Donna Knight's Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews

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  • Two Ways to Use Google Video to Increase Your Website Traffic and Profits

    By Donna Knight

    Google Video is a new feature still in beta testing that allows you to upload a video to Google so that web searchers may view your video for free or buy it. Google charges a fee for items you are selling and forgoes their commission for items you wish to offer for free. In fact their site states that if your free item becomes too popular and uses too many of their resources, they will charge the user, so you have absolutely nothing to lose by using this free service. You can find it at http://video.google.com.

    This is a great solution if you create your own videos but it is not a solution for video resellers because Google specifies you must full rights to the video, including copyrights to the audio and video. Most reseller licenses only give you reseller rights. They do not give you copyrights.

    Google Video’s preferred formats are MPEG4 with MP3 audio and MPEG2 with MP3 audio. Their terms say that you can upload Windows Media, Quicktime and RealVideo but it will delay the approval process and they may not be able to approve your videos.

    Given the prevalence of Windows Media and Quicktime Video, this is a rather curious limitation in video formats. Since this site is still in beta, hopefully they will see the light and accept additional video formats without a problem.

    Google Video is beneficial to internet marketers who create their own training videos, because uploading your videos to Google Video is way to get more traffic to your site. Your video can have a link to your site.

    A second way you can benefit from Google Video if you are not a video creator is to sell pubic domain videos, because these videos are not copyrighted.

    What I love about Google is the fact that they are not satisfied with being the most widely used search engine. Their owners are not satisfied with being the 16th richest Americans and continue to find more revenue channels. As Google finds more way to make more money, they are literally handing you more ways to be profitable. While this is not stated anywhere on Google’s site, posting to Google Video may even help your ranking in the Main Google search engine. Because this service is entirely free and still new, if you want to sell or give away free videos for promotional purposes, don’t hesitate to upload your videos to Google Video.
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    Donna Knight is a Computer Trainer and Website Promotion Specialist. She has built over 240 websites and helps new site owners promote their site cheaply. For tips that will help you save money and save time when marketing online, visit her Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews blog at http://www.DonnaKnight.com.
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    Copyright (C) 2005 Donna Knight. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to post this article in newsletters, free ebooks or websites as long as the article and resource box remain intact.

  • What You Should Know Before You Buy Private Label Source Code. What Sellers Won’t Tell You.

    By Donna Knight

    It all started with the Mark Joyner Farewell Package which is affectionately (or disaffectionately in some cases) known as the MJFP. This was the first time I know of where someone sold source code worth many thousands of dollars that had been successfully used to run million-dollar websites. Since then, I have seen a couple dozen similar sales of source code, and you can be sure you will see more of these in the future.

    WHY DO THEY DO IT?
    First of all, there are multiple reasons why someone would want to sell their source code, including:
    – They need funding for a project.
    – They’re going out of business and won’t be using it anymore.
    – They spent $100,000 to get it programmed and would like to save someone else money and time.
    – They are using a new version of the source code but the old source code is fully functional, especially for smaller sites.
    – For a few people, such as Jeremy Burns, selling private label source code has become a business in and of itself.

    WHAT TYPES OF SOURCE CODE
    The types of source code you can buy include website scripts and software programs. Some people will refer to eBooks as source code but I don’t consider them to be. By source code, I’m referring to desktop or website programming or code.

    The source code sometimes is for private use only. Sometimes it comes with resale rights, master resale rights, private label resale rights and even master private label resale rights. Private label resale rights means you have the right to do whatever you want with it, including resell it under your own name. But you CANNOT sell it with private label rights. Master private label resale rights means you CAN offer the source code with private label resale rights.

    Incidently, the MJFP was the most expensive private label source code sale I’ve seen and it only came with private label rights. You could not resell the source code itself. However, it was also the most valuable in terms of how much was paid for the programming behind it and the value of the non-source- code products.

    SKILLS YOU NEED
    HTML – If you don’t know anything about HTML, you probably should NOT buy private label source code. Not only will you be lost in terms of what to do with it, but you won’t be able to give useful instructions to a programmer or webmaster about what to do with it. Most of the source code buyers I’ve read complaints from knew nothing about HTML and didn’t even know where to start when it came to putting the code to use.

    One exception to this is that I have seen a few sales where you only need to know how to edit a sales page, and you don’t have to have experience installing scripts. This is a deal that practically anyone can benefit from.

    SCRIPT INSTALLATION – The people who benefit most from these deals are people who know some HTML and who have some experience installing scripts. It is really not that hard to learn how to edit HTML and to install scripts. There are low cost books out there that can help you. If you know HTML but you don’t know how to install scripts, it is usually not very expensive to hire someone to do this.

    PROGRAMMING – You do NOT need to know programming to profit from private label source code. While I am an experienced website builder and script installer, I am NOT a programmer.

    QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
    Always read the entire sales letter. In fact, read it a couple of times. I’ve bought quite a few source code packages, and I haven’t seen any cases whatsoever where people were lied to about what was required to get the source code working. The fact that bugs or missing data situations were rectified in many cases indicates to me that the seller was not trying to scam anyone. As a moderator of the MJFP forum, I saw all the complaints (and praise) about the package, so I got quite a bit of insight as to what people need to ask themselves before they buy source code. In many cases, people didn’t pay attention to the part of the sales letter where it said you needed to hire someone to configure and install the source code.

    Whether you should take advantage of a particular deal depends on your level of experience and the answers to the following questions:

    – Does the code require additional work by a programmer to get it working? If yes, do you have money to hire a programmer? If not, are there additional non-source code products in the package that are worth the price of the package alone? If the answer to both is NO, then you should NOT buy this source code. It will be a waste of your money.

    – If the source code works as is, does it come with installation instructions that a newbie can follow? Or do you need to be an experienced script installer to follow the instructions? If the source code doesn’t include instructions, even an experienced script installer is taking a risk in buying it.

    – Do they give information on programmers and/or script installers you can hire, if necessary?

    – If the source code is expensive, is there a payment plan?

    – Is there a refund policy? In most cases there are no refunds, so you should not buy unless you can honestly afford to.

    – Are you spending your last dime hopeing this will finally be the product that will make you rich?
    If so, DON’T BUY! If you are that desperate, the last thing you need to do is spend money. You probably already have products you can sell to make money. Your problem is most likely that you haven’t used what you already have. Well, now is the time.

    WILL YOU NEED TO HIRE A PROGRAMMER?
    If you want to add additional features to the source code, you will need to hire a programmer to do that. You can’t do it on your own and, frankly, it is not practical to learn programming just so you can use a source code package you bought. One of the best programmers I’ve ever met said it took him 5 years to feel like he had a handle on programming. Do you think it’s wise to buy something that takes you 5 years to put to use?

    In cases where you will need to hire a programmer to get the source code working, you can hire one cheaply at places like Scriptlance.com and Rentacoder.com. Before you hire one, pay attention to the feedback they have. You should also ask to see work they’ve done.

    CONCLUSION
    There is no question most of the private label source code deals I’ve seen can be very profitable. They can save you hundreds and even thousands of dollars you would have to pay a programmer to custom program it for you. Plus there’s no guarantee the programmer you hire won’t hand you unusable garbage. These private label source code sales are usually fully working code that in some cases was used to run successful websites. However, you must go into these purchases with your eyes wide open.

    I won’t say “buyer beware” because that implies there are lots of scams, and so far I haven’t seen them. I will say “Buyer be informed — BEFORE you buy.” That is the key to your satisfaction. If you are one of the many people who has bought stuff and never used it, then save your money and work on your motivation. This won’t cost you anything and in the end it will save you lots of money, time and frustration. With the right motivation and the right private label source code, there is no question that you can be very profitable.
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    Donna Knight is a Computer Trainer and Website Promotion Specialist. She has built over 240 websites and helps new site owners promote their site cheaply. For tips that will help you save money and save time when marketing online, visit her Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews blog at http://www.DonnaKnight.com
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    Copyright (C) 2005 Donna Knight. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to post this article in newsletters, free ebooks or websites as long as the article and resource box remain intact.

  • Basic Tips on How to Sell On Ebay

    By Donna Knight

    So you want to sell stuff on eBay, but you have two minor problems: You don’t know how and you don’t have stuff to sell. Not a problem. For tips to get you pointed in the right direction, read on.

    Before you begin you’ll need some basic equipment: A computer, Internet access, a digital camera, and some space to put your stuff in. That’s really all you’ll need. You’ll also need shipping and packing supplies but that is addressed later.

    Next you’ll need to learn how to list auctions. Go to the eBay sellers’ overview: http://pages.ebay.com/education/sellingtips/index.html. This will be your lifeline. There is a plethora of information there on everything you always wanted to know and more. Don’t get overwhelmed; just take it one step at a time. You’ll see there is information on listings, on bidding, on photos, and on feedback – it’s all there.

    Next you’ll need to figure out what to sell. Before you zero in on a particular niche, you need some experience and some feedback. Buyers are generally leery of sellers (and bidders who are brand new who have a feedback rating of less than 10 evaluations. While you are getting your feet wet, look around your own house first. You’d be amazed at what people buy. You could list outgrown clothing, magazines, candle holders, CD, books, flannel sheets, recipes, the ugly old lamp that was Aunt Mildred’s, all those goofy Christmas gifts sitting in your basement, or that old baby gate with a stain on it. Get the idea? On Ebay, one woman’s garbage is another woman’s treasure. You never know what someone will want.

    While you want to just get experience with your first posting, you don’t want to list something that isn’t likely to sell. Do your research first before you invest the time in putting together a listing. An easy method to use is do a “search” on eBay, then look up COMPLETED ITEMS, then sort by HIGHEST price. Then you’ll see if your Tommy Bahama shirt is really worth anything. Or you’ll see that your old baseball cards had 23 listings and not one of them sold.

    Pricing is another issue to consider. This is another subject you’ll need to research. You’ll do this following the same previously mentioned steps to see what the item is going for. Don’t try to overcharge. You know how you feel when you go to a garage sale and you see a pair of jeans for $15 or books for $4 each. Most people come to eBay looking for a bargain. Consider how much you have invested into the item. If you have an item from around the house, you may consider that something is better than nothing, so you may be inclined to start the bidding quite low. If you bought it with the specific intention to resell, you will, at the very minimum, want to break even, so take the price you paid for it and consider other costs, i.e. listing fees, final value fees (all explained in your lifeline – eBay seller overview above). People are much more apt to bid if the bidding starts LOW. Sometimes though, you will have collectibles that are worth a chunk of money. Don’t give away that vintage postcard that is worth $56! Make sure you do your homework before you price it.

    The next big question is how do you get paid? You determine what you would accept. Online payments via PayPal (paypal.com) are very convenient. You can also decide that you’ll accept money orders or personal checks. The more options you leave your buyers, the more likely you’ll get more bids. Your goal is to get as many people as you can competing to bid on your item.

    You also need to decide how you want to ship your items to the auction winners. Many sellers use USPS, while others prefer UPS. If you use USPS and ship via Priority Mail, you can get your envelopes and boxes free from USPS. If you ship First Class or Parcel Post or UPS, you’ll have to shop around for deals on boxes or envelopes and bubble wrap or packing peanuts.

    I hope this isn’t too overwhelming. Yes there is a lot to learn, but it’s not rocket science. Just take it one step at a time. It’s a learning process. You’ll find that getting support makes it all the easier. Some yahoo groups (or MSN or AOL, or whatever your preference) are great sources for support and camaraderie with others who are doing the same.

    So in short, if you want to just get your feet wet as a seller on Ebay and learn on your own, YOU CAN DO IT. If you do better chatting with others, those resources are available too. Use what is available.
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    Donna Knight is a Website Promotion Specialist who has sold everything from digital products, including ebooks and software, to hard goods such as computers and medical transcription equipment on Ebay. For more tips to help you sell your product or service online, visit her Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews blog at http://www.DonnaKnight.com
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    Copyright (C) 2005 Donna Knight. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to post this article in newsletters, free ebooks or websites as long as the article and resource box remain intact. For product reviews, you may substitute your affiliate referral link for the product URL.

  • How Business Process Automation Gives You Freedom

    By Donna Knight

    Every business owner knows that setting goals is crucial to business success. If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you’ve arrived? More importantly, how will you know when you’re heading in the wrong direction?

    If you’re the owner of a small business, what is your goal? To make it to the end of the month with enough money in the bank to cover the payroll? To take a holiday for the first time in five years? To make X amount in sales this month? To acquire X amount of new customers?

    Here’s one goal that every business owner should have right from the start — to become independent of the business. Small businesses turn into big businesses only when they are able to operate smoothly without the owner being present. When you can stay away for a week, or a month, or a year, and return to find the business running better than before you left, you now have the opportunity to follow your dreams – sell the business and start a new one, retire, buy a yacht and sail around the world or even think of more ways to expand the business if strategizing is your idea of fun.

    True financial independence is the ability to live your life doing what YOU want to do. Do you really want to show up for work an hour early every day, leave late at night and never take a holiday for the rest of your life? I certainly don’t.

    What is the solution that will allow you to build a business you can walk away from?

    It’s simple. You need a system in place so that everyone in your business knows exactly what is expected of them.

    When you take on a new employee, how do they learn what they’re expected to do? Does an existing employee take around and explaining how things work? How can you be sure that the new employee is learning what you want them to know?

    As the owner of the business, it’s your job to ensure that a system is put in place as the business grows. The system will ensure that everyone knows what they need to know to do their job effectively. To start with, this system will include job descriptions and a training plan for each job.

    Let me give you an example. How do you think companies like McDonald’s are able to manage thousands of restaurants across the planet? McDonald’s Head Office doesn’t sell hamburgers. They sell franchises, and their customers are the franchisees. The most valuable asset they have is their system. It regulates everything from what employees wear, the words they say to customers, how many seconds a patty is left on the grill, to variables within their business. Every single detail is dictated by the system.

    The system makes it possible for new employees to fit in. They are educated on ‘how we do things around here’. They are taught the specifics of their job.

    This is not to say that there is no flexibility in this system. In a well-designed system there is still room for individual creativity. Better ways of doing things should always be encouraged, and then and written into the system in the future after a trial run.

    The system provides the framework for ensuring that the business is never entirely dependent on any one person, including you. As a business owner, your future satisfaction with your business depends on the quality of that system.

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    Donna Knight is a Computer Trainer and Website Promotion Specialist. She has built over 200 websites and helps new site owners promote their site cheaply. For tips that will help you save money and save time when marketing online, visit her Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews blog at http://www.DonnaKnight.com
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    Copyright (C) 2005 Donna Knight. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to post this article in newsletters, free ebooks or websites as long as the article and resource box remain intact. For product reviews, you may substitute your affiliate referral link for the product URL.

  • Ten Ways To Make Money with Public Domain Information

    By Donna Knight

    You may not know this but Walt Disney ripped off many of the Hans Christian Anderson and Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales. He never paid one red cent of royalty fees to the authors. They may be dead, but shouldn’t Disney at least have paid their families, especially considering how many billions of dollars the company has made off this “stolen” material? So why, you may ask, hasn’t Disney gotten sued for intellectual property theft?

    The answer is simple. Walt Disney was a marketing genius who knew he could not be sued for using this material. The reason he couldn’t be sued is because this material is in the public domain. What does public domain mean? It means the copyright has expired. The benefit of public domain is that it can be used by anyone in any way without paying royalty fees or even giving credit to the original author. You can make copies of it, give it away or sell it and keep all the profits.

    The beauty of public domain is that anyone can take advantage of it if you know how. Public domain information is accessible to anyone with access to the internet and at the library. You don’t even have to be as creative as Walt Disney. You just have to add your own flavor to it.

    What is Public domain?

    The definition of public domain is any body of creative work or knowledge that is not protected by US copyright laws. Copyright protection should always be verified but basically all works created prior to 1923 in the U.S. are in the public domain in the United States. That’s not all. The law also includes works done prior to 1978, for which life of the author plus 70 years doesn’t exceed the current year. There are additional terms under which works have fallen out of copyright but the rules are more complex.

    The term “body of creative works and other knowledge” includes literary works, music, movies, art work, scientific ideas, and inventions, just to name a few. So, quite literally, public domain information is a vast ocean of works available for anyone to dive into. The best part is use of these works is free. Everything you earn from them is 100% profit.

    Walt Disney used public domain information by updating old classics and making movies out of them. In order to profit from public domain, it is important to keep in mind you must have an audience for it. That is not a problem since there are public domain works of all categories, including recipes, marketing, business, arts and crafts, children’s books, educational books, and many more. There’s no limit to the subject matters you can find public domain works in.

    How much will this cost you?

    You can find a huge amount of public domain information on websites for free. One of the largest resources is http://www.gutenberg.org. It is free to access and download any of the material there. Most works there are public domain. The listing information tells you if the work is still copyrighted, the author and the format.

    What can you do with public domain works?

    Just as there is no limit to the types of public domain works available, there is no limit to the
    number of ways you can use this material. Here are some of the ways you can use public domain information to profit:

    1. Republish old literary works as e-books. The classics you see in bookstores are prime examples of making money from public domain information. The publishers did not have to buy the rights for the books they distribute. You can do the same with e-books. You can find old literary works either on public domain web sites or even search your local library for old works, and scan them. Convert the images to text with a text OCR (optical character recognition) program, edit errors, package it nicely in .pdf format, and you’re all set to market a royalty-free product!
    2. Republish old articles as special reports. Granted you’re not going to find any internet marketing or internet-related articles circa 1923, but there are still many interesting pieces from that era. In a recent case study, a man made 43 sales for a special report he made out of a 1914 article on dog grooming.
    3. Make downloadable albums of old songs. Here’s your chance to make MP3 downloads that are completely legal. Keep in mind, however, only the songs are public domain. The performances of certain versions (i.e. the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s version of a Beethoven classic) have their own copyrights. If you are a musician, you can create your own version and sell it as relaxation music, dance music or music for various purposes. It would be best to make your own version from the public domain compositions.
    4. Offer downloadable movies. Just like Walt Disney, Ted Turner has made a killing with public domain movies. One of his channels, Turner Classics, shows pre-1923 movies which he can rebroadcast without paying any royalties. You could do the same by offering old movies for download.
    5. Make posters of timeless masterpieces. You could also search the web for high quality images of classic paintings and sketches. These digitized masterpieces can easily be reproduced as posters which you could sell to the millions of art aficionados worldwide.
    6. Publish it in book format through a self-publishing company. Sell it online or offline. Self-publishing companies such as Lulu.com make it easy to publish a print book without a big budget.
    7. Print it out yourself and sell copies offline or online. You can buy supplies, such as binders, for printing books at office supply stores. For the most professional highest quality print, use a laser printer. At this point in time, color laser printers are now affordable so you could even print in color with a laser printer if you have a bigger budget.
    8. Take an educational work, such as one about playing tennis, and make a video series about it.
    9. Create an mp3 audio class out of a public domain work. Let people download it from your website or put it on CD and sell it offline.
    10. Create a collection of works from multiple sources. For example, make a compilation of children’s stories from various books that are full of stories.

    Public domain works can’t be copyrighted, but if you make changes, your changes are copyrightable. This is the smart thing to do to make sure no one steals your hard work and makes money off it.

    Millions of dollars have been made by those who took advantage of public domain information. There’s no limit to what you can do. If you have a computer and a printer, you already have the tools you need to make money with public domain. Now that you have some ideas about what to do, there’s nothing stopping you.

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    Donna Knight is a Computer Trainer and Website Promotion Specialist. She has built over 200 websites and helps new site owners promote their site cheaply. For more tips on how to make money at no or low cost, visit her Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews blog at http://www.DonnaKnight.com
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    Copyright (C) 2005 Donna Knight. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to post this article in newsletters, free ebooks or websites as long as the article and resource box remain intact.

  • How To Choose The Best Email Autoresponder System

    By Donna Knight

    Ask any successful internet marketer how to convert visitors into sales and they’ll all give you the same answer: You must have a follow-up tactic strategy.

    While getting visitors to your site is very important, the fact is more than 90% won’t buy from you. Don’t despair. They might not want your product today but they might be interested later. But if you don’t have any way to follow up with those visitors, those potential sales are lost forever. That’s why you need a good autoresponder system.

    With an autoresponder, you can capture those leads and follow up with them later with more information or any offers you have. An autoresponder is an opt-in form that you put on your website inviting visitors to sign up for your newsletter, ezine, ecourse, freebies or any information that can be sent to subscribers in a series of emails. Once they sign up, they automatically get added to your mailing list, you can also send them occasional ads or offers since they have now given you their permission to send them email.

    If you only had a few subscribers, you could follow up with them manually using your email program such as Outlook, but for the success of your business you want to build a mailing list with 10,000 subscribers or more. Even a million subscribers is possible if your mailing list is very successful.

    Don’t underestimate the power of a good autoresponder since there are many successful internet marketers who credit their autoresponder systems with helping to make them rich.

    An autoresponder system allows you to prepare a series of messages in advance, program them into the system, and specify the intervals at whih the emails will be sent out. They can be sent out once a week, once every 3 days or even at irregular intervals. For example you could have 3 emails sent out in a series, one after 3 days, the next after 4 days and the final one after 7 days. You can even have multiple autoresponder series, one for each of your websites, one for all customers, one for prospects, and one for customers who have purchased high-priced items. This allows you to mail different offers to different groups.

    Another benefit of an autoresponder is that sending emails regularly to prospects helps them warm up to you and learn to trust you. If you make your emails personal, subscribers will feel like they know you personally and will less resistant to buying from you.

    You can also use autoresponders to cut down on customer service emails. If a client or prospective buyer asks you a question about a product, you can preset the autoresponder to reply with a general FAQ that will answer most questions. I’ve noticed on websites I manage, the vast majority of email questions I get are the same questions asked over and over again.

    With autoresponders, you have two choices. You can buy a service that runs everything or you can buy a website script that you or someone you hire installs on your website. A script is usually the cheapest option but may require technical ability.

    Not all autoresponders are equal though. Here are 10 questions to ask before you choose an autoresponder system

    :

    1. How much does it cost? Is it a one-time fee or a monthly fee? If it is a free service, what are the disadvantages?

    2. If it is an autoresponder script, does it come with instructions that anyone can follow to install it themselves or do you have to hire a professional script installer to install it?

    3. How many accounts can you create with their system? A different account may be required if you want it to display different information, such as a company name or website, in the FROM field of the autoresponder messages.

    4. How many mailing lists can you create?

    5. How many follow-up messages can you preset?

    6. What’s the maximum number of subscribers you can have on a mailing list?

    7. How much personalization can you add to your emails? Can you personalize emails with the name or purchase information? Personalization increases the effectiveness of autoresponder emails, especially when it comes to customer purchases.

    8. How does the system let subscribers sign up to the autoresponder? The simpler the process, the better.

    9. What formats can you send emails in? Does it allow HTML and text emails? Does it give the subscriber a choice about which format they can sign up for?

    10. Will you be able to track your subscribers for targeted marketing?

    11. Is the autoresponder system easy to use?

    Price is not necessarily an indicator of quality. There are expensive autoresponder services that have less features. If the autoresponder system you’re considering meets all these criteria at a good price, the sooner you buy, the sooner you’ll be on your way to continuous profits.

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    Donna Knight is a Computer Trainer and Website Promotion Specialist. She has built over 200 websites and helps new site owners promote their site cheaply. For tips that will help you save money and save time when marketing online, visit her Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews blog at http://www.DonnaKnight.com
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    Copyright (C) 2005 Donna Knight. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to post this article in newsletters, free ebooks or websites as long as the article and resource box remain intact. For product reviews, you may substitute your affiliate referral link for the product URL.
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  • How To Find The Best Low Cost Web Host Without Skimping on Features

    By Donna Knight

    With an online business, your website is perceived as a reflection of your business reliability and credibility. A poorly designed website makes your business appear unprofessional. Likewise choosing an unreliable host, makes your website and your business appear unreliable, as well.

    For that reason, the success of your business is directly tired to your choice of web host. In case you don’t know, a web host is a computer that stores your website. When an internet user types in your website address or URL into their web browser, their computer connects to the web host which then points them to the pages that make up your website.

    As a professional website builder who has built over 200 websites over the past three years, I could tell you some hosting horror stories, such as mysteriously broken or disappearing websites. But I would rather tell you how to avoid such disaster. Once you read the following tips you’ll be able to make more informed decisions about choosing an affordable web site host, and avoid mistakes myself and my customers made when first starting out.

    Here is a list of what to consider in choosing a reliable cheap web host with the best features:

    1. Know the bandwidth limits. Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data that can be transferred over a network. Bandwidth limits can be measured daily or monthly. If bandwidth limits are too low, you will have to move your website if you get a lot of traffic.

    Unlimited bandwidth falls under the category of too good to be true. There is always a limit, whether they tell you what it is or not. When comparing prices, try to get the most bang for your buck, but don’t assume unlimited bandwidth is the best value. Whether it is will depend on other factors listed here.

    Bandwidth is usually specified in GB (A GB or gigabyte is 1 million megabytes. A megabyte is 1 million bytes. Get it?).

    2. 30-day Money back guarantee. Most web hosts do not give a money-back guarantee, but you should give extra points to a website which does offer this. It gives you a chance to try out the speed and reliability of the service without risking your money.

    3. Unix or Windows Hosting. Unix is an operating system just like Windows, which is the operating system on your personal computer (unless you’re using a mac). Which type of host is right for you depends on what type of website you have. If your website is a bunch of HTML pages, either one will work. If your website has complicated functions, or has different types of pages or uses a database, ask your web designer which type of hosting your website requires. If your website is loaded onto the wrong type of host, it will not work.

    4. Allowable disk space. Most web hosts offer multiple hosting accounts with increasing amounts of disk space. More disk space is usually more expensive. You want to give more weight to host services that give more disk space for the money when doing comparisons. Most websites don’t use more than 100 MB (MB is megabytes). If it is a static website, such as a sales page, it might even take up less than 1 MB.

    If you see a host offering unlimited disk space, you should know this is a marketing ploy. There is always a limit, so keep this in mind when you see this.

    5. Compatibility. If your site is simply a few HTML pages, this is not an issue. It will work with any host. If you have a website created by a designer or programmer, you will need to check with them to find out what features your web hosts must have before your buy your hosting account.

    6. Technical support availability. If you want to maximize your visitors and sales, your website needs to be available 24/7. Likewise you need a host that offers support around the clock. Most web hosts do not offer phone support. Those who do are usually more expensive. Give extra points to those who do. Most support is web-based and response times can vary.

    7. Reliability of the hosting company. Choosing a web host is like choosing a partner. You want to give preference to a host that has been around a while. A new host could disappear just as quickly as it appeared, taking your website along with them. You don’t necessarily need to choose a major company, such as Dell, because their hosting will almost certainly be more expensive. Smaller web hosting companies can be just as reliable as larger ones for the same reason that smaller companies sometimes give better service than larger ones.

    8. Reliability of hosting service. Many hosts list their reliability in terms of uptime, such as 99.7% uptime. Some hosts will given give you free hosting time if they fail to meet their uptime. There is no such thing as 100% uptime. Web host servers are more reliable than personal computers but no computer is perfect. Generally, anything over 99% is good.

    Remember that the cheapest host is not necessarily the best. Consider all the factors I’ve listed above, then decide. The best choice will give you the most features for your money. Most importantly, reliability is one area you should never ever skimp on just to save a few bucks. If you do, it could end up costing you more money then you saved. It possible to find a good low cost host as long as you keep reliability in mind.

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    Donna Knight is a Computer Trainer and Website Promotion Specialist. She has built over 200 websites and helps new site owners promote their site cheaply. For tips that will help you save money and save time when marketing online, visit her Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews blog at http://www.DonnaKnight.com
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    Copyright (C) 2005 Donna Knight. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to post this article in newsletters, free ebooks or websites as long as the article and resource box remain intact. For product reviews, you may substitute your affiliate referral link for the product URL.
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  • Ten Ways To Maximize Affiliate Income

    Ten Ways To Maximize Affiliate Income
    By Donna Knight

    Any business, online or offline, that doesn’t require an initial cash investment, is a win-win situation. That’s what makes affiliate programs so enticing. An affiliate program allows the affiliate marketer to act as a middleman between the consumer and the merchant. When the affiliate marketer refers a successful sale, they earn a commission. These percentages can add up to a substantial amount of money.

    If you spend enough time in internet marketing circles, you’ll find many individuals who were able to give up their day jobs because of success in affiliate marketing. This was made possible when the amount they earned in affiliate commissions far exceeded their job income.

    If you want to enter the potentially lucrative world of affiliate marketing, there are some things you need to know. You definitely won’t achieve success if you go about it in a haphazard way. Here are ten tips to help you maximize your affiliate commissions and profits.

    1. Focus on a particular area of interest or niche market. One mistake I see many affiliates make is they try to sell products that cater to wildly different target markets. It’s better to concentrate on one specific field and study its’ advantages and disadvantages compared to other niches. For example, if you choose dogs as an area of interest, research to find the places where dog lovers hang out online. Then look for an affiliate program that offers products which cater to their desires.

    2. Choose an affiliate program wisely. Your goal is to choose the most profitable affiliate programs. Stick with higher commissions whenever possible. Promote products people actually want. Additionally, you should also consider the credibility and reliability of the company offering the affiliate program. Do they actually pay, and on time? Are their products worth selling? Read the terms of the affiliate program very carefully before agreeing to them.

    3. Build a content-filled laser-targeted site. You will primarily sell the affiliate products in your mailing list. But if your site does not attract many visitors, sales conversion is virtually impossible. Create a site that focuses on the market you are targeting; Fill it with rich, informative content that people love to read.

    4. Promote your site. If you believe the line “build it and they will come” applies to your website, you’re in for a rude awakening. People will not automatically know about your site just because it’s there. The way people find out about your site is when you advertise it on and off the internet. Submit it to search engines, exchange links with high traffic sites, and promote it in online forums and discussion groups. Tell your friends about it. Get business cards made to promote it. You have to spread the word about your site because no one else will do it for you.

    5. Promote the product. Once a consistent flow of visitors starts, it’s time to promote your favorite affiliate product. This is usually done through a sales page on your site. A sales page is an article full of praises for the product. Things like “it changed my life,” “the secret that they don’t want you to know,” “be a millionaire in one week,” and such are typical for sales pages. But they work. Hire a professional copywriter to write sales copy for you.

    6. Don’t be anonymous. You’ll find many people trying to conduct business in anonymity on the internet, but this is a mistake. People would rather deal with a name they know, rather than a username or YourDomain.com Support. Give your real name. You could choose to keep your contact information undisclosed or use a P.O. Box address, however, until you are sure you’re dealing with a trustworthy party.

    7. Build a network. Befriend other affiliate marketers. Share information about the best deals, the most effective strategies, and perhaps, even some lists of potential buyers. By referring others, you could end up with referrals yourself, even from competitors. There is enough wealth to go around. You can get much further in your success by knowing the right people than by trying to do everything on your own. Anyone you meet could end up helping you out in the future when you need them. Networking online is just as beneficial as networking offline.

    8. Build a list. It’s all well and good if you get visitors and you make some sales, but what about the future. One way to ensure future sales is to make repeat visitors and repeat customers. You do this by building a list. Always encourage your visitors to sign up for your mailing list. A lost sale and a lost visitor who joins your list could become a future sale and a repeat visitor.

    9. Hide your affiliate links. This is not a matter of being sneaky. It’s a matter of increasing your affiliate marketing sales. Your affiliate link ( also known as your referral link) is how you make your commissions so it’s very important to do anything you can to increase the number of people who click on it.

    You can use services such as shorturl.com to shorten and hide it. You can run a script on your site that helps you hide it or you can use an affiliate software program that helps you mask your link. There are multiple choices, but using your bare affiliate link is usually not the best choice. This makes you vulnerable to affiliate hijacking. That means that people will go straight to the main site, such as http://whatevermerchant.com, instead of http://whatevermerchant.com/?aff=you. The painful result is that you will lose a sale.

    10. Multiple streams of affiliate income. While you don’t want to join a bunch of unrelated affiliate programs, you do want to create multiple sources of affiliate income. Join multiple programs so that if a target prospect is not interested in one product you’re introducing them to, they might be interested in another related product.

    One solution is to join an affiliate merchant network such as http://www.linkshare.com or http://cj.com. These are two of the most popular merchant networks. Not only are there hundreds of affiliate programs but there are lots of related affiliate programs in networks like this.

    Joining affiliate programs is free, so there is no risk involved as long as you remember to stay focused in your marketing efforts and choose the affiliate programs wisely.

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    Donna Knight is a Website Promotion Specialist and Website Builder. She has built over 200 websites and helps new site owners promote their site cheaply. Visit her Internet Marketing Tools blog at http://www.DonnaKnight.name
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    Copyright (C)2005 Donna Knight. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to post this article in newsletters, free ebooks or websites as long as the article and resource box remain intact.

  • How To Profit From RSS

    By Donna Knight

    Would you believe an 18 year old girl earned $4000 for the month of March. That may sound like hype for some business opportunity, but in fact, it’s a true story. Would you like to know her secret? Of course you would. I’ll tell you in two words.

    Google AdSense.

    That’s right. She made four thousand smackeroos by slapping some AdSense code on a site that got lots of visitors. Okay, there’s a little more to it than that. First she chose a subject with ravenous fans, Final Fantasy. She was also fortunate enough to be one of the few fans of the series who had the talent to make a beautiful online shrine for people who shared her passion. Most importantly, she took advantage of a time where you can build a site that gets enough visitors so that Google AdSense can be the key to untold riches.

    Fortunately for you, we’re still living in a time where there are plenty more riches to be reaped from the AdSense goldmine. If you want to know more about what you need to do to position yourself to get some of that AdSense gold, read on.

    Increasing website traffic is always the first priority for internet marketers. More visitors means greater chances for a sale. Sales is a numbers game. With AdSense, more visitors means more clicks which means more money. Does that make sense?

    AdSense, however, won’t do you any good if you have no traffic. The rest of this article will focus on how to boost your traffic. Read on. One way to increase your website traffic is through maximizing search engine positioning. Being on the first page of the search engine results will do wonders to increase your chances of getting scores of unique website visitors.

    The million-dollar question is how do you get your website on that first page of the search engine results page (also called the SERP). Part of the solution is to choose the right keywords to use in your site. These keywords would be the words that searchers type into the search engine box, which then show a list of related websites. The better your keyword choices, the greater your chance of getting a higher search engine position. However, choosing the right keywords is only the first step in search engine optimization.

    Here’s a little known secret the gurus don’t want you to know: Search engine spiders are the little programs which actually grab information from your site which will be integrated into the search engines. These spiders love websites with constantly changing content. The more you update your site, the more the spiders will come back to visit your site and spider it.

    The problem is that manually updating your site constantly would be so tedious that even if you thought you really could make a lot of money as a result of doing it, you would eventually lose your motivation. Your goal is an internet marketer is always to save time by automating as many of your tasks as possible.

    That’s where RSS enters the picture. The definition of RSS is Really Simple Syndication. It is a standard for publishing constant updates to a website. RSS technology lets web publishers send out news and updates, called feeds, which visitors can quickly and conveniently read with a program called an RSS reader. RSS now has more uses than it ever was intended for.

    1. RSS allows you to easily and quickly send messages to your target audience, whether they are customers or your mailing list subscribers. Do you have a new promotion to send out an ad for? Do you have new information for your readers to ponder? Have you added new products to your product line that you want your past buyers to consider? Syndicate it! Gone are the days when your only choice was to wait until new information arrived in the mail. RSS feeds are delivered immediately as soon as the user comes online.

    2. The true power of RSS is best realized with a blog. Blogs were originally created to serve as online journals, but leave it to smart internet marketers to find more uses, most importantly how to monetize them.

      3. Blogs are much easier to update than a website, therefore making it very easy to add new content every day. It’s all automated. Write, publish, and voila!, new content! The best part is that your blog updates can also be syndicated as RSS feeds. The benefit are twofold. 1) It saves time and 2) it makes search engine spiders love your constantly updated site as well as your other sites where RSS feeds originate.

    3. RSS is a free web promotion method, so you don’t need any expensive programs to take advantage of it. Blogs are free as well. RSS is still a new technology which means if you start taking advantage now you will be head and shoulders above any competition.

    RSS will expose more people to your site and make search engine spiders frequent visitors to your site. As a result, you will get more visitors. More visitors means more potential sales. The girl with the Final Fantasy site is proof of that. To boost your online present, taking advantage of RSS is a must.

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    Donna Knight is a Computer Trainer and Website Promotion Specialist. She has built over 200 websites and helps new site owners promote their site cheaply. For tips that will help you save money and save time when marketing online, visit her Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews blog at http://www.DonnaKnight.com
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    Copyright (C) 2005 Donna Knight. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to post this article in newsletters, free eBooks or websites as long as the article and resource box remain intact. For product reviews, you may substitute your affiliate referral link for the product URL.
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  • How to Write Expert Online Sales Copy

    How To Write Expert Online Sales Copy

    By Donna Knight

    Try to win the love of a man by wearing a pretty dress, and you’re in for a major heartbreak. Likewise, try to get a sale by posting just a product description and picture, and you’ll get your heart broken every time. Winning a man’s heart and winning a customer’s trust requires the same process, salesmanship. With winning the one you love, unconscious salesmanship may work; he may like you for characteristics you never knew were lovable. In selling a product, however, passive salesmanship won’t work. You have to consciously take steps to win over a customer.

    The painful truth is products don’t sell themselves, no matter how good they are. You, the marketer, have to tell the prospect why they need your product. You must convince them of why they will love your product. You have to let them know they must buy now or they will miss out on an opportunity they may never have again.

    While selling products online and offline have some similarities, there are some major differences you need to know. Online you don’t have the benefit of your potential customers seeing your trustworthy face and winning smile. People are much more resistant to parting with their hard-earned money to a faceless stranger or company.

    Copywriting is the key to making a sale online and offline. The sooner you take this to heart, the sooner you’ll be making more sales than your little heart ever thought possible. Most people think the product is the most important element to getting a sale. The fact is even a mediocre product can sell boatloads with great sales copy backing it up. Good sales copy can convert an undecided prospect into a successful sale.

    If you try to write sales copy on your own, without knowing anything about copywriting, you will fail miserably. All it takes is one word to win or lose a customer. That’s why many business owners willingly fork over $10,000 to an expert copywriter just to write one sales letter. They know that winning sales copy will earn them their investment back in no time.

    If you don’t have hundreds of dollars to hire a copywriter, don’t worry. All is not lost. You can learn to write sales copy that sells. You just need to know some proven direct response copywriting rules.

      Here is a step-by-step formula for writing killer sales copy to increase your conversion rate:

    1. Write an attention grabbing headline. There are 3 parts to a winning headline:
         A.   A line that sets up the main headline.
         B.   The main headline, using the biggest font you’ll use in your entire sales copy. Preferably it should be in a different color and in bold text. Most expert copywriters swear by red as a color that draws the most attention to the headline. Blue is another color frequently used by copywriters. It must be readable, i.e. no lilac.
         C.   A line that elaborates on your main headline.

      2. Here is an example of a headline that uses this method:

      Would you like a website that will make you money even while you sleep?

      “FINALLY! A FULLY AUTOMATED WEBSITE THAT WILL HAVE YOU READY TO MAKE SALES IN ONLY 7 DAYS. DON’T TRY TO BUILD A BUSINESS OFFLINE THAT FAST. YOU CAN’T!”

      Take Orders and Deliver the Product Without Even Touching Your Website!

    2. Write an introduction that your readers can relate to. The most effective way to do this is to write about a problem that your target market has. Examples include baldness, acne, or lack of money.
    3. Tell them why they should trust you. Tell them who you are and what are your relevant accomplishments. This helps establish your credibility and trustworthiness. Most people are wary of buying online. This section helps put a face on your product.
    4. Now tell them about your product. The mistake many people make is they talk about the product before they explain what problem the product will solve and why they should buy from you. Internet users hate sales pitches. If you mention a product right from the start, they’ll be onto the next site so fast it will make your head spin.
    5. Let them know why your product is effective. Here are two ways:
         A.   List statistics with sources related to the need for your product.
         B.   Show testimonials from satisfied customers who have already bought your product. To make testimonials most convincing, include:
           i. The customer’s full name
           ii.  City and state or their website URL

    6. List the features of your product. Don’t use technical jargon. Don’t always assume someone looking to buy your product is familiar with the technical terms associated with it. You can lose a customer just by using words they don’t know, no matter how badly they need your product.
    7. Describe the benefits of your product. While all of these steps are important, this is one of the most important sections of the sales letter. This is usually where the sale is made.
    8. Add valuable and unique bonuses. Tell the value of each bonus. Bonuses make customers feel like their getting way more for their money. They might even feel like they’re stealing from you. Some people will even buy the product just to get the bonuses.
    9. Give them a reason to buy now. Ways to do this include:
         A.   Threaten a future price increase
         B.   Tell them bonuses are available for a limited time only

    Whether you’re getting 100 visitors a day or 10,000, traffic will do you no good if you don’t know how to convert the visitor into a sale. I’ve had customers literally begging to buy a product that was not even available for sale just because of copy I wrote telling them what the product would do for them. Using these simple rules, you too can transform disinterested website browsers into customers who crave your product.

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    Donna Knight is a Website Promotion Specialist who has sold everything from digital products, including ebooks and software, to hard goods such as computers and medical transcription equipment. For more tips to help you sell your product or service, visit her Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews blog at http://www.DonnaKnight.com
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    Copyright (C) 2005 Donna Knight. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to post this article in newsletters, free ebooks or websites as long as the article and resource box remain intact. For product reviews, you may substitute your affiliate referral link for the product URL.
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