So you’ve got the buyer in front of your auction, and they’ve read the description. They’re must be interested, or they wouldn’t be looking… but just how can you push them over that line and make them leave a bid? Read on for some tips.

Improve your picture: In all that description writing, you might have missed the vital importance of your item’s picture. A picture with bad lighting or an intrusive background looks amateurish and won’t make anyone want to buy from you.

Add an About Me page: You’ll be surprised how much you can reassure bidders just by creating an About Me page and putting a little bit about yourself on your business on there. You can also have a few special offers there for people who bother to look at the page, and let people subscribe to your mailing list so that you can email them updates.

Use SquareTrade: Signing up at SquareTrade and displaying their logo on your auctions shows that you are committed to have them resolve any disputes that arise. You always see this on PowerSellers auctions – it makes you look more professional.

Write terms and conditions: Have the ’small print’ clearly visible on all your auctions, giving details of things like shipping times and prices, your refund policy, and any other business practices you might have. This helps build confidence with buyers.

Show off your feedback: Copy and paste a selection of the feedback comments you’re most proud of to each item’s description page, instead of making bidders go and look for it. If you have 100% positive feedback, be sure to write that on every auction too.

Add NR to your titles: If you have extra space in a title, put ‘NR’ (no reserve) on the end. Bidders prefer auctions that don’t have a reserve price, and doing this lets them see that yours don’t.

Benefits not features: Make sure your description focuses on the benefits that your item can give to the customer, not just its features. This is a classic sales technique. If you have trouble with this, remember: ‘cheap’ is a feature, ’save money’ is a benefit.

List more items: If you want more people to respond to your items, then list more items! You might find you have better like listing items at the same time, instead of one-by-one. There’s no need to use a Dutch auction – you can just keep two or three auctions going at once for an item you have more than one of in stock.

Accept unusual payment methods: To reach those last few buyers, accept payment methods that many sellers don’t, like cheques.

Buy some upgrades: The best upgrade is the most expensive one, which makes your item appear first in search results. In crowded categories, you might find that this is worth the money.

Once you’ve got some buyers, you want to keep them coming back to you. The next email will show you how to turn one-time buyers into long-term customers.

So you’ve decided to start a website. Maybe you bought a script and decided to start an online arcade, or you have decided to start a link directory or web forum. At any rate, you’re sitting there looking at everything you’ve done so far, bought a domain, gotten web hosting, and either installed the script or made web pages. Now you’re asking yourself, so now what? Getting traffic to your website and making it grow is the most important part of having a website, and there are several things you can do without having to spend an arm and a leg to get the traffic started and keep it coming.

I’m going to show you several different ways that can help make your website grow and keep it growing. Keep in mind, there is no sure fire quick and easy way of generating thousands of visitors to your website over night. In other words, I’m not saying do these things and you’ll be flooded with traffic, and be rich by morning. But I am going to show you 5 great ways to generate traffic that if followed through with and applied consistently will help almost any type of website generate traffic, and grow into a well noticed place on the Internet.

So, there are 5 steps I’m going to talk about briefly here…

Step 1: “Search Engine Optimization” or as it is more affectionately referred to, “SEO“. This first step holds a very important role. It’s going to ensure that your efforts in the other 4 steps won’t go to waste. SEO actually starts when you select your domain name. It should be something that is related to your website’s subject. An example would be freegamefactor.com for a free online arcade website. Next make sure to give your site a good title that follows your website’s theme. By using the proper Meta tags you will list the title, description and keywords that you want the search engines to use. To get the broadest keyword exposure it’s also a good practice to make a unique set of Meta tags for each page. Many of the better scripts already have this ability built in. Good SEO covers many different things, Backlinks, Meta Tags, Quality Content, and Functionality and Relevance. There is more but I will go into that in the next article “Make A Website Grow – Part 2

Selling books on e-bay can earn you huge profits if done the right way. E-bay is full of success stories about Internet marketers who employed innovative strategies for selling e-books. So how can you become part of the success story? Simply by following some of the guidelines discussed below.

EBay: Marketing Techniques for E-Books.

Here are some techniques to increase the sales of your e-book on e-bay.

1) Keywords: Auctions on eBay have particular titles, and for your e-book to sell, you need to attract people to the auction. Use keywords for the title of the auction, as this makes it easier for more people to find your auction online.

2) Attractive Titles: Apart from using keywords in your title, you can make your e-book even more attractive to potential buyers.

3) Sales Letter: The sales letter is a crucial part of selling on e-bay. It contains a description of the e-book, a profile of the target readership and other details regarding the e-book. Treat the sales letter as your marketing pitch.

4) Make the Cover Attractive: The cover graphics need to be attractive in order to lure buyers. Contrary to the old saying, an e-book is judged by its cover!

5) Bonuses: Nothing works like a bonus or freebie when selling on eBay. People should feel that they are getting value for money; therefore, the e-book auction should have some attractive bonuses thrown in.

6) Unique Ideas: The content of your e-book should be unique and original if you want to get the maximum profits on eBay.

7) Sell Unique E-books: You can source original and little known titles of e-books and sell them on e-bay.
Give it Time: Persistence pays. Do not be disheartened by competition or withdraw your auctions from e-bay.

9) Customer Feedback: Customer feedback is important if you want to know which market is lucrative for e-books. In addition, keeping your customers happy will ensure better rating for you on e-bay, resulting in greater sales volume.

10) Audio Versions: Along with the readable version, also sell audio versions of you e-books. This will make you stand out among competitors, and boost the sales of your e-books on e-bay.

Selling On eBay: Copyright Issues.

When selling e-books on e-bay, you should be very careful not to violate copyright norms. The new e-bay policy of Verified Owner Rights takes care of some copyright issues, but other still remain. If you are not sure where your e-book falls when it comes to copyrights, it is best not to risk it.

By following the simple guidelines above, and taking care not to violate ay laws on e-bay, you can make huge profits through selling e-books on e-bay. If you need to know more about selling on e-bay, you can consult a small business advisor who will tell you how to maximize your profits on e-bay.

Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com – The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.

Business Owners all across the country are joining “The Community of Small Business Owners” to receive and provide strategies, insight, tips, support and more on starting, managing, growing, and selling their businesses. As a member, you will have access to true Millionaire Business Owners who will provide strategies and tips from their real-life experiences.

Article Directory: EzineArticles http://ezinearticles.com

Most people agree that one of the best sellers on eBay is craftwork items, whether they are items you’ve made yourself or they belong instead to someone else whose items you sell on commission or buy with intention to resell.

The major benefit to sellers is uniqueness – rarely are two craftwork items alike – and you often see really unusual items selling at exceptionally high prices and attracting multiple bidders.

That’s wonderful news for craftworkers but there are disadvantages to specialising this way:

* One-off creations do not lend themselves to relisting, Second Chance Offers or multiple sales on eBay.

* Few creators market themselves well on eBay, due to excessive time spent creating works of art, and too little time spent marketing and developing their products. The end result can be all work and no money.

* There’s a possibility of items not selling after days or weeks in the creation process. Another example of working long and hard and having nothing to spend.

* Greater potential problems confront bespoke item sellers who take payment before the work of creating actually begins. Many bidders see the product, bid and buy, and expect delivery right away without realising they have to wait awhile for the item to actually be made. You can resolve the problem by making it very clear that buyers must wait a specific time for their product to be created and delivered, otherwise you risk lots of unjustified negative feedback. It’s a good idea to mention waiting time way up front in your description, in the title if you can, and make waiting look like a major benefit using words and phrases like ‘Made to Your Exact Specifications’, ‘Tailor Made at the Same Price as Ordinary Widgets’, and so on.

Although listing items you do not already have or can not quickly obtain is generally against eBay’s trading rules it rarely applies to craftsman-created items or goods produced to order, like made-to-measure suits and gowns, personalised items, and similar.

I searched and found lots of items – not just craftwork creations – being made to order and selling on eBay. Most profitable appeared to be the likes of teddy bears, hand made dolls, wedding favours personalised with names of bride and groom, baby newspapers – basically a newspaper style template giving fictitious news stories and a front page picture and headline announcing a recent birth.

The whole idea of creating goods to order can be worked in much the same way as traditional dropshipping deals where you find artists and craftworkers willing to let you sell their products which they make and deliver to your customers.

There’s another great business idea here in that craftworkers’ raw materials are every bit as profitable as finished items themselves on eBay and there is a huge following of craftwork enthusiasts who purchase all the tools of their trade on eBay. Recent research suggests that craftwork is one of the fastest growing areas on eBay with a crafts-related item being sold every second, the best selling crafts being scrapbooking and cross-stitching. Research says sales of craft items on eBay have grown by 60 per cent in the past year alone.

Avril Harper is an eBay PowerSeller and author of BANK BIG PROFITS SELLING VINTAGE TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEW POSTCARDS ON EBAY which you can read about at: www.sellpostcardsonebay.com and MAKE MONEY TEARING UP OLD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES AND SELLING THEM ON EBAY which you can read about at: www.magstoriches.com She has produced a free guide – 103 POWERSELLER TIPS – which you can download with other freely distributable reports and eBooks at www.avrilharper.com

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When you first begin to sell on eBay, you probably will not immediately realize just how important pricing is. In fact, many new eBay sellers don’t even realize that “pricing” needs to be done at all! What happens is if you over focus on the auction process at eBay, and how to attract bidders, you can easily forget that pricing plays a very important role in the site.

When you sell an item through an eBay auction, there are really are three (and only three) prices that you need to think about:

1. The “buy it now” price.

2. The reserve price.

3. The starting bid price.

The first two of these three are in fact optional, and the starting bid price is the only one that is required in order to initiate an eBay auction.

As far as the starting bid price is concerned, the key thing to remember is that you want to attract bidders. Lots of bidders. Because the more bidders you have, the higher the final selling price is likely to be. Thus, it’s usually a good idea to set this price to a low value – $50 is a good upper limit, no matter what your item is really worth.

The most important price, especially since you have a low starting bid, is the reserve price. The reserve price is the absolute lowest price that you want to get for your item, and is your guarantee that you will never be required to sell your items at a loss. eBay does give you the option to sell the item below the reserve price, but it will never require you to do so. In fact, if the highest bid is lower than your reserve price, there are absolutely no negative consequences whatsoever from deciding not to sell item.

Furthermore, what can happen if you have no reserve price, is that scammers can use two eBay accounts in collusion to get your item for much less than the real-value: The first account bids very low, the second immediately bids high to deter other potential bidders, and then immediately before the end of the auction, the high bid is cancelled or withdrawn. However, setting a reserve price, will protect you from this particular eBay scam.

The last price to consider is the “buy it now price”. If you choose to enable this feature, visitors to your auction will see a “buy it now” option that will allow them to buy immediately, without bidding, at your chosen price. You can use this feature for any type of item, but it tends to be most useful if you are selling multiple identical items, or items that you are drop shipping.

One final thing to remember is that hipping has a price, and potential buyers will take this into consideration when they are looking at your auctions. Your item description should therefore should make clear any shipping costs associated with your item. If you become an eBay regular, you might want also experiment with offering free shipping – you could be surprised at how many extra bids this can trigger.

Of course the prerequisite to choose the right prices to sell at, is knowing what your item is worth, or, at the very least, what it cost you. For recent purchases, or items that you are drop shipping, you probably already have a very clear idea. On the other hand, for highly unique items, collectables, and high ticket items, their value may not be so clear: for these types of things, it’s probably best to seek a professional valuation before you list them on eBay.

This article was first published at http://www.guide2auctions.com/ebay_pricing.php

For more auction articles and product reviews, please visit http://www.guide2auctions.com/

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eBay are a little strict about letting you withdraw your bid. They call it a ‘bid retraction’, and have a stringent set of conditions that you must meet before you are allowed to do it. Here are eBay’s three acceptable reasons for withdrawing a bid.

You made a typographical error: This means that you accidentally typed the wrong amount into the bid box, bidding a far higher price than you meant to. This can be scary: imagine bidding $100 and accidentally adding an extra ‘0′! You are entirely allowed to withdraw your bid in this situation, and bid again if you want to.

The item’s description changed: If you bid on something and then the seller updates the description, you have the right to withdraw your bid. It wouldn’t be fair, after all, to force you to take something that you now realise you don’t want.

The seller is uncontactable: If emails to the seller bounce and they don’t answer their phone, then the auction obviously can’t continue, and you can cancel it.

So How Do I Retract My Bid?

eBay hide away the bid retraction form a bit, because they don’t like people using it. You can find it by going here: http://cgi1.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?RetractBidShow.

Now all you need is the item number from your auction: this can be found on the item description page’s top right corner. If you can’t see it on the page, look in your browser’s title bar, and in any emails eBay have sent you about your bid on the item. Choose one of the three allowed reasons, click ‘retract bid’, and you’re done.

Are There Any Consequences?

Well yes, there are. The more unethical among you might have considered that you could just cancel bids anytime you feel like it by saying that you accidentally entered the wrong amount. eBay are one step ahead of you. Each time you retract a bid, it is counted on your feedback page for all to see – and anyone with a lot of retracted bids looks more than a little dodgy. eBay also say that abusing the bid retraction feature could get you banned.

So is there a way to retract your bid without facing a penalty? There is if your seller is nice, and most are. Sellers can cancel bids on their auctions at any time, and if you email them with a half-decent excuse then most will be more than happy to do this for you. After all, it’s not in their interest for their item to go to someone who won’t like it, as you might leave negative feedback.

Of course, retracting your bid should still be a rare thing: you won’t win auctions that way! If you’ve followed us this far, the chances are you’ve won an auction by now, or you’re close – but you might be a little puzzled about what to do next. Our next email will give you a few pointers.

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” We have all heard of this saying, but does it hold true with the internet? Well, I believe that there is an advantage in including a photograph with your web content, on your blogs, with most anything you have online. And why is that?

For a couple of reasons:

Your readers will be drawn to a photograph related to your content and would be more inclined to read your verbiage then to bypass it. How many of us get excited when we find a page crammed with text but little else? I know that I don’t.By including text with the “alt” description you are more likely to have the photograph indexed by the search engines. Without that description, the search engines do not know what to do with the picture. Why not make it work for you?

I get a lot of my free photos from Stock.Xchng but I also take my own pictures with a digital camera that I recently purchased at a big box retailer. Okay, so my Mazda and Lincoln vehicle pictures need some work — I need to learn how to better control glare — but these are photos I didn’t have to pay for.

So, give the inclusion of photos a try to see what you come up with. At the very least you will probably like your site better if you carefully include related photographs on your site. If you like them, then your visitors will probably like them too.

Copyright 2006 – For additional information regarding Matthew C. Keegan, The Article Writer, please visit his blog for wit, quips, and freelance writing tips.

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What Can a Freelance Writer Do For You?

A freelance writer is an independent contractor who usually telecommutes (works from home). You might hire a freelance writer for a small project or on an on-going basis to do regular work, part- or full-time. Freelance writers can tackle any writing or editing project you may have, including: articles, reports, web content, proofreading, press releases, reviews, business plans, ghostwriting, e-books, brochures, letters, print ads, speeches, presentations, newsletters, scripts, contracts, questionnaires, training manuals, and more. Freelance writers can also do research, planning, brain storming, organizing, and branding. Additionally, many modern freelance writers are very knowledgeable about search engine optimization (SEO).

Where to Find a Freelance Writer?

It is fairly easy to find a freelance writer since the advent of the Internet. Some of the most popular web sites for locating freelance writers are Elance, iFreelance, and GetAFreelancer. The way these three sites are set up is that people or companies with writing projects post what they need done. Freelance writers who are members of the web site can place bids on the projects. When the desired time period is up, the buyer chooses a bidder.

Elance is probably the most established of the three sites. Elance offers dispute mediation, an optional escrow service to pay your freelancer, and allows the freelancers to verify their credentials (such as previous employers or degrees earned). Elance does charge a project fee of 6-8%. Ifreelance and Getafreelancer basically just provide a way for buyers and providers to connect (no extras like mediation and escrow). All three of the sites allow the freelancers to create profiles where they can describe their background and skills and provide writing samples. The professionalism on Getafreelancer is, in my opinion, noticeably lower than the other two sites.

Do not overlook Craigslist for posting your writing project. A company called Freelance Daily compiles a list of all the freelance writing jobs posted online (Craigslist, Monster, etc.) every weekday and e-mails them to subscribers. The Freelance Daily goes out to thousands of writers. Additionally, you can also hire a freelance writing firm to handle your project. Many firms bid on jobs on these sites, but some do not.

How to Write Up Your Project Proposal?

The more detail you can provide for your freelance applicants the better. A good project description, like a good job description, is thorough, accurate, and informative. How many pages is the project? How many words should the articles be? Does the project involve research? Do you have a sample you can provide? Do you have a web address you can include? What is the subject matter involved? Is it double-spaced or single-spaced? Will the writer retain rights to the work product or will you? Will the writer’s name be printed on the work product giving him or her credit?

To assist you in providing the proper details, you should know that, on average, a full 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper full of single-spaced writing in 10 or 12 point font contains about 500 words. A similar double-spaced page contains about 250. The average blog post or web content article contains 300-500 words. Also, remember to ask for a resumé and three writing samples in your project proposal.

Some other tips are to consider checking your writer’s work with CopyScape. CopyScape is a website designed to check if a document has been published somewhere else already. Even if just a portion of the document is plagiarized, CopyScape can identify that. Additionally, many providers on freelance writing sites are from India or other countries where English is not the native language. If you only want to hire a native English speaker, please specify that in your proposal. Also, if you want the writer to turn in documents in a non-traditional format, clarify this in your proposal. If you expect anything other than a .doc or .rtf document, let the applicants know. If the writer will need special software, clarify this as well. Lastly, if your project requires proofreading or editing, specify whether you want the freelancer to use traditional proofreading symbols or just “laymen’s terms.” If you want the proofreader to use a certain reference manual like the APA (American Psychological Association) or Chicago Manual of Style, specify this.

Terminology to Know

Be familiar with the correct terminology. Here are a few terms to help you out:

Blogger/Blogging – A blog, or web log, is like an online diary or journal. Blogs may contain personal or business-related content. Blogs are typically updated with new content on a regular basis. Typically, blogs provide a place for readers to leave comments and feedback. People may subscribe to blogs, like newsletters. A blogger is someone who posts blog content. Blogging is the act of posting content to a blog.

Copywriting: Not the same as “copyright,” which refers to intellectual property. Copywriting refers to writing “copy.” Copy is any text that promotes a business, service, person, or concept, i.e. marketing materials. Many copywriters work for advertising agencies, newspapers, or magazines.

Ghostwriter: Someone who is hired to write for someone else. The writer allows the person who hired them to claim his or her writing as their own.

Proofreading:

Light Proofreading–Correcting misspellings, grammar and punctuation mistakes, verifying references, and ensuring consistency

Medium Proofreading–Light proofreading plus checking for tone, structure, run-on sentences, voice, tense, disjointed ideas

Heavy Proofreading–Medium proofreading plus condensing wordiness, smoothing out transitions between paragraphs, readability, eliminating cliché s, and any other correction or comment that may be noticed by the proofreader

Re-Write: Many companies are in need of having news items or similar content re-written. If this is what you need, specify that candidates will not need to create original content but rather just re-work or re-arrange existing content. The price for this should be less than drafting original copy.

Web Content: Any content on your website, to include text, pictures, videos, or logos, is considered web content.

White Papers: Articles that express an organization’s standing or philosophy on an issue. White papers are in some ways reports that may provide results of a recent project or conclusions made by recent research.

How to Select a Writer From All the Qualified Candidates?

Most likely any clear and concise project proposal you post is going to leave you inundated with applicants. Expect anywhere from 5 to 40 applicants per post. How do you determine who is the best match for the job?

What many buyers do is ask the freelance applicants to write a sample article, give 10 ideas for sample blog posts, proofread a sample page, etc. By creating a “sample test,” you can weed out applicants in a number of ways. First of all, some applicants will be too busy to do your sample. Dedicated applicants who really want the job will make time. Second, applicants will turn in the test after your due date, misread directions, and otherwise expose their weaknesses. You can also consider conducting phone interviews at the final stage of the process. Still unsure? Hire the top 2-3 candidates on a conditional basis for a short project and decide after that.

How to Charge and Pay for Your Freelance Writer?

You have a lot of flexibility on how you pay your freelance writer: per word, per article, per page, per project, hourly, or on a pre-arranged flat fee. As far as paying your freelancer, PayPal is probably the easiest way, unless the writer is going to be on your payroll getting paper checks. If you use Elance, you can use their escrow system.

Other Issues to Consider

If you are doing a long-term project, consider setting milestones for the project, i.e. breaking it up into a series of small projects with intermittent due dates. You can also use a website like BaseHQ to keep track of the project with the freelancer. This site provides a common workspace for two parties working long-distance on a similar project.

Also, if your freelance writer is working with sensitive material for your company, consider having them sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement. This document will bind the freelancer into keeping your trade secrets private.

Another tip is to not be so specific with what you want done that the freelancer has no room to pitch ideas or give feedback. Freelance writers have extensive expertise in projects just like yours and may be able to add a valuable outside opinion. Take advantage of what you’re paying for.

This article was written by freelance writer Staci Marquez-Nichols. For more information, visit Staci-Marquez-Nichols.Com.

http://staci-marquez-nichols.com

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I get a lot of questions from people I’m connected to on on-line networking platforms asking what the difference is between Internet Marketing and Internet Presence. This is becoming more important as more people actually care about being found when someone does a name search in Google.

It is one thing to have content on the Internet that you are associated with such as press releases you are quoted in, blog posts you have authored or commented on, articles you’ve published on-line, web pages and websites you’ve created, and similar content others have written about you or that reference your name. It’s another thing if any of that content surfaces to the first page of Google when someone does a search – only – on your name (i.e., they don’t narrow/refine the search criteria by adding additional terms such as your employer or field of expertise etc.). Someone searching on – only – your first and last name should be able to find you on the first page of hits.

It is one thing if your name is so unique that Google only surfaces 968 hits your name. It’s another thing if you have a more common name like John Smith that surfaces 326 – million – hits. Someone with a name like John Smith has a lot more work to do to create a visible (key concept) Internet presence.

That’s where some basic Internet Marketing concepts come into play. Some people call it Search Engine Optimization, but that can have some cryptic technical connotations for those of us that don’t wear propeller hats (having a Physics degree, I used to wear one). I prefer to look at Internet Marketing in a more common sense fashion.

In the context of building a visible Internet presence, Internet Marketing is quite simply – using the Internet to market – you – or more specifically associating Internet content to your name in the eyes of a search engine.

You can have all of the content in the world floating around the Internet, but if no one can find it when they perform relevant key word searches in Google (or any search engine) none of that content is helping you create a visible (there’s that concept again) Internet presence. You can waste a lot of time creating content nobody will ever see if you don’t keep some basic Internet Marketing concepts in mind along the way.

Internet Marketing 101 – When it comes to building and establishing a visible Internet presence, it all starts with one fundamental concept: Your name – is – the key word phrase you are focusing on.

That means you want to have your name in the title of the content you create whenever possible. Ideally, that means you want it to be between the HTML title tags of the webpage that displays your content. It also helps if your name is in the first 150 characters of the content you create as well. Why? Because every search engine grabs a certain part of a document or web page to use as the descriptive text which appears below the actual hyperlinked Title of the hit. Often, but not always, a search engine grabs the first part of your content to use as the descriptive text. If you have a way of actually driving the META TAG “description” associated with the webpage displaying your content – obviously make sure your name is in the first 150 characters of that description. In addition, if you have the ability to select the META TAG “keywords” associated with the webpage displaying your content – obviously make sure your – first and last name – is one of the first 2-3 a keyword phrases you select.

Are you going through a resume writing or on-line bio writing exercise and trying to increase your visibility? Absolutely make sure you take the above basics into account if you are looking to ensure a document so obviously about – you – is going to be found when someone does a search on your name.

So what do you do if someone else is writing the article? Ask them if they would craft the article and associated HTML such that your name appears where it will be beneficial to you and not disruptive to the objective of the content.

What do you do if the content is already published on the Internet? You can create new content containing your – first and last name – hyperlinked to the associated URL of the content that mentions you by name. This is especially useful for women who go through a name change as a result of a change in marital status. Hyperlink your “current” name to content that references your “former” name. Basically you’re building a key word association with your “current” name and the associated webpage containing your “former” name in the search engines.

To accelerate your rise through the search engine noise to the first page of hits, you want to also consider where you are actually creating content. In other words, are you publishing new content on a web site you’ve created, someone else’s website, on sites that not only benefit from a lot of traffic, but also benefit from a lot of constantly changing new content, blog sites, etc.

From an article publishing perspective, EzineArticles is an obvious great example of a site that not only benefits from a lot of traffic, but also benefit from a lot of constantly changing new content.

From an on-line blogging/networking platform perspective Ecademy is an obvious example. Why Ecademy and not LinkedIn? Because LinkedIn does – not – give you the ability to post new content beyond your networking profile. LinkedIn’s lack of constantly changing new content is why your Ecademy networking profile will virtually always rank higher in Google than a corresponding profile on LinkedIn. As a result, Ecademy is a fantastic platform for creating a visible (there’s that concept again) Internet presence in comparison.

If you keep in mind some of the basic Internet Marketing concepts discussed above when you are creating new content and trying to raise the visibility of existing content, your efforts will yield a much more visible Internet presence.

Happy Networking.

Ron Bates is an expert in mission critical retained executive search. He is a Managing Principal with the retained executive search firm Executive Advantage Group, Inc. He has delivered personal executive coaching projects to former SAP, E

If you’re just heard the phrase ‘Tag and Ping’ and scratching your head in puzzlement — this article may be worth your time. Not that Tag and Ping is some magic marketing formula that will deliver untold riches. It won’t.

It is just one more marketing tool professional online marketers are using to give their site or sites a competitive edge over their competition. It will help put your site on the Internet map and if done right, Tag and Ping will deliver plenty of very targeted traffic to your sales pages. It will boost your rankings and increase your sales.

Tag and Ping is one of those simple, yet relatively unknown marketing techniques savvy Internet Marketers have been using and trying to keep quiet for years. To truly understand how Tag and Ping works, you will have to know some basic background information on keywords, blogging, tags, and how all these can work in sync to deliver traffic, links and sales to your site.

What are Blogs?

Most web users will know a blog is an online journal where bloggers post their daily or hourly entries (their opinions, views, info, links) on any subject that interests them. The most popular blogging systems are Blogger.com (owned by Google) Bloglines (owned by Ask Jeeves), LiveJournal, and many professional marketers use the free WordPress software which they can host on their own websites.

Each blog has its own RSS feed — RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication although its original acronym stood for Rich Site Summary. These RSS feeds broadcasts the information in the blog posts to all concerned parties — those who have subscribed and use an RSS reader or aggregator to view the posts. Or more commonly, they use the FireFox browser, Google Desktop, or MyYahoo to access their favorite RSS feeds. The next version of Windows will have RSS embedded into its operating system.

What are Tags?

Tags are really another name for keywords. Most surfers will know keywords are the exact words Internet users type into search engines to find what they’re looking on the world wide web. Tags work in the same way and are a form of social bookmarking, a way of classifying and accessing all that content in all those countless blogs.

Many major blogging directories such as Technorati use tags to serve up the information to its patrons. One simple technique to create a tag in Technocrati:

Laptops (remove asterisks in actual code)

Or if your blogging software supports categories; this will be recognized by Technorati as a tag.

What the heck is a Ping?

A ping is a simple way to notify the different search engines to let them know that your blog has been updated. You call up or ping your blog post.

You bookmark or place an entry in any one of the countless blogging sites such as Technorati, Furl, del.icio.us, Blinklist, Flickr — you go to these sites and click your blog or tag to inform them you have updated your blog. Many blogging systems will automatically ping your blog updates.

Or you can do this manually, for example Technorati’s ping form is here: http://www.technorati.com/ping

Simple Way to Ping

If this is still confusing to you, one simple way to ping your tags/blogs is to use a site like: http://pingomatic.com/

and it will automatically ping your blog in many of the most popular blogging services.

Enter The Online Professional Marketers and It All Hits the Fan

Of course, online marketers have long discovered that the whole blogging system — blogs, rss, tags, pinging — is an excellent marketing vehicle. One great marketing system delivering targeted traffic to their products and services.

It really is a corruption or commercialization of blogging and this surely wasn’t the idea the original designers of blogs had in mind. But the whole blogging system is so lucrative, many professional marketers (the author is pleading the fifth!) are using blogging systems like WordPress to create mainly marketing sites that may have little resemblance to a real blog. It just uses the backbone structure of blogs, RSS, Tags to give their sites a slight competitive edge in a very competitive world.

As we saw with the ‘comment spam’ there is a great likelihood that Tag and Ping will be misused and further antagonize the blogging purists. So if you are going to use Tag and Ping make sure you’re creating valuable, usable content — then most sites will want to link to your site anyway. Content is still king no matter what tricks the professional marketers want to use. Always will be!

Using a Simple Tag and Ping Marketing Technique With Technorati

To explain further the whole idea of Tag and Ping. Lets just walk through a marketing system you can quickly create using Technorati, one of the most popular blogging services.

First, sign your blog up with Technorati. This is quite a simple procedure. Just upload a photo, doesn’t have to be of you — your site’s logo will do. Register your profile with your 20 or so tags relating to your blog. Make sure these are keywords you’re marketing with your blog. Then you have to place the Technorati code on your blog for a link back.

Next, you must understand that Technorati creates a landing page for each tag in their system. This page is made up of four parts:

- Flickr Photos

- Recent blog posts tagged with that keyword or phrase

- Who’s Blogging About sidebar which links to any profiles of blogs

that those same keywords or phrase in their profile

- Links from Furl for the same tag

So to take full advantage and to use this marketing technique you have to sign up with both Flickr and Furl. Your aim is to get your links in all four spots on this Technorati landing page for your tag or keyword.

When signing up for Flickr, many marketers use their site’s name for their Flickr username, just use a dash instead of a dot in your site’s url. You can use a photo of the product they’re promoting to get a link from Flickr in the top spot on the landing page. Pick your tags and description for the product.

Set up a Furl account and download the Toolbar , bookmark a few sites to get the hang of how its done.

Now You’re Really To Put Everything Together To Tag and Ping

1- You can start with the Flickr photos at top of the Technorati page.

Just post a photo or cover image into your Flickr account, making sure you tag it and use a catchy headline in your description. Link it to your landing or affiliate page url. Example:

Don’t buy another marketing tool until your check out this site.

2 – Next, make the first of your blog posts on your particular subject or product to your blog, making sure you tag it with your keywords and then ping Technorati. Make all your posts good content, reviews, product information or free downloads. Your entry will appear on the top of the list for that tag shortly in Technorati.

3 – Furl your blog post and your landing/affiliate page with your tags to make sure your entry/post is listed the bottom section of the Technorati page for your tag.

To work this system, add another blog post every few hours, Tag and Ping, plus Furl your posts. For better results you can sign up for countless other social bookmarking sites and bookmark your pages. Here are just a few good ones: del.icio.us, blinklist, moreover, icerocket, weblogs…

Flickr, Blog, Tag, Ping, Furl

This is just one Tag and Ping method, professional marketers have countless systems and sites working many variations on this relative new marketing technique. But the information given above should get you started on your own Tag and Ping marketing system.

Remember, blogging and RSS are the wave of the future, make sure you’re geared up to take advantage of all they have to offer. You must have at least one blog on your site. Use WordPress if you can — Blogger will do in a pinch!

Just make sure you’re using some Ping and Tag marketing techniques to harvest all those links, traffic and sales for your site. This is one marketing technique you should now be using. Just remember to Flickr, Blog, Tag, Ping, Furl – Rinse and Repeat!

The author operates numerous sites on the web, his first was a general Internet Marketing site http://www.bizwaremagic.com And his latest site is Marketing Tool Guide where you can find all the latest helpful and effective marketing tools, including Free Internet Marketing manuals: Internet Marketing Tools Copyright © 2006 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

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