Hightide Web Resources Articles, News, and Reviews

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Simple Survey Leads To Big Profits Online

- by Jim Edwards

(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
http://www.thenetreporter.com
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Success online follows a simple formula…

“Ask and you shall _______.”

Most people fill in the blank with “receive”. Not only is it
a well-known phrase from the Bible, but it’s also a very
powerful online marketing principle.

If you operate a business and want to sell massively more
products and services quickly, the fastest way to do it is
by simply asking your customers and prospects what they
want… and then give it to them.

In the past, gathering critical research information through
customer surveys represented a very time-consuming,
expensive and labor-intensive process available only to
large organizations.

However, with inexpensive online tools, even a one-person
business can now quickly and easily conduct powerful surveys
to discover exactly what customers want - and then give it
to them.

Virtually any business can benefit from conducting a survey
because the information you get is priceless for your
planning purposes.

Do you know what your customers plan to purchase next?
(If you did, you could be the one to sell it to them!)

Do you know why they’ve purchased from you in the past?
(If they’ve bought once, they’ll buy again for the same
reason!)

Do you know what other products and services they have
purchased from your competitors and why?
(So you can be the one they buy from next…)

Knowing the answers to those three questions could literally
transform your whole business plan (and wallet) overnight!

The sad fact is most business owners just *guess* what their
customers want. Sure, they might make an educated guess
based on past experience, but it’s still just that — a
guess.

By conducting a survey you don’t guess what people want -
you *know* what people want!

When conducting a survey (online or offline) it’s critical
to remember these three points:

1. Keep your survey short and sweet.

People don’t want to spend more than a couple of minutes
answering your questions.

I personally try never to ask more than 6 questions and they
are always “yes/no”, multiple-choice questions that don’t
take much time.

Short questions also allow you to get instant “gut-level”
reactions from people, which is helpful in figuring out what
people will buy. People purchase on emotion, so a fast
response will show you their true feelings on a subject
since they don’t have time to think about it.

2. Give people a “bribe” for taking the survey.

You will increase response rates by 1,500% (15 times) or
more by offering people a reward in exchange for 2 minutes
of their time to take your survey. With so many time
constraints, giving people a “perk” for giving you some of
their valuable time will make the difference between getting
a dozen responses and getting several hundred.

3. Use simple, easy-to-understand questions.

When first surveying any group, you simply want to know what
they like/dislike, will/won’t buy in the future,
have/haven’t bought in the past.

As you get to know a group better, you can ask more detailed
questions, but also make sure you offer better bribes if you
expect people to take even more time answering your
questions.

When choosing an online survey tool to help you administer
your survey, make sure it meets the following criteria:

· It should require no programming on your part. You want to
just plug in your questions and have it generate all the
code, etc. so you can copy and paste it into a web page and
send it out.

· It should automatically calculate all survey results for
you in ‘real-time’ so you don’t have to manually calculate
responses. Do not get stuck doing “number crunching” because
your survey tool doesn’t automatically calculate results.

· It should send a “thank you” letter to people taking your
survey so you can send them a “gift” for participating.

Thanking people for participating goes a long way toward
leaving them with a favorable impression of you, as well as
setting the stage for both your next survey and your next
sale.

For a free report on how to quickly and easily conduct your
own simple surveys to increase business profits, go to
http://www.ebookfire.com/survey.html. Though the report is
aimed at a specific online audience (ebook publishers), the
principles will help any business succeed using surveys.

===============================================
Jim Edwards is the co-author of the NEW
“eBook Secrets Exposed”: How to Make MASSIVE Amounts of
Money - In Record Time - With Your Own eBook!
WHY are some people getting positively RICH selling ebooks?
Click Here Now ==> http://www.ebooksecretsexposed.com

Web Surfers Revolt Against “Pushy” Advertising

- by Jim Edwards

(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
http://www.thenetreporter.com
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As the Internet continues to populate with websites trying
to turn a buck, two drastically different schools of thought
have developed on how to advertise online - “Push” and
“Pull.”

“Push” advertising involves the use of “in-your-face”
advertising tactics such as pop-up windows and direct email.
“Pull” advertising entails using search engines and posting
articles that literally “pull” interested consumers to a
website on their own terms.

As web surfers revolt against pushy advertising, site owners
who understand how to pull consumers to their sites will
come out the long-term winners.

“Push” advertising tactics worked in the past because they
had not reached a saturation point. Since not everyone used
pop-up windows, a site owner could use them without fear of
backlash. Now it seems pop-up windows hit consumers from
every angle and even multiple times from the same sites.

The cycle of events with online advertising always unfolds
the same way. Someone finds something new that works and
people immediately jump on the bandwagon. As a technique
saturates the ‘Net and loses effectiveness, instead of
finding an alternative, site owners just do it more!

Result: instead of pop-up windows going away, many site
owners just run more pop-up’s - more often!

Well, if recent developments indicate anything, they show
that consumers have said “enough” to pushy advertising.

AOL, infamous for their pop-up ads, has agreed to cut down
on the intrusions even though their earnings could use a
boost right now.

Major ISP (Internet Service Provider) Earthlink even offers
a “pop-up killer” feature on their new service.

Almost all email programs come with filters to fight
unsolicited email and many email add-on services have sprung
up to help consumers eliminate the unsolicited offers for
pornography, business opportunities, and promises of instant
riches.

This “anti-spam” sentiment has also caused an unintended
consequence for legitimate marketers. Many major newsletters
have found their emails blocked by spam filters intended to
stop unsolicited email. Through no fault of their own,
legitimate email marketers have found themselves casualties
of the war on spam.

The future of the Internet lies in “Pull” advertising driven
by consumer wants and needs.

The successful Internet companies of the future will invest
in search engine promotion and in providing valuable, on-
demand information consumers receive only when they ask for
it and want it. When a web surfer goes to their favorite
search engine and enters the keyword phrase “MP3 Player” or
“tax advice” that means they are receptive to information on
those subjects.

If they read an article about using vitamins to improve
health and click a link for more information, only then they
will they be truly receptive to a marketing message about
vitamins.

Consumers have taken back control of Internet!

Not with laws or more regulations, but simply by flexing the
muscles of their wallets. By pulling money away from
advertisers who annoy them and putting it with those who
meet their needs, the average web surfer has brought the
Internet powers to their knees and will continue to reshape
the Internet into an effective, consumer-driven
communications vehicle.

Any site owner who wants to have a thriving online business
and survive the next year had better take this fact to
heart!

— Jim Edwards is the co-author of a step-by-step, “paint
by numbers” guide that guarantees to teach you how to go
from zero to making real money online in about a month!

“33 Days to Online Profits”

=============================================
“Finally — a Simple, Video-Based Training System on CD-ROM
that Teaches You Step-By-Step How to Make Real Money Online-
100% Guaranteed!” You can start with a few bucks and a good
idea to make lots of money online! I did, and I’ll teach you
how no matter what product or service you sell…
Click Here => http://www.33daystoonlineprofits.com/video/10/
=============================================

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Crying For Help Online

- by Jim Edwards

http://www.TheNetReporter.com
(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
=====================================

Anyone surfing the Internet for more than a week eventually
needs help from someone else. Whether regarding an online
purchase, technical support on computer hardware, software
support or some other type of help, sooner or later everyone
needs assistance.

The way in which you ask for help has everything to do with
how fast and how well you receive assistance. In the online
world where email rules, the following tips will help you
get what you need and get on your way quickly.

* Remember the “person” on the other end *

When something on your computer or a particular website
doesn’t function properly, irritation seems a natural
reaction, especially when you have no clue why things don’t
work or how to fix them. A sense of helplessness often leads
to feelings of frustration and anger. However, no matter how
upset you get, you must always remember that a live person
will receive your email communication and, in many cases,
they didn’t cause your problem directly.

Remember, those email “missiles” that make you feel better
in the short term will almost always come back to haunt you
over the long haul.

When first asking for help, never send notes with phrases
such as “If you don’t respond to me within two hours I’m
going to contact my lawyer.” or “I sure hope this isn’t a
scam.” Rarely do such comments produce the cheerful help or
assistance you actually want.

* “Please” and “Thank You” *

Common courtesy goes a long way towards getting what you
want, especially regarding technical support. Notes with
nasty comments put the person on the receiving end in a bad
frame of mind. However, notes with a polite tone sprinkled
generously with “please” and “thank you” will usually
receive prompt and courteous attention. You can always get
more severe later if you must.

* Don’t use ALL CAPS *

Using all capital letters in an email rates the same as
SHOUTING in someone’s face! Ignorance of this custom online
does not excuse the behavior.

Though you may think typing certain words in ALL CAPS merely
shows emphasis on your part, to a “computer geek” you will
seem rude and offensive. Once you have offended the person
from whom you seek help, your chances of receiving that help
diminish significantly.

* Get to the point *

Everything happens quickly online. Time ranks number one as
the customer support person’s scarcest resource and they
don’t have time to read long emails to figure out what you
need.

When asking for help, always include your name, contact
information, order information, specific dates and a clear
description of the help or information you need.

Avoid including any extraneous information that won’t
contribute directly in assisting someone in giving you
exactly what you need.

Though the Internet and email may seem like an instant
solution to many problems, people still run the technology.
If you need help from another person, don’t treat the person
like a machine. You’ll get a lot further by doing it this
way.

- Jim Edwards writes a syndicated newspaper column in plain
language for non-technical people about current Internet
issues, challenges, news, HOT new tools… and much more!
“The Net Reporter” ==> http://www.thenetreporter.com

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Finally – a Simple, Video-Based Training System on CD-ROM
that Teaches You Step-By-Step How to Make Real Money Online-
100% Guaranteed!” You can start with a few bucks and a good
idea to make lots of money online! I did, and I’ll teach you
how no matter what product or service you sell…
Click Here => http://www.33daystoonlineprofits.com/video/10/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The article linked below is kind of unsettling. Especially the question begs to be asked, “What’s next?”

Researchers Snoop on Keyboard Sounds

Hightide-Web

by ddawg

Setting up a website is the very first step of an Internet marketing campaign, and the success or failure of your site depends greatly on how specifically you have defined your website goals. If you don’t know what you want your site to accomplish, it will most likely fail to accomplish anything. Without goals to guide you in developing and monitoring your website, all your site will be is an online announcement that you are in business.

If you expect your site to stimulate some form of action, whether it is visitors filling out a form so a representative can contact them, or purchasing a product, there are steps you can take to insure that your website is functioning at peak efficiency. One of the first indicators of how well your site is working for you is finding out the number of visitors in a given period of time. A good baseline measurement is a month in which you haven’t been doing any unusual offline promotional activities.

However, just because hoards of people have passed through your gates does not mean your site is successful. Usually, you want those visitors to actually do something there. It is equally important to monitor the number of visitors to your site who made a purchase. This figure is called the site conversion rate, and it is an essential element of the efficacy of your website.

To find the site conversion rate, take the number of visitors per month and figure out the percentage of them that actually performed the action your site is set up for. For example, if you had 2,000 hits to your site, but only 25 of them purchased your product, your site conversion rate equals 1.25%. To get this figure, take your number of visitors and divide that figure by the number of visitors who made a purchase. Then divide that result by 100 (25 ?00 X 100).

If your website is set-up to get visitors to fill out a form, make sure to then figure out what the difference is between your site conversion rate and your sales conversion rate. This is because not everyone who fills out your form will actually become your customer. However, whether your site is set-up to sell a service or product, or to get the visitor to fill out a form, the site conversion rate will measure the success or failure of your website whenever you make changes to the site.

You may find that you need to implement some additional marketing strategies if you find that traffic to your site is extremely low. There are several effective methods to improve the flow of traffic to your website, particularly launching a search engine optimization campaign. This campaign is targeted at increasing your position in search engine results so that consumers can find your pages faster and easier. You can either research the steps you need to take to improve your search engine rankings, or employ a search engine optimization company to do the work for you. In either case, after your have improved your search engine positions, make sure you keep on top of them by regular monitoring and adjusting of your efforts to maintain high positions.

Another factor to examine is how easy it is for a visitor to your website to accomplish the action the site is set-up for. For example, if your goal is for the visitor to fill out a form, is this form easily accessible, or does the visitor have to go through four levels to get to it? If it’s too difficult to get to, the customer may just throw in the towel and move on to another site. Make sure your buttons are highly visible, and the path to your form or ordering page quickly accessible.

Finally, have a professional evaluate the copy on your website. The goal is, of course, to get your visitor to make a purchase or fill out your form. Website copy must be specifically geared to your online campaign and not just a cut and paste job from your company brochure. The right copy can make the difference between profit and loss in your online campaign.

by Dale Sexton

Effectiveness of banners are declining. Most web surfers can spot banners and have trained themselves to ignore them. Cooperation between webpage owner and advertiser is needed to resolve this.

Billions of dollars are spent for website promotion, over 75% is spent on banner ads. Large corporations spent most of this money on branding. For us in small business, only a very small group know how to use banners to there full potential.

-Tips for the Webpage Owner-

Page design and banner placement are vital for a higher click-through ratio with affiliate banners for the webpage owner. If you use banners, build your site around them to get maximum benefit. Why use banners if your not getting some form of payment?

Banner placement within the first screen a user sees will pull higher than those placed further down a web page (requiring a visitor to scroll down to see it). Most banners at the top of a page are ignored.

Banners placed 1/3 down the page are more effective. Banners (or buttons) placed on the lower right side of the screen (near the scroll bar) pull twice as much than banners placed at the top of the page.

>>>>Click HERE for the rest of the article.

by Jason James

Many thousands of people making a living both buying & selling on eBay. Currently ranked as the 37 biggest site on the net (according to Alexa figures) eBay shows no signs of slowing down, even fortune 500 companies are opening eBay shops to sell surplus & unwanted stock. The following are five resources that I use personally & encourage you to use them to increase your eBay profits with ease.

Reports show that over 90% of searches on eBay are done using the search facility. What users do not know about eBays search factility is that by default it only searches the item titles - not the descriptions of the items. Remember this fact as it will show the significance of some of the resources listed below.

1) FatFingers

How professional a seller are you? Do you check your listings before submitting them or even does someone else proof read them for you? With millions of listings on eBays networks of sites at any one time, a small proportion of these listings contain errors - & a misspelt word is about the biggest error you can make.

Imagine your selling a Sony Television for example. What if you misspell the item as Sony Televisoin. Anyone who searches for the term “Sony Television” simply isn’t going to be presented with your item. Only those eBayers who search manually though the category will find your items. Needless to say that if people can’t find your item, they’re unable to bid on them.

FatFingers is a service you can use to find all misspelt variations of a term. Why would you need such a service?

Well obviously if an item has low visibility on eBay it’s also likely to have zero or few bids enabling you to snap yourself up a bargain. I’ve known people use this service to make a full time living, purely buying items cheaply and relisting them without errors.

Details at: Fatfingers.com

2) eBay Pulse

Back to the search facility eBay pulse shows you the top 10 searched keywords in every category. It’s a real gem of a service, obviously by looking at the most widely used search terms you can see what eBayers are after. And if your selling in this category, by inserting some of these keywords within your title your items will be seen by more users.

The only thing to watch out with this service is make sure the keywords are relevant to your item, IF NOT DON’T USE THEM. How many times have you saw listings such as “SONY PANASONIC LG WIDESCREEN DIGITAL TELEVISION GUIDE”, - listings such as these are well thought out to earn high visibility from the way users search. Anyone searching for the items with any of the keywords will uncover your listings.

While it may lead to a high number of views, firstly fellow users will get annoyed if they find your item completely unrevealed to what they searched for, Secondly keyword spamming as it is known, is against eBay policy and will lead to your item being pulled. I use pulse daily with all my listings but make sure it’s relevant to your item first.

Details at: pulse.ebay.com

3) Keyword-Pro

Keyword-Pro is a commercial subscription service which is similar to eBay pulse. However, the main difference is Keyword-Pro offers a much more in depth list of relevant keywords. It lists the top 50 keywords for every category for both eBay.co.uk & eBay.com. This is a great addition, especially if any of the terms found in eBay pulse are not relevant to your item.

Keyword-Pro is available as both a web service or as a small program that downloads the list onto your P.C. It’s data is updated weekly to keep you informed of the latest search terms.

Details at Trading-Web-Solutions.com/keywords

4) Selling Manager

When you first open a selling account on eBay, options listed under the sell tab of eBay are enough to get you by. However, you can upgrade to a more in depth service known as Selling Manager. As eBay describes the service “eBay Selling Manager is our online sales management tool for medium to high volume sellers”. It allows you to track every eBay sale, customise your feedback comments, print shipping labels & much more. It saves me about four hours a week tracking orders and watching my sales.

Selling Manager is FREE on eBay.co.uk & has a small monthly charge of on eBay.com (after one a month trial free). Once I moved over to Selling Manager, there’s simply no way I would go back.

Details at: Click on services once you’ve logged into your eBay account.

5) eBay Popular Products

Here you can see, directly from eBay, what the most popular products are in several categories. an invaluable tool for an eBay seller.

Details at: http://product-index.ebay.com/best_selling_1.html

I hope you find these services useful & time saving in your goal for a successful home business on eBay. Remember, your most important resource is your time when your starting or building up an online business & if you discover any site, person or opportunity that can save you time give it the attention & serious consideration it deserves. Every top Internet marketers constantly educate themselves by purchasing & reviewing almost every new product released. The way I look at it, if an ebook costs $197 and the information within the ebook saves me this or allows me to make an additional $197 it’s well worth it - once you can do it once you’ll be able to repeat the exercise over and over again making repeated profits. If you discover a precious eBay related resource let me know & I’ll consider revising this list for future editions.

Good luck with your eBay selling.

Copyright 2005 Auction Resource Network

About the Author:
Jason James’ website “The Auction Resource Network” reveals his inside secrets and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 a month on eBay. Claim your FREE 14 Day “Learn How to Sell on eBay” e-Course Here:
http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

USA Today.com has an article dealing with hurricane cyberscams. Doesn’t it make you sick that such an article even has a need to exist. Says a lot about the damage greed will do to what’s left of someone’s character.

Joi
Hightide-Web.com

You’ve just gotta love Google. They didn’t coin the phrase, “Don’t let any grass grow under your feet.” - they live it!

Maybe that’s why their view of the rest of the world involves a downward glance.

Here’s a link to a review of what they’re into now: Google Talk works well but lacks some features.

Give to the Red Cross. Give until it hurts.

Joi
Hightide-Web

How To Create A Website In Less Than A Week

By: Andre Grisby

Here’s a really simple way… any novice can create a fully functional website in less than a week.

Websites are the wave of the future. Although many companies are using an online presence to drive business to their brick and mortar stores, many hobbyists also tend to have a bit of interest in developing their own online presence as well. Developing a website from scratch can be rather expensive, but armed with the right tools, and given a little instruction, anyone can develop a professional website in less than a week.

One thing you must always remember is that anyone trying to do a particular job should be armed with the right tools. Having the right tools will definitely make your project a bit easier to complete.

I guess you are scratching your head wondering what type of tools I would be talking about. You see when you are developing a website, you become a builder, a painter, or an artist. You are taking an idea from your head and transforming it into a digital image so to speak. Just as if you were going to build a home from the ground up, take a paint brush and create a masterpiece painting, or take a piece of clay and create a winning statue, you need the right tools to do the right job.

The tools I’m referring to are web graphics software, web design software, and ftp (file transfer protocol)software. These are tools are a must if you want to get off on the right foot. There are so many of these types of programs that you must really do your homework in order to purchase the one the best fits your needs. Some of these programs can even be downloaded for free. Each program focuses on a particular task. The graphics software helps you create images for your website from scratch. The web design software in short helps you to design and build a website from scratch. The file transfer protocol software is you link to sending your completed web pages from you computer to the internet. [Continue]