GT Bulmer © Affiliate Power Central

Here is a way to quickly and cheaply set up a website and test whether or not a certain niche market is to your liking. For less than twenty bucks each, you can launch quick-start Internet Marketing blogs and get into business fast.

Niche marketing is one of the recommended ways to do business online these days. Blogging is a popular way to market and promote your products and services. The WordPress website platform makes it very easy to launch a professionally designed website that can be quickly monetized and loaded with niche-related articles and other content.

It used to be both difficult and expensive for the average home based business person to launch and maintain a website. Once up and running, the last thing you wanted to do was make major changes or change your marketing focus. However, today’s technology makes this both easy and economical. …

It is cheap enough that you could easily launch a couple of new Internet Marketing blogs and websites each month and if you optimize and monetize them effectively, you can have them paying for themselves in no time.

You can register a domain name for as little as $10 a year, and web hosting with a dependable company for about $7 a month. You just need to make a couple of dollars a week from the sale of products or services and you have a profitable online business.

What about that “test run” I mentioned earlier?

Consider this: Spend the next seven days setting up your business properly, then monitor it for three months to test the market and assess the potential. Here’s what you do:

~ Do some research and choose a market niche and a corresponding domain name;

~ Sign up for an account with a good web hosting company;

~ Find a professional looking WordPress theme and install it on your website;

~ Monetize your new site with elements and features like Google AdSense, text ads, ad banners for your niche-related products and services, and indirect monetization methods like related eBooks and newsletter subscriptions;

~ Add content, like blog posts, articles, product reviews; add new content frequently: daily if possible, or at least a few times a week;

~ Promote your site on Social Networking sites, business and marketing forums and other promotional methods recommended by experienced marketers.

Continue promoting the site for at least three months, reviewing your site analytics daily to become familiar with the amount of traffic it is getting and, more importantly, the sources of that traffic. Also monitor your monetization methods to know when and where you are making sales and generating income.

You can do all of the above on your own with a little research and effort. You can also accelerate the entire process with the “My Affiliate Power Site” free 7-day training program.

Get it all started for less than $20. Isn’t that a great way to get a quick start on your Internet Marketing blogs? I think so! Not only can you have a profitable business going by the end of that three months, but you will also have had the opportunity to immerse yourself in the business and learn some additional skills and marketing methods.

* You might also enjoy these Home Business blog posts:

~ 3 Ways to Get Blog Content

~ How Do You Monetize a Home Business Website?

~ A Professional WordPress Theme For Internet Marketers

GT Bulmer © Affiliate Power Central

The benefits of blogging for your Internet business can be varied and the reasons why each marketer does it might be different. But the fact remains that blogging can be highly beneficial for all types of businesses.

Personally, I think every home-based Internet Marketer should start and maintain a blog. Here are a few of my reasons for blogging.

First, I want to provide relevant information and recommended resources that will be of interest to my visitors. I want readers to find something interesting, informative, inspirational or entertaining when they read my blog posts. In other words, I want to provide content that offers some degree of value so visitors will feel it has been time well spent and will be encouraged to come back again. …

Next, I want to attract more traffic from the search engines and I know that a properly formatted and optimized blog post will help to achieve that purpose.

Blogging also gives you the opportunity to build internal backlinks to other pages on your website. That is part of the search engine optimization process. Blogging is a very quick and easy way to add regular content that allows natural backlinking.

Finally, one of the primary benefits of blogging for me as an Internet Marketer and a big reason why I do it is to make sales! I know that in order to make sales on my website, I need visitors, and to get visitors, I need to give prospects a reason to visit. Writing interesting or appealing blog posts is one way to attract them.

You can attract direct traffic by promoting or highlighting your blog posts using methods like article marketing, Social Networking and other popular traffic techniques.

You can attract organic search engine traffic through effective website and content optimization practices, as I mentioned earlier.

In light of recent refinements to the search engine algorithms, it is recommended to use a wide variety of traffic and backlinking techniques so that your marketing efforts are more diverse and natural. Maintaining a blog is one way to help with this process.

Aside from imparting valuable information to your readers, one of the biggest benefits of blogging for most home-based Internet marketers is how it can enhance the search engine optimization of your website and supports your other marketing efforts. I’ve given a few of my reasons for writing regular blog posts. What are yours?

* You might also enjoy these Affiliate Power Central blog posts:

– Link Building Tutorial Shows You 30 Ways

– An Internet Based Business Takes Time And Effort

– Cool Contest For Internet Entrepreneurs

GT Bulmer © Affiliate Power Central

How do I love this free link building tutorial? Let me count the ways… Yep. There are 30 of ‘em! All wrapped up in a handy little eBook just waiting for you to take them, apply them and reap the backlink benefits.

Internet Marketing is all about traffic, and one of the best ways … no, make that TWO of the best ways to get free traffic are via links you get on other sites similar to yours, and organic traffic you get from high search engine rankings.

The added advantage to getting backlinks from other websites is that if they are quality links, chances are each one will earn you a little bit more search engine love. And that all adds up to better positioning on the search engine results pages (SERPs).

A new eBook has just been released that shows you 30 ways to get backlinks. It is a link building tutorial and I am giving it away free as an added bonus to subscribers of my Website Traffic Tips Newsletter. …

If you are already a subscriber, I will send you an email message with the backlinks eBook download link. If you are not yet a subscriber, subscribe now! The link will be included with your welcome message after you confirm your subscription.

Most home business enthusiasts who market with websites on the Internet use a variety of backlinking methods. This is important for a couple of reasons.

First, you never want to depend on just one or two methods of getting backlinks because if one method fails for some reason, or your hard-earned backlinks start dropping off from that method, then you could be left high and dry. It is best to have a number of linking methods in the works to help keep you covered and keep the traffic flowing.

Second, the search engines are watching your website very closely these days and if your backlinking profile doesn’t look natural enough, your site could be penalized. That could mean a sudden loss of ranking in the SERPs and in some cases, a complete ban from the SERPs until you change your ways.

To create a more natural looking backlinking profile, you should work to develop a good assortment of backlinks. That is where this new eBook comes into play.

It covers everything from why links on “nofollow” sites are important, to the value of on-page optimization, and on to explanations and highlights of the promised 30 ways to get backlinks.

For example, Link Baiting, creating “mini” websites, Social Bookmarking, Article Marketing (includes a list of article directories), places to “drop” your link, document sharing sites, online directories, RSS directories, Podcasts, creating a free eBook or report, using Pinterest, Blog Directories and many more… including a few backlink methods to steer clear of!

Not every online marketer will use every method, but the more you can use, the better it will be for your backlinking profile and for your direct traffic and organic search engine results.

I hope you see how valuable this link building tutorial can be for your Internet business. Subscribe to my Website Traffic Tips Newsletter now and you can be reading all about the 30 ways to get backlinks within the next few minutes, and applying what you have learned soon afterwards.

* You might also enjoy these Affiliate Power Central blog posts:

– Internal Link Building Tips for a Natural SEO Boost

– How To Get Traffic

– Submit To This Free Article Directory Today

GT Bulmer © Affiliate Power Central

Here is a cool contest for Internet entrepreneurs, created by Evan on the EvanCarmichael.com website to encourage those looking for some extra inspiration to go above and beyond. It’s called the Triple Crown Contest (TCC).

The TCC runs quarterly and the second-quarter contest for 2012 has just begun!

In addition to motivating you to expand your marketing and branding efforts, the contest also offers some great prizes in three separate categories: Approved Articles, Forum Posts and Referred Articles.

Anybody can participate, there is no cost involved, and whether you win a category prize or not, you will benefit simply by participating. …

Here’s how the TCC works: Submit articles free to Evan’s article directory; and/or join the Entrepreneur Forums (free) and participate in forum discussions; and/or refer other authors/writers to Evan’s article directory (using the personal referral link you will be given) and when they submit articles, you earn TCC credits.

That’s it. Very simple. Just do some of the things that Internet entrepreneurs already do – but do more of it so you can lead the corresponding category in the contest!

Evan posts contest updates in the forum throughout the calendar quarter and he announces the winners at the end of each quarter. Here are the prizes:

==> Achieving first place in any of the three categories will earn you:

* A spot on the contest page.
* A free pack of our Entrepreneur Heroes trading cards.
* Your own EvanCarmichael.com trading card.
* And a special surprise card insert.

==> Achieving first place in ALL THREE of the categories earns you the Triple Crown and some additional bonuses including:

* An Elite Series Award with engraving that is an elegant combination of polished chrome with K9 optic crystal base. This unique award is valued at $250.00 for the ultimate in bragging rights!
* Your own Personalized 3D Caricature Bobble Head!
* Your picture will be featured prominently with a link to your website on EvanCarmichael.com’s homepage for the following 3 months!

==> Here’s what to do:

1) Register here to Become an Author on Evan’s site. It’s quick and free! (Note: if you are already a member of the Entrepreneur Forums, use the same email for your author account so you will receive the proper TCC credits.)

2) Once you are an approved author and have logged in to your author account, you will find a personal Referral link to use to refer others to the author registration page. They must sign up through your referral link in order for you to earn TCC credits from their article submissions.

3) Register to become a member of Evan’s Entrepreneur Forums, if you are not already a member. (Note: Use the same email as your author account so you get your proper TCC credits.)

That’s it! Once registered as an author and once you are a member of the Entrepreneur Forums start submitting your articles and engaging in the forum discussions. Then keep an eye on the Triple Crown Contest updates that Evan posts periodically in the forum.

Internet entrepreneurs are always looking for extra inspiration and ways to get motivated; the Triple Crown Contest on Evan’s site is a very cool way to achieve those goals. Register to become an author today, join the Entrepreneur Forums and start working towards some great prizes!

* You might also enjoy these Home Business blog posts:

– Submit To This Free Article Directory Today

– Article Marketing Sites Can Draw Targeted Traffic

– Entrepreneur Forums Offer Friendly Support

GT Bulmer © Affiliate Power Central

New Internet Marketers who want to give their website a natural search engine optimization (SEO) boost should consider these internal link building tips. Internal links are links on your site that point to other pages also on your site.

There can be a few reasons why it is good to direct your visitors to your various web pages: it might be for the value of the information they will find, or to encourage them to purchase a product or service, or simply to keep them on your site longer. It also helps to strengthen the optimization of your site.

If you set up your internal links properly, they will look natural and will also help to achieve the results you want on all levels, whatever your purpose for them might be. …

The first of my link building tips today focuses on the importance of using anchor text in your links; in other words, hyperlinking your keywords.

You should use anchor text in all of your links whenever and wherever possible, whether they are links on your own site pointing to your own pages, or links you place on other websites, pointing back to your website. Of course, you don’t always have control over how other sites choose to post your links, but when you do have control, use anchor text.

Here is the key to success with anchor text: use the keywords that the page the link points to is optimized for. Do not use generic terms like “Click Here” because you receive no SEO value for doing it that way. Don’t waste your links. Wherever and whenever you can, use your keywords as your anchor text.

The next internal tip has to do with site navigation. First, you should link to your most important pages from your main navigation menu. Also, as much as possible, try to cross link to every optimized page on your site from every other optimized page on your site. Adding a site map to your website is a good idea and it is also recommended to add a privacy policy page and a contact page.

The final tip for today is to highlight the value of in-context linking. In contrast to links found in a navigation menu or site map, in-context links are found in the main content of your site. You try to make the keywords you are using as anchor text for the link fit smoothly and naturally into a sentence.

A word of caution about over-optimizing your site: Google and the other popular search engines are continually improving the algorithms that analyze your site and they are beginning to get serious about penalizing sites that are too obvious about their SEO and that go overboard with their keywords and anchor text.

Your aim when building your site and adding content is to make it look as natural and appealing to a human visitor as possible, not contrived. Simply review your site or your content from the perspective of a visitor and if something looks less than natural, change it.

If you use anchor text in your links, cross-linking in your navigation menus, and moderate and appropriate use of in-context links, you will give your website a natural SEO boost. These are the types of internal link building tips that are used by many successful Internet Marketers.

* You might also enjoy these Home Business Opportunities blog posts:

– Improve Search Engine Rankings With Updated eBook

– Do Your Internet Marketing Methods Pass This Test?

– An Internet Based Business Takes Time And Effort

GT Bulmer © Affiliate Power Central

Never mind the advertising hype you might see about how easy it is to make money online, every Internet based business takes time and effort to get it running smoothly and into reasonable profit. Count on it.

Yes, running a business from home can be a lucrative way to earn some extra income and perhaps create financial freedom for you and your family, but there is much more to Internet success than simply putting up a website. Your business will not run itself, and people are not just naturally going to find their way to your site.

There are a few things you will have to actively do to help get your business rolling and the web traffic flowing. …

First, you need to build some attractive features into your Internet based business website.

Since your aim is to make money, and you need to generate sales to make that money, and you need to attract real people who might be interested in buying your products and services to make those sales, then you need to design your website specifically to appeal to those targeted prospects.

Your site must look good, it must be easy to navigate and it must have a high ratio of real, informative, quality content that will be of interest to your prospects.

Your website must also appeal to the search engines, so you will have to do some serious keyword research and will have to learn and apply some basic on-site and off-site methods of optimization.

Once your site looks good and is optimized effectively, you will then have to start marketing and promoting it through a variety of methods, including blogging, article marketing, forum marketing and social networking. You might consider doing some paid advertising, using some pay-per-click programs and joining a few traffic exchanges. Other methods might be blog commenting, guest blogging and news releases.

The idea is to use a variety of marketing methods so you can reach a broader audience. Also, some methods will work better for you than others, so getting experience with a number of techniques will allow you to identify which ones are best for you to focus on.

The time and effort necessary to make your business successful doesn’t stop there. Plan to devote a certain number of hours each week to creating new, quality content for your website and related articles to post in online article directories to help promote your site. Also add forum and social marketing to your weekly schedule.

Marketing and promoting is an ongoing process that will last for the life of your business. That is the only way to keep a steady flow of targeted traffic coming to your website.

There is no question that an Internet based business takes time and effort. The speed and degree of your success will depend on the level of focus and commitment you put into it on a regular basis.

* You might also enjoy these Affiliate Power Central posts:

– How to Get Traffic

– Improve Search Engine Rankings With Updated eBook

– Do Your Internet Marketing Methods Pass This Test?

GT Bulmer © Affiliate Power Central

Here is a copy of one of the articles included in my newsletter that encourages you to evaluate your Internet Marketing methods to see if you are applying them to your best advantage. Remember, there is always room for improvement.

To begin with, good marketing, whatever form it takes, always meets certain criteria. That’s what makes it good. The following 10-Point checklist will help you determine if your marketing passes the test.

I challenge you to evaluate one of your Internet Marketing methods, perhaps a recent ad, promotion or other marketing activity, to see how it measures up. Here we go. …

The Checklist

1. Does it focus on the solution or benefit you provide?

Too often ads simply list product or service features. Don’t make your prospects work that hard to figure out how your product or service can help them. Tell them straight out.

2. Does it have one, clear message?

What’s the one message you want to communicate? Make sure it’s not buried in too much information or it may not get across.

3. Is it focused on one, specific group of prospects?

Do you know who you are talking (and marketing) to? Make sure your marketing is targeted at one, specific group of prospects – it’s the only way to make sure you are addressing their needs.

4. Is it written in language these prospects can relate to?

If you want your message to resonate with your prospects, make sure it speaks to them, both in content and in the tone and language you use.

5. Does it feature your Unique Selling Proposition?

This is the ONE thing that sets you apart from every other product or service your prospect could possible buy to fulfill the same need. It better come across loud and clear in everything you do

6. Does it have one, compelling point of focus?

Ever see an ad with so many things in it you didn’t know where to look first? Your prospects won’t know either if you try to cram too much into your ads or promotional materials.

7. Does it accurately communicate the personality of your business?

Yes, your business has a personality and everything you do should reflect it. You want your prospects to feel like they “know” you. If you change your personality every week, they won’t come to know and trust you.

8. Does it give prospects more than one reason to respond?

Not everyone is ready to buy, or take the one, primary action you want them to take. Make sure you give them another reason to respond, or they are simply a lost lead.

9. Does it give prospects more than one way to respond?

Make it easy and convenient for prospects to take action. What if you only offer an email or web site address and someone doesn’t have computer access, or they’re away from their office but they want more information right now?

10. Do you have a specific objective for the marketing?

If you don’t know what your marketing is designed to achieve, then how will you know if it was successful? Always have a plan and an objective for everything you do.

That’s the test. How do your Internet Marketing methods stack up? Do you see some room for improvement? That’s what business and marketing is all about; evaluating what you are presently doing and looking for ways to improve on it. If you are interested in some expert coaching to help you with this process, check out the Affiliate Power Group.

* You might also enjoy these Affiliate Power Central blog posts:

– Improve Search Engine Rankings With Updated eBook

– How to Build an Email List

– Stop Worrying About the Google PageRank Algorithm

GT Bulmer © Affiliate Power Central

Here’s some good news for Internet Marketers – you can stop worrying about the Google PageRank algorithm because PageRank is misunderstood and isn’t really as important as some people may think it is!

I read an interesting article today in the Axandra Search Engine Facts newsletter explaining how to judge the quality of a backlink. The article indicates that the PageRank of a website is not that important.

It says that it is a waste of time trying to get backlinks from websites with a certain PageRank and it uses the example of a quality website that adds a new page. The page may be good, but because it is new, it will not have a PageRank. If the quality is there, it doesn’t matter if the page with the link to your site has a low PageRank.

The article also points out that the PageRank that is publicly displayed is not the actual PageRank that is used in the Google PageRank algorithm. So, what is PageRank? …

Wikipedia describes PageRank as “a link analysis algorithm, named after (Google’s) Larry Page and used by the Google search engine, that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents with the purpose of measuring its relative importance within the set.”

In other words, PageRank uses a variety of factors to determine the value of a web page in relation to other web pages it is linked to. Getting backlinks from quality pages can improve the value of a page, but that page must also contain its own elements of value.

The algorithm and the principles and methods involved in its application are quite involved, so I’m not going to try to explain it here. Wikipedia provides some great insight if you want more detail.

What I will say is if you want to experience some lasting results in your link building efforts, then the Axandra newsletter has some good advice for you. In order to judge the quality of a site that you would like to get a backlink from, you should ask yourself these questions:

- Does the linking page look good to the average web surfer?
- Does the page have interesting content?
- Is the content related to your website?
- Does it make sense if the web page links to your site?

Axandra says that if the page passes this checklist, then it doesn’t matter if that page has a low PageRank. And if you apply common sense to your link-building efforts, you will never again have to worry about the Google PageRank algorithm.

* You might also enjoy these Affiliate Power Central blog posts:

– Improve Search Engine Rankings With Updated eBook

– How To Build Backlinks That Look Natural

– A Basic Link Building Guide

GT Bulmer © Affiliate Power Central

Internet Marketers who want to brand themselves as experts and build their credibility need to submit to this free article directory today! It is on the EvanCarmichael.com website and it offers many advantages.

Check out Evan’s directory right now. Not only will you get great exposure, but you can also promote your free downloads, blogs, YouTube videos, Twitter accounts and more to help grow your online business.

There is no cost to become an author in the EC directory and it is easy to set up an account and start posting your articles. …

Evan’s site is very popular, so there are some quality standards, as with all great article submission sites. You will be in good company with other authors like Guy Kawasaki and Donald Trump. Evan’s site has close to 300,000 pages of excellent content and more than 750,000 monthly visitors.

A whole range of topic categories are available. If you have articles sitting around and you are looking for another place to post them, this is it! You can post as few or as many as you want and there is no obligation to submit content on a regular basis. Post when you want, if you want.

Evan’s authors have enjoyed many benefits, including higher ranking in the search engines for their keywords, more traffic to their websites, increased credibility and attracting more targeted customers.

Article marketing is one of the primary ways most Internet Marketers promote their business and their products and build their brand as an expert in their niche. There are many good online article directories available and the directory on the EvanCarmichael.com site is among the best.

Make certain to add this directory to your list of preferred submission sites and make it a priority to post all of your articles here as soon as you can. Visit Evan’s free article directory today and sign up for your free VIP Author Account.

* You might also enjoy these Affiliate Power Central blog posts:

– Submit To This Article Submission Site Today

– Launch Your Email Marketing Newsletter, Earn A Credit

GT Bulmer © Affiliate Power Central

How would you like to launch your email marketing newsletter with an instant $30 credit? If you purchase a GetResponse account before April 6 that’s exactly what you will receive. Click here for details: $30 GR Credit

Everybody who markets online needs to have an autoresponder service to help them manage their contact lists and create and send newsletters to their prospects. GetResponse (GR) is one of the most recognized services for this purpose.

I have been using the GR service since I first started my home based Internet Marketing business and it has proven to be extremely dependable. I have several email marketing newsletter campaigns set up in my GR account and I don’t know how I would manage them otherwise. …

Chances are you are familiar with this process, but what I do is write (or have written for me) a series of niche-related articles and I then load them into my GR autoresponder. I give the series a campaign name and I set up the autoresponder to automatically deliver the articles to subscribers at certain intervals. The intervals could be one a day, or every two days, or three days or whatever I feel is appropriate for the particular niche.

I then create a sign-up or opt-in form and place it on my web pages, landing pages or wherever most suitable for a particular newsletter campaign.

Using the GR service, I link the form to my GR campaign … and that’s all I have to do! When visitors sign up or opt in to a campaign, they simply enter their name and email address and submit the form and the autoresponder system takes it from there.

The new subscriber will first receive an email asking them to confirm their subscription. Once they confirm, they instantly receive a welcome message from me (the first newsletter in the series) that also includes any sign-up bonuses I have offered and (usually) the first article in the newsletter series. From there, they begin receiving the newsletters in their email at the intervals I have previously programmed into the autoresponder.

It is very easy to manage your campaigns. You can add messages in at any point in a series, or delete messages you no longer want to send, or quickly edit any message that needs altering.

Here’s the beauty and one of the main reasons for building an email list: Your GR autoresponder will let you send special offers and one-off messages anytime you want. Send them to everybody on the list, or to select recipients. These special mailings do not affect the scheduled delivery of your main campaign. The campaign just keeps rolling out at the prescribed intervals no matter how many special messages you send in between.

One more note about GetResponse: Once you are an account holder, you have full access to all related features and services, including tutorials to guide you through every feature of the system.

So, let me ask you again: How would you like to launch your email marketing newsletter and receive an instant $30 credit? It’s a great deal for a great service and one that every Internet Marketer needs. Click this link, $30 GR Credit, for details and join me at GetResponse today! (Remember, the offer ENDS April 6.)

* You might also enjoy these Affiliate Power Central blog posts:

– How to Build an Email List

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