy it, I can simply ignore the link to it.</div>
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This isn’t the stone age! Anyone who can’t stand to look at ads had best crawl in a hole, because he won’t be able to listen to the radio, watch TV, read a magazine or newspaper, buy a product, or drive down the road without seeing advertising. If you think that still leaves books…guess again. Chances are the author has his other books listed at the back, so people will be encouraged to buy them! What do you think that is, if not advertising? It’s the way the modern world works today so get used to it!</div>
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You don’t have to clutter up your site with banner ads, although adding a little color to an otherwise :all text" page actually helps to make the page more visually appealing and breaks up the monotony of line after line of text. Most people won’t click on banner ads anyway. on the average, only about 2% of readers actually buy something from an ad, especially on blogs. </div>
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<span style="font-weight: inherit;">But using unobtrusive text links in the right way will get all the clicks you need to make sales. Some will say that they despise seeing ads on sites. GET OVER IT! </span><b>You wouldn’t have anything within your line of sight (that wasn’t already made by nature) without someone having sold it first!</b><span style="font-weight: inherit;"> We’d all be living like cave men if it weren’t for things getting sold! Selling is a natural part of life, of society, and our well being! Many of us would be dead already if it weren’t for medical equipment and medicines being sold to a hospital, so think about that the next time you claim you “hate” sales pitches, and be damned glad you’re alive because someone stepped up to do it to save your life!</span><br />
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The mindset of wealth…</strong></h2>
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I remember reading something years ago about billionaire J. Paul Getty that said that the reason he was able to acquire such great wealth is that he made a conscious effort to NEVER do anything (or buy anything) that did not further his efforts in making money.</div>
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When you think about all the things we do every day, it’s hard to envision some of those things NOT being done without monetary gain involved.</div>
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Can we make money by eating? Sure… if we’re a food critic and getting paid to write about our opinion.</div>
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Can we make money by sleeping? Maybe… if we agree to be part of a paid sleep study program!</div>
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Is that magazine we bought going to make us money? Maybe… if we are concsiously watching competing ads presented in it so that we can do better in our own sales.</div>
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Is watching TV or a movie going to make us money? Maybe… if it’s the financial news we are watching, or we’re getting paid to give our opinion of certain shows (like a TV critic).</div>
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Some people will jump on those opportunities when they arise, while others will blindly go through life without even thinking about finances, and the latter will have a much greater chance of ending up broke!</div>
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For many bloggers, they already make enough money to be happy, and if that’s “really” true, then maybe what they do simply makes them happy and takes some stress out of their lives, even though it may not add some extra money to their pocket. After all, the simple act of writing is therapy in itself.</div>
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But the sad part is, I read about people every day who are barely able to afford a vehicle to live in, they aren’t eating properly, and are depriving themselves of the simplest of luxuries that most of the world takes for granted, and yet they refuse to take the simplest of actions that would help to make their lives better, even when they are led to it and given the information for free!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Forgetting your future…</strong></h2>
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Don’t get me wrong… I have nothing against people traveling in small vehicles, but from what I read, most of them have no choice! I wouldn’t have written <a href="http://caravancamperrv.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">a book about creating a minivan camper</a> if it were not inspired by finances (or a lack thereof). But if I had my choice, I would prefer something larger and more comfortable. Having already owned a 40-foot motorhome, I would never go back to a huge money-pit like that again, but a nice mid-size class “C” or at least a larger van type that I can stand up in… and that has its own shower… and that gets decent mileage… could easily be in our future… if we are willing to do what is necessary to get it.</div>
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Maybe some of these vehicle dwellers think they are young enough now to enjoy living in their vehicles and traveling as they please, but the rest of us (especially the older crowd) sees the bigger picture that seems to elude these poor uninformed people.</div>
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What are these people going to do when they are too old to travel like that anymore? They forget that Social Security only pays out according to what is paid in. If they live off minimum wage (or less) all their lives, and have not put their proper share into Social Security, then they could very well end up with NO Social Security or only the bare minimum of (currently) about $550 a month to live on for the rest of their lives… when they won’t even be able to afford health insurance! The combination of those two things will keep them perpetually living off someone else! And guess who gets to support their foolish lifestyle after their parents are gone… the rest of us working taxpayers!</div>
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I have gone out of my way to try to offer a helping hand to such people, and yet my words seem to go in one ear and out the other. Maybe they prefer to be broke. Maybe they prefer to live off the generosity of others. Maybe they prefer government assistance to making a living on their own. Maybe they have absolutely no ambition at all. Whatever the reason, no one can help people who refuse to take the slightest of actions to help themselves, and I don’t feel that able bodied people should be living off the hard work of other people!</div>
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I can’t guarantee how much of a helping hand I provide, as much of the end consequences of what I help them with is the result of what they do with the information after they receive it. But at least I have tried, and that’s more than most people would do.</div>
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The whole truth is that many that I have tried to help through this blog won’t even sign up for new post notifications so that they can continue to learn for free! Anyone who really wants to learn will go after the information on their own, and if they don’t, it’s their loss. I’m not selling anything here, so I don’t need to chase them down for their money. If they want a reminder to come back here, they can easily drag the icon in the URL address to their desktop so they can click on it to come directly here anytime they want. Or on Chrome, there is a provision in the menu bars on the right hand side to send the web page to the task bar on their computer. If that's too much trouble to figure out, they wouldn't study marketing anyway.</div>
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In the meantime, I am continually acquiring new students who actually WANT to learn how to successfully sell things online (marketing), or at least have me help them build a web site so that they can make their lives better. Some actually want to build businesses that will sustain them beyond having to depend on someone else. Some will expand on what they learn here, while others will only use enough of what I show them to make a few extra bucks a month. I can show them the techniques and tools, but unless they actually put them to use, the end result will be ziltch!</div>
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A catch-phrase from an old “Dirty Harry” movie has always stuck in my mind, and that is that people will only rise to the level of their own ability (or something like that). Some people’s ability is much more than what they will open themsleves up to, because they are lazy and refuse to take the time to learn new ideas. They have the intellect to learn, but they either refuse or don’t care. They would rather be out having fun than doing something to exercise their brains and make them some extra money. I knew one person that actually was “stealing” his mother’s Social Security check even past the day she died! And this person was old enough to know better and young enough to go find a job!</div>
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But what are they going to do in another ten or twenty years, when their bodies start to fail and they can’t work at normal jobs or afford proper healthcare? What are they going to do when they discover that their Social Security isn’t nearly enough to cover the lifestyle they had hoped for, and what little extra money they have isn’t even enough to keep them healthy?</div>
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Successful people take the time to learn something new every day that will help them to make their lives better. Sometimes lessons are easy, such as how to make fire to keep yourself warm, or to dehydrate food or prepare canned food to get them through the seasons, or to build a meager shelter.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Difficult lessons…</strong></h2>
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Other lessons are very difficult, and can take years to master, like playing the piano or learning marketing. But there’s no market for making fire for people (unless you’re an arsonist!). On the other hand, a musician can always make money, even if it’s only playing street corners. A marketer can always make money, even from someone else’s computer in a public library. Both incomes are dependent upon how well they are performed, and they aren’t something you learn overnight. Neither are they something you “buy” your way into with trying to resell someone else’s “cookie-cutter” methods. You can’t “fake” good music, and you can’t “fake” your way to a good income in marketing. You either have what people want or your don’t! Best results are always achieved by proper and continuous study, and then applying what was learned.</div>
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Some people don’t have the mindset for either, because it’s too easy to live off someone else rather than actually have to put their mind to work to learn something useful. They may think that it’s only “tax money” that is funding their “fun times”. Where do they think that tax money comes from, other than from other hard working people? Are they that stupid to think that it simply appears out of thin air? Or maybe they don’t care how hard other people work to make up for their laziness and apathy!</div>
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Even if they don’t want to learn marketing, just the simple act of having someone build a free web site for them can provide residual income that will carry them through retirement years and beyond! All they need is the foresight to recognize the potential the internet holds! That doesn’t take a lot of brains. It only takes action!</div>
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I have tried to tell people that something as easy as signing up for a free account at <a href="http://skimlinks.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Skimlinks</a> will let them make at least a few dollars a month from their sites and blogs, even if they do it badly. For those willing to learn proper techniques, they can do much better… and whatever they start with will continue to build as they learn how to use their site properly. Many people make full-time livings from their web work and live like millionaires (which they may be). And if one blog isn’t making enough, how hard would it be to create a second blog, or a third. If they already have one, they obviously know how to do that much, so it’s only a matter of scaling up the process. That puts THEM in control of how much they make… not some uncaring employer!</div>
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Through this one <a href="http://skimlinks.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Skimlinks</a> account they have access to over 18,000 vendors, more than enough products for more sites than they could ever manage, so their refusal to make money can’t be a matter that they can’t find a product to promote. And promotion is nothing more than what they have already been doing on many of these blogs!</div>
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All they have to do is “talk” about a product they like, and provide a link for people to buy it. How hard can that be to do? I know high school kids that make more money at their web work than their parents do at professional careers! It can’t be any easier for people to start making money, and still, they refuse to take action. I cannot help those who refuse to help themselves. And I’m done feeling sorry for them. I’m already giving much of my tax money to them. They need to start paying for the knowledge they receive!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Future limitations…</strong></h2>
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Due to my ever increasing time restraints, I can no longer go out of my way to help people unless they actually want the help, and prove it by contacting me and participating in discussions. That’s the only way people learn… by doing! And I don't mean private discussions on email or Facebook! I mean commenting publicly on this blog, so that others can learn from the questions and answers!</div>
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Based upon what I am seeing, there are more that want the help than those who don’t. I have been spending a great deal of time to help people for free, on a one-on-one basis geared to their exact goals and topics. I actually enjoy helping those who want to better themselves and their lives and create businesses to sustain them for the rest of their lives. And I don’t even mind doing it for free, on an “honor” system as I have been, where I help them and they help me by buying through my links the things that they would buy for everday use anyway.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Show me the money! (Or not.)</strong></h2>
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In the past, I tried to help people on an honor system, where they were to buy through my links for most of the items they would use every day anyway. I even provided a page for those people to use at the “Marketing Resources” menu tab on this site, (Update: it has since been removed by a hacking attempt and I haven’t rebuilt it yet), where they can buy everything they need for their daily lives (including food and clothing), for their homes, and for their cars… the three main things that people HAVE to spend money on.<br />
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I know what the average person spends on those things from statistics, and yet I know that the people I tried to help were not spending even 1/20th of their income through my links. I will not continue to help people for 14 hours every day, and not make a fair share of money from my efforts. Just like it may be more convenient to buy some things from stores, it was also more convenient for me to drop this whole free teaching program and do something else!<br />
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Unlike many foolish bloggers I have better things to do with my time! Besides, I am retired now, and traveling full-time. I have already done what I have tried to teach, only now, I still continue to do it for my own benefit, and on my schedule.</div>
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This entire blog has been an experiment to see how many people would actually follow through to make this method of teaching worthwhile… and it hasn’t worked. As always, it’s only 5% of people who have the ambition and determination to make a difference in their lives, and in the world.</div>
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Due to time constraints, I have to limit my time to those who are really serious about learning. Those who have shown an interest will continue to get all the help I can possibly give them. New readers can read all they want for free, but if they want questions answered or support for any of the topics I talk about, then they will have to <a href="http://azgrand.com/contact-us/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Contact Us">m</a>ake comments and ask questions, and get involved in the discussion. It doesn’t cost anything nor do I make anything from it, but it’s a start. It’s a “show of faith” on their part. After all, if they don’t trust me with an email address to receive new post notifications, then why should I waste my time with them?</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">No new marketing students…</strong></h2>
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I cannot teach in only a few months what it has taken me 15+ years to learn. The delays in trying to do that is a disservice to both them and me in waiting to get their sites online and make money. I can build sites in much less time than it takes to explain all the marketing reasoning behind the techniques, and it is more productive to do that for my own benefit. If they wish to observe and copy my actions for their own use, that’s fine. I will answer questions as they are asked.</div>
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But be aware, just because someone can build a site, it doesn’t make them a marketer or guarantee that anyone will make money with it. I will still do free site reviews, and suggest techniques and tools to correct the problems, but it will be up to the student to implement the changes.</div>
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Reading only one post, or even many of them, without reading “all” of them is not going to be a lot of help to anyone serious about learning marketing. It has taken me 15+ years to get where I am, and I am still learning new things every day. It takes ALL of the pieces of a puzzle to make it <span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">complete.To</span> complicate that, the “puzzle” of marketing is continually growing. I don’t have the time to learn, teach AND implement everything, especially if I make no money in doing so.</div>
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As time goes on, I may even change from free information to a small membership fee, but I feel as though I have to provide more consistent content before that happens.</div>
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If I can sell other people’s products and make money on autopilot through building sites for myself, why would I want the hassle of developing my own products, and dealing with customer service and teaching? Any wise business person is going to go where the money (and the least amount of work) is.</div>
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For those learning about marketing through this free training, this also explains by example the natural progression of building a business. If a business doesn’t grow by at least 10% every year, it is considered “stagnant”. Growth can be income growth, intellectual growth, acquisitions growth, or just growth in techniques…but it MUST grow. If it doesn’t it will surely die.</div>
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Simply growing a reader base is not growth, because it isn’t accomplishing anything unless you actually DO something with it! I see countless blogs every day that can brag of HUGE subscriber lists… but the blog is still as dead as canned tuna unless that list is “working” for a purpose! You could just as well have only three people reading your blog and it wouldn’t make any difference!</div>
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The progression from free information to a free membership, to paid membership to paid products is part of natural growth. I am not saying I will go that far... only that it is a possibility.</div>
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Knowledge is the fertilizer that fuels that growth, and implementation of that knowledge is the space to let it grow. Both can be in endless supply… or choked off by apathy and laziness.</div>
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What was the last item you wanted desperately to buy but couldn’t afford? What simple thing would you be willing to do to get it? Or is it easier to stay broke, both financially and in spirit? Would you rather have people look up TO you, or down AT you? Whether it’s learning marketing or something else to make your life better… at least do “something”!</div>
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As always, let me know your thoughts in the comments.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-79115257065223960552012-10-09T12:32:00.000-05:002016-01-25T18:12:23.806-06:00Making Money with Cookies (No, not that kind!)<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/10/09/making-money-with-cookies-no-not-that-kind/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="10:00 PM">10/09/2012</a></div>
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Before we can get into making money online, we need to know what cookies are. I’m not talking about the kind that Grandma used to bake… I’m talking about tracking cookies used in internet work.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What is an “IP” address?</strong></h2>
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Every computer has an IP address (Internet Protocol) built into it by the manufacturer. That IP address is what is used to identify your computer to anyone else who sees it on the web, and that address directly relates to how cookies are used.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What are cookies?</strong></h2>
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Internet cookies are little pieces of script that are used for various reasons, but mostly for tracking purposes. From there, they can be used to identify what ads you click on so that other relevant ads can be shown to you based on your past choices of what you looked at. They can be used to identify your computer to remember passwords and other information so that you don’t have to enter it each time you visit a site. But for our purposes, we will be discussing how they are used in making money… and I don’t mean selling them at a bake sale.<br />
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An ad banner like this one from Amazon, comes preformatted with my affiliate ID already embedded into the html code, so they know that it was me who sent them a customer. At their end, they keep track of when that cookie was activated, when it will expire, and any other information relative to a paid click, or an actual sale, and they enter all that information into my affiliate dashboard on their site so I know how much I made, from where it came, what the product was, and other useful information that can guide me in future sales efforts.<br />
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How are cookies used in marketing?</strong></h2>
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In marketing, a vendor will either use their own software for setting up and tracking affiliate programs, or they will contract with an aggregator to manage those links. If they manage their own links, they might use a program like Affiliate Royale, especially for WordPress.</div>
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What if a vendor doesn’t want to manage his own affiliate program?</h2>
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If a vendor chooses to let someone else manage their links, then they might choose an aggregator… someone like Commission Junction, Linkshare, Link Connector, Avantlink, Shareasale, or any of numerous others. The drawback is that there are usually hefty fees involved to set it up and then there may be an ongoing percentage of sales paid to the aggregator.</div>
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One company that handles most of the major aggregators plus individual vendor accounts is <a href="http://skimlinks.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Make money with Skimlinks!">Skimlinks</a>. The costs involved might be offset by the sheer volume that these aggregators handle. They already have other marketers signed up with them who can help sell the vendor’s products, so they don’t have to recruit a whole new sales force from scratch, as the vendor would have to do when managing an affiliate program by himself.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What are the pro’s and con’s?</strong></h2>
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There are advantages and disadvantages with each company and each method, and rules must be read and followed. For instance, Skimlinks is very convenient for both vendors and marketers to sign up with, there are fewer rules involved, and all payments come through one dashboard. On the other hand, they use mostly text links, and most banners and other creatives must still come from the vendor or the aggregator, or you must create your own, using product pictures and doing your own linking. (Update: Skimlinks now has “Showcase” banner ads available, but as of this writing they only work with Amazon. If you live in one of the sales tax nexus states, they probably won’t do you any good.) If obtaining your own product pictures from the web, you may have to get permission to use them from the vendor or manufacturer, but that’s usually not a problem if you attribute the photo properly. Still, ALWAYS check with them on proper procedure.</div>
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Also, most stores run special sale promotions that only registered affiliates would know about. If you are using only word links, generic banners or photos, you may never know about such promotions and won’t be able to pass them on to your readers.</div>
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When using an individual store that runs its own program, you have one dashboard and access to creatives and special promotions, but one store, or even one aggregator of many stores, is very seldom going to be sufficient for a professional marketer. Each store or aggregator requires signing up for an account and a new dashboard to monitor sales stats.</div>
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A marketer who signs up with an aggregator (except Skimlinks) will get more stores per dashboard, but they still have to apply to both the aggregator AND then get individual permission from the store to join its affiliate program and have access to it’s banners and promotions. If the marketer uses more than one aggregator (which he will likely have to do), he will also have more than one dashboard to monitor, which obviously creates more work.</div>
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Skimlinks, on the other hand, has over 18,000 vendors and aggregators that it manages accounts for, and you only have to apply to Skimlinks…NOT all the individual vendors… so if text links and/or creating your own banner links works for you, then it can greatly simplify your link management and save you a tremendous amount of time!</div>
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How does one manage all that information?</h2>
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As you can see, an affiliate marketer must have a good head for organization, and have a plan in mind ahead of time to keep track of all this information. They may have to create a spreadsheet to keep track of the vendor name and address, the URL, the affiliate link., the log-on information to their affiliate portal, the commisson percentage, and much more. On top of that, it must be kept in a secure place, and backed up off site in case their computer is stolen, crashes or destroyed, any of which can put a marketer out of business.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How long do cookies remain active?</strong></h2>
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No matter what type of affiliate program is used, they ALL rely on cookies to manage their accounts. Each time a reader or customer clicks on a link, a tracking cookie is set connecting their computer’s IP address to that vendor. The cookies can vary in length. Some may be programmed to disappear when they close out of the store site, and some may last a “lifetime”. Most will expire within 30 to 90 days, and then erase themselves from the store computer’s memory.<br />
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Also, most cookies are reset to the last affiliate’s computer. So if a visitor has clicked on your link and visits the store but dosen’t buy, and then comes back later through another affiliate’s link, the last one clicked on will be the one credited with the sale. If they come to the site later without using an affiliate link, it will still revert to the last affiliate link used to get there. On some cookies, especially the “lifetime” cookies, the link will still remain even after years, and will not be overwritten by a new one, therefore assuring the marketer of a sale regardless of when the visitor returns to the store (as long as they have not changed computers).</div>
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Obviously when they say “lifetime” links, it usually refers to the lifetime of the visitor’s computer. If it crashes or becomes unusable, and they have to get a new one, then obviously the IP address and link are lost, also. However, if someone steals the computer, or it is sold to someone else, and they happen to visit that same store, the original marketer will still get the credit for the sale, even though it is a different customer!</div>
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And even if a customer deletes the cookies on their own computer during routine maintenace, it isn’t “their” cookies that matter. They can’t erase their IP address, and it is that address that registers on the store or aggregator’s computer system that matters. As long as their systems stay intact, the cookie will still be good, as long it sees the original computer’s IP address and matches it with the marketer’s link to the store.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How does software manage cookies?</strong></h2>
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An affiliate program software such as Affiliate Royale simply matches up IP addresses with affiliate links and monitors how much each sale was, so that it can sort out how much to pay to the affiliate (the marketer). It may even monitor what items were sold, so that the marketer can actually see what items are selling best, so that he can optimize his sales tactics and product offerings.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Summary</strong></h2>
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Unless you are a programmer or developer, that’s about all a marketer needs to know about cookies. The management of them is normally someone else’s responsibility, unless you are selling your own products and want other people to help you do that. In that case, you will either want a program like Affiliate Royale, or hire someone else to do it.</div>
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Either way it will come at a cost… for the program, for the time in learning it, for the time implementing it and managing it, or in fees for someone else to manage it for you. It all boils down to the bottom line, and whether it’s "cost effective”. If it can increase revenue and profits by 10% or more, then it’s worthwhile. Anything less than that may not justify the cost of such a program. As a marketer, it will be your job to run the figures and decide.</div>
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Now, please excuse me while I go get a glass of milk. That old “power of suggestion” is kicking in. And then the big decision… peanut butter or oatmeal raisin?</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-19125344705253716202012-08-17T12:30:00.000-05:002016-01-25T17:58:01.674-06:00Behind the Fine Print<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/08/17/behind-the-fine-print/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="10:00 PM">08/17/2012</a></div>
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Before we get too involved with finding all the different ways there is to make money online, we have to learn to do it the right… and legal way. You can’t just promise people the world and not be able to deliver it. Many people have the mistaken impression that the internet is a totally unregulated medium where anyone can do what they want, and therefore a certain distrust is born, preventing some from feeling the freedom to use it as they would like to.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Internet legalities are real!</strong></h2>
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The reality is that there ARE laws governing the use of the internet, particularly in the realm of <span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ecommerce.The</span> FTC and other government agencies are very watchful of what goes on there, and they will come down on those who don’t abide by the laws!</div>
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As a small business operator, you might wonder how a person stays on top of such information, so that you know what can and can’t be done. The simple answer is trade magazines, such as <a href="http://mthink.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get the best information on affiliate marketing here!">mThink</a>, a marketing magazine geared toward affiliate marketing.</div>
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An article in today’s issue caught my attention in regard to what is happening in the area of legal issues with web sites, and it should be required reading for anyone thinking about owning an online business. It isn’t just fun and games in the online world, Running a business means paying attention to ALL aspects of running a business, the same as in the real world.</div>
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Too many in this business think that just because they don’t have a phycial property, where someone can trip and fall, and subsequently sue them, that they don’t have to worry about liability. The truth is that there are as many legal issues to deal with here as anywhere else. The fact that the minor infringements may be smaller than a physical business is overshadowed by the fact that you aren’t just dealing with local customers. You may likely be selling to the entire world, and therefore, there is more likely a chance of someone noticing one of those small indiscretions and call your bluff on it!<br />
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Examples of internet legal issues for web site owners might be…</strong></h2>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">copyright infringement</strong>, where you used someone’s article without their permission. Or maybe you used someone’s music in one of your ads without their permission. Or maybe you used someone’s photo or video without their permission. It’s one thing to read, listen to, or watch something for your own entertainment, but just because it’s on the web doesn’t mean you have a right to use it for your own gain. Typically, if you are using all or any one of these mediums to enhance sales of your own products, then you may owe the rightful owners of such products a portion of the sales for their effort in helping you to make that money!</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">plagiarism, </strong>which goes hand-in-hand with the above paragraph, is also something you want to avoid. This means taking someone else’s work and claiming it as your own. In this business in particular there are all kinds of written products, with all kinds of legal permissions involved, such as PLR (private label rights) to MRSR (master resell rights). And even within those, there can be specific permissions given. In a later article we will discuss what all those permission types are and how they are used. But know also, that the search engines have software that looks for duplicate content. I even have a copy of one such product myself, which even tells me in percentages how close my writing is to someone else’s! If the search engines see duplicate content, then they will place less importance on it because it is not new and fresh, and therefore will not rank your site as high. So besides the legal issues, there are marketing issues why you should not copy someone else’s content!</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">exaggerating facts</strong>. You can’t just “exaggerate” claims to people just because they may be half way around the world, and aren’t likely to come after you! Your business has to be conducted fully “above board” so that people know what they can “really” expect. In other words, you can’t write a headline that says that people are going to make a certain amount of money in a certain length of time. You have no control over what people do, so you have no way of knowing whether they will or won’t. As you can see by the aformentioned article in <a href="http://mthink.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">mThink.com</a>, even saying they can make “up to” a certain amount can trigger an audit of your activities by the authorities.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">failure to use disclaimers</strong>. Making money from people without their knowledge is also something that is against the law. No matter how you make your money, it must be disclosed somewhere on your site in plain view. It may be obvious to most people that if there is a big yellow “buy now” button on the page, that you are selling something. Less obvious are the word links that you put on your site, such as the ones you find on my sites, some of which I put there, while others may be provided by <a href="http://skimlinks.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Make money from the words on YOUR site or blog!">Skimlinks</a>. There are several companies out there that provide software to create these “contextual links”, or you can simply create your own links. Companies like Adsense also provide contextual advertising, meaning the ads shown are “in context” with the topic of the page. Either way, sometimes money is made from a reader simply clicking on those links, whether they buy anything or not. That action is not made clear to the reader unless you make it clear in a disclaimer somewhere on your site. If they don’t like what you have to say, maybe they would prefer that you didn’t make money off their efforts. That is their right to refuse to do business with you, so if there is way of that happening that is not readily apparent, it is considered deceptive, and you have to tell them. That’s the law!</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">fabricated testimonials</strong>. If you put testimonials on your site, it is permissible to use simply initials, in case the “testifier” would prefer to remain anonymous, but you had better retain the proof of those testimonials in case the feds come knocking at your door! It is illegal to fabricate testimonials or to use people’s remarks out of context and without their permission! Always ask permission if you can use their remarks! And in reality, the more credible a testimonial looks, the better effect it has. The mention of your name or business in their remarks is always a bonus, and of course, having their full name in the credits also helps. Beyond that, the use of video testimonials is on the rise, so having them on your site “in person” endorsing your product is about as good as it gets!</li>
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When NOT to use testimonials!</h2>
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There can be many reasons, but the reason that I don’t show them anymore is simple… some of the people who gave them are no longer being trained by me. They gave their testimonial when they first started, but then I discovered that they werent following through with what I recommended, and their sites never came up to the quality that they should have been.</div>
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Keep in mind, I can’t do your work for you! I can advise you on what you should do, but if you don’t do it, that’s not my fault! In turn, I will not give references to students or their sites if those sites aren’t up to the quality of what they should be. If my readers go to those sites and see crappy work, then it reflects badly on me, even though I didn’t build them!</div>
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On top of that, providing testimonials is like providing a link to those sites, which I would be glad to do if they were something that I could be proud to recommend. But when they aren’t, or are totally off topic of my own site, then those inbound links are both worthless to the search engines, as well as “un-earned” by the site owner.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Summary and Expectations</strong></h2>
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There are many more things that you need to be aware of, but those mentioned above seem to be the most noticeable, and will get you in trouble the quickest. To stay aware of the rest, I suggest you get a free subscription to <a href="http://mthink.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get your free subscription here!">mThink</a>, and be sure to read the articles like <a href="http://mthink.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">this latest one</a> on how to stay legal in your business. This magazine is totally free, and available in both print and emailed newsletter editions. The emailed notifications are usually sent about every week to three weeks, depending on when the posts are written. They also have other magazines geared toward this trade and in other specialites, and you can choose which ones you get when you sign up.</div>
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In future posts I will get more in depth into the different types of permissions available for written products, many of which could be used for posts on your site, as enticements to opt-in for the free reports, to be given as bonuses with other products, or even to be sold outright. It’s all a part of marketing “know-how” and in running ANY kind of web site online, and no matter what you sell online, you need to know about these things in order to be in this business.</div>
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We’ll also get back to the various ways to make money online with your web site or blog, so stick around, and as always, let me know your thoughts in the comments.</div>
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Thanks for reading.</div>
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(Update 11/11/12: The article mentioned above has since been moved or removed from the <span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">mThink.com</span> site, so we changed the link to go to the main site only.)</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-85788901765431277782012-08-07T12:29:00.000-05:002016-01-25T17:47:54.320-06:00Internet Marketing Mindset, and Using Skimlinks...with Examples!<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/08/07/internet-marketing-mindset-by-examples/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="10:00 PM">08/07/2012</a></div>
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I am currently working with a few students right now who are having problems with getting into the mindset required to market on the internet. So before we get into other subjects, I want to show by example exactly what it takes to think like a marketer, and I’m going to use <a href="http://skimlinks.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Start making money with Skimlinks.com today!">Skimlinks</a> as a good example of how to implement the strategies to make money.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What do I sell on the web?</strong></h2>
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Usually, one of the first questions people have in their mind is what to sell on the web. And the answer is “anything and everything”. The next question is usually “where do I get it”. And the answer to that is “anywhere and everywhere!”</div>
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Many people think of places like Amazon, or <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302001" data-skim-node-id="712:Manypeoplethinkofpla_1" data-skim-product="874144" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="874144" data-skimwords-word="walmart" href="http://walmart.com/" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">Walmart</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, but the truth is, those are already retailers. They will not sell to you at a price point low enough for you to make a profit. There are hundreds of thousands of places to get products to sell at price that you can afford to resell them. Some places will sell physical products to you directly if you show that you have a business license and are serious about how you run your business, but that usually involves buying in larger quantities and getting into a warehousing operation. As I have said before… been there, done that… never again! That kind of an operation is too restrictive to travel to suit my tastes. But that doesn’t mean YOU shouldn’t do it.</div>
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If going more than 25 miles from home is a scary adventure for you, then chances are good that managing a warehouse would work well for you. We all have different ideas on what “having a life” means.</div>
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Many online suppliers will ask for a business license before they will sell to you, so it always pays to be prepared, but one of the easiest ways to sell things online is to be an affiliate. That simply means that you will drive traffic to their online store, where they will process the order and then pay you a commission for referring the customer to them! It doesn't cost the customer any more than they would pay otherwise. It's just that the commission paid to the affiliate is already included in the vendors advertising cost. It's no different than using a billboard or a newspaper ad. If the customer didn't see the ad, they wouldn't be at the store!<br />
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But instead of the vendor paying a fixed cost for results that are hard to measure, he is only paying for results, and therefore can pay a little more for the referral that leads to a sale. He can measure his return on advertising dollars much more accurately, and the person doing the advertising for him gets a better percentage of his profits. It's a win/win situation for both! I should actually include a third win, because the customer normally pays less at online stores than at brick and mortar stores, and often gets free shipping. And even if they pay shipping costs, it's always less cost for them than using their own time and money by getting in their car and driving somewhere to get the product! </div>
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The question now is “how do they know that it was me that sent the customer?” They simply use tracking cookies, which usually have your affiliate ID with that vendor imbedded in them. There are special computer programs designed for that type of marketing, so that a store can tell what affiliate sent the customer to them. You don’t need to have that software. Only the vendor needs to have it. The cookie that is placed may remain good for as little as ten days to 30 days, to 60 or 90 days, or even for a lifetime, depending on the vendor’s rules. That way, even if your reader doesn’t buy today (which many don’t) you will still get the commission if they come back to that vendor any time within the life of the tracking cookie!</div>
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It is a statistically proven fact that people do not generally buy the first time they visit a site…especially something that is not a sales like, like a blog. Statistics say that it takes seven times (on the average) of contact with that seller, before they feel comfortable enough to buy from/through him, even if they are just using a link to a well-known vendor like Amazon.<br />
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If you want to make a sale within 7 days then go to <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302001" data-skim-node-id="508:Ifyouwanttomakeasale_1" data-skim-product="874148" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="874148" data-skimwords-word="ebay" href="http://ebay.com/" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">eBay</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>. You can control the amount of the sale and even what is sold. With affiliate links, particularly on blogs, you may never know exactly what link was clicked on without having special software. Nor can you control how much is made from that link. It might pay a small commission for just clicking on it, or it may lead to a sale of something very expensive. The reader may not even know what he wants until he enters the vendors site and sees something he likes.</div>
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Still, there is money to be made with affiliate links, and people are doing it every day. If you don’t believe me, go to <a href="http://rvsueandcrew.net/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://rvsueandcrew.net</a> and click on the “Money” menu link at the top of the page. That will take you to a page where she has laid out her income and expenses for her traveling as well as how much she makes from her Amazon store link on her site! She isn’t even a professional marketer and is making up to $800 a month in "non-holiday" months, in commissions from Amazon! At their typical 6% commission rate, that means she is making more than $10,000 worth of retail sales every month! And that’s from one site! What would be possible if she duplicated her efforts on more than one site? What would be possible if she actually studied professional marketing techniques?</div>
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But also, what if you live in one of those “sales tax nexus” states in which Amazon refuses to allow Associates, because they don’t want to deal with the sales tax issues? That’s where having other vendors available can be the saving grace.</div>
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In a later post, we’ll discuss some of the different ways you can sell for some of these other vendors, but for now, we’re going to discuss the simplest and easiest way to make money online, and that is through <a href="http://skimlinks.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Start making money with Skimlinks.com today!">Skimlinks</a>.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Why should I use Skimlinks?</strong></h2>
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The simple answer to that is ease of use. The normal process of applying to be an affiliate to any other place goes like this:</div>
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(1) you pick out a product</div>
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(2) you search out who carries that product</div>
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(3) you see if they have an affilliate program</div>
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then (a) they might or might not have one, (b) they might manage it themselves, or (c) they might have an aggregator manage it, then</div>
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(4) you either apply to the store itself, or</div>
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(5) you apply to the aggregator and then to the store</div>
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(6) “IF” (and that’s a BIG “IF”) they approve you, then they will direct you to the affiliate resources pages to get your links and banners to use on your site, and</div>
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(7) then you have to copy and paste all that code into the html on your site everywhere that you want to use it.</div>
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(8) for the next product, you will have to go through that entire process again!</div>
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(9) AND… for every vendor you use, you have a different dashboard to monitor to see what’s happening with your sales!<br />
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(10) AND... if the vendor does away with the ad that is served from his hosting company's server, and the link becomes dead... you have to go in an find another ad to display!</div>
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Think about that! How much time is that going to take you to source all the products you are going to need, make applications to each aggregator, and then STILL have to make separate applications to the stores that they manage links for? And if they turn you down, all that time is wasted, and you have to try another vendor!</div>
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Also, if you are approved, you still have to go back to each vendor’s affiliate page, get the code that you need, and then implement it on every linked word or location on your site that you want to apply it! Let’s say you have a site (a blog) already built and have 150 posts on it already, with an average of five links per page. How long is it going to take you to go back through all those 150 pages and 750 links to monetize the site properly? The answer…. MONTHS!</div>
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The solution: <a href="http://skimlinks.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Start making money with Skimlinks.com today!">Skimlinks</a>… because they do it all for you in less than 30 minutes!</div>
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Skimlinks has two programs that are automatically connected. One is the original Skimlinks, and the other is Skimwords.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How does Skimlinks work?</strong></h2>
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First, you have only one vendor to deal with, and therefore only one place you have to go to see all of your sales reports and earnings. They already have over 18,000+ different vendors and more than forty aggregators (ex.: Commission Junction, Linkshare, Share a Sale, etc., that already may have hundreds of individual stores that they manage links for) that Skimlinks has made agreements with, so you don’t have to go through the process of applying again to each one! Once <a href="http://skimlinks.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Start making money with Skimlinks.com today!">Skimlinks</a> approves you, all those other 18,000+ vendors HAVE to! Think of the time that saves!</div>
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Have you been turned down by places like Amazon because of sales tax nexus laws in your state? No problem! <a href="http://skimlinks.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Start making money with Skimlinks.com today!">Skimlinks</a> has so many other vendors, including <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302001" data-skim-node-id="528:hassomanyothervendor_1" data-skim-product="874148" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="874148" data-skimwords-word="ebay" href="http://ebay.com/" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">eBay</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, <span class="skimwords-potential" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://walmart.com/" target="_blank">Walmart</a></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302001" data-skim-node-id="528:hassomanyothervendor_1" data-skim-product="405843" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="405843" data-skimwords-word="Kmart" href="http://www.kmart.com/" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">Kmart</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, and thousands more, that you simply direct your sales toward those other vendors! Still, Amazon has decided not to honor commissions on “sales” made through Skimlinks that are generated in states where there is nexus laws in effect, but they will still pay on clicks on the links where applicable. Clicks a re not considered sales, and therefore no taxes are due. So even if an Amazon ad shows up, you will still make money from the click on it, whether the customer buys or not.</div>
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Their bonus program, Skimwords, is automatically active with your account, There is nothing “in addition” to apply for, and nothing to set up. The one line of code, OR the WordPress plug-in does it all for you, on your entire site… even on old posts! And despite what you may have heard, it DOES work with Blogger, and is perfectly legal. You just install the script in a “text” side bar gadget, and it puts the links on the entire site, clear back to posts that may be years old!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What does it cost to use Skimlinks?</strong></h2>
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Absolutely NOTHING! And you lose nothing! As an example of how they work, let’s say that Amazon normally pays you 6% as what they like to call an “advertising fee” for displaying their products on your site. Because of the volume of business that Skimlinks does, they arrange for an 8% commission for themselves to let Amazon into their system. They keep 25% of those commissions (only 2% of the total purchase) for themselves, and you still get the original 6% that you would have gotten anyway!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How do I make better commissions?</strong></h2>
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Once you have an account with <a href="http://skimlinks.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Start making money with Skimlinks.com today!">Skimlinks</a> (VERY easy to get, by the way), you can search for a particular product and see a list of all the stores within their collection that carry that product. It will also show you each vendor’s commission rates. Many of them also pay on a per click basis, so that your reader doesn’t even have to buy to make you money! If you see that one store offers 5% and three cents per click, and another vendor offers 15% and five cents per click for the same product, YOU get to choose the link you want to use. All you have to do is install your own link on the keywords within your site, and Skimlinks won’t change them. If you don’t make enough money it will be your own fault for not managing your site propery!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How do I implement Skimlinks/Skimwords?</strong></h2>
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First of all, Skimlinks refers to actual links or ads placed on the site from which you make money through purchases. The Skimwords part of the program is what automatically activates certain keywords into links, and from those, you may get paid for clicks as well as purchases.</div>
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After you get your account set up, you will have an entire affiliate section to refer to with all the help you need, including videos. They will also give you a snippet of code to use on your web site, so that it activates whatever page it appears on. If you use WordPress, they already have a plug-in for Skimlinks, so all you have to do is enter your affiliate ID number assigned to that site in the setup form, and it does the rest for you. If you have multiple sites, you will have a separate ID number for each site.</div>
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Any product words or vendor keywords (Usually nouns) that it sees on your activated pages or posts will automatically be turned into links to whichever store (in their collection of over 18,000+ vendors) that handles that product. And it’s “retro-active”, meaning if you put it into a sidebar, or widget on your site that shows up on all pages…. it will go back and monetize all those pages that may have been written months or years ago!</div>
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What if you want to select your own products to recommend, rather than let it go to their selection? All you have to do is create the link first, and then Skimwords will send the link to YOUR recommendation rather than theirs. It doesn’t get any easier!</div>
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What if you already have affiliate agreements with other vendors? Skimlinks will know which ones you already have agreements with, and will send them straight through to that vendor without interference. You will still get your commission from that vendor. But if you don’t have an agreement set up, Skimlinks will process the click or the sale, and will pay you through their own company, Skimbits Ltd.</div>
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So even if you don’t know the first thing about html, there is no excuse for not using it! Pay someone else to set it up for you if you have to! It will be worth the fee!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Is there anything that I “don’t” get with Skimlinks?</strong></h2>
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The only thing you won’t have access to with Skimlinks are the “creatives” (the various banner ads and direct links) that are available with a direct connection to one of those vendors. But you may not need them. If you still feel a need to use a banner, you can still apply to the vendor or aggregator, and have access to them. Skimlinks will automatically detect if you have a relationship with the vendor outside of their scope, and if so, they will simply send your link on through, and it will be handled by the vendor. If Skimlinks detects that you have no relationship, then they will make one for you and run the link through their system. Either way… you get paid!</div>
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Also, they have a new program called a “Showcase”, but at the time of this writing, it only works with Amazon. You can set up your links so that when moused over, a full product picture, or even a scrolling catalog will show up, to give the customer a look at the product and more information, without having to go to the site. If they click on the pop-up ad and buy from it, you get the commission (if you aren’t in one of the nexus states). Unfortunately, if you are in a nexus state, it isn’t worthwhile to use it, as you would only get paid for clicks if they were applicable for that product.</div>
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What if I want to use a vendor that has no agreement with Skimlinks? In fact, I just ran into that situation this morning. I saw a vendor that I wanted a link for, and they were not in Skimlinks’ arsenal. So I looked up the vendor on the web and they happen to use PepperjamNetwork as their aggregator. I then double-checked Skimlinks and that aggregator was not in their arsenal either. So I had to make an application to Pepperjam to get an account. As soon I am approved by them (the aggregator), then I may have to also apply to the vendor. This is the way normal affiliate marketing works, and why we should ALL be thankful to Skimlinks by taking much of that work away!</div>
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If I had simply created a link to the vendor site I would have been referring traffic to someone that would have never paid me for it! Not that I don’t do that sometimes, anyway, but it’s like going off and leaving money on the table!</div>
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For some product creatives, you might simply use one of the vendor’s graphics that you can copy from the web and paste into your site, but you should always ask first, and if they allow it, use a little caption with it that says something like “logo use courtesy of (the vendor’s name)”. Some logos and images have very tight rules associated with their use, right down to the color rendition, and you could be sued if you use them without proper permission.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Can I also sell my own products through my own payment buttons?</strong></div>
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This is a good question, and is very important… <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">you may also lose the ability to sell your own products on your site through your own payment buttons.</strong> Skimlinks doesn’t care if you have a “donation” payment button on your site, but they really want to see <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ALL</strong> affiliate links on a site. That’s probably due to some legal issue with their contracts with their vendors, and I can understand that trying to find common ground with that many vendors is a daunting task in itself!</div>
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If you have products that you are selling through your own payment buttons, then you can put those on a separate site and just use links to “cross-reference” the sites to each other. Actually, that’s good for SEO, too, as it lets you be more specific with your keywords on each site as well as giving another inbound link to your site to add to its importance in the search engine’s eyes.</div>
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Also, if you are selling your own products, having people click away to go buy something from someone else is counter-productive. You should keep direct sales away from affiliate sites!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How do I create my own links with Skimlinks?</strong></h2>
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First, always make sure it is a vendor that is under contract with Skiminks, otherwise you may not get a commission at all! Then, all you have to do is go to any vendor’s web page and copy the URL of the page from the address bar. In your site editor, you highlight the word (or words) you want to make into a link, and click on the “chain link icon” on your editor header, and paste the link into the form box! Be sure to click the check box that says to open the link in a new window, so it doesn't take them totally away from your site. That’s all there is to it! The link will automatically go through Skimlinks directly to whatever page you sent them to, and Skimlinks will take care of the rest.</div>
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If you are using a general term, with no specific product in mind, you might go the catalog page of the vendor, so that when your reader arrives there he can see all of the products of that type and make his own decision. If you are recommending a specific product, then go to the exact page that shows only that product, and copy the URL from that page to make your link. <a href="http://skimlinks.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Start making money with Skimlinks.com today!">Skimlinks</a> will send them to wherever you want them to go, but if you make no recommendation at all, they will still make links where they see product keywords, and you will still make money! If you don’t want to use a particular vendor for any reason, you can keep their ads from showing up!</div>
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You also have your choice of link density. You can set it light for only a few select words to turn into links, medium for picking up a few more words, or you can set it to the max for picking out “most” of the keywords it finds.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Do people read older posts?</strong></h2>
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You bet they do! Any new visitor who arrives on your site for the first time is VERY likely to go back and read from the beginning to catch up, or they may check out specific topics or specific posts or categories within your blog or site. If they searched specific keywords, the search engine will direct them to the appropriate post or page of your site, even if it was written years ago! That’s why it is important to monetize not only your new content, but all of your previous content as well!</div>
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What if I don’t want banner ads on my site?</h2>
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Many people don’t want their sites cluttered up with gaudy banner ads, and the truth is that people are becoming somewhat immune to banners, and many won’t click on them because they know it is a blatant attempt to sell them something. Some banners are as bad as carnival barkers, with flashing logos and some even use video with the banner. Used in the right context, some of that may be OK, but can be annoying to many people. That’s what’s so great about <a href="http://skimlinks.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Start making money with Skimlinks.com today!">Skimlinks/Skimwords</a>… they are very “unobtrusive” in that they simply link words to products. People can read right past them and ignore them or they can click on them to see where they go.</div>
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You can also use one of your own photos, maybe of you demonstrating a product, or of the product itself, and you can make the photo a link to the product. Since you own the photo, you won't have any issues with copyright infringement. All you have to do is click on the photo to highlight it, and then go to your editing bar and click on that chain ink icon to open the link window, and then paste your link into it. There's nothing hard about it!</div>
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Even though the majority of people come to the internet for information, a lot of the purchases that are made are “spur of the moment” decisions. Many people don’t even know there is such a selection of products or that certain products exist. If you lead them into it by talking about the product honestly,providing both pros and cons without being “pushy”, and then offer a place for them to buy it, many will click on the link and say “Gee, I didn’t know anyone made that! I’m going to get one!”. Even if they don’t buy it today (maybe they simply have to wait until payday) the cookie will remember that you sent them and you will still earn a commission if they purchase later!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What happens if the product or vendor that I’m after doesn’t have an affiliation with Skimlinks?</strong></h2>
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If you don’t see your desired product or the vendor listed with Skimlinks, then look them up on the web and see if you can find any links on their site that say “affiliates”, “partners”, “resellers” or some other indication that might offer that service. For those that do, you may see that their program is handled by a third party, usually an aggregator, and if so, you may have to make an application to that aggregator and then also apply to the vendor through that program. Some vendors handle their own affiliate program, and if so, you can apply directly to them. You can use any other affiliate links in conjunction with Skimlinks.</div>
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There are many sites on the web that will let you buy from them at wholesale prices, but they don’t show any indication of it on their site. If that’s the case, it doesn’t hurt to send them an email (or through their contact form) and ask them! That’s all there is to it! But they may still ask for a business ID, so again… be prepared!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But, how do I “think” like a marketer?</strong></h2>
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I just went back through some of my previous posts this morning and started looking for words that I saw. The <a href="http://skimlinks.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Start making money with Skimlinks.com today!">Skimwords</a> won’t show as links in your editing mode, only the ones YOU create yourself will show, but it doesn’t matter. The Skimlinks will show when you preview your site or it goes live. You can overwrite any of their links with your own if you see the need to.</div>
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In my post about seeing a (possible but not likely) cougar in the yard, I mentioned the street light. Amazon has <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="910:Inmypostaboutseeinga_1" data-skim-product="1961990" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1961990" data-skimwords-word="security%20lights" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dsecurity%2Blights" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">security lights</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, so I linked “street light” to a catalog page showng their choices. I also mentioned a 6-volt lantern, a game camera, and even threw in a little quip at the end about “lions and snakes and bears! Oh My!” with a reference to the tin man in the Wizard of Oz (think collectibles). So I made “tin man” a link to Wizard of Oz collectibles. There was a total of at least four new opportunities to link to vendors sites to offer up products for the reader to buy, just in that one post about “maybe” seeing a cougar! And I can guarantee you that even set at “max”, Skimwords may not detect all of those referrences on their own! It is up to YOU as a marketer to THINK, and to monetize everything you can. The more opportunities you present to people, the more money you are going to make!</div>
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<span style="font-weight: inherit;">A marketer has to look at everything he does with the thought of “how can I make money from that?” And what can be easier than simply converting text words to unobtrusive links to give people the opportunity to act upon them, without the seller being “pushy” about it? Regardless of how you feel about sales, </span><b>remember… there isn’t anything that is within your field of vision (other than what was created by nature) that isn’t there because a sale was made first!</b><span style="font-weight: inherit;"> You would be “naked in nature” without someone making a sale at some time in the past! Sales are a natural part of society and sooner or later, EVERYONE makes a sale, even if it’s only selling themselves to an employer (perish the thought)!</span></div>
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Many of my blog readers are fellow travelers. If you write about travel, then think about what you can connect people to for travel products, such as air packages, camping, hotels or rental cars. If you talk about attractions or entertainment, then check out the possibility of offering tickets to your readers, or hotels that are in the area, or even a nice restaurant that they can go to afterwards. If you talk about improvements to your home or your RV, then offer them those products. If you talk about food or beverages, then offer them coupons, recipes, beer-making kits, or wine club memberships. What better time to sell than when offering products that you have already used and liked? You already have your readers’ attention, and they probably trust you if they have been reading your blog, and subscribed to it, so why wouldn’t they buy from you?</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How can I maximize my commissions?</strong></div>
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Be wise about it. The reason most people don’t make any money is because they depend on things like Adsense to monetize their sites and then they never study how to choose keywords that will attract the higher paying clicks. The result is they get paid pennies for clicks and never reach the $100 minimum payout that Adsense imposes! You have to get past worrying about making pennies and learn how to pick both the methods and the products that will get you the most profits! That means choosing a good mix of higher priced products as well as a few lower priced, and paying attention to the commission rates paid by different vendors for the sale of those products. You can’t just set things up at random and hope to make money, any more than you can just show up for an employer and hope to make money! You have to WORK at making money. In marketing, that means simply learning to think like a marketer, pay attention to what is happening, and think outside the box to figure out how to make it better!</div>
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With <a href="http://skimlinks.com/" target="_blank">Skimlinks</a>, you can go into the “Merchant” section and search for specific products or vendors. You will get a list of the vendors who carry the product, as well as the commission rate they pay, and if they use pay-per-click, it will also tell what they pay for each click on the ad or word. You have complete control over choosing vendors that pay the highest commissions, but if you don’t, Skimlinks will choose whatever matches with the keyword. It’s up to YOU to maximize your profits…not Skimlinks!</div>
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Why sell ad space on your site for a piddly, fixed amount, when you should be getting paid on commission for the sales volume that ad produces? Why settle for click rates on generic products when you could be offering to sell the same products at 50% commission or more? THINK!!!</div>
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It takes just as much time and effort to market a $5 product as it does a $5,000 product, but if you have to settle for a 10% commission, then which one are you going to put the effort into? DUH!</div>
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In thinking like a marketer, remember that your own time is money. As an example, think about selling something on eBay…say, from your own inventory. Sure, you may sell MORE of the lower priced items, but can you sell a hundred of them? Not if you only have one to sell! A hundred low priced items may justify writing a listing once, and then pushing a button to relist over and over. A one-shot sale very seldom justifies the time spent unless it is something worth more than $50.</div>
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You have to learn that some things are better off donated than to mess around with selling them online! Think about the time it takes you to research them, the photography time, the uploading time, the sales pitch writing time, and then the processing of the order afterward. If you can’t make what your time is worth, then you are better off to give the product away as a bonus with a more expensive product! Don’t waste time on unproductive efforts!</div>
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On the other hand, if you think that spending 4 hours on a site that might make $30 a month on autopilot…indefinitely… is unproductive…. think again! If that site stays out there on its own and can generate $30 a month for the next 15 years or more…. that’s a minimum of $5400 that you will have made for that 4 hours of work that you did ONE time!</div>
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THAT is what I mean when I say you need to get your head on straight and think like a marketer! Now… if you could build two sites like that a day, how long would it take you to reach your immediate income goals, and never have to work again? And how much income will you have made for that effort over the next 15 years? Think about it! YOU do the math!</div>
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This is a form of what Einstein called the “most powerful force on earth”… the power of compound interest. This is the power to do 4 hours worth of work to generate the same income that would take an average worker 180 hours to earn at $30 an hour! That’s leveraging your income by over 45 times! But yet 95% of people will never understand that and never do what is necessary to get there!</div>
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It is a statistical fact that only about 2% of first-time visitors will buy from you. Like real life, they may want to get to know you better, so they can feel assured that you are who you say you are and that they aren’t going to get ripped off.</div>
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Regular readers on blogs feel like they know the site owner after they have followed his writings for awhile. They learn to trust him, and in turn the sales conversions go up! Referrals from blogs to regular readers often result in 7% or higher conversions. If the blog also has a subscription to new post notifications going out, so that the reader has agreed to being sent special offers by email, those offers, many times, result in as much as a 40% increase in sales volume! Now you know why most web sites want you to opt-in for special offers! They want to stay in touch with you, just like any other friend would want to stay in touch with you. And regular contact with those visitors, either through email or blog posts will keep you in their minds and they will learn to trust you, and buy from you!</div>
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This is how a marketer MUST think if he expects to be successful. Online sales isn’t about sending out a bunch of spam to anybody and everybody and pestering them like some bad used car saleman, only to get a paltry 1/10th of one percent conversions! It’s about using the right keywords to attract people to your site that already have an interest in what you are offering… first in information… and later in products you recommend to them. That’s how long term sales relationships are built, and why you have to get your heads on straight if you expect to be successful at it.</div>
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There’s no sense in pestering people that have no interest in what you are offering. You don’t have time to worry about them and neither should any other salesman! You need to find out…</div>
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(1) what it is that people are searching for in huge numbers and not finding answers for,</div>
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(2) find or create a product to fill that need,</div>
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(3) and then learn how to put it in front of as many of them as you can at the least cost!</div>
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If you can do that, you won’t have to “sell” to them… the majority will automatically buy what you offer them!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Summary and expectations</strong></h2>
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Now you have everything that you need to “start” making money with a site or blog, so there is no excuse not to go sign up for <a href="http://skimlinks.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Start making money with Skimlinks.com today!">Skimlinks</a>, get approval (may take 24 hours), and then put that little line of code into a widget or sidebar of your site (or let WordPress do it for you) and start making money within 24 hours of setting it up! Every page or post of your site should become a salesman that sells for you 24/7, whether you do anything further or not!</div>
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But we have only scratched the surface as far as all the different methods and how to promote the site or blog. What we have done so far is only generic SEO (search engine optimization). There is still a lot to learn about “off site” promoting, through social channels, and video! What you are going to make in the next month off your sites will be only a drop in the bucket compared to what you will make once we really get serious about implementing all the other strategies!</div>
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We will try to present things with a good balance of both monetization as well as promotion, so that you can begin to make money as you go, using mostly free products. Don’t expect overnight miracles. It will start slow, and keep building, but that’s the way it should be. If anyone tells you in this business that you can make a bundle overnight with no work, you need to run like Hell, because the times that it actually happens are few and far between, and often times are built on “flash-in-the-pan” methods or products that have a short life.</div>
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My method is to show you how to build your business with products with long life spans that will remain as viable AND valuable five years or more down the road as they are today. That cuts back on “site maintenance” so that you can enjoy more time to do the things you really want to do.</div>
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As we progress into more depth within these posts regarding other products and promotional methods, your sales volume will increase as you learn new techniques and make your site more visible to the public. You need to start NOW, so that you will have the income when you need it. If you wait until you “really” need it before you start, it will be a long time coming!</div>
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Until then, go start making some money with what I have already shown you! And if you run into problems, let me know in the comments so that I can help you! Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your business be! There’s a lot of growth ahead, so stick with it, be patient, and it will come!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-90508346662441587872012-08-03T12:27:00.000-05:002016-01-25T16:15:50.608-06:00Creating and Editing Posts<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/08/03/creating-and-editing-posts-without-losing-them-2/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="10:00 PM">08/03/2012</a></div>
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Anyone who has ever written anything online, from emails to ebooks, has had it happen to them at one time or another… where all of a sudden they are typing along and everything they have written suddenly disappears! That is one of the most aggravating things that can, and very often does, happen. I’m going to show you some tricks to prevent that.</div>
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The most common error!</h2>
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It took me a long time to realize what was happening, but I soon realized that my left hand was accidentally hitting “shortcut keys”. Shortcuts are the keys you can hit in combination with the “Control” key or the “Function” key. Many people don’t realize it, but if you hit “Control” and “A” at the same time, that is the code for “Select All” and will highlight everything on your screen. If you don’t catch it in time, the very next key you hit will delete everything on your screen!</div>
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I never had typing when I was in high school, so everything I have learned has been on my own, and my speed comes only from practice, but I certainly don’t use the correct fingers on the keys, and end up with a lot of typos that I have to go back and correct. Still, at only about 60 WPM, I realized I was hitting the “Control A” and then the next key so fast, that I didn’t realize I had highlighted everything. It was just a flash, and then everything was gone!</div>
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But before you get too disgusted with yourself, just remember to use the “Edit/Undo” function from your menu at the top of the screen, and everything will come right back, unless you are in a page or site that causes the menu bars at the top of your screen to disappear. I can’t even count how many emails I wiped out and had to re-do before I realized how to fix it! But I know I’m not alone!<br />
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Set your blog to publish at a later time!</strong></h2>
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One of the tricks that I use for blogging is this… as soon as you get your title in the form, go to your publish settings and tell it to publish the blog at a later time, preferably several hours from the time you are writing it, or even a day or two ahead. Give yourself at least a couple of hours. I usually set it for 8 PM, because by that time, I am pretty much done for the day, and have everything proof-read and edited, ready to go. Readers will not see the post until it publishes. Only I can see it on my own computer, because I am signed in to my admin role. The actual post notifications that go out to readers do so at 9 PM CST, so many won't even read it until the next day. And if I happen to reread the post again after it's online, I can still go in and edit it at any time to make last minute corrections. In fact these very posts on this blog, are being reread and edited to bring them up to date, even after they were originally posted over four years ago!</div>
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Don’t try to write and immediately publish, as that never turns out well. If you publish immediately, anyone who happens onto the blog is going to see all your typos and mistakes, as well as a possibly unfinished article…and that is not good. NEVER DO THAT!</div>
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I have already written a post about the fact that blogs will not “re-publish” (i.e., send to your list) once you have published them the first time, so it is safe to go back as many times as you need to in order to make corrections. You’ll notice that your “Publish” button no longer says “Publish” after you hit it the first time. It changes to “Update”. That’s because you can only publish once.<br />
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The only way to over-ride that is to go to your scheduling window and set the post for a new publication date ahead of where you are now. But that is not something you would normally go out of your way to do. </div>
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Sometimes I read my blogs over a half-dozen times, both online and in edit mode, before I finally feel confident that I have all the typos and mis-spellings fixed, all the links added, and have it worded just the way I want. No one ever publishes anything that has everything 100% right the first time, and yet some of the blogs I see, look like they are “first drafts” that were never finished! Sloppy editing will drive visitors away, and if you don’t care enough about what you do, chances are that your readers will go elsewhere.</div>
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For many RV and camping enthusiasts with blogs, they don’t like to publish from where they are currently located, for security reasons. Maybe you have other reasons to delay your posts. But if you wait to write them until a couple of days later, you tend to forget many of the things that you “would” have talked about while you are there! The solution is to set the publish date to a few days ahead. You can still write your stories while they are fresh in your mind, and the post will not appear until after you have left your current location! Not only that, but it gives you time to re-read, and re-think about it, and add things that you might have forgotten about or missed.</div>
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Don’t try to make it sound like you are talking with an accent!</h2>
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People like Mark Twain were masters of slang and the vernacular, but I see many people trying to be too “cute” with their use of mis-spelled words, trying to talk like someone they are not. It may cover up a lot of spelling errors, but a little of that goes a long way, and sometimes trying to talk with an accent while writing just sounds ridiculous!</div>
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Trying to talk like an uneducated “hick” makes other people think that’s all you are! Most people won’t even understand what you are trying to do, and will just leave. If they happen to be from an area you are trying to imitate, it might even offend them! And short-cutting words with words that would only show up in texting is NEVER proper protocol for business or public writing! Stick to proper English (or whatever language you speak the most), and no one will be offended. And by proper, I mean all words correctly spelled, capitalized and punctuated, to the best of your ability!<br />
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If you can't spell and failed English, then I suggest having a third party who IS knowledgeable to proofread your writing before you publish it! You can start by activating the built-in spell check device that is on every computer! It may not catch everything, but it catches a lot!</div>
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If you are targeting audiences other than your native language, it’s always best to get a professional translator who knows both languages VERY well, to write the article for you. We’ve all seen articles written that look like they were written in “broken” English. In today’s world, you never know if it’s a real person or a robot “article spinner” that (supposedly) rewrites articles to avoid plagiarism. (Yes, there are such things!) And although there some translator programs available that do a pretty good job, it’s hard to beat human decision-making.</div>
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Sometimes, if it isn’t too bad, we can figure out their intent and get through them. But if written too poorly, many people just give up and go to something else. In sales, the profit for many businesses comes off the last 10% of revenue. If you lose 10% of your readers because they leave before you get your message across, then you are going to go broke! Think about it!</div>
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Also, writing in correct characters, grammar and spelling for your language makes it much easier for spell-checkers to check your spelling. If you don’t know how to spell at a grade “A” level to start with, and then throw in a bunch of mis-spelled words, how is a spell-checker to know what you have in mind? It simply is not the best way to do things, for a lot of reasons! Every person who writes should get in the habit of using that little icon at the top of their screen that looks like a check-mark with ABC over it! I’m a straight “A” speller, and even I use it to check my work. Mis-spelled words will show up with a red line under them, so I can verify them. That’s all it takes!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Save your work (update) often!</strong></h2>
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As soon as you have filled in your title, and formatted your “future time” for the blog to publish, then hit the “Schedule”, or “OK” button! That’s the same function as “publish” except that it delays it according to the “schedule” you selected. You will still be able to see it in preview, but it will not be visible to the public until it actually “turns on”.</div>
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Remember, many blog clocks are set in military time. It’s not that hard to figure out. THINK! There are 24 hours in a day that ends at midnight, so 10 PM would be two hours less, at 22:00 hours! Dinner hour, at 6 PM, would be 18:00 hours. The morning hours are exactly as stated, so just keep counting up for the next twelve, so that 1 PM becomes 13:00 hours. It’s not rocket science!</div>
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I have had it happen with both WordPress and Blogger, where I have had the majority of an article written, and when I published… half of it it disappeared! I have no idea why it does that, but I have since gotten in the habit of setting the publish time ahead, and hitting the “Schedule” button immediately after starting the title, and then the “Update” button after every paragraph or picture. That way, if it screws up, I won’t have much to put back in. If you don’t do this, you stand to lose nearly everything you’ve written! The “Update” button is about the same as a “Save” button. It seems that once it updates, the article will stay put, but prior to that… anything can happen!</div>
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Remember, you can only “publish” once, so your post notifications and RSS feeds won’t send out to your list of subscribers until the time you tell it to, and it will only go out ONE time! So don’t be afraid to edit! In fact, I go back often to my older posts on this blog, to update or reword things to keep it up to date. As I have time to do live screen demonstrations with voice-over I will also add those. So if there was anything you didn’t understand before, review the posts once in a while and you may find some new things in them!</div>
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Remember that just because most of your list may read the blog when they get the notification, they (and other people) may also come back to your blog at a later date. Once the blog post is online, it will be attracting new readers with its keywords until the day you shut it down. And you will also have many new people going back to read it to catch up, so there are still plenty of chances for new people (as well as returning readers) to see those updated posts. A post just doesn’t go “dormant” after being read the first time! New people will (hopefully) be coming to your blog for several years yet, so it’s not too late to go back and edit it, or update the information to make it better for those new readers!</div>
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The other reason it doesn’t hurt to go back, is for search engine optimization. A page (not a post) of a blog that goes dormant, and has no activity, is not as likely to be picked up by the search engines. They will assume that it is no longer important to people, and your page rankings will go down. Instead of being at the top of page one, your listing will slide down the page, eventually to the second page, and so on. By going back and doing something new on the page, either with new comments coming in, or just editing to change a few words on the page, the search engines see changes and activity taking place, and will know that it still has importance!</div>
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Remember, the number of visitors (and subsequent sales) drop almost exponentially, the farther down on the page you are in search results! If your business depends on that last 10% of revenue as the difference between profit and loss, think what those lower rankings are going to do to your income!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Why text sometimes disappears!</strong></h2>
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Sometimes during typing, we get to moving along so fast that our fingers are ahead of our brains. And for people who have never had proper typing instruction (like me) that can be dangerous! Many times, in emails, (which normally you can’t save like you do other documents) I would have an email just about done when the screen would suddenly go blank! So VERY, VERY aggravating!</div>
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Eventually, I figured out what was happening. Somehow I managed to hit something that caused all the text to be highlighted, and as soon as I hit the next key, it thought I wanted to replace the highlighted text with something else! And I was typing along so fast that it highlighted and changed before I realized what was happening! Sometimes, it can be a matter of accidentally hitting “shortcut” keys (like control + A, to select all) and it happens so fast we don’t realize we have done it!</div>
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Other times, such as in these blogs, I have not seen any rhyme or reason why they do what they do… I think it must be a glitch in the programs! From my own observations it appears that they don’t like it when you try to put too much in the post the first time you publish, as that is most often the times that I have lost information. It doesn’t seem to be consistent, and I know as a troubleshooter, intermittent problems are the hardest to find and correct! However, once published and updated (even though it may not be viewed by the public yet) it seems to stay locked in. So set your scheduler, publish before it is complete, “Update” OFTEN, and don’t show it to the public until it’s where you want it!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How to correct text disappearing!</strong></h2>
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With most programs, either email, word processing or blogs, you will usually have your menu bar showing at the top of the page, with “File”, “Edit”, “View”, “Favorites”, “Tools”, and “Help” showing…at least on Internet Explorer and most others that is true. If you go to the “Edit” menu, then click on “Undo” in the drop down list, it will usually restore to the point before the last keystroke. On some browsers or programs it may be a curved arrow, or a pair of them (undo, redo) at the top of the screen, but be careful, as some browsers also use that as a “refesh” icon! Each time you hit “Undo” it will back up one more keystroke. That will usually restore whatever disappeared.</div>
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In some programs you may not be able to do that. If the “Undo” is grayed out on the menu or non-existent, then you are out of luck!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thunderbird email manager saves drafts “on the fly”!</strong></h2>
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After having used the old “reliable” Outlook Express for years, it seems that Microsft thought they had a better idea with the new Windows Live Mail. Like most new programs, they have a long way to go, and are slow getting there. Although some of their ideas were good, they inadvertantly built in many new glitches along the way, which I have already described in a prevous post. It was so aggravating that I finally uninstalled the program from my computer and went to the free “open source” <a href="http://thunderbird.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get your free email manager here!">Thunderbird (dot org)</a> email manager.</div>
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However, I saw limitations in that program and it started slowing down with the volume of mail I deal with, so I have since gone straight to Gmail online, and do not save emails on my own computer at all.</div>
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In Thunderbird I was no longer losing paragraph formatting every time I wanted to copy an email, and all of the other problems were gone, too! As a bonus, Thunderbird automatically saves drafts every few minutes, so if you have a long email to write, and something crashes, you may not lose everything that you wrote! Just go to the drafts folder and retrieve it from where it saved the last time! Another thing I have found is that once sent, all of the drafts go to the “Trash” folder, which is logical, as they are not needed once sent. Still, you can go there to see the progression of the different “Save” points.</div>
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Losing partially composed emails was especially frustrating for me in the past, as I deal with many students online, and many emails contain specific instructions for doing certain tasks. When I would lose an email in the middle of it, I had to start my thinking process all over again from the beginning, and try to remember what all I had said before! That is not only VERY annoying, but wastes precious time, so I can’t mess around with programs that aren’t reliable! I didn’t have that happen after going to Thunderbird. But as I said, it works great for casual emailers, but slows down when saving too much, so now, I go straight to Gmail, which is the best program with the best security on the entire planet!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">So why not just manage emails in the programs where we have our email addresses?</strong></h2>
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For public email programs (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL etc.) that may work for some, but most of them (except Gmail) do not have the features necessary for using them for business. If you have a business web site address, the LAST thing you want to do is advertise a public email address with a web site in your print advertising! I have already discussed this in the post about emails, and why you shouldn’t do it! It’s the same as publicly saying, “Hey look at me! I’m an amateur who doesn’t know what I’m doing yet!”</div>
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And to try to access your control panel on your business server just to check emails is a time-consuming pain! Most public email programs will allow you to to have your server mail forwarded to them, and then will let you set up your business server mail as “additional” emails on those programs. In other words, with Gmail, it will accept whatever email you forward to it, and then you can select from a drop-down box which email address you want to send from (after you set them up). Not all public email programs will do that.</div>
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On your “web mail” within your “C” panel, you first have to forward that mail to whatever other email address you want it to go to. All of your business email can then be received there. Of course, to send from your public email address, you have to set it up first, to confirm that you actually are the admin for those accounts, but that’s a simple process in the settings menu.</div>
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Also, in my previous post about email programs, I discussed why it’s important for businesses to have a “redundant” system, where it is next to impossible to ever have their emails interrupted. If you depend on payment processors to send you orders by email, the LAST thing you want is to lose any of those emails! NEVER, EVER depend solely on an email program on your computer… especially Windows Live Mail, nor even one as good as Thunderbird. If your computer crashes, you need a backup of everything on a public server that you can access immediately from another computer in order to keep from disrupting your business!</div>
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Also, if you have several different email addresses, it is a WHOLE lot easier to have them coming into one central place, rather than have to go into several different programs or servers to read your email. I get about 50 emails a day. Can you imagine how much time I would lose by having to sign into several different servers or programs just to check email? It would be friggin’ ridiculous! I have ONE email manager open nearly all day (it used to be Thunderbird, but now it’s Gmail online) where I get ALL of approximately thirty different email addresses as well as three different public services all coming into one place! That’s the ONLY way to manage business email efficiently!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Summary and Expectations</strong></h2>
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By now you should be getting quite famliar with how everything works in the internet marketing realm, and be safe and confident enough to manage a site… or sites, as is usually the case with internet marketing. The more sites you manage, the more important it is to make the best use of your time, and avoiding lost work, and how to recover it when it happens, is part of your learning process.</div>
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If you have a site set up (which you should have by now), let me know how to view it, and I will be glad to give you a professional review and help you improve it. I can’t help you if you don’t communicate with me! I will go through it from the basic html, to the colors, to the layout, to what might be missing, and if you need help implementing something, I can walk you through it. I will soon have CamStudioPro available, where I can do live screen shots and explain things on video, so please, let me help you!</div>
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In the next post series we are going to discuss the many ways of making money with your sites. We will discuss how tracking cookies work, and show you why nearly everything you do online is making money for someone. In order to make money, you have to start thinking like a marketer in nearly everything you do online. After all, everyone else is making money from their online efforts…. why shouldn’t you get your piece of it? Once you see how easy it is, you’ll kick yourself for not having done it sooner!</div>
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As always, if you have any questions, <a href="http://azgrand.com/contact-us/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Contact Us">please ask</a>, and I will reply ASAP. Although I try to be thorough in my explanations, no instructor is ever perfect, and no two students learn the same way. Some can learn by reading. Others have to have something visual, and still others would rather listen while they’re out jogging. If you don’t understand something, please let me know so I can help you.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-16198577701284765962012-07-24T12:26:00.000-05:002016-01-25T15:43:00.318-06:00SEO and Testing Software and Free Sites<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/07/24/seo-and-testing-software-part-ten-of-ten/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="10:00 PM">07/24/2012</a></div>
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After you have your web business all researched, keywords and all the names picked out, and have your site built with all the pretty pictures on it, you still aren’t done. You can’t just sit back and let it run without knowing what it, and your visitors, are doing.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Web site analytics… an introduction…</strong></h2>
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The first thing you need to install on your nearly finished site is an analytics program of some kind. There are many on the market, some free and some for a fee, but I see nothing wrong with <a href="http://google.com/analytics/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get a free Google Analytics account here!">Google’s own Analytics Tool</a>. It not only belongs to the world’s largest search engine, but it’s also free, and easy to set up and use. All you do is go to<a href="http://analytics.google.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get your free Google Analytics account here!">http://analytics.google.com</a> and fill out a simple form about your site and they give you the html script to install in the html on your site, or in the case of WordPress, they have a plug-in for it. Blogger also now has a form in the settings where all you have to do is insert the user ID number that Google assigned to your site. All you have to do is add your ID number to a form box, and it installs the script in the proper place for you.</div>
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Html isn’t hard, but some people seem to have a mental block against such things. Don’t worry, as that is one of the great things about WordPress. The plug-in installs the script for you and all you have to do is click a link that says “activate”. But they do have to have a link to your Google Analytics account, which has a registration number that you have to copy into their form during the setup. You won’t even have to look at any html, but you DO have to set up the account with Google before using the free WordPress plug-in. After you activate the plug-in (and this is true of most of them), there is almost always a settings page you need to go to in order to set up the program properly, but it is just form boxes and check marks… no html.<br />
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<iframe src="http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?t=incarazg01-20&o=1&p=26&l=ur1&category=amazonhomepage&f=ifr&linkID=SDM6DRXRGL2KQ53D" width="468" height="60" scrolling="no" border="0" marginwidth="0" style="border:none;" frameborder="0"></iframe>
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Once the Google Analytics plug-in is installed and configured, you will go back the Google Analytics site mentioned above and click on your site URL to get the data. It typically takes about 24 hours before it starts to display data. You will be amazed at what you see, and overwhelmed at first, but don’t worry, Google even has instructions on how to interpret all that data. And if you need more, you can always find lots of help on YouTube. Don’t be afraid to click on things to see what it does. You can use your “back” button on your browser to go back to the previous page.</div>
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You will find many instructional videos on YouTube, but ALWAYS… check the dates on the videos to make sure they are up to date, as once the videos are on YouTube they very seldom ever get removed. You don’t want “old” outdated information! Usually the date will show on the video description. If not, it will usually be below the video once you bring it up to watch it.</div>
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Most other blogs, like Blogger, have developed their own analytics programs, and you can usually find them in the dashboard of your site. For casual bloggers, these programs are more than enough, but they still don’t compare to Google Analytics, which is for more serious site owners who are depending on traffic for income. With Google Analytics, you can see more detailed information, right down to what city they are in, what computer they are using and what their screen resolution is!</div>
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Detailed information like that is critical to make sure you have your site optimized for the most users and traffic that you can get. Every new reader means a potential sale!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What does analytics do?</strong></h2>
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Analytics can tell you literally everything that you need to know about your site to make it run at its best. The most basic of information is how many visitors per day, per week, or per month, how many are new and how many repeat. It also tells you where they come from, right down to the city, what kind of browser and operating system they are using, and even their screen resolution! It tells what they click on, how long they stay, what pages they look at, what keywords they used to find your site, what page they entered on, where they were before they got there, and what page they left from!</div>
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This is important because you want to see what your customers want. Pages that get more hits are obviously more important to them, and the longer they stay on those pages, the more effective the page is for sales. By using that data, you can steer your future posts toward topics that interest them more, and therefore increase your readership.</div>
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Google has even added some new things to the site that goes into even more detail on ecommerce sites, and we haven’t even had time to try those out yet. So let’s just say that Google makes every attempt to cover all bases, and if they don’t tell you, then you probably don’t need to know!<br />
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Paying a fee for the same information from a paid site is just plain foolish. Only the most savvy of webmasters will take the time to fully understand all of that data anyway, and to be honest… there’s no need to go into ALL of the detail that analytics provides. Only a small portion of it is really relevant to your sales volume, so don’t waste money on something of which you are only going to use 10% of the information, and the rest of which you aren’t going to understand anyway!</div>
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Such things as what search engines are most popular, are controlled by the industry in general anyway, and aren’t going to change because you tweaked something on your site! It only serves as confirmation so that if a trend starts to occur, you can be aware of the situation.</div>
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An example of that is the use of mobile devices to access the web. Over the past couple of years we have seen a definite increase in mobile use, to the point where now, more than half of all users are accessing the web through mobile devices! Just two years ago, it was less than a fourth. That is important, because in order to reach those customers, we as webmasters have to make sure that our web sites and blogs are “mobile friendly”. If they can't read your site on a mobile device and leave through frustration, there goes half your potential income!</div>
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Mobile devices, because of their smaller screens, do not display web sites the same way we see them on our laptops and desk top units, and the more likely our sites are to be accessed by mobile users, the more important it is to accommodate them. Things such as restaurants, travel, rental cars, taxis, tickets, cell phones and accessories, and directions are accessed more by mobile users, while things like tools, office supplies and commercial products are accessed more by laptops and desk units. You have to be aware of YOUR market and know the demographics of YOUR visitors in order to reach as many of them as you can!</div>
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Most site builders and blog platforms have a provision in their themes (sometimes a simple checkbox) for making them show up as they should on mobile devices. Still, you should always confirm that before using one, as there are still many out there that won’t adjust automatically, in which case we have to set them up properly in their design. If they adjust automatically, we have no need to learn special programming techniques… it just does it! To check your own site to see if it’s mobile friendly, just run it through the analyzer at <a href="http://marketing.grader.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Try this free site evaluation tool!">http://marketing.grader.com</a> and it will tell you in the results. Are you reaching the right market?</div>
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Another way is to download a free mobile device “emulator” for PCs and laptops. You will need two of them, one for <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="572:Anotherwayistodownlo_1" data-skim-product="1960391" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1960391" data-skimwords-word="mobile%20phones" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dmobile%2Bphones" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">mobile phones</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> and another one for tablets like the <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="572:Anotherwayistodownlo_1" data-skim-product="1851820" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851820" data-skimwords-word="ipad" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fc.affil.walmart.com%2Ft%2Fcsebr01%3Fl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.walmart.com%252Fip%252FApple-iPad-Air-16GB-Wi-Fi-Refurbished%252F43309247%253Fwmlspartner%253Dbizratecom%2526affcmpid%253D1812351796%2526tmode%253D0000%2526bcfg%253D1ea7370fdb8c5bfaabb2d1c1a41782ec%2526veh%253Dcse%26szredirectid%3DSZ_REDIRECT_ID&mid=401&cat_id=9257&atom=9262&prod_id=&oid=6212145172&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=1&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=bcb2783985b97c34&af_sid=20&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">iPad</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>. Just because they are both considered “mobile devices” doesn’t mean they will show up the same. If you do a Google search for “mobile phone emulator”, or “iPad emulator”, you will see all kinds of results. All you have to so is download it to your desktop. When you click on it, it will open up just like a phone or tablet screen, and you can actually type your site into the address bar to see how it is going to look on that device.</div>
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Remember, if the site looks so bad that no one is going to be able to see it properly, you are losing over a third of your potential readership, as well as sales! You NEED to fix it!<br />
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As an example, on one of my sites, I discovered that the built-in search form in the menu bar showed up on top of the entire header! You couldn't even read the name of the site! In that case, I had to go in and tweak the code (it was on Wordpress, the dot org version on my site) to eliminate the search box totally. I then compensated by using a search form built into a gadget along the side bar. This is very typical of the types of problems you have to learn to solve as a marketer!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">So why do you need to know about analytics?</strong></h2>
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Besides the things mentioned above, knowing what pages people are going to the most and staying on the longest gives you a clue as to what people want, so that you can create more similar pages to attract more people. If you see that they are clicking on a particular link, more than any other, then moving that link to a more predominant position on the page, and/or doing something (bold, different color, etc.) to it make it stand out more, might even bring more people to it.<br />
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In turn, you also need to pay attention to what pages they liked the least. Usually it's the topic, or the tone of the page. Once you realize what they don't like... then don't do that again!</div>
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Remember the three-second rule. When a page opens it will usually show the top part of the page. That’s called “the fold”. Think of it like a newspaper. You can’t see what is below that fold without taking an action (unfolding it or turning the paper over). If you were at a news stand, with 20 other papers with only the part above the fold showing, which one would you choose? It is likely that your first action will be to choose one that has a headline or topic of interest to you, and then open it up to see what else is there.</div>
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But is what you see on the “top of the fold” of your page enough to entice you (or anyone else) to do that? Your most important items should be “above the fold” so they can see it without taking any other action. First of all, it has to have a nice bold headline that attracts their attention. It has to give a clue as to finding the answer to their problem (or attracts their interest enough to make them want to scroll down to read more). Your most important ads should be there, as well as your opt-in box (subscribe form, RSS feed button, follow button, etc.) along with your most compelling headline to get them to read more and go “below the fold”.</div>
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ALWAYS provide more than one means of subscribing to your site! Some people prefer regular email notices of new blog posts. Some of the more savvy types may prefer an RSS Feed Reader notice. Some of the more social savvy may be signed up with Google+ or any of its variations, and prefer a “Follow” button. ALL of them are important, and should be included if you expect to get maximum traffic to your site! To leave any one of them out means leaving out a part of your potential readership! And if doing any kind of sales, that equates to money lost!</div>
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You may even have to attract their attention to get them to perform the required action, such as subscribing (opting in) to your site or offer in return for a free downloadable gift. To do that, you may have to have a large red arrow or some other thing that catches their attention, and “steer” them toward that action. Close your eyes, relax, and then open your eyes, look at your page, and think about what the first thing is on your page that your eyes went to first. If it wasn’t your most important call to action, then maybe you need to change your graphics, or the placement of those items!</div>
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The analytics will tell you how important each item is on your site by how much it is used by your readers. Maybe you think you have a catchy image to attract their attention, but how do you know for sure? The only way is through split testing. You can use one image on one version of your site, and another image on another version of your site for a month and see what your visitor count is, and then try a slightly different image against the winner, and check your visitor count again, to see which one gets the best response.<br />
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Maybe moving an ad, changing the graphics or even a different theme will attract more visitors. But you want to be sure to only check one thing at a time, otherwise you won’t know what change made the difference.<br />
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There are tools available, both free and paid, that will create a mirror image of your site. Then you can change one item on the mirror image, and the browser will bring up the different site each time it is loaded... similar to what rotating banner ads do. As an example, if you saw the Amazon ad in between paragraphs at the top of this page, you can refresh the page and see a different banner. That's the same principle behind split testing an entire site. You can see in the analytics which one they like best.<br />
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Testing site components, or even the entire site itself is a standard procedure in web marketing and is performed continually... always pitting the winner against a new version. But it doesn't have to take a lot of time. A test should be run for about a month on only one component at a time. Arranging a new test and setting it up can take as little as ten minutes per month.</div>
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There are going to be pages on your site that are necessary (i.e., policies, disclaimers, etc.), but you really don’t have to worry about optimizing those. They are there for necessary and legal information, but they aren’t selling anything. The pages where you have links and payment buttons are your primary concern in analytics.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Free Webmaster Tools</strong></h2>
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A way that you can speed up that testing is by using the <a href="http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Use free wbmaster's tools to improve your site!">Google Webmaster Tools</a>. Within those free offerings, they have a “split testing” tool, where you can create a duplicate copy of your site, where you can make minor changes, and then they will alternate which version is shown every time a new visitor comes to your URL. That cuts your testing time in half, and speeds up your sales revenue!</div>
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This is part of checking to see if your site is set up properly, and what you can do to make it better. To that end, Hubspot has recently released a tool at <a href="http://marketing.grader.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="See how your site scores against other sites for free!">http://marketing.grader.com</a>. You can enter your site or blog into the query, and it will tell you your quality score, what things are missing, what you need to add, and even how to go about adding some of those things! I have been using it on my sites for myself, as well as those I build for other people, and it works great!</div>
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Don’t expect to ever get a grade of 100% on it though, as it checks for some things that some sites simply may not have and never will. But you should strive for at least an 80% grade, and that shouldn’t be that hard to hit if you just go down their checklist and complete the tasks (that are possible to complete) that it tells you about. If you put your email in the opt-in box, they will also email you updates every couple weeks or so, to let you know if your grade is improving or declining, along with what changes it detected. Keep in mind, if you fail to keep your site updated, it will also detect that, and your score could go down!</div>
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If you use WordPress for your site, there is one plug-in that I highly recommend before you get to building too many pages. It’s called the “All in One SEO Pak” and what it will do is add an additional form at the bottom of your post editing page. In that form you will put your post title, the description you want to show up on the search engine results under your site name, and the keywords that are relevant to that post, so that the search engines can find you. Be sure to also add your “tags” (which are also keywords). You should also create whatever categories your site would need for the topics it talks about. If you display your “categories” widget in the sidebar, readers can click on a particular category (if that’s all they are interested in) and see a list of posts that fall within that category.</div>
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In “the old days” they used meta tags within the html for such things, and on regular web sites certain tags are still helpful, but most of the search engines (including Google) no longer use the keyword meta tags to choose your position in the results listings. If you have a description meta tag, they will usually use it, otherwise, they randomly choose a partial paragraph that sounds like it matches the keywords of the page. But there’s a problem with that random selection…</div>
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We have all seen results listings on the search engine where it shows a bunch of gibberish underneath the title line. How are we supposed to interpret that? Many times it means nothing to us. When I see a listing like that, I immediately think “amateur”, and I very seldom click on them.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A proper description as displayed on the search engine results is the most important “first impression” and sales tool you can have!</strong></h2>
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DON’T leave your description to random chance by the search engines! This is very important… a description is your FIRST IMPRESSION when meeting a potential new customer! It should be your MOST COMPELLING introduction and sales pitch in 160 characters or less, to get them to take action by clicking on that title bar in the results listing! If you don’t get them to do that… they are probably gone forever, along with any money you could have made from them!</div>
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Think of it like this (an analogy): Let’s say you had a roadside produce stand, with a sign out that only has the name of your stand on it (your title), and all you can do is watch and wave as the cars go by! You KNOW that everyone has to eat, so the problem isn’t that they don’t “need” what you have! The problem is that you aren’t giving them a compelling reason to buy it from YOU! There is no enticement for them to stop! But if you have some signs that say (something like) “Taste before you buy!”, “Elbow dripping sweet peaches!”, “Mouth-watering sweet watermelons!”, “The best sweet corn in the county!”, “An extra one free with every dozen!”, or “We’ll ship it to you for free!”, wouldn’t that give you more of a reason to stop and see what he had?<br />
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The name of the stand (such as Jones' Produce) is only the title of the stand. It's the other little signs (the descriptions) that draw people's interests and make them want to stop. That's why your description on the search engines should be your most compelling sales pitch!</div>
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What if you put out some samples along the road on both sides, or a picture of what you had, so that people could see what you have before they get there, wouldn’t that increase the number of people who stop? Sure it would! Near our former home in Arkansas, is Cave City, the home of some of the best watermelons in the country. Before you get to many of the road side stands, you will see “half melons” dropped along the roadside for a quarter mile before you get to the stand. This gets you to thinking about it before you ever get there, and also tells you what’s up ahead.<br />
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It seems a shame to waste good watermelons that way, but think of that as the cost of advertising. Without that enticement, the farmer would be lucky to sell a dozen melons per day. But with the real-life advertising, he sells hundreds! That more than makes up for the cost!</div>
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It’s no different on the web. Having enticing descriptions, as well as properly optimized pictures (with “alt” tags) that will show up in the search listings as images, with links to your site, is no different than how to attract visitors in the real world! You HAVE to give people a reason to click on your link, and that “first impression” is too important to leave to random chance by the search engines, yet that is a HUGE mistake that I see on every results page on every search engine! All you have to do to get listings above your competitors is to THINK… and do your marketing better!</div>
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I still like to use the meta tags on a regular web page, but they have to be added to the html of the header section. If Google chooses to ignore them, then so be it, but some of the other search engines still use them, so the way I see it is…it may not help, but it can’t hurt.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But what about all that other competition that I see in the search results?</strong></h2>
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First, realize that Google is far from perfect. An example of that was explained earlier in the fact that what they show on particular searches by keyword is about four times what you will actually see in visitor count. The other thing is that they may say there’s 10,000 results (or millions) in the little numbers at the top of the page, but if you go down to the page selector at the bottom, and keep going to the end until you run out of pages, there may be only 30 pages of results. Do the math…ten listings per page times 30 pages is only 300 results. Whatever else is triggering that counter at the top of the page is of so little value they won’t even show you the pages!</div>
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In other words, your competition isn’t 10,000,000. It’s only 300. And in reality is probably only the first ten on the first page, because few people go beyond that if they find the answer to their question there. The farther down the page you are from that very first listing, the faster your visitor count will drop! It happens almost exponentially. By the time you get to the fifth listing on the page, you may only get 1/10th the amount of traffic that the first position gets! By the time you get to the last listing on the page, it may only get half of 1% of the traffic of the first listing. Yes, it drops off that fast! This is why SEO (search engine optimization) is so important if you want to get generic traffic!</div>
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Also, let’s use another analogy… pick any industry or any sport, and try to think about who is second in command, or who came in second at any sports event. Chances are you don’t know… because no one remembers anything except who’s in “first place”. The search engines are no different. Searchers start with page one and work their way down the page. They will click on the first page, first position listings if it answers their problem, and they won’t go any farther! If you aren’t in that first page first position on the results, the visitors you will get from secondary positions drops almost as fast as those who remember who it was that “came in second”!</div>
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The reality is that the ones that show up in the top positions of the search engines are the ones who (probably) know what they’re doing, especially if they are targeting a highly competitive keyword. But when you find those lesser known keywords and longer keyword phrases, many of them show up only by chance! If you have any clue at all as to what you are doing, it is very easy to take over that first position on the first page! I've done it on several of my sites, so I know it can be done!</div>
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If you look at the relevancy of the results on not only the first page, but the second page and all others after that, you will see that the relevancy to the keywords drops off steadily as you get farther away from that first page. After all, the search engines look for anything that has those keywords on whatever page they find out there in cyber space, and many times, the site that it’s on has nothing to do with what people are looking for! So even though those sites are included in the results count at the top of the page (and even less so at the bottom of the page)… they ARE NOT your competition! Your competition is those first ten listings on page one! If you can’t beat out at least a few of those first ten sites and get on page one, you won’t have enough visitors to even stay in business!</div>
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So don’t worry about there being 10,000 (or ten million) searches showing for your keyword. You only have ten “real” competitors to deal with. Look at each of those ten sites on page one, and analyze those. You can even run them through the free tool at <a href="http://marketing.grader.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Evaulate your own web site for free!">http://marketing.grader.com</a>, and see how they really score. You can also run them through a free tool at <a href="http://submitexpress.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Check your site as well as your competitor's for free!">http://submitexpress.com</a> and have it do a search for the keywords on the page. I use the free metatags analyzer for that. At the bottom of the results page you’ll see all the keyords on the site, starting with one word, then two word phrases, and then three word phrases. There are other free tools on the web that will do that, but I like Submit Express. Knowing what keywords the competition is using might help you to optimize your own keywords to get ahead of them! I’ll have more on that later.</div>
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Currently, the most important thing going on today as far as reaching the top of the search engines is your quality score and the “importance” of your site to the general public. Your site pages or posts content has to be “on topic” on all counts, and has to be recognized as being important to other relevant and important sites. To do that, you have to get involved socially with other sites in your topic, or have other people talking about you on important social sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many others.</div>
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How do I know they are “talking” about me?</h2>
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The way the search engines do that is by checking the inbound links from their site to yours. If the search engines see your URL on another site, that is like a “vote” for your site. The search engines also rank those votes by the importance of the site that they are found on, so seeing a link on a generic personal blog that only has 20 readers is not going to have the same importance as seeing it on a site that has a million or more users. In other words, that site has to rank high in order for the “vote” for your site to count much. Also, if the site has nothing at all to do with your site, it won’t count as much, because they will consider that to be a random fluke.</div>
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We’ll get into all the aspects of social marketing on another post in the near future, as it can be a very complex issue. but easily learned, once you see how to do it.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Summary and Expectations</strong></h2>
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So don’t worry about software expenses when starting out in internet marketing. You will receive a lot of offers for various marketing products, software and techniques, and your biggest challenge will be to stay focused on one task at a time.</div>
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When our dog, Angel, was a puppy, it was fun to watch him in the yard, as every little grasshopper or bug was new to him and he would jump and try to catch them. Now that he has “matured”, he doesn’t pay much attention to them anymore.</div>
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Marketers are like that. When they’re new to the business, they try to learn anything and everything to build up their knowledge. The internet in general is a HUGE place to get lost in, with following links from page to page until we forget where we started from, or what we were looking for.</div>
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Most “guru’s” won’t tell you to specialize in something, because they worry that you might pass up some offering of theirs because it doesn’t fit your plan! The way to avoid that is to know what’s available as far as marketing methods, and what fits with what your goals are for up to five years down the road, and then ONLY look at what fits into those goals. If you don’t learn to focus, you will end up with “information overload”, and do more research and studying than making money!</div>
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There HAS to be a balance! There will always be new things to learn about, and that is a necessary part of this business. Time must be allotted for it. But make sure you also leave time for doing the important tasks that are going to put money in your pocket.</div>
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When you first start out, you may spend as much as 80% of your time studying techniques and only 20% implementing what you learn. As time goes on, you will notice your study time decreasing as you spend more and more time implementing those techniques. When you reach a “leveling off” point, I would estimate that you will be spending only 20% of your time studying, and 80% of your time implementing, and that’s where you have to be to make money. And if you set up the part that makes money to run properly, on auto-pilot, your actual working time per day might be less than two hours.</div>
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Remember, everything you need is available online for free, and all you have to do is look for it. I will help guide you to find those free products as you need them.</div>
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If you simply stay focused, remember three things, and use your head to think outside the box to accomplish those things, you will be further ahead than 95% of the rest of the population.</div>
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(1) Find a huge number of people that are hungry to solve a problem and aren’t finding many answers.</div>
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(2) Find or create a product to fill that need, and</div>
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(3) Put it in front of them. The product should sell itself.</div>
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Many marketing products hash these facts over, turn them sideways and even inside-out, but if you really stop to analyze what they are doing, most of them will boil down to these three simple things. If you can think outside the box, and remember these three things, you won’t need their redundant products!</div>
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Feel free to comment to make your thoughts known… and above all… don’t be afraid to ask questions! Without particpation, there can be no learning!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-11191824382192127302012-07-21T12:24:00.000-05:002016-01-25T14:51:53.461-06:00Free Graphics Software for Web Work<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/07/21/free-graphics-software-for-web-work-part-nine-of-ten/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="10:00 PM">07/21/2012</a></div>
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Besides the usual office software, for internet work, whether for sales or blogs, you will need to learn at least a little about how to work with images on the web, whether it be pictures or <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="342:Besidestheusualoffic_1" data-skim-product="1957532" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1957532" data-skimwords-word="clip%20art" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dclip%2Bart" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">clip art</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>. We have all seen web sites and blogs where the header overhangs the edges. That not only looks flunky, but it isn’t good when you can’t see the whole image. It’s a sure sign of an amateur!</div>
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We’ve also all received email pictures that are so huge you have to scroll both up and down as well as sidways just to see them. The answer to such things is so easy that there is no excuse for not doing it! We’re going to show you some easy fixes for such things.<br />
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<iframe src="http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?t=incarazg01-20&o=1&p=26&l=ur1&category=amazonhomepage&f=ifr&linkID=SDM6DRXRGL2KQ53D" width="468" height="60" scrolling="no" border="0" marginwidth="0" style="border:none;" frameborder="0"></iframe>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What is wrong with my image?</strong></h2>
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Images have two very critical size issues to worry about. One is the file size, usually measured as kilobytes or megabytes. The other is the visual size, measured in either pixels or inches. In most web work we usually set to pixels, rather than inches, but if you are printing your pictures, then maybe inches might be more important, to fit to a certain paper size.</div>
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Both file size and visual size are important in web work. The larger a file is, the longer it takes to load, whether it be on an email or on the web. We’ve all gotten pictures emailed to us where the file was so huge it took minutes to load instead of seconds, and after it opened, it was enough to fill four times our screen area! I hate it when people do that to me, because there is no way I’m going to waste space on my computer or in my email server that way, which puts the burden on me to correct problems that other people created, (a pet peeve of mine)!</div>
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In building web sites or blogs, you are going to learn that people’s attention spans are about three seconds long. It used to be thirty seconds, and then ten seconds, but as internet speeds became faster, people's attention spans and expectations got shorter. If a web page doesn’t open in three seconds, they are ready to move on to a different one, and then you have lost them forever!<br />
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Therefore, it is important to keep the file size as low as possible to speed up page opening. This is one of two reasons you often see products displayed with small images first, and then if you want to see a larger image, you have to click on it and open it in a pop-up, or in a completely new page that has ONLY that picture on it. You’ll see this done very well on Facebook photos. They only tend to show a part of the photo on your timeline, but if you click on them, they enlarge to fill the whole page. Catalog sites already know why this is important! The other reason they do it has to do with better page SEO when you can concentrate on one product at a time, but we’ll get into that later.</div>
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Also, when someone sees pictures that are way too big, as happens many times with page headers going past their borders, it doesn’t do a thing for his image as a professional. Every blog program that I have ever seen will tell you in the editing window for your header image what it should be. They aren’t telling you that just for the fun of it.<br />
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Some sites will resize your image smaller if it is within the scope of doing so, but if your image is way too wide or too tall to begin with, it may crop the image, in which case you will end up with blank areas at the top or the sides, which still looks flunky. If your picture is too small, it may not accept it at all, or it could distort it, or leave a lot of blank area around it, none of which looks visually appealing. Pictures cannot be enlarged beyond their original size, because they become fuzzy due to pixel distortion. You NEED to pay attention to these things and follow the proper recommendations, and if necessary resize and/or crop your picture BEFORE you upload it to your site!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Resizing Pictures for Beginners</strong></h2>
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So how do you “properly” resize a picture? I’m sure some of you will say to click on it to get the box around it and then drag the corners. WRONG! That only changes the visual size, but the number of bytes remains the same! In other words, it may look smaller, but it will take the same amount of time to load onto the web page.</div>
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The correct way is to use any number of free online tools, but my favorite is <a href="http://picresize.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Do your image editing here for free!">PicResize</a>. When you go to that site, there will be a one-line form with a “browse” button next to it. I usually use the browse button, and then go to the file on my computer where the picture is that I want to change.</div>
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For everyone, your pictures are default saved to a folder called “My Pictures”. As you gather more pictures, you should also create sub-folders to sort them, so you know where to find them. If you use a photo management program like Picassa, you can also locate the pictures there. When you find the picture, you can double-click on it or use the “open” button to put it into the form box. Hit the “continue” button.</div>
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The next window is your complete editing dashboard. You will see your picture there, where you can crop your image, rotate it, flip it vertically as well as horzontally, resize it to either a reduced size by percentages or by custom size (pixels or inches), choose from 15 different <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="699:Thenextwindowisyourc_1" data-skim-product="1962398" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1962398" data-skimwords-word="special%20effects" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dspecial%2Beffects" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">special effects</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> (frames, sharpen, and more), choose your file type, picture quality, and even your “bytes” size (although that will automatically adjust with the visual size you have already chosen). Then you click the button where it says “I’m done! Resize my picture!” , and the next screen will give you four choices, to view it, resume editing, save it to disk (on your computer), or save it directly to the web.</div>
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I normally choose the disk option (on my computer), and then a window will open with your default folder (where the picture came from on your computer) and it will save it back to that folder with the prefix “resize” on the file name, so you know which one it was. If you want to save it in several file sizes (you’ll have to go through the process again for each one) you can also edit the file name to insert the size, the date or any other identifier of your choosing.</div>
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That’s all there is to resizing pictures, so there’s no excuse for not doing it. You will need to learn this, because many times, you will need an ad banner or photo to fit a certain place on your blog. If you go to your web page, and then click on “View” from the menu bar, and then “source” in the drop-down menu, you can see the html code of your site. Within that code, will be the widths of your header, your body, and any sidebars that your page has, so all you have to do is make your picture the width that you need (or smaller, and then center it) and you can fit any picture “properly” to any space on your page. If you are creating catalog pages, and need all the images the same size, this is how you do that.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Alternatives to Photo Editing on the Web</strong></h2>
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Nearly every <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="345:Nearlyeverydigitalca_1" data-skim-product="1957986" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1957986" data-skimwords-word="digital%20camera" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Ddigital%2Bcamera" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">digital camera</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> made has settings to adjust the picture size right on the camera BEFORE you take the picture. You NEED to read your camera user’s manual and learn how to do that, so that you can change it at will. Many of them will have it set at the maximum size when it ships from the factory. You NEED to learn how to change that!</div>
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There may be times when you want a larger, high resolution picture for things like headers, larger product images, or even full portraits... and other times, you may just want pictures for email that you can send to people. DON’T overwhelm them and their computers with huge images that they can’t even see without scrolling!</div>
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Normally the largest images you need for most “body” work in a site is no more than 640 pixels wide. For sidebars, usually 125 pixels is enough, although some sidebars can handle up to 200 pixels wide. NEVER go larger than that for a sidebar image!<br />
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Some cameras have default settings of around 460 - 480 pixels, and that’s fine for 90% of what you will be doing. You can also use the next smaller setting of about 360 pixels. NEVER use higher settings unless you are doing things that require a larger image, like header pictures, which should never be over 1200 pixels wide, and actually 1000 is usually better!</div>
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Sometimes image file types can be downsized (within certain parameters, usually no more than about 25%), but if you try to shrink the visual size too much, the number of pixels will cause it to start distorting, which is why you need to control both the bytes and visual size. If you will be using both thumbnails (stamp sized images) and want them to enlarge when clicked on, then take the picture in the larger size and reduce your thumbnails by the process above, and that way you wil be sure to have clear images in both sizes. Some programs will automatically accept the full size image and offer you a check box to provide thumbnails, and then it will do that for you. This is why it pays to read the instructions on anything you are using.</div>
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My old reliable Sony Mavica actually creates two files with the same picture. One is full size and the other is with a folder called “email”, and every image within that folder is a size that is perfect for uploading to emails without having to do any resizing, so that is a handy feature. Most cameras don’t have that. When I open the “A” drive to save the photos to my computer I see a folder icon that says “email”, immediately followed by all the pictures in full size, so I can go to either one very easily.</div>
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Basically this is all you need for most web work using photos. I don’t do a lot of extra work to my photos, unless I am going back into the archives to try to use old slide photos that may have changed color, or they were taken with the wrong lighting. Fluorescent lights tend to turn pictures green (even digital ones), so to make them look natural, you have to blend some red back into them, but that should be a rare occurence if you take them right to begin with. To do any fancier web work you may have to use a program with more capabilities.</div>
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Serious Photo Editing and Graphics work</h2>
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You have probably heard of a great program called <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy Adobe Photoshop CS6 here!">PhotoShop From Adobe</a>. It’s a great program for professional graphic artists, but it’s pricey. But there is also a free “open source” program which does the same things, called “<a href="http://gimp.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get your free open source photo editing software here!">Gimp</a>“. But be prepared, they both have a huge learning curve! The more complex a program is the longer it is going to take to learn it.</div>
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But no one says you have to learn everything all at once, so don’t get scared! If you need to know how to remove “red eye” from a photo, then concentrate on learning that. Use the help feature to do a search for instructions for that specific task. If you need to change the entire hue from an old photograph, then learn that. Do one task at a time, as you need to do it, and it won’t seem so daunting a challenge. Don’t try to learn it all at once, because some features you will never use!</div>
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Some of the image manipulation programs can be quite daunting to learn, but there are many simpler programs available, just like <a href="http://picresize.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Edit your phtotos here for free!">PicResize</a> which can perform specific limited tasks with very little learning time involved. I will try to present those to you little by little over the course of this blog, as you need to learn them.</div>
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The one thing that I will not do is get into the specific instructions on how to use each of the tools I recommend to you. Not only do most of them come with their own help screens and tutorials, but most of the tools I will be recommending already have a great number of followers and users who have already uploaded their own instructions and tips to the web in the form of YouTube Videos. From my own experience, I would venture to say that 99.9% of literally ANYTHING you want to know is already on a YouTube video. All you you need to know is how to search for it, and this also applies to other sources on the web, especially Google. By now, I expect you to know how to do searches on Google, as well as on YouTube, because those will be the two main sources of information that you will use in marketing.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pictures and Search Engine Optimization</strong></h2>
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The other thing I see people missing on web images is using no “alt” tag. The alt tag is what shows up when you mouse over an image, and it should have your site URL and/or a simple description of what the picture is. If you mouse over any of my links you will also see some text pop up. That is an “alt” tag. It simply means “alternate” text. On links it is just an added benefit, but <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">search engines can’t read images… but they can read the alt text, and if they see that it is relevant to the search, they will present it on the search result page as an image result, giving you one more chance for people to find you!</strong> Most programs also allow you to insert a title and caption, as well as a link for the picture. That way, it not only helps with SEO on two more important counts, but you can insert an affiliate link within the picture or use it to direct the reader to another spot within your site or even off your site, such as to a payment processor.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">So how do you insert an alt tag?</strong></h2>
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WordPress makes that very easy, because when you “insert” an image into your blog, it brings up a form window where you can enter all the information before it ever gets published. You need to pay attention to those forms and fill them out properly to accomplish what you need that picture to do for you!</div>
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On other web sites, you will typically have a similar window that pops up for that information. Think about keywords relevant to what else is on the page that you are putting the image on, and still keep it relevant to the picture itself. If you forgot to add alt tags to your pictures, go back and reload the pictures… and this time, enter all the information that the form asks for, and then re-upload it to the site. You may have to change the file name slightly or overwrite the old upload.</div>
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There’s really no excuse for people not knowing these things, The answers are all out there for free on the internet. All you have to do is look! When something doesn’t look right, like a picture hanging over the edge of the page, for Heaven’s sake, don’t leave it that way! Find the answer on how to fix it! If you are going to be in web work, you are going to be learning a ton of stuff on a daily basis. No one goes through life and gets ahead without learning something new every day.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Summary and Expectations</strong></h2>
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We’ll get into more image manipulation as time goes on, but for now, it’s time to move on to the final stages of any site… the analyzing and testing to make it the best that it can be. With this last bit of information, you certainly have no excuse for not having your site online by now, but you’re not quite ready to show it to the public yet. Hopefully, you have it set so that the search engines don’t follow it (yet), but it still can be seen by going to the exact web site. That way, if you want help, you can tell me where to find it so that I can see what you have done so far, and help you with it.</div>
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Don’t be bashful. If I don’t know you are out there by your asking questions, I can’t help you beyond what you read here, and this is just general stuff. I know you are going to have technical questions. Everyone does at one time or another! Or maybe you need more sources, for products, for images, for post material, for sales copy, for training, or whatever it might be. I can’t solve your problem if you don’t tell me what it is!</div>
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One thing that I did not make a part of this series, and one which you may be wondering about, is “How do I make money from a site?” The answer to that deserves a series of its own, as there are so many ways to do that, and we will be getting into that as soon as this series is done. But let’s get your site online first, and get it tested to make sure everything is there that should be. Then you can decide what kind of monetization you want on it, and add it.</div>
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Then the next thing you are going to need is traffic. Some of that will come from generic SEO by being indexed, found and ranked on the search engines. Then we will get into the social aspect of marketing, adding social buttons to your site, and getting you set up with the many social sites out there. Remember, the object of any site is to be found, with the least cost to do so. And social media is a totally free and very effective way to promote your site.</div>
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Why Do I Need Social Media?</h2>
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Due to the way the search engines rank your site in importance, is the main reason. The old way was with meta-tags, but because too many “cowboy” and “hot-dogger” marketers abused the use of the “keyword” meta-tags, most of the major search engines no longer pay attention to anything but the “description” meta-tag. If you don't insert a description that YOU choose, most search engines will pull a line of text from your site as an example, but it may do absolutely nothing to convince the reader to click through to your site! The description should be your most convincing sales pitch of your entire site! Without that, you are leaving your sales pitch up to how important the search engine thinks your site is. Therefore, there has to be a new way of convincing the search engines that your site is important.</div>
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Part of that is using the right keywords in the proper places, and making sure that everything on the site is relevant to the topic of the site. Beyond that, they look at how important it is to the general public, particularly to other relevant and important sites. The best way to do that is to have your URL show up on those sites so the search engines know that someone out there is talking about you! So, the best thing you can do is work the social media to the best of your ability. That means getting your site or blog “pinged” to the major social aggregators like “Technorati”, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many others, as well as to make use of the free promotion from video. We’re going to show you all of that.</div>
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Let me know in the comments if this information has helped you. If you like what you are learning, then come back often so you don’t miss any of these posts. We have a lot more information ahead!</div>
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Thanks for reading!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-18112686724383675402012-07-20T12:23:00.000-05:002016-01-25T13:15:05.904-06:00Marketing and Research Software<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/07/20/marketing-and-research-software-part-eight-of-ten/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="10:00 PM">07/20/2012</a></div>
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We have talked about protection and services, and software for basic everyday office work, and building a web site or blog. Now you are ready to start working on building your business, which HAS to start with keyword research. Don’t even consider a product or domain name until you do the research to see what words people are actually typing into the search engines to find what they want. Later, after you get your site built, you will want to “fancy it up” with some graphics or pictures. If you start with the research, then you should know how to put it all in place to get your site on the first page of the search engine results (or close to it). Adding the pictures “properly” will also help get you there, and we’ll get into that in the next post. After that, all you have to do is test and tweak to make the site the best it can be.<br />
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Who Makes Marketing Software?</strong></h2>
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When it comes to the actual “marketing” software… the things that make our specific and unique tasks easier, there are very few “large” companies. Many of the software products designed specifically for marketers have been thought up and produced by the marketers themselves, with help from outsourced programmers. Many marketers work by themsleves… sometimes only until they grow their business to the point of hiring other help and moving into an office building, and sometimes they continue to work by themselves from home indefinitely. That doesn’t take away from their credibility or talent. Still, there needs to be a way of knowing who is credible, and what products are better than others.</div>
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Getting involved with marketing and getting “in the loop”… by way of email newsletters is one way. Know who the players are and don’t be fooled by the rip-off artists trying to make a buck by exagerrating the truth. Reading product reviews is another, but even they can be deceiving if they were only created to steer you toward a particular product. But there is also a good source for information that is monitored and voted on directly by the marketers and their customers.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Checking Credibility</strong></h2>
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That site is <a href="http://imreportcard.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://IMReportCard.com</a>, where you can find ratings on the top 300+ marketers themselves as well as the products they produce. The marketers receive “votes” by their peers and also their customers, on themselves as well as the products they produce, whether it be software or training programs. Think of it as the “Consumer Reports” of the marketing industry. So I urge each and every one of you reading this to always check such places as this before buying any product for your marketing. Don’t waste money on useless products! And even then, make sure the product is actually going to be useful for the path you have chosen for future goals.</div>
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By now you should know the basics of spreadsheets, and have used them to create four simple lists of “parameters”… for your goals, for your business model, ones that any product that you buy must fit into, and ones that any product you sell must fit into. I only touched on that earlier and didn’t spell it all out for you because this is a business of “thinking”. If you can’t think of those things by yourself, then this business is not going to be a good fit for you. Much of what you learn in this business is basic stuff. It will be up to you to think about what it can do for you BEYOND what was explained to you, and figure out ways to expand upon it and make it fit what you want to accomplish.</div>
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It’s easy to get questions answered simply by commenting on your issue, and I promise I will be here to answer those questions for you, but I can’t be there with you every minute to hold your hand to make it move the mouse. I definitely can’t think for you. Computer work in general is a solitary business. Only one person can work at a keyboard at the same time. It is up to you to decide what to do with the information you learn. Some will understand it, work at it and have ten sites selling for them while others are still wondering how to make capital letters and use puncuation.</div>
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That’s another reason I disagree with the “buy it now so you can get my bonuses and then we’ll work with you for eight weeks” mentality of so many marketing courses. If you are broke, and need money, why would you want to give it to someone else who is probably making millions already? And even if you can spare the money, maybe it won’t be available until next week or next month. Why should you go out of YOUR way to accommodate the timing of all these “buy it now or lose” offers? If you want to become a marketer, you should be able to do it on YOUR time, not theirs! Those who are “pressured” into it usually don’t do anything with it.<br />
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I can assure you that 95% of people who are pressured into buying marketing courses on the spur of the moment become so overwhelmed when they start into it, that they never finish the course. Most of those courses end up in the bottom of a closet somewhere, never to be opened again. And you know what... the marketer who sold it doesn't really care, because he already collected his money and weeded out the ones who didn't have what it takes to be successful! He only wants to work with the "movers and shakers" so that he can use them to promote how successful his course was! You have to WANT to do this and be willing to work at it on your own, or you will never be a success at it!</div>
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Everyone is capable of learning, but at different speeds. If the information is out here where they can get to it any time they choose, they can learn at their own speed with no pressure on them. This blog is free to everyone. You can start reading from the beginning any time you choose. You can study it as long as you wish and come back to refresh your thoughts any time you want. We’re here to HELP YOU, not to take your money! The ONLY way we make money is by you using our links to buy things that you would normally buy anyway, and doing so doesn't cost you a penny more than you would pay if you went to the source yourself, without our links! We get paid by the vendors, NOT the customers!<br />
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Keep in mind, there are millions of web site owners on the web. Not all of them are marketers, but even those that are, will not all be on <a href="http://imreportcard.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://imreportcard.com</a>. Many of them never get into selling marketing products to other marketers, which is what most of those on that site are doing. That doesn’t mean that the others don’t know what they are doing… they just aren’t “superstars”… the same way that not every musician is. They all have varying degrees of talent. But that doesn’t prevent them from giving music lessons to those who know even less! All of them have some special talent that you can learn from. When you advance beyond what they can teach you, then it’s time to move on to someone better, and by then, you should be able to afford to!</div>
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Also, check consumer reporting sites like <a href="http://ripoffreport.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://ripoffreport.com</a> to see if there have been any complaints filed with either the person or company. But read well and see where the person complaining is actually coming from, as there are a lot of “nut cases” out there, and those complaints aren’t checked out. Many times the complaint is due to the complainer’s own fault!</div>
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Most sites will allow rebuttals from the accused, so make sure you read those, too. Some complaints are so ridiculous that there is no need for a rebuttal, and you’ll see plenty of those out there, too! This is all a part of the research that is necessary in this business to protect yourself! And then there’s the research to find things to sell, research to learn new software, new techniques, etc., etc.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Make Your Purchases Fit YOU!</strong></h2>
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This is the way you have to look at things when making purchases. Ask yourself “Is it a good fit for my future plans and goals”? If it isn’t, then pass it by, no matter how good it sounds. In reality, there is probably nothing in the form of software that you absolutely “have” to buy, with the exception of security products and back-up protection (Posts #1 and #2 in this series), and there are even free versions of those if you are willing to take a chance with them. I haven’t seen anything that is not already available for free on the internet. Some software just makes putting the information together a little easier, and may save some time… but isn’t something that you absolutely can’t do without, at least until you can afford it. No one should ever have to use “high pressure” sales tactics to get you to buy anything.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Keyword Research… ALWAYS FIRST!</strong></h2>
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The very first thing you are going to have to do is keyword research. That is the very first priority, before you even consider what kind of products you want to market or what to name your web site or blog. Keywords (and multi-word phrases) are what the public uses to search for what they want, and the success of any marketing effort is in those numbers.<br />
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The keywords will decide what products to sell, what your site URL (domain name) should be, what the title of your site should be, what your sub-title should be, what your page titles should be and what words to use within the text of your site. If you have no idea what people are searching for to buy, and what words to match to theirs to reach those people, then you shouldn’t even think about trying to sell something online!</div>
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A search engine is like a robot. It responds to “exact” matches in words. If you’ve used Google at all, you know that typing in almost any phrase can bring up millions of results, but once you get beyond the first couple of pages they are less and less relevant to what you wanted. Even if you put quotation marks around your search term, you can still end up with a lot of “garbage results”. If you’re lucky, maybe the first three generic results (not the paid ads in the pink square) will be what you want… otherwise the search engines are trained to bring up anything with those words in it (whether you want them or not), and after that, it will be what it “thinks” are relevant results. Yeah, right… we all know how well that works! But it IS getting constantly better with each new update.</div>
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So this means that if you want to get in the first position on the first page of results (or at least the first page), your keywords have to match EXACTLY with what people are searching for, because the search engine always brings up the best matches first!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Buyer’s Keywords versus Shopper’s Keywords</strong></h2>
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Also, you have to learn the difference between “shopper’s words” and “buyer’s words”. You don’t want a bunch of tire-kickers wasting your time. You want people who already know what they want and have their credit cards in hand waiting to purchase it! The right words will sort all that out! Many times, those people won’t be using just one word, but rather a detailed keyword phase that contains all the parameters they are searching for!</div>
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Remember, it isn’t about the volume of traffic you get, as much of that traffic for generic words aren’t buyers. If you were trying to compete for those generic keywords you might be lucky to get on the 17th page of search results where no one will find you!</div>
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It’s the QUALITY of the traffic that you attract to your site that will be the difference between a paltry 1/10th of one percent conversion or a 2% conversion rate. (Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who actually buy something). Think about it… that’s a difference of 20 times more buyers! If you could raise it to 4% that would be 40 times more buyers than you started with, so as you can see, even a couple of percentage points make a huge difference in sales volume!</div>
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Reaching the wrong kind of people can be expensive in time wasted, as well as wasting money on paid advertising to the wrong people. You have to target your advertising to the exact buyers you need to make money the most efficient way.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What Are People Wanting to Buy?</strong></h2>
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The first thing you need are the tools to do that keyword research. First you have to know what’s a hot topic or seller in the marketplace. One of the sources you should keep in mind is <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302001" data-skim-node-id="255:Thefirstthingyouneed_1" data-skim-product="874148" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="874148" data-skimwords-word="ebay" href="http://ebay.com/" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">eBay</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>. They have a page where they list the ten most searched items at <a href="http://pulse.ebay.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://pulse.ebay.com/</a>. Sometimes seeing what people are searching for on the world’s largest online auction site can give you some ideas. But just because they are looking for “Xbox 360” doesn’t mean you can compete for that product. It is very hard to compete with the huge electronics buyers and sellers. But you may be able to offer the games for it, parts, or accessories.</div>
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Another good source is Google’s Hot Trends at <a href="http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends</a> which is updated several times a day with the most searched items. After all, if you don’t know what people are looking for, how can you hope to sell to them? When you start seeing several searches for the same thing, but with different keywords, then you know that large numbers of people are interested. Maybe they just want information, but that’s where you as a marketer have to figure out a way to turn that traffic into sales. We're going to teach you that.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What if I Already Have a Product or Niche?</strong></h2>
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If you have a topic or product in mind (which is really the backward way to start), you still need to know how people are searching for that item, and what words they are using. For instance, if you are selling wrenches for mechanics, should you call them wrenches, or spanners (the term they use in the UK)? If you are selling strictly to the U.S. market, wrenches would probably be a better term, but if you are selling to a worldwide audience, the difference in terminology might warrant a second site geared specifically to those other English-speaking countries who use different words, or at least use the word spanner a few times in your content, along with wrenches, so that it will attract the international buyers to your site as well as the locals. Whether selling to kids, foreigners, or octegenarians…you have to know how to talk to them in their terms.</div>
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Just because you see “X-Box” as a highly searched term <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="379:Justbecauseyousee“X-_1" data-skim-product="735104" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="735104" data-skimwords-word="on%20ebay" href="http://www.ebay.com/" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">on eBay</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, doesn’t make it a good keyword. It’s too general a term. What are they really looking for… games, complete units, accessories, or parts? If they are looking for games, and you try to sell parts, then you may not be targeting the “best” or the “hottest” keywords, even though you might be in a good “general” market!</div>
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“Corvair” might not be a good keyword by itself, but adding the word “parts” to it as a phrase might make a huge difference! Selling parts for them might be a gold mine! And if you dig even deeper, you might find out what specific parts they want, such as “Corvair trunk lid”.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">THE Most Important Free Keyword Tool is now gone!</strong></h2>
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The only way to know, is to see the statistics on actual searches. You can’t guess at such things. What better way to find out than the statistics on the world’s most popular search engine, Google? And they used to make a great tool for that. It was called the Google “Keyword Planner Tool”. If you typed that into the Google search box, it used to light up like a Christmas tree as the top search in the drop down menu, even before you got it all spelled out! And clicking on it should take you there.<br />
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Unfortunately, they decided to make it available only for the users of the Adwords paid advertising program, since that is what it was designed for in the first place. If you plan to use paid ads in the search results, you can still use that tool, but the advertising will cost you. </div>
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There are many videos on YouTube of how this tool works, but make sure they say “Planner” in the subject line, otherwise it may be an old video for the former version of this tool. Also, it does say that you have to have a Google Adwords account, but keep in mind that just because you sign up for it doesn’t mean you have to use it!<br />
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The Adwords account is useful if you want to pay for advertising, on a bid basis, for featured ads on the search engines which are the ones in the highlighted boxes, or in the sidebar of most search results. You don’t have to do that, if you want to rely on generic search engine optimization (SEO), and let the search engines bring your site up wherever it will in the generic listings.</div>
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Using Adwords paid advertising is a topic in itself, and too complex to get into here. If not done properly, you could end up spending a lot of money and get no results. It gets into knowing how to figure your advertising return on investment (ROI) and many other things, and is for more advanced marketers.</div>
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My explanations in the next few paragraphs were based on the old tool, but They are general enough, that once you see what a keyword tool does, you should be able to understand what I was doing. (Later on, I will tell you about some paid tools.)</div>
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First it shows you a list of associated terms that have your search words in them, along with how much competition there is for those words, in how much the “pro’s” are paying for advertising, as well as how many results there are for the searches using those words. It also tells you how many searches there are per month for specific keywords and phrases (multiple keywords). If you click on the column headings you can sort from most to least or vice versa. The more searches and the less competition the better the chances of of you getting on the first page, whether you pay for advertising or take your chances with good SEO for generic search.</div>
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For example, I typed “behavior of German Spitz dogs” into the search box at the top, and then I clicked on the Global search volume header to get the higher results to the top of the list. There really wasn’t any “high” competition for that term, and many of the results that got more searches were in the “medium” range, But by going down the list farther, I found more and more search terms that had “low” competition.<br />
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Using any keyword tool, you need to figure out how to work those words into your content, and also use them for post titles to your blogs, where you can talk about those specific topics. Even though the number of searches may be less, you would have very little competition, and have a much better chance of getting higher rankings in the search results when someone searches for those terms on Google. You never want to try to compete with high ranking search terms. Your goal is to "drill down" until you find that certain "niche" within your topic where there is little competition. </div>
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On the left there is a check box where you can click on the ones you want to save. Above that was a download button where you can choose your saved results and then download them to a .csv file (comma separated value) which is a form of spreadsheet. Many other keyword tools have similar functions. You should save that file to your desktop to make it easy to find, and then when you open it with your spreadsheet program you will be able to expand the columns and adjust it to suit your needs, and then save it as a normal spreadsheet. Again, this is why I say that anyone in business for themselves should learn to use spreadsheets, as they come in handy for so many things. If you need to learn how to use them, you can get free lessons by going to <a href="http://gfclearnfree.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://gfclearnfree.org</a>.</div>
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The nice thing that going to a spreadsheet does is convert the generic “low, medium and high” indicators to actual numbers, so you can see which are the “lowest of the low”. If you highlight the entire spreadsheet you should be able to go to the “data” menu at the top of your screen and sort by specific columns, and in ascending or descending order within those columns.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Huge revelation that other marketers won’t tell you!</strong></h2>
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OK, so how many searches are “enough”?</div>
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The biggest problem with ANY of the keyword tools is that they only give you general numbers, and even those can be deceiving. They may get “close” to that number of searches, but for various reasons, not all of those searchers are going to come to your site. I know from my own experience of holding the first position, first page result, plus four others on that same page, that my actual visitor count was only about 25% of what Google claims as the number of searches for those same exact keywords! I attribute the difference to various things… people doing research (on Google’s posted numbers for results at the top of the pages), plus, maybe some are looking for forums, or blogs, maybe a diffferent type of product, or whatever… and I even had a great description and sales message! Think how much worse it would have been had I let the search engine grab random text to display instead of MY sales message!</div>
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So I suggest to any of you, if you are targeting a certain number of visitors per day to reach a desired sales volume, you should be looking at search result numbers that are about four times what you need! In other words if you need 300 visitors per day (knowing that less than 2% actually buy something) to get six sales per day, then you should really be looking at keywords that are getting more like 1200 per day, or 36,000 searches per month! If you target words with only 9000 searches per month and you only get 1/4th of those to visit your site, that means you will only get about 75 visitors per day, and only make one to two sales per day!</div>
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I see this as the major problem with why many marketers don’t make enough money, and it isn’t really their fault if they don’t realize what’s happening! You NEED to target keywords that get four times the search results so that you can be assured of getting roughly 25% of that number as visitors to your sites! I haven’t seen any other marketer tell anyone this in 15+ years of my being online and studying from all of these “gurus”! That’s why I don’t trust them!</div>
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It’s OK to start with a generic word when doing an inital search, but then choose more specific words from the list and then also run queries using those search terms. You may have to do this three or more times to get some really good terms with low competition. Always be thinking what words “buyers” are going to be looking for… not “shoppers”. This is called “drilling down”. Also, think about “long tail” keywords, which simply means more than just two or three words together. Try a complete sentence, such as a question, and experiment with it.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Understanding Buyer’s versus Shopper’s Keywords</strong></h2>
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Here’s an example of the difference between shopper’s keywords and buyer’s keywords. If you search for a totally generic term like camera, it will show a lot of searches, but also a lot of results, and a lot of competition, so trying to compete with a million other advertisers for that word is pointless. You need to think about “buyer’s” words… not “shoppers words”. You need to “drill down” to more specific information and words.</div>
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For example: If you typed “camera” into the Google Adwords Keyword Tool, that will bring up all kinds of associated suggestions using that word. One of those suggestions is bound to be “digital”, so in your next search, add “digital” to “camera”, that may eliminate some searchers, but it’s still too generic. If you search “digital SLR camera”, now you are getting down to a specific niche, but the people who search with those terms are still shopping for something similar to that. If you added the words “reviews” or “ratings” to that, it may show a lot of searches but they are pointless, as those are the words shoppers would use… not buyers. Those people are looking for information, but aren’t ready to buy yet. If you add a brand name, like “Canon” to the search, now you are getting closer, but there are still several models of Cannon <span style="color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit;"><span style="border-color: initial; border-style: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">SLR digital cameras</span></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>. Which one do they want?<br />
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Let’s say you do some more research and come up with “Canon EOS 7D <a class="skimwords-link" data-flyover="1" data-group-id="2580856" data-skim-creative="302004" data-skim-node-id="1805:,thatwillbringupallk_1" data-skim-product="1" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1" data-skimwords-word="18%20MP%20CMOS%20Digital%20SLR%20Camera" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/rd.php?r=26&m=823663676&q=n&rdgt=1403276625&it=1403449425&et=1403881425&priceret=1099.00&pg=~~2&k=7d6fbda24d022b1662d3ec45c9d5df70&source=feed&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebuydig%2Ecom%2Fshop%2Fproduct%2Easpx%3Fsku%3DCNEOS60D18200%26ref%3Dpricegrabber%26omid%3D122%26utm%5Fsource%3DShopping%26utm%5Fmedium%3DCSE%26utm%5Fitem%3DCNEOS60D18200%26CAWELAID%3D1412769765&st=feed&mt=~~~~~~~~y~~~" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> with 3-inch LCD and 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens”. The searches may be too low to even register, but it will bring up other keywords related to that. Getting “too” detailed with a search may be bad if you can’t see how many searches there really are, because neither will it show how much competition there is. So let’s shorten it to just “Canon <a class="skimwords-link" data-flyover="2" data-group-id="7460156" data-skim-creative="302004" data-skim-node-id="1805:,thatwillbringupallk_1" data-skim-product="5" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="5" data-skimwords-word="EOS%207D%2018%20MP" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/rd.php?r=402&m=740624721&q=n&rdgt=1403277060&it=1403449860&et=1403881860&priceret=1499.00&pg=~~2&k=6954b525fdd4e93a6101bcfb08698b0d&source=feed&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eamazon%2Ecom%2Fdp%2FB002NEGTU6%2Fref%3Dasc%5Fdf%5FB002NEGTU63118282%3Fsmid%3DATVPDKIKX0DER%26tag%3Dpg%2D257%2D01%2D20%26linkCode%3Ddf0%26creative%3D395097%26creativeASIN%3DB002NEGTU6&st=feed&mt=~~~~~~~~y~~~" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">EOS 7D 18 MP</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> CMOS Digital SLR”. Now the results show 480 global searches for that exact term. But also, you can see that the competition is also very high, as it is a popular camera. Anyone who uses those search terms knows exactly what they want and they have their credit card out and are ready to buy. The problem is getting your search engine listing in front of all that other competition AND them, and you need to be the first result at the top of the first results page on Google so that you can offer it to them first!</div>
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So now, you have to decide… would you rather try to sell the world’s favorite camera, never get first page rankings, and maybe not make any sales? Or could you settle for a less popular model that would allow you to get that top position on page one, and maybe make five to ten sales per week? “Some” money is better than none! And then if you still can’t compete on price, experiment with adding some accessories to it and market it as a package deal! After all, everyone can use a memory card, a carrying case, a tripod, or some other useful item!</div>
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That’s the difference between shopper’s keywords and buyer’s keywords, and as a marketer, you need to ALWAYS think in those terms! Only buyers are going to search for details, so make sure you include those details in your keyword phrases!</div>
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There is a whole list of “trigger words” on the web. I have gone one step further and actually put them in a spreadsheet, added many more to them, and ranked them according to performance! I will be glad to send them to you. Just ask for them in the comments and make sure I have an email address to send them to. They will be on an OpenOffice spreadsheet that can also be opened by Excel, and then you can continue to tweak and improve the list as you need to. I will make the list available as a download as soon as I can find time to set it up.</div>
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Using those words, you would start with any keyword tool. Let’s take a simple word like “stop”. Stop what? It sounds urgent, like people need an answer immediately! Putting that into the keyword tool shows all kinds of similar phrases with that word in it. By going down the list, you can see what it is that people want to stop! Maybe you can come up with a solution to their most urgent problem, either with an ebook or a product that will “stop” their problem, and there’s sales waiting to happen! That’s how sales are made! Solve urgent problems for people better then anyone else, and you are bound to make a full time living at it!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">An Even Better Keyword Tool</strong></h2>
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Although there are many free keyword tools online, the most well-known being the Google Adwords Keyword Tool, there is one purchased tool that I would recommend, but only to people who already have a start at marketing and are making enough money to afford it… and that is <a href="http://703f46b4wdrihvcbjbnw7jvt8n.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=AIM" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy MicroNicheFinder, the best keyword tool on the planet!">MicroNicheFinder</a>. (the banner is in the right hand margin). For just under $100 (one time fee and you own it, life-time updates free), it can be a real time saver in sorting out exactly what keywords you need to be using in your sales campaigns. Besides telling you how many searches there are per month for a given keyword or phrase (as most others do), not only on Google but also on MSN and Yahoo’s search engines, it tells you by simple green, yellow, and red indicators whether a word is worth targeting or not, based on many other factors, such as competition for that keyword on the search engines, whereas with most keyword tools, you have to analyze the data yourself. It will even tell you whether there’s a domain name in either “.com, .org, or .net” available for your keywords. That’s how you pick domain names! If you go to the MicroNicheFinder site, you will find many instructional videos on how it is used, and you can also search the name on YouTube and find many other training videos.</div>
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But please… don’t buy it if you plan on only making one site for a specific business. This is a professional grade tool for professional marketers who build a great many sites, and it saves a lot of time. If you are only going to use it once, or even once a month, it’s not cost effective. As I said, I don’t want to “push” you toward products that you may not need.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Summary and Expectations</strong></div>
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OK, more on keyword research later. Let’s say you have your keywords picked out, your URL thought of, other good secondary keywords picked out for titles and sub-titles, pages and posts, products researched and chosen (more on that later), and you are ready to start building your site. You should know how to do that by now, from the previous post.</div>
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Now it is time to put what you learned into action. If you are using a program, or one of the free options for building a web site, you should have controls somewhere in the program where you can set it to go “live” on the web or not, or whether to make it viewable by the public. At this time, you want to keep it private, and/or set it to not be indexed by the search engines. In WordPress, there are simply a couple of checkboxes in the settings where you can make it private for now. Even though you can publish your site to the web, you aren’t quite finished yet. You still have to add the necessary graphics to it, and whatever products you want to sell. However, if the site can be viewed on the web by going to the exact URL, then I can see it and help guide you the rest of the way. I don’t need to know the details of every builder program out there to be able to help you. The main thing is what I see when I go to the web. I can explain what you need to do to make any changes, but it is important that you learn how to do it yourself!</div>
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In the next posts we will show you everything from how to manipulate graphics to make them look good and be search engine friendly as well as to add advertising banners, payment buttons and other things to your site to make it make money for you.</div>
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Lastly, we will show you how to add analytics to your site so that you can see everything from how many visitors you are getting, to what links they click on and what pages they visit, how long they stayed, how they got there and where they went when they left!</div>
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After that, we’ll discuss the many methods you can use to monetize your site, and why choosing the right method is important to the kind and size of commissions you receive. You will need to know that to determine what kind of ads or even giveaways you want to use on your site. In the process of monetizing there are certain legal disclaimers that you will have to know how to use, certain pages that will be necessary for policies, and much more.</div>
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After that, we will be getting into the social aspects of marketing… not just Facebook and Twitter, but in getting your site “pinged” so it shows up on a lot more than just a few blogs! One of the best free advertising methods you will find (which is responsible for a 47% increase in the traffic to one of my sites) is YouTube, and we will be showing you a quick and easy way to create your own custom videos, using no camera, no microphone, and no “face time”. It’s all done on your computer. But there are hundreds of video sites on the web and we can show you how to upload your video to them all at once, with one click of your mouse. We’ll also discuss the importance of inbound links and how to get them the right way.</div>
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THEN you will finally be ready to allow the public to see your site, and start making money with it. But you’re not done! There will be more posts on using and setting up an autoresponder (for those that want one), getting free images for your sites, where to put them for the best sales results, and much more. We’re just getting warmed up, so stick around. If you like what you see, come back often, use the comments at the bottom to ask lots of questions, and let’s have some fun!</div>
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Please, if you have questions on any of this, let me know in the comments! I will answer ASAP.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-22019028229435984622012-07-19T12:21:00.000-05:002016-01-25T12:16:03.347-06:00Web Site Builder Software<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/07/19/web-site-builder-software-part-seven-of-ten/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="6:00 PM">07/19/2012</a></div>
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Despite all the attempts of software companies to “sell” web building software, you are foolish if you fall for them, unless you have a huge site with countless catalog pages and sub-domains, and even then, there are many web builders available for free that will do everything that the paid ones will. Some will create only web sites, some will create blogs, and some will do both. Some of you may have heard of programs like <a href="http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=Front+Page&_sacat=0" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy Front Page software here!">Front Page</a> (no longer sold new or supported), <a href="http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/en_US/pd/productID.216452000?Icid=Dev_4UP_Expression_PID_216452000" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy Microsoft Expressions here!">Expressions</a> (the newer version of Front Page), <a href="http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1311&_nkw=dreamweaver&_sacat=0" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy Dreamweaver here!">Dreamweaver</a> (an Adobe product) (no longer available or supported, but <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite.html?promoid=JOLIS" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy Adobe CS6 here!">CS6</a> is the new version), <a href="http://xsitepro.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy XsitePro here!">XsitePro</a> and others, and those are all good, but can be expensive for someone starting out. On the other hand, there are free “open source” web designers from <a href="http://kompozer.net/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get Kompozer here!">Kompozer.net</a>, <a href="http://www.joomla.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get Joomla here!">Joomla.org</a> and <a href="http://drupal.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get Drupal here!">Drupal.org</a>, which will do everything the paid ones do. They’re all going to have a learning curve, but they all come with help screens and/or tutorials, so it gets down to ease of use, and one’s personal preference. All programs are going to take awhile to learn. Some of these might be availabe on Amazon.<br />
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You can also get a good free beginner program from Serif Software with their <a href="http://www.serif.com/FreeDownloads/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get Serif Web Plus and other free downloads here!">Web Plus Starter Edition</a>, which is very good, and very easy, but be warned: although you can create as many sites as you want, the free version is limited in the number of pages you can use on each site. But for a single product site of five pages or less, it works great, and many of the sites that are on the web that are less than five pages make MORE money than the ones with huge catalog sites! It isn’t the volume of information you give people, the number of choices, nor how pretty a site is… it’s the quality of the information, how well you can convince the reader that he can’t do without it and whether it meets the users needs that makes the site owner money! <a href="http://www.serif.com/webplus/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy Serif Web Plus 6 here!">Serif also has the paid version</a> in their newest “Web Plus” series that they send you on a physical disk, and it’s a very good web builder at a very reasonable price. I have two of their past programs, plus the new free one, and they work very well.</div>
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Another free web builder is <a href="http://weebly.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get your free Weebly web site here!">Weebly.com</a>. It has been a couple years since I have used them, and I see their site is updated with many new features. But beware: if you use the free version, you will always have “.<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">weebly.com</span>” after your site name which will clue everyone into the fact that it’s a free site. But you can start there, and then attach it to a domain of your own. That can also be done with WordPress, Blogger, and many other free site builders.<br />
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There are many other free and paid web site builders available. All you have to do is a Google search for the term, and many will come up.<br />
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And speaking of Wordpress and Blogger, both of those are free blog builders, unless you go with the version of Wordpress at dot org, rather than the totally free one at the dot com site. The version at dot org is designed to download to a web domain, and for that, you have to pay for both the domain and hosting, but the Wordpress add-on is still totally free to use on your site. Also, that version gives you tons more functionality and freedom than the dot com version. But the problem lies in whether it is too complex for the average user. Because it an open source product, you can do anything you want to it within the code, once it is on your site. But is also comes with necessary maintenance regarding constant manual updates. I would guess that better than 75% of casual bloggers and small site owners don't need that much functionality. They just need a site that's dependable.</div>
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So… what’s wrong with a free site?</h2>
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A free site “builder” is one thing, and there’s nothing wrong with them, but free hosting, where your site is only a sub-domain of another main site is a problem. These always appear as “<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">yourdomainname.weebly.com</span>” or .<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">wordpress.com</span> or .<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">blogspot.com</span>.</div>
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From everything I have read, the problem is three-fold.</div>
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(1) It has been said that the search engines are less “friendly” to free sites and sub-domains, and may not give them as high a position in the search results as a main domain. The primary goal of any web site or blog owner is to get as high on that first page of results as possible, because without traffic, you have no sales and no money! As a marketer, I know ways to compensate for that, but the average user won’t.</div>
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(2) There is a psychological issue of credibility. Would you do business with <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302001" data-skim-node-id="116:(2)Thereisapsycholog_1" data-skim-product="874144" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="874144" data-skimwords-word="walmart" href="http://walmart.com/" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">Walmart</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> or Sears if they were using “.<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">weebly.com</span>” or “.<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">blogspot.com</span>” after their name? They would probably have only 1/4 the users that they have! When people see anything but a proper domain suffix after your name (dot com, dot net, dot org, etc.) they know right away that you are someone who is without proper knowledge or too tight to set up your business properly, or you are doing it for a hobby… not someone to be taken seriously! And…</div>
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(3), if the domain owner has their name on your site, they are literally saying that THEY own that site, and they are permitting you to use a small portion of it. They make the rules for the site…not you! They will never give you permission to get into the code of the site to tweak it to suit special needs or allow extra plug-ins or add-ons. Do you want to give someone else that much control over your business? I hope not!</div>
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So no matter whether you choose a normal web site or a blog format, you should put it on your own domain, unless, you are blogging just for the fun of it, and have no intentions of selling anything from your site... or... if you are doing strictly affiliate marketing, Adsense or other contextual marketing. Maybe you only put it out there so family members can see pictures and stories of what you are doing.</div>
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Or in our soon-to-be case, we are retiring from the rat-race of marketing for serious money. We’re not that greedy, and we have a comfortable income already. We don’t want to have to “work” at keeping up with all the marketing hype in the industry, and feel that if we make a few bucks from each of our many blogs, that’s enough. We no longer care to sit at the computer for 12-14 hours a day studying new marketing techniques! If we make some money, fine, and if we don’t, that’s fine, too. In that regard, we are converting many of our sites to free blog platforms, and that will be plenty for what we intend to do with them.<br />
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For our serious direct web sales of specific products, we know how to do that from a free blog, also, without running into any issues, and have been doing it on some blogs for years. And off-site, we also work the online auctions, for which no web site is needed at all.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Web site versus blog… which is right for me?</strong></h2>
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A web site is usually built with a special program designed for the purpose, same as a blog. But a web site is basically full of “static” pages, meaning there is no interaction from your readers unless they click on links or fill out a form. There is no comment form on most web sites. Web sites are good for sites that have a lot of pages that they want to stay all the same, like catalog pages. In other words, they can “speak” to the reader, but the reader can’t talk back!</div>
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The problem with sites like that is the bigger they are, the more maintenance it takes, especially of you have models or prices changing quite often, as with electronics. If you neglect any page for very long, it will lose importance in the eyes of the search engines and your rankings will go down, so you always have to be tweaking or changing something so it appears different and fresh. Also, since the search engines are basically ignoring all but description meta-tags now, optimization is more of a problem. You need inbound links from other relevant sites to show that someone cares about your site. With social interaction from readers leaving comments and sharing your site on social media, it lets the search engine know that your site isn’t just sitting there dormant. Keywords become even more important within the URL, titles and text, but they also have to be relevant to the topic of the page.</div>
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With a blog, it is so much easier to add social buttons, subscription or opt-in forms, special SEO packs and other things, that it is easier to get higher rankings with them. Also, because there is interaction between the posts (articles) and the people commenting on them, the content always stays fresh in the eyes of the search engines, so they know automatically that your blog is important by the number of people using it. The social buttons and “ping” options let you choose other easy means of promoting your blog with the push of a button!</div>
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There are other reasons listed below as to why professional marketers use WordPress more than any other platform, and they all boil down to ease of use for making money! The more efficient you are, the more you can get done, and I have seen proof that money making blogs can be built in less than 15 minutes!</div>
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Every blog is like an independent business. Some will do better than others, so this is hypothetical. No two people are going to do the same thing with it. Let’s say that even if it only makes $30 a month, how many could you build in a month, once you know how it’s done? And that is only for doing the work ONE TIME!<br />
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In a year, that ONE blog can be pulling in $360 a year. In ten years it will have brought in $3600… along with however many others you want to build until you reach the income level you are comfortable with! Even if you just count the first month, that’s $30 for 1/4 of an hours work, or $120 an hour! In ten years that 1/4 hour’s work DONE ONE TIME is worth $3600! And (if dsigned right) they all operate on (nearly) total autopilot once they’re built, so you can move on to the next one, and the next one and the next one, as many times as you want to!</div>
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Einstein said that the most powerful force on earth was the power of compound interest. The same is true of web marketing, and yet nine out of every ten people don’t see or understand either one, because they don’t take the time to THINK!<br />
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Sure, sometimes you need money coming in “right now” and admittedly, this isn’t the best way to do that. It takes time to build any business. But if you can learn this in your spare time, and then just spend 15 minutes building an easy one-page site every day after your normal work, how long would it be before you could fire your boss and never have to work again? You do the math!</div>
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By the way, this site already has made me money in the last week (and growing), and I don’t even have any products of my own or payment buttons on it, other than a donation button. I didn’t even count the donations that generous blog readers sent me. Still think it can’t be done? Why do you think I have multiple sites on the web already?</div>
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Sorry, I digress…</div>
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You can also get many free blog programs, with the two most famous being <a href="http://blogger.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get a free blog at Blogger!">Blogger</a> (owned by Google) and WordPress (a free “open source” program). Both can be used in their free versions (which will always have the tell-tale “.<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">blogspot.com</span>” or “.<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">wordpress.com</span>” after your chosen domain name, because your domain will always be a sub-domain of theirs… and they own you! Also, because the site is still controlled by the people who own them, they can shut down your blog if you aren’t managing it properly. But once you download the platform to your own domain… then YOU own it!</div>
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What is a blog?</h2>
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The term blog, is a shortened version of “web log”, originally created as a place where people could jot down their thoughts, both for themselves and to share with others, and allow two-way communication for them to share their comments… an online conversation tool. Developers could jot down their ideas and put them in a place where other developers working on the same project from many miles away could collaborate with each other. Blogs were the original social sites, and have been around long before all the social sites we see today. You can make a blog totally open to anyone and located by search engines, semi-private so that only the people you tell will know where it is on the web, or you can make it totally private and secure so that only registered users with the right usernames and passwords can get into them.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How do I use a blog?</strong></h2>
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A blog is first and foremost a communication tool, to allow interaction between the blog publisher and the readers. Yes, you can advertise on it (except on the free version of Wordpress, and with certain restrictions on others), but you also have to have relevant reader content that is interactive with readers (the comments). The ads must remain of secondary importance, especially if it’s a free blog that you don’t own. If it’s a free blog, and all you do is put ads on it, the owners can shut you down, because it goes against the terms of service. ALWAYS read the fine print in the terms of use!</div>
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In the case of the free WordPress(dotcom), they won’t even let you use anything but their ads on it! If you go the WordPress(dotorg) version, which is the one requiring it to be placed on your own domain, then you "own it" once it is installed on your domain, and you can do literally anything with it.</div>
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On the other hand, Blogger has no such advertising restrictions, and you can even sell from your own payment buttons on it…as long as information and conversation with the public remain the primary focus. The only thing they won't let you do is get into the code. You have to use it within their operating structure, however, they provide just about anything you should ever need. But they can still shut you down if they see a need to unless you install the blog on your own domain!</div>
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Although, in theory, you can have a blog that has nothing but static pages on it filled with your own commentary and content, there is no point in doing that, as it goes against everything that a blog is about, from social traffic to marketing. You NEED the readers to comment because that and the posts that you write adds fresh new content, which the search engines love, and they will raise your position in the search results for it. Any site that remains stagnant loses importance in the eyes of the search engine. A blog must be used properly, whether you own it or whether you are just “borrowing” the space.</div>
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Is a blog credible as a business presence on the web?</h2>
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It’s a proven fact that customers don’t take free blogs seriously if they are shopping for products, and that tell-tale structure of the URL at the end after your site name says it’s a free site, and not a sales site. If they see a dot com after your business name, they will take you much more seriously as a seller who runs a quality operation, and not just a person with a hobby.</div>
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However, one of the secrets of marketing anything, is to provide good, useful, and entertaining content that the reader can use and will keep coming back for. It is statistically proven that it takes about seven times of having contact with a seller, before the potential customer feels comfortable with buying from them. If they like what you have to say in your blogs, and they find your recommendations credible and useful, if they have subscribed to your posts and learn to trust you... why wouldn’t they feel safe with clicking on your links and buying from you or the vendors you recommend?</div>
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I know of several blogs that are about nothing but travel stories, that are pulling in around $800 per month on the average, from nothing but an Amazon store link on their blog. At Amazon’s typical 6% commission rate, that equates to over $10,000 in retail sales being made from that little “blog about nothing”!</div>
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Seinfeld made a joke about how successful his TV show “about nothing” was, so it can also happen in other media, too!</div>
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Many people think of blogs as information sources. There’s nothing wrong with that, as the majority of people come to the web for information, with no plan to ever buy anything. As a marketer you have to learn the difference between attracting buyers and attracting shoppers, and you do that with proper keywords. People who are looking for something to buy will go to places like <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302001" data-skim-node-id="923:Manypeoplethinkofblo_1" data-skim-product="874148" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="874148" data-skimwords-word="ebay" href="http://ebay.com/" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">eBay</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> or .com sites. But when people see any kind of indication that it is a blog, they will go there to look for information. It is our job as a marketer to give it to them as fast and as accurately as possible, and if we can solve a problem for them in the process and give them a solution, “then” we can make a sale as a secondary action. That’s what blog marketing is all about. It doesn’t have to “high pressure” anyone into buying. Give them good, entertaining content, and they will eventually reward you by buying your recommendations.</div>
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So, if you use their (WordPress, Blogger) blog platform on your own domain, rather than their free one, readers don’t even realize it’s a blog when they see it on the search engines. Many people don’t even notice it after they get on the site, because many blog themes look like any other web page. So they may be buyers or shoppers, but if you have what they want, they will still visit your “store”!<br />
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You can usually do whatever you wish with a blog on your own domain, within the terms of the hosting company, and yes, a blog is actually “expected” as part of most business sites today. A business who does not have a blog these days is missing out on the importance of customer interaction as well as the social traffic that they can get.</div>
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Also, something to keep in mind… if you are planning a catalog site, with many pages of offerings for sale with your own payment buttons, a blog platform is usually not practical for that use. They typically only allow a limited number of static pages due to their menu layout. For a catalog site, a true web site builder is best, and then if you need a blog along with it, you can install a blog as a sub-domain or folder of the main site.</div>
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You can see an example of that on one of my own sites at <a href="http://blog.caravancamperrv.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://blog.caravancamperrv.com</a> where the blog is a sub-domain of the main site, and they can be controlled separately, if necessary, with different titles and completely different themes and looks. For instance, the blog is a WordPress format, wheras the site is built with Front Page. (Update: that main site is soon (late 2016) to be converted to a blog platform on Blogger). I actually made the FrontPage site home page and header look pretty much like the WordPress theme by building it with tables, but that is more information than you need for right now. We’ll get into tables and much more as we progress.</div>
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One main difference in WordPress over Blogger is that they have the <a href="http://wordpress.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Start your free WordPress blog here!">WordPress.com domain for the free sites</a>, but if you want the one that goes on your own domain, you want to go to the <a href="http://wordpress.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get a free blog for your hosted domain here!">WordPress.org “install” version for domains</a>. I have experimented with both versions using the same exact theme… but I found a lot of differences between them. I thought I could start with the free version until I got it built up, and then convert it to one of my sites to avoid down time, but I ran into so many differences that it was very confusing. The saving grace was in the simplicity of making the transition. I simply exported and saved the free .com version’s files to my computer. In the .org version that I added to my web site, I simply imported those files and voila! They all transferred to the new site perfectly, still avoiding a lot of down time as opposed to starting from scratch. All the important stuff was there… text, ads, menus, etc, but the “user-friendly” add-ons that come with the free version were gone, and that was OK, as I didn’t want or need them on the .org platform.</div>
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The <span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">WordPress.com</span> version is a free stand-alone blog platform that you can build your pages on right there. No downloads or installation is required. Simply sign up, log-in, and follow the instructions. This is OK for personal sites where families just want to share photos and keep in touch with one another, but it can't be used for any kind of business.</div>
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The <span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">WordPress.org</span> version is designed to be added to web sites, so they have a form in which to add your domain name during the setup process. This is an “installation” version. You must first have your domain registered, and a hosting account tied to the domain. You can then choose to use WordPress as the “root” (where the whole site is a WordPress blog) or you can add something like “blog.” (see the dot after the word?) ahead of your domain name, and then it becomes a sub-domain to the main site. Control of each remains totally independent of one another, but you only need one domain name that way to have more than one site.</div>
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For example, if you look at a lot of Google’s “tool” sites, they are almost always ahead of the Google name, such as “<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">analytics.google.com</span>” or “<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">adwords.google.com</span>.” It’s all the same domain, just with separate sub-domains, so that each one can look totally different from another, and yet be easily recognizable as part of the same site.</div>
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However, if you plan to use WordPress as your site building tool, then the easiest way to install it is to simply go to your hosting company’s “C” panel for your domain, and look down near the bottom of the offerings for a little blue smiley face icon for Fantastico. Some blogs are using a different installer, but there is still a way to install Wordpress. Simply click the proper icon, then choose WordPress (for a new domain) from the menu, and either leave the directory form blank to install it as the main site, or if you are attaching it to another site as a sub-domain, just add the “blog.” in front of your domain name to make it a sub-domain. You can also install it as a folder within the main domain so that you can link them together, by adding it as “/blog” after the full domain name. Then it becomes like a sub-page of the main page, and you should see a link to it in the menu bar. It can still be controlled as a totally separate site. Click to finish, and it’s done!<br />
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As always, if you need visual instruction on this, then go to YouTube and search for “install wordpress on domain” and you will find all kinds of help there. Then you can go to your blog URL and you will see the welcome page for WordPress. From there you can go to the setup and dashboard menus to choose a theme and build it the way you want it.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Why WordPress?</strong></h2>
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Most marketers these days are going to WordPress for building their sites. Since they are the ones “in the know” on such things because they do it for a living, many times with several hundred different sites online, they have the most knowledge over what works for making money far more than just a “one site” user. It is far more versatile than Blogger (if you really need unlimited versatility) (but that’s my own humble opinion).</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are several reasons for WordPress being so popular:</strong></div>
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–It is a no-cost source for the most versatile blog or site building software on the planet!</div>
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— Blogs, because of their interaction with readers, are a natural when it comes to other people helping you to create content, and content is what makes for great search engine optimization (SEO). New content, whether by the author or the reader’s comments keeps the blog fresh and new in the eyes of the search engines. A site or blog that gets no regular updating loses rankings in the search engines, and that means decreased traffic. So even if you are only selling one single product (even just yourself), a blog is the way to go if you want to stay at the top of the search engine results! THAT is where you have to be to get traffic (and sales)!</div>
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–Wordpress is easy to use in its administration, as well as from a reader standpoint. Most of the technical questions that would come up have already been answered by someone on the web, and all it takes is a little research to find any answer to any question. YouTube is also a prime source of video information and instruction on almost any topic. Because WordPress has become so popular, there is far more information available on it than any other blog platform or <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="489:–Wordpressiseasytous_1" data-skim-product="1963751" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1963751" data-skimwords-word="web%20design%20software" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dweb%2Bdesign%2Bsoftware" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">web design software</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>.</div>
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— There are many more <a href="http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Free WordPress themes!">free WordPress themes</a> available (over 1600 of them on the authorized WordPress site alone), with more being developed every day, than comes with any of the paid web design programs. If you need more, there are also many more themes you can buy through third-party vendors than for any other program in the world! You can choose the layout, the colors, install your own pictures, and to make things easy… rather than having to learn any html or CSS code… there are over 20,000 plug-ins to choose from, to add everything from social buttons to monetization to your blog just by clicking the “install” link. And they are searchable, to easily find what you are looking for!</div>
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–Also, unlike some web building programs that require you to download software in order to edit your site, WordPress is online all the time and accessible from any computer. You will never lose your work! Even if your computer crashes, there are no programs that you have to have on your computer in order to do editing, as there is with most other programs. You can go to any other computer and simply log on!</div>
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–Unlike web sites, which in order to start an opt-in list, usually requires an autoresponder service (at additional cost), you can easily install a plug-in with one click for an automated opt-in or subscribe form for new post notifications, so it not only saves you money, but saves work from having to do extra newsletter writing. The posts themselves become the newsletters and announcements!</div>
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OK, so what’s the downside?</h2>
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The disadvantage with “owning” your own WordPress blog on your own domain is that you have to pay attention to it. They will notify you of updates to both the blog as well as plug-ins, but you have to install them yourself… nothing technical… just the checking of boxes and clicking a button, but YOU have to do it. On the free .com version, they will do most of that for you.</div>
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On Blogger, since it is owned and maintained by Google, they will do the updating on the free version, but again… if you use that platform on your own domain, expect to have to do some maintenance on it. After all, they don't have access to your domain! The plus side of Blogger is that it is easier to learn and has less confusing choices of what can be added to it. For average users, Blogger has everything you need and keeps it simple, whereas WordPress is more geared to those with some technical experience. Too many choices can sometimes be a bad thing, and waste a lot of time experimenting to see what works best.</div>
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If you want a maintenance free site, that you own, then the best thing is probably a static web site, and even then… NO site is ever totally maintenance free! Like any other business, you have to pay attention to what’s going on, and that means on a daily basis! The more features and choices the site has in it’s components, the more maintenance it will require. You have to ask yourself…”Do I really need all that?” If it isn’t something that is going to make you more money, then you probably don’t.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What about “online” web builders?</strong></h2>
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There are many other web builders out there in both free and paid versions, but here is a warning… some of them are online and require a continuing subscription fee of up to $50 per month in order to use them!</div>
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Some marketing courses are online that provide their own web builder platform that you have to pay to use. That’s how they lock you into paying for them “forever”! It has less to do with them teaching you anything than it does to keep you in their income stream! If they were any kind of teacher, they should be able to teach you on other programs… but that doesn’t make them any money!</div>
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From my own personal experience, I can also tell you that many of the “instructors” that they assign to you are nothing but former students who know only what that program has taught them. That’s like having tunnel vision, because they see nothing else, nor will they answer questions about anything else!</div>
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I lost nearly $5000 with one of these programs! I highly discourage people from getting involved with subscriptions because once you start on their platform, it is next to impossible to get away from them without a complete rebuild (and maybe even renaming) of your site! That’s their marketing method and how they lock you into a lifetime of payments! DON’T fall for it!</div>
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Summary and Expectations</h2>
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By now you should have everything you need to get a site online, except for the most important parts… knowing what you are going to sell, and what you are going to call your site. So before we start out backwards, as so many have done before, we have to do the keyword research to know the EXACT words (right down to plural or singular) that people are using to search for what they want to buy. Without knowing what those words are, and being able to reach those people, you site will be like a store at the end of a dark, dead end alley. No one will find it, at least with generic search engine results. The alternative is a lot of paid advertising methods, which again, takes away from profits!</div>
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That’s not saying that you have to sell something that you have no interest in, just because it’s a hot market. It’s saying that it’s OK to have a “niche”, whether it be tools photography, knitting, cars or whatever. It just means narrowing down things within that niche to make it profitable! Just because you like cars doesn’t mean you have to try to sell any make or model. You have to know the difference between Renaults and Yugos, versus Mustangs and Corvettes. In other words, highly specialized products and knowledge in the right areas will sell more than general knowledge and products about anything and everything. But which one sells better…Corvette parts or Mustang parts? Even if you are already a fanatic for one versus the other, what sells better... engine and drive train parts, or body parts? If it's body parts, is it basic body parts like fenders, or accessory parts like chrome trim and emblems? And even if that is determined, what years are in the most demand? See how this is "drilling down" to the absolute best selling item without leaving the initial topic?<br />
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That’s what keyword research is for, to see what the public is really asking for! When you know that, and have what it takes to meet their needs and how to reach them, then you can sell more to them than any of your competitors and make serious money doing it!</div>
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We’re not here to have you sell “our” products. Those cookie-cutter type programs very seldom work. We want you to learn how to sell something in which YOU are interested, because your knowledge of it makes it easier for you to know how to promote something like that. But you STILL have to know the right keywords in order to reach people!</div>
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So until next time, ask me questions in the comments and I will respond ASAP.</div>
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In the next post we’re going to show you what FREE software you need in order to get in front of those people to show them what you can offer them! If you can’t learn to do that, you won’t make any money!</div>
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Even “somewhat” experienced marketers have questions, sometimes technical issues, and I can’t help you if you don’t get involved in the conversation! So… what’s on your mind?</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-50911618908983070122012-07-17T12:20:00.000-05:002016-01-25T11:12:52.813-06:00Office Productivity Software<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/07/17/office-productivity-software-part-six-of-ten/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="4:38 PM">07/17/2012</a></div>
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Basic Business Software – what will I need? The real secret is to know and understand how to use the software that is already available on your computer or available for free on the web. We have already discussed the first four things you will need before anything else, in the lines of protection and services. Those will all cost money, but are part of your start-up expenses and are all tax deductible.</div>
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Then you have your free software, for (6) office production, (7) marketing, (8) web production, (9) graphics, and (10) analyzing and testing. In this ten-part series, we are going to introduce you to all of them. I can’t think of any software used in marketing that does not fall into one of these categories.<br />
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The most indespensible office tool, and why</strong></h2>
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Above phones, copiers, and even staplers, you have to be able to work. If you don’t produce work, you won’t have reason to speak on the phone, copy anything, or staple anything together. For that you need software. It is entirely possible to make a living totally from your computer, and manage the records and files by sitting at a laptop on the floor in an empty room! Most of us will want more than that.</div>
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OK, so maybe the laptop is the most indepsensible tool. But definitely second to that is a set of tools and software on your laptop to produce and manage the work. One of the set of office tools that I find indespensible is the suite of free tools from <a href="http://openoffice.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get the best free office productivity suite of tools here!">OpenOffice.org</a>. They call it a “Productivity Suite”, because in reality, there is going to be very little you can “produce” without them! They do everything that <a href="http://microsoftofficestore.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy Microsoft products here!">Microsoft Office</a> does, including word processing (same as MS Word), drawing, spreadsheets (same as Excel and readable by both), presentations and slideshows (called Impress – same as PowerPoint, and readable by both)(also useful for some image editing), and a database (same as MS Access, and readable by both). Some will find fault with my saying “same as”, but I say that in reference to the fact that they do the same tasks. Yes, they may have slightly different features and maybe buttons are in different places, but in the things that count, they do the same jobs.</div>
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We all should know what word processing is… basically any kind of typing you used to do on a typewriter… only faster and easier… but a word processing program is more than that. The first obvious difference is that you can edit out your typos on a word processor, rather than resort to the old standard: WhiteOut!</div>
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But the word processor is also capable of much more! You can save not only your business letters, but also web pages! Also saved within any documents are links and pictures. Plus, because it is a digital document, you can email it! Most Word processors also have limited drawing ability built into them, so if you need to make a simple sketch or directions on how to get to your house, you can email that sketch as an attachment. You will find all of these things useful in web work and small business management, at one time or another, but just as importantly, even if you are using your computer only for home use, you should still be making use of these tools!</div>
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Another important thing that the <a href="http://openoffice.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get the best free office productivity suite here!">OpenOffice</a> word processor, presentation, and spreadsheet programs do is create .pdf files, which are a standard in the office and web industries. They are used for everything from reports to catalogs to ebooks, and making them is a necessity in any office or web work. For years, <a href="http://get.adobe.com/reader/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get a free download of Adobe Reader here!">Adobe Reader</a> was the standard for being able to read such files, and most computers come with it already installed. But many people want to do more than simply read the files. They want to create their own, for emailing contracts, creating downloable files for their web work, and for creating such things as reports and ebooks. Sure, there are fancier programs for making ebooks and emags, in which you can even flip the pages, just like a real book. Those are great if you are publishing a weekly or monthly magazine, but most of them come with a usage cost. For once in a while reports or even casual ebooks, the .pdf file is still the way to go, as it will always appear the same on any computer.</div>
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In OpenOffice, you simply choose “export” from the file menu and export your word document files to a new file as the new file type! Then you can send that file via email, or make it downloable in your web pages.</div>
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The second most important thing that you should learn is how to work with spreadsheets. I have heard many people say (especially those not in business) that they have no need for spreadsheets.</div>
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Really.</div>
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Personally, I couldn’t function without them, even in a home environment! We use them for our:</div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">bookkeeping</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">tax records</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">investments</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">keeping approximate balances on loans</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">to do lists</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">want lists</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">lists of the affiliate progams and vendors we are associated with</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">doing projections based on expected income and expenses</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">tracking health concerns, such as blood pressure, sugar level and other things</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">grocery lists (including costs, comped items and who has what and where)</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">creating calendars for specific purposes (such as work schedules and hours)</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">home inventory (including item names and original cost, date purchased and when sold, for insurance records)</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">product inventory cost and sales proceeds for <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302001" data-skim-node-id="50:productinventorycost_1" data-skim-product="874148" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="874148" data-skimwords-word="ebay" href="http://ebay.com/" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">eBay</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">punch lists</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">etc, etc. the list could go on through hundreds of uses!</li>
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They work extremely well for lists which require “adjusting”, such as to do lists, that may have to be rearranged for priority, or simply deleting an item when completed.</div>
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In fact, included with spreadsheets is also another very usefull drawing program, which works in conjunction with the grid. I use that for doing floor plans of buildings, both for customers and myself. We have several variations of floor plans for our own home in files right now, so we can decide which way we want to go with our own remodeling. It could also be used for store layouts, warehouse layouts, office layouts and much more.</div>
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The secret to using it is to create very small cells (the little squares on the page) and make them equal proportions both ways on the screen. Then each cell can represent anything from a sixteenth of an inch, to a foot or more, depending on the scale you need. You can even add color to a cell or to whole areas, add shapes and control their size, add text and dimension lines, and much more. I don’t understand how anyone can function efficiently without word processing and spreadsheets! If they only understood how they could make their lives so much easier, they wouldn’t live without them!</div>
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You have probably heard of <a href="http://microsoftstore.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Find and buy PowerPoint here!">PowerPoint</a>. Many professional offices use it for slide presentations on large TV screens instead of the outdated overhead projectors and transparent sheets to draw on. I would bet that it was created for that alone and then other things were added to it. You may have even received “forwarded” emails at some time that required a slide presentation program to open and run them. You can even add prerecorded sound files to them with music or speech. For travelers, they can even do their vacation pictures on them, or other family pictures, and email that slide show to other relatives or friends. You can even do <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="644:.Manyprofessionaloff_1" data-skim-product="1962398" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1962398" data-skimwords-word="special%20effects" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dspecial%2Beffects" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">special effects</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> on the pictures with it.</div>
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Being able to do office presentations that a whole group can see on a larger screen, and have them run either manually or automatically is almost indespensible in office management and sales presentations. But many people don’t realize that such a program is also helpful in web work.</div>
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You can manipulate images in a presentation program. Let’s say that you have a web theme with a nice graphic already on it, and you want to create matching stationery from it. You can copy the image into the presentation program and then add text over the top of it (called layering), resize it to exactly what you need, and then save it as a file type (such as .jpg) that you can then import into a program like Printshop, to make envelopes, <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="659:Youcanmanipulateimag_1" data-skim-product="1957103" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1957103" data-skimwords-word="business%20cards" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dbusiness%2Bcards" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">business cards</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, labels and many more things from it. That is getting into basic graphics work. We will be teaching some of those methods as we get into this course, along with how to use other free graphics software.</div>
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You can also create some great headers for a web site or blog by using a presentation program with your own photos or downloaded images from the web, crop the image to size, add the necessary text over it, and then save to the proper file as a .jpg file. There are many more things you can do with a presentation program like Impress or PowerPoint, so don’t be afraid to experiment with it! Besides the built-in help with each program, there is also plenty of help on the web, from YouTube “how-to” videos to blogs and forums, so any question you can come up with will have an answer somewhere.</div>
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<a href="http://openoffice.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get the best free office productivity suite here!">OpenOffice</a> also has a database program similar to <a href="http://microsoftstore.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Find and buy Access here!">Microsoft’s Access program</a>. Many people don’t know how to work with databases, and I myself have only limited ability, but my wife took training in <a href="http://microsoftstore.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Find and buy Access here!">Microsoft Access</a> before she retired, and she has showed me some of the basics. A database is a form of spreadsheet, and can be used for many things, most commonly in business, for customer records and inventory work. It has the ability to sort files by nearly any parameter you set for it. If you want to see customers of a particular age range, gender, zip code, marital status or whatever, it will sort by whatever parameters you have entered for it. But think outside the box…</div>
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Let’s say you had a huge warehouse inventory or collection that you needed to keep track of. Or what about your prized library, movie or LP collection? In marketing, what about sets of documents like private label articles, which are typically obtained in large sets and must be sorted? Once entered into the database, you could sort by author, actor, director, genre, instrument, topic, word count, or any other parameter you set, and would know exactly what you had in your collection at any time, and maybe even where to find it. You can also install live links in the database to go straight to those articles (whether they are on your computer or the web). Those documents can then be copied to a blog, or an ebook. For physical collections, like CD’s, DVD’s, books and magazines, all you need is a way to locate them like libraries do, which would be a great resource for a music store, or almost any other kind of store! Warehouse operations can use it to locate by row number, shelf and/or bin number, etc. When a customer calls and asks “Do you have…?” you can look it up and know exactly what you have and where it is located!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Why is <a href="http://openoffice.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get the best office productivity software fre free, right here!">OpenOffice.org</a> a free download?</strong></h2>
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You will find that there is a whole genre of software and products on the web produced by a process called “open source”, which simply means that no one company builds it for monetary benefit, but rather a whole group of people all over the world are working together on it for the benefit of all web users. One blog lists 480 such programs, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_and_open_source_software_packages" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="A comprehensive list of links for free open source programs! ">Wikipedia shows their available list</a> on their site, with more being added all the time. The links on that site are clickable if you want any of the programs. Remember, they’re ALL free! The WordPress blog platform is one of those free products, as is the <a href="http://kompozer.net/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Download your free open source web buiding program here!">Kompozer.net</a>, <a href="http://joomla.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Download your free open source web building program here!">Joomla.org</a> and <a href="http://drupal.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Download your free open source web building program here!">Drupal.org</a> web builders.</div>
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Even the government is turning over many of their most secret files to open sources. The argument is that with so many people knowing how to keep them secure it is actually more secure than any one person or agency being in charge of them! Would you attempt to steal something if you knew there were 100,000 other people looking over your shoulder?</div>
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Summary and expectations</h2>
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In the next post we’re going to talk about some actual marketing software. Even if you have a marketing niche picked out and know what kind of product you want to sell (which by the way, is the backward way to go about making money, and goes against everything that marketing teaches), you will need that software to decide what keywords you want to use before you even come up with an “exact” product to sell, or a name for your site.</div>
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Keyword research is <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">THE</strong> most important aspect of selling anything, whether on the web or not… so pay attention! After that, we want to show a little bit about how to work with graphics and images, and then we’ll discuss what to use for analyzing the traffic and other data from your site, how to test it to make sure you have included everything you should have, as well as to check the results of advertising efforts, so stick around!</div>
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If you have any questions, please <a href="http://azgrand.com/contact-us/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Contact Us">contact me</a>, and I will answer ASAP.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-31530097795870690672012-07-15T12:18:00.000-05:002016-01-24T19:41:56.883-06:00Email Accounts<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/07/15/email-accounts-part-five-of-ten/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="2:48 PM">07/15/2012</a></div>
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After <a href="http://send.onenetworkdirect.net/z/327415/CD171238/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Secure your computer here!">securing your computer</a>, <a href="http://carbonite.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get your back-up protection here!">backing it up</a>, acquiring your <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get your domain registration and hosting here!">domain and hosting</a>, the next step is to set up the email accounts that came with your hosting package. You may not need all of them, as most hosting companies give you from five to fifty or more accounts, depending on your hosting package size. But no business (or even a private person) should ever have just one email account, for reasons that I will explain later.</div>
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What emails should a business have?</h2>
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Typical email addresses for business would include the owner’s email address, along with one for each employee that needs one, one for support, one for your PayPal account or other means of collecting money, one for your shipping department, and one for info. If you have affiliates, then have an email address for them to send inquiries to, as well as one for your suppliers.<br />
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Your image makes a difference to customers and sales!</h2>
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I want to say something about emails and image. I have seen way too many businesses using public email accounts, and it isn’t just my own opinion, but that of the general public, that when they see a public email address being used for business… it is a sure sign of an amateur. Believe it or not, there are even public displays of how the various email accounts rank in importance. Look it up if you don’t believe me! There have been blog posts about them on most well-known social sites at one time or another, and even cartoons! Those “in the know”………know!</div>
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Public email service rankings</h2>
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The most respected public account is Gmail. It has more professional-grade amenties (that a business would find useful) than any other account on the planet! You can even add your business email addresses to it (with your own URL) so that in an emergency, you can send from those business addresses through your Gmail account! Still, it should never be used as a stand alone account for business, simply for esthetics reasons. Customers expect web sites with matching email accounts these days, and if you don’t have it, you lose credibility with those (potential) customers.</div>
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Second in line (to Gmail) is Hotmail/Windows Live Mail (owned by the same company and basically the same). Third in the mix is Yahoo Mail. AOL ranks fourth in the list, and I have to say that after attempting to use AOL at least twice in my fifteen year career, it is definitely for amateurs. I know of NO professional of any kind, let alone a marketer, who uses AOL. Their platform isn’t even friendly to the types of programs and tasks that a marketer needs to use, so they are worthless to a marketer. It is a “selfish” program…in that when you have it on your computer, it wants to take over and prevent any other alternative programs from being used. I won’t even attempt to train anyone who uses AOL on their computer! The only time I see people using it is for non-business use, and even then, it ranks last on the list. Sorry AOL, those aren’t my facts. The general public has voted! Your loss!</div>
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Also, Netscape, Juno and others are so far down the list that they aren’t even mentioned! That alone should tell you something!</div>
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Professionalism counts!</h2>
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A business that has its act together and operates with responsibility and professionalism would not be caught dead using anything but an email address under their own company name and URL. And what makes it worse, if they already have a URL, then why are they not using the email that comes with the name? Are they too lazy to set it up? Do they not know how? Do they even realize (or believe) how ignorant it looks to advertise a company URL, and then show a public email address with it? Maybe they just don’t know what they don’t know!</div>
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We’re going to solve that problem right here, right now!</div>
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Setting up your business email on your “C” panel</h2>
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When you received your hosting information, you were given the URL address and log-in information to get into the “C” panel (control panel) on your domain! That is a necessary part of knowing how to use a domain properly! They all look pretty much the same so I’m going to use generalities here. If you want specifics on particular <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="361:Whenyoureceivedyourh_1" data-skim-product="1960786" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1960786" data-skimwords-word="operating%20systems" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Doperating%2Bsystems" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">operating systems</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, then go to <a href="http://youtube.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Search for instructions on anything you can think of!">YouTube</a> and find the video instructions.</div>
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Once you log onto your “C” panel you will see a list of topical frames displayed. Usually the first one is for web themes and such. Some of those lead to affiliate vendors who will sell you themes, but don’t worry about that right now. (Yes, even your hosting company uses affiliate sales to make extra money!)</div>
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The second or third frame down should be a lot of icons all related to email accounts. One will have to do with spam control, one for forwarding, one to get into the web mail (where you “could” actually go to read or write it, but no one ever uses it that way) and several others. One of them should say something about new email accounts. After you click on it, it will ask you what name you want on that account, after which should be your domain name (or a drop-down list of them if you have more than one domain). Fill out the rest of the form, and submit. Boom! You’re done!</div>
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Now how hard was that? It’s not rocket science and there’s no excuse for businesses not setting up their own email accounts and knowing how to manage the stuff on their “C” panel. That’s part of managing your web business, and there is a lot more information, settings, and controls there…. even some limited analytics, and we will get into all that later.</div>
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IMAP or POP3…you choose!</h2>
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Oh yeah, what about the differences betwen POP3 email and IMAP email? It will ask you which one you want to use, which may be dependent on how you are going to use it. For a long time, I didn’t know the difference and always chose POP3, as it is the simplest to set up. Since then I “wised up” and realize that IMAP does so much more! It’s unbelievable what a difference it makes “IF” you are reading your mail on a desktop email manager like Outlook or Thunderbird! But if you don't use a computer based email manager, then it doesn't apply to you.</div>
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POP3 just allows your email to go to your email manager, or forward to another account, as though it were a separate entity. If you want to deal with your mail from the server, you can, but that’s really going about it at the elementary (and more difficult) level. POP3 works OK for simple stuff.</div>
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But IMAP makes your mail interactive between your desktop-based email manager (Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.) with whatever account it is used on (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc.)!</div>
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For instance, I use Gmail for my forwarding (to send all my business server domain email accounts there). I also used to pull the Gmail account into my <a href="http://thunderbird.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get your free email manager here!">Thunderbird</a> account using IMAP. In addition, I had all of my server email pulled into Thunderbird, using POP3 service. That way, I ended up with two copies of everything. A business should always have “redundancy” to protect important accounts, in case something goes wrong and a program goes bad or a computer fails.</div>
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Why not use IMAP on everything? I really didn’t need to, because once the server mail is downloaded, I didn’t have anything there to interact with. You have a choice on each account in your email manager as to which method to use. If I simply left the mail on the server as my “back-up”, I would have to log into each domain separately, and clean it out once in a while so as not to overload it, and that would still not allow for all of my public email addresses. By forwarding everything to Gmail, and then having the server delete duplicates on the server mail once it sends, I can handle ALL of my domain’s emails on Gmail as well as ALL my public emails in one spot that is a lot easier to get into.</div>
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I used to pull all those emails into Thunderbird, so I would have them on my computer, which is great if you need to read emails offline, but that is almost unnecessary anymore. With everything being wireless, and being able to get online nearly anywhere these days, I have given up using Thunderbird entirely, and gone straight to Gmail to get my mail, and that’s even easier yet! It avoids having to have redundant emails to have to clear out.</div>
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The best email manager (IMOHO)</h2>
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I was recommending Thunderbird here, but have since seen limitations in it as it starts to fill up. In Thunderbird, you will have a list of all your email accounts in the left margin, just as on most email managers. It doesn’t look much different in layout than the old Outlook Express. Whatever email account you designate as primary will show up at the top. In my case it was everything from Gmail, followed by all its folders. It would show at the top of the left side-bar followed by my other email accounts, and then below that I have “local” folders that stay on my computer. As an alternative, you can also set up storage folders under each email account, if you prefer.</div>
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Whatever I did on the <a href="http://thunderbird.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get your free email manager here!">Thunderbird</a> managed IMAP Gmail account, from deleting mail to creating folders also occurs on the “real” Gmail account on the web, and vice versa, just as though they were twins! In other words they interact with each other, and what you do on one also happens on the other. You can’t do that with POP 3 mail.</div>
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Since Gmail is owned by Google and is protected by more methods than Carter has liver pills, I don’t worry any more about having “redundancy” built into my email programs anymore. The likelihood that Gmail would ever lose any emails permanently is so far-fetched that it doesn’t even count. I’m not worried.</div>
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As far as my own business server mail, once it was downloaded to Thunderbird via POP 3, the mail on the server was automatically deleted, otherwise it would eventually build up and clog the account! However, I left the mail that I want to leave on Gmail, so that if anything happens to my computer, it serves as a back-up copy of everything that I can get into immediately from another computer.</div>
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That is another advantage to having email protected by an “off-site” source. If your computer locks up, you can go to any other computer and get back into your email in less than 30 seconds (unless you have to go out and buy another computer).</div>
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One caution here, though, when using Thunderbird… as you create more and more folders on the system (to organize your emails) it can slow the system down, because it must also check each one of those folders for activity, as well as to check for new emails, and even on the best of systems that can take time. So don’t save things like blog posts, which you can get into online at any time. Only save things that are really worth saving (like log-on info for sites, and for software purchased online). And go through and review what you have in those folders about once a month, and if you don’t need it anymore, get rid of it. Computers don’t maintain themselves… you DO have to do some manual work once in a while!</div>
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Why back up emails?</h2>
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With <a href="http://carbonite.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get the best back-up protection here!">Carbonite back-up protection</a>, I would eventually get all my Thunderbird email files right back to a new computer, but it could take a day to do that. Without redundant emails on Gmail, I could be delayed in processing orders or other important emails during that time. If you are going to run a business, then you have to protect yourself from anything that “could” happen!</div>
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However, since I originally wrote this article, I have come to realize that Gmail is already backed up off site, and with the proliferation of wireless everywhere you go nowadays, retaining emails on your computer is only wasting time for most people. Also, anything on your computer adds to it’s slowing down with more and more information, so the less you clutter it up with, the faster it will run.</div>
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Since it is so easy to get online nearly everywhere, I am now using Gmail as my ONLY email manager. It is the only public service that has everything a business needs. If you want emails at your own URL, you can add them to Gmail and be able to send from your own URL anywhere in the world! There’s no need to be sending out emails from your business at a Gmail account name! You NEED to have your own company domain showing up on your email for professional reasons!</div>
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When you have all of your business email addresses installed on Gmail, you will get a drop down list at the top of any composed emails, and all you have to do is click on the address you want to send from. It doesn’t get any easier than that!</div>
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If you have any questions on this process, <a href="http://azgrand.com/contact-us/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Contact Us">contact me</a>, and I will answer ASAP.</div>
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Checking email on the server (which you should NEVER have to do!)</h2>
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OK, so even though it is a useless process, how do you get into the server account on the domain to check your email? You would need to remember or record the URL address and log-in information of the “C” panel and log into it, go to your “web mail” window and read your email there. But that’s really doing it the hard way. Sometimes they even have more than one email reader that you can use, but that’s confusing and a lot of hassle. The simplest thing you can do if you have a public email account is to forward your server email to that public account (again, I highly recommend Gmail), just as I do to my Gmail account. You can forward it to any public email account, or even another business email account on another server.</div>
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Back on the email page of your “C” panel was a link to forward your email. Click on that, and it will take you to a page with a form to input your email address you want to forward your email to, hit submit, and Boom! Done!</div>
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In Gmail, you can also set up your business emails there through a simple verification process (to verify that you own the account and not someone else), so that you can conduct all of your email business right there in Gmail, and be able to receive and send from all those accounts by selecting them in a drop-down window. If you don't do that, you will only be able to receive emails, but won't be able to send from anything but your Gmail address.</div>
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Configuring your Outlook Express or Windows Live Mail setup from the server</h2>
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Now if you also want to be really protected, you can also click another link in that email setup in your “C” panel to automatically configure Outlook Express and maybe another email manager, like Windows Live Mail. (Some may not automatically configure Thunderbird (yet), but don’t worry, they also give you all the settings for doing that manually.) However, this may eventually become a moot point, as Outlook Express hasn’t been used on anything since Windows 7 came along. And since none of the servers work with “open source” programs, which Thunderbird is, you will have to set that up yourself.</div>
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The configuration program will automatically detect whatever compatible program you have on your computer (not Thunderbird) and set it up for you! Now when you go back to Outlook Express or Windows Live Mail and open the program, you should see the business email accounts there and be able to receive your emails within that program. The way you do that is to go to the “Tools” menu at the top of your screen, and select “Accounts”. From there, you can click on any account and edit the settings of it.</div>
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I have to warn you, usually there are a couple other tweaks you have to do in any of the desktop email manager account settings to get it all “completely” set up, and sometimes that can be a little tricky. While in the program, just go to the “tools” tab at the top of the screen and click on “accounts”. A window will open with several tabs at the top, and you need to pay attention to the first and second tabs particularly. You may have to check the others, but you may not have to do anything in them. In the first window there will be a place to add a name to your account. This will be the name that is displayed along with your actual email address. It will also ask you for the reply address, which normally will be the same as your email address.</div>
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It will also have places for other setup instructions, like your password and whether or not you have a “secure server authentication”. Some will be checked already by the configuration program, so don’t mess with anything that is already checked off unless something doesn’t work. Just stick to the form boxes and leave the check boxes alone for now. Be sure you use whatever instructions were displayed on the “C” panel setup, or your email may not work right. If you need instructions to set it up manually, you will also see the manual setup instructions listed on the “C” panel in your email account section.</div>
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In case it doesn’t work, don’t be afraid to play with different settings on some of the things in your Outlook Express accounts window. I have had to play around for sometimes fifteen minutes to figure out the correct combination, but I have done it. And once you see what the problem was, it will be the same on all the other accounts. Usually it is just a matter of which check boxes are ticked.</div>
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But again, if all this seems too complicated, just stick with reading your mail straight off the Gmail online program, and you can avoid all these hassles. I’m only providing information on it here for those die hard fans of desktop management programs.</div>
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Remember, I don’t use them anymore!</div>
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Always double-check all operations to make sure they work!</h2>
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Another warning: just because you are receiving mail at an address on your email manager, doesn’t mean you can send from there. If you are receiving mail, that’s only half the situation. You also need to do a “test send” from each of those accounts to another of your accounts to verify that the send section works. If it doesn’t, you may have to go back and re-check your settings to make sure everything matches with what was shown on your “C” panel email account configuration. All your manual settings will be displayed there, and if all else fails, just keep changing one setting a time until you find the one that is causing the problem. I guarantee you that one of the settings will work, and once you find it, the solution will be the same for all accounts of the same type.</div>
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The one check box to make absolutely sure you check in any of the email manager program settings, is where it asks you to delete mail on the server after it is downloaded. If you don’t do that, the mail will continue to build up there until it reaches its capacity and then it won’t receive anymore! Don’t worry, that action doesn’t affect forwarded email unless you set it up that way on the “C” panel email settings. You can always go in and empty the email manually, but why create that extra step to remember? If you only use forwarding to a public account, then make sure that it deletes off the server after forwarding or you will have the same problem with the server filling up. You will also find that control (usually a check box) in your Gmail account (or other public account) settings.</div>
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What is the purpose of having more than one email account?</h2>
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OK, so why have more than one account? One word…<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">safety</strong>. You should <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">NEVER</strong> <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">EVER </strong>use a personal email account for business! Period!</div>
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If you have a payment processing system set up, where you depend on money coming in, that should have it’s own dedicated email account at your business URL, and <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">NEVER</strong> use it for anything else!</div>
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Use the business emails for their respective and logical uses for business. If you are answering a support question, then reply from “support” at your company. If you are answering a shipping question, then reply to it from “shipping” at your company. If they are asking a question about something in general, then reply from “info” at your company. If you are sending an official email to someone else, such as to ask about being a distributor for their products, then send it from an email with <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">YOUR NAME</strong> on it <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">AT YOUR COMPANY</strong>!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And NEVER use a public email address for a payment processor like PayPal. ANY public email system can be hacked. It has even happened to Google, although they hate to admit it!</strong></div>
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Also, if you should ever need to change it, you don’t want to have to change all of your other email addresses. Keep things “compartmentalized” and you can fix problems much quicker!</div>
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Credibility</h2>
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No “real” wholesaler or supplier is going to give an account to someone with a public email address and no business license! If you want to be taken seriously in the business world, then you have to act like a professional, and present yourself as one.</div>
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People doing business with companies on the web expect to receive reply emails from that company address… the same as the web address that they visited.</div>
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How would you like to ask something of somebody like Sears, and get a reply back from “joeyhotrod(at)<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">AOL.com</span>”? The customer doesn’t know you, and it will likely go to their junk box! And if they do manage to read it, they will suddenly lose a whole lot of respect for you AND your business!</div>
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Use all the personal emails from public addresses you want for things like family emails, “throw-away” or “disposable” addresses for opting in to various things on the web, and for any clubs and organizations that you belong to personally. After all, the email accounts are free, so why limit yourself to only one? Set up one for family, one for friends, one for “opting-in” to sites and blogs. You should also have some generic disposable email addresses for opting into things that are questionable. If they get to be spammy, you can always delete the address without screwing up your entire business and social life!</div>
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If you contact a professional organization that you belong to that is business related, then give them a business email address, preferably one with your own name on it. You can have more than one for various purposes, such as one with only your first intial and last name, one with your full name, or even one that just says “owner”. It will still be much more professional than using “<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">margies.hubby(at)rocketmail.com</span>” for your business.</div>
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More free instructions resources</h2>
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Anything that you want to know about setting up any kind of email you can think of is out there on the web, either in a blog, a forum, or even video instructions on <a href="http://youtube.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get instruction on aything right here!">YouTube</a>, so there’s no excuse for not learning. I don’t care if you work from your kitchen table in your pajamas with uncombed hair and a three-day growth of beard… to the rest of the world you are a business like any other, so present yourself online like one! Now go out there and show some class!</div>
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Summary and expectations</h2>
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This concludes the section on any services that you would pay for. Anything from here on is optional as far as being “necessary” for running a web based business. In the next section we’re going to talk about “office productivity” software, which, really, <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">EVERYONE </strong>should have, whether they run a business or not. Without it, you wouldn’t be able to type a letter for printing, open a .pdf file, look at that amazing slideshow that someone sent you on an email, or even see and understand all that spreadsheets are capable of, including drawing floor plans for your warehouse layout! You don’t have to pay hundreds of dollars for a “professional grade” office program. Thanks to a process called “open source”, I will show you where to get the equivalent to those “professional” programs for free, and they do everything the “pros” do!</div>
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So stick around. We’re just warming up.</div>
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Thanks for reading.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-90547951000186125782012-07-14T12:17:00.000-05:002016-01-24T18:33:59.085-06:00Hosting Your Site or Blog<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/07/14/hosting-part-four-of-ten/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="7:19 PM">07/14/2012</a></div>
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In parts one, two and three we have already discussed security protection, the importance of a proper back-up plan, and registering your domain, so the next service you will likely need is <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your hosting here!">hosting</a>, which will automatically have your business email accounts attached to it that you will need to set up. More on that in the next post.</div>
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Hosting isn’t a software, as you can’t buy it and “own it”… unless you are willing to spend thousands of dollars for dedicated servers and pay someone to manage them 24/7. For the majority of us, we “rent” a portion of someone else’s server space for hosting our sites.</div>
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Let me explain something about what is involved with <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your hosting here!">hosting</a>. Beyond what I mentioned above about managing your own server, there are also security issues involved with such an operation. You can get a little “sloppy” with your own dedicated servers (that you own, and have nothing on them but your own sites) if that is your choice, but there is way more space (memory space) on a server than you will ever use yourself. Many large companies with multiple offices may buy and manage their own servers and hire someone to maintain them, but the average small business isn’t going to go to that expense.<br />
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<iframe src="http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?t=incarazg01-20&o=1&p=26&l=ur1&category=amazonhomepage&f=ifr&linkID=NCT2LHFBTL5II543" width="468" height="60" scrolling="no" border="0" marginwidth="0" style="border:none;" frameborder="0"></iframe>
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For the larger companies who do own servers, the logical thing is to also rent out that excess server space to other people on which to host their sites. That is where a major shift takes place, because now, you (as the server owner/manager) may never know how much “top secret” data is stored on there by other users, and guess what… YOU are suddenly responsible for the security of all of that information belonging to other people! They expect it to be secure above all, online 24/7 with no excuses for down-time, and they expect someone to be there 24/7 for support if they have an issue. Then you will have to have a billing department to keep track of all those rentals, etc., etc. Who wants that kind of hassle?</div>
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I used to be one of the few electricians on call for a couple of data centers in a major city of about three million people. The one downtown was only a small, one-level frame building. Their security was the basic card-reader locks at every door, both inside and out. It was none of my business who their clients were, but I was told that many of the servers were public email clients.</div>
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At another facility was a two-story solid concrete building with walls four-feet thick, and ceilings two-feet thick. It could withstand a nearby nuclear attack. Due to public security, they also had to have a back-up plan, just to keep things running in the event of a major emergency! Out back, within another concrete enclosure sat a huge <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="171:upplan,justtokeepthi_1" data-skim-product="433038" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="433038" data-skimwords-word="diesel%20generator" href="http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=diesel+generator" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">diesel generator</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> the size of a railroad car.</div>
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The main building had a card entry at every door, only this time double entry doors (one past the other), including going from one floor to the other! There were also concrete and iron fences around the entire property monitored by cameras (as was the inside). The fire protection system was non-liquid, so that if anything happened it would only starve for oxygen and not short everything out from water! There were at least four tech support people on duty at any time, two up and two down. Bookkeeping and account information was in another off-site area. For this type of facility, I have to assume their clients were government entities, banks, and other higher level institutions that wanted higher security. I didn’t need to know. If they told me they might have had to kill me. (Just kidding…………I think).</div>
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My main point here is that hosting is serious and expensive business, and not something that an amateur should get involved with. It isn’t just the expense of the servers, but what you should have as a proper facility, and support for the operation.</div>
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There are many hosting companies out there, and also many “resellers” of hosting. I could be a “reseller” if I chose to, and customers would probably never know the difference, but I still would not own the servers nor have the responsibility of monitoring them. I would simply be a “subcontractor” salesperson, collecting fees (as in billing department), managing accounts, being responsible for something that I had no control over, and yet getting paid for bringing people to the actual owners of the servers.</div>
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Personally, I don’t like dealing with “middlemen”, so I usually go right to the owners. My preferred hosting source above all others, is <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your hosting here!">HostGator</a>. And yes, I do make a small commission, paid by them (like a finder’s fee), for referring you through my links, but the difference is that I am not claiming to be a hosting company or managing any accounts. I am only sending you to the “real” source of hosting, where you will do business with <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your hosting here!">the hosting company</a> directly, and believe me… it’s a very good one!</div>
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For $9.95 a month, we have unlimited hosting (meaning we can create as many sites or blogs as we want to, and all we pay for is the domain registration for each one. All that is involved with hosting is signing up for an account, and at some point, one of the forms will ask for the DNS (domain name server) location, which was provided to you by your domain registration company. If you get both the domain and the hosting through the same company, at the same time, they may even prefill this form for you. If not, it will be in the email you received from the registration company. That’s all there is to signing up for hosting and getting your site operational. Now all you have to do is add content to your site.</div>
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As I mentioned in the previous post, early in our career we made the mistake of going with a smaller hosting company, and had nothing but trouble with them, from their sloppy billing practices to the down-time of their servers, to the customer service and prices they offered. We finally did our research, and moved everything but a couple of domain names to <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your hosting here!">HostGator</a>. They are completely based in the United States (Houston and Austin, Texas, to be exact), they use mostly “green” energy from the wind farms in that area, and their service has been excellent. The few times I have had to speak with someone, they spoke clear English, were knowledgeable and the problem was solved immediately. Other times, I have used their live chat service, and again, the customer service was excellent. They have several levels of packages for hosting to suit anyone’s needs, from single domains to unlimited hosting. For less than thirty-three cents a day in hosting, I could potentially have a thousand different sites, all for the same low price, and I know I have a reliable company to deal with.</div>
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Most hosting companies provide free web site template themes, along with many more from paid sources, that you can use to build your site… or you can use your own software to build your own pages… OR you can do a couple clicks of your mouse and upload a blog program, which usually has its own themes and templates. When you install the blog program on your site it will automatically take the place of the stock place-holder page, and then you can log-in to start building it the way you want.</div>
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For normal web sites, they have a simple “publish” button (usually within the file menu on your computer screen) to upload your site to the domain. Then, when you go to your URL, you will see your web site pages, rather than the blank page. We’ll talk more about creating web sites and blogs later.</div>
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The main thing to look for in a <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your hosting here!">hosting company</a> is their service (make sure you can contact someone for help 24/7) and their reliability (make sure their down time is minimal). Every hosting company keeps logs of server time,and should be able to give the actual stats of their down time. All of them have “some” down time, but ideally it should only be for scheduled maintenance, brief times between a power outage and when their generators kick in, and such things as that. Occasionally a problem can develop with a server just like any other electronic equipment, and they may have to switch to another server, replace a defective card, or make a repair. The big question is how well they are prepared to meet such emergencies to get you back up and running ASAP.</div>
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Bigger companies are going to have more knowledgeable people on staff, more inventory of parts, and even spare servers, all of which keep down time to the bare minimum.</div>
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We all need to be environmentally conscious these days, too, and I like the fact that <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your hosting here!">Hostgator</a> gets most of their power from wind farms, rather than smelly coal-fired power plants, fossil fuel driven power plants or nuclear powered electricity. After that accident in Russia and now the earthquake in Japan, it makes me more concerned with building any more nuclear plants.<br />
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The fact that <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your hosting here!">Hostgator</a> is based right here in the United States gives me confidence that when I need to talk to someone I can understand them. But they serve a world-wide customer base, also, and I’m sure they have people working for them that speak other languages as well. I would have to assume they route calls to those people based on where the calls come from, as it should be.</div>
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Along with any hosting always comes email accounts, and there is no extra charge for those (unless you need more than comes with the package). Smaller packages and single domain packages may have only five emails, while larger packages might have as many as fifty or more. I have a mid-range account and mine comes with 25 for each domain.</div>
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I don’t use them all, but for my main sites, I may use 5-10 email accounts each. Some are dedicated inbound only (I don’t send from them), like from my marketing newsletters so that I can track problems when they occur.</div>
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It has happened once before that a user’s newsletter account got hacked and I ended up with almost 250 scam and spam emails coming in per day, and I had no idea where it originated! It took me 12 hours to stop that problem and I had to shut down an email address in my name at my company… and that shouldn’t happen to anyone! Now if someone gets hacked, I can shut down only his dedicated address, and not affect the rest of my system. These are the little things that make or break a business, and that you sometimes learn the hard way!</div>
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But yet I see so many businesses too lazy to setup proper business emails of their own, and they end up looking like dorks, because of using a public email address, like “dorksboats(at)<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">aol.com</span>”. An address like that is a sure sign of an amateur, typical of someone who doesn’t even have a web site yet, and not someone I want to do business with! There’s no excuse for it. I can set up all twenty-five of my email addresses (for each account) in less than 30 minutes on a professional email manager, where all addresses from all accounts both public and private can be read and answered in the same place… AND create a back-up system at the same time! It’s not rocket science, or I wouldn’t be able to do it!</div>
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In the next chapter, we’re going to discuss all that, so you need to stick around. Come back often so you don’t miss any of this, because we’re just getting started. And as always, if you have any questions, <a href="http://azgrand.com/contact-us/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Contact Us">let me know</a>.</div>
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Thanks for reading.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-61540011304800031052012-07-13T12:16:00.000-05:002016-01-24T18:19:22.750-06:00Domain Registration<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/07/13/domain-registration-part-three-of-ten/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="11:32 PM">07/13/2012</a></div>
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In parts one and two, we talked about keeping your computer safe from lost data, as well as malware and virus threats. Now we get into things that are more in the line of services, rather than products. Unfortunately, there are a few things that 999.9% of us are not going to create for ourselves, we can’t buy it outright to “own” it, and we can’t get it for free, so we do have to pay for a minimal number of items. The things in parts three and four of this series may not even be needed, depending on what kind of business you are running. If you do your selling strictly on the auctions for instance, they provide your advertising space for you, and you don’t need a site of your own.</div>
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Before you get carried away with the information on setting up your domain, and end up naming it something that you’ll regret, you need to also read <a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/07/20/marketing-and-research-software-part-eight-of-ten/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Marketing and Research Software, Part eight of ten">Post #8</a> in this series, regarding marketing software. There is where we talk more about the keyword software that you should be using to find out exactly what your business name and domain name should be. DO NOT even consider naming your business or domain until you do the proper keyword research to see what your potential customers are looking for!</div>
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In the meantime, be patient, enjoy the posts as they come up, and I guarantee you by the end of Post #10, you will be ready to actually work on your money-making site.<br />
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As with anything else, I am a believer in choosing the biggest and best companies to deal with, for the reasons mentioned previously. That also applies to the two main things you will most likely need… <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy domain registration and hosting here!">domain registration and hosting</a>. I say “most likely” because it is possible to make money online by using such things as online auctions, free blogs, free classified ads, stock and commodity charts, and many other things, depending on your business model, and how you manage it. But the majority of marketers, even those running auctions, are going to use a domain and hosting of their own, above all else.</div>
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As I have told my auction <span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">students before, money is not made entirely on the auctions, but if you use the auctions wisely, you can use them to drive traffic to a web site, where your profit margin on sales is much higher. </span><a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your domains and hosting here!">Domains and hosting</a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"> aren’t technically “software”, but rather, they are services, and not likely the kind you would try to set up and run yourself. Still, it is a part of the basic “setup” you will need for most businesses.</span></div>
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<b>What is a domain and why do you need to register it on the web? </b><br />
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Think of it like your phone number on the web, unique to you so that people can find you or your business. The main reason to register it is so some main “entity” can keep track of them, so that no two web addresses will ever be alike, as it would create a state of confusion that no one could manage. It would be like multiple phone numbers for different businesses all over the globe! Some main agency or “entity” has to be responsible for all that information to avoid duplicates. But they can’t call a domain a “phone number”, so they use an alpha-numeric code name and call it a URL (Universal Resource Locator).</div>
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Unlike the phone company, you get to choose what your URL will be, as long as it is available, and not already taken by someone else. That's where the domain registrars do their job. And because different businesses provide that registration service (all governed by that one main “entity”), they deserve to get paid for doing it.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What should be in the URL (or…how to decide on a name for your site)?</strong></div>
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This is where keywords (and phrases) come in. Before you ever think about what to sell, who to sell it to, what to name your site, what to name your pages (or posts), what your sub-titles should be, or what words to put in your sales text… you HAVE to start with knowing what keywords to use!</div>
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Keywords are what your potential customers type into the search engine search forms to find what they want. Search engines are like robots. They only respond to exact matches of words. If they can’t find exact matches, they will then pull up other things that they “think” are related, which is why we see so many “irrelevant” listings come up the farther down we go on the results page. If you don’t know how to match your keywords to exactly what the customer wants, then how are you going to know how to reach your customers?</div>
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A good example of what NOT to do is the name of this site. No one searches for “Azgrand”. It’s an abstraction that means nothing to most people, and is not what they would search for on the search engines. It has nothing to do with marketing, and only has vague meaning for us. The problem is that it was founded long before I ever knew the importance of keywords, which is why it has gone through several transitions over several years, and is now only a place for our “headquarters”. The few times we did try to make use of it as a local information site, it was for local advertising spurred on by <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="936:AgoodexampleofwhatNO_1" data-skim-product="1957103" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1957103" data-skimwords-word="business%20cards" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dbusiness%2Bcards" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">business cards</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">. But for a worldwide marketplace based on search engines, this URL is useless. Therefore, I have to compensate by using other techniques to drive traffic to the site, such as </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">listing it on other sites that have higher traffic. As this training continues I will reveal those techniques, as well as keyword tools and techniques.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">using other key words in the URL, such as "Internet Marketing". This is another reason we have decided to add those words in the URL of this new blog site, rather than just the word "Azgrand" as the original domain used.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">using other keywords in the title and sub-title of the site, and in the content itself, can compensate for a URL which no one would ever search for. </span></li>
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The biggest obstacle is that if someone is looking for “beginner marketing course”, the search engines will breeze right on by my domain name! The only way I can catch their attention is through secondary methods, which are never as good as having your main keywords in your domain name. If I want first page, first position rankings in such a competitive market as this, I would have to pay for traffic. Even then, my ad would either have to be a very expensive “top-of page” ad, or get sidelined along the border, and stats have proven that many people ignore the paid ads, thinking that the generic ads are more “real” and relevant. Either way, I lose.</div>
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If I were selling some ridiculously expensive marketing course, as so many marketers do, it might be worth paying for some exposure and traffic, but you have to know how much you can pay for those ad placements, so that you don’t spend more on ads than what your sales produce in income. We’ll discuss the ROI (return on investment) later when you are ready for it.</div>
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The main thing to remember is to ALWAYS use your main keyword (or words) in the URL of your site! Those should be keywords that are typed into the search form on Google (or other search engines) and should be highly used. That is the very first thing that the search engines look for when trying to match search words with results. If they don’t find the search words (the keywords) there, then they will have to go to the site title, the sub-title, post headline, or other sources which decline in importance, and may not get you as high in the results.</div>
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Let me make it very plain here… if you don’t get on the first page, first position of search results, your traffic diminishes almost exponentially the lower you are in the results! Traffic equals sales. If people find what they want in the first result, there is no need to look at what’s in the second result! Without traffic (visitors to your site), you don’t make sales! And if you can’t get to the first page through generic search engine optimization on the site itself, then you will have to pay for the ad position (more on that topic later), which is going to take away from profits! This is why keyword research is so important to sales (and profits) success!</div>
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For <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Register your domain here!">Domain Registration</a> (as well as hosting), there are many choices. We made the mistake of going with a smaller company many years ago, and had nothing but trouble with them, from their sloppy billing practices, to the sites going down due to server problems, to the services and the prices they offered. We finally did our research, and moved everything but a couple of domains to <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Register your domain here!">HostGator</a>. Many people think of them as a hosting company, but they also will register your domain for you. They are completely based in the United States (Texas, to be exact), they use mostly “green” energy from the wind farms in that area, and their service has been excellent. The few times I have had to speak with someone, they spoke perfect English, were knowledgable and the problem was solved immediately. Other times, I have used their live chat service, and again, the customer service was excellent. (My old company didn’t even have live chat service.) Even with the higher priced “dot com” domains, it only costs four cents a day, and you know you are with a reliable company. And just as important, they have 24-hour service, so if you have a problem in the wee hours of the morning or on weekends, someone will be there to answer your question. My old company didn’t have that, either!</div>
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I have heard other people say how you can get 99-cent domains from some other companies, but usually they are the lesser known domains (.info, .tv, .edu, etc.) and may not look as professional to prospective customers. It has been said that even the search engines place more importance on dotcom, dotorg, and dotnet domains than any other, so the wrong choice could also affect your search rankings.</div>
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Let’s get real here… this is only a miniscule once a year expense anyway, and if you can’t make more than 4 cents a day to cover the cost of a good domain from a reliable company, then maybe you should re-think why you are trying to run a business from that domain! There IS such a thing as being a cheapskate, and I have seen all too often how people try to pinch pennies, only to lose dollars! There has to be common sense in deciding what is worth spending money on, and what can be obtained for less, and some people just don’t have good common sense!</div>
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There’s nothing wrong with watching expenses, but some people take that to the extreme and try to “penny-pinch” everything into oblivion, which is usually where their business ends up. Good business management isn’t about penny-pinching! It’s about knowing where to spend money (or not spend it) to get the best overall results. Trying to be just plain “cheap” can destroy your business, but spending money wisely can save and even build your business. It takes a special talent to know the difference, which is why CEO’s for major companies make “the big bucks”.</div>
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The thought of having a domain scares some people, because they think it is some high-level technical accomplishment that they couldn’t possibly understand. All it amounts to is filling out a form, paying your fee and getting your information by email. That email will have all the information you need for your domain, including the DNS (domain name server) location, which you will have to give to your hosting company through an online form so they know what to connect your hosting account to. If you buy both the domain and the hosting from the same company, they will usually link them for you if you don’t know how.<br />
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If all else fails, there are plenty of videos on YouTube to walk you through the process of setting it up. There is no excuse for not learning this process, as the help is out there in every form you can think of from text to video. All you have to do is look for it. If you can’t do something as simple as this, you probably can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, either! Forget web marketing and back away before you hurt yourself!</div>
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As soon as the domain is turned on, you can go to the URL of your domain and see the home page that is there, usually with your domain name on it. At first it will simply show a stock place-holder page supplied by the host until you actually add content to the site.</div>
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That’s all there is to acquiring a domain. The next step is to add content to the domain, and to do that, you will need a <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your hosting account here!">hosting account</a> on which to build your web pages or blog content. You will give the hosting account your DNS location in their online application form, so that they can link your hosting account to the correct domain address. That’s all there is to it. If you need help with it, you can always ask me in the comments below<span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">.</span></div>
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I’m here to help people because I can, and because no one was there for me (without charging an arm and a leg) when I started. Beginning marketers can’t afford expensive courses, which many times end up on the floor of a closet because they don’t understand them. Too many marketers say there’s no money in teaching details, and they only teach the main objectives without giving the beginning students the reasons behind them. As a result, 95% of people will never do anything with the information, even after they pay thousands of dollars for it. So I am giving it away for free, and my only hope is that you will use my links to buy a few things that you really need so that I can make a small “referral fee” from the vendor, and maybe some people will feel generous enough to make a donation now and then.</div>
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Next we will discuss the actual hosting account and what you can do with it once you get it, including adding a blog, and setting up your business email accounts. As always, if you have a question on something you don’t understand, ask me in the comments, and I will answer usually within a couple hours at most. If I am at my computer, I will answer within minutes. If I’m off doing something else, it might take a couple of hours to reply, but I always reply.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-1951734919750142872012-07-12T12:15:00.000-05:002016-01-24T17:56:47.455-06:00Back-up and Protection Methods<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/07/12/back-up-protection-software-part-two-of-ten/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="1:10 PM">07/12/2012</a></div>
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In this series of ten posts regarding what software you will need to run a marketing business online, we are going to discuss the five basic “for a fee” items (actually the fifth one comes free with the fourth item) as well as five free pieces of software that is indispensable to any home business. These posts are only the beginning of a free course in marketing for beginners, so return often so you don’t miss any new posts. You CAN make money online. I’ve been doing it for roughly 15 years. But you need to do these basic steps first.</div>
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By now, you should have your computer protected with a good suite of security products, but many people put off back-up protection until after their computer crashes, and by then it’s too late. Besides the lost time, unless someone can recover the files from your old <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="712:Bynow,youshouldhavey_1" data-skim-product="1959303" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1959303" data-skimwords-word="hard%20drive" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dhard%2Bdrive" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">hard drive</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> (if it’s even possible), it can be a very expensive setback, in both repairs and lost income. You will also lose the confidence that your customers had in you if they see that you cannot manage your business properly, and will go elsewhere, resulting in a loss of income. It’s not worth taking that kind of chance. We’re going to talk about back-up protection to save your files in case your computer crashes, is stolen or destroyed.</div>
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For back-up protection, we use <a href="http://carbonite.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your Carbonite Back-up Protection here!">Carbonite</a>. Some people think that all they have to do is save their files to an <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="177:.Somepeoplethinkthat_1" data-skim-product="1851471" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851471" data-skimwords-word="external%20hard%20drive" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.colamco.com%2Fiosafe-solopro-hard-drive-sm3tb5yr-1098018%3Fsource%3Dfroogle&mid=76641&cat_id=410&atom=10026&prod_id=&oid=6603045488&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=0&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=10ad56d63f7df276&af_sid=18&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">external hard drive</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> setting on their desk, but that is a cheap and ineffective method that has its limits.<br />
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What happens if your whole house is destroyed by fire or flood, or someone breaks in while you’re gone and takes everything? What happens if a tornado blows your whole house away? What if you just plain forget to manually back up the last spreadsheet you worked on, or the family pictures that you just organized into an album? What good is your <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="387:Whathappensifyourwho_1" data-skim-product="1851471" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851471" data-skimwords-word="external%20hard%20drive" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.colamco.com%2Fiosafe-solopro-hard-drive-sm3tb5yr-1098018%3Fsource%3Dfroogle&mid=76641&cat_id=410&atom=10026&prod_id=&oid=6603045488&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=0&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=10ad56d63f7df276&af_sid=18&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">external hard drive</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> going to do you then?</div>
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When running a business it is critically important to have ALL of your business backed up on a server which is not a physical part of that business, continually and automatically… in other words… off site.</div>
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That’s what <a href="http://carbonite.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your Carbonite Protection here!">Carbonite</a> does. For about sixteen cents a day, it automatically and continually works in the background, in between your own keystrokes so as not to slow you down. It backs up literally everything on your computer (except certain downloaded programs) (it’s a legal issue) as well as everything on any <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="631:does.Foraboutsixteen_1" data-skim-product="1851472" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851472" data-skimwords-word="external%20hard%20drives" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.colamco.com%2Fbuslink-ciphershield-cse-6t-u2kkb-hard-drive-cse-6t-u2kkb-983013%3Fsource%3Dfroogle&mid=76641&cat_id=410&atom=10026&prod_id=&oid=6603022977&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=0&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=21ee42e78a178d4f&af_sid=41&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">external hard drives</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> on your desk (that’s optional and may not be needed). And if you lose your computer and/or all your data, you can log onto their site from your new computer and download everything right back to your desktop, to the same folders and files, just like it was before. There are many others out there that do the same thing, but I feel that <a href="http://carbonite.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy uour Carbonite Back-up Protection here!">Carbonite</a> is the best known, and since I use it myself, I know it works. I have already had a computer crash last fall (2011), and within a day I was completely up and running with a new computer and all my data was right back where it was before, despite going from a computer with XP to the new computer with Windows 7.</div>
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Keep in mind, the speed of recovery is dependent upon how much information was on your computer, and what your download speed is on your internet service. I have a lot of files on my computer… more than an average “home” office user, but probably not as much as someone who does a lot of graphics work. It took nearly 8 hours to recover all my data on a 10 Mbps service. (Download speeds are typically less than what your internet speed is rated.) But the important thing is… it was ALL there!</div>
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(Side note: On top of that, I also have redundant emails set up, so even before I had the new computer operational, I was able to go to another computer and IMMEDIATELY get into all of my emails that were forwarded from my own servers to a public server (Gmail). So in that regard, I lost only a few seconds of time. NEVER, EVER depend on a computer based email management program, like Windows Live Mail, or the open source Thunderbird. I have used several of them and lost very important emails that were no longer on the server after they downloaded!</div>
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Most PC’s with Windows 7 or newer now come with Windows Live Mail as their new email manager, which replaces the former Outlook Express. You can still get Outlook, but it no longer comes standard on new PC’s. The new program works very much like the old one, except that I ended up with scrambled folders after two very minor power line glitches, and I refused to use it a third time. The information in those folders was lost forever, and I can’t deal with that.</div>
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On my own computer I used <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/download" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get your free Thunderbird email manager here!">Thunderbird</a> (another good and free “open source” email management program similar to Outlook Express) to pull from my own business email accounts, as well as the redundant Gmail emails, so that I have two copies of everything. But I later discovered that it has its limits also, and slows way down when you get too much information stored in it. But it does work well as a reader for RSS feeds, so that is all I use it for now, although that use may go away, too, due to my now owning an <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="481:(anothergoodandfree“_1" data-skim-product="1851820" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851820" data-skimwords-word="ipad" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fc.affil.walmart.com%2Ft%2Fcsebr01%3Fl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.walmart.com%252Fip%252FApple-iPad-Air-16GB-Wi-Fi-Refurbished%252F43309247%253Fwmlspartner%253Dbizratecom%2526affcmpid%253D1812351796%2526tmode%253D0000%2526bcfg%253D1ea7370fdb8c5bfaabb2d1c1a41782ec%2526veh%253Dcse%26szredirectid%3DSZ_REDIRECT_ID&mid=401&cat_id=9257&atom=9262&prod_id=&oid=6212145172&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=1&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=bcb2783985b97c34&af_sid=20&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">iPad</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>.</div>
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The <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="222:TheiPaditselfcannotr_1" data-skim-product="1851820" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851820" data-skimwords-word="ipad" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fc.affil.walmart.com%2Ft%2Fcsebr01%3Fl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.walmart.com%252Fip%252FApple-iPad-Air-16GB-Wi-Fi-Refurbished%252F43309247%253Fwmlspartner%253Dbizratecom%2526affcmpid%253D1812351796%2526tmode%253D0000%2526bcfg%253D1ea7370fdb8c5bfaabb2d1c1a41782ec%2526veh%253Dcse%26szredirectid%3DSZ_REDIRECT_ID&mid=401&cat_id=9257&atom=9262&prod_id=&oid=6212145172&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=1&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=bcb2783985b97c34&af_sid=20&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">iPad</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> itself cannot read RSS directly, but it recommends other programs from which it can pull the files…none of which are Thunderbird. So I may have to go to another reader that will work with both the PC and the <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="222:TheiPaditselfcannotr_1" data-skim-product="1851820" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851820" data-skimwords-word="ipad" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fc.affil.walmart.com%2Ft%2Fcsebr01%3Fl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.walmart.com%252Fip%252FApple-iPad-Air-16GB-Wi-Fi-Refurbished%252F43309247%253Fwmlspartner%253Dbizratecom%2526affcmpid%253D1812351796%2526tmode%253D0000%2526bcfg%253D1ea7370fdb8c5bfaabb2d1c1a41782ec%2526veh%253Dcse%26szredirectid%3DSZ_REDIRECT_ID&mid=401&cat_id=9257&atom=9262&prod_id=&oid=6212145172&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=1&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=bcb2783985b97c34&af_sid=20&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="2" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">iPad</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>.</div>
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When you depend on customer service and orders coming in, you can’t afford to miss or lose any emails! It’s easier to delete duplicates than it is to recover "one and only" emails after they’re lost! It’s nice to have emails on your computer, so you can read them offline, but you also need to have critical emails stored off site, and Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or any public email will suffice, although Gmail is rated the top of the line public email provider for “business” use by popular vote!) (And if it’s free, why not go for the best?)</div>
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Due to the slowing down of Thunderbird, I have resorted to using Gmail exclusively. Not only is it as reliable as you can get, it is already off site, accessible from any computer, and it works well with <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="349:Duetotheslowingdowno_1" data-skim-product="1851820" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851820" data-skimwords-word="ipad" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fc.affil.walmart.com%2Ft%2Fcsebr01%3Fl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.walmart.com%252Fip%252FApple-iPad-Air-16GB-Wi-Fi-Refurbished%252F43309247%253Fwmlspartner%253Dbizratecom%2526affcmpid%253D1812351796%2526tmode%253D0000%2526bcfg%253D1ea7370fdb8c5bfaabb2d1c1a41782ec%2526veh%253Dcse%26szredirectid%3DSZ_REDIRECT_ID&mid=401&cat_id=9257&atom=9262&prod_id=&oid=6212145172&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=1&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=bcb2783985b97c34&af_sid=20&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">iPad</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, too. In fact, they have a special app for it, but you can also go online directly to the site and read your email there, using any browser.</div>
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So what about those downloaded programs that <a href="http://carbonite.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your Carbonite Back-up Protection here!">Carbonite</a> (or no other company) will back up for you because of legal reasons? Easy…</div>
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–If you received the program on a disk, then the instructions usually just tell you to “run” the program from there. No need to save it to your <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="360:–Ifyoureceivedthepro_1" data-skim-product="1959303" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1959303" data-skimwords-word="hard%20drive" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dhard%2Bdrive" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">hard drive</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, because you have the original disk for back-up. You’ll just have to reload those programs manually. Any data that they use IS stored on your computer, in other files, and will be stored and retrievable by <a href="http://carbonite.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy Your Carbonite Back-up Protection here!">Carbonite</a>.</div>
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Always store your program disks in a safe place, along with any registration keys they give you (usually in the cover). If you store your important stuff at home, then you should have it in a fire-box or fire-proof safe of some kind, and preferably as low as you can get it. Heat rises, so if you have a basement, store your fire-box there, but above any flooding possibilities. It will be less likely to sustain heat damage if it is below the flames as much as possible, and if above waist high will usually avoid most flooding accidents.</div>
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–If you downloaded the program from the web, many times they also will tell you to simply “run” the program from their download link on the site. I normally “save” the program first. Most of them are sent in either a .zip file or a .exe file, and once those files are on your computer, <a href="http://carbonite.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your Carbonite Back-up Protection here!">Carbonite</a> will save those files. But if you only tell it to “run” the program, the part of the program that initiates the startup of the program remains on the web and only the install portion is sent to your computer. If you lose it for any reason, then you may have to go through the install process again from the web. (Sorry, but that’s as “non-technical” as I know how to explain it. Any tekkies that have a better way of explaining it are welcome to chime in on the comments. But please, no guess work. Be sure of what you are saying.)</div>
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–This is also a good reason why you need to set up email folders… to store critical emails with download information and receipts in them. DO NOT simply leave emails in your inbox! A good back-up program like <a href="http://carbonite.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your Carbonite Back-up Protection here!">Carbonite</a> will restore all your emails AND folders. Organize them properly and you will spend a whole lot less time trying to locate them again! If you forget where you got the downloaded program, your email archives will give the address to go back and get it again, as well as the proof of purchase to give you log-on information or entry keys (the long string of alpha-numeric characters that some programs require to register and activate them). You should also save your receipts for such programs which are always emailed to you. That way, if you have to provide proof that you already purchased the program, you can easily email it to the provider for verification.</div>
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There are other backup programs available, but I recommend what I use. With fifteen years in this business, I watch what other professionals use, read the reviews, and make sound decisions based on proper research. If I didn’t feel that <a href="http://carbonite.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy yoour Carbonite Back-up Protection here!">Carbonite</a> was the best, I wouldn’t recommend it. But whatever you decide, the important thing is that you make the decision right now, to store your data off site, away from your business or residence, so that it is fully protected.</div>
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Protecting your data is important, whether you run a business or not, and just putting them on an <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="200:Protectingyourdatais_1" data-skim-product="1851471" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851471" data-skimwords-word="external%20hard%20drive" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.colamco.com%2Fiosafe-solopro-hard-drive-sm3tb5yr-1098018%3Fsource%3Dfroogle&mid=76641&cat_id=410&atom=10026&prod_id=&oid=6603045488&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=0&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=10ad56d63f7df276&af_sid=18&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">external hard drive</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> is not the total answer. It is certainly not the answer for protecting a business.</div>
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As always, let me know your thoughts.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-48743341085415492592012-07-09T12:13:00.000-05:002016-01-24T17:42:09.231-06:00Virus and Malware Protection<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/07/09/virus-and-malware-protection-software-part-one-of-ten/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="9:37 PM">07/09/2012</a></div>
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Basic Business Software – what will I need?</h2>
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In this ten-part series, we are going to introduce you to the ten basic things (five paid, and five free) that you will need to run an online business. This will be the first of many series of articles that will form your course for beginning marketers.</div>
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Despite all the offers you are bound to receive in this business that promise to be the next new answer to making money online, the truth is, you need very little to be successful. The real secret is to know and understand how to use the software that is already available on your computer or available for free on the web.</div>
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Unfortunately, there are a few things that 999.9% of us are not going to create for oursleves and we can’t get for free, so we do have to pay for a minimal number of items. The five main things you will have to pay for are (1) <a href="http://send.onenetworkdirect.net/z/327415/CD171238/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get McAfee products here!">anti-virus and malware protection</a>, (2) <a href="http://carbonite.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your Carbonite Back-up Protection here!">back-up protection</a> for your saved data (and I don’t mean an external hard-drive), (3) <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your domain registration here!">domain registration</a>, (4) <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your hosting here!">hosting</a>, and (5) your own business email (which comes free automatically with a hosting account, but this content was so large it needs a post of its own later on in this series). (The last three are optional, depending on what kind of business you are running, but EVERY computer should have the first two!)</div>
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Then you have your free software, for (6) office production, (7) marketing, (8) web production, (9) graphics, and (10) analytics and testing. And all of these should be studied and used in the order given.<br />
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In the process of putting this series together, I have gotten behind on making regular postings. Rather than hit you all at once with the entire series, I will be adding one post per day for the next ten days to the blog during this series, and then I will come back and add links to the posts once they are all online. Once I get caught up again, I will try to post every week or thereabouts, so let’s get started…</div>
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VIRUS AND MALWARE PROTECTION SOFTWARE, Part One</h2>
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Before you do anything else, and whether you have a brand new computer just out of the box, or have already owned one for awhile, the first thing you should do is make sure you have GOOD security software on it. If you lose everything on your <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="576:Beforeyoudoanythinge_1" data-skim-product="1959303" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1959303" data-skimwords-word="hard%20drive" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dhard%2Bdrive" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">hard drive</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, you won’t have a business! There are other ways to lose your data besides computer crashes, theft and accidents, and that is through malware, hackers, and viruses, some of which may be intentional, some not. So preventing that from happening is the very first task for any computer user, whether he has a business or not.</div>
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First let’s examine what each of the threats are. A virus is actually a flaw written into the computer code, usually intentionally, as most programmers have software that detects when there is a fault in the program, so that they can correct it before it is published. Most viruses that “get loose” are intentionally put out there for whatever sick reasoning is behind the programmer’s thoughts. Some are designed to be destructive, like erasing your <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="844:Firstlet’sexaminewha_1" data-skim-product="1959303" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1959303" data-skimwords-word="hard%20drive" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dhard%2Bdrive" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">hard drive</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, while others are designed to gather data, or allow access to sections of the computer that they shouldn’t have access to. The latter also fall into the “Trojan Horse” category, as they sneak in sometimes long before the actual event takes place. Many have built-in timers to control when they are activated, and could be on your machine for many months before they cause a problem.</div>
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A firewall is designed to prevent hackers from getting access to anything on your computer, but again, only the programmers who operate illegally will know how to get around that. Like the old saying about locks, they only keep out the honest people, and prevent accidental entry. Those who want in, and have the knowledge to gain entry can do it. The saving grace is that all computer actions can be tracked, and sooner or later, the culprit will be caught. Some don’t care.</div>
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Malware can be anything from Trojan Horses, to cookies that are designed to send information to another computer, to spyware designed to allow others to read what’s going on with your computer. Certain operations of your computer depend on cookies, and are a normal part of the operation of your computer, but many times, they can be intrusive and should be stopped. If you stop all of them, you lose the major part of the functionality of your computer, such as its ability to remember web sites already visited, and passwords. That’s where having the proper security software can sort things out that the average person wouldn’t understand.<br />
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This is where we have recently added another program to our arsenal, and that is System Mechanic (dot com). It provides a desktop dashboard with various lights ranging from green to yellow, to amber, to red, depending on the seriousness of the threat. By clicking anywhere on the icon, it activates the full dashboard in a pop-up window, where you can control what actions to take in great detail. It has fixed many problems that have shown up and kept our computers running in top shape for several years.</div>
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As far as anti-virus and malware protection, we have used <a href="http://send.onenetworkdirect.net/z/327415/CD171238/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get any McAfee products here!">McAfee Internet Suite</a> (now called "Total Protection") for several years now, and have never had a problem with a virus, or malware. Still no program is ever 100% reliable. We also run the free version of Malware Bytes, and have occasionally caught some Trojans that slipped through. But be careful, as some security programs interfere with each other. We have since realized that McAfee has packages for multiple computers, and after a chat with them, discovered we could get the McAfee Total Protection package for all of our computers for less than we were paying separately. It is very similar to what we had before, and protects incoming information as well as outgoing.</div>
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No program can say that it is 100% foolproof, as the bad guys are always trying to find ways to get around the security, and the software companies have to work just as fast to squelch their efforts. That’s why there are so many updates that have to be done…sometimes daily to keep up with it. On rare occasion, they don’t find the “cure” fast enough, but they try their best, and that’s all anyone can expect. Think of it as any other virus… they can’t produce a cure until they know what it is. And then once they see how it acts, they sometimes have to experiment before a cure is found that doesn’t hurt anything else. Once a virus is found, they may know what to do immediately, or it could take several hours to several days.</div>
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Because security products are produced by independent companies at their own direction, not all will catch all of the same problems. I have seen cases where one program will miss something and another program will catch it, but then the two programs would not run compatibly on the same machine! This is why you shouldn’t try to “over-compensate” by using more than one security product at the same time without checking out their forums to see if they play well with other programs. If they aren’t compatible, they can cause other unwanted problems, just like mixing the wrong drugs in your own body.</div>
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There are many other products on the market, and some may prefer a different brand, such as <a href="http://us.norton.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy Norton here!">Norton</a> or <a href="http://www.avg.com/us-en/homepage" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy AVG Anit-virus products here!">AVG</a>. Which one “really” works the best is debatable by the average user and only provable by statistics which can also change from one day to the next. The main thing is that you use “something”, and the free ones that I have seen, just don’t do the complete job for running a business. Think about it... if they aren't selling anything from which to generate income to pay for competent people to update the programs... then how do know they are up to date?</div>
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Most of these companies offer a free version of their software just to get you to try it, and then they keep hitting you with pop-up reminders to buy the full package. So in other words, you don’t have everything you need with the free version! That’s why it’s free! If it was worth anything they would be charging you for it!</div>
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And if you try to use one free service for one type of protection, and another for something else, they may not always be compatible with each other. Trying to play guessing games is just plain unprofessional, and while you are experimenting, your computer is at risk! That’s NOT the way to run a business! You need a complete system from one company that takes care of it all, or at least, as much as humanly possible.</div>
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Chances are that if you bought a new computer, it may have had an anti-virus program already on it. Some are free forever, and some are introductory versions that are only free for a limited time, and they continually pester you to upgrade. The way many new companies get their products in the market, is to talk the computer companies and service shops to introduce them on new and refurbished computers. Search the program files on any new computer, and you will see all kinds of stuff in there, from games to audio and video programs, many of which you have never heard of and will never use.</div>
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I’m not in favor of being someone’s Guinea pig or having my computer cluttered up with things I didn’t order. I prefer to choose what programs I want. If they are any kind of reputable company at all, they should be able to afford to do proper marketing, and attract customers to them… not force their products on unwitting victims through other products. But whatever you decide, do the research. Read the reviews. and then choose wisely. If you don’t know what a program does, do a Google search on it and do the research to find out before you end up uninstalling or deleting something that you need!</div>
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Any software company is only as good as the employees who work there, and it is my own belief that the larger the company, the better employees they can attract… not only in what they pay them in wages and benefits, but in the level of education and skill they have. The larger companies can also provide better tools for them to work with, and provide better services and support to their customers, so I prefer to stick to those larger, well-known companies. Security is too important for anything less.</div>
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So now you hopefully understand why it’s important to <a href="http://send.onenetworkdirect.net/z/327415/CD171238/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy McAfee products here!">protect your computer</a>, whether you run a business or not. Even for home use, it’s very important.</div>
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We do most of our transactions online now, from paying bills, to having things shipped to our door to save travel expenses. In over fifteen years of conducting business online, we have never had a problem with viruses, information being hacked, payment systems or anything else. I believe that is largely due to the fact that we are properly protected from unseen things, and have learned how to avoid the things that we CAN see, like being able to recognize email scams, “phishing” attempts and other things, and by reporting such attempts to the proper authorities to get the scammers shut down ASAP. Simply ignoring them won't make them go away! They need to be arrested and stopped!</div>
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And it isn’t just email that pulls malware into your computer. You can click on the wrong web site and it will download all kinds of crap to your computer. This is why it is also important to have a security suite that monitors web sites before you even click on them, to tell you whether they are safe or not. McAfee Site Adviser (part of Total Protection) does that.</div>
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In the world of internet marketing, you will be doing much research… sometimes to find training, to search for new products, to download software, and many other things, any of which can insert a cookie, a malware program or even a virus into your machine.</div>
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Your business depends upon a properly running computer! If it goes down, so does your productivity and your income!</div>
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By now, (or as soon as you are able) you should have your computer protected properly before you attempt anything else. These are things that you cannot create for yourself, and are a necessary expense of owning and operating a computer. It is because of such necessary expenses as this that you should consider making those direct expenses tax deductible by using your computer for business. If not, it's money out of your pocket!</div>
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You may or may not need the next three items in this series: <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your Domain Registration here!">domain registration</a>, <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your Hosting here!">hosting</a>, and a professional email account, depending on what kind of business model you operate. If you do plan to use those, we will discuss <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Register your domain here!">domain registration</a> in the next post, and then adding a <a href="http://secure.hostgator.com/~affiliat/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=jabert" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy your hosting here!">hosting account</a> to it. The next item you will need after that is a professional email address for your business, and we will discuss setting up business email addresses at your domain, as part of hosting. It seems many people have a problem with that.</div>
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As always if you have any questions, <a href="http://azgrand.com/contact-us/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Contact Us">let me know</a>. If you are having trouble with techincal or marketing issues, let me know and maybe I can walk you through an answer by email. With no particpation there can be no learning. (I said that.)</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-48020495903639247812012-05-28T12:12:00.000-05:002016-01-24T17:21:44.012-06:00Do I Need a Business License?<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/05/28/do-i-need-a-business-license/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="10:28 AM">05/28/2012</a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Do I need a business license?</strong></div>
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Before you worry about keywords and web sites, you should first decide whether you need a business license, whether to do your own bookkeeping or hire an accountant, what software you might need, and how to use that business license to make money.</div>
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Over the years, I have seen so many people try to make money without being properly licensed, and there is really no excuse for it. Obtaining a business license is neither difficult nor is it expensive. But, in reality, for web work, you may not need one, unless you are buying physical products wholesale from another vendor.<br />
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Not that I am in favor of handing some government entity fees all the time, but having that license and making the decision to operate as an officially licensed business not only puts that money (and more) back in your pocket, but it gives you the mindset that this is serious legal business and your business should be taken seriously and run professionally.</div>
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You don’t technically “have” to have a business license in order to claim your expenses on your income tax deductions. For instance, my wife is a musician… specifically a church organist… and even then it’s only as she gets called to sit in for other people as she is available. Unless you are on salary as a music director, it’s normally not a regular job nor a business.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: inherit;">For that, she has no business license, but it is still technically a business, and as such, any expenses for travel or supplies are recorded and included in a Schedule C on our taxes. </span><b>Any time you have a vocation or hobby that you make money from, you are legally allowed to deduct proper expenses from the income from that business in order to determine your profits</b><span style="font-weight: inherit;">. If you don’t do that, then you are paying income taxes on your expenses! And THAT is money foolishly thrown down the drain!</span></div>
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A few years back, I read a report that said a small business has about 27 legal deductions it can take that an individual cannot. That figure may have gone up or down slightly since then, but it probably remains pretty close to that figure. Basically, almost everything that you spend money on to operate your business, in order to make the money you make from it, is tax deductible, either in part or in full. The law changes every year, so it pays to stay informed.</div>
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If studying tax laws aren’t your favorite thing, then you need to use an accountant. But it still pays to know the rules, as an accountant can only use the information you give him. A good accountant should guide you in what you need to provide to him, and you need to pay attention and listen to him! If you fail to keep track of expenses that you should, he may not know that! It’s YOUR business, not his! Educate yourself in what you need to know to learn to manage it properly!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Monthly accounting… yes or no?</strong></div>
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Do you need to pay an accountant every month? Most small businesses just starting out may not need to. I tried it for awhile with my contracting business, and I found I was paying $125 a month (early nineties prices) just to get some comb-bound report of less than a half dozen pages, that I glanced at once (upon receiving it) and then it got stored in the archives… never to be seen again!</div>
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Unless you are in the process of obtaining loans or credit for your business, monthly financial reports may be useless and expensive. Those monthly statements and having an accountant on call may be a great “showing” for the other people you do business with, but if you are operating on a “cash” basis (no credit accounts, no loans, and no accounts receivable nor payable) then you are going to be wasting money with monthly reports… unless… you don’t bother to do any bookkeeping of your own, and need someone to do it for you and sort it all out.</div>
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But that will still cost you. The more you can do “in house” the less you have to pay someone else, and that puts money in your own pocket. When you start making so much money that your accountant’s hourly time is worth less than yours, then you can hire one on a monthly basis!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Accounting Software</strong></div>
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Many small businesses use ready-made programs for bookkeeping these days, such as <a href="http://quickbooks.intuit.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Buy Quickbooks here!">Intuit QuickBooks</a>, and most accountants are set up to know how to handle the information you give them on those programs. Even if you only use an accountant at tax time, you should ask them what programs they use and recommend. If you can work with your tax person and make things easier for them at tax time, it will save you a considerable amount of money. After all, they charge by the hour! And most of that software can be found on Amazon.<br />
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I spend about an hour and a half “total” on bookkeeping per month, even though I use my own custom designed spreadsheets. I have formulas in place so that I can go to the end of the spreadsheet and see exactly what my profit or loss is for any given day, or the month. I don’t need an accountant to tell me where I stand.</div>
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But I have developed this spreadsheet over the past twenty years! The columns are all laid out in the same order as the IRS tax forms, and marked with the corresponding line numbers, so when I do my taxes, all I have to do is transfer the figures onto the forms, and I’m done! I check it over every year to make sure it still complies with the current tax year, and update it where it needs it before starting the next tax year’s records.</div>
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Now, if I was making more than $100 an hour, and had to deal with credit and business loans, “maybe” it would be worth my time to pay someone else. But as a business owner, I would still want to know how to do it, just to protect myself. Only you can decide what works best for you.</div>
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Even if you don’t want to do your own bookkeeping, you need to talk to an accountant to learn what records you need to keep… even if it’s only the sales receipts and invoices you collect in a shoebox. An accountant can only process what you give him to process. It’s up to YOU to know what is important or not, and if you fail to give him the proper receipts or vehicle expense reports (like mileage), then he can’t very well give you proper deductions for those expenses!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Buy wholesale when you can!</strong></div>
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Another reason to get a business license (usually issued by the state) is to prove to suppliers that you aren’t just some tightwad schmuck trying to save money by buying at wholesale prices… which they obviously reserve for those who really ARE in business. Although there are many places you can buy at cheap prices these days (and admittedly, some are less than what the wholesalers want for the same product), it is still better to have that license. Many suppliers will ask for it in the application you fill out, and they won’t let you buy from them without it!</div>
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The other reason to have a business license is that most states have sales tax laws in effect, and that license, which usually doubles as a sales tax license, is legally required to be able to collect sales tax on purchases within your state, which you then legally have to forward to the state with the proper form (normally) every month. Usually, after you have been in business a year, and can prove that you have very little taxes to report, they will allow you to file on a yearly basis, thereby saving you a lot of paperwork!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Summary</strong></div>
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So in summary, even though you think that what you do is a “hobby”… it is probably in your best financial interest to treat it as though it were a business. If you don’t, you can’t take the proper tax deductions, and will end up paying income tax on what the business costs you to run! And that is the same as throwing money down the drain! If you expect to make money at your business, you have to pay certain fees to operate it, which in turn will save you even more money in the long run! And learning to operate your business efficiently and profitably is what it’s all about.</div>
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As always let me know if you have any questions.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-48789806982360146072012-05-25T19:51:00.000-05:002016-01-24T15:55:49.942-06:00Marketing Consulting Begins!<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/05/25/marketing-consulting-begins/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="8:15 PM">05/25/2012</a></div>
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Addendum 1/24/16. This blog was originally started on the date below, but I have gone through it to update it. It was originally on Wordpress on the Azgrand.com site, but is being updated on the Blogger platform. The information is good, solid information still today. Once you understand online sales techniques, and what you need, it doesn't matter what you want to sell. We don't offer any products of our own for you to resell, as many other marketers do. Most of those products are designed to sell only by their methods, and if you venture off into other products, you won't have the knowledge of other techniques. Rather, we offer the knowledge of how to sell "anything" online, no matter what it is.<br />
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Many people say they don't need to know marketing, because they are only writing a blog and they aren't selling anything. The only way that is true is if you are writing for a very limited audience and don't want any other traffic to their site or blog. But most people either write to be heard, or they want to monetize their blogs to earn money. Either way, you have to understand marketing if you ever hope you increase the readership and loyalty on your site or blog. Even if you don't sell anything, just gaining readers requires the same exact techniques as gaining paying customers. That means having the proper subscribe forms for people to follow your site or blog, and knowing where to put them. It means knowing what colors your site should have to attract the most readers. It means proper (and easy) navigation links to get them where they want to go, from the first post on your site to a particular topic of which they may be interested.<br />
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So in an effort to give you insight into the process, we are starting with the things you need to know before you ever choose a name or URL for your site or blog. If you have done that already, don't worry...we'll show you the work-arounds to still optimize for the search engines so the public can find you, and even how to use social media to gain traffic. We'll even get into how to set up your site, whether it be on Wordpress, Blogger, or any other platform or site builder. Are we going to show you a few ads in the process? Of course we are. That's how we make our money. It's your choice whether to buy from them or not. More about that later, though. For now, let's get back to the original post...<br />
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Today, May 25th, 2012, we begin a new era in internet marketing here at Azgrand. This site has been the mainstay of our business since we started in 1999, with many changes through the years. Today we are starting it’s most radical change.</div>
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Many people have asked about a blog, so now we have one. In fact the entire site is blog based, using WordPress (now Blogger, in 2016), which we believe is one of the best ways to go with any new site. I threw in a sub-title of “Beginner Web Marketing Training”, which can apply to many things. We do most of our marketing on our own web sites, although we also do some online auctions for some items. Web site marketing is what we do. We not only build web sites and blogs, but we also manage our own graphics and SEO.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Graphics don’t sell!</strong></h2>
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Many people think that just because they get a site or blog online that they are in the business of selling. Many blogs prefer not to sell, just to keep their sites free of advertising of any kind. That’s the users choice and right to do so. Still, unless they are only blogging for the benefit of a closed group, like a family, they want to acquire readers, and even that is a type of selling, only you are selling yourself. Your readership depends on your writing style, how useful your information is, and how credible you are. That becomes a form of psychological selling, and when it comes right down to it, all selling depends more on psychological effects on people, more than anything else. It doesn’t matter how good your product is, if something about your site or your presentation “turns them off”, they are going to end up going somewhere else!</div>
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A site or blog with the greatest of graphics is not what sells. You can have the ugliest of sites and make millions or you can have the fanciest of flash sites and go broke. It’s all in what you do with the site… not how it looks. As we provide information on this site, we hope to help you understand that.</div>
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Also, in order to gain readership, you have to follow the same techniques as one does when trying to make a profit, whether that is your goal or not. If you have no idea how to use keywords or to attract potential readers to your content, the search engines won’t be able to match up your blog to the keywords of searchers looking for your topic. It all boils down to learning proper marketing.</div>
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As we steer our business in the direction that we need it to go, we are also introducing new services and products. Many people have consulted with us in the past in regard to setting up a new web based business, or improving what they already have, and we have helped those that we could. Our fifteen+ years in this business and the knowledge and training that we have absorbed along the way can help many newbies get started in whatever they choose to do.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Free web marketing consulting!</strong></h2>
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We don’t currently offer our own products for you to go out and sell. What you sell and how you run your business is up to you. We can only guide you in the techniques to allow you to do that. We will always try to start newbies off by steering them toward free or open source products to get them started. We don’t believe in selling newbies a bunch of things that they don’t even understand.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How does internet marketing work?</strong></div>
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Our very next post will be to explain how internet marketing works, and all the ways that you can make money by doing it. Although it’s nice to know all these different ways, not all will be suitable for your own needs. Maybe your goal is not to make money, but simply gain a following of loyal readers. As stated above, it still takes following certain techniques which are based on tested and proven marketing strategies.</div>
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<b>Internet marketing requires dedication and concentration!</b><br />
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One of the worst things that happens to anyone trying to gather information on the webs is the inability to focus. With all kinds of links leading to all sorts of things, it is easy to get sidetracked with other marketing methods, and end up not working on any of them.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If we all share… we all benefit!</strong></div>
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Everyone has certain talents in specific areas, and if we all work together, we can learn from each other in the areas we need that knowledge. No one person ever knows “everything” about the internet or about marketing on it. Each person’s needs, techniques and methods are different.</div>
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There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of ways to make money online, and not all are suitable for all people. The one thing that most marketers leave out in the “push” to sell their own products is how to help people decide what is the right path to pursue based on the customer’s own needs in this business. It doesn’t help you to understand the business by someone selling you a “package” and telling you what you need to do in order to sell just that one item by that one method.</div>
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Many packages are specifically geared toward leaving critical steps or knowledge out of it, in order to “force” you into spending even more on an “upgrade” to be able to continue. That may be a good marketing technique, and for making "them" money, but it takes away from what you are hoping to make as profit, and does you an injustice by not providing a full understanding of how to make money with other products and methods. And that is why our third post will be about helping you choose a path that is correct for you.</div>
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After that, we will discuss, and even “review”, some of the many ways to earn money online, and then you can make up your own mind what you wish to pursue, and we will be here to help guide you with your decision. Little by little our posts will work towards getting you on your way to making money online, but if you are already online and need some advice on your blog or site, contact me through the comments. I will read every one of them before I approve them for publication, and will help you with advice. The question you have is probably the same one that other people will have, so let's share our knowledge.</div>
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Remember the old saying that a horse can be led to water, but you can’t make him drink. The same goes with any learning process. I can show you what needs to be done, but even I can’t answer all questions that you have in your mind the first time around. If you don’t “raise your hand” (by commenting down below) and ask questions that I KNOW you are going to have, then your learning will never be complete. It takes participation to learn anything in any kind of class, and if I don’t see some comments, then there is no point in my continuing this free course, and it could go away!</div>
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Thanks for joining us!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-82520455542257147972012-05-25T12:11:00.000-05:002016-01-24T17:08:58.875-06:00Should I Become a Web Marketer?<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/05/25/should-i-become-a-web-marketer/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="11:57 PM">05/25/2012</a></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Getting started in web marketing isn’t always easy!</span></h2>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nearly all experienced marketers will tell you that it is easy to market online and takes little time at all. Well, sure, after you have been in it for a few years, have found your way around, decided what you want to specialize in, and learned the techniques. I think many of the professional marketers forget about, or “under-emphasize” all the work that they put in to get there, especially if they had to do it on their own.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Some got lucky, and had a close friend or relative that helped them to get started by showing them the quickest way to do it to get cash coming in, but that doesn’t happen to everybody else. The rest of us have had to wade our way through everything by ourselves! Even with some seminars behind us, and being in the loop of newsletters, it can take quite a while to get started.</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Web marketing takes a sense of direction.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Besides the usual stuff that everyone says you need, like a business plan and mission statement, you first need to get familiar with all the different ways of making a living on the web (or in things associated with it), and determine exactly what it is you want to do. Before you can do that, you need to figure out where you want to go from where you are now, to where you want to be five years or more down the road. What may seem to work now, may not fit in with plans you have for the future, even into retirement!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Normally, in the real world, that would mean having a map. In the internet world, you need to create your own.</span><br />
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Here are some things that could determine your direction:</span></div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div align="left" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Age might be a factor</strong>. A younger person might want the adventure of building a multi-million dollar empire by a certain age. An older person might be happy with just making enough money to supplement retirement savings. Those in the middle may be just looking to work for themselves and meet their monthly budget without having a job to go to. Where are you in life, and where do you want to go from here?</span></div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div align="left" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mindset</strong>. Some people might be more “people oriented” and don’t mind going out, talking to people and businesses, and selling to them directly. Other people may be “loners”, and prefer to deal with people from a distance (from their computers). Some may like selling. Others may hate it, but realize that sales are one of the few things in which you can do the hard work once, and then get paid for it over and over. That has never been truer than of internet sales. One you have a product, and do the work to put it on the web, it will be there “forever”, selling 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for you. What kind of person are you? Would you rather sell a limited amount of product in a limited amount of area to a limited amount of people during nearly all of </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">your waking (and working) hours, or would you rather create a system that will sell for you to a world-wide audience 24/7 long after you have stopped working on it? The answer to that seems like a no-brainer to me! </span></div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div align="left" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wanderlust… or bust?</strong> Some people may like the freedom of traveling and being able to go anywhere they want to, and work from their computers. Others may be “homebodies” and don’t mind seeing the same scenery day after day, and warehousing and shipping products from a fixed location. Do you have a certain “wanderlust” or has your need for wandering gone “bust”?</span></div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div align="left" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Business Model</strong>. Somewhat related to that, is how to do business, and what type of business. Do you want to start a company and run a warehouse where you have to stock product, package and ship it (could be wholesale or retail), or do you want to be able to do ALL transactions by clicking a few buttons from anywhere in the world?</span></div>
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I have to relate a funny story here to get my point across. A realtor in another state once told me that in his state, they have “buyer’s brokers” and “seller’s brokers”, but few do both. He claimed to be a buyer’s broker, and yet in a city of several million people, he went through an entire year without making one single sale!</div>
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So I asked him point blank, “So in other words, every transaction you make, you have to split the commission with the person who listed the property, therefore purposely limiting your potential income by 50%, rather than collecting 100% for doing both the listing AND selling?” He had no good answer, because none of his arguments made sense!</div>
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Stop and think about that business model. Who in their right mind, would ever set up a business model that automatically limits their income to 50% of it’s potential? That is one of the stupidest business models that I have ever seen!</div>
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This is what I mean when I say that you have to stop and THINK to be in a business of your own! Even with all the training on how to fill out the proper real estate forms and stay within the law…unfortunately, some people don’t have that ability! All the education and degrees in the world won’t make you smart, or teach you to think! You’ll still be limited to your own genetically created mind, with it’s own intelligence level, and how it works! Not everyone was built to work with computers, nor to "work smarter, not harder"!</div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div align="left" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sales or service oriented?</strong> Are you a sales oriented person, or would you rather perform a service? Besides sales of anything imaginable on the internet, those actions have to be backed by other services, from writers of sales letters and articles, to software developers, to graphic artists, to web site designers, computer technicians and installers of all kinds. Service oriented products don’t make as much money as sales, but someone has to do it. If you literally hate sales, this could be an option for you to make money from the web. What are your talents? You can always pay someone else to build a web site and do the sales for you... but remember... their cost is going to come out of YOUR profits!</span></div>
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Keep in mind here that services are limited to what you can personally accomplish within a set time frame. No matter how much business you have, your output is limited by the working hours in a week, and therefore your income is also limited.</div>
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As a comparison, one marketer promoted a program that sold over eight million dollars worth of training programs within the first 24 hours, because sales were coming in at the rate of hundreds per minute, 24 hours a day!</div>
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When it comes right down to it, there is no real way to compare that type of sales work with selling services…and yet…someone has to provide the services, too. In fact, someone had to create the training program, have the literature printed, and do all the leg work to create the product and make it available. That's the "service" part of the equation. The rest was all sales! </div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are so many choices of how to make money on the web, that if you are not aware of all of them, maybe you should do more research before deciding. It will make a big difference in how you go about learning how to market your product, and determining how you can avoid getting into the “information overload” trap.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">For instance, if you don’t want to stock products and have to ship them, then listening to advice on how to buy products in bulk from China is not what you want. Ignore it.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you hate to write (anything) then obviously you don’t need to worry about learning to write sales letters. You can hire someone to do that.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If the technical end of things leaves you scratching your head, then learning html and website building is a waste of time. Hire someone to do it for you.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you want to travel and have as little to do with maintenance of a web site as possible, then obviously gathering email addresses to build lists with, or managing any kind of membership site is out of the question, so why bother listening to advice about it?</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Web marketing requires focus!</span></strong></h2>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This is what you need to know before you get too heavily involved with internet marketing. If you try to do too much right out of the gate, you’ll spread yourself too thin and won’t get anything off the ground before some new interest grabs your attention.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Figure out what kind of business model will get you to your goals, both now, and for five or ten years down the road, and then stick with it until it works! Dedication, consistency and perseverance is what will get you to your goals. Quitters never win!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">You need to find out what you want your lifestyle to be first. Then set your goals to attain that lifestyle. Break them down into goals that are daily, weekly, monthly, six months out, a year out, three years out and five years out. We’ll get more into it in the lessons, but this will give you a start.</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Web marketing takes concentration.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Make no mistake about it, the learning curve for beginners is a very long one. If you are not one to concentrate on one thing at a time, or for very long, you might be better off in some other profession.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Every new web site you go to has many other links to yet more and more new stuff, and if you haven’t got the stamina to just say “No” to yourself, you’re going to get lost in the jungle of information! You have to know when to stop and go back to the beginning and then stay there for awhile! If you don’t have the strong will power to stop bad habits on your own, even though doing so will make your life better, then you don’t have what it takes to study…anything!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you are going to be in business for yourself, then the main objective is to make money…first and foremost!!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">You haven’t got time to be web surfing, constantly checking emails, or looking at every new link that pops up. If you don’t have the ability to focus on one thing at a time, this is not the place for you. If that is a problem, then go one step further than I mentioned above and set some hourly goals. Write down what you want to do in the next hour on a <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="544:Youhaven’tgottimetob_1" data-skim-product="1962509" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1962509" data-skimwords-word="sticky%20note" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dsticky%2Bnote" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">sticky note</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, and place it on the face of your monitor as a reminder, and then do it! When you learn to control the hourly goals, the daily goals will become easier, and so on down the road.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Remember, some of the monthly goals, such as taking in a certain amount of money for the month to meet your expenses, can be broken down into daily goals as well. Once you can handle them on a daily basis, the monthly goals might take care of themselves along the way! It’s really easier than you think, when you break it down into bite-size pieces!</span></div>
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In sales management, you have to know what your expenses are first, including salaries. Then you have to figure out a sales campaign that will meet those goals in order to make it happen…otherwise you and your company will go broke! Looking at a month at a time may seem an overwhelming task. But if you break it down into daily goals, you’ll find that selling that much product in a day is a whole lot easier!</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Another way is to write down everything you spend money on in a month’s time, along with the amounts. Then use the smallest of those amounts as your first goal. Once you create enough sustainable income to meet that goal, then go to the next amount on your list and meet that goal. Before you know it, you’ll have your entire budget met. Then you can start adding the luxuries, like a vacation, or a better car, or an RV. It’s totally up you as to when you have “enough”. </span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Web marketing does take some “tech” ability.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you have spent your life going after every new gadget that hit the market, and reveled in being the first on the block with every new toy, you may have a shot at internet work. There is just something about the computer that fascinates some people, and they can spend hours at it. Others are afraid that if they touch it something might break. If you are the latter, then this job isn’t for you.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Many marketers will tell you that you don’t need to learn how to build web sites, or to learn (at least) how to correct or add some minor html, but if you can’t learn to do some of that stuff, you will continually be behind the eight ball. You will constantly have to call someone else to do it, which can delay your ideas as well as cost you in profits.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">You’d be surprised at how many people still think that a computer has to be programmed, by the user, before they can do anything, and that’s why they have never taken the time to get interested in them! They think it’s too much work!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Obviously, they haven’t taken the time (in the last twenty years!) to get a full and correct demonstration of what they can do with one right out of the box. If it has taken them this long to figure that out, then I doubt if this medium is something that they want to play with for making a living! People that really enjoy the technology would have had one a long time ago, and had it figured out by now! And if you are a newbie who really wants to learn, then getting proper instruction on using all the functions of their computer, plus some additional things like spreadsheets, is a necessity BEFORE getting involved with internet marketing. If you don’t know the basics first, including creating folds to organize all that you will gather, you will become even more overwhelmed and not know what to do with all the information, tools and software you will need to use. If you don’t know where to get the training, don’t think you can afford it, or don’t have time for it, you need to go to <a href="http://gfclearnfree.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://gfclearnfree.org</a>, and find the skill that you need to know and then study it on your own time…FOR FREE! If you don’t have the ambition to do that, then no one can help you!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you are one of those people who can barely use their computer for email, or that still uses someone else’s email because you are too lazy or hard-headed to go to one of the free providers and spend two minutes getting your own, then this business probably isn’t for you!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sure, I could lie to you and tell you that “anyone” can learn to do this, but I have been involved with teaching long enough to know who is capable of learning and who isn’t. And even without taking a survey, I can tell you that 95% of people still won’t “get it”.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I can lead a horse to water, but if he won’t put his head down to drink, then I guess he’ll have to die of thirst! I’m not going to sit there and pour water down his throat until he chokes on it. I’ve got better things to do. I’m sure the horse would rather be somewhere else, too!</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Web marketing takes lots of time.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I know several people who have daytime jobs requiring heavy use of a computer. When </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">they get home, the last thing they want to do is sit down at another one. I guess that’s why some people go for a week or more at a time between answering emails! People who literally love computers are on them from morning until night! You’ve heard the term “computer widow” (or widower, as the case may be). If you are made for marketing, your spouse will be one when starting out in this business! Later on, when you have automatic income coming in whether you work or not, you can kick back and thank yourself for sticking with it until you got to where you are!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Those are exactly the kind of people who are persistent enough to learn what they need to know and aren’t afraid to push a button to see what it does! If the thought of pushing a button and having the computer go up in smoke scares you to death, then slowly back away from the desk, carefully unplug it and put the dust cover over the computer you are looking at, and never touch it again! You might hurt yourself!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If the thought of spending countless hours learning what you have to do to be able to operate a computer the way you need to for ecommerce is more than you are willing to put in, then go back to a J-O-B, and work until you’re 70 (if you live that long), because obviously you don’t have the dedication it takes to do this.</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Web marketing takes (at least) “some” money to get started.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Oh sure, I can show you ways to get started with absolutely nothing. I can show you several places to get a free web site, free hosting, use a sub-domain (which is a domain name behind the dot leading into someone else’s), but the search engines aren’t as friendly to those types for some unknown reason. I guess they figure if you don’t take your business seriously enough to get your own domain, why should they? But a good marketer knows how to fool them!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I can show you numerous ways to get products that you can sell without buying them first, or how to create your own products. In fact, nearly everything you can use or that you would need is available free on the web. All you have to do is look. If you are too lazy to do the research, then I, nor anyone else can help you.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">On the other hand, some of the free stuff may be lacking something in quality, and many times control. For instance, many of the free web builders are limited in function, and many times you can’t get to certain parts (like the html code) to modify it. The type styles may be limited, pages may be limited, and overall function of the site may not allow some of the things you would like to do.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Other times there are products which haven’t been tested fully, and since they are free, there is no incentive to work the bugs out….until someone gets around to it….which may be never!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I have always found that it really does pay, in time saved and frustrations, let alone money, to buy name brand products, and pay to get things done the right way. In other words, you usually get what you pay for. It may cost you a little bit, but certainly a WHOLE lot less than it would cost to acquire a building, set up and start a business in the real world.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">First, you should have equipment, starting with a computer. Sure you can use one for free at an internet café or library, but getting there and back is time and money wasted. Also, they won’t let you do some things that you will need to be able to do on one of your own, like load special software. It doesn’t matter whether you get a laptop, desk unit or a mobile device like a tablet. It depends on how much you are going to be working with it away from your desk.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you are going to get a new one, then get the fastest processor with the biggest <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="346:Ifyouaregoingtogetan_1" data-skim-product="1959303" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1959303" data-skimwords-word="hard%20drive" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dhard%2Bdrive" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">hard drive</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> or built-in memory, and as much RAM as you can get. Look for one that says it’s “media ready”, which usually means that it already has a disk drive capable of writing and reading both CDs and DVDs, and should have all kinds of writing and playback software already in it.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The advent of video being used for almost everything you can think of these days, including training videos for web marketing, makes that necessary. Video eats up a LOT of memory, and if you get one too slow, the videos will be jumpy and take forever to download! You’ll be deleting the temporary internet files every other day, even on the better computers.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tablets and mobile devices are the rage these days, but forget about things like <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="325:Tabletsandmobiledevi_1" data-skim-product="1851825" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851825" data-skimwords-word="ipads" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fc.affil.walmart.com%2Ft%2Fcsebr01%3Fl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.walmart.com%252Fip%252FApple-iPad-Air-16GB-Wi-Fi-Refurbished%252F43309247%253Fwmlspartner%253Dbizratecom%2526affcmpid%253D1812351796%2526tmode%253D0000%2526bcfg%253D1ea7370fdb8c5bfaabb2d1c1a41782ec%2526veh%253Dcse%26szredirectid%3DSZ_REDIRECT_ID&mid=401&cat_id=9257&atom=9262&prod_id=&oid=6212145172&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=1&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=bcb2783985b97c34&af_sid=7&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">iPads</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> for serious marketing. They don’t have the functionality, and many marketing programs are not on apps and designed for them. Believe me, I own an <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="325:Tabletsandmobiledevi_1" data-skim-product="1851820" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851820" data-skimwords-word="ipad" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fc.affil.walmart.com%2Ft%2Fcsebr01%3Fl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.walmart.com%252Fip%252FApple-iPad-Air-16GB-Wi-Fi-Refurbished%252F43309247%253Fwmlspartner%253Dbizratecom%2526affcmpid%253D1812351796%2526tmode%253D0000%2526bcfg%253D1ea7370fdb8c5bfaabb2d1c1a41782ec%2526veh%253Dcse%26szredirectid%3DSZ_REDIRECT_ID&mid=401&cat_id=9257&atom=9262&prod_id=&oid=6212145172&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=1&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=bcb2783985b97c34&af_sid=20&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">iPad</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, and use it for many things, but for serious marketing work, I go back to my PC laptop. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Also, it wouldn’t hurt to spend less than a hundred bucks on an <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="546:Also,itwouldn’thurtt_1" data-skim-product="1851471" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851471" data-skimwords-word="external%20hard%20drive" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.colamco.com%2Fiosafe-solopro-hard-drive-sm3tb5yr-1098018%3Fsource%3Dfroogle&mid=76641&cat_id=410&atom=10026&prod_id=&oid=6603045488&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=0&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=10ad56d63f7df276&af_sid=18&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">external hard drive</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>, preferably as large as you can get. It will be useful for storing all that marketing information that you want to save, as well as serving as a back-up for your main <span class="skimwords-potential" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">hard drive</span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>. The less you store on your main computer, the faster it will run. But please know that an <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="546:Also,itwouldn’thurtt_1" data-skim-product="1851471" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851471" data-skimwords-word="external%20hard%20drive" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.colamco.com%2Fiosafe-solopro-hard-drive-sm3tb5yr-1098018%3Fsource%3Dfroogle&mid=76641&cat_id=410&atom=10026&prod_id=&oid=6603045488&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=0&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=10ad56d63f7df276&af_sid=18&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="2" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">external hard drive</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> is NOT proper back-up protection for your computer. You need to store your files safely to an off-site back-up facility like Carbonite (dot com) in order to have proper protection!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Computers slow down as their memories start to fill up, which will also slow down your working with them, the videos, and other things. The <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="375:Computersslowdownast_1" data-skim-product="1851471" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851471" data-skimwords-word="external%20hard%20drive" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.colamco.com%2Fiosafe-solopro-hard-drive-sm3tb5yr-1098018%3Fsource%3Dfroogle&mid=76641&cat_id=410&atom=10026&prod_id=&oid=6603045488&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=0&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=10ad56d63f7df276&af_sid=18&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">external hard drive</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> isn’t normally accessed as part of the everyday workings or the start up, so it won’t interfere with speed. Limit your <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="375:Computersslowdownast_1" data-skim-product="905914" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="905914" data-skimwords-word="internal%20hard%20drive" href="http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=internal+hard+drive" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">internal hard drive</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> to the things that you absolutely need, and your computer will run better and faster.</span><br />
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I should mention cloud storage here, as part of your back-up plan. Mobile devices are designed to rely on the cloud, and that is why you don't see mobile devices with much more than 64 gigs of internal memory. They rely on apps for some storage of files, but they also expect users to make use of the storage available on "the cloud". Rather than me try to explain something that is so complex, try Googling the "cloud storage" and read all that you can about it there. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A decent speaker system would be useful, as we have seen many audios that vary greatly in sound quality and volume. Make sure you have something with which you can hear them. Always check the sound quality of any laptop before you buy it, as many of them have pitiful sound quality! I have much better sound on my <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="449:Adecentspeakersystem_1" data-skim-product="1851820" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851820" data-skimwords-word="ipad" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fc.affil.walmart.com%2Ft%2Fcsebr01%3Fl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.walmart.com%252Fip%252FApple-iPad-Air-16GB-Wi-Fi-Refurbished%252F43309247%253Fwmlspartner%253Dbizratecom%2526affcmpid%253D1812351796%2526tmode%253D0000%2526bcfg%253D1ea7370fdb8c5bfaabb2d1c1a41782ec%2526veh%253Dcse%26szredirectid%3DSZ_REDIRECT_ID&mid=401&cat_id=9257&atom=9262&prod_id=&oid=6212145172&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=1&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=bcb2783985b97c34&af_sid=20&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">iPad</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> than ANY of my laptops have ever had! I have to use earphones or external speakers with my laptops if I expect to listen to anything comfortably!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The next item would be a printer. As long as it prints in color, the choice is yours. Since most of your work will be on the web, it will mostly be used for off-line business correspondence, and your own personal printing, and an 8-1/2 x 11 platform is fine. I prefer a “flat-bed” type, as opposed to a “feed-through” type, if it has a scanner on it, as it will handle any size object for scanning, including open books! Besides being able to copy prints to use on the web, it can also be used as a copy machine (directly to the printer). A scanner is used in business almost more than a copier these days!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302003" data-skim-node-id="128:Afaxmachineisnearlyo_1" data-skim-product="1958508" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1958508" data-skimwords-word="fax%20machine" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dfax%2Bmachine" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">fax machine</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> is nearly obsolete anymore, as most people are sending most things by email attachment these days. If you use one, </span>I wouldn’t put it on the same line with the phone, though, especially if you have voice mail. Either get a second line or sign up with an internet fax service, where they send your faxes to you by email. (That’s what we use.) That has the added advantage of your being able to receive faxes no matter where you are, and if you move, you don’t have to change your fax number, because it goes to them, not YOUR phone.</div>
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Most computers have fax sending capability built in, and all you have to do is hook up a phone line to it to use it. Otherwise the internet fax company has sending ability available for a slightly higher fee, and then you can send over the internet to them, and they will forward it to a land line for you.</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Secondly, you have to have some kind of internet service. If you think you can run a business from a dial-up connection while it ties up your phone line, think again. The very minimum you will need is DSL. If there is something faster available, upgrade to it as soon as your profits can justify it.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In this age of video, a dial up connection is a dinosaur. We are paying for 10 megabyte service, but thanks to our phone service connection, not always getting it. Many times we are running 3.6 to 4.1 megabyte download speed (that’s faster than a T1 line, but sometimes all we can get in this location, due to lines and distance from the server) and even then, it leaves a lot to be desired. </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I think they have fixed the problem, but the more people that are on the system at one time, the slower it gets. So, we take what we can get…..for now.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Most cable modems have much faster standard speeds than telephone lines, but for a long time, we couldn’t get a cable modem in this area. A new provider has now made that possible, but we only plan to be here another year, so we don’t feel like switching at this point. Also cable lines are overhead and subject to line damage in ice and windstorms, whereas phone lines are underground, so there could be more down-time with cable in heavily forested areas like here. Don’t cheat yourself on speed!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you are really serious about running a business based on computers, examine where you are located, and where you “should” be located. Internet speed on telephone and cable lines are dependant upon how far you are from the servers. The farther away you are, the more the speed slows down. Satellite internet “can” be an alternative, but also has its problems, plus the cost of higher speeds goes up almost exponentially above one megabyte, which is typical for basic service, and it can lose signal with bad weather conditions. The speed and costs are getting better, but I don’t feel that they are there yet!</span><br />
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you are using mostly mobile devices and/or travel a lot, you should research the blog at Technomadia.com. They have a lot of free information available, besides a membership version of their site, plus, they are the authors of a great Mobile Internet Handbook, for which they are constantly doing research and updating the book every year to the latest standards.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you are thinking of relocating, check with your phone company or cable company to see what kind of speeds they can provide at your proposed location. Not all systems and providers are equal. It pays to do your homework on this issue.</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Web marketing takes some software.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Although some types of internet businesses can be run straight from your computer, there will probably be some software that you will want, to make things quicker and easier.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The very first thing I would recommend is a good “suite” of virus, spam, firewall, and security programs. Most companies will have packages (called "suites”), to save you some money. Free programs are better than nothing, but if there is no profit to create an incentive to update them regularly, then how can you trust them? And why would you entrust a business computer system to them? We use McAfee for all of our protection. Others may use Norton, or one of the other top names, but don't jeopardize your business to any kind of questionable service. DO your research, read the reviews on the product, and make a wise decision! </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The next thing you need is some kind of <a href="http://carbonite.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get the best off-site back-up protection right here!">off-site back-up protection</a>. An <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302007" data-skim-node-id="293:.Anexternalharddrive_1" data-skim-product="1851471" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851471" data-skimwords-word="external%20hard%20drive" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.colamco.com%2Fiosafe-solopro-hard-drive-sm3tb5yr-1098018%3Fsource%3Dfroogle&mid=76641&cat_id=410&atom=10026&prod_id=&oid=6603045488&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=0&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=10ad56d63f7df276&af_sid=18&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=2912" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">external hard drive</a> <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>won’t do you any good if someone breaks in and steals all your equipment, your house burns down, a tornado blows it away, or a flood washes it away! You need to have ALL of your files backed-up in a safe secure place away from your own physical location (off-site) where you can download them right back onto a new computer within 24 hours! We recommend Carbonite (dot com) for this.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Then you will need the typical suite of office software. Rather than paying for expensive stuff, I have found that the “open source” version, at <a href="http://openoffice.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Get your free office productivity software here!">OpenOffice.org</a>, works nearly as well as the paid versions. So save your money for the more important things that you can’t get in free versions.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Y</span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ou will also need various “playback” software. Most of it today handles audio as well as video, and it is nearly all available for free on the web. If you buy a media ready computer, most of what you need will be there already, but for some file types, you may need more. Some programs will use Flash video (although that is nearly a thing of the past now), some will use Adobe .air files which are Adobe Air programs, some will use Quiktime, and others will use more universal players, like Windows Media Player. Some will be playable on more than one brand or type of player. Usually, if you try to open a program, it will tell you what you need and you can simply download them as you need them. It’s not only OK, but suggested, that you have more than one video player on your computer. Nearly all of them are free downloads. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">You should have some kind of “unzipping” software to unzip files that are sent to you as .zip files. These are used to compress otherwise large files into faster downloading file types. Later on, it might be helpful to also create “zipped” files to send out. There are both free and paid versions available, and some computers already have the software on the computer.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">You will also need some kind of software to open as well as create .pdf files. Again, there are both free and paid versions available.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Some software is available on the web for free, but unless it is “open source”, it usually is limited in function. To get the most out of it, they usually want you to upgrade to the paid version. That’s OK, if it works.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Prices can run from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars depending on the application, and how exclusive it is (basically that means what it cost to develop it against how much of it is sold). Most software for small business runs much less than $500, with the median price range under $200, unless you get into really specialized stuff. (I know of one graphics program used to print those “full wrap” packages that you see on buses, vans, and special promotional vehicles that cost upwards of $1800, not to mention the oversized printer used to make the actual “wrap” sheets.) As a marketer, you won’t need programs like that. In fact, except for virus protection and off-site back up, just about everything else is free… if you know how and where to look!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sometimes downloading files, opening them, and then installing the software can be tricky, but you need to be able to tackle those kinds of jobs. Get over your fears of blowing up the computer, get your head on straight, and make up your mind to learn it. It’s necessary, if you expect to be in this business!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We will update this article as we think of other things that you should know.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8451862190176666314.post-17351468177485018082012-05-25T12:09:00.000-05:002016-01-24T16:15:38.625-06:00What is "Internet Marketing"?<br />
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://azgrand.com/2012/05/25/what-is-internet-marketing/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="11:47 PM">05/25/2012</a></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What internet marketing is, the many types of it, and what it can do for you.</span></h2>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When most people think of internet marketing, especially the ones actually “in” this business, their mind immediately goes to the rat-race of selling internet “how to” products. In reality, that is only a very small part. It could mean marketing anything on the internet... selling on online auctions, selling anything from recipes to used cars… literally ANYTHING, including using affiliate links to send the reader to another vendor from which you make a referral commission, to even giving things away and getting paid for it by the vendor! If you have a simple, free blog, and allow the provider to put ads on it of any kind, you ARE involved in internet marketing whether you realize it or not, or even whether you make money from it or not! You may not be making money, but if your provider is, then you are a part of his system! That includes everything from the site's platform logo, to their putting other ads on it from which they get paid by the advertiser. It's ALL advertising, and it all is designed to make someone money... so why not get your piece of the pie, too!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And as much as I would like to say that I am NOT a part of that rat-race, in order to teach how to market other products, many of the same principles and products drift over into this area as well. It’s unavoidable!</span><br />
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If someone is saying that they hate computers and refuse to use them…who are they trying to kid? Everything we do these days involves computers. They are in our vehicles, in our appliances, in ATM’s at the banks, even in flashing billboard signs! Unless you live under a rock, you interact with computers on a daily basis, whether you intend to or not! So you might as well get over your fear of them and learn how to use them properly!</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Internet marketing can be anything you want it to be</strong>.</span></h2>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">You can advertise your realty, carpet cleaning, home repair or blacksmithing business. You can sell physical products, either your own or other people’s. You can sell ebooks, software, videos, audios, tickets, cars and airplanes! You can even give stuff away, or simply refer readers to other sources. You can auction your item off to interested bidders. You can advertise your web-based services, such as programming and web building or even search engine optimization (SEO). You can sell programs and apps that you or other people have developed. You can make it what ever you want it to be!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes, there is a particular niche involved with teaching people how to use this medium to sell other people internet marketing products and courses, and it has a whole slew of products just for that purpose, but it doesn’t have to be that niche that you sell in, unless you want it to be! And many of those products also apply to selling other “non-IM” products online as well. Only YOU can decide how you want to run your business and what kinds of products to sell.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Even within the internet marketing niche, there are literally hundreds of different ways to make money online. And within those ways are other specialty niches.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you have ever bought or sold anything on eBay… you were in internet marketing, even if it was for a short time.</span></h2>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the ways that people often get started are with auctions, the most famous being <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="302001" data-skim-node-id="309:Oneofthewaysthatpeop_1" data-skim-product="874148" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="874148" data-skimwords-word="ebay" href="http://ebay.com/" occurrence="1" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">eBay</a><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>. However, there are close to a hundred others that have sprung up as well, and for some items they may work even better. Some are specialized into handling home-made crafts, artwork, jewelry or fashions. There is even <a href="https://flippa.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1982d1; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Sell your site or buy another at Flippa.com!">one that specializes in auctioning web sites and blogs</a>! Even within the auction realm, there are physical products, digital products, timed auctions, buy-it now sales, stores, and many other specialties, including physical stores where you can take the products and have other people sell them for you in the online auctions! And even they advertise on the web to draw you in, to actually sell your physical products for you. It’s all part of internet marketing!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nearly everything relates to web sites or blogs in one way or another. There are companies that host them, and companies that furnish web builder software on the site (usually for a monthly usage fee). There are companies who will sell the web builder software so that you own it. There are web designers who will build the sites for you, graphic designers who will create special artwork for them, and optimizing specialists who will make sure your site gets recognized and gets top positions on the search engines. There are programmers who will create special code to tell certain programs to do special tasks, as well as the more modern "app" (application) builders who design apps for mobile devices… the list goes on and on… and nearly all of them sell their products and services on the web.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are companies who specialize in wholesale products, and if you can’t find good ones on your own, there are companies who will find them for you (usually for a fee). There are manufacturers, importers and other places that need web sites, as well as the retailers who buy from them and sell the products to the public.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Even places like governments, from the federal government to city libraries all have web sites these days, and someone has to design them, build them, host them, maintain them, and serve the people that use them. And somehow, the site has to generate enough revenue to offset the cost of providing it, as well as (hopefully) produce some profit over and above all that! Even if you only own a simple little blog just to let others know what you are doing, you are marketing, even if it’s just yourself. You have to let others know where to find you. The techniques used are all part of internet marketing.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And speaking of actually “marketing”, which is usually how to go about determining how to sell a product, where to place it, who the buyers will be, and how to get the traffic…..all of that can be done on the web also, using market research tools supplied by hundreds of vendors.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">You can learn almost anything online (including some things you shouldn’t), and you can buy and sell anything online. You don’t even have to own it or take possession of it before you sell it. There are companies called drop-shippers, where once you set up an account with them, you can use their product pictures and descriptions to create your ad, and once you have sold the product and collected the money for it, you order that product from them at your discounted wholesale price, and they will send it to your customer for you. You keep the difference as your profit. So as you can see, you don’t need a huge store or inventory to start making money online! All you need is ambition!</span></div>
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You don’t even need to own a computer. You can go to an internet café or library and use their computers to make money! The main thing that you need to be an entrepreneur is the ability to THINK! I can teach you the techniques, but I can’t teach you to think. You have to learn to do that on your own, and some people never will.</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sometimes just referring a customer to another web site can earn you a commission, and it doesn’t even have to be for a sale. Some vendors pay for just clicks on their link, knowing that simply getting people to look at their site without buying anything, could mean a verbal referral to another person down the road. </span><br />
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">You can earn money from posting other people’s ads or links on your web site and collect for each impression or click through, even if they don’t buy. This is typically called CPA, or “cost per action”. Other companies will pay you for getting them a lead, such as having someone fill out a form. You can even charge people a weekly or monthly fee for putting their ad on your web site, the same way a newspaper gets money for posting ads in the paper. The ways you can make money from the web is almost limitless.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Some businesses provide special equipment and products, such as for the new telephone services that operate over the web, free of long distance charges.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you need special services, there are web sites devoted to matching people with talent to the people who need work done, from copywriting to article writing, and from optimizing sites for the search engines to writing code. You can hire it all done online.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">You can even post an ad for help, find yourself a J-O-B, or even a life mate online! There are sites where you can sell your photos online to the people who do the web work and ads. It’s all a matter of world trade, because digital products online can be sold to almost anyone, anywhere in the world! The entire planet can be your customer base!</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "arial"; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">That’s what internet marketing really is. It’s what makes businesses of all kinds work in today’s world and tomorrow’s. So don’t be afraid of web commerce. Any word that you click on, any banner that you click on, is making someone money, somewhere in the world. You might as well get your piece of the pie, because this is what the “American Dream” is all about! </span></div>
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Stick around. There’s lots more information coming, and if you have any questions, please let me know.</div>
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