Ezines For Purely Personal Pleasure

By: Scott Lindsay

Everyone has a passion for something. This can be a hobby or sport, but it can also be a subject.

I’ve talked about ezines as a way to develop marketing potential for an online business, but ezines don’t have to be specifically developed for business.

Virtually every successful business owner has something besides their business they are passionate about. In many cases they are as knowledgeable about this ‘other’ topic as they are about their business. You can bet these entrepreneurs find themselves more interested in this something else than business when they are away from the office.

Why not develop an ezine that deals specifically with your ‘away from business’ interest.

Maybe it’s trading cards or model railroading. Perhaps your interest is interior decorating or crafting handbags for friends. Some may be fully immersed in fishing or sculpting. The possibilities go one far longer than I have space to write.

If you believe the idea frivolous you need to know that you can develop an AdSense or other PPC account to place ads on your site that will help to offset any expenses associated with the development of your online ezine.

Content for the ezine can be taken from free article directories, personal writings or even submissions from those who subscribe to the ezine and have similar interests.

Work to locate those individuals who may be able to take on a column or a guest slot. It could be that someone is gifted in editing and layout and could provide their time on a volunteer basis to make the ezine work.

The idea is to facilitate a web presence for something you believe in. The truth is you could extend the idea even further and create an ezine related to a cause you really believe strongly in. In most cases you will receive the blessing of the organization and they would likely have key contacts to assist you with content development.

Many people consider this a very self-absorbed society, but when you take the time to create an ezine specifically related to a passion either in personal interest or public assistance you can help show others by example that giving back on a personal level is a powerful thing.

You can help promote the ezine through blog entries and forum posts. You can take the message to your social media page and you can also create a special page on your primary business site that allows visitors the opportunity to visit your personal interest ezine.

For too long we have been willing to sacrifice time with family and personal interests in order to earn some extra dollars. The point is if money is your goal in life you will never have enough time to satisfy your need to enjoy life.

Developing an ezine that mirrors a personal interest will likely encourage you to make time for that interest by reorganizing your priorities.

Define your interests and see if there may be a way to creatively pass along your enthusiasm through the use of an ezine.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_4068.shtml

Pointers For Choosing Your Laptop Computer

By: David Burton

Pointers for buying a laptop.

If you're thinking of buying a laptop computer there are undoubtedly some great deals to be found, but what should you be looking for when you're in the market for a updated or even your first laptop computer.

Well, it's always worth sitting down with a pen and paper and thinking about exactly what you need your new laptop computer to do. If you're simply going to use it for word processing and the odd email here and there you don't need the super fast processor and hard drive that can hold thousands of files, so don't let a slick salesman tell you otherwise that’s just going to hurt your pocket.

If it's a family laptop computer you're in the market for you'll want a good all rounder. kidshave a great knack of loading games and other large applications onto a PC without you knowing. which can really effect performance for when you need it for more important things like business or your own games. So make sure you get a good-sized hard drive and a good amount of ram.

Regardless of the type of laptop computer you're in the market for make sure you explain to the salesman exactly what you need it for ( ie is it for the home or on the road). More often than not they'll be able to show you in the right direction, but make sure you only spend an amount you're happy with.

If you're an online shopper then there are some great deals to be found, so just make sure you conduct proper research before jumping in to make that purchase. You'll probably see a lot of adverts for the newest laptop computer on the market , Buying a laptop computer , its just like anything else , make sure you do a good amount of research, be clear about the amount you want to spend and weigh up your options.

Laptop computer http://www.discount-notebooks.net

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_4112.shtml

Website Hosting Companies. Understanding How Hosting Poviders Work

By: John E Adams

Website Hosting - How To Select A Web Host Provider That Wants You To Succeed

As with a lot of purchases, your first urge when choosing website hosting is to go with the cheapest. After all they are all similar, so why should you pay more?

There are a number of objective standards which separates one website hosting company from some others, and money is only one of them. And it should be made clear that the cost should not be the most crucial one.

Choosing a website hosting company based on price alone is equivalent to selecting a builder or electrician on price alone. Certainly, they might maintain or fix your house cheaper, but will your house be safe?

The first consideration is power. Will the website hosting company have the capability to provide and deliver adequate performance? Most web hosting companies advertise that they are able to provide massive bandwidth and hundreds of dedicated servers, and they are usually telling the truth.

However, there is a big difference between existing capacity and usable capacity. Think of it this way; If a website hosting provider has thousands of websites with millions of visitors per day, the usable free capacity would be much lower. Here is a simple example; A delivery truck may have the capacity to carry 8,000 lbs. But not if it is already carrying 7,999lbs!

The experts would advise you ask about available capacity, and have the hosting company back up their proof with reliable numbers. And of course, if you cannot read the data they provide, find somebody to help you do so.

Next, and a very close second, is dependability. A lot of power is worthless if it is cut or goes down often.

Power outages are actually a normal part of business. Even Microsoft, yahoo and google go down on occasions. The difference is, with decent website hosting companies, it seldom happens and a decent provider would have failover plans, which means if their system does go down it is either up once again instantaneously, or you never see the drop because a backup system sets in automatically.

A good rule of thumb is to grill the website hosting company closely about their up time. Most quality hosting providers will say they run at 99.5%, or higher. However, like the infamous on-time estimates of airlines, those figures can sometimes be considered shady by adjusting the definition of up time.

When it comes to website hosting, what should really matter is whether your visitors will be able to reach your site at any time, 24 hours a days should they want to.

Again, the experts would suggest to find out what back up systems, both human and technical the hosting provider has in place to address failures of all sorts. It is a fact that servers can go down, networks do fail, hard disks could become defective and data lose is an absolute fact, and believe me, these conditions can dramatically mean the difference between success and failure for any website owner.

The result is your website becomes unavailable, which is not good for business. As far as a quality website hosting company, the hosting provider must be equipped to deal with any eventuality and have your website up again as quickly as possible.

Last, but not least, is website hosting security.

With the continuing prevalence of computer viruses and the dreaded Spam problems, you need to guarantee the website hosting company you choose has an array of techniques for addressing them. This basically means the hosting provider has excellent technical plans in place and experienced staff available 24 hours a day who are well-educated in addressing with those problems.

There is a very old saying that goes: one ounce of prevention is worth at least one pound of cure, and when it comes to your website, it is vital you understand the meaning.

All these website issues are paramount to locating a website hosting provider that can deliver the best services you need.

Subsequently, once those criteria are fulfilled by a number of prospects, then you are able to begin narrowing down the hosting companies by price.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_4075.shtml

What CRM Software Can Do For Your Business

By: Dave Roth

CRM software can do a lot for the business that a person owns or runs and the salespeople who work in it. However, a lot of people do not realize the importance of CRM software so they do not use it. Individuals also often think that CRM software is very complicated, and so they avoid using it because they feel they will not be able to figure out how it works. If it is too hard to use, people will avoid it, and they will find other ways of keeping track of customers. These may or may not work well. Still other individuals may be concerned that CRM software is too costly for them, so they decide it is not cost-effective for their business. CRM software is the right choice for most businesses, though, because it does so much in keeping track of the clients and any issues that pertain to them.

The most important thing that CRM software can do for a business is to keep it organized. Clients and their information is a vital part of business life. Even a small business must make sure that these clients are kept organized. They must not be ignored or neglected because they were somehow lost in the shuffle of people and paperwork that takes place every day. With CRM software, though, there is much less worry about the clients and their information. This software can also help to keep client information safer and more protected. By doing this, the company is better protected from future problems. In addition, the clients often feel better about doing business with the company. Any sensitive information that is provided to the company will not be lost or compromised.

CRM software is a great tool for salespeople as well. It helps to keep them prepared every day for what they must do. Those who work in sales often spend a lot of time each day trying to make sure that they are ready for the next day. They are also concerned about forgetting clients or forgetting appointments. With CRM software, there is a much lower chance of these problems. Everything that the salesperson needs to know about the client and everything that has to be remembered can be easily stored. The only disadvantage to this method is that a salesperson may not take the time to use the system. This, however, would be the fault of the salesperson, not the fault of the software.

For most companies, CRM software is a great way to build business. Not all companies will use this software, but those that do find that their business has been improved. The interaction that salespeople have with their clients is better, and the individuals who need to be reassured that they are important to the company can get that feeling. When they get that, they want to come back. They are interested in doing business with the company, and they feel that their ideas and opinions, as well as their business, are valued.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_4042.shtml

Technology and Market Structure of Virtual Network Games

By: David ZHENG

We cannot see the future, of course, but there are a number of technological innovations that are relevant to gaming, that are also fairly easy to see coming. Currently, access to gaming involves some sort of access to computing technology, and access to gaming that can earn money involves access to a shared, persistent, physical computing environment, specifically a virtual world . The technology supporting virtual worlds is advancing so quickly that it would be foolish to describe the next generation in any detail. Suffice it to say that there are large, lucrative industries working energetically on different dimensions of the environment that virtual worlds thrive in.

These industries produce three items of interest, namely, connections, interface and content. Developments in connections include the internet and, increasingly, wireless communications. Development of interfaces includes voice command, head-up displays and body motion detection (computer-controlling gloves, gaze readers). Developments in content include the supply side of the market for games, where annual revenues have grown beyond Hollywood box office revenues. All three industries are expanding at a rapid rate. Whatever emotional experiences people seek, it may become possible, in the near future, to effortlessly connect to a virtual world that provides that experience at fairly low cost. Kurzweil argues that the explosion of computing power alone may be sufficient to change the daily course of life.

Since these developments all involve networks, they may seem to suggest a monopolistic market structure. If economic life online involves getting your email and hanging around with friends, there will be positive externalities with respect to the sheer size of the virtual world one visits. If I spend my time on Rubi-Ka, while you spend your time in Albion, we cannot talk to one another, and we cannot do things together. Thus, our time in virtual worlds is more valuable if everyone we know is in the same world. Moreover, if two worlds compete and one has more players than another, wouldn't everyone have an incentive to join the larger world, so as to enjoy the larger network of society, communication and entertainment that it affords? Might such network externalities lead to a domination of this market by one player?For example,some network games such as lotro gold,runescape gold,guild wars gold etc.

There are reasons to expect, however, that this market is not likely to be monopolized. First, there seems to be a great diversity of tastes for the different features of a world. Mr. Bird may want to be on Pluto, while Mr. Castronova prefers medieval Britain. One of the major attractions of life mediated by avatars is the anonymity it affords, and anonymity requires a person to have exit options: other worlds to escape to if one's reputation in this one gets unpleasant. Perhaps a savvy game developer could make a world so large and varied as to provide the essential minimum level of entertainment and anonymity to a sufficiently large number of people, so that membership in that one world becomes optimal for all. This seems unlikely, however, given that there is a marginal cost to creating and maintaining game content. Moreover, there are no economies of scale on the supply side to match the increasing returns on the demand side (Liebowitz and Margolis, 1994). Production of game content and its maintenance are both labour-intensive activities. One could perhaps increase production of content by allowing other producers (say, by opening game code to the public), but continued control of the world being created would be problematic. On the whole, it seems very unlikely that one developer could produce a world big enough to monopolize the market.

A second reason involves congestion. Virtual worlds are virtual because they are online, but they are worlds because there is some physicality to them. Avatars take up space. If a world has a certain amount of entertaining content in it, that content will almost always be subject to some kind of congestion effect. The cool monsters are in the Dungeon of Befallen, but if tens of thousands of us go there to hunt them, none of us will have a good time. Sometimes the only way to reduce congestion is to add content, but this, again, is labour intensive. There will also be congestion effects related to connection speeds and bandwidth.

A third reason that the market will probably not be dominated by a few companies can be found in the many competitive strategies that are available even now, but have not yet been exploited by new entrants. For example, the current set of developers have managed to impose huge switching costs on players by structuring gameplay around the time-intensive development of avatar capital. A player starts the game with a weak avatar, but gameplay gives the avatar ever-increasing powers. As power increases, the avatar is able to take more advantage of the game world, to travel farther, do more things, see more people. A person with a high-level avatar then faces a high hurdle in switching games, because in the new game he will start out poor, defenceless and alone again. This situation definitely locks in the game's player base, but it is also open to defeat by any number of schemes to reduce the switching costs. Surprisingly, no competitor to a current game has offered new players the opportunity to start their avatars at a higher level of wealth and ability if they can provide evidence of a high level avatar in another game. On the other hand, two games (Ultima Online and Dark Ages of Camelot) now offer methods to effectively start out ahead: in Ultima, you can directly buy your levels; in Camelot, you can start a new avatar at level 20 if you have already gotten one to level 50. These strategies help companies discourage the buying and selling of avatars outside the game, perhaps at a cost to the atmosphere within the world. In sum, what appear to be strong lock-ins and switching costs in the game market today may not be as strong as they seem; when savvy competitors appear, the player bases will generally be at risk. For example,some network games such as lotro gold,runescape gold,guild wars gold etc.

A final argument against a monopolization tendency comes from the nature of the content itself. Games are art, for the most part, and markets for artistic output exhibit a great deal of churn due to herding effects and the star phenomenon (MacDonald, 1988). If a company designs a better game, it will attract players. And while it is true that development costs can be significant, it will always be possible to produce a fun virtual world for a tiny amount of money and then scale it up as it becomes more popular.Whatever network externalities, supply-side returns to scale, and barriers to entry may exist in the market for virtual worlds, they seem insufficient to produce domination by a single company. The distribution of populations in virtual worlds is perhaps less like a natural monopoly market than a club goods market. Populations will sort according to the services, ambience, and fees of the various worlds. Virtual worlds will compete, as clubs do, but their size will be limited by congestion effects and by the marginal cost of increasing the scale of the world.

This analysis allows a tentative answer to the first question of the study: in the medium-term future, the online multiplayer gaming market will probably consist of a number of large, densely populated worlds, with varying degrees of portability between them. The worlds will generate large revenue streams and will occupy many hours of human time, some of it considered play, some of it considered work. The hours that people devote to games will result in the accumulation of stocks of digital capital goods. These objects will have considerable economic value. Given the expected growth in connectivity, interface technologies and content, there is reason to believe that this digital capital stock may eventually become quite large.

These considerations then lead to the next set of questions: If virtual worlds do become more important, how will this affect the real Earth economy?

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_4064.shtml

Who Uses An RSS Feed?

By: Scott Lindsay

Who uses a Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feed? Maybe the better question is how many are not using RSS feeds?

Before we go any further let’s talk just briefly about what RSS is and why it’s important. Real Simple Syndication is a process that allows individuals to subscribe to content distribution. This is not like subscribing to email marketing or an ezine. This content is custom fed to your reader and viewable when you choose to listen, watch or read the content. That’s right, the content captured by a RSS reader is not confined to text information.

Say for instance you have a podcast you like to listen to; an RSS reader can capture the podcast and download it for quick listening when you’re ready.

OK, now that we’re past the primer, let’s get back to the subject at hand.

Who uses an RSS feed?

Your average information consumer thrives on RSS information, but there may be an even more interested group of users.

Many business bloggers have very specific RSS subscriptions. If a business blog is dependent on information about a very specific trade or business discipline they can, in turn, provide their readers with some of the most up to date information available.

Their RSS reader scours the Internet looking for the specific information the business owner requests. The information received through an RSS feeder can help the business bloggers establish themselves as trusted resources for quality information.

The truth is there is a two-step marketing plan that is happening when a business blogger uses an RSS feed to find information they can use. The first step is for the original writer of the article or the producer of the audio or visual content. The RSS feed is helping them reach a very specific segment of the online population that is motivated by the material they present. The second form of marketing is when the business blogger redistributes the information. It is marketing for both the business blogger as well as the individual or organization that supplied the original story.

If you are looking for fresh content for your blog or even your website you can utilize RSS through a free article directory that can allow you quick access to the latest content from a specific writer or on a specific topic.

The growth of RSS is incredible. You might even liken the service to something like a newspaper being delivered to your reader that only feature topics you’re interested in.

This can be a great resource for business as well as an incredible time saver as you can bypass multiple online searches for the same information that can be direct delivered to your RSS reader.

The work of online business is already hard enough. That’s why using an RSS reader is a component that can enable you to have more available time to work on other marketing chores and business development.

In an online world that recognizes the power in knowledge-based content RSS has become a goldmine for those interested in passing the wealth along to their customers.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_4066.shtml

Internet Advertising: The Greatness Of Banners

By: Todd Thomas

Banners are probably the most common form of advertising on the Internet today. The reason behind this has to do with their randomness and prevalence throughout the cyber highway. Banners are not intended for target audiences; instead, these flashing, animated, sound-generating eye-catchers are intended to simply throw the message out there in an endless array of locations for everyone—professionals and public—to see. In this way, the company that is advertising becomes known instantaneously, which is the purpose.

The banner may very well be the prelude to sucessfully target networking. When the banners provide a vast acknowledgement of a business’ existence, networking becomes easier and more successful because a wider variety of other business owners will have become more familiar with those who have previously launched the banner. The banner, then, is a form of dynamic introduction for new business ventures and a constant affirmation of already existing ones. All types of businesses use banners due to their “in-your-face” nature and the company recognition they provide during short-term and over long-term periods.

Banners are initiated through particular HTML or PHP hyperlink coding. The more elaborate ones, however, are launched through specialized software like Flash® and Java®, both of which are designed for extreme animation, video and audio presentations, some of which are unrestricted by Windows® framing, such as the Adobe™ logo which is activated everytime a PDF file opens. Some banners feature only color stills with lettering, while others include motion and sound. That’s the great thing about banners: they can be constructed to show anything, and they are growing more and more sophicated all the time.

Among the more popular banners circulating the Internet, many represent the more well-known companies that have been around for a while. This suggests that the larger businesses tend to employ such technical and dynamic means of advertising. Cost isn’t low, and it continues to rise. This includes: software, design and development, and sponsorship with other businesses who offer space on their sites to feature the banners. Pricing varies, but it is usually beyond the budget range of the typical small business. Therefore, the banner not only advertises the company and its particular marketing pitch, it also boasts its success.

There is also the constancy of the banner. Unlike, say, television commercials, this mode of advertising can run on and on, non-stop, day and night. Because of this, in conjunction with their prevalence throughout the Internet, business owners need not ever fear that their banner ads will be going unnoticed. Ongoing advertising is sure to incessantly increase traffic, keep the inflow steady, and promote current development in the businesses the banners represent.

In the end, banners are, due to their countless advantages, the best form of advertising for online business. As a matter of fact, their impact in their effects and efforts make their employment just short of a necessity to ensure success. New online business owners who aren’t sure how to introduce their ventures would be served best to use banners, which are flexibly ideal, despite their potentially high costs.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_4038.shtml

Enabling High - Quality C/C++ Software, Automatically-Coverity Prevent

By: Coverity

What Is It?

Coverity Prevent SQS™ is the market-leading automated approach to identify and resolve the most critical defects in C, C++, and Java source code. By providing a complete understanding of your build environment, source code, and development process, Prevent SQS sets the standard in enabling high-quality software across organizations worldwide.

Prevent SQS for C/C++ automatically analyzes large, complex C and C++ code bases and detects critical, must-fix defects that could lead to system crashes, memory corruption, security vulnerabilities, unpredictable behavior, and performance degradation.

Prevent SQS features:

• 100% path coverage: Prevent SQS for C/C++ analyzes 100% of the paths through your source code, ensuring that all possible execution branches are followed, while avoiding impossible paths to maintain fast execution.

• Low false positive rate: Prevent SQS for C/C++ maintains a very low false positive rate , ensuring that developers’ time spent inspecting defects will result in noticeable quality improvements.

• Highly scalable: Prevent SQS for C/C++ analyzes millions of lines of code in a matter of hours, easily integrating into your regular build process with little or no additional hardware and no disruption to your development process.

What Makes It Great?

Unlike other C/C++ analysis tools that focus on programming style and syntax-based checks, Prevent SQS for C/C++ performs deep, interprocedural analysis to uncover the critical, must-fix defects that matter most to developers. Prevent SQS for C/C++ leverages multiple analysis engines to uncover hard-to-find defects including:

• Path Flow Engine understands the control flow through each function in your code base, allowing Prevent SQS to analyze 100% of the paths through your code.

• Statistical Engine tracks behavioral patterns throughout your entire code base, allowing Prevent SQS to infer correct behavior based on previously observed behavior.

• Interprocedural Summary Engine enables Prevent SQS to perform a whole program analysis of complex call chains at any depth across files and modules in a form that is most similar to the eventual executing Binary. This result in the highest-fidelity results available.

• False Path Engine solves each branch condition to determine if it will be true, false, or unknown on the current path. This allows Prevent SQS to efficiently remove obvious false positives from the set of defects reported.

A sample of the critical defects reported by Prevent SQS for C/C++ include:

Concurrency Issues

• Double locks, missing locks.

• Locks acquired in incorrect order.

• Locks held by blocking functions.

Memory Corruption and

Mismanagement

• Resource leaks.

• Calls to freeing functions using invalid arguments.

• Excessive stack use in memory constrained systems.

Crash-causing pointer errors

• Dereference of null pointers.

• Failure to check for null return values.

• Misuse of data contained within wrapper data types.

C++ Specific Errors

• Misuse of STL iterators.

• Failure to de-allocate memory by destructors.

• Incorrect override of virtual functions.

• Uncaught exceptions.

Window/COM Specific Errors

• Incorrect memory allocation with COM interfaces.

• Incorrect type conversions.

Security Vulnerabilities

• Buffer overruns.

• SQL injection.

• Cross-site scripting.

• Integer overflows.

About Coverity

Coverity (http://www.coverity.com) is the market leader in improving software quality and security. Coverity’s groundbreaking technology automates the approach to identifying and resolving critical defects and security vulnerabilities in C/C++ and Java source code. More than 300 leading companies have chosen Coverity Prevent SQS because it scales to tens of millions of lines of code, has the lowest false positive rate in the industry and provides total path coverage. Companies like Ericsson, HP, Samsung, EMC, and Symantec work with Coverity to eliminate security and quality defects from their mission-critical systems.

Coverity also has customers like Symbian, RIM (Blackberry), Juniper networks, Cisco, Texas instruments and is also used by the Department of Homeland security to scan lots of open source projects.

Free trial

Coverity offers a free trial of Prevent SQS that will detect a wide range of crash-causing defects in your code base within hours. No changes to your code are necessary, there are no limitations on code size, and you will receive a complimentary report detailing actionable analysis results. Register for the on-site evaluation at: http://www.coverity.com .

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_4091.shtml

7 Winning Search Engine Optimization Tactics

By: Lee Kendrick

Search engine optimization should always be considered long before your website structure, colors, layout, and overall site design. But, the majority of people usually get caught up "in the moment"… thinking of riches instead of "how" they're going to attract more website visitors. This article is meant to get you back on track, and provide you with 5 winning search engine optimization tactics.

Identify Keywords

1. The single biggest mistake that most business owners make is trying to think of a "cool name" for their website, when they should have chosen a keyword-rich site name like 'prevent-corporate-bankruptcy.com' instead of SmithLawOffice.com' (as an example). Your potential customers search for keyword phrases… not business names… unless you're already a household name like Wal-Mart, eBay or Apple. Facing reality, many business owners gave up on websites ever helping their business a long time ago… usually because of a poor website name choice. And, it doesn't have to be this way.

Simply, discover what terms people are searching for. Identify the "action" keywords and phrases that people are actually using when they are searching Google, Yahoo, MSN or any of the other major search engines. I highly recommend looking for keyword phrases that incorporate the following keywords: buy, want, need, order, download, etc. I'm sure you're getting the idea now. Then, you need to purchase website names that are centered around the most popular keyword phrases. And, redirect these visitors to your current website. And, I promise that you can setup a website redirect in less than one minute… even if computers scare you. You just need to have access to your website hosting interface, with cPanel being the most popular choice.

Optimizing Your Web Page

2. After identifying a minimum of 10 keyword phrases, I recommend optimizing your current website pages' title tags, meta tags, image "alt" tags. You need to start using these keywords within your webpage content in bold text, underlined text, and as text links. Do not overuse these keywords though. These keywords should only comprise 4-6% of each page. So, if you have 500 words on a webpage, limit your keyword usage to 20-30 words. Most of the major search engines index every word of your page and compare them to your title META description and META keywords. So, you should never hide or add non-related keywords to your webpages: like Anna Kournakova, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, etc. This is a "black hat" tactic and should never be used, unless your want your website to be permanently banned by the search engine directories.

Most of the major search engines don't even consider the META keywords anymore, which is why the actual content of your webpages is becoming more and more important. Excessive repeating of keywords is considered as spamming, which will get your website penalized with a lower ranking. And, be sure mix your keywords in different combinations throughout the page and in your ALT tags, instead of using the same phrase over and over again.

Link Popularity

3. One of the most important factors to achieve a high ranking in the search engines is link popularity. The overall number of links to your web site is important, but the quality of the links are even more important. All the search engines are very fond of "on topic" links. Links from sites that contain your same keyword content and are focusing on the same topic as your site, are known as "on topic" links. Three of the best ways to get "on topic" quality backlinks are to comment on other industry-related blogs, make comments in industry-related forums, and to submit articles to article directories. Just make sure that you're adding comments or articles to high pagerank sites, avoiding low page rank sites.

Misspellings

4. Adding misspelled keywords within your META tags can also boost your website traffic, because many people are likely to misspell your keywords when browsing the search engine directories. As an example, here are several popular misspellings I found people making when they searched for a site submission service, as follows: "free search engine submision", "sumit", "subit", "search egnine submission", "submition", and "saerchengines".

Add Fresh Content

5. Adding fresh content to your website on a regular basis is another key factor that plays a critical role in your search engine rankings. Adding new content regularly gives your visitors a reason to come back. Search engine robots will also visit your website more often, once they notice that you update regularly. This is one of the main reasons why WordPress blogs are so popular right now. When visitors leave comments about blog posts you have made, the search engine bots see this as new content. And, it really helps your site rankings when a visitor makes a comment with a permalink back to their high pagerank site. This helps website owners save time, by allowing website visitors to create content for them.

Don't Kill the Search Engine Crawlers

Avoid using flash intro pages where it says "Click Here to Enter Site", because the search engines have a very difficult time indexing (seeing) anything beyond the intro page… unless you've submitted every webpage of your site to the search engine directories manually, which is very time consuming. Even if you use the alt attribute to specify alternate text for flash images, that text will not be anywhere near as important as real text on a main index page.

Provide Relevant Title Tags

7. Making your page titles simple, descriptive, relevant and "keyword rich" makes it easier for search engines to know what each page is about. Keyword rich titles help the search engine directories provide consumers with more relevant search results, helping them determine whether your website contains what they are trying to find. The title description is the most important element of your website design, after you have chosen your website domain name.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_4078.shtml

What The Heck Is Podcasting? And How Can It Help My Business?

By: Ted Cantu

from the desk of Ted Cantu, Ex- Advertising Exec turned Defector

Just in case you’ve been living in a cave the last 18 months I’ll fill you in on Podcasting. In short it is an online radio show. You can come on week after week and get your marketing messages out to the millions at any time you like. That is TOTAL FREEDOM.

But what many people do not realize is that podcasting can be used to get incredible search engine rankings. This is a very powerful thing to keep in mind. That is what this mini course is about to show you.

Currently as I write this I have the number 10th popular show on Podomatic in the business section. Its been like that for quite a while. I didn’t have to buy my way to the top. I just plugged in a microphone and went for it. I blurted out tips and secrets and kept the format into a neat 40 minute segment.

More to the point I never asked for permission to do any of this. I just took action.

The truth was I actually hated my voice when I first started. But because I have done this so many times and have listened to myself over and over again I adjusted. Now I am not self conscious about any of this and I have grown accustomed to the way I sound.

GETTING STARTED:

If you're considering podcasting, you're probably wondering both, a) what it is, and b) why you'd want to get involved. Suffice to say (as you begin your journey) that podcasting is an amazing way to get audio material heard by an audience where and when they want. In terms of why you should podcast, however, the reasons are as varied, unique, lovely, controversial and fascinating as there are voices to be heard in the world. Just turn on a microphone and join the conversation.

It's really fun. Yup, let's start with the basics. If I were to say, "podcasting allows you to convert audio material via an RSS feed through an uploaded host…" the sound of your yawning would drown out the click of your mouse as you ventured to a different website.

Podcasting is about creation. It's about taking your ideas, dreams, ambitions, business goals, or any other reason that you'd use your voice for to create a lasting record of said content and making it available to others. And one of the reasons it's so fun is because it's easy. Get a microphone, press a couple of buttons, and start talking.

And if you're thinking, "but what would I say? I'm not funny or interesting and nobody would care about my show." In short, I disagree.

You may not get an audience of 10,000 listeners, but the audience you do get will be utterly interested in what you have to say.

That's why they call podcasting the ultimate niche marketing medium. If you're not in marketing all that means is, you can speak directly and specifically to the people who are listening versus trying to speak in general terms to broadcast to a larger audience.

Think of it like when you were a kid and strung two cans together with string or used walkie-talkies; what did you say to your buddy when you pushed the button to speak? In some ways, did it matter? The joy was in communicating the joy of talking to one another using a fun medium. Podcasting is just like that.

RADIO DAYS – MY LIFE AS A STRUGGLING RADIO HOST

Long before my days as a Rebel Marketer, ( a soon to be popular online show! Fall 07) I had a radio show in the Metro Detroit Market. To say that Detroit is struggling is a minor statement. This market has seen its many sides of downfalls. I somehow managed to get a radio show on a small AM station in the winter months of 2003.

Our wattage didn’t get past the city limits. The ride to the station was cold, dark and dangerous. It was in the worst neighborhood you can imagine and I had to pay for this experience out of pocket.

The amount of people I would reach every week numbered in the tens. Not tens of thousands but TENS. In fact, I would get the same ten people calling me every week and none of them would ever buy any of my health products that I was selling at the time. Most guests would call into the show because they were lonely people and wanted someone to talk to.

This was pretty depressing as you can imagine.

The only one who had any money in this “ACT” was yours truly. I had to literally deal with this type of nonsense week after week. The bleeding only stopped when I quit the show a few short months later. We could never get sponsors to put this show on the air. Detroit is a political place despite all the cheery hype. Pulling the plug on the entire thing was the smartest thing I’d ever done.

Needless to say I don’t miss those days too much.

A CRACK IN THE CLOUDS

I first heard of podcasting and I raced to it. I had a show put together in a matter of hours. I didn’t like the first ones I put together but I kept at it every week. Today I got about 20 episodes and I continue to appear with a new show once a week. You can find them here…..

http://911copywriter.podomatic.com/

Here is a bio of the show….

”I am an ex-art director, I spent my time in five major metropolitan markets including New York City and Chicago. I worked my way through five generations of interactive online marketing. I get my paycheck by cutting through the fluff and delivering cash pumping results into businesses. I am not one of those guys who will write online love letters to Macromedia Flash or hide behind the CEO's back pocket. I create mountains of online customers.

I put you in front of your audience and create a 2.220 percent increase of OPT IN customers. That may be a little much for most of you. But believe me when I say it that what I do is totally possible. I create foundations through niche markets and create the bridge to huge online profits.

I’ve studied with Dan Kennedy, Orange Beetle, Brett McFall, Seth Godin, and most recently Derek Gehl just to name a few. What we do on this show is very simple. We stay on top of the curve and share with you our perspectives on Online Marketing “ Direct Marketing and show you how to get your fair share of traffic online for your business.”

I pay literally pennies to put my shows on every week. I got a steady listening base too thanks to Itunes and I don’t have to worry about spending a ton of money out of my pocket for sponsors. I just talk and send it to the masses. My listening audience is around 6,000 people on a good week and it is growing all the time.

I have taken a complete 360 degrees with this experience. You should do it for your business too. All you need is a microphone, some imagination and some free software called Audacity. You can download it on the web just type the name into Google.

This is a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Happy Podcasting!

Article Source:
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