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Promoting Your Free Membership Website

Gary Knox — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:24:39 +0000

Promoting a free membership website is done exactly the same way as any other website is promoted.

When you build any website the only person that is aware that it exists on the Internet is you so it is up to you to promote and advertise your site and let the rest of the world know where to find you.

You accomplish that task while you are building your own credibility. One will not exist without the other. A free membership website builds credibility and credibility builds a free membership website. There are several very well established ways to promote a website on the Internet…and the first three listed here are free.

1. Write (or have written for you) short articles, 300 to 400 words, and put them into article banks for others to use.

Your resource box will include a link to your free membership website. The same is true for E-Book. Either write short 10 to 15 page E-Books or have them written for you. List these E-Books with E-Book repositories for others to use and be sure that there is a link to your free website on every page.

2. Post to blogs and forums on other related websites after you join them.

Do not go in like gangbusters promoting your free membership site…that will get you kicked out. Simply include a link to your free membership site in your signature tag and post thoughtful and helpful information.

3. Find link exchange partners and exchange links with them.

Since you are not actually selling anything it should be very easy to find link exchange partners.

4. Buy advertising for your free membership website in related E-zines.

This is a very cost effective method of advertising. The cost of advertising in Ezines is usually less than say $20 and the advertisement is sent directly to those people who are going to be your best prospects for your free membership sites as well as for the products and services that you will be marketing to them.

Using Traffic Exchanges to Promote Affiliate Programs

Gary Knox — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 12:59:58 +0000

If you are unfamiliar with exchanges, you will want to read this carefully:

One of the best ways in which you can promote affiliate programs is through various traffic exchanges. Almost all well-defined, robust niches on the Internet have some form of traffic exchange. For instance, casinos, gaming sites, niche forums, and Internet marketing sites all have some form of traffic exchange system. IM, in particular, has dozens of exchanges.

A traffic exchange can serve multiple functions; however, in most cases, it does two important things:

It allows you to surf sites, gain credits, and then cash in those credits; and
It allows you to put banners or dynamically-generated link boxes on your site that will generate credits, which you can then cash in. Cashing in credits, with most exchanges, results in a certain amount of traffic being drive to your site via the exchange site or via banners on other sites that are members of the exchange.

A good place to start when working with traffic exchanges is to determine which ones are most reputable and which ones have reasonable point systems. For instance, some traffic exchanges allow users to cheat and some have bad systems of exchange, which heavily favor paying members over non-members. You will want to find the best possible exchange given the amount of money you are willing to spend and the product you are marketing.

Once you have selected an optimal exchange, you will want to determine the best way in which you can use it to maximize the amount of high-quality traffic you extract from it.

You will want to answer the following questions to aid yourself in determining this: do I earn credits from impressions or clicks? And do I lose credits based on impressions or clicks?

This is important to ask, as different exchanges have different policies on this issue. If you lose credits based on impressions, you will want to make sure that you get the absolute largest amount of clicks per impressions. This will involve over-hyping your ads and creating flashy banners (if they allow them).

In contrast, if you are getting charged per click, you will want to make sure your ads ONLY appeal to the most interested buyers. Whichever route you take, make sure that it is matched up with a model for maximum revenue generation.

The last thing you will want to consider when using a traffic exchange is precisely what you should promote.

You already have a product in mind – probably an affiliate product – but how will you promote it?

Will you direct visitors to the affiliate page?

Will you direct them to a page on your site, which features the product?

Or will you direct them to an opt-in form, which will capture their information and then coax them into buying over a period of time?

Still More Places to Distribute Your Articles

Gary Knox — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:47:07 +0000

Keeping your articles working for you is easy if you use all the available channels. Posting articles to the article directories or repositories, publishing them ezines from your compiled list, creating an article blog of your own and using other people’s blogs to gain interest in your articles, using available members only sites to post and posting articles to industry specific forums are all viable options.

You haven’t exhausted the available places out there yet. You write articles to get people to your website, yet many people forget to post their own articles there. Your website needs information. Why not provide that with information you have already written?

Compiling all the articles you have written into a free ebook is another avenue. All you need do is create a PDF file. This allows you to announce the ebook in directories set up for just that purpose. Allowing others to give the ebook away is also a good strategy.

Create an email course and use your articles as the lessons. This course should be offered free of charge. Put a sign up box on your website, set up an autoresponder to send the material at scheduled times and you are set to go. This has too advantages; it gets your material out there and it helps build a mailing list for you.

Set up a zipped file on your website of all your articles. Allow anyone who asks to download this file and use it as they want as long as the articles are not changed and your author information is included. Let others know of this file through your email signature.

Keep your eyes open and look for many other creative ways to distribute your articles. The places are out there and waiting for you to find and use them.

Affiliate Marketing Program Pitfalls

Gary Knox — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:20:45 +0000

Even though affiliate marketing is an excellent way to earn money, there are several pitfalls that you will need to be aware of. As long as people have been earning money, people have also tried to figure out how to earn more by doing a lot less.

All you need to do is a quick online search for “work from home” or “making easy money”. You will instantly find millions of websites, simply click on a few and you’ll notice that they all start off the same. You’ll see a guy with a big house and a lot of money saying if you sign up, this could be you – how far from the truth!

The only way you can earn a good, stable income is to put in the hard work it takes. Before you join any affiliate program, you need to do the proper research. That’s one of the best benefits of the internet – finding the information you need.

All you need to do is search for the name of the affiliate program that your intested in, adding the word scam to it and see what pops up. You should also join some work from home forums, and do not be afraid to ask the right questions.

There are a few ways that you can tell what program is most likely a scam. If a program does not tell you their compensation plan unless you sign up, watch out. A lot of programs won’t tell you what you’ll be doing unless you buy a kit for a set price.

With any program, there should always be 100% free disclosure. You will need to know what you are going to be doing before you even start. If a program does not tell you what you are going to be doing or if you have to pay money first, you should avoid it.

Membership Sites – Another Place to Place Your Articles

Gary Knox — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:03:31 +0000

Article directories are not the only place you can submit your article. There are places called private members sites. There are some sites that do not require you to be members, but most insist you are a member in order for you to submit articles.

Submitting to private members sites can help your articles become more valuable to you and your sales. The competition for attention for individual articles is not as fierce at private members sites as it is in popular article directories. This will make it possible for your article to receive greater exposure.

Individual membership sites will have seperate guidelines for posting articles. It is important to read the guidelines and follow to them exactly when submitting an article or you may find yourself banned from the site.

Some membership sites have a separate area of their websites specifically for the articles. Others have forums in which they allow you to post directly to the boards. It is almost mandatory to belong to these forums if you wish to post. Always watch for a chance to get your article out there. Always read the small print as often the information for submission is placed there.

Some membership sites offer the chance to have your article syndicated. You will need to add a small piece of HTML code to the site page where you want the article. This will further increase your exposure!

Low Cost Advanced Website Traffic Tactics

Gary Knox — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:01:54 +0000

Advanced website traffic tactics might sound daunting, but if you make it low cost then you have nothing but a win-win situation. Employ low cost advanced website traffic tactics and you’re in for a huge online success.

What are these low cost advanced website traffic tactics anyway? Surprise yourself by finding out that some of these tactics you can practice without having to spend a cent!

1. Write an article.

You write an article, mention your site, submit it to e-zines and garner traffic from curious visitors. It’s as simple as that. Don’t just stop at one website – post your site anywhere possible! Who knows how many hits this low cost advanced website traffic tactic will bring!

2. Exchange links.

Never underestimate the power of link exchange. This is a low cost advanced website traffic tactic that people tend to overlook. How to find out where to do the link exchange? Easy: type your website’s keywords in a major search engine, visit each and every of the top results and ask for the link exchange.

3. Get involved in forums.

Look for forums highly related to your website and make your presence known. Make online friends and let them know about your website. This is an advanced website traffic tactic that advertises subtly but works effectively. Good thing about this is it doesn’t cost you anything at all!

4. Advanced website traffic needs advanced tools.

The www world is rich with tools that churn out impressive results. Software to try out are those which take care of links and keywords. Once this is taken care of, the rest of this internet marketing job will be easy!

5. Power up with meta tags.

Meta tags are what search engines are looking for so it can include your site in the top results. Putting up meta tags in your HTML code is an advanced website traffic tactic that must not be missed! Low cost you ask? Oh yeah!

6. Direct to directories.

Keep submitting your site to directories like there’s no tomorrow! Just take a look at your website and see if it’s directory-worthy. Web directories don’t waste their time on poorly-done websites.

7. Conduct a survey.

Visit a site similar to yours and announce that you have a survey they can answer. The site and yours reap results so no one’s on the losing end here!

There are sites available that specialize in low cost advanced website traffic tactics. Search for them online and let your site rise to online popularity!

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Using Forums in Viral Marketing

Gary Knox — Wed, 12 May 2010 13:05:15 +0000

Recently, forum marketing has been touted as a kind of free, organic, viral marketing. But because so many marketers go into forums purely with the intention of marketing products or services, their actions and attitude unwittingly causes the exact opposite of the desired effect.

Forums aren’t marketplaces but when used as such, the marketers’ actions become offensive and will only inspire the wrath of fellow members and marketers, not to mention moderators who can ban them from the site with the click of their mouse.

In order to be effective, this kind of marketing carries a certain degree of commitment, responsibility and respect. The first requirement is to take a personal interest in the main topic of the forum. Not only does that mean visiting it regularly, but it also means developing a good relationship with both other members and the moderators, as well as taking an active interest in helping others. Of course, it also means abiding by and all rules that exist. By doing this, one can develop a reputation and, since it is human nature to work with a trusted colleague, business will naturally develop from this.

This type of marketing has already suffered some abuse and because of this, many forums have recently developed stringent rules designed to protect their members from abusive or overly-aggressive marketing tactics. One forum grants .sig files only after a member has created one hundred valid posts and another has disallowed ads in sig files altogether.

Marketers must respect that the purpose of a forum is to be a platform to exchange ideas on a given topic. It is not there to advertise products and services. By focusing on the topic and posting questions and answers, a marketer’s reputation will grow and this creates the potential for sales naturally.

Internet Marketing the Easy Way

Gary Knox — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:05:00 +0000

Just like there are no magic weight loss cures or ways to earn money from home without a good deal of effort, there is no one simple solution to guarantee Internet marketing success. Nevertheless, Internet marketing is not too complicated and numerous business owners can enjoy at least some degree of Internet marketing success with only limited knowledge about the industry.

Participation in industry related message boards is among the easiest ways a business owner can employ the Internet as a promotional tool. Message boards are websites which provide a forum for Internet users who share a common interest to share information related to this subject or just socialise. Business owners may opt to join message boards which closely relate to their industry or the products or services they offer. This is important because doing this gives the business owners access to a group of Internet users who fall into the target audience for their products or services. It also gives the business owner the opportunity to promote their own website. Many message boards permit users to place a link to their own website in their signature. Business owners who do this and also contribute useful commentary on the message boards could attract potential customers via the link they place in their signature.

Additionally, a few message boards may even allow users to post links in the body of the message. This gives the business owner the opportunity to offer his link in response to questions and comments when doing so is relevant and offers something of value to the online conversation. However, care should be taken to carefully review the terms of service and all guidelines on the message board before posting links to ensure this is not a violation of the policies of the message board. Failure to adhere to message board policies may result in removal from the message board or the posts being viewed as spam by other users.

Another simple, but effective, Internet marketing strategy is to hire a consulting firm with search engine optimisation (SEO) experience to assist you in attaining high search engine rankings. Whilst the concept of SEO can be rather complex and understanding the most effective strategies and how to properly implement them may take years of experience in addition to continual education, the ability to hire a qualified SEO firm is as simple as knowing how to interview candidates and select the most qualified one. Handling your own SEO efforts can be rather difficult but hiring another firm to take care of this for you is not only easy but it can have a significant impact on your website traffic because high search engine rankings broadly speaking translate to improved web traffic. This is because Internet users trust search engines to serve the most relevant websites first and typically only visit the best ranking websites when they search for a particular term.

Similarly another simple way to enjoy Internet marketing success is to employ a consulting firm to plan and execute your Internet marketing strategy for you. Just like SEO, Internet marketing is essentially a full time job. Business owners may have a great deal of difficulty trying to run their business and organise their Internet marketing. Outsourcing this work eases the burden on the business manager and will likely produce more favorable results.

Looking for Problems to Solve via Forums

Gary Knox — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:14:59 +0000

Niche marketing at its best assists you to solve real problems that real people live with everyday. If you are able to come up with a product or service to promote in a niche market that will help people solve their problems then you will have a money making niche market website and will be able to quickly build a long list of potential customers.

The things that people view as ‘problems’ run the gauntlet of possibilities… everything from hanging a picture, to improving your golf swing are people problems that they maybe searching for help to solve.

A good way to discover what people consider a problem is to visit the online forums. People discuss anything and everything online. They discuss subjects that they would not talk about with their best friends for the simple reason that they can remain anonymous. They search for solutions online for the very same reason. By visiting forums and taking note of what people are most concerned about you are able to search the Internet for products and services that will assist them in solving those problems. Collect the information about the topic. Write or have written for you articles about the topic. In this way you are able to find a topic and build a content-rich website for niche marketing that helps with the problem you have identified and that will serve the needs of people.

An additional way to use forums to assist you in building a niche market website is to join a forum, identify the problem being most often discussed, post a question that will produce several responses and employ those responses to write an e-book on the topic. The truth is that a lot of people will purchase an e-book that is filled with information they could actually gather for themselves. They will also purchase e-books that will tell them what other people with the same problem they have, think about or are doing about their common problem.

Blog Marketing: Be Seen!

Gary Knox — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:18:23 +0000

Having a blog and making it known to cyber world is not as easy as it may seem. Many people think that they can write it or build it and they will come. This is not the case at all. Just because you put something out there on the WWW, does not mean that it will be seen by all. There are a few things that you are able to do to ensure that your blog will be seen and seen by many. Blog marketing is really only as hard as you make it.

Building links for your blog will unquestionably help get it out there and get it know. However when you are attempting to build a customer base and get your blog known, just a few links are hardly enough. You will need to constantly work on your blog and acquire links to it all of the time. It is important to keep in mind the more links you are able to obtain from the high authority sites, the better off your blog is going to be. Obtaining links is something that you will never stop doing. Whilst you may take a short break from link building, you will never be done.

Adding videos, if possible, to your blog is also a great technique that you can utilise for blog marketing. This is because you are able to then submit your blog to the video directories. So if there are any videos that will fit into the market of your blog it would be to your advantage to add them.

Employing a press release as part of your blog marketing is another awesome way that you can get your blog out there. For a fee, you could have a press release written about your blog and then submitted to all of the hot off the press news sites. Your blog will get many hits from a press release and having it linked to these kind of sites will also help the page rank substantially as well. Whilst the cost of press releases vary in price range from the company or person they are frequently affordable and will easily fit into a marketing budget that you may have.

Using discussion boards such as forums and message boards with your blog link in your signature is still a great way to get your blog noticed. Make certain that the message board that you post on is relevant to your blog or the chances are that no one will be interested in clicking on your link. Also, if you come off as an expert in your market, you should have few problems attracting new readers to your blog from the use of message board posting. This can also be a great way to market a website and get that out there as well to be seen by the world.

Find other blogs that are in the same market as yours and leave the writers comments. This will take them back to your blog and will also take their readers there as well. Doing this will bring some more traffic and is a great way to get your blog seen.

Follow all of these great tips for easy blog marketing and you will have more readers reading your blog in no time.