A plethora of free open source web applications exist today. Regardless of the specific circumstances of the need these applications can quite often prove to be a valuable resource.

http://freshmeat.net is one of the best online directories of open source applications. A quick search on freshmeat.net for say “intranet”, “cms” or “groupware” will yield pages of results. Browsing these results any application marked beta, stable or mature is a possible solution. A large majority of the available web applications would also state PHP + MySQL as the platform.

Oh well I need to have some Linux Server and it’s way too hard is a common reaction. Fortunately this is not entirely true. If you wanted to host a large scale production site then the chances are that a custom Linux server may well be a requirement. However just evaluating on your own PC, or setting up a solution on your LAN for anywhere between 1 to 100 users can be easily realized without custom Linux servers.

The solution is in another open source free product known as WAMP server. The acronym stands for Windows Apache MySQL PHP server. WAMP is extremely simple to install and a good platform for either evaluating PHP + MYSQL applications or operating the same for up to a few hundred users.

Visit http://www.wampserver.com
Or http://www.wampserver.com/en/ for the English version
First it is important to note that most open source PHP + MySQL applications will not run correctly on the latest versions of PHP and MySQL. For this reason instead of the downloading the latest version of WAMP server click on “downloads” from the left menu and then click on “older versions at sourceforge” This will take you to
https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=116092
scroll down and select “WAMP5 1.4.3″. Download the WAMP5_1.4.3.exe file and install it on your computer with default options.

Once installed and started a new icon will appear in the icon tray near the date/time on your task bar. Left click on this icon to activate it’s menu which allows you to restart or edit the configuration files.

Changing the web server port if necessary.

One common reason for wanting to edit configuration file is in case you already have a web server running on the same computer. In this case you would need to change the port address used by apache to something other than 80. In this case 8080 would probably be a good alternative choice.

——-Changing the web server port address Begin———–
Click on the WAMP server icon and from the menu under “config files” select “httpd.conf”. A long text file will open up in notepad. In this file scroll down to the line that reads “Port 80″ and change this to read “Port 8080″, Save the file and close notepad. Once again click on the wamp server icon and select restart all services. One more change needs to be made before we are done. In Windows Explorer find the location where WAMP server was installed which is by Default “C:\Wamp”. Next goto the subfolder named “www”. Inside here you will see another subfolder named “phpmyadmin”. We are looking for a file named “config.inc.php”. In a default installation this file will be at “C:\Wamp\www\phpmyadmin\config.inc.php”. Open this file in wordpad and find the line that reads
$cfg[’PmaAbsoluteUri’] = ‘localhost/phpmyadmin/’;
Change this line to read:
$cfg[’PmaAbsoluteUri’] = ‘localhost:8080/phpmyadmin/’;
——-Changing the web server port address End———–

Now open a web browser and access http://localhost . Or if you changed the port address to 8080 then goto http://localhost:8080/ You should be greeted by the WAMP welcome page. For each application that you wish to install create a new folder inside the “www” subfolder of where WAMP was installed. Lets assume that WAMP was installed at “C:\Wamp”.

Let say for example you wanted to install Mambo (www.mamboserver.com)
1) You would download the .zip or .tar.gz or .tar.bz2 file and uncompress it using winzip or winrar into “c:\Wamp\www\mambo”.
2) You would access the wamp welcome page http://localhost/ or http://localhost:8080/ and access phpmyadmin. In here you would create a new database for mambo.
3) You would then access the wamp welcome page http://localhost/ or http://localhost:8080/ and from the list at the bottom of the page you would click on Mambo
4) You would then be greeted by the mambo installer which is a simple 5 step process. (the default username for MySQL is root and the password is blank as in an empty string)

Let say for example you wanted to install oscommerce
You would download the .zip or .tar.gz or .tar.bz2 file and uncompress it using winzip or winrar into “c:\Wamp\www\oscommerce”.
5) You would access the wamp welcome page http://localhost/ or http://localhost:8080/ and access phpmyadmin. In here you would create a new database for oscommerce.
6) You would then access the wamp welcome page http://localhost/ or http://localhost:8080/ and from the list at the bottom of the page you would click on Mambo
7) You would then be greeted by the oscommerce installer which is a simple process. (the default username for MySQL is root and the password is blank as in an empty string)

And so on and so forth.

Any PHP + MySQL web application which does not provide an automated installer is most likely not a very mature application.

Good luck
http://www.zapstrategy.com/

Active Server Pages or ASP has long been an option for creating dynamic web content. Active Server Pages facilitates the ability to use databases such as Access or SQL just to name a few, to create dynamic, feature rich websites. The work going on behind the scenes in serving up the dynamic content is being done at the server level by the Active Server Pages source code. Microsoft has spent a great deal of time and resources promoting their .Net family of programming languages of which ASP.Net is a member. In order to develop with ASP.Net one must obtain the extremely expensive Microsoft Visual Studio Programming Suite. While expensive, Visual Studio is an asset to any programmer due to its vast amount of features. As with all of Microsoft’s products, support and updates are constantly made available for ASP.Net. The shear amount of features that Microsoft packs into Visual Studio, coupled with Microsoft’s extensive support make certainly make ASP.Net an attractive solution for any corporation’s web development needs, but the cost can be prohibitive, if not impossible to afford for the individual web developer.

PHP which is in its 5th revision now, is an Open Source web development language that also facilitates the creation of feature rich, dynamic websites that can use databases. Being Open Source means simply that PHP isn’t owned by anyone. Just as with Active Server Pages, the work going on behind the scenes of serving up the dynamic web content is being done by PHP at the server level. As with most Open Source products, the resources available to a PHP developer are free of charge. This makes PHP extremely attractive to the independent web developer. There are some commercial quality development suites available from companies like Zend, but there is also wealth of free resources just a Google Search away. Because there is really no corporate entity behind PHP, support and development on PHP is done by the community of its users and developers themselves. Surprisingly this does not seem to adversely affect the ability to find support for PHP.

All in all, ASP.Net and PHP are both excellent options, offering basically the same functionality. Whether the decision comes down to the cost of initial investment, or the comfort level one has regarding Open Source, or something else entirely, the end result depends upon the mastery of whichever language is chosen.

Ian Wilson Lockwood is a support analyst for Apollo Hosting. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers.  http://www.apollohosting.com/

I was looking for something more versatile than a lot of the lower end website building software such as Web Easy Pro, and Web Plus, yet with a good deal of the functionality of the higher end products such as Dreamweaver and Frontpage. As I needed to start quickly I didn’t want the steep learning curve that these higher end products demanded.

Quite by accident I came across XSitePro. At first I was nearly dissuaded from taking it further, because I was presented with a one-page sales website which the software authors put out.

Personally, having spent a great deal of time, recently, researching web products, the one page sales letters deter me from going any further, as I have subscribed to several, and always been disappointed. I also dislike parting with money before I ‘touch and feel’ a product, and particularly like to download a fifteen or thirty day demo, which was just not available.

Erring on the side of caution I posted a request on the Warrior forum, and asked for advice as to which website development software I should opt for. More replies were positive about XSitePro than any other, so I subscribed and downloaded the software, putting faith in the promise of a 365 day refund.

I was certainly not disappointed and initially completed the tutorial, where I constructed a ten page website in around 11/2 hours. You can view the website completed in the tutorial by going to the web page indicated at the end of this article.

XSitePro is feature rich and I have picked out my 12 favorits.

XSitePro optimizes each page to rank well with the search engines and gives suggestions as to what tasks you need to carry out, to bring this about.

The ‘Help’ functionality is very good with on-screen pages supported by ‘Index’ and ‘Search’ facilities. There is ‘Context Sensitive Help’ throughout providing immediate help relating to the function you are currently performing. ‘Online Help’ accesses a ‘Knowledgebase’ of frequently asked questions with the ability to ‘Submit a Ticket’ if the answer is not found.

Using a ‘Template’ principle it is possible to make amendment to all pages by making alterations to the template. Therefore if you want to change text, site colours, logos etc. on all pages, this is easily achieved.

The Multi-Page Creation Wizard provides a quick and easy way of creating the infrastructure of a new site, or adding whole new branches to the infrastructure of an existing site.

You can simplify your web creation tasks using the valuable To Do Report automatically produced by XSitePro. The software produces a checklist of suggested actions still needed for each page so you never forget to carry out essential tasks.

Two mouse clicks will introduce Google Adsense ads to your web pages bringing about another income stream.

Powerful functionality immediately available which includes pop-ups, pop-ins, link pages, automatic sitemap, page import, scripts, redirect pages and much more.

The software comes with 163 website templates included, making website creation even faster and easier.

Built-in Article and Product pages which are of considerable benefit to internet marketers.

No knowledge of HTML needed, making it also a beginners tool. If you can use Microsoft Word, or similar then XSitePro is for you.

Print out an incredibly detailed report that tells you exactly what you need to do to each of your pages, which means you can make sure that all your pages are exactly right before you publish them to the Internet.

Easily add a links page to your site that looks great and is easy to update, which means you can benefit from a reciprocal linking campaign (i.e. exchanging links with other sites).

In summary we found it to be easy to learn, intuitive and we were able to produce results fast.

© Paul Lewis 2006. All rights reserved. Reprints welcomed with article and resource box unedited. See the completed web pages created in the XSitePro web page tutorial. You can see detailed functionality, screen movies, tutorial samples, free e-books and much more by visiting the XSitePro full review. Paul is also CEO of Demovision, a company specializing in talking heads. You can see examples if you go to the “Contact Us” page at the above site. You will need Internet Explorer to view.

In the Field of SEO-Search engine optimization choosing keywords is one of the most important tasks. You should choose keyword wisely. Choosing keyword is not a guessing Game but it is an art.

Why to choose keywords?

As you probably aware of search engine traffic. Search engine traffic is very very important for success of any website. It is estimated that approximately 65 to 85% of traffic (average) coming from search engine (however is depends on how you promote your website).search engine is only way to create highly targeted traffic. You can improve visitor to sales ratio of your website if you successfully receive traffic from search engine. Or improve your revenue by attracting more visitors.

If you are selling Music CDs online. If your website is on top for key Phrase like “Music CD” on all Major search engines then just think how many people will search for Music CD in a day?? I think lots of. Now. This is the way you are getting visitor searching for Music CDs. However there will be lots of search in a day for term CD like

[1] Software CDs
[2] E-Book CDs
[3] Video CDs
[4] Game CDs etc…

But traffic coming form these terms is Meaningless for you to create sales. So your page should be relevant only for Key phrases like music CDs, audio CDs etc … so it will be better to choose Keywords related to your business rather than selecting randomly or blindly. I hope you will now able to understand importance of choosing better keywords

How to choose keywords?

There are lots of tools for choosing better Keywords like Nichebot, overture keyword suggestion tool, Wordtracker etc…First decide “what is your target market?” and then use these tools. Example you are selling E-books related to website design. Than you should first research how many people every day search for ‘Web Design E-books” go to Nichebot.com for that and simply search Web Design E-books. Nichebot will provide you count of last 60 days for this Key Phrase. We can see that Count for this key phrase is………..Or Go to Wordtracker.com site and search for this keyword Phrase and you will see related information on specific key phrase and you will be able to get information related to this keyword. Phrase.

They will provide you all related keywords

Example: For “Directory submission” you will see following related or nearly related Keywords. (This can also help to receive ONLY targeted traffic…)

Related term-count(average search in two month)
Directory submission-3978
Search engine directory submission-679
Search engine submission software directory-266
directory internet submission-163
directory website submission-159
directory engine search submission-133
directory submission services-129

Follow this Url to know more>> http://www.nichebot.com/kd/?term=directory+submission

you can follow one of the following tool for keyword research.

[1] wordtracker.com
[2] Nichebot.com
[3] inventory.overture.com/

Here is a list of top free Keyword research tools. visit it.>> http://www.seo-resources.inetzeal.com/top-free-seo-tools.htm the list include keyword suggestion tools,keyword analyzer tools,keyword density checker tools and lot more..

Now you have to decide which Keyword is less competitive for your website and you can easily reach on top. Based on that you should place these Keywords on your site..

Where and How to place these Keywords?

You are now familiar with keyword/key phrases. Now Question is ‘where to Put these keywords?” here are some places where you can place these keywords

[1] Meta tags
[2] Title Tags
[3] Through out the Description on the page

Meta tags:-

Meta tags are invisible for Visitor and as you might know search engines like Yahoo, Google, MSN are Not providing weight to them to rank your page. But still you can place your keywords in Meta title, keywords and description section.

Title Tags:-

This is very important place where you should place your keyword for better ranking in search engine. The main Keywords must be here for which you are optimizing your site. Try to include its synonyms Key phrases / keywords also to receive traffic of related keywords. Example you can create your title like this way
Buy Music CDs online: The shop for buying audio CDs online
You are including your two targeted keywords here.

Description:

After title tags this is also one of the most important section where you can place your keywords. But don’t go over bound .density of keywords/ phrases should be 7-10%. Otherwise search engines will consider it as keyword stuffing and your rank will go down rather than improving

Other places where you can place these keywords:

Images: -

you can choose name of images like music_cds.gif audio_cds.jpg etc rather than 0545.gif and image.jpg! This will improve relevancy of your page for related keyword

Name of domain, Sub directory and sub domain:-

Before you choose any domain name, directory or sub directory you should consider your keywords/ key phrases and also choose them according to your target market.

Example:

Just look at my site. I selected sub domain for my site like http://directory-submission.inetzeal.com/ and http://link-building.inetzeal.com/ for targeting my keywords. Now see source code of Page http://directory-submission.inetzeal.com/ you will find that to improve relevancy of my page related to keywords I also kept name of my logo like this directory_submission_and_link_building.png .then I placed title like Directory submission service. And placed this keyword phrase in whole description.now my page is relevant for keyword phrase “directory submission”, “directory submission service”. Or ‘web directory submission” etc…

I have chosen every sub domain according to this to improve relevancy for specific keywords

I strongly recommend you to choose your sub domain or sub directory wisely. if you are creating just a page then you can select like this …./directory-submission.html because search engines text matching will match this keyword and will rank your site on top with your competitor

So, like this article? It took two days to write. Any feed back good or bad are always appreciated. You can contact me at http://inetzeal.com/contact_us.htm

Manish Mathukiya Is webmaster Of Inetzeal SEO Services( inetzeal.com/ ).he offers various services like Directory submission ( directory-submission.inetzeal.com/ ).link Building and other SEO services
View their website at: inetzeal.com/

One of these ways, and perhaps a tips that I can give, is - and this without any strategy what so ever - just to browse around on the different sites; open a few of all the emails that you get from other marketers in return, and maybe just click on a link or two, to see what they’re actually marketing. In addition, go from one page to another, not being afraid of signing up for a subscription or another, I mean, if it is free you will not loose anything anyway.

Not long ago I found myself doing just that and this happened to be a forum on SeoNews. Ok, I looked around, read a few, and stopped particularly at one, which talked about difficulties in getting to the top of the search engines, and what to do? Some of the answers talked about a nice way of writing that matters, style, form and so on.

- Ok, I thought, since I had learned a thing or two at the trainings at work. It is not only a question of a nicely put content - but also a question of linking, meta tags, titles, “daisy chaining” (a specific linking technique) and such things, to put with your site when you post it. This stuff feed the search engines to push your site forward from within and from underneath. Well, I answered the forum request to the best of my knowledge, and then forgot about the whole thing. A week or so later I received two emails, asking if I could help, since they had problems with their sites - no matter what they did they could not get their sites to a good position. Following is my letter to them - and perhaps it can be useful to another Newbie, like me:

‘Hi there! Thanks for your reply. I will try to help you. I am in a marketing company called Veretekk and we are currently (around 35 of us) participating in a Company contest for top ranking on Google. Go to this address: eBiz-IQ.com”, and get loads and loads of highest expertise info on how to reach ranking # 1 on the world’s largest search engine (Google). There you will find recorded training sessions, lots, and lots of professional practical information for marketing and for pushing your site to a top position, among other a technique called “Daisy Chaining”, about linking your ads for a number 1 position. Listen especially to the recorded trainings of Veretekk CEO Thomas Prendergast.

If you want to have even more info, go to: inilsson.veretekk.com, at “Veretraining” (also free), to the “Conference”. It is live online training sessions on high quality marketing strategies. For example the “Guerilla Marketing”, also free. Trainings are at any time of your choice (24/7 for your convenience), at different levels, from beginner’s to very advanced, depending on where you are in your marketing business. I guarantee that it is super high quality and with the absolute best teacher’s of the Internet (Company is part of Inetekk Inc. based in San Diego, California US) - and it is all free.

Here you will also find a completely automated engineered marketing system (by the founders: the CEO and the President, Thomas Prendergast and Michael Darling), also free. For all of this you go to: inlsson.veretekk.com. You sign up absolutely free with no strings attached.

Another very high quality website is: barefootmentor.tblog.com, also absolutely free, with lots and lots of free training right there on the site. I somewhat know the teacher - she is quite amazing.

Then get back to me, and I will give you more information and other free sites for how to push your website to the top. If you would choose to go to the Veretekk site I mentioned above, I could even call or Skype (free internet phone) you, and guide you through some of the Veretekk marketing system, right there and then, simultaneously, if you have your computer on and nearby the phone.

On the other hand, I can send you more info via mail, whatever you prefer - it is all free. I am just another marketer on the internet (Newbie), but believe in empowering each other and help each other; it will be good for everyone. Kind regards Inger Nilsson

If you have any other questions, or if you do not feel this info suits you and you want additional information, feel free to email me back.’

Inger (Ike) Nilsson
Worked freelance in Publishing and Media since 1988. She has a M.A in Film, Literature and Art History from the University of Lund, Sweden. She is a degree Project Manager and was a student of Malmö University K3 in Film Production and Editing. She attended Art Schools and worked as an independent artist before embarking in publishing.

First of all what we will look in some of the main reasons which makes a domain priceless and sellable.

# Generic or Day to Day life words.

# Their extensions weather it is .com or .net. Its popularity. (Right now .com)

# Less characters. (Say 4 or 5 at most)

# Their pronunciation. (Don’t say epdu or something else it is not pronounceable)

# The keyboard relationship. (It would be easier to type in “tyru” instead of “oqzk”. Some companies who wants brandable names see this)

Now If we look into the very first point about generic or day to day life words most of them are taken. So how to find some other? Here is the tip. Just try and sit with a pen and paper when you are watching television. Write down the words that you think might be available as a domain name. You can do the same when you are reading some novel or newspaper. This trick surely pays I got many of my domains watching “Terminator” and “Home Alone” kind of movies.

Now the extension. If you have found out a great word which is already registered with .com extension. Then you can try other TLD’s. But in this you run into some kind of risk. You can surely reg “fast.net” & “Love.net” but you can’t bet your money on “babyboydomains.net” or “Simplyrockingnames.org”. So just apply some thinking over here.

Talking about less characters If you find a 3 letter name then just pounce on it. It really has the market. But there are none available right now. So look for 4 or 5 character names. Apply all our rules that we saw before and even then if it passes through all that steps without a hitch then take it in.

Pronounceable or not is also a factor. If you know english language, which I think you will be knowing as you are reading this article then there are no problems. For those who are weak at english they can try http://www.thesaurus.com or any other dictionaries which are available online to look for that name.

Don’t get discouraged if your word is not listed in it. You can surely ask some other guy on chat who is not interested in domains about this word. Otherwise the guy to whom you are asking may reg it before you and all your dreams might get shattered into pieces.

The last but not the least is the keyboard relationship. Some companies may look into it. If they are willing to spend their millions for this domain and other millions for marketing it and making it into a brand. You can try this. some words are just a flick on keyboard. As I said before “tyru” is easy to type in. while oqzk is a bit tougher. Just try it and see the difference.

For more tips like this and to sell your Priceless domains logon to:- Nameslot.com ©2005 Nameslot.com You can reprint this article but the content and copyrights should stay intact.

The competition is becoming tougher. Millions are online, but hundreds and thousands of internet businesses are also out there. Customers are able to demand more because they know there are many alternatives out there for them. With so many others to struggle with and against, how will you stand out? How will you make it with flying colors to the top?

Let us count the ways to earn towers of profit!

1. Website Development Is a Must!

Design

The appearance and content of the site must be pleasant enough to attract people to read on and buy.

Don’t mess up your page with too much information. The message may not get across if there are too many confusing details seen in your page.

The page must load easily. The text and graphics should be clearly viewed. It should not be too large that would make the clients impatient. They might not choose to wait.

Make sure also that your site don’t look cheap. Visitors might not take your website seriously if it is too plain and if the designs are screaming. Win the trust of your visitors and clients by making your website look as if it had been invested upon. Impression says a lot about your credibility to make a sale.

Content

If you have a product or service to sell, it must be on the page. The product information and price must be seen right away. Bank on the total packaging of your product to do the sales talk for you. Give direct to the point. Emphasize on the edge of your product or sales from the rest. Tell right away whether you have lower prices, higher quality, desirable services or better incentives. Promotions, freebies and contests would also stimulate the interest of the clients and visitors.

2. Promotions

Register on search engines

People use search engines when looking for something they need. It is a must that you are out there when they look for your product or service. Register on top search engines.

Publicize

Use the link to your website as your signature when you send out messages to your friends and to your mailing list. Use the signature also when posting in forums or newsgroups.

Publish announcements and articles. Make your presence felt in that part of the online community that shares interest in your products or services. Utilize also traditional and offline means of promoting like including your website address in your business cards, stationeries, and company letterheads.

3. Pursue Other Means to Additional Revenue

Affiliates programs

Through affiliate programs, other people can sell their products or services on your website. By simply linking to another website that sells merchandise intimately related to yours. They will do all the hassles of handling and collection and you get part of the profits.

Host paid ads

You get paid when hosting internet advertisements on your webpage. Each time an ad or banner is shown or someone clicks on that ad or banner, money comes in. Several companies online will be willing enough to match your website with the advertisers. Just make sure that you properly delineated the conditions and terms of payment before signing up. It is just usual surfing for your visitors. They would read, they would click, they may not buy, but you still get to earn.

Searchboxes

Locate for search engines that pay to have their searchboxes included in your website. Whenever a search was made using their engine from your website you earn extra money without stress.

4. Think

Think of what else you can do and how you can do it. You’ll never know the next challenge in store for you out there.

Foresee whatever difficulty you could possibly encounter. Consider the strengths of your strategies. Focus and improve on those strengths.

Think of new skills that you need to learn. Are there new technologies developing out there? Is there still a need for my commodity? Or are their needs changing? Do I have to change something in my product or services? Do I have to do some repackaging? Enhance on the new skills or features that you need to concentrate on.

In this ever changing world, you have to be responsive to the needs and demands. Know what sells, how to sell, where to sell and when to sell. Answering these questions will help you now. But knowing why you sell, the desire to be successful, to earn profits and to make your services available out there will help you sustain a momentum that will keep money coming in.

Daegan Smith is the leader of the fastest growing team of successful home business enterpernuers on the net. Find out how we’re creating financial freedom all across the globe and how to get in on the action FREE at www.comlev.net
View their website at: netmlmprofit.com

As you think about that feeling while you’re reading this, you’ll probably realize that it wasn’t really something you needed…

It was more of something you “just had to have”, something that created certain feelings inside you. Something where you could see yourself owning it and feeling that certain special way you really like to feel. You might also state to yourself all the benefits of you owning what you’re about to buy, looking back on this moment and thinking to yourself “Buying this product was one of the best decisions in my life!”

It was that feeling that created your desire, your decision to buy this product right now. The bottom line: You don’t buy what you need — you buy what you want…

If you even further analyze your decision, you probably bought that because you trusted the person or company selling it.

So, to recap, these are the things that make a buying decision:

* Trust for the seller
* Feelings created when considering to buy — these can be triggered by stating the benefits, creating pictures in the mind of your prospects…)

So, how does this relate to affiliate marketing?

Well, if the job of a webmaster is to sell a product, a job of an affiliate is to presell the products and to direct potential prospects towards that product…

Quite simple. But 99.9% of all affiliates fail to recognise that. Furthermore, preselling is done in a similar way as selling. So in order for your prospects to be presold and to follow the link you recommend, you have to:

a.) Earn their trust
b.) Give an effective presentation

OK, that is obvious, but the purpose of this article is to give you a clear blueprint of an excellent internet marketing strategy that will tell you exactly how do you earn their trust to be able to give an effective presentation…

There’s a certain rule in persuasion that states: “The more times a person sees you, the more your face value goes up (they find you more attractive)”.

Another fact comes to mind here: “A person perceived as more attractive enjoys more trust with people and is perceived as more honest”. Hmmmm, I wonder how we could tie these together…

The answer is…

Have a way on your web site to gather your visitor’s name and e-mail address. Then contact them on about weekly basis (every 5-7 days). Make sure you write quality articles and that you put your face in front of them (photograph). You can do that easily with HTML emails or if you send them a link to your site where you have a nice picture of you set up.

Give your subscribers value before you try to sell them anything. I suggest you give them at least 7 valuable messages before you start promoting products. In those first 7 messages you’ll build and earn their trust. Plus you’ll have your “face value” go way up, thus appearing more attractive and more trustworthy.

Best of all is that you can completely automate this process by setting up an autoresponder sequence. You set it up once and forget about it. Focus on other things, like how to get more visitors/subscribers to my site?

By far the best autoresponder I’ve found and used is Aweber ( http://www.aweber.com/?209837)

Get awesome, no B.S. internet marketing tips every week to propel your business into staggering heights and to finally be able to cash in those long awaited checks. Follow this link: web site marketing (insidemarketing.blogspot.com) and subscribe to the marketing newsletter.
View their website at: insidemarketing.blogspot.com

There is one big problem however. How come there are websites that actually help businesses to sell its products and services yet at the same time, there are those that remain unknown to consumers and drain the businesses’ money, instead of helping them earn additionally?

For many businesses that own websites, this is their question: How come their websites do not attract potential consumers and serve as additional source of revenue? Aren’t websites built precisely for that?

For many businesses with web sites, these online resources are built for a variety of reasons, among them:

• Get, as many as possible, prospects for its products;

• Help businesses create a short list of prospective consumers;

• Turning prospective online surfers to stop being just that – prospective surfers – and actually buy products and services from businesses; and

• Ultimately, turn these clients to purchase products and services from businesses on a continuing and long-term basis.

If, for example, your website actually is meeting all the said functions above, then great! Your website actually helps your income. But if it is not, then probably it is the best time to review or evaluate your website’s problems and reasons for not doing so.

Countless marketing websites offer various products and services that say they could help your website to be a top lead generation machine (that is, your website draws “leads” or sales from online consumers). Although, these websites may offer genuine and helpful information to you, most of these products and services are expensive and seem to provide general information on how to improve you website’s lead generation capabilities.

Actually, you can improve your website on your own. You are responsible for the success or failure of your website. With these tips below, you can start improving your website’s sales potential.

1. Is the nature of your business or company, including your products and services, immediately available to the website?

The website has to immediately and clearly state what your business or company is. Information on the products and services you sell should be immediately available. Otherwise, why would someone take his or her time to look at your site? It would be a waste of time if an online prospect is having a hard time looking for a product or service information. The longer he or she lingers around your website looking how much a product costs, the lesser the chances of buying that product.

You also have to state on your location. Are you based in just one state? In another country? What if for example, someone orders a product halfway around the world, is it possible? And how much the cost would be?

Are your links, both text and images, working? If someone clicks on a link, would that link go to the webpage that he or she is most likely looking for? Or is it not? Worse, you have linking errors?

2. What is the selling proposition of your business or your company? Is it clear in the website?

Prospects should know why choosing your business is the best choice compared with others. What are the reasons someone would buy your product or service compared with your competitor? Are these reasons reflected in the website? How do you substantiate your claims? If you got testimonies or experts praising your product or service, you have to show that they are credible endorsers? Explain in the website the necessary experience and knowledge of these people. Give your users their credentials. In that way, they know that they can trust with your company, and possibly, purchase your goods.

If there are any, show the awards or certifications received by your business or company from consumer or industry associations.

3. Does the website offer additional information or resources if a customer buys something from your company or business?

These are added come-ons for customers. Services like technical or administrative customer support in the website, if available, should be clearly stated in the website. This will give an assurance to customers that if something goes wrong with a product or service they purchased, they could easily contact you via the website.

Make them an offer they can’t refuse
If you want your prospects to respond, you have to give them a convincing reason to do so. Keep the phrase “what’s in it for me?” in mind as you’re writing your ad’s call to action. It’s what your prospects are thinking as they decide whether or not they will take the time or effort to respond. It will have a noticeable effect on B2B sales leads generation.
Consider offering application notes showing how other buyers solved their problems using your product or service.

Offering a useful premium or advertising specialty can also significantly increase the number of responses. However, try to make sure your offer is of interest only to qualified prospects. For example, a tool for sizing rings would be an attractive offer only to people who use rings. However, everyone might want a free pocket screwdriver set and inquire only to get it, not because they have a need for your product or service.

Many of your prospects may want to try your product before they buy it. If you can cost-effectively offer samples or a demonstration CD, you will generate more inquiries as part of your B2B sales leads generation program.

4. Offer consumers features and add-ons that would entice them to buy

Convince your prospects that they need to buy your product or service. Tell them that they need or want this product or service. Explain how other users benefited from it. In that way, they become convinced the capability of your product or service and hopefully buy it. Consider offering application notes showing how other buyers solved their problems using your product or service.

5. Is ordering in the website hassle-free?

Try to make ordering in your website as hassle- and worry-free as possible. Surfing should be as smooth as possible. No complicated ordering forms as well as processes. Is payment information stored for future buyers?

6. Is your company or business accessible enough for consumers?

Contact information of your company or business should be in the website. And this does not mean just electronic mail. Telephone numbers, feedback forms, among others, should be easily available on the site.

7. Good writing is the key.

Of course, any good website means good writing. Write clear and simple. Focus on your market’s needs and wants. Try to get to them that going to your website is not a worthless thing to do.

These tips, when used, can help your website into a more active sales generator for you.

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But asking how to get more traffic to your website is like asking “where do I put the gasoline” before asking “which car should I buy?”

The Web can be a great, cost-effective way to find customers and to help customers find you. But before you move too fast into the world of on-line advertising (aka pay-per-click or PPC) or “Search Engine Optimization” (SEO) both of which are designed to get buyers to your website, first ask yourself, “if they come, what will they do there?”

In the past, if you advertised using traditional means, and got the buyer to pick up the phone and call, you were a big step of the way to getting the business. That is not true in the age of the Internet. The process of dialing a phone, involved a psychological commitment to the effort. The buyer had already made a “selection.”

There is no psychological commitment in a click.

In the “insta-click” mentality of the Internet, with so much junk to wade through, searchers general begin with the conscious or subconscious notion that their click will likely yield a bad result. Next time you watch someone shopping the web, watch where they place their mouse after clicking a search result. Very often they move the mouse to top left, hovering over the ‘Back Button” - ready to go back to the million of other search results.

The point is, it is a waste of ad money if you get searchers to your site, but they don’t stay long enough to consider you and your proposition, to say nothing of taking the action you want them to take.

Almost every business should be seeking to expand on the Web, that is clear. But it is not enough just to create any old website and toss it up on the Internet. If you are going to invest in getting customers to your website, invest in keeping them there.

We follow four simple principles in our web design – what we call the FEMATM principles [the coincidental acronym has nothing to do with the Federal agency]:

You never get a second chance to make a first impression
…Anon

First Impression: Before people think they react. The website must make a solid first impression. Unique custom designs should be employed which effectively represent the organization. Color, shape, animation, all designed to engage, so as to keep the visitor from clicking the ‘back button” and hold them long enough to formulate an emotion. How long is this? One to five seconds on average.

Get to the WIFM (”what’s in it for me”) fast!

Though the Internet is still in its infancy, it is already well understood that the key to success is at least hinting at what your value will be - FAST. Too often, websites begin with the assumption that the visitor knows what the business of the company is. In a brick and mortar world that assumption might be safe. On the Web, if a user doesn’t get it in seconds from your home page, he’s a click away from the search results that brought him there. Thus, the purpose and the vision of the website has to be clear from the start.

“Any emotion, if it is sincere, is involuntary”
…Mark Twain

Emotion: Depending on the business objectives of the website, color, look, feel, motion, all must be used to garner the proper emotion appropriate to the site’s goals - design to hold the visitor long enough so he begins to “get the message”. How long is this? A few more seconds.

“It’s not our fault our generation has short attention spans, Dad. We watch an appalling amount of TV.”
…Lisa Simpson

Message: Message only comes if first impression and emotion have done their job. Content must be designed for maximum usability, ease-of-navigation with language and images ideally designed around each target audience.

Content must be high quality and served up in easy-to-digest, approachable content chunks, designed to be attractive and inviting (not long and intimidating).The insta-click mentality does not necessarily mean that to be successful content needs to be restricted to sound bites. But it does mean that even more thought and attention must be given to each word and phrase as well as page placement, etc.

The fact is, in our world of information overload, people do have shorter attention spans. We are more successful if we recognize that and work with it. Design that keeps visitors happy and engaged, makes websites more effective. As most US businesses migrate to broadband, the use of novel interactive elements can be employed to present the message and further engage the audience. However, all such elements must be appropriate to the site’s business objectives.

“I never worry about action, but only about inaction”
…Winston Churchill

Action: The desired action(s) should be obvious and easy to take from almost any point on the website. Action can come in many forms. For most clients this includes making contact - a phone call, an email, live chat, etc. For others, action may include an e-commerce purchase from the website or a donation to a non-profit cause. But another big use of the Internet is to easily empower friends to help friends! So referring (i.e. emailing a page) to a friend can also be a very important action for the website. The whole equation only comes together when the desired action is taken.

FEMATM principles are not only for e-commerce websites. All businesses and organizations should consider the fact that their websites are the first place buyers, sellers, investors, career candidates and virtually everyone else go to get information. In the old economy, great thought and money went into making the “front office” make the right first impression (remember Arthur Andersen’s famous mahogany doors?). In the new economy, this all must now be directed to the company’s new “front office” – their corporate website.

About AxxiemCorp

Based in Westchester, NY, Axxiem’s business consultants team with its designers, content writers, SEO specialists, and project managers to produce radically different websites for its commercial clients. Websites with solid business objectives, designed to attract the right audience and achieve real, bottomline results.

In addition to its New York-based staff, Axxiem has a design, programming and build team in New Delhi, India, able to provide everything from basic HTML coding to custom database development and custom application development.

http://www.axxiem.com
Susan M.H. Lewenz
President, AxxiemCorp