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There are so many cool plugins for WordPress so I’ve decided to do one quick post each day featuring a favourite plugin.

So without further ado, today’s feature plugin in ‘The Daily Plug’ is Wibiya.

Increase Page Views and Traffic

• Generate more page views using available apps such as Latest Posts, Popular Posts, , Popular Articles, Real Time Users and more…
• Promote your content using great 3D galleries, games, live broadcasting, RSS
• Track your traffic growth, sources and trends with easy to use analytics
• Easy access to your Image Gallery or YouTube gallery
• Broaden your reach with the integrated language translator

Communicate with your Readers

• Broadcast messages, notifications and alerts in real time
• Share all your tweets with your readers
• Participate in live chat rooms using unique web toolbar applications – How cool is that? You can live chat with your readers on your site!

Integrate Popular Apps

• Over 40 apps (and growing) that can be selected for your toolbar with a simple click. They are incredibly simple to select.
• Some of my favourite apps would have to be the language translator and the easy “share” features.

Earn Money

• You can include a button to request donations, great if you are a developer
• You can create affiliate links to external sites without altering user experience
• And there is a project board so you can work collaboratively with others

It’s might be difficult to find another plugin as impressive and as useful as this. Go get it!

I’m making this post for two reasons, one because I really like these guys and I believe in them, and two because I honestly think if you miss this course in the next 12 hours or so, you’ll wish you hadn’t.

At 12pm EDT USA time Jim Yaghi and David Schwind launched their new course PPCSupremacy. Living here in Australia that meant it was launched at …1:30am my time. Now with four kids to think of every morning at 6am, I don’t normally like to be awake at 1:30am. But last night I was like a kid on the night before Christmas. I couldn’t sleep! Why?

Well I’ve been watching the release of each new video of free content in the lead up to today’s launch day. The truth is the content they were giving away for free was so useful and so professionally put together that I can honestly say it is easily the most impressive pre-launch content I’ve seen. I felt compelled to compliment Jim and David as their content unfolded because it is not only useful, sharing tactics you could take way and use immediately, it was unique!

By last night, after having watched all their video’s I was TOTALLY PRE-SOLD and waiting for the moment I could sign up for their new course. I literally couldn’t sleep until I knew I had signed up! Now I haven’t been that excited and determined to be part of a training series ever. I can confidently say their content is going to cover everything you need to drive traffic and convert traffic to customers and more money for your business.

If you don’t know Jim Yaghi, he is a PPC genius and basically The Last Man Standing on Google adwords while the other gurus have been dismissed. i can also say i know Jim and he is a really genuine guy.
David Schwind is a master of conversion. He is brilliant with words and marketing psychology and responsible for generating millions of dollars in sales for both himself and others. David and Jim are both dedicated to excellence and now you can learn from them.

Today only these guys are giving you the chance to sign up to the most comprehensive ‘hands on’ training course I’ve seen. You’ll learn how to construct your entire personally branded marketing presence, and your marketing funnel from traffic generation to conversion. This content will cover building your site, your email campaigns, your offers, your social media strategies including facebook strategies, hijacking Linkedin, how to get heard over the twitter noise, and so much more. Best of all they share tackling Google adwords in a step by step way.

There’s too much to mention but here’s the catch – you’ve only got this 24 hour period in which to sign up! YEP! They are only open for sign ups to this course for 24 hours! If you don’t sign up NOW you won’t get another chance for around another year.

On June 25th 2009 the game changed for Google. Without warning and perhaps for the first time in years Google was not the authority search platform for breaking news. On June 25th 2009 Michael Jackson died and Google had nothing to say about it. All of the breaking gossip and news was sweeping the world in a matter of seconds and minutes via social media platforms Twitter and Facebook. The search giant was eclipsed.

So in December 2009 Google changed their algorithms and harnessed the power of their competitors by launching realtime social media search results.  These results were included among all other results in the standard search.   Now Google Realtime Search has it’s own homepage and three new features have been thrown into the mix: Google Alerts for realtime updates, an expandable conversation view, and geographical location refinements.

Realtime search constantly updates enabling you to see second by second latest comments from social media sites (and everywhere else) on what ever keywords you are searching. Type in Paris Hilton today and you’ll get a constant stream of comments on her latest drug bust.

• Realtime Google alerts enable you to receive updates to your email inbox either in realtime, daily or weekly. You can even search historical data by drilling down through a time line, especially handy to reveal when interest in certain topics spike.

• Custom Location refinements enable you to see updates from specific geographical locations.

• Full Conversation view enables you to see the entire thread of a conversation from it’s origins to it’s end including all the dialogue and banter between the individuals involved.

This is a very useful search feature Google has delivered to answer their social media search competition, but how does it benefit you and how can it affect your online business? Further more what sorts of marketing trends may emerge as a result of this feature?

Here’s a quick list of the ways I see Google Realtime search can be of benefit to you and your growing internet business.

1. Harness breaking or topical news to increase your readership and improve your Search Engine Optimisation

The internet community globally has become a sensitive, cohesive and responsive organism. News of events ripple across the globe in moments and hot conversations erupt like volcanoes and then slowly subside. As a business owner with an internet presence you can take advantage of these eruptions. Cleverly integrating hot topics into your content can increase your readership and improve your SEO ranking. But a word of  warning, don’t try integrating a hot topic into your blog if it bares no relationship to your usual content or cannot be logically tied together, you’ll only annoy people and make them feel tricked. Not a great way to attract repeat visits.

2. Scan trending topics to launch viral marketing campaigns

Big marketing companies already commonly use trending topics to launch advertising campaigns in particular areas. For example if the world cup football is on or the winter Olympics are in full swing, you can bet you’ll see at least one or several advertising campaigns launched by KFC, Hungry Jacks, McDonald’s, Coke or Pepsi with a theme based on the popular sporting event. However you don’t have to be a mega-corp to take advantage of this. Using Google RealTime Search you too can see trending topics unfold in certain areas, so why not target your advertising around these trends to launch some viral marketing for your site. The exact nature of  ‘viral marketing’ deserves further explanation so I’ll cover this more in another post.

3. Improve your own business performance by analysing your reach

Real time search enables you to instantly get feedback on what you are putting out there. See if you can get a conversation going. Start a ripple, start a wave. If you have a blogger site then you’re in luck because Google have also now given blogger accounts realtime google analytics. This realtime analysis is useful if you have a product launch or you are creating a pre-launch buzz. Through realtime search you can track where and when your launch is picking up momentum.

Listen to Google’s  Dylan Casey and Lynn Chan explain the features and benefits of Google realtime below.

If you are a small or medium business owner with a quality product or service but your sales are looking a little sad, chances are you have a marketing problem rather than a business problem. If you are not effectively communicating to your existing and potential customer base, then you are leaving money on the table.

Perhaps you have considered using the internet to market your business but have been unsure how to proceed. This article lists seven strategies you can adopt today to grow your business using the internet, regardless of what industry you are in.

Often when I speak with small business owners they reveal to me that although they know internet marketing exists, they aren’t sure if it really suits their line of business. For example, my local Land Rover mechanic is a specialist in his field and a fantastic mechanic. Despite this his business still has room to grow and prosper. If he could increase his business through internet marketing, then he and his girlfriend would have a lot more cash to spend on their horses, which is their out of hours passion. Although his girlfriend (and business partner) wants him to build a website, he’s not so convinced they need one. After all, most of his business is gained through word of mouth to local Land Rover drivers, so what could he possibly gain from spending additional money on a website and online marketing? Right? Wrong!

Having a website and implementing effective internet marketing can not only massively grow your traditional business, it can provide you with additional ways of generating income that don’t rely on you working more hours, freeing up your time! As a business owner it’s easy to spend an enormous amount of your time married to your job. Wouldn’t you like to be able to generate many extra sales without having to personally put in extra hours to make those sales?? Of course you would and building your online presence can achieve this for you.

How? I hear you ask, when your traditional business relies on you exchanging time for money, by being physically present, just like my mechanic’s does. You may be wondering how you can earn more dollars without needing to be there. Well this is one of the great upsides of internet marketing, it can earn money for you 24/7 while you are busy doing other things.

You see business is all about networking, building relationships and providing your customers with what they need. If you own a traditional store front, you are endorsing products simply by having them in your shop, be they yours or someone else’s. Even if your business is service based your product recommendations are still important. Just say you own a hair dressing salon;  you provide a service which is cutting hair, however your customers still value your product recommendations and buy hair products that you stock because they see you as an expert. Likewise with my mechanic; if he recommended one brand of car wax to me over another one, I would take his advice because I trust him and I consider him to be an expert in all things car related.

Well it’s exactly the same on the internet. Imagine for a moment that my mechanic does have website and on his website he has a list of recommended products, and an option for his customers to buy those products from his site. By having a small online store on your site you can generate extra income, without putting in extra hours, and yours customers will be thrilled by the value added service yours recommendations provide. They can buy what you recommend online while you are doing other things. This is just one of the many ways the internet can help you grow your business and leverage your time.

This leads me to my list of seven strategies to grow any small business using the internet, starting with:

1. Create a Personally Branded Website as the ‘nerve centre ‘ of your online marketing presence to which you drive internet traffic.

As a small business owner you should already have a concept of what your ‘brand’ is. If not, your personal business brand (or public image) is a combination of things that define your business and separate you from your competition. Your brand includes the products you endorse and the services you provide. It should reflect the core beliefs and values of your business. It encompasses your mission statement and your objectives. It identifies you in the market place. Your website presents your business brand to the world and it should be the heart and brain of your online marketing efforts, from where all efforts begin and to where all efforts and traffic ultimately return.

2.Use your website to not only promote your business but to also promote , recommend and sell other products or services that compliment your business brand.

Integrate an online store into your website offering retail, wholesale or affiliated products and services. This enables your site to generate extra sales for you 24/7 without you needing to put in extra hours. Select products or services that will benefit your customers and are in line with your business brand.

3. Create strategic alliances with complimentary (not competitve) businesses – support and promote each other.

One way you can do this is by providing links to each others sites (the more links, both incoming and outgoing that your site has the better it will rank in search engines). For example my mechanic could arrange to promote the local 4×4 or Land Rover association on his website in exchange for their promotion of his services. Alternatively you might also like to consider selling advertising space to complimentary businesses in your area. For example my mechanic could sell advertising banner space on his website to the local crash repairer or the guy around the corner who fits new tyres and offers wheel balance and alignments.

4. Give your customers a reason to return to your website on a regular basis by creating valuable content.

Update your website on a regular basis with information and content your  customers will find valuable. Having a blog is the easiest and best way to do this. A blog enables you to create regular posts (like the one you’re reading now) filled with information your customers will be eager to digest. Content can be in the form of articles, images, videos, audios or  slide presentations. As a hairdresser you could provide customers with hair styling tips and ‘how to’s’ or product reviews. As a mechanic you could write tips on taking better care of your vehicle and update customers on latest Land Rover news.

5. Provide customers with rewards, discounts or prizes for their loyalty.

Consider providing your customers with loyalty bonuses such as two for one offers or discounts on services. This is a technique commonly used in the food industry, restaurants provide dinner gift vouchers or discount meals on special occasions such as valentines day. Be creative, this type of reward for loyalty can be used in any business. After all it is easier and cheaper to retain an existing customer than it is to gain a new one.

6. Use newsletters, RSS and email to build a relationship with your customer and stay in the forefront of their mind.

Set up an auto responder such as Aweber so you can stay in regular contact with your customers. Provide an opt in box where your customers can enter their email to subscribe to your monthly newsletter or be notified when you post a new article on your blog. Provide customers with an incentive to sign up such as a free ebook or a free report. Receiving a weekly email with great offers or incredibly valuable content keeps you fresh in your customers mind and gives them incentive to visit your site.

7. Drive traffic to your website

Without traffic, you may as well not have a website. It’s absolutely necessary to know how to drive traffic to your business site in order to grow. There are many ways to drive traffic to your site such as article marketing, forum posting, press releases and paid advertising such as pay per click advertising. However social media is free, growing exponentially and when applied correctly is a powerful and cost effective medium through which to generate buzz and traffic, attracting eager customers to your site. It is also a powerful way to increase your brand exposure and solidify your business brand recognition by having your business presence on multiple media platforms.  Social media tools such as facebook, twitter, linkedin, squidoo all provide you with ways to connect with your target market at a micro-niche level. This way you can guarantee that your website traffic will be laser targeted and comprised only of people a who are interested in what you have to offer.

The point of this article is to impress upon you the power of internet marketing for growing your business and leveraging your time and your brand to increase your income. This is true for any small or medium business owner even if you thought your business was not suited to internet marketing.

So how do you do all this?

Do you pay some marketing expert thousands of dollars to build an online marketing campaign for you? Maybe, but it’s not necessary. Besides no-one cares more about your business than you do.

Do you spend the next couple of years toiling away in front of your computer at night, trying to learn how to do all this on your own? Only if you are into self torture.

What if you could be shown by experts the best marketing techniques in the industry?

What if you could fast track your learning by accessing the most cutting edge marketing education available to small business owners on the planet?

What if you had the option to outsource only the aspects of your marketing that you really need to?

What if you had expert support and guidance available to you at all times to assist you in setting up your own online marketing machine?

What if you could be a member of a community filled with other small business owners and entrepreneurs just like you?

Would you take a look  to see what it could do for you and the growth of your business?

Discover exactly how you can have all of this so you can make the most of your marketing budget and be empowered with the knowledge and the tools to grow your own business using the internet today.

Click here now to learn how you can grow your business today using the power of the internet.

Our education system moulds our kids to adhere to the social norm of getting a job. Yet what about fostering their unique entrepreneurial talents? Wouldn’t you like to raise your child to have the self confidence to persue their dreams and determine their own pay cheque? Then let’s nurture their entrepreneurship.

When I was growing up my father was a State Manager in a big printing company. Long hours and being ‘married to the job’ took him away from us as a family. When he was thirty-five years of age he quit his position to save his marriage.

From that day forward he never worked in a job in the same way ever again. He worked for himself or in partnership with others, running various businesses and trying his hand at property investing. Some failed, some succeeded. My dad never went to business college or learned marketing and his lack of financial and marketing education was a hindrance to greater success in his business. He never became a squillionaire owner of a mega corporation – he never even earned a million dollars from his businesses, however one thing he succeeded in was in passing on an entrepreneurial spirit to his daughter – me.

When Robert Kiyosaki’s ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ was published it was a revelation for me. I made a commitment to embark on a journey of entrepreneurship and financial self education. Furthermore I made a commitment to foster an entrepreneurial spirit in my own children and to provide them with the financial literacy neither my father or myself were privileged enough to be given growing up.

Today I saw this video by acclaimed public speaker and entrepreneur Cameron Herold and was so impressed with what he said. His message is heartfelt and inspiring and I encourage you to watch it both for yourselves and for the sake of your kids.

And if you are finding your own entrepreneurial feet and want to teach your children to be financially literate, masters of their own destinies…

If you want a platform that can take you from where you are now financially to where you want to be… then click here and make a commitment to your futures and the future of you children.

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This post isn’t a ‘How To’ improve your Facebook account, master twitter, install the latest wordpress plugin or build your lead list.  It’s not a ‘Top Ten’ list of strategies, techniques, or must haves. It’s not an invitation to a webinar or a seminar.

This post is for all you parents out there building your home business around your family life. This post is just me reaching out to you, to say hey – keep up the good work.

If you’re a mum or a dad and new to online marketing, or even not so new, and the amount of information and activity required of you to build your business is freaking you out slightly, then this post is written as encouragement to you to say – it’s worth it.

It really is worth it…the effort and the time required to build your fledgling  online business outside of your work hours, when you’ve come home from your second job, or after you’ve put the kids to sleep…when all you want to do is collapse and go to sleep yourself. But there it is, your computer monitor beckons you. It calls you to stay up and check your emails, write a new blog post, work on your PPC campaign, finish an article or tweet one more tweet.

Honing your social media skills, building your personal brand, learning the ropes of creating your marketing funnel, building your network; all of this takes effort and time, and your available time can be very limited when you’re just starting out and have family and work commitments.

You probably already know what you planned to do, but by the time you found five minutes for yourself  (without your kids climbing all over you, needing help with their homework, or throwing toddler tantrums on the lounge room floor), you were too mentally drained to think let alone get creative, right? So you found yourself surfing the net for inspiration and wound up here…well that’s okay because you’re in good company.

However, unless you’ve already passed out from exhaustion and are now reading this whilst unconscious, then I want to encourage you to finish reading this post, be inspired and take the next step towards your betterment.

Don’t hesitate, just Do it. Why? Because nothing great was ever achieved by just sitting around wishing for it. And the rewards when you nail this are indeed great.

Persevere. Not only is reaching each marketing milestone gratifying and emotionally rewarding, it also becomes financially rewarding  when your first leads begin to convert. Seeing your efforts convert to dollars in your paypal account or bank account is really exciting and motivating.

Making your first $20 commission can be as exciting as your first $1000 or $10,000.  Your first commission tells you you’re on the right track. You’ve done something right and you can duplicate that action.

Getting your first lead is super exciting because it connects you with the world and tells you someone is interested in what you have to offer. Someone found you through your marketing efforts and liked what they read, saw or heard and that’s a great feeling. But more than that, building your list comes with the great potential of earning you loads of money.

So even if your life is full and you can only find an hour per day to give to your business, those hours all add up.

We recently welcomed a baby boy into the world and yesterday he turned ten weeks old. To be honest it feels like we’re just coming out of the baby induced fog now. The last ten weeks have been a blur of adjusting to our new cuddly addition and it has been a challenge too, to find work/life balance.  I’m finally getting some sleep and regaining some mental clarity – but it’s still a major accomplishment to write a blog post with one hand whilst burping a baby with the other and helping our not quite two year old with her jig-saw puzzles.

Whilst juggling the daily antics of babies and toddlers we also have the daily schedules of our two teenage sons to contend with. However I’m not deterred because I’m determined to make our first million between nappy changes and football games.

I sometimes think back to my days before children and marvel in wonderment at just how much time I had available to me then.

But time is not your only enemy, fear can be an enemy too. Sometimes building your personal brand can be daunting and frightening…you may be nervous of how readers will respond to you when you first ‘go live’. I remember when I first launched our blog I was so nervous and felt as if I was completely naked in front of the whole world! I was terrified of anyone actually reading it!

I’ve since gotten over my initial stage fright and I now enjoy blogging and the connectivity it creates – after all that’s the whole point isn’t it?

My first tweet on twitter was answered by nothing but the sound of crickets breaking the empty silence. I had no idea how to find people I was interested in or how they would find me.  Now I love twitter as through it I have built some wonderful and genuine friendships and strong business connections.

Creating a Google Adwords account and a first campaign was intriguing,  like undertaking a research position in a laboratory crossed with trying to psychically pick the lucky numbers for a lotto draw.

My first ezine article publication felt like I’d been awarded a grand prize for literary achievement – I was that excited.

First steps still occur for me on an almost daily basis as there is so much changing in this industry ALL the time. Every day I’m faced with new challenges. But overcoming every challenge brings with it a reward in equal measure.

This morning I talked with my growing team of wonderful people, sharing ideas and exchanging knowledge.

This morning I checked my emails and saw still more leads piling up, and you know it’s as exciting today as it was yesterday.

My business is growing and each new commission is helping me build a richer, fuller life for me and my family.

And THAT is why we stay up late or get up early and build our business while the family is sleeping, or write a post between nappy changes. You can smile and know with a warm heart exactly why you’re going to stay up and take that next step in your business, because your business will grow and you and your family will reap the rewards of your efforts. But be quick, before your baby wakes up! Mine just did! Seriously, he has impeccable timing. LOL.

A quick tip:

One of the most important steps you can take to fast track the growth of your online business is to make sure you have a strong network of successful mentors around you. Learn cutting edge marketing strategies and join a team of successful entrepreneurs who can show you what works and what doesn’t.

Utilise methods and systems of marketing that will give you the greatest leverage of your time. This way you can make the most of the limited time you do have available.

If you want access to industry leaders and inside information, or if you’d like to be part of a hugely successful community of internet marketing entrepreneurs then click this link now to take the next step in your online business…it’s worth it.

Its true that for many, MLM has always suffered the albatross of negative public opinion.
Now, not surprisingly, the negative opinion is coming from within MLM companies themselves and their disgruntled reps.
Yes folks , the Peasants are Revolting !!

Why?

Well Folks, Multi Level Marketing aint what it used to be. The days of home meetings, 3 way calls and presenting a business to a list of “100 names” is well and truly over. The agony of constant rejection, dwindling and inactive downlines and tiny tiny checks strangely has lost its appeal…who would have thought huh ?

The problem is, something happened while the industry wasnt paying attention. The Times changed !! The world didnt get stuck in a perpetual time loop of 1984. 2010 has come along and the industry has been dealt a crushing blow it wont recover from…Sorry folks , the party’s over!

The internet has changed everything, people are branding THEMSELVES, not their company and are turning away from these draconian companies and their traditional business model in favour of the increasingly popular G.P.T. business model. Thats right G.P.T. It stands for Get Paid Today. It’s Crazy talk I know, but fancy wanting to get paid a decent commission when you make a sale. Well I did say the Peasants Are Revolting and they are demanding to be properly compensated for their efforts. Furthermore they are voting with their feet. They are fleeing their matrixes and binaries and 3 legged reverse upside down load of old bollocks compensation plans!

50% commissions are now becoming the norm. Try selling your 1%-5% commission plans now ya genius! Why would you join or stick with a company thats taking the piss out of you !! well you wouldn’t and your not alone. Its this fundamental difference that is forcing people out of their cheesy mlm hell into Top Tier Internet marketing Companies that operate 24/7 to a global market place of abundant opportunity. Sorry guys, these savvy online marketers are rapidly signing up your future downline and they are doing it with a click of a mouse. There’s a turf war going on and unless you are online Getting Paid Today…you’re on the losing team.

You can keep your “100 name warm market list” of friends and family because you wont make any money & social leprosy will be your reward. Alternatively you can Click Here Now to find out more about the “Get Paid Today” business model and read the revealing report that details how crap the Multi Level Marketing Industry really has become. Go on Click Here – I dare ya !!

Choosing a Web Host Provider

So You’ve Found the Perfect Name For Your Website and It’s Available! The next step is to get it registered and hosted. But How do you choose a Web Hosting Provider?

Below is a list of who we recommend and believe to be The Top 5 Best Web Host Companies for AU, UK and the US. These companies are also providers in many other countries, so just have a look to see if they provide service in your country.

We’ve researched a range of providers and feel confident that our top 5 list represents the highest level of service available.

Make sure you read below our Top 5 List where we discuss the 6 Key Factors we recommend you consider when choosing where to host your websites.

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No.1 – Just Host

Our Favourite Web Hosting Company

We researched many web hosting companies and we chose Just Host to be our Web Host Provider. They’ve won several awards for Best Web Host Company in 2008 and 2009 which you can see displayed on their site. As customers of theirs we know why they are an award winning provider and such a great company. They offer fantastic 24/7 technical and customer support as well as a first rate plan for any business size at a very competitive price. They are feature packed and deliver a 99.9% up time guarantee.

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No.2 – Host Clear

Host Clear is clearly a great company. They offer competitive pricing and a long list of features and services including comprehensive cPanel , 24/7 technical support and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Whether you are a home user, a small  business owner or an online marketer, they have a range of plans enabling you to select the plan best suited to your  needs.

As the name suggests, Super Green are a green web hosting company. Not only do they provide competitive pricing,  excellent customer support and comprehensive services, they are also proudly green. They use reduced carbon emission servers and are inloved in tree planting project which enables them to have a neutral carbon footprint.

If being green whilst getting first rate service is important to you then check out SuperGreen.

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No.4 – i Page

With customers in over 150 countries and serving over 1,000,000 websites, iPage are clear industry experts. They  have over 20 years industry experience in providing a comprehensive and competitive service.

iPage are also proudly green and generating environmentally friendly wind energy through a carbon emission offset program. Their commitment to the environment prevents the release of 2,660 metric tons of carbon fuel each year and provides you with a green website.

Blue Host have over 20 years industry experience and know what it takes to give you a great website. They offer a comprehensive range of tools and features and competitve pricing. They have won numerous hosting awards are a top  hosting company with over 750,000 sites, so you can feel confident they know what they are doing.This company also runs the very popular Host Monster.

6 Key Factors To Finding the Best Web Host
Provider to
Host Your Sites

1.Guaranteed Uptime

When you’re running a business it’s important for your website to be up and operational for 100% of the time, or as  close to it as you can get! The last thing you want your visitors to see is an error message stating “the website cannot be  found”. In particular if your site has an online store then down time can mean loss of sales and customer frustration.

If your web hosting provider offers a Guarantee of 99.9% up time then you can feel secure your visitors will practically always find your site up and functioning.

2.Bandwidth, DiskSpace and Data Transfer

As your business grows and as your traffic to your site grows you will need to make sure your web hosting provider will  cater to your requirements. Today’s web hosting is very competitive and a good web host company will allow  unlimited disk space, data transfer and bandwidth.

3.Suitable Hosting Plan for Your Business

You may have one website with five pages. You may have one blog. Or, you may have tens of sites with database and
e-commerce functionality and several blogs.

Whatever the extent of your online presence, you need a hosting plan that meets the needs of your business. Many web  host providers allow unlimited sub-domains, unlimited registration of domain names under one account, and unlimited email accounts.

Others have varying packages and price tags to meet your business needs. make sure you choose a plan which will adequately meet your needs and allow for growth. At the same time don’t pay for extra capability if you don’t need it.

4.Excellent Control Panel and Friendly Features

What is a control panel I hear you ask? The control panel is literally a panel of features provided to you by your  provider to help you manage your account. When you log in to your account you are taken to your control panel  (cPanel) and from there you can easily navigate to your folders and data for each of your sites. You can also enable and  disable a range of functions and features depending on what your hosts cPanel offers.

Just a Few of the Useful Features to look out
for:

• Fantastico – the leading script library.
  Fantasico
  allows you to easily install and configure the most popular web
  applications available through your cPanel.

  Applications offered will help you easily create your own blog,
  discussion board, ecommerce site or assist with your content management.

• A usefeul range of features such as:

• Easy installation of WordPress for your
  blog, or
• Joomla for your content managment system,
• osCommerce Shopping Cart
• PHP and MySQL databases

5.Cost Effective

Often when people shop around for a Web Host Company they try to find the cheapest option available. Whilst hosting  is indeed very competitve, it is not wise to base your decision on cost alone. You may find yourself paying for your decision later on with unsatisfactory service. Make sure you read the fine print.

6.Customer Support

Excellent Customer and Technical Support is a crucial aspect of your web hosting experience and of vital important for
maintaining optimal functionality for your sites.

A good web hosting company will offer 24/7 support either as a free or paid service.

So there you have it.

We’ve covered Choosing a Web Host Provider. You may choose to take what you’ve learnt here and investigate further or you may choose to use one of the companies we recommend. The 5 companies we have listed are world class and if they are available in your country then you can feel confident you are choosing a reputable company.

You may also like to read our post on Choosing A Domain Name

Choosing The Right Domain Name for Your Online Business Is A Big Deal! Your Website is the Centre of Your Online Universe, so conjuring a great name for your site is essentially a marketing tactic. The following 9 Tips Can Help you Select An Effective Website Name For your Business.

1. Make Your Domain Name Your Website Name

It may sound like a strangely obvious tip, however it is surprising how many businesses don’t adhere to this. The reason you want to do this is because Search Engines look at ‘key words’ to find relevant results. If your URL (domain name) contains those key words then your site will be found more easily.

For example, if your website name/heading is ‘CARS 4 U’ then your repeat visitors will search for you by typing
in the key words: ‘CARS 4 U’. However if your domain name is secondhandvehicles.com then the search engines will not see your URL as containing the key words. On the other hand if your URL is cars4u.com then it will contain all of the keywords.

2. Make Your Domain Name Your Business Name

Again this may seem obvious, and follows a similar line of thinking as the first tip, however it is valuable to remember because it will help you to rank in the search engines and this means your repeat customers are more likely to find you. People remember your business name so whenever possible choose a domain name which matches your
trading name and choose a trading name which reflects your niche.

• Your Business Name or Trading Name;
• Your Website Name and
• Your Domain Name

Should all be the same.

3. Use Natural Everyday Language

Use Everyday Language which the majority of readers can understand and spell.

The name ‘Number One Networker’ is easier to remember, understand and spell correctly than the name:

Numerically Singular and thus Metaphorically Premier Cohort of Business Associates

OR even n0.1.networker… which leaves the visitor straining to remember where the dots were and if was it N1 or No1 or Number1.

4. Keep it Short and Simple

Although some registration places allow 63-67 characters, keep in mind that shorter names will be easier to remember and  type correctly into a browser.

For example ‘Weekend Getaways’ — weekendgetaways.com is easier to remember and type than ‘Local Bed and Breakfast Retreats Online’ — localbedandbreakfastretreatsonline.com

Single words are great. eg: cats.com

Two or three short words together is also effective. PetCats.com or  yourpetcat.com

However short and simple does not mean an acronym. If your business is ‘South Eastern Wholesale Agricultural Products’ then sewap.com is not a suitable acronym to reflect the nature of your business.

The only time you should use an acronym for your domain name is when your business is already known by that acronym.

For example IBM.  Would you search for IBM’s website by typing in ‘International Business Machines Corporation’ or by typing in IBM?

5. dot what? .com .org .net .edu etc etc

When deciding on the suffix for your website keep in mind that .com is still largely recognised as the most common suffix for a business. My personal opinion is that if you can get a .com then take it.

If you choose a .net then people will still be more likely to search for the .com. If a competitor takes the dot com then you will lose a lot of traffic to them. In fact if you can’t get a name as a .com but it is available as a .net then personally I would still have reservations about taking the .net.

Depending on what country you live in you will also have the option of registering a country specific suffix. eg: .com.au for Australia or .co.uk for the United Kingdom.

These can often be more expensive than a dot.com however they are useful for parent companies that have national or regional subsidiaries. They are also useful if your focus is purely local.

6. When One Suffix Just Isn’t Enough

If you really want to have the monopoly on your business name then register as many of the common suffixes as are available.

If you have the .com then also grab the .net and the .org and the .info and any country specific suffix you think is  relevant.

There is a common belief that .org is reserved for Non Profit Organisations, however there is actually no restriction on this and many commercial ventures have registered a .org.

7. Hyphenated Names

Okay so you have your heart set on inyourhomehairdresser.com but it’s already taken. However in-your-home-hairdresser.com is available… do you take it?

The advantages of a hyphenated domain name are:

• that search engines can pick out key words more
  easily.
• If the non-hyphenated name is taken then at least
  you have an alternative

Disadvantages are:

• Spelling mistakes will be more frequent.

• If a friend mentions that they went to ‘In Your Home
  Haidresser.com’ they may easily forget to mention the hyphens

8. Using Key Words in Your Name

If you want to integrate key words into your domain name then you will want to do some key word research. There are  a number of free as well as pay for service key word research tools and sites available.

Free Tools:

• Google Adwords Key Word Tool https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

• Word Tracker    http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
• Yahoo’s Overture Search Engine Tool

http://sem.smallbusiness.yahoo.com/searchenginemarketing/

Paid Tools:

For paid tools we recommend Word Tracker. There are many other
services you can pay for however Word Tracker has a fabulous reputation
and is very well known

• Word Tracker  http://www.wordtracker.com/

9. Checking Availability

Last but not least, you need to know how to find out if a name is available. The easiest way to do this is to go to whois.com. There is also whois.com.au and whois.co.uk etc etc

So that about wraps it up.

You’ve covered Choosing a Domain Name. You may also like to check out who we recommend for  web hosting .

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Traditional offline business models have been adapted for the internet but remain very similar online as to the offline world. In essence all models provide some form of product or service in exchange for financial reward.

However not all online business models are equal. Selecting the right model for your online business warrants careful consideration because each model requires different skills and time commitments to operate. Not all models will suit you or compliment your business interests. Also, you will discover that different business models will appeal to you at different stages of your career as an online marketer.

Auction Model

Love a good garage sale? Are you an expert or enthusiast in a certain field? Are you a wholesale or retail merchant looking for an additional sales outlet? Or were you already familiar with buying and selling your wares at the traditional auction houses before the advent of online auctions?

You may well enjoy the global reach of online auctions.

Many people have made a lucrative online income by selling goods through auction sites such as eBay. An enormous amount of information has been written on building a successful eBay business. So if this interests you, create an account and dive in.

E commerce Model

The home of the online shopping cart. Standard requirements for this model are a merchant account, enticing pictures and descriptions of your wares, a shopping cart and a secure method of payment. You can sell your own range of products or opt for a dropshipping model. Dropshipping is where your site takes the orders and another merchant fulfills the orders on your behalf. With dropshipping you don’t need to worry about taking care of inventory or deliveries.

Subscription Model

Create a website packed with interesting information on a particular niche then charge a membership fee to access the site.

Create a ‘free to access’ website packed with information on a particular niche then charge a membership fee to access a members only area filled with extra goodies.

Create a newsletter and charge readers a monthly reader subscription fee.

Create a focused community group, such as a forum and charge users for access to certain areas of the forum.

You get the idea of the subscription model.

Advertisement Model

As with the subscription model, create an interesting, content rich site which generates lots of traffic. You may then attract the interest of an advertising sponsor who will pay you for advertising space on your site.

Alternatively, if your site is not yet well established you could still sign up for a Google Adsense account. Advertisements related to your content will be placed on your site and you receive a payment each time a user clicks on an ad.

Affiliate Marketing Model

The advantage of this model is you don’t need any products or services of your own, which means you can get started right away.

As an affiliate marketer, you promote, recommend and market other peoples products or services. You get paid a commission when a customer buys the product or service from you. Or you can get paid when a customer completes an action such as clicking on a link or entering their email details into a form to receive further information.

The percentage commission you earn per sale usually ranges from 25 – 75%. The amount of money you can earn per sale or transaction can vary wildly from a couple of dollars to hundreds of dollars per sale depending on what you are selling.

Often a prerequisite for selling an affiliated product is that you buy the product first. However this is not always the case and many companies are happy for you to market their product or service without making an initial purchase.

Multi Level Marketing Model

As with affiliate marketing, the multi-level marketing model does not require you to have products or services of your own. MLM has existed for decades offline but has more recently found it’s place in the online marketing arena.

As a multi-level marketer you become an independent representative of an MLM company and you recommend and market the company’s products or services. You get paid a commission on each sale you generate. There is usually a joining fee involved before you can become a representative. This is generally in the vicinity of a few hundred dollars.

The primary difference between affiliate marketing and multi-level marketing is that as an affiliate marketer you get paid only for the sales you personally generate. As a multi-level marketer, again you get paid a commission for sales you personally generate. But furthermore, you can also build a team of marketers who join the company under you and then you get paid a lesser commission for sales your team generates. If your team go on to build a team of their own you get paid again on sales activity generated by their team…and so and so forth.

Commission percentages and compensation plans vary from company to company. Because it is such a highly leveraged business model the percentage commissions are usually much smaller, ranging from 0.25 – 10%. The idea being that small increments amass to a large income by leveraging the combined efforts of many people.

Top Tier Business Model

The top tier business model shares similarities with both the affiliate and the multi-level marketing models, but has some unique differences.

The affiliate model pays for sales generated directly by the affiliate marketer (one level deep). The MLM model pays you for sales generated by you or your team sometimes down to infinite levels, so you can benefit from the efforts of a person you may never even meet, albeit at much smaller percentages.

However between the single level compensation model and the multi-level compensation model there is a a third, top tier model which falls loosely in between.

A top tier model is an affiliate model that usually pays one to two levels down. The thinking is that by paying more than one level deep you still benefit financially from the leveraged efforts of your team. However by not paying commissions to as many multiple levels as a traditional MLM, a top tier company can instead afford to pay a much higher commission at the first and second levels (closer to the vicinity of 50%).

Another key difference with a top tier business model is they are usually more expensive to join than an MLM. A top tier company is often a minimum of a couple of thousand dollars to join. However the benefit is that your commissions are also much higher, usually in the high hundreds to thousands.

The thinking is that this model requires much less effort and much less sales to generate a viable and healthy income.

Information Product Model

This model is often the most lucrative of all. Your information product can be a downloadable ebook, a physical book sent by post, courses delivered as a range of mixed media content such as videos, voice recordings, CDs or DVDs or it can be software which meets a customer need.

You can market the product yourself and retain 100% of the profit. Or, alternatively you can affiliate your product and have an army of marketers selling on your behalf for a percentage of the sale. Leveraging the marketing strength of many affiliate marketers simultaneously can generate huge interest and massive turnover. But keep in mind your product will need to be good in order to attract the attention of affiliate marketers – they have their own reputations at stake by recommending your product.

Realistically, many online businesses build a web presence which combines a number of different business models. This monetizes the site in several ways to create multiple streams of income.

For example elements of the subscription, advertising, affiliate and information/product models may be used all together on one site.

Another site may use e commerce, auction and advertising all together.

There are no hard and fast rules, just do your homework and understand what is involved.

For an extended general introduction to the majority of online business models  check out this article by Michael Rappa over at Managing The Digital Enterprise . His article covers a range of models including those which are generally implemented by large corporations such as Ebay,  as well as models which can be implemented by your garden variety, work from home entrepreneur, such as yours truly.