Can you Have a Business and Kids?
by Ioannis Mitrou

Copyright © Ioannis Mitrou
http://www.Trade4Net.com

Can you Have a Business and Kids?

Many parents want to have a work at home business so that they can spend more time with their children and give them a better quality of life. This is a noble idea and in theory sounds great but as with most things, when you put it into practice it is not so perfect. There are a lot of challenges to working at home and caring for your children at the same time. If you are looking to have a mix of a home business and kids then you are going to have a very differently defined work schedule than a parent that works out side of the home. It can be difficult to make your kids understand that even though mommy or daddy are at home, they are working and cannot be disturbed. You are going to have to train your children to accept this fact and it will not be easy at first.

If you want to be successful with a home based business or even just work at home employment you are going to have to resign yourself to the fact that you are just not going to get all the work done that you would like to. Now on occasion you might, but most of the time you probably will come close but not get all of your work done. Most people that work at home will take on more than they realistically can do and if you throw some kids into the mix, then all bets are off. If you are looking to work and have your children around as well you never know when you are going to have to stop work and deal with some sort of emergency. However there are ways to deal with this and set yourself up so that maybe you can stop the amount of time you are disturbed or even schedule the time as well.

The best thing you can do to make sure that you have a stress free work day is to realize that you have to be flexible. If you are willing and able to approach your work with an attitude that you have to be flexible then you will have a better quality of life and your business and kids can happily coexist. An example of this flexible attitude is if your kids need some attention from you during the time you have allotted for work, what is the best way to handle this? You need to resign yourself to the fact that you will need to take a break and help them with what they need. It might even be better for your mindset if you just schedule a break at a certain time each day and let your children know that they need to not disturb you until break time. You might then need to make up that time for your business after they have gone to bed. Another strategy that you might be able to use to get that undisturbed work time is to give them motivation through the enticement of fun time or play time with mommy or daddy. The deal could be that if your children give you so many hours of undisturbed business time then you will give them an hour of fun at the park or the zoo or some additional activity they like.




About the Author:
Ioannis Mitrou is a Dentist Surgeon with private
Dental clinic and the owner of the website
Trade4Net
He is also a proud father of a son 7 years old.
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Copyright © 2008 Hunter Waterhouse

When it comes to writing articles to promote your online business, it's important to consider more than just your marketing goals: it's essential that you also focus on writing articles that people will want to read. In other words, you don't just want to use words; and you don't want to market and sell your business directly. Instead, you want to make an effort to be engaging and influential.

The first tip that will help you to increase the readability of your articles is to write with the reader's concerns in mind. If you are unsure of exactly how to do that, you may want to look into article ghostwriters who understand article marketing and who only focus on writing articles for Internet audiences. When you work with article ghostwriters, you can focus more on your business and know that someone else is working hard on your behalf to write articles that will be read.

Getting The Best Results From Your Article Marketing Campaigns

Still, if you want to keep article writing within your company, rather than outsourcing it, here are some tips for getting more out of your article marketing campaigns:

1. Hook your readers from the start. Article writing is a lot more effective for marketing your business when people will actually read the articles. The best thing that you can do is to catch their interest right away. Your article title will determine if people will open your article, and the first paragraph will ensure that people keep reading the article.

2. Avoid the temptation to overwhelm your readers with a lot of information. Article writing is not about telling the reader everything that there is to know; it's about sticking with a central focus and giving your reader an introduction or overview of the information they want and need to solve their problems. In an article that probably won't be much more than one thousand words, you will never be able to tell the reader everything they need to know to solve a problem, but you can help put your reader on solid footing for moving forward towards a workable solution.

3. Break up information into digestible chunks. Writing articles is about expressing some key points. When it comes to writing articles for the internet, what you are going to find is that many readers skim rather than read your articles. Using numbered lists (like this one) will help you to present your information clearly, and let readers find what they are looking for quickly. Similarly, if you use bullet lists or break up your text with subheadings that are in a larger font and bolded, you can be sure that after reading your article, the article's key points will be easily recalled.

4. When it comes to article writing, particularly when you are working to establish yourself as an expert, it's important to show that you know what you're talking about. A great way of doing that - and to break up the text of your article - is to include quotes from more established experts. If you are writing articles and are more established, you too should quote other sources, possible letting the readers know why you disagree with another writer.

5. Focus on spelling and grammar. Just as someone who is hiring article ghostwriters should take the time to find ghost writing services that are well versed in your point of view, it's also important to be sure that you're writing in the native language of your target audience. American English is different from that spoken and written in England and India. Paying attention to your spelling and grammar shows that you care about what you are saying and that you are a professional.

A good example of the difference between the usage rules in British English and American English is the story of Paul Marshall from Dallas, Texas. When Paul was running his mortgage business, he had hired some Indian writers to develop content for his website. When he received the copy from his ghostwriters, the copy used the word "mortgage scheme" in the text eleven times. Paul was pissed, as you might well imagine. In British English, "scheme" does not carry any negative connotation. Yet, as you may well realize, "scheme" in American English is one of the most negative words that can be applied to any business model. It denotes "dishonesty" and "fraud" in American English. His Indian writers could not understand his anger with their choice of words, but you can understand his anger.

Professionalism In The Article Writing Process

Professionalism, unfortunately, is frequently overlooked when it comes to article writing. Great writing flows, not just for the writer whose aim is to get the words and message out, but also for the readers who are consuming the information.

Because of this, one key element of an effective article is not the writing itself: it is the readability of that article. Take the time to look at the articles that grab your attention and jot a few notes about each of them. Specifically, focus on the following:

How did the writer grab your attention (or, if you weren't interested in the first paragraph, what turned you off?

What sort of spacing did the writer use in the article?

What did you come away with after reading the article? In other words, what were the key points of the article?

Writing articles is neither purely science nor purely art – at its best; it is a good combination of the two. A great article focuses on a key issue, isn't stuffed with keywords (you do want search engines to find the article, but too many keywords in an article takes away from readability), and is as easy to skim, as it is to read.

When all is said and done, an article that gets read in its entirety will carry the reader to the Author's Bio at the end of the article. Ideally, the reader will read the entire article and feel a desire to visit the author's website to learn more about the writer of the article. It is article marketing at its best, when the reader likes the article enough to click on the link in the Author's Bio and visit the author's website to learn more about what the author is offering.


About the Author:
Hunter Waterhouse is a writer and editor who has been employed by The Phantom Writers (http://www.thephantomwriters.com) for many years. Put his name in quotes and run it through your favorite search engine, to see just how well his articles have been received by the Internet Marketing community. Then, you will know that Hunter knows what he is talking about when it comes to article marketing. To learn more about how The Phantom Writers can help you with article ghost writing, please visit: http://www.thephantomwriters.com/services/ghost-writing.html


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Copyright © 2008 Titus Hoskins

One of the most important factors to online success is list building. No matter what goals you're pursuing with your online activities, building a good healthy contact list is vital for a successful outcome.

List building plays a major role in developing good relationships with your site's customers, clients and visitors. It can be used to get more traffic, leads and sales for your site or business.

For these reasons contact building should be high on your list of priorities when you're marketing or promoting on the web. Fortunately, list building is an easy process that any site or webmaster can quickly set-up as long as you understand two simple, yet well-proven principles of list building.

To be really successful, your list building must incorporate these two key elements. Without these two main ingredients you will probably find building your contact list difficult and slow going. So it is worth your while to fully understand and utilize these two factors in your list building.

Any list should have these two key elements:



1. Value

Your list should have value. It should offer something valuable to the one subscribing. It should offer important information, quality content, special deals/discounts, and more importantly, it should offer a valuable relationship or connection to an expert in the subject area of the list.

Subscribers join a list for the benefits it will bring them, whether it be valuable content, special deals or a connection to an expert in their area of interest; your list must have value for the subscribers. They must benefit from joining your list.

If you're building a list, just write down all the benefits someone would receive from joining your site or list.

- receive important information - get special valuable content - receive special deals/discounts - get training videos/workshops - get timely announcements or news

Make these benefits your main selling points when you're building your list. Don't forget there may also be a psychological reason for joining your list - many people like being part of a group or membership site. It's human nature, we all want to be emotionally involved with certain topics or causes, so don't ignore this aspect when building your list. Everybody likes to feel included - lists can fulfill this emotional need.

Simply give your subscribers something of value and you will build your list quickly and easily.





2. Free

Whatever you offer - make sure it is Free. The quickest way to build any list is to give away free valuable content, information, videos, reports, ebooks, discounts, prizes... everybody loves a free gift. Just make them an offer they can't refuse.

Some marketers argue that giving away free items will attract the "wrong kind" of customer or subscriber - people that will never buy anything because they will expect it to be free. But this has more to do with the nature of your gift and the kind of contacts you're building - giving away free buying guides on how to purchase real estate, fast cars, LCD TVs, laptops... will definitely attract the right "buying customer". If you're into selling, you just have to adjust your marketing to incorporate the free element correctly.

Besides, giving away something free is the first step in starting an ongoing relationship with your subscribers. It gets the ball rolling. It is one of the most effective ways to build your list quickly and easily. Just make sure you're giving away something of value to the person receiving it and they will turn to you, time and time again, to find what they're looking for on the web.

So the next time you're building a contact list make these two key elements the center of your activities. Just remember "give them value and make it free" and you should have no problems with list building.


About the Author:
EXPLODE YOUR SALES by building your OWN OPT-IN LIST! Get a Step-by-Step Guide that will show you How to Start, Build and Manage your OWN HUGE Opt-In List! Click Here: List Building eCourse Or Our List Building Toolkit: List Building The author is a full-time online marketer and has used list building to produce a very comfortable online income.

Copyright (c) 2008 Titus Hoskins. http://www.bizwaremagic.com This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.


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Copyright © 2008 Kimberly Clay

Information, much of it in the form of written content, is what drives the Internet. As a result, article writing is extremely important to Internet entrepreneurs who wish to succeed. But sometimes circumstances arise when the articles just aren't coming.

Writer's block happens to the best of us. I have cases of it all the time. I'll be sitting at my keyboard, staring into a blank screen, just hoping that a decent thought will jump into my head and I can start typing again. One minute goes by, then two, then ten, and nothing happens. Drat!

If this has ever happened to you, you know how frustrating it can be. In my personal experience, writer's block usually occurs when I have not adequately prepared myself to write at the particular time at which I'm trying to write. What I mean is, I have ideas for articles all the time. Unfortunately, they usually show up when I'm in the shower, driving down the highway, in the middle of trying to complete ten other things and something just "pops into my head", or lying in bed at 3:00am. But, when it's time to recapture my thoughts, when I'm sitting down and ready to write, nothing.

If this sounds familiar, if you're in a bit of a slump or can't seem to get or hold onto a decent article writing idea, here are some tips:

1) If you get ideas frequently, but can't seem to recall them when you need them, "sticky notes" and a small notepad work wonders.

I know, it seems ridiculously simple. No rocket science here, but I'm telling you if you've never tried this, it works. The problem is not that you don't have ideas that can be transformed into great articles. The problem is that you're not capturing the ideas you have.

Keeping small notepads (we don't want to create clutter, because clutter disrupts our ability to think and act clearly; a subject for yet another article) around the house, in the car, on your desks or anywhere else you tend to frequent, helps you to record important or creative ideas as soon as you get them (or soon thereafter). By taking time to "jot down" your thoughts as they come, you create a means of saving them; a record and a resource. Then, when you're in a position to do something with the ideas, or when your "well runs dry", you have a great tool at your disposal. (Note: Using a personal voice recorder instead of a notepad, will work just as well.)

2) If getting ideas in the first place is your problem, here are three quick idea sources: current news (What's going on that affects your niche?), industry news (What are the new/hot trends, what changes are occurring, what are people saying/doing?), and current problems or challenges your audience may face.

Each of these sources can be reviewed quickly without taking too much of your time or effort. They can each provide the "seeds" from which to generate interesting and helpful articles. In addition, don't overlook the value of your own experience. Your challenges, successes and failures are likely very similar to those of other individuals who are involved and interested in the same things as are you. Often, just writing about a subject and offering readers a different perspective can provide a great deal of benefit to your audience.

3) My final tip...Don't force it.

If you're experiencing difficulty with your article writing, walk away. If you're attempting to write an article and nothing is happening, STEP AWAY FROM YOUR COMPUTER (or paper or notepad).

Turn your attention elsewhere. Feed the cat, walk the dog, get some fresh air. Do something to break away from your writing. Engage yourself in activities that are completely different. Then return to your writing task with a refreshed mind and renewed energy. I believe you'll find that you can write. If however, your "dry spell" lasts more than momentarily, my advice is still the same. Disengage, even for a period of a day or two if needed, and completely immerse yourself in other things. When you feel refreshed, come back to your writing and begin again.

Although there may be similarities in the actions of individuals involved in the task, article writing is somewhat different for everyone who does it. As writers, we all have different routines, different rituals, and different methodologies according to what works best for each of us. Invariably though, at some point or other, every writer comes to a point when their engine stalls.

The best advice is to keep yourself renewed and refreshed on a regular basis. Avoid getting so involved in your writing (or for you who are entrepreneurs, any of the other gazillion tasks you perform), that you exclude all else. This will help you to maintain a fresh perspective, and that "freshness" will certainly be reflected in your ability to write, as well as in the quality of your writing.

But when a difficult period does arise, be prepared. Have the tools in place to help you to get your article writing started and going again. Hopefully the tips included within this article will help you to do just that. Happy writing!


About the Author:
Kimberly Clay is a successful business woman with over twenty years of experience and success to her credit. She is an online entrepreneur with a passion for educating and helping others to develop online success and create wealth. For more information, visit her website at http://www.GetMyWealthNow.com or her blog at http://www.blog.GetMyWealthNow.com


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Copyright © 2008 John Khu

Consider the real value of the expired web domain: Let us say that you have an expired domain that is more than five years old and you have not been able to sell it at a higher price. Now, if you get an offer for that particular expired web domain, ensure that you are not bargaining too much with the prospective buyer. Before you want to reject the offer, just sit down and think about the following aspects:

a) What is the life of that domain and since how many days have you been holding it? b) How many offers did people make in the previous months? c) What was the highest offer? d) What is the level of frequency at which you receive your offer?

Note: If you own an expired web domain of four or more years old, you would better sell it off soon for a decent price. This will result in a fair deal for both you and your prospective buyer. Never be too greedy to dispose the domain for an unrealistic price.

Uncertainty of receiving consistent offers: Expired web domain business is a quiet and discrete event! An offer suggested by one buyer is entirely different from an offer made by other buyers. The market conditions always vary and change overnight, and the market condition of the day is entirely different from the one seen about a year back. Set a price for your expired web domain name and dispose it as soon as possible. Selling expired web domain is a marketing activity: There is a misconception among investors that people come flocking together to buy expired web domain names! It is not true! Selling expired domain is a marketing activity and you will need to develop the skills of selling in the ever competing market. You may wish to put a notice board saying that the domain name is for sale and interested parties can contact you, in case they are keen in buying the domain.

Providing contact details to prospective buyers: The most common mistake that investors commit is avoiding entering their contact details on the "Whois" database. Ensure that you enter your contact detail on the database, so that prospective buyers can contact you and buy the domain at a good price.

Every domain has its own price: Another mistake that people often commit is to pay a higher price for a particular expired web domain. Many investors assume that a particular domain name will have a great prospect of selling at a very higher price. But, this may not be always true! Ensure that you are paying enough attention, while assessing the real value of the expired domain; never ever, overpay for your expired domain.

Finally, trading in expired wed domain is a delicate act and a thoughtful exercise. Make sure that you learn about pitfalls of buying and selling expire domain names, so that you will not get trapped in the magical circle of expired web domains.


About the Author:
John Khu is the well-known author of a new e-book titled "Expired Domain Secret". He is also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web site called www.expireddomainsecret.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.


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Copyright © 2006-2008 Bill Platt

All links are not created equal. There are worthless, good and great links. So, what is the difference between each one? I can sum it up in one word, "clicks".

The most worthless links are those that appear on pages that will never be read by a set of human eyes.

Some pages may be "seen" by human eyes, but they will not "read" by anyone. Bad formatting, no formatting, hard-to-read text, unorganized content, unorganized links, scraped search engine results, and pages with more keywords than content, are a few of the factors that prevent a webpage from being read by real people. You know the kinds of webpages I am talking about... You don't read them either. And, you can bet no one else will want to read at those pages either.

Google is getting pretty good at identifying these trash websites and removing them from its database, so your link on this kind of website will not provide any real value to you at all. They will not give you human visitors, and they will not give you search engine placement value.

There are two criteria necessary to define a good link. A good link is on a page that has content that people might want to read, and it is on a page that real human beings will be reading.

A great link is the same as a good link, but it could have hundreds or thousands of people looking at it in a single month.


THE EVOLUTION OF ARTICLE MARKETING AS A LINKING STRATEGY

Article marketing has evolved dramatically since the early days of 2005.

Prior to March of 2005, the only people who really participated in article marketing were those who understood the value of providing good quality content in order to get their articles published.

With the combined introduction of article submission software, dirt cheap services and the Adsense revenue generation system, the quality of article content collapsed.

Suddenly, people who were engaged in hiring $5 an hour ghost writers to write keyword-dense articles for their website, decided that those same keyword-dense articles that they had constructed for their websites, could also be used as a tool in article marketing.

Within just about three months, the publishers and webmasters who utilized third-party reprint articles in their publications went from having to pick through 200-300 good quality articles per month, to having to sort through 2,000 questionable articles per month to find the 200-300 articles that they would actually want to consider for use.

For someone like me who was entrenched in the article marketing industry, this would have seemed to be a good thing. But, with the introduction of the "Adsense article marketing mentality", the quality of content just about disappeared.

I still believe that a good article marketing campaign is predicated by good quality content. I might be stupid, but I still make good money selling several products and services through the use of quality content in my own article marketing endeavors.

One of my friends operates an article directory. He told me that for every seven articles sent to his site, he must delete six of them to maintain his website's quality standards! He is feeling the pinch of poor quality articles, because 86% of the articles he is moderating must be deleted, creating an environment where he wastes more time than should be necessary to maintain his commitment to a good quality website.


ARTICLE MARKETING ONLY WORKS WHEN IT IS A DEMOCRACY

The Adsense article marketers want to believe that they can send any piece of carp, keyword-optimized article through the distribution systems, and hundreds of websites will reprint their article.

But, it does not quite work that way.

Websites that will post absolutely anything sent to them do not survive. Some of you may think I am full of it when I say that. You might think that I just have an axe to grind. You are entitled to your own opinion. But, I could actually give you supporting examples, if I wanted to fill this article with links to websites that are no longer operational.

Here is how it comes down. Websites that have no standards, cannot keep their readers happy. If they cannot keep their visitors happy, then they will not make any money. If they cannot make any money, they will not renew their website for the second year. Sometimes they will do a second year, but they will seldom if ever do a third year.

The websites that have standards will survive, because they do have "content standards".

Think about the highest quality websites you visit regularly. Then think about the kind of content that they use on their sites. Great websites do not print articles that are glorified keyword-optimized articles.

Think about sites like:

* http://www.SiteProNews.com - PR6

* http://www.Publish101.com - PR6

* http://www.Site-Reference.com - PR6

* http://www.NationalBusiness.org - PR6

* http://www.HardwareHell.com - PR5

* http://www.AddMe.com/nlpast.htm - PR6


What do each of these websites have in common?

1. They are great websites that develop good and great links.

2. They all have an excellent reputation for providing great quality content.

3. They all have good PageRank.

4. They do not publish keyword-optimized articles that focus more on keyword density, than on quality information.

5. They have all published articles I have distributed.

6. NationalBusiness.org has published articles written by members of my writing team. The other five sites have published articles that I have written myself... Many of them have published my own articles more than once.

Quality content delivers quality results.


QUALITY MATTERS

No one wants to put your keyword-directed articles on their site, unless they have no standards of their own. And, if they have no standards, why would you want your link on their website?

Personally, I am thrilled not to get those worthless links to my websites, because the website giving me that worthless link is considered by Google as a "bad neighborhood" or "spammy neighborhood".

If you have never heard of Matt Cutts, he is a Google employee who shares some of the Google inner-workings with interested webmasters. Take a look at this post and pay close attention to his comments about "spammy neighborhoods" under the section subtitled "Bigdaddy: Done by March".

If you want to get a good feel for Matt's take on "bad neighborhoods", do a search at Google for: neighborhoods site:http://www.mattcutts.com .


IN CONCLUSION...

All links are not created equal.

Personally, I strive hard to generate good and great links to my websites.

That sometimes means that I spend several hours writing an article like this one. When I hire writers to work for me, I don't pay them $5 an hour. Good writers don't work for $5 an hour or article. It just doesn't happen.

Remember, my goal is to educate my reader and to provide good quality information to my readers.

The very nature of putting your reader first, will enable you to begin finding your articles placed on better quality websites. The better the website your article appears on, the better the quality link you will find from that website.

If your purpose in using article marketing to build links to your website is being done in the "great PageRank chase", then you really should know that Google only cares about the placement of your link on sites that have good PageRank --- sites that reside in "good neighborhoods".

If your purpose in using article marketing to build links to your website is so that human beings will use them to find your website, then getting your article placed on good websites will best serve your purpose.

When all is said and done, if your links appear on good pages, on good websites, in good neighborhoods, then you have done well. You will see traffic from those links, and you will see better link popularity and search engine placement as a result of your good links. And finally, worthless links are just that... worthless.


About the Author:
Bill Platt has been involved in article marketing professionally since 2001, as the owner of http://www.thePhantomWriters.com. He and his staff have literally ghost written 1000's of articles for their clients. Learn about their low-cost ghost writing services, or you can learn more about link building services here: http://linksandtraffic.com/seo-services/link-building.html


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Copyright © 2008 Vasrue.com, All Rights Reserved Written by: Clinton Douglas IV

Starting an online business doesn't have to be a challenge, especially when you're equipped with the right knowledge, tools, and business planning strategy. Choosing a niche market is the first step towards building your online empire, but there are many other important factors to consider before getting started. Are you ready for a successful online business? Here are some key items to consider so you are prepared with the right information before jumping in:

Mapping Out Your Small Business Ideas

When you're considering different types of small business ideas, mapping out each one individually can help you decide which ones will be most profitable-and which ideas just won't work for the long-term. Mapping out your small business ideas can help you outline the benefits and challenges of each, and help you make a better decision.

Your Small Business Startup Marketing Plan

Your marketing plan will consist of the different ways you plan to promote and build your network. This includes both clients and customers, and is an important step for a small business both online and offline. If your internet business ideas can't be promoted properly, you'll miss out on the right opportunity. Designing a valuable small business startup marketing plan is an essential step towards success. Whether you choose to launch a retail site, a newsletter, or even a blog, consider a variety of approaches so that your online business startup can be a success.

Number of Employees for Your Online Business

Is your online business going to be a solo venture, or will you be hiring employees? An online business that is maintained with just one or a few employees is easier to start and manage; you can plan out everything step by step, and slowly build your business until you feel you're ready to start paying a salary or wage to others. One of the biggest benefits of a small business startup is the ability to control and manage operations from the get-go; if you enjoy working independently and are interested in building your own small business, consider waiting until a later date to bring on a team of employees.

Designing Your Online Business Website With Success

If you're not web-savvy enough to build or design your own website, you'll need to hire a professional web designer to manage the project. Make sure you choose something that will attract customers and make it easy for people to find your products. You want customers to be able to get a hold of you easily, so it's a good idea to include an e-mail address or phone number for contact. Whether it's an online retail business or just a service, a great presentation can help you make the sale.

Building Credibility Online

Your online business will need to build credibility to attract customers, clients, and subscribers. You can do this by marketing and promoting your website using a variety of tools already on the web. From article distribution to press releases, you'll need a strategy to build credibility so your online business can take off easily. There are many money making ideas on the web today, but only a few survive because of effective marketing and promotions. Use a variety of strategies to start building credibility online, and you'll start seeing profits sooner than you think.

Being prepared for online business success is an important step. From marketing to hiring, get your online business off to a strong start with any or all of these key factors in mind.




About the Author:
Clinton Douglas IV, writes E-Business articles for people who want to achieve more online success. Learn Today, "How to Start an Online Business in less than 30 Days starting from Scratch"! Free Special Report - Limited Time! Plus, weekly newsletter from Online Empire Secrets (A $400 Value). Click ==> Small Business Ideas To get Your FREE REPORT!
http://online-empire.vasrue.com/How-To-Start-Your-Online-Business_F.html


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Copyright © 2008 Kimberly Clay

Is your email marketing campaign not as effective as you'd like?

Here's what I do for about 90 percent of the email messages I receive: Delete, Delete, Delete... Some days it's so bad, I think my finger's going to get jammed from pressing the "Delete" button so much.

The email messages get deleted for various reasons. Since I now send email marketing messages myself, I try to pay closer attention to emails I receive but don't read, as well as those I do read. I do this in an attempt to discern what compels me to open and read one message versus deleting another either without opening it, or very soon thereafter. The result boils down to this:

The Headline Is Important! The Headline Is Important! The Headline Is Important!

"You had me at "Hello"...Remember that line from the Jerry McGuire movie? If the subject line of your email does not grab your reader by the hair, that reader will most likely delete your message immediately. Period. End of story. Your subject line simply MUST be attention-grabbing.

Now grabbing readers' attention can be accomplished in a variety of ways. You can appeal to their emotions, sense of curiosity, even their greed. However you choose to do it, the result must be the same. You must command the readers' attention and get them interested enough to at least open your message instead of hitting the delete button without another second's consideration.

I could talk about email subject lines all day, because this is such an important part of email marketing, but to make this lesson as brief as possible, let's put it this way:

To be effective, your email subject line needs to be one or a combination of these:

1. Descriptive – As a reader, I want to know what your email is about before I open your message (see first paragraph above). Using your most relevant keyword(s) within the subject line can be helpful here. For example, if your headline reads "Receive 25% Off Clothes Purchases" my response is likely to be "So," (yawn) and guess what comes next? Delete. But if your subject line reads "Get $25 Cash Back On Your Next Purchase of Elder Berman Jeans", and I'm an Elder Berman customer, I'm clicking that headline!

2. Compelling - Appeal to me on an emotional or interest level. For instance, here is the subject line of an actual email I recently received: "I Have Found A Great Traffic System". My response? "So?" Delete. There was nothing about the headline that remotely galvanized my attention, much less compelled me to take any action (like actually opening the message). Now, had that message headline read "Discover How To Add 10,000 Visitors To Your Website..." or "Kimberly, Don't Lose Any More Traffic!", I may have been a bit more inclined to open the message and read further.

3. Purposely Non-Descriptive – In other words, pique my curiosity. This strategy can be a bit tricky. To be effective, you must give the reader just enough information or a "hook" to entice them to seek more, but not so much that they think they know what your message contains, and decide prematurely that they're not interested.

For example, I recently used this email subject line: "You Can Delete This, But What If It's True...". While I'll be the first to admit that I'm no great copywriter, I thought this subject line was effective for two reasons. First, I was able to take the reader a bit "off guard" by telling them to delete the message. In effect, I was predicting the action the reader was likely to take. But then, I added "...But What If It's True". By including this phrase, I hinted that there might be more that they would be interested in knowing; that they might miss out on something if they didn't open the message. In addition, I left them most likely asking themselves what "It" refers to, in essence enticing them to open the email to find out what the "It" in the email message was about.

The bottom line is this, the subject line of your email is the fundamental and all-important key to getting your emails opened and read. Are there other elements of effective email marketing messages? Yes, of course there are. But, if you get this one wrong, none of the others really matter. When your email is immediately deleted, your reader never receives your core message, nor can she/he benefit from your information.

Learn to create great subject lines, and you're well on your way to email marketing success.


About the Author:
Kimberly Clay is a successful business woman with over twenty years of experience and success to her credit. She is an online entrepreneur with a passion for educating and helping others to develop online success and create wealth. For more information, visit her website at http://www.GetMyWealthNow.com or her blog at http://www.blog.GetMyWealthNow.com


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Copyright © 2006-2008 Bill Platt

It is Google's fault actually. No one can be blamed for this matter more than Google itself.

Google came up with a brilliant plan for determining the best web pages to show in their search engine results. And then without telling us the intimate details of their plan, they told us about part of their algorithm by explaining the importance of inbound links --- the Google PageRank (PR) system --- in their calculations.

Google itself planted the seeds its own future headaches. Nobody did it to them; they did it themselves.

I am sure the fault really lies in Google's marketing department. They wanted to tell the world what made their search engine algorithms more powerful than the competition. It probably was an innocent mistake on their part. But once the genie is out of the bottle, it is impossible to put the genie back in the bottle.

So, now the whole world knows that if you want to get good search rankings in Google, you must have links pointing to your website from other websites on the internet. Everyone also knows that if you want better search rankings in Google, then you should strive to create even more links with the appropriate keywords in the anchor text of those links.


Building Links

There is always more than one way to skin a cat. There are many methods that people can employ to build links to their websites.

1. Register free websites so that you can create inbound links back to your own site.

2. Register new domains where you can place other links back to your website.

3. Leave comments on blogs.

4. Link Exchanges.

5. Getting your own listing in any of the directories that are available (dmoz.org, yahoo.com, etc.).

6. Signature File - getting involved in discussion forums and actually adding value to the discussions.

7. Submit product and service testimonials to those product distributors and service providers.

8. Social Networking - bookmark web pages through social bookmarking sites.

9. Link Baiting - creating a resource that people will want to link to for the benefit of their website visitors.

10. Article Marketing - writing an article and giving webmasters the opportunity to use your content on their website, IF they agree to post your link on the page with the article that they are using.

11. Press Releases - writing and distributing press releases online.

12. Buy advertising on a website.

13. Buy Link Placements on a website.


Good Links Versus Bad Links

I have always focused my attention on practicing White Hat Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques, instead of Black Hat SEO techniques.

Most of you know what I am talking about, but I have been surprised a number of times when people did not understand what was meant by "white hat" and "black hat." So, for those of you who do not know what I am talking about, here is a brief description. "White hat" and "black hat" are references to the old serial cowboy westerns. The good guys always wore "white hats," and the bad guys always wore "black hats."

By far, the link building techniques I employ most often are article marketing, press releases, and link baiting. I still frequently participate in forums and buy advertisements on other websites, but I do those for public exposure and not for search marketing.


A Black-and-White Issue

I have always been extremely concerned with White Hat techniques for building links to my websites and from my websites.

"Providing good quality content as the foundation for my linking activities" has always been my golden rule. And, it still is that main driving force behind everything that I do.

I like a black-and-white world where everything makes sense, and I had no reservations about my thoughts on this topic.


The Morality of Paid Links

A couple weeks ago, I was reading Matt Cutt's thoughts about paid links on his blog. Most folks in internet marketing know who Matt Cutt's is, but if you don't, he is a software engineer that works behind the scenes with Google in their quality department.

Generally, if Matt Cutts says anything at all about improving your rankings in Google, you can take his words to the bank.

Now, Matt has made it more than clear that we do not want to buy "paid links" to our websites as part of our link building campaigns. Paid links are a big no-no according to Matt. That is his advice, and I have always trusted it at face value.

That is why I have focused my entire link building activities towards "content-driven linking."

I was reading a discussion of paid links in Matt Cutts' blog at: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/text-links-and-pagerank/

After I read Matt's thoughts, I continued reading the comments on the page. Many good points were made and responded to by Matt. It was an interesting read.

And then, my black-and-white world was turned upside-down when I read the comments presented by Dan Thies of SEO Research Labs at: http://www.seoresearchlabs.com/

Here is what Dan said:

Search engines are free to develop their algorithms as they see fit. They're free to decide which links they want to trust. Maybe I'm the heretic here, but I don't see anything wrong with Google identifying sites that are selling text links, and dealing with that however they like.

I just hope Matt and his co-workers aren't expecting this to solve their problem. He's already seen that people are looking for better ways to game the system. I hope Matt and his co-workers don't seriously expect the entire web to start labeling paid links for them.

The Google ideal may be that "the best links are earned and given by choice," but what does that mean?

If I add text links to my favorite florist, favorite online casino, favorite unlicensed pharmacy, favorite travel site, etc. will Google decide that my site isn't worthy to participate in developing their "democratic" search results? If I "vote" for George Bush or Michael Moore as a miserable failure, am I no longer qualified to vote?

What's the algorithm for determining intent, Matt?


Intent Is Abstract and Important At The Same Time

There is the rub. How can Google know the heart of the webmaster? They can't, unless the webmaster pointedly describes their intent.

If the webmaster calls those links "paid links" or "sponsored links," then Google can know that webmaster accepted money to provide those links.

If I buy advertising on a website, to attract potential buyers to my website, how does Google know my intent? Did I do it to get traffic from that website, or did I do it to game the Google results? They cannot know my heart.

Even if the webmaster does not call the shown links "paid links" or "sponsored links," does the suspicion of the pay-for-placement model label the webmaster as a "bad egg?" How does Google really know if Dan is linking to a site because he wants to, or whether he has accepted payment for that link? They cannot know.

And the final example on this topic comes from a poster named Shelley who participated in the discussion at: http://weblog.philringnalda.com/2005/08/19/

Shelley stated that she allowed two "paid links" on her well-respected blog, because she had a car payment to make. She traded on her brand name to get enough cash to make the car payment in tight times. Will she be penalized for selling "link space" to advertisers on her website?


In Conclusion...

Based on the comments that I have read from Matt, Shelley should not be worried about her acceptance of "paid links" on her website. If I have interpreted his comments correctly, her site will not be hurt by her outbound links.

However, we are meant to believe that if you and I were to buy links on her page, then we should be concerned about our future in connection to the Google search results.

So these questions remain for the search companies to figure out...

Webmaster's Intent:

1 Which links are paid links, and which links are freely given links?

2 Who is selling links to pass on their PageRank value, and who is providing a useful or valuable link for their visitors?

Link Buyer's Intent:

1. Who is trying to game the Google results, and who is trying to attract buyers to their website?

2. Who should be treated as a spammer, and who should be treated as an honest performer?

This last question is the tricky one. We all know a spammer's website when we see a spammer's website. But, how can the search engines deal with the spammer's, without damaging the innocent in their quest for search results perfection?

Yes, that is their problem, not mine. But, if Google's paid links policy hurts my own placement in the search engines, then the paid links equation becomes my problem too.


More Questions Than Answers...

Yes, it is true. I have posed more questions than what I have presented answers. But sometimes, the questions are more important than the answers. This is one such case.


About the Author:
Bill Platt has been involved in article marketing professionally since 2001, as the owner of http://www.thePhantomWriters.com. He and his staff have literally ghost written 1000's of articles for their clients. Learn about their low-cost ghost writing services, or you can learn more about link building here: http://linksandtraffic.com/seo-services/link-building.html


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