Lovaholics: Internet marketing, Make Money Online, Entertainment, etc.

Pay Per Click - A New Way to Get the Word Out on Your Website

Posted on August 21st, 2008

Want your website to have a better position on search engines? One way to bring up your rankings is to use Pay Per Click, which is a low-cost option for advertising your website that can not only increase traffic, but when done right, can give you a great return on your investment.

The basic premise of pay per click advertising is that you advertise on specific search engines by choosing specific keywords that, when searched, your site will appear. You determine how much you are willing to pay each time that someone clicks on your website. Logically, the more you are willing to pay, the higher your site will appear with the keywords you choose.

There are hundreds of search engines that offer pay per click options. Of course, the major search engines require more per click to get higher in the rankings, but many offer low cost pay per click opportunities. There are search engines based on themes where you may be able to hone in more directly to your type of business or you may look at the major search engines to go global. How much you invest and where you do pay per click is certainly up to you.

However, if you are not familiar with pay per click advertising, then you may want to consider taking it slowly so that you can test out your investment. Jumping right into Google or Overture may require a larger investment with little payoff since you have not developed your pay per click skills. Make sure you ask good questions from the search engine before you decide to use pay per click. For instance, find out how many searches per month are done at that site and what partners and affiliates the search engine has. Also, do you have to advertise on the partners and affiliates? Is there fraud prevention and how does it work? Can you opt out of having your listing appear in other countries? Does the search engine have published terms of service available to you? Asking the right questions can save you headaches later on, should you have a concern.

Read the rest of the article here: Pay Per Click - A New Way to Get the Word Out on Your Website.

Download the Free Quick Start Workbook (Free $97 Value!) and receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a very successful Home Based Business.

Copyright © Charles Fuchs is an established online marketer who specializes in helping people start their very own Home Based Business. He has also created dozens of articles such as MLM Leads and Make Money Online.

I grant permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way.

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Is Selling On eBay Just A Hobby Or A Real Business

Posted on August 21st, 2008

Q: I made extra money selling things on eBay last year. These were items I picked up at yardsales mostly. My husband says I am responsible for paying income tax on the money I made, but I disagree. This is just my hobby, not a business. What do you think?
– Gladys A.

A: With so many people selling on eBay these days this is a question I get all the time. To many eBay sellers the thought of running an actual business is about as appealing as getting negative feedback, so they go out of their way to convince themselves that selling on eBay is really “just a hobby” and therefore, should not be susceptible to income tax laws.

While you might think selling on eBay is just a hobby and the extra money you’re making is not reportable as income, depending on the circumstances, the IRS just might disagree with you.

The IRS rules are clear: you must pay taxes on all personal and business income and that includes money you make selling on eBay.

In its most basic sense, the IRS rules mean that if you buy a vase at a garage sale for $10 and sell it on eBay (or elsewhere) for $20 you made a $10 profit and therefore must report it as income and pay Uncle Sam his fair share.

In reality, if you are a casual seller who only sells a few items on eBay every now and then it’s doubtful the IRS is going to lose much sleep over the few bucks you make.

However, if you consistently sell on eBay the IRS may deem your activities to be business oriented and you will be required to file a Schedule C and claim the income.

The IRS uses a number of factors to determine if a hobby is really a business. These factors include:

1. Do you carry on the activity in a business-like manner?

If you conduct your eBay activities in a business-like manner, i.e. you keep business records, track profit and loss, keep a separate checking account, etc. then whether you think so or not, your hobby is really a business.

2. Do you spend considerable time working on your hobby?

If you put considerable time and effort into your eBay sales, the IRS may contend that you do so for profit and not fun. It seems the folks at the IRS don’t believe in doing things strictly for pleasure. My guess is, neither do you. If you weren’t making money selling on eBay I doubt you’d bother getting up at 4 a.m. to hit all those yardsales.

Then again, maybe you would… :o)

3. If you depend on income from your eBay activities for your livelihood?

If so, it’s a business, not a hobby.

There are a number of other factors the IRS uses to determine if a hobby is really a business, but that covers the basics.

You can learn more at the IRS website at www.irs.gov.

What’s eBay’s take on all this?

eBay is vehemently opposed to anything tax related (especially the forced collection of sales tax, which is a whole ‘nother issue). It’s understandable that eBay is not a fan of the IRS since trying to enforce tax rules on buyers and sellers would undoubtedly be detrimental to the way eBay does business.

eBay does not does not issue 1099 tax forms to sellers, nor does it report seller’s sales figures to the IRS. eBay considers itself a faciliator, i.e. they provide a marketplace in which buyers and sellers come together to do business.

However, since eBay is not directly involved in the transactions that take place between buyers and sellers, it would be impossible for eBay to report sales figures. Furthermore, eBay does not track if a seller actually gets paid by the buyer, so they have no idea how much money actually changes hands, making it impossible for eBay to issue accurate 1099s to sellers.

On the bright side, if you do sell on eBay as a business you can deduct a number of business expenses, including the cost of inventory, listing fees, shipping, envelopes, packing materials, etc. You might also be able to deduct things like the purchase of a computer for business use, office space (even if it’s a home office), office supplies, and more.

I’m not accountant (nor do I play one on TV), so please do not take any of this as tax advice or legal opinion. Talk to your accountant if there’s any doubt as to whether you should or should not be paying taxes on your eBay earnings.

Here’s to your success!

Tim Knox

Small Business Q&A is written by veteran entrepreneur and syndicated columnist, Tim Knox. Tim serves as the president and CEO of three successful technology companies and is the founder of DropshipWholesale.net, an online organization dedicated to the success of online and eBay entrepreneurs.

Related Links:
http://www.prosperityandprofits.com
http://www.smallbusinessqa.com
http://www.dropshipwholesale.net

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Top Ten Ways to Attract Targeted Local Customers With Online Marketing

Posted on August 20th, 2008

Does your business have a Web site? Have you missed the idea that it can be your 24/7 virtual marketing machine? Do you wonder how it could bring you minions more customers and clients to your “brick and mortar” location?

The biggest mistake local businesses make is not using the Internet to let potential customers and clients know who they are, who they can be by offering valuable content to attract them back again and again, and why they are the first choice over their competition.

Did you know that many of your local potential customers will Google your Web name or your name to see what you offer and how you may be their choice over others? Today people are much more Internet savvy. You need to speak to them.

Building traffic to your Web site to market it needs you to install proper content and sales messages on it as well as other tried and true Online promotion methods such as submitting articles and creating a blog.

FACT: You have only 10 seconds to attract your potential customers and get him to stay long enough to show them your business is his best choice.

How’s your Web Site Doing?

Take the “Check and Correct Quiz” below to see if your Web site measures up. After your input what you don’t know will be clearer. If you want your Web site to be more effective, stay open and learn how they can put more money in your checking account each month.

Answer these questions to see if you are on track or need a professional partner to help you get the necessary marketing language and content on your site to bring targeted traffic. Realize the spiders of the search engines comb sites daily looking for good key word, free information, and power writing sales content.

Did You Know Your Web site Needs…?

_____1. A sales letter (short or long) for each product or service you offer. You need to give your visitors a reason to buy from you.

_____2. Benefit driven headlines on your home page to attract people to your sales messages. Drop your announcements because they bore. Make your visitor’s mouths water, their skin tingle, and their eyes receive a positive picture of how they will be after they use you. Make your headlines on your home page and in your sales letters sizzle and seduce to get them to call you and come to your office.

_____3. Testimonials from former clients and customers

_____4. Less bio and credentials on the home page because your customer wants to know “what’s in it for me?” Put this information on your Contact or About Me page.

_____5. Less telling and more engaging the visitor to stay (they leave immediately if they don’t see benefits and valuable content that answers their concerns). Forget the brochure-style home page.

_____6. A preplan naming the top two to three focuses you want to attract customers to, who your target market is, and your Web site’s contacts and money goals.

_____7. Much more “You” centered information such as benefits or short tips and articles

_____8. Acknowledgement and answers for your visitor’s concerns, problems or challenges. These hook your Web visitor to pick up the phone to call you.

_____9. Proven strategies that get people to your site to include writing and submitting short articles to other Web sites and ezines, exchanging links, a blog page for your customer to interact with you and get questions answered, and many more.

____10. A willingness to take the time and spend the money to make your Web site work. Without this, your site will languish with inactivity.

When you don’t know what you don’t know, your site just sits there with no one to play with. Your brick and mortar business sits there too. Now that you do know more than you did, take a leap of faith and know that you too can learn how to make your Web site shine and bring people right to your business address. Find yourself a good professional Internet marketing person, read books on the topic or take a teleclass or seminar to boost your skills. Partner with a professional who can make your journey so much shorter, with fewer mistakes, and help you enjoy your business more.

Judy Cullins ©2005 All Rights Reserved.

Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach works with small business people who want to make a difference in people’s lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent life-long income. Judy is author of 10 eBooks including Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast, Ten Non-Techie Ways to Market Your Book Online, The Fast and Cheap Way to Explode Your Targeted Web Traffic, and Power Writing for Web Sites That Sell. She offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, “The BookCoach Says…,” “Business Tip of the Month,” blog Q & A at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 170 free articles.

===============
Email her at Judy@bookcoaching.com.
Phone: 619/466-0622 — Orders: 866/200-9743

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Free Webmaster Tools - 7 Things Every Webmaster Needs in Their Toolbox

Posted on August 20th, 2008

Webmaster tools are vital to becoming both efficient and effective in your online efforts. The following are my picks for the top types of webmaster tools:

Tool #1 Link Finders

Every webmaster needs this free tool. It will help you find all of the websites that are linking to your page. When you have this information you will know part of the reason why you rank where you do in the search engines and what you need to do about it. This is a great tool to have in your bag and one that will certainly help your online business.

Tool #2 Search Engine Ranking Software

If you are a webmaster then you certainly want to know where your website or websites rank with the major search engines. The best way to get this answer is to use search engine ranking software that will provide you with these results. With this information you will be able to make the necessary changes and stay on top of the SEO world.

Tool #3 Keyword Analyzer

Making your webpage as strong as possible for search engines and rankings requires you have the right keywords and use them at the right frequency. The best way you can find out your list of keywords is to have your product and website analyzed by free keywords analyzer software. There are many free programs online that will help you with the appropriate keywords and report what the keyword density is for each of your webpages.

Tool #4 Website Tools

Maintain your website and perform all the work and changes you need to with free website maintenance tools that you can find online. This is the best way to keep your webpage current and looking professional without spending lots of money.

Tool #5 Meta Tag

Manage your Meta tags with online software that will help you create Meta tags that work effectively. A Meta tag creator is very important because some large, popular search engines still give a lot of weight to Meta tags and if you have done a good job with these and used appropriate keywords then your website will benefit. You can easily find many of these online for free!

Tool #6 Multiple Browsers

Don’t make your website look good just through Interent Explorer. It is important to optimize your webpage design for multiple browers such as Opera and Firebird. Online webmasters can use tools to view their webpages in other browsers. By doing this you will know how different browsers display your website and what you need to do, if anything, to make them better.

Tool #7 Link Checker

Make sure all the links on your webstie are valid with a link checker. You do not want to link to bad sites or sites that are no longer in existence, so this is a tool you should utilize on a regular basis. If you have dead links for a long period of time it will not only look bad to your visitors, but search engines may also penalize your site for this.

These tools will help any webmaster improve his site and make it more useful to his visitors.

Michael Turner shows you exactly how to increase web site traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it today at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/

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Go With Quality Over Quantity And Your Business Will Prosper

Posted on August 19th, 2008

Back when I first started developing my home business, I went for the numbers instead of focusing on targeting prospects. It took me a while to appreciate the importance of targeting (quality) instead of just going for the big numbers (quantity).

For online marketing, it helps greatly to get your website in
front of people who are actually looking for the product,
service, or opportunity that you are offering. This refers to
the concept of marketing your sites to your target audience,
rather than wasting your time, effort, and money on people who
are not already interested in what you have to offer.

Be wary of “massive action” techniques in this era when many ISPs
feel their hottest marketing theme is the blocking of incoming
emails, which they decide their customers do not want to receive
(they are the self appointed “information police”).

Many of the sources of cheap, high volume leads supply you with
leads that have absolutely no interest in your particular
business (or product or service) and furthermore, have been put
into the list in such a manner that can get you into trouble with
your ISP because you are unwittingly spamming (many of these bulk
lead lists are created by robots that crawl the Internet and
harvest email addresses) the recipients.

In order to be effective in the promotion your particular
proposition, whatever it is, you have to seek out your target
market. This is as true online as it is offline. Just because
you are able to reach huge numbers of people with your message on
the Internet far more cheaply and quickly than you can offline,
does this necessarily mean you should?

What’s the point of devoting your time and energies to marketing
to a massive group of people without first knowing whether they,
as a group, have a general interest in what you are offering?

It is much more efficient and effective to first find out where
your prospective customers congregate, and then target that
congregation, than it is to use a shotgun approach and hope that
one of your pellets will somehow find its target (you know…
throw enough up against the wall and something is bound to
stick). You will find that by selectively targeting your
prospects before marketing to them, your conversion ratio (the
proportion of your target market that takes positive action and
actually purchases your product or service) will be much higher
than the results you would otherwise achieve without first taking
the time to target your prospects. Once again, quality wins out
over quantity.

It seems that a great many webmasters have not stopped to ask
themselves the all-important question…What is the purpose of my
web site? For some reason, many of them seem to think that the
purpose of their web site is to give away freebies. Or it could
be to be a “showcase” for their products. Or it could be to
create links to all kinds of resources. Or it could be to have
fancy flash graphics and build a brand name.

One of the biggest mistakes people new to web design make is
going for more “flash” than substance. They bog down their site
with a bunch of fancy colored backgrounds, 3-D text, flash
presentations, etc. If a visitor to your site is using a 56K
connection and has wait to more than 8 seconds for it to load
(which can easily happen on sites heavy with graphics), you can
expect to lose about 1/3 of your visitors.

If you’re a business, the purpose of your web site is to sell a
product or service. Your web site should have one main focus.
It should not be selling a dozen products, a dozen opportunities,
or linking to a bunch of different affiliate programs. Presenting
too many options has a tendency to confuse your visitor.
When someone visits your site, it should be clearly obvious what
one action you want him or her to take.

Kirk Bannerman operates his own successful home based business
and also coaches others seeking to start their own home based
business. For more information visit his website at
http://www.home-based-business-team.com
Proven Work At Home Business for more details

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Network Marketing Training - The Single Biggest Mistake Made in MLM Today

Posted on August 19th, 2008

So…you have joined a Network marketing Company, and you are truly excited. Or maybe you have been in for a while, and are looking for greater things to happen in your MLM business. This is normal, as you always want to create a Success Structure within your organization. If you do, your MLM business will have a greater chance of succeeding huge.
But then, as you go along, you find out some things that really bother you. And they help lead you to one HUGE mistake. What are those things?

1) You never knew your friends and family could be so unsupportive and negative.

This is such a big disappointment to many folks,as you really want your friends and family to support you at least by ordering some product, and positive statements.

But that doesn’t seem to happen very often for many folks in Network Marketing, as a lot of their friends and family do the opposite. And they try and tell you you should do the same thing.

INFERNO Secret:

In MLM, you are swimming upstream. We are the “Salmon on the world.” We are swimming upstream towards Success, while the world is flowing downstream or opposite of us, towards struggle and survival. That is just the way it is. And we often make the biggest mistake in MLM because of this.

2) You find out that most of your friends have already given up on doing anything great with their life.

This one is a real bummer. You want the best for your friends and family, but it seems that they already have given up on doing anything that smacks of greatness in their life. They make excuses for all that they do not have or do, and then politely put you down many times for wanting to do better. And many times, you have a tendency to listen, as they truly sound sincere and caring.

That is one that I personally went through, and it hurt, as many of my friends today still live a mediocre life, when they could have had an Extraordinary life. And this tremendously influences people to make the biggest mistake in network marketing.

3) The world actually is more focused on “getting through the week”, instead of giving what it takes daily to get the week to give to you what you want.

Getting through the week is a great past time for a lot of folks, and nothing wrong with that. But if you have the talent to succeed massively, and don’t use it, and end up with a life that is not what you really wanted in life, you have no right to complain. You have allowed yourself to be deceived into thinking that this is how life is supposed to be.

This bring us to the Biggest Mistake made in Network Marketing:

Thinking that being average and mediocre is how life is “supposed to be”, and even though you gave MLM your best shot, you return to the life and way of thinking that you had, as this is the way it is “supposed to be.”

The 3 biggest thieves in MLM that has ever existed are the words “Supposed to Be.” These words have helped more people give up on their dreams than any other thing I have found.

And it is a HUGE mistake to buy into those words and their poisonous influence.

WHY?

Giving up on your dream is NOT how it is “supposed to be,” for you, but is ONLY how it is supposed to be for others –that have already given up on their own dreams.

You should NEVER give in, give up, or give out! You should GIVE MORE!

Give more Belief to your dreams in MLM.

Give more Action to your dreams in Network Marketing.

Give more Positive Thoughts to your dreams in MLM.

Give more Energy to your dreams in Network Marketing.

Give more Determination to your dreams in MLM.

INFERNO Secret: (I want you to GET THIS NEXT STATEMENT!)

Give MORE Time, and listen ONLY to those who have walked the Success path of being a Successful MLM home Business entrepreneur, and can teach you what you NEED TO KNOW, not teach you the Need for NO. (Did you catch that? READ IT AGAIN!)

Don’t make the Biggest mistake made in Network Marketing and fall prey to the “Supposed to be” crowd.

Become the type of person to move from “supposed to be” to “Propose to be!”

This is the life that I propose for mine to be!

This is the income that I propose for mine to be!

This is the lifestlyle that I propose for mine to be!

This is the future that I propose for my life, and I will not be denied!

Move from the mediocre world of Suppose to the Extraordinary world of Propose. All Millionaires in the world today did just that.

If you do, you will have found the solution to the Biggest mistake made in Network Marketing and MLM today.

Blessings…Doug (c) 2005/ all rights reserved

PassionFire Intl http://www.passionfire.com

Doug Firebaugh is one of the top MLM Network Marketing
Trainers in the world. Over a million people a month
read his training ezine. He spent the last 7 years
traveling the world speaking and training on Success.
He lives in Birmingham Michigan, and you can receive a
FREE subscription to his training ezine - The MLM
Success HEAT- at:
http://www.passionfire.com/pf_heat_4.html and
http://www.passionfire.com

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Getting Started

Posted on August 18th, 2008

One of the first things we do with our Partnering For Your Success students is to have them plan out how many hours they can spend on lease purchasing.

We know that many of you are working and want to start part-time. Well the best way to do this is to take a calendar and to put in the times you will work your lease purchasing business, or whatever business you want to get started.

Your initial planning is the key. The number of hours you can spend, getting your identity package done, setting up your office, making the contacts, making your calls, and setting your goals (both short term and long term). In effect, getting your ducks in order, being sure all your P&Q’s are taken care of, and then just getting started.

However, the first step is yours. If after doing all the planning, you never make the commitment, all is lost. You have to implement the plan, and make the commitment to follow through.

And when there are bumps in the road, and believe us, there will be, ask for help, don’t just give up. If you just give up, you’ll never know what you could have accomplished. Think of the bumps as challenges, and learn from the bumps rather than just giving up. Nothing comes easy. You are not going to be a millionaire by next week (unless you win the lottery), it is not going to work on auto pilot, you need to stoke it and help it grow.

So start planning and doing today. Let this year be a new beginning for you. If you feel you can’t do it on your own, check out our Partnering For Your Success program.

Copyright DeFiore Enterprises 2001

Interested in having your own successful, home based creative real estate investing business? Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 19 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE tips and tricks, educational products and coaching in creative real estate investing and home based businesses. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to our “how to” Home Business Solutions Digest, it’s like having your own personal coach: mailto:subscribeHBS@homebusinesssolutions.com

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