Can Online Payment Processors Be Trusted?
November 23, 2008
Can Online Payment Processors Be Trusted?
by: Andrew Daigle
Stormpay, one of the larger online payment processors, recently froze many of their merchant and members accounts starting on 2/9/2006. Stormpay also raided the balances of many of the account holders and literally took money without explaining why. So many online businesses and Stormpay account owners were completely take by surprise with this latest move by the company. Now that literally millions of dollars were taken by Stormpay, there are thousands of people asking “Where is my money?”
Many of us consider payment processors like Paypal and Stormpay to be safe places to keep our money so we can conduct online transactions easily. But when a company like Stormpay, who is owned by a lawyer, decides to rewrite their TOS (Terms of Service) and basically give themselves complete authority to take peoples money without having to explain why, that’s when we need to be worried. One of their TOS changes now grants Stormpay authorization to just go into peoples’ bank accounts and take whatever funds they claim are owed them for who knows what. This caused a huge rush of bank account owners around the globe to close their bank accounts that Stormpay had access to.
Have the “Big Guys” Taken over Podcasting?
November 16, 2008
Have the “Big Guys” Taken over Podcasting?
by: Scott Paton
Recently, BBC announced: “More than 134 million hours of BBC Radio have been consumed via the Internet this year - the equivalent to 15,345 years of continuous listening.” IBM runs a regular Podcast: “IBM and the Future of…” It logged 40,000 downloads during its first three months. A quick search at iTunes shows the top Podcasts are dominated by the likes of Fox, Discovery Channel, TSN, ABC, NY Times, Warner Bros. and many more “big guys”. National Pyublic Radio offers 33 podcasts, which pumped out 5 million downloads in unser three months.
So with the Heavyweights churning out tons of Podcasts, is it too late for the “little guy”?
Surprisingly, according to Scott Paton, the self-styled Dean of Blogonomics and Podology, all this makes it even easier for the SOHO Business or entrepreneur.
“First off, the big boys are educating your audience for you for free.” Paton says. “Apple, IBM, the BBC are spending a fortune teaching people online how to use podcasting. As podcasting moves out of th e’early adopter’ phase into the mainstream, you can spend more time on your message, building rapport, driving traffic, and closing sales, and less on showing your audience how to listen to your message.”
Four Key Points To Your Success Selling “Niche” E-Books Online
November 12, 2008
Four Key Points To Your Success Selling “Niche” E-Books Online
by: Ian Basford
With today’s advanced technology it has never been easier for someone to start their own publishing business.
You can create and market your own ebook (electronic book) for an unbelievably low price (sometimes free). Furthermore, because the ebook is not a book but a computer file, you can offer it for immediate download once the purchase has taken place. The computer file is then downloaded (or copied) to the purchasers home computer, but you still own the original (or copy).
You have a continual inventory, night and day, without having to re-stock. There is no office space required, no staff other than yourself, and a fully automated payment and delivery system which requires very little maintenance. This really is the perfect business. The ultimate business.
Consumers are hungry for information. And they want it now! Electronic products provide the information and have immediate access.
Here are four key points that I wish to make here.
Corporate Blogging For Quality Relationships
November 9, 2008
Corporate Blogging For Quality Relationships
by: Joseph Pratt
The struggle for customer share is as intense as ever, and companies need to shore up their corporate message in anyway they can. Corporate weblogs, or “blogs”, are a great, cost-effective way to engage customers, fellow professionals, or merely the curious. This opportunity to reach thousands of interested people requires no hefty advertising budget, yet can significantly strengthen your client-customer relationship. Taking dialogue online means added and valuable interaction with your customers.
A corporate blog can be used in any number of ways, from an informational hub to an online diary for a sales rep. They tend to be no less varied than personal blogs are. They deliver on-point messages to anyone who reads it. Since blog entries often have a personal touch, they tend to reach readers in ways a company homepage can’t. This is where creative and well written blogs can really count; quality keeps people coming back. A blog isn’t a venue for the hard sale but instead a resource where resource where readers can stay informed or sign up for newsletters and emailings.
eBay Listing Tips
November 5, 2008
eBay Listing Tips
by: Jennifer Clason
Believe it or not, the success or failure of your eBay Store comes right down to your listing practices. Listing your items for sale seems like tedious work, however you must take your time and do it correctly to maximize your sales potential. By using these strategies, you will be able to get a larger audience to your eBay Auctions and the potential to gain more sales and higher ending bids!
Consider multiple auctions for spelling variations - If you have multiple quantities of the same items for sale, consider having two or more listings with different spelling variations of the product in the title. For instance you could either be selling “tshirts” or “t-shirts”.
Include only keywords in your title - Never waste your space by including the words like “LOOK” or “WOW”. No one searches for those terms and you are just using up space instead of your valuable search phrases. Make sure you keep your title using the major searchable keyword phrases only.
Include keywords in your description - A lot of people search by description too so make sure you repeat your keyword phrases in your description as well. However make it easily readable and not just a bunch of random words lumped together.
Niche Marketing - Three Successful Business Models
October 31, 2008
Niche Marketing - Three Successful Business Models
by: André Anthony
So you’ve decided on a Niche Market, you’ve researched it, created your product and found there’s a potential gold mine in it, now you have to decide how you’re going to set your business up. To help you decide here are three successful models to consider.
Niche Business Model One - The Mini-Site
This is probably the most common model online based on a single niche product. Here’s the process :
==> Buy a domain name based on your main keyword/phrase.
==> Create and set up a sales page and thank you/download page (mini-site) targeting the niche.
==> Drive targeted traffic to the site.
==> Once established and producing revenue, find a different niche and repeat the process again and again.
This model is relatively quick and easy to set up and requires almost zero maintenance once it’s up and running. It also provides safety in numbers, because if one of your sites fails you still have income from all the others.
How Can a Small Effort Result In More Profits?!
October 27, 2008
How Can a Small Effort Result In More Profits?!
by: Kevin Davis
Being Humble
Being humble = having or showing a low estimate of yourself.
Above is the dictionary’s interpretation of being humble. Now, you may be thinking that if you were supposed to be a leader, why would you want to have a low estimate of yourself? I’m glad you asked! I would change the dictionary’s interpretation slightly so that it reads:
‘Not having or showing a high estimate of yourself or your importance’
A leader cannot have an over-inflated opinion of his/her self or their importance. One of the 3 Killers of Success is having an ego; it simply prevents anyone from respecting you and ultimately following you. It’s not a good idea to call yourself a leader while nobody will follow you!
Being humble is actually a relatively easy skill to master, but so many managers etc don’t get it right. First and foremost, never think that your answer/solution is always going to be the right one, and never ignore other people’s input and advice. Ultimately as a leader, the final decision will be yours but you absolutely must listen to concerns from people around you. Nobody is perfect, and overlooking one simple factor can result in making the wrong decision. Your role as leader simply means collating all the facts and possible courses of action from everybody you can, and acting upon it in an efficient and effective manner.
How To Get The Most From Your Free eBook Marketing Campaign
October 23, 2008
How To Get The Most From Your Free eBook Marketing Campaign
by: Gabriel Ungureanu
First, your ebook needs to have an attractive title.
The title should grab the attention of your intended
target audience. The more appealing the title, the
more your ebook will be downloaded.
Your ebook needs to have quality content. You
can write your own content or ask permission to
use another author’s content. Your ebook will be
read more if the content is original.
You will want to put your ad on the title page or
on the table of contents. This will give the most
exposure for your web site or the products you’re selling.
It’s important to put your ebook in as many formats
as possible. Most ebook software only allows the
ebook to be read by certain browers and software.
People may not take the time to download a new
software program in order to read your ebook.
Other versions of your ebook could be in HTML,
auto responder and downloadable text format.
You can contact other business owners and ask
How To Buy Your Online Success
October 17, 2008
How To Buy Your Online Success
by: Jason Tarasi
There are literally hundreds of internet marketing techniques in existence with more being developed rapidly. When you’ve got an internet business, driving traffic to your website is absolutely vital. After all, without traffic, your website does nothing but take up space on the World Wide Web. When searching for internet marketing options that drive traffic to your website, you may find the concept of buying traffic to be appealing.
Buying traffic to your website from a wholesale website traffic broker might be a good internet marketing technique because you can get massive traffic at a low cost. However, if it isn’t quality, targeted traffic, it really won’t do you any good and it will simply be a waste of your advertising money.
If you are considering buying traffic for your website, you’ve absolutely got to do some research regarding the type of traffic that certain traffic brokers deliver. Pop up advertisements are common techniques that traffic brokers use to drive traffic to your website. While they can be appealing to some internet surfers, pop up ads are considered to be a burdensome annoyance to many and pop up blocker technology prevents them from even being displayed to many prospects.
Keyword Distinction
October 12, 2008
Keyword Distinction
by: Bill Naugle
Proper keywords and placement on your Website is crucial to your search engine rankings. After preparing your list about keywords well, you should begin placing those keywords on your website. But, which part on the website should it be placed?
1. Title Tags
As you open a front page via the web browser, the Title tag would appear on the top of the front page as usual.
As for the search engine, the Title tag is vitally crucial. Comparing with other parts on the website, the part of search engine stands high proportion for the Title tag. So, to put keywords into this tag is the turning point of heightening the vision scale of search engine. Besides, the Tile tag would also appear on the searching result of search engine and then be hyper-linked to your website. Therefore, that the Title tag is described well or not relates to if browsers can be drawn attraction to click your website as choosing from numerous searching results. And Title tag is the first description that people can read as searching results are shown via search engine; thus, make the Title tag easier as possible as you can so that people can realize what your website is about.
