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For every subject that you can possibly imagine and probably a few that you would most likely never want to imagine, there are people gathered on the Internet on blog and forum sites who are discussing it… at great length.

You can bet that no matter what the topic of your website or what product or service that you are selling that somewhere (and probably a lot of somewheres) people are discussing it right now as we speak on blogs and forums on the Internet.

Whatever your product or service is, there is a specific group of people who are the most likely to buy it. These are the ones who are gathered on blogs and forums discussing a topic for which your product or service is an answer to their problem. I use the word “problem” rather loosely here. “Problem” covers anything that a person wants but doesn’t have… whether that thing is a new pair of jeans, a cure for cancer or anything in between. Problems are simply things that people want but don’t have…and your product is obviously one of those things…at least for some of them. Now, your mission is to find these people.

Go to your favorite search engine and in the search box type in your key words followed by the word: forums. Hit search. You will be amazed at the number of forums on which your potential customers are discussing the topic that you are most interested in and the one where your product can actually be of service.

Repeat the search using the word: blogs behind your key words. You will likely get just as many hits using that term.

Now out of these two searches that you have done, choose the top 4 or 5 sites of each search that come up in the results. Visit these sites and determine if they are in fact discussing the topic that your product relates to. Choose three or four of the most active forums or blogs. Active, meaning those who have had the most posts made to them in the last 24 hour period or who have the largest number of members listed. Join the sites.

Remember that posting to blogs and forums is a time consuming task. It is an important task and it is a task that will help to drive traffic to your website but, I assure you, it IS time consuming. For each and every blog and forum site that you join, you will need to post 3 to 5 times each week and each post will consist of at least 300 words, probably more.

This is important! Do NOT start out posting blatant advertisements for your product or for your website. Think of each blog and forum as a neighborhood that you have just moved into. The people on each site will most likely know one another well and you will be the new kid on the block, so act like it.

Posting advertisements for your product or for your website is just rude. They will likely be removed by the blog or forum administrator as will you be removed from the membership list. Advertisements are generally banned from all blog and forum sites.

What you can and should do is include your website address in your signature tag. That is not considered an advertisement. It is simply a part of your identity and is viewed as such by the administrators as well as the members of blogs and forums.

You are going to have to go slow here. Introduce yourself to the group. Take your time to get to know each of the members who are the most active and who exert the most influence within the group.

Remember that your posts need to be thoughtful, considerate and helpful to other members and must never EVER appear to be advertisements for your website or for your products. You can suggest your products as solutions for problems within your posts but they must not look like advertisements. They must appear to be of the friend-helping-a-friend variety.

You may be tempted to use articles that you have written as blog or forum posts and sort of get more bang for your buck so to speak…don’t. Articles and blog or forum posts are two different animals…and they are not interchangeable. The other reason for never using an article as a blog or forum posts is that search engine spiders may well identify one or the other as duplicate content. Duplicate content is NOT a good thing. Just don’t do it.

Never include links to your website within the body of your posts to blogs and forums. This can be construed as advertising and it can get you tossed out on your ear. You must be satisfied with the link to your website that will appear just below you name in your signature tag at the end of each post.

You can safely rely on the human trait of curiosity to insure that the members of the blogs and forums will click on the link to your website in your signature tag. Most people come with a healthy and built-in supply of curiosity. They will not be able to resist clicking on the link below you name at least once.

If they find something that will provide them with an answer to a problem while they are visiting your website out of curiosity, they will return time and again.

We haven’t discussed your website content and we don’t have time to now but let me tell you that content really is king when you are talking about website traffic. You must not use articles that you have submitted to article banks and you must not use your blog or forum posts as content for your website. Be sure, however, that your website is loaded with a lot of good and relevant content.

Posting to blogs and forums who’s topics relate to the topic of your website or to your product or service is an excellent way to create website traffic and do it for free.

Pj Germain

http://www.Affiliate-Success.Org

The Last Membership You’ll ever need!

If you are blogging to attract new customers and prospects to your business, it is important that you have a successful blueprint to follow.

With that in mind I created my step by step Blogging Blueprint, which you can find below:

1 While writing a blog, think like a visitor, as this helps immensely. If a blogger dons the visitor’s thinking cap, there is more likelihood the words a visitor will use to query search engines will be present in the blog.

2. Add a good layout and catchy adverts to a blog. This helps because the visitor might want to stay longer reading the blog, rather than scooting away to another site.

3. Once the blog is published, it is a good idea to ‘visit’ the blog assuming to be a visitor. Going over links and various pages can give a feeling of how a visitor will react to the blog.

4. Inspect the site regularly, as this can uncover any broken links. Likewise, it is also a good opportunity to do some site maintenance as well. Jotting down points like what can be added to augment site appeal and what else could be added to the FAQ page can be of immense advantage.

5. Use key words that are more likely to be used by visitors to search for your blogs. If there are individuals who want to read about, lets say, power gardening tools, then missing out key words like power or gardening can be a huge mistake. This is because search engines will give the blog a go-by and opt it out of the listings.

Further, the visitor may even chance upon the blog in the listings, but may choose to avoid the site, because the keywords were not highlighted in the large search engine listing.

6. Posting articles about 700 words in length is considered good if taking into account search engine indexing tactics. You can make the post search engine friendly by inserting relevant keywords and links at the right places.

7. You can incorporate specific key words, which are adored by search engines. Integrate keywords into title, meta and alt tags to entice the search engine spider to give the blog a higher page rank.

8. Listening to feedbacks and visitor complaints can be a blessing for you. Despite a lot of effort, a blog might contain obvious technical glitches or perhaps the content might require further elaboration or alterations.

9. Spamming can sometimes be disguised as intelligent comments, which might include further links or invitations to a spammer’s website. Niche blogs might wish to opt out of the custom of inviting comments.

10. If you are into business blogging, picking up good categories like skin care, dry skin care, skin care specials, exclusive skin care products, etc can be particularly rewarding. A good post on niche products can improve keyword density while providing wholesome reading material for visitors.

11. Many bloggers give up after publishing a few blogs. Although there is no right answer to how often you should blog, the secret of profitable blogging is to publish regularly and as frequently as necessary while avoiding both extremes.

12. Use permalinks (permanent links) where servers allow their use. Permalinks allow the use of words as path names, unlike regular links to articles that may contain percentage signs or shorter cryptic pathnames. The secret is to use key words as path names on servers where the use of permalinks is allowed. This makes the site more appealing to those search engines that also look at links for indexing.

Jason Tarasi publishes the “Marketer’s Protection Newsletter”. Subscribe now and DISCOVER the insider secrets you MUST know to protect yourself from fraud, lawsuits and other potential risks that could permanently harm your online business. http://www.marketersprotection.com

If you’ve ever visited classified ad sites, and read some of the ads, you really have to wonder if some of these people actually make any money from the ads they post. Certainly, not all of the ads are bad. You should study some of the ads on these sites.

This should be your first step in writing a good ad: Study the ads that pique your interest. This can be ads in the newspaper, in magazines, on Google and Yahoo, and on the free classified ad sites.

You want to study the type of ads you want to write. Create a swipe file. This can be a simple text file of ads you liked, that made you want to click through, or write for more information, or whatever.

The purpose of a good ad is to get you to do something. To act.

If you’ve ever written an ad, then you’ve probably heard of the ad writing formula AIDA, but it’s worth repeating here:

A – Attention
I – Interest
D – Desire
A – Action

Attention applies to your headline. You want to generate attention and get readers to read the rest of your ad. You need to write a good headline. Your headline should be short, to the point, and demand attention.

Here are some examples:

The Secret of Making People Like You
A Little Mistake That Cost A Farmer $3,000 A Year

The shorter your ad, the shorter your headline needs to be. Make every word count.

One thing you should remember here is before writing your ad, choose your audience. Your ad can’t be all things to all people. Your ad must appeal to those who are looking for what you have to offer.

If you have the attention of your reader, the next step is interest. Focus on the main benefit of your product or service.

If you are writing a short ad, then you can only focus on one benefit.

Remember, a benefit is different from a feature. A feature tells you what something will do. A benefit tells the person how it will help him/her.

For example:

If you are selling a product to end baldness, a feature might be that it’s easy to use. A benefit would be that the person would have a full head of hair that makes him look 20 years younger.

Here’s the beginning of an example ad:

Headline: End Male Pattern Baldness Forever?

Interest: Unique formula ends male pattern baldness forever.

Next, you want to create a desire for your product.

Example: In just 15 minutes a day, you can be on your way to a full head of hair.

Finally, you want the reader to take action. Send for free details, write for free details, click through, etc.

Example: Get your free subscription to the “Male Pattern Baldness Newsletter” now.

These are just examples, and I’m sure that they can definitely be refined.

Once you’ve written your ad, it’s time to start posting. You will need some way to track your ad. You can use different email addresses, different links, or some type of tracking software.

It’s important that you track your ads because you want to know which ones are getting results and which ones aren’t.

You can change your ads one element at a time to increase effectiveness.

The point is:

1. Study good ads.
2. Create a swipe file.
3. Know Your Audience.
4. Apply the AIDA formula.
5. Test and Track Your Ads.

Not only will you write better ads, but you’ll also get better results.

Get Jinger Jarrett’s resources on classified ads. Craig’s List Traffic, http://www.askjinger.com/craigslisttraffic/, learn about free classifieds on Squidoo http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/jingerjarrett Learn how to get 15,000 visitors a month to your site: http://www.killermarketingarsenal.com

There is a world of potential available to you on MySpace, if you are looking for a way to network, and to promote your business or your website. There are unlimited options available to you with this advertising and networking medium, because there are no costs involved with creating a profile, and from there, there are a world of possibilities.

Creating a MySpace profile for your business will bring about a lot of free exposure, opportunities for networking, and the potential for tons of growth. There is more to taking advantage of MySpace for networking than simply creating a profile and hoping that people will see it. Consider the following a primer on getting starter, an introduction to the world of MySpace marketing.

If you want your profile to stand out and to attract people to it, there are some fairly basic things that you will need to keep in mind. For example, one of the most important things is that your profile must be quick and easy to load, because nobody wants to navigate through slow-loading animations and various other unnecessary elements.

Another factor worth considering is to keep the website simple, using easy-to-read fixed backgrounds to avoid any possible visual distractions. You should also try to avoid using filler in all of the descriptions on your MySpace profile page, by including as many facts as possible in as small a space as you can. You can easily expand upon your profile by highlighting information via the blog feature.

Your profile should include as much information about your company as you feel is pertinent, so that a browser will know everything that they need to know after visiting a single time. When it comes to inviting friends, you should look for users who have interests relating to your business, or browse the friends lists of profiles which are similar to yours.

There is no harm in adding as many friends as you would like, because they still have the opportunity to accept or decline your invitation. The more friends you add to your list, the more exposure you will receive because not only will your new friends be browsing your MySpace profile, but so will their friends!

There are many ways to market your products and business without spamming users on MySpace. MySpace has a wonderful feature called ‘Bulletin’, which allows you to post messages which are broadcast to every person on your friends list. You can also do a great deal of advertising through your blog, simply by talking about the products or your business in detail.

Users can subscribe to your blog to ensure that they are remaining up to date on your business’ progress. You also have the power to leave comments on the profiles of other users, but this is one of the more spammy options because you generally should not want to leave advertisements on other people’s profiles.

The best way to advertise using your MySpace profile is simply to keep your profile up to date, broadcast news about your business using the Bulletin feature, and share details about projects and your business in general through the blog. You are guaranteed to gain a lot of network contacts and interested people simply through keeping your profile friendly, easy to read and up to date.

A popular method of advertising on MySpace has been to create dummy accounts, dressed up to look like real accounts but with the addition of a large amount of spamming. This is a very bad idea, because once MySpace administrators wise up, you will more than likely find yourself banned from the website. There is no reason to go overboard, because MySpace is all about networking, browsing profiles and meeting new people, so you are sure to make a great deal of new friends, simply by providing a profile that is worth looking at.

In conclusion, if you are not already utilizing MySpace as a networking and advertising medium, you are seriously missing out on a great deal of exposure. Create a profile for your business and your products today, and you will find the interest in your company growing exponentially in no time!

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of Net MLM Profits, a blog dedicated to providing information and tips for network marketers to succeed online. http://net-mlm-profits.com/

Web site traffic is the amount of visits and visitors a site receives. This traffic is determined by the number of visitors and the number of pages they visit. Sites monitor the incoming and outgoing traffic to see which pages of their site are popular and if there are any apparent trends. Such trends include specific pages being viewed by people in a particular country. Web traffic is measured to see the popularity of Web sites and individual pages or sections within a site.

Your site traffic can be analyzed by viewing the statistics found in the Web server log file, or by using Web site traffic analysis programs. Any quality Web hosting company will provide free detailed statistics for site traffic. A hit is generated when any file is served. A page view is generated when a visitor requests any page within the site. A visitor will always generate at least one page view – the home or main page – but could generate many more while viewing your site. There are many ways you can increase your Web site traffic, and they all lead to greater sales and profit potentials. We will discuss a variety of options that lead to increased Web site traffic.

There are several things that you can do to promote your Website in addition to promotion through search engines. These may include the following:

Approach your local chamber of commerce and request that they write a short article about you and your business. Even if you are an online-only business, the local exposure is great. You can then take that article and publish it on your site as another promotional tool. Offer to speak at a seminar or lead a workshop in your area of expertise. This is a great way to gain positive media exposure that is community oriented, thus gaining you credibility and trust among potential clients. Circulate your URL at the seminar, and give away a digital report via an auto-responder e-mail. Put your Web site URL on everything you distribute like flyers, promotional items, business cards, and letterheads; Follow up any correspondence from the media with a letter or phone call. Make sure to leave your Web site URL on their voice mail. This strategy gains media exposure by building your reputation as a conscientious, courteous entrepreneur.

Share your knowledge by writing articles and professional opinions for online publications. You can then, upload them to automated e-zine syndication sites. These syndication sites are perfect for inserting immediate hotlinks back to your site and other specific landing pages. Remember to include your e-mail or picture in the byline as well as brief biographical information on yourself and your business. The more exposure you generate, the more successful your business will become.

Atlantic Publishing – Bruce Brown is author of How to Use the Internet to Advertise, Promote and Market Your Business or Web Site With Little or No Money and The Ultimate Guide to Search Engine Marketing: Pay Per Click Advertising Secrets Revealed, available at http://www.atlantic-pub.com.