Online Business Tips from weberator.net

Writing articles is a task most of us avoid. But many of us enjoy writing articles. Why? Because we‘re prepared, we write articles methodically. Our secret? We create an outline first.

It’s the outline for our articles that makes us prepared. It contains the idea of what to do first and a plan for succeeding steps, making the job easier, faster, and more organized,

An outline is the design or blueprint for our articles. It guides us in creating the introduction, body and conclusion. It’s filled with ideas and sentences that will look good in our article, focal points that make it creative, interesting and appealing to a reader.

Here are some tips and guidelines in how to create an outline for your articles.

First, do all your research and information searching. Then designate a time frame to write down the ideas for your articles. Do some brainstorming and randomly jot down your brilliant ideas first. Provide a first sentence for your article, one that immediately grabs the attention of your reader. Think of ways to attract the interest of your reader. Review and reread your ideas and notes. Master your topic so that writing the article will be easy.

The next step is to discover your sub topic and sub titles. As you created a first sentence for your article, do the same for your sub topics. Put down all the facts that will support and go against your point.

These are the frames or skeleton of your article, now it’s time to add the flesh of your article. You will need to connect all your paragraphs and sub topics. This will form the body of your Article. While the introduction will usher in the ideas of your paragraph, you will need a conclusion. The conclusion will wrap up your points and drive in what you are saying in your article.

Now use your outline to write a draft. This usually takes more than one attempt, but it is called a draft for a reason. Your outline shall be perfected as each draft is written and since this draft is meant for your eyes only, there’s no reason to feel ashamed. As you go on, you will clearly see the bigger picture and write an article that will perfectly suit what is demanded of it.

Read and reread what you’ve written. Refer to your outline so you won’t drift. It’s not hard to be caught in the moment and get lost in a writing frenzy. An outline will help you keep on track. Time spent in outlining will not be wasted. It will serve as a guide. Rely on your outline; it will be a helpful tool in writing all of your articles.

A closing thought. There’s a famous saying, especially applicable to writing articles:

In the first paragraph, tell them what you are going to tell them.

In the following paragraphs, tell them.

In the last paragraph, tell them what you told them.

Want a way of promoting your website and product(s) for free? Who doesn’t?  As an additional bonus, this “free” method can boost your sites and sales, doubling and even tripling your income. You guessed it; it’s articles.

Articles are one of the easiest ways to promote your website to generate traffic and increase your earnings.

How does this work?

Write articles relating to your website and submit them to “free content” submission sites. Easy to do, takes little time and can increase your website traffic, sales and of course, your income.

How can article writing boost traffic and income?

Simple; the article you submit to the free content site contains a link to your own website. Readers, after reading your articles, choose to click on the link and pay you an unexpected visit. Having them on the free content sites also makes your articles available to other webmasters who may wish to publish one or two on their site.

If they do, your article will include a link back to your site. And anyone who reads the article on that site can still click on the link to visit your site.

As the list of your published articles grow larger, and more and more of them are appearing on different websites, the total number of links to your site increase also. Major search engines place a lot of significance on incoming links to websites so they can determine the importance of a certain site.

The more incoming links the website has, the more importance search engines attaches to it. This will then increase your website’s placement in the search results.

If your site promotes a product or service, the links in your articles mean more potential customers for you. Even if visitors only browse through, you never know, they might be in need of what you are offering in the future.

Then there are those who already have specific things they need, but can’t decide between the many choices online. They just might stumble upon one of your articles, get interested in the content, and go to your site and became enticed by your promotions. See how easy that is?

Search engines do not just index the websites, they also index published articles. They also index any article that is written about your website’s topic. So when someone searches that same topic, the list of results will have your site, or may show the articles that you’ve written.

And to think, no effort on your part was used to bring them to your site; just your published articles and the search engines.

It’s no wonder why many webmasters are suddenly reviving their old writing styles and taking time to write more articles about their site than doing other means of promotion.

Getting their site known is easier if they have articles increasing their links and traffic and making it accessible for visitors searching the internet. Since many people are now taking their buying needs online, having your site on the search engines through your articles is one way of letting them know about you and your business.

The good thing with articles is that you can write about things that people would want to know about. This can be achieved in the lightest mood but professional manner, with a little not-so-obvious sales pitch added.

If you think about it, only a few minutes of your time is spent on writing one article and submitting to free content site. In the shortest span of time also, those are distributed to more sites than you can think of. Even before you know what is happening, you are getting more visitors than you previously had.

If you think you’re wasting your time writing these articles, fast forward to the time when you see them printed and wide-spread on the internet. Not to mention the sudden attention and interest that people are giving your website and your products or services.

Try writing some articles and you’ll be assured of the sudden surge in site traffic, link popularity and interest. Before you know it, you will be doubling and even tripling your earnings.

Nothing like getting benefits for something you got for free.

You love your blog, it’s part of you, and you’ll do what’s right to keep it healthy. So why have you been ignoring it lately? You haven’t? Good!

Yes, blogs do need TLC; after all, they’re living, breathing things, right? And like all living things they need nutrition, and what’s their favorite food? Posts. So feed your blog regularly, it’s the most important thing you can do to keep your blog healthy, and it’s the most important thing you can do to keep the search engines interested in your blog.

But now, the primary reason for this post: I have more than one blog, and one thing I do to keep my blogs healthy is to keep track of what’s in each one. It’s a rather simple thing - I created a folder structure on my PC. It’s an excellent way of maintain common data in multiple blogs, and it’s common today for bloggers to have more than one blog.

The structure I’m currently using is this:

      Wordpress
          Backups
          Images
          Plugins
          Themes

I only use Wordpress for my blogs, and this structure keeps the blogs consistent in the way they work, primarily through the use of the same plugins in each.

My favorites plugins:

Akismet By Matt Mullenweg
   Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not.
All in One SEO Pack By Michael Torbert
   An out-of-the-box SEO for your Wordpress blog. 
Google XML Sitemaps By Arne Brachhold
   Generates a sitemaps.org compatible sitemap of your WordPress blog.
MightyAdsense By mightyhitter
   Keeps your adsense code & outputs it in posts.
phpBay Lite Plugin for Wordpress By Wade Wells
   Add eBay auction listings to your Wordpress posts.
Sociable By Joost de Valk.
   Automatically add links on your posts to popular social bookmarking sites.
Subscribe me By Denis de Bernardy.
   Adds a widget with feed subscription buttons.
Subscribe To Comments By Mark Jaquith.
   Allows readers to receive notifications of new comments that are posted to an entry.
TinyMCE Advanced By Andrew Ozz.
   Enables advanced features and plugins in TinyMCE.
WordPress Database BackupBy Austin Matzko.
   On-demand backup of your WordPress database.
WP-DBManager By Lester ‘GaMerZ’ Chan.
   Manages your Wordpress database. Allows you to optimize database, repair database, backup database, restore database, delete backup database , drop/empty tables and run selected queries. Supports automatic scheduling of backing up and optimizing of database.
WP Google Analytics By Aaron D. Campbell.
   Lets you use Google Analytics to track your WordPress site statistics
[GWA] AutoResponder By pomspot.
   A plugin to add an Auto-Responder and Opt-in Mail List Builder to your blog.
Google Analytics for WordPress By oost de Valk
  This plugin makes it simple to add Google Analytics with extra search engines and automatic clickout and download tracking to your WordPress blog.

 These are the plugins, the other folders contain common data used in various blogs. Some stuff is not actually common, such as the Themes folder, which is more of a staging area before FTPing to a blog site. The Image folder also contains unique stuff and common stuff. Basically, if I use something in a blog that may be of some use in a later (or existing) blog, I stick it here.

Free eBook reports are a great way to drive traffic to your site, make affiliate sales, and build your reputation as an Internet Marketer. Even if you’re a newbie marketer, it’s easy to write a report.

How do you write a free report?

Use a word document or a notepad file to write your report. If writing comes natural to you, this is an advantage. It should be no problem for you to put your ideas into words. If you are not gifted in that area, you should spend time subscribing to other marketers free reports and studying them to get a feel for how to write a report.

What do I write it about?

If you’re not an experienced marketer start with something you’re already knowledgeable about: Hobbies, passions, professions, etc. This is exactly how I started when I created my first product. Luckily that first product was very successful and got me very excited! I knew at that point I would never look back and do everything in my power to make Internet Marketing my full time profession.

Affiliate Programs- If you’re focusing on affiliate marketing, writing a free report can be a great pre-sell letter that warms up your visitor for the real offer to buy the product.

You can write a free report related to the topic of the affiliate program and include links throughout the report, where the reader can click to buy the product.

Try not to make the report a “blatant advertisement” for the affiliate program you’re promoting. Instead take a “neutral” point of view or even from a “critics” standpoint.

Write an informative report and give plenty of reasons why the affiliate program you’re promoting is needed. Of course, it’s a great idea to use the product yourself. Believing in the product really helps your sales.

Let’s say you are an affiliate for software that is used to uncover hot niches. Write a free report that shows the steps to uncovering niche markets. Part of that procedure is using the niche software right? Then you can include several hyperlinks in your report recommending the niche software, since you have had good success with it.

Another angle would be to do a “case study” for a niche that you are making money with. You could write a report outlining how you created your niche site and what tools and software you used along the way to help make it successful. Case studies make for a very powerful free report!

Here are some low cost or no cost ways to advertise your free report:

Forums- This is a great way to get your free report out to the masses. The two forums I visit every day are the Warrior Forum and the Digital Point Forum

Both of these forums have a section where you can post your links to your free ebooks. Keep in mind that you cannot send your visitors to a squeeze page, you must send them directly to your ebook download. You can learn more about forums in the “Forum Profit Strategies” report.

Download sites- Download sites are another great way to get your free ebook report on the net and start getting traffic to your site or promote your favorite affiliate programs.

Here are some sites I have used with good success. Of course you may know some other sites as well, which just gives you an extra advantage!

Download.com- There are literally millions of people downloading freeware, shareware, etc… from this website. There are 3 different options you can choose when submitting your product to Download.com.

1. Free submission- This is the first option you have if you want to download your free report. The pros to free submission is obvious….IT’S FREE! The downside is it takes 15 days for your report to get reviewed and published. Also, you can’t find your product by doing a keyword search.

To download your free report, go to http://www.upload.com and sign up for an account, which is free to do. Simply click on the new users button and sign up. Once you are signed up, simply log in and click on the “add new product” button.

You will then be asked to fill in the name of your product, the description, the download url and any artwork you would like to upload. Then you submit your report for review.

Tip: Make sure that your report is in a zip file and your download url looks like this: http://www.yoursite.com/report.zip

If you don’t have your report in a zip file, you will get an email from upload.com saying you need to correct the problem. Then once you re-submit your report, it will take another 15 days to process, so do it right the first time.

2. Standard Paid Submission- If you choose this option, the only real benefit is your submission is processed in 5 business days instead of 15 days. The cost is $9 per month.

3. Premium Paid Submission- This listing option gives you a directory listing. You can also find your product by a keyword search for up to 5 keywords that you choose. Cost is $99 per month. If you can afford it, I would suggest to choose this option.

This will make it easier for other people to find your book when they do a search. Worst case, you lose $99 if it doesn’t work out, but it will bring more traffic than not using this option.

Ebook Submission Sites- Free ebook submission sites can be a good way to get some extra traffic for your website that you are promoting, affiliate programs, etc…

The best way to find these sites is just to Google the term: “free ebook submission” or “free ebook submissions” and it will bring up a good list for you to start on. Here are two sites that I use for my submissions:

1. Free-ebooks.net- It’s super simple to submit to this site. You don’t even need an account to do it. Simply click on the “submit e-book” tab at the top of the page.

Make sure you read the terms and conditions before you download your report or ebook. Also, it’s a good idea to upload your book or report in a zip file format for quicker
submissions and approval.

Keep in mind that they file the books in alphabetical order, so you may wan to start the name of your book with the letter “A” when you can. For instance “A Report On Internet Marketing”.

It’s a good idea to browse the categories on the left hand side of the page to find the best fit for your book. Don’t pick a category that’s too obscure because you will see less traffic. On the other hand, the traffic you do get may be more qualified, so you could try both with two different reports to see what works the best.

For info products, the marketing category seems to be best. The form is pretty self explanatory, but if you have any questions, you can email the site directly.

2. Jogena.com- To submit your report or ebook to this site, go to this address: http://www.jogena.com/ebookdir/ebookform.htm

For Jogena, you must include their link on your site for the submission to work or you can pay a 1 time $9 fee and have it submitted automatically without having to put their link on your site.

The only thing to keep in mind when submitting to this site is you cannot link directly to your ebook. You must create a page where the book can be downloaded.

Important note: You cannot link to a squeeze page for any of the submission sites talked about in this report. This will only delay your submission or may get you banned from the site.

Thank you so much for reading this report! I hope this helps you on your journey to Internet Marketing success and hopefully it has sparked some new ideas for you to implement with your own reports and websites! Thanks!

Are you often stuck trying to write your next article or blog post?  Whether you’re looking to create content for your own website or you’re a freelance writer, you constantly need to come up with article ideas.  This is often easier said than done, especially if you aren’t a “seasoned,” writer. However, there is a proven way for getting content ideas – scanning online forums.

Online forums, also known as online message forums or online message boards, are places where internet users with common interests come together from around the world.  There are literally millions of online message boards or online forums, tailored to a specific group of individuals, such as those who work from home, pet owners, or those looking to buy a home.  We might view online message forums as a source of social entertainment, but they’re much more. In fact, they can help you come up with ideas for your articles. 

When gleaning ideas from online forums, it’s important to increase the range of your focus. Many online forums tailor to a narrow group of subjects, but not all. If you’re looking to broaden your focus, look for forums that cover a wider variety of topics.  For instance, there are many that are tailored to parents, but topics like home schooling, pets, saving money, and shopping are also discussed. Visiting online message forums like these will help increase your chances of coming up with great article ideas and topics.

Although you can defiantly get a number of article ideas or topics just from visiting online message forums, you should think about registering as a member – most registrations are free.  Why is participating in an online message forum is a great way to get ideas for article content? Let’s say you’re interested in writing an article on low-cost gifts for your pet. Start a discussion on the online message board that you registered with.  If you receive a lot of feedback, your post is considered a “hot topic,” and you know you have a great idea on your hands.  However, if your topic went undiscovered or few members responded, it might not make a good article after all. Especially if you’re looking to generate reader interest. 

True, the best chance of success involves registering as a member and participating in discussions, however, it isn’t necessary.  You can still generate a number of ideas just by reading through an online message board. But joining and contributing to a message board will definitely improve the number and quality of your articles.

Whenever you visit a board, be on the lookout for questions from members who don’t know something or can’t find answers through a simple search on the Internet.  These questions are the ones you should seriously examine.  If you find that a number of internet users regularly ask the same questions, the answers may have the workings of a popular article.

If you haven’t scanned online forums for content ideas, give it a try your next article. I’m sure you’ll be happy with the result, and you’ll add this to the top of your resource tools. Sure, using online forums to your advantage is one of the best methods of acquiring information, but it’s also a lot of fun. You’ll find yourself in a new, friendly, internet community; one that you end up visiting on a daily basis.

To our mutual success,

John Falato

Affiliate programs are a great way to make money online, but it’s important to carefully choose the affiliate programs to join. Don’t pick the first one you come across, this can be a costly mistake. The products you choose to promote reflect on you and your business. So, take the time to do some research first, and choose one that you can stand behind, one hundred percent.

One way to decide that you’re dealing with a good product is to test it yourself. You may not be able to, or just not want to, but in any case, you should do some research by performing a standard internet search on the name of the affiliate program and the product. You can also check out anti-scam websites. These websites profile companies, individuals, or business opportunities that regularly scam consumers.

Before applying for or signing up for an affiliate program, you should read all of the rules, restrictions, and guidelines. Unfortunately, you may find yourself disqualified from an affiliate program right off the bat. For instance, there’s a large number of them that prohibit their products from being advertised on websites that display pornography, foul language, and other offensive content. Familiarizing yourself with an affiliate program’s rules and guidelines will prevent you from being denied from a program or later dismissed from one.

Remember: the product you are selling should not only be of high quality, but also related to your website or business in one way or another. If your website focuses on computer programming, don’t sell an affiliate program for pet products. Join an affiliate program that’s related, in one way or another, to your website.

Although it’s important to choose a quality product, you also need to remember that your goal is to make money. One of the easiest ways to make a substantial amount of money is to choose an affiliate program that pays decently. It’s not uncommon to receive commissions of fifty, sixty, seventy percent, or more.

The above guidelines are just a few to take into consideration when choosing an affiliate program. Although these points are helpful, the most important thing is to use your judgment when choosing one.

If you’re looking for a place to start, there’s no place better than CLICKBANK.

To our mutual success,

John Falato