Adsense is one of the easiest ways to make money on the Internet since since you don't need to sell anything to earn money. However, many people can't believe that thousands of webmasters make a decent passive income from their adsense earnings.

When you know how to play the adsense game, adsense can really become your secondary or primary source of income. So how those webmasters are able to quit their day job with Google as new boss?

The surefire way to maximize your adsense earnings is to use secret adsense earning lists. You need do search for (or buy) high paying keywords. To be able to find those keywords, you can use well known keywords tools that help will identify those money making keywords quickly and easily.

However, that method is becoming less effective now because everybody and his dog is going after the same keywords, and build webpages full of them...

What is the problem then? The problem is that search engine become more and more "intelligent", and they are less likely to send visitors to those made for adsense sites.

And you know that less visitors to your adsense pages means decrease in your adsense earnings. Do you recognize something here? Do not build your site for search engines, go natural!

Build your site for visitors, and avoid keyword stuffing... You must build your site first with your readers in mind. Ask yourself: If I remove all contextual advertising from my site, will visitors stay on the site, bookmark it and come back to find what's news?

If the answer is no, your site will surely make pennies a day.

While adsense is one of the easiest ways to make a decent passive income on the Internet, the only way to maximize your adsense earnings is to satisfy your visitors!

Here are some tips to maximize your adsense earnings:

• A site which is visitors satisfaction optimized.
• A nice site layout.
• An easy and organized site navigation.
• Redirect your visitors to your high earning adsense pages.
• Links leading to high pages with catchy descriptions.
• Use images near your adsense ads.
• Use catchy graphics.
• Location of your adsense ads.

Know that the thing that will really skyrocket your adsense earnings is not to have the best high paying keywords list, but to put those adsense ads in a proper location.

Here are two examples of a good adsense block placements on your sites. They are proven to work:

• At the top left of your page (embeded in the text).
• At the bottom of the page.

Another highly powerful way to maximize your adsense earnings which is overlooked is to read Google adsense blog regularily, and to apply Google advices with their webmasters guideline.

Building a "visitors enhanced site" is the only way to maximize your adsense earnings today because of the high number of competitors. A fast and easy way to get the better adsense placements on your website is to buy instant adsense templates.

About the author: Franck Silvestre has an excellent beginner's free affiliate marketing course, and shows you how to maximize your adsense earnings. Get several Free Instant adsense templates to start your VRE empire.

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So you’ve built your website, you know what keywords you want to target (i.e. what words your customers are searching for), and you’re ready to write your copy. You’ve been told that you should use your keywords frequently so that you appear in search results for those words. But what does “frequently” mean?

How many times should you use your primary keyword? This case study helps answer that question.

Some background on ”Keyword Density”

In order to understand optimum keyword usage, we first need to have some way of measuring keyword frequency. In the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) world, frequency is actually referred to as density. Keyword density is a measure of the number of times your keyword appears on a page expressed as a percentage of the total wordcount of that page. For example, if your page has 100 words, and your keyword phrase appears 5 times, its density is 5%. So when you hear someone say “keyword density”, that’s normally what they’re talking about. (TIP: You can automatically check the keyword density of your page at http://www.live-keyword-analysis.com.)

However, there is another, more complex measure of keyword density which takes into account the text components in the HTML of the page (i.e. the meta tags: Title, Keywords, Alt Text, Description, and Comments). When using this measure, you don’t just count the words your visitor sees; you also count the words in your meta tags. For example, if you have 100 words on your home page, 10 words in your Title tag, 20 words in your Description tag, 70 words in your Alt tags, and 10 words in your Comments tag, your total wordcount for the page is 100 + 10 + 20 + 70 + 10 = 210. Similarly, when counting keywords, you don’t just add up the number of times a visitor will see your keyword, you also count the number of times that keyword appears in your meta tags. For example, if your keyword appears 5 times in the home page copy, 3 times in the Title tag, 5 times in the Description tag, 30 times in your Alt tags, and twice in your Comments tag, your total keyword count is 5 + 3 + 5 + 30 + 2 = 45. So with a total wordcount of 210 and a keyword count of 45, your keyword density is 45/210 x 100 = 21%. It is argued that this measure of keyword density is more relevant as the search engines measure density in this fashion. (TIP: You can automatically check the keyword density of your page using this more complex measure at http://www.gorank.com/analyze.php.)

As you can see, you need to be very aware of which measure you’re talking about when you’re talking “keyword density”. But let me reiterate; mostly when people talk about keyword density, they’re talking the simple measure.

What is the optimum keyword density

And now down to business… What keyword density (of either kind) should you be targeting on your website?

There’s a lot of debate surrounding this issue because the search engine companies don’t disclose the details of their algorithms (as that would allow people to abuse the system). Instead, people working in the SEO world are left to figure it out based on their experience.

A recent article by respected SEO and Blog expert, Wayne Hurlbert, (see http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessnews/wpn-45-20050501KeywordDensitySEOconsiderations.html) suggests that Google sees pages with a keyword density of greater than 2% as spam. It was this article which prompted me to analyze the keyword density of my copywriting website.

CASE STUDY

The Website: This case study analyzes the website for my advertising copywriting and SEO copywriting business, Divine Write – http://www.divinewrite.com. For my primary keyword, my site is now on page 1 of Google.com (out of approximately 900,000 search results).

Number of pages on site: At the time of writing, my website contained a total of 53 pages.

Primary keyword phrase: “copywriter”

Average keyword density: Using the simple measure of keyword density discussed above, the average keyword density of my copywriting website is 1.9%. Using the complex measure it’s 4.9%.

Keyword density range: Using the simple measure, my density ranged from 0.4% to 7.6%. Using the complex measure it ranged from 1.6% to 17.5%

Some comments on the figures

• The figures and corresponding ranking detailed in this case study may not be directly relevant to every site. There’s a lot I don’t know about the algorithms and there are bound to be other factors at play which I don’t know about.

• With regard to Wayne Hurlbert’s article, it would seem that he is referring to keyword density as calculated using the simple method discussed above.

• The range figures are noteworthy because they suggest that you don’t need to be paranoid about having some pages with a very high density and some with a very low density.

Conclusion

A simple keyword density of 1.9% can be enough for a first page ranking in Google.com (assuming you have enough quality backlinks – see http://www.divinewrite.com/SEOCEO.htm and http://www.divinewrite.com/seoarticles.htm for more information).

Happy SEO writing!

About the Author: * Glenn Murray is an SEO copywriter and article submission and article PR specialist. He is a director of article PR company, Article PR, and also of copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit http://www.DivineWrite.com or http://www.ArticlePR.com for further details.

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The World Wide Web is an increasingly crowded, noisy market, filled with people promising everything from weight loss to a plot of land, to businesses advertising everything from glasswares to glass globes. It is also becoming increasingly difficult to make your voice heard in the multitude of sounds that make up the Internet. How can you speak out, be heard, and still make a elfin cash on the side?

There are many ways to promote your site and earn money through the Internet. You can ask friends to link to your site, hoping that you can increase your popularity in the search engines and get more people to notice your site. You can sell your crafts and products, hoping that people will happen by and gift you something to chuckle all the way to the bank for.

These methods, however, are long shots compared with a direct, straight - to - the - cash - register way of AdSense. Google's answer to pay - per - page - portion letter advertising, AdSense enables individual website owners to earn money every time their visitor clicks on ads insightful on their site.

How does Google AdSense work? By registering with the program, Google picks up relevant keywords from your site, then uses these keywords to select ads that are relevant to your site content. These ads will embody placed in a particular nook in your site, where they will be most noticed by your web visitors. If your visitors click on the ads, you will get commissions.

When you get into the AdSense program, you become an AdSense publisher. To do so, all you need is to apply once online. When Google approves your application, it gives you a chance to set advancing your account, then gives you a block of HTML script to add to your website. This script will allow the targeted advertisements to appear on your website, and will instantly accord users the chance to deliver you revenue.

Google AdSense has thousands of poster contacts, so that you have no shortage of possible ads that can make it to your site. Moreover, since Google maintains a working relationship with the ad owners, ad publishers do not have to problem about taking trouble of or nurturing the publisher - advertiser correlation. Google AdSense, moreover, is smart: it can recognize word meanings from context clues, and can and so add ads to your site without you having to specify that you mean a cup of Java coffee, and not Java the programming language.

The most attractive feature of Google AdSense is that you do not have to pay to participate. You can even choose which ads you want your site to have, simply by employing a departure of filters that can classify ads and keep out those that do not match your site language and elegance. You can even change ad colors and fonts to make sure that they fit with your website's topic.

What most people don't know about Google AdSense is that original is a smart program that gives the AdSense publisher all the efficacy to choose and tailor ads to suit their tastes. One such angle is called Ad Section Targeting.

What is AdSense Ad Section Targeting? In a nutshell, Ad Section Targeting allows you to emphasize what keywords Google AdSense will pick up from your site. This emphasis makes sure that Google leaves out unnecessary, but often repeated keywords that you might not demand to have ads for.

For instance, if you are running a site for planting flowers, your keywords might include " fertilizers, " " soil, " and " seeds. " The Google ads that will temperament up will therefore be from companies selling fertilizers, soils, and seeds. However, if you would consonant to concentrate only on companies selling fertilizers and seeds, you can also " ask " Google AdSense to emphasize such companies when choosing ads for you. You can also " ask " Google AdSense to exclude, or downplay considered ads.

How does Ad Section Targeting work? As with most other Google AdSense tools, Ad Section Targeting is accomplished by adding a block of HTML code to sections of your website that you would like Google AdSense to emphasize or skip. This HTML code can contain the " Ignore " trade, which keeps Google AdSense from using keywords in the specific section of the website when choosing ads for you. The HTML code may also contain an " Emphasis " function, which Google AdSense can use when choosing ads.

The changes, however, will not be immediate. For instance, if you are using Google AdSense for all of your site's keywords, and you suddenly wish to come to Ad Section Targeting, the changes may not put on made at once, as Google's crawlers return life to revisit and reevaluate websites. The sections of your site that need to be emphasized, moreover, also need to have as much content as possible. This makes it easier for Google AdSense to add the ads to your website because it will own many keywords to choose from.

By Google AdSense's rules, it should also be remembered that Ad Section Targeting should be used only to emphasize parts of your website that are relevant to its content. Ad Section Targeting should not be abused to gather sites that are irrelevant to your site. Such a habit is common practice among webmasters who want to make easy cash fast. The practice, however, can be annoying to your site's visitors, and can even make you lose them.

When used wisely, however, Google AdSense and Ad Section Targeting can earn you the money you need, and make your website shine. Sign up for AdSense, learn the tricks of the field, and obey the rules, and you'll hear your virtual cash observation ringing in no time.

About the author:Peter Dobler is a 20+ year veteran in the IT business. He is an active Real Estate Investor and a successful Internet business owner. Learn more about AdSense; send a blank email to course@peterdobler.com or visit http://adsense.articles24x7.com

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For adsense publishers, as we know, we can set our adsense ads with channels. But how did you name the channels? Here I will share with you tips on how I manage my adsense ads by using specific name format for my adsense channels.

Because I have multiple websites and use wordpress themes, so I need to name the channels according to where the adsense will be displayed. To make it simple I use this kind of format for my adsense channels.

[site/theme]_[file]-[location]-[ads type]

Here are what the meaning for each tag.

• site/theme - Your site or theme name. Eg: k2, kubrick, dfire, chnet.
• file - Filename which you put the adsense code. Eg: index, page, archives, search, 404.
• location - Where you place the adsense code. Eg: header, sidebar, footer, entry.
• ads type - Your adsense type. Eg: adunit, linkunit.

Ok here is an example: k2_single-header-adunit

What we can get from this channel name is, the ads is an adunit type. It is located under k2 theme folder in file single.php. And the ads is being display on site header.

So when each time you login into your adsense report, it is easier for you to track down which ads are performing well and which are not.

Note:

1. If there are more ads in one page in one location, put a number after the ads type. Eg: k2_single-header-adunit2
2. Make sure you name your adsense channels properly because the maximum characters are 30.
3. You also can use this tips on AdSearch channels too.

If you have anything to ask or want to give suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comment box below. I hope this post is helpful and thanks for your time! :)

About the author: J. Gilbert,Author website can be found at CypherHackz.Net - Personal, Technology, Computers, Security & Internet Site

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So you’re a bit of an idiot where web design is concerned. There is nothing to be ashamed about; we all have to start learning somewhere.

What is web design?

Web design is the look and feel of your website. A website is basically a collection of web pages (files) that contain text and images and the design is how it looks and functions

What’s the point in good web design?

Well the better your design the more likely you are to get visitors to visit your site and come back time and time again. Also good design can have a major impact on the whole success of your website

What are the main key points to good web design?

You want a site that is pleasant to the eye and easy to navigate. A sight with multicolor and flashing images will put a lot of people off. Your website should load quickly too, so a home page with a huge picture on it will take a long time to load even if you have a fast internet connection, and a lot of people will not wait for the picture to load. So a simple design without flash is the best bet.

Who is the right person to design my website?

It is best to find someone with an eye for great design and experience in designing websites. Someone who can show you a portfolio of websites they have already designed for people.

How will Google find me?

Once you have listed your site on another website it will be listed on Google. How will my site get found by Google search terms? Well you have to realize that Google finds pages by finding the most relevant page for that particular search term. So say for instance you want to be found with the search terms ‘pink elephant’ your site has to have the most relevant amount of content about ‘pink elephants’. If there is another site with more pages and text on pink elephants then that site will come up before you. Also your site needs to be popular, and sites are popular by the amount of links to your site. Listing your site on as many directories as possible is one way of creating link popularity and also writing articles and posting them on article sites is another great way. But remember to leave a short bio with a link back to your site.

I still don’t get it, what should I do?

Find an experienced company that will do all this for you, preferable a company that offers, domain name registration, web design, web hosting, web marketing, and search engine optimisation.

About the author:Carolyn is the webmaster of Discount Domains for affordable web design.

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Google, being one of the most undisputed search engine leaders is now placing higher importance on the quality and relevancy of its search engine results. Even more so today, now that the company is publicly traded and there are shareholders to satisfy.

For this same reason, doing the wrong things as a Adsense advertising partner, whether intentionally or not, may result in a severe penalty or even having your account terminated.

So, for those who are thinking of starting a career in Adsense, it's a good idea to not only think about the strategies you will be use to generate more earnings but to also be aware of activities that will, more than likely, shorten your career.

The following is a list of things you will definitely want to avoid:

Hidden text. Filling your advertisement page with text to small to read which has the same color as the background and uses css (cascading style sheets) for the sole purpose of loading them with keyword-rich content and copy, will earn you a penalty award given to those who are hiding links.

Page cloaking. This is the common practice of using a browser or bot sniffers to serve the bots of a different page other than the page the surfer is expecting to see. Loading a page with a bot that a human user will never see is a definite no-no. The goal here is to trick the surfer into visiting a web page you want seen but that the visitor might not have gone to.

Multiple submissions. For example, trying to submit one URL as two separate ones. This is definitely inviting trouble and even Adsense account termination. This is good reason to avoid auto submitters. Check first to see if your domain has already been submitted to a certain search engine before you try to submit to it again. If you see it there, then move on.

Link farms. Be wary of who and what are you linking your Adsense to. The search engines know that you cannot control your links in but you can certainly control what you link to. Link farming has always been a rotten apple in the eyes of search engines, especially Google. That is reason enough to try and avoid them. Having more than 100 links on a single page will classify you as a link farm, so be sure to keep that number under that.

Page rank for sale. If you have been online for some time, you might have noticed some sites selling their page rank links or trading them with other sites. If you are doing this, expect a ban anytime . It is okay to sell ads or acquire the link.

But combining this advertising with your Adsense advertisment pages is a way to get on the search engine's bad side.

Doorways. This is similar to cloaking pages. It is the common practice of a page loaded with choice keyword ads aimed at

redirecting visitors to another "user-friendly" page is a big issue among search engines. There are many SEO firms offering this service. Again, you will want to avoid using this technique.

Multiple domains having the same content. In case you are not aware of it, search engines look at domain IP's, registry dates and many other things. Having multiple domains with the same exact content is not something you can hide from them.

The same is true with content multiplied many times on separate pages,sub domains and forwarding multiple domains to pages displaying duplicate content.

Many of the rules above apply to most search engines and are not exclusively Google's. By building your sites with content-rich pages which are designed for human users and not for bots, and by avoiding those things listed above, you can look forward to a successful Adsense advertising partnership experience, not to mention, avoiding the wrath of the search engines and getting your account terminated.

About the author: Bernie Alexander, Discover an easy, little known method for making big money with Adsense at http://netmarketer-reviews.com/ltadsense-goartadsns2.html

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Traffic. It's the all-important piece of the marketing puzzle that faces all web owners. Your product may cure cancer but unless there are people reading your information it won't matter. And not just any traffic. You want laser targeted, highly motivated customers ready to whip out their wallets and input their credit cards. You are searching for El Dorado. You know it's there. You've read that others have found it. There is a path and it starts here.

SEO, JV's and PPC traffic will all deliver targeted customers. These techniques require specific knowledge too lengthy to discuss in one sitting. Below are five diverse methods that you start to use to drive targeted customers to your site with the knowledge you gain here.

1. Join the world and start blogging! Blogging is an online weblog or diary that can be easily updated. Your readers can even leave comments or answer polls. Blogger.com, a large server based blog, is owned by Google. Although there are great advantages to posting to a Blogger site you always want to have a blog hosted on your own site. Blogger will take down sites and sometimes for no apparent reason. You can lose all your data and traffic in seconds. Use Blogger to point to your primary site. This gives your site one more back link, another source for traffic and a reason for Google to spider and index your primary site following the links from Blogger. You can post the same content on both blogs and redirect people to pick up an RSS feed from your primary blog.

2. There are people talking about your niche on any number of forums and groups. Join several and provide accurate content rich answers to their questions. Be seen as a helper, someone who is truly interested in the topic and the people. Do not spam. Do not advertise but place your site in your signature line. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the number of good customers you'll receive. If people are motivated enough to join a forum or group to discuss their issue then they most likely are motivated to find good information.

3. Article marketing has been a topic of conversation for several years now. People seem to attempt this particular avenue and get discouraged easily. Although this type of marketing will economically generate targeted customers it is a time consuming job. The best technique to use is to post at least three to four articles per week to two or three of the top article directories. It's not necessary to post to 300 directories, just the ones with high page ranks like ezinearticles.com. These article postings do three things. You have back links from a site with a high page rank; you have access to publishers and your content will be found on organic searches based on the keywords and phrases you enter when you post to the directory.

4. Viral marketing has a mystique about it. The first site that accidentally took real advantage of this method was Interview With God. The owner of the site published a public domain poem on the net just a couple of months before 9/11. His site was ‘discovered' by many people who took solace from the poetry and began sending the site to all of their friends. The rest was history. The essence of viral marketing is sharing information with people you know. There are several avenues open to you and even more if you use your imagination. You can take advantage of social networking sites and social bookmarking sites where you can share your information with all of your new ‘friends'. Tell a friend scripts on your site can encourage your current visitors to tell their friends. You'll find that people will tell their friends if your site is funny, touching or if you offer incentive. Another technique is to offer free information through ebooks with links back to your site.

5. Do you have expert knowledge on a particular subject that relates to your website and business? You not only can share that knowledge in groups and forums but also by using answer sites through Yahoo Answers or eHow.com. In these arenas people post questions and others post answers. People who read the answers rate them. Your site gets traffic when people perceive that you are giving high quality answers.

You have the knowledge to drive traffic to your site. This may not be the flood of traffic that dreams are made of but they are targeted customers, the most important kind of traffic. As your skill using these techniques improves so will the number of buying customers visiting your site. And isn't that the point?

About the author: Rasheed Ali is CEO and founder of the Internet Coaching Academy http://www.InternetCoachingAcademy.com where he and his team of internet business experts are helping people from all over the world start, build and profit from their own internet business. He also offers a FREE newsletter and FREE video course on building a profitable home based business on the internet.

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ClickBank is a marketplace for digital products such as software and e-books. It is also a collection of information products that you can promote as an affiliate. But if you want to be a successful affiliate marketer and actually make money, then, Clickbank is an ideal place to start.

ClickBank is a third-party online payment processor that handles all of your financial processes. Clickbank is geared towards digital products, which makes it very popular.

IMPORTANT POINT: The reason people will promote another product as an affiliate through Clickbank is because they know they are going to get paid on time. Clickbank is a program that I know quite a few bloggers use. Using ClickBank is a guarantee that everyone’s affiliates always get paid.

ClickBank is a very easy and cost effective way to start selling internet products. Clickbank is a very powerful tool for you as an affiliate manager. Clickbank is one of my favorite networks because it is very easy to use and provides an excellent way for me to earn money as an affiliate.

ClickBank is the Internet's largest digital marketplace, where thousands of the web's most popular products are sold every day. That’s why you need to be a part of it.

If you're a "newbie" or newcomer to internet marketing, you may not have heard about Clickbank, so in this article I will Endeavour to explain some of the more important aspects of it.

It is this combination of features that makes Clickbank a formidable competitor to other online marketing structures. Check out Clickbank now, and have a look around for yourself.

The benefits of affiliate marketing through Clickbank far outweigh any potential negative experiences that may arise due to an unscrupulous few. It is one of the best places to start in affiliate marketing. Affiliate Marketing is the easiest way to build a business on the Internet, you don’t need a website, domain name, (You can if you want to but it’s not necessary) and everything is done for you.

Every internet marketer should have Clickbank in their arsenal of marketing tools. There are other "affiliate marketing" websites, but Clickbank is one of the most popular. Click Bank is arguably one of the largest online marketing networks.

Over 100000 affiliates rely on ClickBank for accurate tracking and timely payments plus a load of other valuable resources. Your affiliates can enter their ClickBank nickname, and with a click of their mouse, have their own secure, encrypted affiliate link.

Although, for those that like a bit of control in managing their affiliates ClickBank gives you little control, however it is still an excellent option . All sales that come in are stamped with their affiliates ClickBank nickname, so the program knows who to pay. Your affiliates can now feel more confident in promoting your products knowing that their info is protected all the way to Clickbank's order page.

And you can tap into the 100000+ affiliates on ClickBank and have them promote your product. Stop waiting for commission checks--” Affiliates are paid by Clickbank twice per month instead of quarterly. If they have not done so already, all affiliates must sign up on the Clickbank website.

Among the top selling products on the net, over 75% of sales are generated by affiliates. Overall affiliates generate over 50% of all ClickBank sales. To make sure you get your commissions on time, most affiliates join through CLICKBANK. Affiliates Earn anywhere between, 20%-75% or every sale. Many thousands of affiliates sell ClickBank products, making it an easy and excellent choice for anyone selling a digital product.

Subscription to the affiliate programs is absolutely FREE, and you can get started instantly upon signing up with ClickBank.

The first step in getting set up in the affiliate program is to get your own personal Clickbank "nickname", as they call it.

Over the years many people have made incredible incomes as a Clickbank affiliate.

Using ClickBank is a guarantee that our affiliates always get paid, they have a very good reputation for paying on time every time.

Clickbank is such an attractive proposition for affiliates to use, because it’s so easy to use. That’s why so many affiliates make Clickbank their first stop when looking to promote something.

Clickbank is an excellent place to get a start in product sales on the Internet; if you’ve got your own product then this is the best way to sell it. You’ll find thousands of affiliates ready to start making you loads of cash.

About the author: Len Cecchetto writes articles to help people on varied subjects. Clickbank is one of them, he knows the power of this program. To find out more on how to make a constant and good income using Clicbank, check out this site now. http://www.ozmarketing.info/domcb/ You can use this article so long as the bio box remains in the article.

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Don't you think it is fascinating that with so many Adsense publishers, all setting up hundreds of sites, they have absolutely no idea who their clients are? The first rule of setting up and maintaining a successful business is thorough knowledge of your client.

Let's flip the coin and look at it from another angle. Google does not pay you for clicks on your site; the Adwords advertiser is forking out the money for your checks. The reason why he advertises is to sell a product or service or to drive people to his site for a subscription or whatever reason. He is doing it to gain a business advantage.

The question here is: Are you giving him an advantage or are you just costing him money?

You have heard "˜Adsense is dead' or "˜there is not so much money to be made from Adsense as in the past'. Most Adsense publishers think they have to set up a few more sites which will make up for the lost income. Dead wrong.

The reason for the downward spiral in Adsense income originates from untargeted ads on web pages. Most people would love to place the blame at the doorstep of Google, but this is not the case. The problem lies with the publishing of thousands of websites solely intended to get clicks, thus optimized for the search engine and not giving a second thought to the advertiser from Adwords.

The result from the misuse of Adsense is obvious. In most of the current Adwords information products one of the first warnings you are given when placing adwords ads is to remove the link to advertise on the content network. The reason is simple; the ads appear on untargeted pages leading to untargeted customers. This is a waste of the advertiser's money and a direct loss of income for the Adsense publisher. All the serious Adwords advertisers are not advertising on the content network, which in turn leads to less competition. The cost per click on a content page is far less that the cost on a generic page search.

Adwords and Adsense will never die and is and will remain one of the top income earners for many internet marketers.

So what now? The answer lies in improved sites with quality content. Play with the search engine not against it. If you want to compete with a search engine start your own. Not impossible, Google did it and succeeded.

So what exactly is improved content?

The keywords you are optimizing for should relate to your web content and add value for the visitor. This does not mean you have to write one thousand word pages all on your own. One to two hundred words per page will be fine as long as it answers the question or part of the question that the visitor was searching for with the search term. From there on the page can lead to Adsense ads and a click on the link will be a targeted visitor for the advertiser.

You also do not need to write each page yourself, you can still use PLR content and articles for your sites just make sure that the main question that the visitor would have when searching for that term is answered and lead them further to more specific information through Adsense ads.

Can you imagine the joy on your face when receiving a five figure check from Adsense, and think of the joy you would place on the face of the Adwords advertiser also receiving a five figure payday?

Once you have your site set up correctly there are a few elements that you need to give attention to. The truth about Adsense placement is that there is a trick to it. For high CTR your ad placement must be highly optimized.

I have seen this myself in testing different Adsense placement methods. One placement for all does not work. On certain pages it would be higher up and on others it would be lower down.

It is all dependent on the content of the page and the question you should ask yourself is at which point in the content is the visitor the most likely to want more specific information. If you write your content yourself you should write it in such a way that you give information and then raise curiosity, and it is at that point where your ad should appear for the first time. By utilizing this method and keeping your content targeted you will receive many clicks and your Adwords advertiser will receive the targeted visitors he wants.

Are you beginning to see how important it is to get the content and your ads right Now, let me ask you this: Are you one of the Adsense publishers who are costing advertiser's money or are you one that actually help make advertisers money?

About the author: Karl Stadler, Now, I can almost hear your brain talking asking yourself what you can do to get your sites earning the best they can. Well there are some closely-guarded secrets you should know when placing and using Adsense to get you maximum profit. Go over to http://www.yourenterprize.com/adsense/adsense-secrets.htm

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A Google Sitemap is a very simple XML document that lists all the pages in your website, but the Google Sitemaps program is actually much more important than that. In fact, the Sitemaps program provides a little peek inside Google's mind - and it can tell you a lot about what Google thinks of your website!

Why Should You Use Google Sitemaps?

Until Google Sitemaps was released in the summer of 2005, optimizing a site for Google was a guessing game at best. A website's page might be deleted from the index, and the Webmaster had no idea why. Alternatively, a site's content could be scanned, but because of the peculiarities of the algorithm, the only pages that would rank well might be the "About Us" page, or the company's press releases.

As webmasters we were at the whim of Googlebot, the seemingly arbitrary algorithmic kingmaker that could make or break a website overnight through shifts in search engine positioning. There was no way to communicate with Google about a website - either to understand what was wrong with it, or to tell Google when something had been updated.

That all changed about a year ago when Google released Sitemaps, but the program really became useful in February of 2006 when Google updated it with a couple new tools.

So, what exactly is the Google Sitemaps program, and how can you use it to improve the position of your website? Well, there are essentially two reasons to use Google Sitemaps:

1. Sitemaps provide you with a way to tell Google valuable information about your website.

2. You can use Sitemaps to learn what Google thinks about your website.

What You Can Tell Google About Your Site

Believe it or not, Google is concerned about making sure webmasters have a way of communicating information that is important about their sites. Although Googlebot does a pretty decent job of finding and cataloging web pages, it has very little ability to rate the relative importance of one page versus another. After all, many important pages on the Internet are not properly "optimized", and many of the people who couldn't care less about spending their time on linking campaigns create some of the best content.

Therefore, Google gives you the ability to tell them on a scale of 0.0 to 1.0 how important a given page is relative to all the others. Using this system, you might tell Google that your home page is a 1.0, each of your product sections is a 0.8, and each of your individual product pages is a 0.5. Pages like your company's address and contact information might only rate a 0.2.

You can also tell Google how often your pages are updated and the date that each page was last modified. For example your home page might be updated every day, while a particular product page might only be updated on an annual basis.

What Google Can Tell You About Your Site

Having the ability to tell Google all this information is important, but you don't even need to create a sitemap file in order to enjoy some of the perks of having a Google Sitemaps account.

That's because even without a Sitemap file, you can still learn about any errors that Googlebot has found on your website. As you probably know, your site doesn't have to be "broken" for a robot to have trouble crawling it's pages. Google Sitemaps will tell you about pages it was unable to crawl and links it was unable to follow. Therefore, you can see where these problems are and fix them before your pages get deleted from the index.

You can also get information on the types of searches people are using to find your website. Of course, most website analytics tools will give this information to you anyway, but if the tool you use doesn't have this feature, then it's always nice to get it for free from Google.

But the best part of the Sitemaps program is the Page analysis section that was added in February of 2006. This page gives you two lists of words. The first list contains the words that Googlebot associates with your website based on content on your site. The second list contains words that Googlebot has found linking to your site!

Unfortunately, Google limits the number of words in each list to 20. As a consequence, the inbound links column is partly wasted by words such as "http", "www", and "com" - terms that apply equally to all websites (hey Google, how about suppressing those terms from the report?). That said, this list does provide you with a way to judge the effectiveness of your offsite optimization efforts.

When you compare these two lists, you can get an understanding of what Google thinks your website is about. If the words on your Site Content column are not really what you want Googlebot to think about your site, then you know you need to tweak your website's copy to make it more focused on your core competency.

If, on the other hand your inbound links don't contain any keywords that you want to rank well for, then perhaps you should focus your efforts in that direction.

Above all else, you really want these two lists to agree. You want your inbound linked words to match up to the site content words. This means that Google has a clear understanding of the focus of your website.

Additional Benefits of the Sitemaps Program

Google has even started notifying Sitemaps-participating Webmasters if they are breaking any of Google's Webmaster Guidelines. This can be very valuable information if your site suddenly becomes de-listed on Google and you don't know why.

Only Sitemaps participants can get this information, and it is only provided at Google's discretion. In fact, Google will NOT notify you if you are creating worthless websites that offer no original content, or if you are creating thousands of doorway pages that are redirecting to other web sites. Google doesn't want to give the sp@ammers any clues as to how to improve their techniques.

How Do You Get Started with Google Site Maps?

The first thing you must do is obtain a Google Account. If you already have a Gmail, Adsense, or Adwords account, then you are all set. If not, you can register an account by visiting the Google Accounts page.

Building your sitemap file is pretty easy to do if you are familiar with XML, and if you aren't you can always use a third-party tool such as the ones that are listed on Google's website. Google also has a "Sitemap Generator" that you can download and install on your server, but unless you are fairly adept at managing Python scripts, you should probably stick to the third-party tools.

At any rate, once you have your Google Account and your Sitemap file built, the rest is very easy. All you have to do is:

1. Log into your account

2. Type your website's URL into the "Add Site" box and click on "OK"

3. Click on the Manage Sites link for the website you are adding, and add your sitemap file to your account.

Google Sitemaps - An Excellent SEO Tool

Google Sitemaps help Googlebot quickly find new content on your website. They allow you to tell Google what's important, what's new, and what changes often. The tools provided to webmasters through the program can play a vital role in helping you understand how the search engines (especially Google) view your website.

Using this information you can dramatically improve the position of your website and quickly clear up any issues Google finds. You can also use the tools provided by Google to gauge the effectiveness of your off-site optimization efforts so you can better focus your time and energy on activities that bring you the most success.

About the author: Matthew Coers is an Internet marketing expert. His website, ProfitChoice.com contains online courses designed to teach entrepreneurs how to build a website and make money online. Download his FREE Internet Marketing report, 7 Days to Website Success

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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.

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Imagine the next time you join a discussion about Adsense. When you start sharing the fascinating Adsense facts below, your friends will be absolutely amazed.

Is everything making sense so far? If not, I'm sure that with just a little more reading, all the facts will fall into place.

Many web site owners are getting their Google Adsense account terminated when they have done nothing wrong to deserve the punishment. Considering the money that they are getting from Adsense, they would certainly want to get back into it.

Considering the money to be made with Adsense, it is no wonder that they would want to get back into it.

It is that same consideration why the Google Adsense click fraud is thought of and why many people are getting into it.

Click fraud is the act of clicking on ads for the purpose of costing the advertiser money. It is simply the same as paying out cash for false leads. Many people website owners are aware of this fraud and are sharing the same sentiment that this is the one big problem that Adsense is facing.

How do you prevent being involved in this fraud?

Majority of web hosts are offering access logs. Once this is offered to you, it is necessary that you hand it over to Google as well. This allows them to look for any suspicious activity on your site. Problems like this are very serious and giving it to them is saying that you would want to help them in any way you can in solving the problem.

It can also help if you have a click monitoring software. If you do not have one yet, you should try and get one. There is absolutely no major factor preventing you from having one because most of this software is free.

As usual, all the information you have received should be turned over to Google. This is showing Google that you too are fighting against click frauds and is in no way a part of it.

Study your server logs and watch for any activity that seems suspicious. Report anything that you may find odd, may it big or small thing.

You may want to consider disabling ads for your own IP address and local geographic area. This will certainly prevent accidents and will not make Google mistake another user as you. You can do through a htaccess file. This will avoid Google mistaking as clicking on your own ads and be kicked out because of it.

Keep your Adsense off on pop ups and pop unders. Your ads should not be displayed on content sites that promote illegal activity or tampering of the legal rights of other people or business. Included in this are the content that is considered adult and gambling ones. If you think that you may be breaking this rule, immediately remove your content or Adsense from the web page.

Be truthful and confess up to Google about times when you might have clicked on your own as, whether accidentally or intentionally. Or the times when you have done something that is against the Terms of Service that they are implementing. Be honest about anything that you may have done that is wrong. Confessing is way better than Google learning about it eventually. It would mean eventual termination and no getting back what you have worked so hard for.

Do not tell your family or friends about Adsense on your website. Chances are they may start clicking on them to help you make money without you knowing it. They may be doing more harm to you than help by trying it in the first place.

If ever someone you know chanced upon your Adsense, make sure they understand that they cannot click on your ads under any circumstances. It would be wise to brief them on important things about Adsense and what not to do with them.

Most pay per click networks have different measures in hand to protect website owners against click frauds. Other search engines can track more than 50 data points, IP address, browser’s information, user’s session info and pattern recognition. They also have “systems” available that detects fraud. Not to mention the specialized teams monitoring how things are going and helping advertisers stop click frauds.

Google offers suggestion on how to avoid click fraud. Using “negative keywords” can be used to keep your Adsense showing on products and services that are in no way related to yours. Adding tracking URLs to your links so you can track the traffic coming from Google.

Do not be caught in the Google click fraud. Be aware and be wary.

Don't limit yourself by refusing to learn the details about Adsense. The more you know, the easier it will be to focus on what's important.

About the author:Sinta Makah is a Full Time Adsense Publisher and She Makes her living from Adsense. She is passionate about sharing her Adsense Knowledge. Further information may be obtained from: http://www.mydomainname101.com/adsense_technique.htm http://www.mydomainname101.com/Adsense-Click-Fraud.htm

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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 Research
Before 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 Name
If 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 Sandbox
Buy 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 Content
Create 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 Design
Use 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 Size
The 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) Usability
Make 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 Optimization
Use 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) Globals
Globals 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) Headers
Use 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 Map
Build 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) Content
Add 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 Only
Stay 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 Analysis
Who 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) Submit
Submit 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) Blog
Start 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 Sites
Simply 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) Statistics
Make 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 Ahead
Stay 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) Articles
Write 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 Traffic
After 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 Submissions
After 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 Feeds
RSS (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 Releases
A 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 Fresh
Remember 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.

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Many of you have heard of submitting your website, but what does this really mean? What places should you really submit your website? What about submitting to thousands of search engines and directories through some website promotion service?

What Pages To Submit:

At the minimum, you should submit your home page. Many search engines will promise to find and crawl the rest of your website automatically (in their own good time). But if they don't discourage you from doing so, I would submit several of the important pages in your site. For example, a site map is definitely something I would want to submit, since it should have direct links to the rest of your website.

Also, if I get another webmaster to link to my website, I like to submit that page as well. I want the search engines to recognize that this resource has changed - it has a link to my website and I want the credit for it.

What To Prepare:

For the search engines, I would make sure that the website is properly optimized. At a minimum, I would do double check the meta-tags to ensure that the title, meta-description and meta-keywords properly describe the web pages and have some of my desired keywords in it. I would also run a website validator on the pages I intend on submitting - to keep the search engine spiders from choking on my website. For more information on optimizing a website for the search engines, go to http://website-optimization-2.blogspot.com.

For the directories, I would normally prepare some commonly requested information. This really helps to speed up the process. I normally use a generic text editor like Microsoft Notepad and save the following data before I go and submit to the different search engines and directories. This enables me to use copy and paste.

This should have:

• Your email
  
• Your website url
  
• A good title for your website
  
• A description for the website

Since Yahoo will allow you to submit a list of URLS that are in a text document (or an RSS feed) I would encourage you to prepare one to help them out. These should be at the root directory of your website and be updated whenever there is a change to your pages. That way you can just submit the location of the RSS feed or the text file and let Yahoo use that to find the rest of your pages. It is a nice time saver. Personally, I like using an automated RSS feed since Yahoo can use it to determine when the last changes occurred and decide what pages to re-crawl first.

(If you don't know what RSS is, here is a great article on it: http://feedvalidator.org/docs/rss2.html.)

Google uses a similar technology to help it find all of your web pages. It is called a "Google Site Map". That is the subject of another article. I wrote one that has a lot more info on the Google Site Maps, for when you are ready to build one. Google also has a special way to submit these. Just follow their instructions. If this is too complicated, contact a webmaster or a SEO specialist who is familiar with this feature.

Where To Submit:

I would recommend submitting your home page to the major search engines individually, at least initially. However, there are several services that do groups of them for you - and is a big time saver for the rest of your site. The following is one of my favorites: FreeWebSubmission.com. I have always deselected Google, though, since I submit to them manually through the Google website. I submit my web pages to the following search engines manually (without a special tool) just to ensure that it is done.

You will need a Yahoo account to submit to the Yahoo search engine. And don't fret if you don't see immediate results. Your site should normally exist in MSN within about 6 weeks, in Yahoo in 8-12 weeks, and in Google within about 3 months. (You will not likely get much search results from Google for the first year though - but hold out and keep working on the other tricks. In the long run, Google will normally give you about 60 - 70% of the search engine traffic if you follow these methods.)

Also, if you have the Alexa toolbar installed, navigate to your website and click on the "info" button on the toolbar. Then you will have to fill in information about your website. Once this is registered, you will start seeing how your website's Alexa rating looks. There have been some rumors that Google considers the Alexa description in its searches - so make sure it is relevant to your website as a whole and has at least one of your keywords.

You should also submit your website to DMOZ. This is a massive directory that is republished in several other websites. It is managed by humans, and is therefore considered to be of special relevance by other search engines. I strongly recommend reading all their rules before submitting - and follow them closely. Make sure that you try to get listed in only one category - the most relevant one for your business. It can take a month or two to get listed, but it really helps with your backlinks and overall relevancy as a website.

After DMOZ, here are the most important list of directories to be listed in.

• Yahoo Directory website submission ($299 annual fee)

• Business.com website submission ($199 annual fee)

• Microsoft Bcentral Directory website submission ($49 annual fee)

• Best of Web website submission ($40 annual fee)

• GoGuides.org website submission ($40 lifetime fee)

• Gimpsy.com website submission ($40 lifetime fee)

• JoeAnt website submission ($40 lifetime fee)

• Tygo website submission ($40 lifetime fee)

• Skaffe.com website submission ($40 lifetime fee)

• WowDirectory.com website submission ($25 lifetime fee)

If you haven't used directories before - try browsing these before you fill out the form to submit your site. They are organized by category. You need to find the most relevant category to put your website before you start to fill out the form for each of these. Have a pen and paper as you browse - and write down directory paths of where you want to be.

Being in some directories just adds some good backlinks. (When another webmaster links to your website, this is considered a backlink.) Others, like Yahoo and DMOZ, tend to get some special relevance to certain search engines. After you get familiar with these well-known directories, look for niche directories that are specific to the type of business your website is about.

There are specialized directories that focus on a particular category of links. These can be valuable - you will just have to do a bit of searching to find them. These may be considered as part of your overall strategy.

Being listed in a search engine doesn't guarantee that you will have a good ranking - this is just the first step - letting them know that you exist.

If You See An Offer To Get Listed In Hundreds Of Directories And Websites Automatically - Beware! Many of these will list you in hundreds of FFA (free for all) sites. These sites are considered SPAM by search engines and I would strongly encourage you to avoid them. Did I mention to avoid these? Check out what Google has to say about these. They may get you quick backlinks, but they are from the "wrong" type of site. These are just a list of sites - and they stay there temporarily. Only the latest 100 submitted or so are displayed there and you need to be resubmitted regularly to stay there. Few humans use this - it is just a linking game to trick the search engines about your popularity (and search engines don't like it). Don't bother.

To Wrap It Up:

Get backlinks - but avoid FFA sites. There are some important directories, but being listed in "Thousands Of Websites And Directories" is likely a promotional trick to get you listed in FFA sites. The most important backlinks are from web pages with content related to your website and those that your customers visit. If it isn't likely to draw your customers, it may not be very important for your website traffic.

About the author: Robert Fuess is a veteran website designer who specializes in making dynamic search engine optimized websites. SpiderwebLogic.com | SchoolAndTeacher.com

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There is a tactic out there embraced by bloggers but rarely used by typical websites. It is called Link Baiting.

In this article I explain what link baiting is and how everyone, not just bloggers, can use it to build quality links.

This is a topic that's been around for a while but I don't think a lot of people know what it is, or how to use it to their advantage.

I think the name "Link Baiting" could be considered a black hat technique which is why most people wouldn't consider it as a legitimate organic tactic.

However link baiting is merely link building with a twist: Rather than hunting out links, you are bringing the links to you through unique and popular site content.

So how does Link Baiting work?

Link Baiting is just like fishing. You publish a new page on a topic (I'll cover those later) and set it free on the web. Hopefully others pick up on the content as fresh and interesting and link to it. The article is the bait, and the link is the catch.

A properly created page can capture huge links on its own with little to no effort from you.

For example, on another site, about a year ago, I wrote an article about the Florida Update. I spend the month or 2 after the initial update analyzing results and I then published my theory on what the update was.

That article has earned 88 links to date. And the best link, in my view, is a link from the ODP from the Google News category.

In fact my article appears in the top 10, and is linked to as a reference in many of the other top listings for a Google search for "Florida Update."

So what was so special about the article?

While I never intended for it to be link bait, it turns out it was a typical "hook" page. Performancing blog has a really good summary on link baiting which I will further explain here.

With link building there are essentially 5 types of "hooks" or pages built to encourage links. They are: News, Contrary, Attack, Resource and Humor.

A News hook is one where you report on industry news. But it's not just a rehashing of someone else's post. It should be unique – either a scoop that no one else has caught, or it could even be a summary of various viewpoints. A news hook could also be comprised of a story you have proved to be false.

Contrary hooks are when you contradict what someone else says. It should be someone prominent in the industry and it should be controversial.

For example, if I was to write an article that proclaimed that Danny Sullivan's latest theory was bunk, it would probably generate buzz. Especially if I could provide corroborating evidence backing up my assertion.

Recently Mike Grehan posted just such an article on Clickz in which he again pointed out that he doesn't believe in a Google Sandbox. He even refers to other posts in which the Sandbox has been beaten to death.

Soon after he posted this article (which, by the way was posted just one week ago) many other SEM's jumped on him purporting to have proof of the Sandbox.

And, if you use Yahoo's Site Explorer to look at who links to this article, you will see that Yahoo! Has already picked up on almost 80 links to this one article. I'd say that Mike has done a great job of link baiting!

Attack hooks take the contrary hooks a step further, by launching personal attacks on people taking the debunking of theories to the next level. The original post from SEOmoz was close to an attack hook, but after they edited it, it became less of an attack They reacted to the Mike Grehan article on the Sandbox with some haste and turned it personal. To their credit they did tone it down some, but it's pretty close to a flame. Who knows, maybe this article will be considered an attack on SEOmoz and will generate similar buzz.

A Resource hook is more of an informational page. It's one that aggregates a bunch of information and distills it for visitors.

In fact this site is much like that. We take a bunch of news, distill it to its most meaningful and then provide our interpretation of what it means. Then, others pick up on the article and either repost it, or at least link to it.

Finally is a Humour hook. With this link bait you post jokes, funny stories, weird or funny pictures that you've found or anything else that will warrant a review from others and hopefully a link.

There are tons of blogs devoted to this such as the Obscure Store & Reading Room and Small Town Misfit which scour the web for weird and funny stories and then display them, encouraging others to link to them.

And it must be working – Small Town Misfit has over 1,600 Yahoo! Links while Obscure Store has over 1,700.

So, if you were ever worried about the amount of link building you'd have to do to become an "authority", consider link baiting in your arsenal. It can be a very effective way of building links quickly and easily. Also, it's an effective way to build your reputation and brand online as more and more people learn about you through these links.

About the author: Rob Sullivan is a SEO Consultant and Writer for Textlinkbrokers.com.

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