10 STEPS TO SUCCESS IN DIRECT MARKETING

10 STEPS TO SUCCESS IN DIRECT MARKETING

by Shelley Lowery

If you're looking for a lucrative homebased business, direct marketing

may be just what you've been looking for; Offering you the

possibilities of making your dreams come true.

WHAT IS DIRECT MARKETING?

Direct marketing is offering a product or service directly to the

consumer via mail order, Internet sales, personal sales, etc., with no

middleman involved.

Many direct marketing companies are now being operated right out

of the home. Home based business is the waive of the future and can

offer you a wonderful opportunity to actually be able to compete with

the large, well established companies with large bank accounts.

That's what is so wonderful about the Internet. You don't have to have

a large bank account to succeed. You just have to have a little "know

how."

* 10 Steps to insure your success

1. SET YOUR GOALS

What do you want to accomplish? Do you want a new home? Do you

want to save for your children's college education? A new car? You

can have whatever you want, but you must want it enough to do the

things that have to be done in order to get it. Set your goals, write

them down and set a target date for reaching them. Set short term

reachable goals and long term higher goals, yet don't set them too

high. This will cause you to become discouraged if you don't achieve

them. Work consistently towards accomplishing your goals each day,

each week and each month until you reach your short term goals.

When you have attained your short term goals, set them a little higher

each time. Ultimately you will achieve your long term goals. Goal-

setting is a must in every area of life.

2. BE SELF DISCIPLINED

Get up early each day. Get ready for your job as if you were working

outside your home. Have a list of all the things you want to accomplish

during the day. This will give you an organized approach to each day.

It's amazing how much you can get done using a "To Do" list.

3. BE SELF MOTIVATED

Set up a schedule and stick to it. Be Enthusiastic. Enthusiasm

generates its own energy. Energy and good health are synonymous

with motivated, happy people. Achievers.

4. BE ENTHUSIASTIC

Positive thinking will literally be your key to success. You have to

convince yourself that you can succeed at whatever you desire,

because you can.

5. DO NOT ALLOW YOURSELF TO BECOME DISCOURAGED

Remember... The more "NO's" you get, the closer to a "YES" you

become.

6. SCHEDULE YOUR TIME WISELY

A schedule is your roadmap to success. If you have no direction, you'll

travel in circles and ultimately never reach your goals. Plan your work

then work your plan.

7. HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

Success is 90 percent attitude and 10 percent aptitude. Learn the art

of positive thinking. You can do whatever you put your mind to. It's

mind over matter. Your attitude will either guarantee your success or

guarantee your failure. You're only a failure if you give up.

8. SET UP AN OFFICE AREA

Most direct marketers work from their own homes, but it is still

essential to set up a specified work area. Take pride in your business

to insure your success.

9. HANDLE YOUR MONEY WISELY

Set up a written budget. Set aside a percentage of your business

income to put back into your business. This is a must. Failure to

reinvest your money will result in the failure of your business.

10. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF

Get plenty of sleep, eat right and take some time to stop and smell the

roses... Be Persistent... Persistence Pays Off... Don't Give Up... Most

Businesses fail Just At The Moment They Are About To Succeed...

Sales is one of the highest paid of all professions. "Give a man a fish

and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime."

Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source - Your Guide to

Professional Website Design and Development. Join The Syndicator,

our new, free article syndication program and display complete

articles w/photographs on your website that are automatically updated

each week. http://www.web-source.net

This Report may be Distributed in any way and even resold, as long

as all information, including bylines above and physical URL's are left

intact and article remains unchanged.

10 MARKETING TIPS FOR SUCCESS

10 MARKETING TIPS FOR SUCCESS

by Shelley Lowery

1. FREE... I got your attention, didn't I. Offer a free report, e-book or

"how to" course. Information is the top selling product online. You can

use this to your benefit by offering free information.

- As a sample of your information product (teaser)

- To identify a problem and promote your products or services by

providing a solution

- To bring traffic to your site

Providing free information is a great way to build a targeted list of

contacts. Pick up free autoresponders at the following sites:

- SendFree - http://www.sendfree.com/

- GetResponse - http://www.getresponse.com/

- Fast Facts - http://www.fastfacts.net/

- MyReply - http://www.myreply.com/

- AutoBot - http://www.autobot.net

For more information about creating an e-book read the article

entitled, "How To Create An E-book & Drive Massive Traffic To Your

Site By Giving It Away..."

http://www.web-source.net/ebook_creation.htm

2. Newsletter (e-zine) - Start your own newsletter and begin creating

your online community of contacts. Visit any of these sites to create

your list, free.

- Onelist - http://www.onelist.com

- Egroups - http://www.egroups.com

- Listbot - http://www.listbot.com

3. Write Articles - There are thousands of online publications looking

for quality content. Writing and distributing your articles will provide

you with free massive exposure. After you've written your article,

subscribe to these publications to assist you in getting published.

- Article Announce - An article announcement list providing free

content to hundreds of ezines, newsletters, magazines and web sites.

Writers announce your articles free.

Subscribe - mailto:article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com

- Writers and Publishers Connection Newsletter Where publishers

announce their article needs.

Subscribe - mailto:Writers98@aol.com with subscribe Writers and

Publishers in the subject.

4. E-zine Advertising - The best form of advertising available online.

Reach thousands of targeted potential customers very inexpensively.

Ruth Townsend of Lifestyle Publishing offers a complete listing of

publications, ad costs, circulation and more in "The Directory of

Ezines."

- http://www.lifestylespub.com/cgi-bin/ezines.cgi?11914

5. Classified Ads - Continuously place classified ads. People DO

read the classifieds. This is very time consuming and you may want to

purchase an auto posting software.

- BeCanada - http://www.becanada.com/

- Classify 98 - http://www.trellian.net/classify/index.html

For a listing of some of the top classified ad sites, visit:

http://www.web-source.net/web/Classified_Ad_Sites/

Free For All Link sites - Continuously submit your link to free for all

sites. This can also be very time consuming so may want to use a

software program.

You can download FFA Blaster free of charge. This software will

instantly submit your link to 100 Free For All sites. An upgrade is

available which will post your link to over 8,000 sites.

- FFA Blaster - http://www.submitad.com/

6. Press Release - Write a quality press release about your product

or service and tell the world! For more information on press releases,

visit any of these sites:

- IdeaMarketers.com http://www.ideamarketers.com/

- Press Promoter http://www.presspromoter.com/

- PRweb http://www.prweb.com/

7. Networking - Create a network of like-minded marketers to help

promote one another, provide recommendations, exchange

prominent links, etc., Note: Be cautious when selecting your

networking partners and making recommendations as your reputation

is on the line. Only network with individuals you truly believe in.

8. Newsgroups - Post to appropriate newsgroups. For a complete

listing, visit: http://www.deja.com/

9. Discussion Lists & Boards - Subscribe to appropriate email lists

and visit discussion boards to participate in online discussions.

Although blatant advertising is not permitted, signatures are

acceptable. Visit Web-Source.net for a listing of some of the top

discussion boards.

- http://www.web-source.net/web/Discussion_Forums/

Visit List Universe for a complete listing of email discussion lists.

- http://list-universe.com/

10. Offline Promotions - Advertise in newspapers, magazines, on the

radio, TV, etc., Visit these sites for complete listings.

Gebbie Press -

http://www.gebbieinc.com/

NewsDirectory Newspapers -

http://www.ecola.com/news/press/

Newspapers Online -

http://www.newspapers.com/

Commercial Magazine Publishers -

http://www.writelinks.com/resources/pub/Pubs-mags.htm

Shelley Lowery is the Webmaster of Web-Source.net -

A complete resource portal for the Internet entrepreneur.

The site assists the entrepreneur in developing a serious

Web presence by providing a wealth of free information,

resources, tools and content. http://www.web-source.net

This Report may be Distributed in any way and even resold, as long

as all information, including bylines above and physical URL's are left

intact and article remains unchanged.

REVIEW: MAKE YOUR KNOWLEDGE SELL

REVIEW: MAKE YOUR KNOWLEDGE SELL

By Shelley Lowery

Make Your Knowledge Sell

by Ken Evoy, M.D. and Monique Harris PDF Electronic Book,

GoodBytes Information Products, Inc.

Ken Evoy and Monique Harris have created the ultimate guide to

creating informational products with Make Your Knowledge Sell.

MYKS provides you with all the knowledge and the tools you'll ever

need to create and deliver a successful electronic book (ebook),

manual or how-to guide. Over 300 pages of pure, powerful

knowledge.

MYKS will advance you through 8 action steps from brainstorming to

marketing and selling your new product. Each action step will take you

step by step through the entire publishing process. When you finish

MYKS, you'll be ready to launch your very own infoproduct.

MYKS is actually 7 volumes within a single book. A complete system

of infopublishing tools:

- Make Your Knowledge Sell. This is the focus of "Make Your

Knowledge Sell"

-- all the other volumes revolve around this one.

- "eBook Secrets: How To Create & Sell Your Own Profitable eBooks

On The Web", by Ken Silver. Ken Silver sells this ebook for $39 on

his site (http://www.kensilver.com/). It's been newly updated for MYKS.

It's worth far more than that, in my opinion. It really complements and

supplements MYKS wonderfully.

- 186 Places To Promote And Sell Your Information Product Online.

Nowhere else in the world will you find such a complete resource for

promoting and selling your infoproducts. This collection was part of

Monique's infoproduct that she sold for $269.

- 120 New Places To Promote And Sell Your Information Product

Online. In addition to Monique's original resource collection, 120 new

resources were added.

- The Online Infoseller's Jump-Start Kit. Monique still sells the printed

version of The Online Infosellers Jump Start Kit for $87 from her site

http://www.sellyourbrainfood.com/jumpstart.htm. Ken and Monique

agreed that MYKS! simply had to be the single best resource for

creating, marketing and selling infoproducts on the Net so they

decided to include it as part of the bundle. Use its many checklists,

templates, and guides every time you create or update a Web site,

launch an information product, create a new promotional campaign,

or simply to keep yourself on the road to success.

- Special Report On Reprint Rights, Including Reprint Legal

Agreement. No one has examined the buying and selling of Reprint

Rights as serious techniques for serious infopreneurs. After Ken's

own successful experiences, he decided to write a Special Report for

MYKS. "Buying & Selling RePrint Rights" is the definitive guide to

buying and selling reprint rights on the Net. And it includes Ken's

Reprint Rights Agreement, which cost over $1,000 to develop -- Ken

gives you the right to use it, but advises you to get legal counsel, as

this does not replace a good attorney.

- The MYKS Automation Manual, including a $500 Software Coupon.

Automation is the key to your online success. Ken has written an

entire separate manual just about automation. No matter what your

personal situation or resources, you'll be able to take (and ship) the

order.

- A Free half-hour personal telephone consultation with Monique

Harris

Make Your Knowledge Sell definitely over-delivers, but I wouldn't have

expected anything less from Ken Evoy after his Make Your Site Sell

masterpiece http://www.sitesell.com/websource.html. It empowers you

to win on the Web by using the single best opportunity you have... the

knowledge stored in your very own brain. Ken promises you this... the

combination of MYKS! and your brain is a winning one. All you have to

do is... DO IT.

MYKS is very reasonably priced at CAD$79 which is only $54.48 US

dollars. In addition to the great price, I was highly impressed with

Ken's guarantee. "You will gross at least 1,000 times your purchase

price within two years, or we'll refund 10 times what you paid for

MYKS."

If you've considered creating your own informational product, don't let

this opportunity pass you buy. MYKS is a true Winner. Get Make Your

Knowledge Sell Today. http://myks.sitesell.com/websource.html

About the Author

Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source - Your Guide to

Professional Website Design and Development. Join The Syndicator,

our new, free article syndication program and display complete

articles w/photographs on your website that are automatically updated

each week. http://www.web-source.net

This Report may be Distributed in any way and even resold, as long

as all information, including bylines above and physical URL's are left

intact and article remains unchanged.

INCREASE INTERNET SALES WITH FREE TRIALS

INCREASE INTERNET SALES WITH FREE TRIALS

By Shelley Lowery

If you're selling a product or service on the Internet, one

of the best ways to increase your sales is by offering a

free trial, also know as a teaser, demo or limited version.

By enabling your potential customers to review your

product and providing them with an easy ordering process,

you can increase your sales immensely.

Free trials are not exclusive to software programs. There

are many ways you can offer a free trial no matter what

product or service you're offering. For example, if you've

written a book, consider offering it in an electronic version;

better know as an eBook. You can include your entire book

within the eBook and choose to lock out certain chapters.

In order for your potential customer to gain access to

these chapters they will be required to purchase the full

version. You can include an order form and instantly take

orders, right through your free trial Ebook. When you receive

an order, you simply send your customer a predefined user

ID and password that you set up when you create it.

A good program to assist you in creating an Ebook is

WebCompiler. http://www.webcompiler.com/

This program will compress your HTML documents into a

self-contained "executable" file. This HTML may be a web

site you've created or HTML you've specifically prepared to

be compiled into a downloadable .exe file for distribution.

This .exe file is a completely freestanding program and

requires no installation. When clicked on, the program

instantly opens your book on your client's desktop. In

addition, WebCompiler will enable you to lock out certain

pages of your Ebook or an entire directory.

The key to using a free trial version is to offer your

product for download from your website and allow it to be

freely distributed. Provide some valuable free information,

but save your most important information for the unlocked

version. Make your locked chapters sound very intriguing

and create curiosity. Tell your potential customers what

they will receive by purchasing the full version, provide

a complete list of all the benefits, and provide them with

an easy ordering process.

To further increase your sales, provide your potential

customers with instant gratification. You can completely

automate your entire ordering process simply by using a

CGI script. There are scripts online that will allow you to

make your product available for download, take the

customers order, approve it right online, send your

customer a password and send you a confirmation of the

order, all completely automatic.

- SuperScripts - http://www.superscripts.com/

- CGI Resource Index - http://cgi.resourceindex.com/

After you've created your product, consider setting up an

affiliate program for massive distribution. There are many

affiliate CGI scripts available to assist you in running your

own affiliate program.

- The Affiliate Program - http://theaffiliateprogram.com/

- ProTrack - http://www.affiliatesoftware.net/

If you're selling a service on the Internet, you can offer

your potential customers a free trial as well. For example,

if you offer a search engine submission service, you can

provide your customers with a limited free submission to

the search engines.

To entice your customers to purchase your full service you

can, not only submit their site to your full list of search

engines, but you can create doorway pages, insure their

pages are optimized for the search engines and provide a

resubmission service every month for a year. In addition,

provide your clients with a free report of each submission

process.

Prior to doing your customers last submission, contact them

and inform them that their submission contract will soon be

expiring. Tell them how they can renew their submission

process and offer another enticing freebie such as, "If you

renew your submission contract before (date) we will also

submit your site to over 1000 Free For All Sites."

This type of free trial will not only increase your current

sales, but it will promote future sales as well.

The possibilities are endless. By offering your potential

customers something of value for free, providing instant

gratification, and an easy ordering process, you can

dramatically increase your sales.

About the Author

Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source - Your Guide to

Professional Website Design and Development. Join The Syndicator,

our new, free article syndication program and display complete

articles w/photographs on your website that are automatically updated

each week. http://www.web-source.net

This Report may be Distributed in any way and even resold, as long

as all information, including bylines above and physical URL's are left

intact and article remains unchanged.

35 DEADLY WEBSITE SINS THAT WILL KILL YOUR

35 DEADLY WEBSITE SINS THAT WILL KILL YOUR

BUSINESS!

by Shelley Lowery

After reviewing thousands of web sites over the past couple of years

for my Exceptional Sites Award, I have come to the conclusion that

many business web sites are missing the boat.

For example; I've been working on some offline promotions and was

searching for a simple targeted mailing list. I searched through about

twenty sites and not one of those sites were, what I would consider,

professional. Their standard blue links were enlarged to about a size

16 font, busy backgrounds, flashing images and very unorganized.

Did I purchase a mailing list from any of those sites? Absolutely not.

Why? The way I see it, if those companies don't take pride in their

web sites, chances are, they won't take pride in their products either.

Large linked text and flashing graphics won't make sales.

Your web site is a direct reflection of you and your business. The

appearance of your site is the most important factor in determining

your sites value. In other words, if your site doesn't look professional

or pleasing to the eyes at first glance, its perceived value and the

value of your products and services will be low.

On the other hand, you may have a great web site, well designed and

a quality product or service, but if it takes too long to load, the value

will still be perceived as low. Why? Because your potential customer

won't wait. Ultimately costing you business.

Another consideration of great importance is your content. Not just

links, but content with value. When someone is surfing the net and

they visit your web site, they're visiting for a reason. Your site has

something they want. Whether it is your product, service or

information, that's why they're there. If they don't find what they're

looking for, they move on to the next site and so on. If you want your

visitors to stay at your site, provide the quality content they're looking

for in a nicely organized fashion. Give them a reason to want to

explore your site and to continue to visit your site in the future.

After receiving many questions, in regard to site design, from my

visitors who weren't selected to receive an award, I have devised a

list of what I refer to as "35 Deadly Web Site Sins".

- Poor load time

- Poor overall appearance

- Spelling/Grammar

- No contact information

- Poor content

- Poor navigation

- Broken links and graphics

- Poor browser compatibility

- Large slow loading graphics

- Too many graphics

- Pages scrolling to oblivion

- Multiple use of animated graphics

- Animated bullets

- Too many graphic and/or line dividers

- Busy, distracting backgrounds

- Multiple banners and buttons

- Poor use of frames

- Large fonts

- Pop up messages

- Over use of java

- Poor use of tables

- Poor organization

- Different backgrounds on each page

- Over powering music set to autoplay

- Confusing

- Too much advertising

- Large Welcome banners

- Multiple colored text

- Text difficult to read

- No Meta tags

- Multiple use of different fonts

- Under construction signs

- Scrolling text in the status bar

- Large scrolling text across the page

- Poor use of mouse over effects

Take some time to really look at your site. Compare it to sites that you

feel look professional. Time your sites load time. Your customers

won't wait. Their time is valuable.

The simple, well designed sites make the sales. If your sales aren't

what you had hoped , take some time to seriously evaluate your site

and make some changes before spending your time and money on

advertising and marketing. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source - Your Guide to

Professional Website Design and Development. Join The Syndicator,

our new, free article syndication program and display complete

articles w/photographs on your website that are automatically updated

each week. http://www.web-source.net

This Report may be Distributed in any way and even resold, as long

as all information, including bylines above and physical URL's are left

intact and article remains unchanged.

AN E-ZINE PUBLISHER'S SURVIVAL GUIDE

AN E-ZINE PUBLISHER'S SURVIVAL GUIDE

by Shelley Lowery

Are you publishing an email newsletter? If you are then you probably

already know all of the great benefits, but for those who aren't, you

really should be. If you're serious about your Internet presence, having

your own publication will help you build a huge database of targeted

customers. Studies have shown, it may take several contacts with a

prospective customer before closing a sale. What better way to make

those contacts and close those sales then by having a complete list of

targeted potential customers ready and waiting. In addition, you can

eventually make a nice income selling sponsor advertising and

classified ads.

Survival Guide for a Successful Online Publication

Provide your readers with the quality content they're looking for. A

quality e-zine should contain at least some original content, but it is

also a good idea to have some additional resources available.

Before using any articles, make sure you review the author's

copyrights and make certain the article may be published. If you're not

sure, contact the author and request permission to publish their

article. Most articles for publication can be used in your e-zine free of

charge as long as the authors credits or resource box is included.

-------------------

- Free Content -

-------------------

Article Announce - Writer & Publisher Exchange

http://www.web-source.net/article-announce

Subscribe: mailto:article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com

E-ZineZ.com -

http://www.e-zinez.com/

Marketing & Advertising Supersite -

http://drnunley.com/

BizWeb2000 -

http://bizweb2000.com/articles.htm

Success Doctor -

http://success-doctor.com/archive.htm

IdeaMarketers -

http://www.ideamarketers.com/

--------------------------

In order to gain new subscribers for your publication, you must

continuously promote it. There are many sites on the Internet that will

list your e-zine free of charge.

-----------------

- Listing Sites -

-----------------

eZINESearch -

http://www.site-city.com/members/e-zine-master/

EzineSeek -

http://www.ezineseek.com

E-ZineZ.com -

http://www.e-zinez.com/

Flying Inkpot's Zine Scene -

http://www.inkpot.com/zines

John Labovitz's ezine-list -

http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/

--------------------------

A discussion list is a group of individuals who have mutually

subscribed to receive posts from other individuals on the same email

list. Discussion lists provide a great way of communicating with other

people with the same interests. Although blatant advertising is

prohibited, signature lines (sig files) are acceptable. Include your e-

zine subscription information in your sig file.

----------------------------

- Email Discussion Lists -

----------------------------

zine-talk

http://www.infojump.com/publishers/res/zine-talk.html

epub

http://www.onelist.com/viewarchive.cgi?listname-epub

--------------------------

Subscribe to these wonderful publications for a wealth of quality

information to assist you in all aspects of publishing your e-zine.

----------------------------

- E-zines about E-zines -

----------------------------

Article Announce - Writer & Publisher Exchange

http://www.web-source.net/article-announce

Subscribe - mailto:article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com

Writers & Publishers Connection

subscribe - mailto:writers98@aol.com

Ezines - Publishing & Promotion

http://www.ezine-publishing.com/newsnet/archives.htm

Ezine-Tips

http://Ezine-Tips.com

Writers & Publishers Online

subscribe - mailto:wpo-on@mail-list.com

The List-City Report - The Ezine on Ezine advertising

subscribe- mailto:listcity-on@mail-list.com

Zine Roundup - News from other 'zines

subscribe- mailto:zine-on@mail-list.com

--------------------------

Announcement Lists provide a great way to announce your new

publication to their entire list of subscribers. Subscribe to these email

lists to announce your e-zine. Make sure you review their posting

guidelines prior to making your posts. Look through some of the other

posts to get an idea of how your post should look.

---------------------------

- Announcement Lists -

---------------------------

New List - Announcement list for new e-zines.

http://www.scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/new-list/

AAnnounce

http://www.onelist.com/viewarchive.cgi?listname=-AAnnounce

NewJour List

http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour/subscribe.html

Promote

http://www.mail-co.com/promote.htm

New-List.com

http://New-List.com/

--------------------------

A discussion Forum is threaded discussion on a web or message

board. This is a great way to get your name out into the Internet

community and make some new friends and/or customers. Although

blatant advertising is prohibited, signature lines are acceptable.

-------------------------

- Discussion Forums -

-------------------------

We Talk Zines!

http://www.ezine-publishing.com/bbs

EzineSeek - Email Publishers Forum

http://www.ezineseek.com/forum/index.cgi

Biz-Gold Discussion Board

http://www.profitinfo.com/discuss/marketing/

--------------------------

Webrings are groups of sites with similar content all linked together to

exchange traffic. If you don't have a web site for your publication, you

definitely need to get one. Having your own site will enable you to give

your visitors an in depths look at exactly what your publication is all

about. You can include highlights of upcoming issues, polls, archives

and a subscription box to enable your visitors to easily subscribe.

When you've gotten your site set up, you can join a webring and

benefit from all the traffic you'll receive from the other sites in your

group.

-----------------------

- E-zine Webrings -

-----------------------

E-zine Webring -

http://ezinewebring.hypermart.net/

ZinesOnline Webring -

http://members.tripod.com/adm/popup/roadmap.shtml

World Of Newsletters Webring -

http://bizx.com/newsletter_ring.html

--------------------------

Trading Ads with fellow publishers is one of the best ways to build

your subscriber base. It's as simple as it sounds. You simply contact

the publisher you're interested in exchanging ads with and ask them if

they would be interested in an ad exchange. If they're interested, you

would then run a classified ad promoting their e-zine in your

publication in exchange for them running your classified ad, all

completely free. Here are some great resources to assist you in the

process.

-----------------

- Ad Trading -

-----------------

Ezine Publisher Trade List

http://www.bizpromo.com/ezinetrades.htm

Media Peak - AdSwap

http://www.mediapeak.com

E-ZineZ Ad Exchange

http://www.e-zinez.com/classpro/viewads.html

Publishers' Business Exchange

http://www.cashconnection.com/publisherssite.htm

I-Barter

http://www.i-barter.com

Free Barter Exchange

http://www.loska.com/barter

Ezine-Swap

http://www.promotefree.com/eswap.htm

Subscribe: mailto:ezine-swap-sub@promotefree.com

--------------------------

Participate in newsgroup discussions. As with most discussion lists

or groups, blatant advertising is prohibited, but sig files are

acceptable. Before posting to any newsgroup, read the groups

policies and review other posts to give you an idea of how your post

should look.

------------------

- Newsgroups -

------------------

alt.zines

alt.ezines

alt.etext

alt.binaries.zines

comp.infosystems.www.announce -

(Read FAQ prior to submission)

http://www.sangfroid.com/charter.html

--------------------------

Winning awards is a great way to build your subscription base. Stop

by any of the following sites and submit your publication for a possible

award.

----------------------------------

- E-zine Awards & Reviews -

----------------------------------

Best Ezines

http://www.bestezines.com

Techmailings List of the day

http://www.techmailings.com

Choice Ezine Award

http://ezineseek.com/award/index.html

E-ZineZ Excellence Award

http://www.e-zinez.com/eaward.htm

--------------------------

Write a press release and tell the world about your publication. If

you're not comfortable with writing your own press release, Dr. Kevin

Nunley will write it for you at a very reasonable price.

http://www.drnunley.com/

Visit any of the following sites to send out your press release.

--------------------

- Press Release -

--------------------

Gebbie Press -

http://www.gebbieinc.com/

Press Promoter -

http://www.presspromoter.com/

Press Release Network -

http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com/index1.html

PRWeb -

http://www.prweb.com

Internet Wire -

http://www.internetwire.com/

BBL Internet Media -

http://bblmedia.com/

--------------------------

Don't forget about offline promotions. There are still millions of people

around the world who aren't online. Place your ads in newspapers,

magazines, etc.

-------------------------

- Offline Promotions -

-------------------------

Gebbie Press -

http://www.gebbieinc.com/

NewsDirectory Newspapers -

http://www.ecola.com/news/press/

Newspapers Online -

http://www.newspapers.com/

This guide is just a small example of e-zine publishing and promotion.

For a complete e-zine tutorial with hundreds of resources, download

the free e-book entitled, "E-zines: A Complete Guide to Publishing."

This free e-book received a 4-star Editors Pick from ZDNet.

Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source - Your Guide to

Professional Website Design and Development. Join The Syndicator,

our new, free article syndication program and display complete

articles w/photographs on your website that are automatically updated

each week. http://www.web-source.net

This Report may be Distributed in any way and even resold, as long

as all information, including bylines above and physical URL's are left

intact and article remains unchanged.

A CRASH COURSE IN EZINE PUBLISHING

A CRASH COURSE IN EZINE PUBLISHING

by Shelley Lowery

An ezine, also know as an email magazine, online publication or

electronic newsletter is simply a newsletter available via email and/or

online. There are hundreds of thousands of ezines on various subjects

available on the Internet free of charge.

Having your own publication will not only enable you to keep in touch

with your visitors, but it will help you build a huge database of targeted

customers.

If you've been marketing on the Internet, then you know it may take

several contacts with a prospective customer before closing a sale.

What better way to make those contacts, without spamming... In

addition, you can eventually make a nice income selling sponsor

advertising and classified ads.

You can publish an ezine completely free. There are many list servers

such as;

Egroups (http://www.egroups.com), Onelist (http://www.onelist.com) &

Listbot (http://www.listbot.com) that will host your list (ezine) free of

charge. In addition, they take care of all your subscription requests so

you won't have to. To use one of these list servers, simply sign up and

instantly create your list. They will provide you with a subscribe and

unsubscribe email address and even a list owner email address, all

completely free. The only disadvantage is that each posting will

contain an ad for their service. This is really a small price to pay for

such a great service. If you're just starting out, utilizing one of these

free services can simplify the process.

- CONTENT -

A quality ezine should contain at least some original content. Don't let

the fear of writing intimidate you. If your ezine's focus is on an area of

your expertise you shouldn't have any problems coming up with

something to write about. If you've been out of school for a while, you

might want to freshen up on your writing and grammar skills. Visit any

of the sites listed below for a crash course.

Garbl's Writing Resources Online -

http://pweb.netcom.com/~garbl1/writing.html

11 Rules of Writing -

http://www.junketstudies.com/rulesofw/

Exploring English -

http://www.shared-visions.com/explore/english/

Simpler Words And Phrases -

http://www.smartbiz.com/sbs/arts/tpl5.htm

Here are some additional resources for obtaining free content for your

publication. Before using any articles, make sure you review the

author's copyrights and make certain the article may be published. If

you're not sure, contact the author and request permission to publish

their article. Most articles for publication can be used in your ezine

free of charge as long as the authors credits or resource box is

included.

- FREE CONTENT -

Article Announce - Writer & Publisher Exchange

http://www.web-source.net/article-announce

Subscribe: article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com

E-ZineZ.com -

http://www.e-zinez.com/

Marketing & Advertising Supersite -

http://drnunley.com/

BizWeb2000 -

http://bizweb2000.com/articles.htm

Success Doctor -

http://success-doctor.com/archive.htm

IdeaMarketers -

http://www.ideamarketers.com/

- FOCUS -

Your ezine should focus on a subject in which you have a great deal of

knowledge. If you have a web site, you should also take into

consideration the focus of your web site; i.e., If your web site's focus is

on Internet Marketing, you wouldn't want to have your ezines focus to

be on "Animals & Pets," you would want it to be on "Internet

Marketing."

- TITLE -

The title of your ezine is one of the most important decisions you can

make. Many e-zine listing sites list their ezines in alphabetical order.

By selecting a title such as, "Advertising Secrets" instead of "Working

Online," your publication will be listed towards the top instead of the

bottom. This will give your publication an advantage over the

publications listed below yours. Potential subscribers will see your

ezine first and be more apt to subscribe.

Your title should sound intriguing and tell your potential subscriber

exactly what your publication is all about.

- PUBLISHING SCHEDULE -

You can publish your ezine as often as you like. When you first begin

you may want to only publish once a month until your subscriber base

has grown. You can always increase your publication to bi-weekly or

weekly whenever you'd like.

- SIZE -

There has been a great deal of controversy over the size of an ezine.

In my humble opinion, size really doesn't matter. If you publish a quality

e-zine with a great deal of content, I don't feel that your subscribers

will care what size it is within reason. You should; however, take into

consideration that your subscribers may not want to download it. If it is

too large, America Online will automatically turn it into a file

attachment. Consider either condensing it or separating it into "Part

One" and "Part Two."

- WEB SITE -

It isn't imperative that your ezine have its own web site, however, it is

HIGHLY recommended. Having your own site will enable you to give

your visitors an in depths look at exactly what your publication is all

about. You can include highlights of upcoming editions, polls, archives

and a subscription box to allow your visitors to easily subscribe.

- ADVERTISING -

You should probably wait to begin selling advertising space until you

have at least 1000 subscribers. You can sell ad space for $25 for

every 1000 subscribers you have. There is a lot of advertising

competition to take into consideration when selling ad space so, you

may want to begin selling your ad space at a lower rate or offer

special incentives; i.e., Buy two weeks of advertising for $20 get the

third week free. Try to limit the number of ads per issue to ten and

place them in the center of your publication. This will not only ensure

adequate exposure for your advertisers, but your subscribers won't be

overwhelmed with advertising as well.

- STYLE & FORMAT -

The appearance of your ezine is one of the most important factors in

determining your e-zine's success. Getting subscribers is the easy

part. Keeping them will entail a little work. A professionally written,

well designed, content rich publication will ensure your ezines

success.

When formatting your ezine, keep in mind there are many different

types of email programs and they are not all created equal. As a

general rule, to accommodate all of your subscribers and their

different email programs, it is probably best to write your ezine in

plain text. As with email programs, word processing programs are not

all created equal as well. Your regular word processing programs are

great for writing business letters, sales letters, etc., but not a good

choice for writing your newsletter due to formatting issues.

A good program to consider using is Notepad. This program should

already be on your desktop.

Another consideration of great importance is your line length. If your

text lines are too long, some email programs that aren't capable of

viewing long text lines will force the last few words to the next line and

your text will be viewed like this:

When formatting your publication your text

length is

one of the most important factors in

determining

how professional your publication will appear.

As a rule, a generally safe line-length is 65 characters (including

spaces).

As you begin typing your text, when you reach 65 characters, use a

hard carriage return. (Hit Enter)

If you'd rather not have to worry about hard carriage returns, you might

want to use a program called "TextPad". http://www.textpad.com/.

This program can be set to automatically insert a hard carriage return

when your text has reached 65 characters.

When you're ready to begin, make an outline for the contents of your

e-zine to enable you to create a template.

After you've written your publication and you're ready to copy & paste

it into your email program, make certain your email preferences are

set to allow at least 65 characters of text per line. If your preferences

are set for less, when you paste your text to be mailed it will appear to

be improperly formatted.

It is highly recommended that you send a sample copy of your

publication to yourself prior to sending it to your subscribers. By

viewing your publication in this manner you will get an idea of what

your subscribers will see and it will enable you to correct any

formatting problems.

Publishing your own ezine is one of the best marketing decisions

you'll ever make. Take your time, research your subject and design a

publication of quality, useful content.

For further information on publishing your own ezine, you may

download the free ebook entitled, "Ezines: A Complete Guide to

Publishing." This free e-book received a 4-star Editors Pick from

ZDNet. http://www.web-source.net/free_ebooks.htm

Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source - Your Guide to

Professional Website Design and Development. Join The Syndicator,

our new, free article syndication program and display complete

articles w/photographs on your website that are automatically updated

each week. http://www.web-source.net

This Report may be Distributed in any way and even resold, as long

as all information, including bylines above and physical URL's are left

intact and article remains unchanged.

AUTORESPONDERS: PUT YOUR BUSINESS ON

AUTORESPONDERS: PUT YOUR BUSINESS ON

AUTOPILOT

by Shelley Lowery

Autoresponders are one of the top promotional tools available online

today. They are also known as mailbots, automatic email and email

on demand. They were derived from the very popular fax on demand

and designed to automatically respond to any email message sent to

it with an automatic response.

Their popularity most likely stems from its vast variety of uses as it

eliminates the need to manually answer every response.

Subsequently saving hours of valuable time. Your information can be

available to your prospective customer 24 hours a day, 7 days a

week.

Get your best ad copy ready, load it to your autoresponder and your

business is set to autopilot. When your prospective customer sends a

message to your autoresponder address, your information will be

instantly delivered to their email address.

There are many ways of utilizing the power of autoresponders:

* Sample E-zine Copy for potential subscribers

* Articles For Publication - A great way for writers to distribute their

articles

* Offer Free Powerful Reports on various subjects and use your

signature file at the end to promote your site or business

* Offer Free Resources with information about your site, product or

business

* Information about your Business Opportunity

* Product listings

* Price list

* Welcome letters

* Thank you letters

* Order Confirmations

* Advertising Rates

Advantages:

There are many advantages associated with the use of

autoresponders. Not only do they automate the daily task of manually

replying to requests for information, but they provide instant

gratification for the recipient. They also enable you to track your ad

responses and gather the email addresses of potential customers.

A good autoresponder service will automatically send you an email

notification informing you each time someone requests your

information.

Selecting a quality autoresponder service:

When selecting a autoresponder service, there are many factors that

need to be taken into consideration to ensure maximum performance.

* Personalized responses - This makes the recipient feel that the

letter was sent specifically to them.

* Automatic follow ups - Studies have shown it may take up to seven

contacts before closing a sale.

* Unlimited text length - If you are inhibited by the amount of text your

autoresponder may contain, you may be forced to revise a successful

sales letter, ultimately costing you business.

* Free Unlimited updating - It is imperative to provide your

customers with accurate, up to date information on your

products and services.

* Automatic Notification - You must have the ability to track your ads

performance. You should be instantly informed each time someone

requests your information.

Advertising Tips:

* Include your autoresponder address in your signature file.

* When placing classified ads, instead of supplying your

regular email address, use your autoresponder address.

* Appropriate News Groups

* Opt in email discussion lists

* Guestbooks

* Business Cards

* Letter Head

* Your web site

Key Coding Your Ads:

Tracking your ads response rate will be the key to your marketing

success. Once you test your ads and determine which ad is pulling

the most responses, you can easily test which classified ad sites are

producing results as well. This will save you a lot of valuable time by

only placing your ads at classified ad sites that produce results.

1. Make a list of the classified ad sites you intend to post your ad.

2. Number the list of ad sites.

3. You can key your ad using the subject of your email.

Many times, if you ask for a certain "subject" description, it may not

be provided. To avoid this problem you can add a simple code to

your email tag. mailto:freeinfo@yourautoadd.com?subject=cl1

This code should contain your autoresponder address and will

automatically fill in the subject with your ad key when clicked on. The

"cl1" stands for the classified ad site number one. The second ad site

you have listed should be coded as cl2 or classified ad site number

two and so on. By coding your ads you will know exactly where your

leads are coming from.

4. Begin submitting your ad and replace your normal email address

with your key coded autoresponder address.

You can obtain free autoresponders with all the amenities mentioned

above from any of the following sites:

http://www.getresponse.com/

http://www.fastfacts.net/

http://www.myreply.com/

http://www.autobot.net/

Submit your autoresponder address to AutoResponder Central - An

Autoresponder Information Directory.

http://www.web-source.net/links

Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source - Your Guide to

Professional Website Design and Development. Join The Syndicator,

our new, free article syndication program and display complete

articles w/photographs on your website that are automatically updated

each week. http://www.web-source.net

This Report may be Distributed in any way and even resold, as long

as all information, including bylines above and physical URL's are left

intact and article remains unchanged.

AUTORESPONDER ETIQUETTE

AUTORESPONDER ETIQUETTE

By Shelley Lowery

Autoresponders are one of the most widely used promotional tools on

the Internet. They're also known as mailbots, automatic email and

email on demand. They were derived from the very popular fax on

demand and designed to automatically respond to any email

message sent to it with an automatic response.

Autoresponder programs vary from autoresponse messages set-up

within an email program to a script that runs on a server. This script

may run a web-based autoresponder system that utilizes a web page

form or it may run with a pop email account on a server. It's

programmed to automatically send out a pre- determined message

when a message is received to a specified script address or email

address.

Not only are autoresponders one of the most widely used promotional

tools, but are becoming one of the most widely abused. While using

autoresponders will enable you to put a lot of your daily tasks on

autopilot, autoresponders can also wreak havoc on innocent

individuals who may cross their path.

Autoresponder addresses should NEVER be used when submitting

your website to Search Engines, Directories, Free For All sites, or in

Classified Ad contact forms. Many of these types of websites use

autoresponders to send thank you or welcome messages to their

users. When their autoresponder sends a message to your

autoresponder, this creates what is known as a loop. Each

autoresponder will continue to respond to the other.

When subscribing to an ezine or email discussion group, always use

a real email address and NEVER subscribe with an autoresponder

address. Subscribing to these types of publications with an

autoresponder address will get you immediately unsubscribed. Why?

For example; If you're a member of a discussion group and receive

many messages each day, your autoresponder will respond to every

message it receives. Not only will the list owner receive a mailbox full

of complaints, but they will also receive all of your autoresponse

messages.

Another problem ezine publishers encounter with autoresponder

subscribers is locating the perpetrator. Many times, the "reply to" and

"from" address of an autoresponse message aren't the same as the

address they subscribed under. t takes a great deal of time and effort

to track the address, which is time that could have been better spent

elsewhere.

Another unethical use of autoresponders is autoresponders. Let me

explain... There are many Internet Marketers now using unethical

techniques to subscribe innocent individuals to their junk mailing lists.

They will send a message to an autoresponder address using their

subscription address. When the autoresponder answers the

message, the "from" address on the autoresponder will be instantly

subscribed. This technique is not only unethical, but also

unprofessional.

Autoresponders can be a wonderful tool for Internet Marketers and

can save you hours of valuable time. However, if not used in a

professional manner, can wreak havoc on the Internet community.

Don't be tempted to tarnish your professional reputation by indulging

in the abuse of our autoresponder system. It's just not worth the price.

About the Author:

Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source - Your Guide to

Professional Website Design and Development. Join The

Syndicator, our new, free article syndication program and display

complete articles w/photographs on your website that are

automatically updated each week.

http://www.web-source.net

This Report may be Distributed in any way and even resold, as long

as all information, including bylines above and physical URL's are left

intact and article remains unchanged.

WRITE FOR PUBLICITY

WRITE FOR PUBLICITY

By Shelley Lowery

Designing a great website is only the first step towards

creating a successful web presence. In order to succeed,

you must develop a steady stream of traffic to your site.

The first and most important step is getting your website

listed in the search engines. Keeping your website ranked

in the top 30 positions is a never ending battle and

shouldn't be solely relied upon for developing traffic.

If you've been on the Internet for a while you've probably

subscribed to a few ezines (newsletters). Most ezines

will include a feature article written by the editor or a

guest author. If you've ever read an article written by a

guest author then you've probably noticed, at the end of

the article, a few lines of text about the author, referred

to as "bylines" or "resource box."

The writer gives the publisher permission to publish their

article free of charge in exchange for the publisher

including the author's bylines. The bylines are basically

just an advertisement for the writer. They usually contain

a couple of lines about the author and a web address.

By writing articles and allowing them to be published free

of charge, your articles will have the potential to be

viewed by millions of Internet users. They may be

published by several ezines with subscriber bases of a

few hundred to several thousand. In addition, they may

be displayed in ezine archives or on high traffic websites.

Most ezine publishers prefer short articles between 500

and 750 words. Short "tip" articles of just a couple of

paragraphs are also very popular. Articles should be

formatted to 65 characters per line or less including

spaces and written in short paragraph sections.

When you begin writing your article, avoid using your

standard word processing programs, as they do not allow

for proper formatting. Instead, use a text editor such

as NotePad. It should already be installed on your desktop.

When you begin typing your article, use a hard carriage

return (hit enter) when your text reaches 65 characters,

including spaces, and leave a space between your

paragraphs. This will enable the publisher to easily

copy and paste your article into their publication and

significantly increase your chances of being published.

Most publishers receive many article submissions each

week and only select a few to be published. Here are

some basic guidelines to help you increase your chances

of being published:

- Your article must be properly formatted. Publishers

won't take the time to format your article, they'll

simply use another article that is properly formatted

- Keep your bylines down to 6 lines or less

- Select a descriptive title to intrigue your readers

- Use proper grammar and spelling

- Avoid articles that are nothing more than a sales

pitch, as your chances of being published will be

minimal

- Avoid referring readers to an affiliate URL as this

will make your article appear to be biased and

untrustworthy

- Write your articles with a sincere desire to teach

and inform. Talk to your readers and share your

expertise

Once you've written your article, you'll need to develop a

list of publishers that may be interested in publishing it.

Visit the following site to help you locate ezine publishers:

http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/

Search through the database for publications that may

be interested in the type of article you've written.

Contact the publisher and ask them if they accept

article submissions.

Here are some additional promotional resources to help

you get published:

http://www.web-source.net/article-announce

http://www.ideamarketers.com/

http://www.e-zinez.com/writers.htm

Writing and distributing free articles on the Internet

will be one of the best promotional decisions you'll

ever make. Not only will it provide you with free

publicity, but if your articles are good, you'll become

a trusted professional in your area of expertise.

Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source - Your Guide to

Professional Website Design and Development. Join The Syndicator,

our new, free article syndication program and display complete

articles w/photographs on your website that are automatically updated

each week. http://www.web-source.net

This Report may be Distributed in any way and even resold, as long

as all information, including bylines above and physical URL's are left

intact and article remains unchanged.

THE SECRETS TO BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL

THE SECRETS TO BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL

WEBSITE

by Shelley Lowery

If you're doing business on the Internet, one of the most important

aspects of your success is your web site. If your web site doesn't look

professional, no matter what product you're offering your chances of

success are minimal.

Before you begin, if you've never designed a web page, it would be

wise to become familiar with HTML. (Hypertext Markup Language.) A

great place to start is NCSA Beginner's Guide to HTML:

http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html

15 Tips for designing a successful web site:

(1) The main page of your web site should load in 8 seconds or less

with a 56K modem.

According to two recent surveys, conducted by Forrester Research

and Gartner Group, ecommerce sites are losing $1.1 to $1.3 billion in

revenue each year due to customers click- away caused by slow

loading sites. If a page takes too long to load, your potential customer

will not wait. Ultimately costing you business.

(2) Make sure you include proper META tags in the HTML of each

page of your web site. META tags are HTML code that enable the

search engines to determine what keywords are relevant to a specific

site. About 80 percent of all web site traffic originates from the eight

major search engines. It would be a good idea to make sure you've

done your homework and fully understand how to optimize your web

pages prior to designing your site. This will save you a lot of

headaches in the long run. For further information on META tags read

the tutorial entitled, "Building Your Site."- http://www.web-source.net/

building.htm

(3) Be cautious when selecting your background and text colors. Busy

backgrounds make text difficult to read and draw the attention away

from the text. Always be consistent with your background theme on

each page of your site. Your site should be nicely organized and

uniform throughout. Keep in mind, colors affect your mood and will

have an affect on your visitors as well.

Bright colors such as yellow and orange, cause you to become more

cheerful or happy, while colors such as blue and purple have a

calming effect. Dark colors such as brown and black have a

depressing effect. A good rule of thumb would be to use colors based

upon the type of effect you're trying to achieve.

(4) Use minimal animated graphics. These can be very distracting

and can cause your page to look unprofessional. In addition,

animated graphics cause your page to load more slowly. Fancy

graphics won't make the sale.

(5) Your main page should specifically let your visitors know exactly

what you're offering. How many times have you visited a site and

never figured out exactly what they were selling? If your potential

customer can't find your product or service, they definitely won't waste

a lot of time looking for it.

They'll go on to the next site and probably never return. They're visiting

your site for a specific purpose. They want something your site offers.

Whether it is information, a product or service.

(6) Try to avoid placing banner exchange banners at the top of your

page. These can instantly take your customers or even be indexed by

search engine robots. Limit the number of banners on your site to no

more than two per page. One is ideal.

(7) Always, include your contact information on each page of your site

and try to reply to all comments and suggestions within 48 hours. This

will help promote good business relationships. Your business

relationships are the key to your success.

(8) ALWAYS check and double-check your site for spelling errors and

make sure your images and links are all working properly. If you have

several errors, this will make your site appear to be unprofessional. If

you are designing your site using an HTML editor, use spell check.

Proper grammar is also very important. If you've been out of school for

a while it's probably a good idea to refresh your memory. Visit any of

the following sites for a crash course in writing and grammar.

- Guide to Grammar and Writing -

http://webster.commnet.edu/HP/pages/darling/original.htm

- A Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation -

http://www.grammarbook.com/

- Exploring English -

http://www.shared-visions.com/explore/english/

- Simpler Words And Phrases -

http://www.smartbiz.com/sbs/arts/tpl5.htm

(9) Design your site to be easily navigated. Place your navigation

links together at the top, bottom, left or right side of the page. Use

tables to neatly align your links. If you are planning on using graphic

buttons to navigate your site, keep in mind that with each graphic you

add to your page, it will take that much longer for your page to load. If

you only have a handful of navigational links, using graphic buttons will

be fine. If you have over six links, it would be wise to simply use text

links to keep your load time down.

(10) If you must use frames, use them sparingly. Frames, if not

properly used, can make your site look unprofessional. Avoid making

your visitors have to scroll from side to side to view your content. This

can be very irritating and cause your visitors to leave. If you must use

frames, offer your visitors a choice. Frames verses No Frames.

(11) Try to keep the number of clicks required to get from your main

page to any other page on your site down to four. Keep in mind, your

visitors may enter your site from pages other than your main. Always

have good navigational links on every page and place your company

logo on each page.

(12) If you must use Java on your site, use it sparingly. Offer your

visitors a choice. Java verses No Java. Java can be slow and has a

tendency to crash browsers. Try to avoid using those pop up boxes

asking for your visitor's name, etc. Those pop up messages are very

unprofessional and can be very frustrating to your visitors when they're

trying to view your site.

(13) Do not set sound to "autoplay" when someone visits your site.

This can be very distracting.

(14) All web browsers are not created equally. View your site through

different browsers and screen resolutions so you will see how your

visitors will view your site. Visit:

- Site Inspector - Check your web pages for HTML validity and

browser compatibility.

- http://www.siteinspector.com/

- NetMechanic - Provides a variety of free services for your web site

including; browser compatibility testing, graphic file size reduction,

link check, HTML check, load time check, spell check and more.

- http://www.netmechanic.com/

(15) Continually add new content to your site. Give your visitors a

reason to keep coming back.

* Design a quality e-book to give to your visitors. It's not as difficult as

it sounds. If you can create a web page, you can create an e-book.

The focus of your e-book should compliment your web site. Simply

write about your passion. If your passion is sales, then you could

share some of your knowledge and experience by designing your e-

book to provide a complete sales training guide. If your passion is

home based business, you could write an e-book about how to start

your own home based business. If you're writing about your true

passion then you shouldn't have any trouble coming up with

something to write about. For further information on e-books, read the

article entitled, "How to Create an E-book and Drive Massive Traffic

to Your Site by Giving It Away."

- http://www.web-source.net/ebook_creation.htm

If you'd rather not write your own e-book, here's a list of sites where

you can pick up some free e-books to add to your site.

- Web-Source.net

http://www.web-source.net

- Book Locker

http://www.booklocker.com/

- LD Publishing

http://www.ldpublishing.com

* Provide your visitors with quality, informative articles. Everybody

loves free information. It's the top-selling product online, so use it to

your advantage. Write your own articles or you can pick some up at

the following sites:

- Article Announce - Writer & Publisher Exchange

http://www.web-source.net/article-announce.htm

Subscribe: mailto:article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com

- Marketing & Advertising Supersite

http://www.drnunley.com/

- BizWeb2000

http://www.bizweb2000.com/articles.htm

- Success Doctor

http://www.success-doctor.com/archive.htm

Before using any articles, make sure you view the author's copyrights

and make certain the article may be published. If you're not sure,

contact the author and request permission to publish their article

whether it be on your web site or in your e-zine. Most articles for

publication can be used free of charge as long as the authors credits

or resource box is included.

The best advice I can offer is to Keep It Simple. The simple, well-

designed, professional looking web sites make the sales.

Always strive to learn. Knowledge is the key to success.

Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source - Your Guide to

Professional Website Design and Development. Join The Syndicator,

our new, free article syndication program and display complete

articles w/photographs on your website that are automatically updated

each week. http://www.web-source.net

This Report may be Distributed in any way and even resold, as long

as all information, including bylines above and physical URL's are left

intact and article remains unchanged.

THE PAGE CANNOT BE DISPLAYED SELECTING A

THE PAGE CANNOT BE DISPLAYED SELECTING A

QUALITY WEB HOST

By Shelley Lowery

"The page cannot be displayed." Have you ever encountered

this message while surfing the net? Of course you have. We

all have. Think it can't happen to you? Think again. If

you're hosting your business on one of the free hosting

services, you're literally placing your entire business

in the hands of a complete stranger.

Free hosting services don't need to have a reason to shut

your site down. You may get up one morning, try to access

your site and instead of your site loading, this message

will appear, "The page cannot be displayed." There goes

all of your hard work, your web site, your traffic, your

search engine positioning, your customers, all gone.

Free hosting services aren't interested in your business

or how hard you've worked to design your web site and

create a steady stream of traffic. Their main concern is

their business. That's why they're doing it. They display

banner ads on every site they host. Pop up ads are not

only irritating, but they make your site appear to be

unprofessional. In addition, many Search Engines will not

allow free host URLs to be listed.

If you're serious about your business and you have a

sincere desire to succeed, having your own domain name is

a must. It's not a luxury; it's a necessity. Businesses

using the free services are not taken seriously. Having

your own domain name is just as important if not more

important than a professional looking web site. They go

hand-in-hand.

The cost to register your Domain name is only $60 for the

first two years. Very reasonable and well worth every

penny. Domain names are going fast, so if you have one in

mind, you'd better register it now before someone else

does. You can register your domain through Virtualis right

online, with no monthly fees, even if you're not ready to

order a server. http://www.virtualis.com/vr/slowery/

-> Selecting Your Web Page Host <-

When selecting a professional web host your first

consideration should be the company. Check out their

background. Talk to some of their customers and ask

them if they've been satisfied with their service.

- How many customers do they serve?

- What is their uptime percentage?

- Do they require you to make payments in advance?

- Do they charge set up fees?

- How is their customer support? Test them.

- Do they offer fast connections?

- Do they offer shopping cart software to process your orders?

- Can you upgrade free of charge?

Web hosting prices vary greatly. When selecting your

host, make sure you're getting exactly what you're

paying for. Keep in mind, a lower monthly rate will

not benefit you if your site is down a lot, slow, or

customer service is poor.

-> Criteria for selecting a host <-

Selecting a professional web host is a very important

decision. Make sure you do your homework and insure

the host you select offers exactly what you need.

- Your own domain name (www.yourname.com)

- Your own True POP email account - name@yourdomain.com

- Fast, low overhead, Multi-T3 access

- Your own unrestricted cgi-bin

- Access to SSL Encryption for secure transactions

- Java, C, C++, Tcl support

- Autoresponders

- htaccess Password Protection for your files or directories

- At least 1 GIGABYTE (1024 MB) of Daily Transfer

- Design (and upload to) your site using Netscape or other HTML

editing software

- Microsoft Frontpage (98) Server Extensions for those utilizing

Frontpage

- Unlimited free access to your server via Telnet/FTP

- Online invoices, account tracking, and payment history to enable you

to check your account balance, monthly invoices, past payments, etc.

- Complete daily server backup

- Easy access to your log files

- Statistics on visits to your site

Free web hosts are great for hosting a personal web site,

but not recommended for a business site. If you're really

serious about your business and want to establish your

Internet presence, I highly recommend Virtualis. Their

tech support is the best I've seen.

http://www.virtualis.com/vr/slowery

-----------------------------

About the Author

Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source - Your Guide to

Professional Website Design and Development. Join The Syndicator,

our new, free article syndication program and display complete

articles w/photographs on your website that are automatically updated

each week. http://www.web-source.net

This Report may be Distributed in any way and even resold, as long

as all information, including bylines above and physical URL's are left

intact and article remains unchanged.

STEPS TO OPTIMIZING YOUR HTML CODES

STEPS TO OPTIMIZING YOUR HTML CODES

by Shelley Lowery

Your key to success in online marketing and promotion is your web

site. From your title, keywords, meta tags, and text, to your over all

site design, each plays a very important role when optimizing your

site. If your site doesn't rank in the top 10 or 20 when doing a keyword

search at the top search engines, your target audience won't be able

to find you.

About 80 percent of all web site traffic originates from the eight major

search engines. Most people will go to a search engine, type in a

keyword or keyword phrase and look through the top 10 - 20 results.

Most of the time they'll find what they're looking for in the first 10

results. The percentage of click throughs are even smaller. Listing

near the top and grabbing the attention of your target audience is the

top priority. There are many components of your web page that you

should pay close attention to when preparing it for listing in a search

engine.

The first step towards improving your listing is selecting the best

keywords and keyword phrases that best reflect your web page.

Keywords are the foundation of your web presence in the search

engines.

* Keywords

To help you choose effective keywords and keyword phrases, there

are two important steps. First of all, get a Thesaurus and investigate

synonyms for your original keywords. Write these words down on a

sheet of paper. Next, perform your keyword and keyword phrases

search at the major engines.

Pay close attention to the web sites that rank 1 through 10. View the

source code of these pages. Pay close attention to their placement of

keywords in the , and tags. Next, do a

search for your competitor's web sites and view their HTML source

code. Noticing patterns is your key to ranking above them.

* Tags

An image alt tag follows your graphic address or url in your html code.

These words will be displayed in place of your graphics through an

older browser or when your visitors have their graphics turned off. To

fully optimize your graphics, insert several of your keywords in the alt

tags of the graphics located at the top of your pages.

Example:

grooming,pet care,dog groomers" BORDER="0">

Tags

tag is the first thing that a user sees when your site is

returned by a search query. You only have a split second to grab your

targets attention. Place keywords that are most pertinent to your

business in the title tag.

Effective title tags include only relevant keyword or keyword phrases.

Avoid non-indexing filler words, such as a, an, the, welcome and

home page.

Example:

Dog Groomers Salon: Professional Dog Grooming Tips, Pet

Care and moreThe * .

* tags

tags are HTML code that enable the search engines to

determine what keywords are relevant to this specific site.

The META "description" tag will contain a description of your site.

Make sure your description contains some of your relevant keywords.

The META "keywords" tag will contain a listing of your keywords and

keyword phrases that are relevant to your site and enable a search

engine to find you.

Example:

Top Professional Pet Groomers">

animal groomers, Dog Grooming, Pet Care, Animal Groomers, DOG

GROOMING, PET CARE, ANIMAL GROOMERS">

* Text

Not only are the html tags an important part of optimization, but it is

almost just as important to add plenty of text to your pages. Your text

should contain each of your keywords used in different variations. I.E.

If your keywords are free, promotion, marketing, advertising, Your text

might say something like this; Promotion, Marketing and Advertising

are the key to your success. We offer many promotional resources,

including; Free marketing articles, classified advertising and free

promotion.

Optimization will be your solution to winning the search engine wars.

Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source - Your Guide to

Professional Website Design and Development. Join The Syndicator,

our new, free article syndication program and display complete

articles w/photographs on your website that are automatically updated

each week. http://www.web-source.net

This Report may be Distributed in any way and even resold, as long

as all information, including bylines above and physical URL's are left

intact and article remains unchanged.