Hightide Web Resources Articles, News, and Reviews

Copyright 2005 Jim Edwards

About this time every year I make a few predictions about what will rate “HOT” for the coming year in the online world. Last year, among other things, online audio topped my list for 2005.

This year, 2006, I see full-motion online video as the “killer app” to revolutionize website communications and ecommerce.

Bottom line: with a digital camcorder and some basic software, you can transform your website into the Home Shopping Network, and with distribution tools like Video.Google.com and video Podcasting on Apple’s iTunes, you can broadcast to the masses just like CNN.

Several major changes in 2005 set the stage for full-motion video online.

These include faster, cheaper computers, improved video creation and conversion software, and widespread adoption of the free “Flash” Web browser plug-in (works on PC and MAC).

Combine these changes with the fact that over 50% of all Internet users in the United States got high-speed access as of 2005, and you set the stage for an online video revolution.

In 2006, you will see the equivalent of little online TV stations cropping up all over the Internet.

Along with the free-form, “anything goes” content of video blogging (vlogging), commercial use of full-motion video will fall into 4 basic categories.

Website “Infomercials” - Any savvy business knows the Internet actually represents the largest direct-response advertising medium ever seen.

As such, infomercial techniques of late-night fitness, self-improvement, and real estate gurus will spill over into other niche markets online.

Though initially not 30-minutes long like their TV counterparts, online infomercials will last 2-5 minutes -long enough to get all the main sales points across.

Live Demonstrations - If a picture is worth a thousands words, then full-motion video is worth 100,000 words!

Any product that easily gets sold once people see it in action will greatly benefit from online video.

Also, service businesses such as Realtors can now easily and inexpensively create full-motion video home tours.

And, sellers on the popular eBay auction site can now show and demonstrate their items rather than depending strictly on text and static pictures to make the sale.

Before and After - Anyone selling a diet product, skin care, cleaning, car repair or other product promising specific results for the end user can now “show and tell” using full-motion online video.

Imagine the impact of showing concrete evidence in “before and after” video to help you make the sale online.

Product Testimonials - Despite widespread acceptance of online shopping and ecommerce, many people remain skeptical and somewhat leery of purchasing anything online, especially based strictly on promises made on a website.

With video testimonials you can put their minds at ease by showing video of people who used and benefited from the product or service.

Imagine the impact that will have on the trust and credibility for any website.

A word of caution to all would-be online videographers: dial-up users still make up a huge part of the online population, so you must always try to offer them a dial-up-friendly option to watch your video or receive your information.

Don’t cater strictly to the high-speed crowd because you’ll alienate a significant portion of the marketplace.

About the Author:
“Finally! A Quick and Easy Way For YOU to Painlessly Set Up Your OWN Moneymaking ‘Mini’ Websites… Without Being a Computer Geek, Buying Expensive Software, or Paying Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!” Click Here => http://www.MiniSiteCreator.com

by Jim Edwards

Copyright 2005 Jim Edwards

Did you know that literally millions of pages of content exist out on the Internet that you can legally use (some would even say “swipe”) to put content on your website?

It’s true!

In fact, “public domain” material can form the basis for ebooks, articles, blog content and even autoresponder email messages.

So if you need content for your website, this article may hold the key to discovering an avalanche of available material requiring you to write very little (if any) of it yourself.

“Public Domain” refers to any intellectual work that does not carry copyright protection.

Works like books, magazines, articles, music, and film fall into the public domain in one of several ways: their copyright expired; they were donated to the public domain; they are not eligible for copyrighted status.

In the United States, that means any work published before 1923 falls into the public domain.

Any work published between 1923 and 1963 that did not have its copyright renewed in the 28th year falls in the public domain.

So the copyright owner of a work first copyrighted in 1950 would have had to renew that copyright by 1978 in order to retain their rights.

Some legal experts estimate that as much as 80% of works published in the period between 1923 and 1963 never renewed their copyright.

Now, you may wonder, “What does this have to do with me?” Well, in a nutshell, it means you can get access to an avalanche of content without creating it yourself or paying someone else to create it for you.

Check out these websites for additional information on how and where to find public domain material.

http://www.PDRiches.com - Offers an entire course on how to identify, use, and profit from works in the public domain. The creator of the course specifically teaches how to find and repackage public domain information for profit on the Internet.

http://www.pdinfo.com - A website dedicated to public domain music topics which offers a number of resources, a list of 3,500+ songs in the public domain, and a brief tutorial specifically on using musical works in the public domain.

http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm - Offers a concise summary chart of the dates involved with determining if a work falls into the public domain.

http://www.CopyRight.gov - the U.S. Government site that offers a complete guide to copyright and copyright issues. Also includes a searchable database to determine if a work’s copyright was renewed.

Using public domain materials does not, however, come without a degree of risk.

If you choose to use a public domain work in your writing, website, blog, autoresponder or other work, you must ensure that the work does fall into the public domain.

As with any matter involving the law, consulting an attorney if you are at all unsure about whether a work falls into the public domain rates an excellent idea to avoid trouble.

But, if done correctly, the use of public domain materials creates an excellent opportunity to share valuable information with a worldwide audience using the new communication mediums only the Internet can provide.

About the Author:
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist & creator of an amazing course that shows A Quick and Easy Way To Painlessly Set Up Your OWN Money-making ‘Mini’ Websites… Without Being a Computer Geek, Buying Software, or Paying A Webmaster!” Click => http://www.MiniSiteCreator.com

by Gerrick W

What is PageRank?

PageRank is one of the important factors that determine Search Engine Results Page (SERP). It is a numerical value assigned by Google that shows the importance of a web page. When one page links to another, it is actually casting a vote for the other page. It goes to say that a page with more inbound links enjoys a higher page rank. For simplicity sake, PageRank is referred to PR in this article.

Applying the Mathematical Concept of PageRank

Google calculates the PR of a web page using this equation:

PR(A)=(1-d) + d[PR(t1)/C(t1) + ... + PR(tn)/C(tn)]

‘t1 - tn’ are pages linking to Page A

‘C’ is the number of outbound links of the linking page

‘d’ is a damping factor set at 0.85

This is the original equation Google published when it developed PR. Whether Google uses a variation of it, only God knows. This equation, though, is essential to an understanding of PR.

Don’t be scared by the above equation. For a fuller explanation of this equation with working examples read The Google Page Rank Algorithm and How it Works by Ian Rogers.

The purpose of this present article is to apply the Mathematical concept of PR to your web page ranking strategy. Yes, you can organize your linking strategy to achieve high PR for your important web pages.

Inbound Linking Strategy

Many people assume that the Toolbar PR values of PR1 to PR10 are set on a logarithmic scale. Nobody outside Google knows for sure, but there is a very good reason for this assumption. That being the case, moving from a lower page rank to the next higher one gets increasingly difficult. So, moving from PR3 to PR4 is more difficult compared to moving from PR1 to PR2. For illustration refer to the table below…

Tool PageRank(log base 10)……Real PageRank

0……………………………………………………..0 -10

1…………………………………………………100 - 1,000

2………………………………………………1,000 - 10,000

3…………………………………………….10,000 - 100,000

4……………………………………………….and so on…

*This illustration assumes a log base of 10.

In a nutshell, an inbound page link with a PR8 is worth more than one with PR4. The number of outbound links of the incoming page link becomes immaterial. Inbound links with high PRs that are relevant to your website will boost your web page ranking significantly.

The practice in the past was to buy inbound links with high PR to boost your web page PR. However, Google in recent times has clamped down this practice. A new web page with lots of high PR inbound links will be viewed with suspicion. Buying incoming links has become a thing of the past. The rock solid ways to gather inbound links are through…

a. Directories - Getting listed in quality directories like DMOZ or Yahoo can help boost your page rank.

b. Building a great content site that others want to link with.

Internal Linking Strategy

Based on the equation that Google uses to calculate PR, adding new pages has the effect of improving the overall PR of a website. If your organize your internal links carefully, you can channel the PR of your new pages to the important pages of your website.

The strategy is to grow your website steadily by adding new pages, and link them to your important pages. Avoid pages that are identical eg. affiliate programs web pages. You will be accused of spamming by Google, and run the risk of having your web pages and possibly your entire website penalized. Add new pages that are rich in content, and relevant to your website. Content is king.

However, new pages have to be indexed by Google before they can channel their PR to other pages. Google only indexes pages that have one or more pages on the web linked to them. Organize your internal linking carefully.

Outbound Linking Strategy

You will lose page rank with outbound links. So it is good practice to ask for reciprocal links, and to have outbound links from a page with the lowest PR. Have the anchor text of the incoming links centered on your keywords or similar keywords. You also need to vary the text of your inbound links to make them look natural to Google.

Choose your link exchange partners carefully. Avoid link farms. Period.

Google enjoys about 36 percent of web traffic on the World Wide Web. In absolute terms, this represents a significant figure. As long as PR is one of the important factors Google uses to determine Search Engine Result Pages, it is prudence to understand how PR works and strategize your linking accordingly.

You don’t need to crack your head to fully understand PR. All you need is to simply apply the practical concepts delineated in this article to your linking strategy, and a good dose of patience. For Google places emphasis on the age of your links, your domain, and your web pages.

It’s a fool’s game to try to beat Google. Stick to rock solid principles when building your link structure, and you won’t have to worry when the next Google ‘dance’ comes along. Your web pages will still be standing after the dust has settled.

About the Author:
Gerrick W - mailto:gw@1stinternetmarketingsolution.com Information and Software Tools You Need to Effectively Promote Your Online Business. Visit: http://www.1stinternetmarketingsolution.com

by Paul Wilson

To get on the fast track to success one needs to:

* Create a website that is dynamic and distinctive. The website name should match the domain name. Bad or broken links must not exist. JavaScript errors must be eliminated. The company’s profile should be clear, concise, and complete. Secure ordering must be in place if required. And, visible links to the company’s business plan, privacy policy, return policy, and guarantee should be present.

* Employ a design with user in mind. Never use heavy images, 10-12Kb per image will ensure that pages are not slow. Use graphics that enhance content. Avoid images that change color or blink. Use standard layouts that are reader friendly, the page should breathe and font size must be comfortable. Use a few fonts: serif for headlines and sans serif for text. Limit the number of advertisements, banners, and links on a page. Be sure to test your website using multiple browsers.

* Select a directory with vision. Read all the submission requirements and guidelines more than once. Choose a category with thought and planning (browse the directory, look for listings of competitors, and related sites). Review your website from an editor’s point of view. Ensure that the title and summary are appropriate and relevant to the content of the web site. List the strengths of your site realistically; be sure to add value to your site,

*Increase traffic by submitting the site to web directories. Choose to submit to major ones as well as minor ones, even a few relevant niche sites will boost your popularity and traffic.

* Link your site to others. Search engines give higher positions to sites linked from others. Link the website to major sites as well as minor ones. Contact high traffic sites and request a mention or link. This will boost your engine placement and direct traffic from the pages that are linked.

* Optimize the PageRank of your website by choosing inbound external links with care. Link up to relevant sites and not at random, quality is the criteria to consider not PageRank. List the website in an open directory and Yahoo as this will provide an artificial enhancement of PageRank. Never place external links on pages that are in turn linked to other sites. External links should be offered on pages with low PageRank containing many links to pages on your site. Construct your navigational structure such that important pages are linked to many other internal pages that do not require a high rank. These extra links will add rank to the major pages.

* Create a site map and link every page to it. These invite spiders sent out by search engines which then index every page on the site. Adopt an easy-to-use navigational structure. Check for errors regularly. Include a site search tool. Be search engine friendly and avoid frames, flash, or code that will trip up a spider or engine. It is not submitting to a directory that ensures success but taking care of the nitty gritty.

About the Author:
Paul Wilson is a freelance writer for www.1888Directory.com < http://www.1888Directory.com/>, the premier website directory provides human edited categorized website listings including business websites, news websites, gaming websites, shopping websites, travel websites and more. He also freelances for www.1888PressRelease.com < http://www.1888PressRelease.com/>.

by Rosalind Garner

How DO Spammers Get Your Email Address?

As much as I try to stem the seemingly endless flow of spam, the crap just keeps arriving my Inbox.

For example, this week I received “New affiliate programs from 2004-02-10 to 2004-02-14 :: Subscription from http://WeAreBlahBlahBlah.net”.

I’d never heard of WeAreBlahBlahBlah.net, let alone subscribed to the newsletter. But the address used explained exactly how the spammer reached me.

I’ve set up numerous ’special’ addresses for customers, affiliates, subscribers, merchant partners and others.

For example, if I join XYZ’s affiliate program, I might set up XYZ@nptinfo.com and give that address to them to contact me. If I suddenly start to receive spam at that address, then I know EXACTLY who the ‘leaky’ culprit is.

Here are other ways spammers get your address.

Web Pages

Spammers use scavenger bots, programs that ‘harvest’ email addresses contained in “mailto:” HTML tags. Those are clickable email links that open your email program with the address already placed in the “To” field.

Web Forms

Some sites request various details via forms, e.g. guest books & registration forms. Spammers get email addresses from these because the form is publicly available on the web, or because the webmaster sells the list.

Paper (Offline) Forms

Some companies sell lists of addresses obtained from convention participants or contest entrants.

Whois Searches

Unless the domain registrant has paid an additional fee to make their registration private, a simple Whois lookup reveals the registrant’s address.

Although most registrars have enhanced the security of their WHOIS databases, by requiring a special code be entered before information is displayed, many spammers take the time and trouble to grab addresses this way.

From Web Browsers

Some sites use various tricks to extract a surfer’s email address from the web browser, sometimes without the surfer noticing it.

Chat Rooms

This is another major source of email addresses for spammers, especially as this is one of the first public activities newbies join, making it easy for spammers to harvest ‘fresh’ addresses.

Sending Test Messages

Have you ever sent a message to an invalid address? You get an ‘undeliverable’ or ‘failure’ notice back.

Some spammers use this to guess email addresses by sending test messages to a list of made-up or guessed addresses. They know they’ve got good addresses for those that did not result in failure messages.

Online Yellow Pages

What could be more alluring to a spammer than a directory of names and email addresses filed by category?

Chain Letters

These are ingenious. I tell five friends, and my friends each tell five of their friends, and so on and so forth. The email addresses all build up in the cc field and are a spammers delight.

Buying Lists

Spammers buy lists of email addresses usually passed off as those belonging to people who opted-in to to obtain information in a specific category.

Let’s put spammers out of business.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Use ‘throw-away’ addresses whenever you’re not sure of the source, and don’t sign up unless there are clear ‘Privacy’ statements on the site.

If worse comes to worse, and you’re fighting your way through a mountain of spam, install anti-spam software on your computer.

© Copyright Rosalind Gardner, All Rights Reserved.

Article by Rosalind Gardner, author of the best-selling “Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People’s Stuff Online”. To learn how you too can suceed in Internet and affiliate marketing, go to:

http://hop.clickbank.net/?nathanoct/webvista2

About the Author:
Rosalind Gardner is one of the top affiliate marketers in the world. In January 1997, Rosalind Gardner received her first ‘web check’ and hasn’t looked back since. Trading her career as an air traffic controller for full-time netpreneurship in early 2000, her various internet projects now entertain and inform millions of visitors annually. She offers this article with YOU in mind, knowing that if she can earn a good living online, YOU can too.

by Mike Aplin

What are viruses?

Viruses - A virus is a software program that is capable of replicating with little or no user intervention, and the replicated programs also replicate further. Viruses piggyback on real programs. For example, a virus may attach itself to a program such as a spreadsheet program. Each time the spreadsheet program runs, the virus runs as well, and it has the opportunity to reproduce by attaching to other programs. The purpose of a virus can be anything from erasing files, formatting your hard drive, to replacing text in your document Viruses are often disguised as games or images with clever titles such as “Pictures of ME”. E-mail Viruses - An email virus moves around in e-mail messages, and usually replicates itself by automatically mailing itself to the people in the victim’s e-mail address book.

Worms - A worm is a virus that spreads by creating duplicates of itself on other drives, systems, or networks. Worms may send copies of themselves to other computers across network connections, through e-mails, through infected web pages, or through instant messages. Trojan Horses - This program may claim to do one thing (such as claiming to be a game) but instead does damage when you run it. Trojan horses are not technically viruses, since they do not replicate.

What is adware?

Adware is added to your computer generally without your knowledge when you download anything free over the Internet. This method of downloading is known as “stealth software” or “drive-by downloads”. Your computer could have been infected by mal-ware during online activities such as downloading music, pictures, shareware programs like screensavers and animated cursors, popup ads, email attachments or by even visiting some websites that use Active X coding to insert parasites onto your computer. Pay particular attention to the fine print when downloaing anything over the Internet. Some programs include brief information in the Terms and Conditions related to serving you targeted ads based on your shopping habits.

What is Spyware?

Spyware is software that gathers user information through the user’s Internet connection usually without his or her knowledge, typically for advertising purposes. Spyware is downloaded through the Internet. Once installed, the spyware monitors user activity on the Internet and transmits that information in the background to someone else. Spyware can also gather information about email addresses and even passwords and credit card numbers.

What are hackers?

Firewalls keep people from accessing your computer with malicious intent when you are connected to the internet. A firewall allows “good” data traffic and will block all “bad” data traffic. An example of good traffic would be surfing the web, downloading reputable files, chatting, etc. The things you enjoy doing on your computer. The bad traffic is what hackers enjoy doing on your computer such as stealing files, using a Trojan to control your computer, and disrupting your connection or network. Each computer contains ports which are entrances for hackers to invade your computer. A firewall goes to each of these ports and monitors everything that is going in and out of your computer, it makes sure that the proper ports that allow the “good” data are opened, and it closes the ports to “bad” data.

What is identity theft?

Adware programs gather information from your computer for marketing purposes. The information is used to decide, for instance, which advertisements to display when you are on a specific Web site or which advertisements to display in pop-up windows on your desktop.

What is spam?

Spam is unsolicited email, not unwanted email. If you have signed up for an email list and receive an email that is not spam. If you unsubscribe to that list and continue to receive emails then that becomes spam. While spam is annoying it is generally not dangerous to you or your PC. In January of 2004 the federal Can Spam law took effect with broad reaching requirements and penalties. Tip: if you see a company name and address at the bottom of an email, that generally means you can use the remove link and it will be honored as they are following the Can Spam law. If you do not see an address and only a remove link, then it is not a good idea to use that link as that would indicate a live email address to the spammers.

What are popups?

Popups There are two distinct typeds of popups. Browser based popups - when you are visiting a website and the website generates a popup. Adware based popups - when you are not “moving around” the internet and just start getting popups. Both tend to be annoying but may not be dangerous.

Copyright © PCSecurityShield.com
Antivirus Software - Adware & Spyware Software

About the Author:
Owner of webs2day.com supplying computer virus information and software.

Are you clever as a fox or a sitting duck? There’s a great deal in the news about online security, and a lack therof. CNN has a special on this subject (perfectly alarming) which includes a quiz that’ll answer the first question of this post. For the quiz, look beneath “People” for Game: Test your security savvy.

It’s not something that’ll go away, as a new Dr. Chaos could conceivably pop up every day.

Copyright 2005 Jim Edwards

Web logs, commonly referred to as “blogs,” came into the mainstream about 2 years ago.

Not really a newsletter or traditional html page publishing, blogs resemble more of a web-based diary where the creator records their thoughts, posts links, or responds to questions.

Initially, blogs contained only text and pictures, but then came “audio blogging,” which entails the use of audio on a blog.

Audio blogging also gets referred to as “Podcasting” because of the ability to let people with iPods and other portable MP3 players download your MP3 audio.

The simplest form of video blogging, or “vlogging,” means putting a video file online, linking to it from your blog, and anyone subscribing to your rss feed (automatically created by your blogging software) will get notified about your new video.

They can then open up your latest blog post in their “feed reader” and view your video by clicking the link.

More advanced forms of video blogging include getting your “vlog” accepted by Apple’s iTunes so their subscribers can find and subscribe to your vlog (which gives you access to 19 million users at last count).

Vloggers use a variety of video file types (like Windows Media, Quicktime, Real Media, and MPEG) and there’s no restriction on which file type you use to be considered a “vlog.”

However, two file types stand above the rest if you want to reach the widest possible audience.

For video Podcasting, you must publish in either the FLV (Flash Video) or SWF (Shockwave Flash) file formats if you want people on both MAC and PC to view your video files.

FLV is better suited for full motion video, but they both work on smaller length video files.

For Video PodCasting, you must publish in the MPEG4 file format or Apple’s proprietary version of that format known as M4V.

Apple’s QuickTime Pro software rates the simplest and easiest way to convert your video files to the proper video PodCasting format.

To create a basic “vlog,” you need the following list of equipment and software: a web cam or digital camcorder; a microphone, production software; a blog; an rss feed to “syndicate” your content.

A webcam will work for a basic vlog, though a digital video camera will create much better results because they contain better optics.

Using a separate microphone instead of the microphone built into your web cam or camcorder will also produce a much better sound quality.

Once you shoot your video you need to produce it to display on the Web. At a minimum, if your computer operates with Windows XP, you can use the Windows Movie Maker software that comes free with XP.

Though you can’t save as an FLV or SWF, you can save as a Windows Media file (wmv) to get you started.

For a blog, you can use the free Blogger.com service. To create a feed to syndicate your site, you can use the free service at FeedBurner.com.

Though audio blogging received mediocre acceptance from the mainstream Internet audience, “vlogging” should do extremely well simply because of our fascination with moving pictures.

If you’re looking for a precedent, look how far TV has come in the last 50 years compared to radio.

About the Author:
Jim Edwards operates a Video Newsletter at http://www.IGottaTellYou.com - He specializes in helping non-technical people get the most out of the Web! Check out his Cutting-Edge “I Gotta Tell You” FREE newsletter now.

by Darren Yates

Do you use Adsense to monetize any of your websites?

Do you use Adwords to buy in visitors to any of your websites?

Have you considered combining the two and sending Adwords traffic to your site featuring Adsense Ads? There are huge profits currently being made by enterprising site owners who are buying low cost keywords and sending the traffic to high paying Adsense ads.

Sounds simple doesn’t it? It is and believe me it works.

The problem is it can be a real balancing act if you go about this the wrong way. You can loose serious money or just scrape a marginal profit.

First of all you need to find a niche market, stay clear of the Internet Marketing arena there’s just too much competition there. Instead look into day to day niche markets. But before you do this you need to consider your target keyword. For best results you need a high bid keyword, that is a keyword that Adwords advertisers are willing to pay a lot for per click.

You can find these for free over on the Overture bid tool. Most bids displayed there are likely to amount to much more on Adwords. For a more accurate bid pricing you can use one of the numerous paid for services that have sprung up across the Net this year. These services analyse thousands of keywords, there bid price, the number of advertisers bidding, the number of searches for that keyword and some of the better services will even report the ad clicks you can expect per day.

One of the better paid for services I came across you can find here www.cashkeywords.com (non affiliate link). They run a list which is constantly being updated and added to. So you will always have a regular fresh source of keywords to target. Currently they stand at around 133,000 keywords.

Next you need to set up a page focused on your chosen keyword. You could buy a domain name for this or simply add the page to one of your existing sites. Grab some free content focused on your chosen keyword in the form of an article from any of the major article directories(www.ezinearticle.com) and add it to your page.

You should also be sure to title the page with your chosen keyword. Adding a related graphic will also help. What you’re trying to do here is instil a little confidence in the visitor and avoid having your page look like one of those spammy Adsense sites that crop up all over the place. Visitors will simply click away if you don’t put a little effort into your page. You will still get some clicks but you can get so many more with a little effort.

Here’s one of my pages as an example - http://www.ppcprime.com/Wine-Gift-Basket.htm

Next place your Adsense ads in a number of spots on the page. You will need to test this to see which positions perform best. The prime spot according to Google is directly within the content of the page. Beyond that a good starting point would be across the top, the bottom and down the left side of your content. Essentially where the navigation appears traditionally.

Once you’ve got this set up start work on your Adwords campaign. Create your own list of targeted keywords, obviously I’d recommend PPC Accelerator for that. Now here you don’t need to worry about using high paying keywords in your own list because you will be setting your daily budget at just 5-10c. This will guarantee you don’t appear on the first page for those high paying keywords. Instead you are focusing here on related keywords that you can pick up cheaply. Refer back to the issue on keyword list building for keyword avenues you can explore.

Before you run your campaign go into ‘Edit settings’ and uncheck all the boxes under ‘Network’ except Google search. This will ensure your ad appears only on Google itself, with the most proactive visitors. If this turns out to be a money making campaign you can go back into ‘Edit settings’ and switch those options back on.

Finally set your daily budget low and run your campaign.

As you are probably aware neither Adwords or Adsense report stats in real-time so you will have to sit back for an hour or so before any results come in. Be sure to monitor this campaign regularly to weigh up whether your income from Adsense is covering your outgoings on Adwords.

As with any campaign there are a number of factors to take into account when it comes to click through rate. Chief among these I’ve found to be the day and the time of day. Some campaigns work better during the week during office hours others bring better results at the weekend.

If you’re making a small profit then it may be worth tweaking your set up. If your profit is on a tightrope or you’re loosing money then it may be better to move on to a different keyword.

Once you have a winning campaign start again, find another high paying keyword etc. etc.

That’s it, if you take action now you’ll be in for a nice bonus come January. I’m sure that will help you to recover from the Christmas splurge.

About the Author:
As an Adwords Professional I’m giving away my Pay Per Click Advertising Mini Course FREE now.

This article comes with reprint rights. Feel free to reprint and distribute as you like. All that we ask is that you do not make any changes, that this resource text is included, and that the link above is intact.

- by Jim Edwards

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

“E-commerce”

A word pervading our society, making headlines around the world, and causing the stock market to rise and fall with startling ease.

It seems every business news story centers on some technology company’s “DOT-com” or “DOT-bomb”!

With all the positive and negative hoopla, business owners of any size company can throw up their hands and feel the “E” world has left them behind.

Every business owner, salesperson, or professional asked one of two questions in the past year, either “Am I using e- commerce correctly?” or “How do I effectively get involved in e-commerce?”

You can buy hundreds of books and pay thousands in consulting fees to analyze and debate the answer to the first question.

To answer to the second question just follow these 12 steps.

Step 1 - Buy a domain name (your own DOT-com). Go to www.NetworkSolutions.com and research names. Can a customer easily spell and remember it?

Step 2 - Write down your online goals and prepare a time and money budget.

How soon do you want your e-commerce site up and running?

How much will you spend?

How many hours will you devote to the site and when?

Step 3 - Surf the web to find other sites you like and dislike. Learn from others’ successes and mistakes by taking the best of what their sites offer and adapting it for your own use.

Step 4 - Design your site on paper. Define elements, look, feel, colors etc.

Step 5 - Hire a professional to set up the graphics and navigation, but with the intention of you or your staff maintaining the site’s day to day operations, communication and updates.

Step 6 - Invest in a digital camera and web publishing software such as Microsoft Front Page or Adobe Acrobat to keep up with the site’s maintenance.

Step 7 - Maintain, change, and update your site at least once a month. (The one exception to this rule are those one- page, sales letter websites. Once you have one of those that performs well and makes sales, don’t change it!!)

Step 8 - Promote your site at every opportunity. Tell people about it. Put your web address on your business cards and in all your ads. Some companies even advertise their web address when they put you on hold on the telephone.

Step 9 - Give people a self-serving reason to visit your site. Coupon savings, discounts, special incentives, free information, and free newsletters represent excellent enticements for attracting visitors to your site.

Step 10 - Concentrate on obtaining an email address from every customer and potential customer.

Obtain permission to send periodic, value-added malings to your database.

Use a list server to organize and maintain your mailing list.

Step 11 - Always look for and use the simplest solution or option.

Whether adding a shopping cart, database or other option to your e-commerce operation, seek out and use the simplest answer for your needs.

Step 12 - Become educated and stay current in the world of e-commerce.

Learn the marketing and sales techniques of the online world.

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