WidgetBucks Ups Affiliate Referral Program to 15%

From: Widgetbucks official blog

WidgetBucks is boosting its Referral Program payout to a generous 15 percent (up from 5). This means that when you refer a new WidgetBucks user, you will receive a 15 percent referral fee based on the commissions earned by the people you refer. You'll receive this 15 percent for the full 12 months after the new member joins.

Your referral fees will be credited to your account and paid monthly, along with your commission payout. So, if you refer someone, and they make $100 in commissions, we pay you $15; if they make $1,000, we pay you $150. This continues for a whole year on all the commissions they earn.

Be sure to access our Referral Tools page for pre-designed affiliate ads, tag lines and logos of various sizes. Here are some serving suggestions for your affiliate referral code:

* signatures (email, forums like Digital Point)
* sidebars on your site or blog
* Twitter feed
* Facebook, LinkedIn & MySpace profiles

- Dean

Developing Your Marketing Strategy

Developing a successful marketing strategy is an essential part of your online success. In order to succeed, you must develop and implement a strategic plan that includes all of the following:

• A great product and or service 
  
• A web site specifically designed to sell 
  
• A killer marketing strategy 
  

Each step plays an important role in your overall strategy and must be developed to its fullest potential. If even one step fails, your chances of success will be minimal.

What should I sell?

Your first step will be to either develop a great product of your own, or simply locate quality products and/or services you can market via affiliate programs.

If you’re just starting out, it is highly recommended that you start out marketing quality products and/or services that are already developed. This will provide you with the ability to earn while you learn, as most quality affiliate programs provide you with marketing and advertising information to assist you.

What is an Affiliate Program?

When a company provides you with the ability to sell their products and services and they pay you a specified commission on each sale, they have what is known as an affiliate program.

One Tier Verses Two Tier

One tier affiliate programs pay commissions on one level. For each sale an affiliate makes, they will receive a commission. For example, if a company offers their affiliates a 30% commission and their product sells for $39.99, for every sale you make, you would receive a onetime $12 commission.

Two tier affiliate programs pay commissions on two levels. Affiliates will receive a commission for each sale they make and for each sale their recruits make, which means you would have to get others to join the affiliate program.

Two tier affiliate programs usually divide the commissions over the two levels. For example, if a company wants to give their affiliates a total of 30% commission for each sale, they would offer a 20% commission on their first level sales and an extra 10% commission on second level sales. If their affiliate makes a $39.99 sale, they would receive an $8 commission. If one of their recruits makes a sale, they would receive an additional $4 commission.

Although this may look good on paper, my experience has been that the one tier affiliate program is much more profitable than the two, as most affiliates never make any money. Why? Because they fail to try...

Residual Affiliate Programs

Although joining affiliate programs that pay a onetime commission on sales can produce some extra income, the key to developing a nice monthly income is to join residual affiliate programs.

A residual affiliate program will pay you a monthly commission on sales for as long as the customer remains with the company.

Joining a combination of both types of affiliate programs will be your best option.

Developing Multi Streams of Income

The key to developing a successful Internet business is to create multiple streams of income. You must not solely rely upon one stream of income, as you will literally be placing all of your eggs in one basket.

By developing income from multiple sources, when one source is having a slow period, the other sources will help to supplement.

You must first decide upon your target market and offer products and/or services that will be of interest to your market. In addition, the products and/or service you’re offering should be closely related. For example, if you’re selling computers, you could also offer printers, Internet service, software, etc.

Once you’ve decided upon your target market and what type of products and/or services you’d like to sell, your next step will be to locate quality affiliate programs.

You can find hundreds of affiliate programs at Commission Junction, LinkShare and ClickBank.

Developing Your Web Site

Once you've developed a great product and/or selected your affiliate programs, your next step will be to develop a great web site. Your web site must be specifically designed to sell the products and/or services you’re selling.

Everything within your web site should have one specific purpose --
getting your visitor to take action. Words are the most powerful
marketing tool you have. The right words will turn your visitors into
customers. The wrong words will cause them to click away and never
return.

Your words are the entire foundation of your business. Your product,
your web site and your marketing strategies all depend upon your
words. Fancy graphics don't make sales -- words do.

Every word, sentence and headline should have one specific purpose --
to lead your potential customer to your order page.

Write your web site copy as if you are talking to just one person.
Identify a problem and validate that one visitor's need for a solution.
Continue to write and explain why your product is the solution to their
problem. Tell them exactly what your product will do for them -- why it
will solve their problems and how. Pack your copy with benefits and
more benefits. Write to persuade -- that's the bottom line.

Developing Your Credibility

An important part of building a successful Internet business is developing your credibility.

Although the Internet has opened a whole New World of opportunity for all of us, it has also created a breeding ground for scam artists. Internet users are very reluctant to order online and share their personal information. For this reason, you must take every opportunity to build your credibility.

Domain Name

The first step in establishing a credible Internet business is to invest in a domain name. This will instantly convey to your visitors that you take your business very seriously.

Web sites hosted on free servers are not taken seriously and will suffer a serious loss of business. Your visitors may feel that if you don't have your own domain, you may not be a credible company. They'll simply take their business elsewhere.

Contact Information

It is very important that you provide your visitors with your complete contact information. This information should include your "real" postal address and not a Post Office box number. A business that hides behind a PO box loses credibility. It's perfectly acceptable to use a PO box as long as you also include your postal address.

A great way to display your information is to create an "About" page. Your "About" page should include all of the following:

• A personal or professional biography 
  
• A photograph of yourself 
  
• A complete description of you and/or your company 
  
• Your web site and/or company objectives 
  
• Your name, address, phone number and email address 
  

An "About" page is a very important part of building your credibility -- especially if you're selling a product or service. You must do everything in your power to put your potential customers' mind at ease.

Privacy Statement

A credible business should let their visitors know exactly what their policies are in regard to the personal information they collect.

A great way to disclose your policies is to create a "Privacy" page. Your "Privacy" page should include all of the following that apply:

• How do you plan on using your visitors' information? 
  
• Is your visitors' information sold or shared with a third party? 
  
• Why do you collect your visitors' email address and how will it be used? 
  
• Why do you track your visitors' IP address?
  
• Let your visitors know that you're not responsible for the privacy issues of any outside web sites you may be linking to. 
  
• Do you run contests and what do you do with the information?
  
• Do you have a discussion forum or message board?
  
• Let your visitors know that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes
  
• public information and caution should be taken. 
  
• Do you have security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under your control? If so, let your visitors know.
  
• Let your visitors know how they can opt out of your mailing lists.
  
• Provide your visitors with your contact information, should they have any questions in regard to your privacy policies. 
  

Feedback

Many times, your potential customers will have questions in regard to your products and services. To further build your credibility, provide your potential customers with an easy way to contact you. Create a page on your web site called "feedback." Place a form on this page to enable your visitors to contact you.

It is very important that you answer any questions you may receive as quickly as possible. Your personal response to your potential customers can literally determine whether or not you're going to make a sale.

A feedback form will also enable you to gather testimonials and receive suggestions to assist you in improving your web site, products or services.

Share Your Expertise

Another great way to develop your credibility is to share your expertise. You can do this in a number of ways including:

• Writing Articles
  
• Providing Free Tutorials
  
• Offering Free Courses
  
• Writing Reports
  
• Distributing Free Ebooks
  
• Publishing an Ezine
  

Sharing your expertise will enable you to promote yourself as an expert in your field. Not only will it assist your potential customers, but it will also develop your credibility.

By taking the time to build your credibility with your potential customers, you will increase your Internet sales considerably.

Adsense Stop Displaying For Blogger Blog

As many (irritated) people have reported, it seems that Adsense has stopped displaying ads for their blogs since earlier today. Right now only blogs hosted on Blogger seem to be affected. There has also been no announcement from Google regarding this bug. If this happened to you, don't panic, you're not getting banned from Adsense (hopefully), but you may have to forfeit today's earnings like the rest of us.

Feel free to check back with me or the official Adsense blog, I'll keep you posted on this one.

Update: 10 A.M, the problem has been fixed. Still no explanation though, I guess "Be transparent" isn't part of their motto after all, oh well.

Update 2: I take it back:

If you have a Blogger site, some of you may have noticed that your ad units began showing public service announcements (PSAs) in the last nine hours. This was due to a technical issue that we've now identified and resolved. As a result, you should now begin seeing paid ads on your pages again. If you're still displaying PSAs after 24 hours, we recommend reviewing our Help Center and using our PSA troubleshooter. Thanks to everyone who helped report this issue, and we appreciate your patience. Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team Friday, January 23, 2009 at 9:36:00 AM

Tools of the Trade

An essential part of running a successful Internet business is quality software. Software will play a major roll in your success. You must be willing to invest in the software you'll need to assist you in running your business.

Email Program

The first and most important software you'll need is a quality email program. Although most Internet Service Providers include email accounts for their customers, these accounts aren't adequate for an Internet business -- especially if you get a large amount of email. Not only do the email addresses contain your ISP's name, but they are also very limited on features and options.

There are many email programs available on the Internet. However, the best program I've found is Thunderbird. Thunderbird is a standalone email program that works with any ISP. It will enable you to easily organize your email by filtering your messages into specific mailboxes. This feature alone can save you a great deal of time. What's more, your email address will be your own domain -- not someone else's.

Mailing List Software

Collecting your visitors' email address is one of the most important steps in developing a successful Internet business. You must develop a database of potential customers if you truly want to succeed.

Publishing an ezine is a great way to accomplish this. In order to do so, you must have a good mailing list program that will enable you to send your potential customers personalized messages. If you're an America Online customer, you won't be able to use a software program that runs on your computer. You'll need to use a program that runs with your web browser.

Below is the list of software I've used with good results:

AutoResponse Plus (Mailing List / Autoresponder): Complete list management including unlimited lists, HTML or plain text mailings, MySQL database, customizable auto-personalization of messages, automatic removal links, unlimited follow-up autoresponses and more.

1-2-All Broadcast: A complete list management system including HTML or plain text newsletters, MySQL database, personalization features, automatic removal links and more.

HTML Editor

Your web site is the storefront of your business and is one of the most important factors in determining your success. In order to design your web site, you'll need to get a good HTML editor like Dreamweaver or Microsoft Frontpage.

Before you begin the actual design process, I highly recommend that you install two web browsers -- Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. These are the two most widely used browsers on the Internet. However, they are not created equally. Your page might look great when viewed through Internet Explorer, but may not display well when viewed through Firefox. It is very important that you view your web site through both browsers, and design your pages accordingly.

Graphics Editor

Graphic design is an intimidating subject for many Internet entrepreneurs. However, most of us must learn some basic design techniques in order to avoid the high costs of hiring a professional designer.

In order to create and/or edit your graphics, you'll need to invest in a good graphics program. The most popular program used by Internet marketers is Adobe Photoshop. This powerful program is the only program you'll need to design professional looking graphics.

Zip/Unzip Program

Zip files are used to compress and transport file archives over the Internet. It is the preferred method used for electronic file distribution, as rather than downloading several different files, you can simply download one Zip file. In addition, the download time will be minimized, as the files within the Zip archive are compressed.

Once a Zip file is downloaded, it can be easily opened and extracted (unzipped) with a Zip/Unzip software program.

Although there are many Zip software programs available on the Internet, WinRar is the most popular. WinRar makes working with file archives simple.

FTP Program

File Transfer Protocol, better known as FTP, is a procedure used to upload and download files to and from your web server.

In order to use FTP, you'll need to download and install a software program on your computer such as FileZilla.

Text Editor

Text editors have a variety of uses such as writing HTML, editing scripts, and writing ezine articles -- just to name a few. NotePad is an excellent text editor and is most likely already installed on your computer. However, it can't handle large files and is better suited for smaller files. You may find that you'd like an editor that is a little more powerful. I use a great program called NotePad++. This powerful editor will enable you to edit large files, format your text, convert your text to HTML, and even includes a spellchecker and thesaurus.

Although this list of software is far from complete, it will provide you with a basic guideline to get you started.

If you're serious about your business and you really want to succeed, purchasing software is an absolute must. Do your homework and select software that best suits your needs. It will be well worth the investment.

10 Tips To Becoming A "Make Money Online" Sheep

Do you want to start a "Make Money Online" (MMO) blog? Yes? Well, let's be honest, you've missed the boat, that ship has sailed. The world wide web is now flooded with people trying to grab their slice of the pie. I remember hearing a saying once that "nothing original is ever created in a vacuum", and I think that saying can definitely be applied to the whole MMO niche. So with that in mind, here's the definitive list of tips you can follow to become a Make Money Online sheep.

Number 1: Grab that 'dot com' domain

As a MMO sheep it's important for you to realise that snagging that domain name is the first crucial step to being accepted by the flock. A lot of the big fish like to use their real name as their domain name, for example, johnchow.com, joelcomm.com and zacjohnson.com. Then there's the alternative crew, that use something a little more descriptive, for example, problogger.net, entrepreneurs-journey.com and doshdosh.com.

Number 2: The inspirational tag line

Without an inspirational tag line, how will you appear credible, driven and worthy of following? Now this is the toughest part for a MMO sheep, because you need to make a choice. You need to decided whether your tag line lets people know that you new on the scene and heading for big things, or that you're already a big deal.

You can go with the tried and true "Make Money Online" type theme, as you can see caroline-middlebrook.com/blog, which is also another example of the name as domain thing.



Or you can let people know that you're really serious by whacking a "100%" in front of it.



Or you can go for a "Make Money Online" play on words.



You can also go for the tag that lets people know that you're the 'been there, done that' guru.



The "Experiment" is another common theme, but if you get stuck, just combine all these ideas into one.



Take your readers on a journey... Follow me as I go from zero to hero with a click of the mouse...

Number 3: "Create" that pseudo web 2.0 style logo

Remember that whole "nothing original is created in a vacuum thing"? That probably sums up the Web 2.0 design trend. Everyone digs it, me included, so make sure your blogs logo has at least a splash of 2.0, some gradients, strong outlines, reflections, faux shine, anything will do. If you're stuck, check out some of the examples in tip number 3.

If adopting a full on web 2.0 style is not your thing (check out the CashQuests.com logo above), then maybe you should just consider ripping of the diamond/Superman emblem. See if you can spot the similarities here.



Number 4: Use WordPress and pick a copycat theme

The "MMO A-List" all favor WordPress and all have themes that share some key similarities. If you want to succeed as a MMO sheep, you better not deviate from the tried and true path. When you write a MMO blog, your theme choices are restricted. You must leave a butt load of room for advertising, and if possible, you must also include a picture of any of the following:

• An exotic sports car
  
• Yourself draped in blonde ladies wearing t-shirts with your blog logo on them
  
• You standing next to, sitting beside, or swimming in "your" luxury swimming pool
  
• You holding a big fat cheque, the bigger the better. Don't listen to anyone else, size f@$*ing matters!
  

Now, as a MMO sheep you may not have access to any of those things, but wait... you have heard of Photoshop haven't you? Either that, or wait until the next motor show rolls into town and get your photo taken with the Bugati and the glamour girls.

In terms of actual blog layout, again, there's only one way to go. Follow the big guys... bahhhhh... and either find a theme that looks like the one I've so kindly mocked up below, or train a code monkey to put a custom one together for you.



Now next time you're checking in on your favorite MMO blog, take a good look at the layout, notice any similarities?

Number 5: Do the "Free eBook for everyone that subscribes to my newsletter/feed" thing.

This is an absolute must if you want to follow the flock. All the big guys do this, so you should too! The secret is, to package up your eBook in such a way so as you give visitors the impression that they are getting priceless value for free, when in reality you're serving up the same meal that you and all the rest of the MMO crowd recycle day after day. The key ingredient here, is to plug that eBook with as many affiliate links as you can possibly fit in there.

Would I ever pump out an eBook? You bet your ass I would, as soon as I get time to actually put words in my word document.

Number 6: Include an anime/cartoon style character of yourself in your header somewhere.

This is a phenomenon I don't fully understand. With that said though I can offer you some insightful insight into what you should and shouldn't do.

As you can see from the 'best of' compilation to the right, you most definitely need to make sure you're drawn with a Cheshire Cat style grin. You also need to be doing something with your hands. Best not to flash gang signs, but you can flash some cash, do the power point, or just wave.

You should also have spiky hair, and must be wearing some sort of Chuck Taylor All Star things.

You must not be drawn to scale. Your head must be drawn so that it is disproportionally big to the rest of your body. What the 'big head' thing actually means is open to conjecture, I'm sure the pop-psychologists reading this will have their own theories.

Here's an example of a way over the top big head, also flashing the thumbs up, while lying in a hammock.



I feel kinda bad for the minister of marketing because it appears as though he's missing a finger on his left hand.

Number 7: Run some sort of competition

I guess it can be a little surprising to find the sorts of things people are willing to sign up for in the hope of winning a prize, even if that prize is only a ball point pen with your face on it. If you want to mix it with the big boys though you'll need to give away an iPod or iPhone, the prize of choice. Don't look at it as giving away something for nothing though, as part of the deal you want to make sure that whatever the entry requirements are, that they at least cover the prize costs. How much would 200 one way back links cost anyway?

Number 8: It's all about RSS Subscriber numbers

Those little RSS subsciber count widgets carry a lot of weight in the MMO world. It's like the money blogging equivalent of a penis measuring competition. As a sheep, it may be a little hard to build up an impressive figure, so, because size matters, head for the RSS plastic surgeon... photoshop. Those widgets are really just little graphics, I'm sure I'm not the first person in the world to think they'd be simple to modify? If you want to go the legitamate route with this, consider joining this with number 7.

Number 9: Do include a picture of two dogs humping

OK, so this one isn't actually a tip, nor a genuine suggestion, I just remembered I posted this picture a year or two back and it's still gold... OK there's that, plus I really needed to pad this list out or else I wasn't going to hit the 10 tip mark.



Number 10: Create a 'tips' list

A 'top XX tips' list is one of your best bets when it comes to scoring social networking traffic, such as Digg or Stumbleupon. If you're in any doubt, do a quick search on Digg for 'top tips' and take a look at the volume of Diggs some of those posts get. A top XX list is also a dynamite way of imitating the MMO A-List. It's important to remember that the "top XX list" can come packaged in different forms, 'top tips', '10 secrets to...', and so on and so forth.

The number of 'tips' you need to provide is up to you. The once mighty Shoemoney seemed to heavily favor a list of 10 with titles such as; "My Top 10 Worst Ideas To Make Money", "The 10 RSS Feeds I read", "10 Reasons I Delete Your Email", "10 Reasons Why You’re an Idiot".

If you want to be a true sheep, there's no room for individualism or creativity, so based on my exhaustive studies, I'd keep you 'tips' list to 10. Besides that, providing a list of more than 10 is dangerous because sheep have notoriously low attention spans, and you wouldn't want them wondering off into another paddock.

Bonus tip: Alway include a bonus tip

If you're going to create 'list' or 'tips' style posts, always make sure to include a "bonus tip". Gives the people the impression they are getting something special for nothing.

In summary

Let's be honest, it's easy to adopt a tried and true strategy to get things up and running. I'm more than guilty of that myself. I guess one of the points to take away from this, if nothing else is, in a 'market' that is growing increasingly competitive, simply falling into line may not be the best strategy if you're trying to draw an income. The question we might need to start asking ourselves is, how will we make ourselves stand out from the flock?

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Source: Swollenpickles.com

Search Engine Optimization: Content That Search Engines Love

Note: This is not a "Guide to hack the Google AdSense." I respect Google and all the other search engines. The sole purpose of the article is to benefit the Google Adwords, AdSense, and the advertising community in general.

We all know that Revenue of your website, Traffic on your website, Popularity of your website, Return ratio of your visitors, and credibility of your website - all these largely depend upon the content of your website. Content is King. It's the heart and soul of any online business. Google loves good content. According to Google AdSense engineers - "Content that promotes industry of AdWords advertisers is the ideal content (so that Smart pricing doesn't hits you)."

Below I will list some great way to get quality contents for your websites.

Source #1: Article Websites

This is the fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to get the articles you need for your upcoming website. You can get a number of articles from these websites on almost any topic. Many professional writers post the articles on the "Article Websites." You can host these articles on your website by giving proper credit to these writers. Industry experts post the articles on "Article websites" and wait for great links to come in. As these articles are posted directly by the experts, they make interesting reading and have credibility. These articles are technically accurate and keep your visitors glued to your website. This increases the page views.

These articles are set on broadcast mode, and the duplicate content can be found at many other places on the net. Search engines like good and motivating content, but your visitors may get bored by reading the same information again and again. Though, it doesn't mean that you should not use Article Websites, as they are still a cool source of high quality content.

One thing you must remember while hosting these articles is to give proper credit to the original writers. Read the Article Website's Terms and Conditions carefully and abide by them.

Source #2: Write Your Own Content

If you are an expert of the industry for which you are searching the content, who else can write better than you? Articles in your own words are called unique articles. Search engines as well as your visitors love unique articles. If you have unique content, it will be easy for you to ask links from some high profile websites. This will increase the inflow of traffic to your website. Unique content also gets maximum bookmarks, and visitors return to your website again and again for more interesting information.

Here are a few tips on how to write your own unique content.

1 - Surf the Forums

Almost every topic on the web now has forums for the same. People discuss problems, solutions, tips, and tricks related to your industry. This provides enough material for you to write your own version of the story. Locate the problem that most people face, search for its solution, and write something useful. This is the best way to do it.

2 - Get the Inspiration

Surf the web, dig out your competitors, and know what content they are providing, and ponder over what makes their websites so good. Use the same data as inspiration, add your own comments, add negatives or positives (pros and cons), and add comments from forums. Ideal strategy is to jot down 5-6 articles around one topic only. While writing, keep in mind that the content of the articles should be easy to understand. Avoid lengthy sentences, difficult words, and unnecessary repetition. Remember, you are not displaying your mastery over the language, instead you are communicating with your potential customer. The effort should be on trying to make him understand what you want to say.

3 - Get Content from Your Visitors

Let the visitors post articles on your website. They can email the articles to you, or else you can put up a "Post Article Form" for their convenience. Let them post comments on your articles - like a small forum thread for each article. This will keep the search engines hooked to your page. Moreover, you are generating content without moving a finger.

Source #3: Get the Content Written - Paid

Hire a content writer if you feel that you can't write the content. You can get many of them on freelancing websites. Ask the content writer to write unique content related to your industry. Specify some topics, if you can. If you can't, just specify the number of pages you want him to write for your website. You will get customized content.

Here is a list of a few websites where you can find the people to write content for you.

http://www.elance.com
http://www.rentacoder.com

Keep posting the content on your website. New content on your website keeps your website fresh and tasty - both for visitors and search engines.

Benefits of Unique Content

There are numerous benefits of writing eye opening, unique content.
- It builds web presence. People bookmark your website, and you get more returning visitors.
- It gets you links easily.
- If the content is posted on Article Websites, you get good links. If you have compiled good article website, your potential link partners look at you with respect. I have never seen an email shouting at me while I run my link partnering campaign, even if I drop them 15 continuous emails with the same content, accidentally making it a spam. I get links from the websites that are the masters of their industry.
- Source of free advertising.
- Search Engines look at you with more respect.

If you are beginner in this game, Article Websites are the best way to start with. Unique content may have more respect, but there is no point in writing content if you don't know the ins and outs of the industry you are targeting. And for God's sake, don't create confusion over internet! It's better to have duplicate content on your website than give wrong information to your visitors.

Content With Higher AdSense Payout

Content development can be tough and time consuming. For whopping fast returns, it's better to create websites either on the industries that are high paying or on the niche keywords. 

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Source: Keywordcountry.com

White Hat SEO - Do Not Pay Companies To Do It For You, Learn To Do It Yourself!

You've heard all about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) while browsing the webmasters forums and websites, and you saw people and/or companies charge a very high rate per hour to do it for you. While in fact, SEO is quite simple and you can even do it yourself, without having any sort of tech-know-hows beforehand.

In this article I’ll shed light on White Hat SEO. White Hat SEO are SEO techniques used to promote a website the "right" way, that is, honest, legal, within the rules and try to follow all the search engine guidelines.

First, the basics, Google ranks web pages on a scale of 0-10 with 10 being the highest. So it's not just about the amount of links, it's also about the importance of those links. For example, you could get hundreds of links on zero or low ranked pages, which have content that has no relation to your keywords, and receive a little more attention from search engine crawlers. Or you could get a few quality backlinks on high-ranking websites which are related to yours, which will greatly boost the value of your web pages.

You don't need to submit your website to any of the main search engines or others. It's just a waste of time, if your website has a handful of incoming links from other websites then any search engine will index your website after finding it from these links. However you can get indexed in search engines faster if the webpages linking to you have higher ranks.

Using White Hat SEO techniques to get ranked in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS) involves:

1) Building a website with unique content and images.
2) Trading links fairly.
3) Getting your website listed in directories or on other websites with related content.

Let's look into the techniques in detail.

1. Building a website with unique content and images

Unique content is content found only on one website, the bigger your website is (the more unique content you have), then the higher it will rank in SERPS and the more traffic you will generate. You will naturally also have many internal hyperlinking keywords.

2. Trading links fairly

This means making your link exchange with other websites that have the same or a similar theme to yours. It also involves regularly checking the links to ensure both parties are adhering to the deal and that the site you are trading with is not cheating on reciprocal links. Cheating on reciprocal links can mean making a lowly link exchange into a lucrative one-way link. There are a number of ways Black Hatter can do this. White Hatter should also be aware of these techniques as they are more than likely being used against them.

3. Getting your website listed in directories or on other websites with related content

Getting other websites to link to you, without you reciprocating the link is much more important. You can submit your link to your signature in forums, directories which don't cheat you, your friends' websites, etc. Obviously if you have stuff which is free, or funny or entertaining, or your website is very useful or informative then other webmasters may link to your site.

White Hat SEO does not involve buying links of any form. Buying links is now considered by Google to be violation of their guidelines and an attempt to manipulate SERPS. Basically this means if you buy any links at all which are HTML links direct to your website then you are in violation of Google's guidelines. Links purchased for advertising should be designated as such, this can be done in several ways, such as adding the rel="nofollow" attribute to <a> tag.

Monetize Your Outbound Links With Linkbucks

Yes, you´ve heard right. I´ve found a nice way to monetize your hyperlinks. And I mean every link you can imagine, be it blog or website links, affiliate links or links you post within forums or instant messengers. The service I discovered is named Linkbucks.com and provides you with different tools to turn your normal links into cash.

So, the whole thing is easy. Think about it as a service for shortening your URLs, e.g. turn an URL like this one into a simple one like this. Easy isn´t it? But there´s more. You can also turn your whole website links into paid links. You simply generate some Javascript code which you have to embed at the end of your html code (just before the tag). From now on all your links will be transformed into paid ones (unlike with single links your visitors can see where those links point to, so no URL hiding here).

So, I hear you asking “how much will I make?”, let me tell you! There are six different kinds of links you can generate, those with top banner ads, intermission ads or pop-ups, and their adult counterpart. Basically banner ads will generate $1 per 4000 page view, pop-ups $1 per 3000 and intermission $1/2000 pv (no clicks required for all 3 of them), with adult ads having better rates than worksafe ones. So, actually you get paid for showing advertisements. They´ll pay you twice a month, after reaching a $5 minimum payout limit. Payments are sent via Paypal, Epassporte and Moneybookers!

There´s even more. They also have a 3 level deep referral program. You get a certain percentage from all your referrals earnings, 10% in the first level, 5% in the second and 1% the third.

I think Linkbucks.com is a nice concept to make some money online. Especially if you have enough referrals you could make some good bucks just for providing your hyperlinks as you normally would. A negative aspect may be the annoying ad banners at the top of your sites or the ad intermissions (which I personally won´t suggest).

What are you waiting for? Sign up with them and start making some money now!

What is Black Hat SEO?

Within the SEO community, some optimization tactics are considered Black Hat SEO. These are tactics which are not considered to be good or fair by search engine operators, search engine optimizers, or web site visitors.

There is no generally accepted definition for black hat SEO. What may be considered appropriate by one webmaster may not be considered appropriate by another webmaster. In addition to personal differences, guidelines for appropriate conduct vary across web site categories. What might be considered acceptable for a web site in the gambling industry may not be equally acceptable for a health care web site.

Here are several guidelines for determining if a technique should be considered Black Hat SEO.

Search Engine Operator Policies

Many search engine operators, such as Google, MSN, and Yahoo, publish policies and guidelines which document what they feel are appropriate and inappropriate SEO techniques.

One school of thought believes that if you stay within these guidelines, you are not practicing black hat SEO.

One difficulty with this model is that the search engine operator guidelines tend to be extremely vague and non-technical. Another difficulty is that the guidelines differ between search engines. For example, Google prefers 301 redirects, while Yahoo prefers doorway pages which inform the user of the new URL.

The Property Rights Approach

The property rights approach to the question of black hat SEO believes that anything you do with your own property is acceptable, but that you should leave other peoples property alone.

By this standard, most on-page SEO techniques are acceptable, but off-page SEO techniques like guestbook spamming should be considered black hat SEO.

This is probably the most reasonable and fair guideline for determining acceptable SEO practices, but it does have some limitations. It does not, for example, address keyword spamming or cloaking.

The Visitor Value Approach

This school of thought believes that SEO techniques which do not add value to the visitors experience belong to the school of black hat SEO.

This approach labels on-page techniques such as hidden text, micro-text, and ALT text spamming as black hat SEO.

The visitor value approach has benefits not only in defining black hat SEO, but also in promoting general practices for good web site design. Black hat SEO practices which violate this guideline may result in a boost to your SERPs, but they will not lead to return visitors or natural incoming links.

The Unnatural Rankings Approach

This school of thought believes that anything which causes a web page to rank unnaturally highly for its keywords is black hat SEO.

Unfortunately, there is no generally accepted definition for "unnaturally highly"!
If followed to its logical conclusion, this school of though considers all SEO to be black hat SEO.

Under this approach, even the use of proper heading tags (H1, H2, H3) can be considered black hat SEO.

Ad Placement: The "Chicken" Method

Look at the table to the right. Where are you going to get the majority of your food from? What area of this set layout is going to see the most activity?

The center plate, agreed?

Now, think of your blog and where you place your AdSense advertisements.

1. Are you placing your ads in place of the center plate?
2. Are you placing your ads in the place of your silverware?
3. Are you placing your ads in the place of your cups or somewhere else?

The center plate gets the most activity..

We've already established this correct? If that's the case, don't you think that the same rules should apply when it comes to placing your AdSense advertisements or any other advertisements onto your site?

Put your ads where the chicken is

If your readers are vegetarian you're simply screwed. But for the most part, the chicken on a plate trick should definitely increase your

*Page CTR
*Page eCPM
*Earnings





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Source: VideoBloggingTips.com

Top 5 WidgetBucks Support Questions

While WidgetBucks transitions to a new and improved customer support ticketing system, we thought we'd provide a summary of top issues coming into our customer support team:

1. Why are my eCPMs fluctuating?



We're seeing a combination of things happening, not just across the WidgetBucks network but the industry as a whole: First, simply put, Q1 is not Q4. Each year, during the holiday season, price premiums are built into Q4 ad spends, and as the shopping season passes and enters the new year, those premiums tend to go away. This year is no exception and is a trend we also saw last year on the WidgetBucks network. History has shown that this tends to rebound as the quarter continues.

Second, as the economy has impacted brand budgets, we're seeing more movement, both coming and going, of advertisers across our network. We're working with existing ad partners, as well as pursuing new relationships, to maintain eCPM (effective cost-per-thousand impressions) as things stabilize after the holiday. Nonetheless, see this report on TechCrunch around the trending of eCPMs industry wide.

Our No. 1 goal is to make you, the publisher, more money than on any other network -- and that's what we're committed to. If you are experiencing issues with eCPM, we encourage you to contact Tue Pham (pronounced 'Tray'), Senior Publisher Network Manager, at tue.pham [at] widgetbucks [dot] com.

2. Why is my application being denied?

WidgetBucks is focused on securing advertiser relationships to create the most revenue for our publishers. As a result, our advertisers need assurances from our team that content on sites containing WidgetBucks ads is conducive to their brand values, and meets our Terms of Use. Applications from sites that contain adult and gambling content, or those with offensive language, get denied. Also, sites that are not completed, still in development or have just a single blog post on them will also get denied. This is consistent across the industry when it comes to approvals (BlogCatalog is another example).

3. Why has my account been suspended?

We are finding that a majority of sites that get suspended are a result of miscategorized or misrepresented content. When this is determined by our content review team, standard protocol is that we email the publisher to alert them of the issue. Frankly, when the content is grossly misrepresented, suspension typically happens immediately. When the misrepresentation is borderline, we contact the publisher and provide them 24 hours to make any adjustments, and if those aren't made or there is not response from the publisher, the account is suspended. Note those that do respond and/or we connect with regarding issue -- and it's resolved -- we can get reactivated quickly and back on the road to top-notch earnings.

We also have sophisticated and proprietary click fraud and impression fraud filter systems in place, and track these systems continually. Refer to WidgetBucks Terms of Use for more details on what content is allowed and restricted.

4. Why is my widget not appearing?



In July, WidgetBucks provided CPC and CPM Country lists, meaning that site traffic from those countries earns revenue based on its designation. For example, visitors from the U.S. and U.K. represent CPC earnings, whereas visitors from India and Ireland represent CPM earnings. If you have installed WidgetBucks ads on your site but they are not appearing, you may be viewing the ads from a non-CPC or CPM country, and therefore no ad would appear for you but WILL appear for people viewing your site from a CPC or CPM country. If you are from a CPC or CPM country, and your WidgetBucks ads aren't appearing for you, please contact tue.pham [at] widgetbucks [dot] com.

5. How are payments calculated and paid?

WidgetBucks distributes payments, earnings and commissions to publishers up to 45 days following the month your account balance reaches $50 or more. These are sent primarily via PayPal, with some also receiving checks. WidgetBucks generally does not send checks to countries outside of the U.S.; however, if you are approaching the $50 theshold (and you can't receive PayPal in your country), contact WBHelp [at] widgetbucks [dot] com to make special arrangements.

If you have other questions that weren't addressed here, contact WBHelp [at] widgetbucks [dot] com

Thanks again for using WidgetBucks on your site or blog!

- Dean

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Source: Widgetbucks official blog

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15 Tips To Increase Blog Traffic

The blogosphere is a big and busy world with over 100 million blogs and growing. How do you attract visitors to your blog? Follow these simple tips to drive traffic to your blog.

1. Write Well and Write Often

Frequently updating your blog with useful content is the first step to building your blog's audience. The content you write is what will keep readers coming back for more. Make sure you have something meaningful to say to them and say it often to maintain their interest and keep them loyal.

Furthermore, post frequently to increase the number of chances you have for your blog's content to be noticed by search engines such as Google or Technorati.

2. Submit Your Blog to Search Engines

Get on the radar screen for the popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo! by submitting your blog's URL to them. Most search engines provide a 'Submit' link (or something similar) to notify the search engine of your new blog, so those search engines will crawl it and include your pages in their results.

It's important to understand that simply submitting your blog to search engines doesn't mean your pages will appear at the top of a Google search results screen, but at least your blog will be included and will have the chance of being picked up by a search engine.

3. Use and Update Your Blogroll

By adding links to sites you like in your blogroll, the owners of those blogs will find your blog and will be likely to add a reciprocal link in their blogrolls. It's an easy way to get the link to your blog in front of many readers on other blogs. The hope is that some of those readers will click on the link to your blog on the other blogs' blogrolls and find your content interesting and enjoyable turning them into loyal readers.

4. Harness the Power of Comments

Commenting is a simple and essential tool to increase your blog's traffic. First, respond to comments left on your blog to show your readers that you value their opinions and draw them into a two-way conversation. This will increase reader loyalty.

Second, leave comments on other blogs to drive new traffic. Make sure you leave your blog's URL in your comment, so you create a link back to your own blog. Many people will read the comments left on a blog post. If they read a particularly interesting comment, they are highly likely to click on the link to visit the commentor's website. It's important to make sure you leave meaningful comments that are likely to invite people to click on your link to read more.

5. Syndicate Your Blog's Content with an RSS Feed

Setting up an RSS feed button on your blog makes it easy for your loyal readers to not just read your blog but also know when you publish new content.

6. Use Links and Trackbacks

Links are one of the most powerful parts of your blog. Not only are links noticed by search engines, but they also act as a tap on the shoulder to other bloggers who can easily identify who is linking to their sites. Linking helps to get you noticed by other bloggers who are likely to investigate the sites that are linking to them. This may lead them to become new readers of your blog or to add links to your blog from theirs.

You can take links to other blogs a step further by leaving a trackback on the other blog to let them know you've linked to them. Blogs that allow trackbacks will include a link back to your blog in the comments section of the post that you originally linked to. People do click on trackback links!

7. Tag Your Posts

It takes a few extra seconds to add tags to each of your blog posts, but it's worth the time in terms of the additional traffic tags can drive to your blog. Tags (like links) are easily noticed by search engines. They're also key to helping readers find your blog when they perform searches on popular blog search engines such as Technorati.

8. Submit Your Posts to Social Bookmarking Sites

Taking the time to submit your best posts to social bookmarking sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit and more can be a simple way to quickly boost traffic to your blog.

9. Remember Search Engine Optimization

When you write your blog posts and pages, remember to optimize your pages for search engines to find them. Include relevant keywords and links but don't overload your posts with too many relevant keywords or completely irrelevant keywords. Doing so can be considered spamming and could have negative results such as your blog being removed from Google's search entirely.

10. Don't Forget Images

Images don't just make your blog look pretty, they also help people find you in search engine listings. People often use the image search options offered by Google, Yahoo! and other search engines, and naming your images with search engine optimization in mind can easily boost your traffic.

11. Consider Guest Blogging

Guest blogging can be done when you write a guest post on another blogger's blog or when another blogger writes a guest post on your blog. Both methods are likely to increase traffic as your blog will be exposed to the other blogger's audience. Many of the other blogger's readers will visit your blog to see what you have to say.

12. Join Forums, Web Rings or Online Groups

Find online forums, web rings, groups or social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn where you can share ideas and ask questions of like-minded individuals. Add a link to your blog in your signature line or profile, so each time you post on a forum or participate in another online network, you're indirectly promoting your blog. Chances are many people will click on that link to learn more about you.

13. Promote Outside Your Blog

Promoting your blog shouldn't stop when you step outside the blogosphere. Add your blog's URL to your email signature and business cards. Talk about it in offline conversations. It's important to get your name and your blog's URL noticed offline, too.

14. Nominate Yourself and Other Blogs for Blog Awards

There are a number of blog awards given out throughout the year. Nominating yourself and other blogs and bloggers can draw attention to your blog and drive traffic to it.

15. Don't Be Shy

The most important part of the blogosphere is its community and much of your success as a blogger will be tied to your willingness to network with that community. Don't be afraid to ask questions, join conversations or just say hi and introduce yourself. Don't sit back and hope the online world will find you. Speak out and get yourself noticed. Let the blogosphere know you've arrived and have something to say!

$20 in Free Clicks from BidVertiser

I received this in my email today:

-------------------------

Dear [Publisher],

BidVertiser now offers $20 FREE advertising credit for current publishers!

We are so confident that BidVertiser will work well for you also as an advertiser that we will immediately credit your advertiser account with $20 worth of funds!

To become an advertiser, simply login to your account and click "Become an Advertiser".

Sinup Now - It's Free!

Tips For Avoid Getting Banned By Google Adsense

I have seen quite a lot of AdSense publishers posted in different forums stating that their AdSense accounts were banned by Google due to fraudulent clicks. Most of these people claim that they are innocent and have never clicked on their on AdSense ads. So they have no idea why click fraud can occur on their AdSense accounts. The truth is click fraud can happen in several ways and not necessarily caused by the AdSense publisher himself/herself who accidentally clicked on his/her own AdSense.

Below are some of the tips to protect your AdSense account:

1) Do not use autosurf programs to promote your websites that contain AdSense. Autosurf programs can substantially increase your website traffic or hits, AdSense page view and ecpm but people who surf your site only to earn advertising credit or other type of incentives. So the traffic generated from autosurf programs aren't counted as real and thus against AdSense policies.

2) If possible, do not involve in any traffic exchange networks and programs. If you have join one or more programs or networks that can make you a steady AdSense commission, you should start worry about your AdSense account as this could mean that members of the program(s) were clicking each other AdSense ads all the while whether intentionally or unintentionally. As soon as Google detected a group of people were clicking each other AdSense, many of the members AdSense account in the program will be suspended. Also traffic exchange can be another mean to artificially generate tons of unreal website traffic or hits and boost up AdSense page view & ecpm and it is strictly prohibited by Google .

3) Do not join AdSense exchange networks. They are similar to traffic exchange programs except members are participate just for clicking each other AdSense. This should be a guaranteed way to be banned by Google.

4) Read all the Google AdSense policies at https://www.google.com/adsense to see whether you have against any policies and make the necessary modification.

Make Money On The Internet With An Amazon.com Affiliate Site

You've probably heard before a lot of hype about how much money you can make with affiliate programs. Maybe you've even set up a site yourself, only to find that after buying the domain, a few bucks a month in hosting, software or a web designer to design your site, etc., that the piddly affiliate fees hardly even covered your cost. Well, here's the hype-free way to really make money with an Amazon.com affiliate site. And it'll only take a day to make the site. The secret? Low cost, low effort.

Here's How:

1. If you don't already know it, learn some basic HTML. You have to do this to keep your costs down and still get what you want. Even if the site is basically laid out for you, you're going to need to know how to insert images, create hyperlinks, and do some basic text formatting.

2. Decide on your topic. You're going to be doing product reviews and recommendations, so pick a topic that you enjoy and know something about. If you can't stay passionate about the topic, that will show, and it also won't hold your interest. Choose a narrow enough niche to be distinctive, e.g., bands from your city, left-handed guitarists, music for a certain kind of dancing, authors of a certain religion, books about arts & crafts, etc.

3. Choose your domain name. Make it keyword-rich, not clever. Think how people will find your site in the search engines. Here are some ideas (all available when I first wrote this, though a few have been snatched up):

Music: BandsFromTexas.com, BandOutOfBoston.com, SouthpawGuitarists.com, ClassicPsychedelia.com, Non-Stop-Hip-Hop.com, Merengue-Music.com
Books: Mormon-Authors.com, Arts-and-Crafts-Books.com, Books-by-Stephen-King.com, ClassicBusinessBooks.com
Others: Best-Baby-Toys.com, MomsMags.com, FelliniMovies.com

4. Register your domain name. If you're not technically inclined at all, register your domain wherever you set up your hosting in step 5. Otherwise, you can save a few bucks by choosing a lower-cost provider. Not a big deal for one or two sites, but it can be for ten or twenty. I use GoDaddy, who have great domain management tools and are less than $10 a year. The least expensive I've found from a reputable source is 1&1, whose price is around $7 a year last I checked.

5. Set up your web hosting. This is where most people get burned. For this kind of site, you do not need $10 a month web hosting! Find a cheap Web Hosting for Under $10. Some are as little as $4 a month, with unlimited domains, i.e., you can run several sites like this on the same hosting package.

6. Install blog software. "Blog, you say?" Yes. It will give your site all the structure you need, plus make it easy to quickly post new content. My pick is Blogger, which is open source (i.e., free), easy to install and use, and yet very powerful. Many hosts have a one-step installation process for it, or you can download it and follow their installation instructions.

7. Make it pretty. One of the great things about Blogger is the huge variety of templates available for it -- they can completely change the look-and-feel.

8. Set up categories. Most blog software allows you to create sub-categories to help organize your entries. This will help visitors narrow in even more specifically on their interests. For example, BandsFromTexas.com might have one group of categories for genre — rock, country, blues, etc. — and another for city of origin — Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, etc.

9. Sign up as an Amazon Associate. It's simple and free. Just visit Amazon and click on the Join Associates link at the bottom of the page (here's a direct link for your convenience). Your site should already have at least the basic setup done, even if you don't have any content there yet, as they'll review the site manually before approval.

10. Create your blog posting bookmarks/links. There are two links that are going to be essential for you to make this easy. First is the blog posting link. In your blog software, on the posting page (see their instructions), at the bottom of the page there should be a "bookmarklet". Click on the link (and hold the mouse) and drag it up to your Links toolbar in your browser (assuming Internet Explorer), or your Favorites menu. This will allow you to blog a product with one mouse click.

11. Create your Amazon Build-A-Link bookmark/link. This will make it easy to build the link with your affiliate ID built in. Log in to Associates Central, look in the left navigation sidebar, go to Build-A-Link, and under Static Links, find Individual Items. Click and drag this onto your Links toolbar or Favorites menu.

12. Build your first link. Go to Amazon and log in with your Associates account. Find the product you want to review and use the Site Stripe (gray stripe at the top of the screen that you'll see when logged in as an Associate) to get your personalized link to the item. They also offer a variety of other options for creating links and banners.

13. Blog your review. Write your product review, choose the appropriate categories for it, including a link to the product with your Amazon Associate ID built in, and hit Publish.

14. Build out your site. Before you promote your site, you want to have some substantial content there. Write several product reviews. Have at least 2-3 in each category you've created. You may also want to make a categories for articles, news, and commentary about your topic. The more content your site has, the better. And the great thing is that while you're writing all this, the search engines are getting notified automatically, assuming you turned on the notifications mentioned in step 6.

15. Promote your site. The best free way to do this is to communicate with other bloggers writing about similar topics, and to participate in online communities where your topic is discussed.

Tips:

1. You have to learn some basic HTML and basic concepts about running a web site. It's just not that hard. If you have to rely on purchased software, you won't be able to get exactly what you want, you won't know what to do when things go wrong, and you'll end up spending money you don't need to. Spend the time to learn it. It will be well worth the investment.

2. I slightly recommend music over books and other products, mainly because you can listen to the clips of an entire album in about 10 minutes and get a good enough feel for it (without buying it) to do a short review. If you have another topic that you're passionate about, great, but make sure you have a unique angle on the topic. People can get reviews about a lot of those consumer products anywhere. You need to give them a reason to come to your site.

3. To pick up some extra pennies, sign up for Google AdSense. It probably won't generate a lot of revenue, but it's free to sign up and completely effortless to maintain.

4. Set reasonable expectations for earnings. You've only invested $20. You're going to make 5% on most products. That means that you need to sell $400 worth of stuff to make back your investment. To make $20 an hour, what you write must generate $400 worth of purchases. You get credit for other purchases customers you send make while at Amazon besides just the product you linked to, so it's not as hard as it may sound. It won't make you rich, but it's not hard to be profitable, and it builds over time.

What You Need:

* A credit card with about $20 available

What is Electronic Money?

Electronic Money (E-Money) is money that cannot be touched or held but can be transacted online. It is borderless which means that you can actually pay or receive e-money from someone on the other side of the world, all through your computer. Payments are made in real time and the money is transacted online instantly. E-money also allows small transfers starting from 1 cent! Obviously e-money can be changed into real paper money any time the owner decides to.

The payment systems are safe and nearly impossible to forge, however it is advised to install some security on your computer to ensure that you don't have any viruses or any other keyboard spies.

E-Money is possible through a variety of methods. Below is a set of payment systems and processors that will help you get started. Sign up is free.

1. e-gold - an electronic currency issued by e-gold Ltd., a Nevis corporation, 100% backed at all times by gold bullion in allocated storage. International service. It costs nothing to open an e-gold account. There is no credit check and no minimum balance requirement.

2. OmniPay - a currency exchange service supporting the e-gold family of currencies. This service allows you to exchange your e-gold into a cheque for a tiny fee. International service.

3. PayPal - an electronic payment system which allows you to send/receive money to/from any person with an email address. This system is owned by eBay since 1998 and is very secure, however the service is not international and available in only 51 countries around the world.

4. Stormpay - a popular payment processor that is accepted in many instances when PayPal is not. Fees are a little bit on the larger side, but can be cut in half by getting NetIBA certified.

5. MoneyBookers - a tool that allows you to safely send and receive money via email - instantly. You can send money from your credit card, transfer money to and from your bank account. Use Moneybookers whenever you need to send money to someone (settle a debt with a friend, pay for online purchase/auctions...) or when someone needs to send money to you. International service. MoneyBookers always offers you the possibility to transfer your money directly to your bank account!

SEO - Do You Know Enough About Page Rank?

Internet has started a rat race for those participating in the competition to try all measures in a bid to outdo the others. As you are aware that having a website is just not enough, there has to be heavy traffic influx to increase the popularity of your website. How is the popularity of a website determined? With the help of page ranking. page rank is the value given to your website that denotes the importance of a web page.

This is a system that Google has created where it gives importance to a web page if it linked with another page or it is having another webpage cast a vote for your web page. The more votes you get for your webpage the more important your page becomes. The rating of a page rank varies from 0 to 10 and if your website has a page ranking of 5 and above, it is considered to have important information and attracts more visitors.

The importance of the page rank is limited not only to enabling it to secure a rating for your webpage but is also a parameter to check the quality of the websites that provides links. Your website will have high page rank if it has a lot of good back links. If your website contains useful information devoid of any back links your website will be right below in the grading list.

When Google positions your page on the topmost position in the search engine results, it means your website has a high page rank and since it is ranked high the visitors will visit your site often with the thought that they will get whatever information they are looking for.

If you want to check PageRank of your website then feel free to visit PRChecker.

Top 5 Online Ad Predictions of 2009: Not All Doom & Gloom

No matter which way you look at it, 2008 ended on a down note for the online ad market. However, 2009 is not being viewed by all as doom and gloom. Even in a down market, online advertising will continue to evolve. We here at WidgetBucks think that 2009 will bring about some change, much of it positive, in the online advertising world, including:

* Exchanges will start to weed out arbitrage: Much like Google, exchanges will weed out those who thrive on inefficiencies. Much like Google, exchanges want to make more money and squeezing arbitrageurs is a logical next step once you’ve carved out share.

* Ad nets won't die. In fact, strong ones will gain influence: Vertical focus and inventory on sites that have high engagement will define success

* Social Media advertising and widget use will come of age: Audience targeting emerges to create viable CPC and CPM inventory where remnant ruled before and widgets will come into their own as long as they make money for publishers, create engagement for brands, and provide value for users

* Remnant display networks won’t die: Despite popular belief, networks representing remnant inventory will not go away but they will evolve. We think they will focus on performance based sales. Again it will all be about ROI.

* Targeting won't just be a media sales person’s byword any longer: Real integrated behavioral targeting/affinity/demo/channel targeting will bolster movement of offline ad dollars online.

What changes in online advertising do you think will happen in 2009?

- Kirby Winfield
Chief Revenue Officer
WidgetBucks

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Source: Widgetbucks blog

Ranking Well for Particular Keywords - The Wonders of SEO

If you are into online content operations, for sure, you are aiming to make your Website become one that is ranking well for particular keywords. The initiative would mainly involve search engine optimization. For people who are already familiar with the online business, the initiative is already a simple one.

If you are providing content online or are maintaining and operating a Website or a blog on your own, you should aim to make the search engine ranking of your site high. That is because as search engine rank of the site surges up, the more opportunities and chances it would have to generate income. In the world of search engine usage, ranking is what ratings are for television shows. That generally indicates the volume and number of regular online visitors. Just like in newspaper readership, a site ranking well for particular keywords is more frequently read and visited, making it attractive not just for other readers but more importantly, for prospective advertisers.

If you want to make your site and content become one that is ranking well for particular keywords, it would be helpful if you would observe and adopt he following recommended strategies.

1. Observe a healthy keyword density. About 6% to 10% keyword density if most advisable. Lowering than that, the site would be weak in keyword and search engine optimization. Likewise, more than that, the overall quality and readability could be compromised, also leading to possibly lower readership. Keyword stuffing is not an advisable and likely practice in the business.

2. Making the site ranking well for particular keywords can be achieved by interlinking with other sites. There are ethical agreements you can enter with other online businesses that would lead to a mutual or symbiotic partnership. In this scheme, you would agree to promote and include links to other Websites in your own site. In return, the Websites also would run within their pages interlinks that would redirect readers into your site. The strategy has been proven to be effective.

3. Use search engine optimization techniques. You could hire services of professional search engine optimizers if you are not too familiar with the schemes. It could cost quite a sum, but in the long run, you would definitely realize the advantage and edge provided by the practice.

Making the site take a ranking well for particular keywords surely would boost and bolster the overall performance and profitability of your online endeavor.

10 Easy Tips To Make Money Off Your Website

Hundreds of thousands of webmasters across the world make money with their websites. Why not you? Here are 10 easy tips that you can use on your website to make it profitable.

1. Google AdSense - Make money selling advertising space. While banner ads are not worth your time for the most part, Google AdSense is. Many web site owners make a comfortable living off of AdSense profit alone.

2. Affiliate Marketing - Make money referring your website traffic to other web sites. Don’t have a product? That is 100% O. K. Just add someone else product to your site by joining an affiliate program and forget about it. If you have related content (free information) you will see a slow trickle of income from your affiliate links.

3. Write an eBook - Sell your own idea or product. I know it sounds like a day dream, but people do this all the time. In fact, it is the most common method that people use to make money. Write an eBook, offer consultations, or make something people will use. In this category, you are only limited by your imagination.

4. Create an online directory - Sell text links. Add a directory area to your site and offer to place links to other web sites for a small fee.

5. Become a Paid Blogger. Offer to blog for companies. Blogging is fast becoming an important link building strategy for online companies. There are hundreds of small businesses that could benefit from a professional blog but, do not have the resources to hire a full time employee. You have a website, put it to use!

6. Open your own eBay store. Buy low, sell high. There is no easier place to sell than online with your own eBay store. You can concentrate on a particular type of product like coins and antiques or you can sell a wide variety.

7. Host an online competition. Offer prizes for the first, second and third place winners. Your competition can be on almost anything. Think of a way to offer a competition, create a small entry fee and you are set!

8. Create a members only area. You can create a members only site about anything from Fan Clubs, Online Newsletters, Courses and Training, Stock Trading Tips, Dating Sites, Personal Advice, Horoscopes, Family Trees, and so on. Again, your only limitation is your imagination. If you have a site already up and running, offer something in your paid member’s area that they cannot easily get for free.

9. Begin a paid advice service. Free information is great and will draw readers to your site. Once there, help the reader out with some basic information. Save the real “meat” for those that are willing to pay a small fee.

10. Sell your site. Why drag on a project for years when you can get in, get out and turn a quick (albeit smaller) profit? Create your site, get it listed in the search engines, make sure you get a few dollars a week in online advertising and sell your site for a few thousand dollars.

Make Money With Online Survey: How To Begin?

Make money with paid survey, is it just a scam or non-sense? Well, there are actually a lot of reputable market research and consumer companies welcome people to become their members to earn cash participating in their online survey. It is a legitimate way to make money online. Additionally, paid survey is very popular, there are more than 100,000 people searching for paid surveys every month in Yahoo as recorded in Overture Search tool.

However, the downsides of paid survey is that you will not know how much money you make every month. The companies only send paid survey invitations to you if you are eligible. If you receive more surveys in the month, you'll earn more. Another problem is that most paid surveys are only available to US residents, so people outside US will find hard to make money with paid survey.

Start Earning with Paid Survey in 3 Steps:

* Step 1 - Create a new e-mail account specially for receiving paid survey invitations. You can use Yahoo, Hotmail and other free email services. This will make finding your survey invitations easier compare to using an existing email that receives plenty of mails daily.

* Step 2 - Go to Yellowsurveys.com to sign up with as many online market research companies as possible. The site compiled a long list of market research companies that offer paid surveys. Sign up with the companies in "Most Popular" category first and then continue to join the rest. This can take few days of work.

* Step 3 - Wait for paid survey invitations send to you. It can take fews days to months to receive your first survey invitation. You shouldn't rely on paid survey as your main source of income. It can only be a way of earning extra money.