The A to Z Guide to Getting Website Traffic

In September of 1999, Brett Tabke wrote "26 Steps to 15k a Day" in the Webmaster World forum. A lot has changed since then, and now is the time to consider a new 26-step plan that meets the current needs of webmasters in 2006. Some of the old ones still apply (writing new content everyday, for example), and some don't (submitting to the search engines is no longer necessary), and we're here to tell you which is which! As you probably already know, bringing in traffic is not easy - it takes hard work, determination and lots of elbow grease. So if you're ready, roll up your sleeves and follow these 26 simple steps, and within just one year you will generate enough traffic to keep you busy for a long, long time!
A) Keyword ResearchBefore you do anything else, use a keyword research tool and do an extensive job researching the right keyphrases to use for your site. What keyphrases are your direct competitors using? Are there any keyphrases that create a potential for market entry? Are there any that you can put a spin on and create a whole new niche with?
B) Domain NameIf you want to brand your company name, then choose a domain name that reflects it. If your company is Kawunga, then get www.kawunga.com. If it's taken, then get www.kawungawidgets.com. No dashes, and no more than two words in the domain if appropriate.
C) Avoid the SandboxBuy your domain name early, as soon as you have chosen your keyphrases and your company name. Get it hosted right away and put up a quick one page site saying a little about who you are, what you sell, and that there will be more to come soon. Make sure it gets crawled by Google and Yahoo (either submit it or link to it from another site).
D) Create ContentCreate over 30 pages of real, original content on your site. This will give the spiders something to chew on. It will also give you more opportunities to been seen in the search engine results for a wide variety of keyphrases.
E) Site DesignUse the "Keep It Simple" principle. Employ an external CSS file, clean up any Java Scripts by referring to them off the page in an external file, don't use frames, use flash the way you would an image, and no matter what, do not create a flash site. Do not offer a busy site with lots of bells and whistles to your visitors. Keep things nice and simple. Make it easy for them to find what they are looking for and they'll have no reason to look anywhere else.
F) Page SizeThe less kilobytes your page uses, the better - especially for the home page. Optimize your images and make sure the page loads quickly. Most people and businesses in the Western world may have high speed, but cell phones and other countries might not. If your site loads slowly, you may have already lost your visitor before they've even had a chance to browse around.
G) UsabilityMake sure that your site follows good usability rules. Remember that people spend more time on other sites, so don't violate design conventions. Don't use PDF files for online reading. Change the colours for visited links, and use good headers. Look up usability for more tips and tricks, it will be worth your while.
H) On Site OptimizationUse the keyphrase you have chosen in your title (most important), your headers (when appropriate), and within the text. Make sure that your page/content is ABOUT your keyphrase. If you are selling widgets, than write about widgets. Don't just stick the word widgets into the text.
I) GlobalsGlobals are the links that remain the same on every page. They are the reference for new visitors to keep them from getting lost. Sometimes they are on the left of the page, sometimes they consist of tabs at the top. Often they are in the footer of the page as well. Make sure that you have an old style text version of your globals on every page. I usually create tabs at the top, and put the text versions in the footer at the bottom of the page. Find out what works best for you.
J) HeadersUse bold headers. On the Internet, people scan they don't read. So initially, all they will see are the headers. If your headers don't address their concerns, they won't stick around long enough to read your content. Use appropriate keyphrases when you can.
K) Site MapBuild a site map with a link to each of your pages. Keep it up to date. This will allow the spiders to get to every page. Put a text link to the site map on the main pages.
L) ContentAdd a page every 2-3 days: 200-500 words. Create original content, don't copy others. The more original and useful it is, the more people will read it, link to it, and most importantly of all - like it enough to keep coming back for more.
M) White Hat OnlyStay away from black hat optimizing techniques. Black hat optimization consists of using any method to get higher rankings that the search engines would disapprove of, such as keyword stuffing, doorway pages, invisible text, cloaking and more. Stick to white hat methods for long-term success. People who use black hat optimization are usually there for the short-term, such as in porn, gambling, and Viagra markets (just look at your email spam for more black hat markets). These black hat industry sites are usually around just long enough to make a quick buck.
N) Competition AnalysisWho is linking to your competition? Use Yahoo's "link:" service to see the back links of your competition. For example, type in "link:http://www.yourdomain.com" into Yahoo search without the quotes). Try to get links from the same sites as your direct competitors. Better yet, see if you can replace them!
O) SubmitSubmit to five groups of directories:
1. Dmoz.org and Yahoo (local, such as Yahoo.co.uk, or Yahoo.ca, etc... if you can).2. Find directories in your field and get into them. Pay if you must, but only if the price is reasonable.3. Local directories that relate to your country or region.4. Any other directories that would be appropriate.5. If you are targeting the local market, make sure that you are in the Yellow Pages and Superpages (because search engines use these listings to power local searches)
P) BlogStart a blog about your industry and write a new entry at least once a week. Allow your visitors to comment or, better yet, write their own entries. This will create even more content on your site and will keep people coming back regularly to see what is new.
Q) Links From Other SitesSimply submit your website to appropriate sites, asking that they link to your site as a reference because it will benefit their visitors. Don't spend too much time on this, if your content is good and original, they will find you and link to you naturally. Remember that Linking is Queen (http://www.redcarpetweb.com/promotion/0409.html#feature).
Stay away from reciprocal linking, links farms, link scams, and any other unnatural links. They may not necessarily hurt you, but Google tracks when you get a link, how long you have had a link, who links to the site that links to you, where you live, what you had for breakfast, and more (not really... but kind of).
R) StatisticsMake sure your server has a good statistics program. Use it! If you don't have access to a good program, then pay for one. Without the knowledge of who is coming to your site, from where, and how often, you will be missing out on some essential tools to improve your site.
S) Pay-Per-Click (PPC)Sign up for Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing. Spend money getting people to your site. Use it for branding too. This will create a steady flow of visitors to your site, and will make your site more accessible to your potential clients. You don't have to be #1, you don't even have to be #5... just make sure you are on the first page of search results for most of your keyphrases, when the cost is right.
T) Look AheadStay informed of what is coming up in your market. If a new product will be out next season, write about it now. Take advantage of being a first mover. The search engines, and linkers, will reward you.
U) ArticlesWrite an article once every week and get it published in as many online publications as you can (with a link back to your site). Include the article on your site. Not only will this create many links to your site, but it will also get people to click to your site, and most importantly you will become an expert in the eyes of your visitors. They may even begin looking for your site by querying your name!
V) Study Your TrafficAfter 30 to 90 days you will have enough results to analyze in your statistics program. Go over them with a fine tooth comb. Get the answers to these questions:
Where are your visitors coming from?
Which search engines do they use?
What queries do they type in?
What pages on your site do they visit the most?
What are the entry pages on your site?
What are the exit pages?
What path do they follow when they browse your site?
Use this information to tweak your site.
Use the most popular page to encourage the visitors to make you money.
Adjust the paths they use to send them where you want them.
Figure out why they leave from the exit pages.
Also, see what search terms people use to find you, and fine tune your keyphrases. If you targeted "green widgets", but your visitors are finding you with the query "green leather widgets", then start creating content about "leather widgets"!
W) Verify Your SubmissionsAfter 3-4 months, check that you got into Dmoz.org and all of the other directories that you submitted to. If you have not been included, then submit again, or better yet, write a polite email to the editor and ask why. Also, find any new directories that would be worthy of your submittal time and submit to them.
X) RSS FeedsRSS (Real Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) is becoming a powerful tool for Internet marketers. You can quickly and easily add fresh content to your website. Article feeds are updated frequently, so you can give your visitors (and the search engines) what they want - fresh content! You can use RSS to promote any new content, such as new pages, articles, blogs, press releases, and more!
Y) Press ReleasesA press release is a written communication that you submit to journalists in the media (newspapers, radio, television, magazines) which are used to make announcements that are newsworthy. Create press releases announcing publication of any new articles or new company information or products. If it is interesting/original enough, a journalist may pick it up and write an article about it. Before you know it, your website address may get published in the NY Times.
Z) Keep Your Content FreshRemember to write a new page every 2-3 days. I only mentioned it briefly, but it is probably the most important point in this article. Keep writing! Without fresh content, your site will gradually drop in the search engine results. To stay on top, your content has to be the most up-to-date, freshest, and most interesting and original content in your field.
Follow these 26 simple steps and I assure you that within one year you will call your site a success. You will bring in a massive amount of traffic from within your industry and watch as your business grows!
So start writing, and write yourself to the top!
About the author: Shawn Campbell is an enthusiastic player in the ecommerce marketplace, and co-founded Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc.. He has been researching and developing marketing strategies to achieve more prominent listings in search engine results since 1998. Shawn is one of the earliest pioneers in the search engine optimization field.

Online Merchandising Strategies

Building a profitable and scalable e-commerce business requires flexible merchandising and an effective infrastructure. Flexible merchandising (delivering value and quality in meeting customer needs) is covered in this article. Effective infrastructure (building efficient processes to create the information required for flexible merchandising) is covered later in the article.
Flexible Merchandising

The keys to effective online merchandising are simple: the site and sales process should be interesting, dynamic, appealing, and, most importantly, relevant to each shopper. Relevance means having the flexibility to provide a range of merchandising techniques to suit the needs of different shoppers, or the same shopper in different buying situations. Here is a collection of flexible merchandising strategies used on e-commerce sites—product locators, problem-solving techniques, and customer relationship tools.
Product Locators

Product locators help buyers find the products they need, often by using both a classification scheme and a search mechanism. Products need to be classified so buyers can easily locate them on your site. The efficient way is to incorporate classification data into the product detail and let e-commerce tools generate the Web pages as needed. The alternative is to laboriously paste the product data into Web page templates at the desired locations—and repaste if the site design changes. The following are some product locator strategies enabled by product classification data:


Categories


Visual catalog


Parametric comparison


Table of contents
Categories

Many e-commerce sites organize products by category—beginning with a broad classification, such as clothing, and narrowing in steps, such as outerwear, until individual items, such as mountain parkas, are reached. This metaphor organizes products in a familiar way like paper catalogs, and buyers click through Web pages to reach real products.
Visual Catalog

An electronic components supplier provides a visual catalog that makes it easy to navigate by inspecting a tree of products and selecting items that look like the ones needed. This metaphor, which can be developed with custom templates, helps the occasional buyer who doesn't know industry terminology. The supplier also provides search tools for frequent buyers that use full-text descriptions, product codes, or competitors' product codes.
Parametric Comparison

A PC accessories reseller lets the buyer pick product models and accessories from pull-down menus and then presents a table of items that match. Then, the buyer can compare specifications of individual items against each other and select which to buy. This metaphor, available with custom templates, creates virtual mini-catalogs on the fly to suit buyer requirements.
Table of Contents

More sites are adding table of contents features to supplement the other access methods. Some sites have multiple tables of contents that include products, services, and online information. Each entry jumps to a page of items or a visual catalog.
Problem-Solving Techniques

Locating products is one thing, making the sale is another. Problem solving (matching the right products to the customer's need) increases the chance of closing the sale and bolstering volume. Successful matching requires linking product uses to needs. The following are some problem-solving techniques made possible by product usage attributes:


Questions and answers


Up- and cross-selling


Accessorization


Customer relationship tolls
Questions and Answers

A technical products reseller provides a question-and-answer interface that leads the buyer through a dialogue governed by an expert system. This metaphor, available in most custom templates, helps the buyer clarify the requirement and identify candidate solutions at the same time. Such expert systems require linkage of recommended solutions to specific products. The reseller could also provide search tools for text descriptions, model names, and product codes.
Up- and Cross-Selling


Sites are beginning to add up-selling and cross-selling capabilities to enhance per-sale revenues. Up-selling offers more capable (and more costly) versions of a product. Cross-selling offers a complementary product to be purchased at the same time to expand the range of problems solved. Up- and cross-selling require links between models with varying levels of capacity and features and links to products with complementary uses.
Accessorization

Some sites focus on providing all items needed for specific uses, problems, or applications. For example, road warriors who want a portable printer may also need specific cable, batteries, power supplies, replacement print cartridges, ink tanks, special types of papers, helper applications, portable scanners, and even online access to clip art—all items that can be classified as "for use with" the portable printer.
Customer Relationship Tools

The customer relationship data, such as product preferences, past purchases, and demographics, can help shape merchandising strategies, if the relationship information is recorded in data attributes. The efficient way to employ customer relationship data is to accumulate preferences and purchase history on an ongoing basis in a customer profile—and ensure that this data can be linked with product detail for subsequent promotions. This approach is being adopted by increasing numbers of retailers and direct marketers for their customer loyalty programs.

Or, you can analyze past sales data and classify customers after the fact. This is difficult if product descriptions are the usual haphazard abbreviations shown on invoices. The following merchandising techniques can be based on linkage of customer relationship attributes to product information:


Customer preferences


Past purchases


Contracts


Customization/personalization
Customer Preferences

Keeping a record of preferences can enhance your relationship with customers in many ways. For example, maintaining the customer's preferred payment method reduces form fill-in at payment time. Size, color, texture, style, genre, lifestyle, and language preferences can simplify the purchasing process and enhance sales for clothing, housewares, sports gear, music, books, periodicals, and other goods. Customer preferences need to tie back to category or item-level attributes to work effectively.
Past Purchases

Records of past customer purchases, especially equipment, can enhance sales opportunities for extended warranties, supplies, maintenance, upgrades, and add-ons. Past purchases of supply items can drive seasonal or customer-specific promotions. Leveraging purchases data is straightforward if the product codes used in recording the original sale are accurate and meaningful.
Contracts

Much business purchasing is done under supply contracts. Contracts can be administered systematically online if discounted items are explicitly listed in the contract (in other words, a contract-specific version of the catalog is prepared). Tiered discounts are often based on purchase volumes by commodity class, which requires accurate classification of product items.
Customization/Personalization

Meeting customer-specific requirements can cement your relationships. Customization requires data fields at the item level, carrying them through the order process. Business-to-consumer examples include storing measurements for make-to-order clothing and custom-fit bicycles in a profile, and enabling custom selections of music on CDs. Business-to-business examples include storing specifications for make-to-order servers, routers, lab equipment, and specialty chemicals in a profile, and enabling custom configuration of personal computers and servers

Finally, product locators, problem-solving techniques, selling strategies, and customer relationship tools all rely on attributes to associate products with one another, merchandising techniques, and customer groups. Until recently, it has been difficult to rapidly deploy new merchandising strategies, because of the need to add new attribute fields and update existing field values for catalog entries.

e-articles.info

Online Ad Growth Higher In Great Britain Than US

The New York Times has a lengthy article on the growth of online advertising in Great Britain, and how it's outpacing the U.S. In fact, online advertising in Britain is growing by 40% and is expected to account for 14% of all advertising spend - more than twice the percentage in the United States.

While it may seem strange that Britain is able to go from lagging the U.S., to kicking its butt, it makes a lot of sense.

...British media are nearly all aimed nationwide in contrast to the United States newspaper and television markets, where local and regional markets are big players. These local markets in the United States have, so far, been slow to move ad money online.

When your country fits into Texas - probably more than once - everything is national. While the U.S. is fragmented by regions - local TV stations, radio, newspapers - the U.K. relies more heavily on national audiences.

Once curious downside, that I've not seen mentioned before, is that as the percentage of online advertising grows, the overall amount spent on advertising reduces.

Growth in spending on advertising and marketing services is set to slow to 0.3 percent this year, according to Group M, after growth of 4.3 percent last year and 6.7 percent in 2004.

It makes total sense - the cost to advertise online is cheaper - but it's the first time I've seen the theory actually play out in practice.

Here's a graph showing the growth of Britain's online advertising, compared to America's.

 

webpronews.com

Long Yahoo, Short Google: Why I Think This Contrarian Idea Will Work

Adwords Users Can Now Target Adsense Channels

5 Blogging Dead Ends To Avoid

Essential SEO Blogs | Stay Up-to-date On The Search Engine Optimization World.

Long Yahoo, Short Google: Why I Think This Contrarian Idea Will Work

Daniele Guerini submits: With Google ( GOOG) up 20% and Yahoo (YHOO) down more than 30% over the last 12 months, there is no doubt who is the 2006 winner. Google still has hordes of supporters, while Yahoo seems to have lost many because of a quite disappointing fiscal year.

Year 2007 will very likely start with the same theme. People will keep on buying Google, based on its strong growth and solid position built in the paid search business, and at the same time Yahoo will continue to struggle, with no good news expected in the first quarter of the year, at least. But this could maybe change after Q1...

click to enlarge
YHOO-GOOG 1-yr performance chart

Despite 2006 results, my long term contrarian idea is to long YHOO and short GOOG.

Paid Search Monetization Opportunities

Even the biggest supporter of Google's model would agree that there is much more room for improvement in Yahoo's paid search monetization than in Google's. I came across some research recently showing that Yahoo generates $0.04 per US search vs $0.11 at Google. This is almost a 65% discount! The success of Project Panama [placing ads based on price and relevancy of ads] could significantly reduce the gap. A reduction of the gap to a more reasonable 30% discount [$0.077 per search] would generate something like $800m of extra revenues based on the number of searches in IIIQ 06. And, more important, these extra revenues come at no extra cost, which means that they will convert in EBITDA. The interesting thing is that Wall Street has, thus far, been disappointed by Project Panama and therefore has low expectations from the search monetization opportunity. If Yahoo delivers above expectations, a series of upgrades could follow. Affiliates can be a plus. They've been leaving Yahoo for Google due to better monetization, but, given the low switching costs, they could easily come back if Yahoo starts offering them a better value proposition. In the worst case scenario, Yahoo could end up outsourcing search monetization to Google, thus improving the P&L anyway.

Internet Users' Tastes May Change Over Time

At the beginning, internet advertising meant only banners; then, people got used to them and stopped clicking. Click through rates declined dramatically and cost-per-click [CPC] emerged. Now video advertising is on the rise. Will CPC effectiveness decline? I honestly don't have an answer. But what I see is that Yahoo has a balanced portfolio of ads inventory including CPC, cost-per-thousand [CPM], cost-per-ad [CPA] and video advertising. And having many products certainly helps in a ever changing industry like online advertising. Google currently looks very much like a one product company. It's a wonderful product and it's working very well. But in technology, things change very fast...

Web 2.0

Yahoo looks to me to be more web 2.0 friendly than Google. Or, to put it in other words, it's a better platform for user generated content, which right now appears like the place to be. Think of Yahoo Answers, its success and the failure of Google's version. Google is the best place for search. Yahoo is one of the best websites for general web content. While I don't want to debate the value paid, YouTube's acquisition demonstrates to me that Google is probably not well prepared to build web 2.0 services / applications internally.

Sustainability

Sustainability is a concept I always stress when discussing long term investments. Google has a couple of competitive advantages, namely the best search results and an incredible monetization system. A friend in the VC industry recently told me about several start ups now working on better paid search monetization models. Today they are just a bunch of kids in a garage, tomorrow who knows... what is certain is that Google will have to invest more and more in order to maintain a competitive advantage in an industry where switching costs are marginal.

Bottom line: By saying "long Yahoo and short Google" I'm not necessarily assuming that Google's stock will fall. What I am saying, however, is that, at this point, I see more room for growth in Yahoo rather than Google stock over the medium to long term, thanks to its restructuring opportunity and a broader product range.

internet.seekingalpha.com

Adsense Alternatives

Many people have started using Google's AdSense program, but there are some who find it a bit too uncertain or simply not suiting their own requirements from an ad program.

But thankfully for such people, there are many alternatives to AdSense which attempt to alleviate some of its shortcomings. Here is a list of the most noteworthy ones from the lot with a description concerning each one.

AllFeeds (http://www.allfeeds.com/?action=publishers) AllFeeds has a great pool of online advertisers to choose from. It also features many display formats that you can choose from. These include banners, buttons, XML feeds, DHTML pop-ups and so on. It also features real time reporting of your ad status. The site will mail a check every month, provided that you earn more then $25.00, while rolling over earnings for the next month if you don't. Another interesting thing about AllFeeds is that it integrates with Google AdSense, maximizing your earnings with AdSense.

MarketBanker (http://www.marketbanker.com/mb/sell.php) MarketBanker allows you the unique possiblity to set the pricing for your site. It also allows you to allow or reject any link that appears on your site (although AdSense itself does a very good job of this as well, with URL filters) There's also a statistics section which will allow you to see how well your site is doing. The ads are small just like AdSense's and they're just as easy to set up. Also, registration for MarketBanker is free.

BidClix ( http://www.bidclix.com/PubTop.html) BidClix is different because it has advertisers compete for clicks on your site, which in turn is meant to generate the highest possible profits for your page. It also has a very large pool of advertisers which ensure there are plenty of people to choose your site. However, it does require more polish on site contents then AdSense. As most sites, real time statistics are available and its very easy to get started with this service, but it's also very flexible.

Chitika (http://www.realcontext.com/index.php?option=RealContext:+Contextual+Targeting+Engine ) RealContext uses Artificial intelligence to retrieve the most relevant ads for your page. And there's an extra feature which makes RealContext unique as well. Keywords are selected based upon which previous selections payed off and which didn't. That means there's a constant feedback process that ensures you gain better revenue from your ads. It also supports blocking certain adds and child-safe filtering and many more options.

AdHearus (http://adhearus.com/webmaster.php) AdHearus is a very feature-packed contextual ad provider. As with AdSense, advertisements are targeted but it doesn't stop here at all. The ads are very flexible, you can select from text-ads, banners, rectangles, pop-ups, pop-unders or skyscrapers. You can also display your own ads, through rotation, both on your site and on other affiliate sites, which makes AdHearus a hybrid with conventional advertising technologies. There's a very comprehensive on-line real time reporting feature and, as usual with such services, starting out is free and it's a breeze.

AffiliateSensor (http://www.affiliatesensor.com/) AffiliateSensor has highly customizable ad blocks, which you can make for yourself with an easy to use on-line interface. You also get realtime reporting with clicks-by-domain, page and refferer. There's integration with Google AdSense as well, through the google_alternate_ad_url so AffiliateSensor can be used as a substitute for Google PSA's (Public Service Ads).

Kanoodle Bright Ads (http://www.kanoodle.com/about/brightads.cool) Kanoodle's offering allows publishers to get ads related to topics or segments, and not the traditional keyword oriented ads. The site also groups publisher sites with advertisers by hand to ensure high-revenue generating ads. And speaking of revenue, the amount of money you receive is a clear 50% share of the amount of money Kanoodle recieves for an advertiser.

TargetPoint (http://publisher.targetpoint.com) TargetPoint is oriented more towards content publishers. It offers full control over the look the ads, statistics over your site's overall performance and better revenue. It's free to register and you earn a guaranteed 60% of the total revenue. You can get payed with Paypal of Bank checks and (most times) wire transfers as well.

Clicksor (http://www.clicksor.com) Clicksor will earn you as much as 60% from the amount of money your website produces. What you get is about the same as AdSense, there are targeted text ads, you can view the revenues from your website in real time. You can receive money via PayPal or through a check every two weeks, provided that you have earned more then $50. If you haven't made that much, your earning roll over to the next period

Bidvertiser (http://www.bidvertiser.com/) Like AdSense, Bidvertiser displays text ads in your page. But the difference lies in the fact that advertisers bid over your advertising space, ensuring you earn as much revenue as you possibly can. This also means that bids will increase over time, earning you even more cash. You also get a great way to customize your ads with a very easy to use tool and detailed reports on your site's status.

Quigo AdSonar (http://www.quigo.com/adsonarpublishers.htm) Quigo AdSonar achieves relevancy by placing a filter according to your site's categories. It also offers you on-line reports of your site's status and the possibility to add your own custom ads replacing ads that don't gain you any revenue. The setup is very simple, in a similar fashion to AdSense's and quite customizable as well.

Vibrant Media IntelliTXT (http://www.intellitxt.com/site/web_01a.html) Vibrant Media IntelliTXT offers user-activated ads, highlighting certain words within the content of the page and presenting relevant ads when a user hovers his mouse over them. It uses a pay-for-performance pricing scheme and can easily be used along with other advertising methods, because it is unobtrusive. It places you in full control, allowing you to easily integrate it within your site with some simple JavaScript.

Nixie (http://www.nixxie.com/display.php?section=Partners) Nixie claims to hold a technology that can read and understand your site, enabling it to display the most relevant content to your site. Besides text ads, Nixie also features price comparison listings as well as live auction advertising. It's very easy to implement and has a good payment policy as well.

MIVA AdRevenue Xpress (http://www.miva.com/us/content/partners/arx.asp) MIVA AdRevenue Xpress is targeted towards small and mid-sized publishers. It implements Search Box functionality and also features things like a Category Directory as well as the handling of 404 error pages. It can be integrated with your page using a simple on-line wizard.

Fastclick (http://www.fastclick.com/publish.html) Fastclick offers you an impressive 65 percent of what it makes from a click on your website. Payments are done monthly, via PayPal or through checks. The ads can be formatted as you wish, and Fastclick even offers a free support serice for its members and no fees are required to register with the service.

contextWeb ContextAd (http://www.contextweb.com/Corporate/publisher/publisher.shtml) ContextAd offers the possibility of contextual ads for dynamic pages, meaning ads will change as soon as your page does. It's very easy to use and free to sing up for and offers a transparent payment policy. The ads are fully customizable and real-time reports are available 24/7.

AdBrite (http://www.adbrite.com/) AdBrite offers publishers the possibility of integrating text ads in their pages. These are done on your own rates, with the websites you approve by hand so it bares some similarities with a classic advertising scheme. You also have the option of adding a "Your Add Here" button that buyers can immediately click to ad space on your page. It can also be used in conjunction with Google AdSense, maximizing your CTR and offering advertisers the possibility of showing their links in your Google AdSense space. You have full control over the look and feel of your adds and finally, you get an incredible 75% of what the advertiser pays for on every click.

So, as you can see there are many offers for this kind of advertising, and many hybrids based on AdSense like advertising. Also, a lot of services can work together with AdSense to earn you an even greater amount of revenue for your ad space.

You need to have optimized niche website templates for best results. You may find the best adsense templates and blog templates at www.AdsenseTemplates.com ( http://www.adsensetemplates.com). They are offering 100 fresh new templates every month.

About the author: John Ugoshowa. For more information about affiliate marketing see the affiliate marketing section of The Free Ad Forum .

Email Marketing

Email Marketing is used by almost everyone on the Internet today to promote their business or opportunity. Unfortunately, the wide-spread use of Email Marketing has caused some problems to many marketers. The email providers are developing stricter guidelines when it comes to spam making it harder for those using this medium to make it work to their benefit. Due to this development, email marketers are forever trying to develop the ins and outs of how to get their email through to their prospective customers let alone be read.

Through reading many articles on this subject and doing some research, I have come up with some of the strategies that will enhance your Email Marketing Advertising methods.

1. Using all capitals can turn people off. Be careful to use them sparingly as they represent your message coming across boldly, or loudly in relation to a humans speech.

2. Color can be used in emails but do not overdo. You want your email to look professional, not blind someone.

3. The most common fonts that should be used are Arial, Times New Roman, and Courier New. These are easier on the eye. You might even use an uncommon font to make something stand out in lieu of color.

4. If you are using links in your email, make sure they take the "potential customer" to the correct page. Also, you will want to make sure that all browser recognize your link. For instance, AOL does not accept clickable links so you need to make sure the "potential AOL customer" has an actual URL they can copy and paste.

5. Always use a signature tag in your emails. You can list your name, title, and links. Be careful not to list too many links as people will most likely only view the first few anyway. Placement here is important.

Email marketing is very cost effective and can be used to  your benefit . This method of advertising will be much more successful if you understand and apply the do's and don't of Email Marketing!

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SEO Friendly Dynamic Websites

Targeting Online Advertising

When targeting your online advertising keep in mind that there are hundreds of millions of web users and at least some of them are probably looking for a product just like yours. This gives you a huge potential profit if you product is good and your advertising is seen by them and if it lets them know how good your product is and why it would be a good thing for them to buy. But, if you are not targeted enough to your audience, then it will be quite likely that you will either waste a lot of money, a lot of effort, or both.

Many people, when they start advertising online, try to keep their advertising as wide as possible. The reason behind this is usually that they think that the more people that see the advert, the more they will sell. After all a product that is seen by millions of people will sell better than a product that is seen by thousands. Although this sounds reasonable and in fact may be partly correct, it does not work in the context of getting a return on your effort and money. If you are advertising an exercise machine that is usually bought by women hoping to tone their thighs, there is no point in advertising it just as an exercise machine. If you do this you will be spending your advertising budget on advertising it to runners, body builders, people recovering from a broken leg, soldiers, athletes, active pensioners and many more groups that will never buy it. But you will still be paying for the advertising. But if you sell directly to women in their twenties and thirties who are in reasonably well paying jobs and can afford it, then you are much
more likely to get a return on your investment.

So although a lot less people will see the advert, it will be seen by those that are actually interested in buying it, rather than by those that will not. This is very important if you are using advertising that costs you money for each visitor to your site . Then you will need to make sure that the only people that you send your ad to are those that might buy it. That way you get a much better return on your money and your advertising will be much more successful.

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Tactical PPC advertising in action

There's a lot of news coverage at the moment about the Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko. Doctors have identified the poison as Polonium. Here's the Technorai graph showing the increase in blog traffic relating this search…

So there's clearly a lot of interest in this story as blogs and news-related sites discuss the ongoing developments on this case.

So, here's what google throws up for the search 'Polonium'.

Firstly, the good thing is that you can't buy Polonium on Ebay - but you can buy spare time and lottery numbers.

The Times Online website has latched onto this story, realising that a lot of people are searching to find out more about it. So, as shown, they have a tactical PPC ad with Polonium as a keyword. Smart.

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Custom Banners Reflects Ideas of your Company

Information is the most important thing that can create awareness just about anything. Banners are meant to inform people at large that something is being launched or some event is going to happen. You get to see a variety of banners here and there that tells about a particular thing. Many times they look so stylish and colorful. If you are not able to find banners that can convey your message, then customer banners are meant to solve your problem. Customer banners will help you in conveying your message in your own way, without being dependable on anyone else.

Banners are considered as an important source of information that reflects your thoughts and ideas. In fact, custom banners have the ability to best describe your offers, products and services in special words mentioned by you. It is quite obvious that custom banners have individual quality that will stand you apart in the crowd of other banners. Banners not only represent your plans and specialties, they act as your mouthpiece that will create awareness about the company that is launching its products and services. Custom banner can be your best help in popularizing something.

Advertising has become more interesting with custom banners. As you make your own banners, there are better chances of creating a special identity. One of the most important advantages of customer banners is that it helps a company to establish its place in the market. Custom banners can be bigger in size that adds visual support to your advertisement campaign and increase the value of your message. This form of advertising has been used since many years. These days, you can see banner ads at malls, events, trade shows and many more. Everyone knows that banners reflect the reputation of company that it is advertising for.

Customer banners have to be stylish and expressive, so that it can establish a separate place for your company in the market. It is better to keep the design simple. The main reason behind this is that, people would not like to see a design that proves a disaster for eyes. Obviously, simple and attractive designs suits the eyes of viewers more than the gaudy ones. The designs should be such that it reveals the importance of the services and products that the company is telling about. In custom banners, you should strictly avoid verbosity. It is because verbosity will not only hamper creativity, but also the importance and relevance of your message.

Apart from the design and color combination used in custom banners, another thing to be seen is the caption. It is the caption that catches attention of viewers. You get one chance to be highly effective in expressing your message in that caption. In fact, it is this message that will create awareness among people and they would approach you for buying your products and services. In selecting the color of the caption, take care that it should be a contrast to the background so that the message can be highlighted. Customer banners help you to announce a new launch in your company.

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