Over the years I have seen many infomercials claiming how easy it is to make a fortune in real estate. They all claim that for a mere pittance we can all be real estate millionaires. This pittance is of course anywhere from $39.95 all the way up too $395. For once I would like to see one of those gurus show hard evidence of their millions made in real estate using the techniques they are pawning off on the general public. If making a fortune in real estate were so simple, then why isn’t everyone rich? I can tell you why. Most of those real estate programs are how the author got rich, not by investing in real estate, but rather by investing in the illusion they portray to the unwary so they can get them to buy their course or their mentorship.
So, since I’m such a cynic. I’m issuing a challenge to all of the real estate gurus who read this article. If you want me to believe that your system is unique and not a scam, then prove it! I’m a working class individual with a better then average understanding of real estate and creative finance. I barely make $35k per year and have a family of four to support, I don’t have excellent credit, nor do I have a bunch of credit cards I can tap to generate revenue for investment purposes. I can not qualify for a loan due to my limited income. Now you know the fact’s about me. Still think I can make a fortune in real estate? Show me! Teach me your system and if I can legitimately make a living from your program I will publicly endorse your program. I will publish my findings on this site and others on the internet. Talk about a true rags to riches story. Any takers?
Posted by Administrator on 30 Sep 2006 2:00 am. Filed under Online Promotion.
Website design guidelines and tips - just common sense
By Mary Magdalene Chia
Here are some design guidelines and tips to help you build a user friendly websites.
1. First, figure out what you want to do and make a plan for it. This may involves some brain storming. Then, translate your ideas and plans onto paper by drawing a diagram or a flowchart so that you can visualize it. Then, ACT on it.
2. Keep your design simple, clear, consistent and user friendly.
3. A simple design, layout makes it easier for you to build your website. The end result will be a website which your visitors will find easy to navigate and easy get whatever information they want.
4. Your content should be simple, complete and direct to the point. It should make clear the intention of your web pages, cover the subject matter thoroughly and convey the messages direct to your visitors.
5. If your design look complicated, redesign and simplify it. Complicated design/layout will only make it harder for you to build your web pages. It may also confuses your visitors if your site is full of complicated mess of information.
6. Be consistent throughout in your design approach. The background, color usage and text format should be carefully chosen and the screen layout for all your pages visibly consistent.
7. Create a simple logo to identity your website. Have a captivating tag line somewhere with the header, and write an About Us page which describes the uniqueness of your website. These will leave an impression for your visitors to remember your website. Make a copyright statement at the bottom of you web pages.
8. Have a clear color scheme based on the theme of your website. Choose carefully a set of colors you use for your background, text, border, tables and cells etc. The color scheme expresses the characters of your website and makes it unique and attractive.
9. Identify who are your target visitors and how you would make your presentation. Decide the tone of language usage and the approach that will best suit your visitors. Whether your language usage should be casual and simple or formal and technical? Whether you should use pictorial or language oriented approach in your website.
10. For ease of reading, the length of a text lines should not exceed certain width within the computer screen. To limit the length of a line of text, use indent text or use a table with the pre-set width.
11. Long blocks of text passages can be tedious and strenuous to read. Try to use short sentences, short paragraphs and bulleted or numbered list form to break them up.
12. The width of you web pages should preferably not exceed that of the computer screen. People viewing your site usually don’t mind scrolling up and down the screen; but will be annoyed when they have to scroll left and right.
13. Font size: use larger size font; Bear in mind that some of your visitors may have poor eyesight; some may have partial impaired vision and some ordinary people who just can’t stand reading tiny script on the computer screen.
14. The text color should contrast well with the background color to be easily read. Likewise, Background image or texture chosen should contrast well with the text color, so that it is easy to read on screen.
15. It looks great on the screen and soothing to the eyes. But it is not recommended to use white text on a dark background. When somebody wants to print out your page for reference, it won’t print because the background will not be printed; while the white text is printed on white paper, you see nothing.
16. The images you put in a web page are not there just for decoration. They should be relevant and necessary to use as visual to help to convey the message, or serve to break a long and monotonous text messages.
17. Limit the size of an image you insert in a web page. Large image takes longer time to display, and most visitors don’t like to wait too long to view a certain image.
18. Keep the size of a web page small so that it will open up fast - preferably less than 10 seconds. If the page is too long, have too many items to load and slow to display, you should consider breaking it into smaller pages and link them up.
19. Contents such as video, audio, flash animations etc. are huge in size. They will slow down the display of the page. If it takes too long for to load a page, the viewers might give up and leave. They also use up more of your bandwidth.
20. Ensure that the visitors get around navigating your ,website, with ease. They should be able to find what they are looking for in quickly and get there. Use a menu or image map, a site map, arrows, links and buttons to provide direction to your visitors.
21. Make sure the pages are interlinked for easy navigation. Links should be well organized, strategically placed and easy to detect by using appropriate colors. Use anchor links to facilitate navigation on the same page. Always check for any broken links and fix them.
22. Load all the important and essential information in the first page that the visitors see. Give a quick introduction to your website with brief header, bookmarked lists, short summaries, etc. This will quickly let them know whether your page is what they are looking for.
23. Is your website screen layout look neat and tidy? Ask someone to have a look at it and get her feedback. You will be surprised!
24. The contents inside a table should have a little space between the borders. Set a padding around the table or set indent to your content.
25. Don’t simply add every neat gimmick and animated images you can find just because you think they are cool. In reality they are distracting and confusing.
26. Decide whether to use or not to use pop-up windows. They are great for catching the attention of the viewers; but can be distracting and annoying as well. Some viewers would dismiss pop-up as ads and close it immediately. Pop-up also will not work if the viewers have installed a pop-up blocker.
27. Encourage visitors to contact you by providing a Contact Us page with your email link. It is even better to have an opt-in box that serves to collect visitors’ contact and data.
28. Study other’s ,website design, and set up. See how they layout and organize their header, links, menu, buttons, images and etc. Then choose, adopt and modify whichever ,design, that suits your need.
29. Use ,website, templates if you don’t have any ,designing, flair.
30. Make a back-up copy for all your web pages. It will save you a lot of trouble in the event that you have to rebuild your ,websites,.
Well, some website design guidelines and tips - It’s all common sense.
******************************************************************
About the Author
Mary Magdalen Chia is the author of “How to design and build your own websites”
It is written for anyone who wants to design and build websites in 8 hours.
with simple, easy to follow step by step guidelines. To learn more, visit:
http://www.108diywebdesign.com
Posted by Administrator on 29 Sep 2006 2:00 pm. Filed under Work from Home.
Are you looking for a home business online opportunity? The internet offers a multitude of home work business opportunities if one is willing to look. One of these is online marketing. More specifically, survey taking…
Lots of big retail chains will pay money to know what youthe consumeris thinking, giving you a great work at home business opportunity. The internet is full of online businesses looking for people just like you to take surveys and some of these online surveys can pay you as much as $100 per survey, how’s that for a work at home business. Five 10 minute surveys and you could be making up to $500 per day with these home work business opportunities.
A friend of mine used to do this all the time. At first I thought it was absurd. Why would someone pay you to take a survey? But if you think about it, you’ll probably realize that you’ve probably taken a survey in the recent past on the phone. The only difference being, they didn’t pay you!
All you have to do is type in online surveys into your favourite search engine, to realize this home business online opportunity. But be careful, some of them may be hoaxes. You need to choose carefully which ones you will do.
Many of them give coupons or gift certificates instead of money. You also need to make sure that they service the country you’re applying from. For instance, if you are from Canada, and doing a survey from the United States, you may not be eligible for the merchandise they give for doing the survey.
Any time you try to make money online, you have to read the fine print. Make sure that the home business online opportunity you choose won’t see you getting ripped off, or wasting your time.
Starting a home business can be very rewarding, both financially and socially and what better way to make money online than spending 10 minutes of your time filling in surveys.
Posted by Administrator on 29 Sep 2006 2:00 am. Filed under Online Promotion.
I don’t know about you, but when I started my business and even today with a son in college and two kids at home who love to shop as much as mom, I don’t have a lot of money to spend on marketing. I need to make sure that every penny I spend is spent wisely, very wisely. So when I market my business, I need to make sure that I’m creative and use all the tools I have available that don’t cost money. Here are some tips that I have found that worked for me.
Radio/Media - It’s not that hard. Have a plan of action and stick to it. Each week decide to send out so many press releases, contacts to radio stations, local media, etc. Look to woman’s networks, work-at-home networks, and others who actively look for guests.
Stay in tune with what’s currently happening and see if it’s something that you can share about. I’ve found that having an angle works. Once you have that angle write and pitch your angle hard.
Also consider starting your own radio show. Jill Hart and I do a weekly podcast and it’s a great way to network. Check it out sometime at http://www.cwahm.com.
Forums / Listserves - Being active in forums and listserves is so beneficial to your business. You establish yourself as an expert and also you gain friendships and alliances with others. Plus, it’s a great way to promote your business. Naturally you never want to blatantly advertise your business, but when you answer questions and show your expertise, people listen. I know I’ve found many a subcontractor this way. Take advantage of these. Remember you also establish those friendships that can last a lifetime. And then when you get the opportunity to meet them in person, you already have a bond.
Writing Articles - Submitting articles is an excellent marketing tool and I highly recommend it. Make sure you submit to your targeted market. Write on topics that you are familiar. Don’t just write for publicity –Give something back. Make sure that your topic and information is of value. Write articles using The Top 5 or 10 or The Best 5 Ways To Do Something. Think about the magazines you buy at the stores, don’t you normally gravitate to those articles. I know I do. Get those keywords in the title. That’s where they count.
Also, plan, plan, plan. What are you going to do today that is going to gain recognition for your business?
Marketing a business doesn’t have to be expensive if you just remember to network and use all the tools available to you. In fact, it can be fun as you get to meet new people and develop new ways to sell you and your business.
_______________________________________
Diana Ennen, author of Virtual Assistant: The Series, Become a Highly Successful Sought After VA and accompanying Workbook, etc., and President of Virtual Word Publishing http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com. Also, publisher of the fiction thriller, Sledgehammer, http://www.pauloreyes.com.
Posted by Administrator on 28 Sep 2006 2:00 pm. Filed under Work from Home.
What does it takes to succeed in Adsense? A little luck, lots of testing, lots of research and my 3 Sure Fire Gold Bullets. Making money with Adsense is not that difficult after all!
How can you make money with Adsense? Well the basic principle behind it is writing good enough content to attract good enough ads for people to click on. What is missing in this link? The answer: traffic.
Acquiring Traffic Method 1. Article Submission.
This One of the best ways you can get traffic. You write an article and submit it to article directories. Obviously you write articles based on what your site’s content is focused on. I would strongly recommend writing original articles (like I do) and not just copy and paste other people’s works and brand it your own. It is unethical and if Google picks it up, it can punish you. It does no good to your credibility too.
Do a search on Google for article directories and sign up for at least 6. Write at least 2 articles a day and submit them for a month. I am not lying, at the end of the month, if you do not see a significant amount of traffic gushing in; you can email me from my website and curse at me. If you bear to.
Acquiring Traffic Method 2. Forum Postings
This method coupled with the above method would give you a super healthy does of one way back links. Sign up, again, for 5 forums (related to your site) and try to post actively in all of them. It create tons of one way links and also, if you have built a good relationship with the community there, you can even blatantly promote your site!
Acquiring Traffic Method 3. Adwords
Yes you can combine Adwords and Adsense together and still make a profit. You simply use leverage. Heard of Adwords Arbitrage? You bid for keywords that are low yet you maintain high paying Adsense ads. Is it possible? Yes. Do your research and send only the cheapest possible traffic for search engine bidding. The key here is not to be laser targeted keywords, they can be off a little but they need to be cheap. Another way is to simply set separate content bids for content advertising. Set it very cheaply and it will drive traffic quickly also.
Dylan has just launched 2 books. The first is a free report titled Secret Google Tactics which explains in detail what you can do to profit from both Adwords and Adsense
Posted by Administrator on 28 Sep 2006 2:00 am. Filed under Online Promotion.
I may be wrong in feeling the need to write this article. It is possible the names similar to that of my website were developed first or completely without having seen mine; however, I am correct I believe that I have good reason to write this article.
Have you ever seen how people copycat the success of others? This is a very common practice on the Internet. A case in point may be my article directory Article Database.
I started my article directory Article Database at http://www.article-database.com in mid to late January of 2006 and by late March received a Google PR rank of 3 for www.article-database.com and PR4 for www.article-database.com/news/. I have since done searches and I can easily find my site when searching Google for article-database. However, to find Article Database seems to be a bit more difficult.
It appears to me that when people want to increase their SEO they go looking for website names that have already received a PR from Google and then try to capitalize on that websites success. I am not positive about this but I do believe that articledatabase.org came after article-database.com as it is also copyrighted with 2006. They may have more articles than I do. Did they actually get these solicited and published to the site directly by the authors? I am not saying that they didn’t but they may have added the articles themselves. That could explain why as of June 14, 2006 they do not show a Google PR of their own.
Such is also the case with articles-database.com. I am not sure when they launched and maybe they were before me but I am wondering why they have no Google PR? The only difference in the URL of their site and mine is that they used the word articles rather than article.
I attribute my PR ranking to many things. The first of these is that I ran a publicity release using a popular publicity release software. Secondly I found some authors and contacted them and started receiving authors contributing directly to my site. After this there were several articles on the site, so I submitted the rss feeds of the categories with the most articles to some of the most popular rss feeds such as MyYahoo, Newsgator, Google, and many others. I then created a WordPress blog about writing and article marketing, and submitted it to several blog directories and rss feed directories. Then I started making posts to the blog on a semi-regular basis. The authors who contribute to Article Database are also notified when new articles are posted. In addition I use the same software to send a newsletter to everyone who has signed up as an author or user of my system. I also posted an article to several article directories that I titled Article Directories - Ten Great Reasons To Submit Articles To Them.
Am I complaining about other article directories having the same name as mine? I don’t believe that I am complaining; rather I am just pointing out the strange fact that when someone sees something working that they often try to copy it, and that is more than true on the Internet. Often a website name or URL is made to be similar in order to get some type of search engine advantage or the benefits of potential misspellings of the original website.
I believe that in my own way, I am saying that if these and other websites saw the Google PR of my blog and decided to name their article directory after mine, I take it as the sincerest form of flattery. I am sure that some one in cyberland will grab up other domains based around the terms article database. I am glad that I am one of the first.
Keith Stieneke is the webmaster and owner of several sites. His sites include but are not limited to the article directory site Article Database at http://www.article-database.com, the blog and blogging resource site Blog Smart Resources at http://www.blogsmart-resources.com and the Plug-In-Profit home business website Marketing6s at http://www.marketing6s.com.
Posted by Administrator on 27 Sep 2006 2:00 pm. Filed under Work from Home.
MLM companies seem to be sprouting up all over the place, and they can be a great opportunity for people who want to start their own work from home company. However, what do you look for in MLM companies to tell the difference between ones that can help you be successful and others that are just out to take your money? There are a few key differences between reputable MLM companies and ones that contribute to the mud slinging about network marketing.
MLM, or multi-level marketing, is also referred to network marketing, and it is a legitimate business plan. Good MLM companies have a balance between mentoring, recruiting, and selling real products. There is not an MLM company that works for everyone, and you may have to try out several MLM companies before you find the right one for you.
MLM is not a one-size-fits-all type of business. Any company that tells you that anyone can do their MLM program is lying. Not everyone has what it takes to be successful in every MLM business. Shopping for MLM companies is like buying jeans. You may have to try on three or four pairs to find the one pair that fits perfectly. Do not get discouraged after the first try. Many people in corporate America have tried MLM and failed a number of times before finding the perfect fit.
Another thing to think about when looking at MLM companies is to be realistic when looking at MLM as a career choice. MLM companies are not perfect entities. They do not provide you an escape into a world where there are no politics, no troubles, and are worry-free. No career can make you that promise, let alone MLM companies. If you perceive MLM companies as your savior, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Humans run business, and humans have faults. There are no MLM companies that will give you a perfect scenario, but there are some that will treat you better than others.
Besides company politics, you need to look closely at the products MLM companies sell. Avoid MLM companies that make outrageous claims or sell products that you can easily find in your local store. If these MLM companies cannot be honest about their product, or if it is readily available to the public, are they trustworthy? Also, beware of MLM companies that tell you their products are on backorder or MLM companies that want you to order a large amount of inventory.
Also, be wary of MLM companies that put more emphasis on recruiting rather than the product itself. These MLM companies are probably more focused on taking your money than promoting a quality product. Besides the fact that they are more like a pyramid scheme, which is illegal, they may not care about you as a professional.
Visit our Home Based Business Opportunities Article Directory and receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a very successful Home Based Business.
Posted by Administrator on 27 Sep 2006 2:00 am. Filed under Online Promotion.
Over the last few months there have been many pixel ad websites popping up
all over the internet. The majority of these sites exist to sell ads and make money inspired by the success of the young English student Alex Tew.
Most of these websites will make very little profit (if any), the vast majority will loose
money for the owner. But get it right, do it properly and you can make thousands
if not millions of dollars profit and it’s not really that difficult.
Follow these simple guidelines and you will give yourself a real chance of making
some good money in the shortest possible time.
Your pixel ad site must target a specific niche, this is the only way the small guy on a limited budget will get near the top of search engines and gain the traffic needed to generate huge sums of money. Your niche must be very specific for example. If you intend to build a jewelry pixel ad site, you would need to target a small section of this market. For instance you could take ads only from New York jewelry stores or Rolex watch suppliers. Another example might be a city pixel site, where you list only websites
with a connection to the particular city. An example of this would be my own pixel website. Manchesterlinks.com
Yes I know what you are thinking, how can he give advice when his own site has only a few ads. Well I am in the process of building the foundations for my website. Building links, getting good search engine positions for my targeted keywords and getting my site
talked about and recognized as a good place to advertise. Only then will I work at selling my ads and when I do I know it may take a couple of years, but I will fill my grid and make a very good profit.
Please remember potential advertisers will only spend money with you if they feel their ads will bee seen by people specifically looking for their product or service. Would you pay a salesman to stay at home and hide your product under the bed? No, well if you don’t get your website out there and seen before you try to sell ads, that’s exactly what you are asking your potential customers to do.
The potential to make money from your pixel ad website is truly fantastic, you just need to follow these guidelines and stick with it. Don’t expect overnight success, as with any business, you must be prepared to put in the time to reap the rewards.
Once your pixel site is almost full with advertisers, don’t think it’s time to move on.
There are still some great opportunities to make more profit from your site. For example
My own pixel ad site manchesterlinks.com will evolve into a complete web portal for everything Manchester related. This will give me great scoop to get repeat business from a whole range of new advertisers.
To sum up, find a niche to base your pixel website on, get listed in as many free places as possible. When the money starts to flow in, use some of this to generate as much publicity as possible. The very key to your success is how popular you can make your website look to tempt advertisers to spend money. This will most certainly come if you follow my advice and work at it
Posted by Administrator on 26 Sep 2006 2:00 pm. Filed under Work from Home.
I have now been marketing online for around 7 years, I have tried every money making scheme going….gifting and pyramid schemes in my youth before I learned they were illegal, investment programs (lost a lot of money), get paid to read programs (a lot of work for a few lousy dollars), multi-level marketing programs, affiliate programs, you name it, I’ve tried it! But I have learnt to market online - does this make me an expert - a guru?
I have now been marketing online for around 7 years, I have tried every money making scheme going….gifting and pyramid schemes in my youth before I learned they were illegal, investment programs (lost a lot of money), get paid to read programs (a lot of work for a few lousy dollars), multi-level marketing programs, affiliate programs, you name it, I’ve tried it!
And along the way I’ve learnt a thing or two about marketing, recruiting, building downlines, making money online and most certainly losing money online…but does that make me a Guru? Am I now an expert in online marketing and homebased business? Well I certainly don’t consider myself an expert or any such Guru - whatever that means.
But I have my own websites, I am part of a successful team in a fantastic MLM company, I work a couple of affiliate programs, I run a few blogs, I know a thing or two about marketing both on and offline, I write articles on the subject of internet marketing and homebased business and so on…
I read about many so called experts with 4, 5 or 6 years experience of internet marketing…they have written ebooks and courses about the subject, some even hold conferences and training calls about it but are they really experts? I have read many ebooks written by these experts and more often or not they teach me nothing knew.
I do not consider myself an expert or an internet marketing Guru. I do have plenty of experience and am more than willing to pass on what I have learnt over the years. But I am still learning…I still search out good ebooks to read, search out new marketing techniques to master and so on…we should all be learning all the time. We should never sit back and think we are now an expert on something. Pass on your knowledge to others but keep learning….
(c) 2006 Rachel Gawith runs her own home based business website at http://www.computerincome.net recommending a couple of good businesses people can earn excellent incomes from, suggesting tips on website promotion, reviewing ebooks, software and resources. She also runs a weekly ezine on internet marketing and working from home and you can subscribe for free at http://www.freedailycash.com
Posted by Administrator on 26 Sep 2006 2:00 am. Filed under Online Promotion.
How To Make Money With Pixel Ad Websites
How To Make Money With Pixel Ad Websites
Over the last few months there have been many pixel ad
websites popping up
all over the internet. The majority of these sites exist to
sell ads and make money inspired by the success of the young English student
Alex Tew.
Most of these websites will make very little profit (if
any), the vast majority will loose
money for the owner. But get it right, do it properly and
you can make thousands
if not millions of dollars profit and it’s not really
that difficult.
Follow these simple guidelines and you will give yourself a
real chance of making
some good money in the shortest possible time.
Your pixel ad site must target a specific niche, this is
the only way the small guy on a limited budget will get near the top of search
engines and gain the traffic needed to generate huge sums of money. Your niche
must be very specific for example. If you intend to build a jewelry pixel ad
site, you would need to target a small section of this market. For instance you
could take ads only from New York jewelry stores or Rolex watch suppliers.
Another example might be a city pixel site, where you list only websites
with a connection to the particular city. An example of
this would be my own pixel website. Manchesterlinks.com
Yes I know what you are thinking, how can he give advice
when his own site has only a few ads. Well
I am in the process of building the foundations for my website. Building links,
getting good search engine positions for my targeted keywords and getting my
site
talked about and recognized as a good place to advertise.
Only then will I work at selling my ads and when I do I know it may take a
couple of years, but I will fill my grid and make a very good profit.
Please remember potential advertisers will only spend money
with you if they feel their ads will bee seen by people specifically looking for
their product or service. Would you pay a salesman to stay at home and hide your
product under the bed? No, well if you don’t get your website out there and
seen before you try to sell ads, that’s exactly what you are asking your
potential customers to do.
The potential to make money from your pixel ad website is
truly fantastic, you just need to follow these guidelines and stick with it.
Don’t expect overnight success, as with any business, you must be prepared to
put in the time to reap the rewards.
Once your pixel site is almost full with advertisers,
don’t think it’s time to move on.
There are still some great opportunities to make more
profit from your site. For example
My own pixel ad site manchesterlinks.com
will evolve into a complete web portal for everything Manchester related. This
will give me great scoop to get repeat business from a whole range of new
advertisers.
To sum up, find a niche to base your pixel website on, get
listed in as many free places as possible. When the money starts to flow in, use
some of this to generate as much publicity as possible. The very key to your
success is how popular you can make your website look to tempt advertisers to
spend money. This will most certainly come if you follow my advice and work at
it
, nor do I have a bunch of credit cards I can tap to generate revenue for investment purposes. I can not qualify for a loan due to my limited income. Now you know the fact’s about me. Still think I can make a fortune in real estate? Show me! Teach me your system and if I can legitimately make a living from your program I will publicly endorse your program. I will publish my findings on this site and others on the internet. Talk about a true rags to riches story. Any takers? 